# The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary

## Contents

- Introduction
- Letter I
- Letter II
- Letter III
- Letter IV
- Letter V
- Letter VI And Last

## Introduction

Apart from "The Cloud upon the Sanctuary," Eckartshausen is a name only to the Christian Transcendentalists of England. He wrote much, and at his period and in his place, he exercised some considerable influence; but his other works are practically unknown among us, while in Germany the majority at least seem forgotten, even among the special class to which some of them might be assumed to appeal. "The Cloud upon the Sanctuary" has, I believe, always remained in the memory of a few, and is destined still to survive, for it carries with it a message of very deep significance to all those who look beneath the body of religious doctrine for the one principle of life which energizes the whole organism. This translation has offered it for the first time to English readers, and it enters here upon the third phase of its existence. It appeared originally in the pages of "The Unknown World," a magazine devoted to the deeper understanding of philosophical and mystical religion, and it was afterwards republished in volume form, of which edition this is a new issue. It has attracted very considerable attention and deserved it; it has even been translated into French, under the auspices of the late Countess of Caithness, for the pages of *L'Aurore*. These few words of bibliography are not unnecessary because they establish the fact that there has been some little sentiment of interest working within a restricted circle, as one may hope, towards a more general diffusion and knowledge of a document which is at once suggestive from the literary standpoint and profoundly moving from other and higher considerations. It encourages me to think that many persons who know and appreciate it now, or may come under its influence in the future, will learn with pleasure the little that I can tell them of its author, the Councillor Eckartshausen, and of certain other books not of his writing, which, as I think, connect therewith, and the study of which may help us to understand its message.

Perhaps the most interesting thing that I can say at the beginning concerning Eckartshausen is that he connects with that group of Theosophists of which Lavater was so important a figure, the Baron Kirchberger an accomplished and interesting recorder, and Louis Claude de Saint-Martin a correspondent in France and a certain source of leading. In his letters to Saint-Martin, Kirchberger says that Eckartshausen, with whom he was in frequent communication, was a man of immense reading and wonderful fertility; he regarded him in other respects as an extraordinary personage, "whatever way providence may have led him." It would appear that at this period, namely, in 1795, Eckartshausen was looking for and obtaining his chief light from the mystical study of numbers, but was also, to use the veiled and cautious language of the correspondence, in enjoyment of more direct favours. Saint-Martin confesses on his own part that he was more interested in Eckartshausen than he could express. Kirchberger must have held him in even higher estimation, and undertook a journey to the Swiss frontier actually for the purpose of receiving from him the personal communication of the Lost Word; but the illness of the proposed communicator frustrated this project. The point is important because it establishes the pretensions of Eckartshausen. As to the Councillor of Berne so to us, he comes speaking with authority; and whatever may be our opinion as to the kind of sacramentalism or economy which was conveyed in a proposal to communicate the incommunicable name, there are some of us who know, at least within certain limits, that the little book which I am here introducing is not one of vain pretension. Saint-Martin acknowledges that part of the numerical system of Eckartshausen was in astonishing agreement with things that he had learned long ago in his own school of initiation - that of Martines de Pasqually. Altogether the French mystic had formed the best opinion possible of his German brother, and his Swiss correspondent further tells us that Eckartshausen, although a courtier, walked in the narrow way of the inner life. In a letter to Kirchberger dated March 19th, 1795, Eckartshausen bears witness to his own personal experience and instructions received from above, his consciousness of a higher presence, the answers which he had received and the visions, with the steps by which he had advanced even to the attainment of what he terms "the Law in its fullness." I have thought it well to give these data derived from private correspondence, the publication of which was never designed or expected at the time, because they constitute a sketch of Eckartshausen taken to some extent unawares, when there could be the least reason to suppose that he was adopting an attitude. Let us now compare the very strong claim which they incorporate with that of "The Cloud upon the Sanctuary" itself, and the little analysis which I shall give here will, I think, be otherwise serviceable to readers as a summary of the chief purport of the work. It is possible by seeking inwardly to approach the essential wisdom, and this wisdom is Jesus Christ who is also the essence of love within us. The truth of this statement can be experimentally proved by any one, the condition of the experience being the awakening within us of a spiritual faculty cognizing spiritual objects as objectively and naturally as the outward senses perceive natural phenomenon. This organ is the intuitive sense of the transcendental world, and its awakening, which is the highest object of religion, takes place in three stages: (*a*) morally, by the way of inspiration; (*b*) intellectually, by the way of illumination; (*c*) spiritually, by the way of revelation. The awakening of this organ is the lifting of the cloud from the sanctuary, enabling our hearts to become receptive of God, even in this world. The knowledge of these mysteries has been always preserved by an advanced school, illuminated inwardly by the Saviour, and continued from the beginning of things to the present time. This community is the Invisible Celestial Church, founded immediately after the Fall, and receiving a first-hand revelation for the raising of humanity. But the weakness of men as they multiplied necessitated an external society, namely, the Outward Church, which, in the course of time, became separated from the Inner Church, also through human weakness. The external church was originally consecrated in Abraham, but received its highest perfection in the mystery of Jesus Christ. The Interior Church is invisible and yet governs all; it is perpetuated in silence but in real activity, "and united the science of the temple of the ancient alliance with the spirit of the Saviour," or of the interior alliance. This community of light is the reunion of all those capable of receiving light, and is known as the Communion of Saints. It possesses its school, its chair, its doctor, and a rule for students, with forms and objects of study, and in short a method by which they study, together with degrees for successive development to higher altitudes. We must not, however, regard it as a secret society, meeting at certain times, choosing its elders and members, and united by special objects; for even the chief does not invariably know all the members, and those who are ripe are joined to the general members when they thought least likely, and at a point of which they knew nothing. The society forms a theocratic republic, which one day will be the Regent-Mother of the whole world. Its members are exactly acquainted with the innermost of religions and of the Holy Mysteries, but these treasures are concealed in so simple a manner that they baffle unqualified research.

This doctrine of the interior church must be interpreted by everyone after his own lights; it is presented by Eckartshausen as one having full knowledge and ambassadorial powers, as one speaking from the centre. My purpose is solely to show that he was sincere, and this sincerity furnishes us with one more proof, out of many which are to be derived from other and independent sources, that there is a great experiment possible, and that some have performed it. The sincerity of which I speak is I think illustrated by his life, which I will now summarise briefly. Carl Von Eckartshausen was born on June 28th, 1752, at the Castle of Haimbhausen in Bavaria, and was the natural son of Count Carl of Haimbhausen by Marie Anne Eckhart, the daughter of the overseer of the estates. His mother died in giving birth to him, and he appears to have been the subject of the most solicitous affection on the part of his father, being educated with the utmost pains. However, from the earliest years, his illegitimacy is said to have filled him with perpetual melancholy and an inclination to retire from the world, characteristics which at the same time endeared him to his family and friends. Through all his life he remained less or more a prey to the painful consequences of his original disqualification. He was destined notwithstanding to a career of some public importance. His first education was received at the college of Munich, and he afterwards proceeded to Ingoldsladt for the study of philosophy and law, which he pursued with marked success. His university course at an end, his father procured him the title of Aulic Councillor; and in 178o he was appointed censor of the library at Munich. This, in spite of the rectitude and goodness which characterised him, made him many enemies, but the favour of the Elector Carl Theodore sustained him against all combinations. In 1784 he was nominated Keeper of the Archives of the Electoral House, an appointment said to have been conferred upon him through the desire of the Elector to keep him near his person. He published in all some sixty-nine works, embracing many classes of literature, including science, the fine arts, the drama, politics, religion, history, and, in particular, certain contributions of great merit to the occult sciences. As already indicated, the majority of these are now forgotten, though some of his plays seem to have been successful in their day. "The Prejudice of Birth " in particular, his first published drama, is described as abounding in felicitous situations and interest. He even attempted a comedy, and this also received considerable approbation. One only of his books, under the title "God is the Purest Love," commanded wide popularity. Sixty editions are said to have been published in Germany, and it was translated into most languages of Europe, as well as into Latin. It is a small collection of Catholic prayers and meditations on the fear of God, the love of God, the elevation of man's sentiments towards his Creator, the knowledge of the Eternal, *etc.* There are also devotional exercises for use at Mass, before and after Confession, and at Communion, with acts of penance and adoration to the Blessed Virgin. In a word, I fail to see wherein or how far it differs from the innumerable manuals of piety which have been produced during the last two or three centuries for the use of the Catholic laity. I believe, however, that it still circulates in Germany, and perhaps even in France; it is said to have a wonderful charm, though its intense mysticism is also stated to have puzzled some of its admirers; it has indeed been described as speaking the language and expressing the soul of Fenelon. Eckartshausen, however, as already indicated, wrote other and very different books, some on magic and some on the properties of numbers, and he is even accredited with a certain knowledge of Alchemy. Finally, he was the author of "The Cloud upon the Sanctuary," though the biographers to whom I am indebted almost for the words of this notice have scarcely mentioned this last and crowning production of his intellectual life. In his private capacity he was exceedingly amiable and charitable, devoting every month the result of his economies to the poor, and his whole time to the practice of virtue. He was married three times, and left several children. He died on May 13th, 1813, after a painful illness. The monographs of his period mention him as one of the best writers of Bavaria.

There are two matters to which before concluding I wish to draw attention briefly, and, as regards the first, in a very particular manner. The point of view from which "The Cloud upon the Sanctuary" should be regarded is important from the claim which it makes. What is this inner church of which Eckartshausen speaks, is a question which readers must answer for themselves, according to their best direction. One thing which it is not has been indicated by Eckartshausen himself. It is not any corporate body existing merely within the church and controlling and leading it from a specific local centre. This possibility being negatived by the best of all authority on the subject, I should like on my own responsibility to negative also its most direct and clearest antithesis. It does not answer to the collective mind or oversoul of the most advanced members of the visible church, nor is it the *consensus* *omnium sanctorum* which, according to the old church maxim, is *sensus spiritus Sancti*. Despite the absence of all corporate bonds, there is in the claim itself too direct a suggestion of conscious association occurring somehow in this present physical life. We must take the key which Eckartshausen himself offers, namely, that there is within all of us a dormant faculty, the awakening of which within us gives entrance, as it develops, into a new world of consciousness, which is one of the initial stages of that state which he, in common with all other mystics, terms union with the Divine. In that union, outside all formal sects, all orthodox bonds of fellowship and veils and webs of symbolism, we shall form or do form actually a great congregation, the first fruits of immortality, and in virtue of the solidarity of humanity, and in virtue of the great doctrine of the communication of all things holy with all that seeks for holiness, the above and the below, this congregation is, in very truth, the leader of the visible church of faith, aspiration and struggle, the church triumphant over-watching the church militant, and the channel through which the graces and the benedictions of the holy and glorious Zion are administered to the Zion which is on earth.

The second point concerns certain books which I have promised to mention as connecting with the claim of Eckartshausen, and perhaps in some measure assisting us to get in touch with that claim. Unfortunately, in this restricted notice, I can do little more than name them. The first is "The Mystery of the Cross," originally published in 1732, anonymously, in the French language, but evidently written by a foreigner. It is a profound and beautiful work which, unknown to the world at large, has in private, if I may so speak, influenced many to their advancement, and to the deeper understanding and fruition of the hidden truth. Strongly embedded in this book will be found several of the governing ideas and aspirations of schools of mystic thought which became illustrious in later years. I may add that I am acquainted with the existence of a translation made many years ago, but still remaining in manuscript. The next books which I would note come at first sight a little strangely in the professed connection, but they enter none the less into the series; they are the two dramatic poems of the German poet, Werner, namely, "The Templars in Cyprus" and "The Brothers of the Cross." They are the work of a man who was intimately acquainted with the occult movement of his period - that of the French Revolution - and a participant therein. After all his experience he carried his great genius and exceptional knowledge into the fold of the Latin Church and became a priest. His two plays convey many moving suggestions of a guiding but unknown hand leading the Christian Church. The next book is of Russian origin, but was translated into French and published in Paris in 1801; of this translation a reprint was issued recently at Lyons. It is entitled "Some Characteristics of the Interior Church." It connects the point of view which is met with in "The Mystery of the Cross " with that of Eckartshausen, and is interesting on account of its origin, and also for certain Martinistic associations, but it is less suggestive and less profound. Finally, there is a very remarkable and I may add a very rare series of works published at Berleburg in the province of Westphalia in seven volumes, dated 1738. It is entitled "New Spiritual Discourses on various matters of the Interior Life and the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, or testimony of a Child of Truth concerning the Ways of the Spirit." These discourses occupy three volumes; two others contain a commentary on the Apocalypse; the sixth volume is a literal and mystical explanation of the epistle to the Romans,

with some supplementary papers and a catechism of the science of Christian religion. The seventh volume is another commentary, verse for verse, on the first three chapters of Genesis. The collection as a whole may perhaps be best described as an appeal from external creeds with their differences, their arguments and their justifications, to the witness of the heart itself. It is an appeal also to the mystical doctors of the church, and it cites many of the great mystics from Tauler and Ruysbroek to Engelbrecht, Antoinette de Bourignon and Madame de Guyon. The discourses on the union of the Church of Christ and the spiritual union of the children of God, as also on a new church, in the second volume, will be found very interesting to students of Eckartshausen. There are also extraordinary analogies with Saint-Martin, Eckartshausen and the "Mystery of the Cross" to be found in the third volume, and having regard to the proximity of the date of publication to that of the last work, I incline to the opinion that there may have been some connection also in the authorship. When all these works have been studied, not in the letter but in the spirit, along with "The Cloud upon the Sanctuary," the spiritual truths which Eckartshausen has to some extent veiled, and his motives for doing so, will not be beyond discernment, nor the line of his experiences in all cases beyond pursuit. I should add that, so far as I can trace, Eckartshausen always remained in loyal communication with the external church in which he was originally trained, and did not therefore regard apostasy and rebellion as among the first evidences of personal illumination. Perhaps, like one of the Eastern teachers, he thought that some things could be changed from within, and essentially, without altering outward names and forms.

A. E. WAITE.

## Letter I

There is no age more remarkable to the quiet observer than our own. Everywhere there is a fermentation in the minds of men; everywhere there is a battle between light and darkness, between exploded thought and living ideas, between powerless wills and living active force; in short everywhere is there war between animal man and growing spiritual man.

It is said that we live in an age of light, but it would be truer to say that we are living in an age of twilight; here and there a luminous ray pierces through the mists of darkness, but does not light to full clearness either our reason or our hearts. Men are not of one mind, scientists dispute, and where there is discord, truth is not yet apprehended.

The most important objects for humanity are still undetermined. No one is agreed either on the principle of rationality or on the principle of morality, or on the cause of the will. This proves that though we are dwelling in an age of light, we do not well understand what emanates from our hearts - and what from our heads. Probably we should have this information much sooner if we did not imagine that we have the light of knowledge already in our hands, or if we would cast a look on our weakness, and recognise that we require a more brilliant illumination. We live in the times of idolatry of the intellect, we place a common torchlight upon the altar and we loudly proclaim the aurora, that now daylight is really about to appear, and that the world is emerging more and more out of obscurity into the full day of perfection, through the arts, sciences, cultured taste, and even from a purer understanding of religion.

Poor mankind! To what standpoint have you raised the happiness of man? Has there ever been an age which has counted so many victims to humanity as the present? Has there ever been an age in which immorality and egotism have been greater or more dominant than in this one? The tree is known by its fruits. Mad men! With your imaginary natural reason, from whence have you the light by which you are so willing to enlighten others? Are not all your ideas borrowed from your senses which do not give you the reality but merely its phenomena? Is it not true that in time and space all knowledge is but relative? Is it not true that all which we call reality is but relative, for absolute truth is not to be found in the phenomenal world. Thus your natural reason does riot possess its true essence, but only the appearance of truth and light; and the more this appearance increases and spreads, the more the *essence of light* inwardly fades, and the man confuses himself with this appearance and gropes vainly after the dazzling phantasmal images he conjures.

The philosophy of our age raises the natural intellect into independent objectivity, and gives it judicial power, she exempts it from any superior authority, she makes it voluntary, converting it into divinity by closing all harmony and communication with God; and this god Reason, which has no other law but its own, is to govern Man and make him happy! . . .

. . . Darkness able to spread light! . . . Death capable of giving Life! . . .

The truth leads man to happiness. Can you give it?

That which you call truth is a form of conception empty of real matter, the knowledge of which is acquired from without and through the senses, and the understanding co-ordinates them by observed synthetic relationship into science or opinion.

You abstract from the Scriptures and Tradition their moral, theoretical and practical truth; but as individuality is the principle of your intelligence, and as egotism is the incentive to your will, you do not see, by your light, the moral law which dominates, or you repel it with your will. It is to this length that the light of to-day has penetrated. Individuality under the cloak of false philosophy is a child of corruption.

Who can pretend that the sun is in full zenith if no bright rays illuminate the earth, and no warmth vitalises vegetation? If wisdom does not benefit man, if love does not make him happy, but very little has been done for him on the whole.

Oh! if only natural man, that is, sensuous man, would only learn to see that the source of his intelligence and the incentive of his will are only his individuality, he would then seek interiorly for a higher source, and he would thereby approach that which alone can give this true element, because it is *wisdom in its essential substance*.

Jesus Christ is that Wisdom, Truth, and Love. He, as Wisdom, is the Principle of reason, and the Source of the purest intelligence. As Love, He is the Principle of morality, the true and pure incentive of the will.

Love and Wisdom beget the spirit of truth, interior light; this light illuminates us and makes supernatural things objective to us.

It is inconceivable to what depths of error a man falls when he abandons simple truths of faith by opposing his own opinions.

Our century tries to decide by its (brain) intelligence, wherein lies the principle or ground of reason and morality, or the ground of the will; if the scientists were mindful, they would see that these things are better answered in the heart of the simplest man, than through their most brilliant casuistry. The practical Christian finds this incentive to the will, the principle of all morality, really and objectively in his heart; and this incentive is expressed in the following formula: - "Love God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself."

The love of God and his neighbour is the motive for the Christian's will, and the essence of love itself is Jesus Christ in us.

It is in this way the principle of reason is wisdom in us; and the essence of wisdom, wisdom in its substance, is again Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Thus we find in Him the principle of reason and of morality.

All that I am now saying is not hyperphysical extravagance; it is reality, absolute truth, that everyone can prove for himself by experience, as soon as he receives in himself the principle of all reason and morality - Jesus Christ, being wisdom and love *in essence*.

But the eye of the man of sensuous perception only is firmly closed to the fundamental basis of all that is true and to all that is transcendental.

The intelligence which many would fain raise to legislative authority is only that of the senses, whose light differs from that of transcendental reason, as does the phosphorescent glimmer of decayed wood from the glories of sunshine.

Absolute truth does not exist for sensuous man; it exists only for interior and spiritual man who possesses a suitable sensorium; or, to speak more correctly, who possesses an interior sense to receive the absolute truth of the transcendental world, a spiritual faculty which cognises spiritual objects as objectively and naturally as the exterior senses perceive external phenomena.

This interior faculty of the man spiritual, this sensorium for the metaphysical world, is unfortunately not known to those who cognise only outside of it - for it is a mystery of the kingdom of God.

The current incredulity towards everything which is not cognised objectively by our senses is the explanation for the misconception of truths which are, of all, most important to man.

But how can this be otherwise? In order to see one must have eyes, to hear, one must have ears. Every apparent object requires its appropriate senses. So it is that transcendental objects require their sensorium - and this said sensorium is closed in most men. Hence men judge the metaphysical world through the intelligence of their senses, even as the blind imagine colours and the deaf judge tones - without suitable senses.

There is an objective and substantial ground of reason, an objective and substantial motive for the will. These two together form the new principle *of life*, and morality is there essentially inherent. This pure substance of reason and will, re-uniting in us the divine and the human, is Jesus Christ, the light of the world, who must enter into direct relationship with us, to be really recognized.

This real knowledge is actual faith, in which everything takes place in spirit and in truth. Thus one ought to have a sensorium fitted for this communication, an organised spiritual sensorium, a spiritual and interior faculty able to receive this light; but it is closed to most men by their senses.

This interior organ is the intuitive sense of the transcendental world, and until this intuitive sense is effective in us we can have no certainty of more lofty truths.

This organism is naturally inactive since the Fall, which degraded man to the world of physical senses alone. The gross matter which envelops this interior sensorium is a film which veils the internal eye, and therefore prevents the exterior eye from seeing into spiritual realms. This same matter muffles our internal hearing, so that we are deaf to the sounds of the metaphysical world; it so paralyses our spiritual speech that we can scarcely stammer words of sacred import, *words we fully pronounced once*, and by virtue of which we held authority over the elements and the external world.

The opening of this spiritual sensorium is the mystery of the New Man - the mystery of Regeneration, and of the vital union between God and man - it is the noblest object of religion on earth, that religion whose sublime goal is none other than to unite men with God in Spirit and in Truth.

We can therefore easily see by this how it is that religion tends always towards the subjection of the senses. It does so because it desires to make the spiritual man dominant, in order that the spiritual or truly rational man may govern the man of sense. Philosophy feels this truth, only its error consists in not apprehending the true source of reason, and because she would replace it by individuality by sensuous reason.

As man has internally a spiritual organ and a sensorium to receive the true principle of divine wisdom, or a true motive for the will or divine love, he has also exteriorly a physical and material sensorium to receive the *appearance* of light and truth. As external nature can have no absolute truth, but only phenomenally relative, therefore, human reason cannot cognise pure truth, it can but apprehend through the appearance of phenomena, which excites the lust of the eye, and in this as a source of action consists the corruption of sensuous man and the degradation of nature.

This exterior sensorium in man is composed of frail matter, whereas the internal sensorium is organized fundamentally from incorruptible, transcendental, and metaphysical substance.

The first is the cause of our depravity and our mortality, the second the cause of our incorruptibility and of our immortality.

In the regions of material and corruptible nature mortality hides immortality, therefore all our trouble results from corruptible mortal matter. In order that man should be released from this distress, it is necessary that the immortal and incorruptible principle, which dwells within, should expand and absorb the corruptible principle, so that the envelope of the senses should be opened, and man appear in his pristine purity.

This natural envelope is a truly corruptible substance found in our blood, forming the fleshly bonds binding our immortal spirits under the servitude of the mortal flesh.

This envelope can be rent more or less in every man, and this places him in greater spiritual liberty, and makes him more cognisant of the transcendental world.

There are three different degrees in the opening of our spiritual sensorium.

The first degree reaches to the moral plane only, the transcendental world energises through us in but by interior action, called inspiration.

The second and higher degree opens this sensorium to the reception of the spiritual and the intellectual, and the metaphysical world works in us by interior *illumination*.

The third degree, which is the highest and most seldom attained, opens the whole inner man. It breaks the crust which fills our spiritual eyes and ears; it reveals the kingdom of spirit, and enables us to see objectively, metaphysical, and transcendental sights; hence all visions are explained fundamentally.

Thus we have an internal sense of objectivity as well as externally. Only the objects and the senses are different. Exteriorly animal and sensual motives act in us and corruptible sensuous matter energises. Interiorly it is metaphysical and indivisible substance which gains admittance within, and the incorruptible and immortal essence of our Spirit receives its influence. Nevertheless, generally things pass much in the same way interiorly as they do externally. The law is everywhere the same. Hence, as the spirit or our internal man has quite other senses, and quite another objective sight from the rational man; one need not be surprised that it (the spirit) should remain an enigma for the scientists of our age, for those who have no objective sense of the transcendental and spiritual world. Hence they measure the supernatural by the measurement of the senses. However, we owe a debt of gratitude towards the philosopher Kant for his view of the truths we have promulgated.

Kant has shown incontestably that the natural reason can know absolutely nothing of what is supernatural, and that it can never understand analytically or synthetically, neither can it prove the possibility of the reality of Love, Spirit, or of the Deity.

This is a great truth, lofty and beneficial for our epoch, though it is true that St Paul has already enunciated it (1 Cor. i. 2--24). But the Pagan philosophy of Christian scientists has been able to overlook it up to Kant. The virtue of this truth is double. First, it puts insurmountable limits to the sentiment, to the fanaticism and to the extravagance of carnal reason. Then it shows by dazzling contrast the necessity and divinity of Revelation. It proves that our human reason, in its state of unfoldment, *has no other* objective source for the supernatural than revelation, the only source of instruction in Divine things or of the spiritual world, the soul and its immortality; hence it follows that without revelation it is absolutely impossible to suppose or conjecture anything regarding these matters.

We are, therefore, indebted to Kant for proving philosophically now-a-days, what long ago was taught in a more advanced and illuminated school, *that without revelation no knowledge of God, neither any doctrine touching the soul, could be at all possible*.

It is therefore clear that a universal Revelation must serve as a fundamental basis to all mundane religion.

Hence, following Kant, it is clear that the transmundane knowledge is wholly inaccessible to natural reason, and that God inhabits a world of light, into which no speculation of the unfolded reason can penetrate. Thus the rational man, or man of human reason, has no sense of transcendental reality, and therefore it was necessary that it should be revealed to him, for which faith is required, because the means are given to him by faith whereby his inner sensorium unfolds, and through which he can apprehend the reality of truths otherwise incapable of being understood by the natural man.

It is quite true that with new senses we can acquire sense of further reality. This reality exists already, but is not known to us, because we lack the organ by which to cognise it. One must not lay the fault to the percept, but on the receptive organ.

With, however, the development of the new organ we have a new perception, a sense of new reality. Without it the spiritual world cannot exist for us, because the organ rendering it objective to us is not developed.

With, however, its unfoldment, the curtain is all at once raised, the impenetrable veil is torn away, the cloud before the Sanctuary lifts, a new world suddenly exists for us, scales fall from the eyes, and we are at once transported from the phenomenal world to the regions of truth.

God alone is *substance*, absolute truth; He alone is He who *is*, and we are what He has made us. For Him, all exists in Unity; for us, all exists in multiplicity.

A great many men have no more idea of the development of the inner sensorium than they have of the true and objective life of the spirit, which they neither perceive nor foresee in any manner. Hence it is impossible to them to know that one can comprehend the spiritual and transcendental, and that one can be raised to the supernatural, even to vision.

The great and true work of building the Temple consists solely in destroying the miserable Adamic hut and in erecting a divine temple; this means, in other words, to develop in us the interior sensorium, or the organ to receive God. After this process, the metaphysical and incorruptible principle rules over the terrestrial, and man begins to live, not any longer in the principle of self-love, but in the Spirit and in the Truth, of which he is the Temple.

The moral law then evolves into love for one's neighbour in deed and in truth, whereas for the natural man it is but a simple attitude of thought; and the spiritual man, regenerated in spirit, sees all *in its essence*, of which the natural man has only the forms void of thought, mere empty sounds, symbols and letters, which are all dead images without interior spirit. The lofty aim of religion is the intimate union of man with God; and this union is possible in this world; but it only can be by the opening of our inner sensorium, which enables our hearts to become receptive to God.

Therein are mysteries that our philosophy does not dream of, the key to which is not to be found in scholastic science.

Meanwhile, a more advanced school has always existed to whom this deposition of all science has been confided, and this school was the community illuminated interiorly by the Saviour, the society of the Elect, which has continued from the first day of creation to the present time; its members, it is true, are scattered all over the world, but they have always been united in the spirit and in one truth; they have had but one intelligence and one source of truth, but one doctor and one master; but in whom resides substantially the whole plenitude of God, and who alone initiates them into the high mysteries of Nature and the Spiritual World.

This community of light has been called from all time the invisible celestial Church, or the most ancient of all communities, of which we will speak more fully in our next letter.

## Letter II

It is necessary, my dear brothers in the Lord, to give you a clear idea of the interior Church; of that illuminated Community of God which is scattered throughout the world, but which is governed by one truth and united in one spirit.

This enlightened community has existed since the first day of the world's creation, and its duration will be to the last day of time.

This community possesses a School, in which all who thirst for knowledge are instructed by the Spirit of Wisdom itself; and all the mysteries of God and of nature are preserved in this School for the children of light. . . . Perfect knowledge of God, of nature, and of humanity are the objects of instruction in this school. It is from her that all truths penetrate into the world, she is the School of the Prophets, and of all who search for wisdom, and it is in this community alone that truth and the explanation of all mystery is to be found. It is the most hidden of communities yet possesses members from many circles; of such is this School. From all time there has been an exterior school based on the interior one, of which it is but the outer expression. From all time, therefore, there has been a hidden assembly, a society of the Elect, of those who sought for and had capacity for light, and this interior society was called the interior Sanctuary or Church. All that the external Church possesses in symbol ceremony or rite is the letter expressive outwardly of the spirit of truth residing in the interior Sanctuary.

Hence this Sanctuary composed of scattered members, but tied by the bonds of perfect unity and love, has been occupied from the earliest ages in building the grand Temple through the regeneration of humanity, by which the reign of God will be manifest. This society is in the communion of those who have most capacity for light, *i.e.*, the Elect. The Elect are united in truth, and their Chief is the Light of the World himself, Jesus Christ, the One Anointed in light, the single mediator for the human race, the Way, the Truth, and the Life - Primitive light, wisdom, and the only *medium* by which man can return to God.

The interior Church was formed immediately after the fall of man, and received from God at first-hand the revelation of the means by which fallen humanity could be again raised to its rights and delivered from its misery. It received the primitive charge of all revelation and mystery; it received the key of true science, both divine and natural.

But when men multiplied, the frailty of man and his weakness necessitated an exterior society which veiled the interior one, and concealed the spirit and the truth in the letter. Because many people were not capable of comprehending great interior truth, and the danger would have been too great in confiding the most Holy to incapable people. Therefore, interior truths were wrapped in external and perceptible ceremonies, so that men, by the perception of the outer, which is the symbol of the interior, might by degrees be enabled safely to approach the interior spiritual truths.

But the inner truth has always been confided to him who in his day had the most capacity for illumination, and he became the sole guardian of the original Trust, as High Priest of the Sanctuary.

When it became necessary that interior truths should be enfolded in exterior ceremony and symbol, on account of the real weakness of men who were not capable of bearing the Light of Light, then exterior worship began. It was, however, always the type and symbol of the interior, that is to say, the symbol of the true homage offered to God *in spirit* and *in truth*.

The difference between spiritual and animal man, and between rational and sensual man, made the exterior and interior imperative. Interior truth passed into the external wrapped in symbol and ceremony, so that sensuous man could observe, and be gradually thereby led to interior truth. Hence external worship was symbolically typical of interior truths, and of the true relationship between man and God before and after the Fall, and of his most perfect reconciliation. All the symbols of external worship are based upon the three fundamental relations - the Fall, the Reconciliation, and the Complete Atonement.

The care of the external service was the occupation of priests, and every father of a family was in the ancient times charged with this duty. First fruits and the first born among animals were offered to God, symbolizing that all that preserves and nourishes us comes from Him; also that animal man must be killed to make room for rational and spiritual man.

The external worship of God would never have been separated from interior service but for the weakness of man which tends too easily to forget the spirit in the letter, but the spirit of God is vigilant to note in every nation those who are able to receive light, and they are employed as agents to spread the light according to man's capacity, and to revivify the dead letter.

Through these divine instruments the interior truths of the Sanctuary were taken into every nation, and modified symbolically according to their customs, capacity for instruction, climate, and receptiveness. So that the external types of every religion, worship, ceremonies and Sacred Books in general have more or less clearly, as their object of instruction, the interior truths of the Sanctuary, by which man, but only in the latter days, will be conducted to the universal knowledge of the one Absolute Truth.

The more the external worship of a people has remained united with the spirit of esoteric truth, the purer its religion; but the wider the difference between the symbolic letter and the invisible truth, the more imperfect has become the religion; even so far among some nations as to degenerate into polytheism. Then the external form entirely parted from its inner truth, when ceremonial observances without soul or life remained alone.

When the *germs* of the most important truths had been carried everywhere by God's agents, He chose a certain people to raise up *a vital symbol* destined by Him to manifest forth the means by which He intended to govern the human race in its present condition, and by which it would be raised into complete purification and perfection.

God Himself communicated to this people its exterior religious legislation, He gave all the symbols and enacted all the ceremonies, and they contained the impress, as it were, of the great esoteric truth of the Sanctuary.

God consecrated this external Church in Abraham, gave commandments through Moses, and it received its highest perfection in the double message of Jesus Christ, existing personally in poverty and suffering, and by the communication of His Spirit in the glory of the Resurrection.

Now, as God Himself laid the foundation of the external Church, the whole of the symbols of external worship formed the science of the Temple and of the Priests in those days, because the mysteries of the most sacred truths became external through revelation alone. The scientific acquaintance of this holy symbolism was the science to unite fallen man once more with God, hence religion received its name from being the science of rebinding man with God, to bring man back to his origin.

One sees plainly by this pure idea of religion in general that unity in religion is within the inner Sanctuary, and that the multiplicity of external religions can never alter the true unity which is at the base of every exterior.

The wisdom of the ancient temple alliance was preserved by priests and by prophets.

To the priests was confided the external, - the letter of the symbol, hieroglyphics. The prophets had the charge of the inner truth, and their occupation was to continually recall the priest to the spirit in the letter, when inclined to lose it. The science of the priests was that of the knowledge of exterior symbol.

That of the prophets was experimental possession of the truth of the symbols. In the interior the spirit lived. There was, therefore, in the ancient alliance a school of prophets and of priests, the one occupying itself with the spirit in the emblem, the other with the emblem itself. The priests had the external possession of the Ark, of the shewbread, of the candlesticks, of the manna, of Aaron's rod, and the prophets were in interior possession of the inner spiritual truth which was represented exteriorly by the symbols just mentioned.

The external Church of the ancient alliance was visible, the interior Church was always invisible, must be invisible, and yet must govern all, because force and power are alone confided to her.

When the divine external worship abandoned the interior worship, it fell, and God proved by a remarkable chain of circumstances that the letter could not exist without the spirit, that it is only there to lead to the spirit, and it is useless and even rejected by God if it fails in its object.

As the spirit of nature extends to the most sterile depths to vivify and preserve and cause growth in everything susceptible to its influence, likewise the spirit of light spreads itself interiorly among nations to animate everywhere the dead letter by the living spirit.

This is why we find a Job among idolators, a Melchizedek among strange nations, a Joseph with the Egyptian priests, a Moses in the country of Midian, as living proofs the interior community of those who are capable of receiving light was united by one spirit and one truth in all times and in all nations.

To these agents of light from the one inner community was united the Chief of all agents, Jesus Christ Himself, in the midst of time as *royal priest* after the order of Melchizedek.

The divine agents of the ancient alliance hitherto represented only specialised perfections of God; therefore a powerful movement was required which should show all at once - *all in one*. A universal type appeared, which gave the real touch of perfect unity to the picture, which opened a fresh door, and destroyed the number of the slavery of humanity.

The law of love began when the image emanating from wisdom itself showed to man all the greatness of his being, vivified him anew, assured him of his immortality, and raised his intellectual status to that of being the true temple for the spirit.

This Chief Agent of all, this Saviour of the World and universal Regenerator, claimed man's whole attention to the primitive truth, whereby he can preserve his existence and recover his former dignity. Through the conditions of His own abasement He laid the base of the redemption of man, and He promised to accomplish it completely one day through His Spirit. He showed also truly in part among His apostles all that should come to pass in the future to all the Elect.

He linked the chain of the community of light among the Elect, to whom He sent the spirit of truth, and confided to them the true primitive instruction in all divine and natural things, as a sign that He would never forsake His community.

When the letter and symbolic worship of the external Church of the ancient alliance had been realised by the Incarnation of the Saviour, and verified in His person, new symbols became requisite Tor external use, which showed us through the letter the future accomplishment of universal redemption.

The rites and symbols of the external Christian Church were formed after the pattern of these unchangeable and fundamental truths, announcing things of a strength and of an importance impossible to describe, and revealed only to those who knew the innermost Sanctuary.

This Sanctuary remains changeless, though external religion receives in the course of time and circumstances varied modification, entailing separation from the interior spirit which can alone preserve the letter. The profane idea of wishing to "secularize" all that is Christian, and to Christianise all that is political, changed the exterior edifice, and covered with the shadow of death all that was interior light and life. Hence divisions and heresies, and the spirit of Sophistry ready to expound the letter when it had already lost the essence of truth.

Current incredulity increased corruption to its utmost point, attacking the edifice of Christianity in its fundamental parts, and the sacred interior was mingled with the exterior, already enfeebled by the ignorance of weak man.

Then was born Deism; this brought forth materialism, which looked on the union of man with superior forces as imaginary; then finally came forth, partly from the head and partly from the heart, the last degree of man's degradation - Atheism.

In the midst of all this, truth reposes inviolable in the inner Sanctuary.

Faithful to the spirit of truth, which promised never to abandon its community, the members of the interior Church lived in silence, but in real activity, and united the science of the temple of the ancient alliance with the spirit of the great saviour of man - the spirit of the interior alliance, waiting humbly the great moment when the Lord will call them, and will assemble his community in order to give every dead letter external force and life.

This interior community of light is the reunion of all those capable of receiving light as Elect, and it is known as the *Communion of Saints*. The primitive receptacle for all strength and truth, confided to it from all time - it alone, says St Paul, is in the possession of the science of the Saints.

By it the agents of God were formed in every age, passing from the interior to the exterior, and communicating spirit and life to the dead letter as already said.

This illuminated community has been through time the true school of God's spirit, and considered as school, it has its Chair, its Doctor, it possesses a rule for students, it has forms and objects for study, and, in short, a method by which they study.

It has, also, its degrees for successive development to higher altitudes.

The first and lowest degree consists in the moral good, by which the single will, subordinated to God, is led to God by the pure motive of willing with and to Jesus Christ, which it does through faith. The means by which the spirit of this school acts are called inspirations.

The second degree consists in the rational intellectuality, by which the understanding of the man of virtue, who is united to God, is crowned with wisdom and the light of knowledge, and the means which the spirit uses to produce this is called interior illumination.

The third and highest degree is the entire opening of our inner sensorium, by which the inner man perceives objectively and really, metaphysical verities. This is the highest degree when faith passes into open vision, and the means the spirit uses for this are real visions.

These are the three degrees of the school for true interior wisdom - that of the illuminated Society. The same spirit which ripens men for this community also distributes its degrees by the co-action of the ripened subject.

This school of wisdom has been forever most secretly hidden from the world, because it is invisible and submissive solely to divine government.

It has never been exposed to the accidents of time and to the weakness of man. Because only the most capable were chosen for it, and the spirits who selected made no error.

Through this school were developed the germs of all the sublime sciences, which were first received by external schools, then clothed in other forms, and hence degenerating.

This society of sages communicated, according to time and circumstances, unto the exterior societies their symbolic hieroglyphs, in order to attract man to the great truths of their interior.

But all exterior societies subsist through this interior one giving them its spirit. As soon as external societies wish to be independent of the interior one, and to transform a temple of wisdom into a political edifice, the interior society retires and leaves only the letter without the spirit. It is thus that secret external societies of wisdom were nothing but hieroglyphic screens, the truth remaining inviolable in the sanctuary so that she might never be profaned.

In this interior society man finds wisdom and with her - All - not the wisdom of this world which is but scientific knowledge, which revolves round the outside but never touches the centre (in which is contained all strength), but true wisdom and men obeying her.

All disputes, all controversies, all the things belonging to the false cares of this world, fruitless discussions, useless germs of opinions which spread the seeds of disunion, all error, schisms, and systems are banished. Neither calumny nor scandal are known. Every man is honoured. Satire, that spirit which loves to make its neighbour smart, is unknown. Love alone reigns.

Want and feebleness are protected, and rejoicings are made at the elevation and greatness which man acquires.

We must not, however, imagine this society resembles any secret society, meeting at certain times, choosing its leaders and members, united by special objects. All societies, be what they may, can but come after this interior illuminated circle. This society knows none of the formalities which belong to the outer rings, the work of man. In this kingdom of power all outward forms cease.

God himself is the Power always present. The best man of his times, the chief himself, does not always know all the members, but the moment when it is the Will of God that he should accomplish any object, he finds them in the world with certainty to work for that purpose.

This community has no outside barriers. He who may be chosen by God is as the first, he presents himself among the others without presumption, and he is received by the others without jealousy.

If it be necessary that real members should meet together, they find and recognise each other with perfect certainty.

No disguise can be used, neither hypocrisy nor dissimulation could hide the characteristic qualities of this society, they are too genuine. All illusion is gone, and things appear in their true form.

No one member can choose another, unanimous choice is required. All men are called, the called may be chosen, if they become ripe for entrance.

Any one can look for the entrance, and any man who is within can teach another to seek for it; but only he who is fit can arrive inside.

Unprepared men occasion disorder in a community, and disorder is not compatible with the Sanctuary. This thrusts out all who are not homogeneous.

Worldly intelligence seeks this Sanctuary in vain, fruitless also will be the efforts of malice to penetrate these great mysteries; all is undecipherable to him who is not ripe, he can see nothing, read nothing in the interior.

He who is ripe is joined to the chain, perhaps often where he thought least likely, and at a point of which he knew nothing himself.

Seeking to become ripe, should be effort of him who sees wisdom.

But there are methods by which ripeness is attained, for in this holy communion is the primitive storehouse of the most ancient and original science of the human race, with the primitive mysteries also of all science. It is the unique and really illuminated community which is absolutely in possession of the key to all mystery, which knows the centre and source of all nature and creation. It is a society which unites superior strength to its own, and counts its members from more than one world. It is the society whose members form a theocratic republic, which one day will be the Regent Mother of the whole World.

## Letter III

The absolute truth lying in the centre of Mystery is like the sun, it blinds ordinary sight and man sees only the shadow. The eagle alone can gaze at the dazzling light, likewise only the prepared soul can bear its lustre. Nevertheless the great *Something* which is the inmost of the Holy Mysteries has never been hidden from the piercing gaze of him who can bear the light.

God and nature have no mysteries for their children. They are caused by the weakness of our nature, unable to support light, because it is not yet organised to bear the chaste light of unveiled truth.

This weakness is the Cloud that covers the Sanctuary; this is the curtain which veils the Holy of Holies.

But in order that man may recover the veiled light, strength and dignity, Divinity bends to the weakness of its creatures, and writes the truth that is interior and eternal mystery on the *outside of things*, so that man can transport himself through this to their spirit.

These letters are the ceremonies or the rituals of religion, which lead man to the interior life of union with God.

Mystic hieroglyphs are these letters also; they are sketches and designs holding interior and holy truth.

Religion and the Mysteries go hand in hand to lead our brethren to truth, both have for object the reversing and renewing of our natures, both have for the end the re-building of a temple inhabited by Wisdom and Love, or God with man.

But religion and the Mysteries would be useless phenomena if Divinity had not also accorded means to attain these great ends.

But these means are only in the innermost of the sanctuary. The Mysteries are required to build a temple to Religion, and religion is required to unite Man with God.

Such is the greatness of religion, and such the exalted dignity of the Mysteries from all time.

It would be unjust to you, beloved brothers, that we should think that you have *never* regarded the Holy Mysteries in this *real* aspect, the one which shows them as the only means able to preserve in purity and integrity the doctrine of the important truths concerning God, nature, and man. This doctrine was couched in holy symbolic language, and the truths which it contained having been gradually translated among the outer circle into the ordinary languages of man, became in consequence more obscure and unintelligible.

The Mysteries, as you know, beloved brothers, promise things which are and which will remain always the heritage of but a small number of men; these are the mysteries which can neither be bought nor sold publicly, and can only be acquired by a heart which has attained to wisdom and love.

He in whom this holy flame has been awakened lives in true happiness, content with everything and in everything free. He sees the cause of human corruption and knows that it is inevitable. He hates no criminal, he pities him, and seeks to raise him who has fallen, and to restore the wanderer, because he feels notwithstanding all the corruption, in the *whole* there is no taint.

He sees with a clear eye the underlying truth in the foundation of all religion, he knows the sources of superstition and of incredulity, as being caused by *modifications* of truth which have not attained perfect equilibrium.

We are assured, my esteemed brothers, that you consider the true Mystic from this aspect, and that you will not attribute to *his royal art*, that which the misdirected energy of some isolated individuals have made of this art.

It is, therefore, with these views, which accord exactly with ours, that you will compare religion, and the mysteries of the holy schools of Wisdom, to loving sisters who have watched over the good of mankind since the necessity of their birth.

Religion divides itself into exterior and interior religion, exterior signifying ceremony; and interior, worship in spirit and in truth; the outer schools possessing the letter and the symbol, the inner ones, the spirit and meaning - but the outer schools were united to the inner ones by ceremonies, as also the outer schools of the mysteries were linked with the inner one by means of symbol.

Thus religion can never be *merely* ceremony, but hidden and holy mysteries penetrate through symbol into the outer worship to prepare men properly for the worship of God in spirit and in truth.

Very soon the night of symbol will disappear, the light will bring forth the day and the mysteries no longer veiled will show themselves in the splendour of full truth.

The vestibule of nature, the temple of reason and the sanctuary of Revelation, will form but one Temple. Thus the great edifice will be completed, the edifice which consists in the re-union of man, nature, and God.

A perfect knowledge of man, of nature, and of God will be the lights which will enable the leaders of humanity to bring back from every side their wandering brothers, those who are led by the prejudices of reason, by the turbulence of passions, to the ways of peace and knowledge.

We arc approaching the period of light, and the reign of wisdom and love, that of God who is the source of light; Brothers of light, there is but one religion whose simple truth spreads in all religions like branches, returning through multiplicity into the unity of the tree.

Sons of truth, there is but one order, but one Brotherhood, but one association of men thinking alike in the one object of acquiring the light. From this centre misunderstanding has caused innumerable Orders, but all will return from the multiplicity of opinions, to the only truth and to the true Order, the association of those who are able to receive the light, the *Community of the Elect*.

With this measure all religions and all orders of man must be measured. Multiplicity is in the ceremony of the exterior; truth only in the interior. The trend of these brotherhoods is in the variety of explanation of the symbols caused by the lapse of time, needs of the day, and other circumstances. The true Community of Light can be only one.

The exterior symbol is only the sheath which holds the inner; it may change and multiply, but it can never weaken the truth of the interior; moreover, it was necessary; we ought to seek it and try to decipher it to discover the meaning of the spiritual interior.

All errors, divisions, all misunderstandings in Religion and in secret societies only concern the letter. What rests behind it remains always pure and holy.

Soon the time for those who seek the light will be accomplished, for the day comes when the old will be united to the new, the outer to the inner, the high with the low, the heart with the brain, man with God, and this epoch is destined for the present age. Do not ask, beloved brothers, . . . why the present age? . . .

Everything has its time for beings subject to time and space. It is in such wise according to the unvarying law of the Wisdom of God, who has co-ordinated all in harmony and perfection.

The elect should first labour to acquire both wisdom and love, in order to earn the gift of power, which unchangeable Divinity gives only to those who *know* and those who *love*.

Morning follows night, and the sun rises, and all moves on to full mid-day, where all shadows disappear in his vertical splendour. Thus, the letter of truth must exist; then comes the practical explanation, then the truth itself; *only truth can comprehend truth;* then alone can the spirit of truth appear which sets the seals closing the light. He who now can receive the truth will understand. It is to you, much loved brothers, you who labour to reach truth, you who have so faithfully preserved the glyph of the holy mysteries in your temple, it is to you that the first ray of truth will be directed; this ray will pierce through the cloud of mystery, and will announce the full day and the treasure which it brings.

Do not ask *who* those are who write to you; look at the spirit not the letter, the thing, not at persons.

Neither pride, nor self seeking, neither does any unworthy motive, exist in our retreats; we know the object and the destination of man, and the light which lights us works in all our actions.

We are especially called to write to you, dear brothers of light; and that which gives power to our commission is the truth which we possess, and which we pass on to you on the least sign, and according to the measure of the capacity of each.

Light is apt for communication, where there is reception and capacity, but it constrains no one, and waits its reception tranquilly.

Our desire, our aim, our office is to revivify the dead letter, and to spiritualise the symbols, turn the passive into the active, death into life; but this we cannot do *by ourselves*, but through the spirit of light of Him who is Wisdom and the Light of the world.

Until the present time the Inner Sanctuary has been separated from the Temple, and the Temple beset with those who belong only to the precincts; but the time is coming when the Innermost will be re-united with the Temple, in order that those who are in the Temple can influence those who are in the outer courts, so that the outer pass in.

In our sanctuary all the hidden mysteries are preserved intact, they have never been profaned.

This sanctuary is invisible, as is a force which is only known through its action.

By this short description, my dear brothers, you can tell who we are, and it will be superfluous to assure you that we do not belong to those restless natures who seek to build in this common life an ideal after their own fantastic imaginations. Neither do we belong to those who wish to play a great part in the world, and who promise miracles that they themselves do not understand. We do not represent either that class of minds, who, resenting the condition of certain things, have no object but the desire of dominating others, and who love adventure and exaggeration.

We can also assure you that we belong to no other sect or association than the one true and great one of those who are able to receive the light. We are not also of those who think it their right to mould all after their own model, the arrogance to seek to re-model all other societies; we assure you faithfully that we know *exactly* the innermost of religion and of the Holy Mysteries; and that we possess with absolute certainty, all that has been surmised to be in the Adytum, and that this said possession gives us the strength to justify our commission, and to impart to the dead letter and hieroglyphic everywhere both spirit and life. The treasures in our sanctuary are many; we understand the spirit and meaning of all symbols and all ceremony which have existed since the day of Creation to the present time, as well as the most interior truths of all the Holy Books, with the laws and customs of primitive people.

We possess a light by which we are anointed, and by means of which we read the hidden and secret things of nature.

We possess a fire which feeds us, and which gives us the strength to act upon everything in nature. We possess *a key to open* the gate of mystery, and a *key to shut* nature's laboratory. We know of the existence of a bond which will unite us to the Upper Worlds, and reveal to us their sights and their sounds. All the marvels of nature arc subordinate to our will by *its* being united with Divinity.

We have mastered the science which draws directly from nature, whence there is no error, but truth and light only.

In our School we are instructed in all things because our Master is the Light itself and its essence. The plenitude of our scholarship is the knowledge of this tie between the divine and spiritual worlds and of the spiritual world with the elementary, and of the elementary world with the material world.

By these knowledges we are in condition to co-ordinate the spirits of nature and the heart of man.

Our science is the inheritance promised to the Elect; otherwise, those who are duly prepared for receiving the light, and the practice of our science is in the completion of the Divine union with the child of man.

We could often tell you, beloved brothers, of marvels relating to the hidden things in the treasury of the Sanctuary, which would amaze and astonish you; we could speak to you about ideas concerning which the profoundest philosophy is as removed as the earth from the sun, but to which we arc near being one with the light of the innermost.

But our object is not to excite your curiosity, but to raise your desires to seek the light at its source, where your search for wisdom will be rewarded and your longing for love satisfied, for wisdom and love dwell in our retreats. The stimulus of their reality and of their truth is our magical power.

We assure you that our treasures, though of infinite value, are concealed in so simple a manner that they entirely baffle the researches of opinionated science, and also though these treasures would bring to carnal minds both madness and sorrow, nevertheless, they are, and they ever remain to us the treasures of the highest wisdom.

My best blessing upon you, O my brothers, if you understand these great truths. The recovery of *the triple word* and of its power will be your reward.

Your happiness will be in having the strength to help to re-unite man with man, and with nature and with God, which is the real work of every workman who has not *rejected the Corner Stone*.

Now we have fulfilled our trust and we have announced the approach of full day, and the joining of the inner Sanctuary with the Temple; we leave the rest to your own free will.

We know well, to our bitter grief, that even as the Saviour was not understood in his personality, but was ridiculed and condemned in his humility, likewise also His spirit which will appear in glory will also be rejected and despised by many. Nevertheless the coming of His Spirit should be announced in the Temples in order that these words should be fulfilled.

"I have knocked at your doors and you have not opened them to me; I have called and you have not listened to my voice; I have invited you to the wedding, but you were busy with other things."

May Peace and the light of the Spirit be with you!

## Letter IV

As infinity in numbers loses itself in the unit, and as the innumerable rays of a circle are united in one single centre only, it is likewise with the Mysteries; their hieroglyphics and infinite number of emblems have the object of exemplifying but one single truth. He who knows this has found the key to understand everything all at once.

There is but one God, but one truth, and one way which leads to this grand Truth. There is but one means of finding it.

He who has found this way possesses everything in its possession: all wisdom in one book alone, all strength in one force, every beauty in one single object, all riches in one treasure only, every happiness in one perfect felicity. And the sum of all these perfections is Jesus Christ, who was crucified and who lived again. Now, this great truth, expressed thus, is, it is true, only an object of faith, but it can become also one of *experimental knowledge*, as soon as we are instructed *how* Jesus Christ can be or become all this.

This great mystery was always an object of instruction *in the Secret School of the invisible and interior Church;* this great knowledge was understood in the earliest days of Christianity under the name of *Disciplina Arcana*. From this secret school are derived all the rites and ceremonies extant in the Outer Church. But the spirit of these grand and simple verities was withdrawn into the Interior, and in our day it is entirely lost as to the exterior.

It has been prophesied long ago, dear brothers, that all which is hidden shall be revealed in these latter days; but it has also been predicted that many false prophets will arise, and the faithful are warned not to believe every spirit, but to prove them if they really come from God, i John iv. 5. The apostle himself explains how this truth is ascertained. He says, "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God, every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which confesseth not is not of God." That is to say, the spirit who separates in Him the Divine and human *is not from God*.

We confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, and hence the spirit of truth speaks by us. But the mystery that Jesus Christ is come *in the flesh* is of wide extent and great depth, and in it is contained the knowledge of the divine-human, and it is this knowledge that we are choosing to-day as object for our instruction.

As we are not speaking to neophytes in matters of faith, it will be much easier for you, dear brothers, to receive the sublime truths which we will present to you, as without doubt you have already chosen as object for your holy meditation various preparatory subjects.

Religion considered scientifically is the doctrine of the re-union of man separated from God to man re-united to God. Hence its sole object is to unite every human being to God, through which union alone can humanity attain its highest felicity both temporally and spiritually.

This doctrine, therefore, of *re-union* is of the most sublime importance, and being a doctrine it necessarily must have a method by which it leads and teaches us. The first is the knowledge of the correct means of re-union, and secondly the teaching, after the knowledge of the correct means, how these means should be suitably co-ordinated to the end.

This grand concept of re-union, on which all religious doctrine is concentrated, could never have been known to man *without* revelation. It has always been altogether outside the sphere of scientific knowledge, but this very ignorance of man has made revelation absolutely necessary to us, otherwise we could, unassisted, never have found the means of rising out of this state of ignorance.

Revelation entails the necessity of faith in revelation, because he who has no experience or knowledge whatsoever of a thing must necessarily believe that he wishes to know and have experience. If faith fails, there is no desire for revelation, and the mind of man closes by itself, its own door and road for discovering the methods revealed by Revelation only. As action and reaction follow each other in nature, so also inevitably revelation and faith act and re-act. One cannot exist without the other, and the more faith a man has the more will revelation be made to him of matters which lie in obscurity. It is true, and very true, that all the veiled truths of religions, even those heavily veiled ones, the most difficult ones to us, will one day be revealed and justified before a tribunal of the most rigid Justice; but the weakness of men, the lack of penetration in perceiving the relation and correspondence between physical and spiritual nature, requires that the highest truths should only be imparted gradually. The holy obscurity of the mysteries is thus on account of *our* weakness, because our eyes are enabled only gradually to bear their full and dazzling light. In every grade at which the believer in Revelation arrives, he obtains clearer light, and this progressive illumination continues the more convincing, because every truth of faith so acquired becomes more and more vitalised, passing finally into conviction.

Hence faith is founded on our weakness, and also on the full light of revelation which will, in its communication with us, direct us according to our capabilities to the gradual understanding of things, so that in due order the cognisance of the most elevated truths will be ours.

Those objects which are quite unknown to human sense are necessarily belonging to the domain of faith.

Man can only adore and be silent, but if he wishes to demonstrate matters which cannot be manifested objectively, he necessarily falls into error.

Man should adore and be silent, therefore, until such time arrives when these objects in the domain of faith become clearer, and, therefore, more easily recognised. Everything proves itself by itself as soon as we have acquired the interior *experience* of the truths revealed through faith, so soon as we are led by faith to vision, that is to say, to full cognisance.

In all time have there been men illuminated of God who had this interior knowledge of the things of faith demonstrated objectively either in full or partly, according as the truths of faith passed into their understanding or their hearts. The first kind of vision was called *divine illumination*. The second was entitled *divine inspiration*.

The inner sensorium was opened in many to divine and transcendental vision, called ecstacy because this inner sensorium was so enlarged that it entirely dominated the outer physical senses.

But this kind of man is always inexplicable, and he must remain such always to the man of mere sense who has no organs receptive to the transcendental and supernatural, "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged," 1 Cor. xi. 14, *i.e.*, because his spiritual senses are not open to the transcendental world, so that he can have no more objective cognisance of such world than a blind man has of colour; thus the natural man has lost these interior senses, or rather, the capacity for their development is neglected almost to atrophy.

Thus mere physical man is, in general, spiritually blind, one of the further consequences of the Fall. Man then is doubly miserable; he not only has his eyes blindfolded to the sight of high truths, but his heart also languishes a prisoner in the bonds of flesh and blood, which confine him to animal and sensuous pleasures to the hurt of more elevated and genuine ones. Therefore, are we slaves to concupiscence, to the domination of tyrannical passions, and, therefore, do we drag ourselves as paralysed sufferers supported on crutches; the one crutch being the weak one of mere human reason, and the other, sentiment - the one daily giving us appearance instead of reality, the other making us constantly choose evil, imagining it to be good. This is, therefore, our unhappy condition.

Men can only be happy when the bandage which intercepts the true light falls from their eyes, and when the fetters of slavery are loosened from their hearts. The blind must see, the lame must walk, before happiness can be understood. But the great and all-powerful law to which the felicity or happiness of man is indissolubly attached is the one following - "Man, let reason rule over your passions!"

For ages has man striven to teach and to preach, with, however, the result, after so many centuries, of but the blind always leading the blind; for in all the foolishness of misery into which we have fallen, we do not yet see that man wants more than man to raise us from this condition.

Prejudices and errors, crimes and vices, only change from century to century; they are never extirpated from humanity; reason without illumination flickers faintly in every age, in the heavy air of spiritual darkness; the heart, exhausted with passions, is also the same century after century.

There is but One who can heal these evils, but One who is able to open our inner eyes, but One who can free us from the bonds of sensuality.

This One is Jesus Christ, the *Saviour of Man*, the *Saviour* because He wishes to obliterate from us all the consequences which follow as result from the blindness of our natural reason, or the errors arising from the passions of ungoverned hearts.

Very few men, beloved brothers, have a true and exact conception of the *greatness* of the idea meant by the Redemption of Man; many suppose that Jesus Christ the Lord has only redeemed or re-bought us by His Blood from *damnation, otherwise the eternal separation* of man from God; but they do not believe that He could also deliver all those who are bound in Him and confide in Him, from all the miseries of this earth plane!

Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World; He is the deliverer from all human wretchedness, and He has redeemed us from death and sin; how could He be all that, if the world must languish perpetually in the shades of ignorance and in the bonds of passions? It has been already very clearly predicted in the Prophets that the time of the Redemption of His people, the first Sabbath of time, *will come*. Long ago ought we to have acknowledged this most consolatory promise; but the *want* of the true knowledge of God, of man, and of nature has been the real hindrance which has always obstructed our sight of the great Mysteries of the faith.

You must know, my brothers, that there is a dual nature, one pure, spiritual, immortal, and indestructible, the other impure, material, mortal, and destructible. The pure nature was before the impure. This latter originated solely through the disharmony and disproportion of substances which form destructible nature. Hence nothing is permanent until all disproportions and dissonances are eradicated, so that all remains in harmony.

The incorrect conception regarding spirit and matter is one of the principal causes which prevent many verities of faith from shining in their true lustre.

*Spirit is a substance*, an essence, an absolute reality. Hence its properties are indestructibility, uniformity, penetration, indivisibility, and continuity. Matter is not a substance, it is *an aggregate*. Hence it is destructible, divisible, and subject to change.

The metaphysical world is one *really existing* perfectly pure and indestructible, whose Centre we call Jesus Christ, and whose inhabitants are known by the names of Angels and Spirits.

The physical world is that of phenomena, and it possesses no absolute truth, all that we call truth here is but relative, the shadow and phenomena only of truth.

Our reason here borrows all its ideas from the senses, hence they are lifeless and dead. We draw everything from external objectivity, and our reason is like an ape who imitates what nature shows him outwardly. Thus the light of the senses is the principle of our earthly reason, sensuality the motive for our will, tending therefore to animal wants and their satisfaction. It is true, however, that we feel higher motives imperative, but up to the present we do not know either where to seek or where to find.

In this world everything is corruptible; it is useless to seek here for a pure *principle* of reason and morality or motive for the Will. This must be sought for in a more exalted world - there, where all is pure and indestructible, where there reigns a Being all wisdom and all love. Thus the world neither can nor will become happy until this Real Being can be received by humanity in full and become its All in All.

Man, dear brothers, is composed of indestructible and metaphysical substance, as well as of material and destructible substance, but in such a manner that the indestructible and eternal is, as it were, *imprisoned* in the destructible matter.

Thus two contradictory natures are comprehended in the same man. The destructible substance enchains us to the sensible, the other seeks to deliver us from these chains, and to raise us to the spiritual. Hence the incessant combat between good and evil.

The fundamental cause of human corruption is to be found in the corruptible matter from which man is formed. For this gross matter oppresses the action of the transcendental and spiritual principle, and is the true cause, hence, of the blindness of our understanding, and the errors of our inclinations.

The fragility of a china vessel depends upon the clay from which it is formed. The most beautiful form that clay of any sort is able to receive must always remain fragile because the matter of which it is formed is also fragile. Thus do men remain likewise frail notwithstanding all our external culture.

When we examine the causes of the obstacles keeping the natural man in such deep abasement, they are found in the grossness of the matter in which the spiritual part is, as it were, buried and bound.

The inflexibility of fibres, the immovability of temperaments, that would wish to obey the refined stimulation of the spirit, are, as it were, the material chains which bind them, preventing in us the action of the sublime functions of which the spirit is capable.

The nerves and fluidity of the brain can only yield us rough and obscure notions derived from phenomena, and not from truth and the things themselves; and as we cannot, by the strength of our thinking powers alone, have sufficient balance to oppose representations strong enough to counteract the violence of external sensation, the result is that we are governed by our sensations, and the voice of reason which speaks softly internally is deafened by the tumultuous noise of the elements which keep our mechanism going.

It is true that reason strains to raise itself above this uproar, and wishes to decide the combat, seeking to restore order by the light and force of its judgment. But its action is only like the rays of the sun constantly hidden by clouds.

The grossness of all the matter in which material man consists, and the tissue of the whole edifice of his nature, is the cause of that disinclination which holds the soul in continual imperfection.

The heaviness of our thinking power in general is consequent upon dependence upon gross and unyielding matter, this same matter forming the true bonds of the flesh, and is the true source of all error and vice. Reason, which should be an absolute legislator, is continually slave to sensuality, which raises itself as regent and, governing the reason that is drooping in chains, follows its own desires.

This truth has been felt for long, and it has always been taught that reason should be sole legislator. It should govern the will and never be governed itself.

Great and small feel this truth; but no sooner is it desired to put it in execution than the animal will vanquishes reason, and then the reason subjugates the animal will; thus in every man the victory and defeat are alternate, hence this power and counter-power are the cause of this perpetual oscillation between good and evil, or the true and the false.

If man wishes to be led to the true in such manner that we can only act after the laws of reason, and from the purified will, it is absolutely necessary to constitute the pure reason sovereign in man. But how can this be done when the matter out of which many men is formed is more or less brutal, divisible and corruptible, hence misery, illness, poverty, death, want, prejudices, errors, and vices, the necessary consequence of the limitation of the immortal spirit in the bonds of brute and corruptible matter. Sensuality is bound to rule if reason be fettered.

Yes, friends and brothers, such is the general fate of man, and as this state of things is propagated from man to man, it may in all justice be called the hereditary corruption of man.

We observe, in general, that the powers of reason act upon the heart, but in relation only to the specific constitution of the matter of which man is made. Thus it is extremely remarkable when we think that the sun vivifies this animal matter according to the measure of the distance from this terrestrial body, that it makes it suitable to the functions of animal economy, but at one degree more or less raised from spiritual influence. Diversity of nations, their properties with regard to climate, the variety of character, passions, manners, prejudices and customs, even their virtues and their vices, depend entirely upon the specific constitution of the matter from which they are formed, and in which the imprisoned spirit operates accordingly. Man's capacity for culture is modified to this constitution, likewise his science, which can only affect people as far as there is matter present, susceptible to such modification, and in this modification consists the capacity for culture suitable to such people, which suitability depends partly on climate, partly on descent.

Generally, we find in each zone man much the same everywhere, weak and sensual, wise just in so far as his physical matter allows reason to triumph over the sensuous, or foolish if the sensuous obtains mastery over the more or less fettered spirit. In this lies the evil and the good specially belonging to each nation, as well as to each isolated individual. We find in the world at large the same corruption inherent in the matter from which man is made, only under various forms and modifications.

From the lowest animal condition of savage nature man rises to the idea of the social state, primarily through his wants and desires, strength and cunning, qualities especially animal, inherently his as the animal develops thence gradually into other forms.

The modifications of these fundamental animal tendencies are endless; and the highest degree to which human culture as acquired by the world, has attained, up to the present has not carried things further than the putting of a finer polish on the substance of his animal instincts. This means to say we are raised from the rank of the brute to that of the refined animal.

But this period was necessary, because on its accomplishment begins a new era, when the animal instincts being fully developed, there commences the stage of evolution of the more elevated desires towards light and reason.

Jesus Christ has written in our hearts in exceedingly beautiful words this great truth, that man must seek in his common clay for the cause of all his sorrows. When He said, "The best man, he who strives the most to arrive at truth, sins seven times a day," He wished to say by this, in the man of the finest organisation, the seven powers of the spirit are still closed, therefore the seven sensuous actions surmount them daily after their respective fashions.

Thus the best man is exposed to error and passions; the best man is weak and sinful; the best man is not a free man, and, therefore, exempt from pain and trouble; the best man is subject to sickness and death, and why? Because all these are the natural inevitable consequences incidental to the qualities of the corrupt matter of which he is formed.

Therefore, there could be no hope of higher happiness for humanity so long as this corruptible and material forms the principal substantial part of his being.

The impossibility of mankind to transport itself, of itself, to true perfection, is a despairing thought, but, at the same time, one full of consolation, because, in consequence of this radical impossibility, and because of it, a more exalted and perfect being than man permitted himself to be clothed in this mortal and destructible envelope *in order* to make the mortal immortal, and the destructible indestructible; and in this object is to be sought the true reason for the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the actual substantial Word by which all is made, and which existed from the beginning, Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God working in everything, was as the centre of Paradise of the world and of light. He was the only real organism by which alone Divine strength could be communicated, and this organism is of immortal and pure nature, that indestructible substance which gives new life and raises all things to happiness and perfection. This pure incorruptible substance is *the pure element* in which spiritual man lived.

From this perfect element, which God only can inhabit, and the substance out of which the first man was formed, from it was the first man separated by the Fall. By the partaking of the Tree of Good and Evil, of the mixture, the good and incorruptible principle with the bad and corruptible one, he was self-poisoned, so that his immortal essence retreated interiorly, and the mortal, pressing forward, clothed him externally. Thus, then, disappeared immortality, happiness, and life, and mortality and death were the results of this change.

Many men cannot understand the idea of the Tree of Good and Evil; this tree was, however, the product of moveable but central matter, but in which destructibility had somewhat the superiority over the indestructible. The premature use of this fruit was that which poisoned Adam, robbing him of his immortality and enveloping him in this material and mortal clay, and thenceforward he fell a prey to the Elements *which originally he governed*. This unhappy event was, however, the reason why Immortal Wisdom, the pure metaphysical element, clothed itself with a mortal body and voluntarily sacrificed himself, so that the Interior Powers could penetrate into the centre of the destruction, and could then ferment gradually, changing the mortal to the immortal.

Thus, when it came about quite naturally that immortal man became subject to mortality through the enjoyment of mortal matter, it also happened quite naturally that mortal man could only recover his former dignity through the enjoyment of Immortal Matter.

All passes naturally and simply under God's Reign, but in order to understand this simplicity it is requisite to have pure ideas of God, of nature, and of man. And if the sublimest Truths of faith are still, for us, wrapped in impenetrable obscurity, the reason for this is because we have up to the present dissolved the connection between God, nature, and man.

Jesus Christ has spoken to His most intimate friends when He was still on this earth, of the grand mystery of Regeneration, but all that He said was obscure to them, they could not then receive it; thus the development of these great Truths was reserved for latter days, for it is the greatest and the last Mystery of Religion, in which all the others retreat as to a Unity.

Regeneration is no other than a dissolution of, and a release from this impure and corruptible matter, which enchains our immortal essence, plunging into deathly sleep its obstructed vital force. Therefore, there must necessarily be a real method to eradicate this poisonous ferment which breeds so much suffering for us, and thereby to liberate the obstructed vitality.

There is, however, no other means to find this excepting by religion, for religion looked at scientifically being the doctrine which proclaims the re-union with God, it must of necessity show us how to arrive at this re-union.

Is not Jesus the life giving intelligence? He gives us the principal object of the Bible and of all the desires, hopes, and efforts of the Christians. Have we not received from our Lord and Master while still He walked with His disciples, the profoundest solutions of the most hidden truths? Did not our Lord and Master when He was with them in His glorified Body after His resurrection give them the highest revelation with regard to His Person, and did He not lead them still more deeply into central knowledge of truth?

Will He not realise that which He said in His Sacerdotal prayer, St. John xvii. 22, 23: "And the glory which thou hast given to me I have given unto them, that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and they in Me, that they may be perfected into One."

As the disciples of the Lord could not comprehend this great mystery of the new and last alliance, Jesus Christ transmitted it to the latter days, of the future now arriving, when He said, "And the glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given unto them, that they may be one even as We are One," St. John xvii. 22. This alliance is called the Union of Peace. It is then that the law of God will be engraven in the heart of our hearts; we shall all know the Lord; and we shall be His people, and He will be our God.

All is already prepared for this actual possession of God, this union with God really possible here below; and the holy element, the efficacious medicine for humanity, is revealed by God's Spirit. The table of the Lord is ready and everyone is invited; the " true bread of Angels " is prepared.

The holiness and the greatness of the Mystery which contains within itself every mystery here obliges us to be silent, and we are not permitted to speak more than concerning its effects.

The corruptible and destructible is destroyed, and replaced by the incorruptible and by the indestructible. The inner sensorium opens and links us on to the spiritual world. We are enlightened by wisdom, led by truth, and nourished with the torch of love. Unimagined strength develops in us wherewith to vanquish the world, the flesh and the devil. Our whole being is renewed and made suitable for the actual dwelling-place of the Spirit of God. Command over nature, intercourse with the upper worlds, and the delight of visible intercourse with the Lord are granted also!

The hoodwink of ignorance falls from our eyes, the bonds of sensuality break, and we rejoice in the liberty of God's children.

We have told you the chiefest and most important fact, if your heart having the thirst for truth has laid hold on the pure ideas that you have gathered from all this, and have received in its entirety the grandeur and the blessedness of the thing itself as object of desire, we will tell you further.

May the Glory of the Lord and the renewing of your whole being be meanwhile the highest of your hopes!

## Letter V

In our last letter, my dear brothers (and sisters), you granted me your earnest attention to that highest of mysteries, *the real possession of God;* it is therefore necessary to give you fuller light on this subject.

Man, as we know, is unhappy in this world because he is made out of destructible matter that is subject to trouble and sorrow.

The fragile envelope - *i.e.*, his body - exposes him to the violence of the elements, pain, poverty, suffering, illnesses. This is his normal fate; his immortal spirit languishing in the bonds of sense. Man is unhappy, because he is ill in body and soul, and he possesses no true panacea either for his body or for his soul.

Those whose duty it is to govern and lead other men to happiness, are as other men, also weak and subject to the same passions and prejudices.

Therefore, what fate can humanity expect? Must the greater part of it be always unfortunate? Is there no salvation for all?

Brothers, if humanity as a whole is ever capable of being raised to a condition of true happiness, such state can only be possible under the following conditions: -

First, poverty, pain, illness and sorrow must become much less frequent. Secondly, passions, prejudices and ignorance must diminish.

Is this at all possible with the nature of man, when experience proves that, from century to century, suffering only assumes fresh form; that passions, prejudices and errors always cause the same evils; and when we realise that all these things only change shape, and that man in every age remains much the same weak man?

There is a terrible judgment pronounced upon the human race, and this judgment is - men can never become happy so long as they will not become wise; but they will never become wise, while sensuality governs reason, while the spirit languishes in the bonds of flesh and blood.

Where is the man that has no passions? Let him shew himself. Do we not all wear the chains of sensuality more or less heavily? Are we not all slaves? All sinners?

This realisation of our low estate excites in us the desire to be raised beyond it, and we lift up our eyes on high, and an angel's voice says - *the sorrows of man shall be comforted*.

Man being sick body and soul, this mortal sickness must have a cause, and *this cause* is to be found in the very matter out of which man is made.

The destructible imprisons the indestructible, the *ferment of sin* is in us, and in this ferment is human corruption, and its propagation and consequences form the perpetuation of original sin.

The healing of humanity is only possible through the destruction of this ferment of sin, hence we have need of a physician and a remedy that really can cure us. But an invalid cannot be cured by another; the man of destructible matter cannot re-make himself of indestructible matter; dead matter cannot awake other dead, the blind cannot lead the blind.

Only the Perfect can bring anything to perfection; only the Indestructible can make the destructible likewise; only the Living can wake the dead.

This Physician and this active Medicine cannot be found in death and destruction, only in superior nature where all is perfection and life!

The lack of the knowledge of the union of Divinity with nature, nature with man, is the true cause of all prejudice and error. Theologians, philosophers, moralists, all wish to regulate the world, and they fill it with endless contradictions.

Theologians do not see the union of God with nature and fall therefore into error.

Modern philosophers study only matter, and not the connection of pure nature with divine nature, and therefore announce the falsest opinions.

Moralists will not recognise the inherent corruption of human nature, and they expect to cure by words, when means are absolutely necessary.

Thus the world, man and God, continue in permanent dissension; one opinion drives out another; superstition and incredulity take turn about in dominating society, separating man from the word of truth when he has so much dire need of approaching her.

It is only in the true Schools of Wisdom that one can learn to know God, nature, and man; and in these, for thousands of years, has work been done in silence to acquire to the highest degree this knowledge, - the union of man with pure nature and with God.

This great object, God and Nature, to which everything tends, has been represented to man symbolically in every religion; and all the symbols and holy glyphs are but the letter by which man can gradually, step by step, recover the highest of all divine mysteries, natural and human, and learn the means of healing his unhappy condition, and of the union of his being with pure nature and with God.

We have attained this epoch solely under God's guidance. Divinity, next remembering its covenant with man, has given forth the means of cure for suffering mankind, and shewn thereby how to raise man to his original dignity, uniting him to God, the Source of his happiness.

The knowledge of this method ensuring recovery is the science of Saints and of the Elect, and its possession the inheritance promised to God's children.

Now, my beloved brothers, I want you to grant me your most earnest attention to what I am about to say.

In our blood there is lying concealed a slimy matter (called the gluten) which has a nearer kinship to animal than to spiritual man. This gluten is the body of sin.

This material, this matter, can be modified in various manners, according to the stimulus of sense; and according to the kind of modification and change occurring in this body or matter of sin, so also vary the diverse sinful tendencies of man.

In its most violent expansion this matter produces pride; in its utmost contraction, avarice, self-will and selfishness; in its repulsion, rage and anger; in its circular movements levity and incontinence; in its eccentricity, greediness and drunkenness; in its concentricity, envy; in its essence, sloth.

This ferment of sin, as original sin, is more or less working in the blood of every man, and is transmitted from father to son, and the perpetual propagation of this baneful material, everlastingly hinders the simultaneous action of spirit with matter.

It is quite true that man by his will-power can put limits to the action of this body of sin, and can dominate it so that it becomes less active, but to destroy and annihilate it altogether is beyond his power. This then is the cause of the combat we are constantly waging between the good and the evil in us.

This body of sin which is in us, forms the ties of flesh and blood which, on the one side, bind us to our immortal spirit, and, on the other, to the tendencies of the animal man. It is as it were the allurements of the animal passions that smoulder and take fire at last.

The violent reaction of this body of sin in us, on sensuous stimulation, is the reason why we choose, for the want of calm and tranquil judgment, rather the evil than the good, because the active fermentation of this matter impedes the quiet action of the spirit necessary to instruct and sustain the reason.

This same evil matter is also the cause of our ignorance, because, as its thick and inflexible substance surcharges the fine brain fibres, it prevents the co-action of reason, which is required to penetrate the objects of the understanding.

Thus falseness and all evils are the properties of this sinful matter, this body of sin, just as the good and the true are the essential qualities of the spiritual principle within us.

Through the recognition and thorough understanding by us of this body of sin we learn to see that we are beings morally ill, that we have need of a physician who can give us a medicine which will destroy and eradicate the evil matter always fermenting banefully within us, a remedy that will cure us and restore us to moral health.

We learn also clearly to recognize that all mere moralizing with words is of little use *when real means are necessary*.

We have been moralizing in varied words for centuries, but the world remains pretty much the same. A doctor would do but little good in talking only of his remedies, it is necessary for him actually to prescribe his medicines; he has, however, first to see the real state of the sick person.

The condition of humanity - the moral sickness of man - is a true case of poisoning, consequent upon the eating of the fruit of the tree in which corruptible matter had the superiority.

The first effect of this poison resulted thus: the incorruptible principle, the body of life as opposed to the body of sin or death, whose expansion caused the perfection of Adam, concentrated itself inwardly, and the external part was abandoned to the government of the elements. Hence a mortal matter gradually covered the immortal essence, and the loss of this central light was the cause subsequently of all man's sufferings.

Communication with the world of light was interrupted, the interior eye which had the power of seeing truth *objectively* was closed, and the physical eye opened to the plane of changing phenomena.

Man lost all true happiness, and in this unhappy condition he would have for ever lost all means of restoration to health were it not that the love and mercy of God, who had no other object in creation but the greatest happiness for its creatures, immediately afforded to fallen man a means of recovery. In this means, he, with all posterity, had the right to trust, in order that while still in his state of banishment, he might support his misfortune with humility and resignation, and, moreover, find in his pilgrimage the great consolation, that every corruptible thing in man could be restored perfectly through the love of a Saviour.

Despair would have been the fate of man without such revelation.

Man, before the Fall, was the living Temple of Divinity, and at the time when this Temple was destroyed, the plan to rebuild the Temple was already projected by the Wisdom of God; and at this period begin the Holy Mysteries of every religion, which are all and each in themselves, after a thousand varying modes, according to time and circumstances, and method of conception of different nations, but symbols repeated and modified of one solitary truth, and this unique truth is - *regeneration, or the re-union of man with God*.

Before the Fall man was wise, he was united to Wisdom; after the Fall he was no longer one with Her, hence a true science through express Revelation became absolutely necessary.

The Revelation was the following: -

The condition of immortality consists in immortality permeating the mortal. Immortal substance is divine substance, and is no other than the magnificence of the Almighty throughout nature, the substance of the world and spirits, the infinity, in short, of God in whom all things move and have their being.

It is an immutable law, no creature can be truly happy when separated from the source of all happiness. This source, this *in whom*, is the magnificence of God Himself.

Through the partaking of destructible nourishment, man himself became destructible and material; matter, therefore, as it were places itself between God and man, that is to say, man is not directly penetrated and permeated by divinity, and, in consequence, he is thenceforth subject to, and falls under the dominion of, the laws regulating matter.

The divine in man, imprisoned by the bonds of this matter, is his immortal part, the part that should be at liberty, in order that its development should once again rule the mortal. Then once more does man regain his original greatness.

But a means for his cure, and a method to externalize what is now hidden and concealed within, is requisite. Fallen and unwise man of himself can neither know nor grasp this expedient; he cannot even recognise it, because he has lost pure knowledge and the light of true wisdom; he cannot take hold of it, because this remedy is infolded in interior nature, and he has neither the strength or power to unlock this hidden force.

Hence Revelation to learn this means, and strength to acquire this power, are necessary to man.

This necessity for the salvation of man was the cause of the determination of Wisdom, or the Son of God, to give Himself to be known by man, *being the pure substance out of which* all has been made. In this pure substance all power is reserved to vivify all dead substance, and to purify all that is impure.

But before that could be done, and the inmost part of man, the divine in him, be once more penetrated and re-opened again, and the whole world be regenerated, it was requisite that this divine substance should incarnate in humanity and become human, and therein transmit the divine and regenerative force to humanity; it was necessary also that this divine human form should be killed, in order that the divine and incorruptible substance contained in the blood should penetrate into the recesses of the earth, and thenceforth work a gradual dissolution of corruptible matter, so that in due time a pure and regenerated earth will be presented to man, with the Tree of Life growing once more, so that by partaking of its fruit, containing the true immortal essence, mortality in us will be once more annihilated, and man healed by the fruit of the Tree of Life, just as he was once poisoned by the partaking of the fruit of death.

*This fact* is the first and most important revelation and it embraces all, and it has been carefully preserved from mouth to mouth among the Chosen of God up to this time.

Human nature required a Saviour, this Saviour was Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God itself, reality from God. He put on the envelope of humanity, to communicate *directly* the divine and immortal substance once more to the world, which was nothing else *but Himself*.

He offered himself voluntarily, in order that the *pure essential force* in His blood could penetrate directly, bringing with it the potentiality of all perfection to the hidden recesses of the earth.

Himself, both as High Priest and as Victim at the same time, entered into the Holy of Holies, and after having accomplished all that was necessary, he laid the foundation of the Royal Priesthood of His Elect, and taught these through the knowledge of His person and of His powers; now they should lead, as the first born of the spirit, other men, their brethren, to universal happiness.

And here begin the Sacerdotal Mysteries of the Elect and of the Inner Church.

The Royal and Priestly Science is that of Regeneration. It is called *Royal Science* because it leads man to power and the dominion over Nature.

It is called Sacerdotal, because it sanctifies and brings all to perfection, spreading blessing and goodness everywhere.

This Science owes its immediate origin to the *verbal revelation* of God, it is always the Science of the Inner Church of Prophets and of Saints, and it recognised no other High Priest but Jesus Christ the Lord.

This Science has a triple object; first, regenerating the individual and isolated man, or the first of the Elect; second, many men; thirdly, all humanity.

Its exercise consists in the highest perfecting of itself and of everything in Nature.

This Science was never taught otherwise than by the Holy Spirit of God, and by those who were in unison with this Spirit, and it is beyond all other sciences, because it can alone teach the knowledge of God, of nature, and of man in a perfect harmony; while other sciences do not understand truly either God or nature, neither man nor his destination.

The capabilities of this Science are the powers to know God in man, and divinity in nature; these being, as it were, the Divine impression or seals, by which our inner selves can be opened and can arrive at union with Divinity.

Thus the re-union was the most exalted aim, and hence the Priesthood derived its name *religio*, *clerus regenerans*.

Melchizedek was the first Priest King; all true Priests of God and of Nature descend from him, and Jesus Christ himself was united with him as "priest" after the order of Melchizedek. This word is literally of the highest and widest significance and extent - ‏מלכיצ-דק‎ (MLKIZ-DQ). It means literally the introducing of the true substance of vital life, and the separation of this true vital substance from the mortal envelope which encloses it.

A priest is one who separates that which is pure nature from that which is of impure nature, a separator of the substance which contains all from the destructible matter which occasions pain and misery. The sacrifice or that which has been separated consists in bread and wine.

Bread means literally the substance which contains all; wine the substance which vitalizes everything.

Therefore, a priest after the order of Melchizedek is one who knows how to separate the all-embracing and vitalizing substance from impure matter, one who knows how to employ it as a real means of reconciliation and of re-union for fallen humanity, in order to communicate to him his true and royal privilege of power over nature, and the Sacerdotal dignity or the ability to unite himself by grace to the upper worlds.

In these few words is contained all the mystery of God's Priesthood, and the occupation and aim of the Priest.

But this royal Priesthood was only able to reach perfect maturity when Jesus Christ Himself as High Priest had fulfilled the greatest of all sacrifices, and had entered into the Holy Sanctuary.

Here we are now entering on new and great mysteries worthy, I entreat you, of your most earnest attention.

When, according to the wisdom and justice of God, it was resolved to save the fallen human race, the Wisdom of God had to choose the method which afforded in every aspect the most efficacious means for the consummation of this great object.

When man became so thoroughly poisoned by the fruit of evil, carrying in himself henceforth the ferment of death, all around him became subject to death and destruction, therefore, divine mercy was bound to establish a counter remedy, which could be partaken of, containing within itself the divine and revitalising substance, so that by taking this immortal food, poisoned and death-stricken man could be healed and rescued from his suffering. But in order that this Tree of Life could be replanted, it was requisite beyond all things that the corruptible material in the centre of the earth should be first regenerated, resolved and made capable of being again one day a universally vitalising substance.

This capacity for new life, bringing about the dissolution of corruptible essence which is inherent in the centre of the earth, was, however, possible to no other matter than divine vital substance enveloped in flesh and blood which could transmit the hidden forces of life to dead nature. This was done through the death of Jesus Christ. *The tinctural force* which flowed from His shed blood penetrated to the innermost parts of the earth, raised the dead, rent the rocks, and caused the total eclipse of the sun when it pressed from the centre of the earth where the light penetrated the central darkness to the circumference, and there laid the foundation of the future glorification of the world.

Since the death of Jesus Christ, the divine force, driven to the earth's centre by the shedding of His blood, works and ferments perpetually to press outward, and to fit and prepare all substances gradually for the great cataclysm which is destined for the world.

But the rebuilding of the world's edifice in general was not only the aim of Redemption. Man was the principal object for the shedding of Christ's blood, and to procure for him already in this material world the highest possible perfection by the amelioration of his being, Jesus Christ submitted to infinite suffering.

He is the Saviour of the world and of man. The object and cause of His Incarnation was to rescue us from sin, misery, and from death.

Jesus Christ has delivered us from all evil by His flesh, which he sacrificed, and by His blood, which He shed for us.

In the clear understanding of what consists this *flesh* and this *blood* of Jesus Christ lies the true and pure knowledge of the real regeneration of man.

The mystery of being united with Jesus Christ, not only spiritually *but also corporeally*, is the greatest aim of the Inner Church. Become one with Him in spirit and in being is the fulfilling and plenitude of the efforts of the Elect.

The means for this real possession of God is hidden from the wise of this world, and revealed to the simplicity of children.

Vain philosopher, bend thyself before the grand and Divine Mysteries that thou in thy wisdom canst not understand, and for the penetration of whose secrets the feeble light of human reason darkened by sense can give thee no measure!

## Letter VI And Last

God made Himself man to deify man. Heaven united itself with earth to transform earth into Heaven.

But in order that these divine transformations can take place, an entire change, a complete and absolute overturning and upsetting of our being, is necessary.

This change, this upsetting, is called re-birth. *To be born*, simply means to enter into a world in which the senses dominate, in which wisdom and love languish in the bonds of individuality.

To be *re-born* means to return to a world where the spirit of wisdom and love governs, and where animal-man obeys.

The re-birth is triple; first, the re-birth of our intelligence; second, of our heart and of our will; and, finally, the re-birth of our entire being.

The first and second kinds are called the spiritual, and the third the corporeal re-birth.

Many pious men, seekers after God, have been regenerated in the mind and will, but few have known the corporeal re-birth. This last has been attained to but by few men, and those to whom it has been given have only received it that they might serve as *agents* of God, in accordance with great and grand objects and intentions, and to bring humanity nearer to felicity.

It is now necessary, my dear brothers, to lay before you the true order of re-birth. God, who is all strength, wisdom, and love, works eternally in order and in harmony.

He who will not receive the spiritual life, he who is not born anew from the Lord, can not enter into heaven.

Man is engendered through his parents in original sin, that is to say, he enters into the natural life and not the spiritual.

The spiritual life consists in loving God above everything, and your neighbour as yourself. In this double-love consists the *principle* of the new life.

Man is begotten in evil, in the love of himself and of the things of this world. Love of himself! Self interest! Self gratification! Such are the substantial properties of evil. The good is in the love of God and your neighbour, in knowing no other love but the love of mankind, no interest but that affecting every man, and no other pleasure but that of the well-being of all.

It is by such sentiments that the spirit of the children of God is distinguished from the spirit of the children of this world.

To change the spirit of this world into the spirit of the children of God is to be regenerated, and it means to despoil the old man, and to re-clothe the new.

But no person can be re-born if he does not know and put in practice the following principle - that of truth becoming the object for our doing or not doing; therefore, he who desires to be re-born ought first to know what belongs to re-birth. He ought to understand, meditate, and reflect on all this. Afterwards he should act according to his knowledge, and the result will be a new life.

Now, as it is first necessary to know, and to be instructed in all that appertains to re-birth, a doctor, or an instructor is required, and if we know one, faith in him is also necessary, because of what use is an instructor if his pupil have no faith in him?

Hence, the commencement of re-birth is faith in Revelation.

The disciple should begin by believing that the Lord, the Son, is the Wisdom of God, that He is, from all Eternity from God, and that He came into the world to bring happiness to humanity. He should believe that the Lord has full power in heaven and on earth, and that all faith and love, all the true and the good, come from Him alone; that He is the Mediator, the Saviour, and Governor of men.

When this most exalting faith has taken root in us, we shall think often of the Saviour, and these thoughts turned towards Him develop, and by His grace reacting in us, the seven closed and spiritual powers are opened.

*The way to happiness*. - Do you wish, man and brother, to acquire the highest happiness possible? Search for truth, wisdom, and love. But you will not find truth, wisdom, and love, save in the unity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Anointed of God.

Seek, then, Jesus Christ with all your strength, search Him from the fulness of your heart.

The beginning of His Ascension is the knowledge of His absence, and from the recognition of this knowledge is the desire for increased power to seek Him, which desire is the beginning of faith.

Faith gives confidence, but faith has also its order of progress. First comes historic faith, then moral, then divine, and finally *living* faith. The progression is as follows: Historical faith when we learn to believe the history of Jesus of Nazareth, and through this simple historical faith in the existence of Jesus, will evolve moral faith, whose development consists in the acquirement of virtue by its search and practice, so that we see and find real pleasure in all that is taught by this Man; we find that His simple doctrine is full of wisdom and His teaching full of love; that His intentions towards humanity are straight and true, and that He willingly suffered death for the sake of justice. Thus, faith in His Person will be followed by faith in His Divinity.

This same Jesus Christ tells us now that He is Son of God, and He emphasizes His words by instructing His disciples in the sacred mysteries of nature and religion.

Here natural and reasonable faith changes into divine faith, and we begin to believe that he was God made man. From this faith it results that we hold as true all that we do not yet understand, but which He tells us to believe. Through this faith in the Divinity of Jesus, and by that entire surrender to Him, and the faithful attention to His directions, is at last produced that living faith, by which we find *within ourselves* and true through *our own experience*, all that hitherto we have until now believed in merely with the confidence of a child; and this living faith proved by experience is the highest grade of all.

When our hearts, through living faith, have received Jesus Christ into them, then this Light of the World is born within us as in a humble stable.

Everything in us is impure, surrounded by the spider-webs of vanity, covered with the mud of sensuality.

Our will is the Ox that is under the yoke of its passions. Our reason is the Ass who is bound through the obstinacy of its opinions, its prejudices, its follies.

In this miserable and ruined hut, the home of all the animal passions, can Jesus Christ be born in us through faith.

The simplicity of our souls, is as the shepherds who brought their first offerings, until at last the three principal powers of our royal dignity, our reason, our will, and our activity prostrate themselves before Him and offer Him the gifts of truth, wisdom, and love.

Little by little, the stable of our hearts changes itself into an exterior Temple, where Jesus Christ teaches, but this Temple is still full of Scribes and Pharisees.

Those who sell, Dives and the money changers, are still to be found, and these should be driven out, and the Temple changed into a House of Prayer.

Little by little Jesus Christ chooses all the good powers in us to announce Him. He heals our blindness, purifies our leprosy, raises the dead powers into living forces within us; He is crucified in us, He dies, and He is gloriously raised again Conqueror with us. Afterwards his personality lives in us, and instructs us in exalted mysteries, until He has made us complete and ready for the perfect Regeneration when He mounts to heaven and thence sends us the Spirit of Truth.

But before such a Spirit can act in us we experience the following changes:

First, the seven powers of our understanding are lifted up within us; afterwards, the seven powers of our hearts or of our will, and this exaltation takes place after the following manner. The human understanding is divided into seven powers; the first is that of looking at abstract objects - *intuitus*. By the second we perceive the objects abstractedly regarded - *apperceptio*. By the third, that which has been perceived is reflected upon - *reflexio*. The fourth is that of considering these objects in their diversity *fantasia*, *imaginatio*. The fifth is that of deciding upon some thing - *judicium*. The sixth co-ordinates all these according to their relationships - ratio. The seventh and last is the power of realizing the whole intellectual intuition - *intellectus*.

This last contains, so to say, the sum of all the others.

The will of man divides itself similarly into seven powers, which, taken together as a unit, form the will of man, being, as it were, its *substantial* parts.

The first is the capacity of desiring things apart from himself - *desiderium*. The second is the power to annex mentally things desired for himself - *appetitus*. The third is the power of giving them form, realizing them so as to satisfy his desire - *concupiscentia*. The fourth is that of receiving inclinations, without deciding upon acting upon any, as in the condition of passion - *passio*. The fifth is the capacity for deciding for or against a thing, liberty - *libertas*. The sixth is that choice or a resolution actually taken - *electio*. The seventh is the power of giving the object chosen an existence - *voluntas*. This seventh power also contains all the others in one figure.

Now the seven powers of the understanding, like the seven powers of our heart and will, can be ennobled and exalted in a very special manner, when we embrace Jesus Christ, as being the wisdom of God, as principle of our reason, and His whole life, which was all love, for motive power of our will.

Our understanding is formed after that of Jesus Christ; First, when we have Him in view in everything, when He forms the only point of sight for all our actions - *intuitus*. Second, when we perceive His actions, His sentiments, and His spirit everywhere - *apperceptio*. Third, when in all our thoughts we reflect upon His sayings, when we think in everything as He would have thought - *reflexio*. Fourth, when we so comfort ourselves in such wise, that His thoughts and His wisdom are the only object for the strength of our imagination - *fantasia*. Fifth, when we reject every thought which would not be His, and when we choose every thought which could be His - *judicium*. Sixth, when in short we co-ordinate the whole edifice of our ideas and spirit upon the model of His ideas and spirit - *ratio*. Seventh, It is then will be born in us a new light, a more brilliant one, surpassing far the light of reason of the senses - *intellectus*.

Our heart is also reformed in like manner, when in everything, - First, We lean on Him only - *desidare*. Second, We wish for Him only - *appetere*. Third, We desire only Him - *concupiscere*. Fourth, We love Him only - *amare*. Fifth, We choose only that which He is, so that we avoid all that He is not - *eligere*. Sixth, We live only in harmony with Him after His commandments and His institutions and orders - *subordinare*.

By which in short, Seventh, is born a complete union of our will with His, by which union man is with Jesus Christ but as one sense, one heart; by which perfect union the new man is little by little born in us, and Divine wisdom and love unite to form in us the new spiritual man, in whose heart faith passes into sight, and in comparison to this living faith the treasures of India can be considered but as ashes.

This actual possession of God or Jesus Christ in us is the Centre towards which all the mysteries converge like rays to the circle eye; the highest of the mysteries is this consummation.

The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of truth, morality, and happiness. It operates in the saints from the innermost to the outside, and spreads itself gradually by the Spirit of Jesus Christ into all nations, to institute everywhere an Order by means of which the individual can reach as well as the race; our human nature can be raised to its highest perfection, and sick humanity be cured from all the evils of its weakness.

Thus the love and spirit of God will one day alone vivify all humanity; they will awake and rekindle all the strength of the human race, will lead it to the goals of Wisdom and place it in suitable relationships.

Peace, fidelity, domestic harmony, love between nations, will be the first fruits of this Spirit. Inspiration of good without false similitudes, the exaltation of our souls without too severe a tension, warmth in the heart without turbulent impatience, will approach, reconcile, and unite all the various parts of the human race, long separated and divided by many differences, and stirred up against each other by prejudices and errors, and in one Grand Temple of Nature, great and little, poor and rich, all will sing the praise of the Father of Love.

THE END



# Positio Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis

Salutem Punctis Trianguli!

In this, the first year of the third millennium, in the sight of the God of all beings and of all life, we, the Deputies of the Supreme Council of the Rosicrucians, have judged that the time has come to light the fourth R+C Torch in order to reveal our position regarding the present state of humanity, and to bring to light the threats that lie heavy upon it, as well as the hopes that we place on it. *So Mote It Be!*

*Ad Rosam per Crucem*
*Ad Crucem per Rosam*

## FOREWORD

Dear Reader,

Since we did not know how to contact you directly, we are doing so through the medium of this Manifesto. We hope that you will read it with an open mind and that it will arouse at the least some thought within you. Our wish is not to convince you of the validity of this *Positio*; it is to share it with you freely. Of course, we hope that it will find a responsive chord within your soul. If not, we appeal to your tolerance….

In 1623, the Rose-Croix plastered the walls of Paris with mysterious and intriguing posters, which read as follows:

*"We, the Deputies of the Higher College of the Rose-Croix, do* *make our stay, visibly and invisibly, in this city, by the grace of the* *Most High, to Whom turn the hearts of the Just. We demonstrate* *and instruct, without books and distinctions, the ability to speak* *all manners of tongues of the countries where we choose to be, in* *order to draw our fellow creatures from error of death."*

*"He who takes it upon himself to see us merely out of curiosity will* *never make contact with us. But if his inclination seriously impels* *him to register in our fellowship, we, who are judges of intentions,* *will cause him to see the truth of our promises; to the extent that* *we shall not make known the place of our meeting in this city, since* *the thoughts attached to the real desire of the seeker will lead us to* *him and him to us."*

A few years before, the Rose-Croix had already made themselves known by publishing three now famous Manifestos: the *Fama* *Fraternitatis*, the *Confessio Fraternitatis,* and the *Chymical Wedding of* *Christian Rosenkreuz,* published respectively in 1614, 1615, and 1616.

At the time, these three Manifestos aroused many reactions in intellectual circles, and also among political and religious R C authorities. Between 1614 and 1620, about 400 pamphlets, manuscripts, and books were published - some to praise these Manifestos; others to disparage them. As can be seen, their publication constituted a major historical event, especially in the esoteric world.

The *Fama Fraternitatis* addressed political and religious leaders, as well as the scientists of the time. While making a rather negative statement about the general situation in Europe, it revealed the existence of the Order of the Rose-Croix through the allegorical story of Christian Rosenkreuz (1378-1484), beginning with his journey throughout the world before giving birth to the Rosicrucian movement, and ending with the discovery of his tomb. This Manifesto called for a "Universal Reform."

The *Confessio Fraternitatis* complemented the first Manifesto by insisting, on the one hand, upon the need for a regeneration of humanity and society; and, on the other hand, by pointing out that the Rosicrucians possess a philosophical knowledge enabling it to achieve this regeneration.

It primarily addressed seekers who wished to participate in the work of the Order and to strive for the happiness of humanity. The prophetic aspect of this text greatly intrigued the scholars of the day.

In a style rather different from that of the first two Manifestos, the *Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz* recounted an initiatory journey which portrayed the quest for Illumination. This seven-day journey took place for the most part in a mysterious castle where the wedding of a king and a queen was to be held. The *Chymical Wedding* symbolically related the spiritual development which leads an Initiate to achieve union between the soul (the bride) and God (the bridegroom).

As emphasized by contemporary historians, thinkers, and philosophers, the publication of these three Manifestos was neither insignificant nor inopportune. It occurred at a time when Europe - politically divided and torn asunder by conflicting economic interests - was experiencing a profound existential crisis. Religious wars were sowing unhappiness and desolation, causing division even within families; and science, developing rapidly, was already demonstrating a trend toward materialism. For the vast majority, living conditions were miserable. The changing society of the time was undergoing a complete mutation, and yet it lacked guidelines for evolvement that held a general interest.

History repeats itself and regularly re-enacts the same events, though generally on a broader scale. Thus, almost four centuries after the publication of the first three Manifestos, we notice that the entire world, and Europe in particular, is facing an unprecedented existential crisis in all spheres: political, economic, scientific, technological, religious, moral, artistic, etc. Moreover, our planet - the environment in which we live and evolve - is gravely threatened, elevating in importance the relatively recent science of ecology. Certainly, present-day humanity is not faring well. This is why, faithful to our Tradition and our Ideal, we, the Rose-Croix of today, have deemed it advisable to address this crisis through this *Positio*.

The *Positio Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis* is not an eschatological essay. It is by no means apocalyptic. As we have just mentioned, its purpose is to state our position concerning the state of the world today and to reveal what seems worrisome to us about its future. As our past brothers and sisters did in their time, we likewise wish to appeal for more humanism and spirituality, for we are convinced that the individualism and materialism now prevailing in modern societies cannot bring to humanity the happiness which it rightfully desires. This *Positio* will undoubtedly seem alarmist to some, and yet, as the saying goes: "Who is so deaf or so blind as the one that willfully will neither hear nor see?"

Today's humanity is both troubled and bewildered. The great progress we have achieved materially has not truly brought us happiness and does not enable us to foresee our future with serenity. Wars, famines, epidemics, ecological catastrophes, social crises, attacks on fundamental freedoms - these are just some of the many calamities which contradict the hope that humans have for their future. That is why we are addressing this message to all those who are willing to hear it. This message is in the same tradition as that expressed by the 17th-century Rosicrucians through the first three Manifestos. To understand the message we must realistically read the great book of history and have a clear view of humanity - this great body composed of men and women in the process of evolution.

## POSITIO R+C

Humanity evolves over time, as does everything else connected with our lives. Indeed, the whole universe evolves. This is characteristic of everything which exists in the manifested world. However we feel that human evolution is not limited to the material aspects of our existence, convinced as we are that we possess a soul - in other words, a spiritual dimension. According to our teachings, it is this soul that makes us conscious beings, capable of reflecting upon our origin and destiny. This is why we consider human evolution as an end, spirituality as a means, and time as an enlightener.

History is made intelligible not by the events which generate it or which it generates, rather by the connections which unite such events.

Furthermore, most of today's historians will admit that history has a greater overall meaning, and that events need to be understood within the entire context of history. To understand history properly, events should be carefully considered not simply as isolated elements, rather as parts of a greater whole. As a matter of fact, we feel that an event is truly historical only in relationship to the greater whole of which it is a part. To dissociate events from the greater whole, or to make a moral code from history out of their dissociation, constitutes intellectual fraud. This is why seeming connections, juxtapositions, coincidences, or concomitances never really owe anything to chance.

As mentioned in the Foreword, we see a similarity between the present world situation and that of 17th-century Europe. What some refer to as the "post-modern era" has brought about comparable effects in many areas of modern life, and this has unfortunately resulted in a certain degeneracy of humanity. However, we feel that this degeneracy is only temporary and that it will lead to an individual and collective regeneration, provided that men and women give a humanist and spiritualistic direction to their future. If we do not, we lay ourselves open to much more serious problems than those we are facing today.

Due to our ontology, we think that human beings are the most evolved of all creatures living on Earth, even though we often behave in a shameful manner not befitting this status.

The reason that we hold this privileged position is because we are endowed with self-consciousness and free will. We are therefore capable of thinking and directing our lives as we so choose. We also believe that each human being is an elementary cell of a single body - that of all humanity. By virtue of this principle, our conception of humanism is that all humans should have the same rights, be given the same respect, and enjoy the same freedoms, regardless of the country of their origin or the nation in which they live.

As for our conception of spirituality, it is based, on the one hand, upon the conviction that God exists as an Absolute Intelligence having created the universe and everything therein; and, on the other hand, on the assurance that each human being possesses a soul which emanates from God. Moreover, we think that God manifests in all creation through laws that we must study, understand, and respect for our greater good.

In fact, we believe that humanity is evolving toward the realization of a Divine Plan and that humanity is destined to create an ideal society upon Earth. This spiritualistic humanism may seem utopian. However, we concur with Plato, when he stated in *The Republic:* "Utopia is the form of Ideal Society. Perhaps it is impossible to achieve it on Earth, and yet a wise man must place all his hopes in it."

In this transitional period of history, the regeneration of humanity seems to us more possible than ever before because of the convergence of consciousness, the generalization of international exchanges, the growth of cross-cultural fertilization, the worldwide coverage of news, as well as the growing interdisciplinary movement among the different branches of learning. We think that this regeneration, which must take place both individually and collectively, can only come about by favoring eclecticism and its corollary, tolerance. Actually, no political institution, religion, philosophy, or science holds a monopoly on truth. However, we can approach truth by sharing the most noble aspects that each of these disciplines has to offer humanity, seeking unity through diversity.

Sooner or later, life's vicissitudes lead us to ponder the reason for our presence on Earth. This quest for justification is natural, for it is an integral part of the human soul and constitutes the foundation of our evolution. Furthermore, the events which have blazed the trail of history cannot be justified simply through the fact that they exist; they demand a greater reason for their being, a reason above and beyond their mere existence. We believe that this *raison d'être* involves a spiritual process which incites human beings to question themselves about the mysteries of life - hence the interest which we attach to mysticism and to the "Quest for Truth" at some point in our evolution. If this pursuit is natural, we additionally feel that humans are driven to hope and optimism by a command of their divine nature and by a biological instinct for survival. Thus, the aspiration to transcendency appears to be a vital requirement of the human species.

Concerning politics, we feel that a complete renewal of political systems is imperative. Among the important 20th-century political models, Marxism-Leninism and National Socialism, founded on supposedly definitive social postulates, have led to a decline of reason and finally to barbarism. These two totalitarian ideologies have inevitably come up against the human need for self-determination, thus betraying our right to freedom while at the same time writing some of the blackest pages of history. And history has disqualified them both - forever, let us hope!

Whatever we may think of them, political systems based upon a single, monolithic idea often have in common a desire to impose upon human beings a "Doctrine of Salvation," which is supposed to free them from their imperfect state, and elevate them to a heavenly status. Moreover, most of these political systems do not ask citizens to *think*, rather to *believe,* which makes them resemble in effect "nonsectarian religions."

Conversely, trends of thought such as Rosicrucianism are not monolithic, rather they are open and pluralistic. In other words, they encourage dialogue with others and promote human relations. At the same time, they accept a plurality of opinions and the diversity of behavior patterns. Therefore, such systems of thought feed upon exchanges, interactions, and even contradictions, which totalitarian ideologies forbid and from which they abstain.

Moreover, it is for this reason that Rosicrucian thought has been consistently rejected by totalitarian systems, whatever their nature may be. From its very beginning, our Order has advocated the right of each individual to create and express her or his own ideas freely. In this respect, Rosicrucians are not necessarily freethinkers, however they are all free to think.

In the state of the world today, it seems to us that true democracy remains the best form of government - although certain weaknesses cannot be overlooked. In any genuine democracy, based upon freedom of thought and expression, we generally find a multitude of tendencies, as much among the governors as among the governed. Unfortunately, this plurality often engenders dissension, with all its resulting conflicts.

Sadly, it is for this reason that most democratic states manifest divisions that continually and almost systematically conflict with one another. It seems to us that these political divisions, most often gravitating around a majority and an opposition, are no longer well suited to modern societies, and hold back the regeneration of humanity. The ideal in this regard would be for each nation to help promote the emergence of a government bringing together the personalities most capable of governing the affairs of state. In a wider sense, we hope that one day there will be a worldwide government representing all nations, of which today's United Nations is just the beginning.

Concerning economics, we feel that the economic situation of the world is completely adrift. We can see that the current economic system conditions human activity more and more, and this is increasingly becoming the norm. On the one hand, this economic dominance takes the form of very influential, and therefore interventionist, structured networks which appear in various guises. On the other hand, today's economy operates from determined values that, more than ever before, are necessarily quantifiable, involving cost of production, break-even point, evaluation of profit, duration of labor, and so on. These values are essential to the present economic system and provide it with the means to achieve its ends. Unfortunately, these ends are fundamentally materialistic, because they are based on excessive profit and enrichment. This is how human beings have entered into the service of the economy, while the economy should instead serve human beings.

Al nations are presently dependent on a worldwide economic system, which we may describe as being totalitarian. This economic *totalitarianism* does not meet the most elementary needs of hundreds of mil ions of people, while the supply of money has never been so vast on a worldwide scale. This means that the wealth produced by human beings only benefits a minority among them, which we find deplorable.

Actual y, we notice that the gap never ceases to widen between the most affluent nations and the poorest. We can observe the same phenomenon within each country, between the most deprived classes and the most fortunate ones. We feel that this situation has arisen because the economy has become too speculative, and it supplies markets and interests that are more virtual than real.

Quite obviously, economics wil fulfil its role wel only when it is serving al of humanity. This supposes that we shal come to view money for what it should be: a means of exchange and an energy meant to supply everyone with what he or she needs to live happily on the material plane.

In this regard, we are convinced that human beings are not destined to be poor, and even less to be destitute; on the contrary, they are meant to have everything that may contribute to human welfare, so that we may lift our souls with perfect peace of mind toward higher planes of consciousness. In absolute terms, economics should be used in such a way that there would no longer be people who experience poverty, and every person would enjoy good material conditions, for such is the foundation of human dignity. Poverty is not destined; nor is it the effect of a divine decree. General y speaking, it is the consequence of human selfishness.

Therefore, we hope that the day wil come when the economic system wil be based upon sharing and taking into account the common good.

However, the resources of the Earth are not inexhaustible and cannot be divided endlessly, so it will certainly be necessary to control the birth rate, especially in overpopulated countries.

Concerning science, we feel that science has reached a particularly critical phase. Indeed, it cannot be denied that science has advanced immensely and enabled humanity to achieve considerable progress.

Without science, we would still be in the Stone Age. And yet, where the Greek civilization had worked out a qualitative understanding of scientific research, the 17th century brought on a veritable upheaval by establishing the supremacy of the quantitative concept, which is closely tied in with the evolution of economics. Mechanism, rationalism, positivism, etc., have separated *consciousness* and *matter* into two very distinct realms and reduced all phenomena to a measurable entity devoid of subjectivity. The *how* has eliminated the *why*. While it is true that research undertaken in the past few decades has led to important discoveries, the financial stakes seem to have taken precedence over everything else, and we have now reached the pinnacle of scientific materialism.

We have made ourselves the slaves of science, more than we have subjected it to our will. Today, simple technological failures are capable of putting the most advanced societies in jeopardy, which proves that we have created an imbalance between the qualitative and the quantitative, and also between ourselves and that which we create. The materialistic goals that humans pursue today through scientific research have resulted in leading many minds astray. At the same time, these materialistic goals have estranged us from our soul and from the divine within us. This excessive rationalization by science is a real danger that will threaten humanity sooner or later. In fact, any society in which matter dominates conscience, advances that which is the less noble in human nature. Therefore, such a society condemns itself to disappear prematurely and most often under tragic circumstances.

To a certain extent, science has become a religion - a materialistic religion, which is paradoxical. Based upon a mechanistic approach to the universe, nature, and humanity itself, science possesses its own creed:

"Only believe what is seen"; and its own dogma: "No truth outside of science." Nevertheless, we notice that the research conducted on the *how* of things has led science to question the *why*, so that little by little science is becoming aware of its limitations, and in this regard is beginning to agree with mysticism. Some scientists - still too few it is true - have even reached the point of admitting the existence of God. It must be noted that science and mysticism were very close in ancient times, to such an extent that scientists were mystics, and vice versa. It is precisely toward the reunification of these two paths of knowledge that we must work in the coming decades.

It has become necessary to rethink the question of knowledge.

For instance, what is the true meaning of being able to reproduce an experience? Is a proposition that cannot be verified in all cases necessarily false? Surpassing the rational dualism that took hold in the 17th century seems imperative to us, for true knowledge lies in this "surpassingness."

Moreover, simply because the existence of God cannot be proved does not justify the declaration that God does not exist. Truth may have many faces; to remember only one in the name of rationality is an insult to reason. Besides, can we truly speak of rational or irrational? Is science itself rational, when it believes in chance? In fact, it seems to us much more irrational to believe in chance rather than to not believe in it. On this same subject, we must say that our Order has always been against the common notion of chance, which it looks upon as an easy solution and resignation in the face of reality. We agree with Albert Einstein's comment about chance when he described it as: "The Path that God takes when God wants to remain anonymous."

The evolution of science also poses new problems, both ethically and metaphysically. While it cannot be denied that genetic research has made it possible to achieve incredible progress in the treatment of previously incurable illnesses, this same research has opened the way to developments making it possible to create human beings through cloning. This form of procreation can only lead to a genetic impoverishment of the human species and to the degeneracy of the human race. Further, it implies criteria of selection inevitably stamped with subjectivity and consequently presents risks when it comes to the matter of eugenics. Moreover, reproduction by cloning only takes into account the physical and material part of the human being, without paying particular attention to the mind or the soul. This is why we feel that such genetic manipulation not only harms human dignity; it also threatens the mental, psychic, and spiritual integrity of human beings.

In this respect, we agree with the following saying: "Science without conscience is the ruin of the soul." The appropriation of human beings by other human beings has only left sad memories throughout history.

Therefore, it seems dangerous to us that scientists be given free rein to conduct experiments involving the reproductive cloning of human beings in particular, and all living species in general. We entertain the same fears regarding the manipulations affecting the genetic makeup of both animals and plants.

Concerning technology, we note that technology is also undergoing a complete transformation. From our very beginnings, humans have always attempted to fabricate tools and machines so as to improve their living conditions and to make their work more efficient. In its most positive aspects, this desire originally had three primary goals: to enable humans to create things which they could not fabricate by hand alone; to spare them effort and fatigue; and to save time. Of course, for centuries, if not millennia, technology was only used to help humans with manual work and physical activities, while today it also assists us in the intellectual sphere. Moreover, for a very long time technology was limited to mechanical processes requiring direct human intervention and causing little or no harm to the environment.

Today, technology is omnipresent and constitutes the core of modern societies, to the extent that it has become almost indispensable. Its uses are many, and it now integrates all types of processes - mechanical, as well as electrical, electronic, computer, and so on. Unfortunately, the dark side of technology is that machines have become a danger to humans themselves. Ideally, machines were intended to help humans by sparing us from toil; now they are replacing humans. Moreover, we cannot deny that the development of mechanization has progressively led to a certain dehumanization of society, in the sense that it has considerably reduced human interaction - in other words, direct physical contacts. Added to this are all the forms of pollution generated by industrialization.

The problem now posed by technology stems from the fact that it has evolved much faster than has human consciousness.

Consequently, we believe that technology must break away from today's emphasis on materialism and become an agent of humanism. To bring this about, it is imperative that the human being again be placed at the center of our social fabric which, according to what we have said with respect to economics, implies having machines again serve human beings.

To accomplish this necessitates a thorough questioning of the materialistic values that form the basis of today's society. This implies that all human beings reorient themselves and come to understand that we must respect the quality of life, and stop this frenetic race against time. This is only possible, however, if humans learn once more how to live in harmony with nature, and also with themselves. The ideal would be for technology to evolve in such a way that it would free human beings from the most difficult tasks and, at the same time, enable us to evolve harmoniously in contact with others.

Concerning the great religions, we believe that they are now manifesting two opposite movements - centripetal and centrifugal. The first movement - which looks inward - consists of fundamentalist groups within Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, as well as other religions seeking a return to their religious roots. The second movement - which looks outward - has resulted in a neglect of religious creed in general and of religious dogmas in particular. People are no longer satisfied to remain on the periphery of a system of beliefs, even though a particular religion is said to be revealed. They now want to place themselves in the center of a system of thought arising from their own experiences. In this respect, the acceptance of religious dogmas is no longer automatic. Believers have acquired a certain critical sense regarding religious questions, and the basis of their convictions corresponds increasingly to a self-validation. Whereas in the past the need for spirituality brought forth a few religions having an arborescent form - i.e., that of a tree well rooted in its sociocultural soil, to the enrichment of which they have also contributed - today it takes the form of a rhizoidal structure, composed of many and varied small shrubs. Does not Spirit move where It wishes?

What we have today, on the fringe or in place of the great religions, are groups of like mind, religious communities sharing similar ideas, or movements of thought within which doctrines, more proposed than imposed, are accepted through voluntary membership. Irrespective of the intrinsic nature of these religious communities, groups, or movements, their multiplication indicates a diversification of the spiritual quest.

Generally speaking, we feel that this diversification has come about because the great religions, which we respect as such, no longer have a monopoly on faith. They exhibit increasing difficulties in answering people's questions and can no longer satisfy them inwardly. Furthermore, people may be estranged because the religions have alienated themselves from spirituality. And yet spirituality, although immutable in essence, constantly seeks to express itself through channels increasingly suited to the evolution of humanity.

The survival of the great religions depends more than ever upon their ability to discard the most dogmatic moral and doctrinal beliefs and positions they have adopted through the centuries. If the major religions wish to endure, it is imperative that they adapt to society. If they do not take into account either the evolution of human consciousness or scientific progress, they condemn themselves to a gradual disappearance, and not without causing further ethnic, social, and religious conflicts.

Nonetheless, we presume that their disappearance is inevitable and that, under the influence of a worldwide expansion of consciousness, they will give birth to a universal religion, which will integrate the best that the major religions have to offer humanity for its regeneration. Furthermore, we believe that the desire to *know* divine laws - that is, natural, universal, and spiritual laws - will eventually supplant the need just to believe in God.

We assume, therefore, that belief will one day give way to knowledge.

Concerning morality - a concept whose meaning is becoming more and more ambiguous - we observe that it is being increasingly disregarded. In our view, morality should not show a blind compliance with various rules or even dogmas - social, religious, political, or otherwise. However this is how much of society perceives today's morality, and so, they reject it. We feel that morality should instead relate to the respect that any individual should have for oneself, for others, and for the environment.

Self-respect consists of living according to one's own ideas and not in assuming behavior that we disapprove of in others. Respect for others merely consists of not doing unto them what we would not want them to do unto us, as taught by all sages of the past. As to respect for the environment, let us be so bold as to say that to respect nature and preserve it for generations to come flows naturally from the heart. Seen from this standpoint, morality implies a balance between the rights and the duties of everyone, which gives it a humanistic dimension that is not at all moralizing.

Morality, in the sense that we have just explained, brings up the whole matter of education, which now seems to be in a state of distress. Most parents have withdrawn themselves from the educational process, or no longer have the necessary qualifications to properly educate their children.

Many parents are shifting their responsibility onto the teachers in order to compensate for this inadequacy. After all, is it not a teacher's role to instruct - that is, to transmit knowledge? Rather, education should consist of implanting civic and ethical values. In this, we concur with Socrates who believed it to be "the art of awakening the virtues of the soul," such as humility, generosity, honesty, tolerance, kindness, and so on. Apart from any spiritual consideration, we believe that these are the virtues which parents, and adults in general, should inculcate in children. Naturally, this implies that, even if they have not acquired these virtues themselves, they at least be aware of the need to acquire them.

As you surely know, the Rosicrucians of the past practiced material alchemy, which consisted of transmuting raw metals - such as tin and lead - into gold. What we often ignore is that they also devoted themselves to spiritual alchemy. Contemporary Rosicrucians give priority to this form of alchemy, for the world needs it more than ever. This spiritual alchemy consists of transmuting every human fault into its opposite quality, so as to acquire precisely the virtues to which we have referred earlier. In fact, we believe that such virtues constitute human dignity, for we are worthy of our status only when expressing virtue in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Undoubtedly, if all individuals - whatever their religious beliefs, political ideas, or other thoughts may be - made the effort to acquire these virtues, it would be a better world. Consequently, humanity can and must effect a complete moral and spiritual reform, and for this to happen, each individual must regenerate oneself.

Concerning art, we feel that during the past centuries, and most particularly during the last decades, it has followed a trend of intellectualization that has led it toward an increasing degree of abstraction.

This process has divided art into two opposing trends: elitist art and popular art. Elitist art, which is expressed through the abstract, is most often understood only by those who claim to be, or who are said to be its initiates. Through a natural reaction, popular art opposes this tendency by intensifying its way of portraying the concrete, sometimes in an excessively representational fashion. And yet, as paradoxical as it may seem, both delve deeper and deeper into matter, since it is quite true that opposites attract. Thus, art has become structurally and ideologically materialistic, in the image of most realms of human endeavor. At the present time, it interprets the impulses of the ego more than the aspirations of the soul, which we regret.

We believe that truly inspired art consists of interpreting on the human plane the beauty and purity of the Divine Plane. In this view, noise is not music; daubing is not painting; hammering is not sculpture; helter-skelter movement is not dancing. When these art forms are not limited to expressing some passing fashion, they become serious means of expression that convey a sociological message that cannot be ignored. We can appreciate such means of expression, of course, and yet it seems to us inappropriate to call them "artistic." In order for the arts to participate in the regeneration of humanity, we believe that they must draw their inspiration from natural, universal, and spiritual archetypes, which implies that artists "ascend" toward these archetypes, rather than "descend" toward the most common stereotypes.

At the same time, it is absolutely necessary that the arts bestow upon themselves an aesthetic purpose. In our view, these two major conditions must be met so that the arts may truly contribute to the raising of consciousness and become the human expression of Cosmic Harmony.

Concerning human relationships, we think that people are more and more self-seeking and leave less and less room for altruism. Of course, outbreaks of solidarity occur, although it happens only occasionally during such catastrophes as floods, storms, earthquakes, etc. In ordinary times, the policy of "everyone for oneself" predominates in behavioral patterns. In our view, this increase in individualism is again a consequence of the excessive materialism that is rampant today in modern societies.

Nevertheless, the resultant isolation should eventually bring about the desire and need to renew contact with others. Moreover, we may hope that this solitude will lead everyone to go increasingly within and eventually become aware of spirituality.

The general prevalence of violence also seems to us very disquieting.

Of course, it has always existed, yet it now expresses itself increasingly in individual behavior. Even more seriously, it is manifesting itself at an earlier age. At the beginning of the 21st century, one child kills another without any apparent compunction. Added to this real-life violence is the fictional violence which dominates the motion-picture and television screens. The first kind of violence inspires the second, and the second feeds the first, creating a vicious circle that needs to be stopped. It cannot be denied that violence has any number of causes, such as social poverty, fragmentation of the family, desire for vengeance, need for domination, feelings of injustice, and so on; its worst agent is none other than violence itself. Clearly, this culture of violence is pernicious and cannot be constructive, especially since humanity has the means to destroy itself on a planetary scale for the first time in known history.

In a paradox of modern times, we notice, moreover, that in this era of communication, individuals barely communicate with one another. Members of the same family no longer converse among themselves, so busy are they in listening to the radio, watching television, or surfing the Internet.

Another established fact has more generally commanded attention: telecommunication has supplanted other forms of communication.

In so doing, it places one in isolation and intensifies the individualism mentioned earlier. Please do not mistake our meaning: individualism, as a natural right to live autonomously and responsibly, should not be condemned at all in our eyes - quite the contrary. Yet when it becomes a way of life based on the negation of others, it seems particularly disturbing, in that it has contributed to the disintegration of the family circle and the fabric of society.

As contradictory as it may seem, we feel that today's lack of communication among our fellow citizens is partly the result of an excess of information. Of course, we do not mean to question the right to inform and the right to be informed, for both are the pillars of any true democracy. Nevertheless, it appears to us that information has become both excessive and intrusive, to the point that it has generated its opposite: disinformation. We also regret that it is focused primarily on the precariousness of the human condition and overemphasizes the negative aspects of human behavior. At best, it feeds on pessimism, sadness, and despair; at worst, on suspicion, division, and rancor. Although there is a legitimate need to show those things, which contribute to the ugliness of the world, it is in everyone's best interest to also reveal those things that contribute to its beauty. More than ever, the world needs optimism, hope, and unity.

This understanding would constitute a great step forward, more radical yet than the scientific and technological progress experienced in the 20th century. This is why every society should not only encourage face-to-face meetings among its members; it should also open itself up to the world. By doing so, we defend the cause of a humane society making all individuals citizens of the world, which implies putting an end to all forms of racial, ethnic, social, religious, or political discrimination or segregation. Such openness encourages the coming of a Culture of Peace, founded upon integration and cooperation, to which the Rosicrucians have always devoted themselves. As humanity is *one* in essence, its happiness is only possible by promoting the welfare of all human beings without exception.

Concerning humanity's relationship with nature, we believe that on the whole it has never been so deleterious. It is surely obvious to everyone that human activity is inflicting increasing degradation on the environment. Yet, it is also obvious that the survival of the human species depends upon its ability to respect natural balance. The development of civilization has generated many dangers because of biological manipulations affecting food, the widespread use of polluting agents, the poorly controlled accumulation of nuclear wastes - just to mention a few of the major risks. The protection of nature, and therefore the safeguarding of humanity, has become the responsibility of all people, whereas previously it concerned only specialists. Moreover, it has now become a worldwide matter. This is all the more important since our very concept of nature has changed, and we have come to realize how much we are part of it. We can no longer speak today of "Nature in itself" in that nature will be what humanity wishes it to be.

One of the characteristics of our present era is our great consumption of energy. This phenomenon would not be worrisome in itself if it were intelligently managed. Yet we observe that such natural resources as coal, gas, and petroleum are being overexploited and are gradually becoming exhausted. Moreover, certain energy sources, such as nuclear power plants, present serious hazards, which are very difficult to overcome.

We also observe that, despite the recent attempts at dialogue, certain dangers, such as the greenhouse effects of gas emission, desertification, deforestation, pollution of the oceans, and so on, are not the object of adequate protective measures, because of a lack of will. Apart from the fact that these assaults upon the environment cause humanity to face very serious risks, they show a great lack of maturity, both individually and collectively. Despite what some experts claim, we feel that present climatic disturbances, with such a large share of storms, floods, and so on, are the result of the damage that humans have been inflicting upon our planet for too long.

Quite obviously, another major problem - that of water - is sure to confront us in the future with increasing impact.

Water is an element indispensable to the maintenance and development of life. In one form or another, all living beings need it. Humans are no exception to this natural law, if only because water constitutes seventy percent of our bodies. And yet today, access to fresh water is restricted for approximately one out of six world inhabitants, a proportion which may reach one out of four in less than fifty years, due to the increase in worldwide population, and the pollution of rivers and streams. Today, most eminent specialists agree that "white gold," more than "black gold," will be the great resource of this century, with all the potential for conflict that this implies. An awareness of this problem on a worldwide level is imperative.

Air pollution also entails serious dangers for life in general, and for the human species in particular. Industry, heating, and transportation contribute to the degradation of air quality and pollute the atmosphere, giving rise to potential health hazards. Urban areas are the most affected by this phenomenon, which threatens to increase along with expanding urbanization. In connection with this, the massive growth of cities constitutes a danger which could threaten the stability of societies.

Concerning the growth of urban areas, we concur with the advice that Plato, who was mentioned earlier, expressed centuries ago: "To the point where, enlarged, it preserves its unity, the city can expand, yet not beyond."

Gigantism cannot favor humanism, in the sense we have defined it. It inevitably brings about discord and gives rise to misery and insecurity.

Humanity's behavior toward animals is also part of our relationship with nature. It is our duty to love and respect them. All are part of the life chain manifesting on Earth, and all are agents of evolution. In their own way, animals are also vehicles of the Divine Soul and participate in the Divine Plan. We can even go so far as to consider the most evolved among them to be humans in the making that are passing through the evolutionary process. For all of these reasons, we find the conditions in which many animals are reared and slaughtered to be appalling. As for vivisection, we view it as being an act of cruelty. Generally speaking, we believe that society must include all beings to whom life has given birth.

Consequently, we agree with the following words attributed to Pythagoras: "As long as men continue to destroy ruthlessly the living beings from the lower kingdoms, they will know neither health nor peace. As long as they massacre animals, they will kill each other. In effect, whoever sows murder and suffering cannot reap joy and love."

Concerning humanity's relationship with the Universe, we believe that it is based upon interdependence. As children of the Earth, and as the Earth is a child of the universe, we are therefore children of the universe. The atoms composing the human body originate in nature and remain within the confines of the Cosmos, which causes astrophysicists to comment that "We are children of the stars." Even though we are indebted to the universe, it should also be noted that the universe owes much to humanity also - not its existence, of course, rather its reason for being.

Indeed, what would the universe be if human eyes could not contemplate it? If our consciousness could not embrace it? If our soul could not be reflected in it? The universe and humanity need each other to know and even recognize each other, which reminds us of the famous saying: "Know thyself, and thou shalt know the Universe and the Gods."

Nevertheless, we should not deduce that our conception of Creation is anthropocentric. Indeed, we do not make humans the center of the Divine Plan. Rather, let us say that we make humanity a focus of our concerns.

In our opinion, humanity's presence on Earth is not the result of mere happenstance; rather, it is the consequence of an intention originating from a Universal Intelligence commonly called "God." Although God is incomprehensible and unintelligible because of Transcendency, this is not true of the laws through which God manifests within Creation. As previously mentioned, we have the power - if not the responsibility - to study these laws and to apply them for our material and spiritual welfare.

We even believe that in this study and application lie our reason for being, as well as our happiness.

Humanity's relationship with the universe also brings up the matter of knowing whether life exists elsewhere outside of Earth. We are convinced that this is the case. Since the universe includes approximately one hundred billion galaxies, and each galaxy has about one hundred billion stars, there probably exist millions of solar systems comparable to ours. Consequently, to think that only our planet is inhabited seems to us to be an absurdity and constitutes a form of egocentrism. Among the forms of life populating other worlds, some are probably more evolved than those existing on Earth; others may be less so. Yet they are all a part of the same Divine Plan and participate in Cosmic Evolution. As for knowing whether extraterrestrials are capable of contacting humanity, we feel that this will happen, and we are not spending time waiting for it. We have other priorities. Nonetheless, the day will come when this contact will happen, and it will constitute an unprecedented event. Indeed, the history of humanity will then integrate into that of Universal Life.

## EPILOGUE

Dear Reader,

This, therefore, is what we wished to tell you by means of this Manifesto. Perhaps it has seemed alarmist to you, however because of our very philosophy, let us assure you that we are both idealistic and optimistic, for we have faith in humanity and in its destiny. When we consider the most useful and beautiful works humans have created in the fields of science, technology, architecture, art, literature, and others - and when we think of the most noble sentiments that we are capable of feeling and expressing, such as wonder, compassion, love, and so on - we cannot doubt that humanity is innately divine and capable of transcending itself for the greater good. In this respect, we believe, at the risk once again of appearing utopian, that humans have the power to make Earth a place of peace, harmony, and community. It simply depends on us.

The situation of the contemporary world is not hopeless; it is worrisome.

What concerns us most is not so much the condition of humanity; it is that of our planet. We think that time is of no significance in terms of humanity's spiritual development, since we have all eternity to carry out this evolution, seeing that our soul is immortal. On the other hand, Earth is truly threatened, at least as a living environment for the human species.

Time is running out for it, and we believe that its protection is a vital necessity in the 21st century. It is to this purpose that politics, economics, science, technology, and all other fields of human activity should devote their efforts. Is it really so difficult to understand that humanity can only find happiness by living in harmony with natural laws and, in a wider sense, with divine laws? Furthermore, is it so unreasonable to admit that humanity has the wherewithal to sublimate its own interests? Nevertheless, if humans continue to pursue materialism, the darkest prophecies will be fulfilled and no one will be spared.

It matters little what political ideas, religious beliefs, and philosophical convictions people hold. The time has passed for divisiveness in all its forms; the time is now ripe for unity - unity of differences in the service of the common good. In this, our Order counts among its ranks Christians, Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, Hindus, Animists, and even Agnostics. It also includes people who belong to all social classes and represent all recognized political movements. Men and women enjoy complete equality in status, and each member enjoys the same prerogatives. This unity in diversity has given power to our ideals and to our *égrégore*, a reflection of the fact that the virtue we cherish the most is *tolerance* - in other words, the right to differ.

This does not make us sages, for wisdom encompasses many other virtues.

Rather, we think of ourselves as being philosophers - literally, as "lovers of wisdom."

Before sealing this *Positio*, and thereby giving it the stamp of our Order, we wish to conclude with an invocation that expresses what we may call "Rosicrucian Utopia" in the Platonist sense of the word. We are appealing to the good will of everyone so that one day this Utopia may become a reality, for the greater good of humanity. Perhaps this day will never come, however if all men and women endeavor to believe in it, and act accordingly, the world can only become better because of it.

## ROSICRUCIAN UTOPIA

*God of all beings,God of all life,*
*In the humanity we are dreaming of:*

• Politicians are profoundly humanistic and strive to serve the common good;

• Economists manage state finances with discernment and in the interest of al ;

• Scientists are spiritualistic and seek their inspiration in the Book of Nature;

• Artists are inspired and express the beauty and purity of the Divine Plan in their works;

• Physicians are motivated by love for their community and treat both the soul and the body;

• Misery and poverty have vanished, for everyone has what one needs to live happily;

• Work is not regarded as a chore; it is looked at as a source of growth and well-being;

• Nature is considered to be the most beautiful temple of all, and animals are considered to be our brothers and sisters on the path of evolution;

• A World Government composed of the leaders of all nations, working in the interest of all humanity, has come into existence;

• Spirituality is an ideal and a way of life, which springs forth from a Universal Religion, founded more upon the knowledge of divine laws than upon the belief in God;

• Human relations are founded upon love, friendship, and community, so that the whole world lives in peace and harmony.

*So Mote It Be!*

**Sealed on March 20, 2001**
**Rosicrucian Year 3354**



# The New Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz

*Cosmica lex successit!*

**Sealed January 6, 2016**
**Rosicrucian Year 3368**

Antiquus Mysticusque Ordo Rosae Crucis

## MANIFESTO

As the author of this Manifesto, I would like to introduce myself, before you set about reading it. In the past, I was known by the name of Christian Rosenkreutz, mythical founder of the Order of the Rosy Cross, a secret society whose origin is dated by historians of esotericism to the beginning of the seventeenth century, but whose Tradition is a lot older than this, going back to the Mystery Schools of Ancient Egypt.

In the *Fama Fraternitatis*, published in 1614, it is explained in detail how and why, after having searched the world over for the most learned people of the time, I finally came to set up the Order of the Rosy Cross. Originally composed of a few members familiar with Hermeticism, Alchemy, and the Kabbalah, the Order went on to expand and has carried on right through to today. As its founder, I have continued to watch over its destiny, at times from the spiritual plane and at times while incarnated here below.

A second Manifesto was published the following year, in 1615: this was the *Confessio Fraternitatis*. Without going into detail, this is an extension of the *Fama* and complements it, by clarifying the rules and functioning of the Rosicrucian Fraternity as I had set them out.

Things are also revealed in connection with the *Liber Mundi* (The Book of the World), the true purpose of alchemy, and the Knowledge possessed by the Rosicrucians for the successful spiritual regeneration of Humanity.

A third Manifesto, published in 1616, was then added to the two preceding ones: in a different style altogether, it gives an account of a dream I had at the time that I was establishing the Order of the Rosy Cross. During this dream, I saw myself on an initiatory journey lasting seven days, at the end of which I was invited to the marriage of a King and Queen, held in a mysterious castle. This allegorical dream, which is interspersed with alchemical references, has been the subject of many interpretations, some of which are eloquent and inspiring, while others are far-fetched and even absurd.

In my current life, I was born on December 13, 1982 in Paris, the City of Light, where in 1623 the Rosicrucians made themselves known by putting posters up everywhere in the streets. I would like to remind you of what these posters said:

We, the Deputies of the Higher College of the Rose-Croix, do make our stay, visibly and invisibly, in this city, by the Grace of the Most High, to Whom turn the hearts of the Just.

We demonstrate and instruct, without books and distinctions, the ability to speak all manners of tongues of the countries where we choose to be, in order to draw our fellow creatures from error of death.

He who takes it upon himself to see us merely out of curiosity will never make contact with us. But if his inclination seriously impels him to register in our fellowship, we, who are judges of intentions, will cause him to see the truth of our promises; to the extent that we shall not make known the place of our meeting in this city, since the thoughts attached to the real desire of the seeker will lead us to him and him to us.

As I wish to remain anonymous, I am not going to tell you either where I live or what I do, or anything that could lead you to me.

In accordance with the rules that my brothers and I set for ourselves long ago, I must remain "invisible." Perhaps we will meet one day, but if we do, it will be me who approaches you. However, I would like you to know that my love for the Rose-Cross remains unconditional, and that it is - and will remain - my spiritual path, until my ultimate and final reintegration into the Universal Soul.

You can be assured that I would never have taken the time or trouble to write these pages, had I not felt the pressing need to do so, following a dream I had on the night of March 20, 2015, the first day of Spring, the content and the nature of which impelled me to write an account of it. You be the judge: having gone to bed, after first taking the time to meditate on the day I had just spent which, it seemed to me, had been a constructive one, I fell asleep. When my sleep was at its deepest point, I suddenly saw myself in a glass egg about three meters tall and a few centimeters thick. Extraordinarily beautiful, the egg was completely translucent, and perfectly symmetrical and even. I was standing at the center of it, as if in levitation, and felt exceptionally well.

Once my astonishment had worn off, I observed the egg closely, and at that point saw - engraved in the glass high up and spaced evenly around its outside - the symbols of salt, mercury, and sulphur. They were arranged in such a way that they could be connected up into an imaginary triangle.

Halfway up the egg, I recognized the symbols of earth, air, water, and fire. They were placed around its circumference so as to form an invisible square.

On the lower part of the egg, again evenly arranged around its outside, I could see the Hebrew letters aleph, mem, and shin.

They could also be connected up into an imaginary triangle.

I also noticed that on the curve at the top of the egg, like a crown, there was a representation of the Sun, and that on the curve at the bottom there was a representation of the Moon.

Going from the top of the egg to the bottom, I could read on my left ***Ad Rosam per Crucem**,* and on my right, going from the bottom to the top, ***Ad Crucem per Rosam***. This made up an esoteric formula that is familiar to all Rosicrucians, but about which I shall here remain silent...

## First stage

**Lunae auspiciis...**

All of a sudden, the egg started to slowly rise vertically upwards, before gently coming to a stop. I could not say how long this ascent lasted, but I felt myself taken off into another dimension.

This feeling was confirmed when, looking at the space around me, I could observe Earth. On seeing this amazingly beautiful sight, I could better understand why it is called the *blue planet* and why astronauts are so overwhelmed when they see Earth from their craft or from space stations, to the point of no longer doubting the existence of God.

While I was immersed in my contemplation, a gentle voice coming from space made itself heard to me:

See the Great Work of the Moon: the human race that you are part of has reconnected with Nature, and is living in perfect harmony with it. Human beings have at last understood that the planet on which they have the privilege of living is their mother, and that the animals, for which they have the deepest love and respect, are their brothers and sisters; better yet, they know that all of the beings inhabiting Earth are vehicles for the Universal Soul, and that everyone - in their own way and at their own level - is taking part in Cosmic Evolution.

Attempting to see where this voice was coming from, I perceived - looking in my direction, not far from me - a silvery-hued ethereal figure. Both intrigued and transfixed by this vision, I was reflecting on what I should make of it in connection with the idyllic picture I saw before me, when the egg - in which I still found myself as if in levitation - rose upwards again.

**...Cosmica lex successit!**

## Second stage

**Martis auspiciis...**

Once again - after how long, I could not say - the egg came to a stop. What I then saw before me was equally as transfixing and inspiring, but I had an even more extensive view of Earth. While I was gazing contentedly at it, another ethereal figure appeared, of an exceptionally radiant red. Looking at me with gentleness yet also with intensity, it said:

See the Great Work of Mars: the economy throughout the world is thriving, and is contributing to the well-being of all people, so that society is peaceful and harmonious; based on one currency, it is also fostering trade between countries, and leading to their coming together; there is no more shortage or poverty, for all people have what they need in order to be happy and to live in proper conditions on the material plane.

While I was looking at Earth and listening to the spiritual entity speaking to me, I noticed that the egg's glass had become slightly reddish in color, without actually affecting the colors of what I could see through it. I also observed that its original thickness had lessened somewhat, but this did not cause me any concern. I felt really well, and was experiencing a great sense of lightness.

**...Cosmica lex successit!**

## Third stage

**Mercurii auspiciis...**

When the egg came to a stop for the third time, the view that presented itself to me from this "cosmic floor" - in addition to the beauty of it, which was still every bit as sublime - gave me the feeling of a somewhat frenzied world, but one that was nonetheless peaceful.

I had the impression of an organized disorder, so to speak. Another ethereal figure, glinting an orange color, then appeared to me and revealed the following:

See the Great Work of Mercury: the men and women inhabiting Earth are behaving as world citizens, with everything positive that comes from this in terms of their relations: cooperation, sharing, unity, community... There is a World Government, which does not in any way replace national governments, but safeguards their sovereignty and promotes discussion between them. Globalization, long criticized and feared, is now bringing about union, mutual understanding, and social development for all people.

At this point in my dream, I felt sure that this peculiar ascent was going to continue and further delight my soul with sublime visions, but I did not know where it would take me. I therefore approached the next stage with curiosity and trust, taking my eyes off Earth without actually knowing whether it was real or not.

**...Cosmica lex successit!**

## Fourth stage

**Jovis auspiciis...**

Before starting to rise upwards again, the egg - whose appearance was becoming more reddish-colored at the same time as its wall was continuing to become thinner - tipped over, so that its upper part became the lower part, and vice versa. Curiously - and by what miraculous means, I do not know - this did not affect my body in any way. I remained in the same position, standing upright in levitation.

I had the impression that this stage of my ascent lasted a lot less time than the previous ones, as if I had been teleported, rather than transported. All the same, my view had become broader, and Earth appeared to me with considerably more perspective and from a lot further away. Words cannot describe what my soul then perceived. As before, an ethereal figure appeared to me. The bluish-colored gleams it was emanating almost merged into the astral blue everywhere around me. This is what it said to me:

See the Great Work of Jupiter: all countries and the world as a whole are being governed with wisdom, so that human relations are based on mutual trust and respect. The time when politics was partisan and narrow-minded has long gone: as you can see, it has become inseparable from philosophy, and its only purpose is to respond to the perfectly legitimate needs and wishes of all people, without discrimination.

**...Cosmica lex successit!**

## Fifth stage

**Veneris auspiciis...**

The previous feeling of being teleported was repeated on the way to the next stop. The egg was continuing to get thinner, so that I had the impression the glass was turning into crystal. Its reddish color was continuing to become more and more pronounced, but not only was it not affecting what I could see outside in any way, it was in fact making it clearer.

Suddenly there came back to my mind the moment when, on the fifth day of the "Chymical Wedding," I had the honor and privilege of looking upon Venus, deep asleep in a large four-poster bed. When I caught sight of the ethereal figure that had come to meet me, I understood why this vision had come to me: from where I was, its emerald-green radiations made me think of the Northern and Southern Lights, the Aurorae at Earth's Poles, which give such a particular glow to them. Looking at me, the figure said: See the Great Work of Venus: Peace is reigning at last on this planet, which gave birth to you such a long time ago.

The use of weapons is banned, including by countries. The very idea of war is sickening to people, both those governing and those being governed. Fellowship between individuals and populations is no longer a utopian ideal: it is one that each person is cultivating in themselves, and is expressing in their daily life. Humanity is at last living in rhythm with Universal Love.

**...Cosmica lex successit!**

## Sixth stage

**Saturni auspiciis...**

I would have liked to stay on this level of contemplation for longer, but the egg started to rise up once again. There was a sort of will or intention emanating from it, which I sensed without actually understanding it. The thickness of the glass had reduced so much that I had the impression it would be possible to put my finger through it, which I did not dare to do, in case I cracked it. In fact I was trying to guess at what, this time, would be bringing delight to my heart, my mind, and my soul.

When the egg came to a stop, there was the same sense of awe in the presence of so much beauty and purity. The more I gazed upon Earth, the more I had the feeling of being as one with it and with Humanity itself. Once again, an ethereal figure came to meet me. The violet tones emanating from it made it all the more airy and insubstantial. It then said to me:

See the Great Work of Saturn: Science is acting in the genuine interest of Humanity and with an absolute respect for Nature. It is concerned solely with contributing to the welfare of all human beings, improving their living conditions, and increasing their understanding, or to be more precise, their knowledge. In other words, Science has become profoundly humanistic, and is genuinely directed towards the happiness of all.

**...Cosmica lex successit!**

## Seventh stage

**Solis auspiciis...**

Through previous experience, I knew that a mystical dream - which was definitely what I was having - generally unfolds according to a sort of schematic pattern based on the coinciding of events, the science of numbers, and the law of correspondences. Therefore reason, more than intuition, made me think that the celestial ascent I was experiencing with such interest and joy would be completed by a seventh and final stage. And so when the egg started to rise up again, I felt sad at the thought that, afterwards, I would only be able to go back down again into the world I had left behind me. This feeling of sadness stayed with me until what I thought was the last point of stopping.

The egg in which I still found myself did indeed come to a gentle stop. The glass had become so thin that I could only make it out thanks to its coloring, now a vivid red. I still could not figure out how this coloring, which I had seen gradually deepening during my celestial ascent, allowed what I was looking at outside to pass through without it getting at all distorted. From this height, it was impossible to make out Earth, so radiant was the aura surrounding it.

Then an ethereal golden-glinting figure came to me and said, with the same distinctive gentleness:

See the Great Work of the Sun: religiosity has given way forever to a spirituality that is founded not on belief, but on knowing. The vast majority of human beings accept the existence of the soul as an obvious fact, and know that they are living on Earth for the purpose of developing this soul, in contact with others. Rather than worshipping God the Father, Jehovah, Allah, Brahma, or any other God, they are endeavoring to understand and abide by the divine laws, in the sense of the natural, universal, and spiritual laws. Humanity is well on the way to its Regeneration, and even to its Reintegration.

**...Cosmica lex successit!**

The words "regeneration" and "reintegration" were still echoing within me when I saw coming, from the six directions in space, the six spiritual entities that had appeared to me at each stage of my celestial ascent. They placed themselves in a circle around the one who had just spoken to me, and then intoned the sound OM nine times in succession, on a note unfamiliar to me. On the ninth intonation, before my spellbound eyes, the seven entities merged together and gave rise to a white star, which flew off at great speed towards Earth and blended into the light emanating from it.

A few moments later, I saw rising up out of this light a winged shape of enormous size. As it got nearer, there was no longer any doubt: it was a Phoenix, the mythical bird so beloved by the alchemists. On seeing it coming towards me, I thought momentarily of an engraving I had looked at again a few days previously in the book *Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians*, which was printed for the first time in the eighteenth century and has always provided material for Rosicrucians to meditate on: in it can be seen two double-headed Phoenixes, one holding the Sun between its two beaks, the other holding the Moon.

## Beyond the Seventh Heaven

**Phoenicis auspiciis...**

Remembering this ancient engraving, I continued gazing at the Phoenix. It was majestic, with magnificent plumage exactly the same color as the egg in which I remained in levitation. While I was observing this, I became aware that the egg had completely dematerialized, or rather that it had turned into spirit, and that I was left on my own. The result was immediate: I fell into the void at an increasingly breath-taking speed. Clearly, I was going to hit the ground and perish...

Over the course of a few seconds, I re-experienced the most significant moments of this life that was coming to an end, especially those connected to my Rosicrucian progression, and also those I had experienced in contact with those dear to me who had brought me so much joy. I experienced neither fear nor regret, however. I knew that death does not mark the permanent end of our existence, but is just a transition of the soul to the spiritual plane. It was true that I had the feeling of still having tasks to carry out in this world, but this would be for later on; I will be reincarnating.

As I was about to hit the ground, I felt myself being caught.

Looking up, I realized that the Phoenix had just taken me gently between its claws and, in so doing, saved my life. Better yet, it continued to fly off, and took me far beyond the Seventh Heaven.

From this celestial elevation, I could see not only Earth, still enveloped in the radiant light of its aura, but also the other planets of our solar system, from Mercury the smallest to Jupiter the most massive. But the manner in which I was perceiving them was not in any sense an astronomical one; instead, I was aware of the hidden energy coming from them, and better understood the meaning and the significance of all that I had seen before.

The Phoenix then headed towards the Sun, leaving behind it Earth which, with astonishing rapidity, became nothing more than a luminous point in the vastness of space. Although we were getting closer and closer to the Sun, I could look at it without being blinded.

Likewise, I was not in any way troubled by the heat of its rays. Rather, I had the impression of turning into spirit, to the point of no longer being aware of my body, and of feeling I was pure soul. Never had I experienced such a sensation of freedom, purity, and peace.

With the Phoenix and myself about to dissolve into the Sun, I got myself ready, so that I would experience this merging with as much clear-headedness and intensity as possible on the inner plane.

At this point, I heard extraordinarily beautiful music, in comparison to which our most wonderful symphonies are like the work of infants.

It was unquestionably the "Music of the Spheres" so beloved by Pythagoras, wisest of all sages. There then came into my mind this music poem known to Initiates:

**Ut**queant laxis
**Re**sonare fibris
**Mi**ra gestorum
**Fa**muli tuorum
**Sol**ve polluti
**La**bii reatum
**S**ancte **I**oannes.

Soothed by this cosmic chant, I trustingly allowed myself to be absorbed into the Sun, having first looked the Phoenix in the eyes for a final time and thanked it, not so much for having saved my life as for what I was experiencing while with it. At this exact moment, I had the profound feeling of being as one with it - or more precisely, of marrying my soul with its soul, and thus undergoing the "Chymical Wedding" aspired to by every Rosicrucian. And then came Illumination: going back in consciousness to the beginning of Creation, I witnessed the Big Bang, the astounding cosmic explosion from which the Universe sprang forth, and which then continued extending to the furthest reaches of the Infinite.

I saw too how God − the absolute, eternal Intelligence, Consciousness, Energy − breathed into the forming Universe a pure and perfect Soul, and how this Universal Soul came to give life to all the creatures that, for eons of time, have been inhabiting the Universe.

What I sensed as an obvious fact was then confirmed to me: there are an infinite number of worlds in Creation, and ours is one among many others; some of them are more evolved, and others less evolved.

Then, like a speeded-up film, I saw the major stages in the formation of Earth taking place, from the igneous state it was in at the beginning, to the forming of the continents that we know today.

I also witnessed the appearance of life - from the first creatures that developed in the seas and oceans, via the much-talked-about reign of the dinosaurs, to humankind itself. Human beings definitely do not form a separate realm: they are the culmination of an evolutionary process going back to the first creatures that inhabited our planet.

Humanity's overall history, taking in all countries and periods of time, then passed across the screen of my consciousness. In a few moments, I saw many prominent events; strangely, all of them were positive and constructive, which made me think again of the wonderful visions that had been presented to me earlier on. This journey through time made me especially happy, and only served to renew the confidence that I have always had in Humankind, knowing as I do that we are of divine origin and that the soul that gives us life is inherently benevolent.

I thought the journey was coming to an end, when I saw myself at the period when I made myself known for the first time by the name of Christian Rosenkreutz. It was very emotional for me re-living the initiatory journey that led me to found the Order of the Rosy Cross, along with the time spent in assembling the knowledge that my brothers and I wanted to pass down to posterity; this included particularly the time when we copied out the *Liber Mundi*, having put commentary of our own into it.

The idea of seeing "from the outside" how my death - or more precisely, the transition of my soul - had taken place, together with the grave where my body was at rest, was already one that I was relishing when a vehicle alarm snapped me out of my sleep. It was still dark but, rather than going back to sleep, I got up so that I could write down as accurately as possible what I had dreamed about. Once I had done this, I meditated until daybreak on the meaning of all that I had seen, heard, and felt during the course of this strange voyage outside of time and space, not forgetting to thank the God of my Heart for having inspired it within me.

The reason I wanted to share this dream with you is that I thought it might be thought-provoking for people in a helpful way. I am well aware that, as this year 2016 begins, the world is a long way away from the idyllic visions I had during what I have described as a "celestial ascent": its situation is, in many spheres, rather worrying.

Do these visions therefore have merit as premonitions, or are they just the fantastical projections of the future I passionately hope will belong to the whole of Humanity? It is up to you to decide...

Who has never dreamt of a world which, if not perfect, is at least a better place for all, regardless of which country people live in? If we truly want it to, this dream can become a reality. Of course, this entails our acting appropriately, both individually and collectively. Four centuries after the publication of the *Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz,* this *New Wedding* is therefore a message of hope, as well as an invitation to imagine, today, what the Humanity of tomorrow can - and must - become. It is this that spurred me into recounting my dream to you.

As you probably know, the alchemists of the past were working mainly on the transmutation of base metals into gold by means of the Philosophers' Stone, an ultrafine Substance that they obtained through an operative process comprising seven major stages.

However, some of them, including myself, devoted themselves not to material alchemy, but to spiritual alchemy. What mattered to them was not the obtaining of gold: it was the acquiring of wisdom. This remains the goal of the Rosicrucians who live among you, for I know just how much they want to contribute to improving the world.

In the *Positio Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis*, published in 2001 by the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, can be read the following about alchemy:

As you surely know, the Rosicrucians of the past practiced material alchemy, which consisted of transmuting base metals - such as tin and lead - into gold. What we often ignore is that they also devoted themselves to spiritual alchemy. Contemporary Rosicrucians give priority to this form of alchemy, for the world needs it more than ever. This spiritual alchemy consists, for all human beings, of transmuting each one of their flaws into its opposite quality, so as to acquire precisely the virtues to which we have referred earlier. In fact, we believe that such virtues constitute human dignity, for we are worthy of our status only when expressing virtue in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Undoubtedly, if all individuals - whatever their religious beliefs, political ideas, or other thoughts may be - made the effort to acquire these virtues, it would be a better world.

In 2014, AMORC published a second Manifesto entitled the *Appellatio Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis*. Complementing the *Positio* in the same way that the *Confessio* complemented the *Fama*, the *Appellatio* is not unrelated to the dream I have recounted to you in these few pages. Indeed I would go so far as to say that this second Manifesto contains the keys to it, and indicates the way for this dream, this Utopia, to become reality. Having read the *Appellatio* and deliberated on it, I would urge you to do the same, and bring out the full meaning of this *New Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz*. So that you can see for yourself, I would like to give you a short extract from the *Appellatio*:

Anthropologists believe that modern humans appeared around two hundred thousand years ago. Compared to a single human lifetime, this may seem a long time. But in terms of its cycles of evolution, humankind is only in its adolescence and is showing all the characteristics of this in so far as it is searching for its identity and destiny, is carefree and even reckless, considering itself to be immortal, indulging to excess, defying reason and disregarding common sense. This evolutionary stage, with its share of difficulties, trials, and failures, but equally its satisfactions, successes, and hopes, is a necessary transition that should allow humankind to grow up, mature, flourish, and finally reach fulfillment: that is, fulfill itself on both the material and the spiritual planes. But in order for this to occur it must become adult.

With these thoughts, I will now let you get back to your business, and carry on with mine. As I said to you at the beginning, I continue to watch over the destiny of the Rosicrucian Order. Perhaps some day we will be meeting one another. In any event, may I convey to you my most fraternal thoughts and send you my best wishes for Peace Profound, with the hope of a future that is as good as it possibly can be for the whole of the world...

**!EB TI ETOM OS**



# Confessio Fraternitatis

## The Confession of the Laudable Fraternity of the Most Honorable Order of the Rosy Cross, Written to all the Learned in Europe

Whatsoever is published, and made known to everyone, concerning our Fraternity, by the foresaid Fama, let no man esteem lightly of it, nor hold it as an idle or invented thing, and much less receive the same, as though it were only a mere conceit of ours. It is the Lord Jehovah (who seeing the Lord's Sabbath is almost at hand, and hastened again, his period or course being finished, to his first beginning) doth turn about the course of Nature; and what heretofore hath been sought with great pains, and daily labour, is now manifested unto those who make small account, or scarcely once think upon it; but those which desire it, it is in a manner forced and thrust upon them, that thereby the life of the godly may be eased of all their toil and labour, and be no more subject to the storms of inconstant Fortune; but the wickedness of the ungodly thereby, with their due and deserved punishment, be augmented and multiplied. Although we cannot be by any suspected of the least heresy, or of any wicked beginning, or purpose against the worldly government, we do condemn the East and the West (meaning the Pope and Mahomet) blasphemers against our Lord Jesus Christ, and offer and present with a good will to the chief head of the Roman Empire our prayers, secrets, and great treasures of gold.

Yet we have thought good, and fit for the learned's sakes, to add somewhat more to this, and make a better explanation if there be anything too deep, hidden, and set down over dark in the Fama, or for certain reasons were altogether omitted, and left out; hoping herewith the learned will be more addicted unto us, and be made far more fit and willing for our purpose.

Concerning the alteration and amendment of Philosophy, we have (as much as this present is needful) sufficiently declared, to wit, that the same is altogether weak and faulty; yet we doubt not, although the most part falsely do allege that she (I know not how) is sound and strong, yet notwithstanding she fetches her last breath and is departing.

But as commonly, even in the same place or country where there breaketh forth a new a unaccustomed disease, Nature also there discovereth a medicine against the same; so there doth appear for so manifold infirmities of Philosophy the right means, and unto our Patria sufficiently offered, whereby she may become sound again, which is now to be renewed and altogether new.

No other Philosophy we have, than that which is the head and sum, the foundations and contents of all faculties, sciences, and arts, the which (if we will behold our age) containeth much of Theology and medicine, but little of the wisdom of the law, and doth diligently search both heaven and earth: or, to speak briefly thereof, which doth manifest and declare sufficiently Man, whereof all learned who will make themselves known unto us, and come into our brotherhood, shall find more wonderful secrets by us than heretofore they did attain unto, and did know, or are able to believe or utter.

Wherefore, to declare briefly our meaning hereof, we ought to labour carefully that there be not only a wondering at our meeting and adhortation, but that likewise everyone may know, that although we do not lightly esteem and regard such mysteries and secrets, we nevertheless holde it fit, that the knowledge thereof be manifested and revealed to many.

For it is to be taught and believed, that this our unhoped (for), willing offer will raise many and divers thoughts in men, unto whom (as yet) be unknown Miranda sexta aetatis, or those which by reason of the course of the world, esteem the things to come like unto the present, and are hindered through all manner of importunities of this our time, so that they live no otherwise in the world, than blind fools, who can, in the clear sun-shine day discern and know nothing, than only by feeling.

Now concerning the first part, we hold this, that the meditations, knowledge and inventions of our loving Christian Father (of all that, which from the beginning of the world, Man's wisdom, either through God's revelation, or through the service of the angels and spirits, or through the sharpness and depth of understanding, or through long observation, use, and experience, hath found out, invented, brought forth, corrected, and till now hath been propagated and transplanted) are so excellent, worthy and great, that if all books should perish, and by God's almighty sufferance, all writings and all learnings should be lost, yet the posterity will be able only thereby to lay a new foundation, and bring truth to light again; the which perhaps would not be so hard to do as if one should begin to pull down and destroy the old ruinous building, and then to enlarge the fore court, afterwards bring lights into the lodgings, and then change the doors, stair, and other things according to our intention.

But to whom would not this be acceptable, for to be manifested to everyone rather that to have it kept and spared, as an especial ornament for the appointed time to come?

Wherefore should we not with all our hearts rest and remain in the only truth (which men through so many erroneous and crooked ways do seek) if it had only pleased God to lighten unto us the sixth Candelbrium? Were it not good that we needed not to care, not to fear hunger, poverty, sickness and age?

Were it not a precious thing, that you could always live so, as if you had lived from the beginning of the world, and, moreover, as you should still live to the end thereof? Were it not excellent you dwell in one place, that neither the people which dwell beyond the River Ganges in the Indies could Hide anything, nor those which in Peru might be able to keep secret their counsels from thee?

Were it not a precious thing, that you could so read in one only book, and withal by reading understand and remember, all that which in all other books (which heretofore have been, and are now, and hereafter shall come out) hath been, is, and shall be learned and found out of them?

How pleasant were it, that you could so sing, that instead of stony rocks you could draw the pearls and precious stones, instead of wild beasts, spirits, and instead of hellish Pluto, move the might princes of the world.

O ye people, God's counsel is far otherwise, who hath concluded now to increase and enlarge the number of our Fraternity, the which we with such joy have undertaken, as we have heretofore obtained this great treasure without our merits, yea without our hopes, and thoughts, and purpose with the like fidelity to put the same in practice, that neither the compassion nor pity of our own children (which some of us in the Fraternity have) shall draw us from it, because we know these unhoped for goods cannot be inherited, nor by chance be obtained.

If there be somebody now, which on the other side will complain of our discretion, that we offer our treasure so freely, and without any difference to all men, and do not rather regard and respect more the godly, learned, wise, or princely persons, than the common people; those we do not contradict, seeing it is not a slight and easy matter; but withal we signify so much, that our Arcana or secrets will no ways be common, and generally made known. Although the Fama be set forth in five languages, and is manifested to everyone, yet we do partly very well know that the unlearned and gross wits will not receive nor regard the same; as also the worthiness of those who shall be accepted into our Fraternity are not esteemed and known of us by Man's carefulness, but by the Rule of our Revelation and Manifestation. Wherefore if the unworthy cry and call a thousand times, or if they shall offer and present themselves to us a thousand times, yet God hath commanded our ears, that they should hear none of them: yea God hath so compassed us about with his clouds, that unto us his servants no violence or force can be done or committed; wherefore we neither can be seen or known by anybody, except he had the eyes of an eagle. It hath been necessary that the Fama be set forth in everyone's mother tongue, because those should not be defrauded of the knowledge thereof, whom (although they be unlearned) God hath not excluded from the happiness of this Fraternity, the which shall be divided and parted into certain degrees; as those which dwell in the city of Damascus in Arabia, who have a far different politick order from the other Arabians. For there do govern only wise and understanding men, who by the king's permission make particular laws; according unto which example also the government shall be instituted in Europe (whereof we have a description set down by our Christianly Father) when first is done and come to pass that which is to precede. And thenceforth our Trumpet shall publicly sound with a loud sound, and great noise, when namely the same (which at this present is shown by few, and is secretly, as a thing to come, declared in figures and pictures) shall be free and publicly proclaimed, and the whole world shall be filled withal. Even in such manner as heretofore, many godly people have secretly and altogether desperately pushed at the Pope's tyranny, which afterwards, with great, earnest, and especial zeal in Germany, was thrown from his seat, and trodden underfoot, whose final fall is delayed, and kept for our times, when he also shall be scratched in pieces with nails, and an end be made of his ass's cry, by a new voice. The which we know is already reasonable manifest and known to many learned men in Germany, as their writings and secret congratulations do sufficiently witness the same.

We could here relate and declare what all the time, from the year of Our Lord 1378 (in which year our Christian Father was born) till now, hath happened, where we might rehearse what alterations he hath seen in these one hundred and six years of his life, which he hath left to our breathren and us after his decease to peruse. But brevity, which we do observe, will not permit at this present to make rehearsal of it, till a more fit time. At this time it is enough for those which do not despise our declaration, having therefore briefly touched it, thereby to prepare the way for their acquaintance and friendship with us.

Yet to whom it is permitted that he may see, and for his instruction use, those great letters and characters which the Lord god hath written and imprinted in heaven and earth's edifice, through the alteration of government, which hath been from time to time altered and reviewed, the same is already (although as yet unknown to himself) ours. And as we know he wll not despise our inviting and calling, so none shall fear any deceit, for we promise and openly say, that no man's uprightness and hopes shall deceive him, whosoever shall make himself known unto us under the seal of secrecy, and desire our Fraternity.

But to the false hypocrites, and to those that seek other things than wisdom, we say and witness by these presents publicly, we cannot be made known, and be betrayed unto them; and much less they shall be able to hurt as any manner of way without the will of God; but they shall certainly be partakers of all the punishment spoken of in our Fama; so their wicked counsels shall light upon themselves, and our treasures shall remain untouched and unstirred, until the Lion doth come, who will ask them for his use, and employ them for the confirmation and establishment of his kingdom. We ought therefore here to observe well, and make it known unto everyone, that God hath certainly and most assuredly concluded to send and grant to the world before her end, which presently thereupon shall ensue, such a truth, light, life, and glory, as the first man Adam had, which he lost in Paradise, after which his successors were put and driven, with him, to misery. Wherefore there shall cease all servitude, falsehood, lies, and darkness, which by little and little, with the great world's revolution, was crept into all arts, works, and governments of men, and have darkened the most part of them. For form thence are proceeded an innumerable sort of all manner of false opinions and heresies, that scarce the wisest of all was able to know whose doctrine and opinion he should follow and embrace, and could not well and easily be discerned; seeing on the one part they were detained, hindered, and brought into errors through the respect of the philosophers and learned men, and on the other part through true experience. All the which, when it shall once be abolished and removed, and instead thereof a right and true rule instituted, then there will remain thanks unto them which have taken pains therein. But the work itself shall be attributed to the blessedness of our age.

As we now willingly confess, that may principal men by their writings will be a great furtherance unto this Reformation which is to come; so we desire not to have this honour ascribed to us, as if such work were only commanded and imposed upon us. But we confess, and witness openly with the Lord Jesus Christ, that it shall first happen that the stones shall arise, and offer their service, before there shall be any want of executors and accomplishers of God's counsel; yea, the Lord God hath already sent before certain messengers, which should testify his will, to wit, some new stars, which do appear and are seen in the firmament in Serpentario and Cygno, which signify and give themselves known to everyone, that they are powerful Signacula of great weighty matters. So then, the secret his writings and characters are most necessary for all such things which are found out by men. Although that great book of nature stands open to all men, yet there are but few that can read and understand the same. For as there is given to man two instruments to hear, likewise two to see, and two to smell, but only one to speak, and it were but vain to expect speech from the ears, or hearing from the eyes. So there hath been ages or times which have seen, there have also been ages that have heard, smelt, and tasted. Now there remains yet that which in short time, honour shall be likewise given to the tongue, and by the same; what before times hath been seen, heard, and smelt, now finally shall be spoken and uttered forth, when the World shall awake out of her heavy and drowsy sleep, and with an open heart, barehead, and bare-foot, shall merrily and joyfully meet the new arising Sun.

These characters and letters, as God hath here and there incorporated them in the Holy Scriptures, the Bible, so hath he imprinted them in all beasts. So that like as the mathematician and astronomer can long before see and know the eclipses which are to come, so we may verily foreknow and foresee the darkness of obscurations of the Church, and how long they shall last. From the which characters or letters we have borrowed our magic writing, and have found out, and made, a new language for ourselves, in the which withal is expressed and declared the nature of all things. So that it is no wonder that we are not so eloquent in other languages, the which we know that they are altogether disagreeing to the language of our forefathers, Adam and Enoch, and were through the Babylonical confusion wholly hidden.

But we must also let you understand that there are yet some Eagles' Feathers in our way, the which do hinder our purpose. Wherefore we do admonish everyone for to read diligently and continually the Holy Bible, for he that taketh all his pleasures therein, he shall know that he prepared for himself an excellent way to come to our Fraternity. For as this is the whole sum and content of our rule, that every letter or character which is in the world ought to be learned and regarded well; so those are like unto us, and are very near allied unto us, who do make the Holy Bible a rule of their life, and an aim and end of all their studies: yea to let it be a compendium and content of the whole world. And not only to have it continually in the mouth, but to know how to apply and direct the true understanding of it to all times and ages of the world. Also, it is not our custom to prostitute and make so common the Holy Scriptures; for there are innumerable expounders of the same; some alleging and wresting it to serve for their opinion, some to scandal it, and most wickedly do like it to a nose of wax, which alike should serve the divines, philosophers, physicians, and mathematicians, against all the which we do openly witness and acknowledge, that from the beginning of the world there hath not been given unto men a more worthy, a more excellent, and more admirable and wholesome Book than the Holy Bible. Blessed is he that hath the same, yet more blessed is he who reads it diligently, but most blessed of all is he that truly understandeth the same, for he is most like to God, and doth truly understandeth the same, for his most like to God, and doth come most near to him. But whatsoever hath been said in the Fama concerning the deceivers against the transmutation of metals, and the highest medicine in the world, the same is thus to be understood, that this so great gift of God we do in no manner set at naught, or dispise it. But because she bringeth not with her always the knowledge of Nature, but this bringeth forth not only medicine, but also maketh manifest and open unto us innumerable secrets and wonders. Therefore it is requisite, that we be earnest to attain to the understanding and knowledge of philosophy. And moreover, excellent wits ought not to be drawn to the tincture of metals, before they be exercised well in the knowledge of Nature. He must needs be an insatiable creature, who is come so far, that neither poverty nor sickness can hurt him, yea, who is exalted above all other men, and hath rule over that, the which doth anguish, trouble and pain others, yet will give himself again to idle things, as to build houses, make wars, and use al manner of pride, because he hath gold and silver infinite store.

God is far otherwise pleased, for he exalteth the lowly, and pulleth down the proud with disdain; to those which are of few works, he sendeth his holy Angel to speak with them, but the unclean babblers he driveth in the wilderness and solitary places. The which is the right reward of the Romish seducers, who have vomited forth their blasphemies against Christ, and as yet do not abstain from their lies in this clear shining light. In Germany all their abominations and detestable tricks have been disclosed, that thereby he may fully fulfill the measure of sin, and draw near to the end of his punishment. Therefore one day it will come to pass, that the mouth of those vipers will be stopped and the triple crown will be brought to nought, as thereof at our meeting shall more plain and at large be discoursed.

For conclusion of our Confession, we must earnestly admonish you, that you put away, if not all, yet the most books written by false Alchemists, who do think it but a jest, or a pastime, when they either misuse the Holy Trinity, when they do apply it to vain things, or deceive the people with most strange figures, and dark sentences and speeches, and cozen the simple of their money; as there are nowadays too many such books set forth, which the Enemy of man's welfare doth daily, and will to the end, mingle among the good seed, thereby to make the Truth more difficult to be believed, which in herself is simple, easy, and naked, but contrarily Falsehood is proud, haughty, and coloured with a kind of lustre of seeming godly and of humane wisdom. Ye that are wise eschew such books, and turn unto us, who seek not your moneys, but offer unto you most willingly our great treasures. We hunt not after your goods with invented lying tinctures, but desire to make you partakes of our goods. We speak unto you by parables, but would willingly bring you to the right, simple, easy and ingenuous exposition, understanding, declaration, and knowledge of all secrets. We desire not to be received by you, but invite you unto our more than kingly houses and palaces, and that verily not by our own proper motion, but (that you likewise may know it) as forced unto it, by the instigation of the Spirit of God, by his admonitions, and by the occasion of this present time.

What think you, loving people, and how seem you affected, seeing that you now understand and know, that we acknowledge ourselves truly and sincerely to profess Christ, condemn the Pope, addict ourselves to the true Philosophy, lead a Christian life, and daily call, entreat and invite many more unto our Fraternity, unto whom the same Light of God likewise appeareth? Consider you not at length how you might begin with us, not only by pondering the Gifts which are in you, and by experience which you have in the word of God, beside the careful consideration of the imperfection of all arts, and many other unfitting things, to seek for an amendment therein; to appease God, and to accommodate you for the time wherein you live. Certainly if you will perform the same, this profit will follow, that all those goods which Nature hath in all parts of the world wonderfully dispersed, shall at one time altogether be given unto you, and shall easily disburden you of all that which obscureth the understanding of man, and hindereth the working thereof, like unto the vain eccentrics and epicycles.

But those pragmatical and busy-headed men, who either are blinded with the glittering of gold, or (to say more truly) who are now honest, but by; thinking such great riches should never fail, might easily be corrupted, and brought to idleness, and to riotous proud living, those we desire that they would not trouble us with their idle and vain crying. But let them think, that although there be a medicine to be had which might fully cure all diseases, neverthelesss those whom God hath destined to plague with diseases, and to keep under the rod of correction, such shall never obtain any such medicine.

Even in such manner, although we might enrich the whole world, and endue them with learning, and might release it from innumerable miseries, yet shall we never be manifested and made known unto any many, without the especial pleasure of God; yea, it shall be so far from him whosoever thinks to get the benefit and be partaker of our riches and knowledge, without and against the will of God, that he shall sooner lose his life in seeking and searching for us, than to find us, and attain to come to the wished happiness of the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross.



# The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz

## The First Day

On an evening before Easter Day, I sat at a table, and having (as simfiliiul my custom was) in my humble prayer sufficiently conversed with my Creator, and considered many great mysteries (whereof the Father of Lights his Majesty had shown me not a few) and being now ready to prepare in my heart, together with my dear Paschal Lamb, a small, unleavened, undefiled cake; all of a sudden arose so horrible a tempest, that I imagined no other but that through its mighty force, the hill on which my little house was founded would fly into pieces.

But inasmuch as this, and the like from the Devil (who had done me many a spite) was no new thing to me, I took courage, and persisted in my meditation, till somebody in an unusual manner touched me on the back; whereupon I was so hugely terrified, that I dared hardly look about me; yet I showed myself as cheerful as (in such occurrences) human frailty would permit. Now the same thing still twitching me several times by the coat, I looked back, and behold it was a fair and glorious lady, whose garments were all sky-coloured, and curiously (like Heaven) bespangled with golden stars; in her right hand she bore a trumpet of beaten gold, on which a Name was engraved which I could well read but am as yet forbidden to reveal it. In her left hand she had a great bundle of letters of all languages, which she (as I afterwards understood) was to carry to all countries. She also had large and beautiful wings, full of eyes throughout, with which she could mount aloft, and fly swifter than any eagle.

I might perhaps have been able to take further notice of her, but because she stayed so little time with me, and terror and amazement still possessed me, I had to be content. For as soon as I turned about, she turned her letters over and over, and at length drew out a small one, which with great reverence she laid down upon the table, and without giving one word, departed from me. But in her mounting upward, she gave so mighty a blast on her gallant trumpet, that the whole hill echoed from it, and for a full quarter of an hour after, I could hardly hear my own words.

In so unlooked for an adventure I was at a loss, how either to advise or to assist my poor self, and therefore fell upon my knees and besought my Creator to permit nothing contrary to my eternal happiness to befall me. Whereupon with fear and trembling, I went to the letter, which was now so heavy, that had it been mere gold it could hardly have been so weighty. Now as I was diligently viewing it, I found a little seal, on which a curious cross with this inscription, IN HOC SIGNO VINCES, was engraved.

Now as soon as I espied this sign I was the more comforted, as not being ignorant that such a seal was little acceptable, and much less useful, to the Devil. Whereupon I tenderly opened the letter, and within it, in an azure field, in golden letters, found the following verses written.

This day, today

Is the Royal Wedding day.

For this thou wast born

And chosen of God for joy

Thou mayest go to the mountain Whereon three temples stand,

And see there this affair.

Keep watch

Inspect thyself

And shouldst thou not bathe thoroughly The Wedding may work thy bane.

Bane comes to him who faileth here Let him beware who is too light.

Below was written: Sponsus and Sponsa.

As soon as I had read this letter, I was presently like to have fainted away, all my hair stood on end, and a cold sweat tricked down my whole body. For although I well perceived that this was the appointed wedding, of which seven years before I was acquainted in a bodily vision, and which now for so long a time I had with great earnestness awaited, and which lastly, by the account and calculation of the planets, I had most diligently observed, I found so to be, yet could I never foresee that it must happen under such grievous perilous conditions. For whereas I before imagined, that to be a welcome and acceptable guest, I needed only to be ready to appear at the wedding, I was now directed to Divine Providence, of which until this time I was never certain.

I also found by myself, the more I examined my self, that in my head there was nothing but gross misunderstanding, and blindness in mysterious things, so that I was not able to comprehend even those things which lay under my feet, and which I daily conversed with, much less that I should be born to the searching out and understanding of the secrets of Nature, since in my opinion Nature might everywhere find a more virtuous disciple, to whom to entrust her precious, though temporary and changeable, treasures.

I found also that my bodily behaviour, and outward good conversation, and brotherly love towards my neighbour, was not duly purged and cleansed. Moreover the tickling of the flesh manifested itself, whose affection was bent only to pomp and bravery, and worldly pride, and not to the good of mankind: and I was always contriving how by this art I might in a short time abundantly increase my profit and advantage, rear up stately palaces, make myself an everlasting name in the world, and other similar carnal designs. But the obscure words concerning the three temples particularly afflicted me, which I was not able to make out by any after-speculation, and perhaps should not have done so yet, had they not been wonderfully revealed to me.

Thus stuck between hope and fear, examining my self again and again, and finding only my own frailty and impotence, not being in any way able to succour myself, and exceedingly amazed at the fore mentioned threatening, at length I betook myself to my usual and most secure course - after I had finished my earnest and most fervent prayer, I laid myself down in my bed, so that perchance my good angel by the Divine permission might appear, and (as it had sometimes formerly happened) instruct me in this doubtful affair. Which to the praise of God, my own good, and my neighbours' faithful and hearty warning and amendment, did now likewise come about.

For I was yet scarcely fallen asleep, when I thought that I, together with an innumerable multitude of men, lay fettered with great chains in a dark dungeon, in which, without the least glimpse of light, we swarmed like bees one over another, and thus rendered each other's affliction more grievous. But although neither I nor any of the rest could see one jot, yet I continually heard one heaving himself above the other, when his chains and fetters had become ever so slightly lighter, though none of us had much reason to shove up above the other, since we were all captive wretches.

Now when I with the rest had continued a good while in this affliction, and each was still reproaching the other with his blindness and captivity, at length we heard many trumpets sounding together and kettle drums beating in such a masterly fashion, that it even revived us in our calamity and made us rejoice.

During this noise the cover of the dungeon was lifted up from above, and a little light let down to us. Then first might truly have been discerned the bustle we kept, for all went pell-mell, and he who perchance had heaved himself up too much, was forced down again under the others' feet. In brief, each one strove to be uppermost. Neither did I myself linger, but with my weighty fetters slipped up from under the rest, and then heaved myself upon a stone, which I laid hold of; howbeit, I was caught at several times by others, from whom yet as well as I might, I still guarded myself with hands and feet. For we imagined no other but that we should all be set at liberty, which yet fell out quite otherwise.

For after the nobles who looked upon us from above through the hole had recreated themselves a while with our struggling and lamenting, a certain hoary-headed ancient man called to us to be quiet, and having scarcely obtained this, began (as I still remember) to speak on thus: If the poor human race

Were not so arrogant

It would have been given much good From my mother's heritage,

But because the human race will not take heed It lies in such straits

And must be held in prison.

And yet my dearest mother

Will not regard their mischief, She leaves her lovely gifts

That many a man might come to the light, Though this may chance but seldom That they be better prized

Nor reckoned as mere fable.

Therefore in honour of the feast Which we shall hold today,

That her grace may be multiplied A good work will she do:

The rope will now be lowered

Whoever may hang on to it

He shall be freed.

He had scarcely finished speaking when an ancient matron commanded her servants to let down the cord seven times into the dungeon, and draw up whosoever could hang upon it. Good God! that I could sufficiently describe the hurry and disquiet that then arose amongst us; for everyone strove to get to the cord, and yet only hindered each other. But after seven minutes a sign was given by a little bell, whereupon at the first pull the servants drew up four. At that time I could not get very near the cord, having (as is before mentioned) to my huge misfortune, betaken myself to a stone at the wall of the dungeon; and thereby I was made unable to get to the cord which descended in the middle.

The cord was let down the second time, but many, because their chains were too heavy, and their hands too tender, could not keep their hold on the cord, but with themselves beat down many another who else perhaps might have held fast enough; nay, many a one was forcibly pulled off by another, who yet could not himself get at it, so mutually envious were we even in this our great misery.

But they of all others most moved my compassion whose weight was so heavy that they tore their very hands from their bodies, and yet could not get up. Thus it came to pass that at those five times very few were drawn up. For as soon as the sign was given, the servants were so nimble at drawing the cord up, that the most part tumbled one upon another, and the cord, this time especially, was drawn up very empty.

Whereupon the greatest part, and even I myself, despaired of redemption, and called upon God that he would have pity on us, and (if possible) deliver us out of this obscurity; who then also heard some of us. For when the cord came down the sixth time, some of them hung themselves fast upon it; and whilst being drawn up, the cord swung from one side to the other, and (perhaps by the will of God) came to me, and I suddenly caught it, uppermost above all the rest, and so at length beyond hope came out. At which I rejoiced exceedingly, so that I did not perceive the wound which during the drawing up I had received on my head from a sharp stone, until I, with the rest who were released (as was always done before) had to help with the seventh and last pull; at which time through straining, the blood ran down all over my clothes, which I nevertheless because of my joy did not take notice of. Now when the last drawing up on which the most of all hung was finished, the matron caused the cord to be laid aside, and asked her aged son to declare her resolution to the rest of the prisoners, who after he had thought a little spoke thus unto them.

Ye childer dear

Ye who are here,

It is completed

What long hath been known,

The great favour which my mother Hath here shown you twain

Ye should not disdain:

A joyful time shall soon be come.

When each shall be the other's equal, No one be poor or rich,

And who was given great commands Must bring much with him now,

And who was much entrusted with Stripped to the skin will be,

Wherefore leave off your lamentation Which is but for a few days.

As soon as he had finished these words, the cover was again put to and locked down, and the trumpets and kettle-drums began afresh, yet the noise of them could not be so loud but that the bitter lamentation of the prisoners which arose in the dungeon was heard above all, which soon also caused my eyes to run over.

Presently afterwards the ancient matron, together with her son, sat down on seats before prepared, and commanded the redeemed should be told. Now as soon as she had demanded everyone's name, which were also written down by a little page; having viewed us all, one after another, she sighed, and spoke to her son, so that I could well hear her, "Ah, how heartily I am grieved for the poor men in the dungeon! I would to God I could release them all."

To which her son replied, "It is, mother, thus ordained by God, against whom we may not contend. If we were all of us lords, and possessed all the goods upon Earth, and were seated at table, who would there then be to bring up the service?"

Whereupon his mother held her peace, but soon after she said, "Well, however, let these be freed from their fetters," which was likewise presently done, and I was the last except a few; yet I could not refrain (though I still looked upon the rest) but bowed myself before the ancient matron, and thanked God that through her, he had graciously and fatherly vouchsafed to bring me out of such darkness into the light. After me the rest did likewise, to the satisfaction of the matron.

Lastly, to everyone was given a piece of gold for a remembrance, and to spend by the way, on the one side of which was stamped the rising sun, and on the other (as I remember) these three letters, D.L.S.; and therewith everyone had license to depart, and was sent to his own business with this annexed limitation, that we to the glory of God should benefit our neighbours, and reserve in silence what we had been entrusted with; which we also promised to do, and so departed one from another. But because of the wounds which the fetters had caused me, I could not well go forward, but halted on both feet, which the matron presently espying, laughing at it, and calling me again to her said thus to me: "My son, do not let this defect afflict you, but call to mind your infirmities, and therewith thank God who has permitted you even in this world, and in your state of imperfection, to come into so high a light; and keep these wounds for my sake."

Whereupon the trumpets began to sound again, which gave me such a shock that I woke up, and then first perceived that it was only a dream, but it so strongly impressed my imagination that I was still perpetually troubled about it, and I thought I still felt the wounds on my feet. Howbeit, by all these things I understood well that God had vouchsafed that I should be present at this mysterious and bidden wedding. Wherefore with childlike confidence I returned thanks to his Divine Majesty, and besought him that he would further preserve me in fear of him, that he would daily fill my heart with wisdom and understanding, and at length graciously (without deserting me) conduct me to the desired end.

Hereupon I prepared myself for the way, put on my white linen coat, girded my loins, with a blood-red ribbon bound cross-ways over my shoulder. In my hat I stuck four red roses, so that I might sooner be noticed amongst the throng by this token. For food I took bread, salt and water, which by the counsel of an understanding person I had at certain times used, not without profit, in similar occurrences.

But before I left my cottage, I first, in this my dress and wedding garment, fell down upon my knees, and besought God that in case such a thing were, he would vouchsafe me a good issue. And thereupon in the presence of God I made a vow that if anything through his grace should be revealed to me, I would employ it to neither my own honour nor my own authority in the world, but to the spreading of his Name, and the service of my neighbour. And with this vow, and good hope, I departed out of my cell with joy.

## The Second Day

I had hardly got out of my cell into a forest when I thought the whole heaven and all the elements had already trimmed themselves in preparation for this wedding. For even the birds chanted more pleasantly than before, and the young fawns skipped so merrily that they made my heart rejoice, and moved me to sing; wherefore with a loud voice I thus began: Rejoice dear bird

And praise thy Maker,

Raise bright and clear thy voice,

Thy God is most exalted,

Thy food he hath prepared for thee

To give thee in due season.

So be content therewith,

Wherefore shalt thou not be glad,

Wilt thou arraign thy God

That he hath made thee bird?

Wilt trouble thy wee head

That he made thee not a man?

Be still, he hath it well bethought

And be content therewith.

What do I then, a worm of earth

To judge along with God?

That I in this heaven's storm

Do wrestle with all art.

Thou canst not fight with God.

And whoso is not fit for this, let him be sped away O Man, be satisfied

That he hath made thee not the King

And take it not amiss,

Perchance hadst thou despised his name, That were a sorry matter:

For God hath clearer eyes that that

He looks into thy heart,

Thou canst not God deceive.

This I sang now from the bottom of my heart throughout the whole forest, so that it resounded from all parts, and the hills repeated my last words, until at length I saw a curious green heath, to which I betook myself out of the forest.

Upon this heath stood three lovely tall cedars, which by reason of their breadth afforded excellent and desired shade, at which I greatly rejoiced. For although I had not hitherto gone far, yet my earnest longing made me very faint, whereupon I hastened to the trees to rest a little under them. But as soon as I came somewhat closer, I saw a tablet fastened to one of them, on which (as afterwards I read) in curious letters the following words were written: "God save you, stranger! If you have heard anything concerning the nuptials of the King, consider these words. By us the Bridegroom offers you a choice between four ways, all of which, if you do not sink down in the way, can bring you to his royal court. The first is short but dangerous, and one which will lead you into rocky places, through which it will scarcely be possible to pass. The second is longer, and takes you circuitously; it is plain and easy, if by the help of the Magnet you turn neither to left nor right. The third is that truly royal way which through various pleasures and pageants of our King, affords you a joyful journey; but this so far has scarcely been allotted to one in a thousand. By the fourth no man shall reach the place, because it is a consuming way, practicable only for incorruptible bodies. Choose now which one you will of the three, and persevere constantly therein, for know whichever you will enter, that is the one destined for you by immutable Fate, nor can you go back in it save at great peril to life. These are the things which we would have you know. But, ho, beware! you know not with how much danger you commit yourself to this way, for if you know yourself to be obnoxious by the smallest fault to the laws of our King, I beseech you, while it is still possible, to return swiftly to your house by the way you came."

As soon as I read this writing all my joy nearly vanished again, and I who before sang merrily, began now inwardly to lament. For although I saw all the three ways before me, and understood that henceforward it was vouchsafed to me to choose one of them, yet it troubled me that if I went the stony and rocky way, I might get a miserable and deadly fall, or if I took the long one, I might wander out of it through byways, or be in other ways detained in the great journey. Neither could I hope that I amongst thousands should be the very one who should choose the royal way. I saw likewise the fourth before me, but it was so environed with fire and exaltations, that I did not dare draw near it by much, and therefore again and again considered whether I should turn back, or take any of the ways before me. I considered well my own unworthiness, but the dream still comforted me that I was delivered out of the tower; and yet I did not dare confidently rely upon a dream; whereupon I was so perplexed in various ways, that very great weariness, hunger and thirst seized me.

Whereupon I presently drew out my bread and cut a slice of it; which a snow-white dove of whom I was not aware, sitting upon the tree, saw, and therewith (perhaps according to her usual manner) came down. She betook herself very familiarly with me, and I willingly imparted my food to her, which she received, and so with her prettiness she again refreshed me a little. But as soon as her enemy, a most black raven, perceived it, he straightaway darted down upon the dove, and taking no notice of me, would force away the dove's food, and she could not guard herself otherwise than by flight. Whereupon they both flew together towards the south, at which I was so hugely incensed and grieved that without thinking what I did, I hastened after the filthy raven, and so against my will ran into one of the fore mentioned ways a whole field's length. And thus the raven having been chased away, and the dove delivered, I then first observed what I had inconsiderately done, and that I was already entered into a way, from which under peril of great punishment I could not retire. And though I had still wherewith in some measure to comfort myself, yet that which was worst of all to me was that I had left my bag and bread at the tree, and could never retrieve them. For as soon as I turned myself about, a contrary wind was so strong against me that it was ready to fell me. But if I went forward on the way, I perceived no hindrance at all. From which I could easily conclude that it would cost me my life if I should set myself against the wind, wherefore I patiently took up my cross, got up onto my feet, and resolved, since so it must be, that I would use my utmost endeavour to get to my journey's end before night.

Now although many apparent byways showed themselves, yet I still proceeded with my compass, and would not budge one step from the Meridian Line; howbeit the way was often so rugged and impassable, that I was in no little doubt of it. On this way I constantly thought upon the dove and the raven, and yet could not search out the meaning; until at length upon a high hill afar off I saw a stately portal, to which, not regarding how far it was distant both from me and from the way I was on, I hasted, because the sun had already hid himself under the hills, and I could see no abiding place elsewhere; and this verily I ascribe only to God, who might well have permitted me to go forward in this way, and withheld my eyes that so I might have gazed beside this gate.

To this I now made great haste, and reached it in so much daylight as to take a very competent view of it. Now it was an exceedingly royal beautiful portal, on which were carved a multitude of most noble figures and devices, every one of which (as I afterwards learned) had its peculiar signification. Above was fixed a pretty large tablet, with these words, "Procul hinc, procul ite profani" ("keep away, you who are profane"), and other things more, that I was earnestly forbidden to relate.

Now as soon as I came under the portal, there straightaway stepped forth one in a sky-coloured habit, whom I saluted in a friendly manner; and though he thankfully returned this salute, yet he instantly demanded of me my letter of invitation. O how glad was I that I had then brought it with me! For how easily might I have forgotten it (as it also chanced to others) as he himself told me!

I quickly presented it, wherewith he was not only satisfied, but (at which I much wondered) showed me abundance of respect, saying, "Come in my brother, you are an acceptable guest to me"; and entreated me not to withhold my name from him. Now I having replied that I was a Brother of the Red-Rosy Cross, he both wondered and seemed to rejoice at it, and then proceeded thus: "My brother, have you nothing about you with which to purchase a token?" I answered that my ability was small, but if he saw anything about me he had a mind to, it was at his service. Now he having requested of me my bottle of water, and I having granted it, he gave me a golden token on which stood no more than these two letters, S.C., entreating me that when it stood me in good stead, I would remember him. After which I asked him how many had come in before me, which he also told me, and lastly out of mere friendship gave me a sealed letter to the second Porter.

Now having lingered some time with him, the night grew on. Whereupon a great beacon upon the gates was immediately fired, so that if any were still upon the way, he might make haste thither. But the way, where it finished at the castle, was enclosed on both sides with walls, and planted with all sorts of excellent fruit trees, and on every third tree on each side lanterns were hung up, in which all the candles were lighted with a glorious touch by a beautiful Virgin, dressed in sky-colour, which was so noble and majestic a spectacle that I yet delayed somewhat longer than was requisite. But at length after sufficient information, and an advantageous instruction, I departed friendlily from the first Porter.

On the way, I would gladly have known what was written in my letter, yet since I had no reason to mistrust the Porter, I forbare my purpose, and so went on the way, until I came likewise to the second gate, which though it was very like the other, yet it was adorned with images and mystic significations. On the affixed tablet was "Date et dabitur vobis" ("give and it shall be given unto you").

Under this gate lay a terrible grim lion chained, who as soon as he saw me arose and made at me with great roaring; whereupon the second Porter who lay upon a stone of marble woke up, and asked me not to be troubled or afraid, and then drove back the lion; and having received the latter which I gave him with trembling, he read it, and with very great respect said thus to me: "Now welcome in God's Name to me the man who for a long time I would gladly have seen."

Meanwhile he also drew out a token and asked me whether I could purchase it. But having nothing else left but my salt, I presented it to him, which he thankfully accepted. Upon this token again stood only two letters, namely, S.M.

I was just about to enter into discourse with him, when it began to ring in the castle, whereupon the Porter counseled me to run, or else all the pains and labour I had hitherto undergone would serve to no purpose, for the lights above were already beginning to be extinguished. Whereupon I went with such haste that I did not heed the Porter, I was in such anguish; and truly it was necessary, for I could not run so fast but that the Virgin, after whom all the lights were put out, was at my heels, and I should never have found the way, had she not given me some light with her torch. I was moreover constrained to enter right next to her, and the gate was suddenly clapped to, so that a part of my coat was locked out, which I was verily forced to leave behind me. For neither I, nor they who stood ready without and called at the gate, could prevail with the Porter to open it again, but he delivered the keys to the Virgin, who took them with her into the court.

Meanwhile I again surveyed the gate, which now appeared so rich that the whole world could not equal it. Just by the door were two columns, on one of which stood a pleasant figure with this inscription, "Congratulor". The other, which had its countenance veiled, was sad, and beneath was written, "Condoleo". In brief, the inscriptions and figures were so dark and mysterious that the most dextrous man on earth could not have expounded them. But all these (if God permits) I shall before long publish and explain.

Under this gate I was again to give my name, which was this last time written down in a little vellum book, and immediately with the rest despatched to the Lord Bridegroom. It was here where I first received the true guest token, which was somewhat smaller than the former, but yet much heavier. Upon this stood these letters, S.P.N. Besides this, a new pair of shoes were given me, for the floor of the castle was laid with pure shining marble. My old shoes I was to give away to one of the poor who sat in throngs, although in very good order, under the gate. I then bestowed them upon an old man, after which two pages with as many torches conducted me into a little room.

There they asked me to sit down on a form, which I did, but they, sticking their torches in two holes, made in the pavement, departed and thus left me sitting alone. Soon after I heard a noise, but saw nothing, and it proved to be certain men who stumbled in upon me; but since I could see nothing, I had to suffer, and wait to see what they would do with me. But presently perceiving them to be barbers, I entreated them not to jostle me so, for I was content to do whatever they desired; whereupon they quickly let me go, and so one of them (whom I could not yet see) finely and gently cut away the hair round about from the crown of my head, but over my forehead, ears and eyes he permitted my ice-grey locks to hang. In this first encounter (I must confess) I was ready to despair, for inasmuch as some of them shoved me so forcefully, and yet I could see nothing, I could think nothing other but that God for my curiosity had suffered me to miscarry. Now these invisible barbers carefully gathered up the hair which was cut off, and carried it away with them.

After which the two pages entered again, and heartily laughed at me for being so terrified. But they had scarcely spoken a few words with me when again a little bell began to ring, which (as the pages informed me) was to give notice for assembling. Whereupon they asked me to rise, and through many walks, doors and winding stairs lit my way into a spacious hall. In this room was a great multitude of guests, emperors, kings, princes, and lords, noble and ignoble, rich and poor, and all sorts of people, at which I greatly marvelled, and thought to myself,'ah, how gross a fool you have been to engage upon this journey with so much bitterness and toil, when (behold) here are even those fellows whom you know well, and yet never had any reason to esteem. They are now all here, and you with all your prayers and supplications have hardly got in at last'. This and more the Devil at that time injected, while I notwithstanding (as well as I could) directed myself to the issue.

Meanwhile one or other of my acquaintance here and there spoke to me: "Oh Brother Rosencreutz! Are you here too?"

"Yes (my brethren)," I replied, "the grace of God has helped me in too".

At which they raised mighty laughter, looking upon it as ridiculous that there should be need of God in so slight an occasion. Now having demanded each of them concerning his way, and finding that most of them were forced to clamber over the rocks, certain trumpets (none of which we yet saw) began to sound to the table, whereupon they all seated themselves, every one as he judged himself above the rest; so that for me and some other sorry fellows there was hardly a little nook left at the lowermost table.

Presently the two pages entered, and one of them said grace in so handsome and excellent a manner, that it made the very heart in my body rejoice. However, certain great Sr John's made but little reckoning of them, but jeered and winked at one another, biting their lips within their hats, and using other similar unseemly gestures. After this, meat was brought in, and although no one could be seen, yet everything was so orderly managed, that it seemed to me as if every guest had his own attendant. Now my artists having somewhat recreated themselves, and the wine having removed a little shame from their hearts, they presently began to vaunt and brag of their abilities. One would prove this, another that, and commonly the most sorry idiots made the loudest noise. Ah, when I call to mind what preternatural and impossible enterprises I then heard, I am still ready to vomit at it. In a word, they never kept in their order, but whenever one rascal here, another there, could insinuate himself in between the nobles, then they pretended to having finished such adventures as neither Samson nor yet Hercules with all their strength could ever have achieved: this one would discharge Atlas of his burden; the other would again draw forth the threeheaded Cerberus out of Hell. In brief, every man had his own prate, and yet the greatest lords were so simple that they believed their pretences, and the rogues so audacious, that although one or other of them was here and there rapped over the fingers with a knife, yet they flinched not at it, but when anyone perchance had filched a gold-chain, then they would all hazard for the same.

I saw one who heard the rustling of the heavens. The second could see Plato's Ideas. A third could number Democritus's atoms. There were also not a few pretenders to the perpetual motion. Many a one (in my opinion) had good understanding, but assumed too much to himself, to his own destruction. Lastly, there was one also who found it necessary to persuade us out of hand that he saw the servitors who attended us, and would have persuaded us as to his contention, had not one of these invisible waiters reached him such a handsome cuff upon his lying muzzle, that not only he, but many more who were by him, became as mute as mice.

But it pleased me most of all, that all those of whom I had any esteem were very quiet in their business, and made no loud cry of it, but acknowledged themselves to be misunderstanding men, to whom the mysteries of nature were too high, and they themselves much too small. In this tumult I had almost cursed the day when I came here; for I could not behold but with anguish that those lewd vain people were above at the board, but I in so sorry a place could not rest in quiet, one of those rascals scornfully reproaching me for a motley fool.

Now I did not realise that there was still one gate through which we must pass, but imagined that during the whole wedding I was to continue in this scorn, contempt and indignity, which I had yet at no time deserved, either from the Lord Bridegroom or the Bride. And therefore (in my opinion) he should have done well to sort out some other fool than me to come to his wedding. Behold, to such impatience the iniquity of this world reduces simple hearts. But this really was one part of my lameness, of which (as is before mentioned) I dreamed. And truly the longer this clamour lasted, the more it increased. For there were already those who boasted of false and imaginary visions, and would persuade us of palpably lying dreams.

Now there sat by me a very fine quiet man, who often discoursed of excellent matters. At length he said, "Behold my brother, if anyone should now come who were willing to instruct these blockish people in the right way, would he be heard?"

"No, verily", I replied.

"The world," he said, "is now resolved (whatever comes of it) to be cheated, and cannot abide to give ear to those who intend its good. Do you see that same cocks-comb, with what whimsical figures and foolish conceits he allures others to him. There one makes mouths at the people with unheard-of mysterious words. Yet believe me in this, the time is now coming when those shameful vizards shall be plucked off, and all the world shall know what vagabond impostors were concealed behind them. Then perhaps that will be valued which at present is not esteemed."

Whilst he was speaking in this way, and the longer the clamour lasted the worse it was, all of a sudden there began in the hall such excellent and stately music such as I never heard all the days of my life; whereupon everyone held his peace, and waited to see what would become of it. Now in this music there were all the sorts of stringed instruments imaginable, which sounded together in such harmony that I forgot myself, and sat so immovable that those who sat by me were amazed at me; and this lasted nearly half an hour, during which time none of us spoke one word. For as soon as anyone at all was about to open his mouth, he got an unexpected blow, nor did he know where it came from. I thought since we were not permitted to see the musicians, I should have been glad to view just all the instruments they were using. After half an hour this music ceased unexpectedly, and we could neither see or hear anything more.

Presently after, a great noise began before the door of the hall, with sounding and beating of trumpets, shalms and kettle-drums, as majestic as if the Emperor of Rome had been entering; whereupon the door opened by itself, and then the noise of the trumpets was so loud that we were hardly able to endure it.

Meanwhile (to my thinking) many thousand small tapers came into the hall, all of which themselves marched in so very exact an order as altogether amazed us, till at last the two aforementioned pages with bright torches entered the hall, lighting the way of a most beautiful Virgin, all drawn on a gloriously gilded triumphant self-moving throne. It seemed to me that she was the very same who before on the way kindled and put out the lights, and that these attendants of hers were the very same whom she formerly placed at the trees. She was not now, as before, in sky-colour, but arrayed in a snow-white glittering robe, which sparkled with pure gold, and cast such a lustre that we could not steadily look at it. Both the pages were dressed in the same manner (although somewhat more modestly). As soon as they came into the middle of the hall, and had descended from the throne, all the small tapers made obeisance before her. Whereupon we all stood up from our benches, yet everyone stayed in his own place. Now she having showed to us, and we again to her, all respect and reverence, in a most pleasant tone she began to speak as follows: The King, my gracious lord

He is not far away,

Nor is his dearest bride,

Betrothed to him in honour.

They have now with the greatest joy

Beheld your coming hither.

Wherefore especially they would proffer Their favour to each one of you,

And they desire from their heart's depth That ye at all times fare ye well,

That ye have the coming wedding's joy

Unmixed with others' sorrow.

Hereupon with all her small tapers she courteously bowed again, and soon after began as follows: Ye know what in the invitation stands: No man hath been called hither

Who hath not got from God already

All gifts most beautiful,

And hath himself adorned aright

As well befits him here,

Though some may not believe it,

That any one so wayward be

That on such hard conditions

Should dare to make appearance

When he hath not prepared himself

For this wedding long before.

So now they stand in hope

That ye be well furnished with all good things, Be glad that in such hard times

So many folk be found

But men are yet so forward that

They care not for their boorishness

And thrust themselves in places where

They are not called to be.

Let no knave be smuggled in

No rogue slip in with others.

They will declare right openly

That they a wedding pure will have,

So shall upon the morrow's morn

The artist's scales be set

Wherein each one be weighed

And found what he forgotten hath.

Of all the host assembled here

Who trusts him not in this

Let him now stand aside.

And should he bide here longer

Then he will lose all grace and favour Be trodden underfoot,

And he whose conscience pricketh him

Shall be left in this hall today

And by tomorrow he'll be freed

But let him come hither never again.

But he who knows what is behind him

Let him go with his servant

Who shall attend him to his room

And there shall rest him for this day, For he awaits the scales with praise

Else will his sleep be mighty hard.

Let the others make their comfort here For he who goes beyond his means

'Twere better he had hid away.

And now the best from each be hoped.

As soon as she had finished saying this, she again made reverence, and sprung cheerfully into her throne, after which the trumpets began to sound again, which yet was not forceful enough to take the grievous sighs away from many. So they conducted her invisibly away again, but most of the small tapers remained in the room, and one of them accompanied each of us.

In such perturbation it is not really possible to express what pensive thoughts and gestures were among us. Yet most of us were resolved to await the scale, and in case things did not work out well, to depart (as they hoped) in peace. I had soon cast up my reckoning, and since my conscience convinced me of all ignorance, and unworthiness, I purposed to stay with the rest in the hall, and chose rather to content myself with the meal I had already taken, than to run the risk of a future repulse. Now after everyone had each been conducted into a chamber (each, as I since understood, into a particular one) by his small taper, there remained nine of us, and among the rest he who discoursed with me at the table too. But although our small tapers did not leave us, yet soon after an hour's time one of the aforementioned pages came in, and, bringing a great bundle of cords with him, first demanded of us whether we had concluded to stay there; when we had affirmed this with sighs, he bound each of us in a particular place, and so went away with our small tapers, and left us poor wretches in darkness.

Then some first began to perceive the imminent danger, and I myself could not refrain from tears. For although we were not forbidden to speak, yet anguish and affliction allowed none of us to utter one word. For the cords were so wonderfully made that none could cut them, much less get them off his feet. Yet this comforted me, that still the future gain of many a one who had now taken himself to rest, would prove very little to his satisfaction. But we by only one night's penance might expiate all our presumption. Till at length in my sorrowful thoughts I fell asleep, during which I had a dream. Now although there is no great matter in it, yet I think it not impertinent to recount it.

I thought I was upon a high mountain, and saw before me a great and large valley. In this valley were gathered together an unspeakable multitude of people, each of which had at his head a thread, by which he was hanged from Heaven; now one hung high, another low, some stood even almost upon the earth.

But through the air flew up and down an ancient man, who had in his hand a pair of shears, with which he cut here one's, there another's thread. Now he that was close to the earth was so much more ready, and fell without noise, but when it happened to one of the high ones, he fell so that the earth quaked. To some it came to pass that their thread was so stretched that they came to the earth before the thread was cut. I took pleasure in this tumbling, and it gave my heart joy, when he who had over-exalted himself in the air about his wedding got so shameful a fall that it even carried some of his neighbours along with him.

In a similar way it also made me rejoice that he who had all this while kept himself near the earth could come down so finely and gently that even the men next to him did not perceive it.

But being now in my highest fit of jollity, I was jogged unawares by one of my fellow captives, upon which I was awakened, and was very much discontented with him. However, I considered my dream, and recounted it to my brother, lying by me on the other side, who was not dissatisfied with it, but hoped that some comfort might be meant by it. In such discourse we spent the remaining part of the night, and with longing awaited the day.

## The Third Day

Now as soon as the lovely day was broken, and the bright Sun, having raised himself above the hills, had again took himself to his appointed office in the high Heaven, my good champions began to rise out of their beds, and leisurely to make themselves ready for the Inquisition. Whereupon, one after another, they came again into the hall, and saying good morning, demanded how we had slept that night; and having seen our bonds, there were some that reproved us for being so cowardly, and because we had not, rather, like them, hazarded upon all adventures. However, some of them whose hearts still smote them made no loud cry of the business. We excused ourselves with our ignorance, hoping we should now soon be set at liberty, and learn wisdom by this disgrace, that they on the contrary had not yet altogether escaped; and perhaps their greatest danger was still to come.

At length everyone being assembled again, the trumpets began again to sound and the kettle drums to beat as formerly, and we then imagined nothing other but that the Bridegroom was ready to present himself; which nevertheless was a huge mistake. For it was again the Virgin of yesterday, who had arrayed herself all in red velvet, and girded herself with a white scarf. On her head she had a green wreath of laurel, which greatly suited her. Her train was now no more of small tapers, but consisted of two hundred men in armour, who were all (like her) clothed in red and white.

Now as soon as they were alighted from the throne, she came straight to us prisoners, and after she had saluted us, she said in few words: "That some of you have been aware of your wretched condition is hugely pleasing to my most mighty Lord, and he is also resolved you shall fare the better for it" .

And having seen me in my habit, she laughed and said, "Goodness! Have you also submitted yourself to the yoke? I imagined you would have made yourself very smug". With which words she caused my eyes to run over. After which she commanded that we should be unbound, and coupled together and placed in a station where we might easily see the Scales. For, she said, it may yet fare better with them, than with the presumptuous who still stand here at liberty.

Meanwhile the scales, which were entirely of gold, were hung up in the middle of the hall; there was also a little table covered with red velvet, and seven weights placed on it. First of all there was a pretty big one, next four little ones, lastly two great ones. And these weights were so heavy in proportion to their bulk, that no man can believe or comprehend it. But each of the armoured men had, together with a naked sword, a strong rope; these she distributed according to the number of weights into seven bands, and out of every band chose one for their own weight; and then again sprang up into her high throne. Now as soon as she had made her reverence, in a very shrill tone she began to speak as follows:

Whoever goes into an artist's room

And nothing knows of painting

And yet will speak with much display

Will yet be mocked by everyone.

And he who enters artist's orders

Who hath not been selected

And begins to paint with much display

Will yet be mocked by everyone.

And who will to a wedding come

And hath not bidden been,

And yet doth come with much display

Will yet be mocked by everyone.

And who will climb upon these scales

And find he weigheth not,

But is shot up with mighty crash

Will yet be mocked by everyone.

As soon as the Virgin had finished speaking, one of the pages commanded each one to place himself according to his order, and one after another to step in. Which one of the Emperors made no scruple of, but first of all bowed himself a little towards the Virgin, and afterwards in all his stately attire went up: whereupon each Captain put in his weight, against which (to the wonder of all) he held out. But the last was too heavy for him, so that he must go forth; and that he did with so much anguish that (as it seemed to me) the Virgin herself had pity on him, and beckoned to her people to hold their peace; yet the good Emperor was bound and delivered over to the Sixth Band. Next after him again there came another Emperor, who stepped haughtily into the Scale, and, having a great thick book under his gown, he imagined he would not fail; but he was scarcely able to abide the third weight, and was unmercifully flung down, and his book in that upheaval fell from him, and all the soldiers began to laugh, and he was delivered up bound to the Third Band. Thus it went also with some of the other Emperors, who were all shamefully laughed at and put in captivity.

After these there came forth a short little man with a curled brown beard, also an Emperor, who after the usual reverence got up, and held out so steadfastly, that I thought that had there been more weights ready he would have outstood them. To him the Virgin immediately arose, and bowed before him, making him put on a gown of red velvet, and finally gave him a branch of laurel, of which she had a good store upon her throne, upon the steps of which she asked him to sit down. Now how it fared with the rest of the Emperors, Kings and Lords after him, would take too long to recount; but I cannot leave unmentioned that few of those great personages held out. However, various eminent virtues (beyond my hopes) were found in many. One could stand out this, the second another, some two, some three, four or five, but few could attain to the just perfection; and everyone who failed was miserably laughed at by the bands.

After the Inquisition had also passed over the gentry, the learned, and unlearned, and all the rest, and in each condition perhaps one, it may be two, but for the most part none, was found perfect, it came at length to those honest gentlemen the vagabond cheaters, and rascally Lapidem Spi-talanficum makers, who were set upon the Scale with such scorn that I myself, in spite of all my grief, was ready to burst my belly with laughing, nor could the very prisoners themselves refrain. For the most part could not abide that severe trial, but were jerked out of the Scale with whips and scourges, and led to the other prisoners, but to a suitable band. Thus of so great a throng so few remained, that I am ashamed to reveal their number. However, there were persons of quality also amongst them, who notwithstanding were (like the rest) honoured with velvet robes and wreaths of laurel.

The Inquisition being completely finished, and none but we poor coupled hounds standing aside, at length one of the Captains stepped forth, and said, "Gracious Madam, if it please your Ladyship, let these poor men who acknowledged their misunderstanding be set upon the Scale too, without their incurring any danger of penalty, and only for recreation's sake, if perhaps anything that is right may be found amongst them".

In the first place I was in great perplexity, for in my anguish this was my only comfort, that I was not to stand in such ignominy, or to be lashed out of the Scale. For I did not doubt that many of the prisoners wished that they had stayed ten nights with us in the hall. Yet since the Virgin consented, so it must be, and we were untied and one after another set up. Now although the most part miscarried, they were neither laughed at, nor scourged, but peaceably placed on one side. My companion was the fifth, and he held out bravely, whereupon all, but especially the Captain who made the request for us, applauded him, and the Virgin showed him the usual respect. After him again two more were dispatched in an instant. But I was the eighth.

Now as soon as (with trembling) I stepped up, my companion who already sat by in his velvet looked friendlily upon me, and the Virgin herself smiled a little.

But for as much as I outstood all the weights, the Virgin commanded them to draw me up by force, wherefore three men also hung on the other side of the beam, and yet nothing could prevail. Whereupon one of the pages immediately stood up, and cried out exceedingly loud, "THAT'S HE": upon which the other replied, "Then let him gain his liberty"; which the Virgin accorded. And, being received with due ceremonies, the choice was given me to release one of the captives, whosoever I pleased; whereupon I made no long deliberation, but elected the first Emperor whom I had long pitied, who was immediately set free, and with all respect seated amongst us.

Now the last being set up, and the weights proving too heavy for him, in the meantime the Virgin had spotted my roses, which I had taken out of my hat into my hands, and thereupon presently through her page graciously requested them of me, and I readily sent them to her.

And so this first Act was finished about ten in the morning. Whereupon the trumpets began to sound again, which nevertheless we could not as yet see.

Meantime the bands were to step aside with their prisoners, and await the judgement. After which a council of the seven captains and us was set, and the business was propounded by the Virgin as President, who desired each one to give his opinion how the prisoners were to be dealt with. The first opinion was that they should all be put to death, yet one more severely than another, namely those who had presumptuously intruded themselves contrary to the express conditions. Others would have them kept close prisoners. Both of which pleased neither the President, nor me. At length by one of the Emperors (the same whom I had freed), my companion, and myself, the affair was brought to this point: that first of all the principal Lords should with a fitting respect be led out of the Castle; others might be carried out somewhat more scornfully. These would be stripped, and caused to run out naked; the fourth should be hunted out with rods, whips or dogs. Those who the day before willingly surrendered themselves, might be allowed to depart without any blame. And last of all those presumptuous ones, and they who behaved themselves so unseemly at dinner the day before, should be punished in body and life according to each man's demerit. This opinion pleased the Virgin well, and obtained the upper hand. There was moreover another dinner vouchsafed them, which they were soon told about. But the execution was deferred till twelve noon.

Herewith the Senate arose, and the Virgin also, together with her attendants, returned to her usual quarter. But the uppermost table in the room was allotted to us, they requesting us to take it in good part until the business was fully dispatched. And then we should be conducted to the Lord Bridegroom and the Bride, with which we were at present well content. Meanwhile the prisoners were again brought into the hall, and each man seated according to his quality. They were likewise told to behave themselves somewhat more civilly than they had done the day before, about which they yet did not need to have been admonished, for without this, they had already put up their pipes.

And this I can boldly say, not with flattery, but in the love of truth, that commonly those persons who were of the highest rank best understood how to behave themselves in so unexpected a misfortune. Their treatment was but indifferent, yet respectful; neither could they yet see their attendants, but to us they were visible, at which I was exceedingly joyful. Now although Fortune had exalted us, yet we did not take upon us more than the rest, advising them to be of good cheer, the event would not be so bad. Now although they would gladly have us reveal their sentence, yet we were so deeply obligated that none of us dared open his mouth about it.

Nevertheless we comforted them as well as we could, drinking with them to see if the wine might make them any more cheerful. Our table was covered with red velvet, beset with drinking cups of pure silver and gold, which the rest could not behold without amazement and very great anguish. But before we had seated ourselves, in came the two pages, presenting everyone on the Bridegroom's behalf with the Golden Fleece with a flying Lion, requesting us to wear them at the table, and as became us, to observe the reputation and dignity of the Order which his Majesty had now vouchsafed us; and we should be ratified with suitable ceremonies. This we received with profoundest submission, promising obediently to perform whatsoever his Majesty should please. Besides these, the noble page had a schedule in which we were set down in order. And for my part I should not otherwise wish to conceal my place, if perhaps it might not be interpreted as pride in me, which is expressly against the fourth weight.

Now because our entertainment was exceedingly stately, we demanded of one of the pages whether we might not have leave to send some choice bit to our friends and acquaintances; he made no difficulty of it, and everyone sent plentifully to his acquaintances by the waiters, although they saw none of them; and because they did not know where it came from, I myself wished to carry something to one of them. But as soon as I had risen, one of the waiters was at my elbow, saying he desired me to take friendly warning, for if one of the pages had seen it, it would have come to he King's ear, who would certainly have taken it amiss of me; but since none had observed it but himself, he did not intend to betray me, but that I ought for the time to come to have better regard for the dignity of the order. With which words the servant really astonished me so much that for a long time afterwards I scarcely moved in my seat, yet I returned him thanks for his faithful warning, as well as I was able in my haste and fear.

Soon after, the drums began to beat again, to which we were already accustomed: for we knew well it was the Virgin, so we prepared ourselves to receive her; she was now coming in with her usual train, upon her high seat, one of the pages bearing before her a very tall goblet of gold, and the other a patent in parchment. Having alighted from the seat in a marvellous skillful manner, she took the goblet from the page, and presented the same on the King's behalf, saying that it was brought from his Majesty, and that in honour of him we should cause it to go round. Upon the cover of this goblet stood Fortune curiously cast in gold, who had in her hand a red flying ensign, because of which I drunk somewhat more sadly, having been all too well acquainted with Fortune's waywardness. But the Virgin as well as us was adorned with the Golden Fleece and Lion, from which I observed that perhaps she was the president of the Order. So we asked of her how the Order might be named. She answered that it was not yet the right time to reveal this, till the affair with the prisoners was dispatched. And therefore their eyes were still veiled; and what had hitherto happened to us, was to them only like an offence and scandal, although it was to be accounted as nothing in regard to the honour that attended us. Hereupon she began to distinguish the patent which the other page held into two different parts, out of which about this much was read before the first company:

"That they should confess that they had too lightly given credit to false fictitious books, had assumed too much to themselves, and so come into this Castle, although they were never invited into it, and perhaps the most part had presented themselves with design to make their market here, and afterwards to live in greater pride and lordliness; and thus one had seduced another, and plunged him into this disgrace and ignominy, wherefore they were deservedly to be soundly punished."

Which they with great humility readily acknowledged, and gave their hands upon it. After which a severe check was given to the rest, much to this purpose:

"That they very well knew, and were in their consciences convinced, that they had forged false fictitious books, had fooled others, and cheated them, and thereby had diminished regal dignity amongst all. They knew likewise what ungodly deceitful figures they had made use of, in so much as they spared not even the Divine Trinity, but accustomed themselves to cheat people all the country over. It was also now as clear as day with what practices they had endeavoured to ensnare the true guests, and introduce the ignorant: in such a manner that it was manifest to all the world that they wallowed in open whoredom, adultery, gluttony, and other uncleannesses: All which was against the express orders of our Kingdom. In brief, they knew they had disparaged Kingly Majesty, even amongst the common sort, and therefore they should confess themselves to be manifest convicted vagabond-cheaters, knaves and rascals, whereby they deserved to be kept from the company of civil people, and severely punished."

The good artists were loath to come to this confession, but inasmuch as not only the Virgin herself threatened them, and swore that they would die, but the other party also vehemently raged at them, and unanimously cried out that they had most wickedly seduced them out of the Light, they at length, to prevent a huge misfortune, confessed the same with sadness, and yet withal alleged that what had happened here was not to be animadverted upon them in the worst sense. For inasmuch as the Lords were absolutely resolved to get into the Castle, and had promised great sums of money to that effect, each one had used all craft to seize upon something, and so things were brought to that state that was now manifest before their eyes. But just because it had not succeeded, "They", in their opinion, "had deserved no less than the Lords themselves; Who should have had so much understanding as to consider that, if anyone could be sure of getting in, he should not have clambered over the wall with them, that there should be so great peril for the sake of a slight gain?"

Their books also sold so well, that whoever had no other means to maintain himself, had to engage in such a deception. They hoped moreover, that if a right judgement were made, they should be found in no way to have miscarried, for they had behaved themselves towards the Lords, as became Servants, upon their earnest entreaty.

But answer was made to them that his Royal Majesty had determined to punish them all, every man, although one more severely than another. For although what had been alleged by them was partly true, and therefore the Lords should not wholly be indulged, yet they had good reason to prepare themselves for death, they who had so presumptuously obtruded themselves, and perhaps seduced the more ignorant against their will; as likewise those who had violated Royal Majesty with false books, for the same might be shown from their very writings and books.

Hereupon many began to lament, cry, weep, entreat and prostrate themselves most piteously, all of which notwithstanding could avail them nothing, and I marvelled much how the Virgin could be so resolute, when their misery caused our eyes to run over, and moved our compassion (although the most part of them had procured us much trouble and vexation). For she presently dispatched her page, who brought with him all the Cuirassiers who had this day been appointed at the Scales, who were each of them commanded to take his own to him, and in an orderly procession, so that each Cuirassier should go with one of the prisoners, to conduct them into her great garden. At which time each one so exactly recognised his own man, that I marvelled at it. Leave was also likewise given to my companions of yesterday to go out into the garden unbound, and to be present at the execution of the sentence. Now as soon as every man had come forth, the Virgin mounted up into her high throne, requesting us to sit down upon the steps, and to appear at the judgement; which we did not refuse, but left everything standing upon the table (except the goblet, which the Virgin committed to the pages' keeping) and went forth in our robes, upon the throne, which moved by itself as gently as if we passed through the air, till in this manner we came into the garden, where we all arose together.

This garden was not extraordinarily curious, but it pleased me that the trees were planted in such good order. Besides, there ran in it a most costly fountain, adorned with wonderful figures and inscriptions and strange characters (which, God willing, I shall mention in a future book). In this garden was raised a wooden scaffold, hung about with curiously painted figured coverlets. Now there were four galleries made one over another; the first was more glorious than any of the rest, and therefore covered with a white taffeta curtain, so that at that time we could not perceive who was behind it. The second was empty and uncovered. Again the last two were covered with red and blue taffeta. Now as soon as we had come to the scaffold, the Virgin bowed herself down to the ground, at which we were mightily terrified, for we could easily guess that the King and Queen must not be far off. Now we also having duly performed our reverence, the Virgin led us up by the winding stairs into the second gallery, where she placed herself uppermost, and us in our former order. But how the Emperor whom I had released behaved himself towards me, both at this time and also before at the table, I cannot well relate without slander of wicked tongues. For he might well have imagined in what anguish and solicitude he should now have been, in case he were at present to attend the judgement with such ignominy, and that only through me he had now attained such dignity and worthiness.

Meanwhile the Virgin who first of all brought me the invitation, and whom until now I had never since seen, came in. First she gave one blast upon her trumpet, and then with a very loud voice declared the sentence in this manner:

"The King's Majesty my most gracious Lord could wish with all his heart that each and every one here assembled had upon his Majesty's invitation presented themselves so qualified as that they might (to his honour) with greatest frequency have adorned this his appointed nuptial and joyful feast. But since it has otherwise pleased Almighty God, his Majesty has nothing about which to murmur, but must be forced, contrary to his own inclination, to abide by the ancient and laudable constitutions of this Kingdom. But now, so that his Majesty's innate clemency may be celebrated all over the world, he has so far absolutely dealt with his Council and estates, that the usual sentence shall be considerably lenified.

So in the first place he is willing to vouchsafe to the Lords and Potentates, not only their lives entirely, but also that he will freely and frankly dismiss them; friendlily and courteously entreating your Lordships not at all to take it in evil part that you cannot be present at his Majesty's Feast of Honour; but to remember that there is notwithstanding more imposed upon your Lordships by God Almighty (who in the distribution of his gifts has an incomprehensible consideration) than you can duly and easily sustain. Neither is your reputation hereby prejudiced, although you be rejected by this our Order, since we cannot all of us do all things at once. But for as much as your Lordships have been seduced by base rascals, it shall not, on their part, pass unrevenged. And furthermore his Majesty resolves shortly to communicate to your Lordships a catalogue of heretics or Index Expurgatorius, that you may henceforth be able to discern between the good and the evil with better judgement. And because his Majesty before long also intends to rummage his library, and offer up the seductive writings to Vulcan, he friendlily, humbly, and courteously entreats every one of your Lordships to do the same with your own, whereby it is to be hoped that all evil and mischief may for the time to come be remedied. And you are withal to be admonished, never henceforth to covet an entrance here so inconsiderately, lest the former excuse about seducers be taken from you, and you fall into disgrace and contempt with all men. Finally, for as much as the estates of the land still have something to demand of your Lordships, his Majesty hopes that no man will think much to redeem himself with a chain or whatever else he has about him, and so in friendly manner to depart from us, and through our safe conduct to take himself home again.

The others who did not stand up to the first, third and fourth weight, his Majesty will not so lightly dismiss. But so that they also may now experience his Majesty's gentleness, it is his command to strip them stark naked and so send them forth.

Those who in the second and fifth weight were found too light, shall besides stripping, be noted with one, two or more brand-marks, according as each one was lighter or heavier.

They who were drawn up by the sixth or seventh, and not by the rest, shall be somewhat more graciously dealt with, and so forward. (For to every combination there was a certain punishment ordained, which is here too long to recount.)

They who yesterday separated themselves freely of their own accord, shall go out at liberty without any blame.

Finally, the convicted vagabond-cheaters who could move up none of the weights, shall as occasion serves be punished in body and life, with the sword, halter, water and rods. And such execution of judgement shall be inviolably observed as an example to others."

Herewith our Virgin broke her wand, and the other who read the sentence blew her trumpet, and stepped with most profound reverence towards those who stood behind the curtain.

But here I cannot omit to reveal something to the reader concerning the number of our prisoners, of whom those who weighed one, were seven; those who weighed two, were twenty one; they who three, thirty five; they who four, thirty five; those who five, twenty one; those who six, seven; but he that came to the seventh, and yet could not well raise it, he was only one, and indeed the same whom I released. Besides these, of them who wholly failed there were many; but of those who drew all the weights from the ground, but few. And as these each stood before us, so I diligently numbered them and noted them down in my table-book; and it is very admirable that amongst all those who weighed anything, none was equal to another. For although amongst those who weighed three, there were thirty five, yet one of them weighed the first, second, and third, another the third, fourth, and fifth, a third, the fifth, sixth, and seventh, and so on. It is likewise very wonderful that amongst one hundred and twenty six who weighed anything, none was equal to another; and I would very willingly name them all, with each man's weight, were it not as yet forbidden me. But I hope it may hereafter be published with the Interpretation.

Now this judgement being read over, the Lords in the first place were well satisfied, because in such severity they did not dare look for a mild sentence. So they gave more than was desired of them, and each one redeemed himself with chains, jewels, gold, money and other things, as much as they had about them, and with reverence took leave. Now although the King's servants were forbidden to jeer at any at his going away, yet some unlucky birds could not hold their laughter, and certainly it was sufficiently ridiculous to see them pack away with such speed, without once looking behind them. Some desired that the promised catalogue might at once be dispatched after them, and then they would take such order with their books as should be pleasing to his Majesty; which was again assured. At the door was given to each of them out of a cup a draught of FORGETFULNESS, so that he might have no further memory of misfortune.

After these the Voluntiers departed, who because of their ingenuity were allowed to pass, but yet so as never to return again in the same fashion. But if to them (as likewise to the others) anything further were revealed, then they should be welcome guests.

Meanwhile others were stripping, in which also an inequality (according to each man's demerit) was observed. Some were sent away naked, without other hurt. Others were driven out with small bells. Some were scourged forth. In brief the punishments were so various, that I am not able to recount them all. In the end it came to the last, with whom a somewhat longer time was spent, for while some were being hung, some beheaded, some forced to leap into the water, and the rest otherwise being dispatched, much time was consumed. Verily at this execution my eyes ran over, not indeed in regard of the punishment, which they for their impudency well deserved, but in contemplation of human blindness, in that we are continually busying ourselves in that which ever since the first Fall has been hitherto sealed up to us. Thus the garden which so recently was quite full, was soon emptied, so that besides the soldiers there was not a man left.

Now as soon as this was done, and silence had been kept for the space of five minutes, there came forth a beautiful snow-white unicorn with a golden collar (having on it certain letters) about his neck. In the same place he bowed himself down upon both his forefeet, as if hereby he had shown honour to the lion, who stood so immoveably upon the fountain, that I had taken him to be of stone or brass. The lion immediately took the naked sword which he had in his paw, and broke it in two in the middle, and the pieces of it, it seemed to me, sunk into the fountain; after which he roared for so long, until a white dove brought a branch of olive in her bill, which the lion devoured in an instant, and so was quieted. And so the unicorn returned to his place with joy.

Hereupon our Virgin led us down again by the winding stairs from the scaffold, and so we again made our reverence towards the curtain. We were to wash our hands and heads in the fountain, and there to wait a little while in our order, till the King was again returned into his hall through a certain secret gallery, and then we were also conducted into our former lodging with choice music, pomp, state, and pleasant discourse. And this was done about four in the afternoon.

But so that in the meantime the time might not seem too long to us, the Virgin bestowed on each of us a noble page, who were not only richly dressed, but also exceedingly learned, so that they could so aptly discourse upon all subjects that we had good reason to be ashamed of ourselves. These were commanded to lead us up and down the Castle, but only into certain places, and if possible, to shorten the time according to our desire. Meanwhile the Virgin took leave with this consolation, that at supper she would be with us again, and after that celebrate the ceremonies of the hanging up of the weights, requesting that we would in patience wait till the next day, for on the morrow we must be presented to the King.

She having thus departed from us, each of us did what best pleased him. One part viewed the excellent paintings, which they copied out for themselves, and considered also what the wonderful characters might signify. Others wanted to occupy themselves again with meat and drink.

I caused my page to conduct me (together with my companion) up and down the Castle, which walk I shall never regret as long as I have a day to live. For besides many other glorious antiquities, the Royal Sepulchre was also showed to me, by which I learned more than is extant in all books. There in the same place stands also the glorious phoenix (about which, two years ago, I published a particular small discourse). And I am resolved (in case this narration shall prove useful) to set forth several particular treatises concerning the lion, eagle, griffin, falcon and the like, together with their draughts and inscriptions. It grieves me for my other companions, that they neglected such precious treasures. And yet I cannot but think it was the special will of God that it should be so. I indeed reaped the most benefit from my page, for according as each one's genius lay, so he led whoever was entrusted to him into the quarters and places which were pleasing to him. Now the keys belonging hereunto were committed to my page, and therefore this good fortune happened to me before the rest; for although he invited others to come in, yet they imagining such tombs to be only in the churchyard, thought they should get there well enough, whenever anything was to be seen there. Neither shall these monuments (as both of us copied and transcribed them) be withheld from my thankful scholars.

The other thing that was shown to us two was the noble library as it was all together before the Reformation. Of which (although it makes my heart rejoice as often as I call it to mind) I have so much the less to say, because the catalogue of it is very shortly to be published. At the entry to this room stands a great book, the like of which I never saw, in which all the figures, rooms, portals, also all the writings, riddles and the like, to be seen in the whole Castle, are delineated. Now although we made a promise concerning this also, yet at present I must contain myself, and first learn to know the world better. In every book stands its author painted; of which (as I understood) many were to be burnt, so that even their memory might be blotted out from amongst the righteous.

Now having taken a full view of this, and having scarcely gone forth, another page came running to us, and having whispered something in our page's ear, he delivered up the keys to him, who immediately carried them up the winding stairs. But our page was very much out of countenance, and we having set hard upon him with entreaties, he declared to us that the King's Majesty would by no means permit that either of the two, namely the library and sepulchres, should be seen by any man, and therefore he besought us as we cared for his life, to reveal this to no man, he having already utterly denied it. Whereupon both of us stood hovering between joy and fear, yet it continued in silence, and no man made further enquiry about it. Thus in both places we passed three hours, which I do not at all repent.

Now although it had already struck seven, yet nothing had so far been given us to eat; however, our hunger was easy to abate by constant reviv-ings, and I could be well content to fast all my life long with such entertainment. About this time the curious fountains, mines, and all kinds of art-shops, were also shown to us, of which there was none but surpassed all our arts, even if they should all be melted into one mass. All their chambers were built in a semi-circle, so that they might have before their eyes the costly clockwork which was erected upon a fair turret in the centre, and regulate themselves according to the course of the planets, which were to be seen on it in a glorious manner. And hence I could easily conjecture where our artists failed; however it's none of my duty to inform them.

At length I came into a spacious room (shown indeed to the rest a great while before) in the middle of which stood a terrestrial globe, whose diameter was thirty feet, although nearly half of it, except a little which was covered with the steps, was let into the earth. Two men might readily turn this globe about with all its furniture, so that no more of it was ever to be seen, just so much as was above the horizon. Now although I could easily conceive that this was of some special use, yet I could not understand what those ringlets of gold (which were upon it in several places) served for; at which my page laughed, and advised me to view them more closely. In brief, I found there my native country noted in gold also; whereupon my companion sought his, and found that so too.

Now for as much as the same happened in a similar way to the rest who stood by, the page told us for certain that it was yesterday declared to the King's Majesty by their old Atlas (so is the Astronomer named) that all the gilded points exactly answered to their native countries, according as had been shown to each of them. And therefore he also, as soon as he perceived that I undervalued myself and that nevertheless there stood a point upon my native country, moved one of the Captains to entreat for us that we should be set upon the scale (without peril) at all adventures; especially seeing one of our native countries had a notable good mark. And truly it was not without reason that he, the page who had the greatest power of all the rest, was bestowed on me. For this I then returned him thanks, and immediately looked more diligently upon my native country, and found moreover that besides the ringlet, there were also certain delicate streaks upon it, which nevertheless I would not be thought to speak about to my own praise and glory.

I saw much more too upon this globe than I am willing to reveal. Let each man take into consideration why every city does not produce a philosopher. After this he led us right into the globe, which was thus made: on the sea (there being a large square beside it) was a tablet, on which stood three dedications and the author's name, which a man might gently lift up and by a little joined board go into the centre, which was capable of holding four persons, being nothing but a round board on which we could sit, and at ease, by broad daylight (it was now already dark) contemplate the stars. To my thinking they were mere carbuncles which glittered in an agreeable order, and moved so gallantly that I had scarcely any mind ever to go out again, as the page afterwards told the Virgin, with which she often teased me. For it was already supper-time, and I had so much amused myself in the globe, that I was almost the last at the table; so I made no more delay, but having put on my gown again (which I had before laid aside) and stepping to the table, the waiters treated me with so much reverence and honour, that for shame I dared not look up, and so unawares permitted the Virgin, who attended me on one side, to stand, which she soon perceiving, twitched me by the gown, and so led me to the table. To speak any further concerning the music, or the rest of that magnificent entertainment, I hold it needless, both because it is not possible to express it well enough, and because I have reported it above according to my power. In brief, there was nothing there but art and amenity.

Now after we had related our employment since noon to each other (however, not a word was spoken of the library and monuments), being already merry with the wine, the Virgin began thus: "My Lords, I have a great contention with one of my sisters. In our chamber we have an eagle. Now we cherish him with such diligence, that each of us is desirous to be the best beloved, and upon that score we have many a squabble. One day we concluded to go both together to him, and toward whom he should show himself most friendly, hers should he properly be. This we need, and I (as commonly) carried in my hand a branch of laurel, but my sister had none. Now as soon as he saw us both, he immediately gave my sister another branch which he had in his beak, and reached for mine, which I gave him.

Now each of us hereupon imagined herself to be best beloved of him; which way am I to resolve myself? "

This modest proposal of the Virgin pleased us all mighty well, and each one would gladly have heard the solution, but inasmuch as they all looked to me, and wanted me to begin, my mind was so extremely confounded that I knew not what else to do with it but propound another in its stead, and therefore said:

"Gracious Lady, your Ladyship's question would easily be resolved if one thing did not perplex me. I had two companions, both of which loved me exceedingly; now they being doubtful which of them was most dear to me, concluded to run to me, I unawares, and that he whom I should then embrace should be the right. This they did, yet one of them could not keep pace with the other, so he stayed behind and wept, the other I embraced with amazement. Now when they had afterwards discovered the business to me, I did not know how to resolve myself, and have since then let it rest in this manner, until I may find some good advice herein".

The Virgin wondered at it, and well observed whereabout I was, whereupon she replied, "Well then, let us both be quit"; and then desired the solution from the rest.

But I had already made them wise. So the next began thus. "In the city where I live, a Virgin was recently condemned to death, but the Judge, being somewhat pitiful towards her, caused it to be proclaimed that if any man desired to become the Virgin's Champion, he should have free leave to do it. Now she had two lovers; the one presently made himself ready, and came into the lists to await his adversary; afterwards the other also presented himself, but coming somewhat too late, he resolved nevertheless to fight, and willingly suffer himself to be vanquished, so that the Virgin's life might be preserved, which also succeeded accordingly".

Whereupon each challenged her: "Now my Lords, instruct me, to which of them of right does she belong?"

The Virgin could hold out no longer, but said, "I thought to have gained much information, and have got myself into the net, but yet would gladly hear whether there are any more to come."

"Yes, that there are", answered the third, "a stranger adventure has not yet been recounted than that which happened to me. In my youth I loved a worthy maid: now so that my love might attain its desired end, I used to employ an ancient matron, who easily brought me to her. Now it happened that the maid's brethren came in upon us just as we three were together, and were in such a rage that they would have taken my life, but upon my vehement supplication, they at length forced me to swear to take each of them for a year, to be my wedded wife.

Now tell me, my Lords, should I take the old, or the young one first?" We all laughed sufficiently at this riddle, and though some of them muttered to one another about it, yet none would undertake to unfold it.

Hereupon the fourth began: "In a certain city there dwelt an honourable lady, who was beloved of all, but especially by a young nobleman, who was too importunate with her. At length she gave him this determination, that if he could lead her into a fair green garden of roses in a cold winter, then he should obtain what he desired, but if not, he must resolve never to see her again. The nobleman traveled to all countries to find such a man as might perform this, till at length he found a little old man that promised to do it for him, if he would assure him of half his estate; which he having consented to the other, was as good as his word. Whereupon he invited the aforesaid lady to his garden, where, contrary to her expectation, she found all things green, pleasant and warm, and remembering her promise, she only requested that she might once more return to her lord, to whom with sighs and tears she bewailed her lamentable condition. But because he sufficiently perceived her faithfulness, he dispatched her back to her lover who had so dearly purchased her, so that she might give him satisfaction. This husband's integrity did so mightily affect the nobleman, that he thought it a sin to touch so honest a wife; so he sent her home again with honour to her lord. Now the little man perceiving such faith in both these, would not, however poor he was, be the least in honour, but restored to the nobleman all his goods again and went his way. Now, my lords, I know not which of these persons may have shown the greatest ingenuity?"

Here our tongues were quite cut off. Neither would the Virgin make any other reply, but only that another should go on.

So the fifth, without delay, began: "My Lords, I do not wish to make long work of this; who has the greater joy, he that beholds what he loves, or he that only thinks on it?"

"He that beholds it," said the Virgin.

"No," I answered.

Hereupon a debate arose, so the sixth called out, "My lords, I am to take a wife; now I have before me a maid, a married wife, and a widow; ease me of this doubt, and I will afterwards help to order the rest."

"It goes well there," replied the seventh, "where a man has a choice, but with me the case is otherwise. In my youth I loved a fair and virtuous virgin from the bottom of my heart, and she loved me in similar manner; however, because of her friends' denial we could not come together in wedlock. Whereupon she was married to another, yet an honest and discreet person, who maintained her honourably and with affection, until she came to the pains of childbirth, which went so hard for her that all thought she was dead, so with much state and great mourning she was interred. Now I thought to myself, during her life you could have no part in this woman, but now she is dead you may embrace and kiss her sufficiently; so I took my servant with me, who dug her up by night. Now having opened the coffin and locked her in my arms, feeling about her heart, I found some little motion in it still, which increased more and more from my warmth, till at last I perceived that she was indeed still alive. So I quietly bore her home, and after I had warmed her chilled body with a costly bath of herbs, I committed her to my mother until she brought forth a fair son, whom I caused to be nursed faithfully, as for his mother. After two days (she being then in great amazement) I revealed to her all the preceding affair, requesting her for the time to come to live with me as a wife; against which she found exception, in case it should be grievous to her husband who had maintained her well and honourably. But if it could be otherwise, she was obliged in love at present to one as well as the other. Now after two months (being then about to make a journey elsewhere) I invited her husband as a guest, and amongst other things demanded of him whether, if his deceased wife should come home again, he would be content to receive her. He affirmed it with tears and lamentations, and I brought him his wife together with his son, and gave an account of all the preceding business, entreating him to ratify with his consent my intended espousals. After a long dispute he could not deny me my right, but had to leave me his wife. But there was still a debate about the son."

Here the Virgin interrupted him, and said, "It makes me wonder how you could double the afflicted man's grief."

"What," he answered, "Was I not concerned about it?" Upon this there arose a dispute amongst us, yet most affirmed that he had done right. "No," he said, "I freely returned him both his wife and his son. Now tell me, my Lords, was my honesty, or this man's joy, the greater?"

These words had so much cheered the Virgin that (as if it had been for the sake of these two) she caused a health to be drunk.

After which the rest of the proposals went on somewhat perplexedly, so that I could not retain them all; yet this comes to my mind, that one said that a few years before he had seen a physician, who brought a parcel of wood against winter, with which he warmed himself all winter long; but as soon as the spring returned he sold the very same wood again, and so had use of it for nothing.

"Here there must be skill," said the Virgin, "but the time is now past." "Yes," replied my companion, "whoever does not understand how to resolve all the riddles may give each man notice of it by a proper messenger, and he will not be denied."

At this time they began to say grace, and we arose all together from the table, satisfied and merry rather than satiated; and it is to be wished that all invitations and feastings were kept like this. Having now taken a few turns up and down the hall again, the Virgin asked us whether we desired to begin the wedding.

"Yes, noble and virtuous lady," said one. Whereupon she privately despatched a page, and yet in the meantime proceeded in discourse with us. In brief she had already become so familiar with us, that I ventured to request her Name. The Virgin smiled at my curiosity, but yet was not moved, but replied:

"My Name contains five and fifty, and yet has only eight letters; the third is the third part of the fifth, which added to the sixth will produce a number whose root shall exceed the third itself by just the first, and it is the half of the fourth. Now the fifth and the seventh are equal, the last and the fifth are also equal, and make with the second as much as the sixth, which contains just four more than the third tripled. Now tell me, my lord, what am I called?"

The answer was intricate enough to me, yet I did not leave off, but said, "Noble and virtuous lady, may I not have only one letter?"

"Yes ", she said, "that may well be done".

"What then," I replied again, "may the seventh contain?"

"It contains", she said, "as many as there are lords here".

With this I was content, and easily found her Name, at which she was very pleased, and assured us that much more should yet be revealed to us.

Meantime certain virgins had made themselves ready, and came in with great ceremony. First of all two youths carried lights before them; one of them was of jocund countenance, sprightly eyes and gentle proportion. The other looked rather angry, and whatever he would have, must be, as I afterwards perceived.

After them first followed four virgins. One looked shame-facedly towards the earth, very humble in behaviour. The second also was a modest, bashful virgin.

The third, as she entered the room, seemed amazed at something, and as I understood, she cannot easily abide where there is too much mirth. The fourth brought with her certain small wreaths, thereby to manifest her kindness and liberality.

After these four came two who were somewhat more gloriously appareled; they saluted us courteously. One of them had a gown of sky colour spangled with golden stars. The other's was green, beautified with red and white stripes. On their heads they had thin flying tiffaties, which adorned them most becomingly.

At last came one on her own, who had a coronet on her head, but looked up rather towards heaven than towards earth. We all thought it was the Bride, but were much mistaken, although otherwise in honour, riches and state she much surpassed the Bride; and she afterwards ruled the whole Wedding. Now on this occasion we all followed our Virgin, and fell down on our knees; however, she showed herself to be extremely humble, offering everyone her hand, and admonishing us not to be too much surprised at this, for this was one of her smallest bounties; but to lift up our eyes to our Creator, and learn hereby to acknowledge his omnipotency, and so proceed in our enterprised course, employing this grace to the praise of God, and the good of man. In sum, her words were quite different from those of our Virgin, who was somewhat more worldly. They pierced me through even to my bones and marrow.

"And you," she said further to me, "have received more than others, see that you also make a larger return." This to me was a very strange sermon; for as soon as we saw the virgins with the music, we imagined we must soon begin to dance, but that time was not as yet come. Now the weights, which have been mentioned before, stood still in the same place, so the Duchess (I knew not yet who she was) commanded each virgin to take up one, but to our Virgin she gave her own, which was the last and greatest, and commanded us to follow behind. Our majesty was then somewhat abated, for I observed well that our Virgin was too good for us, and we were not so highly reputed as we ourselves were almost in part willing to fantasise. So we went behind in our order, and were brought into the first chamber, where our Virgin in the first place hung up the Duchess' weight, during which an excellent spiritual hymn was sung. There was nothing costly in this room save only curious little prayer books which should never be missing.

In the middle was erected a pulpit, very convenient for prayer, in which the Duchess kneeled down, and about her we all had to kneel and pray after the Virgin, who read out of a book, that this Wedding might tend to the honour of God, and our own benefit. Afterwards we came into the second chamber, where the first Virgin hung up her weight too, and so forward until all the ceremonies were finished. Hereupon the Duchess again presented her hand to everyone, and departed hence with her virgin.

Our president stayed yet a while with us. But because it had already been night for two hours, she would no longer detain us. I thought she was glad of our company, yet she bade us good night, and wished us quiet rest, and so departed friendlily, although unwillingly, from us. Our pages were well instructed in their business, and therefore showed every man his chamber, and stayed with us too in another bed, so that in case we wanted anything we might make use of them. My chamber (of the rest I am not able to speak) was royally furnished with rare tapestries, and hung about with paintings. But above all things I delighted in my page, who was so excellently spoken, and experienced in the arts, that he spent yet another hour with me, and it was half past three when I first fell asleep. And this was the first night that I slept in quiet, and yet a scurvy dream would not let me rest; for all the night I was troubled with a door which I could not get open, but at last I did it. With these fantasies I passed the time, till at length towards day I awakened.

## The Fourth Day

I was still lying in my bed, and leisurely surveying all the noble images and figures up and down about my chamber, when suddenly I heard the music of coronets, as if they were already in procession. My page jumped out of the bed as if he had been at his wit's end, and looked more like one dead than living. In what state I was then is easily imaginable, for he said, "The rest are already presented to the King." I did not know what else to do but weep outright and curse my own slothfulness; yet I dressed myself, but my page was ready long before me, and ran out of the chamber to see how affairs might yet stand. But he soon returned, and brought with him this joyful news, that indeed the time was not yet, but I had only overslept my breakfast, they being unwilling to awaken me because of my age.

But now it was time for me to go with him to the fountain where most of them were assembled. With this consolation my spirit returned again, so I was soon ready with my habit, and went after the page to the fountain in the aforementioned garden, where I found that the lion, instead of his sword, had a pretty large tablet by him. Now having looked well at it, I found that it was taken out of the ancient monuments, and placed here for some special honour. The inscription was somewhat worn out with age, and therefore I have a mind to set it down here, as it is, and give everyone leave to consider it.

("Hermes the Prince. After so many wounds inflicted on humankind, here by God's counsel and the help of the Art flow I, a healing medicine. Let him drink me who can: let him wash who will: let him trouble me who dare: drink, brethren and live".)

This writing might well be read and understood, and may therefore suitably be placed here, because it is easier than any of the rest.

Now after we had first washed ourselves out of the fountain, and every man had taken a draught out of an entirely golden cup, we were once again to follow the Virgin into the hall, and there put on new apparel, which was all of cloth of gold gloriously set out with flowers. There was also given to everyone another Golden Fleece, which was set about with precious stones, and various workmanship according to the utmost skill of each artificer. On it hung a weighty medal of gold, on which were figured the sun and moon in opposition; but on the other side stood this saying, "The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven times lighter than at present." But our former jewels were laid in a little casket, and committed to one of the waiters.

After this the Virgin led us out in our order, where the musicians waited ready at the door, all appareled in red velvet with white guards. After which a door (which I never saw open before) to the Royal winding stairs was unlocked. There the Virgin led us, together with the music, up three hundred and sixty five stairs; there we saw nothing that was not of extremely costly workmanship, full of artifice; and the further we went, the more glorious still was the furniture, until at length at the top we came under a painted arch, where the sixty virgins attended us, all richly appareled. Now as soon as they had bowed to us, and we, as well as we could, had returned our reverence, our musicians were sent away, and must go down the stairs again, the door being shut after them. After this a little bell was tolled; then in came in a beautiful Virgin who brought everyone a wreath of laurel. But our virgins had branches given them.

Meanwhile a curtain was drawn up, where I saw the King and Queen as they sat there in their majesty, and had not the Duchess yesterday so faithfully warned me, I should have forgotten myself, and have equaled this unspeakable glory to Heaven. For apart from the fact that the room glistened with gold and precious stones, the Queen's robes were moreover made so that I was not able to behold them. And whereas before I esteemed anything to be handsome, here all things so much surpassed the rest, as the stars in heaven are elevated.

In the meantime the Virgin came in, and so each of the virgins taking one of us by the hand, with most profound reverence presented us to the King, whereupon the Virgin began to speak thus: "That to honour your Royal Majesties (most gracious King and Queen) these lords here present have ventured here in peril of body and life, your Majesties have reason to rejoice, especially since the greatest part are qualified for the enlarging of your Majesties' Estates and Empire, as you will find by a most gracious and particular examination of each of them. Herewith I desired to have them presented in humility to your Majesties, with most humble suit to discharge myself of this commission of mine, and most graciously to take sufficient information from each of them, concerning both my actions and omissions."

Hereupon she laid down her branch upon the ground. Now it would have been very fitting for one of us to have put in and said something on this occasion, but seeing we were all tongue-tied, at length the old Atlas stepped forward and spoke on the King's behalf:- "Their Royal Majesties do most graciously rejoice at your arrival, and wish that their Royal Grace be assured to all, and every man. And with your administration, gentle Virgin, they are most graciously satisfied, and accordingly a Royal Reward shall therefore be provided for you. Yet it is still their intention that you shall also continue to be with them this day, inasmuch as they have no reason to mistrust you."

Hereupon the Virgin humbly took up the branch again. And so we for the first time were to step aside with our Virgin. This room was square on the front, five times broader than it was long; but towards the West it had a great arch like a porch, wherein in a circle stood three glorious royal thrones, yet the middlemost was somewhat higher than the rest. Now in each throne sat two persons. In the first sat a very ancient King with a grey beard, yet his consort was extraordinarily fair and young. In the third throne sat a black King of middle age, and by him a dainty old matron, not crowned, but covered with a veil. But in the middle sat the two young persons, and though they had likewise wreaths of laurel upon their heads, yet over them hung a large and costly crown. Now although they were not at this time so fair as I had before imagined to myself, yet so it was to be. Behind them on a round form sat for the most part ancient men, yet none of them had any sword or other weapon about him, at which I wondered. Neither saw I any other body-guard, but certain Virgins who were with us the day before, who sat on the sides of the arch.

Here I cannot pass over in silence how the little Cupid flew to and fro there, but for the most part he hovered over and played the wanton about the great crown; sometimes he seated himself between the two lovers, somewhat smiling upon them with his bow. Indeed, sometimes he made as if he would shoot one of us. In brief, this knave was so full of his waggery, that we would not even spare the little birds which flew in multitudes up and down the room, but tormented them all he could. The virgins also had their pastimes with him, but whenever they could catch him, it was not so easy a matter for him to get from them again. Thus this little knave made all the sport and mirth.

Before the Queen stood a small but inexpressibly curious altar, on which lay a book covered with black velvet, a little overlaid with gold. By this stood a small taper in an ivory candlestick. Now although it was very small, yet it burnt continually, and was such that had not Cupid, in sport, now and then puffed upon it, we could not have conceived it to be fire. By this stood a sphere or celestial globe, which turned clearly about by itself. Next to this, a small striking-watch, and by that was a little crystal pipe or syphon-fountain, out of which perpetually ran a clear blood-red liquor. And last of all there was a skull, or death's head; in this was a white serpent, who was of such a length that though she wound about the rest of it in a circle, her tail still remained in one of the eyeholes until her head again entered the other; so she never stirred from her skull, unless it happened that Cupid twitched a little at her, for then she slipped in so suddenly that we all could not choose but marvel at it.

Together with this altar, there were up and down the room wonderful images, which moved themselves as if they had been alive, and had so strange a contrivance that it would be impossible for me to relate it all. Likewise, as we were passing out, there began such a marvellous kind of vocal music, that I could not tell for sure whether it was performed by the virgins who still stayed behind, or by the images themselves. Now we being satisfied for the time being, went away with our virgins, who (the musicians being already present) led us down the winding stairs again, and the door was diligently locked and bolted. As soon as we had come again into the hall, one of the virgins began: "I wonder, Sister, that you dare hazard yourself amongst so many people."

"My Sister," replied our president, "I am afraid of none so much as of this man," pointing at me.

This speech went to my heart, for I well understood that she mocked at my age, and indeed I was the oldest of them all. Yet she comforted me again with the promise that if I behaved myself well towards her, she would easily rid me of this burden.

Meantime a light meal was again brought in, and everyone's Virgin seated by him; they knew well how to shorten the time with handsome discourses, but what their discourses and sports were I dare not blab out of school. But most of the questions were about the arts, whereby I could easily gather that both young and old were conversant in knowledge. But still it ran in my thoughts how I might become young again, whereupon I was somewhat sadder.

The Virgin perceived this, and therefore began, "I bet anything, if I lie with him tonight, he shall be pleasanter in the morning."

Hereupon they all began to laugh, and although I blushed all over, yet I had to laugh too at my own ill-luck.

Now there was one there who had a mind to return my disgrace upon the Virgin again, so he said, "I hope not only we, but the virgins themselves too, will bear witness on behalf of our brother, that our lady president has promised to be his bedfellow tonight."

"I should be well content with it," replied the Virgin, "if I had no reason to be afraid of my sisters here; there would be no hold with them should I choose the best and handsomest for myself, against their will."

"My Sister," began another, "we find by this that your high office doesn't make you proud; so if with your permission we might divide by lot the lords here present among us for bedfellows, you should with our good will have such a prerogative."

We let this pass for a jest, and again began to discourse together. But our Virgin could not leave tormenting us, and therefore began again. "My lords, what about if we should let fortune decide which of us must lie together tonight?"

"Well," I said, "if it may not be otherwise, we cannot refuse such an offer." Now because it was concluded to make this trial after the meal, we resolved to sit no longer at table, so we arose, and each one walked up and down with his Virgin.

"No," said the Virgin, "it shall not be so yet, but let us see how fortune will couple us," upon which we were separated.

But now first arose a dispute how the business should be carried out; but this was only a premeditated device, for the Virgin instantly made the proposal that we should mix ourselves together in a ring, and that she beginning to count the seventh from herself, was to be content with the following seventh, whether it were a virgin, or a man. For our parts we were not aware of any craft, and therefore permitted it to be so; but when we thought we had mingled ourselves very well, the virgins nevertheless were so clever that each one knew her station beforehand. The Virgin began to reckon; the seventh from her was another virgin, the third seventh a virgin likewise, and this happened so long till (to our amazement) all the virgins came forth, and none of us was hit. Thus we poor pitiful wretches remained standing alone, and were moreover forced to suffer ourselves to be jeered at, and to confess we were very handsomely tricked. In short, whoever had seen us in our order, might sooner have expected the sky to fall, than that it should never have come to our turn. With this our sport was at an end, and we had to satisfy ourselves with the Virgin's waggery.

In the interim, the little wanton Cupid came in to us too. But we could not sport ourselves with him enough, because he presented himself on behalf of their Royal Majesties, and delivered us a health (from them) out of a golden cup, and had to call our virgins to the King, declaring also that he could at this time tarry no longer with them. So with a due return of our most humble thanks we let him fly off again.

Now because (in the interim) the mirth had begun to fall to my consort's feet - and the virgins were not sorry to see it - they quickly started up a civil dance, which I beheld with pleasure rather than taking part; for my mercurialists were so ready with their postures, as if they had long been of the trade. After a few dances our president came in again, and told us how the artists and students had offered themselves to their Royal Majesties, for their honour and pleasure, to act a merry comedy before their departure; and if we thought it good to be present at this, and to wait upon their Royal Majesties to the House of the Sun, it would be acceptable to them, and they would most graciously acknowledge it. Hereupon in the first place we returned our most humble thanks for the honour vouchsafed us; not only this, but moreover we most submissively tendered our humble service.

This the Virgin related again, and presently brought word to attend their Royal Majesties (in our order) in the gallery, where we were soon led; and we did not stay long there, for the Royal Procession was just ready, yet without any music at all. The unknown Duchess who was with us yesterday went in front, wearing a small and costly coronet, appareled in white satin. She carried nothing but a small crucifix which was made of a pearl, and this very day wrought between the young King and his Bride. After her went the six aforementioned virgins in two ranks, who carried the King's jewels belonging to the little altar. Next to these came the three Kings. The Bridegroom was in the midst of them in a plain dress, but in black satin, after the Italian fashion. He had on a small round black hat, with a little pointed black feather, which he courteously took off to us, so to signify his favour towards us. We bowed ourselves to him, as also to the first, as we had been instructed before. After the Kings came the three Queens, two of whom were richly dressed, but she in the middle was likewise all in black, and Cupid held up her train. After this, intimation was given to us to follow, and after us the Virgins, till at last old Atlas brought up the rear.

In such procession, through many stately walks, we at length came to the House of the Sun, there next to the King and Queen, upon a richly furnished scaffold, to behold the previously ordained comedy. We indeed, though separated, stood on the right hand of the Kings, but the virgins stood on the left, except those to whom the Royal Ensigns were committed. To them was allotted their own place at the top of all. But the rest of the attendants had to stand below between the columns, and to be content with that.

Now because there are many remarkable passages in this comedy, I will not omit to go over it briefly.

First of all a very ancient King came on, with some servants; before his throne was brought a little chest, with mention being made that it was found upon the water. Now it being opened, there appeared in it a lovely baby, together with some jewels, and a small letter of parchment sealed and superscribed to the King, which the King therefore opened; and having read it, wept, and then declared to his servants how injuriously the King of the Moors had deprived his aunt of her country, and had extinguished all the royal seed even to his infant, with the daughter of which country he had now the intention of matching his son. Hereupon he swore to maintain perpetual enmity with the Moor and his allies, and to revenge this upon them; and with this he commanded that the child should be tenderly nursed, and to make preparation against the Moor. Now this provision, and the disciplining of the young lady (who after she had grown up a little was committed to an ancient tutor) took up all the first act, with many very fine and laudable sports besides.

In the interlude a lion and griffin were set at one another to fight, and the lion got the victory, which was also a pretty sight.

In the second act, the Moor, a very black treacherous fellow, came on too. He, having with vexation understood that his murder had been discovered, and that a little lady was craftily stolen from him too, began thereupon to consult how by stratagem he might be able to encounter so powerful an adversary; on which he was eventually advised by certain fugitives who fled to him because of a famine.

So the young lady, contrary to everyone's expectations, fell again into his hands; he would have been likely to have caused her to be slain if he had not been wonderfully deceived by his own servants. Thus this act was concluded too, with a marvellous triumph of the Moor.

In the third act a great army of the King's party was raised against the Moor, and put under the conduct of an ancient valiant knight, who fell into the Moor's country, till at length he forcibly rescued the young lady from the tower, and appareled her anew. After this in a trice they erected a glorious scaffold, and placed their young lady upon it. Presently twelve royal ambassadors came, amongst whom the aforementioned knight made a speech, alleging that the King his most gracious lord had not only delivered her from death earlier, and even caused her to be royally brought up until now (though she had not behaved herself altogether as became her). But moreover his Royal Majesty had, before others, elected her to be a spouse for the young lord his son, and most graciously desired that the said espousals might actually be executed, if they would be sworn to his Majesty upon the following articles. Hereupon out of a patent he caused certain glorious conditions to be read, which if it were not too long, would be well worthy of being recounted here. In brief, the young lady took an oath inviolably to observe the same, returning thanks too in a most seemly way for such a high grace. Whereupon they began to sing to the praise of God, of the King, and the young lady, and so for the time being departed.

For sport, in the meantime, the four beasts of Daniel, as he saw them in the vision and as he described them at length, were brought in, all of which had its certain signification.

In the fourth act the young lady was again restored to her lost kingdom, and crowned, and for a while, in this array, conducted about the place with extraordinary joy. After this many and various ambassadors presented themselves, not only to wish her prosperity, but also to behold her glory. Yet it was not for long that she preserved her integrity, but soon began again to look wantonly about her, and to wink at the ambassadors and lords; in this she truly acted her part to the life.

These manners of hers were soon known to the Moor, who would by no means neglect such an opportunity, and because her steward did not pay sufficient attention to her, she was easily blinded with great promises, so that she did not keep good confidence with her King, but privately submitted herself entirely to the disposal of the Moor. Hereupon the Moor made haste, and having (by her consent) got her into his hands, he gave her good words until all her kingdom had subjected itself to him. After which, in the third scene of this act, he caused her to be led forth, and first to be stripped stark naked, and then to be bound to a post upon a scurvy wooden scaffold, and well scourged, and at last sentenced to death. This was so woeful a spectacle, that it made the eyes of many run over. Hereupon like this, naked as she was, she was cast into prison, there to await her death, which was to be procured by poison, which actually did not kill her, but made her leprous all over. Thus this act was for the most part lamentable.

Between acts, they brought forth Nebuchadnezzar's image, which was adorned with all manner of arms, on the head, breast, belly, legs and feet, and the like, of which more shall be said in the future explanation.

In the fifth act the young King was told of all that had passed between the Moor and his future spouse; he first interceded with his father for her, entreating that she might not be left in that condition; which his father having agreed to, ambassadors were despatched to comfort her in her sickness and captivity, but yet also to make her see her inconsiderateness. But she still would not receive them, but consented to be the Moor's concubine, which was also done, and the young King was acquainted with it.

After this came a band of fools, each of which brought with him a cudgel; within a trice they made a great globe of the world, and soon undid it again. It was a fine sportive fantasy.

In the sixth act the young King resolved to do battle with the Moor, which was also done. And although the Moor was discomforted, yet all held the young King too to be dead. At length he came to himself again, released his spouse, and committed her to his steward and chaplain. The first of these tormented her greatly; then the tables were turned, and the priest was so insolently wicked that he had to be above all, until this was reported to the young King; who hastily despatched one who broke the neck of the priest's mightiness, and adorned the bride in some measure for the nuptials.

After the act a vast artificial elephant was brought forth. He carried a great tower with musicians, which was also well pleasing to all.

In the last act the bridegroom appeared with such pomp as cannot be believed, and I was amazed how it was brought to pass. The bride met him in similar solemnity, whereupon all the people cried out LONG LIVE THE BRIDEGROOM! LONG LIVE THE BRIDE! - so that by this comedy they also congratulated our King and Queen in the most stately manner, which (as I well observed) pleased them most extraordinarily well.

At length they walked about the stage in this procession, till at last they began to sing altogether as follows:

I

This lovely time

Bringeth much joy

With the king's wedding,

So sing ye all

That it resound

And gladness be to him

who giveth it to us.

II

The beauteous bride

Whom we have long awaited

Shall be betrothed to him,

And we have won

Whereafter we did strive

O happy he

Who looketh to himself.

III

The elders good

Are bidden now,

For Long they were in care,

In honour multiply

That thousands arise

From your own blood

After this thanks were returned, and the comedy was finished with joy, and the particular enjoyment of the Royal Persons, so (the evening also drawing near already) they departed together in their aforementioned order.

But we were to attend the Royal Persons up the winding stairs into the aforementioned hall, where the tables were already richly furnished, and this was the first time that we were invited to the King's table. The little altar was placed in the midst of the hall, and the six royal ensigns previously mentioned were laid upon it. At this time the young King behaved himself very graciously towards us, but yet he could not be heartily merry; although he now and then discoursed a little with us, yet he often sighed, at which the little Cupid only mocked, and played his waggish tricks. The old King and Queen were very serious; only the wife of one of the ancient Kings was gay enough, the reason for which I did not yet understand.

During this time, the Royal Persons took up the first table, at the second only we sat. At the third, some of the principal virgins placed themselves. The rest of the virgins, and men, all had to wait. This was performed with such state and solemn stillness that I am afraid to say very much about it.

But I cannot leave untouched upon here, how all the Royal Persons, before the meal, attired themselves in snow-white glittering garments, and so sat down at the table. Over the table hung the great golden crown, the precious stones of which would have sufficiently illuminated the hall without any other light. However, all the lights were kindled at the small taper upon the altar; what the reason was I did not know for sure. But I took very good notice of this, that the young King frequently sent meat to the white serpent upon the little altar, which caused me to muse.

Almost all the prattle at this banquet was made by little Cupid, who could not leave us (and me, indeed, especially) untormented. He was perpetually producing some strange matter. However, there was no considerable mirth, all went silently on; from which I, myself, could imagine some great imminent peril. For there was no music at all heard; but if we were demanded anything, we had to give short round answers, and so let it rest. In short, all things had so strange a face, that the sweat began to trickle down all over my body; and I am apt to believe that the most stout-hearted man alive would then have lost his courage.

Supper being now almost ended, the young King commanded the book to be reached him from the little altar. This he opened, and caused it once again to be propounded to us by an old man, whether we resolved to abide by him in prosperity and adversity; which we having consented to with trembling, he further had us asked, whether we would give him our hands on it, which, when we could find no evasion, had to be so. Hereupon one after another arose, and with his own hand wrote himself down in this book.

When this also had been performed, the little crystal fountain, together with a very small crystal glass, was brought near, out of which all the Royal Persons drank one after another. Afterwards it was held out to us too, and so to all persons; and this was called the Draught of Silence. Hereupon all the Royal Persons presented us their hands, declaring that if we did not now stick to them, we should nevermore from now on see them; which truly made our eyes run over. But our president engaged herself and promised a great deal on our behalf, which gave them satisfaction.

Meantime a little bell was tolled, at which all the Royal Persons became so incredibly bleak, that we were ready to despair utterly. They quickly took off their white garments again, and put on entirely black ones. The whole hall likewise was hung about with black velvet, the floor was covered with black velvet, with which also the ceiling above was overspread (all this being prepared beforehand). After that the tables were also removed, and all seated themselves round about upon the form, and we also put on black habits. In came our president again, who had before gone out, and she brought with her six black taffeta scarves, with which she bound the six Royal Persons' eyes. Now when they could no longer see, six covered coffins were immediately brought in by the servants, and set down in the hall; also a low black seat was placed in the middle. Finally, there came in a very coal-black, tall man, who bore in his hand a sharp axe. Now after the old King had first been brought to the seat, his head was instantly whipped off, and wrapped in a black cloth; but the blood was received into a great golden goblet, and placed with him in this coffin that stood by; which, being covered, was set aside. Thus it went with the rest also, so that I thought it would at length have come to me too, but it did not. For as soon as the six Royal Persons were beheaded, the black man went out again; another followed after him, and beheaded him too just before the door, and brought back his head together with the axe, which were laid in a little chest.

This indeed seemed to me a bloody Wedding, but because I could not tell what was yet to happen, for the time being I had to suspend my understanding until I had further resolved things. For the Virgin too, seeing that some of us were faint-hearted and wept, bid us be content.

"For", she said to us, "The life of these now stands in your hands, and if you follow me, this death shall make many alive."

With this she intimated that we should go to sleep, and trouble ourselves no further on their part, for they should be sure to have their due right. And so she bade us all goodnight, saying that she must watch the dead bodies this night. We did this, and were each of us conducted by our pages into our lodgings. My page talked with me of sundry and various matters (which I still remember very well) and gave me cause enough to admire his understanding. But his intention was to lull me to sleep, which at last I well observed; so I made as though I was fast asleep, but no sleep came into my eyes, and I could not put the beheaded out of my mind.

Now my lodging was directly over against the great lake, so that I could easily look upon it, the windows being near to the bed. About midnight, as soon as it had struck twelve, suddenly I saw a great fire on the lake, so out of fear I quickly opened the window to see what would become of it. Then from afar I saw seven ships making forward, which were all full of lights. Above each of them on the top hovered a flame that passed to and fro, and sometimes descended right down, so that I could easily judge that it must be the spirits of the beheaded.

Now these ships gently approached land, and each of them had no more than one mariner. As soon as they had come to shore, I saw our Virgin with a torch going towards the ship, after whom the six covered coffins were carried, together with the little chest, and each of them was secretly laid in a ship.

So I awakened my page too, who greatly thanked me, for, having run up and down a lot all day, he might have slept through this altogether, though he knew quite well about it. Now as soon as the coffins were laid in the ships, all the lights were extinguished, and the six flames passed back together over the lake, so that there was no more than one light in each ship for a watch. There were also some hundreds of watchmen who had encamped themselves on the shore, and sent the Virgin back again into the castle; she carefully bolted everything up again, so that I could judge that there was nothing more to be done this night, but that we must await the day.

So we again took ourselves to rest. And I only of all my company had a chamber towards the lake, and saw this, so that now I was also extremely weary, and so fell asleep in my manifold speculations.

## The Fifth Day

The night was over, and the dear wished-for day broken, when hastily I got out of bed, more desirous to learn what might yet ensue, than that I had slept enough. Now after I had put on my clothes, and according to my custom had gone down the stairs, it was still too early, and I found nobody else in the hall; so I entreated my page to lead me about a little in the castle, and show me something rare. He was now (as always) willing, and led me down certain steps under ground, to a great iron door, on which the following words in great copper letters were fixed: (Here lies buried Venus, that beauty which has undone many a great man both in fortune, honour, blessing and prosperity.) This I thus copied, and set down in my table-book. Now after this door was opened, the page led me by the hand through a very dark passage, till we came again to a very little door, that was only now put to; for (as my page informed me) it was first opened yesterday when the coffins were taken out, and had not since been shut. Now as soon as we stepped in, I saw the most precious thing that Nature ever created, for this vault had no light other than that from certain huge great carbuncles, and this (as I was informed) was the King's Treasury. But the main and most glorious thing that I saw here was a sepulchre (which stood in the middle) so rich that I wondered that it was not better guarded. To which the page answered me, that I had good reason to be thankful to my planet, by whose influence it was that I had now seen certain pieces which no other human eye (except the King's family) had ever had a view of.

This sepulchre was triangular, and had in the middle of it a vessel of polished copper; the rest was of pure gold and precious stones. In the vessel stood an angel, who held in his arms an unknown tree, which continually dropped fruit into the vessel; and as often as the fruit fell into the vessel, it turned into water, and ran out from there into three small golden vessels standing by. This little altar was supported by these three animals, an eagle, an ox and a lion, which stood on an exceedingly costly base.

I asked my page what this might signify.

"Here," he said, "lies buried Lady Venus, that beauty which has undone many a great man, both in fortune, honour, blessing and prosperity." After which he showed me a copper door on the pavement.

"Here," he said, "if you please, we may go further down."

"I still follow you," I replied.

So I went down the steps, where it was exceedingly dark, but the page immediately opened a little chest, in which stood a small ever-burning taper, at which he kindled one of the torches which lay by. I was greatly terrified, and seriously asked how he dared do this?

He said by way of answer "As long as the Royal Persons are still at rest, we have nothing to fear."

Then I saw a rich bed ready made, hung about with curious curtains, one of which he drew aside, where I saw the Lady Venus stark naked (for he heaved up the coverlets too) lying there in such beauty, and in such a surprising fashion, that I was almost beside myself; neither do I yet know whether it was a piece thus carved, or a human corpse that lay dead there. For she was altogether immovable, and yet I dared not touch her. So she was again covered, and the curtain drawn before her, yet she was still (as it were) in my eye. But I soon saw behind the bed a tablet on which it was written as follows: (When the fruit of my tree shall be quite melted down then I shall awake and be the mother of a King.) I asked my page about this writing, but he laughed, with the promise that I should know it too. So, he putting out the torch, we ascended again. Then I had a better look at all the little doors, and first found that on every corner there burned a small taper of pyrites, of which I had before taken no notice, for the fire was so clear that it looked much more like a stone than a taper. From this heat the tree was forced continually to melt, yet it still produced new fruit. Now behold (said the page) what I heard revealed to the King by Atlas. When the tree (he said) shall be quite melted down, then shall Lady Venus awake, and be the mother of a King.

Whilst he was thus speaking, in flew the little Cupid, who at first was somewhat abashed at our presence, but seeing us both look more like the dead than the living, he could not in the end refrain from laughing, demanding what spirit had brought us there. I with trembling answered him, that I had lost my way in the castle, and had come here by chance, and that the page likewise had been looking up and down for me, and at last came upon me here, and I hoped he would not take it amiss.

"Well then, that's well enough yet, my old busy grandsire," said Cupid, "but you might easily have served me a scurvy trick, had you been aware of this door. Now I must look better to it," and so he put a strong lock on the copper door where we had before descended.

I thanked God that he had not come upon us sooner. My page too was happier, because I had helped him so well at this pinch.

"Yet," said Cupid, "I cannot let it pass unrevenged that you were so near stumbling upon my dear mother."

With that he put the point of his dart into one of the little tapers, and heating it a little, pricked me with it on the hand, which at that time I paid little attention to, but was glad that it had gone so well for us, and that we came off without further danger.

Meantime my companions had got out of bed too, and had returned into the hall again. To them I also joined myself, making as if I had just risen. After Cupid had carefully made all fast again, he came to us too, and would have me show him my hand, where he still found a little drop of blood; at which he heartily laughed, and bade the rest have a care of me, as I would shortly end my days. We all wondered how Cupid could be so merry, and have no sense at all of yesterday's sad occurrences. But he was in no way troubled.

Now our president had in the meantime made herself ready for the journey, coming in all in black velvet, yet she still carried her branch of laurel. Her virgins too had their branches. Now all things being ready, the Virgin asked us first to drink something, and then presently to prepare for the procession, so we did not tarry long but followed her out of the hall into the court. In the court stood six coffins, and my companions thought nothing other than that the six Royal Persons lay in them, but I well observed the device. Yet I did not know what was to be done with these others. By each coffin were eight muffled men. Now as soon as the music began (it was so mournful and dolesome a tune, that I was astonished at it) they took up the coffins, and we (as we were ordered) had to go after them into the aforementioned garden, in the middle of which was erected a wooden edifice, having round about the roof a glorious crown, and standing upon seven columns. Within it were formed six sepulchres, and by each of them was a stone; but in the middle was a round hollow rising stone. In these graves the coffins were quietly and with many ceremonies laid. The stones were shoveled over them, and they shut fast. But the little chest was to lie in the middle. Herewith my companions were deceived, for they imagined nothing other but that the dead corpses were there. Upon the top of all there was a great flag, having a phoenix painted on it, perhaps the more to delude us. Here I had great occasion to thank God that I had seen more than the rest.

Now after the funerals were done, the Virgin, having placed herself upon the middlemost stone, made a short oration, that we should be constant to our engagements, and not repine at the pains we were hereafter to undergo, but be helpful in restoring the present buried Royal Persons to life again; and therefore without delay to rise up with her, to journey to the tower of Olympus, to fetch from there medicines useful and necessary for this purpose.

This we soon agreed to, and followed her through another little door right to the shore. There the seven aforementioned ships stood all empty, on which the virgins stuck up their laurel branches, and after they had distributed us in the six ships, they caused us thus to begin our voyage in God's name, and looked upon us as long as they could have us in sight, after which they, with all the watchmen, returned into the castle. Our ships each had a peculiar device. Five of them indeed had the five regular bodies, each their own, but mine, in which the Virgin sat too, carried a globe. Thus we sailed on in a particular order, and each ship the Moor lay. In this were twelve musicians, who played excellently well, and its device was a pyramid. Next followed three abreast, B, C, and D, in which we were. I sat in C.

In the middle behind these came the two fairest and stateliest ships, E and F, stuck about with many branches of laurel, having no passengers in them; their flags were the sun and moon. But in the rear was only one ship, G; in this were forty virgins.

Now having passed over this lake in this way, we first went through a narrow arm, into the right seas, where all the sirens, nymphs, and sea-god-desses were waiting for us; wherefore they immediately dispatched a sea-nymph to us to deliver their present and offering of honour to the Wedding. It was a costly, great, set, round and oriental pearl, the like of which has never been seen, neither in our world nor yet in the new world. Now the Virgin having friendlily received it, the nymph further entreated that audience might be given to their entertainments, and to make a little stand, which the Virgin was content to do, and commanded the two great ships to stand in the middle, and the rest to encompass them in a pentagon. After which the nymphs fell into a ring about, and with a most delicate sweet voice began to sing as follows: I

Naught better is on earth Than lovely noble love

Whereby we be as God

And no one vexeth his neighbour.

So let unto the king be sung That all the sea shall sound.

We ask, and answer ye.

II

What hath to us life brought?

'Tis Love

Who hath brought grace again?

'Tis Love

Whence are we born?

Of Love

How were we all forlorn?

Without Love

III

Who hath us then begotten?

'Twas Love

Wherefore were we suckled?

For Love

What owe we to our elders?

'Tis Love

And why are they so patient?

From Love

IV

What doth all things o'ercome?

'Tis Love

Can we find Love as well?

Through Love

Where letteth a man good work appear?

In Love

Who can unite a twain?

'Tis Love

V

So let us all sing

That it resound

To honour Love

Which will increase

With our lord king and queen, Their bodies are here, their souls are fled.

VI

And as we live

So shall God give

Where love and grace

Did sunder them

That we with flame of Love May haply join them up again.

VII

So shall this song

In greatest joy

Though thousand generations come Return into eternity.

When they, with most admirable concert and melody, had finished this song, I no more wondered at Ulysses for stopping the ears of his companions, for I seemed to myself the most unhappy man alive, because nature had not made me, too, so trim a creature. But the Virgin soon dispatched them, and commanded us to set sail from there; so the nymphs went off too, after they had been presented with a long red scarf for a gratuity, and dispersed themselves in the sea.

I was at this time aware that Cupid began to work with me too, which yet tended by a very little towards my credit, and forasmuch as my giddiness is not likely to be beneficial to the reader, I am resolved to let it rest as it is. But this was the very wound that in the first book I received on the head in a dream. And let everyone take warning by me of loitering about Venus' bed, for Cupid can by no means brook it.

After some hours, having gone a good way in friendly discourses, we came within sight of the Tower of Olympus, so the Virgin commanded to give the signal of our approach by the discharge of some pieces, which was also done. And immediately we saw a great white flag thrust out, and a small gilded pinnace sent forth to meet us. Now as soon as this had come to us, we perceived in it a very ancient man, the Warder of the Tower, with certain guards clothed in white, by whom we were friendlily received, and so conducted to the Tower.

This Tower was situated upon an island which was exactly square, and which was environed with a wall that was so firm and thick that I myself counted three hundred and sixty passes over. On the other side of the wall was a fine meadow with certain little gardens, in which grew strange, and to me unknown, fruits; and then again there was an inner wall about the Tower. The Tower itself was just as if seven round towers had been built one by another, yet the middlemost was somewhat the higher, and within they all entered one into another, and had seven storeys one above another. Being come in this way to the gates of the Tower, we were led a little aside by the wall, so that, as I well observed, the coffins might be brought into the Tower without our taking notice; of this the rest knew nothing.

This being done, we were conducted into the Tower at the very bottom, which although it was excellently painted, yet we had little recreation there; for this was nothing but a laboratory, where we had to beat and wash plants, and precious stones, and all sorts of things, and extract their juice and essence, and put the same in glasses, and hand them over to be put aside. And truly our Virgin was so busy with us, and so full of her directions, that she knew how to give each of us enough employment, so that in this island we had to be mere drudges, till we had achieved all that was necessary for the restoring of the beheaded bodies.

Meantime (as I afterwards understood) three virgins were in the first apartment washing the bodies with all diligence. Now when we had at last almost finished this preparation of ours, nothing more was brought us but some broth with a little draught of wine, by which I well observed that we were not here for our pleasure. For when we had finished our day's work, too, everyone had only a mattress laid on the ground for him, with which we were to content ourselves.

For my part I was not very much bothered about sleeping, and therefore walked out into the garden, and at length came as far as the wall; and because the heaven was at that time very clear, I could well drive away the time in contemplating the stars. By chance I came to a great pair of stone stairs, which led up to the top of the wall. And because the moon shone very bright, I was so much the more confident, and went up, and looked a little upon the sea too, which was now exceedingly calm.

And thus having good opportunity to consider more about astronomy, I found that this present night there would occur a conjunction of the planets, the like of which was not otherwise usually to be observed. Now having looked a good while at the sea, and it being just about midnight, as soon as it had struck twelve I saw from afar the seven flames passing over the sea towards here, and taking themselves towards the top of the spire of the Tower. This made me somewhat afraid, for as soon as the flames had settled themselves, the winds arose, and began to make the sea very tempestuous. The moon also was covered with clouds, and my joy ended with such fear that I scarcely had enough time to find the stairs ended with such fear that I scarcely had enough time to find the stairs again, and take myself to the Tower again. Now whether the flames tarried any longer, or passed away again, I cannot say, for in this obscurity I did not dare venture abroad more.

So I lay down on my mattress, and there being in the laboratory a pleasant and gently murmuring fountain, I fell asleep so much the sooner. And thus the fifth day too was concluded with wonders.

## The Sixth Day

Next morning, after we had awakened one another, we sat together a while to discuss what might yet be the events to occur. For some were of the opinion that they should all be brought back to life again together. Others contradicted this, because the decease of the ancients was not only to restore life, but to increase it too to the young ones. Some imagined that they had not been put to death, but that others had been beheaded in their stead.

We now having talked together a pretty long while, in came the old man, and first saluting us, looked about him to see if all things were ready, and the processes sufficiently completed. We had so conducted ourselves as regards this that he had no fault to find with our diligence, so he placed all the glasses together, and put them into a case. Presently in came certain youths bringing with them some ladders, ropes, and large wings, which they laid down before us. Then the old man began as follows: "My dear sons, each of you must this day constantly bear one of these three things about with him. Now you are free either to make a choice of one of them, or to cast lots about it."

We replied, "we would choose".

"No," he said, "let it rather go by lot."

Hereupon he made three little schedules. On one he wrote 'Ladder', on the second 'Rope', on the third 'Wings'. These he put in a hat, and each man must draw, and whatever he got, that was to be his. Those who got the ropes imagined themselves to have the best of it, but I chanced to get a ladder, which afflicted me greatly, for it was twelve feet long, and pretty weighty, and I was forced to carry it, whereas the others could handsomely coil their ropes about them. And as for the wings, the old man joined them so closely onto the third group, as if they had grown upon them.

Hereupon he turned the cock, and then the fountain no longer ran, and we had to remove it from the middle out of the way. After all things were carried off, he took leave, taking with him the casket with the glasses, and locked the door fast after him, so that we imagined nothing other but that we had been imprisoned in this Tower.

But it was hardly a quarter of an hour before a round hole at the very top was uncovered, where we saw our Virgin, who called to us, and bade us good morrow, desiring us to come up. Those with the wings were instantly above and through the hole. Only those with the ropes were in an evil plight. For as soon as every one of us was up, he was commanded to draw up the ladder after him. At last each man's rope was hanged on an iron hook, so everyone had to climb up by his rope as well as he could, which indeed was not accomplished without blisters.

Now as soon as we were all up, the hole was covered again, and we were friendlily received by the Virgin. This room was the whole breadth of the Tower itself, having six very stately vestries raised a little above the room, and were entered by an ascent of three steps. In these vestries we were placed, there to pray for the life of the King and Queen. Meanwhile the Virgin went in and out of the little door A, till we were ready.

For as soon as our process was absolved, there was brought in by twelve persons (who were formerly our musicians), through the little door, and placed in the middle, a wonderful thing of longish shape, which my companions took only to be a fountain. But I well observed that the corpses lay in it, for the inner chest was of an oval figure, so large that six persons might well lie in it one by another. After which they again went forth, fetched their instruments, and conducted in our Virgin, together with her female attendants, with a most delicate sound of music. The Virgin carried a little casket, but the rest only branches and small lamps, and some lighted torches too. The torches were immediately given into our hands, and we were to stand about the fountain in this order.

First stood the Virgin A with her attendants in a ring round about with the lamps and branches C. Next stood we with our torches B, then the musicians A in a long rank; last of all the rest of the virgins D in another long rank too. Now where the virgins came from, whether they lived in the castle, or whether they had been brought in by night, I do not know, for all their faces were covered with delicate white linen, so that I could not recognise any of them.

Hereupon the Virgin opened the casket, in which there was a round thing wrapped up in a piece of green double taffeta. This she laid in the uppermost vessel, and then covered it with the lid, which was full of holes, and which had besides a rim through which she poured in some of the water which we had prepared the day before. Then the fountain began immediately to run, and to flow into the little vessel through four small pipes. Beneath the underneath vessel there were many sharp points, on which the virgins stuck their lamps, so that the heat might reach the vessel, and make the water boil. Now the water beginning to simmer, it fell in upon the bodies by many little holes at A, and was so hot that it dissolved them all, and turned them into liquor. But what the above-mentioned round wrapped-up thing was, my companions did not know, but I understood that it was the Moor's head, from which the water drew so great a heat. At A, round about the great vessel, there were again many holes, in which they stuck their branches. Now whether this was done of necessity, or only for ceremony, I do not know. However, these branches were continually besprinkled by the fountain, and from them it afterwards dropped into the vessel something of a deeper yellow. This lasted for nearly two hours, the fountain still constantly running by itself; but the longer it ran, the fainter it was.

Meantime the musicians went their way, and we walked up and down in the room, and truly the room was made in such a way that we had opportunity enough to pass away our time. There were, for images, paintings, clockworks, organs, springing fountains, and the like, nothing forgotten.

Now it was near the time when the fountain ceased, and would run no longer, when the Virgin commanded a round golden globe to be brought. But at the bottom of the fountain there was a tap, by which she let out all the matter that was dissolved by those hot drops (of which certain parts were then very red) into the globe. The rest of the water which remained above in the kettle was poured out. And so this fountain (which had now become much lighter) was again carried forth. Now whether it was opened elsewhere, or whether anything of the bodies that was further useful yet remained, I dare not say for certain. But this I know, that the water that was emptied into the globe was much heavier than six, or even more of us, were well able to bear, although going by its bulk it should have seemed not too heavy for one man. Now this globe having been got out of doors with much ado, we again sat alone, but I perceiving a trampling overhead, had an eye to my ladder.

Here one might take notice of the strange opinions my companions had concerning this fountain, for they, imagining that the bodies lay in the garden of the castle, did not know what to make of this kind of working, but I thanked God that I had awakened at so opportune a time, and that I had seen that which helped me the better in all the Virgin's business.

After one quarter of an hour the cover above was again lifted off, and we were commanded to come up, which was done as before with wings, ladders and ropes. And it vexed me not a little that whereas the virgins could go up another way, we had to take so much toil; yet I could well judge that there must be some special reason for it, and we must leave something for the old man to do too. For even those with wings had no advantage by them other than when they had to climb through the hole.

Now we having got up there, and the hole having been shut again, I saw the globe hanging by a strong chain in the middle of the room. In this room was nothing but windows, and between two windows there was a door, which was covered with nothing other than a great polished looking-glass. And these windows and these looking-glasses were optically opposed to one another, so that although the sun (which was now shining exceedingly brightly) beat only upon one door, yet (after the windows towards the sun were opened, and the doors before the looking-glasses drawn aside) in all quarters of the room there were nothing but suns, which by artificial refractions beat upon the whole golden globe standing in the midst; and because (besides all this brightness) it was polished, it gave such a lustre, that none of us could open our eyes, but were forced to look out of the windows till the globe was well heated, and brought to the desired effect. Here I may well avow that in these mirrors I have seen the most wonderful spectacle that ever Nature brought to light, for there were suns in all places, and the globe in the middle shined still brighter, so that we could no more endure it than the sun itself, except for one twinkling of an eye.

At length the Virgin commanded the looking-glasses to be shut up again, and the windows to be made fast, and so to let the globe cool again a little; and this was done about seven o'clock. This we thought good, since we might now have a little leisure to refresh ourselves with breakfast. This treatment was again right philosophical, and we had no need to be afraid of intemperance, yet we had no want. And the hope of the future joy (with which the Virgin continually comforted us) made us so jocund that we took no notice of any pains or inconvenience. And this I can truly say too concerning my companions of high quality, that their minds never ran after their kitchen or table, but their pleasure was only to attend upon this adventurous physick, and hence to contemplate the Creator's wisdom and omnipotency.

After we had taken our meal, we again settled down to work, for the globe, which with toil and labour we were to lift off the chain and set upon the floor, was sufficiently cooled. Now the dispute was how to get the globe in half, for we were commanded to divide it in the middle. The conclusion was that a sharp pointed diamond would best do it. Now when we had thus opened the globe, there was nothing more of redness to be seen, but a lovely great snow-white egg. It made us rejoice most greatly that this had been brought to pass so well. For the Virgin was in perpetual care lest the shell might still be too tender. We stood round about this egg as jocund as if we ourselves had laid it. But the Virgin made it be carried forth, and departed herself, too, from us again, and (as always) locked the door. But what she did outside with the egg, or whether it were in some way privately handled, I do not know, neither do I believe it. Yet we were again to wait together for a quarter of an hour, till the third hole was opened, and we by means of our instruments came to the fourth stone or floor.

In this room we found a great copper vessel filled with yellow sand, which was warmed by a gentle fire. Afterwards the egg was raked up in it, that it might therein come to perfect maturity. This vessel was exactly square; upon one side stood these two verses, written in great letters.

O. BLI. TO. BIT. MI. LI.

On the second side were these three words:

SANITAS. NIX. HASTA.

(Health, Snow, Lance.)

The third had only one word:

F.I.A.T.

But on the behind was an entire inscription running thus:

QUOD.

Ignis: Aer: Aqua: Terra:

SANCTIS REGUM ET REGINARUM NOSTR:

Cineribus.

Eripere non potuerunt

Fidelis Chymicorum Turba

IN HANC URNAM

Contulit.

A.

What

Fire: Air: Water: Earth

Were unable to rob

From the holy ashes

OF OUR KINGS AND QUEENS

Was gathered by the faithful flock

Of Alchemists

In this urn

A.D. 1459.

Now whether the egg were hereby meant, I leave to the learned to dispute; yet I do my part, and omit nothing undeclared. Our egg being now ready was taken out, but it needed no cracking, for the bird that was in it soon freed himself, and showed himself very jocund, yet he looked very bloody and unshapen. We first set him upon the warm sand, so the Virgin commanded that before we gave him anything to eat, we should be sure to make him fast, otherwise he would give us all work enough. This being done too, food was brought him, which surely was nothing else than the blood of the beheaded, diluted again with prepared water; by which the bird grew so fast under our eyes, that we saw well why the Virgin gave us such warning about him. He bit and scratched so devilishly about him, that could he have had his will upon any of us, he would have despatched him.

Now he was wholly black, and wild, so other food was brought him, perhaps the blood of another of the Royal Persons; whereupon all his black feathers moulted again, and instead of them there grew out snow-white feathers. He was somewhat tamer too, and more docile. Nevertheless we did not yet trust him. At the third feeding his feathers began to be so curiously coloured that in all my life I never saw such beautiful colours. He was also exceedingly tame, and behaved himself so friendlily with us, that (the Virgin consenting) we released him from his captivity.

Our Virgin began: "Since by your diligence, and our old man's consent, the bird has attained both his life and the highest perfection, this is a good reason that he should also be joyfully consecrated by us."

Herewith she commanded that dinner should be brought, and that we should again refresh ourselves, since the most troublesome part of our work was now over, and it was fitting that we should begin to enjoy our past labours. We began to make ourselves merry together. However, we still had all our mourning clothes on, which seemed somewhat reproachful to our mirth. Now the Virgin was perpetually inquisitive, perhaps to find to which of us her future purpose might prove serviceable. But her discourse was for the most part about Melting; and it pleased her well when one seemed expert in such compendious manuals as do particularly commend an artist. This dinner lasted not more than three quarters of an hour, which we still for the most part spent with our bird, and we had to constantly feed him with his food, but he still remained much the same size. After dinner we were not allowed long to digest our food, before the Virgin, together with the bird, departed from us.

The fifth room was set open to us, where we went as before, and offered our services. In this room a bath was prepared for our bird, which was so coloured with a fine white powder that it had the appearance of milk. Now it was at first cool when the bird was set into it. He was mighty well pleased with it, drinking of it, and pleasantly sporting in it. But after it began to heat because of the lamps that were placed under it, we had enough to do to keep him in the bath. We therefore clapped a cover on the vessel, and allowed him to thrust his head out through a hole, till he had in this way lost all his feathers in the bath, and was as smooth as a new-born child; yet the heat did him no further harm, at which I much marveled, for the feathers were completely consumed in this bath, and the bath was thereby tinged blue. At length we gave the bird air, and he sprang out of the vessel of his own accord, and he was so glitteringly smooth that it was a pleasure to behold. But because he was still somewhat wild, we had to put a collar with a chain about his neck, and so led him up and down the room. Meanwhile a strong fire was made under the vessel, and the bath boiled away till it all came down to a blue stone, which we took out, and having first pounded it, ground it with a stone, and finally with this colour began to paint the bird's skin all over. Now he looked much more strange, for he was all blue, except the head, which remained white.

Herewith our work on this storey was performed, and we (after the Virgin with her blue bird was departed from us) were called up through the hole to the sixth storey, where we were greatly troubled. For in the middle was placed a little altar, in every way like that in the King's hall above described. Upon this stood the six aforementioned particulars, and he himself (the bird) made the seventh. First of all the little fountain was set before him, out of which he drunk a good draught. Afterwards he pecked the white serpent until she bled a great deal. This blood we had to receive into a golden cup, and pour it down the bird's throat, who was greatly averse to it. Then we dipped the serpent's head in the fountain, upon which she revived again, and crept into her death's-head, so that I saw her no more for a long time after. Meantime the sphere turned constantly, until it made the desired conjunction. Immediately the watch struck one, upon which another conjunction was set going. Then the watch struck two.

Finally, while we were observing the third conjunction, and this was indicated by the watch, the poor bird submissively laid down his neck upon the book of his own accord, and willingly allowed his head to be smitten off (by one of us chosen for this by lot). However, he yielded not a drop of blood until his breast was opened, and then the blood spurted out so fresh and clear as if it had been a fountain of rubies. His death went to our hearts, and yet we could well judge that a naked bird would stand us in little stead. So we let it be, and moved the little altar away and assisted the Virgin to burn the body to ashes (together with the little tablet hanging by) with fire kindled by the little taper; and afterwards to cleanse the same several times, and to lay them in a box of cypress wood.

Here I cannot conceal what a trick was played on myself and three others. After we had thus diligently taken up the ashes, the Virgin began to speak as follows: "My lords, here we are in the sixth room, and we have only one more before us, in which our trouble will be at an end, and then we shall return home again to our castle, to awaken our most gracious Lords and Ladies. Now I could heartily wish that all of you, as you are here together, had behaved yourselves in such a way that I might have commended to our most renowned King and Queen, and you might have obtained a suitable reward; yet contrary to my desire, I have found amongst you these four lazy and sluggish workers (herewith she pointed at me and three others). Yet, according to my goodwill to each and every one, I am not willing to deliver them up to deserved punishment. However, so that such negligence may not remain wholly unpunished, I am resolved thus concerning them, that they shall only be excluded from the future seventh and most glorious action of all the rest, and so they shall incur no further blame from their Royal Majesties."

In what a state we now were at this speech I leave others to consider. For the Virgin knew so well how to keep her countenance, that the water soon ran over our baskets, and we esteemed ourselves the most unhappy of all men. After this the Virgin caused one of her maids (of whom there were many always at hand) to fetch the musicians, who were to blow us out of doors with cornets, with such scorn and derision that they themselves could hardly blow for laughing. But it afflicted us particularly greatly that the Virgin so vehemently laughed at our weeping, anger and impatience, and that there might well perhaps be some amongst our companions who were glad of this misfortune of ours.

But it proved otherwise, for as soon as we had come out of the door, the musicians told us to be of good cheer and follow them up the winding stairs. They led us up to the seventh floor under the roof, where we found the old man, whom we had not hitherto seen, standing upon a little round furnace. He received us friendlily, and heartily congratulated us that we had been chosen for this by the Virgin; but after he understood the fright we had received, his belly was ready to burst with laughing that we had taken such good fortune so badly.

"Hence," said he, "my dear sons, learn that man never knows how well God intended him."

During this discourse the Virgin also came running in with her little box, and (after she had laughed at us enough) emptied her ashes into another vessel, and filled hers again with other stuff, saying she must now go and cast a mist before the other artists' eyes, and that we in the meantime should obey the old lord in whatsoever he commanded us, and not remit our former diligence. Herewith she departed from us into the seventh room into which she called our companions. Now what she did first with them there, I cannot tell, for not only were they most earnestly forbidden to speak of it, but we also, because of our work, did not dare peep on them through the ceiling.

But this was our work. We had to moisten the ashes with our previously prepared water until they became altogether like a very thin dough, after which we set the matter over the fire, till it was well heated. Then we cast it, hot like this, into two little forms or moulds, and let it cool a little.

Here we had leisure to look a while at our companions through certain crevices made in the floor. They were now very busy at a furnace, and each had to blow up the fire himself with a pipe, and they stood blowing about it like this, as if they were wondrously preferred before us in this. And this blowing lasted until our old man roused us to our work again, so that I cannot say what was done afterwards.

We opened our little forms, and there appeared two beautiful, bright and almost transparent little images, the like of which man's eye never saw, a male and a female, each of them only four inches long, and what surprised us most greatly was that they were not hard, but lithe and fleshy, like other human bodies, yet they had no life; so that I most assuredly believe that the Lady Venus's image was also made after some such manner.

These angelically fair babes we first laid upon two little satin cushions, and looked at them for a good while, till we were almost besotted by such exquisite objects. The old lord warned us to forbear, and continually to instil the blood of the bird (which had been received into a little golden cup) drop after drop into the mouths of the little images, from which they appeared to increase; and whereas they were before very small, they were now (according to proportion) much more beautiful, so that all painters ought to have been here, and would have been ashamed of their art in respect of these productions of nature. Now they began to grow so big that we lifted them from the little cushions, and had to lay them upon a long table, which was covered with white velvet. The old man also commanded us to cover them over up to the breast with a piece of the fine white double taffeta, which, because of their unspeakable beauty, almost went against us. But to be brief, before we had quite used up the blood in this way, they were already in their perfect full growth. They had golden-yellow, curly hair, and the above-mentioned figure of Venus was nothing to them.

But there was not yet any natural warmth or sensibility in them. They were dead figures, yet of a lively and natural colour; and since care was to be taken that they did not grow too big, the old man would not permit anything more to be given to them, but covered their faces too with the silk, and caused the table to be stuck round about with torches. Here I must warn the reader not to imagine these lights to have been put there out of necessity, for the old man's intent hereby was only that we should not observe when the soul entered into them; and indeed we should not have noticed it, had I not twice before seen the flames. However, I permitted the other three to remain with their own belief, neither did the old man know that I had seen anything more. Hereupon he asked us to sit down on a bench over against the table.

Presently the Virgin came in too, with the music and all necessities, and carried two curious white garments, the like of which I had never seen in the castle, nor can I describe them, for I thought that they were nothing other than crystal; but they were soft, and not transparent; so that I cannot describe them. These she laid down on a table, and after she had disposed her virgins upon a bench round about, she and the old man began many slight-of-hand tricks about the table, which was done only to blind us. This (as I told you) was managed under the roof, which was wonderfully formed; for on the inside it was arched into seven hemispheres, of which the middlemost was somewhat the highest, and had at the top a little round hole, which was nevertheless shut, and was observed by no-one else.

After many ceremonies six virgins came in, each of whom carried a large trumpet, around which were rolled a green, glittering and burning material like a wreath. The old man took one of these, and after he had removed some of the lights at the top of the table, and uncovered their faces, he placed one of the trumpets upon the mouth of one of the bodies in such a way that the upper and wider end of it was directed just towards the aforementioned hole. Here my companions always looked at the images, but I had other thoughts, for as soon as the foliage or wreath about the shank of the trumpet was kindled, I saw the hole at the top open, and a bright stream of fire shooting down the tube, and passing into the body; whereupon the hole was covered again, and the trumpet removed. With this device my companions were deluded, so that they imagined that life came into the image by means of the fire of the foliage, for as soon as he received the soul his eyes twinkled, although he hardly stirred. The second time he placed another tube upon its mouth, and kindled it again, and the soul was let down through the tube. This as repeated for each of them three times, after which all the lights were extinguished and carried away. The velvet coverings of the table were cast over them, and immediately a birthing bed was unlocked and made ready, into which, thus wrapped up, they were born. And after the coverings were taken off them, they were neatly laid by each other, and with the curtains drawn before them, they slept a good while.

Now it was also time for the Virgin to see how other artists behaved themselves. They were well pleased because, as the Virgin afterwards informed me, they were to work in gold, which is indeed a piece of this art, but not the most principal, most necessary, and best. They had indeed too a part of these ashes, so that they imagined nothing other than that the whole bird was provided for the sake of gold, and that life must thereby be restored to the deceased.

Meantime we sat very still, waiting for our married couple to awake. About half an hour was spent like this. Then the wanton Cupid presented himself again, and after he had saluted us all, flew to them behind the curtain, tormenting them until they awakened. This was a cause of great amazement to them, for they imagined that they had slept from the very hour in which they were beheaded until now. Cupid, after he had awakened them, and renewed their acquaintance with one another, stepped aside a little, and allowed them both to get themselves together a bit better, meantime playing his tricks with us; and at length he wanted to have the music brought in, to be somewhat merrier.

Not long after, the Virgin herself came in, and after she had most humbly saluted the young King and Queen (who found themselves rather faint) and kissed their hands, she brought them the two aforementioned strange garments, which they put on, and so stepped forth. Now there were already prepared two very strange chairs, in which they placed themselves. And they were congratulated with most profound reverence by us, for which the King himself most graciously returned his thanks, and again reassured us of all grace.

It was already about five o'clock, so they could no longer stay, but as soon as the best of their furniture could be laden, we had to attend the young Royal Persons down the winding stairs, through all doors and watches to the ship. In this they embarked, together with certain virgins and Cupid, and sailed so very swiftly that we soon lost sight of them; but they were met (as I was informed) by certain stately ships. Thus in four hours' time they had gone many leagues out to sea. After five o 'clock the musicians were charged to carry all things back again to the ships, and to make themselves ready for the voyage. But because this took rather a long time, the old lord commanded a party of his concealed soldiers to come out. They had hitherto been planted in a wall, so that we had not noticed any of them, whereby I observed that this Tower was well provided against opposition. Now these soldiers made quick work with our stuff, so that nothing more remained to be done but to go to supper.

The table being completely furnished, the Virgin brought us again to our companions, where we were to carry ourselves as if we had truly been in a lamentable condition, and forbear laughing. But they were always smiling to one another, although some of them sympathised with us too. At this supper the old lord was also with us, who was a most sharp inspector over us; for no-one could propound anything so discreetly, but he knew either how to confute it, or to amend it, or at least to give some good information on it. I learned a great deal from this lord, and it would be very good if each one would apply themselves to him, and take notice of his procedure, for then things would not miscarry so often and so unfortunately.

After we had taken our nocturnal refreshment, the old lord took us into his closets of rarities, which were dispersed here and there amongst the bulwarks; where we saw such wonderful productions of Nature, and other things too which man's wit, in imitation of Nature, had invented, that we needed another year to survey them sufficiently. Thus we spent a good part of the night by candlelight. At last, because we were more inclined to sleep than to see many rarities, we were lodged in rooms in the wall, where we had not only costly and good beds, but also extraordinarily handsome chambers, which made us wonder all the more why we were forced to undergo so many hardships the day before. In this chamber I had good rest, and being for the most part without care, and weary with continual labour, the gentle rushing of the sea helped me to a sound and sweet sleep, for I continued in one dream from eleven o'clock till eight in the morning.

## The Seventh Day

After eight o'clock I woke up, and quickly made myself ready, wanting to return again into the Tower; but the dark passages in the wall were so many and various, that I wandered a good while before I could find the way out. The same happened to the rest too, till at last we all met again in the nethermost vault, and entirely yellow apparel was given to us, together with our golden fleeces. At this time the Virgin declared to us that we were Knights of the Golden Stone, of which we were before ignorant.

After we had made ourselves ready, and taken our breakfast, the old man presented each of us with a medal of gold.

On one side were these words:

AR. NAT. MI.

(Art is the Priestess of Nature)

On the other these:

TEM. NA. F.

(Nature is the Daughter of Time.)

He exhorted us moreover that we should try to take nothing more than this token of remembrance. Herewith we went forth to the sea, where our ships lay, so richly equipped that it was not possible but that such amazing things must first have been brought there. The ships were twelve in number, six of ours, and six of the old lord's, who caused his ships to be freighted with well appointed soldiers. But he himself came to us in our ship, where we were all together. In the first the musicians, of which the old lord also had a great number, seated themselves; they sailed before us to shorten the time. Our flags were the twelve celestial signs, and we sat in Libra. Besides other things our ship also had a noble and curious clock, which showed us all the minutes. The sea was so calm, too, that it was a singular pleasure to sail. But what surpassed all the rest was the old man's discourse; he knew so well how to pass away our time with wonderful stories, that I could have been content to sail with him all my life long.

Meanwhile the ships passed on in haste, for before we had sailed two hours the mariner told us that he already saw the whole lake almost covered with ships, by which we could conjecture that they had come out to meet us, which proved true. For as soon as we had come out of the sea into the lake by the aforementioned river, there before us were five hundred ships, one of which sparkled with gold and precious stones, and in which sat the King and Queen, together with other lords, ladies, and virgins of high birth. As soon as they were well in sight of us the pieces were discharged on both sides, and there was such a din of trumpets, shalms, and kettle drums that all the ships upon the sea capered again. Finally, as soon as we came near they brought our ships together, and so made a stand.

Immediately the old Atlas stepped forth on the King's behalf, making a short but handsome oration, in which he welcomed us, and asked whether the Royal Presents were ready. The rest of my companions were in great amazement, where this King should come from, for they imagined nothing other than that they would have to awaken him again. We allowed them to continue in their amazement, and acted as if it seemed strange to us too. After Atlas' oration out stepped our old man, making a rather longer reply, in which he wished the King and Queen all happiness and increase, after which he delivered up a curious small casket. What was in it, I do not know, but it was committed to Cupid to keep, who hovered between the King and Queen.

After the oration was finished, they again let off a joyful volley of shot, and so we sailed on a good time together, till at length we arrived at another shore. This was near the first gate at which I first entered. At this place again there attended a great multitude of the King's family together with some hundreds of horses. Now as soon as we came to shore, and disembarked, the King and Queen presented their hands to all of us, every one, with singular kindness; and so we were to get up on horseback.

Here I wish to friendlily entreat the reader not to interpret the following narration as any vain glory or pride of mine, but to credit me this much, that if there had not been a special necessity for it, I could very well have utterly concealed this honour which was shown me. We were all one after another distributed amongst the lords. But our old lord, and I, most unworthy, were to ride alongside the King, each of us bearing a snow-white ensign with a red cross. Indeed, I was made use of because of my age, for we both had long grey beards and hair. I had also fastened my tokens about my hat, which the young King soon noticed, and asked if I were he who could redeem these tokens at the gate?

I answered in most humble manner, "Yes".

But he laughed at me, saying, "There was no need for ceremony; I was HIS father".

Then he asked me with what I had redeemed them?

I replied, "With Water and Salt".

Whereupon he wondered who had made me so wise; upon which I grew a bit more confident, and recounted to him how it had happened with my bread, the Dove and the Raven, and he was pleased with it and said expressly that it must be that God had herein vouchsafed me a singular happiness.

With this we came to the first gate where the Porter with the blue clothes waited, bearing in his hand a supplication. Now as soon as he saw me alongside the King, he delivered me the supplication, most humbly beseeching me to mention his ingenuity to the King. Now in the first place I asked the King what the condition of this porter was. He friendlily answered me, that he was a very famous and rare astrologer, and always in high regard with the Lord his Father, but having once committed a fault against Venus, and seen her in her bed of rest, this punishment was therefore imposed upon him, that he should wait at the first gate for so long until someone should release him from it.

I replied, "May he then be released?"

"Yes," said the King, "if anyone can be found that has transgressed as highly as himself, he must take his place, and the other shall be free."

This went to my heart, for my conscience convinced me that I was the offender, yet I kept quiet, and herewith delivered the supplication. As soon as he had read it, he was greatly terrified, so that the Queen (who with our virgins, and that other Duchess as well - whom I mentioned at the hanging of the weights - rode just behind us) observed this, and therefore asked him what this letter might mean. But he had no mind to take any notice of it, and putting away the paper, began to talk about other matters, till thus in about three hours' time we came to the castle, where we alighted, and waited upon the King as he went into his hall.

Immediately the King called for the old Atlas to come to him in a little closet, and showed him the writing, and Atlas did not tarry, but rode out again to the Porter to get more information on the matter. After this the young King, with his spouse, and the other lords, ladies and virgins, sat down. Then our Virgin began to highly commend the diligence we had shown, and the pains and labour we had undergone, requesting that we might be royally rewarded, and that she might be permitted to enjoy the benefit of her commission from then on. Then the old lord stood up too, and attested that all the Virgin had said was true, and that it was only just that we should both be contented on both our parts. Hereupon we were to step forward a little, and it was concluded that each man should make some possible wish, and accordingly obtain it; for it was not to be doubted that those of understanding would also make the best wish. So we were to consider it until after supper.

Meantime the King and Queen, for recreation's sake, began to play together, at something which looked not unlike chess, only it had different rules; for it was the Virtues and Vices one against another, and it might ingeniously be observed with what plots the Vices lay in wait for the Virtues, and how to re-encounter them again. This was so properly and cleverly performed, that it is to be wished that we had the same game too. During the game, in came Atlas again, and made his report in private, but I blushed all over, for my conscience gave me no rest.

After this the King gave me the supplication to read, and the contents of it were much to this purpose. First he (the doorkeeper) wished the King prosperity, and increase, and that his seed might be spread abroad far and wide. Afterwards he remonstrated that the time was now come in which according to the royal promise he ought to be released, because Venus had already been uncovered by one of his guests, for his observations could not lie to him. And that if his Majesty would be pleased to make a strict and diligent enquiry, he would find that she had been uncovered, and if this should not prove to be so, he would be content to remain before the gate all the days of his life. Then he asked in the most humble manner, that upon peril of body and life he might be permitted to be present at this night's supper. He was hoping to seek out the very offender, and obtain his desired freedom. This was expressly and handsomely indicated, by which I could well perceive his ingenuity, but it was too sharp for me, and I would not have minded if I had never seen it. Now I was wondering whether he might perhaps be helped through my wish, so I asked the King whether he might not be released some other way.

"No," replied the King, "because there is a special consideration in the business. However, for this night, we may well gratify him in his desire." So he sent someone to fetch him in. Meanwhile the tables were prepared in a spacious room, in which we had never been before, which was so perfect, and contrived in such a manner, that it is not possible for me even to begin to describe it. We were conducted into this with singular pomp and ceremony. Cupid was not at this time present, for (as I was informed) the disgrace which had happened to his mother had somewhat angered him. In brief, my offence, and the supplication which was delivered, were an occasion of much sadness, for the King was in perplexity how to make inquisition amongst his guests, and the more so because through this, even they who were yet ignorant of the matter would come to know about it. So he caused the Porter himself, who had already arrived, to make his strict survey, and he himself acted as pleasantly as he was able.

However, eventually they all began to be merry again, and to talk to one another with all sorts of recreative and profitable discourses. Now, how the treatment and other ceremonies were then performed, it is not necessary to declare, since it is neither the reader's concern, nor serviceable to my design. But all exceeded more in art, and human invention, than we exceeded in drinking! And this was the last and noblest meal at which I was present. After the banquet the tables were suddenly taken away, and certain curious chairs placed round about in a circle, in which we, together with the King and Queen, and both their old men and the ladies and virgins, were to sit.

After this, a very handsome page opened the above-mentioned glorious little book, and Atlas immediately placed himself in the midst, and began to speak to this purpose: that his Royal Majesty had not forgotten the service we had done him, and how carefully we had attended to our duty, and therefore by way of retribution had elected all and each of us Knights of the Golden Stone. And that it was therefore further necessary not only once again to oblige ourselves towards his Royal Majesty, but also to vow to the following articles; and then his Royal Majesty would likewise know how to behave himself towards his liege people. Upon which he caused the page to read over the articles, which were these.

(1) You my lords the Knights shall swear that you shall at no time ascribe your order to any devil or spirit, but only to God your Creator, and his handmaid Nature.

(2) That you will abominate all whoredom, incontinency and uncleanness, and not defile your order with such vices.

(3) That you through your talents will be ready to assist all that are worthy, and have need of them.

(4) That you desire not to employ this honour to worldly pride and high authority.

(5) That you shall not be willing to live longer than God will have you do. At this last article we could not choose but laugh, and it may well have been placed after the rest only for a conceit. Now after vowing to them all by the King's sceptre, we were afterwards installed Knights with the usual ceremonies, and amongst other privileges set over Ignorance, Poverty, and Sickness, to handle them at our pleasure. And this was afterwards ratified in a little chapel (to which we were conducted in procession) and thanks returned to God for it. I also hung up there at that time my golden fleece and hat, and left them there for an eternal memorial, to the honour of God. And because everyone had to write his name there, I wrote thus:

The highest wisdom is to know nothing.

Brother Christian Rosenkreutz

Knight of the Golden Stone

A.D. 1459.

Others wrote likewise, each as it seemed good to him. After this, we were again brought into the hall, where, having sat down, we were admonished quickly to think what we each one would wish. But the King and his party retired into a little closet, there to give audience to our wishes. Now each man was called in separately, so that I cannot speak of any man's own wish. I thought nothing could be more praiseworthy than to demonstrate some laudable virtue in honour of my order, and found too that none at present could be better, and cost me more trouble, than Gratitude. Wherefore in spite of the fact that I might well have wished something more dear and agreeable to myself, I vanquished myself, and concluded, even at my own peril, to free the Porter, my benefactor.

So as I was now called in, I was first of all asked whether, having read the supplication, I had observed or suspected nothing concerning the offender? Upon which I began undauntedly to relate how all the business had passed, how through ignorance I fell into that mistake, and so offered myself to undergo all that I had thereby deserved. The King, and the rest of the lords, wondered greatly at so unexpected a confession, and so asked me to step aside a little.

Now as soon as I was called in again, Atlas declared to me that although it was grievous to the King's Majesty that I, whom he loved above others, had fallen into such a mischance, yet because it was not possible for him to transgress his ancient usages, he did not know how to absolve me; the other must be at liberty, and I put in his place; yet he would hope that some other would be apprehended, so that I might be able to go home again. However, no release was to be hoped for, till the marriage feast of his future son.

This sentence had nearly cost me my life, and I first hated myself and my twaddling tongue, in that I could not keep quiet; yet at last I took courage, and because I thought there was no remedy, I related how this Porter had bestowed a token on me, and commended me to the other, by whose assistance I stood upon the scale, and so was made partaker of all the honour and joy already received. And therefore now it was but fair that I should show myself grateful to my benefactor, and because this could not be done in any other way, I returned thanks for the sentence, and was willing gladly to bear some inconvenience for the sake of he who had been helpful to me in coming to such a high place. But if by my wish anything might be effected, I wished myself at home again, so that he by me, and I by my wish might be at liberty. Answer was made me, that the wishing did not stretch so far. However, I might wish him free. Yet it was very pleasing to his Royal Majesty that I had behaved myself so generously in this, but he was afraid I might still be ignorant of what a miserable condition I had plunged myself into through my curiosity. Hereupon the good man was pronounced free, and I with a sad heart had to step aside.

After me the rest were called for too, and came jocundly out again, which pained me still more, for I imagined nothing other than that I must finish my life under the gate. I also had many pensive thoughts running up and down in my head, what I should do, and how to spend the time. At length I considered that I was now old, and according to the course of nature, had few years more to live. And that this anguished and melancholy life would quickly send me from this world, and then my doorkeeping would be at an end, and by a most happy sleep I might quickly bring myself to the grave. I had many of these thoughts. Sometimes it vexed me that I had seen such gallant things, and must be robbed of them.

Sometimes I rejoiced that still, before my end, I had been accepted to all joy, and should not be forced to depart shamefully. This was the last and worst shock that I sustained.

During my cogitations the rest had got ready. So after they had received a good night from the King and lords, each one was conducted into his lodging. But I, most wretched man, had nobody to show me the way, and must moreover suffer myself to be tormented; and so that I might be certain of my future function, I had to put on the ring which the other had worn before. Finally, the King exhorted me that since this was now the last time I was likely to see him in this manner, I should behave myself according to my place, and not against the order. Upon which he took me in his arms, and kissed me, all which I understood to mean that in the morning I must sit at my gate. Now after they had all spoken friendlily to me for a while, and at last given their hands, committing me to the Divine protection, I was conducted by both the old men, the Lord of the Tower, and Atlas, into a glorious lodging, in which stood three beds, and each of us lay in one of them, where we spent almost two, etc...

(Here about two leaves in quarto are missing, and he (the author of this), whereas he imagined he must in the morning be doorkeeper, returned home.)



# Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis

## To the Wise and Understanding Reader

Wisdom (saith Solomon) is to a man an infinite Treasure, for she is the Breath of the Power of God, and a pure Influence that floweth from the Glory of the Almighty; she is the Brightness of Eternal Light, and an undefiled Mirror of the Majesty of God, and an Image of his Goodness; she teacheth us Soberness and Prudence, Righteousness and Strength; she understands the Subtilty of words, and Solution of dark sentences; she foreknoweth Signs and Wonders, and what shall happen in time to come; with this Treasure was our first Father Adam fully endued: Hence it doth appear, that after God had brought before him all the Creatures of the Field, and the Fowls under Heaven, he gave to every one of them their proper names, according to their nature.

Although now through the sorrowful fall into sin this excellent Jewel Wisdom hath been lost, and meer Darkness and Ignorance is come into the World, yet notwithstanding hath the Lord God sometimes hitherto bestowed, and made manifest the same, to some of his Friends: For the wise King Solomon doth testifie of himself, that he upon earnest prayer and desire did get and obtain such Wisdom of God, that thereby he knew how the World was created, thereby he understood the Nature of the Elements, also the time, beginning, middle and end, the increase and decrease, the change of times through the whole Year, the Revolution of the Year, and Ordinance of the Stars; he understood also the properties of tame and wilde Beasts, the cause of the raigning of the Winds, and minds and intents of men, all sorts and natures of Plants, vertues of Roots, and others, was not unknown to him. Now I do not think that there can be found any one who would not wish and desire with all his heart to be a Partaker of this noble Treasure; but seeing the same Felicity can happen to none, except God himself give Wisdom, and send his holy Spirit from above, we have therefore set forth in print this little Treatise, to wit, Famam & Confessionem of the Laudable Fraternity of the Rosie Cross, to be read by every one, because in them is clearly shewn and discovered, what concerning it the World hath to expect.

Although these things may seem somewhat strange, and many may esteem it to be but a Philosophical shew, and no true History, which is published and spoken of the Fraternity of the Rosie Cross; it shall here sufficiently appear by our Confession, that there is more in recessu then may be imagined; and it shall be easily understood, and observed by every one (if he be not altogether voyd of understanding) what now adays, and at these times, is meant thereby.

Those who are true Disciples of Wisdom, and true Followers of the Spherical Art, will consider better of these things, and have them in greater estimation, as also judge far otherwise of them, as hath been done by some principal Persons, but especially of Adam Haselmeyer, Notarius Publicus to the Arch Duke Maximilian, who likewise hath made an Extract ex scriptis Theologicis Theophrasti, and written a Treatise under the Title of Jesuiter, wherein he willeth, that every Christian should be a true Jesuit, that is, to walk, live, be, and remain in Jesus: He was but ill rewarded of the Jesuits, because in his answer written upon the Famam, he did name those of the Fraternity of the Rosie Cross, The highly illuminated men, and undeceiving Jesuits; for they not able to brook this, layd hands on him, and put him into the Galleis, for which they likewise have to expect their reward.

Blessed Aurora will now henceforth begin to appear, who (after the passing away of the dark Night of Saturn) with her Brightness altogether extinguisheth the shining of the Moon, or the small Sparks of Heavenly Wisdom, which yet remaineth with men, and is a Forerunner of pleasant Phebus, who with his clear and fiery glistering Beams brings forth that blessed Day, long wished for, of many true-hearted; by which Day-light then shall truly be known, and shall be seen all heavenly Treasures of godly Wisdom, as also the Secrets of all hidden and unvisible things in the World, according to the Doctrine of our Forefathers, and ancient Wisemen.

This will be the right kingly Ruby, and most excellent shining Carbuncle, of the which it is said, That he doth shine and give light in darkness, and to be a perfect Medicine of all imperfect Bodies, and to change them into the best Gold, and to cure all Diseases of Men, easing them of all pains and miseries.

Be therefore, gentle Reader, admonished, that with me you do earnestly pray to God, that it please him to open the hearts and ears of all ill hearing people, and to grant unto them his blessing, that they may be able to know him in his Omnipotency, with admiring contemplation of Nature, to his honour and praise, and to the love, help, comfort and strengthening of our Neighbors, and to the restoring of all the diseased.

## A Discovery of the Fraternity of the most laudable Order of the Rosy Cross

Seeing the only Wise and Merciful God in these latter days hath poured out so richly his mercy and goodness to Mankind, whereby we do attain more and more to the perfect knowledge of his Son Jesus Christ and Nature, that justly we may boast of the happy time, wherein there is not only discovered unto us the half part of the World, which was heretofore unknown & hidden, but he hath also made manifest unto us many wonderful, and neverheretofore seen, Works and Creatures of Nature, and moreover hath raised men, indued with great Wisdom, which might partly renew and reduce all Arts (in this our Age spotted and imperfect) to perfection; so that finally Man might thereby understand his own Nobleness and Worth, and why he is called Microcosmus, and how far his knowledge extendeth in Nature.

Although the rude World herewith will be but little pleased, but rather smile and scoff thereat; also the Pride and Covetousness of the Learned is so great, it will not suffer them to agree together; but were they united, they might out of all those things which in this our Age God doth so richly bestow upon us, collect Librum Naturae, or a perfect Method of all Arts: but such is their opposition, that they still keep, and are loth to leave the old course, esteeming Porphiry, Aristotle, and Galen, yea and that which hath but a meer shew of learning, more then the clear and manifested Light and Truth; who if they were now living, with much joy would leave their erroneous Doctrines. But here is too great weaknesses for such a great Work: And although in Theologie, Physic, and the Mathematic, the Truth doth oppose it self; nevertheless the old Enemy by his subtilty and craft doth shew himself in hindering every good purpose by his Instruments and contentious wavering people. To such an intent of a general Reformation, the most godly and highly illuminated Father, our Brother, C.R. a German, the chief and original of our Fraternity, hath much and long time laboured, who by reason of his poverty (although descended of Noble Parents) in the fifth year of his age was placed in a Cloyster, where he had learned indifferently the Greek and Latin Tongues, who (upon his earnest desire and request) being yet in his growing years, was associated to a Brother, P.A.L. who had determined to go to the Holy Land.

Although this Brother dyed in Ciprus, and so never came to Jerusalem, yet our Brother C.R. did not return, but shipped himself over, and went to Damasco, minding from thence to go to Jerusalem; but by reason of the feebleness of his body he remained still there, and by his skill in Physick he obtained much favour with the Turks: In the mean time he became by chance acquainted with the Wise men of Damasco in Arabia, and beheld what great Wonders they wrought, and how Nature was discovered unto them; hereby was that high and noble Spirit of Brother C.R. so stired up, that Jerusalem was not so much now in his mind as Damasco; also he could not bridle his desires any longer, but made a bargain with the Arabians, that they should carry him for a certain sum of money to Damasco; he was but of the age of sixteen years when he came thither, yet of a strong Dutch constitution; there the Wise received him (as he himself witnessseth) not as a stranger, but as one whom they had long expected, they called him by his name, and shewed him other secrets out of his Cloyster, whereat he could not but mightily wonder: He learned there better the Arabian Tongue; so that the year following he translated the Book M. into good Latin, which he afterwards brought with him. This is the place where he did learn his Physick, and his Mathematicks, whereof the World hath just cause to rejoyce, if there were more Love, and less Envy. After three years he returned again with good consent, shipped himself over Sinus Arabicus into Egypt, where he remained not long, but only took better notice there of the Plants and Creatures; he sailed over the whole Mediterranean Sea for to come unto Fez, where the Arabians had directed him. And it is a great shame unto us, that wise men, so far remote th’one from th’other, should not only be of one opinion, hating all contentious Writings, but also be so willing and ready under the seal of secrecy to impart their secrets to others.

Every year the Arabians and Africans do send one to another, inquiring one of another out of their Arts, if happily they had found out some better things, or if Experience had weakened their Reasons. Yearly there came something to light, whereby the Mathematica, Physic and Magic (for in those are they of Fez most skilful) were amended; as there is now adays in Germany no want of learned Men, Magicians, Cabalists, Physicians, and Philosophers, were there but more love and kindness among them, or that the most part of them would not keep their secrets close only to themselves. At Fez he did get acquaintance with those which are commonly called the Elementary Inhabitants, who revealed unto him many of their secrets: As we Germans likewise might gather together many things, if there were the like unity, and desire of searching out of secrets amongst us.

Of these of Fez he often did confess, that their Magia was not altogether pure, and also that their Cabala was defiled with their Religion; but notwithstanding he knew how to make good use of the same, and found still more better grounds of his Faith, altogether agreeable with the Harmony of the whole World, and wonderfully impressed in all Periods of times, and thence proceedeth that fair Concord, that as in every several kernel is contained a whole good tree or fruit, so likewise is included in the little body of Man the whole great World, whose Religion, policy, health, members, nature, language, words and works, are agreeing, sympathizing, and in equal tune and melody with God, Heaven and Earth; and that which is disagreeing with them, is error, falsehood and of the Devil, who alone is the first, middle, and last cause of strife, blindness, and darkness in the World: Also, might one examine all and several persons upon the Earth, he should find that which is good and right, is always agreeing with it self; but all the rest is spotted with a thousand erroneous conceits.

After two years Brother R.C. departed the City Fez, and sailed with many costly things into Spain, hoping well, he himself had so well and so profitably spent his time in his travel, that the learned in Europe would highly rejoyce with him, and begin to rule, and order all their Studies, according to those sound and sure Foundations. He therefore conferred with the Learned in Spain, shewing unto them the Errors of our Arts, and how they might be corrected, and from whence they should gather the true Inditia of the Times to come, and wherein they ought to agree with those things that are past; also how the faults of the Church and the whole Philosopia Moralis was to be amended: He shewed them new Growths, new Fruits, and Beasts, which did concord with old Philosophy, and prescribed them new Axiomata, whereby all things might fully be restored: But it was to them a laughing matter; and being a new thing unto them, they feared that their great Name should be lessened, if they should now again begin to learn and acknowledg their many years Errors, to which they were accustomed, and wherewith they had gained them enough: Who so loveth unquietness, let him be reformed.

The same Song was also sang to him by other Nations, the which moved him the more (because it happened to him contrary to his expectation,) being then ready bountifully to impart all his Arts and Secrets to the Learned, if they would have but undertaken to write the true and infallible Axiomata, out of all Faculties, Sciences and Arts, and whole Nature, as that which he knew would direct them, like a Globe, or Circle, to the onely middle Point, and Centrum, and (as it is usual among the Arabians) it should onely serve to the wise and learned for a Rule, that also there might be a Society in Europe, which might have Gold, Silver, and precious Stones, sufficient for to bestow them on Kings, for their necessary uses, and lawful purposes: with which such as be Governors might be brought up, for to learn all that which God hath suffered Man to know, and thereby to be enabled in all times of need to give their counsel unto those that seek it, like the Heathen Oracles: Verily we must confess that the world in those days was already big with those great Commotions, laboring to be delivered of them; and did bring forth painful, worthy men, who brake with all force through Darkness and Barbarism, and left us who succeeded to follow them: and assuredly they have been the uppermost point in Trygono igneo, whose flame now should be more and more brighter, and shall undoubtedly give to the World the last Light.

Such a one likewise hath Theophrastus been in Vocation and Callings, although he was none of our Fraternity, yet nevertheless hath he diligently read over the Book M: whereby his sharp ingenium was exalted; but this man was also hindered in his course by the multitude of the learned and wise-seeming men, that he was never able peaceably to confer with others of his Knowledg and Understanding he had of Nature. And therefore in his writing he rather mocked these busie bodies, and doth not shew them altogether what he was: yet nevertheless there is found with him well grounded the aforenamed Harmonia, which without doubt he had imparted to the Learned, if he had not found them rather worthy of subtil vexation, then to be instructed in greater Arts and Sciences; he then with a free and careless life lost his time, and left unto the World their foolish pleasures.

But that we do not forget our loving Father, Brother C.R. he after many painful Travels, and his fruitless true Instructions, returned again into Germany, the which he (by reason of the alterations which were shortly to come, and of the strange and dangerous contentions) heartily loved: There, although he could have bragged with his Art, but specially of the transmutations of Metals; yet did he esteem more Heaven, and the Citizens thereof, Man, then all vain glory and pomp.

Nevertheless he builded a fitting and neat inhabitation, in the which he ruminated his Voyage, and Philosophy, and reduced them together in a true Memorial. In this house he spent a great time in the Mathematicks, and made many fine Instruments, ex omnibus hujus artis partibus, whereof there is but little remaining to us, as hereafter you shall understand. After five years came again into his mind the wished for Reformation; and in regard he doubted of the ayd and help of others, although he himself was painful, lusty, and unwearisom, he undertook, with some few adjoyned with him, to attempt the same: wherefore he desired to that end, to have out of his first Cloyster (to the which he bare a great affection) three of his Brethren, Brother G.V. Brother J.A. and Brother J.O. who besides that, they had some more knowledg in the Arts, then at that time many others had, he did binde those three unto himself, to be faithful, diligent, and secret; as also to commit carefully to writing, all that which he should direct and instruct them in, to the end that those which were to come, and through especial Revelation should be received into this Fraternity, might not be deceived of the least sillable and word.

After this manner began the Fraternity of the Rosie Cross; first, by four persons onely, and by them was made the Magical Language and writing, with a large Dictionary, which we yet dayly use to Gods praise and glory, and do finde great wisdom therein; they made also the first part of the Book M: but in respect that the labor was too heavy, and the unspeakable concourse of the sick hindred them, and also whilst his new building (called Sancti spiritus) was now finished, they concluded to draw and receive yet others more into their Fraternity; to this end was chosen brother R.C. his deceased fathers brothers son, brother B. a skilful Painter, G. and P.D. their Secretary, all Germains except J.A. so in all they were eight in number, all batchelors and of vowed virginity, by those was collected a book or volumn of all that which man can desire, wish, or hope for.

Although we do now freely confess, that the World is much amended within an hundred years, yet we are assured, that our Axiomata shall unmovably remain unto the Worlds End, and also the world in her highest and last Age shall not attain to see any thing else; for our Rota takes her beginning from that day when God spake Fiat, and shall end when he shall speak Pereat; yet Gods Clock striketh every minute, where ours scarce striketh perfect hours. We also stedfastly beleeve, that if our Brethren and Fathers had lived in this our present and clear light, they would more roughly have handled the Pope, Mahomet, Scribes, Artists, and Sophisters, and had shewed themselves more helpful, not simply with sighs, and wishing of their end and consummation.

When now these eight Brethren had disposed and ordered all things in such manner, as there was not now need of any great labour, and also that every one was sufficiently instructed, and able perfectly to discourse of secret and manifest Philosophy, they would not remain any longer together, but as in the beginning they had agreed, they separated themselves into several Countries, because that not only their Axiomata might in secret be more profoundly examined by the learned, but that they themselves, if in some Country or other they observed anything, or perceived some Error, they might inform one another of it.

Their agreement was this: First, That none of them should profess any other thing, then to cure the sick, and that gratis. 2. None of the Posterity should be constrained to wear one certain kind of habit, but therein to follow the custom of the Country. 3. That every year upon the day C. they should meet together at the house S. Spiritus, or to write the cause of his absence. 4. Every Brother should look out for a worthy person, who after his discease might succeed him. 5. The word C.R. should be their Seal, Mark, and Character. 6. The Fraternity should remain secret one hundred years. These six Articles they bound themselves one to another to keep; and five of the Brethren departed, only the Brethren B. and D. remained with the Father Fra: R.C. a whole year; when these likewise departed, then remained by him his Cousen and Brother J.O. so that he hath all the days of his life with him two of his Brethren. And although that as yet the Church was not cleansed, nevertheless we know that they did think of her, and with what longing desire they looked for: Every year they assembled together with joy, and made a full resolution of that which they had done; there must certainly have been great pleasure, to hear truly and without invention related and rehearsed all the Wonders which God hath poured out here and there through the World. Every one may hold it out for certain, that such persons as were sent, and joined together by God, and the Heavens, and chosen out of the wisest of men, as have lived in many Ages, did live together above all others in highest Unity, greatest Secrecy, and most kindness one towards another.

After such a most laudable sort they did spend their lives; and although they were free from all diseases and pain, yet notwithstanding they could not live and pass their time appointed of God. The first of this Fraternity which dyed, and that in England, was J.O. as Brother C. long before had foretold him; he was very expert, and well learned in Cabala, as his Book called H. witnesseth: In England he is much spoke of, and chiefly because he cured a young Earl of Norfolk of the Leprosie. They had concluded, that as much as possibly could be their burial place should be kept secret, as at this day it is not known unto us what is become of some of them, yet every ones place was supplyed with a fit successor; but this we wil confesse publickly by these presents to the honour of God, That what secret soever we have learned out of the book M. (although before our eyes we behold the image and pattern of all the world) yet are there not shewn unto us our misfortunes, nor hour of death, the which only is known to God himself, who thereby would have us keep in a continual readiness; but hereof more in our Confession, where we do set down 37 Reasons wherefore we now do make known our Fraternity, and proffer such high Mysteries freely, and without constraint and reward: also we do promise more gold then both the Indies bring to the King of Spain; for Europe is with child and will bring forth a strong child, who shall stand in need of a great godfathers gift.

After the death of J.O. Brother R.C. rested not, but as soon as he could, called the rest together, (and as we suppose) then his grave was made; although hitherto we (who were the latest) did not know when our loving father R.C. died, and had no more but the bare names of the beginners, and all their successors to us; yet there came into our memory, a secret, which through dark and hidden words, and speeches of the 100 years, brother A. the successor of D. (who was of the last and second row and succession), and had lived amongst many of us,) did impart unto us of the third row and succession; otherwise we must confess, that after the death of the said A. none of us had in any manner known anything of Brother R.C. and of his first fellow-brethren, then that which was extant of them in our Philosophical Bibliotheca, amongst which our Axiomata was held for the chiefest Rota Mundi, for the most artificial, and Protheus the most profitable. Likewise we do not certainly know if these of the second row have been of the like wisdom as the first, and if they were admitted to all things. It shall be declared hereafter to the gentle Reader, not onely what we have heard of the burial of R.C. but also made manifest publickly by the foresight, sufferance and commandement of God, whom we most faithfully obey, that if we shall be answered discreetly and Christian-like, we will not be afraid to set forth publickly in Print, our names, and sirnames, our meetings, or any thing else that may be required at our hands.

Now the true and fundamental relation of the finding out of the high illuminated man of God, Fra: C.R.C. is this; After that A. in Gallia Narbonensi was deceased, then suceeded in his place, our loving Brother N.N. this man after he had repaired unto us to take the solemn oath of fidelity and scerecy, he informed us bona fide, That A. had comforted him in telling him, that this Fraternity should ere long not remain so hidden, but should be to all the whole German Nation helpful, needful, and commendable; of the which he was not in any wise in his estate ashamed of. The year following after he had performed his School right, and was minded now to travel, being for that purpose sufficiently provided with Fortunatus purse, he thought (he being a good Architect) to alter something of his building, and to make it more fit: in such renewing he lighted upon the memorial Table which was cast of brasse, and containeth all the names of the brethren, with some few other things; this he would transfer in another more fitting vault: for where or when Fra: R.C. died, or in what country he was buried, was by our predecessors concealed and unknown unto us. In this Table stuck a great naile somewhat strong, so that when he was with force drawn out, he took with him an indifferent big stone out of the thin wall, or plaistering of the hidden door, and so unlooked for uncovered the door; wherefore we did with joy and longing throw down the rest of the wall, and cleared the door, upon which that was written in great letters, Post 120 annos patebo, with the year of the Lord under it: therefore we gave God thanks and let it rest that same night, because first we would overlook our Rotam; but we refer our selves again to the confession, for what we here publish is done for the help of those that are worthy, but to the unworthy (God willing) it will be small profit: For like as our door was after so many years wonderfully discovered, also there shall be opened a door to Europe (when the wall is removed) which already doth begin to appear, and with great desire is expected of many.

In the morning following we opened the door, and there appeared to our sight a Vault of seven sides and corners, every side five foot broad, and the height of eight foot; Although the Sun never shined in this Vault, nevertheless it was enlightened with another sun, which had learned this from the Sun, and was situated in the upper part in the Center of the sieling; in the midst, in stead of a Tomb-stone, was a round Altar covered over with a plate of brass, and thereon this engraven:

A.C. R.C. Hoc universi compendium unius mihi sepulchrum feci.
Round about the first Circle or Brim stood,
Jesus mihi omnia.

In the middle were four figures, inclosed in circles, whose circumscription
was,

1. Nequaquam vacuum.
2. Legis Jugum.
3. Libertas Evangelij.
4. Dei gloria intacta.

This is all clear and bright, as also the seventh side and the two Heptagoni: so we kneeled altogether down, and gave thanks to the sole wise, sole mighty, and sole eternal God, who hath taught us more then all mens wit could have found out, praised be his holy name. This Vault we parted in three parts, the upper part or sieling, the wall or side, the ground or floor.

Of the upper part you shall understand no more of it at this time, but that it was divided according to the seven sides in the triangle, which was in the bright center; but what therein is contained, you shall God willing (that are desirous of our society) behold the same with your own eyes; but every side or wall is parted into ten squares, every one with their several figures and sentences, as they are truly shewed, and set forth Concentratum here in our book.

The bottom again is parted in the triangle, but because therein is discribed the power and rule of the inferior Governors, we leave to manifest the same, for fear of the abuse by the evil and ungodly world. But those that are provided and stored with the heavenly Antidote, they do without fear or hurt, tread on, and bruise the head of the old and evil serpent, which this our age is well fitted for: every side or wall had a door for a chest, wherein there lay diverse things, especially all our books, which otherwise we had, besides the Vocabular of Theoph: Par. Ho. and these which daily unfalsifieth we do participate. Herein also we found his Itinerarium, and vitam, whence this relation for the most part is taken. In another chest were looking-glasses of divers virtues, as also in other places were little bells, burning lamps, & chiefly wonderful artificial Songs; generally all done to that end, that if it should happen after many hundred years, the Order or Fraternity should come to nothing, they might by this onely Vault be restored again.

Now as yet we had not seen the dead body of our careful and wise father, we therfore removed the Altar aside, there we lifted up a strong plate of brass, and found a fair and worthy body, whole and unconsumed, as the same is here lively counterfeited, with all the Ornaments and Attires; in his hand he held a parchment book, called I. the which next to the Bible, is our greatest treasure, which ought to be delivered to the censure of the world. At the end of this book standeth this following Elogium.

Granum pectori Jesu insitum.
C. Ros. C. ex nobili atque splendida Germaniae R.C. familia oriundus, vir sui seculi divinis revelationibus subtilissimis imaginationibus, indefessis laboribus ad coelestia, atque humana mysteria; arcanave admissus postquam suam (quam Arabico, & Africano itineribus Collegerat) plusquam regiam, atque imperatoriam Gazam suo seculo nondum convenientem, posteritati eruendam custo divisset et jam suarum Artium, ut et nominis, fides acconjunctissimos herides instituisset, mundum minutum omnibus motibus magno illi respondentem fabricasset hocque tandem preteritarum, praesentium, et futurarum, rerum compendio extracto, centenario major non morbo (quem ipse nunquam corpore expertus erat, nunquam alios infestare sinebat) ullo pellente sed spiritu Dei evocante, illuminatam animam (inter Fratrum amplexus et ultima oscula) fidelissimo creatori Deo reddidisset, Pater dilectissimus, Fra: suavissimus, praeceptor fidelissimus amicus integerimus, a suis ad 120 annos hic absconditus est.

Underneath they had subscribed themselves,

1. Fra: I.A. Fr.C.H. electione Fraternitatis caput.
2. Fr: G.V. M.P.C.
3. Fra: R.C. Iunior haeres S. spiritus.
4. Fra: B.M. P.A. Pictor et Architectus.
5. Fr: G.G. M.P.I. Cabalista.

Secundi Circuli.

1. Fra: P.A. Successor, Fr: I.O. Mathematicus.
2. Fra: A. Successor, Fra. P.D.
3. Fra: R. Successor patris C.R.C. cum Christo triumphant.

At the end was written:

Ex Deo Nascimur, in Jesu morimur, per spiritum sanctum reviviscimus.

At that time was already dead Brother I.O. and Fra: D. but their burial place where is it to be found? we doubt not but our Fra: Senior hath the same, and some especial thing layd in Earth, and perhaps likewise hidden: we also hope that this our Example will stir up others more diligently to enquire after their names (whom we have therefore published) and to search for the place of their burial; for the most part of them, by reason of their practice and physick, are yet known, and praised among very old folks; so might perhaps our Gaza be enlarged, or at least be better cleared.

Concerning Minitum Mundum, we found it kept in another little Altar, truly more finer than can be imagined by any understanding man; but we will leave him undescribed, untill we shal truly be answered upon this our true hearted Famam; and so we have covered it again with the plates, and set the altar thereon, shut the door, and made it sure, with all our seals; besides by instruction and command of our Rota, there are come to sight some books, among which is contained M. (which were made in stead of household care by the praise-worthy M.P.) Finally we departed the one from the other, and left the natural heirs in possession of our Jewels. And so we do expect the answer and judgment of the learned, or unlearned.

Howbeit we know after a time there will now be a general reformation, both of divine and humane things, according to our desire, and the expectation of others: for it is fitting, that before the rising of the Sun, there should appear and break forth Aurora, or some clearness, or divine light in the sky; and so in the mean time some few, which shall give their names, may joyn together, thereby to increase the number and respect of our Fraternity, and make a happy and wished for beginning of our Philosophical Canons, prescribed to us by our brother R.C. and be partakers with us of our treasures (which never can fail or be wasted) in all humility, and love to be eased of this worlds labor, and not walk so blindly in the knowledge of the wonderful works of God.

But that also every Christian may know of what Religion and belief we are, we confess to have the knowledge of Jesus Christ (as the same now in these last days, and chiefly in Germany, most clear and pure is professed, and is now adays cleansed and voyd of all swerving people, Hereticks, and false Prophets,) in certain and noted Countries maintained, defended and propagated: Also we use two Sacraments, as they are instituted with all Forms and Ceremonies of the first renewed Church. In Politia we acknowledge the Roman Empire and Quartam Monarchiam for our Christian head; albeit we know what alterations be at hand, and would fain impart the same with all our hearts, to other godly learned men; notwithstanding our hand-writing which is in our hands, no man (except God alone) can make it common, nor any unworthy person is able to bereave us of it. But we shall help with secret aid this so good a cause, as God shal permit or hinder us: For our God is not blinde, as the Heathens Fortuna, but is the Churches Ornament, and the honor of the Temple. Our Philosophy also is not a new Invention, but as Adam after his fall hath received it, and as Moses and Solomon used it: also she ought not much to be doubted of, or contradicted by other opinions, or meanings; but seeing the truth is peaceable, brief, and always like herself in all things, and especially accorded by with Jesus in omni parte and all members. And as he is the true Image of the Father, so is she his Image; It shall not be said, this is true according to Philosophy, but true according to Theologie; And wherein Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras and others did hit the mark, and wherein Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Solomon did excel; but especially wherewith that wonderful book the Bible agreeth. All that same concurreth together, and make a Sphere or Globe, whose total parts are equidistant from the Center, as hereof more at large and more plain shal be spoken of in Christianly Conference.

But now concerning (and chiefly in this our age) the ungodly and accursed Gold-making, which hath gotten so much the upper hand, whereby under colour of it, many runagates and roguish people do use great villanies, and cozen and abuse the credit, which is given them: yea now adays men of discretion do hold the transmutation of Mettals to be the highest point, and fastigium in Philosophy, this is all their intent, and desire, and that God would be most esteemed by them, and honored, which could make great store of Gold, and in abundance, the which with unpremeditate prayers, they hope to attain of the alknowing God, and searcher of all hearts: we therefore do by these presents publickly testifie, That the true Philosophers are far of another minde, esteeming little the making of Gold, which is but a parergon; for besides that they have a thousand better things.

And we say with our loving Father R.C.C. Phy: aureum nisi quantum aurum, for unto them the whole nature is detected: he doth not rejoyce, that he can make Gold, and that, as saith Christ, the devils are obedient unto him; but is glad that he seeth the Heavens open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending, and his name written in the book of life. Also we do testifie that under the name of Chymia many books and pictures are set forth in Contumeliam gloriae Dei, as we wil name them in their due season, and wil give to the pure-hearted a Catalogue, or Register of them: And we pray all learned men to take heed of these kinde of Books; for the enemy never resteth, but soweth his weeds, til a stronger one doth root it out. So according to the wil and meaning of Fra: C.R.C. we his brethren request again all the learned in Europe, who shal read (sent forth in five languages) this our Famam and Confessionem, that it would please them with good deliberation to ponder this our offer, and to examine most nearly and most sharply their Arts, and behold the present time with all diligence, and to declare their minde, either Cummunicate consilio, or singulatim by Print.

And although at this time we make no mention either of our names, or meetings, yet nevertheless every ones opinion shal assuredly come to our hands, in what language so ever it be; nor any body shal fail, who so gives but his name to speak with some of us, either by word of mouth, or else if there be some lett in writing. And this we say for a truth, That whosoever shall earnestly, and from his heart, bear affection unto us, it shal be beneficial to him in goods, body and soul; but he that is false-hearted, or onely greedy of riches, the same first of all shal not be able in any manner of wise to hurt us, but bring him to utter ruine and destruction. Also our building (although one hundred thousand people had very near seen and beheld the same) shall for ever remain untouched, undestroyed, and hidden to the wicked world, sub umbra alarum tuarum Jehova.



# Appellatio Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis

Salutem Punctis Trianguli!

In 1614, the Rosicrucians came out of anonymity by publishing the Fama Fraternitatis. Four centuries later, we, the deputies of the Supreme Council of the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, are calling to men and women of good will, so that they might join us to work towards reconciling humanity with itself, nature, and the Divine. This is why we place this Appellatio under the auspices of spirituality, humanism, and ecology. *So Mote It Be!*

Antiquus Mysticusque Ordo Rosae Crucis

## MANIFESTO

Dear Reader,

In 1614, four hundred years ago, a mysterious Fraternity made itself known almost simultaneously in Germany, in France, and in England, by publishing a Manifesto entitled Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis. At the time, the text elicited many reactions, especially from thinkers, philosophers, and leaders of the religions of the time, and in particular the Catholic Church. In general terms, this Manifesto called for a Universal Reform, in religious as well as political, philosophical, scientific, and economic spheres. According to historians, the situation was at the time highly chaotic in many European countries, to such an extent that one openly spoke of a

"European crisis."

The Fama Fraternitatis was followed by two other Manifestos: the Confessio Fraternitatis and the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz, published in 1615 and 1616 respectively. The authors of these three Manifestos claimed to adhere to the Rosicrucian Fraternity and belonged to a circle of mystics known as the "Tübingen Circle."

They were all passionate about hermetism, alchemy, and kabbalah.

Several years later, in 1623, this Fraternity made itself known once more by putting up a mysterious poster in the streets of Paris: "We, the Deputies of the Higher College of the Rose-Croix, do make our stay, visibly and invisibly, in this city, by the grace of the Most High..."

The purpose of this Appellatio is not to set out the history of the Rosicrucians nor their teachings. Through it, we wish to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the publication of the Fama Fraternitatis, the founding Manifesto of the Rosicrucian Order in historical terms. If we say "historical" it is because, traditionally, this Order traces its origins back to the Ancient Egyptian Eighteenth Dynasty Mystery Schools. Indeed, the famous seventeenth century Rosicrucian Michael Maier stated in one of his books: "Our origins are Egyptian, Brahmanic, derived from the Mysteries of Eleusis and Samothrace, the Magi of Persia, the Pythagoreans, and the Arabs."

Faithful to our Tradition, in 2001 we published a Manifesto entitled Positio Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis, in which we gave our position regarding the state of humanity, notably through its principal areas of activity: economy, politics, technology, science, religion, morality, art, etc., not forgetting its situation in ecological terms.

That Manifesto, which some historians place in the same lineage as the three previous ones, has been read the world over by millions of people and has already for many of them formed a basis for reflection and meditation. In some countries, students have been advised to read it; in others, it has been made available to the public in municipal and national libraries; not to mention all those who have put it on the Internet.

Four centuries after the Fama and thirteen years after the Positio, we felt it was necessary to echo once more our own particular concerns with regard to humanity. Indeed, time goes by but the future that is emerging decade by decade, year by year, is still a cause for great concern. The "crisis," as it is commonly called, appears to have become firmly entrenched in many countries. Nonetheless we are not pessimistic, nor even apocalyptic, about the future. In "Rosicrucian Prophecies" published in December 2011, we wrote on this subject:

"We are optimistic about the future... Below the surface, the troubled times that we are crossing constitute a 'necessary transition,' which should enable humanity to transcend itself and be reborn."

Like the Positio, the Appellatio is not intended for the elite, but for all those people who learn of its publication and take the time to read it. Some will find it rather alarmist while others will consider it to be somewhat utopian. It is certainly neither dogmatic nor ideological.

Through it, we simply want to express ideas that are neither new nor original in themselves, particularly for Rosicrucians, but that, in our view, call more than ever for careful thought. In fact, we wish to send out an appeal for spirituality, humanism, and ecology, which, for us, are the conditions for humanity to regenerate on all planes and find the happiness it desires.

The Supreme Council of AMORC

## APPEAL FOR SPIRITUALITY

In our view, the crisis that is affecting many, if not all, countries, is not just a social, economic, and financial one. These are the consequences of a crisis of civilization, in the wider sense of the term. Put another way, it is humanity as such that is in crisis.

But what kind of crisis? Although we answered part of this question in the Positio, we feel it is necessary to come back and elaborate on it. Our philosophy and ideals lead us to consider that it is a duty that involves us both as Rosicrucians as well as citizens. As such, and contrary to what may have been said about us, the importance that we attach to spirituality has never obscured the interest we have for materiality, not the least because the ultimate aim of our quest has always been to acquire life mastery.

First, we think that humanity is in a spiritual crisis. In our view, this irrefutable fact has two principal causes: the major religions established many centuries ago no longer answer the existential questions that today's women and men ask themselves. Their doctrines as well as their morals are no longer adapted, which explains why they are increasingly being abandoned, thus creating a large spiritual vacuum that many people no longer even seek to fill. At the same time, in the so-called developed countries, society has become more and more materialistic in that it incites people to seek happiness through material possessions and excessive consumption. This trend has considerably increased the power of money and has perverted its use. It has gone from being a means, to becoming an end itself, a thing that one likes to possess as such, when it is nothing by itself.

Does this mean that today's religions have no future? Before replying to that question, we wish to reiterate that we respect them in all the noble things that they have to offer their followers to enable them to practice their faith daily. But, as we have said previously, consciousness and mentalities have greatly evolved since they originated, and therefore their credos are outdated in the eyes of many people, especially the young. As they have not been able to, not known how to, or not wished to update their teachings, we think they are doomed to disappear in the medium term. As a result, all that will remain of them are the monuments created for them over the centuries, as well as the texts relating to them, including those that are considered to be sacred, such as the Bible, the Qur'an, the Upanishads, the Tripitaka, etc.

With regard to the subject of money, it is not a question of resorting to caricature or demagoguery. As a means of exchange, it is a necessity in order to live in society. We need it to obtain what is necessary for our material well-being and to satisfy the legitimate pleasures our existence can offer. But, over time, it has taken on too much importance, to a point where it conditions and governs practically all sectors of human activity. It has today acquired cult status, acting as a religion which probably has the greatest number of followers in the world. Unfortunately, every day at its altar we sacrifice the most elementary of ethical values (honesty, integrity, equity, solidarity, etc.) so that it constitutes more than ever a vehicle of debasement.

Do not think from the above that Rosicrucians are in favor of the "vow of poverty" and that they believe that material wealth is incompatible with spirituality. Ever since they appeared on Earth, humans have sought to improve their living conditions and be happy.

This tendency lies within their deeper nature and is part of the process we call "evolution." This does not mean that the aim of existence is to become rich, but it is neither natural nor normal to aspire to be poor.

Besides, the fact of being materially or financially destitute does not make a person better in human terms and is not a criterion for spiritual advancement, no more, indeed, than being rich.

It is our view that the happiness to which human beings aspire more or less consciously resides in equilibrium between the material and the spiritual, and not in the exclusion of one or the other. This is why anyone who consecrates oneself solely to spirituality, to the point of depriving oneself of the legitimate pleasures of life, cannot be happy. The same applies to anyone who makes material possessions the sole basis for one's well-being. This explains why many people that we term as being well-off are deeply unhappy. It is because they suffer from an inner emptiness that "all the gold in the world" would not fill. We are all familiar with the expression: "money does not buy happiness," even if it can, indeed, be a contributing factor.

If we assume that a human being is not simply a material body kept alive by a set of physicochemical processes, but that it also possesses a soul, we can easily understand that it also requires a certain form of nourishment: spirituality. But what is spirituality?

In accordance with what we have said previously, it transcends religiosity. In other words, it is not limited to believing in a God and following a religious credo, no matter how respectable this may be.

Instead, it consists of seeking the deeper meaning of existence and gradually awakening the best within ourselves. But this search for meaning and improvement is cruelly lacking today, which explains the chaotic state the world is in and the despondency into which it has sunk over the last decades.

The majority of people from all countries and nations feel they are in a dark tunnel from which no one can see the way out, not even those who lead and govern them. Furthermore, they are not aware that the light they hope to see can only come from themselves, and not from an external source. This brings us back to spirituality and the need to look towards something other than materiality for resolving the problems that humanity is confronted with. But you may be one of those people who does not accept the existence of the soul, and naturally you have every right to do so. If this is the case, allow us to ask you the following questions, and take the time to answer them yourself:

- To what do you attribute what is commonly known as the voice of conscience?
- How can you explain the human aptitude for virtues such as benevolence, generosity, compassion, and love?
- Do you truly think that the most beautiful works of art, whether paintings, sculpture, music, or in another form, originate only in the mind of those who created them?
- How do you explain that millions of men and women the world over have experienced clinical death, before coming back to life with the memory of what they "saw" and "heard" in what we generally call "the beyond"?
- Do you really believe that if the existence of the soul was just an illusion, that the greatest thinkers and philosophers that humanity has known would have declared it as being an obvious truth?

Every human being most certainly possesses a soul. From our point of view, this is what makes each one of us a conscious living thing, capable of thinking and experiencing emotions. The better part of human nature equally resides in it, and we are alive here precisely to raise our awareness of its virtues and express them through our judgments and behavior. Unfortunately, too few people, believers included, apply themselves to this, which explains the presence of ill-will, intolerance, selfishness, jealousy, pride, and hatred in the world, and all that stems from this in terms of injustice, conflicts, inequality, and suffering. It is true that evil only exists in the absence of good, and is rooted solely in human behavior. Therefore it is neither the work of God, nor the devil, which has never existed, nor have the demons that are supposed to serve him.

Now, what about God? For centuries, believers saw God as an anthropomorphic Being, seated somewhere in heaven and presiding over the destiny of the entire human race. In an attempt to please God in order to gain God's favor, they followed and continue to follow the precepts upheld by religions; the basis of which are found in their Holy Books. But evidently, believing in God and adhering to a creed that is said to be inspired by God does not suffice to bring about happiness. Otherwise, billions of believers living the world over would be happy, with the exception of atheists. However, this is not the case. This means that the happiness to which every human being aspires lies beyond religiosity. It resides in spirituality, as has been defined previously.

Before giving you our conception of God, let us tell you why we think God exists and why atheism, while being respectable in itself, is an error of judgment: Whether we are believers or not, we cannot deny that the Universe exists. Thus, from a rational perspective, it has to be the effect of a creative cause. And, as it is governed by laws that scientists themselves admire, it follows that this cause is very intelligent. As a consequence, why not liken it to God and see in God the absolute and impersonal Intelligence that is at the origin of Creation? We might recall that the universe was originally just a center of energy the size of an atom, which potentially contained all the galaxies, stars, planets, and celestial bodies existing today, including Earth itself.

The real question we can and should ask ourselves on the subject of God is not, therefore, whether God exists or not, but in what manner does God intervene in the lives of human beings. In our view, God does so to the extent to which we respect the laws through which God appears in the universe, in nature, and in humanity itself. This means studying them, which Rosicrucians have always dedicated themselves to doing. You will note that this approach to God and the role God plays in our existence has a scientific connotation rather than a religious one. Indeed, AMORC has never been opposed to science; quite the reverse. This is why Rose-Croix University International, which it has sponsored since the start of the twentieth century, includes a physical sciences section.

More than ever, it is time now for us to move from religiosity to spirituality, which means definitively replacing the sole belief in God with the knowledge of divine laws - that is, universal, natural, and spiritual laws. The well-being we seek, including on a material plane, is to be found in this knowledge and in the wisdom that ensues. An ancient Rosicrucian adage says, "It is from ignorance and ignorance alone that humans must free themselves." It is indeed at the origin of the worst things a person can do to oneself, to others, and to one's environment. It is also the source of different superstitions that demean humanity and prevent it from finding complete fulfillment.

So give a spiritual direction to your life. In other words, do not be just a living thing, be a living soul.

You are perhaps wondering about our views on secularism.

So long as the classic or modern religions, eastern or western, are founded on dogmas and structured according to autocratic systems, we think that secularism is an absolute necessity, in order to preserve society from any kind of theocratic deviation. This being said, we hope that a time will come when spirituality, as a quest for knowledge and wisdom, will become normal practice and will condition civic life. From then on, politics will become as one with philosophy and therefore be inspired by the "love of wisdom" as it was at the height of the Greek civilization. Let us recall that this was the cradle of democracy and was at the origin of the notion of the republic, among others. Let us also recall that the majority of its philosophers were spiritual people.

## APPEAL FOR HUMANISM

If you do not reply favorably to our call for spirituality, then we would ask you to show humanism in your everyday lives. Article 10 of the "Rosicrucian Declaration of Human Duties" published by AMORC in September 2005, says: "It is each individual's duty to consider the whole of humanity as his or her family and to behave in all circumstances and everywhere as a citizen of the world.

This means making humanism the basis of his or her behavior and philosophy." Obviously, if all human beings carried out this duty towards one another, the word "humanity" would take on its full meaning, so that it would become the living manifestation on Earth of fraternity, exercised most nobly and universally. We may then consider peace to reign between all peoples and nations.

But what does "being a humanist" mean? In the first place, it involves considering all human beings to be blood brothers and sisters, and the differences between them to be purely superficial.

That said, we do not subscribe to the dogma according to which all of humanity stems from one and the same original couple, which, for those who believe in the Old Testament, was Adam and Eve. Whether it be from an ontological point of view or a scientific one, this claim is unfounded. Indeed as a result of such a close relationship, such a lineage would rapidly have led to physical and mental degeneration.

In our view, human beings emerged from the animal kingdom, which has itself undergone an extremely long and slow evolution process of life since its first appearance on Earth. In any case, we all share the same genome, and the blood that flows through our veins is basically the same. More than forming a fraternity, we make up humanity itself.

As you are aware, some anthropologists refer to three, and even four races: white, yellow, black, and red. For some years now, this distinction has been abandoned by most scientists, who prefer to use the global notion of a Human Race. By doing so, do they perhaps hope to take away from racists all arguments of a "physiological" nature?

This being so, it is not necessarily racist to recognize the existence of several races, especially as it cannot be denied that Europeans, Asians, Africans, etc. are all hominidae that are quite clearly distinguishable in morphological terms. It would be racist to think and say that one race is superior to others, in particular the one to which we belong.

The fact remains that a true humanist considers all human beings to be so many cells of one and the same body - that of humanity.

Many people tend to prefer those who belong to the same

"race," have the same nationality, share the same political views, or follow the same religion, because this comforts them and makes them feel secure. Nevertheless, this is not a reason for rejecting others or, worse still, hating them. A humanist worthy of the name respects all differences, providing, of course, they do not undermine each other's dignity or integrity. In other words, one shows tolerance and does not behave as if one were or felt superior. This is a sign of intelligence, because intolerance in any form is generally a characteristic of stupidity and/or pride. Unfortunately, this weakness, or fault to be more precise, is one of the most common, which explains why there are so many conflicts between humans.

On the subject of tolerance, we would recall that AMORC's motto is: "The greatest tolerance within the strictest independence."

This explains why we have Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc. among us, together with people who do not follow a religion at all. Some are even atheists, and yet they appreciate the fraternal nature of our Order. Furthermore, it has always included men and women of all social categories and with different, and even opposing, political views. If, beyond their differences, Rosicrucians are able to show mutual respect towards one another and maintain harmonious relationships, why would humanity not do the same?

You are probably familiar with Jesus's commandment: "Love one another!" which he explained by saying that we should not do to others that which we would not wish others to do to us. Whether we are an atheist or a believer, and in the latter case whatever the religion we follow, we cannot deny that this commandment alone sums up the ideal behavior that any individual should adopt in one's relationships with others. And although we are free to see in Jesus neither a spiritual master, nor a messiah, nor the redeemer revered in Christianity, each one of us should at least recognize that he was an exceptional humanist and that he revolutionized the mores of his time by advocating solidarity and peace, to the point of urging people to love their enemies.

Today's society has become too individualistic, in the sense that "every person for themselves" has become cultural. Under the combined effects of materialism and the social and economic crisis that the world has been experiencing for several decades, more and more people are tending to think only about their personal well-being and show indifference towards that of others. Such an attitude distances citizens from one another and contributes to dehumanizing society.

Added to this is the fact that the means of communication has been substituted for direct exchange, so that we no longer really take the time to speak to our close relations or to our neighbors, yet we boast at having many (virtual) friends on such and such a social network.

What a paradox this is! Let us learn all over again to converse through physical contact with others, heart to heart, if not from soul to soul.

In the Positio it says: "We notice that the gap never ceases to widen between the most affluent nations and the poorest. We can observe the same phenomenon within each country, between the most deprived classes and the most fortunate ones." The situation has continued to get worse ever since. No humanist can reconcile himself or herself with this situation, particularly as poverty and misery are not a certainty, but are the result of poor management of natural resources and of products from the local, regional, national, and international economies. In other words, they are largely due to human egotism and lack of solidarity. And yet, whether they realize it or not, their survival depends more than ever on their ability to share and cooperate, not only between citizens of one country but between countries. In mystical terms, we would say that, as a result of globalization, their respective karmas are linked in such a way that no nation will now be able to prosper in the long term without giving any consideration to those who are still in need.

As we have just referred to globalization, we think that it is irreversible and that it is, therefore, pointless to oppose it. Since humanity appeared on Earth, it has increasingly spread its fields of action and relations, first from one clan to another, then from one village to another, one country to another and, finally, from one continent to another. With the development of transport and communications, the world has become one country. This is a natural evolution that we should be delighted about, for it is a vector for mutual understanding and peace between peoples. But this process is only in its beginnings and has come up against the diversity of cultures, mentalities, and economic and political systems, so that it still exacerbates inequality.

This is why we think that it must be accelerated and given a humanist direction, so that it is beneficial for everyone's welfare.

Let us turn now to a quite different subject. Individualism is not the only barrier to humanism, as imagined and hoped for by Rosicrucians. There is also the importance that machines have gained following the mechanization and robotization of industrial processes.

While these should have been restricted to helping humans in their most arduous tasks, they have come to replace them for efficiency and profitability reasons. Such excessive use of machines within society has contributed not only to dehumanizing it, but also to increasing the social problem of unemployment. It has therefore become a matter of urgency to reinstate humans in place of machines wherever possible, and to break away from the materialistic dogma that consists of thinking and saying, "Time is money."

But human beings are not just blood brothers and sisters, irrespective of "race." They are also soulmates emanating from the same spiritual source, the Universal Soul. The intrinsic difference between them is their level of inner evolution, or the degree to which they have reached the consciousness of their own divine nature. We might add that we embrace the notion that every individual reincarnates as many times as necessary to attain this level of consciousness and reach the state of wisdom, as can be manifested by us on Earth. If you accept this principle, or rather this law, you will understand that the differences that exist between individuals in terms of their maturity, profoundness of mind, sense of responsibility, and humanism, are mainly due to the fact that some have lived through more incarnations than others. From this perspective, no human being is superior to another; some are simply more spiritually evolved.

If he or she does not believe in God, the humanist must have faith in human beings and their capacity to transcend themselves to show their better nature. It is true that when we look back over the history of humanity and on its current situation, we may feel that human beings are fundamentally individualistic and that they are destined to harm one another as a result of their weaknesses and failings.

But beyond appearances, they have evolved a great deal in terms of consciousness. Across the world, more and more people are rising up against injustice and inequality, demonstrating against wars in favor of peace, denouncing dictatorships and other totalitarian regimes, calling for increased fraternity, helping the destitute, becoming involved in nature conservancy, etc. This is the case because every human being, under the impetus of the soul, aspires, as Plato said, to the good, the beautiful, and the true. Each one of us simply has to become aware of this and act accordingly.

Throughout history, humans have demonstrated the capacity to accomplish extraordinary things when they call upon the most noble and ingenious sides of human nature. Whether it be in the fields of architecture, technology, literature, the sciences, the arts, or in relations between the citizens of a single country, they have demonstrated intelligence, creativity, sensitivity, solidarity, and fraternity. This observation is comforting in itself, because it confirms that human beings are inclined to do good and work toward the happiness of all.

It is for this reason precisely that one must be a humanist and have faith in oneself.

## APPEAL FOR ECOLOGY

In our view, you cannot be a humanist without being an ecologist. How indeed can you want all human beings to be happy, without concerning yourself with the conservation of the planet on which they live? Yet each of us knows that it is in danger and that humanity is largely responsible for this: various types of pollution, the destruction of ecosystems, excessive deforestation, and the massacre of animal species, etc. In regards to global warming, the vast majority of scientists agree that human activity is responsible for, if not causing it, at least contributing to its increase, particularly through greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, many of them have linked this warming to the increase in the number of storms and cataclysms of all kinds, with all the resulting loss in terms of human life and material destruction. In any case, it is obvious that if no short-term action is taken on a global scale to put an end to the ills that we inflict on our planet, it will become uninhabitable for billions of people, and perhaps for all humanity.

In ancient civilizations, Earth was considered to be the Mother of all living things and was the object of an Earth Mother tradition.

Today only ancestral peoples, such as the Australian aborigines, the Amazonian natives, and African pygmies, to name the better-known ones, have preserved this state of mind. Present-day humans have come to view her primarily as a source of various kinds of profit, to the point of exploiting her beyond reason and to the detriment of her health. If we use the term "health" when speaking about our planet, it is because it's obvious to us that she is a living, and even conscious, thing. One only has to consider the life forces she exhibits in nature and the intelligence that she expresses through her different kingdoms, not to mention all that makes up her beauty. This is so true that even an atheist would deify her and consider her to be a masterpiece of Creation.

According to scientists, Earth appeared approximately four and a half billion years ago, life appeared about four billion years ago, and humans about three million years ago. But in less than a century we have interfered with Earth so much that her future, as well as our own, is at risk, to such an extent that her condition is the subject of international summits. Unfortunately, these summits remain theoretical and translate as consensual decisions that are far from being sufficient to turn the situation around. AMORC is anxious to contribute to raising awareness on the subject of ecology and published in 2012 a "Plea for Spiritual Ecology," which was presented at the Brazilian senate during the Earth Summit in Rio. Other seminars of this kind have taken place in various countries, but the decisions announced remain derisory in light of the situation and continue to be sources of conflict between different socio-economic interests.

The majority of developed countries, including the richest ones in the world, have become so by favoring the economy to the detriment of ecology. It is obvious that if the developing nations follow the same economic model, which is founded on overproduction and excessive consumption, the environmental problems we are confronted with will increase and worsen dramatically. This is unfortunately the direction these emerging countries are taking today and, considering the example they have been given, no one can blame them for it.

Given the current state of affairs, we can only hope that, despite all, they will be able to break away from this model and replace it with a system that associates the economy with ecology. This would be a great and useful lesson for all humanity.

Rosicrucians are not sweet-dreamers with the spiritual side of existence as their sole preoccupation. We are indeed mystics, in the etymological sense of the term, which means men and women who are interested in the study of the mysteries of life, but we know that it is here on Earth that we must establish the paradise that religions situate in the afterlife. To do so, humans must learn to wisely manage natural resources and the products they create, which is why it is necessary to ensure that all levels and aspects of the economy benefit all peoples and all their citizens equitably, out of respect for human dignity and for nature.

What could lead human beings to develop an ecological economy? The fear of falling victim to global warming and the natural catastrophes associated with it? Apparently not, because the average person tends to think that this only happens to others. As long as one is not personally affected and is not harmed by it, one will merely sympathize with the victims, possibly contribute to such and such a charitable cause in their favor, and carry on with life hoping to be spared this type of catastrophe. Must we wait until many more people have been affected, including and above all in the developed, wealthy countries, for humanity to finally face the facts? Earth, our Mother, is nonetheless very sick and risks becoming uninhabitable for a vast number of humans.

Aside from the growing number of people affected by the natural catastrophes that are on the increase in all parts of the globe, it should be noted that, according to some scientists, life expectancy, which had steadily risen over the last few decades in most countries, is beginning to decrease. In parallel, the number of cases of cancer is rising sharply. Why? Mainly because the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we ingest are heavily polluted (nitrates, phosphates, pesticides, coloring, and preservatives), which inevitably leads to organic, cellular, and even genetic changes. If we combine this with the fact that the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs is increasing at an exponential rate, it is hardly surprising that the health of human beings faces such a threat in the short term.

Another danger, and a major one at that, is threatening the health of many individuals: the multitude of electromagnetic waves emitted by computers, mobile phones, and other electronic appliances. It is still too soon for us to assess the issue of electromagnetic pollution, but there can be no doubt that it is responsible for various illnesses.

It is not a question of contesting the usefulness of these devices.

However, every effort should be made to ensure that the use of them does not lead to diverse pathologies, which involves the responsibility of those that manufacture and sell them. Furthermore, many users use them unwisely, in that they overuse them to the detriment of their well-being. By way of an example, it is a known fact that the number of brain tumors has considerably increased since the advent of the mobile phone, particularly in young people.

Yet a more metaphysical pollution is affecting humanity, in the shape of negative thoughts that human beings generate through hatred, spite, rancor, intolerance, anger, jealousy, etc. First, such thoughts have a negative effect on the people who harbor or send them out, even if they are not objectively aware of this. Over time, they ultimately cause them physical or psychological problems that may lead to serious illnesses. Second, they infest the collective unconscious and fill it with negative vibrations that, in turn, nurture situations of hatred, spite and rancor, etc. Conversely, every positive thought benefits not only the person who produced it but also the collective consciousness of humanity. In light of this, Rosicrucians have devoted themselves for centuries to what they refer to as "spiritual alchemy."

Where there is illness there is medicine! Although it must be acknowledged that, together with surgery, it has made great progress and has contributed in an important way to improving health, it is not without its weaknesses and even deviations. As is the case with most fields of human activity, it is influenced by money to the extent that one might say that illness is the "money maker" of the large medical and pharmaceutical companies. It is a known fact today that a large number of drugs are placebos and do not produce the effects attributed to them. As regards those that have proven therapeutic properties, some of them have disastrous side effects. The same is true of many vaccines, some of which have contributed to destroying natural human immune systems. Once again, we would insist on the fact that we do not reject either medicine or surgery. But to say that the sole objective of one or the other is to treat and heal would be pure hypocrisy.

Whether it be in the medical or any other field, human beings must keep close to nature. As soon as they stray away from it, they are breaking ties with the natural laws and running counter to their own well-being. Through ignorance, pride, or greed, however, they have spent too long trying to dominate nature, when they should be cooperating with it. Blinded by their self-importance, they have forgotten that the intelligence it displays is infinitely greater than that of humanity and that its power has virtually no limits except for those they impose on it. Homo sapiens sapiens, the name given by scientists to our species and whose literal meaning is "man who knows that he knows," is most assuredly very far from knowing the essential fact that human beings owe everything to nature and are nothing without it.

For us, Earth is not only the planet on which human beings live. It is also the backdrop to their spiritual evolution and allows each one of them to be fulfilled as living souls. It has therefore both a terrestrial and a celestial vocation, which is what the wisest of thinkers and philosophers have taught through the ages, the world over. Until humanity recognizes this truth and acts accordingly, the materialism and individualism that currently prevail will gradually worsen, with all the consequential negative outcomes for itself and for nature. More than ever, there is an urgent need to reinstate the Ternary Humanity-Nature-Divine that is the basis of all esoteric traditions and that civilization itself should adopt. So long as it does not do this, it will remain in its current state of suffering and will be unable to reach the harmonious state it is destined for.

As we all know, Earth is also home to a multitude of animals, some wild and others domesticated. They too possess a soul, which is individual for the most evolved among them and collective for the less evolved. In fact all living things are animated by the Universal Soul and its specific Consciousness. However each one of them manifests this Soul and this Consciousness to a greater or lesser extent, depending on their position in the life chain and on their particular organism.

This is why they do not possess the same level of intelligence and sensitivity.

In any event, there are no voices or boundaries between nature's kingdoms, for they are animated by the same Vital Force and are part of the same cosmic evolutionary process observed on our planet. Of course the human kingdom is the most advanced of all in this process, yet this does not mean that it has rights over others; it has duties towards them instead.

## IN CONCLUSION

These then are the ideas that we wished to share with you in this Appellatio. We do indeed believe that it has become urgent for us to move in a spiritual, humanistic, and ecological direction in terms of our individual and collective behavior. But if a higher priority was to be given, it would be in favor of ecology. Indeed if humanity succeeds in finding a long-term solution to the social and economic problems encountered by it but if, in parallel, Earth has become uninhabitable or difficult to live on for the vast majority of its inhabitants, what is the point and what pleasure can be gained from living there? On this subject, those who govern the countries and nations have a huge responsibility in that they have the power to make decisions and ensure they are carried out. If the people lose interest in ecology and do nothing at their level to preserve nature, it is clear that the situation will continue to get worse and future generations will inherit a planet that is only a shadow of its former self.

Second, and at the risk of surprising you, priority should be given to humanism and not spirituality. Placing human beings at the heart of social life, while respecting nature, can only bring about well-being and happiness for all of us without distinction. This implies seeing in every person an extension of ourselves, despite the differences, and even divergence, between us. This will be no easy task, for each of us has an ego, which tends to make us individualistic and leads us to place our own interests or those of our family and the people with whom we have different affinities before those of others.

When taken to the extreme, this egotistical, even selfish, attitude is the underlying cause of discrimination, segregation, division, opposition, exclusion, and other forms of rejection among individuals. At the other end of the scale, humanism is synonymous with tolerance, sharing, generosity, empathy - in a word: fraternity. It is based on the idea that all human beings are citizens of the world.

The need to be ecologically friendly is relatively obvious considering the state the planet is in. In the same way, any sufficiently sensitive, intelligent individual can understand why being humanistic is a good thing, without even being humanistic oneself. On the other hand, in principle there is no objective reason for being spiritual, especially as it is impossible to prove the existence of the soul and of God, even in the sense given to God by Rosicrucians. So although spirituality seems to us to be essential in obtaining happiness and giving full value to life, we understand that one can be an atheist. That said, it is obvious to us that the universe, Earth, and humanity are not here by accident, but are part of a transcendent, if not divine, Plan. It is precisely for this reason that we have the ability to study Creation and wonder about the deeper meaning of existence. As such, we are both actors and spectators of Cosmic Evolution, as it manifests itself in the cosmos and on our planet.

Are you, perhaps, an ecologist and a humanist, but not a spiritual person? Unless you are fundamentally materialistic, this means that you may not believe in God, but you at least believe in nature and humanity, and this is both respectable and commendable.

As such, we make a distinction between a materialist and an atheist.

As a rule, the former takes material belongings to be the ideal that one lives for, often to the detriment of nature and without regard for others. The latter is generally a believer without being aware of it, or who has lost faith, in the religious sense. In any event, we think that spirituality (and not religiosity) is in itself a vector of humanism and ecology for, as we explained earlier, it is founded on the knowledge of divine laws, in the sense of natural, universal, and spiritual laws.

Anyone who seeks this knowledge, even if one has not yet acquired it, is by nature an idealist.

Anthropologists believe that "modern" humanity appeared about two hundred thousand years ago. Compared to one human life, it may seem old. But in terms of evolutionary cycles, it is in its adolescence and is showing all the characteristics of this, in that it is in search of its identity, is looking for its destiny, is carefree and even reckless, considers itself to be immortal, indulges to excess, defies reason, and disregards common sense. This evolutionary stage, with its share of difficulties, trials, and failures but equally its satisfactions, successes, and hopes, is a necessary transition that should allow it to grow up, mature, flourish, and finally reach fulfillment. But in order for this to take place it must become an adult.

To conclude, and in light of all the above, it is more than ever our hope that humanity will take a spiritual, humanistic, and ecological direction, so that it may be born again and make way for a

"new humanity," regenerated on every plane. The Rosicrucians of the seventeenth century were already calling for such regeneration in the Fama Fraternitatis. Rejected by the religious, political, and economic conservatives of the time, this appeal was only acknowledged by free thinkers. In view of the current situation in the world, we felt it was useful and necessary to openly renew this appeal, in the hope that this time it would receive a favorable response.

*So Mote It Be!*

**Sealed January 6, 2014**
**Rosicrucian Year 3366**



# THE MOST HOLY TRINOSOPHIA OF THE COMTE DE ST.-GERMAIN

## Contents

- Part One: The Man Who Does Not Die
- Part Two: The Rarest Of Occult Manuscripts
- THE MOST HOLY TRINOSOPHIA
- Section One
- Section Two
- Section Three
- Section Four
- Section Five
- Section Six
- Section Seven
- Section Eight
- Section Nine
- Section Ten
- Section Eleven
- Section Twelve
- Notes And Commentaries

Curieux scrutateur de la Nature entière, 
J'ai connu du grand tout le principe et la fin. 
J'ai vu l'or en puissance au fond de sa rivière 
J'ai saisi sa matière et surpris son levain.

J'expliquai par quel art l'âme aux flancs d'une mère 
Fait sa maison, l'emporte, et comment un pépin 
Mis contre un grain de blé, sous l'humide poussière; 
L'un plante et l'autre cep, sont le pain et le vin.

Rien n'était, Dieu voulant, rien devint quelque chose, 
J'en doutais, je cherchai sur quoi l'univers pose. 
Rien gardait l'équilibre et servait de soutien.

Enfin avec le poids de l'éloge et du blâme 
Je pesai l'éternel; il appella mon âme: 
Je mourrai, j'adorai, je ne savais plus rien. 
*Comte de St.-Germain*

## Part One: The Man Who Does Not Die

THE GREAT ILLUMINIST, Rosicrucian and Freemason who termed himself the Comte de St.-Germain is without question the most baffling personality of modern history. His name was so nearly a synonym of mystery that the enigma of his true identity was as insolvable to his contemporaries as it has been to later investigators. No one questioned the Comte's noble birth or illustrious estate. His whole personality bore the indelible stamp of gentle breeding.

The grace and dignity that characterized his conduct, together with his perfect composure in every situation, attested the innate refinement and culture of one accustomed to high station.

A London publication makes the following brief analysis of his ancestry: "Did he in his old age tell the truth to his protector and enthusiastic admirer, Prince Charles of Hesse Cassel? According to the story told by his last friend, he was the son of Prince Rakoczy, of Transylvania, and his first wife, a Takely. He was placed, when an infant, under the protection of the last of the Medici (Gian Gastone). When he grew up and heard that his two brothers, sons of the Princess Hesse Rheinfels, of Rothenburg, had received the names of St. Charles and St. Elizabeth, he determined to take the name of their holy brother, St. Germanus. What was the truth? One thing alone is certain, that he was the protege of the last Medici." Caesare Cantu, librarian at Milan, also substantiates the Ragoczy hypothesis, adding that St.-Germain was educated in the University at Sienna.

In her excellent monograph, *The Comte de St.-Germain, the Secret of Kings*, Mrs. Cooper-Oakley lists the more important names under which this amazing person masqueraded between the years 1710 and 1822. "During this time," she writes, "we have M. de St.-Germain as the Marquis de Montferrat, Comte Bellamarre or Aymar at Venice, Chevalier Schoening at Pisa, Chevalier Weldon at Milan and Leipzig, Comte Soltikoff at Genoa and Leghorn, Graf Tzarogy at Schwalback and Triesdorf, Prinz Ragoczy at Dresden, and Comte de St.-Germain at Paris, The Hague, London, and St. Petersburg." To this list it may be added that there has been a tendency among mystical writers to connect him with the mysterious Comte de Gabalais who appeared to the Abbe Villiers and delivered several discourses on sub-mundane spirits. Nor is it impossible that he is the same as the remarkable Signor Gualdi whose exploits Hargreave Jennings recounts in his book *The Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries*. He is also suspected of being identical with Count Hompesch the last Grand Master of the Knights of Malta.

In personal appearance, the Comte de St.-Germain has been described as of medium height, well proportioned in body and of regular and pleasing features. His complexion was somewhat swarthy and his hair dark, though often powdered. He dressed simply,' usually in black, but his clothes were well fitting and of the best quality. His eyes possessed a great fascination and those who looked into them were profoundly influenced. According to Madame de Pompadour, he claimed to possess the secret of eternal youth, and upon a certain occasion claimed having been personally acquainted with Cleopatra, and at another time of having "chatted familiarly with the Queen of Sheba"! Had it not been for his striking personality and apparently supernatural powers, the Comte would undoubtedly have been considered insane, but his transcending genius was so evident that he was merely termed eccentric.

From *Souvenirs de Marie Antoinette*, by Madame la Comtesse d'Adhemar, we have an excellent description of the Comte, whom Frederick the Great referred to as "the man who does not die": "It was in 1743 the rumour spread that a foreigner, enormously rich, judging by the magnificence of his jewelry, had just arrived at Versailles. Where he came from, no one has ever been able to find out. His figure was well-knit and graceful, his hands delicate, his feet small, and the shapely legs enhanced by well-fitting silk stockings. His nether garments, which fitted very closely, suggested a rare perfection of form. His smile showed magnificent teeth, a pretty dimple marked his chin, his hair was black, and his glance soft and penetrating. And, oh, what eyes! Never have I seen their like. He looked about forty or forty-five years old. He was often to be met within the royal private apartments, where he had unrestricted admission at the beginning of 1768."

The Comte de St.-Germain was recognized as an outstanding scholar and linguist of his day. His linguistic proficiency verged on the supernatural. He spoke German, English, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French with a Piedmontese accent, Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic and Chinese with such fluency that in every land in which he visited he was accepted as a native. "Learned," writes one author, "speaking every civilized language admirably, a great musician, an excellent chemist, he played the part of a prodigy and played it to perfection." Even his most relentless detractors admitted that the Comte was possessed of almost incredible attainments in every department of learning.

Madame de Pompadour extols the genius of St.-Germain in the following words: "A thorough knowledge of all languages, ancient and modern; a prodigious memory; erudition, of which glimpses could be caught between the caprices of his conversation, which was always amusing and occasionally very engaging; an inexhaustible skill in varying the tone and subjects of his converse; in being always fresh and in infusing the unexpected into the most trivial discourses made him a superb talker. Sometimes he recounted anecdotes of the court of the Valois or of princes still more remote, with such precise accuracy in every detail as almost to create the illusion that he had been an eyewitness to what he narrated. He had traveled the whole world over and the king lent a willing ear to the narratives of his voyages over Asia and Africa, and to his tales about the courts of Russia, Turkey and Austria. He appeared to be more imtimately acquainted with the secrets of each court than the *charge d'affaires* of the king."

The Comte was ambidextrous to such a degree that he could write the same article with both hands simultaneously. When the two pieces of paper were afterwards placed one upon the other with the light behind them the writing on one sheet exactly covered the writing on the other. He could repeat pages of print after one reading. To prove that the two lobes of his brain could work independently he wrote a love letter with his right hand and a set of mystical verses with his left, both at the same time. He also sang beautifully.

By something akin to telepathy this remarkable person was able to feel when his presence was needed in some distant city or state and it has even been recorded of him that he had the disconcerting habit of appearing in his own apartments and those of his friends without resorting to the conventionality of the door.

He was, by some curious circumstances, a patron of railroads and steamboats. Franz Graeffer, in his Recollections of Vienna, recounts the following incident in the life of the astonishing Comte: "St.-Germain then gradually passed into a solemn mood. For a few seconds he became rigid as a statue; his eyes, which were always expressive beyond words, became dull and colourless. Presently, however, his whole being became reanimated. He made a movement with his hand as if in signal of departure, then said 'I am leaving (ich scheide) do not visit me. Once again will you see me. Tomorrow night I am off; I am much needed in Constantinople, then in England, there to prepare two inventions which you will have in the next century - trains and steamboats'."

As an historian the Comte possessed an uncanny knowledge of every occurrence of the preceding two thousand years and in his reminiscences he described in intimate detail events of the previous centuries in which he had played important roles. "He spoke of scenes at the court of Francis I as if he had seen them, describing exactly the appearance of the king, imitating his voice, manner and language - affecting throughout the character of an eyewitness. In like style he edified his audience with pleasant stories of Louis XIVth, and regaled them with vivid descriptions of places and persons." (See *All the Year Round*).

Most of St.-Germain's biographers have noted his peculiar habits with regard to eating. It was diet, he declared, combined with his marvellous elixir, which constituted the true secret of longevity, and although invited to the most sumptuous repasts he resolutely refused to eat any food but such as had been specially prepared for him and according to his recipes. His food consisted mostly of oatmeal, groats and the white meat of chicken. He is known on rare occasions to have taken a little wine and he always took the most elaborate precautions against the possibility of contracting cold. Frequently invited to dinner, he devoted the time during which he naturally should have eaten to regaling the other guests with tales of magic and sorcery, unbelievable adventures in remote places and intimate episodes from the lives of the great.

In one of his tales concerning vampires, St.-Germain mentioned in an offhand way that he possessed the wand or staff with which Moses brought water from the rock, adding that it had been presented to him at Babylon during the reign of Cyrus the Great. The memoir writers admit themselves at a loss as to how many of the Comte's statements could be believed. Common sense, as then defined, assured them that most of the accounts must be fashioned out of whole cloth. On the other hand, his information was of such precise nature and his learning so transcendent in every respect that his words carried the weight of conviction. Once while relating an anecdote regarding his own experiences at some remote time and suddenly failing to recollect clearly what he considered a relevant detail, he turned to his valet and said, "Am I not mistaken, Roger?" The good man instantly replied: "Monsieur le Comte forgets that I have only been with him for five hundred years. I could not, therefore, have been present at that occasion. It must have been my predecessor."

The smallest doings of so unusual a person as St.-Germain would, of course, be meticulously noted. Several interesting and amusing bits of information are available relative to the establishment which he maintained in Paris. He had two valets de chambre. The first, Roger, already mentioned, and the second a Parisien engaged for his knowledge of the city and other useful local information. "Besides this, his household consisted of four lackeys in snuff-colored livery and gold braiding. He hired a carriage at five hundred francs a month. As he often changed his coats and waistcoats, he had a rich and expensive collection of them but nothing approached the mangificence of his buttons, studs, watches, rings, chains, diamonds, and other precious stones. Of these he possessed a very large value and varied them every week."

Meeting St.-Germain one day at dinner Baron Gleichen chanced to focus the conversation upon Italy and had the good fortune to please St.-Germain, who, turning to him remarked: "I have taken a great fancy to you, and will show you a dozen pictures, the like of which you have not seen in Italy." In the words of Gleichen: "Actually, he almost kept his word, for the pictures he showed me were all stamped either with singularity or perfection, which rendered them more interesting than many first-class works. Above all was a Holy Family by Murillo, equal in beauty to that by Rafaelle at Versailles. But he showed me other wonders - a large quantity of jewels and colored diamonds of extraordinary size and perfection. I thought I beheld the treasures of the Wonderful Lamp. Among other gems were an opal of monstrous size, and a white sapphire (?) as large as an egg, which, by its brilliancy, dimmed all the stones compared with it. I flatter myself that I am a connoisseur in gems, but I can declare that it was impossible to perceive any reason for doubting the genuineness of these jewels, the more so that they were not mounted."

As an art critic St.-Germain could instantly detect the most cleverly perpetrated forgeries. He did considerable painting himself, achieving an incredible brilliance of color. He was so successful that Vanloo the French artist begged him to divulge the secret of his pigments but he refused. He is accredited with having secured astonishing results in the painting of jewelry by mixing powdered mother-of-pearl with his colors. What occurred to his priceless collection of paintings and jewels after his death or disappearance is unknown. It is possible that the Comte's chemical knowledge comprehended the manufacture of luminous paint such as is now used on watch dials. His skill as a chemist was so profound that he could remove flaws from diamonds and emeralds, which feat he actually performed at the request of Louis XV in 1757. Stones of comparatively little value were thus transformed into gems of the first water after remaining for a short time in his possession. He frequently performed this last experiment, if the statements of his friends can be relied upon. There is also a popular story to the effect that he placed gems worth thousands of dollars on the place cards at the banquets he gave.

It was in the court at Versailles that the Comte de St.-Germain was brought face to face with the elderly Comtesse de Gergy. Upon beholding the celebrated magician, the aged lady stepped back in amazement and the following well-authenticated conversation took place between the two:

"Fifty years ago," the Comtesse said, "I was ambassadress at Venice and I remember seeing you there looking just as you do now, only somewhat riper in age perhaps, for you have grown younger since then."

Bowing low, the Comte answered with dignity: "I have always thought myself happy in being able to make myself agreeable to the ladies."

Madame de Gergy then continued: "You then called yourself the Marquis Balletti."

The Comte bowed again and replied: "And Comtesse Gergy's memory is still as good as it was fifty years ago."

The Comtesse smiled. "That I owe to an elixir you gave me at our first meeting. You are really an extraordinary man."

St.-Germain assumed a grave expression. "Did this Marquis Balletti have a bad reputation?" he asked.

"On the contrary," replied the Comtesse, "he was in very good society."

The Comte shrugged his shoulders expressively saying: "Well, as no one complains of him, I adopt him willingly as my grandfather."

The Comtesse d'Adhemar was present during the entire conversation and vouches for its accuracy in every detail.

Madame du Hausset, femme de chambre to Madame de Pompadour, writes at some length of the astonishing man who often called upon her mistress. She records a conversation which took place between la Pompadour and St.-Germain:

"It is true, Madame, that I knew Madame de Gergy long ago," the Comte affirmed quietly.

"But, according to that," replied the Marquise, "you must now be more than a hundred years old."

"That is not impossible," enigmatically returned the Comte with a slight smile, "but I admit that it is more possible that this lady, for whom I have infinite respect, talks nonsense."

It was answers such as this which led Gustave Bord to write of St.-Germain that, "he allows a certain mystery to hover about him, a mystery which awakens curiosity and sympathy. Being a virtuoso in the art of misleading he says nothing that is untrue. He has the rare gift of remaining silent and profiting by it." (See La Franc-Macennerie en France, etc.)

But to return to Madame du Hausset's story. "You gave Madame de Gergy," pressed la Pompadour, "an elixir surprising in its effects; she pretends that tor a long while she appeared to be no older than twenty-four. Why should you not give some to the king?"

St.-Germain allowed an expression feigning terror to spread over his face, "Ah! Madame, I should be mad indeed to take it into my head to give the king an unknown drug!"

The Comte was on very friendly terms with Louis XV with whom he had long discussions on the subject of precious stones, their manufacture and purification. Louis was amused and thrilled by turns. Never before had so extraordinary a person trod the sacred precincts of Versailles. The whole court was topsy-turvy and miracles were the order of the day. Courtiers of depleted fortunes envisioned the magical multiplication of their gold and grandames of uncertain age had dreams of youth and favor restored by the mystery man's fabled elixirs. It is easy to understand how so fascinating a character could relieve the boredom of a king who had spent his life a martyr to royal fashions and was deprived by his position of the pleasure of honest work. Then, again, rulers become victims to the fads of the moment and Louis himself was dabbling in alchemy and other occult arts. True, the king was only a dilletante whose will was not strong enough to bind him to any lasting purpose, but St.-Germain appealed to several qualities in the royal nature. The Comte's fund of knowledge, the skill with. which he assembled his facts to the amusement and edification of his audiences, the mystery which surrounded his appearances and disappearances, his consummate skill both as a critic and technician in the arts and sciences, to say nothing of his jewels and wealth, endeared him to the king. Had Louis but profited by the wisdom and prophetic warnings of the mysterious Comte, the Reign of Terror might have been averted. St.-Germain was ever the patron, never the patronized. Louis had found the diplomat in whom there was no guile.

De Pompadour writes, "He enriched the cabinet of the king by his pictures by Valasquez and Murillo, and he presented to the Marquise the most precious and priceless gems. For this singular man passed for being fabulously rich and he distributed diamonds and jewels with astonishing liberality."

Not the least admirable evidence of the Comte's genius was his penetrating grasp of the political situation of Europe and the consummate skill with which he parried the thrusts of his diplomatic adversaries. At all times he bore credentials which gave him entry to the most exclusive circles of European nobility. During the reign of Peter the Great M. de St.-Germain was in Russia, and between the years 1737 and 1742 in the court of the Shah of Persia as an honored guest. On the subject of his wanderings, Una Birch writes: "The travels of the Comte de Saint-Germain covered a long period of years and a great range of countries. From Persia to France and from Calcutta to Rome he was known and respected. Horace Walpole spoke with him in London in 1745; Clive knew him in India in 1756; Madame d'Adhemar alleges that she met him in Paris in 1789, five years after his supposed death; while other persons pretend to have held conversations with him in the early nineteenth century. He was on familiar and intimate terms with the crowned heads of Europe and the honoured friend of many distinguished persons of all nationalities. He is even mentioned in the memoirs and letters of the day, and always as a man of mystery. Frederick the Great, Voltaire, Madame de Pompadour, Rousseau, Chatham, and Walpole, all of whom knew him personally, rivalled each other in curiosity as to his origin. During the many decades in which he was before the world, however, no one succeeded in discovering why he appeared as a Jacobite agent in London, as a conspirator in Petersburg, as an alchemist and connoisseur of pictures in Paris, or as a Russian general at Naples. Now and again the curtain which shrouds his actions is drawn aside, and we are permitted to see him fiddling in the music room at Versailles, gossiping with Horace Walpole in London, sitting in Frederick the Great's library at Berlin, or conducting illuminist meetings in caverns by the Rhine." (See *The Nineteenth Century*, January, 1908.)

In the realm of music St.-Germain was equally a master. While at Versailles he gave concerts on the violin and on at least one occasion during an eventful life he conducted a symphony orchestra without a score. In Paris St.-Germain was the diplomat and the alchemist, in London he was the musician. "He left a musical record behind him to remind English people of his sojourn in this country. Many of his compositions were published by Walsh, in Catherine Street, Strand, and his earliest English song, *Oh, wouldst thou, know what sacred charms*, came out while he was still on his first visit to London; but on quitting this city he entrusted certain other settings of words to Walsh, such as *Jove, when he saw*, and the arias out of his little opera*L'Inconstanza Delusa*, both of which compositions were published during his absence from England. When he returned, in 1760, he gave the world a great many new songs, followed in 1780 by a set of solos for the violin. He was an industrious and capable artist, and attracted a great deal of fashionable attention to himself both as composer and executant."

An old English newspaper, *The London Chronicle*, for June, 1760, contains the following anecdote: "With regard to music, he not only played but composed; and both in high taste. Nay, his very ideas were accommodated to the art; and in those occurrences which had no relation to music he found means to express himself in figurative terms deduced from this science. There could not be a more artful way of showing his attention to the subject. I remember an incident which impressed it strongly upon my memory. I had the honour to be at an assembly of Lady , who to many other good and great accomplishments added a taste for music so delicate that she was made a judge in the dispute of masters. This stranger was to be of the party; and towards evening he came in his usual free and polite manner, but with more hurry than was customary, and with his fingers stopped in his ears. I can conceive easily that in most men this would have been a very ungraceful attitude, and I am afraid it would have been construed into an ungenteel entrance; but he had a manner that made everything agreeable. They had been emptying a cartload of stones just at the door, to mend the pavement; he threw himself into a chair and, when the lady asked what was the matter, he pointed to the place and said, 'I am stunned with a whole cartload of discords'."

In his memoirs the Italian adventurer Jacques de Casanova de Seingalt makes numerous references to his acquaintance with St.-Germain. Casanova grudgingly admits that the Comte was an adept at magical arts, a skilled linguist, musician and chemist who won the favor of the ladies of the French court not only by the general air of mystery surrounding him but by his surpassing skill in preparing pigments and cosmetics by which he preserved for them at least a shadow of swift departing youth.

Casanova describes a meeting with St.-Germain which occurred "in Belgium under most unusual circumstances. Having arrived at Tournay, Casanova was surprised to see some grooms walking spirited horses up and down. He asked to whom the fine animals belonged and was told: "To the Comte de St.-Germain, the adept, who has been here a month and never goes out. Everybody who passes through the place wants to see him, but he makes himself visible to no one." This was sufficient to excite the curiosity of Casanova, who wrote requesting an appointment. He received the following answer: "The gravity of my occupation compels me to exclude everyone, but in your case I will make an exception. Come whenever you like and you will be shown in. You need not mention my name nor your own. I do not ask you to share my repast, for my food is not suitable to others, to you least of all, if your appetite is what it used to be." At nine o'clock Casanova called and found that the Comte had grown a beard two inches long. In discussion with Casanova, the Comte explained his presence in Belgium by stating that Count Cobenzl, the Austrian ambassador at Brussels, desired to establish a hat factory and that he was taking care of the details. Upon his telling St.-Germain that he was suffering from an acute disease, the Comte invited Casanova to remain for treatment, saying that he would prepare fifteen pills which in three days would restore the Italian to perfect health.

Casanova writes: "Then he showed me his magistrum, which he called *athoeter*. It was a white liquid contained in a well stopped phial. He told me that this liquid was the universal spirit of Nature and that if the wax of the stopper was pricked even so slightly, the whole of the contents would disappear. I begged him to make the experiment. He thereupon gave me the phial and the pin and I myself pricked the wax, when, lo, the phial was empty." Casanova, being somewhat of a rogue himself, doubted all other men. Therefore, he refused to permit St.-Germain to treat his malady. He could not deny, however, that St.-Germain was a chemist of extraordinary skill, whose accomplishments were astonishing if not practical. The adept refused to disclose the purpose for which these chemical experiments were intended, maintaining that such information could not be communicated.

Casanova further records an incident in which St.-Germain changed a twelve-sols piece into a pure gold coin. Being a doubting Thomas, Casanova declared that he felt sure that St.-Germain had substituted one coin for another. He intimated so to the Comte who replied: "Those who are capable of entertaining doubts of my work are not worthy to speak to me," and bowed the Italian out. This was the last time Casanova ever saw St.-Germain.

There is other evidence that the celebrated Comte possessed the alchemical powder by which it is possible to transmute base metals into gold. He actually performed this feat on at least two occasions, as attested by the writings of contemporaries. The Marquis de Valbelle, visiting St.-Germain in his laboratory, found the alchemist busy with his furnaces. He asked the Marquis for a silver six-franc piece and, covering it with a black substance, exposed it to the heat of a small flame or furnace. M. de Valbelle saw the coin change color until it turned a bright red. Some minutes after, when it had cooled a little, the adept took it out of the cooling vessel and returned it to the Marquis. The piece was no longer of silver but of the purest gold. Transmutation had been complete. The Comtesse d'Adhemar had possession of this coin until 1786 when it was stolen from her secretary.

One author tells us that, "Saint-Germain always attributed his knowledge of occult chemistry to his sojourn in Asia. In 1755 he went to the East again for the second time, and writing to Count von Lamberg he said, 'I am indebted for my knowledge of melting jewels to my second journey to India'."

There are too many authentic cases of metallic transmutations to condemn St.-Germain as a charlatan for such a feat. The Leopold-Hoffman medal, still in the possession of that family, is the most outstanding example of the transmutation of metals ever recorded. Two-thirds of this medal was transformed into gold by the monk Wenzel Seiler, leaving the balance silver which was its original state. In this case fraud was impossible as there was but one copy of the medal extant. The ease with which we condemn as fraudulent and unreal anything which transcends our understanding has brought unjustified calumny upon the names and memories of many illustrious persons.

The popular belief that Comte de St.-Germain was merely an adventurer is not supported by even a shred of evidence. He was never detected in any subterfuge nor did he betray, even to the slightest degree, the confidence entrusted to him. His great wealth - for he was always amply supplied with this world's goods - was not extracted from those with whom he came in contact. Every effort to determine the source and size of his fortune was fruitless. He made use of neither bank nor banker yet moved in a sphere of unlimited credit, which was neither questioned by others nor abused by himself.

Referring to the attacks upon his character, H. P. Blavatsky wrote in *The Theosophist* of March, 1881: "Do charlatans enjoy the confidence and admiration of the cleverest statesmen and nobles of Europe, for long years, and not even at their deaths show in one thing that they were undeserving? Some encyclopaedists (see *New American Cyclopedia*, xiv. 266) say: 'He is supposed *to have been employed during the greater part of his life as a spy* at the courts at which he resided.' But upon what evidence is this supposition based? Has anyone found it in any of the state papers in the secret archives of either of those courts? Not one word, not one shred of fact to build this base calumny upon, has ever been found. It is simply a malicious lie. The treatment this great man, this pupil of Indian and Egyptian hierophants, this proficient in the secret wisdom of the East, has had from Western writers, is a stigma upon human nature."

Nothing is known concerning the source of the Comte de St.Germain's occult knowledge. Most certainly he not only intimated his possession of a vast amount of wisdom but he also gave many examples in support of his claims. When asked once about himself, he replied that his father was the Secret Doctrine and his mother the Mysteries. St.-Germain was thoroughly conversant with the principles of Oriental esotericism. He practiced the Eastern system of meditation and concentration, upon several occasions having been seen seated with his feet crossed and hands folded in the posture of a Hindu Buddha. He had a retreat in the heart of the Himalayas to which he retired periodically from the world. On one occasion he declared that he would remain in India for eighty-five years and then return to the scene of his European labors. At various times he admitted that he was obeying the orders of a power higher and greater than himself. What he did not say was that this superior power was the Mystery School which had sent him into the world to accomplish a definite mission. The Comte de St.-Germain and Sir Francis Bacon are the two greatest emissaries sent into the world by the Secret Brotherhood in the last thousand years.

The principles disseminated by the Comte de St.-Germain were undoubtedly Rosicrucian in origin and permeated with the doctrines of the Gnostics. The Comte was the moving spirit of Rosicrucianism during the eighteenth century - possibly the actual head of that order - and is suspected of being the great power behind the French Revolution. There is also reason to believe that Lord Bulwer-Lytton's famous novel, *Zanoni*, is actually concerned with the life and activities of St.-Germain. He is generally regarded as an important figure in the early activities of the Freemasons. Repeated efforts, however, probably with an ulterior motive, have been made to discredit his Masonic affiliations. Maags of London are offering for sale a Masonic minute book in which the signatures of both Comte de St.-Germain and the Marquis de Lafayette appear. It will yet be established beyond all doubt that the Comte was both a Mason and a Templar; in fact, the memoirs of Cagliostro contain a direct statement of his own initiation into the order of the Knights Ternplars at the hands of St.-Germain. Many of the illustrious personages with whom the Comte associated were high Masons, and sufficient memoranda have been preserved concerning the discussions which they held to prove that he was a Chaster of Freemasonic lore.

Madame d'Adhemar, who has preserved so many anecdotes of the life of the "wonder man", copied from one of St.-Germain's letters the following prophetic verses pertaining to the downfall of the French Empire:

"The time is fast approaching when imprudent France, 
Surrounded by misfortune she might have spared herself, 
Will call to mind such hell as Dante painted. 
Falling shall we see sceptre, censer, scales, 
Towers and escutcheons, even the white flag. 
Great streams of blood are flowing in each town; 
Sobs only do I hear, and exiles see. 
On all sides civil discord loudly roars 
And uttering cries, on all sides virtue flees 
As from the Assembly votes of death arise. 
Great God, who can reply to murderous judges? 
And on what brows august I see the swords descend!

Marie Antoinette was much disturbed by the direful nature of the prophecies and questioned Madame d'Adhemar as to her opinion of their significance. Madame replied, "They are dismaying but certainly they cannot affect Your Majesty."

Madame d'Adhemar also recounts a dramatic incident. St.-Germain offered to meet the good lady at the Church of the Recollets about the hour of the eight o'clock mass. Madame went to the appointed place in her sedan chair and recorded the following conversation between herself and the mysterious adept:

St.-Germain: I am Cassandra, prophet of evil . . . Madame, he who sows the wind reaps the whirlwind . . . I can do nothing; *my hands are tied by a stronger than myself*.

Madame: Will you see the Queen?

St.-Germain: No; she is doomed.

Madame: Doomed to what?

St.-Germain: Death.

Madame: And you - you too?

St.-Germain: Yes - like Cazotte - Return to the Palace; tell the Queen to take heed of herself, that this day will be fatal to her . . .

Madame: But M. de Lafayette . . .

St.-Germain: A balloon inflated with wind. Even now, they are settling what to do with him, whether he shall be instrument or victim; by noon all will be decided . . . The hour of repose is past, and the decrees of Providence must be fulfilled.

Madame: What do they want?

St.-Germain: The complete ruin of the Bourbons. They will expel them from all the thrones they occupy and in less than a century they will return in all their different branches to the rank of simple private individuals. France as Kingdom, Republic, Empire, and mixed Government will be tormented, agitated, torn. From the hands of class tyrants she will pass to those who are ambitious and without merit.

Comte de St.-Germain disappeared from the stage of French mysticism as suddenly and inexplicably as he had appeared. Nothing is known with positive certainty after that disappearance. It is claimed by transcendentalists that he retired into the secret order which had sent him into the world for a particular and peculiar purpose. Having accomplished this mission, he vanished. From the *Memoirs de Mon Temps* of Charles, Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, we gain several particulars concerning the last years before the death or disappearance of the Hungarian adept. Charles was deeply interested in occult and Masonic mysteries, and a secret society, of which he was the moving spirit, held occasional meetings upon his estate. The purposes of this organization were similar to, if not identical with, Cagliostro's Egyptian Rite. In fact, after studying the fragments left by the Landgrave, Cagliostro's contention that he was initiated into Egyptian Masonry by St.-Germain is proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The "Wonder Man" attended at least some of these secret meetings and of all whom he met and knew during life, he confided more in Prince Charles than in any other man. The last years of St.-Germain's known life were therefore divided between his experimental research work in alchemy with Charles of Hesse and the Mystery School at Louisenlund, in Schleswig, where philosophic and political problems were under discussion.

According to popular tradition, it was on the estate of Prince Charles that St.-Germain finally died at a date given out as 1784. The strange circumstances connected with his passing lead us to suspect that is was a mock funeral similar to that given the English adept, Lord Bacon. It has been noted that, "Great uncertainty and vagueness surround his latter days, for no confidence can be reposed in the announcement of the death of one illuminate by another, for, as is well known, all means to secure the end were in their code justifiable, and it may have been to the interest of the society that St.-Germain should have been thought dead."

H. P. Blavatsky remarks: "Is it not absurd to suppose that if he really died at the time and place mentioned, he would have been laid in the ground without the pomp and ceremony, the official supervision, the police registration which attend the funerals of men of his rank and notoriety? Where are these data? He passed out of public sight more than a century ago, yet no memoirs contain them. A man who so lived in the full blaze of publicity could not have vanished, *if he really died then and there*, and left no trace behind. Moreover, to this negative we have the alleged positive proof that he was living several years after 1784. He is said to have had a most important private conference with the Empress of Russia in 1785 or 1786 and to have appeared to the Princess de Lambelle when she stood before the tribunal, a few minutes before she was struck down with a billet, and a butcher-boy cut off her head; and to Jeanne Dubarry, the mistress of Louis XV as she waited on her scaffold at Paris the stroke of the guillotine in the Days of Terror of 1793."

It should be added that the Comte de Chalons, on his return from an embassy to Venice in 1788, said that he had conversed with the Comte de St.-Germain in the square at St. Mark's the evening before his departure. The Comtesse d'Adhemar also saw and talked with him after his presumed decease, and the *Encyclopedia Britannica* notes that he is said to have attended a Masonic conference several years after his death had been reported. In concluding an article on the identity of the inscrutable Comte, Andrew Lang writes: "Did Saint-Germain really die in the palace of Prince Charles of Hesse about 1780-85? Did he, on the other hand, escape from the French prison where Grosley thought he saw him, during the Revolution? Was he known to Lord Lytton about 1860? Is he the mysterious Muscovite adviser of the Dalai Lama? Who knows? He is a will-o'-the-wisp of the memoir-writers of the eighteenth century." (See *Historical Mysteries*.)

The true purpose for which St.-Germain labored must remain obscure until the dawn of a new era. Homer refers to the Golden Chain by which the gods conspired to bind the earth to the pinnacle of Olympus. In each age there appears some few persons whose words and actions demonstrate clearly that they are of an order different from the rest of society. Humanity is guided over critical periods in the development of civilization by mysterious forces such as were personified in the eccentric Comte de St.-Germain. Until we recognize the reality of the occult forces at work in every-day life, we cannot grasp the significance of either the man or his work. To the wise, St.-Germain is no wonder - to those who are limited by belief in the inevitability of the commonplace, he is indeed a magician, defying the laws of nature and violating the smugness of the pseudo-learned.

## Part Two: The Rarest Of Occult Manuscripts

OF THE UTMOST SIGNIFICANCE to all students of Freemasonry and the occult sciences is this unique manuscript *La Très Sainte Trinosophie*. Not only is it the only known mystical writing of the Comte de St.-Germain, but it is one of the most extraordinary documents relating to the Hermetic sciences ever compiled. Though the libraries of European Rosicrucians and Cabbalists contain many rare treasures of ancient philosophical lore, it is extremely doubtful if any of them include a treatise of greater value or significance. There is a persistent rumor that St.-Germain possessed a magnificent library, and that he prepared a number of manuscripts on the secret sciences for the use of his disciples. At the time of his death . . . or disappearance . . . these books and papers vanished, probably into the archives of his society, and no trustworthy information is now available as to their whereabouts.

The mysterious Comte is known to have possessed at one time a copy of the Vatican manuscript of the Cabbala, a work of extraordinary profundity setting forth the doctrines of the Luciferians, Lucianiasts and the Gnostics. The second volume of *The Secret Doctrine* by H. P. Blavatsky (pp. 582-83 of the original edition) contains two quotations from a manuscript "supposed to be by the Comte St.-Germain". The parts of the paragraphs attributed to the Hungarian adept are not clearly indicated, but as the entire text deals with the significance of numbers, it is reasonable to infer that his commentaries are mystical interpretations of the numerals 4 and 5. Both paragraphs are in substance similar to the *Puissance des nombres d'après Pythagore* by Jean Marie Ragon. The Mahatma Koot Hoomi mentions a "ciphered MS." by St.-Germain which remained with his staunch friend and patron the benevolent Prince Charles of Hesse-Cassel (See *Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett*). Comparatively unimportant references to St.-Germain, and wild speculations concerning his origin and the purpose of his European activities, are available in abundance, but the most exhaustive search of the work of eighteenth century memoir writers for information regarding the Masonic and metaphysical doctrines which he promulgated has proved fruitless. So far as it has been possible to ascertain, the present translation and publication of *La Très Sainte Trinosophie* affords the first opportunity to possess a work setting forth . . . in the usual veiled and symbolic manner . . . the esoteric doctrines of St.-Germain, and his associates.

*La Très Sainte Trinosophie* is MS. No. 2400 in the French Library at Troyes. The work is of no great length, consisting of ninety-six leaves written upon one side only. The calligraphy is excellent. Although somewhat irregular in spelling and accenting, the French is scholarly and dramatic, and the text is embellished with numerous figures, well drawn and brilliantly colored. In addition to the full-page drawings there are small symbols at the beginning and end of each of the sections. Throughout the French text there are scattered letters, words, and phrases in several ancient languages . . There are also magical symbols, figures resembling Egyptian hieroglyphics, and a few words in characters resembling cuneiform. At the end of the manuscript are a number of leaves written in arbitrary ciphers, possibly the code used by St.-Germain's secret society. The work was probably executed in the latter part of the eighteenth century, though most of the material belongs to a considerably earlier period.

As to the history of this remarkable manuscript, too little, unfortunately, is known. The illustrious Freemasonic martyr, the Comte Allesandro Cagliostro, carried this book amongst others with him on his ill-fated journey to Rome. After Cagliostro's incarceration in the Castle San Leo, all trace of the manuscript was temporarily lost. Eventually Cagliostro's literary effects came into the possession of a general in Napoleon's army, and upon this officer's death *La Très Sainte Trinosophie* was bought at a nominal price by the Bibliothèque de Troyes. In his *Musée des Sorciers*, Grillot de Givry adds somewhat to the meager notes concerning the manuscript. He states that the volume was bought at the sale of Messena's effects; that in the front of the book is a note by a philosopher who signs himself "I.B.C. Philotaume" who states that the manuscript belonged to him and is the sole existing copy of the famous Trinosophie of the Comte de St.-Germain, the original of which the Comte himself destroyed on one of his journeys. The note then adds that Cagliostro had owned the volume, but that the Inquisition had seized it in Rome when he was arrested at the end of 1789. (It should be remembered that Cagliostro and his wife had visited St.-Germain at a castle in Holstein.) De Givry sums up the contents of *La Très Sainte Trinosophie* as "Cabbalized alchemy" and describes St.-Germain as "one of the enigmatic personages of the eighteenth century . . . an alchemist and man of the world who passed through the drawing rooms of all Europe and ended by falling into the dungeons of the Inquisition at Rome, if the manuscript is to be believed".

The title of the manuscript, *La Très Sainte Trinosophie*, translated into English means "The Most Holy Trinisophia" or "The Most Holy Three-fold Wisdom". The title itself opens a considerable field of speculation. Is there any connection between *La Très Sainte Trinosophie* and the Masonic brotherhood of *Les Trinosophists* which was founded in 1805 by the distinguished Belgian Freemason and mystic Jean Marie Ragon, already referred to? The knowledge of occultism possessed by Ragon is mentioned in terms of the highest respect by H. P. Blavatsky who says of him that "for fifty years he studied the ancient mysteries wherever he could find accounts of them". Is it not possible that Ragon as a young man either knew St.-Germain or contacted his secret society? Ragon was termed by his contemporaries "the most learned Mason of the nineteenth century". In 1818, before the Lodge of *Les Trinosophists*, he delivered a course of lectures on ancient and modern initiation which he repeated at the request of that lodge in 1841. These lectures were published under the title *Cours Philosophique et Interprétatif des Initiations Anciennes et Modernes*. In 1853 Ragon published his most important work *Orthodoxie Maçonnique*. Ragon died in Paris about 1866 and two years later his unfinished manuscripts were purchased from his heirs by the Grand Orient of France for one thousand francs. A high Mason told Madam Blavatsky that Ragon had corresponded for years with two Orientalists in Syria and Egypt, one of whom was a Copt gentleman.

Ragon defined the Lodge of the *Trinosophists* as "those who study three sciences". Madame Blavatsky writes: "It is on the occult properties of the three equal lines or sides of the Triangle that Ragon based his studies and founded the famous Masonic Society of the *Trinosophists*". Ragon describes the symbolism of the triangle in substance as follows: The first side or line represents the mineral kingdom which is the proper study for Apprentices; the second line represents the vegetable kingdom which the Companions should learn to understand because in this kingdom generation of bodies begins; the third line represents the animal kingdom from the exploration of which the Master Mason must complete his education. It has been said of the Lodge of the Trinosophists that "it was at one time the most intelligent society of Freemasons ever known. It adhered to the ancient Landmarks but gave clearer and more satisfactory interpretations to the symbols of Freemasonry than are afforded in the symbolical Lodges". It practiced five degrees. In the Third, candidates for initiation received a philosophic and astronomic explanation of the Hiramic Legend.

The Egyptianized interpretation of Freemasonic symbolism which is so evident in the writings of Ragon and other French Masonic scholars of the same period (such as Court de Gabelin and Alexandre Lenoir) is also present in the figures and text of the St.-Germain manuscript. In his comments on the Rite of Misraim, called the Egyptian Rite, Ragon distinguishes 90 degrees of Masonic Mysteries. The Ist to 33rd degrees he terms symbolic; the 34th to 66th degrees, philosophic; the 67th to 77th, mystic; and the 78th to 90th, Cabbalistic. The Egyptian Freemasonry of Cagliostro may also have been derived from St.-Germain or from some common body of Illuminists of whom St.-Germain was the moving spirit. Cagliostro's memoirs contain a direct statement of his initiation into the Order of Knights Templars at the hands of St.-Germain. De Luchet gives what a modern writer on Cagliostro calls a fantastic account of the visit paid by Allesandro and his wife the Comtesse Felicitas to St.-Germain in Germany, and their subsequent initiation by him into the sect of the Rosicrucians - of which he was the Grand Master or chief. There is nothing improbable in the assumption that Cagliostro secured *La Très Sainte Trinosophie* from St.-Germain and that the manuscript is in every respect an authentic ritual of this society.

The word *Trinosophie* quite properly infers a triple meaning to the contents of the book, in other words that its meaning should be interpreted with the aid of three keys. From the symbolism it seems that one of these keys is alchemy, or soul-chemistry; another Essenian Cabbalism; and the third Alexandrian Hermetism, the mysticism of the later Egyptians. From such fragments of the Rosicrucian lore as now exists, it is evident that the Brethren of the Rose Cross were especially addicted to these three forms of the ancient wisdom, and chose the symbols of these schools as the vehicles of their ideas.

The technical task of decoding the hieroglyphics occurring throughout La Très Sainte Trinosophie was assigned to Dr. Edward C. Getsinger, an eminent authority on ancient alphabets and languages, who is now engaged in the decoding of the primitive ciphers in the Book of Genesis. A few words from his notes will give an idea of the difficulties involved in decoding:

"Archaic writings are usually in one system of letters or characters, but those among the ancients who were in possession of the sacred mysteries of life and certain secret astronomical cycles never trusted this knowledge to ordinary writing, but devised secret codes by which they concealed their wisdom from the unworthy. Each of these communities or brotherhoods of the enlightened devised its own code. About 3000 B. C. only the Initiates and their scribes could read and write. At that period the simpler methods of concealment were in vogue, one of which was to drop certain letters from words in such a manner that the remaining letters still formed a word which, however, conveyed an entirely different sense. As ages progressed other systems were invented, until human ingenuity was taxed to the utmost in an endeavor to conceal and yet perpetuate sacred knowledge.

"In order to decipher ancient writings of a religious or philisophic nature, it is first necessary to discover the code or method of concealment used by the scribe. In all my twenty years of experience as a reader of archaic writings I have never encountered such ingenious codes and methods of concealment as are found in this manuscript. In only a few instances are complete phrases written in the same alphabet; usually two or three forms of writing are employed, with letters written upside down, reversed, or with the text written backwards. Vowels are often omitted, and at times several letters are missing with merely dots to indicate their number. Every combination of hieroglyphics seemed hopeless at the beginning, yet, after hours of alphabetic dissection, one familiar word would appear. This gave a clue as to the language used, and established a place where word combination might begin, and then a sentence would gra dually unfold.

"The various texts are written in Chaldean Hebrew, Ionic Greek, Arabic, Syriac, cuneiform, Greek hieroglyphics, and ideographs. The keynote throughout this material is that of the approach of the age when the Leg of the Grand Man and the Waterman of the Zodiac shall meet in conjunction at the equinox and end a grand 400,000-year cycle. This points to a culmination of eons, as mentioned in the Apocalypse: "Behold! I make a new heaven and a new earth," meaning a series of new cycles and a new humanity.

"The personage who gathered the material in this manuscript was indeed one whose spiritual understanding might be envied. He found these various texts in different parts of Europe, no doubt, and that he had a true knowledge of their import is proved by the fact that he attempted to conceal some forty fragmentary ancient texts by scattering them within the lines of his own writing. Yet his own text does not appear to have any connection with these ancient writings. If a decipherer were to be guided by what this eminent scholar wrote he would never decipher the mystery concealed within the cryptic words. There is a marvelous spiritual story written by this savant, and a more wonderful one he interwove within the pattern of his own narrative. The result is a story within a story."

In the reprinting of the Freneh text of the *Trinosophia*, the spelling and punctuation is according to the original. It has been impossible, however, to reproduce certain peculiarities of the calligraphy. In some cases the punctuation is obscure, accents are omitted, and dashes of varying lengths are inserted to fill out lines. The present manuscript is undoubtedly a copy, as "Philotaume" stated. The archaic characters and the hieroglyphics reveal minor imperfections of formation due to the copyist being unfamiliar with the alphabets employed.

The considerable extent of the notes and commentaries has made it advisable to place them together at the end of the work rather than break up the continuity of the text by over-frequent interpolations.

*La Très Sainte Trinosophie* is not a manuscript for the tyro. Only deep study and consideration will unravel the complicated skein of its symbolism.Although the text matter is treated with the utmost simplicity, every line is a profound enigma. Careful perusal of the book, and meditation upon its contents, will convince the scholar that it has been well designated "the most precious known manuscript of occultism."

## THE MOST HOLY TRINOSOPHIA

### Section One

IT is in the retreat of criminals in the dungeons of the Inquisition that your friend writes these lines which are to serve for your instruction. At the thought of the inestimable advantages which this document of friendship will procure for you, the horrors of a long and little deserved captivity seem to be mitigated . . . It gives me pleasure to think that while surrounded by guards and encumbered by chains, a slave may still be able to raise his friend above the mighty, the monarchs who rule this place of exile.

My dear Philochatus, you are about to penetrate into the sanctuary of the sublime sciences; my hand is about to raise for you the impenetrable veil which hides from the eyes of common men the tabernacle, the sanctuary wherein the Eternal has lodged the secrets of nature, kept for a few that are privileged, the few Elect whom His omnipotence created that they may SEE, and seeing, may soar after Him in the vast expanse of His Glory and deflect upon mankind one of the Rays that shine round about His golden Throne.

If your friend's example proves a salutary lesson for you, I shall bless the long years of tribulation which the wicked have made me suffer.

Two stumbling blocks equally dangerous will constantly present themselves to you. One of them would outrage the sacred rights of every individual. It is Misuse of the power which God will have entrusted to you; the other, which would bring ruin upon you, is Indiscretion. . . Both are born of the same mother, both owe their existence to pride. Human frailty nourishes them; they are blind; their mother leads them. With her aid these two Monsters carry their foul breath even into the hearts of the Lord's Elect. Woe unto him who misuses the gifts of heaven in order to serve his passions. The Almighty Hand that made the elements subject to him, would break him like a fragile reed. An eternity of torments could hardly expiate his crime. The Infernal Spirits would smile with contempt at the tears of the one whose menacing voice had so often made them tremble in the bosom of their fiery depths.

It is not for you, Philochatus, that I sketch this dreadful picture. The friend of humanity will never become its persecutor . . . The precipice, my son, which I fear for you, is Indiscretion, the imperious craving to inspire astonishment and admiration. God leaves to men the task of punishing the imprudent minister who permits the eye of the profane to look into the mysterious sanctuary. Oh Philochatus, may my sorrows be ever present in your mind. I, too, have known happiness, was showered with the blessings of heaven and surrounded by power such as the human mind cannot conceive. Commanding the genii that guide the world, happy in the happiness that I created, I enjoyed within the bosom of an adored family the felicity which the Eternal accords to His beloved children. One moment destroyed everything. I spoke, and it all vanished like a cloud. O my son, follow not in my steps . . . Let no vain desire to shine before men bring you, too, to disaster . . . Think of me, your friend, writing to you from this dungeon, my body broken by torture! Remember, Philochatus, that the hand which traces these characters bears the marks of the chains which weigh it down. God has punished me, but what have I done to the cruel men that persecute me? What right have they to interrogate the minister of the Eternal? They ask me what are the proofs of my mission. My witnesses are prodigies, and my virtues are my defenders - a clean life, a pure heart. But what am I saying! Have I still the right to complain? I spoke, and the Lord delivered me, deprived of strength and power, to the furies of greedy fanaticism. The arm which once could overthrow an army can today hardly lift the chains that weigh it down.

I wander. I should give thanks to eternal Justice . . . The avenging God has pardoned His repentant child. An aerial spirit has entered through the walls which separate me from the world; he has shown himself to me resplendent with light and has determined the duration of my captivity. Within two years my sufferings will end. My torturers upon entering my cell will find it empty and, soon purified by the four elements, pure as the genius of fire, I shall resume the glorious station to which Divine goodness has raised me. But how distant as yet is this time! How long two years seem to one who spends them in suffering and humiliation. Not content with making me undergo the most horrible agony, my oppressors, to torture me further have devised still surer, still more revolting means. They have brought infamy on my head, have made my name a thing of disgrace. The children of men recoil in terror when by chance they approach the walls of my prison; they fear lest some deadly vapour escape through the narrow slit that reluctantly admits a ray of light to my cell. That, O Philochatus, is the cruelest of all blows that they could bear down upon me.

I know not whether I shall be able to get this document into your hands . . . I judge the difficulty I shall have in contriving for it a way out of this place of torture by those I have had in order to write it. Deprived of all help, I myself have composed the agents I needed. The flame of my lamp, some coins, and a few chemical substances overlooked by the scrutinizing eyes of my tormentors have yielded the colours which adorn this fruit of a prisoner's leisure.

Profit by the instructions of your unhappy friend! They are so clear that danger exists for them to fall into hands other than yours . . . Remember only that all of it is to serve you . . . an obscure line, an omitted character would prevent your lifting the veil which the hand of the Creator has placed over the Sphinx.

Adieu, Philochatus! Do not mourn me. The clemency of the Eternal equals His justice. At the first mysterious assembly you will see your friend again.

I salute you in the name of God. Soon I shall give the kiss of peace to my brother.

### Section Two

IT WAS night. The moon, veiled by dark clouds, cast but an uncertain light on the crags of lava that hemmed in the Solfatara. My head covered with the linen veil, holding in my hands the golden bough, I advanced without fear toward the spot where I had been ordered to pass the night. I was groping over hot sand which I felt give way under my every step. The clouds gathered overhead. Lightning flashed through the night and gave to the flames of the volcano a bloodlike appearance. At last I arrived and found an iron altar where I placed the mysterious bough . . . I pronounce the formidable words . . . instantly the earth trembles under my feet, thunder peals . . . Vesuvius roars in answer to the repeated strokes; its fires join the fires of lightning . . . The choirs of the genii rise into the air and make the echoes repeat the praises of the Creator . . . The hallowed bough which I had placed on the triangular altar suddenly is ablaze. A thick smoke envelops me. I cease to see. Wrapped in darkness, I seemed to descend into an abyss. I know not how long I remained in that situation. When I opened my eyes, I vainly looked for the objects which had surrounded me a little time ago. The altar, Vesuvius, the country round Naples had vanished far from my sight. I was in a vast cavern, alone, far away from the whole world . . . Near by me lay a long, white robe; its loosely woven tissue seemed to me to be of linen. On a granite boulder stood a copper lamp upon a black table covered with Greek words indicating the way I was to follow. I took the lamp, and after having put on the robe I entered a narrow passage the walls of which were covered with black marble . . . It was three miles long and my steps resounded fearfully under its silent vault. At last I found a door that opened on a flight of steps which I descended. After having walked a long time I seemed to see a wandering light before me. I hid my lamp and fixed my eyes on the object which I beheld. It dissipated, vanishing like a shadow.

Without reproach of the past, without fear of the future, I went on. The way became increasingly difficult . . . always confined within galleries composed of black stone blocks . . . I did not dare to guess at the length of my underground travel. At last, after a long, long march I came to a square chamber. A door in the middle of each of its four sides opened; they were of different colours, and each door was placed at one of the four cardinal points. I entered through the north door which was black; the opposite one was red; the door to the east was blue and the one facing it was of dazzling white . . . In the middle of this chamber was a square mass; on its center shone a crystal star. On the north side was a painting representing a woman naked to the waist; a black drapery fell over her knees and two silver bands adorned her garment. In her hand was a rod which she placed against the forehead of a man facing her across a table which stood on a single support and bore a cup and a lance-head. A sudden flame rose from the ground and seemed to turn toward the man. An inscription explained this picture; another indicated the means I was to employ in order to leave this chamber.

After having contemplated the picture and the star I was about to pass through the red door when, turning on its hinges with terrific noise, it closed before me. I made the same attempt with the door of sky-blue colour; it did not close but a sudden noise induced me to turn my head. I saw the star flicker, rise from its place, revolve, then dart rapidly through the opening of the white door. I followed it at once.

### Section Three

A STRONG wind arose and I had difficulty in keeping my lamp alight. At last I saw a white marble platform to which I mounted by nine steps. Arrived at the last one I beheld a vast expanse of water. To my right I heard the impetuous tumbling of torrents; to my left a cold rain mixed with masses of hail fell near me. I was contemplating this majestic scene when the star which had guided me to the platform and which was slowly swinging overhead, plunged into the gulf. Believing that I was reading the commands of the Most High, I threw myself into the midst of the waves. An invisible hand seized my lamp and placed it on the crown of my head. I breasted the foamy wave and struggled to reach the side opposite the one which I had left. At last I saw on the horizon a feeble gleam and hastened forward. Perspiration streamed down my face and I exhausted myself in vain efforts. The shore which I could scarcely discern seemed to recede to the degree 1 advanced. My strength was ebbing. I feared not to die, but to die without illumination . . . I lost courage, and lifting to the vault my tear-streaming eyes I cried out: "*Judica judicium meum et redime me, propter eloquium tuum vivifica me*." (Judge thou my judgment and redeem me, by thy eloquence make me live.) I could hardly move my tired limbs and was sinking more and more when near me I saw a boat. A richly dressed man guided it. I noticed that the prow was turned toward the shore which I had left. He drew near. A golden crown shone on his forehead. "*Vade me cum*," said he, "*mecum principium in terris, instruam to in via hac qua gradueris*." (Come with me, with me, the foremost in the world; I will show thee the way thou must follow.) I instantly answered him: "*Bonum est sperare in Domino quam considere in principibus*."(It is better to trust in the Lord than to sit among the mighty.) Whereupon the boat sank and the monarch with it. Fresh energy seemed to course through my veins and I gained the goal of my efforts. I found myself on a shore covered with green sand. A silver wall was before me inlaid with two panels of red marble. Approaching I noticed on one of them sacred script, the other being engraved with a line of Greek letters; between the two plates was an iron circle. Two lions, one red and the other black, rested on clouds and appeared to guard a golden crown above them. Also near the circle were to be seen a bow and two arrows. I read several characters written on the flanks of one of the lions. I had barely observed these different emblems when they vanished together with the wall which contained them.

### Section Four

IN its place a lake of fire presented itself to my sight. Sulphur and bitumen rolled in flaming waves. I trembled. A loud voice commanded me to pass through the flames. I obeyed, and the flames seemed tb have lost their power. For a long time I walked within the conflagration. Arrived at a circular space I contemplated the gorgeous spectacle which by the grace of heaven it was given me to enjoy.

Forty columns of fire ornamented the hall in which I found myself. One side of the columns shone with a white and vivid fire, the other side seemed to be in shadow; a blackish flame covered it. In the center of this place stood an altar in the form of a serpent. A greenish gold embellished its diapered scales in which the surrounding flames were reflected. Its eyes looked like rubies. A silvery inscription was placed near it and a rich sword had been driven into the ground near the serpent, on whose head rested a cup . . . I heard the choir of the celestial spirits and a voice said to me: "The end of thy labours draws near. Take the sword and smite the serpent."

I drew the sword from its sheath and approaching the altar I took the cup with one hand and with the other I struck a terrific blow upon the neck of the serpent. The sword rebounded and the blow re-echoed as if I had struck on a brass bell. No sooner had I obeyed the voice than the altar disappeared and the columns vanished in boundless space. The sound which I had heard when striking the altar repeated itself as if a thousand blows had been struck at the same time. A hand seized me by the hair and lifted me toward the vault which opened to let me through. Shadowy phantoms appeared before me - Hydras, Lamias and serpents surrounded me. The sight of the sword in my hand scattered the foul throng even as the first rays of light dissipate the frail dream-children of the night. After mounting straight upward through the layers that composed the walls of the globe, I saw again the light of day.

### Section Five

SCARCELY had I risen to the surface of the earth, when my unseen guide led me still more swiftly. The velocity with which we sped through space can be compared with naught but itself. In an instant I had lost sight of the plains below. I noticed with astonishment that I had emerged from the bowels of the earth far from the country about Naples. A desert and some triangular masses were the only objects I could see. Soon, in spite of the trials which I had undergone, a new terror assailed me. The earth seemed to me only a vague cloud. I had been lifted to a tremendous height. My invisible guide left me and I descended again. For quite a long time I rolled through space; already the earth spread out before my confused vision . . . I could estimate how many minutes would pass until I would be crushed on the rocks. But quick as thought my guide darts down beside me, takes hold of me, lifts me up again, and again lets me fall. Finally he raises me with him to an immeasurable distance. I saw globes revolve around me and earths gravitate at my feet. Suddenly the genius who bore me touched my eyes and I swooned. I know not how long I remained in this condition. When I awoke I was lying on a luxurious cushion; the air I breathed was saturated with the fragrance of flowers . . . A blue robe spangled with golden stars had replaced my linen garment. A yellow altar stood opposite me from which a pure flame ascended having no other substance for its alimentation than the altar itself. Letters in black were engraved at the base of the altar. A lighted torch stood beside it, shining like the sun; hovering above it was a bird with black feet, silvery body, a red head, black wings and a golden neck. It was in constant motion without however using its wings. It could only fly when in the midst of the flames. In its beak was a green branch; its name is

the name of the altar is

Altar, bird and torch are the symbol of all things. Nothing can be done without them. They themselves are all that is good and great. The name of the torch is

Four inscriptions surrounded these different emblems.

### Section Six

I TURNED aside and noticed an immense palace the base of which rested on clouds. Its mass was composed of marble and its form was triangular. Four tiers of columns were raised one above the other. A golden ball topped the edifice. The first tier of columns was white, the second black, the third green and the last one a brilliant red. I intended, after having admired this work of immortal artists, to return to the place of the altar, the bird and the torch; I desired to study them further. They had disappeared and with my eyes I was searching for them when the doors of the palace opened. A venerable old man came forth clad in a robe like mine, except that a golden sun shone on his breast. His right hand held a green branch, the other upheld a censer. A wooden chain was about his neck and a pointed tiara like that of Zoroaster covered his white head. He came toward me, a benevolent smile on his lips. "Adore God" said he to me in Persian. "It is He who sustained thee in thy trials; His spirit was with thee. My son, thou hast let slip by the opportunity. Thou couldst have seized instantly the bird,

the torch

and the altar

Thou wouldst have become altar, bird and torch at one and the same time. Now, in order to arrive at the most secret place of the Palace of sublime sciences, it will be necessary for thee to pass through all by-ways. Come . . . I must first of all present thee to my brothers." He took me by the hand and led me into a vast hall.

The eyes of the vulgar cannot conceive the form and richness of the ornaments which embellished it. Three hundred and sixty columns enclosed it on all sides. Suspended from a golden ring in the ceiling was a cross of red, white, blue and black. In the center of the hall was a triangular altar composed of the four elements; on its three points were placed the bird, the altar and the torch. "Their names are now changed," said my guide. Here the bird is called

the altar

and the torch

The hall is called

and the triangular altar

Around the altar were placed eighty-one thrones, to each of which one mounted by nine steps of unequal height, the treads being covered with red carpets.

While I was examining the thrones, a trumpet sounded whereupon the doors of the hall

swung on theirhinges to let pass seventy-nine persons, all attired like my guide. Slowly they came near and seated themselves on the thrones while my guide stood beside me. An old man, distinguished from his brothers by a purple mantle the hem of which was covered with embroidered characters, arose, and my guide, addressing them in the sacred tongue, said: "Behold one of our children whom it is the will of God to make as great as his fathers." "May the will of the Lord be done," responded the old man, and turning to me he added: "My son, the time of thy physical trials is now ended . . . There remain long journeys for thee to undertake. Henceforth thy name shall be

Before thou visit this edifice, each of my eight brothers and myself will present thee with a gift." He walked up to me and with the kiss of peace gave me a cube of grey earth called

the second gave me three cylinders of black stone called

the third a small piece of rounded crystal called

the fourth a crest of blue plumes named

the fifth added a silver vase which carries the name of

the sixth gave me a cluster of grapes known by the sages under the name of

the seventh presented me with the figure of a bird similar in its form to

but it had not its brilliant hues; it was of silver. "It has the same name," he said to me; "it is for thee to give it the same virtues." The eighth gave me a small altar, resembling the altar

Finally my guide placed in my hand a torch composed, like

of brilliant particles; however, it was not lighted. "It is for thee," he added, "like those that have preceded it to give it the same virtues." "Reflect on these gifts" then said the chief sage. "They all lead equally to perfection, but none of them is perfect in itself. It is from their admixture that the divine product must come. Know also that all of them are null if thou employ them not in the order in which thou hast received them. The second, which serves for the use of the first, remains merely crude matter without warmth and without usefulness unless in its turn it is aided by that which comes after it. Guard carefully the gifts thou hast received and set out upon thy journeys after thou hast drunk from the cup of life." Hereupon he handed me in a crystal cup a shining liquor of saffron hue; its taste was delicious and it emitted an exquisite aroma. I was about to hand the cup back to him after moistening my lips in the liquor, when the old man said: "Drink it all; it will be thy only nourishment during thy journeys." I obeyed and felt a divine fire course through all the fibers of my body. I was stronger, braver; even my intellectual powers seemed doubled.

I hastened to give the greeting of the wise men to the august assembly I was about to leave, and at my guide's command I entered a long gallery on my right hand.

### Section Seven

AT the entrance of this gallery stood an oval steel vessel which upon my approach filled with crystal-clear water, purified by fine white sand. The vessel rested on three brass feet. A black panel had engraved on it several characters on the side facing the door. Near the vessel was a linen veil and above the vessel two green marble columns supported a round marble placque. One saw there, surrounded by two inscriptions, the figure of the sacred seal formed of a cross in four colours, attached to a golden crosspiece which upheld1 two other concentric circles, the larger one being black, the other red. To one of the columns was attached a silver ax with a blue handle; it is called

After reading the inscriptions I went up to the vessel and washed, first my hands, but finished by plunging in bodily. I stayed there three days, and on coming out of the water I saw that it had lost its transparency. Its sand had become grayish and rust-coloured particles stirred in the fluid. I tried to dry myself with the linen veil but fresh drops of water kept taking the place of those the linen absorbed. I gave up trying to dry myself with the veil and, keeping in the shade, I remained there motionless for six whole days. At the end of this time the source of these waters was exhausted. I found that I was dry and lighter though my strength seemed to be increased. After walking about for a little while I returned to the vessel. The water which had been in it was gone. In its place was a reddish liquid; the sand was gray and metallic. I again bathed in it, being careful however to remain there only a few moments. When stepping out of it I noticed that I had absorbed part of the liquid. This time I did not try to dry myself with the cloth, for the liquor with which I was saturated was so strong and corrosive that it would have instantly destroyed the fabric. I found myself at the other end of the gallery stretched out on a bed of warm sand where I spent seven days. After this time I returned to the vessel. The water was as it had first appeared. Once more I plunged into it and after having washed myself carefully, came out. This time I had no difficulty in drying myself. Finally, after having purified myself according to the instructions I had received, I prepared to leave this gallery in which I had spent sixteen days.

### Section Eight

I LEFT the gallery by a low and narrow door and entered a circular apartment the panelling of which was made of ash and sandal wood. At the further end of the apartment on a pedestal composed of the trunk of a vine lay a mass of white and shining salt. Above was a picture showing a crowned white lion and a cluster of grapes; both rested on a salver sustained in the air by the smoke of a lighted brazier. To my right and left two doors opened, one giving unto an arid plain. A dry and scorching wind blew over it continually. The other door opened on a lake at the extreme end of which a black marble façade could be seen.

I approached the altar and took into my hands some of the white and shining salt which the sages call

and rubbed my entire body with it. I impregnated myself with it, and after having read the hieroglyphics accompanying the picture I prepared to leave this hall. My first intention was to leave by the door opening upon the plain, but there issued therefrom a hot vapor and I preferred the opposite path. I had the freedom of choice with the condition, however, not to leave the one once chosen. . . I decided to cross the lake; its waters were sombre and sleeping. At a certain distance I clearly noticed a bridge called

To reach it I would have been obliged to follow the windings of a shore covered with rocks, and I preferred to cross the lake. I entered the water which was as thick as cement. I noticed that it was useless for me to swim since my feet touched bottom everywhere. I walked in the lake for thirteen days. At last I came to the other shore.

### Section Nine

THE earth was as dark as the water through which I had come. A hardly perceptible slope led me to the base of the building which I had seen from afar. On its long square front several characters were engraved like those used by the priests of ancient Persia. The entire building was made of rough black basalt; the doors, of cypress wood, opened to let me pass. A warm, moist wind arose suddenly and pushed me rapidly to the middle of the chamber at the same time closing the doors upon me . . . I was in darkness, but gradually my eyes grew accustomed to the meager light which reigned in this enclosure and I was able to discern the surrounding objects. The vaulting, the walls and the floor of the chamber were as black as ebony. Two mural paintings arrested my attention; one represented a horse such as our poets describe as having caused the downfall of Troy. From its gaping flanks a human corpse protruded. The other image showed a man long dead. Vile insects bred by putrefaction swarmed over his face and devoured the substance which had given them birth. One of the arms of the dead man, stripped of its flesh, already showed the bones. A man, dressed in red, standing by the corpse, endeavoured to lift it. A star shone on his forehead; his legs were enclosed in black buskins. Above, between and below the picture were three black panels bearing silver characters. I read them and then occupied the time by making the rounds of the hall where I was to spend nine days.

In a dark corner I found a pile of black earth which was fat and saturated with animal particles. I was about to take some of it when a thundering voice, like the sound of a trumpet, forbade me to do so, saying: "This earth has lain in this hall only eighty-seven years; when thirteen more years have elapsed, thou and the other children of God may use it." The voice fell silent, but its last ringing sounds continued to vibrate a long time in that temple of silence and death. After remaining in it the time prescribed, I departed by the door opposite to the one through which I had entered. I again saw the light, but it was not so strong around the black hall as to tire my eyes habituated to darkness.

I saw with surprise that in order to reach the other buildings I should have to cross a wider lake than the first one. For eighteen days I walked in the water. I recalled that when crossing the first lake its waters became darker and thicker as I advanced. The waters of this lake, on the contrary, became ever clearer the closer I approached the shore. My robe, which had in the palace become as black as the walls, seemed to me to be of a grayish hue; gradually it resumed its colours; however, it did not become entirely blue but was nearer to a beautiful green.

After eighteen days I ascended the embankment by means of a white marble platform. The name of the hall is

the first lake

the second

### Section Ten

AT some distance from the shore a sumptuous palace raised aloft its alabaster columns; its different parts were joined by porticos of flame colour. The entire edifice was of light and airy architecture. As I approached the portals, I saw that the front was decorated with the figure of a butterfly. The doors stood open . . . I entered. The entire palace consisted of a single hall . . . surrounded by a triple colonnade, each rank composed of twenty-seven alabaster columns. In the middle of the building stood the figure of a man issuing from a tomb; his hand, holding up a lance, struck the stone which previously confined him. His loins were girt about with a green garment; gold gleamed from its hem. On his breast was a square tablet bearing several letters. Above this figure hung a golden crown and the figure seemed to lift itself into the air in order to seize the crown. Above it was a yellow stone tablet bearing several emblems which I explained by means of the inscription I saw on the tomb and by the one I had seen on the breast of the man.

I stayed in that hall which is called

the time needful for contemplating all its aisles, and soon I left it with the intention of crossing a vast plain in order to reach a tower that I had perceived at quite some distance.

### Section Eleven

NO sooner had I quitted the steps of the palace when I saw fluttering in front of me a bird similar to

this one, however, having two wings like a butterfly's besides its own. A voice issuing from a cloud commanded me to seize and to affix it and I darted forth after it. It did not fly but used its wings in order to run with the greatest rapidity. I pursued it; it fled before me and made me cover the entire plain several times. I followed it without pause. Finally, after pursuing it for nine days, I forced it to enter the tower which I had seen in the distance as I was leaving

The walls of this edifice were of iron. Thirty-six columns of the same metal supported it. The interior was of the same material, incrusted with shining steel. The foundations of the tower were so constructed as to be twice as deep in the earth as they were high above ground. The bird had barely entered this enclosure when an icy cold seemed to overcome it. In vain it tried to move its numbed wings. It still fluttered, trying to flee, but so feebly that I reached it with the greatest ease.

I seized the bird, and driving a steel nail

through its wings, I affixed it to the floor of the tower with the aid of a hammer called

Hardly had I finished when the bird acquired new strength. It did not move, however, but its eyes began to shine like topaz. I was gazing at it when my attention was attracted by a group in the center of the hall. It showed a handsome man in the prime of life. In his hand he held a staff about which two serpents were interlaced. The young man was striving to escape a larger and more powerful man who wore a girdle and a helmet of iron surmounted by waving red plumes. Near him a sword lay on a buckler covered with hieroglyphs. The armed man held in his hand a heavy chain with which he shackled the feet and body of the youth who tried in vain to flee from his terrible adversary. Two red tablets bore certain characters.

I departed from the tower, and opening a door between two pillars I found myself in a vast hall.

### Section Twelve

THE hall into which I had just entered was perfectly round; it resembled the interior of a globe composed of hard and transparent matter, as crystal, so that the light entered from all sides. Its lower part rested upon a vast basin filled with red sand. A gentle and equable warmth reigned in this circular enclosure. The sages call this hall

The basin of sand sustaining it is called

With astonishment I gazed around this crystal globe when a new phenomenon excited my admiration. From the floor of the hall ascended a gentle vapor, moist and saffron yellow. It enveloped me, raised me gently and within thirty-six days bore me up to the upper part of the globe. Thereafter the vapor thinned; little by little I descended and finally found myself again on the floor. My robe had changed its colour. It had been green when I entered the hall, but now changed to a brilliant red. A contrary effect had taken place in the sand on which the globe rested. Gradually its red colour had been transformed into black. After finishing my ascent I remained three more days in that hall.

After that time I left it in order to enter a large place surrounded by colonades and guilded porticos. In the center of the place stood a bronze pedestal supporting a group representing a large strong man whose majestic head was covered with a crowned helmet. A blue garment protruded through the meshes of his golden armour. In one hand he held a white staff bearing certain characters, the other hand he extended toward a beautiful woman. His companion wore no garment,but a sun radiated from her breast. Her right hand held three globes joined by golden rings; a coronet of red flowers confined her beautiful hair. She sprang into the air and seemed to lift with her the warrior who accompanied her; both were borne up by the clouds about the group. On the capitals of four white marble columns were set four bronze statues; they had wings and appeared to sound trumpets.

I crossed the place, and mounting on a marble platform which was before me, I noticed with astonishment that I had re-entered the hall of Thrones (the first in which I had found myself when entering the Palace of Wisdom). The triangular altar was still in the center of this hall but the bird, the altar and the torch were joined and formed a single body. Near them was a golden sun. The sword which I had brought from the hall of fire lay a few paces distant on the cushion of one of the thrones; I took up the sword and struck the sun, reducing it to dust. I then touched it and each molecule became a golden sun like the one I had broken. At that instant a loud and melodious voice exclaimed,"The work is perfect!" Hearing this, the children of light hastened to join me, the doors of immortality were opened to me, and the cloud which covers the eyes of mortals, was dissipated. I SAW and the spirits which preside over the elements knew me for their master.

FINIS

## Notes And Commentaries

INITIATION into the Mysteries was defined by the ancient philosophers as life's supreme adventure and as the greatest good that can be conferred upon the human soul during its terrestrial sojourn. Plato, in the Phaedrus, writes thus of the supreme importance of acceptance into the sacred Rites: "Likewise, in consequence of this divine initiation, we become spectators of entire, simple, immovable and blessed visions in a pure light; and were, ourselves, pure and immaculate and *liberated from this surrounding vestment which we denominated body*, and to which we are now bound as an oyster to its shell.'

St. Paul also refers to the "inner experience" by which we come to KNOW. He says, "We speak of wisdom among the perfect, not the wisdom of this world, nor of the Archons (Rulers) of this world, but divine wisdom in a mystery, secret, which none of the Archons of this world know." An initiation is an extension of consciousness toward an appreciation of universal realities. The mystical ceremonials of the pagans and early Christians were but the outward symbols of inward processes. By obscure rites and pageantries the precious arcana of perfection was transmitted from age to age. The profane were satisfied by the solemnity of the outward forms and rituals, but the Adepts, those who had received the keys, applied the wisdom which was locked within the allegories to perfecting their internal spiritual faculties. Origen, the most mystical of the anti-Nicean fathers, in his preface to St. John, admits the twofold nature of all theological revelations: "To the literal minded [or exoterici] we teach the Gospel in the historic way, preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified; but to the proficient, fired with the love of Divine Wisdom [the esoterici] we impart the Logos [the Word].

Perfection is not bestowed: it is achieved. Men do not become wise merely through the witnessing of sacred dramas . . . rather, by the understanding of them. Symbolism is the language of divine truths, a writing by means of which may be intimated things which it is unlawful to actually reveal. "For the mystic symbols are well known to us who belong to the Brotherhood." (Plutarch). By initiation the rule of works is established. The divine man and the divine in man are brought to completeness by works alone. The adepts of the old schools were "wise Master Builders" with vision to see, with courage to do, and wisdom to remain silent. "There is a secrecy and silence observed in all Mysteries," wrote Tertullian, the creator of ecclesiastic Latinity.

During the ceremonials of initiation the neophyte was given the *LAW*. The great verities by which the universe moves towards its inevitable identity with God were revealed. It remained for the Initiate to apply this Law and through this application to achieve conscious immortality. There is a forking of the ways of knowledge at which practice diverges from theory. A man may either fulfill the Law and thus by enlightened action come finally to perfection, or he may accept the word of the Law and, ignoring the spirit of it, remain as he is . . . imperfect and unenlightened. He who receives the *LOGOS* and abides in the spirit thereof gradually increases in wisdom. The Nazarean theurgists said of such a one that "he had an oath." He was dedicated to the release of his inner part from the domination of his outer senses and appetites. Says Aretaeus, "Until the soul is set free it works within the body and is obscured by vapors and clay." By vapors is arcanely signified the appetites and excesses of the emotions which are as substanceless as a mist, and by the clay is meant the unresponsiveness of the corporeal form.

To increase in wisdom is to increase in enlightenment, for by enlightenment is inferred the illumining of the inner recesses of the reason by the light of the Logos - the spiritual sun. This development of the ability to know by philosophic discipline is accompanied by extensions of realization and appreciation. These extensions are the true growth of the soul which increases towards inclusiveness. Hence, in the sacred writings, this expansion of the soul's sphere of action is called initiation. By initiation the indwelling divinity verges towards its own cause, the eternal Good. The chambers of initiation are the "many mansions" through which the indwelling divinity must pass as through the tortuous windings of the Cretan labyrinth. Along its course are many doors, through each of which it is ushered into a larger and more luminous area of function and action. With each increase of our ability to appreciate the magnitudes of the divine plan, we are said to be reborn. Rebirth is the passing out from an old condition into a new state, from an old limitation to a new extension. As we grow in knowledge, our universe seems to enlarge with us, taking on the measure of our new constitution. Wisdom releases.

The academies of the old Mysteries invited the wisest and best of humanity to depart from the mortal shadow of worldliness and devote itself to those labors which are truly eternal. The perfection of Self is the Great Work, the beginning and end of wisdom: the perfected Self is the perfect offering and the consummation of the Great Work. He who is perfect is of the greatest use to others, the greatest good to himself and the most acceptable offering to the Most High.

With the collapse of the old pagan world and the corruption of the early Christian Church, the Mysteries ceased as great institutions. Their doctrines were lost, their priestcrafts were scattered, and their temples fell to ruin. New theories, for the most part superficial and insufficient, took the place of the earlier wisdom; and education, divorced from its spiritual part, laid the foundation for our present chaos. But the wise remained true to the ancient Rites. Those who had received the arcana could not, did not, forget. They gathered in secret, taught in secret and worshipped in secret. The temple fire burned in the hearts of its initiates. The outer forms crumbled away; but the inner spirit, strengthened by its participation in an everlasting truth, was immortal. Out of the darkness of a degenerate civilization, across the desert of sterile centuries, and finally through the Red Sea of the Inquisition the Mystics of the ancient wisdom carried triumphantly the Ark of their covenant.

The so-called Middle Ages were an era of fantastic symbolism. The Hermetists devised composite monsters borrowed from the gods of Egypt; the Cabbalists illuminated vellum with curious figures, seals, pentacles, and grotesque signatures of demons; the alchemists filled huge volumes with weird formulas telling of the mystic properties of toads and dragon's blood. In the dark field of medieval superstition there also grew and blossomed the Mystic Rose, to be finally choked out by the weeds of bigotry. These were strange centuries when false faith had put wisdom to hazard. Yet who dares to deny that the mystical traditions endured, and, clothed in the terms of Egyptian myths and chemistry, were still available to such as had eyes to perceive the tortured truth?

Against the background of dogmatic ignorance and purposeless pedantry stands out sharply and clearly the luminous personality of the Comte de St.-Germain. Master of the old wisdom, wise in forgotten truths, proficient in all the curious arts of antiquity, learned beyond any other man of the modern world, the mysterious Comte personified in his own incredible achievements the metaphysical traditions of fifty centuries. A thousand times the questions have been asked: where did St.-Germain secure his astonishing knowledge of natural law? How did he perpetuate himself from century to century, defying the natural corruption which brings prince, priest, and pauper alike to a common end? St.-Germain was the mouthpiece and representative of the brotherhood of philosophers which had descended in an unbroken line from the hierophants of Greece and Egypt. He had received the Logos. By his wisdom he confounded the elders. The life of this one man puts to naught the scholastic smugness of two thousand years.

*La Très Sainte Trinosophie* is supremely significant in that it sets forth the spiritual processes which finally result in adeptship. It is the diary of the soul's coming of age. It may well be the actual record of St.-Germain's own acceptance into the mystical brotherhood of which he finally became the Grand Master. As the purpose of the manuscript was the instruction of disciples already familiar with the secret terminology, the whole account is set forth symbolically in fragments of ritual and allegory derived from the ceremonials of the classical era. Though the first reading may serve only to perplex, a deep and careful analysis of the text will gradually enlighten. Each will discover in the writing that which he himself knows, he will interpret it according to that which he himself is, and he will apply it according to that which he himself desires. Symbols are all things to all men, yet beneath the wide diversity of interpretations of which they are susceptible is a wisdom simple and inevitable which can be comprehended only by the truly wise. Opinions, theories, and beliefs fall away; at the root of every emblem is a fact. Our manuscript is rich in these veiled facts and we are reminded by the author that no part of it is without hidden significance.

*La Très Sainte Trinosophie* is divided into twelve sections. Each is illuminated by an appropriate design. The early sections seem to derive their inspiration from the neo-Egyptian ritual called the Rite of Memphis, and the trials of the candidate are concerned directly with the four elements - earth, water, fire, and air. The grand pattern for the whole document is the Zodiac, to the signs of which the twelve sections of the writing are related. The Zodiac is the great soul cycle and the sun's passage through the zodiacal symbols is the original from which the ancient priestcrafts derived the authority for their sacred circumambulations. The ancients accepted the first sign of the zodiac as the beginning and the last sign as the end of all mundane activity. Similarly, Aries typified the beginning of regeneration or the entrance of the soul into light at the vernal equinox of the philosophic cycle, while Pisces signified the completion of the sacred pilgrimage and the accomplishment of the Magnum Opus.

St.-Germain chiefly employs alchemical symbols in this book of The Threefold Wisdom. This in no way infers that he is actually writing of chemical processes, for, as most of the great alchemists have agreed, the manufacturing of material gold is the least part of their science. That St.-Germain's meaning may be clear and the correlations between the zodiacal signs and the alchemical processes become evident, the following table will prove useful:

Aries

Calcination

Expulsion of the animal soul through heat. (Purification by the fire of aspiration.)

Taurus

Congelation

The union of parts; the achievement of one-pointedness or purpose.

Gemini

Fixation

The condition of becoming firm, the fixing of the will.

Cancer

Dissolution

To dissolve or to suspend in a fluid state; the universalizing of the personality.

Leo

Digestion

To soften by heat and moisture; to perfect the mind in wisdom (heat) and imagination (humidity).

Virgo

Distillation

The separation of the volatile principle from substance; the release of the soul from its involvement in bodily limitation.

Libra

Sublimation

The refining of elemental bodies; the increasing of the vibratory harmonies of the body.

Scorpio

Separation or Putrefaction

The philosophic death; an artificial decay by which the spiritual and material elements are separated from each other.

Sagittarius

Incineration

The burning away of dross; the soul fire comsumes the external body.

Capricorn

Fermentation

The conversion of organic susbtance into new compounds by a ferment; the building of the Golden Man.

Aquarius

Multiplication

The process of increasing; adeptship.

Pisces

Projection

The process of transmuting base substance into Gold; the perfection of the Work; immortality; in the eastern tradition, Buddhahood.

The arrangement of these symbols and processes differs in minor degree among the various writers, but the principle is always the same - the tran mutation of the not-Self into the Self; the tincturing of the outer life with the inner grace; the projection of soul upon its physical environment; the sublimation of evil into good; the multiplication of beauty, love, and truth until finally the powder of projection (wisdom) shall tincture the whole world. The alchemists tell us that a minute particle of the "Red Lion" can transmute into the purest gold a hundred thousand times its own weight. Wisdom - and wisdom alone - can accomplish this, for one wise man can perfect the ages, and a little truth will in time so greatly increase that the universe may not contain it.

A ritual not dissimilar to that contained in the present writing is set forth in the Popul Vuh, the sacred book of the Quichi Indians of Central America. The neophyte, in his quest for wisdom, passes in succession through twelve tests: He crosses a river of blood (Aries) then a river of mud (Taurus), he detects a subterfuge (Gemini), he enters the house of darkness (Cancer), then the house of spears (Leo), the house of cold (Virgo), the house of tigers (Libra), the house of fire (Scorpio), and the house of bats (Sagittarius) where he dies (incineration). The picture at the head of the ninth section of St.Germain's book depicts death. The body of the Indian neophyte is burned on a scaffold (Capricorn), the ashes scattered on the river (Aquarius), the ashes turn into a man-fish (Pisces), in which form the initiate, who has completed the cycle, destroys the evil genius who was his adversary through the initiatory ritual. The twelve Princes of Xibalba who are the Keepers of the Mysteries are of course the zodiacal gods.

As we follow St.-Germain into the lava beds of Vesuvius we indeed "tread upon the threshold of Persephone." We follow him in his soul quest for truth. Now we read only the symbols and we understand only in part, but ultimately we must achieve as he achieved and face the universal course with the same high courage that pressed him on to mastership. His symbols are from the Book of Life, and although we do not see in daily incident and happening the tests of which he writes, still each in his own sphere of experience faces the same hazards herein defined. We wander in the caverns of uncertainty; the ghostly forms of doubt harass us; fear steals away our strength, selfishness our vision, and ignorance our courage. But we are all alchemists in the laboratory of life: each is distilling the elixir of experience. In due time each shall have accomplished the perfection of this mysterious alchemical fluid, and with it shall tincture his world and himself. Upon the base metals of this present age he shall sprinkle the magical powder which his soul has discovered; the ages of Iron, of Silver, of Copper, and of Lead shall vanish away, and the Golden Age of the philosophers shall shine forth.

INTERPRETATION OF FIGURES AND TEXT

SECTION I.

(*Figure* I, page 34) The highly decorated title page of the manuscript is a valuable key to the interpretation of the entire work. De Givry describes the emblems thus: "This author's symbolism is Egyptianized in the fashion of the day. On the title page of the work we find the bird of Hermes, a tree with golden fruit, and a vase in which the work is achieved, the primitive material under the form of a ball embraced by two wings, and a luminous triangle containing the Divine Name." In another place he adds: "The Hebrew name El is on the right with another divine name lower down written in Arabic; the letters AB near the latter are indicative of the alphabet and represent the Word - The Divine Word. On the left is a Hebrew inscription taken from the first verses of the Book of Genesis: 'And the earth was without form, and void (HOhu-va-Bohu); and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God (Ruach Elohim) moved upon the face of the waters'."

The letters in the golden triangle do not form the sacred name Jehovah but, when decoded, yield the cryptic words: "Breathe after this One." That the "soul breath" of the Cabbalists is to be inferred is evident from the wings behind the hawk of Ra in the upper left corner. The second square from the top at the right is of especial Freemasonic interest. A candidate for initiation into the Mysteries stands in symbolic posture before an altar - with "one shoe off and one shoe on." The Hebrew letters *AL* (*EL*) in the small circle are one of the ten Cabbalistic names of God signifying "God, the Creator," and is associated with the Sephira Chesed or mercy. The letters AB are the mystical signature of the writer who was a "father" (abba) or master of the secret wisdom. The letters are also an abbreviation for an alchemical process. The Arabic "divine name" really consists of Hebrew words written in Arabic characters which read: "The Lord, the Most High, purifies." The Hebrew inscription in the lower left corner, while unquestionably the second verse of the first chapter of Genesis, does not read as in the Authorized Version. Characters have been changed and the sense altered to read in substance: "And the earth shall be a desolate waste. There shall be lamenting, and hate and consternation shall be upon the Face. And the Breath of El-him, because of the presence of the spirit, shall destroy those that have departed from God."

Analysis of the Text.

In the opening chapter of his manuscript, St.-Germain ingeniously depicts the "relapsed" state of the human soul. The dungeon of the Inquisition is the sphere of man's animal consciousness. The physical world, dominated by inquisitional impulses, constitutes the soul's torture chamber and house of testing. To the sage the material universe is the antechamber where gather those who are awaiting acceptance into the sacred rites. When the Comte speaks of "this place of exile" and the "monarchs who rule" over it, he refers to the illusionary universe and "the princes of this world." Here is the Prometheus myth, the Titan bound to Caucasus for indiscretion, and Lucifer chained in the bottomless pit for pride.

Throughout the early pages is traceable the allegory of the Prodigal Son. First is depicted humanity's heroic state during the Golden Age before sin and death came into the world. St.-Germain describes himself as "showered with the blessings of heaven and surrounded by power such as the human mind cannot conceive." The Comte then writes that "one moment destroyed everything." The mystery of the Fall of Man has never been revealed to the profane. The great cyclic law which swept the hosts of fiery Sparks into the abyss is known only to the elect. In the darkness of chaos the rebel spirits established their world. They built the cosmos and were locked within each of the material elements which they had willed into being. When the lower earth had been completed, the great Father desired to draw back into Himself His prodigal creation. To accomplish this He caused to issue from His own being His *WORD* - the Sotar or Messiah. Descending from the Abode of Light this heavenly Archon diminished its splendor, and investing its glory in the dark robes of earth, took upon Itself the cross of the cycles.

To the Gnostics, the physical universe was compounded of the dregs of spirit. It was the abortion of space. Material existence was nature's punishment for the rebellion of the angels. This was clearly set forth in the initiatory rituals which taught that men were reborn in earthly bodies as punishment for sin. Those who perfected themselves were born no more, but, like Buddha at the Great Release, passed on to the Nirvana of the wise - a birthless, deathless state. From the dun, geons of materiality the sages released themselves through the practice of their esoteric rites. Perfected in wisdom, these Initiates broke through the adamantine wall of the mortal sphere and emerged into the light of God.

The alchemical interpretation relates to the elementary spirits locked within the physical forms of the elements. It should be noted that in his procedure through the initiatory trials, St.-Germain identifies *himself* with the substance from which the Philosopher's Stone is to be formed. He is the alchemical *matter* itself passing through twelve cycles of refinement. It thus becomes evident that the alchemists recognized that their Great Work consisted of the transmutation of themselves. The earth (the dungeon) is filled with the seed souls of precious metals; here they are locked awaiting Art and Wisdom. As gold exists within every grain of sand but is incapable of manifesting itself unless stimulated by alchemical processes, so the seeds of truth, beauty, and knowledge exist within the dark earth of man's animal organism. The growth and perfection of these precious virtues is stimulated by discipline and in the fullness of time all base impulses and purposes are transmuted into the gold of soul power.

SECTION II.

(*Figure* II, page 40) In his notes on the *Trinosophia*, de Givry concerns himself solely with the alchemical import of the symbolism of this figure. He says of the second plate that it "represents a man gazing into a prophetic cup forming a magic mirror. The conjoined signs of the Sun and the Moon are seen against the pedestal of the table; at the top of the figure a super-position of differently colored rectangles indicates the phases of the Work; and the double sign of the lingam in a circle emblematically recalls the Hermetic male and female. An inscription in Greek letters and made-up characters gives a formula for the composition of Gold, or the Sun-King, by means of a mixture of gold and silver regenerated by vital mercury; linked to the blue rectangle giving this formula is a lower red rectangle inscribed with the rule for the furnace fire in Hebrew characters."

A careful analysis inclines us to suspect a more profound significance. The circle at the upper right, though possibly phallic in its superficial sense, is actually an occult monogram or seal containing two Greek letters. Translated these signify "the Light of God" or "the Light of Revelation." The rectangles at the upper left are the elements. The arrangement is Oriental. The lower four are crowned by the fifth - the quintessence, the mysterious Æther of the sages. The inscription in the upper panel describes the quickening of the soul seed by the warmth of the eastern quarter. (Aries.) There is also reference to the Breath which moves in the vessel, or upon the waters. The number 62 appears, accompanied by the admonition to open the heavenly gate (clairvoyance) with the aid of the vessel or cup. Does the cup (ark) contain the Water of Lethe, by partaking of which souls descending into generation lose all memory of their heavenly origin? Or does it contain the Water of Mnemosyne which flows at the gateway of wisdom and of which the adepts drink, the water of remembrance by which the soul remembers its own substance and origin?

The female figure is Isis in her role of Initiatrix. She is Nature, and her black skirt is the corporeal world by which part of her body is concealed. The naked man is the neophyte. Unclothed he came into the world and unclothed he must be born again. Bereft of all adornment, stripped of all insignia of rank and power, he may bring to the temple nothing that he has - only that which he is.

The table upheld by the Sun and Moon and at the base of which burns the everlasting fire, is the world. The objects lying upon it, or held by Isis, are three of the suit symbols which appear upon Tarot cards. The whole design, in fact, is not dissimilar to that major Tarot trump which is called Le Bateleur, the Juggler. The cup is the symbol of water, the *spearhead* of fire and the *wand* of air. Fire, air, and water are the symbols of the great Magical Agent. Their names in Hebrew are Chamah, Ruach, and Majim, and by the Cabbala the first letter of each of these words - *Ch*, *R*, and *M* - constitute Chiram, known to Freemasons as Hiram. This is the invisible essence which is the father of the four elements, and designates itself Chiram Telat Mechasot - Chiram the Universal Agent, one in essence, three in aspect, in which is hidden the wisdom of the whole world.

The Hebrew characters in the panel above the head of Isis are translated: "On account of distress they shall cling to the Bestower," which means that those (the wise) who have become wearied with worldliness shall turn to wisdom, the bestower of all good things.

Analysis of the Text.

The account of the initiatory ritual now begins. The disciple has waited the appointed time in the dark material universe which is the womb of the Mysteries. The process of philosophical birth proceeds according to the ancient and immutable law. The neophyte, veiled and bearing the Golden Bough (the mistletoe), advances toward the iron altar.

The choice of Vesuvius as the scene for the initiation is exceedingly appropriate. The vent of the volcano leads downward into the subterranean strata of the earth where dwell the subterranean deities who must be first propitiated. The volcano is also the symbol of the alchemical furnace. The veil signifies that the neophyte has reached the state of the mystæ - one who perceives through a veil, or, in the Christian Mysteries, "as through a glass darkly." Pliny refers to the mistletoe as the "all-healer." It was presumably the Golden Bough given to Æneas as a passport to the infernal regions. Sir James Frazer thus comments upon the initiatory ceremony as set forth by Virgil:

"If the mistletoe, as a yellow withered bough in the sad autumn woods, was conceived to contain the seed of fire, what better companion could a forlorn wanderer in the nether shades take with him than a bough that would be a lamp to his feet as well as a rod and staff to his hands? Armed with it he might boldly confront the dreadful spectres that would cross his path on his adventurous journey. Hence when Æneas, emerging from the forest, comes to the banks of Styx, winding slow with sluggish stream through the infernal marsh, and the surly ferryman refuses him passage in his boat, he has but to draw the Golden Bough from his bosom and hold it up, and straightway the blusterer quails at the sight and meekly receives the hero into his crazy bark, which sinks deep in the water under the unusual weight of the living man."

Mistletoe is a parasite, and as such symbolizes the heavenly man within the mortal body. The soul grows from the body and in it, but is not of it, for as the tree takes its nourishment from the earth even so the body receives its sustenance from material sources; but the mistletoe derives its vitality not from the dark loam but from the tree and the air. The mistletoe is said to be luminous in the darkness, and has been called the wise man's torch. Its luminosity is the light of the internal organs - the aura of the brain. He who bears the branch announces his fitness to receive the initiation.

The neophyte lays the branch upon the iron altar; he gives himself to the law, assuming the responsibilities of spiritual progress. The sacred Word is spoken. The hallowed Bough bursts into flame: the sacrifice is accepted. The earth opens. Down through the Royal Arches as into a great abyss passes the candidate. The mists clear, revealing a vast cavern - the dark mother from which all things must come - similar in significance to Porphyry's cave of the nymphs. The long white robe is the seamless garment of the Nazarene woven from the endless thread of experience. The copper lamp is enlightened love, without which no man may follow the narrow path of wisdom. Robed in purity, illumined with compassion and understanding, the neophyte follows the black vaulted passage which leads to immortality.

After a great distance the passage ends in a square room from which lead four doors. This is the Hall of Choosing. The doors signify the courses which the soul can pursue. The black door is the path of asceticism and labor; the red door is that of faith; the blue door is that of purification, and the white door is that of adeptship and of the highest Mysteries. In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna describes these paths and those who follow them, and reveals that the last is the highest and the most perfect.

The neophyte enters through the black door of asceticism and labor and is about to pass through the red door of enlightened love when it closes upon him. He then turns to the door of purification and sacrifice but this will not receive him. Then the star, the symbol of his essential dæmon or genius, darts through the white door. Fate has decreed adeptship. The neophyte follows his star.

The alchemical significance of the account reveals that at the beginning of the Great Work the power of choice is given to the operator, that he may decide the end to which his labor shall be directed. The black door represents the making of material gold; the red door the Universal Medicine for the healing of the nations; the blue door the Elixir of Life, and the white door the Philosopher's Stone. From the door which is chosen we discover that aspect of the Great Work which our author contemplates.

SECTION III.

(*Figure* III, page 44) Two lions, one red and the other black, guard the Crown. The Crown is Kether, the fountain of wisdom. The king of beasts symbolizes nobility and rulership. In ancient times, figures of lions adorned the thrones of princes. These animals were also guardians of gates, and in Egypt the Sphinx, the man-headed lioness guarded the entrance to the House of the Mysteries.

The inscription upon the flank of the lion is inverted. An inverted symbol signifies a perverted power: thus, nobility becomes tyranny and greatness leads to despotism. In the introduction to his writing, St.-Germain warns his disciples of two adversaries which the neophyte must overcome. One he terms the *misuse of power* and the other *indiscretion*. The black lion represents tyranny and the red lion, lust. Those who would accomplish wisdom must overcome these animals if they would reach the Crown which lies beyond. The black lion is the temptation of power - the impulse to build temporal empire in a spiritual universe. The red lion is the temptation to possess. Its ministers in the human body are the sense perceptions which would deflect the aspiring candidate from his holy course and lead him into the fantastic sphere of appetite and desire. There can be no compromise with these monsters of perversion.

With the vision there appears suspended the strung bow of the will and two lance-pointed arrows. Quickly must the bow be drawn and to the heart of each beast a shaft be driven. "Kill out desire," decrees the eastern master. "Slay ambition," wrote the western sage. The clouds upon which the lions stand signify the unsubstantiality of the world's pomp and circumstance, while in the clear sky above, the golden Crown floats unsupported. Wisdom is a sufficient foundation for itself, but all other bodies and conditions depend for their support upon the frail stuff "that dreams are made on."

The panel above the lions commands that man should bend the knee and worship the all-powerful God who sends forth His love in winged splendor from the first angle of the world. (Aries.) It also informs that the sixth sign, which is mighty and powerful, is the ending and completion of the ages. Virgo, the sixth sign of the zodiac, is the symbol of service and renunciation by which the lions may be overcome. He who gives up life for wisdom shall receive a fuller life.

Beneath the lions is a panel containing Greek characters which mean: "Each must sprinkle himself with his own wine from the mountain of Chios. He must drink to God before the wood. He must give himself in exchange for that for which he yearns." These words are from an old ritual. Wood was the symbol of Dionysius and it was in honor of this god of the wood and of the vine that the ritual of the Communion was first established. To drink of one's own blood or to sprinkle oneself with his own wine is to be immersed in or tinctured by the inner soul power. Fermentation was the presence of Bacchus or the life in the juice of the grape, and the Greeks used the symbol of intoxication, as do the Sufis of Islam, to represent ecstacy. A man in an ecstatic state was described by them as being one "intoxicated with God."

Analysis of the Text.

The first initiation is that of *earth*, represented by the black marble passage, ways in the subterranean regions of the volcano. To pass this test the body must be subdued in all its parts and become a perfect instrument of the enlightened will. The bodily atoms and molecules must be vibrated anew until there is no part of the physical fabric which does not pulsate with spiritually directed energy.

The second mystery in the order of the Memphis Rite is that of *water*, and at the beginning of this section the candidate finds himself standing on the shore of a vast underground lake. This is the sea of ether which separates the two worlds. It is the humidic body of the earth, the sphere of generation. He who would reach the invisible world must cross this sea, that is, become master of the generative powers of nature. Led by the blazing star, the candidate throws himself into the midst of the waves. With his lamp upon the crown of his head (the spirit fire lifted into the pineal gland) he struggles for mastery over the currents of the etheric world. His strength fails, and he cries out to the Universal Cause for help. A boat appears, in it seated the king of the earth with a golden crown upon his forehead. But the boat is pointed *back* toward the shore from which the neophyte has come. The crowned man offers the kingdoms of the earth but the disciple of wisdom who has risen above these things cannot be thus easily tempted. Strengthened by the courage of righteous decision and aided by the invisible genii, the candidate fights his way to the distant shore. Before him rises the silvery wall of the moon, the lady of the sea, whose dominion he has passed.

The *fire* initiation awaits him. Having mastered the vital principle of nature by which growth and propagation are controlled, the candidate next faces ambition, the fire of pride and the flaming tyranny of emotional excess. He beholds the lions, the fire symbols. The key to the course of action is revealed by the hieroglyphics. The lions, the writing and the wall dissolve. The path stretches out through the sphere of eternal flame.

The alchemical aspect of the symbolism is one of purification or the passing of the elements of the Stone through a bath. In this process of purification they pass from an earthy state through a vaporous or watery condition, to a fiery or gaseous quality. The lunar humidity present in all bodies must be dried out, which led the Greek philosophers to declare that "a dry soul is a wise one." The Platonists interpreted this to mean that the mastery of the lunar principle brought to an end the reign of corruption by which all bodies are finally dissolved. The moon rules physical generation or the perpetuation of corruptible forms, but the sun has dominion over spiritual generation, the creation of incorruptible bodies. Man is the progeny of fire (the sun), water (the moon), and air (the bird of Thoth). The temptation by the king with the golden crown suggests one of the most common difficulties of the alchemical tradition. Those who attempted the art in most cases failed in their quest for wisdom because they became fascinated with dreams of wealth. Material gold tempts the alchemist away from his spiritual quest for enlightenment and immortality.

SECTION IV.

(*Figure* IV, page 48) Upon an altar formed of the twelve whorls of a winged serpent twisted about a spear rests the cup of Everlastingness. The device is derived from the cyclic serpent so often used in the Rites of Serapis. The twelve coils of the snake are emblematic of the philosophic year and the spiral course of the Ain through the zodiacal constellations. In the preparation of the Wise Man's Stone the elements pass through twelve stages of augmentation. In each of these cycles the power of the matter is intensified, a fact which is suggested by the increasing size of the serpent's spirals. The figure is also reminiscent of what the sages termed the philosophic vortex - the natural form of the soul power in the human body.

In *Isis Unveiled*, H. P. Blavatsky writes: "Before our globe had become egg-shaped or round it was a long trail of cosmic dust or fire-mist, moving and writhing like a serpent. This, say the explanations, was the Spirit of God moving on the Chaos until its breath had incubated cosmic matter and made it assume the annular shape ". In the *Chaldean Oracles* the Universal Fire is described as moving with a serpentine motion. The present symbol is the Universal Wisdom moving as a winged serpent upon the surface of the primitive chaos - that is, the unregenerated body of the neophyte. The ritual of the Sabazian Mysteries included the drawing of a live snake across the breast of the candidate. In the drawing, the serpent is twisted around the backbone - the spear - and forms an appropriate support for the cup of immortality.

Beside this strange altar stands the jewelled sword. Faintly traceable upon its sheath are the ancient symbols of the eye, the heart, and the mouth, symbolic of the three persons of the Creative Triad - life in the heart, light in the eye, breath in the mouth. The life, the light, and the breath are the sources of all things and from their union in the cruciform symbol the candidate must fashion the weapon for his protection against the elemental darkness. The cycle symbol must be overcome by wisdom. This is "the sword of quick decision" with which the Oriental neophyte must cut low the snaky branches of the world banyan tree, the emblem of the self-replenishing cycles and the law of rebirth. The serpent is the spiral of evolution; the cup contains the shining Nirvanic sea into which the soul is finally merged; the sword is the *illumined will* - the same sword which solves the enigma of life's Gordian Knot by cutting it with a single stroke.

The cryptic words on the upper panel carry out this thought. Translated, they are: "Reverence this vessel (the ark or cup) of Everlastingness; offer freely of yourself a portion unto *IA* (Iah or Jah, Jehovah) and to the corner (or angle) in atonement." This is derived from the symbolism of the Chaldeans, who regarded the Universal Cause as the Lord of the Angles.

Analysis of the Text.

The candidate enters upon the place of fire. A great sea of flames (the astral world) stretches out in every direction, bubbling and seething with an infernal fury. The dæmon orders the candidate to advance. With his mind fixed upon Reality, the disciple obeys, only to discover that the fire has lost its heat, and he walks unharmed into the midst of the conflagration. He finds himself in the Temple of Sidereal Fire, in the midst of which is the greenish-gold form of a serpent with ruby eyes and diapered scales. The nature of the fire is clearly revealed, for we are told that one-half of it burns with a vivid light, while the other half is shadowed and blackish. Here is the serpent of the astral light, which, according to Eliphas Levi, is twined around every flower that grows in the garden of Kama, or desire. The yogi in his meditation knows well the meaning of the House of Fire and the serpent which guards it. Here the candidate discovers the significance of the Universal Fire-Spirit which, turned downward, is the root of all evil, but if it be lifted up, draws all men to wisdom. The serpent-fire must be overcome. The sword is at hand, and with it the candidate strikes at the brazen coils. Brass is the composite metal symbolic of the body of man, before it is reduced by philosophy to its simple elements.

The Lord of the Fire World is vanquished. The senses are controlled; the appetites are under the iron dominion of the will. Anger, hate, and pride have been exiled from the soul. The three fires of illusion have died out. The whole mirage of the astral light fades amidst a terrifying outburst of sound and color. The candidate is lifted through the Arches of the underworld. He passes quickly through the monsters that dwell on the boundaries of excess. The cruciform sword scatters the foul throng of darkness. Upward and upward, through the numerous layers of the globe (the orbits of the interior stars) the neophyte rises, after his three days (degrees) in the darkness of Hades. The stone is rolled away, and at last, with a burst of glory, he rises into the light of day - the air sphere where dwells the mind which must be conquered next.

The alchemical philosophy is evident. The circular space is a distilling vessel which stands in the midst of the furnace flame. The serpent represents elements within the retort, and the candidate portrays other elements which have the power to dissolve and corrode the serpent. The rising of the candidate upward through the walls of the globe here signifies the vapors which, ascending through the long neck of the distilling vessel, escape from the heated inferno below.

SECTION V.

(*Figure* V, page 50) The strange bird hovering above the altar fire is the sacred Ibis, symbol of Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom and letters, and the patron of alchemy. It is the volatile philosophical Mercury which can remain in a suspended state only "when in the midst of the flames." By the philosophical Mercury we must understand the regenerated principle of intellect - mind rendered truly luminous by the flame of inspiration. In its beak the bird carries a green branch, the acacia of Freemasonry - the symbol of rebirth and immortality through spiritual enlightenment. The black feet and wings signify the *earth* principle, the silvery body the *water* principle, the red head the *fire* principle, and the golden neck the *airy* principle. The spiritual bodies of the elements are thus united in a philosophical creature, the bird of the wise men - the phœnix.

Beside the *bird* and the *altar* is an elaborate candlestick, its base formed of twisted serpents. (Ida and Pingala?) The upper end of the candlestick terminates in a lotus blossom from which rises a lighted taper.This is the soul light, the inner radiance which reveals the secret of the bird. As man's external existence is lighted by an external sun, by which he perceives all temporal concerns, so his internal existence is illuminated by the light of the soul, the radiance of which renders visible the workings of the divine mind within.

The inscription beneath reads: "To the strong is given the burden." This refers to the qualifications for adeptship. The great truths of life can be conferred only upon those who have been tested in the essentials of character and understanding. In the panel above, the reader is instructed to "Kindle a fire upon the high place, that the sacrifice may be borne upward to the Desired One." The symbolism is borrowed from the ceremonials of the old Jews. Upon the altar of burnt incense a fire was continually burning. This is the fire of holy aspiration which consumes the base elements of the body and transmutes them into soul qualities, symbolized by the incense fumes, and these ascend as evidence of the spiritual convenant between aspiring humanity and its Creator.

The panel to the right describes the ceremony which accompanies the building of the sacred fire. The one on the left is part of a ritual, in substance as follows: "When the years of this existence are done, and the soul, outbreathing at death, approaches the gate of immortality, may the bird bear it swiftly away to the abode of the wise." In the Egyptian rites, the soul of the Initiate departed in the form of a bird which is shown hovering over the couch on which the mummy lies. The soul-bird with the green branch refers to the Messianic Mystery as set forth in the*Book of the Dead*. Wisdom confers immortality upon the soul. Without wisdom, the soul must perish with the body. This is the secret of the ritual of the *Coming Forth by Day* or the*Breathing Out of the Ka*.

Analysis of the Text.

The candidate next experienced the mystery of the *airy* or intellectual principle. He is raised out of the subterranean depths by his guardian spirit and lifted into the higher atmosphere. Below him is the desert. Special attention is called to triangular masses - the pyramids. An early manuscript in our collection affirms that the Egyptians were able to manufacture the Philosopher's Stone without artificial heat by burying the retort in the desert sand, which furnished the exact temperature for alchemical experiments. The desert is here a symbol for the aridity and unproductivity of the unawakened consciousness. In the physical universe spiritual values languish, yet in the midst of this mortal sphere stand the pyramids, supreme symbols of spiritual alchemy - temples of initiation in the desert of waiting. It is significant that the atmosphere of Egypt is peculiarly conducive to the perpetuation of ancient monuments of learning which, when moved from their old footings, rapidly crumble away. Thus material life, the desert, is a natural laboratory in which the supreme chemistry is accomplished through suffering and aspiration.

The account of the rising and falling of the candidate through space relates to the alternations of the substances in the retort by which they pass through a cycle of attenuation and precipitation, to be finally drawn off through the neck of the vessel. Hermes uses this figure to set forth the mystery of rebirth, the periodic alternation of the soul from a temporal to a sidereal condition, and its final liberation through initiation. Reaching the upper extremity of the intellectual sphere, the candidate is incapable of further function, and swoons.

Upon regaining consciousness he discovers himself to be invested with a starry garment, the same spoken of by Apuleius in his *Metamorphosis*, and also that worn by the adepts of the Mithraic Rite. By the starry garment is represented not only the auric body but the new universal aspect of being - the sidereal consciousness bestowed by the experience of initiation. The candidate may return to the narrowness of his physical environment, but he can never again reduce his consciousness to the limitations of the material state. The starry body is his regenerated and illumined intellect.

The strange characters signifying the name of the *bird* with the green branch are decoded to mean "To be given the life" - that is, immortality. The name of the altar reads: "The Crown, Kether"and is decoded, "When shall be the gate of entrance." Together, the two phrases mean: "Immortality shall be conferred at the gate of the House of Wisdom." The name of the *torch* is*Light;* but translated, the characters read: "The dernier shall be hidden away and forgotten." This coin of the prophet should be understood in the sense of the suit of Coins in the Tarot deck, for this suit represents the material body over which the symbol has rulership. The statement may then read: "The body of the wise man shall be concealed." This thought was faithfully followed by the old adepts. The tombs of the Initiates have never been discovered; and in the famous Rosicrucian cemetery the resting places of the Brothers are marked only by the Rose. During the initiation ceremonies, which took place in the invisible worlds, the physical body of the neophyte was hidden in a secret place where no disturbing forces could reach it while the soul was exploring the mysteries of Amenti. Body here also represents personality and the whole personal sphere of life which must be cast aside and forgotten; also the personal ego which must die or be buried that the Universal Self may be born from its seed.

SECTION VI.

(*Figure* VI, page 54) The altar which our author describes as being composed of the four elements is triangular in shape. From this circumstance two sacred numbers are produced: the square (4) plus the triangle (3) equals 7; and the four elements of the altar multiplied by the triangle equals 12. From this the composition of the world is made apparent. Nature is a triangular arrangement of four elements; and the divine world, of which the zodiac is a proper symbol, consists of these elements multiplied three times, or in their three primary states. The altar is the human body; its material parts - the square - are arranged in the spiritual order - a triangle. Upon the altar are the three symbols from the previous diagram. They are so placed as to form a triangle, and we must understand them as salt, sulphur and Mercury - body, spirit, and soul.

In the air above the altar is the crux ansata, the symbol of generation and fecundity. This may be considered as copper - the metal of Venus, and a symbol of the reproductive energy of the soul. Venus is the Lucifer of the ancients, the light bearer, the star of self-knowledge. This symbol must remind the sage that the power to multiply is common to both the internal and external man. As bodies generate bodies, so the inner body, the soul, generates the archetypes of personalities. By alchemy, wisdom perpetuates itself by applying to its own peculiar purposes the same laws by which forms are perpetuated in the corporeal sphere.

The whole figure is a symbol of spiritual generation, the mystery of Melchisedek, who is his own father and his own mother and is above the law. It sets forth perpetual reenergization by the use of the Stone. It tells of the very power, which St.-Germain himself possessed, of continuing from century to century by means of the subtle Elixir, the secret of which was known only to himself and his Masters. First, the three parts of the composite man spirit, soul, and body - must be brought into equilibrium, and from this equilibrium is born the Homunculi or Crystal Man. This Man is an immortally generating ego capable of precipitating personalities at will, yet itself unchanged by these personalities and unlimited by them. Instead of the soul living in the body and prisoned by its limitations, a new condition is established: the body lives in the soul. To the adept, the physical form is but an instrument for the expression of consciousness, intelligence, and action - represented by the *candle*, the *bird*, and the burning *altar*.

Analysis of the Text.

This part contains some of the most beautiful symbolism in the entire manuscript. The candidate, having transcended the four elements, now continues into the sphere of higher causations, where he is instructed in the great Cabbalistic principles by which the universal integrity is preserved. The *palace* is the archetypal sphere - Plato's world of Ideas. The simple geometric arrangement reveals the divine harmony.

The doors of the archetypal world swing open and the Hierophant of the Order comes forth. It is He who was called the Master of the Hidden House, the Initiator, the Keeper of the Keys of Thoth. Alchemy is a religion of fire, as is also Zarathustrism. The Magus therefore wears the insignias of Zoroaster and speaks in the language of the Fire Prophet. The names which the Hierophant gives to the *bird*, the *torch* and the *altar* are the same as those given in the preceding section.

In company with the Initiator the candidate enters the immense temple, whose 360 columns leave no doubt as to its identity with the universe. The altar already described, being the threefold cause of the material sphere, is placed in the center of the great hall. The Hierophant next informs the disciple as to the new names which have been bestowed upon the sacred objects. The*bird* is called *Ampheercha*, which is interpreted to mean that a mother shall bear the likeness, or double. This is a reference to the Immaculate Conception and to the Secret Doctrine as the mother of the adepts. The name for the *altar* appears to be the word for priest but refers to the Initiator as the one through whom the disciple is born in the second or philosophic birth, a mystery more fully explained in the name of the torch. The hall is called *Sky* (the firmament) but involves in the formation of its characters the Cabbalistic admonition: "Worship the glory which is to come." The triangular altar is Athanor, a self-feeding digesting furnace used by the alchemists, but the word may be divided into two. The first part then means immortality and the second, the four quarters of the heavens.

The eighty-one Thrones placed within the palace of the Sky, each at the top of nine steps, are of great significance. The Rosicrucian Mysteries consisted of nine lesser and three greater rites or degrees - a system which may be traced directly to the Cabbala. Out of Kether, the universal Crown, issue the nine Sephiroth and from each of these in turn issue nine others. Nine is the sacred number of Man, and in the old Cabbala, Adam (ADM) is the numerical equivalent of r, 4, and 40 - numbers whose sum is 9. The symbolism of the nine is continued throughout mystical literature. The Eleusinian Mysteries were given in nine nocturnal ceremonials to represent the months of the prenatal epoch. By Cabbalistic addition, eighty-one equals nine, and the Thrones signify the eighty-one branches growing upon the great World Tree. The schools of the Lesser Mysteries are patterned from the universal harmony and here we see set forth the arrangement of the secret Brotherhood.

The name for the great hall is repeated in the text at the point where the venerable members of the school enter and take their seats. The disciple receives his philosophical name. He is called the Wise Man and the words mean: "To be the Face or Manifestor of the Most High." The nine masters of the lodge then bestow their gifts. The first gives a cube of gray earth representing the element of earth; the second, three cylinders of black stone - the three phases of the Moon; the third, a rounded crystal - Mercury; the fourth a crest of blue plumes - Venus; the fifth, a silver vase - the Sun; the sixth, a cluster of grapes - Mars; the seventh, a *bird* - Jupiter; the eighth, a small *altar* - Saturn; and the ninth, a *torch* - the fixed stars. For the understanding of the significance of these gifts, consider the following fragments from the Pyamander of Hermes relative to the ascension of the soul through the nine spheres and its return to the Lords of each of these spheres the gifts or limitations which are imposed by the laws of generation:

"After the lower nature has returned to the brutishness (the elements) the higher struggles again to regain its spiritual estate. It ascends the seven Rings upon which sit the Seven Governors and returns to each their lower powers in this manner: Upon the first ring sits the Moon, and to it is returned the ability to increase and diminish. Upon the second ring sits Mercury, and to it are returned machinations, deceit, and craftiness. Upon the third ring sits Venus, and to it are returned the lusts and passions. Upon the fourth ring sits the Sun, and to this Lord are returned ambitions. Upon the fifth ring sits Mars, and to it are returned rashness and profane boldness. Upon the sixth ring sits Jupiter, and to it are returned the sense of accumulation and riches. And upon the seventh ring sits Saturn, at the Gate of Chaos, and to it are returned falsehood and evil plotting.

"Then, being naked of all the accumulations of the seven Rings, the soul comes to the Eighth Sphere, namely, the ring of the fixed stars. Here, freed of all illusion, it dwells in the Light and sings praises to the Father in a voice which only the pure of spirit may understand."

The name for the cube of gray earth relates to the mystery of the spiritual birth; that of the three black cylinders is selflessness; that of the rounded crystal signifies the end of the ages or the cycles; that of the blue plumes is Aquarius or the Leg of the Great Man; that of the silver vase is the birth of the spirit; that of the grapes is regeneration; that of the bird, they who live in the light or truth; that of the altar, the fruitage of virtue, or ultimate good; and that of the torch "the springing forth," the Egyptian *Coming Forth by Day* - the completion, the ninth mystery. That the torch is really a symbol of the sphere of the fixed stars and of the corresponding strata of the human soul is further proved by the fact that the manuscript tells us that it is composed of brilliant particles.

The mastery of the nine parts of the soul constitutes the completion of the Lesser Mysteries and the full control of all bodily faculties, functions, and powers. The three Greater Mysteries lie beyond and are still symbolized by the *bird*, the *torch*, and the *light*. The Lesser Mysteries are rituals of self control and purification; the Greater Mysteries are rituals of creation. In nine processes man purifies himself, but only to the few are given the keys of the threefold creative Mystery: the creation of form, the creation of thought, and the creation of consciousness. Before leaving the chamber of initiation, the candidate drinks of the Water of Life, the nectar of the gods, which is explained by the philosophers as representing the blood of the Logos or the Sun - the divine energy which sustains the elect, and which is constantly flowing in the Grail of the Mysteries. According to the Greeks, the gods partake of no mortal food, but are nourished from the fountains of Eternal Good which spring up in the midst of the worlds. Having given the secret sign to the adepts, the new Initiate departs from the chamber by the right-hand path.

SECTION VII.

(*Figure* VII, page 60) The key to the seventh plate is equilibrium, this being the virtue bestowed by the seventh sign of the zodiac, Libra, the Balance. Our author tells us that the central motif, two small circles and a pendant cross, is a sacred seal. This may be interpreted as the celestial sulphur and salt - the Sun and Moon. The suspended cross is the Lapis Philosophorum, composed of the regenerated elements - *salt* (earth), *sulphur* (fire), *Mercury* (air), and *Azoth* the æther (water of the sages). The Sun and Moon are the father and mother of the Philosopher's Stone. They represent heaven and earth, from which is generated the cross - man, the progeny of the two immortal agents, spirit and matter. The cross also signifies the equilibrium of man suspended between his origin and destiny. The arrangement of the figures indicates the adept in whom the union of all opposites has been effected. The Initiate is the rational androgyne.

Surrounding the central part of the symbol are two circles of figures. The inner circle is composed of cuneiform characters; the outer, of hieroglyphics derived from several ancient languages, arranged in a manner entirely arbitrary, and undecipherable without the original key. The circle of cuneiform characters must be interpreted by discovering the Hebrew equivalents of the arrow-pointed letters. The text is apparently prophetic, and at first reading may seem to refer to the cosmic change which arises from the tipping of the celestial Balance. In reality, however, the material deals strictly with changes which are to take place in the soul of the Initiate. The cuneiformed-Hebrew reads as follows, probably continuing from the outer circle of hieroglyphic text:

"And is the outbreathing of Everlastingness. Know that place (sign or symbol, probably a zodiacal constellation) to be the end (of the ages). The Leg (Aquarius, probably referring to the Aquarian Age or cycle) is the beginning of the destruction." In the zodiacal cycle of adeptship, Aquarius is the symbol of the final disintegration of the personality, for beyond it lies only Pisces, the Nirvana.

St.-Germain's manuscript also describes an axe, not shown in the illustration. This is the instrument of separation, and would agree exactly with the interpretation of the figure. This whole device is suspended between two pillars of green marble. These may well be the Jachin and Boaz of Freemasonry. Students of the Cabbala will remember the third column which united these two, and which, like the great seal in this figure, represented the adept whose perfected constitution united wisdom and generation - the law and the prophets.

Analysis of the Text.

The Initiate again assumes the attributes of the alchemical substance from which the Universal Stone is to be prepared. The entire section is devoted to processes of purification, consisting of three baths. As the result of the first bath, the water in the steel vessel becomes discolored with the impurities given off by the philosophical *matter*. In the second bath the elements of the Stone are impregnated with a mysterious reddish liquid of an extremely corrosive quality. In the third bath the corrosive principle is washed away. These three processes, which require sixteen days, completely purify the matter, which then passes on to its next augmentation.

From a mystical viewpoint, the vessel filled with crystal-clear water is the laver of purification placed in the courtyard of the Tabernacle of the ancient Jews. The high priests who served the Lord must cleanse themselves with the water from the laver before they could perform the sacred duties of their office. The ceremony of baptism is but the outer symbol of the inner truth. The Absolute Cause of all things in its impersonal and utterly diffused condition was regarded as a vast ocean filling all space. The Schamayim, which is the divine fiery water - the out-flowing of the Word of God - descends from the divine Presence. Dividing in the middle distance between spirit and matter, it becomes solar fire and lunar water. This Schamayim was known to the alchemists as the Universal Mercury, and is called Azoth, the measureless Spirit of Life. This spiritual, fiery, original water passes through Eden (which in Hebrew means "vapor") and pours itself into four main rivers - the elements which are the conditions of the Universal Mercury. This is the tincturing water by which the righteous are baptised. It is this water, the Universal Mercury, the solvent of the sages, by which the spiritual baptism is given. He who is immersed in this water, or who receives the heavenly Schamayim into himself, becomes cleansed and purified. This Schamayim contains within itself the twofold baptism. Its lunar power baptises with water - the baptism given by John the Baptist; but its solar principle baptises with fire - the Messianic baptism.

The Initiates of the ancient Mysteries being lifted up into an apotheistic condition, received the divine baptism. They were immersed in God, and by this immersion they were washed clean of the black spot of original sin, which, according to Mohammed, is in the heart of every mortal. The Schamayim of the alchemists is the Shining Sea of the Buddhists, the boundless Nirvanic ocean, the water of space constantly alight with God.

The silver axe with blue handle, attached to the column, is called the *destroyer;* but the translation is: "Lift the voice to its fullness in chant. (Or song.)" The axe is the ancient symbol of the Initiated Builders, the "hewers of wood." It is also the emblem of separation or division, and is an appropriate figure to represent separation through purification.

The sign of Libra, which rules the seventh operation of the philosophical mystery, divides the lower from the upper hemisphere of the zodiac. It is also the ancient sign of the Passover, a feast which signified the passing over of life from a material to an immaterial condition by the alchemical baptism. The gross particles of the soul are washed away and life is prepared for a supersubstantial existence.

SECTION VIII.

(*Figure* VIII, page 62) In the sky blazes the philosophical sun, within it the face of the Logos. Its rays are concealed by the same clouds which must ever hide the Divine Light from the eyes of the profane. The Lion is now crowned, its coronet having seven rays, symbolic of the seven energies of the will. This is no longer the despotic lion of the earlier illustration. Ambition has been transmuted into aspiration; and that impulse which, unregenerated, lures men on to temporal destruction, is now the force which bestows courage upon spiritual enterprise.

The bunch of grapes symbolizes illumination. A curious work on alchemy states that the grape has a special affinity for gold, and that when vineyards are planted in areas where gold is abundant, the roots of the vine absorb the minute particles of this precious metal and distribute them throughout its stalk, leaves, and fruit. In alchemy, gold is the symbol of the Supreme Principle. The Nazarene likened His disciples and Himself to a vine with its fruits. The grape cluster is an appropriate symbol for the school of the adepts, for the Initiates grow together upon a single branch. Here also is a subtle allusion to the blood, which carries within it the golden particles of the sun. The lion and the grapes restate the old formula wisdom and generation.

The panels of characters on either side of the brazier contain fragments from old rituals and mystery texts. The one upon the right reads: "Kindle a light at the appointed time - the seventh hour of the dawning." This is followed by an obscure reference to the coming forth of five at the full sun (noon) and the panel concludes with the admonition: "Dance in a circle and prophecy.-

The panel at the left is also descriptive of a ceremony: "Honor is paid to the Giver of life.- The Initiate is admonished to sacrifice his Ka or soul. The number q appears, and the symbol of the ark or coffin in which candidates are buried in the mystery. Then the full face of the sun appears, to represent resurrection. There is an allusion to the gate in the heavens and the ascension of the Ka. With the aid of Egyptian metaphysics, it is not difficult to decipher these symbols. The number

refers to the nine Lesser Mysteries associated with the box or coffin - the body. The sun-face is the resurrection, and the whole panel describes the passage of the soul (Ka) through the invisible worlds as set forth in the symbolism of the Pyramid Rites. This is appropriately placed in the eighth division of the manuscript, inasmuch as the eighth sign of the zodiac is Scorpio and it was in a certain degree of this sign that the high priest released the Ka of his disciple into the Amenti.

Analysis of the Text.

The eighth section of the manuscript is devoted largely to an understanding of the mystery of the alchemical *salt*. Of this mystery of alchemy Eliphas Levi writes: "To separate the subtile from the gross is to liberate the soul from the prejudices and (from) all vice, which is accomplished by the use of Philosophical Salt, that is to say, Wisdom; of Mercury, that is, personal skill and application; finally, of Sulphur, representing vital energy and fire of will. By these are we enabled to change into spiritual gold things which are of all least precious, even the refuse of the earth." The Salt of the sages is wisdom derived from experience, for experience is the salt of earthiness, or the material state, and a wise man is the salt of the earth. In our manuscript the salt is called "the first among the regenerated." When the Initiate impregnates himself with salt, it is equivalent to saying that he makes wisdom part of himself. Salt is a preservative of bodies, just as wisdom is a preservative of souls. Decay cannot affect that one who has discovered the wise man's salt.

Leaving the circular apartment and the mass of white and shining salt, the Initiate approaches the edge of a somber lake, and perceives at a distance a bridge called *the strong to be subdued*. The term also signifies a reflector or a shadow suspended over the lake, and betokens the Rainbow Bridge, the Bifrost of the Scandanavians - the bridge which leads from earth upward to Asgard, the terrestrial paradise where dwell the twelve Ases, the Hierophants of the world.

The eighth sign of the zodiac is Scorpio, well represented by the dark and somber waters. The sign of Scorpio was especially venerated by the Rosicrucians, who performed certain of their rituals only when the sun was in this constellation. With great difficulty the Initiate forces his way through the morass of Scorpio to reach the great temple of Sagittarius which looms in front and above.

SECTION IX.

(*Figure* IX, p. 66) As this section signifies Sagittarius it is most appropriate that the figure of a horse should appear in the symbolism. The Trojan Horse, concealing within its body the army of conquering Greeks, represents the occult force of this constellation by which the Trojans (the material world) fighting to defend Helen (the lunar principle) were finally overcome. In astrology the ninth house, which corresponds to Sagittarius, is the house of the sacerdotal class, the priesthood, or the Mysteries. The hollow horse with the men inside is, therefore, the temple and its adepts.

In our figure, an unusual application is made of this symbolism. A corpse is falling from the horse. Beyond the ninth degree the physical body cannot go, therefore it must here be cast off. Form can go no further - the corpse is cast out of the temple.

The Arabic text at the top of the plate reads: "That which is hidden shall be brought to view" or "the hidden things (sins) are to be stripped off." The cuneiform consists of the following legend: "The gate of the end (completion or conclusion) when the Leg or the Waterman turns in the circle (the equinox in Aquarius)." In the boxlike frame is the following: "The select few - how many are there? Forty who in brotherly love assemble together to the four quarters and the Bird. Here below (in the mortal sphere) to be held (gathering or assembly) until in its place is the coming in the fourth quarter (Aquarius)." The large characters MB refer to the alchemical process whereby the mortification and destruction of the body is accomplished. The floriate letters are words to be completed by the addition of other letters. When this has been done, the sentence reads: "Seek after the all-powerful Lord who is the guardian of the Tree of Life." In the lower half of the figure a red-robed man is attempting to restore life to the corpse. This is *fire* (or iron) striving to revivify the *ashes*, an alchemical emblem.

Analysis of the Text.

In the ninth step of the ritual, the Initiate comes face to face with the last great enemy - death, which must be experienced, understood, and overcome. In the gloom of the great chamber with its ebon walls he perceives the strange Horse of Troy. Here is *putrefaction*, the end of all ignorance and the gate of life. The Initiate spends nine days in the contemplation of this mystery, and is about to take up some of the foul and disintegrating *substance* lying piled in a corner, when he is warned by an invisible voice that the time has not yet come.

In Sagittarius, the ninth sign of the zodiac, the theory of philosophy is perfected, for the world was created in six days but Art is perfected in nine. Hermes writes thus: "But this multiplication (the augmentation of the Philosopher's Stone) cannot be carried on *ad infinitum*, but it attains completeness in the ninth rotation; for when this tincture has been rotated nine times it cannot be exalted any further, because it will not permit any further separation." After theory comes practice, after operation follows use. The adept, realizing that he already possesses the power to tincture matter, would experiment with the black decaying earth in the ninth chamber, but is prevented from so doing. He must yet receive the three Greater Keys, for the power to accomplish transmutation is imperfect until spiritual vision reveals the proper *ends* which the adept must accomplish.

After leaving the house of putrefaction the Initiate observes that his rohe changes color, becoming at last a beautiful green. This is a direct allusion to the alchemical formula. We are told that during the processes of digestion the alchemical substance changes color, which has given rise to its being called the peacock because of its iridescence during one of the periods of its digestion. The various colored garments worn by the several degrees of the ancient priestcrafts represented stages of spiritual unfoldment. According to the same rule, in the preparation of the Wise Man's Stone the base substance passes through a philosophical spectrum, turning from one color to another according to the end which the operator desires to achieve.

The three cryptic words with which the section is concluded cause the last sentence to read: "The name of the hall is corruption. The name of the first lake is the beginning of corruption, and the name of the second lake the end of corruption." The three cypher words, when connected, give the meaning: "Corruption is the beginning of decay and corruption is followed by death." In the perfecting of the Stone of the Wise Man it was discovered that it is impossible to unite the various elements into new fundamental patterns until each has been reduced to its most simple and original condition. This reduction, or the destroying of the personality of the elements, is the philosophical *corruption* which, brought about by *Art*, destroys all the apparent differences in the alchemical materials, and renders possible a perfect mingling of their principles to eventuate in the formation of the divine Stone. Mystically, the philosophic death is the destruction of the numerous aspects of the personality, so that from the soul and its extensions (the divine elements) may be formed the Diamond Soul of the Rose Cross.

SECTION X.

(*Figure* X, p. 70) A man robed in a green garment edged with gold, and bearing a lance, is arising amidst vaporous clouds from an open sarcophogus. Above the human figure is suspended a golden crown of light. The whole symbolizes the annual rebirth of the sun in the tenth zodiacal sign - the winter solstice in Capricorn. As the tenth month of the philosophic year, this hieroglyph sets forth the first of the three Greater Mysteries which are presided over by the constellations of Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

The drawing depicts the final victory of the spiritualized soul over the limitations of the bodily tomb. The green garment reveals the adept to be clothed in his illumined soul, which is under the rulership of Venus. The breastplate bears upon it cryptic letters which mean *LIFE*. The Initiate has achieved immortality. For him the tomb will be forever empty. He has become one of that small band of the enlightened "whom death has forgotten."

The Arabic characters on the lid of the coffin admonish the Elect that they should seize upon a certain undesignated mystery "when the sixth sign or age is to be the breath." These words evidently refer to the parts of a ritual. That which is to be seized upon is the "master secret of alchemy." The tomb is also the burial place of the master of magic whose dernier (or body) was hidden, according to an earlier figure. In one of the early Rosicrucian books is described a curious practice of the Brethren. They are said to have periodically retired into their glass eggs, where they rested for a certain number of years, after which they broke through the walls and emerged again. This allegory in turn alludes to the periodic withdrawal of the Mysteries from society and their reappearance "after a certain time has passed." From the inscription we are led to infer that the periods during which the secret Brotherhood comes forth from its obscurity are regulated by the astronomical cycles of the zodiac. We may read from the symbols, "When the sixth sign is the life-giver I will come forth."

The hieroglyphics in the panel at the top of the page are descriptive of the philosophic resurrection. They read in substance: "To be freed with a shout of joy when the downpouring of the holy Spirit descends." There is also mention of a covenant of blood with the One at the time of the fourth quarter, that is, the Waterman with the Face. (Aquarius.)

Analysis of the Text.

Death is followed by resurrection. Man must die many times in order that he may finally achieve immortality. The butterfly which decorates the portals of the alabaster palace indicates clearly that the mystery of rebirth is the subject of the tenth initiation. "The three stages through which the butterfly passes in its unfoldment correspond to the three degrees of the Mystery School, which degrees are regarded as consummating the unfoldment of man by giving him emblematic wings by which he may soar to the skies. Unregenerated man, ignorant and helpless, is symbolized by the stage between ovum and larva; the diciple, seeking truth and dwelling in meditation, by the second stage from larva to pupa, at which time the insect enters its chrysalis (the tomb of the Mysteries);the third stage from pupa to imago (wherein the perfect butterfly comes forth) typifies the unfolded and enlightened soul of the Initiate rising from the tomb of his baser nature." (See my *Encyclopedic Outline of Symbolical Philosophy*.) The threefold mystery of the butterfly is further suggested by the triple colonnade separated by aisles and passageways.

The cryptic name of the hail indicates that it symbolizes the life cycle and also the sphere of retribution. Translated, it reads: "At the outpouring of the Almighty (the persecutors or the adversaries) shall be shut up and overcome." Von Welling, in his *Opus*, describes how the rebel angels - the elementary spirits - were locked in the dark elements of the material universe as punishment for their rebellion. Alchemy, then, is the art of purifying these malcontents and restoring them to their original celestial state.

SECTION XI.

(*Figure* XI, page 72) As the tenth illustration represents the final liberation of the Divine Man from his physical limitations, so the eleventh depicts the attempt of the intellect to break away from bondage to the animal soul. The powerful man with his girdle and helmet of iron, and his crest of red plumes, is the Demiurgus or Regent of the physical world, the governor of the senses and appetites. He is attempting to bind the spiritualized intellect to the rock of ignorance. The handsome youth bearing' the caduceus, is the philosophized intellect. The mastery of thought, which makes the mind a servant of the spiritual self, is the eleventh step of the old rite.

The whole phenomenal Universe against which the neophyte has struggled through his eleven strange and arduous adventures is personified in the red-plumed man. Here the world is making its last effort to hold the escaping superman. The effort is vain. No chains forged of earth can restrain or bind the Philosphical Mercury. We are told that in the alchemical processes this subtile essence can seep through an iron vessel (the warrior) - or through glass or porcelain - and vanish, in spite of every effort to capture its quintessence.

The eleventh figure contains numerous extraordinary and impressive hieroglyphics. The characters on the shield include a crossed scythe and sceptre - signifying death and resurrection, or mortality and sovereignty. There is also the axe-blade, the hieroglyph of the hewer, the builder, or the geometrician. The smaller hieroglyphics mean *egg* and *cave*, and the lunar crescent may symbolize either a lunar quarter or a gateway. These symbols unquestionably refer to steps in the initiatory drama.

The words in the panel at the top of the figure may be translated: "To be the sign of the Leg with Everlastingness, to pour out and to be the herald of destruction." The thought is evidently prophetic, referring to the destruction of the unrighteous in the sign of Aquarius, the constellation which rules the eleventh section of the work.

The writing below the figures is purely mystical: "It is given that the evil shall be trodden out in the sixth portico." The soul, in its spiritual cycle of regeneration, crosses from the lower to the upper hemisphere of the zodiac at the end of the sixth sign, Virgo, or the Virgin. This virgin is the mother of the Messiahs. As physical generation begins in Aries, so the generation of the wise begins with the Mother (the Mysteries) from whom they are born into the celestial hemisphere. The old order cannot proceed beyond the sixth gate, for the seventh is that of the new man or the second birth - a mystery hinted at in our inscription.

Analysis of the Text.

The Initiate, departing from the palace of the resurrection, sees fluttering before him the mysterious bird *Ampheercha* which now, however, has the wings of the butterfly added to its own. The Cabbalistic meaning of the bird's name is: "A mother shall bear the likeness." The intellectual energy of the Hermetic Ibis is now perfected by soul power, represented by the diaphanous wings of the butterfly. Apuleius created the Psyche myth as a method of setting forth the Hermetic Marriage or the union of the reason with the perfected soul. This is the second Greater Mystery: the accomplishment of the philosophic androgyne, in which the male and female principles of wisdom - represented by the Ibis and the butterfly - are united in one creature.

The Initiate is told to seize and affix the symbolic bird. For nine days (degrees) the adept pursues the bird, which he finally forces to enter the tower named corruption. The symbolism then continues, clothed in alchemical terms. The tower is the vessel for further digestion, through which the elements of the Stone must pass before their final perfection. The Initiate drives a steel nail through the wings of the bird. The name of the nail is an admonishment to make haste and complete the operation. The bird is therefore crucified to the wheel, as was the dove of Semiramis, or Ixion. The name of the hammer means to come forth and be manifest, an allusion to the strength of will with which this final operation must be accomplished.

Alchemically, the substance represented by the bird begins to gleam in the retort. The luminous quality intimates that the soul power of the Stone is beginning to shine triumphantly and that the arduous operations of the alchemist are about to be rewarded.

The Initiate departs. Having completed the eleventh Mystery and fixed the power of the soul-bird so that it can no more depart from him, he passes out between two great pillars, and finds himself once more in the Hall of Wisdom.

SECTION XII.

(*Figure* XII, page 76) The pilgrimage of the adept is at last completed. In the heavens blazes the philosophic sun - a triangle surrounded by a circle and a square, representing the union of the diversified elements of nature into one divinely radiant and effulgent power. The female figure is Isis - her body being no longer concealed by the black garment as in the second picture. She is Nature. With one hand she points upward towards the Divine Light which is her own Source, while with the other she carries three globes emblematic of the perfection of Art, the supreme Hermetic alchemy. The globes contain the three parts of the Philosopher's Stone, bound together by gold rings.

The "large strong man" is the Initiate himself. Through the meshes of his golden armor protrudes the blue undergarment, his starry cloak. In his hand he carries a white wand ornamented with magical characters. This is the insignia of his rank, the baton of the adept.

The time for the twelfth and last step in the initiation is at hand. The crown which was previously in the heavens is now upon the Initiate's helmet. Isis springs into the air, lifting with her the new Master. Nature, the heartless destroyer of the ignorant, is the gracious servant of the wise. Led by Nature herself, and lifted by her from an earthly state, the Wise Man ascends into the presence of the three Masters of the Universal Lodge whose radiant sun blazes in the sky.

In the twelfth zodiacal sign, Pisces, the Nirvana is accomplished, the Stone is projected, the secrets of Nature are revealed, and the Initiate soars upwards with the triumphant declaration of the Masters: "Consummatum Est."

Analysis of the Text.

The Initiate now identifies himself again with the alchemical matter and enters a crystal retort resting in a sand furnace which keeps it constantly at a gentle heat. The name of the hall is "A place where drops trickle." The basin sustaining it is "the desert of blazing fire," or "the agent which enables the drops to escape." From the bottom of the glass retort, vapors are constantly ascending. The adept is lifted up, and after thirty-six days is borne to the upper part of the globe. The heat being reduced, he descends, and discovers that the color of his garment has changed from green to brilliant red. "The solution in the alchemical retort, if digested a certain length of time, will turn into a red elixir, which is called the Universal Medicine. It resembles a fiery water, and is luminous in the dark." (See *The True Way of Nature* by Hermes.)

The adept himself is now the Universal Medicine. He is the very substance which is for the healing of the nations. His crimson garment is the vestment of the Red Elixir. He has become the Ruby-Diamond. After gazing upon a hieroglyphical picture, by which his instruction is perfected and completed, the new master of the Great Work finds himself again in the Hall of Thrones in the Wise Man's House.

He beholds the *bird*, the *altar* and the *torch* united into one spiritual body. Heaven, earth, and man have been united by the indissoluble bonds of Hermetic wisdom. The projection of the Stone is the final testing of the completeness of the Work. The adept strikes the golden sun, shattering it into fragments. In his role of the Ruby-Diamond the Initiate then touches each of the broken parts and they too become suns as glorious as the original. The sun here represents the germ of the Universal Gold or the divinity present in all natures. This is broken into fragments, in agreement with the Bacchic tradition that the solar energy was distributed throughout nature. The philosopher then touches the fragments, and each becomes perfect. The alchemist is master of his Art, and by virtue of the Stone he releases and perfects the fragments of divinity locked within each mortal constitution.

The Supreme Judge of all works decrees that the adept has completed regeneration and that the Work is perfect. The children of light - his brother Initiates - hasten to join him. The gates of Universal Life are open, the veil of the mystae is lifted. The adept is now an epoptes - one who sees clearly. The elemental spirits symbolizing bodily limitations acknowledge the mastery of the inner principles. The philosophic birth is complete. The ages acknowledge a new Master.



# THE INITIATES OF THE FLAME

## Contents

- Introduction
- Foreword
- Chapter 1. The Fire Upon The Altar
- Chapter 2. The Sacred City Of Shamballa
- Chapter 3. The Mystery Of The Alchemist
- Chapter 4. The Egyptian Initiate
- Chapter 5. The Ark Of The Covenant
- Chapter 6. Knights Of The Holy Grail
- Chapter 7. The Mystery Of The Pyramid

## Introduction

Few realize that even at the present stage of civilization in this world, there are souls who, like the priests of the ancient temples, walk the earth and watch and guard the sacred fires that burn upon the altar of humanity. Purified ones they are, who have renounced the life of this sphere in order to guard and protect the Flame, that spiritual principle in man, now hidden beneath the ruins of his fallen temple.

As we think of the nations that are past, of Greece and Rome and the grandeur that was Egypt's, we sigh as we recall the story of their fall; and we watch the nations of today, not knowing which will be the next to draw its shroud around itself and join that great ghostly file of peoples that are dead.

But everywhere, even in the rise and fall of nations, we see through the haze of materiality, justice; everywhere we see reward, not of man but of the invincible One, the eternal Flame.

A great hand reaches out from the unseen and regulates the affairs of man. It reaches out from that great spiritual Flame which nourishes all created things, the never dying fire that burns on the sacred altar of Cosmos - that great fire which is the spirit of God.

If we turn again to the races now dead, we shall, if we look, find the cause of their destruction. **The light had gone out.** When the flame within the body is withdrawn, the body is dead. When the light was taken from the altar, the temple was no longer the dwelling place of a living God.

Degeneracy, lust, and passion, hates and fears, crept into the souls of Greece and Rome, and Black Magic overshadowed Egypt; the light upon the altar grew weaker and weaker. The priests lost the Word, the name of the Flame. Little by little the Flame flickered out, and as the last spark grew cold, a mighty nation died, buried beneath the dead ashes of its own spiritual fire.

But the Flame did not die. Like spirit of which it is the essence, it cannot die, because it is life, and life cannot cease to be. In some wilderness of land or sea it rested once again, and there rose a mighty nation around that flame. So history goes on through the ages. As long as a people are true to the Flame, it remains, but when they cease to nourish it with their lives, it goes on to other lands and other worlds.

Those who worship this Flame are now called heathens. Little do we realize that we are heathen ourselves until we are baptised of the Holy Spirit which is Fire, for fire is Light, and the children of the Flame are the Sons of Light, even as God is Light.

There are those who have for ages labored with man to help him to kindle within himself this spark, which is his divine birthright. It is these who by their lives of self-sacrifice and service have awakened and tended this fire, and who through ages of study have learned the mystery it contained, that we now call the "Initiates of the Flame."

For ages they have labored with mankind to help him to uncover the light within himself, and on the pages of history they have left their seal, the seal of Fire.

Unhonored and unsung they have labored with humanity, and now their lives are used as fairy stories to amuse children, but the time will yet come when the world shall know the work they did, and realize that our present civilization is raised upon the shoulders of the mighty demigods of the past. We stand as Faust stood, with all our lore, a fool no wiser than before, because we refuse to take the truths they gave us and the evidence of their experiences. Let us honor these Sons of the Flame, not by words, but by so living that their sacrifice shall not be in vain. They have shown us the way, they have led man to the gateway of the unknown, and there in their robes of glory passed behind the Veil. Their lives were the key to their wisdom, as it must always be. They have gone, but in history they stand, milestones on the road of human progress.

Let us watch these mighty ones as they pass silently by. First, Orpheus, playing upon the seven stringed lyre of his own being, the music of the spheres. Then Hermes, the thrice greatest, with his emerald tablet of divine revelation. Through the shades of the past we dimly see Krishna, the illuminated, who on the battlefield of life taught man the mysteries of his own soul. Then we see the sublime Buddha, his yellow robe not half so glorious as the heart it covered, and our own dear Master, the man Jesus, his head surrounded with a halo of Golden Flame, and his brow serene with the calm of mastery. Then Mohammed, Zoroaster, Confucius, Odin, and Moses, and others no less worthy pass by before the eyes of the student. They were the Sons of Flame. From the Flame they came, and to the Flame they have returned. To us they beckon, and bid us join them, and in our robes of self-earned glory to serve the Flame they love.

They were without creed or clan; they served but the one great ideal. From the same place they all came, and to the same place they have returned. There was no superiority there. Hand in hand they labor for humanity. Each loves the other, for the power that has made them masters has shown them the **Brotherhood** of all life.

In the pages that follow we will try to show this great thread, the spiritual thread, the thread of living fire that winds in and out through all religions and binds them together with a mutual ideal and mutual needs. In the story of the Grail and the Legends of King Arthur we find that thread wound around the Table of the King and the Temple of Mount Salvart. This same thread of life that passes through the roses of the Rosicrucians, winds among the pedals of the Lotus, and among the temple pillars of Luxor. THERE IS BUT ONE RELIGION IN ALL THE WORLD, and that is the worship of God, the spiritual Flame of the universe. Under many names He is known in all lands, but as Iswari or Ammon or God, He is the same, the Creator of the universe, and fire is His universal symbol.

We are the Flame-Born Sons of God, thrown out as sparks from the wheels of the infinite. Around this Flame we have built forms which have hidden our light, but as students we are increasing this light by love and service, until it shall again proclaim us Suns of the Eternal.

Within us burns that Flame, and before Its altar the lower man must bow, a faithful servant of the Higher. When he serves the Flame he grows, and the light grows until he takes his place with the true Initiates of the universe, those who have given all to the Infinite, in the name of the Flame within.

Let us find this Flame and also serve it, realizing that it is in all created things, that all are one because all are part of that eternal Flame, the fire of spirit, the life and power of the universe.

Upon the altar of this Flame, to the true creator of this book, the writer offers it, and dedicates it to the one Fire which blazes forth from God, and is now hidden within each living thing.

## Foreword

***THE GREATEST OF MYSTERY SCHOOLS***

*The World is the schoolroom of God. Our being in school does not make us learn, but within that school is the opportunity for all learning. It has its grades and its classes, its sciences and its arts, and admission to it is the birthright of man. Its graduates are its teachers, its pupils are all created things. Its examples are Nature, and its rules are God's laws. Those who would go into the greater colleges and universities must first, day by day, and year by year, work through the common school of life, and present to their new teachers the diplomas they have won, upon which is written the name that none may read save those who have received it.*

*The hours may seem long, and the teachers cruel, but each of us must walk that path, and the only ones ready to go onward are those who have passed through the gateway of experience*, *GOD'S GREAT SCHOOL FOR MAN*.

**The Cube Altar:**

Of the elements of the earth is this altar composed. It is the great cube of matter. On or in this altar burns a Flame. It is this Flame that is the spirit of all created things. **Man, know thyself.** Thou art the Flame, and thy bodies are the living altar.

## Chapter 1. The Fire Upon The Altar

As far back as our history goes we find that fire has played an important part in the religious ceremonial of the human race. In practically every religion we find the sacred altar fires, which were guarded by the priests and vestals with greater care than their own lives. In the Bible we find many references made to the sacred fires which were used as one form of devotion by the ancient Israelites. The Altar of Burnt Offerings is as old as the human race, and dates from the time when the first man, lifting himself out of the mists of ancient Lemuria, first saw the sun, the great Fire Spirit of the universe. Among the followers of Zoroaster, the Persian Initiate, fire has been used for centuries in honor of the great Fire God, Ormuzd, who is said by them to have created the universe.

**The Everburning Lamp:**

Know that the Flame that burns within thee and lights thy way is the ever burning lamp of the ancients. As their lamps were fed by the purest of oil, so thy spiritual Flame must be fed by a life of purity and altruism.

There are two paths or divisions of humanity whose history is closely related to that of the Wisdom Teachings. They embody the doctrines of fire and water, the two opposites of nature. Those who follow the path of faith or the heart, use water, and are known as the Sons of Seth, while those who follow the path of the mind and action are the Children of Cain, who was the son of Samael, the Spirit of Fire. Today we find the latter among the alchemists, the hermetic philosophers, the Rosicrucians, and the Freemasons.

It is well for us to understand that we ourselves are the cube altar upon which and in which burns the altar fire. For many centuries the Initiate of fire has been nourishing and guarding the Spiritual Flame within himself, as the ancient priests watched day and night the altar fires of Vesta's temple.

The ever burning lamp of the alchemist, which having burned thousands of years without fuel in the catacombs of Rome, is but a symbol of this same spiritual fire within himself. In the picture we see the ever burning lamp which was carried by the Initiate in his wandering. It represents the spinal column of man, at the top of which is flickering a little blue and red flame. As the lamp of the ancients was fed and kept burning by the purest of olive oil, so man is transmitting within himself and cleansing in the laver of purification the life essences, which, when turned upward, provide fuel for the ever burning lamp within himself.

**The Masonic Censor:**

As the perfume rising from the incense burner was acceptable in the sight of the Lord, so may our words and actions ever be a sweet incense acceptable in the sight of the Most High.

Upon the altars of the ancients were offered sacrifices to their gods. The ancient Hierophant offered up sacrifices of spices and incense. The Masonic brother of today still has among his symbols the incense burner or censer, but few of the brothers recognize themselves in this symbol. The ancients symbolized under such things as this the development of the individual, and as the tiny spark burning among the incense cubes slowly consumes all, so the Spiritual Flame within the student is slowly burning away and transmuting the base metals and properties within himself, and offering up the essence thereof as the smoke upon the altar of Divinity. It is said that King Solomon, when he completed his temple, offered bulls as a sacrifice to the Lord, by burning them upon the temple altar. Those who believe in a harmless life wonder why so many references are made in the Bible to animal sacrifice.

The student realizes that the animal sacrifices are those of the celestial zodiac, and that when the Ram or the Bull was offered upon the altar, it represented the qualities in man which come through Aries, the celestial Ram, and Taurus, the Bull in the zodiac. In other words, the Initiate, passing through his tests and purification, is offering upon the altar of his own higher being the lower animal instincts and desires within himself. Among the Masonic brothers we also find what is called the Symbol of Mortality. It is a spade, a coffin, and an open grave, while upon the coffin has been laid a sprig of acacia, or evergreen. In the picture we see the spade of the grave digger, which has been considered the symbol of death for centuries.

**The Grave Digger's Spade:**

Let us take the spade that now digs our grave through the passions and emotions of life and use it to unearth the secret room far below the rubbish of the fallen temple of the human soul.

In the Book of Thoth, that strange document which has descended to man at his present stage of evolution as a deck of playing cards, we find a very wonderful symbolism. Of all the suits of cards, that of the spade is the only suit in which all the court cards face away from the pip. In all the other kings and queens, the faces are looking at the little marker in the corner of the card, but in the spade suit, they look away from it. Now it is said that the spade has been taken from the acorn, but the occult student has a different idea. He sees in the spade, which has for ages been the symbol of death, a certain part of his own anatomy. If you will again turn to the picture of the spade, you will see, if you have ever studied anatomy, that the grave digger's spade is the spinal column, and the spade-shaped piece which is used on the deck of cards, is nothing more nor less than the sacrum bone.

This bone forms the base of the spinal column, and is also the spear of the Passion. Through it and the foramana which pierce it, pass the roots of the spinal nerve, which indeed are the roots of the Tree of Life. It is the center through which are nourished and fed the lower vertebrae of the spine, and the sacrum and coxygeal bones that dig the graves for all created things. This point has been beautifully symbolized by the grave digger's spade, which has been used by the brothers of many mystic organizations for ages. The currents and forces working through these lower spinal nerves must be transmuted and lifted upward to feed the altar fire at the positive or upper end of the spine.

The centering of thought or emotion upon higher or lower things, as the case may be, determines where thin life energy will be expended. If the lower emotions predominate, the flame upon the altar burns low and flickers out, because the forces which feed it have been concentrated upon the lower centers. But when altruism predominates, then the lower forces are raised upward and pass through the purification which makes possible their being used as fuel for the ever burning lamp. Thus we see why it was a great sin to let the lamp go out, for the pillar of flames which hovers over the Tabernacle, purified and prepared after the directions of the Most High, is the Spiritual Flame that, hovering above man, lights his way wherever he may go.

**The Candle:**

This is the light that has gone out. It is the candle that is hidden under the bushel. This is the true light that forever dispels the darkness of ignorance and uncertainty. Let the light shine forth through a purified body and a balanced mind. For this light is the life of our brother creatures.

The sun of our solar system, that is, the Spiritual Sun behind the physical globe, is one of these Flames. It began no greater than ours, and through the power of attraction and the transmuting of its ever increasing energies it has reached its present proportions. This flame in man is the "light that shineth in darkness." It is the Spiritual Flame within himself. It lights his way as no exterior light can. This radiating out from him brings into view, one by one, the hidden things of the cosmos, and his ignorance is dispelled in exactly the same proportion as his light is spread, for the darkness of the unknown can only be removed by light, and the greater the light, the further back the darkness is driven. This is the Lamp of the Philosopher, which he carries through the dark passageways of life, and by the light of which he walks among the stones and along the narrow cliff edge without fear. But although he gain all other things and have not this light within himself, he cannot know where he goes; he cannot watch his footsteps; and he cannot dispel his ignorance with the light of truth.

Therefore let each student watch the fire that burns upon his altar. Let him also make that altar, his body, as beautiful and harmonious as possible, and let him also sacrifice upon that altar the frankincense and myrrh, his actions and his deeds. As in the Tabernacle he offers all upon the altar of divinity, so let him day by day dispel the symbols of mortality - the coffin and the open grave by which he prepared himself through the mastery of the lower emotions within himself - and recognize that no matter how crystallized or dead his life may be, the fact that he exists at all proves that the sprig of acacia, the promise of life and immortality, is somewhere within himself; and although the flame of life may appear faint or cold, if he will supply the fuel by his daily actions, he will kindle the altar flame once more within himself, which, shining forth, will also help his brother to kindle this flame, which is a living sacrifice to the living God.

## Chapter 2. The Sacred City Of Shamballa

In every mythology and legendary religion of the world there is one spot that is sacred above all others to the great ideal of that religion. To the Norseman it was Valhalla, the City of the Slain, built of the spears of heroes, where feasting and warfare was the order of the day. Here the heroes fought all day and reveled by night. Every day they killed the wild boar and feasted on it, and the next day it came to life again. In the Northland they tell that Valhalla was high on the top of the mountains, and that it was connected to the earth below by Befrost, the Rainbow Bridge; that up and down this bridge the Gods came, and Odin, the All-father, came down from Asgard, the City of the Gods, and worked and labored with mankind.

Among the Greeks, Mount Olympus was held sacred, and here the gods are said to have lived high on the top of a mountain. The Knights of the Grail are said to have had their castle among the crags and peaks of Northern Spain on Mount Salvart. In every religion of the world there is a sacred spot: Meru of the oriental, and Mount Moriah and Mount Sinai (upon which the tablets of law were given to man); all those are symbols of one universal ideal, and as each of these religions claimed among the clouds a castle and a home, so it is said that all the religions of the world have their headquarters in Shamballa, the Sacred City in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.

Among the oriental peoples there are wonderful legends of this sacred city, where it is said the Great White Lodge or Brotherhood meets to carry on the governing of world affairs. As the Assirs of Scandinavia were twelve in number, as Olympus had twelve gods, so the Great White Brotherhood is said to have twelve members, which meet in Shamballa and direct the affairs of men. It is said that this center of universal religion descended upon the earth when the polar cap, which was the first part of the earth to crystallize, became solid enough to support life. Science now knows that not only does the earth have two motions, that of rotation upon its axis and revolution around the sun, but that it has nine other motions, according to Flammarion, the French astronomer. One of these motions is that of the alternation of the poles; in other words, some day that part of the earth's surface which is now the North Pole will become the South Pole. Therefore it is said that the Sacred City has left its central position and after much wandering is now located in Mongolia.

Those who are acquainted with the Mohammedan religion will see something of great interest in the pilgrimage to the Kabba at Mecca, where thousands go each year to give honor to the Stone of Abraham, the great aerolight, upon which Mohammed is said to have rested his foot. Old and young alike, some even carried, wind through desert sands and endure untold hardships, many coming from great distances, to visit the place they cherish and love. In India we find the same thing. There are many sacred places to which pilgrims go, even as the Templars went in our Christian religion to the Sepulcher of Christ. Few see in this anything more than an outward symbol, but the true student recognizes the great esoteric truth contained therein. The spiritual consciousness in man is a pilgrim on the way to Mecca. As this consciousness passes upward through the centers and nerves of the body, it is like the pilgrim, climbing the heights of Sinai, or the Knight of the Grail returning to Mount Salvart.

When the spinal fire of man starts upward in its wanderings, it stops at many shrines and visits many holy places, for like the Masonic brother and his Jacob's Ladder, the way that leads to heaven is upward and inward. The spinal fire goes through the centers or seed ground of many great principles, and worships at the shrine of many Divine Essences within itself, but it is eternally going upward, and finally it reaches the great desert. Only after pain and suffering and long labor does it cross that waste of sand. This is the Gethsemane of the higher man, but finally he crosses the sacred desert, and before him in the heart of the Lotus rises the Golden City, Shamballa.

**The Lotus:**

May your consciousness be lifted upward through the Tree of Life within yourself until in the brain it blossoms forth as the Lotus, that rising from the darkness of the lower world, lifts its flower to catch the rays of the Sun.

In the spreading of the bone between the eyes called the frontal sinus, is the seat of the divine in man. There, in a peculiar gaseous material, floats, or rather exists, or is, the fine essence which we know as the Spirit. This is the Lost City in the Sacred Desert, connected to the lower world by the Rainbow Bridge, or the Silver Cord, and it is to this point in himself that the student is striving to rise. This is the Sacred Pilgrimage of the Soul, in which the individual leaves the lower man and the world below and climbs upward into the Higher Man or Higher World, the brain. This is the great pilgrimage to Shamballa, and as that great city is the center for the direction of our earth, so the corresponding great city in man is the center for his governmental system.

**The Rod That Budded:**

The buds in the Rod are the seven centers within yourself, which when you develop their spiritual powers shine out as centers of fire within your own being. The ancients have taken flowers to symbolize these centers, which when they shine out show that the dead stick, cut from the Tree of Life, has budded.

When any other thing governs man, he is not attuned to his own higher self, and it is only when the gods, representing the higher principle, come down the Rainbow Bridge and labor with him, teaching him the arts and sciences, that he is truly receiving his divine birthright. In the Orient the student looks forward with eager longing to the time when he shall be allowed to worship before the gates of the sacred city; when he also shall see the Initiates in silent conclave around the circular table of the zodiac; when the veil of Isis shall be torn away, and the cover lifted from the Grail Cup.

Let the student remember that all of these things must first happen within himself before he can find them in the universe without. The twelve Elder Brothers within himself must first be reached and understood before those of the universe can be comprehended. If he would find the great Initiates without, he must first find them within; and if he would see that Sacred City in the Lotus Blossom, he must first open that Lotus within himself, which he does, petal by petal, when he purifies and attunes himself to the higher principles within. The Lotus is the spinal column once more; its roots, deep in materiality; its blossom, the brain; and only when he sends upward nourishment and power, can that Lotus blossom within himself - blossom forth with its many petals, giving out their spiritual fragrance.

Sometimes you will see in store windows funny little Chinese gods or oriental Buddhas sitting on the blossom of a lotus. In fact, if you look carefully, you will find that nearly all of the oriental gods are so depicted. This means that they have opened within themselves that Spiritual Consciousness which they call the Shushuma. You have seen the funny little hats worn by the Hindu gods. They are made to represent a flower upside down, and once more, like the rod of Aaron that budded, we see the reference made to the unfolding of consciousness within. When the lotus blossom has reached maturity, it drops its seed, and from this seed new plants are produced. It is the same within the spiritual consciousness, which, when the plant is finished and its work is done, is released to work and produce other things.

In the Western World the lotus has been changed to the rose. The roses of the Rosicrucian, the roses of the Masonic degrees, and also those of the Order of the Garter in England, all stand for the same thing, the awakening of consciousness and the unfolding into full bloom of the soul qualities of man. When man awakens and opens this bud within himself, he finds, like the gold pollen in a flower, this wonderful spiritual city, Shamballa, in the heart of the lotus. When this pilgrimage of his spiritual fire is accomplished, he is liberated from the top of the mountain, as in the ascension of Christ, and the spiritual man, freed by his pilgrimage from the Wheel of Bondage, rises upward from among his disciples, the convolutions of the brain, with the great cry of the Initiate, which has sounded through the Mystery Schools for ages when the purified student goes onward and upward to become a pillar in the temple of his God. With that last cry the true mystery of Shamballa, the sacred city, is understood and he joins the ranks of those who in white robes of purity, their own soul bodies, gaze down upon the world and see others liberated in the same way, and who also sound the eternal tocsin, "consumatum est" (it is finished).

**The Philosopher's Stone:**

This is the true stone of the philosopher, which gives him power over all created things. This stone is himself. The experiences of his evolution have cut and polished the rough stone until in the Initiate it reflects the light of creation from a thousand different facets.

## Chapter 3. The Mystery Of The Alchemist

There are very few occult students today who have not heard of the alchemist, but there are very few who know anything about the strange men who lived during the Middle Ages and concealed under chemical symbolism the history of the soul. At a time, when to express a religious thought was to court annihilation at the stake or wheel, they labored silently in underground caves and cellars to learn the mysteries of nature which the religious opinions of their day denied them the privilege of doing. Let us picture the alchemist of old, deep in the study of natural lore. We find him among the test tubes and retorts of his hidden laboratory. Around him are massive tomes and books by ancient writers; he is a student of nature's mystery, and has devoted years, lives maybe, to the work he loves. His hair has long since grayed with age.

By the light of his little lamp he reads slowly and with difficulty the strange symbols on the pages before him. His mind is centered upon one thing, and that is the finding of the Philosopher's Stone. With all the chemicals at his command, their various combinations thoroughly understood, he is laboring with his furnace and his burners to make of the base metals the Philosopher's Gold. At last he finds the key and gives to the world the secret of the Philosopher's Gold and the Immortal Stone. Salt, sulphur, and mercury are the answer to his problem; from them he makes the Philosopher's Stone; from them he extracts the Elixir of Life; with the power that they give him he transmutes the base metals into gold. The world laughs at him, but he goes on in silence, really doing the things the world believes impossible.

After many years of labor he takes his little lamp and silently slips away into the Great Unknown. No one knows what he has done, or the discoveries that he has made, but he, with his little lamp, still explores the mysteries of the universe. As the close of the fifteenth century clouded him with mystery, so the dawn of the twentieth century is crowning him with the glory of his just reward, for the world is beginning to realize the truths he knew, and to marvel at the understanding which his years of labor had earned for him.

Man has been an alchemist from the time when he first raised himself, and with the powers long latent pronounced himself as human. Experiences are the chemicals of life which the philosopher is experimenting with. Nature is the great book whose secrets he seeks to understand through her own wondrous symbolism. His own Spiritual Flame is the lamp by which he reads, and without this the printed pages mean nothing to him. His own body is the furnace in which he prepares the Philosopher's Stone; his senses and organs are the test tubes, and incentive is the flame from the burner. Salt, sulphur, and mercury are the chemicals of his craft. According to the ancient philosophers, salt was of the earth earthy, sulphur was a fire which was spirit, while mercury was nothing, only a messenger like the winged Hermes of the Greeks. His color is purple, which is the blending of the red and the blue - the blue of the spirit and the red of the body.

The alchemist realizes that he himself is the Philosopher's Stone, and that this stone is made diamond-like when the salt and the sulphur, or the spirit and the body, are united through mercury, the link of mind. Man is the incarnated principle of mind as the animal is of emotion. He stands with one foot on the heavens and the other on the earth. His higher being is lifted to the celestial spheres, but the lower man ties him to matter. Now the philosopher, building his sacred stone, is doing so by harmonizing his spirit and his body. The result is the Philosopher's Stone. The hard knocks of life chip it away and facet it until it reflects lights from a million different angles.

The Elixir of Life is once again the Spirit Fire, or rather the fuel which nourishes that fire, and the turning of the base metal into gold is accomplished when he transmutes the lower man into spiritual gold. This he does by study and love. Thus he is building within himself the lost panacea for the world's woe. The turning of the base metal into gold can be called a literal fact, as the same chemical combination which spiritually produces gold, will also do this physically. It is a known fact that many of the ancient alchemists really did create the precious metal out of lead, alloy, *etc.* But it was upon the principle that all things contain some part of everything else; in other words, every grain of sand or drop of water has in some proportion every element of the universe therein. Therefore the alchemist did not try to make something from nothing, but rather to extract and build that which already was, and this the student knows is the only possible course of procedure.

**The Five Pointed Star:**

This picture, known to all Masons, is that of the Soul. It is the Star of Bethlehem, which heralds the coming of the Christ within. The two clasped hands are the spirit and body united in the marriage of the Lamb. It is from the union of the higher with the lower that the Christ is born.

Man can create nothing from nothing, but he does contain within, in potential energy, all things; and like the alchemist with his metals, he is simply working with that which he already has. The living Philosopher's Stone is a very beautiful thing. Indeed, like the fire opal, it shines with a million different lights, changing with the mood of the wearer. The transmuting process, whereby the spiritual fire passing through the furnace of purification radiates from the body as the soul body of gold and blue, is a very beautiful one.

**The Marriage of the Sun and Moon:**

This takes place in man when the heart and mind are joined in eternal union. It occurs when the positive and negative poles within are united, and from that union is made the Philosopher's Stone.

The Masons have among their symbols that of a five-pointed star with two clasped hands within it, and in that we have the mystery of the Philosopher's Stone. The clasped hands represent the united man in which the higher and the lower are working for their mutual betterment, by a co-operative rather than a competitive system. The five-pointed star is the soul body, born of this co-operation; it is the living Philosopher's Stone, more precious than all the jewels of earth. From it pour the rivers of life spoken of in the Bible; it is the Star of the Morning that heralds the dawn of Mastery, and is the reward that comes to those who follow in the footsteps of the ancient alchemist.

It is well for the student to realize that the alchemy of life produces in natural sequence all of the states of progression which are explained in the writings of the alchemist, until finally the sun and the moon are united as described in the Hermetic Marriage, which is, in truth, the marriage of the body and the spirit for the mutual development of each other. We are the alchemists who centuries ago carried on in secret our studies of the soul, and we still have the same opportunity that we had then, even more than then, for now we can state our opinions with little danger of personal injury. The modern alchemist thus has an opportunity that his ancient brother never had. On a busy street corner he daily sees nature's experiments carried on. He sees the mixing of metals, and from the everyday book of life, through the power of analogy, he may study Divinity. Through experience and often suffering the steel of his spirit is tempered by the flame of life. As the moon in the zodiac touches off like a fuse the happenings of life, so his own desires and wishes touch off the powers of his soul, and the experiences may be transmuted into soul qualities when he has developed the eye which enables him to read the simplest of all books - everyday life.

**The Pillars of the Temple:**

These pillars symbolize the heart and mind, the positive and the negative poles of life. Those who would enter the temple must pass BETWEEN the pillars. Every extreme is dangerous. It is the point between all poles that is safe to stand upon. You cannot enter the temple by the development of either the heart or mind alone, but only by the equal development of both.

The alchemist of today is not hidden in caves and cellars, studying alone, but as he goes on with his work, it is seen that walls are built around him, and while he is in the world, like the master of old, he is not of it. As he goes further in his work, the light of other people's advice and outside help grows weaker and weaker, until finally he stands alone in darkness, and then comes the time that he must use his own lamp, and the various experiments which he has carried on must be his guide. He must take the Elixir of Life which he has developed and with it fill the lamp of his spiritual consciousness, and holding that above his head, walk into the Great Unknown, where if he has been a good and faithful servant, he will learn of the alchemy of Divinity. Where now test tubes and bottles are his implements, then worlds and globes he will study, and as a silent watcher will learn from that Divine One, who is the Great Alchemist of all the universe, the greatest alchemy of all, the creation of life, the maintenance of form, and the building of worlds.

**The Serpent:**

This is the serpent crown of the ancient Gods. It shows that the two paths or parts of the spirit fire have been united. This crown is the symbol of mastery and the union takes place within the student when the life forces are lifted to the brain.

## Chapter 4. The Egyptian Initiate

Many ages have elapsed since the Egyptian Priest King passed through the pillars of Thebes. Ages before the sinking of Atlantis, thousands of years before the Christian Era, Egypt was a land of great truths. The hand of the Great White Brotherhood was held out to the Empire of the Nile, and the ancient pyramid passages resounded with the chants of the Initiates. It was then that the Pharaoh, now called half-human, half-divine, reigned in ancient Egypt. Pharaoh is the Egyptian word for king. Many of the later Pharaohs were degenerate and of little account. It is only the early Pharaohs we now list among the Priest Kings.

**The Masonic Apron:**

In the triangle we see spirit descending into the square of matter. Let us so purify matter that spirit may shine through it and make of us lights to guide the footsteps of humanity.

Try to picture for a moment the great Hall of Luxor - its inscriptive columns holding up domes of solid granite, each column carved with the histories of the gods. There at the upper end of the chamber sat the Pharaoh of the Nile in his robes of state; around him his counsellors, chief among them the priest of the temple. An imposing spectacle it was: the gigantic frame of the later Atlantean, robed in gold and priceless jewels; on his head the crown of the North and South, the double empire of the ancient; on his forehead the coiled serpent of the Initiate, the serpent which was raised in the wilderness that all who looked upon it might live; that sleeping serpent power in man, which coiled head downward around the tree of life, drove him from the garden of the Lord, but which raised upon the Cross, became the symbol of the Christ.

The Pharaoh was an Initiate of Scorpio, and the serpent is the transmuted Scorpio energy, which working upward in the regenerated individual is called the Kundalini. This serpent was the sign of Initiation. It meant that within him the serpent had been raised, for the true Pharaoh was a priest of God, as well as a master of men. There he sat upon the cube altar throne, indicating his mastery over the four elements of his physical body - a judge of the living and of the dead, who in spite of all his power and glory, having about him the grandeur of the world's greatest empire, still bowed in humble supplication to the will of the gods. In his hands he carries the triple sceptre of the Nile, the Shepherd's Crook, the Anubis-headed Staff and the Flail or Whip. These were the symbols of his work. They represent the powers which he had mastered. With the whip he had subjugated his physical body; with the Shepherd's Crook he was the guardian and keeper of his emotional body; with the Anubis-headed Staff he was master of his mind and worthy to wield the powers of government over others, because, first of all, he obeyed the laws himself.

With all his robes of state and with the scarab upon his breast, and with the All-seeing Eye above his throne, there was still nothing as precious or as sacred to the ancient Egyptian Priest King as the triangular girdle or apron which was the symbol of his initiation. The apron of the ancient Egyptian carried with it the same symbolism as the Masonic apron of today. It symbolized the purification of the bodies, when the seat of the lower emotions, Scorpio, was covered by the white sheepskin of purification. This symbol of his purification was the most precious belonging of the ancient Pharaoh; and this plain insignia, worn by many others below him in rank and dignity, but equal to him in spiritual purification, was the most precious of all things to the Priest King. There he sat, written upon him in the words of the Initiate, the symbols of his purification and mastery, a wise king of a wise people. And it was through these Priest Kings that the Divine worked, for they were of the order of Melchisedec. Through them was formed that doctrine which degeneracy has not been able to entirely obliterate, which we know as the divine right of kings - divine because through spirituality and growth God was able to manifest through them. They were conscious instruments in the hands of a ready writer, willing and proud to do the work of those with whom through knowledge and truth they had attuned themselves.

**The Sceptres of Egypt:**

These are the three bodies that are the tools with which we are to build our temple. When they are mastered they are the living proof of our right to kingship.

**The Sacred Scarab:**

In this form the ancient Egyptians worshiped Khepera, the rising Sun, and the sacred scarab was buried with the dead as the symbol of resurrection. For as the sun rises from the darkness of night, so the divine spirit rises from the body that is no more. The life is eternal.

But the time came, as in all nations, when selfishness and egotism entered the heart of king and people alike, and slowly the hand from the Great White Brotherhood that fed ancient Egypt was withdrawn, and the powers of darkness transformed the land of glory into one of ruins, and the names of mighty kings were buried beneath the oblivion of degeneracy. Mighty cataclysms shook the world, and out of the land of darkness the Great White Brotherhood carried the chosen people into the promised land; Egypt, the land of glory, disintegrated into dust.

The great temples of the Pharaohs are ruins, and the temples of Isis are but broken heaps of sandstone. But what of the priest kings who labored there in the days of its glory? They are still with us, for those who were leaders before are leaders now, if they have continued to walk the path. Although his sceptre is gone, and his priestly vestments have moulded away, the Priest King still walks the earth with the dignity and the power and the childish simplicity that before made him great. He no longer wears the robes of his order. Although he bears no credentials, he is as much a priest king now as then, for he still bears the true insignia of his rank. The coiled serpent has given place to knowledge and love. The hand that bestowed the riches of the past does little acts of kindness now. Although he no longer carries the sceptres of self-mastery, still he manifests that mastery in his daily life. Although the altar fires within the temple at Karnac have long been dead, the true fire within himself still burns, and before that he still bows as he bowed in the days of Egypt's glory. Although the priest no longer is his counsellor, and the wise ones of his country no longer aid him in governmental problems, still he is never alone, for the priests in white and the counsellors in blue still march with him and whisper words of strength when he needs them.

Have you seen people that somehow you liked regardless of appearances? Have you seen other charming people whom you hated in spite of their charms? Have you seen learned people who were fools or impressed you as such, or people who knew little and yet you felt were wise? Those are the insignia of rank, which the loss of title or position cannot destroy. Kings with or without crowns they were - not puppets dressed in tawdry tinsel. And they still are kings and will be to the end of time, and they still manifest their rank, not by their superiority, and their high-headedness, but by the soul qualities which they radiate from themselves. The purity of their lives still radiates outward from those who wore the apron of the Initiate, for while that triangular apron with its serpent drawn upon it has long since rotted away, still the spiritual counterpart of that symbol radiates in their daily lives, proving beyond all dispute that they were Priest Kings and are today. We find them in every walk of life - in high places and down in the mire of life. But wherever we find them, they are still the mouthpieces of the gods, and through them comes the promise to all who strive. They are kings, not of the earth but of heaven, and in the life of our own Master we find one who joined himself to those who served, and was a true King even when his only crown was a wreath of thorns.

Still in the pyramid of Gizeh, the initiations continue; still the Initiate receives the insignia of his rank. Before that Fire within himself he makes his vows, and upon the burning altar of his own higher being he lays his crown and his sceptre, his robes and his diamonds, his hates and his fears, and sanctifies his life as a Priest King, and swears to serve none but his own higher self, the god within. His robes are his soul body; and his crown is his life, and in the streets of life he is enthroned. The dusky towers and factory chimneys around him fade into the templed pillars of Luxor, and with a lunch pail on his arm, his face brown with honest dirt, he is as much a king as when the crown of the double Nile rested upon his brow, and the priest of the temple made him one with his God and his fellowman.

## Chapter 5. The Ark Of The Covenant

One of the most interesting symbols that has come down to us from the ancients is that of the Ark, or the box that was said to contain the sacred relics. Many people believe that this belongs particularly to the Jewish nation, but this is a great mistake, because it has been the birthright of every country to have the Ark. All have, like the Jewish people, lost much of their power and glory when they lost the sacred Ark. In ancient Chaldea and Phoenicia the Ark was well known. India celebrates it as the Lotus, and the ancient Egyptians tell how the moon god Osiris was imprisoned in an ark. In all the Mystery Religions of the world, individually and cosmically, the ark represents the fountain-head of wisdom. Over it the Shekinah's glory hovers, as a column of flames by night and a pillar of smoke by day. Every country has seen and felt its presence when the Priest Kings and Initiates bring out of an old civilization, lost because of crystallization, the sacred Ark, and surrounded by those faithful to the truth carry it into other lands and among other peoples.

In every creed and religion we find crystallization. We find small groups of people separating themselves from their brother man. We find those who, clinging to the old, refuse to advance with the new, and whenever we find this crystallization, we find the spirit of truth carried away to other people and embodied in other doctrines. The ancient Ark of the Israelite never had removed from it the staves by which it was carried and moved, until finally it was placed in Solomon's temple. Neither does the spirit fire in man rest until finally it is enthroned in the holy place of his solar temple. Ever towards the rising sun its bearers carry this sacred truth.

Nations are born of those who love the truth, and are buried when they forget it. The time has come when its silent bearers have taken the sacred Ark and the Shekinah's glory, and in solemn file have moved across the waters and brought it to the new world. The call has sounded through the universe, and those who are true to their own higher principles have surrounded the sacred chest. Those who have sworn alliance to their own higher being are following the priests and their sacred burden, and a beautiful mystery temple is being built in this beautiful land of ours, loved and guarded by those who are laboring for humanity. The staves are still in the Ark, however, and only when real good can be done by it will it remain.

The opportunity is now confronting the Western World. The knowledge of the ancients, the wisdom of the ages is knocking at the door and seeking those who will follow it. The bearers of the Ark have stopped and are gathering a nucleus of spiritual souls to carry on their work, and whether or not the word of the Lord will remain with a nation depends upon its own actions, and the actions of a nation are the collective actions of its individuals. If it finds nothing here attuned to itself, if it finds few that will answer to its call, the call of service and brotherhood, then will its priests lift again the staves and the sacred work will go out into other lands.

The life of a country thus gone, like the ancient city of the Golden Gate it will be swallowed up in oblivion. The call is sounding, and those who love the Truth and think and care for the Light must join that band of servers who have for centuries dedicated themselves to the preservation of Truth. Their lives they have given a thousand times, their happiness has been second to their duty. They are the keepers of the sacred Word, and the law of attraction draws to them all who love and live the Truth. A great influx of spiritual light comes to those who live the life and have learned the doctrine, and regardless of clan or country they have joined the silent file of watchers and workers around the sacred Ark of the Covenant. Every individual by his daily actions is expressing more plainly than by words his ideals, his desires, and his attitude towards this great work. The composite attitude of a certain number of people either shuts out or lets in the light. Therefore every individual has a great duty, a great work has to be done, and to that the true student must dedicate his life. Then wherever he may go, whatever he may do, he is being led, and the Shekinah's glory directs his footsteps.

**The Rod that Budded, the Pot of Manna, and the Tablets of the Law:**

In these three things contained within the Ark we see the threefold spirit contained within the ark of man's bodies.

In the brain of man, between the wings of the kneeling cherubim, is the mercy seat, and there man speaks with his God as the priest of the tabernacle spoke to the spirit of the Lord hovering between the wings of the Angels. Man is again the Ark, and within him are the three principles, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - the tablets of the law, the pot of manna, and the rod that budded. But as in the case of the ancient Israelites, when they became crystallized the pot of manna and the rod that budded were removed from the Ark, and all that was left were the tablets or the letters of the law. When the individual crystallizes and excludes various sidelights from his mind, he excludes the life force which was flowing to him. In shutting out strangers, he shuts out his own life, and all that he has left are the tablets of the law, the material reasons from which the spiritual life has gone.

Solomon's temple, or the perfected temple of the human body, the perfected temple of the universe and the perfected temple of the soul, finally forms the perfect shrine for the living Ark. There at the head of a great cross it is placed, and there in man it becomes permanently fixed. The staves of polarity upon which it was carried are removed, and it becomes a living thing, a permanent place where man converses with his God. There man, the purified priest, arrayed in the robes of his order, the garments of his soul, converses with the spirit hovering over the Mercy Seat. This Ark within is always present, but man can only reach it after he has passed through the outer court of the Tabernacle, after he has passed through all the degrees of initiation, and after he has taken the Third Degree and becomes a Grand Master. Then and then only can he enter into the presence of his Lord, and there in the darkened chamber, lighted by the jewels of his own breast plate, he converses with the Most High, the true spiritual essence within himself.

We are working towards this, and the time will come when each person for himself will know the mystery of the Ark, when the student through purification shall be led through the door of the Holy of Holies and there be enveloped by the Light of Truth. This was his birthright which he sold for a mess of pottage. "To this end came he into the world that he might bear witness to this truth, that through this light all men might be saved." The Ark, that great spiritual principle, surrounded by its loving workers, is calling all to follow it.

When through materiality and degeneracy a great people are destroyed or a continent sinks beneath the ocean, then those that are true are called around the Ark, and as its faithful servers are led out of the land of darkness into the new world and a promised paradise. All great teachings set forth the same thing. The student will find that it is true, and when he allies himself with the powers of light, when he becomes a channel for its expression, and when he radiates it from himself to all who need it, then indeed will the Light protect him and he shall become a Sun of God.

**The Holy Grail:**

See in this cup your own body within which is the life blood of the Sun Spirit of the Universe. Each day that we live we perpetuate the Last Supper, and in all that we do we drink again the blood of Christ, the life power of the Cosmos.

## Chapter 6. Knights Of The Holy Grail

Before starting to take up the study of the Grail legends, it will be well for all who are interested to read those tales that are now listed under the heading of children's fairy stories. For example the story of good King Arthur and his Round Table is a cosmic myth, and while there is little doubt that he as a man also lived, the real mystery as in the story of the Christ, is not the literal tale, but the great mystic or occult truth that it concealed under allegory and parable. It is the same with the story of Parsifal which can never be really understood and appreciated until the student sees in the Knight and later King of the Sacred Cup, his own spiritual development and the temptations he must also master if he would become a King of the Grail.

**The Stone and the Sword:**

WHOEVER CAN DRAW THIS SWORD FROM THIS STONE IS THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE.

In Lohengrin also the same truth is shown to the world. It is the path of Initiation along which each must pass on his road to self-mastery. To every nation and in every tongue sacred legends have been given to teach man the path he must follow. The blind Homer of the Greeks who told of the wanderings of Ulysses gave the same great truths to the world. The Scalds of ancient Norway and Sweden and the Prophets of the Jews used the same means, and everywhere from the Sacred Books of the East to the legends of the American Indians we find one great connected truth told to many different people in ways that were best suited for their development.

Such a truth is the legend of the Round Table, given to King Arthur as a wedding gift. All true students know what wedding that was. Not of earth but the wedding of the Spiritual and Intellectual within the Initiate himself, when the spirit and the body are united eternally, each swearing to honor and protect the other. Of such a marriage was the union of Arthur and Guinevere in the legend of the King.

Let us first of all consider the coming of Arthur the King. We read in the legend of Arthur regarding Merlin the Magician, the wise man who it is said had charge of the coming King during his youth. Merlin represents the hand of the Elder Brothers, who realizing that a great ego had come into the world, had consecrated themselves to the work of preparing him for his mission.

It was under the direction of Merlin, the master mind, that the anvil and stone with the sword thrust into it were raised in the square of the city when it became necessary for a new king to be selected. It was he also who called all of the brave knights of the country and told them that the one who could draw forth the sword would be king of all the land. And of all the knights in the land, Arthur the half-grown boy was the only one who could release the sword.

There is a very wonderful mystery of the soul contained within that divine allegory. Let us read the letters that were engraved upon the sword. "WHO SO PULLETH OUT THIS SWORD OF THIS STONE AND ANVIL IS RIGHT-WISE KING BORN OF ENGLAND."

**The Rosicrucian Rose:**

In this flower, which was painted upon the center of King Arthur's Table, we see the soul of man, which through purification and service has blossomed out with all the grandeur of the Initiate.

The cube stone is the body; it has been so symbolized for centuries, and today among the Masons the Ashler is the symbol of Man. Experience is the anvil, and it is upon this anvil that the sword is tempered. The sword is spirit, and he who would be King in the true spiritual sense of the word must first show his divine power by freeing the Sword of Spirit from the casings of the lower man and the world.

It is the same symbol as that later used by Sir Galahad, the guileless knight, the personification of the purified man, who comes without a sword but who later arms himself with the sword of spirit that he draws from the cube block which was floating down the river (of life) past Camelot. Sir Galahad had the strength of ten because his heart was pure, and the Knight of today must follow in the same path.

**The Sacred Spear:**

This is the spear of Passion that pierces the side of the Christ, the higher principle in man. But when in the hand of the pure of heart this power can heal the very wound it caused.

If you have read the story of King Arthur, you will remember how he was given Excalibur, the enchanted sword, how it came up out of the water held by a hand draped in white. Excalibur represents light and truth, which is the weapon of the true Initiate.

In England there still hangs on a courthouse wall the Round Table of King Arthur. In the very center of the table is a beautiful rose painted in natural colors. This symbol is that of the Rosicrucians, the ancient alchemists, and there is a direct connection between the legend of the British King and the ancient philosophers of fire.

Now let us turn our attention for a moment to the history of the Holy Grail, or the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper and which was said to have caught his blood when he was dying upon the cross. Ancient legends tell us that this cup was made from a sacred stone which had been the crown jewel of Lucifer, the dynamic energy of the universe. It was said that the green stone had been struck from the crown of Lucifer by the archangel Michael during the famous battle in heaven.

After the death of Christ it is said that Joseph of Arimathea took the sacred cup and the spear of the Passion and carried them into a distant land. He wandered with his sacred relics through Europe and is said to have finally died, and those who came after him after many centuries of tribulation carried the sacred relics to Mount Salvart in northern Spain where they remained until Parsifal finally took the grail and spear back to the East where it is to be now preserved.

It is around this cup and spear that the legends of Parsifal and King Arthur have been written, and it is through study of this fact that we are able to better understand the mystery of the Great White Lodge of which the Round Table of Arthur and the circular temple of the knights of the Grail is a symbol.

Although we no longer have the cup as a physical symbol, it is not gone from among us, and as in the days of old the brave knights of the Round Table went out to fight for right, so those knights of today who belong to the Great White Brotherhood go out into the world in the name of truth and labor with mankind and seek to right the wrongs of the world. It is said that the knights of Arthur's court always fought for virtue and purity, and so did those who rode out of Mount Salvart.

The grail cup is the symbol of the creative force of nature; it is also the symbol of the human race which is slowly learning the mysteries of creation. Within the cup is the blood of Christ, that force which is transmuting the body into soul, fast or slowly as we give it greater or lesser opportunity.

In the sacred spear we find symbolized again the creative force, which in the hands of Klingsor, the evil one, wounds and causes suffering, but which when held by the pure Parsifal heals the very wound that it caused.

A great lesson is being taught to man through these allegories, but the average person is unwilling to stop and consider them. They do not realize that they themselves are the ones whom the Elder Brothers of humanity must use in the fight against the forces of evil. They do not realize that the dragons and ogres of the legends are their own lower natures which they must overcome. They do not see in the hand to hand combat of the knights of old for a lady's hand the higher and lower man fighting for the soul within.

The knight of today does not realize that the white armor that he wears is his own purified body which is proof against all the attacks of vice and passion, but nevertheless this is the meaning of the legend. His shield is truth, which is a perfect protection to the inner man. His strong right arm is the knowledge and spiritual power he has developed within, and the sword that he uses is the spiritual light with which the pure flame of the spirit fire dispels the darkness of ignorance and the demons of lust.

The sacred spear and the cup which he serves are the two poles of the creative life force within, the development of which he gains as he daily serves his fellow men.

Far from the uninitiated the twelve Elder Brothers of mankind sitting around the circular table of the universe watch the knights in their battle of life, and the time comes when the student having finished his work here is liberated at the foot of the Grail. There the candidate stands robed from head to foot in the armor of spirit and in the pure white of a body that has been cleansed. Then the cloth is lifted from the sacred cup, and he is illuminated by the light which would have killed him had he seen it without purification. He then takes his place among the knights of the Round Table, and joins those who give up all and labor for humanity.

When in sickness and in suffering we beg of the great unknown that he send us help, then indeed our knight comes to us as Lohengrin came to Elsa. When our loved ones pass into the great unknown, there stands the brother of the Grail, the invisible helper, who through days of labor has earned the right to become a member of that great band of servers who gather around the table of the King, and while their bodies are asleep still labor in their great search for light and truth, and pray for the day when they shall also become Kings of the Holy Grail.

## Chapter 7. The Mystery Of The Pyramid

There comes a time in the development of the occult student when he understands one of the great secrets of the Initiates, and that is that every sacred thing outside of himself stands for some organ or function within himself. This is, of course, true in the case of the Great Pyramid, except that this particular pile of stone said by many to be the oldest building on the surface of the earth, is the great symbol of composite man. In other words it stands for man as a unit.

Let us first consider it simply from the exterior standpoint. When we first look at it in the distance it seems to be one great stone, but as we come closer we see that it is made of thousands of smaller stones, each one carefully fitted into place. Here we see the first likeness between the pyramid and man. We consider man to be a unit, but when we examine more closely, we find that he is a great number of small units, each working in harmony with the others. It is the same with everything. We take a successful life and we think of it as an entirety, but when we examine it, we find that it is a number of small achievements joined together.

**Cross Section of the Great Pyramid of Gizah.**

As thousands of workmen were used in the building of the pyramid, so there are unnumbered workmen at work in the building of our bodies, which are symbolical of the same building.

There are many pyramids all over the world. We find them in South America and in Mexico; we find mounds which were made to represent them among the American Indians, and in Europe and Britain we find remnants of the same things. But there is only one real pyramid in all the world. Even the others in Egypt are but copies of the Great Pyramid, and were used as tombs for the Pharaohs, but nobody was ever found in Cheops, nor were there ever any signs that it had been so used.

Now let us continue our analogy between the pyramid and man. If you will look at the accompanying illustration, you will see the pyramid laid flat, and you will notice it is made of four triangles laid around the base square. The four-sided base of the pyramid represents the four elements of which man's bodies are composed. These are hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and carbon, or earth, water, fire, and air. These are called the base of all things, and upon this base the four bodies of man are raised, each from its own element. Thus the physical body is raised from the earth. The vital body is raised from the water, the emotional body from the fire, and the mental body from the air.

**The Pyramid:**

Here we see the pyramid laid out so that the four triangles and the square are clearly seen. This represents man once again, and the ancient Pyramid is man offering his higher being upon the altar of the Great Fire Spirit.

There are twelve lines used in the drawing of the four triangles, which stand for the twelvefold constitution of man when it is complete: the threefold body, the threefold mind, the threefold soul, and the threefold spirit. It also gives us the twelve signs of the zodiac, divided into their respective groups.

Out on the desert stands the Sphinx, the Guardian of the Threshold mentioned by Bulwer Lytton. It stands for the bodies of man, and is that strange being which must be passed before the student can go on in his development. The four fixed signs of which the Sphinx is a symbol are Taurus the Bull, Leo the Lion, Scorpio the Eagle, and Aquarius the Man, or the human head.

**The Sphinx:**

This is that mysterious being suspended 'twixt heaven and earth, which has the head of a human being and the body of an animal. In other words the Sphinx symbolizes man.

I have already given you some work on the sacrum bone, and I told you that it was the grave digger's spade. Here is a picture of the head of the Sphinx, and the inverted sacrum bone when it has been turned upward. We see the Sphinx in the inverted sacrum and also in it the inverted Masonic keystone. All this is very interesting, but unless we realize the inner meaning of it, its true value is lost. But it is not chance that these things should be so.

You have most of you heard of the Dweller on the Threshold, that creature built by our own actions and mistakes. Well out on Egypt's desert it stands and bars the way to the pyramid, the temple of the higher man. And the message that it gives to the world is:

**"I am the bodies. If you would go on to the temple you must master me, for I am within you."**

The Sphinx again symbolizes man, with the mind and spirit of the human rising out of the animal desires and emotions. It is the riddle of the ages, and man is once more the answer.

It is said that in ancient times the Sphinx was the gateway of the pyramid, and that there was an underground passage which led from the Sphinx to Cheops. This would make the symbolism even more perfect, for the gateway to the spirit is through the bodies according to the ancients.

Let us now enter the pyramid and passing through the corridors come to the King's Chamber as it is called. There are three great rooms in the pyramid which are of great interest to the student. The highest is the King's Chamber, then below that is the Queen's Chamber, and down below the surface of the earth is the Pit. Here we again find the great correlation between the pyramid and man. The three rooms are the three great divisions in man which are the seats of the threefold spirit. The lower room is the generative system under the control of Jehovah. The center room or Queen's Chamber is the heart, under the control of the Christ; and the upper room or the King's Chamber is the brain, which is under the control of the Father. In this upper room is the coffer made of stone, the meaning of which has never been explained, but which the student recognizes as the third ventricle in the brain.

It is quite certain also that this coffer was used as a tomb during initiation, when as is the case in the Masonic initiations of today, (which are the remnants of the ancient mysteries) the candidate was buried in the earth and resurrected, a symbol of the death of the lower man and the liberation of the higher.

It is said that Moses was initiated in the Great Pyramid, and some also say that Jesus was instructed there also. Be that as it may, we know that for thousands of years since the time it was built by the Atlanteans it has been the greatest temple of Initiation in the world. It seems also that its work is not yet done, for mutely it is teaching those who will see the mysteries of creation.

It is said by many that it is the original Solomon's Temple, but this we know is not true, for while it may be the first and original material temple, the true temple of Solomon is the universe, the Solarman's temple, which is slowly being rebuilt in man as the temple of the Soul of Man.

There is probably no point that is as important in connection with the pyramid as that of the corner stone. On the very top of the great pyramid is a comparatively flat place about thirty feet square. In other words the TRUE STONE WHICH IS THE HEAD OF ALL THE CORNERS IS MISSING. If we look at the reverse side of the United States seal, we find again the pyramid from which the top is separated. Omar Khayyam, the Persian Poet, gives us the secret of the keystone when he says:

"From my base metal shall be filed a **key**,

Which shall unlock the door he howls without."

The value of the stone is better understood when you understand that it completes all of the triangles at once, and without it none of them are complete.

**The Key and the Cross:**

Upon the cross of matter that forms our bodies, hangs the key to all the mysteries of creation. It is our duty to take this key and with it unlock the door that conceals from us the unknown. This key is the spirit. Release it.

This stone is the spirit in man, which fell from its high position, and has been lost beneath the rubbish of the lower man. This is the true cap stone that is now hidden in the pit of man's temple, and which he must exhume and place again as the true crown of his spiritual pyramid.

He can only do this when he calls the thousands of workmen within himself together and binds them to the service of the higher man. There must be no traitors to murder the builder this time. And Lucifer, the one rejected by man as the devil, is the one who must through the planet Mars send man the dynamic energy which man himself must transmute from the fire of passion to the flame of spirit. He then must take the tools of the craft and cut and polish his own being into the cap stone of the Universal Temple.

It is interesting to note how the casing stones that once made the pyramid so beautiful and true were carried away to build the cities nearby, and in connection with that it is interesting to note how the soul and body of man, the casing stones of his spiritual temple, have been sacrificed in order that he might have material things.

As we look at pictures of the ancient pyramid and Sphinx which have stood on Egypt's sands for ages, let us see in them our own mystery temple, made without the sound of hammer or the voice of workman. And as we sadly think of this mighty ruin, broken by ages of neglect, let us remember our temple, and that its corner stone is missing also and our walls are falling with neglect. Let us learn the lesson which it teaches, hasten to perfect our pyramid, cap it with the stone of spirit, offer upon its altars our sacrifice to the Great Sun Spirit, and bury our lower nature in its ancient coffer. Then for us will its mysteries be revealed, and the sealed lips of the Sphinx give up their secret.



# The Secret Teachings of All Ages

## Contents

- Preface
- Introduction
- The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies
- Atlantis and the Gods of Antiquity
- The Life and Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus
- The Initiation of the Pyramid
- Isis, the Virgin of the World
- The Sun, A Universal Deity
- The Zodiac and Its Signs
- The Bembine Table of Isis
- Wonders of Antiquity
- The Life and Philosophy of Pythagoras
- Pythagorean Mathematics
- The Human Body in Symbolism
- The Hiramic Legend
- The Pythagorean Theory of Music and Color
- Fishes, Insects, Animals, Reptiles and Birds
- Flowers, Plants, Fruits, and Trees
- Stones, Metals and Gems
- Ceremonial Magic and Sorcery
- The Elements and Their Inhabitants
- Hermetic Pharmacology, Chemistry, and Therapeutics
- The Qabbalah, the Secret Doctrine of Israel
- Fundamentals of Qabbalistic Cosmogony
- The Tree of the Sephiroth
- Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Man
- An Analysis of Tarot Cards
- The Tabernacle in the Wilderness
- The Fraternity of the Rose Cross
- Rosicrucian Doctrines and Tenets
- Fifteen Rosicrucian and Qabbalistic Diagrams
- Alchemy and Its Exponents
- The Theory and Practice of Alchemy
- The Hermetic And Alchemical Figures of Claudius De Dominico Celentano Vallis Novi
- The Chemical Marriage
- Bacon, Shakspere, and the Rosicrucians
- The Cryptogram as a factor in Symbolic Philosophy
- Freemasonic Symbolism
- Mystic Christianity
- The Cross and the Crucifixion
- The Mystery of the Apocalypse
- The Faith of Islam
- American Indian Symbolism
- The Mysteries and Their Emissaries
- Conclusion

## Preface

NUMEROUS volumes have been written as commentaries upon the secret systems of philosophy existing in the ancient world, but the ageless truths of life, like many of the earth's greatest thinkers, have usually been clothed in shabby garments. The present work is an attempt to supply a tome worthy of those seers and sages whose thoughts are the substance of its pages. To bring about this coalescence of Beauty and Truth has proved most costly, but I believe that the result will produce an effect upon the mind of the reader which will more than justify the expenditure.

Work upon the text of this volume was begun the first day of January, 1926, and has continued almost uninterruptedly for over two years. The greater part of the research work, however, was carried on prior to the writing of the manuscript. The collection of reference material was begun in 1921, and three years later the plans for the book took definite form. For the sake of clarity, all footnotes were eliminated, the various quotations and references to other authors being embodied in the text in their logical order. The bibliography is appended primarily to assist those interested in selecting for future study the most authoritative and important items dealing with philosophy and symbolism. To make readily accessible the abstruse information contained in the book, an elaborate topical cross index is included.

I make no claim for either the infallibility or the originality of any statement herein contained. I have studied the fragmentary writings of the ancients sufficiently to realize that dogmatic utterances concerning their tenets are worse than foolhardy. Traditionalism is the curse of modern philosophy, particularly that of the European schools. While many of the statements contained in this treatise may appear at first wildly fantastic, I have sincerely endeavored to refrain from haphazard metaphysical speculation, presenting the material as far as possible in the spirit rather than the letter of the original authors. By assuming responsibility only for the mistakes which may' appear herein, I hope to escape the accusation of plagiarism which has been directed against nearly every writer on the subject of mystical philosophy.

Having no particular *ism* of my own to promulgate, I have not attempted to twist the original writings to substantiate preconceived notions, nor have I distorted doctrines in any effort to reconcile the irreconcilable differences present in the various systems of religio-philosophic thought.

The entire theory of the book is diametrically opposed to the modern method of thinking, for it is concerned with subjects openly ridiculed by the sophists of the twentieth century. Its true purpose is to introduce the mind of the reader to a hypothesis of living wholly beyond the pale of materialistic theology, philosophy, or science. The mass of abstruse material between its covers is not susceptible to perfect organization, but so far as possible related topics have been grouped together.

Rich as the English language is in media of expression, it is curiously lacking in terms suitable to the conveyance of abstract philosophical premises. A certain intuitive grasp of the subtler meanings concealed within groups of inadequate words is necessary therefore to an understanding of the ancient Mystery Teachings.

Although the majority of the items in the bibliography are in my own library, I wish to acknowledge gratefully the assistance rendered by the Public Libraries of San Francisco and Los Angeles, the libraries of the Scottish Rite in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the libraries of the University of California in Berkeley and Los Angeles, the Mechanics' Library in San Francisco, and the Krotona Theosophical Library at Ojai, California. Special recognition for their help is also due to the following persons: Mrs. Max Heindel, Mrs. Alice Palmer Henderson, Mr. Ernest Dawson and staff, Mr. John Howell, Mr. Paul Elder, Mr. Phillip Watson Hackett, and Mr. John R. Ruckstell. Single books were lent by other persons and organizations, to whom thanks are also given.

The matter of translation was the greatest single task in the research work incident to the preparation of this volume. The necessary German translations, which required nearly three years, were generously undertaken by Mr. Alfred Beri, who declined all remuneration for his labor. The Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish translations were made by Prof. Homer P. Earle. The Hebrew text was edited by Rabbi Jacob M. Alkow. Miscellaneous short translations and checking also were done by various individuals.

The editorial work was under the supervision of Dr. C. B. Rowlingson, through whose able efforts literary order was often brought out of literary chaos. Special recognition is also due the services rendered by Mr. Robert B. Tummonds, of the staff of H. S. Crocker Company, Inc., to whom were assigned the technical difficulties of fitting the text matter into its allotted space. For much of the literary charm of the work I am also indebted to Mr. M. M. Saxton, to whom the entire manuscript was first dictated and to whom was also entrusted the preparation of the index. The splendid efforts of Mr. J. Augustus Knapp, the illustrator, have resulted in a series of color plates which add materially to the beauty and completeness of the work. Q The printing of the book was in the hands of Mr. Frederick E. Keast, of H. S. Crocker Company, Inc., whose great personal interest in the volume has been manifested by an untiring effort to improve the quality thereof Through the gracious cooperation of Dr. John Henry Nash, the foremost designer of printing on the American Continent, the book appears in a unique and appropriate form, embodying the finest elements of the printer's craft. An increase in the number of plates and also a finer quality of workmanship than was first contemplated have been made possible by Mr. C. E. Benson, of the Los Angeles Engraving Company, who entered heart and soul into the production of this volume.

The pre-publication sale of this book has been without known precedent in book history. The subscription list for the first edition of 550 copies was entirely closed a year before the manuscript was placed in the printer's hands. The second, or King Solomon, edition, consisting of 550 copies, and the third, or Theosophical, edition, consisting of 200 copies, were sold before the finished volume was received from the printer. For so ambitious a production, this constitutes a unique achievement. The credit for this extraordinary sales program belongs to Mrs. Maud F. Galigher, who had as her ideal not to sell the book in the commercial sense of the word but to place it in the hands of those particularly interested in the subject matter it contains. Valuable assistance in this respect was also rendered by numerous friends who had attended my lectures and who without compensation undertook and successfully accomplished the distribution of the book.

In conclusion, the author wishes to acknowledge gratefully his indebtedness to each one of the hundreds of subscribers through whose advance payments the publication of this folio was made possible. To undertake the enormous expense involved was entirely beyond his individual means and those who invested in the volume had no assurance of its production and no security other than their faith in the integrity of the writer.

I sincerely hope that each reader will profit from the perusal of this book, even as I have profited from the writing of it. The years of labor and thought expended upon it have meant much to me. The research work discovered to me many great truths; the writing of it discovered to me the laws of order and patience; the printing of it discovered to me new wonders of the arts and crafts; and the whole enterprise has discovered to me a multitude of friends whom otherwise I might never have known. And so, in the words of John Bunyan:

*I penned*
*It down, until at last it came to be,*
*For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.*

## Introduction

PHILOSOPHY is the science of estimating values. The superiority of any state or substance over another is determined by philosophy. By assigning a position of primary importance to what remains when all that is secondary has been removed, philosophy thus becomes the true index of priority or emphasis in the realm of speculative thought. The mission of philosophy a priori is to establish the relation of manifested things to their invisible ultimate cause or nature.

"Philosophy," writes Sir William Hamilton, "has been defined as: The science of things divine and human, and of the causes in which they are contained Cicero; The science of effects by their causes Hobbes; The science of sufficient reasons Leibnitz; The science of things possible, inasmuch as they are possible Wolf; The science of things evidently deduced from first principles Descartes; The science of truths, sensible and abstract de Condillac; The application of reason to its legitimate objects Tennemann; The science of the relations of all knowledge to the necessary ends of human reason Kant;The science of the original form of the ego or mental self Krug; The science of sciences Fichte; The science of the absolute von Schelling; The science of the absolute indifference of the ideal and real von Schelling--or, The identity of identity and non-identity Hegel." (See *Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic*.)

The six headings under which the disciplines of philosophy are commonly classified are: *metaphysics*, which deals with such abstract subjects as cosmology, theology, and the nature of being; *logic*, which deals with the laws governing rational thinking, or, as it has been called, "the doctrine of fallacies"; *ethics*, which is the science of morality, individual responsibility, and character--concerned chiefly with an effort to determine the nature of good; *psychology*, which is devoted to investigation and classification of those forms of phenomena referable to a mental origin; *epistemology*, which is the science concerned primarily with the nature of knowledge itself and the question of whether it may exist in an absolute form; and *æsthetics*, which is the science of the nature of and the reactions awakened by the beautiful, the harmonious, the elegant, and the noble.

Plato regarded philosophy as the greatest good ever imparted by Divinity to man. In the twentieth century, however, it has become a ponderous and complicated structure of arbitrary and irreconcilable notions--yet each substantiated by almost incontestible logic. The lofty theorems of the old Academy which Iamblichus likened to the nectar and ambrosia of the gods have been so adulterated by opinion--which Heraclitus declared to be a falling sickness of the mind--that the heavenly mead would now be quite unrecognizable to this great Neo-Platonist. Convincing evidence of the increasing superficiality of modern scientific and philosophic thought is its persistent drift towards materialism. When the great astronomer Laplace was asked by Napoleon why he had not mentioned God in his *Traité de la Mécanique Céleste*, the mathematician naively replied: "Sire, I had no need for that hypothesis!"

In his treatise on Atheism, Sir Francis Bacon tersely summarizes the situation thus: "A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion." The Metaphysics of Aristotle opens with these words: "All men naturally desire to know." To satisfy this common urge the unfolding human intellect has explored the extremities of imaginable space without and the extremities of imaginable self within, seeking to estimate the relationship between the one and the all; the effect and the cause; Nature and the groundwork of Nature; the mind and the source of the mind; the spirit and the substance of the spirit; the illusion and the reality.

An ancient philosopher once said: "He who has not even a knowledge of common things is a brute among men. He who has an accurate knowledge of human concerns alone is a man among brutes. But he who knows all that can be known by intellectual energy, is a God among men." Man's status in the natural world is determined, therefore, by the quality of his thinking. He whose mind is enslaved to his bestial instincts is philosophically not superior to the brute-, he whose rational faculties ponder human affairs is a man; and he whose intellect is elevated to the consideration of divine realities is already a demigod, for his being partakes of the luminosity with which his reason has brought him into proximity. In his encomium of "the science of sciences" Cicero is led to exclaim: "O philosophy, life's guide! O searcher--out of virtue and expeller of vices! What could we and every age of men have been without thee? Thou hast produced cities; thou hast called men scattered about into the social enjoyment of life."

In this age the word *philosophy* has little meaning unless accompanied by some other qualifying term. The body of philosophy has been broken up into numerous *isms* more or less antagonistic, which have become so concerned with the effort to disprove each other's fallacies that the sublimer issues of divine order and human destiny have suffered deplorable neglect. The ideal function of philosophy is to serve as the stabilizing influence in human thought. By virtue of its intrinsic nature it should prevent man from ever establishing unreasonable codes of life. Philosophers themselves, however, have frustrated the ends of philosophy by exceeding in their woolgathering those untrained minds whom they are supposed to lead in the straight and narrow path of rational thinking. To list and classify any but the more important of the now recognized schools of philosophy is beyond the space limitations of this volume. The vast area of speculation covered by philosophy will be appreciated best after a brief consideration of a few of the outstanding systems of philosophic discipline which have swayed the world of thought during the last twenty-six centuries. The Greek school of philosophy had its inception with the seven immortalized thinkers upon whom was first conferred the appellation of *Sophos*, "the wise." According to Diogenes Laertius, these were Thales, Solon, Chilon, Pittacus, Bias, Cleobulus, and Periander. Water was conceived by Thales to be the primal principle or element, upon which the earth floated like a ship, and earthquakes were the result of disturbances in this universal sea. Since Thales was an Ionian, the school perpetuating his tenets became known as the Ionic. He died in 546 B.C., and was succeeded by Anaximander, who in turn was followed by Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, and Archelaus, with whom the Ionic school ended. Anaximander, differing from his master Thales, declared measureless and indefinable infinity to be the principle from which all things were generated. Anaximenes asserted air to be the first element of the universe; that souls and even the Deity itself were composed of it.

Anaxagoras (whose doctrine savors of atomism) held God to be an infinite self-moving mind; that this divine infinite Mind, not inclosed in any body, is the efficient cause of all things; out of the infinite matter consisting of similar parts, everything being made according to its species by the divine mind, who when all things were at first confusedly mingled together, came and reduced them to order." Archelaus declared the principle of all things to be twofold: mind (which was incorporeal) and air (which was corporeal), the rarefaction and condensation of the latter resulting in fire and water respectively. The stars were conceived by Archelaus to be burning iron places. Heraclitus (who lived 536-470 B.C. and is sometimes included in the Ionic school) in his doctrine of change and eternal flux asserted fire to be the first element and also the state into which the world would ultimately be reabsorbed. The soul of the world he regarded as an exhalation from its humid parts, and he declared the ebb and flow of the sea to be caused by the sun.

BABBITT'S ATOM.

From Babbitt's Principles of Light and Color.

*Since the postulation of the atomic theory by Democritus, many efforts have been made to determine the structure of atoms and the method by which they unite to form various elements, Even science has not refrained from entering this field of speculation and presents for consideration most detailed and elaborate representations of these minute bodies. By far the most remarkable conception of the atom evolved during the last century is that produced by the genius of Dr. Edwin D. Babbitt and which is reproduced herewith. The diagram is self-explanatory. It must be borne in mind that this apparently massive structure is actually s minute as to defy analysis. Not only did Dr. Babbitt create this form of the atom but he also contrived a method whereby these particles could be grouped together in an orderly manner and thus result in the formation of molecular bodies.*

After Pythagoras of Samos, its founder, the *Italic* or *Pythagorean* school numbers among its most distinguished representatives Empedocles, Epicharmus, Archytas, Alcmæon, Hippasus, Philolaus, and Eudoxus. Pythagoras (580-500? B.C.) conceived mathematics to be the most sacred and exact of all the sciences, and demanded of all who came to him for study a familiarity with arithmetic, music, astronomy, and geometry. He laid special emphasis upon the *philosophic life* as a prerequisite to wisdom. Pythagoras was one of the first teachers to establish a community wherein all the members were of mutual assistance to one another in the common attainment of the higher sciences. He also introduced the discipline of retrospection as essential to the development of the spiritual mind. Pythagoreanism may be summarized as a system of metaphysical speculation concerning the relationships between numbers and the causal agencies of existence. This school also first expounded the theory of celestial harmonics or "the music of the spheres." John Reuchlin said of Pythagoras that he taught nothing to his disciples before the discipline of silence, silence being the first rudiment of contemplation. In his *Sophist*, Aristotle credits Empedocles with the discovery of rhetoric. Both Pythagoras and Empedocles accepted the theory of transmigration, the latter saying: "A boy I was, then did a maid become; a plant, bird, fish, and in the vast sea swum." Archytas is credited with invention of the screw and the crane. Pleasure he declared to be a pestilence because it was opposed to the temperance of the mind; he considered a man without deceit to be as rare as a fish without bones.

The *Eleatic* sect was founded by Xenophanes (570-480 B.C.), who was conspicuous for his attacks upon the cosmologic and theogonic fables of Homer and Hesiod. Xenophanes declared that God was "one and incorporeal, in substance and figure round, in no way resembling man; that He is all sight and all hearing, but breathes not; that He is all things, the mind and wisdom, not generate but eternal, impassible, immutable, and rational." Xenophanes believed that all existing things were eternal, that the world was without beginning or end, and that everything which was generated was subject to corruption. He lived to great age and is said to have buried his sons with his own hands. Parmenides studied under Xenophanes, but never entirely subscribed to his doctrines. Parmenides declared the senses to be uncertain and reason the only criterion of truth. He first asserted the earth to be round and also divided its surface into zones of hear and cold.

Melissus, who is included in the Eleatic school, held many opinions in common with Parmenides. He declared the universe to be immovable because, occupying all space, there was no place to which it could be moved. He further rejected the theory of a vacuum in space. Zeno of Elea also maintained that a vacuum could not exist. Rejecting the theory of motion, he asserted that there was but one God, who was an eternal, ungenerated Being. Like Xenophanes, he conceived Deity to be spherical in shape. Leucippus held the Universe to consist of two parts: one full and the other a vacuum. From the Infinite a host of minute fragmentary bodies descended into the vacuum, where, through continual agitation, they organized themselves into spheres of substance.

The great Democritus to a certain degree enlarged upon the atomic theory of Leucippus. Democritus declared the principles of all things to be twofold: atoms and vacuum. Both, he asserted, are infinite--atoms in number, vacuum in magnitude. Thus all bodies must be composed of atoms or vacuum. Atoms possessed two properties, form and size, both characterized by infinite variety. The soul Democritus also conceived to be atomic in structure and subject to dissolution with the body. The mind he believed to be composed of spiritual atoms. Aristotle intimates that Democritus obtained his atomic theory from the Pythagorean doctrine of the *Monad*. Among the Eleatics are also included Protagoras and Anaxarchus.

Socrates (469-399 B.C.), the founder of the *Socratic* sect, being fundamentally a Skeptic, did not force his opinions upon others, but through the medium of questionings caused each man to give expression to his own philosophy. According to Plutarch, Socrates conceived every place as appropriate for reaching in that the whole world was a school of virtue. He held that the soul existed before the body and, prior to immersion therein, was endowed with all knowledge; that when the soul entered into the material form it became stupefied, but that by discourses upon sensible objects it was caused to reawaken and to recover its original knowledge. On these premises was based his attempt to stimulate the soul-power through irony and inductive reasoning. It has been said of Socrates that the sole subject of his philosophy was man. He himself declared philosophy to be the way of true happiness and its purpose twofold: (1) to contemplate God, and (2) to abstract the soul from corporeal sense.

The principles of all things he conceived to be three in number: *God*, *matter*, and *ideas*. Of God he said: "What He is I know not; what He is not I know." Matter he defined as the subject of generation and corruption; idea, as an incorruptible substance--the intellect of God. Wisdom he considered the sum of the virtues. Among the prominent members of the Socratic sect were Xenophon, Æschines, Crito, Simon, Glauco, Simmias, and Cebes. Professor Zeller, the great authority on ancient philosophies, has recently declared the writings of Xenophon relating to Socrates to be forgeries. When *The Clouds of Aristophanes*, a comedy written to ridicule the theories of Socrates, was first presented, the great Skeptic himself attended the play. During the performance, which caricatured him seated in a basket high in the air studying the sun, Socrates rose calmly in his seat, the better to enable the Athenian spectators to compare his own unprepossessing features with the grotesque mask worn by the actor impersonating him.

The *Elean* sect was founded by Phædo of Elis, a youth of noble family, who was bought from slavery at the instigation of Socrates and who became his devoted disciple. Plato so highly admired Phædo's mentality that he named one of the most famous of his discourses The Phædo. Phædo was succeeded in his school by Plisthenes, who in turn was followed by Menedemus. Of the doctrines of the Elean sect little is known. Menedemus is presumed to have been inclined toward the teachings of Stilpo and the Megarian sect. When Menedemus' opinions were demanded, he answered that he was free, thus intimating that most men were enslaved to their opinions. Menedemus was apparently of a somewhat belligerent temperament and often returned from his lectures in a badly bruised condition. The most famous of his propositions is stated thus: That which is not the same is different from that with which it is not the same. This point being admitted, Menedemus continued: To benefit is not the same as good, therefore good does not benefit. After the time of Menedemus the Elean sect became known as the Eretrian. Its exponents denounced all negative propositions and all complex and abstruse theories, declaring that only affirmative and simple doctrines could be true.

*From Thomasin's Recuil des Figures, Groupes, Thermes, Fontaines, Vases et autres Ornaments.*

*Plato's real name was Aristocles. When his father brought him to study with Socrates, the great Skeptic declared that on the previous night he had dreamed of a white swan, which was an omen that his new disciple was to become one of the world's illumined. There is a tradition that the immortal Plato was sold as a slave by the King of Sicily.*

The *Megarian* sect was founded by Euclid of Megara (not the celebrated mathematician), a great admirer of Socrates. The Athenians passed a law decreeing death to any citizen of Megara found in the city of Athens. Nothing daunted, Euclid donned woman's clothing and went at night to study with Socrates. After the cruel death of their teacher, the disciples of Socrates, fearing a similar fate, fled to Megara, where they were entertained with great honor by Euclid. The Megarian school accepted the Socratic doctrine that virtue is wisdom, adding to it the Eleatic concept that goodness is absolute unity and all change an illusion of the senses. Euclid maintained that good has no opposite and therefore evil does not exist. Being asked about the nature of the gods, he declared himself ignorant of their disposition save that they hated curious persons.

The Megarians are occasionally included among the dialectic philosophers. Euclid (who died 374? B.C.) was succeeded in his school by Eubulides, among whose disciples were Alexinus and Apollonius Cronus. Euphantus, who lived to great age and wrote many tragedies, was among the foremost followers of Eubulides. Diodorus is usually included in the Megarian school, having heard Eubulides lecture. According to legend, Diodorus died of grief because he could not answer instantly certain questions asked him by Stilpo, at one time master of the Megarian school. Diodorus held that nothing can be moved, since to be moved it must be taken out of the place in which it is and put into the place where it is not, which is impossible because all things must always be in the places where they are.

The *Cynics* were a sect founded by Antisthenes of Athens (444-365? B.C.), a disciple of Socrates. Their doctrine may be described as an extreme individualism which considers man as existing for himself alone and advocates surrounding him by inharmony, suffering, and direst need that be may thereby be driven to retire more completely into his own nature. The Cynics renounced all worldly possessions, living in the rudest shelters and subsisting upon the coarsest and simplest food. On the assumption that the gods wanted nothing, the Cynics affirmed that those whose needs were fewest consequently approached closest to the divinities. Being asked what he gained by a life of philosophy, Antisthenes replied that he had learned how to converse with himself.

Diogenes of Sinopis is remembered chiefly for the tub in the Metroum which for many years served him as a home. The people of Athens loved the beggar-philosopher, and when a youth in jest bored holes in the tub, the city presented Diogenes with a new one and punished the youth. Diogenes believed that nothing in life can be rightly accomplished without exercitation. He maintained that everything in the world belongs to the wise, a declaration which he proved by the following logic: "All things belong to the gods; the gods are friends to wise persons; all things are common amongst friends; therefore all things belong to the wise." Among the Cynics are Monimus, Onesicritus, Crates, Metrocles, Hipparchia (who married Crates), Menippus, and Menedemus.

The *Cyrenaic* sect, founded by Aristippus of Cyrene (435-356? B.C.), promulgated the doctrine of hedonism. Learning of the fame of Socrates, Aristippus journeyed to Athens and applied himself to the teachings of the great Skeptic. Socrates, pained by the voluptuous and mercenary tendencies of Aristippus, vainly labored to reform the young man. Aristippus has the distinction of being consistent in principle and practice, for he lived in perfect harmony with his philosophy that the quest of pleasure was the chief purpose of life. The doctrines of the Cyrenaics may be summarized thus: All that is actually known concerning any object or condition is the feeling which it awakens in man's own nature. In the sphere of ethics that which awakens the most pleasant feeling is consequently to be esteemed as the greatest good. Emotional reactions are classified as pleasant or gentle, harsh, and mean. The end of pleasant emotion is pleasure; the end of harsh emotion, grief; the end of mean emotion, nothing.

Through mental perversity some men do not desire pleasure. In reality, however, pleasure (especially of a physical nature) is the true end of existence and exceeds in every way mental and spiritual enjoyments. Pleasure, furthermore, is limited wholly to the moment; now is the only time. The past cannot be regarded without regret and the future cannot be faced without misgiving; therefore neither is conducive to pleasure. No man should grieve, for grief is the most serious of all diseases. Nature permits man to do anything he desires; he is limited only by his own laws and customs. A philosopher is one free from envy, love, and superstition, and whose days are one long round of pleasure. Indulgence was thus elevated by Aristippus to the chief position among the virtues. He further declared philosophers to differ markedly from other men in that they alone would not change the order of their lives if all the laws of men were abolished. Among prominent philosophers influenced by the Cyrenaic doctrines were Hegesias, Anniceris, Theodorus, and Bion.

The sect of the *Academic* philosophers instituted by Plato (427-347 B.C.) was divided into three major parts--the old, the middle, and the new Academy. Among the old Academics were Speusippus, Zenocrates, Poleman, Crates, and Crantor. Arcesilaus instituted the middle Academy and Carneades founded the new. Chief among the masters of Plato was Socrates. Plato traveled widely and was initiated by the Egyptians into the profundities of Hermetic philosophy. He also derived much from the doctrines of the Pythagoreans. Cicero describes the threefold constitution of Platonic philosophy as comprising ethics, physics, and dialectics. Plato defined good as threefold in character: good in the soul, expressed through the virtues; good in the body, expressed through the symmetry and endurance of the parts; and good in the external world, expressed through social position and companionship. In *The Book of Speusippus on Platonic Definitions*, that great Platonist thus defines God: "A being that lives immortally by means of Himself alone, sufficing for His own blessedness, the eternal Essence, cause of His own goodness. According to Plato, the *One* is the term most suitable for defining the Absolute, since the whole precedes the parts and diversity is dependent on unity, but unity not on diversity. The One, moreover, is before being, for *to be* is an attribute or condition of the One.

Platonic philosophy is based upon the postulation of three orders of being: that which moves unmoved, that which is self-moved, and that which is moved. That which is immovable but moves is anterior to that which is self-moved, which likewise is anterior to that which it moves. That in which motion is inherent cannot be separated from its motive power; it is therefore incapable of dissolution. Of such nature are the immortals. That which has motion imparted to it from another can be separated from the source of its an animating principle; it is therefore subject to dissolution. Of such nature are mortal beings. Superior to both the mortals and the immortals is that condition which continually moves yet itself is unmoved. To this constitution the power of abidance is inherent; it is therefore the Divine Permanence upon which all things are established. Being nobler even than self-motion, the unmoved Mover is the first of all dignities. The Platonic discipline was founded upon the theory that learning is really reminiscence, or the bringing into objectivity of knowledge formerly acquired by the soul in a previous state of existence. At the entrance of the Platonic school in the Academy were written the words: "Let none ignorant of geometry enter here."

After the death of Plato, his disciples separated into two groups. One, the *Academics*, continued to meet in the Academy where once he had presided; the other, the *Peripatetics*, removed to the Lyceum under the leadership of Aristotle (384-322 B.C.). Plato recognized Aristotle as his greatest disciple and, according to Philoponus, referred to him as "the mind of the school." If Aristotle were absent from the lectures, Plato would say: "The intellect is not here." Of the prodigious genius of Aristotle, Thomas Taylor writes in his introduction to *The Metaphysics*:

"When we consider that he was not only well acquainted with every science, as his works abundantly evince, but that he wrote on almost every subject which is comprehended in the circle of human knowledge, and this with matchless accuracy and skill, we know not which to admire most, the penetration or extent of his mind." Of the philosophy of Aristotle, the same author says: "The end of Aristotle's moral philosophy is perfection through the virtues, and the end of his contemplative philosophy an union with the one principle of all things."

*THE PROBLEM OF DIVERSITY.*

*From Kircher's Ars Magna Sciendi.*

*In the above diagram Kircher arranges eighteen objects in two vertical columns and then determines he number of arrangements in which they can be combined. By the same method Kircher further estimates that fifty objects may be arranged in 1,273,726,838,815,420,339,851,343,083,767,005,515,293,749,454,795,408,000,000,000,000 combinations. From this it will be evident that infinite diversity is possible, for the countless parts of the universe may be related to each other in an incalculable number of ways; and through the various combinations of these limitless subdivisions of being, infinite individuality and infinite variety must inevitably result. Thus it is further evident that life can never become monotonous or exhaust the possibilities of variety.*

Aristotle conceived philosophy to be twofold: practical and theoretical. Practical philosophy embraced ethics and politics; theoretical philosophy, physics and logic. Metaphysics he considered to be the science concerning that substance which has the principle of motion and rest inherent to itself. To Aristotle the soul is that by which man first lives, feels, and understands. Hence to the soul he assigned three faculties: nutritive, sensitive, and intellective. He further considered the soul to be twofold--rational and irrational--and in some particulars elevated the sense perceptions above the mind. Aristotle defined wisdom as the science of first Causes. The four major divisions of his philosophy are dialectics, physics, ethics, and metaphysics. God is defined as the First Mover, the Best of beings, an immovable Substance, separate from sensible things, void of corporeal quantity, without parts and indivisible. Platonism is based upon *a priori* reasoning; Aristotelianism upon *a posteriori* reasoning. Aristotle taught his pupil, Alexander the Great, to feel that if he had not done a good deed he had not reigned that day. Among his followers were Theophrastus, Strato, Lyco, Aristo, Critolaus, and Diodorus.

Of *Skepticism* as propounded by Pyrrho of Elis (365-275 B.C.) and by Timon, Sextus Empiricus said that those who seek must find or deny they have found or can find, or persevere in the inquiry. Those who suppose they have found truth are called *Dogmatists*; those who think it incomprehensible are the *Academics*; those who still seek are the *Skeptics*. The attitude of Skepticism towards the knowable is summed up by Sextus Empiricus in the following words: "But the chief ground of Skepticism is that to every reason there is an opposite reason equivalent, which makes us forbear to dogmatize." The Skeptics were strongly opposed to the Dogmatists and were agnostic in that they held the accepted theories regarding Deity to be self-contradictory and undemonstrable. "How," asked the Skeptic, "can we have indubitate knowledge of God, knowing not His substance, form or place; for, while philosophers disagree irreconcilably on these points, their conclusions cannot be considered as undoubtedly true?" Since absolute knowledge was considered unattainable, the Skeptics declared the end of their discipline to be: "In opinionatives, indisturbance; in impulsives, moderation; and in disquietives, suspension."

The sect of the *Stoics* was founded by Zeno (340-265 B.C.), the Cittiean, who studied under Crates the Cynic, from which sect the Stoics had their origin. Zeno was succeeded by Cleanthes, Chrysippus, Zeno of Tarsis, Diogenes, Antipater, Panætius, and Posidonius. Most famous of the Roman Stoics are Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. The Stoics were essentially pantheists, since they maintained that as there is nothing better than the world, the world is God. Zeno declared that the reason of the world is diffused throughout it as seed. Stoicism is a materialistic philosophy, enjoining voluntary resignation to natural law. Chrysippus maintained that good and evil being contrary, both are necessary since each sustains the other. The soul was regarded as a body distributed throughout the physical form and subject to dissolution with it. Though some of the Stoics held that wisdom prolonged the existence of the soul, actual immortality is not included in their tenets. The soul was said to be composed of eight parts: the five senses, the generative power, the vocal power, and an eighth, or hegemonic, part. Nature was defined as God mixed throughout the substance of the world. All things were looked upon as bodies either corporeal or incorporeal.

Meekness marked the attitude of the Stoic philosopher. While Diogenes was delivering a discourse against anger, one of his listeners spat contemptuously in his face. Receiving the insult with humility, the great Stoic was moved to retort: "I am not angry, but am in doubt whether I ought to be so or not!"

Epicurus of Samos (341-270 B.C.) was the founder of the *Epicurean* sect, which in many respects resembles the Cyrenaic but is higher in its ethical standards. The Epicureans also posited pleasure as the most desirable state, but conceived it to be a grave and dignified state achieved through renunciation of those mental and emotional inconstancies which are productive of pain and sorrow. Epicurus held that as the pains of the mind and soul are more grievous than those of the body, so the joys of the mind and soul exceed those of the body. The Cyrenaics asserted pleasure to be dependent upon action or motion; the Epicureans claimed rest or lack of action to be equally productive of pleasure. Epicurus accepted the philosophy of Democritus concerning the nature of atoms and based his physics upon this theory. The Epicurean philosophy may be summed up in four canons:

"(1) Sense is never deceived; and therefore every sensation and every perception of an appearance is true. (2) Opinion follows upon sense and is superadded to sensation, and capable of truth or falsehood, (3) All opinion attested, or not contradicted by the evidence of sense, is true. (4) An opinion contradicted, or not attested by the evidence of sense, is false." Among the Epicureans of note were Metrodorus of Lampsacus, Zeno of Sidon, and Phædrus.

*Eclecticism* may be defined as the practice of choosing apparently irreconcilable doctrines from antagonistic schools and constructing therefrom a composite philosophic system in harmony with the convictions of the eclectic himself. Eclecticism can scarcely be considered philosophically or logically sound, for as individual schools arrive at their conclusions by different methods of reasoning, so the philosophic product of fragments from these schools must necessarily be built upon the foundation of conflicting premises. Eclecticism, accordingly, has been designated the layman's cult. In the Roman Empire little thought was devoted to philosophic theory; consequently most of its thinkers were of the eclectic type. Cicero is the outstanding example of early Eclecticism, for his writings are a veritable potpourri of invaluable fragments from earlier schools of thought. Eclecticism appears to have had its inception at the moment when men first doubted the possibility of discovering ultimate truth. Observing all so-called knowledge to be mere opinion at best, the less studious furthermore concluded that the wiser course to pursue was to accept that which appeared to be the most reasonable of the teachings of any school or individual. From this practice, however, arose a pseudo-broadmindedness devoid of the element of preciseness found in true logic and philosophy.

The *Neo-Pythagorean* school flourished in Alexandria during the first century of the Christian Era. Only two names stand out in connection with it--Apollonius of Tyana and Moderatus of Gades. Neo-Pythagoreanism is a link between the older pagan philosophies and Neo-Platonism. Like the former, it contained many exact elements of thought derived from Pythagoras and Plato; like the latter, it emphasized metaphysical speculation and ascetic habits. A striking similarity has been observed by several authors between Neo-Pythagoreanism and the doctrines of the Essenes. Special emphasis was laid upon the mystery of numbers, and it is possible that the Neo-Pythagoreans had a far wider knowledge of the true teachings of Pythagoras than is available today. Even in the first century Pythagoras was regarded more as a god than a man, and the revival of his philosophy was resorted to apparently in the hope that his name would stimulate interest in the deeper systems of learning. But Greek philosophy had passed the zenith of its splendor; the mass of humanity was awakening to the importance of physical life and physical phenomena. The emphasis upon earthly affairs which began to assert itself later reached maturity of expression in twentieth century materialism and commercialism, even though Neo-Platonism was to intervene and many centuries pass before this emphasis took definite form.

Although Ammonius Saccus was long believed to be the founder of *Neo-Platonism*, the school had its true beginning in Plotinus (A.D. 204-269?). Prominent among the Neo-Platonists of Alexandria, Syria, Rome, and Athens were Porphyry, Iamblichus, Sallustius, the Emperor Julian, Plutarch, and Proclus. Neo-Platonism was the supreme effort of decadent pagandom to publish and thus preserve for posterity its secret (or unwritten) doctrine. In its teachings ancient idealism found its most perfect expression. Neo-Platonism was concerned almost exclusively with the problems of higher metaphysics. It recognized the existence of a secret and all-important doctrine which from the time of the earliest civilizations had been concealed within the rituals, symbols, and allegories of religions and philosophies. To the mind unacquainted with its fundamental tenets, Neo-Platonism may appear to be a mass of speculations interspersed with extravagant flights of fancy. Such a viewpoint, however, ignores the institutions of the Mysteries--those secret schools into whose profundities of idealism nearly all of the first philosophers of antiquity were initiated.

*ÆNEAS AT THE GATE OF HELL.*

*From Virgil's Æneid. (Dryden's translation.)*

*Virgil describes part of the ritual of a Greek Mystery--possibly the Eleusinian--in his account of the descent of Æneas, to the gate of hell under the guidance of the Sibyl. Of that part of the ritual portrayed above the immortal poet writes:*

*"Full in the midst of this infernal Road,  
An Elm displays her dusky Arms abroad;  
The God of Sleep there hides his heavy Head  
And empty Dreams on ev'ry Leaf are spread.  
Of various Forms, unnumber'd Specters more;  
Centaurs, and double Shapes, besiege the Door:  
Before the Passage horrid Hydra stands,  
And Briareus with all his hundred Hands:  
Gorgons, Geryon with his triple Frame;  
And vain Chimæra vomits empty Flame.  
The Chief unsheath'd his shining Steel, prepar'd,  
Tho seiz'd with sudden Fear, to force the Guard.  
Off'ring his brandish'd Weapon at their Face,  
Had not the Sibyl stop'd his eager Pace,  
And told him what those empty Phantoms were;  
Forms without Bodies, and impassive Air."*

When the physical body of pagan thought collapsed, an attempt was made to resurrect the form by instilling new life into it by the unveiling of its mystical truths. This effort apparently was barren of results. Despite the antagonism, however, between pristine Christianity and Neo-Platonism many basic tenets of the latter were accepted by the former and woven into the fabric of Patristic philosophy. Briefly described, Neo-Platonism is a philosophic code which conceives every physical or concrete body of doctrine to be merely the shell of a spiritual verity which may be discovered through meditation and certain exercises of a mystic nature. In comparison to the esoteric spiritual truths which they contain, the corporeal bodies of religion and philosophy were considered relatively of little value. Likewise, no emphasis was placed upon the material sciences.

The term *Patristic* is employed to designate the philosophy of the Fathers of the early Christian Church. Patristic philosophy is divided into two general epochs: ante-Nicene and post-Nicene. The ante-Nicene period in the main was devoted to attacks upon paganism and to apologies and defenses of Christianity. The entire structure of pagan philosophy was assailed and the dictates of faith elevated above those of reason. In some instances efforts were made to reconcile the evident truths of paganism with Christian revelation. Eminent among the ante-Nicene Fathers were St. Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, and Justin Martyr. In the post-Nicene period more emphasis was placed upon the unfoldment of Christian philosophy along Platonic and Neo-Platonic lines, resulting in the appearance of many strange documents of a lengthy, rambling, and ambiguous nature, nearly all of which were philosophically unsound. The post-Nicene philosophers included Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, and Cyril of Alexandria. The Patristic school is notable for its emphasis upon the supremacy of man throughout the universe. Man was conceived to be a separate and divine creation--the crowning achievement of Deity and an exception to the suzerainty of natural law. To the Patristics it was inconceivable that there should ever exist another creature so noble, so fortunate, or so able as man, for whose sole benefit and edification all the kingdoms of Nature were primarily created.

Patristic philosophy culminated in *Augustinianism*, which may best be defined as Christian Platonism. Opposing the *Pelasgian* doctrine that man is the author of his own salvation, Augustinianism elevated the church and its dogmas to a position of absolute infallibility--a position which it successfully maintained until the Reformation. *Gnosticism*, a system of emanationism, interpreting Christianity in terms of Greek, Egyptian, and Persian metaphysics, appeared in the latter part of the first century of the Christian Era. Practically all the information extant regarding the Gnostics and their doctrines, stigmatized as heresy by the ante-Nicene Church Fathers, is derived from the accusations made against them, particularly from the writings of St. Irenæus. In the third century appeared *Manichæism*, a dualistic system of Persian origin, which taught that Good and Evil were forever contending for universal supremacy. In Manichæism, Christ is conceived to be the Principle of redeeming Good in contradistinction to the man Jesus, who was viewed as an evil personality.

The death of Boethius in the sixth century marked the close of the ancient Greek school of philosophy. The ninth century saw the rise of the new school of *Scholasticism*, which sought to reconcile philosophy with theology. Representative of the main divisions of the Scholastic school were the *Eclecticism* of John of Salisbury, the *Mysticism* of Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Bonaventura, the *Rationalism* of Peter Abelard, and the pantheistic *Mysticism* of *Meister Eckhart*. Among the Arabian Aristotelians were Avicenna and Averroes. The zenith of Scholasticism was reached with the advent of Albertus Magnus and his illustrious disciple, St. Thomas Aquinas. *Thomism* (the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, sometimes referred to as the Christian Aristotle) sought to reconcile the various factions of the Scholastic school. Thomism was basically Aristotelian with the added concept that faith is a projection of reason.

*Scotism*, or the doctrine of *Voluntarism* promulgated by Joannes Duns Scotus, a Franciscan Scholastic, emphasized the power and efficacy of the individual will, as opposed to Thomism. The outstanding characteristic of Scholasticism was its frantic effort to cast all European thought in an Aristotelian mold. Eventually the Schoolmen descended to the level of mere wordmongers who picked the words of Aristotle so clean that nothing but the bones remained. It was this decadent school of meaningless verbiage against which Sir Francis Bacon directed his bitter shafts of irony and which he relegated to the potter's field of discarded notions.

The Baconian, or inductive, system of reasoning (whereby facts are arrived at by a process of observation and verified by experimentation) cleared the way for the schools of modern science. Bacon was followed by Thomas Hobbes (for some time his secretary), who held mathematics to be the only exact science and thought to be essentially a mathematical process. Hobbes declared matter to be the only reality, and scientific investigation to be limited to the study of bodies, the phenomena relative to their probable causes, and the consequences which flow from them under every variety of circumstance. Hobbes laid special stress upon the significance of words, declaring understanding to be the faculty of perceiving the relationship between words and the objects for which they stand.

Having broken away from the scholastic and theological schools, *Post-Reformation*, or modern, philosophy experienced a most prolific growth along many diverse lines. According to Humanism, man is the measure of all things; *Rationalism* makes the reasoning faculties the basis of all knowledge; *Political Philosophy* holds that man must comprehend his natural, social, and national privileges; Empiricism declares that alone to be true which is demonstrable by experiment or experience; *Moralism* emphasizes the necessity of right conduct as a fundamental philosophic tenet; *Idealism* asserts the realities of the universe to be superphysical--either mental or psychical; *Realism*, the reverse; and *Phenomenalism* restricts knowledge to facts or events which can be scientifically described or explained. The most recent developments in the field of philosophic thought are *Behaviorism* and *Neo-Realism*. The former estimates the intrinsic characteristics through an analysis of behavior; the latter may be summed up as the total extinction of idealism.

Baruch de Spinoza, the eminent Dutch philosopher, conceived God to be a substance absolutely self-existent and needing no other conception besides itself to render it complete and intelligible. The nature of this Being was held by Spinoza to be comprehensible only through its attributes, which are extension and thought: these combine to form an endless variety of *aspects* or *modes*. The mind of man is one of the modes of infinite thought; the body of man one of the modes of infinite extension. Through reason man is enabled to elevate himself above the illusionary world of the senses and find eternal repose in perfect union with the Divine Essence. Spinoza, it has been said, deprived God of all personality, making Deity synonymous with the universe.

*THE PTOLEMAIC SCHEME OF THE UNIVERSE.*

*From an old print, courtesy of Carl Oscar Borg.*

*In ridiculing the geocentric system of astronomy expounded by Claudius Ptolemy, modem astronomers have overlooked the philosophic key to the Ptolemaic system. The universe of Ptolemy is a diagrammatic representation of the relationships existing between the various divine and elemental parts of every creature, and is not concerned with astronomy as that science is now comprehended. In the above figure, special attention is called to the three circles of zodiacs surrounding the orbits of the planets. These zodiacs represent the threefold spiritual constitution of the universe. The orbits of the planets are the Governors of the World and the four elemental spheres in the center represent the physical constitution of both man and the universe, Ptolemy's scheme of the universe is simply a cross section of the universal aura, the planets and elements to which he refers having no relation to those recognized by modern astronomers.*

German philosophy had its inception with Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz, whose theories are permeated with the qualities of optimism and idealism. Leibnitz's criteria of *sufficient reason* revealed to him the insufficiency of Descartes' theory of extension, and he therefore concluded that substance itself contained an inherent power in the form of an incalculable number of separate and all-sufficient units. Matter reduced to its ultimate particles ceases to exist as a substantial body, being resolved into a mass of immaterial ideas or metaphysical units of power, to which Leibnitz applied the term *monad*. Thus the universe is composed of an infinite number of separate monadic entities unfolding spontaneously through the objectification of innate active qualities. All things are conceived as consisting of single monads of varying magnitudes or of aggregations of these bodies, which may exist as physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual substances. God is the first and greatest Monad; the spirit of man is an awakened monad in contradistinction to the lower kingdoms whose governing monadic powers are in a semi-dormant state.

Though a product of the Leibnitzian-Wolfian school, Immanuel Kant, like Locke, dedicated himself to investigation of the powers and limits of human understanding. The result was his critical philosophy, embracing the critique of pure reason, the critique of practical reason, and the critique of judgment. Dr. W. J. Durant sums up Kant's philosophy in the concise statement that he rescued mind from matter. The mind Kant conceived to be the selector and coordinator of all perceptions, which in turn are the result of sensations grouping themselves about some external object. In the classification of sensations and ideas the mind employs certain categories: of sense, time and space; of understanding, quality, relation, modality, and causation; and the unity of apperception. Being subject to mathematical laws, time and space are considered absolute and sufficient bases for exact thinking. Kant's practical reason declared that while the nature of *noumenon* could never be comprehended by the reason, the fact of morality proves the existence of three necessary postulates: free will, immortality, and God. In the critique of judgment Kant demonstrates the union of the *noumenon* and the *phenomenon* in art and biological evolution. German *superintellectualism* is the outgrowth of an overemphasis of Kant's theory of the autocratic supremacy of the mind over sensation and thought. The philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Fichte was a projection of Kant's philosophy, wherein he attempted to unite Kant's practical reason with his pure reason. Fichte held that the known is merely the contents of the consciousness of the knower, and that nothing can exist to the knower until it becomes part of those contents. Nothing is actually real, therefore, except the facts of one's own mental experience.

Recognizing the necessity of certain objective realities, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, who succeeded Fichte in the chair of philosophy at Jena, first employed the doctrine of identity as the groundwork for a complete system of philosophy. Whereas Fichte regarded self as the Absolute, von Schelling conceived infinite and eternal Mind to be the all-pervading Cause. Realization of the Absolute is made possible by intellectual intuition which, being a superior or spiritual sense, is able to dissociate itself from both subject and object. Kant's categories of space and time von Schelling conceived to be positive and negative respectively, and material existence the result of the reciprocal action of these two expressions. Von Schelling also held that the Absolute in its process of self-development proceeds according to a law or rhythm consisting of three movements. The first, a reflective movement, is the attempt of the Infinite to embody itself in the finite. The second, that of subsumption, is the attempt of the Absolute to return to the Infinite after involvement in the finite. The third, that of reason, is the neutral point wherein the two former movements are blended.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel considered the intellectual intuition of von Schelling to be philosophically unsound and hence turned his attention to the establishment of a system of philosophy based upon pure logic. Of Hegel it has been said that he began with nothing and showed with logical precision how everything had proceeded from it in logical order. Hegel elevated logic to a position of supreme importance, in fact as a quality of the Absolute itself. God he conceived to be a process of unfolding which never attains to the condition of unfoldment. In like manner, thought is without either beginning or end. Hegel further believed that all things owe their existence to their opposites and that all opposites are actually identical. Thus the only existence is the relationship of opposites to each other, through whose combinations new elements are produced. As the Divine Mind is an eternal process of thought never accomplished, Hegel assails the very foundation of theism and his philosophy limits immortality to the everflowing Deity alone. Evolution is consequently the never-ending flow of Divine Consciousness out of itself; all creation, though continually moving, never arrives at any state other than that of ceaseless flow.

Johann Friedrich Herbart's philosophy was a realistic reaction from the idealism of Fichte and von Schelling. To Herbart the true basis of philosophy was the great mass of phenomena continually moving through the human mind. Examination of phenomena, however, demonstrates that a great part of it is unreal, at least incapable of supplying the mind with actual truth. To correct the false impressions caused by phenomena and discover reality, Herbart believed it necessary to resolve phenomena into separate elements, for reality exists in the elements and not in the whole. He stated that objects can be classified by three general terms: thing, matter, and mind; the first a unit of several properties, the second an existing object, the third a self-conscious being. All three notions give rise, however, to certain contradictions, with whose solution Herbart is primarily concerned. For example, consider matter. Though capable of filling space, if reduced to its ultimate state it consists of incomprehensibly minute units of divine energy occupying no physical space whatsoever.

The true subject of Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy is the will; the object of his philosophy is the elevation of the mind to the point where it is capable of controlling the will. Schopenhauer likens the will to a strong blind man who carries on his shoulders the intellect, which is a weak lame man possessing the power of sight. The will is the tireless cause of manifestation and every part of Nature the product of will. The brain is the product of the will to know; the hand the product of the will to grasp. The entire intellectual and emotional constitutions of man are subservient to the will and are largely concerned with the effort to justify the dictates of the will. Thus the mind creates elaborate systems of thought simply to prove the necessity of the thing willed. Genius, however, represents the state wherein the intellect has gained supremacy over the will and the life is ruled by reason and not by impulse. The strength of Christianity, said Schopenhauer, lay in its pessimism and conquest of individual will. His own religious viewpoints resembled closely the Buddhistic. To him Nirvana represented the subjugation of will. Life--the manifestation of the blind will to live--he viewed as a misfortune, claiming that the true philosopher was one who, recognizing the wisdom of death, resisted the inherent urge to reproduce his kind.

*THE TREE OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY.*

*From Hort's The New Pantheon.*

*Before a proper appreciation of the deeper scientific aspects of Greek mythology is possible, it is necessary to organize the Greek pantheon and arrange its gods, goddesses, and various superhuman hierarchies in concatenated order. Proclus, the great Neo-Platonist, in his commentaries on the theology of Plato, gives an invaluable key to the sequence of the various deities in relation to the First Cause and the inferior powers emanating from themselves. When thus arranged, the divine hierarchies may be likened to the branches of a great tree. The roots of this tree are firmly imbedded in Unknowable Being. The trunk and larger branches of the tree symbolize the superior gods; the twigs and leaves, the innumerable existences dependent upon the first and unchanging Power.*

Of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche it has been said that his peculiar contribution to the cause of human hope was the glad tidings that God had died of pity! The outstanding features of Nietzsche's philosophy are his doctrine of eternal recurrence and the extreme emphasis placed by him upon the *will to power*--a projection of Schopenhauer's will to live. Nietzsche believed the purpose of existence to be the production of a type of all-powerful individual, designated by him the superman. This superman was the product of careful culturing, for if not separated forcibly from the mass and consecrated to the production of power, the individual would sink back to the level of the deadly mediocre. Love, Nietzsche said, should be sacrificed to the production of the superman and those only should marry who are best fitted to produce this outstanding type. Nietzsche also believed in the rule of the aristocracy, both blood and breeding being essential to the establishment of this superior type. Nietzsche's doctrine did not liberate the masses; it rather placed over them supermen for whom their inferior brothers and sisters should be perfectly reconciled to die. Ethically and politically, the superman was a law unto himself. To those who understand the true meaning of power to be virtue, self-control, and truth, the ideality behind Nietzsche's theory is apparent. To the superficial, however, it is a philosophy heartless and calculating, concerned solely with the survival of the fittest.

Of the other German schools of philosophic thought, limitations of space preclude detailed mention. The more recent developments of the German school are *Freudianism* and *Relativism* (often called the Einstein theory). The former is a system of psychoanalysis through psychopathic and neurological phenomena; the latter attacks the accuracy of mechanical principles dependent upon the present theory of velocity.

René Descartes stands at the head of the French school of philosophy and shares with Sir Francis Bacon the honor of founding the systems of modern science and philosophy. As Bacon based his conclusions upon observation of external things, so Descartes founded his metaphysical philosophy upon observation of internal things. *Cartesianism* (the philosophy of Descartes) first eliminates all things and then replaces as fundamental those premises without which existence is impossible. Descartes defined an idea as that which fills the mind when we conceive a thing. The truth of an idea must be determined by the criteria of clarity and distinctness. Hence Descartes, held that a clear and distinct idea must be true. Descartes has the distinction also of evolving his own philosophy without recourse to authority. Consequently his conclusions are built up from the simplest of premises and grow in complexity as the structure of his philosophy takes form.

The *Positive* philosophy of Auguste Comte is based upon the theory that the human intellect develops through three stages of thought. The first and lowest stage is theological; the second, metaphysical; and the third and highest, positive. Thus theology and metaphysics are the feeble intellectual efforts of humanity's child-mind and positivism is the mental expression of the adult intellect. In his *Cours de Philosophie positive*, Comte writes:

"In the final, the positive state, the mind has given over the vain search after Absolute notions, the origin and destination of the universe, and the causes of phenomena, and applies itself to the study of their laws,--that is, their invariable relations of succession and resemblance. Reasoning and observation, duly combined, are the means of this knowledge." Comte's theory is described as an "enormous system of materialism." According to Comte, it was formerly said that the heavens declare the glory of God, but now they only recount the glory of Newton and Laplace.

Among the French schools of philosophy are *Traditionalism* (often applied to Christianity), which esteems tradition as the proper foundation for philosophy; the *Sociological* school, which regards humanity as one vast social organism; the *Encyclopedists*, whose efforts to classify knowledge according to the Baconian system revolutionized European thought; *Voltairism*, which assailed the divine origin of the Christian faith and adopted an attitude of extreme skepticism toward all matters pertaining to theology; and *Neo-Criticism*, a French revision of the doctrines of Immanuel Kant.

Henri Bergson, the intuitionalist, undoubtedly the greatest living French philosopher, presents a theory of mystic anti-intellectualism founded upon the premise of creative evolution, His rapid rise to popularity is due to his appeal to the finer sentiments in human nature, which rebel against the hopelessness and helplessness of materialistic science and realistic philosophy. Bergson sees God as life continually struggling against the limitations of matter. He even conceives the possible victory of life over matter, and in time the annihilation of death.

Applying the Baconian method to the mind, John Locke, the great English philosopher, declared that everything which passes through the mind is a legitimate object of mental philosophy, and that these mental phenomena are as real and valid as the objects of any other science. In his investigations of the origin of phenomena Locke departed from the Baconian requirement that it was first necessary to make a natural history of facts. The mind was regarded by Locke to be blank until experience is inscribed upon it. Thus the mind is built up of received impressions plus reflection. The soul Locke believed to be incapable of apprehension of Deity, and man's realization or cognition of God to be merely an inference of the reasoning faculty. David Hume was the most enthusiastic and also the most powerful of the disciples of Locke.

Attacking Locke's sensationalism, Bishop George Berkeley substituted for it a philosophy founded on Locke's fundamental premises but which he developed as a system of idealism. Berkeley held that ideas are the real objects of knowledge. He declared it impossible to adduce proof that sensations are occasioned by material objects; he also attempted to prove that matter has no existence. Berkeleianism holds that the universe is permeated and governed by mind. Thus the belief in the existence of material objects is merely a mental condition, and the objects themselves may well be fabrications of the mind. At the same time Berkeley considered it worse than insanity to question the accuracy of the perceptions; for if the power of the perceptive faculties be questioned man is reduced to a creature incapable of knowing, estimating, or realizing anything whatsoever.

In the *Associationalism* of Hartley and Hume was advanced the theory that the association of ideas is the fundamental principle of psychology and the explanation for all mental phenomena. Hartley held that if a sensation be repeated several times there is a tendency towards its spontaneous repetition, which may be awakened by association with some other idea even though the object causing the original reaction be absent. The *Utilitarianism* of Jeremy Bentham, Archdeacon Paley, and James and John Stuart Mill declares that to be the greatest good which is the most useful to the greatest number. John Stuart Mill believed that if it is possible through sensation to secure knowledge of the *properties* of things, it is also possible through a higher state of the mind--that is, intuition or reason--to gain a knowledge of the true substance of things.

*Darwinism* is the doctrine of natural selection and physical evolution. It has been said of Charles Robert Darwin that he determined to banish spirit altogether from the universe and make the infinite and omnipresent Mind itself synonymous with the all-pervading powers of an impersonal Nature. *Agnosticism* and *Neo-Hegelianism* are also noteworthy products of this period of philosophic thought. The former is the belief that the nature of ultimates is unknowable; the latter an English and American revival of Hegel's idealism.

*A CHRISTIAN TRINITY.*

*From Hone's Ancient Mysteries Described.*

*In an effort to set forth in an appropriate figure the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, it was necessary to devise an image in which the three persons--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost--were separate and yet one. In different parts of Europe may be seen figures similar to the above, wherein three faces are united in one head. This is a legitimate method of for to those able to realize the sacred significance of the threefold head a great mystery is revealed. However, in the presence of such applications of symbology in Christian art, it is scarcely proper to consider the philosophers of other faiths as benighted if, like the Hindus, they have a three-faced Brahma, or, like the Romans, a two-faced Janus.*

Dr. W. J. Durant declares that Herbert Spencer's Great Work, *First Principles*, made him almost at once the most famous philosopher of his time. *Spencerianism* is a philosophic positivism which describes evolution as an ever-increasing complexity with equilibrium as its highest possible state. According to Spencer, life is a continuous process from homogeneity to heterogeneity and back from heterogeneity to homogeneity. Life also involves the continual adjustment of internal relations to external relations. Most famous of all Spencer's aphorisms is his definition of Deity: "God is infinite intelligence, infinitely diversified through infinite time and infinite space, manifesting through an infinitude of ever-evolving individualities." The universality of the law of evolution was emphasized by Spencer, who applied it not only to the form but also to the intelligence behind the form. In every manifestation of being he recognized the fundamental tendency of unfoldment from simplicity to complexity, observing that when the point of equilibrium is reached it is always followed by the process of dissolution. According to Spencer, however, disintegration took place only that reintegration might follow upon a higher level of being.

The chief position in the Italian school of philosophy should be awarded to Giordano Bruno, who, after enthusiastically accepting Copernicus' theory that the sun is the center of the solar system, declared the sun to be a star and all the stars to be suns. In Bruno's time the earth was regarded as the center of all creation. Consequently when he thus relegated the world and man to an obscure corner in space the effect was cataclysmic. For the heresy of affirming a multiplicity of universes and conceiving Cosmos to be so vast that no single creed could fill it, Bruno paid the forfeit of his life.

*Vicoism* is a philosophy based upon the conclusions of Giovanni Battista Vico, who held that God controls His world not miraculously but through natural law. The laws by which men rule themselves, Vico declared, issue from a spiritual source within mankind which is *en rapport* with the law of the Deity. Hence material law is of divine origin and reflects the dictates of the Spiritual Father. The philosophy of *Ontologism* developed by Vincenzo Gioberti (generally considered more as a theologian than a philosopher) posits God as the only being and the origin of all knowledge, knowledge being identical with Deity itself. God is consequently called Being; all other manifestations are existences. Truth is to be discovered through reflection upon this mystery.

The most important of modern Italian philosophers is Benedetto Croce, a Hegelian idealist. Croce conceives ideas to be the only reality. He is anti-theological in his viewpoints, does not believe in the immortality of the soul, and seeks to substitute ethics and aesthetics for religion. Among other branches of Italian philosophy should be mentioned *Sensism* (Sensationalism), which posits the sense perceptions as the sole channels for the reception of knowledge; *Criticism*, or the philosophy of accurate judgment; and *Neo-Scholasticism*, which is a revival of Thomism encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church.

The two outstanding schools of American philosophy are *Transcendentalism* and *Pragmatism*. Transcendentalism, exemplified in the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, emphasizes the power of the transcendental over the physical. Many of Emerson's writings show pronounced Oriental influence, particularly his essays on the Oversoul and the Law of Compensation. The theory of Pragmatism, while not original with Professor William James, owes its widespread popularity as a philosophic tenet to his efforts. Pragmatism may be defined as the doctrine that the meaning and nature of things are to be discovered from consideration of their consequences. The true, according to James, "is only an expedient in the way of our thinking, just as 'the right' is only an expedient in the way of our behaving." (See his *Pragmatism*.) John Dewey, the *Instrumentalist*, who applies the experimental attitude to all the aims of life, should be considered a commentator of James. To Dewey, growth and change are limitless and no ultimates are postulated. The long residence in America of George Santayana warrants the listing of this great Spaniard among the ranks of American philosophers. Defending himself with the shield of skepticism alike from the illusions of the senses and the cumulative errors of the ages, Santayana seeks to lead mankind into a more apprehending state denominated by him *the life of reason*.

(In addition to the authorities already quoted, in the preparation of the foregoing abstract of the main branches of philosophic thought the present writer has had recourse to Stanley's *History of Philosophy*; Morell's *An Historical and Critical View of the Speculative Philosophy of Europe in the Nineteenth Century*; Singer's *Modern Thinkers and Present Problems*; Rand's *Modern Classical Philosophers*; Windelband's *History of Philosophy*; Perry's *Present Philosophical Tendencies*; Hamilton's *Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic*; and Durant's *The Story of Philosophy*.)

Having thus traced the more or less sequential development of philosophic speculation from Thales to James and Bergson, it is now in order to direct the reader's attention to the elements leading to and the circumstances attendant upon the genesis of philosophic thinking. Although the Hellenes proved themselves peculiarly responsive to the disciplines of philosophy, this science of sciences should not be considered indigenous to them. "Although some of the Grecians," writes Thomas Stanley, "have challenged to their nation the original of philosophy, yet the more learned of them have acknowledged it to be derived from the East." The magnificent institutions of Hindu, Chaldean, and Egyptian learning must be recognized as the actual source of Greek wisdom. The last was patterned after the shadow cast by the sanctuaries of Ellora, Ur, and Memphis upon the thought substance of a primitive people. Thales, Pythagoras, and Plato in their philosophic wanderings contacted many distant cults and brought back the lore of Egypt and the inscrutable Orient.

From indisputable facts such as these it is evident that philosophy emerged from the religious Mysteries of antiquity, not being separated from religion until after the decay of the Mysteries. Hence he who would fathom the depths of philosophic thought must familiarize himself with the teachings of those initiated priests designated as the first custodians of divine revelation. The Mysteries claimed to be the guardians of a transcendental knowledge so profound as to be incomprehensible save to the most exalted intellect and so potent as to be revealed with safety only to those in whom personal ambition was dead and who had consecrated their lives to the unselfish service of humanity. Both the dignity of these sacred institutions and the validity of their claim to possession of Universal Wisdom are attested by the most illustrious philosophers of antiquity, who were themselves initiated into the profundities of the secret doctrine and who bore witness to its efficacy.

The question may legitimately be propounded: If these ancient mystical institutions were of such "great pith and moment," why is so little information now available concerning them and the arcana they claimed to possess? The answer is simple enough: The Mysteries were secret societies, binding their initiates to inviolable secrecy, and avenging with death the betrayal of their sacred trusts. Although these schools were the true inspiration of the various doctrines promulgated by the ancient philosophers, the fountainhead of those doctrines was never revealed to the profane. Furthermore, in the lapse of time the teachings became so inextricably linked with the names of their disseminators that the actual but recondite source--the Mysteries--came to be wholly ignored.

Symbolism is the language of the Mysteries; in fact it is the language not only of mysticism and philosophy but of all Nature, for every law and power active in universal procedure is manifested to the limited sense perceptions of man through the medium of symbol. Every form existing in the diversified sphere of being is symbolic of the divine activity by which it is produced. By symbols men have ever sought to communicate to each other those thoughts which transcend the limitations of language. Rejecting man-conceived dialects as inadequate and unworthy to perpetuate divine ideas, the Mysteries thus chose symbolism as a far more ingenious and ideal method of preserving their transcendental knowledge. In a single figure a symbol may both reveal and conceal, for to the wise the subject of the symbol is obvious, while to the ignorant the figure remains inscrutable. Hence, he who seeks to unveil the secret doctrine of antiquity must search for that doctrine not upon the open pages of books which might fall into the hands of the unworthy but in the place where it was originally concealed.

*THE ORPHIC EGG.*

*From Bryant's An Analysis of Ancient Mythology.*

*The ancient symbol of the Orphic Mysteries was the serpent-entwined egg, which signified Cosmos as encircled by the fiery Creative Spirit. The egg also represents the soul of the philosopher; the serpent, the Mysteries. At the time of initiation the shell is broke. and man emerges from the embryonic state of physical existence wherein he had remained through the fetal period of philosophic regeneration.*

Far-sighted were the initiates of antiquity. They realized that nations come and go, that empires rise and fall, and that the golden ages of art, science, and idealism are succeeded by the dark ages of superstition. With the needs of posterity foremost in mind, the sages of old went to inconceivable extremes to make certain that their knowledge should be preserved. They engraved it upon the face of mountains and concealed it within the measurements of colossal images, each of which was a geometric marvel. Their knowledge of chemistry and mathematics they hid within mythologies which the ignorant would perpetuate, or in the spans and arches of their temples which time has not entirely obliterated. They wrote in characters that neither the vandalism of men nor the ruthlessness of the elements could completely efface, Today men gaze with awe and reverence upon the mighty Memnons standing alone on the sands of Egypt, or upon the strange terraced pyramids of Palanque. Mute testimonies these are of the lost arts and sciences of antiquity; and concealed this wisdom must remain until this race has learned to read the universal language--SYMBOLISM.

The book to which this is the introduction is dedicated to the proposition that concealed within the emblematic figures, allegories, and rituals of the ancients is a secret doctrine concerning the inner mysteries of life, which doctrine has been preserved *in toto* among a small band of initiated minds since the beginning of the world. Departing, these illumined philosophers left their formulæ that others, too, might attain to understanding. But, lest these secret processes fall into uncultured hands and be perverted, the Great Arcanum was always concealed in symbol or allegory; and those who can today discover its lost keys may open with them a treasure house of philosophic, scientific, and religious truths.

## The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies

**Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolism**

### Part 1

WHEN confronted with a problem involving the use of the reasoning faculties, individuals of strong intellect keep their poise, and seek to reach a solution by obtaining facts bearing upon the question. Those of immature mentality, on the other hand, when similarly confronted, are overwhelmed. While the former may be qualified to solve the riddle of their own destiny, the latter must be led like a flock of sheep and taught in simple language. They depend almost entirely upon the ministrations of the shepherd. The Apostle Paul said that these little ones must be fed with milk, but that meat is the food of strong men. Thought*less*ness is almost synonymous with childishness, while thought*ful*ness is symbolic of maturity.

There are, however, but few mature minds in the world; and thus it was that the philosophic-religious doctrines of the pagans were divided to meet the needs of these two fundamental groups of human intellect--one philosophic, the other incapable of appreciating the deeper mysteries of life. To the discerning few were revealed the *esoteric*, or spiritual, teachings, while the unqualified many received only the literal, or *exoteric*, interpretations. In order to make simple the great truths of Nature and the abstract principles of natural law, the vital forces of the universe were personified, becoming the gods and goddesses of the ancient mythologies. While the ignorant multitudes brought their offerings to the altars of Priapus and Pan (deities representing the procreative energies), the wise recognized in these marble statues only symbolic concretions of great abstract truths.

In all cities of the ancient world were temples for public worship and offering. In every community also were philosophers and mystics, deeply versed in Nature's lore. These individuals were usually banded together, forming seclusive philosophic and religious schools. The more important of these groups were known as the *Mysteries*. Many of the great minds of antiquity were initiated into these secret fraternities by strange and mysterious rites, some of which were extremely cruel. Alexander Wilder defines the Mysteries as "Sacred dramas performed at stated periods. The most celebrated were those of Isis, Sabazius, Cybele, and Eleusis." After being admitted, the initiates were instructed in the secret wisdom which had been preserved for ages. Plato, an initiate of one of these sacred orders, was severely criticized because in his writings he revealed to the public many of the secret philosophic principles of the Mysteries.

Every pagan nation had (and has) not only its state religion, but another into which the philosophic elect alone have gained entrance. Many of these ancient cults vanished from the earth without revealing their secrets, but a few have survived the test of ages and their mysterious symbols are still preserved. Much of the ritualism of Freemasonry is based on the trials to which candidates were subjected by the ancient hierophants before the keys of wisdom were entrusted to them.

Few realize the extent to which the ancient secret schools influenced contemporary intellects and, through those minds, posterity. Robert Macoy, 33°, in his *General History of Freemasonry*, pays a magnificent tribute to the part played by the ancient Mysteries in the rearing of the edifice of human culture. He says, in part: "It appears that all the perfection of civilization, and all the advancement made in philosophy, science, and art among the ancients are due to those institutions which, under the veil of mystery, sought to illustrate the sublimest truths of religion, morality, and virtue, and impress them on the hearts of their disciples.** * Their chief object was to teach the doctrine of one God, the resurrection of man to eternal life, the dignity of the human soul, and to lead the people to see the shadow of the deity, in the beauty, magnificence, and splendor of the universe."

With the decline of virtue, which has preceded the destruction of every nation of history, the Mysteries became perverted. Sorcery took the place of the divine magic. Indescribable practices (such as the Bacchanalia) were introduced, and perversion ruled supreme; for no institution can be any better than the members of which it is composed. In despair, the few who were true sought to preserve the secret doctrines from oblivion. In some cases they succeeded, but more often the arcanum was lost and only the empty shell of the Mysteries remained.

Thomas Taylor has written, "Man is naturally a religious animal." From the earliest dawning of his consciousness, man has worshiped and revered *things* as symbolic of the invisible, omnipresent, indescribable *Thing*, concerning which he could discover practically nothing. The pagan Mysteries opposed the Christians during the early centuries of their church, declaring that the new faith (Christianity) did not demand virtue and integrity as requisites for salvation. Celsus expressed himself on the subject in the following caustic terms:

"That I do not, however, accuse the Christians more bitterly than truth compels, may be conjectured from hence, that the cryers who call men to other mysteries proclaim as follows: 'Let him approach whose hands are pure, and whose words are wise.' And again, others proclaim: 'Let him approach who is pure from all wickedness, whose soul is not conscious of any evil, and who leads a just and upright life.' And these things are proclaimed by those who promise a purification from error. Let us now hear who those are that are called to the Christian mysteries: Whoever is a sinner, whoever is unwise, whoever is a fool, and whoever, in short, is miserable, him the kingdom of God will receive. Do you not, therefore, call a sinner, an unjust man, a thief, a housebreaker, a wizard, one who is sacrilegious, and a robber of sepulchres? What other persons would the cryer nominate, who should call robbers together?"

It was not the true faith of the early Christian mystics that Celsus attacked, but the false forms that were creeping in even during his day. The ideals of early Christianity were based upon the high moral standards of the pagan Mysteries, and the first Christians who met under the city of Rome used as their places of worship the subterranean temples of Mithras, from whose cult has been borrowed much of the sacerdotalism of the modem church.

The ancient philosophers believed that no man could live intelligently who did not have a fundamental knowledge of Nature and her laws. Before man can obey, he must understand, and the Mysteries were devoted to instructing man concerning the operation of divine law in the terrestrial sphere. Few of the early cults actually worshiped anthropomorphic deities, although their symbolism might lead one to believe they did. They were moralistic rather than religionistic; philosophic rather than theologic. They taught man to use his faculties more intelligently, to be patient in the face of adversity, to be courageous when confronted by danger, to be true in the midst of temptation, and, most of all, to view a worthy life as the most acceptable sacrifice to God, and his body as an altar sacred to the Deity.

*A FEMALE HIEROPHANT OF THE MYSTERIES.*

*From Montfaucon's Antiquities.*

*This illustration shows Cybele, here called the Syrian Goddess, in the robes of a hierophant. Montfaucon describes the figure as follows: "Upon her head is an episcopal mitre, adorned on the lower part with towers and pinnacles; over the gate of the city is a crescent, and beneath the circuit of the walls a crown of rays. The Goddess wears a sort of surplice, exactly like the surplice of a priest or bishop; and upon the surplice a tunic, which falls down to the legs; and over all an episcopal cope, with the twelve signs of the Zodiac wrought on the borders. The figure hath a lion on each side, and holds in its left hand a Tympanum, a Sistrum, a Distaff, a Caduceus, and another instrument. In her right hand she holds with her middle finger a thunderbolt, and upon the same am animals, insects, and, as far as we may guess, flowers, fruit, a bow, a quiver, a torch, and a scythe." The whereabouts of the statue is unknown, the copy reproduced by Montfaucon being from drawings by Pirro Ligorio.*

Sun worship played an important part in nearly all the early pagan Mysteries. This indicates the probability of their Atlantean origin, for the people of Atlantis were sun worshipers. The Solar Deity was usually personified as a beautiful youth, with long golden hair to symbolize the rays of the sun. This golden Sun God was slain by wicked ruffians, who personified the evil principle of the universe. By means of certain rituals and ceremonies, symbolic of purification and regeneration, this wonderful God of Good was brought back to life and became the Savior of His people. The secret processes whereby He was resurrected symbolized those cultures by means of which man is able to overcome his lower nature, master his appetites, and give expression to the higher side of himself. The Mysteries were organized for the purpose of assisting the struggling human creature to reawaken the spiritual powers which, surrounded by the flaming ring of lust and degeneracy, lay asleep within his soul. In other words, man was offered a way by which he could regain his lost estate. (See Wagner's *Siegfried*.)

In the ancient world, nearly all the secret societies were philosophic and religious. During the medieval centuries, they were chiefly religious and political, although a few philosophic schools remained. In modern times, secret societies, in the Occidental countries, are largely political or fraternal, although in a few of them, as in Masonry, the ancient religious and philosophic principles still survive.

Space prohibits a detailed discussion of the secret schools. There were literally scores of these ancient cults, with branches in all parts of the Eastern and Western worlds. Some, such as those of Pythagoras and the Hermetists, show a decided Oriental influence, while the Rosicrucians, according to their own proclamations, gained much of their wisdom from Arabian mystics. Although the Mystery schools are usually associated with civilization, there is evidence that the most uncivilized peoples of prehistoric times had a knowledge of them. Natives of distant islands, many in the lowest forms of savagery, have mystic rituals and secret practices which, although primitive, are of a decided Masonic tinge.

**THE DRUIDIC MYSTERIES OF BRITAIN AND GAUL**

"The original and primitive inhabitants of Britain, at some remote period, revived and reformed their national institutes. Their priest, or instructor, had hitherto been simply named Gwydd, but it was considered to have become necessary to divide this office between the national, or superior, priest and another whose influence would be more limited. From henceforth the former became Der-Wydd (Druid), or superior instructor, and the latter Go-Wydd, or O-Vydd (Ovate), subordinate instructor; and both went by the general name of Beirdd (Bards), or teachers of wisdom. As the system matured and augmented, the Bardic Order consisted of three classes, the Druids, Beirdd Braint, or privileged Bards, and Ovates." (See Samuel Meyrick and Charles Smith, *The Costume of The Original Inhabitants of The British Islands*.)

The origin of the word *Druid* is under dispute. Max Müller believes that, like the Irish word *Drui*, it means "the men of the oak trees." He further draws attention to the fact that the forest gods and tree deities of the Greeks were called *dryades*. Some believe the word to be of Teutonic origin; others ascribe it to the Welsh. A few trace it to the Gaelic *druidh*, which means "a wise man" or "a sorcerer." In Sanskrit the word *dru* means "timber."

At the time of the Roman conquest, the Druids were thoroughly ensconced in Britain and Gaul. Their power over the people was unquestioned, and there were instances in which armies, about to attack each other, sheathed their swords when ordered to do so by the white-robed Druids. No undertaking of great importance was scatted without the assistance of these patriarchs, who stood as mediators between the gods and men. The Druidic Order is deservedly credited with having had a deep understanding of Nature and her laws. The *Encyclopædia Britannica* states that geography, physical science, natural theology, and astrology were their favorite studies. The Druids had a fundamental knowledge of medicine, especially the use of herbs and *simples*. Crude surgical instruments also have been found in England and Ireland. An odd treatise on early British medicine states that every practitioner was expected to have a garden or back yard for the growing of certain herbs necessary to his profession. Eliphas Levi, the celebrated transcendentalist, makes the following significant statement:

"The Druids were priests and physicians, curing by magnetism and charging amylets with their fluidic influence. Their universal remedies were mistletoe and serpents' eggs, because these substances attract the astral light in a special manner. The solemnity with which mistletoe was cut down drew upon this plant the popular confidence and rendered it powerfully magnetic. ***The progress of magnetism will some day reveal to us the absorbing properties of mistletoe. We shall then understand the secret of those spongy growths which drew the unused virtues of plants and become surcharged with tinctures and savors. Mushrooms, truffles, gall on trees, and the different kinds of mistletoe will be employed with understanding by a medical science, which will be new because it is old*** but one must not move quicker than science, which recedes that it may advance the further. " (See *The History of Magic*.)

Not only was the mistletoe sacred as symbolic of the universal medicine, or panacea, but also because of the fact that it grew upon the oak tree. Through the symbol of the oak, the Druids worshiped the Supreme Deity; therefore, anything growing upon that tree was sacred to Him. At certain seasons, according to the positions of the sun, moon, and stars, the Arch-Druid climbed the oak tree and cut the mistletoe with a golden sickle consecrated for that service. The parasitic growth was caught in white cloths provided for the purpose, lest it touch the earth and be polluted by terrestrial vibrations. Usually a sacrifice of a white bull was made under the tree.

The Druids were initiates of a secret school that existed in their midst. This school, which closely resembled the Bacchic and Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece or the Egyptian rites of Isis and Osiris, is justly designated the *Druidic Mysteries*. There has been much speculation concerning the secret wisdom that the Druids claimed to possess. Their secret teachings were never written, but were communicated orally to specially prepared candidates. Robert Brown, 32°, is of the opinion that the British priests secured their information from Tyrian and Phœnician navigators who, thousands of years before the Christian Era, established colonies in Britain and Gaul while searching for tin. Thomas Maurice, in his *Indian Antiquities*, discourses at length on Phœnician, Carthaginian, and Greek expeditions to the British Isles for the purpose of procuring tin. Others are of the opinion that the Mysteries as celebrated by the Druids were of Oriental origin, possibly Buddhistic.

The proximity of the British Isles to the lost Atlantis may account for the sun worship which plays an important part in the rituals of Druidism. According to Artemidorus, Ceres and Persephone were worshiped on an island close to Britain with rites and ceremonies similar to those of Samothrace. There is no doubt that the Druidic Pantheon includes a large number of Greek and Roman deities. This greatly amazed Cæsar during his conquest of Britain and Gaul, and caused him to affirm that these tribes adored Mercury, Apollo, Mars, and Jupiter, in a manner similar to that of the Latin countries. It is almost certain that the Druidic Mysteries were not indigenous to Britain or Gaul, but migrated from one of the more ancient civilizations.

The school of the Druids was divided into three distinct parts, and the secret teachings embodied therein are practically the same as the mysteries concealed under the allegories of Blue Lodge Masonry. The lowest of the three divisions was that of Ovate (Ovydd). This was an honorary degree, requiring no special purification or preparation. The Ovates dressed in green, the Druidic color of learning, and were expected to know something about medicine, astronomy, poetry if possible, and sometimes music. An Ovate was an individual admitted to the Druidic Order because of his general excellence and superior knowledge concerning the problems of life.

The second division was that of Bard (Beirdd). Its members were robed in sky-blue, to represent harmony and truth, and to them was assigned the labor of memorizing, at least in part, the twenty thousand verses of Druidic sacred poetry. They were often pictured with the primitive British or Irish harp--an instrument strung with human hair, and having as many strings as there were ribs on one side of the human body. These Bards were often chosen as teachers of candidates seeking entrance into the Druidic Mysteries. Neophytes wore striped robes of blue, green, and white, these being the three sacred colors of the Druidic Order.

The third division was that of Druid (Derwyddon). Its particular labor was to minister to the religious needs of the people. To reach this dignity, the candidate must first become a Bard Braint. The Druids always dressed in white--symbolic of their purity, and the color used by them to symbolize the sun.

*THE ARCH-DRUID IN HIS CEREMONIAL ROBES.*

*From Wellcome's Ancient Cymric Medicine.*

*The most striking adornment of the Arch-Druid was the iodhan moran, or breastplate of judgment, which possessed the mysterious Power of strangling any who made an untrue statement while wearing it. Godfrey Higgins states that this breastplate was put on the necks of witnesses to test the veracity of their evidence. The Druidic tiara, or anguinum, its front embossed with a number of points to represent the sun's rays, indicated that the priest was a personification of the rising sun. On the front of his belt the Arch-Druid wore the liath meisicith--a magic brooch, or buckle in the center of which was a large white stone. To this was attributed the power of drawing the fire of the gods down from heaven at the priest's command This specially cut stone was a burning glass, by which the sun's rays were concentrated to light the altar fires. The Druids also had other symbolic implements, such as the peculiarly shaped golden sickle with which they cut the mistletoe from the oak, and the cornan, or scepter, in the form of a crescent, symbolic of the sixth day of the increasing moon and also of the Ark of Noah. An early initiate of the Druidic Mysteries related that admission to their midnight ceremony was gained by means of a glass boat, called Cwrwg Gwydrin. This boat symbolized the moon, which, floating upon the waters of eternity, preserved the seeds of living creatures within its boatlike crescent.*

In order to reach the exalted position of *Arch-Druid*, or spiritual head of the organization, it was necessary for a priest to pass through the six successive degrees of the Druidic Order. (The members of the different degrees were differentiated by the colors of their sashes, for all of them wore robes of white.) Some writers are of the opinion that the title of *Arch-Druid* was hereditary, descending from father to son, but it is more probable that the honor was conferred by ballot election. Its recipient was chosen for his virtues and integrity from the most learned members of the higher Druidic degrees.

According to James Gardner, there were usually two *Arch-Druids* in Britain, one residing on the Isle of Anglesea and the other on the Isle of Man. Presumably there were others in Gaul. These dignitaries generally carried golden scepters and were crowned with wreaths of oak leaves, symbolic of their authority. The younger members of the Druidic Order were clean-shaven and modestly dressed, but the more aged had long gray beards and wore magnificent golden ornaments. The educational system of the Druids in Britain was superior to that of their colleagues on the Continent, and consequently many of the Gallic youths were sent to the Druidic colleges in Britain for their philosophical instruction and training.

Eliphas Levi states that the Druids lived in strict abstinence, studied the natural sciences, preserved the deepest secrecy, and admitted new members only after long probationary periods. Many of the priests of the order lived in buildings not unlike the monasteries of the modern world. They were associated in groups like ascetics of the Far East. Although celibacy was not demanded of them, few married. Many of the Druids retired from the world and lived as recluses in caves, in rough-stone houses, or in little shacks built in the depths of a forest. Here they prayed and medicated, emerging only to perform their religious duties.

James Freeman Clarke, in his *Ten Great Religions*, describes the beliefs of the Druids as follows: "The Druids believed in three worlds and in transmigration from one to the other: In a world above this, in which happiness predominated; a world below, of misery; and this present state. This transmigration was to punish and reward and also to purify the soul. In the present world, said they, Good and Evil are so exactly balanced that man has the utmost freedom and is able to choose or reject either. The Welsh Triads tell us there are three objects of metempsychosis: to collect into the soul the properties of all being, to acquire a knowledge of all things, and to get power to conquer evil. There are also, they say, three kinds of knowledge: knowledge of the nature of each thing, of its cause, and its influence. There are three things which continually grow less: darkness, falsehood, and death. There are three which constantly increase: light, life, and truth."

Like nearly all schools of the Mysteries, the teachings of the Druids were divided into two distinct sections. The simpler, a moral code, was taught to all the people, while the deeper, esoteric doctrine was given only to initiated priests. To be admitted to the order, a candidate was required to be of good family and of high moral character. No important secrets were intrusted to him until he had been tempted in many ways and his strength of character severely tried. The Druids taught the people of Britain and Gaul concerning the immortality of the soul. They believed in transmigration and apparently in reincarnation. They borrowed in one life, promising to pay back in the next. They believed in a purgatorial type of hell where they would be purged of their sins, afterward passing on to the happiness of unity with the gods. The Druids taught that all men would be saved, but that some must return to earth many times to learn the lessons of human life and to overcome the inherent evil of their own natures.

Before a candidate was intrusted with the secret doctrines of the Druids, he was bound with a vow of secrecy. These doctrines were imparted only in the depths of forests and in the darkness of caves. In these places, far from the haunts of men, the neophyte was instructed concerning the creation of the universe, the personalities of the gods, the laws of Nature, the secrets of occult medicine, the mysteries of the celestial bodies, and the rudiments of magic and sorcery. The Druids had a great number of feast days. The new and full moon and the sixth day of the moon were sacred periods. It is believed that initiations took place only at the two solstices and the two equinoxes. At dawn of the 25th day of December, the birth of the Sun God was celebrated.

The secret teachings of the Druids are said by some to be tinctured with Pythagorean philosophy. The Druids had a Madonna, or Virgin Mother, with a Child in her arms, who was sacred to their Mysteries; and their Sun God was resurrected at the time of the year corresponding to that at which modern Christians celebrate Easter.

Both the cross and the serpent were sacred to the Druids, who made the former by cutting off all the branches of an oak tree and fastening one of them to the main trunk in the form of the letter T. This oaken cross became symbolic of their superior Deity. They also worshiped the sun, moon, and stars. The moon received their special veneration. Caesar stated that Mercury was one of the chief deities of the Gauls. The Druids are believed to have worshiped Mercury under the similitude of a stone cube. They also had great veneration for the Nature spirits (fairies, gnomes, and undines), little creatures of the forests and rivers to whom many offerings were made. Describing the temples of the Druids, Charles Heckethorn, in *The Secret Societies of All Ages & Countries*, says:

"Their temples wherein the sacred fire was preserved were generally situate on eminences and in dense groves of oak, and assumed various forms--circular, because a circle was the emblem of the universe; oval, in allusion to the mundane egg, from which issued, according to the traditions of many nations, the universe, or, according to others, our first parents; serpentine, because a serpent was the symbol of Hu, the Druidic Osiris; cruciform, because a cross is an emblem of regeneration; or winged, to represent the motion of the Divine Spirit. ** * Their chief deities were reducible to two--a male and a female, the great father and mother--Hu and Ceridwen, distinguished by the same characteristics as belong to Osiris and Isis, Bacchus and Ceres, or any other supreme god and goddess representing the two principles of all Being."

Godfrey Higgins states that *Hu*, the Mighty, regarded as the first settler of Britain, came from a place which the Welsh *Triads* call the Summer Country, the present site of Constantinople. Albert Pike says that the Lost Word of Masonry is concealed in the name of the Druid god *Hu*. The meager information extant concerning the secret initiations of the Druids indicates a decided similarity between their Mystery school and the schools of Greece and Egypt. *Hu*, the Sun God, was murdered and, after a number of strange ordeals and mystic rituals, was restored to life.

There were three degrees of the Druidic Mysteries, but few successfully passed them all. The candidate was buried in a coffin, as symbolic of the death of the Sun God. The supreme test, however, was being sent out to sea in an open boat. While undergoing this ordeal, many lost their lives. Taliesin, an ancient scholar, who passed through the Mysteries, describes the initiation of the open boat in Faber's *Pagan Idolatry*. The few who passed this third degree were said to have been "born again," and were instructed in the secret and hidden truths which the Druid priests had preserved from antiquity. From these initiates were chosen many of the dignitaries of the British religious and political world. (For further details, see Faber's *Pagan Idolatry*, Albert Pike's *Morals and Dogma*, and Godfrey Higgins' *Celtic Druids*.)

**THE RITES OF MITHRAS**

When the Persian Mysteries immigrated into Southern Europe, they were quickly assimilated by the Latin mind. The cult grew rapidly, especially among the Roman soldiery, and during the Roman wars of conquest the teachings were carried by the legionaries to nearly all parts of Europe. So powerful did the cult of Mithras become that at least one Roman Emperor was initiated into the order, which met in caverns under the city of Rome. Concerning the spread of this Mystery school through different parts of Europe, C. W. King, in his *Gnostics and Their Remains*, says:

"Mithraic bas-reliefs cut on the faces of rocks or on stone tablets still abound in the countries formerly the western provinces of the Roman Empire; many exist in Germany, still more in France, and in this island (Britain) they have often been discovered on the line of the Picts' Wall and the noted one at Bath."

Alexander Wilder, in his *Philosophy and Ethics of the Zoroasters*, states that *Mithras* is the Zend title for the sun, and he is supposed to dwell within that shining orb. Mithras has a male and a female aspect, though not himself androgynous. As Mithras, he is the ford of the sun, powerful and radiant, and most magnificent of the *Yazatas* (Izads, or Genii, of the sun). As *Mithra*, this deity represents the feminine principle; the mundane universe is recognized as her symbol. She represents Nature as receptive and terrestrial, and as fruitful only when bathed in the glory of the solar orb. The Mithraic cult is a simplification of the more elaborate teachings of Zarathustra (Zoroaster), the Persian fire magician.

According to the Persians, there coexisted in eternity two principles. The first of these, *Ahura-Mazda*, or *Ormuzd*, was the Spirit of Good. From Ormuzd came forth a number of hierarchies of good and beautiful spirits (angels and archangels). The second of these eternally existing principles was called *Ahriman*. He was also a pure and beautiful spirit, but he later rebelled against Ormuzd, being jealous of his power. This did not occur, however, until after Ormuzd had created light, for previously Ahriman had not been conscious of the existence of Ormuzd. Because of his jealousy and rebellion, Ahriman became the Spirit of Evil. From himself he individualized a host of destructive creatures to injure Ormuzd.

When Ormuzd created the earth, Ahriman entered into its grosser elements. Whenever Ormuzd did a good deed, Ahriman placed the principle of evil within it. At last when Ormuzd created the human race, Ahriman became incarnate in the lower nature of man so that in each personality the Spirit of Good and the Spirit of Evil struggle for control. For 3,000 years Ormuzd ruled the celestial worlds with light and goodness. Then he created man. For another 3,000 years he ruled man with wisdom, and integrity. Then the power of Ahriman began, and the struggle for the soul of man continues through the next period of 3,000 years. During the fourth period of 3,000 years, the power of Ahriman will be destroyed. Good will return to the world again, evil and death will be vanquished, and at last the Spirit of Evil will bow humbly before the throne of Ormuzd. While Ormuzd and Ahriman are struggling for control of the human soul and for supremacy in Nature, Mithras, God of Intelligence, stands as mediator between the two. Many authors have noted the similarity between mercury and Mithras. As the chemical mercury acts as a solvent (according to alchemists), so Mithras seeks to harmonize the two celestial opposites.

*THE GROUND PLAN OF STONEHENGE.*

*From Maurice's Indian Antiquities.*

*The Druid temples of places of religious worship were not patterned after those of other nations. Most of their ceremonies were performed at night, either in thick groves of oak trees or around open-air altars built of great uncut stones. How these masses of rock were moved ahs not been satisfactorily explained. The most famous of their altars, a great stone ring of rocks, is Stonehenge, in Southwestern England. This structure, laid out on an astronomical basis, still stands, a wonder of antiquity.*

There are many points of resemblance between Christianity and the cult of Mithras. One of the reasons for this probably is that the Persian mystics invaded Italy during the first century after Christ and the early history of both cults was closely interwoven. The Encyclopædia Britannica makes the following statement concerning the Mithraic and Christian Mysteries:

"The fraternal and democratic spirit of the first communities, and their humble origin; the identification of the object of adoration with light and the sun; the legends of the shepherds with their gifts and adoration, the flood, and the ark; the representation in art of the fiery chariot, the drawing of water from the rock; the use of bell and candle, holy water and the communion; the sanctification of Sunday and of the 25th of December; the insistence on moral conduct, the emphasis placed on abstinence and self-control; the doctrine of heaven and hell, of primitive revelation, of the mediation of the Logos emanating from the divine, the atoning sacrifice, the constant warfare between good and evil and the final triumph of the former, the immortality of the soul, the last judgment, the resurrection of the flesh and the fiery destruction of the universe--these are some of the resemblances which, whether real or only apparent, enabled Mithraism to prolong its resistance to Christianity,"

The rites of Mithras were performed in caves. Porphyry, in his *Cave of the Nymphs*, states that Zarathustra (Zoroaster) was the first to consecrate a cave to the worship of God, because a cavern was symbolic of the earth, or the lower world of darkness. John P. Lundy, in his *Monumental Christianity*, describes the cave of Mithras as follows:

"But this cave was adorned with the signs of the zodiac, Cancer and Capricorn. The summer and winter solstices were chiefly conspicuous, as the gates of souls descending into this life, or passing out of it in their ascent to the Gods; Cancer being the gate of descent, and Capricorn of ascent. These are the two avenues of the immortals passing up and down from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth."

The so-called chair of St. Peter, in Rome, was believed to have been used in one of the pagan Mysteries, possibly that of Mithras, in whose subterranean grottoes the votaries of the Christian Mysteries met in the early days of their faith. In *Anacalypsis*, Godfrey Higgins writes that in 1662, while cleaning this sacred chair of Bar-Jonas, the Twelve Labors of Hercules were discovered upon it, and that later the French discovered upon the same chair the Mohammedan confession of faith, written in Arabic.

Initiation into the rites of Mithras, like initiation into many other ancient schools of philosophy, apparently consisted of three important degrees. Preparation for these degrees consisted of self-purification, the building up of the intellectual powers, and the control of the animal nature. In the first degree the candidate was given a crown upon the point of a sword and instructed in the mysteries of Mithras' hidden power. Probably he was taught that the golden crown represented his own spiritual nature, which must be objectified and unfolded before he could truly glorify Mithras; for Mithras was his own soul, standing as mediator between Ormuzd, his spirit, and Ahriman, his animal nature. In the second degree he was given the armor of intelligence and purity and sent into the darkness of subterranean pits to fight the beasts of lust, passion, and degeneracy. In the third degree he was given a cape, upon which were drawn or woven the signs of the zodiac and other astronomical symbols. After his initiations were over, he was hailed as one who had risen from the dead, was instructed in the secret teachings of the Persian mystics, and became a full-fledged member of the order. Candidates who successfully passed the Mithraic initiations were called *Lions* and were marked upon their foreheads with the Egyptian cross. Mithras himself is often pictured with the head of a lion and two pairs of wings. Throughout the entire ritual were repeated references to the birth of Mithras as the Sun God, his sacrifice for man, his death that men might have eternal life, and lastly, his resurrection and the saving of all humanity by his intercession before the throne of Ormuzd. (See Heckethorn.)

While the cult of Mithras did not reach the philosophic heights attained by Zarathustra, its effect upon the civilization of the Western world was far-reaching, for at one time nearly all Europe was converted to its doctrines. Rome, in her intercourse with other nations, inoculated them with her religious principles; and many later institutions have exhibited Mithraic culture. The reference to the "Lion" and the "Grip of the Lion's Paw" in the Master Mason's degree have a strong Mithraic tinge and may easily have originated from this cult. A ladder of seven rungs appears in the Mithraic initiation. Faber is of the opinion that this ladder was originally a pyramid of seven steps. It is possible that the Masonic ladder with seven rungs had its origin in this Mithraic symbol. Women were never permitted to enter the Mithraic Order, but children of the male sex were initiates long before they reached maturity. The refusal to permit women to join the Masonic Order may be based on the esoteric reason given in the secret instructions of the Mithraics. This cult is another excellent example of those secret societies whose legends are largely symbolic representations of the sun and his journey through the houses of the heavens. Mithras, rising from a stone, is merely the sun rising over the horizon, or, as the ancients supposed, out of the horizon, at the vernal equinox.

*MITHRAS SLAYING THE BULL.*

*From Lundy's Monumental Christianity.*

*The most famous sculpturings and reliefs of this prototokos show Mithras kneeling upon the recumbent form of a great bull, into whose throat he is driving a sword. The slaying of the bull signifies that the rays of the sun, symbolized by the sword, release at the vernal equinox the vital essences of the earth--the blood of the bull--which, pouring from the wound made by the Sun God, fertilize the seeds of living things. Dogs were held sacred to the cult of Mithras, being symbolic of sincerity and trustworthiness. The Mithraics used the serpent a an emblem of Ahriman, the Spirit of Evil, and water rats were held sacred to him. The bull is esoterically the Constellation of Taurus; the serpent, its opposite in the zodiac, Scorpio; the sun, Mithras, entering into the side of the bull, slays the celestial creature and nourishes the universe with its blood.*

John O'Neill disputes the theory that Mithras was intended as a solar deity. In *The Night of the Gods* he writes: "The Avestan Mithra, the yazata of light, has '10,000 eyes, high, with full knowledge (perethuvaedayana), strong, sleepless and ever awake (jaghaurvaunghem).'The supreme god Ahura Mazda also has one Eye, or else it is said that 'with his eyes, the sun, moon and stars, he sees everything.'

*THE BIRTH OF MITHRAS.*

*From Montfaucon's Antiquities*

*Mithras was born out of a rock, which, breaking open, permitted him to emerge. This occurred in the darkness of a subterranean chamber. The Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem confirms the theory that Jesus was born in a grotto, or cave. According to Dupuis, Mithras was put to death by crucifixion and rose again on the third day.*

The theory that Mithra was *originally* a title of the supreme heavens-god--putting the sun out of court--is the only one that answers all requirements. It will be evident that here we have origins in abundance for the Freemason's Eye and 'its nunquam dormio.'" The reader must nor confuse the Persian Mithra with the Vedic Mitra. According to Alexander Wilder, "The Mithraic rites superseded the Mysteries of Bacchus, and became the foundation of the Gnostic system, which for many centuries prevailed in Asia, Egypt, and even the remote West."

### Part 2

THE entire history of Christian and pagan Gnosticism is shrouded in the deepest mystery and obscurity; for, while the Gnostics were undoubtedly prolific writers, little of their literature has survived. They brought down upon themselves the animosity of the early Christian Church, and when this institution reached its position of world power it destroyed all available records of the Gnostic *cultus*. The name *Gnostic* means *wisdom*, or *knowledge*, and is derived from the Greek *Gnosis*. The members of the order claimed to be familiar with the secret doctrines of early Christianity. They interpreted the Christian Mysteries according to pagan symbolism. Their secret information and philosophic tenets they concealed from the profane and taught to a small group only of especially initiated persons.

Simon Magus, the magician of New Testament fame, is often supposed to have been the founder of Gnosticism. If this be true, the sect was formed during the century after Christ and is probably the first of the many branches which have sprung from the main trunk of Christianity. Everything with which the enthusiasts of the early Christian Church might not agree they declared to be inspired by the Devil. That Simon Magus had mysterious and supernatural powers is conceded even by his enemies, but they maintained that these powers were lent to him by the infernal spirits and furies which they asserted were his ever present companions. Undoubtedly the most interesting legend concerning Simon is that which tells of his theosophic contests with the Apostle Peter while the two were promulgating their differing doctrines in Rome. According to the story that the Church Fathers have preserved, Simon was to prove his spiritual superiority by ascending to heaven in a chariot of fire. He was actually picked up and carried many feet into the air by invisible powers. When St. Peter saw this, he cried out in a loud voice, ordering the demons (spirits of the air) to release their hold upon the magician. The evil spirits, when so ordered by the great saint, were forced to obey. Simon fell a great distance and was killed, which decisively proved the superiority of the Christian powers. This story is undoubtedly manufactured out of whole cloth, as it is only one out of many accounts concerning his death, few of which agree. As more and more evidence is being amassed to the effect that St, Peter was never in Rome, its last possible vestige of authenticity is rapidly being dissipated.

That Simon was a philosopher there is no doubt, for wherever his exact words are preserved his synthetic and transcending thoughts are beautifully expressed. The principles of Gnosticism are well described in the following verbatim statement by him, supposed to have been preserved by Hippolytus: "To you, therefore, I say what I say, and write what I write. And the writing is this. Of the universal Æons periods, planes, or cycles of creative and created life in substance and space, celestial creatures there are two shoots, without beginning or end, springing from one Root, which is the power invisible, inapprehensible silence Bythos. Of these shoots one is manifested from above, which is the Great Power, the Universal Mind ordering all things, male, and the other, is manifested from below, the Great Thought, female, producing all things. Hence pairing with each other, they unite and manifest the Middle Distance, incomprehensible Air, without beginning or end. In this is the Father Who sustains all things, and nourishes those things which have a beginning and end." (See *Simon Magus*, by G. R. S. Mead.) By this we are to understand that manifestation is the result of a positive and a negative principle, one acting upon the other, and it takes place in the middle plane, or point of equilibrium, called the *pleroma*. This *pleroma* is a peculiar substance produced out of the blending of the spiritual and material æons. Out of the *pleroma* was individualized the *Demiurgus*, the immortal mortal, to whom we are responsible for our physical existence and the suffering we must go through in connection with it. In the Gnostic system, three pairs of opposites, called *Syzygies*, emanated from the Eternal One. These, with Himself, make the total of seven. The six (three pairs) Æons (living, divine principles) were described by Simon in the *Philosophumena* in the following manner: The first two were *Mind* (Nous) and *Thought* (Epinoia). Then came *Voice* (Phone) and its opposite, *Name* (Onoma), and lastly, *Reason* (Logismos) and *Reflection* (Enthumesis). From these primordial six, united with the *Eternal Flame*, came forth the Æons (Angels) who formed the lower worlds through the direction of the Demiurgus. (See the works of H. P. Blavatsky.) How this first Gnosticism of Simon Magus and Menander, his disciple, was amplified, and frequently distorted, by later adherents to the cult must now be considered.

The School of Gnosticism was divided into two major parts, commonly called the Syrian Cult and the Alexandrian Cult. These schools agreed in essentials, but the latter division was more inclined to be pantheistic, while the former was dualistic. While the Syrian cult was largely Simonian, the Alexandrian School was the outgrowth of the philosophical deductions of a clever Egyptian Christian, Basilides by name, who claimed to have received his instructions from the Apostle Matthew. Like Simon Magus, he was an emanationist, with Neo-Platonic inclinations. In fact, the entire Gnostic Mystery is based upon the hypothesis of emanations as being the logical connection between the irreconcilable opposites Absolute Spirit and Absolute Substance, which the Gnostics believed to have been coexistent in Eternity. Some assert that Basilides was the true founder of Gnosticism, but there is much evidence to the effect that Simon Magus laid down its fundamental principles in the preceding century.

*THE DEATH OF SIMON THE MAGICIAN.*

*From the Nuremberg Chronicle.*

*Simon Magus, having called upon the Spirits of the Air, is here shown being picked up by the demons. St. Peter demands that the evil genii release their hold upon the magician. The demons are forced to comply and Simon Magus is killed by the fall.*

The Alexandrian Basilides inculcated Egyptian Hermeticism, Oriental occultism, Chaldean astrology, and Persian philosophy in his followers, and in his doctrines sought to unite the schools of early Christianity with the ancient pagan Mysteries. To him is attributed the formulation of that peculiar concept of the Deity which carries the name of Abraxas. In discussing the original meaning of this word, Godfrey Higgins, in his Celtic Druids, has demonstrated that the numerological powers of the letters forming the word Abraxas when added together result in the sum of 365. The same author also notes that the name Mithras when treated in a similar manner has the same numerical value. Basilides caught that the powers of the universe were divided into 365 Æons, or spiritual cycles, and that the sum of all these together was the Supreme Father, and to Him he gave the Qabbalistical appellation *Abraxas*, as being symbolical, numerologically, of His divine powers, attributes, and emanations. *Abraxas* is usually symbolized as a composite creature, with the body of a human being and the head of a rooster, and with each of his legs ending in a serpent. C. W. King, in his *Gnostics and Their Remains*, gives the following concise description of the Gnostic philosophy of Basilides, quoting from the writings of the early Christian bishop and martyr, St. Irenæus: "He asserted that God, the uncreated, eternal Father, had first brought forth Nous, or Mind; this the Logos, Word; this again Phronesis, Intelligence; from Phronesis sprung Sophia, Wisdom, and Dynamis, Strength."

In describing Abraxas, C. W. King says: "Bellermann considers the composite image, inscribed with the actual name Abraxas, to be a Gnostic Pantheos, representing the Supreme Being, with the Five Emanations marked out by appropriate symbols. From the human body, the usual form assigned to the Deity, spring the two supporters, Nous and Logos, expressed in the serpents, symbols of the inner senses, and the quickening understanding; on which account the Greeks had made the serpent the attribute of Pallas. His head--that of a cock--represents Phronesis, that bird being the emblem of foresight and of vigilance. His two arms hold the symbols of Sophia and Dynamis: the shield of Wisdom and the whip of Power."

The Gnostics were divided in their opinions concerning the Demiurgus, or creator of the lower worlds. He established the terrestrial universe with the aid of six sons, or emanations (possibly the planetary Angels) which He formed out of, and yet within, Himself. As stated before, the Demiurgus was individualized as the lowest creation out of the substance called *pleroma*. One group of the Gnostics was of the opinion that the Demiurgus was the cause of all misery and was an evil creature, who by building this lower world had separated the souls of men from truth by encasing them in mortal vehicles. The other sect viewed the Demiurgus as being divinely inspired and merely fulfilling the dictates of the invisible Lord. Some Gnostics were of the opinion that the Jewish God, *Jehovah*, was the Demiurgus. This concept, under a slightly different name, apparently influenced medieval Rosicrucianism, which viewed Jehovah as the Lord of the material universe rather than as the Supreme Deity. Mythology abounds with the stories of gods who partook of both celestial and terrestrial natures. Odin, of Scandinavia, is a good example of a deity subject to mortality, bowing before the laws of Nature and yet being, in certain senses at least, a Supreme Deity.

The Gnostic viewpoint concerning the Christ is well worthy of consideration. This order claimed to be the only sect to have actual pictures of the Divine Syrian. While these were, in all probability, idealistic conceptions of the Savior based upon existing sculpturings and paintings of the pagan sun gods, they were all Christianity had. To the Gnostics, the Christ was the personification of *Nous*, the Divine Mind, and emanated from the higher spiritual Æons. He descended into the body of Jesus at the baptism and left it again before the crucifixion. The Gnostics declared that the Christ was not crucified, as this Divine *Nous* could not suffer death, but that Simon, the Cyrenian, offered his life instead and that the *Nous*, by means of its power, caused Simon to resemble Jesus. Irenæus makes the following statement concerning the cosmic sacrifice of the Christ:

"When the uncreated, unnamed Father saw the corruption of mankind, He sent His firstborn, Nous, into the world, in the form of Christ, for the redemption of all who believe in Him, out of the power of those that have fabricated the world (the Demiurgus, and his six sons, the planetary genii). He appeared amongst men as the Man Jesus, and wrought miracles." (See King's *Gnostics and Their Remains*.)

The Gnostics divided humanity into three parts: those who, as savages, worshiped only the visible Nature; those who, like the Jews, worshiped the Demiurgus; and lastly, themselves, or others of a similar cult, including certain sects of Christians, who worshiped *Nous* (Christ) and the true spiritual light of the higher Æons.

After the death of Basilides, Valentinus became the leading inspiration of the Gnostic movement. He still further complicated the system of Gnostic philosophy by adding infinitely to the details. He increased the number of emanations from the Great One (the Abyss) to fifteen pairs and also laid much emphasis on the *Virgin Sophia*, or Wisdom. In the *Books of the Savior*, parts of which are commonly known as the *Pistis Sophia*, may be found much material concerning this strange doctrine of Æons and their strange inhabitants. James Freeman Clarke, in speaking of the doctrines of the Gnostics, says: "These doctrines, strange as they seem to us, had a wide influence in the Christian Church." Many of the theories of the ancient Gnostics, especially those concerning scientific subjects, have been substantiated by modern research. Several sects branched off from the main stem of Gnosticism, such as the Valentinians, the Ophites (serpent worshipers), and the Adamites. After the third century their power waned, and the Gnostics practically vanished from the philosophic world. An effort was made during the Middle Ages to resurrect the principles of Gnosticism, but owing to the destruction of their records the material necessary was not available. Even today there are evidences of Gnostic philosophy in the modern world, but they bear other names and their true origin is not suspected. Many of the Gnostic concepts have actually been incorporated into the dogmas of the Christian Church, and our newer interpretations of Christianity are often along the lines of Gnostic emanationism.

**THE MYSTERIES OF ASAR-HAPI**

The identity of the Greco-Egyptian Serapis (known to the Greeks as *Serapis* and the Egyptians as *Asar-Hapi*) is shrouded by an impenetrable veil of mystery. While this deity was a familiar figure among the symbols of the secret Egyptian initiatory rites, his arcane nature was revealed only to those who had fulfilled the requirements of the Serapic cultus. Therefore, in all probability, excepting the initiated priests, the Egyptians themselves were ignorant of his true character. So far as known, there exists no authentic account of the rites of Serapis, but an analysis of the deity and his accompanying symbols reveals their salient points. In an oracle delivered to the King of Cyprus, Serapis described himself thus:

''A god I am such as I show to thee,  
The Starry Heavens are my head, my trunk the sea,  
Earth forms my feet, mine ears the air supplies,  
The Sun's far-darting, brilliant rays, mine eyes."

Several unsatisfactory attempts have been made to etymologize the word *Serapis*. Godfrey Higgins notes that *Soros* was the name given by the Egyptians to a stone coffin, and *Apis* was Osiris incarnate in the sacred bull. These two words combined result in *Soros-Apis* or *Sor-Apis*, "the tomb of the bull." But it is improbable that the Egyptians would worship a coffin in the form of a man.

Several ancient authors, including Macrobius, have affirmed that Serapis was a name for the Sun, because his image so often had a halo of light about its head. In his *Oration Upon the Sovereign Sun*, Julian speaks of the deity in these words: "One Jove, one Pluto, one Sun is Serapis." In Hebrew, Serapis is *Saraph*, meaning "to blaze out" or "to blaze up." For this reason the Jews designated one of their hierarchies of spiritual beings, *Seraphim*.

The most common theory, however, regarding the origin of the name *Serapis* is that which traces its derivation from the compound *Osiris-Apis*. At one time the Egyptians believed that the dead were absorbed into the nature of Osiris, the god of the dead. While marked similarity exists between Osiris-Apis and Serapis, the theory advanced by Egyptologists that Serapis is merely a name given to the dead Apis, or sacred bull of Egypt, is untenable in view of the transcendent wisdom possessed by the Egyptian priestcraft, who, in all probability, used the god to symbolize the soul of the world (*anima mundi*). The material body of Nature was called *Apis*; the soul which escaped from the body at death but was enmeshed with the form during physical life was designated *Serapis*.

C. W. King believes Serapis to be a deity of Brahmanic extraction, his name being the Grecianized form of *Ser-adah* or *Sri-pa*, two titles ascribed to *Yama*, the Hindu god of death. This appears reasonable, especially since there is a legend to the effect that Serapis, in the form of a bull, was driven by Bacchus from India to Egypt. The priority of the Hindu Mysteries would further substantiate such a theory.

Among other meanings suggested for the word *Serapis* are: "The Sacred Bull," "The Sun in Taurus," "The Soul of Osiris," "The Sacred Serpent," and "The Retiring of the Bull." The last appellation has reference to the ceremony of drowning the sacred Apis in the waters of the Nile every twenty-five years.

*THE LION-FACED LIGHT-POWER.*

*From Montfaucon's Antiquities.*

*This Gnostic gem represents by its serpentine body the pathway of the Sun and by its lion head the exaltation of the solar in the constellation of Leo.*

*A SYMBOLIC LABYRINTH.*

*From Montfaucon's Antiquities.*

*Labyrinths and mazes were favored places of initiation among many ancient cults. Remains of these mystic mazes have been found among the American Indians, Hindus, Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks. Some of these mazes are merely involved pathways lined with stones; others are literally miles of gloomy caverns under temples or hollowed from the sides of mountains. The famous labyrinth of Crete, in which roamed the bull-headed Minotaur, was unquestionably a place of initiation into the Cretan Mysteries.*

There is considerable evidence that the famous statue of Serapis in the Serapeum at Alexandria was originally worshiped under another name at Sinope, from which it was brought to Alexandria. There is also a legend which tells that Serapis was a very early king of the Egyptians, to whom they owed the foundation of their philosophical and scientific power. After his death this king was elevated to the estate of a god. Phylarchus declared that the word *Serapis* means "the power that disposed the universe into its present beautiful order."

In his *Isis and Osiris*, Plutarch gives the following account of the origin of the magnificent statue of Serapis which stood in the Serapeum at Alexandria:

While he was Pharaoh of Egypt, Ptolemy Soter had a strange dream in which he beheld a tremendous statue, which came to life and ordered the Pharaoh to bring it to Alexandria with all possible speed. Ptolemy Soter, not knowing the whereabouts of the statue, was sorely perplexed as to how he could discover it. While the Pharaoh was relating his dream, a great traveler by the name of Sosibius, coming forward, declared that he had seen such an image at Sinope. The Pharaoh immediately dispatched Soteles and Dionysius to negotiate for the removal of the figure to Alexandria. Three years elapsed before the image was finally obtained, the representatives of the Pharaoh finally stealing it and concealing the theft by spreading a story that the statue had come to life and, walking down the street leading from its temple, had boarded the ship prepared for its transportation to Alexandria. Upon its arrival in Egypt, the figure was brought into the presence of two Egyptian Initiates--the Eumolpid Timotheus and Manetho the Sebennite--who, immediately pronounced it to be Serapis. The priests then declared that it was equipollent to Pluto. This was a masterly stroke, for in Serapis the Greeks and Egyptians found a deity in common and thus religious unity was consummated between the two nations.

Several figures of Serapis that stood in his various temples in Egypt and Rome have been described by early authors. Nearly all these showed Grecian rather than Egyptian influence. In some the body of the god was encircled by the coils of a great serpent. Others showed him as a composite of Osiris and Apis.

A description of the god that in all probability is reasonably accurate is that which represents him as a tall, powerful figure, conveying the twofold impression of manly strength and womanly grace. His face portrayed a deeply pensive mood, the expression inclining toward sadness. His hair was long and arranged in a somewhat feminine manner, resting in curls upon his breast and shoulders. The face, save for its heavy beard, was also decidedly feminine. The figure of Serapis was usually robed from head to foot in heavy draperies, believed by initiates to conceal the fact that his body was androgynous.

Various substances were used in making the statues of Serapis. Some undoubtedly were carved from stone or marble by skilled craftsmen; others may have been cast from base or precious metals. One colossus of Serapis was composed of plates of various metals fitted together. In a labyrinth sacred to Serapis stood a thirteen-foot statue of him reputed to have been made from a single emerald. Modern writers, discussing this image, state that it was made of green glass poured into a mold. According to the Egyptians, however, it withstood all the tests of an actual emerald.

Clement of Alexandria describes a figure of Serapis compounded from the following elements: First, filings of gold, silver, lead, and tin; second, all manner of Egyptian stones, including sapphires, hematites, emeralds, and topazes; all these being ground down and mixed together with the coloring matter left over from the funeral of Osiris and Apis. The result was a rare and curious figure, indigo in color. Some of the statues of Serapis must have been formed of extremely hard substances, for when a Christian soldier, carrying out the edict of Theodosius, struck the Alexandrian Serapis with his ax, that instrument was shattered into fragments and sparks flew from it. It is also quite probable that Serapis was worshiped in the form of a serpent, in common with many of the higher deities of the Egyptian and Greek pantheons.

Serapis was called *Theon Heptagrammaton*, or the god with the name of seven letters. The name *Serapis* (like Abraxas and Mithras) contains seven letters. In their hymns to Serapis the priests chanted the seven vowels. Occasionally Serapis is depicted with horns or a coronet of seven rays. These evidently represented the seven divine intelligences manifesting through the solar light. The *Encyclopædia Britannica* notes that the earliest authentic mention of Serapis is in connection with the death of Alexander. Such was the prestige of Serapis that he alone of the gods was consulted in behalf of the dying king.

The Egyptian secret school of philosophy was divided into the Lesser and the Greater Mysteries, the former being sacred to Isis and the latter to Serapis and Osiris. Wilkinson is of the opinion that only the priests were permitted to enter the Greater Mysteries. Even the heir to the throne was not eligible until he had been crowned Pharaoh, when, by virtue of his kingly office, he automatically became a priest and the temporal head of the state religion. (See Wilkinson's *Manners and Customs of the Egyptians*.) A limited number were admitted into the Greater Mysteries: these preserved their secrets inviolate.

Much of the information concerning the rituals of the higher degrees of the Egyptian Mysteries has been gleaned from an examination of the chambers and passageways in which the initiations were given. Under the temple of Serapis destroyed by Theodosius were found strange mechanical contrivances constructed by the priests in the subterranean crypts and caverns where the nocturnal initiatory rites were celebrated. These machines indicate the severe tests of moral and physical courage undergone by the candidates. After passing through these tortuous ways, the neophytes who Survived the ordeals were ushered into the presence of Serapis, a noble and awe-inspiring figure illumined by unseen lights.

Labyrinths were also a striking feature in connection with the Rice of Serapis, and E. A. Wallis Budge, in his *Gods of the Egyptians*, depicts Serapis(Minotaur-like) with the body of a man and the head of a bull. Labyrinths were symbolic of the involvements and illusions of the lower world through which wanders the soul of man in its search for truth. In the labyrinth dwells the lower animal man with the head of the bull, who seeks to destroy the soul entangled in the maze of worldly ignorance. In this relation Serapis becomes the Tryer or Adversary who tests the souls of those seeking union with the Immortals. The maze was also doubtless used to represent the solar system, the Bull-Man representing the sun dwelling in the mystic maze of its planets, moons, and asteroids.

The Gnostic Mysteries were acquainted with the arcane meaning of Serapis, and through the medium of Gnosticism this god became inextricably associated with early Christianity. In fact, the Emperor Hadrian, while traveling in Egypt in A.D. 24, declared in a letter to Servianus that the worshipers of Serapis were Christians and that the Bishops of the church also worshiped at his shrine. He even declared that the Patriarch himself, when in Egypt, was forced to adore Serapis as well as Christ. (See Parsons' *New Light on the Great Pyramid*.)

The little-suspected importance of Serapis as a prototype of Christ can be best appreciated after a consideration of the following extract from C. W. King's *Gnostics and Their Remains*: "There can be no doubt that the head of Serapis, marked as the face is by a grave and pensive majesty, supplied the first idea for the conventional portraits of the Saviour. The Jewish prejudices of the first converts were so powerful that we may be sure no attempt was made to depict His countenance until some generations after all that had beheld it on earth had passed away."

Serapis gradually usurped the positions previously occupied by the other Egyptian and Greek gods, and became the supreme deity of both religions. His power continued until the fourth century of the Christian Era. In A.D. 385, Theodosius, that would-be exterminator of pagan philosophy, issued his memorable edict *De Idolo Serapidis Diruendo*. When the Christian soldiers, in obedience to this order, entered the Serapeum at Alexandria to destroy the image of Serapis which had stood there for centuries, so great was their veneration for the god that they dared not touch the image lest the ground should open at their feet and engulf them. At length, overcoming their fear, they demolished the statue, sacked the building, and finally as a fitting climax to their offense burned the magnificent library which was housed within the lofty apartments of the Serapeum. Several writers have recorded the remarkable fact that Christian symbols were found in the ruined foundations of this pagan temple. Socrates, a church historian of the fifth century, declared that after the pious Christians had razed the Serapeum at Alexandria and scattered the demons who dwelt there under the guise of gods, beneath the foundations was found the monogram of Christ!

*THE ALEXANDRIAN SERAPIS.*

*From Mosaize Historie der Hebreeuwse Kerke.*

*Serapis is often shown standing on the back of the sacred crocodile, carrying in his left hand a rule with which to measure the inundations of the Nile, and balancing with his right hand a curious emblem consisting of an animal with the heads. The first head--that of a lion--signified the present; the second head--that of a wolf--the past; and the third head--that of a dog--the future. The body with its three heads was enveloped by the twisted coils of a serpent. Figures of Serapis are occasionally accompanied by Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Pluto, and--like Jupiter--carry baskets of grain upon their heads.*

Two quotations will further establish the relationship existing between the Mysteries of Serapis and those of other ancient peoples. The first is from Richard Payne Knight's *Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology*: "Hence Varro in *De Lingua Latina* says that Cœlum and Terra, that is universal mind and productive body, were the Great Gods of the Samothracian Mysteries; and the same as the Serapis and Isis of the later Ægyptians: the Taautos and Astarte of the Phœnicians, and the Saturn and Ops of the Latins." The second quotation is from Albert Pike's *Morals and Dogma*: "'Thee,' says Martianus Capella, in his hymn to the Sun, 'dwellers on the Nile adore as Serapis, and Memphis worships as Osiris: in the sacred rites of Persia thou art Mithras, in Phrygia, Atys, and Libya bows down to thee as Ammon, and Phœnician Byblos as Adonis; thus the whole world adores thee under different names.'"

**THE ODINIC MYSTERIES**

The date of the founding of the Odinic Mysteries is uncertain, some writers declaring that they were established in the first century before Christ; others, the first century after Christ. Robert Macoy, 33°, gives the following description of their origin: "It appears from the northern chronicles that in the first century of the Christian Era, Sigge, the chief of the Aser, an Asiatic tribe, emigrated from the Caspian sea and the Caucasus into northern Europe. He directed his course northwesterly from the Black sea to Russia, over which, according to tradition, he placed one of his sons as a ruler, as he is said to have done over the Saxons and the Franks. He then advanced through Cimbria to Denmark, which acknowledged his fifth son Skiold as its sovereign, and passed over to Sweden, where Gylf, who did homage to the wonderful stranger, and was initiated into his mysteries, then ruled. He soon made himself master here, built Sigtuna as the capital of his empire, and promulgated a new code of laws, and established the sacred mysteries. He, himself, assumed the name of Odin, founded the priesthood of the twelve Drottars (Druids?) who conducted the secret worship, and the administration of justice, and, as prophets, revealed the future. The secret rites of these mysteries celebrated the death of Balder, the beautiful and lovely, and represented the grief of Gods and men at his death, and his restoration to life." (*General History of Freemasonry*.)

After his death, the historical Odin was apotheosized, his identity being merged into that of the mythological Odin, god of wisdom, whose cult he had promulgated. Odinism then supplanted the worship of Thor, the thunderer, the supreme deity of the ancient Scandinavian pantheon. The mound where, according to legend, King Odin was buried is still to be seen near the site of his great temple at Upsala.

The twelve *Drottars* who presided over the Odinic Mysteries evidently personified the twelve holy and ineffable names of Odin. The rituals of the Odinic Mysteries were very similar to those of the Greeks, Persians, and Brahmins, after which they were patterned. The Drottars, who symbolized the signs of the zodiac, were the custodians of the arts and sciences, which they revealed to those who passed successfully the ordeals of initiation. Like many other pagan cults, the Odinic Mysteries, as an institution, were destroyed by Christianity, but the underlying cause of their fall was the corruption of the priesthood.

Mythology is nearly always the ritual and the symbolism of a Mystery school. Briefly stated, the sacred drama which formed the basis of the Odinic Mysteries was as follows:

The Supreme, invisible Creator of all things was called All-Father. His regent in Nature was Odin, the one-eyed god. Like Quetzalcoatl, Odin was elevated to the dignity of the Supreme Deity. According to the Drottars, the universe was fashioned from the body of *Ymir*, the hoarfrost giant. Ymir was formed from the clouds of mist that rose from Ginnungagap, the great cleft in chaos into which the primordial frost giants and flame giants had hurled snow and fire. The three gods--Odin, Vili, and Ve--slew Ymir and from him formed the world. From Ymir's various members the different parts of Nature were fashioned.

After Odin had established order, he caused a wonderful palace, called Asgard, to be built on the top of a mountain, and here the twelve Æsir (gods) dwelt together, far above the limitations of mortal men. On this mountain also was Valhalla, the palace of the slain, where those who had heroically died fought and feasted day after day. Each night their wounds were healed and the boar whose flesh they ate renewed itself as rapidly as it was consumed.

*THE NINE WORLDS OF THE ODINIC MYSTERIES.*

*The Nordic Mysteries were given in nine chambers, or caverns, the candidate advancing through them in sequential order. These chambers of initiation represented the nine spheres into which the Drottars divided the universe: (1) Asgard, the Heaven World of the Gods; (2) Alf-heim, the World of the light and beautiful Elves, or Spirits; (3) Nifl-heim, the World of Cold and Darkness, which is located in the North; (4) Jotun-heim, the World of the Giants, which is located in the East; (5) Midgard, the Earth World of human beings, which is located in the midst, or middle place; (6) Vana-heim, the World of the Vanes, which is located in the West; (7) Muspells-heim, the World of Fire, which is located in the South; 8) Svart-alfa-heim, the World of the dark and treacherous Elves, which is under the earth; and (9) Hel-heim, the World of cold and the abode of the dead, which is located at the very lowest point of the universe. It is to be understood that all of these worlds are invisible to the senses, except Midgard, the home of human creatures, but during the process of initiation the soul of the candidate--liberated from its earthly sheath by the secret power of the priests--wanders amidst the inhabitants of these various spheres. There is undoubtedly a relationship between the nine worlds of the Scandinavians and the nine spheres, or planes, through which initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries passed in their ritual of regeneration.*

Balder the Beautiful--the Scandinavian Christ--was the beloved son of Odin. Balder was not warlike; his kindly and beautiful spirit brought peace and joy to the hearts of the gods, and they all loved him save one. As Jesus had a Judas among His twelve disciples, so one of the twelve gods was false--Loki, the personification of evil. Loki caused Höthr, the blind god of fate, to shoot Balder with a mistletoe arrow. With the death of Balder, light and joy vanished from the lives of the other deities. Heartbroken, the gods gathered to find a method whereby they could resurrect this spirit of eternal life and youth. The result was the establishment of the Mysteries.

The Odinic Mysteries were given in underground crypts or caves, the chambers, nine in number, representing the Nine Worlds of the Mysteries. The candidate seeking admission was assigned the task of raising Balder from the dead. Although he did not realize it, he himself played the part of Balder. He called himself a wanderer; the caverns through which he passed were symbolic of the worlds and spheres of Nature. The priests who initiated him were emblematic of the sun, the moon, and the stars. The three supreme initiators--the Sublime, the Equal to the Sublime, and the Highest--were analogous to the Worshipful Master and the junior and Senior Wardens of a Masonic lodge.

After wandering for hours through the intricate passageways, the candidate was ushered into the presence of a statue of Balder the Beautiful, the prototype of all initiates into the Mysteries. This figure stood in the center of a great apartment roofed with shields. In the midst of the chamber stood a plant with seven blossoms, emblematic of the planers. In this room, which symbolized the house of the Æsir, or Wisdom, the neophyte took his oath of secrecy and piety upon the naked blade of a sword. He drank the sanctified mead from a bowl made of a human skull and, having passed successfully through all the tortures and trials designed to divert him from the course of wisdom, he was finally permitted to unveil the mystery of Odin--the personification of wisdom. He was presented, in the name of Balder, with the sacred ring of the order; he was hailed as a man reborn; and it was said of him that he had died and had been raised again without passing through the gates of death.

Richard Wagner's immortal composition, *Der Ring des Nibelungen*, is based upon the Mystery rituals of the Odinic cult. While the great composer took many liberties with the original story, the Ring Operas, declared to be the grandest tetralogy of music dramas the world possesses, have caught and preserved in a remarkable manner the majesty and power of the original sagas. Beginning with *Das Rheingold*, the action proceeds through *Die Walküre* and *Siegfried* to an awe-inspiring climax in *Götterdämmerung*, "The Twilight of the Gods."

### Part 3

THE most famous of the ancient religious Mysteries were the Eleusinian, whose rites were celebrated every five years in the city of Eleusis to honor Ceres (Demeter, Rhea, or Isis) and her daughter, Persephone. The initiates of the Eleusinian School were famous throughout Greece for the beauty of their philosophic concepts and the high standards of morality which they demonstrated in their daily lives. Because of their excellence, these Mysteries spread to Rome and Britain, and later the initiations were given in both these countries. The Eleusinian Mysteries, named for the community in Attica where the sacred dramas were first presented, are generally believed to have been founded by Eumolpos about fourteen hundred years before the birth of Christ, and through the Platonic system of philosophy their principles have been preserved to modern times.

The rites of Eleusis, with their Mystic interpretations of Nature's most precious secrets, overshadowed the civilizations of their time and gradually absorbed many smaller schools, incorporating into their own system whatever valuable information these lesser institutions possessed. Heckethorn sees in the Mysteries of Ceres and Bacchus a metamorphosis of the rites of Isis and Osiris, and there is every reason to believe that all so-called secret schools of the ancient world were branches from one philosophic tree which, with its root in heaven and its branches on the earth, is--like the spirit of man--an invisible but ever-present cause of the objectified vehicles that give it expression. The Mysteries were the channels through which this one philosophic light was disseminated, and their initiates, resplendent with intellectual and spiritual understanding, were the perfect fruitage of the divine tree, bearing witness before the material world of the recondite source of all Light and Truth.

The rites of Eleusis were divided into what were called the Lesser and the Greater Mysteries. According to James Gardner, the Lesser Mysteries were celebrated in the spring (probably at the time of the vernal equinox) in the town of Agræ, and the Greater, in the fall (the time of the autumnal equinox) at Eleusis or Athens. It is supposed that the former were given annually and the latter every five years. The rituals of the Eleusinians were highly involved, and to understand them required a deep study of Greek mythology, which they interpreted in its esoteric light with the aid of their secret keys.

The Lesser Mysteries were dedicated to Persephone. In his *Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries*, Thomas Taylor sums up their purpose as follows: "The Lesser Mysteries were designed by the ancient theologists, their founders, to signify occultly the condition of the unpurified soul invested with an earthy body, and enveloped in a material and physical nature."

The legend used in the Lesser rites is that of the abduction of the goddess Persephone, the daughter of Ceres, by Pluto, the lord of the underworld, or Hades. While Persephone is picking flowers in a beautiful meadow, the earth suddenly opens and the gloomy lord of death, riding in a magnificent chariot, emerges from its somber depths and, grasping her in his arms, carries the screaming and struggling goddess to his subterranean palace, where he forces her to become his queen.

It is doubtful whether many of the initiates themselves understood the mystic meaning of this allegory, for most of them apparently believed that it referred solely to the succession of the seasons. It is difficult to obtain satisfactory information concerning the Mysteries, for the candidates were bound by inviolable oaths never to reveal their inner secrets to the profane. At the beginning of the ceremony of initiation, the candidate stood upon the skins of animals sacrificed for the purpose, and vowed that death should seal his lips before he would divulge the sacred truths which were about to be communicated to him. Through indirect channels, however, some of their secrets have been preserved. The teachings given to the neophytes were substantially as follows:

The soul of man--often called *Psyche*, and in the Eleusinian Mysteries symbolized by Persephone--is essentially a spiritual thing. Its true home is in the higher worlds, where, free from the bondage of material form and material concepts, it is said to be truly alive and self-expressive. The human, or physical, nature of man, according to this doctrine, is a tomb, a quagmire, a false and impermanent thing, the source of all sorrow and suffering. Plato describes the body as the sepulcher of the soul; and by this he means not only the human form but also the human nature.

The gloom and depression of the Lesser Mysteries represented the agony of the spiritual soul unable to express itself because it has accepted the limitations and illusions of the human environment. The crux of the Eleusinian argument was that man is neither better nor wiser after death than during life. If he does not rise above ignorance during his sojourn here, man goes at death into eternity to wander about forever, making the same mistakes which he made here.

*THE RAPE OF PERSEPHONE.*

*From Thomassin's Recucil des Figures, Groupes, Themes, Fontaines, Vases et autres Ornements.*

*Pluto, the lord of the underworld, represents the body intelligence of man; and the rape of Persephone is symbolic of the divine nature assaulted and defiled by the animal soul and dragged downward into the somber darkness of Hades, which is here used as a synonym for the material, or objective, sphere of consciousness.*

*In his Disquisitions upon the Painted Greek Vases, James Christie presents Meursius' version of the occurrences taking place during the nine days required for the enactment of the Greater Eleusinian Rites. The first day was that of general meeting, during which those to be initiated were questioned concerning their several qualifications. The second day was spent in a procession to the sea, possibly for the submerging of a image of the presiding goddess. The third day was opened by the sacrifice of a mullet. On the fourth day the mystic basket containing certain sacred symbols was brought to Eleusis, accompanied by a number of female devotees carrying smaller baskets. On the evening of the fifth day there was a torch race, on the sixth a procession led by a statue of Iacchus, and on the seventh an athletic contest. The eighth day was devoted to a repetition of the ceremonial for the benefit of any who might have been prevented from coming sooner. The ninth and last day was devoted to the deepest philosophical issues of the Eleusinia, during which an urn or jar--the symbol of Bacchus--was exhibited as an emblem of supreme importance.*

If he does not outgrow the desire for material possessions here, he will carry it with him into the invisible world, where, because he can never gratify the desire, he will continue in endless agony. Dante's *Inferno* is symbolically descriptive of the sufferings of those who never freed their spiritual natures from the cravings, habits, viewpoints, and limitations of their Plutonic personalities. Those who made no endeavor to improve themselves (whose souls have slept) during their physical lives, passed at death into Hades, where, lying in rows, they slept through all eternity as they had slept through life.

To the Eleusinian philosophers, birch into the physical world was death in the fullest sense of the word, and the only true birth was that of the spiritual soul of man rising out of the womb of his own fleshly nature. "The soul is dead that slumbers," says Longfellow, and in this he strikes the keynote of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Just as Narcissus, gazing at himself in the water (the ancients used this mobile element to symbolize the transitory, illusionary, material universe) lost his life trying to embrace a reflection, so man, gazing into the mirror of Nature and accepting as his real self the senseless clay that he sees reflected, loses the opportunity afforded by physical life to unfold his immortal, invisible Self.

An ancient initiate once said that the living are ruled by the dead. Only those conversant with the Eleusinian concept of life could understand that statement. It means that the majority of people are not ruled by their living spirits but by their senseless (hence dead) animal personalities. Transmigration and reincarnation were taught in these Mysteries, but in a somewhat unusual manner. It was believed that at midnight the invisible worlds were closest to the Terrestrial sphere and that souls coming into material existence slipped in during the midnight hour. For this reason many of the Eleusinian ceremonies were performed at midnight. Some of those sleeping spirits who had failed to awaken their higher natures during the earth life and who now floated around in the invisible worlds, surrounded by a darkness of their own making, occasionally slipped through at this hour and assumed the forms of various creatures.

The mystics of Eleusis also laid stress upon the evil of suicide, explaining that there was a profound mystery concerning this crime of which they could not speak, but warning their disciples that a great sorrow comes to all who take their own lives. This, in substance, constitutes the esoteric doctrine given to the initiates of the Lesser Mysteries. As the degree dealt largely with the miseries of those who failed to make the best use of their philosophic opportunities, the chambers of initiation were subterranean and the horrors of Hades were vividly depicted in a complicated ritualistic drama. After passing successfully through the tortuous passageways, with their trials and dangers, the candidate received the honorary title of *Mystes*. This meant one who saw through a veil or had a clouded vision. It also signified that the candidate had been brought up to the veil, which would be torn away in the higher degree. The modern word *mystic*, as referring to a seeker after truth according to the dictates of the heart along the path of faith, is probably derived from this ancient word, for faith is belief in the reality of things unseen or veiled.

The Greater Mysteries (into which the candidate was admitted only after he had successfully passed through the ordeals of the Lesser, and not always then) were sacred to Ceres, the mother of Persephone, and represent her as wandering through the world in quest of her abducted daughter. Ceres carried two torches, intuition and reason, to aid her in the search for her lost child (the soul). At last she found Persephone not far from Eleusis, and out of gratitude taught the people there to cultivate corn, which is sacred to her. She also founded the Mysteries. Ceres appeared before Pluto, god of the souls of the dead, and pleaded with him to allow Persephone to return to her home. This the god at first refused to do, because Persephone had eaten of the pomegranate, the fruit of mortality. At last, however, he compromised and agreed to permit Persephone to live in the upper world half of the year if she would stay with him in the darkness of Hades for the remaining half.

The Greeks believed that Persephone was a manifestation of the solar energy, which in the winter months lived under the earth with Pluto, but in the summer returned again with the goddess of productiveness. There is a legend that the flowers loved Persephone and that every year when she left for the dark realms of Pluto, the plants and shrubs would die of grief. While the profane and uninitiated had their own opinions on these subjects, the truths of the Greek allegories remained safely concealed by the priests, who alone recognized the sublimity of these great philosophic and religious parables.

Thomas Taylor epitomizes the doctrines of the Greater Mysteries in the following statement: "The Greater (Mysteries) obscurely intimated, by mystic and splendid visions, the felicity of the soul both here and hereafter when purified from the defilement of a material nature, and constantly elevated to the realities of intellectual (spiritual) vision."

Just as the Lesser Mysteries discussed the prenatal epoch of man when the consciousness in its nine days (embryologically, months) was descending into the realm of illusion and assuming the veil of unreality, so the Greater Mysteries discussed the principles of spiritual regeneration and revealed to initiates not only the simplest but also the most direct and complete method of liberating their higher natures from the bondage of material ignorance. Like Prometheus chained to the top of Mount Caucasus, man's higher nature is chained to his inadequate personality. The nine days of initiation were also symbolic of the nine spheres through which the human soul descends during the process of assuming a terrestrial form. The secret exercises for spiritual unfoldment given to disciples of the higher degrees are unknown, but there is every reason to believe that they were similar to the Brahmanic Mysteries, since it is known that the Eleusinian ceremonies were closed with the Sanskrit words "Konx Om Pax."

That part of the allegory referring to the two six-month periods during one of which Persephone must remain with Pluto, while during the other she may revisit the upper world, offers material for deep consideration. It is probable that the Eleusinians realized that the soul left the body during steep, or at least was made capable of leaving by the special training which undoubtedly they were in a position to give. Thus Persephone would remain as the queen of Pluto's realm during the waking hours, but would ascend to the spiritual worlds during the periods of sleep. The initiate was taught how to intercede with Pluto to permit Persephone (the initiate's soul) to ascend from the darkness of his material nature into the light of understanding. When thus freed from the shackles of clay and crystallized concepts, the initiate was liberated not only for the period of his life but for all eternity, for never thereafter was he divested of those soul qualities which after death were his vehicles for manifestation and expression in the so-called heaven world.

In contrast to the idea of Hades as a state of darkness below, the gods were said to inhabit the tops of mountains, a well-known example being Mount Olympus, where the twelve deities of the Greek pantheon were said to dwell together. In his initiatory wanderings the neophyte therefore entered chambers of ever-increasing brilliancy to portray the ascent of the spirit from the lower worlds into the realms of bliss. As the climax to such wanderings he entered a great vaulted room, in the center of which stood a brilliantly illumined statue of the goddess Ceres. Here, in the presence of the hierophant and surrounded by priests in magnificent robes, he was instructed in the highest of the secret mysteries of the Eleusis. At the conclusion of this ceremony he was hailed as an *Epoptes*, which means one who has beheld or seen directly. For this reason also initiation was termed *autopsy*. The Epoptes was then given certain sacred books, probably written in cipher, together with tablets of stone on which secret instructions were engraved.

In *The Obelisk in Freemasonry*, John A. Weisse describes the officiating personages of the Eleusinian Mysteries as consisting of a male and a female hierophant who directed the initiations; a male and a female torchbearer; a male herald; and a male and a female altar attendant. There were also numerous minor officials. He states that, according to Porphyry, the hierophant represents Plato's *Demiurgus*, or Creator of the world; the torch bearer, the Sun; the altar man, the Moon; the herald, Hermes, or Mercury; and the other officials, minor stars.

From the records available, a number of strange and apparently supernatural phenomena accompanied the rituals. Many initiates claim to have actually seen the living gods themselves. Whether this was the result of religious ecstasy or the actual cooperation of invisible powers with the visible priests must remain a mystery. In *The Metamorphosis, or Golden Ass*, Apuleius thus describes what in all probability is his initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries:

"I approached to the confines of death, and having trod on the threshold of Proserpine I, returned from it, being carried through all the elements. At midnight I saw the sun shining with a splendid light; and I manifestly drew near to, the gods beneath, and the gods above, and proximately adored them."

Women and children were admitted to the Eleusinian Mysteries, and at one time there were literally thousands of initiates. Because this vast host was not prepared for the highest spiritual and mystical doctrines, a division necessarily took place within the society itself. The higher teachings were given to only a limited number of initiates who, because of superior mentality, showed a comprehensive grasp of their underlying philosophical concepts. Socrates refused to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, for knowing its principles without being a member of the order he realized that membership would seal his tongue. That the Mysteries of Eleusis were based upon great and eternal truths is attested by the veneration in which they were held by the great minds of the ancient world. M. Ouvaroff asks, "Would Pindar, Plato, Cicero, Epictetus, have spoken of them with such admiration, if the hierophant had satisfied himself with loudly proclaiming his own opinions, or those of his order?"

The garments in which candidates were initiated were preserved for many years and were believed to possess almost sacred properties. Just as the soul can have no covering save wisdom and virtue, so the candidates--being as yet without true knowledge--were presented to the Mysteries unclothed, being first: given the skin of an animal and later a consecrated robe to symbolize the philosophical teachings received by the initiate. During the course of initiation the candidate passed through two gates. The first led downward into the lower worlds and symbolized his birth into ignorance. The second led upward into a room brilliantly lighted by unseen lamps, in which was the statue of Ceres and which symbolized the upper world, or the abode of Light and Truth. Strabo states that the great temple of Eleusis would hold between twenty and thirty thousand people. The caves dedicated by Zarathustra also had these two doors, symbolizing the avenues of birth and death.

*CERES, THE PATRON OF THE MYSTERIES.*

*From a mural painting in Pompeii.*

*Ceres, or Demeter, was the daughter of Kronos and Rhea, and by Zeus the mother of Persephone. Some believe her to be the goddess of the earth, but more correctly she is the deity protecting agriculture in general and corn in particular. The Poppy is sacred to Ceres and she is often shown carrying or ornamented by a garland of these flowers. In the Mysteries, Ceres represented riding in a chariot drawn by winged serpents.*

The following paragraph from Porphyry gives a fairly adequate conception of Eleusinian symbolism: "God being a luminous principle, residing in the midst of the most subtile fire, he remains for ever invisible to the eyes of those who do not elevate themselves above material life: on this account, the sight of transparent bodies, such as crystal, Parian marble, and even ivory, recalls the idea of divine light; as the sight of gold excites an idea of its purity, for gold cannot he sullied. Some have thought by a black stone was signified the invisibility of the divine essence. To express supreme reason, the Divinity was represented under the human form--and beautiful, for God is the source of beauty; of different ages, and in various attitudes, sitting or upright; of one or the other sex, as a virgin or a young man, a husband or a bride, that all the shades and gradations might be marked. Every thing luminous was subsequently attributed to the gods; the sphere, and all that is spherical, to the universe, to the sun and the moon--sometimes to Fortune and to Hope. The circle, and all circular figures, to eternity--to the celestial movements; to the circles and zones of the heavens. The section of circles, to the phases of the moon; and pyramids and obelisks, to the igneous principle, and through that to the gods of Heaven. A cone expresses the sun, a cylinder the earth; the phallus and triangle (a symbol of the matrix) designate generation." (From *Essay on the Mysteries of Eleusis* by M. Ouvaroff.)

*THE PROCESSIONAL OF THE BACCHIC RITES.*

*From Ovid's Metamorphosis.*

*In the initiation, of the Bacchic Mysteries, the rôle of Bacchus is played by the candidate who, set upon by priests in the guise of the Titans, is slain and finally restored to life amidst great rejoicing. The Bacchic Mysteries were given every three years, and like the Eleusinian Mysteries, were divided into two degrees. The initiates were crowned with myrtle and ivy, plants which were sacred to Bacchus.*

*In the Anacalypsis, Godfrey Higgins conclusively establishes Bacchus (Dionysos) as one of the early pagan forms of the Christos myth, "The birthplace of Bacchus, called Sabazius or Sabaoth, was claimed by several places in Greece; but on Mount Zelmisus, in Thrace, his worship seems to have been chiefly celebrated. He was born of a virgin on the 25th of December; he performed great miracles for the good of mankind; particularly one in which he changed water into wine; he rode in a triumphal procession on an ass; he was put to death by the Titans, and rose again from the dead on the 25th of March: he was always called the Saviour. In his mysteries, he was shown to the people, as an infant is by the Christians at this day, on Christmas Day morning in Rome."*

*While Apollo most generally represents the sun, Bacchus is also a form of solar energy, for his resurrection was accomplished with the assistance of Apollo. The resurrection of Bacchus signifies merely the extraction or disentanglement of the various Parts of the Bacchic constitution from the Titanic constitution of the world. This is symbolized by the smoke or soot rising from the burned bodies of the Titans. The soul is symbolized by smoke because it is extracted by the fire of the Mysteries. Smoke signifies the ascension of the soul, far evolution is the process of the soul rising, like smoke, from the divinely consumed material mass. At me time the Bacchic Rites were of a high order, but later they became much degraded . The Bacchanalia, or orgies of Bacchus, are famous in literature.*

The Eleusinian Mysteries, according to Heckethorn, survived all others and did not cease to exist as an institution until nearly four hundred years after Christ, when they were finally suppressed by Theodosius (styled the Great), who cruelly destroyed all who did not accept the Christian faith. Of this greatest of all philosophical institutions Cicero said that it taught men not only how to live but also how to die.

**THE ORPHIC MYSTERIES**

Orpheus, the Thracian bard, the great initiator of the Greeks, ceased to be known as a man and was celebrated as a divinity several centuries before the Christian Era. "As to Orpheus himself ** *, " writes Thomas Taylor, "scarcely a vestige of his life is to be found amongst the immense ruins of time. For who has ever been able to affirm any thing with certainty of his origin, his age, his country, and condition? This alone may be depended on, from general assent, that there formerly lived a person named Orpheus, who was the founder of theology among the Greeks; the institutor of their lives and morals; the first of prophets, and the prince of poets; himself the offspring of a Muse; who taught the Greeks their sacred rites and mysteries, and from whose wisdom, as from a perennial and abundant fountain, the divine muse of Homer and the sublime theology of Pythagoras and Plato flowed." (See *The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus*.)

Orpheus was founder of the Grecian mythological system which he used as the medium for the promulgation of his philosophical doctrines. The origin of his philosophy is uncertain. He may have got it from the Brahmins, there being legends to the effect that he got it was a Hindu, his name possibly being derived from ὀρφανῖος, meaning "dark." Orpheus was initiated into the Egyptian Mysteries, from which he secured extensive knowledge of magic, astrology, sorcery, and medicine. The Mysteries of the Cabiri at Samothrace were also conferred upon him, and these undoubtedly contributed to his knowledge of medicine and music.

The romance of Orpheus and Eurydice is one of the tragic episodes of Greek mythology and apparently constitutes the outstanding feature of the Orphic Rite. Eurydice, in her attempt to escape from a villain seeking to seduce her, died from the venom of a poisonous serpent which stung her in the heel. Orpheus, penetrating to the very heart of the underworld, so charmed Pluto and Persephone with the beauty of his music that they agreed to permit Eurydice to return to life if Orpheus could lead her back to the sphere of the living without once looking round to see if she were following. So great was his fear, however, that she would stray from him that he turned his head, and Eurydice with a heartbroken cry was swept back into the land of death.

Orpheus wandered the earth for a while disconsolate, and there are several conflicting accounts of the manner of his death. Some declare that he was slain by a bolt of lightning; others, that failing to save his beloved Eurydice, he committed suicide. The generally accepted version of his death, however, is that he was torn to pieces by Ciconian women whose advances he had spurned. In the tenth book of Plato's *Republic* it is declared that, because of his sad fate at the hands of women, the soul that had once been Orpheus, upon being destined to live again in the physical world, chose rather to return in the body of a swan than be born of woman. The head of Orpheus, after being torn from his body, was cast with his lyre into the river Hebrus, down which it floated to the sea, where, wedging in a cleft in a rock, it gave oracles for many years. The lyre, after being stolen from its shrine and working the destruction of the thief, was picked up by the gods and fashioned into a constellation.

Orpheus has long been sung as the patron of music. On his seven-stringed lyre he played such perfect harmonies that the gods themselves were moved to acclaim his power. When he touched the strings of his instrument the birds and beasts gathered about him, and as he wandered through the forests his enchanting melodies caused even the ancient trees with mighty effort to draw their gnarled roots from out the earth and follow him. Orpheus is one of the many Immortals who have sacrificed themselves that mankind might have the wisdom of the gods. By the symbolism of his music he communicated the divine secrets to humanity, and several authors have declared that the gods, though loving him, feared that he would overthrow their kingdom and therefore reluctantly encompassed his destruction.

As time passed on the historical Orpheus became hopelessly confounded with the doctrine he represented and eventually became the symbol of the Greek school of the ancient wisdom. Thus Orpheus was declared to be the son of Apollo, the divine and perfect truth, and Calliope, the Muse of harmony and rhythm. In other words, Orpheus is the secret doctrine (Apollo) revealed through music (Calliope). Eurydice is humanity dead from the sting of the serpent of false knowledge and imprisoned in the underworld of ignorance. In this allegory Orpheus signifies theology, which wins her from the king of the dead but fails to accomplish her resurrection because it falsely estimates and mistrusts the innate understanding within the human soul. The Ciconian women who tore Orpheus limb from limb symbolize the various contending theological factions which destroy the body of Truth. They cannot accomplish this, however, until their discordant cries drown out the harmony drawn by Orpheus from his magic lyre. The head of Orpheus signifies the esoteric doctrines of his cult. These doctrines continue to live and speak even after his body (the cult) has been destroyed. The lyre is the secret teaching of Orpheus; the seven strings are the seven divine truths which are the keys to universal knowledge. The differing accounts of his death represent the various means used to destroy the secret teachings: wisdom can die in many ways at the same time. The allegory of Orpheus incarnating in the white swan merely signifies that the spiritual truths he promulgated will continue and will be taught by the illumined initiates of all future ages. The swan is the symbol of the initiates of the Mysteries; it is a symbol also of the divine power which is the progenitor of the world.

**THE BACCHIC AND DIONYSIAC RITES**

The Bacchic Rite centers around the allegory of the youthful Bacchus (Dionysos or Zagreus) being torn to pieces by the Titans. These giants accomplished the destruction of Bacchus by causing him to become fascinated by his own image in a mirror. After dismembering him, the Titans first boiled the pieces in water and afterwards roasted them. Pallas rescued the heart of the murdered god, and by this precaution Bacchus (Dionysos) was enabled to spring forth again in all his former glory. Jupiter, the Demiurgus, beholding the crime of the Titans, hurled his thunderbolts and slew them, burning their bodies to ashes with heavenly fire. Our of the ashes of the Titans--which also contained a portion of the flesh of Bacchus, whose body they had partly devoured--the human race was created. Thus the mundane life of every man was said to contain a portion of the Bacchic life.

For this reason the Greek Mysteries warned against suicide. He who attempts to destroy himself raises his hand against the nature of Bacchus within him, since man's body is indirectly the tomb of this god and consequently must be preserved with the greatest care.

Bacchus (Dionysos) represents the rational soul of the inferior world. He is the chief of the Titans--the artificers of the mundane spheres. The Pythagoreans called him the *Titanic monad*. Thus Bacchus is the all-inclusive idea of the Titanic sphere and the Titans--or *gods of the fragments*--the active agencies by means of which universal substance is fashioned into the pattern of this idea. The Bacchic state signifies the unity of the rational soul in a state of self-knowledge, and the Titanic state the diversity of the rational soul which, being scattered throughout creation, loses the consciousness of its own essential one-ness. The mirror into which Bacchus gazes and which is the cause of his fall is the great sea of illusion--the lower world fashioned by the Titans. Bacchus (the mundane rational soul), seeing his image before him, accepts the image as a likeness of himself and ensouls the likeness; that is, the rational idea ensouls its reflection--the irrational universe. By ensouling the irrational image it implants in it the urge to become like its source, the rational image. Therefore the ancients said that man does not know the gods by logic or by reason but rather by realizing the presence of the gods within himself.

After Bacchus gazed into the mirror and followed his own reflection into matter, the rational soul of the world was broken up and distributed by the Titans throughout the mundane sphere of which it is the essential nature, but the heart, or source, of it they could not: scatter. The Titans took the dismembered body of Bacchus and boiled it in water--symbol of immersion in the material universe--which represents the incorporation of the Bacchic principle in form. The pieces were afterwards roasted to signify the subsequent ascension of the spiritual nature out of form.

When Jupiter, the father of Bacchus and the Demiurgus of the universe, saw that the Titans were hopelessly involving the rational or divine idea by scattering its members through the constituent parts of the lower world, he slew the Titans in order that the divine idea might not be entirely lost. From the ashes of the Titans he formed mankind, whose purpose of existence was to preserve and eventually to release the Bacchic idea, or rational soul, from the Titanic fabrication. Jupiter, being the Demiurgus and fabricator of the material universe, is the third person of the Creative Triad, consequently the Lord of Death, for death exists only in the lower sphere of being over which he presides. Disintegration takes place so that reintegration may follow upon a higher level of form or intelligence. The thunderbolts of Jupiter are emblematic of his disintegrative power; they reveal the purpose of death, which is to rescue the rational soul from the devouring power of the irrational nature.

Man is a composite creature, his lower nature consisting of the fragments of the Titans and his higher nature the sacred, immortal flesh (life) of Bacchus. Therefore man is capable of either a Titanic (irrational) or a Bacchic (rational) existence. The Titans of Hesiod, who were twelve in number, are probably analogous to the celestial zodiac, whereas the Titans who murdered and dismembered Bacchus represent the zodiacal powers distorted by their involvement in the material world. Thus Bacchus represents the sun who is dismembered by the signs of the zodiac and from whose body the universe is formed. When the terrestrial forms were created from the various parts of his body the sense of wholeness was lost and the sense of separateness established. The heart of Bacchus, which was saved by Pallas, or Minerva, was lifted out of the four elements symbolized by his dismembered body and placed in the ether. The heart of Bacchus is the immortal center of the rational soul.

After the rational soul had been distributed throughout creation and the nature of man, the Bacchic Mysteries were instituted for the purpose of disentangling it from the irrational Titanic nature. This disentanglement was the process of lifting the soul out of the state of separateness into that of unity. The various parts and members of Bacchus were collected from the different corners of the earth. When all the rational parts are gathered Bacchus is resurrected.

The Rites of Dionysos were very similar to those of Bacchus, and by many these two gods are considered as one. Statues of Dionysos were carried in the Eleusinian Mysteries, especially the lesser degrees. Bacchus, representing the soul of the mundane sphere, was capable of an infinite multiplicity of form and designations. Dionysos apparently was his solar aspect.

The Dionysiac Architects constituted an ancient secret society, in principles and doctrines much like the modern Freemasonic Order. They were an organization of builders bound together by their secret knowledge of the relationship between the earthly and the divine sciences of architectonics. They were supposedly employed by King Solomon in the building of his Temple, although they were not Jews, nor did they worship the God of the Jews, being followers of Bacchus and Dionysos. The Dionysiac Architects erected many of the great monuments of antiquity. They possessed a secret language and a system of marking their stones. They had annual convocations and sacred feasts. The exact nature of their doctrines is unknown. It is believed that CHiram Abiff was an initiate of this society.

## Atlantis and the Gods of Antiquity

ATLANTIS is the subject of a short but important article appearing in the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of The Smithsonian Institution for the year ending June 30th, 1915. The author, M. Pierre Termier, a member of the Academy of Sciences and Director of Service of the Geologic Chart of France, in 1912 delivered a lecture on the Atlantean hypothesis before the Institut Océanographique; it is the translated notes of this remarkable lecture that are published in the Smithsonian report.

"After a long period of disdainful indifference," writes M. Termier, "observe how in the last few years science is returning to the study of Atlantis. How many naturalists, geologists, zoologists, or botanists are asking one another today whether Plato has not transmitted to us, with slight amplification, a page from the actual history of mankind. No affirmation is yet permissible; but it seems more and more evident that a vast region, continental or made up of great islands, has collapsed west of the Pillars of Hercules, otherwise called the Strait of Gibraltar, and that its collapse occurred in the not far distant past. In any event, the question of Atlantis is placed anew before men of science; and since I do not believe that it can ever be solved without the aid of oceanography, I have thought it natural to discuss it here, in this temple of maritime science, and to call to such a problem, long scorned but now being revived, the attention of oceanographers, as well as the attention of those who, though immersed in the tumult of cities, lend an ear to the distant murmur of the sea."

In his lecture M. Termier presents geologic, geographic, and zoologic data in substantiation of the Atlantis theory. Figuratively draining the entire bed of the Atlantic Ocean, he considers the inequalities of its basin and cites locations on a line from the Azores to Iceland where dredging has brought lava to the surface from a depth of 3,000 meters. The volcanic nature of the islands now existing in the Atlantic Ocean corroborates Plato's statement that the Atlantean continent was destroyed by volcanic cataclysms. M. Termier also advances the conclusions of a young French zoologist, M. Louis Germain, who admitted the existence of an Atlantic continent connected with the Iberian Peninsula and with Mauritania and prolonged toward the south so as to include some regions of desert climate. M. Termier concludes his lecture with a graphic picture of the engulfment of that continent.

The description of the Atlantean civilization given by Plato in the *Critias* may be summarized as follows. In the first ages the gods divided the earth among themselves, proportioning it according to their respective dignities. Each became the peculiar deity of his own allotment and established therein temples to himself, ordained a priestcraft, and instituted a system of sacrifice. To Poseidon was given the sea and the island continent of Atlantis. In the midst of the island was a mountain which was the dwelling place of three earth-born primitive human beings--Evenor; his wife, Leucipe; and their only daughter, Cleito. The maiden was very beautiful, and after the sudden death of her parents she was wooed by Poseidon, who begat by her five pairs of male children. Poseidon apportioned his continent among these ten, and Atlas, the eldest, he made overlord of the other nine. Poseidon further called the country *Atlantis* and the surrounding sea the *Atlantic* in honor of Atlas. Before the birth of his ten sons, Poseidon divided the continent and the coastwise sea into concentric zones of land and water, which were as perfect as though turned upon a lathe. Two zones of land and three of water surrounded the central island, which Poseidon caused to be irrigated with two springs of water--one warm and the other cold.

The descendants of Atlas continued as rulers of Atlantis, and with wise government and industry elevated the country to a position of surpassing dignity. The natural resources of Atlantis were apparently limitless. Precious metals were mined, wild animals domesticated, and perfumes distilled from its fragrant flowers. While enjoying the abundance natural to their semitropic location, the Atlanteans employed themselves also in the erection of palaces, temples, and docks. They bridged the zones of sea and later dug a deep canal to connect the outer ocean with the central island, where stood the palaces And temple of Poseidon, which excelled all other structures in magnificence. A network of bridges and canals was created by the Atlanteans to unite the various parts of their kingdom.

Plato then describes the white, black, and red stones which they quarried from beneath their continent and used in the construction of public buildings and docks. They circumscribed each of the land zones with a wall, the outer wall being covered with brass, the middle with tin, and the inner, which encompassed the citadel, with orichalch. The citadel, on the central island, contained the pal aces, temples, and other public buildings. In its center, surrounded by a wall of gold, was a sanctuary dedicated to Cleito and Poseidon. Here the first ten princes of the island were born and here each year their descendants brought offerings. Poseidon's own temple, its exterior entirely covered with silver and its pinnacles with gold, also stood within the citadel. The interior of the temple was of ivory, gold, silver, and orichalch, even to the pillars and floor. The temple contained a colossal statue of Poseidon standing in a chariot drawn by six winged horses, about him a hundred Nereids riding on dolphins. Arranged outside the building were golden statues of the first ten kings and their wives.

In the groves and gardens were hot and cold springs. There were numerous temples to various deities, places of exercise for men and for beasts, public baths, and a great race course for horses. At various vantage points on the zones were fortifications, and to the great harbor came vessels from every maritime nation. The zones were so thickly populated that the sound of human voices was ever in the air.

That part of Atlantis facing the sea was described as lofty and precipitous, but about the central city was a plain sheltered by mountains renowned for their size, number, and beauty. The plain yielded two crops each year,, in the winter being watered by rains and in the summer by immense irrigation canals, which were also used for transportation. The plain was divided into sections, and in time of war each section supplied its quota of fighting men and chariots.

The ten governments differed from each other in details concerning military requirements. Each of the kings of Atlantis had complete control over his own kingdom, but their mutual relationships were governed by a code engraved by the first ten kings on a column' of orichalch standing in the temple of Poseidon. At alternate intervals of five and six years a pilgrimage was made to this temple that equal honor might be conferred upon both the odd and the even numbers. Here, with appropriate sacrifice, each king renewed his oath of loyalty upon the sacred inscription. Here also the kings donned azure robes and sat in judgment. At daybreak they wrote their sentences upon a golden tablet: and deposited them with their robes as memorials. The chief laws of the Atlantean kings were that they should not take up arms against each other and that they should come to the assistance of any of their number who was attacked. In matters of war and great moment the final decision was in the hands of the direct descendants of the family of Atlas. No king had the power of life and death over his kinsmen without the assent of a majority of the ten.

*THE SCHEME OF THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING TO THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.*

*From Cartari's Imagini degli Dei degli Antichi.*

*By ascending successively through the fiery sphere of Hades, the spheres of water, Earth, and air, and the heavens of the moon, the plane of Mercury is reached. Above Mercury are the planes of Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, the latter containing the symbols of the Zodiacal constellations. Above the arch of the heavens (Saturn) is the dwelling Place of the different powers controlling the universe. The supreme council of the gods is composed of twelve deities--six male and six female--which correspond to the positive and negative signs of the zodiac. The six gods are Jupiter, Vulcan, Apollo, Mars, Neptune, and Mercury; the six goddesses are Juno, Ceres, Vesta, Minerva, Venus, and Diana. Jupiter rides his eagle as the symbol of his sovereignty over the world, and Juno is seated upon a peacock, the proper symbol of her haughtiness and glory.*

Plato concludes his description by declaring that it was this great empire which attacked the Hellenic states. This did not occur, however, until their power and glory had lured the Atlantean kings from the pathway of wisdom and virtue. Filled with false ambition, the rulers of Atlantis determined to conquer the entire world. Zeus, perceiving the wickedness of the Atlanteans, gathered the gods into his holy habitation and addressed them. Here Plato's narrative comes to an abrupt end, for the *Critias* was never finished. In the *Timæus* is a further description of Atlantis, supposedly given to Solon by an Egyptian priest and which concludes as follows:

"But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of rain all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared, and was sunk beneath the sea. And that is the reason why the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is such a quantity of shallow mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island."

In the introduction to his translation of the *Timæus*, Thomas Taylor quotes from a *History of Ethiopia* written by Marcellus, which contains the following reference to Atlantis: "For they relate that in their time there were seven islands in the Atlantic sea, sacred to Proserpine; and besides these, three others of an immense magnitude; one of which was sacred to Pluto, another to Ammon, and another, which is the middle of these, and is of a thousand stadia, to Neptune." Crantor, commenting upon Plato, asserted that the Egyptian priests declared the story of Atlantis to be written upon pillars which were still preserved circa 300 B.C. (See *Beginnings or Glimpses of Vanished Civilizations*.) Ignatius Donnelly, who gave the subject of Atlantis profound study, believed that horses were first domesticated by the Atlanteans, for which reason they have always been considered peculiarly sacred to Poseidon. (See *Atlantis*.)

From a careful consideration of Plato's description of Atlantis it is evident that the story should not be regarded as wholly historical but rather as both allegorical and historical. Origen, Porphyry, Proclus, Iamblichus, and Syrianus realized that the story concealed a profound philosophical mystery, but they disagreed as to the actual interpretation. Plato's Atlantis symbolizes the threefold nature of both the universe and the human body. The ten kings of Atlantis are the *tetractys*, or numbers, which are born as five pairs of opposites. (Consult Theon of Smyrna for the Pythagorean doctrine of opposites.) The numbers 1 to 10 rule every creature, and the numbers, in turn, are under the control of the Monad, or 1--the Eldest among them.

With the trident scepter of Poseidon these kings held sway over the inhabitants of the seven small and three great islands comprising Atlantis. Philosophically, the ten islands symbolize the triune powers of the Superior Deity and the seven regents who bow before His eternal throne. If Atlantis be considered as the archetypal sphere, then its immersion signifies the descent of rational, organized consciousness into the illusionary, impermanent realm of irrational, mortal ignorance. Both the sinking of Atlantis and the Biblical story of the "fall of man" signify spiritual involution--a prerequisite to conscious evolution.

Either the initiated Plato used the Atlantis allegory to achieve two widely different ends or else the accounts preserved by the Egyptian priests were tampered with to perpetuate the secret doctrine. This does not mean to imply that Atlantis is purely mythological, but it overcomes the most serious obstacle to acceptance of the Atlantis theory, namely, the fantastic accounts of its origin, size, appearance, and date of destruction--9600 B.C. In the midst of the central island of Atlantis was a lofty mountain which cast a shadow five thousand stadia in extent and whose summit touched the sphere of *æther*. This is the axle mountain of the world, sacred among many races and symbolic of the human head, which rises out of the four elements of the body. This sacred mountain, upon whose summit stood the temple of the gods, gave rise to the stories of Olympus, Meru, and Asgard. The City of the Golden Gates--the capital of Atlantis--is the one now preserved among numerous religions as the *City of the Gods* or the *Holy City*. Here is the archetype of the New Jerusalem, with its streets paved with gold and its twelve gates shining with precious stones.

"The history of Atlantis," writes Ignatius Donnelly, "is the key of the Greek mythology. There can be no question that these gods of Greece were human beings. The tendency to attach divine attributes to great earthly rulers is one deeply implanted in human nature." (See *Atlantis*.)

The same author sustains his views by noting that the deities of the Greek pantheon were nor looked upon as creators of the universe but rather as regents set over it by its more ancient original fabricators. The Garden of Eden from which humanity was driven by a flaming sword is perhaps an allusion to the earthly paradise supposedly located west of the Pillars of Hercules and destroyed by volcanic cataclysms. The Deluge legend may be traced also to the Atlantean inundation, during which a "world" was destroyed by water.,

Was the religious, philosophic, and scientific knowledge possessed by the priestcrafts of antiquity secured from Atlantis, whose submergence obliterated every vestige of its part in the drama of world progress? Atlantean sun worship has been perpetuated in the ritualism and ceremonialism of both Christianity and pagandom. Both the cross and the serpent were Atlantean emblems of divine wisdom. The divine (Atlantean) progenitors of the Mayas and Quichés of Central America coexisted within the green and azure radiance of Gucumatz, the "plumed" serpent. The six sky-born sages came into manifestation as centers of light bound together or synthesized by the seventh--and chief--of their order, the "feathered" snake. (See the *Popol Vuh*.) The title of "winged" or "plumed" snake was applied to Quetzalcoatl, or Kukulcan, the Central American initiate. The center of the Atlantean Wisdom-Religion was presumably a great pyramidal temple standing on the brow of a plateau rising in the midst of the City of the Golden Gates. From here the Initiate-Priests of the Sacred Feather went forth, carrying the keys of Universal Wisdom to the uttermost parts of the earth.

The mythologies of many nations contain accounts of gods who "came out of the sea." Certain *shamans* among the American Indians tell of holy men dressed in birds' feathers and wampum who rose out of the blue waters and instructed them in the arts and crafts. Among the legends of the Chaldeans is that of Oannes, a partly amphibious creature who came out of the sea and taught the savage peoples along the shore to read and write, till the soil, cultivate herbs for healing, study the stars, establish rational forms of government, and become conversant with the sacred Mysteries. Among the Mayas, Quetzalcoatl, the Savior-God (whom some Christian scholars believe to have been St. Thomas), issued from the waters and, after instructing the people in the essentials of civilization, rode out to sea on a magic raft of serpents to escape the wrath of the fierce god of the Fiery Mirror, Tezcatlipoca.

May it not have been that these demigods of a fabulous age who, Esdras-like, came out of the sea were Atlantean priests? All that primitive man remembered of the Atlanteans was the glory of their golden ornaments, the transcendency of their wisdom, and the sanctity of their symbols--the cross and the serpent. That they came in ships was soon forgotten, for untutored minds considered even boats as supernatural. Wherever the Atlanteans proselyted they erected pyramids and temples patterned after the great sanctuary in the City of the Golden Gates. Such is the origin of the pyramids of Egypt, Mexico, and Central America. The mounds in Normandy and Britain, as well as those of the American Indians, are remnants of a similar culture. In the midst of the Atlantean program of world colonization and conversion, the cataclysms which sank Atlantis began. The Initiate-Priests of the Sacred Feather who promised to come back to their missionary settlements never returned; and after the lapse of centuries tradition preserved only a fantastic account of gods who came from a place where the sea now is.

H. P. Blavatsky thus sums up the causes which precipitated the Atlantean disaster: "Under the evil insinuations of their demon, Thevetat, the Atlantis-race became a nation of wicked *magicians*. In consequence of this, war was declared, the story of which would be too long to narrate; its substance may be found in the disfigured allegories of the race of Cain, the giants, and that of Noah and his righteous family. The conflict came to an end by the submersion of the Atlantis; which finds its imitation in the stories of the Babylonian and Mosaic flood: The giants and magicians '***and all flesh died*** and every man.' All except Xisuthrus and Noah, who are substantially identical with the great Father of the Thlinkithians in the *Popol Vuh*, or the sacred book of the Guatemaleans, which also tells of his escaping in a large boat, like the Hindu Noah--Vaiswasvata. " (See *Isis Unveiled*.)

From the Atlanteans the world has received not only the heritage of arts and crafts, philosophies and sciences, ethics and religions, but also the heritage of hate, strife, and perversion. The Atlanteans instigated the first war; and it has been said that all subsequent wars were fought in a fruitless effort to justify the first one and right the wrong which it caused. Before Atlantis sank, its spiritually illumined Initiates, who realized that their land was doomed because it had departed from the Path of Light, withdrew from the ill-fated continent. Carrying with them the sacred and secret doctrine, these Atlanteans established themselves in Egypt, where they became its first "divine" rulers. Nearly all the great cosmologic myths forming the foundation of the various sacred books of the world are based upon the Atlantean Mystery rituals.

**THE MYTH OF THE DYING GOD**

The myth of *Tammuz* and *Ishtar* is one of the earliest examples of the dying-god allegory, probably antedating 4000 B. C. (See *Babylonia and Assyria* by Lewis Spence.) The imperfect condition of the tablets upon which the legends are inscribed makes it impossible to secure more than a fragmentary account of the Tammuz rites. Being the esoteric god of the sun, Tammuz did not occupy a position among the first deities venerated by the Babylonians, who for lack of deeper knowledge looked upon him as a god of agriculture or a vegetation spirit. Originally he was described as being one of the guardians of the gates of the underworld. Like many other Savior-Gods, he is referred to as a "shepherd" or "the lord of the shepherd seat." Tammuz occupies the remarkable position of son and husband of Ishtar, the Babylonian and Assyrian Mother-goddess. Ishtar--to whom the planer Venus was sacred--was the most widely venerated deity of the Babylonian and Assyrian pantheon. She was probably identical with Ashterorh, Astarte, and Aphrodite. The story of her descent into the underworld in search presumably for the sacred elixir which alone could restore Tammuz to life is the key to the ritual of her Mysteries. Tammuz, whose annual festival took place just before the summer solstice, died in midsummer in the ancient month which bore his name, and was mourned with elaborate ceremonies. The manner of his death is unknown, but some of the accusations made against Ishtar by Izdubar (Nimrod) would indicate that she, indirectly at least, had contributed to his demise. The resurrection of Tammuz was the occasion of great rejoicing, at which time he was hailed as a "redeemer" of his people.

With outspread wings, Ishtar, the daughter of Sin (the Moon), sweeps downward to the gates of death. The house of darkness--the dwelling of the god Irkalla--is described as "the place of no return." It is without light; the nourishment of those who dwell therein is dust and their food is mud. Over the bolts on the door of the house of Irkalla is scattered dust, and the keepers of the house are covered with feathers like birds. Ishtar demands that the keepers open the gates, declaring that if they do not she will shatter the doorposts and strike the hinges and raise up dead devourers of the living. The guardians of the gates beg her to be patient while they go to the queen of Hades from whom they secure permission to admit Ishtar, but only in the same manner as all others came to this dreary house. Ishtar thereupon descends through the seven gates which lead downward into the depths of the underworld. At the first gate the great crown is removed from her head, at the second gate the earrings from her ears, at the third gate the necklace from her neck, at the fourth gate the ornaments from her breast, at the fifth gate the girdle from her waist, at the sixth gate the bracelets from her hands and feet, and at the seventh gate the covering cloak of her body. Ishtar remonstrates as each successive article of apparel is taken from her, bur the guardian tells her that this is the experience of all who enter the somber domain of death. Enraged upon beholding Ishtar, the Mistress of Hades inflicts upon her all manner of disease and imprisons her in the underworld.

As Ishtar represents the spirit of fertility, her loss prevents the ripening of the crops and the maturing of all life upon the earth.

In this respect the story parallels the legend of Persephone. The gods, realizing that the loss of Ishtar is disorganizing all Nature, send a messenger to the underworld and demand her release. The Mistress of Hades is forced to comply, and the water of life is poured over Ishtar. Thus cured of the infirmities inflicted on her, she retraces her way upward through the seven gates, at each of which she is reinvested with the article of apparel which the guardians had removed. (See *The Chaldean Account of Genesis*.) No record exists that Ishtar secured the water of life which would have wrought the resurrection of Tammuz.

The myth of Ishtar symbolizes the descent of the human spirit through the seven worlds, or spheres of the sacred planets, until finally, deprived of its spiritual adornments, it incarnates in the physical body--Hades--where the mistress of that body heaps every form of sorrow and misery upon the imprisoned consciousness. The waters of life--the secret doctrine--cure the diseases of ignorance; and the spirit, ascending again to its divine source, regains its God-given adornments as it passes upward through the rings of the planets.

Another Mystery ritual among the Babylonians and Assyrians was that of Merodach and the Dragon. Merodach, the creator of the inferior universe, slays a horrible monster and out of her body forms the universe. Here is the probable source of the so-called Christian allegory of St. George and the Dragon.

The Mysteries of *Adonis*, or *Adoni*, were celebrated annually in many parts of Egypt, Phœnicia, and Biblos. The name *Adonis*, or *Adoni*, means "Lord" and was a designation applied to the sun and later borrowed by the Jews as the exoteric name of their God. Smyrna, mother of Adonis, was turned into a tree by the gods and after a time the bark burst open and the infant Savior issued forth. According to one account, he was liberated by a wild boar which split the wood of the maternal tree with its tusks. Adonis was born at midnight of the 24th of December, and through his unhappy death a Mystery rite was established that wrought the salvation of his people. In the Jewish month of Tammuz (another name for this deity) he was gored to death by a wild boar sent by the god Ars (Mars). The *Adoniasmos* was the ceremony of lamenting the premature death of the murdered god.

In Ezekiel viii. 14, it is written that women were weeping for Tammuz (Adonis) at the north gate of the Lord's House in Jerusalem. Sir James George Frazer cites Jerome thus: "He tells us that Bethlehem, the traditionary birthplace of the Lord, was shaded by a grove of that still older Syrian Lord, Adonis, and that where the infant Jesus had wept, the lover of Venus was bewailed." (See *The Golden Bough*.) The effigy of a wild boar is said to have been set over one of the gates of Jerusalem in honor of Adonis, and his rites celebrated in the grotto of the Nativity at Bethlehem. Adonis as the "gored" (or "god") man is one of the keys to Sir Francis Bacon's use of the "wild boar" in his cryptic symbolism.

Adonis was originally an androgynous deity who represented the solar power which in the winter was destroyed by the evil principle of cold--the boar. After three days (months) in the tomb, Adonis rose triumphant on the 25th day of March, amidst the acclamation of his priests and followers, "He is risen!" Adonis was born out of a myrrh tree. Myrrh, the symbol of death because of its connection with the process of embalming, was one of the gifts brought by the three Magi to the manger of Jesus.

In the Mysteries of Adonis the neophyte passed through the symbolic death of the god and, "raised" by the priests, entered into the blessed state of redemption made possible by the sufferings of Adonis. Nearly all authors believe Adonis to have been originally a vegetation god directly connected with the growth and maturing of flowers and fruits. In support of this viewpoint they describe the "gardens of Adonis, " which were small baskets of earth in which seeds were planted and nurtured for a period of eight days. When those plants prematurely died for lack of sufficient earth, they were considered emblematic of the murdered Adonis and were usually cast into the sea with images of the god.

In Phrygia there existed a remarkable school of religious philosophy which centered around the life and untimely fate of another Savior-God known as *Atys*, or *Attis*, by many considered synonymous with Adonis. This deity was born at midnight on the 24th day of December. Of his death there are two accounts. In one he was gored to death like Adonis; in the other he emasculated himself under a pine tree and there died. His body was taken to a cave by the Great Mother (Cybele), where it remained through the ages without decaying. To the rites of Atys the modern world is indebted for the symbolism of the Christmas tree. Atys imparted his immortality to the tree beneath which he died, and Cybele took the tree with her when she removed the body. Atys remained three days in the tomb, rose upon a date corresponding with Easter morn, and by this resurrection overcame death for all who were initiated into his Mysteries.

"In the Mysteries of the Phrygians, "says Julius Firmicus, "which are called those of the MOTHER OF THE GODS, every year a PINE TREE is cut down and in the inside of the tree the image of a YOUTH is tied in! In the Mysteries of Isis the trunk of a PINE TREE is cut: the middle of the trunk is nicely hollowed out; the idol of Osiris made from those hollowed pieces is BURIED. In the Mysteries of Proserpine a tree cut is put together into the effigy and form of the VIRGIN, and when it has been carried within the city it is MOURNED 40 nights, but the fortieth night it is BURNED!" (See Sod, *the Mysteries of Adoni*.)

*THE GREAT GOD PAN.*

*From Kircher's Œdipus Ægyptiacus.*

*The great Pan was celebrated as the author and director of the sacred dances which he is supposed to have instituted to symbolize the circumambulations of the heavenly bodies. Pan was a composite creature, the upper part--with the exception of his horns--being human, and the lower part in the form of a goat. Pan is the prototype of natural energy and, while undoubtedly a phallic deity, should nor be confused with Priapus. The pipes of Pan signify the natural harmony of the spheres, and the god himself is a symbol of Saturn because this planet is enthroned in Capricorn, whose emblem is a goat. The Egyptians were initiated into the Mysteries of Pan, who was regarded as a phase of Jupiter, the Demiurgus. Pan represented the impregnating power of the sun and was the chief of a horde rustic deities, and satyrs. He also signified the controlling spirit of the lower worlds. The fabricated a story to the effect that at the time of the birth of Christ the oracles were silenced after giving utterance to one last cry, "Great Pan is dead!"*

The Mysteries of Atys included a sacramental meal during which the neophyte ate out of a drum and drank from a cymbal. After being baptized by the blood of a bull, the new initiate was fed entirely on milk to symbolize that he was still a philosophical infant, having but recently been born out of the sphere of materiality. (See Frazer's *The Golden Bough*.) Is there a possible connection between this lacteal diet prescribed by the Attic rite and St. Paul's allusion to the food for spiritual babes? Sallust gives a key to the esoteric interpretation of the Attic rituals. Cybele, the Great Mother, signifies the vivifying powers of the universe, and Atys that aspect of the spiritual intellect which is suspended between the divine and animal spheres. The Mother of the gods, loving Atys, gave him a starry hat, signifying celestial powers, but Atys (mankind), falling in love with a nymph (symbolic of the lower animal propensities), forfeited his divinity and lost his creative powers. It is thus evident that Atys represents the human consciousness and that his Mysteries are concerned with the reattainment of the starry hat. (See *Sallust on the Gods and the World*.)

The rites of *Sabazius* were very similar to those of Bacchus and it is generally believed that the two deities are identical. Bacchus was born at Sabazius, or Sabaoth, and these names are frequently assigned to him. The Sabazian Mysteries were performed at night, and the ritual included the drawing of a live snake across the breast of the candidate. Clement of Alexandria writes: "The token of the Sabazian Mysteries to the initiated is 'the deity gliding over the breast.'" A golden serpent was the symbol of Sabazius because this deity represented the annual renovation of the world by the solar power. The Jews borrowed the name Sabaoth from these Mysteries and adopted it as one of the appellations of their supreme God. During the time the Sabazian Mysteries were celebrated in Rome, the cult gained many votaries and later influenced the symbolism of Christianity.

The Cabiric Mysteries of Samothrace were renowned among the ancients, being next to the Eleusinian in public esteem. Herodotus declares that the Samothracians received their doctrines, especially those concerning Mercury, from the Pelasgians. Little is known concerning the Cabiric rituals, for they were enshrouded in the profoundest secrecy. Some regard the Cabiri as seven in number and refer to them as "the Seven Spirits of fire before the throne of Saturn." Others believe the Cabiri to be the seven sacred wanderers, later called the planets.

While a vast number of deities are associated with the Samothracian Mysteries, the ritualistic drama centers around four brothers. The first three--Aschieros, Achiochersus, and Achiochersa--attack and murder the fourth--Cashmala (or Cadmillus). Dionysidorus, however, identifies Aschieros with Demeter, Achiochersus with Pluto, Achiochersa with Persephone, and Cashmala with Hermes. Alexander Wilder notes that in the Samothracian ritual "Cadmillus is made to include the Theban Serpent-god, Cadmus, the Thoth of Egypt, the Hermes of the Greeks, and the Emeph or Æsculapius of the Alexandrians and Phœnicians. " Here again is a repetition of the story of Osiris, Bacchus, Adonis, Balder, and Hiram Abiff. The worship of Atys and Cybele was also involved in the Samothracian Mysteries. In the rituals of the Cabiri is to be traced a form of pine-tree worship, for this tree, sacred to Atys, was first trimmed into the form of a cross and then cut down in honor of the murdered god whose body was discovered at its foot.

"If you wish to inspect the orgies of the Corybantes, " writes Clement, "Then know that, having killed their third brother, they covered the head of the dead body with a purple cloth, crowned it, and carrying it on the point of a spear, buried it under the roots of Olympus. These mysteries are, in short, murders and funerals. This ante-Nicene Father in his efforts to defame the pagan rites apparently ignores the fact that, like the Cabirian martyr, Jesus Christ was foully betrayed, tortured, and finally murdered! And the priests Of these rites, who are called kings of the sacred rites by those whose business it is to name them, give additional strangeness to the tragic occurrence, by forbidding parsley with the roots from being placed on the table, for they think that parsley grew from the Corybantic blood that flowed forth; just as the women, in celebrating the Thcsmophoria, abstain from eating the seeds of the pomegranate, which have fallen on the ground, from the idea that pomegranates sprang from the drops of the blood of Dionysus. Those Corybantes also they call Cabiric; and the ceremony itself they announce as the Cabiric mystery."

The Mysteries of the Cabiri were divided into three degrees, the first of which celebrated the death of Cashmala, at the hands of his three brothers; the second, the discovery of his mutilated body, the parts of which had been found and gathered after much labor; and the third--accompanied by great rejoicing and happiness--his resurrection and the consequent salvation of the world. The temple of the Cabiri at Samothrace contained a number of curious divinities, many of them misshapen creatures representing the elemental powers of Nature, possibly the Bacchic Titans. Children were initiated into the Cabirian cult with the same dignity as adults, and criminals who reached the sanctuary were safe from pursuit. The Samothracian rites were particularly concerned with navigation, the Dioscuri--Castor and Pollux, or the gods of navigation--being among those propitiated by members of that cult. The Argonautic expedition, listening to the advice of Orpheus, stopped at the island of Samothrace for the purpose of having its members initiated into the Cabiric rites.

Herodotus relates that when Cambyses entered the temple of the Cabiri he was unable to restrain his mirth at seeing before him the figure of a man standing upright and, facing the man, the figure of a woman standing on her head. Had Cambyses been acquainted with the principles of divine astronomy, he would have realized that he was then in the presence of the key to universal equilibrium. "'I ask,' says Voltaire, 'who were these Hierophants, these sacred Freemasons, who celebrated their Ancient Mysteries of Samothracia, and whence came they and their gods Cabiri?'" (See Mackey's *Encyclopædia of Freemasonry*.) Clement speaks of the Mysteries of the Cabiri as "the sacred Mystery of a brother slain by his brethren," and the "Cabiric death" was one of the secret symbols of antiquity. Thus the allegory of the Self murdered by the not-self is perpetuated through the religious mysticism of all peoples. The *philosophic death* and the *philosophic resurrection* are the Lesser and the Greater Mysteries respectively.

A curious aspect of the *dying-god* myth is that of the Hanged Man. The most important example of this peculiar conception is found in the Odinic rituals where Odin hangs himself for nine nights from the branches of the World Tree and upon the same occasion also pierces his own side with the sacred spear. As the result of this great sacrifice, Odin, while suspended over the depths of Nifl-heim, discovered by meditation the runes or alphabets by which later the records of his people were preserved. Because of this remarkable experience, Odin is sometimes shown seated on a gallows tree and he became the patron deity of all who died by the noose. Esoterically, the Hanged Man is the human spirit which is suspended from heaven by a single thread. Wisdom, not death, is the reward for this voluntary sacrifice during which the human soul, suspended above the world of illusion, and meditating upon its unreality, is rewarded by the achievement of self-realization.

From a consideration of all these ancient and secret rituals it becomes evident that the mystery of the *dying god* was universal among the illumined and venerated colleges of the sacred teaching. This mystery has been perpetuated in Christianity in the crucifixion and death of the God-man-Jesus the Christ. The secret import of this world tragedy and the Universal Martyr must be rediscovered if Christianity is to reach the heights attained by the pagans in the days of their philosophic supremacy. The myth of the dying god is the key to both universal and individual redemption and regeneration, and those who do not comprehend the true nature of this supreme allegory are not privileged to consider themselves either wise or truly religious.

## The Life and Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus

*THUNDER rolled, lightning flashed, the veil of the Temple was rent from top to bottom. The venerable initiator, in his robes of blue and gold, slowly raised his jeweled wand and pointed with it into the darkness revealed by the tearing of the silken curtain: "Behold the Light of Egypt! " The candidate, in his plain white robe, gazed into the utter blackness framed by the two great Lotus-headed columns between which the veil had hung. As he watched, a luminous haze distributed itself throughout the atmosphere until the air was a mass of shining particles. The face of the neophyte was illumined by the soft glow as he scanned the shimmering cloud for some tangible object. The initiator spoke again: "This Light which ye behold is the secret luminance of the Mysteries. Whence it comes none knoweth, save the 'Master of the Light.' Behold Him!" Suddenly, through the gleaming mist a figure appeared, surrounded by a flickering greenish sheen. The initiator lowered his wand and, bowing his head, placed one hand edgewise against his breast in humble salutation. The neophyte stepped back in awe, partly blinded by the glory of the revealed figure. Gaining courage, the youth gazed again at the Divine One. The Form before him was considerably larger than that of a mortal man. The body seemed partly transparent so that the heart and brain could be seen pulsating and radiant. As the candidate watched, the heart changed into an ibis, and the brain into a flashing emerald. In Its hand this mysterious Being bore a winged rod, entwined with serpents. The aged initiator, raising his wand, cried out in a loud voice: "All hail Thee, Thoth Hermes, Thrice Greatest; all hail Thee, Prince of Men; all hail Thee who standeth upon the head of Typhon!" At the same instant a lurid writhing dragon appeared--a hideous monster, part serpent, part crocodile, and part hog. From its mouth and nostrils poured sheets of flame and horrible sounds echoed through the vaulted chambers. Suddenly Hermes struck the advancing reptile with the serpent-wound staff and with snarling cry the dragon fell over upon its side, while the flames about it slowly died away. Hermes placed His foot upon the skull of the vanquished Typhon. The next instant, with a blaze of unbearable glory that sent the neophyte staggering backward against a pillar, the immortal Hermes, followed by streamers of greenish mist, passed through the chamber and faded into nothingness*.

**SUPPOSITIONS CONCERNING THE IDENTITY OF HERMES**

Iamblichus averred that Hermes was the author of twenty thousand books; Manetho increased the number to more than thirty-six thousand (see James Gardner)--figures which make it evident that a solitary individual, even though he be overshadowed by divine prerogative, could scarcely have accomplished such a monumental labor. Among the arts and sciences which it is affirmed Hermes revealed to mankind were medicine, chemistry, law, arc, astrology, music, rhetoric, Magic, philosophy, geography, mathematics (especially geometry), anatomy, and oratory. Orpheus was similarly acclaimed by the Greeks.

In his *Biographia Antiqua*, Francis Barrett says of Hermes: "** * if God ever appeared in man, he appeared in him, as is evident both from his books and his Pymander; in which works he has communicated the sum of the Abyss, and the divine knowledge to all posterity; by which he has demonstrated himself to have been not only an inspired divine, but also a deep philosopher, obtaining his wisdom from God and heavenly things, and not from man."

His transcendent learning caused Hermes to be identified with many of the early sages and prophets. In his Ancient Mythology, Bryant writes: "I have mentioned that Cadmus was the same as the Egyptian Thoth; and it is manifest from his being Hermes, and from the invention of letters being attributed to him. " (In the chapter on the theory of *Pythagorean Mathematics* will be found the table of the original Cadmean letters.) Investigators believe that it was Hermes who was known to the Jews as "Enoch," called by Kenealy the "Second Messenger of God." Hermes was accepted into the mythology of the Greeks, later becoming the Mercury of the Latins. He was revered through the form of the planet Mercury because this body is nearest to the sun: Hermes of all creatures was nearest to God, and became known as the Messenger of the Gods.

In the Egyptian drawings of him, Thoth carries a waxen writing tablet and serves as the recorder during the weighing of the souls of the dead in the judgment Hall of Osiris--a ritual of great significance. Hermes is of first importance to Masonic scholars, because he was the author of the Masonic initiatory rituals, which were borrowed from the Mysteries established by Hermes. Nearly all of the Masonic symbols are Hermetic in character. Pythagoras studied mathematics with the Egyptians and from them gained his knowledge of the symbolic geometric solids. Hermes is also revered for his reformation of the calendar system. He increased the year from 360 to 365 days, thus establishing a precedent which still prevails. The appellation "Thrice Greatest" was given to Hermes because he was considered the greatest of all philosophers, the greatest of all priests, and the greatest of all kings. It is worthy of note that the last poem of America's beloved poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was a lyric ode to Hermes. (See *Chambers' Encyclopædia*.)

**THE MUTILATED HERMETIC FRAGMENTS**

On the subject of the Hermetic books, James Campbell Brown, in his *History of Chemistry*, has written: "Leaving the Chaldean and earliest Egyptian periods, of which we have remains but no record, and from which no names of either chemists or philosophers have come down to us, we now approach the Historic Period, when books were written, not at first upon parchment or paper, but upon papyrus. A series of early Egyptian books is attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, who may have been a real *savant*, or may be a personification of a long succession of writers. ** * He is identified by some with the Greek god Hermes, and the Egyptian Thoth or Tuti, who was the moon-god, and is represented in ancient paintings as ibis-headed with the disc and crescent of the moon. The Egyptians regarded him as the god of wisdom, letters, and the recording of time. It is in consequence of the great respect entertained for Hermes by the old alchemists that chemical writings were called 'hermetic,' and that the phrase 'hermetically sealed' is still in use to designate the closing of a glass vessel by fusion, after the manner of chemical manipulators. We find the same root in the hermetic medicines of Paracelsus, and the hermetic freemasonry of the Middle Ages."

Among the fragmentary writings believed to have come from the stylus of Hermes are two famous works. The first is the *Emerald Table*, and the second is the *Divine Pymander*, or, as it is more commonly called, *The Shepherd of Men*, a discussion of which follows. One outstanding point in connection with Hermes is that he was one of the few philosopher-priests of pagandom upon whom the early Christians did not vent their spleen. Some Church Fathers went so far as to declare that Hermes exhibited many symptoms of intelligence, and that if he had only been born in a more enlightened age so that he might have benefited by *their* instructions he would have been a really great man!

*HERMES MERCURIUS TRISMEGISTUS.*

*From Historia Deorum Fatidicorum.*

*Master of all arts and sciences. perfect in all crafts, Ruler of the Three Worlds, Scribe of the Gods, and Keeper of the Books of Life, Thoth Hermes Trismegistus--the Three Times Greatest, the "First Intelligencer"--was regarded by the ancient Egyptians as the embodiment of the Universal Mind. While in all probability there actually existed a great sage and educator by the name of Hermes, it is impossible to extricate the historical man from the mass of legendary accounts which attempt to identify him with the Cosmic Principle of Thought.*

In his *Stromata*, Clement of Alexandria, one of the few chroniclers of pagan lore whose writings have been preserved to this age, gives practically all the information that is known concerning the original forty-two books of Hermes and the importance with which these books were regarded by both the temporal and spiritual powers of Egypt. Clement describes one of their ceremonial processions as follows:

"For the Egyptians pursue a philosophy of their own. This is principally shown by their sacred ceremonial. For first advances the Singer, bearing some one of the symbols of music. For they say that he must learn two of the books of Hermes, the one of which contains the hymns of the gods, the second the regulations for the king's life. And after the Singer advances the Astrologer, with a horologe in his hand, and a palm, the symbols of astrology. He must have the astrological books of Hermes, which are four in number, always in his mouth. Of these, one is about the order of the fixed stars that are visible, and another about the conjunctions and luminous appearances of the sun and moon; and the rest respecting their risings. Next in order advances the sacred Scribe, with wings on his head, and in his hand a book and rule, in which were writing ink and the reed, with which they write. And he must be acquainted with what are called hieroglyphics, and know about cosmography and geography, the position of the sun and moon, and about the five planets; also the description of Egypt, and the chart of the Nile; and the description of the equipment of the priests and of the place consecrated to them, and about the measures and the things in use in the sacred rites. Then the Stole-keeper follows those previously mentioned, with the cubit of justice and the cup for libations. He is acquainted with all points called Pædeutic (relating to training) and Moschophaltic (sacrificial). There are also ten books which relate to the honour paid by them to their gods, and containing the Egyptian worship; as that relating to sacrifices, first-fruits, hymns, prayers, processions, festivals, and the like. And behind all walks the Prophet, with the water-vase carried openly in his arms; who is followed by those who carry the issue of loaves. He, as being the governor of the temple, learns the ten books called 'Hieratic'; and they contain all about the laws, and the gods, and the whole of the training of the priests. For the Prophet is, among the Egyptians, also over the distribution of the revenues. There are then forty-two books of Hermes indispensably necessary; of which the six-and-thirty containing the whole philosophy of the Egyptians are learned by the forementioned personages; and the other six, which are medical, by the Pastophoroi (image-bearers),--treating of the structure of the body, and of disease, and instruments, and medicines, and about the eyes, and the last about women.

One of the greatest tragedies of the philosophic world was the loss of nearly all of the forty-two books of Hermes mentioned in the foregoing. These books disappeared during the burning of Alexandria, for the Romans--and later the Christians--realized that until these books were eliminated they could never bring the Egyptians into subjection. The volumes which escaped the fire were buried in the desert and their location is now known to only a few initiates of the secret schools.

**THE BOOK OF THOTH**

While Hermes still walked the earth with men, he entrusted to his chosen successors the sacred *Book of Thoth*. This work contained the secret processes by which the regeneration of humanity was to be accomplished and also served as the key to his other writings. Nothing definite is known concerning the contents of the *Book of Thoth* other than that its pages were covered with strange hieroglyphic figures and symbols, which gave to those acquainted with their use unlimited power over the spirits of the air and the subterranean divinities. When certain areas of the brain are stimulated by the secret processes of the Mysteries, the consciousness of man is extended and he is permitted to behold the Immortals and enter into the presence of the superior gods. The *Book of Thoth* described the method whereby this stimulation was accomplished. In truth, therefore, it was the "Key to Immortality."

According to legend, the *Book of Thoth* was kept in a golden box in the inner sanctuary of the temple. There was but one key and this was in the possession of the "Master of the Mysteries," the highest initiate of the Hermetic Arcanum. He alone knew what was written in the secret book. The *Book of Thoth* was lost to the ancient world with the decay of the Mysteries, but its faithful initiates carried it sealed in the sacred casket into another land. The book is still in existence and continues to lead the disciples of this age into the presence of the Immortals. No other information can be given to the world concerning it now, but the apostolic succession from the first hierophant initiated by Hermes himself remains unbroken to this day, and those who are peculiarly fitted to serve the Immortals may discover this priceless document if they will search sincerely and tirelessly for it.

It has been asserted that the *Book of Thoth* is, in reality, the mysterious *Tarot* of the Bohemians--a strange emblematic book of seventy-eight leaves which has been in possession of the gypsies since the time when they were driven from their ancient temple, the Serapeum. (According to the Secret Histories the gypsies were originally Egyptian priests.) There are now in the world several secret schools privileged to initiate candidates into the Mysteries, but in nearly every instance they lighted their altar fires from the flaming torch of *Herm*. Hermes in his *Book of Thoth* revealed to all mankind the "One Way," and for ages the wise of every nation and every faith have reached immortality by the "Way" established by Hermes in the midst of the darkness for the redemption of humankind.

**POIMANDRES, THE VISION OF HERMES**

The *Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus* is one of the earliest of the Hermetic writings now extant. While probably not in its original form, having been remodeled during the first centuries of the Christian Era and incorrectly translated since, this work undoubtedly contains many of the original concepts of the Hermetic cultus. *The Divine Pymander* consists of seventeen fragmentary writings gathered together and put forth as one work. The second book of *The Divine Pymander*, called *Poimandres*, or *The Vision*, is believed to describe the method by which the divine wisdom was first revealed to Hermes. It was after Hermes had received this revelation that he began his ministry, teaching to all who would listen the secrets of the invisible universe as they had been unfolded to him.

*The Vision* is the most: famous of all the Hermetic fragments, and contains an exposition of Hermetic cosmogony and the secret sciences of the Egyptians regarding the culture and unfoldment of the human soul. For some time it was erroneously called "The Genesis of Enoch," but that mistake has now been rectified. At hand while preparing the following interpretation of the symbolic philosophy concealed within *The Vision of Hermes* the present author has had these reference works: *The Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus* (London, 1650), translated out of the Arabic and Greek by Dr. Everard; *Hermetica* (Oxford, 1924), edited by Walter Scott; *Hermes, The Mysteries of Egypt* (Philadelphia, 1925), by Edouard Schure; and the *Thrice-Greatest Hermes* (London, 1906), by G. R. S. Mead. To the material contained in the above volumes he has added commentaries based upon the esoteric philosophy of the ancient Egyptians, together with amplifications derived partly from other Hermetic fragments and partly from the secret arcanum of the Hermetic sciences. For the sake of clarity, the narrative form has been chosen in preference to the original dialogic style, and obsolete words have given place to those in current use.

Hermes, while wandering in a rocky and desolate place, gave himself over to meditation and prayer. Following the secret instructions of the Temple, he gradually freed his higher consciousness from the bondage of his bodily senses; and, thus released, his divine nature revealed to him the mysteries of the transcendental spheres. He beheld a figure, terrible and awe-inspiring. It was the Great Dragon, with wings stretching across the sky and light streaming in all directions from its body. (The Mysteries taught that the Universal Life was personified as a dragon.) The Great Dragon called Hermes by name, and asked him why he thus meditated upon the World Mystery. Terrified by the spectacle, Hermes prostrated himself before the Dragon, beseeching it to reveal its identity. The great creature answered that it was *Poimandres*, the *Mind of the Universe*, the Creative Intelligence, and the Absolute Emperor of all. (Schure identifies Poimandres as the god Osiris.) Hermes then besought Poimandres to disclose the nature of the universe and the constitution of the gods. The Dragon acquiesced, bidding Trismegistus hold its image in his mind.

Immediately the form of Poimandres changed. Where it had stood there was a glorious and pulsating Radiance. This Light was the spiritual nature of the Great Dragon itself. Hermes was "raised" into the midst of this Divine Effulgence and the universe of material things faded from his consciousness. Presently a great darkness descended and, expanding, swallowed up the Light. Everything was troubled. About Hermes swirled a mysterious watery substance which gave forth a smokelike vapor. The air was filled with inarticulate moanings and sighings which seemed to come from the Light swallowed up in the darkness. His mind told Hermes that the Light was the form of the spiritual universe and that the swirling darkness which had engulfed it represented material substance.

*THOTH, THE IBIS-HEADED.*

*From Wilkinson's Manners & Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.*

*It is doubtful that the deity called Thoth by the Egyptians was originally Hermes, but the two personalities were blended together and it is now impossible to separate them. Thoth was called "The Lord of the Divine Books" and "Scribe of the Company of the Gods." He is generally depicted with the body of a man and the head of an ibis. The exact symbolic meaning of this latter bird has never been discovered. A careful analysis of the peculiar shape of the ibis--especially its head and beak--should prove illuminating.*

Then out of the imprisoned Light a mysterious and Holy Word came forth and took its stand upon the smoking waters. This Word--the Voice of the Light--rose out of the darkness as a great pillar, and the fire and the air followed after it, but the earth and the water remained unmoved below. Thus the waters of Light were divided from the waters of darkness, and from the waters of Light were formed the worlds above and from the waters of darkness were formed the worlds below. The earth and the water next mingled, becoming inseparable, and the Spiritual Word which is called *Reason* moved upon their surface, causing endless turmoil.

Then again was heard the voice of Poimandres, but His form was not revealed: "I Thy God am the Light and the Mind which were before substance was divided from spirit and darkness from Light. And the Word which appeared as a pillar of flame out of the darkness is the Son of God, born of the mystery of the Mind. The name of that Word is *Reason*. Reason is the offspring of Thought and Reason shall divide the Light from the darkness and establish Truth in the midst of the waters. Understand, O Hermes, and meditate deeply upon the mystery. That which in you sees and hears is not of the earth, but is the Word of God incarnate. So it is said that Divine Light dwells in the midst of mortal darkness, and ignorance cannot divide them. The union of the Word and the Mind produces that mystery which is called *Life*. As the darkness without you is divided against itself, so the darkness within you is likewise divided. The Light and the fire which rise are the divine man, ascending in the path of the Word, and that which fails to ascend is the mortal man, which may not partake of immortality. Learn deeply of the Mind and its mystery, for therein lies the secret of immortality."

The Dragon again revealed its form to Hermes, and for a long time the two looked steadfastly one upon the other, eye to eye, so that Hermes trembled before the gaze of Poimandres. At the Word of the Dragon the heavens opened and the innumerable Light Powers were revealed, soaring through Cosmos on pinions of streaming fire. Hermes beheld the spirits of the stars, the celestials controlling the universe, and all those Powers which shine with the radiance of the One Fire--the glory of the Sovereign Mind. Hermes realized that the sight which he beheld was revealed to him only because Poimandres had spoken a Word. The Word was Reason, and by the Reason of the Word invisible things were made manifest. Divine Mind--the Dragon--continued its discourse:

"Before the visible universe was formed its mold was cast. This mold was called the *Archetype*, and this Archetype was in the Supreme Mind long before the process of creation began. Beholding the Archetypes, the Supreme Mind became enamored with Its own thought; so, taking the Word as a mighty hammer, It gouged out caverns in primordial space and cast the form of the spheres in the Archetypal mold, at the same time sowing in the newly fashioned bodies the seeds of living things. The darkness below, receiving the hammer of the Word, was fashioned into an orderly universe. The elements separated into strata and each brought forth living creatures. The Supreme Being--the Mind--male and female, brought forth the Word; and the Word, suspended between Light and darkness, was delivered of another Mind called the *Workman*, the *Master-Builder*, or the *Maker of Things*.

"In this manner it was accomplished, O Hermes: The Word moving like a breath through space called forth the *Fire* by the friction of its motion. Therefore, the Fire is called the *Son of Striving*. The Workman passed as a whirlwind through the universe, causing the substances to vibrate and glow with its friction, The Son of Striving thus formed *Seven Governors*, the Spirits of the Planets, whose orbits bounded the world; and the Seven Governors controlled the world by the mysterious power called *Destiny* given them by the Fiery Workman. When the *Second Mind* (The Workman) had organized Chaos, the Word of God rose straightway our of its prison of substance, leaving the elements without Reason, and joined Itself to the nature of the Fiery Workman. Then the Second Mind, together with the risen Word, established Itself in the midst of the universe and whirled the wheels of the Celestial Powers. This shall continue from an infinite beginning to an infinite end, for the beginning and the ending are in the same place and state.

"Then the downward-turned and unreasoning elements brought forth creatures without Reason. Substance could not bestow Reason, for Reason had ascended out of it. The air produced flying things and the waters such as swim. The earth conceived strange four-footed and creeping beasts, dragons, composite demons, and grotesque monsters. Then the Father--the Supreme Mind--being Light and Life, fashioned a glorious Universal Man in Its own image, not an earthy man but a heavenly Man dwelling in the Light of God. The *Supreme Mind* loved the Man It had fashioned and delivered to Him the control of the creations and workmanships.

"The Man, desiring to labor, took up His abode in the sphere of generation and observed the works of His brother--the Second Mind--which sat upon the Ring of the Fire. And having beheld the achievements of the Fiery Workman, He willed also to make things, and His Father gave permission. The Seven Governors, of whose powers He partook, rejoiced and each gave the Man a share of Its own nature.

"The Man longed to pierce the circumference of the circles and understand the mystery of Him who sat upon the Eternal Fire. Having already all power, He stooped down and peeped through the seven Harmonies and, breaking through the strength of the circles, made Himself manifest to Nature stretched out below. The Man, looking into the depths, smiled, for He beheld a shadow upon the earth and a likeness mirrored in the waters, which shadow and likeness were a reflection of Himself. The Man fell in love with His own shadow and desired to descend into it. Coincident with the desire, the Intelligent Thing united Itself with the unreasoning image or shape.

"Nature, beholding the descent, wrapped herself about the Man whom she loved, and the two were mingled. For this reason, earthy man is composite. Within him is the Sky Man, immortal and beautiful; without is Nature, mortal and destructible. Thus, suffering is the result of the Immortal Man's falling in love with His shadow and giving up Reality to dwell in the darkness of illusion; for, being immortal, man has the power of the Seven Governors--also the Life, the Light, and the Word-but being mortal, he is controlled by the Rings of the Governors--Fate or Destiny.

"Of the Immortal Man it should be said that He is hermaphrodite, or male and female, and eternally watchful. He neither slumbers nor sleeps, and is governed by a Father also both male and female, and ever watchful. Such is the mystery kept hidden to this day, for Nature, being mingled in marriage with the Sky Man, brought forth a wonder most wonderful--seven men, all bisexual, male and female, and upright of stature, each one exemplifying the natures of the Seven Governors. These O Hermes, are the seven races, species, and wheels.

"After this manner were the seven men generated. Earth was the female element and water the male element, and from the fire and the æther they received their spirits, and Nature produced bodies after the species and shapes of men. And man received the Life and Light of the Great Dragon, and of the Life was made his Soul and of the Light his Mind. And so, all these composite creatures containing immortality, but partaking of mortality, continued in this state for the duration of a period. They reproduced themselves out of themselves, for each was male and female. But at the end of the period the knot of Destiny was untied by the will of God and the bond of all things was loosened.

*A GREEK FORM OF HERMES.*

*From Bryant's Mythology.*

*The name Hermes is derived from "Herm," a form of CHiram, the Personified Universal Life Principle, generally represented by fire. The Scandinavians worshiped Hermes under the name of Odin; the Teutons as Wotan, and certain of the Oriental peoples as Buddha, or Fo. There are two theories concerning his demise. The first declares that Hermes was translated like Enoch and carried without death into the presence of God, the second states that he was buried in the Valley of Ebron and a great treasure placed in his tomb--not a treasure of gold but of books and sacred learning.*

*The Egyptians likened humanity to a flock of sheep. The Supreme and Inconceivable Father was the Shepherd, and Hermes was the shepherd dog. The origin of the shepherd's crook in religious symbolism may be traced to the Egyptian rituals. The three scepters of Egypt include the shepherd's crook, symbolizing that by virtue of the power reposing in that symbolic staff the initiated Pharaohs guided the destiny of their people.*

"Then all living creatures, including man, which had been hermaphroditical, were separated, the males being set apart by themselves and the females likewise, according to the dictates of Reason.

"Then God spoke to the Holy Word within the soul of all things, saying: 'Increase in increasing and multiply in multitudes, all you, my creatures and workmanships. Let him that is endued with Mind know himself to be immortal and that the cause of death is the love of the body; and let him learn all things that are, for he who has recognized himself enters into the state of Good.'

"And when God had said this, Providence, with the aid of the Seven Governors and Harmony, brought the sexes together, making the mixtures and establishing the generations, and all things were multiplied according to their kind. He who through the error of attachment loves his body, abides wandering in darkness, sensible and suffering the things of death, but he who realizes that the body is but the tomb of his soul, rises to immortality."

Then Hermes desired to know why men should be deprived of immortality for the sin of ignorance alone. The Great Dragon answered:, To the ignorant the body is supreme and they are incapable of realizing the immortality that is within them. Knowing only the body which is subject to death, they believe in death because they worship that substance which is the cause and reality of death."

Then Hermes asked how the righteous and wise pass to God, to which Poimandres replied: "That which the Word of God said, say I: 'Because the Father of all things consists of Life and Light, whereof man is made.' If, therefore, a man shall learn and understand the nature of Life and Light, then he shall pass into the eternity of Life and Light."

Hermes next inquired about the road by which the wise attained to Life eternal, and Poimandres continued: "Let the man endued with a Mind mark, consider, and learn of himself, and with the power of his Mind divide himself from his not-self and become a servant of Reality."

Hermes asked if all men did not have Minds, and the Great Dragon replied: "Take heed what you say, for I am the Mind--the Eternal Teacher. I am the Father of the *Word*--the Redeemer of all men--and in the nature of the wise the Word takes flesh. By means of the Word, the world is saved. I, *Thought* (Thoth)--the Father of the Word, the Mind--come only unto men that are holy and good, pure and merciful, and that live piously and religiously, and my presence is an inspiration and a help to them, for when I come they immediately know all things and adore the Universal Father. Before such wise and philosophic ones die, they learn to renounce their senses, knowing that these are the enemies of their immortal souls.

"I will not permit the evil senses to control the bodies of those who love me, nor will I allow evil emotions and evil thoughts to enter them. I become as a porter or doorkeeper, and shut out evil, protecting the wise from their own lower nature. But to the wicked, the envious and the covetous, I come not, for such cannot understand the mysteries of *Mind*; therefore, I am unwelcome. I leave them to the avenging demon that they are making in their own souls, for evil each day increases itself and torments man more sharply, and each evil deed adds to the evil deeds that are gone before until finally evil destroys itself. The punishment of desire is the agony of unfulfillment."

Hermes bowed his head in thankfulness to the Great Dragon who had taught him so much, and begged to hear more concerning the ultimate of the human soul. So Poimandres resumed: "At death the material body of man is returned to the elements from which it came, and the invisible divine man ascends to the source from whence he came, namely the *Eighth Sphere*. The evil passes to the dwelling place of the demon, and the senses, feelings, desires, and body passions return to their source, namely the Seven Governors, whose natures in the lower man destroy but in the invisible spiritual man give life.

"After the lower nature has returned to the brutishness, the higher struggles again to regain its spiritual estate. It ascends the seven Rings upon which sit the Seven Governors and returns to each their lower powers in this manner: Upon the first ring sits the Moon, and to it is returned the ability to increase and diminish. Upon the second ring sits Mercury, and to it are returned machinations, deceit, and craftiness. Upon the third ring sits Venus, and to it are returned the lusts and passions. Upon the fourth ring sits the Sun, and to this Lord are returned ambitions. Upon the fifth ring sits Mars, and to it are returned rashness and profane boldness. Upon the sixth ring sits Jupiter, and to it are returned the sense of accumulation and riches. And upon the seventh ring sits Saturn, at the Gate of Chaos, and to it are returned falsehood and evil plotting.

"Then, being naked of all the accumulations of the seven Rings, the soul comes to the Eighth Sphere, namely, the ring of the fixed stars. Here, freed of all illusion, it dwells in the Light and sings praises to the Father in a voice which only the pure of spirit may understand. Behold, O Hermes, there is a great mystery in the Eighth Sphere, for the Milky Way is the seed-ground of souls, and from it they drop into the Rings, and to the Milky Way they return again from the wheels of Saturn. But some cannot climb the seven-runged ladder of the Rings. So they wander in darkness below and are swept into eternity with the illusion of sense and earthiness.

"The path to immortality is hard, and only a few find it. The rest await the Great Day when the wheels of the universe shall be stopped and the immortal sparks shall escape from the sheaths of substance. Woe unto those who wait, for they must return again, unconscious and unknowing, to the seed-ground of stars, and await a new beginning. Those who are saved by the light of the mystery which I have revealed unto you, O Hermes, and which I now bid you to establish among men, shall return again to the Father who dwelleth in the White Light, and shall deliver themselves up to the Light and shall be absorbed into the Light, and in the Light they shall become Powers in God. This is the Way of *Good* and is revealed only to them that have wisdom.

"Blessed art thou, O Son of Light, to whom of all men, I, Poimandres, the Light of the World, have revealed myself. I order you to go forth, to become as a guide to those who wander in darkness, that all men within whom dwells the spirit of *My Mind* (The Universal Mind) may be saved by My Mind in you, which shall call forth My Mind in them. Establish My Mysteries and they shall not fail from the earth, for I am the Mind of the Mysteries and until Mind fails (which is never) my Mysteries cannot fail." With these parting words, Poimandres, radiant with celestial light, vanished, mingling with the powers of the heavens. Raising his eyes unto the heavens, Hermes blessed the Father of All Things and consecrated his life to the service of the Great Light.

Thus preached Hermes: "O people of the earth, men born and made of the elements, but with the spirit of the Divine Man within you, rise from your sleep of ignorance! Be sober and thoughtful. Realize that your home is not in the earth but in the Light. Why have you delivered yourselves over unto death, having power to partake of immortality? Repent, and *change your minds*. Depart from the dark light and forsake corruption forever. Prepare yourselves to climb through the Seven Rings and to blend your souls with the eternal Light."

Some who heard mocked and scoffed and went their way, delivering themselves to the Second Death from which there is no salvation. But others, casting themselves before the feet of Hermes, besought him to teach them the Way of Life. He lifted them gently, receiving no approbation for himself, and staff in hand, went forth teaching and guiding mankind, and showing them how they might be saved. In the worlds of men, Hermes sowed the seeds of wisdom and nourished the seeds with the Immortal Waters. And at last came the evening of his life, and as the brightness of the light of earth was beginning to go down, Hermes commanded his disciples to preserve his doctrines inviolate throughout all ages. The *Vision of Poimandres* he committed to writing that all men desiring immortality might therein find the way.

In concluding his exposition of the *Vision*, Hermes wrote: "The sleep of the body is the sober watchfulness of the Mind and the shutting of my eyes reveals the true Light. My silence is filled with budding life and hope, and is full of good. My words are the blossoms of fruit of the tree of my soul. For this is the faithful account of what I received from my true Mind, that is Poimandres, the Great Dragon, the Lord of the Word, through whom I became inspired by God with the Truth. Since that day my Mind has been ever with me and in my own soul it hath given birth to the Word: the Word is Reason, and Reason hath redeemed me. For which cause, with all my soul and all my strength, I give praise and blessing unto God the Father, the Life and the Light, and the Eternal Good.

"Holy is God, the Father of all things, the One who is before the First Beginning.

"Holy is God, whose will is performed and accomplished by His own Powers which He hath given birth to out of Himself.

"Holy is God, who has determined that He shall be known, and who is known by His own to whom He reveals Himself.

"Holy art Thou, who by Thy Word (Reason) hast established all things.

"Holy art Thou, of whom all Nature is the image.

"Holy art Thou, whom the inferior nature has not formed.

"Holy art Thou, who art stronger than all powers.

"Holy art Thou, who art greater than all excellency.

"Holy art Thou, who art better than all praise.

"Accept these reasonable sacrifices from a pure soul and a heart stretched out unto Thee.

"O Thou Unspeakable, Unutterable, to be praised with silence!

"I beseech Thee to look mercifully upon me, that I may not err from the knowledge of Thee and that I may enlighten those that are in ignorance, my brothers and Thy sons.

"Therefore I believe Thee and bear witness unto Thee, and depart in peace and in trustfulness into Thy Light and Life.

"Blessed art Thou, O Father! The man Thou hast fashioned would be sanctified with Thee as Thou hast given him power to sanctify others with Thy Word and Thy Truth."

The *Vision of Hermes*, like nearly all of the Hermetic writings, is an allegorical exposition of great philosophic and mystic truths, and its hidden meaning may be comprehended only by those who have been "raised" into the presence of the True Mind.

## The Initiation of the Pyramid

SUPREME among the wonders of antiquity, unrivaled by the achievements of later architects and builders, the Great Pyramid of Gizeh bears mute witness to an unknown civilization which, having completed its predestined span, passed into oblivion. Eloquent in its silence, inspiring in its majesty, divine in its simplicity, the Great Pyramid is indeed a sermon in stone. Its magnitude overwhelms the puny sensibilities of man. Among the shifting sands of time it stands as a fitting emblem of eternity itself. Who were the illumined mathematicians who planned its parts and dimensions, the master craftsmen who supervised its construction, the skilled artisans who trued its blocks of stone?

The earliest and best-known account of the building of the Great Pyramid is that given by that highly revered but somewhat imaginative historian, Herodotus. "The pyramid was built in steps, battlement-wise, as it is called, or, according to others, altar-wise. After laying the stones for the base, they raised the remaining stones to their places by means of machines formed of short wooden planks. The first machine raised them from the ground to the top of the first step. On this there was another machine, which received the stone upon its arrival, and conveyed it to the second step, whence a third machine advanced it still higher. Either they had as many machines as there were steps in the pyramid, or possibly they had but a single machine, which, being easily moved, was transferred from tier to tier as the stone rose. Both accounts are given, and therefore I mention both. The upper portion of the pyramid was finished first, then the middle, and finally the part which was lowest and nearest the ground. There is an inscription in Egyptian characters on the pyramid which records the quantity of radishes, onions, and garlick consumed by the labourers who constructed it; and I perfectly well remember that the interpreter who read the writing to me said that the money expended in this way was 1600 talents of silver. If this then is a true record, what a vast sum must have been spent on the iron tools used in the work, and on the feeding and clothing of the labourers, considering the length of time the work lasted, which has already been stated ten years, and the additional time--no small space, I imagine--which must have been occupied by the quarrying of the stones, their conveyance, and the formation of the underground apartments."

While his account is extremely colorful, it is apparent that the Father of History, for reasons which he doubtless considered sufficient, concocted a fraudulent story to conceal the true origin and purpose of the Great Pyramid. This is but one of several instances in his writings which would lead the thoughtful reader to suspect that Herodotus himself was an initiate of the Sacred Schools and consequently obligated to preserve inviolate the secrets of the ancient orders. The theory advanced by Herodotus and now generally accepted that the Pyramid was the tomb of the Pharaoh Cheops cannot be substantiated. In fact, Manetho, Eratosthenes, and Diodorus Siculus all differ from Herodotus--as well as from each other--regarding the name of the builder of this supreme edifice. The sepulchral vault, which, according to the Lepsius Law of pyramid construction, should have been finished at the same time as the monument or sooner, was never completed. There is no proof that the building was erected by the Egyptians, for the elaborate carvings with which the burial chambers of Egyptian royalty are almost invariably ornamented are entirely lacking and it embodies none of the elements of their architecture or decoration, such as inscriptions, images, cartouches, paintings, and other distinctive features associated with dynastic mortuary art. The only hieroglyphics to be found within the Pyramid are a few builders' marks sealed up in the *chambers of construction*, first opened by Howard Vyse. These apparently were painted upon the stones before they were set in position, for in a number of instances the marks were either inverted or disfigured by the operation of fitting the blocks together. While Egyptologists have attempted to identify the crude dabs of paint as cartouches of Cheops, it is almost inconceivable that this ambitious ruler would have permitted his royal name to suffer such indignities. As the most eminent authorities on the subject are still uncertain as to the true meaning of these crude markings, whatever proof they might be that the building was erected during the fourth dynasty is certainly offset by the sea shells at the base of the Pyramid which Mr. Gab advances as evidence that it was erected before the Deluge--a theory substantiated by the much-abused Arabian traditions. One Arabian historian declared that the Pyramid was built by the Egyptian sages as a refuge against the Flood, while another proclaimed it to have been the treasure house of the powerful antediluvian king Sheddad Ben Ad. A panel of hieroglyphs over the entrance, which the casual observer might consider to afford a solution of the mystery, unfortunately dates back no further than A.D. 1843, having been cut at that time by Dr. Lepsius as a tribute to the King of Prussia.

Caliph al Mamoun, an illustrious descendant of the Prophet, inspired by stories of the immense treasures sealed within its depths, journeyed from Bagdad to Cairo, A.D. 820, with a great force of workmen to open the mighty Pyramid. When Caliph al Mamoun first reached the foot of the "Rock of Ages" and gazed up at its smooth glistening surface, a tumult of emotions undoubtedly racked his soul. The casing stones must have been in place at the time of his visit, for the Caliph could find no indication of an entrance--four perfectly smooth surfaces confronted him. Following vague rumors, he set his followers to work on the north side of the Pyramid, with instructions to keep on cutting and chiseling until they discovered something. To the Moslems with their crude instruments and vinegar it was a herculean effort to tunnel a full hundred feet through the limestone. Many times they were on the point of rebellion, but the word of the Caliph was law and the hope of a vast fortune buoyed them up.

At last on the eve of total discouragement fate came to their rescue. A great stone was heard to fall somewhere in the wall near the toiling and disgruntled Arabs. Pushing on toward the sound with renewed enthusiasm, they finally broke into the descending passage which leads into the subterranean chamber. They then chiseled their way around the great stone portcullis which had fallen into a position barring their progress, and attacked and removed one after another the granite plugs which for a while continued to slide down the passage leading from the Queen's Chamber above.

Finally no more blocks descended and the way was clear for the followers of the Prophet. But where were the treasures? From room to room the frantic workmen rushed, looking in vain for loot. The discontent of the Moslems reached such a height that Caliph al Mamoun--who had inherited much of the wisdom of his illustrious father, the Caliph al Raschid--sent to Bagdad for funds, which he caused to be secretly buried near the entrance of the Pyramid. He then ordered his men to dig at that spot and great was their rejoicing when the treasure was discovered, the workmen being deeply impressed by the wisdom of the antediluvian monarch who had carefully estimated their wages and thoughtfully caused the exact amount to be buried for their benefit!

*ŒDIPUS AND THE SPHINX.*

*From Levi's Les Mystères de la Kaballe.*

*The Egyptian Sphinx is closely related to the Greek legend of Œdipus, who first solved the famous riddle propounded by the mysterious creature with the body of a winged lion and the head of a woman which frequented the highway leading to Thebes. To each who passed her lair the sphinx addressed the question, "What animal is it that in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two feet, and in the evening on three feet?" These who failed to answer her riddle she destroyed. Œdipus declared the answer to be man himself, who in childhood crawled upon his hands and knees, in manhood stood erect, and in old age shuffled along supporting himself by a staff. Discovering one who knew the answer to her riddle, the sphinx cast herself from the cliff which bordered the road and perished.*

*There is still another answer to the riddle of the sphinx, an answer best revealed by a consideration of the Pythagorean values of numbers. The 4, the 2 and the 3 produce the sum of 9, which is the natural number of man and also of the lower worlds. The 4 represents the ignorant man, the 2 the intellectual man, and the 3 the spiritual man. Infant humanity walks on four legs, evolving humanity on two legs, and to the power of his own mind the redeemed and illumined magus adds the staff of wisdom. The sphinx is therefore the mystery of Nature, the embodiment of the secret doctrine, and all who cannot solve her riddle perish. To pass the sphinx is to attain personal immortality.*

The Caliph then returned to the city of his fathers and the Great Pyramid was left to the mercy of succeeding generations. In the ninth century the sun's rays striking the highly polished surfaces of the original casing stones caused each side of the Pyramid to appear as a dazzling triangle of light. Since that time, all but two of these casing stones have disappeared. Investigation has resulted in their discovery, recut and resurfaced, in the walls of Mohammedan mosques and palaces in various parts of Cairo and its environs.

**PYRAMID PROBLEMS**

C. Piazzi Smyth asks: "Was the Great Pyramid, then, erected before the invention of hieroglyphics, and previous to the birth of the Egyptian religion?" Time may yet prove that the upper chambers of the Pyramid were a sealed mystery before the establishment of the Egyptian empire. In the subterranean chamber, however, are markings which indicate that the Romans gained admission there. In the light of the secret philosophy of the Egyptian initiates, W. W. Harmon, by a series of extremely complicated yet exact mathematical calculations; determines that the first ceremonial of the Pyramid was performed 68,890 years ago on the occasion when the star Vega for the first time sent its ray down the descending passage into the pit. The actual building of the Pyramid was accomplished in the period of from ten to fifteen years immediately preceding this date.

While such figures doubtless will evoke the ridicule of modern Egyptologists, they are based upon an exhaustive study of the principles of sidereal mechanics as incorporated into the structure of the Pyramid by its initiated builders. If the casing stones were in position at the beginning of the ninth century, the so-called erosion marks upon the outside were not due to water. The theory also that the salt upon the interior stones of the Pyramid is evidence that the building was once submerged is weakened by the scientific fact that this kind of stone is subject to exudations of salt. While the building may have been submerged, at least in part, during the many thousands of years since its erection, the evidence adduced to prove this point is not conclusive.

The Great Pyramid was built of limestone and granite throughout, the two kinds of rock being combined in a peculiar and significant manner. The stones were trued with the utmost precision, and the cement used was of such remarkable quality that it is now practically as hard as the stone itself. The limestone blocks were sawed with bronze saws, the teeth of which were diamonds or other jewels. The chips from the stones were piled against the north side of the plateau on which the structure stands, where they form an additional buttress to aid in supporting the weight of the structure. The entire Pyramid is an example of perfect orientation and actually squares the circle. This last is accomplished by dropping a vertical line from the apex of the Pyramid to its base line. If this vertical line be considered as the radius of an imaginary circle, the length of the circumference of such a circle will be found to equal the sum of the base lines of the four sides of the Pyramid.

If the passage leading to the King's Chamber and the Queen's Chamber was sealed up thousands of years before the Christian Era, those later admitted into the Pyramid Mysteries must have received their initiations in subterranean galleries now unknown. Without such galleries there could have been no possible means of ingress or egress, since the single surface entrance was completely dosed with casing stones. If not blocked by the mass of the Sphinx or concealed in some part of that image, the secret entrance may be either in one of the adjacent temples or upon the sides of the limestone plateau.

Attention is called to the granite plugs filling the ascending passageway to the Queen's Chamber which Caliph al Mamoun was forced practically to pulverize before he could clear a way into the upper chambers. C. Piazzi Smyth notes that the positions of the stones demonstrate that they were set in place from above--which made it necessary for a considerable number of workmen to depart from the upper chambers. How did they do it? Smyth believes they descended through the well (see diagram), dropping the ramp stone into place behind them. He further contends that robbers probably used the well as a means of getting into the upper chambers. The ramp stone having been set in a bed of plaster, the robbers were forced to break through it, leaving a jagged opening. Mr. Dupré, an architect who has spent years investigating the pyramids, differs from Smyth, however, in that he believes the well itself to be a robbers' hole, being the first successful attempt made to enter the upper chambers from the subterranean chamber, then the only open section of the Pyramid.

Mr. Dupré bases his conclusion upon the fact that the well is merely a rough hole and the grotto an irregular chamber, without any evidence of the architectural precision with which the remainder of the structure was erected. The diameter of the well also precludes the possibility of its having been dug downward; it must have been gouged out from below, and the grotto was necessary to supply air to the thieves. It is inconceivable that the Pyramid builders would break one of their own ramp stones and leave its broken surface and a gaping hole in the side wall of their otherwise perfect gallery. If the well is a robbers' hole, it may explain why the Pyramid was empty when Caliph al Mamoun entered it and what happened to the missing coffer lid. A careful examination of the so-called unfinished subterranean chamber, which must have been the base of operations for the robbers, might disclose traces of their presence or show where they piled the rubble which must have accumulated as a result of their operations. While it is not entirely clear by what entrance the robbers reached the subterranean chamber, it is improbable that they used the descending passageway.

There is a remarkable niche in the north wall of the Queen's Chamber which the Mohammedan guides glibly pronounce to be a shrine. The general shape of this niche, however, with its walls converging by a series of overlaps like those of the Grand Gallery, would indicate that originally it had been intended as a passageway. Efforts made to explore this niche have been nonproductive, but Mr. Dupré believes an entrance to exist here through which--if the well did not exist at the time--the workmen made their exit from the Pyramid after dropping the stone plugs into the ascending gallery.

Biblical scholars have contributed a number of most extraordinary conceptions regarding the Great Pyramid. This ancient edifice has been identified by them as Joseph's granary (despite its hopelessly inadequate capacity); as the tomb prepared for the unfortunate Pharaoh of the Exodus who could not be buried there because his body was never recovered from the Red Sea; and finally as a perpetual confirmation of the infallibility of the numerous prophecies contained in the Authorized Version!

**THE SPHINX**

Although the Great Pyramid, as Ignatius Donnelly has demonstrated, is patterned after an antediluvian type of architecture, examples of which are to be found in nearly every part of the world, the Sphinx (*Hu*) is typically Egyptian. The stele between its paws states the Sphinx is an image of the Sun God, Harmackis, which was evidently made in the similitude of the Pharaoh during whose reign it was chiseled. The statue was restored and completely excavated by Tahutmes IV as the result of a vision in which the god had appeared and declared himself oppressed by the weight of the sand about his body. The broken beard of the Sphinx was discovered during excavations between the front paws. The steps leading up to the sphinx and also the temple and altar between the paws are much later additions, probably Roman, for it is known that the Romans reconstructed many Egyptian antiquities. The shallow depression in the crown of the head, once thought to be the terminus of a closed up passageway leading from the Sphinx to the Great Pyramid, was merely intended to help support a headdress now missing.

Metal rods have been driven into the Sphinx in a vain effort to discover chambers or passages within its body. The major part of the Sphinx is a single stone, but the front paws have been built up of smaller stones. The Sphinx is about 200 feet long, 70 feet high, and 38 feet wide across the shoulders. The main stone from which it was carved is believed by some to have been transported from distant quarries by methods unknown, while others assert it to be native rock, possibly an outcropping somewhat resembling the form into which it was later carved. The theory once advanced that both the Pyramid and the Sphinx were built from artificial stones made on the spot has been abandoned. A careful analysis of the limestone shows it to be composed of small sea creatures called *mummulites*.

The popular supposition that the Sphinx was the true portal of the Great Pyramid, while it survives with surprising tenacity, has never been substantiated. P. Christian presents this theory as follows, basing it in part upon the authority of Iamblichus:

"The Sphinx of Gizeh, says the author of the Traité des Mystères, served as the entrance to the sacred subterranean chambers in which the trials of the initiate were undergone. This entrance, obstructed in our day by sands and rubbish, may still be traced between the forelegs of the crouched colossus. It was formerly closed by a bronze gate whose secret spring could be operated only by the Magi. It was guarded by public respect: and a sort of religious fear maintained its inviolability better than armed protection would have done. In the belly of the Sphinx were cut out galleries leading to the subterranean part of the Great Pyramid. These galleries were so artfully crisscrossed along their course to the Pyramid that in setting forth into the passage without a guide through this network, one ceaselessly and inevitably returned to the starting point." (See *Histoire de la Magie*.)

Unfortunately, the bronze door referred to cannot be found, nor is there any evidence that it ever existed. The passing centuries have wrought many changes in the colossus, however, and the original opening may have been closed.

Nearly all students of the subject believe that subterranean chambers exist beneath the Great Pyramid. Robert Ballard writes: "The priests of the Pyramids of Lake Mœris had their vast subterranean residences. It appears to me more than probable that those of Gizeh were similarly provided. And I may go further:--Out of these very caverns may have been excavated the limestone of which the Pyramids were built. ** * In the bowels of the limestone ridge on which the Pyramids are built will yet be found, I feel convinced, ample information as to their uses. A good diamond drill with two or three hundred feet of rods is what is wanted to test this, and the solidarity of the Pyramids at the same time." (See *The Solution of the Pyramid Problem*.)

Mr. Ballard's theory of extensive underground apartments and quarries brings up an important problem in architectonics. The Pyramid builders were too farsighted to endanger the permanence of the Great Pyramid by placing over five million tons of limestone and granite on any but a solid foundation. It is therefore reasonably certain that such chambers or passageways as may exist beneath the building are relatively insignificant, like those within the body of the structure, which occupy less than one sixteen-hundredth of the cubic contents of the Pyramid.

*A VERTICAL SECTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID.*

*From Smyth's Life and Wok at the Great Pyramid.*

*The Great Pyramid stands upon a limestone plateau at the base of which, according to ancient history, the Nile once flooded, thus supplying a method for the huge blocks used in its construction. Presuming that the capstone as originally in place, the Pyramid is, according to John Taylor, in round figures 486 feet high; the base of each side is 764 feet long, and the entire structure covers a ground area of more than 13 acres.*

*The Great Pyramid is the only one in the group at Gizeh--in fact, as far as known, the only one in Egypt--that has chambers within the actual body of the Pyramid itself. Far this reason it is said to refute the Lepsius Law, which asserts that each of these structures is a monument raised over a subterranean chamber in which a ruler is entombed. The Pyramid contains four chambers, which in the diagram are lettered K, H, F, and O.*

*The King's Chamber (K) is an oblong apartment 39 feet long, 17 felt wide, and 19 feet high (disregarding fractional parts of a foot in each case), with a flat roof consisting of nine great stones, the largest in the Pyramid. Above the King's Chamber are five low compartments (L), generally termed construction chambers. In the lowest of these the so-called hieroglyphs of the Pharaoh Cheops are located. The roof of the fifth construction chamber is peaked. At the end of the King's Chamber opposite the entrance stands the famous sarcophagus, or coffer (I), and behind it is a shallow opening that was dug in the hope of discovering valuables. Two air vents (M, N) passing through the entire body of the Pyramid ventilate the King's Chamber. In itself this is sufficient to establish that the building was not intended for a tomb.*

*Between the upper end of the Grand Gallery (G. G.) and the King's Chamber is a small antechamber (H), its extreme length 9 feet, its extreme width 5 feet, and its extreme height 12 feet, with its walls grooved far purposes now unknown. In the groove nearest the Grand Gallery is a slab of stone in two sections, with a peculiar boss or knob protruding about an inch from the surface of the upper part facing the Grand Gallery. This stone does not reach to the floor of the antechamber and those entering the King's Chamber must pass under the slab. From the King's Chamber, the Grand Gallery--157 feet in length, 28 feet in height, 7 feet in width at its widest point and decreasing to 3½ feet as the result of seven converging overlaps, of the stones forming the walls--descends to a little above the level of the Queen's Chamber. Here a gallery (E) branches off, passing mere than 100 feet back towards the center of the Pyramid and opening into the Queen's Chamber (F). The Queen's Chamber is 19 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 20 feet high. Its roof is peaked and composed of great slabs of stone. Air passages not shown lead from the Queen's Chamber, but these were not open originally. In the east wall of the Queen's Chamber is a peculiar niche of gradually converging stone, which in all likelihood, may prove to be a new lost entrance way.*

*At the paint where the Grand Gallery ends and the horizontal passage towards the Queen's Chamber begins is the entrance to the well and also the opening leading down the first ascending passage (D) to the point where this passage meets the descending passage (A) leading from the outer wall of the Pyramid down to the subterranean chamber. After descending 59 feet down the well (P), the grotto is reached. Continuing through the floor of the grotto the well leads downward 133 feet to the descending entrance passage (A), which it meets a short distance before this passage becomes horizontal and leads into the subterranean chamber.*

*The subterranean chamber (O) is about 46 feet long and 27 feet wide, but is extremely low, the ceiling varying in height from a little over 3 feet to about 13 feet from the rough and apparently unfinished floor. From the south side of the subterranean chamber a low tunnel runs about 50 feet and then meets a blank wall. These constitute the only known openings in the Pyramid, with the exception of a few niches, exploration holes, blind passages, and the rambling cavernous tunnel (B) hewn out by the Moslems under the leadership of the Prophet's descendant, Caliph al Mamoun.*

The Sphinx was undoubtedly erected for symbolical purposes at the instigation of the priestcraft. The theories that the uræus upon its forehead was originally the finger of an immense sundial and that both the Pyramid and the Sphinx were used to measure time, the seasons, and the precession of the equinoxes are ingenious but not wholly convincing. If this great creature was erected to obliterate the ancient passageway leading into the subterranean temple of the Pyramid, its symbolism would be most appropriate. In comparison with the overwhelming size and dignity of the Great Pyramid, the Sphinx is almost insignificant. Its battered face, upon which may still be seen vestiges of the red paint with which the figure was originally covered, is disfigured beyond recognition. Its nose was broken off by a fanatical Mohammedan, lest the followers of the Prophet be led into idolatry. The very nature of its construction and the present repairs necessary to prevent the head from falling off indicate that it could not have survived the great periods of time which have elapsed since the erection of the Pyramid.

To the Egyptians, the Sphinx was the symbol of strength and intelligence. It was portrayed as androgynous to signify that they recognized the initiates and gods as partaking of both the positive and negative creative powers. Gerald Massey writes: "This is the secret of the Sphinx. The orthodox sphinx of Egypt is masculine in front and feminine behind. So is the image of Sut-Typhon, a type of horn and tail, male in front and female behind. The Pharaohs, who wore the tail of the Lioness or Cow behind them, were male in front and female behind. Like the Gods they included the dual totality of Being in one person, born of the Mother, but of both sexes as the Child." (See *The Natural Genesis*.)

Most investigators have ridiculed the Sphinx and, without even deigning to investigate the great colossus, have turned their attention to the more overwhelming mystery of the Pyramid.

**THE PYRAMID MYSTERIES**

The word pyramid is popularly supposed to be derived from πῦρ, fire, thus signifying that it is the symbolic representation of the One Divine Flame, the life of every creature. John Taylor believes the word pyramid to mean a "measure of wheat, " while C. Piazzi Smyth favors the Coptic meaning, "a division into ten." The initiates of old accepted the pyramid form as the ideal symbol of both the secret doctrine and those institutions established for its dissemination. Both pyramids and mounds are antitypes of the Holy Mountain, or High Place of God, which was believed to stand in the "midst" of the earth. John P. Lundy relates the Great Pyramid to the fabled Olympus, further assuming that its subterranean passages correspond to the tortuous byways of Hades.

The square base of the Pyramid is a constant reminder that the House of Wisdom is firmly founded upon Nature and her immutable laws. "The Gnostics," writes Albert Pike, "claimed that the whole edifice of their science rested on a square whose angles were: Σιγη, Silence; Βυθος, Profundity; Νους, Intelligence; and Αληθεια Truth." (See *Morals and Dogma*.) The sides of the Great Pyramid face the four cardinal angles, the latter signifying according to Eliphas Levi the extremities of heat and cold (south and north) and the extremities of light and darkness (east and west). The base of the Pyramid further represents the four material elements or substances from the combinations of which the quaternary body of man is formed. From each side of the square there rises a triangle, typifying the threefold divine being enthroned within every quaternary material nature. If each base line be considered a square from which ascends a threefold spiritual power, then the sum of the lines of the four faces (12) and the four hypothetical squares (16) constituting the base is 28, the sacred number of the lower world. If this be added to the three septenaries composing the sun (21), it equals 49, the square of 7 and the number of the universe.

The twelve signs of the zodiac, like the Governors' of the lower worlds, are symbolized by the twelve lines of the four triangles--the faces of the Pyramid. In the midst of each face is one of the beasts of Ezekiel, and the structure as a whole becomes the Cherubim. The three main chambers of the Pyramid are related to the heart, the brain, and the generative system--the spiritual centers of the human constitution. The triangular form of the Pyramid also is similar to the posture assumed by the body during the ancient meditative exercises. The Mysteries taught that the divine energies from the gods descended upon the top of the Pyramid, which was likened to an inverted tree with its branches below and its roots at the apex. From this inverted tree the divine wisdom is disseminated by streaming down the diverging sides and radiating throughout the world.

The size of the capstone of the Great Pyramid cannot be accurately determined, for, while most investigators have assumed that it was once in place, no vestige of it now remains. There is a curious tendency among the builders of great religious edifices to leave their creations unfinished, thereby signifying that God alone is complete. The capstone--if it existed--was itself a miniature pyramid, the apex of which again would be capped by a smaller block of similar shape, and so on *ad infinitum*. The capstone therefore is the epitome of the entire structure. Thus, the Pyramid may be likened to the universe and the capstone to man. Following the chain of analogy, the mind is the capstone of man, the spirit the capstone of the mind, and God--the epitome of the whole--the capstone of the spirit. As a rough and unfinished block, man is taken from the quarry and by the secret culture of the Mysteries gradually transformed into a trued and perfect pyramidal capstone. The temple is complete only when the initiate himself becomes the living apex through which the divine power is focused into the diverging structure below.

W. Marsham Adams calls the Great Pyramid "the House of the Hidden Places"; such indeed it was, for it represented the inner sanctuary of pre-Egyptian wisdom. By the Egyptians the Great Pyramid was associated with Hermes, the god of wisdom and letters and the Divine Illuminator worshiped through the planet Mercury. Relating Hermes to the Pyramid emphasizes anew the fact that it was in reality the supreme temple of the Invisible and Supreme Deity. The Great Pyramid was not a lighthouse, an observatory, or a tomb, but the first temple of the Mysteries, the first structure erected as a repository for those secret truths which are the certain foundation of all arts and sciences. It was the perfect emblem of the *microcosm* and the *macrocosm* and, according to the secret teachings, the tomb of Osiris, the black god of the Nile. Osiris represents a certain manifestation of solar energy, and therefore his house or tomb is emblematic of the universe within which he is entombed and upon the cross of which he is crucified.

Through the mystic passageways and chambers of the Great Pyramid passed the illumined of antiquity. They entered its portals as *men*; they came forth as *gods*. It was the place of the "second birth," the "womb of the Mysteries," and wisdom dwelt in it as God dwells in the hearts of men. Somewhere in the depths of its recesses there resided an unknown being who was called "The Initiator," or "The Illustrious One," robed in blue and gold and bearing in his hand the sevenfold key of Eternity. This was the lion-faced hierophant, the Holy One, the Master of Masters, who never left the House of Wisdom and whom no man ever saw save he who had passed through the gates of preparation and purification. It was in these chambers that Plato--he of the broad brow - came face to face with the wisdom of the ages personified in the Master of the Hidden House.

Who was the Master dwelling in the mighty Pyramid, the many rooms of which signified the worlds in space; the Master whom none might behold save those who had been "born again"? He alone fully knew the secret of the Pyramid, but he has departed the way of the wise and the house is empty. The hymns of praise no longer echo in muffled tones through the chambers; the neophyte no longer passes through the elements and wanders among the seven stars; the candidate no longer receives the "Word of Life" from the lips of the Eternal One. Nothing now remains that the eye of man can see but an empty shell--the outer symbol of an inner truth--and men call the House of God a tomb!

The technique of the Mysteries was unfolded by the Sage Illuminator, the Master of the Secret House. The power to know his guardian spirit was revealed to the new initiate; the method of disentangling his material body from. his divine vehicle was explained; and to consummate the *magnum opus*, there was revealed the Divine Name--the secret and unutterable designation of the Supreme Deity, by the very knowledge of which man and his God are made consciously one. With the giving of the Name, the new initiate became himself a *pyramid*, within the chambers of whose soul numberless other human beings might also receive spiritual enlightenment.

In the King's Chamber was enacted the drama of the "second death." Here the candidate, after being crucified upon the cross of the solstices and the equinoxes, was buried in the great coffer. There is a profound mystery to the atmosphere and temperature of the King's Chamber: it is of a peculiar deathlike cold which cuts to the marrow of the bone. This room was a doorway between the material world and the transcendental spheres of Nature. While his body lay in the coffer, the soul of the neophyte soared as a human-headed hawk through the celestial realms, there to discover first hand the eternity of Life, Light, and Truth, as well as the illusion of Death, Darkness, and Sin. Thus in one sense the Great Pyramid may be likened to a gate through which the ancient priests permitted a few to pass toward the attainment of individual completion. It is also to be noted incidentally that if the coffer in the King's Chamber be struck, the sound emitted has no counterpart in any known musical scale. This tonal value may have formed part of that combination of circumstances which rendered the King's Chamber an ideal setting for the conferment of the highest degree of the Mysteries.

The modern world knows little of these ancient rites. The scientist and the theologian alike gaze upon the sacred structure, wondering what fundamental urge inspired the herculean labor. If they would but think for a moment, they would realize that there is only one urge in the soul of man capable of supplying the required incentive--namely, the desire to know, to understand, and to exchange the narrowness of human mortality for the greater breadth and scope of divine enlightenment. So men say of the Great Pyramid that it is the most perfect building in the world, the source of weights and measures, the original Noah's Ark, the origin of languages, alphabets,. and scales of temperature and humidity. Few realize, however, that it is the gateway to the Eternal.

Though the modern world may know a million secrets, the ancient world knew one--and that one was greater than the million; for the *million* secrets breed death, disaster, sorrow, selfishness, lust, and avarice, but the *one* secret confers life, light, and truth. The time will come when the secret wisdom shall again be the dominating religious and philosophical urge of the world. The day is at hand when the doom of dogma shall be sounded. The great theological Tower of Babel, with its confusion of tongues, was built of bricks of mud and the mortar of slime. Out of the cold ashes of lifeless creeds, however, shall rise *phœnixlike* the ancient Mysteries. No other institution has so completely satisfied the religious aspirations of humanity, for since the destruction of the Mysteries there never has been a religious code to which Plato could have subscribed. The unfolding of man's spiritual nature is as much an exact science as astronomy, medicine or jurisprudence. To accomplish this end religions were primarily established; and out of religion have come science, philosophy, and logic as methods whereby this divine purpose might be realized.

The Dying God shall rise again! The secret room in the House of the Hidden Places shall be rediscovered. The Pyramid again shall stand as the ideal emblem of solidarity, inspiration, aspiration, resurrection, and regeneration. As the passing sands of time bury civilization upon civilization beneath their weight, the Pyramid shall remain as the Visible covenant between Eternal Wisdom and the world. The time may yet come when the chants of the illumined shall be heard once more in its ancient passageways and the Master of the Hidden House shall await in the Silent Place for the coming of that man who, casting aside the fallacies of dogma and tenet, seeks simply Truth and will be satisfied with neither substitute nor counterfeit.

## Isis, the Virgin of the World

IT is especially fitting that a study of Hermetic symbolism should begin with a discussion of the symbols and attributes of the *Saitic Isis*. This is the Isis of Sais, famous for the inscription concerning her which appeared on the front of her temple in that city: "*I, Isis, am all that has been, that is or shall be; no mortal Man hath ever me unveiled*."

Plutarch affirms that many ancient authors believed this goddess to be the daughter of Hermes; others held the opinion that she was the child of Prometheus. Both of these demigods were noted for their divine wisdom. It is not improbable that her kinship to them is merely allegorical. Plutarch translates the name Isis to mean wisdom. Godfrey Higgins, in his Anacalypsis, derives the name of Isis from the Hebrew ישע, *Iso*, and the Greek ζωω, to save. Some authorities, however, for example, Richard Payne Knight (as stated in his *Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology*), believe the word to be of Northern extraction, possibly Scandinavian or Gothic. In these languages the name is pronounced *Isa*, meaning *ice*, or water in its most passive, crystallized, negative state.

This Egyptian deity under many names appears as the principle of natural fecundity among nearly all the religions of the ancient world. She was known as the goddess with ten thousand appellations and was metamorphosed by Christianity into the Virgin Mary, for Isis, although she gave birth to all living things--chief among them the Sun--still remained a virgin, according to the legendary accounts.

Apuleius in the eleventh book of *The Golden Ass* ascribes to the goddess the following statement concerning her powers and attributes: "Behold, **, I, moved by thy prayers, am present with thee; I, who am Nature, the parent of things, the queen of all the elements, the primordial progeny of ages, the supreme of Divinities, the sovereign of the spirits of the dead, the first of the celestials, and the uniform resemblance of Gods and Goddesses. I, who rule by my nod the luminous summits of the heavens, the salubrious breezes of the sea, and the deplorable silences of the realms beneath, and whose one divinity the whole orb of the earth venerates under a manifold form, by different rites and a variety of appellations. Hence the primogenial Phrygians call me Pessinuntica, the mother of the Gods, the Attic Aborigines, Cecropian Minerva; the floating Cyprians, Paphian Venus; the arrow-bearing Cretans, Diana Dictynna; the three-tongued Sicilians, Stygian Proserpine; and the Eleusinians, the ancient Goddess Ceres. Some also call me Juno, others Bellona, others Hecate, and others Rhamnusia. And those who are illuminated by the incipient rays of that divinity the Sun, when he rises, *viz.* the Ethiopians, the Arii, and the Egyptians skilled in ancient learning, worshipping me by ceremonies perfectly appropriate, call me by my true name, Queen Isis."

Le Plongeon believes that the Egyptian myth of Isis had a historical basis among the Mayas of Central America, where this goddess was known as Queen Moo. In Prince Coh the same author finds a correspondence to Osiris, the brother-husband of Isis. Le Plongeon's theory is that Mayan civilization was far more ancient than that of Egypt. After the death of Prince Coh, his widow, Queen Moo, fleeing to escape the wrath of his murderers, sought refuge among the Mayan colonies in Egypt, where she was accepted as their queen and was given the name of Isis. While Le Plongeon may be right, the possible historical queen sinks into insignificance when compared with the allegorical, symbolic World Virgin; and the fact that she appears among so many different races and peoples discredits the theory that she was a historical individual.

According to Sextus Empyricus, the Trojan war was fought over a statue of the moon goddess. For this lunar Helena, and not for a woman, the Greeks and Trojans struggled at the gates of Troy.

Several authors have attempted to prove that Isis, Osiris, Typhon, Nephthys, and Aroueris (Thoth, or Mercury) were grandchildren of the great Jewish patriarch Noah by his son Ham. But as the story of Noah and his ark is a cosmic allegory concerning the repopulation of planets at the beginning of each world period, this only makes it less likely that they were historical personages. According to Robert Fludd, the sun has three properties--*life*, *light*, and *heat*. These three vivify and vitalize the three worlds--spiritual, intellectual, and material. Therefore, it is said "*from one light, three lights*," i. e. the first three Master Masons. In all probability, Osiris represents the third, or material, aspect of solar activity, which by its beneficent influences vitalizes and enlivens the flora and fauna of the earth. Osiris is not the sun, but the sun is symbolic of the vital principle of Nature, which the ancients knew as Osiris. His symbol, therefore, was an opened eye, in honor of the Great Eye of the universe, the sun. Opposed to the active, radiant principle of impregnating fire, hear, and motion was the passive, receptive principle of Nature.

Modern science has proved that forms ranging in magnitude from solar systems to atoms are composed of positive, radiant nuclei surrounded by negative bodies that exist upon the emanations of the central life. From this allegory we have the story of Solomon and his wives, for Solomon is the sun and his wives and concubines are the planets, moons, asteroids, and other receptive bodies within his house--the solar mansion. Isis, represented in the Song of Solomon by the dark maid of Jerusalem, is symbolic of receptive Nature--the watery, maternal principle which creates all things out of herself after impregnation has been achieved by the virility of the sun.

In the ancient world the year had 360 days. The five extra days were gathered together by the God of Cosmic Intelligence to serve as the birthdays of the five gods and goddesses who are called the sons and daughters of Ham. Upon the first of these special days Osiris was born and upon the fourth of them Isis. (The number *four* shows the relation that this goddess bears to the earth and its elements.) Typhon, the Egyptian Demon or Spirit of the Adversary, was born upon the third day. Typhon is often symbolized by a crocodile; sometimes his body is a combination of crocodile and hog. Isis stands for knowledge and wisdom, and according to Plutarch the word *Typhon* means *insolence* and *pride*. Egotism, self-centeredness, and pride are the deadly enemies of understanding and truth. This part of the allegory is revealed.

After Osiris, here symbolized as the sun, had become King of Egypt and had given to his people the full advantage of his intellectual light, he continued his path through the heavens, visiting the peoples of other nations and converting all with whom he came in contact. Plutarch further asserts that the Greeks recognized in Osiris the same person whom they revered under the names of *Dionysos* and *Bacchus*. While he was away from his country, his brother, Typhon, the Evil One, like the Loki of Scandinavia, plotted against the Sun God to destroy him. Gathering seventy-two persons as fellow conspirators, he attained his nefarious end in a most subtle manner. He had a wonderful ornamented box made just the size of the body of Osiris. This he brought into a banquet hall where the gods and goddesses were feasting together. All admired the beautiful chest, and Typhon promised to give it to the one whose body fitted it most perfectly. One after another lay down in the box, but in disappointment rose again, until at last Osiris also tried. The moment he was in the chest Typhon and his accomplices nailed the cover down and sealed the cracks with molten lead. They then cast the box into the Nile, down which it floated to the sea. Plutarch states that the date upon which this occurred was the seventeenth day of the month Athyr, when the sun was in the constellation of Scorpio. This is most significant, for the Scorpion is the symbol of treachery. The time when Osiris entered the chest was also the same season that Noah entered the ark to escape from the Deluge.

*ISIS, QUEEN OF HEAVEN.*

*From Mosaize Historie der Hebreeuwse Kerke.*

*Diodorus writes of a famous inscription carved on a column at Nysa, in Arabia, wherein Isis described herself as follows: "I am Isis, Queen of this country. I was instructed by Mercury. No one can destroy the laws which I have established. I am the eldest daughter of Saturn, most ancient of the gods. I am the wife and sister of Osiris the King. I first made known to mortals the use of wheat. I am the mother of Orus the King. In my honor was the city of Bubaste built. Rejoice, O Egypt, rejoice, land that gave me birth!" (See "Morals and Dogma," by Albert Pike.)*

Plutarch further declares that the Pans and Satyrs (the Nature spirits and elementals) first discovered that Osiris had been murdered. These immediately raised an alarm, and from this incident the word panic, meaning *fright* or *amazement* of the multitudes, originated. Isis, upon receiving the news of her husband's murder, which she learned from some children who had seen the murderers making off with the box, at once robed herself in mourning and started forth in quest of him.

At length Isis discovered that the chest had floated to the coast of Byblos. There it had lodged in the branches of a tree, which in a short time miraculously grew up around the box. This so amazed the king of that country that he ordered the tree to be cut down and a pillar made from its trunk to support the roof of his palace. Isis, visiting Byblos, recovered the body of her husband, but it was again stolen by Typhon, who cut it into fourteen parts, which he scattered all over the earth. Isis, in despair, began gathering up the severed remains of her husband, but found only thirteen pieces. The fourteenth part (the phallus) she reproduced in gold, for the original had fallen into the river Nile and had been swallowed by a fish.

Typhon was later slain in battle by the son of Osiris. Some of the Egyptians believed that the souls of the gods were taken to heaven, where they shone forth as stars. It was supposed that the soul of Isis gleamed from the Dog Star, while Typhon became the constellation of the Bear. It is doubtful, however, whether this idea was ever generally accepted.

Among the Egyptians, Isis is often represented with a headdress consisting of the empty throne chair of her murdered husband, and this peculiar structure was accepted during certain dynasties as her hieroglyphic. The headdresses of the Egyptians have great symbolic and emblematic importance, for they represent the auric bodies of the superhuman intelligences, and are used in the same way that the nimbus, halo, and aureole are used in Christian religious art. Frank C. Higgins, a well-known Masonic symbolist, has astutely noted that the ornate headgears of certain gods and Pharaohs are inclined backward at the same angle as the earth's axis. The robes, insignia, jewels, and ornamentations of the ancient hierophants symbolized the spiritual energies radiating from the human body. Modern science is rediscovering many of the lost secrets of Hermetic philosophy. One of these is the ability to gauge the mental development, the soul qualities, and the physical health of an individual from the streamers of semi-visible electric force which pour through the surface of the skin of every human being at all times during his life. (For details concerning a scientific process for making the auric emanations visible, see *The Human Atmosphere* by Dr. Walter J. Kilner.)

Isis is sometimes symbolized by the head of a cow; occasionally the entire animal is her symbol. The first gods of the Scandinavians were licked out of blocks of ice by the Mother Cow (Audhumla), who symbolized the principle of natural nutriment and fecundity because of her milk. Occasionally Isis is represented as a bird. She often carries in one hand the *crux ansata*, the symbol of eternal life, and in the other the flowered scepter, symbolic of her authority.

Thoth Hermes Trismegistus, the founder of Egyptian learning, the Wise Man of the ancient world, gave to the priests and philosophers of antiquity the secrets which have been preserved to this day in myth and legend. These allegories and emblematic figures conceal the secret formulæ for spiritual, mental, moral, and physical regeneration commonly known as the Mystic Chemistry of the Soul (alchemy). These sublime truths were communicated to the initiates of the Mystery Schools, but were concealed from the profane. The latter, unable to understand the abstract philosophical tenets, worshiped the concrete sculptured idols which were emblematic of these secret truths. The wisdom and secrecy of Egypt are epitomized in the Sphinx, which has preserved its secret from the seekers of a hundred generations. The mysteries of Hermeticism, the great spiritual truths hidden from the world by the ignorance of the world, and the keys of the secret doctrines of the ancient philosophers, are all symbolized by the Virgin Isis. Veiled from head to foot, she reveals her wisdom only to the tried and initiated few who have earned the right to enter her sacred presence, tear from the veiled figure of Nature its shroud of obscurity, and stand face to face with the Divine Reality.

The explanations in these pages of the symbols peculiar to the Virgin Isis are based (unless otherwise noted) on selections from a free translation of the fourth book of *Bibliotèque des Philosophes Hermétiques*, entitled "The Hermetical Signification of the Symbols and Attributes of Isis," with interpolations by the compiler to amplify and clarify the text.

The statues of Isis were decorated with the sun, moon, and stars, and many emblems pertaining to the earth, over which Isis was believed to rule (as the guardian spirit of Nature personified). Several images of the goddess have been found upon which the marks of her dignity and position were still intact. According to the ancient philosophers, she personified Universal Nature, the mother of all productions. The deity was generally represented as a partly nude woman, often pregnant, sometimes loosely covered with a garment either of green or black color, or of four different shades intermingled-black, white, yellow, and red.

Apuleius describes her as follows: "In the first place, then, her most copious and long hairs, being gradually intorted, and promiscuously scattered on her divine neck, were softly defluous. A multiform crown, consisting of various flowers, bound the sublime summit of her head. And in the middle of the crown, just on her forehead, there was a smooth orb resembling a mirror, or rather a white refulgent light, which indicated that she was the moon. Vipers rising up after the manner of furrows, environed the crown on the right hand and on the left, and Cerealian ears of corn were also extended from above. Her garment was of many colours, and woven from the finest flax, and was at one time lucid with a white splendour, at another yellow from the flower of crocus, and at another flaming with a rosy redness. But that which most excessively dazzled my sight, was a very black robe, fulgid with a dark splendour, and which, spreading round and passing under her right side, and ascending to her left shoulder, there rose protuberant like the center of a shield, the dependent part of the robe falling in many folds, and having small knots of fringe, gracefully flowing in its extremities. Glittering stars were dispersed through the embroidered border of the robe, and through the whole of its surface: and the full moon, shining in the middle of the stars, breathed forth flaming fires. Nevertheless, a crown, wholly consisting of flowers and fruits of every kind, adhered with indivisible connexion to the border of that conspicuous robe, in all its undulating motions. What she carried in her hands also consisted of things of a very different nature. For her right hand, indeed, bore a brazen rattle sistrum through the narrow lamina of which bent like a belt, certain rods passing, produced a sharp triple sound, through the vibrating motion of her arm. An oblong vessel, in the shape of a boat, depended from her left hand, on the handle of which, in that part in which it was conspicuous, an asp raised its erect head and largely swelling neck. And shoes woven from the leaves of the victorious palm tree covered her immortal feet."

The green color alludes to the vegetation which covers the face of the earth, and therefore represents the robe of Nature. The black represents death and corruption as being the way to a new life and generation. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John iii. 3.) White, yellow, and red signify the three principal colors of the alchemical, Hermetical, universal medicine after the blackness of its putrefaction is over.

*THE SISTRUM.*

*"The sistrum is designed   * to represent to us, that every thing must be kept in continual agitation, and never cease from motion; that they ought to be mused and well-shaken, whenever they begin to grow drowsy as it were, and to droop in their motion. For, say they, the sound of these sistra averts and drives away Typho; meaning hereby, that as corruption clogs and puts a stop to the regular course of nature; so generation, by the means of motion, loosens it again, and restores it to its former vigour. Now the outer surface of this instrument is of a convex figure, as within its circumference are contained those four chords or bars only three shown, which make such a rattling when they are shaken--nor is this without its meaning; for that part of the universe which is subject to generation and corruption is contained within the sphere of the moon; and whatever motions or changes may happen therein, they are all effected by the different combinations of the four elementary bodies, fire, earth, water, and air--moreover, upon the upper part of the convex surface of the sistrum is carved the effigies of a cat with a human visage, as on the lower edge of it, under those moving chords, is engraved on the one side the face of Isis, and on the other that of Nephthys--by the faces symbolically representing generation and corruption (which, as has been already observed, is nothing but the motion and alteration of the four elements one amongst another),"*

*(From Plutarch's Isis and Osiris.)*

The ancients gave the name Isis to one of their occult medicines; therefore the description here given relates somewhat to chemistry. Her black drape also signifies that the moon, or the lunar humidity--the sophic universal mercury and the operating substance of Nature in alchemical terminology--has no light of its own, but receives its light, its fire, and its vitalizing force from the sun. Isis was the image or representative of the Great Works of the wise men: the Philosopher's Stone, the Elixir of Life, and the Universal Medicine.

Other hieroglyphics seen in connection with Isis are no less curious than those already described, but it is impossible to enumerate all, for many symbols were used interchangeably by the Egyptian Hermetists. The goddess often wore upon her head a hat made of cypress branches, to signify mourning for her dead husband and also for the physical death which she caused every creature to undergo in order to receive a new life in posterity or a periodic resurrection. The head of Isis is sometimes ornamented with a crown of gold or a garland of olive leaves, as conspicuous marks of her sovereignty as queen of the world and mistress of the entire universe. The crown of gold signifies also the aurific unctuosity or sulphurous fatness of the solar and vital fires which she dispenses to every individual by a continual circulation of the elements, this circulation being symbolized by the musical rattle which she carries in her hand. This sistrum is also the yonic symbol of purity.

A serpent interwoven among the olive leaves on her head, devouring its own tail, denotes that the aurific unctuosity was soiled with the venom of terrestrial corruption which surrounded it and must be mortified and purified by seven planetary circulations or purifications called *flying eagles* (alchemical terminology) in order to make it medicinal for the restoration of health. (Here the emanations from the sun are recognized as a medicine for the healing of human ills.) The seven planetary circulations are represented by the circumambulations of the Masonic lodge; by the marching of the Jewish priests seven times around the walls of Jericho, and of the Mohammedan priests seven times around the Kabba at Mecca. From the crown of gold project three horns of plenty, signifying the abundance of the gifts of Nature proceeding from one root having its origin in the heavens (head of Isis).

In this figure the pagan naturalists represent all the vital powers of the three kingdoms and families of sublunary nature-mineral, plant, and animal (man considered as an animal). At one of her ears was the moon and at the other the sun, to indicate that these two were the agent and patient, or father and mother principles of all natural objects; and that Isis, or Nature, makes use of these two luminaries to communicate her powers to the whole empire of animals, vegetables, and minerals. On the back of her neck were the characters of the planets and the signs of the zodiac which assisted the planets in their functions. This signified that the heavenly influences directed the destinies of the principles and sperms of all things, because they were the governors of all sublunary bodies, which they transformed into little worlds made in the image of the greater universe.

Isis holds in her right hand a small sailing ship with the spindle of a spinning wheel for its mast. From the top of the mast projects a water jug, its handle shaped like a serpent swelled with venom. This indicates that Isis steers the bark of life, full of troubles and miseries, on the stormy ocean of Time. The spindle symbolizes the fact that she spins and cuts the thread of Life. These emblems further signify that Isis abounds in humidity, by means of which she nourishes all natural bodies, preserving them from the heat of the sun by humidifying them with nutritious moisture from the atmosphere. Moisture supports vegetation, but this subtle humidity (life ether) is always more or less infected by some venom proceeding from corruption or decay. It must be purified by being brought into contact with the invisible cleansing fire of Nature. This fire digests, perfects, and revitalizes this substance, in order that the humidity may become a universal medicine to heal and renew all the bodies in Nature.

The serpent throws off its skin annually and is thereby renewed (symbolic of the resurrection of the spiritual life from the material nature). This renewal of the earth takes place every spring, when the vivifying spirit of the sun returns to the countries of the Northern Hemisphere,

The symbolic Virgin carries in her left hand a sistrum and a cymbal, or square frame of metal, which when struck gives the key-note of Nature (Fa); sometimes also an olive branch, to indicate the harmony she preserves among natural things with her regenerating power. By the processes of death and corruption she gives life to a number of creatures of diverse forms through periods of perpetual change. The cymbal is made square instead of the usual triangular shape in order to symbolize that all things are transmuted and regenerated according to the harmony of the four elements.

Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom believed that if a physician could establish harmony among the elements of earth, fire, air, and water, and unite them into a stone (the Philosopher's Stone) symbolized by the six-pointed star or two interlaced triangles, he would possess the means of healing all disease. Dr. Bacstrom further stated that there was no doubt in his mind that the universal, omnipresent fire (spirit) of Nature: "does all and is all in all." By attraction, repulsion, motion, heat, sublimation, evaporation, exsiccation, inspissation, coagulation, and fixation, the Universal Fire (Spirit) manipulates matter, and manifests throughout creation. Any individual who can understand these principles and adapt them to the three departments of Nature becomes a true philosopher.

From the right breast of Isis protruded a bunch of grapes and from, the left an ear of corn or a sheaf of wheat, golden in color. These indicate that Nature is the source of nutrition for plant, animal, and human life, nourishing all things from herself. The golden color in the wheat (corn) indicates that in the sunlight or spiritual gold is concealed the first sperm of all life.

On the girdle surrounding the upper part of the body of the statue appear a number of mysterious emblems. The girdle is joined together in front by four golden plates (the elements), placed in the form of a square. This signified that Isis, or Nature, the first matter (alchemical terminology), was the essence-of the four elements (life, light, heat, and force), which quintessence generated all things. Numerous stars are represented on this girdle, thereby indicating their influence in darkness as well as the influence of the sun in light. Isis is the Virgin immortalized in the constellation of Virgo, where the World Mother is placed with the serpent under her feet and a crown. of stars on her head. In her arms she carries a sheaf of grain and sometimes the young Sun God.

The statue of Isis was placed on a pedestal of dark stone ornamented with rams' heads. Her feet trod upon a number of venomous reptiles. This indicates that Nature has power to free from acidity or saltness all corrosives and to overcome all impurities from terrestrial corruption adhering to bodies. The rams' heads indicate that the most auspicious time for the generation of life is during the period when the sun passes through the sign of Aries. The serpents under her feet indicate that Nature is inclined to preserve life and to heal disease by expelling impurities and corruption.

In this sense the axioms known to the ancient philosophers are verified; namely:

*Nature contains Nature,  
Nature rejoices in her own nature,  
Nature surmounts Nature;  
Nature cannot be amended but in her own nature*.

Therefore, in contemplating the statue of Isis, we must not lose sight of the occult sense of its allegories; otherwise, the Virgin remains an inexplicable enigma.

From a golden ring on her left arm a line descends, to the end of which is suspended a deep box filled with flaming coals and incense. Isis, or Nature personified, carries with her the sacred fire, religiously preserved and kept burning in. a special temple by the vestal virgins. This fire is the genuine, immortal flame of Nature--ethereal, essential, the author of life. The inconsumable oil; the balsam of life, so much praised by the wise and so often referred to in the Scriptures, is frequently symbolized as the fuel of this immortal flame.

*THOTH, THE DOG-HEADED.*

*From Lenoir's La Franche-Maconnerie.*

*Aroueris, or Thoth, one of the five immortals, protected the infant Horus from the wrath of Typhon after the murder of Osiris. He also revised the ancient Egyptian calendar by increasing the year from 360 days to 365. Thoth Hermes was called "The Dog-Headed" because of his faithfulness and integrity. He is shown crowned with a solar nimbus, carrying in one hand the Crux Ansata, the symbol of eternal life, and in the other a serpent-wound staff symbolic of his dignity as counselor of the gods.*

From the right arm of the figure also descends a thread, to the end of which is fastened a pair of scales, to denote the exactitude of Nature in her weights and measures. Isis is often represented as the symbol of justice, because Nature is eternally consistent.

The World Virgin is sometimes shown standing between two great pillars--the Jachin and Boaz of Freemasonry--symbolizing the fact that Nature attains productivity by means of polarity. As wisdom personified, Isis stands between the pillars of opposites, demonstrating that understanding is always found at the point of equilibrium and that truth is often crucified between the two thieves of apparent contradiction.

*THE EGYPTIAN MADONNA.*

*From Lenoir's La Franche-Maconnerie.*

*Isis is shown with her son Horus in her arms. She is crowned with the lunar orb, ornamented with the horns of rams or bulls. Orus, or Horus as he is more generally known, was the son of Isis and Osiris. He was the god of time, hours, days, and this narrow span of life recognized as mortal existence. In all probability, the four sons of Horus represent the four kingdoms of Nature. It was Horus who finally avenged the murder of his father, Osiris, by slaying Typhon, the spirit of Evil.*

The sheen of gold in her dark hair indicates that while she is lunar, her power is due to the sun's rays, from which she secures her ruddy complexion. As the moon is robed in the reflected light of the sun, so Isis, like the virgin of Revelation, is clothed in the glory of solar luminosity. Apuleius states that while he was sleeping he beheld the venerable goddess Isis rising out of the ocean. The ancients realized that the primary forms of life first came out of water, and modem science concurs in this view. H. G. Wells, in his *Outline of History*, describing primitive life on the earth, states: "But though the ocean and intertidal water already swarmed with life, the land above the high-tide line was still, so far as we can guess, a stony wilderness without a trace of life." In the next chapter he adds: "Wherever the shore-line ran there was life, and that life went on in and by and with water as its home, its medium, and its fundamental necessity." The ancients believed that the universal sperm proceeded from warm vapor, humid but fiery. The veiled Isis, whose very coverings represent vapor, is symbolic of this humidity, which is the carrier or vehicle for the sperm life of the sun, represented by a child in her arms. Because the sun, moon, and stars in setting appear to sink into the sea and also because the water receives their rays into itself, the sea was believed to be the breeding ground for the sperm of living things. This sperm is generated from the combination of the influences of the celestial bodies; hence Isis is sometimes represented as pregnant.

Frequently the statue of Isis was accompanied by the figure of a large black and white ox. The ox represents either Osiris as Taurus, the bull of the zodiac, or Apis, an animal sacred to Osiris because of its peculiar markings and colorings. Among the Egyptians, the bull was a beast of burden. Hence the presence of the animal was a reminder of the labors patiently performed by Nature that all creatures may have life and health. Harpocrates, the God of Silence, holding his fingers to his mouth, often accompanies the statue of Isis. He warns all to keep the secrets of the wise from those unfit to know them.

The Druids of Britain and Gaul had a deep knowledge concerning the mysteries of Isis and worshiped her under the symbol of the moon. Godfrey Higgins considers it a mistake to regard Isis as synonymous with the moon. The moon was chosen for Isis because of its dominion over water. The Druids considered the sun to be the father and the moon the mother of all things. By means of these symbols they worshiped Universal Nature.

The figure of Isis is sometimes used to represent the occult and magical arts, such as necromancy, invocation, sorcery, and thaumaturgy. In one of the myths concerning her, Isis is said to have conjured the invincible God of Eternities, *Ra*, to tell her his secret and sacred name, which he did. This name is equivalent to the Lost Word of Masonry. By means of this Word, a magician can demand obedience from the invisible and superior deities. The priests of Isis became adepts in the use of the unseen forces of Nature. They understood hypnotism, mesmerism, and similar practices long before the modem world dreamed of their existence.

Plutarch describes the requisites of a follower of Isis in this manner: "For as 'tis not the length of the beard, or the coarseness of the habit which makes a philosopher, so neither will those frequent shavings, or the mere wearing of a linen vestment constitute a votary of Isis; but he alone is a true servant or follower of this Goddess, who after he has heard, and been made acquainted in a proper manner with the history of the actions of these Gods, searches into the hidden truths which he concealed under them, and examines the whole by the dictates of reason and philosophy."

During the Middle Ages the troubadours of Central Europe preserved in song the legends of this Egyptian goddess. They composed sonnets to the most beautiful woman in all the world. Though few ever discovered her identity, she was Sophia, the Virgin of Wisdom, whom all the philosophers of the world have wooed. Isis represents the mystery of motherhood, which the ancients recognized as the most apparent proof of Nature's omniscient wisdom and God's overshadowing power. To the modern seeker she is the epitome of the Great Unknown, and only those who unveil her will be able to solve the mysteries of life, death, generation, and regeneration.

**MUMMIFICATION OF THE EGYPTIAN DEAD**

Servius, commenting on Virgil's *Æneid*, observes that "the wise Egyptians took care to embalm their bodies, and deposit them in catacombs, in order that the soul might be preserved for a long time in connection with the body, and might not soon be alienated; while the Romans, with an opposite design, committed the remains of their dead to the funeral pile, intending that the vital spark might immediately be restored to the general element, or return to its pristine nature." (From Prichard's *An Analysis of the Egyptian Mythology*.)

No complete records are available which give the secret doctrine of the Egyptians concerning the relationship existing between the spirit, or consciousness, and the body which it inhabited.

*OSIRIS, KING OF THE UNDERWORLD.*

*Osiris is often represented with the lower par, of his body enclosed in a mummy case or wrapped about with funeral bandages. Man's spirit consists of three distinct parts, only one of which incarnates in physical form. The human body was considered to be a tomb or sepulcher of this incarnating spirit. Therefore Osiris, a symbol of the incarnating ego, was represented with the lower half of his body mummified to indicate that he was the living spirit of man enclosed within the material form symbolized by the mummy case.*

*There is a romance between the active principle of God and the passive principle of Nature. From the union of these two principles is produced the rational creation. Man is a composite creature. From his Father (the active principle) he inherits his Divine Spirit, the fire of aspiration--that immortal part of himself which rises triumphant from the broken clay of mortality: that part which remains after the natural organisms have disintegrated or have been regenerated. From his Mother (the passive principle) he inherits his body--that part over which the laws of Nature have control: his humanity, his mortal personality, his appetites, his feelings, and his emotions. The Egyptians also believed that Osiris was the river Nile and that Isis (his sister-wife) was the contiguous land, which, when inundated by the river, bore fruit and harvest. The murky water of the Nile were believed to account for the blackness of Osiris, who was generally symbolized as being of ebony hue.*

It is reasonably certain, however, that Pythagoras, who had been initiated in the Egyptian temples, when he promulgated the doctrine of metempsychosis, restated, in part at least, the teachings of the Egyptian initiates. The popular supposition that the Egyptians mummified their dead in order to preserve the form for a physical resurrection is untenable in the light of modern knowledge regarding their philosophy of death. In the fourth book of *On Abstinence from Animal Food*, Porphyry describes an Egyptian custom of purifying the dead by removing the contents of the abdominal cavity, which they placed in a separate chest. He then reproduces the following oration which had been translated out of the Egyptian tongue by Euphantus: "O sovereign Sun, and all ye Gods who impart life to men, receive me, and deliver me to the eternal Gods as a cohabitant. For I have always piously worshipped those divinities which were pointed out to me by my parents as long as I lived in this age, and have likewise always honored those who procreated my body. And, with respect to other men, I have never slain any one, nor defrauded any one of what he deposited with me, nor have I committed any other atrocious deed. If, therefore, during my life I have acted erroneously, by eating or drinking things which it is unlawful to cat or drink, I have not erred through myself, but through these" (pointing to the chest which contained the viscera). The removal of the organs identified as the seat of the appetites was considered equivalent to the purification of the body from their evil influences.

So literally did the early Christians interpret their Scriptures that they preserved the bodies of their dead by pickling them in salt water, so that on the day of resurrection the spirit of the dead might reenter a complete and perfectly preserved body. Believing that the incisions necessary to the embalming process and the removal of the internal organs would prevent the return of the spirit to its body, the Christians buried their dead without resorting to the more elaborate mummification methods employed by the Egyptian morticians.

In his work on *Egyptian Magic*, S.S.D.D. hazards the following speculation concerning the esoteric purposes behind the practice of mummification. "There is every reason to suppose," he says, "that only those who had received some grade of initiation were mummified; for it is certain that, in the eyes of the Egyptians, mummification effectually prevented reincarnation. Reincarnation was necessary to imperfect souls, to those who had failed to pass the tests of initiation; but for those who had the Will and the capacity to enter the Secret Adytum, there was seldom necessity for that liberation of the soul which is said to be effected by the destruction of the body. The body of the Initiate was therefore preserved after death as a species of Talisman or material basis for the manifestation of the Soul upon earth."

During the period of its inception mummification was limited to the Pharaoh and such other persons of royal rank as presumably partook of the attributes of the great Osiris, the divine, mummified King of the Egyptian Underworld.

## The Sun, A Universal Deity

THE adoration of the sun was one of the earliest and most natural forms of religious expression. Complex modern theologies are merely involvements and amplifications of this simple aboriginal belief. The primitive mind, recognizing the beneficent power of the solar orb, adored it as the proxy of the Supreme Deity. Concerning the origin of sun worship, Albert Pike makes the following concise statement in his *Morals and Dogma*: "To them aboriginal peoples he the sun was the innate fire of bodies, the fire of Nature. Author of Life, heat, and ignition, he was to them the efficient cause of all generation, for without him there was no movement, no existence, no form. He was to them immense, indivisible, imperishable, and everywhere present. It was their need of light, and of his creative energy, that was felt by all men; and nothing was more fearful to them than his absence. His beneficent influences caused his identification with the Principle of Good; and the BRAHMA of the Hindus, and MITHRAS of the Persians, and ATHOM, AMUN, PHTHA, and OSIRIS, of the Egyptians, the BEL of the Chaldeans, the ADONAI of the Phœnicians, the ADONIS and APOLLO of the Greeks, became but personifications of the Sun, the regenerating Principle, image of that fecundity which perpetuates and rejuvenates the world's existence."

Among all the nations of antiquity, altars, mounds, and temples were dedicated to the worship of the orb of day. The ruins of these sacred places yet remain, notable among them being the pyramids of Yucatan and Egypt, the snake mounds of the American Indians, the Zikkurats of Babylon and Chaldea, the round towers of Ireland, and the massive rings of uncut stone in Britain and Normandy. The Tower of Babel, which, according to the Scriptures, was built so that man might reach up to God, was probably an astronomical observatory.

Many early priests and prophets, both pagan and Christian, were versed in astronomy and astrology; their writings are best understood when read in the light of these ancient sciences. With the growth of man's knowledge of the constitution and periodicity of the heavenly bodies, astronomical principles and terminology were introduced into his religious systems. The tutelary gods were given planetary thrones, the celestial bodies being named after the deities assigned to them. The fixed stars were divided into constellations, and through these constellations wandered the sun and its planets, the latter with their accompanying satellites.

**THE SOLAR TRINITY**

The sun, as supreme among the celestial bodies visible to the astronomers of antiquity, was assigned to the highest of the gods and became symbolic of the supreme authority of the Creator Himself. From a deep philosophic consideration of the powers and principles of the sun has come the concept of the Trinity as it is understood in the world today. The tenet of a Triune Divinity is not peculiar to Christian or Mosaic theology, but forms a conspicuous part of the dogma of the greatest religions of both ancient and modern times. The Persians, Hindus, Babylonians, and Egyptians had their Trinities. In every instance these represented the threefold form of one Supreme Intelligence. In modern Masonry, the Deity is symbolized by an equilateral triangle, its three sides representing the primary manifestations of the Eternal One who is Himself represented as a tiny flame, called by the Hebrews *Yod* (י). Jakob Böhme, the Teutonic mystic, calls the Trinity *The Three Witnesses*, by means of which the Invisible is made known to the visible, tangible universe.

The origin of the Trinity is obvious to anyone who will observe the daily manifestations of the sun. This orb, being the symbol of all Light, has three distinct phases: rising, midday, and setting. The philosophers therefore divided the life of all things into three distinct parts: growth, maturity, and decay. Between the twilight of dawn and the twilight of evening is the high noon of resplendent glory. God the Father, the Creator of the world, is symbolized by the dawn. His color is blue, because the sun rising in the morning is veiled in blue mist. God the Son he Illuminating One sent to bear witness of His Father before all the worlds, is the celestial globe at noonday, radiant and magnificent, the maned Lion of Judah, the Golden-haired Savior of the World. Yellow is His color and His power is without end. God the Holy Ghost is the sunset phase, when the orb of day, robed in flaming red, rests for a moment upon the horizon line and then vanishes into the darkness of the night to wandering the lower worlds and later rise again triumphant from the embrace of darkness.

To the Egyptians the sun was the symbol of immortality, for, while it died each night, it rose again with each ensuing dawn. Not only has the sun this diurnal activity, but it also has its annual pilgrimage, during which time it passes successively through the twelve celestial houses of the heavens, remaining in each for thirty days. Added to these it has a third path of travel, which is called the *precession of the equinoxes*, in which it retrogrades around the zodiac through the twelve signs at the rate of one degree every seventy-two years.

Concerning the annual passage of the sun through the twelve houses of the heavens, Robert Hewitt Brown, 32°, makes the following statement: "The Sun, as he pursued his way among these 'living creatures' of the zodiac, was said, in allegorical language, either to assume the nature of or to triumph over the sign he entered. The sun thus became a Bull in Taurus, and was worshipped as such by the Egyptians under the name of Apis, and by the Assyrians as Bel, Baal, or Bul. In Leo the sun became a Lion-slayer, Hercules, and an Archer in Sagittarius. In Pisces, the Fishes, he was a fish--Dagon, or Vishnu, the fish-god of the Philistines and Hindoos."

A careful analysis of the religious systems of pagandom uncovers much evidence of the fact that its priests served the solar energy and that their Supreme Deity was in every case this Divine Light personified. Godfrey Higgins, after thirty years of inquiry into the origin of religious beliefs, is of the opinion that "All the Gods of antiquity resolved themselves into the solar fire, sometimes itself as God, or sometimes an emblem or shekinah of that higher principle, known by the name of the creative Being or God."

The Egyptian priests in many of their ceremonies wore the skins of lions, which were symbols of the solar orb, owing to the fact that the sun is exalted, dignified, and most fortunately placed in the constellation of Leo, which he rules and which was at one time the keystone of the celestial arch. Again, Hercules is the Solar Deity, for as this mighty hunter performed his twelve labors, so the sun, in traversing the twelve houses of the zodiacal band, performs during his pilgrimage twelve essential and benevolent labors for the human race and for Nature in general, Hercules, like the Egyptian priests, wore the skin of a lion for a girdle. Samson, the Hebrew hero, as his name implies, is also a solar deity. His fight with the Nubian lion, his battles with the Philistines, who represent the Powers of Darkness, and his memorable feat of carrying off the gates of Gaza, all refer to aspects of solar activity. Many of the ancient peoples had more than one solar deity; in fact, all of the gods and goddesses were supposed to partake, in part at least, of the sun's effulgence.

*THE LION OF THE SUN.*

*From Maurice's Indian Antiquities.*

*The sun rising over the back of the lion or, astrologically, in the back of the lion, has always been considered symbolic of power and rulership. A symbol very similar to the one above appears on the flag of Persia, whose people have always been sun worshipers. Kings and emperors have frequently associated their terrestrial power with the celestial Power of the solar orb, and have accepted the sun, or one of its symbolic beasts or birds, as their emblem. Witness the lion of the Great Mogul and the eagles of Cæsar and Napoleon.*

The golden ornaments used by the priestcraft of the various world religions are again a subtle reference to the solar energy, as are also the crowns of kings. In ancient times, crowns had a number of points extending outward like the rays of the sun, but modern conventionalism has, in many cases, either removed the points or else bent: them inward, gathered them together, and placed an orb or cross upon the point where they meet. Many of the ancient prophets, philosophers, and dignitaries carried a scepter, the upper end of which bore a representation of the solar globe surrounded by emanating rays. All the kingdoms of earth were but copies of the kingdoms of Heaven, and the kingdoms of Heaven were best symbolized by the solar kingdom, in which the sun was the supreme ruler, the planets his privy council, and all Nature the subjects of his empire.

*THE WINGED GLOBE OF EGYPT.*

*From Maurice's Indian Antiquities.*

*This symbol, which appears over the Pylons or gates of many Egyptian palaces and temples, is emblematic of the three persons of the Egyptian Trinity. The wings, the serpents, and the solar orb are the insignia of Ammon, Ra, and Osiris.*

Many deities have been associated with the sun. The Greeks believed that Apollo, Bacchus, Dionysos, Sabazius, Hercules, Jason, Ulysses, Zeus, Uranus, and Vulcan partook of either the visible or invisible attributes of the sun. The Norwegians regarded Balder the Beautiful as a solar deity, and Odin is often connected with the celestial orb, especially because of his one eye. Among the Egyptians, Osiris, Ra, Anubis, Hermes, and even the mysterious Ammon himself had points of resemblance with the solar disc. Isis was the mother of the sun, and even Typhon, the Destroyer, was supposed to be a form of solar energy. The Egyptian sun myth finally centered around the person of a mysterious deity called *Serapis*. The two Central American deities, *Tezcatlipoca* and *Quetzalcoatl*, while often associated with the winds, were also undoubtedly solar gods.

In Masonry the sun has many symbols. One expression of the solar energy is Solomon, whose name SOL-OM-ON is the name for the Supreme Light in three different languages. Hiram Abiff, the CHiram (Hiram) of the Chaldees, is also a solar deity, and the story of his attack and murder by the Ruffians, with its solar interpretation, will be found in the chapter *The Hiramic Legend*. A striking example of the important part which the sun plays in the symbols and rituals of Freemasonry is given by George Oliver, D.D., in his *Dictionary of Symbolical Masonry*, as follows:

"The sun rises in the east, and in the east is the place for the Worshipful Master. As the sun is the source of all light and warmth, so should the Worshipful Master enliven and warm the brethren to their work. Among the ancient Egyptians the sun was the symbol of divine providence." The hierophants of the Mysteries were adorned with many. insignia emblematic of solar power. The sunbursts of gilt embroidery on the back of the vestments of the Catholic priesthood signify that the priest is also an emissary and representative of *Sol Invictus*.

**CHRISTIANITY AND THE SUN**

For reasons which they doubtless considered sufficient, those who chronicled the life and acts of Jesus found it advisable to metamorphose him into a solar deity. The historical Jesus was forgotten; nearly all the salient incidents recorded in the four Gospels have their correlations in the movements, phases, or functions of the heavenly bodies.

Among other allegories borrowed by Christianity from pagan antiquity is the story of the beautiful, blue-eyed Sun God, with His golden hair falling upon His shoulders, robed from head to foot in spotless white and carrying in His arms the Lamb of God, symbolic of the vernal equinox. This handsome youth is a composite of Apollo, Osiris, Orpheus, Mithras, and Bacchus, for He has certain characteristics in common with each of these pagan deities.

The philosophers of Greece and Egypt divided the life of the sun during the year into four parts; therefore they symbolized the Solar Man by four different figures. When He was born in the winter solstice, the Sun God was symbolized as a dependent infant who in some mysterious manner had managed to escape the Powers of Darkness seeking to destroy Him while He was still in the cradle of winter. The sun, being weak at this season of the year, had no golden rays (or locks of hair), but the survival of the light through the darkness of winter was symbolized by one tiny hair which alone adorned the head of the Celestial Child. (As the birth of the sun took place in Capricorn, it was often represented as being suckled by a goat.)

At the vernal equinox, the sun had grown to be a beautiful youth. His golden hair hung in ringlets on his shoulders and his light, as Schiller said, extended to all parts of infinity. At the summer solstice, the sun became a strong man, heavily bearded, who, in the prime of maturity, symbolized the fact that Nature at this period of the year is strongest and most fecund. At the autumnal equinox, the sun was pictured as an aged man, shuffling along with bended back and whitened locks into the oblivion of winter darkness. Thus, twelve months were assigned to the sun as the length of its life. During this period it circled the twelve signs of the zodiac in a magnificent triumphal march. When fall came, it entered, like Samson, into the house of Delilah (Virgo), where its rays were cut off and it lost its strength. In Masonry, the cruel winter months are symbolized by three murderers who sought to destroy the God of Light and Truth.

The coming of the sun was hailed with joy; the time of its departure was viewed as a period to be set aside for sorrow and unhappiness. This glorious, radiant orb of day, the true light "which lighteth every man who cometh into the world," the supreme benefactor, who raised all things from the dead, who fed the hungry multitudes, who stilled the tempest, who after dying rose again and restored all things to life--this Supreme Spirit of humanitarianism and philanthropy is known to Christendom as Christ, the Redeemer of worlds, the Only Begotten of The Father, the Word made Flesh, and the Hope of Glory.

**THE BIRTHDAY OF THE SUN**

The pagans set aside the 25th of December as the birthday of the Solar Man. They rejoiced, feasted, gathered in processions, and made offerings in the temples. The darkness of winter was over and the glorious son of light was returning to the Northern Hemisphere. With his last effort the old Sun God had torn down the house of the Philistines (the Spirits of Darkness) and had cleared the way for the new sun who was born that day from the depths of the earth amidst the symbolic beasts of the lower world.

Concerning this season of celebration, an anonymous Master of Arts of Balliol College, Oxford, in his scholarly treatise, *Mankind Their Origin and Destiny*, says: "The Romans also had their solar festival, and their games of the circus in honor of the birth of the god of day. It took place the eighth day before the kalends of January--that is, on December 25. Servius, in his commentary on verse 720 of the seventh book of the Æneid, in which Virgil speaks of the new sun, says that, properly speaking, the sun is new on the 8th of the Kalends of January-that is, December 25. In the time of Leo I. (Leo, Serm. xxi., De Nativ. Dom. p. 148), some of the Fathers of the Church said that 'what rendered the festival (of Christmas) venerable was less the birth of Jesus Christ than the return, and, as they expressed it, the new birth of the sun.' It was on the same day that the birth of the Invincible Sun (Natalis solis invicti), was celebrated at Rome, as can be seen in the Roman calendars, published in the reign of Constantine and of Julian (Hymn to the Sun, p. 155). This epithet 'Invictus' is the same as the Persians gave to this same god, whom they worshipped by the name of Mithra, and whom they caused to be born in a grotto (Justin. Dial. cum Trips. p. 305), just as he is represented as being born in a stable, under the name of Christ, by the Christians."

Concerning the Catholic Feast of the Assumption and its parallel in astronomy, the same author adds: "At the end of eight months, when the sun-god, having increased, traverses the eighth sign, he absorbs the celestial Virgin in his fiery course, and she disappears in the midst of the luminous rays and the glory of her son. This phenomenon, which takes place every year about the middle of August, gave rise to a festival which still exists, and in which it is supposed that the mother of Christ, laying aside her earthly life, is associated with the glory of her son, and is placed at his side in the heavens. The Roman calendar of Columella (Col. 1. II. cap. ii. p. 429) marks the death or disappearance of Virgo at this period. The sun, he says, passes into Virgo on the thirteenth day before the kalends of September. This is where the Catholics place the Feast of the Assumption, or the reunion of the Virgin to her Son. This feast was formerly called the feast of the Passage of the Virgin (Beausobre, tome i. p. 350); and in the Library of the Fathers (Bibl. Part. vol. II. part ii. p. 212) we have an account of the Passage of the Blessed Virgin. The ancient Greeks and Romans fix the assumption of Astraea, who is also this same Virgin, on that day."

This Virgin mother, giving birth to the Sun God which Christianity has so faithfully preserved, is a reminder of the inscription concerning her Egyptian prototype, Isis, which appeared on the Temple of Sais: "*The fruit which I have brought forth is the Sun*." While the Virgin was associated with the moon by the early pagans, there is no doubt that they also understood her position as a constellation in the heavens, for nearly all the peoples of antiquity credit her as being the mother of the sun, and they realized that although the moon could not occupy that position, the sign of Virgo could, and did, give birth to the sun out of her side on the 25th day of December. Albertus Magnus states, "We know that the sign of the Celestial Virgin rose over the Horizon at the moment at which we fix the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Among certain of the Arabian and Persian astronomers the three stars forming the sword belt of Orion were called the Magi who came to pay homage to the young Sun God. The author of *Mankind--Their Origin and Destiny* contributes the following additional information: "In Cancer, which had risen to the meridian at midnight, is the constellation of the Stable and of the Ass. The ancients called it Præsepe Jovis. In the north the stars of the Bear are seen, called by the Arabians Martha and Mary, and also the coffin of Lazarus. "Thus the esotericism of pagandom was embodied in Christianity, although its keys are lost. The Christian church blindly follows ancient customs, and when asked for a reason gives superficial and unsatisfactory explanations, either forgetting or ignoring the indisputable fact that each religion is based upon the secret doctrines of its predecessor.

*THE THREE SUNS.*

*From Lilly's Astrological Predictions for 1648, 1649, and 1650.)*

*The following description of this phenomenon appears in a letter written by Jeremiah Shakerley in Lancashire, March 4th, 1648:--"On Monday the 28th of February last, there arose with the Sun two Parelii, on either side one; their distance from him was by estimation, about ten degrees; they continued still of the same distance from the Zenith, or height above the Horizon, that the Sun did; and from the parts averse to the Sun, there seemed to issue out certain bright rays, not unlike those which the Sun sendeth from behind a cloud, but brighter. The parts of these Parelii which were toward the Sun, were of a mixt colour, wherein green and red were most predominant. A little above them was a thin rainbow, scarcely discernible, of a bright colour, with the concave towards the Sun, and the ends thereof seeming to touch the Parelii: Above that, in a clear diaphanous ayr, air, appeared another conspicuous Rainbow, beautified with divers colours; it was as neer as I could discern to the Zenith; it seemed of something a lesser radius than the other, they being back to back, yet a pretty way between. At or neer the apparent time of the full Moon, they vanished, leaving abundance of terror and amazement in those that saw them. (See William Lilly.)*

**THE THREE SUNS**

The solar orb, like the nature of man, was divided by the ancient sages into three separate bodies. According to the mystics, there are three suns in each solar system, analogous to the three centers of life in each individual constitution. These are called three lights: the *spiritual* sun, the *intellectual* or *soular* sun, and the *material* sun (now symbolized in Freemasonry by three candles). The spiritual sun manifests the power of God the Father; the soular sun radiates the life of God the Son; and the material sun is the vehicle of manifestation for God the Holy Spirit. Man's nature was divided by the mystics into three distinct parts: spirit, soul, and body. His physical body was unfolded and vitalized by the material sun; his spiritual nature was illuminated by the spiritual sun; and his intellectual nature was redeemed by the true *light of grace*--the soular sun. The alignment of these three globes in the heavens was one explanation offered for the peculiar fact that the orbits of the planets are not circular but elliptical.

The pagan priests always considered the solar system as a *Grand Man*, and drew their analogy of these three centers of activity from the three main centers of life in the human body: the brain, the heart, and the generative system. The Transfiguration of Jesus describes three tabernacles, the largest being in the center (the heart), and a smaller one on either side (the brain and the generative system). It is possible that the philosophical hypothesis of the existence of the three suns is based upon a peculiar natural phenomenon which has occurred many times in history. In the fifty-first year after Christ three suns were seen at once in the sky and also in the sixty-sixth year. In the sixty-ninth year, two suns were seen together. According to William Lilly, between the years 1156 and 1648 twenty similar occurrences were recorded.

Recognizing the sun as the supreme benefactor of the material world, Hermetists believed that there was a spiritual sun which ministered to the needs of the invisible and divine part of Nature--human and universal. Anent this subject, the great Paracelsus wrote: "There is an earthly sun, which is the cause of all heat, and all who are able to see may see the sun; and those who are blind and cannot see him may feel his heat. There is an Eternal Sun, which is the source of all wisdom, and those whose spiritual senses have awakened to life will see that sun and be conscious of His existence; but those who have not attained spiritual consciousness may yet feel His power by an inner faculty which is called Intuition."

Certain Rosicrucian scholars have given special appellations to these three phases of the sun: the spiritual sun they called *Vulcan*; the soular and intellectual sun, Christ and Lucifer respectively; and the material sun, the Jewish Demiurgus *Jehovah*. Lucifer here represents the intellectual mind without the illumination of the spiritual mind; therefore it is "the false light. " The false light is finally overcome and redeemed by the true light of the soul, called the *Second Logos* or *Christ*. The secret processes by which the Luciferian intellect is transmuted into the Christly intellect constitute one of the great secrets of alchemy, and are symbolized by the process of transmuting base metals into gold.

In the rare treatise *The Secret Symbols of The Rosicrucians*, Franz Hartmann defines the sun alchemically as: "The symbol of Wisdom. The Centre of Power or Heart of things. The Sun is a centre of energy and a storehouse of power. Each living being contains within itself a centre of life, which may grow to be a Sun. In the heart of the regenerated, the divine power, stimulated by the Light of the Logos, grows into a Sun which illuminates his mind." In a note, the same author amplifies his description by adding: "The terrestrial sun is the image or reflection of the invisible celestial sun; the former is in the realm of Spirit what the latter is in the realm of Matter; but the latter receives its power from the former."

In the majority of cases, the religions of antiquity agree that the material visible sun was a reflector rather than a source of power. The sun was sometimes represented as a shield carried on the arm of the Sun God, as for example, Frey, the Scandinavian Solar Deity. This sun reflected the light of the invisible *spiritual* sun, which was the true source of life, light, and truth. The physical nature of the universe is receptive; it is a realm of effects. The invisible causes of these effects belong to the spiritual world. Hence, the spiritual world is the sphere of *causation*; the material world is the sphere of *effects*; while the intellectual--or soul--world is the sphere of *mediation*. Thus Christ, the personified higher intellect and soul nature, is called "the Mediator" who, by virtue of His position and power, says: "No man cometh to the Father, but by me."

What the sun is to the solar system, the spirit is to the bodies of man; for his natures, organs, and functions are as planets surrounding the central life (or sun) and living upon its emanations. The solar power in man is divided into three parts, which are termed the threefold human spirit of man. All three of these spiritual natures are said to be radiant and transcendent; united, they form the Divinity in man. Man's threefold lower nature--consisting of his physical organism, his emotional nature, and his mental faculties--reflects the light of his threefold Divinity and bears witness of It in the physical world. Man's three bodies are symbolized by an upright triangle; his threefold spiritual nature by an inverted triangle. These two triangles, when united in the form of a six-pointed star, were called by the Jews "the Star of David," "the Signet of Solomon," and are more commonly known today as "the Star of Zion." These triangles symbolize the spiritual and material universes linked together in the constitution of the human creature, who partakes of both Nature and Divinity. Man's animal nature partakes of the earth; his divine nature of the heavens; his human nature of the mediator.

**THE CELESTIAL INHABITANTS OF THE SUN**

The Rosicrucians and the Illuminati, describing the angels, archangels, and other celestial creatures, declared that they resembled small suns, being centers of radiant energy surrounded by streamers of Vrilic force. From these outpouring streamers of force is derived the popular belief that angels have wings. These wings are corona-like fans of light, by means of which the celestial creatures propel themselves through the subtle essences of the superphysical worlds.

True mystics are unanimous in their denial of the theory that the angels and archangels are human in form, as so often pictured. A human figure would be utterly useless in the ethereal substances through which they manifest. Science has long debated the probability of the other planers being inhabited. Objections to the idea are based upon the argument that creatures with human organisms could nor possibly exist in the environments of Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. This argument fails to take into account Nature's universal law of adjustment to environment. The ancients asserted that life originated from the sun, and that everything when bathed in the light of the solar orb was capable of absorbing the solar life elements and later radiating them as flora and fauna. One philosophical concept regarded the sun as a parent and the planers as embryos still connected to the solar body by means of ethereal umbilical cords which served as channels to convey life and nourishment to the planets.

Some secret orders have taught that the sun was inhabited by a race of creatures with bodies composed of a radiant, spiritual ether not unlike in its constituency the actual glowing ball of the sun itself. The solar heat had no harmful effect upon them, because their organisms were sufficiently refined and sensitized to harmonize with the sun's tremendous vibratory rate. These creatures resemble miniature suns, being a little larger than a dinner plate in size, although some of the more powerful are considerably larger. Their color is the golden white light of the sun, and from them emanate four streamers of Vril. These streamers are often of great length and are in constant motion. A peculiar palpitation is to be noted throughout the structure of the globe and is communicated in the form of ripples to the emanating streamers. The greatest and most luminous of these spheres is the Archangel Michael; and the entire order of solar life, which resemble him and dwell upon the sun, are called by modern Christians "the archangels" or "the spirits of the light.

*SURYA, THE REGENT OF THE SUN.*

*From Moor's Hindu Pantheon.*

*Moor describes this figure as follows: "The cast is nine inches in height, representing the glorious god of day-holding the attributes of VISHNU, seated on a seven-headed serpent; his car drawn by a seven-headed horse, driven by the legless ARUN, a personification of the dawn, or AURORA." (See Moor's Hindu Pantheon.)*

**THE SUN IN ALCHEMICAL SYMBOLOGY**

Gold is the metal of the sun and has been considered by many as crystallized sunlight. When gold is mentioned in alchemical tracts, it may be either the metal itself or the celestial orb which is the source, or spirit, of gold. Sulphur because of its fiery nature was also associated with the sun.

As gold was the symbol of spirit and the base metals represented man's lower nature, certain alchemists were called "miners" and were pictured with picks and shovels digging into the earth in search of the precious metal--those finer traits of character buried in the earthiness of materiality and ignorance. The diamond concealed in the heart of the black carbon illustrated the same principle. The Illuminati used a pearl hidden in the shell of an oyster at the bottom of the sea to signify spiritual powers. Thus the seeker after truth became a pearl-fisher: he descended into the sea of material illusion in search of understanding, termed by the initiates "the Pearl of Great Price."

When the alchemists stated that every animate and inanimate thing in the universe contained the seeds of gold, they meant that even the grains of sand possessed a spiritual nature, for gold was the spirit of all things. Concerning these seeds of spiritual gold the following Rosicrucian axiom is significant: "A seed is useless and impotent unless it is put in its appropriate matrix." Franz Hartmann comments on this axiom with these illuminating words: "A soul cannot develop and progress without an appropriate body, because it is the physical body that furnishes the material for its development." (See In the *Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom*.)

The purpose of alchemy was not to make something out of nothing but rather to fertilize and nurture the seed which was already present. Its processes did nor actually create gold but rather made the ever-present seed of gold grow and flourish. Everything which exists has a spirit--the seed of Divinity within itself--and regeneration is not the process of attempting to place something where it previously had not existed. Regeneration actually means the unfoldment of the omnipresent Divinity in man, that this Divinity may shine forth as a sun and illumine all with whom it comes in contact.

**THE MIDNIGHT SUN**

Apuleius said when describing his initiation (*vide ante*): "At midnight I saw the sun shining with a splendid light." The midnight sun was also part of the mystery of alchemy. It symbolized the spirit in man shining through the darkness of his human organisms. It also referred to the spiritual sun in the solar system, which the mystic could see as well at midnight as at high noon, the material earth bring powerless to obstruct the rays of this Divine orb. The mysterious lights which illuminated the temples of the Egyptian Mysteries during the nocturnal hours were said by some to he reflections of the spiritual sun gathered by the magical powers of the priests. The weird light seen ten miles below the surface of the earth by I-AM-THE-MAN in that remarkable Masonic allegory *Etidorhpa* (Aphrodite spelt backward) may well refer to the mysterious midnight sun of the ancient rites.

Primitive conceptions concerning the warfare between the principles of Good and Evil were often based upon the alternations of day and night. During the Middle Ages, the practices of black magic were confined to the nocturnal hours; and those who served the Spirit of Evil were called black magicians, while those who served the Spirit of Good were called white magicians. Black and white were associated respectively with night and day, and the endless conflict of light and shadow is alluded to many times in the mythologies of various peoples.

The Egyptian Demon, Typhon, was symbolized as part crocodile and part: hog because these animals are gross and earthy in both appearance and temperament. Since the world began, living things have feared the darkness; those few creatures who use it as a shield for their maneuvers were usually connected with the Spirit of Evil. Consequently cats, bats, toads, and owls are associated with witchcraft. In certain parts of Europe it is still believed that at night black magicians assume the bodies of wolves and roam around destroying. From this notion originated the stories of the werewolves. Serpents, because they lived in the earth, were associated with the Spirit of Darkness. As the battle between Good and Evil centers around the use of the generative forces of Nature, winged serpents represent the regeneration of the animal nature of man or those Great Ones in whom this regeneration is complete. Among the Egyptians the sun's rays are often shown ending in human hands. Masons will find a connection between these hands and the well-known *Paw of the Lion* which raises all things to life with its grip.

**SOLAR COLORS**

The theory so long held of three primary and four secondary colors is purely exoteric, for since the earliest periods it has been known that there are seven, and not three, primary colors, the human eye being capable of estimating only three of them. Thus, although green can be made by combining blue and yellow, there is also a true or primary green which is not a compound. This can he proved by breaking up the spectrum with a prism. Helmholtz found that the so-called secondary colors of the spectrum could not be broken up into their supposed primary colors. Thus the orange of the spectrum, if passed through a second prism, does not break up into red and yellow but remains orange.

Consciousness, intelligence, and force are fittingly symbolized by the colors blue, yellow, and red. The therapeutic effects of the colors, moreover, are in harmony with this concept, for blue is a fine, soothing, electrical color; yellow, a vitalizing and refining color; and red, an agitating and heat-giving color. It has also been demonstrated that minerals and plants affect the human constitution according to their colors. Thus a yellow flower generally yields a medicine that affects the constitution in a manner similar to yellow light or the musical tone *mi*. An orange flower will influence in a manner similar to orange light and, being one of the so-called secondary colors, corresponds either to the tone *re* or to the chord of *do* and *mi*.

The ancients conceived the spirit of man to correspond with the color blue, the mind with yellow, and the body with red. Heaven is therefore blue, earth yellow, and hell--or the underworld--red. The fiery condition of the inferno merely symbolizes the nature of the sphere or plane of force of which it is composed. In the Greek Mysteries the irrational sphere was always considered as red, for it represented that condition in which the consciousness is enslaved by the lusts and passions of the lower nature. In India certain of the gods--usually attributes of Vishnu--are depicted with blue skin to signify their divine and supermundane constitution. According to esoteric philosophy, blue is the true and sacred color of the sun. The apparent orange-yellow shade of this orb is the result of its rays being immersed in the substances of the illusionary world.

In the original symbolism of the Christian Church, colors were of first importance and their use was regulated according to carefully prepared rules. Since the Middle Ages, however, the carelessness with which colors have been employed has resulted in the loss of their deeper emblematic meanings. In its primary aspect, white or silver signified life, purity, innocence, joy, and light; red, the suffering and death of Christ and His saints, and also divine love, blood, and warfare or suffering; blue, the heavenly sphere and the states of godliness and contemplation; yellow or gold, glory, fruitfulness, and goodness; green, fecundity, youthfulness, and prosperity; violet, humility, deep affection, and sorrow; black, death, destruction, and humiliation. In early church art the colors of robes and ornaments also revealed whether a saint had been martyred, as well as the character of the work that he had done to deserve canonization.

In addition to the colors of the spectrum there are a vast number of vibratory color waves, some too low and others too high to be registered by the human optical apparatus. It is appalling to contemplate man's colossal ignorance concerning these vistas of abstract space. As in the past man explored unknown continents, so in the future, armed with curious implements fashioned for the purpose, he will explore these little known fastnesses of light, color, sound, and consciousness.

*THE SOLAR FACE.*

*From Montfaucon's Antiquities.*

*The corona of the sun is here shown in the form of a lion's mane. This is a subtle reminder of the fact that at one time the summer solstice took place in the sign of Leo, the Celestial Lion.*

## The Zodiac and Its Signs

IT is difficult for this age to estimate correctly the profound effect produced upon the religions, philosophies, and sciences of antiquity by the study of the planets, luminaries, and constellations. Not without adequate reason were the Magi of Persia called the Star Gazers. The Egyptians were honored with a special appellation because of their proficiency in computing the power and motion of the heavenly bodies and their effect upon the destinies of nations and individuals. Ruins of primitive astronomical observatories have been discovered in all parts of the world, although in many cases modern archæologists are unaware of the true purpose for which these structures were erected. While the telescope was unknown to ancient astronomers, they made many remarkable calculations with instruments cut from blocks of granite or pounded from sheets of brass and cop per. In India such instruments are still in use, and they posses a high degree of accuracy. In Jaipur, Rajputana, India, an observatory consisting largely of immense stone sundials is still in operation. The famous Chinese observatory on the wall of Peking consists of immense bronze instruments, including a telescope in the form of a hollow tube without lenses.

The pagans looked upon the stars as living things, capable of influencing the destinies of individuals, nations, and races. That the early Jewish patriarchs believed that the celestial bodies participated in the affairs of men is evident to any student of Biblical literature, as, for example, in the Book of Judges: "They fought from heaven, even the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." The Chaldeans, Phœnicians, Egyptians, Persians, Hindus, and Chinese all had zodiacs that were much alike in general character, and different authorities have credited each of these nations with being the cradle of astrology and astronomy. The Central and North American Indians also had an understanding of the zodiac, but the patterns and numbers of the signs differed in many details from those of the Eastern Hemisphere.

The word *zodiac* is derived from the Greek ζωδιακός (*zodiakos*), which means "a circle of animals," or, as some believe, "little animals." It is the name given by the old pagan astronomers to a band of fixed stars about sixteen degrees wide, apparently encircling the earth. Robert Hewitt Brown, 32°, states that the Greek word zodiakos comes from *zo-on*, meaning "an animal." He adds: "This latter word is compounded directly from the primitive Egyptian radicals, *zo*, life, and *on*, a being."

The Greeks, and later other peoples influenced by their culture, divided the band of the zodiac into twelve sections, each being sixteen degrees in width and thirty degrees in length. These divisions were called the Houses of the Zodiac. The sun during its annual pilgrimage passed through each of these in turn, Imaginary creatures were traced in the Star groups bounded by these rectangles; and because most of them were animal--or part animal--in form, they later became known as the Constellations, or Signs, of the Zodiac.

There is a popular theory concerning the origin of the zodiacal creatures to the effect that they were products of the imagination of shepherds, who, watching their flocks at night, occupied their minds by tracing the forms of animals and birds in the heavens. This theory is untenable, unless the "shepherds" be regarded as the shepherd priests of antiquity. It is unlikely that the zodiacal signs were derived from the star groups which they now represent. It is far more probable that the creatures assigned to the twelve houses are symbolic of the qualities and intensity of the sun's power while it occupies different parts of the zodiacal belt.

On this subject Richard Payne Knight writes: "The emblematical meaning, which certain animals were employed to signify, was only some particular property generalized; and, therefore, might easily be invented or discovered by the natural operation of the mind: but the collections of stars, named after certain animals, have no resemblance whatever to those animals; which are therefore merely signs of convention adopted to distinguish certain portions of the heavens, which were probably consecrated to those particular personified attributes, which they respectively represented." (*The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology*.)

Some authorities are of the opinion that the zodiac was originally divided into ten (instead of twelve) houses, or "solar mansions." In early times there were two separate standards--one solar and the other lunar--used for the measurement of the months, years, and seasons. The solar year was composed of ten months of thirty-six days each, and five days sacred to the gods. The lunar year consisted of thirteen months of twenty-eight days each, with one day left over. The solar zodiac at that time consisted often houses of thirty-six degrees each.

The first six signs of the zodiac of twelve signs were regarded as benevolent, because the sun occupied them while traversing the Northern Hemisphere. The 6,000 years during which, according to the Persians, Ahura-Mazda ruled His universe in harmony and peace, were symbolic of these six signs. The second six were considered malevolent, because while the sun was traveling the Southern Hemisphere it was winter with the Greeks, Egyptians, and Persians. Therefore these six months symbolic of the 6,000 years of misery and suffering caused by the evil genius of the Persians, Ahriman, who sought to overthrow the power of Ahura-Mazda.

Those who hold the opinion that before its revision by the Greeks the zodiac consisted of only ten signs adduce evidence to show that Libra (the Scales) was inserted into the zodiac by dividing the constellation of Virgo Scorpio (at that time one sign) into two parts, thus establishing "the balance" at the point of equilibrium between the ascending northern and the descending southern signs. (See *The Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries*, by Hargrave Jennings.) On this subject Isaac Myer states: "We think that the Zodiacal constellations were first ten and represented an immense androgenic man or deity; subsequently this was changed, resulting in Scorpio and Virgo and making eleven; after this from Scorpio, Libra, the Balance, was taken, making the present twelve." (*The Qabbalah*.)

Each year the sun passes entirely around the zodiac and returns to the point from which it started--the vernal equinox--and each year it falls just a little short of making the complete circle of the heavens in the allotted period of time. As a result, it crosses the equator just a little behind the spot in the zodiacal sign where it crossed the previous year. Each sign of the zodiac consists of thirty degrees, and as the sun loses about one degree every seventy two years, it regresses through one entire constellation (or sign) in approximately 2,160 years, and through the entire zodiac in about 25,920 years. (Authorities disagree concerning these figures.) This retrograde motion is called the *precession of the equinoxes*. This means that in the course of about 25,920 years, which constitute one Great Solar or Platonic Year, each one of the twelve constellations occupies a position at the vernal equinox for nearly 2,160 years, then gives place to the *previous* sign.

*CHART SHOWING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HUMAN BODY AND THE EXTERIOR UNIVERSE.*

*From Kircher's Œdipus Ægyptiacus.*

*The ornamental border contains groups of names of animal, mineral, and vegetable substances, Their relationship to corresponding parts of the human body is shown by the dotted lines. The words in capital letters on the dotted lines indicate to what corporeal member, organ, or disease, the herb or other substance is related. The favorable positions in relation to the time of year are shown by the signs of the zodiac, each house of which is divided by crosses into its three decans. This influence is further emphasized by the series of planetary signs placed on either side of the figure.*

Among the ancients the sun was always symbolized by the figure and nature of the constellation through which it passed at the vernal equinox. For nearly the past 2,000 years the sun has crossed the equator at the vernal equinox in the constellation of Pisces (the Two Fishes). For the 2,160 years before that it crossed through the constellation of Aries (the Ram). Prior to that the vernal equinox was in the sign of Taurus (the Bull). It is probable that the form of the bull and the bull's proclivities were assigned to this constellation because the bull was used by the ancients to plow the fields, and the season set aside for plowing and furrowing corresponded to the time at which the sun reached the segment of the heavens named Taurus.

*THE EQUINOXES AND SOLSTICES.*

*The plane of the zodiac intersects the celestial equator at an angle of approximately 23° 28'. The two points of intersection (A and B) are called the equinoxes.*

Albert Pike describes the reverence which the Persians felt for this sign and the method of astrological symbolism in vogue among them, thus: "In Zoroaster's cave of initiation, the Sun and Planets were represented, overhead, in gems and gold, as was also the Zodiac. The Sun appeared, emerging from the back of Taurus. " In the constellation of the Bull are also to be found the "Seven Sisters"--the sacred Pleiades--famous to Freemasonry as the Seven Stars at the upper end of the Sacred Ladder.

In ancient Egypt it was during this period--when the vernal equinox was in the sign of Taurus--that the Bull, Apis, was sacred to the Sun God, who was worshiped through the animal equivalent of the celestial sign which he had impregnated with his presence at the time of its crossing into the Northern Hemisphere. This is the meaning of an ancient saying that the celestial Bull "broke the egg of the year with his horns."

Sampson Arnold Mackey, in his *Mythological Astronomy of the Ancients Demonstrated*, makes note of two very interesting points concerning the bull in Egyptian symbolism. Mr. Mackey is of the opinion that the motion of the earth that we know as the alternation of the poles has resulted in a great change of relative position of the equator and the zodiacal band. He believes that originally the band of the zodiac was at right angles to the equator, with the sign of Cancer opposite the north pole and the sign of Capricorn opposite the south pole. It is possible that the Orphic symbol of the serpent twisted around the egg attempts to show the motion of the sun in relation to the earth under such conditions. Mr. Mackey advances the *Labyrinth of Crete*, the name *Abraxas*, and the magic formula, *abracadabra*, among other things, to substantiate his theory. Concerning *abracadabra* he states:

"But the slow progressive disappearance of the Bull is most happily commemorated in the vanishing series of letters so emphatically expressive of the great astronomical fact. For ABRACADABRA is The Bull, the only Bull. The ancient sentence split into its component parts stands thus: Ab'r-achad-ab'ra, *i. e.*, Ab'r, the Bull; achad, the only, &c.--Achad is one of the names of the Sun, given him in consequence of his Shining ALONE,--he is the ONLY Star to be seen when he is seen--the remaining ab'ra, makes the whole to be, The Bull, the only Bull; while the repetition of the name omitting a letter, till all is gone, is the most simple, yet the most satisfactory method that could have been devised to preserve the memory of the fact; and the name of Sorapis, or Serapis, given to the Bull at the above ceremony puts it beyond all doubt. ** * This word (Abracadabra) disappears in eleven decreasing stages; as in the figure. And what is very remarkable, a body with three heads is folded up by a Serpent with eleven Coils, and placed by Sorapis: and the eleven Volves of the Serpent form a triangle similar to that formed by the ELEVEN diminishing lines of the abracadabra."

Nearly every religion of the world shows traces of astrological influence. The Old Testament of the Jews, its writings overshadowed by Egyptian culture, is a mass of astrological and astronomical allegories. Nearly all the mythology of Greece and Rome may be traced in star groups. Some writers are of the opinion that the original twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet were derived from groups of stars, and that the starry handwriting on the wall of the heavens referred to words spelt out, with fixed stars for consonants, and the planets, or luminaries, for vowels. These, coming into ever-different combinations, spelt words which, when properly read, foretold future events.

As the zodiacal band marks the pathway of the sun through the constellations, it results in the phenomena of the seasons. The ancient systems of measuring the year were based upon the equinoxes and the solstices. The year always began with the vernal equinox, celebrated March 21 with rejoicing to mark the moment when the sun crossed the equator northward up the zodiacal arc. The summer solstice was celebrated when the sun reached its most northerly position, and the day appointed was June 21. After that time the sun began to descend toward the equator, which it recrossed southbound at the autumnal equinox, September 21. The sun reached its most southerly position at the winter solstice, December 21.

Four of the signs of the zodiac have been permanently dedicated to the equinoxes and the solstices; and, while the signs no longer correspond with the ancient constellations to which they were assigned, and from which they secured their names, they are accepted by modern astronomers as a basis of calculation. The vernal equinox is therefore said to occur in the constellation of Aries (the Ram). It is fitting that of all beasts a Ram should be placed at the head of the heavenly flock forming the zodiacal band. Centuries before the Christian Era, the pagans revered this constellation. Godfrey Higgins states: "This constellation was called the 'Lamb of God.' He was also called the 'Savior,' and was said to save mankind from their sins. He was always honored with the appellation of 'Dominus' or 'Lord.' He was called the 'Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.' The devotees addressing him in their litany, constantly repeated the words, 'O Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us. Grant us Thy peace."' Therefore, the *Lamb of God* is a title given to the sun, who is said to be reborn every year in the Northern Hemisphere in the sign of the Ram, although, due to the existing discrepancy between the signs of the zodiac and the actual star groups, it actually rises in the sign of Pisces.

The summer solstice is regarded as occurring in Cancer (the Crab), which the Egyptians called the *scarab*--a beetle of the family Lamellicornes, the head of the insect kingdom, and sacred to the Egyptians as the symbol of Eternal Life. It is evident that the constellation of the Crab is represented by this peculiar creature because the sun, after passing through this house, proceeds to walk backwards, or descend the zodiacal arc. Cancer is the symbol of generation, for it is the house of the Moon, the great Mother of all things and the patroness of the life forces of Nature. Diana, the moon goddess of the Greeks, is called the Mother of the World. Concerning the worship of the feminine or maternal principle, Richard Payne Knight writes:

"By attracting or heaving the waters of the ocean, she naturally appeared to be the sovereign of humidity; and by seeming to operate so powerfully upon the constitutions of women, she equally appeared to be the patroness and regulatress of nutrition and passive generation: whence she is said to have received her nymphs, or subordinate personifications, from the ocean; and is often represented by the symbol of the sea crab, an animal that has the property of spontaneously detaching from its own body any limb that has been hurt or mutilated, and reproducing another in its place." (*The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology*.) This water sign, being symbolic of the maternal principle of Nature, and recognized by the pagans as the origin of all life, was a natural and consistent domicile of the moon.

The autumnal equinox apparently occurs in the constellation of Libra (the Balances). The scales tipped and the solar globe began its pilgrimage toward the house of winter. The constellation of the Scales was placed in the zodiac to symbolize the power of choice, by means of which man may weigh one problem against another. Millions of years ago, when the human race was in the making, man was like the angels, who knew neither good nor evil. He *fell* into the state of the knowledge of good and evil when the gods gave him the seed for the mental nature. From man's mental reactions to his environments he distills the product of experience, which then aids him to regain his lost position plus an individualized intelligence. Paracelsus said: "The body comes from the elements, the soul from the stars, and the spirit from God. All that the intellect can conceive of comes from the stars the spirits of the stars, rather than the material constellations."

The constellation of Capricorn, in which the winter solstice theoretically takes place, was called *The House of Death*, for in winter all life in the Northern Hemisphere is at its lowest ebb. Capricorn is a composite creature, with the head and upper body of a goat and the tail of a fish. In this constellation the sun is least powerful in the Northern Hemisphere, and after passing through this constellation it immediately begins to increase. Hence the Greeks said that Jupiter (a name of the Sun God) was suckled by a goat. A new and different sidelight on zodiacal symbolism is supplied by John Cole, in *A Treatise on the Circular Zodiac of Tentyra, in Egypt*: "The symbol therefore of the Goat rising from the body of a fish Capricorn, represents with the greatest propriety the mountainous buildings of Babylon rising out of its low and marshy situation; the two horns of the Goat being emblematical of the two towns, Nineveh and Babylon, the former built on the Tigris, the latter on the Euphrates; but both subjected to one sovereignty."

The period of 2,160 years required for the regression of the sun through one of the zodiacal constellations is often termed an age. According to this system, the age secured its name from the sign through which the sun passes year after year as it crosses the equator at the vernal equinox.

*THE MICROCOSM.*

*From Schotus' Margarita Philosophica.*

*The pagans believed that the zodiac formed the body of the Grand Man of the Universe. This body, which they called the Macrocosm (the Great World), was divided into twelve major parts, one of which was under the control of the celestial powers reposing in each of the zodiacal constellations. Believing that the entire universal system was epitomized in man's body, which they called the Microcosm (the Little World), they evolved that now familiar figure of "the cut-up man in the almanac" by allotting a sign of the zodiac to each of twelve major parts of the human body.*

From this arrangement are derived the terms *The Taurian Age*, *The Aryan Age*, *The Piscean Age*, and *The Aquarian Age*. During these periods, or ages, religious worship takes the form of the appropriate celestial sign--that which the sun is said to assume as a personality in the same manner that a spirit assumes a body. These twelve signs are the jewels of his breastplate and his light shines forth from them, one after the other.

From a consideration of this system, it is readily understood why certain religious symbols were adopted during different ages of the earth's history; for during the 2,160 years the sun was in the constellation of Taurus, it is said that the Solar Deity assumed the body of Apis, and the Bull became sacred to Osiris. (For details concerning the astrological ages as related to Biblical symbolism, see *The Message of the Stars* by Max and Augusta Foss Heindel.) During the Aryan Age the Lamb was held sacred and the priests were called *shepherds*. Sheep and goats were sacrificed upon the altars, and a scapegoat was appointed to bear the sins of Israel.

During the Age of Pisces, the Fish was the symbol of divinity and the Sun God fed the multitude with two small fishes. The frontispiece of Inman's *Ancient Faiths* shows the goddess Isis with a fish on her head; and the Indian Savior God, Christna, in one of his incarnations was cast from the mouth of a fish.

Not only is Jesus often referred to as the *Fisher of Men*, but as John P. Lundy writes: "The word Fish is an abbreviation of this whole title, Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, and Cross; or as St. Augustine expresses it, 'If you join together the initial letters of the five Greek words, Ἰησοῦς Χριστος Θεου Υιὸσ Σωτήρ, which mean Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, they will make ΙΧΘΥΣ, Fish, in which word Christ is mystically understood, because He was able to live in the abyss of this mortality as in the depth of waters, that is, without sin.'" (*Monumental Christianity*.) Many Christians observe Friday, which is sacred to the Virgin (Venus), upon which day they shall eat fish and not meat. The sign of the fish was one of the earliest symbols of Christianity; and when drawn upon the sand, it informed one Christian that another of the same faith was near.

Aquarius is called the *Sign of the Water Bearer*, or the man with a jug of water on his shoulder mentioned in the New Testament. This is sometimes shown as an angelic figure, supposedly androgynous, either pouring water from an urn or carrying the vessel upon its shoulder. Among Oriental peoples, a water vessel alone is often used. Edward Upham, in his *History and Doctrine of Budhism*, describes Aquarius as being "in the shape of a pot and of a color between blue and yellow; this Sign is the single house of Saturn."

When Herschel discovered the planet Uranus (sometimes called by the name of its discoverer), the second half of the sign of Aquarius was allotted to this added member of the planetary family. The water pouring from the urn of Aquarius under the name of "the waters of eternal life" appears many times in symbolism. So it is with all the signs. Thus the sun in its path controls whatever form of worship man offers to the Supreme Deity.

There are two distinct systems of astrological philosophy. One of them, the Ptolemaic, is geocentric: the earth is considered the center of the solar system, around which the sun, moon, and planets revolve. Astronomically, the geocentric system is incorrect; but for thousands of years it has proved its accuracy when applied to the material nature of earthly things. A careful consideration of the writings of the great occultists and a study of their diagrams reveal the fact that many of them were acquainted with another method of arranging the heavenly bodies.

The other system of astrological philosophy is called the heliocentric. This posits the sun in the center of the solar system, where it naturally belongs, with the planets and their moons revolving about it. The great difficulty, however, with the heliocentric system is that, being comparatively new, there has not been sufficient time to experiment successfully and catalogue the effects of its various aspects and relationships. Geocentric astrology, as its name implies, is confined to the earthy side of nature, while heliocentric astrology may be used to analyze the higher intellectual and spiritual faculties of man.

The important point to be remembered is that when the sun was said to be in a certain sign of the zodiac, the ancients really meant that the sun occupied the opposite sign and cast its long ray into the house in which they enthroned it. Therefore, when it is said that the sun is in Taurus, it means (astronomically) that the sun is in the sign opposite to Taurus, which is Scorpio. This resulted in two distinct schools of philosophy: one geocentric and exoteric, the other heliocentric and esoteric. While the ignorant multitudes worshiped the house of the sun's reflection, which in the case described would be the Bull, the wise revered the house of the sun's actual dwelling, which would be the Scorpion, or the Serpent, the symbol of the concealed spiritual mystery. This sign has three different symbols. The most common is that of a Scorpion, who was called by the ancients the *backbiter*, being the symbol of deceit and perversion; the second (and less common) form of the sign is a Serpent, often used by the ancients to symbolize wisdom.

Probably the rarest form of Scorpio is that of an Eagle. The arrangement of the stars of the constellation bears as much resemblance to a flying bird as to a scorpion. Scorpio, being the sign of occult initiation, the flying eagle--the king of birds--represents the highest and most spiritual type of Scorpio, in which it transcends the venomous insect of the earth. As Scorpio and Taurus are opposite each other in the zodiac, their symbolism is often closely intermingled. The Hon. E. M. Plunket, in *Ancient Calendars and Constellations*, says: "The Scorpion (the constellation Scorpio of the Zodiac opposed to Taurus) joins with Mithras in his attack upon the Bull, and always the genii of the spring and autumn equinoxes are present in joyous and mournful attitudes."

The Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians, who knew the sun as a Bull, called the zodiac a series of furrows, through which the great celestial Ox dragged the plow of the sun. Hence the populace offered up sacrifice and led through the streets magnificent steers, bedecked with flowers and surrounded with priests, dancing girls of the temple, and musicians. The philosophic elect did not participate in these idolatrous ceremonials, but advocated them as most suitable for the types of mind composing the mass of the population. These few possessed a far deeper understanding, as the Serpent of Scorpio upon their foreheads--the *Uræus*--bore witness.

The sun is often symbolized with its rays in the form of a shaggy mane. Concerning the Masonic significance of Leo, Robert Hewitt Brown, 32°, has written: "On the 21st of June, when the sun arrives at the summer solstice, the constellation Leo--being but 30° in advance of the sun--appears to be leading the way, and to aid by his powerful paw in lifting the sun up to the summit of the zodiacal arch. ** * This visible connection between the constellation Leo and the return of the sun to his place of power and glory, at the summit of the Royal Arch of heaven, was the principal reason why that constellation was held in such high esteem and reverence by the ancients. The astrologers distinguished Leo as the 'sole house of the sun,' and taught that the world was created when the sun was in that sign. 'The lion was adored in the East and the West by the Egyptians and the Mexicans. The chief Druid of Britain was styled a lion.'" (*Stellar Theology and Masonic Astronomy*.) When the Aquarian Age is thoroughly established, the sun will be in Leo, as will be noted from the explanation previously given in this chapter regarding the distinction between geocentric and heliocentric astrology. Then, indeed, will the secret religions of the world include once more the raising to initiation by the Grip of the Lion's Paw. (Lazarus will come forth.)

*THE CIRCULAR ZODIAC OF TENTYRA.*

*From Cole's Treatise--the Circular Zodiac of Tentyra, in Egypt.*

*The oldest circular zodiac known is the one found at Tentyra, in Egypt, and now in the possession of the French government. Mr. John Cole describes this remarkable zodiac as follows: "The diameter of the medallion in which the constellations are sculptured, is four feet nine inches, French measure. It is surrounded by another circle of much larger circumference, containing hieroglyphic characters; this second circle is enclosed in a square, whose sides are seven feet nine inches long.   * The asterisms, constituting the Zodiacal constellations mixed with others, are represented in a spiral. The extremities of this spiral, after one revolution, are Leo and Cancer. Leo is no doubt at the head. It appears to be trampling on a serpent, and its tail to be held by a woman. Immediately after the Lion comes the Virgin holding an ear of corn, Further on, we perceive two scales of a balance, above which, in a medal lion, is the figure of Harpocrates. Then follows the Scorpion and Sagittarius, to whom the Egyptians gave wings, and two faces. After Sagittarius are successively placed, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces, the Ram, the Bull, and the Twins. This Zodiacal procession is, as we have already observed, terminated by Cancer, the Crab."*

The antiquity of the zodiac is much in dispute. To contend that it originated but a mere few thousand years before the Christian Era is a colossal mistake on the part of those who have sought to compile data, concerning its origin. The zodiac necessarily must be ancient enough to go backward to that period when its signs and symbols coincided exactly with the positions of the constellations whose various creatures in their natural functions exemplified the outstanding features of the sun's activity during each of the twelve months. One author, after many years of deep study on the subject, believed man's concept of the zodiac to be at least five million years old. In all probability it is one of the many things for which the modem world is indebted to the Atlantean or the Lemurian civilizations. About ten thousand years before the Christian Era there was a period of many ages when knowledge of every kind was suppressed, tablets destroyed, monuments torn down, and every vestige of available material concerning previous civilizations completely obliterated. Only a few copper knives, some arrowheads, and crude carvings on the walls of caves bear mute witness of those civilizations which preceded this age of destruction. Here and there a few gigantic structures have remained which, like the strange monoliths on Easter Island, are evidence of lost arts and sciences and lost races. The human race is exceedingly old. Modern science counts its age in tens of thousands of years; occultism, in tens of millions. There is an old saying that "Mother Earth has shaken many civilizations from her back," and it is not beyond reason that the principles of astrology and astronomy were evolved millions of years before the first white man appeared.

The occultists of the ancient world had a most remarkable understanding of the principle of evolution. They recognized all life as being in various stages of *becoming*. They believed that grains of sand were in the process of *becoming* human in consciousness but not necessarily in form; that human creatures were in the process of *becoming* planets; that planets were in the process of *becoming* solar systems; and that solar systems were in the process of *becoming* cosmic chains; and so on *ad infinitum*. One of the stages between the solar system and the cosmic chain was called the *zodiac*; therefore they taught that at a certain time a solar system breaks up into a zodiac. The house of the zodiac become the thrones for twelve Celestial Hierarchies, or as certain of the ancients state, ten Divine Orders. Pythagoras taught that 10, or the unit of the decimal system, was the most perfect of all numbers, and he symbolized the number ten by the *lesser tetractys*, an arrangement of ten dots in the form of an upright triangle.

The early star gazers, after dividing the zodiac into its houses, appointed the three brightest scars in each constellation to be the joint rulers of that house. Then they divided the house into three sections of ten degrees each, which they called decans. These, in turn, were divided in half, resulting in the breaking up of the zodiac into seventy-two duodecans of five degrees each. Over each of these duodecans the Hebrews placed a celestial intelligence, or angel, and from this system, has resulted the Qabbalistic arrangement of the seventy-two sacred names, which correspond to the seventy-two flowers, knops, and almonds upon the seven-branched Candlestick of the Tabernacle, and the seventy-two men who were chosen from the Twelve Tribes to represent Israel.

The only two signs not already mentioned are Gemini and Sagittarius. The constellation of Gemini is generally represented as two small children, who, according to the ancients, were born out of eggs, possibly the ones that the Bull broke with his horns. The stories concerning Castor and Pollux, and Romulus and Remus, may be the result of amplifying the myths of these celestial Twins. The symbols of Gemini have passed through many modifications. The one used by the Arabians was the peacock. Two of the important stars in the constellation of Gemini still bear the names of Castor and Pollux. The sign of Gemini is supposed to have been the patron of phallic worship, and the two obelisks, or pillars, in front of temples and churches convey the same symbolism as the Twins.

The sign of Sagittarius consists of what the ancient Greeks called a centaur--a composite creature, the lower half of whose body was in the form of a horse, while the upper half was human. The centaur is generally shown with a bow and arrow in his hands, aiming a shaft far off into the stars. Hence Sagittarius stands for two distinct principles: first, it represents the spiritual evolution of man, for the human form is rising from the body of the beast; secondly, it is the symbol of aspiration and ambition, for as the centaur aims his arrow at the stars, so every human creature aims at a higher mark than he can reach.

Albert Churchward, in *The Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man*, sums up the influence of the zodiac upon religious symbolism in the following words: "The division here is in twelve parts, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve gates of heaven mentioned in Revelation, and twelve entrances or portals to be passed through in the Great Pyramid, before finally reaching the highest degree, and twelve Apostles in the Christian doctrines, and the twelve original and perfect points in Masonry."

The ancients believed that the theory of man's being made in the image of God was to be understood literally. They maintained that the universe was a great organism not unlike the human body, and that every phase and function of the Universal Body had a correspondence in man. The most precious Key to Wisdom that the priests communicated to the new initiates was what they termed *the law of analogy*. Therefore, to the ancients, the study of the stars was a sacred science, for they saw in the movements of the celestial bodies the ever-present activity of the Infinite Father.

The Pythagoreans were often undeservedly criticized for promulgating the so-called doctrine of metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls. This concept as circulated among the uninitiated was merely a blind, however, to conceal a sacred truth. Greek mystics believed that the spiritual nature of man descended into material existence from the Milky Way--the seed ground of souls--through one of the twelve gates of the great zodiacal band. The spiritual nature was therefore said to incarnate in the form of the symbolic creature created by Magian star gazers to represent the various zodiacal constellations. If the spirit incarnated through the sign of Aries, it was said to be born in the body of a ram; if in Taurus, in the body of the celestial bull. All human beings were thus symbolized by twelve mysterious creatures through the natures of which they were able to incarnate into the material world. The theory of transmigration was not applicable to the visible material body of man, but rather to the invisible immaterial spirit wandering along the pathway of the stars and sequentially assuming in the course of evolution the forms of the sacred zodiacal animals.

In the Third Book of the *Mathesis* of Julius Firmicus Maternus appears the following extract concerning the positions of the heavenly bodies at the time of the establishment of the inferior universe: "According to Æsculapius, therefore, and Anubius, to whom especially the divinity Mercury committed the secrets of the astrological science, the geniture of the world is as follows: They constituted the Sun in the 15th part of Leo, the Moon in the 15th part of Cancer, Saturn in the 15th part of Capricorn, Jupiter in the 15th part of Sagittary, Mars in the 15th part of Scorpio, Venus in the 15th part of Libra, Mercury in the 15th part of Virgo, and the Horoscope in the 15th part of Cancer. Conformably to this geniture, therefore, to these conditions of the stars, and the testimonies which they adduce in confirmation of this geniture, they are of opinion that the destinies of men, also, are disposed in accordance with the above arrangement, as maybe learnt from that book of Æsculapius which is called Μυριογενεσις, (i.e. Ten Thousand, or an innumerable multitude of Genitures) in order that nothing in the several genitures of men may be found to be discordant with the above-mentioned geniture of the world." The seven ages of man are under the control of the planets in the following order: infancy, the moon; childhood, Mercury; adolescence, Venus; maturity, the sun; middle age, Mars; advanced age, Jupiter; and decrepitude and dissolution, Saturn.

*HIEROGLYPHIC PLAN, By HERMES, OF THE ANCIENT ZODIAC.*

*From Kircher's Œdipus Ægyptiacus.*

*The inner circle contains the hieroglyph of Hemphta, the triform and pantamorphic deity. In the six concentric bands surrounding the inner circle are (from within outward): (1) the numbers of the zodiacal houses in figures and also in words; (2) the modern names of the houses.(3) the Greek or the Egyptian names of the Egyptian deities assigned to the houses; (4) the complete figures of these deities; (5) the ancient or the modem zodiacal signs, sometimes both; (6) the number of decans or subdivisions of the houses.

## The Bembine Table of Isis

A MANUSCRIPT by Thomas Taylor contains the following remarkable paragraph:

"Plato was initiated into the 'Greater Mysteries' at the age of 49. The initiation took place in one of the subterranean halls of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. The ISIAC TABLE formed the altar, before which the Divine Plato stood and received that which was always his, but which the ceremony of the Mysteries enkindled and brought from its dormant state. With this ascent, after three days in the Great Hall, he was received by the Hierophant of the Pyramid (the Hierophant was seen only by those who had passed the three days, the three degrees, the three dimensions) and given verbally the Highest Esoteric Teachings, each accompanied with Its appropriate Symbol. After a further three months' sojourn in the halls of the Pyramid, the Initiate Plato was sent out into the world to do the work of the Great Order, as Pythagoras and Orpheus had been before him."

Before the sacking of Rome in 1527 there is no historical mention of the *Mensa Isiaca*, (Tablet of Isis). At that time the Tablet came into the possession of a certain locksmith or ironworker, who sold it at an exorbitant price to Cardinal Bembo, a celebrated antiquary, historiographer of the Republic of Venice, and afterwards librarian of St. Mark's. After his death in 1547 the Isiac Tablet was acquired by the House of Mantua, in whose museum it remained until 1630, when troops of Ferdinand II captured the city of Mantua. Several early writers on the subject have assumed that the Tablet was demolished by the ignorant soldiery for the silver it contained. The assumption, however, was erroneous. The Tablet fell into the hands of Cardinal Pava, who presented it to the Duke of Savoy, who in turn presented it to the King of Sardinia. When the French conquered Italy in 1797 the Tablet was carried to Paris. In 1809, Alexandre Lenoir, writing of the *Mensa Isiaca*, said it was on exhibition at the Bibliothèque Nationale. Upon the establishment of peace between the two countries it was returned to Italy. In his Guide to Northern Italy, Karl Baedeker describes the *Mensa Isiaca* as being in the center of Gallery 2 in the Museum of Antiquities at Turin.

A faithful reproduction of the original Tablet was made in 1559 by the celebrated Æneas Vicus of Parma, and a copy of the engraving was given by the Chancellor of the Duke of Bavaria to the Museum of Hieroglyphics. Athanasius Kircher describes the Tablet as "five palms long and four wide." W. Wynn Westcott says it measures 50 by 30 inches. It was made of bronze and decorated with encaustic or smalt enamel and silver inlay. Fosbroke adds: "The figures are cut very shallow, and the contour of most of them is encircled by threads of silver. The bases upon which the figures were seated or reclined, and left blank in the prints, were of silver and are torn away." (See *Encyclopædia of Antiquities*.)

Those familiar with the fundamental principles of Hermetic philosophy will recognize in the *Mensa Isiaca* the key to Chaldean, Egyptian, and Greek theology. In his *Antiquities*, the learned Benedictine, Father Montfaucon, admits his inability to cope with the intricacies of its symbolism. He therefore doubts that the emblems upon the Tablet possess any significance worthy of consideration and ridicules Kircher, declaring him to be more obscure than the Tablet itself. Laurentius Pignorius reproduced the Tablet in connection with a descriptive essay in 1605, but his timidly advanced explanations demonstrated his ignorance concerning the actual interpretation of the figures.

*THE BEMBINE TABLE OF ISIS.*

*Concerning the theurgic or magic sense in which the Egyptian priests exhibited in the Bembine Table of Isis the philosophy of sacrifice, rites, and ceremonies by a system of occult symbols, Athanasius Kircher writes:*

*"The early priests believed that a great spiritual power was invoked by correct and unabridged sacrificial ceremonies. If one feature were lacking, the whole was vitiated, says Iamblichus. Hence they were most careful in all details, for they considered it absolutely essential for the entire chain of logical connections to be exactly according to ritual. Certainly for no other reason did they prepare and prescribe for future use the manuals, as it were, for conducting the rites. They learned, too, what the first hieromancers--possessed, as it were, by a divine fury--devised as a system of symbolism for exhibiting their mysteries. These they placed in this Tablet of Isis, before the eyes of those admitted to the sanctum sanctorum in order to teach the nature of the Gods and the prescribed forms of sacrifice. Since each of the orders of Gods had its own peculiar symbols, gestures, costumes, and ornaments, they thought it necessary to observe these in the whole apparatus of worship, as nothing was more efficacious in drawing the benign attention of the deities and genii.   * Thus their temples, remote from the usual haunts of men, contained representations of nearly every form in nature. First, in the pavement, they symbolized the physical economy of the world, using minerals, stones and other things suitable for ornaments, including little streams of water. The walls showed the starry world, and the done the world of genii. In the center was the altar, to suggest the emanations of the Supreme Mind from its center. Thus the entire interior constituted a picture of the Universe of Worlds. The priests in making sacrifices wore raiment adorned with figures similar to those attributed to the Gods. Their bodies were partially bare like those of the deities, and they themselves were divested of all material cares and practices the strictest chastity.   * Their heads were veiled to indicate their charge of earthly things. Their heads and bodies were shaved, for they regarded hair as a useless excrescence. Upon the head they bore the same insignia as those attributed to the Gods. Thus arrayed, they regarded themselves to be transformed into that intelligence with which they constantly desired to be identified. For example, in order to call down to the world the soul and spirit of the Universe, they stood before the image shown in the center of our Tablet, wearing the same symbols as that figure and its attendants, and offered sacrifices. By these and the accompanying singing of hymns they believed that they infallibly drew the God's attention to their prayer. And so they did in regard to other regions of the Tablet, believing of necessity the proper ritual properly carried out would evoke the deity desired. That this was the origin of the science of oracles is apparent. As a touched chord produces a harmony of sound, likewise the adjoining chords respond though not touched. Similarly the idea they expressed by their concurrent acts while adoring the God came into accord with basic Idea and, by an intellectual union, it was returned to them deiformed, and they thus obtained the Idea of Ideas. Hence there sprang up in their souls, they thought, the gift of prophecy and divination, and they believed they could foretell future events, impending evils, etc. For as in the Supreme Mind everything is simultaneous and spaceless, the future is therefore present in that Mind; and they thought that while the human mind was absorbed in the Supreme by contemplation, by that union they were enabled to know all the future. Nearly all that is represented in our Tablet consists of amulets which, by analogy above described, would inspire them, under the described conditions, with the virtues of the Supreme Power and enable them to receive good and avert evil. They also believed they could in this magical manner effect cures of diseases; that genii could be induced to appear to them during sleep and cure or teach them to cure the sick. In this belief they consulted the Gods about all sort of doubts and difficulties, while adorned with the simulacra of the mystic rite and intently contemplating the Divine Ideas; and while so enraptured they believed the God by some sign, nod or gesture communicated with them, whether asleep or awake, concerning the truth or falsity of the matter in point." (See Œdipus Ægyptiacus.)*

In his *Œdipus Ægyptiacus*, published in 1654, Kircher attacked the problem with characteristic avidity. Being peculiarly qualified for such a task by years of research in matters pertaining to the secret doctrines of antiquity, and with the assistance of a group of eminent scholars, Kircher accomplished much towards an exposition of the mysteries of the Tablet. The master secret, however, eluded even him, as Eliphas Levi has shrewdly noted in his *History of Magic*.

"The learned Jesuit, " writes Levi, "divined that it contained the hieroglyphic key to sacred alphabets, though he was unable to develop the explanation. It is divided into three equal compartments; above are the twelve houses of heaven and below are the corresponding distributions of labor work periods throughout the year, while in the middle place are twenty-one sacred signs answering to the letters of the alphabet. In the midst of all is a seated figure of the pantomorphic IYNX, emblem of universal being and corresponding as such to the Hebrew *Yod*, or to that unique letter from which all the other letters were formed. The IYNX is encircled by the Ophite triad, answering to the Three Mother Letters of the Egyptian and Hebrew alphabets. On the right are the Ibimorphic and Serapian triads; on the left are those of Nepthys and Hecate, representing active and passive, fixed and volatile, fructifying fire and generating water. Each pair of triads in conjunction with the center produces a septenary, and a septenary is contained in the center. The three septenaries furnish the absolute number of the three worlds, as well as the complete number of primitive letters, to which a complementary sign is added, like zero to the nine numerals."

Levi's hint may be construed to mean that the twenty-one figures in the center section of the Table represent the twenty-one major trumps of the Tarot cards. If this be so, is not the zero card, cause of so much controversy, the nameless crown of the Supreme Mind, the crown being symbolized by the hidden triad in the upper part of the throne in the center of the Table? Might not the first emanation of this Supreme Mind be well symbolized by a juggler or magician with the symbols of the four lower worlds spread out on a table before him: the rod, the sword, the cup, and the coin? Thus considered, the zero card belongs nowhere among the others but is in fact the fourth dimensional point from which they all emanated and consequently is broken up into the twenty-one cards (letters) which, when gathered together, produce the zero. The cipher appearing upon this card would substantiate this interpretation, for the cipher, or circle, is emblematic of the superior sphere from which issue the lower worlds, powers, and letters.

Westcott carefully collected the all too meager theories advanced by various authorities and in 1887 published his now extremely rare volume, which contains the only detailed description of the Isiac Tablet published in English since Humphreys translated Montfaucon's worthless description in 1721. After explaining his reticence to reveal that which Levi evidently felt was better left concealed, Westcott sums up his interpretation of the Tablet as follows:

"The diagram of Levi, by which he explains the mystery of the Tablet, shows the Upper Region divided into the four seasons of the year, each with three signs of the Zodiac, and he has added the four-lettered sacred name, the Tetragrammaton, assigning Jod to Aquarius, that is Canopus, He to Taurus, that is Apis, Vau to Leo, that is Momphta, and He final to Typhon. Note the Cherubic parallel--Man, Bull, Lion and Eagle. The fourth form is found either as Scorpion or Eagle depending upon the Occult good or evil intention: in the Demotic Zodiac, the Snake replaces the Scorpion.

"The Lower Region he ascribes to the twelve *simple* Hebrew letters, associating them with the four quarters of the horizon. Compare the Sepher Yerzirah, Cap. v., sec. 1.

"The Central Region he ascribes to the Solar powers and the Planetary. In the middle we see above, the Sun, marked Ops, and below it is a Solomon's Seal, above a cross; a double triangle Hexapla, one light and one dark triangle superposed, the whole forming a sort of complex symbol of Venus. To the Ibimorphos he gives the three dark planets, Venus, Mercury, and Mars placed around a dark triangle erect, denoting Fire. To the Nephthæan triad he gives three light planets, Saturn, Luna, and Jupiter, around a light inverted triangle which denotes Water. There is a necessary connection between water, female power, passive principle, Binah, and Sephirotic Mother, and Bride. (See the *Kabbalah* by Mathers.) Note the ancient signs for the planets were all composed of a Cross, Solar Disc and Crescent: Venus is a cross below a Sun disc, Mercury, a disc With a crescent above and cross below, Saturn is a Cross whose lowest point touches the apex of the crescent; Jupiter is a Crescent whose lowest point touches the left hand end of a cross: all these are deep mysteries. Note that Levi in his original plate transposed Serapis and Hecate, but not the Apis noir and Apis blanc, perhaps because of the head of Bes being associated by him with Hecate. Note that having referred the 12 simple letters to the lower, the 7 double must correspond to the central region of the planets, and then the great triad A.M.S. the mother letters representing Air, Water, and Fire remain to be pictured, around S the Central Iynx, or Yod, by the Ophionian Triad the two Serpents and the Leonine Sphynx. Levi's word OPS in the centre is the Latin Ops, Terra, genius of the Earth; and the Greek Ops, Rhea, or Kubele (Cybele) often drawn as a goddess seated in a chariot drawn by lions; she is crowned with turrets, and holds a Key." (See *The Isiac Tablet*.)

*LEVI'S KEY TO THE BEMBINE TABLE.*

*From Levi's History of Magic.*

*"The Isiac Tablet, writes Levi, is a Key to the Ancient Book of Thoth, which has survived to some extent the lapse of centuries and is pictured to us in the still comparatively ancient set of Tarocchi Cards. To him the Book of Thoth was a résumé of the esoteric learning of the Egyptians, after the decadence of their civilization, this lore became crystallized in a hieroglyphic form as the Tarot; this Tarot having become partially or entirely forgotten or misunderstood, its pictured symbols fell into the hands of the sham diviners, and of the providers of the public amusement by games of Cards. The modem Tarot, or Tarocchi pack of cards consists of 78 cards, of which 22 form a special group of trumps, of pictorial design: the remaining 56 are composed of four suits of 10 numerals and four court cards, King, Queen, Knight, and Knave or Valet; the suits are Swords (Militaryism), Cups (Sacerdocy), Clubs or Wands (Agriculture), and Shekels or Coins (Commerce), answering respectively to our Spades, Hearts, Clubs and Diamonds. Our purpose is with the 22 trumps, these form the special characteristic of the Pack and are the lineal descendants of the Hieroglyphics of the Tarot. These 22 respond to the letters of the Hebrew and other sacred alphabets, which fall naturally into three classes of a Trio of Mothers, a Heptad of doubles, and a duodecad of simple letters. They are also considered as a triad of Heptads and one apart, a system of Initiation and an Uninitiate." (See Westcott's The Isiac Tablet.)*

The essay published in French by Alexandre Lenoir in 1809, while curious and original, contains little real information on the Tablet, which the author seeks to prove was an Egyptian calendar or astrological chart. As both Montfaucon and Lenoir--in fact all writers on the subject since 1651--either have based their work upon that of Kircher or have been influenced considerably by him, a careful translation has been made of the latter's original article (eighty pages of seventeenth century Latin). The double-page plate at the beginning of this chapter is a faithful reproduction made by Kircher from the engraving in the Museum of Hieroglyphics. The small letters and numbers used to designate the figures were added by him to clarify his commentary and will be used for the same purpose in this work.

Like nearly all religious and philosophical antiquities, the Bembine Table of Isis has been the subject of much controversy. In a footnote, A. E. Waite--unable to differentiate between the true and the purported nature or origin of the Tablet--echoes the sentiments of J.G. Wilkinson, another eminent *exotericus*: "The original Table is exceedingly late and is roughly termed a forgery." On the other hand, Eduard Winkelmann, a man of profound learning, defends the genuineness and antiquity of the Tablet. A sincere consideration of the Mensa Isiaca discloses one fact of paramount importance: that although whoever fashioned the Table was not necessarily an Egyptian, he was an initiate of the highest order, conversant with the most arcane tenets of Hermetic esotericism.

**SYMBOLISM OF THE BEMBINE TABLE**

The following necessarily brief elucidation of the Bembine Table is based upon a digest of the writings of Kircher supplemented by other information gleaned by the present author from the mystical writings of the Chaldeans, Hebrews, Egyptians, and Greeks. The temples of the Egyptians were so designed that the arrangement of chambers, decorations, and utensils was all of symbolic significance, as shown by the hieroglyphics that covered them. Beside the altar, which usually was in the center of each room, was the cistern of Nile water which flowed in and out through unseen pipes. Here also were images of the gods in concatenated series, accompanied by magical inscriptions. In these temples, by use of symbols and hieroglyphics, neophytes were instructed in the secrets of the sacerdotal caste.

The Tablet of Isis was originally a table or altar, and its emblems were part of the mysteries explained by priests. Tables were dedicated to the various gods and goddesses; in this case Isis was so honored. The substances from which the tables were made differed according to the relative dignities of the deities. The tables consecrated to Jupiter and Apollo were of gold; those to Diana, Venus, and Juno were of silver; those to the other superior gods, of marble; those to the lesser divinities, of wood. Tables were also made of metals corresponding to the planets governed by the various celestials. As food for the body is spread on a banquet table, so on these sacred altars were spread the symbols which, when understood, feed the invisible nature of man.

In his introduction to the Table, Kircher summarizes its symbolism thus: "It teaches, in the first place, the whole constitution of the threefold world--archetypal, intellectual, and sensible. The Supreme Divinity is shown moving from the center to the circumference of a universe made up of both sensible and inanimate things, all of which are animated and agitated by the one supreme power which they call the *Father Mind* and represented by a threefold symbol. Here also are shown three triads from the Supreme One, each manifesting one attribute of the first Trimurti. These triads are called the *Foundation*, or the base of all things. In the Table is also set forth the arrangement and distribution of those divine creatures that aid the Father Mind in the control of the universe. Here in the upper panel are to be seen the Governors of the worlds, each with its fiery, ethereal, and material insignia. Here also in the lower panel are the *Fathers of Fountains*, whose duty it is to care for and preserve the principles of all things and sustain the inviolable laws of Nature. Here are the gods of the spheres and also those who wander from place to place, laboring with all substances and forms (Zonia and Azonia), grouped together as figures of both sexes, with their faces turned to their superior deity."

The *Mensa Isiaca*, which is divided horizontally into three chambers or panels, may represent the ground plan of the chambers in which the Isiac Mysteries were given. The center panel is divided into seven parts or lesser rooms, and the lower has two gates, one at each end. The entire Table contains forty-five figures of first importance and a number of lesser symbols. The forty-five main figures are grouped into fifteen triads, of which four are in the upper panel, seven in the central, and four in the lower. According to both Kircher and Levi, the triads are divided in the following manner:

*In the upper section*

1. P, S, V--Mendesian Triad.

2. X, Z, A--Ammonian Triad.

3. B, C, D--Momphtæan Triad.

4. F, G, H-Omphtæan Triad.

*In the center section*

1. G, I, K--Isiac Triad.

2. L, M, N--Hecatine Triad.

3. O, Q, R--Ibimorphous Triad.

4. V, S, W--Ophionic Triad.

5. X, Y, Z--Nephtæan Triad.

6. ζ, η, θ--Serapæan Triad.

7. γ, δ (not shown), ε--Osirian Triad.

*In the lower section*

1. λ, Μ, Ν--Horæan Triad.

2. ξ, Ο, Σ--Pandochæan Triad.

3. Τ, Φ, Χ--Thaustic Triad.

4. Ψ, F, Η--Æluristic Triad.

Of these fifteen triads Kircher writes: "The figures differ from each other in eight highly important respects, i. e., according to form, position, gesture, act, raiment, headdress, staff, and, lastly, according to the hieroglyphics placed around them, whether these be flowers, shrubs, small letters or animals." These eight symbolic methods of portraying the secret powers of the figures are subtle reminders of the eight spiritual senses of cognition by means of which the Real Self in man may be comprehended. To express this spiritual truth the Buddhists used the wheel with eight spokes and raised their consciousness by means of the noble eightfold path. The ornamented border enclosing the three main panels of the Table contains many symbols consisting of birds, animals, reptiles, human beings, and composite forms. According to one reading of the Table, this border represents the four elements; the creatures are elemental beings. According to another interpretation, the border represents the archetypal spheres, and in its frieze of composite figures are the patterns of those forms which in various combinations will subsequently manifest themselves in the material world. The four flowers at the corners of the Table are those which, because their blossoms always face the sun and follow its course across the sky, are sacred emblems of that finer part of man's nature which delights in facing its Creator.

According to the secret doctrine of the Chaldeans, the universe is divided into four states of being (planes or spheres): archetypal, intellectual, sidereal, and elemental. Each of these reveals the others; the superior controlling the inferior, and the inferior receiving influence from the superior. The archetypal plane was considered synonymous with the intellect of the Triune Divinity. Within this divine, incorporeal, and eternal sphere are included all the lower manifestations of life-all that is, has been, or ever shall be. Within the Kosmic Intellect all things spiritual or material exist as archetypes, or divine thought-forms, which is shown in the Table by a chain of secret similes.

In the middle region of the Table appears the all-form-containing personified Spiritual Essence--the source and substance of all things. From this proceed the lower worlds as nine emanations in groups of three (the Ophionic, Ibimorphous, and Nephtæan Triads). Consider in this connection the analogy of the Qabbalistic Sephiroth, or the nine spheres issuing from Kether, the Crown. The twelve Governors of the Universe (the Mendesian, Ammonian, Momphtæan, and Omphtæan Triads)--vehicles for the distribution of the creative influences, and shown in the upper region of the Table-are directed in their activities by the Divine Mind patterns existing in the archetypal sphere, The archetypes are abstract patterns formulated in the Divine Mind and by them all the inferior activities are controlled. In the lower region of the Table are the Father Fountains (the Horæan, Pandochæan, Thaustic, and Æluristic Triads), keepers of the great gates of the universe. These distribute to the lower worlds the influences descending from the Governors shown above.

In the theology of the Egyptians, goodness takes precedence and all things partake of its nature to a higher or lower degree. Goodness is sought by all. It is the Prime Cause of causes. Goodness is self-diffused and hence exists in all things, for nothing can produce that which it does not have in itself. The Table demonstrates that all is in God and God is in all; that all is in all and each is in each. In the intellectual world are invisible spiritual counterparts of the creatures which inhabit the elemental world. Therefore, the lowest exhibits the highest, the corporeal declares the intellectual, and the invisible i,. made manifest by its works. For this reason the Egyptians made images of substances existing in the inferior sensible world to serve as visible exemplars of superior and invisible powers. To the corruptible images they assigned the virtues of the incorruptible divinities, thus demonstrating arcanely that this world is but the shadow of God, the outward picture of the paradise within. All that is in the invisible archetypal sphere is revealed in the sensible corporeal world by the light of Nature.

The Archetypal and Creative Mind--first through its Paternal Foundation and afterwards through secondary Gods called Intelligences--poured our the whole infinity of its powers by continuous exchange from highest to lowest. In their phallic symbolism the Egyptians used the sperm to represent the spiritual spheres, because each contains all that comes forth from it. The Chaldeans and Egyptians also held that everything which is a result dwells in the cause of itself and turns to that cause as the lotus to the sun. Accordingly, the Supreme Intellect, through its Paternal Foundation, first created light--the angelic world. Out of that light were then created the invisible hierarchies of beings which some call the stars; and out of the stars the four elements and the sensible world were formed. Thus all are in all, after their respective kinds. All visible bodies or elements are in the invisible stars or spiritual elements, and the stars are likewise in those bodies; the stars are in the angels and the angels in the stars; the angels are in God and God is in all. Therefore, all are divinely in the Divine, angelically in the angels, and corporeally in the corporeal world, and vice versa. just as the seed is the tree folded up, so the world is God unfolded.

Proclus says: "Every property of divinity permeates all creation and gives itself to all inferior creatures. "One of the manifestations of the Supreme Mind is the power of reproduction according to species which it confers upon every creature of which it is the divine part. Thus souls, heavens, elements, animals, plants, and stones generate themselves each according to its pattern, but all are dependent upon the one fertilizing principle existing in the Supreme Mind. The fecundative power, though of itself a unit, manifests differently through the various substances, for in the mineral it contributes to material existence, in the plant it manifests as vitality, and in the animal as sensibility. It imparts motion to the heavenly bodies, thought to the souls of men, intellectuality to the angels, and superessentiality to God. Thus it is seen that all forms are of one substance and all life of one force, and these are co-existent in the nature of the Supreme One.

This doctrine was first expounded by Plato. His disciple, Aristotle, set it forth in these words: "We say that this Sensible World is an image of another; therefore since this world is vivid or alive, how much more, then, that other must live. ** * Yonder, therefore, above the stellar virtues, stand other heavens to be attained, like the heavens of this world; beyond them, because they are of a higher kind, brighter and vaster; nor are they distant from each Other like this one, for they are incorporeal. Yonder, too, exists an earth, not of inanimate matter, but vivid with animal life and all natural terrestrial phenomena like this one, but of other kinds and perfections. There are plants, also, and gardens, and flowing water; there are aquatic animals but of nobler species. Yonder is air and life appropriate to it, all immortal. And although the life there is analogous to ours, yet it is nobler, seeing that it is intellectual, perpetual and unalterable. For if anyone should object and ask, How in the world above do the plants, *etc.* above mentioned find footing, we should answer that they do not have objective existence, for they were produced by the primal Author in an absolute condition and without exteriorization. They are, therefore, in the same case as intellect and soul; they suffer no defect such as waste and corruption, since the beings yonder are full of energy, strength and joy, as living in a life sublime and being the issue of one fount and of one quality, compounded of all like sweet savors, delicate perfumes, harmonious color and sound, and other perfections. Nor do they move violently about nor intermix nor corrupt each other, but each perfectly preserves its own essential character; and they are simple and do not multiply as corporeal beings do."

In the midst of the Table is a great covered throne with a seated female figure representing Isis, but here called the Pantomorphic IYNX. G. R. S. Mead defines the IYNX as "a transmitting intelligence." Others have declared it to be a symbol of Universal Being. Over the head of the goddess the throne is surmounted by a triple crown, and beneath her feet is the house of material substance. The threefold crown is here symbolic of the Triune Divinity, called by the Egyptians the Supreme Mind, and described in the *Sepher ha Zohar* as being "hidden and unrevealed." According to the Hebrew system of Qabbalism, the Tree of the Sephiroth was divided into two parts, the upper invisible and the lower visible. The upper consisted of three parts and the lower of seven. The three uncognizable Sephiroth were called *Kether*, the Crown; *Chochmah*, Wisdom; and *Binah*, Understanding. These are too abstract to permit of comprehension, whereas the lower seven spheres that came forth from them were within the grasp of human consciousness. The central panel contains seven triads of figures. These represent the lower Sephiroth, all emanating from the concealed threefold crown over the throne.

*WESTCOTT'S KEY TO THE BEMBINE TABLE.*

*From Westcott's The Isiac Tablet.*

*Zoroaster declared that the number three shines throughout the world. This is revealed in the Bembine, Table by a series of triads representing the creative impulses. Of the Isiac Table Alexandre Lenoir writes: "The Isiac Table, as a work of art, is not of great interest. it is but a composition, rather cold and insignificant, whose figures, summarily sketched and methodically placed near each other, give but little impression of life. But, if on the contrary after examining it, we understand the purpose of the author, we become soon convinced that the Isiac Table is an image of the heavenly sphere divided in small parts to be used very like, for general teaching. According to that idea, we can conclude that the Isiac Table was originally the introduction to a collection followed by the Mysteries of Isis. It was engraved on copper in order to be used in the ceremonial of initiation." (See New Essay on the Isiac Table.)*

Kircher writes: "The throne denotes the diffusion of the triform Supreme Mind along the universal paths of the three worlds. Out of these three intangible spheres emerges the sensible universe, which Plutarch calls the 'House of Horns' and the Egyptians, the 'Great Gate of the Gods.' The top of the throne is in the midst of diffused serpent-shaped flames, indicating that the Supreme Mind is filled with light and life, eternal and incorruptible, removed from all material contact. How the Supreme Mind communicated His fire to all creatures is clearly set forth in the symbolism of the Table. The Divine Fire is communicated c to lower spheres through the universal power of Nature personified by the World Virgin, Isis, here denominated the IYNX, or the polymorphous all-containing Universal Idea." The word Idea is here used in its Platonic sense. "Plato believed that there are eternal forms of all possible things which exist without matter; and to these eternal and immaterial forms he gave the name of *ideas*. In the Platonic sense, *ideas* were the patterns according to which the Deity fashioned the phenomenal or ectypal world." (Sir W. Hamilton.)

Kircher describes the 21 figures in the central panel thus: "Seven principal triads, corresponding to seven superior worlds, are shown in the central section of the Table. They all originate from the fiery, invisible archetype the triple crown of the throne. The first, the Ophionic or IYNX Triad, V S W, corresponds to the vital and fiery world and is the first intellectual world, called by the ancients the *Aetherium*. Zoroaster says of it: 'Oh, what rigorous rulers this world has!' The second, or Ibimorphous Triad, O Q R, corresponds to the second intellectual, or ethereal, world, and is concerned with the principle of humidity. The third, or Nephtæan Triad, X Y Z, corresponds to the third intellectual and ethereal world and is concerned with fecundity. These are the three triads of the ethereal worlds, which correspond to the Father Foundation. Then follow the four triads of the sensible, or material, worlds, of which the first two correspond to the sidereal worlds, G I K and γ δ ε, namely, Osiris and Isis, Sun and Moon, indicated by two bulls. They are followed by two triads--the Hecatine, LM N, and the Serapæan, ζ η θ, corresponding to the sublunary and subterranean worlds. These complete the seven worlds of primary Genii ruling the natural universe. Psellus quotes Zoroaster: 'The Egyptians and the Chaldeans, taught that there were seven corporeal worlds (i. e., worlds ruled by the intellectual powers);the first is of pure fire; the second, third, and fourth, ethereal; the fifth, sixth, and seventh, material; the seventh being the one called terrestrial and hater of light, and is located under the Moon, comprising within itself the matter called *fundus*, or foundation. 'These seven, plus the one invisible crown, constitute the eight worlds. ** *

"Plato writes that it is needful for the philosopher to know how the seven circles beneath the first one are arranged according to the Egyptians. The first triad of fire denotes life; the second, water, over which rule the Ibimorphous divinities; and the third, air, ruled by Nephta. From the fire the heavens were created, from the water the earth, and air was the mediator between them. In the Sephira Yetzirah it is said that from the three originate the seven, i. e., the height, the depth, the East, the West, the North, and the South, and the Holy Temple in the center sustaining them all. Is not the Holy Temple in the center the great throne of the many-formed Spirit of Nature which is shown in the middle of the Tablet? What are the seven triads but the seven Powers that rule over the world? Psellus writes: 'The Egyptians worshipped the triad of faith, truth, and love; and the seven fountains: the Sun as ruler--the fountain of matter; then the fountain of the archangels; the fountain of the senses; of judgment; of lightning; of reflections; and of characters of unknown composition. They say that the highest material fountains are those of Apollo, Osiris, and Mercury--the fountains of the centers of the elements. 'Thus, they understood by the Sun as ruler the solar world; by the material archangelic, the lunar world; by the fountain of the senses, the world of Saturn; by judgment, Jupiter; by lightning, Mars; by that of the reflections, or mirrors, the world of Venus; by the fountain of characters, the world of Mercury. All these are shown by the figures in the center pane of the Tablet."

The upper panel contains the twelve figures of the zodiac arranged in four triads. The center figure in each group represents one of the four fixed signs of the zodiac. *S* is the sign of Aquarius; *Z*, Taurus; *C*, Leo; and *G*, Scorpio. These are called the *Fathers*. In the secret teachings of the Far East these four figures--the man, the bull, the lion, and the eagle--are called the winged globes or the four Maharajahs who stand upon the corners of creation. The four cardinal signs--*P*, Capricorn; *X*, Aries; *B*, Cancer; *F*, Libra--are called the Powers. The four common signs--*V*, Pisces; *A*, Gemini; *E*, Virgo; *H*, Sagittarius--are called the *Minds* of the Four Lords. This explains the meaning of the winged globes of Egypt, for the four central figures--Aquarius, Taurus, Leo, and Scorpio (called by Ezekiel the *Cherubim*)--are the globes; the cardinal and common signs on either side are the wings. Therefore the twelve signs of the zodiac may be symbolized by four globes, each with two wings.

The celestial triads are further shown by the Egyptians as a globe (the *Father*) from which issue a serpent (the *Mind*) and wings (the *Power*). These twelve forces are the fabricators of the world, and from them emanate the microcosm, or the mystery of the twelve sacred animals--representing in the universe the twelve parts of the world and in man the twelve parts of the human body. Anatomically, the twelve figures in the upper panel may well symbolize the twelve convolutions of the brain and the twelve figures in the lower panel the twelve zodiacal members and organs of the human body, for man is a creature formed of the twelve sacred animals with his members and organs under the direct control of the twelve governors or powers resident in the brain.

A more profound interpretation is found in the correspondences between the twelve figures in the upper panel and the twelve in the lower. This furnishes a key to one of the most arcane of ancient secrets--the relationship existing between the two great zodiacs the *fixed* and the *movable*. The *fixed* zodiac is described as an immense dodecahedron, its twelve surfaces representing the outermost walls of abstract space. From each surface of this dodecahedron a great spiritual power, radiating inward, becomes embodied as one of the hierarchies of the movable zodiac, which is a band of circumambulating so-called fixed stars. Within this *movable* zodiac are posited the various planetary and elemental bodies. The relation of these two zodiacs to the subzodiacal spheres has a correlation in the respiratory system of the human body. The great *fixed* zodiac may be said to represent the atmosphere, the *movable* zodiac the lungs, and the subzodiacal worlds the body. The spiritual atmosphere containing the vivifying energies of the twelve divine powers of the great *fixed* zodiac is inhaled by the cosmic lungs--the *movable* zodiac--and distributed by them through the constitution of the twelve holy animals which are the parts and members of the material universe. The functional cycle is completed when the poisonous effluvia of the lower worlds collected by the *movable* zodiac are exhaled into the great *fixed* zodiac, there to be purified by being passed through the divine natures of its twelve eternal hierarchies.

The Table as a whole is susceptible of many interpretations. If the border of the Table with its hieroglyphic figures be accepted as the spiritual source, then the throne in the center represents the physical body within which human nature is enthroned. From this point of view the entire Table becomes emblematic of the auric bodies of man, with the border as the outer extremity or shell of the *auric egg*. If the throne be accepted as the symbol of the spiritual sphere, the border typifies the elements, and the various panels surrounding the central one become emblematic of the worlds or planes emanating from the one divine source. If the Table be considered from a purely physical basis, the throne becomes symbolic of the generative system and the Table reveals the secret processes of embryology as applied to the formation of the material worlds. If a purely physiological and anatomical interpretation be desired, the central throne becomes the heart, the Ibimorphous Triad the mind, the Nephtæan Triad the generative system, and the surrounding hieroglyphics the various parts and members of the human body. From the evolutionary viewpoint the central gate becomes the point of both entrance and exit. Here also is set forth the process of initiation, in which the candidate after passing successfully through the various ordeals is finally brought into the presence of his own soul, which he alone is capable of unveiling.

If cosmogony be the subject of consideration, the central panel represents the spiritual worlds, the upper panel the intellectual worlds, and the lower panel the material worlds. The central panel may also symbolize the nine invisible worlds, and the creature marked *T* the physical nature--the footstool of Isis, the Spirit of Universal Life. Considered in the light of alchemy, the central panel contains the metals and the borders the alchemical processes. The figure seated on the throne is the Universal Mercury--the "stone of the wise"; the flaming canopy of the throne above is the Divine Sulphur; and the cube of earth beneath is the elemental salt.

The three triads--or the *Paternal Foundation*--in the central panel represent the Silent Watchers, the three invisible parts of the nature of man; the two panels on either side are the quaternary lower nature of man. In the central panel are 21 figures. This number is sacred to the sun--which consists of three great powers, each with seven attributes--and by Qabbalistic reduction 21 becomes 3, or the Great Triad.

It will yet be proved that the Table of Isis is directly connected with Egyptian Gnosticism, for in a Gnostic papyrus preserved in the Bodleian Library there is a direct reference to the twelve *Fathers* or *Paternities* beneath whom are twelve Fountains. (See *Egyptian Magic* by S.S.D.D.) That the lower panel represents the underworld is further emphasized by the two gates--the great gate of the East and the great gate of the West--for in the Chaldean theology the sun rises and sets through gates in the underworld, where it wanders during the hours of darkness. As Plato was for thirteen years under the instruction of the Magi Patheneith, Ochoaps, Sechtnouphis, and Etymon of Sebbennithis, his philosophy consequently is permeated with the Chaldean and Egyptian system of triads. The Bembine Table is a diagrammatic exposition of the so-called Platonic philosophy, for in its design is epitomized the entire theory of mystic cosmogony and generation. The most valuable guide to the interpretation of this Table is the *Commentaries of Proclus on the Theology of Plato*. The *Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster* also contains many allusions to the theogonic principles which are demonstrated by the Table.

The *Theogony* of Hesiod contains the most complete account of the Greek cosmogony myth. Orphic cosmogony has left its impress upon the various forms of philosophy and religion--Greek, Egyptian, and Syrian--which it contacted. Chief of the Orphic symbols was the *mundane egg* from which Phanes sprang into light. Thomas Taylor considers the Orphic egg to be synonymous with the *mixture* from *bound* and *infinity* mentioned by Plato in the *Philebus*. The egg is furthermore the third Intelligible Triad and the proper symbol of the Demiurgus, whose auric body is the egg of the inferior universe.

Eusebius, on the authority of Porphyry, declared that the Egyptians acknowledged one intellectual Author or Creator of the world under the name of *Cneph* and that they worshiped him in a statue of human form and dark blue complexion, holding in his hand a girdle and a scepter, wearing on his head a royal plume, and thrusting forth an egg out of his mouth. (See *An Analysis of the Egyptian Mythology*) While the Bembine Table is rectangular-shaped, it signifies philosophically the Orphic egg of the universe with its contents. In the esoteric doctrines the supreme individual achievement is the breaking of the Orphic egg, which is equivalent to the return of the spirit to the Nirvana--the *absolute* condition--of the Oriental mystics.

*The New Pantheon* by Samuel Boyse contains three plates showing various sections of the Bembine Table. The author, however, makes no important contribution to the knowledge of the subject. In *The Mythology and Fables of the Ancients Explained from History*, the Abbé Banier devotes a chapter to a consideration of the *Mensa Isiaca*. After reviewing the conclusions of Montfaucon, Kircher, and Pignorius, he adds: "I am of the opinion that: it was a votive table, which some prince or private person had consecrated to Isis, as an acknowledgment for some benefit which he believed she had conferred upon him."

## Wonders of Antiquity

IT was a common practice among the early Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans to seal lighted lamps in the sepulchers of their dead as offerings to the God of Death. Possibly it was also believed that the deceased could use these lights in finding his way through the Valley of the Shadow. Later as the custom became generally established, not only actual lamps but miniatures of them in terra cotta were buried with the dead. Some of the lamps were enclosed in circular vessels for protection; and instances have been recorded in which the original oil was found in them, in a perfect state of preservation, after more than 2,000 years. There is ample proof that many of these lamps were burning when the sepulchers were sealed, and it has been declared that they were still burning when the vaults were opened hundreds of years later. The possibility of preparing a fuel which would renew itself as rapidly as it was consumed has been a source of considerable controversy among medieval authors. After due consideration of the evidence at hand, it seems well within the range of possibility that the ancient priest-chemists did manufacture lamps that burned, if not indefinitely, at least for considerable periods of time.

Numerous authorities have written on the subject of ever-burning lamps. W. Wynn Westcott estimates the number of writers who have given the subject consideration as more than 150, and H. P. Blavatsky as 173. While conclusions reached by different authors are at variance, a majority admit the existence of these phenomenal lamps. Only a few maintained that the lamps would burn forever, but many were willing to concede that they might remain alight for several centuries without replenishment of the fuel. Some considered the so-called perpetual lights as mere artifices of the crafty pagan priests, while a great many, admitting that the lamps actually burned, made the sweeping assertion that the Devil was using this apparent miracle to ensnare the credulous and thereby lead their souls to perdition.

On this subject the learned Jesuit, Athanasius Kircher, usually dependable, exhibits a striking inconsistency. In his *Œdipus Ægyptiacus* he writes: "Not a few of these ever-burning lamps have been found to be the devices of devils, ** * And I take it that all the lamps found in the tombs of the Gentiles dedicated to the worship of certain gods, were of this kind, not because they burned, or have been reported to burn, with a perpetual flame, but because probably the devil set them there, maliciously intending thereby to obtain fresh credence for a false worship."

Having admitted that dependable authorities defend the existence of the ever-burning lamps, and that even the Devil lends himself to their manufacture, Kircher next declared the entire theory to be desperate and impossible, and to be classed with perpetual motion and the Philosopher's Stone. Having already solved the problem to his satisfaction once, Kircher solves it again--but differently--in the following words: "In Egypt there are rich deposits of asphalt and petroleum. What did these clever fellows the priests do, then, but connect an oil deposit by a secret duct with one or more lamps, provided with wicks of asbestos! How could such lamps help burning perpetually? ** * In my opinion this is the solution of the riddle of the supernatural everlastingness of these ancient lamps."

Montfaucon, in his *Antiquities*, agrees in the main with the later deductions of Kircher, believing the fabled perpetual lamps of the temples to be cunning mechanical contrivances. He further adds that the belief that lamps burned indefinitely in tombs was the result of the noteworthy fact that in some cases fumes resembling smoke poured forth from the entrances of newly opened vaults. Parties going in later and discovering lamps scattered about the floor assumed that they were the source of the fumes.

There are several interesting stories concerning the discoveries of ever-burning lamps in various parts of the world. In a tomb on the Appian Way which was opened during the papacy of Paul III was found a burning lamp which had remained alight in a hermetically sealed vault for nearly 1,600 years. According to an account written by a contemporary, a body--that of a young and beautiful girl with long golden hair--was found floating in an unknown transparent liquid and as well preserved as though death had occurred but a few hours before. About the interior of the vault were a number of significant objects, which included several lamps, one of them alight. Those entering the sepulcher declared that the draft caused by the opening of the door blew out the light and the lamp could not be relighted. Kircher reproduces an epitaph, "TULLIOLAE FILIAE MEAE," supposedly found in the tomb, but which Montfaucon declares never existed, the latter adding that although conclusive evidence was not found, the body was generally believed to be that of Tulliola, the daughter of Cicero.

Ever-burning lamps have been discovered in all parts of the world. Not only the Mediterranean countries but also India, Tibet, China, and South America have contributed records of lights which burned continuously without fuel. The examples which follow were selected at random from the imposing list of perpetual lamps found in different ages.

Plutarch wrote of a lamp that burned over the door of a temple to Jupiter Ammon; the priests declared that it had remained alight for centuries without fuel.

St. Augustine described a perpetual lamp, guarded in a temple in Egypt sacred to Venus, which neither wind nor water could extinguish. He believed it to be the work of the Devil.

An ever-burning lamp was found at Edessa, or Antioch, during the reign of the Emperor Justinian. It was in a niche over the city gate, elaborately enclosed to protect it from the elements. The date upon it proved that the lamp had been burning for more than 500 years. It was destroyed by soldiers.

During the early Middle Ages a lamp was found in England which had burned since the third century after Christ. The monument containing it was believed to be the tomb of the father of Constantine the Great.

The Lantern of Pallas was discovered near Rome in A.D. 1401. It was found in the sepulcher of Pallas, son of Evander, immortalized by Virgil in his *Æneid*. The lamp was placed at the head of the body and had burned with a steady glow for more than 2,000 years.

In A.D. 1550 on the island of Nesis, in the Bay of Naples, a magnificent marble vault was opened in which was found a lamp still alight which had been placed there before the beginning of the Christian Era.

Pausanias described a beautiful golden lamp in the temple of Minerva which burned steadily for a year without refueling or having the wick trimmed. The ceremony of filling the lamp took place annually, and time was measured by the ceremony.

According to the *Fama Fraternitatis*, the crypt of Christian Rosencreutz when opened 120 years after his death was found to be brilliantly illuminated by a perpetual lamp suspended from the ceiling.

Numa Pompilius, King of Rome and magician of considerable power, caused a perpetual light to burn in the dome of a temple he had created in honor of an elemental being.

*BASE OF A DELPHIAN TRIPOD.*

*From Montfaucon's Antiquities.*

*The windings of these serpents formed the base, and the three heads sustained the three feet of the tripod. It is impossible to secure satisfactory information concerning the shape and size of the celebrated Delphian tripod. Theories concerning it are based (in most part) upon small ornamental tripods discovered in various temples.*

In England a curious tomb was found containing an automaton which moved when certain stones in the floor of the vault were stepped upon by an intruder. At that time the Rosicrucian controversy was at its height, so it was decided that the tomb was that of a Rosicrucian initiate. A countryman, discovering the tomb and entering, found the interior brilliantly lighted by a lamp hanging from the ceiling. As he walked, his weight depressed some of the floor stones. At once a seated figure in heavy armor began to move. Mechanically it rose to its feet and struck the lamp with an iron baton, completely destroying it, and thus effectually preventing the discovery of the secret substance which maintained the flame. How long the lamp had burned is unknown, but certainly it had been for a considerable number of years.

*THE DELPHIAN TRIPOD RESTORED.*

*From Beaumont's Gleanings of Antiquities.*

*According to Beaumont, the above is the most authentic form of the Delphian tripod extant; but as the tripod must have changed considerably during the life of the oracle, hasty conclusions are unwise. In his description of the tripod, Beaumont divides it into four Parts: (1) a frame with three (2), a reverberating basin or bowl set in the frame; (e) a flat plate or table upon which the Pythia sat; and (4) a cone-shaped cover over the table, which completely concealed the priestess and from beneath which her voice sounded forth in weird and hollow tones, Attempts have been made to relate the Delphian tripod with the Jewish Ark of the Covenant. The frame of three legs was likened to the Ark of the Covenant; the flat plate or table to the Mercy Seat; and the cone-shaped covering to the tent of the Tabernacle itself. This entire conception differs widely from that popularly accepted, but discloses a valuable analogy between Jewish and Greek symbolism.*

It is related that among the tombs near Memphis and in the Brahmin temples of India lights have been found in sealed chambers and vessels, but sudden exposure to the air has extinguished them and caused their fuel to evaporate.

It is now believed that the wicks of these perpetual lamps were made of braided or woven asbestos, called by the alchemists *salamander's wool*, and that the fuel was one of the products of alchemical research. Kircher attempted to extract oil from asbestos, being convinced that as the substance itself was indestructible by fire an oil extracted from it would supply the lamp with a fuel likewise indestructible. After spending two years in fruitless experimental work, he concluded that the task was impossible of accomplishment.

Several formulæ for the making of the fuel for the lamps have been preserved. In *Isis Unveiled*, H. P. Blavatsky reprints two of these formulæ from early authors--Tritenheim and Bartolomeo Korndorf. One will suffice to give a general understanding of the process:

"*Sulphur*. *Alum* ust. a ℥ iv.; sublime them into flowers to ℥ ij., of which add of crystalline Venetian borax (powdered) ℥ j.; upon these affuse high rectified spirit of wine and digest it, then abstract it and pour on fresh; repeat this so often till the sulphur melts like wax without any smoke, upon a hot plate of brass: this is for the *pabulum*, but the wick is to be prepared after this manner: gather the threads or thrums of the *Lapis asbestos*, to the thickness of your middle and the length of your little finger, then put them into a Venetian glass, and covering them over with the aforesaid depurated sulphur or aliment set the glass in sand for the space of twenty-four hours, so hot that the sulphur may bubble all the while. The wick being thus besmeared and anointed, is to be put into a glass like a scallop-shell, in such manner that some part of it may lie above the mass of prepared sulphur; then setting this glass upon hot sand, you must melt the sulphur, so that it may lay hold of the wick, and when it is lighted, it will burn with a perpetual flame and you may set this lamp in any place where you please."

**THE GREEK ORACLES**

The worship of Apollo included the establishment and maintenance of places of prophecy by means of which the gods could communicate with mankind and reveal futurity to such as deserved the boon. The early history of Greece abounds with accounts of talking trees, rivers, statues, and caves in which nymphs, dryads, or dæmons had taken up their abodes and from which they delivered oracles. While Christian authors have tried to prove that oracular revelations were delivered by the Devil for the purpose of misleading humanity, they have not dared to attack the theory of oracles, because of the repeated reference to it in their own sacred writings. If the onyx stones on the shoulders of Israel's high priest made known by their flashings the will of Jehovah, then a black dove, temporarily endowed with the faculty of speech, could indeed pronounce oracles in the temple of Jupiter Ammon. If the witch of Endor could invoke the shade of Samuel, who in turn gave prophecies to Saul, could not a priestess of Apollo call up the specter of her liege to foretell the destiny of Greece?

The most famous oracles of antiquity were those of Delphi, Dodona, Trophonius, and Latona, of which the talking oak trees of Dodona were the oldest. Though it is impossible to trace back to the genesis of the theory of oracular prophecy, it is known that many of the caves and fissures set aside by the Greeks as oracles were sacred long before the rise of Greek culture.

The oracle of Apollo at Delphi remains one of the unsolved mysteries of the ancients. Alexander Wilder derives the name *Delphi* from *delphos*, the womb. This name was chosen by the Greeks be cause of the shape of the cavern and the vent leading into the depths of the earth. The original name of the oracle was *Pytho*, so called because its chambers had been the abode of the great serpent *Python*, a fearsome creature that had crept out of the slime left by the receding flood that had destroyed all human beings except Deucalion and Pyrrha. Apollo, climbing the side of Mount Parnassus, slew the serpent after a prolonged combat, and threw the body down the fissure of the oracle. From that time the Sun God, surnamed the Pythian Apollo, gave oracles from the vent. With Dionysos he shared the honor of being the patron god of Delphi.

After being vanquished by Apollo, the spirit of Python remained at Delphi as the representative of his conqueror, and it was with the aid of his effluvium that the priestess was able to become *en rapport* with the god. The fumes rising from the fissure of the oracle were supposed to come from the decaying body of Python. The name *Pythoness*, or *Pythia*, given to the female hierophant of the oracle, means literally one who has been thrown into a religious frenzy by inhaling fumes rising from decomposing matter. It is of further interest to note that the Greeks believed the oracle of Delphi to be the umbilicus of the earth, thus proving that they considered the planet an immense human being. The connection between the principle of oracular revelation and the occult significance of the navel is an important secret belonging to the ancient Mysteries.

The oracle, however, is much older than the foregoing account indicates. A story of this kind was probably invented by the priests to explain the phenomena to those inquisitive persons whom they did not consider worthy of enlightenment regarding the true esoteric nature of the oracle. Some believe that the Delphic fissure was discovered by a Hypoborean priest, but as far back as recorded history goes the cave was sacred, and persons came from all parts of Greece and the surrounding countries to question the dæmon who dwelt in its chimney-like vent. Priests and priestesses guarded it closely and served the spirit who dwelt therein and who enlightened humanity through the gift of prophecy.

The story of the original discovery of the oracle is somewhat as follows: Shepherds tending their flocks on the side of Mount Parnassus were amazed at the peculiar antics of goats that wandered close to a great chasm on its southwestern spur. The animals jumped about as though trying to dance, and emitted strange cries unlike anything before heard. At last one of the shepherds, curious to learn the cause of the phenomenon, approached the vent, from which were rising noxious fumes. Immediately he was seized with a prophetic ecstasy; he danced with wild abandon, sang, jabbered inarticulate sounds, and foretold future events. Others went close to the fissure, with the same result. The fame of the place spread, and many came to learn of the future by inhaling the mephitic fumes, which exhilarated to the verge of delirium.

Some of those who came, being unable to control themselves, and having temporarily the strength of madmen, tore themselves from those seeking to restrain them, and, jumping into the vent, perished. In order to prevent others from doing likewise, a wall was erected around the fissure and a prophetess was appointed to act as mediator between the oracle and those who came to question it. According to later authorities, a tripod of gold, ornamented with carvings of Apollo in the form of Python, the great serpent, was placed over the cleft, and on this was arranged a specially prepared seat, so constructed that a person would have difficulty in falling off while under the influence of the oracular fumes. just before this time, a story had been circulated that the fumes of the oracle arose from the decaying body of Python. It is possible that the oracle revealed its own origin.

For many centuries during its early history, virgin maidens were consecrated to the service of the oracle. They were called the *Phœbades*, or *Pythiæ*, and constituted that famous order now known as the Pythian priesthood. It is probable that women were chosen to receive the oracles because their sensitive and emotional nature responded more quickly and completely to "the fumes of enthusiasm." Three days before the time set to receive the communications from Apollo, the virgin priestess began the ceremony of purification. She bathed in the Castalian well, abstained from all food, drank only from the fountain of Cassotis, which was brought into the temple through concealed pipes, and just before mounting the tripod, she chewed a few leaves of the sacred bay tree. It has been said that the water was drugged to bring on distorted visions, or the priests of Delphi were able to manufacture an exhilarating and intoxicating gas, which they conducted by subterranean ducts and released into the shaft of the oracle several feet below the surface. Neither of these theories has been proved, however, nor does either in any way explain the accuracy of the predictions.

*THE PYTHIAN APOLLO.*

*From Historia Deorum Fatidicorum.*

*Apollo, the twin brother of Diana, was the son of Jupiter and Latona. Apollo was fully adult at the time of his birth. He was considered to be the first physician and the inventor of music and song. The Greeks also acclaimed him to be father of the bow and arrow. The famous temple of Apollo at Delphi was rebuilt five times. The first temple was formed only of laurel branches; the second was somewhat similar; the third was brass and the fourth and fifth were probably of marble, of considerable size and great beauty. No other oracle in Greece equaled in magnificence that of Delphi in the zenith of its power. Writers declared that it contained many statues of solid gold and silver, marvelous ornaments, and implements of the most valuable materials and beautiful workmanship, donated by princes and kings who came from all parts of the civilized world to consult the spirit of Apollo dwelling in this sanctuary.*

When the young prophetess had completed the process of purification, she was clothed in sanctified raiment and led to the tripod, upon which she seated herself, surrounded by the noxious vapors rising from the yawning fissure. Gradually, as she inhaled the fumes, a change came over her. It was as if a different spirit had entered her body. She struggled, tore her clothing, and uttered inarticulate cries. After a time her struggles ceased. Upon becoming calm a great majesty seemed to posses her, and with eyes fixed on space and body rigid, she uttered the prophetic words. The predictions were usually in the form of hexameter verse, but the words were often ambiguous and sometimes unintelligible. Every sound that she made, every motion of her body, was carefully recorded by the five Hosii, or holy men, who were appointed as scribes to preserve the minutest details of each divination. The Hosii were appointed for life, and were chosen from the direct descendants of Deucalion.

After the oracle was delivered, the Pythia began to struggle again, and the spirit released her. She was then carried or supported to a chamber of rest, where she remained till the nervous ecstasy had passed away.

Iamblichus, in his dissertation on *The Mysteries*, describes how the spirit of the oracle--a fiery dæmon, even Apollo himself--took control of the Pythoness and manifested through her: "But the prophetess in Delphi, whether she gives oracles to mankind through an attenuated and fiery spirit, bursting from the mouth of the cavern; or whether being seated in the adytum on a brazen tripod, or on a stool with four feet, she becomes sacred to the God; whichsoever of these is the case, she entirely gives herself up to a divine spirit, and is illuminated with a ray of divine fire. And when, indeed, fire ascending from the mouth of the cavern circularly invests her in collected abundance, she becomes filled from it with a divine splendour. But when she places herself on the seat of the God, she becomes co-adapted to his stable prophetic power: and from both of these preparatory operations she becomes wholly possessed by the God. And then, indeed, he is present with and illuminates her in a separate manner, and is different from the fire, the spirit, the proper seat, and, in short, from all the visible apparatus of the place, whether physical or sacred."

Among the celebrities who visited the oracle of Delphi were the immortal Apollonius of Tyana and his disciple Damis. He made his offerings and, after being crowned with a laurel wreath and given a branch of the same plant to carry in his hand, he passed behind the statue of Apollo which stood before the entrance to the cave, and descended into the sacred place of the oracle. The priestess was also crowned with laurel and her head bound with a band of white wool. Apollonius asked the oracle if his name would be remembered by future generations. The Pythoness answered in the affirmative, but declared that it would always be calumniated. Apollonius left the cavern in anger, but time has proved the accuracy of the prediction, for the early church fathers perpetuated the name of Apollonius as the Antichrist. (For details of the story see *Histoire de la Magie*.)

The messages given by the virgin prophetess were turned over to the philosophers of the oracle, whose duty it was to interpret and apply them. The communications were then delivered to the poets, who immediately translated them into odes and lyrics, setting forth in exquisite form the statements supposedly made by Apollo and making them available for the populace.

Serpents were much in evidence at the oracle of Delphi. The base of the tripod upon which the Pythia sat was formed of the twisted bodies of three gigantic snakes. According to some authorities, one of the processes used to produce the prophetic ecstasy was to force the young priestess to gaze into the eyes of a serpent. Fascinated and hypnotized, she then spoke with the voice of the god.

Although the early Pythian priestesses were always maidens--some still in their teens--a law was later enacted that only women past fifty years of age should be the mouthpiece of the oracle. These older women dressed as young girls and went through the same ceremonial as the first Pythiæ. The change was probably the indirect result of a series of assaults made upon the persons of the priestesses by the profane.

During the early history of the Delphian oracle the god spoke only at each seventh birthday of Apollo. As time went on, however, the demand became so great that the Pythia was forced to seat herself upon the tripod every month. The times selected for the consultation and the questions to be asked were determined by lot or by vote of the inhabitants of Delphi.

It is generally admitted that the effect of the Delphian oracle upon Greek culture was profoundly constructive. James Gardner sums up its influence in the following words: "It responses revealed many a tyrant and foretold his fate. Through its means many an unhappy being was saved from destruction and many a perplexed mortal guided in the right way. It encouraged useful institutions, and promoted the progress of useful discoveries. Its moral influence was on the side of virtue, and its political influence in favor of the advancement of civil liberty." (See *The Faiths of The World*.)

The oracle of Dodona was presided over by Jupiter, who uttered prophecies through oak trees, birds, and vases of brass. Many writers have noted the similarities between the rituals of Dodona and those of the Druid priests of Britain and Gaul. The famous oracular dove of Dodona, alighting upon the branches of the sacred oaks, not only discoursed at length in the Greek tongue upon philosophy and religion, but also answered the queries of those who came from distant places to consult it.

The "talking" trees stood together, forming a sacred grove. When the priests desired answers to important questions, after careful and solemn purifications they retired to the grove. They then accosted the trees, beseeching a reply from the god who dwelt therein. When they had stated their questions, the trees spoke with the voices of human beings, revealing to the priests the desired information. Some assert that there was but one tree which spoke--an oak or a beech standing in the very heart of the ancient grove. Because Jupiter was believed to inhabit this tree he was sometimes called *Phegonæus*, or one who lives in a beech tree.

Most curious of the oracles of Dodona were the "talking" vases, or kettles. These were made of brass and so carefully fashioned that when struck they gave off sound for hours. Some writers have described a row of these vases and have declared that if one of them was struck its vibrations would be communicated to all the others and a terrifying din ensue. Other authors describe a large single vase, standing upon a pillar, near which stood another column, supporting the statue of a child holding a whip. At the end of the whip were a number of swinging cords tipped with small metal balls, and the wind, which blew incessantly through the open building, caused the balls to strike against the vase. The number and intensity of the impacts and the reverberations of the vase were all carefully noted, and the priests delivered their oracles accordingly.

When the original priests of Dodona--the *Selloi*--mysteriously vanished, the oracle was served for many centuries by three priestesses who interpreted the vases and at midnight interrogated the sacred trees. The patrons of the oracles were expected to bring offerings and to make contributions.

Another remarkable oracle was the Cave of Trophonius, which stood upon the side of a hill with an entrance so small that it seemed impossible for a human being to enter. After the consultant had made his offering at the statue of Trophonius and had donned the sanctified garments, he climbed the hill to the cave, carrying in one hand a cake of honey. Sitting down at the edge of the opening, he lowered his feet into the cavern. Thereupon his entire body was precipitately drawn into the cave, which was described by those who had entered it as having only the dimensions of a fair-sized oven. When the oracle had completed its revelation, the consultant, usually delirious, was forcibly ejected from the cave, feet foremost.

*THE DODONEAN JUPITER.*

*From Historia Deorum Fatidicorum.*

*Jupiter was called Dodonean after the city of Dodona in Epirus. Near this city was a hill thickly covered with oak trees which from the most ancient times had been sacred to Jupiter. The grove was further venerated because dryads, fauns, satyrs, and nymphs were believed to dwell in its depths. From the ancient oaks and beeches were hung many chains of tiny bronze bells which tinkled day and night as the wind swayed the branches. Some assert that the celebrated talking dove of Dodona was in reality a woman, because in Thessaly both prophetesses and doves were called Peleiadas. It is supposed that the first temple of Dodona was erected by Deucalion and those who survived the great flood with him. For this reason the oracle at Dodona was considered the oldest in Greece.*

Near the cave of the oracle two fountains bubbled out of the earth within a few feet of each other. Those about to enter the cave drank first from these fountains, the waters of which seemed to possess peculiar occult properties. The first contained the water of forgetfulness, and all who drank thereof forgot their earthly sorrows. From the second fountain flowed the sacred water of Mnemosyne, or remembrance, for later it enabled those who partook of it to recall their experiences while in the cave.

Though its entrance was marked by two brass obelisks, the cave, surrounded by a wall of white stones and concealed in the heart of a grove of sacred trees, did not present an imposing appearance. There is no doubt that those entering it passed through strange experiences, for they were obliged to leave at the adjacent temple a complete account of what they saw and heard while in the oracle. The prophecies were given in the form of dreams and visions, and were accompanied by severe pains in the head; some never completely recovered from the after effects of their delirium. The confused recital of their experiences was interpreted by the priests according to the question to be answered. While the priests probably used some unknown herb to produce the dreams or visions of the cavern, their skill in interpreting them bordered on the Supernatural. Before consulting the oracle, it was necessary to offer a ram to the dæmon of the cave, and the priest decided by hieromancy whether the time chosen was propitious and the sacrifice was satisfactory.

**THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD**

Many of the sculptors and architects of the ancient world were initiates of the Mysteries, particularly the Eleusinian rites. Since the dawn of time, the truers of stone and the hewers of wood have constituted a divinely overshadowed caste. As civilization spread slowly over the earth, cities were built and deserted; monuments were erected to heroes at present unknown; temples were built to gods who lie broken in the dust of the nations they inspired. Research has proved not only that the builders of these cities and monuments and the sculptors who chiseled out the inscrutable faces of the gods were masters of their crafts, but that in the world today there are none to equal them. The profound knowledge of mathematics and astronomy embodied in ancient architecture, and the equally profound knowledge of anatomy revealed in Greek statuary, prove that the fashioners of both were master minds, deeply cultured in the wisdom which constituted the arcana of the Mysteries .Thus was established the Guild of the Builders, progenitors of modern Freemasons. When employed to build palaces, temples or combs, or to carve statues for the wealthy, those initiated architects and artists concealed in their works the secret doctrine, so that now, long after their bones have returned to dust, the world realizes that those first artisans were indeed duly initiated and worthy to receive the wages of Master Masons.

The Seven Wonders of the World, while apparently designed for divers reasons, were really monuments erected to perpetuate the arcana of the Mysteries. They were symbolic structures, placed in peculiar spots, and the real purpose of their erection can be sensed only by the initiated. Eliphas Levi has noted the marked correspondence between these Seven Wonders and the seven planets. The Seven Wonders of the World were built by Widow's sons in honor of the seven planetary genii. Their secret symbolism is identical with that of the seven seals of Revelation and the seven churches of Asia.

1. The Colossus of Rhodes, a gigantic brass statue about 109 feet in height and requiring over twelve years to build, was the work of an initiated artist, Chares of Lindus. The popular theory--accepted for several hundred years--that the figure stood with one foot on each side of the entrance to the harbor of Rhodes and that full-rigged ships passed between its feet, has never been substantiated. Unfortunately, the figure remained standing but fifty-six years, being thrown down by an earthquake in 224 B.C. The shattered parts of the Colossus lay scattered about the ground for more than 900 years, when they were finally sold to a Jewish merchant, who carried the metal away on the backs of 700 camels. Some believed that the brass was converted into munitions and others that it was made into drainage pipes. This gigantic gilded figure, with its crown of solar rays and its upraised torch, signified occultly the glorious Sun Man of the Mysteries, the Universal Savior.

2. The architect Ctesiphon, in the fifth century B.C., submitted to the Ionian cities a plan for erecting a joint monument to their patron goddess, Diana. The place chosen was Ephesus, a city south of Smyrna. The building was constructed of marble. The roof was supported by 127 columns, each 60 feet high and weighing over 150 tons. The temple was destroyed by black magic about 356 B.C., but the world fixes the odious crime upon the tool by means of which the destruction was accomplished--a mentally deranged man named Herostratus. It was later rebuilt, but the symbolism was lost. The original temple, designed as a miniature of the universe, was dedicated to the moon, the occult symbol of generation.

3. Upon his exile from Athens, Phidias--the greatest of all the Greek sculptors--went to Olympia in the province of Elis and there designed his colossal statue of Zeus, chief of the gods of Greece. There is not even an accurate description of this masterpiece now in existence; only a few old coins give an inadequate idea of its general appearance. The body of the god was overlaid with ivory and the robes were of beaten gold. In one hand he is supposed to have held a globe supporting a figure of the Goddess of Victory, in the other a scepter surmounted by an eagle. The head of Zeus was archaic, heavily bearded, and crowned with an olive wreath. The statue was seated upon an elaborately decorated throne. As its name implies, the monument was dedicated to the spirit of the planet Jupiter,--one of the seven Logi who bow before the Lord of the Sun.

4. Eliphas Levi includes the Temple of Solomon among the Seven Wonders of the World, giving it the place occupied by the Pharos, or Lighthouse, of Alexandria. The Pharos, named for the island upon which it stood, was designed and constructed by Sostratus of Cnidus during the reign of Ptolemy (283-247 B.C.). It is described as being of white marble and over 600 feet high. Even in that ancient day it cost nearly a million dollars. Fires were lighted in the top of it and could be seen for miles out at sea. It was destroyed by an earthquake in the thirteenth century, but remains of it were visible until A.D. 1350. Being the tallest of all the Wonders, it: was naturally assigned to Saturn, the Father of the gods and the true illuminator of all humanity.

5. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was a magnificent monument erected by Queen Artemisia in memory of her dead husband, King Mausolus, from whose name the word *mausoleum* is derived. The designers of the building were Satyrus and Pythis, and four great sculptors were employed to ornament the edifice. The building, which was 114 feet long and 92 feet wide, was divided into five major sections (the senses) and surmounted by a pyramid (the spiritual nature of man). The pyramid rose in 24 steps (a sacred number), and upon the apex was a statue of King Mausolus in a chariot. His figure was 9 feet 9½ inches tall. Many attempts have been made to reconstruct the monument, which. was destroyed by an earthquake, but none has been altogether successful. This monument was sacred to the planet Mars and was built by an initiate for the enlightenment of the world.

6. The Gardens of Semiramis at Babylon--more commonly known as the Hanging Gardens--stood within the palace grounds of Nebuchadnezzar, near the Euphrates River. They rose in a terrace-like pyramid and on the top was a reservoir for the watering of the gardens. They were built about 600 B.C., but the name of the landscape artist has not been preserved. They symbolized the planes of the invisible world, and were consecrated to Venus as the goddess of love and beauty.

*TROPHONIUS OF LEBADIA.*

*from Historia Deorum Fatidicorum.*

*Trophonius and his brother Agamedes were famous architects. While building a certain treasure vault, they contrived to leave one stone movable so that they might secretly enter and steal the valuables stored there. A trap was set by the owner, who had discovered the plot, and Agamedes was caught. To prevent discovery, Trophonius decapitated his brother and fled, hotly pursued. He hid in the grove of Lebadia, where the earth opened and swallowed him up. The spirit of Trophonius thereafter delivered oracles in the grove and its caverns. The name Trophonius means "to be agitated, excited, or roiled." It was declared that the terrible experiences through which consultants passed in the oracular caverns so affected them that they never smiled again. The bees which accompany the figure of Trophonius were sacred because they led the first envoys from Bœtia to the site of the oracle. The figure above is said to be a production of a statue of Trophonius which was placed on the brow of the hill above the oracle and surrounded with sharply pointed stakes that it could not be touched.*

1. The Great Pyramid was supreme among the temples of the Mysteries. In order to be true to its astronomical symbolism, it must have been constructed about 70,000 years ago. It was the tomb of Osiris, and was believed to have been built by the gods themselves, and the architect may have been the immortal Hermes. It is the monument of Mercury, the messenger of the gods, and the universal symbol of wisdom and letters.

## The Life and Philosophy of Pythagoras

WHILE Mnesarchus, the father of Pythagoras, was in the city of Delphi on matters pertaining to his business as a merchant, he and his wife, Parthenis, decided to consult the oracle of Delphi as to whether the Fates were favorable for their return voyage to Syria. When the Pythoness (prophetess of Apollo) seated herself on the golden tripod over the yawning vent of the oracle, she did not answer the question they had asked, but told Mnesarchus that his wife was then with child and would give birth to a son who was destined to surpass all men in beauty and wisdom, and who throughout the course of his life would contribute much to the benefit of mankind. Mnesarchus was so deeply impressed by the prophecy that he changed his wife's name to Pythasis, in honor of the Pythian priestess. When the child was born at Sidon in Phœnicia, it was--as the oracle had said--a son. Mnesarchus and Pythasis named the child Pythagoras, for they believed that he had been predestined by the oracle.

Many strange legends have been preserved concerning the birth of Pythagoras. Some maintained that he was no mortal man: that he was one of the gods who had taken a human body to enable him to come into the world and instruct the human race. Pythagoras was one of the many sages and saviors of antiquity for whom an immaculate conception is asserted. In his *Anacalypsis*, Godfrey Higgins writes: "The first striking circumstance in which the history of Pythagoras agrees with the history of Jesus is, that they were natives of nearly the same country; the former being born at Sidon, the latter at Bethlehem, both in Syria. The father of Pythagoras, as well as the father of Jesus, was prophetically informed that his wife should bring forth a son, who should be a benefactor to mankind. They were both born when their mothers were from home on journeys, Joseph and his wife having gone up to Bethlehem to be taxed, and the father of Pythagoras having travelled from Samos, his residence, to Sidon, about his mercantile concerns. Pythais Pythasis, the mother of Pythagoras, had a connexion with an Apolloniacal spectre, or ghost, of the God Apollo, or God Sol, (of course this must have been a *holy* ghost, and here we have the Holy Ghost) which afterward appeared to her husband, and told him that he must have no connexion with his wife during her pregnancy--a story evidently the same as that relating to Joseph and Mary. From these peculiar circumstances, Pythagoras was known by the same title as Jesus, namely, the *son of God*; and was supposed by the multitude to be under the influence of Divine inspiration."

This most famous philosopher was born sometime between 600 and 590 B.C., and the length of his life has been estimated at nearly one hundred years.

The teachings of Pythagoras indicate that he was thoroughly conversant with the precepts of Oriental and Occidental esotericism. He traveled among the Jews and was instructed by the Rabbins concerning the secret traditions of Moses, the lawgiver of Israel. Later the School of the Essenes was conducted chiefly for the purpose of interpreting the Pythagorean symbols. Pythagoras was initiated into the Egyptian, Babylonian, and Chaldean Mysteries. Although it is believed by some that he was a disciple of Zoroaster, it is doubtful whether his instructor of that name was the God-man now revered by the Parsees. While accounts of his travels differ, historians agree that he visited many countries and studied at the feet of many masters.

"After having acquired all which it was possible for him to learn of the Greek philosophers and, presumably, become an initiate in the Eleusinian mysteries, he went to Egypt, and after many rebuffs and refusals, finally succeeded in securing initiation in the Mysteries of Isis, at the hands of the priests of Thebes. Then this intrepid 'joiner' wended his way into Phoenicia and Syria where the Mysteries of Adonis were conferred upon him, and crossing to the valley of the Euphrates he tarried long enough to become versed in, the secret lore of the Chaldeans, who still dwelt in the vicinity of Babylon. Finally, he made his greatest and most historic venture through Media and Persia into Hindustan where he remained several years as a pupil and initiate of the learned Brahmins of Elephanta and Ellora." (See *Ancient Freemasonry*, by Frank C. Higgins, 32°.) The same author adds that the name of Pythagoras is still preserved in the records of the Brahmins as *Yavancharya*, the Ionian Teacher.

Pythagoras was said to have been the first man to call himself a *philosopher*; in fact, the world is indebted to him for the word *philosopher*. Before that time the wise men had called themselves *sages*, which was interpreted to mean *those who know*. Pythagoras was more modest. He coined the word *philosopher*, which he defined as *one who is attempting to find out*.

After returning from his wanderings, Pythagoras established a school, or as it has been sometimes called, a university, at Crotona, a Dorian colony in Southern Italy. Upon his arrival at Crotona he was regarded askance, but after a short time those holding important positions in the surrounding colonies sought his counsel in matters of great moment. He gathered around him a small group of sincere disciples whom he instructed in the secret wisdom which had been revealed to him, and also in the fundamentals of occult mathematics, music, and astronomy, which he considered to be the triangular foundation of all the arts and sciences.

When he was about sixty years old, Pythagoras married one of his disciples, and seven children resulted from the union. His wife was a remarkably able woman, who not only inspired him during the years of his life but after his assassination continued to promulgate his doctrines.

As is so often the case with genius, Pythagoras by his outspokenness incurred both political and personal enmity. Among those who came for initiation was one who, because Pythagoras refused to admit him, determined to destroy both the man and his philosophy. By means of false propaganda, this disgruntled one turned the minds of the common people against the philosopher. Without warning, a band of murderers descended upon the little group of buildings where the great teacher and his disciples dwelt, burned the structures and killed Pythagoras.

Accounts of the philosopher's death do not agree. Some say that he was murdered with his disciples; others that, on escaping from Crotona with a small band of followers, he was trapped and burned alive by his enemies in a little house where the band had decided to rest for the night. Another account states that, finding themselves trapped in the burning structure, the disciples threw themselves into the flames, making of their own bodies a bridge over which Pythagoras escaped, only to die of a broken heart a short time afterwards as the result of grieving over the apparent fruitlessness of his efforts to serve and illuminate mankind.

*PYTHAGORAS, THE FIRST PHILOSOPHER.*

*From Historia Deorum Fatidicorum.*

*During his youth, Pythagoras was a disciple of Pherecydes and Hermodamas, and while in his teens became renowned for the clarity of his philosophic concepts. In height he exceeded six feet; his body was as perfectly formed as that of Apollo. Pythagoras was the personification of majesty and power, and in his presence a felt humble and afraid. As he grew older, his physical power increased rather than waned, so that as he approached the century mark he was actually in the prime of life. The influence of this great soul over those about him was such that a word of praise from Pythagoras filled his disciples with ecstasy, while one committed suicide because the Master became momentarily irritate over something he had dome. Pythagoras was so impressed by this tragedy that he never again spoke unkindly to or about anyone.*

His surviving disciples attempted to perpetuate his doctrines, but they were persecuted on every hand and very little remains today as a testimonial to the greatness of this philosopher. It is said that the disciples of Pythagoras never addressed him or referred to him by his own name, but always as *The Master* or *That Man. This may have been because of the fact that the name Pythagoras was believed to consist of a certain number of specially arranged letters with great sacred significance. The Word* magazine has printed an article by T. R. Prater, showing that Pythagoras initiated his candidates by means of a certain formula concealed within the letters of his own name. This may explain why the word Pythagoras was so highly revered.

After the death of Pythagoras his school gradually disintegrated, but those who had benefited by its teachings revered the memory of the great philosopher, as during his life they had reverenced the man himself. As time went on, Pythagoras came to be regarded as a god rather than a man, and his scattered disciples were bound together by their common admiration for the transcendent genius of their teacher. Edouard Schure, in his *Pythagoras and the Delphic Mysteries*, relates the following incident as illustrative of the bond of fellowship uniting the members of the Pythagorean School:

"One of them who had fallen upon sickness and poverty was kindly taken in by an innkeeper. Before dying he traced a few mysterious signs (the pentagram, no doubt) on the door of the inn and said to the host, 'Do not be uneasy, one of my brothers will pay my debts.' A year afterwards, as a stranger was passing by this inn he saw the signs and said to the host, 'I am a Pythagorean; one of my brothers died here; tell me what I owe you on his account.'"

Frank C. Higgins, 32°, gives an excellent compendium of the Pythagorean tenets in the following outline:

"Pythagoras' teachings are of the most transcendental importance to Masons, inasmuch as they are the necessary fruit of his contact with the leading philosophers of the whole civilized world of his own day, and must represent that in which all were agreed, shorn of all weeds of controversy. Thus, the determined stand made by Pythagoras, in defense of pure monotheism, is sufficient evidence that the tradition to the effect that the unity of God was the supreme secret of all the ancient initiations is substantially correct. The philosophical school of Pythagoras was, in a measure, also a series of initiations, for he caused his pupils to pass through a series of degrees and never permitted them personal contact with himself until they had reached the higher grades. According to his biographers, his degrees were three in number. The first, that of 'Mathematicus,' assuring his pupils proficiency in mathematics and geometry, which was then, as it would be now if Masonry were properly inculcated, the basis upon which all other knowledge was erected. Secondly, the degree of 'Theoreticus,' which dealt with superficial applications of the exact sciences, and, lastly, the degree of 'Electus,' which entitled the candidate to pass forward into the light of the fullest illumination which he was capable of absorbing. The pupils of the Pythagorean school were divided into 'exoterici,' or pupils in the outer grades, and 'esoterici,' after they had passed the third degree of initiation and were entitled to the secret wisdom. Silence, secrecy and unconditional obedience were cardinal principles of this great order." (See *Ancient Freemasonry*.)

**PYTHAGORIC FUNDAMENTALS**

The study of geometry, music, and astronomy was considered essential to a rational understanding of God, man, or Nature, and no one could accompany Pythagoras as a disciple who was not thoroughly familiar with these sciences. Many came seeking admission to his school. Each applicant was tested on these three subjects, and if found ignorant, was summarily dismissed.

Pythagoras was not an extremist. He taught moderation in all things rather than excess in anything, for he believed that an excess of virtue was in itself a vice. One of his favorite statements was: "We must avoid with our utmost endeavor, and amputate with fire and sword, and by all other means, from the body, sickness; from the soul, ignorance; from the belly, luxury; from a city, sedition; from a family, discord; and from all things, excess." Pythagoras also believed that there was no crime equal to that of anarchy.

All men know what they *want*, but few know what they *need*. Pythagoras warned his disciples that when they prayed they should not pray for themselves; that when they asked things of the gods they should not ask things for themselves, because no man knows what is good for him and it is for this reason undesirable to ask for things which, if obtained, would only prove to be injurious.

The God of Pythagoras was the *Monad*, or the One that is Everything. He described God as the Supreme Mind distributed throughout all parts of the universe--the Cause of all things, the Intelligence of all things, and the Power within all things. He further declared the motion of God to be circular, the body of God to be composed of the substance of light, and the nature of God to be composed of the substance of truth.

Pythagoras declared that the eating of meat clouded the reasoning faculties. While he did not condemn its use or totally abstain therefrom himself, he declared that judges should refrain from eating meat before a trial, in order that those who appeared before them might receive the most honest and astute decisions. When Pythagoras decided (as he often did) to retire into the temple of God for an extended period of time to meditate and pray, he took with his supply of specially prepared food and drink. The food consisted of equal parts of the seeds of poppy and sesame, the skin of the sea onion from which the juice had been thoroughly extracted, the flower of daffodil, the leaves of mallows, and a paste of barley and peas. These he compounded together with the addition of wild honey. For a beverage he took the seeds of cucumbers, dried raisins (with seeds removed), the flowers of coriander, the seeds of mallows and purslane, scraped cheese, meal, and cream, mixed together and sweetened with wild honey. Pythagoras claimed that this was the diet of Hercules while wandering in the Libyan desert and was according to the formula given to that hero by the goddess Ceres herself.

The favorite method of healing among the Pythagoreans was by the aid of poultices. These people also knew the magic properties of vast numbers of plants. Pythagoras highly esteemed the medicinal properties of the sea onion, and he is said to have written an entire volume on the subject. Such a work, however, is not known at the present time. Pythagoras discovered that music had great therapeutic power and he prepared special harmonies for various diseases. He apparently experimented also with color, attaining considerable success. One of his unique curative processes resulted from his discovery of the healing value of certain verses from the *Odyssey* and the *Iliad* of Homer. These he caused to be read to persons suffering from certain ailments. He was opposed to surgery in all its forms and also objected to cauterizing. He would not permit the disfigurement of the human body, for such, in his estimation, was a sacrilege against the dwelling place of the gods.

Pythagoras taught that friendship was the truest and nearest perfect of all relationships. He declared that in Nature there was a friendship of all for all; of gods for men; of doctrines one for another; of the soul for the body; of the rational part for the irrational part; of philosophy for its theory; of men for one another; of countrymen for one another; that friendship also existed between strangers, between a man and his wife, his children, and his servants. All bonds without friendship were shackles, and there was no virtue in their maintenance. Pythagoras believed that relationships were essentially mental rather than physical, and that a stranger of sympathetic intellect was closer to him than a blood relation whose viewpoint was at variance with his own. Pythagoras defined knowledge as the fruitage of mental accumulation. He believed that it would be obtained in many ways, but principally through observation. Wisdom was the understanding of the source or cause of all things, and this could be secured only by raising the intellect to a point where it intuitively cognized the invisible manifesting outwardly through the visible, and thus became capable of bringing itself *en rapport* with the spirit of things rather than with their forms. The ultimate source that wisdom could cognize was the *Monad*, the mysterious permanent atom of the Pythagoreans.

Pythagoras taught that both man and the universe were made in the image of God; that both being made in the same image, the understanding of one predicated the knowledge of the other. He further taught that there was a constant interplay between the Grand Man (the universe) and man (the little universe).

Pythagoras believed that all the sidereal bodies were alive and that the forms of the planets and stars were merely bodies encasing souls, minds, and spirits in the same manner that the visible human form is but the encasing vehicle for an invisible spiritual organism which is, in reality, the conscious individual. Pythagoras regarded the planets as magnificent deities, worthy of the adoration and respect of man. All these deities, however, he considered subservient to the One First Cause within whom they all existed temporarily, as mortality exists in the midst of immortality.

The famous Pythagorean Υ signified the power of choice and was used in the Mysteries as emblematic of the Forking of the Ways. The central stem separated into two parts, one branching to the right and the other to the left. The branch to the right was called *Divine Wisdom* and the one to the left *Earthly Wisdom*. Youth, personified by the candidate, walking the Path of Life, symbolized by the central stem of the Υ, reaches the point where the Path divides. The neophyte must then choose whether he will take the left-hand path and, following the dictates of his lower nature, enter upon a span of folly and thoughtlessness which will inevitably result in his undoing, or whether he will take the right-hand road and through integrity, industry, and sincerity ultimately regain union with the immortals in the superior spheres.

It is probable that Pythagoras obtained his concept of the Υ from the Egyptians, who included in certain of their initiatory rituals a scene in which the candidate was confronted by two female figures. One of them, veiled with the white robes of the temple, urged the neophyte to enter into the halls of learning; the other, bedecked with jewels, symbolizing earthly treasures, and bearing in her hands a tray loaded with grapes (emblematic of false light), sought to lure him into the chambers of dissipation. This symbol is still preserved among the Tarot cards, where it is called The Forking of the Ways. The forked stick has been the symbol of life among many nations, and it was placed in the desert to indicate the presence of water.

Concerning the theory of transmigration as disseminated by Pythagoras, there are differences of opinion. According to one view, he taught that mortals who during their earthly existence had by their actions become like certain animals, returned to earth again in the form of the beasts which they had grown to resemble. Thus, a timid person would return in the form of a rabbit or a deer; a cruel person in the form of a wolf or other ferocious animal; and a cunning person in the guise of a fox. This concept, however, does not fit into the general Pythagorean scheme, and it is far more likely that it was given in an allegorical rather than a literal sense. It was intended to convey the idea that human beings become bestial when they allow themselves to be dominated by their own lower desires and destructive tendencies. It is probable that the term *transmigration* is to be understood as what is more commonly called *reincarnation*, a doctrine which Pythagoras must have contacted directly or indirectly in India and Egypt.

*THE SYMMETRICAL GEOMETRIC SOLIDS.*

*To the five symmetrical solids of the ancients is added the sphere (1), the most perfect of all created forms. The five Pythagorean solids are: the tetrahedron (2) with four equilateral triangles as faces; the cube (3) with six squares as faces; the octahedron (4) with eight equilateral triangles as faces; the icosahedron (5) with twenty equilateral triangles as faces; and the dodecahedron (6) with twelve regular pentagons as faces.*

The fact that Pythagoras accepted the theory of successive reappearances of the spiritual nature in human form is found in a footnote to Levi's *History of Magic*: "He was an important champion of what used to be called the doctrine of metempsychosis, understood as the soul's transmigration into successive bodies. He himself had been (a) Aethalides, a son of Mercury; (b) Euphorbus, son of Panthus, who perished at the hands of Menelaus in the Trojan war; (c) Hermotimus, a prophet of Clazomenae, a city of Ionia; (d) a humble fisherman; and finally (e) the philosopher of Samos."

Pythagoras also taught that each species of creatures had what he termed a seal, given to it by God, and that the physical form of each was the impression of this seal upon the wax of physical substance. Thus each body was stamped with the dignity of its divinely given pattern. Pythagoras believed that ultimately man would reach a state where he would cast off his gross nature and function in a body of spiritualized ether which would be in juxtaposition to his physical form at all times and which might be the eighth sphere, or Antichthon. From this he would ascend into the realm of the immortals, where by divine birthright he belonged.

Pythagoras taught that everything in nature was divisible into three parts and that no one could become truly wise who did not view every problem as being diagrammatically triangular. He said, "Establish the triangle and the problem is two-thirds solved"; further, "All things consist of three." In conformity with this viewpoint, Pythagoras divided the universe into three parts, which he called the *Supreme World*, the *Superior World*, and the *Inferior World*. The highest, or Supreme World, was a subtle, interpenetrative spiritual essence pervading all things and therefore the true plane of the Supreme Deity itself, the Deity being in every sense omnipresent, omniactive, omnipotent, and omniscient. Both of the lower worlds existed within the nature of this supreme sphere.

The Superior World was the home of the immortals. It was also the dwelling place of the archetypes, or the seals; their natures in no manner partook of the material of earthiness, but they, casting their shadows upon the deep (the Inferior World), were cognizable only through their shadows. The third, or Inferior World, was the home of those creatures who partook of material substance or were engaged in labor with or upon material substance. Hence, this sphere was the home of the mortal gods, the Demiurgi, the angels who labor with men; also the dæmons who partake of the nature of the earth; and finally mankind and the lower kingdoms, those temporarily of the earth but capable of rising above that sphere by reason and philosophy.

The digits 1 and 2 are not considered numbers by the Pythagoreans, because they typify the two supermundane spheres. The Pythagorean numbers, therefore, begin with 3, the triangle, and 4, the square. These added to the 1 and the 2, produce the 10, the great number of all things, the archetype of the universe. The three worlds were called *receptacles*. The first was the receptacle of principles, the second was the receptacle of intelligences, and the third, or lowest, was the receptacle of quantities.

"The symmetrical solids were regarded by Pythagoras, and by the Greek thinkers after him, as of the greatest importance. To be perfectly symmetrical or regular, a solid must have an equal number of faces meeting at each of its angles, and these faces must be equal regular polygons, i. e., figures whose sides and angles are all equal. Pythagoras, perhaps, may be credited with the great discovery that there are only five such solids.** *

'Now, the Greeks believed the world material universe to be composed of four elements--earth, air, fire, water--and to the Greek mind the conclusion was inevitable that the shapes of the particles of the elements were those of the regular solids. Earth-particles were cubical, the cube being the regular solid possessed of greatest stability; fire-particles were tetrahedral, the tetrahedron being the simplest and, hence, lightest solid. Water-particles were icosahedral for exactly the reverse reason, whilst air-particles, as intermediate between the two latter, were octahedral. The dodecahedron was, to these ancient mathematicians, the most mysterious of the solids; it was by far the most difficult to construct, the accurate drawing of the regular pentagon necessitating a rather elaborate application of Pythagoras' great theorem. Hence the conclusion, as Plato put it, that 'this (the regular dodecahedron) the Deity employed in tracing the plan of the Universe.' (H. Stanley Redgrove, in *Bygone Beliefs*.)

Mr. Redgrove has not mentioned the fifth element of the ancient Mysteries, that which would make the analogy between the symmetrical solids and the elements complete. This fifth element, or ether, was called by the Hindus *akasa*. It was closely correlated with the hypothetical ether of modern science, and was the interpenetrative substance permeating all of the other elements and acting as a common solvent and common denominator of them. The twelve-faced solid also subtly referred to the Twelve Immortals who surfaced the universe, and also to the twelve convolutions of the human brain--the vehicles of those Immortals in the nature of man.

While Pythagoras, in accordance with others of his day, practiced divination (possibly arithmomancy), there is no accurate information concerning the methods which he used. He is believed to have had a remarkable wheel by means of which he could predict future events, and to have learned hydromancy from the Egyptians. He believed that brass had oracular powers, because even when everything was perfectly still there was always a rumbling sound in brass bowls. He once addressed a prayer to the spirit of a river and out of the water arose a voice, "Pythagoras, I greet thee." It is claimed for him that he was able to cause dæmons to enter into water and disturb its surface, and by means of the agitations certain things were predicted.

After having drunk from a certain spring one day, one of the Masters of Pythagoras announced that the spirit of the water had just predicted that a great earthquake would occur the next day--a prophecy which was fulfilled. It is highly probable that Pythagoras possessed hypnotic power, not only over man but also over animals. He caused a bird to change the course of its flight, a bear to cease its ravages upon a community, and a bull to change its diet, by the exercise of mental influence. He was also gifted with second sight, being able to see things at a distance and accurately describe incidents that had not yet come to pass.

**THE SYMBOLIC APHORISMS OF PYTHAGORAS**

Iamblichus gathered thirty-nine of the symbolic sayings of Pythagoras and interpreted them. These have been translated from the Greek by Thomas Taylor. Aphorismic statement was one of the favorite methods of instruction used in the Pythagorean university of Crotona. Ten of the most representative of these aphorisms are reproduced below with a brief elucidation of their concealed meanings.

I. *Declining from the public ways, walk in unfrequented paths*. By this it is to be understood that those who desire wisdom must seek it in solitude.

*NUMBER RELATED TO FORM.*

*Pythagoras taught that the dot symbolized the power of the number 1, the line the power of the number 2, the surface the power of the number 3, and the solid the power of the number 4.*

II. *Govern your tongue before all other things, following the gods*. This aphorism warns man that his words, instead of representing him, misrepresent him, and that when in doubt as to what he should say, he should always be silent.

III. *The wind blowing, adore the sound*. Pythagoras here reminds his disciples that the fiat of God is heard in the voice of the elements, and that all things in Nature manifest through harmony, rhythm, order, or procedure the attributes of the Deity.

IV. *Assist a man in raising a burden; but do not assist him in laying it down*. The student is instructed to aid the diligent but never to assist those who seek to evade their responsibilities, for it is a great sin to encourage indolence.

V. *Speak not about Pythagoric concerns without light*. The world is herein warned that it should not attempt to interpret the mysteries of God and the secrets of the sciences without spiritual and intellectual illumination.

VI. *Having departed from your house, turn not back, for the furies will be your attendants*. Pythagoras here warns his followers that any who begin the search for truth and, after having learned part of the mystery, become discouraged and attempt to return again to their former ways of vice and ignorance, will suffer exceedingly; for it is better to know nothing about Divinity than to learn a little and then stop without learning all.

VII. *Nourish a cock, but sacrifice it not; for it is sacred to the sun and moon*. Two great lessons are concealed in this aphorism. The first is a warning against the sacrifice of living things to the gods, because life is sacred and man should not destroy it even as an offering to the Deity. The second warns man that the human body here referred to as a cock is sacred to the sun (God) and the moon (Nature), and should be guarded and preserved as man's most precious medium of expression. Pythagoras also warned his disciples against suicide.

VIII. *Receive not a swallow into your house*. This warns the seeker after truth not to allow drifting thoughts to come into his mind nor shiftless persons to enter into his life. He must ever surround himself with rationally inspired thinkers and with conscientious workers.

IX. *Offer not your right hand easily to anyone*. This warns the disciple to keep his own counsel and not offer wisdom and knowledge (his right hand) to such as are incapable of appreciating them. The hand here represents Truth, which raises those who have fallen because of ignorance; but as many of the unregenerate do not desire wisdom they will cut off the hand that is extended in kindness to them. Time alone can effect the redemption of the ignorant masses

X. *When rising from the bedclothes, roll them together, and obliterate the impression of the body*. Pythagoras directed his disciples who had awakened from the sleep of ignorance into the waking state of intelligence to eliminate from their recollection all memory of their former spiritual darkness; for a wise man in passing leaves no form behind him which others less intelligent, seeing, shall use as a mold for the casting of idols.

The most famous of the Pythagorean fragments are the *Golden Verses*, ascribed to Pythagoras himself, but concerning whose authorship there is an element of doubt. The *Golden Verses* contain a brief summary of the entire system of philosophy forming the basis of the educational doctrines of Crotona, or, as it is more commonly known, the Italic School. These verses open by counseling the reader to love God, venerate the great heroes, and respect the dæmons and elemental inhabitants. They then urge man to think carefully and industriously concerning his daily life, and to prefer the treasures of the mind and soul to accumulations of earthly goods. The verses also promise man that if he will rise above his lower material nature and cultivate self-control, he will ultimately be acceptable in the sight of the gods, be reunited with them, and partake of their immortality. (It is rather significant to note that Plato paid a great price for some of the manuscripts of Pythagoras which had been saved from the destruction of Crotona. See *Historia Deorum Fatidicorum*, Geneva, 1675.)

**PYTHAGOREAN ASTRONOMY**

According to Pythagoras, the position of each body in the universe was determined by the essential dignity of that body. The popular concept of his day was that the earth occupied the center of the solar system; that the planets, including the sun and moon, moved about the earth; and that the earth itself was flat and square. Contrary to this concept, and regardless of criticism, Pythagoras declared that fire was the most important of all the elements; that the center was the most important part of every body; and that, just as Vesta's fire was in the midst of every home, so in the midst of the universe was a flaming sphere of celestial radiance. This central globe he called the *Tower of Jupiter*, the *Globe of Unity*, the *Grand Monad*, and the *Altar of Vesta*. As the sacred number 10 symbolized the sum of all parts and the completeness of all things, it was only natural for Pythagoras to divide the universe into ten spheres, symbolized by ten concentric circles. These circles began at the center with the globe of Divine Fire; then came the seven planers, the earth, and another mysterious planet, called *Antichthon*, which was never visible.

Opinions differ as to the nature of *Antichthon*. Clement of Alexandria believed that it represented the mass of the heavens; others held the opinion that it was the moon. More probably it was the mysterious eighth sphere of the ancients, the dark planet which moved in the same orbit as the earth but which was always concealed from the earth by the body of the sun, being in exact opposition to the earth at all times. Is this the mysterious Lilith concerning which astrologers have speculated so long?

Isaac Myer has stated: "The Pythagoreans held that each star was a world having its own atmosphere, with an immense extent surrounding it, of aether." (See *The Qabbalah*.) The disciples of Pythagoras also highly revered the planet Venus, because it was the only planet bright enough to cast a shadow. As the morning star, Venus is visible before sunrise, and as the evening star it shines forth immediately after sunset. Because of these qualities, a number of names have been given to it by the ancients. Being visible in the sky at sunset, it was called *vesper*, and as it arose before the sun, it was called *the false light*, *the star of the morning*, or *Lucifer*, which means *the light-bearer*. Because of this relation to the sun, the planet was also referred to as Venus, Astarte, Aphrodite, Isis, and The Mother of the Gods. It is possible that: at some seasons of the year in certain latitudes the fact that Venus was a crescent could be detected without the aid of a telescope. This would account for the crescent which is often seen in connection with the goddesses of antiquity, the stories of which do not agree with the phases of the moon. The accurate knowledge which Pythagoras possessed concerning astronomy he undoubtedly secured in the Egyptian temples, for their priests understood the true relationship of the heavenly bodies many thousands of years before that knowledge was revealed to the uninitiated world. The fact that the knowledge he acquired in the temples enabled him to make assertions requiring two thousand years to check proves why Plato and Aristotle so highly esteemed the profundity of the ancient Mysteries. In the midst of comparative scientific ignorance, and without the aid of any modern instruments, the priest-philosophers had discovered the true fundamentals of universal dynamics.

An interesting application of the Pythagorean doctrine of geometric solids as expounded by Plato is found in *The Canon*. "Nearly all the old philosophers," says its anonymous author, "devised an harmonic theory with respect to the universe, and the practice continued till the old mode of philosophizing died out. Kepler (1596), in order to demonstrate the Platonic doctrine, that the universe was formed of the five regular solids, proposed the following rule. 'The earth is a circle, the measurer of all. Round it describe a dodecahedron; the circle inclosing this will be Mars. Round Mars describe a tetrahedron; the sphere inclosing this will be Jupiter. Describe a cube round Jupiter; the sphere containing this will be Saturn.

*THE TETRACTYS.*

*Theon of Smyrna declares that the ten dots, or tetractys of Pythagoras, was a symbol of the greatest importance, for to the discerning mind it revealed the mystery of universal nature. The Pythagoreans bound themselves by the following oath: "By Him who gave to our soul the tetractys, which hath the fountain and root of ever-springing nature."*

*THE CUBE AND THE STAR.*

*By connecting the ten dots of the tetractys, nine triangles are formed. Six of these are involved in the forming of the cube. The same triangles, when lines are properly drawn between them, also reveal the six-pointed star with a dot in the center. Only seven dots are used in forming the cube and the star. Qabbalistically, the three unused corner dots represent the threefold, invisible causal nature of the universe, while the seven dots involved in the cube and the star are the Elohim--the Spirits of the seven creative periods. The Sabbath, or seventh day, is the central dot.*

Now inscribe in the earth an icosahedron; the circle inscribed in it will be Venus. Inscribe an octahedron in Venus; the circle inscribed in it will be Mercury' (*Mysterium Cosmographicum*, 1596). This rule cannot be taken seriously as a real statement of the proportions of the cosmos, fox it bears no real resemblance to the ratios published by Copernicus in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Yet Kepler was very proud of his formula, and said he valued it more than the Electorate of Saxony. It was also approved by those two eminent authorities, Tycho and Galileo, who evidently understood it. Kepler himself never gives the least hint of how his precious rule is to be interpreted." Platonic astronomy was not concerned with the material constitution or arrangement of the heavenly bodies, but considered the stars and planers primarily as focal points of Divine intelligence. Physical astronomy was regarded as the science of "shadows," philosophical astronomy the science of "realities."

## Pythagorean Mathematics

CONCERNING the secret significance of numbers there has been much speculation. Though many interesting discoveries have been made, it may be safely said that with the death of Pythagoras the great key to this science was lost. For nearly 2500 years philosophers of all nations have attempted to unravel the Pythagorean skein, but apparently none has been successful. Notwithstanding attempts made to obliterate all records of the teachings of Pythagoras, fragments have survived which give clues to some of the simpler parts of his philosophy. The major secrets were never committed to writing, but were communicated orally to a few chosen disciples. These apparently dated not divulge their secrets to the profane, the result being that when death sealed their lips the arcana died with diem.

Certain of the secret schools in the world today are perpetuations of the ancient Mysteries, and although it is quite possible that they may possess some of the original numerical formulæ, there is no evidence of it in the voluminous writings which have issued from these groups during the last five hundred years. These writings, while frequently discussing Pythagoras, show no indication of a more complete knowledge of his intricate doctrines than the post-Pythagorean Greek speculators had, who talked much, wrote little, knew less, and concealed their ignorance under a series of mysterious hints and promises. Here and there among the literary products of early writers are found enigmatic statements which they made no effort: to interpret. The following example is quoted from Plutarch:

"The Pythagoreans indeed go farther than this, and honour even numbers and geometrical diagrams with the names and titles of the gods. Thus they call the equilateral triangle head-born Minerva and Tritogenia, because it may be equally divided by three perpendiculars drawn from each of the angles. So the unit they term Apollo, as to the number two they have affixed the name of strife and audaciousness, and to that of three, justice. For, as doing an injury is an extreme on the one side, and suffering one is an extreme on the on the one side, and suffering in the middle between them. In like manner the number thirty-six, their Tetractys, or sacred Quaternion, being composed of the first four odd numbers added to the first four even ones, as is commonly reported, is looked upon by them as the most solemn oath they can take, and called Kosmos." (*Isis and Osiris*.)

Earlier in the same work, Plutarch also notes: "For as the power of the triangle is expressive of the nature of Pluto, Bacchus, and Mars; and the properties of the square of Rhea, Venus, Ceres, Vesta, and Juno; of the Dodecahedron of Jupiter; so, as we are informed by Eudoxus, is the figure of fifty-six angles expressive of the nature of Typhon." Plutarch did not pretend to explain the inner significance of the symbols, but believed that the relationship which Pythagoras established between the geometrical solids and the gods was the result of images the great sage had seen in the Egyptian temples.

Albert Pike, the great Masonic symbolist, admitted that there were many points concerning which he could secure no reliable information. In his *Symbolism*, for the 32° and 33°, he wrote: "I do not understand why the 7 should be called Minerva, or the cube, Neptune." Further on he added: "Undoubtedly the names given by the Pythagoreans to the different numbers were themselves enigmatical and symbolic-and there is little doubt that in the time of Plutarch the meanings these names concealed were lost. Pythagoras had succeeded too well in concealing his symbols with a veil that was from the first impenetrable, without his oral explanation ** *."

This uncertainty shared by all true students of the subject proves conclusively that it is unwise to make definite statements founded on the indefinite and fragmentary information available concerning the Pythagorean system of mathematical philosophy. The material which follows represents an effort to collect a few salient points from the scattered records preserved by disciples of Pythagoras and others who have since contacted his philosophy.

**METHOD OF SECURING THE NUMERICAL POWER OF WORDS**

The first step in obtaining the numerical value of a word is to resolve it back into its original tongue. Only words of Greek or Hebrew derivation can be successfully analyzed by this method, and *all words must be spelled in their most ancient and complete forms*. Old Testament words and names, therefore, must be translated back into the early Hebrew characters and New Testament words into the Greek. Two examples will help to clarify this principle.

The *Demiurgus* of the Jews is called in English *Jehovah*, but when seeking the numerical value of the name *Jehovah* it is necessary to resolve the name into its Hebrew letters. It becomes יהוה, and is read from right to left. The Hebrew letters are: ה, He; ו, Vau; ה, He; י, Yod; and when reversed into the English order from left to right read: *Yod-He-Vau-He*. By consulting the foregoing table of letter values, it is found that the four characters of this sacred name have the following numerical significance: *Yod* equals 10. *He* equals 5, *Vau* equals 6, and the second *He* equals 5. Therefore, 10+5+6+5=26, a synonym of *Jehovah*. If the English letters were used, the answer obviously would not be correct.

The second example is the mysterious Gnostic pantheos *Abraxas*. For this name the Greek table is used. Abraxas in Greek is Ἀβραξας. Α = 1, β = 2, ρ = 100, α = 1, ξ =60, α = 1, ς = 200, the sum being 365, the number of days in the year. This number furnishes the key to the mystery of Abraxas, who is symbolic of the 365 Æons, or Spirits of the Days, gathered together in one composite personality. *Abraxas* is symbolic of five creatures, and as the circle of the year actually consists of 360 degrees, each of the emanating deities is one-fifth of this power, or 72, one of the most sacred numbers in the Old Testament of the Jews and in their Qabbalistic system. This same method is used in finding the numerical value of the names of the gods and goddesses of the Greeks and Jews.

All higher numbers can be reduced to one of the original ten numerals, and the 10 itself to 1. Therefore, all groups of numbers resulting from the translation of names of deities into their numerical equivalents have a basis in one of the first ten numbers. By this system, in which the digits are added together, 666 becomes 6+6+6 or 18, and this, in turn, becomes 1+8 or 9. According to Revelation, 144,000 are to be saved. This number becomes 1+4+4+0+0+0, which equals 9, thus proving that both the Beast of Babylon and the number of the saved refer to man himself, whose symbol is the number 9. This system can be used successfully with both Greek and Hebrew letter values.

The original Pythagorean system of numerical philosophy contains nothing to justify the practice now in vogue of changing the given name or surname in the hope of improving the temperament or financial condition by altering the name vibrations.

*THE NUMERICAL VALUES OF THE HEBREW, GREEK, AND SAMARITAN ALPHABETS.*

*From Higgins' Celtic Druids.*

*Column*

*1 Names of the Hebrew letters.*

*2 Samaritan Letters.*

*3 Hebrew and Chaldean letters.*

*4 Numerical equivalents of the letters.*

*5 Capital and small Greek letters.*

*6 The letters marked with asterisks are those brought to Greece from**Phœnicia by Cadmus.*

*7 Name of the Greek letters.*

*8 Nearest English equivalents to the Hebrew, Greek, and Samaritan Letters.*

*NOTE. When used at the end of a word, the Hebrew Tau has the numerical value 440, Caph 500, Mem 600, Nun 700, Pe 800, Tzadi 900. A dotted Alpha and a dashed Aleph have the value of 1,000.*

There is also a system of calculation in vogue for the English language, but its accuracy is a matter of legitimate dispute. It is comparatively modern and has no relationship either to the Hebrew Qabbalistic system or to the Greek procedure. The claim made by some that it is Pythagorean is not supported by any tangible evidence, and there are many reasons why such a contention is untenable. The fact that Pythagoras used 10 as the basis of calculation, while this system uses 9--an imperfect number--is in itself almost conclusive. Furthermore, the arrangement of the Greek and Hebrew letters does not agree closely enough with the English to permit the application of the number sequences of one language to the number sequences of the others. Further experimentation with the system may prove profitable, but it is without basis in antiquity. The arrangement of the letters and numbers is as follows:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

The letters under each of the numbers have the value of the figure at: the top of the column. Thus, in the word *man*, *M* = 4, *A* = 1, *N* = 5: a total of 10. The values of the numbers are practically the same as those given by the Pythagorean system.

**AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PYTHAGOREAN THEORY OF NUMBERS**

(The following outline of Pythagorean mathematics is a paraphrase of the opening chapters of Thomas Taylor's *Theoretic Arithmetic*, the rarest and most important compilation of Pythagorean mathematical fragments extant.)

The Pythagoreans declared arithmetic to be the mother of the mathematical sciences. This is proved by the fact that geometry, music, and astronomy are dependent upon it but it is not dependent upon them. Thus, geometry may be removed but arithmetic will remain; but if arithmetic be removed, geometry is eliminated. In the same manner music depends upon arithmetic, but the elimination of music affects arithmetic only by limiting one of its expressions. The Pythagoreans also demonstrated arithmetic to be prior to astronomy, for the latter is dependent upon both geometry and music. The size, form, and motion of the celestial bodies is determined by the use of geometry; their harmony and rhythm by the use of music. If astronomy be removed, neither geometry nor music is injured; but if geometry and music be eliminated, astronomy is destroyed. The priority of both geometry and music to astronomy is therefore established. Arithmetic, however, is prior to all; it is primary and fundamental.

Pythagoras instructed his disciples that the science of mathematics is divided into two major parts. The first is concerned with the *multitude*, or the constituent parts of a thing, and the second with the *magnitude*, or the relative size or density of a thing.

*Magnitude* is divided into two parts--magnitude which is stationary and magnitude which is movable, the stationary pare having priority. *Multitude* is also divided into two parts, for it is related both to itself and to other things, the first relationship having priority. Pythagoras assigned the science of arithmetic to multitude related to itself, and the art of music to multitude related to other things. Geometry likewise was assigned to stationary magnitude, and spherics (used partly in the sense of astronomy) to movable magnitude. Both multitude and magnitude were circumscribed by the circumference of mind. The atomic theory has proved size to be the result of number, for a mass is made up of minute units though mistaken by the uninformed for a single simple substance.

Owing to the fragmentary condition of existing Pythagorean records, it is difficult to arrive at exact definitions of terms. Before it is possible, however, to unfold the subject further some light must he cast upon the meanings of the words number, monad, and one.

The *monad* signifies (a) the all-including ONE. The Pythagoreans called the monad the "noble number, Sire of Gods and men." The monad also signifies (b) the sum of any combination of numbers considered as a whole. Thus, the universe is considered as a monad, but the individual parts of the universe (such as the planets and elements) are monads in relation to the parts of which they themselves are composed, though they, in turn, are parts of the greater monad formed of their sum. The monad may also be likened (c) to the seed of a tree which, when it has grown, has many branches (the numbers). In other words, the numbers are to the monad what the branches of the tree are to the seed of the tree. From the study of the mysterious Pythagorean monad, Leibnitz evolved his magnificent theory of the world atoms--a theory in perfect accord with the ancient teachings of the Mysteries, for Leibnitz himself was an initiate of a secret school. By some Pythagoreans the monad is also considered (d) synonymous with the *one*.

*Number* is the term applied to all numerals and their combinations. (A strict interpretation of the term number by certain of the Pythagoreans excludes 1 and 2.) Pythagoras defines *number* to be the extension and energy of the spermatic reasons contained in the monad. The followers of Hippasus declared number to be the first pattern used by the Demiurgus in the formation of the universe.

The *one* was defined by the Platonists as "the summit of the many." The *one* differs from the monad in that the term *monad* is used to designate the sum of the parts considered as a unit, whereas the *one* is the term applied to each of its integral parts.

There are two orders of number: *odd* and *even*. Because unity, or 1, always remains indivisible, the odd number cannot be divided equally. Thus, 9 is 4+1+4, the unity in the center being indivisible. Furthermore, if any odd number be divided into two parts, one part will always be odd and the other even. Thus, 9 may be 5+4, 3+6, 7+2, or 8+1. The Pythagoreans considered the odd number--of which the monad was the prototype--to be definite and masculine. They were not all agreed, however, as to the nature of unity, or 1. Some declared it to be positive, because if added to an even (negative) number, it produces an odd (positive) number. Others demonstrated that if unity be added to an odd number, the latter becomes even, thereby making the masculine to be feminine. Unity, or 1, therefore, was considered an androgynous number, partaking of both the masculine and the feminine attributes; consequently both odd and even. For this reason the Pythagoreans called it *evenly-odd*. It was customary for the Pythagoreans to offer sacrifices of an uneven number of objects to the superior gods, while to the goddesses and subterranean spirits an even number was offered.

Any even number may be divided into two equal parts, which are always either both odd or both even. Thus, 10 by equal division gives 5+5, both odd numbers. The same principle holds true if the 10 be unequally divided. For example, in 6+4, both parts are even; in 7+3, both parts are odd; in 8+2, both parts are again even; and in 9+1, both parts are again odd. Thus, in the even number, however it may be divided, the parts will always be both odd or both even. The Pythagoreans considered the even number-of which the *duad* was the prototype--to be indefinite and feminine.

The odd numbers are divided by a mathematical contrivance--called "the Sieve of Eratosthenes"--into three general classes: *incomposite*, *composite*, and *incomposite-composite*.

The *incomposite* numbers are those which have no divisor other than themselves and unity, such as 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, and so forth. For example, 7 is divisible only by 7, which goes into itself once, and unity, which goes into 7 seven times.

The *composite* numbers are those which are divisible not only by themselves and unity but also by some other number, such as 9, 15, 21, 25, 27, 33, 39, 45, 51, 57, and so forth. For example, 21 is divisible not only by itself and by unity, but also by 3 and by 7.

The *incomposite-composite* numbers are those which have no common divisor, although each of itself is capable of division, such as 9 and 25. For example, 9 is divisible by 3 and 25 by 5, but neither is divisible by the divisor of the other; thus they have no common divisor. Because they have individual divisors, they are called composite; and because they have no common divisor, they are called in, composite. Accordingly, the term *incomposite-composite* was created to describe their properties.

*Even* numbers are divided into three classes: *evenly-even*, *evenly-odd*, and *oddly-odd*.

The *evenly-even* numbers are all in duple ratio from unity; thus: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, and 1,024. The proof of the perfect *evenly-even* number is that it can be halved and the halves again halved back to unity, as 1/2 of 64 = 32; 1/2 of 32 = 16; 1/2 of 16 = 8; 1/2 of 8 = 4; 1/2 of 4 = 2; 1/2 of 2 = 1; beyond unity it is impossible to go.

The *evenly-even* numbers possess certain unique properties. The sum of any number of terms but the last term is always equal to the last term minus one. For example: the sum of the first and second terms (1+2) equals the third term (4) minus one; or, the sum of the first, second, third, and fourth terms (1+2+4+8) equals the fifth term (16) minus one.

In a series of *evenly-even* numbers, the first multiplied by the last equals the last, the second multiplied by the second from the last equals the last, and so on until in an odd series one number remains, which multiplied by itself equals the last number of the series; or, in an even series two numbers remain, which multiplied by each other give the last number of the series. For example: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 is an odd series. The first number (1) multiplied by the last number (16) equals the last number (16). The second number (2) multiplied by the second from the last number (8) equals the last number (16). Being an odd series, the 4 is left in the center, and this multiplied by itself also equals the last number (16).

The *evenly-odd* numbers are those which, when halved, are incapable of further division by halving. They are formed by taking the odd numbers in sequential order and multiplying them by 2. By this process the odd numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 produce the evenly-odd numbers, 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22. Thus, every fourth number is evenly-odd. Each of the even-odd numbers may be divided once, as 2, which becomes two 1's and cannot be divided further; or 6, which becomes two 3's and cannot be divided further.

*THE SIEVE OF ERATOSTHENES.*

*Redrawn from Taylor's Theoretic Arithmetic.*

*This sieve is a mathematical device originated by Eratosthenes about 230 B.C. far the purpose of segregating the composite and incomposite odd numbers. Its use is extremely simple after the theory has once been mastered. All the odd numbers are first arranged in their natural order as shown in the second panel from the bottom, designated Odd Numbers. It will then be seen that every third number (beginning with 3) is divisible by 3, every fifth number (beginning with 5;) is divisible by 5, every seventh number (beginning with 7) is divisible by 7, every ninth number (beginning with 9) is divisible by 9, every eleventh number (beginning with 11) is divisible by 11, and so on to infinity. This system finally sifts out what the Pythagoreans called the "incomposite" numbers, or those having no divisor other than themselves and unity. These will be found in the lowest panel, designated Primary and Incomposite Numbers. In his History of Mathematics, David Eugene Smith states that Eratosthenes was one of the greatest scholars of Alexandria and was called by his admirers "the second Plato." Eratosthenes was educated at Athens, and is renowned not only for his sieve but for having computed, by a very ingenious method, the circumference and diameter of the earth. His estimate of the earth's diameter was only 50 miles less than the polar diameter accepted by modern scientists. This and other mathematical achievements of Eratosthenes, are indisputable evidence that in the third century before Christ the Greeks not only knew the earth to be spherical in farm but could also approximate, with amazing accuracy, its actual size and distance from both the sun and the moon. Aristarchus of Samos, another great Greek astronomer and mathematician, who lived about 250 B.C., established by philosophical deduction and a few simple scientific instruments that the earth revolved around the sun. While Copernicus actually believed himself to be the discoverer of this fact, he but restated the findings advanced by Aristarchus seventeen hundred years earlier.*

Another peculiarity of the evenly-odd numbers is that if the divisor be odd the quotient is always even, and if the divisor be even the quotient is always odd. For example: if 18 be divided by 2 (an even divisor) the quotient is 9 (an odd number); if 18 be divided by 3 (an odd divisor) the quotient is 6 (an even number).

The evenly-odd numbers are also remarkable in that each term is one-half of the sum of the terms on either side of it. For example: 10 is one-half of the sum of 6 and 14; 18 is one-half the sum of 14 and 22; and 6 is one-half the sum of 2 and 10.

The oddly-odd, or unevenly-even, numbers are a compromise between the evenly-even and the evenly-odd numbers. Unlike the evenly-even, they cannot be halved back to unity; and unlike the evenly-odd, they are capable of more than one division by halving. The oddly-odd numbers are formed by multiplying the evenly-even numbers above 2 by the odd numbers above one. The odd numbers above one are 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and so forth. The evenly-even numbers above 2 are 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and soon. The first odd number of the series (3) multiplied by 4 (the first evenly-even number of the series) gives 12, the first oddly-odd number. By multiplying 5, 7, 9, 11, and so forth, by 4, oddly-odd numbers are found. The other oddly-odd numbers are produced by multiplying 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and so forth, in turn, by the other evenly-even numbers (8, 16, 32, 64, and so forth). An example of the halving of the oddly-odd number is as follows: 1/2 of 12 = 6; 1/2 of 6 = 3, which cannot be halved further because the Pythagoreans did not divide unity.

Even numbers are also divided into three other classes: *superperfect*, *deficient*, and *perfect*.

*Superperfect* or *superabundant* numbers are such as have the sum of their fractional parts greater than themselves. For example: 1/2 of 24 = 12; 1/4 = 6; 1/3 = 8; 1/6 = 4; 1/12 = 2; and 1/24 = 1. The sum of these parts (12+6+8+4+2+1) is 33, which is in excess of 24, the original number.

*Deficient* numbers are such as have the sum of their fractional parts less than themselves. For example: 1/2 of 14 = 7; 1/7 = 2; and 1/14 = 1. The sum of these parts (7+2+1) is 10, which is less than 14, the original number.

*Perfect* numbers are such as have the sum of their fractional parts equal to themselves. For example: 1/2 of 28 = 14; 1/4 = 7; 1/7 = 4; 1/14 = 2; and 1/28 = 1. The sum of these parts (14+7+4+2+1) is equal to 28.

The perfect numbers are extremely rare. There is only one between 1 and 10, namely, 6; one between 10 and 100, namely, 28; one between 100 and 1,000, namely, 496; and one between 1,000 and 10,000, namely, 8,128. The perfect numbers are found by the following rule: The first number of the evenly-even series of numbers (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and so forth) is added to the second number of the series, and if an incomposite number results it is multiplied by the last number of the series of evenly-even numbers whose sum produced it. The product is the first perfect number. For example: the first and second evenly-even numbers are 1 and 2. Their sum is 3, an incomposite number. If 3 be multiplied by 2, the last number of the series of evenly-even numbers used to produce it, the product is 6, the first perfect number. If the addition of the evenly-even numbers does not result in an incomposite number, the next evenly-even number of the series must be added until an incomposite number results. The second perfect number is found in the following manner: The sum of the evenly-even numbers 1, 2, and 4 is 7, an incomposite number. If 7 be multiplied by 4 (the last of the series of evenly-even numbers used to produce it) the product is 28, the second perfect number. This method of calculation may be continued to infinity.

Perfect numbers when multiplied by 2 produce superabundant numbers, and when divided by 2 produce deficient numbers.

The Pythagoreans evolved their philosophy from the science of numbers. The following quotation from Theoretic Arithmetic is an excellent example of this practice:

"Perfect numbers, therefore, are beautiful images of the virtues which are certain media between excess and defect, and are not summits, as by some of the ancients they were supposed to be. And evil indeed is opposed to evil, but both are opposed to one good. Good, however, is never opposed to good, but to two evils at one and the same time. Thus timidity is opposed to audacity, to both of which the want of true courage is common; but both timidity and audacity are opposed to fortitude. Craft also is opposed to fatuity, to both of which the want of intellect is common; and both these are opposed to prudence. Thus, too, profusion is opposed to avarice, to both of which illiberality is common; and both these are opposed to liberality. And in a similar manner in the other virtues; by all of which it is evident that perfect numbers have a great similitude to the virtues. But they also resemble the virtues on another account; for they are rarely found, as being few, and they are generated in a very constant order. On the contrary, an infinite multitude of superabundant and diminished numbers may be found, nor are they disposed in any orderly series, nor generated from any certain end; and hence they have a great similitude to the vices, which are numerous, inordinate, and indefinite."

**THE TABLE OF THE TEN NUMBERS**

(The following outline of the Pythagorean numbers is a paraphrase of the writings of Nicomachus, Theon of Smyrna, Proclus, Porphyry, Plutarch, Clement of Alexandria, Aristotle, and other early authorities.)

*Monad*--1--is so called because it remains always in the same condition--that is, separate from multitude. Its attributes are as follows: It is called mind, because the mind is stable and has preeminence; hermaphrodism, because it is both male and female; odd and even, for being added to the even it makes odd, and to the odd, even; God, because it is the beginning and end of all, but itself has neither beginning nor end; good, for such is the nature of God; the receptacle of matter, because it produces the duad, which is essentially material.

By the Pythagoreans monad was called chaos, obscurity, chasm, Tartarus, Styx, abyss, Lethe, Atlas, Axis, Morpho (a name for Venus), and Tower or Throne of Jupiter, because of the great power which abides in the center of the universe and controls the circular motion of the planers about itself. Monad is also called germinal reason, because it is the origin of all the thoughts in the universe. Other names given to it were: Apollo, because of its relation to the sun; Prometheus, because he brought man light; Pyralios, one who exists in fire; geniture, because without it no number can exist; substance, because substance is primary; cause of truth; and constitution of symphony: all these because it is the primordial one.

Between greater and lesser the monad is equal; between intention and remission it is middle; in multitude it is mean; and in time it is now, because eternity knows neither past nor future. It is called Jupiter, because he is Father and head of the gods; Vesta, the fire of the home, because it is located in the midst of the universe and remains there inclining to no side as a dot in a circle; form, because it circumscribes, comprehends, and terminates; love, concord, and piety, because it is indivisible. Other symbolic names for the monad are ship, chariot, Proteus (a god capable of changing his form), Mnemosyne, and Polyonymous (having many names).

The following symbolic names were given to the duad--2--because it has been divided, and is two rather than one; and when there are two, each is opposed to the other: genius, evil, darkness, inequality, instability, movability, boldness, fortitude, contention, matter, dissimilarity, partition between multitude and monad, defect, shapelessness, indefiniteness, indeterminate ness, harmony, tolerance, root, feet of fountain-abounding idea, top, Phanes, opinion, fallacy, alterity, diffidence, impulse, death, motion, generation, mutation, division, longitude, augmentation, composition, communion, misfortune, sustentation, imposition, marriage, soul, and science.

In his book, *Numbers*, W. Wynn Westcott says of the duad: "it was called 'Audacity,' from its being the earliest number to separate itself from the Divine One; from the 'Adytum of God-nourished Silence,' as the Chaldean oracles say."

As the monad is the father, so the duad is the mother; therefore, the duad has certain points in common with the goddesses Isis, Rhea (Jove's mother), Phrygia, Lydia, Dindymene (Cybele), and Ceres; Erato (one of the Muses); Diana, because the moon is forked; Dictynna, Venus, Dione, Cytherea; Juno, because she is both wife and sister of Jupiter; and Maia, the mother of Mercury.

While the monad is the symbol of wisdom, the duad is the symbol of ignorance, for in it exists the sense of separateness--which sense is the beginning of ignorance. The duad, however, is also the mother of wisdom, for ignorance--out of the nature of itself--invariably gives birth to wisdom.

The Pythagoreans revered the monad but despised the duad, because it was the symbol of polarity. By the power of the duad the deep was created in contradistinction to the heavens. The deep mirrored the heavens and became the symbol of illusion, for the below was merely a reflection of the above. The below was called *maya*, the illusion, the sea, the Great Void, and to symbolize it the Magi of Persia carried mirrors. From the duad arose disputes and contentions, until by bringing the monad between the duad, equilibrium was reestablished by the Savior-God, who took upon Himself the form of a number and was crucified between two thieves for the sins of men.

The triad--3--is the first number actually odd (monad not always being considered a number). It is the first equilibrium of unities; therefore, Pythagoras said that Apollo gave oracles from a tripod, and advised offer of libation three times. The keywords to the qualities of the triad are friendship, peace, justice, prudence, piety, temperance, and virtue. The following deities partake of the principles of the triad: Saturn (ruler of time), Latona, Cornucopiæ, Ophion (the great serpent), Thetis, Hecate, Polyhymnia (a Muse), Pluto, Triton, President of the Sea, Tritogenia, Achelous, and the Faces, Furies, and Graces. This number is called wisdom, because men organize the present, foresee the future, and benefit by the experiences of the fast. It is cause of wisdom and understanding. The triad is the number of knowledge--music, geometry, and astronomy, and the science of the celestials and terrestrials. Pythagoras taught that the cube of this number had the power of the lunar circle.

The sacredness of the triad and its symbol--the triangle--is derived from the fact that it is made up of the monad and the duad. The monad is the symbol of the Divine Father and the duad of the Great Mother. The triad being made of these two is therefore androgynous and is symbolic of the fact that God gave birth to His worlds out of Himself, who in His creative aspect is always symbolized by the triangle. The monad passing into the duad was thus capable of becoming the parent of progeny, for the duad was the womb of Meru, within which the world was incubated and within which it still exists in embryo.

The tetrad--4--was esteemed by the Pythagoreans as the primogenial number, the root of all things, the fountain of Nature and the most perfect number. All tetrads are intellectual; they have an emergent order and encircle the world as the Empyreum passes through it. Why the Pythagoreans expressed God as a tetrad is explained in a sacred discourse ascribed to Pythagoras, wherein God is called the Number of Numbers. This is because the decad, or 10, is composed of 1, 2, 3, and 4. The number 4 is symbolic of God because it is symbolic of the first four numbers. Moreover, the tetrad is the center of the week, being halfway between 1 and 7. The tetrad is also the first geometric solid.

Pythagoras maintained that the soul of man consists of a tetrad, the four powers of the soul being mind, science, opinion, and sense. The tetrad connects all beings, elements, numbers, and seasons; nor can anything be named which does not depend upon the tetractys. It is the Cause and Maker of all things, the intelligible God, Author of celestial and sensible good, Plutarch interprets this tetractys, which he said was also called the world, to be 36, consisting of the first four odd numbers added to the first four even numbers, thus:

1 + 3 +5 +7

= 16

2 + 4 + 6 + 8

= 20

36

Keywords given to the tetrad are impetuosity, strength, virility, two-mothered, and the key keeper of Nature, because the universal constitution cannot be without it. It is also called harmony and the first profundity. The following deities partook of the nature of the tetrad: Hercules, Mercury, Vulcan, Bacchus, and Urania (one of the Muses).

The triad represents the primary colors and the major planets, while the tetrad represents the secondary colors and the minor planets. From the first triangle come forth the seven spirits, symbolized by a triangle and a square. These together form the Masonic apron.

The pentad--5--is the union of an odd and an even number (3 and 2). Among the Greeks, the pentagram was a sacred symbol of light, health, and vitality. It also symbolized the fifth element--ether--because it is free from the disturbances of the four lower elements. It is called equilibrium, because it divides the perfect number 10 into two equal parts.

The pentad is symbolic of Nature, for, when multiplied by itself it returns into itself, just as grains of wheat, starting in the form of seed, pass through Nature's processes and reproduce the seed of the wheat as the ultimate form of their own growth. Other numbers multiplied by themselves produce other numbers, but only 5 and 6 multiplied by themselves represent and retain their original number as the last figure in their products.

The pentad represents all the superior and inferior beings. It is sometimes referred to as the hierophant, or the priest of the Mysteries, because of its connection with the spiritual ethers, by means of which mystic development is attained. Keywords of the pentad are reconciliation, alternation, marriage, immortality, cordiality, Providence, and sound. Among the deities who partook of the nature of the pentad were Pallas, Nemesis, Bubastia (Bast), Venus, Androgynia, Cytherea, and the messengers of Jupiter.

The tetrad (the elements) plus the monad equals the pentad. The Pythagoreans taught that the elements of earth, fire, air, and water were permeated by a substance called ether--the basis of vitality and life. Therefore, they chose the five-pointed star, or pentagram, as the symbol of vitality, health, and interpenetration.

It was customary for the philosophers to conceal the element of earth under the symbol of a dragon, and many of the heroes of antiquity were told to go forth and slay the dragon. Hence, they drove their sword (the monad) into the body of the dragon (the tetrad). This resulted in the formation of the pentad, a symbol of the victory of the spiritual nature over the material nature. The four elements are symbolized in the early Biblical writings as the four rivers that poured out of Garden of Eden. The elements themselves are under the control of the composite Cherubim of Ezekiel.

The Pythagoreans held the hexad--6--to represent, as Clement of Alexandria conceived, the creation of the world according to both the prophets and the ancient Mysteries. It was called by the Pythagoreans the perfection of all the parts. This number was particularly sacred to Orpheus, and also to the Fate, Lachesis, and the Muse, Thalia. It was called the form of forms, the articulation of the universe, and the maker of the soul.

Among the Greeks, harmony and the soul were considered to be similar in nature, because all souls are harmonic. The hexad is also the symbol of marriage, because it is formed by the union of two triangles, one masculine and the other feminine. Among the keywords given to the hexad are: time, for it is the measure of duration; panacea, because health is equilibrium, and the hexad is a balance number; the world, because the world, like the hexad, is often seen to consist of contraries by harmony; omnisufficient, because its parts are sufficient for totality (3 +2 + 1 = 6); unwearied, because it contains the elements of immortality.

By the Pythagoreans the heptad--7--was called "worthy of veneration." It was held to be the number of religion, because man is controlled by seven celestial spirits to whom it is proper for him to make offerings. It was called the number of life, because it was believed that human creatures born in the seventh month of embryonic life usually lived, but those born in the eighth month often died. One author called it the Motherless Virgin, Minerva, because it was nor born of a mother but out of the crown, or the head of the Father, the monad. Keywords of the heptad are fortune, occasion, custody, control, government, judgment, dreams, voices, sounds, and that which leads all things to their end. Deities whose attributes were expressed by the heptad were Ægis, Osiris, Mars, and Cleo (one of the Muses).

Among many ancient nations the heptad is a sacred number. The Elohim of the Jews were supposedly seven in number. They were the Spirits of the Dawn, more commonly known as the Archangels controlling the planets. The seven Archangels, with the three spirits controlling the sun in its threefold aspect, constitute the 10, the sacred Pythagorean decad. The mysterious Pythagorean tetractys, or four rows of dots, increasing from 1 to 4, was symbolic of the stages of creation. The great Pythagorean truth that all things in Nature are regenerated through the decad, or 10, is subtly preserved in Freemasonry through these grips being effected by the uniting of 10 fingers, five on the hand of each person.

The 3 (spirit, mind, and soul) descend into the 4 (the world), the sum being the 7, or the mystic nature of man, consisting of a threefold spiritual body and a fourfold material form. These are symbolized by the cube, which has six surfaces and a mysterious seventh point within. The six surfaces are the directions: north, east, south, west, up, and down; or, front, back, right, left, above, and below; or again, earth, fire, air, water, spirit, and matter. In the midst of these stands the 1, which is the upright figure of man, from whose center in the cube radiate six pyramids. From this comes the great occult axiom: "The center is the father of the directions, the dimensions, and the distances."

The heptad is the number of the law, because it is the number of the Makers of Cosmic law, the Seven Spirits before the Throne.

The ogdoad--8--was sacred because it was the number of the first cube, which form had eight corners, and was the only evenly-even number under 10 (1-2-4-8-4-2-1). Thus, the 8 is divided into two 4's, each 4 is divided into two 2's, and each 2 is divided into two 1's, thereby reestablishing the monad. Among the keywords of the ogdoad are love, counsel, prudence, law, and convenience. Among the divinities partaking of its nature were Panarmonia, Rhea, Cibele, Cadmæa, Dindymene, Orcia, Neptune, Themis, and Euterpe (a Muse).

The ogdoad was a mysterious number associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece and the Cabiri. It was called the little holy number. It derived its form partly from the twisted snakes on the Caduceus of Hermes and partly from the serpentine motion of the celestial bodies; possibly also from the moon's nodes.

The ennead--9--was the first square of an odd number (3x3). It was associated with failure and shortcoming because it fell short of the perfect number 10 by one. It was called the called the number of man, because of the nine months of his embryonic life. Among its keywords are ocean and horizon, because to the ancients these were boundless. The ennead is the limitless number because there is nothing beyond it but the infinite 10. It was called boundary and limitation, because it gathered all numbers within itself. It was called the sphere of the air, because it surrounded the numbers as air surrounds the earth, Among the gods and goddesses who partook in greater or less degree of its nature were Prometheus, Vulcan, Juno, the sister and wife of Jupiter, Pæan, and Aglaia, Tritogenia, Curetes, Proserpine, Hyperion, and Terpsichore (a Muse).

The 9 was looked upon as evil, because it was an inverted 6. According to the Eleusinian Mysteries, it was the number of the spheres through which the consciousness passed on its way to birth. Because of its close resemblance to the spermatozoon, the 9 has been associated with germinal life.

The decad--10--according to the Pythagoreans, is the greatest of numbers, not only because it is the tetractys (the 10 dots) but because it comprehends all arithmetic and harmonic proportions. Pythagoras said that 10 is the nature of number, because all nations reckon to it and when they arrive at it they return to the monad. The decad was called both heaven and the world, because the former includes the latter. Being a perfect number, the decad was applied by the Pythagoreans to those things relating to age, power, faith, necessity, and the power of memory. It was also called unwearied, because, like God, it was tireless. The Pythagoreans divided the heavenly bodies into ten orders. They also stated that the decad perfected all numbers and comprehended within itself the nature of odd and even, moved and unmoved, good and ill. They associated its power with the following deities: Atlas (for it carried the numbers on its shoulders), Urania, Mnemosyne, the Sun, Phanes, and the One God.

The decimal system can probably be traced back to the time when it was customary to reckon on the fingers, these being among the most primitive of calculating devices and still in use among many aboriginal peoples.

## The Human Body in Symbolism

THE oldest, the most profound, the most universal of all symbols is the human body. The Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, and Hindus considered a philosophical analysis of man's triune nature to be an indispensable part of ethical and religious training. The Mysteries of every nation taught that the laws, elements, and powers of the universe were epitomized in the human constitution; that everything which existed outside of man had its analogue within man. The universe, being immeasurable in its immensity and inconceivable in its profundity, was beyond mortal estimation. Even the gods themselves could comprehend but a part of the inaccessible glory which was their source. When temporarily permeated with divine enthusiasm, man may transcend for a brief moment the limitations of his own personality and behold in part that celestial effulgence in which all creation is bathed. But even in his periods of greatest illumination man is incapable of imprinting upon the substance of his rational soul a perfect image of the multiform expression of celestial activity.

Recognizing the futility of attempting to cope intellectually with that which transcends the comprehension of the rational faculties, the early philosophers turned their attention from the inconceivable Divinity to man himself, with in the narrow confines of whose nature they found manifested all the mysteries of the external spheres. As the natural outgrowth of this practice there was fabricated a secret theological system in which God was considered as the Grand Man and, conversely, man as the little god. Continuing this analogy, the universe was regarded as a man and, conversely, man as a miniature universe. The greater universe was termed the *Macrocosm*--the Great World or Body--and the Divine Life or spiritual entity controlling its functions was called the *Macroprosophus*. Man's body, or the individual human universe, was termed the *Microcosm*, and the Divine Life or spiritual entity controlling its functions was called the *Microprosophus*. The pagan Mysteries were primarily concerned with instructing neophytes in the true relationship existing between the *Macrocosm* and the *Microcosm*--in other words, between God and man. Accordingly, the key to these analogies between the organs and functions of the *Microcosmic* man and those of the *Macrocosmic* Man constituted the most prized possession of the early initiates.

In *Isis Unveiled*, H. P. Blavatsky summarizes the pagan concept of man as follows: "Man is a little world--a microcosm inside the great universe. Like a fetus, he is suspended, by all his *three* spirits, in the matrix of the macrocosmos; and while his terrestrial body is in constant sympathy with its parent earth, his astral soul lives in unison with the sidereal *anima mundi*. He is in it, as it is in him, for the world-pervading element fills all space, and is space itself, only shoreless and infinite. As to his third spirit, the divine, what is it but an infinitesimal ray, one of the countless radiations proceeding directly from the Highest Cause--the Spiritual Light of the World? This is the trinity of organic and inorganic nature--the spiritual and the physical, which are three in one, and of which Proclus says that 'The first monad is the Eternal God; the second, eternity; the third, the paradigm, or pattern of the universe;' the three constituting the Intelligible Triad."

Long before the introduction of idolatry into religion, the early priests caused the statue of a man to be placed in the sanctuary of the temple. This human figure symbolized the Divine Power in all its intricate manifestations. Thus the priests of antiquity accepted man as their textbook, and through the study of him learned to understand the greater and more abstruse mysteries of the celestial scheme of which they were a part. It is not improbable that this mysterious figure standing over the primitive altars was made in the nature of a manikin and, like certain emblematic hands in the Mystery schools, was covered with either carved or painted hieroglyphs. The statue may have opened, thus showing the relative positions of the organs, bones, muscles, nerves, and other parts. After ages of research, the manikin became a mass of intricate hieroglyphs and symbolic figures. Every part had its secret meaning. The measurements formed a basic standard by means of which it was possible to measure all parts of cosmos. It was a glorious composite emblem of all the knowledge possessed by the sages and hierophants.

Then came the age of idolatry. The Mysteries decayed from within. The secrets were lost and none knew the identity of the mysterious man who stood over the altar. It was remembered only that the figure was a sacred and glorious symbol of the Universal Power, and it: finally came to be looked upon as a god--the One in whose image man was made. Having lost the knowledge of the purpose for which the manikin was originally constructed, the priests worshiped this effigy until at last their lack of spiritual understanding brought the temple down in ruins about their heads and the statue crumbled with the civilization that had forgotten its meaning.

Proceeding from this assumption of the first theologians that man is actually fashioned in the image of God, the initiated minds of past ages erected the stupendous structure of theology upon the foundation of the human body. The religious world of today is almost totally ignorant of the fact that the science of biology is the fountainhead of its doctrines and tenets. Many of the codes and laws believed by modern divines to have been direct revelations from Divinity are in reality the fruitage of ages of patient delving into the intricacies of the human constitution and the infinite wonders revealed by such a study.

In nearly all the sacred books of the world can be traced an anatomical analogy. This is most evident in their creation myths. Anyone familiar with embryology and obstetrics will have no difficulty in recognizing the basis of the allegory concerning Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, the nine degrees of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and the Brahmanic legend of Vishnu's incarnations. The story of the Universal Egg, the Scandinavian myth of Ginnungagap (the dark cleft in space in which the seed of the world is sown), and the use of the fish as the emblem of the paternal generative power--all show the true origin of theological speculation. The philosophers of antiquity realized that man himself was the key to the riddle of life, for he was the living image of the Divine Plan, and in future ages humanity also will come to realize more fully the solemn import of those ancient words: "The proper study of mankind is man."

Both God and man have a twofold constitution, of which the superior part is invisible and the inferior visible. In both there is also an intermediary sphere, marking the point where these visible and invisible natures meet. As the spiritual nature of God controls His objective universal form-which is actually a crystallized idea--so the spiritual nature of man is the invisible cause and controlling power of his visible material personality. Thus it is evident that the spirit of man bears the same relationship to his material body that God bears to the objective universe. The Mysteries taught that spirit, or life, was anterior to form and that what is anterior includes all that is posterior to itself. Spirit being anterior to form, form is therefore included within the realm of spirit. It is also a popular statement or belief that man's spirit is within his body. According to the conclusions of philosophy and theology, however, this belief is erroneous, for spirit first circumscribes an area and then manifests within it. Philosophically speaking, form, being a part of spirit, is within spirit; but: spirit is more than the sum of form, As the material nature of man is therefore within the sum of spirit, so the Universal Nature, including the entire sidereal system, is within the all-pervading essence of God--the Universal Spirit.

*THE TETRAGRAMMATON IN THE HUMAN HEART.*

*From Böhme's Libri Apologetici.*

*The Tetragrammaton, or four-lettered Name of God, is here arranged as a tetractys within the inverted human heart. Beneath, the name Jehovah is shown transformed into Jehoshua by the interpolation of the radiant Hebrew letter סה, Shin. The drawing as a whole represents the throne of God and His hierarchies within the heart of man. In the first book of his Libri Apologetici, Jakob Böhme thus describes the meaning of the symbol: "For we men have one book in common which points to God. Each has it within himself, which is the priceless Name of God. Its letters are the flames of His love, which He out of His heart in the priceless Name of Jesus has revealed in us. Read these letters in your hearts and spirits and you have books enough. All the writings of the children of God direct you unto that one book, for therein lie all the treasures of wisdom.   * This book is Christ in you."*

According to another concept of the ancient wisdom, all bodies--whether spiritual or material--have three centers, called by the Greeks the *upper* center, the *middle* center, and the *lower* center. An apparent ambiguity will here be noted. To diagram or symbolize adequately abstract mental verities is impossible, for the diagrammatic representation of one aspect of metaphysical relationships may be an actual contradiction of some other aspect. While that which is above is generally considered superior in dignity and power, in reality that which is in the center is superior and anterior to both that which is said to be above and that which is said to be below. Therefore, it must be said that the first--which is considered as being above--is actually in the center, while both of the others (which are said to be either above or below) are actually beneath. This point can be further simplified if the reader will consider *above* as indicating degree of proximity to source and *below* as indicating degree of distance from source, source being posited in the actual center and relative distance being the various points along the radii from the center toward the circumference. In matters pertaining to philosophy and theology, *up* may be considered as toward the center and *down* as toward the circumference. Center is spirit; circumference is matter. Therefore, *up* is toward spirit along an ascending scale of spirituality; *down* is toward matter along an ascending scale of materiality. The latter concept is partly expressed by the apex of a cone which, when viewed from above, is seen as a point in the exact center of the circumference formed by the base of the cone.

These three universal centers--the one above, the one below, and the link uniting them-represent three suns or three aspects of one sun--centers of effulgence. These also have their analogues in the three grand centers of the human body, which, like the physical universe, is a Demiurgic fabrication. "The first of these suns," says Thomas Taylor, "is analogous to light when viewed subsisting in its fountain the sun; the second to the light immediately proceeding from the sun; and the third to the splendour communicated to other natures by this light."

Since the superior (or spiritual) center is in the midst of the other two, its analogue in the physical body is the heart--the most spiritual and mysterious organ in the human body. The second center (or the link between the superior and inferior worlds) is elevated to the position of greatest physical dignity--the brain. The third (or lower) center is relegated to the position of least physical dignity but greatest physical importance--the generative system. Thus the heart is symbolically the source of life; the brain the link by which, through rational intelligence, life and form are united; and the generative system--or infernal creator--the source of that power by which physical organisms are produced. The ideals and aspirations of the individual depend largely upon which of these three centers of power predominates in scope and activity of expression. In the materialist the lower center is the strongest, in the intellectualist the higher center; but in the initiate the middle center--by bathing the two extremes in a flood of spiritual effulgence--controls wholesomely both the mind and the body.

As light bears witness of life-which is its source-so the mind bears witness of the spirit, and activity in a still lower plane bears witness of intelligence. Thus the mind bears witness of the heart, while the generative system, in turn, bears witness of the mind. Accordingly, the spiritual nature is most commonly symbolized by a heart; the intellectual power by an opened eye, symbolizing the pineal gland or Cyclopean eye, which is the two-faced Janus of the pagan Mysteries; and the generative system by a flower, a staff, a cup, or a hand.

While all the Mysteries recognized the heart as the center of spiritual consciousness, they often purposely ignored this concept and used the heart in its exoteric sense as the symbol of the emotional nature, In this arrangement the generative center represented the physical body, the heart the emotional body, and the brain the mental body. The brain represented the superior sphere, but after the initiates had passed through the lower degrees they were instructed that the brain was the proxy of the spiritual flame dwelling in the innermost recesses of the heart. The student of esotericism discovers ere long that the ancients often resorted to various blinds to conceal the true interpretations of their Mysteries. The substitution of the brain for the heart was one of these blinds.

The three degrees of the ancient Mysteries were, with few exceptions, given in chambers which represented the three great centers of the human and Universal bodies. If possible, the temple itself was constructed in the form of the human body. The candidate entered between the feet and received the highest degree in the point corresponding to the brain. Thus the first degree was the material mystery and its symbol was the generative system; it raised the candidate through the various degrees of concrete thought. The second degree was given in the chamber corresponding to the heart, but represented the middle power which was the mental link. Here the candidate was initiated into the mysteries of abstract thought and lifted as high as the mind was capable of penetrating. He then passed into the third chamber, which, analogous to the brain, occupied the highest position in the temple but, analogous to the heart, was of the greatest dignity. In the brain chamber the heart mystery was given. Here the initiate for the first time truly comprehended the meaning of those immortal words: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." As there are seven hearts in the brain so there are seven brains in the heart, but this is a matter of superphysics of which little can be said at the present time.

Proclus writes on this subject in the first book of *On the Theology of Plato*: "Indeed, Socrates in the (First) Alcibiades rightly observes, that the soul entering into herself will behold all other things, and deity itself. For verging to her own union, and to the centre of all life, laying aside multitude, and the variety of the all manifold powers which she contains, she ascends to the highest watch-tower offerings. And as in the most holy of the mysteries, they say, that the mystics at first meet with the multi form, and many-shaped genera, which are hurled forth before the gods, but on entering the temple, unmoved, and guarded by the mystic rites, they genuinely receive in their bosom heart divine illumination, and divested of their garments, as they would say, participate of a divine nature; the same mode, as it appears to me, takes place in the speculation of wholes. For the soul when looking at things posterior to herself, beholds the shadows and images of beings, but when she converts herself to herself she evolves her own essence, and the reasons which she contains. And at first indeed, she only as it were beholds herself; but, when she penetrates more profoundly into the knowledge of herself, she finds in herself both intellect, and the orders of beings. When however, she proceeds into her interior recesses, and into the adytum as it were of the soul, she perceives with her eye closed without the aid of the lower mind, the genus of the gods, and the unities of beings. For all things are in us psychically, and through this we are naturally capable of knowing all things, by exciting the powers and the images of wholes which we contain."

The initiates of old warned their disciples that an image is not a reality but merely the objectification of a subjective idea. The image, of the gods were nor designed to be objects of worship but were to be regarded merely as emblems or reminders of invisible powers and principles. Similarly, the body of man must not be considered as the individual but only as the house of the individual, in the same manner that the temple was the House of God. In a state of grossness and perversion man's body is the tomb or prison of a divine principle; in a state of unfoldment and regeneration it is the House or Sanctuary of the Deity by whose creative powers it was fashioned. "Personality is suspended upon a thread from the nature of Being," declares the secret work. Man is essentially a permanent and immortal principle; only his bodies pass through the cycle of birth and death. The immortal is the reality; the mortal is the unreality. During each period of earth life, reality thus dwells in unreality, to be liberated from it temporarily by death and permanently by illumination.

While generally regarded as polytheists, the pagans gained this reputation not because they worshiped more than one God but rather because they personified the attributes of this God, thereby creating a pantheon of posterior deities each manifesting a part of what the One God manifested as a whole.

*HAND DECORATED WITH EFFIGIES OF JESUS CHRIST, THE VIRGIN MARY, AND THE TWELVE APOSTLES.*

*From an old print, courtesy of Carl Oscar Borg.*

*Upon the twelve phalanges of the fingers, appear the likenesses of the Apostles, each bearing its own appropriate symbol. In the case of those who suffered martyrdom the symbol signifies the instrument of death. Thus, the symbol of St. Andrew is a cross; of St. Thomas, a javelin or a builder's square; of St. James the Less, a club; of St Philip, a cross; of St. Bartholomew, a large knife or scimitar; of St. Matthew, a sword or spear (sometimes a purse); of St. Simon, a club or saw; of St. Matthias, an axe; and of St. Judas, a halbert. The Apostles whose symbols do not elate to their martyrdom are St. Peter, who carries two crossed keys, one gold and one silver; St. James the Great, who bears a pilgrim's staff and an escalop shell; and St. John, who holds a cup from which the poison miraculously departed in the form of a serpent. (See Handbook of Christian Symbolism.) The figure of Christ upon the second phalange of the thumb does not follow the pagan system of assigning the first Person of the Creative Triad to this Position. God the Father should occupy the second Phalange, God the Son the first phalange, while to God the Holy Spirit is assigned the base of the thumb.--Also, according to the Philosophic arrangement, the Virgin should occupy the base of the thumb, which is sacred to the moon.*

The various pantheons of ancient religions therefore actually represent the catalogued and personified attributes of Deity. In this respect they correspond to the hierarchies of the Hebrew Qabbalists. All the gods and goddesses of antiquity consequently have their analogies in the human body, as have also the elements, planets, and constellations which were assigned as proper vehicles for these celestials. Four body centers are assigned to the elements, the seven vital organs to the planets, the twelve principal parts and members to the zodiac, the invisible parts of man's divine nature to various supermundane deities, while the hidden God was declared to manifest through the marrow in the bones.

It is difficult for many to realize that they are actual universes; that their physical bodies are a visible nature through the structure of which countless waves of evolving life are unfolding their latent potentialities. Yet through man's physical body not only are a mineral, a plant, and an animal kingdom evolving, but also unknown classifications and divisions of invisible spiritual life. just as cells are infinitesimal units in the structure of man, so man is an infinitesimal unit in the structure of the universe. A theology based upon the knowledge and appreciation of these relationships is as profoundly just as it is profoundly true.

As man's physical body has five distinct and important extremities--two legs, two arms, and a head, of which the last governs the first four--the number 5 has been accepted as the symbol of man. By its four corners the pyramid symbolizes the arms and legs, and by its apex the head, thus indicating that one rational power controls four irrational corners. The hands and feet are used to represent the four elements, of which the two feet are earth and water, and the two hands fire and air. The brain then symbolizes the sacred fifth element--æther--which controls and unites the other four. If the feet are placed together and the arms outspread, man then symbolizes the cross with the rational intellect as the head or upper limb.

The fingers and toes also have special significance. The toes represent the Ten Commandments of the physical law and the fingers the Ten Commandments of the spiritual law. The four fingers of each hand represent the four elements and the three phalanges of each finger represent the divisions of the element, so that in each hand there are twelve parts to the fingers, which are analogous to the signs of the zodiac, whereas the two phalanges and base of each thumb signify the threefold Deity. The first phalange corresponds to the creative aspect, the second to the preservative aspect, and the base to the generative and destructive aspect. When the hands are brought together, the result is the twenty-four Elders and the six Days of Creation.

In symbolism the body is divided vertically into halves, the right half being considered as light and the left half as darkness. By those unacquainted with the true meanings of light and darkness the light half was denominated spiritual and the left half material. Light is the symbol of objectivity; darkness of subjectivity. Light is a manifestation of life and is therefore posterior to life. That which is anterior to light is darkness, in which light exists temporarily but darkness permanently. As life precedes light, its only symbol is darkness, and darkness is considered as the veil which must eternally conceal the true nature of abstract and undifferentiated Being.

In ancient times men fought with their right arms and defended the vital centers with their left arms, on which was carried the protecting shield. The right half of the body was regarded therefore as offensive and the left half defensive. For this reason also the right side of the body was considered masculine and the left side feminine. Several authorities are of the opinion that the present prevalent right-handedness of the race is the outgrowth of the custom of holding the left hand in restraint for defensive purposes. Furthermore, as the source of Being is in the primal darkness which preceded light, so the spiritual nature of man is in the dark part of his being, for the heart is on the left side.

Among the curious misconceptions arising from the false practice of associating darkness with evil is one by which several early nations used the right hand for all constructive labors and the left hand for only those purposes termed unclean and unfit for the sight of the gods. For the same reason black magic was often referred to as the left-hand path, and heaven was said to be upon the right and hell upon the left. Some philosophers further declared that there were two methods of writing: one from left to right, which was considered the exoteric method; the other from right to left, which was considered esoteric. The exoteric writing was that which was done out or away from the heart, while the esoteric writing was that which--like the ancient Hebrew--was written toward the heart.

The secret doctrine declares that every part and member of the body is epitomized in the brain and, in turn, that all that is in the brain is epitomized in the heart. In symbolism the human head is frequently used to represent intelligence and self-knowledge. As the human body in its entirety is the most perfect known product of the earth's evolution, it was employed to represent Divinity--the highest appreciable state or condition. Artists, attempting to portray Divinity, often show only a hand emerging from an impenetrable cloud. The cloud signifies the Unknowable Divinity concealed from man by human limitation. The hand signifies the Divine activity, the only part of God which is cognizable to the lower senses.

The face consists of a natural trinity: the eyes representing the spiritual power which comprehends; the nostrils representing the preservative and vivifying power; and the mouth and ears representing the material Demiurgic power of the lower world. The first sphere is eternally existent and is creative; the second sphere pertains to the mystery of the creative breach; and the third sphere to the creative word. By the Word of God the material universe was fabricated, and the seven creative powers, or vowel sounds--which had been brought into existence by the speaking of the Word--became the seven Elohim or Deities by whose power and ministration the lower world was organized. Occasionally the Deity is symbolized by an eye, an ear, a nose, or a mouth. By the first, Divine awareness is signified; by the second, Divine interest; by the third, Divine vitality; and by the fourth, Divine command.

The ancients did not believe that spirituality made men either righteous or rational, but rather that righteousness and rationality made men spiritual. The Mysteries taught that spiritual illumination was attained only by bringing the lower nature up to a certain standard of efficiency and purity. The Mysteries were therefore established for the purpose of unfolding the nature of man according to certain fixed rules which, when faithfully followed, elevated the human consciousness to a point where it was capable of cognizing its own constitution and the true purpose of existence. This knowledge of how man's manifold constitution could be most quickly and most completely regenerated to the point of spiritual illumination constituted the secret, or esoteric, doctrine of antiquity. Certain apparently physical organs and centers are in reality the veils or sheaths of spiritual centers. What these were and how they could be unfolded was never revealed to the unregenerate, for the philosophers realized that once he understands the complete working of any system, a man may accomplish a prescribed end without being qualified to manipulate and control the effects which he has produced. For this reason long periods of probation were imposed, so that the knowledge of how to become as the gods might remain the sole possession of the worthy.

*THE THREEFOLD LIFE OF THE INNER MAN.*

*Redrawn from Gichtel's Theosophia Practica.*

*Johann Georg Gichtel, a profound Philosopher and mystic, the most illumined of the disciples of Jakob Böhme, secretly circulated the above diagrams among a small group of devoted friends and students. Gichtel republished the writings of Böhme, illustrating them with numerous remarkable figures. According to Gichtel, the diagrams above, represent the anatomy of the divine (or inner) man, and graphically set forth its condition during its human, infernal, and divine states. The plates in the William Law edition of Böhme's works are based apparently upon Gichtel's diagrams, which they follow in all essentials. Gichtel gives no detailed description of his figures, and the lettering on the original diagrams here translated out of the German is the only clue to the interpretation of the charts.*

*The two end figures represent the obverse and reverse of the same diagram and are termed Table Three. They are "designed to show the Condition of the whole Man, as to all his three essential Parts, Spirit, Soul, and Body, in his Regenerated State." The third figure from the left is called the Second Table, and sets forth "the Condition of Man in his old, lapsed, and corrupted State; without any respect to, or consideration of his renewing by regeneration." The third figure, however, does not correspond with the First Table of William Law. The First Table presumably represents the condition of humanity before the Fall, but the Gichtel plate pertains to the third, or regenerated, state of mankind. William Law thus describes the purpose of the diagrams, and the symbols upon them: "These three tables are designed to represent Man in his different Threefold State: the First before his Fall, in Purity, Dominion, and Glory: the Second after his Fall, in Pollution and Perdition: and the Third in his rising from the Fall, or on the Way of regeneration, in Sanctification and Tendency to his last Perfection." The student of Orientalism will immediately recognize in the symbols upon the figures the Hindu chakras, or centers of spiritual force, the various motions and aspects of which reveal the condition of the disciple's internal divine nature.*

Lest that knowledge be lost, however, it was concealed in allegories and myths which were meaningless to the profane but self-evident to those acquainted with that theory of personal redemption which was the foundation of philosophical theology. Christianity itself may be cited as an example. The entire New Testament is in fact an ingeniously concealed exposition of the secret processes of human regeneration. The characters so long considered as historical men and women are really the personification of certain processes which take place in the human body when man begins the task of consciously liberating himself from the bondage of ignorance and death.

The garments and ornamentations supposedly worn by the gods are also keys, for in the Mysteries clothing was considered as synonymous with form. The degree of spirituality or materiality of the organisms was signified by the quality, beauty, and value of the garments worn. Man's physical body was looked upon as the robe of his spiritual nature; consequently, the more developed were his super-substantial powers the more glorious his apparel. Of course, clothing was originally worn for ornamentation rather than protection, and such practice still prevails among many primitive peoples. The Mysteries caught that man's only lasting adornments were his virtues and worthy characteristics; that he was clothed in his own accomplishments and adorned by his attainments. Thus the white robe was symbolic of purity, the red robe of sacrifice and love, and the blue robe of altruism and integrity. Since the body was said to be the robe of the spirit, mental or moral deformities were depicted as deformities of the body.

Considering man's body as the measuring rule of the universe, the philosophers declared that all things resemble in constitution--if not in form--the human body. The Greeks, for example, declared Delphi to be the navel of the earth, for the physical planet was looked upon as a gigantic human being twisted into the form of a ball. In contradistinction to the belief of Christendom that the earth is an inanimate thing, the pagans considered not only the earth but also all the sidereal bodies as individual creatures possessing individual intelligences. They even went so far as to view the various kingdoms of Nature as individual entities. The animal kingdom, for example, was looked upon as one being--a composite of all the creatures composing that kingdom. This prototypic beast was a mosaic embodiment of all animal propensities and within its nature the entire animal world existed as the human species exists within the constitution of the prototypic Adam.

In the same manner, races, nations, tribes, religions, states, communities, and cities were viewed as composite entities, each made up of varying numbers of individual units. Every community has an individuality which is the sum of the individual attitudes of its inhabitants. Every religion is an individual whose body is made up of a hierarchy and vast host of individual worshipers. The organization of any religion represents its physical body, and its individual members the cell life making up this organism. Accordingly, religions, races, and communities--like individuals--pass through Shakespeare's *Seven Ages*, for the life of man is a standard by which the perpetuity of all things is estimated.

*THE DIVINE TREE IN MAN  
(reverse)*

*From Law's Figures of Jakob Böhme.*

*Just as the diagram representing the front view of man illustrates his divine principles in their regenerated state, so the back view of the same figure sets forth the inferior, or "night," condition of the sun. From the Sphere of the Astral Mind a line ascends through the Sphere of reason into that of the Senses. The Sphere of the Astral Mind and of the Senses are filled with stars to signify the nocturnal condition of their natures. In the sphere of reason, the superior and the inferior are reconciled, Reason in the mortal man corresponding to Illumined Understanding in the spiritual man.*

*THE DIVINE TREE IN MAN  
(obverse)*

*From Law's Figures of Jakob Böhme.*

*A tree with its roots in the heart rises from the Mirror of the Deity through the Sphere of the Understanding to branch forth in the Sphere of the Senses. The roots and trunk of this tree represent the divine nature of man and may be called his spirituality; the branches of the tree are the separate parts of the divine constitution and may be likened to the individuality; and the leaves--because of their ephemeral nature--correspond to the personality, which partakes of none of the permanence of its divine source.*

According to the secret doctrine, man, through the gradual refinement of his vehicles and the ever-increasing sensitiveness resulting from that refinement, is gradually overcoming the limitations of matter and is disentangling himself from his mortal coil. When humanity has completed its physical evolution, the empty shell of materiality left behind will be used by other life waves as steppingstones to their own liberation. The trend of man's evolutionary growth is ever toward his own essential Selfhood. At the point of deepest materialism, therefore, man is at the greatest distance from Himself. According to the Mystery teachings, not all the spiritual nature of man incarnates in matter. The spirit of man is diagrammatically shown as an equilateral triangle with one point downward. This lower point, which is one-third of the spiritual nature but in comparison to the dignity of the other two is much less than a third, descends into the illusion of material existence for a brief space of time. That which never clothes itself in the sheath of matter is the Hermetic *Anthropos*--the Overman-- analogous to the Cyclops or guardian *dæmon* of the Greeks, the *angel* of Jakob Böhme, and the Oversoul of Emerson, "that Unity, that Oversoul, within which every man's particular being is contained and made one with all other."

At birth only a third part of the Divine Nature of man temporarily dissociates itself from its own immortality and takes upon itself the dream of physical birth and existence, animating with its own celestial enthusiasm a vehicle composed of material elements, part of and bound to the material sphere. At death this incarnated part awakens from the dream of physical existence and reunites itself once more with its eternal condition. This periodical descent of spirit into matter is termed the *wheel of life and death*, and the principles involved are treated at length by the philosophers under the subject of metempsychosis. By initiation into the Mysteries and a certain process known as operative theology, this law of birth and death is transcended, and during the course of physical existence that part of the spirit which is asleep in form is awakened without the intervention of death--the inevitable Initiator--and is consciously reunited with the *Anthropos*, or the overshadowing substance of itself. This is at once the primary purpose and the consummate achievement of the Mysteries: that man shall become aware of and consciously be reunited with the divine source of himself without tasting of physical dissolution.

## The Hiramic Legend

WHEN Solomon--the beloved of God, builder of the Everlasting House, and Grand Master of the Lodge of Jerusalem--ascended the throne of his father David he consecrated his life to the erection of a temple to God and a palace for the kings of Israel. David's faithful friend, Hiram, King of Tyre, hearing that a son of David sat upon the throne of Israel, sent messages of congratulation and offers of assistance to the new ruler. In his *History of the Jews*, Josephus mentions that copies of the letters passing between the two kings were then to be seen both at Jerusalem and at Tyre. Despite Hiram's lack of appreciation for the twenty cities of Galilee which Solomon presented to him upon the completion of the temple, the two monarchs remained the best of friends. Both were famous for their wit and wisdom, and when they exchanged letters each devised puzzling questions to test the mental ingenuity of the other. Solomon made an agreement with Hiram of Tyre promising vast amounts of barley, wheat, corn, wine, and oil as wages for the masons and carpenters from Tyre who were to assist the Jews in the erection of the temple. Hiram also supplied cedars and other fine trees, which were made into rafts and floated down the sea to Joppa, whence they were taken inland by Solomon's workmen to the temple site.

Because of his great love for Solomon, Hiram of Tyre sent also the Grand Master of the Dionysiac Architects, CHiram Abiff, a Widow's Son, who had no equal among the craftsmen of the earth. CHiram is described as being "a Tyrian by birch, but of Israelitish descent," and "a second Bezaleel, honored by his king with the title of Father." *The Freemason's Pocket Companion* (published in 1771) describes CHiram as "the most cunning, skilful and curious workman that ever lived, whose abilities were not confined to building alone, but extended to all kinds of work, whether in gold, silver, brass or iron; whether in linen, tapestry, or embroidery; whether considered as an architect, statuary *sic*; founder or designer, separately or together, he equally excelled. From his designs, and under his direction, all the rich and splendid furniture of the Temple and its several appendages were begun, carried on, and finished. Solomon appointed him, in his absence, to fill the chair, as Deputy Grand-Master; and in his presence, Senior Grand-Warden, Master of work, and general overseer of all artists, as well those whom David had formerly procured from Tyre and Sidon, as those Hiram should now send." (Modem Masonic writers differ as to the accuracy of the last sentence.)

Although an immense amount of labor was involved in its construction, Solomon's Temple--in the words of George Oliver--"was only a small building and very inferior in point of size to some of our churches." The number of buildings contiguous to it and the vast treasure of gold and precious stones used in its construction concentrated a great amount of wealth within the temple area. In the midst of the temple stood the Holy of Holies, sometimes called the Oracle. It was an exact cube, each dimension being twenty cubits, and exemplified the influence of Egyptian symbolism. The buildings of the temple group were ornamented with 1,453 columns of Parian marble, magnificently sculptured, and 2,906 pilasters decorated with capitals. There was a broad porch facing the east, and the *sanctum sanctorum* was upon the west. According to tradition, the various buildings and courtyards could hold in all 300,000 persons. Both the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies were entirely lined with solid gold plates encrusted with jewels.

King Solomon began the building of the temple in the fourth year of his reign on what would be, according to modern calculation, the 21st day of April, and finished it in the eleventh year of his reign on the 23rd day of October. The temple was begun in the 480th year after the children of Israel had passed the Red Sea. Part of the labor of construction included the building of an artificial foundation on the brow of Mount Moriah. The stones for the temple were hoisted from quarries directly beneath Mount Moriah and were trued before being brought to the surface. The brass and golden ornaments for the temple were cast in molds in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredatha, and the wooden parts were all finished before they reached the temple site. The building was put together, consequently, without sound and without instruments, all its parts fitting exactly "without the hammer of contention, the axe of division, or any tool of mischief."

Anderson's much-discussed *Constitutions of the Free-Masons*, published in London in 1723, and reprinted by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia in 1734, thus describes the division of the laborers engaged in the building of the Everlasting House:

"But Dagon's Temple, and the finest structures of Tyre and Sidon, could not be compared with the Eternal God's Temple at Jerusalem, ** * there were employed about it no less than 3,600 Princes, or Master-Masons, to conduct the work according to Solomon's directions, with 80,000 hewers of stone in the mountain, or Fellow Craftsmen, and 70,000 labourers, in all 153,600 besides the levy under Adoniram to work in the mountains of Lebanon by turns with the Sidonians, viz., 30,000, being in all 183,600." Daniel Sickels gives 3,300 overseers, instead of 3,600, and lists the three Grand Masters separately. The same author estimates the cost of the temple at nearly four thousand millions of dollars.

The Masonic legend of the building of Solomon's Temple does not in every particular parallel the Scriptural version, especially in those portions relating to CHiram Abiff. According to the Biblical account, this Master workman returned to his own country; in the Masonic allegory he is foully murdered. On this point A. E. Waite, in his *New Encyclopædia of Freemasonry*, makes the following explanatory comment:

"The legend of the Master-Builder is the great allegory of Masonry. It happens that his figurative story is grounded on the fact of a personality mentioned in Holy Scripture, but this historical background is of the accidents and not the essence; the significance is in the allegory and not in any point of history which may lie behind it."

CHiram, as Master of the Builders, divided his workmen into three groups, which were termed *Entered Apprentices*, *Fellow-Craftsmen*, and *Master Masons*. To each division he gave certain passwords and signs by which their respective excellence could be quickly determined. While all were classified according to their merits some were dissatisfied, for they desired a more exalted position than they were capable of filling. At last three Fellow-Craftsmen, more daring than their companions, determined to force CHiram to reveal to them the password of the Master's degree. Knowing that CHiram always went into the unfinished *sanctum sanctorum* at high noon to pray, these *ruffians*--whose names were Jubela, Jubelo, and Jubelum--lay in wait for him, one at each of the main gates of the temple. CHiram, about to leave the temple by the south gate, was suddenly confronted by Jubela armed with a twenty-four-inch gauge. Upon CHiram's refusal to reveal the Master's *Word*, the ruffian struck him on the throat with the rule, and the wounded Master then hastened to the west gate, where Jubelo, armed with a square, awaited him and made a similar demand. Again CHiram was silent, and the second assassin struck him on the breast with the square. CHiram thereupon staggered to the east gate, only to be met there by Jubelum armed with a maul. When CHiram, refused him the Master's Word, Jubelum struck the Master between the eyes with the mallet and CHiram fell dead.

*A MASONIC APRON WITH SYMBOLIC FIGURES.*

*From an early hand-painted Masonic apron.*

*While the mystic symbolism of Freemasonry decrees that the apron shall be a simple square of white lambskin with appropriate flap, Masonic aprons are frequently decorated with curious and impressive figures. "When silk cotton, or linen is worn," writes Albert Pike, "the symbolism is lost. Nor is one clothed who blots, defaces, and desecrates the white surface with ornamentation, figuring, or colors of any kind." (See Symbolism.)*

*To Mars, the ancient plane of cosmic energy, the Atlantean and Chaldean "star gazers" assigned Aries as a diurnal throne and Scorpio as a nocturnal throne. Those not raised to spiritual life by initiation are described as "dead from the sting of a scorpion," for they wander in the night side of divine power. Through the mystery of the Paschal Lamb, or the attainment of the Golden Fleece, these soul are raised into the constructive day Power of Mars in Aries--the symbol of the Creator.*

*When worn over the area related to the animal passions, the pure lambskin signifies the regeneration of the procreative forces and their consecration to the service of the Deity. The size of the apron, exclusive of the flap, makes it the symbol of salvation, for the Mysteries declare that it must consist of 144 square inches.*

*The apron shown above contains a wealth of symbolism: the beehive, emblematic of the Masonic lodge itself, the trowel, the mallet, and the trestleboad; the rough and trued ashlars; the pyramids and hills of Lebanon; the pillars, the Temple, and checkerboard floor; and the blazing star and tools of the Craft. The center of the apron is occupied by the compass and square, representative of the Macrocosm an the microcosm, and the alternately black and white serpent of astral light. Below is an acacia branch with seven sprigs, signifying the life Centers of the superior and the inferior man. The skull and cross bones are a continual reminder that the spiritual nature attains liberation only after the philosophical death of man's sensuous personality.*

The body of CHiram was buried by the murderers over the brow of Mount Moriah and a sprig of acacia placed upon the grave. The murderers then sought to escape punishment for their crime by embarking for Ethiopia, but the port was closed. All three were finally captured, and after admitting their guilt were duly executed. Parties of three were then sent out by King Solomon, and one of these groups discovered the newly made grave marked by the evergreen sprig. After the Entered Apprentices and the Fellow-Craftsmen had failed to resurrect their Master from the dead he was finally *raised* by the Master Mason with the "strong grip of a Lion's Paw."

To the initiated Builder the name *CHiram Abiff* signifies "My Father, the Universal Spirit, one in essence, three in aspect." Thus the murdered Master is a type of the Cosmic Martyr--the crucified Spirit of Good, the *dying god*--whose Mystery is celebrated throughout the world. Among the manuscripts of Dr. Sigismund Bastrom, the initiated Rosicrucian, appears the following extract from von Welling concerning the true philosophic nature of the Masonic CHiram:

"The original word חירם, CHiram, is a radical word consisting of three consonants ח ר and ם i. e. *Cheth*, *Resh* and *Mem*. (1) ח, *Cheth*, signifies *Chamah*, the Sun's light, i. e. the *Universal*, *invisible*, *cold fire of Nature* attracted by the Sun, manifested into *light* and sent down to us and to every planetary body belonging to the solar system. (2) ר, *Resh*, signifies ריח *Ruach*, i. e. *Spirit*, *air*, *wind*, as being the Vehicle which conveys and collects the light into numberless Foci, wherein the solar rays of light are agitated by a circular motion and manifested in *Heat* and *burning Fire*. (3) ם, or מ *Mem*, signifies *majim*, *water*, *humidity*, but rather the *mother of water*, i. e. Radical Humidity or a particular kind of condensed air. These three constitute the Universal Agent or fire of Nature in one word, חירם, *CHiram*, not Hiram."

Albert Pike mentions several forms of the name *CHiram*: *Khirm*, *Khurm*, and *Khur-Om*, the latter ending in the sacred Hindu monosyllable *OM*, which may also be extracted from the names of the three murderers. Pike further relates the three ruffians to a triad of stars in the constellation of Libra and also calls attention to the fact that the Chaldean god Bal--metamorphosed into a demon by the Jews--appears in the name of each of the murderers, Ju*bel*a, Ju*bel*o, and Ju*bel*um. To interpret the Hiramic legend requires familiarity with both the Pythagorean and Qabbalistic systems of numbers and letters, and also the philosophic and astronomic cycles of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Brahmins. For example, consider the number 33. The first temple of Solomon stood for thirty-three years in its pristine splendor. At the end of that time it was pillaged by the Egyptian King Shishak, and finally (588 B.C.) it was completely destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the people of Jerusalem were led into captivity to Babylon. (See *General History of Freemasonry*, by Robert Macoy.) Also King David ruled for thirty-three years in Jerusalem; the Masonic Order is divided into thirty-three symbolic degrees; there are thirty-three segments in the human spinal column; and Jesus was crucified in the thirty-third year of His life.

The efforts made to discover the origin of the Hiramic legend show that, while the legend in its present form is comparatively modem, its underlying principles run back to remotest antiquity. It is generally admitted by modem Masonic scholars that the story of the martyred CHiram is based upon the Egyptian rites of Osiris, whose death and resurrection figuratively portrayed the spiritual death of man and his regeneration through initiation into the Mysteries. CHiram is also identified with Hermes through the inscription on the Emerald Table. From these associations it is evident that CHiram is to be considered as a prototype of humanity; in fact he is Plato's *Idea* (archetype) of man. As Adam after the Fall symbolizes the Idea of human degeneration, so CHiram through his resurrection symbolizes the Idea of human regeneration.

On the 19th day of March, 1314, Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templars, was burned on a pyre erected upon that point of the islet of the Seine, at Paris, where afterwards was erected the statue of King Henry IV. (See *The Indian Religions*, by Hargrave Jennings.) "It is mentioned as a tradition in some of the accounts of the burning," writes Jennings, "that Molay, ere he expired, summoned Clement, the Pope who had pronounced the bull of abolition against the Order and had condemned the Grand Master to the flames, to appear, within forty days, before the Supreme Eternal judge, and Philip the king to the same awful tribunal within the space of a year. Both predictions were fulfilled." The close relationship between Freemasonry and the original Knights Templars has caused the story of CHiram to be linked with the martyrdom of Jacques de Molay. According to this interpretation, the three *ruffians* who cruelly slew their Master at the gates of the temple because he refused to reveal the secrets of his Order represent the Pope, the king, and the executioners. De Molay died maintaining his innocence and refusing to disclose the philosophical and magical arcana of the Templars.

Those who have sought to identify CHiram with the murdered King Charles the First conceive the Hiramic legend to have been invented for that purpose by Elias Ashmole, a mystical philosopher, who was probably a member of the Rosicrucian Fraternity. Charles was dethroned in 1647 and died on the block in 1649, leaving the Royalist party leaderless. An attempt has been made to relate the term "the Sons of the Widow" (an appellation frequently applied to members of the Masonic Order) to this incident in English history, for by the murder of her king England became a *Widow* and all Englishmen *Widow's Sons*.

To the mystic Christian Mason, CHiram. represents the Christ who in three days (degrees) *raised* the temple of His body from its earthly sepulcher. His three murderers were Cæsar's agent (the state), the Sanhedrin (the church), and the incited populace (the mob). Thus considered, CHiram becomes the higher nature of man and the murderers are ignorance, superstition, and fear. The indwelling Christ can give expression to Himself in this world only through man's thoughts, feelings, and actions. Right thinking, right feeling, and right action--these are three gates through which the Christ power passes into the material world, there to labor in the erection of the Temple of Universal Brotherhood. Ignorance, superstition, and fear are three ruffians through whose agencies the Spirit of Good is murdered and a false kingdom, controlled by wrong thinking, wrong feeling, and wrong action, established in its stead. In the material universe evil appears ever victorious.

"In this sense," writes Daniel Sickels, "the myth of the Tyrian is perpetually repeated in the history of human affairs. Orpheus was murdered, and his body thrown into the Hebrus; Socrates was made to drink the hemlock; and, in all ages, we have seen Evil temporarily triumphant, and Virtue and Truth calumniated, persecuted, crucified, and slain. But Eternal justice marches surely and swiftly through the world: the Typhons, the children of darkness, the plotters of crime, all the infinitely varied forms of evil, are swept into oblivion; and Truth and Virtue--for a time laid low--come forth, clothed with diviner majesty, and crowned with everlasting glory!" (See *General Ahiman Rezon*.)

If, as there is ample reason to suspect, the modern Freemasonic Order was profoundly influenced by, if it is not an actual outgrowth of, Francis Bacon's secret society, its symbolism is undoubtedly permeated with Bacon's two great ideals: universal education and universal democracy. The deadly enemies of universal education are ignorance, superstition, and fear, by which the human soul is held in bondage to the lowest part of its own constitution. The arrant enemies of universal democracy have ever been the crown, the tiara, and the torch. Thus CHiram symbolizes that ideal state of spiritual, intellectual, and physical emancipation which has ever been sacrificed upon the altar of human selfishness. CHiram is the Beautifier of the Eternal House. Modern utilitarianism, however, sacrifices the beautiful for the practical, in the same breath declaring the obvious lie that selfishness, hatred, and discord are practical.

*THE EMBLEMATIC HAND OF THE MYSTERIES.*

*From Montfaucon's Antiquities.*

*A hand covered with numerous symbols was extended to the neophytes when they entered into the Temple of Wisdom. An understanding of the embossed upon the surface of the hand brought with it Divine power and regeneration Therefore, by means of these symbolic hands the candidate was said to be raised from the dead.*

Dr. Orville Ward Owen found a considerable part of the first thirty-two degrees of Freemasonic ritualism hidden in the text of the First Shakespeare Folio. Masonic emblems are to be observed also upon the title pages of nearly every book published by Bacon. Sir Francis Bacon considered himself as a living sacrifice upon the altar of human need; he was obviously *cut down* in the midst of his labors, and no student of his *New Atlantis* can fail to recognize the Masonic symbolism contained therein. According to the observations of Joseph Fort Newton, the Temple of Solomon described by Bacon in that utopian romance was not a house at all but the name of an ideal state. Is it not true that the Temple of Freemasonry is also emblematic of a condition of society? While, as before stated, the principles of the Hiramic legend are of the greatest antiquity, it is not impossible that its present form may be based upon incidents in the life of Lord Bacon, who passed through the philosophic death and was *raised* in Germany.

In an old manuscript appears the statement that the Freemasonic Order was formed by alchemists and Hermetic philosophers who had banded themselves together to protect their secrets against the infamous methods used by avaricious persons to wring from them the secret of gold-making. The fact that the Hiramic legend contains an alchemical formula gives credence to this story. Thus the building of Solomon's Temple represents the consummation of the *magnum opus*, which cannot be realized without the assistance of CHiram, the Universal Agent. The Masonic Mysteries teach the initiate how to prepare within his own soul a miraculous *powder of projection* by which it is possible for him to transmute the base lump of human ignorance, perversion, and discord into an ingot of spiritual and philosophic gold.

Sufficient similarity exists between the Masonic CHiram and the *Kundalini* of Hindu mysticism to warrant the assumption that CHiram may be considered a symbol also of the Spirit Fire moving through the sixth ventricle of the spinal column. The exact science of human regeneration is the Lost Key of Masonry, for when the Spirit Fire is *lifted up* through the thirty-three degrees, or segments of the spinal column, and enters into the domed chamber of the human skull, it finally passes into the pituitary body (Isis), where it invokes Ra (the pineal gland) and demands the Sacred Name. Operative Masonry, in the fullest meaning of that term, signifies the process by which the Eye of Horus is opened. E. A. Wallis Budge has noted that in some of the papyri illustrating the entrance of the souls of the dead into the judgment hall of Osiris the deceased person has a pine cone attached to the crown of his head. The Greek mystics also carried a symbolic staff, the upper end being in the form of a pine cone, which was called the *thyrsus* of Bacchus. In the human brain there is a tiny gland called the pineal body, which is the sacred eye of the ancients, and corresponds to the third eye of the Cyclops. Little is known concerning the function of the pineal body, which Descartes suggested (more wisely than he knew) might be the abode of the spirit of man. As its name signifies, the pineal gland is the sacred pine cone in man--the *eye single*, which cannot be opened until CHiram (the Spirit Fire) is *raised* through the sacred seals which are called the Seven Churches in Asia.

There is an Oriental painting which shows three sun bursts. One sunburst covers the head, in the midst of which sits Brahma with four heads, his body a mysterious dark color. The second sunburst--which covers the heart, solar plexus, and upper abdominal region--shows Vishnu sitting in the blossom of the lotus on a couch formed of the coils of the serpent of cosmic motion, its seven-hooded head forming a canopy over the god. The third sunburst is over the generative system, in the midst of which sits Shiva, his body a grayish white and the Ganges River flowing out of the crown of his head. This painting was the work of a Hindu mystic who spent many years subtly concealing great philosophical principles within these figures. The Christian legends could be related also to the human body by the same method as the Oriental, for the arcane meanings hidden in the teachings of both schools are identical.

As applied to Masonry, the three sunbursts represent the gates of the temple at which CHiram was struck, there being no gate in the north because the sun never shines from the northern angle of the heavens. The north is the symbol of the physical because of its relation to ice (crystallized water) and to the body (crystallized spirit). In man the light shines toward the north but never from it, because the body has no light of its own but shines with the reflected glory of the divine life-particles concealed within physical substance. For this reason the moon is accepted as the symbol of man's physical nature. CHiram is the mysterious fiery, airy water which must be raised through the three grand centers symbolized by the ladder with three rungs and the sunburst flowers mentioned in the description of the Hindu painting. It must also pass upward by means of the ladder of seven rungs-the seven plexuses proximate to the spine. The nine segments of the sacrum and coccyx are pierced by ten foramina, through which pass the roots of the Tree of Life. Nine is the sacred number of man, and in the symbolism of the sacrum and coccyx a great mystery is concealed. That part of the body from the kidneys downward was termed by the early Qabbalists the *Land of Egypt* into which the children of Israel were taken during the captivity. Out of Egypt, Moses (the illuminated mind, as his name implies) led the tribes of Israel (the twelve faculties) by *raising* the brazen serpent in the wilderness upon the symbol of the Tau cross. Not only CHiram but the god-men of nearly every pagan Mystery ritual are personifications of the Spirit Fire in the human spinal cord.

The astronomical aspect of the Hiramic legend must not be overlooked. The tragedy of CHiram is enacted annually by the sun during its passage through the signs of the zodiac.

"From the journey of the Sun through the twelve signs," writes Albert Pike, "come the legend of the twelve labors of Hercules, and the incarnations of Vishnu and Buddha. Hence came the legend of the murder of Khurum, representative of the Sun, by the three Fellow-Crafts, symbols of the Winter signs, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces, who assailed him at the three gates of Heaven and slew him at the Winter Solstice. Hence the search for him by the nine Fellow-Crafts, the other nine signs, his finding, burial, and resurrection." (See *Morals and Dogma*.)

Other authors consider Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius as the three murderers of the sun, inasmuch as Osiris was murdered by Typhon, to whom were assigned the thirty degrees of the constellation of Scorpio. In the Christian Mysteries also Judas signifies the Scorpion, and the thirty pieces of silver for which he betrayed His Lord represent the number of degrees in that sign. Having been struck by Libra (the state), Scorpio (the church), and Sagittarius (the mob), the sun (CHiram) is secretly home through the darkness by the signs of Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces and buried over the brow of a hill (the vernal equinox). Capricorn has for its symbol an old man with a scythe in his hand. This is Father Time--a wayfarer--who is symbolized in Masonry as straightening out the ringlets of a young girl's hair. If the Weeping Virgin be considered a symbol of Virgo, and Father Time with his scythe a symbol of Capricorn, then the interval of ninety degrees between these two signs will be found to correspond to that occupied by the three murderers. Esoterically, the urn containing the ashes of CHiram represents the human heart. Saturn, the old man who lives at the north pole, and brings with him to the children of men a sprig of evergreen (the Christmas tree), is familiar to the little folks under the name of *Santa Claus*, for he brings each winter the gift of a new year.

*DIANA OF EPHESUS.*

*From Montfaucon's Antiquities.*

*Crowned with a triple tower-like tiara and her form adorned with symbolic creatures representative of her spiritual powers, Diana stood for the source of that imperishable doctrine which, flowing from the bosom of the Great Multimammia, is the spiritual food of those aspiring men and women who have consecrated their lives to the contemplation of reality. As the physical body of man receives its nutriment from the Great Earth Mother, so the spiritual nature of man is fed from the never failing fountains of Truth pouring outward from the invisible worlds.*

The martyred sun is discovered by Aries, a Fellow-Craftsman, and at the vernal equinox the process of raising him begins. This is finally accomplished by the Lion of Judah, who in ancient times occupied the position of the keystone of the Royal Arch of Heaven. The precession of the equinoxes causes various signs to play the role of the murderers of the sun during the different ages of the world, but the principle involved remains unchanged. Such is the cosmic story of CHiram, the Universal Benefactor, the Fiery Architect: of the Divine House, who carries with him to the grave that Lost Word which, when spoken, *raises* all life to power and glory. According to Christian mysticism, when the Lost Word is found it is discovered in a stable, surrounded by beasts and marked by a star. "After the sun leaves Leo," writes Robert Hewitt Brown, "the days begin to grow unequivocally shorter as the sun declines toward the autumnal equinox, to be again slain by the *three* autumnal months, lie dead through the *three* winter ones, and be raised again by the *three* vernal ones. Each year the great tragedy is repeated, and the glorious resurrection takes place." (See *Stellar Theology and Masonic Astronomy*.)

CHiram is termed *dead* because in the average individual the cosmic creative forces are limited in their manifestation to purely physical--and correspondingly materialistic--expression. Obsessed by his belief in the reality and permanence of physical existence, man does not correlate the material universe with the blank north wall of the temple. As the solar light symbolically is said to die as it approaches the winter solstice, so the physical world may be termed the winter solstice of the spirit. Reaching the winter solstice, the sun apparently stands still for three days and then, rolling away the stone of winter, begins its triumphal march north towards the summer solstice. The condition of ignorance may be likened to the winter solstice of philosophy; spiritual understanding to the summer solstice. From this point of view, initiation into the Mysteries becomes the vernal equinox of the spirit, at which time the CHiram in man crosses from the realm of mortality into that of eternal life. The autumnal equinox is analogous to the mythological *fall* of man, at which time the human spirit descended into the realms of Hades by being immersed in the illusion of terrestrial existence.

In *An Essay on the Beautiful*, Plotinus describes the refining effect of beauty upon the unfolding consciousness of man. Commissioned to decorate the Everlasting House, CHiram Abiff is the embodiment of the beautifying principle. Beauty is essential to the natural unfoldment of the human soul. The Mysteries held that man, in part at least, was the product of his environment. Therefore they considered it imperative that every person be surrounded by objects which would evoke the highest and noblest sentiments. They proved that it was possible to produce beauty in life by surrounding life with beauty. They discovered that symmetrical bodies were built by souls continuously in the presence of symmetrical bodies; that noble thoughts were produced by minds surrounded by examples of mental nobility. Conversely, if a man were forced to look upon an ignoble or asymmetrical structure it would arouse within him a sense of ignobility which would provoke him to commit ignoble deeds. If an ill-proportioned building were erected in the midst of a city there would be ill-proportioned children born in that community; and men and women, gazing upon the asymmetrical structure, would live inharmonious lives. Thoughtful men of antiquity realized that their great philosophers were the natural products of the æsthetic ideals of architecture, music, and art established as the standards of the cultural systems of the time.

The substitution of the discord of the fantastic for the harmony of the beautiful constitutes one of the great tragedies of every civilization. Not only were the Savior-Gods of the ancient world beautiful, but each performed a ministry of beauty, seeking to effect man's regeneration by arousing within him the love of the beautiful. A renaissance of the golden age of fable can be made possible only by the elevation of beauty to its rightful dignity as the all-pervading, idealizing quality in the religious, ethical, sociological, scientific, and political departments of life. The Dionysiac Architects were consecrated to the *raising* of their Master Spirit--Cosmic Beauty--from the sepulcher of material ignorance and selfishness by erecting buildings which were such perfect exemplars of symmetry and majesty that they were actually magical formulæ by which was evoked the spirit of the martyred Beautifier entombed within a materialistic world.

In the Masonic Mysteries the triune spirit of man (the light Delta) is symbolized by the three Grand Masters of the Lodge of Jerusalem. As God is the pervading principle of three worlds, in each of which He manifests as an active principle, so the spirit of man, partaking of the nature of Divinity, dwells upon three planes of being: the Supreme, the Superior, and the Inferior spheres of the Pythagoreans. At the gate of the Inferior sphere (the underworld, or dwelling place of mortal creatures) stands the guardian of Hades--the three--headed dog Cerberus, who is analogous to the three murderers of the Hiramic legend. According to this symbolic interpretation of the triune spirit, CHiram is the third, or incarnating, part--the Master Builder who through all ages erects living temples of flesh and blood as shrines of the Most High. CHiram comes forth as a flower and is cut down; he *dies* at the gates of matter; he is *buried* in the elements of creation, but--like Thor--he swings his mighty hammer in the fields of space, sets the primordial atoms in motion, and establishes order out of Chaos. As the potentiality of cosmic power within each human soul, CHiram lies waiting for man by the elaborate ritualism of life to transmute potentiality into divine potency. As the sense perceptions of the individual increase, however, man gains ever greater control over his various parts, and the spirit of life within gradually attains freedom. The three murderers represent the laws of the Inferior world--birth, growth, and decay--which ever frustrate the plan of the Builder. To the average individual, physical birch actually signifies the death of CHiram, and physical death the resurrection of CHiram. To the initiate, however, the resurrection of the spiritual nature is accomplished without the intervention of physical death.

The curious symbols found in the base of Cleopatra's Needle now standing in Central Park, New York, were interpreted as being of first Masonic significance by S. A. Zola, 33° Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Egypt. Masons' marks and symbols are to be found on the stones of numerous public buildings not only in England and on the Continent but also in Asia. In his *Indian Masons' Marks of the Moghul Dynasty*, A. Gorham describes scores of markings appearing on the walls of buildings such as the *Taj Mahal*, the *Jama Masjid*, and that: famous Masonic structure, the *Kutab Minar*. According to those who regard Masonry as an outgrowth of the secret society of architects and builders which for thousands of years formed a caste of master craftsmen, CHiram Abiff was the Tyrian Grand Master of a world-wide organization of artisans, with headquarters in Tyre. Their philosophy consisted of incorporating into the measurements and ornamentation of temples, palaces, mausoleums, fortresses, and other public buildings their knowledge of the laws controlling the universe. Every initiated workman was given a hieroglyphic with which he marked the stones he trued to show to all posterity that he thus dedicated to the Supreme Architect of the Universe each perfected product of his labor. Concerning Masons' marks, Robert Freke Gould writes:

"It is very remarkable that these marks are to be found in all countries--in the chambers of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh, on the underground walls of Jerusalem, in Herculaneum and Pompeii, on Roman walls and Grecian temples, in Hindustan, Mexico, Peru, Asia Minor--as well as on the great ruins of England, France, Germany, Scotland, Italy, Portugal and Spain." (See *A Concise History of Freemasonry*.)

From this viewpoint the story of CHiram may well represent the incorporation of the divine secrets of architecture into the actual parts and dimensions of earthly buildings. The three degrees of the Craft bury the Grand Master (the Great Arcanum) in the actual structure they erect, after first having *killed* him with the builders' tools, by reducing the dimensionless Spirit of Cosmic Beauty to the limitations of concrete form. These abstract ideals of architecture can be resurrected, however, by the Master Mason who, by meditating upon the structure, releases therefrom the divine principles of architectonic philosophy incorporated or *buried* within it. Thus the physical building is actually the tomb or embodiment of the Creative Ideal of which its material dimensions are but the shadow.

Moreover, the Hiramic legend may be considered to embody the vicissitudes of philosophy itself. As institutions for the dissemination of ethical culture, the pagan Mysteries were the architects of civilization. Their power and dignity were personified in CHiram Abiff--the Master Builder--but they eventually fell a victim to the onslaughts of that recurrent trio of state, church, and mob. They were desecrated by the state, jealous of their wealth and power; by the early church, fearful of their wisdom; and by the rabble or soldiery incited by both state and church. As CHiram when *raised* from his grave whispers the Master Mason's Word which was lost through his untimely death, so according to the tenets of philosophy the reestablishment or resurrection of the ancient Mysteries will result in the rediscovery of that secret teaching without which civilization must continue in a state of spiritual confusion and uncertainty.

When the mob governs, man is ruled by ignorance; when the church governs, he is ruled by superstition; and when the state governs, he is ruled by fear. Before men can live together in harmony and understanding, ignorance must be transmuted into wisdom, superstition into an illumined faith, and fear into love. Despite statements to the contrary, Masonry is a religion seeking to unite God and man by elevating its initiates to that level of consciousness whereon they can behold with clarified vision the workings of the Great Architect of the Universe. From age to age the vision of a perfect civilization is preserved as the ideal for mankind. In the midst of that civilization shall stand a mighty university wherein both the sacred and secular sciences concerning the mysteries of life will be freely taught to all who will assume the philosophic life. Here creed and dogma will have no place; the superficial will be removed and only the essential be preserved. The world will be ruled by its most illumined minds, and each will occupy the position for which he is most admirably fitted.

The great university will be divided into grades, admission to which will be through preliminary tests or initiations. Here mankind will be instructed in the most sacred, the most secret, and the most enduring of all Mysteries--*Symbolism*. Here the initiate will be taught that every visible object, every abstract thought, every emotional reaction is but the symbol of an eternal principle. Here mankind will learn that CHiram (Truth) lies buried in every atom of Kosmos; that every form is a symbol and every symbol the tomb of an eternal verity. Through education--spiritual, mental, moral, and physical--man will learn to release living truths from their lifeless coverings. The perfect government of the earth must be patterned eventually after that divine government by which the universe is ordered. In that day when perfect order is reestablished, with peace universal and good triumphant, men will no longer seek for happiness, for they shall find it welling up within themselves. Dead hopes, dead aspirations, dead virtues shall rise from their graves, and the Spirit of Beauty and Goodness repeatedly slain by ignorant men shall again be the Master of Work. Then shall sages sit upon the seats of the mighty and the gods walk with men.

## The Pythagorean Theory of Music and Color

HARMONY is a state recognized by great philosophers as the immediate prerequisite of beauty. A compound is termed *beautiful* only when its parts are in *harmonious* combination. The world is called beautiful and its Creator is designated the *Good* because good perforce must act in conformity with its own nature; and good acting according to its own nature is harmony, because the good which it accomplishes is harmonious with the good which it is. Beauty, therefore, is harmony manifesting its own intrinsic nature in the world of form.

The universe is made up of successive gradations of good, these gradations ascending from matter (which is the least degree of good) to spirit (which is the greatest degree of good). In man, his superior nature is the *summum bonum*. It therefore follows that his highest nature most readily cognizes good because the good external to him in the world is in harmonic ratio with the good present in his soul. What man terms *evil* is therefore, in common with matter, merely the least degree of its own opposite. The least degree of good presupposes likewise the least degree of harmony and beauty. Thus deformity (evil) is really the least harmonious combination of elements naturally harmonic as individual units. Deformity is unnatural, for, the sum of all things being the *Good*, it is natural that all things should partake of the *Good* and be arranged in combinations that are harmonious. Harmony is the manifesting expression of the *Will* of the eternal *Good*.

**THE PHILOSOPHY OF MUSIC**

It is highly probable that the Greek initiates gained their knowledge of the philosophic and therapeutic aspects of music from the Egyptians, who, in turn, considered Hermes the founder of the art. According to one legend, this god constructed the first lyre by stretching strings across the concavity of a turtle shell. Both Isis and Osiris were patrons of music and poetry. Plato, in describing the antiquity of these arts among the Egyptians, declared that songs and poetry had existed in Egypt for at least ten thousand years, and that these were of such an exalted and inspiring nature that only gods or godlike men could have composed them. In the Mysteries the lyre was regarded as the secret symbol of the human constitution, the body of the instrument representing the physical form, the strings the nerves, and the musician the spirit. Playing upon the nerves, the spirit thus created the harmonies of normal functioning, which, however, became discords if the nature of man were defiled.

While the early Chinese, Hindus, Persians, Egyptians, Israelites, and Greeks employed both vocal and instrumental music in their religious ceremonials, also to complement their poetry and drama, it remained for Pythagoras to raise the art to its true dignity by demonstrating its mathematical foundation. Although it is said that he himself was not a musician, Pythagoras is now generally credited with the discovery of the diatonic scale. Having first learned the divine theory of music from the priests of the various Mysteries into which he had been accepted, Pythagoras pondered for several years upon the laws governing consonance and dissonance. How he actually solved the problem is unknown, but the following explanation has been invented.

One day while meditating upon the problem of harmony, Pythagoras chanced to pass a brazier's shop where workmen were pounding out a piece of metal upon an anvil. By noting the variances in pitch between the sounds made by large hammers and those made by smaller implements, and carefully estimating the harmonies and discords resulting from combinations of these sounds, he gained his first clue to the musical intervals of the diatonic scale. He entered the shop, and after carefully examining the tools and making mental note of their weights, returned to his own house and constructed an arm of wood so that it: extended out from the wall of his room. At regular intervals along this arm he attached four cords, all of like composition, size, and weight. To the first of these he attached a twelve-pound weight, to the second a nine-pound weight, to the third an eight-pound weight, and to the fourth a six-pound weight. These different weights corresponded to the sizes of the braziers' hammers.

Pythagoras thereupon discovered that the first and fourth strings when sounded together produced the harmonic interval of the octave, for doubling the weight had the same effect as halving the string. The tension of the first string being twice that of the fourth string, their ratio was said to be 2:1, or duple. By similar experimentation he ascertained that the first and third string produced the harmony of the diapente, or the interval of the fifth. The tension of the first string being half again as much as that of the third string, their ratio was said to be 3:2, or sesquialter. Likewise the second and fourth strings, having the same ratio as the first and third strings, yielded a diapente harmony. Continuing his investigation, Pythagoras discovered that the first and second strings produced the harmony of the diatessaron, or the interval of the third; and the tension of the first string being a third greater than that of the second string, their ratio was said to be 4:3, or sesquitercian. The third and fourth strings, having the same ratio as the first and second strings, produced another harmony of the diatessaron. According to Iamblichus, the second and third strings had the ratio of 8:9, or epogdoan.

The key to harmonic ratios is hidden in the famous Pythagorean tetractys, or pyramid of dots. The *tetractys* is made up of the first four numbers--1, 2, 3, and 4--which in their proportions reveal the intervals of the octave, the diapente, and the diatessaron. While the law of harmonic intervals as set forth above is true, it has been subsequently proved that hammers striking metal in the manner described will not produce the various tones ascribed to them. In all probability, therefore, Pythagoras actually worked out his theory of harmony from the monochord--a contrivance consisting of a single string stretched between two pegs and supplied with movable frets.

To Pythagoras music was one of the dependencies of the divine science of mathematics, and its harmonies were inflexibly controlled by mathematical proportions. The Pythagoreans averred that mathematics demonstrated the exact method by which the good established and maintained its universe. Number therefore preceded harmony, since it was the immutable law that governs all harmonic proportions. After discovering these harmonic ratios, Pythagoras gradually initiated his disciples into this, the supreme arcanum of his Mysteries. He divided the multitudinous parts of creation into a vast number of planes or spheres, to each of which he assigned a tone, a harmonic interval, a number, a name, a color, and a form. He then proceeded to prove the accuracy of his deductions by demonstrating them upon the different planes of intelligence and substance ranging from the most abstract logical premise to the most concrete geometrical solid. From the common agreement of these diversified methods of proof he established the indisputable existence of certain natural laws.

*THE INTERVALS AND HARMONIES OF THE SPHERES.*

*From Stanley's The History of Philosophy.*

*In the Pythagorean concept of the music of the spheres, the interval between the earth and the sphere of the fixed stars was considered to be a diapason--the most perfect harmonic interval. The allowing arrangement is most generally accepted for the musical intervals of the planets between the earth and the sphere of the fixed stars: From the sphere of the earth to the sphere of the moon; one tone; from the sphere of the moon to that of Mercury, one half-tone; from Mercury to Venus, one-half; from Venus to the sun, one and one-half tones; from the sun to Mars, one tone; from Mars to Jupiter, one-half tone; from Jupiter to Saturn, one-half tone; from Saturn to the fixed stars, one-half tone. The sum of these intervals equals the six whole tones of the octave.*

Having once established music as an exact science, Pythagoras applied his newly found law of harmonic intervals to all the phenomena of Nature, even going so far as to demonstrate the harmonic relationship of the planets, constellations, and elements to each other. A notable example of modern corroboration of ancient philosophical reaching is that of the progression of the elements according to harmonic ratios. While making a list of the elements in the ascending order of their atomic weights, John A. Newlands discovered at every eighth element a distinct repetition of properties. This discovery is known as the *law of octaves* in modern chemistry.

Since they held that harmony must be determined not by the sense perceptions but by reason and mathematics, the Pythagoreans called themselves *Canonics*, as distinguished from musicians of the *Harmonic School*, who asserted taste and instinct to be the true normative principles of harmony. Recognizing, however, the profound effect: of music upon the senses and emotions, Pythagoras did not hesitate to influence the mind and body with what he termed "musical medicine."

Pythagoras evinced such a marked preference for stringed instruments that he even went so far as to warn his disciples against allowing their ears to be defiled by the sounds of flutes or cymbals. He further declared that the soul could be purified from its irrational influences by solemn songs sung to the accompaniment of the lyre.

*THE CONSONANCES OF THE MUNDANE MONOCHORD.*

*From Fludd's De Musica Mundana.*

*This diagrammatic sector represents the major gradations of energy and substance between elemental earth and absolute unconditioned force. Beginning with the superior, the fifteen graduated spheres descend in the following order: Limitless and Eternal Life; the superior, the middle, and the inferior Empyrean; the seven planets; and the four elements. Energy is symbolized by Fludd as a pyramid with its base upon the concave surface of the superior Empyrean, and substance as another Pyramid with its base upon the convex surface of the sphere (not planet) of earth. These pyramids demonstrate the relative proportions of energy and substance entering into the composition of the fifteen planes of being. It will be noted that the ascending pyramid of substance touches but does not pierce the fifteenth sphere--that of Limitless and Eternal Life. Likewise, the descending pyramid of energy touches but does not pierce the first sphere--the grossest condition of substance. The plane of the sun is denominated the sphere of equality, for here neither energy nor substance predominate. The mundane monochord consists of a hypothetical string stretched from the base of the pyramid of energy to the base of the pyramid of substance.*

In his investigation of the therapeutic value of harmonics, Pythagoras discovered that the seven modes--or keys--of the Greek system of music had the power to incite or allay the various emotions. It is related that while observing the stars one night he encountered a young man befuddled with strong drink and mad with jealousy who was piling faggots about his mistress' door with the intention of burning the house. The frenzy of the youth was accentuated by a flutist a short distance away who was playing a tune in the stirring Phrygian mode. Pythagoras induced the musician to change his air to the slow, and rhythmic Spondaic mode, whereupon the intoxicated youth immediately became composed and, gathering up his bundles of wood, returned quietly to his own home.

There is also an account of how Empedocles, a disciple of Pythagoras, by quickly changing the mode of a musical composition he was playing, saved the life of his host, Anchitus, when the latter was threatened with death by the sword of one whose father he had condemned to public execution. It is also known that Esculapius, the Greek physician, cured sciatica and other diseases of the nerves by blowing a loud trumpet in the presence of the patient.

Pythagoras cured many ailments of the spirit, soul, and body by having certain specially prepared musical compositions played in the presence of the sufferer or by personally reciting short selections from such early poets as Hesiod and Homer. In his university at Crotona it was customary for the Pythagoreans to open and to close each day with songs--those in the morning calculated to clear the mind from sleep and inspire it to the activities of the coming day; those in the evening of a mode soothing, relaxing, and conducive to rest. At the vernal equinox, Pythagoras caused his disciples to gather in a circle around one of their number who led them in song and played their accompaniment upon a lyre.

The therapeutic music of Pythagoras is described by Iamblichus thus: "And there are certain melodies devised as remedies against the passions of the soul, and also against despondency and lamentation, which Pythagoras invented as things that afford the greatest assistance in these maladies. And again, he employed other melodies against rage and anger, and against every aberration of the soul. There is also another kind of modulation invented as a remedy against desires." (See *The Life of Pythagoras*.)

It is probable that the Pythagoreans recognized a connection between the seven Greek modes and the planets. As an example, Pliny declares that Saturn moves in the Dorian mode and Jupiter in the Phrygian mode. It is also apparent that the temperaments are keyed to the various modes, and the passions likewise. Thus, anger--which is a fiery passion--may be accentuated by a fiery mode or its power neutralized by a watery mode.

The far-reaching effect exercised by music upon the culture of the Greeks is thus summed up by Emil Nauman: "Plato depreciated the notion that music was intended solely to create cheerful and agreeable emotions, maintaining rather that it should inculcate a love of all that is noble, and hatred of all that is mean, and that nothing could more strongly influence man's innermost feelings than melody and rhythm. Firmly convinced of this, he agreed with Damon of Athens, the musical instructor of Socrates, that the introduction of a new and presumably enervating scale would endanger the future of a whole nation, and that it was not possible to alter a key without shaking the very foundations of the State. Plato affirmed that music which ennobled the mind was of a far higher kind than that which merely appealed to the senses, and he strongly insisted that it was the paramount duty of the Legislature to suppress all music of an effeminate and lascivious character, and to encourage only s that which was pure and dignified; that bold and stirring melodies were for men, gentle and soothing ones for women. From this it is evident that music played a considerable part in the education of the Greek youth. The greatest care was also to be taken in the selection of instrumental music, because the absence of words rendered its signification doubtful, and it was difficult to foresee whether it would exercise upon the people a benign or baneful influence. Popular taste, being always tickled by sensuous and meretricious effects, was to be treated with deserved contempt. (See *The History of Music*.)

Even today martial music is used with telling effect in times of war, and religious music, while no longer developed in accordance with the ancient theory, still profoundly influences the emotions of the laity.

**THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES**

The most sublime but least known of all the Pythagorean speculations was that of sidereal harmonics. It was said that of all men only Pythagoras heard *the music of the spheres*. Apparently the Chaldeans were the first people to conceive of the heavenly bodies joining in a cosmic chant as they moved in stately manner across the sky. Job describes a time "when the stars of the morning sang together," and in *The Merchant of Venice* the author of the Shakesperian plays writes: "There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st but in his motion like an angel sings." So little remains, however, of the Pythagorean system of celestial music that it is only possible to approximate his actual theory.

Pythagoras conceived the universe to be an immense monochord, with its single string connected at its upper end to absolute spirit and at its lower end to absolute matter--in other words, a cord stretched between heaven and earth. Counting inward from the circumference of the heavens, Pythagoras, according to some authorities, divided the universe into nine parts; according to others, into twelve parts. The twelvefold system was as follows: The first division was called the *empyrean*, or the sphere of the fixed stars, and was the dwelling place of the immortals. The second to twelfth divisions were (in order) the spheres of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the sun, Venus, Mercury, and the moon, and fire, air, water, and earth. This arrangement of the seven planets (the sun and moon being regarded as planets in the old astronomy) is identical with the candlestick symbolism of the Jews--the sun in the center as the main stem with three planets on either side of it.

The names given by the Pythagoreans to the various notes of the diatonic scale were, according to Macrobius, derived from an estimation of the velocity and magnitude of the planetary bodies. Each of these gigantic spheres as it rushed endlessly through space was believed to sound a certain tone caused by its continuous displacement of the *æthereal diffusion*. As these tones were a manifestation of divine order and motion, it must necessarily follow that they partook of the harmony of their own source. "The assertion that the planets in their revolutions round the earth uttered certain sounds differing according to their respective 'magnitude, celerity and local distance,' was commonly made by the Greeks. Thus Saturn, the farthest planet, was said to give the gravest note, while the Moon, which is the nearest, gave the sharpest. 'These sounds of the seven planets, and the sphere of the fixed stars, together with that above us Antichthon, are the nine Muses, and their joint symphony is called Mnemosyne.'" (See *The Canon*.)This quotation contains an obscure reference to the ninefold division of the universe previously mentioned.

*THE MUNDANE MONOCHORD WITH ITS PROPORTIONS AND INTERVALS.*

*From Fludd's De Musica Mundana.*

*In this chart is set forth a summary of Fludd's theory of universal music. The interval between the element of earth and the highest heaven is considered as a double octave, thus showing the two extremes of existence to be in disdiapason harmony. It is signifies that the highest heaven, the sun, and the earth have the same time, the difference being in pitch. The sun is the lower octave of the highest heaven and the earth the lower octave of the sun. The lower octave (Γ to G) comprises that part of the universe in which substance predominate over energy. Its harmonies, therefore, are more gross than those of the higher octave (G to g) wherein energy predominates over substance. "If struck in the more spiritual part," writes Fludd, "the monochord will give eternal life; if in the more material part, transitory life." It will be noted that certain elements, planets, and celestial spheres sustain a harmonic ratio to each other, Fludd advanced this as a key to the sympathies and antipathies existing between the various departments of Nature.*

The Greek initiates also recognized a fundamental relationship between the individual heavens or spheres of the seven planets, and the seven sacred vowels. The first heaven uttered the sound of the sacred vowel Α (Alpha); the second heaven, the sacred vowel Ε (Epsilon); the third, Η (Eta); the fourth, Ι (Iota); the fifth, Ο (Omicron); the sixth, Υ (Upsilon); and the seventh heaven, the sacred vowel Ω (Omega). When these seven heavens sing together they produce a perfect harmony which ascends as an everlasting praise to the throne of the Creator. (See Irenæus' *Against Heresies*.) Although not so stated, it is probable that the planetary heavens are to be considered as ascending in the Pythagorean order, beginning with the sphere of the moon, which would be the first heaven.

Many early instruments had seven Strings, and it is generally conceded that Pythagoras was the one who added the eighth string to the lyre of Terpander. The seven strings were always related both to their correspondences in the human body and to the planets. The names of God were also conceived to be formed from combinations of the seven planetary harmonies. The Egyptians confined their sacred songs to the seven primary sounds, forbidding any others to be uttered in their temples. One of their hymns contained the following invocation: "The seven sounding tones praise Thee, the Great God, the ceaseless working Father of the whole universe." In another the Deity describes Himself thus: "I am the great indestructible lyre of the whole world, attuning the songs of the heavens. (See Nauman's *History of Music*.)

The Pythagoreans believed that everything which existed had a voice and that all creatures were eternally singing the praise of the Creator. Man fails to hear these divine melodies because his soul is enmeshed in the illusion of material existence. When he liberates himself from the bondage of the lower world with its sense limitations, *the music of the spheres* will again be audible as it was in the Golden Age. Harmony recognizes harmony, and when the human soul regains its true estate it will not only hear the celestial choir but also join with it in an everlasting anthem of praise to that Eternal *Good* controlling the infinite number of parts and conditions of Being.

The Greek Mysteries included in their doctrines a magnificent concept of the relationship existing between music and form. The elements of architecture, for example, were considered as comparable to musical modes and notes, or as having a musical counterpart. Consequently when a building was erected in which a number of these elements were combined, the structure was then likened to a musical chord, which was harmonic only when it fully satisfied the mathematical requirements of harmonic intervals. The realization of this analogy between sound and form led Goethe to declare that "architecture is crystallized music."

In constructing their temples of initiation, the early priests frequently demonstrated their superior knowledge of the principles underlying the phenomena known as vibration. A considerable part of the Mystery rituals consisted of invocations and intonements, for which purpose special sound chambers were constructed. A word whispered in one of these apartments was so intensified that the reverberations made the entire building sway and be filled with a deafening roar. The very wood and stone used in the erection of these sacred buildings eventually became so thoroughly permeated with the sound vibrations of the religious ceremonies that when struck they would reproduce the same tones thus repeatedly impressed into their substances by the rituals.

Every element in Nature has its individual keynote. If these elements are combined in a composite structure the result is a chord that, if sounded, will disintegrate the compound into its integral parts. Likewise each individual has a keynote that, if sounded, will destroy him. The allegory of the walls of Jericho falling when the trumpets of Israel were sounded is undoubtedly intended to set forth the arcane significance of individual keynote or vibration.

**THE PHILOSOPHY OF COLOR**

"Light," writes Edwin D. Babbitt, "reveals the glories of the external world and yet is the most glorious of them all. It gives beauty, reveals beauty and is itself most beautiful. It is the analyzer, the truth-teller and the exposer of shams, for it shows things as they are. Its infinite streams measure off the universe and flow into our telescopes from stars which are quintillions of miles distant. On the other hand it descends to objects inconceivably small, and reveals through the microscope objects fifty millions of times less than can be seen by the naked eye. Like all other fine forces, its movement is wonderfully soft, yet penetrating and powerful. Without its vivifying influence, vegetable, animal, and human life must immediately perish from the earth, and general ruin take place. We shall do well, then, to consider this potential and beautiful principle of light and its component colors, for the more deeply we penetrate into its inner laws, the more will it present itself as a marvelous storehouse of power to vitalize, heal, refine, and delight mankind." (See *The Principles of Light and Color*.)

Since light is the basic physical manifestation of life, bathing all creation in its radiance, it is highly important to realize, in part at least, the subtle nature of this divine substance. That which is called *light* is actually a rate of vibration causing certain reactions upon the optic nerve. Few realize how they are walled in by the limitations of the sense perceptions. Not only is there a great deal more to light than anyone has ever seen but there are also unknown forms of light which no optical equipment will ever register. There are unnumbered colors which cannot be seen, as well as sounds which cannot be heard, odors which cannot be smelt, flavors which cannot be tasted, and substances which cannot be felt. Man is thus surrounded by a supersensible universe of which he knows nothing because the centers of sense perception within himself have not been developed sufficiently to respond to the subtler rates of vibration of which that universe is composed.

Among both civilized and savage peoples color has been accepted as a natural language in which to couch their religious and philosophical doctrines. The ancient city of Ecbatana as described by Herodotus, its seven walls colored according to the seven planets, revealed the knowledge of this subject possessed by the Persian Magi. The famous *zikkurat* or astronomical tower of the god Nebo at Borsippa ascended in seven great steps or stages, each step being painted in the key color of one of the planetary bodies. (See Lenormant's *Chaldean Magic*.)

*THE THEORY OF ELEMENTAL MUSIC.*

*From Fludd's De Musica Mundana.*

*In this diagram two interpenetrating pyramids are again employed, one of which represents fire and the other earth. It is demonstrated according to the law of elemental harmony that fire does not enter into the composition of earth nor earth into the composition of fire. The figures on the chart disclose the harmonic relationships existing between the four primary elements according to both Fludd and the Pythagoreans. Earth consists of four parts of its own nature; water of three parts of earth and one part of fire. The sphere of equality is a hypothetical point where there is an equilibrium of two parts of earth and two parts of fire. Air is composed of three parts of fire and one part of earth; fire, of four parts of its own nature. Thus earth and water bear to each other the ratio of 4 to 3, or the diatessaron harmony, and water and the sphere of equality the ratio of 3 to 2, or the diapente harmony. Fire and air also bear to each other the ratio of 4 to 3, or the diatessaron harmony, and air and the sphere of equality the ratio of 3 to 2, or the diapente harmony. As the sum of a diatessaron and a diapente equals a diapason, or octave, it is evident that both the sphere of fire and the sphere of earth are in diapason harmony with the sphere of equality, and also that fire and earth are in disdiapason harmony with each other.*

It is thus evident that the Babylonians were familiar with the concept of the spectrum in its relation to the seven Creative Gods or Powers. In India, one of the Mogul emperors caused a fountain to be made with seven levels. The water pouring down the sides through specially arranged channels changed color as it descended, passing sequentially through all shades of the spectrum. In Tibet, color is employed by the native artists to express various moods. L. Austine Waddell, writing of Northern Buddhist art, notes that in Tibetan mythology "White and yellow complexions usually typify mild moods, while the red, blue, and black belong to fierce forms, though sometimes light blue, as indicating the sky, means merely celestial. Generally the gods are pictured white, goblins red, and devils black, like their European relative." (See *The Buddhism of Tibet*.)

In *Meno*, Plato, speaking through Socrates, describes color as "an effluence of form, commensurate with sight, and sensible." In *Theætetus* he discourses more at length on the subject thus: "Let us carry out the principle which has just been affirmed, that nothing is self-existent, and then we shall see that every color, white, black, and every other color, arises out of the eye meeting the appropriate motion, and that what we term the substance of each color is neither the active nor the passive element, but something which passes between them, and is peculiar to each percipient; are you certain that the several colors appear to every animal--say a dog--as they appear to you?"

In the Pythagorean *tetractys*--the supreme symbol of universal forces and processes--are set forth the theories of the Greeks concerning color and music. The first three dots represent the threefold White Light, which is the Godhead containing potentially all sound and color. The remaining seven dots are the colors of the spectrum and the notes of the musical scale. The colors and tones are the active creative powers which, emanating from the First Cause, establish the universe. The seven are divided into two groups, one containing three powers and the other four a relationship also shown in the *tetractys*. The higher group--that of three--becomes the spiritual nature of the created universe; the lower group--that of four--manifests as the irrational sphere, or inferior world.

In the Mysteries the seven *Logi*, or Creative Lords, are shown as streams of force issuing from the mouth of the Eternal One. This signifies the spectrum being extracted from the white light of the Supreme Deity. The seven Creators, or Fabricators, of the inferior spheres were called by the Jews the *Elohim*. By the Egyptians they were referred to as the *Builders* (sometimes as the *Governors*) and are depicted with great knives in their hands with which they carved the universe from its primordial substance. Worship of the planets is based upon their acceptation as the cosmic embodiments of the seven creative attributes of God. The Lords of the planets were described as dwelling within the body of the sun, for the true nature of the sun, being analogous to the white light, contains the seeds of all the tone and color potencies which it manifests.

There are numerous arbitrary arrangements setting forth the mutual relationships of the planets, the colors, and the musical notes. The most satisfactory system is that based upon the *law of the octave*. The sense of hearing has a much wider scope than that of sight, for whereas the ear can register from nine to eleven octaves of sound the eye is restricted to the cognition of but seven fundamental color tones, or one tone short of the octave. Red, when posited as the lowest color tone in the scale of chromatics, thus corresponds to *do*, the first note of the musical scale. Continuing the analogy, orange corresponds to *re*, yellow to *mi*, green to *fa*, blue to *sol*, indigo to *la*, and violet to *si* (*ti*). The eighth color tone necessary to complete the scale should be the higher octave of red, the first color tone. The accuracy of the above arrangement is attested by two striking facts: (1) the three fundamental notes of the musical scale--the first, the third, and the fifth--correspond with the three primary colors--red, yellow, and blue; (2) the seventh, and least perfect, note of the musical scale corresponds with purple, the least perfect tone of the color scale.

In *The Principles of Light and Color*, Edwin D. Babbitt confirms the correspondence of the color and musical scales: "As C is at the bottom of the musical scale and made with the coarsest waves of air, so is red at the bottom of the chromatic scale and made with the coarsest waves of luminous ether. As the musical note B the seventh note of the scale requires 45 vibrations of air every time the note C at the lower end of the scale requires 24, or but little over half as many, so does extreme violet require about 300 trillions of vibrations of ether in a second, while extreme red requires only about 450 trillions, which also are but little more than half as many. When one musical octave is finished another one commences and progresses with just twice as many vibrations as were used in the first octave, and so the same notes are repeated on a finer scale. In the same way when the scale of colors visible to the ordinary eye is completed in the violet, another octave of finer invisible colors, with just twice as many vibrations, will commence and progress on precisely the same law."

When the colors are related to the twelve signs of the zodiac, they are arranged as the spokes of a wheel. To Aries is assigned pure red; to Taurus, red-orange; to Gemini, pure orange; to Cancer, orange-yellow; to Leo, pure yellow; to Virgo, yellow-green; to Libra, pure green; to Scorpio, green-blue; to Sagittarius, pure blue; to Capricorn, blue-violet; to Aquarius, pure violet; and to Pisces, violet-red.

In expounding the Eastern system of esoteric philosophy, H. P, Blavatsky relates the colors to the septenary constitution of man and the seven states of matter as follows:

COLOR

PRINCIPLES OF MAN

STATES OF MATTER

Violet

*Chaya*, or Etheric Double

Ether

Indigo

Higher *Manas*, or Spiritual Intelligence

Critical State called Air

Blue

Auric Envelope

Steam or Vapor

Green

Lower *Manas*, or Animal Soul

Critical State

Yellow

*Buddhi*, or Spiritual Soul

Water

Orange

*Prana*, or Life Principle

Critical State

Red

*Kama Rupa*, or Seat of Animal Life

Ice

*THE FOUR ELEMENTS AND THEIR CONSONANTAL INTERVALS.*

*From Fludd's De Musica Mundana.*

*In this diagram Fludd has divided each of the four Primary elements into three subdivisions. The first division of each element is the grossest, partaking somewhat of the substance directly inferior to itself (except in the case of the earth, which has no state inferior to itself). The second division consists of the element in its relatively pure state, while the third division is that condition wherein the element partakes somewhat of the substance immediately superior to itself. For example the lowest division of the element of water is sedimentary, as it contains earth substance in solution; the second division represents water in its most common state--salty--as in the case of the ocean; and the third division is water in its purest state--free from salt. The harmonic interval assigned to the lowest division of each element is one tone, to the central division also a tone, but to the higher division a half-tone because it partakes of the division immediately above it. Fludd emphasizes the fact that as the elements ascend in series of two and a half tones, the diatessaron is the dominating harmonic interval of the elements.*

This arrangement of the colors of the spectrum and the musical notes of the octave necessitates a different grouping of the planets in order to preserve their proper tone and color analogies. Thus *do* becomes Mars; *re*, the sun; *mi*, Mercury; *fa*, Saturn; *sol*, Jupiter; *la*, Venus; *si* (*ti*) the moon. (See *The E. S. Instructions*.)

## Fishes, Insects, Animals, Reptiles and Birds

**Part 1**

THE creatures inhabiting the water, air, and earth were held in veneration by all races of antiquity. Realizing that visible bodies are only symbols of invisible forces, the ancients worshiped the Divine Power through the lower kingdoms of Nature, because those less evolved and more simply constituted creatures responded most readily to the creative impulses of the gods. The sages of old studied living things to a point of realization that God is most perfectly understood through a knowledge of His supreme handiwork--animate and inanimate Nature.

Every existing creature manifests some aspect of the intelligence or power of the Eternal One, who can never be known save through a study and appreciation of His numbered but inconceivable parts. When a creature is chosen, therefore, to symbolize to the concrete human mind some concealed abstract principle it is because its characteristics demonstrate this invisible principle in visible action. Fishes, insects, animals, reptiles, and birds appear in the religious symbolism of nearly all nations, because the forms and habits of these creatures and the media in which they exist closely relate them to the various generative and germinative powers of Nature, which were considered as prima-facie evidence of divine omnipresence.

The early philosophers and scientists, realizing that all life has its origin in water, chose the fish as the symbol of the life germ. The fact that fishes are most prolific makes the simile still more apt. While the early priests may not have possessed the instruments necessary to analyze the spermatozoon, they concluded by deduction that it resembled a fish.

Fishes were sacred to the Greeks and Romans, being connected with the worship of Aphrodite (Venus). An interesting survival of pagan ritualism is found in the custom of eating fish on Friday. *Freya*, in whose honor the day was named, was the Scandinavian Venus, and this day was sacred among many nations to the goddess of beauty and fecundity. This analogy further links the fish with the procreative mystery. Friday is also sacred to the followers of the Prophet Mohammed.

The word *nun* means both fish and growth, and as Inman says: "The Jews were led to victory by the Son of the Fish whose other names were Joshua and Jesus (the Savior). *Nun* is still the name of a female devotee" of the Christian faith. Among early Christians three fishes were used to symbolize the Trinity, and the fish is also one of the eight sacred symbols of the great Buddha. It is also significant that the dolphin should be sacred to both Apollo (the Solar Savior) and Neptune. It was believed that this fish carried shipwrecked sailors to heaven on its back. The dolphin was accepted by the early Christians as an emblem of Christ, because the pagans had viewed this beautiful creature as a friend and benefactor of man. The heir to the throne of France, *the Dauphin*, may have secured his title from this ancient pagan symbol of the divine preservative power. The first advocates of Christianity likened converts to fishes, who at the time of baptism "returned again into the sea of Christ."

Primitive peoples believed the sea and land were inhabited by strange creatures, and early books on zoology contain curious illustrations of composite beasts, reptiles, and fishes, which did not exist at the time the medieval authors compiled these voluminous books. In the ancient initiatory rituals of the Persian, Greek, and Egyptian Mysteries the priests disguised themselves as composite creatures, thereby symbolizing different aspects of human consciousness. They used birds and reptiles as emblems of their various deities, often creating forms of grotesque appearance and assigning to them imaginary traits, habits, and places of domicile, all of which were symbolic of certain spiritual and transcendental truths thus concealed from the profane. The *phœnix* made its nest of incense and flames. The *unicorn* had the body of a horse, the feet of an elephant, and the tail of a wild boar. The upper half of the *centaur's* body was human and the lower half equine. The *pelican* of the Hermetists fed its young from its own breast, and to this bird were assigned other mysterious attributes which could have been true only allegorically.

Though regarded by many writers of the Middle Ages as actual living creatures, none of these--the pelican excepted--ever existed outside the symbolism of the Mysteries. Possibly they originated in rumors of animals then little known. In the temple, however, they became a reality, for there they signified the manifold characteristics of man's nature. The *mantichora* had certain points in common with the hyena; the *unicorn* may have been the single-horned rhinoceros. To the student of the secret wisdom these composite animals. and birds simply represent various forces working in the invisible worlds. This is a point which nearly all writers on the subject of medieval monsters seem to have overlooked. (See Vlyssis Aldrovandi's *Monstrorum Historia*, 1642, and *Physica Curiosa*, by P. Gaspare Schotto, 1697.)

There are also legends to the effect that long before the appearance of human beings there existed a race or species of composite creatures which was destroyed by the gods. The temples of antiquity preserved their own historical records and possessed information concerning the prehistoric world that has never been revealed to the uninitiated. According to these records, the human race evolved from a species of creature that partook somewhat of the nature of an amphibian, for at that time primitive man had the gills of a fish and was partly covered with scales. To a limited degree, the human embryo demonstrates the possibility of such a condition. As a result of the theory of man's origin in water, the fish was looked upon as the progenitor of the human family. This gave rise to the ichthyolatry of the Chaldeans, Phœnicians, and Brahmins. The American Indians believe that the waters of lakes, rivers, and oceans are inhabited by a mysterious people, the "Water Indians."

The fish has been used as an emblem of damnation; but among the Chinese it typified contentment and good fortune, and fishes appear on many of their coins. When Typhon, or Set, the Egyptian evil genius, had divided the body of the god Osiris into fourteen parts, he cast one part into the river Nile, where, according to Plutarch, it was devoured by three fishes--the *lepidotus* (probably the *lepidosiren*), the *phagrus*, and the *oxyrynchus* (a form of pike). For this reason the Egyptians would not eat the flesh of these fishes, believing that to do so would be to devour the body of their god. When used as a symbol of evil, the fish represented the earth (man's lower nature) and the tomb (the sepulcher of the Mysteries). Thus was Jonah three days in the belly of the "great fish," as Christ was three days in the tomb.

*THE FIRST INCARNATION, OR MATSYA AVATAR, OF VISHNU.*

*From Picart's Religious Ceremonials.*

*The fish has often been associated with the World Saviors. Vishnu, the Hindu Redeemer, who takes upon himself ten forms for the redemption of the universe, was expelled from the mouth of a fish in his first incarnation. Isis, while nursing the infant Horus, is often shown with a fish on her headdress. Oannes, the Chaldean Savior (borrowed from the Brahmins), is depicted with the head and body of a fish, from which his human form protrudes at various points. Jesus was often symbolized by a fish. He told His disciples that they should became "fishers of men." The sign of the fish was also the first monogram of the Christians. The mysterious Greek name of Jesus, ΙΧΘΥΣ, means "a fish." The fish was accepted as a symbol of the Christ by a number of early canonized church fathers. St. Augustine likened the Christ to a fish that had been broiled, and it was also pointed out that the flesh of that Fish was the food of righteous and holy men.*

Several early church fathers believed that the "whale" which swallowed Jonah was the symbol of God the Father, who, when the hapless prophet was thrown overboard, accepted Jonah into His own nature until a place of safety was reached. The story of Jonah is really a legend of initiation into the Mysteries, and the "great fish" represents the darkness of ignorance which engulfs man when he is thrown over the side of the ship (is born) into the sea (life). The custom of building ships in the form of fishes or birds, common in ancient times, could give rise to the story, and mayhap Jonah was merely picked up by another vessel and carried into port, the pattern of the ship causing it to be called a "great fish." ("*Veritatis simplex oratio est!*") More probably the "whale" of Jonah is based upon the pagan mythological creature, *hippocampus*, part horse and part dolphin, for the early Christian statues and carvings show the composite creature and not a true whale.

It is reasonable to suppose that the mysterious sea serpents, which, according to the Mayan and Toltec legends, brought the gods to Mexico were Viking or Chaldean ships, built in the shape of composite sea monsters or dragons. H. P. Blavatsky advances the theory that the word *cetus*, the great whale, is derived from *keto*, a name for the fish god, Dagon, and that Jonah was actually confined in a cell hollowed out in the body of a gigantic statue of Dagon after he had been captured by Phœnician sailors and carried to one of their cities. There is no doubt a great mystery in the gigantic form of *cetus*, which is still preserved as a constellation.

According to many scattered fragments extant, man's lower nature was symbolized by a tremendous, awkward creature resembling a great sea serpent, or dragon, called *leviathan*. All symbols having serpentine form or motion signify the solar energy in one of its many forms. This great creature of the sea therefore represents the solar life force imprisoned in water and also the divine energy coursing through the body of man, where, until transmuted, it manifests itself as a writhing, twisting monster - man's greeds, passions, and lusts. Among the symbols of Christ as the Savior of men are a number relating to the mystery of His divine nature concealed within the personality of the lowly Jesus.

The Gnostics divided the nature of the Christian Redeemer into two parts--the one Jesus, a mortal man; the other, Christos, a personification of *Nous*, the principle of Cosmic Mind. *Nous*, the greater, was for the period of three years (from baptism to crucifixion) using the fleshly garment of the mortal man (Jesus). In order to illustrate this point and still conceal it from the ignorant, many strange, and often repulsive, creatures were used whose rough exteriors concealed magnificent organisms. Kenealy, in his notes on the *Book of Enoch*, observes: "Why the caterpillar was a symbol of the Messiah is evident; because, under a lowly, creeping, and wholly terrestrial aspect, he conceals the beautiful butterfly-form, with its radiant wings, emulating in its varied colors the Rainbow, the Serpent, the Salmon, the Scarab, the Peacock, and the dying Dolphin ** *.

**INSECTS**

In 1609 Henry Khunrath's *Amphitheatrum Sapientiæ Æternæ* was published. Eliphas Levi declared that within its pages are concealed all the great secrets of magical philosophy. A remarkable plate in this work shows the Hermetic sciences being attacked by the bigoted and ignorant pedagogues of the seventeenth century. In order to express his complete contempt for his slanderers, Khunrath made out of each a composite beast, adding donkey ears to one and a false tail to another. He reserved the upper part of the picture for certain petty backbiters whom he gave appropriate forms. The air was filled with strange creatures--great dragon flies, winged frogs, birds with human heads, and other weird forms which defy description--heaping venom, gossip, spite, slander, and other forms of persecution upon the secret arcanum of the wise. The drawing indicated that their attacks were ineffectual. Poisonous insects were often used to symbolize the deadly power of the human tongue.

Insects of all kinds were also considered emblematic of the Nature spirits and dæmons, for both were believed to inhabit the atmosphere. Mediæval drawings showing magicians in the act of invoking spirits, often portray the mysterious powers of the other world, which the conjurer has exorcised, as appearing to him in composite part-insect forms. The early philosophers apparently held the opinion that the disease which swept through communities in the form of plagues were actually living creatures, but instead of considering a number of tiny germs they viewed the entire plague as one individuality and gave it a hideous shape to symbolize its destructiveness. The fact that plagues came in the air caused an insect or a bird to be used as their symbol.

Beautiful symmetrical forms were assigned to all natural benevolent conditions or powers, but to unnatural or malevolent powers were assigned contorted and abnormal figures. The Evil One was either hideously deformed or else of the nature of certain despised animals. A popular superstition during the Middle Ages held that the Devil had the feet of a rooster, while the Egyptians assigned to Typhon (Devil) the body of a hog.

The habits of the insects were carefully studied. Therefore the ant was looked upon as emblematic of industry and foresight, as it stored up supplies for the winter and also had strength to move objects many times its own weight. The locusts which swept down in clouds, and in some parts of Africa and Asia obscured the sun and destroyed every green thing, were considered fit emblems of passion, disease, hate, and strife; for these emotions destroy all that is good in the soul of man and leave a barren desert behind them. In the folklore of various nations, certain insects are given special significance, but the ones which have received world-wide veneration and consideration ate the scarab, the king of the insect kingdom; the scorpion, the great betrayer; the butterfly, the emblem of metamorphosis; and the bee, the symbol of industry.

The Egyptian scarab is one of the most remarkable symbolic figures ever conceived by the mind of man. It was evolved by the erudition of the priestcraft from a simple insect which, because of its peculiar habits and appearance, properly symbolized the strength of the body, the resurrection of the soul, and the Eternal and Incomprehensible Creator in His aspect as Lord of the Sun. E. A. Wallis Budge says, in effect, of the worship of the scarab by the Egyptians:

"Yet another view held in primitive times was that the sky was a vast meadow over which a huge beetle crawled, pushing the disk of the sun before him. This beetle was the Sky-god, and, arguing from the example of the beetle (*Scarabæus sacer*), which was observed to roll along with its hind legs a ball that was believed to contain its eggs, the early Egyptians thought that the ball of the Sky-god contained his egg and that the sun was his offspring. Thanks, however, to the investigations of the eminent entomologist, Monsieur J. H. Fabre, we now know that the ball which the *Scarabæus sacer* rolls along contains not its eggs, but dung that is to serve as food for its egg, which it lays in a carefully prepared place."

Initiates of the Egyptian Mysteries were sometimes called scarabs; again, lions and panthers. The scarab was the emissary of the sun, symbolizing light, truth, and regeneration. Stone scarabs, called heart scarabs, about three inches long, were placed in the heart cavity of the dead when that organ was removed to be embalmed separately as part of the process of mummifying. Some maintain that the stone beetles were merely wrapped in the winding cloths at the time of preparing the body for eternal preservation. The following passage concerning this appears in the great Egyptian book of initiation, *The Book of the Dead*: "And behold, thou shalt make a scarab of green stone, which shalt be placed in the breast of a man, and it shall perform for him, 'the opening of the mouth.'" The funeral rites of many nations bear a striking resemblance to the initiatory ceremonies of their Mysteries.

*Ra*, the god of the sun, had three important aspects. As the Creator of the universe he was symbolized by the head of a scarab and was called *Khepera*, which signified the resurrection of the soul and a new life at the end of the mortal span. The mummy cases of the Egyptian dead were nearly always ornamented with scarabs. Usually one of these beetles, with outspread wings, was painted on the mummy case directly over the breast of the dead. The finding of such great numbers of small stone scarabs indicates that they were a favorite article of adornment among the Egyptians. Because of its relationship to the sun, the scarab symbolized the divine part of man's nature. The fact that its beautiful wings were concealed under its glossy shell typified the winged soul of man hidden within its earthly sheath. The Egyptian soldiers were given the scarab as their special symbol because the ancients believed that these creatures were all of the male sex and consequently appropriate emblems of virility, strength, and courage.

*THE MANTICHORA.*

*From Redgrove's Bygone Beliefs.*

*The most remarkable of allegorical creatures was the mantichora, which Ctesias describes as having aflame-colored body, lionlike in shape, three rows of teeth, a human head and ears, blue eyes, a tail ending in a series of spikes and stings, thorny and scorpionlike, and a voice which sounded like the blare of trumpets. This synthetic quadruped ambled into mediæval works on natural history, but, though seriously considered, had never been seen, because it inhabited inaccessible regions and consequently was difficult to locate.*

Plutarch noted the fact that the scarab rolled its peculiar ball of dung backwards, while the insect itself faced the opposite direction. This made it an especially fitting symbol for the sun, because this orb (according to Egyptian astronomy) was rolling from west to east, although apparently moving in the opposite direction. An Egyptian allegory states that the sunrise is caused by the scarab unfolding its wings, which stretch out as glorious colors on each side of its body--the solar globe--and that when it folds its wings under its dark shell at sunset, night follows. *Khepera*, the scarab-headed aspect of *Ra*, is often symbolized riding through the sea of the sky in a wonderful ship called the *Boat of the Sun*.

*ROYAL EGYPTIAN SCARAB.*

*From Hall's Catalogue of Egyptian Scarabs, Etc., in the British Museum.*

*The flat under side of a scarab usually bears an inscription relating to the dynasty during which it was cut. These scarabs were sometimes used as seals. Some were cut from ordinary or precious stones; others were made of clay, baked and glazed. Occasionally the stone scarabs were also glazed. The majority of the small scarabs are pierced as though originally used as beads. Some are so hard that they will cut glass. In the picture above, A shows top and side views of the scarab, and B and B the under surface with the name of Men-ka-Ra within the central cartouche.*

The scorpion is the symbol of both wisdom and self-destruction. It was called by the Egyptians the creature accursed; the time of year when the sun entered the sign of Scorpio marked the beginning of the rulership of Typhon. When the twelve signs of the zodiac were used to represent the twelve Apostles (although the reverse is true), the scorpion was assigned to Judas Iscariot--the betrayer.

The scorpion stings with its tail, and for this reason it has been called a backbiter, a false and deceitful thing. Calmet, in his *Dictionary of the Bible*, declares the scorpion to be a fit emblem of the wicked and the symbol of persecution. The dry winds of Egypt are said to be produced by Typhon, who imparts to the sand the blistering heat of the infernal world and the sting of the scorpion. This insect was also the symbol of the spinal fire which, according to the Egyptian Mysteries, destroyed man when it was permitted to gather at the base of his spine (the tail of the scorpion).The red star *Antares* in the back of the celestial scorpion was considered the worst light in the heavens. *Kalb al Akrab*, or the heart of the scorpion, was called by the ancients the lieutenant or deputy of Mars. (See footnote to Ptolemy's *Tetrabiblos*.) *Antares* was believed to impair the eyesight, often causing blindness if it rose over the horizon when a child was born. This may refer again to the sand storm, which was capable of blinding unwary travelers.

The scorpion was also the symbol of wisdom, for the fire which it controlled was capable of illuminating as well as consuming. Initiation into the Greater Mysteries among the pagans was said to take place only in the sign of the scorpion. In the papyrus of *Ani* (*The Book of the Dead*), the deceased likens his soul to a scorpion, saying: "I am a swallow, I am that scorpion, the daughter of Ra!" Elizabeth Goldsmith, in her treatise on *Sex Symbolism*, states that the scorpions were a "symbol of Selk, the Egyptian goddess of writing, and also were revered by the Babylonians and Assyrians as guardians of the gateway of the sun. Seven scorpions were said to have accompanied Isis when she searched for the remains of Osiris scattered by Set" (Typhon).

In his *Chaldean Account of the Genesis*, George Smith, copying from the cuneiform cylinders, in describing the wanderings of the hero *Izdubar* (Nimrod), throws some light on the scorpion god who guards the sun. The tablet which he translated is not perfect, but the meaning is fairly clear: "** * who each day guard the rising sun. Their crown was at the lattice of heaven, under hell their feet were placed the spinal column. The scorpion man guarded the gate, burning with terribleness, their appearance was like death, the might of his fear shook the forest. At the rising of the sun and the setting of the sun, they guarded the sun; Izdubar saw them and fear and terror came into his face." Among the early Latins there was a machine of war called the scorpion. It was used for firing arrows and probably obtained its name from a long beam, resembling a scorpion's tail, which flew up to hurl the arrows. The missiles discharged by this machine were also called scorpions.

The butterfly (under the name of *Psyche*, a beautiful maiden with wings of opalescent light) symbolizes the human soul because of the stages it passes through in order to unfold its power of flight. The three divisions through which the butterfly passes in its unfoldment resemble closely the three degrees of the Mystery School, which degrees are regarded as consummating the unfoldment of man by giving him emblematic wings by which he may soar to the skies. Unregenerate man, ignorant and helpless, is symbolized by the stage between ovum and larva; the disciple, seeking truth and dwelling in medication, by the second stage, from larva to pupa, at which time the insect enters its chrysalis (the tomb of the Mysteries); the third stage, from pupa to imago (wherein the perfect butterfly comes forth), typifies the unfolded enlightened soul of the initiate rising from the tomb of his baser nature.

Night moths typify the secret wisdom, because they are hard to discover and are concealed by the darkness (ignorance). Some are emblems of death, as *Acherontia atropos*, the death's-head moth, which has a marking on its body somewhat like a human skull. The death-watch beetle, which was believed to give warning of approaching death by a peculiar ticking sound, is another instance of insects involved in human affairs.

Opinions differ concerning the spider. Its shape makes it an appropriate emblem of the nerve plexus and ganglia of the human body. Some Europeans consider it extremely bad luck to kill a spider--possibly because it is looked upon as an emissary of the Evil One, whom no person desires to offend. There is a mystery concerning all poisonous creatures, especially insects. Paracelsus taught that the spider was the medium for a powerful but evil force which the Black Magicians used in their nefarious undertakings.

Certain plants, minerals, and animals have been sacred among all the nations of the earth because of their peculiar sensitiveness to the astral fire--a mysterious agency in Nature which the scientific world has contacted through its manifestations as electricity and magnetism. Lodestone and radium in the mineral world and various parasitic growths in the plant kingdom are strangely susceptible to this cosmic electric fire, or universal life force. The magicians of the Middle Ages surrounded themselves with such creatures as bats, spiders, cats, snakes, and monkeys, because they were able to appropriate the life forces of these species and use them to the attainment of their own ends. Some ancient schools of wisdom taught that all poisonous insects and reptiles are germinated out of the evil nature of man, and that when intelligent human beings no longer breed hate in their own souls there will be no more ferocious animals, loathsome diseases, or poisonous plants and insects.

Among the American Indians is the legend of a "Spider Man," whose web connected the heaven worlds with the earth. The secret schools of India symbolize certain of the gods who labored with the universe during its making as connecting the realms of light with those of darkness by means of webs. Therefore the builders of the cosmic system who held the embryonic universe together with threads of invisible force were sometimes referred to as the Spider Gods and their ruler was designated The Great Spider.

The beehive is found in Masonry as a reminder that in diligence and labor for a common good true happiness and prosperity are found. The bee is a symbol of wisdom, for as this tiny insect collects pollen from the flowers, so men may extract wisdom from the experiences of daily life. The bee is sacred to the goddess Venus and, according to mystics, it is one of several forms of life which came to the earth from the planet Venus millions of years ago. Wheat and bananas are said to be of similar origin. This is the reason why the origin of these three forms of life cannot be traced. The fact that bees are ruled by queens is one reason why this insect is considered a sacred feminine symbol.

In India the god Prana--the personification of the universal life force--is sometimes shown surrounded by a circle of bees. Because of its importance in pollenizing flowers, the bee is the accepted symbol of the generative power. At one time the bee was the emblem of the French kings. The rulers of France wore robes embroidered with bees, and the canopies of their thrones were decorated with gigantic figures of these insects.

The fly symbolizes the tormentor, because of the annoyance it causes to animals. The Chaldean god Baal was often called Baal-Zebul, or the god of the dwelling place. The word *zebub*, or *zabab*, means a fly, and Baal-Zebul became Baalzebub, or Beelzebub, a word which was loosely translated to mean Jupiter's fly. The fly was looked upon as a form of the divine power, because of its ability to destroy decaying substances and thus promote health. The fly may have obtained its name Zebub from its peculiar buzzing or humming. Inman believes that Baalzebub, which the Jews ridiculed as My Lord of Flies, really means My Lord Who Hums or Murmurs.

Inman recalls the singing Memnon on the Egyptian desert, a tremendous figure with an Æolian harp on the top of its head. When the wind blows strongly this great Statue sighs, or hums. The Jews changed Baalzebub into Beelzebub, and made him their prince of devils by interpreting *dæmon* as "demon." Naudæus, in defending Virgil from accusations of sorcery, attempted a wholesale denial of the miracles supposedly performed by Virgil and produced enough evidence to convict the poet on all counts. Among other strange fears, Virgil fashioned a fly out of brass, and after certain mysterious ceremonies, placed it over one of the gates of Naples. As a result, no flies entered the city for more than eight years.

**REPTILES**

The serpent was chosen as the head of the reptilian family. Serpent worship in some form has permeated nearly all parts of the earth. The serpent mounds of the American Indian; the carved-stone snakes of Central and South America; the hooded cobras of India; Python, the great snake o the Greeks; the sacred serpents of the Druids; the Midgard snake of Scandinavia; the Nagas of Burma, Siam, and Cambodia; the brazen serpent of the Jews; the mystic serpent of Orpheus; the snakes at the oracle; of Delphi twining themselves around the tripod upon which the Pythian priestess sat, the tripod itself being in the form of twisted serpents; the sacred serpents preserved in the Egyptian temples; the Uræus coiled upon the foreheads of the Pharaohs and priests;--all these bear witness to the universal veneration in which the snake was held. In the ancient Mysteries the serpent entwining a staff was the symbol of the physician. The serpent-wound staff of Hermes remains the emblem of the medical profession. Among nearly all these ancient peoples the serpent was accepted as the symbol of wisdom or salvation. The antipathy which Christendom feels towards the snake is based upon the little-understood allegory of the Garden of Eden.

The serpent is true to the principle of wisdom, for it tempts man to the knowledge of himself. Therefore the knowledge of self resulted from man's disobedience to the *Demiurgus*, Jehovah. How the serpent came to be in the garden of the Lord after God had declared that all creatures which He had made during the six days of creation were good has not been satisfactorily answered by the interpreters of Scripture. The tree that grows in the midst of the garden is the spinal fire; the knowledge of the use of that spinal fire is the gift of the great serpent. Notwithstanding statements to the contrary, the serpent is the symbol and prototype of the Universal Savior, who redeems the worlds by giving creation the knowledge of itself and the realization of good and evil. If this be not so, why did Moses raise a brazen serpent upon a cross in the wilderness that all who looked upon it might be saved from the sting of the lesser snakes? Was not the brazen serpent a prophecy of the crucified Man to come? If the serpent be only a thing of evil, why did Christ instruct His disciples to be as wise as serpents?

*THE SCORPION TALISMAN.*

*From Paracelsus' Archidoxes Magica.*

*The scorpion often appears upon the talismans and charms of the Middle Ages. This hieroglyphic Arachnida was supposed to have the power of curing disease. The scorpion shown above was composed of several metals, and was made under certain planetary configurations. Paracelsus advised that it be worn by those suffering from any derangement of the reproductive system.*

The accepted theory that the serpent is evil cannot be substantiated. It has long been viewed as the emblem of immortality. It is the symbol of reincarnation, or metempsychosis, because it annually sheds its skin, reappearing, as it were, in a new body. There is an ancient superstition to the effect that snakes never die except by violence and that, if uninjured, they would live forever. It was also believed that snakes swallowed themselves, and this resulted in their being considered emblematic of the Supreme Creator, who periodically reabsorbed His universe back into Himself.

In *Isis Unveiled*, H. P. Blavatsky makes this significant statement concerning the origin of serpent worship: "Before our globe had become egg-shaped or round it was a long trail of cosmic dust or fire-mist, moving and writhing like a serpent. This, say the explanations, was the Spirit of God moving on the chaos until its breath had incubated cosmic matter and made it assume the annular shape of a serpent with its tail in its month--emblem of eternity in its spiritual and of our world in its physical sense."

The seven-headed snake represents the Supreme Deity manifesting through His Elohim, or Seven Spirits, by whose aid He established His universe. The coils of the snake have been used by the pagans to symbolize the motion and also the orbits of the celestial bodies, and it is probable that the symbol of the serpent twisted around the egg--which was common to many of the ancient Mystery schools--represented both the apparent motion of the sun around the earth, and the bands of astral light, or the great magical agent, which move about the planet incessantly.

Electricity was commonly symbolized by the serpent because of its motion. Electricity passing between the poles of a spark gap is serpentine in its motion. Force projected through atmosphere was called The Great Snake. Being symbolic of universal force, the serpent was emblematic of both good and evil. Force can tear down as rapidly as it can build up. The serpent with its tail in its mouth is the symbol of eternity, for in this position the body of the reptile has neither beginning nor end. The head and tail represent the positive and negative poles of the cosmic life circuit. The initiates of the Mysteries were often referred to as serpents, and their wisdom was considered analogous to the divinely inspired power of the snake. There is no doubt that the title "Winged Serpents" (the Seraphim?) was given to one of the invisible hierarchies that labored with the earth during its early formation.

There is a legend that in the beginning of the world winged serpents reigned upon the earth. These were probably the demigods which antedate the historical civilization of every nation. The symbolic relationship between the sun and the serpent found literal witness in the fact that life remains in the snake until sunset, even though it be cut into a dozen parts. The Hopi Indians consider the serpent to be in close communication with the Earth Spirit. Therefore, at the time of their annual snake dance they send their prayers to the Earth Spirit by first specially sanctifying large numbers of these reptiles and then liberating them to return to the earth with the prayers of the tribe.

The great rapidity of motion manifested by lizards has caused them to be associated with Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods, whose winged feet traveled infinite distances almost instantaneously. A point which must not be overlooked in connection with reptiles in symbolism is clearly brought out by the eminent scholar, Dr. H. E. Santee, in his *Anatomy of the Brain and Spinal Cord*: "In reptiles there are two pineal bodies, an anterior and a posterior, of which the posterior remains undeveloped but the anterior forms a rudimentary, cyclopean eye. In the Hatteria, a New Zealand lizard, it projects through the parietal foramen and presents an imperfect lens and retina and, in its long stalk, nerve fibers."

Crocodiles were regarded by the Egyptians both as symbols of Typhon and emblems of the Supreme Deity, of the latter because while under water the crocodile is capable of seeing--Plutarch asserts--though its eyes are covered by a thin membrane. The Egyptians declared that no matter how far away the crocodile laid its eggs, the Nile would reach up to them in its next inundation, this reptile being endowed with a mysterious sense capable of making known the extent of the flood months before it took place. There were two kinds of crocodiles. The larger and more ferocious was hated by the Egyptians, for they likened it to the nature of Typhon, their destroying demon. Typhon waited to devour all who failed to pass the judgment of the Dead, which rite took place in the Hall of Justice between the earth and the Elysian Fields. Anthony Todd Thomson thus describes the good treatment accorded the smaller and tamer crocodiles, which the Egyptians accepted as personifications of good: "They were fed daily and occasionally had mulled wine poured down their throats. Their ears were ornamented with rings of gold and precious stones, and their forefeet adorned with bracelets." To the Chinese the turtle was a symbol of longevity. At a temple in Singapore a number of sacred turtles are kept, their age recorded by carvings on their shells. The American Indians use the ridge down the back of the turtle shell as a symbol of the Great Divide between life and death. The turtle is a symbol of wisdom because it retires into itself and is its own protection. It is also a phallic symbol, as its relation to long life would signify. The Hindus symbolized the universe as being supported on the backs of four great elephants who, in turn, are standing upon an immense turtle which is crawling continually through chaos.

The Egyptian sphinx, the Greek centaur, and the Assyrian man-bull have much in common. All are composite creatures combining human and animal members; in the Mysteries all signify the composite nature of man and subtly refer to the hierarchies of celestial beings that have charge of the destiny of mankind.

*THE URÆUS.*

*From Kircher's Œdipus Ægyptiacus.*

*The spinal cord was symbolized by a snake, and the serpent coiled upon the foreheads of the Egyptian initiates represented the Divine Fire which had crawled serpentlike up the Tree of Life.*

These hierarchies are the *twelve holy animals* now known as constellations--star groups which are merely symbols of impersonal spiritual impulses. Chiron, the centaur, teaching the sons of men, symbolizes the intelligences of the constellation of Sagittarius, who were the custodians of the secret doctrine while (geocentrically) the sun was passing through the sign of Gemini. The five-footed Assyrian man-bull with the wings of an eagle and the head of a man is a reminder that the invisible nature of man has the wings of a god, the head of a man, and the body of a beast. The same concept was expressed through the sphinx--that armed guardian of the Mysteries who, crouching at the gate of the temple, denied entrance to the profane. Thus placed between man and his divine possibilities, the sphinx also represented the secret doctrine itself. Children's fairy stories abound with descriptions of symbolic monsters, for nearly all such tales are based upon the ancient mystic folklore.

*GOOD AND EVIL CONTENDING FOR THE UNIVERSAL EGG.*

*From Maurice's Indian Antiquities.*

*Both Mithras, the Persian Redeemer, and Serapis, the Egyptian God of the Earth, are symbolized by serpents coiled about their bodies. This remarkable drawing shows the good and evil principles of Persia--Ahura-Mazda and Ahriman--contending for the Egg of the Earth, which each trying to wrench from the teeth of the other.*

**Part 2**

AS appropriate emblems of various human and divine attributes birds were included in religious and philosophic symbolism that of pagans and of Christians alike. Cruelty was signified by the buzzard; courage by the eagle; self-sacrifice by the pelican; and pride by the peacock. The ability of birds to leave the earth and fly aloft toward the source of light has resulted in their being associated with aspiration, purity, and beauty. Wings were therefore often added to various terrene creatures in an effort to suggest transcendency. Because their habitat was among the branches of the sacred trees in the hearts of ancient forests, birds were also regarded as the appointed messengers of the tree spirits and Nature gods dwelling in these consecrated groves, and through their clear notes the gods themselves were said to speak. Many myths have been fabricated to explain the brilliant plumage of birds. A familiar example is the story of Juno's peacock, in whose tail feathers were placed the eyes of Argus. Numerous American Indian legends also deal with birds and the origin of the various colors of feathers. The Navahos declare that when all living things climbed to the stalk of a bamboo to escape the Flood, the wild turkey was on the lowest branch and his tail feathers trailed in the water; hence the color was all washed out.

Gravitation, which is a law in the material world, is the impulse toward the center of materiality; levitation, which is a law in the spiritual world, is the impulse toward the center of spirituality. Seeming to be capable of neutralizing the effect of gravity, the bird was said to partake of a nature superior to other terrestrial creation; and its feathers, because of their sustaining power, came to be accepted as symbols of divinity, courage, and accomplishment. A notable example is the dignity attached to eagle feathers by the American Indians, among whom they are insignia of merit. Angels have been invested with wings because, like birds, they were considered to be the intermediaries between the gods and men and to inhabit the air or middle kingdom betwixt heaven and earth. As the dome of the heavens was likened to a skull in the Gothic Mysteries, so the birds which flew across the sky were regarded as thoughts of the Deity. For this reason Odin's two messenger ravens were called Hugin and Munin--*thought* and *memory*.

Among the Greeks and Romans, the eagle was the appointed bird of Jupiter and consequently signified the swiftly moving forces of the Demiurgus; hence it was looked upon as the mundane lord of the birds, in contradistinction to the phœnix, which was symbolic of the celestial ruler. The eagle typified the sun in its material phase and also the immutable Demiurgic law beneath which all mortal creatures must bend. The eagle was also the Hermetic symbol of sulphur, and signified the mysterious fire of Scorpio--the most profoundly significant sign of the zodiac and the *Gate of the Great Mystery*. Being one of the three symbols of Scorpio, the eagle, like the Goat of Mendes, was an emblem of the theurgic art and the secret processes by which the infernal fire of the scorpion was transmuted into the spiritual *light-fire* of the gods.

Among certain American Indian tribes the thunderbird is held in peculiar esteem. This divine creature is said to live above the clouds; the flapping of its wings causes the rumbling which accompanies storms, while the flashes from its eyes are the lightning. Birds were used to signify the vital breath; and among the Egyptians, mysterious hawklike birds with human heads, and carrying in their claws the symbols of immortality, are often shown hovering as emblems of the liberated soul over the mummified bodies of the dead. In Egypt the hawk was the sacred symbol of the sun; and Ra, Osiris, and Horns are often depicted with the heads of hawks. The cock, or rooster, was a symbol of Cashmala (Cadmillus) in the Samothracian Mysteries, and is also a phallic symbol sacred to the sun. It was accepted by the Greeks as the emblem of Ares (Mars) and typified watchfulness and defense. When placed in the center of a weather vane it signifies the sun in the midst of the four corners of creation. The Greeks sacrificed a rooster to the gods at the time of entering the Eleusinian Mysteries. Sir Francis Bacon is supposed to have died as the result of stuffing a fowl with snow. May this not signify Bacon's initiation into the pagan Mysteries which still existed in his day?

Both the peacock and the ibis were objects of veneration because they destroyed the poisonous reptiles which were popularly regarded as the emissaries of the infernal gods. Because of the myriad of eyes in its tail feathers the peacock was accepted as the symbol of wisdom, and on account of its general appearance it was often confused with the fabled phœnix of the Mysteries. There is a curious belief that the flesh of the peacock will not putrefy even though kept for a considerable time. As an outgrowth of this belief the peacock became the emblem of immortality, because the spiritual nature of man--like the flesh of this bird--is incorruptible.

The Egyptians paid divine honors to the ibis and it was a cardinal crime to kill one, even by accident. It was asserted that the ibis could live only in Egypt and that if transported to a foreign country it would die of grief. The Egyptians declared this bird to be the preserver of crops and especially worthy of veneration because it drove out the winged serpents of Libya which the wind blew into Egypt. The ibis was sacred to Thoth, and when its head and neck were tucked under its wing its body closely resembled a human heart. (See Montfaucon's *Antiquities*.) The black and white ibis was sacred to the moon; but all forms were revered because they destroyed crocodile eggs, the crocodile being a symbol of the detested Typhon.

Nocturnal birds were appropriate symbols of both sorcery and the secret divine sciences: sorcery because black magic cannot function in the light of truth (day) and is powerful only when surrounded by ignorance (night); and the divine sciences because those possessing the arcana are able to see through the darkness of ignorance and materiality. Owls and bats were consequently often associated with either witchcraft or wisdom. The goose was an emblem of the first primitive substance or condition from which and within which the worlds were fashioned. In the Mysteries, the universe was likened to an egg which the Cosmic Goose had laid in space. Because of its blackness the crow was the symbol of chaos or the chaotic darkness preceding the light of creation. The grace and purity of the swan were emblematic of the spiritual grace and purity of the initiate. This bird also represented the Mysteries which unfolded these qualities in humanity. This explains the allegories of the gods (the secret wisdom) incarnating in the body of a swan (the initiate).

Being scavengers, the vulture, the buzzard, and the condor signified that form of divine power which by disposing of refuse and other matter dangerous to the life and health of humanity cleanses and purifies the lower spheres. These birds were therefore adopted as symbols of the disintegrative processes which accomplish good while apparently destroying, and by some religions have been mistakenly regarded as evil. Birds such as the parrot and raven were accorded veneration because, being able to mimic the human voice, they were looked upon as links between the human and animal kingdoms.

The dove, accepted by Christianity as the emblem of the Holy Ghost, is an extremely ancient and highly revered pagan yonic emblem. In many of the ancient Mysteries it represented the third person of the Creative Triad, or the Fabricator of the world. As the lower worlds were brought into existence through a generative process, so the dove has been associated with those deities identified with the procreative functions. It is sacred to Astarte, Cybele, Isis, Venus, Juno, Mylitta, and Aphrodite. On account of its gentleness and devotion to its young, the dove was looked upon as the embodiment of the maternal instinct. The dove is also an emblem of wisdom, for it represents the power and order by which the lower worlds are maintained. It has long been accepted as a messenger of the divine will, and signifies the activity of God.

The name dove has been given to oracles and to prophets. "The true name of the dove was *Ionah* or *Iönas*; it was a very sacred emblem, and atone time almost universally received; it was adopted by the Hebrews; and the mystic Dove was regarded as a symbol from the days of Noah by all those who were of the Church of God. The prophet sent to Ninevah as God's messenger was called Jonah or the Dove; our Lord's forerunner, the Baptist, was called in Greek by the name of Ioannes; and so was the Apostle of Love, the author Of the fourth Gospel and of the Apocalypse, named Ioannes." (Bryant's *Analysis of Ancient Mythology*.)

In Masonry the dove is the symbol of purity and innocence. It is significant that in the pagan Mysteries the dove of Venus was crucified upon the four spokes of a great wheel, thus foreshadowing the mystery of the crucified Lord of Love. Although Mohammed drove the doves from the temple at Mecca, occasionally he is depicted with a dove sitting upon his shoulder as the symbol of divine inspiration. In ancient times the effigies of doves were placed upon the heads of scepters to signify that those bearing them were overshadowed by divine prerogative. In medieval art, the dove frequently was pictured as an emblem of divine benediction.

**THE PHŒNIX**

Clement, one of the ante-Nicæan Fathers, describes, in the first century after Christ, the peculiar nature and habits of the phœnix, in this wise: "There is a certain bird which is called a Phœnix. This is the only one of its kind and lives five hundred years. And when the time of its dissolution draws near that it must die, it builds itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices, into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. But as the flesh decays a certain kind of worm is produced, which, being nourished by the juices of the dead bird, brings forth feathers. Then, when it has acquired strength, it takes up that nest in which are the bones of its parent, and bearing these it passes from the land of Arabia into Egypt, to the city called Heliopolis. And, in open day, flying in the sight of all men, it places them on the altar of the sun, and having done this, hastens back to its former abode. The priests then inspect the registers of the dates, and find that it has returned exactly as the five hundredth year was completed."

*THE PHŒNIX ON ITS NEST OF FLAMES.*

*From Lycosthenes' Prodigiorum, ac Ostentorum Chronicon.*

*The phœnix is the most celebrated of all the symbolic creatures fabricated by the ancient Mysteries for the purpose of concealing the great truths of esoteric philosophy. Though modern scholars of natural history declare the existence of the phœnix to be purely mythical, Pliny describes the capture of one of these birds and it exhibition in the Roman Forum during the reign of the Emperor Claudius.*

Although admitting that he had not seen the phœnix bird (there being only one alive at a time), Herodotus amplifies a bit the description given by Clement: "They tell a story of what this bird does which does not seem to me to be credible: that he comes all the way from Arabia, and brings the parent bird, all plastered with myrrh, to the temple of the sun, and there buries the body. In order to bring him, they say, he first forms a ball of myrrh as big as he finds that he can carry; then he hollows out the ball, and puts his parent inside; after which he covers over the opening with fresh myrrh, and the ball is then of exactly the same weight as at first; so he brings it to Egypt, plastered over as I have said, and deposits it in the temple of the sun. Such is the story they tell of the doings of this bird."

Both Herodotus and Pliny noted the general resemblance in shape between the phœnix and the eagle, a point which the reader should carefully consider, for it is reasonably certain that the modern Masonic eagle was originally a phœnix. The body of the phœnix is described as having been covered with glossy purple feathers, while its long tail feathers were alternately blue and red. Its head was light in color and about its neck was a circlet of golden plumage. At the back of its head the phœnix had *a peculiar tuft of feathers*, a fact quite evident, although it has been overlooked by most writers and symbolists.

The phœnix was regarded as sacred to the sun, and the length of its life (500 to 1000 years) was taken as a standard for measuring the motion of the heavenly bodies and also the cycles of time used in the Mysteries to designate the periods of existence. The diet of the bird was unknown. Some writers declare that it subsisted upon the atmosphere; others that it ate at rare intervals but never in the presence of man. Modern Masons should realize the special Masonic significance of the phœnix, for the bird is described as using sprigs of acacia in the manufacture of its nest.

The phœnix (which is the mythological Persian *roc*) is also the name of a Southern constellation, and therefore it has both an astronomical and an astrological significance. In all probability, the phœnix was the swan of the Greeks, the eagle of the Romans, and the peacock of the Far East. To the ancient mystics the phœnix was a most appropriate symbol of the immortality of the human soul, for just as the phœnix was reborn out of its own dead self seven times seven, so again and again the spiritual nature of man rises triumphant from his dead physical body.

Mediæval Hermetists regarded the phœnix as a symbol of the accomplishment of alchemical transmutation, a process equivalent to human regeneration. The name *phœnix* was also given to one of the secret alchemical formula. The familiar pelican of the Rose Croix degree, feeding its young from its own breast, is in reality a phœnix, a fact which can be confirmed by an examination of the head of the bird. The ungainly lower part of the pelican's beak is entirely missing, the head of the phœnix being far more like that of an eagle than of a pelican. In the Mysteries it was customary to refer to initiates as *phœnixes* or *men who had been born again*, for just as physical birth gives man consciousness in the physical world, so the neophyte, after nine degrees in the womb of the Mysteries, was born into a consciousness of the Spiritual world. This is the mystery of initiation to which Christ referred when he said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John iii. 3). The phœnix is a fitting symbol of this spiritual truth.

European mysticism was not dead at the time the United States of America was founded. The hand of the Mysteries controlled in the establishment of the new government, for the signature of the Mysteries may still be seen on the Great Seal of the United States of America. Careful analysis of the seal discloses a mass of occult and Masonic symbols, chief among them the so-called American eagle--a bird which Benjamin Franklin declared unworthy to be chosen as the emblem of a great, powerful, and progressive people. Here again only the student of symbolism can see through the subterfuge and realize that the American eagle upon the Great Seal is but a conventionalized phœnix, a fact plainly discernible from an examination of the original seal. In his sketch of *The History of the Seal of the United States*, Gaillard Hunt unwittingly brings forward much material to substantiate the belief that the original seal carried the Phœnix bird on its obverse surface and the Great Pyramid of Gizeh upon its reverse surface. In a colored sketch submitted as a design for the Great Seal by William Barton in 1782, an actual phœnix appears sitting upon a nest of flames. This itself demonstrates a tendency towards the use of this emblematic bird.

*PHŒNIX OR EAGLE, WHICH?*

*On the left is the bird's head from the first Great Seal of the United States (1782) and on the right the Great Seal of 1902. When the first great Seal was actually cut, the bird represented upon it was very different from the eagle which now appears; the neck was much longer and the tuft of feathers, at the upper back part of the head was quite noticeable; the beak bore little resemblance to that of the eagle; and the entire bird was much thinner and its wings shorter. It requires very little imagination to trace in this first so-called eagle the mythological Phœnix of antiquity. What is more, there is every reason why a phœnix bird should be used to represent a new country rising out of an old, while as Benjamin Franklin caustically noted, the eagle was not a bird of good moral character!*

*AN EGYPTIAN PHŒNIX.*

*From Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.*

*The Egyptians occasionally represented the Phœnix as having the body of a man and the wings of a bird. This biform, creature had a tuft of feathers upon its head and its arms were upraised in an attitude of prayer. As the phœnix was the symbol of regeneration, the tuft of feathers on the back of its head might well symbolize the activity of the Pineal gland, or third eye, the occult function of which was apparently well understood by the ancient priestcraft.*

If any one doubts the presence of Masonic and occult influences at the time the Great Seal was designed, he should give due consideration to the comments of Professor Charles Eliot Norton of Harvard, who wrote concerning the unfinished pyramid and the All-Seeing Eye which adorned the reverse of the seal, as follows: "The device adopted by Congress is practically incapable of effective treatment; it can hardly (however artistically treated by the designer) look otherwise than as a dull emblem of a Masonic fraternity." (The *History of the Seal of the United States*.)

*THE OBVERSE AND REVERSE OF THE GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.*

*From Hunt's History of the Seal of the United States.*

*The significance of the mystical number 13, which frequently appears upon the Great Seal of the United States, is not limited to the number of the original colonies. The sacred emblem of the ancient initiates, here composed of 13 stars,, also appears above the head of the "eagle." The motto, E Pluribus Unum, contains 13 letters, as does also the inscription, Annuit Cœptis. The "eagle" clutches in its right talon a branch bearing 13 leaves and 13 berries and in its left a sheaf of 13 arrows. The face of the pyramid, exclusive of the panel containing the date, consists of 72 stones arranged in 13 rows.*

The eagles of Napoleon and Cæsar and the zodiacal eagle of Scorpio are really phœnixes, for the latter bird--not the eagle--is the symbol of spiritual victory and achievement. Masonry will be in a position to solve many of the secrets of its esoteric doctrine when it realizes that both its single-and double-headed eagles are phœnixes, and that to all initiates and philosophers the phœnix is the symbol of the transmutation and regeneration of the creative energy--commonly called the accomplishment of the Great Work. The double-headed phœnix is the prototype of an androgynous man, for according to the secret teachings there will come a time when the human body will have two spinal cords, by means of which vibratory equilibrium will be maintained in the body.

Not only were many of the founders of the United States Government Masons, but they received aid from a secret and august body existing in Europe, which helped them to establish this country for a peculiar and particular purpose known only to the initiated few. The Great Seal is the signature of this exalted body--unseen and for the most part unknown--and the unfinished pyramid upon its reverse side is a trestleboard setting forth symbolically the task to the accomplishment of which the United States Government was dedicated from the day of its inception.

**ANIMALS**

The lion is the king of the animal family and, like the head of each kingdom, is sacred to the sun, whose rays are symbolized by the lion's shaggy mane. The allegories perpetuated by the Mysteries (such as the one to the effect that the lion opens the secret book) signify that the solar power opens the seed pods, releasing the spiritual life within. There was also a curious belief among the ancients that the lion sleeps with his eyes open, and for this reason the animal was chosen as a symbol of vigilance. The figure of a lion placed on either side of doors and gateways is an emblem of divine guardianship. King Solomon was often symbolized as a lion. For ages the feline family has been regarded with peculiar veneration. In several of the Mysteries--most notably the Egyptian--the priests wore the skins of lions, tigers, panthers, pumas, or leopards. Hercules and Samson (both solar symbols) slew the lion of the constellation of Leo and robed themselves in his skin, thus signifying that they represented the sun itself when at the summit of the celestial arch.

At Bubastis in Egypt was the temple of the famous goddess Bast, the cat deity of the Ptolemies. The Egyptians paid homage to the cat, especially when its fur was of three shades or its eyes of different colors. To the priests the cat was symbolic of the magnetic forces of Nature, and they surrounded themselves with these animals for the sake of the astral fire which emanated from their bodies. The cat was also a symbol of eternity, for when it sleeps it curls up into a ball with its head and tail touching. Among the Greeks and Latins the cat was sacred to the goddess Diana. The Buddhists of India invested the cat with special significance, but for a different reason. The cat was the only animal absent at the death of the great Buddha, because it had stopped on the way to chase a mouse. That the symbol of the lower astral forces should not be present at the liberation of the Buddha is significant.

Regarding the cat, Herodotus says: "Whenever a fire breaks out, cats are agitated with a kind of divine motion, which they that keep them observe, neglecting the fire: The cats, however, in spite of their care, break from them, leaping even over the heads of their keepers to throw themselves into the fire. The Egyptians then make great mourning for their death. If a cat dies a natural death in a house, all they of that house shave their eyebrows: If a dog, they shave the head and all the body. They used to embalm their dead cats, and carry them to Bubastis to be interred in a sacred house. (Montfaucon's *Antiquities*.)

The most important of all symbolic animals was the Apis, or Egyptian bull of Memphis, which was regarded as the sacred vehicle for the transmigration of the soul of the god Osiris. It was declared that the Apis was conceived by a bolt of lightning, and the ceremony attendant upon its selection and consecration was one of the most impressive in Egyptian ritualism. The Apis had to be marked in a certain manner. Herodotus states that the bull must be black with a square white spot on his forehead, the form of an eagle (probably a vulture) on his back, a beetle upon (under) his tongue, and the hair of his tail lying two ways. Other writers declare that the sacred bull was marked with twenty-nine sacred symbols, his body was spotted, and upon his right side was a white mark in the form of a crescent. After its sanctification the Apis was kept in a stable adjacent to the temple and led in processionals through the streets of the city upon certain solemn occasions. It was a popular belief among the Egyptians that any child upon whom the bull breathed would become illustrious. After reaching a certain age (twenty-five years) the Apis was taken either to the river Nile or to a sacred fountain (authorities differ on this point) and drowned, amidst the lamentations of the populace. The mourning and wailing for his death continued until the new Apis was found, when it was declared that Osiris had reincarnated, whereupon rejoicing took the place of grief.

The worship of the bull was not confined to Egypt, but was prevalent in many nations of the ancient world. In India, Nandi--the sacred white bull of Siva--is still the object of much veneration; and both the Persians and the Jews accepted the bull as an important religious symbol. The Assyrians, Phœnicians, Chaldeans, and even the Greeks reverenced this animal, and Jupiter turned himself into a white bull to abduct Europa. The bull was a powerful phallic emblem signifying the paternal creative power of the Demiurgus. At his death he was frequently mummified and buried with the pomp and dignity of a god in a specially prepared sarcophagus. Excavations in the Serapeum at Memphis have uncovered the tombs of more than sixty of these sacred animals.

As the sign rising over the horizon at the vernal equinox constitutes the starry body for the annual incarnation of the sun, the bull not only was the celestial symbol of the Solar Man but, because the vernal equinox took place in the constellation of Taurus, was called the *breaker* or *opener* of the year. For this reason in astronomical symbolism the bull is often shown breaking the annular egg with his horns. The Apis further signifies that the God-Mind is incarnated in the body of a beast and therefore that the physical beast form is the sacred vehicle of divinity. Man's lower personality is the Apis in which Osiris incarnates. The result of the combination is the creation of Sor-Apis (Serapis)-the material soul as ruler of the irrational material body and involved therein. After a certain period (which is determined by the square of five, or twenty-five years), the body of the Apis is destroyed and the soul liberated by the water which drowns the material life. This was indicative of the washing away of the material nature by the baptismal waters of divine light and truth. The drowning of the Apis is the symbol of death; the resurrection of Osiris in the new bull is the symbol of eternal renovation. The white bull was also symbolically sacred as the appointed emblem of the initiates, signifying the spiritualized material bodies of both man and Nature.

When the vernal equinox no longer occurred in the sign of Taurus, the Sun God incarnated in the constellation of Aries and the ram then became the vehicle of the solar power. Thus the sun rising in the sign of the Celestial Lamb triumphs over the symbolic serpent of darkness. The lamb is a familiar emblem of purity because of its gentleness and the whiteness of its wool. In many of the pagan Mysteries it signified the Universal Savior, and in Christianity it is the favorite symbol of Christ. Early church paintings show a lamb standing upon a little hill, and from its feet pour four streams of living water signifying the four Gospels. The blood of the lamb is the solar life pouring into the world through the sign of Aries.

The goat is both a phallic symbol and also an emblem of courage or aspiration because of its surefootedness and ability to scale the loftiest peaks. To the alchemists the goat's head was the symbol of sulphur. The practice among the ancient Jews of choosing a scapegoat upon which to heap the sins of mankind is merely an allegorical depiction of the Sun Man who is the scapegoat of the world and upon whom are cast the sins of the twelve houses (tribes) of the celestial universe. Truth is the Divine Lamb worshiped throughout pagandom and slain for the sins of the world, and since the dawn of time the Savior Gods of all religions have been personifications of this Truth. The Golden Fleece sought by Jason and his Argonauts is the Celestial Lamb--the spiritual and intellectual sun. The secret doctrine is also typified by the Golden Fleece--the wool of the Divine Life, the rays of the Sun of Truth. Suidas declares the Golden Fleece to have been in reality a book, written upon skin, which contained the formulæ for the production of gold by means of chemistry. The Mysteries were institutions erected for the transmutation of base ignorance into precious illumination. The dragon of ignorance was the terrible creature set to guard the Golden Fleece, and represents the darkness of the old year which battles with the sun at the time of its equinoctial passage.

Deer were sacred in the Bacchic Mysteries of the Greeks; the Bacchantes were often clothed in fawnskins. Deer were associated with the worship of the moon goddess and the Bacchic orgies were usually conducted at night. The grace and speed of this animal caused it to be accepted as the proper symbol of esthetic abandon. Deer were objects of veneration with many nations. In Japan, herds of them are still maintained in connection with the temples.

The wolf is usually associated with the principle of evil, because of the mournful discordance of its howl and the viciousness of its nature. In Scandinavian mythology the Fenris Wolf was one of the sons of Loki, the infernal god of the fires. With the temple of Asgard in flames about them, the gods under the command of Odin fought their last great battle against the chaotic forces of evil. With frothing jowls the Fenris Wolf devoured Odin, the Father of the Gods, and thus destroyed the Odinic universe. Here the Fenris Wolf represents those mindless powers of Nature that overthrew the primitive creation.

The unicorn, or monoceros, was a most curious creation of the ancient initiates. It is described by Thomas Boreman as "a beast, which though doubted of by many writers, yet is by others thus described: He has but one horn, and that an exceedingly rich one, growing out of the middle of his forehead. His head resembles an hart's, his feet an elephant's, his tail a boar's, and the rest of his body an horse's. The horn is about a foot and half in length. His voice is like the lowing of an ox. His mane and hair are of a yellowish colour. His horn is as hard as iron, and as rough as any file, twisted or curled, like a flaming sword; very straight, sharp, and every where black, excepting the point. Great virtues are attributed to it, in expelling of poison and curing of several diseases. He is not a beast of prey. " (See Redgrove's *Bygone Beliefs*.)

While the unicorn is mentioned several times in Scripture, no proof has yet been discovered of its existence. There are a number of drinking horns in various museums presumably fashioned from its spike. It is reasonably certain, however, that these drinking vessels were really made either from the tusks of some large mammal or the horn of a rhinoceros. J. P. Lundy believes that the horn of the unicorn symbolizes the hem of salvation mentioned by St. Luke which, pricking the hearts of men, turns them to a consideration of salvation through Christ. Mediæval Christian mystics employed the unicorn as an emblem of Christ, and this creature must therefore signify the spiritual life in man. The single horn of the unicorn may represent the pineal gland, or third eye, which is the spiritual cognition center in the brain. The unicorn was adopted by the Mysteries as a symbol of the illumined spiritual nature of the initiate, the horn with which it defends itself being the flaming sword of the spiritual doctrine against, which nothing can prevail.

*ÆNEAS AND THE HARPIES.*

*From Virgil's Æneid. (Dryden's translation.)*

*Among the mythological creatures of the Mysteries were the harpies--projections into material substance of beings existing in the invisible world of Nature. They were described the Greeks as being composite, with the heads of maidens and the bodies of birds. The wings of the harpies were composed of metal and their flight was, accompanied by a terrible clanging noise. During his wanderings, Æneas, the Trojan hero, landed on the island of the harpies, where he and his followers vainly battled with these monsters. One of the harpies perched upon a cliff and there prophesied to Æneid that his attack upon them would bring dire calamity to the Trojans.*

In the *Book of Lambspring*, a rare Hermetic tract, appears an engraving showing a deer and a unicorn standing together in a wood. The picture is accompanied by the following text: "The Sages say truly that two animals are in this forest: One glorious, beautiful, and swift, a great and strong deer; the other an unicorn. ***If we apply the parable of our art, we shall call the forest the *body*.*** The unicorn will be the *spirit* at all times. The deer desires no other name but that of the *soul*; ** *. He that knows how to tame and master them by art, to couple them together, and to lead them in and our of the form, may justly be called a Master."

The Egyptian devil, Typhon, was often symbolized by the *Set* monster whose identity is obscure. It has a queer snoutlike nose and pointed ears, and may have been a conventional hyena. The *Set* monster lived in the sand storms and wandered about the world promulgating evil. The Egyptians related the howling of the desert winds with the moaning cry of the hyena. Thus when in the depths of the night the hyena sent forth its doleful wail it sounded like the last despairing cry of a lost soul in the clutches of Typhon. Among the duties of this evil creature was that of protecting the Egyptian dead against: grave robbers.

Among other symbols of Typhon was the hippopotamus, sacred to the god Mars because Mars was enthroned in the sign of Scorpio, the house of Typhon. The ass was also sacred to this Egyptian demon. Jesus riding into Jerusalem upon the back of an ass has the same significance as Hermes standing upon the prostrate form of Typhon. The early Christians were accused of worshiping the head of an ass. A most curious animal symbol is the hog or sow, sacred to Diana, and frequently employed in the Mysteries as an emblem of the occult art. The wild boar which gored Atys shows the use of this animal in the Mysteries.

According to the Mysteries, the monkey represents the condition of man before the rational soul entered into his constitution. Therefore it typifies the irrational man. By some the monkey is looked upon as a species not ensouled by the spiritual hierarchies; by others as a fallen state wherein man has been deprived of his divine nature through degeneracy. The ancients, though evolutionists, did not trace man's ascent through the monkey; the monkey they considered as having separated itself from the main stem of progress. The monkey was occasionally employed as a symbol of learning. Cynocephalus, the dog-headed ape, was the Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol of writing, and was closely associated with Thoth. Cynocephalus is symbolic of the moon and Thoth of the planet Mercury. Because of the ancient belief that the moon followed Mercury about the heavens the dog-ape was described as the faithful companion of Thoth.

The dog, because of its faithfulness, denotes the relationship which should exist between disciple and master or between the initiate and his God. The shepherd dog was a type of the priestcraft. The dog's ability to sense and follow unseen persons for miles symbolized the transcendental power by which the philosopher follows the thread of truth through the labyrinth of earthly error. The dog is also the symbol of Mercury. The Dog Star, Sirius or Sothis, was sacred to the Egyptians because it presaged the annual inundations of the Nile.

As a beast of burden the horse was the symbol of the body of man forced to sustain the weight of his spiritual constitution. Conversely, it also typified the spiritual nature of man forced to maintain the burden of the material personality. Chiron, the centaur, mentor of Achilles, represents the primitive creation which was the progenitor and instructor of mankind, as described by Berossus. The winged horse and the magic carpet both symbolize the secret doctrine and the spiritualized body of man. The wooden horse of Troy, secreting an army for the capture of the city, represents man's body concealing within it those infinite potentialities which will later come forth and conquer his environment. Again, like Noah's Ark, it represents the spiritual nature of man as containing a host of latent potentialities which subsequently become active. The siege of Troy is a symbolic account of the abduction of the human soul (Helena) by the personality (Paris) and its final redemption, through persevering struggle, by the secret doctrine--the Greek army under the command of Agamemnon.

## Flowers, Plants, Fruits, and Trees

THE yoni and phallus were worshiped by nearly all ancient peoples as appropriate symbols of God's creative power. The Garden of Eden, the Ark, the Gate of the Temple, the Veil of the Mysteries, the *vesica piscis* or oval nimbus, and the Holy Grail are important yonic symbols; the pyramid, the obelisk, the cone, the candle, the tower, the Celtic monolith, the spire, the campanile, the Maypole, and the Sacred Spear are symbolic of the phallus. In treating the subject of Priapic worship, too many modern authors judge pagan standards by their own and wallow in the mire of self-created vulgarity. The Eleusinian Mysteries--the greatest of all the ancient secret societies--established one of the highest known standards of morality and ethics, and those criticizing their use of phallic symbols should ponder the trenchant words of King Edward III, "*Honi soit qui mal y pense*."

The obscene rites practiced by the later Bacchanalia and Dionysia were no more representative of the standards of purity originally upheld by the Mysteries than the orgies occasionally occurring among the adherents of Christianity till the eighteenth century were representative of primitive Christianity. Sir William Hamilton, British Minister at the Court of Naples, declares that in 1780, Isernia, a community of Christians in Italy, worshiped with phallic ceremonies the pagan god Priapus under the name of St. Cosmo. (See *Two Essays on the Worship of Priapus*, by Richard Payne Knight.)

Father, mother, and child constitute the natural trinity. The Mysteries glorified the home as the supreme institution consisting of this trinity functioning as a unit. Pythagoras likened the universe to the family, declaring that as the supreme fire of the universe was in the midst of its heavenly bodies, so, by analogy, the supreme fire of the world was upon its hearthstones. The Pythagorean and other schools of philosophy conceived the one divine nature of God to manifest itself in the threefold aspect of Father, Mother, and Child. These three constituted the Divine Family, whose dwelling place is creation and whose natural and peculiar symbol is the 47th problem of Euclid. God the Father is spirit, God the Mother is matter, and God the Child--the product of the two--represents the sum of living things born out of and constituting Nature. The seed of spirit is sown in the womb of matter, and by an immaculate (pure) conception the progeny is brought into being. Is not this the true mystery of the Madonna holding the Holy Babe in her arms? Who dares to say that such symbolism is improper? The mystery of life is the supreme mystery, revealed in all of its divine dignity and glorified as Nature's per feet achievement by the initiated sages and seers of all ages.

The prudery of today, however, declares this same mystery to be unfit for the consideration of holy-minded people. Contrary to the dictates of reason, a standard has been established which affirms that innocence bred of ignorance is more to be desired than virtue born of knowledge. Eventually, however, man will learn that he need never be ashamed of truth. Until he does learn this, he is false to his God, to his world, and to himself. In this respect, Christianity has woefully failed in its mission. While declaring man's body to be the living temple of the living God, in the same breath it asserts the substances and functions of this temple to be unclean and their study defiling to the sensitive sentiments of the righteous. By this unwholesome attitude, man's body--the house of God--is degraded and defamed. Yet the cross itself is the oldest of phallic emblems, and the lozenge-shaped windows of cathedrals are proof that yonic symbols have survived the destruction of the pagan Mysteries. The very structure of the church itself is permeated with phallicism. Remove from the Christian Church all emblems of Priapic origin and nothing is left, for even the earth upon which it stands was, because of its fertility, the first yonic symbol. As the presence of these emblems of the generative processes is either unknown or unheeded by the majority, the irony of the situation is not generally appreciated. Only those conversant with the secret language of antiquity are capable of understanding the divine significance of these emblems.

Flowers were chosen as symbols for many reasons. The great variety of flora made it possible to find some plant or flower which would be a suitable figure for nearly any abstract quality or condition. A plant might be chosen because of some myth connected with its origin, as the stories of Daphne and Narcissus; because of the peculiar environment in which it thrived, as the orchid and the fungus; because of its significant shape, as the passion flower and the Easter lily; because of its brilliance or fragrance, as the verbena and the sweet lavender; because it preserved its form indefinitely, as the everlasting flower; because of unusual characteristics as the sunflower and heliotrope, which have long been sacred because of their affinity for the sun.

The plant might also be considered worthy of veneration because from its crushed leaves, petals, stalks, or roots could be extracted healing unctions, essences, or drugs affecting the nature and intelligence of human beings--such as the poppy and the ancient herbs of prophecy. The plant might also be regarded as efficacious in the cure of many diseases because its fruit, leaves, petals, or roots bore a resemblance in shape or color to parts or organs of the human body. For example, the distilled juices of certain species of ferns, also the hairy moss growing upon oaks, and the thistledown were said to have the power of growing hair; the *dentaria*, which resembles a tooth in shape, was said to cure the toothache; and the *palma Christi* plant, because of its shape, cured all afflictions of the hands.

The blossom is really the reproductive system of the plant and is therefore singularly appropriate as a symbol of sexual purity--an absolute requisite of the ancient Mysteries. Thus the flower signifies this ideal of beauty and regeneration which must ultimately take the place of lust and degeneracy.

Of all symbolic flowers the locus blossom of India and Egypt and the rose of the Rosicrucians are the most important. In their symbolism these two flowers are considered identical. The esoteric doctrines for which the Eastern lotus stands have been perpetuated in modern Europe under the form of the rose. The rose and the lotus are yonic emblems, signifying primarily the maternal creative mystery, while the Easter lily is considered to be phallic.

The Brahmin and Egyptian initiates, who undoubtedly understood the secret systems of spiritual culture whereby the latent centers of cosmic energy in man may be stimulated, employed the lotus blossoms to represent the spinning vortices of spiritual energy located at various points along the spinal column and called *chakras*, or whirling wheels, by the Hindus. Seven of these *chakras* are of prime importance and have their individual correspondences in the nerve ganglia and plexuses. According to the secret schools, the sacral ganglion is called the four-petaled lotus; the prostatic plexus, the six-petaled lotus; the epigastric plexus and navel, the ten-petaled lotus; the cardiac plexus, the twelve-petaled lotus; the pharyngeal plexus, the sixteen-petaled locus; the cavernous plexus, the two-petaled lotus; and the pineal gland or adjacent unknown center, the thousand-petaled locus. The color, size, and number of petals upon the lotus are the keys to its symbolic import. A hint concerning the unfoldment of spiritual understanding according to the secret science of the Mysteries is found in the story of Aaron's rod that budded, and also in Wagner's great opera, *Tannhäuser*, where the budding staff of the Pope signifies the unfolding blossoms upon the sacred rod of the Mysteries--the spinal column.

*THE TREE OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE.*

*This remarkable example of the use of the tree in symbolism is from the Chateau de Pierrefonds in the little town of Pierrefonds, northern France. The eight side branches end in conventional cup-like flowers, from each of which rises the body of a knight carrying in his hand a ribbon bearing his name. The central stem is surmounted by a larger flower, from which emerges the body of King Arthur himself. The tree is a favorite motif in heraldry. The one trunk with its multitude of branches caused the tree to be frequently used in diagramming family lineage, from which practice has arisen the custom of terming such tables "family trees."*

The Rosicrucians used a garland of roses to signify the same spiritual vortices, which are referred to in the Bible as the seven lamps of the candlestick and the seven churches of Asia. In the 1642 edition of Sir Francis Bacon's *History of Henry the Seventh* is a frontispiece showing Lord Bacon with Rosicrucian roses for shoe buckles.

In the Hindu system of philosophy, each petal of the lotus bears a certain symbol which gives an added clue to the meaning of the flower. The Orientals also used the lotus plant to signify the growth of man through the three periods of human consciousness--ignorance, endeavor, and understanding. As the lotus exists in three elements (earth, water, and air) so man lives in three worlds--material, intellectual, and spiritual. As the plant, with its roots in the mud and the slime, grows upward through the water and finally blossoms forth in the light and air, so the spiritual growth of man is upward from the darkness of base action and desire into the light of truth and understanding, the water serving as a symbol of the ever-changing world of illusion through which the soul must pass in its struggle to reach the state of spiritual illumination. The rose and its Eastern equivalent, the lotus, like all beautiful flowers, represent spiritual unfoldment and attainment: hence, the Eastern deities are often shown seated upon the open petals of the lotus blossoms.

The lotus was also a universal motif in Egyptian art and architecture. The roofs of many temples were upheld by lotus columns, signifying the eternal wisdom; and the lotus-headed scepter--symbolic of self-unfoldment and divine prerogative--was often carried in religious processions. When the flower had nine petals, it was symbolic of man; when twelve, of the universe and the gods; when seven, of the planets and the law; when five, of the senses and the Mysteries; and when three, of the chief deities and the worlds. The heraldic rose of the Middle Ages generally has either five or ten petals thereby showing its relationship to the spiritual mystery of man through the Pythagorean pentad and decad.

**CULTUS ARBORUM**

The worship of trees as proxies of Divinity was prevalent throughout the ancient world. Temples were often built in the heart of sacred groves, and nocturnal ceremonials were conducted under the wide-spreading branches of great trees, fantastically decorated and festooned in honor of their patron deities. In many instances the trees themselves were believed to possess the attributes of divine power and intelligence, and therefore supplications were often addressed to them. The beauty, dignity, massiveness, and strength of oaks, elms, and cedars led to their adoption as symbols of power, integrity, permanence, virility, and divine protection.

Several ancient peoples--notably the Hindus and Scandinavians - regarded the Macrocosm, or Grand Universe, as a divine tree growing from a single seed sown in space. The Greeks, Persians, Chaldeans, and Japanese have legends describing the axle tree or reed upon which the earth revolves. Kapila declares the universe to be the eternal tree, Brahma, which springs from an imperceptible and intangible seed--the material monad. The medieval Qabbalists represented creation as a tree with its roots in the reality of spirit and its branches in the illusion of tangible existence. The Sephirothic tree of the Qabbalah was therefore inverted, with its roots in heaven and its branches upon the earth. Madam Blavatsky notes that the Great Pyramid was considered to be a symbol of this inverted tree, with its root at the apex of the pyramid and its branches diverging in four streams towards the base.

The Scandinavian world-tree, Yggdrasil, supports on its branches nine spheres or worlds,--which the Egyptians symbolized by the nine stamens of the persea or avocado. All of these are enclosed within the mysterious tenth sphere or cosmic egg--the definitionless Cipher of the Mysteries. The Qabbalistic tree of the Jews also consists of nine branches, or worlds, emanating from the First Cause or Crown, which surrounds its emanations as the shell surrounds the egg. The single source of life and the endless diversity of its expression has a perfect analogy in the structure of the tree. The trunk represents the single origin of all diversity; the roots, deeply imbedded in the dark earth, are symbolic of divine nutriment; and its multiplicity of branches spreading from the central trunk represent the infinity of universal effects dependent upon a single cause.

The tree has also been accepted as symbolic of the Microcosm, that is, man. According to the esoteric doctrine, man first exists potentially within the body of the world-tree and later blossoms forth into objective manifestation upon its branches. According to an early Greek Mystery myth, the god Zeus fabricated the third race of men from ash trees. The serpent so often shown wound around the trunk of the tree usually signifies the mind--the power of thought--and is the eternal tempter or urge which leads all rational creatures to the ultimate discovery of reality and thus overthrows the rule of the gods. The serpent hidden in the foliage of the universal tree represents the cosmic mind; and in the human tree, the individualized intellect.

The concept that all life originates from seeds caused grain and various plants to be accepted as emblematic of the human spermatozoon, and the tree was therefore symbolic of organized life unfolding from its primitive germ. The growth of the universe from its primitive seed may be likened to the growth of the mighty oak from the tiny acorn. While the tree is apparently much greater than its own source, nevertheless that source contains potentially every branch, twig, and leaf which will later be objectively unfolded by the processes of growth.

Man's veneration for trees as symbols of the abstract qualities of wisdom and integrity also led him to designate as trees those individuals who possessed these divine qualities to an apparently superhuman degree. Highly illumined philosophers and priests were therefore often referred to as *trees* or *tree men*--for example, the Druids, whose name, according to one interpretation, signifies *the men of the oak trees*, or the initiates of certain Syrian Mysteries who were called *cedars*; in fact it is far more credible and probable that the famous *cedars of Lebanon*, cut down for the building of King Solomon's Temple, were really illumined, initiated sages. The mystic knows that the true supports of God's Glorious House were not the logs subject to decay but the immortal and imperishable intellects of the tree hierophants.

Trees are repeatedly mentioned in the Old and New Testaments, and in the scriptures of various pagan nations. The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil mentioned in Genesis, the burning bush in which the angel appeared to Moses, the famous vine and fig tree of the New Testament, the grove of olives in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus went to pray, and the miraculous tree of Revelation, which bore twelve manners of fruit and whose leaves were for the healing of the nations, all bear witness to the esteem in which trees were held by the scribes of Holy Writ. Buddha received his illumination while under the *bodhi* tree, near Madras in India, and several of the Eastern gods are pictured sitting in meditation beneath the spreading branches of mighty trees. Many of the great sages and saviors carried wands, rods, or staves cut from the wood of sacred trees, as the rods of Moses and Aaron; Gungnir--the spear of Odin--cut from the Tree of Life; and the consecrated rod of Hermes, around which the fighting serpents entwined themselves.

The numerous uses which the ancients made of the tree and its products are factors in its symbolism. Its worship was, to a certain degree, based upon its usefulness. Of this J. P. Lundy writes: "Trees occupy such an important place in the economy of nature by way of attracting and retaining moisture, and shading the water-sources and the soil so as to prevent barrenness and desolation; the), are so useful to man for shade, for fruit, for medicine, for fuel, for building houses and ships, for furniture, for almost every department of life, that it is no wonder that some of the more conspicuous ones, such as the oak, the pine, the palm, and the sycamore, have been made sacred and used for worship." (See *Monumental Christianity*.)

The early Fathers of the church sometimes used the tree to symbolize Christ. They believed that ultimately Christianity would grow up like a mighty oak and overshadow all other faiths of mankind. Because it annually discards its foliage, the tree was also looked upon as an appropriate emblem of resurrection and reincarnation, for though apparently dying each fall it blossomed forth again with renewed verdure each ensuing spring.

Under the appellations of the *Tree of Life* and the *Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil* is concealed the great arcanum of antiquity--the mystery of *equilibrium*. The *Tree of Life* represents the spiritual point of balance--the secret of immortality. The *Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil*, as its name implies, represents polarity, or unbalance--the secret of mortality. The Qabbalists reveal this by assigning the central column of their Sephirothic diagram to the *Tree of Life* and the two side branches to the *Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil*. "Unbalanced forces perish in the void," declares the secret work, and all is made known. The apple represents the knowledge of the procreative processes, by the awakening of which the material universe was established. The allegory of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is a cosmic myth, revealing the methods of universal and individual establishment. The literal story, accepted for so many centuries by an unthinking world, is preposterous, but the creative mystery of which it is the symbol is one of Nature's profoundest verities. The Ophites (serpent worshipers) revered the Edenic snake because it was the cause of individual existence. Though humanity is still wandering in a world of good and evil, it will ultimately attain completion and eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life growing in the midst of the illusionary garden of worldly things. Thus the *Tree of Life* is also the appointed symbol of the Mysteries, and by partaking of its fruit man attains immortality.

The oak, the pine, the ash, the cypress, and the palm are the five trees of greatest symbolic importance. The Father God of the Mysteries was often worshiped under the form of an oak; the Savior God--frequently the World Martyr--in the form of a pine; the world axis and the divine nature in humanity in the form of an ash; the goddesses, or maternal principle, in the form of a cypress; and the positive pole of generation in the form of the inflorescence of the mate date palm.

*THE TREE OF NOAH.*

*From the "Breeches" Bible of 1599.*

*Most Bibles published during the Middle Ages contain a section devoted to genealogical tables showing the descent of humanity from Father Adam to the advent of Jesus Christ. The tree growing from the roof of the Ark represents the body of Noah and its three branches, his sons--Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The nations by the descendents of Noah's three sons are appropriately shown in the circles upon the branches of the tree. While such tables are hopelessly incorrect from a historical point of view, to the symbolist their allegorical interpretations are of inestimable importance.*

The pine cone is a phallic symbol of remote antiquity. The thyrsus of Bacchus--a long wand or staff surmounted by a pine cone or cluster of grapes and entwined with ivy or grape-vine leaves, sometimes ribbons--signifies that the wonders of Nature may only be accomplished by the aid of solar virility, as symbolized by the cone or grapes. In the Phrygian Mysteries, Atys--the ever-present sun-savior--dies under the branches of the pine tree (an allusion to the solar globe at the winter solstice) and for this reason the pine tree was sacred to his cult. This tree was also sacred in the Mysteries of Dionysos and Apollo.

Among the ancient Egyptians and Jews the acacia, or tamarisk, was held in the highest religious esteem; and among modern Masons, branches of acacia, cypress, cedar, or evergreen are still regarded as most significant emblems. The shittim-wood used by the children of Israel in the construction of the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant was a species of acacia. In describing this sacred tree, Albert Pike has written: "The genuine acacia, also, is the thorny tamarisk, the same tree which grew around the body of Osiris. It was a sacred tree among the Arabs, who made of it the idol Al-Uzza, which Mohammed destroyed. It is abundant as a bush in the desert of Thur; and of it the 'crown of thorns' was composed, which was set on the forehead of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a fit type of immortality on account of its tenacity of life; for it has been known, when planted as a door-post, to take root again and shoot out budding boughs above the threshold." (See *Morals and Dogma*.)

It is quite possible that much of the veneration accorded the acacia is due to the peculiar attributes of the *mimosa*, or sensitive plant, with which it was often identified by the ancients. There is a Coptic legend to the effect that the sensitive plant was the first of all trees or shrubs to worship Christ. The rapid growth of the acacia and its beauty have also caused it to be regarded as emblematic of fecundity and generation.

The symbolism of the acacia is susceptible of four distinct interpretations: (1) it is the emblem of the vernal equinox--the annual resurrection of the solar deity; (2) under the form of the sensitive plant which shrinks from human touch, the acacia signifies purity and innocence, as one of the Greek meanings of its name implies; (3) it fittingly typifies human immortality and regeneration, and under the form of the evergreen represents that immortal part of man which survives the destruction of his visible nature; (4) it is the ancient and revered emblem of the Mysteries, and candidates entering the tortuous passageways in which the ceremonials were given carried in their hands branches of these sacred plants or small clusters of sanctified flowers.

Albert G. Mackey calls attention to the fact that each of the ancient Mysteries had its own peculiar plant sacred to the gods or goddesses in whose honor the rituals were celebrated. These sacred plants were later adopted as the symbols of the various degrees in which they were used. Thus, in the Mysteries of Adonis, lettuce was sacred; in the Brahmin and Egyptian rites, the lotus; among the Druids, the mistletoe; and among certain of the Greek Mysteries, the myrtle. (See *Encyclopædia of Freemasonry*.)

As the legend of CHiram Abiff is based upon the ancient Egyptian Mystery ritual of the murder and resurrection of Osiris, it is natural that the sprig of acacia should be preserved as symbolic of the resurrection of CHiram. The chest containing the body of Osiris was washed ashore near Byblos and lodged in the roots of a tamarisk, or acacia, which, growing into a mighty tree, enclosed within its trunk the body of the murdered god. This is undoubtedly the origin of the story that a sprig of acacia marks the grave of CHiram. The mystery of the evergreen marking the grave of the dead sun god is also perpetuated in the Christmas tree.

*THE SUNFLOWER.*

*From Kircher's Magnes sive de Arte Magnetica Opus Tripartitum.*

*The above diagram illustrates a curious experiment in plant magnetism reproduced with several other experiments in Athanasius Kircher's rare volume on magnetism. Several plants were sacred to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Hindus because of the peculiar effect which the sun exerted over them. As it is difficult for man to look upon the face of the sun without being blinded by the light, those plants which turned and deliberately faced the solar orb were considered typical of very highly advanced souls. Since the sun was regarded as the personification of the Supreme Deity, those forms of life over which it exercised marked influence were venerated as being sacred to Divinity. The sunflower, because of its plainly perceptible affinity for the sun, was given high rank among sacred plants.*

The apricot and quince are familiar yonic symbols, while the bunch of grapes and the fig are phallic. The pomegranate is the mystic fruit of the Eleusinian rites; by eating it, Prosperine bound herself to the realms of Pluto. The fruit here signifies the sensuous life which, once tasted, temporarily deprives man of immortality. Also on account of its vast number of seeds the pomegranate was often employed to represent natural fecundity. For the same reason, Jacob Bryant in his *Ancient Mythology* notes that the ancients recognized in this fruit an appropriate emblem of the Ark of the Deluge, which contained the seeds of the new human race. Among the ancient Mysteries the pomegranate was also considered to be a divine symbol of such peculiar significance that its true explanation could not be divulged. It was termed by the Cabiri "the forbidden secret." Many Greek gods and goddesses are depicted holding the fruit or flower of the pomegranate in their hands, evidently to signify that they are givers of life and plenty. Pomegranate capitals were placed upon the pillars of Jachin and Boaz standing in front of King Solomon's Temple; and by the order of Jehovah, pomegranate blossoms were embroidered upon the bottom of the High Priest's ephod.

Strong wine made from the juice of the grape was looked upon as symbolic of the false life and false light of the universe, for it was produced by a false process--artificial fermentation. The rational faculties are clouded by strong drink, and the animal nature, liberated from bondage, controls the individual--facts which necessarily were of the greatest spiritual significance. As the lower nature is the eternal tempter seeking co lead man into excesses which inhibit the spiritual faculties, the grape and its product were used to symbolize the Adversary.

The juice of the grape was thought by the Egyptians to resemble human blood more closely than did any other substance. In fact, they believed that the grape secured its life from the blood of the dead who had been buried in the earth. According to Plutarch, "The priests of the sun at Heliopolis never carry any wine into their temples, ** * and if they made use of it at any time in their libations to the gods, it was not because they looked upon it as in its own nature acceptable to them; but they poured it upon their altars as the blood of those enemies who formerly had fought against them. For they look upon the vine to have first sprung out of the earth after it was fattened with the carcasses of those who fell in the wars against the gods. And this, say they, is the reason why drinking its juice in great quantities makes men mad and beside themselves, filling them as it were with the blood of their own ancestors." (See *Isis and Osiris*.)

Among some cults the state of intoxication was viewed as a condition somewhat akin to ecstasy, for the individual was believed to be possessed by the Universal Spirit of Life, whose chosen vehicle was the vine. In the Mysteries, the grape was often used to symbolize lust and debauchery because of its demoralizing effect upon the emotional nature. The fact was recognized, however, that fermentation was the certain evidence of the presence of the solar fire, hence the grape was accepted as the proper symbol of the Solar Spirit--the giver of divine enthusiasm. In a somewhat similar manner, Christians have accepted wine as the emblem of the blood of Christ, partaking of it in Holy Communion. Christ, the exoteric emblem of the Solar Spirit, said, "I am the vine." He was therefore worshiped with the wine of ecstasy in the same manner as were his pagan prototypes--Bacchus, Dionysos, Arys, and Adonis.

The *mandragora officinarum*, or mandrake, is accredited with possessing the most remarkable magical powers. Its narcotic properties were recognized by the Greeks, who employed it to deaden pain during surgical operations, and it has been identified also with *baaras*, the mystic herb used by the Jews for casting out demons. In the *Jewish Wars*, Josephus describes the method of securing the *baaras*, which he declares emits flashes of lightning and destroys all who seek to touch it, unless they proceed according to certain rules supposedly formulated by King Solomon himself.

The occult properties of the mandrake, while little understood, have been responsible for the adoption of the plant as a talisman capable of increasing the value or quantity of anything with which it was associated. As a phallic charm, the mandrake was considered to be an infallible cure for sterility. It was one of the Priapic symbols which the Knights Templars were accused of worshiping. The root of the plant closely resembles a human body and often bore the outlines of the human head, arms, or legs. This striking similarity between the body of man and the mandragora is one of the puzzles of natural science and is the real basis for the veneration in which this plant was held. In *Isis Unveiled*, Madam Blavatsky notes that the mandragora seems to occupy upon earth the point where the vegetable and animal kingdoms meet, as the zoophites and polypi do in die sea. This thought opens a vast field of speculation concerning the nature of this animal-plant.

According to a popular superstition, the mandrake shrank from being touched and, crying out with a human voice, clung desperately to the soil in which it was imbedded. Anyone who heard its cry while plucking it either immediately died or went mad. To circumvent this tragedy, it was customary to dig around the roots of the mandrake until the plant was thoroughly loosened and then to tie one end of a cord about the stalk and fasten the other end to a dog. The dog, obeying his master's call, thereupon dragged the root from the earth and became the victim of the mandragora curse. When once uprooted, the plant could be handled with immunity.

During the Middle Ages, mandrake charms brought great prices and an art was evolved by which the resemblance between the mandragora root and the human body was considerably accentuated. Like most superstitions, the belief in the peculiar powers of the mandrake was founded upon an ancient secret doctrine concerning the true nature of the plant. "It is slightly narcotic," says Eliphas Levi, "and an aphrodisiacal virtue was ascribed to it by the ancients, who represented it as being sought by Thessalian sorcerers for the composition of philtres. Is this root the umbilical vestige of our terrestrial origin, as a certain magical mysticism has suggested? We dare not affirm it seriously, but it is true all the same that man issued from the slime of earth and his first appearance must have been in the form of a rough sketch. The analogies of Nature compel us to admit the notion, at least as a possibility. The first men were, in this case, a family of gigantic, sensitive mandrogores, animated by the sun, who rooted themselves up from the earth." (See *Transcendental Magic*.)

The homely onion was revered by the Egyptians as a symbol of the universe because its rings and layers represented the concentric planes into which creation was divided according to the Hermetic Mysteries. It was also regarded as possessing great medicinal virtue. Because of peculiar properties resulting from its pungency, the garlic plant was a powerful agent in transcendental magic. To this day no better medium has been found for the treatment of obsession. Vampirism and certain forms of insanity--especially those resulting from mediumship and the influences of elemental larvæ--respond immediately to the use of garlic. In the Middle Ages, its presence in a house was believed to ward off all evil powers.

Trifoliate plants, such as the shamrock, were employed by many religious cults to represent the principle of the Trinity. St. Patrick is supposed to have used the shamrock to illustrate this doctrine of the triune Divinity. The reason for the additional sanctity conferred by a fourth leaf is that the fourth principle of the Trinity is man, and the presence of this leaf therefore signifies the redemption of humanity.

Wreaths were worn during initiation into the Mysteries and the reading of the sacred books to signify that these processes were consecrated to the deities.

*THE TREE OF ALCHEMY.*

*From Musæum Hermeticum Reformatum et Amplificatum.*

*The alchemists were went to symbolize their metals by means of a tree, to indicate that all seven were branches dependent upon the single trunk of solar life. As the Seven Spirits depend upon God and are branches of a tree of which He is the root, trunk, and the spiritual earth from which the root derives its nourishment, so the single trunk of divine life and power nourishes all the multitudinous forms of which the universe is composed.*

*In Gloria Mundi, from which the above illustration is reproduced, there is contained an important thought concerning the plantlike growth of metals: "All trees, herbs, stones, metals, and minerals grow and attain to perfection without being necessarily touched by any human hand: for the seed is raised up from the ground, puts forth flowers, and bears fruit, simply through the agency of natural influences. As it is with plants, so it is with metals. While they lie in the heart of the earth, in their natural ore, they grow and are developed, day by day, through the influence of the four elements: their fire is the splendor of the Sun and Moon; the earth conceives in her womb the splendor of the Sun, and by it the seeds of the metals are well and equally warmed, just like the grain in the fields.   * For as each tree of the field has its own peculiar shape, appearance, and fruit, so each mountain bears its own particular ore; those stones and that earth being the soil in which the metals grow." (See Translation of 1893.)*

On the symbolism of wreaths, Richard Payne Knight writes: "Instead of beads, wreaths of foliage, generally of laurel, olive, myrtle, ivy, or oak, appear upon coins, sometimes encircling the symbolical figures, and sometimes as chaplets upon their heads. All these were sacred to some peculiar personifications of the deity, and significant of some particular attributes, and, in general, all evergreens were Dionysiac planes; that is, symbols of the generative power, signifying perpetuity of youth and vigor, as the circles of beads and diadems signify perpetuity of existence. (See *Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology*.)

## Stones, Metals and Gems

EACH of the four primary elements as taught by the early philosophers has its analogue in the quaternary terrestrial constitution of man. The rocks and earth correspond to the bones and flesh; the water to the various fluids; the air to the gases; and the fire to the bodily heat. Since the bones are the framework that sustains the corporeal structure, they may be regarded as a fitting emblem of the spirit--that divine foundation which supports the composite fabric of mind, soul, and body. To the initiate, the skeleton of death holding in bony fingers the reaper's scythe denotes Saturn (Kronos), the father of the gods, carrying the sickle with which he mutilated Ouranos, his own sire.

In the language of the Mysteries, *the spirits of men are the powdered bones of Saturn*. The latter deity was always worshiped under the symbol of the base or footing, inasmuch as he was considered to be the substructure upholding creation. The myth of Saturn has its historical basis in the fragmentary records preserved by the early Greeks and Phœnicians concerning a king by that name who ruled over the ancient continent of Hyperborea. Polaris, Hyperborea, and Atlantis, because they lie buried beneath the continents and oceans of the modern world, have frequently been symbolized as rocks supporting upon their broad surfaces new lands, races, and empires. According to the Scandinavian Mysteries, the stones and cliffs were formed from the bones of Ymir, the primordial giant of the *seething clay*, while to the Hellenic mystics the rocks were the bones of the Great Mother, Gæa.

After the deluge sent by the gods to destroy mankind at the close of the Iron Age, only Deucalion and Pyrrha were left alive. Entering a ruined sanctuary to pray, they were directed by an oracle to depart from the temple and with heads veiled and garments unbound cast behind them the bones of their mother. Construing the cryptic message of the god to mean that the earth was the Great Mother of all creatures, Deucalion picked up loose rocks and, bidding Pyrrha do likewise, cast them behind him. From these rocks there sprang forth a new and stalwart race of human beings, the rocks thrown by Deucalion becoming men and those thrown by Pyrrha becoming women. In this allegory is epitomized the mystery of human evolution; for spirit, by ensouling matter, becomes that indwelling power which gradually but sequentially raises the mineral to the status of the plant; the plant to the plane of the animal; the animal to the dignity of man; and man to the estate of the gods.

The solar system was organized by forces operating inward from the great ring of the Saturnian sphere; and since the beginnings of all things were under the control of Saturn, the most reasonable inference is that the first forms of worship were dedicated to him and his peculiar symbol--the stone. Thus the intrinsic nature of Saturn is synonymous with that spiritual rock which is the enduring foundation of the Solar Temple, and has its antitypc or lower octave in that terrestrial rock--the planet Earth--which sustains upon its jagged surface the diversified genera of mundane life.

Although its origin is uncertain, litholatry undoubtedly constitutes one of the earliest forms of religious expression. "Throughout all the world, " writes Godfrey Higgins, "the first object of Idolatry seems to have been a plain, unwrought stone, placed in the ground, as an emblem of the generative or procreative powers of nature." (See *The Celtic Druids*.) Remnants of stone worship are distributed over the greater part of the earth's surface, a notable example being the menhirs at Carnac, in Brittany, where several thousand gigantic uncut stones are arranged in eleven orderly rows. Many of these monoliths stand over twenty feet out of the sand in which they are embedded, and it has been calculated that some of the larger ones weigh as much as 250,000 pounds. By some it is believed that certain of the menhirs mark the location of buried treasure, but the most plausible view is that which regards Carnac as a monument to the astronomical knowledge of antiquity. Scattered throughout the British Isles and Europe, these cairns, dolmens, menhirs, and cistvaens stand as mute but eloquent testimonials to the existence and achievements of races now extinct.

Of particular interest are the rocking or logan stones, which evince the mechanical skill of these early peoples. These relics consist of enormous boulders poised upon one or two small points in such a manner that the slightest pressure will sway them, but the greatest effort is not sufficient to overthrow them. These were called *living* stones by the Greeks and Latins, the most famous one being the Gygorian stone in the Strait of Gibraltar. Though so perfectly balanced that it could be moved with the stalk of a daffodil, this rock could not be upset by the combined weight of many men. There is a legend that Hercules raised a rocking stone over the graves of the two sons of Boreas whom he had killed in combat. This stone was so delicately poised that it swayed back and forth with the wind, but no application of force could overturn it. A number of logan stones have been found in Britain, traces of one no longer standing having been discovered in Stonehenge. (See *The Celtic Druids*.) It is interesting to note that the green stones forming the inner ring of Stonehenge are believed to have been brought from Africa.

In many cases the monoliths are without carving or inscription, for they undoubtedly antedate both the use of tools and the art of writing. In some instances the stones have been trued into columns or obelisks, as in the runic monuments and the Hindu *lingams* and *sakti* stones; in other instances they are fashioned into rough likenesses of the human body, as in the Easter Island statues, or into the elaborately sculptured figures of the Central American Indians and the *Khmers* of Cambodia. The first rough-stone images can hardly be considered as effigies of any particular deity but rather as the crude effort of primitive man to portray in the enduring qualities of stone the procreative attributes of abstract Divinity. An instinctive recognition of the stability of Deity has persisted through all the intervening ages between primitive man and modem civilization. Ample proof of the survival of litholatry in the Christian faith is furnished by allusions to the *rock of refuge*, the *rock* upon which the church of Christ was to be founded, the *corner stone* which the builders rejected, Jacob's *stony pillow* which he set up and anointed with oil, the *sling stone* of David, the *rock Moriah* upon which the altar of King Solomon's Temple was erected, the *white stone* of Revelation, and the *Rock of Ages*.

Stones were highly venerated by prehistoric peoples primarily because of their usefulness. Jagged bits of stone were probably man's first weapons; rocky cliffs and crags constituted his first fortifications, and from these vantage points he hurled loose boulders down upon marauders. In caverns or rude huts fashioned from slabs of rock the first humans protected themselves from the rigors of the elements. Stones were set up as markers and monuments to primitive achievement; they were also placed upon the graves of the dead, probably as a precautionary measure to prevent the depredations of wild beasts. During migrations, it was apparently customary for primitive peoples to carry about with them stones taken from their original habitat. As the homeland or birthplace of a race was considered sacred, these stones were emblematic of that universal regard shared by all nations for the place of their geniture. The discovery that fire could be produced by striking together two pieces of stone augmented man's reverence for stones, but ultimately the hitherto unsuspected world of wonders opened by the newly discovered element of fire caused pyrolatry to supplant stone worship. The dark, cold Father--stone--gave birth out of itself to the bright, glowing Son-fire; and the newly born flame, by displacing its parent, became the most impressive and mysterious of all religio-philosophic symbols, widespread and enduring through the ages.

*SATURN SWALLOWING THE STONE SUBSTITUTED FOR JUPITER.*

*From Catrari's Imagini degli Dei degli Antichi.*

*Saturn, having been warned by his parents that one of his own children would dethrone him, devoured each child at birth. At last Rhea, his wife, in order to save Jupiter, her sixth child substituted for him a rock enveloped in swaddling clothes--which Saturn, ignorant of the deception practiced upon him, immediately swallowed. Jupiter was concealed on the island of Crete until he attained manhood, when he forced his father to disgorge the five children he had eaten. The stone swallowed by Saturn in lieu of his youngest son was placed by Jupiter at Delphi, where it was held in great veneration and was daily anointed.*

The *body* of every thing was likened to a rock, trued either into a cube or more ornately chiseled to form a pedestal, while the spirit of everything was likened to the elaborately carved figure surmounting it. Accordingly, altars were erected as a symbol of the lower world, and fires were kept burning upon them to represent that spiritual essence illuminating the body it surmounted. The square is actually one surface of a cube, its corresponding figure in plane geometry, and its proper philosophic symbol. Consequently, when considering the earth as an element and not as a body, the Greeks, Brahmins, and Egyptians always referred to its four corners, although they were fully aware that the planet itself was a sphere.

Because their doctrines were the sure foundation of all knowledge and the first step in the attainment of conscious immortality, the Mysteries were often represented as cubical or pyramidal stones. Conversely, these stones themselves became the emblem of that condition of self-achieved godhood. The unchangeability of the stone made it an appropriate emblem of God--the immovable and unchangeable Source of Existence--and also of the divine sciences--the eternal revelation of Himself to mankind. As the personification of the rational intellect, which is the true foundation of human life, Mercury, or Hermes, was symbolized in a like manner. Square or cylindrical pillars, surmounted by a bearded head of Hermes and called hermæ, were set up in public places. Terminus, a form of Jupiter and god of boundaries and highways, from whose name is derived the modern word *terminal*, was also symbolized by an upright stone, sometimes ornamented with the head of the god, which was placed at the borders of provinces and the intersections of important roads.

The *philosopher's stone* is really the *philosophical stone*, for philosophy is truly likened to a magic jewel whose touch transmutes base substances into priceless gems like itself. Wisdom is the alchemist's *powder of projection* which transforms many thousand times its own weight of gross ignorance into the precious substance of enlightenment.

**THE TABLETS OF THE LAW**

While upon the heights of Mount Sinai, Moses received from Jehovah two tablets bearing the characters of the Decalogue traced by the very finger of Israel's God. These tables were fashioned from the divine sapphire, Schethiyâ, which the Most High, after removing from His own throne, had cast into the Abyss to become the foundation and generator of the worlds. This sacred stone, formed of heavenly dew, was sundered by the breath of God, and upon the two parts were drawn in black fire the figures of the Law. These precious inscriptions, aglow with celestial splendor, were delivered by the Lord on the Sabbath day into the hands of Moses, who was able to read the illumined letters from the reverse side because of the transparency of the great jewel. (See *The Secret Doctrine in Israel* or *The Zohar* for details of this legend.)

The Ten Commandments are the ten shining gems placed by the Holy One in the sapphire sea of Being, and in the depths of matter the reflections of these jewels are seen as the laws governing the sublunary spheres. They are the sacred ten by which the Supreme Deity has stamped His will upon the face of Nature. This same decad was celebrated by the Pythagoreans under the form of the tetractys--that triangle of spermatic points which reveals to the initiated the whole working of the cosmic scheme; for ten is the number of perfection, the key to creation, and the proper symbol of God, man, and the universe.

Because of the idolatry of the Israelites, Moses deemed the people unworthy to receive the sapphire tables; hence he destroyed them, that the Mysteries of Jehovah should not be violated. For the original set Moses substituted two tablets of rough stone into the surface of which he had cut ten ancient letters. While the former tables--partaking of the divinity of the Tree of Life--blazed forth eternal verities, the latter--partaking of the nature of the Tree of Good and Evil--revealed only temporal truths. Thus the ancient tradition of Israel returned again to heaven, leaving only its shadow with the children of the twelve tribes.

One of the two tables of stone delivered by the Lawgiver to his followers stood for the oral, the other for the written traditions upon which the Rabbinical School was founded. Authorities differ widely as to the size and substance of the inferior tables. Some describe them as being so small that they could be held in the hollow of a man's hand; others declare that each table was ten or twelve cubits in length and of enormous weight. A few even deny that the tables were of stone, maintaining that they were of a wood called *sedr*, which, according to the Mohammedans, grows profusely in Paradise.

The two tables signify respectively the superior and the inferior worlds--the paternal and the maternal formative principles. In their undivided state they represent the Cosmic Androgyne. The breaking of the tables signifies obscurely the separation of the superior and the inferior spheres and also the division of the sexes. In the religious processionals of the Greeks and Egyptians an ark or ship was carried which contained stone tablets, cones, and vessels of various shapes emblematic of the procreative processes. The Ark of the Israelites--which was patterned after the sacred chests of the Isiac Mysteries--contained three holy objects, each having an important phallic interpretation: the pot of manna, the rod that budded, and the Tablets of the Law--the first, second, and third Principles of the Creative Triad. The manna, the blossoming staff, and the stone tables are also appropriate images respectively of the Qabbalah, the Mishna, and the written law--the spirit, soul, and body of Judaism. When placed in King Solomon's Everlasting House, the Ark of the Covenant contained only the Tablets of the Law. Does this indicate that even at that early date the secret tradition had been lost and the letter of the revelation alone remained?

As representing the power that fabricated the lower, or Demiurgic, sphere, the tablets of stone were sacred to Jehovah in contradistinction to the tablets of sapphire that signified the potency that established the higher, or celestial, sphere. Without doubt the Mosaic tablets have their prototype in the stone pillars or obelisks placed on either side of the entrance to pagan temples. These columns may pertain to that remote time when men worshiped the Creator through His zodiacal sign of Gemini, the symbol of which is still the phallic pillars of the Celestial Twins. "The Ten Commandments, writes Hargrave Jennings, "are inscribed in two groups of five each, in columnar form. The five to the right (looking from the altar) mean the 'Law'; the five to the left mean the 'Prophets.' The right stone is masculine, the left stone is feminine. They correspond to the two disjoined pillars of stone (or towers) in the front of every cathedral, and of every temple in the heathen times." (See *The Rosicrucians: Their Rites and Mysteries*.) The same author states that the Law is masculine because it was delivered direct from the Deity, while the Prophets, or Gospels, were feminine because born through the nature of man.

The right Tablet of the Law further signifies *Jachin*--the white pillar of light; the left Tablet, *Boaz*--the shadowy pillar of darkness. These were the names of the two pillars cast from brass set up on the porch of King Solomon's Temple. They were eighteen cubits in height and beautifully ornamented with wreaths of chainwork, nets, and pomegranates. On the top of each pillar was a large bowl--now erroneously called a ball or globe--one of the bowls probably containing fire and the other water. The celestial globe (originally the bowl of fire), surmounting the right-hand column (Jachin), symbolized the divine man; the terrestrial globe (the bowl of water), surmounting the left-hand column (Boaz), signified the earthly man. These two pillars respectively connote also the active and the passive expressions of Divine Energy, the sun and the moon, sulphur and salt, good and bad, light and darkness. Between them is the door leading into the House of God, and standing thus at the gates of Sanctuary they are a reminder that Jehovah is both an androgynous and an anthropomorphic deity. As two parallel columns they denote the zodiacal signs of Cancer and Capricorn, which were formerly placed in the chamber of initiation to represent birth and death--the extremes of physical life. They accordingly signify the summer and the winter solstices, now known to Freemasons under the comparatively modern appellation of the "two St. Johns."

*MOSES RECEIVING THE TABLES OF THE LAW.*

*From an old Bible.*

*Moses Maimonides, the great Jewish Philosopher of the twelfth century, in describing the Tables of the Law written by the finger of God, divides all productions into two general orders: products of Nature and products of art. God works through Nature and man through art, he asserts in his Guide for the Perplexed. Thus the Word of the Lord is the hand, or active principle, by which the will of the Creator is traced upon the face of His creation. The Tannaim, or initiates of the Jewish Mystery School, alone possessed a complete understanding of the significance of the Ten Commandments. These laws are esoterically related to the ten degrees of contemplation constituting the Path of Ecstasy, which winds upward through he four worlds and ends in the effulgence of AIN SOPH.*

In the mysterious Sephirothic Tree of the Jews, these two pillars symbolize Mercy and Severity. Standing before the gate of King Solomon's Temple, these columns had the same symbolic import as the obelisks before the sanctuaries of Egypt. When interpreted Qabbalistically, the names of the two pillars mean "In strength shall My House be established. "In the splendor of mental and spiritual illumination, the High Priest stood between the pillars as a mute witness to the perfect virtue of equilibrium--that hypothetical point equidistant from all extremes. He thus personified the divine nature of man in the midst of his compound constitution--the mysterious Pythagorean Monad in the presence of the Duad. On one side towered the stupendous column of the intellect; on the other, the brazen pillar of the flesh. Midway between these two stands the glorified wise man, but he cannot reach this high estate without first suffering upon the cross made by joining these pillars together. The early Jews occasionally represented the two pillars, Jachin and Boaz, as the legs of Jehovah, thereby signifying to the modern philosopher that Wisdom and Love, in their most exalted sense, support the whole order of creation--both mundane and supermundane.

**THE HOLY GRAIL**

Like the sapphire Schethiyâ, the *Lapis Exilis*, crown jewel of the Archangel Lucifer, fell from heaven. Michael, archangel of the sun and the Hidden God of Israel, at the head of the angelic hosts swooped down upon Lucifer and his legions of rebellious spirits. During the conflict, Michael with his flaming sword struck the flashing *Lapis Exilis* from the coronet of his adversary, and the green stone fell through all the celestial rings into the dark and immeasurable Abyss. Out of Lucifer's radiant gem was fashioned the Sangreal, or Holy Grail, from which Christ is said to have drunk at the Last Supper.

Though some controversy exists as to whether the Grail was a cup or a platter, it is generally depicted in art as a chalice of considerable size and unusual beauty. According to the legend, Joseph of Arimathea brought the Grail Cup to the place of the crucifixion and in it caught the blood pouring from the wounds of the dying Nazarene. Later Joseph, who had become custodian of the sacred relics--the Sangreal and the Spear of Longinus--carried them into a distant country. According to one version, his descendants finally placed these relics in Glastonbury Abbey in England; according to another, in a wonderful castle on Mount Salvat, Spain, built by angels in a single night. Under the name of Preston John, Parsifal, the last of the Grail Kings, carried the Holy Cup with him into India, and it disappeared forever from the Western World. Subsequent search for the Sangreal was the motif for much of the knight errantry of the Arthurian legends and the ceremonials of the Round Table. (See the *Morte d'Arthur*.)

No adequate interpretation has ever been given to the Grail Mysteries. Some believe the Knights of the Holy Grail to have been a powerful organization of Christian mystics perpetuating the Ancient Wisdom under the rituals and sacraments of the oracular Cup. The quest for the Holy Grail is the eternal search for truth, and Albert G. Mackey sees in it a variation of the Masonic legend of the Lost Word so long sought by the brethren of the Craft. There is also evidence to support the claim that the story of the Grail is an elaboration of an early pagan Nature myth which has been preserved by reason of the subtle manner in which it was engrafted upon the cult of Christianity. From this particular viewpoint, the Holy Grail is undoubtedly a type of the ark or vessel in which the life of the world is preserved and therefore is significant of the body of the Great Mother--Nature. Its green color relates it to Venus and to the mystery of generation; also to the Islamic faith, whose sacred color is green and whose Sabbath is Friday, the day of Venus.

The Holy Grail is a symbol both of the lower (or irrational) world and of the bodily nature of man, because both are receptacles for the living essences of the superior worlds. Such is the mystery of the redeeming blood which, descending into the condition of death, overcomes the last enemy by ensouling all substance with its own immortality. To the Christian, whose mystic faith especially emphasizes the love element, the Holy Grail typifies the heart in which continually swirls the living water of eternal life. Moreover, to the Christian, the search for the Holy Grail is the search for the real Self which, when found, is the consummation of the *magnum opus*.

The Holy Cup can be discovered only by those who have raised themselves above the limitations of sensuous existence. In his mystic poem, *The Vision of Sir Launfal*, James Russell Lowell discloses the true nature of the Holy Grail by showing that it is visible only to a *certain state of spiritual consciousness*. Only upon returning from the vain pursuit of haughty ambition did the aged and broken knight see in the transformed leper's cup the glowing chalice of his lifelong dream. Some writers trace a similarity between the Grail legend and the stories of the martyred Sun Gods whose blood, descending from heaven into the earth, was caught in the cup of matter and liberated therefrom by the initiatory rites. The Holy Grail may also be the seed pod so frequently employed in the ancient Mysteries as an emblem of germination and resurrection; and if the cuplike shape of the Grail be derived from the flower, it signifies the regeneration and spiritualization of the generative forces in man.

There are many accounts of stone images which, because of the substances entering into their composition and the ceremonials attendant upon their construction, were ensouled by the divinities whom they were created to resemble. To such images were ascribed various human faculties and powers, such as speech, thought, and even motion. While renegade priests doubtless resorted to trickery--an instance of which is related in a curious apocryphal fragment entitled *Bel and the Dragon* and supposedly deleted from the end of the *Book of Daniel*--many of the phenomena recorded in connection with sanctified statues and relics can hardly be explained unless the work of supernatural agencies be admitted.

History records the existence of stones which, when struck, threw all who heard the sound into a state of ecstasy. There were also echoing images which whispered for hours after the room itself had become silent, and musical stones productive of the sweetest harmonies. In recognition of the sanctity which the Greeks and Latins ascribed to stones, they placed their hands upon certain consecrated pillars when taking an oath. In ancient times stones played a part in determining the fate of accused persons, for it was customary for juries to reach their verdicts by dropping pebbles into a bag.

Divination by stones was often resorted to by the Greeks, and Helena is said to have foretold by lithomancy the destruction of Troy. Many popular superstitions about stones survive the so-called Dark Ages. Chief among these is the one concerning the famous black stone in the seat of the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey, which is declared to be the actual rock used by Jacob as a pillow. The black stone also appears several times in religious symbolism. It was called *Heliogabalus*, a word presumably derived from *Elagabal*, the Syro-Phœnician sun god. This stone was sacred to the sun and declared to possess great and diversified properties. The black stone in the Caaba at Mecca is still revered throughout the Mohammedan world. It is said to have been white originally and of such brilliancy that it could be seen many days' journey from Mecca, but as ages passed it became blackened by the tears of pilgrims and the sins of the world.

**THE MAGIC OF METALS AND GEMS**

According to the teachings of the Mysteries, the rays of the celestial bodies, striking the crystallizing influences of the lower world, become the various elements. Partaking of the astral virtues of their source, these elements neutralize certain unbalanced forms of celestial activity and, when properly combined, contribute much to the well-being of man. Little is known today concerning these magical properties, but the modern world may yet find it profitable to consider the findings of the early philosophers who determined these relationships by extensive experimentation. Out of such research arose the practice of identifying the metals with the bones of the various deities. For example, the Egyptians, according to Manetho, considered iron to be the bone of Mars and the lodestone the bone of Horus. By analogy, lead would be the physical skeleton of Saturn, copper of Venus, quicksilver of Mercury, gold of the sun, silver of the moon, and antimony of the earth. It is possible that uranium will prove to be the metal of Uranus and radium to be the metal of Neptune.

*EXAMPLES OF HERMÆ.*

*From Christie's Disquisitions upon the Painted Greek Vases.*

*The Primitive custom of worshiping the gods in the form of heaps of stones gave place to the practice of erecting phallic pillars, or cones, in their honor. These columns differed widely in size and appearance. Some were of gigantic proportions and were richly ornamented with inscriptions or likenesses of the gods and heroes; others--like the votive offerings of the Babylonians--were but a few inches high, without ornament, and merely bore a brief statement of the purpose for which they had been prepared or a hymn to the god of the temple in which they were placed. These small baked clay cones were identical in their symbolic meaning with the large hermæ set up by the roadside and in other public places. Later the upper end of the column was surmounted by a human head. Often two projections, or tenons, corresponding to shoulders were placed, one on either side, to support the wreaths of flowers adorning the columns. Offerings, usually of food, were placed near the hermæ. Occasionally these columns were used to uphold roofs and were numbered among the art objects ornamenting the villas of wealthy Romans.*

The four *Ages* of the Greek mystics--the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age--are metaphoric expressions referring to the four major periods in the life of all things. In the divisions of the day they signify dawn, midday, sunset, and midnight; in the duration of gods, men, and universes, they denote the periods of birth, growth, maturity, and decay. The Greek Ages also bear a close correspondence to the four Yugas of the Hindus: *Krita-Yuga*, *Treta-Yuga*, *Dvapara-Yuga*, and *Kali-Yuga*. Their method of calculation is described by Ullamudeian as follows: "In each of the 12 signs there are 1800 minutes; multiply this number by 12 you have 21600; *e.g.* 1800 X 12=21600. Multiply this 21600 by 80 and it will give 1,728,000, which is the duration of the first age, called *Krita-Yuga*. If the same number be multiplied by 60, it will give 1,296,000, the years of the second age, *Treta-Yuga*. The same number multiplied by 40 gives 864,000, the length of the third age, *Dvapara-Yuga*. The same multiplied by 20 gives 432,000, the fourth age, *Kali-Yuga*." (It will be noted that these multipliers decrease in inverse ratio to the Pythagorean tetractys: 1, 2, 3, and 4.)

H. P. Blavatsky declares that Orpheus taught his followers how to affect a whole audience by means of a lodestone, and that Pythagoras paid particular attention to the color and nature of precious stones. She adds: "The Buddhists assert that the sapphire produces peace of mind, equanimity, and chases all evil thoughts by establishing a healthy circulation in man. So does an electric battery, with its well-directed fluid, say our electricians. 'The sapphire,' say the Buddhists, 'will open barred doors and dwellings (for the spirit of man); it produces a desire for prayer, and brings with it more peace than any other gem; but he who would wear it must lead a pure and holy life."' (See *Isis Unveiled*.)

Mythology abounds with accounts of magical rings and talismanic jewels. In the second book of his *Republic*, Plato describes a ring which, when the collet was turned in ward, rendered its wearer invisible. With this Gyges, the shepherd, secured for himself the throne of Lydia. Josephus also describes magical rings designed by Moses and King Solomon, and Aristotle mentions one which brought love and honor to its possessor. In his chapter dealing with the subject, Henry Cornelius Agrippa not only mentions the same rings, but states, upon the authority of Philostratus Jarchus, that Apollonius of Tyana extended his life to over 20 years with the aid of seven magical rings presented to him by an East Indian prince. Each of these seven rings was set with a gem partaking of the nature of one of the seven ruling planets of the week, and by daily changing the rings Apollonius protected himself against sickness and death by the intervention of the planetary influences. The philosopher also instructed his disciples in the virtues of these talismanic jewels, considering such information to be indispensable to the theurgist. Agrippa describes the preparation of magical rings as follows: "When any Star planet ascends fortunately, with the fortunate aspect or conjunction of the Moon, we must take a stone and herb that is under that Star, and make a ring of the metal that is suitable to this Star, and in it fasten the stone, putting the herb or root under it-not omitting the inscriptions of images, names, and characters, as also the proper suffumigations." (See *Three Books of Occult Philosophy*.)

The ring has long been regarded as the symbol of attainment, perfection, and immortality-the last because the circlet of precious metal had neither beginning nor end. In the Mysteries, rings chased to resemble a serpent with its tail in its mouth were worn by the initiates as material evidence of the position reached by them in the order. Signet rings, engraved with certain secret emblems, were worn by the hierophants, and it was not uncommon for a messenger to prove that he was the official representative of a prince or other dignitary by bringing with his message either an impression from his master's ring or the signet itself. The wedding ring originally was intended to imply that in the nature of the one who wore it the state of equilibrium and completion had been attained. This plain band of gold therefore bore witness of the union of the Higher Self (God) with the lower self (Nature) and the ceremony consummating this indissoluble blending of Divinity and humanity in the one nature of the initiated mystic constituted the *hermetic marriage* of the Mysteries.

In describing the regalia of a magician, Eliphas Levi declares that on Sunday (the day of the sun) he should carry in his right hand a golden wand, set with a ruby or chrysolite; on Monday (the day of the moon) he should wear a collar of three strands consisting of pearls, crystals, and selenites; on Tuesday (the day of Mars) he should carry a wand of magnetized steel and a ring of the same metal set with an amethyst, on Wednesday (the day of Mercury) he should wear a necklace of pearls or glass beads containing mercury, and a ring set with an agate; on Thursday (the day of Jupiter) he should carry a wand of glass or resin and wear a ring set with an emerald or a sapphire; on Friday (the day of Venus) he should carry a wand of polished copper and wear a ring set with a turquoise and a crown or diadem decorated with lapis lazuli and beryl; and on Saturday (the day of Saturn) he should carry a wand ornamented with onyx stone and wear a ring set with onyx and a chain about the neck formed of lead. (See *The Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum*.)

Paracelsus, Agrippa, Kircher, Lilly, and numerous other magicians and astrologers have tabulated the gems and stones corresponding to the various planets and zodiacal signs. The following list has been compiled from their writings. To the sun is assigned the carbuncle, ruby, garnet - especially the pyrope--and other fiery stones, sometimes the diamond; to the moon, the pearl, selenite, and other forms of crystal; to Saturn, the onyx, jasper, topaz, and sometimes the lapis lazuli; to Jupiter, the sapphire, emerald, and marble; to Mars, the amethyst, hyacinth, lodestone, sometimes the diamond; to Venus, the turquoise, beryl, emerald, and sometimes the pearl, alabaster, coral, and carnelian; to Mercury, the chrysolite, agate, and variegated marble.

To the zodiac the same authorities assigned the following gems and stones: To Aries the sardonyx, bloodstone, amethyst, and diamond; to Taurus the carnelian, turquoise, hyacinth, sapphire, moss agate, and emerald; to Gemini the topaz, agate, chrysoprase, crystal, and aquamarine; to Cancer the topaz, chalcedony, black onyx, moonstone, pearl, cat's-eye, crystal, and sometimes the emerald; to Leo the jasper, sardonyx, beryl, ruby, chrysolite, amber, tourmaline, sometimes the diamond; to Virgo the emerald, camelian, jade, chrysolite, and sometimes the pink jasper and hyacinth; to Libra the beryl, sardius, coral, lapis lazuli, opal, and sometimes the diamond; to Scorpio the amethyst, beryl, sardonyx, aquamarine, carbuncle, lodestone, topaz, and malachite; to Sagittarius die hyacinth, topaz, chrysolite, emerald, carbuncle, and turquoise; to Capricorn the chrysoprase, ruby, malachite, black onyx, white onyx, jet, and moonstone; to Aquarius the crystal, sapphire, garnet, zircon, and opal; to Pisces the sapphire, jasper, chrysolite, moonstone, and amethyst

Both the magic mirror and the crystal ball are symbols little understood. Woe to that benighted mortal who accepts literally the stories circulated concerning them! He will discover--often at the cost of sanity and health--that sorcery and philosophy, while often confused, have nothing in common. The Persian Magi carried mirrors as an emblem of the material sphere which reflects Divinity from its every part. The crystal ball, long misused as a medium for the cultivation of psychical powers, is a threefold symbol: (1) it signifies the crystalline *Universal Egg* in whose transparent depths creation exists; (2) it is a proper figure of Deity previous to Its immersion in matter; (3) it signifies the ætheric sphere of the world in whose translucent essences is impressed and preserved the perfect image of all terrestrial activity.

*THE PYTHAGOREAN SIGNET RING.*

*From Cartari's Imagini degli Dei degli Antichi.*

*The number five was peculiarly associated by the Pythagoreans with the art of healing, and the pentagram, or five-pointed star, was to them the symbol of health. The above figure represents a magical ring set with a talismanic gem bearing the pentalpha, or star formed by five different positions of the Greek Alpha. On this subject Mackey writes: "The disciples of Pythagoras, who were indeed its real inventors, placed within each of its interior angles one of the letters of the Greek word ΥΓΕΙΑ, or the Latin one SALUS, both of which signify health; and thus it was made the talisman of health. They placed it at the beginning of their epistles as a greeting to invoke a secure health to their correspondent. But its use was not confined to the disciples of Pythagoras. As a talisman, it was employed all over the East as a charm to resist evil spirits."*

Meteors, or *rocks from heave*n, were considered tokens of divine favor and enshrined as evidence of a pact between the gods and the community in which they fell. Curiously marked or chipped natural stones are occasionally found. In China there is a slab of marble the grain of which forms a perfect likeness of the Chinese dragon. The Oberammergau stone, chipped by Nature into a close resemblance to the popular conception of the face of Christ, is so remarkable that even the crowned heads of Europe requested the privilege of beholding it. Stones of such nature were held in the highest esteem among primitive peoples and even today exert a wide influence upon the religiously-minded.

## Ceremonial Magic and Sorcery

CEREMONIAL magic is the ancient art of invoking and controlling spirits by a scientific application of certain formulæ. A magician, enveloped in sanctified vestments and carrying a wand inscribed with hieroglyphic figures, could by the power vested in certain words and symbols control the invisible inhabitants of the elements and of the astral world. While the elaborate ceremonial magic of antiquity was not necessarily evil, there arose from its perversion several false schools of sorcery, or *black magic*.

Egypt, a great center of learning and the birthplace of many arts and sciences, furnished an ideal environment for transcendental experimentation. Here the black magicians of Atlantis continued to exercise their superhuman powers until they had completely undermined and corrupted the morals of the primitive Mysteries. By establishing a sacerdotal caste they usurped the position formerly occupied by the initiates, and seized the reins of spiritual government. Thus black magic dictated the state religion and paralyzed the intellectual and spiritual activities of the individual by demanding his complete and unhesitating acquiescence in the dogma formulated by the priestcraft. The Pharaoh became a puppet in the hands of the Scarlet Council--a committee of arch-sorcerers elevated to power by the priesthood.

These sorcerers then began the systematic destruction of all keys to the ancient wisdom, so that none might have access to the knowledge necessary to reach adeptship without first becoming one of their order. They mutilated the rituals of the Mysteries while professing to preserve them, so that even though the neophyte passed through the degrees he could not secure the knowledge to which he was entitled. Idolatry was introduced by encouraging the worship of the images which in the beginning the wise had erected solely as symbols for study and meditation. False interpretations were given to the emblems and figures of the Mysteries, and elaborate theologies were created to confuse the minds of their devotees. The masses, deprived of their birthright of understanding and groveling in ignorance, eventually became the abject slaves of the spiritual impostors. Superstition universally prevailed and the black magicians completely dominated national affairs, with the result that humanity still suffers from the sophistries of the priestcrafts of Atlantis and Egypt.

Fully convinced that their Scriptures sanctioned it, numerous medieval Qabbalists devoted their lives to the practice of ceremonial magic. The transcendentalism of the Qabbalists is founded upon the ancient and magical formula of King Solomon, who has long been considered by the Jews as the prince of ceremonial magicians.

Among the Qabbalists of the Middle Ages were a great number of black magicians who strayed from the noble concepts of the *Sepher Yetzirah* and became enmeshed in demonism and witchcraft. They sought to substitute magic mirrors, consecrated daggers, and circles spread around posts of coffin nails, for the living of that virtuous life which, without the assistance of complicated rituals or submundane creatures, unfailingly brings man to the state of true individual completion.

Those who sought to control elemental spirits through ceremonial magic did so largely with the hope of securing from the invisible worlds either rare knowledge or supernatural power. The little red demon of Napoleon Bonaparte and the infamous oracular heads of de Medici are examples of the disastrous results of permitting elemental beings to dictate the course of human procedure. While the learned and godlike dæmon of Socrates seems to have been an exception, this really proves that the intellectual and moral status of the magician has much to do with the type of elemental he is capable of invoking. But even the dæmon of Socrates deserted the philosopher when the sentence of death was passed.

Transcendentalism and all forms of phenomenalistic magic are but blind alleys--outgrowths of Atlantean sorcery; and those who forsake the straight path of philosophy to wander therein almost invariably fall victims to their imprudence. Man, incapable of controlling his own appetites, is not equal to the task of governing the fiery and tempestuous elemental spirits.

Many a magician has lost his life as the result of opening a way whereby submundane creatures could become active participants in his affairs. When Eliphas Levi invoked the spirit of Apollonius of Tyana, what did he hope to accomplish? Is the gratification of curiosity a motive sufficient to warrant the devotion of an entire lifetime to a dangerous and unprofitable pursuit? If the living Apollonius refused to divulge his secrets to the profane, is there any probability that after death he would disclose them to the curious-minded? Levi himself did not dare to assert that the specter which appeared to him was actually the great philosopher, for Levi realized only too well the proclivity of elementals to impersonate those who have passed on. The majority of modern mediumistic apparitions are but elemental creatures masquerading through bodies composed of thought substance supplied by the very persons desiring to behold these wraiths of decarnate beings.

**THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF BLACK MAGIC**

Some understanding of the intricate theory and practice of ceremonial magic may be derived from a brief consideration of its underlying premises.

*First*. The visible universe has an invisible counterpart, the higher planes of which are peopled by good and beautiful spirits; the lower planes, dark and foreboding, are the habitation of evil spirits and demons under the leadership of the Fallen Angel and his ten Princes.

*Second*. By means of the secret processes of ceremonial magic it is possible to contact these invisible creatures and gain their help in some human undertaking. Good spirits willingly lend their assistance to any worthy enterprise, but the evil spirits serve only those who live to pervert and destroy.

*Third*. It is possible to make contracts with spirits whereby the magician becomes for a stipulated time the master of an elemental being.

*Fourth*. True black magic is performed with the aid of a demoniacal spirit, who serves the sorcerer for the length of his earthly life, with the understanding that after death the magician shall become the servant of his own demon. For this reason a black magician will go to inconceivable ends to prolong his physical life, since there is nothing for him beyond the grave.

The most dangerous form of black magic is the scientific perversion of occult power for the gratification of personal desire. Its less complex and more universal form is human selfishness, for selfishness is the fundamental cause of all worldly evil. A man will barter his eternal soul for temporal power, and down through the ages a mysterious process has been evolved which actually enables him to make this exchange. In its various branches the black art includes nearly all forms of ceremonial magic, necromancy, witchcraft, sorcery, and vampirism. Under the same general heading are also included mesmerism and hypnotism, except when used solely for medical purposes, and even then there is an element of risk for all concerned.

Though the demonism of the Middle Ages seems to have disappeared, there is abundant evidence that in many forms of modern thought--especially the so-called "prosperity" psychology, "willpower-building" metaphysics, and systems of "high-pressure" salesmanship--black magic has merely passed through a metamorphosis, and although its name be changed its nature remains the same.

*BAPHOMET, THE GOAT OF MENDES.*

*From Levi's Transcendental Magic.*

*The practice of magic--either white or black--depends upon the ability of the adept to control the universal life force--that which Eliphas Levi calls the great magical agent or the astral light. By the manipulation of this fluidic essence the phenomena of transcendentalism are produced. The famous hermaphroditic Goat of Mendes was a composite creature formulated to symbolize this astral light. It is identical with Baphomet the mystic pantheos of those disciples of ceremonial magic, the Templars, who probably obtained it from the Arabians.*

A well-known magician of the Middle Ages was Dr. Johannes Faustus, more commonly known as Dr. Faust. By a study of magical writings he was enabled to bind to his service an elemental who served him for many years in various capacities. Strange legends are told concerning the magical powers possessed by Dr. Faust. Upon one occasion the philosopher, being apparently in a playful mood, threw his mantle over a number of eggs in a market-woman's basket, causing them to hatch instantly. At another time, having fallen overboard from a small boat, he was picked up and returned to the craft with his clothes still dry. But, like nearly all other magicians, Dr. Faust came at length to disaster; he was found one morning with a knife in his back, and it was commonly believed that his familiar spirit had murdered him. Although Goethe's Dr. Faust is generally regarded as merely a fictional character, this old magician actually lived during the sixteenth century. Dr. Faust wrote a book describing his experiences with spirits, a section of which is reprinted below. (Dr. Faust must not be confused with Johann Fust, the printer.)

**EXTRACT FROM THE BOOK OF DR. FAUST, WITTENBERG, 1524**

(An abridged translation from the original German of a book ordered destroyed.)

"From my youth I followed art and science and was tireless in my reading of books. Among those which came to my hand was a volume containing all kinds of invocations and magical formulæ. In this book I discovered information to the effect that a spirit, whether he be of the fire, the water, the earth or the air, can be compelled to do the will of a magician capable of controlling him. I also discovered that according as one spirit has more power than another, each is adapted for a different operation and each is capable of producing certain supernatural effects.

"After reading this wonderful book, I made several experiments, desiring to rest the accuracy of the statements made therein. At first I had little faith that what was promised would take place. But at the very first invocation which I attempted a mighty spirit manifested to me, desiring to know why I had invoked him. His coming so amazed me that I scarcely knew what to say, but finally asked him if he would serve me in my magical investigations. He replied that if certain conditions were agreed upon he would. The conditions were that I should make a pact with him. This I did not desire to do, but as in my ignorance I had not protected myself with a circle and was actually at the mercy of the spirit, I did not dare to refuse his request and resigned myself to the inevitable, considering it wisest to turn my mantle according to the wind.

"I then told him that if he would be serviceable to me according to my desires and needs for a certain length of time, I would sign myself over to him. After the pact had been arranged, this mighty spirit, whose name was *Asteroth*, introduced me to another spirit by the name of *Marbuel*, who was appointed to be my servant. I questioned*Marbuel*as to his suitability for my needs. I asked him how quick he was, and he answered, 'As swift as the winds.' This did not satisfy me, so I replied, 'You cannot become my servant. Go again whence you have come.' Soon another spirit manifested itself, whose name was *Aniguel*. Upon asking him the same question he answered that he was swift as a bird in the air. I said, 'You are still too slow for me. Go whence you came.' In the same moment another spirit by the name of *Aciel* manifested himself. For the third time I asked my question and he answered, 'I am as swift as human thought.' 'You shall serve me,' I replied. This spirit was faithful for a long time, but to tell you how he served me is not possible in a document of this length and I will here only indicate how spirits are to be invoked and how the circles for protection are to be prepared. There are many kinds of spirits which will permit themselves to be invoked by man and become his servant. Of these I will list a few:

"*Aciel*: The mightiest among those who serve men. He manifests in pleasing human form about three feet high. He must be invoked three times before he will come forth into the circle prepared for him. He will furnish riches and will instantly fetch things from a great distance, according to the will of the magician. He is as swift as human thought.

"*Aniguel*: Serviceable and most useful, and comes in the form of a ten-year-old boy. He must be invoked three times. His special power is to discover treasures and minerals hidden in the ground, which he will furnish to the magician.

"*Marbuel*: A true lord of the mountains and swift as a bird on the wing. He is an opposing and troublesome spirit, hard to control. You must invoke him four times. He appears in the person of Mars a warrior in heavy armor. He will furnish the magician those things which grow above and under the earth. He is particularly the lord of the *spring-root*. The *spring-root* is a mysterious herb, possibly of a reddish color, which medieval magicians asserted had the property of drawing forth or opening anything it touched. If placed against a locked door, it would open the door. The Hermetists believed that the red-capped woodpecker was specially endowed with the faculty of discovering *spring-root*, so they followed this bird to its nest, and then stopped up the hole in the tree where its young were. The red-crested woodpecker went at once in quest of the spring-root, and, discovering it, brought it to the tree. It immediately drew forth the stopper from the entrance to the nest. The magician then secured the root from the bird. It was also asserted that because of its structure, the etheric body of the *spring-root* was utilized as a vehicle of expression by certain elemental spirits which manifested through the proclivity of drawing out or opening things.

"*Aciebel*: A mighty ruler of the sea, controlling things both upon and under the water. He furnishes things lost or sunk in rivers, lakes, and oceans, such as sunken ships and treasures. The more sharply you invoke him, the swifter he is upon his errands.

"*Machiel*: Comes in the form of a beautiful maiden and by her aid the magician is raised to honor and dignity. She makes those she serves worthy and noble, gracious and kindly, and assists in all matters of litigation and justice. She will not come unless invoked twice.

"*Baruel*: The master of all arts. He manifests as a master workman and comes wearing an apron. He can teach a magician more in a moment than all the master workmen of the world combined could accomplish in twenty years. He must be invoked three times.

"These are the spirits most serviceable to man, but there are numerous others which, for lack of space, I am unable to describe. Now, if you desire the aid of the spirit to get this or that, then you must first draw the sign of the spirit whom you desire to invoke. The drawing must be made just in front of a circle made before sunrise, in which you and your assistants will stand. If you desire financial assistance, then you must invoke the spirit *Aciel*. Draw his sign in front of the circle. If you need other things, then draw the sign of the spirit capable of furnishing them. On the place where you intend to make the circle, you must first draw a great cross with a large sword with which no one ever has been hurt. Then you must make three concentric circles. The innermost circle is made of a long narrow strip of virgin parchment and must be hung upon twelve crosses made of the wood of *cross-thorn*.

*A MAGICAL SWORD.*

*From Levi's The Magical Ritual.*

*Eliphas Levi describes the preparation of a magical sword in substance as follows: The steel blade should be forged in the hour of Mars, with new tools. The pommel should be of hollow silver containing quicksilver, and the symbols of Mercury and the moon and the signatures of Gabriel and Samael should be engraved upon it. The hilt should be encased with tin, with the symbol of Jupiter and the signature of Michael engraved upon it. A copper triangle should extend from the hilt along the blade a short distance on each side: these should bear the symbols of Mercury and Venus. Five Sephiroth should be engraved upon the handle, as shown. The blade itself should have the word Malchut upon one side and Quis ut Deus upon the other. The sword should be consecrated on Sunday.*

Upon the parchment you must write the names and symbols according to the figure which follows. Outside this first circle make the second as follows:

"First secure a thread of red silk that has been spun or twisted to the left instead of the right. Then place in the ground twelve crosses made of laurel leaves, and also prepare a long strip of new white paper. Write with an unused pen the characters and symbols as seen on the second circle. Wind this latter strip of paper around with the red silken thread and pin them upon the twelve crosses of laurel leaves. Outside this second circle make a third one which is also of virgin parchment and pinned upon twelve crosses of consecrated palm. When you have made these three circles, retire into them until at last you stand in the center upon a pentagram drawn in the midst of the great cross first drawn. Now, to insure success, do everything according to the description, and when you have read off the sacred invocation pronounce the name of the spirit which you desire to appear. It is essential that you pronounce the name very distinctly. You must also note the day and the hour, for each spirit can only be invoked at certain times."

While the black magician at the time of signing his pact with the elemental demon maybe fully convinced that he is strong enough to control indefinitely the powers placed at his disposal, he is speedily undeceived. Before many years elapse he must turn all his energies to the problem of self-preservation. A world of horrors to which he has attuned himself by his own covetousness looms nearer every day, until he exists upon the edge of a seething maelstrom, expecting momentarily to be sucked down into its turbid depths. Afraid to die--because he will become the servant of his own demon--the magician commits crime after crime to prolong his wretched earthly existence. Realizing that life is maintained by the aid of a mysterious universal life force which is the common property of all creatures, the black magician often becomes an occult vampire, stealing this energy from others. According to medieval superstition, black magicians turned themselves into werewolves and roamed the earth at night, attacking defenseless victims for the life force contained in their blood.

*A MAGIC CIRCLE.*

*From The Complete Book of Magic Science (unpublished).*

*The above figure is a complete and faithful representation of a magic circle as designed by mediæval conjurers for the invocation of spirits. The magician accompanied by his assistant takes his place at the point formed by the crossing of the central lines marked MAGISTER. The words about the circle are the names of the invisible intelligences, and the small crosses mark points at which certain prayers and invocations are recited. The small circle outside is prepared for the spirit to be invoked, and while in use has the signature of the desired intelligence traced within the triangle.*

**MODUS OPERANDI FOR THE INVOCATION OF SPIRITS**

The following condensed extract from an ancient manuscript is reproduced herewith as representative of the ritualism of ceremonial magic. The extract is from *The Complete Book of Magic Science*, an unpublished manuscript (original in the British Museum), with pentacles in colors, mentioned by Francis Barrett in his *Magus*.

"*Opening Prayer*

"Omnipotent and Eternal God who hath ordained the whole creation for thy praise and glory and for the salvation of man, I earnestly beseech thee that thou wouldst send one of thy spirits of the order of Jupiter, one of the messengers of *Zadkiel* whom thou hast appointed governor of thy firmament at the present time, most faithfully, willingly, and readily to show me these things which I shall ask, command or require of him, and truly execute my desires. Nevertheless, O Most Holy God, thy will and not mine be done through JC, thine only begotten Son our Lord. Amen.

"*The Invocation*.

The magician, having properly consecrated his vestments and utensils and being protected by his circle, now calls upon the spirits to appear and accede to his demands.

"Spirits, whose assistance I require, behold the sign and the very Hallowed Names of God full of power. Obey the power of this our pentacle; go out your hidden caves and dark places; cease your hurtful occupations to those unhappy mortals whom without ceasing you torment; come into this place where the Divine Goodness has assembled us; be attentive to our orders and known to our just demands; believe not that your resistance will cause us to abandon our operations. Nothing can dispense with your obeying us. We command you by the Mysterious Names *Elohe Agla Elohim Adonay Gibort*. Amen.

"I call upon thee, Zadkiel, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, blessed Trinity, unspeakable Unity.

"I invoke and intreat thee, Zadkiel, in this hour to attend to the words and conjurations which I shall use this day by the Holy Names of God *Elohe El Elohim Elion Zebaoth Escerehie Iah Adonay Tetragrammaton*.

"I conjure thee, I exorcise thee, thou Spirit *Zadkiel*, by these Holy Names *Hagios O Theos Iscyros Athanatos Paracletus Agla on Alpha et Omega Ioth Aglanbroth Abiel Anathiel Tetragrammaton*: And by all other great and glorious, holy and unspeakable, mysterious, mighty, powerful, incomprehensible Names of God, that you attend unto the words of my mouth, and send unto me *Pabiel* or other of your ministering, serving Spirits, who may show me such things as I shall demand of him in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

"I intreat thee, *Pabiel*, by the whole Spirit of Heaven, Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Witnesses, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels, by the holy, great, and glorious Angels *Orphaniel Tetra-Dagiel Salamla Acimoy pastor poti*, that thou come forthwith, readily show thyself that we may see you and audibly hear you, speak unto us and fulfil our desires, and by your star which is Jupiter, and by all the constellations of Heaven, and by whatsoever you obey, and by your character which you have given, proposed, and confirmed, that you attend unto me according to the prayer and petitions which I have made unto Almighty God, and that you forthwith send me one of your ministering Spirits, who may willingly, truly, and faithfully fulfil all my desires, and that you command him to appear unto me in the form of a beautiful Angel, gently, courteously, affably, and meekly, entering into communication with me, and that he neither permitting any evil Spirit to approach in any sort of hurt, terrify or affright me in any way nor deceiving me in any wise. Through the virtue of Our Lord JC, in whose Name I attend, wait for, and expect thy appearance. Fiat, fiat, fiat. Amen, Amen, Amen.

"*Interrogatories*.

Having summoned the spirit unto his presence, the magician shall question him as follows:

"'Comest thou in peace in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost?' And the spirit shall answer: 'Yes.'

"'Thou art welcome, noble Spirit. What is thy Name?' And the spirit shall answer: '*Pabiel*.'

"'I have called thee in the Name of Jesu of Nazareth at whose Name every knee doth bow in heaven, earth, and hell, and every tongue shall confess there is no name like unto the Name of Jesus, who hath given power unto man to bind and to loose all things in his most Holy Name, yea even unto those that trust in his salvation.

"'Art thou the messenger of Zadkiel?' And the spirit shall answer: 'Yes.'

"'Wilt thou confirm thyself unto me at this time and henceforth reveal all things unto me that I shall desire to know, and teach me how I may increase in wisdom and knowledge and show unto me all the secrets of the Magic Art, and of all liberal sciences, that I may thereby set forth the glory of Almighty God?' And the spirit shall answer: 'Yes.'

"'Then I pray thee give and confirm thy character unto me whereby I may call thee at all times, and also swear unto me this oath and I will religiously keep my vow and covenant unto Almighty God and will courteously receive thee at all times where thou dost appear unto me.'

"*License to Depart*.

"'Forasmuch as thou comest in peace and quietness and hath answered unto my petitions, I give humble and hearty thanks unto Almighty God in whose Name I called and thou camest, and now thou mayest depart in peace unto thine orders and return unto me again at what time soever I shall call thee by thine oath, or by thy name or by thine order, or by thine office which is granted thee from the Creator, and the power of God be with me and thee and upon the whole issue of God, Amen.

"'Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.'

Note. "It would be advisable for the invocant to remain in the circle for a few minutes after reciting the license, and if the place of operation be in the open air, let him destroy all traces of the circle, etcetera, and return quietly to his home. But should the operation be performed in a retired part of a house, cc cetera, the circle may remain, as it might serve in alike future operation, but the room or building must be locked up to avoid the intrusion of strangers."

The agreement set forth above is purely ceremonial magic. In the case of black magic, it is the magician and not the demon who must sign the pact. When the black magician binds an elemental to his service, a battle of wits ensues, which the demon eventually wins. With his own blood the magician signs the pact between himself and the demon, for in the arcanum of magic it is declared that "he controls the soul who controls the blood of another." As long as the magician does not fail, the elemental will fulfil to the letter his obligation under the pact, but the demon will try in every possible way to prevent the magician from carrying out his part of the contract. When the conjurer, ensconced within his circle, has evoked the spirit he desires to control and has made known his intention, the spirit will answer somewhat as follows: "I cannot accede to your request nor fulfil it, unless after fifty years you give yourself to me, body and soul, to do with as I may please."

*THE PENTAGRAM.*

*From Levi's Transcendental Magic.*

*THE PENTAGRAM. The pentagram is the figure of the microcosm--the magical formula of man. It is the one rising out of the four--the human soul rising from the bondage of the animal nature. It is the true light--the "Star of the morning." It marks the location of five mysterious centers of force, the awakening of which is the supreme secret of white magic.*

If the magician refuses, other terms will be discussed. The spirit may say: "I will remain in your service as long as on every Friday morning you will go forth upon the public street giving alms in the name of Lucifer. The first time you fail in this you belong to me."

If the magician still refuses, realizing that the demon will make it impossible for him to fulfil his contract, other terms will be discussed, until at last a pact is agreed upon. It may read as follows: "I hereby promise the Great Spirit Lucifuge, Prince of Demons, that each year I will bring unto him a human soul to do with as it may please him, and in return Lucifuge promises to bestow upon me the treasures of the earth and fulfil my every desire for the length of my natural life. If I fail to bring him each year the offering specified above, then my own soul shall be forfeit to him. Signed . . . . . . . . . . . . . " Invocant signs pact with his own blood.

**THE PENTAGRAM**

In symbolism, an inverted figure always signifies a perverted power. The average person does not even suspect the occult properties of emblematic pentacles. On this subject the great Paracelsus has written: "No doubt many will scoff at the seals, their characters and their uses, which are described in these books, because it seems incredible to them that metals and characters which are dead should have any power and effect. Yet no one has ever proved that the metals and also the characters as we know them are dead, for the salts, sulphur, and quintessences of metals are the highest preservatives of human life and are far superior to all other simples." (Translated from the original German.)

*FORM OF PACT WITH THE SPIRIT OF JUPITER.*

*From The Complete Book of Magic Science.*

*The aforesaid Bond of spirits, together with the seal and character of the planetary angel, must be written m virgin Parchment and laid before the Spirit for signature when he appears; at that time the invocant must not lost confidence but be patient, firm, bold, and Persevering, and take care that he asks nor requires nothing of the Spirit but with a view to the glory of God and the well-being fellow creatures. Having obtained his desires of the Spirit, the invocant may license him to depart."*

The black magician cannot use the symbols of white magic without bringing down upon himself the forces of white magic, which would be fatal to his schemes. He must therefore distort the hierograms so that they typify the occult fact that he himself is distorting the principles for which the symbols stand. Black magic is not a fundamental art; it is the misuse of an art. Therefore it has no symbols of its own. It merely takes the emblematic figures of white magic, and by inverting and reversing them signifies that it is left-handed.

*THE PENTACLES OF THE SEVEN PLANETS AND THE SEALS AND CHARACTERS OF THE PLANETARY ANGELS.*

*From a mediæval Book of Spirits (unpublished).*

*The seven large circle are the planets, while the two small circles under each contain the seal and the character of the controlling intelligence of the planet.*

A good instance of this practice is found in the pentagram, or five-pointed star, made of five connected lines. This figure is the time-honored symbol of the magical arts, and signifies the five properties of the Great Magical Agent, the five senses of man, the five elements of nature, the five extremities of the human body. By means of the pentagram within his own soul, man not only may master and govern all creatures inferior to himself, but may demand consideration at the hands of those superior to himself.

The pentagram is used extensively in black magic, but when so used its form always differs in one of three ways: The star may be broken at one point by not permitting the converging lines to touch; it may be inverted by having one point down and two up; or it may be distorted by having the points of varying lengths. When used in black magic, the pentagram is called the "sign of the cloven hoof," or the footprint of the Devil. The star with two points upward is also called the "Goat of Mendes," because the inverted star is the same shape as a goat's head. When the upright star turns and the upper point falls to the bottom, it signifies the fall of the Morning Star.

## The Elements and Their Inhabitants

FOR the most comprehensive and lucid exposition of occult pneumatology (the branch of philosophy dealing with spiritual substances) extant, mankind is indebted to Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), prince of alchemists and Hermetic philosophers and true possessor of the *Royal Secret* (the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life). Paracelsus believed that each of the four primary elements known to the ancients (earth, fire, air, and water) consisted of a subtle, vaporous principle and a gross corporeal substance.

Air is, therefore, twofold in nature-tangible atmosphere and an intangible, volatile substratum which may be termed *spiritual air*. Fire is visible and invisible, discernible and indiscernible--a spiritual, ethereal flame manifesting through a material, substantial flame. Carrying the analogy further, water consists of a dense fluid and a potential essence of a fluidic nature. Earth has likewise two essential parts--the lower being fixed, terreous, immobile; the higher, rarefied, mobile, and virtual. The general term elements has been applied to the lower, or physical, phases of these four primary principles, and the name elemental essences to their corresponding invisible, spiritual constitutions. Minerals, plants, animals, and men live in a world composed of the gross side of these four elements, and from various combinations of them construct their living organisms.

Henry Drummond, in *Natural Law in the Spiritual World*, describes this process as follows: "If we analyse this material point at which all life starts, we shall find it to consist of a clear structureless, jelly-like substance resembling albumen or white of egg. It is made of Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen. Its name is protoplasm. And it is not only the structural unit with which all living bodies start in life, but with which they are subsequently built up. 'Protoplasm,' says Huxley, 'simple or nucleated, is the formal basis of all life. It is the clay of the Potter.'"

The *water* element of the ancient philosophers has been metamorphosed into the hydrogen of modern science; the *air* has become oxygen; the *fire*, nitrogen; the *earth*, carbon.

Just as visible Nature is populated by an infinite number of living creatures, so, according to Paracelsus, the invisible, spiritual counterpart of visible Nature (composed of the tenuous principles of the visible elements) is inhabited by a host of peculiar beings, to whom he has given the name elementals, and which have later been termed the Nature spirits. Paracelsus divided these people of the elements into four distinct groups, which he called *gnomes*, *undines*, *sylphs*, and *salamanders*. He taught that they were really living entities, many resembling human beings in shape, and inhabiting worlds of their own, unknown to man because his undeveloped senses were incapable of functioning beyond the limitations of the grosser elements.

The civilizations of Greece, Rome, Egypt, China, and India believed implicitly in satyrs, sprites, and goblins. They peopled the sea with mermaids, the rivers and fountains with nymphs, the air with fairies, the fire with Lares and Penates, and the earth with fauns, dryads, and hamadryads. These Nature spirits were held in the highest esteem, and propitiatory offerings were made to them. Occasionally, as the result of atmospheric conditions or the peculiar sensitiveness of the devotee, they became visible. Many authors wrote concerning them in terms which signify that they had actually beheld these inhabitants of Nature's finer realms. A number of authorities are of the opinion that many of the gods worshiped by the pagans were elementals, for some of these *invisibles* were believed to be of commanding stature and magnificent deportment.

The Greeks gave the name *dæmon* to some of these elementals, especially those of the higher orders, and worshiped them. Probably the most famous of these *dæmons* is the mysterious spirit which instructed Socrates, and of whom that great philosopher spoke in the highest terms. Those who have devoted much study to the invisible constitution of man realize that it is quite probable the dæmon of Socrates and the angel of Jakob Böhme were in reality not elementals, but the overshadowing divine natures of these philosophers themselves. In his notes to *Apuleius on the God of Socrates*, Thomas Taylor says:

"As the dæmon of Socrates, therefore, was doubtless one of the highest order, as may be inferred from the intellectual superiority of Socrates to most other men, Apuleius is justified in calling this dæmon a God. And that the dæmon of Socrates indeed was divine, is evident from the testimony of Socrates himself in the First Alcibiades: for in the course of that dialogue he clearly says, 'I have long been of the opinion that the God did not as yet direct me to hold any conversation with you.' And in the Apology he most unequivocally evinces that this dæmon is allotted a divine transcendency, considered as ranking in the order of dæmons."

The idea once held, that the invisible elements surrounding and interpenetrating the earth were peopled with living, intelligent beings, may seem ridiculous to the prosaic mind of today. This doctrine, however, has found favor with some of the greatest intellects of the world. The sylphs of Facius Cardin, the philosopher of Milan; the salamander seen by Benvenuto Cellini; the pan of St. Anthony; and *le petit homme rouge* (the little red man, or gnome) of Napoleon Bonaparte, have found their places in the pages of history.

Literature has also perpetuated the concept of Nature spirits. The mischievous Puck of Shakespeare's *Midsummer Night's Dream*; the elementals of Alexander Pope's Rosicrucian poem, *The Rape of the Lock*, the mysterious creatures of Lord Lytton's *Zanoni*; James Barrie's immortal Tinker Bell; and the famous bowlers that Rip Van Winkle encountered in the Catskill Mountains, are well-known characters to students of literature. The folklore and mythology of all peoples abound in legends concerning these mysterious little figures who haunt old castles, guard treasures in the depths of the earth, and build their homes under the spreading protection of toadstools. Fairies are the delight of childhood, and most children give them up with reluctance. Not so very long ago the greatest minds of the world believed in the existence of fairies, and it is still an open question as to whether Plato, Socrates, and Iamblichus were wrong when they avowed their reality.

Paracelsus, when describing the substances which constitute the bodies of the elementals, divided flesh into two kinds, the first being that which we have all inherited through Adam. This is the visible, corporeal flesh. The second was that flesh which had not descended from Adam and, being more attenuated, was not subject to the limitations of the former. The bodies of the elementals were composed of this transubstantial flesh. Paracelsus stated that there is as much difference between the bodies of men and the bodies of the Nature spirits as there is between matter and spirit.

"Yet," he adds, "the Elementals are not spirits, because they have flesh, blood and bones; they live and propagate offspring; they cat and talk, act and sleep, &c., and consequently they cannot be properly called 'spirits.' They are beings occupying a place between men and spirits, resembling men and spirits, resembling men and women in their organization and form, and resembling spirits in the rapidity of their locomotion." (*Philosophia Occulta*, translated by Franz Hartmann.) Later the same author calls these creatures *composita*, inasmuch as the substance out of which they are composed seems to be a composite of spirit and matter. He uses color to explain the idea. Thus, the mixture of blue and red gives purple, a new color, resembling neither of the others yet composed of both. Such is the case with the Nature spirits; they resemble neither spiritual creatures nor material beings, yet are composed of the substance which we may call *spiritual matter*, or ether.

*A SALAMANDER, ACCORDING TO PARACELSUS.*

*From Paracelsus' Auslegung von 30 magischen Figuren.*

*The Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Persians often mistook the salamanders for gods, because of their radiant splendor and great power. The Greeks, following the example of earlier nations, deified the fire spirits and in their honor kept incense and altar fire, burning perpetually.*

Paracelsus further adds that whereas man is composed of several natures (spirit, soul, mind, and body) combined in one unit, the elemental has but one *principle*, the ether out of which it is composed and in which it lives. The reader must remember that by *ether* is meant the spiritual essence of one of the four elements. There areas many ethers as there are elements and as many distinct families of Nature spirits as there are ethers. These families are completely isolated in their own ether and have no intercourse with the denizens of the other ethers; but, as man has within his own nature centers of consciousness sensitive to the impulses of all the four ethers, it is possible for any of the elemental kingdoms to communicate with him under proper conditions.

The Nature spirits cannot be destroyed by the grosser elements, such as material fire, earth, air, or water, for they function in a rate of vibration higher than that of earthy substances. Being composed of only one element or principle (the ether in which they function), they have no immortal spirit and at death merely disintegrate back into the element from which they were originally individualized. No individual consciousness is preserved after death, for there is no superior vehicle present to contain it. Being made of but one substance, there is no friction between vehicles: thus there is little wear or tear incurred by their bodily functions, and they therefore live to great age. Those composed of earth ether are the shortest lived; those composed of air ether, the longest. The average length of life is between three hundred and a thousand years. Paracelsus maintained that they live in conditions similar to our earth environments, and are somewhat subject to disease. These creatures are thought to be incapable of spiritual development, but most of them are of a high moral character.

Concerning the elemental ethers in which the Nature spirits exist, Paracelsus wrote: "They live in the four elements: the Nymphæ in the element of water, the Sylphes in that of the air, the Pigmies in the earth, and the Salamanders in fire. They are also called Undinæ, Sylvestres, Gnomi, Vulcani, &c. Each species moves only in the element to which it belongs, and neither of them can go out of its appropriate element, which is to them as the air is to us, or the water to fishes; and none of them can live in the element belonging to another class. To each elemental being the element in which it lives is transparent, invisible and respirable, as the atmosphere is to ourselves." (*Philosophia Occulta*, translated by Franz Hartmann.)

The reader should be careful not to confuse the Nature spirits with the true life waves evolving through the invisible worlds. While the elementals are composed of only one etheric (or atomic) essence, the angels, archangels, and other superior, transcendental entities have composite organisms, consisting of a spiritual nature and a chain of vehicles to express that nature not unlike those of men, but not including the physical body with its attendant limitations.

To the philosophy of Nature spirits is generally attributed an Eastern origin, probably Brahmanic; and Paracelsus secured his knowledge of them from Oriental sages with whom he came in contact during his lifetime of philosophical wanderings. The Egyptians and Greeks gleaned their information from the same source. The four main divisions of Nature spirits must now be considered separately, according to the teachings of Paracelsus and the Abbé de Villars and such scanty writings of other authors as are available.

**THE GNOMES**

The elementals who dwell in that attenuated body of the earth which is called the terreous ether are grouped together under the general heading of *gnomes*. (The name is probably derived from the Greek *genomus*, meaning earth dweller. See *New English Dictionary*.)

Just as there are many types of human beings evolving through the objective physical elements of Nature, so there are many types of gnomes evolving through the subjective ethereal body of Nature. These earth spirits work in an element so close in vibratory rate to the material earth that they have immense power over its rocks and flora, and also over the mineral elements in the animal and human kingdoms. Some, like the pygmies, work with the stones, gems, and metals, and are supposed to be the guardians of hidden treasures. They live in caves, far down in what the Scandinavians called the Land of the Nibelungen. In Wagner's wonderful opera cycle, *The Ring of the Nibelungen*, Alberich makes himself King of the Pygmies and forces these little creatures to gather for him the treasures concealed beneath the surface of the earth.

Besides the pygmies there are other gnomes, who are called tree and forest sprites. To this group belong the sylvestres, satyrs, pans, dryads, hamadryads, durdalis, elves, brownies, and little old men of the woods. Paracelsus states that the gnomes build houses of substances resembling in their constituencies alabaster, marble, and cement, but the true nature of these materials is unknown, having no counterpart in physical nature. Some families of gnomes gather in communities, while others are indigenous to the substances with and in which they work. For example, the hamadryads live and die with the plants or trees of which they are a part. Every shrub and flower is said to have its own Nature spirit, which often uses the physical body of the plant as its habitation. The ancient philosophers, recognizing the principle of intelligence manifesting itself in every department of Nature alike, believed that the quality of natural selection exhibited by creatures not possessing organized mentalities expressed in reality the decisions of the Nature spirits themselves.

C. M. Gayley, in *The Classic Myths*, says: "It was a pleasing trait in the old paganism that it loved to trace in every operation of nature the agency of deity. The imagination of the Greeks peopled the regions of earth and sea with divinities, to whose agency it attributed the phenomena that our philosophy ascribes to the operation of natural law." Thus, in behalf of the plant it worked with, the elemental accepted and rejected food elements, deposited coloring matter therein, preserved and protected the seed, and performed many other beneficent offices. Each species was served by a different but appropriate type of Nature spirit. Those working with poisonous shrubs, for example, were offensive in their appearance. It is said the Nature spirits of poison hemlock resemble closely tiny human skeletons, thinly covered with a semi-transparent flesh. They live in and through the hemlock, and if it be cut down remain with the broken shoots until both die, but while there is the slightest evidence of life in the shrub it shows the presence of the elemental guardian.

Great trees also have their Nature spirits, but these are much larger than the elementals of smaller plants. The labors of the pygmies include the cutting of the crystals in the rocks and the development of veins of ore. When the gnomes are laboring with animals or human beings, their work is confined to the tissues corresponding with their own natures. Hence they work with the bones, which belong to the mineral kingdom, and the ancients believed the reconstruction of broken members to be impossible without the cooperation of the elementals.

The gnomes are of various sizes--most of them much smaller than human beings, though some of them have the power of changing their stature at will. This is the result of the extreme mobility of the element in which they function. Concerning them the Abbé de Villars wrote: "The earth is filled well nigh to its center with Gnomes, people of slight stature, who are the guardians of treasures, minerals and precious stones. They are ingenious, friends of man, and easy to govern."

Not all authorities agree concerning the amiable disposition of the gnomes. Many state that they are of a tricky and malicious nature, difficult to manage, and treacherous. Writers agree, however, that when their confidence is won they are faithful and true. The philosophers and initiates of the ancient world were instructed concerning these mysterious little people and were taught how to communicate with them and gain their cooperation in undertakings of importance. The magi were always warned, however, never to betray the trust of the elementals, for if they did, the invisible creatures, working through the subjective nature of man, could cause them endless sorrow and probably ultimate destruction. So long as the mystic served others, the gnomes would serve him, but if he sought to use their aid selfishly to gain temporal power they would turn upon him with unrelenting fury. The same was true if he sought to deceive them.

The earth spirits meet at certain times of the year in great conclaves, as Shakespeare suggests in his Midsummer Night's Dream, where the elementals all gather to rejoice in the beauty and harmony of Nature and the prospects of an excellent harvest. The gnomes are ruled over by a king, whom they greatly love and revere. His name is *Gob*; hence his subjects are often called goblins. Mediæval mystics gave a corner of creation (one of the cardinal points) to each of the four kingdoms of Nature spirits, and because of their earthy character the gnomes were assigned to the North--the place recognized by the ancients as the source of darkness and death. One of the four main divisions of human disposition was also assigned to the gnomes, and because so many of them dwelt in the darkness of caves and the gloom of forests their temperament was said to be melancholy, gloomy, and despondent. By this it is not meant that they themselves are of such disposition, but rather that they have special control over elements of similar consistency.

The gnomes marry and have families, and the female gnomes are called *gnomides*. Some wear clothing woven of the element in which they live. In other instances their garments are part of themselves and grow with them, like the fur of animals. The gnomes are said to have insatiable appetites, and to spend a great part of the rime eating, but they earn their food by diligent and conscientious labor. Most of them are of a miserly temperament, fond of storing things away in secret places. There is abundant evidence of the fact that small children often see the gnomes, inasmuch as their contact with the material side of Nature is not yet complete and they still function more or less consciously in the invisible worlds.

According to Paracelsus, "Man lives in the exterior elements and the Elementals live in the interior elements. The latter have dwellings and clothing, manners and customs, languages and governments of their own, in the same sense as the bees have their queens and herds of animals their leaders." (*Philosophia Occulta*, translated by Franz Hartmann.)

Paracelsus differs somewhat from the Greek mystics concerning the environmental limitations imposed on the Nature spirits. The Swiss philosopher constitutes them of subtle invisible ethers. According to this hypothesis they would be visible only at certain times and only to those *en rapport* with their ethereal vibrations. The Greeks, on the other hand, apparently believed that many Nature spirits had material constitutions capable of functioning in the physical world. Often the recollection of a dream is so vivid that, upon awakening, a person actually believes that he has passed through a physical experience. The difficulty of accurately judging as to the end of physical sight and the beginning of ethereal vision may account for these differences of opinion.

*CONVENTIONAL GNOMES.*

*From Gjellerup's Den Ældre Eddas Gudesange.*

*The type of gnome most frequently seen is the brownie, or elf, a mischievous and grotesque little creature from twelve to eighteen inches high, usually dressed in green or russet brown. Most of them appear as very aged, often with long white beards, and their figures are inclined to rotundity. They can be seen scampering out of holes in the stumps of trees and sometimes they vanish by actually dissolving into the tree itself.*

Even this explanation, however, does not satisfactorily account for the satyr which, according to St. Jerome, was captured alive during the reign of Constantine and exhibited to the people. It was of human form with the horns and feet of a goat. After its death it was preserved in salt and taken to the Emperor that he might testify to its reality. (It is within the bounds of probability that this curiosity was what modern science knows as a *monstrosity*.)

**THE UNDINES**

As the gnomes were limited in their function to the elements of the earth, so the undines (a name given to the family of water elementals) function in the invisible, spiritual essence called humid (or liquid) ether. In its vibratory rate this is close to the element water, and so the undines are able to control, to a great degree, the course and function of this fluid in Nature. Beauty seems to be the keynote of the water spirits. Wherever we find them pictured in art or sculpture, they abound in symmetry and grace. Controlling the water element--which has always been a feminine symbol--it is natural that the water spirits should most often be symbolized as female.

There are many groups of undines. Some inhabit waterfalls, where they can be seen in the spray; others are indigenous to swiftly moving rivers; some have their habitat in dripping, oozing fens or marshes; while other groups dwell in clear mountain lakes. According to the philosophers of antiquity, every fountain had its nymph; every ocean wave its oceanid. The water spirits were known under such names as oreades, nereides, limoniades, naiades, water sprites, sea maids, mermaids, and potamides. Often the water nymphs derived their names from the streams, lakes, or seas in which they dwelt.

In describing them, the ancients agreed on certain salient features. In general, nearly all the undines closely resembled human beings in appearance and size, though the ones inhabiting small streams and fountains were of correspondingly lesser proportions. It was believed that these water spirits were occasionally capable of assuming the appearance of normal human beings and actually associating with men and women. There are many legends about these spirits and their adoption by the families of fishermen, but in nearly every case the undines heard the call of the waters and returned to the realm of Neptune, the King of the Sea.

Practically nothing is known concerning the male undines. The water spirits did not establish homes in the same way that the gnomes did, but lived in coral caves under the ocean or among the reeds growing on the banks of rivers or the shores of lakes. Among the Celts there is a legend to the effect that Ireland was peopled, before the coming of its present inhabitants, by a strange race of semi-divine creatures; with the coming of the modem Celts they retired into the marshes and fens, where they remain even to this day. Diminutive undines lived under lily pads and in little houses of moss sprayed by waterfalls. The undines worked with the vital essences and liquids in plants, animals, and human beings, and were present in everything containing water. When seen, the undines generally resembled the goddesses of Greek statuary. They rose from the water draped in mist and could not exist very long apart from it.

There are many families of undines, each with its peculiar limitations, it is impossible to consider them here in detail. Their ruler, *Necksa*, they love and honor, and serve untiringly. Their temperament is said to be vital, and to them has been given as their throne the western corner of creation. They are rather emotional beings, friendly to human life and fond of serving mankind. They are sometimes pictured riding on dolphins or other great fish and seem to have a special love of flowers and plants, which they serve almost as devotedly and intelligently as the gnomes. Ancient poets have said that the songs of the undines were heard in the West Wind and that their lives were consecrated to the beautifying of the material earth.

**THE SALAMANDERS**

The third group of elementals is the salamanders, or spirits of fire, who live in that attenuated, spiritual ether which is the invisible fire element of Nature. Without them material fire cannot exist; a match cannot be struck nor will flint and steel give off their spark without the assistance of a salamander, who immediately appears (so the medieval mystics believed), evoked by friction. Man is unable to communicate successfully with the salamanders, owing to the fiery element in which they dwell, for everything is resolved to ashes that comes into their presence. By specially prepared compounds of herbs and perfumes the philosophers of the ancient world manufactured many kinds of incense. When incense was burned, the vapors which arose were especially suitable as a medium for the expression of these elementals, who, by borrowing the ethereal effluvium from the incense smoke, were able to make their presence felt.

The salamanders are as varied in their grouping and arrangement as either the undines or the gnomes. There are many families of them, differing in appearance, size, and dignity. Sometimes the salamanders were visible as small balls of light. Paracelsus says: "Salamanders have been seen in the shapes of fiery balls, or tongues of fire, running over the fields or peering in houses." (*Philosophia Occulta*, translated by Franz Hartmann.)

Mediæval investigators of the Nature spirits were of the opinion that the most common form of salamander was lizard-like in shape, a foot or more in length, and visible as a glowing Urodela, twisting and crawling in the midst of the fire. Another group was described as huge flaming giants in flowing robes, protected with sheets of fiery armor. Certain medieval authorities, among them the Abbé de Villars, held that Zarathustra (Zoroaster) was the son of Vesta (believed to have been the wife of Noah) and the great salamander Oromasis. Hence, from that time onward, undying fires have been maintained upon the Persian altars in honor of Zarathustra's flaming father.

One most important subdivision of the salamanders was the Acthnici. These creatures appeared only as indistinct globes. They were supposed to float over water at night and occasionally to appear as forks of flame on the masts and rigging of ships (St. Elmo's fire). The salamanders were the strongest and most powerful of the elementals, and had as their ruler a magnificent flaming spirit called *Djin*, terrible and awe-inspiring in appearance. The salamanders were dangerous and the sages were warned to keep away from them, as the benefits derived from studying them were often not commensurate with the price paid. As the ancients associated heat with the South, this corner of creation was assigned to the salamanders as their drone, and they exerted special influence over all beings of fiery or tempestuous temperament. In both animals and men, the salamanders work through the emotional nature by means of the body heat, the liver, and the blood stream. Without their assistance there would be no warmth.

**THE SYLPHS**

While the sages said that the fourth class of elementals, or sylphs, lived in the element of air, they meant by this not the natural atmosphere of the earth, but the invisible, intangible, spiritual medium--an ethereal substance similar in composition to our atmosphere, but far more subtle. In the last: discourse of Socrates, as preserved by Plato in his *Phædo*, the condemned philosopher says:

"And upon the earth are animals and men, some in a middle region, others (elementals dwelling about the air as we dwell about the sea; others in islands which the air flows round, near the continent; and in a word, the air is used by them as the water and the sea are by us, and the ether is to them what the air is to us. More over, the temperament of their seasons is such that they have no disease Paracelsus disputes this, and live much longer than we do, and have sight and bearing and smell, and all the other senses, in far greater perfection, in the same degree that air is purer than water or the ether than air. Also they have temples and sacred places in which the gods really dwell, and they hear their voices and receive their answers, and are conscious of them and hold converse with them, and they see the sun, moon, and stars as they really are, and their other blessedness is of a piece with this." While the sylphs were believed to live among the clouds and in the surrounding air, their true home was upon the tops of mountains.

In his editorial notes to the *Occult Sciences* of Salverte, Anthony Todd Thomson says: "The Fayes and Fairies are evidently of Scandinavian origin, although the name of Fairy is supposed to be derived from, or rather is a modification of the Persian Peri, an imaginary benevolent being, whose province it was to guard men from the maledictions of evil spirits; but with more probability it may be referred to the Gothic Fagur, as the term Elves is from Alfa, the general appellation for the whole tribe. If this derivation of the name of Fairy be admitted, we may date the commencement of the popular belief in British Fairies to the period of the Danish conquest. They were supposed to be diminutive aerial beings, beautiful, lively, and beneficent in their intercourse with mortals, inhabiting a region called Fairy Land, Alf-heinner; commonly appearing on earth at intervals--when they left traces of their visits, in beautiful green-rings, where the dewy sward had been trodden in their moonlight dances."

To the sylphs the ancients gave the labor of modeling the snowflakes and gathering clouds. This latter they accomplished with the cooperation of the undines who supplied the moisture. The winds were their particular vehicle and the ancients referred to them as the spirits of the air. They are the highest of all the elementals, their native element being the highest in vibratory rate. They live hundreds of years, often attaining to a thousand years and never seeming to grow old. The leader of the sylphs is called *Paralda*, who is said to dwell on the highest mountain of the earth. The female sylphs were called *sylphids*.

*A MERMAID.*

*From Lycosthenes' Prodigiorum ac Ostentorum Chronicon.*

*Probably the most famous of the undines were the mythological mermaids, with which early mariners peopled the Seven Seas. Belief in the existence of these creatures, the upper half of their bodies human in form and the lower half fishlike, may have been inspired by flocks of penguins seen at great distance, or possibly seals. In mediæval descriptions of mermaids, it was also stated that their hair was green like seaweed and that they wore wreaths twisted from the blossoms of subaqueous plants and sea anemones.*

It is believed that the sylphs, salamanders, and nymphs had much to do with the oracles of the ancients; that in fact they were the ones who spoke from the depths of the earth and from the air above.

The sylphs sometimes assume human form, but apparently for only short periods of time. Their size varies, but in the majority of cases they are no larger than human beings and often considerably smaller. It is said that the sylphs have accepted human beings into their communities and have permitted them to live there for a considerable period; in fact, Paracelsus wrote of such an incident, but of course it could not have occurred while the human stranger was in his physical body. By some, the Muses of the Greeks are believed to have been sylphs, for these spirits are said to gather around the mind of the dreamer, the poet, and the artist, and inspire him with their intimate knowledge of the beauties and workings of Nature. To the sylphs were given the eastern corner of creation. Their temperament is mirthful, changeable, and eccentric. The peculiar qualities common to men of genius are supposedly the result of the cooperation of sylphs, whose aid also brings with it the sylphic inconsistency. The sylphs labor with the gases of the human body and indirectly with the nervous system, where their inconstancy is again apparent. They have no fixed domicile, but wander about from place to place--elemental nomads, invisible but ever-present powers in the intelligent activity of the universe.

**GENERAL OBSERVATIONS**

Certain of the ancients, differing with Paracelsus, shared the opinion that the elemental kingdoms were capable of waging war upon one another, and they recognized in the battlings of the elements disagreements among these kingdoms of Nature spirits. When lightning struck a rock and splintered it, they believed that the salamanders were attacking the gnomes. As they could not attack one another on the plane of their own peculiar etheric essences, owing to the fact that there was no vibratory correspondence between the four ethers of which these kingdoms are composed, they had to attack through a common denominator, namely, the material substance of the physical universe over which they had a certain amount of power.

Wars were also fought within the groups themselves; one army of gnomes would attack another army, and civil war would be rife among them. Philosophers of long ago solved the problems of Nature's apparent inconsistencies by individualizing and personifying all its forces, crediting them with having temperaments not unlike the human and then expecting them to exhibit typical human inconsistencies. The four fixed signs of the zodiac were assigned to the four kingdoms of elementals. The gnomes were said to be of the nature of Taurus; the undines, of the nature of Scorpio; the salamanders exemplified the constitution of Leo; while the sylphs manipulated the emanations of Aquarius.

The Christian Church gathered all the elemental entities together under the title of *demon*. This is a misnomer with far-reaching consequences, for to the average mind the word demon means an evil thing, and the Nature spirits are essentially no more malevolent than are the minerals, plants, and animals. Many of the early Church Fathers asserted that they had met and debated with the elementals.

As already stated, the Nature spirits are without hope of immortality, although some philosophers have maintained that in isolated cases immortality was conferred upon them by adepts and initiates who understood certain subtle principles of the invisible world. As disintegration takes place in the physical world, so it takes place in the ethereal counterpart of physical substance. Under normal conditions at death, a Nature spirit is merely resolved back into the transparent primary essence from which it was originally individualized. Whatever evolutionary growth is made is recorded solely in the consciousness of that primary essence, or element, and not in the temporarily individualized entity of the elemental. Being without man's compound organism and lacking his spiritual and intellectual vehicles, the Nature spirits are subhuman in their rational intelligence, but from their functions--limited to one element--has resulted a specialized type of intelligence far ahead of man in those lines of research peculiar to the element in which they exist.

The terms *incubus* and *succubus* have been applied indiscriminately by the Church Fathers to elementals. The incubus and succubus, however, are evil and unnatural creations, whereas *elementals* is a collective term for all the inhabitants of the four elemental essences.

*A SYLPH.*

*From sketch by Howard Wookey.*

*The sylphs were changeable entities, passing to and fro with the rapidity of lightning. They work through the gases and ethers of the earth and are kindly disposed toward human beings. They are nearly always represented as winged, sometimes as tiny cherubs and at other times as delicate fairies.*

According to Paracelsus, the incubus and succubus (which are male and female respectively) are parasitical creatures subsisting upon the evil thoughts and emotions of the astral body. These terms are also applied to the superphysical organisms of sorcerers and black magicians. While these *larvæ* are in no sense imaginary beings, they are, nevertheless, the offspring of the imagination. By the ancient sages they were recognized as the invisible cause of vice because they hover in the ethers surrounding the morally weak and continually incite them to excesses of a degrading nature. For this reason they frequent the atmosphere of the dope den, the dive, and the brothel, where they attach themselves to those unfortunates who have given themselves up to iniquity. By permitting his senses to become deadened through indulgence in habit-forming drugs or alcoholic stimulants, the individual becomes temporarily *en rapport* with these denizens of the astral plane. The *houris* seen by the hasheesh or opium addict and the lurid monsters which torment the victim of delirium tremens are examples of submundane beings, visible only to those whose evil practices are the magnet for their attraction.

Differing widely from the elementals and also the incubus and succubus is the vampire, which is defined by Paracelsus as the astral body of a person either living or dead (usually the latter state). The vampire seeks to prolong existence upon the physical plane by robbing the living of their vital energies and misappropriating such energies to its own ends.

In his *De Ente Spirituali* Paracelsus writes thus of these malignant beings: "A healthy and pure person cannot become obsessed by them, because such Larvæ can only act upon men if the later make room for them in their minds. A healthy mind is a castle that cannot be invaded without the will of its master; but if they are allowed to enter, they excite the passions of men and women, they create cravings in them, they produce bad thoughts which act injuriously upon the brain; they sharpen the animal intellect and suffocate the moral sense. Evil spirits obsess only those human beings in whom the animal nature is predominating. Minds that are illuminated by the spirit of truth cannot be possessed; only those who are habitually guided by their own lower impulses may become subjected to their influences." (See *Paracelsus*, by Franz Hartmann.)

A strange concept, and one somewhat at variance with the conventional, is that evolved by the Count de Gabalis concerning the *immaculate conception*, namely, that it represents the union of a human being with an elemental. Among the offspring of such unions he lists Hercules, Achilles, Æneas, Theseus, Melchizedek, the divine Plato, Apollonius of Tyana, and Merlin the Magician.

## Hermetic Pharmacology, Chemistry, and Therapeutics

THE art of healing was originally one of the secret sciences of the priestcraft, and the mystery of its source is obscured by the same veil which hides the genesis of religious belief. All higher forms of knowledge were originally in the possession of the sacerdotal castes. The temple was the cradle of civilization. The priests, exercising their divine prerogative, made the laws and enforced them; appointed the rulers and controlled than; ministered to the needs of the living, and guided the destinies of the dead. All branches of learning were monopolized by the priesthood, who admitted into their ranks only those intellectually and morally qualified to perpetuate their arcanum. The following quotation from Plato's *Statesman* is apropos of the subject: " ** * in Egypt, the King himself is not allowed to reign, unless he have priestly powers; and if he should be one of another class, and have obtained the throne by violence, he must get enrolled in the priestcraft."

Candidates aspiring to membership in the religious orders underwent severe tests to prove their worthiness. These ordeals were called *initiations*. Those who passed them successfully were welcomed as *brothers* by the priests and were instructed in the secret teachings. Among the ancients, philosophy, science, and religion were never considered as separate units: each was regarded as an integral part of the whole. Philosophy was scientific and religious; science was philosophic and religious I religion was philosophic and scientific. Perfect wisdom was considered unattainable save as the result of harmonizing all three of these expressions of mental and moral activity.

While modern physicians accredit Hippocrates with being the father of medicine, the ancient *therapeutæ* ascribed to the immortal Hermes the distinction of being the founder of the art of healing. Clemens Alexandrinus, in describing the books purported to be from the stylus of Hermes, divided the sacred writings into six general classifications, one of which, the *Pastophorus*, was devoted to the science of medicine. The *Smaragdine*, or Emerald Tablet found in the valley of Ebron and generally accredited to Hermes, is in reality a chemical formula of a high and secret order.

Hippocrates, the famous Greek physician, during the fifth century before Christ, dissociated the healing art from the other sciences of the temple and thereby established a precedent for separateness. One of the consequences is the present widespread crass scientific materialism. The ancients realized the interdependence of the sciences. The moderns do not; and as a result, incomplete systems of learning are attempting to maintain isolated individualism. The obstacles which confront present-day scientific research are largely the result of prejudicial limitations imposed by those who are unwilling to accept that which transcends the concrete perceptions of the five primary human senses.

**THE PARACELSIAN SYSTEM OF MEDICAL PHILOSOPHY**

During the Middle Ages the long-ignored axioms and formulæ of Hermetic wisdom were assembled once more, and chronicled, and systematic attempts were made to test their accuracy. To Theophrastus of Hohenheim, who called himself *Paracelsus* (a name meaning "greater than Celsus"), the world is indebted for much of the knowledge it now possesses of the ancient systems of medicine. Paracelsus devoted his entire life to the study and exposition of Hermetic philosophy. Every notion and theory was grist to his mill, and, while members of the medical fraternity belittle his memory now as they opposed his system then, the occult world knows that he will yet be recognized as the greatest physician of all times. While the heterodox and exotic temperament of Paracelsus has been held against him by his enemies, and his wanderlust has been called vagabondage, he was one of the few minds who intelligently sought to reconcile the art of healing with the philosophic and religious systems of paganism and Christianity.

In defending his right to seek knowledge in all parts of the earth, and among all classes of society, Paracelsus wrote: "Therefore I consider that it is for me a matter of praise, not of blame, that I have hitherto and worthily pursued my wanderings. For this will I bear witness respecting nature: he who will investigate her ways must travel her books with his feet. That which is written is investigated through its letters, but nature from land to land-as often a land so often a leaf. Thus is the Codex of Nature, thus must its leaves be turned." (*Paracelsus*, by John Maxson Stillman.)

Paracelsus was a great observationalist, and those who knew him best have called him "The Second Hermes" and "The Trismegistus of Switzerland." He traveled Europe from end to end, and may have penetrated Eastern lands while running down superstitions and ferreting out supposedly lost doctrines. From the gypsies he learned much concerning the uses of simples, and apparently from the Arabians concerning the making of talismans and the influences of the heavenly bodies. Paracelsus felt that the healing of the sick was of far greater importance than the maintaining of an orthodox medical standing, so he sacrificed what might otherwise have been a dignified medical career and at the cost of lifelong persecution bitterly attacked the therapeutic systems of his day.

Uppermost in his mind was the hypothesis that everything in the universe is good for something--which accounts for his cutting fungus from tombstones and collecting dew on glass plates at midnight. He was a true explorer of Nature's arcanum. Many authorities have held the opinion that he was the discoverer of mesmerism, and that Mesmer evolved the art as the result of studying the writings of this great Swiss physician.

The utter contempt which Paracelsus felt for the narrow systems of medicine in vogue during his lifetime, and his conviction of their inadequacy, are best expressed in his own quaint way: "But the number of diseases that originate from some unknown causes is far greater than those that come from mechanical causes, and for such diseases our physicians know no cure because not knowing such causes they cannot remove them. All they can prudently do is to observe the patient and make their guesses about his condition; and the patient may rest satisfied if the medicines administered to him do no serious harm, and do not prevent his recovery. The best of our popular physicians are the ones that do least harm. But, unfortunately, some poison their patients with mercury, others purge them or bleed them to death. There are some who have learned so much that their learning has driven out all their common sense, and a there are others who care a great: deal more for their own profit than for the health of their patients. A disease does not change its state to accommodate itself to the knowledge of the physician, but the physician should understand the causes of the disease. A physician should be a servant of Nature, and not her enemy; he should be able to guide and direct her in her struggle for life and not throw, by his unreasonable interference, fresh obstacles in the way of recovery." (From the *Paragranum*, translated by Franz Hartmann.)

The belief that nearly all diseases have their origin in the invisible nature of man (the Astrum) is a fundamental precept of Hermetic medicine, for while Hermetists in no way disregarded the physical body, they believed that man's material constitution was an emanation from, or an objectification of, his invisible spiritual principles. A brief, but it is believed fairly comprehensive, résumé of the Hermetic principles of Paracelsus follows.

*THE TITLE PAGE OF THE BOOK OF ALZE.*

*From Musæum Hermeticum Reformatum et Amplificatum.*

*This title page is a further example of Hermetic and alchemical symbolism. The seven-pointed star of the sacred metals is arranged that one black point is downward, thus symbolizing Saturn, the Destroyer. Beginning in the space immediately to the left of the black point, reading clockwise discloses the cryptic word VITRIOL formed by the capital letters of the seven Latin words in the outer circle.*

There is one vital substance in Nature upon which all things subsist. It is called *archæus*, or *vital life force*, and is synonymous with the astral light or spiritual air of the ancients. In regard to this substance, Eliphas Levi has written: "Light, that creative agent, the vibrations of which are the movement and life of all things; light, latent in the universal ether, radiating about absorbing centres, which, being saturated thereby, project movement and life in their turn, so forming creative currents; light, astralized in the stars, animalized in animals, humanized in human beings; light, which vegetates all plants, glistens in metals, produces all forms of Nature and equilibrates all by the laws of universal sympathy--this is the light which exhibits the phenomena of magnetism, divined by Paracelsus, which tinctures the blood, being released from the air as it is inhaled and discharged by the hermetic bellows of the lungs." (*The History of Magic*.)

This vital energy has its origin in the spiritual body of the earth. Every created thing has two bodies, one visible and substantial, the other invisible and transcendent. The latter consists of an ethereal counterpart of the physical form; it constitutes the vehicle of *archæus*, and may be called a *vital body*. This etheric *shadow sheath* is not dissipated by death, but remains until the physical form is entirely disintegrated. These "etheric doubles, "seen around graveyards, have given rise to a belief in ghosts. Being much finer in its substances than the earthly body, the etheric double is far more susceptible to impulses and inharmonies. It is derangements of this astral light body that cause much disease. Paracelsus taught that a person with a morbid mental attitude could poison his own etheric nature, and this infection, diverting the natural flow of *vital life force*, would later appear as a physical ailment. All plants and minerals have an invisible nature composed of this "archæus," but each manifests it in a different way.

Concerning the astral-light bodies of flowers, James Gaffarel, in 1650, wrote the following: "I answer, that though they be chopt in pieces, brayed in a Mortar, and even burnt to Ashes; yet do they neverthelesse retaine, (by a certaine Secret, and wonderfull Power of Nature), both in the Juyce, and in the Ashes, the selfe same Forme, and Figure, that they had before: and though it be not there Visible, yet it may by Art be drawne forth, and made Visible to the Eye, by an Artist. This perhaps will seem a Ridiculous story to those, who reade only the Titles of Bookes: but, those that please, may see this truth confirmed, if they but have recourse to the Workes of M. du Chesne, S. de la Violette, one of the best Chymists that our Age hath produced; who affirmes, that himselfe saw an Excellent Polich Physician of Cracovia, who kept, in Glasses, the Ashes of almost all the Hearbs that are knowne: so that, when any one, out of Curiosity, had a desire to see any of them, as (for example) a Rose, in one of his Glasses, he tooke That where the Ashes of a Rose were preserved; and holding it over a lighted Candle, so soone as it ever began to feele the Heat, you should presently see the Ashes begin to Move; which afterwards rising up, and dispersing themselves about the Glasse, you should immediately observe a kind of little Dark Cloud; which dividing it selfe into many parts, it came at length to represent a Rose; but so Faire, so Fresh, and so Perfect a one, that you would have thought it to have been as Substancial, & as Odoriferous a Rose, as growes on the Rose-tree." (*Unheard-of Curiosities Concerning Talismanical Sculpture of the Persians*.)

Paracelsus, recognizing derangements of the etheric double as the most important cause of disease, sought to reharmonize its substances by bringing into contact with it other bodies whose vital energy could supply elements needed, or were strong enough to overcome the diseased conditions existing in the aura of the sufferer. Its invisible cause having been thus removed, the ailment speedily vanished.

The vehicle for the *archæus*, or vital life force, Paracelsus called the *mumia*. A good example of a physical mumia is vaccine, which is the vehicle of a semi-astral virus. Anything which serves as a medium for the transmission of the archæus, whether it be organic or inorganic, truly physical or partly spiritualized, was termed a mumia. The most universal form of the mumia was ether, which modern science has accepted as a hypothetical substance serving as a medium between the realm of vital energy and that of organic and inorganic substance.

*JOHANNIS BAPTISTAE VON HELMONT.*

*From von Helmont's Ausgang der Artznen-Kunst.*

*At the beginning of the seventeenth century von Helmont, the Belgian alchemist (to whom incidentally, the world is indebted for the common term gas, as distinguished from other kinds of air), while experimenting with the root of A - , touched it to the tip of his tongue, without swallowing any of the substance. He himself describes the result in the following manner:*

*"Immediately my head seemed tied tightly with a string, and soon after there happened to me a singular circumstance such as I had never before experienced. I observed with astonishment that I no longer felt and thought with the head, but with the region of the stomach, as if consciousness had now taken up its seat in the stomach. Terrified by this unusual phenomenon, I asked myself and inquired into myself carefully; but I only became the more convinced that my power of perception was became greater and more comprehensive. This intellectual clearness was associated with great pleasure. I did not sleep, nor did I dream; I was perfectly sober; and my health was perfect. I had occasionally had ecstasies, but these had nothing in common with this condition of the stomach, in which it thought and felt, and almost excluded all cooperation of the head. In the meantime my friends were troubled with the fear that I might go mad. But my faith to God, and my submission to His will, soon dissipated this fear. This state continued for two hours, after which I had same dizziness. I afterwards frequently tasted of the A - , but I never again could reproduce these sensations." (Van Helmont, Demens idea. Reprinted by P. Davidson in The Mistletoe and Its Philosophy.)*

*Von Helmont is only one of many who have accidentally hit upon the secrets of the early priestcrafts, but none in this age give evidence of an adequate comprehension of the ancient Hermetic secrets. From the description von Helmont gives, it is probable that the herb mentioned by him paralyzed temporarily the cerebrospinal nervous system, the result being that the consciousness was forced to function through the sympathetic nervous system and its brain--the solar plexus.*

The control of universal energy is virtually impossible, save through one of its vehicles (the mumia). A good example of this is food. Man does not secure nourishment from dead animal or plant organisms, but when he incorporates their structures into his own body he first gains control over the mumia, or etheric double, of the animal or plant. Having obtained this control, the human organism then diverts the flow of the archæus to its own uses. Paracelsus says: "That which constitutes life is contained in the Mumia, and by imparting the Mumia we impart life." This is the secret of the remedial properties of talismans and amulets, for the mumia of the substances of which they are composed serves as a channel to connect the person wearing them with certain manifestations of the universal vital life force.

According to Paracelsus, in the same way that plants purify the atmosphere by accepting into their constitutions the carbon dioxid exhaled by animals and humans, so may plants and animals accept disease elements transferred to them by human beings. These lower forms of life, having organisms and needs different from man, are often able to assimilate these substances without ill effect. At other times, the plant or animal dies, sacrificed in order that the more intelligent, and consequently more useful, creature may survive. Paracelsus discovered that in either case the patient was gradually relieved of his malady. When the lower life had either completely assimilated the foreign mumia from the patient, or had itself died and disintegrated as the result of its inability to do so, complete recovery resulted. Many years of investigation were necessary to determine which herb or animal most readily accepted the mumia of each of various diseases.

Paracelsus discovered that in many cases plants revealed by their shape the particular organs of the human body which they served most effectively. The medical system of Paracelsus was based on the theory that by removing the diseased etheric mumia from the organism of the patient and causing it to be accepted into the nature of some distant and disinterested thing of comparatively little value, it was possible to divert from the patient the flow of the archæus which had been continually revitalizing and nourishing the malady. Its vehicle of expression being transplanted, the archæus necessarily accompanied its mumia, and the patient recovered.

**THE HERMETIC THEORY CONCERNING THE CAUSATIONS OF DISEASE**

According to the Hermetic philosophers, there were seven primary causes of disease. The first was *evil spirits*. These were regarded as creatures born of degenerate actions, subsisting on the vital energies of those to whom they attached themselves. The second cause was a *derangement of the spiritual nature and the material nature*: these two, failing to coordinate, produced mental and physical subnormality. The third was an *unhealthy or abnormal mental attitude*. Melancholia, morbid emotions, excess of feeling, such as passions, lusts, greeds, and hates, affected the mumia, from which they reacted into the physical body, where they resulted in ulcers, tumors, cancers, fevers, and tuberculosis. The ancients viewed the disease germ as a unit of mumia which had been impregnated with the emanations from evil influences which it had contacted. In other words, germs were minute creatures born out of man's evil thoughts and actions.

The fourth cause of disease was what the Orientals called *Karma*, that is, the Law of Compensation, which demanded that the individual pay in full for the indiscretions and delinquencies of the past. A physician had to be very careful how he interfered with the workings of this law, lest he thwart the plan of Eternal justice. The fifth cause was the *motion and aspects of the heavenly bodies*. The stars did not compel the sickness but rather impelled it. The Hermetists taught that a strong and wise man ruled his stars, but that a negative, weak person was ruled by them. These five causes of disease are all superphysical in nature. They must be estimated by inductive and deductive reasoning and a careful consideration of the life and temperament of the patient.

The sixth cause of disease was a *misuse of faculty, organ, or function*, such as overstraining a member or overtaxing the nerves. The seventh cause was the *presence in the system of foreign substances, impurities, or obstructions*. Under this heading must be considered diet, air, sunlight, and the presence of foreign bodies. This list does not include accidental injuries; such do not belong under the heading of disease. Frequently they are methods by which the Law of Karma expresses itself.

According to the Hermetists, disease could be prevented or successfully combated in seven ways. First, by spells and invocations, in which the physician ordered the evil spirit causing the disease to depart from the patient. This procedure was probably based on the Biblical account of the man possessed of devils whom Jesus healed by commanding the devils to leave the man and enter into a herd of swine. Sometimes the evil spirits entered a patient at the bidding of someone desiring to injure him. In these cases the physician commanded the spirits to return to the one who sent them. It is recorded that in some instances the evil spirits departed through the mouth in the form of clouds of smoke; sometimes from the nostrils as flames. It is even averred that the spirits might depart in the form of birds and insects.

The second method of healing was by vibration. The inharmonies of the bodies were neutralized by chanting spells and intoning the sacred names or by playing upon musical instruments and singing. Sometimes articles of various colors were exposed to the sight of the sick, for the ancients recognized, at least in part, the principle of color therapeutics, now in the process of rediscovery.

The third method was with the aid of talismans, charms, and amulets. The ancients believed that the planets controlled the functions of the human body and that by making charms out of different metals they could combat the malignant influences of the various stars. Thus, a person who is anæmic lacks iron. Iron was believed to be under the control of Mars. Therefore, in order to bring the influence of Mars to the sufferer, around his neck was hung a talisman made of iron and bearing upon it certain secret instructions reputed to have the power of invoking the spirit of Mars. If there was too much iron in the system, the patient was subjected to the influence of a talisman composed of the metal corresponding to some planet having an antipathy to Mars. This influence would then offset the Mars energy and thus aid in restoring normality.

The fourth method was by the aid of herbs and simples. While they used metal talismans, the majority of the ancient physicians did not approve of mineral medicine in any form for internal use. Herbs were their favorite remedies. Like the metals, each herb was assigned to one of the planets. Having diagnosed by the stars the sickness and its cause, the doctors then administered the herbal antidote.

The fifth method of healing disease was by prayer. All ancient peoples believed in the compassionate intercession of the Deity for the alleviation of human suffering. Paracelsus said that faith would cure all disease. Few persons, however, possess a sufficient degree of faith.

The sixth method--which was prevention rather than cure--was regulation of the diet and daily habits of life. The individual, by avoiding the things which caused illness, remained well. The ancients believed that health was the normal state of man; disease was the result of man's disregard of the dictates of Nature.

The seventh method was "practical medicine," consisting chiefly of bleeding, purging, and similar lines of treatment. These procedures, while useful in moderation, were dangerous in excess. Many a useful citizen has died twenty-five or fifty years before his time as the result of drastic purging or of having all the blood drained out of his body.

Paracelsus used all seven methods of treatment, and even his worst enemies admitted that he accomplished results almost miraculous in character. Near his old estate in Hohenheim, the dew falls very heavily at certain seasons of the year, and Paracelsus discovered that by gathering the dew under certain configurations of the planets he obtained a water possessing marvelous medicinal virtue, for it had absorbed the properties of the heavenly bodies.

**HERMETIC HERBALISM AND PHARMACOLOGY**

The herbs of the fields were sacred to the early pagans, who believed that the gods had made plants for the cure of human ills. When properly prepared and applied, each root and shrub could be used for the alleviation of suffering, or for the development of spiritual, mental, moral, or physical powers. In *The Mistletoe and Its Philosophy*, P. Davidson pays the following beautiful tribute to the plants: "Books have been written on the language of flowers and herbs, the poet from the earliest ages has held the sweetest and most loving converse with them, kings are even glad to obtain their essences at second hand to perfume themselves; but to the true physician--Nature's High-Priest--they speak in a far higher and more exalted strain. There is not a plant or mineral which has disclosed the last of its properties to the scientists. How can they feel confident that for every one of the discovered properties there may not be many powers concealed in the inner nature of the plant? Well have flowers been called the 'Stars of Earth,' and why should they not be beautiful? Have they not from the time of their birth smiled in the splendor of the sun by day, and slumbered under the brightness of the stars by night? Have they not come from another and more spiritual world to our earth, seeing that God made 'every plant of the field BEFORE it was in the earth, and every herb of the field BEFORE IT GREW'?"

Many primitive peoples used herbal remedies, with many remarkable cures. The Chinese, Egyptians, and American Indians cured with herbs diseases for which modern science knows no remedy. Doctor Nicholas Culpeper, whose useful life ended in 1654, was probably the most famous of herbalists. Finding that the medical systems of his day were unsatisfactory in the extreme, Culpeper turned his attention to the plants of the fields, and discovered a medium of healing which gained for him national renown.

*NICHOLAS CULPEPER.*

*From Culpeper's Semeiotica Uranica.*

*This famous physician, herbalist, and astrologer spent the greater part of his useful life ranging the hills and forests of England and cataloguing literally hundreds of medicinal herbs. Condemning the unnatural methods of contemporaneous medicos, Culpeper wrote: "This not being pleasing, and less profitable tome, I consulted with my two brothers, DR. REASON and DR. EXPERIENCE, and took a voyage to visit my mother NATURE, by whose advice, together with the help of Dr. DILIGENCE, I at last obtained my desire; and, being warned by MR. HONESTY, a stranger in our days, to publish it to the world, I have done it." (From the Introduction to the 1835 Edition of The Complete Herbal.) Doctor Johnson said of Culpeper that he merited the gratitude of posterity.*

In Doctor Culpeper's correlation of astrology and herbalism, each plant was under the jurisdiction of one of the planets or luminaries. He believed that disease was also controlled by celestial configurations. He summed up his system of treatment as follows: "You may oppose diseases by Herbs of the planet opposite to the planet that causes them: as diseases of Jupiter by Herbs of Mercury, and the contrary; diseases of the Luminaries by the Herbs of Saturn, and the contrary; diseases of Mars by Herbs of Venus and the contrary. ** * There is a way to cure diseases sometimes by Sympathy, and so every planet cures his own disease; as the Sun and Moon by their Herbs cure the Eyes, Saturn the Spleen, Jupiter the Liver, Mars the Gall and diseases of choler, and Venus diseases in the Instruments of Generation." (*The Complete Herbal*.)

Mediæval European herbalists rediscovered only in part the ancient Hermetic secrets of Egypt and Greece. These earlier nations evolved the fundamentals of nearly all modern arcs and sciences. At that time the methods used in healing were among the secrets imparted to initiates of the Mysteries. Unctions, collyria, philters, and potions were concocted to the accompaniment of strange rites. The effectiveness of these medicines is a matter of historical record. Incenses and perfumes were also much used.

Barrett in his *Magus* describes the theory on which they worked, as follows: "For, because our spirit is the pure, subtil, lucid, airy and unctuous vapour of the blood, nothing, therefore, is better adapted for collyriums than the like vapours which are more suitable to our spirit in substance; for then, by reason of their likeness, they do more stir up, attract and transform the spirit."

Poisons were thoroughly studied, and in some communities extracts of deadly herbs were administered to persons sentenced to death--as in the case of Socrates. The infamous Borgias of Italy developed the art of poisoning to its highest degree. Unnumbered brilliant men and women were quietly and efficiently disposed of by the almost superhuman knowledge of chemistry which for many centuries was preserved in the Borgia family.

Egyptian priests discovered herb extracts by means of which temporary clairvoyance could be induced, and they made use of these during the initiatory rituals of their Mysteries. The drugs were sometimes mixed with the food given to candidates, and at other times were presented in the form of sacred potions, the nature of which was explained. Shortly after the drugs were administered to him, the neophyte was attacked by a spell of dizziness. He found himself floating through space, and while his physical body was absolutely insensible (being guarded by priests that no ill should befall it) the candidate passed through a number of weird experiences, which he was able to relate after regaining consciousness. In the light of present-day knowledge, it is difficult to appreciate an art so highly developed that by means of draughts, perfumes, and incenses any mental attitude desired could be induced almost instantaneously, yet such an art actually existed among the priestcraft of the early pagan world.

Concerning this subject, H. P. Blavatsky, the foremost occultist of the nineteenth century, has written: 'Plants also have like mystical properties in a most wonderful degree, and the secrets of the herbs of dreams and enchantments are only lost to European science, and useless to say, too, are unknown to it, except in a few marked instances, such as opium and hashish. Yet, the psychical effects of even these few upon the human system are regarded as evidences of a temporary mental disorder. The women of Thessaly and Epirus, the female hierophants of the rites of Sabazius, did not carry their secrets away with the downfall of their sanctuaries. They are still preserved, and those who are aware of the nature of Soma, know the properties of other plants as well." (*Isis Unveiled*.)

Herbal compounds were used to cause temporary clairvoyance in connection with the oracles, especially the one at Delphi. Words spoken while in these imposed trances were regarded as prophetic. Modem mediums, while under control as the result of partly self-imposed catalepsy, give messages somewhat similar to those of the ancient prophets, but in the majority of cases their results are far less accurate, for the soothsayers of today lack the knowledge of Nature's hidden forces.

The Mysteries taught that during the higher degrees of initiation the gods themselves took part in the instruction of candidates or at least were present, which was in itself a benediction. As the deities dwelt in the invisible worlds and came only in their spiritual bodies, it was impossible for the neophyte to cognize them without the assistance of drugs which stimulated the clairvoyant center of his consciousness (probably the pineal gland). Many initiates in the ancient Mysteries stated emphatically that they had conversed with the immortals, and had beheld the gods.

When the standards of the pagans became corrupted, a division took place in the Mysteries. The band of truly enlightened ones separated themselves from the rest and, preserving the most important of their secrets, vanished without leaving a trace. The rest slowly drifted, like rudderless ships, on the rocks of degeneracy and disintegration. Some of the less important of the secret formulæ fell into the hands of the profane, who perverted them--as in the case of the Bacchanalia, during which drugs were mixed with wine and became the real cause of the orgies.

In certain parts of the earth it was maintained that there were natural wells, springs, or fountains, in which the water (because of the minerals through which it coursed) was tinctured with sacred properties. Temples were often built near these spots, and in some cases natural caves which chanced to be in the vicinity were sanctified to some deity.

"The aspirants to initiation, and those who came to request prophetic dreams of the Gods, were prepared by a fast, more or less prolonged, after which they partook of meals expressly prepared; and also of mysterious drinks, such as the water of Lethe, and the water of Mnemosyne in the grotto of Trophonius; or of the Ciceion in the mysteries of the Eleusinia. Different drugs were easily mixed up with the meats or introduced into the drinks, according to the state of mind or body into which it was necessary to throw the recipient, and the nature of the visions he was desirous of procuring.'' (Salverte's *The Occult Sciences*.) The same author states that certain sects of early Christianity were accused of using drugs for the same general purposes as the pagans.

The sect of the Assassins, or the Yezidees as they are more generally known, demonstrated a rather interesting aspect of the drug problem. In the eleventh century this order, by capturing the fortress of Mount Alamont, established itself at Irak. Hassan Sabbah, the founder of the order, known as the "Old Man of the Mountain, " is suspected of having controlled his followers by the use of narcotics. Hassan made his followers believe that they were in Paradise, where they would be forever if they implicitly obeyed him while they were alive. De Quincey, in his *Confessions of an Opium Eater*, describes the peculiar psychological effects produced by this product of the poppy, and the use of a similar drug may have given rise to the idea of Paradise which filled the minds of the Yezidees.

The philosophers of all ages have taught that the visible universe was but a fractional part of the whole, and that by analogy the physical body of man is in reality the least important part of his composite constitution. Most of the medical systems of today almost entirely ignore the superphysical man. They pay but scant attention to causes, and concentrate their efforts on ameliorating effects. Paracelsus, noting the same proclivity on the part of physicians during his day, aptly remarked: "There is a great difference between the power that removes the invisible causes of disease, and which is Magic, and that which causes merely external effects to disappear, and which is Physic, Sorcery, and Quackery." (Translated by Franz Hartmann.)

Disease is unnatural, and is evidence that there is a maladjustment within or between organs or tissues. Permanent health cannot be regained until harmony is restored. The outstanding virtue of Hermetic medicine was its recognition of spiritual and psychophysical derangements as being largely responsible for the condition which is called physical disease. Suggestive therapy was used with marked success by the priest-physicians of the ancient world. Among the-American Indians, the *Shamans*--or "Medicine Men"--dispelled sickness with the aid of mysterious dances, invocations, and charms. The fact that in spite of their ignorance of modern methods of medical treatment these sorcerers effected innumerable cures, is well worthy of consideration.

*CHEMICAL SYLLABLES.*

*From De Monte-Snyders' Metamorphosis Planetarum.*

*De Monte-Snyders declares that each of the above characters forms one syllables of a word having seven syllables, the word itself representing the materia prima, or first substance of the universe. As all substance is composed of seven powers combined according to certain cosmic laws, a great mystery is concealed within the sevenfold constitution of man, and the universe. Of the above seven characters, De Monte-Snyder writes:*

*Whoever wants to know the true name and character of the materia prima shall know that out of the combination of the above figures syllables are produced, and out of these the verbum significativum."*

The magic rituals used by the Egyptian priests for the curing of disease were based upon a highly developed comprehension of the complex workings of the human mind and its reactions upon the physical constitution. The Egyptian and Brahmin worlds undoubtedly understood the fundamental principle of vibrotherapeutics. By means of chants and mantras, which emphasized certain vowel and consonant sounds, they set up vibratory reactions which dispelled congestions and assisted Nature in reconstructing broken members and depleted organisms. They also applied their knowledge of the laws governing vibration to the spiritual constitution of man; by their intonings, they stimulated latent centers of consciousness and thereby vastly increased the sensitiveness of the subjective nature.

In the *Book of Coming Forth by Day*, many of the Egyptian secrets have been preserved to this generation. While this ancient scroll has been well translated, only a few understand the secret: significance of its magical passages. Oriental races have a keen realization of the dynamics of sound. They know that every spoken word has tremendous power and that by certain arrangements of words they can create vortices of force in the invisible universe about them and thereby profoundly influence physical substance. The *Sacred Word* by which the world was established, the *Lost Word* which Masonry is still seeking, and the threefold Divine Name symbolized by *A. U. M.*--the creative tone of the Hindus--all are indicative of the veneration accorded the principle of sound.

The so-called "new discoveries" of modern science are often only rediscoveries of secrets well known to the priests and philosophers of ancient pagandom. Man's inhumanity to man has resulted in the loss of records and formula: which, had they been preserved, would have solved many of the greatest problems of this civilization. With sword and firebrand, races obliterate the records of their predecessors, and then inevitably meet with an untimely fate for need of the very wisdom they have destroyed.

## The Qabbalah, the Secret Doctrine of Israel

ALBERT PIKE, quoting from *Transcendental Magic*, thus sums up the importance of Qabbalism as a key to Masonic esotericism: "One is filled with admiration, on penetrating into the Sanctuary of the Kabalah, at seeing a doctrine so logical, so simple, and at the same time so absolute. The necessary union of ideas and signs, the consecration of the most fundamental realities by the primitive characters; the Trinity of Words, Letters, and Numbers; a philosophy simple as the alphabet, profound and infinite as the Word; theorems more complete and luminous than those of Pythagoras; a theology summed up by counting on one's fingers; an Infinite which can be held in the hollow of an infant's hand; ten ciphers and twenty-two letters, a triangle, a square, and a circle,--these are all the elements of the Kabalah. These are the elementary principles of the written Word, reflection of that spoken Word that created the world!" (*Morals and Dogma*.)

Hebrew theology was divided into three distinct parts. The first was the *law*, the second was *the soul of the law*, and the third was *the soul of the soul of the law*. The law was taught to all the children of Israel; the *Mishna*, or the soul of the law, was revealed to the Rabbins and teachers; but the *Qabbalah*, the soul of the soul of the law, was cunningly concealed, and only the highest initiates among the Jews were instructed in its secret principles.

According to certain Jewish mystics, Moses ascended Mount Sinai three times, remaining in the presence of God forty days each time. During the first forty days the tables of the written law were delivered to the prophet; during the second forty days he received the soul of the law; and during the last forty days God instructed him in the mysteries of the Qabbalah, the soul of the soul of the law. Moses concealed in the first four books of the Pentateuch the secret instructions that God had given him, and for centuries students of Qabbalism. have sought therein the secret doctrine of Israel. As the spiritual nature of man is concealed in his physical body, so the unwritten law--the *Mishna* and the *Qabbalah*--is concealed within the written teachings of the Mosaic code. *Qabbalah* means the *secret or hidden tradition*, *the unwritten law*, and according to an early Rabbi, it was delivered to man in order that through the aid of its abstruse principles he might learn to understand the mystery of both the universe about him and the universe within him.

The origin of Qabbalism is a legitimate subject for controversy. Early initiates of the Qabbalistic Mysteries believed that its principles were first taught by God to a school of His angels before the fall of man. The angels later communicated the secrets to Adam, so that through the knowledge gained from an understanding of its principles fallen humanity might regain its lost a estate. The Angel Raziel was dispatched from heaven to instruct Adam in the mysteries of the Qabbalah. Different angels were employed to initiate the succeeding patriarchs in this difficult science. Tophiel was the teacher of Shem, Raphael of Isaac, Metatron of Moses, and Michael of David. (See *Faiths of the World*.)

Christian D. Ginsburg has written: "From Adam it passed over to Noah, and then to Abraham, the friend of God, who emigrated with it to Egypt, where the patriarch allowed a portion of this mysterious doctrine to ooze out. It was in this way that the Egyptians obtained some knowledge of it, and the other Eastern nations could introduce it into their philosophical systems. Moses, who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, was first initiated into it in the land of his birth, but became most proficient in it during his wanderings in the wilderness, when he not only devoted to it the leisure hours of the whole forty years, but received lessons in it from one of the angels. ** * Moses also initiated the seventy Elders into the secrets of this doctrine and they again transmitted them from hand to hand. Of all who formed the unbroken line of tradition, David and Solomon were most initiated into the Kabbalah." (See *The Kabbalah*.)

According to Eliphas Levi, the three greatest books of Qabbalism are the *Sepher Yetzirah*, The Book of Formation; the *Sepher ha Zohar*, The Book of Splendor; and the *Apocalypse*, The Book of Revelation. The dates of the writing of these books are by no means thoroughly established. Qabbalists declare that the *Sepher Yetzirah* was written by Abraham. Although it is by far the oldest of the Qabbalistic books, it was probably from the pen of the Rabbi Akiba, A.D. 120.

The *Sepher ha Zohar* presumably was written by Simeon ben Jochai, a disciple of Akiba. Rabbi Simeon was sentenced to death about A.D. 161 by Lucius Verus, co-regent of the Emperor Marc Aurelius Antoninus. He escaped with his son and, hiding in a cave, transcribed the manuscript of the *Zohar* with the assistance of Elias, who appeared to them at intervals. Simeon was twelve years in the cave, during which time he evolved the complicated symbolism of the "Greater Face" and the "Lesser Face." While discoursing with disciples Rabbi Simeon expired, and the "Lamp of Israel" was extinguished. His death and burial were accompanied by many supernatural phenomena. The legend goes on to relate that the secret doctrines of Qabbalism had been in existence since the beginning of the world, but that Rabbi Simeon was the first man permitted to reduce them to writing. Twelve hundred years later the books which he had compiled were discovered and published for the benefit of humanity by Moses de León. The probability is that Moses de León himself compiled the *Zohar* about A.D. 1305, drawing his material from the unwritten secrets of earlier Jewish mystics. The *Apocalypse*, accredited to St. John the Divine, is also of uncertain date, and the identity of its author has never been satisfactorily proved.

Because of its brevity and because it is the key to Qabbalistic thought, the *Sepher Yetzirah* is reproduced in full in this chapter. So far as is known, the *Sepher ha Zohar* has never been completely translated into English, but it can be obtained in French. (S. L. MacGregor-Mathers translated three books of the *Zohar* into English.) The *Zohar* contains a vast number of philosophical tenets, and a paraphrase of its salient points is embodied in this work.

Few realize the influence exerted by Qabbalism over medieval thought, both Christian and Jewish. It taught that there existed within the sacred writings a hidden doctrine which was the key to those writings. This is symbolized by the crossed keys upon the papal crest. Scores of learned minds began to search for those arcane truths by which the race should be redeemed; and that their labor was not without its reward, their subsequent writings have demonstrated.

The theories of Qabbalism are inextricably interwoven with the tenets of alchemy, Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, and Freemasonry.

*THE SEVENTY-TWO NAMES OF GOD.*

*From Kircher's Œdipus Ægyptiacus.*

*This rare cut shows the name of God in seventy-two languages inscribed upon the petals of a symbolic sunflower. Above the circle are the seventy-two powers of God according to the Hebrew Qabbalah. Below two trees, that on the left bearing the symbols of the planets and that on the right the signs of the zodiac and the names of the tribes of Israel. The esoteric doctrines of the Qabbalah are in alignment with the secret teachings of all the schools of philosophy, but the method by which its secrets are revealed to the wise and concealed from the ignorant is most unusual. As the religious world interprets its scriptures with twentieth-century educational facilities, it becomes ever more apparent that the sacred books were not historical documents, but that the kings, sages, prophets, and saviors whom Bible students ham revered for ages as once-existing personalities are in reality only personified attributes of man himself.*

The words *Qabbalism* and *Hermeticism* are now considered as synonymous terms covering all the arcana and esotericism of antiquity. The simple Qabbalism of the first centuries of the Christian Era gradually evolved into an elaborate theological system, which became so involved that it was next to impossible to comprehend its dogma.

The Qabbalists divided the uses of their sacred science into five sections. The *Natural Qabbalah* was used solely to assist the investigator in his study of Nature's mysteries. The *Analogical Qabbalah* was formulated to exhibit the relationship which exists between all things in Nature, and it revealed to the wise that all creatures and substances were one in essence, and that man--the Little Universe--was a replica in miniature of God--the Great Universe. The *Contemplative Qabbalah* was evolved for the purpose of revealing through the higher intellectual faculties the mysteries of the celestial spheres. By its aid the abstract reasoning faculties cognized the measureless planes of infinity and learned to know the creatures existing within them. The *Astrological Qabbalah* instructed those who studied its lore in the power, magnitude, and actual substance of the sidereal bodies, and also revealed the mystical constitution of the planet itself. The fifth, or *Magical Qabbalah*, was studied by such as desired to gain control over the demons and subhuman intelligences of the invisible worlds. It was also highly valued as a method of healing the sick by talismans, amulets, charms, and invocations.

The *Sepher Yetzirah*, according to Adolph Franck, differs from other sacred books in that it does not explain the world and the phenomena of which it is the stage by leaning on the idea of God or by setting itself up as the interpreter of the supreme will. This ancient work rather reveals God by estimating His manifold handiwork. In preparing the *Sepher Yetzirah* for the consideration of the reader, five separate English translations have been compared. The resulting form, while it embodies the salient features of each, is not a direct translation from any one Hebrew or Latin text. Although the purpose was to convey the spirit rather than the letter of the ancient document, there are no wide deviations from the original rendition. So far as known, the first translation of the *Sepher Yetzirah* into English was made by the Rev. Dr. Isidor Kalisch, in 1877. (See Arthur Edward Waite.) In this translation the Hebrew text accompanies the English words. The work of Dr. Kalisch has been used as the foundation of the following interpretation, but material from other authorities has been incorporated and many passages have been rewritten to simplify the general theme.

At hand also was a manuscript copy in English of the *Book of the Cabalistick Art*, by Doctor John Pistor. The document is undated; but judging from the general type of the writing, the copy was made during the eighteenth century. The third volume used as a reference was the *Sepher Yetzirah*, by the late Win. Wynn Westcott, Magus of the Rosicrucian Society of England. The fourth was the *Sepher Yetzirah*, or The Book of Creation, according to the translation in the *Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East*, edited by Prof. Charles F. Horne. The fifth was a recent publication, *The Book of Formation*, by Knut Stenring, containing an introduction by Arthur Edward Waite. At hand also were four other copies--two German, one Hebrew, and one Latin. Certain portions of the *Sepher Yetzirah* are considered older and more authentic than the rest, bur the controversy regarding them is involved and nonproductive that it is useless to add further comment. The doubtful passages are therefore included in the document at the points where they would naturally fall.

**THE SEPHER YETZIRAH, THE BOOK OF FORMATION**

*Chapter One*

1. YAH, the Lord of Hosts, the living Elohim, King of the Universe, Omnipotent, the Merciful and Gracious God, Supreme and Extolled, Dweller in the Height whose habitation is Eternity, who is Sublime and Most-Holy, engraved His name and ordained (formed) and created the Universe in thirty-two mysterious paths (stages) of wisdom (science), by three Sepharim, namely, Numbers, Letters, and Sounds, which are in Him one and the same.

2. Ten Sephiroth (ten properties from the Ineffable One) and twenty-two letters are the Foundation of all things. Of these twenty-two letters three are called "Mothers," sewn "Double," and twelve "Simple."

3. The ten numbers (Sephiroth) out of Nothing are analogous to the ten fingers and the ten toes: five over against five. In the center between them is the covenant with the Only One God. In the spiritual world it is the covenant of the voice (the Word), and in the corporeal world the circumcision of the flesh (the rite of Abraham).

4. Ten are the numbers (of the Sephiroth) out of Nothing, ten--not nine; ten--not eleven. Comprehend this great, wisdom, understand this knowledge and be wise. Inquire into the mystery and ponder it. Examine all things by means of the ten Sephiroth. Restore the Word to Its Creator and lead the Creator back to His throne again. He is the only Formator and beside Him there is no other. His attributes are ten and are without limit.

5. The ten ineffable Sephiroth have ten infinitudes, which are as follows:

The infinite beginning and the infinite end;

The infinite good and the infinite evil;

The infinite height and the infinite depth;

The infinite East and the infinite West;

The infinite North and the infinite South;

and over them is the Lord Superlatively One, the faithful King. He rules over all in all from His holy habitation for ages of ages.

6. The appearance of the ten spheres (Sephiroth) out of Nothing is as a flash of lightning or a sparkling flame, and they are without beginning or end. The Word of God is in them when they go forth and when they return. They run by His order like a whirlwind and prostrate themselves before His throne.

7. The ten Sephiroth have their end linked to their beginning and their beginning linked to their end, cojoined as the flame is wedded to the live coal, for the Lord is Superlatively One and to Him there is no second. Before One what can you count?

8. Concerning the number (10) of the spheres of existence (Sephiroth) out of Nothing, seal up your lips and guard your heart as you consider them, and if your month opens for utterance and your heart turns towards thought, control them, returning to silence. So it is written: "And the living creatures ran and returned." (Ezekiel i. 14.) And on this wise was the covenant made with us,

9. These are the ten emanations of number out of Nothing:

*1st*. The spirit of the living Elohim, blessed and more than blessed be the living Elohim of ages. His Voice, His Spirit, and His Word are the Holy Spirit.

*2nd*. He produced air from the spirit and in the air. He formed and established twenty-two sounds--the letters. Three of them were fundamental, or mothers; seven were double; and twelve were simple (single); but the spirit is the first one and above all.

*3rd*. Primordial water He extracted from the air. He formed therein twenty-two letters and established them out of mud and loam, making them like a border, putting them up like a wall, and surrounding them as with a rampart. He poured snow upon them and it became earth, as it reads: "He said to the snow be thou earth." (Job. xxxvii. 6.)

*4th*. Fire (ether) He drew forth from the water. He engraved and established by it the Throne of Glory. He fashioned the Seraphim, the Ophanim, and the Holy Living Creatures (Cherubim?), as His ministering angels; and with (of) these three He formed His habitation, as it reads: "Who made His angels spirits, His ministers a flaming fire." (Psalms civ. 4.)

*THE TETRAGRAMMATON.*

*By arranging the four letters of the Great Name, **י* *ה* *ו* *ה**, (I H V H), in the form of the Pythagorean Tetractys, the 72 powers of the Great Name of God are manifested. The key to the problem is as follows:*

*.*

=

*I*

=

*10*

=

*10*

*. .*

=

*H I*

=

*5+10*

=

*15*

*. . .*

=

*V H I*

=

*6+5+10*

=

*21*

*. . . .*

=

*H V H I*

=

*5+6+5+10*

=

*26*

*The Great Name of God*

=

*72*

*5th*. He selected three consonants (I, H, V) from the simple ones--a secret belonging to the three mothers, or first elements; א מ ש (A, M, Sh), air, water, fire (ether). He sealed them with His spirit and fashioned them into a Great Name and with this sealed the universe in six directions. He turned towards the above and sealed the height with י ה ו (I, H, V).

*6th*. He turned towards the below and sealed the depth withה י ו (H, I, V).

*7th*. He turned forward and sealed the East with ו י ה (V, I, H).

*8th*. He turned backward and sealed the West with ו ה י (V H, I).

*9th*. He turned to the right and sealed the South with י ו ה (I, V, H).

*10th*. He turned to the left and sealed the North with ה ו י (H, V, I).

NOTE. This arrangement of the letters of the Great Name is according to the Rev. Dr. Isidor Kalisch.

10. These are the ten ineffable existences out of nothing; From the spirit of the Living God emanated air; from the air, water; from the water, fire (ether); from the fire, the height and the depth, the East and the West, the North and the South.

*Chapter Two*

1. There are twenty-two basic (sounds and) letters. Three are the first elements (water, air, fire), fundamentals, or mothers; seven are double letters; and twelve are simple letters. The three fundamental letters א מ ש have as their basis the balance. At one end of the scale are the virtues and at the other the vices, placed in equilibrium by the tongue. Of the fundamental letters מ (M) is mute like the water, ש (Sh) hissing like fire, א (A) a reconciling breath between them.

2. The twenty-two basic letters having been designed, appointed, and established by God, He combined, weighed, and exchanged them (each with the others), and formed by them all beings which are in existence, and all which will be formed in time to come.

3. He established twenty-two basic letters, formed by the voice and impressed upon the air by the breath. He set them to be audibly uttered in five different parts of the human mouth: namely, Gutturals, א ה ח ע; Palatals, ג י כ ק; Linguals, ד ט ל נ ת Dentals, ז ש ס ר ץ; Labials, ב ו מ ף.

4. He fixed the twenty-two basic letters in a ring (sphere) like a wall with two hundred and thirty-one gates, and turned the sphere forward and backward. Turned forward, the sphere signified good; when reversed, evil. Three letters may serve for an illustration: There is nothing better than ע נ ג (O, N, G), pleasure (joy), and nothing worse than נ ג ע (N, G, O), plague (sorrow).

5. How was it all accomplished? He combined, weighed, and changed: the א (A) with all the other letters in succession, and all the others again with א (A), and all again with ב (B); and so with the whole series of letters. Hence it follows that there are two hundred and thirty-one formations, or gates, through which the powers of the letters go forth; every creature and every language proceeded from One Name and the combinations of its letters.

6. He created a reality out of Nothing. He called the nonentity into existence and hewed colossal pillars from intangible air. This has been shown by the example of combining the letter א (A) with all the other letters, and all the other letters with א. By speaking He created every creature and every word by the power of One Name. As an illustration, consider the twenty-two elementary substances from the primitive substance of א. The production of every creature from the twenty-two letters is proof that they are in reality the twenty-two parts of one living body.

*Chapter Three*

1. The first three elements (the Mother letters, א מ ש) resemble a balance, in one scale virtue and in the other vice, placed in equilibrium by the tongue.

2. The three Mothers, א מ ש, enclose a great, wonderful, and unknown mystery, and are sealed by six wings (or elementary circles), namely, air, water, fire--each divided into an active and a passive power. The Mothers, א מ ש, gave birth to the Fathers (the progenitors), and these gave birth to the generations.

3. God appointed and established three Mothers, א מ ש, combined, weighed, and exchanged them, forming by them three Mothers, in the universe, in the year, and in man (male and female).

4. The three Mothers, א מ ש, in the universe are: air, water, and fire. Heaven was created from the elementary fire (or ether) ש, the earth, comprising sea and land, from the elementary water, מ, and the atmospheric air from the elementary air, or spirit, א, which establishes the balance among them. Thus were all things produced.

5. The three Mothers, א מ ש, produce in the year heat, coldness, and the temperate state. Heat was created from fire, coldness from water, and the temperate state from air, which equilibrates them.

6. The three Mothers, א מ ש, produce in man (male and female) breast, abdomen, and head. The head was formed from the fire, ש; the abdomen from the water, מ; and the breast (thorax) from air, א, which places them in equilibrium.

7. God let the letter א (A) predominate in primordial air, crowned it, combined it with the other two, and sealed the air in the universe, the temperate state in the year, and the breast in man (male and female).

8. He let the letter מ (M) predominate in primordial water, crowned it, combined it with the other two, and sealed the earth in the universe (including land and sea), coldness in the year, and the abdomen in man (male and female).

9. He let the letter ש (Sh) predominate in primordial fire, crowned it, combined it with the other two, and sealed heaven in the universe, heat in the year, and the head of man (male and female).

*Chapter Four*

1. The seven double letters, ב ג ד כ פ ר ת (B, G, D, K, P, R, Th), have a duplicity of pronunciation (two voices), aspirated and unaspirated, namely: פּ ת, רּ ר, פּ פ, כּ כ, דּ ד, גּ גThey serve as a model of softness and hardness, strength and weakness.

2. The seven double letters symbolize wisdom, riches, fertility life, power, peace, and grace.

3. The seven double letters also signify the antitheses to which human life is exposed. The opposite of wisdom is foolishness; of riches, poverty; of fertility, sterility; of life, death; of power, servitude; of peace, war; and of beauty, deformity.

4. The seven double letters point out the six dimensions, height, depth, East and West, North and South, and the Holy Temple in the center, which sustains them all.

5. The double letters are seven and not six, they are seven and not eight; reflect upon this fact, search into it and reveal its hidden mystery and place the Creator on His throne again.

6. The seven double letters having been designed, established, purified, weighed, and exchanged by God, He formed of them seven planets in the universe, seven days in the Year, and seven gateways of the senses in man (male and female). From these seven He also produced seven heavens, seven earths, and seven Sabbaths. Therefore He loved seven more than any other number beneath His throne.

7. The seven planets in the universe are: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and Moon. The seven days in the Year are the seven days of the week (possibly the seven creative days are meant). The seven gateways in man (male and female) are two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and the mouth.

*THE HEBREW LETTERS ACCORDING TO THE SEPHER YETZIRAH.*

*In the central triangle are the three Mother Letters from which come forth the seven Double Letters--the planets and the heavens. Surrounding the black star are the signs of the zodiac symbolized by the twelve Simple Letters. In the midst of this star is the Invisible Throne of the Most Ancient of the Ancients--the Supreme Definitionless Creator.*

8. NOTE. Knut Stenring differs from other authorities in his arrangement of the planets and days of the week in the following seven stanzas. Kircher has still a different order. Rev. Dr. Isidor Kalisch, Wm. Wynn Westcott, and *The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East* adopt the following arrangement.

*1st*. He caused the letter. ב (B) to predominate in wisdom, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them the Moon in the universe, the first day in the year, and the right eye in man (male and female).

*2nd*. He caused the letter ג (G) to predominate in riches, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Mars in the universe, the second day in the year, and the right ear in man (male and female).

*3rd*. He caused the letter ד (D) to predominate infertility, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them the Sun in the universe, the third day in the year, and the right nostril in man (male and female).

*4th*. He caused the letterכ (K) to predominate in life, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Venus in the universe, the fourth day in the year, and the left eye in man (male and female).

*5th*. He caused the letter פ (P) to predominate in power, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Mercury in the universe, the fifth day in the year, and the left ear in man (male and female).

*6th*. He caused the letter ר (R) to predominate in peace, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Saturn in the universe, the sixth day in the year, and the left nostril in man (male and female).

*7th*. He caused the letter ת (Th) to predominate in grace, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Jupiter in the universe, the seventh day in the year, and the mouth of man (male and female).

9. With the seven double letters He also designed seven earths, seven heavens, seven continents, seven seas, seven rivers, seven deserts, seven days, seven weeks (from Passover to Pentecost), and in the midst of them His Holy Palace. There is a cycle of seven years and the seventh is the release year, and after seven release years is the Jubilee. For this reason God loves the number seven more than any other thing under the heavens.

10. In this manner God joined the seven double letters together. Two stones build two houses, three stones build six houses, four stones build twenty-four houses, five stones build 120 houses, six stones build 720 houses, and seven stones build 5,040 houses. Make a beginning according to this arrangement and reckon further than the mouth can express or the ear can hear.

*Chapter Five*

1. The twelve simple letters ה ו ז ח ט י ל נ ס ע צ ק (H, V, Z, Ch, T, I, L, N, S, O, Tz, Q) symbolize the twelve fundamental properties: speech, thought, movement, sight, hearing, work, coition, smell, sleep, anger, taste (or swallowing), and mirth.

2. The simple letters correspond to twelve directions: east height, northeast, east depth; south height, southeast, south depth; west height, southwest, west depth; north height, northwest, north depth. They diverge to all eternity and are the arms of the universe.

3. The simple letters having been designed, established, weighed, and exchanged by God, He produced by them twelve zodiacal signs in the universe, twelve months in the year, and twelve chief organs in the human body (male and female).

4, The signs of the zodiac are: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. The months of the year are: Nisan, liar, Sivan, Tammuz, Ab, Elul, Tisri, Marcheshvan, Kislev, Tebet, Sebat, and Adar. The organs of the human body are: two hands, two feet, two kidneys, gall, small intestine, liver, esophagus, stomach, and spleen.

5. NOTE. In the following twelve stanzas, Knut Stenring again differs, this time as to the arrangement of properties:

*1st*. God caused the letter ה (H) to predominate in speech, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Aries (the Ram) in the universe, the month Nisan in the year, and the right foot of the human body (male and female).

*2nd*. He caused the letter ו (V) to predominate in thought, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Taurus (the Bull) in the universe, the month liar in the year, and the right kidney of the human body (male and female).

*3rd*. He caused the letter ז (Z) to predominate in movement, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Gemini (the Twins) in the universe, the month Sivan in the year, and the left foot of the human body (male and female).

*4th*. He caused the letter ח (Ch) to predominate in sight, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Cancer (the Crab) in the universe, the month Tammuz in the year, and the right hand of the human body (male and female).

*5th*. He caused the letter ט (T) to predominate in hearing, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Leo (the Lion) in the universe, the month Ab in the year, and the left kidney of the human body (male and female).

*6th*. He caused the letter י (I) to predominate in work, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Virgo (the Virgin) in the universe, the month Elul in the year, and the left hand of the human body (male and female).

*7th*. He caused the letter ל (L) to predominate in coition, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Libra (the Balance) in the universe, the month Tisri in the year, and the gall of the human body (male and female).

*8th*. He caused the letter נ (N) to predominate in smell, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Scorpio (the Scorpion) in the universe, the month Marcheshvan in the year, and the small intestine in the human body (male and female).

*9th*. He caused the letter ס (S) to predominate in sleep, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Sagittarius (the Archer) in the universe, the month Kislev in the year, and the stomach in the human body (male and female).

*10th*. He caused the letter ע (O) to predominate in anger, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Capricorn (the Goat) in the universe, the month Tebet in the year, and the liver in the human body (male and female).

*11th*. He caused the letter צ (Tz) to predominate in taste (or swallowing), crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Aquarius (the Water Bearer) in the universe, the month Sebat in the year, and the esophagus in the human body (male and female).

*12th*. He caused the letter ק (Q) to predominate in mirth, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Pisces (the Fishes) in the universe, the month Adar in the year, and the spleen in the human body (male and female).

6. He made them as a conflict, He arranged them as provinces and drew them up like a wall. He armed them and set one against another as in warfare. (The Elohim did likewise in the other spheres.)

*Chapter Six*

1. There are three Mothers or first elements, א מ ש (A, M, Sh), from which emanated three Fathers (progenitors)--primordial (spiritual) air, water, and fire--from which issued the seven planets (heavens) with their angels, and the twelve oblique points (zodiac).

2. To prove this there are three faithful witnesses: the universe, the year, and man. There are the twelve, the balance, and the seven. Above is the Dragon, below is the world, and lastly the heart of man; and in the midst is God who regulates them all.

3. The first elements are air, water, and fire; the fire is above, the water is below, and a breath of air establishes balance between them. The token is: the fire carries the water. The letterמ (M) is mute; ש (Sh) is hissing like fire; there is א (A) among them, a breath of air which reconciles the two.

4. The Dragon (Tali) is in the universe like a king upon his throne; the celestial sphere is in the year like a king in his empire; and the heart is in the body of men like a king in warfare.

5. God also set the opposites against each other: the good against the evil, and the evil against the good. Good proceeds from good, evil from evil; the good purifies the bad, the bad the good. The good is reserved for the good, and the evil for the wicked.

6. There are three of which each stands by itself: one is in the affirmative (filled with good), one is in the negative (filled with evil), and the third equilibrates them.

7. There are seven divided three against three, and one in the midst of them (balance). Twelve stand in warfare: three produce love and three hatred; three are life-givers and three are destroyers.

8. The three that cause love are the heart and the two ears; the three that produce hatred are the liver, the gall, and the tongues; the three life-givers are the two nostrils and the spleen; and the three destroyers are the mouth and the two lower openings of the body. Over all these rules God, the faithful king, from His holy habitation in all eternity. God is One above three, three are above seven, seven are above twelve, yet all are linked together.

9. There are twenty-two letters by which the I AM (YAH), the Lord of Hosts, Almighty and Eternal, designed and created by three Sepharim (Numbers, Letters, and Sounds) His universe, and formed by them all creatures and all those things that are yet to come.

10. When the Patriarch Abraham had comprehended the great truths, meditated upon them, and understood them perfectly, the Lord of the Universe (the Tetragrammaton) appeared to him, called him His friend, kissed him upon the head, and made with him a covenant. First, the covenant was between the ten fingers of his hands, which is the covenant of the tongue (spiritual); second, the covenant was between the ten toes of his feet, which is the covenant of circumcision (material); and God said of him, "Before Abraham bound the spirit of the twenty-two letters (the Thora) upon his tongue and God disclosed to him their secrets. God permitted the letters to be immersed in water, He burned them in the fire and imprinted them upon the winds. He distributed them among the seven planets and gave them to the twelve zodiacal signs.

## Fundamentals of Qabbalistic Cosmogony

THE Qabbalists conceive of the Supreme Deity as an Incomprehensible Principle to be discovered only through the process of eliminating, in order, all its cognizable attributes. That which remains--when every knowable thing has been removed--is AIN SOPH, the eternal state of *Being*. Although indefinable, the Absolute permeates all space. Abstract to the degree of inconceivability, AIN SOPH is the *unconditioned state of all things*. Substances, essences, and intelligences are manifested out of the inscrutability of AIN SOPH, but the Absolute itself is without substance, essence, or intelligence. AIN SOPH may be likened to a great field of rich earth out of which rises a myriad of plants, each different in color, formation, and fragrance, yet each with its roots in the same dark loam--which, however, is unlike any of the forms nurtured by it. The "plants" are universes, gods, and man, all nourished by AIN SOPH and all with their source in one definitionless essence; all with their spirits, souls, and bodies fashioned from this essence, and doomed, like the plant, to return to the black ground--AIN SOPH, the only Immortal--whence they came.

AIN SOPH was referred to by the Qabbalists as *The Most Ancient of all the Ancients*. It was always considered as sexless. Its symbol was a closed eye. While it may be truly said of AIN SOPH that to define It is to defile It, the Rabbis postulated certain theories regarding the manner in which AIN SOPH projected creations out of Itself, and they also assigned to this Absolute Not-Being certain symbols as being descriptive, in part at least, of Its powers. The nature of AIN SOPH they symbolize by a circle, itself emblematic of eternity. This hypothetical circle encloses a dimensionless area of incomprehensible life, and the circular boundary of this life is abstract and measureless infinity.

According to this concept, God is not only a Center but also Area. Centralization is the first step towards limitation. Therefore, centers which form in the substances of AIN SOPH are finite because they are predestined to dissolution back into the Cause of themselves, while AIN SOPH Itself is infinite because It is the ultimate condition of all things. The circular shape given to AIN SOPH signifies that space is hypothetically enclosed within a great crystal-like globe, outside of which there is nothing, not even a vacuum. Within this globe--symbolic of AIN SOPH--creation and dissolution take place. Every element and principle that will ever be used in the eternities of Kosmic birth, growth, and decay is within the transparent substances of this intangible sphere. It is the Kosmic Egg which is not broken till the great day "Be With Us," which is the end of the Cycle of Necessity, when all things return to their ultimate cause.

In the process of creation the diffused life of AIN SOPH retires from the circumference to the center of the circle and establishes a point, which is the first manifesting One--the primitive limitation of the all-pervading O. When the Divine Essence thus retires from the circular boundary to the center, It leaves behind the Abyss, or, as the Qabbalists term it, the Great Privation. Thus, in AIN SOPH is established a twofold condition where previously had existed but one. The first condition is the central point--the primitive objectified radiance of the eternal, subjectified life. About this radiance is darkness caused by the deprivation of the life which is drawn to the center to create the first point, or universal germ. The universal AIN SOPH, therefore, no longer shines through space, but rather upon space from an established first point. Isaac Myer describes this process as follows: "The Ain Soph at first was filling All and then made an absolute concentration into Itself which produced the Abyss, Deep, or Space, the Aveer Qadmon or Primitive Air, the Azoth; but this is not considered in the Qabbalah as a perfect void or vacuum, a perfectly empty Space, but is thought of as the Waters or Crystalline Chaotic Sea, in which was a certain degree of Light inferior to that by which all the created worlds and hierarchies were made." (See *The Qabbalah*.) In the secret teachings of the Qabbalah it is taught that man's body is enveloped in an ovoid of bubble-like iridescence, which is called the Auric Egg. This is the causal sphere of man. It bears the same relationship to man's physical body that the globe of AIN SOPH bears to Its created universes. In fact, this Auric Egg is the AIN SOPH sphere of the entity called man. In reality, therefore, the supreme consciousness of man is in this aura, which extends in all directions and completely encircles his lower bodies. As the consciousness in the Kosmic Egg is withdrawn into a central point, which is then called God--the Supreme One--so the consciousness in the Auric Egg of man is concentrated, thereby causing the establishment of a point of consciousness called the Ego. As the universes in Nature are formed from powers latent in the Kosmic Egg, so everything used by man in all his incarnations throughout the kingdoms of Nature is drawn from the latent powers within his Auric Egg. Man never passes from this egg; it remains even after death. His births, deaths, and rebirths all take place within it, and it cannot be broken until the lesser day "Be With Us," when mankind--like the universe--is liberated from the Wheel of Necessity.

**THE QABBALISTIC SYSTEM OF WORLDS**

On the accompanying circular chart, the concentric rings represent diagrammatically the forty rates of vibration (called by the Qabbalists Spheres) which emanate from AIN SOPH. The circle X 1 is the outer boundary of space. It circumscribes the area of AIN SOPH. The nature of AIN SOPH Itself is divided into three parts, represented by the spaces respectively between X 1 and X 2, X 2 and X 3, X 3 and A 1; thus:

X 1 to X 2,

אין,

AIN, the vacuum of pure spirit.

X 2 to X 3,

אין סוף,

AIN SOPH, the Limitless and Boundless.

X 3 to A 1,

אין סוף אור,

AIN SOPH AUR, the Limitless Light.

It should be borne in mind that in the beginning the Supreme Substance, AIN, alone permeated the area of the circle; the inner rings had not yet come into manifestation. As the Divine Essence concentrated Itself, the rings X 2 and X 3 became apprehensible, for AIN SOPH is a limitation of AIN, and AIN SOPH AUR, or Light, is a still greater limitation. Thus the nature of the Supreme One is considered to be threefold, and from this threefold nature the powers and elements of creation were reflected into the Abyss left by the motion of AIN SOPH towards the center of Itself. The continual motion of AIN SOPH towards the center of Itself resulted in the establishment of the dot in the circle. The dot was called God, as being the supreme individualization of the Universal Essence. Concerning this the Zohar says: "When the concealed of the Concealed wished to reveal Himself He first made a single point: the Infinite was entirely unknown, and diffused no light before this luminous point violently broke through into vision."

The name of this point is I AM, called by the Hebrews *Eheieh*. The Qabbalists gave many names to this dot. On this subject Christian D. Ginsberg writes, in substance: The dot is called the first crown, because it occupies the highest position. It is called the aged, because it is the first emanation. It is called the primordial or smooth point. It is called the white head, the *Long Face*--Macroprosophus--and the inscrutable height, because it controls and governs all the other emanations.

*THE HEBREW TRIAD.*

*The Qabbalists used the letter **ש**, Shin, to signify the trinity of the first three Sephiroth. The central circle slightly above the other two is the first Sephira--Kether, the White Head, the Crown. The other two circles represent Chochmah, the Father, and Binah, the Mother. From the union of the Divine Father and the Divine Mother are produced the worlds and the generations of living things. The three flame-like points of the letter **ש** have long been used to conceal this Creative Triad of the Qabbalists.*

When the white shining point had appeared, it was called *Kether*, which means the *Crown*, and out of it radiated nine great globes, which arranged themselves in the form of a tree. These nine together with the first crown constituted the first system of *Sephiroth*. These ten were the first limitation of ten abstract points within the nature of AIN SOPH Itself. The power of AIN SOPH did not descend into these globes but rather was reflected upon them as the light of the sun is reflected upon the earth and planets. These ten globes were called the shining *sapphires*, and it is believed by many Rabbins that the word *sapphire* is the basis of the word *Sephira* (the singular of Sephiroth). The great area which had been privated by the withdrawal of AIN SOPH into the central point, *Kether*, was now filled by four concentric globes called worlds, or spheres, and the light of the ten Sephiroth was reflected down through each of these in turn. This resulted in the establishment of four symbolical trees, each hearing the reflections of the ten Sephirothic globes. The 40 spheres of creation out of AIN SOPH are divided into four great world chains, as follows: A 1 to A 10, *Atziluth*, the Boundless World of Divine Names.

B 1 to B 10, *Briah*, the Archangelic World of Creations.

C 1 to C 10, *Yetzirah*, the Hierarchal World of Formations.

D 1 to D 10, *Assiah*, the Elemental World of Substances.

Each of these worlds has ten powers, or spheres--a parent globe and nine others which conic out of it as emanations, each globe born out of the one preceding. On the plane of *Atziluth* (A 1 to A 10), the highest and most divine of all the created worlds, the unmanifested AIN SOPH established His first point or dot in the Divine Sea--the three spheres of X. This dot--A 1--contains all creation within it, but in this first divine and uncontaminated state the dot, or first manifested. God, was not considered as a personality by the Qabbalists but rather as a divine establishment or foundation. It was called the *First Crown* and from it issued the other circles of the *Atziluthic World*: A 2, A 3, A 4, A 5, A 6, A 7, A 8, A 9, and A 10. In the three lower worlds these circles are intelligences, planers, and elements, but in this first divine world they are called the *Rings of the Sacred Names*.

The first ten great circles (or globes) of light which were manifested out of AIN SOPH and the ten names of God assigned to them by the Qabbalists are as follows: From AIN SOPH came A 1, the First Crown, and the name of the first power of God was *Eheieh*, which means *I Am* *That I Am*.

From A 1 came A 2, the first Wisdom, and the name of the second power of God was *Jehovah*, which means *Essence of Being*.

From A 2 came A 3, the first Understanding, and the name of the third power of God was *Jehovah Elohim*, which means *God of Gods*.

From A 3 came A 4, the first Mercy, and the name of the fourth power of God was *El*, which means *God the Creator*.

From A 4 came A 5, the first Severity, and the name of the fifth power of God was *Elohim Gibor*, which means *God the Potent*.

From A 5 came A 6, the first Beauty, and the name of the sixth power of God was *Eloah Vadaath*, which means *God the Strong*.

From A 6 came A 7, the first Victory, and the name of the seventh power of God was *Jehovah Tzaboath*, which means *God of Hosts*.

From A 7 came A 8, the first Glory, and the name of the eighth power of God was *Elohim Tzaboath*, which means *Lord God of Hosts*.

From A 8 came A 9, the first Foundation, and the name of the ninth power of God was *Shaddai*, *El Chai*, which means *Omnipotent*.

From A 9 came A 10, the first Kingdom, and the name of the tenth power of God was *Adonai Melekh*, which means *God*.

From A 10 came B 1, the Second Crown, and the World of *Briah* was established.

The ten emanations from A 1 to A 10 inclusive are called the foundations of all creations. The Qabbalists designate them the ten roots of the Tree of Life. They are arranged in the form of a great human figure called Adam Qadmon--the man made from the fire mist (red dirt), the prototypic Universal Man. In the *Atziluthic* World, the powers of God are most purely manifested. These ten pure and perfect radiations do not descend into the lower worlds and take upon themselves forms, but are reflected upon the substances of the inferior spheres. From the first, or *Atziluthic*, World they are reflected into the second, or *Briatic*, World. As the reflection always lacks some of the brilliancy of the original image, so in the *Briatic* World the ten radiations lose part of their infinite power. A reflection is always like the thing reflected, but smaller and fainter.

In the second world, B 1 to B 10, the order of the spheres is the Name as in the *Atziluthic* World, but the ten circles of light are less brilliant and more tangible, and are here referred to as ten great Spirits--divine creatures who assist in the establishment of order and intelligence in the universe. As already noted, B 1 is born out of A 10 and is included within all the spheres superior to itself. Out of B 1 are taken nine globes--B 2, B 3, B 4, B 5, B 6, B 7, B 8, B 9, and B 10--which constitute the World of *Briah*. These ten subdivisions, however, are really the ten Atziluthic powers reflected into the substance of the *Briatic* World. B 1 is the ruler of this world, for it contains all the other rings of its own world and also the rings of the third and fourth worlds, C and D. In the World of *Briah* the ten spheres of light are called the *Archangels of Briah*. Their order and powers are as follows: From A 10 came B 1, the Second Crown; it is called *Metatron*, the Angel of the Presence.

From B 1 came B 2, the second Wisdom; it is called *Raziel*, the Herald of Deity who revealed the mysteries of Qabbalah to Adam.

From B 2 carne B 3, the second Understanding; it is called *Tsaphkiel*, the Contemplation of God.

From B 3 came B 4 ' the second Mercy; it is called *Tsadkiel*, the justice of God.

From B 4 came B 5, the second Severity; it is called *Samael*, the Severity of God.

From B 5 came B 6, the second Beauty; it is called *Michael*, Like Unto God.

From B 6 came B 7, the second Victory; it is called *Haniel*, the Grace of God.

From B 7 came B 8, the second Glory; it is called *Raphael*, the Divine Physician.

From B 8 came B 9, the second Foundation; it is called *Gabriel*, the Man-God.

From B 9 came B 10, the second Kingdom; it is called *Sandalphon*, the Messias.

From B 10 came C 1, the Third Crown, and the World of *Yetzirah* was established.

The ten Archangels of *Briah* are conceived to be ten great spiritual beings, whose duty is to manifest the ten powers of the Great Name of God existent in the *Atziluthic* World, which surrounds and interpenetrates the entire world of creation. All things manifesting in the lower worlds exist first in the intangible rings of the upper spheres, so that creation is, in truth, the process of making tangible the intangible by extending the intangible into various vibratory rates. The ten globes of *Briatic* power, while themselves reflections, are mirrored downward into the third or *Yetziratic* World, where still more limited in their expression they become the spiritual and invisible zodiac which is behind the visible band of constellations. In this third world the ten globes of the original Atziluthic World are greatly limited and dimmed, but they are still infinitely powerful in comparison with the state of substance in which man dwells. In the third world, C 1 to C 10, the globes become hierarchies of celestial creatures, called the *Choirs of Yetzirah*. Here again, all are included within the ring C 1, the power which controls the Yetziratic World and which includes within itself and controls the entire world D. The order of the globes and the names of the hierarchies composing them are as follows: From B 10 came C 1, the Third Crown; the Hierarchy is the Cherubim, *Chaioth Ha Kadosh*, the Holy Animals.

From C 1 came C 2, the third Wisdom; the Hierarchy is the Cherubim, *Orphanim*, the Wheels.

From C 2 came C 3, the third Understanding; the Hierarchy is the Thrones, *Aralim*, the Mighty Ones.

From C 3 came C 4, the third Mercy; the Hierarchy is the Dominations, *Chashmalim*, the Brilliant Ones.

From C 4 came C 5, the third Severity; the Hierarchy is the Powers, *Seraphim*, the Flaming Serpents.

From C 5 came C 6, the third Beauty; the Hierarchy is the Virtues, *Melachim*, the Kings.

From C 6 came C 7, the third Victory; the Hierarchy is the Principalities, *Elohim*, the Gods.

From C 7 came C 8, the third Glory; the Hierarchy is the Archangels, *Ben Elohim*, the Sons of God.

From C 8 came C 9, the third Foundation; the Hierarchy is the Angels, *Cherubim*, the Scat of the Sons.

From C 9 came C 10, the third Kingdom; the Hierarchy is Humanity, the *Ishim*, the Souls of Just Men.

From C 10 came D 1, the Fourth Crown, and the World of *Assiah* was established.

From the *Yetziratic* World the light of the ten spheres is reflected into the World of *Assiah*, the lowest of the four. The ten globes of the original *Atziluthic* World here take upon themselves forms of physical matter and the sidereal system is the result. The World of *Assiah*, or the elemental world of substance, is the one into which humanity descended at the time of Adam's fall. The Garden of Eden is the three upper worlds, and for his sins man was forced into the sphere of substance and assumed coats of skin (bodies). All of the spiritual forces of the upper worlds, A, B, C, when they strike against the elements of the lower world, D, are distorted and perverted, resulting in the creation of hierarchies of demons to correspond with the good spirits in each of the higher worlds. In all the ancient Mysteries, matter was regarded as the source of all evil and spirit the source of all good, for matter inhibits and limits, often so clogging the inner perceptions that man is unable to recognize his own divine potentialities. Since matter thus prevents humanity from claiming its birthright, it is called the Adversary, the power of evil. The fourth world, D, is the world of solar systems, comprising not only the one of which the earth is a part but all the solar systems in the universe.

Opinions differ as to the arrangement of the globes of this last world, D 1 to D 10 inclusive. The ruler of the fourth world is D 1, called by some the *Fiery Heaven*; by others the *Primum Mobile*, or the *First Motion*. From this whirling fire emanates the material starry zodiac, D 2, in contradistinction to the invisible spiritual zodiac of the *Yetziratic* World. From the zodiac, D 2, are differentiated the spheres of the planets in concatenate order. The ten spheres of the World of *Assiah* are as follows: From C 10 came D 1, the Fourth Crown; *Rashith Ha-Galagalum*, the *Primum Mobile*, the fiery mist which is the beginning of the material universe.

*THE PLAN OF DIVINE ACTIVITY.*

*According to the Qabbalists, the life of the Supreme Creator permeates all substance, all space, and all time, but for diagrammatic purposes the Supreme, All-Inclusive Life is limited by Circle 3, which may be called "the boundary line of Divine existence." The Divine Life permeating the area bounded by Circle 3 is focused at Point 1, which thus becomes the personification of the impersonal life and is termed "the First Crown." The creative forces pouring through Point 1 come into manifestation as the objective universe in the intermediate space, Circle 2.*

From D 1 came D 2, the fourth Wisdom; *Masloth*, the Zodiac, the Firmament of the Fixed Stars.

From D 2 came D 3, the fourth Understanding; *Shabbathai*, the sphere of Saturn.

From D 3 came D 4, the fourth Mercy; *Tzedeg*, the sphere of Jupiter.

From D 4 came D 5, the fourth Severity; *Madim*, the sphere of Mars.

From D 5 came D 6, the fourth Beauty; *Shemesh*, the sphere of the Sun.

From D 6 came D 7, the fourth Victory; *Nogah*, the sphere of Venus.

From D 7 came D 8, the fourth Glory; *Kokab*, the sphere of Mercury.

From D 8 came D 9, the fourth Foundation; *Levanah*, the sphere of the Moon.

From D 9 came D 10, the Fourth Kingdom; *Cholom Yosodoth*, the sphere of the Four Elements.

By inserting a sphere (which he calls the Empyrean) before the Primum Mobile, Kircher moves each of the other spheres down one, resulting in the elimination of the sphere of the elements and making D 10 the sphere of the Moon.

In the World of *Assiah* are to be found the demons and tempters. These are likewise reflections of the ten great globes of *Atziluth*, but because of the distortion of the images resulting from the base substances of the World of *Assiah* upon which they are reflected, they become evil creatures, called *shells* by the Qabbalists. There are ten hierarchies of these demons to correlate with the ten hierarchies of good spirits composing the *Yetziratic* World. There are also ten Archdemons, corresponding to the ten Archangels of *Briah*. The black magicians use these inverted spirits in their efforts to attain their nefarious ends, but in time the demon destroys those who bind themselves to it.

*THE QABBALISTIC SCHEME OF THE FOUR WORLDS.*

*In the above chart the dark line between X 3 and A 1 constitutes the boundary of the original dot, while the concentric circles within this heavier line symbolize the emanations and the worlds which came forth from the dot. As this dot is contained within the outer rings X 1, X 2, and X 3, and represents the first establishment of an individualized existence, so the lower universe symbolized by the forty concentric circles within the dot represents the lower creation evolved out of and yet contained within the nature of the first Crown, which may be called God, within whom the divine powers, the celestial beings the sidereal worlds, and man, live and move and have their being. It is highly important that all the rings within A 1 be considered as being enclosed by the primitive dot, which is itself encircled by the great ring X 1, or the Auric Egg of AIN SOPH.*

*Each ring includes with in its own nature all the rings within itself and is included within the natures of all the rings outside of itself. Thus, A 1--the primitive dot--controls and contains the thirty-nine rings which it encloses, all of these partaking of its nature in varying degrees according to their respective dignities. Consequently, the entire area from A 1 to D 10 inclusive is the original dot, and the rings symbolize the divisions which took place with in it and the emanations which poured out from it after its establishment in the midst of the abstract nature of AIN SOPH. The powers of the rings decrease towards the center of the diagram, for Power is measured by the number of things controlled, and each ring controls the rings within it and is controlled by the rings outside of it. Thus, while A 1 controls thirty-nine rings besides itself, B 1 controls only twenty-nine rings besides its own. Therefore, A 1 is more powerful than B 1. As the greatest spiritual solidity, or permanence, is at the circumference and the greatest material density, or impermanence, is at the center of the diagram, the rings as they decrease in Power become more material and substantial until the center sphere, D 10, symbolizes the actual chemical elements of the earth. The rates of vibration are also lower as the rings approach the center. Thus, the vibration of A 2 is lower than A 1 but higher than A 3, and so on in decreasing scale towards the center, A 1 being the highest and D 10 the lowest sphere of creation. While A 1, the ruler of creation, controls the circles marked A, B, C, and D, it is less than the three rings of AIN SOPH--X 1, X2, and X3--and therefore bows before the throne of the ineffable Creator from whose substances it was individualized.*

The ten orders of demons and the ten Archdemons of the World of *Assiah* are as follows:

D 1, the evil Crown; the hierarchy is called *Thaumiel*, the doubles of God, the Two-headed; the Archdemons are *Satan* and *Moloch*.

From D 1 came D 2, the evil Wisdom; the hierarchy is called *Chaigidiel*, those who obstruct; the Archdemon is *Adam Belial*.

From D 2 came D 3, the evil Understanding; the hierarchy is called *Satharial*, the concealment of God, the Archdemon is *Lucifuge*.

From D 3 came D 4, the evil Mercy; the hierarchy is called *Gamchicoth*, the disturber of things; the Archdemon is *Astaroth*.

From D 4 came D 5, the evil Severity; the hierarchy is called *Golab*, incendiarism and burning; the Archdemon is *Asmodeus*.

From D 5 came D 6, the evil Beauty; the hierarchy is called *Togarini*, the wranglers; the Archdemon is *Belphegor*.

From D 6 came D 7, the evil Victory; the hierarchy is called *Harab Serap*, the dispensing Raven; the Archdemon is *Baal Chanan*.

From D 7 came D 8, the evil Glory; the hierarchy is called *Samael*, the embroiler; the Archdemon is *Adramelek*.

From D 8 came D 9, the evil Foundation; the hierarchy is called *Gamaliel*, the obscene; the Archdemon is *Lilith*.

From D 9 came D 10, the evil Kingdom; the hierarchy is called *Nahemoth*, the impure; the Archdemon is *Nahema*.

The Qabbalists declare that the worlds, intelligences, and hierarchies were established according to the vision of Ezekiel. By the man of Ezekiel's vision is symbolized the World of *Atziluth*; by the throne, the World of *Briah*; by the firmament, the World of *Yetzirah*; and by the living creatures the World of *Assiah*. These spheres are the wheels within wheels of the prophet. The Qabbalists next established a human figure in each of the four worlds: A 1 was the head and A 10 the feet of the man of *Atziluth*; B 1 was the head and B 10 the feet of the man of *Briah*; C 1 was the head and C 10 the feet of the man of *Yetzirah*; D 1 was the head and D 10 the feet of the man of *Assiah*. These four are called the *World Men*. They are considered androgynous and are the prototypes of humanity.

The human body, like that of the universe, is considered to be a material expression of ten globes or spheres of light. Therefore man is called the Microcosm--the little world, built in the image of the great world of which he is a part. The Qabbalists also established a mysterious universal man with his head at A 1 and his feet at D 10. This is probably the secret significance of the great figure of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, with its head in the World of *Atziluth*, its arms and hands in the World of *Briah*, its generative system in the World of *Yetzirah*, and its legs and feet in the World of *Assiah*. This is the *Grand Man of the Zohar*, of whom Eliphas Levi writes: "It is not less astonishing to observe at the beginning of the Zohar the profundity of its notions and the sublime simplicity of its images. It is said as follows: 'The science of equilibrium is the key of occult science. Unbalanced forces perish in the void. So passed the kings of the elder world, the princes of the giants. They have fallen like trees without roots, and their place is found no more. Through the conflict of unbalanced forces, the devastated earth was void and formless, until the Spirit of God made for itself a place in heaven and reduced the mass of waters. All the aspirations of Nature were directed then towards unity of form, towards the living synthesis (if equilibrated forces; the face of God, crowned with light, rose over the vast sea and was reflected in the waters thereof. His two eyes were manifested, radiating with splendour, darting two beams of light which crossed with those of the reflection. The brow of God and His eyes formed a triangle in heaven, and its reflection formed a second triangle in the waters. So was revealed the number six, being that of universal creation.' The text, which would be unintelligible in a literal version, is translated here by way of interpretation. The author makes it plain that the human form which he ascribes to Deity is only an image of his meaning and that God is beyond expression by human thought or representation by any figure. Pascal said that God is a circle, of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere. But how is one to imagine a circle apart from its circumference? The Zohar adopts the antithesis of this paradoxical image and in respect of the circle of Pascal would say rather that the circumference is everywhere, while that which is nowhere is the center. It is however to a balance and not to a circle that it compares the universal equilibrium of things. It affirms that equilibrium is everywhere and so also is the central point where the balance hangs in suspension. We find that the Zohar is thus more forcible and more profound than Pascal. ** * The Zohar is a genesis of light; the Sepher Yetzirah is a ladder of truth. Therein are expounded the two-and-thirty absolute symbols of speech--being numbers and letters. Each letter produces a number, an idea and a form, so that mathematics are applicable to forms and ideas, even as to numbers, in virtue of an exact proportion, and a perfect correspondence. By the science of the Sepher Yetzirah, the human mind is rooted in truth and in reason; it accounts for all progress possible to intelligence by means of the evolution of numbers. Thus does the Zohar represent absolute truth, while the Sepher Yetzirah furnishes the method of its acquisition, its discernment and application." (*History of Magic*.) By placing man himself at the point D 10, his true constitution is revealed. He exists upon four worlds, only one of which is visible. It is then made evident that his parts and members upon the material plane are, by analogy, hierarchies and intelligences in the higher worlds. Here, again, the law of interpenetration is evidenced. Although within man is the entire universe (the 43 spheres interpenetrating D 10), he is ignorant of its existence because he cannot exercise control over that which is superior to or greater than himself. Nevertheless, all these higher spheres exercise control over him, as his functions and activities demonstrate. If they did not, he would be an inert mass of substance. Death is merely the result of deflecting the life impulses of the higher rings away from the lower body.

The control of the transubstantial rings over their own material reflection is called *life*, and the spirit of man is, in reality, a name given to this great host of intelligences, which are focused upon substance through a point called the *ego*, established in the midst of themselves. X 1 is the outside boundary of the human Auric Egg, and the entire diagram becomes a cross section of the constitution of man, or a cross section of the Kosmic constitution, if correlated with the universe. By the secret culture of the Qabbalistic School, man is taught how to climb the rings (unfold his consciousness) until at last he returns to AIN SOPH. The process by which this is accomplished is called the *Fifty Gates of Light*. Kircher, the Jesuit Qabbalist, declares that Moses passed through forty-nine of the gates, but that Christ alone passed the fiftieth gate.

To the third edition of the *Sepher Yetzirah* translated from the Hebrew by Wm. Wynn Westcott are appended the Fifty Gates of Intelligence emanating from *Binah*, the second Sephira. The source of this information is Kircher's *Œdipus Ægyptiacus*. The gates are divided into six orders, of which the first four have each ten subdivisions, the fifth nine, and the sixth only one.

The first order of gates is termed *Elementary* and its divisions areas follows: (1) Chaos, Hyle, the First Matter; (2) Formless, void, lifeless; (3) The Abyss; (4) Origin of the Elements; (5) Earth (no seed germs); (6) Water;(7) Air;(8) Fire;(9) Differentiation of qualities; (10) Mixture and combination.

The second order of gates is termed *Decad of Evolution* and its divisions areas follows: (11) Minerals differentiate; (12) Vegetable principles appear; (13) Seeds germinate in moisture; (14) Herbs and Trees; (15) Fructification in vegetable life; (16) Origin of low forms of animal life; (17) Insects and Reptiles appear; (18) Fishes, vertebrate life in the waters; (19) Birds, vertebrate life in the air; (20) Quadrupeds, vertebrate earth animals.

The third order of gates is termed *Decad of Humanity* and its divisions are as follows: (21) Appearance of Man; (22) Material human body; (23) Human Soul conferred; (24) Mystery of Adam and Eve; (25) Complete Man as the Microcosm; (26) Gift of five human faces acting exteriorly; (27) Gift of five powers to the soul; (28) Adam Kadmon, the Heavenly Man; (29) Angelic beings, (30) Man in the image of God.

The fourth order of gates is termed *World of Spheres* and its divisions are as follows: (31) The Heaven of the Moon; (32) The Heaven of Mercury, (33) The Heaven of Venus; (34) The Heaven of the Sun; (35) The Heaven of Mars; (36) The Heaven of Jupiter; (37) The Heaven of Saturn; (38) The Firmament; (39) The Primum Mobile; (40) The Empyrean Heaven.

The fifth order of gates is termed *The Angelic World* and its divisions are as follows: (41) Ishim--Sons of Fire; (42) Orphanim--Cherubim; (43) Aralim--Thrones; (44) Chashmalim--Dominions; (45) Seraphim--Virtues; (46) Melachim--Powers; (47) Elohim--Principalities; (48) Ben Elohim--Angels; (49) Cherubim--Archangels. The order of the Angels is a matter of controversy, the arrangement above differing from that accepted in other sections of this volume. The Rabbins disagree fundamentally as to the proper sequence of the Angelic names.

The sixth order is termed *The Archetype* and consists of but one gate: (50) God, AIN SOPH, He whom no mortal eye hath seen. The fiftieth gate leads from creation into the Creative Principle and he who passes through it returns into the unlimited and undifferentiated condition of ALL. The fifty gates reveal a certain evolutionary process and it was declared by the Rabbins that he who would attain to the highest degree of understanding must pass sequentially through all of these orders of life, each of which constituted a gate in that the spirit, passing from the lower to the higher, found in each more responsive organism new avenues of self-expression.

## The Tree of the Sephiroth

THE Tree of the Sephiroth may be considered an invaluable compendium of the secret philosophy which originally was the spirit and soul of Chasidism. The Qabbalah is the priceless heritage of Israel, but each year those who comprehend its true principles become fewer in number. The Jew of today, if he lacks a realization of the profundity of his people's doctrines, is usually permeated with that most dangerous form of ignorance, modernism, and is prone to regard the Qabbalah either as an evil to be shunned like the plague or as a ridiculous superstition which has survived the black magic of the Dark Ages. Yet without the key which the Qabbalah supplies, the spiritual mysteries of both the Old and the New Testament must remain unsolved by Jew and Gentile alike.

The Sephirothic Tree consists of ten globes of luminous splendor arranged in three vertical columns and connected by 22 channels or paths. The ten globes are called the *Sephiroth* and to them are assigned the numbers i to 10. The three columns are called *Mercy* (on the right), *Severity* (on the left), and, between them, *Mildness*, as the reconciling power. The columns may also be said to represent *Wisdom*, *Strength*, and *Beauty*, which form the triune support of the universe, for it is written that the foundation of all things is the *Three*. The 22 channels are the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and to them are assigned the major trumps of the Tarot deck of symbolic cards.

Eliphas Levi declared that by arranging the Tarot cards according to a definite order man could discover all that is knowable concerning his God, his universe, and himself. When the ten numbers which pertain to the globes (Sephiroth) are combined with the 22 letters relating to the channels, the resultant sum is 32--the number peculiar to the Qabbalistic Paths of Wisdom. These Paths, occasionally referred to as the 32 teeth in the mouth of the *Vast Countenance* or as the 32 nerves that branch out from the Divine Brain, are analogous to the first 32 degrees of Freemasonry, which elevate the candidate to the dignity of a Prince of the Royal Secret. Qabbalists also consider it extremely significant that in the original Hebrew Scriptures the name of God should occur 32 times in the first chapter of Genesis. (In the English translations of the Bible the name appears 33 times.) In the mystic analysis of the human body, according to the Rabbins, 32 spinal segments lead upward to the Temple of Wisdom--the skull.

The four Qabbalistic Trees described in the preceding chapter were combined by later Jewish scholars into one all-inclusive diagram and termed by them not only the Sephirothic but also the *Archetypal*, or *Heavenly*, *Adam*. According to some authorities, it is this Heavenly Adam, and not a terrestrial man, whose creation is described in the opening chapters of Genesis. Out of the substances of this divine man the universe was formed; in him it remains and will continue even after dissolution shall resolve the spheres back into their own primitive substance. The Deity is never conceived of as actually contained in the Sephiroth, which are purely hypothetical vessels employed to define the limits of the Creative Essence. Adolph Franck rather likens the Sephiroth to varicolored transparent glass bowls filled with pure light, which apparently assumes the color of its containers but whose essential nature remains ever unchanged and unchangeable.

The ten Sephiroth composing the body of the prototypic Adam, the numbers related to them, and the parts of the universe to which they correspond are as follows:

No.

THE SEPHIROTH

THE UNIVERSE

ALTERNATIVE

1

Kether--the Crown

Primum Mobile

The Fiery Heavens

2

Chochmah--Wisdom

The Zodiac

The First Motion

3

Binah--Understanding

Saturn

The Zodiac

4

Chesed--Mercy

Jupiter

Saturn

5

Geburah--Severity

Mars

Jupiter

6

Tiphereth--Beauty

Sun

Mars

7

Netsah--Victory

Venus

Sun

8

Hod--Glory

Mercury

Venus

9

Jesod--the Foundation

Moon

Mercury

10

Malchuth--the Kingdom

Elements

Moon

It must continually be emphasized that the Sephiroth and the properties assigned to them, like the tetractys of the Pythagoreans, are merely symbols of the cosmic system with its multitude of parts. The truer and fuller meaning of these emblems may not be revealed by writing or by word of mouth, but must be divined as the result of study and meditation. In the *Sepher ha Zohar* it is written that there is a *garment*--the written doctrine-which every man may see. Those with understanding do not look upon the *garment* but at the body beneath it--the intellectual and philosophical code. The wisest of all, however, the servants of the Heavenly King, look at nothing save the soul--the spiritual doctrine--which is the eternal and ever-springing root of the law. Of this great truth Eliphas Levi also writes declaring that none can gain entrance to the secret House of Wisdom unless he wear the voluminous *cape* of Apollonius of Tyana and carry in his hand the *lamp* of Hermes. The cape signifies the qualities of self-possession and self-reliance which must envelope the seeker as a cloak of strength, while the ever-burning lamp of the sage represents the illumined mind and perfectly balanced intellect without which the mystery of the ages can never be solved.

The Sephirothic Tree is sometimes depicted as a human body, thus more definitely establishing the true identity of the first, or Heavenly, Man--*Adam Kadmon*--the *Idea* of the Universe. The ten divine globes (Sephiroth) are then considered as analogous to the ten sacred members and organs of the *Protogonos*, according to the following arrangement. Kether is the crown of the Prototypic Head and perhaps refers to the pineal gland; Chochmah and Binah are the right and left hemispheres respectively of the Great Brain; Chesed and Geburah (Pechad) are the right and left arms respectively, signifying the active creative members of the Grand Man; Tiphereth is the heart, or, according to some, the entire viscera; Netsah and Hod are the right and left legs respectively, or the supports of the world; Jesod is the generative system, or the foundation of form; and Malchuth represents the two feet, or the base of being. Occasionally Jesod is considered as the male and Malchuth as the female generative power. The Grand Man thus conceived is the gigantic image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, with head of gold, arms and chest of silver, body of brass, legs of iron, and feet of clay. The medieval Qabbalists also assigned one of the Ten Commandments and a tenth part of the Lord's Prayer in sequential order to each of the ten Sephiroth.

Concerning the emanations from Kether which establish themselves as three triads of Creative Powers--termed in the *Sepher ha Zohar* three heads each with three faces--H. P. Blavatsky writes: "This Kether was the first Sephiroth, containing in herself the other nine ספּירות Sephiroth, or intelligences. In their totality and unity they represent the archetypal man, *Adam Kadmon*, the πρωτόγονος, who in his individuality or unity is yet dual, or bisexual, the Greek *Didumos*, for he is the prototype of all humanity. Thus we obtain three trinities, each contained in a 'head.' In the first head, or face (the three-faced Hindu Trimurti), we find *Sephira* Kether, the first androgyne, at the apex of the upper triangle, emitting *Hachama* Chochmah, or Wisdom, a masculine and active potency--also called Jah, יה--and *Binah*, בינה, or Intelligence, a female and passive potency, also represented by the name Jehovah יהוה. These three form the first trinity or 'face' of the Sephiroth. This triad emanated *Hesed*, הסד, or Mercy, a masculine active potency, also called *El*, from which emanated *Geburah* גבורה, or justice, also called Eloha, a feminine passive potency; from the union of these two was produced *Tiphereth* טפּארת, Beauty, Clemency, the Spiritual Sun, known by the divine name *Elohim*; and the second triad, 'face,' or 'head,' was formed. These emanating, in their turn, the masculine potency *Netzah*, נצה, Firmness, or Jehovah Sabaoth, who issued the feminine passive potency Hod,הוד, Splendor, or Elohim Sabaoth; the two produced *Jesod*, יסוד, Foundation, who is the mighty living one *El-Chai*, thus yielding the third trinity or 'head.' The tenth Sephiroth is rather a duad, and is represented on the diagrams as the lowest circle. It is *Malchuth* or Kingdom, מלכות, and *Shekinah*, שכינה, also called Adonai, and *Cherubim* among the angelic hosts. The first 'Head' is called the Intellectual world; the second 'Head' is the Sensuous, or the world of Perception, and the third is the material or Physical world." (See *Isis Unveiled*.) Among the later Qabbalists there is also a division of the Sephirothic Tree into five parts, in which the distribution of the globes is according to the following order: (1) *Macroprosophus*, or the *Great Face*, is the term applied to Kether as the first and most exalted of the Sephiroth and includes the nine potencies or Sephiroth issuing from Kether.

(2) *Abba*, the *Great Father*, is the term generally applied to Chochmah--Universal Wisdom--the first emanation of Kether, but, according to Ibn Gebirol, Chochmah represents the Son, the Logos or the Word born from the union of Kether and Binah.

(3) *Aima*, the *Great Mother*, is the name by which Binah, or the third Sephira, is generally known. This is the Holy Ghost, from whose body the generations issue forth. Being the third person of the Creative Triad, it corresponds to Jehovah, the Demiurgus.

(4) *Microprosophus*, or the *Lesser Face*, is composed of the six Sephiroth--Chesed, Geburah, Tiphereth, Netsah, Hod, and Jesod. The Microprosophus is commonly called the *Lesser Adam*, or *Zauir Anpin*, whereas the *Macroprosophus*, or *Superior Adam*, is *Arikh Anpin*.

*THE FOUR SEPHIROTHIC TREES.*

*The forty concentric circles shown in the large circular cut in the preceding chapter are here arranged as four trees, each consisting of ten circles. These trees disclose the organization of the hierarchies controlling the destinies of all creation. The trees are the same in each of the four world but the powers vested in the globes express themselves differently through the substances of each world, resulting in endless differentiation.*

*A TABLE OF SEPHIROTHIC CORRESPONDENCES.*

*From Fludd's Collectio Operum.*

*The above diagram has been specially translated from the Latin as being of unique value to students of Qabbalism and also as an example of Robert Fludd's unusual ability in assembling tables of correspondences. Robert Fludd ranks among the most eminent Rosicrucians and Freemasons; in fact, he has often been called "the first English Rosicrucian." He has written several valuable documents directly bearing upon the Rosicrucian enigma. It is significant that the most important of his works should be published at the same time as those of Bacon, Shakespeare, and the first Rosicrucian authors.*

*THE SEPHIROTHIC TREE OF THE LATER QABBALISTS.*

*Translated from Kircher's Œdipus Ægyptiacus.*

*Having demonstrated that the Qabbalists divided the universe into four worlds, each consisting of ten spheres, it is necessary to consider next how the ten spheres of each world were arranged into what is called the ''Sephirothic Tree." This Tree is composed of ten circles, representing the numbers 1 to 20 and connected together by twenty-two canals--the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The ten numbers plus the twenty-two letters result in the occult number 32, which, according to the Mishna, signifies the Thirty-two Paths of Wisdom. Letters and numbers, according to the Qabbalists, are the keys to all knowledge, for by a secret system of arranging them the mysteries of creation are revealed. For this reason they are called "the Paths of Wisdom." This occult fact is carefully concealed in the 32nd degree of Freemasonry.*

*There are four trees, one in each of the four worlds established in the preceding chapter. The first is in the Atziluthic World, the ten circles being the ten globes of light established in the midst of AIN SOPH. The powers and attributes of this Tree are reflected into each of the three lower worlds, the form of the Tree remaining the same but its power diminishing as it descends. To further complicate their doctrine, the Qabbalists created another tree, which was a composite of all four of the world trees but consisted of only ten globes. In this single tree were condensed all the arcana previously scattered through the voluminous archives of Qabbalistic literature.*

The Lesser Face is properly symbolized by the six-pointed star or interlaced triangles of Zion and also by the six faces of the cube. It represents the directions north, east, south, west, up, and down, and also the first six days of Creation. In his list of the parts of the Microprosophus, MacGregor-Mathers includes Binah as the first and superior part of the *Lesser Adam*, thus making his constitution septenary. If Microprosophus be considered as sexpartite, then his globes (Sephiroth) are analogous to the six days of Creation, and the tenth globe, Malchuth, to the Sabbath of rest.

(5) The Bride of *Microprosophus* is Malchuth--the epitome of the Sephiroth, its quaternary constitution being composed of blendings of the four elements. This is the divine Eve that is taken out of the side of *Microprosophus* and combines the potencies of the entire Qabbalistic Tree in one sphere, which may be termed man.

According to the mysteries of the Sephiroth, the order of the Creation, or the Divine Lightning Flash which zigzags through the four worlds according to the order of the divine emanations, is thus described: From AIN SOPH, the Nothing and All, the Eternal and Unconditioned Potency, issues *Macroprosophus*, the *Long Face*, of whom it is written, "Within His skull exist daily thirteen thousand myriads of worlds which draw their existence from Him and by Him are upheld." (See The Greater Holy Assembly.) *Macroprosophus*, the directionalized will of AIN SOPH, corresponding to Kether, the Crown of the Sephiroth, gives birth out of Himself to the nine lesser spheres of which He is the sum and the overbrooding cause. The 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, by the various combinations of which the laws of the universe are established, constitute the scepter of *Macroprosophus* which He wields from His flaming throne in the Atziluthic World.

From this eternal and ancient androgyne--Kether--come forth Chochmah, the great Father, and Binah, the great Mother. These two are usually referred to as Abba and Aima respectively--the first male and the first female, the prototypes of sex. These correspond to the first two letters of the sacred name, Jehovah, יהוה, *IHVH*. The Father is the י, or *I*, and the Mother is the ה, or *H*. *Abba* and *Aima* symbolize the creative activities of the universe, and are established in the creative world of Briah. In the *Sepher ha Zohar* it is written, "And therefore are all things established in the equality of male and female; for were it not so, how could they subsist? This beginning is the Father of all things; the Father of all Fathers; and both are mutually bound together, and the one path shineth into the other--Chochmah, Wisdom, as the Father; Binah, Understanding, as the Mother."

There is a difference of opinion concerning certain of the relationships of the parts of the first triad. Some Qabbalists, including Ibn Gebirol, consider Kether as the Father, Binah as the Mother, and Chochmah as the Son. In this later arrangement, Wisdom, which is the attribute of the Son, becomes the creator of the lower spheres. The symbol of Binah is the dove, a proper emblem for the brooding maternal instinct of the Universal Mother.

Because of the close similarity of their creative triad to the Christian Trinity, the later Qabbalists rearranged the first three Sephiroth and added a mysterious point called *Daath*--a hypothetical eleventh Sephira. This is located where the horizontal line connecting Chochmah and Binah crosses the vertical line joining Kether and Tiphereth. While *Daath* is not mentioned by the first Qabbalists, it is a highly important element and its addition to the Sephirothic Tree was not made without full realization of the significance of such action. If Chochmah be considered the active, intelligent energy of Kether, and Binah the receptive capacity of Kether, then *Daath* becomes the *thought* which, created by Chochmah, flows into Binah. The postulation of *Daath* clarifies the problem of the Creative Trinity, for here it is diagrammatically represented as consisting of Chochmah (the Father), Binah (the Mother, or Holy Ghost), and *Daath*, the Word by which the worlds were established. Isaac Myer discounts the importance of *Daath*, declaring it a subterfuge to conceal the fact that Kether, and not Chochmah; is the true Father of the Creative Triad. He makes no attempt to give a satisfactory explanation for the symbolism of this hypothetical Sephira.

According to the original conception, from the union of the Divine Father and the Divine Mother is produced *Microprosophus*--the *Short Face* or the *Lesser Countenance*, which is established in the Yetziratic World of formation and corresponds to the letter ו, or *V*, in the Great Name. The six powers of *Microprosophus* flow from and are contained in their own source, which is Binah, the Mother of the *Lesser Adam*. These constitute the spheres of the sacred planets; their name is Elohim, and they move upon the face of the deep. The tenth Sephira--Malchuth, the Kingdom--is described as the Bride of the *Lesser Adam*, created back to back with her lord, and to it is assigned the final, ה, or *H*, the last letter of the Sacred Name. The dwelling place of Malchuth is in the fourth world--Assiah--and it is composed of all the superior powers reflected into the elements of the terrestrial sphere. Thus it will be seen that the Qabbalistic Tree extends through four worlds, with its branches in matter and its roots in the Ancient of Ancients--*Macroprosophus*.

Three vertical columns support the universal system as typified by the Sephirothic Tree. The central pillar has its foundation in Kether, the Eternal One. It passes downward through the hypothetical Sephira, *Daath*, and then through Tiphereth and Jesod, with its lower end resting upon the firm foundation of Malchuth, the last of the globes. The true import of the central pillar is equilibrium. It demonstrates how the Deity always manifests by emanating poles of expression from the midst of Itself but remaining free from the illusion of polarity. If the numbers of the four Sephiroth connected by this column be added together (1 +6 +9 + 10), the sum is 26, the number of Jehovah. (See chapter on *Pythagorean Mathematics*.) The column on the right, which is called *Jachin*, has its foundation on Chochmah, the outpouring Wisdom of God; the three globes suspended from it are all masculine potencies. The column at the left is called *Boaz*. The three globes upon it are feminine and receptive potencies, for it is founded in *Understanding*, a receptive and maternal potency. *Wisdom*, it will be noted, is considered as radiant or outpouring, and *Understanding* as receptive, or something which is filled by the flowing of *Wisdom*. The three pillars are ultimately united in Malchuth, in which all the powers of the superior worlds are manifested.

*THE SEPHIROTH IN THE FORM OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.*

*From Maurice's Indian Antiquities.*

*Thomas Maurice reproduces the above engraving, which is modification of the elaborate tree on the preceding page. The Sephiroth are here superimposed, decreasing in size as they decrease in power and dignity. Thus, the Crown is the greatest and the all-inclusive, and the Kingdom--which represents the physical universe--is the smallest and of least importance.*

The four globes upon the central column reveal the function of the creative power in the various worlds. In the first world the creative power is *Will*--the one Divine Cause; in the second world, the hypothetical *Daath*--the Word coming forth from the Divine Thought; in the third world, Tiphereth--the Sun, or focal point between God and Nature; in the fourth world it is twofold, being the positive and negative poles of the reproductive system, of which Jesod is the male and Malchuth the female.

In Kircher's Sephirothic Tree it should be especially noted that the ornaments of the Tabernacle appear in the various parts of the diagram. These indicate a direct relationship between the sacred House of God and the universe--a relationship which must always be considered as existing between the Deity through whose activity the world is produced and the world itself, which must be the house or vehicle of that Deity. Could the modern scientific world but sense the true profundity of these philosophical deductions of the ancients, it would realize that those who fabricated the structure of the Qabbalah possessed a knowledge of the celestial plan comparable in every respect with that of the modern savant.

The *Tetragrammaton*, or the four-lettered Name of God, written thus יהוה, is pronounce Jehovah. The first letter is י, *Yod*, the Germ, the Life, the Flame, the Cause, the One, and the most fundamental of the Jewish phallic emblems. Its numerical value is 10, and it is to be considered as the 1 containing the 10. In the Qabbalah it is declared that the a *Yod* is in reality three *Yods*, of which the first is the *beginning*, the second is the *center*, and the third is the *end*. Its throne is the Sephira Chochmah (according to Ibn Gebirol, Kether), from which it goes forth to impregnate Binah, which is the first ה, *He*. The result of this union is Tiphereth, which is the ו *Vau*, whose power is 6 and which symbolizes the six members of the *Lesser Adam*. The final ה, *He*, is Malchuth, the *Inferior Mother*, partaking in part of the potencies of the *Divine Mother*, the first *He*. By placing the four letters of the *Tetragrammaton* in a vertical column, a figure closely resembling the human body is produced, with *Yod* for the head, the first *He* for the arms and shoulders, *Vau* for the trunk of the body, and the final *He* for the hips and legs. If the Hebrew letters be exchanged for their English equivalents, the form is not materially changed or the analogy altered. It is also extremely significant that by inserting the letter ש, *Shin*, in the middle of the name *Jehovah*, the word *Jehoshua*, or *Jesus*, is formed thus: יהשוה

In the Qabbalistic Mysteries, according to Eliphas Levi, the name *Jehovah* is occasionally written by connecting together 24 dots--the 24 powers before the throne--and it is believed that the name of the Power of Evil is the sign of Jehovah reversed or inverted. (See *Transcendental Magic*.) Of the Great Word, Albert Pike writes: "The True Word of a Mason is to be found in the concealed and profound meaning of the Ineffable Name of Deity, communicated by God to Moses; and which meaning was long lost by the very precautions taken to conceal it. The true pronunciation of that name was in truth a secret, in which, however, was involved the far more profound secret of its meaning. In that meaning is included all the truth that can be known by us, in regard to the nature of God." (See *Morals and Dogma*.)

## Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Man

HENRIE STEPHEN, in *A World of Wonders*, published in 1607, mentions a monk of St. Anthony who declared that while in Jerusalem the patriarch of that city had shown him not only one of the ribs of the *Word made flesh* and some rays from the Star of Bethlehem, but also the snout of a seraph, a finger nail of a cherub, the horns of Moses, and a casket containing the breath of Christ! To a people believing implicitly in a seraph sufficiently tangible to have its proboscis preserved, the more profound issues of Judaistic philosophy must necessarily be incomprehensible. Nor is it difficult to imagine the reaction taking place in the mind of some ancient sage should he hear that a cherub--which, according to St. Augustine, signifies the Evangelists; according to Philo Judæus, the outermost circumference of the entire heavens, and according to several of the Church Fathers, the wisdom of God--had sprouted finger nails. The hopeless confusion of divine principles with the allegorical figures created to represent them to the limited faculties of the uninitiated has resulted in the most atrocious misconceptions of spiritual truths. Concepts well-nigh as preposterous as these, however, still stand as adamantine barriers to a true understanding of Old and New Testament symbolism; for, until man disentangles his reasoning powers from the web of venerated absurdities in which his mind has lain ensnared for centuries, how can Truth ever be discovered?

The Old Testament--especially the Pentateuch--contains not only the traditional account of the creation of the world and of man, but also, locked within it, the secrets of the Egyptian initiators of the *Moses* concerning the genesis of the god-man (the initiate) and the mystery of his rebirth through philosophy. While the Lawgiver of Israel is known to have compiled several works other than those generally attributed to him, the writings now commonly circulated as the purported sixth and seventh books of Moses are in reality spurious treatises on black magic foisted on the credulous during the Middle Ages. Out of the hundreds of millions of pious and thoughtful students of Holy Writ, it is almost inconceivable that but a mere handful have sensed the sublimity of the esoteric teachings of Sod (the Jewish Mysteries of Adonai). Yet familiarity with the three Qabbalistical processes termed *Gematria*, *Notarikon*, and *Temurah* makes possible the discovery of many of the profoundest truths of ancient Jewish superphysics.

By Gematria is meant not only the exchange of letters for their numerical equivalents but also the method of determining by an analysis of its measurements the mystic purpose for which a building or other object was constructed. S. L. MacGregor-Mathers, in *The Kabbalah Unveiled*, gives this example of the application of Gematria: "Thus also the passage, Gen. xviii. 2 *VHNH SHLSHH, Vehenna Shalisha*, 'And lo, three men,' equals in numerical value 'ALV MIKAL GBRIAL VRPAL, *Elo Mikhael Gabriel Ve-Raphael*,' These are Mikhael, Gabriel and Raphael; 'for each phrase = 701." Assuming the sides of a scalene to be 11, 9, and 6 inches, a triangle of such dimensions would then be an appropriate symbol of Jehovah, for the sum of its three sides would be 26, the numerical value of the Hebrew word IHVH. Gematria also includes the system of discovering the arcane meaning of a word by analyzing the size and arrangement of the strokes employed in the formation of its various letters. Gematria was employed by the Greeks as well as the Jews. The books of the New Testament--particularly those attributed to St. John--contain many examples of its use. Nicephorus Callistus declared the Gospel according to St. John to have been discovered in a cavern under the Temple at Jerusalem, the volume having been secreted "long anterior to the Christian æra." The existence of interpolated material in the fourth Gospel substantiates the belief that the work *was originally written without any specific reference to the man Jesus*, the statements therein accredited to Him being originally mystical discourses delivered by the personification of the Universal Mind. The remaining Johannine writings--the Epistles and the Apocalypse--are enshrouded by a similar veil of mystery.

By Notarikon each letter of a word may become the initial character of a new word. Thus from BRASHITH, first word in the book of Genesis, are extracted six words which mean that "in the beginning the Elohim saw that Israel would accept the law." Mr. MacGregor-Mathers also gives six additional examples of Notarikon formed from the above word by Solomon Meir Ben Moses, a medieval Qabbalist. From the famous acrostic ascribed to the Erythræan Sibyl, St. Augustine derived the word ΙΧΘΥΣ, which by Notarikon was expanded into the phrase, "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." By another use of Notarikon, directly the reverse of the first, the initial, last, or middle letters of the words of a sentence may be joined together to form a new word or words. For example, the name Amen, ἁμήν, maybe extracted from ארנימלרנאטז, "the Lord is the faithful King." Because they had embodied these cryptic devices in their sacred writings, the ancient priests admonished their disciples never to translate, edit, or rewrite the contents of the sacred books. .

Under the general heading of *Temurah* several systems may be grouped and explained in which various letters are substituted for other letters according to prearranged tables or certain mathematical arrangements of letters, regular or irregular. Thus the alphabet may be broken into two equal parts and written in horizontal lines so that the letters of the lower row can be exchanged for those of the upper row, or vice versa. By this procedure the letters of the word *Kuzu* may be exchanged for those of IHVH, the *Tetragrammaton*. In another form of Temurah the letters are merely rearranged., שתיה is the stone which is found in the center of the world, from which point the earth spread out on all sides. When broken in two the stone is שת יה, which means "the placing of God."(See *Pekudei Rakov*, 71, 72.) Again, Temurah may consist of a simple anagram, as in the English word *live*, which reversed becomes *evil*. The various systems of Temurah are among the most complicated and profound devices of the ancient Rabbins.

Among theological scholars there is a growing conviction that the hitherto accepted translations of the Scriptural writings do not adequately express the spirit of the original documents.

"After the first copy of the *Book of God*," writes H. P. Blavatsky, "has been edited and launched on the world by Hilkiah, this copy disappears, and Ezra has to make a new Bible, which Judas Maccabeus finishes; ***when it was copied from the horned letters into square letters, it was corrupted beyond recognition;*** the Masorah completed the work of destruction; finally, we have a text, not 900 years old, abounding with omissions, interpolations, and premeditated perversions." (See *Isis Unveiled*.)

Prof. Crawford Howell Toy of Harvard notes: "Manuscripts were copied and recopied by scribes who not only sometimes made errors in letters and words, but permitted themselves to introduce new material into the text, or to combine in one manuscript, without mark of division, writings composed by different men; instances of these sorts of procedure are found especially in Micah and Jeremiah, and the groups of prophecies which go under the names of Isaiah and Zachariah." (See *Judaism and Christianity*.)

*THE VISION OF EZEKIEL.*

*From The "Bear" Bible.*

*This plate, which is from the first Protestant Bible published in Spanish, shows the Mercavah, or chariot of Jehovah, which appeared to Ezekiel by the river Chebar. The prophet beheld four strange creatures (E), each having four heads, four wings, and brazen hoofs like those of a calf. And there were four wheels (F) filled with eyes. Where the cherubim went the wheels went also. The space between the cherubim and the wheels was filled with coals of fire. Upon the top of the chariot was a throne, upon which sat the likeness of a man (H). Ezekiel fell upon his knees when he beheld the Mercavah surrounded by a whirlwind of clouds and flames (A, B, C). A hand (K) reached out from the clouds and the prophet was ordered to eat of a scroll which the hand held forth.*

*According to the mystics, the wheels supporting the throne of God represent the orbits of the planets, and the entire solar system is properly the Mercavah, or chariot of God. One of the divisions of the Qabbalah--that dealing with the arts and sciences of those planes which are under the heavens--is called the Mercavah. In the Zohar it is written that the celestial throne or Ezekiel's vision signifies the traditional law; the appearance of a man sitting upon the throne represents the written law, Philo Judæus in describing the cherubim upon the Ark of the Covenant declares that the figures are an intimation of the revolutions of the whole heavens, one of the cherubim representing the outer circumference and the other the inner sphere. Facing each other, they represent the two hemispheres of the world. The flaming sword of the cherubim of Genesis is the central motion and agitation of the heavenly bodies. In all probability it also represents the solar ray.*

Does the mutilated condition of the Holy Bible--in part accidental--represent none the less a definite effort to confuse the uninitiated reader and thus better conceal the secrets of the Jewish *Tannaim*? Never has the Christian world been in possession of those hidden scrolls which contain the secret doctrine of Israel, and if the Qabbalists were correct in their assumption that the lost books of the Mosaic Mysteries have been woven into the fabric of the Torah, then the Scriptures are veritably books within books. In rabbinical circles the opinion is prevalent that Christendom never has understood the Old Testament and probably never will. In fact, the feeling exists--in some quarters, at least--that the Old Testament is the exclusive possession of the Jewish faith; also that Christianity, after its unrelenting persecution of the Jew, takes unwarranted liberties when it includes strictly Jewish writings in its sacred canon. But, as noted by one rabbi, if Christianity *must* use the Jewish Scriptures, it should at least strive to do so with some degree of intelligence!

In the opening chapter of Genesis it is stated that after creating light and separating it from darkness, the seven Elohim divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. Having thus established the inferior universe in perfect accord with the esoteric teachings of the Hindu, Egyptian, and Greek Mysteries, the Elohim next turned their attention to the production of flora and fauna and lastly man. "And God said, Let us make man in *our* image, after *our* likeness. ***So God created man in *his* own image, in the image of God created *he him*; male and female created *he them*. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and *re*plenish the earth,***."

Consider in thoughtful silence the startling use of pronouns in the above extract from "the most perfect example of English literature." When the plural and androgynous Hebrew word *Elohim* was translated into the singular and sexless word *God*, the opening chapters of Genesis were rendered comparatively meaningless. It may have been feared that had the word been correctly translated as "the male and female creative agencies," the Christians would have been justly accused of worshiping a plurality of gods in the face of their repeated claims to monotheism! The plural form of the pronouns *us* and *our* reveals unmistakably, however, the pantheistic nature of Divinity. Further, the androgynous constitution of the Elohim (God) is disclosed in the next verse, where *he* (referring to God) is said to have created man in *his* own image, *male* and *female*; or, more properly, as the division of the sexes had not yet taken place, *male-female*. This is a deathblow to the time-honored concept that God is a masculine potency as portrayed by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The Elohim then order these androgynous beings to *be fruitful*. Note that neither the masculine nor the feminine principle as yet existed in a separate state! And, lastly, note the word "*re*plenish." The prefix *re* denotes "back to an original or former state or position," or "repetition or restoration." (See *Webster's International Dictionary*, 1926.) This definite reference to a humanity existing prior to the "creation of man" described in Genesis must be evident to the most casual reader of Scripture.

An examination of Bible dictionaries, encyclopedias, and commentaries discloses the plural form of the word *Elohim* to be beyond the comprehension of their respected authors and editors. The *New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge* thus sums up the controversy over the plural form of the word Elohim: "Does it now or did it originally signify plurality of divine being?" A Dictionary of the Bible, edited by James Hastings, contains the following conclusion, which echoes the sentiments of more critical etymologists of the Bible: "The use of the plur. Elohim is also difficult to explain." Dr. Havernick considers the plural form Elohim to signify the abundance and super-richness existing in the Divine Being. His statement, which appears in *The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopædia*, is representative of the efforts made to circumvent this extremely damaging word. The *International Standard Bible Dictionary* considers the explanations offered by modern theologians--of which Dr. Havernick's is a fair example--to be too ingenious to have been conceived by the early Hebrews and maintains that the word represents the survival of a polytheistic stage of Semitic thought. *The Jewish Encyclopedia* supports the latter assumption with the following concise statement: "As far as epigraphic material, traditions, and folk-lore throw light on the question, the Semites are shown to be of polytheistic leanings."

Various schools of philosophy, both Jewish and Gentile, have offered explanations erudite and otherwise of the identity of Adam. In this primordial man the Neo-Platonists recognized the Platonic *Idea* of humanity--the archetype or pattern of the *genus homo*. Philo Judæus considered Adam to represent the human mind, which could understand (and hence give names to) the creatures about it, but could not comprehend (and hence left nameless) the mystery of its own nature. Adam was also likened to the Pythagorean *monad* which by virtue of its state of perfect unity could dwell in the Edenic sphere. When through a process akin to fission the monad became the *duad*--the proper symbol of discord and delusion--the creature thus formed was exiled from its celestial home. Thus the twofold man was driven from the Paradise belonging to the undivided creation and cherubim and a flaming sword were placed on guard at the gates of the Causal World. Consequently, only after the reestablishment of unity within himself can man regain his primal spiritual state.

According to the Isarim, the secret doctrine of Israel taught the existence of four Adams, each dwelling in one of the four Qabbalistic worlds. The first, or heavenly, Adam dwelt alone in the Atziluthic sphere and within his nature existed all spiritual and material potentialities. The second Adam resided in the sphere of Briah. Like the first Adam, this being was androgynous and the tenth division of its body (its heel, *Malchuth*) corresponded to the church of Israel that shall bruise the serpent's head. The third Adam--likewise androgynous--was clothed in a body of light and abode in the sphere of Yetzirah. The fourth Adam was merely the third Adam after the *fall* into the sphere of Assiah, at which time the spiritual man took upon himself the animal shell or *coat of skins*. The fourth Adam was still considered as a single individual, though division had taken place within his nature and two shells or physical bodies existed, in one of which was incarnated the masculine and in the other the feminine potency. (For further details consult Isaac Myer.)

The universal nature of Adam is revealed in the various accounts concerning the substances of which he was formed. It was originally ordained that the "dirt" to be used in fashioning him was to be derived from the seven worlds. As these planes, however, refused to give of their substances, the Creator wrenched from them by force the elements to be employed in the Adamic constitution. St. Augustine discovered a Notarikon in the name of Adam. He showed that the four letters, A-D-A-M, are the first letters of the four words *Anatole Dysis Arktos Mesembria*, the Greek names for the four corners of the world. The same author also sees in Adam a prototype of Christ, for he writes: "Adam sleeps that Eve may be formed: Christ dies, that the Church may be formed. While Adam sleeps, Eve is formed from his side. When Christ is dead, His side is smitten with a spear, that there flow forth sacraments to form the church. ** * Adam himself was the figure of Him that was to come."

In his recent work, *Judaism*, George Foote Moore thus describes the proportions of the Adamic man: "He was a huge mass that filled the whole world to all the points of the compass. The dust of which his body was formed was gathered from every part of the world, or from the site of the future altar. Of greater interest is the notion that man was created androgynous, because it is probably a bit of foreign lore adapted to the first pair in Genesis. R. Samuel bar Nahman (third century), said, when God created Adam, He created him facing both ways (דיו פרעופים); then He sawed him in two and made two backs, one for each figure.

The Zohar holds the concept of two Adams: the first a divine being who, stepping forth from the highest original darkness, created the second, or earthly, Adam in His own image. The higher, or celestial, man was the Causal sphere With its divine potencies and potentialities considered as a gigantic personality; its members, according to the Gnostics, being the basic elements of existence. This Adam may have been symbolized as facing both ways to signify that with one face it looked upon the proximate Cause of itself and with the other face looked upon the vast sea of Cosmos into which it was to be immersed.

Philosophically, Adam may be regarded as representative of the full spiritual nature of man--androgynous and nor subject to decay. Of this fuller nature the mortal man has little comprehension. Just as spirit contains matter within itself and is both the source and ultimate of the state denominated *matter*, so Eve represents the lower, or mortal, portion that is taken out of, or has temporal existence in the greater and fuller *spiritual creation*. Being representative of the inferior part of the individual, Eve is the temptress who, conspiring with the serpent of mortal knowledge, caused Adam to sink into a trancelike condition in which he was unconscious of his own higher Self. When Adam seemingly awoke, he actually sank into sleep, for he no longer was in the spirit but in the body; division having taken place within him, the true Adam rested in Paradise while his lesser part incarnated in a material organism (Eve) and wandered in the darkness of mortal existence.

The followers of Mohammed apparently sensed more accurately than the uninitiated of other sects the true mystic import of Paradise, for they realized that prior to his *fall* the dwelling place of man was not in a physical garden in any particular part of the earth but rather in a higher sphere (the angelic world) watered by four mystical streams of life. After his banishment from Paradise, Adam alighted on the Island of Ceylon, and this spot is sacred to certain Hindu sects who recognize the old Island of Lanka--once presumably connected with the mainland by a bridge--as the actual site of the Garden of Eden from which the human race migrated. According to the *Arabian Nights* (Sir Richard Burton's translation), Adam's footprint may still be seen on the top of a Ceylonese mountain. In the Islamic legends, Adam was later reunited with his wife and after his death his body was brought to Jerusalem subsequent to the Flood for burial by Melchizedek. (See the *Koran*.)

The word ADM signifies a species or race and only for lack of proper understanding has Adam been considered as an individual. As the Macrocosm, Adam is the gigantic Androgyne, even the Demiurgus; as the Microcosm, he is the chief production of the Demiurgus and within the nature of the Microcosm the Demiurgus established all the qualities and powers which He Himself possessed. The Demiurgus, however, did not possess immortality and, therefore, could not bestow it upon Adam. According to legend, the Demiurgus strove to keep man from learning the incompleteness of his Maker. The Adamic man consequently partook of the qualities and characteristics of the angels who were the ministers of the Demiurgus. It was affirmed by the Gnostic Christians that the redemption of humanity was assured through the descent of Nous (Universal Mind), who was a great spiritual being superior to the Demiurgus and who, entering into the constitution of man, conferred conscious immortality upon the Demiurgic fabrications.

That phallic symbolism occupies an important place in early Jewish mysticism is indisputable. Hargrave Jennings sees in the figure of Adam a type of the lingam of Shiva, which was a stone representative of the creative power of the World Generator. "In Gregorie's works ** *," writes Jennings, "is a passage to the effect that 'Noah daily prayed in the Ark before the *Body of Adam*,' i.e., before the Phallus--Adam being the primitive Phallus, great procreator of the human race. 'It may possibly seem strange,' he says, 'that this orison should be daily said before the body of Adam,' but 'it is a most confessed tradition among the eastern men that Adam was commanded by God that his dead body should be kept above ground till a fullness of time should come to commit it פדככאלאועto the *middle of the earth* by a priest of the Most High God.' This means Mount Moriah, the Meru of India. 'This body of Adam was embalmed and transmitted from father to son, till at last it was delivered up by Lamech into the hands of Noah.'" (See *Phallicism*.)

This interpretation somewhat clarifies the Qabbalistic assertion that in the first Adam were contained all the souls of the Israelites. (See *Sod*.) Though according to the *Aurea Legenda* Adam was buried with the three seeds of the Tree of Knowledge in his mouth, it should be borne in mind that apparently conflicting myths were often woven around a single individual. One of the profound mysteries of Qabbalism is that set forth in the Notarikon based upon the letters of the name Adam (ADM). These three letters form the initials of the names *Adam*, *David*, and the *Messiah*, and these three personalities were said to contain one soul. As this soul represents the World Soul of humanity, Adam signifies the involving soul, the Messiah the evolving soul, and David that condition of the soul termed *epigenesis*.

In common with certain philosophic institutions of Asia, the Jewish Mysteries contained a strange doctrine concerning the *shadows of the Gods*. Gazing down into the Abyss, the Elohim beheld their own shadows and from these shadows patterned the inferior creation. "In the dramatic representation of the creation of man in the Mysteries," writes the anonymous Master of Balliol College, "the Aleim Elohim were represented by men who, when sculpturing the form of an Adamite being, of a man, traced the outline of it on their own shadow, or modelled it on their own shadow traced on the wall. This is how the art of drawing originated in Egypt, and the hieroglyphic figures carved on the Egyptian monuments have so little relief that they still resemble a shadow."

In the ritualism of the early Jewish Mysteries the pageantry of creation was enacted, the various actors impersonating the Creative Agencies. The *red dirt* from which the Adamic man was fashioned may signify fire, particularly since Adam is related to the *Yod*, or fire flame, which is the first letter of the sacred name *Jehovah*. In John ii. 20 it is written that the Temple was forty and six years in the building, a statement in which St. Augustine sees a secret and sacred Gematria; for, according to the Greek philosophy of numbers, the numerical value of the name *Adam* is 46. Adam thus becomes the type of the Temple, for the House of God-like primitive man--was a microcosm or epitome of the universe.

*NOAH AND HIS ZODIACAL ARK.*

*From Myer's Qabbalah.*

*The early Church Father--notably Tertullian, Firmilian, St. Cyprian, St. Augustine, and St. Chrysostom--recognized in the ark a type or symbol of the Holy Catholic Church. Bede the Venerable, declared that Noah in all things typified Christ as Noah alone of his generation was just, so Christ alone was without sin. With Christ there was a sevenfold spirit of grace: with Noah seven righteous Persons. Noah by water and wood saved his own family Christ by baptism and the cross saves Christians. The ark was built of wood that did not decay. the church is composed of men who will live forever, for this ark means the church which floats upon the waves of the world.*

*The diagram shown above is also reproduced in The Rosicrucians, by Hargrave Jennings. This author adds to the original diagram appearing in Antiquitatum Judaicarum Libri IX the signs of the zodiac, placing Aries at the head and continuing in sequential order to Leo, which occupies the fifth cross section of the ark. Jennings assigns the panel containing the door to the undivided constellation of Virgo-Libra-Scorpio (which is continued into the first subdivision of the second section) and the remaining four cress sections to the constellations of Sagittarius to Pisces inclusive. A study of the plate discloses the ark to be divided into eleven main sections, and along the base and roof of each section are shown three subdivisions, thus making in all the sacred number 33. Occupying the position corresponding to the generative system of the human body will also be noted the cross upon the door of the central section. Two openings are shown in the ark: one--the main door representing the orifice through which the animal lives descend into physical existence; the other a small window proximate to the crown of the head through which the spirit gains liberty according to the ancient rites.*

*"When the androgenic Scorpio-Virgo was separated and the Balance or Harmony made from Scorpio, and placed between Scorpio, i.e., male, and Virgo, i.e., female, then appeared the 32 constellations or signs, as we now have them. The ark is three stories high (perhaps to symbolize Heaven, Man, Earth). In the figure of the Man, notice the parting of the hair in the middle of the forehead and the arrangement of the beard, whiskers, moustache and the hair, on the back of the neck and shoulders." (See The Qabbalah by Isaac Myer.)*

In the Mysteries, Adam is accredited with having the peculiar power of spiritual generation. Instead of reproducing his kind by the physical generative processes, he caused to issue from himself--or, more correctly, to be reflected upon substance--a shadow of himself. This shadow he then ensouled and it became a living creature. These shadows, however, remain only as long as the original figure of which they are the reflections endures, for with the removal of the original the host of likenesses vanish with it. Herein is the key to the allegorical creation of Eve out of the side of Adam; for Adam, representative of the *idea* or pattern, is reflected into the material universe as a multitude of ensouled images which collectively are designated *Eve*. According to another theory, the division of the sexes took place in the archetypal sphere; hence the shadows in the lower world were divided into two classes consistent with the orders established in the Archetype. In the apparently incomprehensible attraction of one sex for the other Plato recognized a cosmic urge toward reunion of the severed halves of this archetypal Being.

Exactly what is to be inferred by the division of the sexes as symbolically described in Genesis is a much-debated question. That man was primarily androgynous is quite universally conceded and it is a reasonable presumption that he will ultimately regain this bisexual state. As to the manner in which this will be accomplished two opinions are advanced. One school of thought affirms that the human soul was actually divided into two parts (male and female) and that man remains an unperfected creature until these parts are reunited through the emotion which man calls *love*. From this concept has grown the much-abused doctrine of "soul mates" who must quest through the ages until the complementary part of each severed soul is discovered. The modern concept of marriage is to a certain degree founded upon this ideal.

According to the other school, the so-called division of the sexes resulted from suppression of one pole of the androgynous being in order that the vital energies manifesting through it might be diverted to development of the rational faculties. From this point of view man is still actually androgynous and spiritually complete, but in the material world the feminine part of man's nature and the masculine part of woman's nature are quiescent. Through spiritual unfoldment and knowledge imparted by the Mysteries, however, the latent element in each nature is gradually brought into activity and ultimately the human being thus regains sexual equilibrium. By this theory woman is elevated from the position of being man's errant part to one of complete equality. From this point of view, marriage is regarded as a companionship in which two complete individualities manifesting opposite polarities are brought into association that each may thereby awaken the qualities latent in the other and thus assist in the attainment of individual completeness. The first theory may be said to regard marriage as an end; the second as a means to an end. The deeper schools of philosophy have leaned toward the latter as more adequately acknowledging the infinite potentialities of divine completeness in both aspects of creation.

The Christian Church is fundamentally opposed to the theory of marriage, claiming that the highest degree of spirituality is achievable only by those preserving the virginal state. This concept seemingly originated among certain sects of the early Gnostic Christians, who taught that to propagate the human species was to increase and perpetuate the power of the Demiurgus; for the lower world was looked upon as an evil fabrication created to ensnare the souls of all born into it--hence it was a crime to assist in bringing souls to earth. When, therefore, the unfortunate father or mother shall stand before the Final Tribunal, all their offspring will also appear and accuse them of being the cause of those miseries attendant upon physical existence. This view is strengthened by the allegory of Adam and Eve, whose sin through which humanity has been brought low is universally admitted to have been concerned with the mystery of generation. Mankind, owing to Father Adam its physical existence, regards its progenitor as the primary cause of its misery; and in the judgment Day, rising up as a mighty progeny, will accuse its common paternal ancestor.

Those Gnostic sects maintaining a more rational attitude on the subject declared the very existence of the lower worlds to signify that the Supreme Creator had a definite purpose in their creation; to doubt his judgment was, therefore, a grievous error. The church, however, seemingly arrogated to itself the astonishing prerogative of correcting God in this respect, for wherever possible it continued to impose celibacy, a practice resulting in an alarming number of neurotics. In the Mysteries, celibacy is reserved for those who have reached a certain degree of spiritual unfoldment. When advocated for the mass of unenlightened humanity, however, it becomes a dangerous heresy, fatal alike to both religion and philosophy. As Christendom in its fanaticism has blamed every individual Jew for the crucifixion of Jesus, so with equal consistency it has maligned every member of the feminine sex. In vindication of Eve philosophy claims that the allegory signifies merely that man is tempted by his emotions to depart from the sure path of reason.

Many of the early Church Fathers sought to establish a direct relationship between Adam and Christ, thereby obviously discounting the extremely sinful nature of man's common ancestor, since it is quite certain that when St. Augustine likens Adam to Christ and Eve to the church he does not intend to brand the latter institution as the direct cause of the fall of man. For some inexplicable reason, however, religion has ever regarded intellectualism--in fact every form of knowledge--as fatal to man's spiritual growth. The Ignaratitine Friars are an outstanding example of this attitude.

In this ritualistic drama--possibly derived from the Egyptians--Adam, banished from the Garden of Eden, represents man philosophically exiled from the sphere of Truth. Through ignorance man falls; through wisdom he redeems himself. The Garden of Eden represents the House of the Mysteries (see *The Vision of Enoch*) in the midst of which grew both the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Man, the banished Adam, seeks to pass from the outer court of the Sanctuary (the exterior universe) into the sanctum sanctorum, but before him rises a vast creature armed with a flashing sword that, moving slowly but continually, sweeps clear a wide circle, and through this "Ring Pass Not" the Adamic man cannot break.

The cherubim address the seeker thus: "Man, thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return. Thou wert fashioned by the Builder of Forms; thou belongest to the sphere of form, and the breath that was breathed into thy soul was the breath of form and like a flame it shall flicker out. More than thou art thou canst not be. Thou art a denizen of the outer world and it is forbidden thee to enter this inner place."

And the Adam replies: "Many times have I stood within this courtyard and begged admission to my Father's house and thou hast refused it me and sent me back to wander in darkness. True it is that I was fashioned out of the dirt and that my Maker could not confer upon me the boon of immortality. But no more shalt thou send me away; for, wandering in the darkness, I have discovered that the Almighty hath decreed my salvation because He hath sent out of the most hidden Mystery His Only Begotten who didst take upon Himself the world fashioned by the Demiurgus. Upon the elements of that world was He crucified and from Him hath poured forth the blood of my salvation. And God, entering into His creation, hath quickened it and established therein a road that leadeth to Himself. While my Maker could not give me immortality, immortality was inherent in the very dust of which I was composed, for before the world was fabricated and before the Demiurgus became the Regent of Nature the Eternal Life had impressed itself upon the face of Cosmos. This is its sign--the *Cross*. Do you now deny me entrance, I who have at last learned the mystery of myself?"

And the voice replies: "He who is aware, *IS*! Behold!"

Gazing about him, Adam finds himself in a radiant place, in the midst of which stands a tree with flashing jewels for fruit and entwined about its trunk a flaming, winged serpent crowned with a diadem of stars. It was the voice of the serpent that had spoken.

"Who art thou?" demands the Adam.

"I," the serpent answers, "am Satan who was stoned; I am the Adversary--the Lord who is against you, the one who pleads for your destruction before the Eternal Tribunal. I was your enemy upon the day that you were formed; I have led you into temptation; I have delivered you into the hands of evil; I have maligned you; I have striven ever to achieve your undoing. I am the guardian of the Tree of Knowledge and I have sworn that none whom I can lead astray shall partake of its fruits."

The Adam replies: "For uncounted ages have I been thy servant. In my ignorance I listened to thy words and they led me into paths of sorrow. Thou hast placed in my mind dreams of power, and when I struggled to realize those dreams they brought me naught but pain. Thou hast sowed in me the seeds of desire, and when I lusted after the things of the flesh agony was my only recompense. Thou hast sent me false prophets and false reasoning, and when I strove to grasp the magnitude of Truth I found thy laws were false and only dismay rewarded my strivings. I am done with thee forever, O artful Spirit! I have tired of thy world of illusions. No longer will I labor in thy vineyards of iniquity. Get thee behind me, rempter, and the host of thy temptations. There is no happiness, no peace, no good, no future in the doctrines of selfishness, hate, and passion preached by thee. All these things do I cast aside. Renounced is thy rule forever!"

And the serpent makes answer: "Behold, O Adam, the nature of thy Adversary!" The serpent disappears in a blinding sunburst of radiance and in its place stands an angel resplendent in shining, golden garments with great scarlet wings that spread from one corner of the heavens to the other. Dismayed and awestruck, the Adam falls before the divine creature.

"I am the Lord who is against thee and thus accomplishes thy salvation, " continues the voice. "Thou hast hated me, but through the ages yet to be thou shalt bless me, for I have led thee our of the sphere of the Demiurgus; I have turned thee against the illusion of worldliness; I have weaned thee of desire; I have awakened in thy soul the immortality of which I myself partake. Follow me, O Adam, for I am the Way, the Life, and the Truth!"

## An Analysis of Tarot Cards

OPINIONS of authorities differ widely concerning the origin of playing cards, the purpose for which they were intended, and the time of their introduction into Europe. In his Researches into the History of Playing Cards, Samuel Weller Singer advances the opinion that cards reached Southern Europe from India by way of Arabia. It is probable that the Tarot cards were part of the magical and philosophical lore secured by the Knights Templars from the Saracens or one of the mystical sects then flourishing in Syria. Returning to Europe, the Templars, to avoid persecution, concealed the arcane meaning of the symbols by introducing the leaves of their magical book ostensibly as a device for amusement and gambling. In support of this contention, Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer states:

"That cards were brought by the home-returning warriors, who imported many of the newly acquired customs and habits of the Orient to their own countries, seems to be a well-established fact; and it does not contradict the statement made by some writers who declared that the gypsies--who about that time began to wander over Europe--brought with them and introduced cards, which they used, as they do at the present day, for divining the future." (See *The Devil's Picture Books*.)

Through the Gypsies the Tarot cards may be traced back to the religious symbolism of the ancient Egyptians. In his remarkable work, *The Gypsies*, Samuel Roberts presents ample proof of their Egyptian origin. In one place he writes: "When Gypsies originally arrived in England is very uncertain. They are first noticed in our laws, by several statutes against them in the reign of Henry VIII.; in which they are described as 'an outlandish people, calling themselves Egyptians,--who do not profess any craft or trade, but go about in great numbers, ** *.'" A curious legend relates that after the destruction of the Serapeum in Alexandria, the large body of attendant priests banded themselves together to preserve the secrets of the rites of Serapis. Their descendants (Gypsies) carrying with them the most precious of the volumes saved from the burning library--the Book of Enoch, or Thoth (the Tarot)--became wanderers upon the face of the earth, remaining a people apart with an ancient language and a birthright of magic and mystery.

Court de Gébelin believed the word Tarot itself to be derived from two Egyptian words, *Tar*, meaning "road," and *Ro*, meaning "royal." Thus the Tarot constitutes the *royal road to wisdom*. (See *Le Monde Primitif*.) In his *History of Magic*, P. Christian, the mouthpiece of a certain French secret society, presents a fantastic account of a purported initiation into the Egyptian Mysteries wherein the 22 major Tarots assume the proportions of trestleboards of immense size and line a great gallery. Stopping before each card in turn, the initiator described its symbolism to the candidate. Edouard Schuré, whose source of information was similar to that of Christian's, hints at the same ceremony in his chapter on initiation into the Hermetic Mysteries. (See *The Great Initiates*.) While the Egyptians may well have employed the Tarot cards in their rituals, these French mystics present no evidence other than their own assertions to support this theory. The validity also of the so-called Egyptian Tarots now in circulation has never been satisfactorily established. The drawings are not only quite modem but the symbolism itself savors of French rather than Egyptian influence.

The Tarot is undoubtedly a vital element in Rosicrucian symbolism, possibly the very book of universal knowledge which the members of the order claimed to possess. The *Rota Mundi* is a term frequently occurring in the early manifestoes of the Fraternity of the Rose Cross. The word *Rota* by a rearrangement of its letters becomes *Taro*, the ancient name of these mysterious cards. W. F. C. Wigston has discovered evidence that Sir Francis Bacon employed the Tarot symbolism in his ciphers. The numbers 21, 56, and 78, which are all directly related to the divisions of the Tarot deck, are frequently involved in Bacon's cryptograms. In the great Shakespearian Folio of 1623 the Christian name of Lord Bacon appears 21 times on page 56 of the Histories. (See *The Columbus of Literature*.)

Many symbols appearing upon the Tarot cards have definite Masonic interest. The Pythagorean numerologist will also find an important relationship to exist between the numbers on the cards and the designs accompanying the numbers. The Qabbalist will be immediately impressed by the significant sequence of the cards, and the alchemist will discover certain emblems meaningless save to one versed in the divine chemistry of transmutation and regeneration.' As the Greeks placed the letters of their alphabet--with their corresponding numbers--upon the various parts of the body of their humanly represented *Logos*, so the Tarot cards have an analogy not only in the parts and members of the universe but also in the divisions of the human body.. They are in fact the key to the magical constitution of man.

The Tarot cards must be considered (1) as separate and complete hieroglyphs, each representing a distinct principle, law, power, or element in Nature; (2) in relation to each other as the effect of one agent operating upon another; and (3) as vowels and consonants of a philosophic alphabet. The laws governing all phenomena are represented by the symbols upon the Tarot cards, whose numerical values are equal to the numerical equivalents of the phenomena. As every structure consists of certain elemental parts, so the Tarot cards represent the components of the structure of philosophy. Irrespective of the science or philosophy with which the student is working, the Tarot cards can be identified with the essential constituents of his subject, each card thus being related to a specific part according to mathematical and philosophical laws. "An imprisoned person," writes Eliphas Levi, "with no other book than the Tarot, if he knew how to use it, could in a few years acquire universal knowledge, and would be able to speak on all subjects with unequalled learning and inexhaustible eloquence. " (See *Transcendental Magic*.)

The diverse opinions of eminent authorities on the Tarot symbolism are quite irreconcilable. The conclusions of the scholarly Court de Gébelin and the bizarre Grand Etteila--the first authorities on the subject--not only are at radical variance but both are equally discredited by Levi, whose arrangement of the Tarot trumps was rejected in turn by Arthur Edward Waite and Paul Case as being an effort to mislead students. The followers of Levi--especially Papus, Christian, Westcott, and Schuré-are regarded by the "reformed Tarotists" as honest but benighted individuals who wandered in darkness for lack of Pamela Coleman Smith's new deck of Tarot cards with revisions by Mr. Waite.

Most writers on the Tarot (Mr. Waite a notable exception) have proceeded upon the hypothesis that the 22 major trumps represent the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This supposition is based upon nothing more substantial than the coincidence that both consist of 22 parts. That Postel, St. Martin, and Levi all wrote books divided into sections corresponding to the major Tarots is an interesting sidelight on the subject.

*EARLY PORTUGUESE CARDS.*

*From Chatto's Origin and History of Playing Cards.*

*In writing of the deck from which the four cavaliers (jacks) here reproduced were taken, William Andrew Chatto notes: "Some of the specimens of Portuguese cards given in the 'Jeux de Cartes, Tarots et de Cartes Numérales' have very much the appearance of having been originally suggested by, if net copied from, an Oriental type; more especially in the suits of Danari and Bastani,--Money and Clubs. In those cards the circular figure, generally understood as representing Danari, or Money, is certainly much more like the Chakra, or quoit of Vichnou Vishnu, as seen in Hindostanic drawings, than a piece of coin; while on the top of the Club is a diamond proper, which is another of the attributes of the same deity." Also worthy of note are the Rosicrucian and Masonic emblems appearing on various mediæval decks. As the secrets of these organizations were often concealed in cryptic engravings, it is very probable that the enigmatic diagrams upon various decks of cards were used both to conceal and to perpetuate the political and philosophical arcana of these orders. The frontispiece of Mr. Chatto's books shows a knave of hearts bearing a shield emblazoned with a crowned Rosicrucian rose.*

The major trump cards portray incidents from the Book of Revelation; and the Apocalypse of St. John is also divided into 22 chapters. Assuming the Qabbalah to hold the solution to the Tarot riddle, seekers have often ignored other possible lines of research. The task, however, of discovering the proper relationship sustained by the Tarot trumps to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the Paths of Wisdom thus far has not met with any great measure of success. The major trumps of the Tarot and the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet cannot be synchronized without first fixing the correct place of the unnumbered, or zero, card--*Le Mat*, the Fool. Levi places this card between the 20th and 21st Tarots, assigning to it the Hebrew letter Shin (ש). The same order is followed by Papus, Christian, and Waite, the last, however, declaring this arrangement to be incorrect. Westcott makes the zero card the 22nd of the Tarot major trumps. On the other hand, both Court de Gébelin and Paul Case place the unnumbered card before the first numbered card of the major trumps, for if the natural order of the numbers (according to either the Pythagorean or Qabbalistic system) be adhered to, the zero card must naturally precede the number 1.

This does not dispose of the problem, however, for efforts to assign a Hebrew letter to each Tarot trump in sequence produce an effect far from convincing. Mr. Waite, who reedited the Tarot, expresses himself thus: "I am not to be included among those who are satisfied that there is a valid correspondence between Hebrew letters and Tarot Trump symbols." (See introduction to *The Book of Formation* by Knut Stenring.) The real explanation may be that the major Tarots no longer are in the same sequence as when they formed the leaves of Hermes' sacred book, for the Egyptians--or even their Arabian successors--could have purposely confused the cards so that their secrets might be better preserved. Mr. Case has developed a system which, while superior to most, depends largely upon two debatable points, namely, the accuracy of Mr. Waite's revised Tarot and the justification for assigning the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet to the unnumbered, or zero, card. Since *Aleph* (the first Hebrew letter) has the numerical value of 1, its assignment to the zero card is equivalent to the statement that zero is equal to the letter *Aleph* and therefore synonymous with the number 1.

With rare insight, Court de Gébelin assigned the zero card to AIN SOPH, the Unknowable First Cause. As the central panel of the Bembine Table represents the Creative Power surrounded by seven triads of manifesting divinities, so may the zero card represent that Eternal Power of which the 21 surrounding or manifesting aspects are but limited expressions. If the 21 major trumps be considered as limited forms existing in the abstract substance of the zero card, it then becomes their common denominator. Which letter, then, of the Hebrew alphabet is the origin of all the remaining letters? The answer is apparent: Yod. In the presence of so many speculations, one more may not offend. The zero card--*Le Mat*, the Fool--has been likened to the material universe because the mortal sphere is the world of unreality. The lower universe, like the mortal body of man, is but a garment, a motley costume, well likened to cap and bells. Beneath the garments of the fool is the divine substance, however, of which the jester is but a shadow; this world is a Mardi Gras--a pageantry of divine sparks masked in the garb of fools. Was not this zero card (the Fool) placed in the Tarot deck to deceive all who could not pierce the veil of illusion?

The Tarot cards were entrusted by the illumined hierophants of the Mysteries into the keeping of the foolish and the ignorant, thus becoming playthings--in many instances even instruments of vice. Man's evil habits therefore actually became the unconscious perpetuators of his philosophical precepts. "We must admire the wisdom of the Initiates," writes Papus, "who utilized vice and made it produce more beneficial results than virtue." Does not this act of the ancient priests itself afford proof that the entire mystery of the Tarot is wrapped up in the symbolism of its zero card? If knowledge was thus entrusted to fools, should it not be sought for in this card?

If *Le Mat* be placed before the first card of the Tarot deck and the others laid out in a horizontal line in sequence from left to right, it will be found that the Fool is walking toward the other trumps as though about to pass through the various cards. Like the spiritually hoodwinked and bound neophyte, *Le Mat* is about to enter upon the supreme adventure--that of passage through the gates of the Divine Wisdom. If the zero card be considered as extraneous to the major trumps, this destroys the numerical analogy between these cards and the Hebrew letters by leaving one letter without a Tarot correspondent. In this event it will be necessary to assign the missing letter to a hypothetical Tarot card called the elements, assumed to have been broken up to form the 56 cards of the minor trumps. It is possible that each of the major trumps may be subject to a similar division.

The first numbered major trump is called *Le Bateleur*, the juggler, and according to Court de Gébelin, indicates the entire fabric of creation to be but a dream, existence a juggling of divine elements, and life a perpetual game of hazard. The seeming miracles of Nature are but feats of cosmic legerdemain. Man is like the little ball in the hands of the juggler, who waves his wand and, presto! the ball vanishes. The world looking on does not realize that the vanished article is still cleverly concealed by the juggler in the hollow of his hand. This is also the Adept whom Omar Khayyám calls "the master of the show." His message is that the wise direct the phenomena of Nature and are never deceived thereby.

The magician stands behind a table on which are spread out a number of objects, prominent among them a cup--the Holy Grail and the cup placed by Joseph in Benjamin's sack; a coin--the tribute money and the wages of a Master Builder, and a sword, that of Goliath and also the mystic blade of the philosopher which divides the false from the true. The magician's hat is in the form of the cosmic lemniscate, signifying the first motion of creation. His right hand points to the earth, his left holds aloft the rod of Jacob and also the staff that budded--the human spine crowned with the globe of creative intelligence. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the magician wears an *uræus* or golden band around his forehead, the table before him is in the form of a perfect cube, and his girdle is the serpent of eternity devouring its own tail.

The second numbered major trump is called *La Papesse*, the Female Pope, and has been associated with a curious legend of the only woman who ever sat in the pontifical chair. Pope Joan is supposed to have accomplished this by masquerading in malt attire, and was stoned to death when her subterfuge was discovered. This card portrays a seated woman crowned with a tiara surmounted by a lunar crescent. In her lap is the *Tora*, or book of the Law (usually partly closed), and in her left hand are the keys to the secret doctrine, one gold and the other silver. Behind her rise two pillars (Jachin and Boaz) with a multicolored veil stretched between. Her throne stands upon a checker-hoard floor. A figure called Juno is occasionally substituted for La Papesse. like the female hierophant of the Mysteries of Cybele, this symbolic figure personifies the Shekinah, or Divine Wisdom. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the priestess is veiled, a reminder that the full countenance truth is not revealed to uninitiated man. A veil also covers one-half of her book, thus intimating that but one-half of the mystery of being can be comprehended.

The third numbered major trump is called *L'Impératrice*, the Empress, and has been likened to the "woman clothed with the sun" described in the Apocalypse. On this card appears the winged figure of a woman seated upon a throne, supporting with her right hand a shield emblazoned with a phœnix and holding in her left a scepter surmounted by an orb or trifoliate flower. Beneath her left foot is sometimes shown the crescent. Either the Empress is crowned or her head is surrounded by a diadem of stars; sometimes both. She is called *Generation*, and represents the threefold spiritual world out of which proceeds the fourfold material world. To the graduate of the College of the Mysteries she is the *Alma Mater* out of whose body the initiate has "born again." In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the Empress is shown seated upon a cube filled with eyes and a bird is balanced upon the forefinger other left hand. The upper part of her body is surrounded by a radiant golden nimbus. Being emblematic of the power from which emanates the entire tangible universe, *L'Impératrice* is frequently symbolized as pregnant.

The fourth numbered major trump is called *L'Empereur*, the Emperor, and by its numerical value is directly associated with the great Deity revered by the Pythagoreans under the form of the tetrad. His symbols declare the Emperor to be the Demiurgus, the Great King of the inferior world. The Emperor is dressed in armor and his throne is a cube stone, upon which a phœnix is also clearly visible. The king has his legs crossed in a most significant manner and carries either a scepter surmounted by an orb or a scepter in his right hand and an orb n his left. The orb itself is evidence that he is supreme ruler of the world. Upon his right and left breasts respectively appear the symbols of the sun and moon, which in symbolism are referred to as the eyes of the Great King. The position of the body and legs forms the symbol of sulphur, the sign of the ancient alchemical monarch. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the figure is in profile. He wears a Masonic apron and the skirt forms s right-angled triangle. Upon his head is the Crown of the North and his forehead is adorned wit the coiled *uræus*.

The fifth numbered major trump is called *Le Pape*, the Pope, and represents the high priest of a pagan or Christian Mystery school. In this card the hierophant wears the tiara and carries in his left hand the triple cross surmounting the globe of the world. His right hand, bearing upon its back the stigmata, makes "the ecclesiastic sign of esotericism," and before him kneel two suppliants or acolytes. The back of the papal throne is in the form of a celestial and a terrestrial column. This card signifies the initiate or master of the mystery of life and according to the Pythagoreans, the spiritual physician. The illusionary universe in the form of the two figures (polarity) kneels before the throne upon which sits the initiate who has elevated his consciousness to the plane of spiritual understanding and reality. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the Master wears the *uræus*. A white and a black figure--life and death, light and darkness, good and evil--kneel before him. The initiate's mastery over unreality is indicated by the tiara and the triple cross, emblems of rulership over the three worlds which have issued from the Unknowable First Cause.

The sixth numbered major trump is called *L'Amoureux*, the Lovers. There are two distinct forms of this Tarot. One shows a marriage ceremony in which a priest is uniting a youth and a maiden (Adam and Eve?) in holy wedlock. Sometimes a winged figure above transfixes the lovers with his dart. The second form of the card portrays a youth with a female figure on either side. One of these figures wears a golden crown and is winged, while the other is attired in the flowing robes of the bacchante and on her head is a wreath of vine leaves. The maidens represent the twofold soul of man (spiritual and animal), the first his guardian angel and the second his ever-present demon. The youth stands at the beginning of mature life, "the Parting of the Ways," where he must choose between virtue and vice, the eternal and the temporal. Above, in a halo of light, is the genius of Fate (his star), mistaken for Cupid by the uninformed. If youth chooses unwisely, the arrow of blindfolded Fate will transfix him. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the arrow of the genius points directly to the figure of vice, thereby signifying that the end of her path is destruction. This card reminds man that the price of free will--or, more correctly, the power of choice--is responsibility.

The seventh numbered major trump is called *Le Chariot*, the Chariot, and portrays a victorious warrior crowned and riding in a chariot drawn by black and white sphinxes or horses. The starry canopy of the chariot is upheld by four columns. This card signifies the Exalted One who rides in the chariot of creation. The vehicle of the solar energy being numbered seven reveals the arcane truth that the seven planers are the chariots of the solar power which rides victorious in their midst. The four columns supporting the canopy represent the four Mighty Ones who uphold the worlds represented by the star-strewn drapery. The figure carries the scepter of the solar energy and its shoulders are ornamented with lunar crescents--the Urim. and Thummim. The sphinxes drawing the chariot resent the secret and unknown power by which the victorious ruler is moved continuously through the various parts of his universe. In certain Tarot decks the victor signifies the regenerated man, for the body of the chariot is a cubic stone. The man in armor is not standing in the chariot but is rising out of the cube, thus typifying the ascension of the 3 out of the 4--the turning upward of the flap of the Master Mason's apron. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the warrior carries the curved sword of Luna, is bearded to signify maturity, and wears the collar of the planetary orbits. His scepter (emblematic of the threefold universe) is crowned with a square upon which is a circle surmounted by a triangle.

The eighth numbered major trump is called *La Justice*, Justice, and portrays a seated figure upon a throne, the back of which rises in the form of two columns. Justice is crowned and carries in her right hand a sword and in her left a pair of scales. This card is a reminder of the judgment of the soul in the hall of Osiris. It teaches that only balanced forces can endure and that eternal justice destroys with the sword that which is unbalanced. Sometimes justice is depicted with a braid of her own hair twisted around her neck in a manner resembling a hangman's knot. This may subtly imply that man is the cause of his own undoing, his actions (symbolized by his hair) being the instrument of his annihilation. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the figure of Justice is raised upon a dais of three steps, for justice can be fully administered only by such as have been elevated to the third degree. Justice is blindfolded, that the visible shall in no way influence its decision. (For reasons he considers beyond his readers' intelligence, Mr. Waite reversed the eighth and eleventh major trumps.)

The ninth numbered major trump is called *L'Hermite*, the Hermit, and portrays an aged man, robed in a monkish habit and cowl, leaning on a staff. This card was popularly supposed to represent Diogenes in his quest for an honest man. In his right hand the recluse carries a lamp which he partly conceals within the folds of his cape. The hermit thereby personifies the secret organizations which for uncounted centuries have carefully concealed the light of the Ancient Wisdom from the profane. The staff of the hermit is knowledge, which is man's main and only enduring support. Sometimes the mystic rod is divided by knobs into seven sections, a subtle reference to the mystery of the seven sacred centers along the human spine. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the hermit shields the lamp behind a rectangular cape to emphasize the philosophic truth that wisdom, if exposed to the fury of ignorance, would be destroyed like the tiny flame of a lamp unprotected from the storm. Man's bodies form a cloak through which his divine nature is faintly visible like the flame of the partly covered lantern. Through renunciation--the Hermetic life--man attains depth of character and tranquility of spirit.

The tenth numbered major trump is called *La Roue de Fortune*, the Wheel of Fortune, and portrays a mysterious wheel with eight spokes--the familiar Buddhist symbol of the Cycle of Necessity. To its rim cling Anubis and Typhon--the principles of good and evil. Above sits the immobile sphinx, carrying the sword of Justice and signifying the perfect equilibrium of Universal Wisdom. Anubis is shown rising and Typhon descending; but when Typhon reaches the bottom, evil ascends again, and when Anubis reaches the top good wanes once more. The Wheel of Fortune represents the lower universe as a whole with Divine Wisdom (the sphinx) as the eternal arbiter between good and evil. In India, the *chakra*, or wheel, is associated with the life centers either of a world or of an individual. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the Sphinx is armed with a javelin, and Typhon is being thrown from the wheel. The vertical columns, supporting the wheel and so placed that but one is visible, represent the axis of the world with the inscrutable sphinx upon its northern pole. Sometimes the wheel with its supports is in a boat upon the water. The water is the Ocean of Illusion, which is the sole foundation of the Cycle of Necessity.

The eleventh numbered major trump is called La Force, Strength, and portrays a girl wearing a hat in the form of a lemniscate, with her hands upon the mouth of an apparently ferocious lion. Considerable controversy exists as to whether the maid is dosing or opening the lion's mouth. Most writers declare her to be closing the jaws of the beast, but a critical inspection conveys the opposite impression. The young woman symbolizes spiritual strength and the lion either the animal world which the girl is mastering or the Secret Wisdom over which she is mistress. The lion also signifies the summer solstice and the girl, Virgo, for when the sun enters this constellation, the Virgin robs the lion of his strength. King Solomon's throne was ornamented with lions and he himself was likened to the king of beasts with the key of wisdom between its teeth. In this sense, the girl may be opening the lion's mouth to find the key contained therein for courage is a prerequisite to the attainment of knowledge. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the symbolism is the same except that the maiden is represented as a priestess wearing an elaborate crown in the form of a bird surmounted by serpents and an ibis.

The twelfth numbered major trump is called *Le Pendu*, the Hanged Man, an portrays a young man hanging by his left leg from a horizontal beam, the latter supported by two tree trunks from each of which six branches have been removed. The right leg of the youth is crossed in back of the left and his arms are folded behind his back in such a way as to form a cross surmounting a downward pointing triangle. The figure thus forms an inverted symbol of sulphur and, according to Levi, signifies the accomplishment of the *magnum opus*. In some decks the figure carries under each arm a money bag from which coins are escaping. Popular tradition associates this card with Judas Iscariot, who is said to have gone forth and hanged himself, the money bags representing the payment he received for his crime.

Levi likens the hanged man to Prometheus, the Eternal Sufferer, further declaring that the upturned feet signify the spiritualization of the lower nature. It is also possible that the inverted figure denotes the loss of the spiritual faculties, for the head is below the level of the body. The stumps of the twelve branches are the signs of the zodiac divided into two groups--positive and negative. The picture therefore depicts polarity temporarily triumphant over the spiritual principle of equilibrium. To attain the heights of philosophy, therefore, man must reverse (or invert) the order of his life. He then loses his sense of personal possession because he renounces the rule of gold in favor of the golden rule. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the hanged man is suspended between two palm trees and signifies the Sun God who dies perennially for his world.

The thirteenth numbered major trump is called *La Mort*, Death, and portrays a reaping skeleton with a great scythe cutting off the heads, hands, and feet rising out of the earth about it. In the course of its labors the skeleton has apparently cut off one of its own feet. Not all Tarot decks show this peculiarity, but this point well emphasizes the philosophic truth that unbalance and destructiveness are synonymous. The skeleton is the proper emblem of the first and supreme Deity because it is the foundation of the body, as the Absolute is the foundation of creation. The reaping skeleton physically signifies death but philosophically that irresistible impulse in Nature which causes every being to be ultimately absorbed into the divine condition in which it existed before the illusionary universe had been manifested. The blade of the scythe is the moon with its crystallizing power. The field in which death reaps is the universe, and the card discloses that all things growing out of the earth shall be cut down and return to earth again.

Kings, Queens, courtesans, and knaves are alike to death, the master of the visible and a parent parts of all creatures. In some Tarot decks death is symbolized as a figure in armor mounted on a white horse which tramples under foot old and young alike. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot a rainbow is seen behind the figure of death, thus signifying that the mortality of the body of itself achieves the immortality of the spirit. Death, though it destroys form, can never destroy life, which continually renews itself. This card is the symbol of the constant renovation of the universe--disintegration that reintegration may follow upon a higher level of expression.

The fourteenth numbered major trump is called *La Temperance*, Temperance, and portrays an angelic figure with the sun upon her forehead. She carries two urns, one empty and the other full, and continually pours the contents of the upper into the lower, In some Tarot decks the flowing water takes the form of the symbol of Aquarius. Not one drop, however, of the living water is lost in this endless transference between the superior vessel and the inferior. When the lower urn is filled the vases are reversed, thus signifying that life pours first from the invisible into the visible, then from the visible back into the invisible. The spirit controlling this flow is an emissary of the great Jehovah, Demiurgus of the world. The sun, or light cluster, upon the woman's forehead controls the flow of water, which, being drawn upward into the air by the solar rays, descends upon the earth as rain, to drawn up and fall again *ad infinitum*. Herein is also shown the passage of the human life forces back and forth between positive and negative poles of the creative system. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the symbolism is the same, except that the winged figure is male instead of female. It is surrounded by a solar nimbus and pours water from a golden urn into a silver one, typifying the descent of celestial forces into the sublunary spheres.

The fifteenth numbered major trump is called *Le Diable*, the Devil, and portrays a creature resembling Pan with the horns of a ram or deer, the arms and body of a man, and the legs and feet of a goat or dragon. The figure stands upon a cubic stone, to a ring in the front of which are chained two satyrs. For a scepter this so-called demon carries a lighted torch or candle. The entire figure is symbolic of the magic powers of the astral light, or universal mirror, in which the divine forces are reflected in an inverted, or infernal, state. The demon is winged like a bar, showing that it pertains to the nocturnal, or shadow inferior sphere. The animal natures of man, in the form of a male and a female elemental, are chained to its footstool. The torch is the false light which guides unillumined souls to their own undoing. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot appears Typhon--a winged creature composed of a hog, a man, a bat, a crocodile, and a hippopotamus--standing in the midst of its own destructiveness and holding aloft the firebrand of the incendiary. Typhon is created by man's own misdeeds, which, turning upon their maker, destroy him.

The sixteenth numbered major trump is called *Le Feu du Ciel*, the Fire of Heaven, and portrays a tower the battlements of which, in the form of a crown, are being destroyed by a bolt of lightning *issuing from the sun*. The crown, being considerably smaller than the tower which it surmounts, possibly indicates that its destruction resulted from its insufficiency. The lighting bolt sometimes takes the form of the zodiacal sign of Scorpio, and the tower may be considered a phallic emblem. Two figures are failing from the tower, one in front and the other behind. This Tarot card is popularly associated with the traditional fall of man. The divine nature of humanity is depicted as a tower. When his crown is destroyed, man falls into the lower world and takes upon himself the illusion of materiality. Here also is a key to the mystery of sex. The tower is supposedly filled with gold coins which, showering out in great numbers from the rent made by the lightning bolt, suggesting potential powers. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the tower is a pyramid, its apex shattered by a lightning bolt. Here is a reference to the missing capstone of the Universal House. In support of Levi's contention that this card is connected with the Hebrew letter *Ayin*, the failing figure in the foreground is similar in general appearance to the sixteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

The seventeenth numbered major trump is called *Les Etoiles*, the Stars, and portrays a young girl kneeling with one foot in water and the other on and, her body somewhat suggesting the swastika. She has two urns, the contents of which she pours upon the land and sea. Above the girl's head are eight stars, one of which is exceptionally large and bright. Count de Gébelin considers the great star to be Sothis or Sirius; the other seven are the sacred planets of the ancients. He believes the female figure to be Isis in the act of causing the inundations of the Nile which accompanied the rising of the Dog Star. The unclothed figure of Isis may well signify that Nature does not receive her garment of verdure until the rising of the Nile waters releases the germinal life of plants and flowers. The bush and bird (or butterfly) signify the growth and resurrection which accompany the rising of the waters. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the great star contains a diamond composed of a black and white triangle, and the flowering bush is a tall plant with a trifoliate head upon which a butterfly alights. Here Isis is in the form of an upright triangle and the vases have become shallow cups. The elements of water and earth under her feet represent the opposites of Nature sharing impartially in the divine abundance.

The eighteenth numbered major trump is called *La Lune*, the Moon, and portrays Luna rising between two towers--one light and the other dark. A dog and a wolf are baying at the rising moon, and in the foreground is a pool of water from which emerges a crawfish. Between the towers a path winds, vanishing in the extreme background. Court de Gébelin sees in this card another reference to the rising of the Nile and states on the authority of Pausanius that the Egyptians believed the inundations of the Nile to result from the tears of the moon goddess which, falling into the river, swelled its flow. These tears are seen dropping from the lunar face. Court de Gébelin also relates the towers to the Pillars of Hercules, beyond which, according to the Egyptians, the luminaries never passed. He notes also that the Egyptians represented the tropics as dogs who as faithful doorkeepers prevented the sun and moon from penetrating too near the poles. The crab or crawfish signifies the retrograde motion of the moon.

*A CARD FROM THE MANTEGNA PACK.*

*From Taylor's The History of Playing Cards.*

*Among the more curious examples of playing cards are those of the Mantegna deck. In 1820, a perfect deck of fifty cards brought the then amazing price of eighty pounds. The fifty subjects composing the Mantegna deck, each of which is represented by an appropriate figure, are: (1) A beggar; (2) A page; (3) A goldsmith; (4) A merchant; (5) A gentleman; (6) A knight; (7) The Doge; (8) A king; (9) An emperor, (10) The Pope; (11) Calliope; (12) Urania; (13) Terpsichore; (14) Erato; (15) Polyhymnia; (16) Thalia; (17) Melpomene; (18) Euterpe; (19) Clio; (20) Apollo; (21) Grammar, (22) Logic; (23) Rhetoric; (24) Geometry; (25) Arithmetic; (26) Music, (27) Poetry; (28) Philosophy; (29) Astrology; (30) Theology; (31) Astronomy; (32) Chronology (33) Cosmogony; (34) Temperance; (35) Prudence; (36) Fortitude; (37) Justice; (38) Charity; (39) Fortitude, (40) Faith; (41) the Moon; (42) Mercury; (43) Venus; (45) the Sun; (45) Mars; (46) Jupiter; (47) Saturn; (48) the eighth Sphere; (49) the Primum Mobile; (50) the First Cause. The Qabbalistic significance of these cards is apparent, and it is possible that they have a direct analogy to the fifty gates of light referred to in Qabbalistic writings.*

This card also refers to the path of wisdom. Man in his quest of reality emerges from the pool of illusion. After mastering the guardians of the gates of wisdom he passes between the fortresses of science and theology and follows the winding path leading to spiritual liberation. His way is faintly lighted by human reason (the moon), which is but a reflection of divine wisdom. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the towers are pyramids, the dogs are black and white respectively, and the moon is partly obscured by clouds. The entire scene suggests the dreary and desolate place in which the Mystery dramas of the Lesser Rites were enacted.

The nineteenth numbered major trump is called *Le Soleil*, the Sun, and portrays two children--probably Gemini, the Twins--standing together in a garden surrounded by a magic ring of flowers. One of these children should be shown as male and the other female. Behind them is a brick wall apparently enclosing the garden. Above the wall the sun is rising, its rays alternately straight and curved. Thirteen teardrops are falling from the solar face Levi, seeing in the two children Faith and Reason, which must coexist as long as the temporal universe endures, writes: "Human equilibrium requires two feet, the worlds gravitate by means of two forces, generation needs two sexes. Such is the meaning of the arcanum of Solomon, represented by the two pillars of the temple, Jakin and Bohas." (See *Transcendental Magic*.) The sun of Truth is shining into the garden of the world over which these two children, as personifications of eternal powers reside. The harmony of the world depends upon the coordination of two qualities symbolized throughout the ages as the mind and the heart. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the children give place to a youth and a maiden. Above them in a solar nimbus is the phallic emblem of generation--a line piercing a circle. Gemini is ruled by Mercury and the two children personify the serpents entwined around the *caduceus*.

The twentieth numbered major trump is called *Le Jugement*, the judgment, and portrays three figures rising apparently from their tombs, though but one coffin is visible. Above them in a blaze of glory is a winged figure (presumably the Angel Gabriel) blowing a trumpet. This Tarot represents the liberation of man's threefold spiritual nature from the sepulcher of his material constitution. Since but one-third of the spirit actually enters the physical body, the other two-thirds constituting the Hermetic *anthropos* or *overman*, only one of the three figures is actually rising from the tomb. Court de Gébelin believes that the coffin may have been an afterthought of the card makers and that the scene actually represents creation rather than resurrection, In philosophy these two words are practically synonymous. The blast of the trumpet represents the Creative Word, by the intoning of which man is liberated from his terrestrial limitations. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot it is evident that the three figures signify the parts of a single being, for three mummies are shown emerging from one mummy case.

The twenty-first numbered major trump is called *Le Monde*, the World, and portrays a female figure draped with a scarf which the wind blows into the form of the Hebrew letter Kaph. Her extended hands--each of which holds a wand--and her left leg, which crosses behind the right, cause the figure to assume the form of the alchemical symbol of sulphur. The central figure is surrounded by a wreath in the form of a *vesica piscis* which Levi likens to the Qabbalistic crown *Kether*. The Cherubim of Ezekiel's vision occupy the corners of the card. This Tarot is called the Microcosm and the Macrocosm because in it are summed up every agency contributing to the structure of creation. The figure in the form Of the emblem of sulphur represents the divine fire and the heart of the Great Mystery. The wreath is Nature, which surrounds the fiery center. The Cherubim represent the elements, worlds, forces, and planes issuing out of the divine fiery center of life. The wreath signifies the crown of the initiate which is given to those who master the four guardians and enter into the presence of unveiled Truth. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the Cherubim surround a wreath composed of twelve trifoliate flowers--the decanates of the zodiac. A human figure kneels below this wreath, playing upon a harp of three strings, for the spirit must create harmony in the triple constitution of its inferior nature before it can gain for itself the solar crown of immortality.

The four suits of the minor trumps are considered as analogous to the four elements, the four corners of creation, and the four worlds of Qabbalism. The key to the lesser Tarots is presumably the *Tetragrammaton*, or the four-letter name of Jehovah, IHVH. The four suits of the minor trumps represent also the major divisions of society: *cups* are the priesthood, *swords* the military, *coins* the tradesmen, and *rods* the farming class. From the standpoint of what Court de Gébelin calls "political geography," *cups* represent the northern countries, *swords* the Orient, *coins* the Occident, and *rods* the southern countries. The ten pip cards of each suit represent the nations composing each of these grand divisions. The *kings* are their governments, the *queens* their religions, the *knights* their histories and national characteristics, and the *pages* their arts and sciences. Elaborate treatises have been written concerning the use of the Tarot cards in divination, but as this practice is contrary to the primary purpose of the Tarot no profit can result from its discussion.

Many interesting examples of early playing cards are found in the museums of Europe, and there are also noteworthy specimens in the cabinets of various private collectors. A few hand-painted decks exist which are extremely artistic. These depict various important personages contemporary with the artists. In some instances, the court cards are portraitures of the reigning monarch and his family. In England engraved cards became popular, and in the British Museum are also to be seen some extremely quaint stenciled cards. Heraldic devices were employed; and Chatto, in his *Origin and History of Playing Cards*, reproduces four heraldic cards in which the arms of Pope Clement IX adorn the king of clubs. There have been philosophical decks with emblems chosen from Greek and Roman mythology, also educational decks ornamented with maps or pictorial representations of famous historic places and incidents. Many rare examples of playing-cards have been found bound into the covers of early books. In Japan there are card games the successful playing of which requires familiarity with nearly all the literary masterpieces of that nation. In India there are circular decks depicting episodes from Oriental myths. There are also cards which in one sense of the word are not cards, for the designs are on wood, ivory, and even metal. There are comic cards caricaturing disliked persons and places, and there are cards commemorating various human achievements. During the American Civil War a patriotic deck was circulated in which stars, eagles, anchors, and American flags were substituted for the suits and the court cards were famous generals.

Modern playing cards are the minor trumps of the Tarot, from each suit of which the *page*, or *valet*, has been eliminated, leaving 13 cards. Even in its abridged form, however, the modern deck is of profound symbolic importance, for its arrangement is apparently in accord with the divisions of the year. The two colors, red and black, represent the two grand divisions of the year--that during which the sun is north of the equator and that during which it is south of the equator. The four suits represent the seasons, the ages of the ancient Greeks, and the *Yugas* of the Hindus. The twelve court cards are the signs of the zodiac arranged in triads of a Father, a Power, and a Mind according to the upper section of the Bembine Table. The ten pip cards of each suit represent the Sephirothic trees existing in each of the four worlds (the suits). The 13 cards of each suit are the 13 lunar months in each year, and the 52 cards of the deck are the 52 weeks in the year. Counting the number of pips and reckoning the jacks, queens, and kings as 11, 12, and 13 respectively, the sum for the 52 cards is 364. If the joker be considered as one point, the result is 365, or the number of days in the year. Milton Pottenger believed that the United States of America was laid out according to the conventional deck of playing cards, and that the government will ultimately consist of 52 States administered by a 53rd undenominated division, the District of Columbia.

The court cards contain a number of important Masonic symbols. Nine are full face and three are profile. Here is the broken "Wheel of the Law," signifying the nine months of the prenatal epoch and the three degrees of spiritual unfoldment necessary to produce the perfect man. The four armed kings are the Egyptian Ammonian Architects who gouged out the universe with knives. They are also the cardinal signs of the zodiac. The four queens, carrying eight-petaled flowers symbolic of the Christ, are the fixed signs of the zodiac. The four jacks, two of whom bear acacia sprigs--the jack of hearts in his hand, the jack of clubs in his hat-are the four common signs of the zodiac. It should be noted also that the court cards of the spade suit will not look upon the pip in the corner of the card but face away from it as though fearing this emblem of death. The Grand Master of the Order of the Cards is the king of clubs, who carries the orb as emblematic of his dignity.

In its symbolism chess is the most significant of all games. It has been called "the royal game"--the pastime of kings. Like the Tarot cards, the chessmen represent the elements of life and philosophy. The game was played in India and China long before its introduction into Europe. East Indian princes were wont to sit on the balconies of their palaces and play chess with living men standing upon a checkerboard pavement of black and white marble in the courtyard below. It is popularly believed that the Egyptian Pharaohs played chess, but an examination of their sculpture and illuminations has led to the conclusion that the Egyptian game was a form of draughts. In China, chessmen are often carved to represent warring dynasties, as the Manchu and the Ming. The chessboard consists of 64 squares alternately black and white and symbolizes the floor of the House of the Mysteries. Upon this field of existence or thought move a number of strangely carved figures, each according to fixed law. The white king is Ormuzd; the black king, Ahriman; and upon the plains of Cosmos the great war between Light and Darkness is fought through all the ages. Of the philosophical constitution of man, the kings represent the spirit; the queens the mind; the bishops the emotions; the knights the vitality; the castles, or rooks, the physical body. The pieces upon the kings' side are positive; those upon the queens' side, negative. The pawns are the sensory impulses and perceptive faculties--the eight parts of the soul. The white king and his suite symbolize the Self and its vehicles; the black king and his retinue, the not-self--the false Ego and its legion. The game of chess thus sets forth the eternal struggle of each part of man's compound nature against the shadow of itself. The nature of each of the chessmen is revealed by the way in which it moves; geometry is the key to their interpretation. For example: The castle (the body) moves on the square; the bishop (the emotions) moves on the slant; the king, being the spirit, cannot be captured, but loses the battle when so surrounded that it cannot escape.

## The Tabernacle in the Wilderness

THERE is no doubt that much of the material recorded in the first five books of the Old Testament is derived from the initiatory rituals of the Egyptian Mysteries. The priests of Isis were deeply versed in occult lore, and the Israelites during their captivity in Egypt learned from them many things concerning the significance of Divinity and the manner of worshiping It. The authorship of the first five books of the Old Testament is generally attributed to Moses, but whether or not he was the actual writer of them is a matter of controversy. There is considerable evidence to substantiate the hypothesis that the Pentateuch was compiled at a much later date, from oral traditions. Concerning the authorship of these books, Thomas Inman makes a rather startling statement: "It is true that we have books which purport to be the books of Moses; so there are, or have been, books purporting to be written by Homer, Orpheus, Enoch, Mormon, and Junius; yet the existence of the writings, and the belief that they were written by those whose name they bear, are no real evidences of the men or the genuineness of the works called by their names. It is true also that Moses is spoken of occasionally in the time of the early Kings of Jerusalem; but it is clear that these passages are written by a late hand, and have been introduced into the places where they are found, with the definite intention of making it appear that the lawgiver was known to David and Solomon." (See *Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names*.)

While this noted scholar undoubtedly had much evidence to support his belief, it seems that this statement is somewhat too sweeping in character. It is apparently based upon the fact that Thomas Inman doubted the historical existence of Moses. This doubt was based upon the etymological resemblance of the word Moses to an ancient name for the sun. As the result of these deductions, Inman sought to prove that the Lawgiver of Israel was merely another form of the omnipresent solar myth. While Inman demonstrated that by transposing two of the ancient letters the word *Moses* (משה) became *Shemmah* (שמה), an appellation of the celestial globe, he seems to have overlooked the fact that in the ancient Mysteries the initiates were often given names synonymous with the sun, to symbolize the fact that the redemption and regeneration of the solar power had been achieved within their own natures. It is far more probable that the man whom we know as Moses was an accredited representative of the secret schools, laboring--as many other emissaries have labored--to instruct primitive races in the mysteries of their immortal souls.

The true name of the Grand Old Man of Israel who is known to history as Moses will probably never be ascertained. The word Moses, when understood in its esoteric Egyptian sense, means one who has been admitted into the Mystery Schools of Wisdom and ~as gone forth to teach the ignorant concerning the will of the gods and the mysteries of life, as these mysteries were explained within the temples of Isis, Osiris, and Serapis. There is much controversy concerning the nationality of Moses. Some assert that he was a Jew, adopted and educated by the ruling house of Egypt; others hold the opinion that he was a full-blooded Egyptian. A few even believe him to be identical with the immortal Hermes, for both these illustrious founders of religious systems received tablets from heaven supposedly written by the finger of God. The stories told concerning Moses, his discovery in the ark of bulrushes by Pharaoh's daughter, his adoption into the royal family of Egypt, and his later revolt against Egyptian autocracy coincide exactly with certain ceremonies through which the candidates of the Egyptian Mysteries passed in their ritualistic wanderings in search of truth and understanding. The analogy can also be traced in the movements of the heavenly bodies.

It is not strange that the erudite Moses, initiated in Egypt, should teach the Jews a philosophy containing the more important principles of Egyptian esotericism. The religions of Egypt at the time of the Israelitic captivity were far older than even the Egyptians themselves realized. Histories were difficult to compile in those days, and the Egyptians were satisfied to trace their race back to a mythological period when the gods themselves walked the earth and with their own power established the Double Empire of the Nile. The Egyptians did not dream that these divine progenitors were the Atlanteans, who, forced to abandon their seven islands because of volcanic cataclysms, had immigrated into Egypt--then an Atlantean colony--where they established a great philosophic and literary center of civilization which was later to influence profoundly the religions and science of unnumbered races and peoples. Today Egypt is forgotten, but things Egyptian will always be remembered and revered. Egypt is dead--yet it lives immortal in its philosophy, and architectonics.

As Odin founded his Mysteries in Scandinavia, and Quexalcoatl in Mexico, so Moses, laboring with the then nomadic people of Israel's twelve tribes, established in the midst of them his secret and symbolic school, which has came to be known as The Tabernacle Mysteries. The Tabernacle of: the Jews was merely a temple patterned after the temples of Egypt, and transportable to meet the needs of that roving disposition which the Israelites were famous. Every part of the Tabernacle and the enclosure which surrounded it was symbolic of some great natural or philosophic truth. To the ignorant it was but a place to which to bring offerings and in which to make sacrifice; to the wise it was a temple of learning, sacred to the Universal Spirit of Wisdom.

While the greatest, minds of the Jewish and Christian worlds have realized that the Bible is a book of allegories, few seem to have taken the trouble to investigate its symbols and parables. When Moses instituted his Mysteries, he is said to have given to a chosen few initiates certain oral teachings which could never be written but were to be preserved from one generation to the next by word-of-mouth transmission. Those instructions were in the form of philosophical keys, by means of which the allegories were made to reveal their hidden significance. These mystic keys to their sacred writings were called by the Jews the *Qabbalah* (*Cabala*, *Kaballah*).

The modern world seems to have forgotten the existence of those unwritten teachings which explained satisfactorily the apparent contradictions of the written Scriptures, nor does it remember that the pagans appointed their two-faced Janus as custodian of the key to the Temple of Wisdom. Janus has been metamorphosed into St. Peter, so often symbolized as holding in his hand the key to the gate of heaven. The gold and silver keys of "God's Vicar on Earth," the Pope, symbolizes this "secret doctrine" which, when properly understood, unlocks the treasure chest of the Christian and Jewish Qabbalah.

The temples of Egyptian mysticism (from which the Tabernacle was copied) were--according to their own priests--miniature representations of the universe. The solar system was always regarded as a great temple of initiation, which candidates entered through the gates of birth; after threading the tortuous passageways of earthly existence, they finally approached the veil of the Great Mystery--Death--through whose gate they vanished back into the invisible world. Socrates subtly reminded his disciples that Death was, in reality, the great initiation, for his last words were: "Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt?" (As the rooster was sacred to the gods and the sacrifice of this bird accompanied a candidate's introduction into the Mysteries, Socrates implied that he was about to take his great initiation.)

*THE ANCIENT OF DAYS.*

*From Montfaucon's Antiquities.*

*It is in this form that Jehovah is generally pictured by the Qabbalists. The drawing is intended to represent the Demiurgus of the Greeks and Gnostics, called by the Greeks "Zeus," the Immortal Mortal, and by the Hebrews "IHVH."*

Life is the great mystery, and only those who pass successfully through its tests and trials, interpreting them aright and extracting the essence of experience therefrom, achieve true understanding. Thus, the temples were built in the form of the world and their rituals were based upon life and its multitudinous problems. Nor only was the Tabernacle itself patterned according to Egyptian mysticism; its utensils were also of ancient and accepted form. The Ark of the Covenant itself was an adaptation of the Egyptian Ark, even to the kneeling figures upon its lid. Bas-reliefs on the Temple of Philæ show Egyptian priests carrying their Ark--which closely resembled the Ark of the Jews--upon their shoulders by means of staves like those described in Exodus.

The following description of the Tabernacle and its priests is based upon the account of its construction and ceremonies recorded by Josephus in the Third Book of his *Antiquities of the Jews*. The Bible references are from a "Breeches" Bible (famous for its rendering of the seventh verse of the third chapter of Genesis), printed in London in 1599, and the quotations are reproduced in their original spelling and punctuation.

**THE BUILDING OF THE TABERNACLE**

Moses, speaking for Jehovah, the God of Israel, appointed two architects to superintend the building of the Tabernacle. They were Besaleel, the son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Their popularity was so great that they were also the unanimous choice of the people. When Jacob upon his deathbed blessed his sons (see Genesis xlix), he assigned to each a symbol. The symbol of Judah was a lion; that of Dan a serpent or a bird (possibly an eagle). The lion and the eagle are two of the four beasts of the Cherubim (the fixed signs of the zodiac); and the Rosicrucian alchemists maintained that the mysterious Stone of the Wise (the Soul) was compounded with the aid of the Blood of the Red Lion and the Gluten of the White Eagle. It seems probable that there is a hidden mystic relationship between fire (the Red Lion), water (the White Eagle), as they were used in occult chemistry, and the representatives of these two tribes whose symbols were identical with these alchemical elements.

As the Tabernacle was the dwelling place of God among men, likewise the soul body in man is the dwelling place of his divine nature, round which gathers a twelvefold material constitution in the same manner that the tribes of Israel camped about the enclosure sacred to Jehovah. The idea that the Tabernacle was really symbolic of an invisible spiritual truth outside the comprehension of the Israelites is substantiated by a statement made in the eighth chapter of Hebrews: "Who serve unto the paterne and shadowe of heavenly things, as Moses was warned by God, when he was about to finish the Tabernacle." Here we find the material physical place of worship called a "shadow" or symbol of a spiritual institution, invisible but omnipotent.

The specifications of the Tabernacle are described in the book of Exodus, twenty-fifth chapter: "Then the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speake unto the children of Israel that they receive an offering for me: of every man, whose heart giveth it freely, yee shall take the offering for me. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them, gold and silver, and brass, and blue silke, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linnen and goats haire. And rammes skinnes coloured red, and the skinnes of badgers, and the wood Shittim, oyle for the light, spices for anoynting oyle, and for the perfume of sweet favour, onix stones, and stories to be set in the Ephod, and in the breastplate. Also they shall make me a Sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, even so shall ye make the forme of the Tabernacle, and the fashion of all the instruments thereof."

The court of the Tabernacle was an enclosed area, fifty cubits wide and one hundred cubits long, circumscribed by a wall of linen curtains hung from brazen pillars five cubits apart. (The cubit is an ancient standard of measurement, its length being equal to the distance between the elbow and the extreme end of the index finger, approximately eighteen inches.) There were twenty of these pillars on each of the longer sides and ten on the shorter. Each pillar had a base of brass and a capital of silver. The Tabernacle was always laid out with the long sides facing north and south and the short sides facing east and west, with the entrance to the east, thus showing the influence of primitive sun worship.

The outer court served the principal purpose of isolating the tent of the Tabernacle proper, which stood in the midst of the enclosure. At the entrance to the courtyard, which was in the eastern face of the rectangle, stood the Altar of Burnt Offerings, made of brass plates over wood and ornamented with the horns of bulls and rams. Farther in, but on a line with this altar, stood the Laver of Purification, a great vessel containing water for priestly ablutions. The Laver was twofold in its construction, the upper part being a large bowl, probably covered, which served as a source of supply for a lower basin in which the priests bathed themselves before participating in the various ceremonials. It is supposed that this Laver was encrusted with the metal mirrors of the women of the twelve tribes of Israel.

The dimensions of the Tabernacle proper were as follows: "Its length, when it was set up, was thirty cubits, and its breadth was ten cubits. The one of its walls was on the south, and the other was exposed to the north, and on the back part of it remained the west. It was necessary that its height should be equal to its breadth (ten cubits)." (Josephus.)

It is the custom of bibliologists to divide the interior of the Tabernacle into two rooms: one room ten cubits wide, ten cubits high, and twenty cubits long, which was called the Holy Place and contained three special articles of furniture, namely, the Seven-Branched Candlestick, the Table of the Shewbread, and the Altar of Burnt Incense; the other room ten cubits wide, ten cubits high, and ten cubits long, which was called the Holy of Holies and contained but one article of furniture--the Ark of the Covenant. The two rooms were separated from each other by an ornamental veil upon which were embroidered many kinds of flowers, but no animal or human figures.

Josephus hints that there was a third compartment which was formed by subdividing the Holy Place, at least hypothetically, into two chambers. The Jewish historian is not very explicit in his description of this third room, and the majority of writers seem to have entirely overlooked and neglected this point, although Josephus emphatically states that Moses himself divided the inner tent into three sections. The veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was hung across four pillars, which probably indicated in a subtle way the four elements, while at the entrance to the tent proper the Jews placed seven pillars, referring to the seven senses and the seven vowels of the Sacred Name. That later only five pillars are mentioned may be accounted for by the fact that at the present time man has only five developed senses and five active vowels. The early Jewish writer of *The Baraitha* treats of the curtains as follows:

"There were provided ten curtains of blue, of purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen. As is said, 'Moreover thou shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine-twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet.' ***There were provided eleven curtains of goats' hair, and the length of every one of them was thirty cubits,***. Rabbi Judah said, 'There were two covers-the lower one of rams' skins dyed red, and the upper one of badgers' skins. '"

Calmet is of the opinion that the Hebrew word translated "badger" really means "dark purple" and therefore did not refer to any particular animal, but probably to a heavily woven waterproof fabric of dark and inconspicuous color. During the time of Israel's wanderings through the wilderness, it is supposed that a pillar of fire hovered over the Tabernacle at night, while a column of smoke traveled with it by day. This cloud was called by the Jews the *Shechinah* and was symbolic of the presence of the Lord. In one of the early Jewish books rejected at the time of the compiling of the Talmud the following description of the *Shechinah* appears:

"Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. And that was one of the clouds of glory, which served the Israelites in the wilderness forty years. One on the right hand, and one on the left, and one before them, and one behind them. And one over them, and a cloud dwelling in their midst (and the cloud, the *Shechinah* which was in the tent), and the pillar of cloud which moved before them, making low before them the high places, and making high before them the low places, and killing serpents and scorpions, and burning thorns and briars, and guiding them in the straight way." (From *The Baraitha*, the Book of the Tabernacle.)

**THE FURNISHINGS OF THE TABERNACLE**

There is no doubt that the Tabernacle, its furnishings and ceremonials, when considered esoterically, are analogous to the structure, organs, and functions of the human body. At the entrance to the outer court of the Tabernacle stood the Altar of Burnt Offerings, five cubits long and five cubits wide but only three cubits high. Its upper surface was a brazen grill upon which the sacrifice was placed, while beneath was a space for the fire. This altar signified that a candidate, when first entering the precincts of sanctuary, must offer upon the brazen altar not a poor unoffending bull or ram but its correspondence within his own nature. The bull, being symbolic of earthiness, represented his own gross constitution which must be burned up by the fire of his Divinity. (The sacrificing of beasts, and in some cases human beings, upon the altars of the pagans was the result of their ignorance concerning the fundamental principle underlying sacrifice. They did not realize that their offerings must come from within their own natures in order to be acceptable.)

*THE BREASTPLATE OF THE HIGH PRIEST.*

*From Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible.*

*The order of the stones and the tribe over which each administered were, according to Calmet, as in the above diagram. These gems, according to the Rosicrucians, were symbolic of the twelve great qualities and virtues: Illumination, Love, Wisdom, Truth, Justice, Peace, Equilibrium, Humility, Faith, Strength, Joy, Victory.*

Farther westward, in line with the Brazen Altar, was the Laver of Purification already described. It signified to the priest that he should cleanse not only his body but also his soul from all stains of impurity, for none who is not clean in both body and mind can enter into the presence of Divinity and live. Beyond the Laver of Purification was the entrance to the Tabernacle proper, facing the east, so that the first rays of the rising sun might enter and light the chamber. Between the encrusted pillars could be seen the Holy Place, a mysterious chamber, its walls hung with magnificent drapes embroidered with the faces of Cherubs.

Against the wall on the southern side of the Holy Place stood the great Candlestick, or lampstand, of cast gold, which was believed to weigh about a hundred pounds. From its central shaft branched out six arms, each ending in a cup-shaped depression in which stood an oil lamp. There were seven lamps, three on the arms at each side and one on the central stem. The Candlestick was ornamented with seventy-two almonds, knops, and flowers. Josephus says seventy, but wherever this round number is used by the Hebrews it really means seventy-two. Opposite the Candlestick, against the northern wall, was a table bearing twelve loaves of Shewbread in two stacks of six loaves each. (Calmet is of the opinion that the bread was not stacked up but spread out on the table in two rows, each containing six loaves.) On this table also stood two lighted incensories, which were placed upon the tops of the stacks of Shewbread so that the smoke of the incense might be an acceptable aroma to the Lord, bearing with it in its ascent the soul of the Shewbread.

In the center of the room, almost against the partition leading into the Holy of Holies, stood the Altar of Burnt Incense, made of wood overlaid with golden plates. Its width and length were each a cubit and its height was two cubits. This altar was symbolic of the human larynx, from which the words of man's mouth ascend as an acceptable offering unto the Lord, for the larynx occupies the position in the constitution of man between the Holy Place, which is the trunk of his body, and the Holy of Holies, which is the head with its contents.

Into the Holy of Holies none might pass save the High Priest, and he only at certain prescribed times, The room contained no furnishings save the Ark of the Covenant, which stood against the western wall, opposite the entrance. In Exodus the dimensions of the Ark are given as two and a half cubits for its length, one cubit and a half its breadth and one cubit and a half its height. It was made of shittim-wood, gold plated within and without, and contained the sacred tablets of the Law delivered to Moses upon Sinai. The lid of the Ark was in the form of a golden plate upon which knelt two mysterious creatures called Cherubim, facing each other, with wings arched overhead. It was upon this mercy seat between the wings of the celestials that the Lord of Israel descended when He desired to communicate with His High Priest.

The furnishings of the Tabernacle were made conveniently portable. Each altar and implement of any size was supplied with staves which could be put: through rings; by this means it could be picked up and carried by four or more bearers. The staves were never removed from the Ark of the Covenant until it was finally placed in the Holy of Holies of the Everlasting House, King Solomon's Temple.

There is no doubt that the Jews in early times realized, at least in part, that their Tabernacle was a symbolic edifice. Josephus realized this and while he has been severely criticized because he interpreted the Tabernacle symbolism according to Egyptian and Grecian paganism, his description of the secret meanings of its drapes and furnishings is well worthy of consideration. He says:

"When Moses distinguished the tabernacle into three parts, and allowed two of them to the priests, as a place accessible and common, he denoted the land and the sea, these being of general access to all; but he set apart the third division for God, because heaven is inaccessible to men. And when he ordered twelve loaves to be set on a table, he denoted the year, as distinguished into so many months. By branching out the candlestick into seventy parts, he secretly intimated the Decani, or seventy divisions of the planets; and as to the seven lamps upon the candlesticks, they referred to the course of the planets, of which that is the number. The veils too, which were composed of four things, they declared the four elements; for the plain linen was proper to signify the earth, because the flax grows out of the earth; the purple signified the sea, because that color is dyed by the blood of a sea shell-fish; the blue is fit to signify the air; and the scarlet will naturally be an indication of fire.

"Now the vestment of the high-priest being made of linen, signified the earth; the blue denoted the sky, being like lightning in its pomegranates, and in the noise of the bells resembling thunder. And for the Ephod, it showed that God had made the universe of four (elements); and as for the gold interwoven, ** * it related to the splendor by which all things are enlightened. He also appointed the breastplate to be placed in the middle of the Ephod, to resemble the earth, for that has the very middle place of the world. And the girdle which encompassed the high-priest round signified the ocean, for that goes round about and includes the universe. Each of the sardonyxes declares to us the sun and the moon, those, I mean, that were in the nature of buttons on the high-priest's shoulders. And for the twelve stones, whether we understand by them the months, or whether we understand the like number of the signs of that circle which the Greeks call the Zodiac, we shall not be mistaken in their meaning. And for the mitre, which was of a blue colour, it seems to me to mean heaven; for how otherwise could the name of God be inscribed upon it? That it was also illustrated with a crown, and that of gold also, is because of that splendour with which God is pleased." It is also symbolically significant that the Tabernacle was built in seven months and dedicated to God at the time of the new moon.

The metals used in the building of the Tabernacle were all emblematic. Gold represents spirituality, and the golden plates laid over the shittim-wood were emblems of the spiritual nature which glorifies the human nature symbolized by the wood. Mystics have taught that man's physical body is surrounded by a series of invisible bodies of diverse colors and great splendor. In the majority of people the spiritual nature is concealed and imprisoned in the material nature, but in a few this internal constitution has been objectified and the spiritual nature is outside, so that it surrounds man's personality with a great radiance.

Silver, used as the capitals for the pillars, has its reference to the moon, which was sacred to the Jews and the Egyptians alike. The priests held secret ritualistic ceremonies at the time of the new and the full moon, both of which periods were sacred to Jehovah. Silver, so the ancients taught, was gold with its sun-ray turned inward instead of objectified. While gold symbolized the spiritual soul, silver represented the purified and regenerated human nature of man.

The brass used in the outer altars was a composite substance consisting of an alloy of precious and base metals. Thus, it represented the constitution of the average individual, who is a combination of both the higher and the lower elements.

The three divisions of the Tabernacle should have a special interest to Freemasons, for they represent the three degrees of the Blue Lodge, while the three orders of priests who served the Tabernacle are preserved to modern Masonry as the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craftsman, and the Master Mason. The Hawaiian Islanders built a Tabernacle not unlike that of the Jews, except that their rooms were one above another and not one behind another, as in the case of the Tabernacle of the Israelites. The three rooms are also the three important chambers of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh.

**THE ROBES OF GLORY**

As explained in the quotation from Josephus, the robes and adornments of the Jewish priests had a secret significance, and even to this day there is a religious cipher language concealed in the colors, forms, and uses of sacred garments, not only among the Christian and Jewish priests but also among pagan religions. The vestments of the Tabernacle priests were called *Cahanææ*; those of the High Priest were termed *Cahanææ Rabbæ*. Over the *Machanese*, an undergarment resembling short trousers, they wore the *Chethone*, a finely woven linen robe, which reached to the ground and had long sleeves tied to the arms of the wearer. A brightly embroidered sash, twisted several times around the waist (a little higher than is customary), with one end pendent in front, and a closely fitting linen cap, designated *Masnaemphthes*, completed the costume of the ordinary priest.

*THE GARMENTS OF GLORY.*

*From Mosaize Historie der Hebreeuwse Kerke.*

*Th. robe of the High Priest of Israel were often called "The Garments of Glory", for they resembled the regenerated and spiritualized nature of man, symbolized by a vestment which all must weave from the threads of character and virtue before they can become High Priests after the Order of Melchizedek.*

The vestments of the High Priest were the same as those of the lesser degrees, except that certain garments and adornments were added. Over the specially woven white linen robe the High Priest wore a seamless and sleeveless habit, sky-blue in color and reaching nearly to his feet. This was called the *Meeir* and was ornamented with a fringe of alternated golden bells and pomegranates. In Ecclesiasticus (one of the books rejected from the modern Bible), these bells and their purpose are described in the following words: "And he compassed him with pomegranates, and with many golden bells round about, that as he went, there might be a sound and a noise that might be heard in the temple, for a memorial to the children of his people." The *Meeir* was also bound in with a variegated girdle finely embroidered and with gold wire inserted through the embroidery.

The *Ephod*, a short vestment described by Josephus as resembling a coat or jacket, was worn over the upper part of the *Meeir*. The threads of which the *Ephod* was woven were of many colors, probably red, blue, purple, and white, like the curtains and coverings of the Tabernacle. Fine gold wires were also woven into the fabric. The *Ephod* was fastened at each shoulder with a large onyx in the form of a button, and the names of the twelve sons of Jacob were engraven upon these two stones, six on each. These onyx buttons were supposed to have oracular powers, and when the High Priest asked certain questions, they emitted a celestial radiance. When the onyx on the right shoulder was illuminated, it signified that Jehovah answered the question of the High Priest: in the affirmative, and when the one on the left gleamed, it indicated a negative answer to the query.

In the middle of the front surface of the *Ephod* was a space to accommodate the *Essen*, or *Breastplate of Righteousness and Prophecy*, which, as its name signifies, was also an oracle of great power. This pectoral was roughly square in shape and consisted of a frame of embroidery into which were set twelve stones, each held in a socket of gold. Because of the great weight of its stones, each of which was of considerable size and immense value, the breastplate was held in position by special golden chains and ribbons. The twelve stones of the breastplate, like the onyx stones at the shoulders of the *Ephod*, had the mysterious power of lighting up with Divine glory and so serving as oracles. Concerning the strange power of these flashing symbols of Israel's twelve tribes, Josephus writes:

"Yet will I mention what is still more wonderful than this: For God declared beforehand, by those twelve stones which the High Priest bare upon his breast and which were inserted into his breastplate, when they should be victorious in battle; for so great a splendor shone forth from them before the army began to march, that all the people were sensible of God's being present for their assistance. Whence it came to pass that those Greeks, who had a veneration for our laws, because they could not possibly contradict this, called the breastplate, 'the Oracle'." The writer then adds that the stones ceased to light up and gleam some two hundred years before he wrote his history, because the Jews had broken the laws of Jehovah and the God of Israel was no longer pleased with His chosen people.

The Jews learned astronomy from the Egyptians, and it is not unlikely that the twelve jewels of the breastplate were symbolic of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. These twelve celestial hierarchies were looked upon as jewels adorning the breastplate of the Universal Man, the Macroprosophus, who is referred to in the Zohar as The Ancient of Days. The number *twelve* frequently occurs among ancient peoples, who in nearly every case had a pantheon consisting of twelve demigods and goddesses presided over by The Invincible One, who was Himself subject to the Incomprehensible All-Father. This use of the number twelve is especially noted in the Jewish and Christian writings. The twelve prophets, the twelve patriarchs, the twelve tribes, and the twelve Apostles--each group has a certain occult significance, for each refers to the Divine Duodecimo, or Twelvefold Deity, whose emanations are manifested in the tangible created Universe through twelve individualized channels. The secret doctrine also caught the priests that the jewels represented centers of life within their own constitutions, which when unfolded according to the esoteric instructions of the Temple, were capable of absorbing into themselves and radiating forth again the Divine light of the Deity. (The East Indian lotus blossoms have a similar meaning.) The Rabbis have taught that each twisted linen thread used in weaving the Tabernacle curtains and ornamentations consisted of twenty-four separate strands, reminding the discerning that the experience, gained during the twenty-four hours of the day (symbolized in Masonry by the twenty-four-inch rule) becomes the threads from which are woven the Garments of Glory.

**THE URIM AND THUMMIM**

In the reverse side of the *Essen*, or breastplate, was a pocket containing mysterious objects--the *Urim* and *Thummim*. Aside from the fact that they were used in divination, little is now known about these objects. Some writers contend that they were small stones (resembling the fetishes still revered by certain aboriginal peoples) which the Israelites had brought with them out of Egypt because of their belief that they possessed divine power. Others believe that the *Urim* and *Thummim* were in the form of dice, used for deciding events by being cast upon the ground. A few have maintained that they were merely sacred names, written on plates of gold and carried as talismans. "According to some, the *Urim* and the *Thummim* signify 'lights and perfections,' or 'light and truth' which last present a striking analogy to the. two figures of Re (Ra) and Themi in the breastplate worn by the Egyptians." (Gardner's *The Faiths of the World*.)

Not the least remarkable of the vestments of the High Priest was his bonnet, or headdress. Over the plain white cap of the ordinary priest this dignitary wore an outer cloth of blue and a crown of gold, the crown consisting of three bands, one above the other like the triple miter of the Persian Magi. This crown symbolized that the High Priest was ruler not only over the three worlds which the ancients had differentiated (heaven, earth, and hell), but also over the threefold divisions of man and the universe--the spiritual, intellectual, and material worlds. These divisions were also symbolized by the three apartments of the Tabernacle itself.

At the peak of the headdress was a tiny cup of gold, made in the form of a flower. This signified that the nature of the priest was receptive and that he had a vessel in his own soul which, cuplike, was capable of catching the eternal waters of life pouring upon him from the heavens above. This flower over the crown of his head is similar in its esoteric meaning to the rose growing out of a skull, so famous in Templar symbology. The ancients believed that the spiritual nature escaping from the body passed upward through the crown of the head; therefore, the flowerlike calyx, or cup, symbolized also the spiritual consciousness. On the front of the golden crown were inscribed in Hebrew, *Holiness unto the Lord*.

Though robes and ornaments augmented the respect and veneration of the Israelites for their High Priest, such trappings meant nothing to Jehovah. Therefore, before entering the Holy of Holies, the High Priest removed his earthly finery and entered into the presence of the Lord God of Israel unclothed. There he could be robed only in his own virtues, and his spirituality must adorn him as a garment.

There is a legend to the effect that any who chanced to enter the Holy of Holies unclean were destroyed by a bolt of Divine fire from the Mercy Seat. If the High Priest had but one selfish thought, he would be struck dead. As no man knows when an unworthy thought may flash through his mind, precautions had to be taken in case the High Priest should be struck dead while in the presence of Jehovah. The other priests could not enter the sanctuary therefore, when their leader was about to go in and receive the commands of the Lord, they tied a chain around one of his feet so that if he were struck down while behind the veil they could drag the body out.

*THE HEADDRESS OF THE PRIESTS.*

*From Mosaize Historie der Hebreeuwse Kerke.*

*Over the plain white cap of the ordinary priests the High Priest wore an overcloth of blue and a band of gold. On the front of the golden band were inscribed the Hebrew words "Holiness unto the Lord." This illustration shows the arrangement of the bonnet both with and without the golden crown.*

*THE ARK WITH ITS CHERUBIM.*

*From Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible.*

*Josephus tells its that the Cherubim were flying creatures but different in appearance, from anything to be seen on earth; therefore impossible to describe. Moses is supposed to have seen these beings kneeling at the footstool of God when he was picked up and brought into the Presence of Jehovah. It is probable that they resembled, at least in general appearance, the famous Cherubim of Ezekiel.*

## The Fraternity of the Rose Cross

WHO were the Rosicrucians? Were they an organization of profound thinkers rebelling against the inquisitional religious and philosophical limitations of their time or were they isolated transcendentalists united only by the similarity of their viewpoints and deductions? Where was the "House of the Holy Spirit, " in which, according to their manifestoes, they met once a year to plan the future activities of their Order? Who was the mysterious person referred to as "Our Illustrious Father and Brother C.R.C."? Did those three letters actually stand for the words "Christian Rosie Cross"? Was Christian Rosencreutz, the supposed author of the *Chymical Nuptials*, the same person who with three others founded "The Society of the Rose Cross"?

What relationship existed between Rosicrucianism and medieval Freemasonry? Why were the destinies of these two organizations so closely interwoven? Is the "Brotherhood of the Rose Cross" the much-sought-after link connecting the Freemasonry of the Middle Ages with the symbolism and mysticism of antiquity, and are its secrets being perpetuated by modern Masonry? Did the original Rosicrucian Order disintegrate in the latter part of the eighteenth century, or does the Society still exist as an organization, maintaining the same secrecy for which it was originally famous? What was the true purpose for which the "Brotherhood of the Rose Cross" was formed? Were the Rosicrucians a religious and philosophic brotherhood, as they claimed to be, or were their avowed tenets a blind to conceal the true object of the Fraternity, which possibly was the political control of Europe? These are some of the problems involved in the study of Rosicrucianism.

There are four distinct theories regarding the Rosicrucian enigma. Each is the result of a careful consideration of the evidence by scholars who have spent their lives ransacking the archives of Hermetic lore. The conclusions reached demonstrate clearly the inadequacy of the records available concerning the genesis and early activities of the "Brethren of the Rose Cross."

**THE FIRST POSTULATE**

It is assumed that the Rosicrucian Order existed historically in accordance with the description of its foundation and subsequent activities published in its manifesto, the *Fama Fraternitatis*, which is believed to have been written in the year 1610, but apparently did not appear in print until 1614, although an earlier edition is suspected by some authorities. Intelligent consideration of the origin of Rosicrucianism requires a familiarity with the contents of the first and most important of its documents. The *Fama Fraternitatis* begins with a reminder to all the world of God's goodness and mercy, and it warns the intelligentsia that their egotism and covetousness cause them to follow after false prophets and to ignore the true knowledge which God in His goodness has revealed to them. Hence, a reformation is necessary, and God has raised up philosophers and sages for this purpose.

In order to assist in bringing about the reformation, a mysterious person called "The Highly Illuminated Father C.R.C.," a German by birth, descended of a noble family, but himself a poor man, instituted the "Secret Society of the Rose Cross." C.R.C. was placed in a cloister when only five years of age, but later becoming dissatisfied with its educational system, he associated himself with a brother of Holy Orders who was setting forth on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. They started out together, but the brother died at Cyprus and C.R.C! continued alone to Damascus. Poor health prevented him from reaching Jerusalem, so he remained at Damascus, studying with the philosophers who dwelt there.

While pursuing his studies, he heard of a group of mystics and Qabbalists abiding in the mystic Arabian city of Damcar. Giving up his desire to visit Jerusalem, he arranged with the Arabians for his transportation to Damcar. C.R.C. was but sixteen years of age when he arrived at Damcar. He was received as one who had been long expected, a comrade and a friend in philosophy, and was instructed in the secrets of the Arabian adepts. While there, C.R.C. learned the Arabic tongue and translated the sacred book *M* into Latin; and upon returning to Europe he brought this important volume with him.

After studying three years in Damcar, C.R.C. departed for the city of Fez, where the Arabian magicians declared further information would be given him. At Fez he was instructed how to communicate with the Elementary inhabitants probably the Nature spirits, and these disclosed to him many other great secrets of Nature. While the philosophers in Fez were not so great as those in Damcar, the previous experiences of C.R.C. enabled him to distinguish the true from the false and thus add greatly to his store of knowledge.

After two years in Fez, C.R.C. sailed for Spain, carrying with him many treasures, among them rare plants and animals accumulated during his wanderings. He fondly hoped that the learned men of Europe would receive with gratitude the rare intellectual and material treasures which he had brought for their consideration. Instead he encountered only ridicule, for the so-called wise were afraid to admit their previous ignorance lest their prestige be impaired. At this point in the narrative is an interpolation stating that Paracelsus, while not a member of the "Fraternity of the Rose Cross," had read the book *M* and from a consideration of its contents had secured information which made him the foremost physician of medieval Europe.

Tired, but not discouraged, as the result of the fruitlessness of his efforts, C.R.C. returned to Germany, where he built a house in which he could quietly carry on his study and research. He also manufactured a number of rare scientific instruments for research purposes. While he could have made himself famous had he cared to commercialize his knowledge, he preferred the companionship of God to the esteem of men.

After five years of retirement he decided to renew his struggle for a reformation of the arts and sciences of his day, this time with the aid of a few trusted friends. He sent to the cloister where his early training had been received and called to himself three brethren, whom he bound by an oath to preserve inviolate the secrets he should impart and to write down for the sake of posterity the information he should dictate. These four founded the "Fraternity of the Rose Cross." They prepared its secret cipher language and, according to the *Fama*, a great dictionary in which all forms of wisdom were classified to the glorification of God. They also began the work of transcribing the book *M*, but found the task too difficult because of the demands of the great numbers of sick who came to them for healing.

Having completed a newer and larger building, which they called the "House of the Holy Spirit," they decided to include four new members in the Fraternity, thus increasing the number to eight, seven of whom were German. All were unmarried. Working industriously together, they speedily completed the arduous labor of preparing the documents, instructions, and arcana of the Order. They also put the house called "Sancti Spiritus" in order.

*THE GOLDEN AND ROSY CROSS.*

*From Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer.*

*It is said of this cross that it is made of spiritual gold and that each Brother wears it upon his breast. It bears the alchemical symbols of salt, sulphur, and mercury; also a star of the planets; and around it are the four words FAITH, HOPE, LOVE, and PATIENCE. The double-headed eagle, or Phœnix, subtly foreshadows the ultimate androgynous state of the human creature. Rosicrucian alchemy was not concerned with metals alone. Man's own body was the alchemical laboratory, and none could reach Rosicrucian adeptship until he had performed the supreme experiment of transmutation by changing the base metals of ignorance into the pure gold of wisdom and understanding.*

They then decided to separate and visit the other countries of the earth, not only that their wisdom might be given to others who deserved it but also that they might check and correct any mistakes existing in their own system. Before separating, the Brethren prepared six rules, or by-laws, and each bound himself to obey them. The first rule was that they should take to themselves no other dignity or credit than that they were willing to heal the sick without charge. The second was that from that time on forever they should wear no special robe or garment, but should dress according to the custom of the country wherein they dwelt. The third stated that every year upon a certain day they should meet in the "House of the Holy Spirit," or, if unable to do so, should be represented by an epistle. The fourth decreed that each member should search for a worthy person to succeed him at his own demise. The fifth stated that the letters "R.C." should be their seal, mark, and character from that time onward. The sixth specified that the Fraternity should remain unknown to the world for a period of one hundred years.

After they had sworn to this code five of the Brothers departed to distant lands, and a year later two of the others also went their way, leaving Father C.R. C. alone in the "House of the Holy Spirit." Year after year they met with great joy, for they had quietly and sincerely promulgated their doctrines among the wise of the earth.

When the first of the Order died in England, it was decided that the burial places of the members should be secret. Soon afterward Father C.R.C. called the remaining six together, and it is supposed that then he prepared his own symbolic tomb. The Fama records that none of the Brothers alive at the time of its writing knew when Father C.R.C. died or where he was buried. His body was accidentally discovered 120 years after his death when one of the Brothers, who possessed considerable architectural skill, decided to make some alterations in the "House of the Holy Spirit." It is only suspected that the tomb was in this building.

While making his alterations, the Brother discovered a memorial tablet upon which were inscribed the names of the early members of the Order. This he decided to transfer to a more imposing chapel, for at that time no one knew in what country Father C.R.C. had died, this information having been concealed by the original members. In attempting to remove the memorial tablet, which was held in place by a large nail, some stones and plastering were broken from the wall, disclosing a door concealed in the masonry. The members of the Order immediately cleared away the rest of the débris and uncovered the entrance to a vault. Upon the door in large letters were the words: POST CXX ANNOS PATEBO. This, according to the mystic interpretation of the Brethren, meant, "In 120 years I shall come forth."

The following morning the door was opened and the members entered a vault with seven sides and seven corners, each side five feet broad and eight feet high. Although the sun never penetrated this tomb, it was brilliantly illuminated by a mysterious light in the ceiling. In the center was a circular altar, upon which were brass plates engraved with strange characters. In each of the seven sides was a small door which, upon being opened, revealed a number of boxes filled with books, secret instructions, and the supposedly lost arcanum of the Fraternity.

Upon moving the altar to one side a brass cover was disclosed. Lifting this revealed a body, presumedly that of C.R.C., which, although it had lain there 120 years, was as well preserved as though it had just been interred. It was ornamented and attired in the robes of the Order, and in one hand was clasped a mysterious parchment which, next to the Bible, was the most valued possession of the Society. After thoroughly investigating the contents of the secret chamber, the brass plate and altar were put back in place, the door of the vault was again sealed, and the Brothers went their respective ways, their spirits raised and their faith increased by the miraculous spectacle which they had beheld.

The document ends by saying in effect, "In accordance with the will of Father C.R.C., the *Fama* has been prepared and sent forth to the wise and learned of all Europe in five languages, that all may know and understand the secrets of the august Fraternity. All of sincere soul who labor for the glory of God are invited to communicate with the Brethren and are promised that their appeal shall be heard, regardless of where they are or how the messages are sent. At the same time, those of selfish and ulterior motives are warned that only sorrow and misery will attend any who attempt to discover the Fraternity without a clean heart and a pure mind."

Such, in brief, is the story of the *Fama Fraternitatis*. Those who accept it literally regard Father C.R.C. as the actual founder of the Brotherhood, which he is believed to have organized about 1400. The fact that historical corroboration of the important points of the Fama has never been discovered is held against this theory. There is no proof that Father C.R.C. ever approached the learned men of Spain. The mysterious city of Damcar cannot be found, and there is no record that anywhere in Germany there existed a place where great numbers of the halt and sick came and were mysteriously healed. A. E. Waite's *The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry* contains a picture of Father C.R.C. showing him with a long beard upon his breast, sitting before a table upon which burns a candle. One hand is supporting his head and the other is resting the tip of its index finger on the temple of a human skull. The picture, however (see plate at head of chapter), proves nothing. Father C.R.C. was never seen by other than members of his own Order, and they did not preserve a description of him. That his name was Christian Rosencreutz is most improbable, as the two were not even associated until the writing of the *Chymical Nuptials*.

**THE SECOND POSTULATE**

Those Masonic brethren who have investigated the subject accept the historical existence of the "Brotherhood of the Rose Cross" but are divided concerning the origin of the Order. One group holds the society originated in medieval Europe as an outgrowth of alchemical speculation. Robert Macoy, 33°, believes that Johann Valentin Andreæ, a German theologian, was the true founder, and he also believes it possible that this divine merely reformed and amplified an existing society which had been founded by Sir Henry Cornelius Agrippa. Some believe that Rosicrucianism represented the first European invasion of Buddhist and Brahmin culture. Still others hold the opinion that the "Society of the Rose Cross" was founded in Egypt during n the philosophic supremacy of that empire, and that it also perpetuated the Mysteries of ancient Persia and Chaldea.

In his *Anacalypsis*, Godfrey Higgins writes: "The Rosicrucians of Germany are quite ignorant of their origin; but, by tradition, they suppose themselves descendants of the ancient Egyptians, Chaldeans, Magi, and Gymnosophists." (The last was a name given by the followers of Alexander the Great to a caste of naked Wise Men whom they found meditating along the river banks in India.) The consensus among these factions is that the story of Father C.R.C., like the Masonic legend of Hiram Abiff, is an allegory and should not be considered literally. A similar problem has confronted students of the Bible, who have found not only difficult, but in the majority of cases impossible, their efforts to substantiate the historical interpretation of the Scriptures.

Admitting the existence of the Rosicrucians as a secret society with both philosophic and political ends, it is remarkable that an organization with members in all parts of Europe could maintain absolute secrecy throughout the centuries. Nevertheless, the "Brothers of the Rose Cross" were apparently able to accomplish this. A great number of scholars and philosophers, among them Sir Francis Bacon and Wolfgang von Goethe, have been suspected of affiliation with the Order, but their connection has not been established to the satisfaction of prosaic historians. Pseudo-Rosicrucians abounded, but the true members of the "Ancient and Secret Order of The Unknown Philosophers" have successfully lived up to their name; to this day they remain unknown.

During the Middle Ages a number of tracts appeared, purporting to be from the pens of Rosicrucians. Many of them, however, were spurious, being issued for their self-aggrandizement by unscrupulous persons who used the revered and magic name Rosicrucian in the hope of gaining religious or political power. This has greatly complicated the work of investigating the Society. One group of pseudo-Rosicrucians went so far as to supply its members with a black cord by which they were to know each other, and warned them that if they broke their vow of secrecy the cord would be used to strangle them. Few of the principles of Rosicrucianism have been preserved in literature, for the original Fraternity published only fragmentary accounts of its principles and activities.

In his *Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians*, Dr. Franz Hartmann describes the Fraternity as "A secret society of men possessing superhuman--if not supernatural--powers; they were said to be able to prophesy future events, to penetrate into the deepest mysteries of Nature, to transform Iron, Copper, Lead, or Mercury into Gold, to prepare an *Elixir of Life*, or *Universal Panacea*, by the use of which they could preserve their youth and manhood; and moreover it was believed that they could command the *Elemental Spirits of Nature*, and knew the secret of the *Philosopher's Stone*, a substance which rendered him who possessed it all-powerful, immortal, and supremely wise."

The same author further defines a Rosicrucian as "A person who by the process of spiritual awakening has attained a *practical knowledge* of the secret significance of the *Rose* and the *Cross*. ** * To call a person a Rosicrucian does not make him one, nor does the act of calling a person a Christian make him a Christ. The real Rosicrucian or Mason cannot be made; he must grow to be one by the expansion and unfoldment of the divine power within his own heart. The inattention to this truth is the cause that many churches and secret societies are far from being that which their names express."

The symbolic principles of Rosicrucianism are so profound that even today they are little appreciated. Their charts and diagrams are concerned with weighty cosmic principles which they treat with a philosophic understanding decidedly refreshing when compared with the orthodox narrowness prevalent in their day. According to the available records, the Rosicrucians were bound together by mutual aspirations rather than by the laws of a fraternity. The "Brothers of the Rose Cross" are believed to have lived unobtrusively, laboring industriously in trades and professions, disclosing their secret affiliation to no one--in many cases not even to their own families. After the death of C.R.C., most of the Brethren apparently had no central meeting place. Whatever initiatory ritual the Order possessed was so closely guarded that it has never been revealed. Doubtless it was couched in chemical terminology.

*THE CRUCIFIED ROSE.*

*The original symbol of the Rosicrucian Fraternity was a hieroglyphic rose crucified upon a cross. The cross was often raised upon a three-stepped Calvary. Occasionally the symbol of a cross rising from a rose was used in connection with their activities. The Rosicrucian rose was drawn upon the Round Table of King Arthur, and is the central motif for the links forming the chain from which the "Great George" is suspended among the jewels of The Order of the Garter. Hargrave Jennings suspects this Order of having some connection with the Rosicrucians.*

Efforts to join the Order were apparently futile, for the Rosicrucians always chose their disciples. Having agreed on one who they believed would do honor to their illustrious fraternity, they communicated with him in one of many mysterious ways. He might receive a letter, either anonymous or with a peculiar seal, usually bearing the letters "C.R.C. "or "R.C. "upon it. He would be instructed to go to a certain place at an appointed time. What was disclosed to him he never revealed, although in many cases his later writings showed that a new influence had come into his life, deepening his understanding and broadening his intellect. A few have written allegorically concerning what they beheld when in the august presence of the "Brethren of the Rose Cross."

Alchemists were sometimes visited in their laboratories by mysterious strangers, who delivered learned discourses concerning the secret processes of the Hermetic arts and, after disclosing certain processes, departed, leaving no trace. Others declared that the "Brothers of the Rose Cross" communicated with them through dreams and visions, revealing the secrets of Hermetic wisdom to them while they were asleep. Having been instructed, the candidate was bound to secrecy not only concerning the chemical formulæ which had been disclosed to him but also concerning the method by which he had secured them. While these nameless adepts were suspected of being ''Brothers of the Rose Cross," it could never be proved who they were, and those visited could only conjecture.

Many suspect the Rosicrucian rose to be a conventionalization of the Egyptian and Hindu lotus blossom, with the same symbolic meaning as this more ancient symbol. The *Divine Comedy* stamps Dante Alighieri as being familiar with the theory of Rosicrucianism. Concerning this point, Albert Pike in his *Morals and Dogma* makes this significant statement: "His Hell is but a negative Purgatory. His heaven is composed of a series of Kabalistic circles, divided by a cross, like the Pantacle of Ezekiel. In the center of this cross blooms a rose, and we see the symbol of the Adepts of the Rose-Croix for the first time publicly expounded and almost categorically explained."

Doubt has always existed as to whether the name Rosicrucian came from the symbol of the rose and cross, or whether this was merely a blind to deceive the uninformed and further conceal the true meaning of the Order. Godfrey Higgins believes that the word *Rosicrucian* is not derived from the flower but from the word *Ros*, which means dew. It is also interesting to note that the word *Ras* means wisdom, while*Rus*is translated concealment. Doubtless all of these meanings have contributed to Rosicrucian symbolism.

A. E. Waite holds with Godfrey Higgins that the process of forming the Philosopher's Stone with the aid of dew is the secret concealed within the name Rosicrucian. It is possible that the dew referred to is a mysterious substance within the human brain, closely resembling the description given by alchemists of the dew which, falling from heaven, redeemed the earth. The cross is symbolic of the human body, and the two symbols together--the rose on the cross--signify that the soul of man is crucified upon the body, where it is held by three nails.

It is probable that Rosicrucian symbolism is a perpetuation of the secret tenets of the Egyptian Hermes, and that the Society of Unknown Philosophers is the true link connecting modern Masonry, with its mass of symbols, to ancient Egyptian Hermeticism, the source of that symbolism. In his *Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah*, A. E. Waite makes this important observation: "There are certain indications which point to a possible connection between Masonry and Rosicrucianism, and this, if admitted, would constitute the first link in its connection with the past. The evidence is, however, inconclusive, or at least unextricated. Freemasonry per se, in spite of the affinity with mysticism which I have just mentioned, has never exhibited any mystic character, nor has it a clear notion how it came by its symbols."

Many of those connected with the development of Freemasonry were suspected of being Rosicrucians; some, as in the case of Robert Fludd, even wrote defenses of this organization. Frank C. Higgins, a modern Masonic symbolist, writes: "Doctor Ashmole, a member of this fraternity Rosicrucian, is revered by Masons as one of the founders of the first Grand Lodge in London." (See *Ancient Freemasonry*.) Elias Ashmole is but one of many intellectual links connecting Rosicrucianism with the genesis of Freemasonry. The *Encyclopædia Britannica* notes that Elias Ashmole was initiated into the Freemasonic Order in 1646, and further states that he was "the first gentleman, or amateur, to be 'accepted'."

On this same subject, Papus, in his *Tarot of the Bohemians*, has written: "We must not forger that the Rosicrucians were the Initiators of Leibnitz, and the founders of actual Freemasonry through Ashmole." If the founders of Freemasonry were initiated into the Great Arcanum of Egypt--and the symbolism of modern Masonry would indicate that such was the case--then it is reasonable to suppose that they secured their information from a society whose existence they admitted and which was duly qualified to teach them these symbols and allegories.

*THE ROSICRUCIAN ROSE.*

*From Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer.*

*The rose is a yonic symbol associated with generation, fecundity, and purity. The fact that flowers blossom by unfolding has caused them to be chosen as symbolic of spiritual unfoldment. The red color of the rose refers to the blood of Christ, and the golden heart concealed within the midst of the flower corresponds to the spiritual gold concealed within the human nature. The number of its petals being ten is also a subtle reminder of the perfect Pythagorean number. The rose symbolizes the heart, and the heart has always been accepted by Christians as emblematic of the virtues of love and compassion, as well as of the nature of Christ--the personification of these virtues. The rose as a religious emblem is of great antiquity. It was accepted by the Greeks as the symbol of the sunrise, or of the coming of dawn. In his Metamorphosis, or Golden Ass, Apuleius, turned into a donkey because of his foolishness, regained his human shape by eating a sacred rose given to him by the Egyptian priests.*

*The presence of a hieroglyphic rose upon the escutcheon of Martin Luther has been the basis of much speculation as to whether any connection existed between his Reformation and the secret activities of the Rose Cross.*

One theory concerning the two Orders is to the effect that Freemasonry was an outgrowth of Rosicrucianism; in other words, that the "Unknown Philosophers" became known through an organization which they created to serve them in the material world. The story goes on to relate that the Rosicrucian adepts became dissatisfied with their progeny and silently withdrew from the Masonic hierarchy, leaving behind their symbolism and allegories, but carrying away the keys by which the locked symbols could be made to give tip their secret meanings. Speculators have gone so far as to state that, in their opinion, modern Freemasonry has completely absorbed Rosicrucianism and succeeded it as the world's greatest secret society. Other minds of equal learning declare that the Rosicrucian Brotherhood still exists, preserving its individuality as the result of having withdrawn from the Masonic Order.

According to a widely accepted tradition, the headquarters of the Rosicrucian Order is near Carlsbad, in Austria (see Doctor Franz Hartmann). Another version has it that a mysterious school, resembling in general principles the Rosicrucian Fraternity, which calls itself "The Bohemian Brothers," still maintains its individuality in the *Schwarzwald* (Black Forest) of Germany. One thing is certain: with the rise of Freemasonry, the Rosicrucian Order in Europe practically disappeared, and notwithstanding existing statements to the contrary, it is certain that the 18th degree (commonly known as the Rose-Croix) perpetuates many of the symbols of the Rosicrucian Fire Alchemists.

In an anonymous unpublished manuscript of the eighteenth century bearing the earmarks of Rosicrucian Qabbalism appears this statement: "Yet will I now give the over-wise world a paradox to be solved, namely, that some illuminated men have undertaken to found Schools of Wisdom in Europe and these for some peculiar reason have called themselves *Fratres Rosa: Crucis*. But soon afterwards came false schools into existence and corrupted the good intentions of these wise men. Therefore, the Order no longer exists as most people would understand existence, and as this Fraternity of the *Seculo Fili* call themselves *Brothers of the Rosie Cross*, so also will they in the *Seculo Spiritus Sancti* call themselves *Brothers of the Lily Cross* and the *Knights of the White Lion*. Then will the Schools of Wisdom begin again to blossom, but why the first one chose their name and why the others shall also choose theirs, only those can solve who have understanding grounded in Nature."

Political aspirations of the Rosicrucians were expressed through the activities of Sir Francis Bacon, the Comte de St.-Germain, and the Comte di Cagliostro. The last named is suspected of having been an emissary of the Knights Templars, a society deeply involved in transcendentalism, as Eliphas Levi has noted. There is a popular supposition to the effect that the Rosicrucians were at least partial instigators of the French Revolution. (Note particularly the introduction to Lord Bulwer-Lytton's Rosicrucian novel *Zanoni*.)

**THE THIRD POSTULATE**

The third theory takes the form of a sweeping denial of Rosicrucianism, asserting that the so-called original Order never had any foundation in fact but was entirely a product of imagination. This viewpoint is best expressed by a number of questions which are still being asked by investigators of this elusive group of metaphysicians. Was the "Brotherhood of the Rose Cross" merely a mythical institution created in the fertile mind of some literary cynic for the purpose of deriding the alchemical and Hermetic sciences? Did the "House of the Holy Spirit" ever exist outside the imagination of some medieval mystic? Was the whole Rosicrucian story a satire to ridicule the gullibility of scholastic Europe? Was the mysterious Father C.R.C. a product of the literary genius of Johann Valentin Andreæ, or another of similar mind, who, attempting to score alchemical and Hermetic philosophy, unwittingly became a great power in furthering the cause of its promulgation? That at least one of the early documents of the Rosicrucians was from the pen of Andreæ there is little doubt, but for just what purpose he compiled it still remains a matter of speculation. Did Andreæ himself receive from some unknown person, or persons, instructions to be carried out? If he wrote the *Chymical Nuptials of Christian Rosencreut*z when only fifteen years old, was he overshadowed in the preparation of that book?

To these vital questions no answers are forthcoming. A number of persons accepted the magnificent imposture of Andreæ as absolute truth. It is maintained by many that, as a consequence, numerous pseudo-societies sprang up, each asserting that it was the organization concerning which the *Fama Fraternitatis* and the *Confessio Fraternitatis* were written. Beyond doubt there are many spurious orders in existence today; but few of them can offer valid claims that their history dates back farther than the beginning of the nineteenth century.

The mystery associated with the Rosicrucian Fraternity has resulted in endless controversy. Many able minds, notable among them Eugenius Philalethes, Michael Maier, John Heydon, and Robert Fludd, defended the concrete existence of "The Society of Unknown Philosophers." Others equally qualified have asserted it to be of fraudulent origin and doubtful existence. Eugenius Philalethes, while dedicating books to the Order, and himself writing an extended exposition of its principles, disclaims all personal connection with it. Many others have done likewise.

Some are of the opinion that Sir Francis Bacon had a hand in the writing of the *Fama* and *Confessio Fraternitatis*, on the basis that the rhetorical style of these works is similar to that of Bacon's *New Atlantis*. They also contend that certain statements in the latter work point to an acquaintance with Rosicrucian symbology. The elusiveness of the Rosicrucians has caused them to be favorite subject's for literary works. Outstanding among the romances which have been woven around them is *Zanoni*. The author, Lord Bulwer-Lytton, is regarded by some as a member of the Order, while others assert that he applied for membership but was rejected. Pope's *Rape of the Lock*, &c. *Comte de Gabalis* by Abbé de Villars, and essays by De Quincy, Hartmann, Jennings, Mackenzie, and others, are examples of Rosicrucian literature. Although the existence of these medieval Rosicrucians is difficult to prove, sufficient evidence is at hand to make it extremely probable that there existed in Germany, and afterwards in France, Italy, England, and other European countries, a secret society of illuminated savants who made contributions of great import to the sum of human knowledge, while maintaining absolute secrecy concerning their personalities and their organization.

**THE FOURTH POSTULATE**

The apparent incongruities of the Rosicrucian controversy have also been accounted for by a purely transcendental explanation. There is evidence that early writers were acquainted with such a supposition--which, however, was popularized only after it had been espoused by Theosophy. This theory asserts that the Rosicrucians actually possessed all the supernatural powers with which they were credited; that they were in reality citizens of two worlds: that, while they had physical bodies for expression on the material plane, they were also capable, through the instructions they received from the Brotherhood, of functioning in a mysterious ethereal body not subject to the limitations of time or distance. By means of this "astral form" they were able to function in the invisible realm of Nature, and in this realm, beyond reach of the profane, their temple was located.

According to this viewpoint, the true Rosicrucian Brotherhood consisted of a limited number of highly developed adepts, or initiates, those of the higher degrees being no longer subject to the laws of mortality; candidates were accepted into the Order only after long periods of probation; adepts possessed the secret of the Philosopher's Stone and knew the process of transmuting the base metals into gold, but taught that these were only allegorical terms concealing the true mystery of human regeneration through the transmutation of the "base elements" of man's lower nature into the "gold" of intellectual and spiritual realization. According to this theory, those who have sought to record the events of importance in connection with the Rosicrucian controversy have invariably failed because they approached their subject from a purely physical or materialistic angle.

*THE CREST OF JOHANN VALENTIN ANDREÆ.*

*From Chymische Hochzeit.*

*The reference to four red roses and a white cross in the Chymical Marriage of Christian Rosencreutz identified Johann Valentin Andreæ as its author, for his family crest, shown above, consisted of four red roses and a white cross.*

These adepts were believed to have been able to teach man how to function away from his physical body at will by assisting him to remove the "rose from the cross." They taught that the spiritual nature was attached to the material form at certain points, symbolized by the "nails" of the crucifixion; but by three alchemical initiations which took place in the spiritual world, in the true Temple of the Rose Cross, they were able to "draw" these nails and permit the divine nature of man to come down from its cross. They concealed the processes by which this was accomplished under three alchemical metaphoric expressions: "The Casting of the Molten Sea," "The Making of the Rose Diamond," and "The Achieving of the Philosopher's Stone."

While the intellectualist flounders among contradictory theories, the mystic treats the problem in an entirely different manner. He believes that the true Rosicrucian Fraternity, consisting of a school of supermen (not unlike the fabled Mahatmas of India), is an institution existing not in the visible world bur in its spiritual counterpart, which he sees fit to call the "inner planes of Nature"; that the Brothers can be reached only by those who are capable of transcending the limitations of the material world. To substantiate their viewpoint, these mystics cite the following significant statement from the *Confessio Fraternitatis*: "A thousand times the unworthy may clamour, a thousand times may present themselves, yet God hath commanded our ears that they should hear none of them, and hath so compassed us about with His clouds that unto us, His servants, no violence can be done; wherefore now no longer are we beheld by human eyes, unless they have received strength borrowed from the eagle." In mysticism the eagle is a symbol of initiation (the spinal Spirit Fire), and by this is explained the inability of the unregenerated world to understand the Secret Order of the Rose Cross.

Those professing this theory regard the Comte de St.-Germain as their highest adept and assert that he and Christian Rosencreutz were one and the same individual. They accept fire as their universal symbol because it was the one element by means of which they could control the metals. They declared themselves the descendants of Tubal-cain and Hiram Abiff, and that the purpose of their existence was to preserve the spiritual nature of man through ages of materiality. "The Gnostic sects, the Arabs, Alchemists, Templars, Rosicrucians, and lastly the Freemasons, form the Western chain in the transmission of occult science." (See *The Tarot of the Bohemians* translated by A. E. Waite from the French of Papus.)

Max Heindel, the Christian mystic, described the Rosicrucian Temple as an "etheric structure" located in and around the home of a European country gentleman. He believed that this invisible building would ultimately be moved to the American continent. Mr. Heindel referred to the Rosicrucian Initiates as so advanced in the science of life that "death had forgotten them."

## Rosicrucian Doctrines and Tenets

TRUSTWORTHY information is unavailable concerning the actual philosophical beliefs, political aspirations, and humanitarian activities of the Rosicrucian Fraternity. Today, as of old, the mysteries of the Society are preserved inviolate by virtue of their essential nature; and attempts to interpret Rosicrucian philosophy are but speculations, anything to the contrary notwithstanding.

Evidence points to the probable existence of two distinct Rosicrucian bodies: an inner organization whose members never revealed their identity or teachings to the world, and an outer body under the supervision of the inner group. In all probability, the symbolic tomb of Christian Rosencreutz, Knight of the Golden Stone, was in reality this outer body, the spirit of which is in a more exalted sphere. For a period of more than a century subsequent to 1614, the outer body circulated tracts and manifestoes under either its own name or the names of various initiated members. The purpose of these writings was apparently to confuse and mislead investigators, and thus effectively to conceal the actual designs of the Fraternity.

When Rosicrucianism became the philosophical "fad" of the seventeenth century, numerous documents on the subject were also circulated for purely commercial purposes by impostors desirous of capitalizing its popularity. The cunningly contrived artifices of the Fraternity itself and the blundering literary impostures of charlatans formed a double veil behind which the inner organization carried on its activities in a manner totally dissimilar to its purposes and principles as publicly disseminated. The Fratres Rosa Crucis naively refer to the misunderstandings which they have for obvious reasons permitted to exist concerning themselves as being "clouds" within which they labor and behind which they are concealed.

An inkling of the substance of Rosicrucianism--its esoteric doctrines--can be gleaned from an analysis of its shadow--its exoteric writings. In one of the most important of their "clouds," the *Confessio Fraternitatis*, the Brethren of the Fraternity of R.C. seek to justify their existence and explain (?) the purposes and activities of their Order. In its original form the *Confessio* is divided into fourteen chapters, which are here epitomized.

**CONFESSIO FRATERNITATIS R. C. AD ERUDITOS EUROPÆ**

*Chapter I*. Do not through hasty judgment or prejudice misinterpret the statements concerning our Fraternity published in our previous manifesto--the *Fama Fraternitatis*. Jehovah, beholding the decadence of civilization, seeks to redeem humanity by revealing to the willing and by thrusting upon the reluctant those secrets which previously He had reserved for His elect. By this wisdom the godly shall be saved, but the sorrows of the ungodly shall be multiplied. While the true purpose of our Order was set forth in the Fama Fraternitatis, misunderstandings have arisen through which we have been falsely accused of heresy and treason. In this document we hope so to clarify our position that the learned of Europe will be moved to join with us in the dissemination of divine knowledge according to the will of our illustrious founder.

*Chapter II*. While it is alleged by many that the philosophic cide (*sic*. JBH) of our day is sound, we declare it to be false and soon to die of its own inherent weakness. just as Nature, however, provides a remedy for each new disease that manifests itself, so our Fraternity has provided a remedy for the infirmities of the world's philosophic system. The secret philosophy of the R.C. is founded upon that knowledge which is the sum and head of all faculties, sciences, and arts. By our divinely revealed system--which partakes much of theology and medicine but little of jurisprudence--we analyze the heavens and the earth; but mostly we study man himself, within whose nature is concealed the supreme secret. If the learned of out day will accept our invitation and join themselves to our Fraternity, we will reveal to them undreamed-of secrets and wonders concerning the hidden workings of Nature.

*Chapter III*. Do not believe that the secrets discussed in this brief document are lightly esteemed by us. We cannot describe fully the marvels of our Fraternity lest the uninformed be overwhelmed by our astonishing declarations and the vulgar ridicule the mysteries which they do not comprehend. We also fear that many will be confused by the unexpected generosity of our proclamation, for not understanding the wonders of this sixth age they do nor realize the great changes which are to come. Like blind men living in a world full of light, they discern only through the sense of feeling. By *sight* is implied spiritual cognition: by *feeling*, the material senses.

*Chapter IV*. We firmly believe that through deep meditation on the inventions of the human mind and the mysteries of life, through the cooperation of the angels and spirits, and through experience and long observation, our loving Christian Father C.R.C. was so fully illumined with God's wisdom that were all the books and writings of the world lost and the foundations of science overturned, the Fraternity of R.C. could reestablish the structure of world thought upon the foundation of divine truth and integrity. Because of the great depth and perfection of our knowledge, those desiring to understand the mysteries of the Fraternity of R. C. cannot attain to that wisdom immediately, but must grow in understanding and knowledge. Therefore, our Fraternity is divided into grades through which each must ascend step by step to the Great Arcanum. Now that it has pleased God to lighten unto us His sixth candelabrum, is it not better to seek truth in this way than to wander through the labyrinths of worldly ignorance?

Furthermore, those who receive this knowledge shall become masters of all arts and crafts; no secret shall be hidden from them; and all good works of the past, present, and future shall be accessible to them. The whole world shall become as one book and the contradictions of science and theology shall be reconciled. Rejoice, O humanity! for the time has come when God has decreed that the number of our Fraternity shall be increased, a labor that we have joyously undertaken. The doors of wisdom are now open to the world, but only to those who have earned the privilege may the Brothers present themselves, for it is forbidden to reveal our knowledge even to our own children. The right to receive spiritual truth cannot be inherited: it must be evolved within the soul of man himself.

*Chapter V*. Though we may be accused of indiscretion in offering our treasures so freely and promiscuously--without discriminating between the godly, the wise, the prince, the peasant--we affirm that we have not betrayed our trust; for although we have published our *Fama* in five languages, only those understand it who have that right. Our Society is not to be discovered by curiosity seekers, but only by serious and consecrated thinkers; nevertheless we have circulated our *Fama* in five mother tongues so that the righteous of all nations may have an opportunity to know of us, even though they be not scholars. A thousand times the unworthy may present themselves and clamor at the gates, but God has forbidden us of the Fraternity of R.C. to hear their voices, and He has surrounded us with His clouds and His protection so that no harm may come to us, and God has decreed that we of the Order of R.C. can no longer be seen by mortal eyes unless they have received strength borrowed from the eagle. We further affirm that we shall reform the governments of Europe and pattern them according to the system applied by the philosophers of Damcar. All men desirous of securing knowledge shall receive as much as they are capable of understanding. The rule of false theology shall be overthrown and God shall make His will known through His chosen philosophers.

*JOHANN VALENTIN ANDREÆ.*

*From a rare print.*

*In certain esoteric circles there are vague rumors which intimate that the humble personality of Johann Valentin Andreæ masked an exalted emissary of the Rose Cross. While there is sufficient evidence at hand to establish the actual existence of a German theologian by the name of Andreæ, there are many discrepancies in his biography which have net been cleared up to the satisfaction of critical investigators. A comparison of the face shown above with that of Sir Francis Bacon discloses striking resemblances in spite of the differences due to age. If Lord Bacon borrowed the name and identity of William Shakspere, he could also assume, after his mock funeral in England, the personality of Johann Valentin Andreæ. The crescent below the bust is significant, as it also appears upon the crest of Lord Bacon; to denote that he was the second son of Sir Nicholas Bacon. Further, the four letters (O MDC) in the frame at the lower right corner of the plate, by a very simple Baconian cipher, can be changed into number whose sum gives 33--the numerical equivalent of the name Bacon. These several points of interest, when considered together, go far towards clearing up the mystery surrounding the authorship of the first Rosicrucian manifestoes.*

*Chapter VII*. Because of the need of brevity, it is enough to say that our Father C.R.C. was born in the year 1378 and departed at the age of 106, leaving to us the labor of spreading die doctrine of philosophic religion to the entire world. Our Fraternity is open to all who sincerely seek for truth; but we publicly warn the false and impious that they cannot betray or injure us, for God has protected our Fraternity, and all who seek to do it harm shall have their evil designs return and destroy them, while the treasures of our Fraternity shall remain untouched, to be used by the Lion in the establishment of his kingdom.

*Chapter VII*. We declare that God, before the end of the world, shall create a great flood of spiritual light to alleviate the sufferings of humankind. Falsehood and darkness which have crept into the arts, sciences, religions, and governments of humanity--making it difficult for even the wise to discover the path of reality--shall be forever removed and a single standard established, so that all may enjoy the fruitage of truth. We shall not be recognized as those responsible for this change, for people shall say that it is the result of the progressiveness of the age. Great are the reforms about to take place; but we of the Fraternity of R.C. do not arrogate to ourselves the glory for this divine reformation, since many there are, not members of our Fraternity but honest, true and wise men, who by their intelligence and their writings shall hasten its coming. We testify that sooner the stones shall rise up and offer their services than that there shall be any lack of righteous persons to execute the will of God upon earth.

*Chapter VIII*. That no one may doubt, we declare that God has sent messengers and signs in the heavens, namely, the i new stars in *Serpentarius* and *Cygnus*, to show that a great Council of the Elect is to take place. This proves that God reveals in visible nature--for the discerning few--signs and symbols of all things that are coming to pass. God has given man two eyes, two nostrils, and two ears, but only one tongue. Whereas the eyes, the nostrils, and the ears admit the wisdom of Nature into the mind, the tongue alone may give it forth. In various ages there have been illumined ones who have seen, smelt, tasted, or heard the will of God, but it will shortly come to pass that those who have seen, smelt, tasted, or heard shall speak, and truth shall be revealed. Before this revelation of righteousness is possible, however, the world must sleep away the intoxication of her poisoned chalice (filled with the false life of the theological vine) and, opening her heart to virtue and understanding, welcome the rising sun of Truth.

*Chapter IX*. We have a magic writing, copied from that divine alphabet with which God writes His will upon the face of celestial and terrestrial Nature. With this new language we read God's will for all His creatures, and just as astronomers predict eclipses so we prognosticate the obscurations of the church and how long they shall last. Our language is like unto that of Adam and Enoch before the Fall, and though we understand and can explain our mysteries in this our sacred language, we cannot do so in Latin, a tongue contaminated by the confusion of Babylon.

*Chapter X*. Although there are still certain powerful persons who oppose and hinder us--because of which we must remain concealed--we exhort those who would become of our Fraternity to study unceasingly the Sacred Scriptures, for such as do this cannot be far from us. We do not mean that the Bible should be continually in the mouth of man, but that he should search for its true and eternal meaning, which is seldom discovered by theologians, scientists, or mathematicians because they are blinded by the opinions of their sects. We bear witness that never since the beginning of the world has there been given to man a more excellent book than the Holy Bible. Blessed is he who possesses it, more blessed he who reads it, most blessed he who understands it, and most godlike he who obeys it.

*Chapter XI*. We wish the statements we made in the *Fama Fraternitatis* concerning the transmutation of metals and the universal medicine to be lightly understood. While we realize that both these works are attainable by man, we fear that many really great minds may be led away from the true quest of knowledge and understanding if they permit themselves to limit their investigation to the transmutation of metals. When to a man is given power to heal disease, to overcome poverty, and to reach a position of worldly dignity, that man is beset by numerous temptations and unless he possess true knowledge and full understanding he will become a terrible menace to mankind. The alchemist who attains to the art of transmuting base metals can do all manner of evil unless his understanding be as great as his self-created wealth. We therefore affirm that man must first gain knowledge, virtue, and understanding; then all other things may be added unto him. We accuse the Christian Church of the great sin of possessing power and using it unwisely; therefore we prophesy that it shall fall by the weight of its own iniquities and its crown shall be brought to naught.

*Chapter XII*. In concluding our *Confessio*, we earnestly admonish you to cast aside the worthless books of pseudo-alchemists and philosophers (of whom there are many in our age), who make light of the Holy Trinity and deceive the credulous with meaningless enigmas. One of the greatest of these is a stage player, a man with sufficient ingenuity for imposition. Such men are mingled by the Enemy of human welfare among those who seek to do good, thus making Truth more difficult of discovery. Believe us, Truth is simple and unconcealed, while falsehood is complex, deeply hidden, proud, and its fictitious worldly knowledge, seemingly a glitter with godly luster, is often mistaken for divine wisdom. You that are wise will turn from these false teachings and come to us, who seek not your money but freely offer you our greater treasure. We desire not your goods, but that you should become partakers of our goods. We do not deride parables, but invite you to understand all parables and all secrets. We do not ask you to receive us, but invite you to come unto our kingly houses and palaces, not because of ourselves but because we are so ordered by the Spirit of God, the desire of our most excellent Father C.R.C., and the need of the present moment, which is very great.

*Chapter XIII*. Now that we have made our position clear that we sincerely confess Christ; disavow the Papacy; devote our lives to true philosophy and worthy living; and daily invite and admit into our Fraternity the worthy of all nations, who thereafter share with us the Light of God: will you not join yourselves with us to the perfection of yourselves, the development of all the arts, and the service of the world? If you will take this step, the treasures of every part of the earth shall be at one time given unto you, and the darkness which envelopes human knowledge and which results in the vanities of material arts and sciences shall be forever dispelled.

*Chapter XIV*. Again we warn those who are dazzled by the glitter of gold or those who, now upright, might be turned by great riches to a life of idleness and pomp, not to disturb our sacred silence with their clamorings; for though there be a medicine which will cure all diseases and give unto all men wisdom, yet it is against the will of God that men should attain to understanding by any means other than virtue, labor, and integrity. We are not permitted to manifest ourselves to any man except it be by the will of God. Those who believe that they can partake of our spiritual wealth against the will of God or without His sanction will find that they shall sooner lose their lives in seeking us than attain happiness by finding us.

*A SYMBOLIC DIAGRAM OF THE OPERATIONS OF NATURE.*

*From Fludd's Collectio Operum.*

*This plate, engraved by de Bry, is the most famous of the diagrams illustrating the philosophic principles of Robert Fludd (Robertus de Fluctibus). Three figures are outstanding links between Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry: Michael Maier, Elias Ashmole, and Robert Fludd. De Quincey considers Robert Fludd to be the immediate father of Freemasonry. (See The Rosicrucians and Freemasons.) Edward Waite considers Robert Fludd as second to none of the disciples of Paracelsus, even going as far as to declare that Fludd far surpassed his master. He further adds, "The central figure of Rosicrucian literature, towering as an intellectual giant above the crowd of souffleurs, theosophists, and charlatanic Professors of the magnum opus, who, directly or otherwise, were connected with the mysterious Brotherhood, is Robertus de Fluctibus, the great English mystical philosopher of the seventeenth century, a man of immense erudition, of exalted mind, and, to judge by his writings, of extreme personal sanctity. " (See The Real History of the Rosicrucians.) Robert Fludd was born in 1574 and died in 1637.*

*The de Bry diagram shown above is almost self-explanatory. Outside the circle of the starry heavens are the three fiery rings of the empyreum--the triple fire of the Supreme Creator--in which dwell the celestial creatures. Within he, of the stars are the circles of the planets and elements. After the element of air comes the circle of the world (earth). The circle of animals is followed by the circle of plants, which, in turn is followed by the circle of he minerals. Then come various industries and in the center is a terrestrial globe with an ape-man sitting upon it, measuring a sphere with a pair of compasses. This little figure represents the animal creation. In the outer ring of fire, above is the sacred name of Jehovah surrounded by clouds. From these clouds issues a hand holding a chain. Between the divine sphere and the lower world personified by the ape is the figure of a woman. It is to be specially noted that the female figure is merely holding the chain connecting her with the lower world, but the chain connecting her with the higher world ends in a shackle about her wrist. This female figure is capable of several interpretations: she may represent humanity suspended between divinity and the beast; she may represent Nature as the link between God and the lower world; or she may represent the human soul--the common denominator between the superior and the inferior.*

FRATERNITAS R.C.

Johann Valentin Andreæ is generally reputed to be the author of the Confessio. It is a much-mooted question, however, whether Andreæ did not permit his name to be used as a pseudonym by Sir Francis Bacon. Apropos of this subject are two extremely significant references occurring in the introduction to that remarkable potpourri, *The Anatomy of Melancholy*. This volume first appeared in 1621 from the pen of Democritus junior, who was afterwards identified as Robert Burton, who, in turn, was a suspected intimate of Sir Francis Bacon. One reference archly suggests that at the time of publishing *The Anatomy of Melancholy* in 1621 the founder of the Fraternity of R.C. was still alive. This statement--concealed from general recognition by its textual involvement--has escaped the notice of most students of Rosicrucianism. In the same work there also appears a short footnote of stupendous import. It contains merely the words: "Job. Valent. Andreas, Lord Verulam." This single line definitely relates Johann Valentin Andreæ to Sir Francis Bacon, who was Lord Verulam, and by its punctuation intimates that they are one and the same individual.

Prominent among Rosicrucian apologists was John Heydon, who inscribes himself "A Servant of God, and a Secretary of Nature." In his curious work, *The Rosie Cross Uncovered*, he gives an enigmatic but valuable description of the Fraternity of R.C. in the following language:

"Now there are a kind of men, as they themselves report, named *Rosie Crucians*, a divine fraternity that inhabit the suburbs of heaven, and these are the officers of the *Generalissimo* of the world, that are as the eyes and ears of the great King, seeing and hearing all things: they say these *Rosie Crucians* are seraphically illuminated, as Moses was, according to this order of the elements, earth refin'd to water, water to air, air to fire." He further declares that these mysterious Brethren possessed polymorphous powers, appearing in any desired form at will. In the preface of the same work, he enumerates the strange powers of the Rosicrucian adepts:

"I shall here tell you what *Rosie Crucians* are, and that *Moses* was their Father, and he was Θεοῦ παῖς; some say they were of the order of Elias, some say the Disciples of Ezekiel; ** * For it should seem *Rosie Crucians* were not only initiated into the Mosaical Theory, but have arrived also to the power of working miracles, as *Moses*, *Elias*, *Ezekiel*, and the succeeding Prophets did, as being transported where they please, as *Habakkuk* was from *Jewry* to Babylon, or as Philip, after he had baptized the *Eunuch* to Azorus, and one of these went from me to a friend of mine in Devonshire, and came and brought me an answer to London the some day, which is four days journey; they caught me excellent predictions of Astrology and Earthquakes; they slack the Plague in Cities; they silence the violent Winds and Tempests; they calm the rage of the Sea and Rivers; they walk in the Air, they frustrate the malicious aspects of Witches; they cure all Diseases."

The writings of John Heydon are considered a most important contribution to Rosicrucian literature. John Heydon was probably related to Sir Christopher Heydon, "a Seraphically Illuminated *Rosie Crucian*, " whom the late F. Leigh Gardner, Hon. Secretary Sec. Ros. in Anglia, believes to have been the source of his Rosicrucian knowledge. In his *Bibliotheca Rosicrucian*a he makes the following statement concerning John Heydon: "On the whole, from the internal evidence of his writings, he appears to have gone through the lower grade of the R. C. Order and to have given out much of this to the world." John Heydon traveled extensively, visiting Arabia, Egypt, Persia, and various parts of Europe, as related in a biographical introduction to his work, *The Wise-Mans Crown, Set with Angels, Planets, Metals, etc.*, or *The Glory of the Rosie Cross*--a work declared by him to be a translation into English of the mysterious book *M* brought from Arabia by Christian Rosencreutz.

Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes), another champion of the Order, corroborates the statement of John Heydon concerning the ability of the Rosicrucian initiates to make themselves invisible at will: "The Fraternity of R.C. can move in this white mist. 'Whosoever would communicate with us must be able to see in this light, or us he will never see unless by our own will.'"

The Fraternity of R.C. is an august and sovereign body, arbitrarily manipulating the symbols of alchemy, Qabbalism, astrology, and magic to the attainment of its own peculiar purposes, but entirely independent of the cults whose terminology it employs. The three major objects of the Fraternity are:

1. *The abolition of all monarchical forms of government and the substitution therefor of the rulership of the philosophic elect*. The present democracies are the direct outgrowth of Rosicrucian efforts to liberate the maws from the domination of despotism. In the early part of the eighteenth century the Rosicrucians turned their attention to the new American Colonies, then forming the nucleus of a great nation in the New World. The American War of Independence represents their first great political experiment and resulted in the establishment of a national government founded upon the fundamental principles of divine and natural law. As an imperishable reminder of their *sub rosa* activities, the Rosicrucians left the Great Seal of the United States. The Rosicrucians were also the instigators of the French Revolution, but in this instance were not wholly successful, owing to the fact that the fanaticism of the revolutionists could not be controlled and the Reign of Terror ensued.

2. *The reformation of science, philosophy, and ethics*. The Rosicrucians declared that the material arts and sciences were but shadows of the divine wisdom, and that only by penetrating the innermost recesses of Nature could man attain to reality and understanding. Though calling themselves Christians, the Rosicrucians were evidently Platonists and also profoundly versed in the deepest mysteries of early Hebrew and Hindu theology. There is undeniable evidence that the Rosicrucians desired to reestablish the institutions of the ancient Mysteries as the foremost method of instructing humanity in the secret and eternal doctrine. Indeed, being in all probability the perpetuators of the ancient Mysteries, the Rosicrucians were able to maintain themselves against the obliterating forces of dogmatic Christianity only by absolute secrecy and the subtlety of their subterfuges. They so carefully guarded and preserved the Supreme Mystery--the identity and interrelationship of the *Three Selves*--that no one to whom they did not of their own accord reveal themselves has ever secured any satisfactory information regarding either the existence or the purpose of the Order. The Fraternity of R.C., through its outer organization, is gradually creating an environment or body in which the Illustrious Brother C.R.C. may ultimately incarnate and consummate for humanity the vast spiritual and material labors of the Fraternity.

*THE ALCHEMICAL ANDROGYNE*

*From the Turbæ Philosophorum.*

*The Turbæ Philosophorum is one of the earliest known documents on alchemy in the Latin tongue. Its exact origin is unknown. It is sometimes referred to as The Third Pythagorical Synod. As its name implies, it is an assembly of the sages and sets forth the alchemical viewpoints of many of the early Greek philosophers. The symbol reproduced above is from a rare edition of the Turbæ Philosophorum published in Germany in 1750, and represents by a hermaphroditic figure the accomplishment of the magnum opus. The active and passive principles of Nature were often depicted by male and female figures, and when these two principle, were harmoniously conjoined in any one nature or body it was customary to symbolize this state of perfect equilibrium by the composite figure above shown.*

*A ROSICRUCIAN TITLE PAGE.*

*From Maier's Viatorium.*

*Count Michael Maier, physician to Rudolph II., was an outstanding figure in the Rosicrucian controversy. There is little doubt that he was an initiated member of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, empowered by the Order to promulgate its secrets among the philosophic elect of Europe. The above title page shows the seven planets represented by appropriate figures. Behind the central figure in each case is a smaller emblem, signifying the zodiacal sign in which the planet is enthroned. In the arch over the title itself is a portrait of the learned Maier. The volume of which this is the title page is devoted to an analysis of the nature and effect of the seven planets, and is couched in alchemical terminology throughout. Michael Maier concealed his knowledge so cunningly that it is exceedingly difficult to tract from his writings the secrets which he possessed. He was profuse in his use of emblems and the greater part of his philosophical lore is concealed in the engravings which illustrate his books.*

3. *The discovery of the Universal Medicine, or panacea, for all forms of disease*. There is ample evidence that the Rosicrucians were successful in their quest for the Elixir of Life. In his *Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum*, Elias Ashmole states that the Rosicrucians were not appreciated in England, but were welcomed on the Continent. He also states that Queen Elizabeth was twice cured of the smallpox by the Brethren of the Rosy Cross, and that the Earl of Norfolk was healed of leprosy by a Rosicrucian physician. In the quotations that follow it is .hinted by John Heydon that the Brothers of the Fraternity possessed the secret of prolonging human existence indefinitely, but not beyond the time appointed by the will of God:

"And at last they could restore by the same course every Brother that died to life again, and so continue many ages; the rules you find in the fourth book. ***After this manner began the Fraternity of the Rosie Cross, first by four persons, who died and rose again until Christ, and then they came to worship as the Star guided them to Bethlehem of Judea, where lay our Saviour in his mother's arms; and then they opened their treasure and presented unto him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and by the commandment of God went home to their habitation. These four waxing young again successively many hundreds of years, made a magical language and writing, with a large dictionary, which we yet daily use to God's praise and glory, and do find great wisdom therein.*** Now whilst Brother C.R. was in a proper womb quickening, they concluded to draw and receive yet others more into their Fraternity."

The *womb* herein referred to was apparently the glass casket, or container, in which the Brothers were buried. This was also called the *philosophical egg*. After a certain period of time the philosopher, breaking the shell of his egg, came forth and functioned for a prescribed period, after which he retired again into his shell of glass, The Rosicrucian medicine for the healing of all human infirmities may be interpreted either as a chemical substance which produces the physical effects described or as spiritual understanding--the true healing power which, whet a man has partaken of it, reveals truth to him. Ignorance is the worst form of disease, and that: which heals ignorance is therefore the most potent of all medicines. The perfect Rosicrucian medicine was for the healing of nations, races, and individuals.

In an early unpublished manuscript, an unknown philosopher declares alchemy, Qabbalism, astrology, and magic to have been divine sciences originally, but that through perversion they had become false doctrines, leading seekers after wisdom ever farther from their goal. The same author gives a valuable key to esoteric Rosicrucianism by dividing the path of spiritual attainment into three steps, or schools, which he calls *mountains*. The first and lowest of these mountains is *Mount Sophia*; the second, *Mount Qabbalah*; and the third, *Mount Magia*. These three mountains are sequential stages of spiritual growth. The unknown author then states:

"By philosophy is to be understood the knowledge of the workings of Nature, by which knowledge man learns to climb to those higher mountains above the limitations of sense. By Qabbalism is to be understood the language of the angelic or celestial beings, and he who masters it is able to converse with the messengers of God. On the highest of the mountains is the School of Magia (Divine Magic, which is the language of God) wherein man is taught the true nature of all things by God Himself."

There is a growing conviction that if the true nature of Rosicrucianism were divulged, it would cause consternation, to say the least. Rosicrucian symbols have many meanings, but the Rosicrucian meaning has not yet been revealed. The mount upon which stands the House of the Rosy Cross is still concealed by clouds, in which the Brethren hide both themselves and their secrets. Michael Maier writes: "What is contained in the *Fama* and *Confessio* is true. It is a very childish objection that the brotherhood have promised so much and performed so little. With them, as elsewhere, many are called but few are chosen. The masters of the order hold out the rose as the remote prize, but they impose the cross on those who are entering." (See *Silentium post Clamores*, by Maier, and *The Rosicrucians and the Freemasons*, by De Quincey.)

*THE ELEMENTARY WORLD.*

*From Musæum Hermeticum Reformatum et Amplificatum.*

*The outer circle contains the figures of the Zodiac; the second, their signs and that part of the human body which they rule; the third, the months of the year, with brief notes concerning temperaments, etc. The fourth circle contains the elements accompanied by their appropriate symbols, and the following seven circles mark the orbits of the planets; also the planetary angels, the seven major members of the Universal Man, and the seven metals, each division appearing under its appropriate element according to the elemental names in the fourth circle. In the twelfth circle appear the words: "There are Three Principles, Three Worlds, Three Ages, and Three Kingdoms." In the thirteenth circle appear the names of the twelve arts and sciences which are considered essential to spiritual growth. In the fourteenth circle is the word Nature. The fifteenth circle contains the following words. "It is the great honour of faithful souls, that from their very birth an angel is appointed to preserve and keep each of them." (See first English translation, London, 1893.)*

The rose and the cross appear upon the stained glass windows of Lichfield Chapter House, where Walter Conrad Arensberg believes Lord Bacon and his mother to have been buried. A crucified rose within a heart is watermarked into the dedication page of the 1628 edition of Robert Burton's *Anatomy of Melancholy*.

The fundamental symbols of the Rosicrucians were the rose and the cross; the rose female and the cross male, both universal phallic emblems. While such learned gentlemen as Thomas Inman, Hargrave Jennings, and Richard Payne Knight have truly observed that the rose and the cross typify the generative processes, these scholars seem unable to pierce the veil of symbolism; they do not realize that the creative mystery in the material world is merely a shadow of the divine creative mystery in the spiritual world. Because of the phallic significance of their symbols, both the Rosicrucians and the Templars have been falsely accused of practicing obscene rites in their secret ceremonials. While it is quite true that the alchemical retort symbolizes the womb, it also has a far more significant meaning concealed under the allegory of the second birth. As generation is the key to material existence, it is natural that the Fraternity of R.C. should adopt as its characteristic symbols those exemplifying the reproductive processes. As regeneration is the key to spiritual existence, they therefore founded their symbolism upon the rose and the cross, which typify the redemption of man through the union of his lower temporal nature with his higher eternal nature. The rosy cross is also a hieroglyphic figure representing the formula of the Universal Medicine.

## Fifteen Rosicrucian and Qabbalistic Diagrams

IN his well-known work, *The Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries*, Hargrave Jennings reproduces five Qabbalistic charts which he declares to be genuine Rosicrucian drawings. He gives no information concerning their origin nor does he attempt an elucidation of their symbolism. A recent writer who reproduced one of these charts correlated it to the emblematic tomb of Father C.R.C., thus exposing the true nature of Christian Rosencreutz.

The five plates reproduced in Hargrave Jennings' book are part of a series of fifteen diagrams which appear in *The Magical, Qabbalistical, and Theosophical Writings of Georgius von Welling, on the Subject of Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury*. This extremely rare volume was published at Frankfort and Leipzig in 1735 and 1760. The numbers and figures on the charts refer to the chapters and sections of the Writings. These fifteen charts constitute a remarkable and invaluable addition to the few other known admittedly authentic Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian diagrams.

Lucifer is the greatest mystery of symbolism. The secret knowledge of the Rosicrucians concerning Lucifer is nowhere so plainly set forth as in these plates, which virtually reveal his true identity, a carefully guarded secret about which little has been written. Lucifer is represented by the number 741.

Von Welling does not give a complete exposition of the fifteen charts; to have done so would have been contrary to the principles of Qabbalistic philosophy. The deeper significance of the symbols is revealed only by profound study and contemplation.

*TABLE I, Figures 1-11*. Figure 1 is a Ptolemaic chart showing the true relationship existing between the primordial elements. Its secret significance is as follows: The outer ring enclosed by the lines *A* and *B* is the region of *Schamayim*, a Qabbalistic name for the Supreme Deity, signifying the expanse of the heavens, or a spiritual fiery water. Schamayim is "The Ocean of Spirit, " within which all created and uncreated things exist and by the life of which they are animated. In the lower worlds Schamayim becomes the astral light.

The space between *B* and *C* marks the orbits or planes of the seven Spiritual Intelligences called the Divine Planets (not the visible planets). According to the Mysteries, the souls of men enter the lower worlds through ring *B*, the fixed stars. All creation reflects the glory of Schamayim, the energy that filters into the spheres of the elements through the windows of the stars and planets. Between *C* and *D* lies the region of the subtle, spiritual air, a subdivision of ether. *D* to *E* marks the surface of the earth and sea, by which are also meant grades of ether. *E* to *F* marks the lower region, called "The Gathering of the Waters and the Production of the Virgin Earth, " or "Ares. " The alchemists called this "quicksand," the true mystic foundation of the solid earth. *F* to *G* marks the circle of the subterranean air, which is more dense and coarse than that in the outer space, *C* to *D*. In this denser atmosphere the stellar influences and celestial impulses are crystallized into corporeal spirits, thus forming the multitude of forms which exist without knowledge of their own fiery source. *G* is the region of the central fire of the element earth, a coarse fire in contradistinction to the divine fiery Schamayim. The sphere of the starry heavens likewise has its opposite in the sphere of the subterranean air; and the sphere of the upper air (or subtle vaporous water) has its opposite in the sphere *E* to *F*. The focal point, *D* to *E*, between the three higher and the three lower spheres, is called "The Reservoir." It receives impressions from both the superior and the inferior regions and is common to both.

Figure 2 is the Qabbalistic symbol of elemental water; Figure 9 represents the spiritual invisible water. Figure 3 is the Qabbalistic symbol of elemental air; Figure 7 represents the spiritual and invisible air. Figure 4 is the Qabbalistic sign of the elemental earth; Figure 8 represents the spiritual and invisible earth. Figure 5 is the Qabbalistic sign of the elemental fire; Figure 6 represents the spiritual and invisible fire. Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9 symbolize the four elements before the descent of Lucifer. They are the four rivers spoken of in Genesis, having their source in the one river, Figure W, which represents the elements superimposed on one another. The golden ball in the center is Schamayim, the fiery source of all elements. Figure 11 is the emblem of the beginning and the end of all creatures. From it all things proceed and to it all must return again, to become one with the fiery water of divine understanding.

*TABLE II, Figures 12-51*. Figures 12, 13, 14 demonstrate the sphere as a symbol of motion to be emblematic of fire, water, and air; and the cube as a symbol of weight to be emblematic of earth. The sphere rests upon a point, the cube upon a surface; the sphere is therefore used to symbolize spirit, and the cube, matter. Figure 14 demonstrates that atmosphere rushing in behind a falling object increases its velocity and apparently adds to its weight. The essential nature of each element is occultly signified by the peculiar symbol and character assigned to it.

Of Figure 15, the symbol of salt, von Welling writes, in substance: The cube has six sides, corresponding to the six days of creation, with the point of rest (the seventh day) in the center of the cube. On each surface of the cube appear the signs of the four elements triangles. The alchemists declared that salt was the first created substance produced by the fire (Schamayim) which flowed out of God. In salt all creation is concentrated; in salt are the beginning and end of all things. The cube, furthermore, is composed of twelve bodies, each of which has six sides. These bodies are the twelve fundamental pillars of the true invisible church, and when these twelve bodies are multiplied by their six sides the magical number 72 results. The wise have said that nothing is perfect until it has been dissolved, separated, and again united so that it becomes a body composed of twelve bodies, like the cube. The cube also consists of six pyramids with the six surfaces of the cube as their bases. The points of these six pyramids meet at the center of the cube. These six pyramids, each consisting of four triangles, signify the elements, and produce the magical number 24, which refers to the Elders before the Throne. The six surfaces and the point constitute the magical number 7. If 7 be multiplied by 7 again, and so on 7 times, the answer will reveal the method used by the ancients for measuring the periods of eternity; thus: (1) 7 X 7 = 49; (2) 49 X 7 = 343; (3) 343 X 7 = 2,401; (4) 2,401 X 7 = 16,807; (5):16,807 X 7 = 117,649; (6) 117,649 X 7 = 823,543; (7) 823,543 X 7 = 5,764,801. (This is not to be taken as earth years or times.) The 5,000, 000 represents the great hall year; the 700,000 the great Sabbath year, wherein all human beings gradually gain true understanding and become heirs to their original and eternal inheritance, which was lost when they were enmeshed in the lower elements. The 64,800 is the number of the fallen angels, and the last one year signifies the liberation of Lucifer and return to his original estate.

Figure 16 is another symbol of salt, while Figure 17 (the dot) is the sign of spirit, gold, the sun, or the germ of life. If the dot be moved before itself it becomes a line, Figure 18. This motion of the dot is the first motion. The beginning and end of every line is a dot. Figure 19 is the circle. It is the second motion and the most perfect of all lines. Out of it are formed all figures and bodies imaginable. Figure 20 represents the outpouring of the upper and spiritual life into manifestation. Figure 21 represents darkness, for it is the loosening of the subterrene destructive principle. Figure 20 is also the symbol of day, and Figure 21 of night.

*TABLE I, Figures 1-11.*

Figure 22 is a symbol of water; Figure 23 is the complete universal character of light and darkness. The upright triangle represents Schamayim; the inverted triangle the dark earth which imprisons the infernal subterranean fire. It is "The First Day of Creation," or the time of the separation of Schamayim and Ares. Figure 24 represents the six days of creation and proves that the elements are an outflow of the Divine Fire which, breaking up, becomes the substances of the tangible universe, as signified in Figure 25.

*TABLE II, Figures 12-51.*

Figure 26 is the character of the air, showing that air is born out of the Eternal Light and the ethereal water. Figure 27 is the character of water. It is the inversion of Figure 26, indicating that its origin is from the lower fire and not the higher. Its upper part signifies that water does not lack the Divine element, but as a universal mirror reflects the heavenly influences. Figures 28 and 29 are symbols of salt, showing that it is both fire and water in one. Figure 30 is the character of fire in all its attributes, and Figure M (the same inverted), water in all its powers. Figure 32 is the character of salt in all its attributes. Figure 33 represents both gold and the sun. Their essential natures are identical, being formed from the first fire out of Schamayim. They are perfect, as can be seen from their symbol, for no more perfect form can be produced out of the dot than the circle.

Figure 34 is the character of the greater and lesser worlds; as the dot is surrounded by its circumference, this world is surrounded by Schamayim. Man (the Little World) is included in this symbol because his inner nature is potential gold (Aphar Min Haadamah), which gold is his eternal indestructible spiritual body. Gold is the masculine principle of the universe.

Figure 35 is the character of silver and the moon. It signifies that silver (like gold) is a perfect metal, except that the red part of its nature is turned inward. Silver is the feminine principle of the universe.

Figure 36 is the character of copper and Venus; Figure 37, of iron and Mars; Figure 38, of tin and Jupiter; Figure 39, of lead and Saturn; Figure 40, of Mercury (both the planet and the element); Figure 41, of antimony, the key metal of the earth itself; Figure 42, of arsenic; Figure 43, of sulphur; Figure 44, of cinnabar; Figure 45, of quicklime; Figure 46, of nitre; and Figure 47, of vitriol. Figure 48 is the character of sal ammoniac, which element derives its name from the Temple of Jupiter Ammon in an Egyptian desert, where it was found. Figure 49 is the character of alum; Figure 50, of alkali, a name of Arabian origin; and Figure 51, of sal tartar, a substance possessing great occult virtue.

*TABLE Ill, Figure 52*. The eight globes and the central square represent the seven days of creation. The three worlds wherein creation occurs are symbolized by three concentric rings. The German words in the outer ring are extracts from the first chapter of Genesis. The words around the outside of the outer ring are *The First Day*. The four small globes inside the outer ring deal with the abstract phases of creation. The upper globe containing the triangle encloses the words Heaven and Earth. The globe to the right contains the word Light, and the one to the left, Jehovah Elohim in the upper part and Darkness in the lower part. The globe at the bottom contains the word Day in the upper half and Night in the lower.

The four globes within the second ring depict the second, third, fourth, and fifth days of creation. The white globe above divided by a dotted line is designated *The Second Day*; the globe to the left with the mountains, *The Third Day*; the globe to the right with the planetary rings, *The Fourth Day*; and the globe below bisected by a dotted line, *The Fifth Day*. The square in the central ring containing the human form is marked *The Sixth Day*. This chart is a diagrammatic exposition of the three layers of the macrocosmic and microcosmic auric eggs, showing the forces active within them.

*TABLE IV, Figure. 53*. Figure 53 has been designated the symbolic tomb of Christian Rosencreutz. The upper circle is the first world--the Divine Sphere of God. The triangle in the center is the throne of God. The small circles at the points of the star symbolize the seven great Spirits before the throne, mentioned in the Book of Revelation, in the midst of which walks the Alpha and Omega--the Son of God. The central triangle contains three flames--the Divine Trinity. From the lowest of these flames proceeds the first divine outflow, shown by two parallel lines descending through the throne of Saturn (the Spirit *Orifelis*, through whom God manifested Himself). Passing through the boundary of the celestial universe and the 22 spheres of the lower system, the lines end at point *B*, the throne of Lucifer, in whom the divine outpouring is concentrated and reflected. From him the divine light irradiates in succession to *d* (Capricorn), *e* (Gemini), *f* (Libra), *g* (Taurus), *h* (Pisces), *i* (Aquarius), *k*(Cancer), *l* (Virgo), *m* (Aries), *n* (Leo), *o* (Scorpio), *p* (Sagittarius), thence back to *d*. The zodiacal circles represent twelve orders of great and beneficent Spirits, and the smaller circles within the ring of fixed stars mark the orbits of the sacred planets.

*TABLE V, Figure 54*. Figure 54 is similar to Figure 53, but represents the universe at the time God manifested Himself through the character of Jupiter, the Spirit *Sachasiel*. Von Welling gives no reason for the change in the order of influx into the twelve orders of spirits, for the third world, for the adding of another circle and the interlaced triangles in the upper world, or for the letters Y and Z.

*Table III, Figure 52*

In the upper triangle, *A* represents the Father Principle, *F* the divine outflow, *G* the point of influx into the twelve orders of spirits (probably Sagittarius). The letters *H*, *I*, *J*, *K*, *L*, *M*, *N*, *O*, *P*, *Q*, *S*, and *T* denote the sequential points of irradiations to each other; *W* and *X*, the World of the Sons of God; and *B*, *C*, *D*, and *E*, the World of Lucifer. This plate shows the universe after the descent of Lucifer into matter. According to von Welling, when Lucifer wanted to control power, the influx of the divine light instantly ceased. Lucifer's world (which later became the solar system), with all its legions of spirits (who in their essence were Schamayim) reflecting his ideas and inverting the divine light, was turned into darkness. Lucifer's Schamayim thereupon became a contracted disc, a tangible substance; and Chaos came into existence.

*TABLE VI, Figures 55-59*. Figure 55 symbolizes the Chaos of Lucifer; Figure 56, the separation of light from darkness; Figure 57, the light in the midst of the darkness; and Figure 58, the regions of the elements and their inhabitants. The four *A*'s signify the Abyss surrounding all things. The *A* *B* is the fiery throne of Lucifer. The plane of *g* is the subterranean air; *f*, the subterranean water; *c*, the earth region; *d*, the outer water; *e*, the outer air, *W* and *X* the region of Schamayim.

*Table IV, Figure 53*

The elemental inhabitants of the planes differ in goodness according to their proximity to the center of wickedness (*A* *B*). The earth's surface (*c*) divides the subterranean elementals from those of the outer water, air, and fire (*d*, *c*, and *X*). The elementals of the upper strata (the upper half of *c*, and all of *d*, *e*, and *X*) represent an ascending scale of virtue, while those of the lower strata (the lower half of *c*, and all of *f*, *g*, and *A* *B*) represent a descending scale of depravity.

The region of air (*e*) is a partial exception to this order. While air is close to the light and filled with beautiful spirits, it is also the habitation of Beelzebub, the Evil Spirit of the air, with his legion of elemental demons. Upon the subtle element of air are impressed the influences of the stars; the thoughts, words, and deeds of man; and a myriad of mysterious influences from the various planes of Nature. Man inhales these impressions, and they produce diverse effects upon his mind.

*Table V, Figure 54*

In air are suspended also the seed germs by which water is impregnated and made capable of bringing forth forms of organic and inorganic life. The grotesque figures seen in crystal caves and frost pictures upon windows are caused by these aerial impressions. While the air elementals are great and wise, they are treacherous and confused because amenable to both good and evil impressions. The mighty elemental beings who inhabit the watery light fire of the region *X* cannot be deceived by the spirits of darkness. They love the creatures of the waters, for the watery element (*d*) proceeded from the fiery water (*X*). Mortal man cannot endure the society of these fiery spirits, but gains wisdom from them through the creatures of the waters in which they continually mirror themselves. Figure 59 represents this solar system, with *W* and *X* as the locality of the Garden of Eden.

*Table VII, Figures 1-5, 7 and 8*

*TABLE VII, Figures 1-5, 7, 8*. (Table VIII has Figure 6.) Figure 1 is the triune divine sulphur, the All-Perfect out of the All-Perfect, the Soul of creatures. The threefold Divine One is symbolized by three interlaced circles designated alchemically *salt*, *sulphur*, and *mercury*. In the central triangle is the divine name *Ehieh*. *Geist* means spirit. The other words require no translation. Figure 2 is common destructive sulphur. A bar placed in the triangle makes it the character of earth. Figure 3 is true oil of vitriol, composed of a circle with two diameters and two reversed half-circles hanging below. In this are hidden the characters of all metals. Tin is symbolized by Figure 4 and iron by Figure 5. Figure 7 is the solar system according to Copernicus. Figure 8 is the last judgment. The sun is removed from the center of the solar system and replaced by the earth. This changes the respective positions of all the other planets except Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, which retain their respective circles. The letter *a* signifies the circle of the sun; *b*, that of Mercury; *c*, that of Venus; *d*, (sic) that of the moon; and *E*, that of the earth. Inward from the sphere h are the great circles of damnation.

*Table VIII, Figure 6.*

*TABLE VIII., Figure 6*. In Figure 6 the letter *a* marks the center of eternity. The motion of the rays toward *b*, *d*, and *c* was the first divine manifestation and is symbolized by the equilateral triangle, *b*, *d*, *c*. The eternal world within the inner circle became manifest in the water (salt), the light (mercury), and the fire (sulphur) of the archetypal world, represented by the three circles (*f*, *e*, *g*) within the triangle of complete equality (*h*, *i*, *k*), which is in turn surrounded by the circle of the high throne. The circle *f* is named *understanding*; *e*, *wisdom*; *g*, *reason*. In circle *i* is the word *Father*; in circle *h*, *Son*; in circle *k*, *Spirit*. The seven outer circles are the seven spirits before the throne. The lower part of the figure is similar to Figures 53 and 54. The outer circles are the angelic world ending in the cognizable world of the Sons of God. Then comes the circle of the visible constellations and fixed stars; within this is the solar system with the sun as the center (*l*). *Ungrund* means the Abyss.

*Table X, Figures 10-15.*

*TABLE IX, Figure 9*. Figure 9 is a synthesis of the Old and New Testaments and represents the interblending planes of being. In the right margin the seven outer circles contain the names of the planetary angels. The words in the graduated circles from the top triangle downward read: (1) *Abyss of Compassion*; (2) *Zion*; (3) *The New Heaven and the New Earth*; (4) *The New Jerusalem*; (5) *Paradise*; (6) *The Bosom of Abraham*; (7) *The Outer Courts of the Lord*. From below the circles of darkness reach upward, each divine principle being opposed by an infernal opposite. The small circle on the left containing a triangle and cross is named *The Tree of Life*, and that on the right *The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil*. In the center of the diagram is the Trinity, joined with the superior and inferior planes by lines of activity.

*TABLE X, Figures 10-15*. Figure 10 shows the New Jerusalem in form of a cube, with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on the twelve lines of the cube. In the center is the eye of God. The words round the outer circle are from the Book of Revelation.

*Table IX, Figure 9.*

Figures 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 possibly are cipher symbols of the angels of the plagues, the name of the Antichrist, the signature of the beast of Babylon, and the name of the woman riding on the beast of blasphemy.

*TABLE XI, Figures 1.-11*. Figure 1 is the solar system according to Genesis. The *o* on top of the radius of the circle is the dot of Eternity--the Beginning of Beginnings. The whole diameter is the outflow of God, manifesting first in the heaven of heavens--the Schamayim, in which region human understanding cannot function. The space from *k* to *i* contains the heavens of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars; *l* to *m*, the heavens of Venus and Mercury; *m* to *h*, the heavens of the sun. The letter *e* is the moon, the circle of the earth.

Figure 2 is the globe of the earth, showing the houses and signs of the zodiac. Figure 3 is the character of the Universal Mercury (Divine Life) in its triune aspect of *mercury*, *sulphur*, and *salt*. Figure 4 is true saltpetre purified with quicklime and alkali. Figure 5 shows the exact degree or angle of the planets' places as well as the individual fixed stars in the zodiac. The letter *a* is the sun and *b* is the earth. From *k* to *i* are the circles of Mercury and Venus; *g* to *h*, the circles of earth and moon; *f* to *e* and *e* to *c*, of Jupiter and Saturn; *c* to *d*, the starry belt or zodiac. Figure 6 is the Microcosm, with the planets and signs of the zodiac corresponding to the different parts of its form. The words upon the figure read: *Know thyself*. In words, herbs, and stones lies a great power. Figure 7 is the universal character from which all characters have been taken. Figures 8, 9, and 10 are left to the solution of the reader. Figure 11 is the radiating Universal Mercury.

*Table XI, Figures 1-11*

*TABLE XII, Figures 12-19*. Figure 12 is called *A Mirror of Astrological Aspects*. Below it is an astrologer's wheel. Figure 13 is similar to Figure 12. Figure 14 is a secret alchemical formula. The words around the circle read: Out of one in all is all. Figure 15 is an unsatisfactory attempt to show the comparative sizes of the suns and planets and their distances from each other. Figure 16 is the solar system with its internal and spiritual heavens. *A* *B* is the solar system; *C* is the sphere of fixed stars; *D*, *E*, *F*, *G* are the systems of the spiritual worlds; *H* is the throne of the living God; *J*, *K*, *L*, *M*, and *N* are the Great Beyond, unmeasurable.

*Table XII, Figures 12-19*

Figure 17 shows the creation of the solar system out of the ring of the Divine Eternity. The four *A*'s are the Abyss, *B* is the first revelation of God out of the Abyss, and from this revelation *C*, *D*, *E*, *F*, and *G* were created. *C* and *D* represent the spiritual hierarchies; *D* and *E*, the upper worlds, or constellations; *E* and *F*, the distance from Jupiter to the upper worlds; *F* and *G*, the solar system with its planets and their heavens; *B* and *C* the throne of Christ.

Figure 18 describes the division according to Genesis of the waters above the heavens (*D*) from the waters below (*A*, *B*, and *C*). Figure 19 is the mercury of the philosophers, essential to material existence.

*TABLE XIII, Figures 1-4*. Figure 1 is *Ain Soph*, the Incomprehensible Abyss of Divine Majesty, an endless welling up, limitless in time and space. Figure 2 symbolizes the three Divine Principles--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

*Table XIII, Figures 1-4*

Around the triangle is written: *I Shall Be That I Shall Be*. At the apex of the triangle is the word *Crown*; in the left point, *Wisdom*; in the right point, *Understanding*. Figure 3 represents the Trinity with its outflow. The words above the upper sphere are *Revelation of the Divine Majesty in Jehovah Elohim*. The lower circles contain the names of the Hierarchies controlling the lower worlds. The words within the circle of stars read: *Lucifer the Son of the Aurora of the morning*. The letter *C* represents the Universal Mercury. The words within the circle read: *The first beginning of all creatures*. Figure 4 represents the abode of Lucifer and his angels, the Chaos spoken of in Genesis.

*TABLE XIV, Figures 5, 7, 8*. Figure 5 shows the triangle of triune Divinity in the midst of a cross. At the left is a small triangle containing the words *The Secrets of Elohim*, and at the right is another inscribed *The Secrets of Nature*. On the horizontal arms of the cross are the words *The Tree of Life* and *The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil*. The plate explains the interblending of the spiritual and infernal powers in the creation of the universe. Figure 7 is called *The Road to Paradise*. It probably indicates the positions of the sun, moon, and planets at the moment of their genesis. Figure 8 is the earth before the flood, when it was watered by a mist or vapor. The words at the left are *The Tree of Life*; those at the right, The Tree of the Knowledge of good and Evil. The diagram with the symbol of Mars is devoted to a consideration of the rainbow.

*Table XIV, Figures 5, 7, and 8*

*TABLE XV, Figures 6, 9, 10*. Figure 6 is similar to Figure 5 and is called *The Secret of Nature*. An interesting diagram is shown on either side of the central figure, each consisting of a triangle with circles radiating from its points. The diagram on the left is called *The Secrets of the Upper World*, and the one on right *The Secrets of the Underworld*.

Figure 9 is the solar system. Around the central part are the words *The Place of the Damned*. Figure 10 shows the dot, or point of rest, surrounded by a triangle enclosing a circle containing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. It represents completion of the process of regeneration and the consummation of the Great Work.

*Table XV, Figures 6, 9, and 10*

## Alchemy and Its Exponents

IS the transmutation of base metals into gold possible? Is the idea one at which the learned of the modern world can afford to scoff? Alchemy was more than a speculative art: it was also an operative art. Since the time of the immortal Hermes, alchemists have asserted (and not without substantiating evidence) that they could manufacture gold from tin, silver, lead, and mercury. That the galaxy of brilliant philosophic and scientific minds who, over a period of two thousand years, affirmed the actuality of metallic transmutation and multiplication, could be completely sane and rational on all other problems of philosophy and science, yet hopelessly mistaken on this one point, is untenable. Nor is it reasonable that the hundreds declaring to have seen and performed transmutations of metals could all have been dupes, imbeciles, or liars.

Those assuming that all alchemists were of unsound mentality would be forced to put in this category nearly all the philosophers and scientists of the ancient and medieval worlds. Emperors, princes, priests, and common townsfolk have witnessed the apparent miracle of metallic metamorphosis. In the face of existing testimony, anyone is privileged to remain unconvinced, but the scoffer elects to ignore evidence worthy of respectful consideration. Many great alchemists and Hermetic philosophers occupy an honored niche in the Hall of Fame, while their multitudinous critics remain obscure. To list all these sincere seekers after Nature's great arcanum is impossible, but a few will suffice to acquaint the reader with the superior types of intellect who interested themselves in this abstruse subject.

Among the more prominent names are those of Thomas Norton, Isaac of Holland, Basil Valentine (the supposed discoverer of antimony), Jean de Meung, Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus, Quercetanus Gerber (the Arabian who brought the knowledge of alchemy to Europe through his writings), Paracelsus, Nicholas Flarnmel, John Frederick Helvetius, Raymond Lully, Alexander Sethon, Michael Sendivogius, Count Bernard of Treviso, Sir George Ripley, Picus de Mirandola, John Dee, Henry Khunrath, Michael Maier, Thomas Vaughan, J. B. von Helmont, John Heydon, Lascaris, Thomas Charnock, Synesius (Bishop of Ptolemais), Morieu, the Comte di Cagliostro, and the Comte de St.-Germain. There are legends to the effect that King Solomon and Pythagoras were alchemists and that the former manufactured by alchemical means the gold used in his temple.

Albert Pike takes sides with the alchemical philosophers by declaring that the gold of the Hermetists was a reality. He says: "The Hermetic science, like all the real sciences, is mathematically demonstrable. Its results, even material, are as rigorous as that of a correct equation. The Hermetic Gold is not only a true dogma, a light without Shadow, a Truth without alloy of falsehood; it is also a material gold, real, pure, the most precious that can be found in the mines of the earth." So much for the Masonic angle.

William and Mary jointly ascended the throne of England in 1689, at which time alchemists must have abounded in the kingdom, for during the first year of their reign they repealed an Act made by King Henry IV in which that sovereign declared the *multiplying of metals* to be a crime against the crown. In Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom's *Collection of Alchemical Manuscripts* is a handwritten copy of the Act passed by William and Mary, copied from Chapter 30 of Statutes at Large for the first year of their reign. The Act reads as follows: "An Act to repeal the Statute made in the 5th year of King Henry IV, late king of England, wherein it was enacted, among other things, in these words, or to this effect, namely: 'that none from henceforth should use to multiply Gold or Silver or use the craft of multiplication, and if any the same do they shall incur the pain of felony.' And whereas, since the making of the said statute, divers persons have by their study, industry and learning, arrived to great skill & perfection in the art of melting and refining of metals, and otherwise improving and multiplying them and their ores, which very much abound in this realm, and extracting gold and silver our of the same, but dare not to exercise their said skill within this realm, for fear of falling under the penalty of the said statute, but exercise the said art in foreign parts, to the great loss and detriment of this realm: Be it therefore enacted by the King's and Queen's most excellent Majesties, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons in this present parliament assembled, that from henceforth the aforesaid branch, article, or sentence, contained in the said act, and every word, matter and thing contained in the said branch or sentence, shall be repealed, annulled, revoked, and for ever made void, any thing in the said act to the contrary in any wise whatsoever notwithstanding. Provided always, and be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all the gold and silver that shall be extracted by the aforesaid art of melting or refining of metals, and otherwise improving and multiplying of them and their ores, as before set forth, be from henceforth employed for no other use or uses whatsoever but for the increase of monies; and that the place hereby appointed for the disposal thereof shall be their Majesties mint, within the Tower of London, at which place they are to receive the full and true value of their gold and silver, so procured, from time to time, according to the assay and fineness thereof, and so for any greater or less weight, and that none of that metal of gold and silver so refined and procured be permitted to be used or disposed of in any other place or places within their Majesties dominions." After this repealing measure had become effective, William and Mary encouraged the further study of alchemy.

Dr. Franz Hartmann has collected reliable evidence concerning four different: alchemists who transmuted base metals into gold not once but many times. One of these accounts concerns a monk of the Order of St. Augustine named Wenzel Seiler, who discovered a small amount of mysterious red powder in his convent. In the presence of Emperor Leopold I, King of Germany, Hungary, and Bohemia, he transmuted quantities of tin into gold. Among other things which he dipped into his mysterious essence was a large silver medal. That part of the medal which came in contact with the gold-producing substance was transmuted into the purest quality of the more precious metal. The rest remained silver. With regard to this medal, Dr. Hartmann writes:

"The most indisputable proof (if appearances can prove anything) of the possibility of transmuting base metals into gold, may be seen by everyone who visits Vienna; it being a medal preserved in the Imperial treasury chamber, and it is stated that this medal, consisting originally of silver, has been partly transformed into gold, by alchemical means, by the same Wenzel Seiler who was afterwards made a knight by the Emperor Leopold I. and given the title Wenzeslaus Ritter von Reinburg. "(*In the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom*.)

Space limitations preclude a lengthy discussion of the alchemists. A brief sketch of the lives of four should serve to show the general principles on which they worked, the method by which they obtained their knowledge, and the use which they made of it. These four were Grand Masters of this secret science; and the stories of their wanderings and strivings, as recorded by their own pens and by contemporaneous disciples of the Hermetic art, are as fascinating as any romance of fiction.

*From The Complete Writings of Paracelsus, of Hohenheim.*

*In his Biographia Antiqua, Francis Barrett appends to the name of Paracelsus the following titles of distinction: "The Prince of Physicians and Philosophers by Fire; Grand Paradoxical Physician; The Trismegistus of Switzerland; First Reformer of Chymical Philosophy; Adept in Alchymy, Cabala, and Magic; Nature's Faithful Secretary; Master of the Elixir of Life and The Philosopher's Stone," and the "Great Monarch of Chymical Secrets"*

**PARACELSUS OF HOHENHEIM**

The most famous of alchemical and Hermetic philosophers was Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. This man, who called himself Paracelsus, declared that some day all the doctors of Europe would turn from the other schools and, following him, revere him above every other physician. The accepted date of the birth of Paracelsus is December 17, 1493. He was an only child. Both his father and mother were interested in medicine and chemistry. His father was a physician and his mother the superintendent of a hospital. While still a youth, Paracelsus became greatly interested in the writings of Isaac of Holland, and determined to reform the medical science of his day.

When twenty years old he began a series of travels which continued for about twelve years. He visited many European countries, including Russia. It is possible that he penetrated into Asia. It was in Constantinople that the great secret of the Hermetic arts was bestowed upon him by Arabian adepts. His knowledge of the Nature spirits and the inhabitants of the invisible worlds he probably secured from the Brahmins of India with whom he came in contact either directly or through their disciples. He became an army physician, and his understanding and skill brought him great success.

Upon his return to Germany, he began his long-dreamed-of reformation of the medical arts and sciences. He was opposed on every hand and criticized unmercifully. His violent temper and tremendously strong personality undoubtedly precipitated many storms upon his head which might have been avoided had he been of a less caustic disposition. He flayed the apothecaries, asserting that they did not use the proper ingredients in their prescriptions and did not consider the needs of their patients, desiring only to collect exorbitant fees for their concoctions.

The remarkable cures which Paracelsus effected only made his enemies hate him more bitterly, for they could not duplicate the apparent miracles which he wrought. He not only treated the more common diseases of his day but is said to have actually cured leprosy, cholera, and cancer. His friends claimed for him that he all but raised the dead. His systems of healing were so heterodox, however, that slowly but surely his enemies overwhelmed him and again and again forced him to leave the fields of his labors and seek refuge where he was not known.

There is much controversy concerning the personality of Paracelsus. That he had an irascible disposition there is no doubt. His barred for physicians and for women amounted to a mania; for them he had nothing but abuse. As far as can be learned, there was never a love affair in his life. His peculiar appearance and immoderate system of living were always held against him by his adversaries. It is believed that his physical abnormalities may have been responsible for much of the bitterness against society which he carried with him throughout all his intolerant and tempestuous life.

His reputed intemperance brought upon him still more persecution, for it was asserted that even during the time of his professorship in the University of Basel he was seldom sober. Such an accusation is difficult to understand in view of the marvelous mental clarity for which he was noted at all times. The vast amount of writing which he accomplished (the Strassburg Edition of his collected works is in three large volumes, each containing several hundred pages) is a monumental contradiction of the tales regarding his excessive use of alcoholics.

No doubt many of the vices of which he is accused were sheer inventions by his enemies, who, not satisfied with hiring assassins to murder him, sought to besmirch his memory after they had revengefully ended his life. The manner in which Paracelsus met his death is uncertain, but: the most credible account is that he died as the indirect result of a scuffle with a number of assassins who had been hired by some of his professional enemies to make away with the one who had exposed their chicanery.

Few manuscripts are extant in the handwriting of Paracelsus, for he dictated the majority of his works to his disciples, who wrote them down. Professor John Maxson Stillman, of Stanford University, pays the following tribute to his memory: "Whatever be the final judgment as to the relative importance of Paracelsus in the upbuilding of medical science and practice, it must be recognized that he entered upon his career at Basel with the zeal and the self-assurance of one who believed himself inspired with a great truth, and destined to effect a great advance in the science and practice of medicine. By nature he was a keen and open-minded observer of whatever came under his observation, though probably also not a very critical analyst of the observed phenomena. He was evidently an unusually self-reliant and independent thinker, though the degree of originality in his thought may be a matter of legitimate differences of opinion. Certainly once having, from whatever combination of influences, made up his mind to reject the sacredness of the authority of Aristotle, Galen and Avicenna, and having found what to his mind was a satisfactory substitute for the ancient dogmas in his own modification of the neo-Platonic philosophy, he did not hesitate to burn his ships behind him.

"Having cut loose from the dominant Galenism of his time, he determined to preach and teach that the basis of the medical science of the future should be the study of nature, observation of the patient, experiment and experience, and not the infallible dogmas of authors long dead. Doubtless in the pride and self-confidence of his youthful enthusiasm he did not rightly estimate the tremendous force of conservatism against which he directed his assaults. If so, his experience in Basel surely undeceived him. From that time on he was to be a wanderer again, sometimes in great poverty, sometimes in moderate comfort, but manifestly disillusioned as to the immediate success of his campaign though never in doubt as to its ultimate success--for to his mind his new theories and practice of medicine were at one with the forces of nature, which were the expression of God's will, and eventually they must prevail."

This strange man, his nature a mass of contradictions, his stupendous genius shining like a star through the philosophic and scientific darkness of medieval Europe, struggling against the jealousy of his colleagues as well as against the irascibility of his own nature, fought for the good of the many against the domination of the few. He was the first man to write scientific books in the language of the common people so that all could read them.

Even in death Paracelsus found no rest. Again and again his bones were dug up and reinterred in another place. The slab of marble over his grave bears the following inscription: "*Here lies buried Philip Theophrastus the famous Doctor of Medicine who cured Wounds, Leprosy, Gout, Dropsy and other incurable Maladies of the Body, with wonderful Knowledge and gave his Goods to be divided and distributed to the Poor. In the Year 1541 on the 24th day of September he exchanged Life for Death. To the Living Peace, to the Sepulchred Eternal Rest*."

A. M. Stoddart, in her *Life of Paracelsus*, gives a remarkable testimonial of the love which the masses had for the great physician. Referring to his tomb, she writes: "To this day the poor pray there. Hohenheim's memory has 'blossomed in the dust' to sainthood, for the poor have canonized him.

*ALBERTUS MAGNUS.*

*From Jovius' Vitae Illustrium Virorum.*

*Albert de Groot was born about 1206 and died at the age of 74. It has been said of him that he was "magnus in magia, major in philosophia, maximus in theologia." He was a member of the Dominican order and the mentor of St. Thomas Aquinas in alchemy and philosophy. Among other positions of dignity occupied by Albertus Magnus was that of Bishop of Regensburg. He was beatified in 1622. Albertus was an Aristotelian philosopher, an astrologer, and a profound student of medicine and physics. During his youth, he was considered of deficient mentality, but his since service and devotion were rewarded by a vision in which the Virgin Mary appeared to him and bestowed upon him great philosophical and intellectual powers. Having become master of the magical sciences, Albertus began the construction of a curious automaton, which he invested with the powers of speech and thought. The Android, as it was called, was composed of metals and unknown substances chosen according to the stars and endued with spiritual qualities by magical formulæ and invocations, and the labor upon it consumed over thirty years. St. Thomas Aquinas, thinking the device to be a diabolical mechanism, destroyed it, thus frustrating the labor of a lifetime. In spite of this act, Albertus Magnus left to St. Thomas Aquinas his alchemical formulæ, including (according to legend) the secret of the Philosopher's Stone.*

*On one occasion Albertus Magnus invited William II, Count of Holland and King of the Romans, to a garden party in midwinter. The ground was covered with snow, but Albertus, had prepare a sumptuous banquet in the open grounds of his monastery at Cologne. The guests were amazed at the imprudence of the philosopher, but as they sat down to eat Albertus, uttered a few words, the snow disappeared, the garden was filled with flowers and singing birds, and the air was warm with the breezes of summer. As soon as the feast was over, the snow returned, much to the amazement of the assembled nobles. (For details, see The Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers.)*

When cholera threatened Salzburg in 1830, the people made a pilgrimage to his monument and prayed him to avert it from their homes. The dreaded scourge passed away from them and raged in Germany and the rest of Austria." It was supposed that one early teacher of Paracelsus was a mysterious alchemist who called himself Solomon Trismosin. Concerning this person nothing is known save that after some years of wandering he secured the formula of transmutation and claimed to have made vast amounts of gold. A beautifully illuminated manuscript of this author, dated 1582 and called Splendor Solis, is in the British Museum. Trismosin claimed to have lived to the age of 150 as the result of his knowledge of alchemy. One very significant statement appears in his Alchemical Wanderings, which work is supposed to narrate his search for the Philosopher's Scone: "Study what thou art, whereof thou art a part, what thou knowest of this art, this is really what thou art. All that is without thee also is within, thus wrote Trismosin."

**RAYMOND LULLY**

This most famous of all the Spanish alchemists was born about the year 1235. His father was seneschal to James the First of Aragon, and young Raymond was brought up in the court surrounded by the temptations and profligacy abounding in such places. He was later appointed to the position which his father had occupied. A wealthy marriage ensured Raymond's financial position, and he lived the life of a grandee.

One of the most beautiful women at: the court of Aragon was Donna Ambrosia Eleanora Di Castello, whose virtue and beauty had brought her great renown. She was at that time married and was not particularly pleased to discover that young Lully was rapidly developing a passion for her. Wherever she went Raymond followed, and at last over a trivial incident he wrote some very amorous verses to her, which produced an effect quite different from what he had expected. He received a message inviting him to visit the lady. He responded with alacrity. She told him that it was only fair that he should behold more of the beauty concerning which he wrote such appealing poems and, drawing aside part of her garments, disclosed that one side of her body was nearly eaten away by a cancer. Raymond never recovered from the shock. It turned the entire course of his life. He renounced the frivolities of the court and became a recluse.

Sometime afterwards while doing penance for his worldly sins a vision appeared to him in which Christ told him to follow in the direction in which He should lead. Later the vision was repeated. Hesitating no longer, Raymond divided his property among his family and retired to a hut on the side of a hill, where he devoted himself to the study of Arabic, that he might go forth and convert the infidels. After six years in this retreat he set out with a Mohammedan servant, who, when he learned that Raymond was about to attack the faith of his people, buried his knife in his master's back. Raymond refused to allow his would-be assassin to be executed, but later the man strangled himself in prison.

When Raymond regained his health he became a teacher of the Arabic language to those who intended traveling in the Holy Land. It was while so engaged that he came in contact: with Arnold of Villa Nova, who taught him the principles or alchemy. As a result of this training, Raymond learned the secret of the transmutation and multiplication of metals. His life of wandering continued, and during the course of it he arrived at Tunis, where he began to debate with the Mohammedan teachers, and nearly lost his life as the result of his fanatical attacks upon their religion. He was ordered to leave the country and never to return again upon pain of death. Notwithstanding their threats he made a second visit to Tunis, but the inhabitants instead of killing him merely deported him to Italy.

An unsigned article appearing in Household Words, No. 273, a magazine conducted by Charles Dickens, throws considerable light on Lully's alchemical ability. "Whilst at Vienna he Lully received flattering letters from Edward the Second, King of England, and from Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, entreating him to visit them. He had also, in the course of his travels, met with John Cremer, Abbot of Westminster, with whom he formed a strong friendship; and it was more to please him than the king, that Raymond consented to go to England. A tract by John Cremer appears in the Hermetic Museum, but there is no record in the annals of Westminster of anyone by that name. Cremer had an intense desire to learn the last great secret of alchemy--to make the powder of transmutation--and Raymond, with all his friendship, had never disclosed it. Cremer, however, set to work very cunningly; he was not long in discovering the object that was nearest to Raymond's heart--the conversion of the infidels. He told the king wonderful stories of the gold Lully had the art to make; and he worked upon Raymond by the hope that King Edward would be easily induced to raise a crusade against the Mahommedans, if he had the means.

"Raymond had appealed so often to popes and kings that he had lost all faith in them; nevertheless, as a last hope, he accompanied his friend Cremer to England. Cremer lodged him in his abbey, treating him with distinction; and there Lully at last instructed him in the powder, the secret of which Cremer had so long desired to know. When the powder was perfected, Cremer presented him to the king, who received him as a man may be supposed to receive one who could give him boundless riches. Raymond made only one condition; that the gold he made should not be expended upon the luxuries of the court or upon a war with any Christian king; and that Edward himself should go in person with an army against the infidels. Edward promised everything and anything.

"Raymond had apartments assigned him in the Tower, and there he tells us he transmuted fifty thousand pounds weight of quicksilver, lead, and tin into pure gold, which was coined at the mint into six million of nobles, each worth about three pounds sterling at the present day. Some of the pieces said to have been coined out of this gold are still to be found in antiquarian collections. While desperate attempts have been made to disprove these statements, the evidence is still about equally divided. To Robert Bruce he sent a little work entitled *Of the Art of Transmuting Metals*. Dr. Edmund Dickenson relates that when the cloister which Raymond occupied at Westminster was removed, the workmen found some of the powder, with which they enriched themselves.

"During Lully's residence in England, he became the friend of Roger Bacon. Nothing, of course, could be further from King Edward's thoughts than to go on a crusade. Raymond's apartments in the Tower were only an honorable prison; and he soon perceived how matters were. He declared that Edward would meet with nothing but misfortune and misery for his breach of faith. He made his escape from England in 1315, and set off once more to preach to the infidels. He was now a very old man, and none of his friends could ever hope to see his face again.

"He went first to Egypt, then to Jerusalem, and thence to Tunis a third time. There he at last met with the martyrdom he had so often braved. The people fell upon him and stoned him. Some Genoese merchants carried away his body, in which they discerned some feeble signs of life. They carried him on board their vessel; but, though he lingered awhile, he died as they came in sight of Majorca, on the 28th of June, 1315, at the age of eighty-one. He was buried with great honour in his family chapel at St. Ulma, the viceroy and all the principal nobility attending."

**NICHOLAS FLAMMEL**

*TITLE PAGE OF ALCHEMICAL TRACT ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN CREMER.*

*From Musæum Hermeticum Reformatum et Amplificatum.*

*John Cremer, the mythical Abbot of Westminster, is an interesting personality in the alchemical imbroglio of the fourteenth century. As it is not reasonably certain that m abbot by such a name ever occupied the See of Westminster, the question naturally arises, "Who was the person concealing his identity under the Pseudonym of John Cremer?" Fictitious characters such as John Cremer illustrate two important practices of mediæval alchemists: (1) many persons of high political or religious rank were secretly engaged in Hermetic chemical research but, fearing persecution and ridicule, published their findings under various pseudonyms; (2) for thousands of years it was the practice of those initiates who possessed the true key to the great Hermetic arcanum to perpetuate their wisdom by creating imaginary persons, involving them in episodes of contemporaneous history and thus establishing these beings as prominent members of society--in some cases even fabricating complete genealogies to attain that end. The names by which these fictitious characters were known revealed nothing to the uniformed. To the initiated, however, they signified that the personality to which they were assigned had no existence other than a symbolic one. These initiated chroniclers carefully concealed their arcanum in the lives, thoughts, words. and acts ascribed to these imaginary persons and thus safely transmitted through the ages the deepest secrets of occultism as writings which to the unconversant were nothing more than biographies.*

In the latter part of the fourteenth century there lived in Paris one whose business was that of illuminating manuscripts and preparing deeds and documents. To Nicholas Flammel the world is indebted for its knowledge of a most remarkable volume, which he bought for a paltry sum from some bookdealer with whom his profession of scrivener brought him in contact. The story of this curious document, called the Book of Abraham the Jew, is best narrated in his own words as preserved in his *Hieroglyphical Figures*: "Whilst therefore, I Nicholas Flammel, Notary, after the decease of my parents, got my living at our art of writing, by making inventories, dressing accounts, and summing up the expenses of tutors and pupils, there fell into my hands for the sum of two florins, a guilded book, very old and large. It was not of paper, nor of parchment, as other books be, but was only made of delicate rinds (as it seemed to me) of tender young trees. The cover of it was of brass, well bound, all engraven with letters, or strange figures; and for my part I think they might well be Greek characters, or some such like ancient language. Sure I am. I could not read them, and I know well they were not notes nor letters of the Latin nor of the Gaul, for of them we understand a little.

"As for that which was within it, the leaves of bark or rind, were engraven and with admirable diligence written, with a point of iron, in fair and neat Latin letters colored. It contained thrice seven leaves, for so were they counted in the top of the leaves, and always every seventh leaf there was painted a virgin and serpent swallowing her up. In the second seventh, a cross where a serpent was crucified; and the last seventh, there were painted deserts, or wildernesse, in the midst whereof ran many fair fountains, from whence there issued out a number of serpents, which ran up and down here and there. Upon the first of the leaves, was written in great capital letters of gold, *Abraham the Jew, Prince, Priest, Levite, Astrologer, and Philosopher, to the Nation of the Jews, by the Wrath of God dispersed among the Gauls, sendeth Health*. After this it was filled with great execrations and curses (with this word *Maranatha*, which was often repeated there) against every person that should cast his eyes upon it, if he were not Sacrificer or Scribe.

"He that sold me this book knew not what it was worth nor more than I when I bought it; I believe it had been stolen or taken from the miserable Jews, or found in some part of the ancient place of their abode. Within the book, in the second leaf, he comforted his nation, counselling them to fly vices, and above all idolatry, attending with sweet patience the coming of the Messias, Who should vanquish all the kings of the earth and should reign with His people in glory eternally. Without doubt this had been some very wise and understanding man.

"In the third leaf, and in all the other writings that followed, to help his captive nation to pay their tributes unto the Roman emperors, and to do other things, which I will not speak of, he taught them in common words the transmutation of metals; he painted the vessels by the sides, and he advertised them of the colors, and of all the rest, saving of the first agent, of the which he spake not a word, but only (as he said) in the fourth and fifth leaves entire he painted it, and figured it with very great cunning and workman ship: for although it was well and intelligibly figured and painted, yet no man could ever have been able to understand it, without being well skilled in their Cabala, which goeth by tradition, and without having well studied their books.

"The fourth and fifth leaves therefore, were without any writing, all full of fair figures enlightened, or as it were enlightened, for the work was very exquisite. First he painted a young man with wings at his ancles, having in his hand a Caducean rod, writhen about with two serpents, wherewith he struck upon a helmet which covered his head. He seemed to my small judgment, to be the God Mercury of the pagans: against him there came running and flying with open wings, a great old man, who upon his head had an hour glass fastened, and in his hand a book (or syrhe) like death, with the which, in terrible and furious manner, he would have cut off the feet of Mercury. On the other side of the fourth leaf, he painted a fair flower on the top of a very high mountain which was sore shaken with the North wind; it had the foot blue, the flowers white and red, the leaves shining like fine gold: and round about it the dragons and griffons of the North made their nests and abode.

"On the fifth leaf there was a fair rose tree flowered in the midst of a sweet garden, climbing up against a hollow oak; at the foot whereof boiled a fountain of most white water, which ran headlong down into the depths, notwithstanding it first passed among the hands of infinite people, who digged in the earth seeking for it; but because they were blind, none of them knew it, except here and there one who considered the weight. On the last side of the fifth leaf there was a king with a great fauchion, who made to be killed in his presence by some soldiers a great multitude of little infants, whose mothers wept at the feet of the unpitiful soldiers: the blood of which infants was afterwards by other soldiers gathered up, and put in a great vessel, wherein the sun and the moon came to bathe themselves.

"And because that this history did represent the more part of that of the innocents slain by Herod, and that in this book I learned the greatest part of the art, this was one of the causes why I placed in their churchyard these Hieroglyphic Symbols of this secret science. And thus you see that which was in the first five leaves.

"I will not represent unto you that which was written in good and intelligible Latin in all the other written leaves, for God would punish me, because I should commit a greater wickedness, than he who (as it is said) wished that all the men of the World had but one head that he might cut it off with one blow. Having with me therefore this fair book, I did nothing else day nor night, but study upon it, understanding very well all the operations that it showed, but not knowing with what matter I should begin, which made me very heavy and solitary, and caused me to fetch many a sigh. My wife Perrenella, whom I loved as myself, and had lately married was much astonished at this, comforting me, and earnestly demanding, if she could by any means deliver me from this trouble. I could not possibly hold my tongue, but told her all, and showed this fair book, whereof at the same instant that she saw it, she became as much enamoured as myself, taking extreme pleasure to behold the fair cover, gravings, images, and portraits, whereof notwithstanding she understood as little as I: yet it was a great comfort to me to talk with her, and to entertain myself, what we should do to have the interpretation of them."

Nicholas Flammel spent many years studying the mysterious book. He even painted the pictures from it all over the walls of his house and made numerous copies which he showed to the learned men with whom he came in contact, but none could explain their secret significance. At last he determined to go forth in quest of an adept, or wise man, and after many wanderings he met a physician--by name Master Canches--who was immediately interested in the diagrams and asked to see the original book. They started forth together for Paris, and or, the way the physician adept explained many of the principles of the hieroglyphics to Flammel, but before they reached their journey's end Master Canches was taken ill and died. Flammel buried him at Orleans, but having meditated deeply on the information he had secured during their brief acquaintance, he was able, with the assistance of his wife, to work out the formula for transmuting base metals into gold. He performed the experiment several times with perfect success, and before his death caused a number of hieroglyphic figures to be painted upon an arch of St. Innocent's churchyard in Paris, wherein he concealed the entire formula as it had been revealed to him from the *Book of Abraham the Jew*.

**COUNT BERNARD OF TREVISO**

Of all those who sought for the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher's Scone, few passed through the chain of disappointments that beset Count Bernard of Treviso, who was born in Padua in 1406 and died in 1490.

*THE SYMBOLS OF ABRAHAM THE JEW.*

*From Flammel's Hieroglyphical Figures.*

*Robert H. Fryar, in a footnote to his reprint of the Hieroglyphical Figures by Nicholas Flammel, says: "One thing which seems to prove the reality of this story beyond dispute, is, that this very book of Abraham the Jew, with the annotations of 'Flammel,' who wrote from the instructions he received from this physician, was actually in the hands of Cardinal Richelieu, as Borel was told by the Count de Cabrines, who saw and examined it."*

His search for the Philosopher's Stone and the secret of the transmutation of metals began when he was but fourteen years of age. He spent not only a lifetime but also a fortune in his quest. Count Bernard went from one alchemist and philosopher to another, each of whom unfolded some pet theorem which he eagerly accepted and experimented with but always without the desired result. His family believed him to be mad and declared that he was disgracing his house by his experiments, which were rapidly reducing him to a state of penury. He traveled in many countries, hoping that in distant places he would find wise men capable of assisting him. At last as he was approaching his seventy-sixth year, he was rewarded with success. The great secrets of the Elixir of Life, the Philosopher's Stone, and the transmutation of metals were revealed to him. He wrote a little book describing the results of his labors, and while he lived only a few years to enjoy the fruitage of his discovery he was thoroughly satisfied that the treasure he had found was worth the lifetime spent in search of it. An example of the industry and perseverance displayed by him is to be found in one of the processes which some foolish pretender coaxed him to attempt and which resulted in his spending twenty years calcining egg shells and nearly an equal period distilling alcohol and other substances. In the history of alchemical research there never was a more patient and persevering disciple of the Great Arcanum.

Bernard declared the process of dissolution, accomplished not with fire but with mercury, to be the supreme secret of alchemy.

## The Theory and Practice of Alchemy

#### Part 1

ALCHEMY, the secret art of the land of Khem, is one of the two oldest sciences known to the world. The other is astrology. The beginnings of both extend back into the obscurity of prehistoric times. According to the earliest records extant, alchemy and astrology were considered as divinely revealed to man so that by their aid he might regain his lost estate. According to old legends preserved by the Rabbins, the angel at the gate of Eden instructed Adam in the mysteries of Qabbalah and of alchemy, promising that when the human race had thoroughly mastered the secret wisdom concealed within these inspired arts, the curse of the forbidden fruit would be removed and man might again enter into the Garden of the Lord. As man took upon himself "coats of skins" (physical bodies) at the time of his fall, so these sacred sciences were brought by him into the lower worlds incarnated in dense vehicles, through which their spiritual transcendental natures could no longer manifest themselves. Therefore they were considered as being dead or lost.

The earthly body of alchemy is chemistry, for chemists do not realize that half of *The Book of Torah* is forever concealed behind the veil of Isis (see the *Tarot*), and that so long as they study only material elements they can at best discover but half of the mystery. Astrology has crystallized into astronomy, whose votaries ridicule the dreams of ancient seers and sages, deriding their symbols as meaningless products of superstition. Nevertheless, the intelligentsia of the modern world can never pass behind the veil which divides the seen from the unseen except in the way appointed--*the Mysteries*.

What is *life*? What is *intelligence*? What is *force*? These are the problems to the solution of which the ancients consecrated their temples of learning. Who shall say that they did not answer those questions? Who would recognize the answers if given? Is it possible that under the symbols of alchemy and astrology lies concealed a wisdom so abstruse that the mind of this race is not qualified to conceive its principles?

The Chaldeans, Phœnicians, and Babylonians were familiar with the principles of alchemy, as were many early Oriental races. It was practiced in Greece and Rome; was the master science of the Egyptians. *Khem* was an ancient name for the land of Egypt; and both the words al*chem*y and *chem*istry are a perpetual reminder of the priority of Egypt's scientific knowledge. According to the fragmentary writings of those early peoples, alchemy was to them no speculative art. They implicitly believed in the multiplication of metals; and in the face of their reiterations both the scholar and the materialist should be more kindly in their consideration of alchemical theorems. Evolutionists trace the unfoldment of the arts and sciences up through the growing intelligence of the prehistoric man, while others, of a transcendental point of view, like to consider them as being direct revelations from God.

Many interesting solutions to the riddle of alchemy's origin have been advanced. One is that alchemy was revealed to man by the mysterious Egyptian demigod Hermes Trismegistus. This sublime figure, looming through the mists of time and bearing in his hand the immortal Emerald, is credited by the Egyptians as being the author of all the arts and sciences. In honor of him all scientific knowledge was gathered under the general title of The Hermetic Arts. When the body of Hermes was interred in the Valley of Ebron (or Hebron), the divine Emerald was buried with it. Many centuries afterward the Emerald was discovered--according to one version, by an Arabian initiate; according to another, by Alexander the Great, King of Macedon. By means of the power of this Emerald, upon which were the mysterious inscriptions of the Thrice Great Hermes--thirteen sentences in all--Alexander conquered all the then known world. Not having conquered himself, however, he ultimately failed. Regardless of his glory and power, the prophecies of the talking trees were fulfilled, and Alexander was cut down in the midst of his triumph. (There are persistent rumors to the effect that Alexander was an initiate of high order who failed because of his inability to withstand the temptations of power.)

E. Y. Kenealy, quoting from the *Cosmodromium of Doctor Gobelin Persona*, describes the incident of Alexander and the talking trees, into the presence of which the King of Macedon is said to have been brought while on his campaign in India: "And now Alexander marched into other quarters equally dangerous; at one time over the tops of mountains, at another through dark valleys, in which his army was attacked by serpents and wild beasts, until after three hundred days he came into a most pleasant mountain, on whose sides hung chains or ropes of gold. This mountain had two thousand and fifty steps all of purest sapphire, by which one could ascend to the summit, and near this Alexander encamped. And on a day, Alexander with his Twelve Princes, ascended by the aforenamed steps to the top of the Mountain, and found there a Palace marvellously beautiful, having Twelve Gates, and seventy windows of the purest gold, and it was called the Palace of the Sun, and there was in it a Temple all of gold, before whose gates were vine trees bearing bunches of carbuncles and pearls, and Alexander and his Princes having entered the Palace, found there a Man lying on a golden bedstead; he was very stately and beautiful in appearance, and his head and beard were white as snow. Then Alexander and his princes bent the knee to the Sage who spake thus: 'Alexander, thou shalt now see what no earthly man hath ever before seen or heard.' To whom Alexander made answer: 'O, Sage, most happy, how dost thou know me?' He replied: 'Before the wave of the Deluge covered the face of the earth I knew thy works.' He added: 'Wouldst thou behold the most hallowed Trees of the Sun and Moon, which announce all future things?' Alexander made answer: 'It is well, my lord; greatly do we long to see them.' ** *

"Then the Sage said: 'Put away your rings and ornaments, and take off your shoes, and follow me.' And Alexander did so, and choosing out three from the Princes, and leaving the rest to await his return, he followed the Sage, and came to the Trees of the Sun and Moon. The Tree of the Sun has leaves of red gold, the Tree of the Moon has leaves of silver, and they are very great, and Alexander, at the suggestion of the Sage questioned the Trees, asking if he should return in triumph to Macedon? to which the Trees gave answer, No, but that he should live yet another year and eight months, after which he should die by a poisoned cup. And when he inquired, Who was he who should give him that poison? he received no reply, and the Tree of the Moon said to him, that his Mother, after a most shameful and unhappy death, should lie long unburied, but that happiness was in store for his sisters." (See *The Book of Enoch, The Second Messenger of God*.)

In all probability, the so-called talking trees were merely strips of wood with tables of letters upon them, by means of which oracles were evoked. At one time books written upon wood were called "talking trees." The difficulty in deciding the origin of alchemy is directly due to ignoring the lost continent of Atlantis.

*THE LEAVES OF HERMES' SACRED TREE.*

*Redrawn from an original manuscript dated 1577.*

*In his Key to Alchemy, Samuel Norton divides into fourteen parts the processes or states through which the alchemical substances pass from the time they are first placed in the test tube until ready as medicine for plants, minerals, or men:*

*1. Solution, the act of passing from a gaseous or solid condition, into one of liquidity.*

*2. Filtration, the mechanical separation of a liquid from the undissolved particles suspended in it.*

*3. Evaporation, the changing or converting from a liquid or solid state into a vaporous state with the aid of heat.*

*4. Distillation, an operation by which a volatile liquid may be separated from substances which it holds in solution.*

*5. Separation, the operation of disuniting or decomposing substances.*

*6. Rectification, the process of refining or purifying any substance by repeated distillation.*

*7. Calcination, the conversion into a powder or calx by the action of heat; expulsion of the volatile substance from a matter.*

*8. Commixtion, the blending of different ingredients into new compounds or mass.*

*9. Purification (through putrefaction), disintegration by spontaneous decomposition; decay by artificial means.*

*10. Inhibition, the process of holding back or restraining.*

*11. Fermentation, the conversion of organic substances into new compounds in the presence of a ferment.*

*12. Fixation, the act or process of ceasing to be a fluid and becoming firm; state of being fixed.*

*13. Multiplication, the act or process of multiplying or increasing in number, the state of being multiplied.*

*14. Projection, the process of turning the base Metals into gold.*

The Great Arcanum was the most prized of the secrets of the Atlantean priestcraft. When the land of Atlas sank, hierophants of the Fire Mystery brought the formula to Egypt, where it remained for centuries in the possession of the sages and philosophers. It gradually moved into Europe, where its secrets are still preserved intact.

Those disagreeing with the legend of Hermes and his Emerald Tablet see in the two hundred angels who descended upon the mountains, as described by the Prophet: Enoch, the first instructors in the alchemical art. Regardless of its originator, it was left to the Egyptian priests to preserve alchemy for the modern world. Egypt, because of the color of its earth, was called "the black empire" and is referred to in the Old Testament as "the land of darkness." By reason of its possible origin there, alchemy has long been known as "the black art, " not in the sense of evil but in the sense of that darkness which has always enshrouded its secret processes.

During the Middle Ages, alchemy was not only a philosophy and a science but also a religion. Those who rebelled against the religious limitations of their day concealed their philosophic teachings under the allegory of gold-making. In this way they preserved their personal liberty and were ridiculed rather than persecuted. Alchemy is a threefold art, its mystery well symbolized by a triangle. Its symbol is 3 times 3--three elements or processes in three worlds or spheres. The 3 times 3 is part of the mystery of the 33rd degree of Freemasonry, for 33 is 3 times 3, which is 9, the number of esoteric man and the number of emanations from the root of the Divine Tree. It is the number of worlds nourished by the four rivers that pour out of the Divine Mouth as the *verbum fiat*. Beneath the so-called symbolism of alchemy is concealed a magnificent concept, for this ridiculed and despised craft still preserves intact the triple key to the gates of eternal life. Realizing, therefore, that alchemy is a mystery in three worlds--the divine, the human, and the elemental--it can easily be appreciated why the sages and philosophers created and evolved an intricate allegory to conceal their wisdom.

Alchemy is the science of multiplication and is based upon the natural phenomenon of growth. "Nothing from nothing comes," is an extremely ancient adage. Alchemy is not the process of making something from nothing; it is the process of increasing and improving that which already exists. If a philosopher were to state that a living man could be made from a stone, the unenlightened would probably exclaim, "Impossible!" Thus would they reveal their ignorance, for to the wise it is known that in every stone is the seed of man. A philosopher might declare that a universe could be made out of a man, but the foolish would regard this as an impossibility, not realizing that a man is a seed from which a universe may be brought forth.

God is the "within" and the "without" of all things. The Supreme One manifests Himself through growth, which is an urge from within outward, a struggle for expression and manifestation. There is no greater miracle in the growing and multiplication of gold by the alchemist than in a tiny mustard seed producing a bush many thousands of times the size of the seed. If a mustard seed produces a hundred thousand times its own size and weight when planted in an entirely different substance (the earth), why should not the seed of gold be multiplied a hundred thousand times by art when that seed is planted in its earth (the base metals) and nourished artificially by the secret process of alchemy?

Alchemy teaches that God is in everything; that He is One Universal Spirit, manifesting through an infinity of forms. God, therefore, is the spiritual seed planted in the dark earth (the material universe). By arc it is possible so to grow and expand this seed that the entire universe of substance is *tinctured* thereby and becomes like unto the seed--pure gold. In the spiritual nature of man this is termed *regeneration*; in the material body of the elements it is called *transmutation*. As it is in the spiritual and material universes, so it is in the intellectual world. Wisdom cannot be imparted to an idiot because the seed of wisdom is not within him, but wisdom may be imparted to an ignorant person, however ignorant he may be, because the seed of wisdom exists in him and can be developed by art and culture. Hence a philosopher is only an ignorant man within whose nature a *projection* has taken place.

Through *art* (the process of learning) the whole mass of base metals (the mental body of ignorance) was transmuted into pure gold (wisdom), for it was *tinctured* with understanding. If, then, through faith and proximity to God the consciousness of man may be transmuted from base animal desires (represented by the masses of the planetary metals) into a pure, golden, and godly consciousness, illumined and redeemed, and the manifesting God within that one increased from a tiny spark to a great and glorious Being; if also the base metals of mental ignorance can, through proper endeavor and training, be transmuted into transcendent genius and wisdom, why is the process in two worlds or spheres of application not equally true in the third? If both the spiritual and mental elements of the universe can be multiplied in their expression, then by the law of analogy the material elements of the universe can also be multiplied, if the necessary process can be ascertained.

That which is true in the *superior* is true in the *inferior*. If alchemy be a great spiritual fact, then it is also a great material fact. If it can take place in the universe, it can take place in man; if it can take place in man, it can take place in the plants and minerals. If one thing in the universe grows, then everything in the universe grows. If one thing can be multiplied, then all things can be multiplied, "for the superior agrees with the inferior and the inferior agrees with the superior." But as the way for the redemption of the soul is concealed by the Mysteries, so the secrets for the redemption of the metals are also concealed, that they may not fall into the hands of the profane and thereby become perverted.

If any would grow metals, he must first learn the secrets of the metals: he must realize that all metals--like all stones, plants, animals, and universes--grow from seeds, and that these seeds are already in the body of Substance (the womb of the World Virgin); for the seed of man is in the universe before he is born (or grows), and as the seed of the plant exists for all time though the plant live but a part of that time, so the seeds of spiritual gold and material gold are ever present in all things. The metals grow throughout the ages, because life is imparted to them from the sun. They grow imperceptibly, in form like tiny shrubs, for everything grows in some way. Only the methods of growth differ, according to kind and magnitude.

One of the great axioms is, "Within everything is the seed of everything," although by the simple processes of Nature it may remain latent for many centuries, or its growth may be exceedingly slow. Therefore, every grain of sand contains not only the seed of the precious metals as well as the seed of the priceless gems, but also the seeds of sun, moon, and stars. As within the nature of man is reflected the entire universe in miniature, so in each grain of sand, each drop of water, each tiny particle of cosmic dust, are concealed all the parts and elements of cosmos in the form of tiny seed germs so minute that even the most powerful microscope cannot detect them. Trillions of times smaller than the ion or electron, these seeds--unrecognizable and incomprehensible--await the time assigned them for growth and expression. (Consider the *monads* of Leibnitz.)

There are two methods whereby growth may be accomplished. The first is by Nature, for Nature is an alchemist forever achieving the apparently impossible. The second is by *art*, and through *art* is produced in a comparatively short time that which requires Nature almost endless periods to duplicate. The true philosopher, desiring to accomplish the *Magnum Opus*, patterns his conduct according to the laws of Nature, recognizing that the *art* of alchemy is merely a method copied from Nature but with the aid of certain secret formulæ greatly shortened by being correspondingly intensified. Nature, in order to achieve her miracles, must work through either extensiveness; or intensiveness. The extensive processes of Nature are such as are used in the transmutation of the pitch of black carbon into diamonds, requiring millions of years of natural hardening. The intensive process is *art*, which is ever the faithful servant of Nature (as Dr. A. Dee says), supplementing her every step and cooperating with her in all her ways. "So, in this philosophical work, Nature and *Art* ought so lovingly to embrace each other, as that *Art* may not require what Nature denies, nor Nature deny what may be perfected by *Art*. For Nature assenting, she demeans herself obediently to every artist, whilst by their industry she is helped, not hindered. " (Dr. A. Dee in his *Chemical Collections*.)

By means of this *art* the seed which is within the soul of a stone may be made to germinate so intensively that in a few moments a diamond is grown from the seed of itself. If the seed of the diamond were not in the marble, granite, and sand, a diamond could not be grown therefrom. But as the seed is within all these things, a diamond may be grown out of any other substance in the universe. In some substances, however, it is easier to perform this miracle because in them these germs have already been long fertilized and are thus more nearly prepared for the vivifying process of the *art*. Likewise, to teach some men wisdom is easier than to teach others, for some already have a foundation upon which to work, while in others the thinking faculties are entirely dormant. Alchemy, therefore, should be regarded as the *art* of increasing and bringing into perfect flower with the greatest possible expedition. Nature may accomplish her desired end or, because of the destructiveness exercised by one element over another, she may not; but with the aid of the true *art*, Nature always accomplishes her end, for this *art* is not subject either to the wastings of time or to the vandalism of elemental reactions.

In his *History of Chemistry*, James Campbell Brown, late professor of chemistry in the University of Liverpool, sums up the ends which alchemists sought to achieve, in the following paragraphs:

"This, therefore, was the general aim of the alchemists--to carry out in the laboratory, as far as possible, the processes which Nature carried out in the interior of the earth. Seven leading problems occupied their attention:--

"1. The preparation of a compound named elixir, magisterium medicine, or philosopher's stone, which possessed the property of transmuting the baser metals into gold and silver, and of performing many other marvelous operations. ** *

"2. The creation of *homunculi*, or living. beings, of which many wonderful but incredible tales are told.

"3. The preparation of the alcahest or universal solvent, which dissolved every substance which was immersed in it. ** *

"4. Palingenesis, or the restoration of a plant from its ashes. Had they succeeded in this, they would have hoped to be able to raise the dead. Professor Brown takes a great deal for granted.

"5. The preparation of *spiritus mundi*, a mystic substance possessing many powers, the principal of which was its capacity of dissolving gold.

"6. The extraction of the quintessence or active principle of all substances.

"7. The preparation of aurum potabile, liquid gold, a sovereign remedy, because gold being itself perfect could produce perfection in the human frame."

**ALCHEMICAL SYMBOLISM**

In alchemy there are three symbolic substances: mercury, sulphur, and salt. To these was added a fourth mysterious life principle called *Azoth*. Concerning the first three, Herr von Welling has written: "There are three basic chemical substances which are called by the philosophers salt, sulphur, and mercury, but which are not to be confounded in any way with the crude salt, sulphur, and mercury taken from the earth or secured from the apothecary. Salt, sulphur, and mercury each has a triune nature, for each of these substances contains, in reality, also the other two substances, according to the secret arcanum of the wise. The body of salt is, therefore, threefold, namely salt, sulphur, and mercury; but in the body of salt one of the three (salt) predominates. Mercury is likewise composed of salt, sulphur, and mercury with the latter element predominating. Sulphur, similarly, is actually salt, sulphur, and mercury, with sulphur predominating. These nine divisions--3 times 3, plus Azoth (the mysterious universal life force), equals 10, the sacred decad of Pythagoras. Concerning the nature of *Azoth* there is much controversy. Some view it as the invisible, eternal fire; others as electricity; still others as magnetism. Transcendentalism refer to it as the astral light.

"The universe is surrounded by the sphere of the stars. Beyond that sphere is the sphere of *Schamayim*, which is the Divine fiery water, the first outflow of the Word of God, the flaming river pouring from the presence of the Eternal. *Schamayim*, the fiery androgynous water, divides. The fire becomes the solar fire and the water becomes the lunar water. *Schamayim* is the universal mercury--sometimes called *Azoth*--the measureless spirit of life. The spiritual fiery original water--*Schamayim*--comes through Eden (in Hebrew, *vapor*) and pours itself into four main rivers the elements. This is the river of living water--*Azoth* the fiery mercurial essence that flows out from the throne of God and the Lamb. In this Eden vaporous essence or mist is the spiritual earth incomprehensible and intangible, or the dust *Aphar*, out of which God formed *Adam min Haadamah*, the spiritual body of man, which body must sometime become revealed."

In another part of his writings von Welling also says that there was no material universe until Lucifer, attempting to perform the cosmic alchemy, misused the *Schamayim*, or the Divine Fire. In order to reestablish the *Schamayim* which Lucifer had perverted, this universe was formed as a means of liberating it from the dark cloud within which it was locked by the failure of Lucifer's attempt to control it. These statements clearly emphasize the fact that the early philosophers recognized in the Bible a book of chemical and alchemical formulæ. It is essential that this point be kept in mind at all times. Woe to that seeker who accepts as literal the rambling allegories of the alchemists. Such a one can never enter the inner sanctuary of truth. Elias Ashmole in his *Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum* thus describes the methods employed by the alchemists to conceal their true doctrines: "Their chiefest study was to wrap up their *Secrets* in *Fables*, and spin out their *Fancies* in *Vailes*and *shadows*, whose *Radii* seems to extend every way, yet so, that they meet in a *Common Center*, and point onely at One thing."

The fact that the Scriptures reveal a hidden knowledge, if considered allegorically, is clearly demonstrated by a parable describing King Solomon, his wives, concubines, and virgins, which parable occurs in *Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer*, published in Ultona in 1785. Dr. Hartmann, who translated part of this work into English, declared that the wives of Solomon represented the arts, the concubines the sciences, and the virgins the still unrevealed secrets of Nature. By order of the King the virgins were forced to remove their veils, thus signifying that by means of wisdom (Solomon) the mystic arts were forced to disclose their hidden parts to the philosopher, while to the uninitiated world only the outside garments were visible. (Such is the mystery of the veil of Isis.)

As the alchemist must do his work in four worlds simultaneously if he would achieve the *Magnum Opus*, a table showing the analogies of the three principles in the four worlds may clarify the relationship which the various parts bear to each other. The early masters of the art of alchemical symbolism did not standardize either their symbols or their terms. Thus it required great familiarity with the subject combined with considerable intuitive power to unravel some of their enigmatical statements. The third and fourth divisions of the following table are given alternative renderings, owing to the fact that some authors did not draw a clear line between *spirit* and *soul*. According to the Scriptures, *spirit* is indestructible, but *soul* is destructible. Obviously, then, they are not synonymous. It is clearly stated that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die," but "the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." The table of analogies, as nearly as they can be established, is as follows:

*The Triune Power in Four Worlds*

*WORLD OF*

*Father*

*Son*

*Mother*

1. God

Father

Son

Holy Ghost

2. Man

Spirit

Soul

Body

3. Elements

Air

Fire

Water

4. Chemicals

Mercury

Sulphur

Salt

The alternative renderings of 3 and 4 are:

*WORLD OF*

*Father*

*Son*

*Mother*

3. Elements

Fire

Air

Water

4. Chemicals

Sulphur

Mercury

Salt

Paracelsus made a different arrangement, somewhat Aristotelian, in which the three phases of the Triune God are omitted, combining only the elements of the second, third, and fourth worlds:

*WORLD OF*

*Father*

*Son*

*Mother*

2. Man

Spirit

Soul

Body

3. Elements

Air

Water

Earth

4. Chemicals

Sulphur

Mercury

Salt

The main point, however, is proved: the alchemical philosophers used the symbols of salt, sulphur, and mercury to represent not only chemicals but the spiritual and invisible principles of God, man, and the universe. The three substances (salt, sulphur, and mercury) existing in four worlds, as shown in the table, sum up to the sacred number 12. As these 12 are the foundations of the *Great Work*, they are called in Revelation the twelve foundation stones of the sacred city. In line with the same idea Pythagoras asserted that the dodecahedron, or twelve-faced symmetrical geometric solid, was the foundation of the universe. May there not be a relation also between this mysterious 3 times 4 and the four parties of three which in the legend of the third degree of Freemasonry go forth to the four angles of the cherubim, the composite creature of four parts?

*A TABLE OF MEDIÆVAL ALCHEMICAL SYMBOLS.*

*From Valentine's The Last Will and Testament.*

*Hermetists used the curious symbols shown in this rare table to represent various chemical elements and alchemical processes. The full meaning of these strange characters has never been revealed, the characters concealing effectually within their own forms the occult secrets regarding the spiritual nature of the metals and elements which they represent.*

*In their allegories the alchemists also wed human, animal, and plant emblems; sometimes weird composite figures, such as the dragon, the winged serpent, the unicorn, and the phœnix. In almost every case they symbolized gold as a king with a crown on his head and often with a scepter in his hand. Sometimes they depicted him with the ace of the solar disc surrounded by rays. Silver was personified as a woman who they called the queen. She wore no crown but often stood upon a lunar crescent: much after the fashion of the Madonna. Mercury was typified as a youth with wings, often with two heads, carrying serpents or sometimes the caduceus. Lead they symbolized by an old man with a scythe in his hand; iron by a soldier dressed in armor. To aqua fortis was given the curious name "the ostrich's stomach," and to the attainment of the "Great Work" they assigned the symbol of the phœnix sitting upon a nest of fire. The union of elements they symbolized by a marriage, the Process of putrefaction by a skull, antimony by a dragon.*

The following table shows the angles to which the parties of three (salt, sulphur, and mercury) go in search of *CHiram*:

*The Four "Corners" of Creation*

*East*

*South*

*West*

*North*

The Fixed Signs of the Zodiac

Aquarius

Leo

Scorpio

Taurus

The Parts of the Cherubim

Man

Lion

Eagle

Bull

The Four Seasons

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter

The Ages of Man

Childhood

Youth

Maturity

Age

The Stages of Existence

Birth

Growth

Maturity

Decay

The Parts of Man's Constitution

Spirit

Soul

Mind

Body

The Four Elements

Air

Fire

Water

Earth

One more table should prove of interest to Masonic scholars: one showing the relationship existing between the three substances, salt, sulphur, and mercury, and certain symbols with which Masons are familiar. This table also has an alternative rendering, based on the interblending of philosophic principles, which are difficult--if not impossible--to separate into chronological order.

1. The Three Lights

Stellar Fire

Solar Fire

Lunar Fire

2. The Three Grand Masters

Hiram

Solomon

Hiram of Tyre

3. The Geometric Solids

Sphere

Pyramid

Cube

4. Alchemical Substances

Mercury

Sulphur

Salt

The alternative rendering of No. 2 is:

2. The Three Grand Masters

Solomon

Hiram

Hiram of Tyre

In alchemy is found again the perpetuation of the Universal Mystery; for as surely as Jesus died upon the cross, Hiram (*CHiram*) at the west gate of the Temple, Orpheus on the banks of the river Hebros, Christna on the banks of the Ganges, and Osiris in the coffin prepared by Typhon, so in alchemy, unless the elements first die, the *Great Work* cannot be achieved. The stages of the alchemical processes can be traced in the lives and activities of nearly all the world Saviors and teachers, and also among the mythologies of several nations. It is said in the Bible that "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." In alchemy it is declared that without putrefaction the *Great Work* cannot be accomplished. What is it that dies on the cross, is buried in the tomb of the Mysteries, and that dies also in the retort and becomes black with putrefaction? Also, what is it that does this same thing in the nature of man, that he may rise again, phœnix-like, from his own ashes (*caput mortuum*)?

The solution in the alchemical retort, if digested a certain length of time, will turn into a red elixir, which is called the *universal medicine*. It resembles a fiery water and is luminous in the dark. During the process of digestion it passes through many colors which has given rise to its being called the *peacock* because of its iridescence during one of the periods of its digestion. If the augmentations of its power be carried too far, the test tube containing the substance will explode and vanish as dust. This commonly occurs and is the greatest danger involved in the preparation of the medicine for men and metals. If developed too far, it will also seep through the glass, for there is no physical container sufficiently strong to hold it, The reason for this is that it is no longer a substance but a divine essence partaking of the interpenetrative power of Divinity. When it is properly developed, this universal solvent in liquid form will dissolve into itself all other metals. In this high state the universal salt is a liquid fire. This salt dissolved with the proper amount of any metal and run through the different stages of digestion and rotations; of augmentations will eventually become a medicine for the transmuting of inferior metals.

*The True Way of Nature* by Hermes Trismegistus, given out by a genuine Freemason, I.C.H., describes the danger of over-augmenting the universal salt: "But this multiplication cannot be carried on *ad infinitum* but it attains completeness in the ninth rotation. For when this tincture has been rotated nine times it cannot be exalted any further because it will not permit any further separation. For as soon as it perceives only the smallest degree of material fire it goes instantly into a flux and passes through the glass like hot oil through paper."

In classifying the processes through which the chemical elements must pass before the Hermetic medicine is produced, lack of uniformity in terminology is evidenced, for in*The True Way of Nature* seven stages are given, while in the *Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermétique* twelve are noted. These twelve are linked with the signs of the zodiac in a manner worthy of consideration.

1. Aries, Calcination

5. Leo, Digestion

9. Sagittarius, Incineration

2. Taurus, Congelation

6. Virgo, Distillation

10. Capricorn, Fermentation

3. Gemini, Fixation

7. Libra, Sublimation

11. Aquarius, Multiplication

4. Cancer, Dissolution

8. Scorpio, Separation

12. Pisces, Projection

This arrangement opens an interesting field of speculation which may be of great service if intelligently carried out. These twelve "steps" leading up to the accomplishment of the *Magnum Opus* are a reminder of the twelve degrees of the ancient Rosicrucian Mysteries. To a certain degree, Rosicrucianism was chemistry theologized and alchemy philosophized. According to the Mysteries, man was redeemed as the result of his passage in rotation through the twelve mansions of the heavens. The twelve processes by means of which the "secret essence" may be discovered remind the student forcibly of the twelve Fellow Craftsmen who are sent forth in search of the murdered Builder of the Universe, the Universal Mercury.

According to Solomon Trismosin, the stages through which matter passes in its journey towards perfection are divided into twenty-two parts, each of which is represented by an appropriate drawing. There is an important connection between the twenty-two emblems of Trismosin, the twenty-two major cards of the Tarot, and the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. These mysterious Tarot cards are themselves an alchemical formula, if properly interpreted. As if to substantiate the claims of medieval philosophers that King Solomon was a master of alchemy, Dr. Franz Hartmann has noted that the much-abused and misunderstood *Song of Solomon* is in reality an alchemical formula. The student of natural philosophy will immediately recognize the "dark maid of Jerusalem," not as a person but as a *material* sacred to the sages. Dr. Hartmann writes: "The '*Song of Solomon*,' in the Old Testament, is a description of the processes of Alchemy. In this Song the *Subjectum* is described in *Cant*. *i*., 5; the *Lilium artis* in *C*. *ii*., 1; the *Preparation and Purification* in *C*. *ii*., 4; the *Fire* in *C*. *ii*., 7, and *C*. *iv*., 16, the *Putrefaction* in *C*. *iii*., 1; *Sublimation and Distillation* in *C*. *iii*., 6, *Coagulation and Change of Colors*, *C*. *v*., 9 to 14; *Fixation*, *C*. *ii*., 12, and *C*. *viii*., 4; *Multiplication*, *C*. *vi*., 7; *Augmentation and Projection*, *C*. *viii*., 8, etc., etc."

A tiny particle of the Philosopher's Scone, if cast upon the surface of water, will, according to an appendix to the work on the universal salt by Herr von Welling, immediately begin a process of recapitulating in miniature the history of the universe, for instantly the tincture--like the Spirits of Elohim--moves upon the face of the waters. A miniature universe is formed which the philosophers have affirmed actually rises out of the water and floats in the air, where it passes through all the stages of cosmic unfoldment and finally disintegrates into dust again. Not only is it possible to prepare a medicine for metals; it is also possible to prepare a tincture for minerals by means of which pieces of granite and marble can be turned into precious stones; also stones of inferior quality may be improved.

As one of the great alchemists fittingly observed, man's quest for gold is often his undoing, for he mistakes the alchemical processes, believing them to be purely material. He does not realize that the Philosopher's Gold, the Philosopher's Stone, and the Philosopher's Medicine exist in each of the four worlds and that the consummation of the experiment cannot be realized until it is successfully carried on in four worlds simultaneously according to one formula. Furthermore, one of the constituents of the alchemical formula exists only within the nature of man himself, without which his chemicals will not combine, and though he spend his life and fortune in chemical experimentation, he will not produce the desired end. The paramount reason why the material scientist is incapable of duplicating the achievements of the medieval alchemists--although he follow every step carefully and accurately--is that the subtle element which comes out of the nature of the illuminated and regenerated alchemical philosopher is missing in his experimentation.

On this subject Dr. Franz Hartmann in a footnote to his translation of extracts from *Paracelsus* clearly expresses the conclusions of a modern investigator of alchemical lore: "I wish to warn the reader, who might be inclined to try any of the alchemical prescriptions ** *, not to do so unless he is an alchemist, because, although I know from personal experience that these prescriptions are not only allegorically but literally true, and will prove successful in the hands of an alchemist, they would only cause a waste of time and money in the hands of one who has not the necessary qualifications. A person who wants to be an alchemist must have in himself the 'magnesia', which means, the magnetic power to attract and 'coagulate' invisible astral elements."

In considering the formulæ on the following pages, it must be recognized that the experiments cannot be successfully conducted unless the one who performs them be himself a Magus. If two persons, one an initiate and the other unilluminated in the supreme art, were to set to work, side by side, using the same vessels, the same substances, and exactly the same *modus operandi*, the initiate would produce his "gold" and the uninitiated would not. Unless the greater alchemy has first taken place within the soul of man, he cannot perform the lesser alchemy in the retort. This is an invariable rule, although it is cunningly hidden in the allegories and emblems of Hermetic philosophy. Unless a man be "born again" he cannot accomplish the *Great Work*, and if the student of alchemical formulæ will remember this, it will save him much sorrow and disappointment. To speak of that part of the mystery which is concerned with the secret life principle within the actual nature of man, is forbidden, for it is decreed by the Masters of the art that each shall discover that for himself and on this subject it is unlawful to speak at greater length.

### Part 2

All true Philosophers of the natural or Hermetic sciences begin their labors with a prayer to the Supreme Alchemist of the Universe, beseeching His assistance in the consummation of the Magnum Opus. The prayer that follows, written in a provincial German centuries ago by an adept now unknown, is representative: "O holy and hallowed Trinity, Thou undivided and triple Unity! Cause me to sink into the abyss of Thy limitless eternal Fire, for only in that Fire can the mortal nature of man be changed into humble dust, while the new body of the salt union lies in the light. Oh, melt me and transmute me in this Thy holy Fire, so that on the day at Thy command the fiery waters of the Holy Spirit draw me out from the dark dust, giving me new birth and making me alive with His breath. May I also be exalted through the humble humility of Thy Son, rising through His assistance out of the dust and ashes and changing into a pure spiritual body of rainbow colors like unto the transparent, crystal-like, paradisiacal gold, that my own nature may be redeemed and purified like the elements before me in these glasses and bottles. Diffuse me in the waters of life as though I were in the wine cellar of the eternal Solomon. Here the fire of Thy love will receive new fuel and will blaze forth so that no streams can extinguish it. Through the aid of this divine fire, may I in the end be found worthy to be called into the illumination of the righteous. May I then be sealed up with the light of the new world that I may also attain unto the immortality and glory where there shall be no more alternation of light and darkness. Amen."

**THE ORIGIN OF ALCHEMICAL FORMULÆ**

Apparently but few of the medieval alchemists discovered the Great Arcanum without aid, some authors declaring that none of them attained the desired end without the assistance of a Master or Teacher. In every instance the identity of these Masters has been carefully concealed, and even during the Middle Ages speculation ran rife concerning them. It was customary to call such illuminated sages adepts, a title which indicated that they possessed the true secrets of transmutation and multiplication. These adepts were polyonymous individuals who unexpectedly appeared and disappeared again, leaving no trace of their whereabouts. There are indications that a certain degree of organization existed among them. The most powerful of the alchemical organizations were the Rosicrucians, the Illuminati, and certain Arabian and Syrian sects.

I n the documents which follow, references are made to the "Brethren "or "Brothers. " These are to signify that those who had actually accomplished the *Magnum Opus* were banded together and known to each other by cipher codes and secret signs or symbols. Apparently a number of these illuminated adepts dwelt in Arabia, for several of the great European alchemists were initiated in Asia Minor. When a disciple of the alchemical arts had learned the supreme secret, he guarded it jealously, revealing to no man his priceless treasure. He was not permitted to disclose it even to the members of his immediate family.

As the years passed, one who had discovered the secret--or, more properly, one to whom it had been revealed--sought for some younger man worthy to be entrusted with the formulæ. To this one, and to this one only, as a rule, the philosopher was permitted to disclose the arcanum. The younger man then became the "philosophical son" of the old sage, and to him the latter bequeathed his secrets. Occasionally, however, an adept, on finding a sincere and earnest seeker, would instruct him in the fundamental principles of the art, and if the disciple persisted, he was quietly initiated into the august fraternity of the Brethren. In such manner the alchemical processes were preserved, but the number of those who knew them did not increase rapidly.

During the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries a considerable number of alchemical adepts made their way from place to place throughout Europe, appearing and disappearing apparently at will. According to popular tradition, these adepts were immortal, and kept themselves alive by means of the mysterious medicine that was one of the goals of alchemical aspiration. It is asserted that some lived hundreds of years, taking no food except this elixir, a few drops of which would preserve their youth for a long period of time. That such mysterious men did exist there can be little doubt, as their presence is attested by scores of reliable witnesses.

It is further asserted that they are still to be found by those who have qualified themselves to contact them. The philosophers taught that like attracts like, and that when the disciple has developed a virtue and integrity acceptable to the adepts they will appear to him and reveal those parts of the secret processes which cannot be discovered without such help. "Wisdom is as a flower from which the bee its honey makes and the spider poison, each according to its own nature." (By an unknown adept.)

The reader must bear in mind at all times that the formulæ and emblems of alchemy are to be taken primarily as allegorical symbols; for until their esoteric significance has been comprehended, their literal interpretation is valueless. Nearly every alchemical formula has one element purposely omitted, it being decided by the medieval philosophers that those who could not with their own intelligence discover that missing substance or process were not qualified to be entrusted with secrets which could give them control over great masses of humanity and likewise subject to their will the elemental forces of Nature.

**THE EMERALD TABLE OF HERMES**

The oldest and most revered of all the alchemical formulæ is the sacred Emerald Tablet of Hermes. Authorities do not agree as to the genuineness of this Table, some declaring it to be a post-Christian fraud, but there is much evidence that, regardless of its author, the Table is of great antiquity. While the symbol of the Emerald Table is of special Masonic import--relating as it does to the personality of *CHiram* (Hiram)--it is first and fundamentally an alchemical formula, relating both to the alchemy of the base metals and the divine alchemy of human regeneration.

In Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom's collection of alchemical manuscripts is a section devoted to the translations and interpretations of this remarkable Tablet, which was known to the ancients as the *Tabula Smaragdina*. Dr. Bacstrom was initiated into the Brotherhood of the Rose Cross on the island of Mauritius by one of those unknown adepts who at that time called himself *Comte de Chazal*. Dr. Bacstrom's translations and notes on the Emerald Tablet are, in part, as follows, the actual text being reproduced in capital letters:

"*The Emerald Table, the Most Ancient Monument of the Chaldeans concerning the Lapis Philosophorum* (the stone of the philosophers).

"The Emerald Table furnishes the origin of the allegorical history of King *Hiram* (rather *Chiram*). The Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Hebrews in what concerns *Chiram* have taken their knowledge from one and the same fountain; *Homerus*, who relates this history in a different manner, followed that original, and Virgil followed *Homerus*, as *Hesiodus* took the subject for his Theogony likewise from thence, which *Ovidius* took afterwards for a pattern for his Metamorphosis. The knowledge of Nature's secret operations constitutes the principal sense of all these ancient writings, but ignorance framed out of it that external or veiled mythology and the lower class of people turned it into idolatry.

*THE KEY TO ALCHEMY ACCORDING TO THE EGYPTIANS.*

*From Kircher's Œdipus Ægyptiacus.*

*The priests of Egypt not only used the scarab as a symbol of regeneration but also discovered in its habits many analogies to the secret process whereby base metals could be transmuted into gold. They saw in the egg of the scarab the seed of the metals, and the above figure shows the path of this seed through the various planetary bodies until, finally reaching the center, it is perfected and then returns again to its source. The words in the mall spiral at the top read: "The spiral Progress of the mundane spirit." After the scarab has wound its way around the spiral to the center of the lower part of the figure, it returns to the upper world along the path bearing the words: "Return of the spirit to the center of unity."*

"*The Genuine Translation from the Original Very Ancient Chaldee is as Follows*:

"THE SECRET WORKS OF *CHIRAM ONE* IN ESSENCE, BUT THREE IN ASPECT.

"(The two first large words mean *the Secret Work*.)

"(The second line in large letters, reads: Chiram Telat Machasot, *i.e.* *Chiram the Universal Agent, One in Essence but three in aspect*.)

'IT IS TRUE, NO LIE, CERTAIN, AND TO BE DEPENDED UPON, THE SUPERIOR AGREES WITH THE INFERIOR, AND THE INFERIOR WITH THE SUPERIOR, TO EFFECT THAT ONE TRULY WONDERFUL WORK. AS ALL THINGS OWE THEIR EXISTENCE TO THE WILL OF THE *ONLY ONE*, SO ALL THINGS OWE THEIR ORIGIN TO THE *ONE ONLY THING*, THE MOST HIDDEN, BY THE ARRANGEMENT OF *THE ONLY GOD*. THE FATHER OF THAT *ONE ONLY THING* IS *THE SUN*, ITS MOTHER IS *THE MOON*, THE WIND CARRIES IT IN ITS BELLY; BUT ITS NOURSE IS *A SPIRITUOUS EARTH*. THAT*ONE ONLY THING* (after God) IS THE FATHER OF ALL THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE. ITS POWER IS PERFECT, AFTER IT HAS BEEN UNITED TO A SPIRITUOUS EARTH.

"(Process--First Distillation.) SEPARATE THAT SPIRITUOUS EARTH FROM THE DENSE OR CRUDE BY MEANS OF A GENTLE HEAT, WITH MUCH ATTENTION.

"(Last Digestion.) IN GREAT MEASURE IT ASCENDS *FROM THE EARTH* UP TO HEAVEN, AND DESCENDS AGAIN, NEWBORN, ON THE EARTH, AND THE SUPERIOR AND THE INFERIOR ARE INCREASED IN POWER. The Azoth ascends from the Earth, from the bottom of the Glass, and redescends in Veins and drops into the Earth and by this continual circulation the Azoth is more and more subtilized, *Volatilizes Sol* and carries the volatilized Solar atoms along with it and thereby becomes a *Solar Azoth*, *i.e.* *our third, and genuine Sophic Mercury*, and this circulation of the Solar Azoth must continue until it ceases of itself, and the Earth has sucked it all in, when it muse become the black pitchy matter, the *Toad* the substances in the alchemical retort and also the lower elements in the body of man, which denotes complete putrefaction or *Death of the Compound*.

"BY THIS THOU WILT PARTAKE OF THE HONOURS OF THE WHOLE WORLD. Without doubt as the black, pitchy matter will and must of necessity become *White* and *Red*, and the Red having been carried to perfection, *medicinally* and for Metals, is then fully capable to preserve *mentem sanam in corpore sano* until the natural period of Life and promise us ample means, in infinitum multipliable, to be benevolent and charitable without any diminution of our inexhaustible resources, therefore well may it be called *the Glory* Honours *of the Whole World*, as truly the study and contemplation of the L. P. *Lapis Philosophorum*, harmonising with Divine Truths, elevates the mind to God our Creator and merciful Father, and if He should permit us to possess it practically must eradicate the very principle of Avarice, Envy, and Evil Inclinations, and cause our hearts to melt in gratitude toward Him that has been so kind to us! Therefore the Philosophers say with great Truth, that the L. P. either finds a good man or makes one.

"AND DARKNESS WILL FLY FROM THEE. By invigorating the Organs the Soul makes use of for communicating with exterior objects, the Soul must acquire greater powers not only for conception but also for retention, and therefore if we wish to obtain still more knowledge, the organs and secret springs of physical life being wonderfully strengthened and invigorated, the Soul must acquire new powers for conceiving and retaining, especially if we pray to God for knowledge, and confirm our prayers by faith, all Obscurity must vanish of course. That this has not been the case with all possessors, was their own fault, as they contented themselves merely with the Transmutation of Metals.

"(Use.) THIS IS THE STRENGTH OF ALL POWERS. This is a very strong figure, to indicate that the L. P. positively does possess all the Powers concealed in Nature, not for destruction but for exaltation and regeneration of matter, in the three Departments of Nature.

"WITH THIS THOU WILT BE ABLE TO OVERCOME ALL THINGS, AND TO TRANSMUTE ALL *WHAT IS FINE* AND WHAT IS *COARSE*. It will conquer every subtil Thing, of course, as it refixes the most subtil Oxygen into its own *fiery Nature* and that with more power, penetration and virtue, in a tenfold ratio, at every multiplication, and each time in a much shorter period, until its power becomes incalculable, which multiplied power also penetrates overcomes every *Solid Thing*, such as *unconquerable Gold and Silver*, the otherwise *unalterable Mercury*, Crystals and Glass Fluxes, to which it is able to give natural hardness and fixity, as *Philaletha* does attest, and is proved by an artificial Diamond, in my father's time, in possession of *Prince Lichtenstein in Vienna*, valued at Five Hundred Thousand Ducats, fixed by the Lapis Philosopher's Stone.

"IN THIS MANNER THE WORLD WAS CREATED; THE ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW THIS ROAD ARE HIDDEN. FOR THIS REASON I AM CALLED *CHIRAM TELAT MECHASOT*, *ONE IN ESSENCE*, BUT *THREE IN ASPECT*. IN THIS TRINITY IS HIDDEN THE WISDOM OF THE WHOLE WORLD (i.e., in *Chiram* and *its Use*). It is thought that *Hermes* was *Moses* or *Zoroaster*, otherwise Hermes signifies a *Serpent*, and the Serpent used to be *an Emblem of Knowledge or Wisdom*. The *Serpent* is met with everywhere amongst the Hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians, so is *the Globe with Wings*, *the Sun* and *Moon*, *Dragons* and *Griffins*, whereby the Egyptians denoted their sublime knowledge of the Lapis Philosophorum, according to Suidas, the hints in the Scriptures, and even *De Non* where he speaks of the sanctuaries of the ancient Egyptian Temples.

"IT IS ENDED NOW, WHAT I HAVE SAID CONCERNING THE EFFECTS OF THE SUN. FINISH OF THE TABULA SMARAGDINA. What I have said or taught of *the Solar Work*, is now finished. The *perfect Seed*, fit for multiplication.

"This I know is acknowledged to be the genuine *Tabula Smaragdina Hermetis*."

A LETTER FROM THE  
BROTHERS OF R. C. (ROSE CROSS)

Although Eugenius Philalethes disclaimed membership in the Rosicrucian Fraternity, it is believed that for a number of years he was the head of that Order. In a little work called *Lumen de Lumine, or A New Magical Light Discovered and Communicated to the World*, published in London in 1651, Eugenius Philalethes gives a remarkable letter, presumably from the Rosicrucian Order. Accompanying the letter is an emblematic figure setting forth in symbolic form the processes and formulæ of the Philosopher's Stone. This epistle is an excellent example of the Rosicrucian system of combining abstract theological speculations with concrete chemical formulæ. With the aid of the material contained in various parts of this present book the student would do well to set himself the task of solving the riddle contained in this hieroglyph.

"*A Letter from the Brothers of R. C. Concerning the Invisible, Magical Mountain, And the Treasure therein Contained*.

"Every man naturally desires a superiority, to have treasures of Gold and Silver intellect and soul, and to seem great in the eyes of the world. God indeed created all things for the use of man, that he might rule over them, and acknowledge therein the singular goodness and omnipotence of God, give Him thanks for His benefits, honor Him and praise Him. But there is no man looks after these things, otherwise than by spending his days idly; they would enjoy them without any previous labor and danger; neither do they look them out of that place where God hath treasured them up, Who expects also that man should seek for them there, and to those that seek will He give them. But there is not any that labors for a possession in that place, and therefore these riches are not found: For the way to this place, and the place itself hath been unknown for a long time, and it is hidden from the greatest part of the world. But notwithstanding it be difficult and laborious to find Out this way and place, yet the place should be sought after.

"But it is not the will of God to conceal anything from those that are His, and therefore in this last age, before the final judgment comes, all these things shall be manifested to those that are worthy: As He Himself (though obscurely, lest it should be manifested to, the unworthy) hath spoken in a certain place: There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hidden that shall not be known. We therefore being moved by the Spirit of God, do declare the will of God to the world, which we have also already performed and published in several languages. But most men either revile, or contemne that, our Manifesto, (the *Fama* and *Confessio Fraternitatis*) or else waiving the Spirit of God, they expect the proposals thereof from us, supposing we will straightway teach them how to make gold by Art, or furnish them with ample treasures, whereby they may live pompously in the face of the world, swagger, and make wars, turn usurers, gluttons, and drunkards, live unchastely, and defile their whole life With several other sins, all which things are contrary to the blessed will of God. These men should have learnt from those Ten Virgins (whereof five that were foolish demanded oil for their lamps, from those five that were wise) how that the case is much otherwise.

"It is expedient that every man should labor for this treasure by the assistance of God, and his own particular search and industry. But the perverse intentions of these fellows we understand out of their own writings, by the singular grace and revelation of God. We do stop our ears, and wrap ourselves as it were in clouds, to avoid the bellowings and howlings of those men, who in vain cry out for gold. And hence indeed it comes to pass that they brand us with infinite calumnies and slanders, which notwithstanding we do not resent but God in His good time will judge them for it. But after that we had well known (though unknown to you) and perceived also by your writing how diligently you are to peruse the Holy Scripture, and seek the true knowledge of God: we have also above many thousands, thought you worthy of some answer, and we signify this much to you by the will of God and the admonition of the Holy Ghost.

"There is a mountain situated in the midst of the earth, or center of the world, which is both small and great. It is soft, also above measure hard and stony. It is far off, and near at hand, but by the providence of God, invisible. In it are hidden most ample treasures, which the world is not able to value. This mountain by envy of the devil, who always opposeth the glory of God and the happiness of man, is compassed about with very cruel beasts and other sic ravenous birds, which make the way thither both difficult and dangerous; and therefore hitherto, because the time is not yet come, the way thither could not be sought after nor found out. But now at last the way is to be found by those that are worthy, but notwithstanding by every man's self-labor and endeavors.

"To this mountain you shall go in a certain night (when it: comes) most long and most dark, and see that you prepare yourselves by prayer. Insist upon the way that: leads to the mountain, but ask not of any man where the way lies: only follow your Guide, who will offer himself to you, and will meet you in the way but you shall not know him. This Guide will bring you to the mountain at midnight, when all things are silent and dark. It is necessary that you arm yourselves with a resolute heroic courage, lest you fear those things that will happen, and so fall back. You need no sword, nor any other bodily weapons, only call upon God sincerely and heartily.

"When you have discovered the mountain, the first miracle that will appear is this. A most vehement and very great wind, that will shake the mountain and shatter the rocks to pieces. You shall be encountered also by lions and dragons and other terrible beasts, but fear not any of these things. Be resolute and rake heed that you return not, for your Guide who brought you thither will not suffer any evil to befall you. As for the treasure, it is not yet discovered but it is very near. After this wind will come an earthquake, that will overthrow those things which the wind hath left and make all flat. But be sure that you fall not off.

"The earthquake being past, there shall follow afire, that will consume the earthly rubbish, and discover the treasure, but as yet you cannot see it. After all these things and near the daybreak there shall be a great calm, and you shall see the Day-Star arise and the dawning will appear, and you shall perceive a great treasure. The chiefest thing in it, and the most perfect, is a certain exalted tincture, with which the world (if it served God and were worthy of such gifts) might be tinged and turned into most pure gold.

"This tincture being used, as your Guide shall reach you, will make you young when you are old, and you shall perceive no disease in any part of your bodies. By means of this tincture also you shall find pearls of that excellency which cannot be imagined. But do not you arrogate anything to yourselves because of your present power, but be contented with that which your Guide shall communicate to you. Praise God perpetually for this His gift, and have a special care that you use it not for worldly pride, but employ it in such works which are contrary to the world. Use it rightly and enjoy it so, as if you had it not. Live a temperate life, and beware of all sin, otherwise your Guide will forsake you, and you shall be deprived of this happiness. For know this of a truth, whosoever abuseth this tincture and lives not exemplarly, purely, and devoutly before men he shall lose this benefit, and scarce any hope will there be left ever to recover it afterwards."

If, as transcendentalists believe, the initiations into the Fraternity of the Rose Cross were given in the invisible worlds which surround and interpenetrate the visible universe, it is not beyond the range of possibility that this allegory is to be considered in the light of an initiatory ritual as well as an alchemical formula.

As has been noted, it is difficult to secure a complete formula for any of the alchemical operations. The one presented here is the most nearly complete of any available. The collecting of the rays and energies of the celestial bodies as precipitated in dew is a process which Paracelsus used with great success. Bear constantly in mind that these processes are only for those who have been properly instructed in the secret *art*.

"*A TRUE REVELATION OF THE MANUAL OPERATION FOR THE UNIVERSAL MEDICINE COMMONLY CALLED 'THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE.'* By the celebrated philosopher of Leyden, as attested upon his deathbed with his own Blood, Anno Domini 1662. To my Loving Cousin and Son, the True Hermetic Philosopher--

"Dear Loving Cousin and Son:

"Although I had resolved never to give in writing to any person the secret of the Ancient Sages, yet notwithstanding out of peculiar affection and love to you, I have taken it upon me, to which the nearness of our relation obliges me, and especially because this temporal life is short, and Art is very dark and you may therefore not attain the wished for end;--but my Son because so precious a jewel belongs not to swine; and also this so great a gift of God may be treated carefully and Christianlike, in consideration thereof I do so largely declare myself to thee.

"I conjure thee with hand and mouth sacredly;

"1st. That most especially thou faithfully keep the same from all wicked, lustful and criminal persons.

"2dly. That thou exalt not thyself in any way.

"3dly. That thou seek to advance the honor of thy Creator of all things and the good of thy neighbor, preserve it sacredly that thy Lord may not have cause to complain of thee at the last day. I have written here in this treatise such a part of the Kingdom of Heaven, just as I myself have worked this treasure and finished it with my fingers, therefore I have subscribed all this work with my blood, lying on my deathbed in Leyden.

"*THE PROCESS*--In the Name of God, take of the purest and cleanest salt, sea salt, so as it is made by the sun itself, such as is brought by shipping from Spain, (I used salt that came from St. Uber) let it be dried in a warm stove, grind it in a stone mortar, as fine as possible to a powder that it may be so much the easier dissolve and taken up by our *Dew-water*, which is thus to be had in the months of May or June: When the Moon is at the full, observe when the dew falls with an East or South East wind. Then you must have sticks about one and a half feet high above the ground when driven in the Earth. Upon two or three such sticks, lay some four square plates of glass, and as the dew falls it easily fastens on the glass like a vapour, then have glass Vessels in readiness, let the dew drain from the sides of the glasses into your vessels. Do this until you have enough. The full of the Moon is a good season, afterwards it will be hard."

The solar rays descending from the sun carry with them solar sulphur--the Divine Fire. These rays are crystallized by contact with the lunar rays. The solar rays are also met by the emanations pouring upward from the earth's surface and are thus still further crystallized into a partly tangible substance, which is soluble in pure water. This substance is the "Magical Mountain of the Moon" referred to in the R. C. letter. The crystallization of the solar and lunar rays in water (dew) produces the virgin earth--a pure, invisible substance, uncontaminated by material matter. When the virgin earth crystals are wet, they appear green; when dry, white.

Von Welling makes a suggestion for the extraction of the solar life from stagnant water, but is reticent both as to naming the essence extracted and also as to the various processes through which it must pass to be refined and increased in power. His hint, however, is both valuable and unusual:

"Take sweet clean water and seal it in a large bottle, leaving about one-fourth empty. Place the bottle in the sun for some weeks until it rots, showing a precipitation in the bottom. This precipitation, when properly manipulated by distillation, will produce a clear, fiery, burning oil, the constituents and use of which are only known to the wise."

The philosopher of Leyden continues: "Now when you have enough of your dew close your glasses exactly, and keep it till you use it, that none of its spirits may evaporate, which may easily happen. Set it therefore in a cool place, that no warmth may come to it, or else the subtle spirit will rise and be gone; which will not so happen if after you have filled your glasses with Dew quite full, you close them very well with wax.

*THE INVISIBLE MAGICAL MOUNTAIN.*

*From Phililethales' Lumen de Lumine.*

*On Page 24 of Lumen de Lumine, Eugenius Philalethes describes the magical mountain as follows:*

*"This is that emblematical magical type, which Thalia delivered to me in the invisible Guiana. The first and superior Part of it represents the Mountains of the Moon. The philosophers commonly call them the Mountains of India, on whose tops grows their secret and famous Lunaria. It is an Herb easy to be found, but for the fact that men are blind discovers itself and shines after night like pearl. The earth of these mountains is very red and soft beyond all expression. It is full of crystalline rocks, which the philosophers call their glass and their stone: birds and fish (say they) bring it to them. Of these mountains speaks Hali the Arabian, a most excellent judicious author: 'Go, my son, to the Mountains of India, and to their quarries or caverns, and take thence our precious stones which dissolve or melt in water, when they are mingled therewith. Much indeed might be spoken of these mountains, if it were lawful to publish their mysteries, but one thing I shall not forbear to tell you. They are very dangerous places after night, for they are haunted with fires and other strange apparitions, (as a I am told by the Magi) by certain spirits, which dabble lasciviously with the sperm of the world and imprint their imaginations in, producing many times fantastic and monstrous generations. The access and pilgrimage to this place, with the difficulties which attend them, are faithfully and magisterially described by the Brothers of R.C." (Set accompanying letter.)*

"Now in the Name of God, take of this Dew-water as much as thou wilt, put in a clean dissolving glass, then cast a little of your forementioned powdered salt into it to be dissolved, and continue to put it in till your Dew-water will dissolve no more or till the salt lies in it four days without being dissolved, then it has enough, and unto your Dew is given its proper powder. Of this compounded water, take as much as thou wilt, I took about a pound and a half, and put it into a round vial with a short neck, fill it with out water and lute it with a good lute, a cover and stopple that fits it well, that the subtle and living spirit of the dew may not fume away, for if they should the soul of the salt will never be stirred up, nor the work ever brought to a right end. Let the lute dry very well of itself, and set it in the furnace of B. M. to putrefy. Make a slow fire and let it digest for forty days or fifty, and that the fume of the water be continually round about it, and you will see your matter grow black, which is a token of its putrefaction.

"As soon as you have taken it out, have your dry furnace ready. Set your glass with the matter into an inner globe to coagulate, give it a slow degree of fire, continue it equally for twelve or fifteen days, and your matter will begin to coagulate and to fasten round about your glass like a gray salt, which as soon as you see and before it be two days, slacken the fire that it may cool leisurely. Then have in readiness your putrefying furnace as before. Set your glass therein and give the same degree of fire as before. Let it stand twelve days, and again you will see the matter resolve and open as before, and open itself, but you must every time see that the lute and your glass is not hurt. When you set your glass in the putrefying furnace, take care that the neck of your glass is covered with a wooden or glass stopper that fits it exactly, that the moisture of the water may not come at it.

"When you see it black set your glass as before to coagulate and when it begins to be of a grayish color and whitish, set it in a third time to putrefy, and coagulate to the fifth time, until you see that your water in its dissolution is clean, pellucid and clear, and that it appears in its Calcination of a fine white like Snow. Then it is prepared and becomes a Salt fixed which will melt on hot Silver plate like wax; but before you set this your Salt out, set it again in the furnace of putrefaction that it may dissolve of itself, then let it cool, open your Glass and you will find your Matter lessened a third part. But instead of your former Salt Water you will have a fine Sweet and very penetrating Water which the Philosophers have hid under very wonderful Names--It is the Mercury of all true Philosophers, the Water out of which comes Gold and Silver, for they say its Father is Gold and its Mother is Silver. Thus hast thou the strength of both these Luminaries conjoined in this Water, most true, in its right Pondus.

"*Prescription*. 5 Drops of this Water taken inwardly strengthens the understanding and memory, and opens to us most wonderful and sweet things, of which no man hath heard, and of which I dare not further write, because of the Oath I made God to the contrary. Time and the holy use of this blessed Water will teach us, as soon as you have taken it inwardly such influence will happen to thee as if the whole heavens and all the stars with their powers are working in thee. All Knowledge and secret Arts will be opened to thee as in a dream, but the most excellent of all is, you will perfectly learn rightly to know all creatures in their Nature, and by means thereof, the true understanding of God, the Creator of us, Heaven and Earth, like David and Moses and all the Saints of God, for the wisdom of our fountain of living Water will instruct thee as it did Solomon and the Brethren of our fraternity."

In his rare treatise on *Salt, Sulphur and Mercury*, von Welling discloses a secret: not generally revealed in alchemical writings, namely, that the alchemists were concerned not only with the transmutation of metals but had a complete cosmological and philosophical system based upon the Qabbalah.

According to von Welling, the universal salt (in watery form) is a positive cure for all the physical ailments of mankind; it is in every living thing, but from some things it is more easily secured than from others: especially is this true of virgin earth; it is the universal solvent, the alkahest. The same writer also states that in the first stages of its preparation this salt will cure any and all diseases of the heart. The anonymous philosopher of Leyden continues:

"Would you now proceed further with our blessed Water to the forementioned intention of preparing a Tincture for Metals, hearken my Son--

"Take in the NAME of the Lord, of thy Paradisiacal Water, of heavenly Water of Mercury, as much as thou wilt, put it into a glass to dissolve, and set it in a slow heat of Ashes, that it may just feel the warmth, then have ready well purified Gold for the Red, or Silver for the White Elixir, for in both the Processes are the same. Let your Gold or Silver be beaten as thin as leaf Gold, cast it by degrees into your dissolving Glass, that contains your blessed Water, as you did in the beginning with your Salt, and it will melt like Ice in Warm Water, and continue so to do till your Gold or Silver lie therein four days without dissolving, then it has received its due Pondus. Then put this dissolution as before into a round Glass, fill it two thirds parts full, seal it hermetically as before, let your Sigillum be well dried. Set it in the furnace of Balneum Vapori, make a fire and let it remain forty days, as before, then will the Gold or Silver be dissolved radically and will turn of the deepest black in the world, which as soon as you see, have your other drying furnace in readiness."

Continuing: "Philosophers say there is no true solution of the body without a proceeding coagulation of the spirit, for they are interchangeably mixed in a due proportion, whereby the bodily essence becomes of a spiritual penetrating nature. On the other hand, the incomprehensible spiritual essential virtue is also made corporeal by the fire, because there is made between them so near a relation or friendship, like as the heavens operate to the very Depth of Earth, and producing from thence all the treasures and riches of the whole World.

"*Admirandum Naturæ Operationem in Archidoxes Cognitam*.

"*With this Powder*--You may as follows project on metals. Take five parts of fine Gold or Silver according as you work, and melt it in a Crucible. Wrap up your Medicine in Wax, cast it therein, give a strong fire for an hour, then take the Crucible out, as it were, calcined, then cast one part on ten parts of imperfect metals, be it what it will, and the same will be immediately changed into purer Metal, than what is brought out of the Mines and produced by Melting; and when you augment it in strength and virtue by resolving and coagulating, the fifth time it will resolve itself in three days and be coagulated in twenty-four hours time, to an incredible and most highly pellucid Stone or Red Shining burning Coal. For the white work it will become like a white stream of Lightning.

"Of this last coagulation take one part, cast it upon five thousand of melted Gold or Silver as before. It changes the same into perfect Medicine, one part whereof will tinge one hundred thousand parts of melted imperfect Metals into the very finest Gold or Silver. So far I have brought and further I would not come, for as I would set in the matter to distill six times in twelve hours, it subtilized so highly that the most part (like somewhat most wonderful to behold) past through the Glass causing an inexpressible odoriferous Smell. Take heed that it happens not to you.

"Many more wonders of this holy Art might be added, namely how to prepare therewith all sorts of precious Stones, and other most admirable things, but it would require too great a book to express the whole as it ought to be, especially as the Art is endless and not to be apprehended with one view, and my purpose has been, Loving Cousin and Son, devoutly to lead thee into the Mysteries of Nature and this holy Science, and I have faithfully performed it."

In conclusion, the letter states: "Go thou to work as I have done before thee, fear God, Love thy neighbour from the bottom of thy Soul sincerely. So will in the Manual operation, everything to thee, and when thou art at work therein many of our brethren will reveal themselves to thee, of our holy order, privately; For I have on my part by the Eternal God wrote the truth which I found out by prayer and searching into Nature, which work I have seen with my eyes, and with my hands extracted. Therefore also I have subscribed this Testament with my own blood, the last day of my Life on my deathbed. Actum Leyden, 27 March 1662."

## The Hermetic And Alchemical Figures of Claudius De Dominico Celentano Vallis Novi

No better way can be found of introducing to the "Royal Art" a seeker after the mysteries of symbolical philosophy than to place at his disposal an actual example of alchemical writing. The text of this manuscript is as enigmatic as are its diagrams; but to him who will meditate upon the profound significance of both, the deeper issues of mysticism in due time will be made clear. An unknown person through whose hands this manuscript passed wrote thus of it:

"Because of its drawings and illustrated expositions, the manuscript is of preeminent importance to the Rosicrucians and the contemporary order of Freemasons. The first, and larger, part of the illustrations deals with the Hermetic philosophy, explaining its teachings and doctrines. Interspersed among these are portraits of great teachers and satirical representations of bunglers and their mistaken views. The systematically arranged part shows with wonderful clearness the color development of the alchemical processes from blue-gold over black to white and rose. *Throughout it treats of the change in human beings and not of the making of gold*. Ever upon the Grade of Black (the return into Chaos from which new creations are possible) follows the Grade of the Neophytes, the New Birth, which is often repeated with impressive lucidity. The black stage occurs as usual through fire. This unopened and unpublished manuscript belongs to the order of the most important Precepts and Documents of the Rosicrucians, and Freemasons. A search through the museums and library collections of Germany has failed to reveal any item of even a similar character."

In addition to the 26 leaves here reproduced there are ten bottles or retorts, each half filled with varicolored substances. These bottles can be so easily described that it is unnecessary to reproduce them. The first bottle (from the mouth of which issues a golden shrub with three blossoms) contains a bluish-gray liquid, the entire figure being called "Our Quicksilver." Under the vessel is a verse containing the significant words: "He will have white garments for black and then red." The second bottle (from the neck of which rise four golden flowers) also contains the bluish-gray substance termed quicksilver. Below the bottle is the admonition to "make spirit of the body and grace of the gross, that the corporeal may become incorporeal."

The third bottle is entirely black save for a golden tree trunk having six lopped-off branches and terminating in five branches which end in knobs and protrude from the neck of the bottle. The state of the substance is termed "Blackness showing through the Head of the Raven." Under the bottle occurs the statement that "the tincture of the Philosophers is hidden in the air like the soul in the human body." The fourth bottle is of the deepest blackness and is called "The Head of the Raven." Nothing rises from the neck of the vessel, for the earth (its contents) is described as "submerged in Chaos." The bottom of the fifth bottle contains a bluish-gray, spotted liquid, the upper part being filled with a brick-colored substance. Above are the words: "Sixth Raven's Head"; below is added: "At the bottom of the vessel worms are born."

The lower half of the sixth bottle is of a bluish-gray, the u per half black, the entire figure being termed "Seventh Raven's Head." A child is seated beside the bottle, concerning whom it is written: "This newly-born, black son is called Elixir and will be made perfectly white." The seventh bottle is black below and black spotted with red above. The process is thus described: "Black blacker than black, for many divers colors will appear. Those black clouds will descend to the body whence they came, and the junction of body, soul, and spirit has been completed and turned to ashes."

The eighth bottle is divided horizontally by a golden band, from which rises a golden stem ending in five leaves protruding from the neck of the bottle. The contents of the vessel are transparent, and it is written that "the black clouds are past and the great whiteness has been completed." The ninth bottle (from the neck of which rises a golden white rose) is also partly filled with a transparent liquid. The rose is made to say: "He who blanches me makes me red." The tenth and last bottle represents the consummation of the Great Work. The lower half of the vessel is filled with the blood-red Elixir and from the neck rises a red rose with many petals and of extreme beauty. After declaring all the planets to have been present at the consummation of the Great Work, the author of the document concludes: "I gave to the Master spirit so much silver and gold that be can never be poor."

In his dedication the author and illustrator of the manuscript declares that he has set forth all the operations of the Great Work. He prays to the Holy Spirit that he may be included in the number of those who have pursued this most noble of the sciences and that he may be set always in the path of righteousness. Exclusive of his own researches, the main sources of his information are said to be the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, Raymond Lully, and Arnold of Villa Nova.

To protect themselves from the persecution of despotic theology the medieval alchemists couched their philosophy in Christian terminology, although the great secrets of the Art were derived largely from Egyptian or Arabian adepts. The Mohammedans were masters of the Hermetic secrets and even the great Paracelsus secured from them the major part of his knowledge. In their manifestoes the Rosicrucians also disclose the Arabian source of their secret doctrine. Hence it should be borne in mind that the relating of the alchemical teachings to Biblical symbolism was a gesture of expediency. In their search of the Scriptures for the arcana of Israel, the Qabbalists substantiated in great measure the alchemical interpretations of the Bible, for the soul of alchemy is one with that of Qabbalism. Both schools have a common end, being who concerned with the mystery of human regeneration, despite apparent discrepancies in their symbolism.

The publication of this manuscript places at the student's disposal the most profound secrets of the Hermetic Art. At first the task of decipherment may seem hopeless and the superficially-minded will be tempted to scoff at the possibility of real knowledge being perpetuated in such unconventional fashion. The scoffer will not realize that one of the purposes of the document is to awaken ridicule and thus preserve more effectually its arcana from the profane. A few sheets (such as those here reproduced) represent the life work of one who has consecrated himself to the task of tearing aside the veil of the World Virgin. Years of research and experimentation, days of incessant labor, nights of prayer and meditation, and at last comes the realization of accomplishment! This is the real story told by the grotesque figures drawn so painstakingly upon the faded, worm-eaten pages. Those who have glimpsed the greater realities of being realize that the fundamental verities of life find at best only imperfect expression through physical symbols. Only those who have passed through the travail of spiritual birth can adequately comprehend and properly reverence the pathetic efforts to portray for others that knowledge necessarily locked within the heart of the one who knows.

*Leaf 1. The top line reads: "Our earliest medicine was made of natural objects." About the king and queen appears the statement that to them a son shall be born "in two trees of the vine," resembling his father and without equal in all the world. About the vase is written: "Green and white." "The vase flame color, the flowers green." "Our water, our silver." The lines below read: "The material of the Philosopher's Stone is that thick, viscous water, which either heat or cold congeals. It is Mercury boiled down and thickened, cooked in neutral earth with sulphurous heat and is called the Prime Material of the metals. In caverns yet dark, and forbidding mountains, if a Stone be found which a thousand years ago Nature made out of her fruits, it will bring him that has it out of trouble.   * Listen carefully to all my verses; I speak them without veil and without deception.*

*Leaf 2. At the top is a quotation from St. Thomas Aquinas concerning the composition of the Philosopher's Stone, which is described as of the purest transparency; in it all the forms of the elements and their contrarieties were visible. Beneath the figure of St. Thomas Aquinas is a short paragraph praising the excellence of the Philosophic Stone, declaring that from the one substance can be derived three and from the three, two. To the right of St. Thomas Aquinas is a likeness of Raymond Lully seated in the door of his hermitage. Under his feet appears a quotation from this celebrated alchemist, beginning with the question, "What is the Philosopher's Stone?" After declaring it to be a reddish, fixed mercury, Lully swears to the Almighty that he has told the truth and that it is not permissible to say more. (The original manuscript is mutilated at this point.)*

*Leaf 3. The writing at the top of the page reads: "Death of Saturn; life of Mercury." After describing the use of the saturnine substances, the key to the process is declared to be depicted below. The verse reads "This the stone is made of four elements. This is the truth in all Nature. Take it in hand, bright and shining, with all diligence and great care and then try to bind all securely together side by side, so the fire may cause alarm." Above the human figure is written: "Saturn is almost dead." To the right if the devouring serpent is a statement of Albertus Magnus that Saturn and Mercury are the first principles of the Stone. It also declares that Nature wisely provided a mixture of elements so that earth can communicate its dryness to fire, fire its heat to air, air its moisture to water, and water its coldness to earth. (Text about the vase is illegible in original.)*

*Leaf 4. At the top: "Let them believe that . everything is possible. The art is fleeting, bright and rare, and not believed by the foolish." The words between the sun and crescent read "It is hidden," and on the panel across the body "The Book of life and true Treasury of the World." The panel to the left of the figure says "Moving almost all, and the soul of its body returns to the place from which it had fled, and ripens seven months or nine, and the King crowned with his diadem appears." The right panel states: "There are three Mercuries: animal, vegetable, and mineral." The text below is of such a cryptic nature that to translate it is well nigh impossible. It declares that by putting fire beneath the feet of the symbolic figure it is possible to extract therefrom the sun and the moon which the human body is shown elevating to a position of dignity above its head.*

*Leaf 5. In the upper panel it is declared that the sun-bird battles with the earth-serpent, who, tearing out his own entrails, gives them to the bird. The spirit is vivified and Lazarus with joy is raised from the dead. Above the bird is written: "This is the sun in the form of a bird," and above the dragon "This is the dragon devouring the bird. The first operation." The panel of text at the lower left reads in substance: "When our sperm (quicksilver) is mixed with the mother of elements (earth), the action is called coitus. The detention by the earth of a bit of quicksilver is called conception. The earth grows and multiplies and the operation is called impregnation. When earth is whitened with water and made of uniform color and appearance, it is called birth and the King is born out of fire." The text at lower right was deliberately mutilated to conceal a too evident secret.*

*Leaf 6. This plate shows all the secrets of the great Stone. In the center stands the Paschal Virgin, in her hair the prime virtue which is described as an herb flourishing in wells. The hands hold the symbols of the spiritual and material elements. The statement at the upper left is to the effect that there are four spirits with two faces, which are called the elements. At the upper right it is written that fire lives on air, air on water, water on earth, and thus the Stone lives Peacefully on all the pure elements. Under the sun appears the word Summer; under the moon, Autumn. About the tree on the left with its attendant eyes are the words: "Turn away your eyes to from? the fire. There is space ?." About the tree to the right. "Open your eyes to the fire. There is time." The lower panel opens with this sentence "I am exalted above the circles of world."*

*Leaf 7. The verse at the top reads:," This Stone is so noble and worthy that Nature has hidden it in her recesses. Its soul is all fair, and pure, for it is the true sun. I inform you of this. Keep it removed, apart and separated. Whatever boon you crave, it will come to you bounteously. without sin, with pleasure and delight." The seated figure on the left holding aloft the hammer is described as breaking hard stone, while the words beside the man with the retort read: "Breaking of stone our replenishment." Between the standing figures below is the exclamation; "O Sages, seek and ye shall find my Stone!" Under the outstretched hand of the man with a basket appear the words: "Draw out sorerem ? in the bottom." Below the pool which the man on the left is stirring appears the simple statement: "Our healing water." The faces of the four men are extremely well drawn.*

*Leaf 8. Under the sun, moon, and Mercury are the words Three and One, an inference that the three are one. The words under the flower stems read: "Whiteness forty days after ashes." Under the blossoms is written: (left) "Minor time of the Stone"; (right) "The selected red." Between the arms of the central figure appears: "Let one pound of Mercury be placed." To the left is written: "If you who read shall have known this figure, you will possess the whole science of the Stone"; to the right: "And if you do not acknowledge it, you will be stiff-necked and dull." Above the sun is the word Father; above the satyr, "Ferment of the work." Beside the child is the sentence: "The son of the moon would threw the Stone into the fire--his mother." Above the flaming basket is written: "I am the true Stone." Under the central figure are the words: "A moderate fire is the master of the work."*

*Leaf 9. In the upper left it is written that without the light of the Moon the Sun does not heat the earth and that into the Moon the Sun emits its fruits. In the upper right the true herb of the philosophers is described, and it is declared that whoever believes in and it shall be spiritually rich. The panel concludes thus: "Understand thoroughly what it is that the man has in either hand if you wish to be enlightened." The text to the left above the sun reads: "Entirely without the Sun and Moon, make dye; dissolve, congeal, and like produces for itself like." The words to the right of the man holding the Philosopher's herb declare sublimation to be the beginning, the middle and the end of the Great Work. The last sentence reads: "Out of the Sun and Moon make a thing of equal parts, and by their union, God willing, let the Philosopher's Stone be made."*

*Leaf 10. The two short lines of text at upper left read: "Some take a recent stone." The lines to the right of the symbol of Mars (iron) admonish the student to control his appetites and apply his mind to the accumulation of knowledge. No satisfactory translation can be found for the words under the outstretched arm of the man holding the upper part of the tree. The lower panel reads thus: "After the Stone has been well refined it will appear to penetrate thoroughly. It should be put into its vessel with its water. Close it well with a little fire, and await the wonders of Nature." The large red oval filling the lower half of the leaf is evidently the egg or vessel of the Sages. The tree is a symbol of the growth of the sacred metals, for the alchemists affirmed that the metals are like plants and grow in the rocks, spreading their branches (veins) through the interstices.*

*Leaf 11. The fount is described as that from which the two Mercuries of the Philosophers are extracted. At the upper left is described the white Mercury and at the right the red Mercury. The text about the fountain declares that Saturn collects the white Mercury, which is called the Water of Earth; and the Earth collects the red Mercury, which is called the Water of Heaven. The text to the left of the frog reads: "Through Him who created the Heavens and the Earth I am the Philosopher's Stone, and in my body I carry something the wise seek. If such a charm be extracted from me, it will be a sweet refreshment for you. I am an animal having father and mother, and father and mother were created; and in my body are contained the four elements, and I am before father and mother and I am a poisonous animal." The lines at the right describe distilling and calcining processes.*

*Leaf 12. The three words at the top read: "This is Nature." The lines above the donkey read: "This is the Philosophers' donkey who wished to rise to the practice of the Philosopher's Some." The three lines below the animal are translated: "Frogs gather in multitudes but science consists of clear water made from the Sun and Moon." The text under the symbolic bird is as follows: "This is fortune with two wings. Whosoever has it knows that fruit will in such away be produced. A great philosopher has shown that the stone is a certain white sun, to see which needs a telescope. To dissolve it in water requires the Sun and Moon, and here one must open 200 telescopes, putting body and soul in one mass. And here is lost the mass; other sages cook the frogs and add nothing, if the juice of the Wise you wish to enjoy." To the Greeks the frog symbolized both metempsychosis and earthly humidity.*

*Leaf 13. This Page contains but two figures. At the left stands Morienus, the philosopher, pointing towards the salamander who "lives and grows in fire." Morienus, who was born in the twelfth century, became the disciple of the great Arabian alchemist Adfar, from whom he learned the Hermetic arts. Morienus prepared the Philosophical Elixir for the Sultan of Egypt, inscribing upon the vase in which he placed the precious substance the words: "He who possesses all has no need of others." He spent many years as a hermit near Jerusalem. The lines below the salamander are: "Let the fire be of a perfect red color; the earth white, the water clear. Then compound them by philosophical means and calcine them as many times with the water which the body had as to turn it white by its kindness. Having done this, you will have the greatest treasure in the world."*

*Leaf 14. The three words at the top of the left page are translated: "The man that digs." Above the birds it is declared that none but the cocks of Hermes, the two Mercuries, shall put hand to the plow, and only after irrigation will the earth bring forth her fruits. The seated man is Count Bernard of Treviso, who says: "Work the earth with Mercury." (See chapter on Alchemy and Its Exponents.) The three sentences to the Count's left read: "Go to the fire and with Mercury, thy brother, await me for a month. Crumble the stone I gave thee and I shall go to the fire. Thy death, my life. I shall net die but, living, tell of the works of this, my master." Bernard of Treviso in his alchemical speculation emphasized the necessity of meditation upon the philosophical writings of the great adepts rather than chemical experimentation. He ultimately discovered the "Stone."*

*Leaf 15. The first sentence reads: "The fruit of plants by virtue of the Sun, our Stone." The boy holding the dish is made to say: "Drink here all ye that are athirst. Come unto me, run to the waters. Here drink, without price, and drink your fill. Open your eyes and see the wonders of the earth. They learn, my thirsty twenty and four." Beneath the boy are the words: "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, and divided the waters from the waters. Bless the waters which are above the Heavens." The circle contains this statement: "The earth without form and void. Out of the stars come the rains." The lower left panel continues the alchemical process, ending with admonition to renounce the misery of worldly existence. Above is a prayer to the Virgin Mary which opens thus: "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord be with thee. Blessed thou among women."*

*Leaf 16. The first sentence reads: "The dead bodies remain; the spirits are freed by the death in the bodies. You will ride with that death with a scythe, and the light of the Sun, the Moon, and the fixed stars." Over the scythe is written: "Subject to the Sun, the Moon and Azoth, complete the Work." The four words in the curve of the scythe blade say: "Man's head, head of raven." The three lines to the right are interpreted thus: "This figure is called Laton, for it looks black in a vessel, and is the beginning of corruption." The text below the ladder states: "This is the ladder of primitive matter which when placed in a vessel turns black, the gradually changes to white by the scale ladder of digestion, according to the degree of heat." Here a ladder is used to signify the natural steps up which matter must ascend before it can attain to a truly spiritual state.*

*Leaf 17. The verse at the top of the page reads: "Not only must this material be fixed, but it must be allowed to enter into everything so that this material may be well completed and have infinite virtue. Then by making it thick, it becomes at once all white, sublimation from white it becomes shining." Above the sun are the words: "God and Nature do nothing in vain." The man on the left is a medieval conception of Hermes, the great Egyptian philosopher; the one on the right is Christopher, the philosopher of Paris. Above the latter is written: "If the Stone is black, it is not useless." The words over the retort are: "There is air, fire, water, and earth." Below is added: "A dissolution of the body is the first step. " The curious chemical apparatus must be considered purely symbolic in this work and, as its author himself says, is intended to give only a hint of the "Art."*

*Leaf 18. At the left holding a book stands Aristotle, who is described as the most learned of all the Greeks. The tree surmounted by the Sun and Mon. is accompanied by the wards: "When the Stone is dead, that is changed to water, in this it will produce flowers." Beneath Aristotle and the prostrate human figure from which rises the flowering tree are these statements: "He who makes everything descend from heaven to earth, and then ascend from earth to heaven, has information about the Stone. For in Mercury there is something the wise seek, not invoked except by white or red ferment." The first part of this quotation is based upon the Emerald Tablet of Hermes (which see). In ordinary man, the spirit is figuratively absorbed by the body; but in the true philosopher, the spirit is so greatly increased in power that it absorbs into itself and is nourished by man's corporeal body.*

*Leaf 19. At the top it reads: "He that comes to know this figure will have knowledge of the Stone." The seated man probably represents Paracelsus. To his right are the words: "I am neither tree nor animal, nor stone nor vegetable, but the Philosopher's Stone, trampled on by men, cast into the fire by my father, and in fire I rejoice." The four words to the left say "In dryness is the Stone." Below the man is the Philosophic Egg containing the words: "It is the end in which the beginning rests." The capital T stands for "Tincture." The text to the right states: "In Stone it is formed, as Gerber writes in his book very learnedly, and possessing so much of its nature that it changes into clear, living water; and it has the power to make folks rich, satisfied, and free from all cares, so they will be always happy if they attain by their wit to the secret."*

*Leaf 20. At the top is written: "Rains are made by six stars." Under the inverted man it reads: "Receive new spirit. Arise, for you are asleep." The two sentences about the large figure read: "Remember Mercury, for ashes thou art and unto ashes thou shalt return. I thirst and am dead." Above the seven globes at the left is the admonition: "If he thirst, give him a drink and he shall live." Over the small man is written: "Hermes, the father of philosophers." The curved line of writing to which Hermes points says: "The measure of the drink." Under the central pedestal appears: "The light of my eyes is a lantern to my feet." Below is added: "If the beginning is unknown, the rest is unknown." Above the figure rising from the flames on the right is the statement: "He was resurrected after new Moon," and under the eagle: "Thou shalt not fly further with me."*

*Leaf 21. The upper line reads: "Two things and double, but finally one is dissolved into the first and they make sperm." The four capitals. I A A T, are the initial letters of the names of the elements: Ignis, Aer, Aqua, and Terra. The writing under them reads: "Our fire is water; if you can give fire to fire, fire and Mercury will suffice." Along the arm appear the words: "The Art of the Stone is," and on the ribbon: "Swift, brief, bright, and rare." The two lines under the ribbon read: "Every hand is a key, because it was called the herb celandine"; under the Sun: "I am the gift of God " The verse reads: "So that you remain contented in all matters, I must listen attentively. My body is naked, clean, and shining, and I run like oil ready to drop, resplendent like bright gold, and then succumb to the plague in its bright and cheerful little chamber retort."*

*Leaf 22. The verse in the upper left is as follows: "This group is composed of three stones: lunar, solar, and mercurial. In the lunar is white sulphur; in the solar, red sulphur, in the mercurial, both; i.e. white and red, and this is the strength of all instruction." In the bottle at the left are the words: "Dissolving, calcination, sublimation complete the instruction"; and at the base: "Wash, congeal, and coagulate. " Under the central tower is written: "Metallic salts, however, are hidden by one letter"; around the bottom of the red circle: "Dryness, coldness, humidity, heat, and dryness." On the points below are the names of the four elements. The initial, I A A T appear four times with the same meaning as that already given. The three powers of the Philosopher's Stone are symbolized by the heads of the cherubs in the circle in the upper left corner.*

*Leaf 23. The writing at the upper left is, in substance, the Lord's Prayer, with the addition of the words Jesus and Mary at the end. The inverted words in the banner read: "Ye can do nothing without me, for God has so promised, saying 'So be it.'" The text under the angel reads: "By this plague he will be damned who knows he is dead, all cold in a black body. And let this be thy first comfort: then he will burn unto calcination. When I have reduced him within this door, know for certain that I shall be blessed if I shall know how to cultivate the garden." The main part of the leaf is devoted to an elaborate symbolic drawing of alchemical equipment, under which are the words: "The furnace of distillation, congealing, rectification, perfection, fixation: quintessence of the Philosophers." By "quintessence" should be understood the "fifth essence" of the most wise.*

*Leaf 24. The words at the top read: "I, the bird the adept, speak into thine ears from the Sun, Moon and Azoth. The work is perfected with little labor." The panel to the left describes the nature of primordial matter and the drink of the Philosophers. The text to the right reads: "This is my beloved Son whom I saw and loved. If he be resurrected, He will remain at home, and in that house the spirit will be the soul and the body; for Mercury may be called the son of the Sun and the Moon." Under the child's figure is added: "If he were not dead, I should not have been his mother. I bore him after death before he was born in the world; under my feet I have what was his, and out of me and my Son and the foundation of my feet the Philosopher's Stone is made." At the lower left the three constituents of the Stone are shown elevated upon a pedestal to signify their dignity.*

*Leaf 25. Above the figure of the Queen are three lines stating, in substance, that in the beginning of the book it was written of her that from her maternal breasts she nourished the Sun, and that he who was capable of converting her into Primal matter possessed rare skill. Opposite the Queen's head are the words: "In the highest mountains this water" and "I am the light of the Philosophers." To the left of the Queen is an admonition to strike the sons whom she bears. She calls herself "The mother of the Sun, the sister of the Moon, and the servant and spouse of Mercury." On the right she is made to exclaim: "I cannot be crowned unless these sons of mine become ashes. " The sons are shown directly below. The verse under the Queen continues the alchemical processes, describing the method in which the exudations from the substance should be preserved.*

*Leaf 26. This page, which concludes that part of the Hermetic manuscript bearing the symbols of the Secret Work, contains a number of emblems not directly correlated. At the top is the head of the King--the most common of alchemical figures. To the right of the King is an alchemical vessel designated the Hermetic Seal. Below is the head of a ferocious bird, here designated a griffon. To the left of the King is a headless figure elevating a Sun, or spiritual face. This figure is the world, which must be headless, since its spiritual and rational part is not material and consequently, is invisible. Below is a circle unaccompanied by descriptive matter. Directly under the King's head is a vase of flowers, in which rises the golden plant of the Philosophers. At the bottom of the page is additional alchemical equipment, this also being termed a Hermetic Seal.*

## The Chemical Marriage

THE self-admitted author of *The Chemical Marriage*, Johann Valentin Andreæ, born in Württemberg in 1586, was twenty-eight years of age when that work was first published. It was presumably written about twelve years prior to its publication--or when the author was fifteen or sixteen years old. The fact is almost incredible that one so young could produce a volume containing the wealth of symbolic thought and philosophy hidden between the lines of *The Chemical Marriage*. This book makes the earliest known reference to Christian Rosencreutz, and is generally regarded as the third of the series of original Rosicrucian manifestoes. As a symbolic work, the book itself is hopelessly irreconcilable with the statements made by Andreæ concerning it. The story of *The Chemical Marriage* relates in detail a series of incidents occurring to an aged man, presumably the Father C.R.C. of the *Fama* and *Confessio*. If Father C.R.C. was born in 1378, as stated in the *Confessio*, and is identical with the Christian Rosencreutz of *The Chemical Marriage*, he was elevated to the dignity of a Knight of the Golden Stone in the eighty-first year of his life (1459). In the light of his own statements, it is inconceivable that Andreæ could have been Father Rosy Cross.

Many figures found in the various books on symbolism published in the early part of the seventeenth century bear a striking resemblance to the characters and episodes in *The Chemical Marriage*. The alchemical wedding may prove to be the key to the riddle of Baconian Rosicrucianism. The presence in the German text of *The Chemical Marriage* of some words in English indicates its author to have been conversant also with that language. The following summary of the main episodes of the seven days of *The Chemical Marriage* will give the reader a fairly comprehensive idea of the profundity of its symbolism.

**THE FIRST DAY**

Christian Rosencreutz, having prepared in his heart the Paschal Lamb together with a small unleavened loaf, was disturbed while at prayer one evening before Easter by a violent storm which threatened to demolish not only his little house but the very hill on which it stood. In the midst of the tempest he was touched on the back and, turning, he beheld a glorious woman with wings filled with eyes, and robed in sky-colored garments spangled with stars. In one hand she held a trumpet and in the other a bundle of letters in every language. Handing a letter to C.R.C., she immediately ascended into the air, at the same time blowing upon her trumpet a blast which shook the house. Upon the seal of the letter was a curious cross and the words *In hoc signo vinces*. Within, traced in letters of gold on an azure field, was an invitation to a royal wedding.

C.R.C. was deeply moved by the invitation because it was the fulfillment of a prophecy which he had received seven years before, but so unworthy did he feel that he was paralyzed with fear. At length, after resorting to prayer, he sought sleep. In his dreams he found himself in a loathsome dungeon with a multitude of other men, all bound and fettered with great chains. The grievousness of their sufferings was increased as they stumbled over each other in the darkness. Suddenly from above came the sound of trumpets; the cover of the dungeon was lifted, and a ray of light pierced the gloom. Framed in the light stood a hoary-headed man who announced that a rope would be lowered seven times and whoever could cling to the rope would be drawn up to freedom.

Great confusion ensued. All sought to grasp the rope and many were pulled away from it by others. C.R.C. despaired of being saved, but suddenly the rope swung towards him and, grasping it, he was raised from the dungeon. An aged woman called the "Ancient Matron" wrote in a golden yellow book the names of those drawn forth, and each of the redeemed was given for remembrance a piece of gold bearing the symbol of the sun and the letters *D L S*. C.R.C., who had been injured while clinging to the rope, found it difficult to walk. The aged woman bade him not to worry, but to thank God who had permitted him to come into so high a light. Thereupon trumpets sounded and C.R.C. awoke, but so vivid was the dream that he was still sensible of the wounds received while asleep.

With renewed faith C. R. C. arose and prepared himself for the *Hermetic Marriage*. He donned a white linen coat and bound a red ribbon crosswise over his shoulders. In his hat he stuck four roses and for food he carried bread, water, and salt. Before leaving his cottage, he knelt and vowed that whatever knowledge was revealed to him he would devote to the service of his neighbor. He then departed from his house with joy.

**THE SECOND DAY**

As he entered the forest surrounding his little house, it seemed to C.R.C. that all Nature had joyously prepared for the wedding. As he proceeded singing merrily, he came to a green heath in which stood three great cedars, one bearing a tablet with an inscription describing the four paths that led to the palace of the King: the first short and dangerous, the second circuitous, the third a pleasant and royal road, and the fourth suitable only for incorruptible bodies. Weary and perplexed, C.R.C. decided to rest and, cutting a slice of bread, was about to partake thereof when a white dove begged it from him. The dove was at once attacked by a raven, and in his efforts to separate the birds C.R.C. unknowingly ran a considerable distance along one of the four paths--that leading southward. A terrific wind preventing him from retracing his steps, the wedding guest resigned himself to the loss of his bread and continued along the road until he espied in the distance a great gate. The sun being low, he hastened towards the portal, upon which, among other figures, was a tablet bearing the words *Procul hinc procul ite profani*.

A gatekeeper in sky-colored habit immediately asked C.R.C. for his letter of invitation and, on receiving it, bade him enter and requested that he purchase a token. After describing himself as a Brother of the Red Rosie Cross, C.R.C. received in exchange for his water bottle a golden disk bearing the letters *S C*. Night drawing near, the wanderer hastened on to a second gate, guarded by a lion, and to which was affixed a tablet with the words *Date et dabitur volis*, where he presented a letter given him by the first gatekeeper. Being urged to purchase a token bearing the letters *S M*, he gave his little package of salt and then hastened on to reach the palace gates before they were locked for the night.

A beautiful virgin called *Virgo Lucifera* was extinguishing the castle lights as C.R.C. approached, and he was barely able to squeeze through the closing gates. As they closed they caught part of his coat, which he was forced to leave behind. Here his name was written in the Lord Bridegroom's little vellum book and he was presented with a new pair of shoes and also a token bearing the letters *S P N*. He was then conducted by pages to a small chamber where the "ice-grey locks" were cut from the crown of his head by invisible barbers, after which he was ushered into a spacious hall where a goodly number of kings, princes, and commoners were assembled.

*TITLE PAGE OF 1616 EDITION OF CHYMISCHE HOCHZEIT: CHRISTIAN ROSENCREUTZ.*

*From Rosencreutz' Chemical Marriage.*

*The most remarkable of all the publications involved in the Rosicrucian controversy is that of The Chemical Marriage, published in Strasbourg. This work, which is very rare, should be reproduced in exact facsimile to provide students with the opportunity of examining the actual text for the various forms of cipher employed. Probably no other volume in the history or literature created such a profound disturbance as this unpretentious little book. Immediately following its publication the purpose for which the volume was intended became the subject of popular speculation. It was both attacked and defended by theologians and philosophers alike, but when the various contending elements are simmered down the mysteries surrounding the book remain unsolved. That its author was a man of exceptional learning was admitted, and it is noteworthy that those minds which possessed the deepest understanding of Nature's mysteries were among those profoundly impressed by the contents of The Chemical Marriage.*

At the sound of trumpets each seated himself at the table, taking a position corresponding to his dignity, so that C.R.C. received a very humble seat. Most of the pseudo-philosophers present being vain pretenders, the banquet became an orgy, which, however, suddenly ceased at the sound of stately and inspired music. For nearly half an hour no one spoke. Then amidst a great sound the door of the dining hall swung open and thousands of lighted tapers held by invisible hands entered. These were followed by the two pages lighting the beautiful *Virgo Lucifera* seated on a self-moving throne. The white-and-gold-robed Virgin then rose and announced that to prevent the admission of unworthy persons to the mystical wedding a set of scales would be erected the following day upon which each guest would be weighed to determine his integrity. Those unwilling to undergo this ordeal she stated should remain in the dining hall. She then withdrew, but many of the tapers stayed to accompany the guests to their quarters for the night.

Most of those present were presumptuous enough to believe that they could be safety weighed, but nine--including C.R.C.--felt their shortcomings so deeply that they feared the outcome and remained in the hall while the others were led away to their sleeping chambers. These nine were bound with ropes and left alone in darkness. C.R.C. then dreamed that he saw many men suspended over the earth by threads, and among them flew an aged man who, cutting here and there a thread, caused many to fall to earth. Those who in arrogance had soared to lofty heights accordingly fell a greater distance and sustained more serious injury than the more humble ones who, falling but a short distance, often landed without mishap. Considering this dream to be a good omen, C.R.C. related it to a companion, continuing in discourse with him until dawn.

**THE THIRD DAY**

Soon after dawn the trumpets sounded and the *Virgo Lucifera*, arrayed in red velvet, girded with a white sash, and crowned with a laurel wreath, entered accompanied by two hundred men in red-and-white livery. She intimated to C.R.C. and his eight companions that they might fare better than the other, self-satisfied guests. Golden scales were then hung in the midst of the hall and near them were placed seven weights, one good-sized, four small, and two very large. The men in livery, each carrying a naked sword and a strong rope, were divided into seven groups and from each group was chosen a captain, who was given charge of one of the weights. Having remounted her high throne, *Virgo Lucifera* ordered the ceremony to begin. The first to step on the scales was an emperor so virtuous that the balances did not tip until six weights had been placed upon the opposite end. He was therefore turned over to the sixth group. The rich and poor alike stood upon the scales, but only a few passed the test successfully. To these were given velvet robes and wreaths of laurel, after which they were seated upon the steps of *Virgo Lucifera's* throne. Those who failed were ridiculed and scourged.

The "inquisition" being finished, one of the captains begged *Virgo Lucifera* to permit the nine men who had declared themselves unworthy also to be weighed, and this caused C.R.C. anguish and fear. Of the first seven one succeeded and was greeted with joy. C.R.C. was the eighth and he not only withstood all the weights but even when three men hung on the opposite end of the beam he could not be moved. A page cried out: "THAT IS HE!" C.R.C. was quickly set at liberty and permitted to release one of the captives. He chose the first emperor. *Virgo Lucifera* then requested the red roses that C.R.C. carried, which he immediately gave her. The ceremony of the scales ended about ten o'clock in the forenoon.

After agreeing upon the penalties to be imposed upon those whose shortcomings had been thus exposed, a dinner was served to all. The few successful "artists," including C.R.C., were given the chief seats, after which the Golden Fleece and a Flying Lion were bestowed upon them in the name of the Bridegroom. *Virgo Lucifera* then presented a magnificent goblet to the guests, stating that the King had requested all to share its contents, Following this, C.R.C. and his companions were taken out upon a scaffolding where they beheld the various penalties suffered by those who failed. Before leaving the palace, each of the rejected guests was given a draught of forgetfulness. The elect then returned to the castle, where to each was assigned a learned page, who conducted them through the various parts of the edifice. C.R.C. saw many things his companions were not privileged to behold, including the Royal Sepulcher, where he learned "more than is extant in all books." He also visited a magnificent library and an observatory containing a great globe thirty feet in diameter and with all the countries of the world marked upon it.

At supper the various guests propounded enigmas and C.R.C. solved the riddle which *Virgo Lucifera* asked concerning her own identity. Then entered the dining hall two youths and six virgins beautifully robed, followed by a seventh virgin wearing a coronet. The latter was called the Duchess, and was mistaken for the Hermetic Bride. The Duchess told C.R.C. that he had received more than the others, therefore should make a greater return. The Duchess then asked each of the virgins to pick up one of the seven weights which still remained in the great room. To *Virgo Lucifera* was given the heaviest weight, which was hung in the Queen's chamber during the singing of a hymn. In the second chamber the first virgin hung her weight during a similar ceremony; thus they proceeded from room to room until the weights had been disposed of. The Duchess then presented her hand to C. R. C. and his companions and, followed by her virgins, withdrew. Pages then conducted the guests to their sleeping chambers. The one assigned to C.R.C. was hung with rare tapestries and with beautiful paintings.

**THE FOURTH DAY**

After washing and drinking in the garden from a fountain which bore several inscriptions--among them one reading, "Drink, brothers, and live"--the guests, led by *Virgo Lucifera*, ascended the 365 steps of the royal winding stairs. The guests were given wreaths of laurel and, a curtain being raised, found themselves in the presence of the King and Queen. C.R.C. was awestruck by the glory of the throne room and especially by the magnificence of the Queen's robes, which were so dazzling that he could not gaze upon them. Each guest was presented to the King by one of the virgins and after this ceremony the *Virgo Lucifera* made a short speech in which she recited the achievements of the honest "artists" and begged that each be questioned as to whether she had properly fulfilled her duty. Old Atlas then stepped forward and in the name of their Royal Majesties greeted the intrepid band of philosophers and assured *Virgo Lucifera* that she should receive a royal reward.

The length of the throne room was five times its width. To the west was a great porch in which stood three thrones, the central one elevated. On each throne sat two persons: on the first an ancient king with a young consort; on the third a black king with a veiled matron beside him; and on the central throne two young persons over whose heads hung a large and costly crown, about which hovered a little Cupid who shot his arrows first at the two lovers and then about the hall. Before the Queen a book bound in black velvet lay on a small altar, on which were golden decorations. Beside this were a burning candle, a celestial globe, a small striking-watch, a little crystal pipe from which ran a stream of clear blood-red liquor, and a skull with a white serpent crawling in and out of the orbits. After their presentations, the guests retired down the winding stairs to the great hall.

*KEY TO THE GREAT PHILOSOPHICAL SECRET.*

*From Ashmole's Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum.*

*This plate, which is the key to mystic Christian alchemy, is missing from almost every copy of the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, a work compiled by Elias Ashmole and containing about a score of pieces by English poets treating of the Philosopher's Stone and the Hermetic mysteries. In view of the consistent manner in which the plate disappeared, it is possible that the diagram was purposely removed because it revealed too plainly the Rosicrucian arcana. Worthy of notice also is the care with which owners' names have been effaced from early books pertaining to alchemy and Hermeticism. The original names are usually rendered illegible being covered with heavy ink lines, the procedure often seriously defacing the volume, While an occasional exception is found, in practically every instance the mutilated books either deal with Rosicrucianism or contain cryptic writings of suspected Rosicrucian origin. It is presumed that this Practice of obliterating the owners names was to prevent the early Rosicrucians and Hermetists from being discovered through the volumes composing their libraries. Elias Ashmole's plate shows the analogies between the life of Christ and the four grand divisions of the alchemical process. Herein is also revealed the teaching that the Philosopher's Stone itself is a macrocosm and a microcosm, embodying the principles of astronomy and cosmogony, both universal and human.*

Later the *Virgo Lucifera* announced that a comedy was to be performed for the benefit of the six royal guests in a building called the House of the Sun. C.R.C. and his companions formed part of the royal procession, which after a considerable walk arrived at the theater. The play was in seven acts, and after its happy ending all returned through the garden and up the winding stairs to the throne room. C.R.C. noticed the young King was very sad and that at the banquet following he often sent meat to the white serpent in the skull. The feast over, the young King, holding in his hand the little black book from the altar, asked the guests if they would all be true to him through prosperity and adversity, and when they tremblingly agreed he asked that each should sign his name in the little black book as proof of his fealty. The royal persons then drank from the little crystal fountain, the others afterwards doing likewise. This was called the "Draught of Silence." The royal persons then sadly shook hands with all present. Suddenly a little bell tinkled and immediately the kings and queens took off their white garments and donned black ones, the room was hung in sable draperies, and the tables were removed. The eyes of the royal persons were bound with six black taffeta scarfs and six coffins were placed in the center of the room. An executioner, a Moor, robed in black and bearing an axe, entered, and beheaded in turn each of the six royal persons. The blood of each was caught in a golden goblet, which was placed in the coffins with the body. The executioner was also decapitated and his head placed in a small chest.

The *Virgo Lucifera*, after assuring C.R.C. and his companions that all should be well if they were faithful and true, ordered the pages to conduct them to their rooms for the night while she remained to watch with the dead. About midnight C.R.C. awakened suddenly and, looking from his window, beheld seven ships sailing upon a lake. Above each hovered a flame; these he believed to be the spirits of the beheaded. When the ships reached shore, the *Virgo Lucifera* met them and on each of six of the vessels was placed a covered coffin. As soon as the coffins had been thus disposed of, the lights were extinguished and the flames passed back over the lake so that there remained but one light for a watch in each ship. After beholding this strange ceremony, C.R.C. returned to his bed and slept till morning.

**THE FIFTH DAY**

Rising at daybreak and entreating his page to show him other treasures of the palace, C.R.C. was conducted down many steps to a great iron door bearing a curious inscription, which he carefully copied. Passing through, he found himself in the royal treasury, the light in which came entirely from some huge carbuncles. In the center stood the triangular sepulcher of Lady Venus. Lifting a copper door in the pavement, the page ushered C.R.C. into a crypt where stood a great bed upon which, when his guide had raised the coverlets, C.R.C. beheld the body of Venus. Led by his page, C.R.C. then rejoined his companions, saying nothing to them of his experience.

*Virgo Lucifera*, robed in black velvet and accompanied by her virgins, then led the guests out into the courtyard where stood six coffins, each with eight pallbearers. C.R.C. was the only one of the group of "artists" who suspected the royal bodies were no longer in these coffins. The coffins were lowered into graves and great stones rolled over them. The *Virgo Lucifera* then made a short oration in which she exhorted each to assist in restoring the royal persons to life, declaring that they should journey with her to the Tower of Olympus, where the medicines necessary to the resurrection of the six royal persons could alone be found. C.R.C. and his companions followed *Virgo Lucifera* to the seashore, where all embarked on seven ships disposed according to a certain strange order. As the ships sailed across the lake and through a narrow channel into the open sea, they were attended by sirens, nymphs, and sea goddesses, who in honor of the wedding presented a great and beautiful pearl to the royal couple. When the ships came in sight of the Tower of Olympus, *Virgo Lucifera* ordered the discharge of cannon to signal their approach. Immediately a white flag appeared upon the tower and a small gilded pinnace, containing an ancient man--the warden of the tower--with his white-clad guards came out to meet the ships.

The Tower of Olympus stood upon an island which was exactly square and was surrounded by a great wall. Entering the gate, the group was led to the bottom of the central tower, which contained an excellent laboratory where the guests were fain to beat and wash plants, precious stones, and all sorts of things, extract their juice and essence, and put these latter into glasses. *Virgo Lucifera* set the "artists" to work so arduously that they felt they were mere drudges. When the day's work was finished, each was assigned a mattress on the stone floor. Being unable to sleep, C.R.C. wandered about contemplating the stars. Chancing upon a flight of steps leading to the top of the wall, he climbed up and looked out upon the sea. Remaining here for some time, about midnight he beheld seven flames which, passing over the sea towards him, gathered themselves on the top of the spire of the central tower. Simultaneously the winds arose, the sea became tempestuous, and the moon was covered with clouds. With some fear C.R.C. ran down the stairs and returned to the tower and, lying down on his mattress, was lulled to sleep by the sound of a gently flowing fountain in the laboratory.

**THE SIXTH DAY**

The next morning the aged warden of the tower, after examining the work performed by the wedding guests in the laboratory and finding it satisfactory, caused ladders, ropes, and large wings to be brought forth, and addressed the assembled "artists" thus: "My dear sons, one of these three things must each of you this day constantly bear about with him." Lots were cast and to C.R.C., much to his chagrin, fell a heavy ladder. Those who secured wings had them fastened to their backs so cunningly that it was impossible to detect that they were artificial. The aged warden then locked the "artists" in the lower room of the tower, but in a short time a round hole was uncovered in the ceiling and *Virgo Lucifera* invited all to ascend. Those with wings flew at once through the opening, those with ropes had many difficulties, while C.R.C. with his ladder made reasonable speed. On the second floor the wedding guests, musicians, and *Virgo Lucifera* gathered about a fountain-like contrivance containing the bodies of the six royal persons.

*THE UNIVERSE CREATED BY THE DUAL PRINCIPLE OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS.*

*From Fludd's Philosophia Mosaica.*

*The Supreme Deity is symbolized by the small globe at the top, which is divided into two hemispheres, the dark half representing the divine darkness with which the Deity surround Himself and which serves as His hiding place. The radiant hemisphere signifies the divine light which is in God and which, pouring forth, manifests as the objective creative power. The large dark globe to the left and beneath the dark half of the upper sphere signifies the potential darkness which was upon the face of the primordial deep and within which moved the Spirit of God. The light globe to the right is the Deity who is revealed out of the darkness. Here the shining Word has dissipated the shadows and a glorious universe has been formed. The divine power of this radiant globe is cognizable to man as the sun. The large light and a dark section represents the created universes partaking of the light and darkness which are in the nature of the Creator. The dark half represents the Deep, or Chaos, the Eternal Waters pouring forth out of the Deity; the light half-circle containing the figure of Apollo represents the diurnal hemisphere of the world, which in the ancient Mysteries was ruled over by Apollo. The dark half-circle is the nocturnal hemisphere ruled over by Dionysius (Dionysos), whose figure is faintly visible in the gloom.*

*Virgo Lucifera* then placed the if Moor's head in a kettle-like receptacle in the upper part of the fountain and poured upon it the substances prepared on the previous day in the laboratory. The virgins placed lamps beneath. These substances when they boiled passed out through holes in the sides of the kettle and, falling upon the bodies in the fountain below, dissolved them. The six royal bodies having been reduced thus to a liquid state, a tap was opened in the lower end of the fountain and the fluid drained into an immense golden globe, which, when filled, was of great weight. All but the wedding guests then retired and shortly a hole in the ceiling opened as before and the guests ascended pell-mell to the third floor. Here the globe were suspended by a strong chain. The walls of the apartment were of glass, and mirrors were so arranged that the sun's rays were concentrated upon the central globe, thus causing it to become very hot. Later the sun's rays were deflected and the globe permitted to cool, after which it was cut open with a diamond, revealing a beautiful white egg. Carrying this with her, *Virgo Lucifera* departed.

The guests, having ascended through another trap door, found themselves upon the fourth floor, where stood a square kettle filled with silver sand warmed by a gentle fire. The great white egg was placed upon the warm sand to mature. In a short time it cracked and there emerged an ugly, ill-tempered bird, which was fed with the blood of the beheaded royal persons diluted with prepared water. At each feeding its feathers changed color; from black they turned to white and at last they became varicolored, the disposition of the bird improving the while. Dinner was then served, after which *Virgo Lucifera* departed with the bird. The guests ascended with ropes, ladders, and wings to the fifth floor, where a bath colored with fine white powder had been prepared for the bird, which enjoyed bathing in it until the lamps placed beneath the bath caused the water to become uncomfortably warm. When the heat had removed all the bird's feathers it was taken out, but the fire continued until nothing remained in the bath save a sediment in the form of a blue stone. This was later pounded up and made into a pigment; with this, all of the bird except the head was painted.

The guests thereupon ascended to the sixth floor, where stood a small altar resembling that in the King's throne room. The bird drank from the little fountain and was fed with the blood of the white serpent which crawled through the openings in the skull. The sphere by the altar revolved continuously. The watch struck one, two, and then three, at which time the bird, laying its neck upon the book, suffered itself to be decapitated. Its body was burned to ashes, which were placed in a box of cypress wood. *Virgo Lucifera* told C.R.C. and three of his comrades that they were lazy and sluggish "labourators" and would therefore be excluded from the seventh room. Musicians were sent for, who with cornets were to "blow" the four in ridicule from the chamber. C.R.C. and his three companions were disheartened until the musicians told them to be of good cheer and led them up a winding stair to the eighth floor of the tower directly beneath the roof. Here the old warden, standing upon a little round furnace, welcomed them and congratulated them upon being chosen by *Virgo Lucifera*, for this greater work. *Virgo Lucifera* then entered, and after laughing at the perplexity of her guests, emptied the ashes of the bird into another vessel, filling the cypress box with useless matter. She thereupon returned to the seventh floor, presumably to mislead those assembled there by setting them to work upon the false ashes in the box.

C.R.C. and his three friends were set to work moistening the bird's ashes with specially prepared water until the mixture became of doughlike consistency, after which it was heated and molded into two miniature forms. Later these were opened, disclosing two bright and almost transparent human images about four inches high (homunculi), one male and the other female. These tiny forms were laid upon satin cushions and fed drop by drop with the blood of the bird until they grew to normal size and of great beauty. Though the bodies had the consistency of flesh, they showed no signs of life, for the soul was not in them. The bodies were next surrounded with torches and their faces covered with silk. *Virgo Lucifera* then appeared, bearing two curious white garments. The virgins also entered, among them six bearing great trumpets. A trumpet was placed upon the mouth of one of the two figures and C.R.C. saw a tiny hole open in the dome of the tower and a ray of light descend through the tube of the trumpet and enter the body. This process was repeated three times on each body. The two newly ensouled forms were then removed upon a traveling couch. In about half an hour the young King and Queen awakened and the *Virgo Lucifera* presented them with the white garments. These they donned and the King in his own person most graciously returned thanks to C.R.C. and his companions, after which the royal persons departed upon a ship. C.R.C. and his three privileged friends then rejoined the other "artists," making no mention of that which they had seen. Later the entire party were assigned handsome chambers, where they rested till morning.

**THE SEVENTH DAY**

In the morning *Virgo Lucifera* announced that each of the wedding guests had become a "Knight of the Golden Stone. " The aged warden then presented each man with a gold medal, bearing on one side the inscription "At. Nat. Mi. " and on the other, "Tem. Na. F." The entire company returned in twelve ships to the King's palace. The flags on the vessels bore the signs of the zodiac, and C.R.C. sat under that of Libra. As they entered the lake, many ships met them and the King and Queen, together with their lords, ladies, and virgins, rode forth on a golden barge to greet the returning guests. Atlas then made a short oration in the King's behalf, also asking for the royal presents. In reply the aged warden delivered to Cupid, who hovered about the royal pair, a small, curious-shaped casket. C.R.C. and the old lord, each bearing a snow-white ensign with a red cross on it, rode in the carriage with the King. At the first gate stood the porter with blue clothes, who, upon seeing C.R.C., begged him to intercede with the King to release him from that post of servitude. The King replied that the porter was a famous astrologer who was forced to keep the gate as a punishment for the crime of having gazed upon Lady Venus reposing upon her couch. The King further declared that the porter could be released only when another was found who had committed the same crime. Upon hearing this, C.R.C.'s heart sank, for he realized himself to be the culprit, but he remained silent at that time.

The newly created Knights of the Golden Stone were obliged to subscribe to five articles drawn up by His Royal Highness: (1) That they would ascribe their Order only to God and His handmaid, Nature. (2) That they should abominate all uncleanness and vice. (3) That they should always be ready to assist the worthy and needy. (4) That they should not use their knowledge and power for the attainment of worldly dignity. (5) That they should not desire to live longer than God had decreed. They were then duly installed as Knights, which ceremony was ratified in a little chapel where C. R. C. hung up his Golden Fleece and his hat for an eternal memorial, and here he inscribed the following: *Summa Scientia nihil Scire, Fr. Christianus Rosencreutz. Eques aurei Lapidis*. Anno 1459.

After the ceremony, C.R.C. admitted that he was the one who had beheld Venus and consequently must become the porter of the gate. The King embraced him fondly and he was assigned to a great room containing three beds--one for himself, one for the aged lord of the tower, and the third for old Atlas.

The *Chemical Marriage* here comes to an abrupt end, leaving the impression that C.R.C. was to assume his duties as porter on the following morning. The book ends in the middle of a sentence, with a note in italics presumably by the editor.

Under the symbolism of an alchemical marriage, medieval philosophers concealed the secret system of spiritual culture whereby they hoped to coordinate the *disjecta membra* of both the human and social organisms. Society, they maintained, was a threefold structure and had its analogy in the triune constitution of man, for as man consists of spirit, mind, and body, so society is made up of the church, the state, and the populace. The bigotry of the church, the tyranny of the state, and the fury of the mob are the three murderous agencies of society which seek to destroy Truth as recounted in the Masonic legend of Hiram Abiff. The first six days of The *Chemical Marriage* set forth the processes of philosophical "creation" through which every organism must pass. The three kings are the threefold spirit of man and their consorts the corresponding vehicles of their expression in the lower world. The executioner is the mind, the higher part of which--symbolized by the head--is necessary to the achievement of the philosophical labor. Thus the parts of man--by the alchemists symbolized as planets and elements--when blended together according to a certain Divine formula result in the creation of two philosophic "babes" which, fed upon the blood of the alchemical bird, become rulers of the world.

From an ethical standpoint, the young King and Queen resurrected at the summit of the tower and ensouled by Divine Life represent the forces of Intelligence and Love which must ultimately guide society. Intelligence and Love are the two great ethical luminaries of the world and correspond to enlightened spirit and regenerated body. The bridegroom is *reality* and the bride the regenerated being who attains perfection by becoming one with *reality* through a cosmic marriage wherein the mortal part attains immortality by being united with its own immortal Source. In the *Hermetic Marriage* divine and human consciousness are united in holy wedlock and he in whom this sacred ceremony takes place is designated as "Knight of the Golden Stone"; he thereby becomes a divine philosophic *diamond* composed of the quintessence of his own sevenfold constitution.

Such is the true interpretation of the mystical process of becoming "a bride of the Lamb." The Lamb of God is signified by the Golden Fleece that Jason was forced to win before he could assume his kingship. The Flying Lion is illumined will, an absolute prerequisite to the achievement of the Great Work. The episode of weighing the souls of men has its parallel in the ceremony described in the Egyptian *Book of the Dead*. The walled city entered by C.R.C. represents the sanctuary of wisdom wherein dwell the real rulers of the world--the initiated philosophers.

Like the ancient Mysteries after which it was patterned, the Order of the Rose Cross possessed a secret ritual which was lived by the candidate for a prescribed number of years before he was eligible to the inner degrees of the society. The various floors of the Tower of Olympus represent the orbits of the planets. The ascent of the philosophers from one floor to another also parallels certain rituals of the Eleusinian Mysteries and the rites of Mithras wherein the candidate ascended the seven rungs of a ladder or climbed the seven steps of a pyramid in order to signify release from the influences of the Planetary Governors. Man becomes master of the seven spheres only when he transmutes the impulses received from them. He who masters the seven worlds and is reunited with the Divine Source of his own nature consummates the *Hermetic Marriage*.

## Bacon, Shakspere, and the Rosicrucians

THE present consideration of the Bacon--Shakspere--Rosicrucian controversy is undertaken not for the vain purpose of digging up dead men's bones but rather in the hope that a critical analysis will aid in the rediscovery of that knowledge lost to the world since the oracles were silenced. It was W. F. C. Wigston who called the Bard of Avon "phantom Captain Shakespeare, the Rosicrucian mask." This constitutes one of the most significant statements relating to the Bacon-Shakspere controversy.

It is quite evident that William Shakspere could not, unaided, have produced the immortal writings bearing his name. He did not possess the necessary literary culture, for the town of Stratford where he was reared contained no school capable of imparting the higher forms of learning reflected in the writings ascribed to him. His parents were illiterate, and in his early life he evinced a total disregard for study. There are in existence but six known examples of Shakspere's handwriting. All are signatures, and three of them are in his will. The scrawling, uncertain method of their execution stamps Shakspere as unfamiliar with the use of a pen, and it is obvious either that he copied a signature prepared for him or that his hand was guided while he wrote. No autograph manuscripts of the "Shakespearian" plays or sonnets have been discovered, nor is there even a tradition concerning them other than the fantastic and impossible statement appearing in the foreword of the *Great Folio*.

A well-stocked library would be an essential part of the equipment of an author whose literary productions demonstrate him to be familiar with the literature of all ages, yet there is no record that Shakspere ever possessed a library, nor does he make any mention of books in his will. Commenting on the known illiteracy of Shakspere's daughter Judith, who at twenty-seven could only make her mark, Ignatius Donnelly declares it to be unbelievable that William Shakspere if he wrote the plays bearing his name would have permitted his own daughter to reach womanhood and marry without being able to read one line of the writings that made her father wealthy and locally famous.

The query also has been raised, "Where did William Shakspere secure his knowledge of modern French, Italian, Spanish, and Danish, to say nothing of classical Latin and Greek?" For, in spite of the rare discrimination with which Latin is used by the author of the Shakespearian plays, Ben Jonson, who knew Shakspere intimately, declared that the Stratford actor understood "small Latin and less Greek"! Is it not also more than strange that no record exists of William Shakspere's having ever played a leading role in the famous dramas he is supposed to have written or in others produced by the company of which he was a member? True, he may have owned a small interest in the Globe Theatre or Blackfriars, but apparently the height of his thespian achievements was the Ghost in *Hamlet*!

In spite of his admitted avarice, Shakspere seemingly made no effort during his lifetime to control or secure remuneration from the plays bearing his name, many of which were first published anonymously. As far as can be ascertained, none of his heirs were involved in any manner whatsoever in the printing of the *First Folio* after his death, nor did they benefit financially therefrom. Had he been their author, Shakspere's manuscripts and unpublished plays would certainly have constituted his most valued possessions, yet his will--while making special disposition of his second-best bed and his "broad silver gilt bowl" neither mentions nor intimates that he possessed any literary productions whatsoever.

While the Folios and Quartos usually are signed "William Shakespeare," all the known autographs of the Stratford actor read "William Shakspere." Does this change in spelling contain any significance heretofore generally overlooked? Furthermore, if the publishers of the *First Shakespearian Folio* revered their fellow actor as much as their claims in that volume would indicate, why did they, as if in ironical allusion to a hoax which they were perpetrating, place an evident caricature of him on the title page?

Certain absurdities also in Shakspere's private life are irreconcilable. While supposedly at the zenith of his literary career, he was actually engaged in buying malt, presumably for a brewing business! Also picture the immortal Shakspere--the reputed author of *The Merchant of Venice*--as a moneylender! Yet among those against whom Shakspere brought action to collect petty sums was a fellow townsman--one Philip Rogers--whom he sued for an unpaid loan of two shillings, or about forty-eight cents! In short, there is nothing known in the life of Shakspere that would justify the literary excellence imputed to him.

The philosophic ideals promulgated throughout the Shakespearian plays distinctly demonstrate their author to have been thoroughly familiar with certain doctrines and tenets peculiar to Rosicrucianism; in fact the profundity of the Shakespearian productions stamps their creator as one of the illuminati of the ages. Most of those seeking a solution for the Bacon-Shakspere controversy have been intellectualists. Notwithstanding their scholarly attainments, they have overlooked the important part played by transcendentalism in the philosophic achievements of the ages. The mysteries of superphysics are inexplicable to the materialist, whose training does not equip him to estimate the extent of their ramifications and complexities. Yet who but a Platonist, a Qabbalist, or a Pythagorean could have written *The Tempest*, *Macbeth*, *Hamlet*, or *The Tragedy of Cymbeline*? Who but one deeply versed in Paracelsian lore could have conceived, *A Midsummer Night's Dream*?

*HEADPIECE SHOWING LIGHT AND SHADED A's.*

*From Shakespeare's King Richard The Second, Quarto of 1597.*

*The ornamental headpiece shown above has long been considered a Baconian or Rosicrucian signature. The light and the dark A's appear in several volumes published by emissaries of the Rosicrucians. If the above figure be compared with that from the Alciati Emblemata on the following pages, the cryptic use of the two A's will be further demonstrated.*

Father of modern science, remodeler of modern law, editor of the modem Bible, patron of modem democracy, and one of the founders of modern Freemasonry, Sir Francis Bacon was a man of many aims and purposes. He was a Rosicrucian, some have intimated *the* Rosicrucian. If not actually the Illustrious Father C.R.C. referred to in the Rosicrucian manifestoes, he was certainly a high initiate of the Rosicrucian Order, and it is his activities in connection with this secret body that are of prime importance to students of symbolism, philosophy, and literature.

*THE TITLE PAGE OF BURTON'S ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY.*

*From Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.*

*Baconian experts declare Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy to be in reality Francis Bacon's scrapbook in which he gathered strange and rare bits of knowledge during the many years of eventful life. This title page has long been supposed to contain a cryptic message. The key to this cipher is the pointing figure of the maniac in the lower right-hand corner of the design. According to Mrs. Elizabeth Wells Gallup, the celestial globe at which the maniac is pointing is a cryptic symbol of Sir Francis Bacon. The planetary signs which appear in the clouds opposite the marginal figures 4, 5;, 6, and 7 signify the planetary configurations, which produce the forms of mania depicted. The seated man, with his head resting upon his hand. is declared by Baconian enthusiasts to represent Sir Francis Bacon.*

Scores of volumes have been written to establish Sir Francis Bacon as the real author of the plays and sonnets popularly ascribed to William Shakspere. An impartial consideration of these documents cannot but convince the open-minded of the verisimilitude of the Baconian theory. In fact those enthusiasts who for years have struggled to identify Sir Francis Bacon as the true "Bard of Avon" might long since have won their case had they emphasized its most important angle, namely, that Sir Francis Bacon, the Rosicrucian initiate, wrote into the Shakespearian plays the secret teachings of the Fraternity of R.C. and the true rituals of the Freemasonic Order, of which order it may yet be discovered that he was the actual founder. A sentimental world, however, dislikes to give up a traditional hero, either to solve a controversy or to right a wrong. Nevertheless, if it can be proved that by raveling out the riddle there can be discovered information of practical value to mankind, then the best minds of the world will cooperate in the enterprise. The Bacon-Shakspere controversy, as its most able advocates realize, involves the most profound aspects of science, religion, and ethics; he who solves its mystery may yet find therein the key to the supposedly lost wisdom of antiquity.

It was in recognition of Bacon's intellectual accomplishments that King James turned over to him the translators' manuscripts of what is now known as the King James Bible for the presumable purpose of checking, editing, and revising them. The documents remained in his hands for nearly a year, but no information is to be had concerning what occurred in that time. Regarding this work, William T. Smedley writes: " It will eventually be proved that the whole scheme of the Authorised Version of the Bible was Francis Bacon's." (See *The Mystery of Francis Bacon*.) The first edition of the King James Bible contains a cryptic Baconian headpiece. Did Bacon cryptographically conceal in the Authorized Bible that which he dared not literally reveal in the text--the secret Rosicrucian key to mystic and Masonic Christianity?

Sir Francis Bacon unquestionably possessed the range of general and philosophical knowledge necessary to write the Shakespearian plays and sonnets, for it is usually conceded that he was a composer, lawyer, and linguist. His chaplain, Doctor William Rawley, and Ben Jonson both attest his philosophic and poetic accomplishments. The former pays Bacon this remarkable tribute: "I have been enduced to think that if there were a beame of knowledge derived from God upon any man in these modern times, it was upon him. For though he was a great reader of books; yet he had not his knowledge from books but from some grounds and notions from within himself. " (See Introduction to the *Resuscitado*.)

Sir Francis Bacon, being not only an able barrister but also a polished courtier, also possessed that intimate knowledge of parliamentary law and the etiquette of the royal court revealed in the Shakespearian plays which could scarcely have been acquired by a man in the humble station of the Stratford actor. Lord Verulam furthermore visited many of the foreign countries forming the background for the plays and was therefore in a position to create the authentic local atmosphere contained therein, but there is no record of William Shakspere's ever having traveled outside of England.

The magnificent library amassed by Sir Francis Bacon contained the very volumes necessary to supply the quotations and anecdotes incorporated into the Shakespearian plays. Many of the plays, in fact, were taken from plots in earlier writings of which there was no English translation at that time. Because of his scholastic acquirements, Lord Verulam could have read the original books; it is most unlikely that William Shakspere could have done so.

Abundant cryptographic proof exists that Bacon was concerned in the production of the Shakespearian plays. Sir Francis Bacon's cipher number was 33. In the *First Part of King Henry the Fourth*, the word "Francis" appears 33 times upon one page. To attain this end, obviously awkward sentences were required, as: "Anon Francis? No Francis, but tomorrow Francis: or Francis, on Thursday: or indeed Francis when thou wilt. But Francis."

Throughout the Shakespearian *Folios* and *Quartos* occur scores of acrostic signatures. The simplest form of the acrostic is that whereby a name--in these instances Bacon's--was hidden in the first few letters of lines. In *The Tempest*, Act I, Scene 2, appears a striking example of the Baconian acrostic:

"Begun to tell me what I am, but stopt  
And left me to a bootelesse Inquisition,  
Concluding, stay: not yet.

The first letters of the first and second lines together with the first three letters of the third line form the word *BACon*. Similar acrostics appear frequently in Bacon's acknowledged writings.

The tenor of the Shakespearian dramas politically is in harmony with the recognized viewpoints of Sir Francis Bacon, whose enemies are frequently caricatured in the plays. Likewise their religious, philosophic, and educational undercurrents all reflect his personal opinions. Not only do these marked similarities of style and terminology exist in Bacon's writings and the Shakespearian plays, but there are also certain historical and philosophical inaccuracies common to both, such as identical misquotations from Aristotle.

"Evidently realizing that futurity would unveil his full genius, Lord Verulam in his will bequeathed his soul to God above by the oblations of his Savior, his body to be buried obscurely, his name and memory to men's charitable speeches, to foreign nations, to succeeding ages, *and to his own countrymen after some time had elapsed*. That portion appearing in italics Bacon deleted from his will, apparently fearing that he had said too much.

That Sir Francis Bacon's subterfuge was known to a limited few during his lifetime is quite evident. Accordingly, stray hints regarding the true author of the Shakespearian plays may be found in many seventeenth century volumes. On page 33 (Bacon's cipher number) of the 1609 edition of Robert Cawdry's *Treasurie or Storehouse* *of Similes* appears the following significant allusion: "Like as men would laugh at a poore man, if having precious garments lent him to act and play the part of some honourable personage upon a stage, when the play were at an ende he should keepe them as his owne, and bragge up and downe in them."

Repeated references to the word *hog* and the presence of cryptographic statements on page 33 of various contemporary writings demonstrate that the keys to Bacon's ciphers were his own name, words playing upon it, or its numerical equivalent. Notable examples are the famous statement of Mistress Quickly in *The Merry Wives of Windsor*: "Hang-hog is latten for Bacon, I warrant you"; the title pages of *The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia* and Edmund Spenser's *Faerie Queene*; and the emblems appearing in the works of Alciatus and Wither.

*A BACONIAN SIGNATURE.*

*From Alciati Emblemata.*

*The curious volume from which this figure is taken was published in Paris in r618. The attention of the Baconian student is immediately attracted by the form of the hog in the foreground. Bacon often used this animal as a play upon his own name, especially because the name Bacon was derived from he word beech and the nut of this tree was used to fatten hogs. The two pillars in the background have considerable Masonic interest. The two A's nearly in the center of the picture--one light and one shaded--are alone almost conclusive proof of Baconian influence. The most convincing evidence, however, is the fact that 17 is the numerical equivalent of the letters of the Latin farm of Bacon's name (F. Baco) and there are 17 letters in the three words appearing in the illustration.*

Furthermore, the word *honorificabilitudinitatibus* appearing in the fifth act of Love's Labour's Lost is a Rosicrucian signature, as its numerical equivalent (287) indicates.

Again, on the title page of the first edition of Sir Francis Bacon's *New Atlantis*, Father Time is depicted bringing a female figure out of the darkness of a cave. Around the device is a Latin inscription: "In time the secret truth shall be revealed." The catchwords and printer's devices appearing in volumes published especially during the first half of the seventeenth century were designed, arranged, and in some cases mutilated according to a definite plan.

It is evident also that the mispaginations in the Shakespearian *Folios* and other volumes are keys to Baconian ciphers, for re-editions--often from new type and by different printers--contain the same mistakes. For example, the *First* and *Second Folios* of Shakespeare are printed from entirely different type and by different printers nine years apart, but in both editions page 153 of the *Comedies* is numbered 151, and pages 249 and 250 are numbered 250 and 251 respectively. Also in the 1640 edition of Bacon's *The Advancement and Proficience of Learning*, pages 353 and 354 are numbered 351 and 352 respectively, and in the 1641 edition of *Du Bartas' Divine Weeks* pages 346 to 350 inclusive are entirely missing, while page 450 is numbered 442. The frequency with which pages ending in numbers 50, 51, 52,53, and 54 are involved will he noted.

*FRANCIS BACON, BARON VERULAM, VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS.*

*From Bacon's Advancement of Learning.*

*Lord Bacon was born in 1561 and history records his death in 1626. There are records in existence, however, which would indicate the probability that his funeral was a mock funeral and that, leaving England, he lived for many years under another name in Germany, there faithfully serving the secret society to the promulgation of whose doctrines he had consecrate his life. Little doubt seems to exist in the minds of impartial investigators that Lord Bacon was the legitimate son of Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Leicester.*

The requirements of Lord Verulam's biliteral cipher are fully met in scores of volumes printed between 1590 and 1650 and in some printed at other times. An examination of the verses by L. Digges, dedicated to the memory of the deceased "Authour Maister W. Shakespeare," reveals the use of two fonts of type for both capital and small letters, the differences being most marked in the capital *T*'s, *N*'s, and *A*'s, (Seethe *First Folio*.) The cipher has been deleted from subsequent editions.

The presence of hidden material in the text is often indicated by needless involvement of words. On the sixteenth unnumbered page of the 1641 edition of Du Bartas' *Divine Weeks* is a boar surmounting a pyramidal text. The text is meaningless jargon, evidently inserted for cryptographic reasons and marked with Bacon's signature--the hog. The year following publication of the *First Folio* of Shakespeare's plays in 1623, there was printed in "Lunæburg" a remarkable volume on cryptography, avowedly by Gustavus Selenus. It is considered extremely probable that this volume constitutes the cryptographic key to the *Great Shakespearian Folio*.

Peculiar symbolical head-and tail-pieces also mark the presence of cryptograms. While such ornaments are found in many early printed books, certain emblems are peculiar to volumes containing Baconian Rosicrucian ciphers. The light and dark shaded *A* is an interesting example. Bearing in mind the frequent recurrence in Baconian symbolism of the light and dark shaded *A* and the hog, the following statement by Bacon in his *Interpretation of Nature* is highly significant: "If the sow with her snout should happen to imprint the letter A upon the ground, wouldst thou therefore imagine that she could write out a whole tragedy as one letter?"

The Rosicrucians and other secret societies of the seventeenth century used watermarks as mediums for the conveyance of cryptographic references, and books presumably containing Baconian ciphers are usually printed upon paper bearing Rosicrucian or Masonic watermarks; often there are several symbols in one book, such as the Rose Cross, urns, bunches of grapes, and others.

At hand is a document which may prove a remarkable key to a cipher beginning in *The Tragedy of Cymbeline*. So far as known it has never been published and is applicable only to the 1623 *Folio* of the Shakespearian plays. The cipher is a line-and-word count involving punctuation, especially the long and short exclamation points and the straight and slanting interrogation points. This code was discovered by Henry William Bearse in 1900, and after it has been thoroughly checked its exact nature will be made public.

*A CRYPTIC HEADPIECE.*

*From Ralegh's History of the World.*

*Many documents influenced by Baconian philosophy--or intended m conceal Baconian or Rosicrucian cryptograms--use certain conventional designs at the beginning and end of chapters, which reveal to the initiated the presence of concealed information. The above ornamental has long been accepted as of the presence of Baconian influence and is to be found only in a certain number of rare volumes, all of which contain Baconian cryptograms. These cipher messages were placed in the books either by Bacon himself or by contemporaneous and subsequent authors belonging to the same secret society which Bacon served with his remarkable knowledge of ciphers and enigmas. Variants of this headpiece adorn the Great Shakespearian Folio (1623); Bacon's Novum Organum (1620); the St. James Bible (1611); Spencer's Faerie Queene (1611); and Sir Walter Ralegh's History of the World (1614) (See American Baconiana.)*

*THE DROESHOUT PORTRAIT OF SHAKSPERE.*

*From Shakespeare's Great Folio of 1623.*

*There are no authentic portraits of Shakspere in existence. The dissimilarities the Droeshout, Chandos, Janssen, Hunt, Ashbourne, Soest, and Dunford portraits prove conclusively that the artists were unaware of Shakspere's actual features. An examination of the Droeshout portrait discloses several peculiarities. Baconian enthusiasts are convinced that the face is only a caricature, possibly the death mask of Francis Bacon. A comparison of the Droeshout Shakspere with portraits and engravings of Francis Bacon demonstrates the identity of the structure of the two faces, the difference in expression being caused by lines of shading. Not also the peculiar line running from the ear down to the chin. Does this line subtly signify that the face itself a mask, ending at the ear? Notice also that the head is not connected with the body, but is resting on the collar. Most strange of all is the coat: one-half is on backwards. In drawing the jacket, the artist has made the left arm correctly, but the right arm has the back of the shoulder to the front. Frank Woodward has noted that there are 157 letters on the title page. This is a Rosicrucian signature of first importance. The date, 1623, Plus the two letters "ON" from the word "LONDON," gives the cryptic signature of Francis Bacon, by a simple numerical cipher. By merely exchanging the 26 letters of the alphabet for numbers, 1 became A, 6 becomes F, 2 becomes B, and 3 becomes C, giving AFBC. To this is added the ON from LONDON, resulting in AFBCON, which rearranged forms F. BACON.*

No reasonable doubt remains that the Masonic Order is the direct outgrowth of the secret societies of the Middle Ages, nor can it be denied that Freemasonry is permeated by the symbolism and mysticism of the ancient and medieval worlds. Sir Francis Bacon knew the true secret of Masonic origin and there is reason to suspect that he concealed this knowledge in cipher and cryptogram. Bacon is not to be regarded solely as a man but rather as the focal point between an invisible institution and a world which was never able to distinguish between the messenger and the message which he promulgated. This secret society, having rediscovered the lost wisdom of the ages and fearing that the knowledge might be lost again, perpetuated it in two ways: (1) by an organization (Freemasonry) to the initiates of which it revealed its wisdom in the form of symbols; (2) by embodying its arcana in the literature of the day by means of cunningly contrived ciphers and enigmas.

Evidence points to the existence of a group of wise and illustrious *Fratres* who assumed the responsibility of publishing and preserving for future generations the choicest of the secret books of the ancients, together with certain other documents which they themselves had prepared. That future members of their fraternity might not only identify these volumes bur also immediately note the significant passages, words, chapters, or sections therein, they created a symbolic alphabet of hieroglyphic designs. By means of a certain key and order, the discerning few were thus enabled to find that wisdom by which a man is "raised" to an illumined life.

The tremendous import of the Baconian mystery is daily becoming more apparent. Sir Francis Bacon was a link in that great chain of minds which has perpetuated the secret doctrine of antiquity from its beginning. This secret doctrine is concealed in his cryptic writings. The search for this divine wisdom is the only legitimate motive for the effort to decode his cryptograms.

Masonic research might discover much of value if it would turn its attention to certain volumes published during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries which bear the stamp and signet of that secret society whose members first established modern Freemasonry but themselves remained as an intangible group controlling and directing the activities of the outer body. *The unknown history and lost rituals of Freemasonry may be rediscovered in the symbolism and cryptograms of the Middle Ages*. Freemasonry is the bright and glorious son of a mysterious and hidden father. It cannot trace its parentage because that origin is obscured by the veil of the superphysical and the mystical. The *Great Folio* of 1623 is a veritable treasure house of Masonic lore and symbolism, and the time is at hand when that Great Work should be accorded the consideration which is its due.

Though Christianity shattered the material organization of the pagan Mysteries, it could not destroy the knowledge of supernatural power which the pagans possessed. Therefore it is known that the Mysteries of Greece and Egypt were secretly perpetuated through the early centuries of the church, and later, by being clothed in the symbolism of Christianity, were accepted as elements of that faith. Sir Francis Bacon was one of those who had been entrusted with the perpetuation and dissemination of s the arcana of the superphysical originally in the possession of the pagan hierophants, and to attain that end either formulated the Fraternity of R.C. or was admitted into an organization already existing under that name and became one of its principal representatives.

*TITLE PAGE OF THE FAMOUS FIRST EDITION OF SIR WALTER RALEGH'S HISTORY OF THE WORLD.*

*From Ralegh's History of the World.*

*What was the mysterious knowledge which Sir Walter Ralegh possessed and which was declared to be detrimental to the British government? Why was he executed when the charges against him could not be proved? Was he a member of me of those feared and hated secret societies which nearly overthrew political and religious Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? Was Sir Walter Ralegh an important factor in the Bacon-Shakspere-Rosicrucian-Masonic enigma? By those seeking the keys to this great controversy, he seems to have been almost entirely overlooked. His contemporaries are unanimous in their praise of his remarkable intellect, and he has long been considered me of Britain's most brilliant sons.*

*Sir Walter Ralegh--soldier, courtier, statesman, writer, poet, philosopher, and explorer--was a scintillating figure at the court of Queen Elizabeth. Upon this same man, King James--after the death of Elizabeth--heaped every indignity within his power. The cowardly James, who shuddered at the mention of weapons and cried like a child when he was crossed, was insanely jealous of the brilliant courtier. Ralegh's enemies, Playing upon the king's weakness, did not cease their relentless persecution until Ralegh had been hanged and his decapitated, quartered, and disemboweled body lay at their feet.*

*The title page reproduced above was used by Ralegh's political foes as a powerful weapon against him. They convinced James I that the face of the central figure upholding the globe was a caricature of his own, and the enraged king ordered every copy of the engraving destroyed. But a few copies escaped the royal wrath; consequently the plate is extremely rare. The engraving is a mass Rosicrucian and Masonic symbols, and the figures on the columns in all probability conceal a cryptogram. More significant still is the fact that the page facing this plate is a headpiece identical with that used in the 1623 Folio of "Shakespeare" and also in Bacon's Novum Organum.*

For some reason not apparent to the uninitiated there has been a continued and consistent effort to prevent the unraveling of the Baconian skein. Whatever the power may be which continually blocks the efforts of investigators, it is as unremitting now as it was immediately following Bacon's death, and those attempting to solve the enigma still feel the weight of its resentment.

A misunderstanding world has ever persecuted those who understood the secret workings of Nature, seeking in every conceivable manner to exterminate the custodians of this divine wisdom. Sir Francis Bacon's political prestige was finally undermined and Sir Walter Ralegh met a shameful fate because their transcendental knowledge was considered dangerous.

The forging of Shakspere's handwriting; the foisting of fraudulent portraits and death masks upon a gullible public; the fabrication of spurious biographies; the mutilation of books and documents; the destruction or rendering illegible of tablets and inscriptions containing cryptographic messages, have all compounded the difficulties attendant upon the solution of the Bacon-Shakspere-Rosicrucian riddle. The Ireland forgeries deceived experts for years.

According to material available, the supreme council of the Fraternity of R.C. was composed of a certain number of individuals who had died what is known as the "philosophic death." When the time came for an initiate to enter upon his labors for the Order, he conveniently "died" under somewhat mysterious circumstances. In reality he changed his name and place of residence, and a box of rocks or a body secured for the purpose was buried in his stead. It is believed that this happened in the case of Sir Francis Bacon who, like all servants of the Mysteries, renounced all personal credit and permitted others to be considered as the authors of the documents which he wrote or inspired.

The cryptic writings of Francis Bacon constitute one of the most powerful tangible elements in the mysteries of transcendentalism and symbolic philosophy. Apparently many years must yet pass before an uncomprehending world will appreciate the transcending genius of that mysterious man who wrote the *Novum Organum*, who sailed his little ship far out into the unexplored sea of learning through the Pillars of Hercules, and whose ideals for a new civilization are magnificently expressed in the Utopian dream of *The New Atlantis*. Was Sir Francis Bacon a second Prometheus? Did his great love for the people of the world and his pity for their ignorance cause him to bring the divine fire from heaven concealed within the contents of a printed page?

In all probability, the keys to the Baconian riddle will be found in classical mythology. He who understands the secret of the Seven-Rayed God will comprehend the method employed by Bacon to accomplish his monumental labor. Aliases were assumed by him in accordance with the attributes and order of the members of the planetary system. One of the least known--but most important--keys to the Baconian enigma is the Third, or 1637, Edition, published in Paris, of *Les Images ou Tableaux de platte peinture des deux Philostrates sophistes grecs et les statues de Callistrate*, by Blaise de Vigenere. The title page of this volume--which, as the name of the author when properly deciphered indicates, was written by or under the direction of Bacon or his secret society--is one mass of important Masonic or Rosicrucian symbols. On page 486 appears a plate entitled "Hercules Furieux," showing a gigantic figure shaking a spear, the ground before him strewn with curious emblems. In his curious work, *Das Bild des Speershüttlers die Lösung des Shakespeare-Rätsels*, Alfred Freund attempts to explain the Baconian symbolism in the *Philostrates*. Bacon he reveals as the philosophical Hercules, whom time will establish as the true "Spear-Shaker" (Shakespeare).

## The Cryptogram as a factor in Symbolic Philosophy

NO treatise which deals with symbolism would be complete without a section devoted to the consideration of cryptograms. The use of ciphers has long been recognized as indispensable in military and diplomatic circles, but the modern world has overlooked the important role played by cryptography in literature and philosophy. If the art of deciphering cryptograms could be made popular, it would result in the discovery of much hitherto unsuspected wisdom possessed by both ancient and medieval philosophers. It would prove that many apparently verbose and rambling authors were wordy for the sake of concealing words. Ciphers are hidden in the most subtle manner: they may be concealed in the watermark of the paper upon which a book is printed; they may be bound into the covers of ancient books; they may be hidden under imperfect pagination; they may be extracted from the first letters of words or the first words of sentences; they may be artfully concealed in mathematical equations or in apparently unintelligible characters; they may be extracted from the jargon of clowns or revealed by heat as having been written in sympathetic ink; they may be word ciphers, letter ciphers, or apparently ambiguous statements whose meaning could be understood only by repeated careful readings; they may he discovered in the elaborately illuminated initial letters of early books or they may be revealed by a process of counting words or letters. If those interested in Freemasonic research would give serious consideration to this subject, they might find in books and manuscripts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the information necessary to bridge the gap in Masonic history that now exists between the Mysteries of the ancient world and the Craft Masonry of the last three centuries.

The arcana of the ancient Mysteries were never revealed to the profane except through the media of symbols. Symbolism fulfilled the dual office of concealing the sacred truths from the uninitiated and revealing them to those qualified to understand the symbols. Forms are the symbols of formless divine principles; symbolism is the language of Nature. With reverence the wise pierce the veil and with clearer vision contemplate the reality; but the ignorant, unable to distinguish between the false and the true, behold a universe of symbols. It may well be said of Nature--the Great Mother--that she is ever tracing strange characters upon the surface of things, but only to her eldest and wisest sons as a reward for their faith and devotion does she reveal the cryptic alphabet which is the key to the import of these tracings.

The temples of the ancient Mysteries evolved their own sacred languages, known only to their initiates and never spoken save in the sanctuary. The illumined priests considered it sacrilege to discuss the sacred truths of the higher worlds or the divine verities of eternal Nature in the same tongue as that used by the vulgar for wrangling and dissension. A sacred science must needs be couched in a sacred language. Secret alphabets also were invented, and whenever the secrets of the wise were committed to writing, characters meaningless to the uninformed were employed. Such forms of writing were called sacred or Hermetic alphabets. Some--such as the famous *angelic writing*--are still retained in the higher degrees of Masonry.

Secret alphabets were not entirely satisfactory, however, for although they rendered unintelligible the true nature of the writings, their very presence disclosed the fact of concealed information--which the priests also sought to conceal. Through patience or persecution, the keys to these alphabets were eventually acquired and the contents of the documents revealed to the unworthy. This necessitated employment of more subtle methods for concealing the divine truths. The result was the appearance of cryptic systems of writing designed to conceal the presence of both the message and the cryptogram. Having thus devised a method of transmitting their secrets to posterity, the illuminati encouraged the circulation of certain documents specially prepared through incorporating into them ciphers containing the deepest secrets of mysticism and philosophy. Thus medieval philosophers disseminated their theories throughout Europe without evoking suspicion, since volumes containing these cryptograms could be subjected to the closest scrutiny without revealing the presence of the hidden message.

During the Middle Ages scores of writers--members of secret political or religious organizations--published books containing ciphers. Secret writing became a fad; every European court had its own diplomatic cipher, and the intelligentsia vied with one another in devising curious and complicated cryptograms. The literature of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries is permeated with ciphers, few of which have ever been decoded. Many of the magnificent scientific and philosophic intellects of this period dared not publish their findings, because of the religious intolerance of their day. In order to preserve the fruitage of their intellectual labors for mankind, these pioneers of progress concealed their discoveries in ciphers, trusting that future generations, more kindly than their own, would discover and appreciate their learning.

Many churchmen, it is interesting to note, used cryptograms, fearing excommunication or a worse fate should their scientific researches be suspected. Only recently an intricate cipher of Roger Bacon's has been unraveled, revealing the fact that this early scientist was well versed in the cellular theory. Lecturing before the American Philosophical Society, Dr. William Romaine Newbold, who translated the cipher manuscript of the friar, declared: "There are drawings which so accurately portray the actual appearance of certain objects that it is difficult to resist the inference that Bacon had seen them with the microscope. ** * These are spermatozoa, the body cells and the seminiferous tubes, the ova, with their nuclei distinctly indicated. There are nine large drawings, of which one at least bears considerable resemblance to a certain stage of development of a fertilized cell." (See *Review of Reviews*, July, 1921.) Had Roger Bacon failed to conceal this discovery under a complicated cipher, he would have been persecuted as a heretic and would probably have met the fate of other early liberal thinkers. In spite of the rapid progress made by science in the last two hundred and fifty years, it still remains ignorant concerning many of the original discoveries made by medieval investigators. The only record of these important findings is that contained in the cryptograms of the volumes which they published. While many authors have written on the subject of cryptography, the books most valuable to students of philosophy and religion are: *Polygraphia* and *Steganographia*, by Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim; *Mercury, or The Secret and Swift Messenger*, by John Wilkins, Bishop of Chester; *Œdipus Ægyptiacus* and other works by Athanasius Kircher, Society of Jesus; and *Cryptomenytices et Cryptographiæ*, by Gustavus Selenus.

*A FAMOUS CRYPTIC TITLE PAGE.*

*From Selenus' Cryptomenytices et Cryptographiæ.*

*One year after the publication of the first Great "Shakespearian" Folio, a remarkable volume on cryptogram, and ciphers was published. The title page of the work is reproduced above. The year of its publication (1624) was during the Rosicrucian controversy. The translation of the title page is as follows:*

*"The Cryptomenysis and Cryptography of Gustavus Selenus in nine books, to which is added a clear explanation of the System of Steganography of John Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim and Herbipolis, a man of admirable genius. Interspersed with worthy inventions of the Author and others, 1624." The author of this volume was believed to be Augustus, Duke of Brunswick. The symbols and emblems ornamenting the title page, however, are conclusive evidence that the fine hand of the Rosicrucians was behind its publication. At the bottom of the picture is a nobleman (Bacon?) placing his hat on another man's head. In the oval at the top of the plate, it is possible that the lights are beacons, or a play upon the name Bacon. In the two side panels are striking and subtle "Shakespearian" allusions. On the left is a nobleman (possibly Bacon) handing a paper to another man of mean appearance who carries in his hand a spear. At the right, the man who previously carried the spear is shown in the costume of an actor, wearing spurs and blowing a horn. The allusion to the actor blowing his horn and the figure carrying the spear suggest much, especially as spear is the last syllable of the name "Shakespeare."*

To illustrate the basic differences in their construction and use, the various forms of ciphers are here grouped under seven general headings:

1. The *literal* cipher. The most famous of all literal cryptograms is the famous biliteral cipher described by Sir Francis Bacon in his *De Augmentis Scientiarum*. Lord Bacon originated the system while still a young man residing in Paris. The biliteral cipher requires the use of two styles of type, one an ordinary face and the other specially cut. The differences between the two fonts are in many case so minute that it requires a powerful magnifying glass to detect them. Originally, the cipher messages were concealed only in the italicized words, sentences, or paragraphs, because the italic letters, being more ornate than the Roman letters, offered greater opportunity for concealing the slight but necessary variations. Sometimes the letters vary a trifle in size; at other times in thickness or in their ornamental flourishes. Later, Lord Bacon is believed to have had two Roman alphabets specially prepared in which the differences were so trivial that it is almost impossible for experts to distinguish them.

A careful inspection of the first four "Shakespeare" folios discloses the use throughout the volumes of several styles of type differing in minute but distinguishable details. It is possible that all the "Shakespeare" folios contain ciphers running through the text. These ciphers may have been added to the original plays, which are much longer in the folios than in the original quartos, full scenes having been added in some instances.

The biliteral cipher was not confined to the writings of Bacon and "Shakespeare," however, but appears in many books published during Lord Bacon's lifetime and for nearly a century after his b death. In referring to the biliteral cipher, Lord Bacon terms it *omnia per omnia*. The cipher may run through an entire book and be placed therein at the time of printing without the knowledge of the original author, for it does not necessitate the changing of either words or punctuation. It is possible that this cipher was inserted for political purposes into many documents and volumes published during the seventeenth century. It is well known that ciphers were used for the same reason as early as the Council of Nicæa.

The Baconian biliteral cipher is difficult to use today, owing to the present exact standardization of type and the fact that so few books are now hand set. Accompanying this chapter are facsimiles of Lord Bacon's biliteral alphabet as it appeared in the 1640 English translation of *De Augmentis Scientiarum*. There are four alphabets, two for the capital and two for the small letters. Consider carefully the differences between these four and note that each alphabet has the power of either the letter *a* or the letter *b*, and that when reading a word its letters are divisible into one of two groups: those which correspond to the letter *a* and those which correspond to the letter *b*. In order to employ the biliteral cipher, a document must contain five times as many letters as there are in the cipher message to be concealed, for it requires five letters to conceal one. The biliteral cipher somewhat resembles a telegraph code in which letters are changed into dots and dashes; according to the biliteral system, however, the dots and dashes are represented respectively by *a*'s and *b*'s. The word *biliteral* is derived from the fact that all letters of the alphabet may be reduced to either *a* or *b*. An example of biliteral writing is shown in one of the accompanying diagrams. In order to demonstrate the working of this cipher, the message concealed within the words "Wisdom and understanding are more to be desired than riches" will now be deciphered.

The first step is to discover he letters of each alphabet and replace them by their equivalent *a* or *b* in accordance with the key given by Lord Bacon in his biliteral alphabet (q.v.). In the word *wisdom*, the *W* is from the b alphabet; therefore it is replaced by a *b*. The *i* is from the *a* alphabet; therefore an *a* is put in its place. The *s* is also from the *a* alphabet, but the *d* belongs to the *b* alphabet. The *o* and the *m* both belong to the *a* alphabet is replaced by *a*. By this process the word WISDOM become *baabaa*. Treating the remaining words of the sentence in a similar manner, AND becomes *aba*; UNDERSTANDING, *aaabaaaaaabab*; ARE, *aba*; MORE, *abbb*; TO, *ab*; BE, *ab*; DESIRED, *abaabaa*; THAN, *aaba*; RICHES, *aaaaaa*.

The next step is to run all the letters together; thus:

*baabaaabaaaabaaaaaabababaabbbabababaabaaaabaaaaaaa*.

All the combinations used in the Baconian biliteral cipher consist of groups containing five letters each. Therefore the solid line of letters must be broken into groups of five in the following manner: *baaba aabaa aabaa aaaab ababa abbba babab aabaa aabaa aaaaa*. Each of these groups of five letters now represents one letter of the cipher, and the actual letter can now be determined by comparing the groups with the alphabetical table, The Key to the Biliteral Cipher, from De Augmentis Scientiarum (*q.v.*): *baaba* = T, *aabaa* = E, *aabaa* = E; *aaaab* = B; *ababa* = L; *abbba* = P; *babab* = X; *aabaa* = E, *aabaa* = E; *aaaaa* = A; but the last five letters of the word *riches* being set off by a period from the initial *r*, the last five *a*'s do not count in the cipher. The letters thus extracted are now brought together in order, resulting in TEEBLPXEE.

*AN EXAMPLE OF BILITERAL WRITING.*

*In the above sentence note carefully the formation of the letters. Compare each letter with the two types of letters in the biliteral alphabet table reproduced from Lord Bacon's De Augmentis Scientiarum. A comparison of the "d" in "wisdom" with the "d" in "and" discloses a large loop at the top of the first, while the second shows practically no loop at all. Contrast the "i" in "wisdom" with the "i" in "understanding." In the former, the lines are curved and in the latter angular. A similar analysis of the two "r's" in "desired" reveals obvious differences. The "o" in "more" differs only from the "o" in "wisdom" in that it a tiny line continues from the top over towards the "r." The "a" in "than" is thinner and more angular than the "a" in "are," while the "r" in "riches" differs from that in "desired" in that the final upright stroke terminates in a ball instead of a sharp point. These minor differences disclose the presence of the two alphabets employed in writing the sentence.*

At this point the inquirer might reasonably expect the letters to make intelligible words; but he will very likely be disappointed, for, as in the case above, the letters thus extracted are themselves a cryptogram, doubly involved to discourage those who might have a casual acquaintance with the biliteral system.

*THE KEY TO THE BILITERAL CIPHER.*

*From Bacon's De Augmentis Scientiarum.*

*After the document to be deciphered has been reduced to its "a" and "b" equivalents, it is then broken up into five-letter groups and the message read with the aid of the above table.*

*A MODERN WHEEL, OR DISC, CIPHER.*

*The above diagram shows a wheel cipher. The smaller, or inner, alphabet moves around so that any one of its letters may be brought opposite any me of he letters on the larger, or outer, alphabet. In some, cases the inner alphabet is written backwards, but in the present example, both alphabets read the same way.*

*THE BILITERAL ALPHABET.*

*From Bacon's De Augmentis Scientiarum.*

*This Plate is reproduced from Bacon's De Augmentis Scientiarum, and shows the two alphabets as designed by him for the purpose of his cipher. Each capital and small letter has two distinct forms which are designated "a" and "b". The biliteral system did not in every instance make use of two alphabets in which the differences were as perceptible as in the example here given, but the two alphabets were always used; sometimes variations are so minute that it requires a powerful magnifying glass to distinguish the difference between the "a" and "b" types of letters.*

The next step is to apply the nine letters to what is commonly called a wheel (or disc) cipher (q.v.), which consists of two alphabets, one revolving around the other in such a manner that numerous transpositions of letters are possible. In the accompanying cut the A of the inner alphabet is opposite the H of the outer alphabet, so that for cipher purposes these letters are interchangeable. The F and M, the P, and Y, the W and D, in fact all the letters, may be transposed as shown by the two circles. The nine letters extracted by the biliteral cipher may thus be exchanged for nine others by the wheel cipher. The nine letters are considered as being on the inner circle of the wheel and are exchanged for the nine letters on the outer circle which are opposite the inner letters. By this process the T becomes A; the two E's become two L's; the B becomes I, the L becomes S; the P becomes W; the X becomes E; and the two E's become two L's. The result is ALLISWELL, which, broken up into words, reads: "All is well."

Of course, by moving the inner disc of the wheel cipher, many different combinations in addition to the one given above can be made of the letters, but this is the only one which will produce sense, and the cryptogrammatist must keep on experimenting until he discovers a logical and intelligible message. He may then feel reasonably sure that he has deciphered the system. Lord Bacon involved the biliteral cipher in many different ways. There are probably a score of different systems used in the "Shakespeare" folio alone, some so intricate that they may forever baffle all attempts at their decipherment. In those susceptible of solution, sometimes the *a*'s and *b*'s have to be exchanged; at other times the concealed message is written backwards; again only every other letter is counted; and so on.

There are several other forms of the literal cipher in which letters are substituted for each other by a prearranged sequence. The simplest form is that in which two alphabets are written thus:

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

K

L

M

N

Z

Y

X

W

U

T

S

R

Q

P

O

N

M

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

W

X

Y

Z

L

K

I

H

G

F

E

D

C

B

A

By substituting the letters of the lower alphabet for their equivalents in the upper one, a meaningless conglomeration results, the hidden message being decoded by reversing the process. There is also a form of the literal cipher in which the actual cryptogram is written in the body of the document, but unimportant words are inserted between important ones according to a prearranged order. The literal cipher also includes what are called acrostic signatures--that is, words written down the column by the use of the first letter of each line and also more complicated acrostics in which the important letters are scattered through entire paragraphs or chapters. The two accompanying alchemical cryptograms illustrate another form of the literal cipher involving the first letter of each word. Every cryptogram based upon the arrangement or combination of the letters of the alphabet is called a literal cipher.

2. The *pictorial* cipher. Any picture or drawing with other than its obvious meaning may be considered a pictorial cryptogram. Instances of pictorial cipher are frequently found in Egyptian symbolism and early religious art. The diagrams of alchemists and Hermetic philosophers are invariably pictorial ciphers. In addition to the simple pictorial cipher, there is a more technical form in which words or letters are concealed by the number of stones in a wall, by the spread of birds' wings in flight, by ripples on the surface of water, or by the length and order of lines used in shading. Such cryptograms are not obvious, and must be decoded with the aid of an arbitrary measuring scale, the length of the lines determining the letter or word concealed. The shape and proportion of a building, the height of a tower, the number of bars in a window, the folds of a man's garments--even the proportions or attitude of the human body--were used to conceal definite figures or characters which could be exchanged for letters or words by a person acquainted with the code.

Initial letters of names were secreted in architectural arches and spans. A notable example of this practice is found on the title page of Montaigue's *Essays*, third edition, where an initial B is formed by two arches and an F by a broken arch. Pictorial cryptograms are sometimes accompanied by the key necessary for their decipherment. A figure may point toward the starting point of the cipher or carry in its hand some implement disclosing the system of measurement used. There are also frequent instances in which the cryptographer purposely distorted or improperly clothed some figure in his drawing by placing the hat on backwards, the sword on the wrong side, or the shield on the wrong arm, or by employing some similar artifice. The much-discussed fifth finger on the Pope's hand in Raphael's *Sistine Madonna* and the sixth toe on Joseph's foot in the same artist's *Marriage of the Virgin* are cunningly concealed cryptograms.

*AN ALCHEMICAL CRYPTOGRAM.*

*From Brown's History of Chemistry.*

*James Campbell Brown reprints a curious cipher from Kircher. The capital letters of the seven words in the outer circle read clockwise, form the word SVLPHVR. From the words in the second circle, when read in a similar manner, is derived FIXVM. The capitals of the six words in the inner circle, when properly arranged, also read ESTSOL. The following cipher is thus extracted: "Sulphur Fixum Est Sol," which when translated is: "Fixed sulphur is gold."*

3. The *acroamatic* cipher. The religious and philosophical writings of all nations abound with acroamatic cryptograms, that is, parables and allegories. The acroamatic is unique in that the document containing it may be translated or reprinted without affecting the cryptogram. Parables and allegories have been used since remote antiquity to present moral truths in an attractive and understandable manner. The acroamatic cryptogram is a pictorial cipher drawn in words and its symbolism must be so interpreted. The Old and New Testaments of the Jews, the writings of Plato and Aristotle, Homer's *Odyssey* and *Iliad*, Virgil's *Æneid*, *The Metamorphosis* of Apuleius, and Æsop's *Fables* are outstanding examples of acroamatic cryptography in which are concealed the deepest and most sublime truths of ancient mystical philosophy.

The acroamatic cipher is the most subtle of all, for the parable or allegory is susceptible of several interpretations. Bible students for centuries have been confronted by this difficultly. They are satisfied with the moral interpretation of the parable and forget that each parable and allegory is capable of seven interpretations, of which the seventh--the highest--is complete and all-inclusive, whereas the other six (and lesser) interpretations are fragmentary, revealing but part of the mystery. The creation myths of the world are acroamatic cryptograms, and the deities of the various pantheons are only cryptic characters which, if properly understood, become the constituents of a divine alphabet. The initiated few comprehend the true nature of this alphabet, but the uninitiated many worship the letters of it as gods.

*AN ALCHEMICAL CRYPTOGRAM.*

*From Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer.*

*Beginning with the word VISITA and reading clockwise, the seven initial letters of the seven words inscribed in the outer circle read: VITRIOL. This is a very simple alchemical enigma, but is a reminder that those studying works on Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, alchemy, and Freemasonry should always be on the lookout for concealed meanings hidden either in Parables and allegories or in cryptic arrangements of numbers, letters, and words.*

4. The *numerical* cipher. Many cryptograms have been produced in which numbers in various sequences are substituted for letters, words, or even complete thoughts. The reading of numerical ciphers usually depends upon the possession of specially arranged tables of correspondences. The numerical cryptograms of the Old Testament are so complicated that only a few scholars versed in rabbinical lore have ever sought to unravel their mysteries. In his *Œdipus Ægyptiacus*, Athanasius Kircher describes several Arabian Qabbalistic theorems, and a great part of the Pythagorean mystery was concealed in a secret method in vogue among Greek mystics of substituting letters for numbers.

The most simple numerical cipher is that in which the letters of the alphabet are exchanged for numbers in ordinary sequence. Thus *A* becomes 1, *B* 2, *C* 3, and so on, counting both *I* and *J* as 9 and both *U* and *V* as 20. The word yes by this system would be written 23-5-18. This cipher can be made more difficult by reversing the alphabet so that *Z* becomes 1, *Y* 2, *X* 3, and so on. By inserting a non-significant, or uncounted, number after each of the significant numbers the cipher is still more effectively concealed, thus: 23-16-5-9-18.

*A CRYPTIC DEPICTION OF DIVINE AND NATURAL JUSTICE.*

*From Selenus' Cryptomenytices et Cryptographiæ.*

*The first circle portrays the divine antecedents of justice, the second the universal scope of justice, and the third the results of human application of justice. Hence, the first circle deals with divine principles, the second circle with mundane affairs, and the third circle with man. On the at the top of the picture sits Themis, the presiding spirit of law, and at her feet three other queens--Juno, Minerva, and Venus--their robes ornamented with geometric figures. The axis of law connects the throne, of divine justice above with the throne of human judgment at the bottom of the picture. Upon the latter throne is seated a queen with a scepter in her hand, before whom stands the winged goddess Nemesis--the angel of judgment.*

*The second Circle is divided into three parts by two sets of two horizontal lines. The upper and light section is called the Supreme Region and is the abode of the gods, the good spirits, and the heroes. The lower and dark section is the abode of lust, sin, and ignorance. Between these two extremes is the larger section in which are blended the powers and impulses of both the superior and the inferior regions.*

*In the third or inner circle is man, a tenfold creature, consisting of nine parts--three of spirit, three of intellect, and three of soul--enclosed within one constitution. According to Selenus, man's three spiritual qualities are thought, speech, and action; his three intellectual qualities are memory, intelligence, and will; and his three qualities of soul are understanding, courage, and desire. The third circle is further divided into three parts called ages: the Golden Age of spiritual truth in the upper right section, the Iron Age of spiritual darkness in the lower right section and the Bronze Age--a composite of the two occupying the entire left half of the inner circle and itself divided into three parts. The lowest division of the Bronze Age depicts ignorant man controlled by force, the central the partly awakened man controlled by jurisprudence, and the upper the spiritually illuminated man controlled by love. Both the second and third circles revolve upon the axis of law, but the divine source, of law--Heavenly Justice--is concealed by clouds. All of the symbols and figures ornamenting the plate are devoted to a detailed amplification of the principles here outlined.*

The word *yes* is found by eliminating the second and fourth numbers. By adding 23, 5, and 18 together the sum 46 results. Therefore 46 is the numerical equivalent of the word *yes*. According to the simple numerical cipher, the sum 138 is equal to the words *Note carefully*. Therefore in a book using this method, line 138, page 138, or paragraph 138 may contain the concealed message. In addition to this simple numerical cipher there are scores of others so complicated that no one without the key can hope to solve them.

Authors sometimes based their cryptograms upon the numerical value of their own names; for example, Sir Francis Bacon repeatedly used the cryptic number 33--the numerical equivalent of his name. Numerical ciphers often involve the pagination of a book. Imperfect pagination, though generally attributed to carelessness, often conceals important secrets. The mispaginations found in the 1623 folio of "Shakespeare" and the consistent recurrence of similar errors in various volumes printed about the same period have occasioned considerable thought among scholars and cryptogrammatists. In Baconian cryptograms, all page numbers ending in 89 seem to have a special significance. The 89th page of the *Comedies* in the 1623 folio of "Shakespeare" shows an error of type in the pagination, the "9" being from a considerably smaller font than the "8." The 189th page is entirely missing, there being two pages numbered 187; and page 188 shows the second " 8 " scarcely more than half the size of the first one. Page 289 is correctly numbered and has no unusual features, but page 89 of the *Histories* is missing. Several volumes published by Bacon show similar errors, page 89 being often involved.

There are also numerical ciphers from which the cryptic message may be extracted by counting every tenth word, every twentieth word, or every fiftieth word. In some cases the count is irregular. The first important word may be found by counting 100, the second by counting 90, the third by counting 80, and so on until the count of 10 is reached. The count then returns to 100 and the process is repeated.

5. The *musical* cipher. John Wilkins, afterwards Bishop of Chester, in 1641 circulated an anonymous essay entitled *Mercury, or the Secret and Swift Messenger*. In this little volume, which was largely derived from the more voluminous treatises of Trithemius and Selenus, the author sets forth a method whereby musicians can converse with each other by substituting musical notes for the letters of the alphabet. Two persons understanding the code could converse with each other by merely playing certain notes upon a piano or other instrument. Musical cryptograms can be involved to an inconceivable point; by certain systems it is possible to take an already existing musical theme and conceal in it a cryptogram without actually changing the composition in any way. The pennants upon the notes may conceal the cipher, or the actual sounds of the notes may be exchanged for syllables of similar sound. This latter method is effective but its scope is somewhat limited. Several musical compositions by Sir Francis Bacon are still in existence. An examination of them might reveal musical cryptograms, for it is quite certain that Lord Bacon was well acquainted with the manner of their construction.

6. The *arbitrary* cipher. The system of exchanging letters of the alphabet for hieroglyphic figures is too easily decoded to be popular. Albert: Pike describes an arbitrary cipher based upon the various parts of the Knights Templars' cross, each angle representing a letter. The many curious alphabets that have been devised are rendered worthless, however, by the table of recurrence. According to Edgar Allan Poe, a great cryptogrammatist, the most common letter of the English language is E, the other letters in their order of frequency are as follows: *A, O, I, D, H, N, R, S, T, V, Y, C, F, Q L, M, W, B, K, P, Q, X, Z*. Other authorities declare the table of frequency to be: *E, T, A, O, N, I, R, S, H, D, L, C, W, U, M, F, Y, G, P, B, V, K, X, Q, J, Z*. By merely counting the number of times each character appears in the message, the law of recurrence discloses the English letter for which the arbitrary character stands. Further help is also rendered by the fact that if the cryptogram be split up into words there are only three single letters which may form words:*A, I, O*. Thus any single character set off from the rest of the text must be one of these three letters. For details of this System see *The Gold Bug*, by Edgar Allan Poe.

To render more difficult the decoding of arbitrary ciphers, however, the characters are seldom broken up into words, and, further, the table of recurrence is partly nullified by assigning two or more different characters to each letter, thereby making it impossible to estimate accurately the frequency of recurrence. Therefore, the greater the number of arbitrary characters used to represent any single letter of the alphabet, the more difficult it is to decipher an arbitrary cryptogram. The secret alphabets of the ancients are comparatively easy to decode, the only requisites being a table of frequency, a knowledge of the language in which the cryptogram was originally written, a moderate amount of patience, and a little ingenuity.

7. The *code* cipher. The most modem form of cryptogram is the code system. Its most familiar form is the Morse code for use in telegraphic and wireless communication. This form of cipher may be complicated somewhat by embodying dots and dashes into a document in which periods and colons are dots, while commas and semicolons are dashes. There are also codes used by the business world which can be solved only by the use of a private code book. Because they furnish an economical and efficient method of transmitting confidential information, the use of such codes is far more prevalent than the average person has any suspicion.

In addition to the foregoing classifications there are a number of miscellaneous systems of secret writing, some employing mechanical devices, others colors. A few make use of sundry miscellaneous objects to represent words and even complete thoughts. But as these more elaborate devices were seldom employed by the ancients or by the medieval philosophers and alchemists, they have no direct bearing upon religion and philosophy. The mystics of the Middle Ages, borrowing the terminology of the various arts and sciences, evolved a system of cryptography which concealed the secrets of the human soul under terms generally applied to chemistry, biology, astronomy, botany, and physiology. Ciphers of this nature can only be decoded by individuals versed in the deep philosophic principles upon which these medieval mystics based their theories of life. Much information relating to the invisible nature of man is concealed under what seem to be chemical experiments or scientific speculations. Every student of symbolism and philosophy, therefore, should be reasonably well acquainted with the underlying principles of cryptography; in addition to serving him well in his researches, this art furnishes a fascinating method of developing the acuteness of the mental faculties. Discrimination and observation are indispensable to the seeker after knowledge, and no study is equal to cryptography as a means of stimulating these powers.

*QABBALISTIC AND MAGIC ALPHABETS.*

*From Barrett's Magus.*

*Curious alphabets were invented by the early and mediæval philosophers to conceal their doctrines and tenets from the profane. Some of these alphabets are still used to a limited extent in the higher degrees of Freemasonry. Probably the most famous is the angelic writing, termed in the above plate "The Writing called Malachim." Its figures are supposedly derived from the constellations. Advanced students of occult philosophy will come upon many valuable documents in which these figures are used. Under each letter of the first alphabet above is its equivalent in English. Above each letter of the other three alphabets is its Hebrew letter equivalent.*

## Freemasonic Symbolism

IN several early Masonic manuscripts--for example, the Harleian, Sloane, Lansdowne, and Edinburgh-Kilwinning--it is stated that the craft of initiated builders existed before the Deluge, and that its members were employed in the building of the Tower of Babel. A Masonic Constitution dated 1701 gives the following naive account of the origin of the sciences, arts, and crafts from which the major part of Masonic symbolism is derived:

"How this worthy Science was first begunne, I shall tell. Before Noah's Flood, there was a man called Lameck as it is written in the 4 Chap. of Gen.: and this Lameck had two Wives. The one was called Adah, and the other Zillah; by the first wife Adah he gott two Sons, the one called Jaball, and the other Juball, and by the other wife Zillah he got a Son and Daughter, and the four children found the beginning of all Crafts in the world. This Jaball was the elder Son, and he found the Craft of Geometric, and he parted flocks, as of Sheep and Lambs in the fields, and first wrought Houses of Stone and Tree, as it is noted in the Chap, aforesaid, and his Brother Juball found the crafte of Musick, of Songs, Organs and Harp. The Third Brother Tubal-cain found out Smith's craft to work Iron and steel, and their sister Naamah found out the art of Weaving. These children did know thatt God would take Vengeance for Sinne, either by fire or water, wherefor they wrote these Sciences which they had found in Two Pillars of stone, thatt they might be found after the Flood. The one stone was called Marbell--cannott burn with Fire, and the other was called Laturus brass?, thatt cannott drown in the Water." The author of this Constitution there upon declares that one of these pillars was later discovered by Hermes, who communicated to mankind the secrets thereon inscribed.

In his *Antiquities of the Jews*, Josephus writes that Adam had forewarned his descendants that sinful humanity would be destroyed by a deluge. In order to preserve their science and philosophy, the children of Seth there fore raised two pillars, one of brick and the other of stone, on which were inscribed the keys to their knowledge. The Patriarch Enoch--whose name means the Initiator--is evidently a personification of the sun, since he lived 365 years. He also constructed an underground temple consisting of nine vaults, one beneath the other, placing in the deepest vault a triangular tablet of gold bearing upon it the absolute and ineffable Name of Deity. According to some accounts, Enoch made two golden *deltas*. The larger he placed upon the white cubical altar in the lowest vault and the smaller he gave into the keeping of his son, Methuseleh, who did the actual construction work of the brick chambers according to the pattern revealed to his father by the Most High. In the form and arrangement of these vaults Enoch epitomized the nine spheres of the ancient Mysteries and the nine sacred strata of the earth through which the initiate must pass to reach the flaming Spirit dwelling in its central core.

According to Freemasonic symbolism, Enoch, fearing that all knowledge of the sacred Mysteries would be lost at the time of the Deluge, erected the two columns mentioned in the quotation. Upon the metal column in appropriate allegorical symbols he engraved the secret reaching and upon the marble column placed an inscription stating that a short distance away a priceless treasure would be discovered in a subterranean vault. After having thus faithfully completed his labors, Enoch was translated from the brow Of Mount Moriah. In time the location of the secret vaults was lost, but after the lapse of ages there came another builder--an initiate after the order of Enoch--and he, while laying the foundations for another temple to the Great Architect of the Universe, discovered the long-lost vaults and the secrets contained within.

John Leylande was appointed by King Henry VIII to go through the archives of the various religious institutions dissolved by the king and remove for preservation any books or manuscripts of an important character. Among the documents copied by Leylande was a series of questions and answers concerning the mystery of Masonry written by King Henry VI. In answer to the question, "How came Masonry into England?" the document States that Peter Gower, a Grecian, traveled for knowledge in Egypt, Syria, and every land where the Phœnicians had planted Masonry; winning entrance in all lodges of Masons, he learned much, and returning, dwelt in Greater Greece. He became renowned for his wisdom, formed a great lodge at Groton, and made many Masons, some of whom journeyed in France, spreading Masonry there; from France in the course of time the order passed into England.

To even the superficial student of the subject it must be evident that the name of *Peter Gower*, the Grecian, is merely an Anglicized form of *Pythagoras*; consequently Groton, where he formed his lodge, is easily identified with Crotona. A link is thus established between the philosophic Mysteries of Greece and mediæval Freemasonry. In his notes on King Henry's questions and answers, William Preston enlarges upon the vow of secrecy as it was practiced by the ancient initiates. On the authority of Pliny he describes how Anaxarchus, having been imprisoned in order to extort from him some of the secrets with which he had been entrusted, bit out his own tongue and threw it in the face of Nicocreon, the tyrant of Cyprus. Preston adds that the Athenians revered a brazen statue that was represented without a tongue to denote the sanctity with which they regarded their oath-bound secrets. It is also noteworthy that, according to King Henry's manuscript, Masonry had its origin in the East and was the carrier of the arts and sciences of civilization to the primitive humanity of the western nations.

Conspicuous among the symbols of Freemasonry are the seven liberal arts and sciences. By *grammar* man is taught to express in noble and adequate language his innermost thoughts and ideals; by *rhetoric* he is enabled to conceal his ideals under the protecting cover of ambiguous language and figures of speech; by *logic* he is trained in the organization of the intellectual faculties with which he has been endowed; by *arithmetic* he not only is instructed in the mystery of universal order but also gains the key to multitude, magnitude, and proportion; by *geometry* he is inducted into the mathematics of form, the harmony and rhythm of angles, and the philosophy of organization; by *music* he is reminded that the universe is founded upon the laws of celestial harmonics and that harmony and rhythm are all-pervading; by *astronomy* he gains an understanding of the immensities of time and space, of the proper relationship between himself and the universe, and of the awesomeness of that Unknown Power which is driving the countless stars of the firmament through illimitable space. Equipped with the knowledge conferred by familiarity with the liberal arts and sciences, the studious Freemason therefore finds himself confronted by few problems with which he cannot cope.

**THE DIONYSIAC ARCHITECTS**

The most celebrated of the ancient fraternities of artisans was that of the Dionysiac Architects.

*THE MYSTERY OF THE MACROCOSM.*

*Redrawn from Cesariano's Edition of Vitruvius.*

*Summarizing the relationship between the human body and the theory of architectonics, Vitruvius writes:*

*"Since nature has designed the human body so that its members are duly proportioned to the frame as a whole, it appears that the ancients had good reason for their rule, that in perfect building the different members must be in exact symmetrical relations to the whole general scheme. Hence, while transmitting to us the proper arrangements for buildings of all kinds, they were particularly careful to do so in the case of temples of the gods, buildings in which merits and faults usually last forever.   * Therefore, if it is agreed that number was found out from the human fingers, and that there is a symmetrical correspondent between the members separately and the entire form of the body, in accordance with a certain part selected as standard, we can have nothing but respect for those who, in constructing temples of the immortal gods, have so arranged the members of the works that both the separate parts and the whole design may harmonize in their proportions and symmetry." (See The Ten Books on Architecture)*

*By some it is believed that St. Paul was initiated into the Dionysiac Mysteries, for in the tenth verse of the third chapter of First Corinthians he calls himself a "master-builder" or adept: "According to the grace of God which is given into me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. " As survivals of the ancient Dionysiac rites, the two diagrams of Cesariano, accompanying this chapter are of incalculable value to the modern mystic architect.*

This organization was composed exclusively of initiates of the Bacchus-Dionysos cult and was peculiarly consecrated to the science of building and the art of decoration. Acclaimed as being the custodians of a secret and sacred knowledge of architectonics, its members were entrusted with the design and erection of public buildings and monuments. The superlative excellence of their handiwork elevated the members of the guild to a position of surpassing dignity; they were regarded as the master craftsmen of the earth. Because of the first dances held in honor of Dionysos, he was considered the founder and patron of the theater, and the Dionysians specialized in the construction of buildings adapted for the presentation of dramatic performances. In the circular or semicircular orchestra they invariably erected an altar to Æschylus, the famous Greek poet, that while appearing in one of his own plays he was suspected by a mob of angry spectators of revealing one of the profound secrets of the Mysteries and was forced to seek refuge at the altar of Dionysos.

So carefully did the Dionysiac Architects safeguard the secrets of their craft that only fragmentary records exist of their esoteric teachings. John A. Weisse thus sums up the meager data available concerning the order:

"They made their appearance certainly not later than 1000 B.C., and appear to have enjoyed particular privileges and immunities. They also possessed secret means of recognition, and were bound together by special ties only known to themselves. The richer of this fraternity were bound to provide for their poorer brethren. They were divided into communities, governed by a Master and Wardens, and called γυνοικιαι (connected houses). They held a grand festival annually, and were held in high esteem. Their ceremonials were regarded as sacred. It has been claimed that Solomon, at the instance of Hiram, King of Tyre, employed them at his temple and palaces. They were also employed at the construction of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus. They had means of intercommunication all over the then known world, and from them, doubtless, sprang the guilds of the Traveling Masons known in the Middle Ages." (See *The Obelisk and Freemasonry*.)

The fraternity of the Dionysiac Architects spread throughout all of Asia Minor, even reaching Egypt and India. They established themselves in nearly all the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, and with the rise of the Roman Empire found their way into Central Europe and even into England. The most stately and enduring buildings in Constantinople, Rhodes, Athens, and Rome were erected by these inspired craftsmen. One of the most illustrious of their number was Vitruvius, the great architect, renowned as the author of *De Architectura Libri Decem*. In the various sections of his book Vitruvius gives several hints as to the philosophy underlying the Dionysiac concept of the principle of symmetry applied to the science of architecture, as derived from a consideration of the proportions established by Nature between the parts and members of the human body. The following extract from Vitruvius on the subject of symmetry is representative:

"The design of a temple depends on symmetry, the principles of which must be most carefully observed by the architect. They are due to proportion, in ἀναλογία. Proportion is a correspondence among the measures of the members of an entire work, and of the whole to a certain part selected as standard. From this result the principles of symmetry. Without symmetry and proportion there can be no principles in the design of any temple; that is, if there is no precise relation between its members, as in the case of those of a well shaped man. For the human body is so designed by nature that the face, from the chin to the top of the forehead and the lowest roots of the hair, is a tenth part of the whole height; the open hand from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger is just the same; the head from the chin to the crown is an eighth, and with the neck and shoulder from the top of the breast to the lowest roots of the hair is a sixth; from the middle of the breast to the summit of the crown is a fourth. If we take the height of the face itself, the distance from the bottom of the chin to the under side of the nostrils and from that point to a line between the eyebrows is the same; from there to the lowest roots of the hair is also a third, comprising the forehead. The length of the foot is one sixth of the height of the body; of the forearm, one fourth; and the breadth of the breast is also one fourth. The other members, too, have their own symmetrical proportions, and it was by employing them that the famous painters and sculptors of antiquity attained to great and endless renown."

The edifices raised by the Dionysiac Builders were indeed "sermons in stone." Though unable to comprehend fully the cosmic principles thus embodied in these masterpieces of human ingenuity and industry, even the uninitiated were invariably overwhelmed by the sense of majesty and symmetry resulting from the perfect coordination of pillars, spans, arches, and domes. By variations in the details of size, material, type, arrangement, ornamentation, and color, these inspired builders believed it possible to provoke in the nature of the onlooker certain distinct mental or emotional reactions. Vitruvius, for example, describes the disposition of bronze vases about a room so as to produce certain definite changes in the tone and quality of the human voice. In like manner, each chamber in the Mysteries through which the candidate passed had its own peculiar acoustics. Thus in one chamber the voice of the priest was amplified until his words caused the very room to vibrate, while in another the voice was diminished and softened to such a degree that it sounded like the distant tinkling of silver bells. Again, in some of the underground passageways the candidate was apparently bereft of the power of speech, for though he shouted at the top of his voice not even a whisper was audible to his ears. After progressing a few feet, however, he would discover that his softest sigh would be reechoed a hundred times.

The supreme ambition of the Dionysiac Architects was the construction of buildings which would create distinct impressions consistent with the purpose for which the structure itself was designed. In common with the Pythagoreans, they believed it possible by combinations of straight lines and curves to induce any desired mental attitude or emotion. They labored, therefore, to the end of producing a building perfectly harmonious with the structure of the universe itself. They may have even believed that an edifice so constructed because it was in no respect at variance with any existing reality would not be subject to dissolution but would endure throughout the span of mortal time. As a logical deduction from their philosophic trend of thought, such a building--*en rapport* with Cosmos--would also have become an oracle. Certain early works on magical philosophy hint that the Ark of the Covenant was oracular in character because of specially prepared chambers in its interior. These by their shape and arrangement were so attuned to the vibrations of the invisible world that they caught and amplified the voices of the ages imprinted upon and eternally existent in the substance of the astral light.

Unskilled in these ancient subtleties of their profession, modern architects often create architectural absurdities which would cause their creators to blush with shame did they comprehend their actual symbolic import. Thus, phallic emblems are strewn in profusion among the adornments of banks, office buildings, and department stores. Christian churches also may be surmounted with Brahmin or Mohammedan domes or be designed in a style suitable for a Jewish synagogue or a Greek temple to Pluto. These incongruities may be considered trivial in importance by the modern designer, but to the trained psychologist the purpose for which a building was erected is frustrated in large measure by the presence of such architectural discordances. Vitruvius thus defines the principle of propriety as conceived and applied by the Dionysians:

"Propriety is that: perfection of style which comes when a work is authoritatively constructed on approved principles. It arises from prescription (Greek θεματισμῷ), from usage, or from nature. From prescription, in the case of hypæthral edifices, open to the sky, in honour of Jupiter Lightning, the Heaven, the Sun, or the Moon: for these are gods whose semblances and manifestations we behold before our very eyes in the sky when it is cloudless and bright. The temples of Minerva, Mars, and Hercules will be Doric, since the virile strength of these gods makes daintiness entirely inappropriate to their houses. In temples to Venus, Flora, Proserpine, Spring-Water, and the Nymphs, the Corinthian order will be found to have peculiar significance, because these are delicate divinities and so its rather slender outlines, its flowers, leaves, and ornamental volutes will lend propriety where it is due. The construction of temples of the Ionic order to Juno, Diana, Father Bacchus, and the other gods of that kind, will be in keeping with the middle position which they hold; for the building of such will be an appropriate combination of the severity of the Doric and the delicacy of the Corinthian."

In describing the societies of Ionian artificers, Joseph Da Costa declares the Dionysiac rites to have been founded upon the science of astronomy, which by the initiates of this order was correlated to the builder's art. In various documents dealing with the origin of architecture are found hints to the effect that the great buildings erected by these initiated craftsmen were based upon geometrical patterns derived from the constellations. Thus, a temple might be planned according to the constellation of Pegasus or a court of judgment modeled after the constellation of the Scales. The Dionysians evolved a peculiar code by which they were able to communicate with one another in the dark and both the symbols and the terminology of their guild were derived, in the main, from the elements of architecture.

While stigmatized as pagans by reason of their philosophic principles, it is noteworthy that these Dionysiac craftsmen were almost universally employed in the erection of early Christian abbeys and cathedrals, whose stones even to this very day bear distinguishing marks and symbols cut into their surfaces by these illustrious builders. Among the ornate carvings upon the fronts of great churches of the Old World are frequently found representations of compasses, squares, rules, mallets, and clusters of builders' tools skillfully incorporated into mural decorations and even placed in the hands of the effigies of saints and prophets standing in exalted niches. A great mystery was contained in the ancient portals of the Cathedral Of Notre Dame which were destroyed during the French Revolution, for among their carvings were numerous Rosicrucian and Masonic emblems; and according to the records preserved by alchemists who studied their bas-reliefs, the secret processes for metallic transmutation were set forth in their grotesque yet most significant figures.

The checkerboard floor upon which the modern Freemasonic lodge stands is the old tracing board of the Dionysiac Architects, and while the modern organization is no longer limited to workmen's guilds it still preserves in its symbols the metaphysical doctrines of the ancient society of which it is presumably the outgrowth. The investigator of the origin of Freemasonic symbolism who desires to trace the development of the order through the ages will find a practical suggestion in the following statement of Charles W. Heckethorn:

"But considering that Freemasonry is a tree the roots of which spread through so many soils, it follows that traces thereof must be found in its fruit; that its language and ritual should retain much of the various sects and institutions it has passed through before arriving at their present state, and in Masonry we meet with Indian, Egyptian, Jewish, and Christian ideas, terms therefrom the supreme ambition of their craft and symbols." (See *The Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries*.)

The Roman *Collegia* of skilled architects were apparently a subdivision of the greater Ionian body, their principles and organization being practically identical with the older Ionian institution. It has been suspected that the Dionysians also profoundly influenced early Islamic culture, for part of their symbolism found its way into the Mysteries of the dervishes. At one time the Dionysians referred to themselves as Sons of Solomon, and one of the most important of their symbols was the Seal of Solomon--two interlaced triangles. This motif is frequently seen in conspicuous parts of Mohammedan mosques. The Knights Templars--who were suspected of anything and everything--are believed to have contacted these Dionysiac artificers and to have introduced many of their symbols and doctrines into mediæval Europe. But Freemasonry most of all owes to the Dionysiac cult the great mass of its symbols and rituals which are related to the science of architecture. From these ancient and illustrious artisans it also received the legacy of the unfinished Temple of Civilization-that vast, invisible structure upon which these initiated builders have labored continuously since the inception of their fraternity. This mighty edifice, which has fallen and been rebuilt time after time but whose foundations remain unmoved, is the true Everlasting House of which the temple on the brow of Mount Moriah was but an impermanent symbol.

Aside from the operative aspect of their order, the Dionysiac Architects had a speculative philosophic code. Human society they considered as a rough and untrued ashlar but lately chiseled from the quarry of elemental Nature. This crude block was the true object upon which these skilled craftsmen labored--polishing it, squaring it, and with the aid of fine carvings transforming it into a miracle of beauty. While mystics released their souls from the bondage of matter by meditation and philosophers found their keenest joy in the profundities of thought, these master workmen achieved liberation from the Wheel of Life and Death by learning to swing their hammers with the same rhythm that moves the swirling forces of Cosmos. They venerated the Deity under the guise of a Great Architect and Master Craftsman who was ever gouging rough ashlars from the fields of space and truing them into universes. The Dionysians affirmed constructiveness to be the supreme expression of the soul, and attuning themselves with the ever-visible constructive natural processes going on around them, believed immortality could be achieved by thus becoming a part of the creative agencies of Nature.

**SOLOMON, THE PERSONIFICATION OF UNIVERSAL WISDOM**

The name Solomon may be divided into three syllables, SOL-OM-ON, symbolizing light, glory, and truth collectively and respectively. The Temple of Solomon is, therefore, first of all "the House of Everlasting Light," its earthly symbol being the temple of stone on the brow of Mount Moriah. According to the Mystery teachings, there are three Temples of Solomon--as there are three Grand Masters, three Witnesses, and three Tabernacles of the Transfiguration. The first temple is the Grand House of the Universe, in the midst of which sits the sun (SOL) upon his golden throne. The twelve signs of the zodiac as Fellow-Craftsmen gather around their shining lord. Three lights--the stellar, the solar, and the lunar--illuminate this Cosmic Temple. Accompanied by his retinue of planets, moons, and asteroids, this Divine King (SOLomon), whose glory no earthly monarch shall ever equal, passes in stately pomp down the avenues of space. Whereas *CHiram* represents the active physical light of the sun, SOLomon signifies its invisible but all-powerful, spiritual and intellectual effulgency.

The second symbolic temple is the human body-the Little House made in the image of the Great Universal House. "Know ye not," asked the Apostle Paul, "that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Freemasonry within a temple of stone cannot be other than speculative, but Freemasonry within the living temple of the body is operative. The third symbolic temple is the *Soul*ar House, an invisible structure, the comprehension of which is a supreme Freemasonic arcanum. The mystery of this intangible edifice is concealed under the allegory of the *Soma Psuchicon*, or Wedding Garment described by St. Paul, the Robes of Glory of the High Priest of Israel, the Yellow Robe of the Buddhist monk, and the Robe of Blue and Gold to which Albert Pike refers in his *Symbolism*. The soul, constructed from an invisible fiery substance, a flaming golden metal, is cast by the Master Workman, CHiram Abiff, into the mold of clay (the physical body) and is called the Molten Sea. The temple of the human soul is built by three Master Masons personifying Wisdom, Love, and Service, and when constructed according to the Law of Life the spirit of God dwells in the Holy Place thereof. The *Soul*ar Temple is the true Everlasting House, and he who can *raise* or *cast* it is a Master Mason *indeed*! The best-informed Masonic writers have realized that Solomon's Temple is a representation in miniature of the Universal Temple. Concerning this point, A. E. Waite, in *A New Encyclopædia of Freemasonry*, writes: "It is macrocosmic in character, so that the Temple is a symbol of the universe, a type of manifestation itself."

Solomon, the Spirit of Universal Illumination--mental, spiritual, moral, and physical--is personified in the king of an earthly nation. While a great ruler by that name may have built a temple, he who considers the story solely from its historical angle will never clear away the rubbish that covers the secret vaults. The *rubbish* is interpolated matter in the form of superficial symbols, allegories, and degrees which have no legitimate part in the original Freemasonic Mysteries. Concerning the loss of the true esoteric key to Masonic secrets, Albert Pike writes:

"No one journeys now 'from the high place of Cabaon to the threshing floor of Oman the Yebusite,' nor has seen, 'his Master, clothed in blue and gold;' nor are apprentices and Fellow-crafts any longer paid at their respective Columns; nor is the Master's working tool the Tracing Board, nor does he use in his work 'Chalk, Charcoal, and an Earthen Vessel,' nor does the Apprentice, becoming a Fellow Craft, pass from the square to the compass; for the meanings of these phrases as symbols have long been lost."

*THE MYSTERY OF THE MICROCOSM.*

*Redrawn from Cesariano's Edition of Vitruvius.*

*Herein is depicted the mysterious Word of Plato which was crucified in space before the foundation of the world. The anonymous author of The Canon writes:*

*"The Logos or soul of the world, according to Plato, the Greek Hermes, and the Christ, according to the Christian Gnostics, are all one and the same as the Hebrew Adam Kadmon, who is the second person of the cabalistic triad. The Cyllenian Hermes, described by Hippolytus, so exactly resembles the lesser man found in Cesariano's edition of Vitruvius, that they may be justifiably considered to be identical."*

*After relating the figure to Dionysus because of the vine leaves wound in the hair, the same writer concludes: "Here we have clearly and distinctly a curious survival of the cosmic deity of Greece, copied and disfigured by the crude draughtsmen of the Middle Ages, but faithfully preserved, and recognizable to the last." Similar figures are to be found in Agrippa's De Occulta Philosophia. Like Cesariano's diagrams, however, the key given for their interpretation is most inadequate. Agrippa declares that, being a type of the lesser world, man contains in himself all numbers, measures, weights, motions, and elements. The secret doctrine of Freemasonry, like that of the Dionysiac Architects, is concerned primarily with the effort to measure or estimate philosophically the parts and proportions of the microcosm, so that by the knowledge derived therefrom the supreme ambition of their craft might be realized--the creation of a perfect man.*

According to the ancient Rabbins, Solomon was an initiate of the Mystery schools and the temple which he built was actually a house of initiation containing amass of pagan philosophic and phallic emblems. The pomegranates, the palm-headed columns, the Pillars before the door, the Babylonian cherubim, and the arrangement of the chambers and draperies all indicate the temple to have been patterned after the sanctuaries of Egypt and Atlantis. Isaac Myer, in *The Qabbalah*, makes the following observation:

"The pseudo-Clement of Rome, writes: 'God made man male and female. The male is Christ: the female, the Church.' The Qabbalists called the Holy Spirit, the mother, and the Church of Israel, the Daughter. Solomon engraved on the walls of his Temple, likenesses of the male and female principles, to adumbrate this mystery; such, it is said, were the figures of the cherubim. This was, however, not in obedience to the words of the Thorah. They were symbolical of the Upper, the spiritual, the former or maker, positive or male, and the Lower, the passive, the negative or female, formed or made by the first."

Masonry came to Northern Africa and Asia Minor from the lost continent of Atlantis, not under its present name but rather under the general designation Sun and Fire Worship. The ancient Mysteries did not cease to exist when Christianity became the world's most powerful religion. Great Pan did not die! Freemasonry is the proof of his survival. The pre-Christian Mysteries simply assumed the symbolism of the new faith, perpetuating through its emblems and allegories the same truths which had been the property of the wise since the beginning of the world. There is no true explanation, therefore, for Christian symbols save that which is concealed within pagan philosophy. Without the mysterious keys carried by the hierophants of the Egyptian, Brahmin, and Persian cults the gates of Wisdom cannot be opened. Consider with reverent spirit, therefore, the sublime allegory of the Temple and its Builders, realizing that beneath its literal interpretation lies hidden a Royal Secret.

According to the Talmudic legends, Solomon understood the mysteries of the Qabbalah. He was also an alchemist and a necromancer, being able to control the dæmons, and from them and other inhabitants of the invisible worlds he secured much of his wisdom. In his translation of *Clavicula Salomonis*, or *The Key of Solomon the King*, a work presumably setting forth the magical secrets gathered by Solomon and used by him in the conjuration of spirits and which, according to Frank C. Higgins, contains many sidelights on Masonic initiatory rituals, S. L. MacGregor-Mathers recognizes the probability that King Solomon was a magician in the fullest sense of that word. "I see no reason to doubt," he affirms, "the tradition which assigns the authorship of the 'Key' to King Solomon, for among others Josephus, the Jewish historian, especially mentions the magical works attributed to that monarch; this is confirmed by many Eastern traditions, and his magical skill is frequently mentioned in the Arabian Nights."

Concerning Solomon's supernatural powers, Josephus writes in his *Eighth Book of the Antiquities of the Jews*:

"Now the sagacity and wisdom which God had bestowed on Solomon was so great that he exceeded the ancients, in so much that he was no way inferior to the Egyptians, who are said to have been beyond all men in understanding; ** * God also enabled him to learn that skill which expelled demons, which is a science useful and sanative to him. He composed such incantations also by which distempers are alleviated. And he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they drive away demons, so that they never return; and this method of cure is of great force unto this day."

The mediæval alchemists were convinced that King Solomon understood the secret processes of Hermes by means of which it was possible to multiply metals. Dr. Bacstrom writes that the *Universal Spirit* (CHiram) assisted King Solomon to build his temple, because Solomon being wise in the wisdom of alchemy knew how to control this incorporeal essence and, setting it to work for him, caused the invisible universe to supply him with vast amounts of gold and silver which most people believed were mined by natural methods.

The mysteries of the Islamic faith are now in the keeping of the dervishes--men who, renouncing worldliness, have withstood the test of a thousand and one days of temptation. Jelal-ud-din, the great Persian Sufic poet and philosopher, is accredited with having founded the Order of Mevlevi, or the "dancing dervishes," whose movements exoterically signify the motions of the celestial bodies and esoterically result in the establishment of a rhythm which stimulates the centers of spiritual consciousness within the dancer's body.

"According to the mystical canon, there are always on earth a certain number of holy men who are admitted to intimate communion with the Deity. The one who occupies the highest position among his contemporaries is called the 'Axis' (Qūtb) or 'Pole' of his time. ***Subordinate to the Qūtb are two holy beings who bear the title of 'The Faithful Ones,' and are assigned places on his right and left respectively. Below these is a quartette of 'Intermediate Ones' (Evtād); and on successively lower planes ate five 'Lights' (Envār), and seven 'Very Good' (Akhyār). The next rank is filled by forty 'Absent Ones' (Rijal-i-ghaib), also termed 'Martyrs' (Shuheda). When an 'Axis' quits this earthly existence, he is succeeded by the 'Faithful One' who has occupied the place at his right hand.*** For to these holy men, who also bear the collective titles of 'Lords of Souls,' and 'Directors,' is committed a spiritual supremacy over mankind far exceeding the temporal authority of earthly rulers." (See *Mysticism and Magic in Turkey*, by L. M. J. Garnett.)

The *Axis* is a mysterious individual who, unknown and unsuspected, mingles with mankind and who, according to tradition, has his favorite seat upon the roof of the Caaba. J. P. Brown, in *The Dervishes*, gives a description of these "Master Souls."

**FREEMASONRY'S PRICELESS HERITAGE**

The *sanctum sanctorum* of Freemasonry is ornamented with the gnostic jewels of a thousand ages; its rituals ring with the divinely inspired words of seers and sages. A hundred religious have brought their gifts of wisdom to its altar; arts and sciences unnumbered have contributed to its symbolism. Freemasonry is a world-wide university, teaching the liberal arts and sciences of the soul to all who will hearken to its words. Its chairs are seats of learning and its pillars uphold an arch of universal education. Its trestleboards are inscribed with the eternal verities of all ages and upon those who comprehend its sacred depths has dawned the realization that within the Freemasonic Mysteries lie hidden the long-lost arcana sought by all peoples since the genesis of human reason.

The philosophic power of Freemasonry lies in its symbols--its priceless heritage from the Mystery schools of antiquity. In a letter to Robert Freke Gould, Albert Pike writes:

"It began to shape itself to my intellectual vision into something more imposing and majestic, solemnly mysterious and grand. It seemed to me like the Pyramids in their loneliness, in whose yet undiscovered chambers may be hidden, for the enlightenment of coming generations, the sacred books of the Egyptians, so long lost to the world; like the Sphynx half buried in the desert. In its symbolism, which and its spirit of brotherhood are its essence, Freemasonry is more ancient than any of the world's living religions. It has the symbols and doctrines which, older than himself, Zarathustra inculcated; and ii seemed to me a spectacle sublime, yet pitiful--the ancient Faith of our ancestors holding out to the world its symbols once so eloquent, and mutely and in vain asking for an interpreter. And so I came at last to see that the true greatness and majesty of Freemasonry consist in its proprietorship of these and its other symbols; and that its symbolism is its soul."

Though the temples of Thebes and Karnak be now but majestic heaps of broken and time-battered stone, the spirit: of Egyptian philosophy still marches triumphant through the centuries. Though the rock-hewn sanctuaries of the ancient Brahmins be now deserted and their carvings crumbled into dust, still the wisdom of the Vedas endures. Though the oracles be silenced and the House of the Mysteries be now but rows of ghostly columns, still shines the spiritual glory of Hellas with luster undiminished. Though Zoroaster, Hermes, Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle are now but dim memories in a world once rocked by the transcendency of their intellectual genius, still in the mystic temple of Freemasonry these god-men live again in their words and symbols; and the candidate, passing through the initiations, feels himself face to face with these illumined hierophants of days long past.

## Mystic Christianity

THE true story of the life of Jesus of Nazareth has never been unfolded to the world, either in the accepted Gospels or in the Apocrypha, although a few stray hints may be found in some of the commentaries written by the ante-Nicene Fathers. The facts concerning His identity and mission are among the priceless mysteries preserved to this day in the secret vaults beneath the "Houses of the Brethren." To a few of the Knights Templars, who were initiated into the arcana of the Druses, Nazarenes, Essenes, Johannites, and other sects still inhabiting the remote and inaccessible fastnesses of the Holy Land, part of the strange story was told. The knowledge of the Templars concerning the early history of Christianity was undoubtedly one of the main reasons for their persecution and final annihilation. The discrepancies in the writings of the early Church Fathers not only are irreconcilable, but demonstrate beyond question that even during the first five centuries after Christ these learned men had for the basis of their writings little more substantial than folklore and hearsay. To the easy believer everything is possible and there are no problems. The unemotional person in search of facts, however, is confronted by a host of problems with uncertain factors, of which the following are typical:

According to popular conception, Jesus was crucified during the thirty-third year of His life and in the third year of His ministry following His baptism. About A.D. 180, St. Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, one of the most eminent of the ante-Nicene theologians, wrote *Against Heresies*, an attack on the doctrines of the Gnostics. In this work Irenæus declared upon the authority of the Apostles themselves that Jesus lived to old age. To quote: "They, however, that they may establish their false opinion regarding that which is written, 'to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,' maintain that He preached for one year only, and then suffered in the twelfth month. In speaking thus, they are forgetful of their own disadvantage, destroying His whole work, and robbing Him of that age which is both more necessary and more honourable than any other; that more advanced age, I mean, during which also as a teacher He excelled all others. For how could He have had His disciples, if He did not teach? And how could He have taught, unless He had reached the age of a Master? For when He came to be baptised, He had not yet completed His thirtieth year, but was beginning to be about thirty years of age (for thus Luke, who has mentioned His years, has expressed it: 'Now Jesus was, as it were, beginning to be thirty years old,' when He came to receive baptism); and, (according to these men,) He preached only one year reckoning from His baptism. On completing His thirtieth year He suffered, being in fact still a young man, and who had by no means attained to advanced age. Now, that the first stage of early life embraces thirty years, and that this extends onward to the fortieth year, every one will admit; but from the fortieth and fiftieth year a man begins to decline towards old age, *which Our Lord possessed while He still fulfilled the office of a Teacher*, even as the Gospel and all the elders testify; those who were conversant in Asia with John, the disciple of the Lord, (affirming) that John conveyed to them that information. And he remained among them up to the time of Trajan. Some of them, moreover, saw not only John, but the other apostles also, and heard the very same account from them, and bear testimony as to the'(validity of) the statement. Whom then should we rather believe? Whether such men as these, or Ptolemæus, who never saw the apostles, and who never even in his dreams attained to the slightest trace of an apostle?"

Commenting on the foregoing passage, Godfrey Higgins remarks that it has fortunately escaped the hands of those destroyers who have attempted to render the Gospel narratives consistent by deleting all such statements. He also notes that the doctrine of the crucifixion was a *vexata questio* among Christians even during the second century. "The evidence of Irenæus," he says, "cannot be touched. On every principle of sound criticism, and of the doctrine of probabilities, it is unimpeachable."

It should further be noted that Irenæus prepared this statement to contradict another apparently current in his time to the effect that the ministry of Jesus lasted but *one* year. Of all the early Fathers, Irenæus, writing within eighty years after the death of St. John the Evangelist, should have had reasonably accurate information. If the disciples themselves related that Jesus lived to advanced age in the body, why has the mysterious number 33 been arbitrarily chosen to symbolize the duration of His life? Were the incidents in the life of Jesus purposely altered so that His actions would fit more closely into the pattern established by the numerous Savior-Gods who preceded Him? That these analogies were recognized and used as a leverage in converting the Greeks and Romans is evident from a perusal of the writings of Justin Martyr, another second-century authority. In his *Apology*, Justin addresses the pagans thus:

"And when we say also that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, was produced without sexual union, and that He, Jesus Christ, Our Teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propound nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter. ** * And if we assert that the Word of God was born of God in a peculiar manner, different from ordinary generation, let this, as said above, be no extraordinary thing to you, who say that Mercury is the angelic word of God. But if any one objects that He was crucified, in this also He is on a par with those reputed sons of Jupiter of yours, who suffered as we have now enumerated."

From this it is evident that the first missionaries of the Christian Church were far more willing to admit the similarities between their faith and the faiths of the pagans than were their successors in later centuries.

In an effort to solve some of the problems arising from any attempt to chronicle accurately the life of Jesus, it has been suggested that there may have lived in Syria at that time two or more religious teachers bearing the name *Jesus*, *Jehoshua* or *Joshua*, and that the lives of these men may have been confused in the Gospel stories. In his *Secret Sects of Syria and the Lebanon*, Bernard H. Springett, a Masonic author, quotes from an early book, the name of which he was not at liberty to disclose because of its connection with the ritual of a sect. The last part of his quotation is germane to the subject at hand:

"But Jehovah prospered the seed of the Essenians, in holiness and love, for many generations. Then came the chief of the angels, according to the commandment of GOD, to raise up an heir to the Voice of Jehovah. And, in four generations more, an heir was born, and named Joshua, and he was the child of Joseph and Mara, devout worshippers of Jehovah, who stood aloof from all other people save the Essenians. And this Joshua, in Nazareth, reestablished Jehovah, and restored many of the lost rites and ceremonies. In the thirty-sixth year of his age he was stoned to death in Jerusalem ** *"

*THE ROUND TABLE OF KING ARTHUR.*

*From Jennings' The Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries.*

*According to tradition, Arthur, when a boy of fifteen, was crowned King of Britain, in A.D. 516. Soon after his ascension to the throne he founded the Order of the Knights of the Round Table at Windsor. Thereafter the Knights met annually at Carleon, Winchester, or at Camelot, to celebrate Pentecost. From all parts of Europe came the brave and the bold, seeking admission into this noble order of British knighthood. Nobility, virtue, and valor were its requirements, and those possessing these qualities to a marked degree were welcomed to King Arthur's court at Camelot. Having gathered the bravest and noblest Knights of Europe about him, King Arthur chose twenty-four who excelled all the others in daring and integrity and formed of them his Circle of the Round Table. According to legend, each of these Knights was so great in dignity and power that none could occupy a more exalted seat than another, so when they gathered at the table to celebrate the anniversary of their foundation it was necessary to use a round table that all might occupy chairs of equal importance.*

*While it is probable that the Order of the Round Table had its distinctive rituals and symbols, the knowledge of them has not survived the ages. Elias Ashmole, in his volume on the Order of the Garter, inserted a double-page plate showing the insignia of all the orders of knighthood, the block set aside for the symbol of the Round Table being left blank. The chief reason for the loss of the symbolism of the Round Table was the untimely death of King Arthur upon the field of Kamblan (A.D. 542) in the forty-first year of his life. While he destroyed his bitter enemy, Mordred, in this famous battle, it cast him not only his own life but the lives of nearly all his Knights of the Round Table, who died defending their commander.*

Within the last century several books have been published to supplement the meager descriptions in the Gospels of Jesus and His ministry. In some instances these narratives claim to be founded upon early manuscripts recently discovered; in others, upon direct spiritual revelation. Some of these writings are highly plausible, while others are incredible. There are persistent rumors that Jesus visited and studied in both Greece and India, and that a coin struck in His honor in India during the first century has been discovered. Early Christian records are known to exist in Tibet, and the monks of a Buddhist monastery in Ceylon still preserve a record which indicates that Jesus sojourned with them and became conversant with their philosophy.

Although early Christianity shows every evidence of Oriental influence, this is a subject the modern church declines to discuss. If it is ever established beyond question that Jesus was an initiate of the pagan Greek or Asiatic Mysteries, the effect upon the more conservative members of the Christian faith is likely to be cataclysmic. If Jesus was God incarnate, as the solemn councils of the church discovered, why is He referred to in the New Testament as "called of God an high prim after the order of Melchizedek"? The words "after the order" make Jesus one of a line or order of which there must have been others of equal or even superior dignity. If the "Melchizedeks" were the divine or priestly rulers of the nations of the earth before the inauguration of the system of temporal rulers, then the statements attributed to St. Paul would indicate that Jesus either was one of these "philosophic elect" or was attempting to reestablish their system of government. It will be remembered that Melchizedek also performed the same ceremony of the drinking of wine and the breaking of bread as did Jesus at the Last Supper.

George Faber declares the original name of Jesus was Jescua Hammassiah. Godfrey Higgins has discovered two references, one in the *Midrashjoholeth* and the other in the *Abodazara* (early Jewish commentaries on the Scriptures), to the effect that the surname of Joseph's family was *Panther*, for in both of these works it is stated that a man was healed "in the name of Jesus ben Panther." The name *Panther* establishes a direct connection between Jesus and Bacchus--who was nursed by panthers and is sometimes depicted riding either on one of these animals or in a chariot drawn by them. The skin of the panther was also sacred in certain of the Egyptian initiatory ceremonials. The monogram IHS, now interpreted to mean *Iesus Hominum Salvator* (Jesus Savior of Men), is another direct link between the Christian and the Bacchic rites. IHS is derived from the Greek ΥΗΣ, which, as its numerical value (608) signifies, is emblematic of the sun and constituted the sacred and concealed name of Bacchus. (See *The Celtic Druids* by Godfrey Higgins.) The question arises, Was early Roman Christianity confused with the worship of Bacchus because of the numerous parallelisms in the two faiths? If the affirmative can be proved, many hitherto incomprehensible enigmas of the New Testament will be solved.

It is by no means improbable that Jesus Himself originally propounded as allegories the cosmic activities which were later con fused with His own life. That the Χριστός, *Christos*, represents the solar power reverenced by every nation of antiquity cannot be controverted. If Jesus revealed the nature and purpose of this solar power under the name and personality of *Christos*, thereby giving to this abstract power the attributes of a god-man, He but followed a precedent set by all previous World-Teachers. This god-man, thus endowed with all the qualities of Deity, signifies the latent divinity in every man. Mortal man achieves deification only through at-one-ment with this divine Self. Union with the immortal Self constitutes immortality, and he who finds his true Self is therefore "saved." This *Christos*, or divine man in man, is man's real hope of salvation--the living Mediator between abstract Deity and mortal humankind. As Atys, Adonis, Bacchus, and Orpheus in all likelihood were originally illumined men who later were confused with the symbolic personages whom they created as personifications of this divine power, so Jesus has been confused with the *Christos*, or god-man, whose wonders He preached. Since the *Christos* was the god-man imprisoned in every creature, it was the first duty of the initiate to liberate, or "resurrect, " this Eternal One within himself. He who attained reunion with his *Christos* was consequently termed a *Christian*, or *Christened*, man.

One of the most profound doctrines of the pagan philosophers concerned the Universal Savior-God who lifted the souls of regenerated men to heaven through His own nature. This concept was unquestionably the inspiration for the words attributed to Jesus: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." In an effort to make a single person out of Jesus and His Christos, Christian writers have patched together a doctrine which must be resolved back into its original constituents if the true meaning of Christianity is to be rediscovered. In the Gospel narratives the Christos represents the perfect man who, having passed through the various stages of the "World Mystery" symbolized by the thirty-three years, ascends to the heaven sphere where he is reunited with his Eternal Father. The story of Jesus as now preserved is--like the Masonic story of Hiram Abiff--part of a secret initiatory ritualism belonging to the early Christian and pagan Mysteries.

During the centuries just prior to the Christian Era, the secrets of the pagan Mysteries had gradually fallen into the hands of the profane. To the student of comparative religion it is evident that these secrets, gathered by a small group of faithful philosophers and mystics, were reclothed in new symbolical garments and thus preserved for several centuries under the name of *Mystic Christianity*. It is generally supposed that the Essenes were the custodians of this knowledge and also the initiators and educators of Jesus. If so, Jesus was undoubtedly initiated in the same temple of Melchizedek where Pythagoras had studied six centuries before.

The Essenes--the most prominent of the early Syrian sects--were an order of pious men and women who lived lives of asceticism, spending their days in simple labor and their evenings in prayer. Josephus, the great Jewish historian, speaks of them in the highest terms. "They teach the immortality of the soul," he says, "and esteem that the rewards of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for." In another place he adds, "Yet is their course of life better than that of other men and they entirely addict themselves to husbandry. " The name *Essenes* is supposed to be derived from an ancient Syrian word meaning "physician," and these kindly folk are believed to have held as their purpose of existence the healing of the sick in mind, soul, and body. According to Edouard Schuré, they had two principal communities, or centers, one in Egypt on the banks of Lake Maoris, the other in Palestine at Engaddi, near the Dead Sea. Some authorities trace the Essenes back to the schools of Samuel the Prophet, but most agree on either an Egyptian or Oriental origin. Their methods of prayer, meditation, and fasting were not unlike those of the holy men of the Far East. Membership in the Essene Order was possible only after a year of probation. This Mystery school, like so many others, had three degrees, and only a few candidates passed successfully through all. The Essenes were divided into two distinct communities, one consisting of celibates and the other of members who were married.

The Essenes never became merchants or entered into the commercial life of cities, but maintained themselves by agriculture and the raising of sheep for wool; also by such crafts as pottery and carpentry. In the Gospels and Apocrypha, Joseph, the father of Jesus, is referred to as both a carpenter and a potter. In the Apocryphal Gospel of Thomas and also that of Pseudo-Matthew, the child Jesus is described as making sparrows out of clay which came to life and flew away when he clapped his hands. The Essenes were regarded as among the better educated class of Jews and there are accounts of their having been chosen as tutors for the children of Roman officers stationed in Syria. The fact that so many artificers were listed among their number is responsible for the order's being considered as a progenitor of modern Freemasonry. The symbols of the Essenes include a number of builders' tools, and they were secretly engaged in the erection of a spiritual and philosophical temple to serve as a dwelling place for the living God.

*THE GREAT GEORGE AND COLLAR OF THE GARTER.*

*From Ashmole's Order of the Garter.*

*The Order of the Garter was probably formed by Edward III in imitation of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table, which institution was hopelessly scattered after the battle of Kamblan. The popular story to the effect that the Countess of Salisbury's garter was the original inspiration for the foundation of the order is untenable. The motto of the Order of the Carter is "Honi soit qui mal y pense" (Shamed be he who thinks evil of it). St. George is looked upon as the Patron of the order, for he typifies the higher nature of man overcoming the dragon of his own lower nature. While St. George is supposed to have lived during the third century, it is probable that he was a mythological personage borrowed from pagan mythology.*

Like the Gnostics, the Essenes were emanationists. One of their chief objects was the reinterpretation of the Mosaic Law according to certain secret spiritual keys preserved by them from the time of the founding of their order. It would thus follow that the Essenes were Qabbalists and, like several other contemporary sects flourishing in Syria, were awaiting the advent of the *Messiah* promised in the early Biblical writings. Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus, are believed to have been members of the Essene Order. Joseph was many years the senior of Mary. According to *The Protevangelium*, he was a widower with grown sons, and in the *Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew* he refers to Mary as a little child less in age than his own grandchildren. In her infancy Mary was dedicated to the Lord, and the Apocryphal writings contain many accounts of miracles associated with her early childhood. When she was twelve years old, the priests held counsel as to the future of this child who had dedicated herself to the Lord, and the Jewish high priest, bearing the breastplate, entered into the Holy of Holies, where an angel appeared to him, saying, "Zacharias, go forth and summon the widowers of the people and let them take a rod apiece and she shall be the wife of him to whom the Lord shall show a sign." Going forth to meet the priests at the head of the widowers, Joseph collected the rods of all the other men and gave them into the keeping of the priests. Now Joseph's rod was but half as long as the others, and the priests on returning the rods to the widowers paid no attention to Joseph's but left it behind in the Holy of Holies. When all the other widowers had received back their wands, the priests awaited a sign from heaven, but none came. Joseph, because of his advanced age, did not: ask for the return of his rod, for to him it was inconceivable that he should be chosen. But an angel appeared to the high priest, ordering him to give back the short rod which lay unnoticed in the Holy of Holies. As the high priest handed the rod to Joseph, a white dove flew from the end of it and rested upon the head of the aged carpenter, and to him was given the child.

The editor of *The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East* calls attention to the peculiar spirit with which the childhood of Jesus is treated in most of the Apocryphal books of the New Testament, particularly in one work attributed to the doubting Thomas, the earliest known Greek version of which dates from about A.D. 200: "The child Christ is represented almost as an imp, cursing and destroying those who annoy him." This Apocryphal work, calculated to inspire its readers with fear and trembling, was popular during the Middle Ages because it was in full accord with the cruel and persecuting spirit of mediæval Christianity. Like many other early sacred books, the book of Thomas was fabricated for two closely allied purposes: first, to outshine the pagans in miracle working; second, to inspire all unbelievers with the "fear of the Lord." Apocryphal writings of this sort have no possible basis in fact. At one time an asset, the "miracles" of Christianity have become its greatest liability. Supernatural phenomena, in a credulous age interpolated to impress the ignorant, in this century have only achieved the alienation of the intelligent.

In *The Greek Gospel of Nicodemus* it is declared that when Jesus was brought into the presence of Pilate the standards borne by the Roman guards bowed their tops in homage to him in spite of every effort made by the soldiers to prevent it. In *The Letters of Pilate* the statement also appears that Cæsar, being wroth at Pilate for executing a just man, ordered him to be decapitated. Praying for forgiveness, Pilate was visited by an angel of the Lord, who reassured the Roman governor by promising him that all Christendom should remember his name and that when Christ came the second time to judge His people he (Pilate) should come before Him as His witness.

Stories like the foregoing represent the incrustations that have attached themselves to the body of Christianity during the centuries. The popular mind itself has been the self-appointed guardian and perpetuator of these legends, bitterly opposing every effort to divest the faith of these questionable accumulations. While popular tradition often contains certain basic elements of truth, these elements are usually distorted out of all proportion. Thus, while the generalities of the story may be fundamentally true, the details are hopelessly erroneous. Of truth as of beauty it may be said that it is most adorned when unadorned. Through the mist of fantastic accounts which obscure the true foundation of the Christian faith is faintly visible to the discerning few a great and noble doctrine communicated to the world by a great and noble soul. Joseph and Mary, two devout and holy-minded souls, consecrated to the service of God and dreaming of the coming of a Messiah to serve Israel, obeyed the injunctions of the high priest of the Essenes to prepare a body for the coming of a great soul. Thus of an immaculate conception Jesus was born. By *immaculate* is meant clean, rather than supernatural.

Jesus was reared and educated by the Essenes and later initiated into the most profound of their Mysteries. Like all great initiates, He must travel in an easterly direction, and the silent years of His life no doubt were spent in familiarizing Himself with that secret teaching later to be communicated by Him to the world. Having consummated the ascetic practices of His order, He attained to the *Christening*. Having thus reunited Himself with His own spiritual source, He then went forth in the name of the One who has been crucified since before the worlds were and, gathering about Him disciples and apostles, He instructed them in that secret teaching which had been lost--in part, at least--from the doctrines of Israel. His fate is unknown, but in all probability He suffered that persecution which is the lot of those who seek to reconstruct the ethical, philosophical, or religious systems of their day.

To the multitudes Jesus spoke in parables; to His disciples He also spoke in parables, though of a more exalted and philosophic nature. Voltaire said that Plato should have been canonized by the Christian Church, for, being the first propounder of the *Christos* mystery, he contributed more to its fundamental doctrines than any other single individual. Jesus disclosed to His disciples that the lower world is under the control of a great spiritual being which had fashioned it according to the will of the Eternal Father. The mind of this great angel was both the mind of the world and also the worldly mind. So that men should not die of worldliness the Eternal Father sent unto creation the eldest and most exalted of His powers--the Divine Mind. This Divine Mind offered Itself as a living sacrifice and was broken up and eaten by the world. Having given Its spirit and Its body at a secret and sacred supper to the twelve manners of rational creatures, this Divine Mind became a part of every living thing. Man was thereby enabled to use this power as a bridge across which he might pass and attain immortality. He who lifted up his soul to this Divine Mind and served It was righteous and, having attained righteousness, liberated this Divine Mind, which thereupon returned again in glory to Its own divine source. And because He had brought to them this knowledge, the disciples said one to another: "Lo, He is Himself this Mind personified!"

**THE ARTHURIAN CYCLE AND LEGEND OF THE HOLY GRAIL**

According to legend, the body of the Christos (the Spiritual Law) was given into the keeping of two men, of whom the Gospels make but brief mention. These were Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, both devout men who, though not listed among the disciples or apostles of the Christos, were of all men chosen to be custodians of His sacred remains. Joseph of Arimathea was one of the initiated brethren and is called by A. E. Waite, in his *A New Encyclopædia of Freemasonry*, "the first bishop of Christendom." just as the temporal (or visible) power of the Holy See was established by St. Peter(?), so the spiritual (or invisible) body of the faith was entrusted to the "Secret Church of the Holy Grail" through apostolic succession from Joseph of Arimathea, into whose keeping had been given the perpetual symbols of the covenant--the ever-flowing cup and the bleeding spear.

*JAKOB BÖHME, THE TEUTONIC THEOSOPHER.*

*From William Law's Translation of The Works of Jakob Böhme.*

*Jakob Böhme was born in the year 1575 in a village near Gorlitz, and died in Silesia in 1624. He had but little schooling and was apprenticed at an early age to a shoemaker. He later became a journeyman shoemaker, married and had four children One day while tending his master's shoe shop, a mysterious stranger entered who while he seemed to possess but little of this world's goods, appeared to be most wise and noble in spiritual attainment. The stranger asked the price of a pair of shoes, but young Böhme did not dare to name a figure, for fear that he would displease his master. The stranger insisted and Böhme finally placed a valuation which he was all that his master possibly could hope to secure for the shoes. The stranger immediately bought them and departed. A short distance down the street the mysterious stranger stopped and cried out in a loud voice, "Jakob, Jakob come forth." In amazement and fright, Böhme ran out of the house. The strange man fixed his yes upon the youth--great eyes which sparkled and seemed filled with divine light. He took the boy's right hand and addressed him as follows--"Jakob, thou art little, but shalt be great, and become another Man, such a one as at whom the World shall wonder. Therefore be pious, fear God, and reverence His Word. Read diligently the Holy Scriptures, wherein you have Comfort and Instruction. For thou ust endure much Misery and Poverty, and suffer Persecution, but be courageous and persevere, far God loves, and is gracious to thee." Deeply impressed by the prediction, Böhme became ever more intense in his search for truth. At last his labors were reworded. For seven days he remained in a mysterious condition during which time the mysteries of the invisible world were revealed to him. It has been said of Jakob Böhme that he revealed to all mankind the deepest secrets of alchemy. He died surrounded by his family, his last words being "Now I go hence into Paradise."*

Presumably obeying instructions of St. Philip, Joseph of Arimathea, carrying the sacred relics, reached Britain after passing through many and varied hardships. Here a site was allotted to him for the erection of a church, and in this manner Glastonbury Abbey was founded. Joseph planted his staff in the earth and it took root, becoming a miraculous thorn bush which blossomed twice a year and which is now called the Glastonbury thorn. The end of the life of Joseph of Arimathea is unknown. By some it is believed that, like Enoch, he was translated; by others, that he was buried in Glastonbury Abbey. Repeated attempts have been made to find the Holy Grail, which many believe to have been hidden in a crypt beneath the ancient abbey. The Glastonbury chalice recently discovered and by the devout supposed to be the original Sangreal can scarcely be accepted as genuine by the critical investigator. Beyond its inherent interest as a relic, like the famous Antioch chalice it actually proves nothing when it is realized that practically little more was known about the Christian Mysteries eighteen centuries ago than can be discovered today.

The origin of the Grail myth, as of nearly every other element in the great drama, is curiously elusive. Sufficient foundation for it may be found in the folklore of the British Isles, which contains many accounts of magic cauldrons, kettles, cups, and drinking horns. The earliest Grail legends describe the cup as a veritable horn of plenty. Its contents were inexhaustible and those who served it never hungered or thirsted. One account states that no matter how desperately ill a person might be he could not die within eight days of beholding the cup. Some authorities believe the Holy Grail to be the perpetuation of the holy cup used in the rites of Adonis and Atys. A communion cup or chalice was used in several of the ancient Mysteries, and the god Bacchus is frequently symbolized in the form of a vase, cup, or urn. In Nature worship the ever-flowing Grail signifies the bounty of the harvest by which the life of man is sustained; like Mercury's bottomless pitcher, it is the inexhaustible fountain of natural re source. From the evidence at hand it would indeed be erroneous to ascribe a purely Christian origin to the Grail symbolism.

In the Arthurian Cycle appears a strange and mysterious figure--Merlin, the magician. In one of the legends concerning him it is declared that when Jesus was sent to liberate the world from the bondage of evil, the Adversary determined to send an Antichrist to undo His labors. The Devil therefore in the form of a horrible dragon overshadowed a young woman who had taken refuge in sanctuary to escape the evil which had dcstroyed her family. When Merlin, her child, was born he partook of the characteristics of his human mother and demon father. Merlin, however, did not serve the powers of darkness but, being converted to the true light, retained only two of the supernatural powers inherited from his father: prophecy and miracle working. The story of Merlin's infernal father must really be considered as an allegorical allusion to the fact that he was a "philosophical son" of the serpent or dragon, a title applied to all initiates of the Mysteries, who thus acknowledge Nature as their mortal mother and wisdom in the form of the serpent or dragon as their immortal Father. Confusion of the dragon and serpent with the powers of evil has resulted as an inevitable consequence from misinterpretation of the early chapters of Genesis.

Arthur while an infant was given into the keeping of Merlin, the Mage, and in his youth instructed by him in the secret doctrine and probably initiated into the deepest secrets of natural magic. With Merlin's assistance, Arthur became the leading general of Britain, a degree of dignity which has been confused with kingship. After Arthur had drawn the sword of Branstock from the anvil and thus established his divine right to leadership, Merlin further assisted him to secure from the Lady of the Lake the sacred sword Excalibur. After the establishment of the Round Table, having fulfilled his duty, Merlin disappeared, according to one account vanishing into the air, where he still exists as a shadow communicating at will with mortals; according to another, retiring of his own accord into a great stone vault which he sealed from within.

It is reasonably certain that many legends regarding Charlemagne were later associated with Arthur, who is most famous for establishing the Order of the Round Table at Winchester. Reliable information is not to be had concerning the ceremonies and initiatory rituals of the "Table Round." In one story the Table was endowed with the powers of expansion and contraction so that fifteen or fifteen hundred could be seated around it, according to whatever need might arise. The most common accounts fix the number of knights who could be seated at one time at the Round Table at either twelve or twenty-four. The twelve signified the signs of the zodiac and also the apostles of Jesus. The knights' names and also their heraldic arms were emblazoned upon their chairs. When twenty-four are shown seated at the Table, each of the twelve signs of the zodiac is divided into two parts--a light and a dark half--to signify the nocturnal and diurnal phases of each sign. As each sign of the zodiac is ascending for two hours every day, so the twenty-four knights represent the hours, the twenty-four elders before the throne in *Revelation*, and twenty-four Persian deities who represent the spirits of the divisions of the day. In the center of the Table was the symbolic rose of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the symbol of resurrection in that He "rose" from the dead. There was also a mysterious empty seat called the *Siege Perilous* in which none might sit except he who was successful in his quest for the Holy Grad.

In the personality of Arthur is to be found a new form of the ever-recurrent cosmic myth. The prince of Britain is the sun, his knights are the zodiac, and his flashing sword may be the sun's ray with which he fights and vanquishes the dragons of darkness or it may represent the earth's axis. Arthur's Round Table is the universe; the *Siege Perilous* the throne of the perfect man. In its terrestrial sense, Arthur was the Grand Master of a secret Christian-Masonic brotherhood of philosophic mystics who termed themselves *Knights*. Arthur received the exalted position of Grand Master of these Knights because he had faithfully accomplished the withdrawal of the sword (spirit) from the anvil of the base metals (his lower nature). As invariably happens, the historical Arthur soon was confused with the allegories and myths of his order until now the two are inseparable. After Arthur's death on the field of Kamblan his Mysteries ceased, and esoterically he was borne away on a black barge, as is so beautifully described by Tennyson in his *Morte d'Arthur*. The great sword *Excalibur* was also cast back into the waters of eternity--all of which is a vivid portrayal of the descent of cosmic night at the end of the Day of Universal Manifestation. The body of the historical Arthur was probably interred at Glastonbury Abbey, a building closely identified with the mystic rites of both the Grail and the Arthurian Cycle.

The mediæval Rosicrucians were undoubtedly in possession of the true secret of the Arthurian Cycle and the Grail legend, much of their symbolism having been incorporated into that order. Though the most obvious of all keys to the Christos mystery, the Grail legend has received the least consideration.

*THE NIMBUS AND AUREOLE IN SYMBOLISM.*

*From Audsley's Handbook of Christian Symbolism.*

*The golden halos around the heads of pagan gods and Christian saints refer both to their being bathed in the glory of the sun and also to the fact that a spiritual sun within their own natures is radiating its glow-ray and surrounding them with celestial splendor. Whenever the nimbus is composed of straight radiant lines, it is solar in significance; whenever curved lines are used for beams, it partakes lunar nature; whenever they are united, it symbolizes a, harmonious blending of both principles. The circular nimbus is solar and masculine, while the lozenge-shaped nimbus, or vesica piscis, is lunar and feminine. The same symbolism is preserved in the circular and lozenge-shaped windows of cathedrals. There is a complete science contained in the shape, color, and adornments of the halos of saints and martyrs. A plain golden ring usually surrounds the head of a canonized saint, while God the Father and God the Son have a far more ornate aureole, usually adorned with a St. George Cross, a flowered cross, or a lilied cross, with only three of the arms visible.*

## The Cross and the Crucifixion

ONE of the most interesting legends concerning the cross is that preserved in *Aurea Legenda*, by Jacobus de Vorgaine. The Story is to the effect that Adam, feeling the end of his life was near, entreated his son Seth to make a pilgrimage to the Garden of Eden and secure from the angel on guard at the entrance the *Oil of Mercy* which God had promised mankind. Seth did not know the way; but his father told him it was in an eastward direction, and the path would be easy to follow, for when Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of the Lord, upon the path which their feet had trod the grass had never grown.

Seth, following the directions of his father, discovered the Garden of Eden without difficulty. The angel who guarded the gate permitted him to enter, and in the midst of the garden Seth beheld a great tree, the branches of which reached up to heaven. The tree was in the form of a cross, and stood on the brink of a precipice which led downward into the depths of hell. Among the roots of the tree he saw the body of his brother Cain, held prisoner by the entwining limbs. The angel refused to give Seth the *Oil of Mercy*, but presented him instead with three seeds from the Tree of Life (some say the Tree of Knowledge). With these Seth returned to his father, who was so overjoyed that he did not desire to live longer. Three days later he died, and the three seeds were buried in his mouth, as the angel had instructed. The seeds became a sapling with three trunks in one, which absorbed into itself the blood of Adam, so that the life of Adam was in the tree. Noah dug up this tree by the roots and took it with him into the Ark. After the waters subsided, he buried the skull of Adam under Mount Calvary, and planted the tree on the summit of Mount Lebanon.

Moses beheld a visionary being in the midst of this tree (the burning bush) and from it cut the magical rod with which he was able to bring water out of a stone. But because he failed to call upon the Lord the second time he struck the rock, he was not permitted to carry the sacred staff into the Promised Land; so he planted it in the hills of Moab. After much searching, King David discovered the tree; and his son, Solomon, tried to use it for a pillar in his Temple, but his carpenters could not cut it so that it would fit; it was always either too long or too short. At last, disgusted, they cast it aside and used it for a bridge to connect Jerusalem with the surrounding hills. When the Queen of Sheba came to visit King Solomon she was expected to walk across this bridge. Instead, when she beheld the tree, she refused to put her foot upon it, but, after kneeling and praying, removed her sandals and forded the stream. This so impressed King Solomon that he ordered the log to be overlaid with golden places and placed above the door of his Temple. There it remained until his covetous grandson stole the gold, and buried the tree so that the crime would not be discovered.

From the ground where the tree was buried there immediately bubbled forth a spring of water, which became known as Bethesda. To it the sick from all Syria came to be healed. The angel of the pool became the guardian of the tree, and it remained undisturbed for many years. Eventually the log floated to the surface and was used as a bridge again, this time between Calvary and Jerusalem; and over it Jesus passed to be crucified. There was no wood on Calvary; so the tree was cut into two parts to serve as the cross upon which the Son of Man was crucified. The cross was set up at the very spot where the skull of Adam had been buried. Later, when the cross was discovered by the Empress Helena, the wood was found to be of four different varieties contained in one tree (representing the elements), and thereafter the cross continued to heal all the sick who were permitted to touch it.

The prevalent idea that the reverence for the cross is limited to the Christian world is disproved by even the most superficial investigation of its place in religious symbolism. The early Christians used every means possible to conceal the pagan origin of their symbols, doctrines, and rituals. They either destroyed the sacred books of other peoples among whom they settled, or made them inaccessible to students of comparative philosophy, apparently believing that in this way they could stamp out all record of the pre-Christian origin of their doctrines. In some cases the writings of various ancient authors were tampered with, passages of a compromising nature being removed or foreign material interpolated. The supposedly spurious passage in Josephus concerning Jesus is an example adduced to illustrate this proclivity.

**THE LOST LIBRARIES OF ALEXANDRIA**

Prior to the Christian Era seven hundred thousand of the most valuable books, written upon parchment, papyrus, vellum, and wax, and also tablets of stone, terra cotta, and wood, were gathered from all parts of the ancient world and housed in Alexandria, in buildings specially prepared for the purpose. This magnificent repository of knowledge was destroyed by a series of three fires. The parts that escaped the conflagration lighted by Cæsar to destroy the fleet in the harbor were destroyed about A.D. 389 by the Christians in obedience to the edict of Theodosius, who had ordered the destruction of the Serapeum, a building sacred to Serapis in which the volumes were kept. This conflagration is supposed to have destroyed the library that Marcus Antonius had presented to Cleopatra to compensate in part for that burned in the fire of the year 51.

Concerning this, H. P. Blavatsky, in *Isis Unveiled*, has written: "They the Rabbis of Palestine and the wise men say that not all the rolls and manuscripts, reported in history to have been burned by Cæsar, by the Christian mob, in 389, and by the Arab General Amru, perished as it is commonly believed; and the story they tell is the following: At the time of the contest for the throne, in 51 B. C., between Cleopatra and her brother Dionysius Ptolemy, the Bruckion, which contained over seven hundred thousand rolls all bound in wood and fire-proof parchment, was undergoing repairs and a great portion of the original manuscripts, considered among the most precious, and which were not duplicated, were stored away in the house of one of the librarians. ***Several hours passed between the burning of the fleet, set on fire by Cæsar's order, and the moment when the first buildings situated near the harbor caught fire in their turn; and*** the librarians, aided by several hundred slaves attached to the museum, succeeded in saving the most precious of the rolls." In all probability, the books which were saved lie buried either in Egypt or in India, and until they are discovered the modern world must remain in ignorance concerning many great philosophical and mystical truths. The ancient world more clearly understood these missing links--the continuity of the pagan Mysteries in Christianity.

**THE CROSS IN PAGAN SYMBOLISM**

In his article on the *Cross and Crucifixion* in the *Encyclopædia Britannica*, Thomas Macall Fallow casts much light on the antiquity of this ideograph. "The use of the cross as a religious symbol in pre-Christian times, and among non-Christian peoples, may probably be regarded as almost universal, and in very many cases it was connected with some form of nature worship."

*HISTORY OF THE HOLY CROSS.*

*From Berjeau's History of the Holy Cross.*

*(1) Adam directing Seth how to reach the Garden of Eden. (2) Seth placing the three seeds from the Tree of Life under the tongue of the dead Adam. (3) The Queen of Sheba, refusing to place her feet upon the sacred tree, forded the stream. (4) Placing the sacred tree over the door of Solomon's Temple. (5) The crucifixion of Christ upon a cross made from the wood of the holy tree. (6) Distinguishing the true cross from the other two by testing its power to raise a corpse to life.*

Not only is the cross itself a familiar object in the art of all nations, but the veneration for it is an essential part of the religious life of the greater part of humanity. It is a common symbol among the American Indians--North, Central, and South. William W. Seymour states: "The Aztec goddess of rain bore a cross in her hand, and the Toltecs claimed that their deity, Quetzalcoatl, taught them the sign and ritual of the cross, hence his staff, or sceptre of power, resembled a crosier, and his mantle was covered with red crosses." (*The Cross in Tradition, History and Art*.)

The cross is also highly revered by the Japanese and Chinese. To the Pythagoreans the most sacred of all numbers was the 10, the symbol of which is an X, or cross. In both the Japanese and Chinese languages the character of the number 10 is a cross. The Buddhist wheel of life is composed of two crosses superimposed, and its eight points are still preserved to Christendom in the peculiarly formed cross of the Knights Templars, which is essentially Buddhistic. India has preserved the cross, not only in its carvings and paintings, but also in its architectonics; a great number of its temples--like the churches and cathedrals of Christendom--are raised from cruciform foundations.

On the *mandalas* of the Tibetans, heaven is laid out in the form of a cross, with a demon king at each of the four gates. A remarkable cross of great antiquity was discovered in the island caves of Elephanta in the harbor of Bombay. Crosses of various kinds were favorite motifs in the art of Chaldea, Phœnicia, Egypt, and Assyria. The initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece were given a cross which they suspended about their necks on a chain, or cord, at the time of initiation. To the Rosicrucians, Alchemists, and Illuminati, the cross was the symbol of light, because each of the three letters L V X is derived from some part of the cross.

**THE TAU CROSS**

There are three distinct forms of the cross. The first is called the TAU (more correctly the TAV). It closely resembles the modern letter T, consisting of a horizontal bar resting on a vertical column, the two arms being of equal length. An oak tree cut off some feet above the ground and its upper part laid across the lower in this form was the symbol of the Druid god *Hu*. It is suspected that this symbol originated among the Egyptians from the spread of the horns of a bull or ram (Taurus or Aries) and the vertical line of its face. This is sometimes designated as the *hammer cross*, because if held by its vertical base it is not unlike a mallet or gavel. In one of the Qabbalistic Masonic legends, CHiram Abiff is given a hammer in the form of a TAU by his ancestor, Tubal-cain. The TAU cross is preserved to modern Masonry under the symbol of the T square. This appears to be the oldest form of the cross extant.

The TAU cross was inscribed on the forehead of every person admitted into the Mysteries of Mithras. When a king was initiated into the Egyptian Mysteries, the TAU was placed against his lips. It was tattooed upon the bodies of the candidates in some of the American Indian Mysteries. To the Qabbalist, the TAU stood for heaven and the Pythagorean *tetractys*. The *Caduceus* of Hermes was an outgrowth of the TAU cross. (See Albert Pike.)

**THE CRUX ANSATA**

The second type was that of a T, or TAU, cross surmounted by a circle, often foreshortened to the form of an upright oval. This was called by the ancients the Crux Ansata, or the cross of life . It was the key to the Mysteries of antiquity and it probably gave rise to the more modern story of St. Peter's golden key to heaven. In the Mysteries of Egypt the candidate passed through all forms of actual and imaginary dangers, holding above his head the Crux Ansata, before which the powers of darkness fell back abashed. The student is reminded of the words *In hoc signo vinces*. The TAU form of the cross is not unlike the seal of Venus, as Richard Payne Knight has noted. He states: "The cross in this form is sometimes observable on coins, and several of them were found in a temple of Serapis the Serapeum, demolished at the general destruction of those edifices by the Emperor Theodosius, and were said by the Christian antiquaries of that time to signify the future life."

Augustus Le Plongeon, in his Sacred Mysteries Among the Mayas and Quiches, notes that the Crux Ansata, which he calls The Key to the Nile and the Symbol of Symbols, either in its complete form or as a simple TAU, was to be seen adorning the breasts of statues and bas-reliefs at Palenque, Copan, and throughout Central America. He notes that it was always associated with water; that among the Babylonians it was the emblem of the water gods; among the Scandinavians, of heaven and immortality; and among the Mayas, of rejuvenation and freedom from physical suffering.

Concerning the association of this symbol with the *waters of life*, Count Goblet d'Alviella, in his *Migration of Symbols*, calls attention to the fact that an instrument resembling the Crux Ansata and called the *Nilometer* was used by the ancient Egyptians for measuring and regulating the inundations of the river Nile. It is probable that this relationship to the Nile caused it to be considered the symbol of life, for Egypt depended entirely upon the inundations of this river for the irrigation necessary to insure sufficient crops. In the papyrus scrolls the Crux Ansata is shown issuing from the mouths of Egyptian kings when they pardoned enemies, and it was buried with them to signify the immortality of the soul. It was carried by many of the gods and goddesses and apparently signified their divine benevolence and life-giving power. The Cairo Museum contains a magnificent collection of crosses of many shapes, sizes, and designs, proving that they were a common symbol among the Egyptians.

**THE ROMAN AND GREEK CATHOLIC CROSSES**

The third form of the cross is the familiar Roman or Greek type, which is closely associated with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, although it is improbable that the cross used resembled its more familiar modern form. There are unlimited sub-varieties of crosses, differing in the relative proportions of their vertical and horizontal sections. Among the secret orders of different generations we find compounded crosses, such as the triple TAU in the Royal Arch of Freemasonry and the double and triple crosses of both Masonic and Roman Catholic symbolism.

To the Christian the cross has a twofold significance. First, it is the symbol of the death of his Redeemer, through whose martyrdom he feels that he partakes of the glory of God; secondly, it is the symbol of humility, patience, and the burden of life. It is interesting that the cross should be both a symbol of life and a symbol of death. Many nations deeply considered the astronomical aspect of religion, and it is probable that the Persians, Greeks, and Hindus looked upon the cross as a symbol of the equinoxes and the solstices, in the belief that at certain seasons of the year the sun was symbolically crucified upon these imaginary celestial angles.

The fact that so many nations have regarded their Savior as a personification of the sun globe is convincing evidence that the cross must exist as an astronomical element in pagan allegory. Augustus Le Plongeon believed that the veneration for the cross was partly due to the rising of a constellation called the Southern Cross, which immediately preceded the annual rains, and as the natives of those latitudes relied wholly upon these rains to raise their crops, they viewed the cross as an annual promise of the approaching storms, which to them meant life.

There are four basic elements (according to both ancient philosophy and modern science), and the ancients represented them by the four arms of the cross, placing at the end of each arm a mysterious Qabbalistic creature to symbolize the power of one of these elements. Thus, they symbolized the element of earth by a bull; water by a scorpion, a serpent, or an eagle; fire by a lion; and air by a human head surrounded by wings. It is significant that the four letters inscribed upon parchment (some say wood) and fastened to the top of the cross at the time of the crucifixion should be the first letters of four Hebrew words which stand for the four elements: "*Iammin*, the sea or water; *Nour*, fire; *Rouach*, the air; and *Iebeschah*, the dry earth." (See *Morals and Dogma*, by Albeit Pike.)

*THE EASTER ISLAND FIGURE SHOWING CRUX ANSATA ON REVERSE*

*That the Crux Ansata migrated to many parts of the earth is proved by the fact that it was sculptured upon the back of at least one of the mysterious stone figures found on Easter Island in the south Pacific. The statue in question--one of the smallest in the group--was brought to London by a sailing ship, and is now in the British Museum; the Crux Ansata on the reverse side is plainly visible.*

That a cross can be formed by opening or unfolding the surfaces of a cube has caused that symbol to be associated with the earth. Though a cross within a circle has long been regarded as a sign of the planet Earth, it should really be considered as the symbol of the composite element earth, since it is composed of the four triangles of the elements. For thousands of years the cross has been identified with the plan of salvation for humanity. The elements--salt, sulphur, mercury, and Azoth--used in making the Philosopher's Scone in Alchemy, were often symbolized by a cross. The cross of the four cardinal angles also had its secret significance, and Masonic parties of three still go forth to the four cardinal points of the compass in search of the Lost Word.

The material of which the cross was formed was looked upon as being an essential element in its symbolism. Thus, a golden cross symbolized illumination; a silver cross, purification; a cross of base metals, humiliation; a cross of wood, aspiration. The fact that among many nations it was customary to spread the arms in prayer has influenced the symbolism of the cross, which, because of its shape, has come to be regarded as emblematic of the human body. The four major divisions of the human structure--bones, muscles, nerves, and arteries--are considered to have contributed to the symbolism of the cross. This is especially due to the fact that the spinal nerves cross at the base of the spine, and is a reminder that "Our Lord was crucified also in Egypt."

Man has four vehicles (or mediums) of expression by means of which the spiritual Ego contacts the external universe: the physical nature, the vital nature, the emotional nature, and the mental nature. Each of these partakes in principle of one of the primary elements, and the four creatures assigned to them by the Qabbalists caused the cross to be symbolic of the compound nature of man.

**THE CRUCIFIXION--A COSMIC ALLEGORY**

Saviors unnumbered have died for the sins of man and by the hands of man, and through their deaths have interceded in heaven for the souls of their executioners. The martyrdom of the *God-Man* and the redemption of the world through His blood has been an essential tenet of many great religions. Nearly all these stories can be traced to sun worship, for the glorious orb of day is the Savior who dies annually for every creature within his universe, but year after year rises again victorious from the tomb of winter. Without doubt the doctrine of the crucifixion is based upon the secret traditions of the Ancient Wisdom; it is a constant reminder that the divine nature of man is perpetually crucified upon the animal organism. Certain of the pagan Mysteries included in the ceremony of initiation the crucifixion of the candidate upon a cross, or the laying of his body upon a cruciform altar. It has been claimed that Apollonius of Tyana (the Antichrist) was initiated into the Arcanum of Egypt in the Great Pyramid, where he hung upon a cross until unconscious and was then laid in the tomb (the coffer) for three days. While his body was unconscious, his soul was thought to pass into the realms of the immortals (the place of death) After it had vanquished death (by recognizing that life is eternal) it returned again to the body, which then rose from the coffer, after which he was hailed as a brother by the priests, who believed that he had returned from the land of the dead. This concept was, in substance, the teaching of the Mysteries.

**THE CRUCIFIED SAVIORS**

The list of the deathless mortals who *suffered* for man that he might receive the boon of eternal life is an imposing one. Among those connected historically or allegorically with a crucifixion are Prometheus, Adonis, Apollo, Arys, Bacchus, Buddha, Christna, Horus, Indra, Ixion, Mithras, Osiris, Pythagoras, Quetzalcoatl, Semiramis, and Jupiter. According to the fragmentary accounts extant, all these heroes gave their lives to the service of humanity and, with one or two exceptions, died as martyrs for the cause of human progress. In many mysterious ways the manner of their death has been designedly concealed, but it is possible that most of them were crucified upon a cross or tree. The first friend of man, the immortal Prometheus, was crucified on the pinnacle of Mount Caucasus, and a vulture was placed over his liver to torment him throughout eternity by clawing and rending his flesh with its talons. Prometheus disobeyed the edict of Zeus by bringing fire and immortality to man, so for man he suffered until the coming of Hercules released him from his ages of torment.

Concerning the crucifixion of the Persian Mithras, J. P. Lundy has written: "Dupuis tells us that Mithra was put to death by crucifixion, and rose again on the 25th of March. In the Persian Mysteries the body of a young man, apparently dead, was exhibited, which was feigned to be restored to life. By his sufferings he was believed to have worked their salvation, and on this account he was called their Savior. His priests watched his tomb to the midnight of the vigil of the 25th of March, with loud cries, and in darkness; when all at once the light burst forth from all parts, the priest cried, Rejoice, O sacred initiated, your God is risen. His death, his pains, and sufferings, have worked your salvation." (See *Monumental Christianity*.)

In some cases, as in that of the Buddha, the crucifixion mythos must be taken in an allegorical rather than a literal sense, for the manner of his death has been recorded by his own disciples in the *Book of the Great Decease*. However, the mere fact that the symbolic reference to death upon a tree has been associated with these heroes is sufficient to prove the universality of the crucifixion story.

The East Indian equivalent of Christ is the immortal Christna, who, sitting in the forest playing his flute, charmed the birds and beasts by his music. It is supposed that this divinely inspired Savior of humanity was crucified upon a tree by his enemies, but great care has been taken to destroy any evidence pointing in that direction. Louis Jacolliot, in his book *The Bible in India*, thus describes the death of Christna: "Christna understood that the hour had come for him to quit the earth, and return to the bosom of him who had sent him. Forbidding his disciples to follow him, he went, one day, to make his ablutions on the banks of the Ganges ***. Arriving at the sacred river, he plunged himself three times therein, then, kneeling, and looking to heaven, he prayed, expecting death. In this position he was pierced with arrows by one of those whose crimes he had unveiled, and who, hearing of his journey to the Ganges, had, with generation. a strong troop, followed with the design of assassinating him***. The body of the God-man was suspended to the branches of a tree by his murderer, that it might become the prey of vultures. News of the death having spread, the people came in a crowd conducted by Ardjouna, the dearest of the disciples of Christna, to recover his sacred remains. But the mortal frame of the redeemer had disappeared--no doubt it had regained the celestial abodes ** * and the tree to which it had been attached had become suddenly covered with great red flowers and diffused around it the sweetest perfume." Other accounts of the death of Christna declare that he was tied to a cross-shaped tree before the arrows were aimed at him.

The existence in Moor's *The Hindu Pantheon* of a plate of Christna with nail wounds in his hands and feet, and a plate in Inman's *Ancient Faiths* showing an Oriental deity with what might well be a nail hole in one of his feet, should be sufficient motive for further investigation of this subject by those of unbiased minds. Concerning the startling discoveries which can be made along these lines, J. P. Lundy in his *Monumental Christianity* presents the following information: "Where did the Persians get their notion of this prophecy as thus interpreted respecting Christ, and His saving mercy and love displayed on the cross? Both by symbol and actual crucifix we see it on all their monuments. If it came from India, how did it get there, except from the one common and original centre of all primitive and pure religion? There is a most extraordinary plate, illustrative of the whole subject, which representation I believe to be anterior to Christianity. It is copied from Moor's Hindu Pantheon, not as a curiosity, but as a most singular monument of the crucifixion. I do not venture to give it a name, other than that of a *crucifixion in space*. ** * Can it be the Victim-Man, or the Priest and Victim both in one, of the Hindu mythology, who offered himself a sacrifice before the worlds were? Can it be Plato's second God who impressed himself on the universe in the form of the cross? Or is it his divine man who would be scourged, tormented, fettered, have his eyes burnt out; and lastly, having suffered all manner of evils, would be *crucified*? Plato learned his theology in Egypt and the East, and must have known of the crucifixion of Krishna, Buddha, Mithra *et al*. At any rate, the religion of India had its mythical crucified victim long anterior to Christianity, as a type of the real one *Pro Deo et Ecclesia*!, and I am inclined to think that we have it in this remarkable plate."

*THE TAU CROSS.*

*The TAU Cross was the sign which the Lord told the people of Jerusalem to mark on their foreheads, as related by the Prophet Ezekiel. It was also placed as a symbol of liberation upon those charged with crimes but acquitted.*

*THE CRUX ANSATA.*

*Both the cross and the circle were phallic symbols, for the ancient world venerated the generative powers of Nature as being expressive of the creative attributes of the Deity. The Crux Ansata, by combining the masculine TAU with the feminine oval, exemplified the principles of generation.*

The modern world has been misled in its attitude towards the so-called pagan deities, and has come to view them in a light entirely different from their true characters and meanings. The ridicule and slander heaped by Christendom upon Christna and Bacchus are excellent examples of the persecution of immortal principles by those who have utterly failed to sense the secret meaning of the allegories. Who was the crucified man of Greece, concerning whom vague rumors have been afloat? Higgins thinks it was Pythagoras, the true story of whose death was suppressed by early Christian authors because it conflicted with their teachings. Was it true also that the Roman legionaries carried on the field of battle standards upon which were crosses bearing the crucified Sun Man?

*APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.*

*From Historia Deorum Fatidicorum.*

*Concerning Apollonius and his remarkable Powers, Francis Barrett, in his Biographia Antiqua, after describing how Apollonius quelled a riot without speaking a word, continues: "He traveled much, professed himself a legislator; understood all languages, without having learned them; he had the surprising faculty of knowing what was transacted at an immense distance, and at the time the Emperor Domitian was stabbed, Apollonius being at a vast distance and standing in the market-place of the city, exclaimed, 'Strike! strike!--'tis time, the tyrant is no more.' He understood the language of birds; he condemned dancing and other diversions of that sort. he recommended charity and piety; he traveled over almost all the countries of the world; and he died at a very great age."*

**THE CRUCIFIXION OF QUETZALCOATL**

One of the most remarkable of the crucified World Saviors is the Central American god of the winds, or the Sun, Quetzalcoatl, concerning whose activities great secrecy was maintained by the Indian priests of Mexico and Central America. This strange immortal, whose name means *feathered snake*, appears to have come out of the sea, bringing with him a mysterious cross. On his garments were embellished clouds and red crosses. In his honor, great serpents carved from stone were placed in different parts of Mexico.

The cross of Quetzalcoatl became a sacred symbol among the Mayas, and according to available records the Maya Indian angels had crosses of various pigments painted on their foreheads. Similar crosses were placed over the eyes of those initiated into their Mysteries. When Cortez arrived in Mexico, he brought with him the cross. Recognizing this, the natives believed that he was Quetzalcoatl returned, for the latter had promised to come back in the infinite future and redeem his people.

In *Anacalypsis*, Godfrey Higgins throws some light on the cross and its symbolism in America: "The Incas had a cross of very fine marble, or beautiful jasper, highly polished, of one piece, three-fourths of an ell in length, and three fingers in width and thickness. It was kept in a sacred chamber of a palace, and held in great veneration. The Spaniards enriched this cross with gold and jewels, and placed it in the cathedral of Cuzco. Mexican temples are in the form of a cross, and face the four cardinal points. Quexalcoatl is represented in the paintings of the Codex Borgianus nailed to the cross. Sometimes even the two thieves are there crucified with him. In Vol. II. plate 75, the God is crucified in the Heavens, in a circle of nineteen figures, the number of the Metonic cycle. A serpent is depriving him of the organs of generation. In the Codex Borgianus, (pp. 4, 72, 73, 75,) the Mexican God is represented crucified and nailed to the cross, and in another place hanging to it, with a cross in his hands. And in one instance, where the figure is not merely outlined, the cross is red, the clothes are coloured, and the face and hands quite black. If this was the Christianity of the German Nestorius, how came he to teach that the crucified Savior was black? The name of the God who was crucified was Quexalcoatl.

The crucifixion of the Word in space, the crucifixion of the dove often seen in religious symbolism--both of these are reminders of pagan overshadowing. The fact that a cross is formed by the spread wings of a bird in relation to its body is no doubt one of the reasons why the Egyptians used a bird to symbolize the immortal nature of man, and often show it hovering over the mummified body of the dead and carrying in one of its claws the sign of life and in the other the sign of breath.

**THE NAILS OF THE PASSION**

The three nails of the Passion have found their way into the symbolism of many races and faiths. There are many legends concerning these nails. One of these is to the effect that originally there were four nails, but one was dematerialized by a Hebrew Qabbalist and magician just as they were about to drive it through the foot of the Master. Hence it was necessary to cross the feet. Another legend relates that one of the nails was hammered into a crown and that it still exists as the imperial diadem of a European house. Still another story has it that the bit on the bridle of Constantine's horse was a Passion nail. It is improbable, however, that the nails were made of iron, for at that time it was customary to use sharpened wooden pegs. Hargrave Jennings, in his *Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries*, calls attention to the fact that the mark or sign used in England to designate royal property and called the broad arrow is nothing more nor less than the three nails of the crucifixion grouped together, and that by placing them point to point the ancient symbol of the Egyptian TAU cross is formed.

In his *Ancient Freemasonry*, Frank C. Higgins reproduces the Masonic apron of a colossal stone figure at Quirigua, Guatemala. The central ornament of the apron is the three Passion nails, arranged exactly like the British broad arrow. That three nails should be used to crucify the Christ, three murderers to kill CHiram Abiff, and three wounds to slay Prince Coh, the Mexican Indian Osiris, is significant.

*THE CRUCIFIXION OF QUETZALCOATL.  
(From the Codex Borgianus.)*

*From Kingsborough's Antiquities of Mexico.*

*Lord Kingsborough writes: "May we not refer to the seventy-third page of the Borgian MS., which represents Quexalcoatl both crucified, and as it were cut in pieces for the cauldron, and with equal reason demand, whether anyone can help thinking that the Jews of the New World (Lord Kingsborough sought to prove that the Mexicans were descendants of the Jews applied to their Messiah not only all the prophecies contained in the Old Testament relating to Christ, but likewise many of the incidents recorded of him in the Gospels."*

C. W. King, in his *Gnostics and Their Remains*, thus describes a Gnostic gem: "The Gnostic Pleroma, or combination of all the Æons is expressed by the outline of a man holding a scroll ** *. The left hand is formed like three bent *spikes* or *nails*; unmistakably the same symbol that Belus often holds in his extended hand on the Babylonian cylinders, afterwards discovered by the Jewish Cabalists in the points of the letter Shin, and by the mediæval mystics in o the Three Nails of the Cross." From this point Hargrave Jennings continues King's speculations, noting the resemblance of the nail to an obelisk, or pillar, and that the Qabbalistic value of the Hebrew letter Shin, or Sin, is 300, namely, 100 for each spike.

The Passion nails are highly important symbols, especially when it is realized that, according to the esoteric systems of culture, there are certain secret centers of force in the palms of the hands and in the soles of the feet.

*THE CRUCIFIXION IN SPACE.*

*From Higgins' Anacalypsis.*

*Of this remarkable Oriental drawing, J. P. Lundy has written: - -It looks like a Christian crucifix in many respects, and in some others it does not. The drawing, attitude, and the nail-marks in hands and feet, indicate a Christian origin; while the Parthian coronet of seven points, the absence of the wood and of the usual inscription, and the rays of glory above seem to point to some Christian origin. Can it be the Victim, Man, or the Priest and Victim both in one, of the Hindu mythology, who offered himself a sacrifice before the worlds were?"*

The driving of the nails and the flow of blood and water from the wounds were symbolic of certain secret philosophic practices of the Temple. Many of the Oriental deities have mysterious symbols on the hands and feet. The so-called footprints of Buddha are usually embellished with a magnificent sunburst at the point where the nail pierced the foot of Christ.

In his notes on the theology of Jakob Böhme, Dr. Franz Hartmann thus sums up the mystic symbolism of the crucifixion: "The cross represents terrestrial life, and the crown of thorns the sufferings of the soul within the elementary body, but also the victory of the spirit over the elements of darkness. The body is naked, to indicate that the candidate for immortality must divest himself of all desires for terrestrial things. The figure is nailed to the cross, which symbolizes the death and surrender of the self-will, and that it should not attempt to accomplish anything by its own power, but merely serve as an instrument wherein the Divine will is executed. Above the head are inscribed the letters: I. N. R. J. whose most important meaning is: In Nobis Regnat Jesus (Within ourselves reigns Jesus). But this signification of this inscription can be practically known only to those who have actually died relatively to the world of desires, and risen above the temptation for personal existence; or, to express it in other words, those who have become alive in Christ, and in whom thus the kingdom of Jesus (the holy love-will issuing from the heart of God) has been established." One of the most interesting interpretations of the crucifixion allegory is that which identifies the man Jesus with the personal consciousness of the individual. It is this personal consciousness that conceives of and dwells in the sense of separateness, and before the aspiring soul can be reunited with the ever-present and all-pervading Father this personality must be sacrificed that the Universal Consciousness may be liberated.

## The Mystery of the Apocalypse

THE presence of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus marked that city as sacred to the Mystery religion, for the Seven Wonders of the ancient world were erected to indicate the repositories of recondite knowledge. Of Ephesus, H. P. Blavatsky writes:

"It was a focus of the universal 'secret' doctrines; the weird laboratory whence, fashioned in elegant Grecian phraseology, sprang the quintessence of Buddhistic, Zoroastrian, and Chaldean philosophy. Artemis, the gigantic concrete symbol of theosophico-pantheistic abstractions, the great mother Multimamma, androgyne and patroness of the 'Ephesian writings,' was conquered by Paul; but although the zealous converts of the apostles pretended to burn all their books on 'curious arts, τα περιεργα, enough of these remained for them to study when their first zeal had cooled off." (See *Isis Unveiled*.)

Being a great center of pagan learning, Ephesus has been the locale for many early Christian myths. The assertion has been made that it was the last domicile of the Virgin Mary; also that the tomb of St. John the Divine was located there. According to legend, St. John did not depart from this life in the usual manner but, selecting his vault, entered it while still alive, and closing the entrance behind him, vanished forever from mortal sight. A rumor was current in ancient Ephesus that St. John would sleep in his tomb until the return of the Savior, and that when the apostle turned over on his sepulchral couch the earth above moved like the coverlets of a bed.

Subjected to more criticism than any other book now incorporated in the New Testament, the Apocalypse--popularly accredited to St. John the Divine--is by far the most important but least understood of the Gnostic Christian writings. Though Justin Martyr declared the Book of Revelation to have been written by "John, one of Christ's apostles," its authorship was disputed as early as the second century after Christ. In the third century these contentions became acute and even Dionysius of Alexandria and Eusebius attacked the Johannine theory, declaring that both the Book of Revelation and the Gospel according to St. John were written by one Cerinthus, who borrowed the name of the great apostle the better to foist his own doctrines upon the Christians. Later Jerome questioned the authorship of the Apocalypse and during the Reformation his objections were revived by Luther and Erasmus. The once generally accepted notion that the Book of Revelation was the actual record of a "mystical experience" occurring to St. John while that seer was an exile in the Isle of Parmos is now regarded with disfavor by more critical scholars. Other explanations have therefore been advanced to account for the symbolism permeating the volume and the original motive for its writing. The more reasonable of these theories may be summed up as follows:

First, upon the weight of evidence furnished by its own contents the Book of Revelation may well be pronounced a pagan writing--one of the sacred books of the Eleusinian or Phrygian Mysteries. As a corollary, the real author of a work setting forth the profundities of Egyptian and Greek mysticism must have been an initiate himself and consequently obligated to write only in the symbolic language of the Mysteries.

Second, it is possible that the Book of Revelation was written to reconcile the seeming discrepancies between the early Christian and pagan religious philosophies. When the zealots of the primitive Christian Church sought to Christianize pagandom, the pagan initiates retorted with a powerful effort to paganize Christianity. The Christians failed but the pagans succeeded. With the decline of paganism the initiated pagan hierophants transferred their base of operations to the new vehicle of primitive Christianity, adopting the symbols of the new cult to conceal those eternal verities which are ever the priceless possession of the wise. The Apocalypse shows clearly the resultant fusion of pagan and Christian symbolism and thus bears irrefutable evidence of the activities of these initiated minds operating through early Christianity.

Third, the theory has been advanced that the Book of Revelation represents the attempt made by the unscrupulous members of a certain religious order to undermine the Christian Mysteries by satirizing their philosophy. This nefarious end they hoped to attain by showing the new faith to be merely a restatement of the ancient pagan doctrines, by heaping ridicule upon Christianity, and by using its own symbols toward its disparagement. For example, the star which fell to earth (Rev. viii. 10-11) could be construed to mean the Star of Bethlehem, and the bitterness of that star (called Wormwood and which poisoned mankind) could signify the "false" teachings of the Christian Church. While the last theory has gained a certain measure of popularity, the profundity of the Apocalypse leads the discerning reader to the inevitable conclusion that this is the least plausible of the three hypotheses. To those able to pierce the veil of its symbolism, the inspired source of the document requires no further corroborative evidence.

In the final analysis, true philosophy can be limited by neither creed nor faction; in fact it is incompatible with every artificial limitation of human thought. The question of the pagan or Christian origin of the Book of Revelation is, consequently, of little importance. The intrinsic value of the book lies in its magnificent epitome of the Universal Mystery--an observation which led St. Jerome to declare that it is susceptible of seven entirely different interpretations. Untrained in the reaches of ancient thought, the modem theologian cannot possibly cope with the complexities of the Apocalypse, for to him this mystic writing is but a phantasmagoria the divine inspiration of which he is sorely tempted to question. In the limited space here available it is possible to sketch but briefly a few of the salient features of the vision of the seer of Patmos. A careful consideration of the various pagan Mysteries will assist materially also in filling the inevitable gaps in this abridgment.

In the opening chapter of the Apocalypse, St. John describes the Alpha and Omega who stood in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Surrounded by his flaming planetary regents, this Sublime One thus epitomizes in one impressive and mysterious figure the entire sweep of humanity's evolutionary growth--past, present, and future.

"The first stages of man's earthly development," writes Dr. Rudolph Steiner, "ran their course at a period when the earth was still 'fiery'; and the first human incarnations were formed out of the element of fire; at the end of his earthly career man will himself radiate his inner being outwards creatively by the force of the element of fire. This continuous development from the beginning to the end of the earth reveals itself to the 'seer,' when he sees on the astral plane the archetype of evolving man. ** * The beginning of earthly evolution stands forth in the fiery feet, its end in the fiery countenance, and the complete power of the 'creative word,' to be finally won, is seen in the fiery source coming out of the mouth." (See *Occult Seals and Columns*.)

*THE THRONE OF GOD AND OF THE LAMB.*

*From Jacob Behmen's Works.*

*Before the throne of God was the crystal sea representing the Schamayim, or the living waters which are above the heavens. Before the throne also were four creatures--a bull, a lion, an eagle, and a man. These represented the four corners of creation and the multitude of eyes with which they were covered are the stars of the firmament. The twenty-four elders have the same significance as the priests gathered around the statue of Ceres in the Greater Eleusinian Rite and also the Persian Genii, or gods of the hours of the day, who, casting away their crowns, glorify the Holy One. As symbolic of the divisions of time, the elders adore the timeless and enduring Spirit in the midst of them.*

In his Restored New Testament, James Morgan Pryse traces the relationship of the various parts of the Alpha and Omega to the seven sacred planets of the ancients. To quote:

"The Logos-figure described is a composite picture of the seven sacred planets: he has the snowy-white hair of Kronos ('Father Time'), the blazing eyes of 'wide-seeing' Zeus, the sword of Arcs, the shining face of Helios, and the *chiton* and girdle of Aphrodite; his feet are of mercury, the metal sacred to Hermes, and his voice is like the murmur of the ocean's waves (the 'many waters'), alluding to Selene, the Moon-Goddess of the four seasons and of the waters."

The seven stars carried by this immense Being in his right hand are the Governors of the world; the flaming sword issuing from his mouth is the Creative Fiat, or Word of Power, by which the illusion of material permanence is slain. Here also is represented, in all his symbolic splendor, the hierophant of the Phrygian Mysteries, his various insignia emblematic of his divine attributes. Seven priests bearing lamps are his attendants and the stars carried in his hand are the seven schools of the Mysteries whose power he administers. As one *born again* out of spiritual darkness, into perfect wisdom, this archimagus is made to say: "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forever more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

In the second and third chapters St. John delivers to the "seven churches which are in Asia" the injunctions received by him from the Alpha and Omega. The churches are here analogous to the rungs of a *Mithraic* ladder, and John, being "in the spirit," ascended through the orbits of the seven sacred planets until he reached the inner surface of the Empyrean.

"After the soul of the prophet," writes the anonymous author of *Mankind: Their Origin and Destiny*, "in his ecstatic state has passed in its rapid flight through the seven spheres, from the sphere of the moon to that of Saturn, or from the planet which corresponds to Cancer, the gate of men, to that of Capricorn, which is the gate of the gods, a new gate opens to him in the highest heaven, and in the zodiac, beneath which the seven planets revolve; in a word, in the firmament, or that which the ancients called crystallinum primum, or the crystal heaven."

When related to the Eastern system of metaphysics, these churches represent the chakras, or nerve ganglia, along the human spine, the "door in heaven" being the *brahmarandra*, or point in the crown of the skull (Golgotha), through which the spinal spirit fire passes to liberation. The church of Ephesus corresponds to the *muladhara*, or sacral ganglion, and the other churches to the higher ganglia according to the order given in Revelation. Dr. Steiner discovers a relationship between the seven churches and the divisions of the Aryan race. Thus, the church of Ephesus stands for the Arch-Indian branch; the church of Smyrna, the Arch-Persians; the church of Pergamos, the Chaldean-Egyptian-Semitic; the church of Thyatira, the Grecian-Latin-Roman; the church of Sardis, the Teuton-Anglo-Saxon; the church of Philadelphia, the Slavic; and the church of Laodicea, the Manichæan. The seven churches also signify the Greek vowels, of which *Alpha* and *Omega* are the first and the last. A difference of opinion exists as to the order in which the seven planers should be related to the churches. Some proceed from the hypothesis that Saturn represents the church of Ephesus; but from the fact that this city was sacred to the moon goddess and also that the sphere of the moon is the first above that of the earth, the planets obviously should ascend in their ancient order from the moon to Saturn. From Saturn the soul would naturally ascend through the door in the Empyrean.

In the fourth and fifth chapters St. John describes the throne of God upon which sat the Holy One "which was and is, and is to come." About the throne were twenty-four lesser seats upon which sat twenty-four elders arrayed in white garments and wearing crowns of gold. "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God." He who sat upon the throne held in His right hand a book sealed with seven seals which no man in heaven or earth had been found worthy to open. Then appeared a Lamb (Aries, the first and chief of the zodiacal signs) which had been slain, having seven horns (rays) and seven eyes (lights). The Lamb took the book from the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne and the four beasts and all the elders fell down and worshiped God and the Lamb. During the early centuries of the Christian Church the lamb was universally recognized as the symbol of Christ, and not until after the fifth synod of Constantinople (the "Quinisext Synod," A.D. 692) was the figure of the crucified man substituted for that of Agnus Dei. As shrewdly noted by one writer on the subject, the use of a lamb is indicative of the Persian origin of Christianity, for the Persians were the only people to symbolize the first sign of the zodiac by a lamb.

Because a lamb was the sin offering of the ancient pagans, the early mystic Christians considered this animal as an appropriate emblem of Christ, whom they regarded as the sin offering of the world. The Greeks and the Egyptians highly venerated the lamb or ram, often placing its horns upon the foreheads of their gods. The Scandinavian god Thor carried a hammer made from a pair of ram's horns. The lamb is used in preference to the ram apparently because of its purity and gentleness; also, since the Creator Himself was symbolized by Aries, His Son would consequently be the little Ram or Lamb. The lambskin apron worn by the Freemasons over that part of the body symbolized by Typhon or Judas represents that purification of the generative processes which is a prerequisite to true spirituality. In this allegory the Lamb signifies the purified candidate, its seven horns representing the divisions of illuminated reason and its seven eyes the chakras, or perfected sense-perceptions.

*EPISODES FROM THE MYSTERIES OF THE APOCALYPSE.*

*From Klauber's Historiae Biblicae Veteris et Novi Testamenti.*

*In the central foreground, St. John the Divine is kneeling before the apparition of the Alpha and Omega standing in the midst of the seven lights and surrounded by an aureole of flames and smoke. In the heavens above the twenty-four elders with their harps and censers bow before the throne of the Ancient One, from whose hand the Lamb is taking the book sealed with seven seals. The seven spirit, of God, in the form of cups from which issue tongues of fire, surround the head of the Ancient One, and the four beasts (the cherubim) kneel at the corners of His throne. In the upper left-hand corner are shown the seven angels bearing the trumpets and also the altar of God and the angel with the censer. In the upper right are the spirits of the winds; below them is the virgin clothed wit h the sun, to whom wings were given that she might fly into the wilderness. To her right is a scene representing the spirits of God hurling the evil serpent into the bottomless pit. At the lower left St. John is shown receiving from the angelic figure, whose legs are pillars of fire and whose face is a shining sun, the little book which he is told to eat if he would understand the mysteries of the spiritual life.*

*The plate also contains a number of other symbols, including episodes from the destruction of the world and the crystal sea pouring forth from the throne of God. By the presentation of such symbolic conceptions in the form of rituals and dramatic episodes the secrets of the Phrygian Mysteries were perpetuated. When these sacred pageantries were thus revealed to all mankind indiscriminately and each human soul was appointed it own initiator into the holy rite, of the philosophic life, a boon was conferred upon humanity which cannot be fully appreciated until men and women have grown more responsive to those mysteries which are of the spirit.*

The sixth to eleventh chapters inclusive are devoted to an account of the opening of the seven seals on the book held by the Lamb. When the first seal was broken, there rode forth a man on a white horse wearing a crown and holding in his hand a bow. When the second seal was broken, there rode forth a man upon a red horse and in his hand was a great sword. When the third seal was broken there rode forth a man upon a black horse and with a pair of balances in his hand. And when the fourth seal was broken there rode forth Death upon a pale horse and hell followed after him. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse may be interpreted to signify the four main divisions of human life. *Birth* is represented by the rider on the white horse who comes forth conquering and to conquer; the impetuosity of *youth* by the rider on the red horse who took peace from the earth; *maturity* by the rider on the black horse who weighs all things in the scales of reason; and *death* by the rider on the pale horse who was given power over a fourth part of the earth. In the Eastern philosophy these horsemen signify the four *yugas*, or ages, of the world which, riding forth at: their appointed times, become for a certain span the rulers of creation.

Commenting on the twenty-fourth allocution of Chrysostom, in *The Origin of all Religious Worship*, Dupuis notes that each of the four elements was represented by a horse bearing the name of the god "who is set over the element." The first horse, signifying the fire ether, was called Jupiter and occupied the highest place in the order of the elements. This horse was winged, very fleet, and, describing the largest circle, encompassed all the others. It shone with the purest light, and on its body were the images of the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the bodies in the ethereal regions. The second horse, signifying the element of air, was Juno. It was inferior to the horse of Jupiter and described a smaller circle; its color was black but that part exposed to the sun became luminous, thus signifying the diurnal and nocturnal conditions of air. The third horse, symbolizing the element of water, was sacred to Neptune. It was of heavy gait and described a very small circle. The fourth horse, signifying the static element of earth, described as immovable and champing its bit, was the steed of Vesta. Despite their differences in temperature, these four horses lived harmoniously together, which is in accord with the principles of the philosophers, who declared the world to be preserved by the concord and harmony of its elements. In time, however, the racing horse of Jupiter burned the mane of the horse of earth; the thundering steed of Neptune also became covered with sweat, which overflowed the immovable horse of Vesta and resulted in the deluge of Deucalion. At last the fiery horse of Jupiter will consume the rest, when the three inferior elements--purified by reabsorption in the fiery ether--will come forth renewed, constituting "a new heaven and a new earth."

When the fifth seal was opened St. John beheld those who had died for the word of God. When the sixth seal was broken there was a great earthquake, the sun being darkened and the moon becoming like blood. The angels of the winds came forth and also another angel, who sealed upon their foreheads 144,000 of the children of Israel that they should be preserved against the awful day of tribulation. By adding the digits together according to the Pythagorean system of numerical philosophy, the number 144,000 is reduced to 9, the mystic symbol of man and also the number of initiation, for he who passes through the nine degrees of the Mysteries receives the sign of the cross as emblematic of his regeneration and liberation from the bondage of his own infernal, or inferior, nature. The addition of the three ciphers to the original sacred number 1.44 indicates the elevation of the mystery to the third sphere.

When the seventh seal was broken there was silence for the space of half an hour. Then came forth seven angels and to each was given a trumpet. When the seven angels sounded their trumpets--intoned the seven-lettered Name of the Logos--great catastrophes ensued. A star, which was called Wormwood, fell from heaven, thereby signifying that the secret doctrine of the ancients had been given to men who had profaned it and caused the wisdom of God to become a destructive agency. And another star--symbolizing the false light of human reason as distinguished from the divine reason of the initiate--fell from heaven and to it (materialistic reason) was given the key to the bottomless pit (Nature), which it opened, causing all manner of evil creatures to issue forth. And there came also a mighty angel who was clothed in a cloud, whose face was as the sun and his feet and legs as pillars of fire, and one foot was upon the waters and the other upon the land (the Hermetic *Anthropos*). This celestial being gave St. John a little book, bidding him eat it, which the seer did. The book is representative of the secret doctrine--that spiritual food which is the nourishment of the spirit. And St. John, being "in the spirit," ate his fill of the wisdom of God and the hunger of his soul was appeased.

*JOHN'S VISION OF THE NEW JERUSALEM.*

*From Klauber's Historiae Biblicae Veteris et Novi Testamenti.*

*In the upper left-hand corner is shown the destruction of Babylon, also the angel which cast the great millstone into the sea, saying, "Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all." Below is the horseman, called Faithful and True, casting the beast into the bottomless pit. At the lower right is the angel with the key to the bottomless pit, who with a great chain binds Satan for a thousand years. In the heavens above is represented one like unto the Son of Man, who carries a great sickle with which he reaps the harvest of the world. In the center is the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, with its twelve gates and the mountain of the Lamb rising in the midst thereof. From the throne of the Lamb pours the great river of crystal, or living water, signifying the spiritual doctrine: upon all who discover and drink of its waters are conferred immortality. Kneeling upon a high cliff, St. John gazes down upon the mystic city, the archetype of the perfect civilization yet to be. Above the New Jerusalem, in a great sunburst of glory, is the throne of the Ancient One, which is the light of those who dwell in the matchless empire of the spirit. Beyond the recognition of the uninitiated world is an ever-increasing aggregation composed of the spiritual elect. Though they walk the earth as ordinary mortals, they are of a world apart and through their ceaseless efforts the kingdom of God is being slowly but surely established upon earth. These illumined souls are the builders of the New Jerusalem, and their bodies are the living stones in its walls. Lighted by the torch of truth they carry on their work, through their activities the golden age will return to the earth and the power of sin and death will be destroyed. For this reason the declare that virtuous and illumined men, instead of ascending to heaven, will bring heaven down and establish it in the midst of earth itself.*

The twelfth chapter treats of a great wonder appearing in the heavens: a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. This woman represents the constellation of Virgo and also the Egyptian Isis, who, about to be delivered of her son Horus, is attacked by Typhon, the latter attempting to destroy the child predestined by the gods to slay the Spirit of Evil. The war in heaven relates to the destruction of the planet Ragnarok and to the fall of the angels. The virgin can be interpreted to signify the secret doctrine itself and her son the initiate born out of the "womb of the Mysteries." The Spirit of Evil thus personified in the great dragon attempted to control mankind by destroying the mother of those illumined souls who have labored unceasingly for the salvation of the world. Wings were given to the Mysteries (the virgin) and they flew into the wilderness; and the evil dragon tried to destroy them with a flood (of false doctrine) but the earth (oblivion) swallowed up the false doctrines and the Mysteries endured.

The thirteenth chapter describes a great beast which rose out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. Faber sees in this amphibious monster the Demiurgus, or Creator of the world, rising out of the Ocean of Chaos. While most interpreters of the Apocalypse consider the various beasts described therein as typical of evil agencies, this viewpoint is the inevitable result of unfamiliarity with the ancient doctrines from which the symbolism of the book is derived. Astronomically, the great monster rising out of the sea is the constellation of Cetus (the whale). Because religious ascetics looked upon the universe itself as an evil and ensnaring fabrication, they also came to regard its very Creator as a weaver of delusions. Thus the great sea monster (the world) and its Maker (the Demiurgus), whose strength is derived from the Dragon of Cosmic Power, came to be personified as a beast of horror and destruction, seeking to swallow up the immortal part: of human nature. The seven heads of the monster represent the seven stars (spirits) composing the constellation of the Great Dipper, called by the Hindus *Rishis*, or Cosmic Creative Spirits. The ten horns Faber relates to the ten primordial patriarchs. These may also denote the ancient zodiac of ten signs.

The number of the beast (666) is an interesting example of the use of Qabbalism in the New Testament and among early Christian mystics. In the following table Kircher shows that the names of Antichrist as given by Iranæus all have 666 as their numerical equivalent.

Τ

300

Λ

30

Λ

1

Λ

30

ε

5

α

1

ν

50

α

1

ι

10

μ

40

τ

300

τ

300

τ

300

π

80

ε

5

ε

5

α

1

ε

5

μ

40

ι

10

ν

50

τ

300

ο

70

ν

50

ι

10

ς

200

ο

70

ς

200

ς

200

666

666

666

666

James Morgan Pryse also notes that according to this method of figuring, the Greek term ἡ φρην, which signifies the lower mind, has 666 as its numerical equivalent. It is also well known to Qabbalists that Ἰησους, Jesus, has for its numerical value another sacred and secret number--888. Adding the digits of the number 666 and again adding the digits of the sum gives the sacred number--9 the symbol of man in his unregenerate state and also the path of his resurrection.

The fourteenth chapter opens with the Lamb standing on Mount Zion (the eastern horizon), about Him gathered the 144,000 with the name of God written in their foreheads. An angel thereupon announces the fall of Babylon--the city of confusion or worldliness. Those perish who do not overcome worldliness and enter into the realization that spirit--and not matter--is enduring; for, having no interests other than those which are material, they are swept to destruction with the material world. And St. John beheld One like unto the Son of Man (Perseus) riding upon a cloud (the substances of the invisible world) and bearing in his hand a sharp sickle, and with the sickle the Shining One reaped the earth. This is a symbol of the Initiator releasing into the sphere of reality the higher natures of those who, symbolized by ripened grain, have reached the point of liberation. And there came another angel (Boötes)--Death--also with a sickle (Karma), who reaped the vines of the earth (those who have lived by the false light) and cast them into the winepress of the wrath of God (the purgatorial spheres).

The fifteenth to eighteenth chapters inclusive contain an account of seven angels (the Pleiades) who pour their vials upon the earth. The contents of their vials (the loosened energy of the Cosmic Bull) are called the seven last plagues. Here also is introduced a symbolic figure, termed "the harlot of Babylon, "which is described as a woman seated upon a scarlet-colored beast having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and bedecked with gold, precious stones, and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations. This figure may be an effort (probably interpolated) to vilify Cybele, or Artemis, the Great Mother goddess of antiquity. Because the pagans venerated the *Mater Deorum* through symbols appropriate to the feminine generative principle they were accused by the early Christians of worshiping a courtesan. As nearly all the ancient Mysteries included a test of the neophyte's moral character, the temptress (the animal soul) is here portrayed as a pagan goddess.

*THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE.*

*From Solis' Biblische Figuren.*

*In the allegory of the four horsemen--according to the mysteries of philosophy--is set forth the condition of man during the stages of his existence. In his first and spiritual state he is crowed. As he descend into the realm of experience he carries the sword. Reaching physical expression--which is his least spiritual state--he carries the scales, and by the "philosophic death" is released again into the highest spheres. In the ancient Roman games the chariot of the sun was drawn by four horses of different colors and the horsemen of the Apocalypse may be interpreted to represent the solar energy riding upon the four elements which serve as media for its expression.*

In the nineteenth and twentieth chapters is set forth the preparation of that mystical sacrament called the marriage of the Lamb. The bride is the soul of the neophyte, which attains conscious immortality by uniting itself to its own spiritual source. The heavens opened once more and St. John saw a white horse, and the rider (the illumined mind) which sat upon it was called *Faithful* and *True*. Out of his mouth issued a sharp sword and the armies of heaven followed after him. Upon the plains of heaven was fought the mystic Armageddon--the last great war between light and darkness. The forces of evil under the Persian Ahriman battled against the forces of good under Ahura-Mazda. Evil was vanquished and the beast and the false prophet cast into a lake of fiery brimstone. Satan was bound for a thousand years. Then followed the last judgment; the books were opened, including the book of life. The dead were judged according to their works and those whose names were not in the book of life were cast into a sea of fire. To the neophyte, Armageddon represents the last struggle between the flesh and the spirit when, finally overcoming the world, the illumined soul rises to union with its spiritual Self. The judgment signifies the weighing of the soul and was borrowed from the Mysteries of Osiris. The rising of the dead from their graves and from the sea of illusion represents the consummation of the process of human regeneration. The sea of fire into which those are cast who fail in the ordeal of initiation signifies the fiery sphere of the animal world.

In the twenty-first and twenty-second chapters are pictured the new heaven and the new earth to be established at the close of Ahriman's reign. St. John, carried in the spirit to a great and high mountain (the brain), beheld the New Jerusalem descending as a bride adorned for her husband. The Holy City represents the regenerated and perfected world, the trued *ashlar* of the Mason, for the city was a perfect cube, it being written, "the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal." The foundation of the Holy City consisted of a hundred and forty-four stones in twelve rows, from which it is evident that the New Jerusalem represents the microcosm, patterned after the greater universe in which it: stands. The twelve gates of this symbolic dodecahedron are the signs of the zodiac through which the celestial impulses descend into the inferior world; the jewels are the precious stones of the zodiacal signs; and the transparent golden streets are the streams of spiritual light along which the initiate passes on his path towards the sun. There is no material temple in that city, for God and the Lamb are the temple; and there is neither sun nor moon, for God and the Lamb are the light. The glorified and spiritualized initiate is here depicted as a city. This city will ultimately be united with the spirit of God and absorbed into the Divine Effulgency.

And St. John beheld a river, the Water of Life, which proceeded out of the throne of the Lamb. The river represents the stream pouring from the First Logos, which is the life of all things and the active cause of all creation. There also was the Tree of Life (the spirit) bearing twelve manner of fruit, whose leaves were for the healing of the nations. By the tree is also represented the year, which every month yields some good for the maintenance of existing creatures. Jesus then tells St. John that He is the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star (Venus). St. John concludes with the words, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."

## The Faith of Islam

REPRESENTATIVE of the attitude of Christendom toward Islam, till recent years at least, is Alexander Ross's postscript to the Anglicized version, published in 1649, of Sieur Du Ryer's French translation of the *Koran*. The author of the postscript directs the following invective against Mohammed and the Koran:

"Good Reader, the great Arabian Impostor now at last after a thousand years, is by the way of France arrived in England, and his Alcoran, or gallimaufry of errors, (a brat as deformed as the parent, and as full of heresies as his scald head was of scurvy) hath learned to speak English. ** * If you will take a brief view of the Alcoran, you shall find it a hodgepodge made up of these four ingredients: 1. Of Contradictions. 2. Of Blasphemy. 3. Of ridiculous Fables. 4. Of Lies."

The accusation of blasphemy is emphasized against Mohammed because he affirmed that God, being unmarried, was incapable of having a Son! The fallacious argument, however, is apparent from the Prophet's own views of the nature of God as contained in the second *sura* of the Koran:

"To Allah God belongeth the east and the west; therefore, whithersoever ye turn yourselves to pray, there is the face of Allah; for Allah is omnipresent and omniscient. They say, Allah hath begotten children: Allah forbid! To him belongeth whatever is in heaven, and on earth; all is possessed by him, the Creator of heaven and earth; and when he decreeth a thing, he only saith unto it, Be, and it is." In other words, the God of Islam has but to desire and the object of that desire at once comes into being, whereas the God of Alexander Ross must proceed in accord with the laws of human generation!

Mohammed, Prophet of Islam, "the desired of all nations," was born in Mecca, A.D. 570 (?) and died in Medina, A.D. 632, or in the eleventh ),ear after the *Hegira*. Washington Irving thus describes the signs and wonders accompanying the birth of the Prophet:

"His mother suffered none of the pangs of travail. At the moment of his coming into the world a celestial light illumined the surrounding country, and the new born child, raising his eyes to heaven, exclaimed: 'God is great! There is no God bur God, and I am his prophet!' Heaven and earth, we are assured, were agitated at his advent. The Lake Sawa shrank back to its secret springs, leaving its borders dry; while the Tigris, bursting its bounds, overflowed the neighboring lands. The palace of Khosru the king of Persia shook t on its foundations, and several of its towers were toppled to the earth. ** * In the same eventful night the sacred fire of Zoroaster, which, guarded by the Magi, had burned without interruption for upward of a thousand years, was suddenly extinguished, and all the idols in the world fell down." (See *Mahomet and His Successors*.)

While the Prophet was still but a toddling babe, the Angel Gabriel with seventy wings came to him, and cutting open the child, withdrew the heart. This Gabriel cleansed of the black drop of original sin which is in every human heart because of the perfidy of Adam and then returned the organ to its proper place in the Prophet's body. (See footnote in E. H. Palmer's translation of the *Qur'an*.)

In his youth Mohammed traveled with the Meccan caravans, on one occasion acted as armor-bearer for his uncle, and spent a considerable time among the Bedouins, from whom he learned many of the religious and philosophic traditions of ancient Arabia. While traveling with his uncle, Abu Taleb, Mohammed contacted the Nestorian Christians, having encamped on a certain night near one of their monasteries. Here the young Prophet-to-be secured much of his information concerning the origin and doctrines of the Christian faith.

With the passing years Mohammed attained marked success in business and when about twenty-six years old married one of his employers, a wealthy widow nearly fifteen years his senior. The widow, Khadijah by name, was apparently somewhat mercenary, for, finding her young business manager most efficient, she resolved to retain him in that capacity for life! Khadijah was a woman of exceptional mentality and to her integrity and devotion must be ascribed the early success of the Islamic cause. By his marriage Mohammed was elevated from a position of comparative poverty to one of great wealth and power, and so exemplary was his conduct that he became known throughout Mecca as "the faithful and true."

Mohammed would have lived and died an honored and respected Meccan had he not unhesitatingly sacrificed both his wealth and social position in the service of the God whose voice he heard while meditating in the cavern on Mount Hira in the month of Ramadan. Year after year Mohammed climbed the rocky and desolate slopes of Mount Hira (since called Jebel Nur, "the Mountain of light") and here in his loneliness cried out to God to reveal anew the pure religion of Adam, that spiritual doctrine lost to mankind through the dissensions of religious factions. Khadijah, solicitous over her husband's ascetic practices which were impairing his physical health, sometimes accompanied him in his weary vigil, and with womanly intuition sensed the travail of his soul. At last one night in his fortieth year as he lay upon the floor of the cavern, enveloped in his cloak, a great light burst upon him. Overcome with a sense of perfect peace and understanding in the blessedness of the celestial presence, he lost consciousness. When he came to himself again the Angel Gabriel stood before him, exhibiting a silken shawl with mysterious characters traced upon it. From these characters Mohammed gained the basic doctrines later embodied in the Koran. Then Gabriel spoke in a clear and wonderful voice, declaring Mohammed to be the Prophet of the living God.

In awe and trembling, Mohammed hastened to Khadijah, fearing the vision to have been inspired by the same evil spirits who served the pagan magicians so greatly despised by him, Khadijah assured him that his own virtuous life would be his protection and that he need fear no evil. Thus reassured, the Prophet awaited further visitations from Gabriel. When these did not come, however, such a despair filled his soul that he attempted self-destruction, only to be stopped in the very act of casting himself over a cliff by the sudden reappearance of Gabriel, who again assured the Prophet that the revelations needed by his people would be given to him as necessity arose.

Possibly as a result of his lonely periods of meditation, Mohammed seemingly was subject to ecstatic swoons. On the occasions when the various *suras* of the Koran were dictated he is said to have fallen unconscious, and, regardless of the chill of the surrounding air, to have been covered with beads of perspiration. Often these attacks came without warning; at other times he would sit wrapped in a blanket to prevent a chill from the copious perspiration, and while apparently unconscious would dictate the various passages which a small circle of trusted friends would either commit to memory or reduce to writing. On one occasion in later life when Abu Bekr referred to the gray hairs in his beard, Mohammed, lifting the end of his beard and looking at it, declared its whiteness to be due to the physical agony attendant upon his periods of inspiration.

*MOHAMMED'S NIGHT JOURNEY TO HEAVEN.*

*From D'Ohsson's Tableau Général de l'Empire Othoman.*

*In the seventeenth sura of the Koran it is written that upon a certain night Mohammed was transported from the temple at Mecca to that of Jerusalem, but no details are given of the strange journey. In the Mishkāteu 'l-Masabih, Mohammed is made to describe his ascent through the seven heavens into the icy presence of the may-veiled God and his subsequent return to his own bed, all in a single night. Mohammed was awakened in the night by the Angel Gabriel, who, after removing the Prophet's heart, washed the cavity with Zamzam water, and filled the heart itself with faith and science. A strange creature, called Alborak, or the lightning bolt, was brought for the conveyance of the Prophet. Alborak is described as white animal of the shape and size of a mule, with the head of a woman and the tail of a peacock. According to some versions, Mohammed merely rode Alborak to Jerusalem, where, dismounting upon Mount Moriah, he caught hold of the lower rung of a golden ladder lowered from heaven and, accompanied by Gabriel, ascended through the seven spheres separating he earth from the inner surface of the empyrean. At the gate of each sphere stood me of the Patriarchs, whom Mohammed saluted as he entered the various planes. At the gate of the first heaven stood Adam; at the gate of the second, John and Jesus (sisters' sons); at the third, Joseph; at the fourth, Enoch; at the fifth, Aaron; at the sixth, Moses; and at the seventh, Abraham. Another order of the Patriarchs and prophets is given which places Jesus at the gate of the seventh heaven, and upon reaching this Point Mohammed is said to have requested Jesus to intercede for him before the throne of God.*

If the writings attributed to Mohammed be considered as merely the hallucinations of an epileptic--and for that reason discounted--his Christian detractors should beware lest with the doctrines of the Prophet they also undermine the very teachings which they themselves affirm, for many of the disciples, apostles, and saints of the early church are known to have been subject to nervous disorders. Mohammed's first convert was his own wife, Khadijah, who was followed by other members of his immediate family, a circumstance which moved Sir William Muir to note:

"It is strongly corroborative of Mohammed's sincerity that the earliest converts to Islam were not only of upright character, but his own bosom friends and people of his household; who, intimately acquainted with his private life, could not fail otherwise to have detected those discrepancies which ever more or less exist between the professions of the hypocritical deceiver abroad and his actions at: home." (See *The Life of Mohammad*.)

Among the first to accept the faith of Islam was Abu Bekr, who became Mohammed's closest and most faithful friend, in fact his alter ego. Abu Bekr, a man of brilliant attainments, contributed materially to the success of the Prophet's enterprise, and in accord with the express wish of the Prophet became the leader of the faithful after Mohammed's death. A'isha, the daughter of Abu Bekr, later became the wife of Mohammed, thus still further cementing the bond of fraternity between the two men. Quietly, but industriously, Mohammed promulgated his doctrines among a small circle of powerful friends. When the enthusiasm of his followers finally forced his hand and he publicly announced his mission, he was already the leader of a strong and well-organized faction. Fearing Mohammed's growing prestige, the people of Mecca, waiving the time-honored tradition that blood could not be spilt within the holy city, decided to exterminate Islam by assassinating the Prophet. All the different groups combined in this undertaking so that the guilt for the crime might thereby be more evenly distributed. Discovering the danger in time, Mohammed left his friend Ali in his bed and fled with Abu Bekr from the city, and after adroitly eluding the Meccans, joined the main body of his followers that had preceded him to Yathrib (afterwards called Medina). Upon this incident-called the *Hegira* or "flight"--is based the Islamic chronological system.

Dating from the Hegira the power of the Prophet steadily grew until in the eighth year Mohammed entered Mecca after practically a bloodless victory and established it as the spiritual center of his faith. Planting his standard to the north of Mecca, he rode into the city, and after circling seven times the sacred *Caaba*, ordered the 360 images within its precincts to be hewn down. He then entered the Caaba itself, cleansed it of its idolatrous associations, and rededicated the structure to Allah, the monotheistic God of Islam. Mohammed next granted amnesty to all his enemies for their attempts to destroy him. Under his protection Mecca increased in power and glory, becoming the focal point of a great annual pilgrimage, which even to this day winds across the desert in the months of pilgrimage and numbers over threescore thousand in its train.

In the tenth year after the Hegira, Mohammed led the valedictory pilgrimage and for the last time rode at the head of the faithful along the sacred way leading to Mecca and the Black Stone. As the premonition of death was strong upon him, he desired this pilgrimage to be the perfect model for all the thousands that would follow.

"Conscious that life was waning away within him," writes Washington Irving, "Mahomet, during this last sojourn in the sacred city of his faith, sought to engrave his doctrines deeply in the minds and hearts of his followers. For this purpose he preached frequently in the Caaba from the pulpit, or in the open air from the back of his camel. 'Listen to my words,' would he say, 'for I know not whether, after this year, we shall ever meet here again. Oh, my hearers, I am but a man like yourselves; the angel of death may at any time appear, and I must obey his summons."' While thus preaching, the very heavens are said to have opened and the voice of God spoke, saying: "This day I have perfected your religion, and accomplished in you my grace." When these words were uttered the multitude fell down in adoration and even Mohammed's camel knelt. (See *Mahomet and His Successors*.) Having completed the valedictory pilgrimage, Mohammed returned to Medina.

In the seventh year after the Hegira (A.H. 7) an attempt was made at Kheibar to poison the Prophet. As Mohammed took the first mouthful of the poisoned food, the evil design was revealed to him either by the taste of the meat or, as the faithful believe, by divine intercession. He had already swallowed a small portion of the food, however, and for the remainder of his life he suffered almost constantly from the effects of the poison. In A.H. 11, when his final illness came upon him, Mohammed insisted that the subtle effects of the poison were the indirect cause of his approaching end. It is related that during his last sickness he rose one night and visited a burial ground on the outskirts of Medina, evidently believing that he, too, would soon be numbered with the dead. At this time he told an attendant that the choice had been offered him of continuing his physical life or going to his Lord, and that he had chosen to meet his Maker.

Mohammed suffered greatly with his head and side and also from fever, but on June 8th seemed convalescent. He joined his followers in prayer and, seating himself in the courtyard, delivered a lecture to the faithful in a clear and powerful voice. Apparently he overtaxed his strength, for it was necessary to assist him into the house of A'isha, which opened into the court of the mosque. Here upon a tough pallet laid on the bare floor the prophet of Islam spent his last two hours on earth. When she saw that her aged husband was suffering intense pain, A'isha--then but a girl of twenty--lifting the gray head of the man she had known from infancy and who must have seemed more like a father than a husband, supported him in her arms until the end. Feeling that death was upon him, Mohammed prayed: "O Lord, I beseech Thee, assist me in the agonies of death." Then almost in a whisper he repeated three times: "Gabriel, come close unto me." (For details consult *The Life of Mohammad* by Sir William Muir.) In *The Hero as Prophet*, Thomas Carlyle writes thus of the death of Mohammed: "His last words were a prayer, broken ejaculations of a heart struggling-up in trembling hope towards its Maker."

Mohammed was buried under the floor of the apartment in which he died. The present condition of the grave is thus described:

"Above the Hujrah is a green dome, surmounted by a large gilt crescent, springing from a series of globes. Within the building are the tombs of Muhammad, Abū Bakr, and 'Umar, with a space reserved for the grave of our Lord Jesus Christ, who Muslims say will again visit the earth, and die and be buried at al-Madīnah. The grave of Fātimah, the Prophet's daughter, is supposed to be in a separate part of the building, although some say she was buried in Baqī'. The Prophet's body is said to be stretched full length on the right side, with the right palm supporting the right check, the face fronting Makkah. Close behind him is placed Abū Bakr, whose face fronts Muhammad's shoulder, and then 'Umar, who occupies the same position with respect to his predecessor. Amongst Christian historians there is a popular story to the effect that Muhammadans believed the coffin of their Prophet to be suspended in the air, which has no foundation whatever in Muslim literature, and Niebuhr thinks the story must have arisen from the rude pictures sold to strangers. (See *A Dictionary of Islam*.)

Concerning the character of Mohammed there have been the grossest misconceptions. No evidence exists to support the charges of extreme cruelty and licentiousness laid at his door. On the other hand, the more closely the life of Mohammed is scrutinized by dispassionate investigators, the more apparent become the finer qualities of his nature. In the words of Carlyle:

"Mahomet himself, after all that can be said about him, was nor, a sensual man. We so err widely if we consider this man as a common voluptuary, intent mainly on base enjoyments--nay, on enjoyments of any kind. His household was of the frugalest, his common diet barley bread and water. Sometimes for months there was not a fire once lighted on his hearth. ***A poor, hard-working, ill-provided man; careless of what vulgar man toiled for.*** They called him a Prophet, you say? Why, he stood there face to face with them; there, not enshrined in any mystery, visibly clouting his own cloak, cobbling his own shoes, fighting, counselling, ordering in the midst of them, they must have seen what kind of a man he was, let him be called what you like! No emperor with his tiaras was obeyed as this man in a cloak of his own clouting."

Confused by the apparently hopeless task of reconciling the life of the Prophet with the absurd statements long accepted as authentic, Washington Irving weighs him in the scales of fairness.

"His military triumphs awakened no pride nor vainglory, as they would have done had they been effected for selfish purposes. In the time of his greatest power, he maintained the same simplicity of manners and appearances as in the days of his adversity. ***It is this perfect abnegation of self, connected with this apparent heartfelt piety, running throughout the various phases of his fortune, which perplex one in forming a just estimate of Mahomet's character.*** When he hung over the death-bed of his infant son Ibrahim, resignation to the will of God was exhibited in his conduct under this keenest of afflictions; and the hope of soon rejoining his child in Paradise was his consolation." (See *Mahomet and His Successors*.)

A'isha, questioned after the death of the Prophet concerning his habits, replied that he mended his own clothes, cobbled his own shoes, and helped her in the household duties. How far removed from Western concepts of Mohammed's sanguinary character is A'isha's simple admission that he loved most of all to sew! He also accepted the invitations of slaves and sat at meals with servants, declaring himself to be a servant. Of all vices he hated lying the most. Before his death he freed all his slaves. He never permitted his family to use for personal ends any of the alms or tithe money given by his people. He was fond of sweetmeats and used rain water for drinking purposes. His time he divided into three parts, namely: the first he gave to God, the second to his family, and the third to himself. The latter portion, however, he later sacrificed to the service of his people. He dressed chiefly in white but also wore red, yellow, and green. Mohammed entered Mecca wearing a black turban and bearing a black standard. He wore only the plainest of garments, declaring that rich and conspicuous raiment did not become the pious, and did not remove his shoes at prayer. He was particularly concerned with the cleanliness of his teeth and at the time of his death, when too weak to speak, indicated his desire for a toothpick. When fearful of forgetting something, the Prophet tied a thread to his ring. He once had a very fine gold ring but, noting that his followers had taken to wearing similar rings in emulation of him, he removed his own and threw it away lest his followers form an evil habit. (See *The Life of Mohammad*.)

*THE CAABA, THE HOLY PLACE OF ISLAM.*

*Section from panorama of Mecca in D'Ohsson's Tableau Général de l'Empire Othman.*

*The Caaba, or cube-shaped building in the midst of the great court of the mosque at Mecca, is the most holy spot in the Islamic world. Toward it the followers of the Prophet must face five times a day at the appointed hours of prayer. Like the devotees of nearly all other faiths, the Mussulman originally faced the East while in prayer, but by a later decree he was ordered to turn his face toward Mecca.*

*Little is known of the history of the Caaba prior to its rededication as a Mohammedan mosque, other than that the building was a pagan temple. At the time the Prophet captured Mecca, the Caaba and surrounding court contained 360 idols, which were destroyed by Mohammed before he actually gained access to the shrine itself. The "Ancient House," as the Caaba is called, is an irregular cube measuring about 38 feet in length, 35 feet in height, and 30 feet in width. The length of each side wall varies slightly and that of the end walls over a foot. In the southeast corner of the wall at a convenient distance above the ground (about five feet) is embedded the sacred and mysterious black stone or aerolite of Abraham. When first given to that patriarch by the Angel Gabriel this stone was of such strong whiteness as to be visible from every part of the earth, but late, it became black because of the sins of man. This black stone, oval in shape and about seven inches in diameter, was broken in the seventh century and is now held together by a silver mounting.*

*According to tradition, 2,000 years before the creation of the world the Caaba was first constructed in heaven, where a model of it still remains. Adam erected the Caaba on earth exactly below the spot in heaven occupied by the original, and selected the stones from the five sacred mountains Sinai, al-Judī, Hirā, Olivet, and Lebanon. Ten thousand angels were appointed to guard the structure. At the time of the Deluge the sacred house was destroyed, but afterward was rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ishmael. (For details see A Dictionary of Islam). It is probable that the site of the Caaba was originally occupied by a prehistoric stone altar or ring of uncut monoliths similar to those of Stonehenge. Like the temple at Jerusalem, the Caaba has undergone many vicissitudes, and the present structure does not antedate the seventeenth century of the Christian Era. When Mecca was sacked in A.D. 930, the famous black stone was captured by the Carmathians, in whose possession it remained over twenty years and it is a moot question whether the stone finally returned by them in exchange far a princely ransom was actually the original block or a substitute.*

*The side of the Caaba are the supposed graves of Hagar and Ishmael, and near the door (which is about seven feet above the ground) is the stone upon which Abraham stood while rebuilding the Caaba. Various coverings have always been thrown over the cube-shaped structure; the present drape, which is replaced annually, is a black brocade embroidered in a gold. Small pieces a the old drape are cherished by pilgrims as holy relics.*

*Entrance to the Caaba is effected by a movable flight of steps. The interior is lined with varicolored marble, silver, and gilt. Although the building is generally conceived to be windowless, this point is disputed. Access to the roof is had through a silver-plated door. In addition to the sacred books the Caaba contains thirteen lamps. The great courtyard around the building contains a number of holy objects, and is bounded by a colonnade which originally consisted of 360 pillars. Opening into the courtyard are nineteen gates, the sacred and significant number of the Metonic Cycle and also the number of stones in the inner ring of Stonehenge. Seven great minarets tower above the Caaba, and one of the sacred ceremonials in connection with the building includes seven circumambulations about the central Caaba in an apparent effort to portray the motion of the celestial bodies.*

The most frequent, and apparently the most damaging, accusation brought against Mohammed is that of polygamy. Those who sincerely believe the harem to be irreconcilable with spirituality should with consistency move for the expurgation of the Psalms of David and the Proverbs of Solomon from the list of inspired writings, for the harem of Islam's Prophet was insignificant compared with that maintained by Israel's wisest king and the reputed favorite of the Most High! The popular conception that Mohammed taught that woman had no soul and could attain heaven only through marriage is not substantiated by the words and attitude of the Prophet during his lifetime. In a paper entitled *The Influence of Islam on Social Conditions*, read at the World's Parliament of Religions held in Chicago, in 1893, Mohammed Webb states the charge and answers it thus:

"it has been said that Mohammed and the Koran denied a soul to woman and ranked her with the animals. The Koran places her on a perfect and complete equality with man, and the Prophet's teachings often place her in a position superior to the male in some respects." Mr. Webb justifies his stand by quoting from the thirty-fifth verse of the thirty-third sura of the Koran:

"Verily the Moslems of either sex, and the true believers of either sex, and the devout men, and the devout women, and the men of veracity, and the women of veracity, and the patient men, and the patient women, and the humble men, and the humble women, and the alms-givers of either sex, and the men who fast, and the women who fast, and the chaste men, and the chaste women, and those of either sex who remember Allah frequently: for them hath Allah prepared forgiveness and a great reward." Here the attainment of heaven is clearly set forth as a problem whose only solution is that of individual merit.

On the day of his death Mohammed told Fatima, his beloved daughter, and Safiya, his aunt: "Work ye out that which shall gain acceptance for you with the Lord: for I verily have no power with Him to save you in any wise." The Prophet did not advise either woman to rely upon the virtues of her husband nor in any manner did he indicate woman's salvation to be dependent upon the human frailty of her spouse.

Everything to the contrary notwithstanding, Mohammed is not responsible for the contradictions and inconsistencies in the Koran, for the volume was not compiled and did not assume its present form until over twenty years after his death. In its present state the Koran is, for the major part, a jumble of hearsay through which occasionally shines forth an example of true inspiration. From what is known of the man Mohammed, it is reasonable to suppose that these nobler and finer portions represent the actual doctrines of the Prophet; the remainder are obvious interpolations, some arising from misunderstanding and others direct forgeries calculated to satisfy the temporal ambitions of conquering Islam. On this subject, Godfrey Higgins speaks with his usual perspicacity:

"Here we have the Koran of Mohammed and the first four sincere and zealous patriarchs, and the Koran of the conquering and magnificent Saracens--puffed up with pride and vanity. The Koran of the eclectic philosopher was not likely to suit the conquerors of Asia. A new one must be grafted on the old, to find a justification for their enormities." (See *Anacalypsis*.)

To the discerning few it is evident that Mohammed had a knowledge of that secret doctrine which must needs constitute the core of every great philosophical, religious, or ethical institution. Through one of four possible avenues Mohammed may have contacted the ancient Mystery teachings: (1) through direct contact with the Great School in the invisible world; (2) through the Nestorian Christian monks; (3) through the mysterious holy man who appeared and disappeared at frequent intervals during the period in which the *suras* of the Koran were revealed; (4) through a decadent school already existing in Arabia, which school in spite of its lapse into idolatry still retained the secrets of the Ancient Wisdom cult. The arcana of Islam may yet be demonstrated to have been directly founded upon the ancient pagan Mysteries performed at the Caaba centuries before the birth of the Prophet; in fact it is generally admitted that many of the ceremonials now embodied in the Islamic Mysteries are survivals of pagan Arabia.

The feminine principle is repeatedly emphasized in Islamic symbolism. For example, Friday, which is sacred to the planer Venus, is the Moslem's holy day; green is the color of the Prophet and, being symbolic of verdure, is inevitably associated with the World Mother; and both the Islamic crescent and the scimitar may be interpreted to signify the crescent shape of either the moon or Venus.

"The famous 'Stone of Cabar,' Kaaba, Cabir, or Kebir, at Mecca," says Jennings, "which is so devoutly kissed by the Faithful, is a Talisman. It is said that the figure of Venus is seen to this day engraved upon it with a crescent. This very Caaba itself was at first an idolatrous temple, where the Arabians worshipped Al-Uzza (God and Issa), that is Venus." (See Kenealy's *Enoch, The Second Messenger of God*.)

"The Mussulmans," writes Sir William Jones, "are already a sort of heterodox Christians: they are Christians, if Locke reasons justly, because they firmly believe the immaculate conception, divine character, and miracles of the MESSIAH; but they are heterodox, in denying vehemently his character of Son, and his equality, as God, with the Father, of whose unity and attributes they entertain and express the most awful ideas; while they consider our doctrine as perfect blasphemy, and insist that our copies of the Scriptures have been corrupted both by Jews and Christians."

The following lines are declared by the followers of the Prophet to have been deleted from the Christian Gospels: "And when Jesus, the Son of Mary, said, O children of Israel, verily I am the apostle of God sent unto you, confirming the law which was delivered before me, and bringing good tidings of an apostle who shall come after me, and whose name shall be AHMED." In the present text containing the prophecy of Jesus concerning a comforter to come after Him, it is further claimed that the word *comforter* should be translated *illustrious* and that it had a direct reference to Mohammed; also that the tongues of flame that descended upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost in no way could be interpreted as signifying the promised comforter. When asked, however, for definite proof that the original Gospels contained these so-called expurgated references to Mohammed, the Moslems make a counter-demand for production of the original documents upon which Christianity is founded. Until such writings are discovered, the point under dispute must remain a source of controversy.

To ignore the heritage of culture received from Islam would be an unpardonable oversight, for when the crescent triumphed over the cross in Southern Europe it was the harbinger of a civilization which had no equal in its day. In *Studies in a Mosque*, Stanley Lane-Poole writes:

"For nearly eight centuries under her Mohammedan rulers Spain set to all Europe a shining example of a civilized and enlightened state. ** * Art, literature and science prospered as they then prospered nowhere else in Europe. Students flocked from France and Germany and England to drink from the fountains of learning which flowed only in the cities of the Moors. The surgeons and doctors of Andalusia were in the van of science; women were encouraged to devote themselves to serious study, and a lady doctor was not unknown among the people of Cordova. Mathematics, astronomy and botany, history, philosophy and jurisprudence, were to he mastered in Spain and in Spain alone."

*The Library of Original Sources* thus sums up the effects of Islam:

"The results of Mohammedism have been greatly underestimated. In the century after Mohammed's death it wrested Asia Minor, Africa, and Spain from Christianity, more than half of the civilized world, and established a civilization, the highest in the world during the Dark Ages. It brought the Arabian race to their highest development, raised the position of women in the East, though it retained polygamy, was intensively monotheistic, and until the Turks gained control for the most part encouraged progress."

In the same work, among the great Islamic scientists and philosophers who have made substantial contributions to human knowledge are listed Gerber, or Djafer, who in the ninth century laid the foundations for modern chemistry; Ben Musa, who in the tenth century introduced the theory of algebra; Alhaze, who in the eleventh century made a profound study of optics and discovered the magnifying power of convex lenses; and in the eleventh century also, both Avicenna, or Ibn Sina, whose medical encyclopedia was the standard of his age, and the great Qabbalist Avicebron, or Ibn Gebirol.

"Looking back upon the science of the Mohammedans," resumes the authority just quoted, "it will be seen that they laid the first foundations of chemistry, and made important advances in mathematics and optics. Their discoveries never had the influence they should have had upon the course of European civilization, but this was because Europe itself was not enlightened enough to grasp and make use of them. Gerber's observation that oxidized iron weighs heavier than before oxidation had to be made over again. So had some of their work in optics, and many of their geographical discoveries. They had rounded Africa long before Vasco da Gama. The composition of gunpowder came into Northern Europe from them. We must never forget that the dark ages in Christian Europe were the bright ones of the Mohammedan world. In the field of philosophy the Arabs started by adopting the neo-Platonism they found in Europe, and gradually working back to Aristotle."

What means the subtle mystery of the phœnix reborn every six hundred years? Faintly from within the sanctuary of the World Mysteries is whispered the answer. Six hundred years before Christ the phœnix of wisdom (Pythagoras?) spread its wings and died upon the altar of humanity, consumed by the sacrificial fire. In Nazareth the bird was again reborn from its own ashes, only to die upon the tree which had its roots in Adam's skull. In A.D. 600 appeared Ahmed (Mohammed). Again the phœnix suffered, this time from the poison of Kheibar, and from its charred ashes rose to spread its wings across the face of Mongolia, where in the twelfth century Genghis Khan established the rule of wisdom. Circling the mighty desert of Gobi, the phœnix again gave up its form, which now lies buried in a glass sarcophagus under a pyramid bearing upon it the ineffable figures of the Mysteries. After the lapse of six hundred years from the death of Genghis Khan, did Napoleon Bonaparte--who believed himself to be the man of destiny--contact in his wanderings this strange legend of the continual periodic rebirth of wisdom? Did he feel the spreading wings of the phœnix within himself and did he believe the hope of the world had taken flesh in him? The eagle on his standard may well have been the phœnix. This would explain why he was moved to believe himself predestined to establish the kingdom of Christ on earth and is, perhaps, the clue to his little-understood friendliness toward the Moslem.

## American Indian Symbolism

THE North American Indian is by nature a symbolist, a mystic, and a philosopher. Like most: aboriginal peoples, his soul was en rapport with the cosmic agencies manifesting about him. Not only did his *Manidos* control creation from their exalted seats above the clouds, but they also descended into the world of men and mingled with their red children. The gray clouds hanging over the horizon were the smoke from the *calumets* of the gods, who could build fires of petrified wood and use a comet for a flame. The American Indian peopled the forests, rivers, and sky with myriads of superphysical and invisible beings. There are legends of entire tribes of Indians who lived in lake bottoms; of races who were never seen in the daytime but who, coming forth from their hidden caves, roamed the earth at night and waylaid unwary travelers; also of Bat Indians, with human bodies and batlike wings, who lived in gloomy forests and inaccessible cliffs and who slept hanging head downward from great branches and outcroppings of rock. The red man's philosophy of elemental creatures is apparently the outcome of his intimate contact with Nature, whose inexplicable wonders become the generating cause of such metaphysical speculations.

In common with the early Scandinavians, the Indians of North America considered the earth (the Great Mother) to be an intermediate plane, bounded above by a heavenly sphere (the dwelling place of the Great Spirit) and below by a dark and terrifying subterranean world (the abode of shadows and of submundane powers). Like the Chaldeans, they divided the interval between the surface of earth and heaven into various strata, one consisting of clouds, another of the paths of the heavenly bodies, and so on. The underworld was similarly divided and like the Greek system represented to the initiated the House of the Lesser Mysteries. Those creatures capable of functioning in two or more elements were considered as messengers between the spirits of these various planes. The abode of the dead was presumed to be in a distant place: in the heavens above, the earth below, the distant corners of the world, or across wide seas. Sometimes a river flows between the world of the dead and that of the living, in this respect paralleling Egyptian, Greek, and Christian theology. To the Indian the number four has a peculiar sanctity, presumably because the Great Spirit created His universe in a square frame. This is suggestive of the veneration accorded the *tetrad* by the Pythagoreans, who held it to be a fitting symbol of the Creator. The legendary narratives of the strange adventures of intrepid heroes who while in the physical body penetrated the realms of the dead prove beyond question the presence of Mystery cults among the North American red men. Wherever the Mysteries were established they were recognized as the philosophic equivalents of death, for those passing through the rituals experienced all after-death conditions while still in the physical body. At the consummation of the ritual the initiate actually gained the ability to pass in and out of his physical body at will. This is the philosophic foundation for the allegories of adventures in the Indian Shadow Land, or World of Ghosts.

"From coast to coast," writes Hartley Burr Alexander, "the sacred Calumet is the Indian's altar, and its smoke is the proper offering to Heaven." (See *Mythology of All Paces*.) In the *Notes* on the same work is given the following description of the pipe ceremony:

"The master of ceremonies, again rising to his feet, filled and lighted the pipe of peace from his own fire. Drawing three whiffs, one after the other, he blew the first towards the zenith, the second towards the ground, and the third towards the Sun. By the first act he returned thanks to the Great Spirit for the preservation of his life during the past year, and for being permitted to be present at this council. By the second, he returned thanks to his Mother, the Earth, for her various productions which had ministered to his sustenance. And by the third, he returned thanks to the Sun for his never-failing light, ever shining upon all."

*NAVAHO SAND PAINTING.*

*From an original drawing by Hasteen Klah.*

*The Navaho dry or sand paintings are made by sprinkling varicolored ground pigment upon a base of smooth sand. The one here reproduced is encircled by the rainbow goddess, and portrays an episode from the Navaho cosmogony myth. According to Hasteen Klah, the Navaho sand priest who designed this painting, the Navahos do not believe in idolatry, hence they make no images of their gods, but perpetuate only the mental concept of them. Just as the gods draw pictures upon the moving clouds, so the priests make paintings on the sand, and when the purpose of the drawing has been fulfilled it is effaced by a sweep of the hand. According to this informant, the Zuni, Hopi, and Navaho nations had a common genesis; they all came out of the earth and then separated into three nations.*

*The Navahos first emerged about 3,000 years ago at a point now called La Platte Mountain in Colorado. The four mountains sacred to the Navahos are La Platte Mountain, Mount Taylor, Navaho Mountain, and San Francisco Mountain. While these three nations were under the earth four mountain ranges were below with them. The eastern mountains were white, the southern blue, the western yellow, and the northern black. The rise and fall of these mountains caused the alternation of day and night. When the white mountains rose it was day under the earth; when the yellow ones rose, twilight; the black mountains brought night, and the blue, dawn. Seven major deities were recognized by the Navahos, but Hasteen Klah was unable to say whether the Indians related these deities to the planets. Bakochiddy, one of these seven major gods, was white in color with light reddish hair and gray eyes. His father was the sun ray and his mother the daylight. He ascended to heaven and in some respects his life parallels that of Christ. To avenge the kidnapping of his child, Kahothsode, a fish god, caused a great flood to arise. To escape destruction, the Zunis, Hopis, and Navahos ascended to the surface of the earth.*

*The sand painting here reproduced is part of the medicine series prepared far the healing of disease. In the healing ceremony the patient is placed upon the drawing, which is made in a consecrated hogan, and all outsiders excluded. The sacred swastika in the center of the drawing is perhaps the most nearly universal of religious emblems and represents the four corners of the world. The two hunchback god, at the right and left assume their appearance by reason of the great clouds borne upon their backs. In Navaho religious art, male divinities are always shown with circular heads and female divinities with square heads.*

It was necessary for the Indian to secure the red stone for his calumet from the pipestone quarry where in some remote past the Great Spirit had come and, after fashioning with His own hands a great pipe, had smoked it toward the four corners of creation and thus instituted this most sacred ceremony. Scores of Indian tribes--some of them traveling thousands of miles--secured the sacred stone from this single quarry, where the mandate of the Great Spirit had decreed that eternal peace should reign.

The Indian does not worship the sun; he rather regards this shining orb as an appropriate symbol of the Great and Good Spirit who forever radiates life to his red children. In Indian symbolism the serpent--especially the Great Serpent--corroborates other evidence pointing to the presence of the Mysteries on the North American Continent. The flying serpent is the Atlantean token of the initiate; the seven-headed snake represents the seven great Atlantean islands (the cities of Chibola?) and also the seven great prehistoric schools of esoteric philosophy. Moreover, who can doubt the presence of the secret doctrine in the Americas when he gazes upon the great serpent mound in Adams County, Ohio, where the huge reptile is represented as disgorging the Egg of Existence? Many American Indian tribes are reincarnationists, some are transmigrationists. They even called their children by the names supposed to have been borne by them in a former life. There is an account of an instance where a parent by inadvertence had given his infant the wrong name, whereupon the babe cried incessantly until the mistake had been rectified! The belief in reincarnation is also prevalent among the Eskimos. Aged Eskimos not infrequently kill themselves in order to reincarnate in the family of some newly married loved one.

The American Indians recognize the difference between the ghost and the actual soul of a dead person, a knowledge restricted to initiates of the Mysteries. In common with the Platonists they also understood the principles of an archetypal sphere wherein exist the patterns of all forms manifesting in the earth plane, The theory of Group, or Elder, Souls having supervision over the animal species is also shared by them. The red man's belief in guardian spirits would have warmed the heart of Paracelsus. When they attain the importance of being protectors of entire clans or tribes, these guardians are called *totems*. In some tribes impressive ceremonies mark the occasion when the young men are sent out into the forest to fast and pray and there remain until their guardian spirit manifests to them. Whatever creature appears thereupon becomes their peculiar genius, to whom they appeal in time of trouble.

The outstanding hero of North American Indian folklore is Hiawatha, a name which, according to Lewis Spence, signifies "he who seeks the wampum-belt." Hiawatha enjoys the distinction of anticipating by several centuries the late Woodrow Wilson's cherished dream of a League of Nations. Following in the footsteps of Schoolcraft, Longfellow confused the historical Hiawatha of the Iroquois with Manabozho, a mythological hero of the Algonquins and Ojibwas. Hiawatha, a chief of the Iroquois, after many reverses and disappointments, succeeded in uniting the five great nations of the Iroquois into the "League of the Five Nations." The original purpose of the league--to abolish war by substituting councils of arbitration--was not wholly successful, but the power of the "Silver Chain" conferred upon the Iroquois a solidarity attained by no other confederacy of North American Indians. Hiawatha, however, met the same opposition which has confronted every great idealist, irrespective of time or race. The *shamans* turned their magic against him and, according to one legend, created an evil bird which, swooping down from heaven, tore his only daughter to pieces before his eyes. When Hiawatha, after accomplishing his mission, had sailed away in his self-propelled canoe along the path of the sunset, his people realized the true greatness of their benefactor and elevated him to the dignity of a demigod. In Longfellow's *Song of Hiawatha* the poet has cast the great Indian statesman in a charming setting of magic and enchantment; yet through the maze of symbol and allegory is ever faintly visible the figure of Hiawatha the initiate--the very personification of the red man and his philosophy.

**THE POPOL VUH**

No other sacred book sets forth so completely as the *Popol Vuh* the initiatory rituals of a great school of mystical philosophy. This volume alone is sufficient to establish incontestably the philosophical excellence of the red race.

"The Red 'Children of the Sun,'" writes James Morgan Pryse, "do not worship the One God. For them that One God is absolutely impersonal, and all the Forces emanated from that One God are personal. This is the exact reverse of the popular western conception of a personal God and impersonal working forces in nature. Decide for yourself which of these beliefs is the more philosophical. These Children of the Sun adore the Plumèd Serpent, who is the messenger of the Sun. He was the God Quetzalcoatl in Mexico, Gucumatz in Quiché; and in Peru he was called Amaru. From the latter name comes our word America. *Amaruca* is, literally translated, 'Land of the Plumèd Serpent.' The priests of this God of Peace, from their chief centre in the Cordilleras, once ruled both Americas. All the Red men who have remained true to the ancient religion are still under their sway. One of their strong centres was in Guatemala, and of their Order was the author of the book called *Popol Vuh*. In the Quiché tongue Gucumatz is the exact equivalent of Quetzalcoatl in the Nahuatl language; *quetzal*, the bird of Paradise; *coatl*, serpent--'the Serpent veiled in plumes of the paradise-bird'!"

The *Popol Vuh* was discovered by Father Ximinez in the seventeenth century. It was translated into French by Brasseur de Bourbourg and published in 1861. The only complete English translation is that by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, which ran through the early files of *The Word* magazine and which is used as the basis of this article. A portion of the *Popol Vuh* was translated into English, with extremely valuable commentaries, by James Morgan Pryse, but unfortunately his translation was never completed. The second book of the *Popol Vuh* is largely devoted to the initiatory rituals of the Quiché nation. These ceremonials are of first importance to students of Masonic symbolism and mystical philosophy, since they establish beyond doubt the existence of ancient and divinely instituted Mystery schools on the American Continent.

Lewis Spence, in describing the *Popol Vuh*, gives a number of translations of the title of the manuscript itself. Passing over the renditions, "The Book of the Mat" and "The Record of the Community," he considers it likely that the correct title is "The Collection of Written Leaves," Popol signifying the "prepared bark" and Vuh, "paper" or "book" from the verb *uoch*, to write. Dr. Guthrie interprets the words *Popol Vuh* to mean "The Senate Book," or "The Book of the Holy Assembly"; Brasseur de Bourbourg calls it "The Sacred Book"; and Father Ximinez designates the volume "The National Book." In his articles on the *Popol Vuh* appearing in the fifteenth volume of *Lucifer*, James Morgan Pryse, approaching the subject from the standpoint of the mystic, calls this work "The Book of the Azure Veil." In the *Popol Vuh* itself the ancient records from which the Christianized Indian who compiled it derived his material are referred to as "The Tale of Human Existence in the Land of Shadows, and, How Man Saw Light and Life."

The meager available native records contain abundant evidence that the later civilizations of Central and South America were hopelessly dominated by the black arts of their priestcrafts. In the convexities of their magnetized mirrors the Indian sorcerers captured the intelligences of elemental beings and, gazing into the depths of these abominable devices, eventually made the scepter subservient to the wand. Robed in garments of sable hue, the neophytes in their search for truth were led by their sinister guides through the confused passageways of necromancy. By the left-hand path they descended into the somber depths of the infernal world, where they learned to endow stones with the power of speech and to subtly ensnare the minds of men with their chants and fetishes. As typical of the perversion which prevailed, none could achieve to the greater Mysteries until a human being had suffered immolation at his hand and the bleeding heart of the victim had been elevated before the leering face of the stone idol fabricated by a priestcraft the members of which realized more fully than they dared to admit the true nature of the man-made demon. The sanguinary and indescribable rites practiced by many of the Central American Indians may represent remnants of the later Atlantean perversion of the ancient sun Mysteries. According to the secret tradition, it was during the later Atlantean epoch that black magic and sorcery dominated the esoteric schools, resulting in the bloody sacrificial rites and gruesome idolatry which ultimately overthrew the Atlantean empire and even penetrated the Aryan religious world.

**THE MYSTERIES OF XIBALBA**

The princes of Xibalba (so the *Popol Vuh* recounts) sent their four owl messengers to Hunhun-ahpu and Vukub-hunhun-ahpu, ordering them to come at once to the place of initiation in the fastnesses of the Guatemalan mountains. Failing in the tests imposed by the princes of Xibalba, the two brothers--according to the ancient custom--paid with their lives for their shortcomings. Hunhun-ahpu and Vukub-hunhun-ahpu were buried together, but the head of Hunhun-ahpu was placed among the branches of the sacred calabash tree which grew in the middle of the road leading to the awful Mysteries of Xibalba. Immediately the calabash tree covered itself with fruit and the head of Hunhun-ahpu "showed itself no more; for it reunited itself with the other fruits of the calabash tree." Now Xquiq was the virgin daughter of prince Cuchumaquiq. From her father she had learned of the marvelous calabash tree, and desiring to possess some of its fruit, she journeyed alone to the somber place where it grew. When Xquiq put forth her hand to pick the fruit of the tree, some saliva from the mouth of Hunhun-ahpu fell into it and the head spoke to Xquiq, saying: "This saliva and froth is my posterity which I have just given you. Now my head will cease to speak, for it is only the head of a corpse, which has no more flesh."

Following the admonitions of Hunhun-ahpu, the young girl returned to her home. Her father, Cuchumaquiq, later discovering that she was about to become a mother, questioned her concerning the father of her child. Xquiq replied that the child was begotten while she was gazing upon the head of Hunhun-ahpu in the calabash tree and that she had known no man. Cuchumaquiq, refusing to believe her story, at the instigation of the princes of Xibalba, demanded her heart in an urn. Led away by her executioners, Xquiq pleaded with them to spare her life, which they agreed to do, substituting for her heart the fruit of a certain tree (rubber) whose sap was red and of the consistency of blood. When the princes of Xibalba placed the supposed heart upon the coals of the altar to be consumed, they were all amazed by the perfume which rose therefrom, for they did not know that they were burning the fruit of a fragrant plant.

*FRAGMENT OF INDIAN POTTERY.*

*Courtesy of Alice Palmer Henderson*

*This curious fragment was found four feet under the ground beneath a trash pile of broken early Indian pottery not far from the Casa Grande ruins in Arizona. It is significant because of its striking to the Masonic compass and square. Indian baskets pottery, and blankets frequently bear ornamental designs of especial Masonic and philosophic interest.*

Xquiq gave birth to twin sons, who were named Hunahpu and Xbalanque and whose lives were dedicated to avenging the deaths of Hunhun-ahpu and Vukub-hunhun-ahpu. The years passed, and the two boys grew up to manhood and great were their deeds. Especially did they excel in a certain game called tennis but somewhat resembling hockey. Hearing of the prowess of the youths, the princes of Xibalba asked: "Who, then, are those who now begin again to play over our heads, and who do not scruple to shake (the earth)? Are not Hunhun-ahpu and Vukub-hunhun-ahpu dead, who wished to exalt themselves before our face?" So the princes of Xibalba sent for the two youths, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, that they might destroy them also in the seven days of the Mysteries. Before departing, the two brothers bade farewell to their grandmother, each planting in the midst of the house a cane plant, saying that as long as the cane lived she would know that they were alive. "O, our grandmother, O, our mother, do not weep; behold the sign of our word which remains with you. " Hunahpu and Xbalanque then departed, each with his *sabarcan* (blowpipe), and for many days they journeyed along the perilous trail, descending through tortuous ravines and along precipitous cliffs, past strange birds and boiling springs, cowards the sanctuary of Xibalba.

The actual ordeals of the Xibalbian Mysteries were seven in number. As a preliminary the two adventurers crossed a river of mud and then a stream of blood, accomplishing these difficult feats by using their *sabarcans* as bridges. Continuing on their way, they reached a point where four roads converged--a black road, a white road, a red road, and a green road. Now Hunahpu and Xbalanque knew that their first test would consist of being able to discriminate between the princes of Xibalba and the wooden effigies robed to resemble them; also that they must call each of the princes by his correct name without having been given the information. To secure this information, Hunahpu pulled a hair from his leg, which hair then became a strange insect called *Xan*; buzzing along the black road, the Xan entered the council chamber of the princes of Xibalba and stung the leg of the figure nearest the door, which it discovered to be a manikin. By the same artifice the second figure was proved to be of wood, but upon stinging the third, there was an immediate response. By stinging each of the twelve assembled princes in turn the insect thus discovered each one's name, for the princes called each other by name in discussing the cause of the mysterious bites. Having secured the desired information in this novel manner, the insect then flew back to Hunahpu and Xbalanque, who thus fortified, fearlessly approached the threshold of Xibalba and presented themselves to the twelve assembled princes.

When told to adore the king, Hunahpu and Xbalanque laughed, for they knew that the figure pointed out to them was the lifeless manikin. The young adventurers thereupon addressed the twelve princes by name thus: "Hail, Hun-came; hail, Vukub-came; hail, Xiquiripat; hail, Cuchumaquiq; hail, Ahalpuh; hail, Ahalcana; hail, Chamiabak; hail, Chamiaholona; hail, Quiqxic; hail, Patan; hail, Quiqre; hail, Quiqrixqaq." When invited by the Xibalbians to seat themselves upon a great stone bench, Hunahpu and Xbalanque declined to do so, declaring that they well knew the stone to be heated so that they would he burned to death if they sat upon it. The princes of Xibalba then ordered Hunahpu and Xbalanque to rest for the night in the House of Shadows. This completed the first degree of the Xibalbian Mysteries.

The second trial was given in the House of Shadows, where to each of the candidates was brought a pine torch and a cigar, with the injunction that both must be kept alight throughout the entire night and yet each must be returned the next morning unconsumed. Knowing that death was the alternative to failure in the test, the young men burnt aras-feathers in place of the pine splinters (which they closely resemble) and also put fireflies on the tips of the cigars. Seeing the lights, those who watched felt certain that Hunahpu and Xbalanque had fallen into the trap, but when morning came the torches and cigars were returned to the guards unconsumed and still burning. In amazement and awe, the princes of Xibalba gazed upon the unconsumed splinters and cigars, for never before had these been returned intact.

The third ordeal took place presumably in a cavern called the House of Spears. Here hour after hour the youths were forced to defend themselves against the strongest and most skillful warriors armed with spears. Hunahpu and Xbalanque pacified the spearmen, who thereupon ceased attacking them. They then turned their attention to the second and most difficult part of the test: the production of four vases of the rarest flowers but which they were not permitted to leave the temple to gather. Unable to pass the guards, the two young men secured the assistance of the ants. These tiny creatures, crawling into the gardens of the temple, brought back the blossoms so that by morning the vases were filled. When Hunahpu and Xbalanque presented the flowers to the twelve princes, the latter, in amazement, recognized the blossoms as having been filched from their own private gardens. In consternation, the princes of Xibalba then counseled together how they could destroy the intrepid neophytes and forthwith prepared for them the next ordeal.

For their fourth test, the two brothers were made to enter the House of Cold, where they remained for an entire night. The princes of Xibalba considered the chill of the icy cavern to be unbearable and it is described as "the abode of the frozen winds of the North." Hunahpu and Xbalanque, however, protected themselves from the deadening influence of the frozen air by building fires of pine cones, whose warmth caused the spirit of cold to leave the cavern so that the youths were not dead but full of life when day dawned. Even greater than before was the amazement of the princes of Xibalba when Hunahpu and Xbalanque again entered the Hall of Assembly in the custody of their guardians.

The fifth ordeal was also of a nocturnal nature. Hunahpu and Xbalanque were ushered into a great chamber which was immediately filled with ferocious tigers. Here they were forced to remain throughout the night. The young men tossed bones to the tigers, which they ground to pieces with their strong jaws. Gazing into the House of the Tigers, the princes of Xibalba beheld the animals chewing the bones and said one to the other: "They have at last learned (to know the power of Xibalba), and they have given themselves up to the beasts. " But when at dawn Hunahpu and Xbalanque emerged from the House of the Tigers unharmed, the Xibalbians cried: "Of what race are those?" for they could not understand how any man could escape the tigers' fury. Then the princes of Xibalba prepared for the two brothers a new ordeal.

The sixth test consisted of remaining from sunset to sunrise in the House of Fire. Hunahpu and Xbalanque entered a large apartment arranged like a furnace. On every side the flames arose and the air was stifling; so great was the heat that those who entered this chamber could survive only a few moments. But at sunrise when the doors of the furnace were opened, Hunahpu and Xbalanque came forth unscorched by the fury of the flames. The princes of Xibalba, perceiving how the two intrepid youths had survived every ordeal prepared for their destruction, were filled with fear lest all the secrets of Xibalba should fall into the hands of Hunahpu and Xbalanque. So they prepared the last ordeal, an ordeal yet more terrible than any which had gone before, certain that the youths could not withstand this crucial test.

The seventh ordeal took place in the House of the Bats. Here in a dark subterranean labyrinth lurked many strange and odious creatures of destruction. Huge bars fluttered dismally through the corridors and hung with folded wings from the carvings on the walls and ceilings. Here also dwelt Camazotz, the God of Bats, a hideous monster with the body of a man and the wings and head of a bat. Camazotz carried a great sword and, soaring through the gloom, decapitated with a single sweep of his blade any unwary wanderers seeking to find their way through the terror-filled chambers. Xbalanque passed successfully through this horrifying test, but Hunahpu, caught off his guard, was beheaded by Camazotz.

*MIDEWIWIN RECORD ON BIRCH BARK.*

*Courtesy of Alice Palmer Henderson.*

*The birch-bark roll is one of the most sacred possessions of an initiate of the Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society, of the Ojibwas. Concerning these rolls, Colonel Carrick Mallery writes: "To persons acquainted with secret societies, a good comparison for the Midewiwin charts would be what is called a trestleboard of a Masonic order, which is printed and published and publicly exposed without exhibiting any secrets of the order; yet it is net only significant, but useful to the esoteric in assistance to their memory as to the details of ceremony." A most complete and trustworthy account of the Midewiwin is that given by W. J. Hoffman in the Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. He writes:*

*The Midewiwin--Society of the Mide or Shaman--consists of an indefinite number of Mide of both sexes. The society is graded into four separate and distinct degrees, although there is a general impression prevailing even among certain members that any degree beyond the first is practically a mere repetition. The greater power attained by one in making advancement depends upon the fact of his having submitted to 'being shot at with the medicine sacks' in the hands of the officiating priests.   * It has always been customary for the Mide priests to preserve birch-bark records, bearing delicate incised lines to represent pictorially the ground plan of the number of degrees to which the owner is entitled. Such records or charts are sacred and are never exposed to the public view."*

*The two rectangular diagrams represent two degrees of the Mide lodge and the straight line through the center the spiritual path, or "straight and narrow way," running through the degrees. The lines running tangent to the central Path signify temptations, and the faces at the termini of the lines are manidos, or powerful spirits. Writing of the Midewiwin, Schoolcraft, the great authority on the American Indian, says: "In the society of the Midewiwin the object is to teach the higher doctrines of spiritual existence, its nature and mode of existence, and the influence it exercises among men. It is an association of men who profess the highest knowledge known to the tribes."*

*According to legend, Manabozho, the great Rabbit, who was a servant of Dzhe Manido, the Good Spirit, gazing down upon the progenitors of the Ojibwas and perceiving them to be without spiritual knowledge, instructed an otter in the mysteries of Midewiwin. Manabozho built a Midewigan and initiated the otter, shooting the sacred Migis (a small shell, the sacred symbol of the Mide) into the body of the otter. He then conferred immortality upon the animal, and entrusted to it the secrets of the Grand Medicine Society. The ceremony of initiation is preceded by sweat baths and consists chiefly of overcoming the influences of evil manidos. The initiate is also instructed in the art of healing and (judging from Plate III of Mr. Hoffman's article) a knowledge of directionalizing the forces moving through the vital centers of the human body. Though the cross is an important symbol in the Midewiwin rites, it is noteworthy that the Mide Priests steadfastly refused to give up their religion and be converted to Christianity.*

Later, Hunahpu was restored to life by magic, and the two brothers, having thus foiled every attempt against their lives by the Xibalbians, in order to better avenge the murder of Hunhun-ahpu and Vukub-hunhun-ahpu, permitted themselves to be burned upon a funeral pyre. Their powdered bones were then cast into a river and immediately became two great man-fishes. Later taking upon themselves the forms of aged wanderers, they danced for the Xibalbians and wrought strange miracles. Thus one would cut the other to pieces and with a single word resurrect him, or they would burn houses by magic and then instantly rebuild them. The fame of the two dancers--who were in reality Hunahpu and Xbalanque--finally came to the notice of the twelve princes of Xibalba, who thereupon desired these two miracle-workers to perform their strange fears before them. After Hunahpu and Xbalanque had slain the dog of the princes and restored it to life, had burned the royal palace and instantly rebuilt it, and given other demonstrations of their magical powers, the monarch of the Xibalbians asked the magicians to destroy him and restore him also to life. So Hunahpu and Xbalanque slew the princes of Xibalba but did not return them to life, thereby avenging the murder of Hunhun-ahpu and Vukub-hunhun-ahpu. These heroes later ascended to heaven, where they became the celestial lights.

**KEYS TO THE MYSTERIES OF XIBALBA**

"Do not these initiations," writes Le Plongeon, "vividly recall to mind what Henoch said he saw in his visions? That blazing house of crystal, burning hot and icy cold--that place where were the bow of fire, the quiver of arrows, the sword of fire--that other where he had to cross the babbling stream, and the river of fire-and those extremities of the Earth full of all kinds of huge beasts and birds--or the habitation where appeared one of great glory sitting upon the orb of the sun--and, lastly, does not the tamarind tree in the midst of the earth, that he was cold was the Tree of Knowledge, find its simile in the calabash tree, in the middle of the road where those of Xibalba placed the head of Hunhun Ahpu, after sacrificing him for having failed to support the first trial of the initiation? ***These were the awful ordeals that the candidates for initiation into the sacred mysteries had to pass through in Xibalba. Do they not seem an exact counterpart of what happened in a milder form at the initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries? and also the greater mysteries of Egypt, from which these were copied? Does not the recital of what the candidates to the mysteries in Xibalba were required to know, before being admitted,*** recall to mind the wonderful similar feats said to be performed by the Mahatmas, the Brothers in India, and of several of the passages of the book of Daniel, who had been initiated to the mysteries of the Chaldeans or Magi which, according to Eubulus, were divided into three classes or genera, the highest being the most learned?" (See *Sacred Mysteries among the Mayas and the Quiches*.)

In his introductory notes to the *Popol Vuh*, Dr. Guthrie presents a number of important parallelisms between this sacred book of the Quichés and the sacred writings of other great civilizations. In the tests through which Hunahpu and Xbalanque are forced to pass he finds the following analogy with the signs of the zodiac as employed in the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Greeks:

"Aries, crossing the river of mud. Taurus, crossing the river of blood. Gemini, detecting the two dummy kings. Cancer, the House of Darkness. Leo, the House of Spears. Virgo, the House of Cold (the usual trip to Hell). Libra, the House of Tigers (feline poise). Scorpio, the House of Fire. Sagittarius, the House of Bats, where the God Camazotz decapitates one of the heroes. Capricorn, the burning on the scaffold (the dual Phœnix). Aquarius, their ashes being scattered in a river. Pisces, their ashes turning into *man-fishes*, and later back into human form."

It would seem more appropriate to assign the river of blood to Aries and that of mud to Taurus, and it is not at all improbable that in the ancient form of the legend the order of the rivers was reversed. Dr. Guthrie's most astonishing conclusion is his effort to identify Xibalba with the ancient continent of Atlantis. He sees in the twelve princes of Xibalba the rulers of the Atlantean empire, and in the destruction of these princes by the magic of Hunahpu and Xbalanque an allegorical depiction of the tragic end of Atlantis. To the initiated, however, it is evident that Atlantis is simply a symbolic figure in which is set forth the mystery of origins.

Concerned primarily with the problems of mystical anatomy, Mr. Pryse relates the various symbols described in the *Popol Vuh* to the occult centers of consciousness in the human body. Accordingly, he sees in the elastic ball the pineal gland and in Hunahpu and Xbalanque the dual electric current directed along the spinal column. Unfortunately, Mr. Pryse did not translate that portion of the *Popol Vuh* dealing directly with the initiatory ceremonial. Xibalba he considers to be the shadowy or etheric sphere which, according to the Mystery teachings, was located within the body of the planet itself. The fourth book of the *Popol Vuh* concludes with an account of the erection of a majestic temple, all white, where was preserved a secret black divining stone, cubical in shape. Gucumatz (or Quetzalcoatl) partakes of many of the attributes of King Solomon: the account of the temple building in the *Popol Vuh* is a reminder of the story of Solomon's Temple, and undoubtedly has a similar significance. Brasseur de Bourbourg was first attracted to the study of religious parallelisms in the *Popol Vuh* by the fact that the temple together with the black stone which it contained, was named the *Caabaha*, a name astonishingly similar to that of the Temple, or *Caaba*, which contains the sacred black stone of Islam.

The exploits of Hunahpu and Xbalanque take place before the actual creation of the human race and therefore are to be considered essentially as spiritual mysteries. Xibalba doubtless signifies the inferior universe of Chaldean and Pythagorean philosophy; the princes of Xibalba are the twelve Governors of the lower universe; and the two dummies or manikins in their midst may be interpreted as the two false signs of the ancient zodiac inserted in the heavens to make the astronomical Mysteries incomprehensible to the profane. The descent of Hunahpu and Xbalanque into the subterranean kingdom of Xibalba by crossing over the rivers on bridges made from their blowguns has a subtle analogy to the descent of the spiritual nature of man into the physical body through certain superphysical channels that may be likened to the blowguns or tubes. The *sabarcan* is also an appropriate emblem of the spinal cord and the power resident within its tiny central opening. The two youths are invited to play the "Game of Life" with the Gods of Death, and only with the aid of supernatural power imparted to them by the "Sages" can they triumph over these gloomy lords. The tests represent the soul wandering through the sub-zodiacal realms of the created universe; their final victory over the Lords of Death represents the ascension of the spiritual and illumined consciousness from the tower nature which has been wholly consumed by the fire of spiritual purification.

That the Quichés possessed the keys to the mystery of regeneration is evident from an analysis of the symbols appearing upon the images of their priests and gods. In Vol. II of the *Anales del Museo Nacional de México* is reproduced the head of an image generally considered to represent Quetzalcoatl. The sculpturing is distinctly Oriental in character and on the crown of the head appear both the thousand-petaled sunburst of spiritual illumination and the serpent of the liberated spinal fire. The Hindu *chakra* is unmistakable and it frequently appears in the religious art of the three Americas. One of the carved monoliths of Central America is adorned with the heads of two elephants with their drivers. No such animals have existed in the Western Hemisphere since prehistoric times and it is evident that the carvings are the result of contact with the distant continent of Asia. Among the Mysteries of the Central American Indians is a remarkable doctrine concerning the consecrated mantles or, as they were called in Europe, magic capes. Because their glory was fatal to mortal vision, the gods, when appearing to the initiated priests, robed themselves in these mantles, Allegory and fable likewise are the mantles with which the secret doctrine is ever enveloped. Such a magic cape of concealment is the *Popol Vuh*, and deep within its folds sits the god of Quiché philosophy. The massive pyramids, temples, and monoliths of Central America may be likened also to the feet of gods, whose upper parts are enshrouded in magic mantles of invisibility.

## The Mysteries and Their Emissaries

DID that divine knowledge which constituted the supreme possession of the pagan priestcrafts survive the destruction of their temples? Is it yet accessible to mankind, or does it lie buried beneath the rubbish of ages, entombed within the very sanctuaries that were once illuminated by its splendor? "In Egypt," writes Origen, "the philosophers have a sublime and secret knowledge respecting the nature of God. What did Julian imply when he spoke of the secret initiations into the sacred Mysteries of the Seven-Rayed God who lifted souls to salvation through His own nature? Who were the blessed theurgists who understood them profundities concerning which Julian dared not speak? If this inner doctrine were always concealed from the masses, for whom a simpler code had been devised, is it not highly probable that the exponents of every aspect of modern civilization--philosophic, ethical, religious, and scientific-are ignorant of the true meaning of the very theories and tenets on which their beliefs are founded? Do the arts and sciences that the race has inherited from older nations conceal beneath their *fair exterior* a mystery so great that only the most illumined intellect can grasp its import? *Such is undoubtedly the case*.

Albert Pike, who has gathered ample evidence of the excellence of the doctrines promulgated by the Mysteries, supports his assertions by quoting from the writings of Clement of Alexandria, Plato, Epictetus, Proclus, Aristophanes, and Cicero, all of whom unite in lauding the high ideals of these institutions. From the unqualified testimony of such reputable authorities no reasonable doubt can exist that the initiates of Greece, Egypt, and other ancient countries possessed the correct solution to those great cultural, intellectual, moral, and social problems which in an unsolved state confront the humanity of the twentieth century. The reader must not interpret this statement to mean that antiquity had foreseen and analyzed every complexity of this generation, but rather that the Mysteries had evolved a method whereby the mind was so trained in the fundamental verities of life that it was able to cope intelligently with any emergency which might arise. Thus the reasoning faculties were organized by a simple process of mental culture, for it was asserted that where reason reigns supreme, inconsistency cannot exist. Wisdom, it was maintained, lifts man to the condition of Godhood, a fact which explains the enigmatical statement that the Mysteries transformed "roaring beasts into divinities."

The preeminence of any philosophical system can be determined only by the excellence of its products. The Mysteries have demonstrated the superiority of their culture by giving to the world minds of such overwhelming greatness, souls of such beatific vision, and lives of such outstanding impeccability that even after the lapse of ages the teachings of these individuals constitute the present spiritual, intellectual, and ethical standards of the race. The initiates of the various Mystery schools of past ages form a veritable golden chain of supermen and superwomen connecting heaven and earth. They are the links of that Homeric "golden chain" with which Zeus boasted he could bind the several parts of the universe to the pinnacle of Olympus. The sons and daughters of Isis are indeed an illustrious line--founders of sciences and philosophies, patrons of arts and crafts, supporting by the transcendency of their divinely given power the structures of world religions erected to do them homage. Founders of doctrines which have molded the lives of uncounted generations, these Initiate-Teachers bear witness to that spiritual culture which has always existed--and always will exist--as a divine institution in the world of men.

Those who represent an ideal beyond the comprehension of the masses must face the persecution of the unthinking multitude who are without that divine idealism which inspires progress and those rational faculties which unerringly sift truth from falsehood. The lot of the Initiate-Teacher is therefore almost invariably an unhappy one. Pythagoras, crucified and his university burned; Hypatia, torn from her chariot and rended limb from limb; Jacques de Molay, whose memory survives the consuming flame; Savonarola, burned in the square of Florence; Galileo, forced to recant upon bended knee; Giordano Bruno, burned by the Inquisition; Roger Bacon, compelled to carry on his experiments in the secrecy of his cell and leave his knowledge hidden under cipher; Dante Alighieri, dying in exile from his beloved city; Francis Bacon, patient. under the burden of persecution; Cagliostro, the most vilified man of modern times--all this illustrious line bear unending witness of man's inhumanity to man. The world has ever been prone to heap plaudits upon its fools and calumny upon its thinkers. Here and there notable exceptions occur, as in the case of the Comte de St.-Germain, a philosopher who survived his inquisitors and through the sheer transcendency of his genius won a position of comparative immunity. But even the illustrious Comte--whose illumined intellect merited the homage of the world--could not escape being branded an impostor, a charlatan, and an adventurer. From this long fist of immortal men and women who have represented the Ancient Wisdom before the world, three have been chosen as outstanding examples for more detailed consideration: the first the most eminent woman philosopher of all ages; the second the most maligned and persecuted man since the beginning of Christian Era; the third the most brilliant and the most successful modern exponent of this Ancient Wisdom.

**HYPATIA**

Sitting in the chair of philosophy previously occupied by her father, Theon the mathematician, the immortal Hypatia was for many years the central figure in the Alexandrian School of Neo-Platonism. Famed alike for the depth of her learning and the charm of her person, beloved by the citizens of Alexandria, and frequently consulted by the magistrates of that city, this noble woman stands out from the pages of history as the greatest of the pagan martyrs. A personal disciple of the magician Plutarch, and versed in the profundities of the Platonic School, Hypatia eclipsed in argument and public esteem every proponent of the Christian doctrines in Northern Egypt. While her writings perished at the time of the burning of the library of Alexandria by the Mohammedans, some hint of their nature may be gleaned from the statements of contemporaneous authors. Hypatia evidently wrote a commentary on the *Arithmetic* of Diophantus, another on the *Astronomical Canon* of Ptolemy, and a third on the *Conics* of Apollonius of Perga. Synesius, Bishop of Ptolemais, her devoted friend, wrote to Hypatia for assistance in the construction of an astrolabe and a hydroscope. Recognizing the transcendency of her intellect, the learned of many nations flocked to the academy where she lectured.

A number of writers have credited the teachings of Hypatia with being Christian in spirit; in fact she removed the veil of mystery in which the new cult had enshrouded itself, discoursing with such clarity upon its most involved principles that many newly converted to the Christian faith deserted it to become her disciples. Hypatia not only proved conclusively the pagan origin of the Christian faith but also exposed the purported miracles then advanced by the Christians as tokens of divine preference by demonstrating the natural laws controlling the phenomena.

*THE TABLE OF CEBES.*

*From Vænius' Theatro Moral de la Vida Humana.*

*There is legend to the effect that the Tablet of Cebes, a dialogue between Cebes and Gerundio, was based upon an ancient table set up in the Temple of Kronos at Athens or Thebes which depicted the entire progress of human life. The author of the Tablet of Cebes was a disciple of Socrates, and lived about 390 B.C. The world is represented as a great mountain. Out of the earth at the base of it come he myriads of human creatures who climb upward in search of truth and immortality. Above the clouds which conceal the summit of the mountain is the goal of human attainment--true happiness. The figures and groups are arranged as follows: (1) the door of the wall of life; (2) the Genius or Intelligence; (3) deceit (4) opinions, desires, and pleasures; (5) fortune; (6) the strong; (7) venery, insatiability, flattery; (8) sorrow; (9) sadness; (10) misery; (11) grief, (12) rage or despair; (13) the house of misfortune; (14) penitence; (15) true opinion; (16) false opinion; (17) false doctrine; (18) poets, orators, geometers, et. al.; (19) incontinence, sexual indulgence, and opinion; (20) the road of the true doctrine (21) continence and patience; (22) the true doctrine; (23) truth and persuasion; (24) science and the virtues; (25) happiness, (26) the highest (first) pleasure of the wise man; (27) the lazy and the strays.*

At this time Cyril--later to be renowned as the founder of the doctrine of the Christian Trinity and canonized for his zeal--was Bishop of Alexandria. Seeing in Hypatia a continual menace to the promulgation of the Christian faith, Cyril--indirectly at least--was the cause of her tragic end. Despite every later effort to exonerate him from the stigma of her murder, the incontrovertible fact remains that he made no effort to avert the foul and brutal crime. The only shred of excuse which might be offered in his defense is that, blinded by the spell of fanaticism, Cyril considered Hypatia to be a sorceress in league with the Devil. In contrast to the otherwise general excellence of the literary works of Charles Kingsley maybe noted his puerile delineation of character of Hypatia in his book by that name. Without exception, the meager historical references to this virgin philosopher attest her virtue, integrity, and absolute devotion to the principles of Truth and Right.

While it is true that the best minds of the Christianity of that period may readily be absolved from the charge of *participes criminis*, the implacable hatred of Cyril unquestionably communicated itself to the more fanatical members of his faith, particularly to a group of monks from the Nitrian desert. Led by Peter the Reader, a savage and illiterate man, they attacked Hypatia on the open street as she was passing from the academy to her home. Dragging the defenseless woman from her chariot, they took her to the Cæsarean Church. Tearing away her garments, they pounded her to death with clubs, after which they scraped the flesh from her bones with oyster shells and carried the mutilated remains to a place called Cindron, where they burned them to ashes.

Thus perished in A.D. 415 the greatest woman initiate of the ancient world, and with her fell also the Neo-Platonic School of Alexandria. The memory of Hypatia has probably been perpetuated in the hagiolatry of the Roman Catholic Church in the person of St. Catherine of Alexandria.

**THE COMTE DI CAGLIOSTRO**

The "divine" Cagliostro, one moment the idol of Paris, the next a lonely prisoner in a dungeon of the Inquisition, passed like a meteor across the face of France. According to his memoirs written by him during his confinement in the Bastille, Alessandro Cagliostro was born in Malta of a noble but unknown family. He was reared and educated in Arabia under the tutelage of Altotas, a man well versed in several branches of philosophy and science and also a master of the transcendental arts. While Cagliostro's biographers generally ridicule this account, they utterly fail to advance in its stead any logical solution for the source of his magnificent store of arcane knowledge.

Branded as an impostor and a charlatan, his miracles declared to be legerdemain, and his very generosity suspected of an ulterior motive, the Comte di Cagliostro is undoubtedly the most calumniated man in modem history. "The mistrust," writes W. H. K. Trowbridge, "that mystery and magic always inspire made Cagliostro with his fantastic personality an easy target for calumny. After having been riddled with abuse till he was unrecognizable, prejudice, the foster child of calumny, proceeded to lynch him, so to speak. For over one hundred years his character has dangled on the gibbet of infamy, upon which the *sbirri* of tradition have inscribed a curse on any one who shall attempt to cut him down. His fate has been his fame. He is remembered in history, not so much for anything he did, as for what was done to him." (See *Cagliostro, the Splendour and Misery of a Master of Magic*.)

According to popular belief Cagliostro's real name was Giuseppe Balsamo, and he was a Sicilian by birth. Within recent years, however, doubts have arisen as to whether this belief is in accord with the facts. It may yet be proved that in part, at least, the tirades of abuse heaped upon the unfortunate Comte have been directed against the wrong man. Giuseppe Balsamo was born in 1743 of honest but humble parentage. From boyhood he exhibited selfish, worthless, and even criminal tendencies, and after a series of escapades disappeared. Trowbridge(*loc. cit.*) presents ample proof that Cagliostro was not Giuseppe Balsamo, thus disposing of the worst accusation against him. After six months' imprisonment in the Bastille, on his trial Cagliostro was exonerated from any implication in the theft of the famous "Queen's Necklace," and later the fact was established that he had actually warned Cardinal de Rohan of the intended crime. Despite the fact, however, that he was discharged as innocent by the French trial court, a deliberate effort to vilify Cagliostro was made by an artist--more talented than intelligent--who painted a picture showing him holding the fatal necklace in his hand. The trial of Cagliostro has been called the prologue of the French Revolution. The smoldering animosity against Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI engendered by this trial later burst forth as the holocaust of the Reign of Terror. In his brochure, *Cagliostro and His Egyptian Rite of Freemasonry*, Henry R. Evans also ably defends this much persecuted man against the infamies so unjustly linked with his name.

Sincere investigators of the facts surrounding the life and mysterious "death" of Cagliostro are of the opinion that the stories circulated against him may be traced to the machinations of the Inquisition, which in this manner sought to justify his persecution. The basic charge against Cagliostro was that he had attempted to found a Masonic lodge in Rome--nothing more. All other accusations are of subsequent date. For some reason undisclosed, the Pope commuted Cagliostro's sentence of death to perpetual imprisonment. This act in itself showed the regard in which Cagliostro was held even by his enemies. While his death is believed to have occurred several years later in an Inquisitional dungeon in the castle of San Leo, it is highly improbable that such was the case. There are rumors that he escaped, and according to one very significant story Cagliostro fled to India, where his talents received the appreciation denied them in politics-ridden Europe.

After creating his Egyptian Rite, Cagliostro declared that since women had been admitted into the ancient Mysteries there was no reason why they should be excluded from the modem orders. The Princesse de Lamballe graciously accepted the dignity of Mistress of Honor in his secret society, and on the evening of her initiation the most important members of the French court were present. The brilliance of the affair attracted the attention of the Masonic lodges in Paris. Their representatives, in a sincere desire to understand the Masonic Mysteries, chose the learned orientalist Court de Gébelin as their spokesman, and invited Comte di Cagliostro to attend a conference to assist in clearing up a number of important questions concerning Masonic philosophy. The Comte accepted the invitation.

On May 10, 1785, Cagliostro attended the conference called for that purpose, and his power and simplicity immediately won for him the favorable opinion of the entire gathering. It took but a few words for the Court de Gébelin to discover that he was talking nor only to a fellow scholar but to a man infinitely his superior. Cagliostro immediately presented an address, which was so unexpected, so totally different from anything ever heard before by those assembled, that all were speechless with amazement. Cagliostro declared the Rose-Cross to be the ancient and true symbol of the Mysteries and, after a brief description of its original symbolism, branched out into a consideration of the symbolic meaning of letters, predicting to the assembly the future of France in a graphic manner that left no room for doubt that the speaker was a man of insight and supernatural power. With a curious arrangement of the letters of the alphabet, Cagliostro foretold in detail the horrors of the coming revolution and the fall of the monarchy, describing minutely the fate of the various members of the royal family. He also prophesied the advent of Napoleon and the rise of the First Empire. All this he did to demonstrate that which can be accomplished by superior knowledge.

Later when arrested and sent to the Bastille, Cagliostro wrote on the wall of his cell the following cryptic message which, when interpreted, reads: "In 1789 the besieged Bastille will on July 14th be pulled down by you from top to bottom." Cagliostro was the mysterious agent of the Knights Templars, the Rosicrucian initiate whose magnificent store of learning is attested by the profundity of the Egyptian Rite of Freemasonry. Thus Comte di Cagliostro remains one of the strangest characters in history--believed by his friends to have lived forever and to have taken part in the marriage feast of Cana, and accused by his enemies of being the Devil incarnate! His powers of prophecy are ably described by Alexandre Dumas in *The Queen's Necklace*. The world he sought to serve in his own strange way received him not, but has followed with relentless persecution down through the centuries even the very memory of this illustrious adept who, unable to accomplish the great labor at hand, stepped aside in favor of his more successful compatriot, the Comte de St-Germain.

**THE COMTE DE ST.-GERMAIN**

During the early part of the eighteenth century there appeared in the diplomatic circles of Europe the most baffling personality of history--a man whose life was so near a synonym of mystery that the enigma of his true identity was as insolvable to his contemporaries as it has been to later investigators. The Comte de St.-Germain was recognized as the outstanding scholar and linguist of his day. His versatile accomplishments extended from chemistry and history to poetry and music. He played several musical instruments with great skill and among his numerous compositions was a short opera. He was also an artist of rare ability and the remarkably luminous effects which he created on canvas are believed to have been the result of his mixing powdered mother-of-pearl with his pigments. He gained worldwide distinction for his ability to reproduce in his paintings the original luster of the precious stones appearing upon the costumes of his subjects. His linguistic proficiency verged on the supernatural. He spoke German, English, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French with a Piedmontese accent, Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic, and Chinese with such fluency that in every land he visited he was accepted as a native. He was ambidextrous to such a degree that: he could write the same article with both hands simultaneously. When the two pieces of paper were afterwards placed together with a light behind them, the writing on one sheet exactly covered, letter for letter, the writing on the other.

As a historian, the Comte de St.-Germain possessed uncanny knowledge of every occurrence of the preceding two thousand years, and in his reminiscences he described in intimate detail events of previous centuries in which he had played important rôles. He assisted Mesmer in developing the theory of mesmerism, and in all probability was the actual discoverer of that science. His knowledge of chemistry was so profound that he could remove flaws from diamonds and other precious stones--a feat which he actually performed at the request of Louis XV in 1757. He was also recognized as an art critic without a peer and was often consulted regarding paintings accredited to the great masters. His claim to the possession of the fabled *elixir of life* was home witness to by Madame de Pompadour, who discovered, she declared, that he had presented a lady of the court with a certain priceless liquid which had had the effect of preserving her youthful vivacity and beauty for over twenty-five years beyond the normal term.

The startling accuracy of his prophetic utterances gained for him no small degree of fame. To Marie Antoinette he predicted the fall of the French monarchy, and he was also aware of the unhappy fate of the royal family years before the Revolution actually took place. The crowning evidence, however, of the Comte's genius was his penetrating grasp of the political situation of Europe and the consummate skill with which he parried the thrusts of his diplomatic adversaries. He was employed by a number of European governments, including the French, as a secret agent, and at all times bore credentials which gave him *entrée* to the most exclusive circles.

In her excellent monograph, *The Comte de St.-Germain, the Secret of Kings*, Mrs. Cooper-Oakley lists the most important names under which this amazing person masqueraded between the years 1710 and 1822. "During this time," she writes, "we have M. de St.-Germain as the Marquis de Montferrat, Comte Bellamarre or Aymar at Venice, Chevalier Schoening at Pisa, Chevalier Weldon at Milan and Leipzig, Comte Soltikoff at Genoa and Leghorn, Graf Tzarogy at Schwalbach and Triesdorf, Prinz Ragoczy at Dresden, and Comte de St.-Germain at Paris, The Hague, London, and St. Petersburg." It is evident that M. de St.-Germain adopted these various names in the interests of the political secret service work which historians have presumed to be the major mission of his life.

The Comte de St.-Germain has been described as of medium height, well proportioned in body, and of regular and pleasing features. His complexion was somewhat swarthy and his hair dark, though often shown powdered. He dressed simply, usually in black, but his clothes were well fitting and of the best quality. He had apparently a mania for diamonds, which he wore not only in rings but also in his watch and chain, his snuff box, and upon his buckles. A jeweler once estimated the value of his shoe buckles at 200,000 francs. The Comte is generally depicted as a man in middle life, entirely devoid of wrinkles and free from any physical infirmity. He ate no meat and drank no wine, in fact seldom dined in the presence of any second person. Although he was looked upon as a charlatan and impostor by a few nobles at the French court, Louis XV severely reprimanded a courtier who made a disparaging remark concerning him. The grace and dignity that characterized his conduct, together with his perfect control of every situation, attested the innate refinement and culture of one "to the manner born." This remarkable person also had the surprising and impressive ability to divine, even to the most minute details, the questions of his inquisitors before they were asked. By something akin to telepathy he was also able to feel when his presence was needed in some distant city or state, and it has even been recorded of him that he had the astonishing habit not only of appearing in his own apartment and in those of friends without resorting to the conventionality of the door but also of departing therefrom in a similar manner.

M. de St.-Germain's travels covered many countries. During the reign of Peter III he was in Russia and between the years 1737 and 1742 in the court of the Shah of Persia as an honored guest. On the subject: of his wanderings Una Birch writes: "The travels of the Comte de Saint-Germain covered a long period of years and a great range of countries. From Persia to France and from Calcutta to Rome he was known and respected. Horace Walpole spoke with him in London in 1745; Clive knew him in India in 1756; Madame d'Adhémar alleges that she met him in Paris in 1789, five years after his supposed death; while other persons pretend to have held conversations with him in the early nineteenth century. He was on familiar and intimate terms with the crowned heads of Europe and the honoured friend of many distinguished persons of all nationalities. He is even mentioned in the memoirs and letters of the day, and always as a man of mystery. Frederick the Great, Voltaire, Madame de Pompadour, Rousseau, Chatham, and Walpole, all of whom knew him personally, rivalled each other in curiosity as to his origin. During the many decades in which he was before the world, however, no one succeeded in discovering why he appeared as a Jacobite agent in London, as a conspirator in Petersburg, as an alchemist and connoisseur of pictures in Paris, or as a Russian general at Naples. ** * Now and again the curtain which shrouds his actions is drawn aside, and we are permitted to see him fiddling in the music room at Versailles, gossiping with Horace Walpole in London, sitting in Frederick the Great's library at Berlin, or conducting illuminist meetings in caverns by the Rhine." (See *The Nineteenth Century*, January, 1908.)

*THE ''DIVINE'' CAGLIOSTRO.*

*From Houdon's Bust of Cagliostro.*

*The Comte di Cagliostro is described as a man not overly tall, but square shouldered and deep of chest. His head, which was large, was abundantly covered with black hair combed back from his broad and noble forehead. His eyes were black and very brilliant, and when he spoke with great feeling upon some profound subject the pupils dilated, his eyebrows rose, and he shook his head like a maned lion. His hands and feet were small--an indication of noble birth--and his whole bearing was one of dignity and studiousness. He was filled with energy, and could accomplish a prodigious amount of work. He dressed somewhat fantastically, gave so freely from an inexhaustible purse that he received the title of "Father of the Poor," accepted nothing from anyone, and maintained himself in magnificence in a combined temple and palace in the Rue d, la Sourdière. According to his own statement he was initiated into the Mysteries by none other than the Comte de St.-Germain. He had traveled through all parts of the world, and in the ruins of ancient Babylon and Nineveh had discovered wise men who understood all the secrets of human life.*

The Comte de St.-Germain has been generally regarded as an important figure in early activities of the Freemasons. Repeated efforts, however, probably with an ulterior motive, have been made to discredit his Masonic affiliations. An example of this is the account appearing in *The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry*, by Arthur Edward Waite. This author, after making several rather disparaging remarks on the subject, amplifies his article by reproducing an engraving of the wrong Comte de St.-Germain, apparently being unable to distinguish between the great illuminist and the French general. It will yet be established beyond all doubt that the Comte de St.-Germain was both a Mason and a Templar; in fact the memoirs of Cagliostro contain a direct statement of his initiation into the order of the Knights Templars at the hands of St.-Germain. Many of the illustrious personages with whom the Comte de St.-Germain associated were high Masons, and sufficient memoranda have been preserved concerning the discussions which they held to prove that he was a master of Freemasonic lore. It is also reasonably certain that he was connected with the Rosicrucians--possibly having been the actual head of that order.

The Comte de St.-Germain was thoroughly conversant with the principles of Oriental esotericism. He practiced the Eastern system of meditation and concentration, upon several occasions having been seen seated with his feet crossed and hands folded in the posture of a Hindu Buddha. He had a retreat in the heart of the Himalayas to which he retired periodically from the world. On one occasion he declared that he would remain in India for eighty-five years and then would return to the scene of his European labors. At various times he admitted that he was obeying the orders of a power higher and greater than himself. What he did not say was that this superior power was the Mystery school which had sent him into the world to accomplish a definite mission. The Comte de St.-Germain and Sir Francis Bacon are the two greatest emissaries sent into the world by the Secret Brotherhood in the last thousand years.

E. Francis Udny, a Theosophical writer, is of the belief that the Comte de St.-Germain was not the son of Prince Rákóczy of Transylvania, but because of his age could have been none other than the prince himself, who was known to be of a deep philosophic and mystic nature. The same writer believes the Comte de St.-Germain passed through the "philosophic death" as Francis Bacon in 1626, as François Rákóczy in 1735, and as Comte de St.-Germain in 1784. He also feels that the Comte de St.-Germain was the famous Comte de Gabalis, and as Count Hompesch was the last Grand Master of the Knights of Malta. It is well known that many members of the European secret societies have feigned death for various purposes. Marshal Ney, a member of the Society of Unknown Philosophers, escaped the firing squad and under the name of Peter Stuart Ney lived and taught school for over thirty years in North Carolina. On his deathbed, P. S. Ney told Doctor Locke, the attending physician, that he was Marshal Ney of France.

In concluding an article on the identity of the inscrutable Comte de St.-Germain, Andrew Lang writes: "Did Saint-Germain really die in the palace of Prince Charles of Hesse about 1780-85? Did he, on the other hand, escape from the French prison where Grosley thought he saw him, during the French Revolution? Was he known to Lord Lytton about 1860? ** * Is he the mysterious Muscovite adviser of the Dalai Lama? Who knows? He is a will-o'-the-wisp of the memoir-writers of the eighteenth century. " (See *Historical Mysteries*.)

**EPISODES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY**

Many times the question has been asked, Was Francis Bacon's vision of the "New Atlantis" a prophetic dream of the great civilization which was so soon to rise upon the soil of the New World? It cannot be doubted that the secret societies of Europe conspired to establish upon the American continent "a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Two incidents in the early history of the United States evidence the influence of that *silent body* which has so long guided the destinies of peoples and religions. By them nations are created as vehicles for the promulgation of ideals, and while nations are true to these ideals they survive; when they vary from them they vanish like the Atlantis of old which had ceased to "know the gods."

In his admirable little treatise, *Our Flag*, Robert Allen Campbell revives the details of an obscure, but most important, episode of American history--the designing of the Colonial flag of 1775. The account involves a mysterious man concerning whom no information is available other than that he was on familiar terms with both General George Washington and Dr. Benjamin Franklin. The following description of him is taken from Campbell's treatise:

"Little seems to have been known concerning this old gentleman; and in the materials from which this account is compiled his name is not even once mentioned, for he is uniformly spoken of or referred to as 'the Professor.' He was evidently far beyond his threescore and ten years; and he often referred to historical events of more than a century previous just as if he had been a living witness of their occurrence; still he was erect, vigorous and active--hale, hearty, and clear-minded--as strong and energetic every way as in the prime of his life He was tall, of fine figure, perfectly easy, and very dignified in his manners; being at once courteous, gracious and commanding. He was, for those times and considering the customs of the Colonists, very peculiar in his method of living; for he ate no flesh, fowl or fish; he never used for food any 'green thing,' any roots or anything unripe; he drank no liquor, wine or ale; but confined his diet to cereals and their products, fruits that were ripened on the stem in the sun, nuts, mild tea and the sweets of honey, sugar or molasses.

"He was well educated, highly cultivated, of extensive as well as varied information, and very studious. He spent considerable of his time in the patient and persistent conning of a number of very rare old books and ancient manuscripts which he seemed to be deciphering, translating or rewriting. These books and manuscripts, together with his own writings, he never showed to anyone; and he did not even mention them in his conversations with the family, except in the most casual way; and he always locked them up carefully in a large, old-fashioned, cubically shaped, iron-bound, heavy, oaken chest, whenever he left his room, even for his meals. He took long and frequent walks alone, sat on the brows of the neighboring hills, or mused in the midst of the green and flower-gemmed meadows. He was fairly liberal--but in no way lavish--in spending his money, with which he was well supplied. He was a quiet, though a very genial and very interesting, member of the family; and be was seemingly at home upon any and every topic coming up in conversation. He was, in short, one whom everyone would notice and respect, whom few would feel well acquainted with, and whom no one would presume to question concerning himself--as to whence he came, why he tarried, or whither he journeyed. "

By something more than a mere coincidence the committee appointed by the Colonial Congress to design a flag accepted an invitation to be guests, while in Cambridge, of the same family with which the Professor was staying. It was here that General Washington joined them for the purpose of deciding upon a fitting emblem. By the signs which passed between them it was evident that both General Washington and Doctor Franklin recognized the Professor, and by unanimous approval he was invited to become an active member of the committee. During the proceedings which followed, the Professor was treated with the most profound respect and all of his suggestions immediately acted upon. He submitted a pattern which he considered symbolically appropriate for the new flag, and this was unhesitatingly accepted by the other six members of the committee, who voted that the arrangement suggested by the Professor be forthwith adopted. After the episode of the flag the Professor quietly vanished, and nothing further is known concerning him.

Did General Washington and Doctor Franklin recognize the Professor as an emissary of the Mystery school which has so long controlled the political destinies of this planet? Benjamin Franklin was a philosopher and a Freemason--possibly a Rosicrucian initiate. He and the Marquis de Lafayette--also a man of mystery--constitute two of the most important links in the chain of circumstance that culminated in the establishment of the original thirteen American Colonies as a free and independent nation. Doctor Franklin's philosophic attainments are well attested in *Poor Richard's Almanac*, published by him for many years under the name of Richard Saunders. His interest in the cause of Freemasonry is also shown by his republication of Anderson's *Constitutions of Freemasonry*, a rare and much disputed work on the subject.

It was during the evening of July 4, 1776, that the second of these mysterious episodes occurred. In the old State House in Philadelphia a group of men were gathered for the momentous task of severing the last tie between the old country and the new. It was a grave moment and not a few of those present feared that their lives would be the forfeit for their audacity. In the midst of the debate a fierce voice rang out. The debaters stopped and turned to look upon the stranger. Who was this man who had suddenly appeared in their midst and transfixed them with his oratory? They had never seen him before, none knew when he had entered, but his tall form and pale face filled them with awe. His voice ringing with a holy zeal, the stranger stirred them to their very souls. His closing words rang through the building: "*God has given America to be free*!" As the stranger sank into a chair exhausted, a wild enthusiasm burst forth. Name after name was placed upon the parchment: the Declaration of Independence was signed. But where was the man who had precipitated the accomplishment of this immortal task--who had lifted for a moment the veil from the eyes of the assemblage and revealed to them a part at least of the great purpose for which the new nation was conceived? He had disappeared, nor was he ever seen again or his identity established. This episode parallels others of a similar kind recorded by ancient historians attendant upon the founding of every new nation. Are they coincidences, or do they demonstrate that the divine wisdom of the ancient Mysteries still is present in the world, serving mankind as it did of old?

## Conclusion

PHILIP, King of Macedon, ambitious to obtain the teacher who would be most capable of imparting the higher branches of learning to his fourteen-year-old son, Alexander, and wishing the prince to have for his mentor the most famous and learned of the great philosophers, decided to communicate with Aristotle. He dispatched the following letter to the Greek sage: "PHILIP TO ARISTOTLE, HEALTH: Know that I have a son. I render the gods many thanks; *not so much for his birth, as that he was born in your time*, for I hope that being educated and instructed by you, he will become worthy of us both and the kingdom which he shall inherit." Accepting Philip's invitation, Aristotle journeyed to Macedon in the fourth year of the 108th Olympiad, and remained for eight years as the tutor of Alexander. The young prince's affection for his instructor became as great as that which he felt for his father. He said that his father had given him *being*, but that Aristotle had given him *well-being*.

The basic principles of the Ancient Wisdom were imparted to Alexander the Great by Aristotle, and at the philosopher's feet the Macedonian youth came to realize the transcendency of Greek learning as it was personified in Plato's immortal disciple. Elevated by his illumined teacher to the threshold of the philosophic sphere, he beheld the world of the sages--the world that fate and the limitations of his own soul decreed he should not conquer.

Aristotle in his leisure hours edited and annotated the *Iliad* of Horner and presented the finished volume to Alexander. This book the young conqueror so highly prized that he carried it with him on all his campaigns. At the time of his triumph over Darius, discovering among the spoils a magnificent, gem-studded casket of unguents, he dumped its contents upon the ground, declaring that at last he had found a case worthy of Aristotle's edition of the *Iliad*!

While on his Asiatic campaign, Alexander learned that Aristotle had published one of his most prized discourses, an occurrence which deeply grieved the young king. So to Aristotle, Conqueror of the Unknown, Alexander, Conqueror of the Known, sent this reproachful and pathetic and admission of the insufficiency of worldly pomp and power: "ALEXANDER TO ARISTOTLE, HEALTH: You were wrong in publishing those branches of science hitherto not to be acquired except from oral instruction. In what shall I excel others if the more profound knowledge I gained from you be communicated to all? *For my part I had rather surpass the majority of mankind in the sublimer branches of learning, than in extent of power and dominion*. Farewell." The receipt of this amazing letter caused no ripple in the placid life of Aristotle, who replied that although the discourse had been communicated to the multitudes, none who had not heard him deliver the lecture (who lacked spiritual comprehension) could understand its true import.

A few short years and Alexander the Great went the way of all flesh, and with his body crumbled the structure of empire erected upon his personality. One year later Aristotle also passed into that greater world concerning whose mysteries he had so often discoursed with his disciples in the Lyceum. But, as Aristotle excelled Alexander in life, so he excelled him in death; for though his body moldered in an obscure tomb, the great philosopher continued to live in his intellectual achievements. Age after age paid him grateful tribute, generation after generation pondered over his theorems until by the sheer transcendency of his rational faculties Aristotle--"the master of those who know," as Dante has called him--became the actual conqueror of the very world which Alexander had sought to subdue with the sword.

Thus it is demonstrated that to capture a man it is not sufficient to enslave his body--it is necessary to enlist his reason; that to free a man it is not enough to strike the shackles from his limbs--his mind must be liberated from bondage to his own ignorance. Physical conquest must ever fail, for, generating hatred and dissension, it spurs the mind to the avenging of an outraged body; but all men are bound whether willingly or unwillingly to obey that intellect in which they recognize qualities and virtues superior to their own.

That the philosophic culture of ancient Greece, Egypt, and India excelled that of the modern, world must be admitted by all, even by the most confirmed of modernists. The golden era of Greek æsthetics, intellectualism, and ethics has never since been equaled. The true philosopher belongs to the most noble order of men: the nation or race which is blessed by possession of illumined thinkers is fortunate indeed, and its name shall be remembered for their sake. In the famous Pythagorean school at Crotona, philosophy was regarded as indispensable to the life of man. He who did not comprehend the dignity of the reasoning power could not properly be said to live. Therefore, when through innate perverseness a member either voluntarily withdrew or was forcibly ejected from the philosophic fraternity, a headstone was set up for him in the community graveyard; for he who had forsaken intellectual and ethical pursuits to reenter the material sphere with its illusions of sense and false ambition was regarded as one dead to the sphere of Reality. The life represented by the thraldom of the senses the Pythagoreans conceived to be spiritual death, while they regarded death to the sense-world as spiritual life.

Philosophy bestows life in that it reveals the dignity and purpose of living. Materiality bestows death in that it benumbs or clouds those faculties of the human soul which should be responsive to the enlivening impulses of creative thought and ennobling virtue. How inferior to these standards of remote days are the laws by which men live in the twentieth century! Today man, a sublime creature with infinite capacity for self-improvement, in an effort to be true to false standards, turns from his birthright of understanding--without realizing the consequences--and plunges into the maelstrom of material illusion. The precious span of his earthly years he devotes to the pathetically futile effort to establish himself as an enduring power in a realm of unenduring things. Gradually the memory of his life as a spiritual being vanishes from his objective mind and he focuses all his partly awakened faculties upon the seething beehive of industry which he has come to consider the sole actuality. From the lofty heights of his Selfhood he slowly sinks into the gloomy depths of ephemerality. He falls to the level of the beast, and in brutish fashion mumbles the problems arising from his all too insufficient knowledge of the Divine Plan. Here in the lurid turmoil of a great industrial, political, commercial inferno, men writhe in self-inflicted agony and, reaching out into the swirling mists, strive to clutch and hold the grotesque phantoms of success and power.

Ignorant of the cause of life, ignorant of the purpose of life, ignorant of what lies beyond the mystery of death, yet possessing within himself the answer to it all, man is willing to sacrifice the beautiful, the true, and the good within and without upon the blood-stained altar of worldly ambition. The world of philosophy--that beautiful garden of thought wherein the sages dwell in the bond of fraternity--fades from view. In its place rises an empire of stone, steel, smoke, and hate-a world in which millions of creatures potentially human scurry to and fro in the desperate effort to exist and at the same time maintain the vast institution which they have erected and which, like some mighty, juggernaut, is rumbling inevitably towards an unknown end. In this physical empire, which man erects in the vain belief that he can outshine the kingdom of the celestials, everything is changed to stone, Fascinated by the glitter of gain, man gazes at the Medusa-like face of greed and stands petrified.

*JOHN AND THE VISION OF THE APOCALYPSE.*

*From an engraving by Jean Duvet.*

*Jean Duvet of Langres (who was born in 1485 and presumably died sometime after 1561, the year in which his illustrations to the Apocalypse were printed in book form) was the oldest and greatest of French Renaissance engravers. Little is known concerning Duvet beyond the fact that he was the goldsmith to the King of France. His engravings for the Book of Revelation, executed after he had passed his seventieth year, were his masterpiece. (For further information regarding this obscure master, consult article by William M. Ivins, Jr., in The Arts, May, 1926.) The face of John is an actual portrait of Duvet. This plate, like many others cut by Duvet, is rich in philosophical symbolism.*

In this commercial age science is concerned solely with the classification of physical knowledge and investigation of the temporal and illusionary parts of Nature. Its so-called practical discoveries bind man but more tightly with the bonds of physical limitation, Religion, too, has become materialistic: the beauty and dignity of faith is measured by huge piles of masonry, by tracts of real estate, or by the balance sheet. Philosophy which connects heaven and earth like a mighty ladder, up the rungs of which the illumined of all ages have climbed into the living presence of Reality--even philosophy has become a prosaic and heterogeneous mass of conflicting notions. Its beauty, its dignity, its transcendency are no more. Like other branches of human thought, it has been made materialistic--"practical"--and its activities so directionalized that they may also contribute their part to the erection of this modern world of stone and steel.

In the ranks of the so-called learned there is rising up a new order of thinkers, which may best be termed the *School of the Worldly Wise Men*. After arriving at the astounding conclusion that they are the intellectual salt of the earth, these gentlemen of letters have appointed themselves the final judges of all knowledge, both human and divine. This group affirms that all mystics must have been epileptic and most of the saints neurotic! It declares God to be a fabrication of primitive superstition; the universe to be intended for no particular purpose; immortality to be a figment of the imagination; and an outstanding individuality to be but a fortuitous combination of cells! Pythagoras is asserted to have suffered from a "bean complex"; Socrates was a notorious inebriate; St. Paul was subject to fits; Paracelsus was an infamous quack, the Comte di Cagliostro a mountebank, and the Comte de St.-Germain the outstanding crook of history!

What do the lofty concepts of the world's illumined saviors and sages have in common with these stunted, distorted products of the "realism" of this century? All over the world men and women ground down by the soulless cultural systems of today are crying out for the return of the banished age of beauty and enlightenment--for something *practical* in the highest sense of the word. A few are beginning to realize that so-called civilization in its present form is at the vanishing point; that coldness, heartlessness, commercialism, and material efficiency are *im*practical, and only that which offers opportunity for the expression of love and ideality is truly worth while. All the world is seeking happiness, but knows not in what direction to search. Men must learn that happiness crowns the soul's quest for understanding. Only through the realization of infinite goodness and infinite accomplishment can the peace of the inner Self be assured. In spite of man's geocentricism, there is something in the human mind that is reaching out to philosophy--not to this or that philosophic code, but simply to philosophy in the broadest and fullest sense.

The great philosophic institutions of the past must rise again, for these alone can tend the veil which divides the world of causes from that of effects. Only the Mysteries--those sacred Colleges of Wisdom--can reveal to struggling humanity that greater and more glorious universe which is the true home of the spiritual being called man. Modern philosophy has failed in that it has come to regard thinking as simply an *intellectual* process. Materialistic thought is as hopeless a code of life as commercialism itself. *The power to think true* is the savior of humanity. The mythological and historical Redeemers of every age were all personifications of that power. He who has a little more rationality than his neighbor is a little better than his neighbor. He who functions on a higher plane of rationality than the rest of the world is termed the greatest thinker. He who functions on a lower plane is regarded as a barbarian. Thus comparative rational development is the true gauge of the individual's evolutionary status.

Briefly stated, the true purpose of ancient philosophy was to discover a method whereby development of the rational nature could be accelerated instead of awaiting the slower processes of Nature, This supreme source of power, this attainment of knowledge, this unfolding of the god within, is concealed under the epigrammatic statement of the *philosophic life*. This was the key to the Great Work, the mystery of the Philosopher's Stone, for it meant that alchemical transmutation had been accomplished. Thus ancient philosophy was primarily the living of a life; secondarily, an intellectual method. He alone can become a philosopher in the highest sense who *lives the philosophic life*. What man lives he comes to *know*. Consequently, a great philosopher is one whose threefold life--physical, mental, and spiritual--is wholly devoted to and completely permeated by his rationality.

Man's physical, emotional, and mental natures provide environments of reciprocal benefit or detriment to each other. Since the physical nature is the immediate environment of the mental, only that mind is capable of rational thinking which is enthroned in a harmonious and highly refined material constitution. Hence *right action*, *right feeling*, and *right thinking* are prerequisites of *right knowing*, and the attainment of philosophic power is possible only to such as have harmonized their thinking with their living. The wise have therefore declared that none can attain to the highest in the science of knowing until first he has attained to the highest in the science of living. *Philosophic power is the natural outgrowth of the philosophic life*. Just as an intense physical existence emphasizes the importance of physical things, or just as the monastic metaphysical asceticism establishes the desirability of the ecstatic state, so complete philosophic absorption ushers the consciousness of the thinker into the most elevated and noble of all spheres--the pure philosophic, or rational, world.

In a civilization primarily concerned with the accomplishment of the extremes of temporal activity, the philosopher represents an equilibrating intellect capable of estimating and guiding the cultural growth. The establishment of the *philosophic rhythm* in the nature of an individual ordinarily requires from fifteen to twenty years. During that entire period the disciples of old were constantly subjected to the most severe discipline. Every activity of life was gradually disengaged from other interests and focalized upon the reasoning part. In the ancient world there was another and most vital factor which entered into the production of rational intellects and which is entirely beyond the comprehension of modern thinkers: namely, *initiation* into the philosophic Mysteries. A man who had demonstrated his peculiar mental and spiritual fitness was accepted into the *body of the learned* and to him was revealed that priceless heritage of arcane lore preserved from generation to generation. This heritage of philosophic truth is the matchless treasure of all ages, and each disciple admitted into these *brotherhoods of the wise* made, in turn, his individual contribution to this store of classified knowledge.

The one hope of the world is philosophy, for all the sorrows of modern life result from the lack of a proper philosophic code. Those who sense even in part the dignity of life cannot but realize the shallowness apparent in the activities of this age. Well has it been said that no individual can succeed until he has developed his philosophy of life. Neither can a race or nation attain true greatness until it has formulated an adequate philosophy and has dedicated its existence to a policy consistent with that philosophy. During the World War, when so-called civilization hurled one half of itself against the other in a frenzy of hate, men ruthlessly destroyed something more precious even than human life: they obliterated those records of human thought by which life can be intelligently directionalized. Truly did Mohammed declare the ink of philosophers to be more precious than the blood of martyrs. Priceless documents, invaluable records of achievement, knowledge founded on ages of patient observation and experimentation by the elect of the earth--all were destroyed with scarcely a qualm of regret. What was knowledge, what was truth, beauty, love, idealism, philosophy, or religion when compared to man's desire to control an infinitesimal spot in the fields of Cosmos for an inestimably minute fragment of time? Merely to satisfy some whim or urge of ambition man would uproot the universe, though well he knows that in a few short years he must depart, leaving all that he has seized to posterity as an old cause for fresh contention.

*THE ENTRANCE TO THE HOUSE OF THE MYSTERIES.*

*From Khunrath's Amphitheatrum Sapientiæ, etc.*

*This symbolic figure, representing the way to everlasting life, is described by Khunrath in substance as follows: "This is the Portal of the amphitheatre of the only true and eternal Wisdom--a narrow one, indeed, but sufficiently august, and consecrated to Jehovah. To this portal ascent is made by a mystic, indisputably prologetic, flight of steps, set before it as shown in the picture. It consists of seven theosophic, or, rather, philosophic steps of the Doctrine of the Faithful Sons. After ascending the steps, the path is along the way of God the Father, either directly by inspiration or by various mediate means. According to the seven oracular laws shining at the portal, those who are inspired divinely have the power to enter and with the eyes of the body and of the mind, of seeing, contemplating and investigating in a Christiano-Kabalistic, divino-magical, physico-chemical manner, the nature of the Wisdom: Goodness, and Power of the Creator; to the end that they die not sophistically but live theosophically, and that the orthodox philosophers so created may with sincere philosophy expound the works of the Lord, and worthily praise God who has thus blessed these friend, of God." The above figure and description constitute one of the most remarkable expositions ever made of the appearance of the Wise Man's House and the way by which it must be entered.*

War--the irrefutable evidence of irrationality--still smolders in the hearts of men; it cannot die until human selfishness is overcome. Armed with multifarious inventions and destructive agencies, civilization will continue its fratricidal strife through future ages, But upon the mind of man there is dawning a great fear--the fear that eventually civilization will destroy itself in one great cataclysmic struggle. Then must be reenacted the eternal drama of reconstruction. Out of the ruins of the civilization which died when its idealism died, some primitive people yet in the womb of destiny must build a new world. Foreseeing the needs of that day, the philosophers of the ages have desired that into the structure of this new world shall be incorporated the truest and finest of all that has gone before. It is a divine law that the sum of previous accomplishment shall be the foundation of each new order of things. The great philosophic treasures of humanity must be preserved. That which is superficial may he allowed to perish; that which is fundamental and essential must remain, regardless of cost.

Two fundamental forms of ignorance were recognized by the Platonists: *simple* ignorance and *complex* ignorance. Simple ignorance is merely lack of knowledge and is common to all creatures existing posterior to the First Cause, which alone has perfection of knowledge. Simple ignorance is an ever-active agent, urging the soul onward to the acquisition of knowledge. From this virginal state of unawareness grows the desire to become aware with its resultant improvement in the mental condition. The human intellect is ever surrounded by forms of existence beyond the estimation of its partly developed faculties. In this realm of objects not understood is a never-failing source of mental stimuli. Thus wisdom eventually results from the effort to cope rationally with the problem of the unknown.

In the last analysis, the Ultimate Cause alone can be denominated wise; in simpler words, only God is good. Socrates declared knowledge, virtue, and utility to be one with the innate nature of good. Knowledge is a condition of *knowing*; virtue a condition of *being*; utility a condition of *doing*. Considering wisdom as synonymous with mental completeness, it is evident that such a state can exist only in the Whole, for that which is less than the Whole cannot possess the fullness of the All. No part of creation is complete; hence each part is imperfect to the extent that it falls short of entirety. Where incompleteness is, it also follows that ignorance must be coexistent; for every part, while capable of knowing its own Self, cannot become aware of the Self in the other parts. Philosophically considered, growth from the standpoint of human evolution is a process proceeding from heterogeneity to homogeneity. In time, therefore, the isolated consciousness of the individual fragments is reunited to become the complete consciousness of the Whole. Then, and then only, is the condition of *all-knowing* an absolute reality.

Thus all creatures are relatively ignorant yet relatively wise; comparatively nothing yet comparatively all. The microscope reveals to man his significance; the telescope, his insignificance. Through the eternities of existence man is gradually increasing in both wisdom and understanding; his ever-expanding consciousness is including more of the external within the area of itself. Even in man's present state of imperfection it is dawning upon his realization that he can never be truly happy until he is perfect, and that of all the faculties contributing to his self-perfection none is equal in importance to the rational intellect. Through the labyrinth of diversity only the illumined mind can, and must, lead the soul into the perfect light of unity.

In addition to the simple ignorance which is the most potent factor in mental growth there exists another, which is of a far more dangerous and subtle type. This second form, called *twofold* or *complex* ignorance, may be briefly defined as *ignorance of ignorance*. Worshiping the sun, moon, and stars, and offering sacrifices to the winds, the primitive savage sought with crude fetishes to propitiate his unknown gods. He dwelt in a world filled with wonders which he did not understand. Now great cities stand where once roamed the Crookboned men. Humanity no longer regards itself as primitive or aboriginal. The spirit of wonder and awe has been succeeded by one of sophistication. Today man worships his own accomplishments, and either relegates the immensities of time and space to the background of his consciousness or disregards them entirely.

The twentieth century makes a fetish of civilization and is overwhelmed by its own fabrications; its gods are of its own fashioning. Humanity has forgotten how infinitesimal, how impermanent and how ignorant it actually is. Ptolemy has been ridiculed for conceiving the earth to be the center of the universe, yet modern civilization is seemingly founded upon the hypothesis that the planet earth is the most permanent and important of all the heavenly spheres, and that the gods from their starry thrones are fascinated by the monumental and epochal events taking place upon this spherical ant-hill in Chaos.

From age to age men ceaselessly toil to build cities that they may rule over them with pomp and power--as though a fillet of gold or ten million vassals could elevate man above the dignity of his own thoughts and make the glitter of his scepter visible to the distant stars. As this tiny planet rolls along its orbit in space, it carries with it some two billion human beings who live and die oblivious to that immeasurable existence lying beyond the lump on which they dwell. Measured by the infinities of time and space, what are the captains of industry or the lords of finance? If one of these plutocrats should rise until he ruled the earth itself, what would he be but a petty despot seated on a grain of Cosmic dust?

Philosophy reveals to man his kinship with the All. It shows him that he is a brother to the suns which dot the firmament; it lifts him from a taxpayer on a whirling atom to a citizen of Cosmos. It teaches him that while physically bound to earth (of which his blood and bones are part), there is nevertheless within him a spiritual power, a diviner Self, through which he is one with the symphony of the Whole. Ignorance of ignorance, then, is that self-satisfied state of unawareness in which man, knowing nothing outside the limited area of his physical senses, bumptiously declares there is nothing more to know! He who knows no life save the physical is merely ignorant; but he who declares physical life to be all-important and elevates it to the position of supreme reality--such a one is ignorant of his own ignorance.

If the Infinite had not desired man to become wise, He would not have bestowed upon him the faculty of knowing. If He had not intended man to become virtuous, He would not have sown within the human heart the seeds of virtue. If He had predestined man to be limited to his narrow physical life, He would not have equipped him with perceptions and sensibilities capable of grasping, in part at least, the immensity of the outer universe. The criers of philosophy call all men to a comradeship of the spirit: to a fraternity of thought: to a convocation of Selves. Philosophy invites man out of the vainness of selfishness; out of the sorrow of ignorance and the despair of worldliness; out of the travesty of ambition and the cruel clutches of greed; out of the red hell of hate and the cold tomb of dead idealism.

Philosophy would lead all men into the broad, calm vistas of truth, for the world of philosophy is a land of peace where those finer qualities pent up within each human soul are given opportunity for expression. Here men are taught the wonders of the blades of grass; each stick and stone is endowed with speech and tells the secret of its being. All life, bathed in the radiance of understanding, becomes a wonderful and beautiful reality. From the four corners of creation swells a mighty anthem of rejoicing, for here in the light of philosophy is revealed the purpose of existence; the wisdom and goodness permeating the Whole become evident to even man's imperfect intellect. Here the yearning heart of humanity finds that companionship which draws forth from the innermost recesses of the soul that great store of good which lies there like precious metal in some deep hidden vein.

Following the path pointed out by the wise, the seeker after truth ultimately attains to the summit of wisdom's mount, and gazing down, beholds the panorama of life spread out before him. The cities of the plains are but tiny specks and the horizon on every hand is obscured by the gray haze of the Unknown. Then the soul realizes that wisdom lies in breadth of vision; that it increases in comparison to the vista. Then as man's thoughts lift him heavenward, streets are lost in cities, cities in nations, nations in continents, continents in the earth, the earth in space, and space in an infinite eternity, until at last but two things remain: the Self and the goodness of God.

While man's physical body resides with him and mingles with the heedless throng, it is difficult to conceive of man as actually inhabiting a world of his own-a world which he has discovered by lifting himself into communion with the profundities of his own internal nature. Man may live two lives. One is a struggle from the womb to the tomb. Its span is measured by man's own creation--time. Well may it be called the unheeding life. The other life is from realization to infinity. It begins with understanding, its duration is forever, and upon the plane of eternity it is consummated. This is called the philosophic life. Philosophers are nor born nor do they die; for once having achieved the realization of immortality, they are immortal. Having once communed with Self, they realize that within there is an immortal foundation that will not pass away. Upon this living, vibrant base--Self--they erect a civilization which will endure after the sun, the moon, and the stars have ceased to be. The fool lives but for today; the philosopher lives forever.

When once the rational consciousness of man rolls away the stone and comes forth from its sepulcher, it dies no more; for to this second or philosophic birth there is no dissolution. By this should not be inferred physical immortality, but rather that the philosopher has learned that his physical body is no more his true Self than the physical earth is his true world. In the realization that he and his body are dissimilar--that though the form must perish the life will not fail--he achieves conscious immortality. This was the immortality to which Socrates referred when he said: "Anytus and Melitus may indeed put me to death, but they cannot injure me." To the wise, physical existence is but the outer room of the hall of life. Swinging open the doors of this antechamber, the illumined pass into the greater and more perfect existence. The ignorant dwell in a world bounded by time and space. To those, however, who grasp the import and dignity of Being, these are but phantom shapes, illusions of the senses-arbitrary limits imposed by man's ignorance upon the duration of Deity. The philosopher lives and thrills with the realization of this duration, for to him this infinite period has been designed by the All-Wise Cause as the time of all accomplishment.

Man is not the insignificant creature that he appears to be; his physical body is not the true measure of his real self. The invisible nature of man is as vast as his comprehension and as measureless as his thoughts. The fingers of his mind reach out and grasp the stars; his spirit mingles with the throbbing life of Cosmos itself. He who has attained to the state of understanding thereby has so increased his capacity to know that he gradually incorporates within himself the various elements of the universe. The unknown is merely that which is yet to be included within the consciousness of the seeker. Philosophy assists man to develop the sense of appreciation; for as it reveals the glory and the sufficiency of knowledge, it also unfolds those latent powers and faculties whereby man is enabled to master the secrets of the seven spheres.

From the world of physical pursuits the initiates of old called their disciples into the life of the mind and the spirit. Throughout the ages, the Mysteries have stood at the threshold of Reality--that hypothetical spot between *noumenon* and *phenomenon*, the Substance and the shadow. The gates of the Mysteries stand ever ajar and those who will may pass through into the spacious domicile of spirit. The world of philosophy lies neither to the right nor to the left, neither above nor below. Like a subtle essence permeating all space and all substance, it is everywhere; it penetrates the innermost and the outermost parts of all being. In every man and woman these two spheres are connected by a gate which leads from the not-self and its concerns to the Self and its realizations. In the mystic this gate is the heart, and through spiritualization of his emotions he contacts that more elevated plane which, once felt and known, becomes the sum of the worth-while. In the philosopher, reason is the gate between the outer and the inner worlds, the illumined mind bridging the chasm between the corporeal and the incorporeal. Thus godhood is born within the one who sees, and from the concerns of men he rises to the concerns of gods.

In this era of "practical" things men ridicule even the existence of God. They scoff at goodness while they ponder with befuddled minds the phantasmagoria of materiality. They have forgotten the path which leads beyond the stars. The great mystical institutions of antiquity which invited man to enter into his divine inheritance have crumbled, and institutions of human scheming now stand where once the ancient houses of learning rose a mystery of fluted columns and polished marble. The white-robed sages who gave to the world its ideals of culture and beauty have gathered their robes about them and departed from the sight of men. Nevertheless, this little earth is bathed as of old in the sunlight of its Providential Generator. Wide-eyed babes still face the mysteries of physical existence. Men continue to laugh and cry, to love and hate; Some still dream of a nobler world, a fuller life, a more perfect realization. In both the heart and mind of man the gates which lead from mortality to immortality are still ajar. Virtue, love, and idealism are yet the regenerators of humanity. God continues to love and guide the destinies of His creation. The path still winds upward to accomplishment. The soul of man has not been deprived of its wings; they are merely folded under its garment of flesh. Philosophy is ever that magic power which, sundering the vessel of clay, releases the soul from its bondage to habit and perversion. Still as of old, the soul released can spread its wings and soar to the very source of itself.

The criers of the Mysteries speak again, bidding all men welcome to the House of Light. The great institution of materiality has failed. The false civilization built by man has turned, and like the monster of Frankenstein, is destroying its creator. Religion wanders aimlessly in the maze of theological speculation. Science batters itself impotently against the barriers of the unknown. Only transcendental philosophy knows the path. Only the illumined reason can carry the understanding part of man upward to the light. Only philosophy can teach man to be born well, to live well, to die well, and in perfect measure be born again. Into this band of the elect--those who have chosen the life of knowledge, of virtue, and of utility--the philosophers of the ages invite YOU.



# The Red Book

1. Science is man's shame, because it let him feel all he has lost.

2. Speech is the sword of man.

3. All the tears of a man would not suffice to wash him.

4. My life in this body is my penance.

5. I shall pray Thee while I am healthy, so that Thou will not forget me when I shall be sick.

6. Nothing makes the soul indifferent as material prosperity.

7. If you do good, you will gain all the knowledge.

8. Thy Will be done, not mine.

9. It is true that women may be virgins, and that is the torment of the fivefold point.

10. When has a man prayed enough?

11. 3 is to 4 as 7 is to 8. ::8::10::10:1::1:1, *etc.*

12. It is much simpler to deny His principle, than to follow it: so many ungodly men just do that.

13. All men are prophets without knowing it.

14. All the human gatherings are useless, because they don't have a president.

15. Trying to catch material things is like chewing nothing.

16. It is because of the two V that we have 5 fingers on each hand.

17. The hope for death is the comfort of my days.

18. Never say: the other life, because there is only one life.

19. Do not complain, o man, that the ways of Wisdom are slow, this is your sentence, and you cannot accomplish anything but with the time.

22. There are only 4 operations in mathematics, from which only three figures may be derived.

23. What are men stupid when they believe to be alive!

24. Among the created things, nothing is born but by its opposite, this is the evidence of the unreal, where every thing is a copy.

25. He doesn't want to be known, so we should let Him alone; this is the safest way, and what pleases Him the most.

26. Begin the study of your lesson by the Moon.

27. If reproduction was only a process, all forms in each species would be the same.

29. The minor tone doesn't exist in nature: it is the result of five, a human invention.

30. Purification is accomplished by getting closer to our being. Those who feel nothing cannot make reparation for any thing; they can only further stain themselves.

33. We are all widowers, our task is to get married again.

34. The sevenfold is a state of tension, rest is achieved only in the number 8.

37. The father has three children, and that demonstrates the superiority of one above three.

38. There is nothing worse than a bad prayer.

39. Death is action, who can it give the idea of nothingness?

40. What is, is further from us than what is not.

43. A man should watch the desires of his soul, because they are powerful and their strength may allow him to acquire.

44. Men use the real to worship the unreal, but the unreal was given to them to worship the real.

44. Men use the real to worship the unreal, but the unreal was given to them to worship truth.

45. One must be virtuous to love, and must love to pray.

46. We should not search for him, we should wait for him in peace, in obedience, and with confidence.

47. He that always follows the games of his spirit, claims in vain to be happy.

49. The intellect is the telescope of the spirit.

51. The Scriptures will never be justified by the letter.

52. The square is only the emblem of the children of the father, it derives all its properties only from them.

53. Try, in all the circumstances of your life, to be greater than what you are doing.

54. In natural geometry, the whole is smaller than the sum of its parts: 4 and 9 are smaller than 4.

55. Men make of their eyes the limit of their spirit, when they should only give him guidance and a sign.

56. It is a blessing for men that God couldn't create a world eternal as He is.

57. A man shouldn't take another man for his best friend.

58. There is no joy equal to the joy of Wisdom.

61. Live only the life of your spiritual soul.

63. The sins that man can forgive are dull sermons, at the best.

64. As man cannot know death, death cannot know life.

65. As life cannot know death, 59, death cannot know life, 60.

66. He is doubtful of his little faith, and of his power!

67. Once a man has tasted the sweetness that is reserved for him, he'll never want anything else.

69. Obtain, if you want, the intelligence of the universal hieroglyph, it was created only to be understood.

70. When a man has faith in Wisdom, she takes such good care of him, that she turns his vices to his benefit; there is the shame and the punishment of the 5.

72. There are no straight lines in nature, because nature is a prison, and that this same nature makes only circular prisons.

73. The world consists of three double reasons, which make six in the average, and eight in the fact and the action.

74. The first reason for any thing is double, this means that two is the cause of all generation.

75. Adam must have had a navel, because his umbilical cord went from the surface to the center.

76. There are only four consonants and two dissonances in harmony. O truth, how beautiful you are!

78. Every thing depends of preparation.

79. The eightfold cannot yet be reintegrated, because 9 separates it from the tenfold.

81. Man is but one ticket in God's raffle.

82. Fire is below, and wants to be above; it keeps the entire nature in suffering, and its subjected creatures as well.

83. It is impossible for pride to win over godliness.

84. Who would believe that man is but a container to mathematics?

85. Man, you will cry as long as you are a virgin.

86. Godliness is the salt of science.

89. Should anything or anyone stop a man from doing his work?

91. Man has no other mystery than his own being, because a mystery is not a thing inscrutable, but only veiled.

92. When the universe will have given birth to all that lays in itself, there will still be, as in the birth of particular bodies, an afterbirth that is the half time of Daniel.

93. Man, beware of the prayer of the indolent, who wants to have everything without work.

95. God is good: He is doing good through us, then rewards us for it.

96. Adam, before his crime, could electrify by communication, now he can only do it by friction. But, 101. The original sin propagates itself without rest, and in all kinds of shape until the 104. Every disharmony comes from the number two, harmony proves it with reason.

105. Even worms are not eating what is alive.

106. What could we say before we had our first communion?

107. If you do good, you will have all the knowledge.

108. God is not 3 in 1, He is 1 in 3.

112. The head of man has eaten his tail. That is why the human species doesn't have a tail, and vice versa if the animals have tails, it is because they don't have a head.

112. The head of man has eaten his tail .

114. Man should be in the hand of God as a child kept on a leash; he doesn't go where he wants, he is led everywhere.

115. True science is power, confidence, and humility.

116. Man suffers as long as he didn't catch the bridle of his horse.

119. They absolutely refuse to distinguish the plain nature from the reasonable nature.

120. The course of a straight line is 3, the one of a curve is 4; how can they ever be reconciled?

121. Only those who possess the square are true scientists, and according to God, nobody knows it perfectly..

123. How can we make 2 without 3?

124. The fourfold travels always straight.

125. Man's first law is to refrain from calling the name of God in vain, because he is exposed to his name every moment of his life.

129. The only work of man is his circumcision.

130. When will I know my baptismal name?

132. The purpose of every instant of our material life is to have us acquire more strength and virtue.

133. The death of the body is the man's second birth.

134. There are people who spend their lives without eating!

135. Some men are frighten to believe in the 7's. In what are they believing then? in threes ...

138. The upper part is dry, the lower part is wet. Women like vinegar, men like wine.

141. Never pray for your own desires or own will, unless you are absolutely certain of the good that may come from it.

142. The number 13 is the number of nature. How large is the progression of ignorance!

144. Never forget that word and action exist, and that nothing can be accomplished without the eightfold.

146. It is a great science to know not to hurry.

147. How great is a humble and simple man!

149. The perpetual betrayal of man is his unceasing search of the quadrature of the circle, and his attempt to reunite the darkness, 9, with the light, 4.

150. If I let one single globule of air from a balloon, the entire balloon will empty itself in an instant. This is why, as long as the universe will remain, nobody will ascend in the divine atmosphere, otherwise every thing would be reintegrated.

151. Man should not be surprised by any thing coming from the Wisdom, that would be the way to become extremely powerful while always remaining humble.

152. To know the origin of the bodies, one should have seen a delivery. I have seen it.

155. When you will have spent 15 years on your belly, you will have earned the permission to speak.

157. As was the principle of conception, it is also the number of its fruit, of its duration and of its generating virtue as well. So women lose about the same number in the same time.

159. If you want to begin something, first bleed to death.

162. I have explained why the human species doesn't have a tail (112), it also demonstrates why animals do have one; it is because they don't have a head.

165. Without 3 there wouldn't be any balance.

167. Before doing anything a hook must be securely fasten.

168. How many great men have a body below them!

169. I cannot conceive anything that is not a continual repetition of the standards, in the spiritual, the elementary, the material.

170. Man always forgets that he lives in a city at war.

171. Cleanse your body, then pray; the rest will come by itself: that is the secret.

172. When the number of matter is added to the number of its principle, the value of the result is half of the true number; this is the reason for the universal disintegration. The same number presides to the principle of matter and increases its destruction.

173. We must pray God for the ills He is sending us. For those we do to ourselves, we must also heal them ourselves.

174. In {the tribunals of} civil justice, one is requested to raise the hand to give the oath. O! if the judge knew the reason for it!! XX

175. The value of the word cohen is 34, because it is the incorporation of the minor with the elementary.

176. In an instant, man has forgotten his lesson; he will need the entire duration of time to learn it.

178. When my watch is broken, I have it repaired by the watchmaker who built it...

183. The cohens triple the value of all the Hebrew letters because of the three worlds; and the alphabet is inverted because Moses veiled science.

185. 8 times 8 is 64. What greater proof of the universality of action and double action?

187. Beware of the day following a day of joy.

188. Science is only the scaffold, godliness is the building.

189. There are but four intervals, the three first steps; that is what composes the stairs: 1, 3, 5, 7, 10. The last one is 4.

190. The soul is the trustee of movement. How could it die?

191. The human body is a mixture of all the things created, as it is itself a creature. The body is composed of solids, fluids, signs, weights, measures, proportions; acute, obtuse, and right angles; triangles, simples, doubles, triples; circles, perfect and long squares; sounds, words, actions, thoughts, intentions and circumferences; until the number: 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 = 64.

193. I cannot repeat enough that the fourfold is the medium, the bound, the universal ladder; it is the center of the figures; it stands between the circle and the triangle; it keeps the middle of the three kinds of angles. Etc...

194. Is there anything else but the 7's and the 7?

201. There is more water than earth, there is more fire than water, there is more word than fire.

202. Refrain from speaking, when you will not feel the importance of a thought and when you may speak in vain.

205. There is not one single instant, when man cannot say Mass, which means to call.

206. The sun is to the corporal nature what Christ is to the spiritual nature.

207. Sulphur is below, salt above, mercury is the mediator; it lays in the space of the center, and therefore is the universal bound of the mixtures.

208. Abraham's posterity remained in slavery in Egypt for 430 years; this number represents the suffering of the soul and the body during our wants and its reunion gives the suffering of the spirit.

209. The number 9 following one or more numbers doesn't change their value, because all possible changes of the form will never alter their principle.

211. Only the prayer of the just man can do anything, so begin to justify yourself.

212. Women were not created to have children; they are the only ones to have a monthly cycle, and to who the approach of the male is not an absolute necessity.

213. The most learned man is the one who prays the most.

214. When you allow the fivefold to penetrate the fourfold, it leaves the threefold in peace, but if you want to remove it from the fourfold, it is the threefold that leaves.

217. Science is the reward of godliness.

219. The universe is composed only of centers, and the center is matter. When are then the bodies?

220. Man is born with three gifts: the conservation of the body, of the spiritual, and the gift of invocation. These gifts, properly cultivated provide the fourth one: the gift of command. This is the unity of the fourfold.

221. In whatever country man lives on earth, he has to cross the Jordan river, to travel to Jericho. 2..............

221. In whatever country man lives on earth, he has to cross the Jordan river, before traveling to Jericho. 2..............

222. Man is the matras of God. What can he do if he separate himself from Him?

223. Do not rest before having fixed mercury.

224. What a beautiful sacrifice is a stainless host. 4

225. In assembly as in separation, salt is always around and above mercury. In assembly, it preserves it. In separation, it is an obstacle and prevents it from coming back into forms; then it is also the preserver of sulphur to prevent it from being reconquer, but in the assembly it was the obstacle of the obstacle.

227. If you want to know something, learn about the triangle, but not as men do, they make it the death of science.

229. Always think of your life.

231. The rust of iron is not toxic, as the one of copper, because of its salt.

232. How could we not believe in visions? Universal creation is but just that. The entire difference is that it is longer and more restrained than the others.

233. The spirit wants so much good for us that it overlooks the evil we are doing.

234. Fire is the beginning and the end of the element. Water is the beginning and the end of embodiment. Earth is the beginning and the end of form.

237. Bid, and blush to be here.

239. Clean the streets of the city, the day before the great feasts.

## 240

241. Take mercury before touching the extract of Saturn, because Mercury makes the preparation.

242. I love but one single man in the world, and I am also loved by him.

242. I don't love one single man in the world, but I am also loved by him.

244. When the great priest enters the temple, he cleans and rejoices. The use of tapestry, in the passage of processions, make one and the other emblems.

245. All the occupations of men are intended to avoid praying to God.

246. The natural language of men is not very well known, we all speek foreign languages.

247. Man, why do you suffer, when you have the power to pray to your God?

249. The spirit taken away from us, the heart is all what is left, and this is the sacrifice we have to make if we want to recover the light.

252. The natural circle is formed in all directions, and it produces every thing by itself; the artificial circle, on the contrary, begins by the end, which is the triangle.

255. Matter is not the one to be cleansed, because it is dirty compared with the spirit that must pierced it; but it is the prisoner that needs to be kept clean, then matter is no longer an obstacle.

257. The purpose of the panacea and the human geometry is to find a spirit that is matter, so that it becomes possible to avoid using what is not; this is also the purpose of men in the justice they have made, to avoid using the one they have not made. But let us see what they find, and if there is something else after 1!

258. The triangle is produced by three other triangles with their centers, their product make 3; and, when adding fire, it makes 7, and that shows life is everywhere.

259. After death, if you have been wise, you will see much better than now what happens in the two worlds; if you were not, you only will feel it, but see nothing.

261. Evil came to existence by the reunion of 4 and 5; and evil is destroyed by the same reunion.

263. Men can only make 3. Nature makes 10, 9, 7, 6, 4, 3 and 1 all together, that is to say that nature makes one more that the power of man can make today.

264. Always remember that you have a body that belongs to earth.

265. 3 is the coach, 4 is the driver, 10 is the way.

266. It is the center of the principles of the mixed that keep them active and therefore in suffering. This center is to be feared and there is another that must be desired: it is the one of 53290.

267. There are three sacraments that involve only the form and do not require any preparation because they are freely given. The four other ones require some; and therefore may only be bestowed when there is intelligence.

268. One thing is to have understanding of the operation; another understanding of the reason for the operation. The beings incarnated in a body have the understanding of the first; the other is given only to the 10, the 9, and the 4.

269. If we were alone, but there he is, who is the the reason for not making one when we go towards him.

271. Whatever place a man goes, how isolated he may be, these three are always together.

272. If a man would begin by learning the principles of things, he would see how the knowledge of the rest would be simple and familiar.

274. Is there anything more beautiful, more useful, and more respectable than a wheel? 10009.

275. Man has life within, and he is frightened of something! That means that he cannot manage to persuade himself of it.

276. 10 is the first son of the father, and the father of the son men consider as the first; finally 10 is a child in every thing, and 4 contains every thing because he always gives priority to 10, who is the head.

278. We should kill time, 5, but it is time that kills us.

279. It is because man does too many things he wants to do, that he cannot do the things his guide wants him to do; because this guide is absolutely good, the will of man shouldn't be or otherwise be one with his, and that is the obstacle or the supreme accomplishment of Wisdom.

280. If you do not seek for science, it will come to you; but only if you are not seeking for anything else.

281. I feel every day that the spiritual active kills the animal passive, and man is on earth for none other reason.

283. Sensible lies are no lies at all; the only lies are those made against the insensible. So, as far as we don't lie against him, let us be at peace, the harm will be only in the temple, not in the sanctuary.

284. Corruption is the matras of the creatures, especially of the insects. So keep yourself clean, that they may not eat you.

285. 2 makes 5.

286. The best way to ask God to elevate us above our senses is to elevate us by ourselves.

288. Blessed is he that does know only submission to his chief and to prayer.

292. Who better conserves, but who made it?

293. Nothing can be seen if there is no chief, no agent, no subject or instrument, and finally no work; that is the work of all the natures and of every thing made and produced by it.

294. As the soul can live independently of a body, so many bodies live independently of their soul.

295. The terrestrial Orient is given to man to serve as a ladder.

296. 6 is its number, 4 its property, that makes 10, and that is the image. 7 is its nature, 10 its second property, the reason for its resemblance, 17; the double p. We must separate 6 from 4: they are two things.

296. 6 is its number, 4 its property, and that is the image. 7 is its nature, 10 its second property, the reason for its resemblance, 17.

297. Alert, alert, as long as you will reside among the sons of violence, they will persuade you that they are something, when they are nothing.

298. When the voice sounds for a while, it is good; when it is abrupt and sudden, it is bad.

299. Mercury is white because it is in the center; when it is taken away from the center, it turns black. It is ready for action, because it is pure. It is motionless because it resides in indifference.

300. Among the visible beings, no impression of the action of the true beings must remain; this is why they cannot understand the light.

301. The element is produced by the reunion of the essences; and the reunion of the elements produces the bodies; this is why the elements are ninefold, and so are the forms.

302. If you want to remain without pride, think about how much you will have to pay to have it, and that will be enough to keep you humble.

303. The best evidence of one's love for justice, is to apply it to oneself.

304. Never elevate the fourfold above the fourth power; the remainder is abomination. Nothing else can be because of 4, 8, 3 and 7 = 1.

## 306

307. The elementals are as many prisoners, that keep one prisoner of another nature.

308. The evidence that God didn't create nature, but that He had it made, lays in the fact that the spiritual soul of man joins his form only when the corporal principle has built it. And man is the little world.

309. If there is only 1, how can 3 be something, when it is only 2?

310. 4 can only be submitted to three divisions: the 1st, the 2nd, and the 3rd. Therefore, among created things, there cannot be straight line, nor squares.

311. Man was created only to make worlds.

312. 5 times 14 make 70, 5 times 9 make 45. That is the enigma of forms, their end and their boundaries and the property of the fivefold. It is absolutely right that the fivefold be the aliquot part of all these products, because it is its factor.

313. Good didn't create evil, nor did evil create good. Likewise 1 didn't produce 2, nor 2 times 2 cannot be 4.

314. When there is no light at the ends of the container, but only at the center, the power is shown in latitude and longitude, but not the image of the fourth essence: because then it could be considered as the fivefold. This fourth essence consists of 3 for the inferior and 1 for the superior, {but} 4 is as 1, and that makes 7. Man has every thing on himself.

315. Beware of your observations on nature; research with a pure, wise and innocent desire; focus on simplest things without trying to penetrate with an investigating eye and before its time. Man's science is vain for that reason.

316. 3 is taken for Moses, because of Moses, Aaron and Or.

317. 2 is taken for Joshua, because of Joshua and Caleb.

318. 3 is taken for Abraham, because of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

319. 1 is taken on Caleb, because he was alone.

320. On Jacob, only 1 is taken because he didn't have posterity in matter.

321. The 6 travels of man within his 3 prisons: the first is the fivefold, the second the ninefold, {and} the third the sixfold; all this creates confusion. 5 + 9 + 6 = 20.

322. Light of light, fire of fire, life of life.

323. The white color is the divine spiritual, the red is the terrestrial spiritual, and the black is destruction.

324. The planetary action is general and universally intertwined. so the particular distinction of the created beings, especially the metals, come from their particular law, not from a special action of the planet.

325. Any form is a character of a being itself of of its action; and it is its operation and its hieroglyph.

326. The 1st envelope of the bodies is oily, the 2nd salty, the 3rd is mercurial as the principle of form, then the inner sulphur makes the fourfold center or the alpha and omega.

327. There are 3 months for every equinox, that is 6 moons.

329. The true Sabbath begins on the Tuesday following the 14th day of the moon in March, so the Sabbath of the Jews is four days late, the one of the Christians, one day early. The Sabbath of the Jews begins with the first star, which is the spiritual law.

330. Speak little, otherwise your science would be taken as a system, as it is done for all the others.

334. All men's troubles come because they cannot convince themselves that there are many spirits to which thought is refused.

335. Ecce Homo! 2!

338. Do you want to know the principle and the ordinance of every thing? Just watch the line of the fisherman.

339. We describe curves in latitude, towards the South or the North, and never straight lines in longitudes.

342. The evidence of the eightfold lays in the sum of the measures of universal creation, that is to say: Latitude without the centre: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 3 Latitude with the centre: 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7 Longitude with the centre: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 10 Curve in latitude towards North: 1, 2, 3, 3 9 Curve in latitude towards South: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 3 6 The product of all these sums is 8, of which the total product is 7.

343. Drawing of the previous table;

345. One time, two times, and half of one time, that means 4, 4 and 2 - 10, or 4, 4, 4, 2 that makes 5.

350. The four numbers, 3, 6, 7 and 9 have each the unity for proportion; this proves that the primordial unity is fourfold, and that it is universal.

353. Until the age of 7, a man lives in innocenc; older than 7 he may be stained; older than 15 he is capable of crime.

354. Latitude is the base, longitude the perpendicular, this demonstrates the folly of men to search for it at the surface.

357. Do not ask to be relieved from the penalty resulting from your mistakes, that would be unjust and keep you in temptation, but ask the grace of not making other mistakes.

360. To learn mathematics is good, because it teaches measure in your head, and when it is in your head, it will also be in your entire being.

361. If you want to know the others, begin by knowing yourself, because everybody is a mirror.

362. Man is the element of the woman. That is what Moses tried to say. So when the woman within man dies, it is because of his , but man doesn't die because he is, and because she is also, the woman doesn't die either.

364. What a beautiful thing is the making of a tapestry! Mainly when we have a plank for a table and our tongue as a needle.

365. The quadrature is easily found when the circle is admitted; that is to say easily in numbers, but impossible in figure.

366. The woman seeks to destroy the one who builds, by trying to build the one who destroys; she is practically always dead.

367. The universe is but a bandage.

368. When a man is too wise, he is no longer wise, because then he would act, and that would be a great evil.

369. The elementary oracles are the blood of the earth raising above its head.

371. Nothing is easier than to feel that the fivefold action in the minor begins by the blood.

372. The heart of man is a sanctuary wherein nothing false, nothing weak should enter.

373. If a man wants to be happy, it is very easy: let him begin to talk.

374. Don't let me do the evil I want to do; let me do the good I don't want to do.

376. The aquatic part of the world is made of perfect spherical globes, of which we can only see one half .

377. To feel how much one mistake puts us back, is terrible.

378. The true way to redeem one's mistakes is to correct them, and for those which cannot be corrected, not to loose courage.

381. One word kept becomes stronger, because nothing makes a man strong as silence. Da capo!

381. One word kept becomes stronger, because nothing makes a man strong as silence.

382. If you act without intelligence, very soon you will loose intelligence.

383. Those who salute the crosses should always keep their hats in their hands, because every thing is filled with crosses, and nothing exists without them.

383. Those who salute the + should always keep their hats in their hands, because every thing is filled with crosses, and nothing exists but by them.

387. The two equinoxes for the good, the two solstices for evil. The first two relate to vegetation and adoption, the other two relate to putrefaction and dissolution. This is for and against.

388. The animals and other physical corporal beings belong to the small temporal world, man belongs to the universal world by his intelligence.

390. The world is; there is only one.

391. From the Divine to the sun: 7, from the sun to the earth: 7. There are twelve heavens; if we add the earth we will have 4.

392. When you remove the one from the temporal 5, 6, 7, 8 fivefold, to reset it to the simple power, and you add the rest, you have 25, the time of the horrible expiation; and after this expiation, the one will be reunited to the sevenfold to re-establish perfection.

393. From the East come all good things, for internal actions as for the external ones: winds, breeze, etc... Evil things come from the West, for the elementary and the particular animal as well.

## 394

### 2

3

4

5

1 10

6

7

8

44

it operates on the other 6, to make the universal ninefold. Blessed are those who know this and can use it.

395. As 2 makes 3, 5 makes 6.

396. The entire nature has a double use; the sensible may be seen everywhere, and so the intellectual, 8 and 10.

401. 7 : is the woman.

404. I believe that we could make our circle with salt, and that it would work as well.

405. Always look for the country where you may humble yourself, without being exposed to ridicule and criticism.

407. The time of the spirit consists of 4 intervals, the one of matter has only 2.

408. The one who makes is 2, the thing made is 3.

409. God doesn't create, his hand does. So, the operations of the hand of God are not the same as the ones of God himself. 411. There is nobody greater than the one who prays.

413. 2 or 9 operations are needed to make a cube.

415. Earth is as a kettle.

416. The sum of the angles in the center is always equal to the sum of those at the circumference = 9 + 1.

419. A bad thought manifests a good thought.

420. Man, always try to feel that there is something above you.

423. The way from here to there is much longer than from there to here. That is why we cannot see those who see us.

424. Do you want it? Yes? Don't you want it? Keep it that way.

425. The 42 camps of the Jews begin for a man at the death of his body, because 6 times 7 make 42, and that we have to travel through it to reach 49 which is rest or the Sabbath.

426. A Swiss or a frontier post is needed in creation, and it is 49 who is using it.

427. I cannot see a more beautiful thing than nature, except for Him, who made it.

428. In the morning, rejoice; but cry in the evening.

434. Godliness is nourished by action.

436. Give to everything a suitable nourishment. The body fed with spirit is stunned. The spirit doesn't feed the body, it burns it.

438. Surface knows two dimensions, there is only one in elevation.

439. Width is fivefold in the arch, the two other dimensions are threefold.

440. There are only two planets to give light; the others are for the maintenance of the forms, not for their light.

442. The aspersion is made before birth, the 7 physical spiritual classes of the bodily life are but the 7 properties of such aspersion; they follow the progression of form, because form needs to be prepared.

443. It is good to raise the heels once in a while, especially in the perfume.

444. Don't be frighten of him: he is your friend.

454. In the beginning there was only one point; the explosion made it a circle, so the entire nature has been made.

455. The one who cries is worthy of envy.

460. Always beware the horizontal diameter.

461. Do you want to see the serpent of Genesis? Count to 10, remove the first digit; the remainder will be zero or an O.

4612 To know the nature of form and matter, it is enough to observe the circumference, and to see the value of its character.

462. The point existed before the circle, it will be after it.

463. The Earth is the receiver, the abyss is the fire, heaven is the water, and the entire creation may be considered as the mercury, between 5 and 7.

464. All men are seringes.

465. If we had the courage to ask, we wouldn't have to do anything; it would be done for us.

466. Is there any obstacle or any pain for anyone who knows how to purify his motives?

467. When we operate on the physical corporal, we can only have corporal results and notions.

468. The way from here to there is much longer than the one from there to here, this is why we cannot see those who see us.

472. It is not difficult to find out why man is on Earth: it is to beg.

472. It is not very difficult to understand why man is on Earth, it is to ask for alms.

473. The minor dissonances descend, the major ones rise.

474. Sun, jupiter, Mars, Mercury.

475. Pride can only be found far away from the principle.

477. Any man can send his letters free of charge.

478. The true way to ask for things in prayers, is to get there with courage to take them.

480. Men should be satellites of the Earth, but they are its persecutors.

483. The real evidence that we may recover our fourfold down here, is that we are able to see the center or being.

486. Beware, don't be an astronomer, but you may be an astrologer, as long as you don't make horoscopes.

488. Friendships that are not triangular have no consistency, and are without bonding, they only lead to confusion.

489. I am powerless as long as I don't have freedom for my spiritual operations; therefore I will travel in peace and wait with confidence.

490. The individual man is the evidence for the general man; I mean that the minor as the major was forced to struggle against the enemies of truth.

496. You must use your power in times of hardship; and if you have the patience and the courage to endure all its bitterness, you may be sure of being rewarded.

499. Do not be discouraged before being out from below on Earth, because as long as you are there, you may hope to achieve your reconciliation.

507. Do not believe that you may achieve anything before being reconciled.

510. When we are close, we are humble; but we may be far away, and still the closest, because our being has freedom of action on his own, and that for him, there is no space, nor distance. We do not always operate upon him, he always operates on us 515. The attacks begin when the purification occurs; as long as order is maintained, there will be no trouble.

519. Confidence gives life, because it puts off death and protects from it.

522. The green color is composed of blue and yellow, because of vegetation.

526. You are pressing in vain: your will shall accomplish nothing at all.

529. Nothing will be anymore, because these words have been spoken. Eli Lama Sabac Thani.

530. The great work is twofold: the molestation and the reintegration. This leads to glory, and three things are led by the center or through the square.

532. It is clear that the sevenfold is given in the temporal.

539. Some operate with ferocity and rudeness, others with gentleness and prudence.

541. Numbers are to be considered by their division and relationship to unity, because this is the way to learn about their properties.

542. To be purified, to ask, to receive, {and} to act: these are the four phases.

545. O suffering! as long as the fourfold shall be separated from unity, it will be the source of all evils and all confusion.

548. How can we write when the pen is not split? 3.

549. It is good to observe that the leaf of the vine is fivefold.

551. He is pleased only in the peace of the senses of matter; similarly it is in the elementary peace that the superior acts.

552. Once in a while, put you hands on your hips.

554. There is a proportion between the increase of spiritual powers in man, and the strength of the battles he is engaged in; when his powers weaken, the attacks increase, and if he is vanquished, should he complain?

555. Do not cease to plough your field, from the East to the West, from the North to the South, that is the true way to make if fertile.

557. It is easy to recognize him, because he can never hide his physical deformity.

559. Hold on, the true prayer keeps you in joy and good health.

563. All the disharmony comes from the first evil ever generated, and disharmony perpetuates itself by the same vicious generation.

564. If there was equality between an image and its type, the image wouldn't be necessary.

566. Abraham's temple lays between the East and the West, because he has 318 servants he is fourfold or central.

571. I have already said that the ninefold was at least neutral as regards spirituality. Indeed, or it is form, or it is evil.

572. It is absolutely clear that there is a proportion between the third number and 7, because 7 is its attribute.

575. Do not rest before you feel that you are quite sure of what you are doing, and not a lot even thereafter.

576. There is a will that doesn't depend on us, but there is another that depends from us and will allow us to acquire the first one.

577. Let us not ask, before we know what to do with it.

579. If you are very brave, your preparation may happen anywhere.

581. A priest must live from the altar; it is absolutely certain that he who approaches the altar shall live.

582. Dissolution happens by the elemental fire, because it is by the torture of that fire that construction came.

584. What regards forms; nothing can exist without its powers, because bodies are only that.

585. There are two crosses for the reintegrations; one for the creature, the other for the spiritual.

586. No trace of the sevenfold can be found in the human form, because it is not a material incorporation.

587. The triangle and the center are the essence of the fourfold; its receptacle shows its action.

589. The order of the spiritual principles in man is the same as the arrangement of the elementary principles in the bodies.

590. As long as the bodily state will remain, there will be an uppercelestial state, or a temporal celestial state that will not be bodily.

595. When watching our fire burn, we can see the terrestrial come down, and the celestial go up; and so it is also for the human dissolution.

596. We always begin with the form; that is why there are two testaments.

597. Do not be impatient for little things.

600. Only those who will not hear me, will hear me.

601. Speak only with these who have chosen Wisdom; those who believe they can do without it are not suitable.

603. There is an isolated binary that is bad, but there is another that binds, that is good.

605. 1 and 1 is 2, and 1 is 3, and 1 is 4, and 1 is 5, and 1 is 6, and 1 is 7, and 1 is 8, and 1 is 9, and 1 is 10. Everywhere, action and reaction.

612. Sometimes, it is not necessary to hurry the first time, because with a little patience, there is a repetition.

614. The celestial as the terrestrial are both only made for the edge of man over his enemies.

617. Do not expect anything as long as you're thinking about it.

620. The great monarch is the expression of the fourfold on longitude and latitude.

623. Excess in food not only occupies blood, it tires it, and takes the necessary strength away from it; to sustain the work.

624. Think often to do the upkeep of the element and the elementary as you are busy anyway.

625. There is nothing without a union; let us try to make good ones.

627. What is the saddest in the work, is to be forced to attone and to die.

630. The "passe" is to be done in the corners; this is why angels are assigned there.

633. There is a confidence of the speech that means death, and another of the heart and of action that means life.

634. The mistake of man has made one more virtue; so the reconciliated is impeccable.

635. Grease doesn't travel, this is why it is forbidden.

636. In mathematics, even numbers are counted beginning with 0 instead of 1. One doesn't see that it is 1 that produces 0, and not 0 that produces 1.

637. If other worlds existed, man would know.

638. When it travels on the same side, it is a little thing; it should be still, or travel everywhere.

641. Anyone who doubts the infinite powers of nature is doingconsiderable damage to himself.

643. There is a tenfold in form, by joining the intestines to the fivefold and then counting further the four noble parts.

644. The hieroglyph shows the certainty and the nature of the character, as action shows the nature of the intention; that is their symbol.

645. It will come, if it wants to.

646. The game of the four corners is the most difficult of all games; this is why it cannot be played before having learned the one that came to them.

649. 5 is closed, because of the violence.

650. After confession comes absolution; after absolution comes communion; after communion comes mandate.

653. Evil cannot read inside the good; that gives us a tremendous advantage over it.

655. All men have the book before their eyes; they only miss a pair of glasses, and a pair of glasses, which are two pairs of glasses.

657. Do not indulge in sensible pleasures before you are strong enough to despise them.

660. Why should it be surprising that Christ knew the scripture by heart? He wrote it, or he had it written.

661. If the bodies would contain 4 elements, the world would be eternal.

662. The bodily world was born by need.

664. There was no air in the matras, because air is only needed for the reaction.

665. The Ismaelite merchants provided resin to the Egyptians.

667. When something appears always the same, it is probably only elementary, because the animal is infinite and limitless.

668. The white color of the walls reflects the light; this is why that color is most suitable, above any other.

669. We see the bodily by the eyes of the body only, and the other with the eyes of the soul, as well as by the eyes of the body, all of it physically.

675. To pray is to cleanse oneself, because it is to fight.

676. The resurrection of the bodies and the resurrection of the flesh are not the same thing.

677. A man shall walk with respect, because he cannot make one step without placing one foot above the other.

678. The two progressions of corporal beings are fourfold; this is a universal truth.

679. The number 4 is the only one that has the property to give in its square, a number four times larger than itself; therefore there is but one square, as there is but one unity.

681. The cause that gave birth to the beings will walk with them, and sustain them, and support them until the end of their existence; and that is why the prophets cried so much.

682. Reassembling what has been divided, dividing what has been reassembled, this is the task of all the medicine.

685. To attract in the physical, set one degree under; if you set one degree above, it will grow.

687. There are but two posterities after Adam, they are the type ofprimary things; there are three after Noah, they are the type of secondary and tertiary things.

688. On one hand there is 1, 4, 7, 8, 10; and on the other, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9. Every thing is there for the present.

689. I recommend to walk in longitude and in latitude because of the reaction.

690. Ismael didn't get any manifestation; it was only a type of matter.

691. We don't know where it comes from, but the important thing is not to know, but to feel.

692. To go forward, always wait.

693. The coarse humid cannot replace the radical humid. When it is altered, only its principle can do it.

694. As man took his body from earth, he also has taken his three preservatives, because his body is a preservative.

695. Between God and man time is the only difference, because there is some similitude or bond in the number.

696. The inferior fire consumes, the superior fire creates, produces, gives birth; so we see that the inferior fire makes a bad fecundation.

697. The binary lets himself be known as far as the properties of the same species.

700. Make that I shall not doubt my word.

703. Etymology of the true words would teach every thing.

707. There are only three kinds of corporals: the black, the red, and the blue. But there are four kinds of spiritual: the red, the blue, the green and the white, and is the white not temporal?

710. It is not surprising that for those who believe they are something, because as we have nothing, it has to come from somewhere.

711. Pythagoras was right to forbid beans to his disciples, because it is dirt without water.

713. Wherever you go, if you walk by four, you will be sure to travel well.

714. Pharaoh ordered two midwives to kill the children of the Hebrews.

715. The sevenfolds are truly submitted to man, because they are the only power of 4.

717. Time will come when only the finger may be used.

718. As long as matter reigns, we are too young.

721. The domain of the earthly threefold is the surface, the active is the perpendicular. We can only move but by the curve when we are not at the foot; or, if such curve doesn't exist, it must be made, and that is the abomination.

722. Go for it, in your domain and your heritage.

724. There are three meanings to the unleavened bread: the sorrow of deprivation, the preparation for the purification and the memory of the origin.

725. How can men say they are learned, when they spend their lives asking questions.

732. Science is useless to those who have faith. But where are they?... And what is science without faith? doctor!

732. Science is useless to those who have faith. But where are they?...

734. Every form is a temple, and every temple is sacred, out of the elementary, Earth and man excepted.

738. There is nothing else to know but the three letters below, and the 4 above. That is what made everything.

739. Always take your orient at the orient, never in the south.

740. It is possible for men to be as the Devil, who never see their illusion, but then it is, or a type, or a punishment.

741. Only a man that is constantly tickled is happy.

742. Sometimes it comes also through the blood, often it begins in such a way; but that doesn't matter.

745. Water is produced by salt, sulphur is produced by fire, earth is produced by mercury.

746. Dissolution always begins with salt, and it is water that gives it, but it is the fire that gives it. lapsus: should probably be: 'produces it' see number 745.

747. Spiritual regeneration and universal corporal regeneration have both the same cradle.

751. The elementals all decompose in water; it is what misleads many people on the nature of the composing and composed things.

753. After the first consummation, there is still 7 times 7 for the accomplishment, 4 and 7.

754. As long as you will not see things as they are, it is as if you will know nothing.

755. To suffer is to progress significantly.

757. The four quarters of the Moon, the last is longer than the first three: it is eightfold, the three others are only sevenfolds.

762. There is a kind of order that produces disorder, the one from below. So, beware, but let everyone follow his own path.

763. Always study the earth of man, because it is by it that the vegetations and the helps of all kinds shall come to you.

764. Intervals of time are not the time. Therefore such interval is the time of the spirit, that needs to be taken between 3 and 4, 6 and 7, 9 and 10, 12 and 1, *etc.*

765. Stay ready to answer when you will be called, because the call rarely will come twice.

767. We all have a clean mirror, spotless, defectiveless, and in which we can see ourselves anytime.

768. The head of the child comes first, then the chest, then the bones of the hips; as the image of the explosion of chaos..

770. The simple threefolds cannot resist the sevenfolds; that is why Jacob was hurt by the angel, because he was searching only for matter.

771. It is not before, but at the very moment that we must be brave and assemble our powers.

772. Our corporal senses are the channel of Evil, but they are also the channel of the Good; it is a great blessing that He had them given to us.

773. Mercury is the coldest body in nature, because it resides in indifference, it is not moved by the external agents as the bodies that already have acquired their forms.

774. If there was something for the incorporation of man in the form, there will be something for its separation.

775. Everything is symbol in nature, therefore the natural character shows the hieroglyph quite well.

776. If monsters would reproduce, the eternal covenant would be variable.

777. Weight, or fullness, is an important matter; measure is the clock; the number is fire.

779. Without salt, the outside agents would have too much hold on the body; without oil, salt would corrode it; therefore the one and the other are in its envelop.

780. If the uppercelestial gives too much or too little, the forms suffer: that is the general law for the terrestrial, *etc.*

782. The criminal laws of Moses didn't come from him, because there were no judges to speak them; they have been transposed by the 784. The zephyr or sephirah, which means the "birth of the day", always come from the East.

785. When there will be no Sun nor Moon, we shall have our best sight.

786. The first proof of what we have must be made on us; and who shall be the master in his home, shall be the master everywhere, as everything is ours.

787. I repeat: there shall be any other science that will always do as much through the red, as through the white.

788. Try that, for all your enemies, there will be nothing more respectable, and consequently more dreadful, than your presence; because that is the privilege for man that it would suffice to show himself.

789. As we are losing ourselves practically at every step, we should have an absolution following us everywhere.

793. The Evil seduces and enchants; the Good gives us time to reflect.

794. The three times are and always will be universal, and that may be known in every mode and every case, the infinite.

795. One shouldn't ask why things are not better; the best is, but we are not part of it.

799. May your soul rejoice when it feels you live among the verbs.

800. If one askes what Wisdom is, you shall respond by not responding at all.

Conclusion

This book is not a book, but it contains enough to write one.

Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin



# Of Errors and of Truth

## Chapters

- Introduction
- The Cause of Errors
- Universal Source of Errors
- Sequence of Errors
- Allegorical Tableau
- Policy Uncertainty
- Mathematical Principles
- Human Attributes

## Introduction

The Work I offer to humankind is not a collection of conjectures. It is not a system that I present to them; I believe I give them a much more useful gift. Nevertheless, I have not come to bring them Science; I know too well that people do not expect this from other people. It is only a ray of their own torch that I revive before them, so it may enlighten them upon the false ideas they have received about the Truth, as well as on the weak and dangerous weapons that unsafe hands have employed to defend it. I was deeply affected, I confess, by looking at the actual state of Science. I have seen how misunderstandings have distorted it. I have seen the hideous veil under which it was covered, and, for the interest of my fellow-creatures, I thought it was my duty to remove it. Undoubtedly, for such an undertaking, I need more than ordinary resources, but without justifying myself upon those I employ, it suffices to say that they belong to the very nature of people, that they have always been known to some of them since the origin of all things, and that they will never be completely withdrawn from Earth as long as there are Thinking Beings. This is where I drew the evidence and the conviction of the truths whose research occupies the whole Universe. After this confession, if they still had to accuse me of teaching an unknown Doctrine, one could not at least suspect that I invented it, since if it is due to the nature of people, not only does it not come from me, but it would have been impossible for me to solidly establish any other. And truly, if the Reader does not draw conclusions on the Work before having perceived the whole and the bond; if he gives himself the time to feel the weight and the sequence of principles which I explain, he will agree that they are the true key of all the mysterious Allegories and Mysterious Fables ofall People, the primary source of all kinds of institutions, the very model of the Laws governing the Universe, and which constitute all Beings; that is to say, they serve as a basis for all that exists and to all that operates, whether it is in people or by the hand of people, or outside people and independent of their will; and that, consequently, outside these Principles, there can be no true Science. Hence the Reader will more readily know why we see among people a universal variety of Dogmas and Systems; why we perceive this innumerable multitude of Philosophical, Political, and Religious Sects, each of which disagrees with itself as with all the others; why, notwithstanding the efforts that the Leaders of these different Sects make every day to form a stable Doctrine on the most important points, and in order to reconcile the particular opinions, they can never succeed in doing so, because offering no fixed thing to their Disciples not only not persuades them, but they even expose them to a distrust of all Science, for they only known imaginary or vicious ones; and finally why the Teachers and the Observers incessantly show they have neither the rule nor the proof of truth. The Reader will conclude, I say, that if the principles I am discussing are the only foundation of all truth, it is because they have forgotten, that all these errors devour the Earth, and thus they have generally been misunderstood, since ignorance and uncertainty are universal. Such are the objects upon which the person who seeks to know will find a way to form ideas more sound and more consistent with the nature of the seed she carries within herself. However, although the Light is made for all eyes, it is even more certain that all eyes are not made to see it in all its brightness. This is why the small number of custodians of the truths I announce are vowed to prudence and discretion by the most formal commitments. Thus, I have promised myself to employ much caution in this writing, and to often cover myself in a veil that the least ordinary eyes will not always pierce, especially as I sometimes speak of something else than what I seem to speak of. For the same reason, although I gather in the same point of view a considerable number of different subjects, I have only revealed a sketch of the vast picture I could offer; nevertheless, I say enough to give to the greatest number of people something to think about, without excluding those who, as a matter of Science, enjoy the highest celebrity. But, with the general good of people in mind, and above all, not wishing to bring disagreement among individuals, I do not directly attack either of the received Dogmas or any of the established Political Institutions; and even in my remarks on Sciences and the different Systems, I have forbidden myself everything that may have the least connection with overly particular objects. Besides, I have committed myself to use no quotation, because first, I seldom visit Libraries, and the Books I read can't be found there; and in the second place, because truths which would only rest on testimonies would no longer be truths. It is expedient, I think, to set forth here the order and the plan of this Work. At first, we shall see some observations upon good and evil, why modern Systems have confounded both, and have been forced to deny their differences. A quick glance at people will fully explain this difficulty, and shed light as to why they are still in the most profound ignorance, not only of their surroundings, but also of their true nature. The distinctions which lie between people's faculties will be confirmed by those which we shall even point out, between the faculties of Lower Beings; in this way we will demonstrate the universality of a double law in everything that is submitted to time. The necessity of a third temporal law will be much more clearly proved by showing that the double law is absolutely in its dependence. The mistakes which have been made on all these objects will clearly reveal the cause of the obscurity, variety, and uncertainty which appear in all the works of people, as well as in all Institutions, both civil and sacred, to which they are linked; what shall be the true source of the Sovereign Power among them, and that of all the rights which constitute their various establishments. We shall make the same applications on the principles received in the higher Sciences, and principally in Mathematics, where the origin and true cause of errors will appear with evidence. Lastly, we shall remind people of their natural attributes, which distinguish them best from other Beings, and which is most fitting to bring them closer to all the knowledge which suits their nature. All these objects are contained in seven divisions, which, though resting on the same basis, each offer a different subject. If some of them had difficulty in admitting the principles which I have just recalled to people, as their embarrassment would only arise from their having followed their own sense and not that of the Work, they ought not to expect from me any other explanations, the more so as they would not be clearer than the Work itself. It is easily perceived, on reading these reflections, that I have paid little attention to form, and neglected the advantages of diction; but if the Reader is honest, he will understand that I have been too busy with it, for my subject had no need of it.

## Chapter 1 - The Cause of Errors

It is a very distressing spectacle when one desires to contemplate people, to see them all at once tormented by the desire to know, not perceiving the reason for anything, and yet having the audacity and temerity to insist upon giving reasons for everything. Instead of considering the darkness that surrounds them, and beginning by probing its depths, people proceed not only as if they were sure to dispel it, but also as if there existed no obstacles between Science and themselves. Soon, attempting to create a Truth, people dare put the Truth in the place of that which they should respect in silence and about which they have at present almost no right other than to desire and wait for it. And, in fact, if people are entirely separated from the Light, how will they be able to light, on their own, the flambeau that must serve them as a guide? How will they be able to attain by their own faculties a Science that will remove all of their doubts? Do not these glimmers and appearances of reality, which people believe they are discovering in the delusions of their imaginations, vanish under the simplest examination? And having brought forth phantoms without life and substance, do they not see themselves forced to replace them by new illusions, which soon after follow the same course and leave them stuck in the most dreadful uncertainty? Fortunate, nevertheless, if their weakness was the only cause of their mistakes! Their situation then would be much less deplorable because being unable, by their nature, to find peace instead of truth, the more painful the trials would be and the more they should serve to bring people back to the only end suitable for them. But their errors still have their source in their unrestrained will; one perceives that, far from employing to their advantage what little strength they have left, they nearly always direct it against the Law of their Being. One perceives, I say, that being restrained by this obscurity around them, it is by their own hand that they place the blindfold upon their eyes. Then, being unable to catch the least glimmer, despair or fear overcomes them, and they throw themselves into dangerous paths which remove them forever from their true course. It is, therefore, by this mixture of weakness and imprudence that the ignorance of people perpetuates itself. Such is the source of their continual inconsistencies, so that, wasting their days in useless and vain efforts, one should be little surprised that their work either produces no fruit or that which is bitter. However, when I recall here the mistakes and imprudent conduct of my fellow humans, I am far from desiring to debase them in their own eyes; my most ardent wish, on the contrary, would be that they never lose sight of the greatness which they are capable of. May I at least contribute by trying to dispel before them those difficulties which hinder them, to stimulate their courage, and to show them the way which leads to the object of their desires! With the first glance that people direct upon themselves, they will experience no difficulty in feeling and admitting that there must exist for them a Science or an evident Law, since one exists for all Beings, although it is not universally in all Beings, since even in the midst of our weaknesses, ignorance, and mistakes, we occupy ourselves only with the search for peace and light. In that case, though the efforts that people make daily to reach the object of their search succeed so rarely, one must not think that this goal is imaginary, but only that people are mistaken about the road that leads to it, and that they are, consequently, in the greatest of need since they do not even know the way by which they must travel. Consequently, one may agree henceforth that the actual misfortune of humankind is not to be ignorant of the existence of truth, but that they are mistaken about the nature of this truth, because in reality, the very ones who have pretended to deny it and destroy it have never believed that they could succeed without having another truth to replace it. And in fact, they have donned their fanciful opinions concerning force, immutability, universality - in a word, concerning all the attributes of a real and self-existent Being. They have strongly felt that a Truth could not be a truth without essentially existing, without being invariable and absolutely independent, deriving solely from itself the source of its existence; this is because, if it had received it from another Principle, the latter could return it to nothingness or to the inaction from which it would have drawn it. Thus, those who have fought against truth have proved by their own systems that they possessed the indestructible idea of Truth. Therefore, let us repeat, what torments most people on this earth is not so much knowing whether Truth exists, but knowing what this Truth is. But what disturbs this feeling in people, and so often obscures the vivid rays of this light in them, is the continuous mixture of good and evil, of light and darkness, of harmony and disorder that they perceive in the Universe and in themselves. This universal contrast disturbs them and spreads a confusion in their thoughts which they find difficult to untangle. Both distressed and surprised by so strange an assemblage, if they want to explain it, they surrender themselves to the most disastrous opinions, so that, soon ceasing to perceive this same Truth, they lose all the confidence they had in it. The greatest service that one could render them in the painful situation in which they find themselves, would therefore be to persuade them that they could know the source and origin of this disorder which astonishes them, and, above all, to prevent them from reaching any conclusions contrary to this Truth which they recognize, love, and cannot do without. It is certain that, when considering the revolutions and conflicts that befall all Beings in Nature, people must have acknowledged that it was subject to the influence of good and evil, which necessarily brought them to recognize the existence of two opposite Principles. Nothing, in fact, could be wiser than this observation and nothing more just than the consequence they have drawn from it. Why have they not been so fortunate when they have attempted to explain the nature of these two Principles? Why have they given too narrow a base to their science which forces them to continually destroy the systems they wish to support? It is because, after having neglected the true means they possessed of instructing themselves, they have been inconsiderate enough to speak for themselves about that sacred subject, as if, far from the abode of light, people could be assured of their judgments. Also, after having recognized the two Principles, they have been unable to recognize the difference. Sometimes people have accorded to these Principles an equality of force and antiquity that renders them rivals of each other by placing them on the same level of power and grandeur. Sometimes, in truth, they have declared evil as being inferior to good in every respect; but they have contradicted themselves when they wished to understand the nature of evil and its origin. Sometimes they have not feared to place evil and good in one and the same Principle, believing that they were honoring this Principle by attributing to it an exclusive power which renders it, without exception, the creator of all things, meaning that this Principle is simultaneously parent and tyrant, destroying accordingly what it elevates; it is evil and unjust by force of its magnitude and opposition, and consequently it punishes itself for upholding its own justice. Finally, tired of wavering in these uncertainties, without being able to find a solid idea, a few have denied the existence of either Principle, endeavoring to believe that everything progressed without law and order. Being unable to explain that which existed as good and evil, they have stated there was neither good nor evil. When, on the strength of this assertion, they have been asked what was, therefore, the origin of all those precepts universally prevailing on Earth, of this uniform inner voice which, so to speak, forces all people to adopt them, and which, even in the midst of their aberrations, causes people to feel that they have a destination far superior to the objects occupying their attention, then these observers, continually blinding themselves, have treated the most natural feelings as habits. They have attributed to organization and mechanical laws all of humanity's thoughts and faculties. From this they have pretended that, by reason of humany's weakness, great physical events have at all times produced in people fear and terror; that continually experiencing upon their feeble selves the superiority of the elements and Beings by which they are surrounded, they imagined that a certain indefinable power governed and upset Nature at will. Further, from this people created for themselves a succession of fanciful principles of subordination and order, punishments and rewards, which education and examples perpetuated, but without considerable differences relative to circumstances and climates. Then, by taking as proof the continuous variety of usages and the arbitrary customs of peoples, the bad faith and the rivalry of Instructors, as well as the conflict of human opinions - the fruit of doubt and ignorance - it has been easy for them to demonstrate that people, in fact, have only found uncertainty and contradictions surrounding themselves, from which they have believed themselves authorized to affirm anew that there exists nothing that is true - that is, nothing exists in essence - since, according to what has been already propounded, existence and truth are one and the same. These are, however, the means that these imprudent Masters have employed to proclaim and justify their doctrine. These are the poisoned sources from which have flowed all the scourges besetting people upon Earth and tormenting them even more than their natural misfortunes. Therefore, how much errors and suffering would these imprudent Masters have spared us if, instead of searching for truth in the appearances of material nature, they had decided to search within themselves, if they had attempted to explain matter by humanity and not humanity by matter, and, armed with courage and patience, they had pursued in the calm of their imagination, the discovery of this light that we all desire with so much ardor. Perhaps it would not have been in their power to withstand its brilliance at first sight. Struck by the splendor which surrounds it, and employing all their faculties to contemplate it, they would not have thought to pronounce in advance upon its nature nor desire to make it known to their fellow humans before having taken its rays for their guide. When people, after having resisted courageously, succeed in overcoming all that is contrary to their being, they find they are at peace with themselves and, consequently, at peace with all nature. But, if through negligence or being tired of combat, they allow the slightest spark of a fire foreign to their own essence to enter within themselves, they suffer and languish until they are entirely delivered from it. So, in this way people have realized in an even more intimate way that two different Principles exist. As they find happiness and peace with one, and as the other is always accompanied by fatigue and torment, they have distinguished them under the names of good Principle and evil Principle. Now, if people had been willing to make the same observation regarding all the Beings of the universe, it would have been easy for them to concentrate their thoughts on the nature of good and evil, and in this way, to discover the nature of their true origin. Let us say, therefore, that good is for each being the accomplishment of their own law, and evil that which is opposed to it. Let us say that each one of the Beings, possessing only a single law (and all pertaining to a primary Law which is one), the good, or the accomplishment of this law, must also be unique - that is to say, it must be solely and exclusively true, although it embraces the infinity of Beings. Evil, on the contrary, cannot have any affinity with this Law of Beings since it is in conflict with it; consequently, it can no longer be included in unity, since it tends to degrade it by attempting to form another unity. In a word, it is false because it cannot exist alone; because it cannot alter the fact that the Law of Beings has an existence simultaneous to its own; and because it cannot ever destroy it, even when it impedes or disturbs its accomplishment. I have said that when approaching the good Principle, people were in fact filled with delight and consequently above all evil. They are then so entirely absorbed in their enjoyment that they cannot entertain either the feeling or thought of any other Being; and therefore, nothing that proceeds from the evil Principle can intrude upon their joy, which proves that people are thus in their element and that their law of unity is accomplished. But if a person seeks a support other than that law which is her own, her joy is at first troubled and uncertain. She delights only in reproaching herself for her enjoyment and, being for a moment divided between the evil drawing her away and the good which she has forsaken, she experiences strongly the effect of two opposite laws. She learns through her resulting unhappiness that there exists no longer any unity for her because she has strayed from her own law. Soon, it is true, this uncertain enjoyment strengthens itself and even entirely dominates her; but, far from causing it to become more unique and true, it produces in the faculties of people a disorder so much more deplorable that the action of evil, being sterile and limited, brings the person who abandons herself to it, and all the more promptly to an inevitable emptiness and despondency. Here, then, is the infinite difference that is found between the two Principles: good derives all its power and value from itself; evil is nothing when good prevails. The good, by its presence, causes even the thought and the least trace of evil to disappear; evil, even in its success, 1s always fought and disturbed by the presence of good. Evil, by itself, possesses neither force nor power; good has universal and independent powers and these extend even over evil itself. Therefore, it is evident that one cannot admit any equality of power or seniority between these two Principles, because a Being cannot equal another in power without also equaling him in seniority, since it would always be a mark of weakness and inferiority in one of the two Beings to have not existed from the same moment as the other. Now, if from the beginning of time good had inwardly co-existed with evil, they would have never acquired any respective superiority, since in this supposition, the evil Principle, being independent of the good and having consequently the same power, either would have had no action upon the other or they would have mutually balanced and restrained each other. Therefore, there would have resulted from this equality of power an inaction and absolute sterility in these two Beings, because their reciprocal forces, finding themselves continually equal and opposed, would have found it impossible for one or the other to be productive. One should not say that to cause cessation of this inaction, a Principle superior to both would have augmented the forces of the Principle of good as being more analogous to its nature. By saying so, that superior Principle would itself be the good Principle of which we speak. One will then be forced by striking evidence to recognize in the good Principle an overwhelming superiority, unity, and indivisibility with which it has of necessity primarily existed, this being sufficient to fully demonstrate that evil can only have come after good. Establishing in this way the inferiority of the evil principle, and showing its opposition to the good Principle, is to prove that there has never been and never will be either the slightest alliance nor the least affinity between them. How could it enter into the mind that evil had ever been included in the essence and the faculties of the good to which it is so diametrically opposed? But this conclusion necessarily brings us to another just as important, which enables us to feel that this good, however powerful it may be, cannot cooperate in any way in the birth and the effects of evil. To do so would have made it necessary that, before the origin of evil, there be in the good Principle some seed, or evil faculty, and to advance this opinion would be to renew the confusion that the judgments and imprudence of humankind have propagated on these matters. Or it would have been necessary that, ever since the birth of evil, the good have communication and relation with it, which is impossible and contradictory. This, then, is the inconsequence of those who, fearing to limit the faculties of the good Principle, persist in teaching a doctrine so contrary to its nature as to generally attribute to it everything that exists, even evil and disorder. Nothing more need be said to enable one to sense the incommensurable distance found between the two Principles and to recognize the one to which we must give our confidence. Since the ideas that I have just presented are meant to bring people back to natural sentiments and to a Science which must be found within their hearts, as well as to create in them the hope of discovering new lights upon the subject that occupies our attention. Humankind, being the mirror of truth, must perceive reflected within itself all the rays of its light. And in fact, I would not have taken up my pen to refute them had we nothing more to expect but what the systems of humanity promise us. Recognizing the existence of the evil Principle, and considering the effects of its power in the Universe and in people, as well as the false consequences that observers have drawn from these considerations, does not disclose its origin. Evil exists; we see surrounding us its hideous traces, regardless of the efforts that have been made to deny its deformity. Now, if this evil does not originate from the good Principle, how then could it have originated? Certainly, this is for people the most important question, and one upon which I would desire to convince my readers. But I have not deluded myself about the success of my efforts. The truths I am about to present may seem certain, but I would not be surprised to see them rejected or misunderstood by the majority of people. When people, having elevated themselves toward the good Principle, acquire the habit of holding themselves invariably attached to it, they do not even possess the idea of evil. This is a truth that we have established and that no intelligent Being could reasonably contest. If people constantly had the courage and the will not to descend from this elevation for which they are born, evil would then be nothing to them. In fact, they only feel its dangerous influence in proportion to their deviation from the good Principle. Thus, one must conclude from this punishment that people then commit a free act, because if it is impossible for a Being who is not free to separate herself by her own will from the Law imposed upon her. It is also impossible that she renders herself guilty and that she be punished. We will later make this fact possible to conceive of when speaking of the suffering of animals. Finally, it is evident that wisdom and justice are the rule and law of all the power and virtues which form the essence of the good Principle. Consequently, this recognizes that if people suffer, they must have had the power not to suffer. Truly, if the good Principle is essentially just and powerful, our troubles are an evident proof of our wrongdoing, and consequently, of our liberty. When we see people subjected to the action of evil, we may affirm that they have freely exposed themselves to it, and that they could have defended themselves against its influence and remained separate from it. Thus, let us not look for any other cause for their misfortunes but that of having voluntarily deviated from the good Principle with which they would have continually enjoyed peace and happiness. Let us apply the same reasoning to the evil Principle. If it evidently opposes the accomplishment of the law of unity of Beings, either on the material or the intellectual plane, it must itself be in a disordered situation. If bitterness and confusion follow in its wake, this principle is altogether without a doubt their object and agent, which causes us to say that it must be unceasingly subjected to the torment and horror that it creates around itself. But it suffers only because it is removed from the good Principle, for it is only from the instant when Beings are separated from this good Principle that they become unhappy. The sufferings of the evil Principle can only be a punishment because justice, being universal, must act upon it as it acts upon people; but if it experiences punishment, it has then freely deviated from the Law that was to have perpetuated its happiness. It is, therefore, voluntarily that it became evil. This is what induces us to say that if the author of evil had made a legitimate use of its liberty, it would never have separated itself from the good Principle, and evil would as yet be unborn. By the same reasoning, if it could today employ its will to its advantage and direct it toward the good Principle, it would cease to be evil, and evil would no longer exist. It will only be through the simple and natural succession of all these observations that people will ever succeed in definitely determining their ideas concerning the origin of evil, because if it is by allowing his will to degenerate that the intelligent and free Being acquires the knowledge and sentiment of evil, one must be assured that evil possesses no other principle, no other existence but the very same will of that free Being; that it is by this will alone that the Principle, becoming evil, originally gave birth to evil and similarly still creates it today. In a word, it is by this same will that people have acquired and acquire every day this fatal knowledge of evil by which they plunge themselves into darkness, whereas they were born only for the good and for the light. If so many questions relative to Liberty have been debated in vain and have so often been terminated by vaguely deciding that people are not susceptible to it, it is because the dependence and relations of this faculty of people with their will has not been observed, that one has been unable to perceive that this will was the only agent able to conserve or destroy liberty. In other words, in liberty we look for a stable, invariable faculty which unceasingly manifests in all of us, and which likewise cannot diminish or grow, and which we always have found awaiting our orders, whatever use we have made of it. But how is it possible to conceive of a faculty inherent in people which is nonetheless independent of their will, when this will constitutes its fundamental essence? And will not one necessarily agree that either liberty does not belong to people, or that they can exert their influence upon it by the good or evil use they make of it in the more or less proper regulation of their will? And, in fact, when observers desire to study liberty, they make it quite apparent to us that it must belong to humankind, because it is always in people that observers are obliged to follow its traces and characteristics. But when they persist in considering it without regard to humankind's will, is it not exactly as if they wish to attribute to people a faculty that existed in them but was foreign to them; which belonged to them, but upon which they had neither any influence nor any power? Is there anything more absurd and contradictory? Is it surprising that one discovers nothing by observing in this manner? And will we ever be able to make pronouncements on our own nature after such weak research? If the enjoyment of Liberty did not in any way depend upon the use of the will; if people could never alter it by their weaknesses and unrestrained habits, I would then admit that all actions would thereby be fixed and uniform, and so there would not be, as there could never have been, any liberty for them. But if this faculty cannot be such as the observers conceive and would require it to be; if its force can vary at all times; if it can be nullified by inaction as well as by a sustained exercise and a too constant practice of the same acts, then one cannot deny that it belongs to us, is within us, and that we consequently have the power to strengthen and weaken it; and this by the sole right of our Being and by the privilege of our will - in other words, according to the good or evil use we voluntarily make of the laws imposed upon us by our nature. Another error that has caused the rejection of liberty by these observers is that they have desired to prove it to themselves by the very action resulting from it; thus, to satisfy them, it would be necessary that an act be and not be at the same time, which is evidently impossible. From this they have concluded that everything that happens must necessarily have happened, and, consequently, that there was no liberty. But they should have noticed that the act, and the will that had conceived it, can only conform, and not be opposed to each other; that a power that has produced its act cannot arrest its effect; and finally that liberty, taken even in its commonly accepted meaning, does not consist in being able to do one and the other at the same time, but to be able to do one and the other alternately. Whereas, were it only to be taken in this meaning, humankind would be proof enough of what is generally called its liberty, since people obviously do one or the other in their different and successive actions and are the only beings in nature who are not always obliged to walk along the same path. But it would be strangely misleading not to conceive of another idea of liberty, because it is true, this contradiction in the actions of a Being proves that there are disorder and confusion in her faculties, but it does not at all prove that she is free, since it always remains to be discovered whether or not she freely gives herself over to evil as well as good. And it is partly from having wrongly defined liberty that this point is still covered with the most profound darkness for the majority of people. Therefore, I will say that the true faculty of a free Being is to be able, by his own efforts, to maintain himself in the law prescribed to him, and to conserve his strength and independence by voluntarily resisting the obstacles and the objects that tend to prevent him from acting in conformity with this Law. This necessarily carries with it the faculty of failing in the attempt, because so doing only requires that he cease his desire to resist opposition. Then, one must judge if, in the darkness surrounding us, we can delude ourselves on our ability to always reach our goal with the same facility. If, on the contrary, we do not feel that the least negligence adds infinitely to this task by increasing the thickness of the veil that covers us, then, turning our eyes for a moment upon humankind in general, we will discover that if people can degrade and weaken their liberty at all times, likewise humanity is presently less free than it was in its early days, and, continuing a step further, less free than before its birth. Then, it is no longer either in the present state of people or in their daily actions that we must find the light to decide upon their true liberty, since nothing is more rare today than to see any of its effects in a pure state and entirely independent of causes that are foreign to it. But it would be more than senseless to reach the conclusion that liberty had never been numbered among our rights. The chains of a slave prove, I know, that she can no longer act in accordance with the full scope of her natural forces, but they do not prove that she never could. On the contrary, they proclaim that she still could, had she never deserved to be held in servitude, because were it impossible for her to recover the use of her forces, her chains would be neither a punishment nor a shame. At the same time, it would not be more reasonable to infer from the fact that people are so laboriously, so obscurely, and so rarely free today, that their actions are indifferent and that they are not obligated to fulfill the measure of good that is imposed upon them even in this state of servitude. The deprivation of people's liberty consists, in fact, of being unable to obtain by their own power the complete enjoyment of the advantages contained in the good for which they were created, but not in being able to approach evil without rendering themselves even more guilty, since it will be seen that their material body has been loaned to them solely to effect the continual comparison between the true and the false. The insensibility to which their negligence on this point leads them each day, will never be able to destroy their essence. Thus, it suffices that they had once strayed from the light to which they should have been attached, to render the succession of their errors inexcusable and to deny them any right to murmur against their sufferings. Yet it should be said that the observers have stammered so much on the subject of people's liberty, only because they have not yet realized the first notion of the nature of their will. Nothing proves it better than their continual search to determine how it functions. Not being able to surmise that its principle must be contained within itself, they have searched for it in exterior causes. Seeing in fact that here on Earth it was so often brought about by real or apparent motives, they have concluded that it did not act by itself and that it always needed a reason for its determination. But if this were so, could we be said to have a will, since far from being ours, it would always be subordinate to the different causes that continually act upon it? Is this not, then, going in circles and renewing the same errors that we have dissipated relative to liberty? In a word, saying that there exists no will without motive is to say that liberty is no longer a faculty that is a part of us, and that it has never been in our power to conserve it. So, reasoning in this way is to ignore the nature of the will which strictly proclaims a Being motivated by himself without the assistance of any other Being. Consequently, this multitude of objects and exterior motives that seduce and determine us so often today does not prove that we could not make use of our will without them, and that we would not be susceptible to liberty. It only proves that they can seize control of our will and nullify it when we offer no opposition. Because, with good faith one will agree that these exterior causes disturb and tyrannize us. Now, how could we feel and perceive this if we were not essentially created to act by ourselves and not through the attraction of these illusions? As to the manner in which the will can determine itself independently of the motives and the objects that are foreign to us, as much as this truth will seem certain to the person who will be willing to forget all that surrounds her and look within herself, so is it certain that the explanation of it is an impenetrable abyss for people and for any other Being whatsoever, since its presentation would necessitate giving substance to the immaterial. Of all researches, this would be the most detrimental to people, and the more apt to plunge them into ignorance and mental degradation, because it has no foundation and vainly makes use of all faculties inherent in them. Also, the lack of success that observers have had on this matter has only served to plunge into discouragement those who have had the imprudence to follow them and who have wanted to seek from them the return of the light their false course had removed. The wise person occupies herself to searching for the cause of that which has a cause, but she is too prudent and too enlightened to look for a cause where none exists. The will natural to people belongs in this category, since it is cause itself. For this reason, as long as people still have a will, and as long as it cannot be corrupted except by the evil use they make of it, I will continue to consider them as free, although also almost always enslaved. It is not for the person who is blind, frivolous, and without desire that I express such ideas, since he has only his eyes to guide him and judges things by what they are, not by what they have been. It would, therefore, be useless for me to present truths of this nature to him, since by comparing them with his obscure ideas, and with the judgments of his senses, he would only find shocking contradictions which would cause him to deny equally that which he had already conceived, and that which he would be made to conceive anew, and then to abandon himself to the disorder of his impressions and to follow the dead and obscure law of the animal without intelligence. But the person who has thought enough of herself and tried to understand herself, who has watched her habits, and, having already attempted to part the thick veil that envelops her, would be able to reap some fruits from these reflections. That person, I say, may open this book; I entrust it to her wholeheartedly with a view of strengthening the love she already has for the good. However, regardless of whose hands these writings might fall into, I exhort them not to seek the origin of evil anywhere but in the source I have indicated - in other words, in the corruption of the will of the Being or the Principle that has become evil. I will not hesitate to affirm that the efforts they would make to discover another cause for evil would be in vain. If it had a more stable and solid base, it would be as eternal and invincible as the good. If this degraded Being could produce anything other than acts of will, if it could form real and existent Beings, it would possess the same power as the good Principle. It is, therefore, the nonexistence of his works that makes us feel his weakness and which absolutely forbids all comparison between him and the good Principle, from which he has separated himself. It would be even more senseless to seek the origin of good elsewhere but in the good itself. After all, as we have just seen, if degraded Beings such as the evil Principle and people still have the right to be the cause of their own actions, how could we refuse this attribute to the good, which, as such, is the infinite source of all attributes, the very seed and essential agent of all that is perfect? It would, therefore, indicate a lack of common sense to look for the cause and origin of good outside of the good itself, since these exist and can only have their existence in the good Principle. I have already said enough to enable the reader to form a conception of the origin of evil. However, the exposition I have made of it obliges me, first, to give some ideas on the nature and state of the evil Principle before its corruption; and, second, to forestall any difficulty that could impede the very ones who pass as most enlightened on these subjects - namely, why the author of evil does not make use of its liberty to reconcile itself with the good Principle. But I will only pause for a moment on these subjects, so as not to interrupt my progress and stray too far from the limits prescribed to me. When stating that the evil Principle had become evil by the sole act of its will, I have implied that it was good before the instigation of this act. Now, was it then equal to this superior Principle that we have previously acknowledged? Without a doubt, no. It was good, without being its equal; it was inferior to it, without being evil. It had originated from this same superior Principle, and therefore it could not equal it, neither in strength nor in power; but it was good because the Being that produced it was goodness and perfection itself. Finally, it was also inferior because, not being the creator of its own law, it possessed the faculty of following or not following that which had been imposed on it by its origin; and it was thus exposed to the opportunity of separating itself from this law and becoming evil, while the superior Principle, possessing its own law within itself necessarily remains in the good that constitutes it, without ever being able to tend towards any other end. As to the second subject, I have made it known that if the author of evil made use of its liberty to rejoin the good Principle, it would cease to suffer and be evil, and from then on evil would no longer exist. But every day one perceives by its works that it is as though enchained to its criminal will, so that it does not produce a single act that does not aim to perpetuate confusion and disorder. It is on this point that fatalists believed they had triumphed, pretending that evil carries within itself the reason and necessity for its existence; thus, they plunge people into discouragement and despair, since, if evil is necessary, it is impossible to avoid its assaults and to conserve any hope for that peace and light which is the object of all our desires and searches. But let us refrain from adopting these errors, and let us destroy the dangerous consequences that follow in their wake by exposing the true cause for the duration of evil. By searching within ourselves, it will be easy for us to sense that one of the primary laws of universal justice 1s that there always exists an exact relationship between the nature of the punishment and that of the crime, which can only be accomplished by subjecting the transgressor to powerless acts, similar to those she has criminally produced and which, consequently, are opposed to the law from which she moved away. This is why the author of evil, having corrupted itself by the wrong use of its liberty, perseveres in the evil use of its will in the same way that it had conceived it, in other words, it never ceases to oppose the action and will of the good Principle, and in its vain efforts, it experiences a continuation of the same sufferings so that, in accordance with the laws of justice, it is in the commission of the crime itself that it encounters its own punishment. But, let us still add a few reflections upon such an important subject. If the good Principle is essential unity, if it is goodness, purity, and perfection itself, it cannot experience within itself division, contradiction, or defilement. It is therefore evident that the author of evil must have been entirely separated and rejected from it through the sole act of the opposition of its own will to the will of the good Principle so that, from then on, there could only be left to it an evil power and will, without either communication or participation from the good. Being a voluntary enemy of both the good Principle and the sole, eternal, and invariable rule, what good, what law could exist within the author of the evil Principle other than this rule, since it is impossible for a single Being to be good and evil at the same time, to produce simultaneously order and disorder, that which is pure and impure? Thus, one becomes easily convinced that by its complete separation from the good Principle, having necessarily drawn it away from all good, it was no longer in a condition to know or to produce any good. Henceforth, the exertion of its will could only produce actions without law or order, and an absolute opposition to good and truth. Thus, engulfed in its own darkness, it is not susceptible to any light from or any return to the good Principle; because before it could direct its desires toward the true light, knowledge of it should have been returned to the author of evil. It should be able to conceive a good thought, but how could a good thought originate in it, if its will and all its faculties are completely corrupted and impure? In short, from the moment that it does not have by itself any correspondence with the good, and it does not have the power either to know or to sense it, and the faculty and the freedom to return to the good are always without effect. This is what renders so horrible the deprivation to which it is condemned. Although by different means, the law of Justice performs likewise in people. It will also supply us with the lights that will guide us in the research we will have to make upon it. Any person of good faith, whose reason is not obscured or prejudiced will agree that the material life of humankind is filled almost continually with privation and suffering. Thus, in accordance with the ideas we have adopted upon Justice, it will be with good reason that we will consider the duration of this corporeal life as a period of punishment and expiation; but we cannot regard it as such, without forthwith thinking that there must have been for people a former and preferable state to that in which they find themselves today. We may say, that as much as their actual state is limited, painful, and sown with aversions, to the same extent the former must have been unlimited and filled with delights. Every one of their sufferings is an indication of the happiness they are missing; every one of their privations prove that they were created for enjoyment; every one of their subjections declare to them a former authority. In other words, the feeling that today they have nothing is the secret proof that in the past they had everything. We can form an idea of the happy estate formerly enjoyed by people by the painful realization of the appalling situation in which we find them today. At the present time they are not the master of their thoughts, and it is a torment for them to await those they desire and repel those they fear; from this we sense that they were made to own them and create them at will. It is easy, therefore, to understand the invaluable advantages attached to such a power. At present they only obtain peace and tranquility through infinite efforts and painful sacrifices. From this we conclude that they have been created to enjoy, perpetually and without effort, a state of calm and happiness and that the abode of peace had been their true home. Possessing the faculty to see all and know all, they nevertheless grovel in darkness, but in so doing they shudder at their ignorance and blindness. Is this not absolute proof that the light is their element? Finally, their bodies are subject to destruction, and, this death, of which they alone of all Beings in nature have any idea, is the most terrible step and the most humiliating act in their corporeal career and what they abhor the most. Why could not this law, so severe and frightful for people, enable us to conceive that their body had received a law infinitely more glorious, and therefore, must have enjoyed all the rights of immortality? Now then, where could this sublime state have originated that rendered people so noble and happy, if not in the intimate knowledge and continuous presence of the good Principle, since in it alone is to be found the source of all power and happiness? And why do people now languish in ignorance, weakness, and misery if it is not because they have separated themselves from this same Principle, which is the only light and the sole support of all Beings? At this point, when recalling what I have said previously concerning the justice of the first Principle and the liberty of Beings having originated from it, we will sense completely that if as a result of its crime, the evil Principle still experiences the suffering attendant to its rebellious will, so the actual suffering of people is only the natural consequence of their first mistake; similarly this mistake could only be the result of the freedom of people, who, having conceived a thought against the supreme Law, adhered to it through their own will. In accordance with the knowledge of the relationship that exists between the crime and the suffering of the evil Principle, I could, by observing their analogy, indicate the nature of the crime of the original person by the nature of this person's punishment. I could even, in this way, appease the murmurings continually heard relative to our being condemned to participate in his punishment although not having participated in his crime. But these truths would be despised by most people, and appreciated by so few that I believe that I would be committing an error in exposing them to full view. I will content myself therefore in pointing the way to my readers through a figurative picture presenting the glory of people in their former state and the sufferings to which they have been exposed since their deprivation. There is no origin higher than that of people, as they are older than any Being in Nature; they existed before the birth of the smallest of primary forms, and yet they only came into existence after them. But what elevated them well above all these Beings is that they had to be born of a father and a mother, and humankind had no mother. Moreover, their function was absolutely inferior to his; whereas that of humankind was always to fight, so as to eliminate disorder and return all to Unity, that of those Beings was to obey people. But as the combats in which people had to engage could be very dangerous for them, they were protected by an impenetrable armor which they could put to varied usage at will, and from which they even had to form copies absolutely equal and conforming to their model. Moreover, the original human was equipped with a spear composed of four metals, so well amalgamated that ever since the existence of the world, it has never been possible to separate them. This spear possessed the property of burning like fire itself; moreover, it was so sharp that nothing was impenetrable to it, and it was so accurate that it always struck at two places simultaneously. All these advantages, added to an infinity of gifts that humankind had received at the same time, rendered the original human truly strong and formidable. The Land where this original human had to engage in combat was covered with a forest composed of seven trees, of which each one had sixteen roots and four hundred ninety branches. Their fruits, being renewed continually, furnished him with the most excellent food, and the trees themselves, used as entrenchments, rendered his Post practically inaccessible. It is in this place of delights, the abode of humanity's happiness and the throne of its glory, that he would have been forever happy and invincible; because, having received orders to occupy the center, he could easily observe all that transpired around him from this point, thus enjoying the advantage of perceiving all the approaches and stratagems of his adversaries, without ever being seen by them. Therefore, during all the time he remained at his post, he maintained his natural superiority. He enjoyed a peace and tasted of a happiness that words cannot express to the people of today. But, as soon as he left his post, he ceased being its master, and another Agent was sent to take his place. Then, after having been disgracefully deprived of all his rights, the original human was flung headlong into the region of the fathers and mothers, where humanity has remained ever since, in the sorrow and affliction of seeing itself indiscriminately mixed with all the other Beings in Nature. pAl|

It is impossible to conceive of a more sorrowful and deplorable state than that of this unfortunate original human at the moment of his fall; for, not only did he immediately lose that formidable spear which no obstacle could resist, but the very armor that had covered him also disappeared and was replaced for a while by another armor which, not being impenetrable as the first one, became a source of continuous danger for him, so that, always having to wage the same combat, he was infinitely more exposed. However, in punishing humankind this way, his Father did not wish to deprive the original human of all hope and abandon him to the rage of his enemies. Touched by his repentance and shame, the Father promised him that he could, by his own efforts, recover his former estate; but this could only be accomplished after he had been granted the right to regain possession of that spear he had lost and which had been entrusted to the Agent who had replaced humankind in the very center it had just abandoned. It is therefore in the search for this incomparable spear that people have since had to occupy themselves and must occupy themselves every day. It is by this spear alone that they can secure the return of their rights and obtain all favors for which they were created. One must not be surprised at the resources remaining to the original human after his crime; it was the hand of a Father that punished him, and it was also the tenderness of a Father that watched over him, even when Its Justice removed him from Its presence. Since the place from which people came is regulated with so much wisdom, people, by retracing their steps along the same path that led them astray, can be certain to return to the central point of the forest, which is the only place where they can enjoy any peace and strength. In fact, having strayed by going from four to nine, people will never find their path of return except by going from nine to four. Besides, it would be wrong for them to complain of this inescapable rule; such is the Law imposed upon all Beings that inhabit the region of the fathers and mothers; and since people descended to it voluntarily, it is then necessary that they experience all the sorrows attached to it. This Law is terrible, I know, but it is nothing compared to the Law of the number fifty-six, a frightening Law; terrible for those who have exposed themselves to it, for they will only be able to arrive at sixty-four after they have experienced it in all its rigor. Such is the allegorical story of humankind: what they were at their origin and what they became after departing from their first Law. I have endeavored by this tableau to lead people to the source of all their troubles and to indicate to them, although in a mysterious way, the means necessary to remedy their condition. I must add that, although their crime and that of the evil Principle are equally the fruit of their evil desire, nevertheless it must be remarked that these crimes, one and the other, are of a very different nature and consequently they cannot be subjected to equal punishment nor attain to the same results. After all, Justice evaluates even the difference in the locations where their crimes have been committed. Therefore, people and the evil Principle are thus continually faced with their crimes, but they have neither the same help nor the same consolation. I have previously given to understand that by itself, the evil Principle can only persevere in its rebellious will until communication with the good be returned to it. But people, in spite of their condemnation, can appease Justice itself, reconcile themselves with truth, and savor its delights from time to time as if, somehow, they were not separated from it. It is true, nevertheless, to say that the crime of one as the crime of the other can only be penalized through deprivation. The sole difference exists only in the measure of this punishment. It is even more certain that this deprivation is the most terrible torment, and the only one that really could subjugate people. Pretending to lead us to Wisdom by this frightening picture of corporeal sufferings in a future life has been a great mistake, as a picture means nothing if we do not experience it. Now, these blind Masters must necessarily have little influence on us since the torment they describe can only be the product of their own imagination. If they had at least taken care to picture for humankind the remorse they must experience when they manifest evil, it would have been easier to reach them, because here on Earth it is possible for us to experience this sorrow. But how much happier would they have made us, and given us a more worthy idea of our Principle, had they been exalted enough to tell people that this Principle, being love itself, punishes people solely through love. At the same time, being love only, there is nothing left for people when it removes love from them. It is by this explanation that they would have enlightened and sustained people in making them feel that nothing should frighten them more than ceasing to experience the love of this Principle, since they do experience non-entity; and certainly, this non-entity that people can experience at any time, if presented to them in all its horror, would be an idea more effective and salutary for them, than that of those eternal torments to which, in spite of the doctrine of those ministers of blood, people always perceive an end and never a beginning. The assistance accorded to humanity for its rehabilitation, however precious it may be, nevertheless depends upon very rigorous conditions. And truly, the more glorious the rights that people lost, the more they must suffer to recover them. Finally, being subjected by their crime to the law of time, they cannot avoid experiencing its painful effects, because, having through their own will opposed all the obstacles pertaining to time, the Law demands that people cannot obtain anything, except in the measure that they experience and surmount them. It is at the moment of humanity's corporeal birth that one witnesses the beginning of the troubles which await them. It is then that they show all the signs of the most shameful reprobation. They are born like a vile insect in corruption and filth; they are born amidst the suffering and cries of their mother, as if it were a disgrace for her to give birth. Now, what a lesson it is for the child to realize that for all mothers, childbirth is the most painful and the most dangerous! But no sooner does the child take her first breath that she is covered with tears and tormented by the most acute pains. The first steps that she takes in life proclaim that she has come only to suffer and that she is truly the child of crime and sorrow. If, on the contrary, humanity had not been guilty, birth would have been the first feeling of happiness and peace. Seeing the light, the child would celebrate its splendor by transports of rapture and tributes of praises directed towards the Principle of his happiness. Not troubled regarding the legitimacy of his origin, without anxiety concerning the stability of his fate, he would have enjoyed all of its delights because he would have known and experienced its advantages. 0, Humanity! Shed bitter tears on the enormity of thy crime, which has so horribly changed thy condition. Tremble at the thought of the fatal decree that condemns thy posterity to be born in torment and humiliation when it should have known only glory and continuous happiness. From the first years of their elementary existence, a person's situation becomes much more frightening, because she has as yet only experienced bodily suffering, whereas now she will experience mental suffering. As her corporeal envelope has been, until now, the target of the force of elements before having acquired the minimum strength necessary for her defense, so her thoughts will be beset at an age when, not having yet exercised her will, error can most easily seduce her, carrying its attacks through a thousand paths, even to the source, to corrupt the tree in its roots. It is certain that a person then commences a career so painful and perilous that if succor did not follow the same progression for him, he should infallibly succumb. But the same hand that has given him birth neglects nothing for his preservation. In proportion to his advancement in age, as the obstacles multiply and oppose the exercise of his faculties, so in the same proportion his corporeal envelope acquires consistency. In other words, his new armor gains strength and becomes more powerful against the attacks of his enemies, until at last - the intellectual temple of the person having been erected - this envelope becomes useless and destroys itself, leaving the edifice revealed and beyond reach. It is therefore evident that this material body which covers us, is the organ of all our misfortunes. Therefore, it is this body which, forming dense limitations to our sight and all our faculties, keeps us in deprivation and suffering. Therefore, I must no longer conceal that the joining of a person to that gross envelope is the very penalty to which she has been subjected temporally by her crime, since we see the horrible effects it causes her to experience from the moment it covers her to the moment it is removed from her. This is how the trials are commenced and perpetuated, without which a person cannot re-establish her former connection with the Light. But in spite of the shadows which this material body spreads around us, we are also obliged to admit that it serves as a protection and safeguard against the dangers surrounding us, and that, without this envelope we would be infinitely more exposed. This, undoubtedly, has been the understanding of wise people throughout the ages. Their primary concern has been to guard themselves ceaselessly against the illusions presented by this body. They have despised it, because it is despicable by its nature; they have feared it, because of the fatal effects of the attacks to which it exposed them, and they have all known perfectly well that, for them, it was the way of error and falsehood. But experience has also taught them that it is the channel through which people receive the knowledge and the lights of Truth; they have sensed that since it serves us as a coverage, and our thought is not even ours, it is necessary that our ideas, all originating externally, reach us through this envelope, and that our corporeal senses be its first organs. Now, it is in relation to this subject that people, through their quick and superficial judgments, began to abandon themselves to the fatal errors that have produced the most horrible ideas in their imagination. From this the materialists have derived that humiliating system of sensations that brings people down beneath the level of the beast, since the latter, never receiving more than one impulse at a time, is not apt to go astray. On the contrary, after having been placed between opposites, people could, according to this opinion, abandon themselves indifferently to all the impressions that would affect them while remaining at peace. But according to the lights of justice that we have already recognized in humankind, it is impossible for us to adopt those degrading opinions. We have demonstrated that a person, being in charge of his own conduct, must account for all his actions. I certainly would not at present permit him to be deprived of such a sublime privilege that elevates him so far above all creatures. Nothing, therefore, will prevent me from assuring my fellow people that this error is the most astute and dangerous ruse that could have been employed to arrest them in their course and lead them astray. It would create the most hopeless incertitude for a traveler to encounter two opposite roads without knowing where they would lead her. However, by observing the road she has already traveled, recalling her point of departure and that which is her goal, she would perhaps be able to arrive at a decision and make the right choice by combining the results of her observations. But if someone appeared before her and informed her that it was absolutely useless to take so much trouble to determine the true road, that those offered to her view led equally to her destination and that she could follow one or the other indifferently, then the traveler's situation would become more vexatious and embarrassing than when she was limited to her own counsel. It would really be impossible for her to deny the opposition she would perceive between these two roads. 2D

The first impression that would then come to her mind would be to guard against the advice given her and to persuade herself that an attempt was being made to entrap her. Such is, however, the actual situation of humankind, relative to the obscurities that the authors of the systems of sensations have spread over their careers. Proclaiming to a person that he has no other law than that of his senses, and that he can have no other guide, is to tell him that he would attempt in vain to make a choice among the objects his senses present to him, since these senses themselves are subject to variance in their action. Thus, being unable to direct the nature of this action, this person would attempt uselessly to direct its courses and its effects. But like the traveler, people cannot refute their own conviction. They truly perceive that the senses bring everything to them, but at the same time, they are forced to admit that among the things the senses bring to them, some are good and some are evil. Why, therefore, should people distrust those who would divert them from making a choice, by insinuating that all these things are either indifferent or of the same nature? Should they not resent this insinuation with the most vigorous indignation and set themselves on guard against such dangerous masters? It is nevertheless, I repeat, the common attempt which is made against the thought of people; it is at the same time the most fascinating and that which the evil Principle draws upon to the best advantage. If it is possible to hold a person to the conviction that she does not have any choice to make among things of the environment, it could easily be conveyed to her the horrible uncertainty and disorder in which she has found herself involved by the privation which is the whole Law. But if Justice always watches over a person, it must be that it is for him the means of discerning the stratagems of his enemy, and of frustrating, when he wishes, all of his enterprises, without which he would only be punished by being taken by surprise. These means are well founded upon its own nature, which cannot provide more changes than the same nature of the Principle from which it comes. Thus, its own essence will be incompatible with falsehood, making known to it sooner or later its misuse and restoring it naturally to Truth. I will employ, therefore, these same means which to me are common to all people so as to show them the danger and absurdity of that injurious belief to their good fortune and which is suitable only to overwhelm them in wickedness and despair. I have sufficiently proven by our sufferings that we are undisciplined; also I address myself to the Materialists and I ask how they can blind themselves sufficiently so as to see in a person a mere machine? I desire at least that they will have the great benefit of seeing an active machine and to experience it from its Principle of action, for if it were purely passive it would receive all and produce nothing. In that case, as soon as it manifests some activity, it has at least the power within it to make this manifestation, and I do not believe that anyone maintains this power by sensations. Moreover, I believe that without this innate power in humankind, it would be impossible either for a person to acquire or to preserve the knowledge of each thing, which can undoubtedly be observed in Beings lacking in discernment. It is clear, therefore, that people carry within them the seeds of light and of truths of which they so frequently offer testimony. And would there be anything more to overthrow these rash principles by which one is intended to be degraded? I know that at first consideration, it could be pointed out to me that not only animals, but all corporeal Beings also perform an exterior action, from which it should be concluded that all these Beings have something within themselves, and are not mere machines. Then, I will be asked, what is the difference between their Principle of action and that which is in people? That difference will be easily perceived by those willing to observe it carefully, and my readers will recognize it with me by fixing their sight for a moment on the cause of this error. Certain Beings are intelligent only; others are sensate only. Humankind is one and the other at the same time. In this lies the answer to the enigma. These different classes of Beings each possess a different Principle of action. Humankind alone possesses both, and whosoever does not confuse them will be certain to discover the solution to all difficulties. Due to his origin, people have enjoyed all the rights of an intelligent Being, although they are clothed in an envelope, because there is not a single being that can exist without one in the temporal world. And now, having already hinted at it, I will hereby willingly admit that the impenetrable armor of which I have previously spoken was none other than this first envelope of humankind. Why was it impenetrable? It was because, being invariable and simple by reason of the superiority of its nature, it could not be subject to decomposition, and the law of elementary assemblage had absolutely no power over it. Since its fall, humanity has found itself clothed in a corruptible envelope. Because of its complexity, it is subject to the different actions of the senses which only operate in succession and consequently destroy one another. Yet, by their subjection to the senses, people have not lost their quality as intelligent Beings, so that they are simultaneously great and small, mortal and immortal, always free in the intellectual but bound to the corporeal by laws independent of their will; in a word, being an assemblage of two diametrically opposed Natures, people alternately demonstrate their effects in a manner so distinct that it is impossible to misinterpret them. If a modern-day person only had material senses, as the human systems endeavor to establish, one would always perceive the same characteristics in all her actions, and it would be that of the senses. In other words, like beasts, whenever she became excited by her corporeal desires, she would make every effort to satisfy them without ever resisting their impulses, except to surrender to a stronger impulse, which by now must be considered the only active one, and, always originating from the senses, which manifests in the senses and always pertains to the senses. Why then can a person depart from the Law of the senses? Why can he refuse to yield to their demands? Why, when pressed by hunger, is he nevertheless still the master and free to refuse the most delicious dishes proffered to him? Why allow himself to be tormented, overcome, even destroyed by want, and this while in full view of that which would be the most likely to pacify him? Why, I repeat, is there within people a will by which they can oppose their senses, if there is not within each of them more than one Being? And, can two such contrary actions, although manifesting together, be derived from the same source? In vain would a person protest to me that when her will acts thus, it is because it is determined by some motive. I have given sufficient explanation when speaking of liberty, that the will of a person, being a cause itself, must have the privilege to determine things by itself alone and without motive. Otherwise, it could not assume the designation of will. But, supposing that in the case under consideration her will was, in effect, determined by a motive. The existence of the two Natures of humankind would nonetheless be evident as it would always be necessary to seek the motive elsewhere rather than in the action of the senses, since her will manifests contrary to it. Even though her body endeavors always to exist and live, a person can desire that it suffer, exhaust itself, and die. This dual action of humankind is therefore a convincing proof that there exists within each person more than one Principle. On the other hand, Beings that are sensate only ever exhibit the attributes inherent to their being. It is necessary, in truth, that they have the power to convey and manifest whatever the sensations produce in them; otherwise, all that would be communicated to them would be nothing and would produce no effect. But I have no fear of being mistaken when I state that the most beautiful affections of animals, their most orderly actions, never go beyond the sensate. Animals have, in common with all Beings in Nature, individuality to preserve, and along with the life they receive, all the powers necessary to attain that object, in spite of the dangers to which they must be exposed according to their species during the course of their existence, be it in the means by which they procure their food, be it in the circumstances that accompany their reproduction, and in all the other events that multiply and vary according to the classes of these Beings, as it does for each individual. But I ask if one has ever perceived in animals any action that did not have for its sole end their corporeal well-being, and if they have ever manifested anything that was a true indication of intelligence? What deceives most people in this regard is to observe that among animals, there are several that are susceptible to being trained in performing acts that are not natural to them; they learn, they remember, they even at times act according to what they have learned and what their memory recalls to them. This observation could in fact hinder us but for the principles we have established. I have said that when animals manifest something outwardly in any way, it was necessary for them to have an active inner Principle, without which they would not exist. But this Principle I have declared as having only the sensate as a guide and the conservation of the corporeal body as an object. A person either beats or feeds animals, and it is by these two methods that he succeeds in training them and thereby directs them at will. As the active Principle of the animal tends toward the maintenance of its Being, it is only with effort that it is prompted to carry out acts it would never have performed had it been left to its own Law. A person, through fear or the appeal of food, urges and obliges the animal to extend and augment its action. It is therefore evident that this Principle, being active and sensible, is susceptible to receiving impressions. If it can receive impressions, it can also conserve them, as to do so requires only that the same impression remains and continues its action. Then, receiving and conserving impressions is, in effect, to prove that the animal is susceptible to habit. We can, therefore, safely recognize that the active Principle of animals is capable of acquiring the habit of different acts through the industry of people; for be it in the acts that the animal performs naturally, be it in those for which it is trained, one cannot perceive either any conduct or any combination in which the sensible was not the aim and motive of all. Now, then, whatever marvels the animal displays before my eyes, I will certainly find it very admirable, but my admiration will not go so far as to recognize in it an intelligent Being, whereas, I see only in it a sensible Being since, after all, the sensible is not intelligent. To better understand the difference between animals and intelligent Beings, it is necessary to consider the classes existing below this same animal, such as the plants and the mineral. When these inferior classes produce exterior acts such as growth, fructification, generation, and so on, we cannot doubt that they have in common with the animal an active Principle innate in them, and from which emanates all their different actions. Nevertheless, although we perceive in them a living Law which tends forcefully to its accomplishment, we have never seen them exhibit the least sign of pain, pleasure, fear, or desire-all of these emotions being characteristic of animals. From this we can state that, as there exists a considerable difference between animals and inferior Beings in their Principles, although they both have the vegetative faculty, so humankind has in common with animals an active Principle, susceptible to corporeal and sensate affections, but a person is essentially distinguished by her intellectual Principle, which eliminates all comparison between her and animals. Humankind has been thought to be no different from the inferior and sensate Principle to which it is attached for a limited time. There has been, therefore, confusion concerning the different links composing present-day people due solely to the concept of universal concatenation in which a Being is always linked to the one following it and the one preceding it. What confidence, then, can we have in those systems which the imagination of humankind has created regarding such matters when we see them erected upon a base so evidently false? And what stronger proof can we desire than that of feeling and experience? At this time, I will enter into some detail concerning the distinctions and concatenations of the three kingdoms of nature, and I will endeavor to substantiate the principles we have just established regarding the differences in Beings, no matter what their affinities. I warn, however, that these discussions are unrelated to people, and it is unfortunate that they feel the need of these proofs to understand themselves and to believe in their own nature, since it carries in itself much more visible proof than they can discover in their observations upon sensate and material objects. Human science does not furnish any positive rule for the orderly classification of the three kingdoms. It will never be possible to arrive at a correct classification except by following an order that conforms to Nature. In this case, it is first necessary to include in the rank of animals all corporeal Beings that carry within themselves the whole of the Principle of their fructification. Consequently, by having only one principle, they do not need to be joined to the earth to cause this action, but obtain their corporeal form by the heat of the female of their species. They acquire it either in the womb of that same female or by the exterior heat she communicates to them, as happens in the fructification of oviparous animals either by acquiring it by the heat of the sun or by some other heat. Secondly, it is necessary to place within the rank of plants all Beings that, having their generative organ in the earth, fructify by the action of two agents and manifest a production either outside of, or within, this same earth. Finally, one must consider as minerals all Beings that have their generative organ in the earth and obtain their growth and vegetation therefrom. But, being a product of the action of three agents, they cannot exhibit any sign of reproduction, because they are only passive, and the three actions that constitute them are not of their own being. After establishing these rules, it is necessary to observe whether a Being secures its substance from the elements of the earth or if it exists upon the products of the earth so as to ascertain whether it is plant or animal. If it is attached to the earth, and dies when detached from it, it is plant. If it is not bound to this same earth, although feeding upon its products, it is animal, no matter what its means of corporeality. I know the difference between plants and minerals is infinitely more difficult to ascertain than the difference between plants and animals, because there exists between plants and minerals so great an affinity, and, moreover, they have so many faculties in common, that it is not always easy to separate them. This difficulty arises from the fact that the differences between the species of all corporeal Beings always occur in a quaternary geometrical proportion. In the true order of all things, the higher the degree of the powers is raised, the more the power is weakened, because it is then further removed from the primary power from which all subsequent powers are emanated. Thus, the first phases of the progression, being closer to the root phase, possess more active properties from which, consequently, more sensate effects result and are thereby more easily distinguished. As this force in the faculties diminishes to the same degree that the phases of the progression multiply, it becomes clear that the results of the final phases must show only somewhat imperceptible nuances. This is why it is more difficult to distinguish between minerals and plants than between plants and animals, because it is within the mineral that is found the final phase of the progression of created things. It is necessary to apply the same principle to all Beings that seem to be intermediary between the different kingdoms and appear to connect them, because the progression of numbers is continuous and without limit or separation. To thoroughly know the power of any phases whatsoever of the progression under consideration, it would at least be necessary to know one of the roots, and this is one of the things that humanity lost when it was deprived of its first estate. In fact, nowadays people do not know the root of any number, because they do not know the first of all roots, as will be seen subsequently. It is equally necessary to apply the principle of the quaternary progression to Beings that are above matter, because it can be observed with the same exactitude and in a manner even more noticeable, in that they are not so far removed from the primary phase of this progression. But few people would understand me in the application I could make of it to this class; thus, my intent and obligations prevent me from speaking about it openly. If people had a chemistry by which they could know the true Principles of bodies without decomposing them, they would see that fire is the property of animals, water is the property of plants, and earth is the property of minerals. They would then have even more certain signs by which to recognize the true nature of Beings, and they would no longer be embarrassed in discerning their rank and class. I will not pause to call to people attention to the notion that these three elements, which must serve as signs in separating the different kingdoms, cannot exist separately and independently of the other two. I presume that this concept is common enough so that I do not have to recall here that although fire predominates in the animal, water and earth must also necessarily exist as is the case in the other two kingdoms, where the dominant Principle must of necessity be accompanied by the other two Principles. This observation applies with the same accuracy to all minerals, even mercury, although certain alchemists do not find any fire in it. But they should give their attention to the fact that the mineral mercury has of yet only received the second operation and therefore, although it has within itself an elementary fire as have all corporeal Beings, this fire is insensate until a superior fire agitates it-this being the third operation that I will demonstrate as necessary to complete all corporeality. This is why mercury, although having an elementary fire, is nevertheless the coldest body in nature. I repeat, I have allowed myself to go into so much detail solely to defend the nature of humankind. I have desired to show to those who degrade people by including them indiscriminately with t animals that, in this regard, they fall into an unpardonable error even when considering the purely elementary Beings, since we perceive infinite differences from one kingdom to another, although all these kingdoms do possess fundamental similarities. We see that in all classes, the inferior has no part of that which manifests in a particular manner within the superior. Thus, since we have not perceived any signs of intelligence in corporeal Beings lower than people, we cannot deny acknowledging that, here on Earth, humans are the only beings favored with this sublime advantage, even though by their elementary form, they find themselves subject to the sensate and to all the material emotions of the animal. Therefore, those who have attempted to deprive humankind of its most sublime rights, by using as a basis for their conclusions humankind's subjection and connections to the corporeal body which envelops it, have simply presented as proof a truth that we recognize as well as they do, as we all know that people do not receive any light except through the senses. But they have remained in darkness because they have not pursued their observations further, and they have thus drawn the multitude into the darkness with them. In the unfortunate condition of modern people, no idea can, in fact, make itself felt within them, except when being received by the senses. It must also be admitted that, not being always able to control the objects and the Beings that act upon their senses, they cannot hereby be held responsible for the ideas originating within them. Therefore, recognizing that we have a good Principle and an evil Principle, and consequently, a Principle of good thoughts and a Principle of evil thoughts, we should not be surprised to find that people cannot avoid sensing them when exposed to one or the other. This is what has caused observers to believe that all our thoughts and intellectual faculties had no other origin than that of our senses. But by blending into one single Being the two Beings which compose contemporary people, and not having perceived in them these two opposed actions that manifest so clearly the different Principles thereof, they only recognize in them one sort of sense, and they vaguely regard all manifestations as having derived from their faculty of feeling. However, in keeping with what we have disclosed, we need only open our eyes to recognize that modem people, having within themselves two different Beings to control and, in fact, not being able to know the needs of one or the other except through the senses, this faculty must of necessity be dual, since they themselves are dual. Moreover, what person is blind enough not to discover within himself a sensory a2

faculty relative to the intellectual, and a sensory faculty relative to the corporeal? And should it not be admitted that this distinction, taken from Nature itself, would have clarified all errors? Nevertheless, I must say that in this work I shall make use of the words senses and sensibilities in their corporeal connotation most of the time, and when I shall speak of the intellectual senses it will be in such a way that it is impossible for anyone to confuse one with the other. Secondly, from whatever point of view observers have considered the sensory faculty of people, had they better weighed their system they would have seen that our senses are really the organs of our thoughts, but not their origin. This undoubtedly constitutes too great a difference to render it excusable for one not to have perceived it. Yes, such is our torment that no thought can reach us immediately and without the help of our senses, which are necessary organs in our present state, but if we have recognized in people an active and intelligent Principle that so perfectly distinguishes them from other Beings, that Principle must have within itself its own faculties. Whereas, the only one, the usage of which has remained with us in our painful situation, is that innate will within us that people had enjoyed during their glory and which they still enjoy after their fall. Since it is through this faculty that people went astray, it is through the sole force of this will that they can hope to be reestablished in their primal rights. It is this will which absolutely preserves them from any attempt to plunge them over the precipice, and it preserves them from belief in that nothingness to which their nature would be reduced. In other words, it is through this will that people, unable to prevent good and evil from communication with them, are nonetheless responsible for the usage they make of this will in relation to either one. They cannot avoid being offered, but they can choose and choose well; and at this time, I will not furnish any proof other than that when people suffer and are punished, it is because they have chosen wrongly. The intelligent reader for whom I write cannot ignore that the torment and suffering of which I desire to speak are of a very different nature from the passing misfortune, either corporeal or conventional, that are the only ones known to the multitude. Therefore, all the attacks that have been directed against the dignity of people are no longer of any value to us; otherwise, it would be necessary to destroy the basic and most solid foundation of Justice that we previously established, as well as the invariable concepts that we know to be common to all people, and which no intelligent and reasonable Being could ever revoke by reason of doubt. I will not stop to examine whether in the ordinary conduct of people, their will always awaits a decisive reason to determine itself, or whether it is directed by the sole attraction of emotion. I believe it is susceptible to both motives, and I will say that, for the regularity of their progress, people must not exclude either of these two means. To the extent that reflection without sentiment would render people cold and immovable, to that same extent sentiment without reflection would be apt to lead them astray. But I repeat, these questions are extraneous to my subject, and I believe them to be improper and fruitless. Thus, I leave to the school of metaphysics the task of discovering how the will determines itself and acts. It is sufficient for people to recognize that it always acts freely, that this freedom is an additional misfortune for them and the reason for all their sufferings whenever they abandon the Laws that should direct it. Let us return to our subject. Although we have recognized that all Beings necessarily have something within themselves, without which they would not have either life, existence, or action, we do not admit that they all have the same thing. Even though this Law of an innate Principle is unique and universal, we will certainly refrain from saying such Principles are equal and act uniformly in all Beings since, on the contrary, our observations cause us to recognize an essential difference between them, and especially between the innate Principles within the three material kingdoms and the sacred Principle with which humankind alone is favored among all the Beings composing this Universe. Therefore, this superiority of the active and intelligent Principle in people must no longer surprise us, if we remember the property of this quaternary progression that fixes the rank and the faculties of Beings and ennobles their essence in proportion to their proximity to the primary phase of the progression. People are the second power of this universal primary generative phase, whereas the active Principle of matter is only the third. Is anything more needed to recognize that it is absolutely impossible to acknowledge any equality between them? Therefore, the source of the systems injurious to people arises from the fact that their authors have not distinguished the nature of our emotions. On one hand they have attributed to our intellectual Being the movements of the sensate Being, and on the other hand, they have confused the acts of the intelligence with material impulsions, limited in their principles as in their effects. It is not surprising that having thus distorted people, they discover in them a resemblance to the animal, and that alone is what they find in them. It is not surprising, I repeat, that having stifled all ideas and reflections within people by this means, far from enlightening them upon good and evil, they continuously keep them in doubt and ignorance regarding their own nature, since they obliterate from their eyes the only difference that could shed any light upon it. But, after having indicated as we have that people were both intelligent and sensate, we must observe that these two different faculties must necessarily manifest within them through different ways and signs, and that the emotions which are particular to them, being not at all the same, cannot in any way manifest in the same manner. The primary object of a person should therefore be to continually observe the infinite difference that is found between these two faculties and between the emotions characterizing them. Since they manifest together in nearly all these actions, nothing can appear more important to a person than distinguishing accurately that which belongs to one or the other. In fact, during the short span of a person's corporeal life, the intellectual faculty, being joined to the sensory faculty, can receive absolutely nothing except through the channel of this sensory faculty; and in turn the inferior and sensory faculty must always be directed by the accuracy and regularity of the intellectual faculty. Consequently, one perceives that, in such an intimate union, if a person ceases to be on guard for an instant, she will be unable to distinguish between these two natures, and from then on, she will not know where to find the proofs of order and truth. Moreover, as each of these faculties is capable of receiving good impressions and evil impressions apart from the other, people are exposed at every instant to the danger of confusing not only the sensate with the intellectual, but also that which can be advantageous or harmful to one or the other. I shall examine the consequences and effects of this danger attached to the present situation of humankind. I shall unveil the errors to which people's negligence in discerning their different faculties have led them, as much upon the Principle of things as upon the works of Nature. I shall also discourse upon those works and principles that have come out of their own hands and imagination. Divine, intellectual and physical sciences, the civic and natural duties of people, the arts, legislation, any institutions or establishments, are all encompassed in the subject that occupies my attention. I do not even fear to say that I consider this inquiry to be an obligation for me, because if the ignorance and obscurity into which we have fallen regarding these important points are not part of people's essence, but instead the natural effects of their first errors and of all those that have proceeded from them, it is people's duty to attempt to turn once again toward the light they have abandoned. And if this knowledge was their lot before their fall, it has not been absolutely lost to them, since it continually flows from that inexhaustible source from which they originated. In other words, regardless of the state of obscurity in which they languish, if people can always hope to perceive the Truth, and if only courage and effort are needed for them to attain truth, it would be holding it in scorn not to make use of all the power within us to draw closer to it. The continual use I make in this work of the words faculties, actions, causes, principles, agents, properties, and virtues will undoubtedly reawaken the contempt and scorn of my century for the occult qualities. However, it would be unjust to apply this name to this doctrine solely because it offers nothing to the senses. That which is occult to the eyes of the body is that which they do not see; that which is occult to the intelligence is that which it does not conceive. In this sense, I ask if there is anything more occult to the eyes ai)

or to the intelligence than the notions generally received upon all the objects that I have just enumerated? They explain matter by matter; they explain people by the senses; they explain the Author of all things by the elementary Nature. Thus, the eyes of the body, seeing only assemblages, search in vain for the elementary Principles proclaimed to them, and not ever being able to perceive them, it is clear that they have been misled. A person sees in his senses the play of his organs, but does not recognize in them his intelligence. Finally, the visible Nature presents to the eyes the work of a great Artist, but by not offering to the intelligence the reason of things, it leads to ignorance of the Justice of the Master, the tenderness of the Father, and all the counsel of the Sovereign. Thus, one cannot deny that these explanations are absolutely nil and without truth, since they always need to be replaced by new explanations. If I only apply myself to further remove from all these objects the envelopes that have darkened them, if I but turn the thoughts of people solely upon the true Principle of all things, my progress is therefore less obscure than that of the observers. And, in fact, if they truly have any aversion to occult qualities, they should begin by changing their course, as most certainly there is no course more occult and dark than that in which they would lead us.

## Chapter 2 - Universal Source of Errors

Everything that I have said about people - considering their origin and first splendor, their impure will that caused his fall and the distressing situation in which they have placed themselves - will be confirmed by the observations that we will make concerning their conduct and the opinions that they create daily. One may make the same observations regarding the original purity, the degradation, and the actual torments of the Principle that has become evil. The course of all these deviations is uniform. The primary errors, those that have followed and those which will follow, have had, and will have everlastingly, the same causes. In other words, the errors of people and of all other Beings that are clothed with the privilege of Liberty must always be attributed to the evil will, because, as I have already said, it is necessary to consider the consequences so as to demonstrate that the principle of any action is legitimate. If a person is unhappy, she is unquestionably guilty, because she cannot be unhappy unless she is free. Undoubtedly, I could have been stopped at this proposition by having my attention drawn to the sufferings of animals, but that objection has not escaped me, and since I can demonstrate it without interrupting my subject, I will apply myself to that end before embarking upon my main theme. I know that, as a sensate Being, an animal suffers, and thus, in a way, it can be considered unfortunate. But I beg the reader to observe whether the description of "unfortunate" would not pertain with more reason to Beings who, knowing that they should be happy by their nature, experience inwardly the despair of not being happy. In this regard, it could not be applied to the animal that belongs here on Earth and is not created for any state of well-being other than that of the senses. Therefore, when the well-being of an animal is disturbed, it suffers without a doubt as a sensate Being, but it perceives nothing beyond its sufferings. It bears them and even attempts to stop them, but only through the action of the sense faculty, and without being able to realize that another condition may exist. In other words, the animal does not possess that which causes unhappiness in people, this remorse and the necessity of attributing its sufferings to itself as people do. How could it do so? It does not act by its own will, but rather, it is caused to act. However, it still remains to be determined why the animal suffers and why it is so often deprived of the sensate well-being that would make it happy in its own way. I could give the reason for this difficulty, were I permitted to expound upon the relationship of things and to show to what extent evil has gained through the errors of people. However, this is a point that I will simply indicate; and so for the present, it will suffice to say that the earth is no longer virgin, which exposes it and its fruits to all the evils resulting from the loss of Virginity. We can therefore state with reason that there cannot be any truly unhappy Being except a free Being, to which I will add that if a person has freely plunged himself into sorrow and suffering, this same freedom imposes upon him the continual obligation to work towards the reparation of his crime. The more he is negligent on this point, the more he will render himself guilty and, consequently, the more he will become unhappy. Let us return to our subject. To guide us in the important examination that we propose to undertake, and which is today essentially part of a person's appointed work, let us note that the principal cause of all our errors in the sciences is not having observed one Law of two distinct actions, which manifests universally in all Beings in Creation and often plunges people into uncertainty. However, we should not be surprised to see that each Being here on Earth is subject to this dual action, since we have previously recognized two very distinct natures or opposed Principles, whose power has manifested itself since the beginning of things and continually makes itself felt in all Creation. Of these two Principles, only one is real and truly necessary, since after One, we no longer are aware of anything. Thus, the second Principle, although requiring the action of the first in creation, can certainly have neither weight, number, nor measure, since these Laws belong to the very Essence of the first Principle. One, stable and permanent, possesses life within itself and by itself; the other, irregular and without law, possesses only apparent and illusory effects for the intelligence that would allow itself to be deceived. If, therefore, it is a dual reason that has been the cause of the birth and the temporal life of the Universe, as we are intimating, it is necessary that particular bodies follow the same Law and can neither reproduce themselves nor exist without the help of a dual action. However, the dual reason directing the bodies and all matter is not the same as that dual reason resulting from the opposition of the two Principles. This one is purely intellectual and only takes its source in the contrary will of these two Beings. When either one acts upon the sensate and the corporeal, it is always with an intellectual purpose in view, in other words, to destroy the intellectual action that is opposed to it. This does not apply to the dual action ruling over Nature. This dual nature is attached only to corporeal Beings and serves as much for their reproduction as for their preservation. It is pure, in that it is directed by a third action which renders it orderly. In other words, this is the necessary means established by the source of all powers for the construction of all its material works. Although there is nothing impure in this dual reason attached to all corporeal things, and neither one of the phases is evil, nevertheless, one of them is permanent and imperishable, and the other is only fleeting and momentary. For this reason, the latter is not real to the intelligence, although its effects are real to the eyes of the body. It will thus advance us considerably if we succeed in distinguishing the nature and the results of these two different phases, or of these two different Laws which support corporeal creation; because if we learn to recognize their action in all temporal things, it will be one more way to untangle them in ourselves. In fact, we cannot conceive the extent to which the errors that are committed daily relative to our Being are closely related to those that are made regarding corporeal Beings and matter. And the person who would have the intelligence to judge the bodies would soon have that which 1s necessary to judge a person. The first error that was introduced in this regard was to make material Nature a separate class and study. Although people have perceived that this branch was alive and active, they have looked upon it as being separated from the trunk. By continually applying themselves to this dangerous examination, the trunk in turn has appeared to them so far removed from the branch that they no longer felt the need of its existence, or if they did at least recognize its existence, they have seen it only as an isolated Being, the voice of which loses itself in the distance and need not even be heard so as to conceive and accomplish the progression and the Laws of material Nature. If we limited ourselves, as they have, to considering this Nature by itself and as acting without the mediation of an exterior Principle, we could, it is true, easily perceive its sensory and apparent Laws. But we could not say that our concept was complete, since it would always remain for us to recognize its real Principle, which is visible only to the intelligence by which everything in existence is necessarily governed, and of which the sensory and apparent Laws are only the result. On the other hand, if during our sojourn among the Beings of this material Nature, we wanted to remove them entirely from our research in an endeavor to arrive at the invisible Principle, we would have to avoid keeping ourselves too far above the path we must follow, as we would then be unable to attain the object of our desires and obtain only part of the lights intended for us. We must sense the disadvantages of these two extremes. They are such that when we devote ourselves to either one, we can be assured of experiencing no success. If we neglect either of these Laws in our search for the other, we will only have a false idea of both, because their actual relationship is indispensable, although it may not always be manifested. Finally, endeavoring today to elevate ourselves to the primary superior and invisible Principle, without the support of matter, is to offend and tempt the latter. Likewise, endeavoring to know matter by excluding this first Principle and the virtues it employs to maintain it is the most absurd impiety. It is not that people can never be destined to have perfect knowledge of the first Principle without being obliged to combine it with the study of matter, much as there was a period after their fall when people were entirely subjected to this Law of matter, without their being able to think of the existence of the first Principle. But, during this intermediary passage accorded to us of being placed between the two extremes, we must not lose sight of either one or the other if we do not want to go astray. The second error is that since people have been held in the sensate region, they have, it is true, searched for the Principle of matter because they cannot doubt that it has one. However, by confusing the two Laws in this search, they have wanted that the Principle of matter must be as obvious as matter itself. They have wanted to submit both of them to the measure of their corporeal eyes. Now, a corporeal measure can only apply to an area. An area is but an assemblage, and consequently a composite Being, and if a person persisted in believing that the Principle of the area or of matter is the same as matter itself, it would then be necessary that this Principle be extended and composed in the same way as matter. Then, it is true that the eyes of her body could calculate its dimensions, according to the limits of her faculties, and yet not have advanced any further. In order to measure correctly, it would be necessary for her to have a base for her measurements, but she has none. Yet we are certainly far from entertaining a similar idea of the Principle of matter when we compare it to that which we already have of a Principle in general. All those who have attempted to explain the nature of a Principle have been unable to avoid stating that it must be indivisible, incommensurable, and absolutely different from that which matter presents to our eyes. Even mathematicians and geometricians, although acting solely by means of their senses and having only the area as their objective, contribute to the support of this definition. As truly material as is this mathematical point which they make the basis of their work, they are obliged to clothe it with all the properties of the immaterial Being; otherwise their science would not, as yet, have begun. Thus, can an indivisible and incommensurable Being, such as we sense must conceive all Principles, be to us anything other than a simple Being? Certainly, we cannot doubt that material appearances are, on the contrary, divisible and subject to sensate measure. Consequently, matter is not therefore a simple Being, and it cannot be its own Principle. It would therefore be absurd to attempt confounding matter itself with the Principle of matter. Concerning this subject, I must call attention to the obscurities in which this false method of considering material bodies has plunged the multitude. Common people have believed that by mutilating, dividing, and subdividing matter, they have actually mutilated, divided, and subdivided the Principle and essence of matter. Believing that only the limits of their corporeal organs prevented them from going as far as their thoughts in this operation, they have imagined that this division was essentially possible beyond that which they themselves could operate, and they have believed that matter was divisible ad infinitum. They have then regarded it as indestructible and, consequently, as eternal. It is definitely by having confounded matter with the Principle of matter that these errors have been almost universally adopted. In reality, dividing the forms of matter is not dividing its essence, or, to better express it, separating the diverse parts of which all bodies are composed is not dividing nor decomposing matter, because each of the material parts resulting from this division remain intact in their material appearance, and consequently, in their essence and in the number of the Principles that constitute all matter. Therefore, by what strange blindness have people come to believe that they really divided matter by modifying the dimensions of bodies? Is it not easy to see that all the operations of people in this regard are limited to the transposition and separation of that which was joined; and in order that matter be decomposed by their hand, would it not be because it was they who had composed it? Thus, I only see here the limits and weakness of the faculties of people. They are impeded by the invincible force of the Principle of matter, because we know that they can vary corporeal figures and forms at will, as these forms are but an assemblage of different particles and, for this reason, possess none of the properties of Unity. But after all, not one of these particles can be destroyed by people, because if the Principle supporting these particles is not a composite, it cannot be subject to any division in its essence. In this sense, not only is matter not divisible ad infinitum as stated by common opinion, but it is not even possible for the hand of a person to commence or operate the first or slightest division upon it, thus providing new evidence to demonstrate that the corporeal Principle is one and undivided, and is, consequently, not matter. What I have said regarding the mathematician's method must have made apparent the difference existing between their progress and that of Nature. The science of mathematics, offering through their hands only a false copy of true science, has for its foundation and results only relationships, upon which, having once established their suppositions, the consequences are found to be justified and suitable to the object they propose. In other words, mathematicians cannot go astray because they do not depart from their circle but only turn upon a pivot; thus, all their steps return them to the point from which they started. In fact, regardless of the height of their edifice, one perceives that it is equal in all its parts, and there is not the slightest difference between the materials which serve for the foundation and those from which they build the highest stories. Therefore, what can they teach us? Nature, on the contrary, having a true and infinite Being for its Principle, produces facts that resemble it. These facts are the envelope by which nature conceals itself from our eyes, and although temporary they are so manifold, varied, and active, that we perceive clearly enough that their source must be inexhaustible. More ample observations will be found further along in this work regarding mathematical science and the use that should be made of it so as to attain knowledge of Nature and of that which lies above it. We will add here another truth that will support all those we have established to prove to what extent matter is inferior to the Principle which serves as its basis and produces it. First, I beg all observers to examine whether it is not universally certain, in any order of generation whatsoever, that the production can never be equal to the Principle which generated it. This truth is continually realized in the order of material generation, although later, when growing, the fruits and the production of this class equal and even surpass in force and grandeur the individual that has engendered them. As the class of these individuals is subject to the Law of time, the old individual withers away as its fruit advances toward the time of its growth and perfection. However, at the moment of generation, this fruit is necessarily inferior to the individual from which it has proceeded, since it is from this individual that it secures its life and action. I do not fear to assert that in whatever class we pursue our researches, we will find the application of this truth; and from this we can state confidently that it is with good reason we have proclaimed it as being universal. Moreover, we must also agree that this truth is applicable to matter in relation to its Principle, because, if we can see the birth of matter, we cannot deny that it has been engendered; and if it has been engendered, it is, like all Beings, inferior to its generative Principle. One is already well advanced to have recognized the superiority of the Principle of matter over matter, and to sense that they cannot both be of the same nature. In this way we find ourselves protected from the bold judgments that have been rashly pronounced upon this subject and which, due to the authority of the Masters who have been their proponents, have become as Laws for the majority of people. We are all freed from believing, as they do, that matter is eternal and imperishable. By distinguishing the form from the principle, we will know that one can vary unceasingly, while the other remains always the same. We will no longer experience any difficulty in recognizing the end and the decline of matter in the succession of facts and Beings that Nature exposes to our eyes, whereas the Principle of this matter, not being matter, remains unalterable and indestructible. This succession of facts, and this continual renewal of corporeal Beings, has led the observers of Nature to other opinions, as false as those mentioned previously, and which expose them to the same inconsistencies. They have seen bodies being altered, being decomposed, and disappearing from their sight; but, at the same time, they have seen these bodies continually replaced by other bodies. They then believed that these new bodies were formed from the remains of the old bodies, and after having been subjected to dissolution, the different parts composing them must in turn enter into the composition of new forms. These observers then concluded that the forms truly experienced a continual mutation, but that their fundamental matter always remained the same. Then, ignorant of the true cause of the existence and action of this matter, they have failed to perceive why it would not always have been, and why it would not always be, in movement, which has caused them to decide anew that it was eternal. But if, elevating their eyes one degree, these observers had recognized the true Principles of bodies and had attributed to them the stability they thought they had perceived in their pretended fundamental matter, we would not have to reproach them for this new error. We see, as they do, the revolutions and mutations of forms. We also recognize that the Principles of bodies are indestructible and imperishable; but having demonstrated as we have that these Principles were not matter, to state that they are imperishable is not to state that matter does not perish. By distinguishing the bodies from their Principles, the observers would have avoided the dangerous error they attempt in vain to palliate, and they would have certainly refrained from attributing eternity and immortality to the material Being that affects their senses. I agree with them about the daily course of Nature. I see the birth and death of all forms, and I see them replaced by other forms. But I will refrain from concluding, as they have, that this revolution had no beginning and will not have an end, since it does not operate in effect and manifests only in bodies of a temporary nature, and not on their Principles, which can never be affected in the slightest degree. When a person has thoroughly understood the existence and stability of such Principles, independent and separate from the bodies, he will be forced to acknowledge that they could have existed before these bodies and that they could still exist after them. To this reasoning I will not add proofs upon which I would be denied credence, but they are of such a nature that it is not within my power to doubt them, any more than if I had been present at the formation of things. Moreover, the numerical Law of Beings is an irrevocable testimony. ONE exists and is conceived independently of the other numbers; and, after having vivified them through the course of the Decad, it leaves them behind and returns to its Unity. The Principles of the bodies, being one, can therefore be conceived alone and separate from any form of matter, whereas the smallest particles of this matter, on the contrary, cannot exist or be conceived without being sustained and animated by their Principle. In the same manner, we conceive of numerical Unity as existing apart from other numbers, although none of the numbers subsequent to Unity can reach our understanding except as the emanation and product of this Unity. In other words, if we wish to apply here the fundamental maxim that has been heretofore established upon the inequality that necessarily exists between the generative Being and its production, we shall see that if the Principles of matter are indestructible and eternal, it is impossible that matter enjoys the same privileges. However, this assertion of a necessary inequality between the generative Being and its production may have allowed for some uneasiness regarding the nature of people, who, having taken birth from an indestructible source should not, as inferior to their Principle, have the same advantage, and, as a consequence, are subject to destruction. But simple reflection will dissipate this doubt. Although both matter and people have their generative Principle, they are far from being the same. The generative Principle of people is Unity. This Unity, possessing all within itself, also communicates to its productions a complete and independent existence, and as chief and principle, it can thus definitely extend or restrain people's faculties; but it cannot give them death, because its works, being real, cannot not be. This is not so with matter which, being the product of a secondary Principle, inferior and subordinated to another Principle, is always dependent upon one and the other in such a way that the cooperation of their mutual action is always necessary for the continuation of its existence, because it is certain that when one of the two becomes inactive, the bodies expire and disappear. The birth and the end of these different actions manifest clearly enough in corporeal Nature to demonstrate to us that matter cannot endure. Moreover, recognizing as we must that the action of Unity, or the primary Principle, is perpetual and indivisible, we could not, without committing the most offensive error, attribute the same perpetuity of action to the secondary Principles that are responsible for the birth of matter. That is why the Author of all things cannot cause the World to be eternal as It is, since it would not render the World eternal to have it succeeded by other Worlds, which will always be within Its power to do, because each of these Worlds, being only the result of a secondary Principle, would then of necessity be perishable. Let us now examine another system relative to our subject. It has been taught that after the dissolution of corporeal Beings, the remains of these bodies were employed as part of the substance of other bodies. The observers of Nature have definitely erred in both this doctrine and in the consequences they have drawn from it. To state that bodies are formed from one another and are only successive assemblages of the same materials is as great an error as pretending that matter is eternal. They would certainly have refrained from advancing such opinions had they taken more precautions to proceed safely in the knowledge of Nature. The universal Principles of matter are simple Beings. Each one of them is ONE as shown by the result of our observations and the idea that we have given of Principles in general. The innate Principles of the smallest particles of matter must therefore possess the same property. Each one of them will thus be unique and simple, like the universal Principles of this same matter. There cannot exist any difference between these two kinds of Principles except in the duration and force of their action, which is longer and further extended within the universal Principles than within the particular Principles. Thus, the particular action of a simple Principle is itself necessarily simple and unique and, consequently, can have only one end to accomplish - it has within itself all that is needed for the complete accomplishment of its Law. Finally, it is susceptible to neither admixture nor division. The action of the universal material Principle has, therefore, the same faculties, and although the results proceeding from it multiply, extend, and subdivide ad infinitum, it is certain that this universal Principle has only one task to accomplish and only one action to perform. When its task is completed, its action must cease and be withdrawn by that which had ordered its production, but through the entire duration of time, it is subjected to the performance of the same act and to the manifestation of the same effects. This also applies to the innate Principles of the various particular bodies. They are subject to the same Law of unity of action; and when the duration of action is accomplished, it is equally withdrawn from them. Thus, if each of these Principles has but one single action, and they must all return to their primeval source upon completion of this action, we cannot reasonably expect new forms from them. We must conclude that the bodies we see successively born secure their origin and substance from Principles other than these, the suspended action of which we have perceived in the dissolution of the bodies they have produced. Therefore, we are obliged to search elsewhere for the source from which these new bodies must originate. But where could we better find it than in the force and activity of this dual Law that constitutes the universal corporeal Nature, and which reveals itself by a thousand different aspects simultaneously in the production and progress of the particular bodies? We know, in fact, that this Earth we inhabit could not exist and conserve itself if it did not have within itself a vegetative Principle which is its own. It is necessary that an exterior cause, which is none other than the Celestial or Planetary Fire, reacts upon this Principle so that its action may manifest. This also applies to the particular bodies. Each of these bodies comes from a seed in which resides an innate Seed or Principle, the depository of all its properties and of all the effects it must produce. But this Seed would always remain inactive and could not manifest any of its faculties, were it not also reactivated by an exterior igneous cause, the heat of which enables it to act upon all corporeal Beings surrounding it, and which in turn penetrate its envelope and stimulate, heat, and prepare it to support the action of the exterior cause - that is, for the manifestation of its own fruits and Virtues. And, in fact, the exterior igneous cause operating the reaction would soon overwhelm the action of the individual Principles and destroy their properties if the assistance of alimentary Beings did not come to renew their force and empower them to resist the devouring heat of this exterior cause. That is why, if Seeds deprived of nutrients are exposed to heat, they are consumed at the beginning without having produced the least part of their action. That is also why Seeds which have been empowered to begin the course of their growth, would be destroyed and consumed even sooner if they were deprived of the nutrients that are necessary for their defense against the constant activity of the igneous reaction, because this reaction, having already penetrated as far as the seed, can then deploy its destructive force all the more readily. Thus, it can be seen that the nutrients of which we speak are themselves a second means of reaction that Nature employs for the upkeep and conservation of its works, but it will be even better understood further on. Such, then, is this universal dual Law that presides at the birth and during the progress of corporeal Beings. The cooperation of these two actions is absolutely necessary so that they can exist perceptibly to our eyes - namely the first, or interior, action innate in them; and the second, or exterior, action which comes to agitate and to react upon the first. And never among material things has a body been formed except by this method. Let us apply to the constitution of the Universe what we have stated regarding the Earth. We can look upon it as an assemblage of an infinite multitude of sprouts and seeds, all of which have within themselves the innate Principle of their Laws and Properties in accordance with their class and species, but which await some exterior cause to assist them in engendering and reproducing outwardly and in preparing them for generation. At this point an explanation might even be appropriate for a phenomenon which astonishes the multitude, namely, why worms are found in fruits where no worm holes are visible and why live animals are found within the heart of stones. Such situations occur when such creatures arrive in these types of matrices either by natural means or filtrations, and then find or receive there, through the same channel of filtration, organic juices suitable to operate the necessary Law of reaction upon them. But let us not deviate from our subject. Therefore, let us now see what part the bodies and the remains of bodies can have in the formation and growth of other bodies. They can augment the forces of corporeal Beings and sustain them against the continual reaction of the igneous exterior Principle. They can even contribute, through their own reaction, to the manifestation of the faculties of Seeds and bring their properties into operation. But it would be acting contrary to the Laws of Nature, and misinterpreting the essence of a Principle in general, to believe that they could infiltrate the substance of these Seeds. They can, I repeat, be their sustenance and incentive, but they will never be part of their essence. The following observations will furnish the proof of this statement. We have previously established that the Principles of bodies are not matter but simple Beings and, as such, they must possess within themselves all that is necessary for their existence and they have nothing to borrow from other Beings. They would not even obtain the help of that exterior reaction we have been mentioning, if, because of the inferiority of their nature, they were not subject to the dual Law regulating all elementary Beings. There exists one Nature where this dual law is unknown, and where Beings receive birth without the help of secondary Beings and by the sole virtue of their generative Principle. This is the Nature through which humankind has once passed. But, in order that our progress be more certain, let us not depend upon theory until experience comes to justify it. In so doing, let us observe what occurs in the destruction of bodies. This destruction cannot occur except through cessation of the action of the innate Principle, the producer of these bodies, since this action is their true base and primary support. Now, this Principle cannot cease its action, except when the Law spurring it to action is suspended, because then, having been freed from its fetters, it separates itself from its productions and returns to its original source. As long as this Law operates, the envelope never ceases to exist under its individual and natural form. And if this form is subject to decomposition, it can only be because the Law of reaction has been removed. The innate Principle within this form, which causes its existence by binding together the three elements of which it is composed, separates itself from these three elements and abandons them to their own Laws. As these Laws are opposed to one another, the elements will now subject to their rule, combat, divide, and finally destroy themselves completely, and vanish from our sight. This is how bodies gradually die, disappear, and are utterly destroyed. Therefore, I no longer see in a corpse anything but lifeless matter deprived of the innate Principle that had produced and sustained its existence. I only see in these remains the parts that are still sustained by the presence of the secondary actions that the innate Principle had emanated in this body during the period of its own action, because its secondary emanations are present in the smallest corporeal particles, but they successively separate themselves from their particular envelope after the Principle of their production has abandoned the entire body formed by their union. What could a body deprived of life and in the process of dissolution communicate to new bodies that would encourage growth and formation? Will it be the dominant Principle? But this no longer exists in the corpse, since it is through the retreat of this Principle that the body has become a corpse. Moreover, each Seed, possessing its own innate Principle and being the depository of all its faculties, has no need to unite with another Principle. In other words, two simple Beings, never being able to unite nor compound their action or assemblage, far from contributing to the life of new bodies, would only cause disorder and destruction since it is not possible to place two centers within one circumference without altering its nature. Shall it be said that the material parts of the disintegrating body reunite and pass into the essence of Seeds? But we have just learned that each Seed is animated by a Principle which contains within itself all that is necessary for its existence. Moreover, do we not see all parts of the corpse successively disintegrating without the least trace of them remaining? Do we not know that this particular dissolution occurs only through the separation of the secondary emanations that remained in the corpse, and that we can consider each one as the center of the part it occupied? It will then become impossible for us to avoid recognizing that the bodies, the parts of the bodies, and the entire Universe are but an assemblage of centers, since we see the bodies gradually being dissipated entirely. Now if everything is a center, and if all centers disappear through dissolution, what will remain of a disintegrated body that could be a part of the existence and life of new bodies? It is therefore an error to believe that the Principles of disintegrating corporeal Beings, whether general or particular, proceed to animate new forms after being separated from their envelope, and, commencing a new career, can exist successively several times. If all is simple, if all is ONE in Nature and in the essence of Beings, this Law must apply likewise to their action, and each one of them must have its particular task, simple and unique as it is itself, or else there could be weakness in the Author of all things and confusion in His work. However, considering animal digestion as an example, I will undoubtedly be offered the objection that, in the dissolution of the nutrients which occurs through this digestion, the greatest part of the nutrients passes into the blood, lymph, and other fluids of the individual, and therefrom, being carried through all parts of the body, the animal receives. I will then be asked how it could be that these nutrients could only serve to fortify the action and the life of the animal which receives them without communicating to it the least part of themselves, and without the innate fire within them penetrating the Principle and Essence of this individual to unite with it and extend its existence. To this I answer that, most certainly, the only function of nutrients is to sustain the life and action of the individual who has devoured them. He cannot receive them either as new Principles for himself or as an augmentation of his Being, but only as agents of a reaction he needs for deploying his forces and conserving his temporal action. Although no corporeal Being could exist without such reaction, there is none in which it does not have its measure; because it is certain that if the Principle contained in the nutrient could unite with the Principle of the body which employs it for nourishment, there would no longer be any measure in the Law of action through which the latter would have been constituted. We know this from experience and by the damages that raw foods, poorly cooked meats, and improperly bled flesh cause in animals. We know, I say, how too strong a reaction is contrary to corporeal life; and we cannot deny that the animals, destined by their nature to devour other animals, are not more ferocious and cruel, that they have indeed a more avid and destructive character than animals which obtain their nourishment solely from the plant kingdom. This is because the former experience an excessive reaction by receiving, along with the flesh that sustains them, a great quantity of secondary animal Principles, and they employ all the efforts of the innate action within to cause the premature dissolution of the envelopes of these Principles. However, in not finding these envelopes in their natural catalytic state at that moment, they employ force to break these alien chains and return them to their primitive source. During this struggle, the individual experiences an effervescence which agitates and leads her to disorderly acts, and only after the envelope of the secondary Principle is dissolved and rejoined to its generative Principle, can she be returned to a more tranquil state. In considering this subject we must, in passing, censure the custom of most nations which have sought to honor their dead by either preserving their bodies or causing them to be consumed by fire. Both of these practices are senseless and contrary to Nature. The true catalyst of bodies is the earth, and since the hand of humankind is incapable of producing such bodies, it must not attempt either to determine or prolong their duration, leaving to each of their Principles the care of suspending its action according to its Law and reuniting with its source in its own time. Neither can I avoid pausing for a moment on this assertion that the true catalyst of bodies is the earth. It is, in effect, within the earth that the principal decomposition of the body of a person must occur. But the body of every person comes into its form in the body of a woman. Therefore, the person returns to the earth only that which is received from the body of a woman. The earth is then the true Principle of the body of a woman, since everything always returns to its source, and of these two Beings, so analogous to one another, it cannot be denied that the body of a woman has a terrestrial origin. But it is strangely deviating from the truth to believe that this difference could be carried beyond the form of the corporeal faculties. Concerning the intellectual Principle, women have the same source and origin as men because a man, being condemned only to trials and sorrow and not to death, has need for a Being of his own nature close to him, a Being as unfortunate as he, who would by her infirmities and privation recall him to wisdom by continually retracing before his eyes the bitter consequences of his errors. Moreover, a man is not the father of the intellectual Being of his productions, as has been taught by certain false doctrines that are so much more disastrous because they are based upon comparisons derived from matter, such as the inexhaustible emanations of the elementary fire. But within all this lies a mystery that I shall never believe to be sufficiently entombed. Let us resume the chain of our observations. There is a fact that the naturalists shall not fail to present in opposition to my statements, and it involves the colored liquids they cause to pass through certain plants, thereby succeeding in varying the color of flowers and even completely changing what was given them by Nature. My answer will be simple and will pertain to all that I have said relative to digestion. Every plant has its own innate Principle, as have all other bodies. The juices that serve the plant as nutrients cannot add anything to this Principle. But they serve as its defense against the reaction of the igneous exterior cause which, if unopposed by these nutrients, would soon overcome and consume by its heat the forces and action of the individual Principles. One can judge the extent of the variety of reaction to which they are exposed by the infinite number of different substances that can serve as nutrients to corporeal Beings. There is only one, it is true, that is really proper to each species. But the nature of perishable things, such as bodies, and the continual revolutions to which they are subjected, expose them to the reception of foreign reactions which weaken and constrain their faculties, or even completely destroy them, despite the fact that the Principle of Being is indestructible. As one knows, these reactions are operated by secondary Beings, which are also depositories of a Principle that is unique to them. This Principle cannot cause any reaction, either by itself or by the particular Principles emanating from it, unless they are all clothed with their corporeal envelope, since it is only upon this condition that simple Beings can exist here on Earth. It is therefore certain that the envelope of these secondary Principles passes, as they do, into the corporeal mass of plants and animals, to serve as nutrients and to help them resist the action of the exterior igneous cause. It is certain that they also endow the Beings with their colors and properties. But, although they pass into these different individuals, we can never admit that they blend with them and become part of their substance. For these alimentary envelopes to succeed in uniting with the substance of the individual taking possession of them, it would be necessary that their Principles intermingle reciprocally. But we have seen that these Principles are simple Beings, and therefore their merger is impossible. Since the envelopes possess properties only through their Principles, merger of the envelopes is also impossible. Therefore, although necessary to the Being that receives them, these nutrients are always foreign substances, as one knows that they benefit this Being only to the extent that it effects their dissolution. I think you will not find it difficult to agree that there cannot be any type of admixture before beginning this dissolution. If the dissolution cannot occur without having been preceded by the retreat of the innate Principles, if it involves simply division and destruction, how would it be possible that the individual operating this destruction be integrated with the very envelope that it destroys? In fact, if the nutrients and Principles enclosed within the alimentary envelopes could mix with the substance and Principles of the Beings upon which they react, they could also serve as a substitute for them and replace them. Then it would be easy to change the entire nature of the individuals and species. Thereupon, having once changed the class and nature of a Being, one could also operate the same change upon all existing classes, resulting in general confusion. This state would prevent our ever being certain of the rank and place that Beings must occupy in the order of things. Thus, the Law by which Nature has constituted its productions absolutely refuses to lend itself to such chimerical attempts. It has given to each corporeal Being a particular innate Principle that can extend, and often does extend, its action beyond the ordinary measure through the help of forced reactions and a more favorable matrix, but which can never lose nor change its essence. This Principle, being the producer and parent of its envelope, cannot separate from it without the envelope immediately entering into dissolution and eventual destruction. And it is absolutely impossible for another Principle or another parent to occupy this envelope in turn and serve as its support, since there are no adulterers, nor adopted children, in corporeal nature due to the fact that there is no freedom. Therefore, each simple Being or Principle has its own separate existence and, consequently, individual actions and faculties which are as incommunicable as its existence. Let no one present to me the objection that by mixing liquids and bodies capable of absorption that one perceives simple and singular effects, of which none of these bodies were capable by themselves. I will not fear to state that in these amalgamations the action and reaction of the various Principles upon one another produce results which are singular and simple in appearance only. This is due to the weakness of our organs, and also that these results are, in fact, combined and produced by the individual action particular to each of the assembled Principles. If one attempts to blend various bodies incapable of either sensate action or reaction upon each other, but having each its own particular property of color, flavor, and so on, there can result from their assemblage a third property which may appear to be a product of the first two being mixed and combined but not at all unified or integrated. One cannot deny to me that in this occurrence the Principles and their envelopes remain perfectly distinct and separate, and only the weakness of our senses prevents us from perceiving separately the individual actions specific to each of these bodies. Therefore, one cannot see anything here but a multitude of bodies of the same kind, stacked up or assembled with a multitude of bodies of a different kind, but always preserving their own individual action, faculties, and existence. If a solid body is projected into a fluid analogous to it, the fluid overcomes its force and properties. The parts are separated and divided, whereupon their apparent solidity is destroyed, so that they are dissolved and appear to be absorbed. Through this method of dissolution, the fluid presents to us, in effect, results which are impossible to discover separately in any of the substances forming the assemblage. But we should not conclude from this that any admixture of Principles is affected. And is it not certain that there exists here only a simple extension of the action of the dominant Principle upon that of the inferior Principle, an extension which diminishes and even ceases when the superior Principle in aa

control has activated a sufficient number of bodies that have been exposed to its action, and in so doing has consumed all the power that was in the inferior Principle? If a solid body takes possession of a fluid and absorbs it; or if two fluids, by their admixture, produce solid bodies or amalgamations indissoluble in appearance; and, lastly, if bodies which previously did not present any particular force or property but by their assemblage produce surprising effects, ardent flames, fires, noises, live and brilliant colors, could one ever demonstrate that there exists in any of these facts a merger, admixture, or communication of one Principle with another Principle? Since, if the force of the dominating Principle has only suspended the action of the weaker Principle without destroying its envelope, then it may happen that the arts could succeed in separating them and returning them both to their former state. This would be invincible proof of the truth that I have just established. If, without ever destroying the envelopes, the superior Principle were to only divide the assemblages, and if, in returning the constituent parts of these masses to their natural liberty and tenuity, it only repelled them through evaporation, then it is true that the individual Principles of the same nature which were previously assembled would find themselves dispersed randomly upon the earth and in the air, but without having communicated anything or without having lost any of their faculties, substance, or actions. If, on the contrary, the dominant Principle were to decompose the very envelope of the inferior Principle by its force and power, thus dissolving and destroying it, then the action of the inferior Principle would be annihilated. In so terminating its career, this Principle would find itself quite unable to unite or communicate its action to the dominant Principle due to the fact that the very action of the dominant Principle is, in this instance, limited to its previous activity, provided it has not been altered or exhausted beyond return by its own victory. Finally, the union and the continuity of action of the same Principle in various successive forms are no more evident in the birth of worms and other insects appearing in the putrefaction of dead bodies. The Principle of the existence of these minute animals is equally resident in their own seed: because our bodies, like all others in Creation, are the assemblage of an infinite multitude of destructive germs and verminous seeds which only await favorable reactions and circumstances so as to produce and engender themselves. As long as our body exists in the plenitude of its life and action, the dominating Principle directing it, holding the whole envelope in equilibrium, prevents its dissolution and restrains the action of these destructive germs. But, when the time is at hand for this dominant Principle to abandon its envelope, then the secondary Principles, no longer having any connection, separate naturally and leave the field open to all these animalcules. Their birth and growth are even encouraged by a reaction and warmth propitious to affecting their emergence from their seminal envelope. SZ

The remains of the corpse then serve as food to these insects and pass through them as nutrients pass through digestions in all living bodies. Evident in all things is the same dissolution, the same use of the innate Principles; but in none of them does the Principle of the dissolved bodies pass into the living body to animate it, because, as I have sufficiently established, each Being possesses life within itself and only has need of an exterior cause to activate and sustain its own principle. It is therefore evident that, in the most concealed acts of corporeal Beings, such as formation, birth, growth, and dissolution, the Principles never mix or intermingle with other Principles. Thus, nutrients are but a means of reaction necessary to protect living bodies from the excessive igneous action which devours and successively dissolves these alimentary Beings, as it would dissolve the living body itself were it not for these Beings. So they are not, as the observers and their many followers believe, the materials of which the Being in formation must be composed. Truly, this Being, along with life, possesses everything within itself; and alimentary Beings, upon dissolution, no longer possess anything. Whatever might remain with them continually loses itself as the particular Principles separate from their envelope and proceed to reunite with their original source. Thus, this apparent mutation of forms must no longer deceive us to such an extent that we believe the same Principles can embark upon a new existence. But we shall remain convinced that the new forms we see continually being born and reproduced before our eyes are simply the effects, results, and fruition of new Principles which have not as yet been activated. We shall surely have the proper idea regarding the Author of all things when we say that every thing is simple, that every thing new is in Its works, and that every thing must appear therein for the first time. It is by such truths that we demonstrate once more the extent to which such an opinion regarding the eternity of matter runs counter to the laws of Nature. Because not only is it not the same innate Principles that remain continually charged with the successive reproduction of bodies, but it is certain that any Principle whatsoever can have only one single action and, consequently, one single course. It is apparent enough that the course of the particular Beings composing matter is limited, since no moment passes when we do not perceive their end, and time is only made perceptible through their continual destruction. Yet we must no longer be surprised by the errors that have prevailed up to the present time upon this subject, and were we to adopt the opinions of which they are the results, there would be no limit to our misconceptions. The observers, having hardly advanced a single step in distinguishing matter from the Principle which sustains and engenders this matter, give to one that which belongs only to the other. They consider primary matter as being always and essentially the same, receiving only a continuous multitude of different forms. Thus, by confusing it with its inner, innate, and acting Principle, they inform us that there can be only one universal single action in this matter and, consequently, matter is permanent and indestructible. I beg them to ponder deeply what I have said at the beginning of this book regarding the origin and nature of good and evil. I have shown that any person of intelligence will be loath to admit that different properties have the same source. Therefore, let us apply this to the different properties that matter manifests to our eyes and let us determine if it is true that only one material essence exists. I ask if the action of fire is similar to that of water; if water is similar in action to earth; and if we do not perceive in these elements properties that are not only different, but are even completely opposed. However, these elements, although being many, are truly the basis of all material envelopes. It is therefore impossible for us to agree with the observers that there exists only one essence in the bodies, when we see their properties manifesting so differently. Far from being continually employed in the successive revolution of forms as they claim, matter cannot reasonably be acknowledged to be present in even two of them. Therefore, I shall not cease repeating that the essence of bodies is not, as they believe, unique. All forms are the result of their innate Principles, which can only manifest their action through the general Law of the three elements, essentially different by their nature. As a result of this, form cannot be considered a Principle, and thus, not being one, it is subject to variance and depends upon the action, more or less strong, of one or the other of these elements. Accordingly, matter cannot be stable or permanent, nor successively pass from one body to another, but all of these bodies proceed from a new and consequently different Principle. In other words, this difference between all innate Principles is palpable enough if one observes that all classes and all kingdoms of corporeal Nature are marked by striking and distinctive characteristics. By observing the opposition prevailing between most classes and species, we can confirm the fact that the innate and acting Principles of various bodies are necessarily different. For the inner, innate, and acting Principle of the bodies to be one and the same in all Nature, it would need to manifest everywhere and continually reappear in a uniform manner in various bodies. But, after having recognized this individual difference between Principles, let us recall the precision and exactitude each of them manifests in operating the particular action imposed upon it. We shall thereby render complete the idea that we have already given concerning these Principles of corporeal Beings, by asserting that they cannot be an assemblage, similar to the essences of matter. They are simple Beings, depositories of their own Law and all their faculties. They are depositories of a single action, as are all simple Beings - namely, indestructible Beings - but in which perceptible action must end, and end each instant, because they are designed only to manifest in time and to compose time. At this point, I have only a slight comment to make to the observers of Nature concerning a word they employ in describing corporeal bodies. They proclaim their birth and growth under the title of development. We cannot allow them this expression, because if it were true that the bodies only experience development, it would be necessary that they be completely whole in their seeds or Principles. Now, if these bodies were essentially and truly contained in the Principles, the latter would no longer have the primitive quality of simple Beings. They would then no longer be indivisible, nor consequently clothed with immortality, so it would be necessary to retain the immortality of the Principles to also retain it for the corporeal Beings which would be enclosed therein. This would acknowledge what we have denied up to the present and grossly contradict what we have established. If the observers do not wish to expose themselves to the most absurd consequences, they must then accustom themselves to not consider the growth of corporeal Beings as development, but as the work and operation of an innate Principle. This producer of material essences disposes and forms them according to the particular Law that it carries within itself. I know that those to whom I address myself are very far from suspecting the existence of such a doctrine, and that they will be reluctant to accept it; because nothing is more opposed to their thoughts and the manner in which they have envisioned Nature up to the present time. However, I present these Truths to them with confidence and with the conviction that they can offer no other in place of them. I do not even know how, when discussing the growth of corporeal Beings through development, they could have entertained for a moment the idea that I have previously refuted concerning the passage and merger of different parts of a body into another body, because if the seed simply develops, it must therefore possess within itself all its parts. Now, if it possesses all its parts, why should it have need of the parts of another body to form itself? Let no one believe that the argument can be turned against me by stating that if I deny that all the parts, whose formation is necessary for the complete corporification of a material Being, be contained in its seed, is admitting that it must receive the materials for its growth from the outside, which would be without doubt most contrary to the truths I have attempted to expound regarding Nature. This Nature is everywhere alive. It possesses within itself the cause of all its actions, without necessitating that the seeds contain within themselves the condensed assemblage of all the parts which must someday serve them as their envelope. They only need the faculty of producing them, and they have it. Then if they possess this faculty, all the other expedients that have been invented to explain the growth and formation of corporeal Beings become superfluous, because it is only after having failed to recognize in matter the innate Principle of its life and action, and after having so imagined it as essentially dead and sterile, that the observers have had recourse to these expedients. One more word will suffice to banish entirely this idea concerning the development of corporeal Beings. It is that, were this development to occur, there would be no deformed Beings, since everything would have been of uniform creation. And if there existed only development, the Author of All Things would no longer have anything to do. Now, we are far from believing that neither It, nor all It has produced, could remain in a state of inaction. I shall, at this point, limit my observations upon the defective manner by which people have considered the essence of corporeal nature. I dare to believe that, if they are willing to meditate upon that which I have discussed, they will admit that the reason they have so often gone astray is that they have failed to distinguish matter from its Principle. And, in accordance with that which I have just said concerning the formation of Beings, the continual mutation of forms, the distinction of the essences from the innate Principle, the properties and the simplicity of this Principle, in the particular as well as in the universal, and concerning the unity of its action which is prescribed for a limited time only, they will agree that the Principles of the different corporeal Beings do not intermingle, nor do they communicate, for the reason that they are indivisible. Being indivisible, they can never be dissolved, and they remain distinct from one another, as much by the particular nature of their action as by its duration, which is made evident by the destruction of the elements composing matter. There results an infinity of successive corporeal combinations, from which the observers have too lightly concluded that the matter serving as a basis for the constantly succeeding bodies is imperishable. Far from regarding it as eternal, they must agree with us that there is not a single instant when matter is not being destroyed, since one action always takes the place of another within this nature. Then they will no longer retain, as have the alchemists, the illusion of a continual revivification which would render them and all bodies immune to dissolution. Since the existence of bodies is of only a limited duration, it would be impossible to retard their destruction at the end of this period without joining a new Principle to the Principle which is about to separate from them. Now we have seen that this could not occur in the very order natural to all things. Would people therefore believe their powers superior to Nature and to the Laws constituting all Beings? Thus, having learned to distinguish matter from the Principle engendering it, and having recognized the different actions which manifest in this matter, they will no longer believe in all those fanciful identities which have caused them insensibly to confound everything, even the good and the evil. Let us direct our attention to higher subjects.

## Chapter 3 - Sequence of Errors

If it were possible that an error would not always be the source of an infinite number of other errors, I would be little concerned with those which I have just placed in opposition to the Principle and Laws of matter, as the errors, being of little importance, would not be very dangerous in themselves. But, in the scheme of things, such errors are bound together as truths are bound together. And, in the same way that our proofs against humankind's false reasoning have mutually served to support one another, likewise, the effects of such errors on bodies, and the untenable consequences they bring about, have in effect produced the most disastrous results, because they are essentially connected with things of a higher order. Having erred in their step of confusing matter with the Principle of matter in various bodies, people are no longer in a position either to discover the true essence of such matter or to discern the Principle maintaining it and giving it action and life. Having given equal status to the two natures constituting the whole elementary realm, it has not occurred to them to investigate whether another exists which is different and superior. We have seen that they have exposed themselves to this flawed alternative - either by giving to the Principles the limits and subjectivity of matter, or by giving matter the rights and properties of the Principle. Thereupon, the Principle of the body and the gross parts constituting it are all the same thing to people. By such reasoning, they have also easily succeeded in confusing these bodies and their Principle with Beings of a nature independent of matter. Thus, step by step, people soon established a universal equality between all Beings, so that it would seem necessary to agree with them that matter is itself the cause of everything which manifests, or that the cause of the manifestation of matter is no more intelligent than the Principles which we have recognized in this very matter, which amounts to the same thing. Giving to matter such extensive properties as they do is to declare that it contains everything within itself. Yet if it contains all within itself, what need is there for an intelligent Being to watch over and direct matter, since it can direct itself? Therefore, what would be the nature of this intelligent Being if people deny it awareness of matter and the ability to act upon matter? And, by denying it such power, would we not refuse it intelligence, since there would be something of a lower order that would be unknown to it and of which it could have no conception? Such is the narrow circle in which imprudent people would like to confine our knowledge and lights.

I know that most of them sense the dangerous results of their Principles and that they allow themselves to be led in this way less by conviction or inclination than by a lack of caution. Nevertheless, they are blameworthy for exposing themselves to these inconsistencies. At all times a person is liable to go astray, especially when he himself wants to cast his eyes upon objects, the knowledge of which is obscured within him by his exile. Despite his deprivation, there are nevertheless errors that he is guilty of not having avoided. Those occupying our attention belong to this group, and with a little good faith and the Principles we have established, it will not be possible for the authors of such systems to still find in them any semblance of truth. I could remain content with what I have already said about the difference existing between sensate Beings and intelligent Beings, and with the proofs that I have given that the most singular faculties of a corporeal Being cannot raise it beyond the sensate, as in the example cited regarding animals which hold first rank among the three kingdoms of Nature. Then, by comparing the movements and progress of animals with the faculties of another order which we have discovered to be so evident in people, we could no longer doubt at this point that people are intelligent Beings. Likewise, we cannot deny that there exist other Beings endowed with this faculty of intelligence since we have seen that people, in their present condition, possesses nothing on their own and must expect everything from an external source, even the least of their thoughts. Moreover, people cannot avoid admitting that some of the thoughts communicated to them oppose their nature while others agree with it, so they cannot reasonably attribute them to a single Principle. Therefore, we have already sufficiently proved the existence of two Principles external to people, and, as a consequence, external to matter, since it is infinitely beneath them. Thus, I repeat, one cannot deny intelligence to these two opposing Principles, since in the state of reprobation we experience, they are the only ones by which we can sense our intelligence. Therefore, if they are intelligent, they must know and conceive everything beneath them; otherwise, they would not enjoy even the slightest faculties of intelligence. If they have knowledge of and can conceive of what is beneath them, it is impossible that, as active Beings, they would not concern themselves with it, either to destroy, if it is the evil Principle, or to conserve, if it is the good Principle. By such reasoning we could easily demonstrate that matter does not exist on its own. But we must search within it for proofs that will dissuade those who attribute to it an activity essential to its nature. We have established that the Principles of matter, both general and particular, contain within themselves the life and corporeal faculties which must proceed from them. Furthermore, despite the innate and indestructible property within such Principles, they could never produce anything were they not activated and heated by the exterior igneous Principles destined to place their faculties into action, accomplished by virtue of that dual Law to which all corporeal Beings are subject and which presides over all the actions and generations of matter. Without a doubt, it is a sign of weakness and subjection in the Principle of the corporeal Being to possess life within itself and yet to be unable to put it into action on its own. However, we cannot doubt that this Principle of life, innate within the seed of all corporeal Beings, is above the exterior igneous Principles which subject it only to a simple secondary reaction, without being able to communicate to it anything essential to its existence. Seeing that these igneous Principles are inferior to the Principles of life which they serve to activate, they are even less able than the Principle of life to put themselves into action by their own volition. It would be useless to examine the cycle of corporeal Beings in order to find the primary Principle of such action. Even if it were finally stated that these Beings, mutually reactivating themselves, had no need for another cause to produce what is within them, we would be forced to admit that, in the beginning, the primary movement would have been communicated to this circle in which they are enclosed. Even the most active among the corporeal Principles would not possess any power without the reaction of another Principle, and so how could those which are inferior to them dispense with such a reaction? Therefore, it can be seen that no matter at what point of the circle one places the beginning of the primary action, it is absolutely necessary for such an action to occur. I must then ask the observers of good faith whether they conceive that this beginning action could be found in matter and belong to its nature, and if on the contrary, they conceive that it does not demonstrate physically to them its original dependence through this irrevocable Law subjecting the Principle of its daily reproduction to the cooperation and action of another Principle. Researchers should have even less doubt concerning this truth, since the means they employ in destroying it are those which serve best to support it. Let one put together, they say, such and such materials and one will soon perceive fermentation, putrefaction, and production. But if these different kinds of matter were able to combine on their own, would it then be necessary to assemble them? Therefore, seeing that these particular operations cannot occur without the help of an outside agent, can it not be said that the Universe follows the same procedure, since its nature, not Being different from that of all parts of matter, possesses nothing more than they do and cannot be governed by any other Law? I believe I can declare the necessity for an intelligent and self-activating cause that communicated the primary action to matter and continues to communicate it in all the successive acts of its reproduction and growth and in all the effects that it manifests to our eyes. Not only is it impossible to believe that matter does not owe its origin to an outside cause, but one can see that even today there must surely be a cause which unceasingly directs every action of matter. Indeed, there is not a single instant when matter could exist and sustain itself were it to be left on its own and deprived of its Principles of reaction. Finally, if a cause had been necessary to begin the primary action in matter and if it has always been necessary to have the cooperation of this cause for sustaining matter, it cannot be possible to form an idea of such matter without also having some idea as its cause, which alone makes it what it is, and without which it cannot have one moment of existence. In the same way that I cannot conceive the form of a body without the innate Principle which produced it, I cannot conceive of the activity of bodies and matter without a cause - physical but immaterial, active and intelligent, and at the same time superior to corporeal Principles. This cause provides the movement and action I perceive in them, but which I know does not belong essentially to them. This helps to explain all the regular phenomena of Nature when, by recognizing a superior cause of undeniable intelligence to be its leader and guide, we shall look upon the order and exactitude prevailing in the Universe as an effect and natural result of the intelligence of this very cause. No longer will we be surprised by anything in Nature. All of its operations, and even the destruction of Beings, will seem simple to us and in conformity with its Law because death is not non-existence but an action, and the time of which Nature is composed is simply an assemblage and succession of actions, sometimes creative and sometimes destructive. In short, we must expect to find all through the Universe the character and evidence of the Wisdom which constructed it and supports it. To the same extent that this truth makes itself perceptible to people's thinking, will they be struck by the disasters and confusion they so often perceive in Nature. To what can this contrast be attributed? Will it be to that active and intelligent cause which is the true Principle of the perfection of corporeal things? It is impossible to consider this idea for even a moment, and it is absolutely repugnant to think that this powerful cause could simultaneously act for itself and against itself. Therefore, let not this distorted spectacle take from us any of our reverence and weaken our veneration for this cause. After what has been observed concerning the dual intellectual Law, that is, regarding the opposition of the two Principles, we must know to whom the ills and disorders of Nature can be attributed, although this is not yet the place to speak of the motives causing them to operate. But a childish defiance of such truths is one of the obstacles that has most retarded the progress of our knowledge and light. It is the primary cause of those errors in people's thinking regarding such matters and of all the uncertain reasoning they have advanced when explaining the nature of things. If people had applied themselves better to a consideration of the two differing Principles they were forced to acknowledge, they would have perceived the difference and opposition of their faculties and actions. They would have seen that evil is absolutely foreign to the Principle of good. Although evil acts by its own power upon the temporal productions of the good Principle with which it is imprisoned, it has no real action upon the good in itself. The good Principle soars above all Beings, supporting those which by their nature cannot support themselves and permitting those to whom it has accorded the privilege of freedom to act and defend themselves. They would have seen that although wisdom has arranged things in such a manner that evil often is the occasion of good, this does not mean that, at the moment evil acts, it is not evil, nor could its action be attributed to the Principle of good in any way from then on. Having such awareness could also convince us of the fragility of humankind's systems and confirm our belief in the Principles we are considering. In other words, only by distinguishing the true nature and properties of the different Beings can we arrive at and form a proper understanding of Nature. But it is time to return to our subject. The observations we just made regarding the Laws which direct the formation of bodies may have caused us to discover the necessity for a superior and intelligent cause; and we may have seen that the two inferior agents namely, the primary Principle, innate within the seeds, and the secondary Principle, operating the reaction, are insufficient in themselves to produce even the slightest corporification. In the long run it is Nature itself and reason that teach us such truths, and it is no longer permissible to entertain any doubts in this regard. Nevertheless, I must fortify this doctrine by a simple observation that will give it much greater weight and authority. I shall therefore call attention to the fact that the superior, universal, temporal, intelligent, active cause, possessing as such the knowledge and direction of inferior Beings, has an influence upon these inferior Beings. This will undoubtedly become much more apparent to our eyes if we observe that, through its action, all corporeal Beings originally took their form and now maintain and reproduce themselves, as they will maintain and reproduce themselves until the end of time. The faculties of such a powerful Being must surely extend to all the work it directs. They must be such that it can watch over all, preside over all, and embrace all parts of its works. We must therefore presume that it directed the production of the substance serving as the foundation of bodies, much as it subsequently directed the corporification of this same substance. Moreover, its power and intelligence must extend both to the essence of the bodies and to the actions forming them. Single in its nature and its action, as are all simple Beings, its faculties must manifest the same character everywhere. Although there exists a distinction between the production of the seeds of matter and the corporification of the forms proceeding from it, it is not possible for the Law directing either one to be different, otherwise it would have a diversity of action, which would be completely contrary to everything we have observed. We have previously indicated that the essences or the elements from which bodies are universally composed are three in number, as it is by the number three that the Law directing the production of elements manifests itself. Therefore, the Law directing the corporification of these same elements must also manifest by the number three. It is the necessity of a simple action in a simple Being which causes us to sense this analogy; and when this Law's uniformity happens to be confirmed by strict examination and by fact itself, it then becomes a reality to us. It would, in effect, be profaning the idea that we must have concerning the intelligent cause not to recognize its obvious action upon those Beings which are unable to dispense with it for even an instant. Confusing this intelligent cause with the inferior causes of all acts and corporeal productions would be equivalent to excluding it, and we would in effect be returning matter to the sole direction of these causes or of these inferior actions. We have seen that these causes and inferior actions have been reduced to two in numbernamely, that which is innate in all seeds and that which proceeds from a secondary agent (which is necessarily employed in every act of corporeal reproduction). Let us examine once again whether I have been wrong in stating that it would be impossible to obtain any production from these two causes if left to themselves. If such causes are equal, they will remain inactive; if one is superior to the other, the superior will surmount the inferior and render it nil, so that only one can then act. Yet we know from all possible evidence that one cause alone is insufficient for the formation of any corporeal Being. Besides the action or the innate Principle in all seeds, there must be present a secondary action which is indispensable in causing the production to operate in the same way that this secondary cause must activate the seeds during their entire duration. We know, I repeat, that without the cooperation of these two causes or two actions, it is impossible for any corporeal Being to receive birth and corporification, and for it to conserve life. However, we clearly perceive that if these two causes were returned solely to their own action nothing would occur, since the one surmounting the other would remain alone. Does not this fact teach us the necessity of a third cause, whose presence and intelligence serve to direct these two inferior causes and to maintain between them the balance and mutual cooperation upon which the Law of corporeal nature is established? Therefore, it will suffice to recall what I have previously stated. I have established that there exists one Law by which all the Principles of bodies were subjected to the reaction of other bodies or secondary Principles. Did that not place observers in a position to recognize the two distinct agents employed in the corporification of every Being of form? Then, I demonstrated that without a superior and intelligent cause, those two inferior agents could not produce the slightest corporification, since they must have a primary action although we have been unable to discover it in them. Thus, the necessity for a superior agent in the temporal is demonstrated. Since everything teaches us that there exists a physical, immaterial, and intelligent cause, which presides in all the facts that matter presents to us, the bringing together of all these proofs must produce in us the most steadfast conviction. Let us now return to the tertiary number by which this cause has manifested its Law in the elements. I know that at first there will be a lack of agreement with me when I inform you that the elements are three in number, even though four are universally recognized. Having heard me speak of Earth, Water, and Fire, without having made any mention of Air, has surely caused surprise. I must therefore explain why only three elements should be recognized, and why Air is not one of the elements. Nature indicates that there are only three possible dimensions in bodies; that there are only three possible divisions in every extended Being. There are only three figures in geometry; there are only three innate faculties in any Being; there are only three temporal worlds; there are only three degrees of expiation for a person; and there are only three grades in true Freemasonry. In a word, no matter how one envisages created things, it is impossible to discover anything above three. Why would this Law which universally manifests itself with so much exactitude not have the same number of elements as those which are the foundation for bodies? And why would it make itself apparent in the effects of these elements, if these elements themselves were not subject to it? It must be stated, therefore, that the fragility of bodies indicates the fragility of their base, thus conflicting with the theory which gives them four elements for their essence; for, if they were formed of four elements, they would be indestructible, and the world would be eternal. On the contrary, being formed of only three elements, they have no permanent existence, because unity is not in them, which will be very clear to those who know the true Laws of numbers. Thus, having previously demonstrated the state of imperfection and decay of matter, it is necessary to find this decay in the substances composing it and proof that its number cannot be perfect since it is not perfect itself. I will pause for a moment, so as to prevent any alarm that my statements could spread in many minds at this time. I have declared the number three to be fragile and perishable; therefore, what will become of this Ternary which is so universally revered that certain peoples have never counted beyond this number? I declare that no one respects this sacred Ternary more than I do. I know that without it, nothing people see and know would exist. I believe that it has existed eternally and will exist forever. None of my thoughts disproves it, and this, in fact, is where I shall obtain my answer to the present objection. I dare say to my fellow human beings that despite the veneration they feel for this Ternary, the idea they have of it is nonetheless below what they should have, and I advise them to be very reserved in their judgments upon this subject. Finally, it is very true that there are three in one, but there cannot be one in three, without it being subject to death. Thus, my Principle destroys nothing, and I can safely recognize the imperfection of matter, based upon the imperfection of its number. I strongly urge those who will read my book to make a complete distinction between the sacred Ternary and the Ternary of the actions employed in sensate and temporal things. It is certain that the Ternary employed in sensate things did not receive birth, does not exist, and is not sustained except by the superior Ternary. However, as their faculties and actions are obviously distinct, it would be impossible to conceive how this Ternary could be indivisible and beyond time were one to attempt to judge it by that which exists in time. As the latter is the only one which we are permitted to know here on Earth, I shall say very little regarding the other in this work. This is why it would be contrary to my intention if one were to infer something from my account and make from it the slightest application concerning the most sublime object of our veneration, unless it were to confirm more fully the superiority and indivisibility of this sacred Ternary. Let us now return to the subject of elements. I have taught that Air is not counted among the elements, because we cannot regard as a distinctive element this gross fluid which we breathe and which expands or contracts bodies according to it being charged to some extent with either water or fire. Undoubtedly there is within this fluid a Principle that we must call Air. But countless experiments confirm that it is incomparably more active and powerful than the gross and terrestrial elements of which bodies are composed. Air is a product of Fire, not the material fire we know, but the Fire which has produced Fire and all sensate things. In short, Air is absolutely necessary for the life and sustenance of all elementary bodies; it will not exist any longer than they will. But, not being matter as the bodies are, it cannot be regarded as an element, and consequently, one may truly say that it cannot enter into the composition of these same bodies. What, therefore, is the purpose of Air in Nature? We shall not hesitate to say that it is destined simply to communicate to corporeal Beings the forces and virtues of this Fire which has produced such beings. It is the vehicle for the life of these elements, and only through its help can they receive any support for their existence, since without it all circumferences would return to the center from which they originated. It must be noted, however, that Air not only cooperates the most in the sustenance of bodies, it is also the primary agent of their destruction. This universal Law of Nature should no longer surprise us, since the dual action constituting the material Universe teaches us that one of these actions can never dominate except to the detriment of the other. This is the reason why, when corporeal Beings do not enjoy all of their particular virtues, it is necessary to protect them from Air if we wish to preserve them. This is why we carefully cover all wounds and sores, among which are sometimes found ones requiring no other remedy than protection from the action of Air. This is also why all species of animals seek cover during sleep, because Air will react more strongly upon them at this time than during their waking period when they are in possession of all their forces for resisting its attacks and they derive from it only the advantages necessary for their preservation. If, apart from these properties of Air, one desires to know more about its superiority over the elements, let it suffice to observe that when one succeeds in separating Air from bodies to the fullest possible degree, Air always conserves its strength and elasticity, regardless of the violence and the duration of the operations that are made upon it. From this fact we must recognize that Air is unalterable. This does not apply to any of the other elements, which all fall into dissolution when they are separated from each other. Due to all of these reasons we must place Air above the elements and not confuse it with them. However, at this point the following objection could be made: although I do not include Air among the elements, I nevertheless connect it to the preservation of bodies and I do not grant it any more longevity than they have. This, therefore, necessarily adds one more Principle to the constitution of corporeal Beings, so they will no longer be Ternary as I have stated. By examining the analogy that I have established between the Law of the constitution of bodies and the number of the agents causing corporification to operate, one might conclude that I am also compelled to augment the number of such agents. There undoubtedly exists a cause above the three temporal causes of which I have just spoken, since it is this cause which directs them and communicates their action to them. But this cause, which dominates the three others, makes itself known only by manifesting them to our eyes. It encloses itself within a sanctuary that is impenetrable to all Beings subject to the temporal, with both its abode and actions being absolutely beyond the sensate. This means we cannot include it either with the three causes employed in the actions of the corporification of matter or in any other temporal action. This same reason would also prevent us from admitting that Air is counted among the elements, even though the elements and bodies they engender cannot exist for a moment without it. Although its action is necessary for the preservation of bodies, it is, however, not subject to perception by corporeal sight as are bodies and elements. Finally, in the decomposition of bodies we visibly perceive Water, Earth, and Fire, and although we know that Air is undoubtedly present, we can never see it because its action is of another order and class. Thus, a perfect analogy can always be found between the three actions necessary for the existence of bodies and the number of the three constitutive elements, since Air is in the order of elements, what the primary and dominant cause is in the order of temporal actions operating corporification. And, in the same way that this cause cannot be confused with the three actions mentioned above, even though it likewise directs them, Air cannot be confused with the three elements, even though it vivifies them. As we cannot avoid recognizing the three elements, we are therefore fully justified when admitting the necessity of these three actions. Concerning this subject, I will enter into some detail upon the universal relationship of these three elements with bodies and the faculties of bodies. This will place us on the path leading to the making of some discoveries of another kind and it will confirm our certainty of all the Principles I expound. Among anatomists, the generally accepted division is that which recognizes three sections in the human body, namely, the head, chest, and abdomen. There can be no doubt that Nature itself has directed anatomists in this division, and that through a secret instinct, they themselves justify what I have said concerning the number and different actions of the three different elementary Principles. First, we find that the seminal Principles which serve for a person's corporeal reproduction are contained and operate in the lower abdomen. Now, as it is well known that the action of mercury is the basis for all material form, it is easy to see that the inferior or lower part of the abdomen truly offers us the picture of the action of the mercurial element. Secondly, the chest contains the heart or the seat of blood - in other words, the Principle of life or of the action of bodies. But it is also known that fire or sulfur is the Principle of all vegetation and of all corporeal production. The relation of the chest or upper abdomen to the sulfurous element is thereby clearly and sufficiently indicated. As for the third division, the head, it contains the source or primitive substance of the nerves, which are the organs of sensitivity within animal bodies. Likewise, it is recognized that the property of salt is to render everything perceptible. It is therefore clear that there exists a perfect analogy between their faculties, and that consequently there is an incontestable connection between the head and the third element, or salt. This concurs perfectly with what physiologists teach us regarding the source of nerve fluid. No matter how correct these divisions are found to be, and no matter how certain their relationship with the three elements is, to merely take note of this would indicate a very limited viewpoint. Apart from this faculty pertaining to the head of carrying within itself the Principle and agent of sensitivity, is it not obvious that the head is endowed with all the organs by which an animal can distinguish between objects that are either beneficial or harmful to it? And furthermore, that the head's special duty is to watch over the preservation of the individual? Moreover, seeing that the chest is not only the seat of blood, is it not also possible to observe in it the recipient of water, or the spongy viscera, which gather the air's humidity and communicate it to the fire or blood so as to moderate its heat? Then, without always having to resort to the head in discovering our three elements, we would clearly perceive all three within the two inferior divisions of the abdomen. However, even though the head is elementary in itself, 1t continues to dominate the others by occupying the center of the triangle and maintaining its equilibrtum due to the organs with which it is endowed as well as to the rank it occupies. We can thereby avoid that general error by which the superior is confused with the inferior, and the active with the passive, since the distinction between them is clearly written, even upon matter. But these subjects are too exalted to be completely revealed to the eyes of the multitude. Such things have not been considered by anatomy, because, as it is isolated by people, as are all other sciences, those who are its proponents have believed they could treat bodies and the parts of bodies separately, and they have persuaded themselves that the divisions which they have proposed bear no relationship to the Principles of a superior order. It is, however, in the division I have just discussed that they may find a perceptible image of the Quaternary, that is, of the number without which one cannot know anything, since according to what will be later revealed, it is the universal emblem of perfection. I shall not say any more regarding this number at the present time so as to avoid deviating too much from my subject. I am satisfied in having given a glimpse of it, and I will set forth other truths regarding the arrangement of the different elementary Principles in both the human body and in all other bodies. When observers desired to know the origin of things with so much fervor, it was useless for them to expand their search outside of and far from themselves. Rather, they needed to direct their eyes upon themselves. The Laws of their own bodies would have indicated to them those Laws which gave birth to everything that bodies have received. They would have seen that the opposing action which occurs in the chest between sulfur and salt, or between fire and water, keeps the body alive, and if either of these agents happen to be missing, the body ceases to exist. By applying this observation to all corporeal existence, observers will recognize that these two Principles, through their opposition and combat, are equally responsible for the life and corporeal revolution of all Nature. Nothing else is needed to further our understanding. People have, within themselves, all the means and proofs of knowledge, and they only need to examine themselves so as to know how things obtained their origin. Yet we will note that it is absolutely necessary that the two agents equally hostile to one another have a mediator which serves to limit their action and prevent them from overcoming one another, since otherwise everything would come to an end. This mediator is the mercurial Principle, the basis of all corporification, and the one with which the other two Principles cooperate in reaching the same goal. Mercury, being prevalent everywhere with them, obliges them to act everywhere according to the prescribed order. In short, to operate and sustain forms. By this harmony, animal bodies experience the action of fire through their center, and they do so without suffering and without experiencing any disturbance, since the same Law directs this action. I need not reiterate that in these two examples the true property of fluid is to moderate the ardor of fire, which, without such action, would exceed its limits, as is observed in all the effervescence of the blood of animals and in all the eruptions of terrestrial fire. One senses that if these different fires were not moderated by a fluid penetrating to their very center, they would not experience any limit to their action, and they would successively set fire to all bodies and to the entire Earth. This is why animals breathe and why Earth is subject to ebb and flow in its aquatic portion. Each animal receives a fluid while breathing which humidifies its blood aside from that which it receives from food and from the liquids consumed by drinking; and through ebb and flow the earth receives in all its parts the moisture and salt necessary to water its sulfur, that is, its Principle of vegetation. I have not made any mention of the way in which plants and minerals receive their moisture. Since they are attached to the earth, it is natural that they feed upon foods and from the digestion of their mother; for where would the water come from to even moisten them if not from Earth itself? At this point, we will allow our readers to make comparisons with all they have observed concerning the active and intelligent cause. They will be allowed to note that if everything emanates from a single source, it must be presumed that intellectual law and corporeal law follow the same course, each in its class and within its own specific action. Finally, they will discover that if the volatile is everywhere, there must be likewise a nonvolatile to contain it everywhere. As for us, let us continue to show why such beautiful analogies are nearly always forgotten by observers. The reason is that, far from having discerned agents and Laws of two different classes, they have not even discerned, as we have seen, the agents and different Laws in the same class. It is because when separating all and examining these objects individually, they have scrutinized them in isolation and have not been wise and intelligent enough to suspect any relationship they had with other objects. If, for instance, they are still in search of a satisfactory explanation regarding the ebb and flow of which I have just spoken, it is only because they always retain this unfortunate habit of dividing the sciences and considering each Being separately. Had they not deprived matter of its Principle by confusing the two, had they not removed from this same Principle a superior Law, which is active and intelligent, temporal and physical, and which must regulate all in its progress, they would have perceived that since no corporeal Being can dispense with it, Earth, like all other bodies, was subject to it. They would have seen that it was upon this Earth that this dual Law, indispensable for the existence of all materially corporified Beings, was operative in nature. However, of these two laws, we have seen that one resides primarily in the corporeal Principle of any Being of form, whether general or particular, whereas the other is of external origin. It is therefore necessary that this second law be outside the earth and all other bodies, although it is absolutely essential to the earth's existence, as it is to theirs. Thus, we shall recognize here, as we do in the dual movement of the heart of animal humankind, the presence of two agents violently chained to one another, which are directed by a superior physical cause and which each manifest in turn its sensate action to material eyes. We know that this manifestation occurs during the phases of the moon, at such time as the igneous solar action makes itself felt upon the universal saline part. Although we cannot have knowledge of these two agents, except through their sensate action, much as we cannot know the Principles of bodies except through their corporeal production or their envelope, we have no excuse in doubting their power, since their effects demonstrate it in such an irrevocable fashion. Thus, this phenomenon of ebb and flow is but a grandiose effect of this dual law, to which everything possessing a material body is necessarily subject. I shall add that since we perceive so much regularity in Nature's course and actions, while sensing that the corporeal Beings composing it are not susceptible to intelligence, there must exist for them in the temporal a knowing, powerful, and active hand to direct them, which is placed above them by a Principle as true as the hand itself, and consequently indestructible and self-existent. The law emanating from either one is the rule and measure of all the laws operating in corporeal Nature. However obvious these truths may be, I know that once they exist beyond the sensate, it is only with difficulty that they will receive consideration by the observers of my era, because, having allowed themselves to be engulfed in the sensate, they have lost contact with what lies beyond the sensate. Nevertheless, since the road they follow undoubtedly enlightens them much less than the one I have indicated, I shall not cease to advise them to search for the reason of sensate things within the Principle rather than to search for the Principle within sensate things. If they are searching for a real and true Principle, how can it be found in sensate appearances? If they are searching for an immaterial Principle, how can it be found in a body? If they are searching for an indestructible Principle, how can it be found in an assemblage? In a word, if they are searching for a living Principle in itself, how can it be found in a Being which possesses only a dependent life that must cease as soon as its temporary action is fulfilled? I have only one thing to say to those people who continue to pursue such fanciful research: if they absolutely wish that their senses understand, let them begin by finding senses which speak, as this is the only way they can be made to express intelligence. This proof will eventually become a fundamental Principle, and it is this truth which will cause people to conceive the true means of attaining the knowledge which must be the sole object of their desires. But in the meantime, let us not fail to direct our eyes upon the different parts of Nature, which will best serve to persuade observers of the certainty of the various laws we are disclosing to them. They will then convince themselves of the truth of the causes which are beyond their senses, since they will see their course written in such a palpable way in sensate things. As I previously said, mercury universally serves as a mediator to fire and water. As irreconcilable enemies, they could never act in concert without an intermediary Principle, because this intermediary Principle, partaking of both natures, brings them together at the same moment that it separates them, thus causing all their properties to turn to the advantage of corporeal Beings. There also exists in Nature, in the form of special bodies, an aerial mercury which separates the fire issuing from the terrestrial portion, from the fluid which is spread over the earth. Before this fluid can reach it, aerial mercury purifies it and makes it communicate only healthful properties to the earth. This action produces the beneficial quality of morning dew, which is superior to evening dew and fog, as they are only imperfectly purified fluids. Therefore, due to this universal property, mercury maintains in all bodies the balance between the two opposing Principles of fire and water, and thus it performs in the formation and composition of bodies what the active and intelligent cause performs in all existing things when it maintains the balance between the two laws of action and reaction which constitute the entire Universe. As long as mercury occupies this position, the individual's well-being is assured, because this element tempers the communication of fire with water. When these two last-mentioned Principles surmount or break their barriers and come together, they then engage in combat with all their might. That is in their nature, and they produce the greatest disorders and disturbances in the individual of which they form the assemblage, because, in the collision of these two agents, one must always overcome the other and thereby destroy the balance. Thunder is for us the most perfect image of this truth. We know that it is produced by Earth's saline and sulfurous exhalations, which, being drawn from their neutral abode by the sun's action and thrust outward by terrestrial fire, rise in the air, where aerial mercury takes possession of and envelops them, somewhat like the way that coal amalgamates and envelops sulfur and saltpeter in gunpowder. In this situation, aerial mercury does not thrust itself between the two Principles composing the exhalation, because it would be too active to remain there, and, being of a class superior to theirs, they cannot together constitute a body. Rather, aerial mercury envelops and encloses them through its natural tendency to form circles and spheres, and through its inherent property of binding and embracing all. At the same time, it possesses another very remarkable faculty, that of dividing itself in an incomprehensible manner, so that even the tiniest globule of such sulfurous and saline exhalations will encounter a sufficient quantity of mercury that will serve as its envelope. It is the mass of all these globules that forms clouds or the matrix of the thunderbolt. In this formation, we cannot avoid recognizing very distinctly our two agents, namely salt and sulfur, and also the image of the superior agent, or this aerial mercury, which binds the two others. Thus, we clearly perceive the necessity for these different substances to cooperate in the formation of all types of assemblages, and we perceive that it is matter alone which makes this known to us. But it is not enough to find here the true signs of all the Principles that have been established concerning the universal laws of Beings. They must also be found in the differing actions and results obtained from the mixtures of these elementary substances. For the time being let us consider the clouds where thunderbolts are formed as being merely the union of two kinds of vapors, one terrestrial, the other aerial. If no other agent were to heat them and cause them to ferment, most certainly we would never witness any explosion. It is therefore absolutely necessary to admit once again that an external heat communicates itself to the two substances enclosed in the mercurial envelope and divides with a clap of thunder all the saline and sulfurous globules enclosed in these clouds. This external heat is visible testimony of all the Principles that we have stated previously and which our readers can easily apply. But, to make it even more simple for them, it will not be remiss to examine the different properties of salt and sulfur in the thunderbolt's explosion, because we can then present some ideas regarding the two primary Laws of Nature in view of the fact that fire and sulfur are the organs and instruments of these two Laws. As has been seen, external heat acts upon the mass of material composing the thunderbolt. Its material envelope is dissolved, which by its nature is susceptible to considerable division. The heat then contacts the two internal substances and ignites the sulfurous part, which thrusts away the saline part forcibly, thereby breaking their union, being contrary to its true law, and forming a disorder in Nature. In this explosion, the mercury is so prodigiously divided that everything it contains is liberated. As for the mercury itself, after having experienced this complete dissolution, it falls with the fluid upon the earth's surface. Rainwater possesses more properties than other waters because it is more charged with mercury, and this mercury is infinitely purer than terrestrial mercury. This operation is determined therefore by two other substances, namely those which in corporeal Nature are the signs of the two Laws, and the two incorporeal Principles. Also, all the effects that we see produced by thunder are based upon the various mixtures of these two substances. In fact, it is well known that fire, being the Principle of all elementary action, gathers together the terrestrial and celestial vapors of which the thunderbolt is formed. Fire also causes them to ferment and subsequently brings about their dissolution. Therefore, the thunderbolt's origin and explosion must be attributed to fire. As for the noise which results from the thunderbolt's explosion, it can only be attributed to the shock of the saline part upon columns of air, because fire by itself will not produce any noise which can be readily perceived when fire acts in its usual way. And although fire is the Principle of all elementary action, nevertheless none of these actions can be made perceptible in Nature without salt. Color, taste, scent, sound, magnetism, electricity, and light all manifest and are perceived through it. This is why we cannot doubt that it is also the instrument of the noise in thunder, seeing that the thunderbolt and its explosion will be more violent when the thunderbolt is more fully charged with saline parts. Moreover, we cannot doubt that salt influences the color of lightning, which is much whiter when salt is more dominant than when sulfur is more prevalent. Finally, seeing that salt is the instrument of all perceptible effects, the thunderbolt is much more dangerous when it abounds in salt, because its explosion, being proportionately more violent, causes greater shocks and more frightening destruction. Indeed, the explosion caused by an abundance of salt manifests almost always in the lower part of the cloud, as it is the greater portion, the least exposed to the heat, and consequently the most susceptible to congelation, thereby producing hail. On the other hand, when a thunderbolt abounds in sulfur, its noise is neither sharp nor sudden. Its lightning flashes are red in color, and its explosion only rarely succeeds in communicating its effects down to us because it ordinarily occurs in the upper part of the cloud due to the weakness of this portion of the cloud and to the natural property of fire, which is to rise. a2

Although we do not always have visual proof of it, this is why the thunderbolt strikes every time. This is also why knowledge of the materials with which the thunderbolt is charged will indicate on what parts of the earth it may strike, because it always tends toward substances similar to itself. However, due to the fact that in the shock and opposition of all these different materials, the direction changes at every instant, it is impossible to determine the exact point where it will strike, as we would need to know its entire direction. Thus, this is where we clearly perceive the effect of the dual action in Nature. However, when all these different shocks, which are so apparently indistinct, are subjected to closer scrutiny, they present to us the fixed Law of a cause which directs them, in keeping with all other corporeal actions. This cause primarily manifests to us its property and power through this tendency of the materials in thunderbolts toward similar substances. Indeed, if the thunderbolt was directed toward a portion of the earth's surface in which it would lose its communication with columns of air charged with similar substances, the thunderbolt would finish when all its matter had been consumed and it would be extinguished at the site of its fall. This is why a thunderbolt can never rise again when it falls into deep waters, because its free communication with air is then suspended and it does not find the substances necessary for its sustenance within water. But when the direction of a thunderbolt leads it to columns of air charged with substances similar to its own, it follows and attaches itself to them, thereby adding more or less to its forces in keeping with what it finds available in sustaining itself. By means of all these columns of which the atmosphere is composed, a thunderbolt can rapidly cover different routes even when the columns of air are strongly opposed to one another. Thus, it must turn about when it encounters substances opposing it or when it encounters a location where air cannot escape, because such air is impenetrable and thus offers an invincible resistance. In other words, the thunderbolt will stop only when it no longer encounters any of these substances upon which it can sustain itself. And when it seems ready to end its course, should it again encounter new substances, it will again gather its forces and produce new effects. This is what makes thunderbolts seemingly irregular and generally so incomprehensible. However, we cannot deny that there exists a Law in this very irregularity because, in all the Principles we have already discussed, there is not a single instant when this Nature is left to its own direction and can take one step without the cause established to govern it. I have just one more thing to say regarding the subject that I have just covered. It has been commonly believed that the person who sees lightning will have nothing to fear from thunderbolts. Let us see to what extent credence should be given to this idea. If there were only one single column of air and only a single explosion of the thunderbolt, it is certain that the person who has seen lightning will have nothing to fear from the bolt w

accompanying this lightning because celestial time is so instantaneous that it cannot be perceived upon the earth. But, when a series of air columns charged with substances similar to those of the thunderbolt are in great profusion, a person may avoid the first explosion and not be protected from the second explosion, nor from all those which will be successively ignited after the lightning is perceived since the thunderbolt can extend its course as long as it encounters columns suitable for sustaining it. A person who has had time to see the lightning would then be wrong in believing himself safe until the chain of all the explosions occurring in this thunderbolt has run its course. However, this opinion does have some foundation and it cannot be contested in one circumstance. Since there can be no lightning without explosions, likewise and with stronger reason, there can be no explosions without lightning. Now, when the interval between the two is nearly nonexistent, were a man to be struck at the first explosion or at the last, it is certain that he could never have seen the lightning of the particular explosion of the thunderbolt which struck him. No matter how frivolous these natural observations may seem at first glance, I feel that they are most appropriate for creating in human eyes a picture of the universality of the Principle to which a person must attach herself, if she wishes to know. I shall only add that after my little presentation it will be easy for my readers to sense how they may protect themselves from thunder. This can be accomplished by breaking the columns of air in all directions, that is, both horizontal and perpendicular ones, and by chasing to the extremities the direction of the thunderbolt, because then, by remaining in the center, we shall not fear its approach. I shall not reveal the reason for this, as this would lead me astray from my task. I shall therefore allow my readers to discover it on their own, but I beg them to reflect upon what they have just read regarding the different properties and actions of the elements, as well as upon the Laws directing them, even when they appear to be in the greatest confusion. They will undoubtedly conclude that it is impossible for them to deny the existence of such Laws although they cannot perceive their causes and agents. Let us pursue our course and prove through humanity itself the reality of those causes which are superior to or distinct from the sensate. The details previously given concerning the analogy of the three elements with the three different parts of the human body are subject, in connection with humankind itself, to explanations of an order much worthier of people, and which must be of greater interest to them seeing that they are directly related to their Being and that they will indicate the difference between their sensate and intellectual faculties, or, if one wishes to express it another way, their passive and active faculties. The shadows in which people generally dwell regarding such matters may be considered only a minor contribution to the errors that we have seen them commit regarding their own nature, and by not perceiving the most striking disparities, they have not as yet acquired the basic notions of their Being. The real reason which causes people to believe themselves similar to animals is, and let us have no doubt about it, that they have not discerned their various faculties. By confusing the faculties of matter with those of intelligence, they have recognized in humankind only a single Being and consequently only a single Principle, and only the same essence in all things in existence. Thus, people, animals, stones, and all Nature appear the same to them and differ only by their organization and form. I shall not repeat here what was said at the beginning of this work regarding the differences between innate actions in Beings and also the differences between matter and its Principle, from which it has been possible to recognize very clearly the error of those who have confused all of these things. But I shall begin by begging my readers to observe with attentive eyes what occurs in each animal (and animal person as well) to which the division of form into three distinct parts applies, and to determine whether each of these three divisions may not really indicate to us faculties which differ although belonging to the same Being and which all have the material for an object and goal. Who is not aware, in fact, that everything is constituted by weight, number, and measure? Now, weight is not number, number is not measure, and measure is neither one nor the other. If I may be permitted to say it, number is what begets action, measure is what regulates it, and weight is what operates it. Even though these three words are universally applicable, they undoubtedly do not signify the same thing in the animal and the intellectual person. Nevertheless, if the three parts of animal bodies are constituted by these three Principles, it is necessary that we find in them the application thereof. It is through the means of the organs of the head that an animal brings into play the Principle of its actions, which is the reason why number must be applied to this part. The heart or the blood experiences a sensation of greater or lesser force according to the individual's relative strength and constitution. The degree of this sensation determines the degree of the action in the sensate. This, therefore, is why measure can be applied to the second division of the animal body. Finally, the intestines operate the same action which, according to the Law regulating the peaceful tenure of Nature, must be limited within the animal to the digestion of foodstuffs in the stomach and to the preparation of reproductive seed in the loins. This is the reason why weight must be attributed to this third part, which, with the two others, essentially constitute all animals. fis

Since it is certain that we cannot avoid sensing the differing nature of these three kinds of actions, we must necessarily recognize an essential difference existing between the faculties manifesting them. However, we cannot deny that these different faculties do not reside within the same Being. We are therefore obliged to admit that although this Being constitutes only a single individual, it is nevertheless evident that not everything is equal within him. The faculty governing digestion and reproduction does not render him sensate, whereas the faculty rendering him sensate does not cause him to operate and execute his actions according to his sensitivity; and each one of these acts carries with it some peculiar characteristic. Let us apply to people the same observations and we shall then preserve people from the attempts to engulf them in horrible confusion. If one perceives that, within people, weight, number, and measure represent faculties which not only differ between them, but are infinitely superior to those that these three Laws have shown to exist within matter, we will be justified in concluding that the Being who is endowed with these faculties will differ considerably from the corporeal Being, and then there will be no longer any excuse for confusing one with the other. You will surely agree without any difficulty that the three distinctions we have made regarding corporeal functions may be applied to a person's body and to that of any other animal, because she is animal in this part. Through the aid of the organs of her head, a person's body can manifest, as in animals, her faculties and animal functions. She experiences, as they do, sensations in the heart. She experiences in the lower abdomen, as they do, the effects to which corporeal Laws subject all animals for their maintenance and reproduction. Thus, in this sense, weight, number, and measure belong to humankind to the same extent that they belong to any other animal. But it is no longer possible to doubt that these three signs cause within people certain effects of which all the properties of matter do not offer the slightest trace. Although we basically agree that all the thoughts of present-day people are of external origin, we cannot deny, however, that the internal act and the consciousness of this thought occur within them independently of their corporeal senses. It is therefore in such internal acts that we shall surely discover the expression of these three signs - weight, number, and measure - from which all sensate acts, determined by people to be a consequence of their freedom, subsequently originate. The first of these signs is number, which we apply to thought as being the Principle and subject without which none of the subsequent acts could occur. Following this line of thought, we discover in people a will, either good or bad, which is solely responsible for the pattern of their conduct and their conformity to justice. Therefore, it appears to us that nothing could suit this will better than the second sign, namely measure. In the third place, from this thought and this will, there results an act similar to them, and it is to this act, taken as a result, that we must apply the third sign or weight. Nevertheless, as with thought and will, this act occurs within people. It is true that it, in turn, begets a sensate act which must repeat to the eyes of the body the order and progression of everything transpiring within the intelligence. But, as the relationship of this internal act to the sensate act stemming from it is the mystery of people, I cannot, without the danger of committing some indiscretion, continue further on this subject, and if I mention it subsequently when considering languages, it will never be expressed in any other way than with reserve. This does not prevent people from concurring with me by recognizing weight, number, and measure in the inner or intellectual person as being images of the laws by which everything is constituted. Furthermore, even though we recognized these three signs in animals, we shall certainly refrain from making any comparison between animals and people. In animals, these signs operate solely upon the senses, whereas in people, on the contrary, they operate upon their senses and intelligence, but in a manner peculiar to each of their faculties and in relation to the rank they occupy, one in touch with the other. If anyone should persist in denying the existence of these two faculties in people, I would only ask of those who contest them to direct their eyes upon themselves. In so doing, they would perceive that the various parts of their bodies where they manifest constitute a striking indication of the difference in these faculties. When a person wishes to consider some particular subject of reasoning, or when he proposes to find the solution to some difficulty, is it not within the head that all these efforts occur? When, on the contrary, a person experiences feelings, no matter what their nature and object, whether intellectual or sensate, does he not experience within the heart all the movement, agitation, and sensations of joy, pleasure, pain, fear, love, in short, all the behavior of which he is capable? Does he not feel also how the actions that occur within each of these parts are opposite and that, if they did not come closer due to a superior link, they would be by themselves irreconcilable? This, therefore, is the manifest difference that should convince people once again that there exists within them more than one nature. Yet, if a person, despite her state of reprobation, still finds within herself a nature superior to her sensate and corporeal nature, why would she not admit, in the universal sensate, a similar nature but one equally distinct and superior to the Universe, although particularly established to govern it? UL

This is also where we shall be apprised of what we must think regarding a question that commonly troubles people, namely, in what part of the body the active Principle or soul is placed, and what location has been assigned to it as the seat of all its operations. In corporeal and sensate Beings, the active Principle resides in the blood which, as the fire element of the body, is the source of corporeal life. Then, according to what has been said when discussing the different faculties of Beings, we cannot deny that its primary seat is none other than within the heart, from which it extends its action to all parts of the body. No one should be confused any longer by the difficulty encountered by those who have stated that if the corporeal soul resided in the blood, it would be divided and would partly escape when the animal suffered any loss of blood, as this loss would thereby weaken the animal's action through the loss of a means of exercising the soul. But the soul does not suffer any alteration within itself, because being simple, it is necessarily indivisible. What we call the death of bodies is therefore nothing more than the complete cessation of such action, which finds itself deprived of its secondary vehicles as occurs in the case of exhaustion; or when it is too constrained as happens in diseases caused by tainted fluids within the body; or when it is too free and thereby intercepted or interrupted, as happens in cases where wounds affect any parts indispensable to the life of the body. Although I declare that life or the corporeal soul resides in the blood, I must, nevertheless, call attention in passing to the fact that blood is insensate. Such an observation will enable people to recognize the difference existing between the faculties of matter and the faculties of the Principle of matter, and this will prevent them from confusing two Beings so distinct from one another. As people are similar to animals in their sensate and corporeal lives, everything just stated concerning the active animal Principle can apply to them only in regard to this particular part. But their intellectual Principle was not meant to reside in matter, and one of the greatest errors that people have committed is to search for its origin in matter and to try assigning it a fixed location and a bond selected among corporeal assemblages, as though a portion of impure and imperishable matter could serve as a barrier to a Being of this nature. Due to the Being's quality as an immaterial Being, it is quite obvious that he can only have a link and affinity with another immaterial Being, and one may perceive that communication would be impracticable with any other Being. Moreover, a person's intellectual Principle rests upon her immaterial corporeal Principle, and not upon any part of her material Being. This is where it is bound for a time by the superior hand which has condemned it to this place. But by its nature, the intellectual Principle dominates the corporeal Principle as the corporeal Principle dominates the body. We should no longer doubt this, due to the fact that, as indicated previously, all its faculties are manifested in the superior part of the head. In a word, it makes use of this Principle for the sensate execution of these same faculties, and such is the means of clearly discerning the seat and function of these two different Principles of humankind. Although the corporeal Principle is inferior due to its nature and place, it is through his links with it that a person experiences in his intellectual Being so much suffering, anxiety, deprivation, and that terrible obscurity which causes him to bring forth so many errors. Through such ties, he is forced to submit to the action of the senses of this corporeal Principle, whose medium is today vitally necessary to him for obtaining enjoyment of the true affections intended for him. But, since this method is uncertain and variable and does not always produce light in all its brilliance, people do not secure from it those advantages and satisfactions of which their nature is capable. This is what causes the disorder, either natural or accidental, which the sensate or corporeal Principle may experience to the extreme detriment of the intellectual Principle, in that they together weaken the instrument of people's actions and the organ of their affections. These facts have appeared so favorable to materialists that they have believed they could offer them as a solid basis for their system. In other words, having based people's intellectual faculties upon their corporeal constitution, materialists claim these faculties are fully dependent upon the good or poor condition of a person's body, according to the variable course of Nature. However, after all that has been observed regarding humankind's freedom and the difference existing between the two Beings of which he is composed, such objections are no longer of any value. People do not experience complete enjoyment of all the faculties that could pertain to their intellectual nature, since by their very origin, not all people receive the same measure of these faculties, and since a thousand events, independent of human will, can at any time disturb their corporeal constitution. But people are guilty when they allow the faculties granted to them to deteriorate through their own fault. Not everyone is born to enjoy the same property, but everyone is accountable for the use they make of what is allotted to them. Therefore, no matter what disorder or irregularity a person experiences in her corporeal constitution and intellectual faculties, let it not be a reason for us to believe her to be shielded from justice. No matter how insignificant the number and value of the faculties remaining to her, she will always be held accountable for them. Thus, it is only upon the insane person that true justice can make no demand, since, in this instance, justice itself holds that person under its scourge. Nor should we believe with our adversaries that such corporeal disorders and irregularities possess no other Principle than the blind Law by which they pretend to explain Nature. Later we shall indicate how far a person's conduct extends in his corporeal life even to his descendants. Moreover, we shall indicate at the proper time what immense faculties are at the disposal of the Principle or of this temporal cause, which is necessarily connected to the direction of the Universe. Thus, by reflecting upon the nature of this universal temporal cause, which not only presides primarily in the bodies, but which should also always be the compass to people's actions, it will be easy to see whether anything within this corporeal region can occur which lacks a motive and goal. Rather, we shall believe that all the deformities and accidents to which we are exposed in both our corporeal Being and our intellectual Being incontestably possess a Principle. We may not always recognize it, because it is usually sought for in the dead Law of matter rather than in the Law of justice, in the abuse of our will, or in the mistakes of our ancestors. Let the blind and unthinking person murmur against this justice which extends the punishment for the errors of parents to their descendants. I shall not offer this person, as proof, the physical Law by which an impure source communicates its impurities to its productions, because this well-known Law is false and excessive when applied to what is not a body. The blind and unthinking person would perceive even less that, if this justice can afflict the children through parents, it can also cleanse and exonerate parents through children. As long as we are not admitted to its counsel, this should be enough for us to suspend all our judgments upon this Law. This prudent glance, salutary and just, is one of the rewards of Wisdom itself. Therefore, how could it be granted to those who believe they can dispense with its light and who persuade themselves that they have no need of any other guide than their own senses and the crude notions of the multitude? The question I have just considered, regarding the location occupied in the body by the soul, naturally leads me to another regarding the corporeal Principle that is equally interesting and which likewise occupies observers, namely, determining why, when a person is deprived of one of her limbs through some accident, she will experience for some time afterwards sensations which seemingly emanate from the limb which is no longer a part of her body. The subject I have just considered concerning the location occupied by the soul in the body naturally leads me to another question regarding the corporeal Principle, which is of equal interest to observers. When a person loses one of his limbs through some accident, why does he experience sensations for some time afterwards which seem to emanate from the limb which is no longer part of his body? If the soul or corporeal Principle were divisible, as might be inferred from the opinions of materialists, a person would certainly never suffer again in this limb after its amputation, because the parts of the corporeal Principle separated at the time of amputation would die and no longer show any evidence of sensitivity, as they could no longer maintain any connection with their source. There would be even less reason to look for this sensitivity Principle in the severed limb itself since it loses all connection with the body from which has been separated at the moment of amputation. Therefore, it is solely within the corporeal Principle itself that we shall find the cause of the subject under consideration. Also, reminding ourselves of all the truths we have established, we can say that within people's present makeup, their corporeal Principle serves as the instrument and organ for the faculties of their intellectual Being in much the same way that their body serves as the instrument and organ for the faculties of their corporeal Principle. We have seen that the intellectual Principle will suffer if the corporeal Principle experiences disorders in the body's major organs, as these are fundamentally necessary for the exercise of the intellectual faculties. But I hope no one will believe that the essence of the intellectual Principle can ever be altered or divided in any way through such suffering. By its nature as a simple Being, we know that it always remains constant, and what it now experiences is simply a disturbance within its faculties. The organ that was to serve in their exercise, thus enabling the principle to attain the external intellectual reaction which are indispensable to it, is in a state of imperfection, and so the action of these intellectual faculties becomes either nonexistent or flows back to the intellectual Being itself. In the first instance, when the action of the faculties ceases, the intellectual Being demonstrates only privation, leading to imbecility and insanity, although there is no experience of suffering. Consequently, we must recognize that insanity does not cause suffering. In the second instance, when the action flows back to the Principle, true intellectual suffering is exhibited by a form of confusion, disorder, and uneasiness, because this Principle, in attempting to exert its action, finds itself restricted in the employment of its faculties. This is akin to the corporeal suffering experienced when a limb is severed. The body must serve as an organ to the corporeal Principle animating it. If this body experiences considerable mutilation, the full scope of the corporeal Principle's faculties can certainly no longer be executed in the affected member. This is because the action of the faculty, which has need of the amputated limb to produce its effects, no longer finds its corresponding agent, and it thus becomes nonexistent or flows back upon itself. This leads to confusion and acute suffering in the corporeal Principle from which the action emanates, and the situation is worsened if the amputation of a limb allows entry of destructive external actions which repulse the action of the corporeal Principle and cause it to return toward its center even more rapidly. Therefore, despite such suffering, we can never acknowledge any dismemberment taking place within the corporeal Principle or any other type of Principles. Rather, we shall simply admit that any corporeal Being, having need of organs to cause the execution of its acts, will suffer when these organs are disturbed because their particular effects cannot then be produced. Let me remark in passing that this is true of only the four external limbs or the corresponding parts of the body. In the case of the three primary sections of the body, none can be severed without causing the body to perish. Let us again briefly consider the subjects I have just covered. Through the various properties of the elements, I have shown several different actions in the composition of bodies. Apart from the two opposed and innate actions within these bodies, I have shown that there exists a superior Law by which they are regulated, even during their greatest conflicts and confusion. Afterwards I have shown that this superior Law is even now found in people, in whom it is distinct from the sensate, although it is connected to it. Therefore, we cannot deny that three actions need to be employed in the conduct of temporal things, in keeping with the three elements of which bodies are composed. Of the three actions assigned by the Primary Cause for directing the formation of corporeal Beings, one is the active and intelligent temporal cause, which regulates the action of the innate Principle within seeds by means of a secondary action - or of a reaction without which reproduction cannot occur. Keeping in mind what I have stated, you will undoubtedly sense the existence of and necessity for this intelligent cause, whose superior action must direct the two inferior actions. How can it be possible, therefore, that people have failed to recognize it and have believed that they could advance in the knowledge of Nature without it? The reason may now be perceived. The reason for people's failure in this regard is that they have misrepresented the numbers constituting these actions, much as they have misrepresented those constituting the elements. On one side, within that which is three, they have recognized only two. On the other side, they have thought they were seeing four in that which contains only three. In other words, in considering the two passive actions within bodies, they have lost sight of the active and intelligent cause, so that they have combined and confused the action and faculties of this cause with those of the two inferior actions, much as they have combined the passive faculty of three of the elements with the active faculty of the air, which is one of the strongest Principles of their reaction. By misrepresenting these numbers, these observers no longer perceive the correspondence existing between the ternary of the elements and the ternary of the actions bringing about universal and individual corporification. As this correspondence has eluded them and has thereby become meaningless to them, the observers have no longer felt the necessity and superiority of the intelligent cause's action upon the two inferior actions which serve as a basis for all corporeal production. They have mistaken all these different causes and actions for one another; or else they have considered them as one. And how could they have protected themselves from this error, since at the beginning they confused matter with the Principle of matter? Moreover, after giving to this matter all the properties of its Principle, it was but a simple step to also attribute to it all of the properties and actions of the Superior Cause which are indispensably necessary to its existence. It will be seen that failing to recognize the power and necessity of a third cause deprives us of the only support remaining to people for the explanation of Nature's progression. We will then credit it with Laws other than what it has received, or attribute to it something that is not within it. In brief, this is admitting what is not only unbelievable, but what is beyond all possibility of belief. Furthermore, how can one be unaware of what people have substituted in place of this indispensable cause? Who does not know the childish reasoning they have employed to explain the Laws of matter and also to provide a foundation for the system of the Universe lacking this cause? Blind to the origin of things and to the goal, duration, and action of Creation, all the explanations they have provided are the language of doubt and uncertainty. Thus, their whole doctrine is less a science than a ceaseless question. When through the sole force of their reason, people could make these observations on their own and perceive the indispensable need for a Principle serving as guide to Nature, they either searched for this Principle in the Primary Being itself and feared not to debase it in our eyes by not separating its actions from those of sensate things, or else they confined themselves to a slight recognition of the necessity for an intermediary agent linking this Primary Being and matter. And by not giving themselves the time to consider what this intermediary cause might be, they vaguely termed it blind destiny, fate, chance, and other expressions which, being devoid of life and action, could only increase the shadows in which humankind is now plunged. People have not seen that they themselves are the source for all these obscurities, and that chance was solely engendered by the will of people and occurs only through their ignorance. A person cannot deny that the laws constituting all Beings should possess unchanging effects and universal influence, but when she disturbs their accomplishment within the classes subject to her power, or when she blinds herself to their effects, she no longer perceives such indestructible laws, and she then concludes that they do not exist. Nonetheless, a person can never acknowledge the existence of chance in the acts or manifestations of the Primary Cause. Since this cause is the unique, inexhaustible source of all laws and perfection, it is necessary that the order prevailing about it be as unvarying as its own essence. Nor could chance be conceived of in the manifestations of the intelligent temporal cause, as the temporal action of the Primary Cause will always direct itself to its goal and continually surmount all obstacles. Therefore, it is only in the particular acts of a corporeal Nature and in the acts of a person's will that we can perceive any irregularity or constantly infallible and foreseen results. But, if a person had never forgotten the extent to which these particular acts and his will were intimately linked, if he always had present in his thoughts the fact that he was placed here to govern himself and the sensate realm, he would concede that by fulfilling his destiny, he would not only discover those universal laws governing the higher realms which he has so often failed to recognize, but he would even sense that the power of such imperishable laws would extend both to his own Being and to the particular acts in his region of darkness. In other words, chance would no longer exist either for himself or for any acts of Nature. Then, when a person perceived any disturbance occurring within the particular acts of Nature, or when she was unaware of the causes responsible for their operation and the rules directing them, she would attribute this disorder and ignorance only to her own negligence and the false usage of her will, which did not make use of all its rights - or made use of those which were criminal. However, to acquire understanding of such truths, we must place more confidence in people's grandeur and in the power of their will than is demonstrated by certain observers. It must be believed that if people are superior to the Beings surrounding them, both their vices and virtues must of necessity have some relationship and influence upon their whole realm. It can be agreed, therefore, that a person's ignorance and disordered will are the sole causes of those doubts he is seen wavering between every day. After having allowed the idea of an all-encompassing law and order to disappear within himself, he has substituted for it the first fanciful impression coming from his imagination, since even in his very blindness he always searches for some motive in Nature. By so doing he continually renews the criminal error by which, after having willingly sown uncertainty and chance around himself, he then unfairly and unfortunately imputes these to his Principle. The very people who claim that corporeal things had a beginning attribute no other cause to their existence except chance. Not being aware of the basic reason for their existence, nor even presuming that a cause outside of them is kept sufficiently busy in making it operate, they are convinced that this existence had a beginning, and in the sole properties of bodies they have included the active and innate virtue residing within which animates them and the superior Law which decreed their birth. The same course is followed in the explanation provided for the Law which supports the existence of these corporeal Beings - and it needs to be so. After establishing the origin upon a false and imaginary basis, it has become virtually necessary that the remaining part of the work conform to it. Thus, according to them, bodies exist on their own as they are born on their own. As for those who claim that matter and corporeal Beings have always existed, their error is infinitely more gross and injurious to the truth. These two doctrines have both failed to recognize the Law and the primary reason of things. The first has taught that it is possible to dispense with an active and intelligent cause when explaining their origin, whereas the other has debased this cause by making it equivalent to the active Principle of corporeal Beings, and by not believing it to be superior or more ancient than matter. At this point observers have found themselves obliged to go a step further, because after having presented such obscure Principles regarding the course and nature of things, and after confining themselves in such a tiny circle, they have been practically forced to return to it all the phenomena and events which we witness occurring in the Universe. According to them, a being bereft of intelligence and purpose has created everything and continually creates everything, and since there exist only two causes which are the instruments for everything taking place, the moment these two causes within corporeal Beings are discovered, we may then dispense with the search for a Superior Cause. It is fortunate that Nature does not submit itself to people's thoughts. Even as blind as they suppose it to be, it allows them to reason, but it follows its own course. Meanwhile, the fact that Nature's course is so firm and fearless is even for them of considerable advantage and is the best characteristic of the grandeur of the physical and temporal Being governing them. Being impenetrable to the systems of people, and demonstrating to them their weakness by its constancy in following its own Law, it will perhaps one day force people to admit their errors, abandon the obscure paths on which they crawl, and seek for truth in a more luminous source. However, to forestall any uneasiness among my fellow human beings who might believe that this active and intelligent cause of which I speak is a chimerical and imaginary Being, let me explain that certain people have known it on a physical level, and that everyone would likewise know it were they to put their trust in it and take further care in purifying and fortifying their will. However, I must give warning that I do not take this word "physical" in its everyday connotation, which attributes existence and reality solely to objects tangible to the material senses. The slightest reflection upon everything contained in this work will be enough to indicate the extent to which one is removed from the understanding of the sense of this word when it is applied to material appearances. Before taking up another subject, I shall pause a moment to resolve a difficulty that could arise, although to some extent I have already tackled it. At the beginning of this work I discussed the existence of two Principles opposing one another. Although I have amply considered the inferiority of the evil Principle in comparison to the good Principle, you might believe, in accordance with what has just been observed regarding corporeal nature, that these two Principles are necessary to the existence of one another, as it has been seen that the two inferior causes enclosed within corporeal Beings are absolutely necessary in bringing about some production. To avoid such an error, you should recall a previous statement of mine: all production or work result in corporeal Nature, as well as in all other classes, and is always inferior to its generative Principle. This inferiority makes corporeal nature unable to reproduce itself without the action of these two causes that are recognized to be in it, and which declare its weakness and dependence. If this temporal creation draws its origin from the superior good Principle - a fact we cannot doubt - this Principle must display its superiority in all things, and one of its major attributes is to possess absolutely everything except evil within itself and to need only itself and its own faculties in carrying out all of its productions. Consequently, is not the status of the evil Principle simply to serve in manifesting the grandeur and power of the good Principle which shall never be weakened by all the efforts of this evil Principle? Thus, itis no longer possible to declare that the evil Principle has always been universally necessary to the existence and manifestation of the faculties of the good Principle, although in exerting its influence upon the existence of time, this evil Principle is necessary for bringing about the birth of all temporal manifestations. Since certain manifestations do not exist in time, and since the evil Principle cannot separate itself from the temporal, it is evident that the good Principle can operate without it, a fact which will be discussed later in greater detail. Therefore, let people hereby learn to distinguish once more the Laws and faculties of this unique Principle, which is universally good and self-existent, from those of the inferior material Being which cannot exist on its own and can live only through outside assistance. I believe that I have done enough to enable my fellow human beings to perceive how groundless human opinions are regarding all the points I have considered until now. I have placed them on the road to learning how to distinguish bodies from the innate Principle within those bodies. I have also called their attention to the simplicity, unity, and immateriality of these indivisible, incommunicable Principles, which allow no admixture and always remain constant, although the form each principle produces and in which it envelops itself is subject to continued variation. With this evidence in mind, they will be able to recognize that matter, being incontestably dependent and yet acting under the direction of regular laws, requires two inferior causes to bring about its reproduction and all other acts of its existence, and these inferior causes definitely cannot dispense with the action of a superior and intelligent cause that commands them so as to cause their action and directs them toward bringing their acts to a successful conclusion. Consequently, they will admit that the two inferior causes must be subject to the laws of the superior and intelligent cause, so that time and uniformity may be observed in all their acts; that the results of all their various actions cannot be nullified, shapeless, and unpredictable; and that we may be enabled to acknowledge the reason for the order universally reigning therein. Moreover, they will agree quite willingly that this Superior Cause, not being subject to any of the laws of matter, although being charged with its direction, must be entirely distinct from it. They will also agree that the method of obtaining knowledge of either one is to consider each in its class, to study their particular faculties, to bring them together in the same situation (but solely to disentangle their differences, and not to confuse them), to make this same distinction within all other Beings in Nature and within the least of its parts where the eyes of the body and the intelligence inform us that two Beings always coexist. And finally, seeing that violence has united them only for a time, we should not look upon this union as a link existing throughout all eternity because, on the contrary, we see it coming to an end every day. All of these observations will make a person prudent and wise in that they will prevent her from abandoning herself unthinkingly to unknown paths from which she cannot extricate herself without retracing her steps or by surrendering herself to despair when she senses that she has gone too far and time is lacking. This is what will cause her to avoid the peril toward which most people are led when, being alone and in the shadows, they dare to comment upon their own nature and that of truth. We shall see in what follows the frequent falls that have been and always will be the result. We shall perceive that the greatest part of humankind's sufferings has arisen in this way, as it is by reason of having fallen from their primary state of splendor, that people are now inclined to descend ever further into shame and misery.

## Chapter 4 - Allegorical Tableau

A few people, having been brought up in ignorance and idleness and having attained maturity, set out to travel through a great kingdom. But being motivated only by simple curiosity, they made little effort to understand the true methods by which this country was governed. They had neither enough courage nor credibility to gain admission among those of the ruling class, who could have revealed to them the government's hidden operations. Rather, these people were content to roam from city to city, letting their eyes wander randomly over public squares and places. There, viewing the people in tumultuous assemblage and seemingly unrestrained, they obtained no idea of the order and wisdom of those laws secretly guarding the safety and wellbeing of the inhabitants. They believed that all the citizens, being similarly idle, lived here in full freedom. Indeed, what these people had observed presented neither rule nor law to their unenlightened minds so that, trusting only their eyes, they were far removed from the knowledge that people of superior rank and powers were governing this multitude which milled about in confusion before them. They persuaded themselves that the country through which they were traveling had no Laws and therefore lacked a ruler. Or, if it did have a ruler, he was without the authority and power to act. Deceived by such independence and foreseeing no dangerous consequences from their actions, these travelers believed they could abandon themselves to every whim, as they considered the rulers to be arbitrary and indifferent. But it was not long before they became the victims of their own errors and rash judgments, for the vigilant administrators of the state, being informed of their disorders, deprived these people of their freedom and so severely restricted them that they languished in the most profound darkness, without knowing whether the light would ever be returned to them. This is exactly what has been the conduct and fate of those who have dared to pass judgment upon Humanity and Nature. Always occupied with frivolous and useless studies, their viewpoint narrowed by habit, and being unable to envision the entire progression, they have not gone beyond the appearance of things and, by thus limiting their viewpoint, they have ignored or denied everything they could not see. In bodies they have seen only their envelopes, which they then transformed into Principles. They have seen in the Laws of such bodies only two actions or two inferior causes, and they have hastened to reject the active and intelligent superior cause, whose operations they have confused with those of the two lesser causes. Afterwards, believing themselves well assured of their results, they have created from the whole a hypothetical material Being by which they have had the imprudence to measure all the other Beings of Nature, which they have then entirely distorted. It is from this mutilated model that they have dared to envision humankind. Indeed, we can no longer doubt that they have committed the same errors regarding humankind that they have committed regarding the whole of Nature. Not only have they not differentiated the Principle from the appearance or envelope any better in a person's body than in all corporeal Beings, nor recognized or followed the progression or the Laws any better, but, even after having accepted modification upon this point, they still confuse a person's corporeal envelope with his intellectual and thinking Being, much as they have confused the innate Principle in all bodies with the active and intelligent cause directing them. Thus, not having first disentangled the superior cause from the faculties innate within the corporeal Being, and having afterwards confused the faculties of the two different Beings composing contemporary humankind, it has been impossible for these observers to recognize therein the action of the active and intelligent cause which, while communicating all the powers to Nature, gives to a person through her intelligence and likewise communicates all notion of the benefits she has lost. However, from such ignorance not only have they been rash enough to give their opinion upon a person's essence and nature, but they have attempted to explain all the contrasts presented by a person and to establish the basis of her works. When people erred only regarding elementary Nature, we saw that their errors only occasioned minor problems. This is because their opinions have no bearing upon the progress of Beings and their invariable Laws, which operate continuously with constant precision, although humankind has distorted and failed to recognize the Principle. But it will never be so regarding a person's errors about himself. Inevitably they will be disastrous for him, since being the trustee of his own Law, he can be neither mistaken about it nor disregard it without operating directly against himself and causing definite injury to himself. In short, a person is truly happy when he recognizes and follows the Laws of his Principle, whereas his ills and sufferings are obvious proof of his errors and the stumblings that have resulted therefrom. Therefore, let us observe what results from this distorted Being and see whether a person can maintain herself even though deprived of her primary support. It will be easy for us to presuppose the results of this investigation if we recall what was stated regarding the condition of Nature if left to the passive action of the two inferior Beings necessary for all corporeal production. As you know, these two Beings, being merely passive, can never produce anything on their own if the active and intelligent cause does not give them the order and power to activate what is innate within them. If it were possible to imagine a will residing within these inferior agents even though they were still powerless, it is obvious that if they tried to put this will into action without the cooperation of the active cause upon which they necessarily depend, their works would be formless and manifest only shocking confusion. Meanwhile, let us apply to people, who do have wills of their own, what we could not state concerning those inferior agents which are devoid of will. In this way we can better learn to discover the unfortunate effects of the errors we propose to combat. A person is at present composed of two Beings, one sensate, the other intelligent. We have given the understanding that originally, he was not subject to this combination, and that, enjoying the prerogatives of a simple Being, he possessed all within himself and had no need of anything more to maintain himself, since all was included in the precious gifts he derived from his Principle. We have subsequently shown the irrevocable and severe conditions which Justice attached to the rehabilitation of a person, made criminal by the false usage of her will. We have seen, I repeat, the innumerable and frightful perils with which a person is continually menaced during her sojourn in the sensate region which is so contrary to her true nature. At the same time, we have recognized that the body she occupies at present, belonging to the same classification as sensate things, forms around her in effect a shadowy veil which hides the true Light from her view and is also the constant source of her illusions and the instrument of her new crimes. Thus, in their original state, it was the Law of people to rule over the sensate region, as people still must do today, but because they were then endowed with incomparable strength and were entirely unfettered, all obstacles disappeared before them. Today, people no longer possess nearly as many forces, nor the same freedom. They are infinitely closer to peril, so that in the combat they must now maintain, we can only express the disadvantages to which they are exposed. In truth, such is the frightful situation of modem people after the crushing decree was pronounced against them. Of all the gifts people received, there remained to them only a shadow of freedom, in other words, a will almost always devoid of strength or power. All other power was stripped from them, and their union with a sensate Being reduced them to the status of a mere combination of two inferior causes, similar to those regulating all bodies. I say similar to, and not equal to, because the purpose of humankind's two natures is more noble, and their properties are very different. But regarding the action and exercise of their faculties, both are fully subject to the same Law; and the two inferior causes composing modern people do not have, so to speak, more power in themselves than the two inferior corporeal causes. It is true that in his capacity as an intellectual Being, a person always has the advantage over the corporeal beings in sensing a need which is unknown to them. But he cannot obtain solace on his own any better than can they. He cannot vitalize his intellectual faculties any better than can they animate their own Being. In other words, he cannot dispense, any better than they, with the active and intelligent cause without which nothing existing in time can operate effectively. Therefore, what kind of results could a person produce today, if, in the powerless state that we know her to be, she believed she was not subject to any other Law than her own will, and if she attempted to proceed without being guided by this active and intelligent cause upon which she is dependent, notwithstanding her own will, and from which she must anticipate all, as do the corporeal beings among which she is so sadly confused? It is certain that a person's own endeavors would then have neither value nor force, since they would be deprived of the only support that could sustain them; and the two inferior causes of which he finds himself presently composed, being in constant combat within him, would only serve to agitate him and plunge him into the most unfortunate uncertainty. This predicament is similar to the two lines in any angle which can each move in contrary directions, separate, approach each other, intermingle, or be placed one on top of the other, but which can never produce any sort of figure unless a third line is joined to them. This third line is necessary for fixing the instability of the first two lines, as it determines their position and thus perceptibly distinguishes one from the other, so as to constitute a figure eventually. It is indisputably the most productive of all figures. Nonetheless, this situation constitutes the false attempts made by people day after day, which are to work towards the accomplishment of an impossible task, in other words, to try forming a figure with two lines by concentrating upon the action of the inferior causes presently composing their nature, and by continually endeavoring to exclude the active and intelligent superior cause which they absolutely cannot dispense with. Thus, despite the evident need they have of this cause, they move further and further away from it, from illusion to illusion, without ever being able to discover the point where they must remain, because there is no perfect production without the cooperation of this third Principle. If you want to know the reason for this, it is because the instant a person arrives at three, she is at four. Then, reflecting upon the frightful uncertainty in which she finds himself, she is shocked by the disorder accompanying all her steps, and she soon denies the existence of this Principle of order and peace which she has ignored due to her negligence or bad faith. At times, attracted by the power of truth, a person also murmurs against this same Principle which he previously rejected, and he thus demonstrates the certainty of everything we have said regarding the variations and inconsistencies of any Being in which the faculties are not united and made invariable by their natural bond. |

Far from believing that all of a person's errors affect in any way this cause from which she further removes herself, we should now be informed enough about her nature to know that she alone suffers from her errors, since in her quality as a free Being she alone is guilty. We must know that when this cause, unchanging in both its faculties and essence, extends its rays down to a person, they purify her and are not therefore sullied. We will therefore pursue our course and clarify the difficulties which stop observers when, alone and without guidance, they cast their eyes upon all the institutions upon Earth, whether those which have been established by people or those to which a higher origin is attributed. It is truly here that these blind people, not knowing how to untangle the arbitrary from the real, have made of the two a monstrous combination capable of obscuring the most luminous notions. It is also, and let us entertain no doubts about this, one of the most interesting objects for a person and one upon which it is crucial that he make no errors, since this is where he must learn to regulate the faculties of which he is composed. Let us examine the reason why people, due to the observations they have made regarding the practices, usages, customs, laws, and religions that have always differed among various peoples, have been led to think that nothing in existence is true and that, since everything is arbitrary and conventional among people, it would be an illusion to acknowledge any duties to perform or to acknowledge any essential and natural order designed to serve them as a guiding light. If it were true that everything is convention as they pretend, they would be justified in arriving at this conclusion, because there would then be no distinction for them between good and evil. All their judgments would become indifferent, and no one would have any reason to compel them to follow any rules of conduct. But seeing that the error stems from the fact that observers have failed to untangle within people the two faculties of which they are composed; seeing that they have confused the intellectual and the sensate within people, and have applied to the former all the variations and disparities to which the latter is subject; and seeing that they have compounded these errors by confusing the active and intelligent cause with the various faculties of people, can we give any credence to a doctrine so false and so lacking in profound examination? Such, however, is the course these observers have followed. They have seldom if ever cast their eyes beyond the sensate. This sensate faculty, being limited and deprived of the power necessary for directing itself, will never present anything other than the repeated proofs of variation, dependence, and uncertainty. Therefore, through it alone, and through its being left to its own Law, all the differences we witness here on Earth have been introduced. Indeed, of all the branches of political and civil law encompassing different peoples, do any have an objective other than the material? Does even the moral part of all their establishments rise beyond this visible human order? Even in their most virtuous institutions there does not exist any that they themselves have not reduced to sensate rules and external Laws because, in all these things, the instructors have proceeded alone and without guidance - this being the only end towards which they could direct their steps. People's intellectual faculty is therefore not at all involved in such facts nor in the observations of which they have been so often the object. Thus, we must be wary of adopting judgments that have been obtained from them before examining the extent of their consequences and determining whether they are applicable to all. Otherwise, it would be impossible to admit them, since a truth must be universal. Let us begin by observing the most respected and universally prevalent institution among all peoples, what they consider, with reason, to be the one which cannot owe its existence to humankind's handiwork. Considering the zeal with which all people on Earth occupy themselves with this sacred object, it is very clear that all people possess the image and idea of it within themselves. We perceive among all nations a complete uniformity regarding the fundamental Principle of religion. They all recognize a superior Being; they all recognize the necessity of praying to It; they all pray to It; they all sense the necessity of a form to their prayers; and they have all given a form to these prayers. Never has humankind's will been able to destroy this truth nor replace it with another. Nevertheless, the careful attention that various peoples exhibit when honoring the Primary Being present to us differences, and arbitrary and successive changes, as do all other institutions in both practice and theory; so that, among all religions, no two are known to worship It in the same manner. Let me then ask, could this difference have occurred if people had accepted the same guide and if they had not lost sight of the sole light that could have illuminated and reconciled them? And, is this light anything other than the active and superior cause which should maintain the balance between their sensate and intellectual faculties, and without which it is impossible for them to take a single step in the right direction? It is therefore this superior cause that must nourish within people the primitive idea of a unique and universal Being, as well as the knowledge of the Laws to which this Being subjects the conduct of people towards It whenever It permits them to approach It. By removing themselves from this light, people are delivered over to their own faculties, but then those very faculties become weakened and almost entirely disappear within them. Darkness covers the faculties with such an opaque veil that, without the help of a benevolent hand, they can never free themselves from it. However, although people are then abandoned to themselves, they are always obliged to "travel." This is the reason why in the midst of this terrible ignorance, being always tormented with the idea and need of this Being, from which they sense their separation, people turn uncertain eyes towards It and pay homage according to their own thought. And although they no longer know whether the homage they offer is truly what this Being asks, they prefer to render homage, such as they conceive of it, rather than to experience the secret anxiety and regret of rendering none at all. Such is, in part, the Principle that has formed false religions and has distorted what should have been followed by peoples all over the world. Therefore, should we be surprised to see so little uniformity in humankind's pious practices and religions? Should we be surprised to see people produce all these contradictions, and contrary practices and rites, which conflict with one another and in reality, present nothing true to our thought? Is this not where people's imaginations, being freed from all restraint, causes all their works to become the results of their caprice and blind will? Is it not here, consequently, where everyone must seem indifferent to reason, since reason no longer discerns any relationship between the worship and the Being to which the instructors and their followers wish to apply it? However, I must ask whether most of these differences and even palpable clashes do not rest upon something other than what is subject to a person's corporeal eyes - that is, upon the senses. Therefore, could a conclusion be arrived at contrary to the Principle which they do not even take into consideration? Would not this Principle be as unalterable and intact after a person's shadowy thought had introduced variations even into theory and dogmas? As long as a person is not illuminated by her flambeau alone, and maintained by her sole support, she can possess no more certainty of the purity of her doctrine than she can of the justice of her actions. And finally, whatever the nature of her errors may be, could they ever prevail against truth? If errors pursue the observers and render them blind, it is therefore always because of their failure to distinguish the person thus dismembered, who employs but a part of himself, from the person who makes full use of his faculties. It is because of their failure to distinguish the distorted source from which he draws formless productions, that a person is declared to be incapable of knowing anything stable and assured. Nevertheless, let us ascertain how far the special power of people can extend when they are left to their own devices. Let us grant them only the rights that belong to them, and let us examine whether there does not exist anything beyond that which they accomplish and know. First of all, we have seen that despite their reasonings upon Nature, people are obliged to submit to its Laws. We have shown to a sufficient degree that the Laws of this Nature are fixed and invariable, although through the concentration of the two actions existing in the Universe, their accomplishment may often be disrupted. Therefore, we have here already a truth upon which humankind's arbitrariness has not the slightest influence. The time has long passed for offering me such objections, as those sensations and impressions of all kinds which various bodies make upon our senses, differ in each individual. By such means the multitudes have believed themselves fully justified in denying the existence of any rule within animals. We have anticipated this objection by declaring that Nature can act only by correspondence. We can further strengthen this principle by stating that this Law of relation is no more subject to the arbitrariness of people than Nature itself, and that we are not masters of changing their effects in any way, because diverting or hindering them is not at all changing them. On the contrary, their stability is confirmed even more so. Therefore, we already know from the evidence presented that there resides in corporeal Nature, a Power superior to people which subjects them to its Laws. We can no longer doubt its existence, although the concern that people have shown in knowing and explaining this Power has rarely resulted in obtaining enlightenment or any satisfactory success. Secondly, let us recall how we have demonstrated the weakness and infirmity of Nature in comparison to the Principle from which it secured its origin and from which it regularly obtains its existence and reaction. We shall then see that, if people are subject to this Nature, they shall, to a much greater extent, be subject to the superior Principles directing and maintaining it. Although they may have only a meager concept of their power, compared to their concept of Nature's power, their own reason would prevent them from denying the truth of their existence, when their sentiment would not. Therefore, what will result from everything people may accomplish, imagine, say, or institute against the Laws of these superior Principles? Far from being altered to the slightest degree, these Laws will only exhibit their force and power to a greater extent by leaving the person who draws herself further away from them, abandoned to her own doubts and the uncertainties of her imagination, and by obliging her to crawl as long as she chooses to ignore them. Apart from these observations, nothing more is needed to prove the insufficiency of the person who accepts only the tangible for his rule and guidance. If the lack of power which we note in corporeal Nature absolutely prevents us from attributing to it the actions it operates, and 1f, by his own reasoning, a person can arrive at a sense of the indispensable necessity for the cooperation of an active Cause, without which corporeal Beings would have no visible action, he therefore has need only of himself to acknowledge the existence of an active and intelligent Cause. And, from there, he may arrive at the unique and primary Cause from which has emanated all the temporal causes destined for the accomplishment of its works and the execution of its will. I have declared that this active and intelligent Cause possesses a universal action, manifesting in both corporeal Nature and thinking Nature. It is, in fact, the first of the temporal causes without which none of the Beings existing in time can endure. It acts upon them through the very Law of its essence and through the rights to which its destiny in the universe entitles it. Whether or not the Beings inhabiting this Universe conceive of this Cause, there is not a single one which does not receive its assistance. Moreover, since it is active and intelligent, it is obvious that both thinking and non-thinking Beings must partake of its beneficence. This is the reason why I have stated that all peoples on Earth have of necessity recognized a superior Being. They have not made all the distinctions that I have just established between the different causes. They have not distinguished this active and intelligent Cause from the primary Cause which is absolutely separate from the sensate and from time. Often, they have even confounded it with the inferior causes of Creation, to which they have sometimes given their homage. Thus, they have not received from their religion the assistance they could have expected from it had their course been further enlightened. But this subject will lead us much too far afield. Let us therefore limit ourselves to pointing out that because the active and intelligent Cause is universal in nature, people have been forced by perception and reflection to arrive at the recognition of its necessity. And, in whatever way they have imagined it, they have been mistaken only in regard to the true nature of this Cause, but never regarding its very existence. After having made this admission to herself, a person could not avoid pursuing her course. Her perception and reflections have directed her in the second step as they had in the first. By remaining her own guide on this new path, she has been unable to discover either more certitude or more enlightenment. Consequently, after having recognized a superior Cause in Nature and after having recognized that it was superior to his thinking despite his discoveries, a person could not help admitting that Laws must exist by which this Cause acts upon everything which is subject to it, and that, if the Beings which must depend upon it for everything did not fulfill these Laws, they could not hope for any enlightenment, life, or support. People were brought to the realization of these consequences by their observations concerning this same corporeal Nature to which they are attached. They could see, for instance, that if they transgressed the Laws regarding the periods and processes of cultivation, the earth only returned to them imperfect and unwholesome productions. They could see that if they did not observe the order of the seasons and an exactness in all their arrangements, the results would be fruitless and unsuccessful. This is what tangibly taught them that this corporeal Nature was directed by Laws, and that these Laws pertained in essence to the active and intelligent Cause of which all people feel the need. Then, in making the same reflection concerning their thinking Being, people became fully aware that, as they cannot accomplish anything without the primary Cause, it is in their best interests to apply themselves to the task of rendering it favorable to them. They conceived that, since this Cause watches over them and interests itself in their well-being, it must have established some means to preserve them from evil. Consequently, the acts that were advantageous to people must be acceptable to this Cause, and those which could be injurious to people were not in conformity with its Law, the purpose of which is to make all Beings content. Thus, people could do no better than to act always in accordance with its wishes and will. Since each individual was unable to determine whether the religion she conceived of had a definite relationship with both herself and the primary Being she desired to honor, she adopted according to her own inclination the means she believed most suitable in rendering this superior Being favorable to her. All people who have relied only upon themselves in their search for this institution have established what their imagination, or certain particular circumstances, created in their thought. This is the reason why all the nations of the world have been divided whether in their religious ceremonies or in the concept and image they have formed of the one who is the object of this worship. This is also why, despite their division concerning the forms of this worship, they are all in agreement concerning the necessity of possessing a religion. All have recognized the existence of a superior Being and all have sensed the need and desire for Its support. If people, in being left to their own devices, had brought to these establishments as much virtue and good faith as they have zeal, each one of them would follow in peace the religion they had adopted without disparaging those in which they perceived differences. But as unenlightened zeal only leads more promptly to error, they have given exclusive preference to their own works. The principle that caused them to walk alone when establishing a religion for themselves has led them to regard this very religion as being the only true one. They even believe they are fulfilling their religious duties more fully by not allowing any other to exist. They make it a virtue, in the service of their idol, to battle and persecute one another, because in their obscured views, they have joined their own cause to that of their idol, and rarely has there been a nation which has not believed they were honoring the superior Being by banning all religions different from that which they have chosen. As everyone knows, this is one of the principal causes of wars, either general or local, and of disorders that we see every day disturbing the various classes which compose political bodies and even overturning the most firmly established empires. However, there exists in such strife an infinity of other divisive causes sufficiently known and too futile for me to occupy myself, either in enumerating or examining them in this work. Can it not be said that all of these errors and crimes which people have committed in the name of their religion emanate from a source none other than that of having substituted themselves for the enlightened hand that was to lead them, and from having believed that they were guided by a true Principle, whereas they were only guided by themselves? oF

Therefore, we must conclude from what has just been stated that all peoples, by the sole aid of their reflections, and through the voice of their inner sentiment, have been brought to the recognition of the existence of some kind of superior Being and to the necessity of a religion for worshiping It. This concept is one that people cannot entirely efface within themselves, even though it is often obscured in the majority of people. And certainly, we cannot be at all surprised by this, as there are some who have permitted the very idea of their Being to become extinguished within themselves, and in whom the inner faculties have become so weakened that they have believed themselves mortal and perishable. It must also be concluded that if this idea of the existence of a superior Being and the necessity of a religion is a part of a person's being, it is also the final limit to which he can attain on his own while here on Earth. These are the unique fruits which can result from his perceptive and intellectual faculties when left to their own devices. This feeling is a fundamental seed within people. But if no power comes to react upon this seed, it cannot manifest anything substantial. Its productions will most certainly have no consistency, in much the same way as the seeds of corporeal Beings remain devoid of action and production if an active and intelligent Cause does not direct the reaction and, in general, all the acts concerning them. We shall persuade ourselves more fully of the truth of this thought when we reflect upon the nature and the properties of the active and intelligent Cause. It is distinct from the primary Cause, being its primary agent. It does not produce seeds in corporeal Beings, but animates them. It does not produce the intellectual and sensible faculties in people, but directs and enlightens them. In a word, being the primary and sovereign of all temporal Causes, it alone is charged with their direction, and no one can dispense with its help nor avoid being subject to it. Thus, if it is through the active and intelligent Cause that things manifest exclusively, nothing can become sensate without it. As we can only become aware of things here on Earth through the senses, how shall we succeed if this same Cause does not itself act with us and does not operate that which it alone can operate in the Universe? Therefore, we now perceive the absolute necessity for the two faculties of people always to be guided and sustained by this universal temporal Cause. It will not provide people with the idea of the primary Being of which it is the primary moving cause, but it will enable people to recognize the faculties of this primary Being by manifesting them through material productions. Nor will it provide people with the idea of a religion to honor the primary Being, but it will enlighten their ideas upon this subject. And by making the faculties of this primary Being palpable to them, it will make the certain means of honoring this Being equally palpable. This is where I perceive the end to all humankind's doubts and of all the variations which are their consequences. This active and intelligent Cause, being charged with the activation and the direction of everything, cannot fail to reconcile everything whenever its powers are properly used. The unique means that people possess in avoiding the commission of errors is to not exclude this Cause from any of their acts, institutions, or establishments, in much the same way that it cannot be excluded from any of the regular acts of Nature. People will then be sure to experience the true rapport with what they are searching for. No longer will there be any disparity between human religions, as they will all possess the same light. No longer will there exist between them any difficulty concerning dogma or belief, since they will know the primary reason of things. In a word, all will be in accord, because each person will proceed according to the true Law. We can no longer doubt that the reason for all the differences exhibited by nations in their dogmas and beliefs arise solely from the fact that they have not sought in their institutions the support of this active and intelligent Cause, which alone should direct them and which alone can unite them. I maintain that its Light is undoubtedly the only point of reunion. Outside of it, there can exist no hope, only error and suffering. Only to this Cause can this invincible truth be applied in its essence and nature, that outside of the center, there can be no stability. After having made these statements, I hope I shall not be suspected of desiring to establish equality and indifference between the diverse religions prevalent among the peoples of Earth, and even less of attempting to teach the uselessness of religion. On the contrary, I declare that no nation exists which has not felt such a necessity. I further assert that such religions must exist as long as there are people on Earth. But as long as they are not maintained by a common support, it is inevitable that they be divided and, as a consequence, it will be impossible for them to attain their intended aim. Thus, not only do I maintain the necessity for religion, but I make even more apparent the necessity for a single religion, since a single Head or Cause must direct it. Nor should one ask me at present which of all the established religions is the true one. The principle that I have just established must serve as an answer to all questions pertaining to this subject. The religion that will be directed by this active and intelligent Cause will of necessity be just and good. The religion over which it will preside will most certainly be neither negative nor evil-this is the rule. It is up to those who, among the different nations, are charged with instructing and leading men on their path, to confront their statutes and their course with the Law we are presenting to them. Our aim is not to judge established religions, but to enable their directors and ministers to pass judgment upon themselves. Naturally, I must expect objections concerning this active and intelligent Cause which I have described as being the unique, primary head of everything operating in the Universe. People can well agree upon the necessity of this Cause's action upon material Beings. They cannot even doubt that it occurs, seeing the regularity and uniformity of the results arising from it. But they will say to me, even after admitting the necessity for this Cause's action in directing humankind's entire conduct, what methods should they use to determine whether the Cause does or does not preside over it? Since their dogmas and religious establishments lack uniformity, it is absolutely necessary for them to possess some Law other than that of opinion in assuring themselves that they are following the right path. People thereby exhibit their weakness and powerlessness, and much more force is given to what we have said, because if a person could choose and determine her religion by her own volition, the power of the active and intelligent Cause, which I recognize as being indispensable, would then become superfluous in this matter. If, however, this active and intelligent Cause could never be known through a person's senses, it would be impossible for him to be assured that he had found the best path and the true religion, as this Cause must operate and manifest in all things. Therefore, it is necessary that a person possesses the certainty of which we speak, and that it not be given to him by humankind. It is necessary that this Cause itself clearly offer to humankind's intelligence and eyes the testimony of its approbation. Finally, considering that a person can be misled by fellow humans, it is necessary that he possess the means to avoid misleading himself, and that he has resources at hand from which he can expect definite help. The Principles that I have so often established are proof enough of the certainty of what I propound. Have we not already recognized on many occasions that a person is free? As such, is she not responsible for the effects, good or ill, that must result from her choice among the good or evil thoughts she receives? Would she be responsible for them, had she not within herself the faculty of untangling them without error? Thus, we perceive that basically she is not compelled to confront with her rule any of the acts she engenders, as she is not absolutely certain of anything. What can this rule be, if not the testimony and approbation of the active and intelligent Cause, which, being charged with the direction of all Beings subject to time, must visibly establish a balance between humankind's various faculties, as it does among the various actions of corporeal Beings or of matter? If this Cause is charged with the direction of a person's faculties, must it not also be charged, with even more reason, with the direction of his actions? And among these actions, certainly the least indifferent is that by which he must faithfully observe the Laws which can gain for him the approbation of the Primary Principle and bring him closer to that Being to which, he senses universally, he must render homage. And if the active and intelligent Cause is the infallible support which must uphold a person in all his steps, if it is the sure light which must direct all the acts of his thinking Being, it is absolutely necessary that this universal guide preside over humanity's religious institutions and over all their other actions, and that it does so in a way that will protect its voice and testimony from all uncertainty. I know that the question is not yet resolved, and to state how necessary it is that the active and intelligent Cause itself establishes the Laws of our homage to the Primary Principle, does not prove that such is happening. But after having stated where people must obtain this proof, one can no longer expect any other indications on my part. I shall not even cite my own personal experience, regardless of the confidence that I must place upon it. There was a time when I would not have placed any faith in truths that I could verify today. I would therefore be guilty of injustice and thoughtlessness if I were to determine my readers' convictions. No, I am not afraid to repeat it, I sincerely desire that no one believe me on the strength of my word alone, because as a person, I have no claim to the confidence of my fellow human beings. But I would be overwhelmed with joy if each one of them could attain a grand enough idea of themselves and of the Cause watching over them, in the hope that, through their own perseverance and efforts, they may be assured of the truth. I know that, through views wise and beyond the reach of the vulgar, the leaders and ministers of nearly all religions have proclaimed their dogmas with prudence and especially with a reserve that cannot be praised highly enough. Impressed, undoubtedly, by the sublimity of their functions, they have sensed the extent to which the multitude must be kept away from this knowledge. This is surely the reason why, being the trustees for the keys of knowledge, they have preferred to lead their peoples to an obscure veneration of it rather than expose its secrets to profanation. If their motives are truly these, I cannot condemn them. Darkness and silence are the refuge that truth prefers, and people possessing it cannot take too many precautions in preserving its purity. But may I not point out to them that they should also be wary of preventing its spread, their duty being to see that it prospers, to defend it zealously, and not to bury it. And finally, concealing it with too much care would perhaps cause it to fail in attaining its aim, which is to extend itself and to triumph. Therefore, I believe that they would have acted very wisely had they investigated more thoroughly the meaning of the word "mystery," which they have made a bulwark for their religions. They could fully veil the important points, announce its development as being the reward of effort and constancy, and thereby test their proselytes by exercising both their intelligence and zeal. However, they should not have made such discoveries so impracticable that the Universe thus became discouraged. They should not have rendered useless the most noble faculties of the thinking Being, who, having experienced birth in the sojourn of life, was already unfortunate enough to have left its abode without removing from him even the hope of perceiving it here on earth. In a word, I would have announced instead a Mystery as a veiled truth, and not as an impenetrable truth, and I am fortunate enough to possess proof that this definition would have been of greater value. Nothing will prevent me, therefore, from persevering in the principles that I endeavor to bring forth to humankind, and from assuring my fellow human beings that not only does the active and intelligent Cause direct them in all their acts, and consequently in those relating to religion, but moreover that it is within their power to obtain proof of it, and in a manner that does not allow any doubts to remain. In fact, we only need to observe the conduct of various nations to perceive that they all regard their religion as being founded upon the basis I have just established. Does not everyone know the ardor with which they have defended their religious rites and dogmas? Have they not supported their religion with as much zeal and fearlessness as if they had the certainty that truth itself had established it? What I am saying is this: Is not the word "truth" the bulwark of all sects and opinions? Have not the very ministers of the greatest abominations been seen enveloping themselves in this sacred name, knowing full well that they would, by so doing, more surely attain domination over people? Why would this course be so universal if its Principle did not exist within people? Why would a person, even in her false steps, seek the support of a name commanding respect, if she were not inwardly aware that this name is powerful and that she has need of it? And at the same time, why would she announce that her steps are directed by truth if she sensed that they might not be? We believe these observations to be sufficient to convince our readers of the necessity and possibility of the cooperation of an active and intelligent Cause in all of humankind's actions, and primarily in the knowledge and practice of those Laws which must direct their homage toward the Primary Being, which can be ignored by none of good faith. Thus, after the Law is imposed upon them by their own nature, and it is possible for them to obtain it according to all the Principles just revealed, by attempting to act on their own and never proceeding without its support will clearly result in their wandering aimlessly and being exposed to all sorts of dangers. They will then be even more blameworthy when they proclaim to other people that they are guided by this true light, even though they do not possess any certainty of it. No matter what their errors or bad faith are regarding this subject, no matter what peculiarities they introduce into their religious institutions, we must acknowledge at present, as I have already stated, that it can never be concluded that neither rule nor truth exists for humanity. Rather, we must become fully aware that the errors of people regarding this subject cannot involve any objects other than the outer or sensate part of their religions and, being inferior and completely subordinated to the Primary Being, all the opinions and contradictions which they might engender will never, in the slightest way, affect this Being. This is the basic consequence that must be inferred from all that has just been stated concerning the diversity of religions. Therefore, the person who is wise and accustomed to searching beyond the outer surface of things must no longer allow herself to be seduced by the variety of institutions of this kind, nor be disturbed by the universal contradictions of people upon this subject. She must actually perceive what the source of it is, and she must not doubt that if people carry within themselves the idea of the Primary Being, they must also have a fixed and uniform method of demonstrating that they know It and of rendering It homage. This method must be as simple and unalterable as this very Being, although people regularly commit errors concerning the nature of one and the other. Meanwhile, this is where we can perceive the slight confidence that can be placed in those who pretend to prove a religion by means of morality, and who well deserve the poor degree of success they usually attain. Morality, being one of the primary duties of contemporary humanity, has not always been taught by masters sufficiently enlightened to apply it justly. It has nearly always been limited to the physical senses, and from then on it has varied according to the locales and the different customs by which people have constituted their virtue. Moreover, attempting to make use of this morality as proof, such morality being no more than an accessory to religion, even the most highly perfected, is to announce right then that one does not know the true proof and that there must likewise exist proofs deserving of this title. Nor do I believe it amiss to call attention to the fact that this is what causes the deficiencies in modern doctrines, which reduce all of humanity's Laws to morality and their entire religion to humanitarian actions, or to the alleviation of the material ills of the unfortunate, in other words, to that virtue so natural and little worthy of note, by which my contemporaries attempt to support their systems, and which, by concentrating humankind in purely passive works, is nothing more than a veil for ignorance and devoid of value in the eyes of the wise person. Such virtue undoubtedly belongs among our obligations, and no one should neglect it under any pretext whatsoever, but all our duties would not be exclusively limited to temporal and physical acts if we had not become persuaded that sensate things and people are of the same rank and nature. After the result we have just noted, we must expect a second one, which can assist us in combating and overcoming another error to which observers have allowed themselves to be led upon the same subject, and which naturally proceeds from the same source. According to them, if indeed the knowledge of a Superior Being, the object of religion and the reason for its existence, were not innate within people, it would follow that the origin and birth of religious institutions would be altogether uncertain. Insurmountable difficulties would be experienced in knowing in what way and during what period they were conceived, because for people, having only the continual revolutions of nature or the impulsions of their caprice and will for their rule and Law, every moment would be the dawn of a new religion, as it would eliminate the most ancient religions and successively destroy all those that were held in respect upon Earth. According to this supposition, it would be very certain that the institutions of which we speak, having become simply the work of weakness or of interest, would not only be despised by the just person, but he would even employ every effort to erase even the slightest traces of them in himself and in all his fellow people. Nevertheless, after having established all our principles by basing them as we have done upon humankind's nature, and after having recognized the universality of a basis for all of humankind's religions, we should be sufficiently persuaded that this sentiment is truly born within people. Henceforth, all difficulty should cease regarding the origin of this idea of a Superior Being and of the worship that is due to It. Therefore, we should see in the harmony and conformity of the idea of humankind regarding these two points only the natural fruits of this indestructible seed, innate within all people and speaking to them through all ages past. Yet we cannot deny the peculiar and false usage that they have nearly always made of it. We may say as much regarding the uniform Laws that all people should observe in their worship, because, through a disastrous result of their freedom, they drive further away and almost continually disregard the superior physical Cause charged with the direction of this religion as well as all their other actions. Soon we may perceive that they have never been deprived of the faculty of sensing and hearing it, because as long as they are bound to time, this active and intelligent Cause which essentially watches over time, never could lose sight of them, and likewise they themselves would still have this same advantage regarding it, had they not been the first to abandon it. If we wish to convince ourselves more fully of the ties existing between humanity and such luminous truths, of which we proclaim humankind to be the safekeeper, we need only reflect upon the nature of thought. We shall soon perceive that as it is simple, unique, and immutable, there can be only one single species of Being which is receptive to it, because there is nothing in common between Beings of a different nature. We shall see that, if a person possesses within herself this primitive idea of a Superior Being and of an active and intelligent Cause executing its will, she must be of the same essence as this Superior Being and of the Cause linking her to this Being. We shall perceive, I repeat, that thought must be common to them, whereas all Beings incapable of receiving any communication from this thought, or of exhibiting the least evidence of it, will necessarily be excluded from the class of which we speak. It is truly in this way that a person can acquire enlightenment regarding himself, by learning to distinguish himself from all passive and corporeal Beings surrounding him. Despite any effort he employs to make himself understood by any among them regarding the principles of justice, regarding the knowledge of a Superior Being, or other objects pertaining to his thinking, he will not witness in these corporeal and sensate Beings any sign or demonstration that will indicate to him that he has been understood. All that he will obtain, and this not even true of all animals, is their conceiving of and executing the acts of his will, without however understanding the reason for it. Moreover, it would be necessary for the perfection of his communication that a person recalls their natural language of which he has lost the knowledge, because the artificial means which he makes use of today to supplement it are simply the proofs of his weakness and serve only to show him that grandeur does not consist of industry, but of force and authority. When a person no longer fixes her eyes upon the sensate and corporeal Being, and instead turns them upon her own Being, and when in her attempt to know herself she makes careful use of her intellectual faculty, her view acquires an immense scope. She conceives and touches, so to speak, rays of light which she definitely senses to be outside herself, but in which she also senses the absolute analogy with herself. New ideas descend to her, but while admiring them, she is surprised to find that they are not foreign to her. Would she experience so much affinity with such ideas if their source and her were not similar? Would she find herself so much at ease and so satisfied at the sight of the glimmerings of truth that make themselves known to her if their Principle and her did not possess the same essence? This similarity is what causes us to recognize that there must certainly have existed between the thought of humanity, the Primary Being, and the active and intelligent Cause a perfect correspondence from the first moment of a person's existence. If all the Laws that must direct humankind in the knowledge of the Superior Being (as well as the worship which must serve to honor It) are truly based upon this affinity which is necessary to all thinking Beings, we can then perceive with evidence what must have been the origin of religion among humanity and ascertain whether it is not as ancient as they are themselves. The similarity existing between all Beings endowed with thought, of which I have just given you a glimpse, requires that I call your attention at this time to an important distinction eluding most people, and one which keeps them in the deepest obscurity and exposes them to the least excusable of errors. Indeed, if they were to grant thought to an immaterial Being, such as humankind, and one informs them as I have done, that the Principle of matter is immaterial, they would also demand that this Principle be accorded thought and could not conceive that it might be denied. On the other hand, if I were to deny thought to the immaterial Principle of matter, they would no longer know whether they should not also deny it to humanity's immaterial Principle, because they perceive in these two different immaterial Beings only one similar nature and consequently the same properties. But, the same error always deceives them. It is always the lack of desire for untangling two natures so distinct from one another that they allow themselves the greatest misconceptions upon this subject. Therefore, let us bring them back to the primary Principles upon which we have already based ourselves. All immaterial Beings proceed directly or indirectly from the same source. However, they are not equal. We cannot entertain any doubt regarding this inequality of Beings, since people (who are immaterial Beings) recognize of necessity the existence of immaterial Beings superior to them, to whom they must render homage and constant attention because they are subject to them. People recognize that although they are similar to these immaterial Beings through their immaterial nature and thought, they are infinitely inferior to them in that they can lose the use of their faculties and go astray, whereas the Beings dominating them are protected from this fatal danger. Likewise, the Principle of matter is as immaterial and indestructible as the immaterial Principle of humankind. But what lessens this relationship is that one possesses thought and the other does not. And this is the case because, as I have just stated, the immaterial Being of humankind proceeds directly from the source of Beings, whereas the immaterial Being of matter proceeds only indirectly from it. I do not believe an indiscretion is committed in stating that a number distinguishes them, as will be explained subsequently. At the same time, I believe I am rendering an essential service to my fellow humans by urging them to believe in the existence of immaterial Beings which do not think. Many contemporary observers have believed they were no longer materialists once they gained, as I have, the admission and recognition of an immaterial Principle within matter. But does materialism consist solely of possessing neither a perfect knowledge nor an accurate idea of matter and its Principle? Or rather, is not the true materialist the one who places, and will always place, the immaterial Principle of intellectual person and the immaterial Principle of matter in the same category and the same rank? Therefore, I cannot urge people too strongly to avoid confounding the true notions residing within us concerning such subjects, and to believe in the existence of immaterial Beings which do not think. This is a distinction and truth which must resolve all the difficulties that have been raised regarding this subject. If, however, there still remains any doubts concerning thought, which I have presented as necessarily being common and uniform in all Beings distinct from matter and the senses, and that to support these doubts, one were to offer as an objection the difference (so remarkable among the intellectual faculties of people) that each of them does not appear to be endowed more equally in these intellectual faculties than in the corporeal and sense faculties, then I would agree with those who experience such uncertainty that, in fact, judging according to the universal difference perceived in people's intellectual faculties, it seems difficult to believe that they could all possess an equal idea of their Being and of the religion they are bound to observe in honoring it. Yet we have never pretended that the ideas of all people were equal concerning this subject. It is enough for us that they are similar. It is unnecessary, and even impossible, that all people sense their Principle equally, but it is certain that they all sense it, and no one exists who does not have some sort of idea about it. Such an admission is all that we desire on their part, and it remains for the active and intelligent Cause to do the rest. I will not be straying too far from my subject if I pause for a moment to consider the natural difference we perceive in people's intellectual faculties. And it will be useful to learn how we may recognize what they would have been in humankind's primary origin if they had remained in their glorious estate, and what they are today after their descent from it. Even if a person had retained all the advantages of his first estate, it is certain that the intellectual faculties of each of his descendants would have manifested differences. These faculties are the sign of the primary Principle from which men emanate, and because this Principle is always new although always remaining the same, the signs representing it must manifest its continual state of newness and thereby make its fecundity all the more apparent. But, far from having produced any imperfection, nor having caused sorrow and humiliation among men, such differences would not even be perceived by any of them. Too occupied in the enjoyment of their state of rapture, they would not have had the leisure to compare, and although the measure of their faculties would not have been equal, each would have amply satisfied those to whom they had been allotted. Apart from these original inequalities which always occur, a person is subject in her present state to those arising from the Laws of the sensate region she inhabits. This fact makes the exercise of her primary faculties even more difficult and multiplies their differences ad infinitum. However, not being condemned to death or to the everlasting loss of these primary faculties, the elementary region only serves to present her with one more obstacle, and she always has the unavoidable obligation of trying to surmount it. Finally, today, as in her first estate, the measure of her advantages is sufficient if she always feels the firm resolve of employing them for his own benefit. Yet who does not know that, far from deriving any advantage from such obstacles and making them serve for a person's glory, she even adds to them through the false use of her will? She does so through irregular generations, through the ignorance which engulfs her every day concerning what is appropriate for her or what is adverse for her, as well as through a multitude of other causes which continually bring about the decay of these same faculties and distorts them to the point of rendering them almost unrecognizable. Moreover, in this state of degradation into which a person allows himself to be drawn, he loses the true concept of those privileges belonging to him. His heart becomes empty, and, no longer knowing true enjoyment, he degrades himself and only values himself according to conventional differences existing only in his disordered will, but to which he clings with such fervent ardor that, having allowed his sole support to escape, he no longer possesses something to sustain him. However, despite such original differences, again multiplied either by the obstacles of the sensate region or by humanity's vicious habits, could we ever state that a person has changed her nature when we have seen that even corporeal Beings could not change theirs, despite the multitude of revolutions to which their own Law and the hand of a person can subject them? If it is within a person's nature and essence to acknowledge a Superior Being and to perceive that, being attached to the sensate realm, there must exist a palpable means enabling people to make their homage manifest to It, it is certain that, despite all their errors, the Law could never vary for them. They will make their task lengthier and more difficult, as they do in fact every day through their blindness and imprudence, but they will never dispense with the obligation of fulfilling it. If one should find himself more burdened than another by his nature and should it be thus through his own doing, it will nevertheless be necessary that his tribute be paid, and this tribute on a person's part is none other than the awareness, acknowledgment, and just employment of the faculties constituting him. Then, no matter how distorted a person may be, we will always find within her the primary Law, since her nature is always the same. We must always find her like the Being which communicates thought to her, because this thought can only be communicated between Beings of the same nature. We must, I repeat, recognize her as being inseparably bound to the idea of her Principle and to that of the duties attaching her to it, since having agreed that such ideas are universal among people, we cannot deny that these ideas are born and live perpetually with them. This is why we have traced the time of her religion's birth to the person's very origins. What value, then, can we place upon the imprudent and insane opinions which have made people's fears and timidity the roots of this sacred institution? How could such weaknesses give people an idea as sublime as that of a guide which can enlighten and sustain them in all their steps, if its seed was not resident within their breast? And since they carry this seed within themselves, why seek its origin elsewhere? Undoubtedly, we will no longer say that nature's frightening revolutions have caused the birth of this idea within humankind. At best, they have been one of the means suitable for reactivating within people the precious faculties so often found dormant. But they would never have communicated to humanity the seed of these faculties, since it is only through this seed that people are human. To an even lesser extent could they have given a person all the enlightenment and knowledge necessary for the entire accomplishment of those duties involving his religion and worship, because, at the moment that a person senses he does not possess such knowledge, he senses he can acquire it only through an intelligent Cause, which, being superior to him, is all the more superior to material nature. If a person, despite his misery and deprivation, remains above this material nature through his essence, what aids and enlightenment could he ever expect from it? In this way we perceive the kind of mediocre effects all the revolutions of the elementary region have thus produced in people, and how unreasonable it would be to search it for the source of their virtues and grandeur. Yet, despite what I have just said, the terrible events to which elementary nature is exposed have often served to reawaken the intellectual faculties benumbed within people by recalling to them both the idea of the Primary Being and the necessity of honoring It. I will even admit that, in the sorrowful situation in which people frequently have found themselves and which must have become even more frightful through the ignorance to which they have nearly always abandoned themselves, they have chosen among the scattered objects surrounding them those which seemed the most powerful to them and addressed their entreaties to the objects so as to obtain assistance against the misfortunes menacing them. I will agree that, having thus selected their deities, they have also evolved a sensate worship for them and offered sacrifices to them. I will say that as this error has occurred in various parts of the world according to the degree of fear experienced more or less by people, it has been one of the causes which has produced the diversity found among all religions. What could anyone conclude from these comments that would be contrary to the principle I defend? Can we not perceive the motivating cause behind such institutions? Can we not perceive the nature of their frivolous object? Finally, can we not perceive that the very institutions which established them, being unable to hide from themselves the weakness of their idols, have attempted to support them by multiplying their number, that they have often repudiated these idols and later replaced them with others at will, and that they have shown the same inconsistency in the choice of the means employed in making them favorable to themselves? If a fixed luminary had directed these institutions, they and their productions would have been protected from all these contradictions. It is therefore evident that those who have observed such facts have carried these consequences much too far. Merely because fear and superstition have engendered the birth of religious institutions in different parts of the world - or, which is even more true, have introduced diversities within the religions already established - it would be unfair to conclude that they have been the source of all religions, and that people have drawn from this the principles and concepts which are universally common to them and other people. But it is not completely impossible to show even more clearly the cause of this error, and to expose it entirely to view. Have I not proclaimed people as being an assemblage of sensate and intellectual faculties? Has not this caused us to conceive that these sensate faculties, being common to both people and animals, have caused people henceforth to become, much like animals, susceptible to habits? But could not these habits, all pertaining to the senses, also come into being except through the help of sensate means and causes? On the contrary, has not this caused us to conceive that people's intellectual faculties, being of an order superior to sensate causes, could not be commanded by such sensate causes, and that they have need of the reaction of a cause and an agent of another order to move and animate them-namely, one that would be of the same nature as the intellectual Being of humankind? Thus, this is where the solution to the problem is to be found. It is necessary to distinguish between a person's sensate productions and her primary ideas which belong only to her intellectual Being. It is necessary to perceive that climate, temperature, and all the relatively numerous accidents of the material and sensate Nature could well have influenced a person's customs, habits, and outward actions; and that they could even, through a manifestation to her senses, operate passively upon her intellectual faculties. But, the cooperation of all the elementary revolutions, whatever their nature, would never give her the least idea of a Superior Cause, nor the fundamental points we have discovered in It. In short, all the causes that we are examining at this moment belong by their nature within the sensate order and can only actively operate upon the senses and never upon the intellect. We would then perceive in all these effects of a person's weakness and fear only the false usage and senseless application of these intellectual faculties, but we would never perceive their origin therein. Even when these intellectual faculties act upon the sensate, they merely cause its movement but do not create it, although being superior to it. For a much stronger reason, the sensate, being inferior to such faculties, could affect them when it acts upon them, but they will never receive birth and life from it. We therefore return once more to our principle, which has been to place the origin of religion at the first moment of humanity's existence. If, after such demonstrations, those who have advanced the contrary opinion still persist in upholding it, and insist that people had found the source of the concepts and all the lights (the seed of which we proclaim that they carry within themselves) in the inferior and sensate causes, we would have but one question to ask of them so as to overturn their system completely. If, as they state, the revolutions of material Nature have given people a religion, why is it that animals do not also have their own, since they as well as people have been present during all these revolutions? Let us therefore stop occupying ourselves with such an opinion, and let us apply ourselves instead to the task of recognizing the full value of the seed that has been placed within us. Let us apply ourselves to the task of sensing that, if this precious seed must provide us with innumerable fruits whenever it has received its natural culture; conversely it cannot manifest anything except confusion and disorder whenever it receives foreign cultures. Finally, let us attribute only to these false cultures the uncertainty that people have shown in all steps, which they have taken without their guide. Yet I sense the curiosity of my readers regarding this natural culture and regarding the invariable effects of the active and intelligent Cause that I have recognized as the indispensable light of humankind-in a word, regarding that religion or unique worship which, according to the principles that I have proclaimed, would return all religions to the same Law. Although I have announced that people should not expect the proofs and positive testimony of these truths from the hand of others, people can at least receive its description from them, and I propose to present it to them. I shall not conceal, however, all the efforts that I make within myself in attempting it. I cannot cast my eyes upon science without being overcome with shame when I perceive all that humankind has lost, and I would wish that I knew not what I know, because I cannot find anything to be worthy of it within myself. For this reason, I can never express myself about such matters except through symbols. The religion of a person in his first estate was subject to a worship, as it still is today, although its form was different. The principal Law of this person was to cast his eyes continually from the East to the West and from the North to the South-in other words, to determine the latitudes and the longitudes in all parts of the Universe. Through this process he had a perfect knowledge of all that happened in the Universe; he purged all his empire of wrong-doers; he ensured the road for all well-intentioned travelers; and he established peace and order in all the states subject to his domination. Also, through this process he fully manifested the power and glory of the Primary Cause which had charged him with these sublime functions, and fulfilling such functions served to provide the homage most worthy of it, and the only homage capable of honoring and pleasing it. Being One by its essence, it has had no other object than to cause its Unity to prevail-in other words, to act for the happiness of all Beings. However, if a person had not been supported in the exercise of the immense task that had been entrusted to her, she could not have embraced all parts of it on her own. Thus, she was surrounded by faithful ministers who executed her orders with precision and clarity. As she thought, her ministers read her wishes and transcribed them into characters so clear and expressive that they were protected from all equivocation. The primary religion of humanity being invariable, people were subject to the same duties despite their fall. But since they had experienced a change of climate, it was also necessary that they change the Law so as to direct themselves in the exercise of their religion. This change is none other than a person having submitted himself to the necessity of employing tangible means for a religion which should never have known them. Nevertheless, since such means present themselves naturally to him, it requires only a slight effort on his part to search for them, but much more effort, it is true, to render them productive and to successfully make use of them. First of all, he cannot take one step without encountering his Altar, and this Altar is always decorated with Lamps which can never be extinguished and which will exist as long as the Altar itself. Secondly, he always carries incense with him, so that he can devote himself at any moment to the acts of his religion. But, with all these advantages, it is frightening to contemplate the extent to which humanity is still far from its goal, and the number of attempts that a person must make before arriving at the point of being able to fulfill her primary duties entirely. Moreover, even if she were to arrive there, she would always remain in an irrevocable subjection, which would cause her to sense, at the very end, the rigor of her condemnation. This subjection consists of a person being absolutely incapable of accomplishing anything on his own and of always being dependent on this active and intelligent Cause. It alone can set him back upon the path whenever he goes astray, and it alone can keep him on it. This Cause must today direct all his steps, because without it he cannot know anything, nor even derive the least benefit from his own knowledge and faculties. Moreover, the situation is not the same as it was during humanity's glory, when a person read even the most intimate thoughts of her superiors and her subjects, and when she could, as a consequence, communicate with them according to her will. But, in the horrible expiation to which she has exposed herself, she cannot hope to reestablish this communication without beginning to learn how to write. And she can consider herself fortunate if, subsequently, she finds herself in a position where she learns how to read, because there are many people, even among the most celebrated for their knowledge, who pass their life without ever having read. It must be said, however, that some people have read without ever having written. Yet these are special privileges, and the general Law is to commence by writing. However, a person in his first estate could, at will, continually occupy himself with reading. Since the expiation of a person must take place in "time," this Law of time subjects him to a painful and indispensable process in the gradual recovery of his rights and knowledge, whereas in his first estate he did not have to wait as each of his faculties always responded to his needs and immediately acted according to his wish. These inexpressible advantages were connected with the possession and comprehension of a priceless Book that was counted among the gifts which a person had received at birth. Although this Book consisted of only ten pages, it contained all the lights and knowledge of what was, is, and will be. The power of people was then so extensive that they possessed the faculty of reading through the ten pages of the Book at once and understanding it at a glance. At the time of humanity's degradation, this Book was indeed still in its possession, but people were deprived of the faculty of comprehending it as easily as before, and they can no longer understand all the pages except by reading one after the other. However, a person will never be entirely reestablished in her rights until she has studied them all. Although each of these ten pages contains a special knowledge, they are, nonetheless, so intertwined that it is impossible to understand one perfectly without attaining an understanding of them all. Even though I have said that a person can no longer read them except in succession, none of her steps will be assured if she does not examine them in their entirety, and the fourth page particularly, which serves as a rallying point for all the others. This is a truth to which people have paid little attention. It is however one which is infinitely necessary for them to observe and understand as they are all born with the Book in their hand. If studying and understanding this Book are precisely the tasks they need to accomplish, we can then judge how advantageous it is for them to avoid making any errors in its study. Yet humankind's negligence concerning this matter has been carried to an extreme. Very few among them have noticed this essential union of the Book's ten pages which renders them absolutely inseparable. Some have stopped in the middle of this Book, others at the third page, others at the first-a situation which has produced atheists, materialists, and deists, respectively. It is true that a few have perceived such ties, but they have not understood the important distinction that needs to be made between each of these pages, and, finding them bound together, they have believed them to be equal and of the same nature. What has been the result? By limiting themselves to that part of the Book they did not have the courage to go beyond, and by depending upon the fact that they were nevertheless expressing themselves according to the Book, they have pretended that they possess an understanding of the entire Book. Thereby believing themselves infallible in their doctrine, they have exerted all their efforts to prove it. But such isolated truths, receiving no sustenance, have soon deteriorated in the hands of those who had thus separated them, and there remained nothing for these imprudent men but a vain phantom of knowledge, which they could not offer as a solid body, nor as a true Being, without having recourse to imposture. This is precisely where all the errors we shall examine eventually in this treatise originated, as have all those we have already disclosed about the two opposing Principles, the nature and Laws of corporeal Beings, the different faculties of humankind, and the principles and origin of its religion and rites. The part of the Book in which these errors have primarily occurred will be shown afterwards, but before considering this matter we will round out the understanding that one must have of this incomparable Book by presenting in detail the different learning and properties, the knowledge of which is contained in its pages. The FIRST dealt with the universal Principle or Center from which all Centers continually emanate. The SECOND dealt with the creative Cause of the Universe, of the double corporeal Law supporting it; of the double intellectual Law manifesting in time; of the double nature of humankind; and generally of everything which is composed of and formed by two actions. The THIRD dealt with the foundation of Bodies; of all the results and productions of all genders. This is where the number of immaterial Beings which do not think is found. The FOURTH dealt with all that is active; of the Principle of all languages, whether temporal or beyond time; of the religion and rites of humanity. This is where the number of immaterial Beings who think is found. The FIFTH dealt with idolatry and putrefaction. The SIXTH dealt with the Laws governing the formation of the temporal world and the natural division of the circle by the radius. The SEVENTH dealt with the cause of winds and tides; of the geographical scale of humankind; of humanity's true knowledge and the source of its intellectual or sensate productions. The EIGHTH dealt with the temporal number of that which is the sole support, force, and hope of humankind-in other words, of that real and physical Being which has two names and four numbers due to it being active and intelligent at the same time and because its action extends over the four worlds. It also dealt with justice and all legislative powers, which include the rights of sovereigns and the authority of generals and judges. The NINTH dealt with the formation of corporeal humankind in the wombs of women and with the decomposition of the universal and particular triangle. Finally, the TENTH was the channel and complement of the preceding nine. It was undoubtedly the most essential and that without which all the others would not be known, because, by placing all ten in a circumference according to their numerical order, it will be found to have the closest affinity with the first, from which all emanates. And if one desires to judge its importance, let it be known that the Author of all things is invincible because of it, as it is a barrier which protects It from all sides and which no Being can pass. Thus, we perceive in this enumeration all the knowledge to which humanity can aspire and the Laws which are imposed upon it. It is clear that people will never possess any knowledge, nor will they ever be able to fulfill any of their true duties, without going to and drawing from this source. We also actually know the hand that must lead them to it, and although they cannot take a single step toward this fertile source on their own, they will certainly advance towards it by forgetting their own will and allowing the will of the active and intelligent Cause to act alone for them. Therefore, let us congratulate humankind for still being able to find such a support in their misery. Let a person's heart be filled with hope when he perceives that even today he can discover without error in this precious Book the essence and properties of Beings, the reason for things, and the certain and invariable Laws of his religion and rites which he must necessarily render to the Primary Being. In other words, being at once intellectual and sensate and because nothing in existence is not one or the other, he must recognize his own relationship with everything which exists. As this Book contains only ten pages and yet contains All, nothing can exist without belonging, by its very nature, to one of these ten pages. Thus, there is not a single Being which does not indicate in itself the nature of its class and to which of the ten pages it belongs. Every Being offers us thereby the means necessary for instructing us in everything concerning it. But, to direct ourselves in such understanding, we must distinguish the true and simple Laws constituting the nature of Beings from those which people think up and substitute for them every day. Let us now consider that part of the Book which I have declared as having been the most abused. It is the fourth page which has been recognized as having the closest affinity to humanity, as this is where its duties and the true Laws of its thinking Being have been written, as well as the precepts of its religion and rites. If, indeed, a person followed with exactitude, constancy, and pure intention all the points clearly expressed therein, she could obtain the help of the very hand that had punished her; elevate herself above that region of corruption to which she is relegated by condemnation; and recover traces of this ancient authority by virtue of which she determined, in the past, the latitudes and longitudes necessary for the maintenance of universal order. But, since such powerful resources were attached to this fourth page, it is also, as we have stated, in this part of the Book that humanity's errors were the most considerable. And, truly, if humanity had not neglected such advantages, all would still be peaceful and happy upon Earth. The first of these errors was to transpose this fourth page and substitute in its place the fifth, or that which deals with idolatry. In so doing, humankind distorted its religious Laws and thus could not derive the same benefits from them nor the same assistance as it would have, had it preserved the true rites. On the contrary, receiving only darkness as its reward, humanity engulfed itself in it to the point of no longer even desiring the light. As we said at the beginning of this book, the course of this Principle was such that it made itself evil by its own will. Such was the error of the first person, and such has been that of many of this person's descendants, chiefly among the peoples which seek their Orient in the South of the Earth. This is what constitutes this error or crime, which cannot be forgiven and which, on the contrary, is inevitably subject to the most rigorous punishment. But the majority of people are protected from these errors, because it is only by walking that one falls, and the greater number of people do not walk. However, how is it possible to advance without walking? The second error consists of having taken a rough idea of the properties connected with this fourth page and to believe that they could be applied to all, because attributing them to objects for which they are unsuitable makes it impossible to discover anything. Moreover, who does not know how slight has been the degree of success attained by those who base matter upon the four elements, who dare not refuse thought to animals, who attempt to square the solar calculus with the lunar calculus, who search for longitude upon the Earth and for the quadrature of the circle-in a word, who attempt every day to find an infinity of discoveries of this sort and in which they never gain satisfactory results (as we shall continue to show later in this treatise)? Yet this error is not directly aimed against the universal Principle. Those who follow it are not punished except by ignorance, and it does not demand any expiation. There is a third error by which, and through the same superficial ignorance, a person has believed himself in possession of the sacred advantages that this fourth page could, indeed, communicate to him. Pursuing this idea, he has spread among his fellow people the uncertain notions of truth which he himself has created. He has directed upon himself the eyes of the people, who should only have directed them towards the Primary Being, as well as towards the physical, active, and intelligent Cause-and upon those who, by their accomplishments and virtues, have obtained the right to represent the Cause upon Earth. This error, without being as disastrous as the first, is however infinitely more dangerous than the second, because it gives people a false and childish idea of the Author of all things and of the paths leading to It. To summarize, those who have had the imprudence and audacity to announce themselves thusly have, so to speak, established an infinity of systems, dogmas, and religions. These establishments, already so lacking in substance in themselves and through the vice of their institutions, could not avoid experiencing further alterations so that, being obscure and shadowy at the moment of their origin, they have completely disclosed their deformities through the passing of time. Therefore, by adding the enormous abuses that have been made in the knowledge contained in the fourth page of this Book, of which we are all guardians at birth, and by adding the confusion that has proceeded therefrom to all that we have observed regarding humanity's ignorance, fears, and weaknesses, as well as its departure from the symbols, we will have the explanation and origin for this multitude of religions and rites prevalent among people. Without a doubt, we can only despise them when we perceive this variety which distorts them and this mutual opposition which unveils their falsities. But if we do not lose sight of the fact that these differences and peculiarities have never affected any but the sensate, and if we recall that a person, being by her thinking the image and likeness of the Primary and Highest of thinking Beings, brings with her all her own Laws, then we shall recognize that when she is born her religion is also born within her. Far from having come to her as a result of the entreaties, caprice, ignorance, and terror which Nature's catastrophes may have inspired within her, all of these causes, on the contrary, constitute what has often distorted humanity's religion and brought her to the point where she even distrusts the only remedy available to her for the alleviation of her misfortunes. We shall recognize to even a much greater extent that people alone suffer from these variations and weaknesses, and that the source of a person's existence and the way granted to her for attaining it will never be less pure. We shall also recognize that she will always be certain to discover a point of reunion which will be common to her and her fellow people whenever she directs her eyes towards this source and towards the only light that must lead her to it. These are the concepts we must have of humanity's true religion and of all those which have usurped this designation upon Earth. Let us now search for the cause of the errors that observers have committed in politics. After having considered humanity in itself and in relation to its Principle, it is now quite important that we consider individuals in relation to other people.

## Chapter 5 - Policy Uncertainty

When considering a person in regard to his political relations, he presents two viewpoints as he has in previous observations: first, what he could be and should be in the state of society, and second, what he is in this same state. It is by carefully studying what he should be in the state of society that we can then learn how to better judge what he is today. This comparison is undoubtedly the only method available for clearly unfolding the mysteries still veiling the origin of societies, for establishing the rights of sovereigns, and for laying down the rules of administration by which empires could and should sustain and govern themselves. The greatest difficulty experienced by those statesmen and stateswomen who have tried best to follow the course of Nature has been in reconciling all social institutions with the principles of justice and equality which they perceive within themselves. Once it was made apparent to them that humankind was free, they believed people were created to be independent and thenceforth they ruled that all subjugation was contrary to their true essence. Thus, according to them, all government is truly a vice and people should have no other ruler than themselves. Despite this supposed vice of humankind's dependence and subjection to authority that generally exists before their eyes, they have been unable to resist the curiosity of searching for humanity's origin and cause. By mistaking the thing for its Principle, their imagination has given itself over to all its variations, and this is where observers have exhibited as much inadequacy as when they have attempted to explain the origin of evil. They have pretended that ability and might had placed authority in the hands of those who rule over people, and that sovereign power was based only upon the weakness of those who have allowed themselves to be subjugated. As a result, this invalid right, having no substance, is subject to vacillation as one can see. It then falls successively into those hands which have the strength and talent necessary to seize it. Others have delighted in presenting a detailed account of the violent or shrewd means which, according to them, presided at the birth of states. In so doing, they have presented the same system, but only in a more extensive fashion. Such are the empty reasonings of those who have claimed the motivating cause of such establishments to be the needs and ferocity of primitive people. Living as hunters in the forest, these unrestrained people made incursions upon those who devoted themselves to agriculture and the herding of animalswith a view of turning all advantages to their own profit. The usurpers were then forced to establish laws and punishments so as to maintain themselves in the state of authority which violence had created, and which was becoming a veritable oppression. This is how the most shrewd, daring, and ingenious among them succeeded in remaining master and in assuring their despotism. Yet we perceive that this could not have been the first society, since the existence of tillers of the soil and shepherds has been presupposed. However, this is very close to what is the basic view of those statesmen and stateswomen who have decided that the Principle of justice and equality could never form the basis for governments; and all their systems, and the observations employed to support them, have been brought to this conclusion. Some have believed they could remedy such injustice by establishing each society upon the common accord and unanimous will of the individuals composing it. However, various individuals, being unable to support the dangerous results of their fellow human's natural liberty and independence, have been forced to place the rights of their natural state into the hands of one person or a small number of persons and to pledge themselves to contribute through their united forces to the maintenance of the authority of those they have chosen as their leaders. Since this surrender of their rights is voluntary, they say there is no longer any injustice in the authority emanating from it. Afterwards establishing the powers of the sovereign and the privileges of the subjects through the same act of association, they then formed political bodies, and there is no longer any difference between them except in the particular methods of administration, which may vary according to the times and circumstances. This opinion is one that would appear to be the most judicious as it would better fulfill the natural idea being offered to us regarding the justice of governments by which people and property are under the protection of the sovereign and in which this sovereign, having no other aim than the common good, is occupied only in maintaining the Law which must procure it. In a forced association, on the contrary, we perceive simply the image of revolting atrocity whereby all subjects are victims and the tyrant retains solely for himself all the advantages of the society over which he has made himself master. Therefore, I shall not dwell any longer on the consideration of this sort of government, although it is not without example. But, as there is no trace of justice or reason visible within it, it cannot be reconciled with any of the true natural principles of man. Otherwise, we would have to say that a band of thieves also constitutes a political body. However, having been given the idea of a voluntary association is not sufficient. Nor is it even sufficient that we can find more regularity in the forms of government derived from it than in all those that may have originated in violence. What we need to do is examine carefully whether this voluntary association is possible and whether this structure is not just as imaginary as that of a forced association. Moreover, we need to examine whether, in case this agreement was possible, people would have the right of forming it lawfully. From such an examination, statesmen and stateswomen could judge the validity of the rights upon which societies have been founded, and, if we find them to be obviously defective, by discovering where the fault lies, we shall soon perceive what must necessarily be substituted for them. We need not reflect at length in order to sense how difficult it is to conceive of the voluntary association of an entire nation. For the voices to be unanimous, the manner of envisaging the motives and conditions of the new undertaking would also need to be unanimous. Never has this happened and never will it occur in a realm and in things that have only the senses for their foundation and object, because we can no longer doubt that everything is relative in the senses and nothing is stable therein. Apart from the fact that it would be necessary to suppress in each of the members the ambition either to be the leader or be close to the leader, it would still be necessary to have unanimity among an infinity of opinions, as much upon the most advantageous form of government as upon both general and special interests, and upon the multitude of subjects that must compose the articles of the contract - a situation which has never been encountered among people. Any further observations would therefore be of little value for helping us to recognize that a society freely formed through the efforts of all individuals is completely beyond all probability, and to acknowledge the impossibility that any such government ever existed. But, let us admit of such a possibility. Let us suppose a unanimity of all voices and that both the form and Laws belonging to the government in question have been acted upon through common accord. It still remains to ask whether people have the right to assume such an undertaking and whether it would be reasonable to remain with those they may have formed. In keeping with the knowledge that we should have acquired of humankind through everything that has been said concerning it, it is easy to foresee that such a right could never have been accorded to it and this action would be meaningless. First of all, let us call to mind the unchanging compass that we have recognized as being humanity's guide. Let us always have before our eyes the fact that all the steps people might take without its guidance would be uncertain, since without it a person does not possess light and because it is charged by its very essence to lead her and to preside over all her actions. If a person were to assume an undertaking of such great importance as that of submitting to another person - and then do so without the approval of the Cause which watches over him - he should doubt beforehand that such a demand would conform with his own Law and consequently help to contribute to his own happiness. If he ever so slightly listened to the voice of prudence, such a consideration should be enough to stop him. Reflecting more carefully upon his own conduct, does he not recognize that not only has he exposed himself to error, but he has even directly attacked all the principles of Justice by transferring to other men the rights which he should not legitimately dispose of and which he knows rest basically in the Hand that must lead him in all things? Secondly, such an undertaking would be vague and foolish, because, if it is true that this Cause of which we speak must be a person's guide in all instances and it possesses complete powers, to try employing any other hand would be useless. With all the more reason we shall say the same thing regarding humankind, considered from the viewpoint of statesmen and stateswomen. According to them, a person chooses masters and protectors for herself due to her helplessness and the difficulty she encounters in enduring the natural state. If this person had the strength to sustain herself, she would have no need for outside support. But if she no longer possesses such strength, and after having lost it she wants to clothe another person with it, what should constitute the basis for a contract? Therefore, voluntary association 1s not really any more just or sensible than it is practical because, by this act, a person would need to give to another person a right which he himself does not possess - namely, disposing of himself. By transferring a right to which he has no claim, he makes an absolutely worthless agreement which neither the chief nor the subjects can put into effect, since it cannot be binding upon either of them. Thus, to summarize everything we have just stated: if forced association is obviously an atrocity, and if voluntary association is impossible and at the same time opposed to Justice and reason, then where will we find the true Principles of government? There are, after all, states that have known them and follow them. If, as I have stated, statesmen and stateswomen have employed all their efforts in such research, and if what we have just seen is exactly all that they have discovered regarding this subject, then we can reasonably say that they have not yet taken the first step towards understanding such knowledge. There certainly exists a secret voice within them which inclines them to agree that, whatever has been the cause of the association in a political body, the leader finds herself essentially the guardian of a supreme authority and power which in itself must subordinate all her subjects to her. They recognize in sovereigns, I state, a superior force which naturally inspires respect and obedience for them. This is also what I strongly profess with the statesmen and stateswomen. But since they have not been able to find out where this superiority comes from, they have not formed a clear idea of it. Therefore, its applications only resulted in falsehood or contradictions. Thus, for the majority, not satisfied with their discoveries, and not finding any method of explaining people in society, have returned to their first idea and have been reduced to claiming that people should not be in a society. But we will surely perceive that this conjecture is no more soundly based than those they have formed regarding the methods of association, and instead it is obvious proof of their uncertainty and hasty judgments. We need only to direct our eyes upon a person for a moment before deciding this matter. Isn't his life simply a chain of continual dependence? Doesn't the very act of his entrance into material life carry with it the character of the subjugation to which he will be condemned during his lifetime? Doesn't he have need, when being born, for an external cause to fecundate his seed and create in it a reaction without which it could not live? And isn't it here that we find the humiliating subjection which he possesses in common with all natural Beings? Once a person has seen the light of day, this dependence becomes even more perceptible, a fact to which humankind's physical eyes bear testimony. At that point, by experiencing absolute helplessness and a truly shameful frailty, a person needs constant aid from Beings of her own species so that she will not die. Then, once attaining the age when she can dispense with their help concerning her bodily needs, a person comes into her own and enjoys all the advantages and forces of her physical being. Yet, such is the nature of people and of the wisdom of the eye watching over them, that before coming to this completion of physical independence, they experience a need of another nature - one which binds them ever more closely to the hand that has sustained their childhood. It is that of their intellectual Being which, beginning to sense its deprivation, becomes restless and blindly devotes itself to all that can pacify it. Still weak at this age, a person naturally appeals to everyone about her and above all to those who, by alleviating her corporeal needs each day, would be the ones who by all rights should be the primary repositories of her confidence. At every step she turns to them to gain further self-knowledge. Actually, she should simply expect it from them, as it is their responsibility to direct, sustain, and enlighten her according to her age and to arm her in advance against error and to prepare her for combat. In a word, it is their responsibility to accomplish for her intellectual Being what they have accomplished for her physical Being during the period when she experienced problems without possessing the strength either to handle them or to protect herself from them. This is - and there can be no doubt about it - the true source of society among people. At the same time, it is the source whereby a person can learn what the first of her duties is when she becomes a parent. Why is it that we do not find a similar situation among animals? It is because experiencing such needs is not part of their nature. It is because animals, by directing themselves solely through the senses, satisfy their sensate needs and thus nothing more remains. As corporeal feelings are the extent of all their faculties, when such feelings are satisfied, there no longer remains for them either desires or further sensate needs. This is why animals have no social ties. Examples of devotion among animals, whether between themselves or for a person, should not be given to me as we are describing here only the natural course and movements of Beings. All the examples that could be offered to the contrary would surely be the result of habit which, as we have said elsewhere, is suitable to and can be found within animals in their capacity as sensate Beings. Nor should my attention be called to those various herds of animals living and traveling together, whether upon the earth, in the water, or in the air. Only their special physical needs bring them together; and there exists so little true affection between them that one can perish and vanish without the others noticing it. Therefore, when making these observations regarding the first period of our material existence, we can perceive that people are not born to live in solitude. We perceive that after a person's physical dependence has ceased to be necessary, there still exists within him a tie that is infinitely stronger in that it relates to his very Being. We perceive, I repeat, that by an interest inseparable from his present state, he will always seek the company of his fellow humans and that, if they never deceived him or if he were not already corrupted, he would never think of withdrawing from them, even though his body has no further need of their assistance. Therefore, it is improper to search for the source of sociability in material needs alone and in the powerful means by which Nature brings together people with Beings of their Own species so as to achieve reproduction. Although humans and animals are similar in this regard, animals nevertheless do not live in a state of society, and such a means is insufficient in itself to establish human society. This is why I occupy myself only with those faculties distinguishing people and by which they are inclined to engage with other people in an interchange of moral actions, the source from which all association must derive so as to be just. In growing older, a person's intellectual faculties begin to rise above what she sees, and she begins to perceive a gleam of light in the midst of the shadows in which we are immersed. It is then that a new order of things is born for her. Not only does everything interest her - but, how much more must this interest increase for those who have helped make her taste the happiness of being a person, as well as for those whom she might, in turn, enable to taste it also? As a person advances during the course of life, this social bond becomes even stronger through the expansion of his views and thoughts. Finally, in his declining years, his powers begin to degenerate, and he again falls into that state of physical weakness which accompanied his childhood. He becomes for the second time the object of other people's pity and returns to dependence upon them until the Law common to all bodies completes and fulfills its action upon his own body and thereby terminates its course. What further proof is necessary in admitting that a person was not destined to pass his days alone and without any social bond? We also perceive in this simple natural society that there are always Beings who give and others who receive, and that there always exist superiority and dependence-in other words, this is the true model of what the political society must be. This, however, has not been given thought by those who claim that the state of society is contrary to Nature and by not finding any method of justifying this society, nor of reconciling it with their principles of natural Law, they have decided to reject It. As for those of us who sense the indispensable necessity for the joined and mutual interaction of people, we shall not be deterred by the falsity and injustice of some of those bonds which have often contributed to their assemblage into a social body. We are quite convinced that people would not be born as they are, with such reciprocal needs and with those faculties which promise them so many advantages, if such faculties were not also the legitimate means for using and extracting all the benefits of which they are capable. The use of such means, occurring only in the social interactions between individuals (though this interaction is subject to innumerable inconveniences due to humankind's present state), will not provide sufficient reason for us to reject political bodies. We will merely indicate a more solid foundation and more satisfactory principles than those which have been given up to this time. But we must surely observe that the shadows in which statesmen and stateswomen have enveloped themselves up till now arise from the same source as those which still cover modern-day observers of Nature. By confusing the Principle with its envelope and the conventional force of humankind with its true force, they have obscured and distorted everything. Furthermore, we have witnessed the little degree of success that has resulted from all these observations upon Nature by which attempts have been made to separate it from an active and intelligent Cause, whose cooperation and power has been shown to be absolutely necessary. We shall recognize, therefore, that as the course of all statesmen and stateswomen is similar, theirs must also be equally fruitless. They have searched for the principles of government within the isolated person, and they have discovered no more by this means than have observers found in matter the source of its effects and all of its productions. Thus, just as a circumference without a center cannot be conceived, likewise none of these sciences can progress without the support of their source. This is why all of these systems cannot sustain themselves, and they collapse for no other reason than that of their own weakness. If, through his primal origin, a person was destined to be the leader and command, as we have established clearly enough, what concept must we form of her realm and first estate, and upon which Beings shall we apply her authority? Will it be upon her equals? In everything which exists and in everything we can conceive, nothing will provide an example of such a Law. On the contrary, everything informs us that no authority can exist except upon inferior Beings, and that the word authority necessarily carries with itself the idea of superiority. Therefore, without pausing any longer to determine upon which Beings the rights of a person should extend, it will be enough for us to recognize that it could not be over other people. It is certain, therefore, that if a person had remained in his primal state, he would never have reigned over other people, and political society would never have existed for him, because for him, there would never have been any sensory limitations or intellectual deprivation. His sole object would have been to exercise his faculties fully rather than to conduct their painful rehabilitation as he does today. After humanity found itself fallen from this splendor and condemned to the unfortunate condition to which they are reduced at present, their primary rights were not abolished; they were merely suspended, and there always remained to humankind the power to work and succeed through their own efforts in returning them to their primary value. Therefore, even today a person could govern as she did in her original state and do so without having other people for subjects. But a person cannot regain and enjoy this empire of which we speak except through the same titles which had made her master in the past, and it is only by carrying her ancient scepter that she will fully succeed in reassuming, with justification, the title of ruler. This had been her primary state and that to which she can still aspire through the unchanging essence of her nature. In a word, such was her ancient authority in which, we repeat, the rights of a person over another person were unknown, because it was beyond all possibility that such rights should exist between equal Beings in their state of glory and perfection. In the state of expiation to which person is subject today, not only does he possess the ability to recover the ancient powers that all people enjoyed without being forced to take their subjects from among their own kind, but he can still acquire another right of which he had no knowledge in his primary state; it is that of exercising true authority over other people, and the following describes from whence this power originated. In this state of reprobation in which a person is condemned to grovel, and in which she perceives only the veil and shadow of the true light, he preserves some memory of her glory. She harbors to a certain degree the desire to go back to it, which may be accomplished through the free usage of her intellectual faculties, through the works initiated for her by the practice of justice, and through the role she must play in the accomplishment of the work. Some let themselves be subjugated and succumb to the innumerable obstacles sown in this elementary morass, while others have the courage and good fortune to avoid them. Therefore, it must be stated that the one who best protects himself from this will allow the idea of his Principle to be the least distorted and he will be the least removed from his primary state. If other men have not made the same efforts, they will not achieve the same success nor will they enjoy the same advantages. Clearly, the one who possesses all these advantages over them must be superior to them and govern them. First of all, he will be superior to them through the deed itself, because there will exist between the others and himself a real difference based upon faculties and powers, the value of which will be evident. Moreover, he will be so through necessity because other men, having exerted themselves less and having not harvested the same fruits, will truly have need of him, due to the poor and weakened state of their own faculties. If there is a person in whom this weakness progresses even to depravation, the person who has preserved herself from both will become her master, not only by deed and necessity but also through duty. She must seize control over the deprived individual and allow her no freedom in her actions, as much to satisfy the law of her Principle as for the safety and example of society. In short, she must exercise over this individual all the rights of slavery and servitude, rights as just and real in this particular case as they are inexplicable and of no value in all other circumstances. This is, therefore, the true origin of the temporal empire of humankind over other people, just as the bonds of humanity's corporeal nature were the origin of the first society. This empire, however, far from constraining and hindering natural society, must be regarded as being its most firm support and the surest means by which it can sustain itself, whether against the crimes of its members, or against the attacks of all its enemies. The person who finds himself invested with such power, remaining content only to the degree that he observes the virtues which have allowed him to acquire this power, attempts for his own sake to create happiness among his subjects. And let no one believe that this occupation must be vain and fruitless; because the individual of whom we speak cannot be such without possessing all the means of conducting himself with certainty and always being sure that his researches provide him with obvious results. Indeed, the more a person can approach the light which enlightened her in her primary state, being an inexhaustible source of faculties and virtues, the more she must extend her empire over those who remove themselves from it, and, in addition, the more she must be aware of that which can maintain order among them and assure the solidity of the state. Through the help of this light, she must be able to embrace and successfully oversee all parts of the government; she must obviously be familiar with the true principles of Law and Justice, the rules of military discipline, the rights of particular individuals and her own, as well as that multitude of means which constitute the motivating power of administration. Moreover, a person must be able to carry his views and extend his authority even to those parts which today do not form the principal object of administration in most governments, but which must constitute the firmest bond in the one of which we speak - namely, religion and the cure of disease. Finally, even in the fields of the arts, whether for leisure, or utilitarian reasons, he needs to direct their course and indicate their true taste. The flambeau which he is fortunate enough to hold in his hand, diffusing a universal light, must enlighten him upon all these subjects and enable him to perceive their connection. This situation, as chimerical as it may appear, does not present anything which does not conform to the idea that we might have regarding kings, whenever we are willing to investigate it thoroughly. When reflecting upon the respect that we have for monarchs, shall we not perceive that we regard them as necessarily being the image and representative of a superior force, and as such capable of more virtue, force, enlightenment, and wisdom than other people? Is it not with a pang of regret that we see them exposed to the foibles of humanity? And do we not feel the desire that they only be known through acts as grand and sublime as the hand that is supposed to have placed them all upon the throne? Is it not by this sacred authority that monarchs proclaim themselves and assert all their rights? Although we do not always feel certain that they act by means of it, does there not arise within us a kind of fear resulting from the thought of the possible use of such power and the veneration which monarchs inspire within us? All of this indicates to us that their primary origin is superior to the powers and will of people, thus confirming the idea I have presented - namely, that their source is higher than what is attributed to it by politics. These faculties and innumerable virtues, which we have indicated must be possessed by kings who have recovered their ancient light, are also claimed by the heads of established societies because they act as though they are in possession of all that we feel should be within them. Is not their title the seal of all the powers they discharge within their empire? Do not generals, magistrates, princes, all the orders of state, secure their authority from them, and when this authority is transmitted from hand to hand even to the last branches of the social tree, is it not always by virtue of the first emanation? Is not their connection always necessary in the exercise of useful talents and sometimes for that of talents which are merely agreeable? In all of these cases, the sovereigns themselves present to us an obvious sign that they are the center and source from which all the privileges and powers they communicate must emanate. The very act of this communication and the formalities accompanying it always show that they are, or that they can be, directed in their choice by a steady light, and also that they are enlightened regarding the capacity of the subjects to whom they entrust a part of their rights. Moreover, even these precautions on their part, as well as the decisions resulting from them, presuppose not only their personal capacity but also serve as testimonials of it. However, all the information which is gathered for the sovereigns in the different cases which crop up, and the adherence they show to the knowledge and decisions of their different tribunals, must not be regarded as a result of their ignorance concerning the different matters submitted to their legislation. Nor should it be thought that they are supposed to know everything by themselves, although one cannot avoid this supposition since they themselves create such jurisdictions; but, performing the temporal the functions of a true and infinite Being, they are charged, as It is, with total and infinite action and are, as It is, subject to the indispensable necessity of being unable to effect limited or particular actions except through their attributes and through the agents of their faculties. If we were to enter into a detailed consideration of all the motives operating and sustaining political governments, we would make the same application of it to the faculties of the leaders directing them. The exercise of Justice, civil as well as criminal, although being dispensed by hands other than theirs, but always under their authority, would indicate clearly enough that they might possess the means of discovering the rights and errors of their subjects, and determine with certainty the extent and support of their rights and likewise the reparation for their errors. The care they take in watching over the preservation of governmental Laws, the purity of morals, the maintenance of religious dogmas and practices, the perfection of the sciences and arts would all remind us that there must be within them a fertile light which extends to all, and consequently, knows all. Therefore, we do not stray from the truth by attributing the advantages so perceptibly illustrated for us by the image of monarchs to the person clothed with all the privileges of her primary estate and we can state with reason that they thereby instruct us concerning what a person could and should be, even in the midst of the impure region she inhabits today. I do not conceal from myself, however, the multitude of objections that will crop up regarding this point of view, by which I have just presented the monarchs and all the heads of societies in general. Accustomed as people are to explaining things by themselves and not by their principle, it must be novel for them to perceive in all their rights and powers, a source which is no longer of themselves, but which is nevertheless so analogous to themselves. Thus, being little accustomed to these principles, they will begin by asking me what proof nations could have of the legitimacy of their leaders, and upon what basis they could determine whether those who occupy such a position have not deceived them. I have no fear of going too far by saying that testimony of it will be obvious, whether for the leaders or for the subjects, in those who know how to make just and effective use of their intellectual faculties. Concerning this subject, I refer my readers to what I have previously said regarding the evidence of a true religion. The same answer can serve for the present objection, because sacred institutions and political institutions should have the same aim, guide, and Law. Thus, they should always be under the same direction, and when they become separated, they both lose sight of their true spirit, which consists of union and perfect intelligence. The second question that could be presented to me involves determining whether, in admitting the possibility of a government such as that which I have just described, we could find examples of it upon earth. Undoubtedly, I would not be believed if I tried to persuade my readers that all established governments conform to the model that has been presented, because, in truth, the majority are far removed from it. But I beg people to be fully convinced that true sovereigns, as well as legitimate governments, are not imaginary Beings, that they have existed at all times, that they actually exist now, and that they always will exist, because this enters into the universal order and, in short, this pertains to the Great Work, which is something other than the Philosopher's Stone. A third problem that will naturally present itself according to the principles which I have established is in perceiving that any person, by his very nature, can hope to recover the light he has lost, even though I recognize the existence of sovereigns among men. If each person achieves his full rehabilitation, who then will be the leaders? Would not all people be equal; would not they all be monarchs? This difficulty can no longer exist, considering what I have stated concerning the obstacles which so often hinder people in their course and which, multiplied further by their imprudence and the false usage of their will, are so rarely and unequally overcome on their part. You may even recall at this point what I have said concerning the natural differences in people's intellectual faculties. You may notice that, even when comparing them only from this viewpoint, there always remains an inequality among them, but an inequality that is not distressing nor humiliating for them, because their importance is real in each one of them and not relative as that which is but conventional and arbitrary. This is, in some ways, what is represented to us by the laws of military institutions, which, among all the works of people, shows us the primary estate more faithfully, and as such, is the most noble of all their establishments. Although not possessing a foundation more true or solid than humankind's other works, it should only hold in the eyes of the sensate person the first rank in order of preference; but, I repeat, it is so noble and induces so much virtue, that one almost forgets that it has need of being true. Thus, concerning this institution which best relates to the Principle of humankind, we will note that all members composing a military body are supposed to be provided and endowed with the particular faculties which are proper to their rank. They are supposed to have attained and fulfilled the goal assigned to them as part of their unit. Although these members are all unequal, they function well as a unit, and no individual is degraded, because the duties of each is fixed. In this institution it is no disgrace to be inferior to other members of the corps, but only to be inferior to one's own rank. At the same time, these military bodies, being composed of unequal members, can never remain a moment without a leader, since there will always be one member who is superior to the others. If these corps were not the work of humankind, the differences and superiority of their members would be fixed, and the subjects' quality and real worth would serve as the rule. However when the legislator needs to act, as she must, but she is not directed by her true light, she makes up for this deficiency by establishing a value and merit easier to recognize, and which has need only of the help of corporeal eyes to be determined. After the differences in rank, it is seniority which establishes rights in military bodies; and should there be only two soldiers at a post, the Law demands that the one senior in service command over the other. Is not this Law, artificial though it may be, an indication of the justice of the principle that I have set forth, and, by supposing all people to be in possession of their privileges, since there would never be complete equality between them, could we not believe that we will always have monarchs? Nevertheless, it would be the greatest of follies to take this comparison literally, as the military corps, being but the work of humankind, can only have conventional differences. This is why the superior and the inferior in the military are by their very nature alike, and despite such imposing distinctions, they all are for the most part similar, since they are always people in privation. But, in the natural order, if each person attained the utmost degree of his power, he would then be king. Yet, just as earthly monarchs do not recognize other monarchs to be their master and, as a consequence, are not subject to one another, likewise, in the case under consideration, if all people were fully rehabilitated in their rights, masters and subjects could not be found among people, as they would all be monarchs within their own realm. But I reiterate, in the present state of affairs, not all people will attain this degree of grandeur and perfection that would render them independent of one another. Thus, since this state of reprobation subsists, if they always have leaders chosen from among themselves, it must be expected that they will always have them and that it will even be indispensable until this period of punishment is entirely completed. Therefore, upon the rehabilitation of a person in his Principle, I establish with confidence the origin of his authority over his fellow people, that of his power and of all the titles of political sovereignty. I do not even fear to state that this is the sole means of explaining all rights and of reconciling the multitude of different opinions which statesmen and stateswomen have originated concerning this matter; because, to recognize the superiority of one Being over Beings of the same class, we must not search for it in the ways in which they resemble each other, but in the ways in which the one can be distinguished from the others. As people are condemned to privation by their present nature, all resemble one another fully in this regard, with the exception of a few slight differences. Therefore, it is only by endeavoring to make this privation disappear that they can hope to establish real differences between themselves. I also believe that I cannot offer to other people a more satisfactory picture than that of this society, which, as we stated previously, would be founded upon people's corporeal needs and upon the desire which they have for knowledge. And, to give it a leader such as I have just pictured is to complete and confirm the natural idea that we all carry secretly within ourselves concerning the society of humankind and the principles of governments. In effect, we would perceive reigning therein only order and universal activity that would create a network of delights and joy for all members of the political body. We would perceive that even their physical ills would find alleviation in it, because, as I have indicated, the light directing the association would embrace and enlighten all of the parties involved. This would then present to us in the midst of all perishable things the grandest image and the most just idea of perfection. It would recall that blissful age which is said to exist only in the imagination of poets, because, having strayed from it and no longer knowing its peacefulness, we have the weakness to believe that, since it has ceased to exist for us, it must have ceased to be. At the same time, if such is the Law which should bind and govern people, if this is the sole flambeau which can, without injustice, unite them in a body, it is therefore certain that by abandoning it they can expect only ignorance and all the torments inevitable for those who err in obscurity. Then, if by a subsequent examination of accepted governments, some irregularities are discovered, we may justly conclude that they exist only as a result of the abandonment of this same light and because those who have instituted political bodies did not know the principles, or because their successors allowed its purity to become altered. Yet, before undertaking this important examination, I must pacify the suspicious governments which could become alarmed by my sentiments, and fear that by unveiling their defectiveness, I would destroy the respect which is their due. Although I have already shown in some parts of the subject which I am presently considering, my veneration for the sovereigns' person and character, it is fitting that I reiterate this solemn affirmation at this time so that all those reading this book will be persuaded that I only express peace and order, that I deem submission to their leaders to be the indispensable duty of all subjects, and that I condemn without reservation all insubordination and revolt as being diametrically opposed to the principles I have set to establish. Credence must surely be given to this genuine declaration, whenever one recalls what I have previously established concerning the Law which must govern a person in her entire conduct here on earth. Have I not shown that the concatenation of her sufferings was simply the result of the false usage of her will; that the usage of this will had become false only when a person had abandoned her guide; and that, as a consequence, were she to manifest this same imprudence today she would only perpetuate her crime and thereby further augment her misfortunes? I absolutely condemn rebellion, even in the instance where the sovereign and the government have reached the height of injustice, and where neither can maintain any trace of the powers which constitute them. As iniquitous and revolting as such an administration may be, I have shown that it is not the subject who has established its political Laws nor its leaders. Therefore, it is not for him to overthrow them. Yet it is necessary to present reasons even more easily perceived. If evil is found only in the administration, and the leader has persevered in that force and those incontestable rights that we suppose her to possess as the fruit of her efforts and of the exercises that she has performed, she will have within herself all the faculties necessary to untangle and remedy the government's vice, without the subject being in a position to participate in it. If the vice is present both in the government and the leader, but the subject knows how to preserve himself from it by fulfilling that obligation common to all people of never departing from the unchanging Law which must be their guide, this subject will know how to protect himself from those vexations without employing violence. Or he will know how to recognize whether or not this calamity emanates from a superior hand. He will then refrain from murmuring or from manifesting opposition to Justice. Finally, if the vice is present at the same time in the leader, the administration, and the subject, then I should not be asked what should be done; because this would no longer be a government, it would be a tyranny; and for in a tyranny there is no Law. It would even be useless to proclaim to people living in such disorder that the more they give themselves over to it, the more they will attract suffering and affliction to themselves; that the interests of their true happiness will always forbid their fighting injustice with injustice, and that misfortune will pursue them as long as they do not endeavor to bend their thought and will to their natural rule. Such discourses would not find any access within this tumultuous confusion because they express the language of reason, and a Being left to their own resources does not reason. Let no one offer once more the objection presented by that difficulty of recognizing the signs by which one could discern whether things are or are not in order, and when one must either act or refrain from acting. I have sufficiently given to understand that every person was born to have the certainty of the legitimacy of her actions, and this is indispensable in determining the morality of her entire conduct. Thus, as long as this proof is lacking, she exposes herself if she advances even one step. From the previous remarks, one may judge whether I allow people the least imprudence and, moreover, the smallest act of violence or private authority. I believe, therefore, that this acknowledgment on my part will reassure sovereigns concerning the principles directing me. They will never perceive anything other than an inviolate attachment to their person and the most sublime respect for the sacred rank they occupy. They will perceive that even if there were usurpers and tyrants among them, their subjects would not have any legitimate pretext to cause them the slightest harm. If any sovereigns were ever to read these writings, I do not think they could persuade themselves that, in avowing my submission to their person, I have increased their powers in any way whatsoever or that I consider them to be excused from their obligation as people to subject their course to the common rule which should direct us all. On the contrary, if it is only through the intimate knowledge they are supposed to have of this rule and by their fidelity in observing it that they have assumed the title of monarch, restoring to them the right of straying from it would only favor imposture and insult the very name which causes us to honor them. Thus, if the subjects do not possess the right to avenge an injustice inflicted on them, they must be aware that they have even less right to commit an injustice themselves; because in their quality as people, the sovereign and the subject are both subservient to the same Law. The political state changes nothing in their nature as thinking Beings. It is only one more responsibility for both of them, and neither should they nor can they do anything on their own. I thought it appropriate to make this formal declaration before entering into the examination of political bodies, and I now believe that I can follow my plan without concern, because, as defective as governments may seem, I can no longer be suspected of working toward their ruin. On the contrary, all that I could earnestly desire would be to help them to appreciate the only means which are clearly proper for their happiness and perfection. First of all, what causes us to presume that most governments have not had for their basis the principle that I have previously established - namely, the rehabilitation of sovereigns in their original light-is that nearly all political bodies which have existed upon the earth have passed out of existence. This simple observation does not allow us to be persuaded that they had a real foundation or that the Law which constituted them was the true Law. The Law of which I speak possesses by its nature a living and invincible force, and thus everything it binds together should be indissoluble as long as those who are charged with being its ministers do not forsake it. The Law was therefore either not well known at the birth of the governments under consideration or it was neglected during the periods following their institution, otherwise, they would still exist. This is certainly not contrary to the idea that we all carry within ourselves concerning the stability of the effects of such a Law. According to the notions of truth residing within people, that which does not pass away, and durability is for us the proof of the reality of things. Thus, when people have accustomed themselves to regarding governments as being temporary and subject to vicissitudes, it is because they have placed such governments in the same category as all human institutions, which, being supported only by whim and unruly imagination, can vacillate in their hands and be destroyed by some other whim. Nevertheless, and by an intolerable contradiction, they demand our respect for these types of establishments whose transitory nature they themselves recognize. Is it not certain that the Principle spoke to them even in their blindness and they sensed that, as defective and fragile as their social institutions were, they were the image of one which could not possess any of these defects? This would be enough to support what I have propounded regarding the unchanging Law which must preside over any association. However, despite the idea which we all have regarding such a Law, undoubtedly we will always hesitate before giving it credence, because, having witnessed the disappearance of all empires, it becomes rather evident that they cannot endure, and we will experience difficulty in believing that there are any which will not pass out of existence. This, however, is one of the truths which I can best assert, and I do not believe that I am going too far by assuring others that there are governments which have continued since people appeared upon Earth, and which will exist until the end of time. I say this for the same reasons that have caused me to say that there have always been and always will be legitimate governments here on Earth. Therefore, I cannot be faulted in giving you to understand that if the political bodies which have disappeared from the Earth's surface had been founded upon a true Principle, they would still be in existence; that those which exist today will pass away without fail if they do not have such a principle for their basis; and that if they have moved away from it, the best means available to sustain themselves would be to draw closer to this principle. When I assert that a government is capable of enduring, it is clear that I mean to speak only of temporal duration, since governments are all established only in time. Yet, although they must come to an end as do all things, they would, nevertheless, enjoy the fullness of their action simply by carrying it full term - and this is what they could hope for if they knew how to rely upon their Principle. I shall not pause to cite as proof that pride with which governments boast of their antiquity, nor the efforts they make to extend their origin further. Nor shall I call attention to the precautions they take to ensure their preservation and duration, nor to all those establishments they continually form with a view to the future, whose fruits can only be harvested centuries afterwards. We may perceive that such considerations would thereby constitute so many secret indications of the certainty they have that they should be permanent. Consequently, I repeat, as soon as we witness the ending of a state, we can presume, without fear, that its birth was not legitimate or that the sovereigns who have successively governed it have not all endeavored to regulate their conduct by the light of that natural flambeau which we remind them must be their guide and that of humankind. By converse reasoning, if we had only this sole motive to direct our judgment, it would not yet be time to give an opinion upon existing governments, because, as long as we see them in existence, we could suppose that they are in conformity with the Principle which should constitute them all, and only their destruction would reveal to us any defects they may have. But, we have yet to consider them from other viewpoints which can also aid us in becoming aware of their faults and irregularities. The second vice that we cannot ignore in recognized governments is that they are different from one another. If some true Principle had formed them, this Principle, being unique and unvarying, would have manifested itself everywhere in the same way, and all governments produced by it would be similar. Thus, as soon as any disparity exists among them, we can no longer admit the Unity of their Principle, and most certainly some among them must be illegally established. I do not attach any importance to those local differences which, being brought about by circumstances and the continual flow of things, must make themselves felt in administration on a daily basis. Since the progress of this administration must itself be regulated by the universal constitutive Principle, any differences that it will allow, according to time and place, will indicate much more to us its wisdom and fecundity rather than causing any alteration of the Principle. At this time, I must therefore take into account only the fundamental differences which pertain to the constitution of the state. Numbered among these are the diverse forms of government, of which I shall consider only the two most important, because all the others are more or less connected to them; namely, that form in which the supreme power is held by a single hand, and that form in which it is held by several hands at once. Of these two kinds of government, if one is supposed to conform to the Principle, it must be presumed that the other is opposed to it, because, one being so different from the other, they cannot reasonably possess the same basis or origin. Consequently, I cannot admit the generally accepted opinion which determines the form of government according to its situation, area, and other considerations of this nature, by which one pretends to decide upon the kind of legislation most suitable to each people or country. According to this rule, the constitutive reason of a state would be definitely found in the secondary Causes, and this is entirely contrary to the idea that I have already presented of this Cause or constitutive Principle. As a Principle, it must dominate everywhere and direct all. It is true that being illuminated, it can accommodate itself to the circumstances that I have just cited, but it must never bend before them to the point of losing its own nature or of producing contrary effects. In a word, this would be renewing the error that we have unveiled when speaking of religion - in other words, it would be searching for the source of a true Principle in the action and Laws of tangible things, whereas these things actually repudiate and distort it. Thus, I persist in maintaining that, of the two forms of governments which I have just mentioned, one must of necessity be defective. Although in my plan I would rather present the Principles instead of giving my opinion, if you were to insist that I must decide upon which is deserving of preference, I could not avoid admitting that government by one alone is, without contradiction, the most natural, simple, and analogous to the true Laws that I have previously set forth as being essential to humanity. It is in fact, within himself and in the flambeau which accompany him, that a person must seek all counsel and enlightenment. If this person is a monarch, his duties as a person do not change; they are only extended. Thus, in this elevated rank, having always the same task to perform, he also can always hope for the same assistance. Therefore, it is not among the other members of his state that he must look for his guides; and if he is a person, he will know how to be sufficient unto himself. Although being the image of the chief, all the hands which will necessarily be employed in the administration will, each in their own class, have as their sole object only that of seconding him, and by no means that of instructing and enlightening him, since we have recognized him as being in possession of the source of the immense powers extending throughout his empire. Therefore, if we conceive that one person can unite within herself all of these privileges, it would be quite useless that there be, at the same time, several people at the head of a government since one alone can, in this case, accomplish the same thing which could be accomplished by all the others. Thus, despite any advantages we may wish to find in the government by many, I cannot regard this form as being the most perfect because there is a fault in it that is superfluous in nature - and in the idea that we carry within ourselves of a true government, there must not be any defect. Although I give preference to the government by one, nonetheless I do not maintain that all those having this form are true according to the entire regularity of the principle. After all, even among governments by one, there are still to be found infinite differences. In some, the leader possesses scarcely any authority; in others his authority is absolute; in still others he steers the middle course between dependence and despotism. Nothing is fixed, nothing is stable in these considerations. For this reason, it is very probable that all the governments where the power is solely in one hand, do not come from this invariable Law we are referring to. Therefore, we should not adopt them all. However, the third and at the same time the most powerful motive which must keep us in suspense concerning the legitimacy of all social institutions upon Earth, in those which have but one leader as well as in those which have several, is that they are at all times enemies of one another. Most certainly this enmity would not occur if the same Principle had presided over all these associations and had continually directed their course. Since the object of this Principle is order, in general as well as in particular, all the establishments over which it has presided would undoubtedly have only a single aim; and this aim, far from being to invade one another would, on the contrary, be to support one another against the common and natural vice which incessantly seeks their destruction. Thus, whenever I see them reciprocally employing their forces against one another and so grossly departing from their object, I must presume without any qualms whatsoever that it is impossible to find among all these governments one that is not irregular or defective. I know that statesmen and stateswomen employ all their efforts to mitigate this deformity. They consider social institutions to be formed in imitation of the works of nature, forgetting that the copy can never be equal to its model, especially in their hands. They carry and attribute to these artificial bodies the same life, faculties, and powers as those with which material Beings in nature are clothed. They attribute to them the same activity, force, and right to conserve themselves and, consequently, also that of repulsing the attacks of their enemies and of fighting them. This is how they justify wars between nations and the multitude of Laws established as much for the inner as for the outer security of the states. But even legislators cannot fool themselves as to the weakness and imperfection of the means they employ for the maintenance of such rights and for the conservation of political bodies. They apparently believe that if the active Principle they presuppose to be in their work were alive, it would animate without violence and conserve without destruction the active Principle manifested in natural bodies in the same way. Once the complete opposite occurs, once any Laws whatsoever of the governments cease to create and possess only the power to destroy, the leader no longer finds any true power in the instrument she employs and she can no longer deny even to herself that the Principle which caused her to form her Law has deceived her. I must then ask what this error can be if it is not to delude oneself regarding the type of combat she must wage; to have the weakness of believing that her enemies are the people who compose political bodies, and thus that it is against such bodies that she must direct all her forces and vigilance. Since this idea is one of the most disastrous results of the shadows in which a person is plunged, it is not surprising that the rights which it has caused to be established are equally false and that henceforth they can no longer be productive. Thus, you should not be surprised when I declare that a person cannot have other people for his true enemies; and that according to the Law of his nature he has actually nothing to fear from them. Indeed, once recognizing that they could not, by themselves, become superior to one another and that they all are subject to the same weakness and privation, it is certain that they have no real advantage over other people in this state. If they attempted to make use of the corporeal advantages residing within themselves - such as skill, agility, or strength-against some person - this individual who was the object of their attacks would undoubtedly succeed in preserving himself from them by allowing himself to be guided by the primary and universal Law which I have constantly presented in this work as being the indispensable guide of humankind. If, on the contrary, it was by virtue of the faculties of this same Law, and by the power of the Principle which has prescribed it, that a person really found her superiors, then the person enjoying such powers would only employ them for her own good and true happiness. Thus she would clearly have nothing to fear from others and she would be wrong in regarding them as her enemies. Therefore, people are timorous among other people through weakness and ignorance, having falsely interpreted the purpose of their origin and the object of their destination upon Earth. And if, as we have observed, one perceives a jealous and avid enmity between various governments, we must believe that this error has not had any other source or Principle. Consequently, the light which has presided over their association does not have all the rights it would have in our confidence, had it been as pure as it should have been. Apart from the defects of administration of which we shall speak later, we shall now observe three essential vices which are clearly shown among accepted governments - namely, instability, disparity, and hatred. When we consider them in themselves and in their respective relations, I would, on this basis alone, have the right to state that such associations were formed by humankind's hand and without the assistance of the superior Law which must give them sanction. This sanction having been neglected, none of the governments can sustain themselves without its aid, having degenerated from their primary state. However, since I have imposed upon myself the obligation of not passing Judgment upon any government, I shall not yet speak my mind, inasmuch as each of these governments could present objections in defending themselves from any charges. Although those which have become defunct have been in error, those which exist may not be in error. If among these I have noted a nearly universal difference, from which I have concluded of necessity that some were evil, I have merely condemned only the government by the many and even then only in general. Thus the governments by one have not been included in this judgment. Finally, if I find a well-defined hatred even among governments by one, or, to express it more appropriately, a general rivalry - each one of them could offer as an objection that it alone is the depository of those true rights which should preside over any society, and thus its duty is to be on guard against other states. All of these are the combined reasons which will always prevent me from expressing my opinion upon any existing political bodies; but since my intention is, at the same time, to place them all in a position of being able to judge themselves, I will offer other observations that will assist them in directing their judgments upon what they are and what they should be. I shall now cast my eyes upon their administration, because for a government to conform with the true Principle, its administration must be regulated by clear Laws and dictated by true Justice. If, on the contrary, it is found to be unjust and false, it will rest with the governments that make use of it to bear the consequences concerning the legitimacy of the Principle and motive to which they owe their birth. Political bodies must regulate two principal subjects: first, the rights of the state and of each of its members, that which constitutes the object of public right and civic Justice; and second, it must watch over the security of society, general as well as particular, which constitutes the object of war, police, and criminal Justice. As each of these different branches have Laws to direct themselves, in order to assure ourselves of their justness, we need only examine whether such Laws emanate directly from the true Principle or whether they have been established by people alone, deprived of their guide. Let us begin with public right. I shall only examine a single article of it, because It will suffice to indicate the obscurity in which this part of the administration is still immersed. This involves the exchanges of different parts of their states which sovereigns often make between themselves, according to their convenience. Indeed, I ask whether after a subject has or is supposed to have taken an oath of fidelity to a sovereign, that sovereign has the right to relieve him of it, and this despite all the advantages that the state might incur from this act. Does not the sovereign's custom of failing to obtain the consent of the inhabitants of the territory they exchange, point out that the original oath was not freely taken and that neither will the new one be more so? Can this conduct ever conform with the idea of a legitimate government that the legislators themselves wish to give us? In the one [form of government] whose truth and indestructible existence I have proclaimed, such exchanges are likewise customary, and those which are practiced among the accepted governments are simply the image of it, because a person cannot invent anything new. But their formalities are different and dictated by motives which render all acts equitable-in other words, the exchange is free and voluntary on the part of both parties. are not considered to be attached to the soil and being part of the domain; in short, their nature is not confused with that of temporal possessions. I dare not speak here of those well-known usurpations by which various governments have claimed to acquire property rights over peaceful and unknown nations or even over neighboring and defenseless countries, thereby manifesting their strength and cupidity against them. As everything in the Universe is accomplished through reaction, it is true that Justice has often allowed the arming of nations for the punishment of criminal peoples. However, in reciprocally serving as ministers to its vengeance, they have only added to their own crimes and defilement, and these horrible invasions, of which we have so many frightful examples before our eyes, have perhaps been less disastrous to those who have been their victims than to those who have enforced them. Let us now proceed with the examination of civil Law. I presuppose all property rights to be established and I presuppose the division of the land to be legitimately accomplished among people as was the case at the beginning of things through means which today ignorance would cause to be regarded as imaginary. When avarice, bad faith, and even uncertainty succeed in producing disputes, who is able to stop these? Who can ensure rights threatened by injustice and who can reinstate those which have declined? Who can follow the long line of inheritances and modifications from the first division to the moment of dispute? How can one remedy so many difficulties without having clear knowledge of the legitimacy of such rights and without being able to identify the true owner positively? How can one judge without having such certainty and dare to decide without being sure that one is not condoning some usurpation? No one dares to deny that this uncertainty is almost universal, from which we can boldly conclude that civil Justice is often imprudent in its decisions. But it is even more guilty and openly displays its rashness in those extremely difficult situations with which it is often confronted when determining the origin of different rights and properties. It then sets a limit to its inquiries by assigning a period during which all peaceful possession becomes legitimate, this being what justice calls statute of limitations. Yet in the case where possession is wrongfully acquired, can such an injustice can ever be effaced by any period of time? It is therefore evident that at present civil Law acts on its own. Civil Law creates Justice although it should only execute it, thus repeating the universal error by which people always confuse things with their Principle. It will probably suffice that I limit myself to this single example of civil Justice, although it may offer me several others which would equally bear witness against it, such as those varieties and contradictions to which it is exposed at every step and which oblige it to disavow itself on thousands of occasions. I shall only add that there is one circumstance in which civil Law completely exposes its imprudence and blindness, and in which the Principle of Justice, which should always direct its course, is much more grievously wounded than when it passes foolhardy judgments upon simple possessions. This is when it declares the separation of a couple joined by marriage for reasons other than adultery. In truth, adultery is the only motive upon which husband and wife can be separated legitimately, because it is the only contravention directly harming the alliance and because this act alone can break it in that the alliance was founded upon an absolute union. Thus, when civil Law allows itself to be guided by other considerations, it quite obviously does not possess even the least rudimentary idea of such a bond. Therefore, I cannot help recognizing the extent to which the course of civil Law is defective, considering both the physical being and the property rights of the members of society. This absolutely prevents me from considering this Law as being in conformity with the Principle that should be directing society, and I am forced to recognize humankind's hand in operation rather than that superior and enlightened hand which should be accomplishing everything. I shall not continue any longer regarding the first part of the administration of political bodies, but before passing to the second, I believe it appropriate to say a little concerning adultery, which we have declared to be the only legitimate cause for the dissolution of marriages. Adultery was the crime of the first person, although he committed it before there were any women. Once they came into being, the peril which led him into his first crime persisted and now people are also exposed to the adultery of the flesh. Thus, this last adultery cannot occur without being preceded by the first. What I am expressing here will become more understandable if one perceives that the primal adultery was committed only because Adam strayed from the Law that had been prescribed for him, whereas he followed the complete opposite. Physical adultery repeats the same act fully, since marriage, being subject to direction by a pure Law, cannot be the work of a person any more than her other actions. Since this person could not have formed this bond by her own will, she does not possess within herself the right to sever it. Giving herself over to adultery removes by her own authority the will of the temporal universal Cause which is supposed to have concluded the engagement, and for her to heed a will of which it has not approved. Thus, as a person's will always precedes her actions, she cannot become heedless in her physical acts without previously being heedless in her will, so that today, in abandoning herself to the adultery of the flesh, she commits two crimes rather than one. The intelligent reader of this work will easily discover in the adultery of the flesh several clear indications concerning the adultery committed by humankind before it became subject to the Law of the elements. As much as I desire that a person succeeds in this, my obligations forbid me the slightest clarification upon this point; and, furthermore, for my own good, I would rather blush for humankind's crime than speak of it. All I have to say is that if adultery seems to be of little concern for certain people, it is surely only for those who have been blind enough to be materialists. If, indeed, people possessed only the senses, adultery would not exist for them, because the Law of the senses is not stable but relative, and everything pertaining to the senses must be equal. Although people have in addition a faculty which must even measure the actions of their senses, a faculty which makes itself evident even in the choice and refinement with which they flavor their corrupted pleasures, one wonders if a person can, in good faith, persuade himself of the unimportance of such acts. Thus, far from adopting this depraved opinion, I shall employ every effort to combat it. I shall boldly affirm that the primal adultery has been the cause of the deprivation and ignorance in which humankind is still immersed, and this is what has changed humanity's state of enlightenment and splendor into a state of shadow and ignominy. The second adultery, besides rendering the first judgment even more rigorous, exposes a person temporally to inexpressible disorders, grievous sufferings, and misfortunes - the primary source of which she is often unaware and which she is far from suspecting to be so near to her. This, however, does not prevent the possibility of their being subject to a multitude of other causes. In such corporeal adultery, a person can still easily form an idea of the hardships he prepares for the descendants resulting from his crimes by considering that this temporal universal Cause, or this superior will, does not preside over couplings of which it has not approved, nor does it preside, for all the more reason, over those which it condemns. If its presence is necessary for everything existing in time, whether sensate or intellectual, a person deprives his descendants of this support when he engenders them through an illegitimate will, and consequently he exposes his descendants to extraordinary suffering and the terrible decline of all the faculties of their Being. It is in the various original adulteries that the people avid of science would find the explanation for all degenerated races, for all those nations in which the species are so peculiarly constructed, and for those monstrous and defectively colored generations with which Earth is covered and in which the observers search in vain for a class within the order of the normal works of Nature. No one should offer me the objection presented by those arbitrary concepts of beauty, which are the result of habit, recognized in various lands. These are only judged by senses that have become accustomed to all things. There must certainly exist for the human species a fixed regularity, independent of peoples' conventions and caprices, because a person's body has been constituted by a number. There is also a Law for her color, and this Law is clearly enough indicated to us by the arrangement and order of the elements present in the composition of all bodies, wherein salt is always seen upon the surface. This is the reason why the differences of climate and those often brought about by the way of life, upon both bodily form and color, do not destroy the principle which has just been established, since the regularity of people's stature does not reside in the equality of their relative height but in the just proportion of all their parts. Likewise, although there are shadings in their true color, there does exist, however, a degree they can never pass, because the elements cannot change their places without an action contrary to what is natural to them. Therefore, we can attribute without fear all those physical signs which are a striking indication of an original defilement to the dissoluteness of the ancestors of nations. Let us attribute to the same source the degradation in which entire peoples are so far immersed that they have lost all feelings of decency and shame, and that not only do they not prohibit adultery among themselves, but they are even so little shocked by nudity that the act of corporeal generation has become a public and religious ceremony among some of them. Some observers have even claimed that the feeling of modesty is not natural to people, but they did not notice that they were obtaining their examples among degenerated peoples. They did not perceive that those who show little repugnance and delicacy in this regard are also the most abandoned to the sensual life, and they are so little advanced in the enjoyment and usage of their intellectual faculties that the difference between them and animals has become almost nonexistent, except through the vestiges of some Laws which have been transmitted to them and which they conserve through habit and imitation. When, on the contrary, observers have decided to obtain their examples within wellregulated societies in which decency and the respect for the conjugal bond are merely the effect of education, they have again erred in their judgments, because these societies, having not enlightened people as to the rights of their true nature, compensate for it through instructions and artificial sentiments that time, place, and the way of life cause to disappear. Thus, by removing from these wellregulated societies the outward signs of received and accepted decency, or a relatively strong attachment to the principles of primary education, one would perhaps not really find any more decency than among the crudest of nations. But this will never prove anything against the true Law of humankind, because in these two examples the people under consideration are both removed from it, the one by a defect in culture and the other through depravation, so that neither of them are living in their natural state. To resolve this matter, we therefore need to go back as far as the natural state of humankind. We would then perceive that as the physical form, which represents the Being, is most disproportionate in comparison with the intellectual person, she is provided with the most humiliating spectacle. And if she were aware of the Principle of this form, she could not consider it without blushing, although the various parts of this body would not be at all likely to inspire within her the same horror, as they each possess a differing aim and usage. We would have seen, I repeat, that this person would have shuddered at the very notion of adultery because it would have recalled to her the frightful and despairing memory of that first adultery from which all of her misfortunes have proceeded. But how would the observers have considered a person in her Principle? They are not aware of her having any; so what credence can we give to their opinions? Thus, let us never forget that all the deformities and vices perceived in different people, whether in their bodies or in their thinking Being, derive from the fact that either their ancestors had not followed their natural Law or that they themselves have departed from it. Materialists should not believe me to be in accord with them when hearing me speak at this time of a natural Law for humankind. I desire, as they do, that people follow their natural Law. But we differ in that materialists desire that people follow the natural Law of animals, whereas I desire that they follow that which differentiates them from animals - in other words, what enlightens and assures all their steps; in a word, what pertains to the very flambeau of Truth. Let us not forget, I repeat, that a person's second crime, that of physical adultery, originates solely in the first adultery, or that of the will, by which a person has followed a corrupt Law in his production, rather than the pure Law which had been imposed upon him. Today a person may commit adultery with another, but he can also commit adultery without another person even more, as in the beginning. In other words, he may commit intellectual adultery because nothing existing in time, other than the primary temporal Cause, is more powerful than a person's will. And, in keeping with the Principle which became evil, it possesses powers even when it is impure and criminal. Let us then examine whether a person who finds herself to be the author ofall the disorders we have revealed should ever be happy and at peace, and whether she could conceal from herself that she owes even more tribute to justice than her unfortunate descendants. Those who believe themselves capable of remedying all these evils by negating the results of their crime will never, in good faith, intend to cause this depraved opinion to be adopted. On the contrary, they cannot doubt that this directs the entire scourge against themselves, while their descendants could have shared it with them. Moreover, this attributes to this same scourge an unlimited extension because, by this criminal act, added to the physical and intellectual adulteries of all the Laws forming a person's essence, not a single one has been left unviolated. I cannot expound further upon this subject without being indiscreet, as profound Truths are not suitable for all eyes. Although I do not reveal to humankind the basic reason for all the Laws of wisdom, they are nonetheless bound to observe them, because they are perceptible and people can perceive everything that is perceptible. Moreover, although it is also accepted among people that generation is a mystery, it is nevertheless true that it manifests within a Law and order unknown to animals, and that the rights attached to it are the most noble testimony of its grandeur, as well as the source of a person's condemnation and misery. Let us allow our readers to meditate on this point, and let us proceed to a consideration of the second part of social administration - namely, that which watches over the state's outer and inner security. We have observed that this second part, having two objects, also possesses two kinds of Laws for its direction. The first ones, charged with outer security, form the Laws of war and the political rights of nations. But noting the falsity of people's behavior and the custom they have of considering one another as enemies, I cannot place any degree of confidence in the Laws they have created concerning such matters. You will find it easy to agree with me by examining the continual uncertainty we perceive in those statesmen and stateswomen who meander about in their attempt to seek among human things a basis for their establishments. By recognizing only force and convention as the principle of government; by tending to ignore their sole point of support; by desiring to open the door and yet persisting in their refusal to make use of the only key with which they could succeed, the search of these statesmen and stateswomen remains absolutely fruitless. That is why I shall not add to what I have already stated upon this subject. Therefore, I shall only direct my observations to the second kind of Laws, or those which concern the inner security of the state - namely, that aspect of administration concerning the police and criminal Laws. I have even combined these two branches into a single category because, despite the difference in the subjects they embrace, they each have for their aim the maintenance of order and the reparation for crimes, since both have the same origin and are derived from the right to punish. In the examination that I am about to undertake, my design will always remain the same as that followed throughout the course of this work. I shall continue in my attempt to ascertain in every subject whether or not things are in conformity with their Principle. In this way each person may come to his own conclusions and learn on his own rather than through my own judgments. I shall, at this point, examine in whose hand the right to punish must primarily reside, and then in what way the person who is invested with such power should legitimately proceed. Without such clarifications it would be extremely rash to take up the sword since it could fall upon the innocent as well as the guilty. Even in the event that this harmful consequence could be avoided, with the blows falling only upon the criminals, there would still remain the uncertainty of whether the one who has directed the blow has the right to do so. It there exists a superior Principle, unique and universally good, as all my efforts have tended to establish up to now, and if, as I have also demonstrated, there exists an evil Principle which ceaselessly works to oppose the action of the good Principle, then it seems inevitable that crimes have taken place within this intellectual class. Since Justice is one of the essential attributes of this good Principle, crime cannot tolerate its presence for a single instant, and the penalty thereof is just as prompt as it is indispensable. The absolute necessity to punish is what is proved by this good Principle. Humanity, in its primary origin, physically experienced this truth and was solemnly invested with the right to punish. This is what constituted humanity's resemblance to its Principle. It is also by virtue of this resemblance that its Justice was exact and certain. Humankind's rights were real, enlightened, and would never have been altered had they been willing to preserve them. At that time, I assert, they truly possessed the right of life and death over the wrongdoers in their realm. However, let us keep in mind that it was not upon others that a person could have exercised it, because in the realm she then inhabited, one could not be subject to another among similar Beings. When, after degenerating from their glorious estate, humankind had fallen into the state of nature, from which results the state of society, and before long, that of corruption, they found themselves in a new order of things in which they had to fear and punish new crimes. However, no person in their present state can exercise just authority over others without having, through their own efforts, recovered the faculties they had lost. Likewise, whatever this authority may be, it can never uncover within them the right to physically punish others, nor the right of life and death over people. Even during their glorious state, people did not have the right of life and corporeal death over their subjects. For such a situation to prevail, it would have been necessary that through a person's fall his realm be extended and new subjects be acquired. But, far from having augmented their number we perceive that, on the contrary, he lost the authority he once had over his former subjects. We even perceive that the only kind of superiority that he could acquire over others would be that of placing them back on the right path when they go astray. He may even stop them when they give themselves over to crime, or rather uplift them by bringing them, through his example and virtue, nearer to that state, whose enjoyment they no longer possess. But he cannot demonstrate that kind of superiority which enables him, on his own, to exercise over them a rule that their own nature disavows. It would therefore be in vain that we would search today within humankind for the titles of a legislator and a judge. However, according to the Laws of truth, nothing must remain unpunished, and it is inevitable that Justice universally follows its course with the greatest exactitude in both the sensate and intellectual states. Rather than acquiring new rights, a person has, by her fall, allowed herself to be deprived of those rights which she once possessed. Thus it is absolutely necessary for her to find elsewhere instead of within herself those rights which are necessary so as to direct herself in that social state to which she is bound at present. And where could we better discover these rights than in this same physical and temporal Cause which has taken the place of humankind by order of the primary Principle? Has not this cause been placed, in effect, in the position that humanity lost through its own fault? Has not the aim and the employment of this aim been to prevent the enemy from remaining master of the realm from which humankind had been expelled? In a word, is it not that which is charged with serving as a beacon for humanity and for the enlightenment of all its steps? Therefore, the work which a person previously had to perform, as well as that which he has imposed upon himself by having come to inhabit a place which had not been created for him, must today be operated solely through this cause. This alone is what can explain and justify the course of humankind's criminal Laws. The society in which a person exists of necessity, and to which she is destined, engenders crimes. She does not possess within herself either the right or the strength to stop them. It is therefore quite necessary that some other cause do it for her, because the rights of Justice are irrevocable. However, since this cause is above sensate things, although it directs and presides over them, and since the punishments of a person in society need to occur in the sensate as do his crimes, it is necessary that it employ sensate means to manifest its decisions and to cause the execution of its judgments. It employs the voice of a person for this function, but only when he has rendered himself worthy of it. It is people who are charged with proclaiming Justice to other people and with making them observe it. Thus, far from being through his essence the depository of the sword, the avenger of crime, a person's very functions announce that the right to punish resides in a hand other than his own and of which he must merely be the organ. We can also perceive what infinite advantages would result for the judge who obtained the right to be truly the organ of this universal, temporal, intelligent Cause. She would find in it a steady light that would enable her to discern the innocent from the guilty without error. She would thereby be protected from committing any injustice; she would be certain to have the punishment fit the offense; and she would endeavor to repair the outcomes of other people so as to not burden herself with crimes. Nonetheless, a person's inestimable advantage, however unknown it is among people in general, offers nothing that would astonish or surpass any of those which I have up to this moment shown people to be capable. They all proceed from the faculties of this active and intelligent Cause destined to establish order in the Universe among all Beings of two natures. And if, by its means, a person can assure himself of the necessity and truth of his religion, and if he can acquire incontestable rights which will elevate and legitimately establish him above other people, doubtlessly he can hope for the same assistance in the sure administration of civil or criminal Justice in the society entrusted to his care. Moreover, everything that I have proposed is represented and indicated by what is commonly observed in criminal Justice. Is not the judge supposed to forget herself so as to become the simple agent and organ of the Law? Even though it is human, is not this Law sacred for him? Does she not make use of all the means at her command so as to enlighten her conduct and judgments, and to fit the punishment to the crime as much as the Law allows? However, is it not more often the Law itself that is the measure thereof, and when the judge observes it, does he not persuade herself that she has acted according to Justice? Therefore, it would be people themselves who would make known to us the reality of this Principle if we did not have the most intimate conviction of it otherwise. At the same time, it appears even more evident to us that the criminal Justice in use among nations is, in effect, only the appearance of what belongs to the aforementioned Principle. By not employing it as a basis of support, such Justice proceeds in the shadows much like all other human institutions, and from whose effects issue a frightening chain of iniquities and veritable assassinations. Indeed, this injunction imposed upon the judge to forget himself and his testimony so as to listen only to the voice of the witnesses, rightly proclaims that there are witnesses who do not lie and whose evidence must direct him. But since witnesses are susceptible to corruption, it is most obvious that the Law is wrong in seeking them only among people from whom it can anticipate ignorance and bad faith, because it then exposes itself to the acceptance of falsehood as proof. It thus renders itself altogether inexcusable, since it is only in the presence of a sure and true witness that a judge will forget himself and transform himself into a simple instrument. Finally, the false Law upon which he believes he can support himself will never assume responsibility for either his errors or crimes. This is why, in the judge's own eyes, the most important of her duties is attempting to determine the truth within the evidence of the witnesses. But how can she succeed in this without the help of that light which I indicate as being her sole guide as a person and which must accompany her at all times? Therefore, is it not an atrocious vice in criminal Laws not to have had this light for their principle, and does not this fault expose the judge to the greatest abuse? But let us examine the abuse which will result from the very power that human Law attributes to itself. When people state that political Law assumes responsibility for punishing individuals to whom it then denies the right of seeking redress through their own means, it is certain that they have thus given privileges to this Law that will never be suitable to it as long as it is left to its own devices for direction. Nevertheless, I agree that this political Law, which can in some fashion control the force of its blows, offers a kind of advantage in that its vengeance will not always be unlimited as that of individuals might be. Nonetheless, it can be mistaken as to who is guilty, whereas a person will not err as easily regarding his own adversary. Moreover, if this particular vengeance, however admissible it might be in a case in which a person would only be endowed with a sensate nature, is still entirely foreign to his intellectual nature - and if this intellectual nature not only has never possessed the right to punish physically, but is even presently deprived of any sort of authority and cannot in any way exercise Justice - it is most certain that until it has recovered its original state, the political Law which is not guided by another light will commit the same injustices under another name. According to the Laws of all Justice, if a person does me harm in any manner whatsoever, she is guilty. If on my own authority I strike her, or shed her blood, or kill her, I am just as much remiss as she is in the Laws of my true nature and in those of the intelligent and physical Cause that should guide me. Thus, when political Law, on its own volition, takes my place for the punishment of my enemy, it takes the place of a sanguinary person. In vain would one now protest to me that through social convention, every citizen has subjected themselves in the case of prevarication to the penalties provided by the different criminal Laws. As we have observed, people have been unable to establish political bodies legitimately by the sole effect of their convention, and so a citizen cannot transmit to his fellow citizens the right to punish him in that his true nature has not given it to him and because the contract he is supposed to have entered into with them cannot extend the essence which constitutes a person. Can it be said that this act of political vengeance is no longer considered to be operated by a person, but by Law? I shall always answer that this political Law, deprived of its flambeau, is nothing other than mere human will to which even unanimous approval does not give one additional power. Henceforth, if it is a crime for a person to act through violence and by her own volition, if it is a crime for her to shed blood, the united will of all people on Earth could never efface it. To avoid this danger, statesmen and stateswomen have believed they could do no better than to consider a criminal as a traitor and, as such, to be the enemy of the social body. By placing him, so to speak, in an assumed state of war, his death appears to them to be legitimate. According to them the political bodies are formed, as they are, in the image of a person, so they must likewise watch over their own preservation. In accordance with such principles, sovereign authority has the right to mass all its forces against the wrongdoer who menaces the state, whether in itself or in its members. We can easily perceive the flaw of this comparison by observing that in one-on-one combat, it is truly people who are fighting. On the contrary, in a war between nations one cannot state that the governments are the combatants, since they are but moral Beings of which the physical action is imaginary. Also, besides having shown that war between nations does not occupy itself with its true object, I have shown that its very aim is not to destroy people, but much rather to prevent them from doing harm. Never should an enemy be killed except when it is impossible to subdue them, and among warriors, it will always be more glorious to vanquish a nation than to annihilate it. Certainly, the advantage of an entire kingdom against a single culprit is sufficiently obvious so that the right and the glory of killing them disappears. Moreover, something which proves that this pretended right does not resemble in any way the right of war is that in the latter situation, the life of each soldier is in danger and the death of each enemy is uncertain. However, in the previous situation, an iniquitous display accompanies the executions. One hundred people arm themselves, assemble, and proceed in cold blood to exterminate one of their fellow humans who is not even permitted to use their own forces. Yet one contends that this simple human power is legitimate, a power which can be deceived every day, a power which so often pronounces unjust sentences - in short, a power which a corrupted will can turn into an instrument of murder. No, a person undoubtedly has within herself other rules. If she sometimes serves as the organ of superior Law to pronounce its judgments and to dispose of the lives of people, it is by a right which is worthy of her respect and which can teach her at the same time to direct her course in dispensing justice and equity. Should one wish to judge even more thoroughly the incompetence of contemporary humankind, it is only necessary to reflect upon its ancient rights. During humanity's glory, a person fully exercised the right to life and incorporeal death, because being then in possession of life itself, he could either communicate it to his subjects or take it away from them at will, whenever prudence caused him to judge it necessary. And since it was only through his presence that these subjects could exist, he also possessed the power to cause their death simply by separating himself from them. Today, it is only through momentary flashes that he experiences this primary life, and even then, it is no longer in relation to his former subjects but in relation to his fellow men that he succeeds in making use of it. As for this right of life and corporeal death which is the object of the present matter, we can affirm that it belongs even less to people, considered on their own and viewed in their present state. Can a person in fact consider herself to be the possessor and dispenser of her own corporeal life which is bestowed upon her and which she shares with all of her species? Do her fellow humans have need of her help to breathe and live corporeally? Shall her will and even all her forces suffice to conserve their existence? Is she not obliged at every moment to witness the Law of nature cruelly acting upon them without her being able to stop its course? Likewise, does a person possess within himself an inherent power and force which generally can deprive them of life according to his desire? When his corrupt will inclines him to think thus, imagine if you will what distance there is between this thought and the crime which must follow it! What obstacles, what trepidation between the project and the execution! And does not one perceive that the care he takes to prepare his attacks seldom agrees fully with his view? We shall therefore state with truth that by the simple Laws of his corporeal Being, a person must encounter resistance everywhere, thus proving that this corporeal Being does not give him any right whatsoever. And in fact, have we not sufficiently observed that the corporeal Being possessed only a secondary life, which was dependent upon another Principle? Consequently, is it not evident that any Being that would possess nothing more than this would be dependent as well and would henceforth exhibit the same lack of power? I repeat, therefore, it would not be within a corporeal person, when considered by herself, that we could recognize this essential right of life and death which verifies a true authority. All of this will only serve to confirm what has been determined regarding the fountainhead where, today, a person must seek the same right. It is even less true that within people we shall find the right of execution. If a person did not employ violence and foreign forces, it would be seldom that he could succeed in causing the death of a criminal unless he had recourse to treason or some ruse, and those methods would be very far removed from proclaiming a true power within people. The execution of criminal Laws is absolutely necessary so that Justice is not rendered useless. I contend, moreover, that it is inevitable. Since this right cannot belong to us, it is necessary that it be returned, along with the right to judge, to that hand which must serve as our guide. This hand will give a true strength to the natural weapon of a person, and which will place her in a position to bring about the execution of the decrees of Justice without attracting condemnation upon herself. Such, at least, are the means that true legislators have put into effect, although they make them known to us solely through symbols and allegories. Perhaps they have employed the hand of other people in making the punishment of criminals seemingly operative so as to impress the gross eyes of the peoples they govern by perceptible figures and to cover with a veil the secret powers which directed the execution. I speak with even more assurance since we have seen these legislators make use of the same veil in the simple exhibition of their civil and social Laws. Although these were the work of a sure and superior hand, they have limited themselves to speaking only to the senses so as to avoid profaning their knowledge. But, regarding their criminal Laws, they have painted the lifelike scene with such extreme severity to make the peoples under their rule feel all the rigor of true Justice and to make them realize that the slightest action contrary to the Law will not go unpunished. It is with this end in view that some of them have even imposed punishments upon animals. All of these observations teach us once again that a person cannot find within himself either the right to condemn other people or to carry out his condemnation. But, were this right to be truly part of the essence of the men who govern or are employed in the maintenance of criminal Justice within governments, as they are all so convinced, a much more difficult question would always need to be decided upon-namely, ascertaining how they would find a trustworthy rule for the direction of their judgments and for the application of the penalties in a just manner by fitting them exactly to the degree and nature of the crime. In all of these things criminal Justice is blind, uncertain, and almost never has for its guide more than the precedent in force at the moment and the legislator's talent or will. Certain governments have had the honesty to sense and admit their profound ignorance, and they have solicited the counsel of people enlightened upon such matters. I praise their zeal for having assumed the responsibility of undertaking such steps. Yet I feel no hesitancy in assuring them that they will hope in vain to obtain satisfactory enlightenment so long as they try to find it in a person's opinion and intelligence, and they themselves will have neither the courage nor the resolution to seek for enlightenment at its true source. In fact, the most celebrated of statesmen and stateswomen and jurists have not yet thrown any light upon this problem. They have accepted governments as they are, and they have admitted, as has the average person, that the basis of government is real and that the knowledge and the right to punish exists within people. They have then exhausted themselves in seeking to build a solid edifice upon this foundation. But, as we can no longer doubt that they are building only upon some supposition, it is clear that the governments which desire to learn must address themselves to other masters. Therefore, I will not decide upon the nature of the punishments to be meted out for individual crimes. On the contrary, I contend that it is impossible for a person to ever decree anything absolutely fixed regarding this matter, because, since no two crimes are exactly alike, if the identical penalty is pronounced upon each one, then some injustice will surely result. Simple logic must at least teach people to search for the punishment of the guilty solely in the object and order that have been outraged. They should not be selected from some other category which, having no bearing upon the subject of the offense, will in turn cause harm without the offense having been repaired. Human Justice is thus so weak and horribly defective that its power is at times nil, as in suicide and in concealed crimes. At times this power acts only to violate the analogy which should constantly guide it, as happens in all physical punishments which are pronounced for crimes that do not attack persons and involve only possessions. Even when it appears to be observing this analogy to a considerable extent and it seems to maintain a kind of wisdom in this regard, this human Justice is still infinitely flawed in that there exists a tiny number of penalties to be inflicted in each category, whereas in each one of these categories the crimes are innumerable and always different. This is also why written criminal Laws are one of the greatest vices of the states, in that they are dead Laws which remain always the same whereas crime is constantly increasing and renewing itself. The talion has been almost entirely banished from criminal Laws as all of its clauses can hardly ever be humanely fulfilled, either because they are not always aware of all the circumstances of the crimes, or, even if they were to know them, they are not prolific enough in themselves to always bring forth the true remedy for such a multiplication of evil. What then are such criminal codes if we do not find in them this talion which is the sole penal Law that is just and the only one that could surely regulate the progress of humankind - and which, consequently, does not emanate from people but is necessarily the work of a powerful hand, whose intelligence knows how to measure the penalties and extend or diminish them according to need? I shall not stop to consider that barbarous custom by which nations are not simply content to condemn a person blindly, but even impose torture upon them so as to extort the truth. Nothing more proclaims the weakness and darkness in which the legislator languishes, because, if she enjoyed her true rights, she would have no need for such false and cruel methods in serving as guides to her judgment. In a word, that same light which would authorize her to pass judgment upon other people causes her to execute this condemnation and instructs her in the nature of the penalties she must inflict, leaving her neither in error concerning the nature of the crimes nor concerning the names of the guilty and their accomplices. But what clearly discloses to us the impotence and blindness of legislators is the perception that they only inflict capital punishment upon crimes concerning the sensate and temporal, whereas everyday a multitude of crimes involving much more important matters are committed around them, all escaping their view. I am speaking of those monstrous ideas which reduce a person to the status of a material Being; of those corrupted and hopeless doctrines which remove from him even the sentiment of order and happiness - in short, of those foul systems which, in carrying putrefaction to his own seed, smother it or render it absolutely pestilential and cause the sovereign to have only vile machines or crooks to rule over. We have given enough consideration to the defectiveness of administration. Let us now limit ourselves to reminding those people who command and those who judge of the injustices to which they expose themselves when they act without certainty and without being assured of the legitimacy of their course. The first drawback is that of running the risk of condemning the innocent. The evils resulting from this are of such a nature as can never be evaluated by a person. They depend to a great extent upon a relatively considerable wrong which the condemned must experience regarding the fruits she might have reaped from her intellectual faculties had she remained a longer time upon Earth and to the discouraging impression that must be made upon her by an infamous, cruel, and unexpected physical punishment. How could the judge ever estimate the extent of all these ills if she did not someday acquire the bitter feeling of her own imprudence and mistakes? And yet, how could she satisfy justice if the condemned did not experience some rigorous expiation? The second drawback 1s that of inflicting a penalty upon a criminal which is not applicable to his crime. Here is the chain of evil that the imprudent judge prepares in this case, be it for his victim or for himself. First of all, the physical punishment to which the judge condemns the victim does not in any way compensate for that which true Justice has specified for them and only serves to render it more certain. Without such hasty condemnation, true Justice would perhaps allow sufficient time for the guilty party to expiate her crime through remorse and, rigorous as true Justice is, it would reduce her debt to the experience of a state of repentance. Secondly, if the blind and thoughtless judgment of a person removes from the criminal the time necessary for repentance, the atrocity of the execution removes from him the strength to repent and exposes him to lose in despair a precious life, whereas a more just use and sacrifice made at the proper time may have effaced all of his crimes. It thus forces him to incur two penalties rather than one. Far from expiating anything, these penalties can, on the contrary, cause a person to multiply his iniquities and thereby render the second penalty more inevitable. Thus, whenever the judge is willing to scrutinize herself closely, she cannot avoid imputing to herself the first of these penalties, which differs from murder only in its form. She will also be obliged to impute to herself all the disastrous consequences which we have just perceived arising from her temerity and injustice. Let her then reflect upon her situation and determine if she can be at peace with herself. Let us depart from these scenes of horror and instead employ our efforts in recalling to the minds of the sovereigns and judges the knowledge of their true Law and their reliance on that light destined to be the flambeau of humankind. Let us persuade them that if they were pure they would cause criminals to tremble more by their presence and title than by the gallows and the scaffold. Let us persuade them that this would be the only method for dissipating all those shadows that we have discovered clouding the origin of their sovereignty, the cause of the association of political states, and the laws of the civil and criminal administration of their governments. Finally, let us encourage them to cast their eyes continually upon the Principle which we have offered them as the only compass for their conduct and the sole measure of their powers. To augment the idea that the sovereigns must assume, let us at this time point out to them that this same Principle from which they should expect so much assistance could also communicate to them the powerful gift I have previously numbered among their privileges, which is that of curing disease. If this universal temporal Cause, charged with the direction of humanity and all Beings existing in the temporal, is at once active and intelligent, then surely there is no aspect of science and knowledge that it does not embrace. This indicates to an adequate degree what the person who would be directed by it should expect. Thus it would not be in error to state that a sovereign who acknowledges this light as his guide would know the true Principles of bodies - namely, those three fundamental elements which we discussed at the beginning of this work. He would distinguish in what proportion their action manifests in different bodies according to age, sex, climate, and other natural properties of each of these elements, as well as the relationship that must always reign between them. At any moment this relationship could be disturbed or destroyed when the elementary Principles try to surmount one another or separate, but he would perceive the method for reestablishing order promptly and without error. This is why Medicine must reduce itself to this simple, unique, and consequently universal rule: that of bringing together what has become divided and dividing what has become joined. But, is there any disorder or any profanation to which this rule, taken from the very nature of things, is not exposed when passing through the hands of people? The least degree of difference in the means they employ and in the action of the remedies produces effects so contrary to those they should expect, in that the admixture of those fundamental Principles, which are reduced to three in number, nevertheless changes and multiplies in so many ways that ordinary eyes could never follow all their variations. Finally, in these sorts of combinations, the same Principle often acquires different properties according to the type of reaction it experiences. Although we recognize fire to be as universally prevalent as the other two elements, we know, nonetheless, that interior fire creates, superior fire fecundates, and inferior fire consumes. We can say as much regarding salts: interior salt excites fermentation, superior salt conserves, and inferior salt corrodes. As for mercury, its general property is that of occupying an intermediary position between the two opposing Principles just mentioned. By this means it establishes peace between them by bringing them together through a thousand circumstances. However, by enclosing them in the same circle, it becomes the source of the greatest elementary disorder and at the same time offers the image of universal disorder. What cares and precautions must therefore be taken to determine the nature and effects of these different principles which, by their admixture, become even more diversified than through their natural properties? Yet, despite this infinite multitude of differences that can be observed in the revolutions of corporeal Beings, an enlightened eye, which should be possessed by a sovereign, will never lose sight of her rule. She will always classify such differences within the three types by means of the three fundamental principles from which they emanate. Consequently, she will recognize merely three maladies, and she will even know that these three maladies must possess signs as marked and distinctive as the three fundamental principles are themselves marked and distinctive in their action and in their primitive property. Of these three types of maladies, each concern one of the principal substances of which animal bodies are composed - namely, blood, bone, and flesh - three parts which are related to one of the three elements from which they originate. Their cure is obtained through their corresponding elements. Thus, with suitable preparations and temperaments, flesh is cured by salt, blood by sulfur, and bones by mercury. It is known, for example, that the diseases of the flesh and the skin originate from the thickening and the corruption of saline secretions in the capillary vessels where they can be fixed by too strong or too sudden an action of the air as well as too feeble an action of the blood. It is therefore natural to place in opposition to these stagnant and corrupted liquids a salt which divides them without repercussion, corroding and consuming them in their center without permitting them entry into the mass of the blood to which they would communicate their own putrefaction. Although this salt is the most common of those produced by Nature, it must be admitted nonetheless that it is, so to speak, still unknown to human medicine. This is why medicine is so little advanced in the cure of such maladies. Regarding the second classification - the diseases of the bone - mercury must be employed with extreme moderation because its action upon the two other principles sustaining the life of all bodies, joins and compresses them to too great a degree. It is through the restrictions which it manifests primarily upon sulfur that it becomes the destroyer of all vegetation, terrestrial as well as animal. Prudence, therefore, often requires that the mercury innate within a person's body simply be allowed to perform its natural action as the action of such mercury harmonizes with the action of blood. It does not become stronger than blood and it contains enough so that it does not weaken and evaporate, but not so much as to stifle and smother. Thus, Nature provides us regarding this subject the most clear and instructive lessons by repairing bone fractures through its own virtue and without the help of any foreign mercury. Concerning diseases of the blood, sulfur must be employed with infinitely more caution, because bodies, being much more volatile than fixed, would be exposed to even more volatile action when augmenting their sulfurous and igneous action. Therefore, the truly enlightened person will never apply this remedy except with the greatest moderation, inasmuch as he knows that when the radical humid element is altered, the gross humid element can never repair it on its own. This is why he will join it to the radical humid element itself by obtaining it from the source, which is not found entirely in the marrow of bones. Let us mention in passing that this is the reason for the frequent inadequacy and danger of pharmacy, which, in searching with so much diligence for the volatile principle of medicinal bodies, neglects far too much the usage of fixed principles, the need of which is so universal that if a person were wise they would be exclusively employed. Furthermore, who is not aware that this pharmaceutical art destroys rather than conserves, that it agitates and burns rather than restores, and that when, on the contrary, its purpose is to calm, the only way it knows how to proceed is through the use of absorbents and poisons? We can therefore perceive what would be the extent of medicine in the hands of a person who would reestablish herself in the rights of her origin. She would give salutary activity to all remedies and thereby render all cures infallible, and thus the active Cause of which she is the instrument would not have the ability to act otherwise. She would most certainly refrain from employing in this worthy and useful science the material calculations of human mathematics, which, never operating except through results that are negative or dangerous in medicine, have the objective of operating upon the very principles which manifest within bodies. For this very reason, a person would not restrict himself to formulae which, in the art of healing, represent the same thing as criminal codes do in the administration of states, since among all illnesses, there have never existed two diseases which present absolutely the same gradations, and thus it is possible that a given remedy would harm one or both. But, in the role of sovereign, a person would know the virtues of corporeal Beings. She would know of their disorders and from then on, she would be protected from committing any error regarding the application of the remedy. Therefore, let us not forget that in order to arrive at this point, a person must not mistake matter for the Principle of matter, because we have seen that this error has been the chief cause of her ignorance. Nor should we believe that this inestimable power is beyond a person's reach. On the contrary, it is numbered among the Laws that are given to him for the task he needs to accomplish during his sojourn upon Earth, because, if attacks are directed upon him through his corporeal envelope, he must not be entirely deprived of the means of sensing and repulsing them. Since the use of this privilege can be common to all people, it should, for even stronger reasons, belong in particular to sovereigns whose true aim is to preserve their subjects, as much as possible, from all sorts of evil and to defend them in both the sensate and the intellectual. If this privilege is not known to them any better than all their other rights, it will be one more reason for them to sense whether or not they have been placed in charge of people by that Principle, the power of which I have indicated to them and which is absolutely necessary for the regularity of all their undertakings. This is, I repeat, one more method that I offer them for judging themselves. Therefore, let them combine the observations I have just made regarding the art of healing to those I have made about the vices of the political, civil, and criminal administration of states; regarding the vices of the governments themselves, which have unveiled to us those of their associations; and regarding the source from which leaders must derive their different rights. Then let them decide if they recognize within themselves traces of this light which is supposed to have constituted them all and not leave them for an instant, because it is only in this way that they will be assured of the legitimacy of their power and of the justness of the institutions over which they preside. Nevertheless, let us now repeat with equal firmness and frankness that any subject who perceives all these defects within a state, and who, perceiving the sovereigns themselves to be so far below what they should be, believes herself to be freed from the least of her duties toward them and from any submission to their decrees, she would thenceforth deviate tangibly from her Law and would directly proceed against all the principles that we are establishing. Instead, let every person persuade himself that Justice will never attribute to him any but his own faults. Thus, a subject would only augment the disorders by pretending to oppose and combat them, since this would be proceeding through the will of humankind, and the will of humankind only leads to crime. Therefore, I believe that regardless of any application the sovereigns might make to themselves of everything I trace before their eyes, they can never accuse me of having established principles contrary to their authority. Rather, my sole desire is to persuade them of the existence of one invincible and unshakable authority which can be theirs. In following the chain of our observations, we will now tum our attention to the examination of those errors which have been made regarding the higher sciences, because the principles of these sciences pertain to the same source as that of political and religious Laws. Knowledge of them must thus be numbered as well among the rights of people.

## Chapter 6 - Mathematical Principles

Now I shall primarily examine mathematical science, which is connected to all the higher sciences and thus holds first rank among the objects of humankind's reasoning or intellectual faculty. First of all, let me reassure those who might pause at the mention of the word mathematics by informing them that it is unnecessary to be advanced in this science to follow my observations. In fact, there is hardly even any need to have the slightest notion of it, and the method I use in discussing this subject will be suitable to all of my readers. This science will undoubtedly offer us even more striking proofs of the Principles that have been previously advanced, as well as the errors that it has occasioned whenever people have blindly delivered themselves over to the judgments of their senses. This must seem natural because mathematical Principles, although not material, are nevertheless the true Law of the sensate. In their own way geometricians are always the true masters of reasoning upon the nature of such Principles, but as for the application of the ideas they have formed of it, they must necessarily acknowledge their errors. In this instance they no longer direct the Principle, but the Principle directs them. Thus, in order to discern the true from the false it is most fitting that we conduct a careful examination of the course they have followed and the consequences that would result from this were we to follow in their footsteps. I shall begin by pointing out that nothing can be demonstrated in mathematics if it is not traced back to an axiom, as this alone constitutes what is true. At the same time, I shall beg my readers to notice the reason why axioms are true. It is because they are independent of the sensate or the material and because they are purely intellectual. This will confirm everything I have said regarding the course that must be followed in arriving at the truth and at the same time reassure observers about a matter which is not subject to their physical sight. Therefore, it is clear that if geometricians had not lost sight of such axioms, they would never have erred in their reasoning, because axioms are connected to the very essence of the intellectual Principle and are therefore based upon the most obvious certainty. Corporeal and sensate production that has been accomplished in accordance with such intellectual Laws, taken within its own class, is undoubtedly perfectly regular, inasmuch as it conforms exactly to the order of this intellectual Principle or to the axioms which everywhere direct its existence and execution. However, as the perfection of such corporeal production is simply dependent on or relative to the Principle engendering it, its rule and source cannot reside in this production. Therefore, we can judge its regularity only by continually comparing this sensate production with the axioms or the Laws of the intellectual Principle. Let me repeat, it is through this method that we can succeed in demonstrating its justness. However, if this is the only rule that is true and if at the same time it is purely intellectual, how then can men hope to supplant it by a rule taken from the sensate? How can they expect to replace a true Being with a conventional and suppositional Being? Nonetheless, it cannot be doubted that the efforts of geometricians are trending in this direction. We shall see that after having established the axioms which are the foundations of all the truths they would have us learn, the only means they propose for teaching us how to evaluate areas are either by a measure taken in this same area or by some arbitrary numbers which in themselves always have need of a perceptible measure so as to be realized by our corporeal eyes. Must we then be satisfied with such a demonstration and consider such proofs as evidence? Since measure always resides within the Principle where the birth of the sensate production occurs, could this sensate and passive production serve as a measure and proof to itself? And are there any Beings other than those which are not created - that is, true Beings - which could prove themselves on their own? Far from contesting the evidence of intellectual mathematical Principles or that of axioms, we must already acknowledge the feeble idea that geometricians have adopted and the slight usage they have made of it so as to achieve the science of the area and other properties of matter. We must state that if they know nothing regarding this subject, it is because they have fallen into the same error that observers have committed concerning all the other subjects I have considered. In other words, they have separated the area from its true Principle, or rather, they have confounded it with its Principle and have not perceived that they are two distinct manifestations although indispensably united for the purpose of constituting the existence of matter. To make this even more palpable, we need to direct our attention to the nature of the area. The area, as is true of all other properties of bodies, is a production of the generative Principle of matter in accordance with the Laws and order which are prescribed to this inferior Principle by the superior Principle directing it. In this sense, as the area is considered only a secondary production, it cannot possess the same advantages enjoyed by the Beings included in the class of primary productions. These possess their fixed Laws within themselves. All their properties are invariable because they are united to their essence. In short, this is where weight, number, and measure are so well regulated that they can be altered no more than Being itself can be destroyed. However, concerning the properties of bodies or of secondary Beings, we have perceived amply enough that this cannot be so. Our senses have absolutely no fixed property, and thus no value can manifest to our eyes except by comparison with Beings of their own class. This being so, the area of bodies is therefore not determined for us with any more certainty than their other properties. Thus, to make known to us the value of this area, one will make use of a measure that is taken from that same area. The measure employed will be subject to the same disadvantage as the object that we wish to measure - in other words, its area cannot be more fully determined, and thus we will still need to search for the measure of this measure. No matter what means we would employ, we shall clearly perceive that we can never discover its true measure within this area, and, consequently, it will always be necessary to have recourse to the Principle which has engendered the area and all the properties of matter. This, therefore, is what completely demonstrates the inadequacy of the course that geometricians have followed when they have pretended to determine the true measure of corporeal Beings. I am aware that they do indeed attach numbers to this palpable and extended measure to which they have recourse. Yet not only are such numbers relative and conventional in themselves, and not only is a person free to vary their relations and to establish such scale as she will deem relevant, but this scale, however useful it may be in measuring all the areas of a single type in general, will definitely not be suitable for measuring the areas of some other type. Thus people still need to discover a universal, fixed, and invariable base to which they can relate all the types of areas, whatever they may be. This is the cause of the difficulty geometricians experience when they attempt to measure curves, because, having been intended for a straight line, the measure they employ only accommodates itself to this sort of line and offers insurmountable difficulties whenever one tries to apply it to a circular line or to any other curve which is derived from it. I state that this measure offers insurmountable difficulties, because, although geometricians have seemingly resolved the matter by stating the circular line to be an assemblage of infinitely small straight lines, they are wrong in their belief, since a false premise can never resolve anything. I cannot avoid regarding this definition as being false, as it is in direct opposition to the idea that Nature and geometricians themselves give us of a circumference, which is nothing more than a line in which all points are equidistant from a common center. I do not even understand how geometricians can reasonably depend upon two propositions so contrary. After all, if a circumference is simply an assemblage of straight lines - albeit infinitely small - the points of this circumference can never be equally equidistant from the center since such straight lines are themselves composed of several points, including those of the extremities and the intermediate points, which certainly will not be equidistant from the center. Thus, the center will no longer be common to them and, consequently, the circumference will no longer be a circumference. All of this, therefore, is attempting to unite contraries. It is endeavoring to make two things which are ofa very opposed nature to have an identical nature. It is, I repeat, attempting to apply the same number to two different kinds of Beings, which being different from one another must undoubtedly be calculated differently. We must admit therefore that this is where people demonstrate to us most clearly their natural penchant to confound everything and to perceive in Beings of different classes only a misleading uniformity by means of which they strive to compare things that are diametrically opposed. It is impossible to conceive of things that are more opposed, more contrary to one another in a word, more contradictory than a straight line and a circular line. Apart from the moral proofs found either in the relationship of the straight line with the regularity and perfection of unity, or in those of the circular line with the impotency and confusion connected to the multiplicity of which the circular line is the image, I can in addition advance reasons much more convincing, because they encompass intellectual principles, the only principles that can be admitted as being real and constituting the Law in the research of the nature of things-the only ones I repeat, which are as immovable as axioms. I shall warn nevertheless that these truths will not be intelligible to the majority of people and even much less to those who, up till now, have proceeded only according to the false principles which I combat. Therefore, the first step that needs be taken in understanding me would be that of studying things within their very source, and not in the notions given to them by imagination and precipitous judgments. But I know the degree to which people are capable of having such courage, and were I to assume that a large number possessed this courage I would also assume that few of them would attain full success, as this science has been so infected with error and poison. I have set forth the belief that everything in Nature has its number, and that this is the way by which all Beings of whatever nature are easy to distinguish from one another. Furthermore, all of their properties are simply the results conforming to the Laws enclosed within their number. Thus, as I have already indicated, it is certain that the straight line and the circular line are of a different nature, each having its particular number which designates its distinctive nature and serves to prevent us from making them equal in our thoughts by indiscriminately taking one for the other. If you will simply reflect for a moment upon the functions and properties of these two types of lines, you will surely be convinced of the truth of what I have just stated. What is the object of the straight line? Is it not to perpetuate ad infinitum the productions of the point from which it emanates? Is it not, when considered as perpendicular, to regulate the base and position of all Beings and to ascribe to each their own Laws? Does not the circular line, on the contrary, limit the productions of the straight line at all its points? Consequently, does it not tend to destroy the straight line continually, and can it not be considered, in its own way, as its enemy? How could two things so opposed in their course and which possess such different properties not be distinguished in number as they are in action? If this important observation had been made sooner, all those who occupy themselves in the science of mathematics would have been spared endless labor and difficulties, as it would have forestalled their search regarding a common measure for two types of lines which will never have anything in common between them. Therefore, after having recognized this essential difference which distinguishes them in their form, usage, and properties, I will not hesitate to affirm that their numbers differ. If I were pressed to explain myself more clearly and to indicate what number I would attribute to each of these lines in particular, I would readily acknowledge that the straight line bears the number four and the circular line the number nine. I will also be so bold as to state that there is no other way of knowing them, because, whether large or small, the extent of these lines will not in any way change the number that I attribute to them in particular. Each of them, in its own class, always preserves the same number regardless of whatever extent is given to it. Let me reiterate that this may not be very well understood, as matter has attained such importance in the intelligence of humanity. Despite the clarity of my proposition, some people may falsely infer from it that a long and a short line, having according to my statement the same number, must consequently be equal. But, to forestall this paradox, let me add that both long lines and short lines are simply the result of their own Laws and numbers. Although either one always has in its own class the same Law and number, this Law and number always operate differently in each onethat is, with greater or lesser force, activity, and duration. From this we perceive that the result proceeding from it must express to our eyes all of these perceptible differences, although the Principles varying such action are themselves invariable. Only this can explain the universal difference between all Beings of two natures, whether they are among those which in either nature occupy different classes or whether they are among those which belong to the same class and species. This makes comprehensible the fact that all individuals of the same class are different, although having the same origin and being subject to the same Law and number. This also causes the annihilation of the arbitrary and conventional numbers employed by geometricians in their measurements, and truly the disadvantages involved in this measurement allow us to perceive its defects clearly. Endeavoring to select the measure of the area within the area itself exposes us to the obligation of truncating this measure or lengthening it whenever the area upon which it has been based happens to receive any variations. As these variations do not always occur exactly according to multiples or submultiples of the given measure, and as they can fall upon parts of numbers which are not integers in relation to the primary number, it must necessarily follow that the given measure undergoes similar mutilation. Finally, we must also acknowledge what the calculators call fractions of unit, as though it were ever possible for a simple Being or a unit to be divided. If mathematicians had accepted this last consideration they would have adopted a more accurate idea of the clever calculation they have invented namely, that of infinity. They would have seen that they could never discover the infinitely large in matter, which is limited to three elements, but would instead have discovered it within the numbers which are the powers of all that exists and which truly have no limit, either in our thought or in their essence. They would have recognized, on the contrary, that they could not discover the calculation of the infinitely small except in matter, of which the endless division of molecules is thought to be always possible, although our senses cannot always realize it, but they have never searched for this sort of infinity in numbers, since the unit, being indivisible, is the primary manifestation of Being and does not admit of any number higher than itself. Nothing, therefore, is less similar to the true Principle than this conventional measure which people have established for themselves in their geometrical processes, and consequently, nothing is less apt to advance them in the knowledge which is absolutely necessary to them. I am aware that the assistance of such a measure is of the greatest importance in the material details involving the relations of a person's social and physical life. Thus, I do not contend that he is at fault in applying it to this usage. All that I would ask of him is not to go so far as to have the imprudence to apply it in his research upon natural truths, since he will only be misled in this category. Even the simplest errors in this realm can induce major consequences; and as all truths are connected, not a single one exists which could be subjected to the slightest deviation without communicating it to all the others. The numbers four and nine, which I proclaim as belonging essentially to the straight line and the curved line respectively, do not possess the disadvantage that has just been noted in the arbitrary method. These numbers remain always intact although their faculty expands or retracts in all the variations of which the area is susceptible. Thus, in the reality of things, there never exists any fraction within a Being, and if we recall what has been previously stated concerning the nature of the Principles of corporeal Beings, we will see that since they are indivisible as simple Beings, the numbers used to represent them and make them perceptible must enjoy the same property. Yet, I will repeat once more, all of this is beyond matter and the sensate, so I do not delude myself in thinking that a great number of people will understand me. That is why I expect a new attempt will be made and I shall be asked to explain how it will be possible to evaluate the different areas of the same order, if I give to all straight lines, without exception, the number four and to all circular and curved lines the number nine. I will be asked, I repeat, at which sign will it be possible to know definitely the various ways in which the same number acts upon unequal areas and what method should be employed to determine with accuracy any area whatsoever. It is useless for me to attempt to find an answer other than that I have already given concerning this subject. Therefore, if a person who asks me this question only desires to know areas for her own material usage and sensory inclinations or needs, | shall say that the conventional and relative measures are sufficient, since in this realm it is possible to carry regularity to the point of rendering the error undetectable to the senses. If our object is to know more than this relative value, which is also a value of approximation, and if we want to discover the real and fixed value of the area - since this value exists according to the action of its number and the number is not matter - it is easy to perceive whether we can find the rule we are searching for within material extension and whether we have been incorrect when stating that the true measure of the area could not be known through the physical senses. If this measure cannot be found within the physical senses, it will not be necessary to reflect at length in determining where it might be, since I have never ceased to indicate the sensate or intellectual is unique in all things. Henceforth we will perceive what geometricians want to teach us and the nature of the errors by which they lull our intelligence by offering it only the measure taken within the sensate and consequently relative, whereas the intelligence conceives that true measures exist and that it is capable of understanding them. At the same time, we will perceive the reappearance of this universal truth constituting the object of this work, namely that only in the Principle of things is it possible to evaluate their properties accurately, and whatever difficulties are encountered in knowing how to read it, undoubtedly if we should choose to reject this Principle regulating and measuring all things, we will no longer discover anything. I must add, nevertheless, that although we can arrive at an accurate evaluation of the measure of the area through the help of this Principle, since this Principle alone directs it, employing it in material combinations would be a real desecration, in that it can help us to discover more important Truths than those which relate only to matter. As I have stated, the senses are sufficient to direct people in sensate matters. We even perceive that Beings of a lower order than humankind have no other Law and that their senses are sufficient for their needs. Thus, for this purely relative subject, the true and just mathematics, in a word, intellectual mathematics, would not only be useless, but would not even be understood. What can be more inconsistent, therefore, than endeavoring to subject and subordinate this invariable and luminous mathematical science to that of the senses which are so limited and obscure; to maintain that this take the place of the other; and finally, to insist that the sensate serve as the rule and guide of the intellectual? What I am doing here, instead, is simply indicating once again the disadvantage to which geometricians have exposed themselves. In attempting to find a sensate measure for the area and presenting it to us as real, they do not perceive that it is as variable as the area itself. Far from directing matter, this measure is itself dependent upon this very matter, as it necessarily follows the course thereof and all the results obtained from the connection. Thus, since the numbers four and nine, which I have acknowledged to be the true measure of the two sorts of possible lines, are entirely free from this subjection, I must not fear any possibility of error in giving them all my confidence and proclaiming them, as I have done, as being the true measure, each in its own class. I will admit that it is painful for me to reveal such truths as I realize they are humiliating for geometricians. Judging from the efforts they make on a daily basis to confound these two measures, I am obliged to state that even the most celebrated among them do not yet know the difference between a straight line and a curved line, as will be subsequently seen in more detail. But the error we have just perceived is not the only one they have made concerning the area. As they have pointed out, not only have they searched for its measure, but they have even searched in it for the source of movement. Never daring to rise above this shadowy matter surrounding them, they have believed they could allocate space and limit to the principle of this movement, so that according to this system, it is no longer possible to conceive of anything manifesting action and movement beyond this limit. If they have not yet acquired a more accurate idea of movement, is it not always through the same error which causes them to confound the most distinct things, and is it not because they search only within the area itself rather than searching within its Principle? By possessing only relative properties or abstractions, it is impossible for this area to offer anything fixed or stable enough for a person's intelligence to depend upon in a satisfactory way. And endeavoring to discover within the area itself the source of its movement is to repeat all of those inadequate attempts which have already been proven wrong, and it is also endeavoring to subordinate the Principle to its production, whereas, according to the natural and true order of things, production has always been inferior to its generative Principle. It is therefore in the immaterial Principle of all Beings, be they intellectual or corporeal, that the source of movement found in each of them essentially resides. It is through the action of this Principle that all of their faculties manifest, according to their class and personal usage - in other words, intellectual faculties within the intellectual order and sensate faculties within the sensate order. If the sole action of the Principle of corporeal Beings is movement, if they grow and nourish themselves through it alone - in other words, if they manifest and render perceptible and conspicuous all their properties and consequently the area itself - how then can anyone pretend that such movement is dependent upon the area or matter since, on the contrary, it is the area or matter which proceeds from it? How can anyone state that this movement belongs essentially to matter, whereas it is matter that belongs essentially to movement? Matter, beyond all question, exists only through movement, because we perceive that when bodies are deprived of such movement, which is theirs only briefly, they disintegrate and disappear from the senses. Through this same observation it becomes just as certain that the movement which gives life to bodies does not belong to them in particular, since we perceive it being completed within them before they have ceased being perceptible to our eyes. Likewise we cannot doubt that they are fully dependent upon it, because the cessation of such movement is the primary act in their destruction. Moreover, let us recall the Law of universal reaction to which all corporeal Beings are subject and let us recognize that if the immaterial Principles of corporeal Beings were themselves subject to the reaction of another Principle, it would be even more evident that the perceptible results of these Principles, such as the area and so on, must necessarily experience this subjection. Let us conclude therefore that if everything disappears to the degree that movement recedes, it is obvious that the area exists only through movement, which is very different from stating that movement belongs to the area and within the area. We could infer, however, from this assertion that as movement creates the area - such movement, being of the essence of immaterial Principles which we must now recognize as being indestructible - it is impossible for this movement not to exist forever and consequently for the area or matter not to be eternal. This would again engulf us in those shadowy depths from which I have taken so much care to protect my readers, because, as I am well aware, the objection could be offered that it is impossible to conceive of movement without the area. This last proposition is true within the sensate order, where movement cannot be conceived which does not produce the area or does not occur within the area. But, although Principles engendering movement in the sensate order are immaterial, it would be a mistake to claim that their action is necessary and eternal, since we have seen that they are simply secondary Beings possessing only a specific action and not an infinite action. Moreover, they are completely subject to the dependence of an active and intelligent Cause which communicates this action to them for a time and then withdraws it, according to the Law and order of the Primary Cause. Furthermore, it is within this sensate order itself that we can find proofs of movement without area, although in this sensate realm it always occurs within the area. To further substantiate this let us remark that, because of the dual universal Law directing corporeal nature, two types of movement are found in all bodies. The first is growth, or the very action which manifests and sustains their material existence. The second is their attraction toward Earth which is their common center, a tendency which is apparent both in the fall of bodies and in the pressure that their own weight exerts upon them or upon the terrestrial surface. These two movements are directly opposed to one another. Thus, although it can occur only within the area, the second movement, or the attraction of bodies towards their terrestrial center, does not produce any area as does the first movement - that of the growth and existence of these same bodies. On the contrary, one tends to destroy what the other produces. For instance, if corporeal Beings could unite with their center, they would thenceforth be without action and sensate manifestation. In short, they would be without movement and consequently without area, since it is certain that all these effects only occur because the Beings which produce them are separated from their center. If, as previously stated, there exist two movements, one of which produces the area while the other destroys the area, the latter one should at least not be regarded as belonging to the area although it occurs only within the area. Therefore, this is where we could learn how to resolve this objection: that it is impossible to conceive of movement without area; and this is where we could also learn that we should no longer generally believe that movement is of the essence of all classes of immaterial Beings, since those of the sensate class are its repository for only a short while. Let me reemphasize this truth: there cannot be movement without area. Have we not admitted that there could not be any other than intellectual and sensate Beings? If the intellectual class governs the other and causes it to manifest such movement, the producer of sensate things, then this class must essentially be the true source of movement. As such, it is of another order than the class of immaterial corporeal Principles which are subordinated to it. Thus, within this class there must exist actions and results which are, as it is itself, distinct and independent of the sensate - that is, within which the sensate has no manifestation. Thus, since the sensate does not enter into any of the operations pertaining to the Primary Cause or into any of the immaterial results proceeding from it, and if it only receives from it passive life which sustains it during the passage of time, and if, in short, all sensate effects are absolutely without any influence upon the purely intellectual class during the actual time of their very existence, this class has then been able to operate, for quite obvious reasons, prior to the existence of sensate things and it will continue to act after their disappearance, because the period during which such sensate things have lived will not disturb the actions of the Primary Cause, even for an instance. Although movement and area are of necessity linked to one another within the sensate, this does not mean that there can never be action or movement within the superior class, even though nothing sensate would be existent. In this sense, we can state with certainty that although we cannot conceive of area without movement, we can unquestionably conceive of movement without area, since the Principle of movement, whether sensate or intellectual, is beyond the area. Then, in combining all these observations, we must decide whether it is ever possible to attribute with good reason any movement to the area as being essential to its being, and whether a person is not mistaken whenever he searches within the area itself for the principle and knowledge of it. I have stated that movement is generally nothing more than the effect of action, or rather action itself, since they are inseparable. Moreover, I have recognized that there are two types of opposed movements or actions within sensate things-namely, growth and deterioration; or the force which distances bodies from their center and their own Law which tends to return them to their center. But as the latter of these movements only retrace the steps of the former within the temporal and according to the same Law in reverse order, we are not afraid of being mistaken in declaring that both of them proceed from the same number. And the least informed of geometricians knows that this number is four. Who, in fact, does not know that all movements and possible revolutions of bodies are accomplished through a quaternary geometrical progression, either ascendant or descendant? Who is not aware that the number four is the universal Law of the course of celestial bodies, of mechanics, of pyrotechnics in a word, of all that moves in the material world, whether naturally or through the hand of a person? And, in truth, if life manifests without interruption and if its action is always renewed - in other words, if it continually grows or deteriorates within material Beings subject to destruction - what other Law but that of the ascending or descending geometrical progression could be appropriate for Nature? Arithmetical progression is entirely banned in fact, because it is sterile and can only encompass limited facts and constantly regular and uniform results. Thus people should never apply it except for inanimate objects, fixed divisions, or unmoving assemblages. Whenever they have attempted to employ it in the designation of Nature's simple and living actions - as that of air, or that which produces heat or cold, or all other causes of changes occurring within the atmosphere - the results or divisions have been quite flawed. They have given people a false idea of the Principle of life or corporeal action, the measure of which, not being sensate, cannot be traced in matter without committing the grossest of errors. Therefore, we shall not lead anyone astray in describing the quaternary geometrical progression as being the life principle of Beings, or, no matter how unfamiliar this language be, by asserting that the number of all action is four. But what we have not yet done is to declare what the number of the area is - and we must therefore declare that it is the number nine which has heretofore been applied to the circular line. Indeed, the area and the circular line possess such a close rapport, and are so inseparable, that they bear the same number, which is nine. As they have the same number, they must necessarily have the same measure and weight, and since these three principles always function in harmony, one cannot be determined on its own without determining the other two as well. However novel this must appear to be at present, I cannot avoid acknowledging that the area and the circular line are but one and the same. In short, the area exists only through the circular line, and conversely, only the circular line is corporeal and sensate. Material Nature and areas cannot be formed except by lines that are not straight - or, what amounts to the same thing, there is not a single straight line in Nature, a fact we will perceive in the following. But before approaching this subject I have something to say. If observers had examined Nature more closely, long ago they would have resolved a matter which is not yet properly clarified among them-namely, if generation and reproduction are accomplished through eggs, larvae, or spermatic animals, they would have perceived that everything here on Earth possesses an envelope. Moreover, since any envelope or any area whatsoever is circular, all is larva in Nature because all is egg. And, conversely, all is egg because all is larva. Let me now return to my subject. I realize that simply excluding straight lines from Nature is not enough, and that it is necessary to reveal the reasons which have contributed to my decision for doing this. First of all, if we follow the origin of all sensate and material things, we cannot deny that the Principle of corporeal Beings is fire, but their corporification results only from water, and thus bodies originate by fluid. Secondly, we cannot deny that this fluid is the principle which effects the dissolution of bodies and that subsequently fire effects their reintegration, since one of the highest Laws of Truth is that direct sequence and inverse sequence follow a uniform course in opposite directions. Yet all fluid is only a collection of spherical particles, and it is this very same spherical form of these particles which gives fluid the necessary property for extending and circulating itself. Since bodies attain birth by fluid, it is therefore consistent that they must retain in their state of perfection the same form they received at their origin since they will manifest it once again when dissolving into fluidic and spherical particles. For that reason, bodies must be considered to be a collection of these same spherical globules, but which have acquired consistency to the degree to which their fire has more or less reduced the gross portion of their humid content. No matter to what degree this collection of spherical globules is extended, it is obvious that the result will always be circular and spherical, in keeping with its principle. Do you wish to be materially convinced of what I postulate? Carefully observe bodies in which the dimensions appear straight to us; observe the most even surfaces. Everyone knows that we can discover on such surfaces only inequalities, elevations, and depressions; everyone knows, I repeat, or ought to know, that the surfaces of bodies, when viewed closely, present only a multitude of grooves. Such grooves are in turn composed of similar inequalities, and this ad infinitum; and no matter what extent our eyes or the instruments employed to supplement them can attain, we shall perceive either upon the surface of bodies or in the grooves they exhibit never anything more than a joining together of many spherical particles which touch each other only at one point of their surface. Therefore, let us now examine whether it is possible to allow a straight line therein. No one should offer me as an objection the interval existing between two given points, between which one can surmise a straight line connecting one to the other. First of all, by being thus separated, these two points are no longer said to constitute a single body, Therefore, the straight line that is said to exist between them would exist purely in the imagination and could not be conceived of as being corporeal and sensate. Secondly, this interval separating them is itself filled with aerial mercurial particles which, being spherical as are those of other bodies, could never touch one another only through their surface. Thus, this interval would itself constitute a body and would for this reason be subject to the same inequalities as are all bodies. This agrees entirely with what has been previously stated concerning the principles of matter, which despite their union could never be confused. Therefore, there being no continuity within bodies, as all are in successive and interrupted manifestation, it is impossible in any sense whatsoever to suppose and recognize any straight lines therein. Apart from the reasons which we have just seen, there are others which will serve to support and confirm the evidence of this Principle. I have decided to acknowledge that the number four is the number of the straight line; since then in concert with all other observers I have seen that the number four 1s also that which directs all kinds of movements. Therefore, a great analogy exists between the principle of movement and the straight line since we see them bearing the same number and furthermore we have recognized that the source and action of corporeal and sensate things resides within such movement. At the same time, we have noted that the straight line was the symbol of infinity and the continuity of the production of the point from which it emanates. I have demonstrated sufficiently that movement, although producing corporeal and sensate things or the area, can never belong properly to this same area nor depend upon it. Thus, if the straight line were to have the same number as movement, it must have the same Law and property - in other words, although it directs the areas and corporeal things, it will never become a part of nor blend with them and become sensate, since a principle cannot be blended with its production. All of these are the reasons which, when considered together, must prevent anyone from ever admitting the existence of a straight line within material Nature. Let us now review all of our principles: The number four is that of movement; it is that of the straight line - in other words, it is the number of everything which is not corporeal or sensible. The number nine is that of the area and of the circular line which universally constitutes the area - in other words, it is the number of bodies and all parts of bodies, because it is absolutely essential to consider the circular line as the necessary production of the movement occurring in time. We have here two unique Laws we can possibly recognize, and with them we can undoubtedly embrace everything in existence, since nothing can be either within the area or beyond the area, passive or active, result or Principle, transitory or immutable, corporeal or incorporeal, perishable or indestructible. Therefore, taking these two Laws as our guide, we shall return to the way by which we perceive that geometricians regard the two types of possible lines - the straight and the circular - and we shall determine whether it is true that the circle is, as they contend, an aggregate of straight lines since, on the contrary, no straight line can be found within the corporeal which does not consist of a collection of curved lines. Nevertheless, by not having discerned the different numbers of these two different lines, humankind has endeavored to reconcile them ever since its exile or - which is the same thing - humankind has attempted to discover what is called the quadrature of the circle. Before humanity's fall, when a person was aware of the nature of Beings, she would not have exerted herself in such fruitless efforts and she would not have applied herself to the search for a discovery whose impossibility would have been obviously known to her. Nor would she have been blind or imprudent enough to try reconciling principles as different as those of straight and circular lines. In short, it would have never entered her thought to believe that she could change the nature of Beings and somehow cause nine to equal four or four to equal nine - which is literally the object of the study and occupation of geometricians. Let us attempt to reconcile these two numbers. How can we succeed in this? How can we adapt nine to four? How can we divide nine by four, or, in effect, divide nine into four parts without allowing fractions, which, according to what we have seen, cannot be found within the natural Principles of things, although they can be operative upon their results which are simply aggregates? After having found two to be the quotient, would there not always remain a unit that would need to be divided equally by the number four? We perceive, therefore, that in form, or in the corporeal and sensate, such quadrature is impracticable and that it could never occur except immaterially or through number - in other words, by recognizing the center which is corporeal and quaternary, as will be proven fully before long. Therefore, at this time, I leave it to your thought to determine whether this quadrature is permissible as it is now approached. If its impossibility is not obviously demonstrated, then one should not be surprised that nothing has yet been discovered concerning this object, since, in regards to truth, an approximation is of no value whatsoever. It is necessary to say something about longitude, which so many people have contended for when searching for it upon Earth's surface. It will be enough to formulate an opinion regarding it to observe the difference existing between longitude and latitude. Latitude is horizontal and proceeds from south to north. The south is not designated by any of the imaginary points invented by astronomers when explaining the Universe to us, but is most definitely indicated by the sun, of which the vertical mid-point varies by rising or descending each day in relation to the previous day. It thus follows that latitude is necessarily circular and variable and, as such, it bears the number nine according to all the principles which have just been established. Longitude, on the contrary, is perpendicular and originates in the east, which is always at the same point of elevation, although this east appears each day at different points of the horizon. Longitude, being thus fixed and always the same, is the real image of the straight line and consequently bears the number four. We have just seen the incompatibility of the two numbers four and nine. Therefore, how is it possible to find the perpendicular within the horizontal? How is it possible to compare the superior to the inferior? In short, how is it possible to discover the east upon the earth's surface since it does not exist within its area? When I stated that the east was immovable, you most surely perceived that I was not speaking of that east indicated by the rising of the sun since it changes every day. Furthermore, much like latitude, the type of longitude that the sun thus indicates is always horizontal in relation to us, and for that reason alone it is extremely defective. Rather, I speak of the true east of which the rising of the sun is but the indicative sign and which manifests visibly and more truly in the verticalness and perpendicularity. I speak of that east which by its number four, can alone embrace all space, since after joining the number nine, which is that of the area, by uniting the active to the passive, it forms the number thirteen, which is the number of Nature. Therefore, locating longitude upon Earth is no more possible than is reconciling the straight line with the curved line or finding the measure of the area and movement within the area - further proof of the truth of the principles we have presented. Let us apply this Law to yet another observation by stating that even now, due to this difference between the numbers four and nine, it has been and will always remain impossible to quadrate the lunar calculus within the solar calculus accurately. This is because the moon, being associated with the earth, which has only curvatures in latitude, pertains to the number nine. Although the sun designates latitude by the south, it is nevertheless in its terrestrial east, or at the point of its rising, the image of the principle of longitude or the straight line, and as such it is quaternary. Moreover, it is clearly distinct from the region of Earth, to which it communicates the necessary reaction to its vegetative faculty - a further indication of its quaternary activity. In short, its quaternary manifests upon the moon itself through the four phases we perceive upon it and which are determined by its various positions in relation to the sun from which it receives light. Thus, by applying the principle which occupies us at present to this example, we will clearly see the reason why solar calculus and lunar calculus are incompatible and that the true method of attaining knowledge of things is not to begin by intermingling them but by separating and examining them, each according to the number and the Laws pertaining to it in particular. If only I were allowed to expand further upon the number nine, which I attribute to the moon and consequently to Earth of which it is the satellite! I would then show by the number of this Earth what its use and intention is in the Universe. This could even give us indications concerning the true form it bears and spread further light upon the present system which does not recognize it as being immovable but, on the contrary, as traveling across a very large orbit. Ness

It would appear that astronomers have perhaps been a little too hasty in their judgments. Before placing full trust in their observations, they should have examined what manifests the greatest action among corporeal Beings and what causes the reaction or what receives it. If fire were not the most mobile of the elements and blood were not more active than the bodies in which it circulates, they should have thought that Earth, although not occupying the center of the orbits of celestial bodies, could serve nonetheless as their recipient and that henceforth it would receive and await their influences without having to add a second corporeal action to its very own vegetative action, and of which those celestial bodies are deprived. Finally, the simplest experiments upon cones would have proven to them what the true form of Earth is; and we could offer them insurmountable difficulties which their systems could never resolve in the destination of the earth, in the rank it occupies among created Beings, and in the properties of the perpendicular or straight line. It might also happen that such difficulties would not be perceived, because, as with all sciences in which humankind has had a hand, astronomy has become isolated in that it has considered Earth and each of the celestial bodies as distinct Beings without any connection between them. In short, because people have acted in this regard as rashly as in all else - that is, by not directing their attention upon the principle of the existence of all these bodies nor upon the principle of their Laws and destination - they do not yet know which of them is the primary object. Moreover, it is through a seemingly praiseworthy motive that people have endeavored to belittle Earth by comparing it to the immensity and grandeur of celestial bodies. People have been weak enough to believe that Earth, being only a speck in the Universe, little deserved the attention of the Primary Cause, and thus it would be against all probabilities that Earth was the most precious jewel within creation and everything existing around or above Earth renders tribute to it - as if the Author of all things had to evaluate Its works upon a sensate measure and as if their worth did not reside in the grandeur of their use and properties rather than in the magnitude of the space and the area they occupy. It is perhaps this false combination which can lead a person to this other still further false combination by which he pretends to believe himself unworthy of his Author's attention. He has believed he was only giving heed to humility by refusing to admit that Earth and everything contained in the Universe has been created for him alone. He has feigned fear of listening too much to his pride by delivering himself over to such a thought. But he has not feared the indolence and cowardice which necessarily proceed from such pretended modesty. And if a person today avoids seeing himself as destined to be the monarch of the Universe, it is because he does not have the courage to work towards the recovery of his titles, and because the attendant duties appear to him too exhausting, and he fears renouncing his estate and all his rights less than undertaking to return them to their former value. However, if he were to look at himself for a moment, he would soon perceive that his very humility would cause him to admit, with reason, that he is now below his proper rank, but he would not believe himself of such a nature as never having occupied such rank nor or ever being able to return to it. Therefore, I repeat, if only it were possible for me to devote myself to all that I could say upon such matters! If only I could show the relationship that is to be found between Earth and a person's body, which is formed of the same substance since one proceeded from the other! If my plan allowed, I would draw out from their incontestable analogy the testimony of the uniformity of their Laws and proportions, from which it would be easy to see that both have the same aim to accomplish. You would then understand the reason why, at the beginning of this work, I indicated that people are so intensely interested in maintaining their bodies in good condition, because if they are made in the image of Earth and Earth is the foundation of corporeal creation, they can only preserve their resemblance to it by resisting, as it does also, the forces which continually battle against it. You would also see that this Earth, being our mother, must be held worthy of respect by people and that being the most powerful of entities of a temporal Nature after the Intelligent Cause and people, it is itself proof that no corporeal worlds exist other than that which is visible to us. As this opinion regarding the plurality of worlds also arises from the same source as all human errors, it is by endeavoring to separate or dismember all things that a person conjures up a multitude of other Universes of which the stars are the suns and there exists no more correspondence between themselves than with the world we inhabit. If this separate existence were compatible with the understanding we have of unity and if, in the event these supposed worlds did exist, a person would not possess knowledge of such in her capacity as an intellectual Being. If she were to possess knowledge regarding everything in existence, it would be necessary that nothing be isolated and that all be connected, since it is through one single principle that a person embraces all and she could not do so with this single principle if all corporeally created Beings were not of the same nature and similar to one another. Undoubtedly there are many other worlds since the smallest of Beings is a world in itself, but all are part of the same chain; and as a person has the right to extend his hand even to the first link of this chain, he cannot approach it without also touching all other worlds. Moreover, you would perceive in the description of its properties that Earth constitutes a fertile and inexhaustible source for humankind's well-being, both sensate and intellectual. You would also perceive that it unites all proportions, both numerical and geometrical, that it is the primary point of support which humanity has encountered in its fall and as such, a person could not overestimate its importance, since without it he would have fallen much lower. What, therefore, would happen if I dared to speak of the Principle which animates it and in which reside all the faculties of vegetation and the other virtues that I could reveal? It is certain that were I to do so, people would then learn to venerate Earth, occupying themselves all the more with its culture, and they would regard it as the entrance to the road they must travel so as to return to the place which gave them birth. Perhaps I have already said too much regarding these matters, and I would fear to usurp rights which do not belong to me were I to proceed further. Therefore, I will return to the numbers four and nine, which I have stated as being characteristic of either the straight line or the curved line, and as being also for one the number of movement or action, and for the other that of the area, because these numbers might appear to some to be either supposed or imaginary. It is fitting that I make known the reason why I employ them and why I contend that they each belong naturally to the lines which I have attributed to them. Let us begin with the number nine-that of the circular line and the area. Undoubtedly, no one will object to considering a circumference as being zero, because, what figure resembles a circumference more than zero? It will even be less objectionable to regard the center of it as a unit, since it is impossible for a circumference to possess more than one center. Everyone is also aware that a unit joined to zero produces ten - thus: 10. We can then envisage the entire circle as equaling ten (or 10) - or, in other words, the center and the circumference. Yet we can also regard the entire circle as being a corporeal Being, of which the circumference is the form or body and the center is the immaterial Principle. We have seen with sufficient clarity that one should never confuse this immaterial Principle with the area and corporeal form. Although the existence of matter is based upon their union, it is, nonetheless, an unpardonable error to consider them as being the same Being and to assume that a person's intelligence can always separate them. Is not separating the center from its circumference the same thing as separating this Principle from its corporeal form and, consequently, the same as removing the unit (1) from the denary (10)? But if one removes the unit (1) from the denary (10), most certainly only nine will remain in number; however, in figure, it is zero (0) or the circular line - in short, the circumference - that will be the remainder. Therefore, let us determine at this time whether the number nine and the circumference are not suited to one another, and whether we have been wrong in allocating the number nine to all area, since we have proven that all area is circular. Let us also determine from the relationship existing between zero (which is nil by itself) and the number nine (which is that of the area) whether we should have so thoughtlessly censured those who have contended that matter was but apparent. I am aware that since most geometricians consider the number of arithmetical characters to be dependent upon human conventions, they will have little confidence in the present demonstration. I even know that some among them have even attempted to carry the number of such characters to twenty so as to facilitate their arithmetical calculations. Let us first note that although many nations make use of arithmetical characters arising only from their conventions, Arabic characters are an exception because they are based upon the Laws and nature of sensate things which, along with intellectual things, have numerical signs properly belonging to them. Secondly, seeing that geometricians are completely ignorant of the Laws and properties of numbers, they have not seen that by multiplying them beyond the number ten, they have denatured everything and have attempted to attribute to Beings a Principle which is not simple and offers no point of unity. They have not perceived that unity, being universal as it is the sum of all these numbers, should principally retrace its image to us. Then, by showing itself as real and unalterable in its productions as it is in its essence, this unity has invincible rights to our homage and a person thus has no excuse in ignoring them. Geometricians have not perceived, I repeat, that the number ten bears this impression most perfectly, and thus a person's will can never extend the signs of numbers or the Laws of unity beyond ten. This is why experience has fully confirmed this principle and why the means employed to combat it have remained unsuccessful. I am therefore undertaking its defense, and in attributing the number one or unity to the center, I attribute the number nine to the circumference or the area. I shall not recall here what I have said concerning the union of the three fundamental elements, all of which are always to be found together in each of the three parts of bodies, a circumstance in which you will easily discover a positive relationship between the number nine and matter, or to the circular area. Nor shall I say anything regarding the formation of the cube, whether algebraic or arithmetic, which, when the factors have but two terms, can occur through only nine operations. Of the ten that are found absolutely necessary to include therein, the second and the third are simply a repetition of one another and consequently must be considered as being simply one. Yet I shall substantiate the principle which I have established with a few observations upon the nature and division of the circle. It is a mistake to claim that it was geometricians who divided the circumference into 360 degrees as being the most convenient division and that it lent itself more easily to all the operations of calculus. Dividing the circle into 360 degrees is not at all arbitrary. Nature itself presented it to us since the circle is composed only of triangles, and there exist six of these equilateral triangles in the entire area of this very circle. Let us therefore attentively follow the natural order of these numbers by joining the product which is the circumference or zero, and let us then determine whether these divisions were established by people. Must I personally indicate the natural order of these numbers? All production of whatever nature is ternary, three. There are six of these perfect productions within a circle, or six equilateral triangles, six. Finally, the circumference itself completes the operation and adds nine or zero (0). Therefore, if we reduce all these numbers to figures, we shall have primarily three (3), secondarily six (6), and finally zero (0) which, when joined together, will equal 360. Let us now perform whatever multiplications we wish upon the numbers we have just recognized as constituting the circle. Then, since all of the results will be in the ninth degree, we will no longer doubt the universality of the number nine in matter. Nor will we doubt the impotency of this number when we reflect that, no matter what number is joined to it, its nature is never altered. For those who possess the proper key, this will be striking proof of what we have previously stated - namely, that the form or envelope can vary without its immaterial Principle ceasing to be immutable and indestructible. Through such simple and natural observations, one can uncover evidence of the principle I have set forth. This also constitutes one of the methods demonstrating how we should proceed when reading within the nature of Beings, in that all their Laws are written upon their envelope, in their progression, and in the different revolutions to which their course subjects them. For example, not having distinguished the natural circumference from the artificial circumference, gave rise to the mistake I have already remarked upon regarding the way in which the circumference was viewed up to the present time - that is, as a collection of an infinite number of points united by straight lines. It is true that the circumference which a person traces with the aid of dividers can only be formed in succession, and in this sense, we can regard it as an assemblage of many points which, being traced one after the other, are not supposed to have any connection or continuity between them. All of this has caused humankind's imagination to suppose that they were united by straight lines. But, apart from my previous explanations that even in such cases the line uniting two points must be acknowledged as not being straight, as there is no straight line in the sensate, we need only recognize the formation of the natural circle so as to realize the falsity of the definitions generally offered to us regarding the circular line. The natural circle grows instantly in all directions, occupying and filling every part of its circumference. Only within the sensate order and through our material eyes do we perceive inevitable inequalities in corporeal forms because they are mere assemblages. However, through the eyes of our intellectual faculty, we perceive the same force and power everywhere and we no longer perceive such inequalities because we sense that the action of the Principle must be uniform and complete; otherwise, it would itself be exposed. In passing, let us say that this is what causes the collapse of all those childish scholastic disputes regarding the void. The limited sight of a person's body must encounter inequalities at every step because it can only read within the area, whereas a person's thinking cannot conceive of a void anywhere because it reads within the Principle. It perceives that this Principle is manifested everywhere, necessarily permeating everything, since resistance must be as universal as pressure. Therefore, we cannot compare the natural circle with the artificial circle in any way whatsoever since the natural circle creates itself instantaneously through the single explosion of its center. The artificial circle, on the other hand, begins only at the end which constitutes the triangle. As everyone knows or should know, the compass, one of whose points is kept immobile, cannot make a single move without creating a triangle. Let us now proceed to the reasons why the number four is that of the straight line. First of all, I shall state right away that I am not using the words straight line in accordance with the meaning it has in the common vernacular, by which we indicate that this area appearing to our eyes has the same alignment. And, in fact, after having demonstrated that no straight lines exist in sensate Nature, I cannot adopt the common opinion in this matter without following a course contrary to everything I have established. I shall therefore regard the straight line to be only a Principle and, as such, to be distinct from the area. Have we not perceived that the natural circle grew in all directions simultaneously and that the center instantly emitted from itself an innumerable and inexhaustible multitude of radiuses? Is not each radius thought to be a straight line in the material sense? And through its apparent straightness and through the faculty it possesses of extending itself ad infinitum, the radius is truly the image of the generative Principle which ceaselessly emanates from itself and never departs from its own Law. Moreover, we have seen that the circle itself is simply an assemblage of triangles since we have recognized everywhere that only three principles exist within bodies and that the circle itself is a body. Now, if this radius, if this seemingly straight line, if the action of this generative Principle can manifest only through a ternary production, we would simply need to unite the center's number of unity, or of this generative Principle, to the ternary number of its production to which it is joined during the corporeal Being's existence. We would then have an indication of the quaternary which we endeavor to find in the straight line according to the concept we have given of it. But, to make certain that you do not believe that we are now muddling what we have distinguished with so much care - namely, the center which is immaterial with the production or the triangle which is material and sensate - you need to recall what was said about the Principles of matter. I have clearly shown that even though they produce matter, they are immaterial in themselves. Being considered as such, it is then easy to conceive of an intimate tie existing between the center (or generative Principle) and the secondary Principles, since the three sides of the triangle and the three dimensions of forms have indicated to us perceptibly that these secondary Principles are only three in number, whereas their union with the center offers us the most perfect idea of our immaterial quaternary. Furthermore, this quaternary manifestation occurs only through the emanation of the radius from its center, and this radius, which always extends itself in a straight line, is the organ and action of the central Principle, whereas the curved line on the contrary produces nothing and always limits the action and production of the straight line or radius. Such evidence cannot be resisted and we can therefore apply the number four unhesitatingly to the straight line or radius representing it, since only this straight line or radius can give us a proper understanding of this number. By such means can a person succeed in distinguishing the corporeal envelope and form of Beings from their immaterial Principles, thereby obtaining a fair enough idea of their different numbers. She can avoid confusion in this way, and she can proceed with assurance along the path of observation. This is, I repeat, the means of finding that quadrature we have discussed, and which will never be discovered except through the number of the center. In fact, this straight line or quaternary is so indubitably the source and organ of everything which is corporeal and sensate, that geometry returns everything it attempts to measure to the number four and to the square, and it considers all the triangles established for this purpose only to be a division and a half of this same square. Is not this square composed of four lines that are considered to be straight or similar to the radius and consequently quaternary as it is itself? Is anything further needed to demonstrate that geometricians prove, by their very own process, what I have expounded to them? In other words, that the number producing Beings is the same as that which serves as their measure? And thus, the true measure of Beings can only be found within their Principle and not within their envelope or within the area, since, on the contrary, everything that is an envelope or that is the area can only be evaluated with precision by proceeding towards the center and the quaternary number which we call the generative Principle. I hope no one will consider offering the objection that, being limited by supposedly straight lines, all figures called rectilinear in geometry also bear the quaternary and thus I should not limit myself to the square for indicating quaternary measure, as it would seem to contradict the simplicity and unity of the stated principle. Even if fact could not verify my proposition, and even if it were not true, as I have previously stated, that geometricians return to the square everything that they have attempted to measure, what we have just stated concerning this immaterial quaternary would be enough to make one agree that all sensate things proceeding from it must preserve upon themselves the perceptible mark of this quaternary origin. Since this quaternary is definitely the sole generative Principle of sensate things and the only number to which this property of production is essential, it is likewise indispensable that there exists among sensate things a unique figure indicating this to us. And this figure, as stated, is the square. How could it be possible that this truth would not manifest itself to us among sensate things since we find it clearly indicated in an incontestable way within numerical Law - that is, within the most intellectual and dependable of a person's possessions here on Earth? Let me repeat, how could we find more than one quaternary measure or - what amounts to the same thing - more than one square within sensate or corporeal figures constituting the object of geometry, since it is impossible to find more than one square number in this numerical Law or that of calculation of which we have just spoken? I know that this must cause surprise and it will undoubtedly appear novel no matter how incontestable this proposition is, because it is generally accepted that a numerical square is the product of any given number multiplied by itself - and one does not even question that all numbers have this property. But, since the analogy that we have discovered within all classes between the Principles and their productions is still insufficient to dispel error upon this point, and despite the unity of the square among all sensate figures that a person can trace, geometricians have persuaded themselves that more than one numerical square can exist. I shall go into further detail so as to confirm the truth of what I have just expounded. The square expressed in figures is most certainly the quadruple of its base. And if it is only the sensate image of the intellectual and numerical square from which it originates, it is absolutely necessary that this numerical and intellectual square be the type and model of the other - that is, as the square in form is the quadruple of its base, likewise, the numerical and intellectual square must be the quadruple of its root. I can now assure all people - who are as capable of knowing it as I am - that there exists only a single number that is the quadruple of its root. I shall even refrain as much as possible from positively indicating it to them, either because it is too easily discovered or because I regret to reveal such truths. But you will perhaps ask, how will it then be possible to consider the products of all the other numbers multiplied by themselves if I allow only one numerical square? After all, if there is only one numerical square, there can only be also one square root among all numbers, and however, there is not a single number which cannot be multiplied by itself. Therefore, since all numbers can be multiplied by themselves, what will they then be if not square roots? I agree that any number whatsoever can be multiplied by itself, and consequently, none can be regarded as being a root. I further agree with the least of mathematicians that there exists no root which is not the proportionate mean between its product and the unit. But, for all of these numbers to be square roots it would be necessary that they all be connected through four with the unit. Now, among this multitude of different roots, quantity can never be determined since the number or single root must be connected through four with the unit. It is therefore clear that the number which is found to possess this connection is the only one which essentially deserves the designation of square root. And all other roots, having a different connection with the unit, will assume designations obtained from these different relationships, but they must never be designated as square roots since their connection with the unit will never be quaternary. By the same reasoning, although all roots being multiplied by themselves yield a product, it is absolutely necessary, however, that this product itself be to its root what its root is to the unit, since every root is the proportionate mean between its product and the unit. Then, if there is but a single root which is in relationship to four with the unit or which is square, it is also incontestable that there can be but one single product which is connected through four with its root, and consequently, that there can be only a single square. All other products, not being in this quaternary connection with their root, must therefore not be considered as squares, but they will carry the designations of their different relationship with their root, much as the roots which are not square bear the designation of their different connection with the unit. In short, if it is true that all roots are square roots, all roots in a dual relationship would certainly produce squares which would be doubled - the ones by the others. Yet we know that this is absolutely impossible in numbers. That is why we admit only one square and only one square root. Because they have not had an accurate enough idea of a square root, the geometricians have attributed the properties thereof to all numbers, whereas they properly belong only to a single number. It is necessary, nevertheless, to notice that the difference existing between this single square root and all other roots, as well as that existing between the sole admissible square product and all other numerical products, proceeds only from the quality of the factors which it further extends upon the results proceeding from it. In modern practice, the quaternary always directs all these operations of whatever nature or, to express it more clearly, in every form of multiplication we shall always find: first the unit; second the primary factor; third the secondary factor; and finally the result or the product proceeding from the mutual action of the two factors. And when I say "in every form of multiplication," this is because it happens to be true, not only in all those products where we know of two roots or two factors, as occurs in the multiplication of two different numbers, one by the other, but also in all the products where we know of only a single root; because this root, being multiplied by itself always distinctly offers us our two factors. Here, therefore, presenting us with added evidence, is the real power of the number four, the universal generator and Principle of all production, as well as the virtues of the straight line which is the image and action of it. Here also is where we find further proof of the distinction existing between sensate and intellectual things, and also of everything that has been said regarding their different number since, in all numerical multiplications, we tangibly recognize three things - namely, the two factors and the product. Intellectually, on the other hand, we recognize only the unity with which they are connected and that such unity never enters into the operation of composite things. Therefore, we now perceive the reason why we have recognized this quaternary as being both the Principle and the fixed measure of all Beings, and also why any product of whatever nature whether it is the area or all the properties of this area-are engendered and directed by this quaternary. Geometricians themselves corroborate all of the advantages which have been attributed to the quaternary up to now, and this they do through the division they perform upon the radius so as to estimate its connection with the circumference. They take care to divide it into the greatest possible number of parts so as to make the approximation less defective. But, in all the divisions they make, it is important to observe that they always employ decimals. Now, through a calculation that we shall not consider here, although it is fairly well known, it cannot be denied that the decimal and the quaternary have an incontestable connection since they both possess the privilege of corresponding and belonging to the unit. Therefore, by making use of decimals, geometricians still proceed through the quaternary. I know that, if need be, it might be possible to divide the radius by numbers other than decimals. I even know that these decimals never render accurate results as occurs in the division of the circle into 360 degrees, from which one could infer that neither decimals nor the quaternary to which they are inseparably united constitute the true measure. But it must be noted that the division of the circle into 360 degrees is perfectly exact because it is based upon the true number of all forms, whereas the decimal divisions expressing the number of the immaterial Principle of such forms cannot be exact in sensate nature, nor upon the corporeal radius or any other type of matter. However, this does not mean that, of all the divisions from which a person could choose, decimals are not the means which brings him closest to the point he desires. We may even say that in this, as in many other circumstances, he has been led by the Law and Principle of things without being aware of it. We may even say that his choice is a result of the natural light residing within himself which always tends to lead him to the truth. Moreover, even though the means which he has adopted may be worthless and useless for him in that he wants to make it agree with both the area and matter, it is nevertheless the best he could select for this type of calculation. Thus, despite the little success humankind has derived from its efforts, we will always be obliged to agree that the division which he has made of the radius into decimal parts confirms what I have said regarding the universality of the quaternary measure. Despite the reserve I have promised myself, after having revealed so much concerning the number four and the square root, surely all of my readers will realize that both are the same. Therefore, this is no longer the time to conceal it. Moreover, after having advanced to this point, I find myself somehow forced to admit that they would search vainly elsewhere than in this square root and in the unique square which results therefrom for the source of light and knowledge. And truly, if it is possible for the readers of this book to grasp on their own the connection of everything that I have revealed to their sight and to obtain a proper idea of the numerical and intellectual square I have presented to them, I am somehow obliged to admit the truth and I no longer refuse any admission they wrest from me. Therefore, to the extent that prudence and discretion permit, I will present beforehand a few of the properties of this quaternary and, so as to make myself more understandable, I shall consider it as the sensate and corporeal square which is the figure and production thereof - that is, as possessing four visible and distinct sides. By examining each of these four sides separately, we may then conclude that the square under consideration is truly the only means by which a person can be led to the understanding of everything contained within the Universe, and that it is also the only support which can sustain her against all the tempests she is forced to endure during her voyage in time. However, to sense the endless advantages connected with the square more fully, let us remember what was stated when we compared it to the circumference. We then learned that the circumference serves to limit and oppose the action of the center or of the square, and that they mutually react upon one another. Consequently, the circumference stops the rays of light, whereas the square, being in itself the Principle of this light, has enlightenment as its true object. In short, the circumference holds a person shackled in a prison, whereas the square is provided to deliver him from it. Indeed, the inferiority of this circumference causes all of a person's misfortunes in that she can cover all of its points only one after another, which causes her to sense to the fullest extent the penalty of time for which she was not created. The square, on the other hand, because of its correspondence with the unit, does not subject her to this Law since, in the image of its Principle, its action is complete and uninterrupted. However, we must admit that Justice itself has favored humankind even in the punishments it has inflicted upon it. Even the circumference, which has been provided so as to limit and make a person expiate his primal errors, does not leave him bereft of hope and consolation. By means of the circumference, a person can still travel over the whole Universe and return to the point from whence he departed without being forced to face another direction - in other words, without losing sight of the center. This constitutes for him the most useful and salutary exercise, much as the person who wants to magnetize an iron blade knows that after each stroke he must return the blade to the magnet, thus causing it to complete a circuit. Otherwise, it would lose the potency it has just received. Nevertheless, despite this property of the circumference, it cannot be compared with the square, since the latter directly instructs a person about the virtues of the center without her having to leave her place. In this way a person can attain and embrace the same things that she could not know by means of the circumference, but without covering all of its points. Finally, the person who has fallen within the circumference revolves around the center, because he has deviated from the action of this center or of the radius which is straight, and he is forever revolving because the action is universal and he finds it in opposition all along his path. On the other hand, the person who is attached to the center, or to the square which is its image and number, is always immovable and unvarying. Undoubtedly no purpose would be served in pursuing this allegorical comparison further because I do not doubt that intelligent eyes cannot fail to make many discoveries in what I have just stated. Therefore, it is with good cause that I declare this square to be superior to all things because, there being definitely only two types of lines - the straight and the curved - whatever does not pertain to the straight line or to the square is necessarily circular and hence temporal and perishable. Therefore, by virtue of this universal superiority, I had to give people a hint of the infinite advantages that they could discover within this square or quaternary number upon which I have proposed to present a few preliminary details to my readers. People should remember that the commonly known square is simply the image and form of the numerical and intellectual square. Moreover, they will undoubtedly realize that I propose to speak to them only of the numerical and intellectual square manifesting in time and directing it - this very square providing proof that another square exists beyond time, but complete knowledge of it is forbidden until such time as we ourselves are beyond the temporal prison. That is why I have refrained from mentioning the conclusions of the quaternary progression rising above the causes acting within time. In keeping with this, and to help us conceive how this square contains everything and leads to the understanding of everything, let us observe that in mathematics the four angles are those which measure the entire circumference. And since each of these four angles designate a particular region, it is clear that the square embraces the east, west, north, and south. Now, if we could find only these four regions in all existing things, whether sensate or intellectual, what more could we perceive beyond this? And after having surveyed them as a class, shall we not consider ourselves as certain that nothing more will remain for us to know within this class? That is why a person who had observed the four cardinal points of corporeal Creation with care and perseverance would have nothing more to learn in astronomy, and she could take pride that she completely possesses the system for both the Universe and the true arrangements of celestial bodies. In other words, she would possess an understanding of the properties of fixed stars, of Saturn's ring, of weather and the seasons suitable to agriculture, and the nature of the two causes capable of producing eclipses. By being willing to recognize only one material and visible Law in eclipses, observers have denied the existence of those arising from another source and in a period different than that indicated by the sensate order. Regarding the order of the movements of celestial bodies, a person can also possess certain knowledge of it through a careful examination of the four divisions which complete their temporal course. Of all sensate measures, time is the least subject to error. Therefore, since it is the true measure of the course of celestial bodies, we may sense that it would be easier to estimate accurately their periodic return through time calculation than it would be to evaluate the precise length of one's arm by conventional measures taken in the area, since these have a basis neither fixed nor determined by sensate nature. This is why so many nations measure space itself and route distance by the duration or passage of time. By aid of the square a person would succeed in freeing himself from the dense shadows which still cover all eyes regarding the antiquity, origin, and formation of things. He could even throw light upon the dispute regarding the birth of our world and upon all the revolutions written upon its surface, whose traces may represent the consequences and effects of the primal explosion as well as the subsequent and successive revolutions which the Universe has continually experienced since its inception. Such revolutions have always been produced by physical forces, even though they have been authorized by the primary cause and executed under the eyes of the superior temporal cause through the continued counteraction of the evil Principle, to which immense powers have often been accorded over the sensate, for the purification of the intellectual, since it is the only way leading to true transmutation (the Philosopher's Stone) or the reestablishment of Unity. But how can such purification take place without its opposite or its reaction since it must occur in time, seeing that no action can occur in time without the aid of reaction? What would enlighten a person upon this subject is, that by observing the four regions of which we speak, she would perceive that one directs, one receives, and two react. From this she would note that disasters, whose vestiges are apparent everywhere on Earth, necessarily arise from the action of the two actively opposed regions - namely, the one where fire rules and the one where water rules. No longer could he attribute the effects to which her eyes bear witness every day to the single element which seems to produce them, because she would recognize that such revolutions result from the constant struggles of these two enemies in which the advantage lies sometimes with one and sometimes with the other - but also in which neither can be the victor without that area of Earth where the combat occurs suffering proportionately and thereby experiencing alterations and changes. That is why none of what we perceive on Earth should surprise us because, even if daily revolutions (whose existence is undeniable) did not occur, these two elements would nonetheless have begun acting in opposition from the very moment temporal things originated. This is also why we must be certain that each instant produces new revolutions, because the action of these two elements upon one another is and will always be constant until the general dissolution. Thus, all those marvels which so greatly surprise naturalists will disappear. All irregularities and devastations occurring before our very eyes - as well as those where the remains and debris proclaim their antiquity - will no longer be difficult to explain and they will agree perfectly with everything we have observed regarding the innate Principles of Beings, upon their differing and opposing actions upon one another, and finally upon the disastrous results of the universal counteraction. However, all these phenomena will appear far less surprising when we recall that these two opposing elements, these two agents, or this dual universal Law within matter, are always dependent upon the active and intelligent cause which constitutes their center and bond. This cause can activate at will either of these diverse agents which are subject to it, and it can even deliver them over to an evil inferior action. Therefore, we have one more method of determining where, within the greatest revolutions, such prodigious excesses of water upon fire or of fire upon water may have originated. We need only to consider the active and intelligent cause and recognize that when the Principles of these elements are no longer within their natural limits, this is because the Principle has abandoned such limits or because it activates one rather than other by its own virtue for the accomplishment of the primary cause's decrees of Justice, and also to hasten the action or to stop the excessive counteraction of the evil Principle opposing it. In so doing we will perceive that if we wish to know the reasons behind the course this intelligent cause follows in the Universe, we must search within its intelligent nature and in everything resembling it. Being simultaneously active and intelligent, its activity causes the production of perceptible effects by communicating its diverse actions and reactions to all temporal Beings. However, only its intelligent faculty can provide the proper explanation, since it is admitted to the superior council only because of this title. Thus, there will never be any satisfactory result for those who search for this explanation simply in matter. Let us apply this to everything that has been stated concerning the method of seeking everywhere for the truth of all things so we can decide whether or not the principles guiding us are universal. Apart from the enlightenment that knowledge of the square can impart upon the constitutions of corporeal Beings, upon the harmony established between them, and upon the causes of their destruction, it also embraces the four distinct degrees to which their particular course subjects them, and which are clearly indicated by the four seasons. Who is not aware of the different properties attached to each of these seasons? Who does not know that since corporeal Beings cannot receive birth except through the reunion of two inferior actions, it is first of all necessary that these two actions be suitable to each other and in mutual accord. This is what we call adoption. This act of adoption is attributed to autumn, because during this season, Beings send forth from themselves, through the Law of their immaterial Principle, those seeds which must serve for their reproduction. And this Law begins to act only when such seeds are placed within their natural matrix. This constitutes the first stage in their progression, a stage upon which reflection and intelligence will easily discover an infinity of things which I must not mention. When the seeds are thus adopted by their matrix, the two actions acting in concert create what we must designate as conception, which, according to the Law of this same corporeal nature, is indispensable for the generation of Beings composed of matter. This second stage in their progression occurs during the winter, whose influence preserves their strength by keeping them at rest and concentrating all their fire in the center, operating upon them a violent reaction which causes them to exert themselves and renders them more apt to join together and communicate their virtues reciprocally. The third stage in their progression takes place during the springtime, and we can consider this act as that of vegetation or corporification, because it is primarily the third. We have indicated to a sufficient degree that the number three is dedicated to results, both corporeal or incorporeal. Secondly, the saline influences of wintertime, having ceased after having fulfilled their Law of reactivating not only the Principles of the generative seeds but even those of their productions, make use of their faculty and natural property by manifesting externally everything which resides within themselves. That is why the fruits of this vegetative property begin to appear during this season and why we see them issuing from the womb which has given them birth. Finally, summer completes the entire cycle. At this time all the productions issuing from the matrix where they have been formed receive the full action of the sun which brings them to maturity. This is what constitutes the fourth degree of the progression of all corporeal Beings on Earth. We sense, however, that most animals must be excluded from this progression. Even though they are subject to the four stages I have just recognized as being within the special progression of all corporeal Beings, they nevertheless do not always follow the Laws and ordinary length of seasons for their generation and growth. This exception concerning animals should not surprise anyone because, not being inherent to Earth although arising from it, their Law certainly cannot be like that of vegetative Beings which are attached to the earth. The Principle of quaternary universality should not be rejected, because we will perceive that even among vegetative Beings, some do not await the entire revolution of the four seasons to complete their course, whereas others reach this completion only after many annual solar revolutions. Such differences stem from the fact that some need a lesser reaction and others a stronger reaction so as to act and perform their own particular task. Yet these four stages or actions that I have just noted are nonetheless suitable for them and always take place with perfect exactitude in Beings exceptionally early in their development and in those that are exceptionally late in their development. According to what we have learned regarding the number four in its relationship with the area, it is the one number which measures all and carries its action everywhere, although it does not manifest an equal action everywhere as it universally proportions such action to the varying nature of Beings. Do not these observations concerning the properties attached to the four seasons throw light upon the period in which the Universe may have received birth? It is true that this can only concern those people who acknowledge an origin for the Universe. For those who have acted in bad faith or have been blind enough not to recognize an origin of the Universe, this research becomes superfluous. However, persuaded as I am that these very same individuals would profit from what I would say upon this subject, I shall, to the degree I am allowed, lift a corner of the veil before their eyes. Concerning the world's origin, if we consider only the first instant of its corporification, we would surely be tempted, by guiding ourselves according to the order of the seasons, to attribute it to springtime because it is indeed the time of vegetation. But, if we would direct our eyes a little higher and examine all the acts which must have preceded this visible corporification, the origin of the world seed would be necessarily placed in a season other than that of springtime. We would be obliged to agree that the actual progress of universal Nature is the same now as it was at the moment of its birth. The adoption of its constitutive Principles must then have taken place in the same circumstances and in the same period of time in which we perceive the adoption of the particular Principles 19]

perpetuated during its present-day course and existence. In other words, this original adoption must have commenced in autumn. Indeed, this is when Beings cease to experience the sun's heat as this celestial body moves further away from them, so they seek and draw closer to each other in order to supplement its absence by mutually communicating their own warmth. And as we have seen, this is the primary act of what must take place corporeally among individual Beings in Nature. This act must therefore occur in universal Nature in the same way. It is when the sun ceases to be perceptible to those it has warmed until that moment, that corporeal things take the first step toward existence and Nature begins. Using the same analogy, we can presuppose in which season Nature must experience decomposition and cease to exist. In other words, by following the Law of its present course, we should believe that the Universe will obtain the completion of the four acts of its universal course in the summertime. Once this completion is achieved, its career will then be terminated, and by detaching itself from the branch, it will, like all fruits, cease to be and completely disappear while the tree to which it was attached will remain forever. What I have just stated is based upon this generally accepted Law: things always end where they have experienced their beginning. However, I wish to emphasize that although the four acts of the temporal progression occur in all Beings, there are nevertheless some in which this Law operates at different times. Seeing that this progression varies between plants and animals, and even within these two classes it operates so diversely among the different species as well as among different individuals, it would be particularly difficult, for all the more reason, to establish its Law and duration by judging from the particular to the universal. Thus, nothing is further removed from my thought than to attempt to attribute a temporal season to these great periods. And in truth, such matters are entirely superfluous to people, inasmuch as they can acquire a light more useful, certain, and important upon such matters than what falls only upon the periods of transitory Beings by using the flambeau which they carry within themselves. I equally beg to not be accused of contradiction or oversight if you have heard me speak of the existence of the sun prior to the existence of corporeal things. I have not forgotten that the visible sun originated along with all other bodies, and in the same way, but I am also aware that there exists another very physical sun of which the above is merely the form and under whose eyes all acts of Nature's birth and formation have taken place, much as the daily and yearly revolutions of particular Beings occur in the sight and through the Laws of our perceptible corporeal sun. Thus, in their own self-interest, I urge the readers of this book to be wary enough not to judge me before having understood me; and if they wish to understand me, it is necessary that they often look beyond what I have said. Whether through a sense of duty or through prudence, I have left much to be desired. After having indicated in general many of the properties of the square which I have always proclaimed to be unique, I shall briefly describe some of the properties that are connected with its sides. I will then reserve the right to deal with this universal emblem in a slightly more extensive way in the following chapter. The first of these sides, as the base, foundation, or root of the other three sides, is the image of the primary, unique, universal Being, which has manifested Itself within time and within all sensate productions, but which, being Its own cause and the source of all Principle, resides outside of time and the sensate. To become aware of what I have already stated on many occasions - namely, that sensate productions, although originating from it are hardly necessary for its existence - we need only to determine the number which is suitable to it, and there is not a single person who is not aware that it is the Unit. Whatever operation we perform upon this number taken by itself - that is, whether we multiply it, elevate it to the greatest power that the imagination could conceive, or successively search for the root of all these powers - the number, the unit, will always remain as the result in all these operations. The number one, being simultaneously its own root, square, and all powers, necessarily exists by itself and independently of all other Beings. I do not mention division, because this mathematical operation can only be affected upon assemblages, but never upon a simple number such as the unit, which confirms what I have already said regarding the nonexistence of fractions. Nor do I mention the operation of addition, because it is likewise clear that it cannot occur except within composed things and also because a Being which possesses all within itself cannot add anything to itself from a union with any other Being. This serves as proof for everything which has been said heretofore regarding matter, in which those things employed for the growth and nutrition of corporeal Beings never become part of their principles. However, I speak of the multiplication or elevation of powers, as well as the extraction of roots, because the one is the image of the productive property innate within every simple Being, and the other is the correspondence of every simple Being with its production, since it is through this correspondence that reintegration becomes operative. This is what must help to convince us that this primary side of the square, the number one or the primary cause, of which it is characteristic, produces everything through this cause and receives nothing that is not from it or does not belong to it. The second side is what belongs to that active and intelligent cause that I have presented through the course of this work, as holding primary rank among temporal causes. By its active faculty, it directs the course of Nature and corporeal Beings in the same way that, using its intelligent faculty, it directs all the steps of a person, who is similar to it through her quality as an intellectual being. We attribute the second side of the square to this cause for the reason that this second side is the closest to the root. Likewise the active and intelligent cause appears immediately after the primary Being which exists beyond temporal things. Then, if we place it in parallel with the second side of the square, we must therefore also credit it with a dual number; and we perceive that we could not apply this dual number to any Being more appropriately than to this cause since it indicates this to us on its own, as much by its secondary rank as by the dual property which it possesses. And, in actual fact, this active and intelligent cause is the primary agent of all temporal and sensate things, so that nothing here on Earth could ever have existed without its help and, so to speak, without having originated through it. Does not the square itself offer us proof of this? Is not the second of its sides which we are presently examining, the first stage or step towards the manifestation of the powers of its root? In a word, is it not the image of this straight line which is the primary production of the point, and without which there would never have been either surface or solid? Therefore, within the square, we immediately discover two of the most important points for people - namely, knowledge of the primary universal cause and knowledge of the secondary cause which is its primary temporal agent and representative within sensate things. I have dwelt sufficiently elsewhere upon the immense attributes belonging to this active and intelligent secondary cause so that I can dispense with recalling them at this time. And if one wants to have the idea that suits one, it will be enough to never forget that it is the image of the Primary Cause, and loaded with all its powers for all that happens in Time. This is what one can conceive of being true about it: it is at the same time what will teach us, if after it there is no Being in Time in whom we can better place our trust. The third side of the square is that which designates whatever results, that is to say, both those which are corporeal and sensible, and those which are immaterial and beyond Time; for, just as there is a Square assigned to Time, and a Square independent of Time, so there are results attached to each of these two Squares, because each of them has the power to manifest productions, and as the productions that manifest themselves in the one and the other class are always three in number, that is why we apply them to the third side of the square. This is in perfect agreement with what we have seen on bodily productions, all of which are the assembly of three Elements; all that there is to be observed is the considerable distinction which, in spite of the similarity of the Number, is between temporal productions and those which are not; these, coming directly from the Primary Cause, are simple beings like it, and are therefore an absolute existence which nothing can annihilate, the others being born only by a secondary Cause, cannot have the same privileges as the first, but must necessarily feel the inferiority of their Principle; so their existence is only transient, and they do not subsist by themselves, like the beings who have reality. This is what the third side of the square obviously tells us; for if the second has given us the line, the third will give us the surface; and since the number three is at the same time the number of the surface and the number of the bodies, it is clear that the bodies are composed only of surfaces, that is to say, substances which are only the envelope or external appearance of the Being, which, however, neither the solidity nor the life belong to. And indeed, the last operation, indicated by human Geometry, to compose the solid, is only the repetition of those which preceded, that is to say, those which have formed the line and the surface; for the depth which this third and last operation generates is nothing else than the vertical direction of several united lines, and all the difference which is there, is that in the preceding operations the direction of the lines were only horizontal; thus this depth is always the product of the line, and as such, it cannot be anything other than an assembly of surfaces Do we want, since the opportunity arises, to still learn to evaluate more justly what the Bodies are? For this purpose, one only has to follow the reverse order of their formation. The solids will be composed of surfaces, the surfaces of lines, the lines of points, that is to say, of Principles which have neither length nor width nor depth; in a word, which have none of the dimensions of Matter, as I have amply expounded when I have had the opportunity to speak of it. Let us thus bring back the Bodies to their source and their primordial Essence, and let us see by that the idea that we must have Matter. Finally, the fourth side of the square, as repeating the Quaternary Number, by which everything has its origin, offers us the Number of all that is Center or Principle, in any class; but, as we have spoken enough of the universal Principle which is beyond Time, and this square of which we are now dealing has simply the temporal for its object, we must understand by its fourth side only the different acting principles in the temporal class, that is to say, both those who enjoy the intellectual faculties, and those who are limited to the sensible and bodily faculties; and even as to the Immaterial Principles of the corporeal beings on which we have extended ourselves as long as we have been permitted to do, we shall not here recall either their different properties, their innate action, or the necessity of a second action to make the first operate, or in a word, all these observations which have been made on the laws and the course of material Nature. We will just point out, that the relation which can be found between these bodily Principles and the fourth side of the square, is a new proof that, as quaternaries or centers, they are simple Beings, distinct from Matter and therefore indestructible, although their sensate productions, which are only assemblies are subject by their nature to decompose. It is only on the immaterial Intellectual Principles that we must now fix our attention, and among these Principles there is none upon which we can focus more aptly than on humankind at this moment; since it was humankind who was the main object of this writing; since it is in humankind that should essentially reside all the virtues contained in that imposing Square which we are occupied with; since, in the end, this Square has never been traced except for humankind and is the true source of science and enlightenment from which this human being has unfortunately been stripped. It would be by carefully contemplating the fourth side of this square, that the human being would really learn to evaluate its cost and advantages. This would be where at the same time humankind would see the Errors, by which human beings have obscured the foundation and the very object of Mathematics; how much they deceive themselves, when they substitute for the simple Laws of this sublime Science, their faulty and uncertain decisions, and how much they harm themselves when they confine it to the examination of the Material Facts of Nature, while by making another use, they would be able to get so precious fruits. But we know that we can no longer today observe this square from the same point of view as we used to do, and that among the four different classes contained in it, we occupy only the most mediocre and the darkest, instead of in our original state we occupied the first and brightest. It was then that, drawing knowledge from their very source, and approaching, without fatigue and without work, the Principle that had given us being, we enjoyed a boundless peace and happiness, because we were in his Element. It was by this means that we could with advantage and safety direct our progress in all Nature, because, having gained control over all the three lower classes of the temporal square, we could direct them, at our pleasure, without being terrified or stopped by any obstacle: it is, I say, by the properties attached to this eminent place, that we had a certain notion of all the Beings that make up this corporeal Nature, and for that reason we were not exposed to the danger of confusing our own Essence with theirs. On the contrary, relegated today to the last class of the temporal square, we find ourselves at the end of this same bodily Nature that was once submitted to humankind, and that we should never have experienced either resistance or rigor. We no longer have this inappreciable advantage, which we enjoyed in all its extent when placed between the temporal Square and the one that is beyond Time, we could read both in the one and the other. Instead of this light which we could never have separated, we perceived nothing more than a frightful darkness about humankind, which exposes us to all the sufferings to which we are subject in our body, and to all the misunderstandings to which we are trained in our thought by the false use of our will and by the abuse of all our intellectual faculties. It is therefore only too true that it is impossible for humankind to reach today without help from the knowledge contained in the Square of which we are dealing, since it no longer presents itself to us with the face that alone can render it intelligible to humankind. However, I have promised it, I do not want to discourage humankind; on the contrary, I would like to light in us a hope that never went out; I would like to bring consolations for our misery, by committing us to compare it with the means at our disposal to get rid of them. I am now going to concentrate on an incorruptible attribute which we possessed completely in our beginning, and whose enjoyment not only is not totally forbidden to us today, but which is even a right which we can claim, and which offers us the only way and the only means to recover this important place of which we have just spoken. Nothing will appear less imaginary than what I put forth, when one will think that even in our privation we still possesses the faculties of desire and will; that, therefore, having faculties, we must have attributes to manifest them, since the Primary Cause itself is subject, as well as all that pertains to its Essence, to the necessity of being unable to manifest anything without the aid of its attributes. It is true that since the faculties of this Primary Principle are as infinite as the Numbers, the attributes that respond to them must be equally limitless; for not only does this primary Principle manifest productions beyond time, for which it employs attributes inherent to it, and which are distinct from each other only by their different properties; but it still manifests productions in time, and for which, the help of these attributes inseparable from itself, it also needed attributes out of itself, coming from it, acting through it, and were not it; which constitutes the Law of Temporal Beings, and explains the double action of the Universe. But although humankind's manifestations are in no way comparable to those of the Primary Cause, we cannot be denied the faculties we have just recognized in us, as well as the indispensable need for attributes similar to these faculties, in order to enhance them; and since these attributes are the same as those by which we formerly proved our greatness, we Shall see that we should expect the same help today, if we had a constant desire to make use of it, and give them all our trust.

## Chapter 7 - Human Attributes

Those priceless attributes, in which are found humankind's sole resource, are discovered in the knowledge of languages - in other words, in that faculty common to the entire human species for reciprocally communicating their thoughts. It is a faculty which indeed all peoples have cultivated, but they have done so in a way not at all profitable for themselves because they have not applied it to its true object. Consequently, we perceive that the advantages attached to the faculty of speech involve a person's true rights, since he communicates with other people through this means and he makes all his thoughts and feelings perceptible. Only this can truly address his needs in this matter, since all the signs employed to replace speech for those who are deprived of it, whether by nature or accident, fulfill this end most imperfectly. These signs are ordinarily limited to such things as negations and affirmations, all signs by which one may respond to a question. Even if we exhaustively question such people, they cannot transmit a single thought to us, unless - which amounts to the same thing - the object is present before their eyes, and they can make us understand their intention by touch or some other demonstrative sign. Those who have advanced further in this work can be understood only by their teachers or others who have learned the same method. Although this may actually be a kind of language, we nevertheless cannot call it a true language. First, it is not common to all people. Second, it is strongly deficient in power of expression since it lacks the inestimable advantages of pronunciation. In neither this nor any other artificial language will a person's true attributes be found, for nothing that is conventional and arbitrary and constantly shifting can signify a true property. By this explanation, we can already conceive something of the necessary nature of language; for I have said that languages must be common to all people. Yet how can they be common to all people if they do not possess the same signs? Which is to say, properly speaking there can only be one language. I shall not offer as proof the eagerness with which people seek to acquire a great many languages or the admiration we have for those who are so versed, although such eagerness and admiration, false as they may be, do offer some indication of our tendency towards universality and unity. Nor shall I mention the pride with which different nations regard their particular language and the extent to which each nation is jealous of its own. I shall speak even less of the custom established among some sovereigns of corresponding with each other only in a dead language common between themselves in formal matters, for not only is this custom not general but moreover it proceeds from a motive too trivial to carry any weight in the matter under consideration. Therefore, we must find the reason and proof within people themselves for why they were created to have only a single language. In consequence, we will discern the error that has led many to deny this truth and state that language, being simply the product of habit and convention, must inevitably vary like all earthly things, a fact that has caused observers to believe that there could be all at one time many languages equally valid though different from one another. For us to proceed with some certainty, I shall advise these individuals to inquire whether they do not recognize within themselves two kinds of languages - one sensate and demonstrative by means of which they communicate with other people; and the other inner, silent, but always preceding the language which is manifested outwardly, and which is thus truly its mother. I shall ask them then to examine the nature of this inner secret language to determine whether is it anything other than the voice and expression of a Principle outside themselves which etches thought in them and thereby actualizes its inner processes. Now, in accordance with the understanding we have acquired of this Principle, we must realize that since all people are necessarily directed by it, there can exist only one uniform process, aim, and Law, regardless of the innumerable varieties of good thought which can be communicated to them through this channel. But since this process must be quite uniform, as this secret expression must be everywhere alike, it is certain that those who had not allowed the traces of this inner language to decay within them would all understand it most perfectly. They would find everywhere a resemblance to what they sense within themselves. They would perceive the similitude and representation of their selfsame ideas therein. They would learn that, apart from those things arising from the evil Principle, there does not exist anything which 1s foreign to them. Finally, they would convince themselves, in a striking manner, of the universal similarity of the intellectual Being constituting them. This is where they would clearly recognize that the true intellectual language of humankind, being everywhere the same, is essentially one - that it can never vary and that it is impossible for two languages to exist without one being fought and destroyed by the other. Then, in keeping with our understanding, since the outer sensate language is simply the product of the inner secret language, if this secret language were always in conformity with the Principle which must direct it, if it were always one and the same, it would produce the same outer sensate expression everywhere. Consequently, although today we are obliged to employ material organs, we would still have a common language that would be intelligible to all peoples. Therefore, when did sensate languages begin to vary so much among people? When did people become aware of the disparity in the way by which they communicated their ideas? Is it not when this inner secret expression had itself begun to vary? Is it not when humanity's intellectual language had become obscure and was no longer the work of a pure hand? Then, with their light no longer close to them, people indiscriminately accepted the first idea offered to their intellectual Being and they no longer sensed the connection or correspondence between what they received and the true Principle from which they should obtain all. Finally, left to their own devices, people's wills and imaginations have been their only resources, and out of necessity and ignorance they have worshiped all the productions which these false guides have presented to them. This is how the outer expression of language became so totally altered. By no longer perceiving things according to their true nature, people gave them names of their own creation which, by not being analogous to the things they represent, could not designate them unequivocally, as their natural names could have. Even though only a few people may have followed this erroneous road, one which is unlikely to result in uniformity, it is most certain that every one of these people gave different names to identical things. By being repeated and perpetuated a great number of times through the ages, these must in truth offer us the most varied and bizarre spectacle. Let us not doubt that this is the origin of the differences and divisions of languages, and based on what I have said on this subject, even if I had no other proof, this would be more than enough to convince us that people are far removed from their Principle. For, I repeat, if people were all guided by this Principle, their intellectual language would be the same and consequently their outer sensate languages would possess the same signs and idioms. I hope no one will contest what I have just stated concerning the natural and significant names of Beings. Although the different languages used on Earth do not offer uniform names, we are obliged to believe that languages should only make use of names which denote objects clearly and universally. For this reason, none of these languages, differing greatly from one another, can reasonably pass for a true language. Moreover, each of these languages considered by itself, false though it may be, clearly provides proof of what I suggest. Although the words which each language employs may be conventional, might they not still serve as clear and definite signs of the Beings they represent to all those instructed in that conventionally created language? Do we not observe a natural penchant possessed by everyone for expressing things by signs or words that seem to us to be the most analogous? And do we not enjoy a secret pleasure mixed with admiration whenever someone offers us signs, expressions, and figures which bring us closer to the nature of the object presented to us and which cause us to understand them better? Therefore, what else are we doing than repeating the progress of truth itself which has established a common language among all its productions and which, having given to each an appropriate name linked to its essence, has protected them from equivocation among themselves? In using the same means might it not protect those who, faced with the task of reestablishing their connection with its works, have known how to labor and arrive at an understanding of the true names? Thus, we cannot deny that in our very deformity and privation, we trace for ourselves the expressive emblems of the Law of Beings. And the false usage which we make of the spoken word proclaims to us the just and satisfactory usage that we could make of it without needing to go beyond Nature by simply not forgetting the source from which this language should originate. It is therefore true that had observers returned to this inner secret expression which the intellectual Principle operates within us before it manifests outwardly, the origin of the true Principle of sensate language would have been discovered therein, and not in the fragile and impotent causes which are limited to the operation of their own particular Law and incapable of producing anything else. They would not have attempted to explain by simple Laws of matter, facts of a superior order, which have existed before time and will exist beyond time without interruption and independently of matter. This is no longer the organization, no longer the discovery of primitive people which, being transmitted from age to age, has perpetuated itself up to the present time among human species by means of example or instruction. But, as we shall see, this is humankind's true attribute, and although people have been deprived of it since they rebelled against its Law, there have remained to them vestiges which could return them to its source were they to possess the courage of following them step by step and applying themselves vigorously to such endeavors. I am aware that among other people this is one of the most contested points. Not only are they uncertain as to what humankind's primal language could have been, but by deliberations upon the subject they have even arrived at the belief that people do not possess its source within themselves, all because they do not observe them speaking naturally when abandoned at infancy. But will they never see the defect in their observation? Are they not aware that in the state of deprivation in which a person finds herself today, she is condemned to accomplishing nothing, even through her intellectual faculties, without the help of an external reaction which sets them in motion? And thus to deprive a person of this Law is to remove from her absolutely all the resources which Justice accorded her and to place her in the situation of allowing her faculties to become smothered without bearing any fruit. However, we cannot deny that this is the argument of observers based on repeated experiments performed upon children in which the former refrain from speaking in their presence so as to discover what their natural language may be. When they have subsequently perceived that these children made no use of speech or that they uttered only confused sounds, they interpreted their findings according to their fancy and built opinions upon facts that they themselves had concocted. But is it not obvious that sensate nature and intellectual Law likewise call for a person to live in society? Now, why do people find themselves thus placed amidst other people, who are supposed to accomplish their own rehabilitation, if not to receive all the help they need in reawakening their dormant faculties and exercising them for their own benefit? Thus, by depriving a person of the help he should expect from these two Laws is to act directly against them and against humankind itself. It does not indicate much intelligence to pass judgment upon a person after having taken away from him the means of acquiring the ability to make use of faculties that he is said not to possess, an ability they endeavor to believe him incapable of. It is the equivalent of placing a seed upon a stone, observing its inactivity, then denying that this seed was destined to bear fruit. But, without proceeding any further, if it is evident that when a person is deprived of the help which is indispensably necessary to her, he cannot produce any fixed language, and yet seeing that languages do indeed exist among people, where then can we discover the origin of this universal language and will it not be necessary to agree that the person who was the first to teach it must have received it from a source other than the hand of another person? There is, I know, a kind of natural and uniform language that observers generally agree to recognize in people, by which they indicate feelings of pleasure and pain, and which indicates within them the existence of a type of sounds appropriate for this usage. But it is very obvious that this language - if indeed it is a language - has only corporeal sensations for its guide and object. The most convincing proof we have of this is that it is found likewise within animals, most of which manifest their sensations outwardly through movement and even through characteristic sounds. Nevertheless, we should not be surprised to discover this type of language in animals, if we recall the principles established previously. Is not the corporeal Principle of animals immaterial, since no Principle can exist that is not immaterial? As such, must they not possess faculties, and if they possess faculties, must they not have the means to manifest these? Moreover, the means by which each Being functions must always be in relation to its faculties, for if there did not exist some measure in this, as in all else, it would be an irregularity and we could never permit any irregularity within the Law of Beings. Therefore, it is through this measure that we must evaluate the kinds of language by which animals demonstrate their faculties; since, being limited to sensing, they only have need of the means of making known this sensing, and they do possess such means. Beings which possess no other faculties than those of vegetation demonstrate this faculty of vegetation through the fact itself just as clearly, but that is all they demonstrate. Thus, although animals have sensations and are capable of expressing them, although in the actual state of things these sensations are of two kinds, one good and the other bad, and since animals express both by showing when they are happy or suffering, we cannot dispense with limiting their language and all the associated demonstrative signs to this sole object. Nor will we be able to regard this manner of expression as a true language since the aim of a language is to express thought. Thought belongs to intellectual Principles, and I have demonstrated clearly enough that the Principle of animals is not intellectual although it is immaterial. If we are agreed not to regard the demonstrations through which animals make known their sensations as a real language, then, although a person as an animal also has these sensations and the means of manifesting them, we shall never admit to the slightest comparison between this limited and obscure language and that of which people are made aware through their intellectual nature. It would undoubtedly prove to be an interesting and instructive study to observe all through Nature that measure existing between the faculties of Beings and the means accorded them for their expression. In this way we would perceive that their faculties are less extended to the degree to which they are removed by their nature from the first link of the chain. At the same time, we would perceive that the means they possess to make these known follow this progression strictly. In this sense we could accord a sort of language even to the least of created Beings, since this language would be none other than the expression of their faculties and of this uniformity without which there could exist neither commerce, correspondence, nor affinity between Beings of the same class. However, in this study we need to use the utmost care when considering all Beings so as to place each in its own class and not to attribute to one class that which belongs to another. We should not attribute to minerals all the faculties of plants, nor should we attribute to both the same manner of manifesting those faculties which are common to both. Nor should we attribute to plants what we have observed in animals. Much less again should we attribute to those lesser Beings which possess only transitory actions everything that we have just discovered within a person. For this would be again descending into this horrible confusion of languages, the principle of all our errors and the true cause of our ignorance, in that henceforth the nature of all Beings would be distorted for us. However, since full consideration of this point would perhaps exceed the scope intended for my work, I am satisfied merely to mention it, and I leave its consideration to those who possess the modesty to limit themselves to isolated subjects less vast than that with which I am now occupied. Therefore, I return to humankind's most precious resource: its true and original language. I declare once more that as an intellectual and immaterial Being, people must have received faculties of a superior order and consequently the necessary attributes to manifest them during their primal existence. These attributes are nothing other than the knowledge of a language common to all thinking Beings. Furthermore, this universal language must have been dictated to them by a single Principle, of which it is the true symbol. And, finally, people no longer possess these primal faculties in their entirety as we have perceived that, since even thought did not originate within people, the attributes which accompanied these faculties have also been taken away from them and this is why we no longer perceive in them this fixed and invariable language. Yet we must also repeat that humankind has not abandoned the hope of recovering this language, and with effort and courage a person can always aspire to regain possession of his primal rights. If I were permitted to enumerate proofs of this, I would show that Earth abounds with them, and ever since the world's beginning, there has existed a language which has never been lost and will not even be lost after the world has ceased to be, although it must then be simplified. I shall show that people of all nations have had knowledge of it, and that some, although separated by centuries as well as by considerable distances, have understood each other by means of this universal and imperishable language. Through this language we would comprehend how true legislators have learned the Laws and principles by which the possessors of justice have conducted themselves since time immemorial, and how, by regulating their course upon these models, they have possessed the certainty that they were taking the correct steps. We would also perceive true military principles, the knowledge of which great generals have acquired and which they have employed with such success in combat. This language would provide the key to all calculations, the knowledge of the construction and decomposition of Beings as well as that of their reintegration. It would make known the virtues of the north; the cause of the deviation of the compass; the virgin Earth, the object of desire for aspirants to occult philosophy. Finally, without entering here into further detail upon its advantages, I do not fear to state that those it can procure are innumerable and there does not exist a Being upon which its power and light do not extend. But, besides the fact that I could not further expound upon this subject without violating my promise and failing in my duty, it would be most useless for me to speak of it more clearly because my words would be lost upon those who have not cast their eyes in this direction - and their number is nearly infinite. As for those who are proceeding along the path of knowledge, what I have said already will suffice, without it being necessary to lift another corner of the veil for them. Therefore, all I can do to indicate the universal correspondence of the principles that I have established is to beg my readers to call to mind once again this Book of Ten Leaves given to people in their primal origin which they have retained even after their second birth, but of which the understanding and the true key have been taken away from them. I also beg them to examine the relationship that can be perceived between the properties of this book and those of the fixed and unique language, to determine whether there does not exist between them a very great affinity and to try explaining the ones by the others. For this is in fact where the key to knowledge will be found, and if the book in question contains all knowledge as previously explained, the language of which we speak is its true alphabet. I must observe the same precaution when speaking about another essential point which pertains to what I have just covered namely, the means by which this language manifests. It undoubtedly occurs in only two ways, as in all languages; first, by verbal expression manifesting through the sense of hearing, and secondly, by characters or writing manifesting through the sense of sight, the only senses which are connected with intellectual actions. They are found only in people. Although animals also possess these two senses, they serve within the animal only for a material and sensate goal, since animals do not possess intelligence. Thus, the purpose of hearing and sight within animals is only the preservation of the corporeal body, as is true of all their other senses. This explains why animals have neither language nor writing. It is therefore true that it is by these two means that a person attains knowledge of so many elevated subjects, and this language really needs the aid of a person's senses so as to cause her to conceive of its precision, force, and accuracy. And how could this be otherwise since a person cannot receive anything except through the senses? Even in her primal state a person possessed senses through which all else operated, as is true today, but with a major difference - they were not liable to variation in their effects as are the corporeal senses of a person's material body, which offer her only uncertainty and which constitute the primary instruments of her errors. Moreover, how could a person succeed in understanding those who have preceded him or who dwell far away if not through the help of writing? It must, however, be agreed that these same people, whether of the past or separated by distance in the present, must have interpreters or commentators who, being likewise instructed in the true principles of the language of which we speak, make use of it in conversation, thereby bringing times and distances closer. This constitutes one of the greatest satisfactions that true language can bring, because this voice is infinitely more instructive. It is also the rarest, and the art of writing is far more common among people than that of the spoken word. The reason for this is that in our present condition, we cannot ascend except by a gradual process. Indeed, as is true of all languages, the sense of sight ranks below that of hearing, because in nature people receive through hearing, by means of the spoken word, the living explanation or the intellectual part of a language, whereas, by offering to the eyes only an inanimate expression or material object, writing merely indicates it. Be that as it may, it is by means of speech and writing appropriate to true language that a person can instruct herself in everything pertaining to the most ancient of things. For no one has spoken or written as much as have people of ages past, although today many more books are produced than in former times. It is true that there are many among the ancients and the moderns who have deformed writing and spoken language. We can recognize those who have committed such disastrous errors and we can thereby clearly perceive the origin of all languages on Earth - how they have deviated from the primal language, and how the relationship between these deviations and the profound ignorance of peoples has plunged them into an abyss of misery which they have complained about rather than accepting responsibility for this state. We can also learn how the hand which thus wounded these people only intended to punish them rather than to deliver them forever to despair. Its justice being satisfied, it has returned their first language to them with even greater extension than formerly, so that not only can they repair their disorders, but they even possess the means of protecting themselves in the future. If I were permitted to expound further upon the infinite advantages that this language employs by various means, whether through the ears or eyes, I could speak indefinitely. However, considering that it demands the complete sacrifice of a person's will as its price and that it is intelligible only to those who have forgotten their own selves so as to allow the Law of the active and intelligent cause which must govern a person and the entire Universe to act fully upon them, we may then determine whether it can possibly be known to a large number of people. However, not a moment passes when this language does not manifest itself, whether through speech or writing. But a person deliberately closes his ears and looks only for writing within books. How, then, could the true language be intelligible to him? Undoubtedly, an attribute such as that of which I have just described cannot tolerate comparison with any other. This is why I have believed myself justified in proclaiming it as being unique and independent of all the variations in which a person can indulge upon this object. However, it is not enough to have proven the necessity of such a language for the expression of the faculties within intellectual Beings. It is not even sufficient to have assured its existence by announcing that this was where the true legislators and other celebrated people had found the principles, Laws, and motives behind all their great actions. It is also necessary to prove its reality within people themselves, so that they have no further doubt upon this particular subject. It is necessary to point out to people that the multitude of languages in use among other people has varied only in sensate expression, both in written form and in the spoken language. But concerning the Principle, not a single one has strayed from it. They all follow the same course and it is absolutely impossible for them to follow any other. In short, all people on earth possess only a single language, although hardly two of them understand each other. Indeed, we cannot say that any language, imperfect as it may be, is not governed by grammatical principles. This grammar, being none other than a result inherent to our intellectual faculties, adheres so closely to their inner language that we can regard them as being inseparable. Therefore, this grammar constitutes the invariable rule of language among all people. This is the Law to which they are necessarily subject even when they make the worse possible usage of their intellectual faculties or of their inner secret language. It is because this grammar, serving only to direct the expression of our ideas, does not judge whether they are in conformity with the sole Principle which should vitalize them. Its function is only to convey this expression correctly. And this can never fail to happen since it is always correct when motivated by grammar; otherwise, it expresses nothing. For proof of this I shall only make use of what enters into the composition of discourse, or what is generally known as the parts of speech. Among such parts of speech some are fixed, fundamental, and indispensable to the completion of the expression of a thought-and they are three in number. The others are simply accessories, and this is why their number is not generally determined. The three fundamental parts of speech, without which it is completely impossible to express a thought, are the noun or active pronoun [which is the subject], the verb which expresses the manner of existence as well as the action of Beings, and lastly the noun or passive pronoun which is the object or product of the action. Let every person examine this proposition with all the care that she deems necessary and she will always perceive that a discourse of whatever nature can never take place without representing an action. And it is impossible to conceive of an action if it is not directed by an agent which operates it and is followed by the effect which is, must be, or can be the result thereof. If any of these three parts of speech are omitted we cannot acquire a complete notion of the thought involved, and we then sense that something is missing in the order demanded by our intelligence. A noun or a substantive alone signifies absolutely nothing if it is not accompanied by an agent which operates upon it and by a verb which designates the way in which this agent operates upon this noun and disposes of it. Eliminate any of these three signs, and the discourse will then offer only an abbreviated idea of which our intelligence will always await the complement. On the other hand, when these three signs are together, we can complete a thought because we can represent therein the agent, action, and product or the subject. It is therefore certain that this Law of grammar is invariable and that, if we select an example from any language whatsoever, we will find it to be in conformity with the principle that I have just propounded, since it is that of Nature itself and of the essential Laws established within a person's intellectual faculties. Let us now reflect upon everything that I have said regarding weight, number, and measure. Let us determine whether these Laws do not encompass a person, with everything residing within him and everything proceeding from him. Let us also recall what I have said regarding the illustrious ternary, whose universality I have proclaimed. Let us examine whether there exists any object that it does not embrace and let us then learn to acquire a more noble idea than we have attained up to the present regarding the Being who, despite his degradation, can elevate his sight to this point, and who can bring such knowledge and understanding closer to himself and apprehend such a vast conception of the whole. One may, however, object that there are situations in which the three parts that I recognize as fundamental to discourse are not all expressed. Often there are only two, sometimes only one, and at times even none at all, as occurs in a negation or in an affirmation. But this objection will collapse by itself when we observe that in all these cases, the number of the three fundamental parts always preserves its power, and its Law is always in force. This is because those parts of speech that are expressed will be implied. They will always maintain their rank, and only through a tacit relationship with them will others produce their effect. And in truth, if | were to answer a question only with a monosyllable, this monosyllable would always present the image of the ternary Principle, in that it would always indicate on my part some kind of action related to the object presented to me, and it is within the question itself that the part of speech that is implied in my answer would be expressed. I shall not give an example of this, as everyone can easily formulate their own. Thus, I perceive with the greatest evidence everywhere the three signs of the agent, action, and product. This order being common to all thinking Beings, I will not hesitate to state that, even if they so desired, they could not stray from it. I will not mention the order in which these three signs should be arranged so as to conform with the order of the faculties they represent. This order has undoubtedly been interchanged by passing through humankind's hands, and nearly all human languages vary upon this point. But the true language being unique, the arrangement of such signs would not have been subject to all these contrasts had humankind known how to preserve it. However, we should not believe that, even in the true language, these three signs have always been arranged in the same order that they are in our intellectual faculties, because such signs are simply their sensate expression and I have acknowledged that the sensate can never follow the same course as the intellectual. In other words, the production can never be liable to the same laws as its generative Principle. However, the superiority that the true language would have over all other languages lies in the lack of variation in its sensate expression. And this expression, without the slightest alteration, would follow the order and Laws belonging to and specific to its essence. Moreover, this language would have, as we have already seen, the advantage of being protected from all equivocation and always having the same meaning, because it pertains to the nature of things, whose nature is invariable. Of the three fundamental signs to which every expression of our thought is subjected there is one which, through preference, merits our attention and upon which we will direct our eyes for a moment. It links the other two and is the image of the action among our intellectual faculties and the image of mercury among corporeal principles. In a word, it is what grammarians designate as the verb. Therefore, it cannot be overlooked that if the verb is the image of the action, then all sensate production is based upon it. And since the property of the action is to accomplish all, that of its sign or image is to represent and indicate everything that is being accomplished. Thus, let us reflect upon the properties of this sign in the composition of discourse. Let us recognize that the stronger and more expressive it is, the more pronounced and sensate are the results proceeding from it. Let us perceive through an easily accomplished experiment that the effect of everything subject to a person's power or conventions is regulated, determined, and principally animated by the verb. Finally, let the observers examine whether it is not by this sign called the verb, that everything we know to be the most intellectual and active within us is manifested. Let observers determine whether it is not the only one of the three signs which is susceptible to strengthening or weakening expression - whereas, once the designations of the agent and the subject are determined, they remain always the same. This is how we will ascertain whether we have been justified in attributing action to the verb, since it is truly its agent, and its help is absolutely necessary for anything to be accomplished or expressed, even tacitly. This is the place to point out why idle observers and speculative Kabbalists discover nothing: it is because they always speak and they never verb. I shall not expound further upon the properties of the verb. By studying what I have just stated, intelligent eyes will be able to make most important discoveries and convince themselves that a person, at every instant of her life, represents the sensate image of the means by which everything has received birth, operates, and is governed. This, therefore, is another of the Laws to which all Beings possessing the privilege of speech are obliged to submit themselves. This is why I have stated that all the people on Earth possess only one language, although the way in which they express themselves is universally different. I have made no mention of the other parts entering into the makeup of speech. I have simply declared them to be accessories, serving only to aid the expression of words and supplement their weaknesses, and to detail certain relationships to action. Or, if one prefers, they serve as the images and repetitions of the three parts that we have recognized as being the only ones essential in completing the picture of any thought whatsoever. We need to be aware that articles (or the endings of nouns in those languages not making use of articles) serve to express the number and gender of nouns and to determine the essential relationship existing between the agent, the action, and the object of the action. Adjectives also express the qualities of nouns, while adverbs are the adjectives of the verb or action. Finally, the other parts of speech form their relationship and make the sense more or less expressive or the phrasing more harmonious. But, since the usage of these different signs is not uniformly common to all languages, and pertains to a great extent to national customs and habits, all things connected with the sensate must therefore follow such variations. We cannot admit them to the rank of the fixed and immovable parts of speech. Thus, I shall not include them among the proofs offered demonstrating the unity of human language. Nevertheless, I advise grammarians to consider their science with a little more attention than they have undoubtedly shown up to the present time. They will readily admit that languages originate from a source higher than themselves and that all the pertinent Laws are dictated by Nature. But this humble opinion has had little effect upon them, and they are far from surmising the existence of all that could be discovered within languages. Does anyone wish to know the reason for this? It is that these individuals commit the same mistake upon grammar that observers commit upon all sciences. In other words, they give a passing glance to the Principle, but, not possessing the courage to investigate at length, they degrade themselves by directing their attention to tangible and mechanical details which absorb all their faculties and allow the most essential faculty - that of intelligence - to become obscured within them. Therefore, by persuading themselves that the Laws of their science should hold to the Principle as do all other sciences, grammarians will discover in it an unending source of light and truth of which they have scarcely the slightest notion. The small number of these Laws offered to them must seem sufficient in placing them on the right path. If they clearly perceive in these the representative signs of the faculties of intellectual Beings, they will perceive the same thing regarding Beings which are not intellectual. They will then acquire a clear notion of the Principles which have been established concerning matter by simply considering the difference existing between substantives and adjectives. One of them is the Being or innate Principle; the other, the adjective, expresses the faculties of all kinds which are assumed to reside within this Principle. But it must be carefully observed that the adjective cannot join a substantive on its own, and also that the substantive is powerless in itself in the production of the adjective. Both of these await a superior action to bring them together and join them according to its will. And it is only by virtue of this action that they can receive their union and manifest properties. Let us also note that it is the work of thought and intelligence to employ adjectives at the proper place; it is what perceives or creates them and, in some manner, communicates them to the subjects it intends to thus qualify. From now on let us recognize the immense property of that universal action to which we have previously called attention since it is certain that we will encounter it everywhere. Furthermore, after having thus communicated faculties or adjectives to innate Principles or substantives, this same action can extend, diminish, and even remove them completely at will and thereby cause the Being to return to its former state of inaction, a sufficiently tangible image of what it operates in reality upon Nature. However, in this dissolution, grammarians can also perceive without fear of error that the adjective, which is simply the quality of Being, cannot exist without a Principle - a subject or substantive - whereas the substantive can be indicated quite well in speech without its qualities or adjectives. Grammarians may thus perceive a relationship with what has been shown concerning the existence of corporeal immaterial Beings, apart from their sensate faculties. And from this they may also understand what has been said regarding the eternity of the Principle of matter, although matter itself cannot be eternal; being only the effect of a reunion, matter is nothing more than an adjective. This is the method by which they will subsequently conceive how it is possible that a person may be deprived of his primary attributes, since it is by a superior hand that he has been invested with them. But, at the same time, recognizing a person's own insufficiency with even more certainty, they will admit that in order to be reestablished in these same rights, a person must definitely have the help of this very hand that has deprived him of it, and which, as I have previously stated, only demands the sacrifice of his will to return them to him. Grammarians could also discover in the six cases the six primary modifications of matter as well as the detail of the acts of its formation and all the revolutions that it experiences. The genders will represent to them the image of the opposed Principles which are irreconcilable. In short, they could make a multitude of observations of this nature, which, without being the fruit of the imagination or of systems, will convince them of the universality of the Principle and of the fact that one hand directs everything. However, after having established as I have, this unique and universal language offered to a person, even in the state of privation to which she is reduced, I must anticipate the curiosity of my readers concerning the name and nature of this language. Regarding its name, I cannot satisfy them, having promised myself not to name anything. But, regarding its nature, I will admit that each word in this language carries within itself the true meaning of things and designates them so well that it causes them to be clearly perceived. I shall add that this language constitutes the object of the desires of all nations upon Earth and secretly directs people in all their institutions. It is what each of them cultivates privately with care and without realizing it, and which they all endeavor to express in all the works they produce, because it is so well imprinted within them that they cannot produce anything which does not carry its mark. Therefore, to indicate knowledge of this to other people, I can do no better than assure them that it pertains to their very essence and that they are people by virtue of this language alone. Let them then determine whether I have been wrong in telling them that it is universal and if, despite the false usage they make of it, it will ever be possible for them to forget it entirely, since they would need to provide themselves with a different nature in doing so. This is all that I can say regarding the matter in question. Let us now continue. I have stated that this language manifests itself in two ways, as do all other languages - namely, by verbal expression and by writing. As I stated a moment ago, all human works bear its seal, so it is necessary that we quickly examine some of them so as to perceive the relationship they have with their source, no matter how false they may be. Let us first consider those works which, as images of the verbal expression of the language in question, must offer us the most correct and elevated idea of it. Afterwards we shall consider those which have a bearing upon the characters or writing of this language. The first expression of their works generally includes all that is regarded among people to be the fruit of genius, imagination, reasoning, and intelligence - or, in general, what constitutes the object of all possible types of literature and fine arts. In this classification of humankind's productions, we perceive a single prevailing design even though all of them may appear to belong to separate classes. We perceive them all animated by the same motive, which is that of depicting, of proving their object, and of inducing the conviction of its reality or at least giving the appearance of it. If the advocates of some of these types of productions allow themselves to be overcome by jealousy at times, and if they attempt to establish their prestige by heaping contempt upon the other branches that they have not cultivated, they inflict an obvious wrong upon science. We cannot doubt that among the fruits of humanity's intellectual faculties, these merit a preference that will not detract from the others but will, on the contrary, help support them and thereby offer a more solid appreciation of their unequivocal beauty. This idea is certainly shared by all judicious people endowed with sure and true taste. They know that it will only be within an intimate and universal union that their endeavors can find greater force and consistency. For a long time, it has been accepted that all parts of science are connected and reciprocally communicate their help to one another. It is a feeling so natural to people that they carry it with them everywhere, even when they follow a course disavowed by this Principle. If a speaker wants to condemn the sciences, he would need to prove himself well informed in science. If an artist wants to deprecate eloquence, no one would listen to him if he did not employ its language. However, this useful observation, proper though it may be, has been made in a manner so vague as to have produced hardly any fruit. People have accustomed themselves, in this as in all else, to make absolute distinctions and to consider each of these different parts as so many objects, all foreign to one another. This does not mean that we should not discern different types in these products of a person's intellectual faculties, and that everything therein must represent only the same subject. On the contrary, since these faculties are themselves different from one another, and since we can notice striking distinctions within them, it is natural to think that their fruits must indicate this difference and not resemble one another. Yet, at the same time, since these faculties are essentially bound to each other and it is absolutely impossible for one to act without the help of the others, we perceive that the same relationship must prevail between the different sorts of productions and that they all proclaim the same origin. However, I have already said too much about an object which is only superfluous to my scheme. Let me return to the examination that I have begun upon the relationship existing between the unique and universal language and the different intellectual productions of humankind. Whatever the nature of these productions may be, we can reduce them to two classes to which all others pertain. This is because, there being only either the intellectual or the sensate within all existing things, the totality of everything that a person could produce would never have for its object simply one or the other of these two parts. And, in effect, everything that people imagine and produce of this nature on a daily basis is limited either to instruct or excite emotions or to manifest reason or feeling. It is absolutely impossible for people to state or manifest anything outside themselves which does not possess as its object either one or the other of these two points. Regardless of any division we would make of a person's intellectual productions, we will always perceive that they either intend to enlighten and lead to the understanding of certain truths, or they intend to subjugate the intellectual person through the senses and cause her to experience situations in which, no longer being master of herself, she would be under the control of the voice speaking to her and blindly follow the good or evil attraction leading her on. We shall attribute to the first category all the works of reasoning, or in general, all that should proceed only through axioms and all that which is limited to the establishment of facts. To the second, we shall attribute all that which has for its goal the creation of impressions, of whatever nature, upon people's hearts, so as to agitate them in all directions. Now, in either of these two categories, what is the object of the authors' desire? Is it not to show their subject under aspects so luminous or attractive that those who contemplate them cannot contest its truth nor resist the force and allurement of the means used to captivate them? What are the resources they employ to create this effect? Do they not exercise extreme care in approximating the very nature of the object which occupies their attention? Do they not endeavor to return even to its source so as to penetrate its very essence? In a word, do not all their efforts tend to cause the expression to agree perfectly with their conception and render it so natural and true that they are certain to cause the same effect upon other people, were the object itself present before their eyes? Do we not experience this effect upon ourselves to some degree according to the extent of the success of the author in the accomplishment of her purpose? Is not this effect general, and are not similar beauties to be found all over Earth in this same manner? Therefore, this represents to us the image of the faculties of this veritable language we are discussing. It is within the very works and efforts of people that we find the traces of all that has been said concerning the justness and force of its expression as well as that of its universality. We must not be deterred by this inequality of impression resulting from the differences existing in the idioms and conventional languages established among various peoples. This difference in language is but an unintentional defect and not one of nature. A person can succeed in eliminating it by familiarizing himself with the idioms that are foreign to him. This difference could not in any way act contrary to the principle, and I do not hesitate to say that all the languages of the earth constitute so many testimonials confirming it. Although I have reduced the verbal productions of humankind's intellectual faculties to two categories, I have not lost sight of the multitude of branches and subdivisions to which they are susceptible, as much by the number of the different objects which are within the province of our reasoning as by the infinity of variations that our sensate feelings can receive. Without enumerating them or examining each one individually, we may consider in each category a single principal one occupying the primary rank such as mathematics among objects of reasoning, and poetry among those relating to a person's sensory faculty. But, having previously discussed the mathematical part, I shall refer my reader to it so that she may convince herself once again of the reality and universality of the principles that I have expounded. I shall now direct my eyes for a moment upon poetry. I regard it as being the most sublime of the productions of a person's faculties, as it brings him closer to his Principle and proves to him more fully the dignity of his origin because of the transport it causes him to experience. But, to the extent that this sacred language is ennobled ever more by elevating itself towards its true object, to the same extent it loses a part of its dignity when lowering itself to artificial or despicable subjects, upon which it cannot touch without soiling itself as though being prostituted. The very people who have dedicated themselves to this endeavor have always proclaimed poetry as being the language of heroes and of those benevolent Beings, which they have portrayed as watching over the protection and preservation of humankind. Its nobility has been sensed so strongly that they have not feared to attribute it to It, whom they regard as being the Author of All. They have even chosen this language whenever they proclaimed Its revelations or when they have desired to render homage to It. However, it should be unnecessary for me to warn that this language has no relation whatsoever with that trivial form which people among the various nations employ to express their thoughts. Are we not aware that the latter results from their blindness which has caused the belief that beauty could thereby be increased manyfold? Instead, they have only added to their toil and the useless care to which they subject us. The result has been to affect our sensate faculties only, as it cannot fail to encroach upon our true feelings. This language is the expression and voice of those privileged individuals who, being nourished by the continual presence of truth, have depicted it with the same fire which serves as its substance - a fire alive in itself and therefore an enemy to cold uniformity because it directs all its acts, ceaselessly recreates itself, and consequently is always renewed. We can perceive in such poetry the most perfect image of this universal language we are attempting to make known. When it truly attains its object, all things will bow down before it because it possesses, as does its Principle, a consuming fire that accompanies its every move, which softens all, dissolves all, and illuminates all. It is even the first law of poets not to break out in song when they do not sense its warmth. We must not assume, however, that this fire produces the same effect everywhere. Since all these different forms are within its province, it adjusts itself to their differing natures, but it must never manifest without attaining its goal, which is to sweep away everything it encounters in its wake. Let us at this time determine whether such poetry could ever have received birth within a frivolous or corrupted source. Must not the thought which gives it birth be at the highest degree of elevation? Would it not be true to state that the first person must have been the first poet? Let us also determine whether human poetry can indeed be this genuine and unique language which we know belongs to our kind. Definitely not! It is simply a feeble imitation. But I have selected it so as to provide the most suitable idea of poetry because, among the fruits of a person's endeavors, it adheres most closely to her Principle. Moreover, we can say that the conventional measures employed in the poetry invented by people, imperfect as they may appear, must nevertheless provide proof of the precision and justness of the true language in which weight, number, and measure are invariable. Since such poetry applies to all objects, we should also recognize that the true language of which it is, but the image must, with all the more reason, be universal and capable of encompassing everything in existence. In short, by a more detailed examination of the properties connected with this sublime language, we come closer to its model and can read within its very source. In so doing we will perceive why poetry has been celebrated among people throughout the ages, why it has accomplished so many marvels, and where that general admiration arises which all the nations of the earth preserve for those who have distinguished themselves in it. This examination expands ever further our ideas upon the Principle which has given birth to poetry. We will also perceive that the use people often make of poetry debases and distorts it to the point of rendering it unrecognizable, thus proving that poetry for people is not always the fruit of the true language occupying our attention. Employing it to extol people is profane, and making use of it to express passion is idolatrous. Poetry should have no other object than to point out to people the asylum from which it has descended so as to create within people the virtuous desire to follow in its footsteps when returning to this asylum. I have now done enough to indicate the path so that those who entertain certain desires can penetrate much further along this path. Let us now proceed to the second way by which we have learned that true language should manifest itself - namely, by the characters employed in writing. I will not hesitate to state that such characters are as varied and multitudinous as everything else contained in Nature. Not one being exists which cannot find a place in it and serve as its sign. All find their true image and representation in it, thus extending these characters to such an immense number that it is impossible for any person to retain all of them within his memory, not only because of their inconceivable multitude but also because of their differences and peculiarities. Even if we were to suppose that a person could retain all the characters of which she might have knowledge, she still could not delude herself in thinking that she had nothing more to learn about the subject, because Nature produces new things every day. Apart from showing us the infinity of things, the limit and deprivation of our species is also indicated. We can never succeed in embracing everything, since here on earth we cannot even succeed in knowing all the letters of our alphabet. The variety of those objects contained within Nature extends not only to their forms, as we can easily verify, but also to their color and the rank they occupy in the order of things. This causes the writing of the true language to vary as much as the multitude of nuances that we may perceive on material bodies, because each one of these slight nuances conveys as many different meanings. Consequently, the characters employed are as numerous as the points of the horizon, and since each of these points occupies a place belonging to itself alone, each of the letters of the true language also possesses a sense and an explanation which are quite distinct. But I shall stop, 0 Holy Truth! It would be usurping Thy rights to make public Thy secrets, even obscurely. It is for Thee alone to reveal them to whomever Thou desirest and as Thou desirest. I must limit myself to respecting Thy rights in silence, to bring together all of my desires so that other people can open their eyes to Thy Light. Then, disabused of the illusions seducing them, they may be wise and fortunate enough to prostrate themselves at Thy feet. Therefore, always taking prudence for my guide, I shall only say that the great diversity in human languages has been introduced by this infinite multitude of characters and their enormous variety in the true language. Few among them make use of identical signs, but those which agree upon this point still vary as to their number by accepting or rejecting certain signs, each according to its idiom or particular characteristics. Nonetheless, since the characters of the true language are as numerous as the Beings contained within Nature, so is it certain that such characters can originate only within this very Nature. From Nature they draw everything which serves to distinguish them, since nothing beyond Nature is perceptible. This is also why, despite the variety of the characters employed by human languages, they can never go beyond these limits. They are always obliged to render all the signs they make use of in lines and figures, which graphically proves that people cannot invent anything. We shall convince ourselves of all this with several observations upon the art of painting, which may be regarded as having received birth in the characters of the language in question, in the same way that human poetry received birth in its verbal expression. Seeing that this language is unique and as ancient as time itself, we cannot doubt that the characters it employs have been the primary models. Those people who have devoted themselves to its study have often needed to assist their memory with notes and copies. The greatest precision has been necessary in making these copies since the least misrepresentation in the multitude of characters - sometimes distinguished by only the tiniest of differences - would surely distort and confuse them. We will surely sense that if people had been wise, they would have made no other use of the art of painting and, for the sake of this art, they would have been content to limit themselves to imitating and copying the primary characters. If they are, with good reason, so particular concerning the choice of models, where could they find models truer and more exact than those which express the very nature of things? If they are so particular regarding the quality and use of colors, where else should they inquire than to forms which convey the proper colors? In a word, if they desire lasting paintings, how could they succeed more fully than by copying objects always fresh and from which they can make comparison with their productions at any time? Yet the same imprudence which removed people further from their Principle also removed them further from the means provided them in returning to it. People have lost their confidence in those true and luminous guides which, furthering their pure intentions, would surely have returned them to their goal. A person no longer seeks his models in useful and beneficent objects, from which he could continually receive assistance. Instead, he seeks them only in transitory and misleading forms which, offering him only uncertain features and changing colors, continually allow him to stray from his own Principles and despise his own works. This is what happens constantly to a person when she attempts to imitate quadrupeds, reptiles, and other animals, as well as all other Beings surrounding her. This occupation, seemingly so innocent and agreeable, accustoms a person to direct her eyes upon objects foreign to her and causes her to lose not only the sight but the very idea of what is her own. In other words, the objects a person busies herself in representing today are simply the appearance of what she should investigate at all times. According to all established Principles, the copy she makes is inferior to her model, and consequently painting as it is practiced at present is nothing more than a likeness of the likeness. Nevertheless, it is through this same crude form of painting that we shall convince ourselves fully of the incontestable truth proclaimed above - namely, that people can invent nothing. Indeed, is it not always through the representation of material Beings that people compose their paintings? How can they select their subjects elsewhere since painting, being but the science of sight, relates only to the senses and, consequently, only exists to the senses? Let us suppose instead that some painter can not only dispense with seeing sensate objects but can even apprehend his subjects within his imagination by raising himself above them. Such a supposition would be easy to disprove. Let us grant the most liberal scope to the imagination; let us allow it all the fantasies to which it could deliver itself. Let me then ask whether it could ever give birth to anything that is beyond Nature and whether we will ever be in a position to state that it has ever created anything. Undoubtedly, it will possess the faculty of visualizing bizarre Beings and monstrous assemblages of which Nature, in truth, cannot provide any examples. But are these chimerical Beings not the product of various pieces joined together? And of all these pieces, will there ever be a single one that is not found among the palpable things of Nature? It is therefore certain that in painting, as well as in all other forms of art, the inventions and works of humankind are nothing more than transpositions. Far from producing anything on her own, all of a person's works are limited to the allocation of another place to things. Thus, by learning to evaluate the worth of her productions in painting as in all other arts and although still devoting herself to this charming occupation, a person will stop believing in the reality of her works since this reality does not exist even in the models she selects. Needless to say, this crude form of painting carries with it striking indications that it descends from a more perfect art. In this sense it gives us further proof of that superior writing belonging to that unique and universal language whose properties we have indicated. In effect, it requires the resemblance of sensate Nature in everything it represents. It does not desire anything that shocks the eyes or judges. It embraces all the Beings of the Universe; and it even extends a bold hand to higher Beings. But it is then truly reprehensible, because, first of all, not being able to make such Beings known except through sensate and corporeal features, it thereafter debases them in the eyes of a person, who can only know them through the sensate, even though these Beings are not part of the material realm. Secondly, when the art of painting attempts to represent higher Beings, where does it find the model for those bodies which they do not possess and which artists nonetheless attempt to give them? Undoubtedly it could only be among the material objects of Nature, or - what amounts to the same thing - these bodies can be found within a poorly regulated imagination which, even within its very disorder, can only employ the material Beings surrounding contemporary humankind. Therefore, what relationship can exist between the model and the image which has been substituted for it, and to what conception have these kinds of images given birth? Is it not clear that this is one of the most disastrous consequences of people's ignorance, that which has exposed them the most to idolatry and which continually contributes towards engulfing them in profound darkness? And in truth, what can lifeless matter and features represented according to the painter's imagination produce if not the obliteration of the simplicity of Beings, the knowledge of which is so necessary to a person and without which all of his kind is delivered over to the most frightening superstitions? Is it not thus that the steps of a person, as alike as they are in appearance, lead him unwittingly astray and cast him into precipices once he no longer perceives the edge? People, therefore, have contented themselves with confusing the cruder forms of painting and their handiworks with the true characters copied from Nature itself. They have even disregarded the Principle from which these true characters derive their origin. In other words, perceiving that they were the masters of employing at will all the different features of this corporeal nature when composing their paintings, they have had the temerity to rely complacently upon their own work, thus neglecting the superiority of the models which they should have chosen and the source which could produce them. Having lost sight of them, they no longer even suspect their existence. We can say as much regarding heraldry which likewise derives its origin from the characters of the true language. The average person takes pride in the nobility of her armorial bearings, acting as though their symbols were real and truly carried with them the rights which preconceived opinion attributes to them. Allowing herself to be blinded by the puerile distinctions that he herself attaches to such symbols, she has forgotten that they are simply the dismal images of the natural arms physically accorded to each person so as to serve as her defense and to act also as the seal of her virtue, strength, and grandeur. Finally, the average person has acted in the same way upon the verbal expression of that sublime language from which it has been established that poetry originated. The arbitrary words and languages of human convention have taken the place of the true language in people's thoughts. In other words, because these conventional languages possess neither uniformity nor a fixed course in a person's eyes regarding expression, symbols, and generally everything that is sensate within them, he has not perceived their universal relationship with the language of the intellectual faculties, of which they are but a distorted imitation. Since the very idea of the Principle of this unique and universal language, which alone could enlighten him, has become effaced within him, he can no longer distinguish it from those which he himself has established. If a person is so ignorant as to place her works alongside those of the true and invariable Principles; if her audacious hand believes itself to equal that of Nature; and if she almost always confounds the works of this Nature with the general or particular Principle which manifests them, we should no longer be surprised that all of a person's notions are so confused and obscure. Not only has she lost the knowledge and the intelligence of the true language, she is no longer even persuaded that one exists. Nonetheless, if this true language is the only one which could reinstate a person within his rights, return to him the enjoyment of his attributes, cause him to understand the principles of Justice, and lead him to knowledge of everything in existence, it is easy to perceive how much he loses by straying from it and not devoting every moment of his life to recovering knowledge of it. No matter how immense, how frightening this course may be, no individual should ever abandon himself to despair and discouragement. I have always declared this very language to be the veritable domain of humankind and that people have been deprived of it for only a time. Far from being deprived of it forever, the hand which will return a person to it is, on the contrary, forever extended. The price attached to this favor is truly so moderate and so natural that it provides further proof of the kindness of the Principle which requests it. It consists simply of asking a person not to give equal weight to the two distinct Beings of which she is composed; and to recognize the difference in the Principles of Nature between them, and that which exists between them and the temporal cause superior to this same Nature. In other words, we must believe that a person is not matter and that Nature does not manifest on its own. We still need to examine one of the products of this true language, whose concept I am attempting to teach again to people. Being an adjunct to the verbal expression of language, this product measures its pronunciation and regulates its force. In a word, it is that art which we call music, but which among people is still stmply a shell of true harmony. Such verbal expression cannot employ words without causing sounds to be heard. This intimate relationship of words with sounds forms the fundamental Laws of true music. It is what we imitate in our artificial music, to the degree it is possible for us to do so, by the pains we take in depicting the meaning of our conventional words through sound. But, before indicating the basic defects of such artificial music, let us consider some of the true principles it offers us. We may thus find a sufficiently striking relationship with everything that has been established to convince ourselves that it still pertains to the same source, and that henceforth it is within the province of a person. Moreover, in this examination we may perceive that we always remain infinitely below our model, no matter how admirable our talents in musical imitation are. This will cause a person to determine whether this powerful instrument was given him simply to engage in childish amusements or whether it was not destined for a nobler employment from its inception. First of all, what is known in music as the perfect chord is for us the image of that primal Unity which contains everything within itself and from which all things issue. This chord is singular in nature, entirely complete in itself without needing the aid of any other sound but its very own. In short, it is unalterable in its intrinsic value because of its similarity to Unity. We must not count as an alteration the transposition of its sound, from which chords of differing denominations result. This transposition does not introduce any new sounds within the chord and, consequently, its true essence cannot be changed. Secondly, the perfect chord is the most harmonious of all, being in itself what is agreeable to a person's ear and leaving nothing to be desired. The three first sounds composing this chord are separated by two intervals of thirds which are distinct but linked to one another. This is where the repetition of everything occurring within sensate things is found. A corporeal being can neither receive nor preserve its existence without the aid and support of another Being, as corporeal as it is, thus reviving its forces and sustaining its existence. Finally, these two thirds are surmounted by a fourth, of which the terminating sound is called an octave. Although the octave is simply the repetition of the initial sound, it nevertheless fully designates the perfect chord. This is because the octave pertains essentially to the chord, as it is included within the original sounds that a resonating body causes to be heard above its own particular sound. Thus this quaternary interval is the primary agent of the chord. It is placed above the two ternary intervals so as to preside over and direct the entire action, much as the active and intelligent cause dominates and presides over the dual Law of all corporeal Beings. This interval cannot allow any mixture, no more than the active and intelligent cause can, and when it operates alone as does the universal temporal cause, all of its results are sure to be exact. However, I am aware that the octave, being in truth a mere repetition of the initial or fundamental sound, can be omitted and not entered into the enumeration of the sounds composing the perfect chord if need be. But, basically, the octave is what essentially terminates the scale. Moreover, we need to include the octave if we wish to know the nature of the alpha and omega and possess obvious proof of our chord's unity - all of this through a mathematical reasoning that I cannot reveal except by stating that the octave is the primary agent or organ by which we have arrived at the understanding of ten. Nor should it be demanded that in the sensate description I present there exist complete uniformity with the Principle of which it is but the image, because the copy would then be equal to the model. However, even though this sensate description is inferior and, moreover, subject to variation, it nevertheless exists in a complete way and represents the Principle because our senses instinctually fill in the rest. It is through such reasoning, and after having presented the two thirds as being connected with one another, we refrain from stating that both need to be heard. We are aware that both may be heard separately without offending the ear, but this will not cause the Law to be less valid, since the interval thus heard always preserves its secret correspondence with the other sounds of the chord to which it belongs. Therefore, the same situation still holds true, although we now perceive only one part of it. We may also apply the same reasoning whenever we wish to omit the octave, or even all the other sounds of the chord, and retain but one, whatever it may be. One sound heard alone is not offensive to the ear and, moreover, this sound could in itself be considered the generative sound of a new perfect chord. We have noted that the fourth is dominant over the two inferior thirds and that these two inferior thirds are the image of the dual Law directing elementary Beings. Is this not where Nature itself indicates to us the difference existing between a body and its Principle by causing us to perceive the one in subjection and dependence, whereas the other is its leader and support? These two thirds represent to us by their differences the state of perishable things of a corporeal nature which exist only through the union of differing actions. And the last sound formed by a single quaternary interval is a new image of the primary Principle, because it reminds us of its simplicity, grandeur, and immutability, as much through its rank as through its number. This does not mean that this harmonic force is more permanent than all other created things. As soon as it becomes sensate, it must pass, but this does not prevent, during its passing, its picturing to the intelligence the essence and stability of its source. Therefore, we find within the assemblage of the intervals of the perfect chord everything that is passive and everything that is active - in other words, everything that exists and everything of which a person can conceive. Yet it is not enough that we have perceived the representation of all things, both general and particular, within the perfect chord. Through fresh observations we may yet perceive the source of these same things and the origin of the distinction existing between these two Principles which took place before time and which manifest continually within time. To this end, let us not lose sight of the beauty and perfection of this perfect chord which obtains all of its advantages from itself alone. We can easily determine that if it had always remained within its own nature, complete harmony and order would have been perpetually maintained. Evil would be unknown because it would not have been born. In other words, only the action of the good Principle's faculties would have manifested because it is the only one that is real and true. How then was it possible for the second Principle to have become evil? How was it possible for evil to have originated and become manifest? Was it not when the superior and dominant sound of the perfect chord - in short, the octave - was suppressed and another sound was introduced in its stead? Now, what is this sound that was introduced in place of the octave? It is what immediately precedes it. We are aware that the new chord resulting from this change is called the chord of the seventh, and we are also aware that this seventh chord fatigues the ear, holds it in suspense and, in terms of musical art, demands that it be rescued. It is therefore through the opposition of the perfect chord to this dissonant chord, and to all those which are derived from it, that all musical productions are created. These are nothing other than a constant interplay that could be termed a combat between the perfect chord, or consonance, and the chord of the seventh, or generally, all dissonant chords. Why does this Law thus indicated by Nature not represent to us the image of the universal production of things? Why do we not discover herein its principles as we have previously discovered the assemblage and the constitution of it within the order of the intervals of the perfect chord? Why should we not put our finger and direct our eyes upon the cause, the beginning, and the result of universal temporal confusion since we are aware that, within this corporeal nature, there reside two Principles which are in constant opposition and that this nature cannot sustain itself except through the help of two contrary actions proceeding from the combat and violence we perceive? This is the mixture of regularity and disorder that harmony and composition faithfully represent to us through the combination of consonances and dissonances permeating all musical productions. Nevertheless, I hope that my readers will be wise enough to simply perceive the exalted truths of which I have spoken in such images. They will undoubtedly sense the allegory when I shall proclaim to them that, if the perfect chord had remained within its true nature, evil would yet to be born. This is because, according to established principle, it is impossible for the musical order, within its particular Law, to equal the superior order that it represents. Moreover, the musical order having been founded upon the sensate, and the sensate being simply the product of numerous actions, if only a continuity of perfect chords were to be offered to the ear, it would in truth remain undisturbed. But, apart from the tedious monotony that would result, we would discover neither expression nor order. In short, this would not constitute music for us because music, and generally everything that is sensate, is incompatible with both the unity of action and of agents. Consequently, in acknowledging all the laws necessary for the constitution of musical works, we can nevertheless apply these same laws to truths of another rank. This is why I shall continue my observations upon the chord of the seventh. By replacing the octave by this seventh, we perceived that one principle was placed alongside another, from which nothing can result except disorder according to the dictates of most sound judgment. We perceived this to be even more evident by noting that the seventh producing dissonance was likewise the sound immediately preceding the octave. Yet this seventh, being such in relation to the fundamental sound, can also be regarded as a second in relation to the octave, which is a mere repetition of the fundamental sound. We shall then recognize that the seventh is not at all the only dissonance in that the second likewise possesses this property. Therefore, any joining of two diatonic tones is condemned by the special nature of our ear, and whenever the ear senses two consecutive notes sounding simultaneously, it will be offended. Thus, since in the scale absolutely nothing other than the second and the seventh can be found in this particular relationship with the lower sound or its octave, this causes us to perceive clearly that any result or product in this field of music is based upon two dissonances from which all musical reaction arises. By subsequently extending this observation to sensate things, we shall perceive with the same evidence that these sensate things never could have been, and can never be, anything other than the product of two dissonances. Despite all efforts we may make, we shall never discover any origin for disorder other than the number connected with these two kinds of dissonance. Furthermore, by observing that what is generally called the seventh is in effect a ninth, since it is simply the assemblage of three very distinct thirds, one can determine whether I have led my readers astray when previously stating that the number nine is the true number of the area and matter. If, on the contrary, we choose to direct our eyes upon the number of consonances or sounds harmonizing with the fundamental sound, we shall perceive that they are four in number - namely, the third, the fourth, the true fifth, and the sixth. In this instance, it is not necessary to speak of the octave as an octave since we are concerned only with the particular divisions of the scale, among which this octave does not possess any other character except that of the fundamental sound itself of which it is the image. We could consider it as the fourth of the second tetrachord, which would not alter in any way the number of the four consonances that we are establishing. I will never be able elaborate upon the infinite properties of these four consonances to the extent that I would wish. I truly regret this because it would be easy for me to indicate with striking clarity their direct relationship with unity, and to indicate the way in which universal harmony is connected to this quaternary consonance and why it is impossible for any Being to remain in good condition without it. But, at every step, prudence and duty prevent me because in these matters one single point leads to all the others. I would never have undertaken to deal with even a single point if the errors with which the human sciences poison humankind had not led me to take up its defense. Nevertheless, I have promised myself not to finish this treatise without offering a few more detailed explanations upon the universal properties of the quaternary. I am not unmindful of my promise and I propose to fulfill it to the degree I am allowed to do so. But for the present, let us again return to the seventh. Let us note that although the seventh causes deviation from the perfect chord, the resulting crisis and revolution help to bring about order and the rebirth of peace for the ear, since one is obliged to reenter the perfect chord following this seventh. What is referred to in music as a series of sevenths - which is none other than a continuity of dissonances and which can never be avoided without ending with the perfect chord or its derivatives - I do not consider to be contrary to this principle. This very same dissonance also repeats for us what occurs within corporeal nature, whose course is simply a series of disorders and rehabilitations. If this same observation has previously indicated to us the true origin of corporeal things, and if it causes us to perceive today that all natural Beings are subjected to this violent law which presides at their birth, during their life, and at their demise, why could we not apply the same law to the entire universe? Why could we not recognize that if violence has caused it to be born and sustain its existence, violence must also operate its destruction? It may be noted that at the moment a musical composition is completed, a confused beat is ordinarily heard, a trill between one of the notes of the perfect chord and the second or the seventh of the dissonant chord. This dissonant chord is indicated by the bass which usually holds the fundamental note, so as to return the complete composition to the perfect chord or unity. We must also perceive that following this musical cadenza, we will necessarily return within the perfect chord, which reestablishes complete peace and order. It is certain that, following the crisis experienced by the elements, the Principles in conflict must also recover their tranquility. Then, applying the same reasoning to a person, we must understand the degree to which true musical knowledge could preserve him from the fear of death since death is merely the trill which terminates his state of confusion and returns him to his four consonances. What I am saying concerning this subject is sufficient for my readers' intelligence. It remains for them to extend the limits which I have prescribed for myself. Consequently, I may presume that they will not consider dissonances in music to be vices, but only an indication of the contraries governing all things. From such dissonances music's greatest beauty is obtained. My readers will even conceive that, in the harmony of which the music of the senses is simply the image, there must exist the same opposition from dissonance to consonance. Far from causing even the slightest defect, they are its sustenance and life. The intelligence perceives within it only the action of several different faculties which mutually sustain rather than combat one another and which, by their reunion, cause the birth of a multitude of results that are always striking and fresh. Therefore, this is only a very abbreviated extract of all the observations of such nature that I could make upon music and the relationship existing between music and important truths. But what I have said regarding this subject is sufficient to make apparent the reason of things and to teach people to not isolate their different forms of knowledge since we are indicating to them that they all are simply different branches of the same tree and that the same impress exists everywhere. Is it necessary to speak at this time about the obscurity in which the science of music still remains? We could begin by asking musicians what their rule is for obtaining tonality - that is, their scale or diapason - but if they lack one and are forced to construct one for themselves, they need to be certain of having something stable in this field. Then, if they do not possess a fixed diapason, the result is that the numerical relationship which may be obtained from their artificial diapason, with sounds which must be its correlatives, are not true tonalities either. The principles which musicians represent to us as true, using the numbers they have accepted, can simultaneously exist as other numbers, depending upon the scale's being higher or lower. This renders absolutely unreliable most of their opinions upon the numerical values they attribute to different sounds. However, I speak here only of those who have attempted to evaluate these different sounds by the number of vibrations in chords of other resonating bodies. A fixed diapason is then definitely necessary so that the resonating bodies are essentially similar, and in this way one can regulate their results authoritatively. But as these two methods were not accorded to people, since matter is only relative, it is obvious that everything they may establish upon such a basis would be liable to many errors. Therefore, it was not within matter but within the very nature of things that we should have searched for the principles of harmony. According to all that we have observed, matter cannot offer the principle of anything as it is never stable; but within the nature of things, since everything is stable and always the same, it is only necessary to have eyes to read the truth therein. Finally, a person would have perceived that she had no other rule to follow except what is found within the dual relationship of the octave, or within that wellknown double reason which is written upon all Beings and from which triple reason has descended. This would have retraced anew for her the dual action of Nature and the third temporal cause established universally upon the two others. At this point I shall limit my observations upon the defects of the Laws that people's imaginations have introduced within music, because anything that I could add would always pertain to this primal error and it is so obvious that I do not need to pursue this subject any further. I shall merely advise the innovators to meditate at length upon the nature of our senses and to notice that the sense of hearing, and that of the other senses, is susceptible to habit. Even acting in good faith, they have been mistaken as they have failed to notice this, and they have created for themselves rules based upon suppositions and unproved things, which time only has caused to appear true and normal. However, it remains for me to examine the use people have made of this music with which they are almost universally occupied, and to determine whether or not they have ever suspected its true application. Apart from the innumerable beauties of which music is susceptible, we recognize in it a strict Law. It is that rigorous measure from which it absolutely cannot deviate. Does not this alone proclaim that music possesses a true Principle and that the hand which directs it is higher than the power of the senses, since the senses possess no stability? Yet, if it pertains to this kind of principles, it is therefore certain that it was never meant to have any other guide and it was intended to be united to its source forever. As we have already perceived, its source being that primal and universal language which indicates and represents things in their natural state, we cannot doubt that music has not been the true measure of things in the same way that writing and the spoken word have expressed their meaning. Therefore, simply by attaching itself to this invariable and fruitful principle, music could have maintained its original rights and fulfilled its true function. This is how it could have painted true-to-life pictures and how all the faculties of its listeners would have been fully satisfied. In short, through this method, music would have accomplished the marvels of which it is capable, and which have been attributed to it at all times. Consequently, in separating music from its source by trying to find its subjects only within artificial sentiments or vague ideas, we have deprived it of its primary support and have removed the means of presenting itself in all its glory. Therefore, what impressions or effects does music produce at the hands of people? What ideas or meanings does it convey to us? Aside from composers, are there many ears which could possess the understanding of what they hear expressed by perceived music? And furthermore, does not the composer himself, after having given rein to his imagination, ever lose the sense of what he has represented or of what he has attempted to depict? Thus, there is nothing more formless or defective than the usage which people have made of this art. This is solely because, having so little occupied themselves with its Principle, they have not endeavored to uphold one by the other reciprocally and they have believed that they could produce copies without having their model before their eyes. It is not that I blame other people for seeking within the infinite resources of this artificial music the pleasure and relaxation it can offer. Nor do I wish to deprive them of the solace which, despite its defects, this art can provide them every day. It can, I am well aware, sometimes assist in reviving within them several of these obscured ideas which, being more refined, may be their sole nourishment and which alone can cause them to discover a point of support. But I shall always advise them to elevate their intelligence above what their senses apprehend, because a person's element is not within the senses. I shall advise them to believe that, however perfect their musical production may be, some are more regular and belong to another order, and that it is even only according to the degree of relative conformity with them that artificial music attracts us and causes us some degree of emotion. When I laid stress upon the precision of the measure to which music is subject, I did not lose sight of this Law's universality. On the contrary, I propose to return to it so as to indicate that, although it embraces all, it nevertheless possesses distinct characteristics and everything here is in full accord with all that has been established. Measure has been shown holding its place among people's intellectual faculties and as being numbered among the Laws directing them We have thereby been able to realize that these intellectual faculties, being themselves the image of the faculties of the superior Principle to which a person is indebted for all, this Principle must also possess its own measure and its own particular Laws. Therefore, if superior things possess their own measure, we should no longer find it surprising that the sensate and inferior things they have created are also subject to it, and consequently, that we should discover within this measure a strict guide for music. But, if we would briefly reflect upon the nature of this sensate measure, we would soon perceive the difference existing between this nature and that which regulates the things of another order. In music, we notice that the measure is always uniform. Once established, the movement perpetuates and repeats itself by the same form and by the same number of beats. In short, everything within it appears so regular and exact that it is impossible not to sense the Law and admit its necessity. This is why this uniform measure is so well adapted to sensate matters, and why we perceive people applying it to all of their productions which occur only as continuous action. We note that this Law serves as a point of support upon which they are content to rest, and we even perceive them making use of it in their most arduous works. In this way we can appreciate the extent of the advantage and usefulness of this powerful aid, since through this aid the worker seems to alleviate hardships that would otherwise appear unbearable to her. Moreover, music can be of assistance in instructing us concerning the nature of sensate things. Offering us such regularity within action and, I dare say, such servitude, it clearly proclaims to us that the residing Principle is not the director of this same action, but on the contrary, everything is constrained and forced within this Principle. This brings to mind what we can observe in different parts of this work concerning the inferiority of matter. Consequently, this only offers us a marked dependence and all the signs of a life that we cannot recognize as other than passive. In other words, not possessing an action of its own, it is obliged to await and receive it from a superior Law which disposes of it and subjects it to its command. Secondly, we may notice that this Law regulating the course of music manifests itself in two ways or by two types of measure known as the two-beat measure and the three-beat measure. We will not take into account the four-beat measure nor all the other subdivisions that can be formulated and which are simply multiples of the two basic measures. Even less can we accept a one-beat measure for the reason that sensate things are neither the result nor the effect of a single action, but have originated and exist only through the means of several united actions. It is the number and quality of such actions we find plainly indicated within the two different types of measure employed in music, as well as within the number of beats that these two types of measure contain. And most certainly, nothing would be more enlightening than to consider this combination of two and three beats in relation to all material things. This is where we would clearly perceive once more the double reason and the triple reason directing the universal course of things. But these points have already been given too much attention. I merely urge people to evaluate what surrounds them, and by no means may I communicate to them the knowledge that can only be the reward of their own desires and efforts. With this in view, I shall promptly bring to an end what I have yet to say regarding the two sensate measures of music. To determine which of these two measures is employed in any given musical composition, we must wait for the completion of the first measure or, what amounts to the same thing, for the beginning of the second measure. Only then does the ear become attuned and sense the number upon which it can depend. As long as a measure is not completed in this manner, we can never know what its number will be since it is always possible to add to the beats already heard. Consequently, is this not an indication to us within Nature itself of an oft-repeated truth, that the properties of sensate things are not stable but only relative, and that they only sustain themselves by one another? If it were not so, a single one of their actions in manifesting itself would carry its own true character and would not await comparison to make itself known. Therefore, the inferiority of artificial music and of all sensate things is such that they only contain passive actions. Their measure, although self-determined, can only be known to us in relation to the other measures with which comparison is being made. Among things of an order more elevated and fully beyond the sensate, this measure makes itself known by more noble traits. In this instance, each Being possesses its own action and also a measure proportional to this action within its Laws. At the same time, since each of these actions is always new and different from what precedes and follows it, it is easy to perceive that the measure accompanying them can never be identical. Thus, the uniformity of measure prevailing in music and sensate things will not be found within this class. Within perishable Nature, everything is subject to dependence and manifests only blind execution. This is simply the effect of the forced assemblage of many agents subject to the same law which, always converging towards the same end in the same way, can only produce a uniform result as long as they experience no disturbance and encounter no obstacles in the accomplishment of their action. In imperishable Nature, on the contrary, all is alive and simple. Each action carries its own Law within itself-in other words, the superior action itself regulates its own measure, whereas measure regulates the inferior action or that of matter and of all passive Nature. Nothing more is needed for us to sense the countless differences existing between artificial music and the living expression of this true language which we proclaim to people as being the most powerful of the means destined to reestablish them within their rights. Therefore, let people now learn how to distinguish this unique and invariable language from all the artificial productions that they continually substitute in its stead. The unique and invariable language, harboring its own Laws within itself, always manifests only those which are just and in conformity with the Principle which makes use of them. Artificial products are created by a person while he is in the shadows and he is unaware whether his actions are in conformity with this superior Principle from which he is separated and which he no longer knows. Thus, when a person observes that her handiwork varies continuously, that the misuse she has made of languages multiplies endlessly in the use of the spoken word and in writing and music; when she perceives that here on Earth we know only the number of things and that most of us die without ever having known their names, then a person will no longer believe that the Principle through which she gives birth to her productions is subject to the same vicissitudes and obscurity. On the contrary, a person will admit that, today, being unable to accomplish anything except through imitation, his works will never possess the solidity of those which are real. Then, debating whether it is possible for everyone to view the model from the same vantage point, he will sense nevertheless that, as this model is in the center, it remains always the same in comparison to the Principle, whose Laws and will it expresses. And, if people were courageous enough to draw nearer to it, they would perceive that all these differences, which occur only because they are so far removed from the center, gradually fade away. Therefore, a person will no longer attribute the properties of the priceless seed which resides within her to habit and imitation. On the contrary, she will agree that habits and imitations are what degrade and obscure the properties of this true, simple, and indestructible seed. In a word, if a person had known how to anticipate all these obstacles or if she had had enough strength to overcome them, she would possess a language as common to herself and to all other people as the essence which constitutes them and which establishes a universal resemblance between them. Indeed, the unity of people's Principle and essence makes it conceivable to better sense the possibility for the unity of their language. If, through the rights of their nature they can all possess the same concepts upon the Laws of Beings, upon the rules of justice, upon their religion and worship, they can then hope to recover use of all their intellectual faculties. In short, if they all tend towards the same goal, if they all have the same work to perform, and if they, however, cannot succeed without the help of languages, it is essential that this attribute be capable of acting through a uniform Law analogous to the universality and intimate unity of all their knowledge. That is why, without recalling all that we have said concerning the superiority of this true language, we believe we can make our readers understand rather clearly how unique and powerful it must be by repeating that it is the only path which can lead a person to Unity and the source of all powers. In other words, it can lead a person to the root of that square of which it is his task to traverse all the sides and of which, according to my promise, I will here reveal the properties and virtues. Previously we have seen established in sufficient detail the relationship of the square, or quaternary number, with causes external to humankind and with the Laws regulating the course of all Beings in Nature. But all that was previously shown is enlightening enough to end any further doubt that this universal emblem must possess an even more interesting relationship with a person, in that it is in more direct relation to himself and that it personally concerns him. Therefore, no one exists who does not recognize in the square a very great affinity with the fourth of the Ten Leaves comprising that Book which, before humankind's reprobation, was always clear and intelligible to people, but which today they can no longer read nor comprehend except through the succession of time. We will, moreover, perceive just as easily a striking similarity with the powerful weapon which was placed in humankind's possession at the time of humanity's original birth and of which the laborious quest constitutes the primary law of a person's condemnation and the sole object of her temporal course. Even still more will we discover the analogy with the productive center that a person occupied at the time of his glory and which he will never fully know without reentering it. Play

And truly, what can better remind us the eminent rank that a person occupied at the time of his origin than this square? This square, as well as the root of which it is the product and image, is singular in nature. The place which a person inhabited is such that it could never be compared with any other. This square measures the total circumference. A person, in the center of his kingdom, embraced all the regions of the Universe. This square is composed of four lines: a person's position was indicated by four communicating lines extending to the four cardinal points of the horizon. This square proceeds from the center and is clearly indicated to us by the four musical consonances which are the primary agents of all the beauties of harmony and which precisely occupy the center of the scale. A person's throne was in the very center of the countries over which he had dominion. And from there he governed the seven instruments of his glory, which I have previously designated as the seven trees. The majority of people would be tempted to assume them to be the seven planets; however, they are neither trees nor planets. Therefore, we can no longer doubt that the square in question is the true sign of this delightful place known upon Earth as the terrestrial paradise. In other words, it is that place of which all peoples have conceived some idea; which each of them has represented in the guise of different fables and allegories according to their wisdom, enlightenment, or blindness; and which naive geographers have sought to discover upon Earth. Thus, the immensity of the privileges which we have attributed to this square in the different sections of this book wherever we have made mention of it must no longer surprise anyone. If all truth and all enlightenment proceed from this sole Principle, if the quaternary emblem is the most perfect image of it, I say one must no longer be surprised that this emblem could enlighten a person upon the knowledge of all phases of Nature. By this I mean the Laws of the immaterial order, temporal order, corporeal order, and mixed order, which constitute the four columns of the edifice. In short, we must admit that the person who possesses the key to this universal symbol will no longer find anything hidden from her in everything that exists, because this number is identical to that of the Being which produces, operates, and embraces all. Yet, however innumerable are the advantages which are connected with it, and however powerful is the true and unique language which leads to it, we are well aware that the unfortunate state of a contemporary person is such that not only can he not reach his destination, but he cannot even take a simple step in that direction without a hand other than his opening the door for him and supporting him all during his lifetime. We are also aware that this powerful hand is that same active and intelligent physical cause, whose eye sees all and whose power supports all existing within time. Yet if its rights are exclusive, how could a person, in her weakness and most absolute privation, and alone in Nature, dispense with such support? Therefore, a person must acknowledge once again both the existence of this cause and the indispensable need that he has of its help so as to reestablish himself in his rights. He will also be obliged to admit that, if it alone can fully satisfy his desire concerning the difficulties which disturb him, the first and the most useful of his duties is to renounce his own weak will as well as the false glimmer of light by which he endeavors to color its errors and to rely solely and absolutely upon the powerful cause that today is the unique guide which must lead him. And truly, this cause is designated to repair not only the wrongs which a person has allowed to occur but even those which she has committed against herself. This cause is continually watching over her, as it does over all other Beings of the Universe, but a person is infinitely more precious to it since she is composed of its own essence and is equally indestructible. Of all the Beings corresponding to the square, they alone are endowed with the privilege of thought, whereas this perishable Nature is, in their eyes, seemingly nonexistent and like a dream. Will not a person's confidence increase in this cause in which all powers preside when he learns that this cause eminently possesses the true and unique language which he has forgotten and which he is today obliged to recall laboriously to his memory; when he realizes that without this cause he cannot know its primary element; and most of all, when he perceives that it resides within and rules supremely over this fruitful square outside of which he will find neither peace nor truth? A person will then no longer doubt that by approaching nearer to it, she approaches nearer to the true and unique light which is her only hope. And along with it, she will discover not only all the knowledge of which we have dealt, but even more importantly, knowledge of herself. Even though this cause pertains to the source of all numbers, it nevertheless manifests itself everywhere, especially through the number of this square, which is likewise the number of humankind. If only it were possible for me to lay aside the veil with which I enfold myself and pronounce the Name of this beneficent cause, the very image of strength and excellence, and upon which I wish I could direct the attention of the entire Universe! Even though this ineffable Being, the key to all Nature, the love and delight of simple Beings, the flambeau of the wise, and even the secret support of the blind, does not cease to sustain a person in all his steps, in the same way that it supports and directs all the actions of the Universe, nevertheless, the Name which would make it better known, were I to utter it, would suffice to cause a majority of people to scorn giving credence to its virtues. It would only make them wary of my entire doctrine. Designating it more clearly would thus have the effect of defeating my purpose, which is to cause people to render it honor. Therefore, I prefer to rely upon the penetrating intelligence of my readers, fully persuaded that, despite the veil with which I have concealed the truth, intelligent people will be able to understand it. Sincere people will be able to appreciate it, and even corrupt people will at least be unable to refrain from sensing it, because all people are Christs. This summarizes the reflections that I have proposed to present. If my pledges had not restrained me, I could undoubtedly have covered a much wider field. Nevertheless, in the few remarks that I have dared to present, I pride myself in having offered only what all people will sense within themselves, whenever they attempt to search inwardly with courage and at the same time protect themselves from blind credulity and haste in their judgments, two vices which both lead to ignorance and error. Consequently, even if I did not possess my own conviction as proof, I would always believe that I have recalled people to their Principle and to truth. Indeed, a person will never be deceived by representing to her forcefully what constitutes her privation and misery, as long as she is bound to transitory and sensate things, and also by pointing out to her that, among this multitude of Beings surrounding her, she and her guide are the only ones who enjoy the privilege of thought. Ifa person desires further proof of this, let him consult within this sensate class regarding all that he perceives surrounding him. Let him inquire of the elements, enemies though they may be, why they are united for the formation and existence of bodies. Let him inquire of the plant why it vegetates, and the animal why it roams upon the surface of the earth. Let him even inquire of the stars why they give light, and why, from the moment they came into existence, they have not for a single instant ceased to follow their course. Deaf to the voice that will interrogate them, each of these Beings will continue to perform its work in silence. They will not render any satisfaction to the desires of a person because their silent actions, speaking only to her corporeal eyes, will reveal nothing to her intelligence. Moreover, let a person inquire of that which is infinitely closer to himself - I speak of that corporeal envelope which he painfully carries with him. Let him ask it why it happens to be joined to a Being with which, according to the Laws constituting him, it is so incompatible. This blind form will not clarify this new problem any better and will still leave a person in uncertainty. Therefore, is there a condition more frustrating and, at the same time, more humiliating than to be relegated to a region in which all Beings living therein are so many strangers to us? Where the language we use to address them cannot be understood? Where, finally, a person, in spite of herself, being chained to a body which is not superior in any way to the other productions of Nature, drags along everywhere with her a Being with which she cannot converse? Thus, regardless of the grandeur and beauty of all these works of Nature among which we are placed, it is certain that being among them is similar to being in a desert in that they can neither understand us nor speak to us. Consequently, if observers were convinced of these truths, they would not have searched in corporeal Nature for the explanations and solutions that it can never provide. Nor would they have searched within contemporary people for the true model of what they should be, since they are so horribly distorted. Nor would they have attempted to explain the Author of All things by Its material productions, whose existence and Laws are subordinate and thus cannot reveal anything concerning It who encompasses all within Itself. Thus, announcing to observers that the path they have taken creates in itself the primary obstacle to their progress and removes them entirely from the road of discovery is to state a truth to which they will easily agree, whenever they may be willing to consider it. Likewise, since they cannot deny possessing the faculty of intelligence, is not telling them that they are created to know and embrace all, speaking the language of their own reason? A faculty of this kind would not be as noble as we sense it to be if, among transitory things, there existed some which ranked above it. Nor would people make such constant effort, as a natural movement, to escape from the annoying fetters of ignorance and bring themselves closer to knowledge, as to a realm which is particularly their own. If they have so little reason to compliment themselves upon their success, they must no longer attribute it to the weakness of their nature nor to the limits of their faculties. It is solely due to the false path they take in attaining their destination. Also, because they do not observe with sufficient attention that each class possesses its own measure and Law, the senses are required to judge sensate things. As long as things are not sensed by the body, they appear nonexistent, since the intelligence is required to judge intellectual things of which the senses can have no knowledge. In short, attempting to apply to one of these classes the Laws and the measure of the other clearly goes against the order dictated by the very nature of things, and consequently, this departs from the only existing method for discerning the truth. Therefore, I find it possible to believe that I am offering to other people only easily perceived truths when I state that the object of their search exists only in the center. For this reason, as long as they travel only around the circumference, they will discover nothing. This center, which must be unique in each Being, is indicated to us by that universal square which is evident in all existing things and is found written everywhere in indelible characters. I have made available to them only a few of the methods of reading within this productive center, which is the sole Principle of light, because, aside from my obligation, revealing myself further would have caused harm. Most certainly they would not have believed me. Therefore, as I have promised myself, I will refer them to their own experience, and never have I pretended, as a person, to possess any other rights. However, few are the means of which I have given them some idea, and however few are the steps that I have caused them to take in their progress, they will not fail to attain some confidence upon perceiving the expanse it has disclosed to their eyes and the application which we have made upon so great a number of different objects. Since it would be contrary to all the Laws of truth to assert that the multitude and diversity of objects could constitute what is forbidden to a person's understanding, I do not assume that this field could by its very vastness appear impracticable to other people. Definitely not. If a person is born within the center, there exists nothing that he cannot perceive, nothing that he cannot embrace. On the contrary, the only fault that he could commit would be to isolate and dismantle some phases of universal knowledge, since this would divide Unity by directly attacking its Principle. And in this sense, let my readers decide between this method and my own. Despite the prodigious variety of points that I have covered, I have unified all and made it a single science. Observers, on the other hand, make a thousand sciences of it, and every matter becomes the object of a separate doctrine and study. Nor do I need to call their attention to the fact that, after having presented all these observations regarding the various human sciences, they must assume that I possess at least basic notions regarding these. Moreover, by observing the marked reserve prevailing in this writing and the widely prevalent veil found herein, they can presume that I would probably have more to say to them than what they have perceived and more than what is generally known among them. However, far from viewing them with contempt when considering the obscurity in which they still dwell, all of my wishes tend to perceive them emerging from the darkness so as to direct their steps towards paths more luminous than those in which they grovel. Continuing in the same vein, although I have been fortunate enough to have been led farther than they in the search for truth, far from being consumed with pride and far from believing that I know anything, I openly proclaim my ignorance. In anticipation of their suspicion upon the sincerity of this admission, I will add that it would be impossible for me to delude myself upon this subject because I possess proof that I know nothing. This is why I have so often stated that I have no pretension of leading my readers to some conclusion. It will be enough for me to have somehow forced them to admit that the blind course of human sciences takes them even farther from the goal towards which they tend, since it leads them to even doubt that such a goal exists. They will be forced to admit that by depriving the sciences of the single Principle which directs them and from which they are in themselves inseparable, they can only become further immersed in the most fearful ignorance, rather than becoming enlightened. It is only by having rejected this Principle that observers search everywhere and why they almost never agree among themselves. Therefore, I repeat, it is enough today to have unveiled for them the essential point of the difficulties standing in their way. Truth will extend its rays more abundantly in the future and it will, in its own time, again take possession of the kingdom for which the vain sciences contend today. As for myself, being ever so slightly worthy of contemplating it, I have been obliged to confine my endeavors to causing other people to sense that it exists, and that a person, despite her misery, could convince herself of this every day of her life if she would better regulate her will. Therefore, I know that it would afford me the most exquisite recompense if, after having read my book, each person would say in the heart of her heart, there is a Truth, but I can address myself to something superior to humankind so as to learn it.



# THE CONFESSIONS OF JACOB BOEHME

## Contents

- Note By The Editor
- Introduction
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17

## Note By The Editor

ONE day last winter, in a moment which I must confess to have been idle, I took up Dr. Alexander Whyte's "Appreciation" of Behmen as, following William Law, he calls him. There I found the following passage: "While we have nothing that can properly be called a biography of Jacob Behmen, we have ample amends made to us in those priceless morsels of autobiography that lie scattered so plentifully up and down all his books. And nothing could be more charming than just those incidental and unstudied utterances of Behmen about himself. Into the very depths of a passage of the profoundest speculation Behmen will all of a sudden throw a few verses of the most childlike and heart-winning confidences about his own mental history and his own spiritual experience. And thus it is that, without at all intending it, Behmen has left behind him a complete history of his great mind and his holy heart in those outbursts of diffidence, depreciation, explanation, and self-defence, of which his philosophical and theological, as well as his apologetic and experimental, books are all so full. It were an immense service done to our best literature if some of Behmen's students would go through all Behmen's books, so as to make a complete collection and composition of the best of these autobiographic passages. ... It would then be seen by all, what few, till then, will believe, that Jacob Behmen's mind and heart and spiritual experience all combine to give him a foremost place among the most classical masters in that great field." I turned at once to the massive volumes of English translation which the eighteenth century has bequeathed to us. My copy has the name of Maurice on the title-page - Frederick Denison Maurice - for whom Boehme was, he said, "a generative thinker," and on the fly-leaf there is John Sterling, whose granddaughter gave me the books. There I found, where before I had looked for the doctrine only, the man himself. I determined to do my best to extract from the formless mass of writings what was necessary to show that man.

The old translation was known to be as faithful as could fairly be hoped for, and nothing better existed or could now be made. Twentieth-century English would not do. So I used my own copy and followed it very closely. No translation is as sacred as an original, and I have therefore allowed myself to make small changes in the interests of clearness and accuracy, while carefully respecting both the style of the translator and the mind and meaning of the author.

My task has been in the main one of rigorous omission; I have kept only what was precious for my purpose. Everything that did not reveal the man himself I have rejected; but some of his doctrine is eminently the man, and this I have retained. The outcome, I believe, is a spiritual autobiography which, although it is by a writer who was born nearly three hundred and fifty years ago and has been read and studied by thousands, has never been seen in its continuity before.

## Introduction

IM Wasser lebt der Fisch, die Pflanze in der Erden,  
Der Vogel in der Luft, die Sonn' am Firmament,  
Der Salamander muss im Feu'r erhalten werden,  
Und Gottes Herz ist Jakob Boehmes Element.  
*Angelas of Silesia*.

I

JACOB BOEHME, who reveals to us in this book some of the secrets of his inner life, was among the most original of the great Christian mystics. With a natural genius for the things of the spirit, he also exhibited many of the characteristics of the psychic, the seer, and the metaphysician; and his influence on philosophy has been at least as great as his influence on religious mysticism.

No mystic is born ready-made. He is, like other men, the product of nurture no less than of nature. Tradition and environment condition both his vision and its presentation. So, Boehme's peculiar and often difficult doctrine will better be understood when we know something of his outer life and its influences. He was born of peasant stock in 1575, at a village near Gorlitz on the borders of Saxony and Silesia, and as a boy tended cattle in the fields. Of a pious, dreamy, and brooding disposition, even in childhood he is said to have had visionary experiences. Not being sufficiently robust for field-work, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker; but, his severe moral ideas causing disputes with the other workmen, he was dismissed and became a travelling cobbler. During this enforced exile, which coincided with the most impressionable period of youth, Boehme learned something of the unsatisfactory religious conditions of his time; the bitter disputes and mutual intolerance which divided Protestant Germany, the empty formalism which passed for Christianity. He also came into contact with the theosophic and hermetic speculations which distinguished contemporary German thought, and seemed to many to offer an escape into more spiritual regions from the unrealities of institutional religion. He was himself full of doubts and inward conflict; tortured not only by the craving for spiritual certainty but also by the unruly impulses and passionate longings of adolescence that "powerful contrarium" of which he so constantly speaks which are often felt by the mystic in their most exaggerated form. His religious demands were of the simplest kind: "I never desired to know anything of the Divine Majesty ... I sought only after the heart of Jesus Christ, that I might hide myself therein from the wrathful anger of God and the violent assaults of the Devil." Like St. Augustine in his study of the Platonists, Boehme was seeking "the country which is no mere vision, but a home"; and in this he already showed himself a true mystic. His longings and struggles for light were rewarded, as they have been in so many seekers at the beginning of their quest, by an intuition of reality, resolving for a time the disharmonies that tormented him. Conflict gave way to a new sense of stability and "blessed peace." This lasted for seven days, during which he felt himself to be "surrounded by the Divine Light": an experience paralleled in the lives of many other contemplatives.

At nineteen, Boehme returned to Gorlitz, where he married the butcher's daughter. In 1599 he became a master-shoemaker and settled down to his trade. In the following year, his first great illumination took place. Its character was peculiar, and indicative of his abnormal psychic constitution. Having lately passed through a new period of gloom and depression, he was gazing dreamily at a polished pewter dish which caught and reflected the rays of the sun. Thus brought, in a manner which any psychologist will understand, into a state of extreme suggestibility, the mystical faculty took abrupt possession of the mental field. It seemed to him that he had an inward vision of the true character and meaning of all created things. Holding this state of lucidity, so marvellous in its sense of renovation that he compares it to resurrection from the dead, he went out into the fields. As Fox, possessed by the same ecstatic consciousness, found that "all creation gave another smell beyond what words can utter," so Boehme now gazed into the heart of the herbs and grass, and perceived all nature ablaze with the inward light of the Divine.

It was a pure intuition, exceeding his powers of speech and thought: but he brooded over it in secret, "labouring in the mystery as a child that goes to school," and felt its meaning "breeding within him" and gradually unfolding "like a young plant." The inward light was not constant; his unruly lower nature persisted, and often prevented it from breaking through into the outward mind. This state of psychic disequilibrium and moral struggle, during which he read and meditated deeply, lasted for nearly twelve years. At last, in 1610, it was resolved by another experience, coordinating all his scattered intuitions in one great vision of reality. Boehme now felt a strong impulse to write some record of that which he had seen, and began in leisure hours his first book, the *Aurora*. The title of this work, which he describes as "the Root or Mother of Philosophy, Astrology, and Theology," shows the extent to which he had absorbed current theosophic notions: but his own vivid account - one of the most remarkable first-hand descriptions of automatic or inspirational writing that exists - shows too how small a part his surface mind played in the composition of this book, which he "set down diligently in the impulse of God." Boehme, like the ancient prophets and many lesser seers, was possessed by a spirit which, whether we choose to regard it as an external power or a phase of his own complex nature, was dissociated from the control of his will, and "came and went as a sudden shower." It poured itself forth in streams of strange and turbid eloquence, unchecked by the critical action of the intellect. He has told us that during the years when his vision was breeding within him he "perused many masterpieces of writing." These almost certainly included the works of Valentine Weigel and his disciples, and other hermetic and theosophic books; and the fruit of these half-comprehended studies is manifest in the astrological and alchemical symbolism which adds so much to the obscurity of his style. Like many visionaries, he was abnormally sensitive to the evocative power of words, using them as often for their suggestive quality as for their sense. A story is told of him that, hearing for the first time the Greek word "Idea," he became intensely excited, and exclaimed: "I see a pure and heavenly maiden!" It is to this faculty that we must probably attribute his love of alchemical symbols and the high-sounding magical jargon of his day.

A copy of the manuscript of the *Aurora* having fallen into the hands of Gregorius Richter, the Pastor Primarius of Gorlitz, Boehme was violently attacked for his unorthodox opinions, and even threatened with immediate exile. Finally he was allowed to remain in the town but forbidden to continue writing. He obeyed this decree for five years; for him, a period of renewed struggle and gloom, during which he was torn between respect for authority and the imperative need for self expression. His opinions, however, became known. They brought him much persecution - "shame, ignominy, and reproach," he says, "budding and blossoming every day" - but also gained him friends and admirers of the educated class, especially among the local students of hermetic philosophy and mysticism. It was under their influence that Boehme - his vocabulary now much enriched and his ideas clarified as the result of numerous discussions began in 1619 to write again. In the five years between this date and his death, he composed all his principal works. Their bulk - and also, we must confess, their frequent obscurities and repetitions - testify to the fury with which the spirit often drove "the penman's hand." Some, however, do seem to have been written with conscious art, to explain special points of difficulty; for Boehme's first confused and overwhelming intuitions of reality had slowly given place to a more lucid vision. The "Aurora" had turned to "a lovely bright day," in which his vigorous intellect was able to deal with that which he had seen "couched and wrapt up in the depths of the Deity." Thus the *Forty Questions* gives his answers to problems stated by the learned Dr. Walther, principal of the chemical laboratory at Dresden. His reputation had now spread through Germany, and eminent scholars came to his workshop to learn from him. In 1622 he left off the practice of his trade and devoted himself entirely to writing and exposition.

The publication of the beautiful *Way to Christ*, which was privately printed by one of these admirers in 1623, caused a fresh attack on the part of his old enemy Richter. For once, Boehme condescended to controversy, and replied with dignity to the violent accusations of blasphemy and heresy brought against him. He was nevertheless compelled by the magistrates to leave the town, where he now had a large number of disciples. He went first to the electoral court of Dresden; there meeting the chief theologians of the day, who were deeply impressed by his prophetic earnestness and intense piety, and refused to uphold the charge of heresy. In August 1624, the death of Richter allowed him to return to Gorlitz; but he was already mortally ill, and died on November 21st of that year, at the age of forty-nine.

II

In trying to estimate the character of Boehme's teaching, it is important to realize the sources of his principal conceptions. Though his early revelations, abruptly surging up from the unconscious region, seemed to him to owe nothing to the art of reason, yet it is undeniable that they were strongly influenced by memories of books read, beliefs accepted, and experiences endured. The "lightning-flash" in which he had his sudden visions of the Universe, also illuminated the furniture of his own mind and gave to it a fresh significance and authority. Thus it is often his own interior drama which he sees reflected on the cosmic screen; a proceeding which the "theosophic" doctrine of man as the microcosm of the Universe helped him to justify. His unstable temperament, with its alternations between gloom and illumination, its constant sense of struggle, its abrupt escapes into the light the "powerful contrarium" with which he "stood in perpetual combat" - conditions his picture of the eternal conflict between light and darkness at the very heart of creation; the crude stuff of striving nature and the formative Spirit of God. The "living running fire" which he feels in his own spirit, is his assurance of the Divine fiery creative energy.

Further, the Lutheran Christianity which formed the basis of his religious life contributed many elements to his scheme. Thence came the intense moral dualism, the Pauline opposition between the "dark-world" of unregenerate nature and the "light-world" of grace, the doctrines of the Trinity and of regeneration, and generally those credal symbols which he often uses in a theosophic sense. He is familiar with the Bible, making constant though sometimes fantastic use of its language and imagery. Finally, the German mystics and hermetic philosophers of the Renaissance, in whom he was deeply read, gave him much of the raw material of his philosophy. Alchemy in his day was still a favourite toy of speculative minds; being understood partly in the physical, partly in the transcendental sense. The "doctrine of signatures," which is the subject of one of Boehme's later works, was still taken seriously as a guide to practical medicine; the stuffed crocodile hung in the laboratory, the toad and the spider were carefully distilled. Yet for the spiritual alchemists the quest of the Stone was the quest of an unearthly perfection, and human nature was the true matter of the "great work." This "hermetic science," in which chemistry, magic, and mysticism were strangely combined, plainly made a strong appeal to Boehme; and its influence upon his work was not always fortunate. But his debt to the more genuinely mystical writers of the sixteenth century, especially the Silesian reformer, Caspar Schwenckfeld, and Valentine Weigel, is of far greater importance. Certainly through Weigel, and perhaps also at first-hand, he became acquainted with Paracelsus, whose doctrine of humanity as the sum of three orders - the natural, the astral, and the divine - he adopts in the *Threefold Life of Man* and *Three Principles of the Divine Essence*. Through Weigel, too, he traces his descent from the great German mystics of the fourteenth century; for the saintly pastor of Zschopau was soaked in the works of Tauler, and edited that pearl of Christian mysticism the *Theologia Germanica*. Boehme, therefore, was far from being an isolated spiritual phenomenon. He was fed from many sources; but all that he received was fused and remade in the furnace of his own inner life. The result was a new creation, as unique as the White Stone which the alchemist made from his mercury, sulphur, and salt; but we do it no honour by ignoring the elements from which it sprang.

It is not possible to extract from Boehme's vast, prolix, and often difficult works any closed system of philosophy. Often he repeats himself, sometimes contradicts himself, or hides his meaning behind a haze of inconsistent symbols; for his writing never wholly lost its inspirational character. But as we study these writings we gradually discern certain guiding lines, certain fixed characters, which help us to find our way through the maze. These, thoroughly grasped, enable us to recognize order and meaning in that which is often an apparent chaos; to enjoy and understand something of that revelation which transformed the little Saxon cobbler into a prophet of the Kingdom of God.

Boehme's map of reality is based, like that of most mystics, on the number three, and has several interesting points of contact with Neoplatonism. The universe in its essence consists of three worlds, which are "none other than God Himself in His wonderful works." Without and beyond Nature is the Abyss of the Deity, "the Eternal Good that is the Eternal One": a Plotinian definition of the Absolute which may have reached Boehme through Eckhart and his school. The three worlds are the trinity of emanations through which the transcendent Unity achieves self-expression. Boehme calls them the fire-world, the light-world, and the dark-world. They are not mutually exclusive spheres, but aspects of a whole. By them "we are to understand a threefold Being, or three worlds in one another"; and all have their part in the production of that outward world of sense in which we live.

*Fire* is the eternal energetic Divine will towards creation; that unresting life, born of a craving, which inspires the natural world of becoming. "What ever is to come to anything must have Fire": it .is the self-expression of the Father. From the primal fire or fount of generation in its fierceness are born the pair of opposites through which the Divine energy is manifested: the "dark-world" of conflict, evil, and wrath which is Eternal Nature in itself, and the "light-world" of wisdom and love, which is Eternal Spirit in itself the Platonic *Nous*, the Son of Christian theology. The dark-world represents that quality in life which is recalcitrant to all we call divine; "unregenerate nature," which was for Boehme no illusion but a dreadful fact. It is the sphere of undetermined non-moral striving, and of all "biting, hating, and striking and arrogant self-will among men and beasts." The light-world is the sphere of all determined goodness and beauty; the state of being towards which the fiery impulse of becoming should tend. It is the Word, or "Heart of God," as distinguished from His Will, and holds within itself all those values which we speak of as divine. In the Light is "the eternal original of all powers, colours, and virtues." Here again, we perceive the Platonic ancestry of one of Boehme's most characteristic ideas. In and through this Light the crude strivings of the fiery life-force are sublimated; its titanic zest is transformed into "the desire of love and joy." The Dark is necessary to it, because "nothing without opposition can become manifest to itself."

The outer world in which we dwell according to the body is the creation of the Fire and the Light. Ignoring the separate existence of the dark-world, which is then looked upon as one aspect of the Fire, Boehme sometimes speaks of this physical order as the third Divine Principle, or sphere of the Holy Spirit, the "Lord and Giver of Life"; who is thus assigned a position very close to the Plotinian *Psyche*, or "soul of the world." This outer world, he says, is "both evil and good, both terrible and lovely," since in it love and wrath strive together. "The Nature-life works unto Fire, and the Spirit-life unto Light." The business alike of universal and of human life, the essence of its "salvation," is the bringing of the Light out of its fiery origin - spiritual beauty out of the raw stuff of energetic nature. This perpetual shooting up of life from nature-dark to spirit-light is sometimes called by Boehme the "new birth of Christ" and sometimes the "growing up of the Lily." It is happening all the while; the triumphant self-realization of the perfection of God. He sees the universe as a vast alchemic process, a seething pot, perpetually distilling the base metals into celestial gold.

As with the cosmos, so with its microcosm man. He, too, is in process of becoming. The "great work" of the hermetists must be accomplished in him, and he must accept its "anguish" the conflict of the fire and the light. "Man must be at war with himself, if he wishes to be a heavenly citizen." The combat is inevitable, and the victory is possible, because we have the essence of all three worlds within us, and are "made of *all* the powers of God." The eternal Light "glimmers" in every consciousness. "When I see a right man," says Boehme, "there I see three worlds standing." Hence human life is "a hinge between light and darkness; to whichever it gives itself up, in that same does it burn." Its possibilities of adventure are infinite. The arc through which it may swing is as wide as the difference between hell and heaven. Fire - anguish, effort, and conflict - it cannot escape; this is the manifestation of that will which is life. But it can choose between the torment of its own separate dark fire the self-centred craving which is the essence of sin and self-abandonment to the divine fire of God's unresting will towards perfection. The one sets up a whirlpool within the eternal process: the other contributes its store of energy and love to that universal work which transmutes the dark elements into the light, and heals the apparent cleavage between "nature" and "spirit." "Our whole teaching," says Boehme, "is nothing else than how a man should kindle in himself God's light-world." That world is here and now; and his one aim was to open the eyes of other men to this encompassing and all-penetrating reality. All lies in the direction of the will: "What we make of ourselves, that we are." For him, the universe was primarily a religious fact: its fiery energies, its impulse towards growth and change, were significant because they were aspects of the life of God. His cosmic vision was the direct outcome of spiritual experience; he told it, because he wished to stimulate in all men the spiritual life, make them realize that "Heaven and Hell are present everywhere, and it is but the turning of the *will* either into God's love or into His wrath, that introduceth into them." When the restlessness of becoming, the anxious craving, which should lead both cosmic and human life to its bourne, is turned back on itself and becomes a fiery self-devouring desire, a "wheel of anguish," the alchemic process goes wrong. Then is produced the condition which Boehme calls the *turba;* and the *turba* is the essence of hell. But everyone who yields himself to the impulse of the Light stands by that very act in the heaven of God's heart; for "Heaven is nothing but a manifestation of the Eternal One, wherein all worketh and willeth in quiet love."

Hence at the end of this vast dynamic vision, this astonishing harmony of the scientific and the Christian universe, we find that the imperatives which govern man's entry into truth are moral: patience, courage, love, and surrender of the will. These evangelical virtues are the condition of our knowledge of reality; for though "God dwells in all things, nothing comprehends Him unless it be one with Him." This is the doctrine of all the great mystics, and they have proved its truth in their own lives. Such an attunement of human to divine life is the real object of Christianity: and we must not forget that Boehme was before all else a practical Christian, for whom his religion was a vital process, not merely a creed. He complained that the orthodox of his day were content to believe that Christ had once died for them; but such acceptance of history saved none. "A true Christian is not a mere historical new man" - he is a biological fact, the crown of the "great work" of spiritual alchemy. Christian history is only "the cradle of the Child"; the framework within which the law of regeneration is perpetually manifested, and the "heavenly man," citizen of the eternal light-world, is brought forth in the world of time. This, says Boehme, "we heartily wish that the titular and Lip-Christians might once find by experience in themselves, and so pass from the history into the substance." It was from the fulness of his own experience that he wrote, as this collection of his personal declarations shows. In it we see how close was the connection between his inner life and his "mystical" vision; the great moral demands and perpetual conflicts which conditioned his intuitive knowledge of reality. That knowledge was the fruit of the "earnest seeking" pursued from adolescence to the end of his earthly life: of a will and craving persistently yet humbly set on the only rational object of desire, and turning to its purposes every element of his threefold nature. Such completeness of dedication is the foundation of all sane mysticism, and works in those who achieve it a veritable change of consciousness, an enhancement of life, inconceivable to other men.

"Make trial in this manner," says Boehme again, "and thou wilt quickly see and feel another man with another sense and thoughts and understanding. I speak as I know and have found by experience; a soldier knows how it is in the wars. This I write out of love as one who telleth in the spirit how it hath gone with himself, for an example to others, to try if any would follow him and find out how true it is."

EVELYN UNDERHILL

## Chapter 1

ART has not wrote this, neither was there any time to consider how to set it punctually down, according to the right understanding of letters, but all was ordered according to the direction of the Spirit, which often went in haste; so that in many words letters may be wanting, and in some places a capital letter for a word. The Penman's hand, by reason he was not accustomed to it, did often shake; and though I could have wrote in a more accurate, fair, and plain manner, yet the reason I did not was this, that the burning fire often forced forward with speed, and the hand and pen must hasten directly after it; for that fire comes and goes as a sudden shower. I can write nothing of myself but as a child which neither knows nor understands anything, which neither has ever been learnt; and I write only that which the Lord vouchsafes to know in me according to the measure as himself manifests in me.

I never desired to know anything of the Divine Mystery, much less understood I the way to seek and find it. I knew nothing of it, which is the condition of poor laymen in their simplicity.

I sought only after the heart of Jesus Christ, that I might hide myself therein from the wrathful anger of God and the violent assaults of the Devil. And I besought the Lord earnestly for his Holy Spirit and his grace, that he would please to bless and guide me in him, and take that away from me which turned me from him. I resigned myself wholly to him, that I might not live to my own will, but his; and that he only might lead and direct me, to the end I might be his child in his son Jesus.

In this my earnest and Christian seeking and desire (wherein I suffered many a shrewd repulse, but at last resolved rather to put myself in hazard than leave off), the Gate was opened to me, that in one quarter of an hour I saw and knew more than if I had been many years together at an University, at which I exceedingly admired and thereupon turned my praise to God for it.

So that I did not only greatly wonder at it, but did also exceedingly rejoice; and presently it came powerfully into my mind to set the same down in writing, for a memorial for myself, though I could very hardly apprehend the same in my external man and express it with the pen. Yet, however, I must begin to labour in this great mystery as a child that goes to school.

I saw it as in a great deep in the internal; for I had a thorough view of the Universe, as a complex moving fulness wherein all things are couched and wrapped up; but it was impossible for me to explain the same.

Yet it opened itself in me, from time to time, as in a young plant. It was with me for the space of twelve years, and was as it were breeding. I found a powerful instigation within me before I could bring it forth into external form of writing; but whatever I could apprehend with the external principle of my mind, that I wrote down.

Afterwards, however, the Sun shone upon me a good while, but not constantly, for sometimes the Sun hid itself, and then I knew not nor well understood my own labour. Man must confess that his knowledge is not his own but from God, who manifests the Ideas of Wisdom to the soul, in what measure he pleases.

It is not to be understood that my reason is greater or higher than that of all other men living; but I am the Lord's twig or branch, and a very mean and little spark of his light; he may set me where he pleases, I cannot hinder him in that.

Neither is this my natural will, that I can do it by my own small ability; for if the Spirit were withdrawn from me, then I could neither know nor understand my own writings.

O gracious amiable Blessedness and great Love, how sweet art thou! How friendly and courteous art thou! How pleasant and lovely is thy relish and taste! How ravishing sweetly dost thou smell! O noble Light, and bright Glory, who can apprehend thy exceeding beauty? How comely adorned is thy love! How curious and excellent are thy colours! And all this eternally. Who can express it?

Or why and what do I write, whose tongue does but stammer like a child which is learning to speak? With what shall I compare it? or to what shall I liken it? Shall I compare it with the love of this world? No, that is but a mere dark valley to it.

O immense Greatness! I cannot compare thee with any thing, but only with the resurrection from the dead; there will the Love-Fire rise up again in us, and rekindle again our astringent, bitter, and cold, dark and dead powers, and embrace us most courteously and friendly.

O gracious, amiable, blessed Love and clear bright Light, tarry with us, I pray thee, for the evening is at hand.

## Chapter 2

I AM a sinful and mortal man, as well as thou, and I must every day and hour grapple, struggle, and fight with the Devil who afflicts me in my corrupted lost nature, in the wrathful power which is in my flesh, as in all men continually.

Suddenly I get the better of him, suddenly he is too hard for me; yet, notwithstanding, he has not overcome or conquered me, though he often gets the advantage over me.

If he buffets me, then I must retire and give back, but the divine power helps me again; then he also receives a blow, and often loses the day in the fight.

But when he is overcome, then the heavenly gate opens in my spirit, and then the spirit sees the divine and heavenly Being, not externally beyond the body, but in the well-spring of the heart. There rises up a flash of the Light in the sensibility or thoughts of the brain, and therein the Spirit does contemplate.

For man is made out of all the powers of God, out of all the seven spirits of God, as the angels also are. But now seeing he is corrupted, therefore the divine moving does not always unfold its powers and operate in him. And though it springs in him, and if indeed it shines, yet it is incomprehensible to the corrupted nature.

For the Holy Ghost will not be held in the sinful flesh, but rises up like a lightning-flash, as fire sparkles and flashes out of a stone when a man strikes it.

But when the flash is caught in the fountain of the heart, then the Holy Spirit rises up, in the seven unfolding fountain spirits, into the brain, like the dawning of the day, the morning redness.

In that Light the one sees the other, feels the other, smells the other, tastes the other, and hears the other, and is as if the whole Deity rose up therein.

Herein the spirit sees into the depth of the Deity; for in God near and far off is all one; and that same God is in his three-foldness as well in the body of a holy soul as in heaven.

From this God I take my knowledge and from no other thing; neither will I know any other thing than that same God. And he it is which makes that assurance in my spirit, that I steadfastly believe and trust in him.

Though an angel from heaven should tell this to me, yet for all that I could not believe it, much less lay hold on it; for I should always doubt whether it was certainly so or no. But the Sun itself arises in my spirit, and therefore I am most sure of it.

The soul liveth in great danger in this world; and therefore this life is very well called the valley of misery, full of anguish, a perpetual hurly-burly, pulling and hauling, warring, fighting, struggling and striving.

But the cold and half-dead body does not always understand this fight of the soul. The body does not know how it is with it, but is heavy and anxious; it goes from one business to another, and from one place to another; it seeketh for ease and rest.

And when it comes where it would be, yet it finds no such thing as that which it seeks. Then doublings and unbelief come upon it; sometimes it seems to it as if God had quite cast it off. It doth not understand the fight of the spirit, how the same is sometimes down and sometimes uppermost.

Thou must know that I write not here as a story or history, as if it was related to me from another. I must continually stand in that combat, and I find it to be full of heavy strivings wherein I am often struck down to the ground, as well as all other men.

But for the sake of the violent fight, and for the sake of the earnestness which we have together, this revelation has been given me, and the vehement driving or impulse to bring it so to pass as to set all down on paper.

What the total sequel is, which may follow upon and after this, I do not fully know. Only sometimes future mysteries in the depth are shown to me.

For when the flash rises up in the centre, one sees through and through, but cannot well apprehend or lay hold on it; for it happens to such an one as when there is a tempest of lightning, where the flash of fire opens itself and suddenly vanishes.

So it goes also in the soul when it breaks quite through in its combat. Then it beholds the Deity as a flash of lightning; but the source and the unfolding of sins covers it suddenly again. For the old Adam belongs to the earth, and does not, with the flesh, belong to God.

In this combat I had many hard trials to my heart's grief. My Sun was often eclipsed or extinguished, but did rise again; and the oftener it was eclipsed the brighter and clearer was its rising again.

I do not write this for my own praise, but to the end that the reader may know wherein my knowledge stands, that he might not seek from me that which I have not, or think me to be what I am not.

But what I am, that all men are who wrestle in Jesus Christ our King for the crown of the eternal Joy, and live in the hope of perfection.

I marvel that God should reveal himself thus fully to such a simple man, and that he thus impels him also to set it down in writing; whereas there are many learned writers which could set it forth and express it better, and demonstrate it more exactly and fully than I, that am a scorn and fool to the world.

But I neither can nor will oppose him; for I often stood in great striving against him, that if it was not his impulse and will he would be pleased to take it from me; but I find that with my striving against him I have merely gathered stones for this building.

Now I am climbed up and mounted so very high that I dare not look back for fear a giddiness should take me; and I have now but a short length of ladder to the mark to which it is the whole desire, longing, and delight of my heart to reach fully. When I go upward I have no giddiness at all; but when I look back and would return, then am I giddy and afraid to fall.

Therefore have I put my confidence in the strong God, and will venture, and see what will come of it. I have no more but one body, which nevertheless is mortal and corruptible; I willingly venture that. If the light and knowledge of my God do but remain with me, then I have sufficiently enough for this life and the life to come.

Thus I will not be angry with my God, though for his Name's sake I should endure shame, ignominy, and reproach, which springs, buds, and blossoms for me every day, so that I am almost inured to it: I will sing with the prophet David, Though my body and soul should faint and fail, yet thou, O God, art my trust and confidence; also my salvation and the comfort of my heart.

## Chapter 3

MEN have always been of the opinion that heaven is many hundred, nay, many thousand, miles distant from the face of the earth, and that God dwells only in that heaven.

Some have undertaken to measure this height and distance, and have produced many strange and monstrous devices. Indeed, before my knowledge and revelation of God, I held that only to be the true heaven which, in a round circumference, very azure of a light blue colour, extends itself above the stars; supposing that God had therein his peculiar Being, and did rule only in the power of his Holy Spirit in this world.

But when this had given me many a hard blow and repulse, doubtless from the Spirit, which had a great longing yearning towards me, at last I fell into a very deep melancholy and heavy sadness, when I beheld and contemplated the great Deep of this world, also the sun and stars, the clouds, rain and snow, and considered in my spirit the whole creation of the world.

Wherein then I found, in all things, evil and good, love and anger; in the inanimate creatures, in wood, stones, earth and the elements, as also in men and beasts.

Moreover I considered the little spark of light, man, what he should be esteemed for with God, in comparison of this great work and fabric of heaven and earth.

And finding that in all things there was evil and good, as well in the elements as in the creatures, and that it went as well in this world with the wicked as with the virtuous, honest and godly; also that the barbarous people had the best countries in their possession, and that they had more prosperity in their ways than the virtuous, honest and godly had; I was thereupon very melancholy, perplexed and exceedingly troubled, no Scripture could comfort or satisfy me though I was very well acquainted with it and versed therein; at which time the Devil would by no means stand idle, but was often beating into me many heathenish thoughts which I will here be silent in.

Yet when in this affliction and trouble I elevated my spirit (which then I understood very little or nothing at all what it was), I earnestly raised it up into God, as with a great storm or onset, wrapping up my whole heart and mind, as also all my thoughts and whole will and resolution, incessantly to wrestle with the Love and Mercy of God, and not to give over unless he blessed me, that is, unless he enlightened me with his Holy Spirit, whereby I might understand his will and be rid of my sadness. And then the Spirit did break through.

But when in my resolved zeal I gave so hard an assault, storm, and onset upon God and upon all the gates of hell, as if I had more reserves of virtue and power ready, with a resolution to hazard my life upon it (which assuredly were not in my ability without the assistance of the Spirit of God), suddenly my spirit did break through the gates of hell, even into the innermost moving of the Deity, and there I was embraced in love as a bridegroom embraces his dearly beloved bride.

The greatness of the triumphing that was in my spirit I cannot express either in speaking or writing; neither can it be compared to any thing but that wherein life is generated in the midst of death.

It is like the resurrection from the dead. In this light my spirit suddenly saw through all, and in and by all, the creatures; even in herbs and grass it knew God, who he is and how he is and what his will is. And suddenly in that light my will was set on by a mighty impulse to describe the Being of God.

But because I could not presently apprehend the deepest movings of God and comprehend them in my reason, there passed almost twelve years before the exact understanding thereof was given me.

And it was with me as with a young tree, which is planted in the ground and at first is young and tender, and flourishing to the eye, especially if it comes on lustily in its growing; but does not bear fruit presently, and though it has blossoms they fall off: also frost and snow and many a cold wind beat upon it before it comes to any growth and bearing of fruit.

So also it went with my spirit: the first fire was but a beginning and not a constant and lasting light; since that time many a cold wind blew upon it, yet never extinguished it.

The tree was also often tempted to try whether it could bear fruit, and showed itself with blossoms; but the blossoms were struck off till this very time, wherein it stands in its fruit.

From this light now it is that I have my knowledge, as also my will, impulse and driving; and therefore I will set down the knowledge in writing according to my gift, and let God work his will. Though I should enrage the whole world, the Devil, and all the gates of hell, I will look on and wait what the Lord intends with it.

For I am too, too weak to know his purpose; and though the Spirit affords in the light some things to be known which are to come, yet according to the outward man I am too weak to comprehend them.

The animated or soulish spirit, which unfolds its powers and unites with God, comprehends it well; but the animal body attains only a glimpse thereof; just as by a lightning-flash. This is the state of the innermost moving of the soul, when it breaks through the outermost in an elevation by the Holy Ghost. But the outermost presently closes again, for the wrath of God is stirred up there as fire is struck from the stone, and holds it captive in its power.

Then the knowledge of the outward man is gone, and he walks up and down, afflicted and anxious, as a woman with child who is in her travail, and would willingly bring forth, but cannot and is full of throes.

Thus it goes also with the animal body when it has once tasted of the sweetness of God. Then it continually hungers and thirsts after it; but the Devil in the power of God's wrath opposes exceedingly, and so a man in such a course must continually be anxious; and there is nothing but fighting and warring for him.

I write not this for my own glory, but for a comfort to the reader, so that if perhaps he be minded to walk with me upon my narrow bridge, he should not suddenly be discouraged, dismayed, and distrustful, when the gates of hell and God's wrath meet him and present themselves before him.

When we shall come together, over this narrow bridge of the fleshly working, to be in yonder green meadow to which the wrath of God does not reach, then we shall be fully requited for all our damages and hurts we have sustained; though indeed at present the world accounts us for fools, and we must suffer the Devil to domineer, rush, and roar over us.

Now observe: if thou fixest thy thoughts concerning heaven, and wouldst willingly conceive in thy mind what it is and where it is and how it is, thou needst not to cast thy thoughts many thousand miles off, for that place, that heaven, is not thy heaven.

And though indeed that is united with thy heaven as one body, and so together is but the one body of God, yet thou art not become a creature in that very place which is above many hundred thousand miles off, but thou art in the heaven of this world, which contains also in it such a Deep as is not of any human numbering.

The true heaven is everywhere, even in that very place where thou standest and goest; and so when thy spirit presses through the astral and the fleshly, and apprehends the innermost moving of God, then it is clearly in heaven.

But that there is assuredly a pure glorious heaven in all the three movings aloft above the deep of this world, in which God's Being together with that of the holy angels springs up very purely, brightly, beauteously, and joyfully, is undeniable. And he is not born of God that denies it.

Thou must know that this world in its innermost unfolds its properties and powers in union with the heaven aloft above us; and so there is one Heart, one Being, one Will, one God, all in all.

The outermost moving of this world cannot comprehend the outermost moving of heaven aloft above this world, for they are one to the other as life and death, or as a man and a stone are one to the other.

There is a strong firmament dividing the outermost of this world from the outermost of the upper heaven; and that firmament is Death, which rules and reigns everywhere in the outermost in this world, and sets a great gulf between them.

The second moving of this world is in the life; it is the astral, out of which is generated the third and holy moving; and therein love and wrath strive one with the other.

For the second moving stands in the seven fountain spirits of this world, and is in all places and in all the creatures as in man. But the Holy Ghost also rules and reigns in that second, and helps to generate the third, the holy moving.

This, the third, is the clear and holy heaven which unites with the Heart of God, distinct from and above all heavens, as one heart.

Therefore, thou child of man, be not discouraged, be not so timorous and pusillanimous; if thou in thy zeal and earnest sincerity sowest the seed of thy tears, thou dost not sow it in earth but in heaven; for in thy astral moving thou sowest, and in thy soulish moving thou reapest, and in the kingdom of heaven thou possessest and enjoyest it.

If man's eyes were but opened he should see God everywhere in his heaven; for heaven stands in the innermost moving everywhere.

Moreover, when Stephen saw the heaven opened and the Lord Jesus at the right hand of God, then his spirit did not first swing itself aloft into the upper heaven, but it penetrated into the innermost moving wherein heaven is everywhere.

Neither must thou think that God is such a kind of Being as is only in the upper heaven, and that the soul, when it departs from the body, goes aloft many hundred thousand miles off. It needs not do that; it is set in the innermost moving, and there it is with God and in God, and with all the holy angels, and can suddenly be above and suddenly beneath; it is not hindered by any thing.

For in the innermost the upper and nether Deity is one body and is an open gate. The holy angels converse and walk up and down in the innermost of this world by and with our King Jesus Christ; as well as in the uppermost, aloft in their quarters, courts or region.

Where then would or should the soul of man rather be than with its King and Redeemer Jesus Christ? For near and afar off in God is one thing, one comprehensibility, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, everywhere.

The gate of God in the upper heaven is no other, also no brighter, than it is in this world. And where can there be greater joy than in that place where every hour and moment beautiful, loving, dear, newborn children and angels come to Christ, which are passed through death into life? Where can there be greater joy than where in the midst of death life is generated continually? Does not every soul bring along with it a new triumph? and so there is nothing else but an exceedingly friendly welcoming and salutation there.

Dost thou think my writing is too earthly? If thou wert to come to this window of mine thou wouldst not then say that it is earthly. Though I must indeed use the earthly tongue, yet there is a true heavenly understanding couched under it, which in my outermost moving I am not able to express.

I know very well that the word concerning the three movings cannot be comprehended or apprehended in every man's heart, especially where the heart is too much steeped, soaked, or drowned in the flesh. But I cannot render it otherwise than as it is, for it is just so; and though I write mere spirit, as indeed and in truth it is no other, yet such a heart understands only flesh.

Thou shouldst not suppose that which I write here to be as a doubtful opinion, questionable whether it be so or no; for the gate of heaven and hell stands open to the spirit, and in the Light it presses through them both and beholds them, also proves and examines them.

And though the Devil cannot take the Light from me, yet he hides it often with the outward and fleshly moving, so that the astral is in anxiety and in a strait, as if it were imprisoned.

But these are only his blows and strokes whereby the seed of paradise is covered and obscured. Concerning which also the holy apostle Paul saith that a great thorn was given him in his flesh and he besought the Lord earnestly to take it from him, whereupon the Lord answered, Let my grace be sufficient for thee. For he also was come to this place and would fain have had the Light without obstruction or hindrance, as his own in the astral moving. But it could not be; for wrath abides in the fleshly moving, and he must endure corruption there. If wrath should be wholly taken away from the astral, then in that he would be like God and know all things as God himself does.

Which now in this life that soul only knows which unfolds its powers in union with the Light of God, and even that soul cannot perfectly bring it back again into the astral. Just as an apple on a tree cannot bring its smell and taste back again into the tree or into the earth, though it be indeed the son of the tree, so it is also in the nature of man.

The holy man Moses was so high and deep in this Light that it glorified, clarified, or brightened the astral also, whereby the outermost of the flesh in his face was clarified, brightened, or glorified. He also desired to see the light of God perfectly in the astral; but it could not be, for the bar of the wrath lies before it. Even the whole and universal nature of the astral in this world cannot comprehend the Light of God; and therefore the Heart of God is hidden, though it dwells in all places and comprehends all.

Thou seest how the wrath of God in the outermost of nature lies hid and rests, and cannot be awakened unless men themselves awaken it, who with their fleshly moving unfold their powers to stir up and unite with the wrath in the outermost of nature.

Therefore if anyone should be damned into hell he ought not to say that God has done it, or that he wills it to be so. Man awakens the wrath-fire in himself, and this, if it grows burning, afterwards unites with God's wrath and the hellish fire, as one thing. For when thy light is extinguished, then thou standest in the darkness. Within the darkness the wrath of God is concealed, and if thou awakenest it, then it burns in thee.

There is fire even in a stone: if you do not strike upon it the fire remains concealed; but, if you strike it, then the fire springs forth, and if any combustible matter be near it, that will take fire and burn, and so there comes to be a great fire. Thus it is also with man, when he kindles the wrath-fire which is otherwise at rest.

## Chapter 4

WHEN thou beholdest the deep above the earth thou oughtest not to say that it is *not* the gate of God where God in his holiness dwells: No, no, think not so, for the whole Holy Trinity, God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, dwells in the centre under the firmament of heaven, though that very firmament cannot comprehend him.

Indeed all is as it were one body, the outermost and the innermost moving together with the firmament of heaven, as also the astral moving therein, in and with which the wrath of God unfolds; but yet they are one to another as the government, frame or constitution in man.

The flesh marks the outward moving, which is the house of death. The second moving in man is the astral, in which the life stands, and wherein love and wrath wrestle one with another. Thus far man himself knows himself, for the astral generates the life in the outermost, that is, in the flesh. The third moving is generated between the astral and the outermost, and is called the animated or soulish moving, or the soul, and is as great as the whole man.

That moving the outward man neither knows nor comprehends, neither does the astral comprehend it; but every fountain spirit comprehends its innate source, which resembles the heaven.

The animated or soulish man must press through the firmament of heaven to God, and live with God, else the whole man cannot come into heaven to God.

Man cannot be wholly pure from wrath and sin, for the movings of the depth in this world are not fully pure before the Heart of God; always love and wrath wrestle one with another.

In the second, the astral, wherein now the love and the wrath are against one another, is a spirit of the life, and of the firmament of heaven which is of the midst of the spirit.

And the Devil can reach half into this moving, so far as the wrath reaches and no farther; therefore the Devil cannot know how the other part in this moving has its source. This other part of the astral, which abides in the love, is the firmament of heaven holding captive the kindled wrath; together with all the devils, for they cannot enter thereinto. In that heaven dwells the Holy Spirit, which goes forth from the Heart of God, and strives against the wrath, and generates to himself a temple in the midst of the fierceness of the wrath of God.

And in this heaven dwells the man that fears God, even while alive in the body here upon earth; for that heaven is as well in man as in the deep above the earth. And as the deep above the earth is, so is man also, both in love and wrath, till after the departure of the soul; but when the soul departs from the body, then it abides either only in the heaven of love or only in the wrath.

And in this heaven the holy angels dwell amongst us, and the devils in the other part. In this heaven man lives between heaven and hell, and must suffer from the wrath and endure many hard blows, temptations, persecutions; and, many times, torments and oppression.

The wrath is called the Cross, and the love-heaven is called patience, and the spirit that rises up therein is called hope and faith, which unites with God and wrestles with the wrath till it overcomes and gets the victory.

O ye theologists, the spirit here opens a door and gate for you! If you will not now see and feed your sheep and lambs on a green meadow, instead of a dry, parched heath, you must be accountable for it before the severe, earnest and wrathful judgement of God; therefore look to it.

I take heaven to witness that I do here what I must. The Spirit drives me to it, so that I am wholly led captive thereby, and cannot be freed from it whatever may befal me hereafter, or ensue upon it.

The third moving in the body of God in this world is hidden. In it is the almighty and holy Heart of God, wherein our King, Jesus Christ, with his natural body, sits at the right hand of God, as a King and Lord of the whole body of this world.

The body of Christ is no more in the hard palpability, but in the divine palpability, of nature, like the angels. Our bodies also at the resurrection will have no more such hard flesh and bones, but be like the angels; and though indeed all forms and powers shall be therein, yet we shall not have the hard palpability.

Christ says to Mary Magdalen in Joseph's garden at the Sepulchre, after his resurrection, *Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my God and to your God*, as if he would say, I have not now the animal body any more, although I show myself to thee in my form or shape which I had, because otherwise thou in thy animal body couldst not see me.

So during the forty days after his resurrection he did not always walk visibly among the disciples, but invisibly, according to his heavenly and angelical property. When he would speak or talk with his disciples, then he showed himself in a palpable manner and form, that thereby he might speak natural words with them, for corruption cannot apprehend the divine. Also it sufficiently appears that his body was of an angelical kind, in that he went to his disciples through the doors, being shut.

Thus thou must know that his body unites with all the seven spirits in nature in the astral moving in the part of love; and holds sin, death and the Devil captive in its wrath part.

Thou seest also how thou art in this world everywhere in heaven and also in hell, and dwellest between heaven and hell in great danger. Thou seest how heaven is in a holy man, and that everywhere, wheresoever thou standest, goest or liest, if thy spirit does but co-operate with God, then as to that part thou art in heaven and thy soul is in God. Therefore says Christ: My sheep are in my hands, no man can pull them away from me.

In like manner thou seest also how thou art always in hell among all the devils as to the wrath; if thine eyes were but open thou wouldst see wonderful things, but thou standest between heaven and hell, and canst see neither of them, and walkest upon a very narrow bridge.

Some men have many times, in the astral spirit, entered in thither, being ravished in an ecstasy, as men term it, and have in this life known the gates of heaven and of hell, and have shown and declared how that many men dwell in hell with their living bodies. Such indeed have been scorned, derided or laughed at, but with great ignorance and indiscretion, for it is just so as they declare.

#

## Chapter 5

THE Simple says, God made all things out of nothing; but he knows not God, neither does he know what he himself is. When he beholds the earth together with the deep above the earth, he thinks verily all this is *not* God; or else he thinks God is *not there*. He always imagines with himself that God dwells only above the azure heaven of the stars, and rules, as it were, by means of some spirit which goes forth from him into this world; and that his body is not present here upon the earth or in the earth.

Just such opinions and tenets I have read also in the books and writings of Doctors, and there are also very many opinions, disputations and controversies risen about this very thing among the Learned.

But seeing God opens to me the gate of his Being in his great love, and remembers the covenants which he has with man, therefore I will faithfully and earnestly, according to my gifts, set wide open all the gates of God, so far as he will give me leave.

It is not so to be understood, as that I am sufficient in these things, but only so far as I am able to comprehend.

For the Being of God is like a wheel, wherein many wheels are made one in another, upwards, downwards, crossways, and yet continually turn all of them together.

At which indeed, when a man beholds the wheel, he highly marvels, and cannot at once in its turning learn to conceive and apprehend it. But the more he beholds the wheel the more he learns its form; and the more he learns the greater longing he has towards the wheel, for he continually sees something that is more and more wonderful, so that a man can neither behold nor learn it enough.

Thus I also. What I do not fully describe in one place concerning this great mystery, that you will find in another place; and what I cannot describe here in regard of the greatness of this mystery and my incapacity, that you will find elsewhere.

For here is the first sprouting or vegetation of this twig, which springs in its mother, and is as a child which is learning to walk and is not able to run apace at the first.

Though the spirit sees the wheel and would fain comprehend its form in every place, yet it cannot do it exactly enough because of the turning of the wheel. But when it comes about that the spirit can see the first apprehended form again, then continually it learns more and more, and always loves and delights in the wheel, and longs after it still more and more.

Now observe: The earth has just such qualities and quality-expressing or fountain spirits as the deep above the earth, or as heaven has, and all of them together belong to one only body. The universal God is that one only body. But sin is the cause that thou dost not wholly see and know him. With and by sin thou, within this great divine body, liest shut up in the mortal flesh; and the power and virtue of God is hidden from thee, even as the marrow in the bones is hidden from the flesh.

But if thou in the spirit breakest through the death of the flesh, then thou seest the hidden God. For the mortal flesh belongs not to the moving of life, so it cannot receive or conceive the Life of the Light as proper to itself; but the Life of the Light in God rises up in the flesh and generates to itself, from out of it, another, a heavenly and living, body, which knows and understands the Light.

The mortal body is but a husk from which the new body grows, as it is with a grain of wheat in the earth. The husk shall not rise and be living again, no more with the body than with the grain, but will remain for ever in death.

Behold the mystery of the earth: as that brings forth so must thou bring forth. The earth is not that body which is brought forth, but is the mother of that body; as also thy flesh is not the spirit but is the mother of the spirit.

And in both of them, in the earth and in thy flesh, the Light of the clear Deity is hidden, and it breaks through and gathers to itself a body for each after its kind.

As the mother is, so also is the child: man's child is the soul which is born in the astral moving from the flesh; and the earth's child is the grass, the herbs, the trees, silver, gold, and all mineral ores.

Out of the earth sprang grass, herbs and trees; and in the earth silver, gold, and all manner of ore came to be. In the deep above the earth sprang the wonderful forming of power and virtue.

I now invite all lovers of the holy and highly to be esteemed arts of philosophy and theology before this mirror wherein I lay open the root and ground of these matters.

I use not their tables, formulas, or schemes, rules and ways, for I have not learned from them. I have another teacher, which is the living fountain of nature.

What could I, simple layman, teach or write of their high art if it was not given to me by the Spirit of nature, in whom I live and am? Should I oppose the Spirit that he should not open where and in whom he pleases?

O thou child of man, open the eyes of thy spirit, for I will show thee here the right and real proper gate of God.

Behold! that is the true, one, only God out of whom thou art created and in whom thou livest; and when thou beholdest the deep and the stars and the earth, then thou beholdest thy God. In that same thou livest and hast thy being; and that same God rules thee also, and from that same God thou hast thy senses. Thou art a creature from him and in him; else thou wouldst never have been.

Now perhaps thou wilt say that I write in a heathenish manner. Hearken and behold! Observe the distinct understanding how all this is so; for I write not heathenishly, but in the love of wisdom; neither am I a heathen, but I have the true knowledge of the one only great God who is All.

When thou beholdest the deep, the stars, the elements and the earth, then thou comprehendest not with thine eyes the bright and clear Deity, though indeed he is there and in them; but thou seest and comprehendest, with thine eyes, first death and then the wrath of God.

But if thou liftest up thy thoughts and dost consider where God is, then thou shalt comprehend the astral moving, where love and wrath move one against another. And when by faith thou drawest near to God who rules in holiness in this dominion, then thou layest hold on him in his holy Heart.

When this is done, then thou art as God is, who himself is heaven, earth, stars and the elements.

## Chapter 6

WHERE will you seek for God? Seek him in your soul that is proceeded out of the eternal nature, the living fountain of forces wherein the divine working stands.

O that I had but the pen of a man, and were able therewith to write down the spirit of knowledge! I can but stammer of great mysteries like a child that is beginning to speak; so very little can the earthly tongue express of that which the spirit comprehends. Yet I will venture to try whether I may incline some to seek the pearl of true knowledge, and myself labour in the works of God in my paradisical garden of roses; for the longing of the eternal nature-mother drives me on to write and to exercise myself in this my knowledge.

No money, nor goods, nor art, nor power can bring you to the eternal rest of the eternal paradise, but only the knowledge in which you may steep your soul. That is the pearl which no thief can steal away; seek after it and you will find the noble treasure.

Our skill and understanding are so cramped and narrowed that we have no more any knowledge of paradise at all. And except we be born anew, the veil of Moses lies continually before our eyes, and we suppose that was paradise whereof he said: God placed Adam in the garden of Eden which he had planted, that he might till it.

O beloved man, paradise is the divine Joy. It is the divine and angelical Joy, yet it is not outside the place of this world. When I speak of the fountain and joy of paradise, and of its substance, what it is, I have no similitude for it in this world; I stand in need of angelical speech and knowledge to express it; and though I had them yet I could never express it with this tongue. It is well understood in the mind, when the soul rides in the chariot of the Spirit, but I cannot express it with the tongue; yet will I stammer with the children till another mouth be given me to speak with.

And seeing somewhat is lent me from the grace of the power of God, that I might know the way to paradise, seeing also that it behoves everyone to work the works of God in which he stands, I will not neglect my task but will labour as much as I can on the way.

Although I shall scarce be able to spell out the letters in this so high a way, yet my labour shall be enough that many will have to learn in it all their life long. He that thinks he knows it well, he has not yet learnt the first letter of paradise, for no Doctors are to be found in this school, but only learners.

There is nothing that is nearer to you than heaven, paradise, and hell. Unto which of them you are inclined and towards which of them you walk, to that in this lifetime you are most near. There is a moving between each two of them; and you have both movings in you. God beckons to you in the one, and calls you; and the Devil beckons to you in the other, and calls you; with whom you go, with him you enter in. The Devil has in his hand power, honour, pleasure, and worldly happiness; and the root of these is death and hell-fire. God has in his hands crosses, persecution, misery, poverty, ignominy and sorrow; and the root of these is a fire also. But in this fire there is a light, and in the light virtue and in the virtue paradise. In paradise are the angels, and among the angels is Joy. Dim and fleshly eyes cannot behold it; but when the Holy Ghost comes into the soul it is born anew in God, and then it becomes a child of paradise and has the key of paradise, and sees into the midst thereof.

If you be born of God, then you understand God, paradise, the kingdom of heaven and hell, the entrance thereinto of the creatures and the creation of this world; but if not, then the veil is before your eyes as it was before the eyes of Moses. Therefore saith Christ: *Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you*.

If you do not understand this writing, seek the humble lowly Heart of God, and that will bring a small seed from the tree of paradise into your soul; and if you abide in patience then a great tree will grow out of that seed, as you will think has come to pass with this author. For he is to be esteemed as a very simple person, in comparison of the great learned men; but Christ saith: My power is strong in the weak; yea Father, it hath so pleased thee to hide these things from the wise and prudent, and thou hast revealed them to babes and sucklings; the wisdom of this world is foolishness in thy sight. And although now the children of the world are wiser in their generation than the children of light, yet their wisdom is but a corruptible thing, and this wisdom continues eternally.

Seek for the noble pearl; it is much more precious than this whole world; it will never more depart from you. Where the pearl is, there will your heart be also; you need not in this life seek any further after paradise, joy and heavenly delight; seek but the pearl, and when you find that, then you find paradise and the kingdom of heaven.

I have perused many masterpieces of writing, hoping to find the high and deep wisdom of God, the pearl of the understanding of man; but I could find nothing of that which my soul lusted after. I have found very many contrary opinions, and at times I have found some who forbid me to search, but I cannot know with what reason except it be that the blind grudge at the eyes of them that see.

With all this my soul is become very disquiet within, and has been as full of pain and anguish as a woman at her travail; and yet to no end till I followed the words of Christ when he said: You must be born anew, if you will see the kingdom of God. This at first confounded me; I supposed that such a thing could not be done in this world, but only at my departure out of this world. And then my soul was at first in anguish, longing after the pearl; but, yielding itself, at last obtained the jewel. Therefore I will write, for a memorial to myself and for a light to them that seek. For Christ said: None lights a candle and puts it under a bushel, but sets it upon a table that all that are in the house may see by the light of it. To this end he gives the pearl of divine wisdom and knowledge to them that seek, that they should impart it to the desirous for their healing, as he has very earnestly commanded.

Indeed Moses writes that God made man of the dust of the earth. And that is the opinion of very many. I also should not have known how that was to be understood, and I should not have learned it out of Moses, nor out of the glosses put upon his words. The veil would have continued still before my eyes, though I was much troubled thereby. But when I found the pearl, then I looked Moses in the face, and found that he had wrote very right, but that I had not rightly understood it.

Now the question is: What is God's image? Behold, and consider the Deity, and then you will light upon it. God is not an animal man; and man should be the image and similitude of God, wherein God may dwell. God is a spirit; three principles are in him, that is, the sources and powers of the darkness, of the light, and of this world. He would make such an image as should have all these three and so be rightly a similitude of himself. Therefore Moses may be well understood to say that God created man and did not make him of a lump of earth. But the forming power in which God created him is the matrix of the earth, out of which the earth was generated; and the matter in which he created him is a quintessence of the stars and elements, and came forth from the heavenly matrix which is also the root of the earth.

Now the soul stands in two gates, and touches two principles, the eternal darkness and the eternal light of the Son of God, as God the Father himself does. Thus it may be in heaven and in paradise, and enjoy the unutterable joy of God the Father which he has in his Son, and it may hear the inexpressible words of the Heart of God.

There the soul feeds on all the words of God, for these are the food of its life; and it sings the paradisical songs of praise concerning the pleasant fruit of paradise which grows in the divine virtue and is the food of the heavenly and eternal body.

Can this be no joy and rejoicing? Should not that be a pleasant thing, to eat heavenly bread with the many thousand sorts of angels, and to rejoice in their communion and fellowship? What can possibly be named which can be more pleasant? Where there is no fear, no anger, no death; where every voice and speech is of the divine salvation, power, strength and might; and this voice going forth into eternity. There is the place where Paul heard words unutterable that no man can express.

## Chapter 7

THANKS be to God who has regenerated me, by water and the Holy Ghost, to be a living creature, so that I can in his Light see my great inbred vices, which are in my flesh.

Thus now I live in the spirit of this world in my flesh, and my flesh serves the spirit of this world; but my mind serves God. My flesh is generated in this world and is ruled by the quintessence of the stars and elements, which dwells in it and is master of the body and the outward life; but my mind is regenerated in God and loves God. And although o I cannot now comprehend and hold fast the divine wisdom, because my mind falls into sins, yet the spirit of this world shall not always thus hold captive my mind.

For the Virgin, the divine Wisdom, has given me her promise not to leave me in any misery; she will come to help me in the Son of Wisdom. I must hold fast to him, and he will bring me to her in paradise. I will make the venture, and go through the thistles and thorns as well as I can, till I find my native country where Wisdom dwells. I rely upon her faithful promise, when she appeared to me, that she would turn all my mourning into great joy. When I lay upon the mountain at midnight, so that all the trees fell upon me and all the storms and winds beat upon me, and Antichrist gaped at me with his open jaws to devour me, then she came and comforted me and took me for her own.

Therefore I am but the more cheerful, and care not for him; he rules over me no further than over the transitory house of flesh, whose patron he is; he may take that quite away, but so I shall come into my native country. Yet he is not absolute lord over that house, he is but God's ape; for as an ape plays all manner of tricks and pranks to make itself sport, and would fain seem to be the finest and the nimblest of beasts, so also does he. His power hangs on the great tree of this world, and a storm of wind can blow it away.

Thou wilt ask, What is the new regeneration? or how is that done in man? Hear and see, close not thy mind, let it not be filled by the spirit of this world with its might and pomp. Lay hold upon thy mind and break through the spirit of this world entirely; yield thy mind unto the kind love of God; make thy purpose earnest and strong to overcome the pleasure of this world and not to regard it. Consider that thou art not at home in this world, but art a strange guest, made captive in a prison; cry and call to him who has the key of the prison; yield thyself up to him in obedience, righteousness, humility, purity and truth. And seek not so eagerly after the kingdom of this world; it will stick close enough to thee without that. Then the pure Virgin, the Wisdom of God, will meet thee in the height and depth of thy mind, and will lead thee to him who has the key to the gate of the deep. Thou must stand before him and he will give thee to eat of the heavenly manna which will quicken and refresh thee. Thou wilt be strong, and wilt break through the gate of the deep as the morning star, and though thou liest captive here in the night yet the rays of the dawn will appear to thee in paradise, where thy pure Virgin stands, waiting for thee with the joy of the angels, who will kindly receive thee in thy newborn mind and spirit. And though indeed here thou must walk, as to thy body, in the dark night, yet the noble Virgin will help thee still.

Look well to it, close not thy mind and understanding; when thy mind says, Turn, then know that so thou art called by the Wisdom of God; turn instantly, and consider where thou art lodged, in how hard a house of bondage thy soul lies imprisoned; seek thy native country from whence thy soul is wandered and whither it should return again.

Then if thou wilt follow the counsel of the Wisdom of God thou wilt find in thyself, not only after this life, but also in this life in thy regeneration, that Wisdom will very worthily meet thee. And thou wilt see out of what kind of spirit this author has wrote.

## Chapter 8

MY beloved Reader, I tell thee this, that everything has its impulse in its own form. It always makes that very thing with which the spirit is impregnated; and the body must always labour in that wherein the spirit is kindled. When I consider and think why I thus write many wonders and leave them not for other sharper wits, I find that my spirit is kindled in this matter whereof I write; for there is a living running fire of these things in my spirit, and thereupon (let me purpose what I will) yet they continually come uppermost, so that I am made captive thereby, and it is laid upon me as a work which I must do. Therefore, seeing it is my work wherein my spirit drives, I will write it down for a memorial in such a manner as I know it in my spirit and as I attained to it; I will set down no other thing than that I myself have tried and known, that I be not found a liar before God.

Now, then, if there be any that have a desire to follow me and would fain have the knowledge whereof I write, I advise him to accompany me in this way, not at present with the pen, but with the labour of his mind; and then he shall find how I could come to write thus.

Seeing I have in hand the matter of repentance, therefore I certify the reader than in my earnestness this pen was given me, which the Oppressor would have broke. With him I began an earnest fight, insomuch that he would have cast me down to the ground under his feet had not the Spirit of God helped me, so that now I stand up.

Therefore, if we will speak of this most serious matter, we must go from Jerusalem to Jericho, and see how we lie among murderers who have so wounded and beaten us that we are half dead; and must look about us for the Samaritan with his beast, that he may dress our wounds and bring us into his inn. O how lamentable and miserable it is, that although we are so beaten by the murderer that we are half dead, yet we feel our smart no more! Oh, if the physician would come and dress our wounds, that our soul might revive and live, how we should rejoice! Thus speaks desire, and has such longing heartfelt wishes; yet although the physician is here, the mind can in no wise apprehend him, because it is so much wounded and lies half dead.

My dear Mind, thou supposest thou art very sound, but thou art so beaten that thou feelest thy disease no more. Art thou not very near unto death? How then canst thou account thyself to be sound? O my dear Soul, boast not of thy soundness. Thou liest fettered in heavy bonds, yea, in a very dark dungeon; thou swimmest in a deep water which rises up to thy very lips, and thou must continually expect death. Besides, the Oppressor, thine own corrupt nature, is behind thee with a great company of thy worst enemies, whereby he draws thee continually down by his chains towards the horrible deep, the abyss of hell; and his crew assault thee, and run upon thee on all sides, as hounds upon their quarry.

Then says Reason, Why do they so? O my dear Soul, they have great cause for it; thou hast been their hind, and thou art broken out of their park; besides thou art so strong that thou hast broken down their park-wall and taken possession of their dwelling. Thou art their worst enemy and they thine; and if thou wast but gone out of their enclosure they would be content, but thou being in it still the strife continues, and has no end till the Ancient of Days comes, who will part you asunder.

Dost thou suppose that I am mad that I write thus. If I did not see and know it I should be silent. Dost thou still say thou art in the garden of roses? If thou thinkest thou art there, see well whether thou art not in the Devil's pasture, and art his most beloved hind which he fattens to the slaughter for his food.

O dear Soul, turn, and let not the Devil capture thee; regard not the scorn of the world; all thy sorrow must be turned into great joy. And though in this world thou hast not great honour, power and riches, that is nothing; thou knowest not whether to-morrow it will come to be thy turn to die. Why then dost thou contend and strive so much after worldly honour that is transitory? Rather endeavour after the tree of paradise, which thou mayst carry with thee and wherein thou shalt rejoice eternally for its growth and fruit.

Oh! is not that a blessed welfare when the soul dares to look into the Holy Trinity, wherewith it is filled, so that its powers grow and blossom in paradise, where songs of praise break forth, where the ever-growing fruit springs up endlessly according to thy desire, where there is no fear, envy, nor sorrow, where there is love one of another, where everyone rejoices in the form and beauty of another?

Beloved Mind, if thou hast a desire to this way and wouldst attain it, then thou must use great earnestness; it must be no lip-labour, with the heart elsewhere. No, thou canst not attain it thus. Thou must collect thy mind with all thy purposes and reason, wholly together in one will and resolution, and desire to turn from thy abominations; and thou must set thy thoughts upon God and goodness with a steadfast confidence in his mercy. Then thou wilt attain it.

Thou must continue steadfast in this resolute purpose; and though thou gainest no strength into thy heart, and though the Devil should beat down thy tongue so that thou canst not pray to God, yet thou must continually hold and go on in this thought and purpose. The more thou pressest forward the weaker the Devil is; the more earnestly thou pressest forth from the Devil and thy sins, the more mightily does the kingdom of God press into thee. Have a care that thou dost not depart from this thy will before thou hast received the jewel, the pearl of divine wisdom and knowledge; though it holds off from morning till night, and still from day to day, if thy earnestness be great, then thy jewel will also be great which thou shalt receive in thy victory.

None knows what it is but he that has found it by experience. It is a most precious guest; when it enters into the soul there is a very wonderful triumph there; the bridegroom embraces his beloved bride, the hallelujah of paradise sounds. Oh! must not the earthly body needs tremble and shake at it? Yet though it knows not what it is, all its members rejoice. What beauteous knowledge does the Virgin of the Divine Wisdom bring with her! She makes learned indeed; and though one were dumb, yet the soul is crowned in God's works of wonder, and must speak of his wonder; there is nothing in the soul but longing to do so; the Devil must begone, he is quite weary and faint.

Thus the seed of paradise is sown. But observe it well; it is not instantly become a tree. How many storms must the soul undergo and endure! How often is it overwhelmed by sins! For all in this world is against it, it is as it were left alone and forsaken; even the children of God themselves assault it; and the Devil does plague the poor soul, trying to lead it astray, either with flattery that it may flatter itself, or else with the burden of sins in the conscience. He never ceases, and thou must always strive against him; for so the tree of paradise grows, as corn does in the tempestuous winds. If it grows high and comes to blossom, then thou wilt enjoy the fruit; and thou wilt understand better what this pen has written and what moved me to write. For I was a long time in this condition, many storms went over my head. Therefore this shall be for a lasting memorial and continual remembrance to me.

Now, says Reason, I see no more in thee, nor in any such as thou art, than in other poor sinners; thine must needs be but a hypocritical pretence; besides, says Reason, I also have been in such a way, and yet remain in wickedness still and do that which I would not do; I am still moved to anger, covetousness and malice. What is the matter that a man does not perform what he purposes, but that he does even what himself reproves in others, and that which he knows is not right?

Here the tree of paradise is not discerned. Behold, my beloved Reason, this tree is not sown into the outward man, he is not worthy of it, he belongs to the earth; and the poor soul is often brought into sins to which it does not consent, the body being drawn into that which the soul rejects. Now when this is so, it is not the soul that works it. The soul says, This is not right, nor well; but the body says, We must have it that we may live and have enough. So it is, one time after another. And a true Christian knows not himself; how then should he be known by others? Also the Devil can hide him sufficiently that he may not be known; that is his masterpiece, when he can bring a true Christian into wickedness, to fall into sins, while this is not discerned by him, but he reproves the sins of others yet is sinning, outwardly, himself.

I do not say that sin in the old man is no hurt; though indeed it cannot sway the new man yet it scandalizes him. We must with the new man live to God and serve him, though it is not possible to be perfect in this world; we must continually go on and hold out: the new man is in a field where the ground is cold, bitter, sour and void of life.

## Chapter 9

THOU Sophister, I know thou wilt accuse me of pride because I saw so far into the Deep. But it is said that you look only upon the wisdom of this world: I do not esteem it or care for it; it affords me no joy at all. I rejoice at this, that my soul moveth in wonders to the praise of God, so that I know his wondrous works, in which my soul delighteth.

Now, since I know the wonders shall I be silent? Am I not born to this, as are all creatures, that I should open the wonders of God? Therefore now I labour in my work and another in his; and thou, proud Sophister, in thine.

We stand all in God's field, and we grow to God's glory and to his works of wonder, as well the wicked as the godly. But every fruit groweth in its own manner: when the mower shall cut it down, then every fruit shall come into its own barn, each receiveth that which is its own. Then the field in its nature, out of which each is grown, shall be made manifest; there are two centres in eternity, the love and the wrath, and each centre brings forth its own crop.

Therefore consider, O man, what you condemn, that you fall not upon the sword of the Spirit of God, and that your work be not consumed in the fire of wrath.

Thou, Sophister, runnest on wittingly to the Devil, for thine own profit, for thy transitory voluptuousness and honour, and dost not see the open gate which the Spirit showeth thee. If thou wilt not, then it is as was said: *We have piped unto you but ye have not danced*. We have called you, but you are not come to us; I have been hungry after you, but you have not fed me; you are not grown in my garden of roses, therefore you are none of my food; your heart hath not been found in my praise, therefore you are not my food. And the bridegroom passeth by; then cometh the other, and gathereth what he findeth into his barn.

O dear children, if you understood this, how would you tread underfoot the contentions of the Sophisters! Much consisteth therein which shall hereafter be shown you, so far as we ought; let none be wilfully blinded, nor be offended by the simplicity of this hand.

If we will enter into the kingdom of heaven we must be children, and not cunning and wise in the understanding of this world; we must depart from our earthly reason and enter into obedience to our eternal first Mother. So we shall receive the spirit and life of our Mother, and then also we shall know her habitation.

No wit of our own attaineth the crown of the mystery of God. It is indeed revealed in the writings of the Saints, but the spirit of this world apprehendeth it not. No Doctors, though they have studied ever so much, have any ability in their own wit to attain the crown of God's hidden mysteries.

No one can in his own power apprehend anything of the depths of God and teach it to another; all are children and scholars in their A B C. Although I write and speak in high fashion thereof, yet the understanding is not my own; the spirit of the Mother speaketh out of her children what it will; it revealeth itself in many ways, in one otherwise than in another, for its wondrous wisdom is a deep without measure, and you should not marvel that the children of God have not one manner of speech and word, for each speaketh out of the wisdom of the eternal Nature-Mother whose diversity is infinite.

But the goal is the Heart of God; they all run thither, and herein lies the test whereby you shall know whether the spirit of a man speaketh from God or from the Devil.

Hereby we know that we are God's children and generated of God. God is himself the Being of all beings; and we are as Gods in him, through whom he revealeth himself.

Now therefore I set before you the ground of the heavens, the stars and elements, that you may see what is heavenly and what is earthly, what is transitory and mortal, and what is eternal and enduring. To which end I have now purposed to myself to write; not to boast of my high knowledge but out of love in Christ, as a servant and minister of Christ.

For the Lord hath both the willing and the doing in his hands; I am able to do nothing; also my earthly reason understandeth nothing: I am yielded into our Mother's bosom and do as the Mother showeth me; I know not from anybody else, I am not born with knowledge from the wisdom of this world, neither do I understand it; but what is bestowed upon me that I bestow again. I have no other purpose herein, neither do I know to what end I must write these high things: what the Spirit showeth me, that I set down.

Thus I labour in my vineyard, in which the Master of the house hath put me; hoping also to eat of the pleasant sweet grapes, which indeed I have very often received out of the paradise of God. I will so speak as for the use of many, and yet I think I write it but for myself: the fiery driving will have it so as if I did speak of and for many; and yet I know nothing of this while I write.

Therefore if it shall happen to be read, let none account it for a work of the outward reason; for it hath proceeded from the inward hidden man, according to which this hand hath written it without respect of any person.

I exhort the reader that he will enter into himself and behold himself in the inward man; then I shall be welcome to him. This I speak seriously and faithfully.

When we consider ourselves aright in this knowledge we see clearly that we have been locked up and led as it were blindfold. The wise of this world have shut and barred us up in their art and reason, so that we are made to see with their eyes. And this spirit which hath so long led us captive may well be called Antichrist; I find no other name in the light of nature, which I can call it by, but Antichrist in Babel.

## Chapter 10

THE law of God and also the way to life is written in our hearts; it lies in no man's supposing, nor in any historical opinion, but in a good will and well doing. The will leadeth us to God or to the Devil; it availeth not that thou hast the name of a Christian, salvation doth not consist therein. A heathen and a Turk is as near to God as thou who art under the name of Christ; if thou bringest forth a false ungodly will in thy deeds, thou art as much without God as a heathen that hath no desire nor will to him. And if a Turk seeketh God with earnestness, though he walketh in blindness, yet he is of the company of those that are children without understanding, and he reacheth to God with the children which do not yet know what they speak; for this lies not in the knowing but in the will.

We are all blind concerning God; but we put our earnest will into him and into goodness, and so desire him; then we receive him into our will, so that we are born in him in our will.

Dost thou boast of thy calling, that thou art a Christian? Indeed let thy conversation be accordingly, or else thou art but a heathen in the will and in the deed. He that knoweth his Master's will and doeth it not must receive many stripes.

Dost thou not know what Christ said concerning the two sons? When the father says to one of them, Go and do such a thing, and he said he would; and the other said, No; the first went away and did it not, but the other, that said No, went away and did it, and so did the will of his father; the one that was under the name of obedience did it not. And we are all such, one and another; we bear the name of Christ and are called Christians and are within his covenant: we have said, Yes, we will do it; but they that do it not are unprofitable servants and live without the will of the Father.

But if the Turks, as also the Jews, do the Father's will, who say to Christ, No, and discern him not; who is now their judge to thrust them out from the will of the Father? Is not the Son the Heart of the Father? If they honour the Father they lay hold also on his Heart, for beyond his Heart there is no God.

Dost thou suppose that I encourage them in their blindness that they should go on as they do? No: I show thee thy blindness, O thou that bearest the name of Christ! Thou judgest others, and yet dost the same thing which thou judgest in others, and so thou wilfully bringest the judgement of God upon thyself.

He that saith: Love your enemies, do well to them that persecute you, doth not teach you to condemn and despise, but he teacheth you the way of meekness; you should be a light to the world, that heathens may see that you are the children of God.

If we consider ourselves according to the true man, who is a similitude and image of God, then we find God in us, yet ourselves without God. And the only remedy consisteth herein, that we enter again into ourselves and so enter into God in our hidden man. If we incline our wills in true earnest singleness of mind to God, then we go with Christ out from this world, out from the stars and elements, and enter into God; for in the will of earthly reason we are children of the stars and elements, and the spirit of this world ruleth over us.

But if we go out from the will of this world and enter into God, then the spirit of God ruleth in us and establisheth us for his children. Then also the garland of paradise is set upon the soul, and it becometh a child without understanding after this world. It hath lost the ruler of this world, who once ruled it and led it in the earthly reason.

O man! consider who leadeth and driveth thee, for eternally without end is very long. Temporal honour and goods are but dross in the sight of God; it all falleth into the grave with thee and cometh to nothing: but to be in the will of God is eternal riches and honour; there, there is no more care, but our Mother careth for us in whose bosom we live as children.

Thy temporal honour is thy snare and thy misery; in divine hope and confidence is thy garden of roses.

Dost thou suppose again that I speak from hearsay? No, I speak the very life in my own experience; not in an opinion from the mouth of another, but from my own knowledge. I see with my own eyes; which I boast not of, for the power is the Mother's. I exhort thee to enter into the bosom of the Mother, and learn also to see with thy own eyes: so long as thou dost suffer thyself to be rocked in a cradle and dost desire the eyes of others thou art blind. But if thou risest up from the cradle and dost go to the Mother, then thou shalt discern the Mother and her children.

O how good it is to see with one's own eyes! We are all asleep in the outward man, we lie in the cradle and suffer ourselves to be rocked asleep by the outward reason; we see with the eyes of the dissimulation of our play-actors, who hang bells and baubles about our ears and cradles, that we may be lulled asleep or at least play with baubles, and they may be lords and masters in the house.

Rise up from thy cradle: art thou not a child of the Mother, and moreover a child and lord of the house, and an heir to its goods? Why sufferest thou thy servants thus to use thee? Christ saith: I am the Light of the World, he that followeth me shall have the light of the eternal life. He doth not direct us to the play-actors, but only to himself. With the inward eyes we must see in his light: so we shall see him, for he is the Light; and when we see him then we walk in the light. He is the Morning Star and is generated in us and riseth in us, and shineth in our bodily darkness.

O how great a triumph is there in the soul when he ariseth! Then a man seeth with his own eyes, and knoweth that he is in a strange lodging, concerning which I here write what I see and know in the light.

I declare unto you that the eternal Being, and also this world, is like man. Eternity bringeth to birth nothing but that which is like itself; as you find man to be, just so is eternity. Consider man in body and soul, in good and evil, in joy and sorrow, in light and darkness, in power and weakness, in life and death: all is in man, both heaven and the earth, stars, and elements; also the threefold God.

O man! seek thyself and thou shalt find thyself. Open the eyes of thy inward man and see rightly.

This is the noble precious stone, the philosopher's stone, which wise men find. O thou bright crown of pearl, art thou not brighter than the sun? There is nothing like thee; thou art so very manifest, and yet so very secret that among many thousand in this world thou art scarce rightly known of anyone. Yet thou art borne by many that know thee not.

Christ saith, Seek and thou shalt find. The noble stone must be sought for; a lazy man findeth it not; though he carrieth it about with him he knoweth it not. To whomsoever it revealeth itself, he hath all joy therein, for its virtue is endless. He that hath it doth not give it away; if he doth impart it to any it is not profitable to him that is lazy, who diveth not into its virtue to learn that.

The seeker findeth the stone and its virtue and benefit together. When he findeth it and knows that he is certain of it, there is greater joy in him than the world is able to apprehend; no pen can describe nor any tongue express it in the manner of the world.

It is accounted in the world's eyes the meanest of all stones and is trodden under foot. If a man light upon it he casteth it away as an unprofitable thing. None enquire after it, though there is none upon earth but desires it. All great ones and wise seek it. Indeed they find one and think it the true stone; but they mistake it. They ascribe power and virtue to it and think they have it and will keep it. But the true stone is not thus: it needeth no virtue to be ascribed to it, all virtue lies hid in it. He who has it, and has knowledge of it, if he seeks, may find all things whatsoever, in heaven and in earth. It is the stone which is rejected of the builders, the chief corner-stone.

O you Sophisters! that out of envy often revile honest hearts according to your own pleasure, how will you be able to stand with those lambs whom you should have led into the fresh green pastures of the way of Christ, into love, purity and humility?

I speak not this out of a desire to reproach any man; I discover only the smoky pit of the Devil that it may be seen what is in man, as well in one as in another, unless he be born anew and resisteth the spirit of the Devil and thrusteth it away from him.

There is another Devil more crafty and cunning than this, a glistering angel with cloven feet. He, when he seeth a poor soul afraid, and desiring to repent and amend, saith, Pray, and be devout; repent for once in a way. But when the poor soul goes about to pray, he slippeth into his heart and taketh away the understanding of the heart, and putteth it into mere doubting, as if God did not hear it.

So the heart standeth and repeateth over the words of a prayer, as if it were learning to say something without book; and the soul cannot reach the centre of nature; it hath only rehearsed words, not in the spirit of a soul in the centre where the fire is kindled, but only in the mouth, in the spirit of this world. Its words vanish in the air or as those wherein God's name is taken in vain.

There belongeth great earnestness to prayer; for praying is calling upon God, entreating him and speaking with him, going out of the house of sin and entering the house of God. If the Devil offers to hinder it, then storm his hell. Set thyself against him as he setteth himself against thee, and then thou shalt find what is here told thee. If he opposes strongly, then oppose thou the more strongly; thou hast, in Christ, greater power than he.

Do but fix thy trust and confidence upon the promise of Christ, and let thy storming be grounded in the death of Christ, in his sufferings and wounds, and in his love. Dispute no further about thy sins, for the Devil involveth himself therein and upbraideth thee for them, that thou mightest despair. If thou doubtest of the grace of God thou dost sin greatly, for he is always merciful; there is no other will in him at all but to be merciful. He cannot do otherwise; his arms are spread abroad day and night towards the poor sinner.

Make trial in this manner, and thou wilt quickly see and feel another man, with another sense and thoughts and understanding. I speak as I know and have found by experience; a soldier knows how it is in the wars. This I write out of love, as one who telleth in the spirit how it hath gone with himself, for an example to others, to try if any would follow him and find out how true it is.

## Chapter 11

GOD has set light and darkness before everyone; thou mayest embrace which thou wilt, thou dost not thereby move God in his being. His Spirit goes forth from him and meets all those that seek him. Their seeking is his seeking, in which he desireth humanity; for humanity is his image, which he has created according to his whole being, and wherein he will see and know himself. Yea, he dwells in man, why then are we men so long a-seeking? Let us but seek to know ourselves, and when we find ourselves we find all; we need run nowhere to seek God, for we can thereby do him no service; if we do but seek and love one another, then we love God; what we do to one another, that we do to God; whosoever seeketh and findeth his brother and sister hath sought and found God. In him we are all one body of many members, everyone having its own office, government and work; and that is the wonder of God.

Before the time of this world we were known in his wisdom, and he created us that there might be a sport in him. Children are our schoolmasters; in all our wit and cunning we are but fools to them; their first lesson is to learn to play with themselves, and when they grow bigger they play one with another. Thus hath God from eternity in his wisdom, in our hidden childhood, played with us: when he created us in knowledge and skill we should then have played one with another; but the Devil grudged us that and made us fall out at our sport. Therefore it is that we are always at variance, in contention; but we have nothing to contend about but our sport; when that is at an end we lie down to our rest and go to our own place. Then come others to play and strive and contend also till the evening, till they go to sleep and into their own country out of which they are come.

Dear children, what do we mean that we are so obedient to the Devil? Why do we so contend about a tabernacle which we have not made? Here we contend about a garment, because one brother has a fairer garment than another; are we not all our Mother's children? Let us be obedient children, and then we shall rejoice.

We go into the garden of roses, and there are lilies and flowers enough; we will make a garland for our sister, and then she will rejoice with us; we have a round to dance and we will all hold hands together. Let us be very joyful; there is no more might to hurt us, our Mother taketh care for us. We will go under the fig-tree, how abundant is its fruit!

How fair are the pine trees in Lebanon! Let us be glad and rejoice that our Mother may have joy of us. We will sing a song of the Oppressor who hath set us at variance. How is he made captive! Where is his power? How poor he is! He domineered over us, but now he is fast bound. O great Power, how art thou thus brought to scorn! Thou that didst fly aloft above the cedars art now laid underfoot and art void of thy power. Rejoice, ye heavens and ye children of God; for he that was our oppressor, who plagued us day and night, is made captive. Rejoice, ye angels of God, for men are delivered, and malice and wickedness laid low.

Dear children and brethren in Christ, let us in this world join our hearts, minds and wills in humility into one love, that we may be one in Christ. If thou art highly advanced to power, authority and honour, then be humble, despise not the simple and miserable; grind not the oppressed, afflict not the afflicted. If thou art fair, beautiful and comely of body, be not proud; be humble that thy brother and sister may rejoice in thee, and present thy beauty to the praise of God.

Thou that art rich, let thy streams flow into the houses of the miserable that their soul may bless thee.

Dear brethren and sisters in the congregation of Christ, bear with me; let us a little rejoice one with another: I bear a hearty love towards you and speak out of the Spirit of the eternal Wisdom of God.

Christ earnestly teaches us love, humility and mercifulness; and the cause why God is become man is for our salvation and happiness' sake, that we should not turn back from his love: God has spent his heart that we may be his children and remain so for ever. Therefore, dearly beloved children, do not so reject and cast from you the love and grace of God, else you will lament it for ever. Learn divine wisdom, and learn to know what God is; do not set any image of any thing before you; there is no image of him but in Christ. We live and are in God; we have heaven and hell in ourselves. What we make of ourselves that we are: if we make of ourselves an angel, and dwell in the Light and Love of God in Christ, we are so; but if we make of ourselves a fierce, false and haughty devil which contemns all love and meekness in mere covetousness, greedy hunger and thirst, then also we are so. After this life it is otherwise with us than here; what the soul here embraces that it has there; and so, though the outward breaks in death, yet the will retains that embraced thing as its own and feeds upon it. How that will subsist in the paradise of God and before his angels, you yourself may consider: I would faithfully set it before you for a warning, as it is given to me.

## Chapter 12

WHEN Christ asked his disciples, Whom do the people say that the Son of Man is? they answered: Some say thou art Elijah, some, that thou art John the Baptist. Then he asked them and said: Whom say ye that I am? Peter answered him, Thou art Christ the Son of the living God. And he answered them and said, Of a truth, flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father in heaven.

Seeing it is a familiar, intimate and native work to the children of God, wherewith they should exercise themselves daily and hourly, go forth from the earthly reason to enter into the incarnation of Christ, and so in this miserable life be born in the birth of Christ; I have therefore undertaken to write of this high mystery, according to my knowledge and gifts, for a memorial. Seeing that I also, together with others the children of God and Christ, stand in this birth, I have undertaken it as an exercise of faith, whereby my soul may thus, as a branch in its tree Jesus Christ, quicken itself from his sap and virtue.

And that not with wise and high eloquence of art, or from the reason of this world, but according to the knowledge which I have from Christ. But though I search sublimely and deep, and shall set it down very clearly, yet this must be said to the reader, that without the Spirit of God it will be to him a hidden mystery.

We should rightly understand the incarnation of Christ, the Son of God, thus: he is not become man in the Virgin Mary only, so that his divinity was confined thereto. No, it is in another manner.

As little as God, who is the fulness of all things, dwells alone in one only place, so little also has God manifested himself by one spark of his light.

God is not measurable; for him is no place found unless he makes a place for himself in a creature; yet he is totally within the creature and without and beyond the creature. He is not divisible, but total everywhere; where he manifests himself there he is totally manifest.

Understand it right: God has longed to become flesh and blood; and although the pure clear Deity continues Spirit, yet it is become the Spirit and Life of flesh and works in the flesh. So we may say that when we with our imagination enter into God, and wholly give up ourselves unto him, we enter into God's flesh and blood and live in God. For the Word is become man, and God is the Word.

We do not thus take away the creature of Christ, that he should not be a creature; I will give you a similitude thereof in the sun and its lustre and take it thus: in a similitude we liken the sun to the creature of Christ, which is indeed a body; and we liken the whole deep of this world to the eternal Word in the Father.

Now we see plainly that the sun shines in the whole deep, and gives it warmth and power. But we cannot say that in the deep beyond the body of the sun there is not also the power of the sun; if that was not there then would the deep not receive the power and lustre of the sun. One power and one lustre receives the other; the deep with its lustre is hidden.

If God would please, the whole deep would be a mere sun; then would the lustre of the sun shine everywhere.

Know also that I understand that the Heart of God hath rested from eternity; but that with the moving and entering into the Wisdom it is become manifested in all places; though in God there is neither place nor mark but merely in the creature of Christ, where the total holy Trinity has manifested itself in a creature and so by the creature through the whole heaven.

He is gone thither and has prepared the place for us, where we shall see his light and dwell in his wisdom and share in his divine substantiality.

Were we not in the beginning made out of God's substantiality? Why should we not also abide therein?

For this has the Heart of God moved itself, destroyed death, and regenerated the Life.

Thus now to us the birth and incarnation of Christ is a joyful and very weighty matter. The abyssal Heart of God hath moved itself; and therewith the heavenly substantiality, which was shut up in death, is become living again.

So we may now say with good ground that God himself hath withstood his anger, and with the centre of his Heart, which filleth eternity, has again opened himself, taken away the power of death, and broke the sting of the fierce wrath, inasmuch as love has opened itself and quenched the power of the fire.

In our imagination we become impregnated of his opened Word and of the power of the heavenly and divine substantiality, which indeed is not strange to us though it seems strange to our earthliness.

The Word has opened itself everywhere, in every man's light of life; and there is wanting only this, that the soul-spirit give itself up thereto. In that soul-spirit God is born.

## Chapter 13

OUTWARD reason saith, How may a man in this world see into God, into another world, and declare what God is? That cannot be: it must needs be a fancy wherewith the man amuses and deceives himself.

Thus far such reason comes: it cannot search further that it might rest; and if I staid in that same art, then would I also say the same; for he who sees nothing says nothing is there; what he sees, that he knows, and further he knows of nothing but that which is before his eyes.

I would have the scorner and wholly earthly man asked whether the heaven is blind, as also hell and God himself.

Or whether there is any seeing in the divine world; whether also the Spirit of God sees both in the love-light world and in the fierce wrath in the anger-world.

Does he say there is a seeing therein? as indeed is very true: then he should look to it that he himself does not often see with the Devil's eyes in his purposed malice.

If he would drive the Devil out, then he would see his great folly which the Devil has prompted him to. Yet he is so blinded that he knows not that he sees with the Devil's eyes.

In like manner the holy man sees with God's eyes; what God purposes, that the Spirit of God in the new birth sees out of the right human eyes of the image of God. It is to the wise a seeing and also a doing.

In the way through the death of Christ the new man sees into the angelical world; it is to him much easier and clearer to apprehend than the earthly world; it is done naturally, not with fancying but with seeing eyes, with eyes of that spirit which goes forth out of the soul's fire.

That spirit sees into heaven; it beholds God and eternity. It is the noble image according to the similitude of God.

Out of such seeing has this pen written, not from other masters, nor out of conjecture whether it be true or no. Though now indeed a creature is but a piece and not a total consummation, so that we see only in part, yet what is written here is to be searched into, and is fundamental.

The Wisdom of God suffers not itself to be written, for it is endless, without number and comprehension; we know only in part.

And though indeed we know much more, yet the earthly tongue cannot exalt itself and declare it: it speaks only words of this world and not words of the inward world, though the mind retains them in the hidden man.

Therefore one always understands otherwise than another, according as each is endued with the Wisdom; and so also he apprehends and explains it.

Everyone will not understand my writings according to my meaning and sense; indeed there may not be one who does so; but everyone will understand according to his gifts, for his benefit; one more than another, according as the Spirit has its property in him.

For the Spirit of God is often subject to the spirits of men, if they will that which is good or well; and it furthers what man wills, that his good work be not hindered, but that everywhere, above all, God's willing and desire be done.

What is there now that is strange to us or in us, that we cannot see God? This world and the Devil are the cause that we see not with God's eyes, else there is no hindrance.

Now if anyone saith I see nothing divine, he should consider that flesh and blood, together with the subtlety and craft of the Devil, is oftentimes a hindrance to him, in that he willeth in his high-mindedness for his own honour to see God, and oftentimes in that he is filled and blinded with earthly malignity.

Let him look into the footsteps of Christ and enter into a new life, and give himself to be under the Cross of Christ, and desire only the entrance of Christ into himself; what shall hinder him then from seeing the Father, his Saviour Christ, and the Holy Spirit?

Is the Holy Spirit blind when he dwells in man? Or write I this for my own boasting?

Not so, but that the reader may forsake his error, and that with the divine eyes he may see the wonders of God, and so God's will may be done. To which end this pen has written very much, and not for its own honour or for the sake of the pleasures of this life.

Dear children of God, you who seek with much sighing and tears, I say to you in earnest sincerity: Our sight and knowledge is in God; he manifests to everyone in this world as much as he will, as much as he knows is profitable for the man.

He that sees from God, he has God's work to manage; he should and must order, speak, and do that which he sees, else his sight will be taken from him; for this world is not worthy of God's vision.

But for the sake of the wonders and of the revelation of God it is given to many to see; that the Name of God may be manifested to the world. We are not our own, but his whom we serve in his light. We know nothing of God; he, God himself, is our knowing and seeing; we are nothing that he may be all in us. We should be blind, deaf and dumb, and know no life in us, that he may be our life and vision, and our work be his.

If we have done anything that is good, our tongue should not say, This have we done, but, This hath the Lord in us done; his name be highly praised.

But what does this evil world now? If anyone says, This has God in me done; if it be good, then saith the world, Thou fool! thou hast done it; God is not in thee; thou liest. Thus they make fool and liar of the Spirit of God.

When you see that the world fighteth against you, persecutes you, despises, slanders you because of your knowledge and the Name of God, then consider that you have the black Devil before you. Then sigh, and long that God's kingdom may come to us, and the Devil's sting may be destroyed, that the man, so influenced by the Devil, may through your longing, sighing and prayer be released. Then you labour rightly in God's vineyard and prevent the Devil of his kingdom.

In love and meekness we become newborn out of the wrath of God; in love and meekness we must strive and fight against the Devil in this world. For love is his poison; it is a fire of terror to him wherein he cannot stay. If he knew the least spark of love in himself he would cast it away, or would destroy himself that he might be rid of it. Therefore is love and meekness our sword, wherewith we can fight with the Devil and the world.

Love is God's fire; the Devil and the world are an enemy to it. Love hath God's eyes and sees in God; anger has the eyes of the fierce wrath that sees in hell, in torment and in death.

The world supposes merely that a man must see God with the earthly and the starry eyes; it knows not that God dwells in the inward and not in the outward.

If it sees nothing admirable or wonderful in God's children it says, Oh, he is a fool, he is an idiot, he is melancholy; thus much it knows.

O hearken, I know well what melancholy is; I know also well what is from God. I know them both, and thee also in thy blindness; but such knowledge is not purchased by melancholy, only by a wrestling to victory.

It is given to none without striving, unless he is a vessel chosen of God; otherwise he must strive for the garland.

Indeed many a man is chosen to it in his mother's womb, chosen to open and disclose the wonders which God intends; but not all are chosen thus. Many are accepted out of their zealous seeking; for Christ saith, Seek and ye shall find, knock and so it will be opened unto you. Also, whosoever come to me, those I will not cast out.

Herein lies the seeing out of Christ's spirit, out of God's kingdom, in the power of the Word, with the eyes of God and not with the eyes of this world and of the outward flesh.

Thus, thou blind world, know wherewith we see when we speak and write of God, and let thy false judging alone: see thou with thine eyes and let God's children see with their eyes; see from out thy gifts, let another see from out his gifts.

As everyone is called, so let him see; and so let him converse. We manage not all one and the same conversation, but everyone according to his gift, and his calling to serve God's honour and wonders.

The Spirit of God suffers not itself to be tied or bound up, as outward reason supposes, with decrees, canons and councils, whereby always one chain of Antichrist is linked to another so that men come to judge about God's Spirit, and to hold their own conceits or opinions to be God's covenant, as if God was not at home in this world, or as if they were Gods upon earth.

I say that all such compacts and binding is Antichrist and unbelief, let it seem or flatter how it will. God's Spirit is unbound, he enters not into such compacts or obligations, but enters freely the seeking, humble, lowly mind, according to its gift and capacity.

He is also even subjected to it, if it does but earnestly desire him; what then can institutions in human wit and prudence of this world do for that mind, since it belongs to the honour of God?

Friendly conference and colloquy is very good and necessary, wherein one presents or imparts his gifts to another; but compacts are a chain against God.

God has once made one covenant with us in Christ; that is enough for eternity, he makes no more. He has once taken mankind into the covenant and sealed it by blood and death; there is enough in that.

It is not so slight a thing to be a right true Christian, it is the very hardest thing of all; the will must be a soldier, and fight against the corrupted will. It must sink itself down out of the earthly reason into the death of Christ, and break the power of the earthly will.

This must be with so hardy and bold a courage that it will hazard the earthly life upon it and not give over till it has broke the earthly will; which indeed has been a strong battle with me.

It is no slight matter to fight for the garland of victory; for no one wins that unless he overcomes; which yet of his own might he cannot do.

He must make his will as it were dead, and so he lives to God and sinks into God's love; though he lives now in the outward kingdom.

I speak of the garland of victory which he getteth in the paradise world if he once presses in; for there the noble seed is sown, and he receives the highly precious pledge and earnest of the Holy Spirit, which afterwards leads and directs him.

And though he must in this world wander through a dark valley, wherein the Devil and the world's wickedness continually rush and roar tumultuously upon him, and often cast the outward man into evils and so hide the noble seed, yet it will not suffer itself to be kept back.

Thence it sprouts forth, and a tree grows out of it in God's kingdom, despite all the raging and raving of the Devil and his followers and dependents.

And the more the noble tree is cherished, the more swiftly and strongly it grows; it suffers not itself to be destroyed though it costs the outward life.

God is in Christ become man, and the faith-spirit is also in Christ born man. In that the will-spirit converses or walks in God, for it is one spirit with God, and works with God divine works.

And though it may be that the earthly life so hides it that a man knows not his work which he has generated in the faith, yet in breaking the earthly body it will be manifest. Seeing we know this we should let no fear or terror keep us back, for we shall well reap and enjoy eternally. What we have here sown in anguish and weariness, that will comfort us eternally. Amen.

## Chapter 14

WE cannot say that the outward world is God, or the speaking Word; or that the outward man is God. That is only the expressed Word, which has stiffened itself in union with the elements. I say, the inward world is the heaven where God dwells; and the outward world is expressed out of the inward, through the moving of the eternal speaking Word, and enclosed between a beginning and an end.

The inward world abides in the eternal speaking Word. The eternal Word speaks it into Being through Wisdom, out of its own powers, colours, and virtue, as a great mystery from eternity. This Being is a breathing from the Word in the Wisdom; it has the power of generation in itself, and introduces itself into forms, after the manner of the generation of the eternal Word, or, as I might say, out of the Wisdom in the Word.

Therefore there is nothing nigh unto or far off from God; one world is in the other and all are one as soul and body are in each other, and time and eternity. The eternal speaking Word rules through and over all; it works from eternity to eternity; and though it can neither be apprehended nor conceived, yet its work is conceived, for this is the formed Word, of which the working Word is the life.

The eternal speaking Word is the divine understanding or *sound*. That which is brought forth from the love-desire into forms, that, I say, is the natural and creaturely understanding and sound which was in the Word; as it is said, In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

The harmony of hearing, seeing, feeling, tasting, and smelling, is the true intellective life. When one power enters into another, then they embrace each other in the sound; and when they are become one they mutually awaken and know each other. In this knowledge consists the true understanding, which, according to the nature of the eternal wisdom, is immeasurable and abyssal, being of the One which is All.

Therefore one only will, if it has divine light in it, may draw from this fountain and behold infinity. From which contemplation this pen has wrote.

In the light of God (which is called the kingdom of heaven) the sound is wholly soft, pleasant, lovely and pure; yea, as a stillness in comparison with our outward gross speaking and sounding. It is as if the mind did play and melodize in a kingdom of joy within itself, and did then hear in a most entire inward manner a sweet, pleasing melody and tune; and yet outwardly did neither hear nor understand it. For in the divine light all is subtle, in manner as the thoughts play and make mutual melody in one another. And yet there is a real, intelligible, distinct sound and speech used by the angels, according to their own property, in the kingdom of glory. The powers of the formed and manifested Word, in their love-desire, do introduce themselves, according to the property of all the powers, into an external being, where, as in a mansion, they may act their love-play, and so have somewhat wherewith and wherein mutually to play and melodize one with another, in their wrestling sport of love.

God, who is a Spirit, has by and through his manifestation introduced himself into distinct spirits, which are the voices of his eternal pregnant harmony in the manifested Word of his great kingdom of joy: they are God's instrument, in which his Spirit melodizes in his kingdom of joy; they are angels, the flames of fire and light, in a living, understanding dominion.

We are not to think that the holy angels dwell only above the stars beyond the place of this world, as the outward reason, which knows nothing of God, fancies. Indeed they dwell beyond the dominion of this world, but the place of this world (although there is no place in eternity), and also the place beyond this world, is all one to them. We men see not the angels or the devils with our eyes; yet they are about us and among us. The evil and the good angels dwell near one another, and yet there is the greatest immense distance between them. For heaven is in hell and hell is in heaven, and yet the one is not manifest to the other. Although the Devil should go many millions of miles, desiring to enter heaven and to see it, yet he would still be in hell and not see it.

If evil was not known, joy would not be manifest. But if joy be manifest, then is the eternal Word spoken in joy, to which end the Word, with nature, has brought itself into a creation. Whosoever rightly sees and understands this has no further question about any thing, for he sees that he lives and subsists in God, and that he may further know and will through him and speak what and how he will. Such a man seeks only the estate of lowliness, that God may alone be accounted high.

My will-spirit, which now is in Christ's humanity, lives in Christ's spirit, that shall in his power give sap to the dry tree, that it may arise in the sound of the trumpet of the divine breath in Christ's voice, which is also my voice in his breath, and spring afresh in paradise. Paradise shall be in me; all whatever God has and is shall appear in me as an image of the divine world's being; all colours, powers and virtues of his eternal Wisdom shall be manifest in me, as in his likeness. I shall be the manifestation of the divine and spiritual world and an instrument of God's Spirit, wherein he makes melody with himself, with this voice which I myself am. I shall be his instrument, an organ of his expressed Word and Voice; and not only I, but all my fellow-members in the glorious choir and instrument of God. We are all strings in the concert of his joy; the spirit from his mouth strikes the note and tune of our strings.

Therefore God became man, that he might repair his glorious instrument of praise, which would not sound according to the desire of his joy and of his love. He would bring again the true love-sound into the strings; he has brought the voice which sounds in his presence again into us; he is become that which I am and has made me that which he is, so I may say that in my humility I am in him his trumpet and the sound of his instrument and his divine voice.

## Chapter 15

I WILL now speak to those who feel indeed in themselves a desire to repent, and yet cannot come to acknowledge and bewail their committed sins; the flesh saying continually to the soul, Stay awhile, it is well enough, or, It is time enough tomorrow; and when tomorrow is come then the flesh says again, Tomorrow; the soul in the meanwhile, sighing and fainting, conceiveth neither any true sorrow for the sins it hath committed nor any comfort. Unto such an one, I say, I will write a process or way, which I myself have gone, that he may know what he must do and how it went with me, if peradventure he be inclined to enter into and pursue the same way.

When any man findeth in himself, pressed home upon his mind and conscience, a hunger or desire to repent, and yet feeleth no true sorrow in himself for his sins which he hath committed, but only an hunger or desire of such sorrow; so that the poor captive soul continually sighs, fears, and must needs acknowledge itself guilty of sins before the judgement of God; such an one, I say, can take no better course than this, namely, to wrap up his senses, mind and reason together, and make to himself instantly, as soon as ever he perceiveth in himself the desire to repent, a mighty strong purpose and resolution that he will that very hour, nay, that minute, immediately enter into repentance, and go forth from his wicked way, not at all regarding the power and respect of the world. Yea, and if it should be required, that he will forsake and disesteem all things for true repentance sake; and never depart from that resolution again though he should be made the fool and scorn of all the world for it; that with the full bent and strength of his mind he will go forth from the glory and pleasure of the world, and patiently enter into the passion and death of Christ, and set all his hope and confidence upon the life to come; that even now in righteousness and truth he will enter into the vineyard of Christ and therein do the will of God; that in the Spirit and will of Christ he will begin and finish all his actions in this world; and for the sake of Christ's word and promise, which holds forth to us a heavenly reward, willingly take up and bear every adversity and cross, so that he may be admitted into the communion and fellowship of the children of Christ.

He must firmly imagine to himself, wholly wrapping up his soul in this persuasion, that in such his purpose he shall obtain the love of God in Christ Jesus, and that God will give unto him that noble pledge, the Holy Ghost, for an earnest; that in the humanity of Christ he himself shall be born again, and that the Spirit of Christ will renew his mind with love and power and strengthen his weak faith. Also that in his divine hunger he shall receive the flesh and blood of Christ for food and drink in the desire of his soul, which hungereth and thirsteth after it as its proper nutriment; and with the thirst of the soul drink the water of eternal life out of the pure fountain of Jesus Christ.

He must also wholly and firmly imagine to himself and set before him the great love of God. He must persuade himself that God in Christ will much more readily hear him and receive him to grace than he come; that God in the love of Christ, in the most dear and precious name Jesus, cannot will any evil; and that there is no angry countenance at all in this Name, but only the highest and deepest love and faithfulness, the greatest sweetness of God.

In this consideration he must firmly imagine to himself that this very hour and instant God is really present within and without him. He must know and believe that in his inward man he standeth really before God on whom his soul hath turned its back; and he must, with the eyes of his mind cast down in fear and deepest humility, begin to confess his sins and unworthiness before the face of God in some such manner as the following:

O thou great unsearchable God, Lord of all things; thou who in Christ Jesus, of thy great love towards us, hath manifested thyself in our humanity: I, poor, unworthy, sinful wretch, come before thy presence, though I am not worthy to lift up mine eyes unto thee, acknowledging and confessing that I am guilty of breaking off from thy great love and the grace which thou hast freely bestowed upon us. My soul knoweth not itself because of the mire of sin; but accounteth itself a strange child before thee, not worthy to desire thy grace.

O God in Christ Jesus, thou who for poor sinners' sake didst become man to help them, to thee I complain. The Devil hath poisoned me so that I know not my Saviour; I am become a wild branch on thy tree. In myself I am become a fool; I am naked and bare, my shame stands before mine eyes, I cannot hide it; thy judgement waiteth for me. What shall I say before thee, who art the Judge of all the world?

O merciful God, it is owing to thy love and longsuffering that I lie not already in hell. I lie before thee as a dying man whose life is passing from his lips, as a spark of life going out; kindle it, O Lord, and lift up the breath of my soul before thee.

A man must bring a serious mind to this work. If ever he would obtain the divine love, and union with the noble Wisdom of God, he must make an earnest vow in his purpose and mind.

Beloved Reader, out of love to thee I will not conceal from thee what is made known to me. If thou lovest the vanity of the flesh still, and art not in an earnest purpose on the way to the new birth, intending to become a new man, then leave the above-written words in that prayer unspoken; else they will turn to a judgement of God in thee. Thou must not take the holy names in vain; they belong to the thirsty soul. But if thy soul be indeed athirst it shall find by experience what words they are.

Beloved Soul; Christ was tempted in the wilderness, and, if thou wilt put on him, thou must go through his whole progress even from his incarnation to his ascension. Though thou art not able nor required to do that which he hath done, yet thou must enter wholly into his process and therein die continually from corruption. For the Virgin, the Holy Wisdom, expouseth not herself to the soul except the soul, through the death of Christ, spring up as a new plant, standing in heaven.

Therefore take heed what thou doest: when thou hast made thy promise keep it; then Wisdom will crown thee more readily than thou wouldst be crowned. But thou must be sure, when the Tempter cometh to thee with the pleasure and glory of the world, that thy mind reject it. The free will of thy soul must stand the brunt as a warrior and champion. If the Devil cannot prevail against thy soul with vanity, then he cometh against it with its unworthiness and its catalogue of sins. There thou must fight hard, for in this conflict it goeth so terribly with many a poor sinner that outward reason thinketh him to be distracted, or possessed by an evil spirit. In this kind of combat heaven and hell are fighting one against the other. Yet a soldier who hath been in the wars can tell how to fight, and can teach another that may be in the like condition.

I have set down here for the help of the reader a very earnest prayer in temptation, that he may know what to do if the same should befall him:

Most deep Love of God in Christ Jesus, leave me not in this distress. I confess I am guilty of the sins which now rise up in my mind and conscience; if thou forsake me I must perish. But hast thou not promised me in thy word, saying, *If a mother could forget her child* (which can hardly be), *yet thou wilt not forget me?* Thou hast set me as a sign in thy hands which were pierced through with sharp nails, and in thy open side whence blood and water gushed out. Poor wretch that I am! I can in my own ability do nothing before thee; I sink myself down into thy wounds and death; into thee I sink down in the anguish of my conscience; do with me what thou wilt.

Beloved Reader, this is no light matter; he that accounteth it so hath not yet passed through the trial. His conscience is still asleep. Happy is he who passeth through this fire in the time of his youth, before the Devil buildeth up in him a stronghold; he may prove a labourer in the heavenly vineyard, and sow his seed in the garden of Christ, where in due time he shall reap the fruit. This trial continueth a long while with many a poor soul, several years if he do not earnestly and early put on the armour of Christ. But to him who with a firm purpose striveth to depart from his evil ways the temptation will not be so hard, neither will it continue so long. Yet he must stand out valiantly till victory be gotten over the Devil. He shall be mightily assisted, and all shall end in the best for him; so that afterwards, when the day breaketh in his soul, he turneth all to the great praise and glory of God.

## Chapter 16

ALL sorrow, anguish, and fear concerning spiritual things, whereby a man is dejected and terrified in himself, proceedeth from the soul. The outward spirit, which is from the stars and elements, is not thus disturbed and perplexed; because it liveth in its own matrix from which it had its birth. But the poor soul is entered into a strange lodging, into the spirit of this world, which is not its proper home. Whereby that fair creature is obscured and defaced, and is also held captive therein, as in a dark dungeon.

The soul is in its first being a magical fire-source from God's nature. It is an intense and incessant desire after the divine Light.

So then, the soul, being of itself a hungry magical fire-spirit, desireth spiritual virtue in order to sustain and preserve thereby its fire-life and allay the hunger of its source.

But seeing that the hungry soul, from the mother's womb, is involved in the spirit of the great world and its own temperament; therefore it feedeth, immediately from its birth, yea, even in the mother's womb, of the spirit of this world. The soul eateth spiritual food according to its temperament; it is the kindling of its fire. The fuel of its fire must be either its temperament or a divine sustenance from God.

Hence we may understand the cause of that infinite variety which there is in the wills and actions of men. Of whatever the soul eateth, wherewith its fire-life is fed, according: to that the soul's life is led and o governed.

If it goes out from its own temperament into God's love-fire, into the heavenly substantiality which is Christ's, then it eateth of Christ and of the meekness of the light of his majesty, wherein is the fountain of eternal life.

From thence the soul getteth a divine will, and bringeth the body to do that which, according to its natural inclination and the spirit of this world, it would not do. In such a soul the temperament ruleth not; it bears sway only over the outward body. Such a man hath a continual longing after God.

Oftentimes when his soul eateth of the divine love-essence, it bringeth to him an exulting triumph, and a divine taste into the temperament itself. So that the whole body is thereby affected and even trembleth for joy, being lifted up to such a degree of divine sensation, as if it was on the very borders of paradise.

But this rapturous state rarely continueth long. The soul is soon clouded with somewhat of another nature from the spirit of this world, of which it maketh a lookingglass wherein it begins to speculate with its outward imagination. Thus it goeth out from the Spirit of God and is often bemired in the dirt of the world, if the Virgin of Divine Wisdom doth not call it back again to repent and return to its first love. Then, if the soul washeth itself anew in the water of eternal life, through earnest repentance, it becometh renewed again in the love-fire of God's meekness and in the Holy Spirit, as a new child; and beginneth again to drink of that water and recovereth at length its life in God.

There is no temperament in which the Devil's will and suggestions may be more clearly discovered, if the soul be once enlightened, than in the melancholy, as the tempted, who have resolutely and successfully stormed his stronghold, very well know.

O how subtilly and maliciously doth the Devil spread his nets for such a soul, as a fowler for the birds! Oftentimes he terrifieth it in its prayers, especially in the night, when it is dark, injecting his suggestions into it and filling it with fearful apprehensions that the wrath of God is ready to seize and destroy it. Thus he maketh a show as if he had power over the soul of the man, and it was his property, whereas he hath not power to touch a hair of his head. Unless the soul itself despaireth, and by that means giveth itself up to him, he dareth not spiritually and really to seize or even touch it.

He hath more than one temptation for the melancholy soul. For, if he cannot persuade it absolutely to despair and so to give itself up to him that way, he bringeth it, when over-burthened with fears and sad apprehensions about its present state and future doom, and impatient under the weight thereof, to thoughts and designs of self-murder. He dareth not destroy a man; the man himself must do that. For the soul hath freedom. If it resisteth the Devil and will not do as he counselleth, then, however he may tempt, yet hath he not power to touch even the outward and sinful body.

The trouble of mind here spoken of is rather a subject of God's pity than of wrath. He will not break the bruised reed, nor extinguish the smoking flax. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in his blessed call and promise, saith, Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, so shall ye find rest unto your souls.

This yoke of Christ is no other than the Cross of nature and providence. This is the yoke which a man is required to take up and carry after Christ with patience, and with full submission thereto. Then the affliction, whatever it be, is so far from hurting the soul that it doeth it much good. For while it standeth in the house of sorrow it is not in the house of sin, or in the pride, pomp, and pleasure of the world. God holdeth it with tribulation, as with a father's restraint, from the sinful pleasure of this world.

The troubled soul is apt to perplex and torment itself because it cannot open by its desire the spring of divine joy in the heart. It sigheth, lamenteth, and feareth that God will have nothing to do with it, because it cannot feel the comfort of his visible presence.

Before the time of my illumination and high knowledge it was just so with me. I went through a long and sore conflict before I obtained my noble garland. Then did I first learn to know how God dwelleth not in the outward fleshly heart, but in the centre of the soul in himself, in his own principle.

Then also I first perceived in my inward spirit that it was God himself who had drawn me to him in and by desire. Which I understood not before, but thought the good desire had been my proper own and that God was far distant from us men. But afterwards I clearly found, and rejoiced to find, how it is that God is so gracious to us. Therefore I write this for an example and a caution to others, not in the least to give way to despair when the Comforter delayeth his coming, but rather to think of the consolatory encouragement given in David's psalm, Heaviness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

It hath fared no otherwise with the greatest saints of God. They were forced to wrestle long and earnestly for the noble garland. With which indeed no man will be crowned unless he strive for it and overcome.

It is indeed laid up in the soul, but if a man will put on that crown in the time of this mortal life he must wrestle for it. Then, if he doth not obtain it in this world, yet he will certainly receive it after he has put off this earthly tabernacle. For Christ saith, In the world ye shall have anxiety and trouble, but in me peace. And, Be of good comfort, I have overcome the world.

I have neither pen that can write nor words that can express what the exceeding sweet grace of God in Christ is. I myself have found it by experience in this my way and course, and therefore certainly know that I have a sure ground from which I write. And I would from the bottom of my heart most willingly impart the same to my brethren in the love of Christ, who, if they will follow my faithful child-like counsels, will find by experience in themselves from whence it is that my simple mind knows and understands great mysteries.

## Chapter 17

THE disciple said to his Master: Sir, how may I come to the supersensual life, so that I may see God, and hear God speak?

The Master answered and said: Son, when thou canst throw thyself into That, where no creature dwelleth, though it be but for a moment; then thou hearest what God speaketh.

When thou standest still from the thinking of self and the willing of self; when both thy intellect and thy will are quiet, and passive to the impress of the eternal Word and Spirit; and when thy soul is winged up above that which is temporal, the outward senses and the imagination being locked up in holy abstraction, then the eternal hearing, seeing, and speaking will be revealed in thee. So God heareth and seeth through thee who art now the organ of his Spirit; so God speaketh in thee and whispereth to thy spirit, and thy spirit heareth his voice.

Three things are requisite in order to this. The first is, Thou must resign thy will to God, and must sink thyself down to the dust in his mercy. The second is, Thou must hate thy own will and forbear from doing that to which thy own will doth drive thee. The third is, Thou must bow thy soul under the Cross, heartily submitting thyself to it, that thou mayest be able to bear the temptations of nature and the creature. And if thou doest this, then thou shalt hear, my Son, what the Lord speaketh in thee.

Though thou lovest the earthly wisdom now, yet when thou shalt be clothed upon with the Heavenly Wisdom, then thou wilt see that all the wisdom of the world is folly. So shalt thou be able to stand under every temptation and to hold out to the end in a course of life above the world and above sense. In this course thou wilt hate thyself; and thou wilt also love thyself; I say, love thyself, and that even more than ever thou didst yet.

In loving thyself, thou lovest not thyself as thine own; but as given thee from the love of God thou lovest the divine ground in thee, by which and in which thou lovest the divine wisdom, the divine goodness, the divine beauty. Thou lovest also God's works of wonder, and in this same ground thou lovest thy brethren. In hating thyself thou hatest only that wherein the evil sticks close to thee. There is, there can be, no selfishness in love; they are opposed one to another. Love, that is, divine love (of which alone we are now discoursing) hates all evil selfhood. It is impossible that these two should subsist in one person; by a necessity of nature the one drives out the other.

The height of love is as high as God; it brings thee to be as high as God himself is, by uniting thee with God. Its greatness is as great as God: there is a latitude of heart in love which cannot be expressed; it enlarges the soul as wide as the whole creation of God. This shall be experienced by thee, beyond the compass of all words, when the throne of love shall be set up in thy heart. Its power supports the heavens and upholds the earth; its virtue is the principle of all principles, the virtue of all virtues. It is the worker of all things and a vital energy through all powers natural and supernatural. It is the power of all powers, nothing being able to let or hinder the omnipotence of love, or resist its penetrating might. If thou findest it thou comest into that fountain from whence all things are proceeded, into that ground wherein they subsist; and thou art a King over all the works of God.

Be silent therefore and watch unto prayer, that thy mind may be disposed for finding that jewel, which to the world appears as nothing, but which to the children of Wisdom is all things. The way to the love of God is folly to the world, but wisdom to the children of God, for whom that which is despised of the world is the most precious treasure; yea, so great a treasure it is, that no life can express, nor tongue so much as name, what this inflaming, all-conquering love of God is. It is brighter than the sun; it is sweeter than any thing that is called sweet; it is stronger than all strength; it is more nourishment than any food, more cheering to the heart than wine, more pleasant than all the pleasantness of this world. Whosoever obtaineth it is richer than any monarch on earth, and he who winneth it is nobler than an emperor and more potent and absolute than all earthly powers and authorities.



# THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS AND OTHER WRITINGS

## Contents

Introduction

THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS

Preface To The Reader

Chapter 1. How That All Whatever Is Spoken Of God Without The Knowledge Of The Signature...

Chapter 2. Of The Opposition And Combat In The Essence Of All Essences...

Chapter 3. Of The Grand Mystery Of All Beings

Chapter 4. Of The Birth Of The Stars, And Four Elements In The Metalline And Creaturely Property

Chapter 5. Of The Sulphurean Death, And How The Dead Body Is Revived, And Replaced Into Its First Glory

Chapter 6. How A Water And Oil Are Generated, And Of The Difference Of The Water And Oil...

Chapter 7. How Adam In Paradise, And How Lucifer Was A Fair Angel, And How They Were Corrupted...

Chapter 8. Of The Fiery Sulphureous Seething Of The Earth, And How The Growth Is In The Earth...

Chapter 9. Of The Signature, Shewing How The Internal Signs The External

Chapter 10. Of The Inward And Outward Cure Of Man

Chapter 11. Of The Process Of Christ In His Suffering, Death, And Resurrection: Of The Wonder Of The Sixth Kingdom...

Chapter 12. Of The Seventh Form In The Kingdom Of The Mother; How The Seventh Kingdom...

Chapter 13. Of The Enmity Of The Spirit And Of The Body, And Of Their Cure And Remedy

Chapter 14. Of The Wheel Of Sulphur, Mercury, And Salt; Of The Generation Of Good And Evil...

Chapter 15. Concerning The Will Of The Great Mystery In Good And Evil, Shewing From Whence A Good And Evil Will Arises...

Chapter 16. Concerning The Eternal Signature And Heavenly Joy; Why All Things Were Brought Into Evil And Good

Postscript By The Translator

THE SUPERSENSUAL LIFE

Dialogue 1. Disciple. Master

Dialogue 2. Argument

Dialogue 3. Of Heaven And Hell. A Dialogue Between Junius A Scholar And Theophorus His Master

Dialogue 4. The Way From Darkness To True Illumination

## Introduction

*The biographic substance of this introduction is principally drawn from Dr. Hartmann's rare volume, and from Professor Deussen's Preface to the magnificent edition of Boehme's works.*

*Trasumanar significa per verba  
non si poria; però, l'esemplo basti  
a cui esperienza grazia serba.*

There are few figures in history more strange and beautiful than that of Jacob Boehme. With a few exceptions the outward events of his life were unremarkable. He was born in 1575 at the village Alt Seidenberg, two miles from Goerlitz in Germany and close to the Bohemian border. His parents were poor, and in childhood he was put to mind their cattle. It was in the solitude of the fields that he first beheld a vision, and assuredly his contemplative spirit must have been well nourished by the continual companionship of nature.

Physically he was not robust (though he never had a sickness), and for this reason his parents, when he was fourteen, apprenticed him to a shoemaker. Of his apprenticeship nothing is recorded, I think, except a story about a mysterious man who came once to the shop when the master was away, and taking Jacob by both hands foretold to him the great work that he should accomplish.

In 1599, when he was four-and-twenty, he became a master shoemaker, and in the same year he married the daughter of a butcher. The girl developed into a capable considerate woman, and they lived together happily until Boehme died. They had four sons and probably two daughters, but his children do not figure prominently in the story of his life. Already he had been visited by a sudden illumination of mind, and in 1600 he experienced the second of those marvellous ecstasies that gave splendour to the whole of his after-life. This, also, was followed by a third and still more brilliant illumination that made clear and complete much that in his previous visions had been obscure and unrelated.

The more dramatic portion of his life begins, however, with the publication of his first book (about 1612). At first he called it *Morning-Glow*, but at the suggestion of a friend he altered the title to that under which it has become world-famous—*Aurora*.

Now although Lutheranism had severely shaken the old orthodoxy, it had itself become, in Boehme's time, an orthodoxy just as rigid. Quite naturally the book was read by the pastor of Goerlitz, one Gregorius Richter. He was a man intolerant, conceited, violent of temper, and obtuse of intellect. He despised and feared the shoemaker. The book ruffled him into a self-righteous passion, and hurrying to the City Council he demanded that Boehme should be banished. The Council was afraid to refuse, and Boehme (like nearly all the truth-bringers) was exiled from his native town.

On the morrow, however, the Council convened again. Its members were stirred by a fine shame when it was put to them that they had banished a citizen of stainless reputation, and one, indeed, who regularly attended church. They recalled him at once, but on condition that he should write no books.

In the following year he changed his occupation. Literary work had caused his business to decline, and having sold the shop he journeyed to the larger cities of the neighbourhood (such, for example, as Prague and Dresden) selling woollen gloves; but after a while it was no longer possible for him to disobey the inner command that he should give to men his revelations, and in these last ten years he composed the unique and shining books of which we have a selection in this volume.

Gregorius Richter, as we should expect, by no means left him at peace. He was denounced from the pulpit and in his own hearing. Scurrilous treatises were flung at him, treatises full of personal abuse and ignoble sneers at his profession. " His writing," observed those who represented the Son of the carpenter, "smells overmuch of cobbler's pitch;" and again we read, "Will ye have the words of Jesus Christ or the words of a shoemaker?" The shoemaker answered them gently and with dignity, as when he declared, "Not I, the I that I am, knows these things, but God knows them in me."

In 1624 his friend Abraham von Frankenburg republished a selection of his writings under the title of *The Way to Christ*. Its radiant beauty impelled the respect of many who belonged to the orthodox church, and this very fact inflamed the Tertullians of his native town. Again they banished him on the charge of impiety, and even refused that he should say farewell to his wife and sons. He went to Dresden. There already he had found a friend in Dr. Hinkelmann. It is pleasant to, record that while he was at Dresden the emperor convened a meeting of eminent divines, that Boehme was invited, and that the depth and spirituality of his thought, together with the charm and modesty with which he expressed it, were received with admiration by many and with enthusiasm by the learned doctors Gerhard and Meissner.

But at the end of the year (November 20, 1624) he died, happily and in the presence of a loving and beloved son. He had foretold the very hour of his death. So relentless were his opponents in Goerlitz that, until the intervention of the powerful Count Hannibal von Drohna, they refused a burial service, and the very priest who had attended him in death, being forced by the Council to make an oration, began by declaring that he would rather walk twenty miles than praise the gentle Boehme. The elaborate cross, too, which was put upon his tomb was torn down in anger.

We are told by Frankenburg, his friend, that he was short in stature, "worn and very plain," with "grey eyes, that lightened into a celestial blue, a low forehead, a thin beard, and an aquiline nose."

Now in the study of mysticism we soon find the essential experience of all mystics to have been identical, and that among them is no figure more representative than Jacob Boehme: so that when we read this book we are like men who from the vantage-point of one of its highest hills can see below and around them the whole expanse of a beautiful and unearthly island. If it allures us we shall then delight in exploring its verdant valleys or spirit-peopled woods or quiet starlit gardens, and all the mysterious birds and blossoms that fly or flutter within them; but if it does not seem attractive we can push off and sail for another country. By no true philalethe can mysticism be honourably ignored. It is either the noblest folly or the grandest achievement of man's mind. Alexander and Napoleon were ambitious, but their ambition dwindles to insignificance when it is compared with that of the mystic. The purpose of the mystic is the mightiest and most solemn that can ever be, for the central aim of all mysticism is to soar out of separate personality up to the very Consciousness of God.

So well, indeed, had Roman Catholicism taught those who were religious the insignificance of the human soul that few among the European mystics of the Middle Ages or the Renaissance were so brilliantly conscious that they could cry out boldly with Meister Eckhardt, "I truly have need of God, but God has need of me." Often they shrank from the ultimate experience, wholly worshipping God indeed, but retaining ever a sense of separateness. Their very humility was the final veil of egotism which they dared not rend.

Jacob Boehme, the last of the great European mystics, having imagined the Spirit which pervades the universe, knew well how little was the stature of his human personality; but he had realised that God was verily within him, and he spoke with the uprightness of a divine being. Unflaggingly he counsels men (as in *The Supersensual Life*) to turn away from the worthless and separated self which hungers for honour or for bodily comfort, in order that they should rediscover within themselves "what was before nature and creature." And he means by this phrase "that light which lighteth every man who cometh into the world." It is here, he says, now and always: we have but to extricate our consciousness from all that is the effect of our time and place. We have but to quiet cur own thoughts and desires, and we shall hear at once the harmonies of heaven.

The danger of such a doctrine is apparent. The true mystic may safely follow his Inward Light, but the enchanted apples are guarded by dragons and are only to be captured by the strong. Many a self-styled mystic has wasted his life in "waiting for the spark that never came:" wasted, we say, though surely not worse wasted than the thousands of lives that, for all their activity, bring nothing to the soul. It is something at least to have striven for the noblest of all ends. We must choose either safety or romance, and mysticism is the romance of religion; the mystic an explorer in the spiritual world. He does not use the instruments of intellect. He experiments. Perhaps, like the Persian Sufi poets, he thinks of God as the Great Beloved, and then, directing all his power of love to the most glorious idea that he is able to conceive, he finds that his emotion like a river has carried him into a state of soul in which he is vividly conscious of the Divine Presence. In that state he beholds the visible world as it were from within. He perceives the spiritual cause of all these material effects. He understands the essential nature of trees and flowers and mountains and the live creatures of the world. No longer does he see men by those dim lights that penetrate the dense and cloudy world of matter. He sees them as angelic toilers bowed by the burden of their own mundane selves. And he knows the insignificance of much that we deem important, the deep value of much that we count accessory, for having cleansed his vision of all personal impediment he apprehends the true proportion of all the elements that compose the universe. The vast realisations that shine within him then are by their nature not easy to express in common terms. Who that has loved could explain his experience to one that had never loved? Only those who are near can understand, and that is why so often the words of mystics are obscure.

Sometimes the seer will attempt to explain his illumined state, like St. John or Jalàlu-d-din Rūmi, by the use of brilliant symbols adapted from the material world; sometimes, like Plotinus or Boehme, by the use of the most abstract words in order that the mind may be led away from worldly associations: but all alike have looked upon one splendour. By many ways they have travelled homeward to that ideal state in which alone the unshackled soul has perfect freedom, and in this book, assuredly, we are communing with one who, if any among men has ever done so, broke free from the bonds of personality and could look upon the universe with the eyes of God.

CLIFFORD BAX.
 
## THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS

Shewing the Sign and SIGNIFICATION of

The several Forms and Shapes in the Creation

AND WHAT THE

BEGINNING, RUIN, AND CURE OF EVERYTHING IS.

IT PROCEEDS OUT OF

Eternity into Time, and again out of Time into Eternity,

AND COMPRIZES ALL MYSTERIES.

## Preface To The Reader

THIS book is a true mystical mirror of the highest wisdom. The best treasure that a man can attain unto in this world is true knowledge; even *the knowledge of himself*: For *man* is the great mystery of God, the *microcosm*, or the complete abridgment of the whole universe: He is the *mirandum Dei opus*, God's masterpiece, a living emblem and hieroglyphic of eternity and time; and therefore to know whence he is, and what his temporal and eternal being and well-being are, must needs be that ONE necessary thing, to which all our chief study should aim, and in comparison of which all the wealth of this world is but dross, and a loss to us.

Hence Solomon, the wisest of the kings of Israel, says: "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding; for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold; she is more precious than rubies, and all things that can be desired are not to be compared unto her."

This is that wisdom which dwells in nothing, and yet possesses all things, and the humble resigned soul is its playfellow; this is the divine alloquy, the inspiration of the Almighty, the breath of God, the holy unction, which sanctifies the soul to be the temple of the Holy Ghost, which instructs it aright in all things, and searches τὰ βάθη το̃υ Θεο̃υ,1 the depths of God.

This is the precious pearl, whose beauty is more glorious, and whose virtue more sovereign than the sun: It is a never-failing comfort in all afflictions, a balsam for all sores, a panacea for all diseases, a sure antidote against all poison, and death itself; it is that joyful and assured companion and guide, which never forsakes a man, but convoys him through this valley of misery and death into the blessed paradise of perfect bliss.

If you ask, What is the way to attain to this wisdom? Behold! Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, tells you plainly in these words; "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me;"2 or as he says elsewhere, "Unless you be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of heaven:" or as St. Paul says, "If any man seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise."3 

Herein lies that simple childlike way to the highest wisdom, which no sharp reason or worldly learning can reach unto; nay, it is foolishness to reason, and therefore so few go the way to find it: The proud sophisters and wiselings of this world have always trampled it under foot with scorn and contempt, and have called it enthusiasm, madness, melancholy, whimsy, fancy, etc., but wisdom is justified of her children.

Indeed, every one is not fit for or capable of the knowledge of the eternal and temporal nature in its mysterious operation, neither is the proud covetous world worthy to receive a clear manifestation of it; and therefore the only wise God (who giveth wisdom to every one that asketh it aright of him) has locked up the jewel in his blessed treasury, which none can open but those that have the key; which is this, viz., "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: "The Father will give the Spirit to them that ask him for it.

This is the true theosophic school wherein this author learned the first rudiments and principles of wisdom, and to which we must go if we would understand his deep writings: For we must know that the sons of Hermes, who have commenced in the high school of true magic and theosophy, have always spoken their hidden wisdom in a mystery; and have so couched it under shadows and figures, parables and similies, that none can understand their obscure, yet clear writings, but those who have had admittance into the same school, and have tasted of the Feast of Pentecost.

And this does not seem at all strange to the children of divine Mercury; for the mysteries of philosophy, divinity, and theosophy must not be profaned, and laid open to the view of the outward astral reason, which turns all to its selfish pride, covetousness, envy, wrath, and cunning hypocrisy; and therefore a parabolical or magical phrase or dialect is the best and plainest habit and dress that mysteries can have to travel in up and down this wicked world: And thus parable have a double and different respect and use; for as they conceal and hide secrets from the rude and vulgar sort, who are not able or patient to bear anything but what suits with their common conceits and opinions, so likewise they sweetly lead the mind of the true searcher into the depths of wisdom's council. They are as the cloudy pillar of Moses; they have a dark part, and they have a light part; they are dark to the Egyptians, the pharisaical sons of sophistry, but light to the true Israel, the children of the mystery.

And therefore whoever will be nurtured and trained up by Sophia, and learn to understand and speak the language of wisdom, must be born again of and in the Word of Wisdom, Christ Jesus, the Immortal Seed: The divine essence which God breathed into his paradisical soul must be revived, and he must become one again with that which he was in God before he was a creature, and then his Eternal Spirit may enter into that which is within the veil, and see not only the literal, but the moral, allegorical, and anagogical meaning of the wise and their dark sayings: He then will be fit to enter, not only into Solomon's porch, the outer court of natural philosophy, sense and reason, but likewise into the inward court of holy and spiritual exercises, in divine understanding and knowledge; and so he may step into the most inward and holiest place of theosophical mysteries, into which none are admitted to come, but those who have received the high and holy unction.

I will now endeavour briefly to hint to the reader what this book contains, though in it the spirit of wisdom cannot be delineated with pen and ink, no more than a sound can be painted, or the wind grasped in the hollow of the hand: But know, that in it he deciphers and represents in a lively manner the Signature of all Things, and gives you the contents of eternity and time, and glances at all mysteries.

Herein the author sets forth fundamentally the birth, sympathy, and antipathy of all beings; how all beings originally arise out of one eternal mystery, and how that same mystery begets itself in itself from eternity to eternity; and likewise how all things, which take their original out of this eternal mystery, may be changed into evil, and again out of evil into good; with a clear and manifest demonstration how man has turned himself out of the good into the evil, and how his transmutation is again out of the evil into the good: Moreover, herein is declared the outward cure of the body; how the outward life may be freed from sickness by its likeness or assimulate, and be again introduced into its first essence; where also, by way of parable and similitude, the Philosopher's Stone is with great life described for the temporal cure; and along with it the holy Corner Stone, Christ alone, for the everlasting cure, regeneration, and perfect restitution of all the true, faithful, eternal souls. In a word, his intent is to let you know the inward power and property by the outward sign; for nature has given marks and notes to everything, whereby it may be known; and this is the Language of Nature, which signifies for what everything is good and profitable: And herein lies the mystery, or central science of the high philosophical work in the true spagiric art, which consummates the cure, not only for the body, but for the soul.

But let the reader know that the sharp speculation of his own reason will never pry into the depth of this book, but rather bring him into a maze of doubtful notions, wherein he will bewilder himself, and think the author's phrase tedious and strange; and therefore the understanding lies only in the manifestation of that Spirit, which in the Day of Pentecost gave forth the true sense and meaning of all languages in one: Now if that Spirit rules and dwells in you, then you may understand this author in the deepest ground, according to your creaturely constellation, both in the eternal and temporal nature; but if not, these things will be but as a relation of trifles and chimeras to you. And therefore if you be of a saturnine property, dull and dark, shut up in the house of Luna, soar not too high with your censure and scorn, or with a critical speculation of your outward reason, lest you fall indeed into the deep abyss of darkness; but wait patiently, till the divine Sol shall shine again in your dark and selfish Saturn, and give you some beams and glimpses of his eternal light, and then your angry Mars will be changed into pure love-zeal, and your prating, pharisaical and hypocritical Mercury into a meek, mild, and Christian speaking of God's works and wonders in the dispensation of his wisdom; and your doubtful, unsettled Jupiter will be turned into a plerophory, or most full assurance of true joy and saving comfort in your religion; your earthly Venus into heavenly love, and your eclipsed mutable Luna into the pure, perfect, and crystalline streams of light, life, and glory.

But the proud scorner that will take no warning is of Lucifer's regiment, who saw the mystery of God's kingdom to stand in meekness, simplicity, and deep humility, and therefore out of his pride would aspire to be above the divine love, and harmony of obedience to God's will, and so fell into the abyss of the dark world, into the outmost darkness of the first principle, which we call Hell, where he and his legions are captives; from which the Almighty God of Love deliver us.

I will end with the words of the author at the conclusion of the book, where he says thus; "I have faithfully, with all true admonition, represented to the reader what the Lord of all beings has given me; he may behold himself in this looking-glass4 within and without, and so he shall find what and who he is: Every reader, be he good or bad, will find his profit and benefit therein: It is a very clear gate of the great mystery of all beings: By glosses, commentaries, curiosity and self-wit, none shall be able to reach or apprehend it in his own ground; but it may very well meet and embrace the true *seeker*, and create him much profit and joy; yea be helpful to him in all natural things, provided he applies himself to it aright, and seeks in the fear of God, seeing it is now a time of seeking; for a lily blossoms upon the mountains and valleys in all the ends of the earth: 'He that seeketh findeth.'" And so I commend the reader to the grace and love of Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
 
## Chapter 1. How That All Whatever Is Spoken Of God Without The Knowledge Of The Signature...

HOW THAT ALL WHATEVER IS SPOKEN OF GOD WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SIGNATURE IS DUMB AND WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING; AND THAT IN THE MIND OF MAN THE SIGNATURE LIES VERY EXACTLY COMPOSED ACCORDING TO THE ESSENCE OF ALL ESSENCES5

1. All whatever is spoken, written, or taught of God, without the knowledge of the signature is dumb and void of understanding; for it proceeds only from an historical conjecture, from the mouth of another, wherein the spirit without knowledge is dumb; but if the spirit opens to him the *signature*, then he understands the speech of another; and further, he understands how the spirit has manifested and revealed itself (out of the essence through the principle) in the sound with the voice. For though I see one to speak, teach, preach, and write of God, and though I hear and read the same, yet this is not sufficient for me to understand him; but if his sound and spirit out of his signature and similitude enter into my own similitude, and imprint his similitude into mine, then I may understand him really and fundamentally, be it either spoken or written, if he has the hammer that can strike my bell.

2. By this we know, that all human properties proceed from one; that they all have but one only root and mother; otherwise one man could not understand another in the sound, for with the sound or speech the form notes and imprints itself into the similitude of another; a like tone or sound catches and moves another, and in the sound the spirit imprints its own similitude, which it has conceived in the essence, and brought to form in the principle.

3. So that in the word may be understood in what the spirit has conceived,6 either in good or evil; and with this signature he enters into another man's form, and awakens also in the other such a form in the signature; so that both forms mutually assimulate together in one form, and then there is one comprehension, one will, one spirit, and also one understanding.

4. And then secondly we understand, that the signature or form is no spirit, but the receptacle, container, or cabinet of the spirit, wherein it lies; for the signature stands in the essence, and is as a lute that liest still, and is indeed a dumb thing that is neither heard or understood; but if it be played upon, then its form is understood, in what form and tune it stands, and according to what note it is set. Thus likewise the signature of nature in its form is a dumb essence; it is as a prepared instrument of music, upon which the will's spirit plays; what strings he touches, they sound according to their property.

5. In the human mind the signature lies most artificially composed, according to the essence of all essences; and man wants nothing but the wise master that can strike his instrument, which is the true spirit of the high might of eternity; if that be quickened in man, that it stirs and acts in the centre of the mind, then it plays on the instrument of the human form, and even then the form is uttered7 with the sound in the word: As his instrument was set in the time of his incarnation,8 so it sounds, and so is his knowledge; the inward manifests itself in the sound of the word, for that is the mind's natural knowledge of itself.

6. Man has indeed all the forms of all the three worlds lying in him; for he is a complete image of God, or of the Being of all beings; only the order is placed in him at his incarnation; for there are three work-masters in him which prepare his form [or signature], viz. the threefold fiat, according to the three worlds; and they are in contest about the form, and the form is figured according to the contest; which of the masters holds the predominant rule, and obtains it in the essence, according to that his instrument is tuned, and the other lie hid, and come behind with their sound, as it plainly shews itself.

7. So soon as man is born into this world, his spirit plays upon his instrument, so that his innate genuine form [or signature] in good or evil is seen by his words and conversation; for as his instrument sounds, accordingly the senses and thoughts proceed from the essence of the mind, and so the external spirit of the will is carried in its behaviour, as is to be seen both in men and beasts; that there is a great difference in the procreation, that one brother and sister does not as the other.

8. Further we are to know, that though one fiat thus keeps the upper hand, and figures the form according to itself, that yet the other two give their sound, if their instrument be but played upon; as it is seen that many a man, and also many a beast, though it is very much inclined either to good or evil, yet it is moved either to evil or good by a contrary tune, and often lets its inbred signature [or figure] fall, when the contrary tune is played upon his hidden lute or form: As we see that an evil man is often moved by a good man to repent of and cease from his iniquity, when the good man touches and strikes his hidden instrument with his meek and loving spirit.

9. And thus also it happens to the good man, that when the wicked man strikes his hidden instrument with the spirit of his wrath, that then the form of anger is stirred up also in the good man, and the one is set against the other, that so one might be the cure and healer of the other. For as the vital signature, that is, as the form of life is figured in the time of the fiat at the conception, even so is its natural spirit; for it takes its rise out of the essence of all the three principles, and such a will it acts and manifests out of its property.

10. But now the will may be broken; for when a stronger comes, and raises his inward signature with his introduced sound and will's spirit, then its upper dominion loses the power, right, and authority; which we see in the powerful influence of the sun, how that by its strength it qualifies a bitter and sour fruit, turning it into a sweetness and pleasantness; in like manner how a good man corrupts among evil company, and also how that a good herb cannot sufficiently shew its real genuine virtue in a bad soil; for in the good man the hidden evil instrument is awakened, and in the herb a contrary essence is received from the earth; so that often the good is changed into an evil, and the evil into a good.

11. And now observe, as it stands in the power and predominance of the quality, so it is signed and marked externally in its outward form, signature, or figure; man in his speech, will, and behaviour, also with the form of the members which he has, and must use to that signature, his inward form is noted in the form of his face;9 and thus also is a beast, an herb, and the trees; everything as it is inwardly [in its innate virtue and quality] so it is outwardly signed; and though it falls out, that often a thing is changed from evil into good, and from good into evil, yet it has its external character, that the good or evil [that is, the change] may be known.

12. For man is known herein by his daily practice, also by his course and discourse; for the upper instrument, which is most strongly drawn, is always played upon: Thus also it is with a beast that is wild, but when it is overawed and tamed, and brought to another property, it does not easily shew its first innate form, unless it be stirred up, and then it breaks forth, and appears above all other forms.

13. Thus it is likewise with the herbs of the earth; if an herb be transplanted out of a bad soil into a good, then it soon gets a stronger body, and a more pleasant smell and power, and shews the inward essence externally; and there is nothing that is created or born in nature, but it also manifests its internal form externally, for the internal continually labours or works itself forth to manifestation: As we know it in the power and form of this world, how the one only essence has manifested itself with the external birth in the desire of the similitude, how it has manifested itself in so many forms and shapes, which we see and know in the stars and elements, likewise in the living creatures, and also in the trees and herbs.

14. Therefore the greatest understanding lies in the signature, wherein man (viz. the image of the greatest virtue) may not only learn to know himself, but therein also he may learn to know the essence of all essences; for by the external form of all creatures, by their instigation, inclination and desire, also by their sound, voice, and speech which they utter, the hidden spirit is known; for nature has given to everything its language according to its essence and form, for out of the essence the language or sound arises, and the fiat of that essence forms the quality of the essence in the voice or virtue which it sends forth, to the animals in the sound, and to the essentials10 in smell, virtue, and form.

15. Everything has its mouth to manifestation; and this is the language of nature, whence everything speaks out of its property, and continually manifests, declares, and sets forth itself for what it is good or profitable; for each thing manifests its mother, which thus gives the essence and the will to the form.
 
## Chapter 2. Of The Opposition And Combat In The Essence Of All Essences...

OF THE OPPOSITION AND COMBAT IN THE ESSENCE OF ALL ESSENCES, WHEREBY THE GROUND OF THE ANTIPATHY AND SYMPATHY IN NATURE MAY BE SEEN, AND ALSO THE CORRUPTION AND CURE OF EACH THING

1. Seeing then there are so many and divers forms, that the one always produces and affords out of its property a will different in one from another, we herein understand the contrariety and combat in the Being of all beings, how that one does oppose, poison, and kill another, that is, overcome its essence, and the spirit of the essence, and introduces it into another form, whence sickness and pains arise, when one essence destroys another.

2. And then we understand herein the cure, how the one heals another, and brings it to health; and if this were not, there were no nature, but an eternal stillness, and no will; for the contrary will makes the motion, and the original of the seeking, that the opposite sound seeks the rest, and yet in the seeking it only elevates and more enkindles itself.

3. And we are to understand how the cure of each thing consists in the assimulate; for in the assimulate arises the satisfaction of the will, viz. its highest joy; for each thing desires a will of its likeness, and by the contrary will it is discomfited;11 but if it obtains a will of its likeness, it rejoices in the assimulate, and therein falls into rest, and the enmity is turned into joy.

4. For the eternal nature has produced nothing in its desire, except a likeness out of itself; and if there were not an everlasting mixing, there would be an eternal peace in nature, but so nature would not be revealed and made manifest, in the combat it becomes manifest; so that each thing elevates itself, and would get out of the combat into the still rest, and so it runs to and fro, and thereby only awakens and stirs up the combat.

5. And we find clearly in the light of nature, that there is no better help and remedy for this opposition, and that it has no, higher cure than the liberty, that is, the light of nature, which is the desire of the spirit.

6. And then we find, that the essence cannot be better remedied than with the assimulate; for the essence is a being, and its desire is after being: Now every taste desires only its like, and if it obtains it, then its hunger is satisfied, appeased and eased, and it ceases to hunger, and rejoices in itself, whereby the sickness falls into a rest in itself; for the hunger of the contrariety ceases to work.

7. Seeing now that man's life consists in three principles, viz. in a threefold essence, and has also a threefold spirit out of the property of each essence, viz. first, according to the eternal nature, according to the fire's property; and secondly, according to the property of the eternal light and divine essentiality; and thirdly, according to the property of the outward world: Thereupon we are to consider the property of this threefold spirit, and also of this threefold essence and will; how each spirit with its essence introduces itself into strife and sickness, and what its cure and remedy is.

8. We understand that without nature there is an eternal stillness and rest, viz. the Nothing; and then we understand that an eternal will arises in the nothing, to introduce the nothing into something, that the will might find, feel, and behold itself.

9. For in the nothing the will would not be manifest to itself, wherefore we know that the will seeks itself, and finds itself in itself, and its seeking is a desire, and its finding is the essence of the desire, wherein the will finds itself.

10. It finds nothing except only the property of the hunger, which is itself, which it draws into itself, that is, draws itself into itself, and finds itself in itself; and its attraction into itself makes an overshadowing or darkness in it, which is not in the liberty, viz. in the nothing; for the will of the liberty overshadows itself with the essence of the desire, for the desire makes essence and not the will.

11. Now that the will must be in darkness is its contrariety, and it conceives in itself another will to go out from the darkness again into the liberty, viz. into the nothing, and yet it cannot reach the liberty from without itself, for the desire goes outwards, and causes source and darkness; therefore the will (understand the reconceived will) must enter inwards, and yet there is no separation.

12. For in itself before the desire is the liberty, viz. the nothing, and the will may not be a nothing, for it desires to manifest in the nothing; and yet no manifestation can be effected, except only through the essence of the desire; and the more the reconceived will desires manifestation, the more strongly and eagerly the desire draws into itself, and makes in itself three forms, viz. the desire, which is astringent, and makes hardness, for it is an enclosing, when coldness arises, and the attraction causes compunction,12 and stirring in the hardness, an enmity against the attracted hardness; the attraction is the second form, and a cause of motion and life, and stirs itself in the astringency and hardness, which the hardness, viz. the enclosing,13 cannot endure, and therefore it attracts more eagerly to hold the compunction, and yet the compunction is thereby only the stronger.

13. Thus the compunction willeth upwards, and whirls crossways, and yet cannot effect it, for the hardness, viz. the desire stays and detains it, and therefore it stands like a triangle, and transverted orb, which (seeing it cannot remove from the place) becomes wheeling, whence arises the mixture in the desire, viz. the essence, or multiplicity of the desire; for the turning makes a continual confusion and contrition, whence the anguish, viz. the pain, the third form (or sting of sense) arises.

14. But seeing the desire, viz. the astringency becomes only the more strong thereby (for from the stirring arises the wrath and nature, viz. the motion), the first will to the desire is made wholly austere and a hunger, for it is in a hard compunctive dry essence, and also cannot get rid and quit of it, for itself makes the essence, and likewise possesses it, for thus it finds itself now out of nothing in the something,14 and the something is yet its contrary will, for it is an unquietness, and the free-will is a stillness.

15. This is now the original of enmity, that nature opposes the free-will, and a thing is at enmity in itself; and here we understand the centre of nature with three forms, in the original, viz. in the first principle, it is Spirit; in the second it is Love, and in the third principle Essence; and these three forms are called in the third principle Sulphur, Mercury, and Sal.

16. Understand it thus: Sul is in the first principle the freewill, or the lubet in the nothing to something, it is in the liberty without nature; Phur is the desire of the free lubet, and makes in itself, in the Phur, viz. in the desire, an essence, and this essence is austere by reason of the attraction, and introduces itself into three forms (as is above mentioned) and so forward into the fourth form, viz. into the fire; in the Phur the original of the eternal and also external nature is understood, for the hardness is a mother of the sharpness of all essences, and a preserver of all essences; out of the Sul, viz. out of the lubet of the liberty, the dark anguish becomes a shining light; and in the third principle, viz. in the outward kingdom, Sul is the oil of nature, wherein the life burns, and everything grows.

17. But now the Phur, viz. the desire, is not divided from Sul; it is one word, one original also, and one essence, but it severs itself into two properties, viz. into joy and sorrow, light and darkness; for it makes two worlds, viz. a dark fire-world in the austereness, and a light fire-world in the lubet of the liberty; for the lubet of the liberty is the only cause that the fire shines, for the original fire is dark and black, for in the shining of the fire in the original the Deity is understood, and in the dark fire, viz. in the anguish-source, the original of nature is understood, and herein we do further understand the cure.

18. The source is the cure of the free lubet, viz. of the still eternity; for the stillness finds itself alive therein, it brings itself through the anguish-source into life, viz. into the kingdom of joy, namely that the nothing is become an eternal life, and has found itself, which cannot be in the stillness.

19. Secondly, we find that the Sul, viz. the lubet of the liberty, is the curer of the desire, viz. of the anxious nature: for the lustre of the liberty does again (from the enkindled fire out of nature) shine in the dark anguish, and fills or satiates the anguish with the liberty, whereby the wrath extinguishes, and the turning orb stands still, and instead of the turning a sound is caused in the essence.

20. This is now the form of the spiritual life, and of the essential life; Sul is the original of the joyful life, and Phur is the original of the essential life; the lubet is before and without nature, which is the true Sul; and the spirit is made manifest in nature, viz. through the source, and that in a twofold form, viz. according to the lubet of the liberty in a source of joy, and according to the anxious desire's lubet; according to the astringency, compunctive, bitter, and envious from the compunction, and according to the anguish of the wheel wholly murderous and hateful; and each property dwells in itself, and yet they are in one another; herein God's love and anger are understood, they dwell in each other; and the one apprehends not the other, and yet the one is the curer of the other; understand through imagination, for the eternal is magical.

21. The second form in nature, in eternity is the Orb with the compunctive bitter essences: for there arises the essence, understand with the perturbation; for the nothing is still without motion, but the perturbation makes the nothing active: but in the third principle, viz. in the dominion in the essence, and source of the outward world, the form is called Mercury, which is opposite, odious, and poisonful, and the cause of life and stirring, also the cause of the senses: Where one glance15 may conceive itself in the infinity, and then also immerse itself into it, where out of one only the abyssal, unsearchable, and infinite multiplicity may arise.

22. This form is the unquietness, and yet the seeker of rest; and with its seeking it causes unquietness, it makes itself its own enemy; its cure is twofold, for its desire is also twofold, viz. according to the lubet of the liberty, according to the stillness and meekness; and then also in the hunger according to the rising of unquietness, and the finding of itself; the root desires only joy with the first will, and yet it cannot obtain it, except through the opposite source, for no joy can arise in the still nothing; it must arise only through motion and elevation that the nothing finds itself.

23. Now that which is found desires to enter again into the will of the still nothing, that it may have peace and rest therein; and the nothing is its cure; and the wrath and poison is the remedy of the seeker and finder, that is their life which they find, an example whereof we have in the poisonous gall, whence in the life arises joy and sorrow, wherein we also understand a twofold will, viz. one to the wrathful fire and anxious painful life to the original of nature, and one to the light-life, viz. to the joy of nature; this takes its original out of the eternal nothing.

24. The first will's cure is the lubet of the liberty, if it obtains that, then it makes triumphant joy in itself; and the wrath in the hungry desire is the curer and helper of the other will, viz. the will of nature; and herein God's love and anger are understood, and also how evil and good are in the centre of each life, and how no joy could arise without sorrow, and how one is the curer of the other.

25. And here we understand the third will (which takes its original out of both these, viz. out of such an essence, viz. out of the mother), viz. the spirit, which has both these properties in it, and is a son of the properties and also a lord of the same; for in him consists the power, he may awaken which he pleases; the properties lie in the essence, and are as a well-constituted life, or as an instrument with many strings,16 which stand still; and the spirit, viz. the egress is the real life, he may play upon the instrument as he pleases, in evil or good, according to love or anger; and as he plays, and as the instrument sounds, so is it received of its contra-tenor, viz. of the assimulate.

26. If the tune of love be played, viz. the liberty's desire, then is the sound received of the same liberty and love-lubet; for it is its pleasing relish, and agreeable to its will's desire; one similar lubet takes another.

27. And thus likewise is it to be understood of the enmity and contrary will; if the instrument be struck according to the desire to nature, viz. in the wrath, anger, and bitter falsehood, then the same contrary sound and wrathful desire receives it; for it is of its property, and a satiating of its hunger, wherein we understand the desire of the light, and also of the dark world; a twofold source and property.

28. The desire of the liberty is meek, easy, and pleasant, and it is called good;17 and the desire to nature makes itself in itself dark, dry, hungry, and wrathful, which is called God's anger, and the dark world, viz. the first principle; and the light world is the second principle.

29. And we are to understand, that it is no divided essence, but one holds the other hidden or closed up in it, and the one is the beginning and cause of the other, also its healing and cure; that which is awaked and stirred up, that gets dominion, and manifests itself externally with its character, and makes a form and signature according to its will in the external after itself. A similitude whereof we see in an enraged man or beast; though the outward man and beast are not in the inward world, yet the outward nature has even the same forms; for it18 arises originally from the inward,19 and stands upon the inward root.

30. The third form is the anxiousness which arises in nature from the first and second form, and is the upholder or preserver of the first and second; it is in itself the sharp fiat; and the second form has the Verbum, viz. the property to the word, and it consists in three properties, and makes out of herself with the three the fourth, viz. the fire; in the external birth, viz. in the third principle, it is called Sal, or salt, according to its matter; but in its spirit it has many forms; for it is the fire-root, the great anguish, it arises betwixt and out of the astringency and bitterness in the austere attraction; it is the essentiality of that which is attracted, viz. the corporality, or comprehensibility; from Sulphur it is of a brimstone nature, and from Mercury a blaze or flash; it is in itself painful, viz. a sharpness of dying, and that from the sharp attraction of the astringency: It has a twofold fire, one cold, another hot; the cold arises from the astringency, from the sharp attraction, and is a dark black fire; and the hot arises from the driving forth the compunction20 in the anguish in the desire after the liberty, and the liberty is its enkindler, and the raging compunction is the cold's fire's awakener.21  

31. These three forms are in one another as one, and yet they are but one; but they sever themselves through the original into many forms, and yet they have but one mother, viz. the desiring will to manifestation, which is called the father of nature, and of the Being of all beings.

32. Now we are to consider the hunger of the anxiety, or the salt-spirit, and then also its satiating or fulfilling: The anguish has in it two wills, from the original of the first will out of the liberty to the manifestation of itself; viz. the first will is to nature, and the other reconceived will is the son of the first, which goes out of the manifestation again into itself into the liberty; for it is become an eternal life in nature, and yet possesses not nature essentially, but dwells in itself, and penetrates nature as a transparent shining, and the first will goes outwards,22 for it is the desire of manifestation; it seeks itself out of itself, and yet amasses the desire in itself; it desires to educe the internal out of itself.

33. Thus it has two properties; with the seeking in itself it makes the centre of nature: For it is like a poison, a will of dreadful aspiring, like a lightning and thunder-clap; for this desire desires only anguish, and to be horrible, to find itself in itself, out of the nothing in the something; and the second form proceeds forth as a flagrat, or produces sound out of itself; for it is not the desire of the first will to continue in the horrible death, but only thus to reduce itself out of the nothing, and to find itself.

34. And we understand by the centre in itself, with the aspiring wrathfulness, with the wrathful will to nature, the dark world, and with the egress out of itself to manifestation, the outward world; and with the second will out of the first, which enters again into the liberty, we understand the light world, or the kingdom of joy, or the true Deity.

35. The desire of the dark world is after the manifestation, viz. after the outward world, to attract and draw the same essentiality into it, and thereby to satisfy its wrathful hunger; and the desire of the outward world is after the essence or life, which arises from the pain and anguish.

36. Its desire in itself is the wonder of eternity, a mystery, or mirror, or what is comprehended of the first will to nature.

37. The outward world's desire is Sulphur, Mercury, and Sal; for such an essence it is in itself, viz. a hunger after itself, and is also its own satisfying; for Sul desires Phur, and Phur desires Mercury, and both these desire Sal; for Sal is their son, which they hatch in their desire, and afterwards becomes their habitation, and also food.

38. Each desire desires only the essentiality of salt according to its property; for salt is diverse; one part is sharpness of cold, and one part sharpness of heat; also one part brimstone; and one part salniter from Mercury.

39. These properties are in one another as one, but they sever themselves, each dwelling in itself; for they are of a different essence, and when one enters into another, then there is enmity, and a flagrat. A similitude whereof we may apprehend in thunder and lightning, which comes to pass when the great Anguish, viz. the mother of all salts, understand the third form of nature, impresses itself; which comes to pass from the aspect of the sun, which stirs up the hot fire's form, so that it is penetrative, as the property of the fire is; and when it reaches the salniter, then it enkindles itself; and the salniter is in itself the great flagrat in Mercury, viz. the flash, or compunction, which enters into the coldness, so also into the cold sharpness of the salt-spirit; this coldness is exceedingly dismayed at the flash of the fire, and in a trice wraps or folds up itself in itself, whence arises the thunder-clap (or the tempestuous flash, which gives a stroke in the flagrat) and the flagrat goes downwards, for it is heavy by reason of the coldness, and the sal-nitrous spirit is light by reason of the fire, which [spirit] carries the thunder or sound sideways, as is to be heard in tempests and thunder; presently thereupon comes the wind or spirit out of all the four forms one against another, for they are all four enkindled in the penetrating flagrat; whereupon follows hail and rain; the hail folds itself together in the coldness, in the property of the cold salt-spirit; for the wrath attracts to itself, and turns the water to ice, and the water arises from the meekness, viz. from the desire of the light, for it is the essentiality of the meekness; this the cold salt-spirit congeals into drops, and distils it upon the earth, for before the congelation it is only as a mist, or steam, or as a vapour, or damp.

40. Thus we see this ground very exactly and properly in thunder and lightning; for the flash, or lightning, or ethereal blaze, goes always before, for it is the enkindled salniter; thereupon follows the stroke in the flagrat of the coldness; as you see, as soon as the stroke is given the astringent chamber is opened, and a cool wind follows, and oftentimes whirling and wheeling; for the forms of nature are awakened, and are as a turning wheel, and so they carry their spirit the wind.
 
## Chapter 3. Of The Grand Mystery Of All Beings

OF THE GRAND MYSTERY OF ALL BEINGS

1. Courteous reader, observe the meaning right; we understand not by this description a beginning of the Deity, but we shew you the manifestation of the Deity through nature; for God is without beginning, and has an eternal beginning, and an eternal end, which he is himself, and the nature of the inward world is in the like essence from eternity.

2. We give you to understand this of the divine essence; without nature God is a mystery,23 understand in the nothing, for without nature is the nothing, which is an eye of eternity, an abyssal eye, that stands or sees in the nothing, for it is the abyss; and this same eye is a will, understand a longing after manifestation, to find the nothing; but now there is nothing before the will, where it might find something, where it might have a place to rest, therefore it enters into itself, and finds itself through nature.

3. And we understand in the mystery without nature in the first will two forms; one to nature, to the manifestation of the wonder-eye; and the second form is produced out of the first, which is a desire after virtue and power, and is the first will's son, its desire of joyfulness. And understand us thus; the desire is egressive, and that which proceeds is the spirit of the will and desire, for it is a moving, and the desire makes a form24 in the spirit, viz. formings of the infinity of the mystery.

4. And this form [or likeness] is the eternal wisdom of the Deity; and we understand herein the Trinity of the only Deity, whose ground we must not know, how the first will arises in the abyss from eternity, which is called Father; only we know the eternal birth, and distinguish the Deity, viz. what purely and merely concerns the Deity, or the good, from nature, and shew you the arcanum of the greatest secret mystery; namely, how the abyss, or the Deity, manifests itself with this eternal generation; for God is a spirit, and as subtle as a thought or will, and nature is his corporeal essence, understand the eternal nature; and the outward nature of this visible comprehensible25 world is a manifestation or external birth of the inward spirit and essence in evil and good, that is, a representation, resemblance, and typical similitude of the dark fire and light world.

5. And as we have shewn you concerning the original of thunder and lightning with the tempestuous stroke; so likewise the inward nature of the inward world is, and stands in the generation: For the outward birth takes its original from the inward; the inward birth is unapprehensible to the creature, but the outward is apprehensible to it; yet each property apprehends its mother from whence it is brought forth.

6. As the soul comprehends the inward eternal nature, and the spirit of the soul, viz. the precious image according to God, comprehends26 the birth of the angelical light-world, and the sidereal and elemental spirit comprehends the birth and property of the stars and elements; every eye sees into its mother from whence it was brought forth.

7. Therefore we will set down the generation of all essences out of all mothers and beginnings, how one generation proceeds from another, and how one is the cause of another, and this we will do from the eyesight of all the three mothers.

8. Let none account it impossible, seeing man is a likeness according to and in God, an image of the Being of all beings; and yet it stands not in the power of the creature, but in the might of God; for the sight and science of all essences consist alone in the clearest light.

9. We have made mention before how the external birth, viz. the essence of this world, consists in three things, viz. in Sulphur, Mercury, and Sal: Now we must set down and declare what it is, seeing that all things arise from one original, and then how its inward separation is effected, that out of one beginning many beginnings are produced; this is now to be understood, as is before mentioned, concerning the centre of all essences.

10. For Sulphur in the eternal beginning consists in two forms, and so also in the outward beginning of this world: viz. in the internal the first form, viz. the Sul consists27 in the eternal liberty; it is the lubet of the eternal abyss, viz. a will or an original to the desire; and the other original is the desire, which is the first motion, viz. an hunger to the something; and in this same hunger is the eternal beginning to the pregnant nature,28 and it is called Sulphur, viz. a conception of the liberty, viz. of the good, and a conception or comprehension of the desire, viz. of the austere attraction in the desire.

11. Sul in the internal is God, and Phur is the nature; for it makes a spirit of the nature of brimstone, as is to be seen externally in the property of brimstone; for its substance is a dry constringent matter, and is of a painful anxious fiery property, forcing itself forth; it attracts eagerly and hardly into itself, and parches up as a dry hunger, and its painful property does eagerly and anxiously force itself forth: The cause and original is this, because it stands in two beginnings, viz. in the property of the desire, which is an attraction; and in the property of the light or liberty, which is driving forth, or pressing to the manifestation through the desire of nature.

12. The desire, viz. the attraction makes hardness, and is the cause of the fire, and the lubet is a cause of the lustre or light of the fire: Sul is light, and Phur makes fire, yet it cannot be reduced alone in Sulphur to fire and light, but in Mercury, and at last in Sal, which is the real body, but not of the brimstone, but of the essence and water: And so understand, that in the first desire, which arises in the lubet of the liberty, all things are, and are made substantial and essential, from whence the creation of this world is proceeded; and we find herein the property of the earth, so likewise of all metals and stones, and also of the astrum,29 and the original of the elements, all out of one only mother, which is the lubet and the desire, from whence all things proceeded and still proceed.

13. For Mercury is generated in Sulphur: It is the severing, viz. of light and darkness from one another, the breaking wheel, and cause of the various division or multiplicity: it separates the dark essentiality from the essentiality of the light, viz. the metals from the gross, astringent, dark, stony, and earthly property; for the property of the desire gives and makes dark essence, and the property of the free lubet makes light essence, viz. metals, and all of the same kind and resemblance.

14. Mercury has in the beginning of his birth three properties, viz. the *trembling* in the austereness, and *anguish* from the hard impressing of the astringent hard desire, and the *expulsion* of the multiplicity, viz. the essential life; for the desire attracts very hard to itself, and the attraction makes the motion, or sting of trembling [or horrible compunction], and that which is impressed is the anguish; but if the liberty be therein comprehended, it refuses it, and there arises the original of enmity, and the severing, that one form separates from another, and a twofold will arises.

15. For the lubet of the liberty does again set its desire into the stillness, viz. into the nothing, and forces again out of the darkness of the desire's austereness into itself, viz. into the liberty, without the wrath of the enmity; and so it has only sharpened itself in the austere impression in Mercury, that it is a moving feeling life, and that its liberty is sharpened so that it becomes a lustre, which is, and causes a kingdom of joy in the liberty; and so understand us, that the spirit's dominion, viz. the spirit and the essence30 do thus separate.

16. The essence remains in the impression, and becomes material; that is not God, but gold, or any other metal, according to the property of the first conception in the Sulphur, or stone, or earth, out of the desire's own peculiar property, all according to the first sude31 or seething in Mercury; for no metal can be generated without salniter, which is the flagrat in Mercury; which also becomes material in the astringent impression, and divides itself in the separation, one part into brimstone, another into salniter, and a third into a salt sharpness; whereas yet there cannot be any corporeal essence in all these, but only the spirit of the essence; the essence proceeds wholly out of the death through mortification, which is effected in the great anguish of the impressure, where there is a dying source, which is the mercurial life, where the salnitral flagrat arises as an opening, displaying flash: For the liberty, viz. the property of the eternal lubet, does there separate itself,32 and yet the attracted essence out of the lubet of the liberty continues all along in the comprehension of the attraction in the astringent austere dark anguish: Now if the wrath enters so vehemently into itself as to raise up the salnitral flagrat, then it apprehends the essentiality of the free lubet in itself, from whence arises the flagrat; for the wrath there apprehends the meekness, which is even as if water were poured into fire, which gives a flagrat; and then the wrath of the great anguish dies, and with the flagrat the joy ascends, and the flagrat is out of mercury, or out of the anguish of death, and becomes also material, but by reason of the liberty it changes itself into white, which is salniter: Now if the fire, viz. the horrible anxious sharpness, does again come into it, then the salniter is dismayed, and gives a repulse;33 for the first property [which was] before the death is again enkindled with the brimstone spirit; a sufficient resemblance of which you have in gunpowder, which is the matter of these properties.

17. Further, we are to know the dying with the enkindling of the fire, all which is done in the flagrat; for it is a flagrat to death, and to life; one part immerses itself into the property of death, viz. into the wrath of the austere desire; and the other part, which is from the lubet or love-essentiality, arises up in the kingdom of joy: But seeing there happens also a mortifying in the free materia (though it is no mortifying, but a redeeming from the wrath, for the materia of the liberty will be free from the wrath), thereupon this materia falls34 downwards, which is water; and it is not of the property of the wrath, but the wrath holds it captive in itself; but they are separated from one another in the essence and source; the wrath's essence gives earth and stones, and the essence of the liberty is water, which arises with the enkindling of the fire through the mortification out of the meekness of the light.

18. But seeing this water does also separate itself in the salnitral flagrat, and before the salniter was all mutually enwrapt together, thereupon it obtains different properties in the separation, and there is a diversity of water; and this various diversity of properties gives in each property also a bodily or corporeal essence, all according to the first separation of mercury in sulphur, for in the mortification in the salnitral flagrat two things are effected and come forth, viz. a life, and a body of the life; understand an essential, and a lifeless senseless body, whose materia is mortified in the flagrat: Thus there is a diversity of water, and a diversity of the life, and a diversity of the body,35 or of the materia; as each body is, so is also its essential spirit.

19. Now we must consider this from the first original; as (1) from the lubet of the liberty; and (2) from the desire to nature, or the manifestation of the abyss.

20. First, in the salnitral flagrat there is produced through the anxious mortification a sulphureous water from the anguish, which affords a brimstone, as we plainly see, and all whatever is of the like sort and resemblance.

21. Secondly, there is generated from the astringent, austere, attractive property, which draws in to itself, a salt water; its materia is salt; if it be again impressed through the fire or heat, then it turns into salt; and all whatever is sharp and attractive, be it either in herbs or trees, proceeds from thence; for there is as much diversity of brimstone and salt, as there is variety of taste and fire to be found in all creatures, herbs, and trees; also all whatever lives and grows has brimstone and salt; for the saltish property attracts, and preserves the body;36 and the brimstone has in it the oil or light, wherein the free lubet to manifestation consists, whence the growth arises.

22. Thirdly, there is brought forth through the salnitral flagrat out of the property of the bitter compunctive attraction, in the first impression in the spirit, an earthly property of water; its materia is earth; for the same arises from the dark essentiality, where the darkness impresses itself in the first desire, wherein the darkness arises, as is before mentioned: Thus it begets out of its property in the impression a mist, smoaky steam, or vapour, which the flagrat in the salniter apprehends, and its essence is dismayed or dies, and falls downwards; this is the materia of the earth, though the earth is not of one only sort, but has in it all whatever became corporeal in the flagrat, all which springs through the death of the earth, according as it was wrapt and driven together in the creation into a lump, as we plainly see.

23. Further, we are to consider of the highest arcanum, viz. of the heavenly essentiality, and then of the precious stones and metals, from whence they all take their rise and original; seeing that all things come out of one mother, which is the lubet and desire of eternity to its own manifestation.

24. Now concerning the incorruptible essence of corporality, the same arises also in the first desire to nature, yet in the impression of the free lubet, and goes all along through all the forms even into the highest sharpness, where it retires again into itself, as a life out of the fire: The eternal fire is magical, and a spirit, and dies not; the liberty is its enkindler, but the eternal nature is its sharpness; this same essence loses the wrath's property in the light; it is in the same fire as a dying, yet there is no dying, but an entrance into another source, viz. out of a painful desire into a love-desire; it yields also spirit and essence from the fire-spirit, and the essence of meekness from the light.

25. For that which dies to the fire, or sinks through death, that is divine essence; and it is effected likewise through the salnitral flagrat of the divine joyfulness, where the property trembles in the joy of meekness, and immerses itself through the death of the fire, which is called God's anger, and quenches it, so that God dwells in a meek light; and the first property to the enkindling of the light is fire, and wrath of the eternal nature, and makes37 the dark world.

26. The properties of the first mother in the lubet and desire do also divide themselves in the salnitral flagrat of joyfulness into distinct parts, as is to be seen in this outward world; it yields also water, but of a very sovereign essence, and it resembles only a spirit of a pleasant lovely desire: This is the water of which Christ told us that he would "give us to drink," and "whosoever should drink the same, it should spring up in him to a fountain of eternal life."

27. It retains also in the flagrat of the disclosure the fiery property which is called heaven, in which the wonders of the divine kingdom of joy are known and manifest; and in the watery property [it retains] the pleasant spring, or paradise; for in the fiery [property] the eternal element arises, and it is the real essence of the divine corporality, wherein consists all whatever may be known in God, as is sufficiently and in order cleared at large in our other writings of the *Divine revelation*, treating of the *Divine wisdom*, and of the *Divine eternal abyssal birth: *And now we will turn us to the essence of the outward world, viz. to the manifestation of the eternal, viz. to metals, herbs, and trees; so also to men and beasts.

28. We see that the metals have another manner of body than the living creatures, or are otherwise than the earth and stones are: Now reason asks, How is the original of everything, seeing that in the beginning all arose out of one mother, and yet the eternity has no temporal beginning? Here we must again consider the mother of the first pregnatrix, where, and how one essence separates itself from another, viz. the inchoative from the eternal, time from eternity, and yet they stand mutually in each other, but are severed into two principles, viz. into the kingdom of God, and of this world; and yet all is God's: But seeing Christ calls the devil "a prince of this world," and we also are able to declare how far, and in what he is a prince, and that this world is not his own,38 but he is the poorest creature in this world, and also not at all in this world; now therefore look upon the first ground, upon the mother which has thus generated all creatures.

29. So also as to the earth, stones, and all metals, the earth's property, consists in a spiritual Sulphur, Mercury, and Sal, and all whatever has had beginning is arisen in and out of her impression, and inchoatively thereupon it came forth with the first form of the mother, viz. with the astringent attraction, through the fiat into a creatural being, and affords a diversity of essence and spirit, according to the first property of the separation.

30. As first, the high spirits, which were created out of the free lubet in the desire, in the fire's property, viz. out of the centre of all essences, had in them the properties of both the eternal worlds; but those which after their corporising [or being made creaturely] remained with their desire in the property of the free lubet, and introduced their will out of the fire into the light, they became angels; and the other, which introduced their desire again into the centre (viz. into the austere properties), became devils, viz. outcasts from the free lubet out of the light, as is mentioned in other writings.

31. Therefore the devils have neither the kingdom of God, nor the kingdom of this world in possession; for in the beginning of the creation this world was created out of both the inward properties, whereupon the devil has now only the wrath's part in possession, the other profits him nothing; and thus he is in the world, and also not in the world, for he has but one part thereof in possession, from the other he is cast out.

32. After the creation of the highest spirits, God created this visible world with the stars and elements as an external birth out of the mother of all essences; all which proceeded out of the eternal beginning, and took a temporal beginning: For here we are to consider, that the eternal pregnatrix moved itself, and enkindled its own form [or similitude], where then the one became corporeal in the other; but afterwards God created the earth, which we are thus to consider of.

33. The first desire to nature impresses itself, and introduces itself with the impression into three forms, viz. into Sulphur, Mercury, and Sal, and in the impression all become rising and moving, which is not in the still nothing, and so forces itself into the highest anguish, even to39 the salnitral flagrat, where then is the original of the fire: Thus the source whirls in itself, as a boiling of water upon the fire: for the austere desire is attractive, and the fiery is expulsive, which is a sulphur; and the astringent attraction is a wrathful sting [or compunction], viz. a contrition; and yet it is held by the austereness, that it cannot move away, whereupon it is painful, and causes pain, as if it were seething, which yet is only spirit without essence, which comes to pass in Mercury, and is Mercury's own form.

34. And there is the separation of two wills, viz. one remains, and is the very anxious essence, seeing it originally arises from the desire; the other, which arises out of the lubet of the liberty, retires back again into itself into the liberty, and yet there is no parting or dividing from one another, but thus it goes one with another all along through the enkindling of the fire through the salnitral flagrat, where with the enkindling of the fire the death is effected in the wrath of the fire, where the source dies, and yet there is no death, but a likeness of death; and yet the real, eternal, and temporal death is in that manner, even where the liberty apprehends itself in itself, and the death or flagrat falls down into the liberty as impotent, and freely resigns itself; and the spirit, viz. the source (understand the very sharp, fiery, anxious source), becomes material, and retains only an essential working, like to an impotent desire; and in the enkindling of the fire in the salnitral flagrat each property separates itself in itself, and the whole materia is particularised, viz. to metals, stones, and earth.

35. The highest metal,40 as gold, arises from the liberty, which is comprised all along in the flagrat in the astringent impression; and it is not free from the materia of the rest, for all is comprised or wrapt up together; but seeing the liberty with the Sul, or light's property, is comprised or comprehended therein also, thereupon Sul is expulsive to the manifestation of itself, as it is the property of the liberty so to be: Hence it comes that metals grow, and not the gross hard stones, which are too hard comprised in the impression out of the wrathful essentiality, and have too little Sul in them.

36. But concerning the precious stones, with their radiant lustre and great virtue, the same have their original in the flash of the fire, where life and death separate; as when one part by reason of the dark essentiality descends, and the other by reason of the liberty ascends, and yet all is brought into essence in the flagrat; so that the same flash or glance becomes also material in the flagrat; and therefore they are hard, and of a blinking glance, like an eye; for so also is the original of the eye or sight in the womb,41 when the life enkindles; all according to the right of eternity.

37. And therefore they are of so great power, efficacy, and virtue, in that they are so nigh to the Deity, and bear the incorporated names of the divine power in them; as also gold is nigh to the divine essentiality, or heavenly corporality: If man could open [or disclose] the dead body, and reduce it to a flying42 moving spirit, which only can be effected through the divine motion, then it should be seen what it could be, which no reason believes or understands without divine sight [or vision].

38. Further, we are also to consider of the other metals and minerals, which in like manner do thus take their original; but in the salnitral flagrat each property is separated; as we see that the property of the fire and light is different, and all from the first impression; where before the impression the lubet and desire of the liberty stand mutually in each other, as a *chaos*, a complexion of great wonders, where all colours, powers, and virtues are contained in this only Chaos, or wonder-eye; which Chaos is God himself, viz. the Being of all beings, who thus manifests himself in particular beings with the eyes of eternity; each materia is an essence according to the spirit from whence it was generated; and if it be enkindled in the fire, it yields likewise such a light as the spirit is in the essence.

39. And thus also we are to consider of the metals; what kind of spirit each of them has, such a glance and lustre it yields, and also such a body43 it has.

40. As the mind acts and moves the thoughts and senses from the highest to the lowest, and comprehends and commands by the thoughts from the highest to the lowest; so the eternal mind has manifested itself from the highest majesty, even to the lowest [meanest, or outermost thing], viz. to the greatest darkness; and this world, with the sun, stars, and elements, and with every creaturely being, is nothing else but a manifestation of the eternity of the eternal will and mind; and as it was in the beginning, so it still stands in its seething and vegetation,44 and so it still puts forward to light and darkness, to evil and good. And all things consist in these first three forms, viz. in Sulphur, Mercury, and Sal, as one degree in order after another; for so likewise are the quires of the spirits, as also of the stars, trees, herbs, and of all kinds whatever which have been, and are; so also are the inward heavenly quires with their distinction.
 
## Chapter 4. Of The Birth Of The Stars, And Four Elements In The Metalline And Creaturely Property

OF THE BIRTH OF THE STARS, AND FOUR ELEMENTS IN THE METALLINE AND CREATURELY PROPERTY

1. As it is before mentioned, all things proceed out of one only mother, and separate themselves into two essences, according to the right of eternity, viz. into a mortal and an immortal, into life and death, into spirit and body; the spirit is the life, and the body is the death, viz. a house of the spirit: As the holy Trinity stands in the birth, so also is the external birth: There is likewise essence and spirit in heaven; a figure of which we see in this outward world, where there are four elements, and yet there is but one only element, which separates itself into four properties, viz. into fire, air, water, and earth, as is above mentioned.

2. For so we are to consider of the creation of this world, that the whole essence of eternity has moved itself in the place45 of this world, and the whole form was enkindled and stirred, and that in the desire to manifestation; and there the generation divided itself in the flagrat of the enkindled fire into four parts, viz. into fire, water, and earth, and the air is its moving egressive46 spirit; as is to be considered in Sulphur, which consists in these four things.

3. In like manner also the astrum is thus generated out of the first mother; and all put together is only one body, and it all takes its rise from the inward spirit; as a hand or foot grows forth from the inward centre, and has already its form in the centre, viz. in the first operation, and so only grows into a form as the spirit is.

4. The first mother of all things, viz. the lubet with the desire, does especially introduce itself into seven forms, and yet continues steadfast in three only, but manifests itself in seven forms.47 

5. The first form is astringent, viz. an austere attraction, which is a cause of coldness and salt, and all corporality.

6. The second form is the compunction,48 viz. the drawing or motion, and causes the feeling, also pricking, aking, tormenting; the affection49 of bitterness, enmity and friendliness, joy and sorrow.

7. The third form is the great anguish in the impression, which causes two wills, viz. one to the fire, where the will of the free lubet falls down to the wrath in the fire, and again goes into itself, and makes a lustre in the fire's sharpness.

8. Now the fourth form is the fire itself, viz. the first principle in the life, with which the dark and light world do separate; also in this flagrat all material separations are effected, and the corporality and multiplication begin according to the property of the first eternal mind, viz. according to the essentiality a mortal [ens], and according to the free source a living [*ens*].

9. The fifth form is now the second desire, which is effected after the separation, and that according to two properties; viz. one according to the lubet of the liberty out of the light, which is the highest love-desire; and the other according to the fire's lubet, which leads its life of its essence in the love in the light, from whence the joyfulness and every true life arises.

10. The love gives essence; for it is expressive, and yielding, viz. itself; for God gives himself to every essence; and the fire is receptive; for it needs essence in its wrathful hunger, else it extinguishes; and then the lustre of the light would go out, and the desire of love would cease, for the fire makes the light desiring, viz. of the joyfulness; for if the fire dies, the light waxes dark, and love turns into anguish, as may be conceived of in the devils.

11. The sixth form arises from the turning wheel before the fire, where the multiplication of the essence arises out of the property of Mercurius in the salnitral flagrat; with the enkindling of the fire one form is introduced into another; and if now the love-desire penetrates all the forms, then all the forms grow very desirous the one after the other, for the dear lovely child Venus is in all.

12. Here begin the taste, smell, hearing, seeing, feeling, and speaking; for the light opens another principle of another source, and fills all; and here springs up the life in death, viz. the love in the anger, and the light shines in the darkness; here the bridegroom embraces his bride, and God himself resists his anger, viz. the wrath of nature; and in this form all speeches, understanding, and senses arise, and the true real life of all creatures; so also the life in the vegetables, viz. trees and herbs, in each thing according to its property.

13. The seventh form arises from all the other, and is the body, mansion-house, or food of the other, and it is thus effected; when the other forms taste each other in their mutual penetration in the love-desire, then in each form there is an hunger or desire after the love, viz. after the light; now each hunger or desire is reaching forth after the thing it desires, and eagerly attracts the property of the thing desired; and thus out of two one essence is made, viz. out of the hunger, and that which the hunger desires; for this hunger does not stand in death, it does not any more enclose itself up in death, unless it be too great, and the imagination in the hunger be too great, and the hunger cannot obtain that same thing, then it choaks; as many times a child is so choaked or smothered in the mother's womb, if this form be enkindled in another form to eat of some external thing, whereupon the mother grows so ardent in longing, and if she cannot get it, the child also cannot get it; now it choaks in the hunger, or else a member is spoiled, from whence the hunger arose.

14. The first hunger in the centre before the fire is a spiritual hunger, which makes the dark world; and the hunger of the free lubet makes the light world; both which are only spirit, till they pass both together through the enkindling of the fire, where then they are mortified to the spirit, and are a likeness of the first spirit, viz. a manifestation of the incomprehensible spirit, which is called God in love and anger, in a twofold source: Thus each stands undivided in itself, viz. God in the time, and the time in God, and the one is not the other, but they come from one eternal original; thus the temporal spirit's hunger gives a temporal body, and the eternal spirit's hunger affords an eternal body, and are both mutually in each other, and yet are distinct.50 

15. The seven forms make them a body according to their hunger out of their own property; therefore all whatever the spirit has in all properties lies in the body.

16. Further we are to know, that there is a separation made in the creation of this world; for this is to be seen in the sun and stars; so likewise in all creatures; also in metals, stones, and earths; for this same is the manifestation of God.

17. We see in the firmament seven planets, and in the earth seven metals which are fixed, and also seven planets only which are fixed in their property; the rest are minerals, and so of the stars: And as the planetary orb has its predominant stamp or influence, so is also the birth of each thing.

18. As the Deity, viz. the divine light, is the centre of all life; so also in the manifestation of God, viz. in the figure, the sun is the centre of all life; in the highest life the highest things have taken their beginning, and so forward successively one from another to the lowest: In every external thing there are two properties; one from time, the other from eternity; the first property of time is manifest; and the other is hidden, yet it sets forth a likeness after itself in each thing.

19. Whatever has its beginning out of the lubet of the liberty stands with the root in an heavenly property, and with the body in an earthly; but the eternal stands in time, and manifests itself with time.

20. Sulphur is on one part in the internal heavenly, and as to the body earthly, yet puts forth an heavenly likeness according to the eternal out of itself, which is fixed and stedfast; as is to be seen in gold, and is much more to be understood in the human body, if it were not corrupted in the desire in Mercury; for the spiritual or heavenly man consists in Sulphur, and in Mercury the corporeal, viz. the similitude of the divine [man]; so also the metalline property in Sulphur is the noblest, most excellent, and highest, for it is the highest spirit.

21. Understand it thus: In the heavenly being there is also a property of a seething,51 when the liberty is apprehended and enkindled in the highest desire, wherein the joyfulness arises; this is effected in the heavenly Sulphur, where it is made essential in the heavenly Mercury, viz. in the eternal word, which is a spiritual essence.

22. But if the same spirituality longs to manifest itself in a similitude, both according to the property of the spirit, and the essentiality too, according to the Trinity of the Deity, according to the mortal and immortal essence, then that image is represented in the stars and elements; and lastly it is set forth in man, who is a lively image of the whole essence according to the divine and outward world; also the inward and outward worlds are represented with the metals in a mortal image, as a resemblance and similitude of the living heavenly essentiality.

23. The beginning is in Sulphur; for Sul is the lubet of the light, or the liberty, which longs to manifestation, and it cannot otherwise be effected but through fire: In Phur arises the desire, viz. an austere attraction, which makes the dark earthly property, and the austereness of the spirit, viz. the fiery essence: In this austereness arises Saturn, which is the thing impressed; and Mercury is the desire of the hunger, and the rager, raver, and breaker; and Mars is the wrath in the hunger, a cause of anger; these three are the property of Phur, viz. of the free lubet's desire.

24. The free lubet's property begets the essence in the three fore-mentioned forms, viz. in Saturn, Mercury, and Mars; for it gives itself in to each property, and the property in the hunger of Mercury makes it a corporeal form; but if the free lubet turns also to an hunger in the austere desiring, then it makes also three forms according to itself, viz. Jupiter, who is the understanding of the lubet; and Venus, which is the desire of the lubet; and Luna, which is the body of the lubet; and according to the property of the light it makes Sol; all this is spirit; but now in every spirit's hunger there is also an essence, both according to the mortal and immortal ens, a fixed, and unfixed; a figure according to the heavenly, and a figure according to the earthly [being, or property].

25. In the saturnine property the desire of the free lubet makes (according to Saturn's own property) lead, and according to the watery [property] in Saturn, salt; and according to the mortal and earthly [property] in Saturn, stones, and earth, and all whatever is of that sort and semblance.

26. But according to the liberty, or according to the free desire's own property (in that it yields up itself to Saturn, viz. to the desire), it makes in Saturn gold, according to the desire of the light, where the spirit and body separate; the spirit of its desire is Sol, and the body is gold, understand, the golden body is in Saturn according to the property of the free desire, and not according to Saturn's property; his property in himself is lead, salt, and earth; but he keeps the golden child shut up in himself as a black raven, not in his gray form, but in a darkish cast: He is a great lord, but his dominion, by reason of the golden child which he has in his bowels, stands not in his own power: He is not father of the child, but Mercury is he which forms52 the child; but he puts his morning mantle upon it, that he can have no joy with the golden child; he corporises the fair child; for he is its fiat or creator, and hides and covers it close under his mantle: He cannot give it the body from his own property, for it (understand the golden body) is the essence of the free desire in the highest degree of corporality in the fixed death, where yet there is no death, but an enclosing, and in the similitude a representation of the divine heavenly essentiality.

27. Mercurius is the master-workman53 of this child, which Saturn hides; when he gets it into his hunger, he casts off his black cloak, and rejoices in it; but he is too malignant in his fire-wrath,54 he devours the child, and turns it wholly to his own property: When he is most sharply hungry in the fire, then Sol must be given him (it is his wife) that his hunger may be appeased; and then when he is satisfied, he labours in the materia of the child with his own hunger or fire,55 and fills up his sufficed desire out of Sol's property, which he before had eaten, and nourishes the child till it gets upon it all the four elements with the constellation, and he grows exceeding pregnant with the child, and then it belongs [or is fit for] a strange fire, and yet not strange, an earnest fire; and then the father gives it the soul, viz. the fire-spirit; and its first mother, which Mercury did eat down in its hunger, which was fixed and perfect, [gives] the soul's-spirit, viz. the light-life: Then the death56 arises, and the child is born, and becomes afterwards its own, and a child of the liberty, and cares no more for its work-master: It is better than its father, but not better than its mother, in whose seed it lay, before the father wrought in it; it bruises the head of its father's fiery essence, viz. of the serpent, and passes freely through death in the fire: Dost thou understand nothing here? Then thou art not born to the highest knowledge of the spagirical science.

28. Further, we are to consider of the degrees, what the liberty, viz. the eternal lubet, gives to the hunger of the other forms in Sulphur, in the property of the other planets; the form of the birth is as a turning wheel,57 which Mercury causes in the Sulphur.

29. The birth of the highest degree turns round (viz. the desire), for this world is round, so also the birth; when the liberty has given its highest lubet (as a golden hunger) to Saturn, and placed Mercury for work-master, then it betakes itself into itself, into its desire, according to the property of meekness; for the first conception to the golden child is effected according to the property of joyfulness; but this out of goodness and meekness resigns itself to Luna; for it is a pleasant demission by reason of the meekness, which Mercury apprehends and works therein also; this body is silver, and comes from the first impression, where the yellow and white separate in the fire, viz. the colours of the virtue; then Luna arises out of the yellow and turns into white, by reason of the divine meekness; and because its original is from Sol's colour, therefore it has a perpetual hunger after Sol, and receives the sun's lustre into it, puts it on58 and shines with it.

30. Now as the superior is, so is likewise the inferior (namely metals), therefore silver is the next degree to gold; and as gold is generated, so is also silver: Venus clothes it, which Mercury cannot endure, seeing he is the master-worker, and he gives his garment also; but the silver has neither the property of Venus nor Mercury, for it retains the property of its mother, viz. the meekness in the liberty, and is hatched, as the gold by reason of the sun: The moon has an heavenly property, but in reference to its own proper form from the property of the desire, it is of a very earthly property, it is a cabinet and keeper of the earthly and heavenly essence: In like manner as the outward body of man, which before the Fall in Adam was comparable to silver, but when he died in the lubet then the earthly property only lived in him, and therefore he continually hungers after Sol's glance [and glory], he would fain take again his splendour with Luna from the sun, but he gets only an earthly lunar lustre, wherein he acts and exercises pride, unless he be born again out of Sol's splendour, that is, out of God's power in the heavenly Mercurius; and so he becomes again the golden silver-child in divine essentiality, only covered and clothed this life-time with the earthly moon, that is, with earthly flesh.

31. Saturn also is the house of silver, he is likewise the cause of the first conception, but he turns his desire only upon the golden child, and leaves the silver its garment, and takes it into his stony earthly property, and lets Mercury hatch it.

32. The desire of the free lubet is fixed and steadfast, as concerning the property of the desire only, which brings its will again from the body into the combat in the senses, and makes Jupiter, that is on the orb59 upwards under Saturn under the saturnine power; its metal is tin, and it is the third degree; for the lubet of the liberty in the desire proceeds forth into the desire of the austereness, and so it gives itself into the fiat.

33. We must understand it thus; the lubet of the liberty goes forth out of itself, as a plant, and makes one degree after another in order, but Mercury makes the sphere, for he is the work-master: And as the eternal birth is in itself in the heavenly Mercury, viz. in the eternal word in the Father's generation; so likewise with the motion of the Father it came into a creaturely being, and so proceeds in its order, as may be seen in the wheel of the planets; for the order is just so placed as man is in his order.

34. First there is in him the true golden divine man, which is the likeness of God: Next there is in him the man of heavenly essentiality, viz. the inward holy body, generated from the fire and light in the tincture, which is like to the pure silver if it were not corrupted. Thirdly, there is in him the elemental man from the pure element resembling Jupiter. Fourthly, the mercurial, which is the growing or paradisical [man]. Fifthly, the martial, from the fire, viz. the soulish [man], according to the Father's property. Sixthly, the venerine [man], according to the outward desire, and the water's property. Seventhly, the solar, according to the sun's property, viz. according to the outward world, as a seer and knower of the wonders of God: And yet it is but the one only man; yet is both in the inward and outward world. Thus likewise is the similitude [or form] of the seven metals; with one property according to the inward world, and with another visible and palpable property according to the outward world.

35. From Jupiter the sphere turns round, and out of the separation Mercury proceeds forth with a broken metal, according to his spirit's property; externally quicksilver, and internally he is a paradisical working; he is in his spiritual property the distinguisher (or articulator) of the words, voices, and speeches. It is written, "God hath made all things by his word: "The heavenly eternal Mercurius is his word, which the Father expresses in the enkindling of his light, and the expressed is his wisdom; and the word is the worker, framer, and maker of the formings in the expressed wisdom. Now what the inward Mercurius does internally in God's power, that likewise the outward Mercurius effects in the outward power in the created essence: He is God's instrument, wherewith he works extrinsically to death and to life; in each thing according to its property he builds, and breaks down.

36. According to Saturn's property he builds, and according to his own property he distinguishes and dissipates60 the hardness in Saturn, viz. the enclosed, and opens it to life: He opens the colours, and makes forms and shapes, and carries in him an heavenly, and also an earthly property; in the earthly he carries out of the first desire to nature, viz. out of Saturn, Mars, viz. the wrathfulness of the impression; for he is his soul, wherein Mercury lives; he gives him the fiery essence, and stands under Jupiter in the order upwards on the sphere; for he carries the fire-spirit in Sulphur into all planets, and forms and gives to each thing its source, and true spirit of life.

37. Mars in the first impression is the great anguish, and causes the love-will of the liberty to separate from him; and that which is separated is called God; and the anguish, or fire-source, is called God's anger, viz. the wrath of the eternal nature: And as internally God's love separates from God's anger, that is, from the wrathful property of the eternal nature, viz. heaven from hell, God from the devil; so also it is effected in the birth of the outward nature.

38. Love proceeds out of the wrath, and is an humility, or submission: Thus likewise it came in the creation into order; therefore Venus stands in the sphere on the line of Mars under the sun, for so is the separation in nature; and so one proceeds forth from another: Its metal is copper, the on final whereof is this, that the love is a desire, and desires only light and joy; for the materia is made out of the desire's property: But if the love-desire shall come to be corporeal in the impression, then it must resign itself to the wrathful fiat, viz. to the desire of Mars in the fire, or in the fiery property; for the saturnine property takes all into its might, and makes it corporeal.

39. Therefore the metal of Venus is so nearly related to gold, by reason of her own property from the liberty, but Mars makes it too wrathful; and because it separates itself out of Mars's fire, it retains a great part of the property of Mars in it.

40. Mars's metal is iron, for he is the wrath in Sulphur, in which the fire enkindles, and arises; his original with the materia is in the austereness of the desire: copper separates itself in the generation out of iron, for it arises from the will of Venus, and they differ as body and soul; for Mars is the fire-soul of Venus, and makes Venus corporeal; otherwise Venus, as to her own property, gives only water in the mortification in the salnitral flagrat; for her fire is only a pleasant shining, smile, or love-fire, as she is alone void of other mixture; and therefore she cannot produce any corporeal essence from her own power and ability, which is hard and tough; she is only the mother61 to her child without a creaturely soul; Mars is her soul, and Saturn makes her body.

41. The spirit of Sol may tincture Mars and Venus, and change them into the highest metalline perfection, viz. into gold; which cannot so easily be effected in silver, unless it be reduced into the first materia, where Saturn, Mars, and Mercury are together in the Sulphur, and then it can be done: Venus receives its toughness from Saturn, and its redness from Mars as the fire.

42. Now the desire of Venus is only eager, and longing after Sol, as after her first mother, from whence she springs forth in her birth in the first original; for the love comes forth originally from God, and so it is likewise in the external birth in the figure: The desire of Venus goes into Sol, into the sun, and receives in its desire the property of the sun, and shines from Sol; she has a very peculiar shining and lustre above all the planets and stars, which she receives from her mother; and in her mother's power consists her joy, viz. the pleasant twinkling smiling aspect which she has in her; she is in her own property (as she is purely alone without the property of the other planets) a real daughter of the sun (understand in Sulphur, where all is wrapt together), therefore she stands next under the sun, as a child of the sun; not that the sun did generate that star, for he is likewise created with her, but in the Sulphur without the creation, merely in the generation, it is so, both in the heavenly and earthly [being, or principle].

43. For God the Father generates the love through his heart; now the sun, by way of similitude, betokens his heart; for it is a figure in the outward world according to the eternal heart of God, which gives strength and virtue to every life and essence.

44. And understand it right; all things proceed from the word and heart of God (which is the divine Sulphur) in the birth of the Holy Trinity, and manifest themselves in and through the proceeded (or egressed) essence, which is God's wisdom; and they again do eagerly force and press out of the egress, in and towards his heart and power, and vehemently long after it, as Paul saith, all creatures groan and pant with us to be delivered from vanity.

45. So also does the outward essence in the outward birth of metals, planets, stars, and creatures; each thing longs after its centre, viz. after its first mother, whence it proceeded, viz. after the sun in Sulphur, for it is the tincture of all essences: Whatever the first desire with the impression in Saturn makes evil in the wrath of Mars, that the sun turns again into good. As the divine sun tinctures the anger or wrath of God, so that the wrathful property of God's anger is changed into a joyfulness; so likewise the outward sun tinctures the outward Sulphur, viz. Saturn and Mars, that there is a pleasant temperature, viz. a growth, springing, and blooming in all metals and creatures; therefore the sun is the centre, which reason will not believe; understand, in the planetary orb, and in all vegetables and animals.
 
## Chapter 5. Of The Sulphurean Death, And How The Dead Body Is Revived, And Replaced Into Its First Glory

OF THE SULPHUREAN DEATH, AND HOW THE DEAD BODY IS REVIVED, AND REPLACED INTO ITS FIRST GLORY

1. All life and motion, with understanding, reason, and senses, both in animals and vegetables, consist originally in Sulphur, viz. in nature's desire, and in the lubet's desire of the liberty,

2. In nature's desire arises the death and enclosing, and in the desire of the liberty arises the opening and the life; for the liberty's desire tinctures the desire of the dark nature, so that the wrathful mother foregoes her own right, and freely resigns to the liberty's desire, and so the life grows in death, for there is no life without light; but if the light goes out in the essence of the Sulphur, then it is an eternal death, which no man can revive, unless God moves himself in the lubet-desire in the same death; for death can receive no life into it, unless the first desire, viz. the free lubet's desire, manifests itself in the desire to nature, wherein the enclosing and death are generated.

3. Therefore when man died in the Sulphur, none could have made him alive again, unless the free lubet, viz. the desire to the eternal life did again enter into his Phur, viz. into the birth of the nature of the human property, and moved the enclosed death, viz. the centre of nature, and gave itself again into the centre, viz. into the soul-like property, and into the soul's essentiality and corporality; and this was so brought to pass.

4. We know that the right Sulphur is a generation of all spirituality and corporality; so far as concerns its first original, where it is heavenly, it is the generation of the essence of all essences: For all, whatever eternity and time is in itself, has, and is able to effect, lies in this birth: But now as to the kingdom of this world it is earthly, viz. a figure of the eternal; for in it the time and creature consist, and all whatever is visible and invisible.

5. Now man, and every life also, as to the kingdom of this world, was created and generated out of the outward Sulphur; man out of the inward and outward [Sulphur], and the outward creature only out of the outward; for man is an image and likeness of God, and the other creatures are as a similitude according to the figuration in the internal generation in God's wisdom, viz. in the expressed or procreated heavenly essence, according to both eternal principles.

6. But now man was created good and perfect, according to and out of all the three worlds, as an image of the Deity, in whom God dwelled; and he was even that essence what God is, according to eternity and time in all the three worlds; but he was a creature with a beginning, as to the creature, and died through the lubet62 as to the heavenly and divine essence: 

For the inward lubet, which was generated in the centre, viz. in the fire, wherein stood the life in the divine essentiality, that is, that which enkindled the essence of the divine meekness, wherein the joyfulness or the angelical form consists; that (I say) turned itself from the inward lubet of the liberty and eternity into the time, viz. into the external birth, into the planetary property, [it departed] out of the pure divine element into the four elements: 

Thus the inward divine essentiality, or inward corporality did no longer retain any leader or life: And this was the death; for the soul's fire proceeding from the Father's property turned itself away from the Son's property, in which alone the divine life consists.

7. Thus the property of the soul remained naked only with its will in the outward Sulphur, and the inward disappeared, and continued steadfast in the eternal unchangeableness,63 as in an eternal nothing, wherein there was no more any effecting [or working efficacy to bring to pass].

8. Thus man with his outward body lived barely and merely to the time; the precious gold of the heavenly corporality, which tinctured the outward body, was disappeared, and so the outward body stood barely and alone in the life of nature's desire, viz. in the soul's fiery property; understand in the form and property of Mars, viz. in the wrath of God, which is the wrath in Sulphur, viz. the property of God's anger and the dark world: But seeing the outward body was created out of the time, therefore the time, viz. the constellation with the four elements, presently obtained the dominion in him; and the divine property, viz. the desire of the Deity (which ruled and tinctured time, so that there was a holy life in the creature out of the time), was vanished; its own peculiar love in the divine desire was turned to water, and it became blind and dead in the will and desire of God; and the soul must help itself with the sun's light.

9. But seeing that time has beginning and end, and the will with the desire has given up itself to the temporal leader, therefore the dominion of time destroys its own contrived spirit, and so the body also dies and passes away; and this is that which God said to Adam, that "he should not eat of the tree, or plant, of the knowledge of good and evil," of both properties, lest he died;64  as it also came to pass, he died in the Sulphur; the Sul in the kingdom of God, viz. the lubet of the divine liberty, out of which the light of God shines, and in which the divine love, viz. the love-fire burns [disappeared and withdrew from him].

10. Now there was no remedy for him, unless God's desire entered again into his dead Sulphur, that is, into his Sul, which was dead, viz. into the dead [or mortified] essentiality, and again enkindled it with the love-fire; which came to pass in Christ: And there the heavenly body, wherein God's light shines, did again arise. But if this must be effected, then the love-desire must again enter into the desire of the enkindled anger, and quench and overcome the anger with the love; the divine water must enter again into the soul's burning fire, and quench the wrathful death in the astringent fiat, viz. in the desire to nature, that the love-desire, which desires God, might be again enkindled in the soul.

11. For man's happiness65 consists in this, that he has in him a true desire66 after God, for out of the desire springs forth the love; that is, when the desire receives the meekness of God into itself, then the desire immerses itself in the meekness, and becomes essential; and this is the heavenly or divine essentiality, or corporality; and therein the soul's spirit (which lay shut up in the anger, viz. in death) does again arise in the love of God; for the love tinctures the death and darkness, that it is again capable of the divine sunshine.

12. And as this is done in man, so likewise it is in the transmutation of metals: The Sulphur is shut up in Saturn, viz. in the death, and yet there is no death, but a vegetative life; and the outward Mercury is the life thereof.67 Now if the metalline body shall come to the highest perfection, then it must die unto the external dominator,68 viz. to the elements, and come again into such a Sulphur as it was, when as yet it had not the four elements on it, but lay only in the element in unity.69 

13. But now none can reduce it into such a body, but he only who has generated; he that has given it the four elements, he alone can take them away; and he that at first made it corporeal, he must bring it to himself, and transchange it in himself into another body; and this is the Sulphur, which has Mercurius as its chief faber in itself. He must again take it out of dark Saturn's bowels in the fiat, and introduce it into his own, and with his own fire separate the four elements from it, and reduce it into one; as God at the last day will in the enkindling of his own fire separate the essence of the four elements from the pure element, that the eternal corporality in the pure element may arise70 and spring forth: And as in the death of man the four elements separate from the true man (who is the element of God) and the heavenly body remains only in itself; so it goes in the transmutation of metals.

PROCESS

14. The body lies shut up in a disesteemed form in Saturn, not wholly in Saturn's property, in a dark colour, marked with Mercurius its father, and Sol its mother, clothed with Saturn, and manifest with the life of Mars; but its mother is not outwardly manifest and known on it, unless its faber be enraged with its own iniquity; which yet cannot be, unless an alienate be applied, whereby its propriate is enraged; and then (if his anger be set on a fire or fury) he becomes so very hungry and thirsty, and yet can find no refreshment in itself; then it seizes on its faber who has made it, and fights against its creator, as the earthly wicked man does against God, so long till he devours and consumes himself, as a fiery [pestilent] poison consumes the body, unless you remedy, stay, and allay its hunger; yet there is none that can still this horrible hunger, but God himself who has made him; and if he assists not in due time, then the hunger in the wrath consumes the body, and puts it into the eternal darkness.

15. This hunger desires nothing but the mercy of God, that he might be freed from the anguish of hell; but this he cannot obtain of himself, for he is shut up in the anger of God; and his dear mother, which nursed him in the beginning, is also shut up in death: But if God shews his grace, and gives him again of his love, then the anger is dismayed at the love;71 and this is a flagrat of great joy: For he again tastes the sweetness of his dear mother, and then he knows full well that he has been so vile and wicked, and repents of his iniquity, and will turn and mortify the old Adam, and cast it away from him.

16. So the artist takes him presently away with the old Adam from the strange anger, and lays him in a soft bed; for the old Adam is sick, and will die; and then his own faber in the old Adam is in the love of God,72 which destroyed the anger, and will make a young child, and rejoices in the child; and the old Adam grows sick, and weak, wholly dark, and swarthish, and dies; and the four elements go out73 from him with their colours: So the faber gives him even leave to go, and continually labours on the new body, which shall arise from death; and none sees his labour, for he works in the dark.

17. But the artist takes no care about the work,74 but gives the faber his own food, till he sees that a vegetative life appears in the dark death with a new colour out of the black; and then, when the new man is ready, the artist comes, and brings the soul, and gives it the faber; at which the faber is dismayed that another life comes into him; and he puts the soul into the new body, and it goes inwardly in the anger: Thus the new man arises in great power and glory from death, and bruises the head of the old serpent in the anger of God, and passes through the anger, and the anger can do him no harm at all.

Whoe'er thou art, that to this work art born,  
A chosen work thou hast, howe'er the world may scorn.
 
## Chapter 6. How A Water And Oil Are Generated, And Of The Difference Of The Water And Oil...

HOW A WATER AND OIL ARE GENERATED, AND OF THE DIFFERENCE OF THE WATER AND OIL, AND OF THE VEGETABLE LIFE AND GROWTH

1. All life, growth, and instigation consist in two things, viz. in the lubet, and then in the desire; the lubet is a free will, and as a nothing in comparison to nature; but the desire is as a hunger: In the desire arises the moving spirit, viz. the natural, and in the lubet the supernatural, which yet is nature's,75 but not out of its own property, but out of [or from] the property of the desire.

2. The desire is the instigation of the essence, viz. an hunger, and the lubet is the hunger's essence,76 which it takes into itself; for the desire is only an hungry will, and it is the natural spirit in its forms; but the lubet is out of the liberty: For God is without desire as concerning his own essence, inasmuch as he is called God; for he needs nothing. All is his, and he himself is all.

3. But he has a lubet-will, and he himself is the will, to manifest himself in the lubet; yet in the lubet which is free, without affection, no manifestation can be effected, for it is void of desire; it is as if it were nothing in respect of nature, and yet it is all; but not according to the desire, viz. according to nature, but according to the satisfying of nature it is the satisfying of the hungry desire, viz. of nature; it freely and willingly gives itself into the hunger of nature; for it is a spirit without essence and desire, wholly free as a nothing; but the desire makes it essential [or materialises] in itself, and that according to two properties, viz. one according to the eternal liberty, which is free from the source; and the other according to the desire, which gives a vegetative life, viz. a growing, or a giving forth of itself.

4. The free essence is, and gives an oil, and the desire's property gives a life of the oil; the oil is a light, and the desire's property gives to the light the essence, viz. the fiery property, so that the light shines, as is to be seen in the fire and light, and the free lubet remains yet a free will in itself, but gives its meekness, viz. a free resignation into the desire, that it comes to essence and lustre: Its will is only good, it has no other desire but only to be good, meek, and pleasant; there is also no other possibility therein; for it77 is as a nothing, wherein no disturbance or source can be, but it is the meekness itself.

5. But seeing it cannot be a nothing, by reason that it is a cause and beginning of the desire, therefore it gives itself freely, as the sunshine freely gives itself into every property; and the desire conceives [or takes] this free lubet, viz. the lustre or shining of the abyss of eternity into itself, and makes it in itself into essence according to its property; so much property as is in the desire, so much also there is of essence: And we are to consider, that when the free lubet gives in itself into the hunger of the desire, that the desire then makes out of the free lubet's property a similitude according to the liberty, which is as if it were nothing, and yet is; this is a water and oil.

6. But seeing the desire, that is, the hunger, is filled with the free lubet, it makes its own property in the essence of the liberty also into essence; its essence is water, and the essence of the free lubet is an oil. Thus a twofold property arises in one only spirit, viz. a fiery [property] according to the property of the desire, and a joyful or lucid property according to the liberty.

7. The fiery gives78 in its essence, viz. in its water a sharpness from the austere desire, which is saltish, or a salt; and from the fiery anguish a brimstone, from whence in the *impression* and creation of the world, are made stones, earth, and metals; so also the elements and stars, all according to the forms in the desire; and the oleous property gives its meekness, viz. a love-lubet, wherein the fiery is impressed with the desire, and makes corporality: And the oleous gives itself out in its meekness, and makes the vegetable life, viz. a springing and growing in the fiery impression, whereinto the fire must give its essence and instigation, viz. the vehement compunction79 in the attraction of the desire, which is the separator in the corporality, viz. the distinguisher, carver, and cause of the essence and multiplicity [or variety].

8. Philosophers have called this form Mercurius, from the anxious inciting sphere, which is the cause of all life and motion, and a faber in the oily and watery property.

9. Thus we are to search and find out the great mystery, how there is an oil, brimstone, and salt in everything, and how they arise; for God has made all things out of nothing, and that same nothing is himself, viz. a love-lubet dwelling in itself, wherein there is no affection: But now the love-lubet would not be manifest, if it remained one in the stillness without essence, and there would be no joy or moving therein, but an eternal stillness.

10. But seeing80 he introduces himself into essence through the desire, his eternal stillness becomes an essence and working power, and that with two properties, viz. in an oil, in which the working power is a good spirit according to the property of the love-lubet, which resists the desire's wrath in the brimstone, salt, and poisonful Mercury, and appeases and heals his poisonful hunger with the pleasant meekness; that which Mercury destroys with the raging sphere81 of his own property, that the lubet of the love-oil does again heal: And thus there is good and evil in each life, and yet there is no evil in anything, unless the good, viz. the love-oil famishes in its own lubet, which falls out in the forms of the impression of the hunger of the desire.

11. That is, if the hunger-spirit does in its own forms too much impress itself [long, or imagine] after itself, and too eagerly hunger after its own manifestation, it cannot take the free lubet, which appeases its hunger, into itself; for nature's property must be sincerely bent and inclined to the free lubet's property, viz. to God's love-*ens*, and wholly direct its hunger after love; and then the hunger receives the love into itself, and makes the same essential in itself, and is no longer a famished dark hunger, which rages in itself, and raves as a poisonful Mercury; but the hunger becomes a love-desire, which is called God's nature, and the hungry fiery [desire] is called God's anger; and in the outward nature it is called a fire, but in the inward world's property, where the desire does act with energy in the property of the free lubet, this desire is called the divine desire, wherein the fiery love burns, and from whence the joyfulness proceeds; for the free lubet does therefore give itself into the austere desire, that it may bring forth a fiery love, viz. a joyfulness, which could not be in the still lubet; for where there is a stillness there is no joy, or motion.

12. Now the free lubet, viz. God's property, manifests itself through the fiery property, and the fiery property makes the free lubet's essence, viz. the oil which arises in the impression of the desire into a light or lustre; for the austere desire gives the anxious darting flash, viz. a sulphureous spirit, and the meekness of the oil gives its love into it, and dispels that which was drawn into it, viz. the darkness, and manifests the eternal liberty, viz. the nothing, and this is now the seeing.

13. For when the fire-splendour tastes the sweetness of the light, then the fire's desire reaches after the meekness, and the meekness of the free lubet is as a nothing wholly incomprehensible: Now the hunger of the desire comprehends its own essence and devours it, and makes it to nothing; this is the darkness, which is the hunger's essence, which the fiery hunger devours through the property of the light, or free lubet: As we see, that as soon as the light shines it deprives the darkness of its power; therefore God is a Lord over all beings, for he is the eternal Power and Light: A similitude whereof we see in the sun, that it is lord of the darkness and of all essences, and rules whatever grows, lives, and moves in this world.

14. Further, we are to consider of the manifold salts, how they take their rise in the original, and separate into many properties. In the original of the impression, viz. in the verbum fiat, a twofold salt does arise: The first is spiritual, and gives the sharpness in the essence of the free lubet; it is a severising, or a sharpness of the powers: The other salt is the sharpness of the impression, according to the property of the astringent austerity which is the anguish in the impression, that is, brimstone, and the essential property is water.

15. The water is the senseless mortal property of the salt; and the sulphureous, which is from the anguish, is the property of the quick salt; for it has the sting of motion, viz. the Mercury in it, which makes life's form, and yet the brimstone is not the salt, but it is the anguish in the impression, which also comes to be corporeal.

16. The salt is the sharpness in brimstone as to the astringency; the salt causes the anguish to be corporeal; and so salt dwells in the brimstone, and is the brimstone's sharpness, and preserves the brimstone in the corporeal essence, and also the spirit of the brimstone, that it falls not to dust: The salt impresses the powers of the anguish, and the impressed life is the mercurial life; the same is the life of the anguish, viz. of the brimstone, and separates the materia according to the forms to nature, and the materia of the free lubet into two essences, viz. into a watery and oily, and then into a corporeal.

17. The corporeal is twofold; both according to the darkness and the light: According to the property of the austere desire it makes in the watery [property] a sand, or stony nature, from whence the stones have their original; understand out of the sulphureous, viz. out of the brimstone's water.

18. The other property, as to82 the mortification in the salnitral flagrat, is the common running water; the other corporeal [water] is the metalline body from the free lubet's property in the impressed form; and from the watery property (where the brimstone is in the water) it produces trees, herbs, and all whatever grows in the earthly property, viz. in the mortified or dead substantiality, which yet has a life without sense,83 viz. a vegetative.

19. The oily property is also twofold according to the impression; viz. one part forces again into the liberty to be free from the wrath of the impression, which is the good spirit, viz. the light in the oil; the other part yields itself into the anguish of the brimstone, and remains in the corporality, and unites and applies itself in each thing, according to the salt-property of the thing; as in a fiery salt, it is fiery; in a bitter salt, it is bitter; in an astringent, astringent, etc.

20. The first property according to the light is sweet in all things, and the other property of the oil is according to the form, viz. the taste of the thing, let it be either sweet, sour, astringent, sharp, or bitter, or how it will; as it is to be found out and known in herbs: In some it is a bitter poison, and in some again a healing of the poison; but if the poisonful property be broken by Mercury in the oil of meekness, then the love of the light inclines itself also into the oil, for the original of both is from one will, but it is altered in the impression: As the devil, when he was an angel, changed himself into a poisonous devilish property, and Adam out of an heavenly into an earthly [property].

21. Whatever grows, lives, and moves in this world, consists in Sulphur, and Mercury is the life in Sulphur, and the salt is the corporeal being of Mercury's hunger, though the body is manifold; according as the property of the brimstone and salt is, according to the same property is also the ingrafted oil, which springs up all along in the power; for the oil makes the power [or virtual influence] in each thing. In the oil of the impression, viz. in the impressed oil, is the other oil, viz. the spiritual, which gives us light, but it has another principle; it receives no other source into it but the lubet of love; it is divine essentiality: Therefore God's own essence is nigh unto all things, but not essentially in all things; it has another principle, and yet inclines itself to all things; as far as the thing has anything of the divine property in it, it receives virtue from the divine property, be it either a vegetable or animal; for there are herbs and trees, and also creatures to be found, in which something of the divine power is couched, with which in the magical cure the false magic, viz. the corrupt evil oil can be resisted, and changed into a good oil.

22. All sharpness of taste is salt, let it be whatever it will in this world, nothing excepted; and all smell proceeds from the brimstone, and Mercury is the distinguisher in all motion [or affection], both in the smell, power, and taste; but I understand by my Mercury the sphere of the birth of all essences, as is before mentioned; not a dead Mercury, but a living one, viz. the strongest, according to the property of the dry poison, etc.

23. Now it behoves the artist and physician to know these things, else he cannot cure any sickness or disease, unless he hits on it by chance, if he knows not wherewith the oil is poisoned in the body, and what kind of hunger Mercury has in the sickness, and after what he hungers; for if he may obtain84 the salt according to the property of his hunger (after which he is desirous) with such an oil as he fain would have, then is the sickness over very soon; for he turns his oil again into the property of the love of the light, whereupon the life begins again to shine bright.

24. For every disease in the body is nothing else but a corruption or poisoning of the oil, from which the life's-light burns or shines; for when the light of the life shines or burns clear in the oil, it expels and drives away all poisonful influences and operations, as the day expels the night.

25. For if the oil, out of which the life burns, be infected [or inflamed] with a poisonful Mercury or salt, let it be done either from the constellation, or salt of meat, viz. from a contrary source, whereby a loathing [or nauseous detestation] arises in the oil, which the oil would always spew out, which Mercury helps; then Mercury eagerly troubles and perplexes itself in the sulphureous fire more and more, and continually labours to drive forth the abominate, but does only inflame itself in itself in this austere endeavour, and more and more enkindles its inward form, whereupon the oil grows more dark and poisonful, until at last the oil becomes wholly waterish and earthly, and then the light, and also the fire, extinguishes, and Mercury with the sulphureous spirit departs from it, as when a candle is put out; thus Mercury passes out with the sulphureous spirit in death's baneful steam,85 until he also be famished; for a time he may help himself in the sidereal body, which passes along with it; but when Mercury in the spirit of the great world has consumed and starved its property, then is the temporal life wholly gone; for as soon as the light of the vital oil extinguishes, the elemental body falls down into putrefaction, viz. into the fiat, from whence it came to be; and then this time ends in the creature, which is the death, dying, or departure; and from thence there is no deliverance or return, unless the heavenly divine Mercury does once more move itself in him, which yet cannot be, except there has been a good property of the oil in him, viz. from the divine essentiality: In this property, which is capable of 'the divine essentiality, the light does only enkindle itself again.

26. For the divine essentiality, or this heavenly Mercury, changes the dead oil again into his, and becomes its life; for the outward Mercury, which has ruled the life, returns not again, it has only been for a time a mirror of the eternal, but he is changed into another source; for being suffocated, he passes again into the mystery, from whence he at first proceeded in the creation of the world, and the body also goes into the same mystery.

27. Thus it remains, and belongs yet to another motion of the Deity, viz. to a separating, where the evil, wherein the death was, shall be separated from the good, and the verbum fiat shall restore and bring forth that which has fallen into it in death.

28. The physician is to know, that in the strongest Mercury, which is most poisonful, the highest tincture lies, but not in Mercury's own property, which must be broken;86 for his own property, even from the centre, is the anxious poisonful life: But he has another property in him, viz. an oil from the light, whereby he is so strong and potent, which is his food and preservation; if this may be separated from him, it becomes a tincturing and mighty enkindling of all obscured lives, viz. of all diseases and sicknesses; for in this oil lies the joyful life, and it is an hunger after life, viz. that it might enkindle the weak, and lift it up on high.

29. In a toad, viper, or adder, or the like poisonful beasts, worms, or insects, the highest tincture is to be found, if they are reduced into an oily substance, and the wrath of Mercury separated from them; for all life, both external and internal, consists in poison and light, as we understand, that the wrath and anger-fire of God is a cause of the divine joyfulness: The like also we are to know is externally; for all life that is void of the poisonful Mercury is mort, and an abominate,87 and accounted as dead.

30. Now Mercury is an enkindler of the fire, and every moving life consists in the fire; and though some creatures dwell in the water, yet fire is their life, viz. the poison-gall, wherein Mercury manages the life; but the water in the gall is a poison, wherein an oil is hid, in which the life in Mercury does burn and shine; of which thou hast a similitude: If in a creature there be a strong poisonful Mercury, of a dry quality, that creature is strong, bold, courageous, and potent, which has also a clear oil in it; for the fiery property of the Mercury consumes the waterish, but if its fat be enkindled, it yields a clear light; much more would it be, if the watery property were separated from the oleous.
 
## Chapter 7. How Adam In Paradise, And How Lucifer Was A Fair Angel, And How They Were Corrupted...

HOW ADAM IN PARADISE, AND HOW LUCIFER WAS A FAIR ANGEL, AND HOW THEY WERE CORRUPTED AND SPOILED THROUGH IMAGINATION AND PRIDE

PROCESS

1. We will give an occasion of consideration to the earnest searcher and seeker, and if he apprehends our meaning he shall indeed be able to find the noble philosopher's stone, but so that he be chosen thereto by God, and his life also stands in the heavenly Mercury, otherwise we are a mystery to him; and we will represent it to him in similitudes, in the most manifest, and yet mystical manner.

2. When Adam was created in paradise, the heavenly Mercury did then lead him; his life burned in a pure oil, therefore his eyes were heavenly; and his understanding did excel nature, for his light shined in the oil of the divine essentiality; the external waterish property was not manifest in his oil; he was *iliastrich*, that is, angelical, and became in the Fall *cogastrish*, that is, the watery nature in the mortal property was manifest in his oil, and penetrated, so that the mercury in him became an anxious poison, which before in his oil was an exaltation of joyfulness.

3. For the salnitral flagrat in the impression in the coldness, viz. according to the saturnine property, was thereby elevated, and got the dominion, as a cold poison, which arises in the impression of death, from whence the darkness was generated in the oil, and Adam died to the divine light; to which the devil persuaded88 him by89 the serpent, that is, by the essence and property of the serpent; for the kingdom of wrath, and also the outward kingdom was manifest in the serpent; for it was more subtle than any beast of the field, and this subtlety Eve desired; for the serpent persuaded her that her eyes should be opened, and she should be as God, and know good and evil.

4. Which also was the will of the devil, that he would know evil: And in the enkindling to the knowledge in Mercury he became corrupt and dark; for he entered with the imagination, according to his condition, knowledge, and desire, into the fiery byss; and Adam, according to his knowledge and desire, went into the cold byss into the impression, into the procreated watery property in the salniter, where both kingdoms stand separated: He desired to prove and taste the watery mercury, in which is the mortal poison; and Lucifer [desired] the fiery Mercury, which gives strength and might; from whence his pride arose, viz. out of the fiery Mercury: But both, viz. Lucifer, and also Adam, lost the oil of the meekness of the divine essentiality.

5. Now we are to consider of the serpent, which deceived Adam with its craft; how it was, and what its subtlety was after which Adam and Eve did imagine; why they did eat of the forbidden tree which was evil and good, and how they did eat death thereby; and what their salvation and restoration is naturally and properly; what evil and good are, what the property of the eternal life, and then the property of eternal death is; what the cure is, whereby the sickness introduced by Adam, and its death, may be healed, and restored both to the temporal and eternal life.

6. Let the reader attend to the sense and meaning; for we have not the ability to give this into his hands; that only belongs to God; but the gates shall stand open for him, if he will enter in; if not, flattery90 avails him not.

7. The devil was a fair angel, and the serpent the subtle beast, and man the likeness of the Deity; now all three were corrupted91 by imagination and pride, and got the curse of God for their false lust [or cunning].

8. All whatever is eternal proceeds originally from one ground, as angels and souls; but the serpent is not out of the eternal ground, but out of the beginning, as we have before given you to understand, how with the enkindling of the fire in the salnitral flagrat two kingdoms separate, viz. eternity and time; and how the eternity dwells in the time, but yet only in itself; but yet so nigh to the time, as fire and light which are in one another, and yet make two kingdoms; or as darkness and light dwell in each other, and the one is not the other. The like we are to consider of the inchoative poisonful mercury in the devil, and in man, and in the serpent also; how an oil corrupts, and yet the essence or being of God is not hereby at all corrupted, but enters into itself, viz. into the nothing; and the creaturely mercury, which arises, or is begotten with the beginning of the creature in the creature, goes out of itself,92 that is, out of the eternal into time, viz. into the beginning of the creature; it desires its own self, that is, the beginning; and will be its own, or of a selfish property, and forsakes the eternity, into which it should be wholly confined, and resigned with its desire, and bring its hunger thereinto; and then its poison-source would not be manifest.

9. For whatever hungers after the eternal nothing, viz. after the quiet meek liberty of God, that is not manifest to itself, but it is manifest in the still liberty, viz. in God; for as the hunger is, such is also the essence in the hunger; each hunger or desire makes itself an essence according to the property of the hunger or desire.

10. Thus the devil makes [or causes] in himself his darkness; for he went with his desire into himself, into the property of the centre to the desire, and forsook the eternity, viz. the nothing, that is, the lubet of love; so that he enkindled himself in his poisonful mercury, that is, in the forms to life in himself, and became an anxious fire-source in the darkness; as wood that is burnt to a coal, which only glows, and has no more any true light in it, also no oil or water; so it went with him. Now in his own property, viz. in his life's forms, there springs forth nothing but a stinging envious property, where one form hates and annoys the other, and yet they so beget each other.

11. And so was the serpent likewise, yet not by its own aspiring haughtiness; but when God said; Let all sorts of beasts come forth, each according to his property [or kind], then came forth beasts out of every property of nature, as it was manifest in the separation, when God moved himself to the creation; for the devil would domineer over the love and meekness of God, and put his desire also into the anger,93 that is, into the austere might, where the poison-life arises, viz. into the fiat of the wrathful property, out of which form are proceeded vipers, serpents, toads, and other venomous worms; not that the devil has made them, that he cannot; only as the desire was in the impression of the fiat, such also was the creature in the evil and good.

12. For in the impression of the fiat, in the original of the outward Mercury, viz. of the life, which is manifest to itself internally, was the separation, where God and the world separate, viz. God inwardly,94 the world outwardly,95 as a similitude of the abyss, or a looking-glass of eternity; even there the inward wrath, from whence God is called an angry zealous God, and a consuming fire, manifested itself externally in figures, as in a similitude of the inward birth in the centre; like as the eternal lubet, which he is himself, stirs up [awakens] and causes the desire to the nature of the eternal manifestation, and gives in itself into the desire, and turns the wrath of the desire into joyfulness.

13. Thus it is also with the serpent's craft:96 In the highest Mercury is the highest sharpest proof of all things; the more poisonful a thing is, the more sharply it proves a thing; for the sharpest97 taste and smell consists in the great poison, viz. in a dying source.

14. And the eternal light is generated98 out of the Father's sharpness, that it attains the shining, and goes forth with its own source through the sharpness out of the anguish-source again into the liberty, viz. into the nothing, where the light, by reason of the fire's-source and property, becomes also a desire, which is the desire of the divine love and joyfulness; in which desire Mercurius, the eternal word, or the understanding of eternity, or deity, is rightly considered and named: And this efflux from the fire (understand from the eternal magical spiritual fire) is a procreation, viz. of the word of the power, colours, and virtue: And this desire of the same mercury, or word, does also modelise99 the power into its own desire, and makes it essential; which is the meekness and the love, which quenches the wrath of the Eternal Father, viz. of the eternal nature's desire with love, and changes it into joyfulness, where the name of God has its original from eternity. This immassed essentiality causes100 two properties, viz. one oleous, which is heavenly essence, a cause of the shining of the light; and also a powerful [property] from the motion of the eternal impression, or desire of the Father after the birth of the Son; from whence the divine air (as the power through the shining of the light) proceeds forth out of this love-fire, which is the Spirit of God.

15. In like manner know this, that the eternal love (understand the essence, viz. the heavenly essentiality) has given itself forth into the creation with the verbum fiat, to set101 the Father's anger, viz. the form of the eternal nature, into the highest joyfulness, and to set forth the likeness of the eternal generation; and where the nature of the wrath was most elevated through the fiat, there also the desire did most incline itself towards the liberty, to be free from the wrath, and to bring it into the kingdom of joy,102 from whence the great and deep knowledge is arisen, and also the most precious and highest tincture; understand the desire of the wrathful hunger received that into itself after which it hungered,103 viz. the liberty; for all things were created good in the beginning; also the devil was good while he was an angel; so also the serpent [was good in its creation before the curse].

16. But seeing the devil went into the highest fire's desire, God departed from him, as a light that is put out, or extinguished in a candle; and afterwards he lived according to his own desire.

17. But seeing he knew that there was such a tincture in the serpent, and the serpent being created out of the beginning of time, therefore he insinuated104 with his desire into the serpent, and took possession of the serpent's tincture, and wrought forth his desire through the serpent against man, to introduce him to long after the serpent's property: For the serpent's tincture was from both originals, viz. out of the deadly mercury from the dying in the fire, viz. from the coldness in the impression; and then also from the wrathful [fiery property in the impression]. The cold impression is earthly, which arises from the wrath, viz. from the dying in the wrath, in the impression; and the fiery [impression] arises from the quick poison of mercury, in which property the spirit's life consists.

18. Thus Adam and Eve were infected with the devil's desire through the serpent, viz. through the earthly, deadly property of the serpent; and also [through] the wrathful poisonful living property of God's wrath according to the devil's own property; and was inflamed in his divine oil, that is, in the heavenly essentiality.

19. Even then the divine light, which shined out of the divine body of the heavenly essentiality, was extinct to him; for the curse seized upon the soul. Now God's cursing is a withdrawing,105  viz. the divine power, which was in the body, departed into its own principle; and his holy oil (wherein the power of God dwelt, and had made a kingdom of joy, viz. the paradise) became a poison.

20. For the earthly part according to the mortifying of the water, viz. the cogastrish property, was manifest; and forthwith mercury, viz. the coldness in the death's property, got the dominion, whereas before he was as it were swallowed up in the divine power: Thus Adam died unto God, and lived to death; here it was necessary that God should regenerate him; and therefore the serpent was cursed, because it had served, and willingly obeyed the devil.

21. Thus we understand what lies hid in the greatest anguish, viz. in the strongest mercury, viz. an oil, which cures and tinctures all diseases; but the cold poison, viz. the death's source must be done away, and put into a fiery [property] which is desirous of the light; for God created all things good in the beginning, but through his cursing or withdrawing the evil came in: For when God's love-desire dwelt in the outward world's-source, and penetrated it, as the sun the water, or the fire an iron, then the outward world was a paradise, and the divine essence sprang forth and budded through the earthly, the eternal life through the mortal; but when God cursed it for man's sake, the mortal [life 106] was manifest in man, and also in the fruit of which man should eat, which property before was only manifest in the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," on which Adam and his wife were tempted, whether their desire would enter into the eternity, viz. into God's essence, or into the essence of time, into the living or mortal oil, in which source the soul's spirit would live, that is, burn.

22. Thus by God's curse, or withdrawing, the heavenly body was shut up, and the anger-source set open, and so [the heavenly body] lies still shut up: But seeing man by the eternal mercury, that is, by the word of divine power, was in one part formed out of eternity into body and soul, none could disclose107 the poison-death, and destroy the mortal mercury, and change it again into the light's-source, viz. into the source of the divine joyfulness, but only the very divine Mercury, viz. the power and the word of life itself: For the serpent's poisonful earthly property was manifest and stirred up in man; therefore when God's word did pity the corruption of man, and did again embrace him,108 he said, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head," and thou (understand the serpent's poison or fire) shalt sting him in the heel.

23. Herein now lies the philosopher's stone, [to know] how the seed of the woman bruises the serpent's head, which is done in the spirit and essence temporally and eternally; the sting of the serpent is God's anger-fire, and the woman's seed is God's love-fire, which must be again awakened, and illustrate109 the anger, and deprive the wrath of its might, and put it into the divine joyfulness, and then the dead soul, which lay immersed in God's curse, does arise: When the poisonful Mercury, which resembles God's anger, is tinctured with love, then the death's anguish in Mercury is changed into the highest joyfulness and desire of love, which does again make a love-essence in itself, viz. an heavenly body out of the earthly: When Mercury is changed into an heavenly source, it desires no longer [or more] the earthly mortal life; [it desires] not the four elements, but only the one, wherein the four are contained, as it were swallowed up; as the light holds the darkness swallowed up in itself, and yet the darkness is in it, but not manifest in the light; as God dwells in time, and the time comprehends him not, unless it be translated and wrapped up into eternity, that the divine light does again shine in its source, and then the time is manifest with its wonders110 in the eternity.

24. In this manner also is the process of the wise men with the precious stone: There is no nearer consideration of the same than to consider [and know] how the eternal word, viz. the heavenly divine Mercury in the divine power, is become man, and has slain death, and the anger in man, viz. changed the Mercury into the divine joyfulness, whereby the human Mercury, which before lay shut up in God's anger, viz. in the source of death, does with its new enkindled desire, which now is called faith in the Holy Ghost, attract divine essentiality, viz. Christ's body to itself, and sets itself in divine power and light above the anger of God, and the poison of the serpent, and bruise the head of the anger, viz. the poison of death with the life of divine joyfulness: That is, the anger was master, but in the light it became a servant, which now must be a cause of the joyfulness, as it is most plain, clear, and manifestly made known and shewn to us in the mercurial life.

25. Now observe the process, and meditate on it, ye dear children of wisdom, and then you shall have enough temporally and eternally;111 do not as Babel does, which amuses and comforts itself with the philosopher's stone, and boasts of it, but keeps only a gross mason's stone shut up in poison and death, instead of the precious philosopher's stone:112 What is it for Babel to have the stone, when it lies wholly shut up in Babel? It is as if a lord bestowed a country upon me, which indeed was mine, but I could not take possession of it, and remained still a poor man notwithstanding, and yet I boasted of the dominion, and so had the name, and not the power: Even thus it goes with Babel about the precious stone of the new-birth in Christ Jesus.

26. In the sweet name, Jesus Christ, the whole process is contained, what, and how the new-birth is out of death into life, which is very clearly understood in the language of nature: For the name Jesus is the property of the free lubet of eternity, which yields itself into the pregnant centre, viz. into the Father's property, and figures itself in the centre in the Father's property, viz. in the Father's fire, to a word of eternal power.

27. Understand, the Father, viz. the Father's fiery forms, do figure [shape] this divine voice essentially in itself in the lubet of the liberty; that is, the Father's fiery property makes itself in the divine essence of the eternal love to a mercury of joyfulness; for the Father's property is the fire-source, and the Son's, viz. the eternal lubet's property, is the love-source; and yet also there would be no desire of love, if the Father's fire did not enkindle it, and make it movable, viz. desirous; from the fire arises the desire.

28. The Father of all essences begets this holy desire through his fire-source, which is now his heart of love, which gives in his fire the shining lustre and splendour; even there the wrath in the fire's property dies from eternity to eternity, and is changed into a love-desire.

29. Thus observe it; the free lubet's property is here in the fire's property called Christ, which signifies in the language of nature a potent champion,113 depriving the wrath of its power, a shining of the light in the darkness, a transmutation, where the love-lubet rules over the fire-lubet, viz. over the wrath, the light over the darkness: Here the seed of the woman (understand of the free lubet, in which there is no source) bruises the head of the wrath of the eternal nature, viz. of the eternal desire; for the fire's property is rightly called the head, for it is the cause of the eternal life; and the liberty, viz. the free lubet, or the nothing, is rightly called the woman; for in the nothing, viz. in the liberty of all source,114 consists the birth of the Holy Trinity of the Deity.

30. Now the fire gives life, and the free lubet gives essence into the life, and in the essence is the birth, where the Father, viz. the eternal ground, begets his essence, viz. his heart out of the abyss in himself, that is, out of the abyss in himself into a byss; the Son is115 the Father's byss: Thus the Father remains in himself, as touching his own property only, the byss of the eternal nature; and the Son remains in the Father, the byss of the power and kingdom of joy; a resemblance whereof you see in the fire and light: And thus the Son tinctures the Father with the liberty, viz. with the nothing; and the Father tinctures (the Son) the nothing, that there is an eternal life therein, and no more a nothing, but a sound or voice of the manifestation of the eternity.

31. Thus, dear philosophers, observe here the ground how you should tincture; seek not the Son without the Father to tincture therewith: It must be one body;116 the serpent-bruiser lies therein beforehand; for the seed of the woman has not bruised the serpent's head without the humanity, but in the humanity: The source of the divine lubet (understand of the love) manifested itself through a resurrection117 in the human essence, and became manifest in the human life, and tinctured the wrath of death with the blood of the divine tincture, and there the wrath of death was changed into a source of divine love and joyfulness: Thus the love bruised the head of the anger and the oleous poison in Mercury, and deprived the wrath of its dominion, and sublimed the wrath into the highest joyfulness; even there the anger, and the astringent cold death, were made open shew of118 in a fiery love: Then it was said, "Death, where is thy sting? Hell, where is thy victory? God be thanked who has given us victory."

32. Now it behoves the wise seeker to consider the whole process with the humanity of Christ from his opening in the womb of his mother Mary, even to his resurrection and ascension; and so he may well find the Feast of Pentecost with the joyful spirit, wherewith he may tincture, cure, and heal whatever is broken and destroyed: We declare it in the ground of truth, as we have highly known it; for the rose in the time of the lily shall blossom in May when the winter is past,119 for blindness to the wicked, and for light to the seeing.

33. God be for ever praised, who has granted us eyes to see through the poisonful heart of the basilisk, and see the day of restitution of all whatever Adam lost.

34. Now we will come to the process of Christ, and go with him out of eternity into time, and out of time into eternity, and bring again the wonders of time into eternity, and openly set forth the pearl, for honour unto Christ, and scorn to the devil; he that sleeps is blind, but he that wakes sees what the May120 brings.

35. Christ said, "Seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: "You know that Christ signifies in a parable concerning the wounded Samaritan, that he fell among murtherers, who beat him and wounded him, and pulled off his clothes, and went away, and left him half dead, till the Samaritan came, and took pity on him, dressed him, and poured oil into his wounds, and brought him into the inn: This is a manifest and lively representation of the corruption of man in paradise, and also of the corruption of the earth in the curse of God, when paradise departed from it.

36. Now wilt thou be a magus? Then thou must become the Samaritan, otherwise thou canst not heal the wounded and decayed; for the body which thou must heal is half dead, and sorely wounded; also its right garment is torn off, so that it is very hard for thee to know the man whom thou wilt heal, unless thou hast the eyes and will of the Samaritan, and seekest nothing else thereby but to restore the loss of the wounded.

37. Now consider! The eternal word manifested itself in Adam with divine living essentiality, with the heavenly Mercury, but when the soul's-fire in Adam, by the infection of the devil, poisoned the will's spirit in Adam, and introduced it through the property of the serpent into earthly deadly lust, then the heavenly Mercury of the heavenly essence withdrew, that is, the soul's will departed from it with its desire, and introduced its hunger into the earthly mortal essence, viz. into the property of the cold Mercury, which had made stones and earth. Adam's spirit would prove this [Mercury], and have the knowledge in evil and good, and so this Mercury of the four elements immediately drew him into its poison, and effectually wrought in him, and robbed him of the divine property, stung, and wounded him with heat and cold, and made him half dead, and stripped him of his angelical rayment, viz. the garment in the pure element, where the heavenly source penetrates the four elements, and tinctured them in Adam's body: Then he needed no other garment, for heat and cold were as it were swallowed up in him; as the day holds the night swallowed up in itself, and yet the night dwells in the day, but it is not manifest: Thus it went with man when the property and source of the night seized on him, then it domineered in him; and thus it went also with the earth when God cursed it.

38. Now wilt thou be a magus? Then thou must understand how to change the night again into the day; for the source of the night, viz. of the darkness, is the anguish-source of death; and the source of the day, viz. of the light, is the life, and the lustre in the life; now Christ has again enkindled this shining in the humanity, and quickened man again in himself: Now if thou wilt tincture, then thou must change that which is shut up, and closed in the death of the night again into the day, for the day is the tincture, and yet the day and night lie in each other as one essence.

39. Now says reason, How may I begin to do it?121 Look upon the process, how God began with the humanity, when he would tincture the same.

40. Christ came into this world in the shut-up human form, and brought into the enclosed fortress of death the tincture of life, viz. the Deity; he came into the world as a pilgrim in our poor form; he became ours, that he might tincture us in himself: But what did he do? Did he live in joy? Did he behave and carry himself as a lord? No; he entered into death, and died, and put away the night's-source in him through us: But how did he do it? He assumed the essence of our soul and body unto the divine essence, and quickened our essence with the divine, that our essence entered again with its will and desire into the divine essence, and then the heavenly fiat was moved again in the humanity; for the humanity inclined itself again into the liberty, viz. into the free lubet of the Deity.

41. This being done, the man Christ was tempted forty days, so Iona as the first Adam was alone in paradise, and was tempted: Then the outward earthly food was taken from him, and the humanity must eat with its desire of God's essence; there was represented unto him all whatever the first Adam had amused himself in, and whereinto he imagined, and wherein he was captivated, as in the death of the night. This the devil, being a prince of this world, now represented unto him in the property of death, as he had represented it to Adam through the serpent, whereon Adam and his wife did amuse themselves, and entered thereinto with the imagination.

42. Now behold! What did Christ do when he was to undergo the combat of this trial, when the human essence was to enter again with its desire into the Deity, and eat of God's bread, that is, of the divine essentiality? He went to Jordan, and was baptized of John. With what? With the water in Jordan, and with the water in the word of life, viz. the divine essence, which must tincture our mortal essence in the outward humanity of Christ, from whence the divine hunger arose in the human essence, that he desired to eat of God's bread: Therefore the Spirit of God took him and carried him into the wilderness, and there the Father's property in the wrath did oppose him through the prince in the wrath; and there God's bread, and also the bread of God's anger according to the death's desire, was tendered to him; now it was tried, whether the soul, which was generated and created out of the Father's property, would after this tincturation of baptism enter again into the love-desire, viz. into the nothing out of all source.

43. What is hereby intimated to the magus? A mystery is hinted to him: If .he will do wonders with Christ, and tincture the corrupt body to the new-birth, he must first be baptized, and then he gets an hunger after God's bread, and this hunger has in it the verbum fiat, viz. the *archeus**122* to the new generation, that is, the Mercury: But I do not speak here of a priest's baptism; the artist must understand it magically; God and man must first come together ere thou baptizest, as it came to pass in Christ: The Deity first entered into the humanity, but the humanity could not presently comprehend it, till it was quickened through baptism, and the hunger, viz. the dead Mercury in the human essence, was again stirred up in the heavenly part.

44. And here began again the human eating; viz. the Mercury received again divine property and will; and then the inward Mercury (understand man's property) did eat in the taste of the divine word of God's essence: And the four elemental properties did eat of the night's property so long, till the human Mercury sublimed its life, and changed the four elements into one: And the life tinctured death, which was done on the cross: Then the four elements departed from him; that is, he died to time, viz. to the night, that is, to the four elements, and arose in the pure element, and lived to eternity.

45. The magus must keep and observe this process also with his alchymy. Dost thou ask how? I will not put it into thy mouth by reason of the wicked, who is not worthy of it: Observe only the baptism, that thou baptizest the dead Mercury, which lies in the heavenly essentiality, enclosed and shut up in impotency with its own baptism, [and mark] of what essence he is in a thing;123 but thou must have this divine water, and also the earthly; for the earthly Mercury cannot else receive the divine [Being] except the divine Mercury receives of its power, whereupon it stirs and hungers: Then the heavenly [Mercury] seeks, but yet finds not divine essence about it for its food; thereupon it brings its will through the desire of death into itself, viz. into the verbum fiat, which has made and produced it, and sets its hunger upon the same; whereupon the divine essence inclines itself to it, and will become joyfulness in him; even then arises the beginning of the new body out of the divine essentiality, which the desire nourishes and brings up; and when the new life is born, viz. the day, then the four elements die: And then the new body is shut up in the dark death, and on the third day it rises again from death; for the night is swallowed up in the grave, and the morning rises.

46. If thou didst understand this, then hadst thou the pearl: But my intent and purpose is otherwise; I will shew thee Christ along with it, and also this pearl; therefore none shall find it but he that loves Christ.

47. Thou sayest, Tell me the baptism? and I have already told it thee. Every hunger is a desire after its property; now if thou givest again the property of death to the hunger of death, then death encreases; but if thou givest him heavenly property, then death receives it not, for hell is against heaven; therefore thou must give death and the anger of God to death, and in this anger give him heavenly essence, viz. the baptism, and so the baptism will swallow up the death into itself, and then the anger dies in the death through the baptism, but not presently; thou must first keep the process of Christ, and suffer the baptized to preach, that is, appear in his divine form and colours; exceedingly persecute and plague him, and give him no rest; for so the right Mercury becomes working and active; and when he has shewn all his wonders through the old Adam, then thou must cast the old and new man into God's great anger, and slay the old man, ventilate him, and hang him naked124 on the cross, and again take him thence, and lay him into the putrefaction, viz. into the grave.

48. And then Christ will arise from death, and appear; but only his own know him: He walks about in heavenly form, and sometimes in his own [form which he had here] until the Feast of Pentecost, for now here is tried in him the highest perfection, whether he will persist in the angel's form, and eat only of the divine essence; and then comes the Holy Ghost, and proceeds with his power out of the whole corpus, viz. out of the body and soul, which then tinctures the dead and broken being; as it may be seen in the Day of Pentecost, where Saint Peter tinctured three thousand souls at once with his heavenly Mercury, and delivered them out of death.

49. Dear seekers, herein lies the pearl; had you the universal, then you could also tincture as Saint Peter did, but your covetous death withholds you and shuts you up; for you seek only covetousness and temporal honour in the pleasure of the flesh, to generate yourselves in the night's property; therefore the pearl hides itself from you; yet the day shall again appear when the wrathful anger of God is fulfilled, satisfied and appeased in the blood of the saints, and turned to a love-life; and the time is near.

PROCESS

50. Every creature keeps in its generation and propagation to its own kind; the male to the female, and the female to the male: Now God said to Adam and Eve after the Fall, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head;" he said not [the seed] of the man: Herein lies the baptism of nature: The male has the fire-spirit, and the female the water-spirit to the tincture; now the Mercury is a fire-life, and makes himself a body according to his hunger and desire; now the chief of the work is in the beginning to give the fire-hunger a love-virgin out of its kind for its consort, that so his wrathful hunger may be changed into a love, and then they sleep together in their own marriage bed: Now the devil is an enemy of this wedlock, who soon comes with a strange desire, and tempts these married people, but dares not lay an hand of violence on them, but only afflicts and plagues them with a false strange desire; now if they yield their desire to his will, and his desire overcomes them, then they become enemies to one another, and bring forth a false child; for Christ said, "An evil tree bringeth forth evil fruits, and a good tree good fruits."

51. Therefore the artist must beware, and keep himself from such anger, and yet must prepare a cross for this married couple; for he is their foe and friend, that so they both in their marriage bed of love might lift up their desire to God, and so with their desire God's essence may be pregnant in their desire, and then in their copulation they shall beget such a child, which they125 (understand the mother, viz. the female) shall nourish in their belly, till it be ripe.

52. In the meantime let the mother take heed she bear no love to any other besides her consort, and also not imagine after strange things, else she will imprint a spot or mark on the child; she must continue simply in one love, till the child be perfect as to its body, which comes to pass in the fourth month; yet according as the parents are of one or other property, so strife and contrariety will arise in the essence in the child, when the child is to receive its soul's life.

53. But when the essence is in its wresting combat, the artist must assist the soulish, viz. the fiery property, till the soul's spirit attains its life, then he appears in the woman's form and lustre: Now the artist supposes that he has the child that is born, but there belongs a further time to it, till the soul grows strong, and then it appears and shews itself in its red and white coat.

54. But there is yet a wonderful process behind; when the soul's life is born, then the new soul casts away the vegetable life of the parents (which is propagated and inherited to the body from the parents' *vegitta*, wherein the body of the child congealed126 and grew till the time of the soul), and the life of the four elements dies, and the life in the one element arises; the child is hidden in the dark death, and the artist supposes it to be dead, but he must have patience till the child be born.

THE PECULIAR PROCESS IN THE SHAPING OF THE MAGICAL CHILD

55. The course of Christ upon the earth is a real type how the new child is nourished in the mother's womb after its conception, as is before mentioned, and attains a vegetable life, and grows up to the time of its right soul's and spirit's life; and how the child arises from the parents' essence; and how in the enkindling of its right, viz. of its own life, it casts away the parents' vegitta and working; and how a new plant, viz. a new peculiar operation, does now arise according to the new enkindled spirit's property, whereby the child is more noble than its parents, understand as to its outward life.

56. But perhaps some rude clownish sophister might meet with this treatise, and draw a strange understanding from it, in that I write of a soul in the vegetative life; but let him know that we do not understand the image of God, which was formed into a likeness according to God [to be] in metals, stones, and herbs; but we understand the magical soul, how the eternity, viz. the Deity, imprints and pourtrays itself into its likeness, according to the model of its wisdom in all things, and how God fills all in all; we understand the *summum bonum*, the good treasure which lies hidden in the outward world's essence as a paradise.

57. When Christ in his childhood grew up in human and divine property till he was twelve years old, he went with his mother Mary to the feast at Jerusalem, and went into the Temple among the Scribes, asked them, and hearkened to them, and gave answer to the questions of the teachers; but when his parents returned home, supposing him to be among the company, he remained purposely behind among the doctors, and followed not the intent of his parents, but the divine will, till they came back again, and sought him; and then his mother said to him, "My son, why hast thou dealt so with us? Lo! thy father and I have been seeking thee sorrowing. Then he said unto them, How is it that you have sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? And he went home with them, and was subject unto them."

58. In this figure we have the type of the wills of the inward and outward world, how they are in one another, and against one another, and yet are but one: Even as in Christ there were two kingdoms manifest; one which was wrought unto God's will, and broke the outward world's will of its parents, in that Christ tarried behind contrary to the will of his parents, at which they were troubled, which the divine will in Christ knew well enough; and the other kingdom, viz. of his parents' will, broke the divine will, that he went home with them, and was obedient to them according to their will.

59. This figure shews the magus, that he shall find two wills in his purpose, which he thinks to carry on; one will not be obedient and subject unto him, viz. the divine will; and yet if its own peculiar external will shall rightly apply itself thereunto, and only seek the dear child Jesus with Mary, with desire and earnest sorrow, and not earthly pleasure of the flesh, then the divine will will be obedient to him, and go home with him, and be used according to his good pleasure.

60. Secondly, it shews him the twofold working and will in all things; and if he will be a magus, and according to his will turn the will and essence of the good property out of the inward into the outward, then he must be first capable of the inward, viz. of the divine will, otherwise he cannot change the inward will into the outward; as Christ was not obedient to the external will of his mother till she sought him with grief and sorrow of heart, and turned her will into God's will, and wrestled in his compassion with God's will, as Jacob the whole night, till the Lord blessed him, and God said unto him, Thou hast wrestled with God and man, and hast overcome, or got the victory.

61. Also let the magus know, that he need not go about to implant the right will to perfection from without into his purpose; it is already in all things; only he must introduce a divine desirous will according to the thing's property into that thing which he takes in hand, which wrestles with the divine will as Jacob, and blesses the will introduced to God's will, that the divine will yields itself freely into the hunger, or inclines itself to the desire, and makes the imperfect will (which earnestly presses into his compassion) perfect, and then it is rightly said, Thou hast wrestled with God, and hast overcome; then thy purpose obtains a transformed body, which is heavenly and earthly.

62. Observe it! It is the first beginning to baptism, and so you are fit and prepared to the baptism, and not otherwise, else you baptize only with the water of the outward world; but the true magus baptizes with the outward and inward water: If he has a right divine desire in him, then God's will in his baptism is the first glimmering tinder in Mercury, so that the life enkindles death, viz. the Mercury shut up in death, and he gets divine desire; even then Mercury begins to hunger after divine essence, and does his first miracle, and turns the water into wine, as Christ did after his baptism: This is the first tincturation in the dead corpus in the power of baptism, that the vegitta, or working energetical life, obtains another property, viz. an hunger of love, wherewith she embraces her bridegroom, viz. the fire-source, that he is enkindled in her love, and changes his cold deadly wrath and will into a fiery love-will: Then the mortal water turns into wine (a sharpness of a fire and water-taste), out of which at last comes an oil to another baptism, after the manner and disposition of the artist, viz. according as he intends and begins; after the magus has joined the virgin and young man together, then Christ, viz. the bridegroom, is led with his bride into the desert, and tempted of the devil.

63. Here is the trial whereby the artist is proved by God what he seeks with his baptism; for here is the proof in paradise to try whether the bridegroom be not too bad; for the virgin casts her love upon him, and invites him; if he receives it with desire, and gives his will thereinto, then she gives him her heart and will wholly: This is the heavenly tincture, which gives itself into the enkindled anger of God (viz. into the curse of the earth when God cursed it), that is, into the Mercury enclosed in death, which is the bridegroom, for the seed of the woman, viz. the heavenly tincture, must bruise the head of the serpent, viz. the poisonful Mercury, in the property of death, and change his poison into wine, and then the virgin receives the seed of the bridegroom, and not before.

64. The desert is the earthly outward body, where Mercury is tempted; when the devil appears to Mercury, and plagues him, and assaults him in his fiery essence, then must the virgin come to help him, and give him her love: Now if the Mercury eats of the virgin-like love, that is, of God's bread, then he may stand before the devil; and at last the angels come to him, and serve him; the illuminated magus will well understand what is meant by the devil.

65. Hereby let the magus in the temptation (seeing the whole marriage stands in the devil's temptation) have a careful eye upon his purpose; and if the angels do not appear in forty days' space, then is his purpose in vain; therefore let him look, that he suffer not too fierce a devil to tempt, and also not too weak, lest Mercury become light, and desire to continue in his own poisonful death's property, and devour the baptism as a wolf, and the old one remains.

66. As soon as he espies the forms of angels, let him bring Christ out of the desert, and let the bridegroom eat again his own food, and dismiss the devil, that he may no longer plague him, and then Christ will do many wonders and signs, at which the artist will wonder and rejoice: Then he has nothing to do, the bride is in the bridegroom, they are already married,127 he need only make their bed ready, they will warm it well enough themselves; the bridegroom embraces the bride, and the bride the bridegroom; and this is their food and pastime till they beget a child.

67. But if the artist will needs be so diligent as to warm the married couple's bed, then let him have a care he do not anger and enrage them in their love; what he begins he must go on with; only the bridegroom is wonderful: He has continually two wills, viz. an earthly hunger after God's anger, and an hunger after his bride; therefore he must always have his own earthly food given him, but not into his belly, but magically, that so he may satisfy only his own will's-hunger; his food is his mother that begets him, as it is before mentioned.

68. In brief, the whole work which men speak so much and wonderfully of consists in two things, in an heavenly and in an earthly; the heavenly must make the earthly in it to an heavenly: The eternity must make time in it to eternity: The artist seeks paradise; if he finds it, he has the great treasure upon the earth: But one dead man does not raise another; the artist must be living, if he will say to the mountain, Arise, and cast thyself into the sea.

69. When the incarnation of the child begins, then first of all Saturn takes it, and then it is dark and disesteemed, and is contemned and derided, that such a mystery should lie hid in such a mean form; there Christ walks in a poor simple form upon the earth, as a pilgrim, and has not so much room and propriety in Saturn as to lay his head: He goes as a stranger, as if he were not there at home.

70. After this the moon takes it, and then the heavenly and earthly properties are mixed,128 and the vegetative life arises, and then the artist rejoices; but he is yet in danger.

71. After the moon Jupiter takes it, who makes an understanding in Mercury, viz. a pleasant habitation, and gives him its good will; and in Jupiter his enclosed life, viz. Mercury is quickened, who takes it with its orb, and forces it into the highest anguish: And then Mars apprehends it, and gives the fire-soul to Mercury; and in the flagrat of Mars the highest life enkindles itself, and separates itself into two essences, viz. out of the love into a body, and out of the fire into a spirit; then the life of love in the fiery flagrat sinks downwards, and appears beautiful, but it is Venus, a woman: Then the artist supposes that he has the treasure, but the hungry Mercury devours Venus, and the child turns to a black raven; then Mars afflicts Mercury in himself, till he grows faint, and yields himself to death: Then the four elements depart from him, and the sun receives the child into its property, and sets it forth in a virgin-like body in the pure element; for in the property of Mars the light is enkindled, and the right life is born, and stands in the pure element; no anger nor death can destroy it.

72. It seems strange in the eyes of reason, that God has kept such a process with the restoring of man in Christ, that he appeared in such a poor disesteemed form in the human property, and was reviled, mocked, scorned, scourged, crucified and slain; and that he was buried, and rose again out of the grave, and walked forty days upon the earth before he entered into his invisible kingdom. Reason is so blind, that it understands nothing of the eternal birth, it knows nothing of paradise, how Adam was in paradise, and how he fell, and what the curse of the earth is: If it understood this, the whole process were manifest to it: As the eternal birth is in itself, so is also the process with the restoration after the Fall, and so likewise is the process of the wise men with their philosopher's stone, there is not the least tittle of difference betwixt them; for all things originally arise out of the eternal birth, and all must have one restoration in one and the same manner.

73. Therefore if the magus will seek paradise in the curse of the earth, and find it, then must he first walk in the person of Christ; God must be manifest in him, understand in the internal man, that he may have the magical sight: He must deal with his purpose as the world did with Christ, and then he may find paradise, wherein is no death.

74. But if he be not in this birth of restoration, and walks not himself in the way wherein Christ walked upon the earth, if he steps not forth into the will and spirit of Christ, then let him give over and leave off his seeking; he finds nothing but death, and the curse of God. I tell him plainly and faithfully, for the pearl of which I write is paradisical, which God does not cast before swine, but gives it to his children for their play and delight.

75. And though much might be mentioned here, that even reason might obtain open eyes, yet it is not to be done; for the wicked would grow worse, and more full of pride; therefore seeing he is not worthy of paradise, and also cannot enter thereinto, no heavenly jewel shall be given him: And therefore God hides it, and permits him to whom he reveals it, to speak of it no otherwise than magically; therefore no one attains it, unless he himself be a magus in Christ, unless paradise be manifest in his internal man; and then he may find, if he be born to it, and chosen by God.
 
## Chapter 8. Of The Fiery Sulphureous Seething Of The Earth, And How The Growth Is In The Earth...

OF THE FIERY SULPHUREOUS SEETHING OF THE EARTH, AND HOW THE GROWTH IS IN THE EARTH; ALSO OF THE SEPARATION OF THE SEVERAL KINDS OF CREATURES: AN OPEN GATE FOR THE WISE SEEKERS

1. Let the reader but consider what before is written concerning the centre of the generation of all essences, and then he may easily proceed here: All whatever is corporeal, let it be either spirit or body, consists in a sulphureous property; the spirit in such a spiritual property, and the body out of the spirit in such a corporeal property.

2. For all things are risen from the eternal spirit, as a likeness of the eternal; the invisible essence, which is God and the eternity, has in its own desire introduced itself into a visible essence, and manifested itself in a time, so that he is as a life in the time, and the time is in him as it were dead;129 as a master that makes his work with an instrument, and the instrument is mute to the master, and yet it is the making, the master only guides it; even so are all things confined into limit, measure, and weight, according to the eternal generation; and they run on in their operation and generation according to the right and property of eternity.

3. And God has appointed over this great work only one master and protector, which can alone manage the work, which is his officer,130 viz. the soul of the great world, wherein all things lie; [and] he has appointed a type of its likeness as the reason over this officer, which represents to the officer what he is to do and make; and this is the understanding, viz. God's own dominion wherewith he rules the officer: Now the understanding shews to the officer what the property of each thing is, how the separation and degrees proceed from each other; for all things are contained131 in the sulphureous body, and Mercury is Sulphur's life, and the salt is the impression, that preserves the body132 from falling to ashes, so that the spirit is known in a palpable essence.

4. The property of Mercury is in Sulphur, as the boiling of a water; Sulphur is the water wherein Mercury seethes, and produces continually two forms out of the water; viz. one oleous, living, from the liberty of the divine power's property; and one mortal from the dissolution in the fire in the salnitral flagrat.

5. The oily is in stones and metals, herbs, trees, beasts, and men; and the mortal [property] is in the earth, in the water, in the fire and air; likewise the oleous property is in these four forms (viz. in the earth, water, fire, and air) as a spirit or life, and these four properties are as a dead body, in which the oil is a light or life, from whence the desire, viz. the growth, arises as a springing out of the dead property, which is the vegetative life, a springing, budding, and growing out of death.

6. But now the oily property could not be a life, if it were not in the anguish of death; the anguish makes it to pullulate or move, in that its will is to fly from, and press out of the anguish, and forces itself eagerly forwards, from whence the growth arises: Thus must death be a cause of the life, that the life may be stirring [or active], and therefore Mercury is the true moving life.

7. In the mortal property he is evil, and is called the life of death, of hell, and the anger of God; and in the oily property he is good, from the efficacy of the meekness and liberty of God; and he is the officer's faber, whereby the officer distinguishes the degrees in the vegetative life, [separating] the living [being] from the mortal, the heavenly essentiality from the dead or earthly, and appoints it into two kingdoms; viz. the good in the oleous [property] into a heavenly [being], viz. into a light, and the mortal [part] into the darkness.

8. These two kingdoms are in continual combat one with another, and there is an incessant wrestling in them; as water boiling on the fire; each boils in its property, viz. the oily in joy and meekness, and the mortal in the anguish of darkness, and yet one is the cause of the other: The light is the death, and deadly destruction of the darkness, viz. of the anguish; for in the light the anguish has no strength, but it changes it into the exultation of joyfulness, and the cause of joy, else there would be no joy; for the meekness is like a stillness, but the source of anguish sublimes it, and turns into a pleasant laughter: So also the anguish, viz. the darkness, is the death and destruction of the oily property; for if it gets the upper hand in the oleous property, it takes possession of the corpus,133 and turns the oil into a poisonful source, viz. into a dark spirit, or body wholly earthly, as Adam was when he imagined into the evil.

9. And yet we do not acknowledge that the oleous property takes any poison-source into itself; but Mercury, viz. the fire-life, insinuates itself into the anguish, and poisons the essence of time, which the outward Mercury itself makes in its own desire, that is, he departs from the inward oleous essence, and then the internal [being] remains immoveable in itself, and the essence and spirit of time do separate from the essence and spirit of eternity, and yet there is no parting [or dividing], but both principles remain in one essence; whereas there are two essences, but the one comprehends not the other, as eternity does not comprehend time: For thus also Adam and Eve died; the soul's Mercury departed with its imagination from the essence of eternity into the essence of time, viz. into the anguish-source, and then the essence of eternity lost its leader, which Christ restored again by the divine word, or Mercury; so that the essence of eternity, which in Adam was forsaken by the soul's Mercury, obtained the life again.

10. And thus we know that the essence of eternity lies hid in the anxious Mercury, as in the fortress of death; and our writing and teaching are to chew how a man may bring the poisonful Mercury with its desire so far, as to enter with its desire again into the essence of eternity, viz. into the enclosed, and reassume the essence of eternity for a body, and with the same tincture the essence of time, and reconcile them in one, that the whole corpus of the inward and outward world may be only one, that so there may be only one will in the spirit, viz. a love-hunger; and this hunger does then make to itself only one essence, and then every spirit eats of its [own] essence or body, so that afterwards no evil will can arise any more therein.

11. Thus we understand, that joy and sorrow, love and enmity, do originally arise through imagination and longing; for in the inclination [or earnest desire] towards God, viz. the free love, the kingdom of joy arises in the midst of the anguish of death; and if the desire departs out of the free love into the anguish of death, viz. into the source of darkness, then is the desire filled with the source of death, and so Mercury works effectually in the source of death.

12. Thus we declare with a true ground, that there is nothing so bad, but there lies a good therein, but the badness is not capable of the good; also there lies in the most poisonful Mercury, the greatest pearl and jewel; if his poisonful will may be introduced into the same,134 then he himself manifests the pearl; for he changes himself; as is to be seen in the earth, where Mercury seeks its pearl, and turns it in the ore135 to gold, and to other metals, according as the Sulphur is in each place.

13. For there is a continual combat136 in the earth; the eternity travels with longing through time to be free from vanity, and in its longing it gives itself to Mercury, as to its life and faber; and when Mercury obtains it in his hunger, he becomes joyful, and makes this free lubet corporeal in him, and there arises gold and silver, together with other metals and good herbs, all according to the powerful efficacy of each place; As the boiling137 is in each place, so likewise is the metal, all according to the property of the seven forms of nature; that form which is chief in a place, according to the same property grows a metal, also herbs and trees.

14. Here the physicians must observe, that they learn distinctly to know what kind of property is the strongest in each thing with which they would cure; if they do not know it, they will oftentimes give their patients death: Also they must know, that they are to understand, and very exactly know the property of the patient, which of the properties among the seven forms of nature is the Mercury in Sulphur; for such a salt he also makes: Now if the physician gives him a contrary salt, Mercury is only thereby the more vehemently enraged, and made more venomous; but if he may obtain his own salt according to his own property (after which he hungers) then he138 rejoices, and readily quits the poison-source in the fire of Mars. But the right physician has another cure, he first brings his Mercury with which he will cure out of death's anguish into the liberty: He may well cure,139 the other is dangerous and uncertain; if he happens to cure, it is by chance, and very inconstant, and cannot cure any disease fundamentally; for the outward Mercury is shut up, it can reach no further than into the four elements, into the mortal essence; it is able to do nothing in the sidereal body: But if it be turned and introduced into the love, as is before mentioned, then it touches140 the very root and ground, and renews it even to the divine power in the second principle.

15. We have an excellent resemblance of this in the blooming earth on the herbs; for in the earth Mercury is earthly and venomous; but when the sun tinctures him., then he reaches after the sun's power, after its light, and brings it into his hungry fiery Mars-desire, into his salt, viz. into his corporeal essence, viz. into Sulphur, which is his mother, and wheels it about with its rotation in the essence, as if he also boiled; and then the liberty, viz. the highest power, reaches after its property, viz. after the solar property, and apprehends Mercury also along with it.

16. Now when Mercury tastes the heavenly Being in itself, it grows exceeding desirous after the power of love, and draws the same into its desire, whereupon it changes itself, and its salt, so also its mother, the Sulphur, into a pleasant source; and now if the liberty be so introduced into a moving life with Mercury, then it is very full of joy, and springs up in its joy, as a light from the fire, and puts forth through the Sulphur-spirit in the salt: Thus is the growing of the root, and from thence the root gets such a pleasant smell and taste; for in the original the salt's sharpness in the first impression from Saturn is a sharpness of death's anguish, and here it is turned to a pleasant power; for all taste in herbs is salt.

17. Thus understand us further about the root in the earth; when the inward power of the liberty in Mercury's property, which now is changed, does thus force itself forth to the manifestation of the Deity, then the sun's power does eagerly press towards the divine power, and inclines itself with great desire to the highest heavenly tincture, and draws it with its desire to it; viz. out of the earthly body into a solar: Thus the sun draws the power out of the root in the earth, and the joyful Mercury ascends up along with it, and continually draws the sun's power from above into itself, and from beneath it draws its mother viz. the Sulphur, to itself: And here all the seven forms of nature arise in joyfulness in the combat, each will be uppermost; for so it is in the taste, viz. in the generation of nature; and what form in nature gets to be the chiefest, according to the same taste is the salt in Sulphur, and such an herb grows out of the earth, let it be what it will; though now everything springs from its mother, yet all things have so taken their original, and do still take it; for just so is the right of eternity.

18. Now we are to consider of the stalk: When the herb or sprig looks out of the earth, it comes up at first below with a white form, then further more upwards with a brownish [colour], and above with a green colour: This is now its signature, [shewing] what kind of form is internally in the essence, in the source; the white colour of the branch141 is from the liberty of the love-lubet, and the brown is the earthly [property] from Saturn's impression, and from the wrath of Mars; and the green, which opens itself above, is Mercury's in the form of Jupiter and Venus.

19. For Jupiter is power, and Venus is love-desire, which hasten towards the sun, as towards their likeness; and the heaven, which is created out of the midst of the water, puts upon them its blue and green-coloured garment according to the stars' might; for the spirit of the stars receives the new child also, and gives him its spirit and body, and rejoices therein: Now the forms are in contest,142 and Mercury is the faber and separator; Saturn impresses, and Jupiter is the pleasant power in sulphur; Mars is the fire-source, viz. the might in sulphur; Venus is the water, viz. the sweet desire; Mercury is the life, Luna the body, and Sol the heart, viz. the centre to which all forms tend and press.

20. Thus the outward sun presses into the sun in the herb; and the inward sun presses into the outward, and there is a mere pleasing relish and delight of one essence in another; Saturn makes four, Jupiter makes a pleasant taste, Mars makes bitter, by reason of his anxious nature, Venus makes sweet, Mercury distinguishes the taste, Luna takes it into her sack and hatches it; for she is of an earthly and heavenly property, and she gives it the menstruum wherein the tincture lies.

21. Thus there is an instigation in the taste; each form hastens to the sweet water and the sun; Jupiter is pleasant, and ascends up aloft with the love-desire in the sweet source-water, wherein Mars rages, and thinks himself to be master in the house, seeing that he rules the fire-spirit in sulphur, at which Mercury is dismayed, that Mars does so disquiet him, and Saturn makes the flagrat corporeal according to his austere impression, and these are the knots upon the stalk; and the flagrat is salnitral, according to the third form of nature in the first impression to the spirit-life, viz. in the anguish-form, from whence the sulphur takes its original, and in the flagrat Mercury goes up in the salniter on the sides, and takes Venus also into it, viz. the love-desire, from whence grow twigs and branches on the stalk, trunk, or body, be they either herbs, trees, or shrubs; and each branch [or sprig] is then like to the whole plant.143 

22. But the sun continually by little and little deprives Mars of his force, whereupon the salniter extinguishes, and Mars loses his bitter property; then Jupiter and Venus wholly yield themselves to the sun in the moon's cabinet,144 and the outward sun takes full possession of the inward; understand the inward sun is a Sulphur in Mercury, and is of the divine power's property, from the liberty of God, which imprints itself on all things, and gives life and power to all things. Now when that is done, that Jupiter and Venus have given themselves to the power of the sun, then Jupiter forces no more upwards, but Mars and Mercury do continually more and more wind up the stalk from the earth on high; Jupiter stays still above in the inward and outward sun's power, and there is the pleasant conjunction with time and eternity, there the eternity beholds itself in an image145 in the time.

23. And paradise springs up [or opens], for the Sulphur and the salt in the Sulphur are here transmuted in the paradise, and the paradisical joy puts itself forth in the smell and taste. This is now the head or knob of the blossoms, wherein the corn grows; the lovely smell is in one part paradisical, viz. from the divine power, from the liberty; and on the other part earthly, according to the outward sun, and the outward world.

24. The heavenly property sets forth its signature with fair colours of the leaves on the blossoms; and the earthly [represents its signature] by the green leaves [or sprigs] about the blossom; but seeing this kingdom of the outward world is only a time (in which the curse is), and Adam could not stand in paradise, the paradisical property soon passes away with its signature, and changes itself into the corn which grows in the blossom; therein the property of the inward and outward sun, viz. of the inward and outward power, is couched, each property in its principle; for God has cursed the earth, and therefore let none think that the outward is divine, only the divine power penetrates and tinctures the outward [being]; for God said, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head:" This is now effected after the curse in all things which approach near the Deity, wherein Mercury is a poison; there God bruises its head with the inward and outward sun, and takes away the poisonful might in the anger.

25. O that you would but learn to understand, dear sirs and brethren, wherewith you are to cure; not with the angry Mercury, which in many an herb is an evil poison-source, but with the inward Mercury: If you would be called doctors and masters, then you ought also to know how you may change the outward Mercury in the Sulphur into love, that he may be delivered from the anguish-source, and brought into a joyfulness, viz. that the earthly [being] be turned into an heavenly, the death into life; this is your doctorship in the right meaning, and not by the officer of reason only.

26. God has placed man above the officer, and ordained him in the understanding to his own dominion: He has ability to change nature, and to turn the evil into good, provided that first he has changed himself, otherwise he cannot; so long as he is dead in the understanding, so long he is the servant and slave of the officer; but when he is made alive in God, then the officer is his servant.

27. Ye haughty caps, let it be told you; pride, and your own honour, and the earthly lust of the flesh, lies in your way, so that you are not masters in the mysteries, but blind children; you will not lay your hands upon the coals, but you take money from the poor and distressed, and give that to many an one which had been far better he had never bought, for which you must give a severe and strict account.

28. Thus it is likewise with the sulphurean seething in the earth with the metals, the power146 is stronger in metals than in the herbs, the tincture is more heavenly than earthly, if the artist affords it his help, then it changes itself, viz. the earthly into an heavenly, which notwithstanding comes to pass in many places without the artist's ingenuity; as we see, how Mercury in sulphur apprehends the heavenly tincture in its boiling, whereby he changes his made essence (which he makes in the sulphur) into gold and silver by the power and efficacy of the tincture, understand, by that part of the heavenly property; for out of the earth, or out of the mortified property in the salniter, no gold can be made, for there is no fixedness therein.

29. Now we are thus to consider of this process of the boiling in the Sulphur in the earth: Where the earth is in any place sulphureous in the saturnine property, wherein the sun bears chief rule, there is such a boiling; the outward sun hungers after the inward, which dwells in its own principle in the centre in sulphur, and sets its desire upon time; for the time, viz. the creature, longs after eternity, viz. after the liberty, to be freed from vanity; as the Scripture says, that "all creatures do earnestly long with us to be freed from vanity."

30. Even here the liberty gives itself into the solar property into the time, and when Mercury tastes it, he becomes joyful, and turns his wheel in the joy; then Saturn impresses the meekness; and Mars, which arises in the mercurial wheel in the impression, gives the fire-soul thereinto, so that there is a driving forth and growth; for the liberty puts itself forth in Mercury's property, and Mercury continually separates Saturn and Mars from it; for he will have a fair and pure child to his joy; he suffers Venus to remain on the child, for she is in property akin to the child: copper is nighest to gold by reason of the materia, it wants only the tincture; Mars holds him too hard in possession; if he may be got out, then it is gold, which the artist does well understand.

31. After Venus Mars is akin to gold; for he has swallowed up Venus in his wrath, and uses her for his body, else in his own peculiar property he has no corporeal essence, for he is only wrath, which consumes: He makes him a body out of the water of Venus, which he devours, and Saturn makes it corporeal to him; therefore he does so defile his iron with rust, and that is his property, viz. to be a devourer of his body; but Venus is pleasant, and makes a growing in him, he devours again whatever Venus's property makes in him; for Venus is the food of Mars in the saturnine property; therefore the artist is to consider what lies in Mars; if he has only the solar tincture, he needs nothing else thereto, that he may but deprive Mars of his force, for Mars has his toughness from Venus.

32. Mars in his own peculiar property is only spalt, and causes hardness. as the fire does; but Saturn is the impressure of all things; Venus needs only the tincture, and then she is perfect; but the artist must rightly understand where the possibility lies, viz. in Sulphur, where Saturn has the Sulphur in his belly, and Mercury shews its colour, there he is in the will,147 but cannot, for Saturn holds him too fast imprisoned; but if the artist gives him his helping hand, that he may but advance his wheel, and give him his mother's food, which she has hid in the centre, then he grows strong, and casts Saturn away, and manifests the child: For so it is also in the earth, where Mercury is quick in his mother, viz. in the Sulphur, that he is not withheld, that he may only reach Venus in his hunger for food, the sun will soon shine forth, for she beams forth in Venus's meekness: He dresses [or seethes] his food with his own fire, he needs no artist thereto; which the artist must well observe, for he has his Mars in himself.

33. Now as the boiling is in the earth, so also it is above the earth; when the fruit grows out of the earth, it is first sharp [astringent] and bitter, also sour and unpleasant, as the apple upon the tree is so; for Saturn has at first the dominion, he attracts it together, and Mercury forms it, and Mars gives the fire to Mercury, which Saturn receives into his cold property, Venus gives the sap, and Luna takes all into her body, for she is mother, and receives the seed of all the planets into her menstruum, and hatches it; Jupiter gives power thereinto, and Sol is king therein, but at the first Sol is weak; for the materia is too earthly and cold. Now the whole essence in its boiling lies in the body148 of Sulphur; and in the Sulphur the salnitral flagrat makes a salt in Mars's wheel according to each property; for the Sulphur turns into salt, that is, into taste; and in the same taste there is an oil hid in the centre in the sulphureous property, which [oil] arises from the free love-lubet, viz. out of eternity, and manifests itself with an external essence in the time, which is the manifestation of God.

34. Now in this same oil is the hunger or love-desire after the essence of time, viz. after the manifestation of the Deity; this desire reaches in the essence of time after its property, viz. after the sun, and the sun's property reaches after the oil in the centre of the fruit, and fervently longs after it, and gives itself freely into the fruit, and sucks the virtue into itself, and gives it forth in its joy into the austere property of the fruit, and meekens and sweetens all with the love, which it receives in the centre in the oil of the liberty: Thus a fruit, which at first is sour and sharp, becomes very pleasant and sweet, that a man may eat it; and even thus is the ripening of all fruits.

35. Now by the signature in the external you may see the inward form; for the forms in the salt, viz. in the power, shew themselves externally.

36. There are commonly four colours, as white, yellow, red, and green: Now according to what colour the fruit (as an apple) is most signed, accordingly is the taste also in the salt; as white with a clear thin skin somewhat inclining to dark gives sweetness, which is of Venus property; if the sweet taste be strong and powerful, then Jupiter is potent therein; but if it be weak and fulsom, then the moon is strong therein; but if it be hard, and of a brownish colour, then Mars is strong therein; but if the white colour be of a grayish-brown, then Saturn is strong therein: Venus makes149 a white colour, Mars red, and bitter in the taste; Mars makes Venus's colour light, Mercury gives a mixt colour, and opens the green in Mars; Jupiter inclines to blue, Saturn to black, almost gray; the sun makes the yellow colour, and gives the right sweetness in the salt, and casts forth the pleasant smell, which takes its rise from Sulphur; Saturn makes astringent [sharp] and sour; and each property represents itself externally, as it is internally in the dominion, so also by the form [or signature] of the leaf, or branches.

37. Every root, as it is in the earth, may be known by the signature for what it is good or profitable, even such a form also has the earth, and it is discerned in the leaves and stalks which planet is lord in the property, much more in the flower; for of what taste the herb and root is, even such an hunger is in it, and such a cure lies therein, for it has such a salt. The physician must know what kind of sickness is risen in the body, and in what salt the loathing is risen in Mercury, that so he may not administer a further loathing [and nausea] to his patient; for if he gives him the herb, in whose property Mercury has before received a loathing, then he ministers poison to him; so that the poison in the loathing of the body does exceedingly inflame itself in Mercury, unless he burns that herb to ashes, and gives it him; then the poison of the loathing loses its might; for these ashes are a death to the poison of the living Mercury.

38. This we find very effectually in the magic; this also the physician must know, that all sicknesses arise from the loathing in the form of nature: As when one form in the life is superior, if then a contrary thing quite opposite to its property be by force introduced into it, let it be either from the stars, or from the elements, or from the seven forms of life, then it deprives this superior [or chiefest] form (which is the leader and ruler of the life) of its strength and power in its salt; then the Mercury of this superior form begins effectually to work, that is, to hunger and loath; and if he gets not his own peculiar property, understand the bodily form, which is chief in the body among the seven properties or forms, then he enkindles himself in his own poison-source according to his vital150 property, and does so forcibly strive so long, till he becomes fiery, and then he awakes his own Mars, and his own Saturn, which impress him, and consume the flesh of the body in the poison-fire, and wholly consume the oil of light; even then the life's light goes out, and it is past recovery.

39. But if the form of life, wherein151 Mercury is inflamed in the loathing152 in the anguish and poison-source, may obtain that property into its hunger, of which the spirit and body is chief, then he obtains his own natural food, of which he lives, and does again rejoice, and puts away the nauseate,153 and then the nauseate dissipates [or dissolves] and is spewed out; but the physician must have a care, whether or no that thing which he will administer to his patient be in its property strong also in the same essence, from whence the nauseate is risen in the body.

40. As for example; A jovial man receives a nauseate [or loathing] from the lunar property; now if the physician knew that he had so gotten his nauseate, and prepared him a jovial cure according to the hunger of his own spirit or mercury, this now would be right; but if the moon's property be strong in the salt which he would administer for the nauseate, then he gives him a nauseate; but if the jovial cure be free from the moon, then the jovial Mercury receives its own food with great desire, and quits the nauseate: And thus it is likewise with diseases which arise in the salniter, viz. from fear or frightening; thereto belongs also such a flagrat as the first was, and then there is a present cure, or such an herb, wherein the salniter lies in such a property as it lies in that man.

41. I know, and it is shewn me, that the sophister will cavil at me, because I write, that the divine power is in the fruit, that God's power does appropriate154 itself into the generation of nature: But hear, my dear friend, become seeing, I ask thee, How was paradise in this world? Was it also manifest in nature? Was it also in the fruit? Was it in the world, or without the world? Did paradise stand in God's power, or in the elements? Was the power of God manifest in the world, or hidden? Or what is the curse of the earth, and the putting of Adam and Eve out of paradise? Then tell me, Does not God dwell also in time? Is not God all in all? It is written, "Am not I he who filleth all things?" Also, "Thine is the kingdom, the power, and glory, from eternity to eternity."

42. Here consider thyself, and leave me uncensured: I do not say, that the nature is God, much less the fruit proceeding from the earth; but I say, God gives power to every life, be it good or bad, to each thing according to its desire, for he himself is All; and yet he is not called God according to every being, but according to the light wherewith he dwells in himself and shines with his power through all his beings; He gives in his power to all his beings and works, and each thing receives his power according to its property; one takes darkness, the other light; each hunger desires its property, and yet the whole essence [or being] is all God's, be it evil or good, for from him and through him are all things, what is not of his love, that is of his anger. Paradise is yet in the world, but man is not therein, unless he be born again of God; then as to that new regeneration he is therein, and not with the Adam of the four elements. O that we would but once learn to know ourselves, and even understand it by the created essence [or being].

43. Lo! in Saturn there lies gold shut up in a very disesteemed and contemptible form and manner, which indeed resembles no metal; and though it be cast into the fire and melted, yet a man shall have nothing, but a contemptible matter void of any form of virtue, till the artist takes it in hand, and uses the right process about it, and then it is manifest what was therein.

44. So likewise God dwells in all things, and the thing knows nothing of God; he likewise is not manifest to the thing, and yet it receives power from him, but it receives the power according to its property from him, either from his love, or from his wrath; and from which it receives, so it has its signature155 externally; and the good is also in it, but as it were wholly shut up [or hidden] to the iniquity [or evil]; an example of which you have in bushes, and other thorny and pricking briars, out of which notwithstanding a fair well-smelling blossom grows; and there lie two properties therein, viz. a pleasant and unpleasant; which overcomes, that shapes [forms or marks] the fruit.

45. Thus also it is with man; he was created a fair blossom and fruit of paradise, but the devil raised up in him his thorny property by the serpent, understand the centre, the property of the wrathful nature, which in his paradisical source was not manifest in him; but when his hunger entered into the thorny false property of the serpent, viz. into death, then the property of death, and the false serpent in the devil's desire, pressed into his hunger, and filled soul and body, so that the hunger of the false serpent began effectually to work in him, and death awaked in him, and then paradise hid itself in him: For paradise entered into itself, and the poison of the serpent in death's property dwelt also in itself; here was now the enmity; then said God to him, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head, and thou shalt sting the heel with death's poison."

46. Understand the paradisical image which is shut up, and captivated in the wrathful death, in which the word of the Deity, viz. the divine Mercury, ruled and wrought, did disappear; as the gold is disappeared in Saturn, so that nothing is seen but a contemptible matter, till the right artist sets upon it, and again awakens the Mercury in the inclosed gold, and then the dead inclosed body of the gold does again revive in Saturn; for Mercury is its life, who must be introduced into it again, and then the dead body of the gold appears,156 and overcomes the gross Saturn, wherein it lay shut up, and changes its mean contemptible old body into a fair glorious golden body.

47. Thus likewise it is with man; he lies now shut up after his fall in a gross, deformed, bestial dead image; he is not like an angel, much less like unto paradise; he is as the gross ore in Saturn, wherein the gold is couched and shut up; his paradisical image is in him as if it were not, and it is also not manifest, the outward body is a stinking carcass, while it yet lives in the poison: He is a bad thorny bush, from whence notwithstanding fair rose-buds may bloom forth, and grow out of the thorns, and manifest that which lies hidden, and shut up in the wrathful poisonful Mercury, till the artist who has made him takes him in hand, and brings the living Mercury into his gold or paradisical image disappeared and shut up in death; so that the inclosed image, which was created out of the divine meekness and love-essentiality, may again bud and spring forth in the divine Mercury, viz. in the word of the Deity, which entered into the humanity shut up [and closed in the death and curse].

48. And then the divine mercury changes the wrathful Mercury into its property, and Christ is born, who bruises the head of the serpent, viz. of the poison and death in the anger of God, understand the might of wrathful death; and a new man arises in holiness and righteousness, which lives before God, [and his divine image] appears and puts forth its lustre as the hidden gold out of the earthly property: And hereby it is clearly signified to the artist chosen of God how he shall seek; no otherwise than as he has sought and found himself in the property of the pure gold; and so likewise is this process, and not a whit otherwise; for man and the earth with its secrets lie shut up in the like [or same] curse and death, and need one and the same restitution.

49. But we tell the seeker, and sincerely and faithfully warn him as he loves his temporal and eternal welfare, that he do not first set upon this way to try the earth, and restore that which is shut up [in death], unless he himself be before born again through the divine mercury out of the curse and death, and has the full knowledge of the divine regeneration,157 else all that he does is to no purpose, no learning [or studying] avails; for that which he seeks lies shut in the curse, in death, in the anger of God: If he will make it alive, and bring it into its first life, then that life must be before manifest in him, and then he may say to the mountain, "Get thee hence, and be cast into the sea;" and to the fig-tree, "No fruit grow on thee henceforth;" and it shall come to pass; for if the divine mercury lives, and is manifest in the spirit, then when the spirit of the soul's will imagines into anything, Mercury also goes along with it in the imagination, and enkindles the Mercury fast apprehended in death, viz. the similitude of God, or the manifestation, with which the living God has made himself manifest.

50. I know and see, that the mocker in the devil's vizard will yet bring my writing into a misapprehension, and make me more dark and doubtful, because I write of the inward and outward Mercury, and understand by the inward the word of God, or the divine voice, viz. the manifestation of the eternity of the abyss; and by the outward [mercury] I understand the officer in nature, viz. the instrument, which the inward, living, powerful word, or divine voice uses, wherewith it forms158 and works. Now the sophister will falsely interpret it, and say, that I mix them both together, making no difference, and hold159 nature for God, as Babel has already done to me: But I bid him view my words well, and learn to understand them right; for I speak sometimes from the heavenly Mercury, and see that only, and then presently I name the instrument of the heavenly, therefore let him have regard to the sense: I write not heathenishly, but theosophically, from a higher ground than the outward faber160 is, and then also from the same.
 
## Chapter 9. Of The Signature, Shewing How The Internal Signs The External

OF THE SIGNATURE, SHEWING HOW THE INTERNAL SIGNS THE EXTERNAL

1. The whole outward visible world with all its being is a signature, or figure of the inward spiritual world; whatever is internally, and however its operation is, so likewise it has its character externally; like as the spirit of each creature sets forth and manifests the internal form of its birth by its body, so does the Eternal Being also.

2. The Being of all beings is a wrestling power; for the kingdom of God consists in power, and also the outward world, and it stands especially in seven properties or forms, where the one causes and makes the other, and none of them is the first or last, but it is the eternal band; therefore God has appointed six days for man to work, and the seventh day is the perfection wherein the six do rest; it is the centre to which the desire of the six days tend; therefore God calls it the Sabbath or resting-day, for therein the six forms of the working power rest: It is the divine sound161 in the power, or the kingdom of joy, wherein all the other forms are manifest; for it is the formed world, or divine corporality, by which all things are generated and come forth to a being.162 

3. This formed world has manifested itself with the motion of all forms with this visible world, as with a visible likeness, so that the spiritual being might be manifest in a corporeal comprehensive essence; as the desire of the inward forms has made itself external, and the internal being is in the external; the internal holds the external before it as a glass, wherein it beholds itself in the property of the generation of all forms; the external is its signature.

4. Thus everything which is generated out of the internal has its signature; the superior form, which is chief in the spirit of the working in the power, does most especially sign the body, and the other forms hang to it; as it is to be seen in all living creatures, in the shape and form of the body, and in the behaviour and deportment, also in the sound, voice, and speech; and likewise in trees and herbs, in stones and metals; all according as the wrestling is in the power of the spirit, so is the figure of the body represented, and so likewise is its will, so long as it so boils in the life-spirit.

5. But if the artist takes it in hand with the true Mercury, then he may turn the weakest form to be uppermost, and the strongest undermost, and then the spirit obtains another will, according to the most superior form; that which before must be servant becomes now lord and master in the seven forms; as Christ said to the sick, "Arise, thy faith hath made thee whole," and they arose: And thus likewise it is here, each form hungers after the centre, and the centre is the voice of life, viz. the Mercury, the same is the faber or former of the power; if this voice gives itself into the hunger of the meanest form in the strong combat163 then it lifts up its property (understand the property of that form), and thus its desire or faith has saved it; for in the desire Mercury lifts up [or sublimes] itself; and thus it was in Christ's patients.

6. Sickness had taken possession of them, and the poison of death had gotten the upper hand in Mercury; but now the form of life in the centre did set its hunger as a famished and mean property after the liberty to be freed from the abomination; but seeing the Mercury was revived in Christ the divine property, therefore the weak hunger entered into Christ's strong hunger after the salvation of man, and so the weak hunger received the strong in the power; and then the divine voice in Christ said, "Arise, lift up thyself, thy faith" (that is, thy desire which thou hast introduced into me) "hath saved thee."

7. Thus the life prevails over the death, the good over evil; and on the contrary, the evil over the good, as came to pass in Lucifer and Adam, and still daily comes to pass: And thus everything is signed; that form which is chief receives the taste, and also the sound in Mercury, and figures164 the body after its property; the other forms hang to it as co-helpers, and also give their signature thereto, but very weakly.

8. There are especially seven forms in nature, both in the eternal and external nature; for the external proceed from the eternal: The ancient philosophers have given names to the seven planets according to the seven forms of nature; but they have understood thereby another thing, not only the seven stars, but the sevenfold properties in the generation of all essences: There is not anything in the Being of all beings, but it has the seven properties in it; for they are the wheel of the centre, the cause of Sulphur, in which Mercury makes the boiling in the anguish-source.

9. The seven forms are these; viz. the desire of the impression is called Saturn, into which the free lubet of eternity gives itself; this in the impression is called Jupiter, by reason of its pleasant commendable virtue; for the saturnine power encloses and makes hard, cold, and dark, and causes the Sulphur, viz. the vital spirit, understand the moving vital spirit, viz. the natural; and the free lubet makes the impression to long to be freed from the dark astringent hardness, and it is very rightly called Jupiter, being a desire of the understanding165 which opens the darkness, and manifests another will therein.

10. In these two properties is pourtrayed and exactly deciphered God's kingdom, viz. the original, and also the kingdom of God's anger, viz. the dark abyss, which is a cause of the motion in Saturn, viz. in the impression; the impression, viz. Saturn, makes the nothing, viz. the free lubet movable and sensible, and also opposite, for it causes it to be essence; and Jupiter is the sensible power proceeding from the free lubet to manifestation out of the nothing into something, in the impression of Saturn; and they are two properties in the manifestation of God according to love and anger, viz. a model of the eternal form, and are as a wrestling combat, viz. an opposite desire against each other; one makes good, the other evil, and yet it is all good; only if we will speak of the anguish-source, and then also of the joyful source, then we must distinguish, that the cause of each source may be understood.

11. The third form is called Mars, which is the fiery property in the impression of Saturn, where the impression introduces itself into great anguish, viz. into a great hunger; it is the painfulness, or the cause of feeling, also the cause of the fire and consuming, also of enmity and malignity; but in Jupiter, viz. in the free lubet, in the nothing, it causes the fiery love-desire, that the liberty, viz. the nothing, is desirous, and introduces itself into sensibility, viz. into the kingdom of joy: In the darkness it is a devil, viz. God's wrath, and in the light it is an angel of joy, understand such a property; for when this source became dark in Lucifer, he was called a devil, but while he was in the light he was an angel; and thus also it is to be understood in man.

12. The fourth property or form is called Sol, viz. the light of nature, which has its original in the liberty, viz. in the nothing, but without splendour, and gives itself in with the lubet into the desire of the impression of Saturn, even to the wrathful or fiery property of Mars; and there the free lubet, which has sharpened itself in the impression, in the property of Mars, in the consuming anguish, and in the hardness of Saturn, displays, or powerfully puts itself forth in Jupiter, as a sharpness of the liberty, and an original of the nothing, and also of the sense;166 and the effluence167 from the heat and anguish of Mars, and from Saturn's hardness is the shining of the light in nature, which gives the understanding in Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, viz. a spirit, which knows what itself is in its properties, which hinders or prevails against the wrath, and brings it out of the anguish, out of the property of Mars, into Jupiter's, viz. out of the anguish into a love-desire.

13. In these four forms the spirit's birth consists, viz. the true spirit both in the inward and outward being, viz. the spirit of power in the essence; and the essence or corporality of this spirit is Sulphur.

14. Ye rabbies and masters! that you could but understand, how faithfully that is given and revealed to you, which your predecessors have intended and aimed at, wherein you have been a long time blind, the cause of which is your pride: This God, the most high understanding, sets before you by mean, and heretofore ungrounded instruments, which he himself has grounded, if you would yet once see, and escape the tormenting source.

15. The fifth form is Venus, the beginning of all corporality, viz. of the water, which arises in the desire of Jupiter and Mars, viz. in the love-desire, out of the liberty, and out of nature, viz. out of the impression's desire in Saturn, in Mars, in the great anguish, to be freed from the anguish: And it carries two forms in the desire of its property, viz. a fiery from Mars, and a watery [property] from Jupiter, understand an heavenly and earthly desire; the heavenly arises from the heavenly impression of the union [or free effluence] of the Deity in nature to its own manifestation; and the earthly arises from the impression of the darkness in Mars, viz. in the wrathful fire's property; therefore the essence of this desire consists in two things, viz. in the water, from the original of the liberty, and in Sulphur from the original of nature according to the impression.

16. The outward similitude of the heavenly [Being] is water and oil; understand, according to the sun it is water, and according to Jupiter it is oil, and according to the hard impression of Saturn after the heavenly Being according to Mars, it is copper, and according to Sol gold, and according to the earthly impression, according to the property of the darkness, it is in Sulphur grit, gravel and sand; according to the property of Mars a cause of all stones; for all stones are Sulphur from the powerful predominance of Saturn and Mars in the property of Venus according to the dark impression, understand according to the earthly part.

17. O ye dear wise men! if you did but know what lies in Venus, you would not so sumptuously adorn your roofs: The potentate often loses his life for the servant's sake, and he puts the master upon his roof, therefore he is blind; this his false Venus-desire causes in him, that he forms it in Saturn and Mars, and brings it forth in Sol; if he formed his Venus-desire in Jupiter, then he might rule over the fiery Mars which lies in Venus, and has put his coat upon Venus in Sulphur.

18. Thus Mars clothes all his servants which love him and Saturn with his garment, that they only find the copper of Venus, and not its gold in the copper; the spirit of the seeker enters into Sol, viz. into pride, and supposes that he has Venus, but he has Saturn, viz. covetousness; if he went forth in the water, viz. in the resigned humility of Venus, the stone of the wise men would be revealed to him.

19. The sixth form is Mercury, viz. the life and separation, or the form in the love, and in the anguish: In Saturn and Mars, on the one part he is earthly according to the hard impression, where his motion and hunger is a pricking, adverse, and (according to the fire) a bitter pain and woe; and according to the water in the earthly Sulphur, viz. in the mortification, a poison-source.

20. And according to the other part, according to the lubet of the liberty, he is the pleasant property of joy in Jupiter and Venus, also of springing and growing; and according to the impression of the heavenly Saturn, and according to Mars in the love-desire, he is the sound in the spirit, understand, the separator of the sound, viz. of the tone; also of all pronunciations of speeches, and all the several cries and notes; all whatever sounds is distinguished by his might; Venus and Saturn carry his lute, and he is the lutanist, he strikes168 upon Venus and Saturn, and Mars gives him the sound from the fire; and thus Jupiter rejoices in Sol.

21. Here lies the pearl, dear brethren: Mercury makes the understanding in Jupiter, for he separates the thoughts,169 and makes them act and move; he takes the infinity of the thoughts into his desire, and makes them essential; this he does in Sulphur, and his essence is the manifold power of the smell and taste, and Saturn gives his sharpness thereinto, so that it is salt.

22. But I understand here the virtual salt in the vegetable life: Saturn makes the common salt in the water: He 170 is an heavenly and an earthly labourer, and labours in each form according to the property of the form; as it is written, "With the holy thou art holy, and with the perverse thou art perverse." In the holy angels the heavenly Mercury is holy and divine, and in the devils he is the poison and wrath of the eternal nature according to the dark impression's property, and so on through all things, as the property of each thing is, so is its Mercury, viz. its life; in the angels he is the hymn of God's praise, and in the devils he is the cursing and awakening of the opposite will of the bitter poisonful enmity.

23. Thus likewise it is to be understood in men and all creatures, in all whatever lives and moves; for the outward Mercury is the outward word in the outward world: He171 is the outward verbum, and Saturn with the impression is his fiat, which makes his word corporeal; and in the inward kingdom of the divine power he is the eternal word of the Father, whereby he has made all things in the outward [principle], understand, with the instrument of the outward Mercury.

24. The outward Mercury is the temporal word, the expressed word; and the inward [Mercury] is the eternal word, the speaking word; the inward word dwells in the outward, and makes through the outward all outward things; and with the inward, inward things: The inward Mercury is the life of the Deity, and all divine creatures; and the outward Mercury is the life of the outward world, and all external corporality in men and beasts, in vegetables and animals, and makes a peculiar principle, viz. a likeness of the divine world; and this is the manifestation of the divine wisdom.

25. The seventh form is called Luna, the amassed essence: What Mercury has comprised in Sulphur, that is a corporeal or substantial hunger of all forms; the property of all the six forms lies therein, and it is as a corporeal being of all the rest; this property is as a wife of all the other forms; for the other forms do all cast their desire through Sol into Luna; for in Sol they are spiritual, and in Luna corporeal: Therefore the moon assumes to it the sunshine, and shines from the sun; whatever the sun is, and makes in the spirit-life in itself, the same Luna is, and makes corporeal in itself.

26. It is heavenly and earthly, and rules the vegetative life; it has the menstruum, viz. the matrix of Venus in it; all whatever is corporeal does congeal172 in its property; Saturn is its fiat, and Mercury is its husband, which impregnates it, and Mars is its vegetable soul, and the sun is its centre in the hunger, and yet not wholly in the property; for it receives only the white colour from the sun, not the yellow, or the red, viz. the majestic; therefore in its property lies silver in metals, and in the property of Sol gold; but seeing Sol is a spirit without essence, thereupon Saturn holds the sun's corporeal essence in himself to lodge in; for he is the fiat of the sun; he keeps it shut up in his dark cabinet, and does only preserve and keep it; for it is not his own essence, till the sun sends him his faber Mercury, to whom he gives it, and to none else.

27. Observe this, ye wise men! It is no fiction or fallacy; let the artist but understand us right; he must bring the jewel shut up in Saturn into the mother of generation, viz. into Sulphur, and take the faber, and divide all forms, and separate the variety of hungers, which the faber himself does, when the artist brings the work into the first mother, viz. into Sulphur: But he must first baptize the froward child with the philosophical baptism, lest he makes a bastard of Sol; and then let him lead him into the desert, and try whether Mercury will eat manna in the desert after the baptism; or whether he will make bread of stones; or whether he will aspire aloft as an haughty spirit, and precipitate himself from the Temple; or whether he will worship Saturn, in whom the devil sits hidden: This the artist must observe; whether Mercury, the wicked poisonful child, receives the baptism; whether he can feed of God's bread or no.

28. If he now does eat, and stands out in the temptation, then will the angels appear to him after forty days, and then let him go out of the desert, and eat his own food; and so the artist is ready and fit for his work; if not, then let him by all means leave it, and as yet account himself unworthy of it.

29. He must have the understanding of the generation of nature; else all his labour and pains are to no purpose, except the grace of the Most High has bestowed upon him some particular, that so he is able to tincture Venus and Mars, which is the shortest [and most ready way], if God chews him such an herb wherein the tincture lies.

30. The lunar body of metals lies in the seething of the earth, in Sulphur and Mercury, covered internally with the coat of Venus, and clothed externally with the cloak of Saturn, as we see plainly, and is a degree more external than the solar body: Next after Luna, Jupiter's body is also a degree more external; but Venus is a sly bird, she has also the inward solar body; she takes the coat of Mars upon her, and hides herself in Saturn's cabinet; but she is manifest, and not hidden.

31. Next Venus Mars is likewise a degree more external, and nearer to earthliness; and next Mars Mercury's body is a *particula* of all the rest; on one part most nigh to the earthly corporality, and on the other part nearest the heavenly; and next Mercury Luna is on the earthly part wholly earthly, and on the heavenly part wholly heavenly; it carries an earthly and heavenly face towards all things;173 to the evil it is evil, and to the good it is good; to a pleasant creature it gives its best in the taste, and to a bad creature it gives the curse of the corrupted earth.

32. Now in all this, as the property of each thing is internally, so it has externally its signature, both in animals and vegetables; and this you shall see in an herb, so likewise in trees and beasts, and in men also.

33. If the saturnine property be predominant, and chief in a thing, then it is of a black, greyish colour, hard and spare, sharp, sour, or salt in taste; it gets a long lean body,174 grey in the eyes,175  of a dark blue, of a very slender body, but of a hard touch, though the property of Saturn is very seldom alone master in a thing; for he soon awakens Mars with his hard impression, who makes his property bending and crooked, full of knots, and hinders the body from growing high, but is full of branches and rugged, as is to be seen in oak-shrubs, and the like trees.

34. But if Venus be next to Saturn176 in any place in the sude or seething of the earth, then the sude in the Sulphur of Saturn causes a tall strong body; for it gives its sweetness into Saturn's impression, whereby Saturn becomes strong and lusty, and if Venus be not hindered by Mars, it grows a great, tall, slender tree, herb, beast, or man, or whatever it be.

35. But if Jupiter be next to him in the property of Venus, so that Jupiter is stronger in Saturn than Venus, and Mars under Venus, then it falls out to be a very excellent fair body, full of virtue and power, also of a good taste; its eyes are blue, and somewhat whitish, of a meek property, but very potent: If it falls out that Mercury is between Venus and Jupiter, and Mars undermost, then is this property in Saturn graduated in the highest degree with all power and virtue, in words and works, with great understanding.

36. If it be in herbs, then they are long, of a middle-sized stature or stalk, of a very curious form, fair blossoms, white, or blue; but if the sun also casts the influence of his property into it, then does its colour by reason of the sun incline to yellow; and if Mars hinders not, then is the universal very sovereign in the thing, be it either a man, or other creature, or an herb of the earth: This let the magus well observe, it withstands all malignity, and false influences and assaults from the spirits, whatever they be, so far as a man himself is not false and wicked, and inclines not his desire to the devil, as Adam did, in whom also the universal was wholly complete.

37. With these herbs a man may cure, and heal without any art of the artist; but they are rarely and seldom found, yea not one among many sees them, for they are nigh to paradise: The curse of God hides the eyesight of the wicked, that it does not see, although they should stand before his eyes: Yet in such a conjunction of the planets they are manifest, and may not be hidden; therefore there lies a great secret in many an herb and beast, if the artist knew it, and had the true skill to use it; the whole magia lies therein: But I am bidden to be silent by reason of the wicked, who is not worthy of it, and is justly plagued with the plague with which he plagues other honest people, and tumbles himself in the mire.

38. But if Mars in his property be next Saturn, and Mercury casts an opposite aspect, and the power of Venus be under Mars, and Jupiter under the property of Venus, then out of this property all is corrupted and poisoned; a poisonful herb, tree, beast, or whatever it be; if it falls into the corrupt human property, then it is fitted and prone to evil, but if the moon brings its powerful influence thereinto, then is the false magia ready in the lunar menstruum, and witchcraft is manifest, of which I must here also be silent, and will only shew the signature.

39. In an herb, if the blossom be somewhat reddish, and wreathed, or streaked, and inclined to white by the red, then is the power of Venus there, which makes resistance therein; but if it be only reddish, and of dark wriths or streaks, with a rough peel or skin on the stalk, branch, and leaf, then does the basilisk lodge there.

40. For Mars makes it rugged, and Mercury is poisonful therein, which gives a streaked colour, and Mars the red, and Saturn the dark, which is a pestilence in the lunar menstruum; but to the artist it is an herb against the pestilence, if he takes the poison from Mercury, and gives him Venus and Jupiter for food, then Mars brings forth the vegetable soul in Sol, and turns his wrathful fire into a love-fire, which the artist must know, if he will be called a doctor.

41. This property likewise signs the living creatures both in their voice and visage; it gives a gross, dull sound, somewhat inclining to a shrill voice by reason of Mars, soothing, flattering, and very false, lying, commonly red pimples [or streams] in the eyes, or blinking, and rolling unsteady eyes: In herbs this property likewise yields a taste very loathsome, from whence in man's life, viz. in Mercury, if it takes it down, a stirring boiling poison arises, which darkens and obscures the life.

42. The physician must have a care of the herbs of this property; they are not to be taken into the body, but they are poisonful, of what name soever they be; for there often happens such a conjunction of the planets, which sometimes so prepares an herb, which is good if it be subject to Saturn and Mars: So likewise it falls out sometimes, that an evil herb, by reason of a good conjunction, if in its beginning it stands in the menstruum, may be freed from the malignity, which is to be known by the signature; therefore the physician, who understands the signature, may best of all gather the herbs himself.

43. But if Mars be next Saturn, and Mercury very weak, and Jupiter also under Mars in the property, and Venus casts an opposite aspect or dissent with its desire, then it is good; for Jupiter and Venus change the wrath of Mars into joy, which produces hot wholesome sovereign herbs, which are to be used in all hot diseases and hurts; the herb is rough, and somewhat prickly the leaves on the branches; so likewise the stalk is fine and thin, according to the nature of Venus, but the virtue and power is of Mars and Jupiter, well mixed and tempered, commonly with brownish blossoms forcing forth in the property, and that because Mars is strong therein with his wrath; but seeing his wrath is changed by Jupiter and Venus into a pleasant property, the wrath becomes a desire of joy.

44. The physician must not give Saturn without Mars in hot diseases, not cold without heat, else he enkindles Mars in the wrath, and stirs177 up Mercury in the hard impression in the property of death; Mars belongs to the cure of every Mars-like sickness, which is of heat, and pricking pangs: But let the physician know, that he must first correct and qualify Mars, which he intends to administer, with Jupiter and Venus, that the wrath of Mars may be changed into joy, and then he will also change the sickness in the body into joy; cold is quite contrary to it.

45. If the physician administers Saturn only and by itself to a martial disease or hurt, then Mars is dismayed with death, and falls down with his force and strength into death's property; and now seeing he is the fire in the body, the life's fire becomes thereupon deadly in the elemental property; for he soon awakens Mercury in the property of cold: But yet the physician must have a care that he administers not in an hot disease the raw undigested hot Mars, in which Mercury is wholly inflamed and burning; for he enkindles the fire more vehemently in the body; he must first mollify Mars and Mercury, and put them into joy,178 and then it is right and good.

46. The hotter an herb is, the better it is hereunto; yet its wrathful fire must be changed into love, and then he can also change the wrath in the body into joy; all according as the property of the disease is, that the disease be able to bear it; for to a weak fire in the body, which is tired and languished by reason of the heat, and rather inclines to cold, viz. to the poison of Mercury, where the life is in danger, there belongs a cure with a fine subtle heat, wherein Venus is strong, and Mars very tender and mild by reason of the power of Venus; Jupiter need not be strong there, lest he make Mars and Mercury too strong, so that the weak life, before it is quickened and refreshed, is overwhelmed, and brought into the mercurial poison.

47. An herb in this aforesaid property grows not high, it is somewhat rough in the touch; the rougher it is, the stronger is Mars therein; it is better to be used outwardly to wounds and sores, than inwardly: The fine and subtle part is to be taken into the body, and is expulsive; the more subtle it is, the nigher it is to the life in the body, which the physician may very well know by its salt; for no rough wild property is to be taken into the body, unless the body be inflamed with a sudden poison, where the life also is fresh and strong, then a vehement resistance must be used; yet Mercury and Mars must not be administered in the wrath, but in their strongest power, Mars in the greatest heat, but before changed into joy; and then he also changes Mercury according to himself: Jupiter belongs to the transmutation of wrathful Mars, but he must be first introduced into Sol's property, and then he is rightly fit for it.

48. Every living creature, according to its kind in the foregoing property, is friendly and pleasant, if you deal friendly and gently with it; but if it be dealt roughly with, then Mercury is stirred up in the poison-property, for Mars soon boils up, and gets aloft in the bitter property, and then the anger springs forth; for the ground of all malignity lies therein; but if it be not stirred up, then it is not manifest; as a great sickness which lies in the body, but while the same is hid, and not enkindled, it is not manifest and apparent.

49. But if Mercury be next Saturn in the property, and next him the moon, and Venus and Jupiter beneath, and also weak, then let Mars stand where he will, yet all is earthly; for Mercury is held in the austere impression in the cold property, viz. in death's form, and his Sulphur is earthly; if Mars comes near to it, then it is poisonful also, but if Venus makes an opposition therein, then the poison is resisted, yet it is but earthly; it gives a greenish colour from the power of Venus.

50. But if Venus be next Saturn in the property, and the moon not opposed by Mars, and Jupiter likewise goes in his own power, then all is pleasant [and lovely under that property or constellation]; the herbs are slender, single, and soft in touch, of white blossoms, unless Mercury brings in a mixt colour from the power of the sun, viz. from Mars half red, and from Jupiter bluish, and it is weak in the property, and of little use in physic, yet not hurtful: In the creature it gives a pleasant, courteous, humble life, with no deep reason [reach or capacity], but if Mars comes thereunto, the creature is small, or thin, of a white, weak, and effeminate nature.

5i. There are three special salts which may be used to cure, which belong to the vegetable life, viz. Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury; these are the working life, in which the sun is the right spirit which makes these salts operative.179 

52. The salt or power of Jupiter is of a pleasant good smell and taste from the inward original [of the property] of the liberty of the divine essence, and from the external [principle or original] of the property of the sun and Venus, but yet it is not alone of itself of sufficient power in nature; for the outward nature consists in fire and anguish, viz. in poison, and Jupiter's power180 is opposed to the fiery poison life, which makes a temperature in the poisonful nature, viz. a desire of meekness out of the enmity.

53. the salt of Mars is fiery, bitter, and austere, and the mercurial salt is anxious and raging, like a poison, inclined both to heat and cold; for it is the life in Sulphur, and unites [or assimilates] itself, according to each thing's property; for if it comes into Jupiter's salt, it causes joy and great power; but if it comes into Mars's salt, it makes bitter pangs, stitches, achings, and woe; but if it comes into Saturn's earthly salt, it makes swellings, anguish, and death, if it be not hindered by Jupiter and Venus: Venus and Jupiter are opposite to Mars and Mercury, that so they might temper them both; and without the power of Mars and Mercury there would be no life in Jupiter, Venus, and Sol, but only a stillness; "therefore the worst is as profitable as the best," and the one is the cause of the other.

54. But the physician is to heed and mind what he takes in hand, lest he inflame the mercurial poison more and more in his patient, or introduce it into another adverse source: He ought indeed to use the martial and mercurial salt for his cure, but he must first reconcile Mars and Mercury with Venus and Jupiter, that so both these angry adversaries may resign their will into Jupiter's will, so that Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury may all three obtain one will in the power, and then the cure is right, and the sun of life will again enkindle itself in this union and agreement, and also temper the nauseate of the disease in the contrariety in the salt of the disease, and turn Mercury's poison, and the bitter fire of Mars into a pleasant Jupiter.

55. This is now to be understood only concerning the vegetable soul, viz. concerning the outward man, which lives in the four elements, and concerning the sensible and feeling property.

56. Reason likewise is to be cured with its likeness; for as reason may be brought by words into a sensible sickness and disease, so that reason may vex, fret, and torment itself, and at last fall into an heavy sad sickness and death; so also it may be cured with the application of the same thing [with its own assimilate].

57. As for example: An honest man falls into great debts, care, trouble and distress, which does even afflict him nigh to death; but if a good friend comes and pays his debt for him, then is the cure soon effected with its likeness: Even thus it is in all things; from whence the disease is risen, even such a like cure is requisite for the restoring its health; and thus it is likewise in the mental soul.

58. The soul of the poor sinner is poisoned in the anger of God, and the Mercury (understand the eternal Mercury in the eternal nature) is inflamed in the soul's property in the fiery Mars of God's anger, which does now burn in the eternal Saturn, viz. in the horrible impression of darkness, and feels the sting of the poisonful angry Mars; his Venus is imprisoned in the house of misery, his water is dried up, his Jupiter of understanding is brought into the greatest folly, his sun is quenched, and his moon turned to dark night.

59. Now he cannot be cured and remedied any other way, but with the likeness; he must again appease the mental Mercury; he must take Venus, understand the love of God, and introduce it into his poisonful Mercury and Mars, and tincture the Mercury in the soul again with love, and then his sun will again shine in the soul, and his Jupiter will rejoice.

60. Now if thou sayest that thou canst not, and that thou art too strongly captivated; I say also, that I cannot; for it lies not in my willing, running, and toiling, but it lies in the compassion of God; for I cannot by my own strength and ability overcome the wrathful anger of God which is enkindled in me; but seeing his dear heart has freely given itself again out of love, and in love, into the humanity, viz. into the poisonful enkindled Mercury in the soul, and tinctured the soul, viz. the poison-source of the eternal nature in the eternal Father's nature's property; therefore I will cast my will into his tincture, and I will go with my will out of the enkindled poison-source, out of the evil Mercury in God's anger into his death, and with my corrupted will I will die with him in his death, and become a nothing in him, and then he must be my life.

61. For if my will is a nothing, then he is in me what he pleases, and then I know not myself any more, but him; and if he will that I shall be something, then let him effect it; but if he wills it not, then I am dead in him, and he lives in me as he pleases, and so then if I be a nothing, then I am at the end, in the essence out of which my father Adam was created; for out of nothing God has created all things.

62. The nothing is the highest good, for there is no *turba* therein, and so nothing can touch [or annoy] my soul; for I am a nothing to myself, but I am God's, who knows what I am; I know it not, neither shall [or ought] I to know it. 63. And thus is the cure of my soul's sickness; he that will adventure it with me shall find by experience what God will make of him: As for example; I here write, and I also do not do it; for I, as I, know nothing, and have also not learned or studied it; so then I do it not, but God does it in me as he pleases.

64. I am not known to myself, but I know to him what and how he pleases: Thus I live not to myself, but to him; and thus we are in Christ only one, as a tree in many boughs and branches, and he begets and brings forth the fruit in every branch as he pleases, and thus I have brought his life into mine, so that I am atoned with him in his love; for his will in Christ is entered into the humanity in me, and now my will in me enters into his humanity; and thus his living Mercury, that is, his word, viz. the speaking Mercury, tinctures my wrathful evil Mercury, and transforms it into his. And thus my Mars is become a love-fire of God, and his Mercury speaks through mine, as through his instrument, what he pleases; and thus my Jupiter lives in the divine joy, and I know it not; the true sun shines to me, and I see it not; for I live not to myself, I see not to myself, and I know not to myself: I am a thing, and I know not what; for God knows what I am; and so now I tend and run to and fro as a thing, in which the spirit drives [or actuates] me as he pleases; and thus I live according to my inward will, which yet is not mine.

65. But yet I find in me another life, which I am, not according to the resignation [or self-denial], but according to the creature of this world, viz. according to the similitude of eternity; this life does yet stand in poison and strife, and shall yet be turned to nothing, and then I am wholly perfect: Now in this same life, wherein yet I find my selfhood, is sin and death, and these likewise shall be brought to nothing: In that life, which God is in me, I hate181 sin and death; and according to that life which yet is in my selfhood, I hate the nothing, viz. the Deity: Thus one life fights against the other, and there is a continual contest in me; but seeing Christ is born again in me, and lives in my nothingness, therefore Christ will, according to his promise made in paradise, bruise the head of the serpent, viz. of my selfhood, and mortify the evil man in myself, so that he himself may truly live [in me].

66. But what shall Christ do with the evil man? Shall he cast him away? No. For he is in heaven, and does thereby accomplish and effect his wonders in this world, which stands in the curse: Now each labours in its own [vineyard]; the outward man labours in the cursed world, which is evil and good in the wonders of God, viz. in the mirror of glory, which yet shall be revealed in him; and the inward man is not its own, but God's instrument, with whom God makes what he pleases, till the outward with its wonders in the mirror shall also be manifest in God; and even then is God all in all, and he alone in his wisdom and deeds of wonder and nothing else besides; and this is the beginning and the end, eternity and time.

67. Now understand it right; to the outward man there belongs a cure from the outward, viz. from the outward will of God, who has made himself external with this visible world; and for the inward man there is a cure from the inward world, in which God is all in all; only one, not many, one in all, and all in one: But if the inward penetrates the outward, and illustrates it with its sunshine, and the outward receives the sunshine of the inward, then it is tinctured, cured, and healed by the inward, and the inward illustrates it, as the sun shines through the water, or as the fire sets the iron quite through of a light glee; here now needs no other cure.

68. But seeing the devil in the wrath of the eternal nature opposes the soul, as an enemy of the soul, and continually casts his poisonful imagination at the soul to tempt and try it, and the anger or wrath of the eternal nature is manifest in the outward man, which Adam awakened and stirred up; thereupon this wrath is oftentimes stirred up by the devil and his servants, that it effectually works and burns in the outward body, and even then the inward love-fire goes out in the outward man, as a red-hot iron is quenched in the water; yet not so soon in the internal, but in the external [man], unless the outward man continues lying in the mire182 of sin; so that the soul, which had given itself into the nothing, viz. into the liberty, into the life of God, does enter again with its desire into the outward sinful man, then it loses the inward sun; for it goes again out of the nothing into the something, viz. into the source.

69. Thus the outward body must then have an outward cure; and though the inward man yet lives in God, yet whereas the soul has imagined into the outward wrath, so that the divine tincturation is no longer in the outward man, the outward Mercury, viz. the expressed183 word, must have a tincturation from the outward expressed love and light, unless the will-spirit of the soul does wholly re-enter into the inward hidden man, and be again transmuted;184 and then the cure may be again introduced into the outward man, being the thorough-shining love of God in the light,185 which is exceeding precious.

70. But now this herb is rarely to be found upon the earth; for men eat only of the forbidden tree; therefore the poison of the serpent does so spring up in them in the wrath of the eternal and external nature, so that they must also have an external cure for their serpent's poison in the outward Mercury.

71. It is indeed possible for a man to live without sickness, but he must bring the divine tincturation from the inward man through the outward, which is very difficult [to do] in the world; for the outward man lives among the thorns of God's wrath, which gall and sting him on every side, and blow up the wrath of God, so that it burns in the outward man, and then the tincturation of God's love may not continue there: It is indeed inhere, but not in the outward enkindled abominations, but it dwells in itself, like as the light dwells in the darkness, and the darkness comprehends it not, also knows nothing of it; but when the light is manifest in the darkness, then is the night changed into day.

72. Thus it is likewise with man; of what light man lives, of that also comes his cure; if he lives in the outward world, then the outward goodness and love, viz. the outward Jupiter and Venus with the sun must be his cure, or he remains in the angry Mars, and in the poisonful Mercury, in the earthly moon captivated in the impression of Saturn, viz. in the earthly Sulphur; which however is made manifest, and awakened in the outward man by Adam, for whose sake the outward man must die, putrify, and so enter again into the nothing, viz. into the end, or as I might better say and signify it, into the beginning of the creation, into the essence, out of which it went and departed with Adam.
 
## Chapter 10. Of The Inward And Outward Cure Of Man

OF THE INWARD AND OUTWARD CURE OF MAN

1. Let the lover of God understand us right; we do not go upon an historical heathenish conjecture, nor only upon the light of the outward nature; both suns shine to us. Understand us right, and see how God has cured man when the poison of the serpent and devil held him imprisoned in death, and how he yet still cures the poor soul captivated in God's anger; the like process also must the physician keep in curing the outward body.

2. The divine light and love were extinguished in Adam, because he imagined into the serpent's property, viz. into evil and good, so that the poison of death began effectually to work in Mercury, and the source of anger was inflamed in the eternal Mars, and the dark impression of the eternal nature's property took possession of him: His body became earth in the dark impression in the poison of the enkindled Mercury, and was an enmity against God: he was utterly undone, and there was no remedy for him by any creature, neither in heaven, nor in this world; the wrathful death captivated him in soul and body.

3. Now how did God do to cure him and tincture him again? Did he take a strange thing thereunto? No, he took the likeness, and cured him with that which was corrupted in him, viz. with the divine Mercury, and with the divine Venus, and with the divine Jupiter; understand; in man was the expressed word, which I call the eternal Mercury in man; for it is the true ruling acting life; it was inspired or in-spoken into man's image (which God created out of his essence into an image according to God) as into a creaturely image, which was the soul with the property of all the three worlds, viz. with the world of light and understanding, which is God; and with the fire-world, which is the eternal nature of the Father of all beings; and with the light, love-world, which is heavenly corporality; for in the love-desire is the essence, viz. the corporality.

4. The desire of love is spirit, and is the heart of God, viz. the right divine understanding: In the love-essence Mercury is God's word, and in the fiery nature he is the wrath of God, the original of all mobility and enmity, also of strength and omnipotence; the fiery property makes the light, viz. the liberty, desirous; so that the nothing is a desire, and this desire is the love of God, which Adam extinguished in him: For he imagined after evil and good, that is, after earthliness; the earthliness came forth into a being both out of the wrath, and out of the love-being, and that through God's motion, that the wonders of the abyss and byss might be made manifest, that good and evil might be made known and manifest: And this Adam, being the image of God, should not do, for God had created him to his image: He should have tinctured the fire-world and outward world with the word of love, that so none of them should be manifest in him, like as the day holds the night swallowed up in itself.

5. But by false imagination he has awakened and manifested the dark and poisonful mercurial fire-world in him, so that his bodily essence of the dark impression is fallen to the evil part in the poisonful mercurial property, and the soul is become manifest in the eternal nature in the Father's fire-property, viz. in the poisonful hateful Mercury; according to which God calls him an "angry and zealous God," and "a consuming fire."

6. Now to help and restore this again, viz. the image of God, God must take the right cure, and even the same which man was in his innocence: But how did he effect it? Behold, O man, behold and see, open thy understanding; thou art called.

7. He introduced the holy Mercury in the flame, viz. in the fiery love with the desire of the divine essentiality, or after the divine essentiality again (which desire makes divine corporality in itself) into the expressed word, viz. into the mercurial fire-soul (understand, into the soul's essence in the womb of Mary), and became again that same image of God: He tinctured the poison, viz. the wrath of the Father of all essences, with the love-fire: He took only that same Mercury which he had breathed into Adam for an image, and formed into a creature: He took only that same property, yet not in the fire's property, but in the burning love: He did with the love introduce again the light of the eternal sun into the human property, that he might tincture the wrath of the enkindled Mercury in the human property, and inflame it with love, that the human Jupiter, viz. the divine understanding, might again appear and be manifest.

8. Ye physicians, if you here understand nothing, then you are captivated in the poison of the devil: Behold, I pray, the right cure, with which the enkindled Mercury in man's life is to be remedied; it must be a Mercury again, but first enkindled in Venus and Jupiter; it must have the sun's property, which it attains to by Jupiter and Venus: As God deals with us poor men, so must the outward poisonful sick Mercury be tinctured with such an external cure; not with the dark impression of Saturn, with cold (unless it be first sweetly appeased and qualified with Jupiter and Venus, that the sun does again shine in Saturn), but with meek love; this is his right physic, whereby the death is changed into life; yet this is only a common manual cure, which the vulgar may learn.

9. But it behoves the doctor, if he will be called a doctor, to study the whole process, how God has restored the universal in man; which is fully clear and manifest in the person of Christ, from his entrance into the humanity, even to his ascension, and sending of the Holy Ghost.

10. Let him follow this entire process, and then he may find the universal, provided he be born again of God; but the selfish pleasure, worldly glory, covetousness and pride lie in the way. Dear doctors, I must tell you, the coals are too black, you defile your white hands therewith; the true unfeigned self-denying humility before God and man does not relish with you; therefore you are blind: I do not tell you this, but the spirit of wonders in its manifestation.

11. But we will give direction to the desirous seeker, who would fain see if he knew the way fitly to attain his intent; for the time is at hand, where Moses is called from the sheep to be a shepherd of the Lord, which shall shortly be manifest, notwithstanding all the raging and raving of the devil: Let not the dear and worthy Christendom think, seeing now it seems as if she should go to wrack and ruin, that it is utterly undone; No: the Spirit of the Lord of hosts has out of his love planted a new branch in the human property, which shall root out the thorns of the devil, and make known his child Jesus to all nations, tongues and speeches, and that in the morning of the eternal day.

12. Dear brethren, behold, I pray, the right cure: What did God with us when we lay sick in death? Did he quite cast away the created image, understand the outward part, viz. the outward corrupt man, and make wholly another new man? No: He did it not: For though he introduced divine property into our humanity, yet he did not therefore cast away our humanity, but brought it into the way or process to the new-birth.

13. What did he? He suffered the outward humanity, viz. the outward water, understand the essentiality of Venus, which was shut up in the wrath of death, to be baptized with the water of the eternal essence, and with the Holy Ghost, that the incentive of the outward essentiality shut up in death might again glow, as a fire that falls into tinder: Afterwards he withdrew his outward food from the outward body, and brought it into the desert, and let it hunger, and then the spark enkindled from the fire of God must imagine into God,186 and eat manna of divine essentiality forty days, of which Israel was a type in the wilderness of Sinai with their manna: The essence of eternity must overcome the essence of time, therefore it is called a temptation of the devil; for the devil as a prince in the wrath of God did there tempt the outward humanity, and represented all that to it wherein Adam fell, and became disobedient to God.

14. There now it was tried whether the image of God would stand, seeing internally there was God's love-fire, and externally the baptism of the water of eternal life: Here the soul was tempted, whether it would be a king, and an angelical throne instead of the fallen angel, and possess the elected throne of God in the royal office, from which Lucifer was taken, and thrust into the darkness, viz. into the throne of poison and death; but seeing he stood (in that the soul did resign and submit its will alone into God's love-fire, and desired no earthly food, nor the earthly kingdom good and evil for outward dominion) the process to the universal, viz. to the restoration of all that which Adam had lost, did further proceed and go on: He turned water into wine.

15. Ye physicians, observe this, it concerns you in your process, you must also go the same way to work: He healed the sick; so you must likewise make the form in your poisonful Mercury whole and sound by the power of the philosophical baptism: He made the dead alive again, the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and cleansed the lepers; all this must go before, that all the forms in Mercury may be pure, sound, and living, which Mercury himself does make after the baptism and temptation; as the living speaking Mercury did this in the person of Christ; the artist cannot do it, only there must be faith; for Christ also testifies, that he could not do many wonders at Capernaum, only heal a few diseased; for the faith of those at Capernaum would not enter into the divine Mercury of Christ.

16. So that we see there, that the person of Christ, viz. the creature, could not work the wonders in its own power, but the Mercury, viz. the living, speaking word in him; for the person did cry and call into God, viz. into the speaking word, and set its desire thereinto; as we may see in the Mount of Olives where he prayed, that he sweat drops of blood; and by Lazarus, when he would raise him up, he said, "Father, hear me; but I know that thou always hearest me; yet because of those that stand by, I say it, that they may believe that thou workest by me."

17. Thus the artist must not arrogate anything to himself, the Mercury does itself, after the philosophical baptism, work these wonders before it manifests the universal; for all the seven forms of nature must be crystallised and purified, if the universal shall be revealed; and each form carries a peculiar process when it is to be brought out of the property of the wrath, and entered into the pure and clear life; and it must transmute itself into the crystalline sea which stands before the throne of the ancient in the Revelation, and change itself into paradise; for the universal is paradisical; and Christ also came for that reason into our humanity, that he might again open or make manifest the universal, viz. the paradise, again in man: The speaking word in Christ wrought wonders through all the seven properties or forms, through the expressed word in the humanity, before the whole universal was manifest in the body of the human property, and the body glorified.

18. Even thus it is in the philosophical work, when the Mercury shut up in death receives into it the baptism of its refreshment in love, then all the seven forms manifest themselves in this property, as it came to pass in the process of Christ in his miracles, but as yet they are not perfect in the operation of the manifestation of their properties.

19. The universal is not yet there, till all seven give their will into one, and forsake their property in the wrath, and depart from it with their will, and take into them the love's property: They must take in the will of the nothing, that their will be a nothing, and then it can subsist in the wrath of the fire, and there is no further turba therein; for so long as the desire of the wrath is in the form, it is adverse and opposite to the second form,187 and inflames the second form with its wrathful property, that is, it strikes the signature of the second, and awakens it in the wrath, and then the voice or sound of the second enkindles the first form's property in Mercury, and so no form can attain to any perfection, that it might enter into love.

20. Therefore the artist can effect nothing, unless he gives a meat to the forms, which they all desire, and love to eat, wherein there is no turba: Now the properties cannot eat, seeing their mouth is frozen up in the impression of Saturn; the artist must first open their mouth, and make them alive in their zeal, that all the forms may be hungry, and then if there be manna, they all eat together of it, and so the precious grain of mustard-seed is sown.

21. Now when Mercury does thus awake from the death of the impression of Saturn, and gets manna into the mouth of his property of the poisonful death's source, then arises the flagrat of the kingdom of joy, for it is as a light which is enkindled in the darkness, for the joy or love springs up in the midst of the anger: Now if Mercury apprehends the glimpse or aspect of the love in Mars, then the love dismays the wrath, and it is as a transmutation, but it is not fixed and steadfast; and as soon as this comes to pass, the angelical properties appear in view.

The Process in the Temptation

22. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, and the devil came to him, and tempted him. When the soul of Christ did hunger, the devil said to Jesus, Open the centre in the stones, that is, the impressed Mercury, and make thee bread, eat the substance of the soul's property: What, wilt thou eat of nothing, viz. of the speaking word? Eat of the expressed word, viz. of the property of good and evil, and then thou art lord in both; this also was Adam's bit, wherein he did eat death: Then said Christ Jesus, "Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth from the mouth of God."

23. Mark! Whence had the person of Christ the will, that he would not eat with the soul's hunger of the bread which could have been made of stones, which he could well have performed? Or how had it been, if the hunger of the human property had after the unction of baptism eaten in the temptation of the Mercury in the impression of death, viz. of the Sulphur of the expressed word, in which was the anger, and from whence the love was fled, as it is so in the earthly property?

24. Observe! The will and desire to eat of the speaking word came into the soul's property from the motion of the Deity: When the same had moved itself in the soulish essence, shut up in death in Mary his mother in her essence or seed, and introduced the aspect of the eye of God in the love into the dead soul's essence, and had manifested the love in death, then one divine property desired the other; and the desire of the bodily hunger to eat of God's bread or essence came from the baptism: When the water of the body, which in the impression of the substance was enclosed in death, did taste the water of eternal life in the Holy Spirit, viz. the Holy Spirit's corporality or essentiality in the baptism, then the incentive of the divine hunger of the ardent desire after God's essence did arise in the flesh, as a divine hunger, a glimmering or shining incentive of divine property.

25. Now the man Christ must hereupon be tempted in body and soul, of which he would eat; on one part the expressed word of love and anger was represented before body and soul, in which the devil would be lord and master, and rule therein omnipotently; and on the other part the speaking word in the love-property was only represented to the soul and body.

26. Here now began the combat which Adam should have undergone in paradise; for on one side God's love-desire, which had manifested itself in the soul, did eagerly attempt the soulish and bodily property, and introduced its desire into the soul's property, that the soul should eat of it, and give the body manna thereof; and on the other side the devil in God's wrathful property did assault in the soul's property, and brought his imagination into the property of the first principle, viz. into the centre of the dark world, which is the soul's fire-life.

27. Here was the contest about the image of God, whether it would live in God's love or anger, in the fire or light; for the property of the soul, as to its fire-life, was the Father's according to the fire-world; and seeing the soul in Adam had quenched the light-world, the light-world was again incorporated with the name Jesus, which came to pass in the conception of Mary.

28. Now it was here tried in the temptation of which property man would live; whether of the Father's in the fire, or of the Son's in the light of love: Here the whole property of Christ's person was tempted: The devil said, as he had also said to Adam, Eat of the evil and good: Hast thou not bread? Then make bread of stones: Why dost thou hunger so long in thy own property? Then said the divine desire, "Man liveth not of bread alone, but of every word of God."

29. Thus the property of the fiery soul resigned itself with its desire into the love, viz. into the speaking word's property, and the fiery desire did eat manna in the love-desire. O ye philosophers! observe it well; when this was done, the love transmuted the fiery property into its love-property; here the Father gave the fire-soul to the Son, understand the fiery property of the expressed Mercury to the speaking Mercury in the light; for Christ also said so afterwards, "Father, the men were thine, and thou hast given them me, and I give unto them eternal life."

30. Here God's love gave the eternal love-life to the corrupted humanity; the love did wholly give itself in unto the fire-wrath, and transmuted the wrath of the soul into a triumphant joyful love; but if the soul's and body's property had obeyed the devil in God's wrath, and made bread of the enclosed Mercury, and eaten thereof, then had the will entered again into its selfhood, and could not have been transmuted.

31. But seeing it entered into resignation, into the speaking word of God, and was willing to be and do whatever that pleased, then the will went from its selfhood, through the wrathful death of God's anger, viz. from the expressed word, which the devil had poisoned with his imagination, quite through the property of the wrath, and sprang forth afresh with a new love-desire in God; here the will was paradise, viz. a divine love budding in death.

32. Thus now the love-will being set in opposition to the poisonful Mercury of the soul's property in the anger of God, then came the devil, and said, Thou art the king, who hast overcome, come and shew thyself in thy miracles and deeds of wonder; and he brought him upon the pinnacle of the Temple, and said, "Fall down, that men may see it; for it is written, He hath given his angels charge over thee, that they should bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." Here the devil would fain that he should use again the fire's might, viz. the soul's selfhood in its own fiery property, and depart out of the resignation into an arrogation of self in its own fire-will, as he had done, and also Adam, when he went with the desire in his own might into evil and good, and would have his eyes open in evil and good, as Moses writes thereof, that the serpent did persuade them to it.

33. Here came the fine adorned beast again, and tempted the second Adam also; for God gave him leave, seeing he said the fire's matrix had drawn him, he could not stand: Here now that should be tried; for he was an angel also, as well as the human soul, which he had seduced: But the human property in body and soul in the person of Christ had once cast itself into the resignation out of its selfhood into God's mercy, and stood still in the resignation, viz. in the divine will, and would not cast himself down, or do anything but what God alone did by it, and said to the devil, "It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God;" which is as much as if he had said, A creature of God shall will nor do nothing but what God wills and does by it: There must be no other god besides the only one to rule and will, the creature must go and do as the will-spirit of God leads it; it must be God's instrument, with which he works, and does only what he pleases.

34. In this proof Adam did not stand; for he went from the resignation into an arrogation of self, into an own self-will, and would try evil and good, love and anger, and prove how evil and good tasted. Here, dear man, was the trying state before the tree of temptation in paradise, and that was fulfilled which the first Adam could not, and would not do in divine obedience in resignation.

35. When the devil saw that in this also he had no success, that the humanity would not give way to depart out of the resignation, out of God's will, he carried the humanity upon a high mountain, and shewed it all the riches of the world, all whatever does live and move in the expressed word, all the dominions and might in the outward nature, over which he calls himself a prince, but has only the one part in the wrath of death in possession, and said to it (understand to the human property), "If thou fallest down and worshippest me, I will give thee all this."

36. The humanity should again depart out of resignation into a desire of propriety, and desire to possess something of its own in arrogation of self in the cursed property, evil and good; this had been a dainty dish and delight to the devil; then had he remained king, and his lies had been truth: In this Adam also was corrupted, and entered into selfish propriety, and desired worldly dominion and covetousness (which may be seen in Cain), which is the heart of the poisonful Mercury, viz. its hunger's desire, which makes itself essence according to the property of its hunger, not manna, but earth; as we may see in the wild earth, what he has made in the enkindling, or motion of the Father in his fire's property, in which inflammation (viz. in the poisonful wrath of the expressed Mercury) the devil thought to be a prince, and is so in the same property in the wicked, and also in the government of the world in the wrath; but God holds him captive with the water and light of the third principle, so that he is not prince in the dominion of the expressed word, but the judge's executioner; he must look where *turba magna* is enkindled in the wrath, and there he is busy as far as *turba magna* goes in the wrath, further his courage is cooled.

37. He would give the humanity of Christ this whole dominion to rule in, and above all in the essence of all things, as a mighty god, which notwithstanding he only possesses in the part of the turba in the wrath of God, and has it not in his full dominion: He should but set his desire thereinto, and introduce his will into him, and he would bring his Mercury of the creature into the greatest omnipotence, that he should be a lord over good and evil, and have all things at command, to do therewith as he pleased, for so Adam had fooled it.

38. His Mercury went with the desire into the impression, whence cold and heat arise, and imagined thereinto, and so the property of the cold and hot fire did presently boil up in the Mercury of the creature; and so also the outward heat and cold did soon pierce into the enkindled Mercury of the human property, so that the body now suffers pain from the heat and cold, which property before (when it stood in the free-will of God in the resignation) was not manifest; and thus evil and good did rule and domineer in Adam.

39. For the centre of wrath, viz. the dark world's property, was manifest in him, in a poisonful death's property, as the Mercury in man is yet to this day so poisonful, and of a venomous source; whereas indeed he is changed in the vital188 light into a solar property, but yet the poison and property of death hangs to it, and it is his root; as we plainly see, that as soon as the ready instrument of his martial fiery property's signature or form is a little struck or played upon, that his evil poisonful fiery property comes forth, and shews itself, and inflames the body, that it even trembles and shakes for the very poison of wrath, and will ever enter into the enkindled poison-source in him who has awakened and enkindled the same, and assimilate in his malice with the malignant fomenter's malice, and wrestle in the poisonful property's right; and then must the body set to its strength as a servant, and accomplish the poison's will, and wrangle and contest with his adversary, and beat him, or be beaten by him; let it be either by hand-blows, or words; it is all in this property and desire of this poisonful Mercury.

40. From hence arises all war and contention, namely, from the dominion of God's anger in the corrupt and enkindled Mercury of the expressed word, which does so act its delight and sport in the poisonful wrath's and dark world's property in man.

41. Therefore the warrior is a servant of God's anger: He is the axe wherewith the angry husbandman cuts up his thorns and briars from off his ground: He is the chief worker and accomplisher of the wrathful anger of God: God's anger according to his fire's property will have it so, and not his love; and he that suffers himself to be made use of thereunto, he serves the anger of God according to the dark and fire-world's desire and property, which in the heavy fall of Adam has manifested itself in the human property, and brought man, viz. the angelical image, into an half-devilish vizard and likeness; in which property and image of his will in the expressed creaturely Mercury or vital word he cannot inherit God's kingdom, but must be born anew in his Mercury and will, with and in Christ, in God's love, viz. in the holy speaking Mercury and word of life, that a new obedient will wholly resigned into God's love may proceed from his creaturely Mercury, which neither wills or acts anything but what the will of the speaking divine Mercury wills, who in his selfhood, and selfish arrogation in his own will, is as dead, that he may be the instrument of the great God, whereby he should act, work, and do how and what he pleases: And then is God all in all in him, his will and deed, and he is a branch in the great tree which draws sap, power, and life from the tree of God, and grows and lives in him, and brings forth his fruit; then is the Mercury of the human life a procreated or expressed fruit, which grows upon the paradise-tree of God, and gives forth its note and sound, and strikes the signature in the speaking word of God, viz. God's harp and lute, in his praise, for which end man is created, not that he should necessarily play upon the instrument of anger and death according to the devil's will.

42. The devil has given himself to be such a lutanist who contrives and helps to act and drive on the play in the wrath, viz. in the darkness: He is the instrument and actor in the wrath of the eternal nature, which has its effects and achievements with him and in him,189 as its instrument: The like also must the wicked man do, as Saint Paul speaks thereof; "The holy man is unto God a sweet savour unto life, and the wicked a sweet savour unto death." All whatever does live and move must enter190 into the glory of God; one works in his love, the other in his anger: All is generated and created in the infinite being to the manifestation of the infinite great God; out of all the properties of evil and good, creatures were brought forth by the will of the speaking word; for the property of the darkness and the fire was as well in the speaking as the property of the light; and therefore there are evil and good creatures.

43. But the angels and men were spoken forth in the image of God's love; they ought not to speak and incline their will into the fire and dark world, and introduce their desire thereinto; also not at all will to be their own, but continue steadfast in the resignation in the speaking will of God, as a form of the speaking will, and bear no inclination to anything, but only to the *speaking; *in which figure they stand as an image or platform of the expressing, as a spoken word, wherewith the speaking word beholds itself in its own likeness, whereby it there manifests the eternal knowledge of the eternal mind, and sets the Spirit's will into a form,191 and plays therewith.

44. As a limner that pourtrays his own image, and does thereby behold what he is, and how his form and features are; or as a musician composes a curious lesson or song, and so plays and melodises with his life, and will of life, viz. with the sound of his own life's Mercury, in the tune of the song, or upon some musical instrument, as it is agreeable to his life's Mercury, wherewith his vital Mercury does rejoice and delight itself.

45. Thus likewise God created us to his love-consort192 to his joy and glory, whereby he exalts his speaking eternal word, or plays in the same with us as with his instrument.

46. Therefore, when this melodious instrument was broken in its sound by the wrathful might of his anger, that is, when man's image would play in its own might both in evil and good, in love and anger, viz. in its own self-will, and would not yield itself to be used to what the speaking word had created it, and departed out of resignation into an arrogation of self, and would play as itself pleased, now good, then bad, then this instrument was against the love of God, in which no voice, breath, or smallest degree of anger is manifest or can be, as in the light of the fire no pain of the fire is manifest.

47. For the will of the human Mercury went out from the will of the divine speaking word into its own self-will: Thus it fell into the centre of the pregnatress of all essences, viz. into the anguish, poison, and death, where God's anger, viz. the speaking in the wrath, took possession of it.

Here now was our distress, we were forlorn,  
Opprest in wrathful death, and woeful scorn;  
If God had not restored us again,  
We should have still been rowling in death's plain.

48. Thus, dear reader, it is clearly set before you wherein Christ was tempted; namely, whether the soul, and the whole man, viz. the image of the speaking word (after that God had introduced the spark of his love again into the human property, and freely given itself again with the love into it), would now again enter into its first place, and be God's melodious instrument in his love, or not; or whether it would be a selfish arrogator in its own will, and do what its own speaking would bring forth in the enkindled Mercury of its life; whether it would suffer God's will to strike the signature upon its instrument, or the anger of God to strike it, as before came to pass [viz. in the first Adam].

49. Here it was tried: Therefore said the devil, viz. the organist in God's anger, to Christ, that he should fall down and worship him, and then he would give him all dominion, power, and glory; he should and might do what he pleased, he should live and delight in his own self-will; he should only give the devil his will, and forego resignation, and depart out of God's mercy and love-will: And if this had come to pass, then had the fair instrument been once again broken, and the human melody in God's love and deeds of wonder had ended; but Christ said, "Get thee hence, Satan: It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and serve him only. Then the devil left him, and the angels came and ministered unto him."

The Magical Process

50. Herein (as it is already mentioned at large) the magus must well consider his purpose and intent; not desiring with the covetousness of the devil to possess the earthly kingdom, also not to fly [or cast himself down] from the Temple, much less to work out his intent from the stones; he must think that he is God's minister and servant, not a selfish lord, of whom becomes a fool: If he will help the poor captive shut up in the anger of God out of the bands of darkness, wherein he is swallowed up in the curse of the earth, and deliver him from the anger of God, then he must think and well observe how God with his entrance [viz. into the humanity] hath redeemed him; he must very exactly and intimately consider the temptation of Christ, not blindly grope after it with outward manual art, and think with himself, I have a dead stone before me; it neither knows or feels anything, I must by force set upon it, that I may compel it, and take its jewel, which it has hidden in it.

51. He that does so is a fool, and goes on in his own self-will, and is altogether unfit for the work; let him not meddle with it; we desire faithfully to admonish him, that if he will seek aright, then let him consider the process of Christ, how God has again regenerated the universal shut up in death in the human property.

52. For God did not take man as he lay closed up in death, and cast him into a furnace, and melted him in the wrath, as the false magus does; but he gave his love first into his human essence, and baptized the humanity; afterwards he brought him into the wilderness, and set the devil opposite to him, not into him; he let him first fast and hunger forty days, and gave no outward food to the humanity: He must eat of his life's Mercury, that God might see whether the humanity would bring its desire into God; and when the humanity introduced its desire into the Deity, and received the manna, then he let the devil set upon the humanity, who introduced all his subtlety and desires into the humanity, and tempted him: Dost thou not understand anything here? What shall I say more to thee? If thou art a beast, then I give thee not my pearl; it belongs to God's children.

53. God must become man, man must become God; heaven must become one thing with the earth, the earth must be turned to heaven: If you will make heaven out of the earth, then give the earth the heaven's food, that the earth may obtain the will of heaven, that the will of the wrathful Mercury may give itself in unto the will of the heavenly Mercury.

54. But what wilt thou do? Wilt thou introduce the poisonful Mercury (which has only a death's will in itself) into the temptation, as the false magus does? Will you send one devil to another, and make an angel of him? In deed and in truth I must needs laugh at such folly: If thou wilt keep a corrupt black devil, how dost thou think to turn the earth by the devil to heaven? Is not God the creator of all beings? Thou must eat of God's bread, if thou wilt transmute193 thy body out of the earthly property into the heavenly.

55. Christ said, "He that eateth not the flesh of the Son of Man hath no part in him: "And he says further, "He that shall drink of the water that I shall give, it shall spring up in him to a fountain of eternal life." Here lies the pearl of the new-birth: It is not enough to play the sophister; the grain of wheat brings forth no fruit, unless it falls into the earth; all whatever will bring forth fruit must enter into its mother from whence it came first to be.

56. The mother of all beings is Sulphur, Mercury is her life, Mars her sense, Venus her love, Jupiter her understanding, Luna her corporeal essence, Saturn her husband: You must reconcile or lovingly betroth the man with the woman; for the man is angry, yet give him his dear spouse into his arms; but see that the spouse be a virgin, wholly chaste and pure; for "the woman's seed shall break the serpent's head," viz. the man's anger: The virgin must be in real love, without any falsehood or unfaithfulness, a virgin which never touched any man in anger according to his manhood; for the pure Deity does so espouse itself in clear love with the humanity, even as Mary said, "Be it unto me as thou hast spoken, for I am the Lord's handmaid;" and so the humanity assumed the Deity, and also the Deity the humanity.

57. The chaste virgin signifies in the philosophic work the clear Deity, the humanity is Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, both heavenly and earthly; the heavenly property is disappeared, and as a nothing; the deadly property in the wrath is stirred up, and lives to the anger, and in the properties of the anger; the humanity, both in Adam and in Christ, was tempted. Dost thou ask, wherewith? With the like opposite in the wrath, even with such a devil as had all these properties in him, as a potent prince [in all the properties of the anger].

58. The properties in Sulphur were tempted with the likeness of the Sulphur; in the Sulphur, or from the sulphureous property, the temptation did come and arise, and its forms are194 three, as one in the impression, which the philosophers call Saturn, which the human spirit or will should open in the property of Venus, and therewith satiate or feed its hunger, viz. the fire; the other property was, that he should live in his own awakened and opened Venus out of Saturn's property, and aspire in self-will.

59. The third property was, he should introduce his will through the awakened love-desire again into the centre, viz. into the sulphurean mother, which arises in the impression in the anguish: And this he would not do, but the first Adam did it; and therefore God when he would help him tempted him in the Sulphur, viz. in the first mother to the humanity, and suffered a wrathful devil, which was enkindled in the Sulphur, to tempt him with his enkindled malignity and malice in the Sulphur: Dost thou not understand this? What then shall I say more to thee?

60. Sulphur is the womb whereinto we must enter, if we would be new born. Nicodemus said well; "How can one being old enter into his mother's womb, and be born again?" But Christ said, "Except you be converted, and become as children, you cannot see the kingdom of heaven." The self-will must enter again into the first mother which brought it forth, viz. into the Sulphur, by the will understand Mercury.

6i. But now who will persuade it to do so? For it is become a selfish thing, and must enter again into the mother, and become nothing; this seemed a strange and wonderful thing to Nicodemus, but the Lord said to him, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but thou knowest not from whence it cometh, or whither it goeth; even so is every one that is born of God." Behold, who persuaded the will of Christ in his humanity, to enter again with the will into the filiation or adoption, as it were in the mother's womb, and eat nothing forty days, and would also [eat] nothing, but remained in full steadfast resignation in the mother? Did not the Deity do it, which was entered into the humanity?

62. Thus likewise it goes in the philosophic work, therefore let the artist well observe, and rightly understand us: He must seek the evil stubborn child (which is fled from the mother, and entered into the centre, and would be a selfish thing) in Saturn; for the wrath of God has shut him up with its impression in the chamber of death.

63. Not that he has made him to Saturn, but he holds him shut up in the saturnine death; the same he must again take and bring into the mother's womb, and then send the angel with a message to Mary, and tell her, "She shall bring forth a son, whose name shall be called Jesus: "And if the mother shall yield her consent thereunto, and receive the name Jesus, then the new humanity shall begin in the mother, with the new child in the old apostate captivated in the anger of God, and the name Jesus will first give in itself to the dead child which lay captivated in Saturn, and eagerly draw the will of the evil dead child to itself: This is the fair bride, which shews her crown of pearl to her apostate bridegroom; he should but again receive her, and she would again give him her love. Now if the apostate youth shut up in death does again receive her, then is the artist well prepared, and counted worthy by God to finish his purpose: Now will the bride love the bridegroom, and a virgin bring forth a son, at which all the world will wonder; the virgin shall embrace the man; but he is a man, and not a woman, and has the virgin's heart.

64. Now he must be tempted, whether or no he will live in virgin-like chastity, and in full resignation of his will to God, for he must be a valiant champion, and destroy the devil's fortress195 of prey (which he has in his mother) in seven kingdoms; then let the devil set his mother's house on fire with his wrath, and tempt him, he will now well enough defend himself with Christ against the devil.

65. This being done, the young man with his virgin-like heart will wholly give himself up to the mother, when the tempter comes and assaults him, and the mother will wholly swallow him up into herself through the devil's wrath: He gives himself forth wholly out of his own will into the nothing. Now, thinks the artist with himself, I have lost all; for he thinks that he has lost heaven; for he seeks nothing, and does not consider that a virgin has now brought forth: But let him have patience; that which is impossible to the artist, that is possible to nature; after the night it is day; when the tempter has finished all his temptations, then comes the sign [or appearance] of the angels; then the devil which has tempted him must depart.

66. Let the artist well observe this, and pack away the devil, and suffer the young man with his virgin-like heart to lie in his bed, and eat his former food, for he is now become a physician of his sisters196 in his mother's house; he will do great wonders in all the seven kingdoms of his mother (which are the seven forms of life) as Christ has done.

67. In Saturn he will raise the dead, understand, he will awaken the dead essence which held him captive in his former prison; for he shall turn [or make] the earth to heaven: Even as the virgin has raised up his will out of the anger in the love, and made him a wonder-worker; so must he also awaken with his will, which is united to the virgin's heart, the form or signature in his mother's womb, whence she has brought forth him and all her children, and enkindle it with the virgin's and his love-desire: This is effected and done in the Sulphur of Saturn in the young man's own personal197 property, and in his mother; for before the espousing of the virgin the heavenly essence of the young man lies shut up in death: For when God cursed the earth, then the heavenly paradisical body disappeared, and the impression of Saturn took it in possession, till the restitution, where God shall restore that which is hidden, that paradise does again spring forth afresh in the expressed word, or that the artist does open the same in a part198 by God's permission.

68. In the second kingdom of the mother, viz. in Luna, he shall also do wonders; for Jesus fed with five barley loaves five thousand people; this is the working in the essentiality or corporality. He turned water to wine: These and the like do all belong to the lunar property, where the champion with his virgin opens paradise, and feeds the body, where nothing is, where the outward Mercury has not laboured and wrought: Thus the forms199 in the lunar property open themselves as if they are paradisical, even then the artist thinks I am nigh unto it; but he is yet far off from the end.

69. In the third kingdom of the mother, viz. in Jupiter, Christ did make the babes and ignorant, of a very weak and mean capacity, knowing and understanding, viz. of poor fishermen, carpenters, and the like mechanics, he made apostles, and the most understanding men of all; and also of poor, disrespected, vilified people, as of women, and simple ones, he made faithful, devout, dear, godly children, who apprehended in themselves the universal without any art.

70. Thus likewise it goes in the philosophic work; the essentiality which lies disappeared in death, where the Mercury is wholly earthly, cold, and impotent, does now arise in power, as if the whole being and essence were become a new life, at which the artist wonders, and marvels what it is, or how it happens, and yet does also exceedingly rejoice that he sees the divine power to spring forth before his eyes in a half dead essence, and that in the curse of God: He sees all the four elements, each apart, and sees how the wisdom of God represents200 itself therein, as an harmony of joy, and sees all colours, and the rainbow upon which Christ sits in judgment in the expressed Mercury.

71. The nature of this splendour arises out of the impression of Saturn; the good Jupiter gives himself forth to be seen in such a manner, as God will change the world, and transform it again into paradise; for this is the understanding in the expressed word, even as Christ has made the foolish, rude, ignorant people truly wise and knowing in divine, real, heavenly jovial understanding and knowledge.

72. In the fourth kingdom of the mother of all beings, which is the mercurial in the wheel201 of the nature of life, Christ made "the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, and cleansed the lepers" from the poison of Mercury: All apoplexies, the French or poisonful pox and sores arise from the saturnine water in Mercury, which [water] is called *phlegma*, all which Christ healed in the form or signature of the young man and virgin; for the eternal virginity had espoused itself with the young man, viz. with the humanity.

73. This comes to pass also in the philosophic work: The artist will see how the heaven separates itself from the earth, and how the heaven does again sink into the earth, and changes the earth into a heavenly colour; he will see how Mercury purifies the matter, and how the purified colours will appear in antimony in their property, and how the wonder proceeds.

74. In the fifth kingdom of the mother of all beings, Christ expelled the devils out of the possessed, and healed the deaf in this form and property.

75. This likewise the artist will see in the philosophic work, how Jupiter in Mercury will drive up a black twinkling fiery vapour out of the matter, which sticks on like soot; for it is a hunger of the poison in Mercury, and is very rightly compared to the devil, for it is of his property.

76. In the sixth kingdom of the mother of all beings, viz. in the wheel of life, called Venus, Christ loved his brethren and sisters according to the humanity, and washed his disciples' feet, and loved them even to the deepest exinanition, and gave his life into the wrath's property even to death for them, and manifested himself among them that he was Christ: And when they perceived that the king was come that should deprive self-will of its might and dominion, and destroy the devil's kingdom; then they cried out, and said, "We have no king but Cæsar;" they took him in the dark night into their power, bound him, and brought him before their council,202 mocked him, whipped him, and beat him, stripped him of clothes, and hung him on the cross.

77. This also the artist will see very powerfully in the philosophic work; for as soon as the dark fiery stream, viz. the material devil goes from the matter, then virgin Venus appears in her virginity very glorious and beautiful; for it betokens Christ's love, who did so humble himself, and manifested his love in our humanity; then the artist thinks that he has the philosophic child, then he has now the fine morsel: But he dances with the Jews, who thought, when they had taken Christ, Now we have him, we will keep him well enough. Thus he also thinks, it is finished, and receives the child; and when he beholds it in the trial, then he has Venus, a woman, and not the virgin with the tincture of the fire and light, and is deceived by the woman.203 

78. Now observe right, What do the properties, viz. Saturn, Mars, and Mercury, when they see the child, viz. the champion in royal colour, and find that he manages no external dominion and royalty with power and authority as they do, but will only rule with love in their poisonful fire-might? They will not suffer him.

79. For Saturn signifies the worldly dominion, and Mercury the spiritual dominion, viz. the Pharisees,204 and Mars signifies the devil; these three would not endure Christ among them; for he said that he was a king of love, and the Son of God, and was come to deliver his people from sin: Then thought the devil, sure this rhimes not well, thou wilt lose thy kingdom: And the worldly magistrate thought, Is this a king, and God's Son? Then he will take away our might; this does not at all like us: And the mercurial priests thought; This man is too mean for us, we will have a Messiah who may bring us to worldly dominion, and make us to be high and rich in the world, that we may alone possess the honour of the world; we will not receive him, he is too poor for us; we might so lose the favour and respect of the worldly magistrate, and should be much damaged; we will rather abide in our power, respect, and authority, and abandon this beggarly king with his love-kingdom: In like manner as yet to this day they are so minded, and serve his messengers so whom he sends.

80. Thus likewise it goes in the philosophic work, when Venus manifests herself with love, viz. in her own property in the three wrathful forms, viz. in Saturn, Mars, and Mercury; they can by no means endure it, for it is wholly against their austere, dark, fiery might, but especially against the poison of Mercury, they flash and lighten against Venus, and shoot their rays, viz. the mercurial poisonful rays upon her, as the Pharisees did upon Christ. In the meanwhile, Jupiter and Luna hold with Venus, and give their power to Venus; for Venus does here stand forth in the power of Jupiter; at this the Pharisees laugh, and think with themselves, We are wise enough already, what need we knowledge and understanding? We will have might and honour; and Luna signifies the multitude of laymen who stuck to Christ, while it went well with him; so does Luna in the philosophic work to Venus in her lustre, so long as Saturn, Mercury, and Mars do not meddle with and assault her; but when the power of wrath comes, then Luna changes her will, viz. the colour, and looks, arises, and cries also with the rest the crucifige: This the artist will see, if he be chosen and accounted worthy of God for the work.
 
## Chapter 11. Of The Process Of Christ In His Suffering, Death, And Resurrection: Of The Wonder Of The Sixth Kingdom...

OF THE PROCESS OF CHRIST IN HIS SUFFERING, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION: OF THE WONDER OF THE SIXTH KINGDOM IN THE MOTHER OF ALL BEINGS: HOW THE "CONSUMMATUM EST" WAS FINISHED, AND HOW LIKEWISE IT IS SYMBOLICALLY ACCOMPLISHED IN THE PHILOSOPHIC WORK

1. This now is thus to be considered; We are to know, that the essence of this world, together with man, consists in two properties, viz. in fire and light, that is, in love and anger: Now the fire is twofold, and the light is also twofold, viz. a cold fire from the impression, and an hot fire from the power of Mercury in Sulphur; and so likewise there is a cold light from the cold fire, and a warming light from the hot fire; the cold light is false, and the hot light is good; not that it is false in its property, only in the impression, in the cold Sulphur; in the sharpness of the wrath it turns to a false desire, viz. to a false love, which is contrary to the meekness; for its desire is Saturn and Mars.

2. It puts forth its sun (understand its lustre of life) in Mars, and the warming light (which also receives its fiery sharpness in the impression in Sulphur from Mars) brings its desire again into the liberty, viz. through the dying in the fire, through the anguish: It wholly and freely gives itself forth in the dying of the fire,205 and forsakes the property of the wrath.

3. And so it becomes a general joy, and not its own only, even like the sun that gives forth its shining lustre universally: The sunshine is neither hot nor cold; only Mercury in the spirit of the great world makes in Mars and Saturn's property a heat therein; for the sun enkindles their desire, upon which they grow so very hungry, eager, desirous, and operative, that even a fire is found to be in the light, which heat is not of the light's own property, but of the soul of the great world, which does so sharpen the pleasant light in its splendor, that it is unsufferable to the eye.

4. And we are highly to consider and know, that if another fire-desire, which is not like to the outward life in Mercury, would rule in the austere wrath of the outward nature, that then it would be an enmity contrary to the austere, cold, bitter, and fiery dominion and life, and that they would exalt [or exasperate] their wrath, eagerly desiring to be rid of it: Even as it so came to pass when the divine love-desire did manifest itself with its great meekness to the false, cold, proud, and austere fire-desire of the Saturnalians, Martialists, and especially of the false Mercurialites: It was a great opposition and enmity to them, that love should rule in the death of poison, and dwell therein, this they could not, nor would not endure; for heaven was come into hell, and would overcome the hell with love, and take away its might; as it is to be seen in the person of Christ; he loved them, and did them all manner of good, and healed their plagues [or diseases], but in that he was not arisen from their wrathful might, and that he said he was descended from above, and was God's Son; this was unsavoury to the cold, hot fire's might, that he should rule with love over them.

5. Even thus it goes in the philosophic work; when the wrathful forms of the earthliness, viz. the outward Saturn, Mars, and Mercury, see the heavenly champion with the virgin's property among them, and perceive that he has far another desire than they, then they are angry in themselves; for the love-desire, when it casts a glimpse on the fire-flagrat, awakes their fire-flagrat, and then the wrath proceeds forth from the anxiety into love; from whence arises a death's flagrat in the love; but seeing there can be no death therein, the love condescends in the fire-flagrat, and gives forth [or diffuses] itself into their desire, and leaves its essence; so that in their desire they reach after its property in the death's flagrat; this is a poison to death, and a pestilence to hell; and in this property206 death was deprived of its power in the humanity; for Christ, when he shed his heavenly blood in the flagrat of death, and left it in death, the wrath of God was driven to retain the heavenly love-essence in itself: Even there the fire-desire in the enkindled humanity was changed into a love-desire, and out of the anguish of death proceeded207 a joy and strength of divine power.

6. But I will hereby give the well-wisher fundamentally to understand how it went with Christ, and how in like manner it goes with his philosophic work; both have wholly one process. Christ overcame the wrath of death in the human property, and changed the anger of the Father into love in the human property; the philosopher likewise has even such a will, he wills to turn the wrathful earth to heaven, and change the poisonful Mercury into love; therefore observe us here right; we will not write here parabolically, but wholly clear as the sunshine.

7. God would change the humanity (after it was become earthly, and had awakened the poisonful Mercury in the love-property, which [poisonful Mercury] had devoured the love, and changed it into itself) again into the divine heavenly property, and make heaven of the human earth, of the four elements only one in *one* desire, and change the wrath of God in the human property into love.

8. Now his anger was a might of the fire and wrath, and was inflamed in man, and therefore there must be right earnestness to withstand the same, and change it again into love: The love must enter into the anger, and wholly give itself in unto the wrath; it would not be enough that God should remain in heaven, and only look upon the humanity with love; it could not be, that the anger and wrath should thereby yield up its might and strength, and freely give itself unto the love: As the fire is not made better by the light, it still holds its wrath notwithstanding in itself; but when a meek essence (as water) comes into the fire, then the fire goes out.

9. Even so heavenly divine essentiality (understand heavenly water, which the tincture of the fire and light changes into blood) must enter into the wrathful fire of God, and become the fire's food, so that the fire of God might burn from another essence; for water could not have done it; the fire does not burn in the water, but the meek oleous property of the fire and light in the essence of divine meekness in the love-desire, that did effect it.

10. The human fire-life consists in the blood, and therein rules the wrath of God; now another blood, which was born out of God's love-essence, must enter into the angry human blood; they must go both together into the death of the wrath, and the wrath of God must be drowned in the divine blood, and therefore the outward humanity in Christ must die, that it might not any more live in the wrath's property, but that the heavenly blood's Mercury, viz. the speaking word, might alone live in the outward humanity, and solely rule in peculiar divine power in the outward and inward humanity; that the self might cease in the humanity, and God's Spirit might be all in all, and the self only his instrument, whereby he makes what he pleases; that (I say) the self-hood might be solely God's instrument, and wholly in resignation; for God has not created man to be his own lord, but his servant: He will have angels under obedience, and not devils in their own fire-might.

11. Now when his love would give itself into death, and deprive death of its might, then the two worlds, viz. the Father's fire-world, with the outward visible world, and also the divine love-world with the divine heavenly essentiality, that is, with heavenly flesh and blood, and also with corrupted flesh and blood, were formed into one person. God became man, and made man to God: The seed of the woman, viz. of the heavenly virginity, which disappeared in Adam, and also the corrupted man's seed in the anger, viz. Mary's seed, were formed into one person, which was Christ; and the seed of the woman, viz. of the virgin of God, understand the heavenly essentiality, should bruise the head of the serpent, understand, the wrath of God in the corrupted man; the head is the might of God's anger; the divine man, understand the divine property, should change the earthly into itself, and turn the earth to heaven.

12. Now when the person was born, heaven stood in the earth of man. Now the incarnation could not have done it alone, there must be yet after this another earnestness; for as long as Christ walked on the earth, the humanity which was from Mary's property was not almighty, but the humanity from God [was omnipotent], they were set opposite one against the other in two principles, yet not shut up, but both manifest in each other, the love against the anger, and the anger against the love.

13. Here now was the trial of the combat one with another, from whence also proceeded the temptation of Christ; and when the divine world overcame, then the great wonders broke forth through the outward human world; but all this could not accomplish it, there must yet be a greater earnestness, the human property, viz. the expressed word, was yet stirring in the inflameable anger: The human Sulphur must be changed into the heavenly, viz. into the heavenly part; and thereupon the human self, viz. the expressed Mercury was astonished, when upon the Mount of Olives the heavenly world in the love wrestles with the anger in the human world, viz. with the self-hood, so that the person of Christ did sweat bloody sweat; even there the one was dismayed at the other, the love at the horrible death, whereinto it should and must wholly yield and give in itself with the divine essentiality, and be swallowed up by the anger; and the anger [was dismayed] at its death, in that it must lose its might in the love.

14. Hence the whole person of Christ said, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I will, but thy will be done." The love-world in Christ said, "Can it not be but that I must drink down the cup of thy anger? Then thy will be done." And the anger said, "If it be possible, let this cup of love pass from me," that I may revenge myself, and rage in the wrath of man for the sake of his disobedience; as God said to Moses, who stood in the spirit of Christ as a type of Christ before God, "Let me alone that I may devour this disobedient people:" But the name Jesus, which had incorporated itself in paradise with the promise of the woman's seed in the aim of the human and divine covenant, would not suffer him; for the humility of the name Jesus has always interposed against the wrath of the Father, against his fire's property, that his fire might not enkindle the half-poisonful Mercury in man, except only sometimes when Israel walked wholly in the wrath and disobedience; as is to be seen by Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, and by Elias.

15. So it was here on the Mount of Olives, the anger would live in the fire's might in man, and the name Jesus put itself into the anger; and here there was no other remedy, but that the name Jesus in divine love and heavenly essentiality must wholly resign up itself to be devoured by the anger: The Son must be, and was obedient to the angry Father, even to "the death of the cross;" as the Scripture says.

16. The dear love-humility and meekness suffered itself to be "scorned, mocked, spit upon," and judged by the anger; that is, the Jews must execute the justice of God; for by man's self-action sin was committed, and by man's self-action death and sin must be blotted out. Adam had introduced his will into the poison of the outward Mercury; so must Christ, viz. the love, freely give up its will also into the same poisonful Mercury. Adam did eat of the evil tree, Christ must eat of God's anger; and as it went inwardly in the spirit, so likewise outwardly in the flesh; and so also it goes in the philosophic work.

17. Mercury in the philosophic work denotes the Pharisees, he will not endure the love-child: When he sees it, he gives it trembling and anguish, and Venus also stands dismayed at the poison of the angry Mercury; they are in one another as if sweat did drop from them, as the artist shall see.

18. Mars says, I am the lord of fire in the body, Saturn is my strength, and Mercury is my life, I will have none of this love, I will devour it in my wrath; this denotes the devil in the anger of God; and seeing he cannot do it, he raises up Saturn, viz. the impression, which signifies the worldly magistracy, and reaches therewith after Venus, and yet cannot get her into him, for she is to him a poison to death: This Mercury also can much less endure, for the love took away his dominion; as the high priests thought that Christ would take away their government, because he said that he was God's Son.

19. Thus Mercury is vexed at the child Venus, for Venus has wholly discovered herself, and freely given up herself; they may do now what they please, she will go even into the dragon's mouth, he shall only but open his jaws; and this Mars in Mercury does not understand, but they take the fair child, and shoot their venomous darts against it, and bind it with Saturn's might in their wicked bands, as the artist will sec how they surround the colour of Venus.

20. Mars brings it first to Mercury, seeing he is the life, as before the high priest, who must examine and prove the fair child; but he hates it, he cannot reach into the heart after its love-will, he only judges it externally, because it is not of his property, that it stands forth with such a form as the Mercury himself, and yet has another power, virtue and will.

21. But seeing there is another Mercury which lives in its love in the child Venus, therefore he cannot kill it, but brings it to Saturn, as the Jews brought Christ from Caiaphas to Pilate, who signifies Saturn, who also takes the child: But seeing he is a lord of the impression, viz. of the darkness, therefore he cares not at all for the property of the child, but for the dominion only; he seizes on the child with the dark impression, and strips it of its fair Venus garment; and when Luna with the white splendour of the sun sees this, then she hides herself; as the disciples of Christ fled, and the enraged [rude] multitude also, who did highly presume to stand by him in the cross and persecution, but in the earnestness208 they fly; for Luna is inconstant, she has not Sol's heart in the love-flame; and Saturn with his thorny impression puts the Sulphur upon the child, viz. the mother of all beings with the purple-coloured raiment of her own peculiar property, in which the wrath of Mars is contained and harboured.

22. When Mars, viz. the devil's crew, and Mercury also, viz. the self-pride of life, see that Venus has her royal garment on, understand the purple robe of Saturn and Mercury in Sol's colour mingled with fiery Mars, and adorned in Mercury's sulphur-colour in the open blaze as a shining lustre, for so is the materia according to the colour of the venereal property, which the artist must well observe, he then will clearly see as it is mentioned.

23. When Mars, Mercury, and Luna also see this, then they cry *Crucifige*, away with him, he is a false king in our garment; he is a man as we are, and will be God, that is, they cast their poisonful desire through the purple garment upon the child, and so the artist will see that the child will appear in his own form, as if it were full of streaks from the poisonful rays of Mercury and Mars, which they lay upon the child through the impression of Saturn; as Pilate whipped Jesus: The artist will see the prickly crown of thorns standing very sharp with its point upon the property of the child; also he will see that Venus does not at all move herself, but stands still, and suffers herself to be so done unto.

24. Further we are to understand, how that Adam had taken on him a cold false love, and therewith so shewed himself before God as if he were in peculiar dominion and will, and moreover God's child, whereas he did but mock God therewith; for so the love-desire appears when it is captivated in the impression of death.

25. Thus must the second Adam Christ take all this upon him, and enter into the same ignominy and scorn, and be clothed with a purple garment as a king of this world, and be mocked therein; for Adam had put on the purple garment of the outward world's self-might in the splendour of the property of self; and here it was made open shew of before the anger of God: And the white garment which Herod put upon Christ to mock him in signifies, and is the cold false love as a cloak of falsehood, wherein man pranks up as if he were an angel, and so puts upon himself Christ's purple mantle with his white robe, and covers himself with Christ's pure snow-white garment, viz. with his suffering and death, and yet holds and harbours the man of falsehood, viz. the false love under a vail.

26. Now Christ must set forth this figure, and it was represented on his body; for he should overcome and stay the man of falsehood which lay in the human property, and so it was fully presented before God. Christ must be termed and reviled for such an one as Adam was; the innocent must take the blame upon him.

27. And thus it goes in the philosophic work, when the curse of God's anger which is in the earth is to be changed into love; for seeing Mercury sets the child of love before Saturn, and Saturn cannot, and may not try it, therefore he puts upon it the purple-coloured garment with stripes underneath, and sends it before Sol's splendor, which glimmers in Mars, and the sun puts upon it its white colour, viz. the lunar, and then the purple colour vanishes, and the child stands in the lunar white simple colour, very despicable without lustre: The sun would fain see this child shew forth its golden colour, for it perceives there is a solar virtue in the child, therefore it gives it the white colour from the property of the eternal liberty; the child should but give the power of the fire's centre thereunto, viz. the divine might, and then it would be like the sun, and would be a lord over the Sulphur of Mars and Mercury, yet only a lord over the outward world's essence, a governor in the wrath, as Sol is the like.

28. But Christ said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world," and would not answer Herod anything in this white raiment when he put it on him, nor in the purple robe; for the purple robe and the white raiment also were both false, and were put upon him to disgrace and mock him, because Adam had put them on, and proudly pranked up therein with falsehood; Christ might not do any sign therein before Herod, though he desired it. Hereby the shame of man, who was an image of God, and yet had made himself a false king, was represented before God's face; as the poor sinner confesses, and sets forth his abominations before God, when he sets upon abstinence and repentance.

29. Thus Christ represented to his Father the abominations [or sins] of man in this false garment, and stood before him as an ignominy, and confessed the sins of man to his Father in the stead and place of all men: And when his Father beheld him through his imagination in this garment, he would have none of this robe; therefore Pilate must pull it off from him again, and set him before the Jews in his own form; but they cry, "Away, away with him, he must be put to death;" for so his Father would, that he should give himself up to death in his wrath, and drown the same.

30. And Pilate condemned him to death, for he would not acknowledge him for a king: So it also goes in the philosophic work, Saturn will not receive the child, for it is not of his property; and Mars and Mercury likewise will not have it in its property: But what do they do? The child is among them, they would fain be rid of it, but yet cannot: They grow angry and enraged, as the Jews against Jesus, and take the child into their arms,209 viz. into their false poisonful angry desire, and will murther it, and quite sting and pierce through the materia of the child with their sharp, fiery, and poisonful rays, viz. with three sharp nails.

31. One whereof is Saturn, viz. the impression of the dark world, denoting the wrath of the dark world. The other is Mars, which signifies the devil, viz. the serpent's property in the anger of God. The third is Mercury, which signifies the false life, viz. how the wrath of God is enkindled in the expressed word in the human property.

32. These three nails pierce through the property of the child. Thus Venus, viz. the essence of love wholly yields itself to the three murtherers, and wholly foregoes its jovial life as if it died; and the mercurial life of the human property, understand the child's power, falls also to the three murtherers in its mother's house, viz. into the corporeal essence, wherein the young man received his virgin, wherein God became man.

33. Now when the heavenly body, and also the earthly, do thus yield unto these three murtherers, then appears the image of John and Mary by the cross as a type; for the young man's life, and also the virgin's in the young man, has freely surrendered, and given forth itself: And now the two properties, viz. the divine and human, divide themselves in the form of each power, which the artist may see if he has the eyes and understanding thereunto.

34. And here, when Saturn with his impression and dark sharpness, and Mars with his wrath, and Mercury with his poison-life do powerfully enter into the property of Venus, then the wrath forces itself into the love, and the love into the wrath essentially mixed, as assimilating one with the other: Here the wrathful death is dismayed at the love, so that in dying he falls into impotence [or a swoon], for it loses the might of the wrath; and the love is, and stands also in the source of the wrath in death's flagrat as impotent [or in a swoon], and gives itself forth wholly into the flagrat [or stroke] of death, and even then the heavenly essence, viz. the heavenly blood flows forth from it into the property of the third principle, viz. of the young man. Here the virgin gives her pearl to the young man for a propriety, and God and man become one.

35. For the virgin's blood out of the divine essentiality does here now drown with its love-essence the young man's blood, viz. the self-hood, and the three murtherers surrender their life in the blood of the virgin, and then the red glee from the fire, and also the white from the life of the champion arise up together, viz. from the wrath the life, and from the love the meekness: and both, viz. the life of the anger, and the life of the love, ascend together as one only life; for in death they become one: The death dies away in the love, and becomes in the love the life of the divine kingdom of joy; for it is not a dying, but a free surrendering of its power, might, and will, a transmutation; the virgin's blood changes the human, dead as to God, into an heavenly [blood], the life of the young man dies, and the life of the Deity remains fixed and steadfast, for it stands in its property in the nothing.

36. And here, thou dear seeker, when thou seest the crimson-coloured blood of the young man arise out of death with the virgin's white blood, then know that thou hast the arcanum of the whole world, and a treasure in this valley of misery, which surpasses the value of gold; take it and esteem it more excellent and sovereign than that which shall again arise from death: If thou beest born of God, then thou wilt understand what I mean.

37. For this is the type of Christ, [spewing] how Christ has drowned sin, and the enkindled anger of God in the human property; it is not only an offering, for then Moses had accomplished it; it is not a bare verbal forgiveness, as Babel teaches: No. The human will must from all its powers enter into this death, into this blood, viz. into the highest tincture.

38. The purple robe which Christ wore could not do it; the white hypocritical pharisaical priest's coat could also not effect it, no flattery or demure hypocrisy avails here; no comfortings, soothings, or giving God good words are effectual here; the crafty malignant man must be mortified in Christ's blood, he must be drowned in the virgin's blood: The seed of the woman must bruise the head of the serpent; the will must wholly disclaim and depart from its selfish property, and become as an ignorant child, and wholly enter into God's mercy, into the virgin-like blood of Christ, that sin and the poisoned Mercury may be drowned in its Mars, that the white lion may arise; for the lion which now appears in the white colour, in crimson red, is the Mercury of life, viz. the expressed word, viz. the soul, which before was a wrathful devil in its self-hood, ruling and domineering in the anger of God in the three forms of the poison-source, viz. in Saturn, Mars, and Mercury: Now it is the white scarlet-coloured lion from the house of David and Israel, fulfilled in the covenant of promise.

39. N.B.—But that we may give satisfaction to the well-wisher, we will further shew him the whole ground even to the resurrection of Christ: When the Jews had hung Jesus upon the cross, and he had shed his human and heavenly divine blood, and drowned the turba in the human [blood], then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

40. When Jesus had broken death in the humanity, and took away self, he did not then wholly cast away the human property, wherein death and the anger of God were, but then he did first truly assume it; understand, he even then did truly take the outward kingdom into the inward; for the outward kingdom was begotten as a wonder out of the eternal wisdom in the speaking word, and spoken forth into a form, as a manifestation of the Deity in love and anger, in good and evil: So that Jesus would not that the outward type of the wonders in the likeness of God should perish [or quite vanish], but the wrath which had overpowered the love in man should be forgiven, that is, it should be given into the nothing, viz. into the liberty, that it might not be manifest in its own self-property; it must be servant, and only a cause of the fiery love and divine joyfulness; nothing should perish [or be lost] in man, for God had created him to his image.

41. Thus let the philosopher observe, that when the three murtherers, viz. Saturn, Mars, and Mercury, sink210 in the crimson-coloured blood of the lion, they do not perish; but they are pardoned, that is, their wrath is changed into a love-desire, viz. out of Venus into Sol; for when the fiery desire enters into the watery desire, then a shining, viz. a glorious splendour, arises from and in the fire; for Venus is white, and the fire-desire is red.

42. Here now it is changed into one colour, which is yellow, that is, white and red both in one colour, which is the majestical [lustre]; for when Mercury is changed into the power of joy, then arises the multiplication; he changes his mother, wherein he lay shut up in death, into Sol; he makes the earthly heavenly in one property, as the virgin was: For here the virgin loses her name, for she has given her love and pearl to the champion, who is now called here the white lion, as the Scripture speaks of the lion of the house of Israel and David, who should demolish the devil's kingdom, and destroy hell, that is, break the anger of God, and change it into love.

43. This champion or lion is no man or woman, but he is both; the tincture of the fire and light must come into one, viz. of the essence which is Venus, and of the spirit which is Mars in Mercury; the Father's love and anger must become one thing, and then this one thing is called the kingdom of joy; so long as it is separated, there is in the thing only anguish and torment, and mere desire; but when it burns in one will, it is a joyful proceeding forth from itself: And this egressive property is called the Holy Ghost, viz. the life of the Deity.

44. Therefore know that the virgin's and young man's blood must be both shed together, that the fire-lion might die; which was manifest in the human property, that the love of the virgin might change his wrath in her dear love-blood into her property, and obtain the soul from the young man; for in Adam the virgin disappeared, for the soul departed out of its love-will out of the resignation into its own, and became disobedient to God.

45. Here the virgin does again take the soul into herself, and gives it her crown of pearl, as to a noble champion, and calls him in his own name the white lion or champion. O ye children of men, observe it, I beseech you; open the gates of the world in your heart; Open them wide that the King of Glory may come in, even the great champion in battle, who hath deprived death of its might, and destroyed the hell in God's anger, and made of the world paradise.

46. O ye wise seekers, how does the Lord open his windows! Why do you sleep in the desire of much increase [in your covetousness], which is multiplied in the wrath? Do but enter only into the divine resignation; you may partake of that which the powers of heaven are able to afford: If you do but forsake your selfishness, then the earth shall become heaven to you, says the spirit of wonders; but you shall not obtain it in your wicked ways and covetous doings.

47. And when Jesus through the shedding of his blood had given the wrath of God in man to the love, that the Father had received the love in the human property into the wrath; then the kingdom of the devil in the wrath, and the kingdom of love did immediately part asunder; they were divided: And this figure did hang with Christ on the cross, viz. the wicked mocker at the left hand, who reviled Jesus, and was not capable of his blood-shedding; and the other at the right hand, who was converted from his sins to Jesus, and said, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom;" to whom Jesus answered, "Verily, to-day thou shalt be with me in paradise."

48. Thus we are rightly to consider, that when the wrath of God is drowned in the blood of Christ, so that it changes its might into love, that even then paradise is again open; for when Jesus had tinctured the human blood which was corrupted in sin with the virgin's blood in the love, then the virgin received the manhood, viz. the self-hood, into her virgin's love. This was the paradise, and an habitation of God, with and in man, where God dwells in the humanity, and is all in all in it.

49. Thus it falls out also in the philosophic work, when Mars and Mercury die according to the property of the dark impression of Saturn, then Venus takes them into her love-blood, and Venus gives her love into the poisonful fire-desire: She wholly gives herself in unto the fire of Mars in Mercury, and she yields herself fully to be their own; but seeing Mars and Mercury become impotent (as to the might of the fire and poison) in the love, the love and anger thereupon change themselves into one essence, into one desire; and here, when the fire, viz. the fire-desire, gives in its desire to the love; then saith the love, "To-day thou shalt be with me out of thy fire-anguish in paradise," viz. in joy, that is, thou shalt be changed in me: And here Venus gets the soul in the philosophic work, so that Mars and Mercury become her soul, and the strife ceases; for the enmity is appeased and quelled: And thus the child subsists in the fire immoveably without any change; for Mars does not at all annoy it, and so likewise Mercury and Saturn hurt it not, for they are in the child at the end of nature, where there is no turba any more.

50. Mercury is pure in Saturn, he has no more poison, whereby to make soil [or rust] in the water, viz. in the salt of Saturn: And let the philosopher and divine also well observe this, that in paradise there is a perfect life without any shadow of change, also without any false evil desire, and a continual day, where the paradisical man is clear as a transparent glass, in whom the divine sun shines through and through, as gold that is thoroughly bright and pure, without any spot or foulness.

51. "And when Jesus knew that all was finished, he seeth his mother and John his disciple standing by under the cross, and saith unto his mother, Woman, to! this is thy son; and to the disciple, Behold thy mother, and forthwith the disciple took her unto his own home."

52. This is an excellent type, how Christ has forsaken this world, viz. the human self-hood, and is again gone to the Father; for he saw his mother according to this world, and his disciple, viz. his uncle, according to the outward humanity from his mother's side, and yet said to his mother, "Woman, behold, there is thy son," I am no more thy son according to my outward humanity; it is changed into God's Son, and is no longer of the world, but it lives to God; But seeing thou art to be yet in the world, take John, who is not yet changed, to be thy guardian; and thou John take thy mother; and he presently took her to himself.

53. This is the type of the Christian Church upon earth: For we the poor children of Eve are not presently wholly changed according to the outward man; but we must also pass into death, and putrify, that the wrath also in the flesh may rot and putrify, and the spirit might rest in the death of Christ till the general resurrection and transmutation of the outward man; in which the earth of man shall be transformed into heaven, and the mirror [or type] of the wonders shall appear therein.

54. Thus he commanded his disciple to take care of his mother: His mother is the Christian Church upon earth, wherein the children of God are begotten according to the spirit, whom he should take care for, and guide and lead them, till the number of the humanity out of the flesh shall be accomplished, and then the spiritual body shall arise, and shall be proved in Christ's death, in his entrance into the anger, where he changed the anger into love; and the kingdom with the source of darkness shall be separated from it.

55. But in this life-time, though the spirit be changed211 in the divine power, and the spirit be baptized with the virgin's baptism, and puts on the image of Christ internally, viz. Venus's body in the love; yet Adam is not capable of it till he also enters into the transmutation of Christ, which comes to pass in death [or in the dying to this mortal life].

56. But in the meanwhile, John, as the teacher of Christ in Christ's stead, must provide for the outward mother according to the outward man, and feed and teach the lambs of Christ with Christ's spirit: And it exactly shews us how the outward man is not God's mother; for Christ separates himself from his outward mother, and gives her to John; he has put on212 the eternal mother, viz. the Father of the eternal birth, and therefore they do very ill that honour and worship the outward mother of Christ for God's mother.

57. The whole true Christendom is Christ's mother, which bears Christ in her: And John, viz. the servants of Christ are her nurses, which take care for the mother of Christ as John did; he presently received the mother of Christ and provided for her, as her son, and not as her lord; for Christ said to him, "Behold, she is thy mother: "So should all the disciples and teachers of Christ do, and take care of the poor Christendom, as sons, with great humility towards the mother, provide for, and cherish her with diligence and circumspection, and serve her with all discreet modesty, courtesy, and humility; feed and comfort her with the spirit of Christ, not as the priests in Babel do, who ride over her as wealthy, rich, domineering masters, and will be lords over the mother, and only seek honours, and to fatten their bellies in pleasure, and live in strife and contention: These, one with the other, of what name or title soever they be, are not all Johannites, but they are the poisonful mercurial Pharisees, in whom there is nothing but mere anguish, vexation, pain, and torment, where one property does continually torment, envy, and hate the other, and hold it out for false; and yet they are all only out of one root, and have all only one will, except that one colour does not glister as the other.

58. For Saturn is not as Jupiter; Jupiter is not as Mars; Mars, viz. the fire-spirit, is not as the light of the sun; and the sun is not as Venus with her meek water-source; and Venus is not as Mercury with his sound; for she is meek and still, and Mercury sounds and sets up his note; and Mercury also is not as Luna, which as a simple body does give body to all the rest for manifestation; one is far otherwise than another, and has not one property and will; and yet they are in the centre of the essence, viz. in Luna and Saturn, in the property f the soul and body, all of them one and the same lump. Thus the partial sectarian Mercurialites, and Baal's servants, are divided in these properties; they are the Pharisees which judge and condemn Jesus in his members.

59. They wrangle and contend only about the church, and yet none will take care of the poor forsaken mother of Christ: They are mad in their martial and mercurial contest,213 and are not Johannites, they enter not in Christ's spirit at the door of Christ into the sheepfold; they are wolves, lions, and bears, yea foxes and fearful hares, who fly from and forsake the mother; their rise and original is out of Babel, where they continually contend, wrangle, grin, and bite one another for the letter. Every one will be lord and master over the letter, and transpose and place it as he pleases, only for the honour, applause, and pleasure of this world: They consider not that the mother is a widow, and that Christ has left and ordained them that they should be such curates for her as John.

60. O thou dear mother of Christendom, let these wolves, bears, and lions go, and shelter themselves where they please, regard no longer these evil beasts; take the John, the disciple of Christ, who teaches the love and humility.

61. O thou dear and worthy mother, art thou not only one? Why dost thou suffer the lions to rend and tear thee in pieces? Christ is thy husband, all these are strangers and hirelings, unless they walk in thy filial love, and humble themselves towards the mother, and provide for her as ministers, else they be all wolves, bears, and tearing lions; though there were many thousands of them, yet one is not at all better than another, unless he comes forth in the line of John, and takes care of Christ's mother, and provides for the mother with earnestness in Christ's spirit: Which if he has not, he is not then called of Christ to be a guardian or curate to the mother; but he is a Mercurialite, a Pharisee, such as Christ called the seed of serpents, and generation of vipers, who crucify Jesus in his members.

62. And thus the philosopher must consider of, and well observe Christ's mother, whom he recommended to John to take care of: He must likewise be a John, and know that his business is about the mother, and that his work in this world is not wholly214 heavenly: He will not so manifest paradise, that God will appear, and be manifest face to face in his work: No, he remains in the mother, yet he obtains the universal in the mother; for the mother of Christ obtained it also, for it was said to her, "Thou art the blessed among all women."

63. So likewise the philosopher reaches to the blessing in this valley of misery, that he is able to bless his corrupt body, that is, tincture it and free it from sickness, even to the limit of the highest constellation according to Saturn; and therefore let him take heed of covetousness, for so he introduces the turba.

64. By the type of John and the mother of Christ, he is to know, that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world are two in his work, and that God's kingdom lies shut up in the mother, viz. in his work, of which he must take care; and be a minister thereunto, and not a lord of the mother, but an almsgiver, and not a gatherer of treasure and wealth, not a covetous muck-worm; also none shall attain to it, or understand our meaning, that will not be a guardian of the mother: The Most High has laid a bar before the foolish understanding,215 that it is blind, till it be weary with seeking; I speak in the ground of truth.

65. And when Jesus had commended his mother to John, he again turned his desire into the mother of the human property, and said, "I thirst;" he thirsted after the members of human property, and desired the salvation of mankind, viz. the health of his members, understand of his children, which should be begotten in him; and the Jews gave his humanity gall and vinegar to drink; and when he tasted it, he would not drink it.

66. Here is again the outward type, shewing how it went inwardly: The name Jesus, viz. the love of God which was entered into the humanity, and had espoused itself thereunto, did thirst in the love-desire after the corrupt humanity, and would fain taste the pure water of the humanity in itself; but the wrathful anger of God, which was enkindled in the human property, gave itself in with the human property to the thirst of the love-desire: And when the love-desire tasted of it, it would not drink it, but sunk down into it as wholly resigned, or freely yielded up, and did unite and very essentially incline itself into the anger of God as a full and perfect obedience, and as fully and freely given over as a peculiar propriety thereinto.

67. This was now the flagrat of the wrath, that the love should so come into it; whereupon the earth trembled, and the rocks clave asunder; for so the death was dismayed at the life: And here the awakened wrath's property did separate itself into the centre, viz. into the. first principle, into the fire-root; and now from the centre there proceeded forth the hunger to the new-birth in the human property; of the hunger unto death was made a hunger to life; for the love tinctured the anger, that the fire-desire to the dark impression became a desire of life.

68. Understand it here right; God the Father, who gave his dear heart into the humanity to help mankind, did now thirst after the humanity, viz. after his heart or word of power; and the Deity in the humanity, viz. the heart of the Father, did thirst after the Father; and the love or the essence of the light did thirst after the fire's essence: For the fire's, or soul's essence in Adam was departed out of the love-essentiality (wherein the paradise did consist) into a selfishness, and was become disobedient to God; and thereupon the essence, life, and being of the light and love died in its growing, that is, it withered as to the vegetative life, or heavenly growth, blooming, and sense of the paradisical source, and awaked and arose to the earthly world.

69. Here the Father brought the soul, which was entered into his wrath, and had manifested itself in his anger, again into the love, viz. into the disappeared paradisical image: And here the dark world was dismayed in death's flagrat at the fire-flagrat, which arose up in love in the death as a joyful flagrat; which joy-flagrat entered into the dead bodies of those who had hope in Israel (who did hope upon the Messiah) as a sound of the power of God, and awakened them from death.

70. This flagrat rent in twain the veil in the Temple, viz. the veil of Moses, which hung before the clear face of God, so that man could not see God, and therefore he must serve him with an offering, and type of this final discovery, in which God did manifest himself again in the humanity: This flagrat broke the type in the offerings and sacrifices, and manifested the clear face of God, and united the human time with eternity.

71. All whatever the Jews did outwardly to Christ, the same was a type of the inward, viz. how it went between God and the humanity, viz. between the eternity and time: The Jews gave Jesus gall and vinegar in his thirst, both these properties are a Mercury in the Sulphur of Saturn, viz. in the impression; this is even the type and full resemblance of the soul's property, as it is in itself alone void of the other love-properties.

72. God gave this property of the soul again into his love, the death into the life, the disappeared love-essence (which the word of God had assumed to itself in the essence and seed of Mary, and quickened to life) into the anger's property, into the soul's essence, viz. into the centre of the fire and dark world; whereupon the soul-like fire and dark world became an exceeding triumphant joyful paradisical life: And here the champion upbraided death and hell, viz. the dark world in the soul, and said, "Death! where is thy sting " now in man?" Hell! where is now thy victory" in the wrath of the poison-source in the expressed word or Mercury? All is now dead: O death, I am to thee a death; Hell! I am to thee a conqueror; thou must serve me for the kingdom of joy: Thou shalt be my servant and minister to the kingdom of joy; thou shalt enkindle the flames of love with thy wrath, and be a cause of the spring in paradise.

73. Thus we give the philosopher to understand our sense and deep ground in nature, who desires to seek and open the disappeared essence of the earth, which lies shut up in death, viz. in the curse of God: The veil of Moses hangs also before him, and a very right earnestness is requisite to rend the veil in twain, that he may be able to see the face of nature, otherwise he is not fitted for it.

74. And as it went in the humanity of Christ, betwixt God's love and anger, and both were transformed into one; so likewise it is in his work of nature, the poisonful Mercury in the Sulphur of Mars and Saturn gives its lunar menstruum, viz. the greatest poison of the dark source into Venus's property; when Venus thirsts after the fire of love, then Mercury gives his poison into the thirst of Venus, and Venus's thirst gives itself wholly to the poison, as if it died; it wholly yields up its desiring life, whereupon arises the great darkness in the philosophic work: For the materia becomes as black as a raven, for Venus has resigned its life, from whence the glance [or splendour] arises, as it is to be seen by Christ, that the sun lost its light, and there was a great darkness contrary to the common course of nature.

75. For when the inward sun gave in itself unto the anger, viz. into the darkness of God; then the outward sun, which receives its power and lustre from the inward, as a glass or resemblance of the inward, could not shine; for its root from whence it shines was entered into the darkness in the place of this world, and would turn the darkness in the curse of God into light, viz. it would make the place of this world again paradise.

76. Thus likewise the sun of the outward world, which is a figure of the inward all-essential sun, must stand still with its splendour in the darkness, from the sixth hour unto the ninth, which is even the time of Adam's sleep when he entered with the desire into the centre of the eternal nature, viz. into the birth, where the love and anger part themselves into two centres, and would prove the cold and hot fire, which took him, and did powerfully work in him. Here are three hours according to the ternary,216 and in the grave three days according to the time, viz. according to the humanity.

77. When Adam was in the image of God, and was neither man nor woman, but both; he stood forty days in paradise without wavering, and when he fell he stood even till the third day, viz. forty hours in the sleep, even till God did make or build the woman out of him. Thus Israel must be tempted forty days on Mount Sinai, whether they would live in the obedience of God under the wonders and mighty acts; and when it could not be, God gave them the law of his covenant as a mirror of that which was promised in the covenant; therefore the temptation of the body was upon them forty years, that the body must eat manna to try whether man could be remedied: And when the body [or outward person] could not stand, then Joshua brought them through the water with the covenant of the type,217 where Israel must serve with sacrifices in the covenant in the type of the final accomplishment, till the time of restitution came in: And then the valiant champion in battle stood forty days in the wilderness in the temptation, and stood out the first trial of Adam in paradise; and the three hours of darkness on the cross are the three hours of temptation of Christ, when the devil tempted him: And again the forty hours of Christ in the grave are the forty days of Adam in paradise, and the forty days of Moses upon the Mount; and the forty years in the wilderness, and the forty days after the resurrection before the ascension, are even one and the same: And now when the champion had stood out Adam's trial, the soul was tempted forty days in the human property, whether it would eat of God's word, and live in full resigned obedience in the will of God, and be a true image, likeness, and similitude of the divine power in the unsearchable eternity, according to the Trinity of the Deity.

78. In the like manner let the philosopher observe, that the essence of time does also stand in such a property, for man was created out of the essence of time into an image, as an extract of all essences, a complete image and likeness according to time and eternity, ruling and standing in the time and in the eternity as an instrument of the great infinite God, with whom, by and with his Spirit, he would make and do what he pleased.

79. Now man is the instrument of God, with [or by] whom he manifests his hiddenness both in his own human property, viz. in the essence and image of God; and then also through man, as with the instrument in the mother of all beings, as in the grand mystery, viz. in the soul of the great world.

80. Man has power so far as he goes, as an instrument of God in divine obedience, as his Spirit guides and leads him, that he can introduce the earth which stands in the curse of God into the benediction, and make of death's-anguish the highest triumphant joy in the outward pregnant mother; but he himself does it not, only his will labours with the understanding therein, and conjoins the compacta,218 which belong together, as life and death which stand opposite to one another: These he must join together, and bring them into one by such an art as time and eternity are united by and in the man Christ, and by him all those which give their will thereinto.

81. He will see in his work all whatever God did in the humanity; when he brought it again into the universal, viz. into paradise, he will see how the wrath devours and swallows up the fair Venus into his pricking thorny essence, and how Venus does fully yield in herself; and how the wrath also dies away in Venus, and becomes wholly dark and black as a coal; for death and life lie together both in death, viz. in the obedience of God: They both hold still to him, and suffer the Spirit of God to make of and with them what it pleases, who introduces them again into the eternal will of God to which he at first created them: And thus the essence stands again in the beginning in the order as God created it: It must only stand in its impression, in the verbum fiat, viz. in the divine making, till the day of God's separation, when God will change the time again into the eternity.

82. And when Jesus had drank the cup and tasted the vinegar mixed with gall in the outward [man], and inwardly in the love-property, viz. in the virgin, the wrathful anger of God; then said the whole man Christ, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" For God's speaking word stood still now in the human property, and the new-born essentiality which was dead in Adam, and was again quickened in Christ, cried with the same, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" For the anger of God was by the soul's property entered into the image of the divine essentiality, and had devoured the image of God.

83. Here now the image in the creature of the soul cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" For the human image which disappeared in Adam, and was again revived in Christ's incarnation, should bruise the head of God's anger in the fire-soul, and change its fire-might into Sol:219 And now the speaking word of God did here forsake it, and it fell into the soul's wrath, where it felt God's anger; for the speaking word did so bring it through the anger into death, and out of the death again into the solar life, understand into the eternal sun.

84. Like as the candle dies in the fire, and out of that death the light and power proceed, viz. the great painless life; so out of Christ's dying and death the eternal divine sun should and must arise in the human property; but the selfishness of the human property, viz. the soul's own self-will to live in the fire's might must here die and be drowned in the image of love, and the image of love must also resign and give itself in unto the wrath of death, that so all might fall down into death, and arise in God's will and mercy through death in the paradisial source in the resignation, that God's Spirit might be all in all. Hell's eye must see through the love, as the light shines out of the fire, and the fire from the darkness, and the darkness takes its original from the eternal desire.

85. And as Adam changed the likeness of God into the dark death's form, so God did again change the likeness through his fire-wrath out of death into the light; he drew forth the likeness again out of death, as a blossom grows from the harsh220 earth.

86. Thus it goes likewise in the philosophic work; Venus is forsaken when she receives the three wrathful properties into herself in wrath; their wrath, viz. the death devours her life, whereupon she loses the colour, and yet becomes a death to the three forms in the wrath, for she drowns death with love. Thus the life is made a death to death, viz. to the wrath, and now they both lie in the will of the eternal nature, viz. in the verbum fiat, which proceeds221 with them the divine way, in manner as it proceeded forth into essence in the beginning of the creation: For in the beginning paradise, viz. the universal was manifest, and the love shined through the death or anger. Even so it must be again, Venus must become the eye or sight in the wrath, and then of Saturn, Mars, and Mercury there will be a Jupiter: Mars becomes sun, and Saturn moon, and so Mars shines with the sun out of Saturn in Luna from Venus's eye, and all seven are only one: Thus the strife has an end, and all is accomplished till the resurrection of the body.

87. And when Jesus had drank the cup, and said, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" then he said, "All is finished," understand the work of man's redemption; and he said further, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit, and bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." Here the whole life of Christ resigned itself into the Father's desire, viz. into the will of the eternal nature, and fully gave in the will of his self-hood, viz. his creaturely will again into the centre, viz. into the first mother, from whence the soul-like creature was produced, that is, into the grand mystery of eternity: The self-will must again enter into nature's end, so that the selfishness may wholly die, that God's eternal will and spirit may be and do only all in all in the humanity, and that the creature might afterwards be alone his instrument, wherein he might do and work according to his good pleasure: And thus God the Father has in Christ's death and entrance into our humanity again received our self-hood into his will; and that this might be, he first tinctured the humanity with the Deity, that the humanity might be a pleasant sweet savour and offering to him in his power, for before death lay before it.

88. Here the love destroyed death, and opened the fast seal, that the will might again enter into that which it was before [it was] the creature; and so we all must follow him upon the path which he has made open for us; none can see God, unless God become first man in him, which is brought to pass in faith's desire, and even then the corrupt will (which is apprehended in the death and anger of God, and which blooms in the earthly essence, and brings forth fruit unto death) be wholly mortified, and fall into the free resignation, into the will and mercy of God: And then the own will is with and in Christ at nature's end in the grand mystery of God, viz. in God's hands. God's hands are the eternal desire, or the eternal will, which is unchangeable; thus the creaturely self-will dies; it enters wholly into the nothing, that it might no more live to itself, but to God.

89. Thus it falls out also in the philosophic work; when the artist has first seen great wonders, which the creaturely and natural will has wrought in the power [of] Venus, insomuch that he supposes that he is nigh thereunto; even then nature does first die in his work, and becomes a dark night unto him; the property and power of all the forms must give forth themselves from their centre, and fall upon nature's end; all do freely yield over themselves as one dead essence, and there is no longer any effectual working therein, all is divided in the crown into the thousandth number, and then it is again in the mystery as nature's end as it was before it came into the creaturely being; understand, the essential desire, viz. the expressed Mercury, must again come unto the end of its selfishness, and resign itself into the speaking word.

90. The corporal essence remains in the centre of the four elements till the judgment of God, which now at death stands in the centre of Sol, viz. in the compaction of Venus and Mercury, which compaction at death falls wholly into one [thing], viz. into one power of Jupiter,222 that is, into the centre of the liberty; for here the desire to cold and heat goes out, all earthly will and desire of the properties dies, and there is no more any hunger after the earthly, or death's property.
 
## Chapter 12. Of The Seventh Form In The Kingdom Of The Mother; How The Seventh Kingdom...

OF THE SEVENTH FORM IN THE KINGDOM OF THE MOTHER; HOW THE SEVENTH KINGDOM, VIZ. THE KINGDOM OF THE SUN, IS AGAIN OPENED AND MADE ALIVE; SET FORTH IN PARABLE, OR BY WAY OF SIMILITUDE OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION

1. We are not to think that when Christ died the natural death in the human property, that he died as to his creaturely soul,223 much less as to the Deity; also he did not disappear or die in the heavenly essentiality and in the heavenly tincture: This cannot be; only the will and dominion of self, viz. of the outward world, which domineered in man unto the own will and own powers of the selfish creature (wherein man was disobedient to God), he gave that wholly into the Father's hands, viz. into the end of nature, into the Father's great mystery; not that it should be dead, but that God's Spirit might alone be the life thereof, that the divine dominion might be in Christ's person, that the Eternal Father might rule and reign with his Eternal Spirit in his image; and therefore God has determined to keep the last judgment by this Jesus.

2. Now the creature of Christ does it not alone, but God in his image through the creature in the dominion of his Eternal Spirit of all the three principles, which is the life and dominion of every being, in each thing according to its property.

3. And understand us right, when Christ died on the cross, the name Jesus did not also die, which destroyed death, and tinctured the expressed word, viz. the form of the Deity (or the formed word), viz. the soul with love: No, it cannot be, the eternity does not die, only the spoken word, which stands again in the desire of the speaking, viz. in the fiat, which changes itself in its own speaking, viz. in the self-desire, and brings its own sound into another form and source than the speaking word had spoken it, and set it forth with the verbum fiat into a form, signature, and will; as Lucifer with his royal throne, and Adam also did, when they both departed out of resignation into selfhood; the instrument would be master.

4. The outward working sensitive life wherein the anger of God was set on fire did wholly die away, not that it should be a nothing, but it fell into the nothing, viz. into God's will, into God's working and feeling, quite from the will of the outward world, which is evil and good, so that it might no longer live to the world, viz. to the astrum in the walm, the boiling or seething power of the four elements; but to the Eternal Father's nature in the walm of the pure divine element the life of the outward world died.

5. Thus the true human life fell immediately again into that place from whence Adam had brought it, viz. into paradise, upon which Christ said to the thief, "To-day thou shalt be with me in paradise;" it fell into Adam's death, whereby he died to paradise, and sprang up in Adam's death as a new creature out of the old, like as the branch springs from the corn: And this it did from the might and power of the speaking word, which of grace was entered with living essentiality into the disappeared heavenly essentiality of man, and had freely given itself into the centre of the soul-like nature, and also into the wrath of the anger and death in the flesh, and changed the anger into love, and tinctured the corrupt blood in the anger with the love.

6. The divine tincture tinctured the human; the divine sun entered into the human; the divine sun entered into Adam's night, viz. into Adam's sleep; God's sun with the name Jesus entered with Adam's soul and humanity in Christ's person into death, understand into Adam's sleep.

7. When Christ died, then Adam died also to his self-hood in Christ's death; the name Jesus was in Christ the serpent-destroyer in Adam's humanity; Christ entered into the image of the first Adam, so that the first Adam in the humanity of Christ became the same Christ, and serpent-destroyer, indeed not in the same creature, but in the same soul's and body's property.

8. The first Adam fell into sleep, viz. into the impotence of the divine world, and died in the death of death; the second Adam entered into the death of death; and took the death of death captive in himself, viz. in the humanity of Adam: He was a death to death, and brought forth the life out of death into the eternal liberty: He arose in the divine omnipotence in the essence of the first Adam: God's Spirit in the speaking eternal word brought forth Adam out of death in Christ's humanity. Adam arose in Christ's humanity, and all the children of Adam, which are partakers of Christ's kingdom, arise in Christ; all in Christ's flesh and blood, soul and spirit, but every one in his creature which he has had here, and mortified in Christ's death.

9. Every one is a particular twig; but there is only one tree, which is Christ in Adam, and Adam in Christ, only one, not two; only one Christ in all Christians; so that I may say, "If I be dead in Christ to the world, I am the same Christ, viz. a branch on the same tree."

10. But seeing that I in the outward man do yet live in my self-hood, therefore I must also die with the outward man in Christ's death, and arise and live in him. Now therefore I live with the will of faith in the mind in Christ, and am a Christian in the will of the mind in the desire of faith, and receive Christ with his humanity into my will, and cast my will into his death; and thus my inward man is also dead in Christ's death, and lives no longer to self-hood; but I am resigned in him, and lie buried in his death: But seeing he is risen in God's will, I also live in his resurrection in him; but my earthliness in its selfish property lives to the earthly world, until it also dies quite to self-hood, and enters into the resignation and putrefaction, and then Christ will awaken it through my inward man, which now lives in him.

11. Like as he is risen from the dead, even so shall I, who shall die to the earthliness in him, viz. in my first father Adam, in the name Jesus as a Christian in Christ; my twig, withered in sin on the tree, shall obtain strength and sap in the name Jesus to life. I shall and must spring forth afresh with my humanity in him as in my stem who is become a heart and power in my father Adam, and bring forth fruit to the praise of God.

12. My will-spirit, which now is in Christ's humanity, and lives in Christ's Spirit, that shall in Christ's power give sap to the dry tree, that it shall again arise at the last day in the sound of the trumpet of the divine breath in Christ's voice, which also is my voice in his breath, and spring afresh in the tree Christ, viz. in paradise: The paradise shall be in me; all whatever God has and is shall appear in me as a form and image of the divine world's being; all colours, powers, and virtues of his eternal wisdom shall be manifest in me, and on me, as on his likeness: I shall be the manifestation of the spiritual divine world, and an instrument of God's Spirit, wherein he makes melody with himself, with this voice, which I myself am, as with his signature: I shall be his instrument, and organ of his expressed word and voice; and not only I, but all my fellow-members in the glorious tuned instrument of God: We are all strings in his joyful consort; the spirit of his mouth strikes the tune and note on our strings.

13. And therefore God became man, that he might again repair his glorious instrument which he had made for his praise, which perished as to him, and would not sound according to the desire of his joy and love, and introduce again the true love-sound into the strings: He has introduced the voice which sounds in his presence again into us, viz. into his instrument, he is become that which I am, and has made me that which he is, so that I may say, that I am in my resignation in him his trumpet, and the sound of his instrument and divine voice,224 at which now I rejoice in all my fellow-strings and voices, which with me are tuned and set as an eternal work, to the praise and glory of God.

14. Thus know ye now my fellow-voices in the praise of God, that I sound with my string played upon in the spirit upon and in your note, and thus sing I to you; that whatever Jesus has done through the Christ, viz. through his and my humanity, the same he does yet to-day in me and in all my fellow-members. He died to my self-hood in his death, and I also die to my self-hood in his death: He is given up to his resignation in God his Father, and God his Father has raised him up with the spirit of his mouth in him, and set him forth for the royal image according to the Holy Trinity, through and with whom God will judge all things in the place of this world.

15. Thus God also has awakened in him my spirit and soul through his spirit in the great name Jesus in Christ, so that I in my resignation in him need not to die, for he died in me and for me; his death, in that he is risen from death, is become my eternal life, so that now I live in his death, as one dying; and yet there is no more any death in him, but thus I die to myself and sin in him, seeing that my desire and will presses forth from my self-hood into it, so that I die daily to myself, till once I shall obtain the limit of my self-hood, and my self-hood with the earthly will and desire does wholly die to its selfishness; then shall my self-hood, and all whatever is in me which seeks and loves itself, fall into the death of Christ, viz. into the first mother, from whence God created me, and my self-hood shall become a nothing; and even then my self-hood lies in Christ's death in the resignation as an instrument of God, who then will make it his instrument as he pleases.

16. But seeing now my soul and spirit lives in his resurrection, and his voice [air or breath] is in me, according to the resignation in him, as St. Paul says, "Our conversation is in heaven, from whence we wait for the Saviour Jesus Christ;" therefore also his voice, which is in me in that I am [or live] no longer to my self-hood, but he alone [is and lives in me], shall raise up my dead body, which I resign to him, and bring it into his first image, to which he created it.

17. Thus now I live in God, and my self-hood does not know it, for it lives not in God, but in itself (God is indeed in it, but it does not apprehend him), and hides the pearl which I am in Christ; not I, but he in his humanity in my creature in himself: And thus I speak and write of the great mystery of all beings, not that I have apprehended it in my self-hood, but he strikes my signature in my desire, which presses into him, as he pleases.

18. I am known to myself, but not in my self-hood, but in his mirror which of grace he has put into me, thereby to allure my self-hood to him, viz. into the resignation; and so likewise, dear brethren, it shall again be represented to you out of his glass,225 which he has set forth through my capacity in him, as his instrument.

19. Thus it goes also in the philosophic work; Sulphur, Mercury, and Sal are entered by the curse of God into their self-hood, viz. into a self-working and living; all does now work in the curse and anger of God according to the property of the first principle; if God had not placed the sun as a nature-god of the outward visible world therein, which tinctures every working life, even everything which grows and moves, all would be in the dark death's impression, viz. in the abyss of hell.

20. Now if anything shall be freed from this self-hood, viz. from the wrathful death, and be again brought into the universal, viz. into the highest perfection, then it must die wholly to its self-hood, and enter into the stillness, viz. into the death of the resignation at nature's end: Mars must wholly lose the might of the fire and wrath, and Mercury also his poison-life; Saturn must be a death to himself, insomuch that the artist sees nothing but the great darkness, and even then the light appears in the resignation; for St. John says, "The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not;" that is, in its self-hood, viz. in its own will and working it cannot apprehend it; but in the resignation the nothing, viz. the liberty of God shines in it.

21. For the nothing manifests itself in its lubet out of the liberty in the darkness of death; for the nothing will not be a nothing, and also cannot be a nothing, and likewise it cannot otherwise manifest itself, but according to the property of the free lubet, which is now fixed [or steadfast], and in it also as a nothing, for there is no turba therein; the self-will and hunger is dead, and in the nothing, and the lubet of the eternal liberty is its life: Now seeing that the highest being has once moved itself, and come into a visible comprehensible essence, it does again figure [or form] that same essence, which departs from its self-hood, and enters into the nothing, into such a being [or essence] as it was before the times of the world: But seeing the verbum fiat stands yet to this day creating of the corporal essence, it does again make a fixed perfect essence; as the like is brought to pass in the philosophic work, where a new life arises out of death, as God does raise us up in himself in Christ, if we die to self-hood, and wholly resign up ourselves to him.

22. And thus when the expressed Mercury in the Sulphur of Saturn resigns its self-hood into Venus, then the verbum fiat changes it again into such an essence according to the lubet of the liberty; the death arises in a new body out of the darkness of death, in a white fair colour, but as an hidden lustre, wherein the colour is not rightly and distinctly known, till it dissolves itself, and the materia becomes desiring; then the sun arises in the centre, and Saturn in the property of Jupiter and Venus in all the seven forms (that is in the verbum fiat) as a new creation, and the desire of all the seven forms tend to Sol's lustre, viz. to the white and red colour from the fire and light, which is the majestical [colour, lustre, or glory].

23. Christ after his resurrection walked226 forty days in the mystery of all the three principles at once, in the property of the first Adam after his creation before his sleep, and before his Eve was formed, and appeared to his disciples in his property which he had here from the outward world, and did eat with them, and shewed them his assumed humanity, and that he had in no wise wholly put it off.

24. Even so let the artist understand us, that in the philosophic work the first matter does not wholly pass away or vanish, but it enters into the death of the life of its wrathful property, and dies in the curse of God, but rises again in its former being, which it had before the curse of God: The curse only is destroyed therein, and the first life does again rise up therein, and therefore it is fixed, and subsists in the fire, for it is dead to the dominion of the four elements, and lives in the fifth essence; not that it has that same life, but it stands still therein; yet the spirit of the new-born essence is a vegetative life with its growing therein; its lustre stands therein, it shews the first Adam in innocence, who stood likewise in such perfection.

25. And as Christ tinctured our corrupt humanity, in which Mercury was turned to poison, with the heavenly blood of the eternal divine virginity and essentiality, whereby the human self-hood died in the poison, and the resigned life did again arise; so the poisonful mercurial, martial, and saturnine will and desire die in the blood of Venus in the philosophic work, and both enter together into death, and arise both together in one love, in one will.

26. Therefore let the artist observe the tincture; it is more noble and precious for man's use in this valley of misery than the body which arises in the tincture; for the spirit is the life; the body is only a figure of the life, and the blood is a mansion of the spirit.

27. The artist must well observe this; in the blood of the young man, when his pearl227 gives itself to the three murtherers, that it also sheds its blood in and with the young man's, then the champion stands in hell, and disclaims the human self-hood: Then the white lion appears upon his crimson-coloured beast; even there lies the cure of sickness, and the death of death.

28. The body is dissolved in the blood of love in the death out of the earthly into an heavenly [property]. The tincture gives itself into the new body; and afterwards, when the body rises in Sol's splendour, it also forsakes its will; it resigns itself wholly into the body's essence, and becomes its beauty, splendour, and colour, which the artist can never separate; for they are together in the fifth essence, viz. in the mystery of the verbum fiat, and belong to God's motion of the final day of separation; in this time to his own manifestation unto his honour, and deeds of wonder; but after this time to the crystalline world in the glassy sea before the ancient in the Apocalypse.

A Brief Summary of the Philosophic Work

29. Our meaning might seem very difficult to the reader, in that we go so far about and shew Christ all along therein; at which let no man wonder, we do not seek gold, or any temporal goods thereby, and drive man into vain curiosities; we speak only with the children whom God has chosen thereunto; for the time is born, where that which is lost shall be again found; yea not only the universal for the body of this world, but also for the soul.

30. The process is very short in both, and it is only of one property which is thus: The tree, understand the life, is divided into seven forms; now the curse of God is come into the seven forms, so that they are in strife and enmity, and one form annoys the other, and can never agree unless they all seven enter into death, and die to the self-will. Now this cannot be, unless a death comes into them, which breaks all their will, and be a death to them; as the deity in Christ was a death to the human self-hood, and the seven forms in the human life; thus it is here also: The human will was changed in Christ into the eternal sun, viz. into the resignation in God; so must all the forms in the philosophic work be changed into one, viz. into Sol: Seven must become one, and yet remain in seven, but in one desire, where each form desires the other in love, and then there is no more any strife and contest.

31. Therefore let the artist but consider how he may give death to the death with the pure life, and how he may awaken the dead and disappeared life, which is heavenly, and lies hidden and captivated in the curse, so that it may again receive the fire-soul; and if he does but bring it so far, it works of itself.228  

32. When the virgin again receives her bridegroom, who has been faithless, then he is prepared and fitted to the work; otherwise he is no way at all fitted; but all is in vain and to no purpose [which he attempts]. There is not any possibility for the heavenly image according to God's likeness in man to be otherwise helped and restored after that the fire-soul had entered into its self-hood, unless the Spirit of God introduced itself into the disappeared image, viz. into the heavenly essentiality, and gave itself in with the image awakened in it into the soul's fire, viz. into the wrath of death, and be a death to death, viz. to the wrathful anger of God, that it might be drowned in the love, in the blood of the heavenly essentiality; and though there could be no parting nor dying, yet there was a dying of the wrath, so that the wrath was changed into a joy and love.

33. Thus the artist's work is exactly and throughout no otherwise: For man was created out of all beings, out of the heaven and earth; but when he became wholly earthly, and the curse seized on him, the curse also came over the earthly being, from whence man was made: Thus the heaven was shut up from man, and the heaven also was shut up in the earth, as metals, trees, and herbs, in the food of man, and whatever belonged to his ornament and delight.

34. The soul of the earth, viz. the property of the fire of the first principle is entered into its self-hood, viz. into God's anger; now the heaven is hidden in it; therefore the artist must in his work reduce the soul in the curse and the heaven again into one: He must introduce the soul again into heaven, or else there is no possibility: Now he cannot bring the soul in its iniquity into heaven, for it will not, and therefore he must bring the heaven into the soul, and wholly give in the heaven to the soul, that the soul may eat of heaven, whether she will or no; the heaven must be as death229 in the soul, so that the soul cannot get rid of it, how angry soever she be, and vehemently rages against it, till she be overcome in her wrath, and enters with the desire into heaven, viz. into the disappeared essence, and wills to murther it, as the Jews did Christ; and if she so enters into the heavenly essence, then the image of the heavenly essence falls into the jaws of the murtherer.

35. Thus when the heavenly essence gives its desire to the murtherer, the murtherer is dismayed at the dear love-life, and arises in the flagrat in the heavenly essentiality; thus the disappeared essence does again receive the fire flagrat into itself, and wholly unites itself with the fire-life; and so the fire must burn in love and meekness, and forego230 its right in the centre, as the light which shines from the fire; thus and no otherwise the heavenly essence obtains its life; and as a fire does thoroughly heat an iron that it appears as if it were mere fire, and it is so, but the iron does still retain its substance; so the disappeared essence, viz. the heaven is manifest in the poisonful mercurial and martial fire-soul, and makes of seven wills only one, and yet seven remain, but the enmity ceases.

36. This is an universal, which also changes the enmity231 or malignity of all diseases in the human body into one will [into unity]; so that the raging and raving, viz. the seven forms of life in their enmity become unanimous; and then the hunger of the disease ceases, and the process to the universal is as has been already mentioned. It is not my intention to mention a clear declaration thereof; it is clear enough; he that will not seek thereby a new man born in God, and apply himself diligently thereto, let him not meddle with my writings.

37. I have not written anything for such a seeker, and also he shall not be able to apprehend our meaning fundamentally, though he strives never so much about it, unless he enters into the resignation in Christ; there he may apprehend the spirit of the universal, otherwise all is to no purpose; and we faithfully warn the curious critic not to amuse himself, for he will not effect anything in this way, unless he himself enters thereinto, and then it will be shewn him without much seeking; for the way is child-like [plain and easy].
 
## Chapter 13. Of The Enmity Of The Spirit And Of The Body, And Of Their Cure And Remedy

OF THE ENMITY232 OF THE SPIRIT AND OF THE BODY, AND OF THEIR CURE AND REMEDY

1. Everything is in itself a senseless, and as a dead thing or being; it is only a manifestation of the spirit, which is in the body: The spirit is signed with the body;233 whatever the spirit is in itself in an incomprehensible [imperceptible] operation, the same is the body in the comprehensible and visible working. There is one form of the seven forms of nature superior and chief; the other hang to it, and give their signs also, according as each of them is strong in the essence; and as the forms stand in their order in each thing, so they sign the body of every thing and creature in its generation [or kind]: This is the manifestation of the divine wisdom in the expressed word of love and anger.

2. There is not anything but it has its soul in it according to its property, and the soul is a kernel to another body: Whatever lives and grows has its seed in it; God has comprehended all things in his word, and spoken them forth into a form, as the will had formed234 itself in the desire, the expressed word is a platform of the speaking, and has again the speaking in it; this same speaking is a seed to another image according to the first, for both work, viz. the speaking, and the spoken [word].

3. The speaking works in itself, viz. in the eternity, and the spoken also in itself, viz. in the time; the speaking is the master, and the spoken is the instrument; the speaking makes the nature of eternity, and the spoken makes the nature of time; each makes in its comprehension two properties, viz. light and darkness, wherein the element of all beings consists, which in the expressed word operates itself into four elements, but in the speaking word there is but one: The element in itself is neither hot nor cold, also neither dry nor moist; but it is a lubet, viz. a desiring will, wherein the divine wisdom makes the different235  and various colours; all according to the desire's property, in which236 there is neither number nor end: But in the four elements there is number and end; for with the expressing (in that they are become self-full) they have taken a beginning, and have formed themselves into a model or platform of a time, which runneth as a watch-work; it forms, frames, and destroys.

4. This watch-work consists of seven forms, or properties (as is before mentioned), which make in themselves a threefold spirit, viz. a vegetative, sensitive, and rational: The vegetative consists in the four elements; the sensitive in the seven forms of nature, and the reasoning power in the constellation; but the understanding proceeds only from God, for it rises out of the eternal nature; all life whatever, which has its limit in the expressed word, consists in Sal, Sulphur, and Mercury; for therein consist the seven properties of every life of this world; and also the spirit of vegetation, sensation, and reason.

5. Sulphur is the mother of all spirituality and corporality; Mercury manages the dominion therein; and Sal is the house of its habitation, which Mercury itself makes in Sulphur: Reason arises in the oil of the Sulphur, whereinto the constellation gives its desire, viz. the essence of its property, from whence immediately the senses and thoughts arise; but the understanding proceeds from the oil of the element, viz. in the free lubet in the speaking Mercury.

6. Now then, seeing it is very necessary for us poor children of Eve to know from whence the disease and enmity of our life arise, and what that is in us which makes us our own enemies,. and vex, perplex, and plague us in ourselves; much more necessary it is to know the cure, whereby we may cure ourselves in our self-hood, and bring ourselves into the limit of rest.237 

7. This we will delineate and declare, if there be any one that has a mind to enter upon it, and truly prove and try it; and we will set forth from whence evil and good arise originally, and how they arise, and give occasion to the understanding searcher to seek: And we will shew how the will to evil and good arises, and how the evil is the death of the good, and on the contrary the good the death of the evil.

8. When we consider what the mercurial life is, then we find that it consists in Sulphur; for Sulphur is a dry hunger after matter, which makes an austere impression, and in its austere impression it has the fire, and also in its impression the oil, from whence the life burns. Now the impression makes coldness, and its compunction or attraction makes heat, so that238 now there is a cold fire and an hot fire in one thing; the cold makes in itself hardness and darkness, and the heat makes in itself the light, and yet there could be no light, if the oil in the Sulphur did not die in hot anguish, as the candle in the fire.

9. Now there is a twofold dying in Sulphur, from whence also a twofold life is generated; First, the impression or desire does draw in, contract, enclose, make hard, cold, thick; and the hardness, viz. the enclosed, causes a death in the enclosed being, and yet in that spirit there is no death, but a pricking, raging, and anxious cold fire-life, which is generated with the impression, and is the life of the darkness.

10. Secondly, in the same anguish, in the austere desire, the hot fire is generated, which consumes the substance, which the coldness, viz. the impression of the desire to nature makes: Thus there remains in the fire the contention betwixt the cold and heat; the cold will have its life according to its property, and in that it strives for life, it enkindles the heat in its impression, and immediately the heat deprives the cold of its might, and consumes the cold substance, and then also the fire-spirit cannot subsist; for unless it has substance it goes out, therefore it must continually, and without intermission, die in itself in the fiery anxious desire: So long as it has the cold's substance to live upon, its life arises, and yet it is nothing but a constant dying and consuming, and in its devouring is the greatest hunger after substance; this same [hunger] passes forth through and with the devouring out of the dying of the fire, and dwells in the nothing, yet it may not be a nothing, and also it cannot be a nothing, therefore it draws the fire again into itself; for its own desire is bent towards its mother: But seeing it is once dead to the fire-source, it cannot die any more in the fire of the heat or cold, but it continually proceeds forth from the fire, and the fire draws it again continually into itself, and so it is the life of the fire; and this is the air, which in the fire is rightly called wind, by reason of the strength and force; and in that which is proceeded forth239 it is properly called air, by reason of its life of meekness.

11. And in the dying of the fire we are to understand the oil, whence the fire receives its shining light, in which the true life is understood; for that which proceeds forth in the fire-death with the desire to be delivered and freed from the fire-source, that is a desire of meekness, and takes its original in the first will to nature, in which the eternal nothing brings itself with its lubet into a desire.

12. This lubet brings forth itself through the cold and hot death (through both the dyings) again into the liberty, viz. into the Nothing; and so it is manifested in the austere impression through the fire, and brought into a principle, and yet it is not either of the fire or of the cold, but so is its manifestation.

13. But seeing the eternal lubet to nature introduces itself with nature into a desire; thereupon this desire cannot die either in the cold or heat, for it takes its origin neither in the heat or cold, but in the nothing; and so it is, after it proceeds from the dying in the fire, again desiring, namely of its own property, and impresses itself, for in the fire it has taken the impression.

14. Now it cannot conceive anything in its impression but an essence according to its desire, which is now water; understand according to the dark impression's property it is water, and according to the fire it is oil; and that which in the cold impression is wholly enclosed in the hardness, as a conception according to the wrath's property, is earth.

15. Thus the wrathful fiery desire draws continually the same air, water, and oil into itself, and devours it, and so the fire-wrath is changed in the air, and oil, and water, into a shining light; for the nothing desires nothing else but power and lustre, and so it makes itself manifest, and brings itself into essence: And the spirit which proceeds forth out of the fire burning in the oil, viz. in the light from the fire and light, gives reason and understanding; for it has originally taken its rise in the nothing, and was the desire to nature; and has brought itself through all the properties of nature, through heat and cold, through the dying in the fire through the light, and dwells again in the nothing.

16. It is a prover and knower of all the properties, for it is generated through all, and proceeded forth from all; it is as a Nothing, and yet has all things, and passes through heat and cold, and yet none of them apprehend it; as we see that the life of the creature dwells in heat and cold, and yet the right life is neither hot nor cold.

17. Now therefore understand us right: This birth in the eternity is spiritual, but in the time it is material; for I cannot say of God that he is darkness and fire, much less air, water, or earth; but in his eternal desire he has so formed himself with the time in the place of this world into such an essence, which he formed in the speaking Mercury according to the properties of the will, and brought with the expressed word into such a formation according to the properties of the desire in the eternal nature, viz. in the verbum fiat.

18. Now the expressed word, viz. the eternal nature's property is understood in Sulphur, for therein is the sevenfold wheel of the birth, which in the spirit, viz. in the first conception to nature, is a constellation, and divides itself out of the constellation in its own peculiar birth into seven properties, and out of the seven properties into four elements.

19. This constellation is a chaos, wherein all things lie, but hidden; and it is the first body, but spiritual; and the sevenfold wheel is the first explication [or working forth] of the chaos, and makes the second body, viz. the reason; the second manifests the first, and it is also a spiritual body; the third body is elementary, a cabinet of both the first, and is a visible tangible body.

20. The first body, viz. the chaos, or the first constellation, seeing it is spiritual, is the word expressed out of the eternal conception; the same has again its speaking in itself, which is the mercurial wheel in the Sulphur with the seven forms, which speaks forth again from itself the four elements.

21. Thus the one proceeds forth from the other; the first before the chaos is the lubet of eternity in the abyss, which takes in itself a will to its own manifestation; this is all God; and the will conceives in itself a desire in the lubet; this is the chaos, or first astrum,240 wherein consists the eternal nature, which with the desire to nature introduces itself into seven forms, as is before mentioned, and so manifests the chaos, viz. the eternal hidden wisdom of God; and with the desire in the mercurial wheel the element is formed, being a spiritual body of the mercurial life.

22. Now all this is twofold, viz. the desire makes in itself in its impression the darkness, wherein is the strong might of the enkindling of nature, and it is painful; and the free lubet to the desire makes in itself through the enkindling of the desire light and pleasing motion; the light is the power and lustre, and the element is its body, or essence; whereas yet it is only spiritual: Thus the fire-desire is a joyfulness in the free lubet, and in the darkness it is an aching painful source.

23. Out of this whole essence man was created to the image of God, and understand us right, he stood after and in the creation in the dominion of the element; the mercurial wheel241 in Sulphur stood in the light, and in the free lubet of eternity; but he departed further with his desire into the four elements, viz. into the centre of darkness, from whence heat and cold arise.

24. His desire in the beginning was bent [inclined] into the liberty of God, viz. into the element, where he was resigned in God; and then God's love-will ruled him with the free lubet's property, but he departed out of the free lubet of God, out of the resignation into a self-will, which he forged in the centre to nature, from whence the pain and torture arise, viz. heat and cold, so also astringency, sour bitterness, and all the properties of the dark impression.

25. Even there he fell into the eternal death, viz. into the dying source, in which the mercurial life in the Sulphur rules in the poison, where one form in the mercurial sphere does envy, hate, annoy, and destroy the other, where there is meer anguish, aching, tormenting, and enmity; for the free lubet was quenched in him, wherein the holy element, viz. the divine body consists, and there arose in the same pure element the four elements of the outward source; there the image of God was cursed, which is nothing else but that God's love-will, which ruled in the image of his likeness, withdrew from man, and so man fell into the dominion of nature: And seeing the four elements have a temporal beginning and end, and must again enter into the end, therefore also the human body, which is now become wholly earthly in the four elements, must fall again into the four elements, and be destroyed therein: And therefore now we are to consider of his cure and restoration, how he may again be delivered from death, and be again introduced with the body into the pure element, and with the spirit into the dominion of God's will.

26. Now there is no other remedy but that he with the spirit which arises in the chaos, and was inspired by God's will-spirit into the created image, does again depart out of his self-hood, viz. out of his natural will, and resign himself up fully and freely into the first will, which in the beginning formed him into an image: He must wholly die to his self-hood in himself in the death of the dark impression (as far as he lives therein to his own will in the self-desire of the outward life of the four elements) and cast himself with total resignation into God's will, viz. into God's mercy, that he may no longer live and will to himself, but to God, viz. to the first will of God, which created him in its image, whereby God manifested himself in an image; and so he is with the first astrum, viz. with the chaos of the soul, again in the same comprehension wherein God created him to his image.

27. But seeing the self-hood, viz. the self-will, strives against this, and will in no wise die to its self-hood (understand the will of the outward world, which is from the outward stars and four elements), therefore God's food must be given to the inward will of the spirit to eat of, that it may live without need and hunger as to the outward being, that it may continually mortify and break the will of the earthly self-hood, till the earthliness, viz. the earthly body, does freely unloose or dissolve itself in death, and also enter again into the mother, from whence it was created, and forsake its self-hood, that the pure body of the element (in which the true life in God's will-spirit does again enkindle the soul in the resigned will242) and the disappeared body from the pure element may become a mansion of the soul, viz. a paradisical budding [or bloomy renovation in the eternal spring-time of paradise].

28. And that the own will of the soul might be able to do this, viz. that it might break itself off from its self-hood, and willingly enter into the death of its self-hood, and become a nothing in its self-hood, the free will of God, viz. the eternal lubet to the chaos of the soul, which is the eternal Mercury in the power of the majesty, is again entered into the disappeared image of God proceeded from the pure element, viz. into the virgin-like life, and draws the will of the soul to itself, and gives it again out of love and grace the heavenly corporality of the pure element for food, and the water in that element in the tincture of the fire and light, viz. of the eternal life, for drink: And it has incorporated itself in the humanity, and freely tenders itself to all souls with full desire: That soul which dies to its self-hood, and brings its hunger again into God's mercy, may enjoy this food, whereby it again becomes the first creature in God's love.243 

29. Now we are to consider how the poor soul captivated in God's anger, being void of the heavenly food, lives in mere anguish, and distress, and restless pain; as the outward earthly body in its properties lives in its hunger in mere anguish, distress, and oppressing pain, unless the soul with the pure element does so overpower and keep it under, that it does not fully domineer in its own dominion of the outward astrum and four elements in the poisonful mercurial wheel, according to the dark impression, by reason of the influence of the element: If the universal does withstand it, then it may stand in quiet rest, but yet no longer than the inward penetrates the outward [body], and tinctures it: There is in the four elements no perfection, till the body is changed again into the pure element; therefore it must enter again into that from whence the four elements arise.

30. Now in this time of the four elements there is mere pain and vexation;244 the soul amuses itself on the outward astrum, which forces into it, from whence its false imagination arises, and the body stirs up the poisonful mercurial wheel, from whence sickness and pains befall it; therefore the soul must be cured with the inward perfection, viz. by the speaking word, wherein it stands in God's hand, which alone is able to tincture the soul, and bring it into rest: The outward body must be tinctured and healed with the expressed Mercury; and if the outward Mercury does also stand in the curse as a poison-wheel, then he must be tinctured with his own light in his mother in the body [or womb] of Sulphur: Mercury's own will and hunger must be broken, that the envious odious hunger may become a love desire.

31. And now to know how this may be brought to pass, we must consider the generation in Sulphur, from whence joy and sorrow do arise; for the poisonful Mercury may not otherwise be resisted, and also nothing can resist it, but its own mother which brings it forth, in whose womb it is couched: As nothing can resist the cold but the heat only, and yet the heat is the cold's son; so also the poisonful Mercury must be resisted with its own child, which he himself generates in his mother's womb out of heat and cold out of himself.

32. As the love proceeding from the heart of the Father, which is his Son, withstands the anger of the Father, whereby the Father is merciful; so likewise it is in the expressed word or Mercury.

33. Now understand it thus: I do not mean that the cold poison of Mercury should be, or could be resisted with the enkindled heat; no, but if the cold poison be enkindled, then the remedy must be from the same likeness; but it must be first freed from the coldness, viz. from the enflamed cold wrath, and brought into meekness, and then it does also still and appease the hunger of the cold's desire in the disease of the body: For if enkindled heat be administered to the enkindled cold, then the cold is dismayed at the heat, and falls into a swound, viz. into death's property; and so the heat becomes in this death's property a poison-life, viz. an anxious sting; and the mercurial wheel runs into sadness, viz. into sickness, or a crazy dotage, wherein all joy is forgotten.

34. For if the life shall subsist in its own right, then the heat and cold must stand in equality,245 that so they may accord one with another, and no enmity or disaffection246 be at all in any of them; the one must not exceed or over-top the other, but they must stand in one will; for the enkindled cold desires no heat, but only likeness: Every hunger desires only likeness for its food, but if the hunger be too strongly enkindled in the cold, such a cure is not to be given it which is so enkindled; indeed it must be in as high a degree in the cold; but the violent force must be first taken away from it; so that it may be only as the mother which generates it, not according to the enkindled poison-source, but according to the mother's joy; and so the sickness, viz. the poison in the anguish, will be likewise changed into such a joy, and so the life receives again its first property.

35. The raw opposite body does not belong to the cure, but its oil, which must be mollified with its own love, understand with a meek essence, which also belongs to the same property; for the seven forms of nature are only one in the centre: Therefore that oil must be brought so far in the wheel, till it enters into its highest love-desire, and then it is rightly fit for cure; for there is nothing so evil but it has a good in it, and that very good resists its evil [or poisonful malignity].

36. Thus also in the same sickness it may withstand the enkindled wrath in the body; for if the cold poison be enkindled in the body, then its good falls into faintness;247 and if it cannot obtain the likeness of its essence for its help, it remains in faintness; and then the enkindled wrath also does immediately consume itself, and falls also into faintness; and so the natural death is in both, and the moving life in the body ceases; but if it attains the likeness,248 then it gathers strength again, and the enkindled hunger of the disease must cease.

37. In like manner also we are to consider of the heat, which needs no cold property, but the likeness; yet it must be first freed from the wrath of the same likeness, and brought into its own highest joy and good, so that this likeness does not effectually249 operate either in heat or cold, but in its own love-desire, viz. in its best relish, and so it will bring the heat in the body into such a desire: All corruptions in the body proceed from the cold; if the brimstone be too vehemently enkindled by the heat, then the right and property of the cold dies, and enters into sorrow.

38. Mercury is the moving250 life in all, and his mother is Sulphur; now the life and death lie in Sulphur, viz. in the wrestling mercurial wheel. In the Sulphur there is fire, light, and darkness; the impression causes darkness, coldness, and hardness, and also great anguish: and from the impression of the attraction Mercury takes his rise, and he is the sting of the attraction, viz. the motion or disquietude, and arises in the great anguish of the impression, where coldness, viz. a dark cold fire, by reason of the hardness, arises in the impression; and in the sting of anguish, viz. in the disquietude, an hot fire arises.

39. Now Mercury is the wheel of motion, and a stirring up of the cold and heat; and in this placeit is only a painful aching source in heat and cold, viz. a cold and hot fiery poison-anguish, and forces forward as a wheel, and yet it is a cause of joy, and all life and motion; but if it shall be freed from the anguish, and introduced into the joy, then it must be brought forth through death.

40. Now every sickness and malady is a death's property; for Mercury has too much enkindled and enflamed himself either in heat or cold, whereby the essence or flesh, which he has attracted to himself in his desire, viz. in his mother in the Sulphur, is burnt, whereby the earthliness arises both in the water and flesh: Even as the matter of the earth and stones, viz. the grossness of the same, is nothing else but a burnt Sulphur, and water in Mercury is his property, where the salniter in the flagrat of the mercurial wheel, from whence the manifold salts arise, is burnt [or too vehemently enflamed], from whence come the stink and evil taste.

41. Otherwise if the Mercury did so effectually operate therein in the oil of Sulphur, that he might be brought through the death of the impression from the heat and cold, then the earth would be again in paradise, and the joy-desire would again spring [or bloom afresh] through the anguish of the cold's impression: And this is the cause that God laid the curse upon the earth; for the mercurial wheel was deprived of its good (viz. the love-desire, which arises in the eternal liberty, and manifests itself with this mercurial wheel through cold and heat, and proceeds forth through the fire, and makes a shining of the light) and the curse was brought thereinto, which is a withdrawing of the love-desire.

42. Now this Mercury, being a life in the Sulphur of its mother, stands in the curse, viz. in the anguish of heat and cold, and makes in his flagrat, or salnitral walm, continually salts, according to such property as he is in each place, and as he is enkindled in each body; these salts are only the taste in the seven properties.

43. Now if the Mercury be too vehemently enkindled in the cold, then he makes in the salnitral flagrat in his mother in the Sulphur a cold hard impressive salt, from whence melancholy, darkness, and sadness arise in the life of Sulphur; for observe what salt is in each thing, such a lustre of the fire, and such a vital shining from the fire is also therein; but if Mercury be enkindled in immoderate heat, he then burns up the cold essence, and makes raging pains and achings according to the impression, and according to the sting's property, from whence arises in the Sulphur great heat and inflammation; he dries up and consumes the water, so that the desire's hunger or sting has then no food to satisfy its wrathful hunger, upon which he rages and tears in the salt, as it is the poison's property [so to do], from whence the painful distemper in the flesh arises.

44. But if he obtains the likeness again in the property as he stands in the centre of his mother, viz. in the Sulphur, understand as she has generated him in the beginning, viz. as he at first came forth to the natural life in both tinctures of man and woman, understand in the child where his life did enkindle, then he is freed from all anguish, and enters again into the likeness of the heat and cold; and though the strife arises in many even from the very womb, yet the combat is first raised up after the beginning of the life: In the life's beginning the life enters into its highest joy; for the gates of the three principles are opened in equal accord; but the strife soon begins about the conquest between the darkness and light.

45. But now we are to consider what is to be done to Mercury, if he be enkindled251 either in heat or cold, whereby he raises up sickness and pains: Now it were very good that men had the right cure; but alas! it will remain hidden and covered by reason of the curse of the earth, and the abominations and sins of men, because they awaken this poison in Mercury with their immoderate bestiality.252 

46. Yet the poor captive has need of deliverance; and though men have not the high universal, which reaches the centre, and brings the wheel of life into its first property, yet men must take from the mercurial walm253 of the earth its fruits thereunto, seeing the body is also become earthly: A man must accord (or assimulate) one likeness with another, one salt with another, according as the inflammation is in the salt of the body: For observe, in what property the brimstone is enkindled, either in heat or cold, in melancholy or falling sickness (whether the brimstone be burnt too in the body and putrified, or whether it be yet fresh and burning), even such an herb, such a brimstone belongs to the cure, lest the heat or cold be terrified in the salniter, where the salt arises, by a strange might which comes into it, and generates a mort254 salt, and sets open more and more the house of sadness: But it is not sufficient and powerful enough in its wild nature and property as it grows out of the walm255 of the earth; it is not able to master the root of the enkindled Mercury in the brimstone, but it does more vehemently enkindle it in such a source and property.

47. That which thou desirest should happen to the body, the same must first happen to that which shall cure the body: To the cure of a foul sickness there belongs a foul brimstone, and so to a cold or hot sickness the like is to be understood; for look in what degree of the fire or cold Mercury is enkindled, and in what form among the seven properties of nature; that is, what salt soever among the seven salts is enkindled, such a salt belongs to the cure: For sickness is nothing else but an hunger; now the hunger desires nothing else but its likeness; but now the property of that life, which in its beginning of its rise stood in joy, is the root; and the sickness is its immoderate enkindling, whereby the order [or temperature] is broken and divided: Thus the root desires in its hunger the likeness, but the inflammation has taken it away; now the inflammation is stronger than the root, therefore the hunger of the inflammation must be appeased, and that which itself is must be administered to it.

48. But as God cured us with his love, and restored to us the salvation of the soul, when we had enkindled the same in the poisonful Mercury of his anger; in like manner also this likeness must be first cured and circulated in the mercurial wheel, and freed from the heat and cold; indeed not taken away from them (this cannot be, and it were also unprofitable), but it must be brought into his highest joy, and then it will make such a property in the body in the Mercury of the brimstone and salt; for the root of life does again quicken itself therein, and lifts up the first desire, so that now the hunger vanishes in the fall of the inflammation.

49. Now it behoves the physician to know how he may deal with the medicaments in the likeness, so that he does not enrage them, and bring them into another property; for in their property they are even as a man's life is: He must take care that they remain in their degree, as they are originally brought forth in their mother; for nothing can come higher than it is in the centre of its original according to the hiddenness; but if it shall come higher, then it must assume another property to itself; and so it is not in its own degree, and has not its proper virtue, but an improper one; which indeed may very well be, but it has lost its nature-right, wherein it stands in joy, and is not able to effect any proper operation in the assimulate of its own nature.

50. Therefore there is nothing better than to let everything remain in its innate genuine virtue; only its wrath must be changed into its own joy, that so its own virtue according to the good part may be advanced into its dominion, and then in the likeness it is powerful enough in all sicknesses without any other mixture: For the original in the life desires no other multiplicity, but only its likeness, that it may stand, live, and burn in its own power and property.

51. The power of the Most High has given to all things (to every one according to its property) a fixed perfection; for "all was very good," as Moses says, but with the curse the turba is introduced, so that the properties stand in the strife of Mercury; yet in each property, in every herb, or whatever is, in whatever grows or arises out of the walm256 of the four elements, there is a fixity hidden; for all things which are in the four elements are originally sprung forth out of the eternal element, in which there is no strife, neither heat nor cold, but all things were in equal weight of all the properties in a love-play, as it is so now in paradise; and the same [paradise] sprung forth in the beginning of this world before the curse through the earth: Thus it is also yet hidden in all things, and may be opened by understanding and art, so that the first virtue may overcome the enflamed malignity.

52. Though we men have not full power to do it in self-might, yet it may be done in God's permission, who has again turned his mercy towards us,257 and again opened paradise and its comprehension in man: Hath God given us power to become his children, and to rule over the world? Why then not over the curse of the earth? Let none hold it for impossible; there is required only a divine understanding and knowledge thereunto, which shall blossom in the time of the lily, and not in Babel, for whom we also have not written.
 
## Chapter 14. Of The Wheel Of Sulphur, Mercury, And Salt; Of The Generation Of Good And Evil...

OF THE WHEEL OF SULPHUR, MERCURY, AND SALT; OF THE GENERATION OF GOOD AND EVIL; SHEWING HOW THE ONE IS CHANGED INTO THE OTHER, AND HOW ONE MANIFESTS ITS PROPERTY IN THE OTHER, AND YET BOTH REMAIN IN THE FIRST CREATION IN THE WONDER OF GOD TO HIS OWN MANIFESTATION AND GLORY

1. This is an open gate of the foregoing description: Every one says, "Shew me the way to the manifestation of the good." Hear and observe well, dear reason; thou must thyself be the way, the understanding must be born in thee, otherwise I cannot shew it thee; thou must enter into it, so that the understanding of the work in its practic art, wherein I deal not, may be opened to thee; I write only in the spirit of contemplation; how the generation of good and evil is, and open the fountain: He shall draw the water whom God has appointed thereunto; I will here only describe the wheel of life as it is258 in itself.

2. When I speak of Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, I speak of one only thing, be it either spiritual or corporeal; all created things are that one thing, but the properties in the generation of this only thing make a difference [or give various gradual distinctions]; for when I name a man, or lion, bear, wolf, hare, or any other beast; yea also a root, herb, tree, or whatever may be named, it is the same only thing.

3. All whatever is corporeal is the same being; the herbs and trees, and also the animals, but each thing in its difference of the first beginning: According as the property in the verbum fiat has imprinted itself in each thing, so is that kind in its propagation, and all things stand in the seed and procreation; and there is not anything but has a fixity in it, be it either hidden or manifest, for all shall stand to the glory of God.

4. Whatever is risen from the eternal fixity, as angels and the souls of men, remains indestructible in its fixt being; but whatever is risen in the unfixt being, viz. with the motion of time, that does again enter into the first motion from whence it has taken its original, and is a map of its form which it had here, like a picture, or as an image in a glass without life; for so it was from eternity before the times of this world, which the Most High has introduced into an image, into the comprehensible natural life in time, to behold the great wonders of his wisdom in a creaturely being, as we plainly see.

5. Now we are to consider the only mother, how the same is in her property, from whence the innumerable multiplicity arises, and has continually risen; and how she generates life and death, evil and good; and how all things may be brought into their first [*ens*], viz. into the place where they originally arise, to which the death, or the dying, is the greatest mystery.

6. For nothing, which is departed out of its first order, as the mother brought it forth, can go back again, and enter with its assumed order into its root, unless it dies again with its assumed order in its mother; and even then it is again in the end, and in the place whence it was created, and so it stands again in the verbum fiat, viz. in the bound of its order in the expressed word, and may enter again into that which it was in the beginning before it was corporeal; and there it is good, for it stands again in that from whence it proceeded.

7. Now therefore we are to consider the beginnings of all things, for we cannot say that this world was made out of something, it was only and barely a desire out of the free lubet, that the abyss, viz. the highest good or being, viz. the eternal will, would behold itself in the lubet as in a glass; therefore the eternal will has conceived the lubet, and brought it into a desire, which has impressed itself, and figurised, and corporised itself both to a body and spirit according to the same impression's property, according as the impression has introduced itself into forms, whereby the possibilities [or powers] are risen in the impression as a nature.

8. This impression is the only mother of the manifestation of the mystery, and it is called nature and essence, for it manifests what has been from eternity in the eternal will; yet we are to conceive that there was in eternity a nature in the eternal will, as an eternal mind in the will; but it was only a spirit in the will, and the essence of its ability was not made manifest, but only in the looking-glass259 of the will, which is the eternal wisdom, wherein all things which are in this world were known in two centres, viz. according to the fire and light, and then according to the darkness and essence; all which came with the motion of the eternal will through the desire in the will into a manifest mystery, and so introduced itself into a manifest possibility.

9. This is now the essence expressed or made manifest out of eternity into a time, and consists in the fore-mentioned forms in Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, where the one is not divided or parted asunder from the other: It is one eternal essence, and shapes260 itself into the properties of the desire according to the possibility of the manifestation; and we are to understand that one property is not, nor cannot be without the other; they are altogether the same only possibility: And now we will speak of their differences, viz. how this only possibility introduces itself into good and evil, viz. into still peace and constant unquietness.

10. We find seven especial properties in nature, whereby this only mother works all things, which are these, viz. First, the desire, which is astringent, cold, hard, and dark. Secondly, bitter, which is the sting of the astringent hard enclosure;261 this is the cause of all motion and life. Thirdly, the anguish, by reason of the raging in the impression, where the impressed hardness falls into a tearing anguish and pain by reason of the sting.

11. Fourthly, the fire, where the eternal will in this anxious desire introduces itself into an anxious darting flash [or twinkling lightening], viz. into strength and devouring of the darkness, with which the hardness is again consumed, and introduced into a corporeal moving spirit.

12. Fifthly, the egress262 of the free will out of the darkness and out of the fire, and dwelling in itself, where the free will has received the lustre, so that it enlightens and shines as a light out of the fire, and the potent desire of the free will, which it has sharpened in the fire (in that it is dead in the fire to the essence of the darkness of the first form, and consumed) does now in the light's desire draw into itself the essence from the dying of the fire, according to its hunger, which is now water; and in the lustre it is a tincture from the fire and light, viz. a love-desire, or a beauty of colours;263 and here all colours arise; as we have fully set it down in our other books, but especially in the *Threefold Life of Man*.

13. Sixthly, the voice or sound, which in the first form is only a noise from the hardness, and is dead or mortified as to that [hardness] in the fire, and yet in the fifth form, in the love-desire, viz. in the pleasant property, it is again received as a clear sound out of the dying of the fire in the lustre of the light in the tincture, wherein all the five senses, viz. Hearing, Seeing, Feeling, Smelling, and Tasting, arise in the tincture of the light from the fire.

14. Seventhly, the menstruum, or the seed of all these forms which the desire impresses into a comprehensive body or essence wherein all lies; whatever the six forms are spiritually, that the seventh is essentially.

15. Thus these are the seven forms of the mother of all beings, from whence all whatever is in this world is generated; and moreover the Most High has, according to this mother,. introduced and created such properties as this mother is in her wrestling forms (understand, as she brings herself with the wrestling into properties) into a wheel,264 which is as a mind of the mother, from whence she continually creates and works; and these are the stars with the planetary orb according to the platform of the eternal astrum, which is only a spirit, and the eternal mind in the wisdom of God, viz. the eternal nature, from whence the eternal spirits are proceeded and entered into a creaturely being.

16. And moreover the Most High has introduced the property of this wheel in the motion, as a life into the four officers, which manage the dominion in the pregnant mother; and these are the four elements to which the wheel of the mind, viz. the astrum affords will and desire; so that this whole being is but one only thing, and yet is so proportioned [or composed] as a mind of a man: Even as he is in soul and body, so also is this only essence; for it265 was created out of this whole essence into an image according to eternity and time; out of eternity according to the soul, and out of time according to the outward essence, as a similitude and image of eternity and time, both according to the eternal will and mind and its essence, and also according to the mind of time and its essence: And therefore now we are rightly to consider of the sulphurean wheel of all essences, how the properties introduce themselves into good and evil, and again bring themselves out of good and evil.

17. The impression or desire, viz. the first form to nature, which is called, and is also the fiat, receives the desire's property according to the property of all the seven forms into itself, and impresses them, so that out of the nothing proceeds forth an essence according to the properties of the will: Now its own property, seeing it is only a desire, and impresses itself, is dark, and causes hardness, viz. a strong pulsation,266 which is a cause of the tone or sound, which becomes yet more hard in the fire, viz. in the fourth form, where then the grossness dies away, and it is received again in the fifth form, viz. in the love-desire; and again it proceeds forth in its own property in the love-desire, and makes the sixth form, viz. the sound, voice, or tone out of the fire and water.

18. Now this tone or sound, which is called Mercury, arises in the first form, viz. in the impression, by reason of the will and attractive desire; for the attraction makes the motions and the compunction in the hardness, which we distinguish, and call the second form, but it is a son of the first, and in the first.

19. This second form or property is the raging, stinging, and bitter pain; for the first is astringent, and the second is drawing, viz. the desire into an essence; this same essence is the property of the first,267 and the attraction makes therein the second property, viz. a bitter stinging which the hardness cannot endure; for it would be still, and thereupon it does more vehemently impress itself to withhold the sting, and yet the sting does thereby only grow the greater: Now the hardness, viz. the astringency draws inwards, and the sting from the hardness268 upwards: Hence arises the first enmity and opposition; for the two forms, which yet are but one, make themselves their own enemies; and yet if this were not, there would not be any essence, neither body nor spirit, also no manifestation of the eternity of the abyss.

20. But now seeing the bitter sting cannot ascend, and the hardness also cannot hold or enclose it, they fall into a turning or breaking through like a wheel, which runs into itself as an horrible essence, where both properties are known only as one, and yet each remains in itself unaltered, and produce the third property between both, viz. the great anguish; out of which the will, understand the fixt will to nature, desires to go forth again into the liberty, viz. into the nothing, into the eternal rest; for here it has thus found itself, and manifested itself, and yet there is no separating or departing: and this anxious form is the mother of Sulphur, for the sting makes it269 painful, and the hardness impresses it, that it is as a dying source, and yet it is the true original to life.

21. It has two properties in itself, viz. according to the impression or desire it is dark and hard; and according to the desire of the will, which wills to be free from the anguish, and enters again into the liberty, it is spiritual and light; and the sting breaks in pieces its conceived essence which the astringent desire conceives in itself, so that its essence is hard and spalt, and wholly darting as a flash of lightning from the darkness, and from the desire of the light, understand to the liberty.

22. Now these three forms are in one essence as a raging spirit; and the desire impresses these properties, so that an essence is made according to their property, viz. according to the astringent dark desire, viz. according to the first original: There is an earthly essence, out of which in the beginning of the great motion the earth was made, and according to the bitter raging spirit there is the instigation in the essence, viz. a poison, and it also imprints [or impresses] itself in the essence, from whence the earthliness is so wholly loathsome and bitter; and the third form, viz. the anguish gives a fiery property thereinto; and yet here there cannot be as yet any essence, but it is only a spiritual essence, and the mother to the essence.270 

23. The fourth form in this essence is the fire, which as to one part takes its original out of the dark hard impression, viz. from the hardness, and from the raging sting in the anguish, which is the cold black fire, and the pain of the great anguish; and as to the other part it takes its original in the will's spirit to nature, which goes again out of this hard dark coldness into itself, viz. into the liberty without the nature of the austere motion, and enkindles the liberty, viz. the eternal lubet to the desire of nature, with its sharpness, which it has conceived in the impression, whereby it is a moving and stirring lustre: For the liberty is neither dark nor light; but by reason of the motion it is light, for its lubet brings itself into the desire to light, that it may be manifest in the light and lustre; and yet it cannot be otherwise brought to pass but through darkness, so that the light might be made known and manifest, and the eternal mind might find and manifest itself; for a will is only one thing and essence, but through the multiplicity its form is made manifest, that it is infinite, and a mere wonder, of which we speak with a babe's tongue, being only as a little spark out of these great infinite wonders.

24. Now understand us thus; the liberty is, and stands in the darkness (and inclining to the dark desire after the desire of the light271), it attains with the eternal will the darkness; and the darkness reaches after the light of the liberty, and cannot attain it; for it encloses itself with the desire in itself, and makes itself darkness in itself; and out of both these, viz. out of the dark impression, and out of the desire of the light or liberty towards the impression, there is a twinkling [or darting] flash in the impression, viz. the original of the fire; for the liberty shines in the impression, but the impression in the anguish comprehends it into itself, and so it is now as a flash: But seeing the liberty is incomprehensible, and as a nothing, and moreover without and before the impression, and abyssal,272 therefore the impression cannot conceive or hold it; but it gives itself into the liberty, and the liberty devours its dark property and essence, and rules with the assumed mobility in the darkness, unapprehensible to the darkness.

25. Thus understand us right: There is in the fire a devouring; the sharpness of the fire is from the austere impression of the coldness and bitterness, from the anguish; and the devouring is from the liberty, which makes out of the something again a nothing according to its property.

26. And understand us very exactly and well: The liberty will not be a nothing, for therefore the lubet of the liberty introduces itself into nature and essence, that it might be manifest in power, wonder, and being; it likewise assumes to itself through the sharpness in the cold and dark impression the properties, that it might manifest the power of the liberty: For it consumes the dark essence in the fire, and proceeds forth out of the fire, out of the anguish of the impression, with the spiritual properties in the light; as you see, that the outward light so shines forth out of the fire, and has not the source and pain of the fire in it, but only the property; the light manifests the properties of the darkness, and that only in itself; the darkness remains in itself dark, and the light continues in itself light.

27. The liberty (which is called God) is the cause of the light; and the impression of the desire is the cause of the darkness and painful source: Now herein understand two eternal beginnings, viz. two principles, one in the liberty in the light, the other in the impression in the pain and source of the darkness, each dwelling in itself.

28. And understand us farther concerning their opening essence and will, how nature is introduced into seven properties; for we speak not of a beginning, for there is none in eternity; but thus the eternal generation is from eternity to eternity in itself; and this same eternal generation has according to the property of eternity through its own desire and motion introduced itself with this visible world (as with a likeness of the eternal spirit into such a creaturely being which is a type or platform of the eternal being) into a time, of which we will speak afterwards, and shew what the creature is, namely a similitude of the operation of eternity, and how it has also this same working temporally in itself.

29. Now concerning the fire understand us thus: The fire is the principle of every life; to the darkness it gives essence and source, else there would be no sensibility in the darkness, also no spirit, but mere hardness, a hard, sharp, bitter, galling sting, as it is really so in the eternal darkness; but so far as the hot fire may be obtained,273 the dark compunctive property stands in the aspiring covetous greediness like to a horrible madness, that it may be known what wisdom and folly is.

30. Now the fire gives also desire, source, and properties to the light, viz. to the liberty; yet know this, the liberty, viz. the nothing, has no essence in itself, but the impression of the austere desire makes the first essence, which the will-spirit of the liberty (which has manifested itself through the nature of the desire) receives into itself, and brings it forth through the fire, where the grossness, viz. the rawness, does then die in the fire.

31. Understand it thus: When the flash of fire reaches the dark essentiality, then it becomes a great flagrat, where the cold fire is dismayed, and does as it were die, falls into a swoon,274  and sinks down: And this flagrat is effected in the enkindling of the fire in the essence of the anguish, which has two properties in it; viz. the one goes downwards into the death's property, being a mortification of the cold fire, from whence the water arises, and according to the grossness275 the earth is risen; and the other part ascends in the will of the liberty, in the lubet, as a flagrat of joyfulness; and this same essence is also mortified in the flagrat in the fire, understand the cold fire's property, and gives also a water-source, understand such a property.

32. Now the flash, when it is enkindled by the liberty, and by the cold fire, makes in its rising a cross with the comprehension of all properties; for here arises the spirit in the essence, and it stands thus: 

If thou hast here re understanding, thou needest ask no more; it is eternity and time, God in love and anger, moreover heaven and hell.

33. The lower part, which is thus marked , is the first principle, and is the eternal nature in the anger, viz. the kingdom of darkness dwelling in itself; and the upper part, with this figure is the salniter: The upper cross above the circle is the kingdom of glory, which proceeds forth in the flagrat of joy, in the will of the free lubet in itself out of the fire in the lustre of the light into the power of the liberty; and this spiritual water, which also arises in the flagrat of joy, is the corporality, or essentiality, in which the lustre from the fire and light makes a tincture, viz. a budding and growing, and a manifestation of colours from the fire and light.

34. And this form of separation between the living and the dead essentiality is the fifth form, and is called the love-desire; its original is from the liberty, which in the fire has introduced itself into a desire, viz. out of the lubet of the liberty into the fair and fiery elevation of joy, being a flame of love, which also imprints in its love-desire the property of that which it has conceived in the will of the eternal mind, which brings itself through the fire's sharpness again into itself, viz. into the first properties, which arise in the first impression, viz. from the motion and stirring; and the joyfulness arises out of the anguish: For this is joy, that the will to nature is delivered and freed from the dark anguish, for else there would be no knowledge of what joy was, if there was not a painful source; and in its love-desire it conceives the first properties in the first impression, which divide themselves in this desire into five forms; viz. from the fire-flash into seeing, for the water of love reaches the lustre of the tincture,wherein the sight consists; and from the hardness, viz. from the penetration of the sting in the hardness, into hearing, so that in this same nothing, viz. in the liberty, there is a sound, which the tincture catches, and brings it forth in the water of the desire: and from the raging sting into feeling, so that one property feels another; for if all properties were only one, there would be no seeing, hearing, or feeling, also no understanding: And from the assimulation, that one property arises in the other, but with another property, comes the taste; and from the egressive spirit of the properties (in that the egress of each property enters into the other) arises the smell.

35. Now these five forms do all of them together make in the love-desire, viz. in the fifth form, the sixth, that is, the sound or voice, as a manifestation of all the forms in the spirit's property, which the fiery light's desire encloses with the spiritual water as one only essence, which is now the fiery will's own essence, which has brought itself forth in the light, wherein it works and makes the seventh form, as an habitation of the sixth, from whence the essence and dominion of this world were generated, and introduced into a form according to the right276 of the eternal birth.

36. Now understand us right; we do not hereby understand a beginning of the Deity, but the manifestation of the Deity: The Deity is herein known and manifested in Trinity; the Deity is the eternal liberty without all nature, viz. the eternal abyss; but thus it brings itself into byss for its own manifestation, eternal wisdom, and deeds of wonder.

37. The Eternal Father is manifested in the fire, and the Son in the light of the fire, and the Holy Spirit in the power of the life and motion proceeding from the fire in the light of the kingdom of joy, being the egressive power in the love-flame; we speak only by parts of the universal as a creature.277 

38. The Deity is wholly everywhere all in all; but he is only called God according to the light of love, and according to the proceeding spirit of joy; but according to the dark impression he is called God's anger and the dark world; and according to the eternal fire-spirit he is called a consuming fire.

39. We give you only to understand the Being of all beings, whose original in itself is only one eternal essence; but with its own manifestation it comes into many beings, to its own honour and glory; and now we will shew you what the creature's life and dominion is in this all-essential Being.

40. Now therefore understand us right what we mean by these three words, Sulphur, Mercury, and Sal: In the eternity all is spirit; but when God moved himself with the eternal nature, wherein his own manifestation consists, he produced out of the spiritual essence a palpable and manifest essence, and introduced it into a creaturely being according to the eternal properties, which also consists of spirit and essence, according to the right278 [or law] of eternity.

41. And now I will speak of the outward kingdom, viz. of the third principle or beginning; for in this world there is also light and darkness in each other as in the eternity: God has given this world a sun, as a nature-god of the outward powers, but he rules therein as Lord; the outward [kingdom] is only his prepared work, which he rules and makes with the assimulate, as a master makes his work with an instrument.

42. Sulphur is in the outward world, viz. in the mystery of the great God's manifestation, the first mother of the creatures; for it arises out of darkness, fire, and light; it is on one part, according to the dark impression, astringent, bitter, and anxious; and on the other part, towards the Deity, as a similitude of the Deity, it is fire, light, and water, which in the fire separates itself into two forms, viz. according to the mortification into water, and according to the life into oil, in which the true life of all the creatures of the outward world consists.

43. Mercury is the wheel of motion in the Sulphur; he is on one part according to the dark impression the stinging rager, and the great unquietness, and separates itself also in the fire in its mother, viz. in the Sulphur, into two properties, viz. into a twofold water; for in the mortification of the fire all is turned to water, understand into a living pleasant water according to the light, which produces silver in the brimstone, viz. in the seventh property of nature, which is the powerful body, and in the fire its water is quicksilver, and in the astringency, viz. in the anguish of the darkness, it is a rust or smoke; therefore if its outward water-body be cast into the fire, understand [that body] which it receives in Sulphur from the watery property, then it does evaporate,279  for in the fire every property separates itself again into the first essence, from whence it came originally, where all things were only a spirit.

44. And then secondly it separates itself according to the water of the dark impression into a poison-source, which yet cannot be understood to be a water, but only a corporeal essence of the spirit; for as the spirit's property is, so is also its water; and even so it is in the fire-flagrat.

45. Further understand us in the fiery flagrat concerning the salniter, from whence the manifold salts and powers arise; for all the properties of the spirit are become corporeal in the great motion of the essence of all essences, and entered into a visible and comprehensible being: This flagrat is effected in the enkindling of the fire; and in the mortification of the fire it impresses into itself from the water's original a water, according to the property of the flagrat, which yet is rather fire than water, but its mortal essence is water according to the property of the flagrat; it is the comprisal of all properties, it brings forth in its comprehension, viz. in the fiery flagrat all properties in itself, and apprehends the property of the light in its powers, and also the property of the dark impression in its powers, and makes all fiery; one part according to the coldness, and one part according to the heat; but the most part according to the endless Mercury, which is the life of all essences in evil and good, in light and darkness.

46. This salniter is the mother of all salts in vegetables and animals, viz. in herbs and trees and everything; he is in all things, which give a taste and smell, the first root according to each thing's property; in the good (which grow in the love-desire in the oil of brimstone) he is good, powerful, and pleasant; and in the evil he is evil in the anguish of brimstone; and in the darkness he is the eternal horror and despair, continually desiring in the flagrat to aspire above the gates in the fire, from whence arises the will of all devils, and of all pride, to ascend above the humility of the love-desire; and in the fire is the trial of his essence, as we see how he clashes and consumes himself in the flash as a sudden thought.

47. For its essence arises not in the essence of eternity, also it cannot inherit it, but in the enkindling of the temporal fire, yet it is perceived in the eternal spirit by reason of the elevation of the joy; but according to the essence of mortification, viz. according to the salt of the fire it subsists in the fire: For this property arises out of the first desire, viz. in the essence of the first impression, which property the philosophers call Saturn, therefore the salt is manifold: All sharpness in the taste is salt, the good taste arises out of the oleous salt, and so also the smell, which is the egressive spirit in which the tincture appears as a lustre [or fair complexion] of colours.

48. Thus understand us right; the salniter in the fire-flagrat is the separation of the properties, where death and life separate themselves, viz. the life which enters with the love-desire into an essence and dominion; and then the life which in the flagrat of death, according to the property of the cold, sinks down in the mortification of the flagrat as an impotency, and gives weight; and according to the subtility it gives water, and according to the grossness of the austereness earth; and according to Sulphur and Mercury, sand and stones; and according to the subtility in Sulphur and Mercury, understand according to the water of the same, it makes flesh, and according to the anxious darkness a smoke or rust; but according to the oleous property, viz. according to the love-desire, a sweet spiritual essence; and according to the spirit a pleasant smell; and according to the moving of the fire and light the [one] element; and from the lustre in the fire-flagrat with aspect of the light the precious tincture, which tinctures all oily salts, from whence the pleasant taste and smell arise.

49. The salnitral flagrat is the sude280 in the essence, from whence the growth and pullulation arise, that there is a growing in the impression of the essence; the salt is the preservation, or upholding of the essence, so that a thing subsists in a body or comprehension; it holds the Sulphur and Mercury, else they would part from each other in the fire-flagrat.

50. All things consist of Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt: In the salnitral flagrat the element separates itself into four properties, viz. into Fire, Air, Water, and Earth, which in itself is none of these, but only a moving and gentle walming,281 not as the air, but as a moving of the will in the body, a cause of life in the essence; for as the eternal Spirit of God proceeds from the Father, who is a spirit from the fire and light, and is the motion and life of the eternity; so likewise the air proceeds forth continually out of all the properties in the salnitral flagrat in the fire, from the anguish in Sulphur in the forcing mercurial wheel, as an impetuous aspiring motion; it is a son of all the properties, and also the life of the same; the fire of all the forms affords it, and also receives it again for its life; the water is its body, wherein it makes the seething in the salniter, and the earth is its power, wherein it enkindles its strength and fire-soul.

51. There is but one only element, and that unfolds itself in the salnitral flagrat into four parts, viz. with the enkindling it gives a consuming fire of the darkness, and its essence; and in the flagrat of the dying of the cold and the darkness it parts itself into essences, viz. according to the subtility into water, and according to the grossness into earth; and then according to the motion in the flagrat's walming into air, which does most resemble the element, but not wholly essentially; for the [one] element is neither hot nor cold, also not forcing or compulsive, but gently moving.

Of the Desire of the Properties

52. Every property keeps its own desire; for a property is nothing else but an hunger, and the hunger forms itself into such an essence as itself is, and in the salnitral sude it gives such a spirit into the four elements; for the original of the sude is in the element, from whence four elements proceed in this flagrat.

53. Each body stands in the inward motion282 in the element, and in the growth and life in the four elements; but every creature has not the true life of the element, but only the high spirits, as angels and souls of men, which stand in the first principle; in them the element is incitable: In the life of the third principle it stands still, and is as a hand of God, where he holds and governs the four elements as an exit, or instrument with which he works and builds.

54. Now every property of nature does in its hunger take its food out of the four elements; as the hunger is, so it takes a property out of the elements; for the four elements are the body of the properties, and each spirit eats of its own body.

55. First, there are the sulphurean properties according to the first and second impression, viz. according to the dark, astringent, and anxious impression; and then according to the love-impression in the light, viz. according to evil and good.

56. The dark hunger desires essence according to its property, viz. earthly things, all whatever resembles the earth; and the bitter hunger desires bitter raging, stinging, and pain; it receives into itself such an essence (as the poison-source) out of the elements: And the hunger of anguish desires anxious hunger, viz. the anguish in the brimstone; also the melancholy [takes] the desire to die, and continual sadness; and the fire-flash receives into it anger, aspiring, ambition, pride, a desiring to destroy all, and make it subject to it, a desire to domineer in and above all, to consume all, and to be peculiar; and it takes the bitterness from whence the flash arises to envy and hatred, and the astringency to covetousness, and the fire to anger and indignation.

57. Here is the true desire of God's anger and all devils, and of all whatever is against God and love; and this hunger draws such an essence into self; as it is to be known and searched out in the creatures, and also in the herbs.

58. Now the fire-flash is the end of the first desire, viz. of the dark nature, and in the fire the dying of the first hunger and will begins; for the fire consumes all grossness of the first forms, and casts them into death; and here is the separation of both wills, viz. the one which enters back again into the property of death, and is a will in the life of the dark desire; as the devils have done, who would domineer in the fire-flash in the salnitral sude over time and eternity; but they were driven back by the Spirit of God, and spewed forth out of the love-desire as an abomination: And thus also it happens here to the wicked soul of man, upon which the election follows. Here is the [aim] or scope of the election of grace, of which the Scripture speaks, that God knows his; and here the eternal lubet of God's liberty apprehends the will-spirit, which is arisen in the dark centre, and brings it through the dying in the fire into the element.

59. In the salnitral flagrat lies the possibility backwards and forwards; if the will of the desire goes back, then it is as to the kingdom of this world [earthly], and as to the kingdom of the eternal world it is in God's anger, and cannot see God unless it be converted, and enters into the dying in the fire, and wholly dies to its selfness, and enters into the resignation of the eternal will in the salnitral flagrat into the element, viz. into the heavenly essentiality and corporality, so that the hunger may eat of the pure element; and then it has further no other desire; for it is in the fire dead to the austere dark hunger, which is evil; thus from the dying in the fire arises the light, for here the liberty is enkindled, that it becomes also an hunger, and a desire; this is now a love-desire, a love-hunger.

60. In the outward world it is the light of the sun in the four elements; and it is the bestial love-desire, viz. after the sulphurean body and essence, from whence the copulation and multiplication arise, viz. the vegetative life; and from the Mercury in the salniter (in which the sensible life is) therein the astrum gives the reason in the animals from the properties of the salniter.

61. For the whole astrum is nothing else but a salniter in the verbum fiat in the motion of the Being of all beings in the fiery flagrat, comprehended in the properties of the salts, wherein all the powers of the element stand as an external birth, which continually boil283 in the four elements as a salnitral salt, and introduce their property in their desire in the four elements into the essence of bodies, as is to be seen in trees, herbs, grass, and all growing things.

62. Thus understand us farther concerning the second centre, which is manifest in the dying of the fire in the light, whereby the abyss of God's liberty introduces itself into the byss of nature, both with the inward world in the kingdom of heaven in the eternity; and then also with the outward kingdom in the time.

63. Now all this has also the properties of the desire, and takes its original from the first principle, viz. from the first centre, and there is yet no right dying in the fire; the dark essence only dies, and the will-spirit goes forth with the eternal will to nature again out of the fiery death in the light; it is only a transmutation of the spirit, so that an hunger arises out of the liberty, and this hunger is a love-desire; as to the soul of man it draws essence from the element of God, viz. in the divine salniter it [takes] the divine salts or powers into itself; and as to the outward world's desire it draws the oil out of the Sulphur into itself, in which [oil] the outward life burns; and so it is likewise in the vegetables and metals, and other things.

64. The sun makes the outward transmutation, and the divine light in the soul's property makes the inward; according as each thing stands in its degree, so does its hunger reach a property: those which are in the time [receive a property] from the time, and those in eternity likewise out of eternity: The hunger which proceeds from eternity eats of the eternity, and that which is of the time eats of the time. The true life of all creatures eats of the spiritual Mercury, viz. of the sixth form, where all salts are essentially; the spirit cats of the five senses, for they are the spirit's corporality; and the body, viz. the vegetable life, eats of the essence of the Sulphur and Salt; for Christ says in like manner, "Man liveth not by bread only, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

65. Now the sixth form of nature is the expressed spiritual word; and the speaking word therein is the eternal word: In the first impression in the darkness it is the word of God's anger; and in the outward world it is the poisonful Mercury, viz. a cause of all life and stirring, of all tones and sounds; now every property eats of its likeness in its degree; the hunger of time [eats] of time, and the hunger of eternity [eats] of eternity, both the spirit of Mercury and the spirit of Sulphur; whereas yet there are not two [spirits] but only two properties; all whatever does only take its original in one principle, as the creatures of the outward world, they have only one region, but a twofold inclination from the good and evil; but whatever takes its original out of two principles, as man, he has also a twofold food and dominion, viz. from the dark centre, and from the outward centre; but if he dies to his self-hood, and brings his hunger into God's kingdom, then he may eat of the divine Mercury, viz. of the five divine senses with the soul, and of the element in the divine essence; and yet the outward man apprehends not in this life-time the divine essence corporeally, but only through the imagination, where the inward body penetrates the outward; as the sun shines through the water, and yet the water continues still water, for here lies our fall in Adam.

66. The element did wholly penetrate the four elements, and it was wholly one in man, but in the curse the element separated from the soul, so that the poor soul now lives only in the vessel of the four elements, unless it again enters in the death of its earthly will into the divine desire, and springs forth in the element.

67. Thus also the outward body is in the curse, and eats of the cursed earth's property, viz. only of the earthly salniter, where one hunger of the earthly properties continually opposes another; for the curse is a loathsome abominate in all salts, and from thence it comes that a constant contrariety arises in the outward body; for one hunger of the properties receives [or catches] from the other the abominate:284 Now to help the body that it may be freed from the abominate, it must take the assimulate of the lothing abominate, which is risen in the body as a sude or seething, and introduce it into the dying of the fire, and bring it out in the love-desire from the curse of the vanity; now this is no otherwise effected, but as the true life dies to the dark vanity.

68. The abominate of the outward life arises from a property of the salt which is contrary to the oil of the life: Thus the abominate does forthwith enkindle itself in the four elements, and begins to seethe in the salniter as a strange life: This strange life does at last darken and destroy the first true life, if it be not resisted; and it can have no better help than with the assimulate of the introduced abominate, which the life has taken into itself; *therefore that must be done to the cure*, which is to be done to the life, that it might be freed from the abominate.

69. The cure must be freed from the same abominate, which it has received in the four elements from the like false insinuation [influence, or impression], it must be brought into the death of the four elements, and its spirit must also be tinctured in the fifth form with the Venus desire, viz. with a pleasant essence, that the spiritual Mercury may arise in Jupiter's property; understand, the cure must first die to its sickness in all the four elements; it must be introduced into the putrefaction of all the four elements; in the fire it dies to its earthliness, and in the putrefaction to the water's earthliness, and in the air's putrefaction to the abominate and earthliness of the air; and then it must be brought into Venus, and from Venus into Jupiter, and then the sun will arise in the love-desire, and with this the abominate in the body may be resisted.

70. All other cures, which are administered raw and undigested285 (as when one takes cold, and will resist heat, and so likewise heat to resist cold), are only an opposite fiery flagrat, whereby indeed the enkindled fire ceases from its powerful working, but the flagrat enters into death's anguish, and the root of the abominate becomes a poisonful Mercury unless the heat and cold are before tempered with Venus and Jupiter, and then indeed it is an appeasing of the abominate in the salnitral sude; but the root of the abominate remains still, unless the life be strong, and mightily brings forth its desire out of the abominate. This the physicians must well observe, that the raw herbs do not reach the root, where the abominate is arisen in the centre in the property of the life's form; they reach only the four elements, and give some easement, but the abominate remains still in the root as an hidden sickness.

71. The like is also to be understood concerning the astrum, which has its sude in the outward body as a peculiar body in the four elements; if the cure may be freed from the abominate of the four elements, then the astrum falls also into the good part, and introduces its desire thereinto, and so the body is also freed from the abominate of the astrum; for the Scripture says, that " the whole creature286 longeth together with us to be freed from the vanity: "Now the curse of the earth, wherein the astrum injects its desire, is the vanity; and if it tastes a pure life in itself, then it also rejoices therein, and casts forth the abominate.

72. Every abominate287 of the oily life arises from the inward Mercury in the inward Sulphur; for sin also does hence take its original, that the poisonful Mercury (which is a cause of the life) does in the fire-flash in the original of the salniter, in retiring backwards, introduce itself again into self-hood, for even there is the original of the poison-life.

73. Every life which will be without spot,288 must die in the will-spirit to nature in the fire of the abominate to the first impression of the wrath, and must give itself forth, in the will-spirit to nature, as a resigned will through the mortification in the light of love: Let it be either heavenly or earthly it must hold that process, or else it comes not to the highest perfection in its degree; for man could not be helped unless the love-centre of the love-desire did enter again into the humanity, and bring forth the own life, viz. the human self, through the mortification into itself: This is an exact type or resemblance, that whatsoever will be freed from the abominate, viz. from the curse, the same must die to the four elements in the abominate, and bring forth its degree through the mortification of the fire in the light.

74. Thus likewise is the salnitral sude in the earth, from whence metals, good herbs and trees grow; each property is desirous of the assimulate; and if it can reach the assimulate in Sulphur, and Mercury in the love, then it brings forth itself higher than it is in its degree; as the eternal liberty with its lubet introduces the eternal nature through the mortification into desire, and thereby brings itself forth higher, viz. in power and majesty; the like is to be considered in all things; for all things arise out of one only being; the same is a mystery of all beings, and a manifestation of the abyss in byss.

75. All things are generated out of the grand mystery, and proceed out of one degree into another: Now whatever goes forwards in its degree, the same receives no abominate, let it be either in vegetables or animals; but whatever enters in itself into its self-hood, viz. into its own lubet, the same receives, in passing through the degrees, the abominate; for each form of nature out of289  the mystery receives of its property in its hunger, and therein it is not annoyed or molested, for it is of their property.

76. But if the will enters back again into the birth of the other properties, then it receives the lust, and the lust makes an hunger, and the hunger receives strange essence into itself: Here now is the abominate and turba born; for this will is entered contrary to the course of nature into a strange essence, which is not of its property; this strange essence domineers now in the strange will, and overcomes the will; now the will must either cast it out,290 or else it will itself be cast out by the strange essence; and seeing this also cannot be, thereupon arises anger and enmity.

77. For the properties run to their centre of the first impression, and seek the strength and might of the fire, from whence arises the heat and cold in the body, and they are in one another as enemies, whereby the first mother is stirred up in her most wrathful malice and malignity according to the austere impression, and then begins the contest for the conquest, and that property which maintains and keeps its power and prevalence, casts the other into death's property, viz. into the devoration, into the house of misery.
 
## Chapter 15. Concerning The Will Of The Great Mystery In Good And Evil, Shewing From Whence A Good And Evil Will Arises...

CONCERNING THE WILL OF THE GREAT MYSTERY IN GOOD AND EVIL, SHEWING FROM WHENCE A GOOD AND EVIL WILL ARISES, AND HOW ONE INTRODUCES ITSELF INTO THE OTHER

1. Every property takes its original from the first, viz. from the first impression or desire to nature, viz. out of the grand mystery, and brings forth itself out of itself, as the air proceeds out of the fire, and all whatever proceeds forward in one will is uncontrollable, for it gives itself to no property; it dwells even from the first original only in itself, and goes forth in one will; and this is the true way of eternity, wherein there is no corruptibility if a thing remains in its own peculiar property, for the great mystery is from eternity: Now if the form of the same proceeds forth, and manifests itself out of itself, then this form stands with the root in the mystery of eternity; but if the form brings itself forth into another lust, so that two properties must dwell in one, then from thence arises the enmity and abominate; for there has been from eternity only the one element in motion,291 and the free lubet of eternity, which proceeded forth with its motion from the great mystery of eternity as a spirit, which spirit is God's.

2. But when the great mystery did once move itself, and introduced the free lubet into the desire of the essence, then in the desire the strife began; for there arose in the desire out of the element, which bears only one will, four elements, viz. manifold desires and wills, which rule in one only body, where now there is contrariety and strife; as heat against cold, fire against water, air against earth, each is the death and destruction of the other; so that the creature which stands in this dominion is nothing else but a continual dying and a strife; it is an enmity and contrary will in itself, and cannot be remedied unless it enters again into one will, which also cannot be brought to pass, unless the multiplicity of the wills be destroyed, and wholly die to the desire, from whence the four elements arise; so that the will does again become that which it was from eternity: Herein we men do know what we are in the dominion of the four elements, nothing else but a strife and a contrary will, a self-envying,292 a desire of the abominate, a lust of death.

3. For the lust which arises out of the desire must die; if the will (which proceeded out of the great mystery of eternity, which the Spirit of God breathed into the image of man, viz. into the likeness) will be freed from the abominate and contrary will, then the desire of the four elements must die, and the will must enter again into the one only element, it must again receive the right of eternity, and act and go forth in one element, in manner also as God created him, whom he himself has opposed, and brought himself into the dominion of the four elements, in which he has inherited death, and also the strife in the forms of life, from whence arises his sickness, loathing, and enmity: For all whatever lives in God's will, that is not risen in the self-will, or if it be risen therein, it is again dead to the own [or selfish] desire.

4. Every will which enters into its self-hood, and seeks the ground of its life's form, the same breaks itself off from the great mystery, and enters into a self-fulness, it will be its own [or of its own selfish jurisdiction], and so it is contrary to the first mystery, for the same is alone all: And this child is accounted evil, for it strives in disobedience against its own mother which has brought it forth; but if the child does again introduce its will and desire into that, from whence it is generated and risen originally, then it is wholly one with the same, and cannot be annoyed by anything; for it enters into the nothing, viz. into the essence, from whence it proceeded.

5. Thus, O man! understand what thou art to do; behold thyself in thyself, what thou art, whether or no thou standest in the resignation of thy mother (out of which thou wert generated and created in the beginning), whether thou art inclined with the same will; if not, then know that thou art a rebellious, stubborn, disobedient child, and hast made thyself thine own enemy, in that thou art entered into self-desire and will, and hast made thyself thy own self-ful possession, so that thou canst not dwell in the first mother, but in thyself: For thy will is entered into self-hood; and all that does vex, plague, and annoy thee, is only thy self-hood; thou makest thyself thy own enemy, and bringest thyself into self-destruction or death.

6. Now if thou wilt get again out of death, then thou must wholly forsake thy own self-desire, which has introduced itself into strange essence, and become in self-hood, and the self-desire, as a nothing, so that thou dost no longer will or desire to thyself, but wholly and fully introduce thy desire again with the resignation into the eternal, viz. into God's will, that the same will may be thy will and desire.

7. Without this there is nothing but misery and death, a continual dying and perishing; for hence arises the election of grace. If the human will (which is departed out of the unity of eternity, and entered into a self-fulness, viz. into a selfish lust and desire) does again break itself off from self-hood, and enter into the mortification of self-will, and introduce its desire again only into the first mother, then the first mother does again choose it to be its child, and makes it again one with the only will of eternity: But that [will or person] which continues in self-hood, he continues in the eternal dying, viz. in an eternal selfish enmity; and this also is only called sin, because that it is an enmity against God, in that the creature will be at its self-ful command and government.

8. Thus in its self-hood, viz. in a dominion full of contention and strife, it cannot either will or do anything that is good; and as it does impose, awaken, and powerfully stir up to its self nothing else but the dying and death, so likewise it can do nothing else to its fellow-members; for hence also arises the falsehood [or lyes], that the creature denies the union with [or in] the will of God, and sets his self-hood in the place; so that it goes forth from the unity into desires and self-lusts: If it did but truly know that all beings were its mothers, which brought it forth, and did not hold the mother's substance for its own, but for common, then the covetousness, envy, strife, and contrary will and enmity would not arise; from which the anger, viz. the fire of destruction does arise.

9. All sins arise from self; for the self-hood forces itself with the desire into its self-fulness; it makes itself covetousness and envy, it draws in its own desire strange essence into itself, and makes the possessor of the strange essence also an enemy against itself, so that sin is wrought with sin, vileness with vileness, and all run confusedly in and among one another, as a mere abomination before the eternal mother.

10. In like manner also we are to consider of the regenerate will, which goes out of its selfishness or self-hood again into the resignation; the same becomes also an enemy and an abominate to self-hood; as sickness is an enemy to health, and on the contrary, health an enemy to sickness: Thus the resigned will, and also the self-will are a continual enmity, and an incessant lasting war and combat. 11. Self-will seeks only what serves to its self-hood; and the resigned will is not at all careful, but brings its desire only into its eternal mother, that it might be one with her: It will be a nothing, that the mother might be alone all in it. Self-will says to the resigned will, Thou art foolish, in that thou givest thyself to death, and yet mightest well live gloriously in me; but the resigned will says, Thou art my abomination, pain, and enmity, and bringest me out of eternity into a time only into perplexity and misery; thou plaguest me a while, and then thou givest my body to the earth, and the soul to hell.

12. True real resignation is the mortification of the abominate against God; he that wholly forsakes his self-hood, and gives himself up with mind and desire, senses and will, into God's mercy, into the dying of Jesus Christ, he is dead to the earthly world with the will, and is a twofold man; where the abominate works only in itself to death, bait the resigned will lives in Christ's death, and rises up continually in Christ's resurrection in God: And though the self-desire sins, which indeed can do nothing else but sin, yet the resigned will lives not in sin, for it is mortified to the desire of sin, and lives through Christ in God in the land of the living; but self-hood lives in the land of death, viz. in the continual dying, in the continual enmity against God.

13. The earthly man is the curse of God, and is an abominate before God's holiness; he can do nothing else but seek his selfhood, for he is in the wrath of God: And though he does some thing that is good, yet he does it not from his own self-will, but the will resigned in God compels him that he must do what his self would not willingly do: And now if he does it, he does it as an instrument of the resigned will, not from his own desire, but from God's will, which guides the resigned will in the desire as an instrument.

14. Therefore now whoever will see the kingdom of God, and attain thereunto, he must educe [or bring forth] his soul out of self-hood, out of the earthly desire, as the physician brings forth the cure of the disease from the painful [tormenting] desire, and introduces it into a love-desire; and then the cure also brings forth the sickness in the body out of the painful desire, and sets it into a love-desire: Sickness becomes the servant of the physic; and so likewise the evil earthly will, when the soul's will is cured, is the resigned will's servant.

15. The elemental and siderial man must only be the instrument wherewith man's soul labours in the resigned will; for thereto God has also created it; but the soul has made and set up itself in Adam for lord and master, and is entered into his prison, and given its will thereinto; but if it will be acknowledged for God's child, then it must again die to the same, and be wholly mortified to the earthly self-hood and desire in God's will in Christ's death, and be wholly regenerated anew in God's will, and deprive the earthly will in self-hood of its power, and rule over it, and guide it in subjection and command, as a master does his instrument, and then self-hood loses the power and prevalence, and the lust of self-hood arises as a continual longing; self-hood does then continually long after the forms of its own life, viz. after self-glory, and after earthly abundance, also after envy and anger, whether it may be able to attain that abundance; and also after the cunning lyes of falsehood: These are the vital forms of the earthly self-hood.

16. But the resigned will does as a potent champion continually bruise the head of this serpent, and says, "Thou art arisen from the devil, and God's anger, I will have none of thee, thou art an abomination before God." And though the resigned will is sometimes captivated with false lust, when it overwhelms and overpowers it with the devil's desire and insinuation of its imagination, yet the resigned will does forthwith cry to the word293 of God, that God's will does again bring it out of the abomination of death.

17. The resigned will has no rest here in this cottage, but must always be in combat, for it is lodged in a false house: It is indeed in itself in God's hand; but, without itself it is in the jaws and throat of the abyss of God's anger in the kingdom of devils, which continually pass up and down with it, and desire to try and tempt the soul, viz. the centre.

18. In like manner also the good angels stand by him in the resigned will, viz. in the divine desire, and defend him from the poisonful imagination of the devil; they keep off the fiery darts of the wicked one, as St. Peter says.

19. For all do work and desire in man, God's love and anger: He stands while he is in this tabernacle in the gate either to go out or in: Both eternal principles are stirring in him; to which the soul's will gives itself, of that it is received, and thereto it is chosen; he is drawn of both, and if the will of the soul remains in self-hood, then he is m the hand of God's anger.

20. But if he departs out of his self-hood, and forsakes his own damnation, and continually casts himself only into God's mercy, viz. into the suffering and death of Christ, and into his resurrection and restoration, and wills nothing of himself, but what God wills in him, and by him, then the will is dead to the life and desire of God's anger; for it has no own life, but lies in the death of self-hood and the desire of the devil; and the anger of God cannot reach him; for he is as a nothing, and yet is in God, and lives in the divine essence wholly, but not to himself, but to his first mother of eternity: He is again in the limit or place where he was before he was a creature, and in the will wherein God created him, and is an instrument in the voice of God, upon which only the will-spirit of God does strike, to its honour and deeds of wonder.

21. All self-ful seeking and searching in self-hood is a vain thing; self-will apprehends nothing of God, for it is not in God, but without God in its self-hood; but the resigned will apprehends it; for it does not do it, but the spirit in whom it stands still, whose instrument it is, he manifests himself in the divine voice in it as much as he pleases: And though it may apprehend much in self-hood by searching and learning (which is not wholly to no purpose), yet its apprehension is only without in the expressed word, viz. in a form of the letter; and it understands nothing of the form of the expressed word, how the same is in its ground; for it is only born in the form from without, and not in the power of the universal pregnatress, whose ground has neither beginning, comprehension, or end.

22. Now that he is born from within out of the speaking voice of God in God's will-spirit, he goes in the byss and abyss everywhere free, and is bound to no form; for he goes not in self-hood, but the eternal will guides him as its instrument, according as it pleases God: but he that is born only in the letter, he is born in the form of the expressed word, and goes on in self-hood, and is a self-ful voice; for he seeks what he pleases, and contends about the form, and leaves the spirit which has made the form.

23. Such a doctor Babel is; it contends, wrangles, and rages about the form of the word, and continually introduces the self-ful spirit and understanding in the form, and cries out, Here is the Church of Christ; and it is only a self-ful voice, understanding nothing of the spirit of the form which is incomprehensible, and strikes upon its prepared instrument without limit and measure as it pleases. For conjecture, opinion, or the self-ful own imagination, which arises in the expressed voice [or literal outward word], is not God's word; but that which arises in God's Spirit in the wholly resigned will in divine power in the eternal speaking word, that takes its original out of God's voice, and makes the form in the heart, viz. a divine desire, whereby the soul's will is drawn into God.

24. He is a shepherd, and teacher of Christ, who enters in through the door of Christ, that is, who speaks and teaches by Christ's spirit; without this there is only the form, viz. the history294  that was once brought to pass, and that a man need only accept of it, and comfort himself therewith: but this will remains without, for it will be a child of an assumed grace, and not wholly die to its self-hood in the grace, and become a child of grace in the resigned will.

25. All whatever teaches of Christ's satisfaction, and comforting oneself with Christ's suffering, if it teaches not also the true ground how a man must wholly die to self-hood in the death, and give himself up in the resigned will wholly into the obedience of God, as a new child of a new will, the same is without, and not in the speaking voice of God, viz. in Christ's door.

26. No flattering or comforting avails anything, but to die to the false will and desire in Christ's death, and to arise in the wholly resigned will in Christ's resurrection in him, and continually mortify the earthly self-hood, and quench the evil which the earthly will introduces into the imagination, as an evil fire which would fain continually burn.

27. Comforting and setting the suffering of Christ in the forefront is not the true faith; no, no, it is only without, and not within: But a converted will, which enters into sorrow for its earthly iniquity, and will have none of it any more; and yet finds that it is kept back by the self-ful earthly lust, and with his converted will departs sincerely out of this abomination and false desire into God's mercy, and casts himself with great anxious [earnest] desire into Christ's obedience, suffering, and death, and in the converted will wholly dies to the earthly lust in Christ's death, which will not depart out of Christ's death, and continually cries Abba, loving Father! take thy dear Son's obedience for me; let me only in his death live in his obedience in thee; let me die in him, that I may be nothing in myself, but live and be in his will, in his humanity in thee; receive me, but wholly in his resurrection, and not in my unworthiness; but receive me in him; let me be dead in him, and give me his life, that I may be thy obedient son in him, that his suffering and death may be mine, that I may be before the same Christ in him who has deprived death of its might, viz. a branch or twig of his life.

28. Thus, and no otherwise, is the true Christian faith; it is not only a comforting, but an incessant desire; the desire obtains the suffering of Christ, which [desire] would continually fain be obedient, if it knew but how it should behave itself before him, which continually does fall down before him, and dives itself into the deepest humility before him; it suffers and does all things readily, only that it might but receive grace; it is willing to take the cross of Christ upon itself, and regards not all the scorn of all the world in its self-hood, but continually presses forward into Christ's love-desire: This desire does only grow out of Christ's death, and out of his resurrection in God, and brings forth fruit in patience which is hidden in God, of which the earthly man knows nothing, for it finds itself in its selfhood.

29. A true Christian is a continual champion, and walks wholly in the will and desire in Christ's person, as he hath walked up and down upon the earth. Christ, when he was upon the earth, desired to overcome death, and bring the human self-hood in true resignation into divine obedience: And this likewise a right Christian desires to do; he desires continually to die to the iniquity of death and wrath, and give himself up to obedience, and to arise and live in Christ's obedience in God.

30. Therefore, dear brethren, take heed of putting on Christ's purple mantle without a resigned will; the poor sinner without sorrow for his sins, and conversion of his will, does only take it in scorn to Christ: Keep you from that doctrine which teaches of self-ful abilities, and of the works of justification.

31. A true Christian is himself the great and anxious work which continually desires to work295 in God's will, and forces against the self-ful lusts of self-hood, and wills continually so to do, and yet is many times hindered by self-hood: He breaks self-hood, as a vessel, wherein he lies captive, and buds forth continually in God's will-spirit, with his desire resigned in God (as a fair blossom springs out of the earth), and works in and with God, what God pleases.

32. Therefore let the true Christendom know, and deeply lay to heart, what is now told and spoken to her, viz. that she depart from the false conjecture [or opinion] of comforting, without conversion of the will; it is only an outward [expressed] form of the new-birth; a Christian must be one spirit with Christ, and have296 Christ's will and life in him; the form does not renew him, neither comforting, or giving good words does at all help or avail, but a mortifying of the evil inbred will, which is God's child, and born out of Christ's death, no other will attains Christ's inheritance; my much knowing doth not also do it; the herdsman in the field is as near to it as the doctor; no wit or subtle art in disputation about the way of God does help or avail anything thereto, it is only a let and hinderance; the true will enters into the love of God and his children; it seeks no form, but falls down before its creator, and desires the death of its false self-hood; it seeks the work of love towards all men; it will not flourish in the world's scorn, but in its God; its whole life is a mere repentance, and a continual sorrow for the evil which cleaves to it: It seeks no glory or applause to shew itself, but lives in humility: It acknowledges itself always as unworthy and simple; its true Christianity is always hidden in its self-hood. He says, "I am in my self-hood an unprofitable servant, and have not as yet begun to do or work repentance right." He is always in the beginning to work repentance, and would always fain reach the gates of the sweet grace; he labours for that purpose as a woman in travail labours to bring forth, and knows not how it fares with him; the Lord hides his face from him, that his working may be great towards him: He sows in anguish and tears, and knows not his fruit, for it is hidden in God; as a painful traveller goes a long way, aiming at his wished-for journey's end, so also he runs after the far mark of his rest, and finds it not; unless his pearl does appear to him in its beauty, and embraces him in its love: If it again departs from his self-hood, then arises sighing and sorrowing again with continual desire; and one day calls another, the day the night, and the night the morning; and yet there is no place of rest in the earthly self-hood, but only in the fair solar lustre of his precious pearl; when the sun arises to him in the darkness, then the night departs, and all sorrow and anguish fly away.

33. Therefore, dear brethren, learn to take heed and beware of contention, where men contend about the literal form: A true Christian has nothing to contend for, for he dies to his reason's desire; he desires only God's knowledge in his love and grace, and lets all go which contends and strives about the form, for Christ's spirit must make the form in himself; the outward form is only a guide: God must become man, or else man becomes not God.

34. Therefore a Christian is the most simple [or plainest] man upon the earth, as Isaiah says, "Who is so simple as my servant?" All heathens desire self-hood, and tear and devour one another for the authority and honours: But a true Christian desires to die to them; he seeks not his own, but Christ's honour. All whatever contends about self-hood, viz. about the self-ful honour and pleasure of this life, the same is heathenish, and far worse than heathenish; yea like the devil, who departed from God into self-fulness: Let it cover itself with Christ's mantle as much as ever it will, yet the man of false self-hood is lodged under it; if he will be a Christian, then he must quite die to self-hood, that the same may only hang to him from without as a garment of this world, wherein he is a stranger and pilgrim, and always consider and think that he is but a servant in his high office, and serves God therein as a servant, and not be his own lord and master.

35. All whatever does lord itself without God's call and appointment, the same is from the devil, and serves the devil in his own power and form: Defend and flatter thyself as much as thou wilt, it does not avail before God; thy own heart accuses thee that thou art a false branch; thy nobility and highness do not at all avail or help thee in the sight of God, if thou dost not thereby drive in God's order; thy office is not thine, but God's; if thou walkest falsely therein, then thy own judgement is upon thee, and condemns thee to death; thou art a servant; and though thou art a king, yet thou servest, and must enter with the poorest into the new birth, or else thou shalt not see God.

36. All self-ful assumed [or arrogated] laws and authority, wherewith the poor are vexed and oppressed, do all come from self-hood, whose original is in the expressed form, which has with the form introduced itself into a self-hood, and brought itself out quite from God: Whatever does not serve in a servant's office before God, the same is all false, let it be either high or low, learned or unlearned: We are altogether servants of the great God; nothing brings itself into a self-fulness, unless it be born in God's anger in the impression of nature: And though a Christian possesses an own-hood, which is not false, yet he is only but a servant therein, viz. a distributer for his Master, a steward and overseer of his Master's work: He deals for his Master therein, and not for his self-hood only; all whatever he plots and devises to bring into self-hood, and brings it, that he brings into the anxious cabinet of covetousness, envy, and self-ful pleasure of the flesh, viz. into a vessel that is separated from God, viz. into the impression of nature, and steals from his Lord and Master who has set him up for a steward; he is a sacrilegious person,297 let him excuse himself, and pretend what he pleases.

37. A true Christian acknowledges himself for a servant of God, to whom it is given in charge to deal right with God's works. He is not his own, for he is also not at home in this earthly work of this tabernacle: Let him seek, search, plant and build, traffic and trade; and whatever else he does, he must always know that he does it to God, and shall give an account thereof, and that he is a stranger and servant in this work, and serves his Master; and not at all look upon the course of his forefathers who have walked therein in the pleasure of the earthly life; whoever does so is far from the kingdom of God, and can with no conscience and ground call himself [or think himself to be] a Christian; for he stands only in the form of Christianity, and not in the spirit of Christ; the form shall be destroyed, and cease with time, but the spirit remains steadfast for ever.

38. A true Christian is in the spirit a Christian, and in continual exercise to bring forth its own form, not only with words in sound and shew, but in the power of the work, as a visible palpable form, not weening, conjecturing, and giving good words out of the self-ful self-hood, and yet remaining in self-hood; but a dying to self-hood, and a growing forth in the will of God in the love-self-hood as a servant of God in God's deeds of wonder; a helping to strike his instrument in God's will, and be a true sounding string in God's harmonious concert; a continual making word in God's voice, viz. in the verbum fiat, which makes and works in and with God what God makes, forms, and works, as an instrument of God.

39. Therefore, O thou dear Christendom, behold thyself, whether thou workest in the working word of God in his will, or whether thou standest only in the form of Christendom, and workest thy own self-fulness in falsehood: Thou wilt find, how thou art become an abomination before the Most High, and thy casting forth298 from the Most High out of this form (which thou in thy self-hood hast introduced into his expressed form) shall presently follow; and that because thou coverest thyself with the true form, and art a false child therein: Therefore thou art sought, and found with a false veil [or covering] in thy own form.

40. And as thou hast brought thyself into a false self-ful form under the true form, so thou shalt also destroy thyself, whereto the heaven helps thee, which thou hast a long time served in obedience, and from this there is no withholding; thy work is found to be in the turba, which shall well satisfy and satiate itself in destroying, as thou hast built up thyself in thy apostate falsehood in thy own form under the name of the true form, and hast played the hypocrite before God with the shew and ostentation of holiness, and only served the earthly man: But the servant of the Lord shall be sought and found; the Lord feeds his lambs in his own form, and brings them into his pasture; all the haughty and wealthy of the world shall find by experience what judgment the Lord will bring upon the face of all the earth, and all wicked hope shall be destroyed; for the day of the harvest draws near: "A terror from the Lord shaketh the earth, and his voice soundeth in all the ends of the earth;" and the star of his wonders arises, no one hinders it, for it is concluded of in the counsel of the watchmen in the gates of the deep.

41. Therefore let every one seek and find himself; for the time of visitation is at hand, that he may be found in his love; for the turba has found all false lust in it, and the Most High worker of all essences manifests the turba; and then all false lust or imagination becomes manifest, and each thing enters into its eternal keeper, for all things are generated out of imagination: So also it shall receive its property in the imagination, and every imagination299 reaps its own work which it has wrought; for to that end all things have appeared, that the eternity might be manifest in a time: With deeds of wonder it brought itself into the form of time, and with deeds of wonder it carries itself forth again out of the time into its first place.

42. All things enter again into that from whence they proceeded; but they keep their own form and model, as they have introduced themselves in the expressed word; and everything shall also be received of its likeness, and the end is always;300 and as all things generate themselves in the expressed word, so also they are signed in their inward form, which also signs the outward.

43. The self-ful will makes a form according to its innate nature; but a form is made in the resigned will according to the platform or model of eternity, as it was known in the glass.

of God's eternal wisdom before the times of this world; so the eternal will figures and forms it into a model of its likeness to the honour and wonderful acts of God; for all whatever goes on in its self-hood, the same forms itself; but what resigns itself freely, that is formed of the free will: Now no self-ful form with its own self-will can inherit the only Eternal Being; for where there are two wills in one, there is enmity.

44. Seeing then God is one only God, then all whatever will live in him must be like his will and word: As a concert of music must be tuned into one harmony, though there be many strings, and manifold voices and sounds therein; so must the true human harmony be tuned with all voices into a love melody, and that will-spirit which is not tuned unto the only concert in the divine voice, the same is cast forth out of this tune, and brought into its self-ful tune, viz. into its true fellow-voices of its own likeness; for every likeness shall receive its own.

45. Has any been here an evil spirit? Then he shall be introduced into the root of his likeness; for every hunger receives its like into itself; now the whole manifestation of eternity with this time is nothing else but an hunger and generation; as the hunger is, so is also the essence of its satiating; for with the hunger the creature took its beginning, and with the hunger it enters into its eternal [being].

46. In the hunger the spirit with the body is generated, and in the same hunger it goes into its eternal being, unless it breaks its first hunger, and brings itself into another by mortification, else all is at its end as soon as it is born; but death is the only means whereby the spirit may enter into another source and form: If it dies to its self-hood, and breaks its will in death, then a new twig springs forth out of the same, but not according to the first will, but according to the eternal will; for if a thing enters into its nothing, then it falls again to the creator, who makes that thing as it was known in the eternal will, before it was created to a creature; there it is in the right aim or limit of eternity, and has no turba, for it is in nature's end.

47. Whatever runs on in nature torments itself, but that which attains nature's end, the same is in rest without source, and yet works, but only in one desire: All whatever makes anguish and strife in nature, that makes mere joy in God; for the whole host of heaven is set and tuned into one harmony; each angelical kingdom into a peculiar instrument, but all mutually composed together into one music, viz. into the only love-voice of God: Every string of this melody exalts and rejoices the other; and it is only a mere ravishing lovely and delightful hearing, tasting, feeling, smelling, and seeing: Whatever God is in himself, that the creature is also in its desire in him; a God-angel, and a God-man, God all in all, and without him nothing else. As it was before the times of this world in his eternal harmony [or voice], so also it continues in the creaturely voice in him in his eternity; and this is the beginning and the end of all things.
 
## Chapter 16. Concerning The Eternal Signature And Heavenly Joy; Why All Things Were Brought Into Evil And Good

CONCERNING THE ETERNAL SIGNATURE AND HEAVENLY JOY; WHY ALL THINGS WERE BROUGHT INTO EVIL AND GOOD

1. The creation of the whole creation is nothing else but a manifestation of the all-essential, unsearchable God; all whatever he is in his eternal unbeginning generation and dominion, of that is also the creation, but not in the omnipotence and power, but like an apple which grows upon the tree, which is not the tree itself, but grows from the power of the tree: Even so all things are sprung forth out of the divine desire, and created into an essence, where in the beginning there was no such essence present, but only that same mystery of the eternal generation, in which there has been an eternal perfection.

2. For God has not brought forth the creation, that he should be thereby perfect, but for his own manifestation, viz. for the great joy and glory; not that this joy first began with the creation, no, for it was from eternity in the great mystery, yet only as a spiritual melody and sport in itself.

3; The creation is the same sport out of himself, viz. a platform or instrument of the Eternal Spirit, with which he melodises: and it is even as a great harmony of manifold instruments which are all tuned into one harmony; for the eternal word, or divine sound or voice, which is a spirit, has introduced itself with the generation of the great mystery into formings, viz. into an expressed word or sound: And as the joyful melody is in itself in the spirit of the eternal generation, so likewise is the instrument, viz. the expressed form in itself, which the living eternal voice guides, and strikes with his own eternal will-spirit, that it sounds and melodises; as an organ of divers and various sounds or notes is moved with one only air, so that each note, yea every pipe has its peculiar tune, and yet there is but one manner of air or breath in all notes, which sounds in each note or pipe according as the instrument or organ is made.

4. Thus in the eternity there is only one spirit in the whole work of the divine manifestation, which is the manifestator in the expressed voice and also in the speaking voice of God, which is the life of the grand mystery, and of all that is generated from thence; he is the manifestator of all the works of God.

5. All the angelical kingdoms are as a prepared work, viz. a manifestation of the eternal sound of the voice of God, and are as a particularity out of the great mystery, and yet are only one in the divine eternal speaking word, sound, or voice of God; for one only spirit rules them; each angelical prince is a property out of the voice of God, and bears the great name of God; as we have a type and figure of it in the stars of the firmament, and in the kingdoms and dominions upon the earth among all generations, where every lord bears his high title, respective name and office: So likewise do the stars in the firmament, which are altogether one only dominion in power under them, where the great stars bear the name and the office of the forms in the mystery of the seven properties, and the other after them, as a particularity of houses or divisions, where every one is a peculiar harmony or operation, like a kingdom, and yet all proceeds in one harmony; like a clock-work, which is entirely composed in itself, and all the pieces work mutually together in one; and yet the great fixed stars keep their peculiar property in the essence of operation, especially the seven planets according to the seven properties of nature, as an under pregnatress of the eternal mystery, or as an instrument of the spirit out of the eternal mystery.

6. This birth of the astrum begets in the four elements, viz. in its body or essence, joy and sorrow, and all is very good in itself; only the alteration of the creature proceeds from the lustful imagination, whereby the creature elevates the wrath of the fire in the properties, and brings them forth out of the likeness of their accord: Nothing is evil which remains in the equal accord; for that which the worst causes and makes with its coming forth out of the accord, that likewise the best makes in the equal accord; that which there makes sorrow, that makes also in the likeness joy; therefore no creature can blame its creator, as if he made it evil; all was very exceeding good; but with its own elevation and departure out of the likeness it becomes evil, and brings itself out of the form [or property] of the love and joy, into a painful tormenting form and property.

7. King Lucifer stood in the beginning of his creation in highest joyfulness, but he departed from the likeness, and put himself forth out of the accord [or heavenly concert] into the cold, dark, fiery generation, out of which the hot fiery generation arises; he forsook his order, and went out of the harmony, wherein God created him; he would be lord over all, and so he entered into the austere fire's domination, and is now an instrument in the austere fire's might, upon which also the all-essential spirit strikes and sounds upon his instrument, but it sounds only according to the wrathful fire's property: as the harmony, viz. the life's-form is in each thing, so is also the sound or tone of the eternal voice therein; in the holy [it is] holy, in the perverse it is perverse: All things must praise the Creator of all beings; the devils praise him in the might of wrath, and the angels and men praise him in the might of love.

8. The Being of all beings is but one only Being, but in its generation it separates itself into two principles, viz. into light and darkness, into joy and sorrow, into evil and good, into love and anger, into fire and light, and out of these two eternal beginnings [or principles] into the third beginning, viz. into the creation, to its own love-play and melody, according to the property of both eternal desires.

9. Thus each thing goes into its harmony, and is guided [or driven] by one only spirit, which is in each thing according to the property of the thing; and this is the clock [or watch-work] of the great mystery of eternity in each principle according to the property of the principle, and then according to the innate form of the composed instrument of the same creatures, even in all these beginnings [or principles].

10. Death is the bound-mark of all whatever is temporal, whereby the evil may be destroyed; but that which arises out of the eternal beginnings, and in its harmony and life's-form enters into another figure, that departs out of God's harmony, out of the true order wherein God created it, and is cast out of the same harmony into its likeness, as a dissonant discording melody or sound in the great excellent well-tuned harmony; for it is an opposite contrary thing, and bears another tone, sound, and will, and so it is introduced into its likeness; and therefore hell is given to the devil for his house and habitation, because he introduced his life's-form into the anger of God, and into the fiery wrath of the eternal nature, so that now he is the instrument in the eternal fire of God, and the anger-spirit strikes his instrument, and yet it must stand to the honour and admiration of God, and be the sport and play in the desire and property of the wrathful anger.

11. The anger and wrath of God are now his joy, not as if he feared, sorrowed, and lived in impotency; no, but in great strength and fiery might, as a potent king and lord, yet only in the same property of which he himself is, viz. in the first principle in the dark world.

12. The like also we are to know concerning the angelical world, viz. the second principle, where God's light and glorious beauty shine in every being [or thing], and the divine voice or sound rises up in all creatures in great joyfulness; where the spirit proceeding from the divine voice makes a joyfulness, and an incessant continual love-desire in those creatures, and in all the divine angelical beings: As there is an anguish-source and trembling in the painful fire, so in like manner there is a trembling joyfulness in the light and love-fire, viz. a great elevation of the voice of God, which makes in the angels and in the like creatures, as the souls of men, a great manifestation of the divine joyfulness.

13. The voice [or breath] of God continually and eternally brings forth its joy through the creature, as through an instrument; the creature is the manifestation of the voice of God: What God is in the eternal generation of his eternal word out of the great mystery of the Father's property, that the creature is in the image as a joyful harmony, wherewith the Eternal Spirit plays or melodises.

14. All properties of the great eternal mystery of the pregnatress of all beings are manifest in the holy angelical and humane creatures; and we are not to think thereof, as if the creatures only stood still and rejoiced at the glory of God, and admired only in joy; not, but it is as the Eternal Spirit of God works from eternity to eternity in the great mystery of the divine generation, and continually manifests the infinite and numberless wisdom of God; even as the earth brings forth always fair blossoms, herbs, and trees, so also metals and all manner of beings, and puts them forth sometimes more sovereign, powerful, and fair, than at other times; and as one arises in the essence, another falls down, and there is an incessant lasting enjoyment. and labour.

15. Thus likewise is the eternal generation of the holy mystery in great power and reprocreation [or paradisical pullulation] where one divine fruit of the great love-desire stands with another in the divine essence; and all is as a continual love-combat or wrestling delight; a blooming of fair colours, and a pleasant ravishing smell of the divine Mercury, according to the divine nature's property, a continual good taste of love from the divine desire.

16. Of all whatever this world is an earthly type and resemblance, that is in the divine kingdom in great perfection in the spiritual essence; not only spirit, as a will, or thought, but essence, corporeal essence, sap and power; but as incomprehensible in reference to the outward world: For this visible world was generated and created out of the same spiritual essence in which the pure element is; and also out of the dark essence in the mystery of the wrath (being the original of the eternal manifest essence from whence the properties arise) as an out-spoken breath out of the Being of all beings: Not that it was made of the eternal essence, but out of the breathing forth or [expression] of the eternal essence; out of love and anger, out of evil and good, as a peculiar generation of a peculiar principle in the hand of the Eternal Spirit.

17. Therefore all whatever is in this world is a type and figure of the angelical world: not that the evil, which is alike manifest with the good in this world, is also manifest in heaven; no, they are separated into two principles; in heaven all is good which is evil in hell; whatever is anguish and torment in hell, that is good and a joy in heaven; for there all stands in the light's source; and in hell all stands in the wrath in the dark source.

18. Hell, viz. the dark world has also its generation of fruits; and there is even such an essence and dominion in them as in heaven, but in nature and manner of the wrathful property; for the fiery property makes all evil in the darkness, and in the light it makes all things good; and in sum, all is wholly one in both eternal worlds; but light and darkness separates them, so that they stand as an eternal enmity opposite one to another, to the end that it may be known what is evil or good, joy or sorrow, love or anger: There is only a distinction between the love-desire of the light, and the anger-desire of the darkness.

19. In the original of the eternal nature, in the Father's property in the great mystery of all beings, it is wholly one: for the same only fire is even in the angelical world, but in another source, viz. a love-fire, which is a poison, and a fire of anger to the devils, and to hell; for the love-fire is a death, mortification, and an enmity of the anger-fire; it deprives the wrath of its might, and this the wrath wills not, and it also cannot be; for if there were no wrath, there would be no fire, and also no light: If the eternal wrath were not, the eternal joy also would not be; in the light the wrath is changed into joy; the wrathful fire's essence is mortified as to the darkness in the wrathful fire, and out of the same dying the light and love-fire arise; as the light burns forth from the candle, and yet in the candle the fire and light are but one thing.

20. Thus also the great mystery of all beings is in the eternity in itself only one thing, but in its explication and manifestation it goes from eternity to eternity into two essences, viz. into evil and good; what is evil to one thing, that is good to another. Hell is evil to the angels, for they were not created thereunto; but it is good to the hellish creatures: So also heaven is evil to the hellish creatures, for it is their poison and death, an eternal dying, and an eternal captivity.

21. Therefore there is an eternal enmity, and God is only called God according to the light of his love; he is indeed himself all, but according to the darkness he saith, "I am an angry jealous God, and a consuming fire."

22. Every creature must remain in its place wherein it was apprehended in its creation and formed into an image, and not depart out of that same harmony, or else it becomes an enemy of the Being of all beings.

23. And thus hell is even an enemy of the devil, for he is a strange guest therein, viz. a perjured fiend cast out of heaven: he will be lord in that wherein he was not created; the whole creation accuses him for a false perjured apostate spirit, which is departed from his order; yea even the nature in the wrath is his enemy though he be of the same property; yet he is a stranger, and will be lord, though he has lost his kingdom, and is only an inmate in the wrath of God; he that was too rich, is now become too poor; he had all when he stood in humility, and now he has nothing, and is moreover captivated in the gulf: this is his shame, that he is a king, and yet has fooled away his kingdom in pride; the royal creature remains, but the dominion is taken away; of a king he is become an executioner; what God's anger apprehends, there he is a judge, viz. an officer of God's anger, yet he must do what his Lord and Master wills.

24. This reason most ignorantly gainsays, and says, "God is omnipotent, and omniscient, he has made it: Even he hath done with his work as he hath pleased, who will contend with the Most High?" Yes, dear reason, now thou thinkest thou hittest it right; but first learn the A B C in the great mystery: All whatever is risen out of the eternal will, viz. out of the great eternal mystery of all beings (as angels and the souls of men are), stands in equal weight301 in evil and good in the free will as God himself; that desire which powerfully and predominantly works in the creature, and quite overtops the other, of that property the creature is. As a candle puts forth out of itself a fire, and out of the fire the wind, which wind the fire draws again into itself, and yet gives it forth again; and when this spirit is gone forth from the fire and light, then it is free from the fire and light; what property it again receives, of that it is: The first mystery wherein the creature consists is the all-essential mystery, and the other in the forth-going spirit is its propriety, and a self-ful will. Has not every angel its own peculiar spirit, which is generated out of its own mystery, which has its original out of eternity? Why will this spirit be a tempter of God, and tempt the mystery, which immediately captivates it in the wrath, as happened to Lucifer? It has the drawing to God's wrath and to God's love in it; why does not the spirit (which is generated out of both) which is the similitude of the Spirit of God, continue in its place in obedience, as a child before the mother in humility?

25. Thou sayst it cannot; It is not so:302 Every spirit stands in the place where it was created in equal weight, and has its free will; it is a spirit with the all-essential Eternal Spirit, and may take to itself a lubet in the all-essential Eternal Spirit as it wills, either in God's love or anger; whereinto it introduces its longing imagination, the essence and property of that it receives in the great mystery of all beings.

26. In God the birth is manifest in love and anger; why not also in the creature which is created out of God's essence and will, out of his voice and breath into an image? What property [or note] of the voice the creature awakes in itself, the same sounds in, and rules the creature: God's will to the creature was only one, viz. a general manifestation of the spirit, as each [creature] was apprehended in the property of the eternal mystery; yet, Lucifer was apprehended in the good angelical property, which plainly testifies that he was an angel in heaven; but his own incorporised will-spirit forced itself into the wrathful mother, to awaken the same in it, and thereby to be a lord over every created being. Now the will-spirit is free, it is the eternal original, let it do what it will.

27. Therefore we are to know this, and it is no otherwise, that the will-spirit which takes its original out of love and anger, out of both eternal principles, has given itself into the wrath, whereby the wrath has powerfully got the upper hand and dominion, and put itself out of the equal harmony into a dissonance or discord, and so he must be driven into his likeness; this is his fall, and so it is also the fall of all evil men.

28. Now self-reason alledges the Scripture, where it is written, "Many are called, but few are chosen: "Also, "I have loved Jacob and hated Esau;" also, "Hath not a potter power to make of one lump [of earth] what he pleaseth?" I say the same also, "That many are called, but few are chosen;" for they will not; they give their free will into God's anger, where they are even apprehended, and so are chosen to be "children of wrath;" whereas they were all called in Adam into paradise, and in Christ into the regeneration; but they would not, the free will would not, it exalted itself into the wrath of God which apprehended it, and so they were not chosen children; for God's love chooses only its likeness, and so likewise God's anger; yet the gate of the regeneration stands open to the wicked, whom the anger of God has apprehended. Man has the death in him, whereby he may die to the evil; but the devil has not, for he was created to the highest perfection.

29. Thus it is also with Jacob and Esau: In Jacob the line of Christ got the upper hand in the wrestling wheel; and in Esau the fall of Adam; now Christ was therefore promised into the humanity, that he might heal the fall of Adam, and redeem Esau, which was captivated in the wrath, from the wrath; Jacob denotes Christ; and Esau Adam; now Christ is to redeem Adam from death and wrath, wherein he was captivated: But did Esau continue303 in sin? That I know not; the Scripture also does not declare it; the blessing belonged to Esau, that is, to Adam, but he fooled it away in the Fall, and so the blessing fell upon Jacob, that is upon Christ, who should bless Adam and Esau, so that the kingdom and blessing might be given of free grace again to Adam and Esau; though he was apprehended in the curse, yet the door of grace stood open in Jacob, that is, in Christ; therefore Jacob said afterward, that is Christ, when he was entered into Adam's soul and flesh, "Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden with your sins, and I will refresh you: "Also, "I am come to call the sinner to repentance;" not Jacob, who needs it not, but Esau, who needs it; and when he (viz. Esau) is come, then says Christ, "There is more joy in heaven for him, than for ninety-nine righteous ones, which need no repentance;" [viz. for one Esau that repents] there is more joy than for ninety-nine Jacobs, who in the centre of the life's original are apprehended in the line of Christ: There is more joy for one poor sinner, whom the anger has apprehended in the centre of God's wrath in the life's original, and chosen to condemnation, if he brings the sins of death again into the mortification or death of sin, than for ninety-nine righteous ones that need no repentance.

30. But who are the righteous, for we are all become sinners in Adam? Answer, They are those whom the line of Christ in the humanity apprehends in the life's rise [or at the first point of opening of life in them], not that they cannot fall as Adam, but that they are apprehended in Christ's will-spirit in the wrestling wheel, where love and anger are counterpoised, and chosen to life; as happened to Jacob, so also to Isaac, and Abel: But this line should be the preacher and teacher of Cain, Ishmael, and Esau, and exhort them to repentance, and to turn out of the anger: And this line did give itself into the anger which was enkindled in Adam, Cain, Ishmael, and destroyed the devil's sting with love, that Cain, Ishmael, and Esau had an open gate to grace; if they would but turn and die in Jacob, that is, if they would enter into Christ's death, and die to sin in Abel, Isaac, and Jacob, and Christ, then they should be received into the election of grace.

31. Jacob took Esau's place in the blessing: Why did that come to pass? In Jacob was the promised seed of Abraham and Adam; from this line the blessing should come upon the sinful Adam and Esau; Jacob must be filled with God's blessing, that he might bless the first-born of angry Adam and Esau; for the blessing, that is, Christ must be born in our flesh and soul, that the seed of the woman might bruise the head of the serpent.

32. The anger must be drowned and appeased in the humanity; an offering did not do it, but this resigning into the wrath, that the love might drown the wrath. Jacob in Christ must drown Esau in the love-power in his blood, that Esau might also become a Jacob in Christ: But Esau was not willing to receive his brother Jacob, and contended about the first birth;304 that is, Adam in sin will not, cannot receive [or accept of] Christ, he shall and must die to the sinful flesh and will.

33. Therefore Esau has ever fought against Jacob; for Jacob should drown him in Christ in his blood; this the evil Adam in Esau would not have, he would live in his self-hood, therefore he strove with the earthly Adam against Jacob; but when Jacob met him with his gifts, that is, when Christ came with his free love-gift into the humanity, then Esau fell upon his brother Jacob's neck and wept; for when Christ entered into the humanity, Adam wept in Esau, and repented him of his sins and evil intent, that he would kill Jacob: For when God's love in the humanity entered into God's anger, the angry Father bewailed our sins and misery, and Jacob with his humility drove forth mournful tears out of his brother Esau; that is, the love in the humanity brought forth the great compassion out of and through the angry Father; so that the angry Father in the midst of his enkindled wrath in the humanity did set open a gate of mercy for Adam and all his children; for his love broke the anger, which [love] put itself into death, and made an open gate for poor sinners in the death to his grace.

34. Now it is commanded the poor sinner, whom the anger has chosen to the condemnation of eternal death, that he enter into this same death, and die in Christ's death to sin, and then Christ drowns it in his blood, and chuses him again to be God's child.

35. Here is the calling: Christ calls us into his death, into his dying; this the sinner will not have: Here is now strife in the sinner between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent; which now overcomes, that conceives the child: Now the free will may reach to which it pleases; both gates stand open to him. Many who are in Christ's line are also brought through imagination and lust, as Adam was, into iniquity; they are indeed called, but they persevere not in the election, for the election is set upon him who departs from sin; he is elected that dies to sin in Christ's death, and rises in Christ's resurrection, who receives God in Christ, not only in the mouth, but in divine desire in the will and new-birth, as a new fiery generation: Knowledge apprehends it not, only the earnest desire and breaking of the sinful will, that apprehends it.

36. Thus there is no sufficient ground in the election of grace as reason holds it forth: Adam is chosen in Christ; but that many a twig withers on the tree, is not the tree's fault, for it withdraws its sap from no twig, only the twig gives forth itself too eagerly with the desire; it runs on in self-will, viz. it is taken by the inflammation of the sun and the fire, before it can draw sap again in its mother, and refresh itself.

37. Thus also man perishes among the evil company in evil vain ways: God offers him his grace that he should repent; but evil company and the devil lead him in wicked ways, till he be even too hard captivated in the anger; and then it goes very hardly with him; he indeed was called, but he is evil; God chuses only children: Seeing he is evil, the choice passes over him; but if he again reforms and amends, the eternal choice [or election] does again receive him.

38. Thus says the Scripture, "Many are called;" but when the choice in Christ's suffering and death comes upon them, then they are not capable of the same, by reason of the self-ful evil will which they had before embraced, and so they are not the elected, but evil children; and here it is then rightly said, "We have piped unto you, but you have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented unto us:305 O Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not: "It is not said, "thou *couldest* not," but " thou *wouldest* not;" and while they remain in the iniquity of sin, they also cannot: God will not cast his pearl before swine; but to the children which draw near to him he gives the pearl and his bread.

39. Therefore whoever blames God, despises his mercy, which he has introduced into the humanity, and brings the judgement headlong upon his body and soul.

40. Thus I have truly warned the reader, and set before his eyes what the Lord of all beings has given me: He may behold himself in this looking-glass both within and without, and find what and who he is: Every reader shall find his profit therein, be he either good or evil: It is a very clear gate of the mystery of all beings. With glosses and self-wit none shall apprehend it in its own ground; but it may well embrace the real seeker, and create him much profit and joy, and even be helpful to him in all natural things, provided he applies himself right, and seeks it in the fear of God, seeing it is now a time of seeking; for a lily blossoms upon the mountains and valleys in all the ends of the earth: He that seeketh findeth. Amen.

HALLELUJAH
 
## Postscript By The Translator

THE preceding book is a brief signature, or character of natural and divine knowledge. But it will seem strange and simple to the proud self-conceited sophisters, the wiselings of pedantic reason, who will carp and cavil at anything but what dances to their pipe, or agrees with their conceits. But their censures are not to be valued; and their letter-learned mock productions of science are to be pitied, being only the courted shadows of their own amused fancy. Such as these being captivated in the mystery of Babel, wonder only after their beast Mammon, upon which they ride in pride, and scorn anything but what pleases and flatters them in their admired works of covetous iniquity, gilded over with seeming holiness. But the Babylonish structure of their turba-magna-performances will fall, when it has attained the highest limit of its constellation, and no wit of man shall be able to prop it up. In the meantime the Antichrist in Babel will rage and tyrannise, and execute the sentence of wrath, or his own dismal doom, upon himself.

But not to transgress by too large a digression from the intent of this postscript; the principal design of it is to explain some words which are used in the translation, as

FLAGRAT, LUBET, SOURCE, SUDE

FLAGRAT

The word in the German is *Schra'ck*, which signifies properly a fright, sudden astonishment, or dismay. In the other books it is translated terror, or crack, but I have put it *flagrat*, from the Latin word *flagro*, though I mean not by it only a burning, but even the powerful opening of the life or death of the enkindling of the fire in nature. For the fire is the dividing bound-mark, in which the life of both principles is opened and separated; the life of the first is the dying death in the darkness, and the life of the second is the living life in the light. You may perceive a resemblance of this flagrat in thunder and lightening, as also in gunpowder, and the like. Take for instance divers sulphureous salnitral minerals exactly mixed, now their powers are as I may say contracted, or shut up in the astringent dark desire or death; but touch them rightly with the true fire, and you will see how they will soon open, disclose, and flash forth, and will even display and stream themselves forth into divers properties, colours, and virtues. It is even the bursting forth of the ardent desire in nature. It is, as I may term it, the magical fire-breath, whereby the powers either of light or darkness are dismayed. In short, it is the pregnant echo of the sound of eternity everywhere speaking, working, and opening itself in love or anger, in each thing according to its will and desire: In some it is the horrible flagrat to death; and in others it is the pleasant triumphant flagrat to life.

LUBET

The word in the Dutch is *lust*, which signifies a longing desire or will to a thing; also a delight, or contented joy; sometimes imagination and lust. But because our word lust is commonly used in the worst sense (a longing after evil and vanity) and would not properly agree to, or fully express the German word lust in all places, I have generally translated it *lubet*, from the Latin word *lubitum*, whereby is meant the divine *beneplacitum*, or good pleasure. By it is understood the origin to a desire in the eternal nothing, or pregnant magic, God's free well-liking to the desire of the manifestation of nature and creature, without which all had been an eternal stillness in the nothing. This lubet in man is the moving will to good or evil, light or darkness, love or anger.

SOURCE

By this are meant the first original qualities or properties of both the inward principles, as they break forth in the sude of the fire in the flagrat of love or anger in nature or creature. For in the darkness the love-*ens*, or paradisical light, is shut up in death, and causes an austere dark source, pain, horror, torment, or disquietude; and so it is the radical property of the contentious elements and stars in the curse of God: And in the light the life of love breaks forth, and swallows up this wrathful source of darkness and death, and turns it into joy or a divine source. So that by *source* is understood the original quality, property, or qualification of evil, darkness, anger, sorrow, cursing, damnation, death, hell; or the contrary to these in their divine source, or essential working property; both according to time and eternity.

SUDE

The word *sude* is German, and signifies a boiling or seething. It is the stirring of the seven properties in nature, arising from the assimulation or essential co-influence of the outward and inward Sol in Sulphur, from whence the blooming vegetation of the earth proceeds; also the generation of metals and minerals lies therein.

These are some uncommon words which are used in rendering this book into English. Words are *vehicula rerum*, they are formed to express things, not bare sounds, or empty airs. Now he who rightly understands the ground of the *cabala* and *magia*, and knows how the language of nature speaks in every tongue, might well translate this author. But the bare letter of his writings, though ever so exactly translated, will not give the understanding of them, but the spirit of regeneration in Christ, in whom the fulness of the Deity dwells corporeally.

N.B.—There is One Character by which God has characterised both himself, and all the creatures, and shewn that his presence is in all things; yet so that each creature has its wonder, either of the heavenly or of the earthly mystery. This peculiar mark, shape, and figure, that it may appear as a peculiar is the in the sphere and mercurial wheel of nature, which goes through all the three principles, and in the third through all the kingdoms of minerals, vegetables, and animals, through heaven and earth; the wonderful depth of which is shewn in this book to the enquirer after the divine mysteries.
 
## THE SUPERSENSUAL LIFE

A DIALOGUE

BETWEEN

A SCHOLAR AND HIS MASTER

CONCERNING

THE SUPERSENSUAL LIFE

SHEWING

How the Soul may attain to Divine Hearing and Vision, and what its Childship in the Natural and Supernatural Life is; and how it passeth out of Nature into God, and out of God into Nature and Self again; also what its Salvation and Perdition are.

I Cor. ii. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

"We speak the hidden mystical wisdom of God, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: For they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth, or discerneth all things."

OF THE SUPERSENSUAL LIFE

OR

THE LIFE WHICH IS ABOVE SENSE

IN

A Dialogue between a Scholar or Disciple and his Master

## Dialogue 1. Disciple. Master

The disciple said to his master: Sir, how may I come to the supersensual life, so that I may see God, and may hear God speak?

The master answered and said: Son, when thou canst throw thyself into That, where no creature dwelleth, though it be but for a moment, then thou hearest what God speaketh.

*Disciple*. Is that where no creature dwelleth near at hand; or is it afar off?

*Master*. It is in thee. And if thou canst, my son, for a while but cease from all thy thinking and willing, then thou shalt hear the unspeakable words of God.

*Disciple*. How can I hear him speak, when I stand still from thinking and willing?

*Master*. When thou standest still from the thinking of self, and the willing of self; "When both thy intellect and will are quiet, and passive to the impressions of the Eternal Word and Spirit; and when thy soul is winged up, and above that which is temporal, the outward senses, and the imagination being locked up by holy abstraction," then the eternal hearing, seeing, and speaking will be revealed in thee; and so God heareth "and seeth through thee," being now the organ of *his* Spirit; and so God speaketh in thee, and whispereth to thy spirit, and thy spirit heareth his voice. Blessed art thou therefore if that thou canst stand still from self-thinking and self-willing, and canst stop the wheel of thy imagination and senses; forasmuch as hereby thou mayest arrive at length to see the great salvation of God, being made capable of all manner of divine sensations and heavenly communications. Since it is nought indeed but thine own hearing and willing that do hinder thee, so that thou dost not see and hear God.

*Disciple*. But wherewith shall I hear and see God, forasmuch as he is above nature and creature?

*Master*. Son, when thou art quiet and silent, then art thou as God was before nature and creature; thou art that which God then was; thou art that whereof he made thy nature and creature: Then thou hearest and seest even with that wherewith God himself saw and heard in thee, before ever thine own willing or thine own seeing began.

*Disciple*. What now hinders or keeps me back, so that I cannot come to that, wherewith God is to be seen and heard?

*Master*. Nothing truly but thine own willing, hearing, and seeing do keep thee back from it, and do hinder thee from coming to this supersensual state. And it is because thou strivest so against that, out of which thou thyself art descended and derived, that thou thus breakest thyself off, with thine own willing, from God's willing, and with thine own seeing from God's seeing. In as much as in thine own seeing thou dost see in thine own willing only, and with thine own understanding thou dost understand but in and according to this thine own willing, as the same stands divided from the divine will. This thy willing moreover stops thy hearing, and maketh thee deaf towards God, through thy own thinking upon terrestrial things, and thy attending to that which is without thee; and so it brings thee into a ground, where thou art laid hold on and captivated in nature. And having brought thee hither, it overshadows thee with that which thou wiliest; it binds thee with thine own chains, and it keeps thee in thine own dark prison which thou makest for thyself; so that thou canst not go out thence, or come to that state which is supernatural and super-sensual.

*Disciple*. But being I am in nature, and thus bound, as with my own chains, and by my own natural will; pray be so kind, sir, as to tell me, how I may come through nature into the supersensual and supernatural ground, without the destroying of nature?

*Master*. Three things are requisite in order to this. The first is, Thou must resign up thy will to God; and must sink thyself down to the dust in his mercy. The second is, Thou must hate thy own will, and forbear from doing that to which thy own will Both drive thee. The third is, Thou must bow thy soul under the cross, heartily submitting thyself to it, that thou mayest be able to bear the temptations of nature and creature. And if thou dost thus, know that God will speak into thee, and will bring thy resigned will into himself, in the supernatural ground; and then thou shalt hear, my son, what the Lord speaketh in thee.

*Disciple*. This is a hard saying, master; for I must forsake the world, and my life too, if I should do thus.

*Master*. Be not discouraged hereat. If thou forsakest the world, then thou comest into that out of which the world is made; and if thou losest thy life, then thy life is in that for whose sake thou forsakest it. Thy life is in God, from whence it came into the body; and as thou comest to have thine own power faint and weak and dying, the power of God will then work in thee and through thee.

*Disciple*. Nevertheless as God hath created man in and for the natural life, to rule over all creatures on earth, and to be a lord over all things in this world, it seems not to be at all unreasonable, that man should therefore possess this world and the things therein for his own.

*Master*. If thou rulest over all creatures but outwardly, there cannot be much in that. But if thou hast a mind to possess all things, and to be a lord indeed over all things in this world, there is quite another method to be taken by thee.

*Disciple*. Pray, how is that? And what method must I take, whereby to arrive at this sovereignty?

*Master*. Thou must learn to distinguish well betwixt the thing, and that which only is an image thereof; betwixt that sovereignty which is substantial, and in the inward ground or nature, and that which is imaginary, and in an outward form, or semblance; betwixt that which is properly angelical, and that which is no more than bestial. If thou rulest now over the creatures externally only, and not from the right internal ground of thy renewed nature; then thy will and ruling is verily in a bestial kind or manner, and thine at best is but a sort of imaginary and transitory government, being void of that which is substantial and permanent, the which only thou art to desire and press after. Thus by thy outwardly lording it over the creatures, it is most easy for thee to lose the substance and the reality, while thou hast nought remaining but the image or shadow only of thy first and original lordship; wherein thou art made capable to be again invested, if thou beest but wise, and takest thy investiture from the supreme lord in the right course and manner. Whereas by thy willing and ruling thus after a bestial manner, thou bringest also thy desire into a bestial essence, by which means thou becomest infected and captivated therein, and gettest therewith a bestial nature and condition of life. But if thou shalt have put off the bestial and ferine nature, and if thou hast left the imaginary life, and quitted the low imaged condition of it; then art thou come into the super-imaginariness, and into the intellectual life, which is a state of living above images, figures, and shadows: and so thou rulest over all creatures, being re-united with thine original, in that very ground or source, out of which they were and are created; and henceforth nothing on earth can hurt thee. For thou art like all things; and nothing is unlike thee.

*Disciple*. O loving master, pray teach me how I may come the shortest way to be like unto all things.

*Master*. With all my heart. Do but think on the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he said, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." There is no shorter way than this; neither can there be a better way found. Verily, Jesus saith unto thee, Unless thou turn and become as a child, hanging upon him for all things, thou shalt not see the kingdom of God. This do, and nothing shall hurt thee; for thou shalt be at friendship with all the things that are, as thou dependest on the author and fountain of them, and becomest like him, by such dependence, and by the union of thy will with his will. But mark what I have further to say; and be not thou startled at it, though it may seem hard for thee at first to conceive. If thou wilt be like all things, thou must forsake all things; thou must turn thy desire away from them all, and not desire or hanker after any of them; thou must not extend thy will to possess that for thy own, or as thine own, which is something, whatsoever that something be. For as soon as ever thou takest something into thy desire, and receivest it into thee for thine own, or in propriety, then this very something (of what nature soever it is) is the same with thyself; and this worketh with thee in thy will, and thou art thence bound to protect it, and to take care of it, even as of thy own being. But if thou dost receive nothing into thy desire, then thou art free from all things, and rulest over all things at once, as a prince of God. For thou hast received nothing for thine own, and art nothing to all things; and all things are as nothing to thee. Thou art as a child, which understands not what a thing is; and though thou dost perhaps understand it, yet thou understandest it without mixing with it, and without sensibly affecting or touching thy perception, even in that manner wherein God doth rule and see all things; he comprehending all, and yet nothing comprehending him.

*Disciple*. Ah! how shall I arrive at this heavenly understanding, at this sight of all things in God, at this pure and naked knowledge which is abstracted from the senses; at this light above nature and creature; and at this participation of the divine wisdom which oversees all things, and governs through all intellectual beings? For, alas, I am touched every moment by the things which are about me; and overshadowed by the clouds and fumes which rise up out of the earth. I desire therefore to be taught, if possible, how I may attain such a state and condition as no creature may be able to touch me to hurt me; and how my mind, being purged from sensible objects and things, may be prepared for the entrance and habitation of the divine wisdom in me?

*Master*. Thou desirest that I would teach thee how thou art to attain it; and I will direct thee to our master, from whom I have been taught it, that thou mayest learn it thyself from him, who alone teacheth the heart. Hear thou him. Wouldest thou arrive at this; wouldest thou remain untouched by sensibles; wouldest thou behold light in the very light of God, and see all things thereby; then consider the words of Christ, who is that light, and who is the truth. O consider now his words, who said, "Without me ye can do nothing " (John xix. 5), and defer not to apply thyself unto him, who is the strength of thy salvation, and the power of thy life; and with whom thou canst do all things, by the faith which he worketh in thee. But unless thou wholly givest thyself up to the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, and resignest thy will wholly to him, and desirest nothing and willest nothing without him, thou shalt never come to such a rest as no creature can disturb. Think what thou pleasest, and be never so much delighted in the activity of thine own reason, thou shalt find that in thine own power, and without such a total surrender to God, and to the life of God, thou canst never arrive at such a rest as this, or the true quiet of the soul, wherein no creature can molest thee, or so much as touch thee. Which when thou shalt, by grace, have attained to, then with thy body thou art in the world, as in the properties of outward nature; and with thy reason, under the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; but with thy will thou walkest in heaven, and art at the end from whence all creatures are proceeded forth, and to which they return again. And then thou canst in this End, which is the same with the Beginning, behold all things outwardly with reason, and inwardly with the mind; and so mayest thou rule in all things and over all things, with Christ; unto whom all power is given both in heaven and on earth.

*Disciple*. O master, the creatures which live in me do withhold me, that I cannot so wholly yield and give up myself as I willingly would. What am I to do in this case?

*Master*. Let not this trouble thee. Doth thy will go forth from the creatures? Then the creatures are forsaken in thee. They are in the world; and thy body, which is in the world, is with the creatures. But spiritually thou walkest with God, and conversest in heaven; being in thy mind redeemed from earth, and separated from creatures, to live the life of God. And if thy will thus leaveth the creatures, and goeth forth from them, even as the spirit goeth forth from the body at death; then are the creatures dead in it, and do live only in the body in the world. Since if thy will do not bring itself into them, they cannot bring themselves into it, neither can they by any means touch the soul. And hence St. Paul saith, "Our conversation is in heaven;" and also, "Ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." So then true Christians are the very temples of the Holy Ghost, who dwelleth in them; that is, the Holy Ghost dwelleth in the will, and the creature dwelleth in the body.

*Disciple*. If now the Holy Spirit doth dwell in the will of the mind, how ought I to keep myself so that he depart not from me again?

*Master*. Mark, my son, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ; "If ye abide in my words, then my words abide in you." If thou abidest with thy will in the words of Christ; then his word and spirit abideth in thee, and all shall be done for thee that thou canst ask of him. But if thy will goeth into the creature, then thou hast broken off thereby thyself from him: And then thou canst not any otherwise keep thyself but by abiding continually in the most resigned humility, and by entering into a constant course of penitence, wherein thou wilt be always grieved at thine own creaturely will, and that creatures do live still in thee, that is, in thy bodily appetite. If thou dost thus, thou standest in a daily dying from the creatures, and in a daily ascending into heaven in thy will; which will is also the will of thy Heavenly Father.

*Disciple*. O my loving master, pray teach me how I may come to such a constant course of holy penitence, and to such a daily dying from all creaturely objects; for how can I abide continually in repentance?

*Master*. When thou leavest that which loveth thee, and lovest that which hateth thee; then thou mayest abide continually in repentance.

*Disciple*. What is it that I must thus leave?

*Master*. All things that love and entertain thee, because thy will loves and entertains them: All things that please and feed thee, because thy will feeds and cherishes them: All creatures in flesh and blood; in a word, all visibles and sensibles, by which either the imagination or sensitive appetite in men are delighted and refreshed. These the will of thy mind, or thy supreme part must leave and forsake; and must even account them all its enemies. This is the leaving of what loves thee. And the loving of what hates thee, is the embracing the reproach of the world. Thou must learn then to love the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for his sake to be pleased with the reproach of the world which hates thee and derides thee; and let this be thy daily exercise of penitence to be crucified to the world, and the world to thee. And so thou shalt have continual cause to hate thyself in the creature, and to seek the eternal rest which is in Christ. To which rest thou having thus attained, thy will may therein safely rest and repose itself, according as thy Lord Christ hath said: In me ye may have rest, but in the world ye shall have anxiety: In me ye may have peace, but in the world ye shall have tribulation.

*Disciple*. How shall I be now able to subsist in this anxiety and tribulation arising from the world, so as not to lose the eternal peace, or not enter into this rest? And how may I recover myself in such a temptation as this is, by not sinking under the world, but rising above it by a life that is truly heavenly and supersensual?

*Master*. If thou dost once every hour throw thyself by faith beyond all creatures, beyond and above all sensual perception and apprehension, yea, above discourse and reasoning, into the abyssal mercy of God, into the sufferings of our Lord, and into the fellowship of his interceding, and yieldest thyself fully and absolutely thereinto; then thou shalt receive power from above to rule over death, and the devil, and to subdue hell and the world under thee: And then thou mayest subsist in all temptations, and be the brighter for them.

*Disciple*. Blessed is the man that arriveth to such a state as this. But, alas! poor man that I am, how is this possible as to me? And what, O my master, would become of me, if I should ever attain with my mind to that, where no creature is? Must I not cry out, "I am undone!"

*Master*. Son, why art thou so dispirited? Be of good heart still; for thou mayest certainly yet attain to it. Do but believe, and all things are made possible to thee. If it were that thy will, O thou of little courage, could break off itself for one hour, or even but for one half hour, from all creatures, and plunge itself into that where no creature is, or can be; presently it would be penetrated and clothed upon with the supreme splendour of the divine glory, would taste in itself the most sweet love of Jesus, the sweetness whereof no tongue can express, and would find in itself the unspeakable words of our Lord concerning his great mercy. Thy spirit would then feel in itself the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ to be very pleasing to it; and would thereupon love the cross more than the honours and goods of the world.

*Disciple*. This for the soul would be exceeding well indeed: But what would then become of the body, seeing that it must of necessity live in the creature?

*Master*. The body would by this means be put into the imitation of our Lord Christ, and of his body: It would stand in the communion of that most blessed body, which was the true temple of the Deity; and in the participation of all its gracious effects, virtues, and influences. It would live in the creature not of choice, but only as it is "made subject unto vanity," and in the world, as it is placed therein by the ordination of the Creator, for its cultivation and higher advancement; and as groaning to be delivered out of it in God's time and manner, for its perfection and resuscitation in eternal liberty and glory, like unto the glorified body of our Lord and his risen saints.

*Disciple*. But the body being in its present constitution, so "made subject to vanity," and living in a vain image and creaturely shadow, according to the life of the undergraduated creatures or brutes, whose breath goeth downwards to the earth; I am still very much afraid thereof, lest it should continue to depress the mind which is lifted up to God, by hanging as a dead weight thereto; and go on to amuse and perplex the same, as formerly, with dreams and trifles, by letting in the objects from without, in order to draw me down into the world and the hurry thereof; whereas I would fain maintain my conversation in heaven, even while I am living in the world. What therefore must I do with this body, that I may be able to keep up so desirable a conversation; and not to be under any subjection to it any longer?

*Master*. There is no other way for thee that I know, but to present the body whereof thou complainest (which is the beast to be sacrificed) "a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God:" And this shall be thy "rational service," whereby this thy body will be put, as thou desirest, into the imitation of Jesus Christ, who said, his kingdom was not of this world. Be not thou then conformed to it, but be transformed by the renewing of thy mind; which renewed mind is to have dominion over the body, that so thou mayest prove, both in body and mind, what is the perfect will of God, and accordingly perform the same with and by his grace operating in thee. Whereupon the body, or the animal life would, being thus offered up, begin to die, both from without and from within. From without, that is, from the vanity and evil customs and fashions of the world: It would be an utter enemy to all the pomps thereof, and to all the gaudery, pageantry, pride, ambition, and haughtiness therein. From within, it would die as to all the lusts and appetites of the flesh, and would get a mind and will wholly new, for its government and management; being now made subject to the spirit, which would continually be directed to God, and so consequently that which is subject to it. And thus thy very body is become the temple of God and of his Spirit, in imitation of thy Lord's body.

*Disciple*. But the world would hate it and despise it for so doing; seeing it must hereby contradict the world, and must live and act quite otherwise than the world doth. This is most certain. And how can this then be taken?

*Master*. It would not take that as any harm done to it, but would rather rejoice that it is become worthy to be like unto the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, being transformed from that of the world: And it would be most willing to bear that cross after our Lord; merely that our Lord might bestow upon it the influence of his sweet and precious love.

*Disciple*. I do not doubt but in some this may be even so. Nevertheless for my own part, I am in a straight betwixt two, not feeling yet enough of that blessed influence upon me. O how willingly should my body bear that, could this be safely depended upon by me, according to what is urged! Wherefore pardon me, loving sir, in this one thing, if my impatience doth still further demand "what would become of it, if the anger of God from within, and the wicked world also from without, should at once assault it, as the same really happened to our Lord Christ?"

*Master*. Be that unto it, even as unto our Lord Christ, when he was reproached, reviled, and crucified by the world; and when the anger of God so fiercely assaulted him for our sake. Now what did he under this most terrible assault both from without and from within? Why: He commended his soul into the hands of his Father, and so departed from the anguish of this world into the eternal joy. Do thou likewise; and his death shall be thy life.

*Disciple*. Be it unto me as unto the Lord Christ; and unto my body as unto his; which into his hands I have commended, and for the sake of his name do offer up, according to his revealed will. Nevertheless I am desirous to know what would become of my body in its pressing forth from the anguish of this miserable world into the power of the heavenly kingdom.

*Master*. It would get forth from the reproach and contradiction of the world, by a conformity to the passion of Jesus Christ; and from the sorrows and pains in the flesh, which are only the effects of some sensible impression of things without, by a quiet introversion of the spirit, and secret communion with the Deity manifesting itself for that end. It would penetrate into itself; it would sink into the great love of God; it would be sustained and refreshed by the most sweet name Jesus; and it would see and find within itself a new world springing forth as through the anger of God, into the love and joy eternal. And then should a man wrap his soul in this, even in the great love of God, and clothe himself therewith as with a garment; and should account thence all things alike; because in the creature he finds nothing that can give him without God the least satisfaction; and because also nothing of harm can touch him more, while he remains in this love, the which indeed is stronger than all things, and makes a man hence invulnerable both from within and without, by taking out the sting and poison of the creatures, and destroying the power of death. And whether the body be in hell or on earth, all is alike to him; for whether it be there or here, his mind is still in the greatest love of God; which is no less than to say, that he is in heaven.

*Disciple*. But how would a man's body be maintained in the world; or how would he be able to maintain those that are his, if he should by such a conversation incur the displeasure of all the world?

*Master*. Such a man gets greater favours than the world is able to bestow upon him. He hath God for his friend; he hath all his angels for his friends: In all dangers and necessities these protect and relieve him; so that he need fear no manner of evil; no creature can hurt him. God is his helper; and that is sufficient. Also God is his blessing in everything: And though sometimes it may seem as if God would not bless him, yet is this but for a trial to him, and for the attraction of the divine love; to the end he may more fervently pray to God, and commit all his ways unto him.

*Disciple*. He loses, however, by this all his good friends; and there will be none to help him in his necessity..

*Master*. Nay, but he gets the hearts of all his good friends into his possession, and loses none but his enemies, who before loved his vanity and wickedness.

*Disciple*. How is it that he can get his good friends into his possession?

*Master*. He gets the very hearts and souls of all those that belong to our Lord Jesus to be his brethren, and the members of his own very life. For all the children of God are but One in Christ, which one is Christ in all: And therefore he gets them all to be his fellow members in the body of Christ, whence they have all the same heavenly goods in common; and all live in one and the same love of God, as the branches of a tree in one and the same root, and spring all from one and the same source of life in them. So that he can have no want of spiritual friends and relations, who are all rooted with him together in the love which is from above; who are all of the same blood and kindred in Christ Jesus; and who are cherished all by the same quickening sap and spirit diffusing itself through them universally from the one true vine, which is the tree of life and love. These are friends worth having; and though here they may be unknown to him, will abide his friends beyond death, to all eternity. But neither can he want even outward natural friends, as our Lord Christ when on earth did not want such also. For though indeed the high-priests and potentates of the world could not have a love to him, because they belonged not to him, neither stood in any kind of relation to him, as being not of this world; yet those loved him who were capable of his love, and receptive of his words. So in like manner, those who love truth and righteousness will love that man, and will associate themselves unto him, yea, though they may perhaps be outwardly at some distance or seeming disagreement, from the situation of their worldly affairs, or out of some certain respects; yet in their hearts they cannot but cleave to him. For though they be not yet actually incorporated into one body with him, yet they cannot resist being of one mind with him, and being united in affection, for the great regard they bear to the truth, which shines forth in his words and in his life. By which they are made either his declared or his secret friends; and he doth so get their hearts, as they will be delighted above all things in his company, for the sake thereof, and will court his friendship, and will come unto him by stealth, if openly they dare not, for the benefit of his conversation and advice; even as Nicodemus did unto Christ, who came to him by night, and in his heart loved Jesus for the truth's sake, though outwardly he feared the world. And thus thou shalt have many friends that are not known to thee; and some known to thee, who may not appear so before the world.

*Disciple*. Nevertheless it is very grievous to be generally despised of the world, and to be trampled upon by men as the very offscouring thereof.

*Master*. That which now seems so hard and heavy to thee, thou wilt yet hereafter be most of all in love with.

*Disciple*. How can it be that I should ever love that which hates me?

*Master*. Though thou lovest the earthly wisdom now, yet when thou shalt be clothed upon with the heavenly wisdom, then thou wilt see that all the wisdom of the world is folly; and wilt see also that the world hates not so much thee, as thine enemy, which is the mortal life. And when thou thyself shalt come to hate the will thereof, by means of an habitual separation of thy mind from the world, then thou also wilt begin to love that despising of the mortal life, and the reproach of the world for Christ's sake. And so shalt thou be able to stand under every temptation, and to hold out to the end by the means hereof in a course of life above the world, and above sense. In this course thou wilt hate thyself; and thou wilt also love thyself; I say, love thyself, and that even more than ever thou didst yet.

*Disciple*. But how can these two subsist together, that a person should both love and hate himself?

*Master*. In loving thyself, thou lovest not thyself as thine own; but as given thee from the love of God thou lovest the divine ground in thee: By which and in which thou lovest the divine wisdom, the divine goodness, the divine beauty; thou lovest also by it God's works of wonders; and in this ground thou lovest likewise thy brethren. But in hating thyself, thou hatest only that which is thine own, and wherein the evil sticks close to thee. And this thou dost, that so thou mayest wholly destroy that which thou callest thine; as when thou sayest I or Myself do this, or do that. All which is wrong, and a downright mistake in thee; for nothing canst thou properly call thine but the evil self, neither canst thou do anything of thyself that is to be accounted of. This self therefore thou must labour wholly to destroy in thee, that so thou mayest become a ground wholly divine. There is, there can be no selfishness in love; they are opposite to each other. Love, that is, divine love (of which only we are now discoursing), hates all Egoity, hates all that which we call I, or Ihood; hates all such restrictions and confinements, even all that springs from a contracted spirit, or this evil self-hood, because it is an hateful and deadly thing. And it is impossible that these two should stand together, or subsist in one person; the one driving out the other by a necessity of nature. For love possesses heaven, and dwells in itself, which is dwelling in heaven; but that which is called I, this vile self-hood possesses the world and worldly things; and dwells also in itself, which is dwelling in hell, because this is the very root of hell itself. And therefore as heaven rules the world, and as eternity rules time, even so ought love to rule the natural temporal life; for no other method is there, neither can there be of attaining to that life which is supernatural and eternal, and which thou so much desirest to be led into.

*Disciple*. Loving master, I am well content that this love should rule in me over the natural life, that so I may attain to that which is supernatural and supersensual; but pray tell me now, why must love and hatred, friend and foe thus be together? Would not love alone be better? Wherefore, I say, are love and trouble thus joined?

*Master*. If love dwelt not in trouble, it could have nothing to love: But its substance which it loves, namely, the poor soul, being in trouble and pain, it hath thence cause to love its own substance, and to deliver it from pain; that so itself may by it be again beloved. Neither could any one know what love is, if there were no hatred; or what friendship is, if there were no foe to contend with: Or in one word, if love had not something which it might love, and manifest the virtue and power of love, by working out deliverance to the beloved from all pain and trouble.

*Disciple*. Pray what is the virtue, the power, the height and the greatness of love?

*Master*. The virtue of love is Nothing and All, or that nothing visible out of which all things proceed; its power is through all things; its height is as high as God; its greatness is as great as God. Its virtue is the principle of all principles; its power supports the heavens and upholds the earth; its height is higher than the highest heavens; and its greatness is even greater than the very manifestation of the Godhead in the glorious light of the divine essence, as being infinitely capable of greater and greater manifestations in all eternity. What can I say more? Love is higher than the highest. Love is greater than the greatest. Yea, it is in a certain sense greater than God; while yet in the highest sense of all, God is Love, and love is God. Love being the highest principle, is the virtue of all virtues; from whence they flow forth. Love being the greatest majesty, is the power of all powers, from whence they severally operate: And it is the holy magical root, or ghostly power from whence all the wonders of God have been wrought by the hands of his elect servants, in all their generations successively. Whosoever finds it, finds nothing and all things.

*Disciple*. Dear master, pray tell me but how I may understand this.

*Master*. First then, in that I said, "its virtue is nothing," or that nothing which is the beginning of all things, thou must understand it thus: When thou art gone forth wholly from the creature, and from that which is visible, and art become nothing to all that is nature and creature, then thou art in that Eternal One, which is God himself: And then thou shalt perceive and feel in thy interiour, the highest virtue of love. But in that I said, "Its power is through all things," this is that which thou perceivest and findest in thy own soul and body experimentally, whenever this great love is enkindled within thee; seeing that it will burn more than the fire can do, as it did in the prophets of old, and afterwards in the apostles, when God conversed with them bodily, and when his Spirit descended upon them in the oratory of Zion. Thou shalt then see also in all the works of God, how love hath poured forth itself into all things, and penetrateth all things, and is the most inward and most outward ground in all things: Inwardly in the virtue and power of everything; and outwardly in the figure and form thereof.

And in that I said, "Its height is as high as God;" thou mayest understand this in thyself; forasmuch as it brings thee to be as high as God himself is, by being united to God: As may be seen by our beloved Lord Christ in our humanity. Which humanity love hath brought up into the highest throne, above all angelical principalities and powers, into the very power of the Deity itself.

But in that I also said, "Its greatness is as great as God," thou art hereby to understand that there is a certain greatness and latitude of heart in love, which is inexpressible; for it enlarges the soul as wide as the whole creation of God. And this shall be truly experienced by thee, beyond all words, when the throne of love shall be set up in thy heart.

Moreover in that I said, "Its virtue is the principle of all principles," hereby it is given thee to understand, that love is the principiating cause of all created beings, both spiritual and corporeal, by virtue whereof the second causes do move and act occasionally according to certain eternal laws from the beginning implanted in the very constitution of things thus originated. This virtue which is in love, is the very life and energy of all the principles of nature, superiour and inferiour: It reaches to all worlds, and to all manner of beings in them contained, they being the workmanship of divine love; and is the first mover, and first moveable both in heaven above and in the earth beneath, and in the water under the earth. And hence there is given to it the name of the Lucid Aleph, or Alpha; by which is expressed the beginning of the alphabet of nature, and of the book of creation and providence, or the divine archetypal book, in which is the light of wisdom, and the source of all lights and forms.

And in that I said, "Its power supports the heavens;" by this thou wilt come to understand that as the heavens, visible and invisible, are originated from this great principle, so are they likewise necessarily sustained by it; and that therefore if this should be but never so little withdrawn, all the lights, glories, beauties, and forms of the heavenly worlds, would presently sink into darkness and chaos.

And whereas I further said, "that it upholds the earth; this will appear to thee no less evident than the former, and thou shalt perceive it in thyself by daily and hourly experience; forasmuch as the earth without it, even thy own earth also (that is, thy body), would certainly be without form and void. By the power thereof the earth hath been thus long upheld, notwithstanding a foreign usurped power introduced by the folly of sin: And should this but once fail or recede, there could no longer be either vegetation or animation upon it; yea, the very pillars of it be overthrown quite, and the band of union, which is that of attraction or magnetism, called the centripetal power, being broken and dissolved, all must thence run into the utmost disorder, and falling away as into shivers, would be dispersed as loose dust before the wind.

But in that I said, "Its height is higher than the highest heavens;" this thou mayest also understand within thyself: For shouldest thou ascend in spirit through all the orders of angels and heavenly powers, yet the power of love still is undeniably superiour to them all. And as the throne of God, who sits upon the heaven of heavens, is higher than the highest of them, even so must love also be, which fills them all, and comprehends them all.

And whereas I said of the greatness of love, that it is "greater than the very manifestation of the Godhead in the light of the divine essence;" that is also true: For love enters even into that where the Godhead is not manifested in this glorious light, and where God may be said not to dwell. And entering thereinto, love begins to manifest to the soul the light of the Godhead; and thus is the darkness broken through, and the wonders of the new creation successively manifested.

Thus shalt thou be brought to understand really and fundamentally, what is the virtue and power of love, and what the height and greatness thereof is; how that it is indeed the "virtue of all virtues," though it be invisible, and as a nothing in appearance, inasmuch as it is the worker of all things, and a powerful vital energy passing through all virtues and powers natural and supernatural; and the power of all powers, nothing being able to let or obstruct the omnipotence of love, or to resist its invincible penetrating might, which passes through the whole creation of God, inspecting and governing all things.

And in that I said, "It is higher than the highest, and greater than the greatest;" thou mayest hereby perceive as in a glimpse, the supreme height and greatness of omnipotent love, which infinitely transcends all that human sense and reason can reach to. The highest archangels and the greatest powers of heaven, are in comparison of it but as dwarfs. Nothing can be conceived higher and greater in God himself, by the very highest and greatest of his creatures. There is such an infinity in it, as comprehends and surpasses all the divine attributes.

But in that it was also said, "Its greatness is greater than God;" that likewise is very true in the sense wherein it was spoken: For love, as I before observed, can there enter where God dwelleth not, since the Most High God dwelleth not in darkness, but in the light; the hellish darkness being put under his feet. Thus for instance, when our beloved Lord Christ was in hell, hell was not the mansion of God or of Christ; hell was not God, neither was it with God, nor could it be at all with him; hell stood in the darkness and anxiety of nature, and no light of the divine majesty did there enter: God was not there; for he is not in the darkness, or in the anguish; but love was there; and love destroyed death and conquered hell. So also when thou art in anguish or trouble, which is hell within, God is not the anguish or trouble; neither is he in the anguish or trouble; but his love is there, and brings thee out of the anguish and trouble into God, leading thee into the light and joy of his presence. When God hides himself in thee, love is still there, and makes him manifest in thee. Such is the inconceiveable greatness and largeness of love; which will hence appear to thee as great as God above nature, and greater than God in nature, or as considered in his manifestative glory.

Lastly, whereas I also said, "Whosoever finds it, finds nothing and all things;" that is also certain and true. But how finds he nothing? Why, I will tell thee how. He that findeth it, findeth a supernatural supersensual abyss, which hath no ground or byss to stand on, and where there is no place to dwell in; and he findeth also nothing is like unto it, and therefore it may fitly be compared to nothing; for it is deeper than anything, and is as nothing with respect to all things, forasmuch as it is not comprehensible by any of them. And because it is nothing respectively, it is therefore free from all things; and is that only good, which a man cannot express or utter what it is; there being nothing to which it may be compared, to express it by.

But in that I lastly said, "Whosoever finds it, finds all things;" there is nothing can be more true than this assertion. It hath been the beginning of all things; and it ruleth all things. It is also the end of all things; and will thence comprehend all things within its circle. All things are from it, and in it, and by it. If thou findest it, thou comest into that ground from whence all things are proceeded, and wherein they subsist; and thou art in it a King over all the works of God.

Here the disciple was exceedingly ravished with what his master had so wonderfully and surprisingly declared, and returned his most humble and hearty thanks for that light, which he had been an instrument of conveying to him. But being desirous to hear further concerning these high matters, and to know somewhat more particularly, he requested him, that he would give him leave to wait on him the next day again; and that he would then be pleased to shew him how and where he might find this which was so much beyond all price and value, and whereabout the seat and abode of it might be in human nature; with the entire process of the discovery and bringing it forth to light.

The master said to him: This then we will discourse about at our next conference, as God shall reveal the same to us by his Spirit, which is a searcher of all things. And if thou dost remember well what I answered thee in the beginning, thou shalt soon come thereby to understand that hidden mystical wisdom of God, which none of the wise men of the world know; and where the Mine thereof is to be found in thee, shall be given thee from above to discern. Be silent therefore in thy spirit, and watch unto prayer; that when we meet again to-morrow in the love of Christ, thy mind may be disposed for finding that noble pearl, which to the world appears nothing, but which to the children of wisdom is all things.
 
## Dialogue 2. Argument

Herein is described and set forth the manner of passing the gulf which divides betwixt the two principles or states of heaven and hell: And it is particularly shewn how this transaction is carried on in the soul; what the partition wall therein is, which separates from God.

What the breaking down of this partition wall, and how effected; what the centre of light is, and the pressing into that centre is; what the light of God and the light of nature are; how they are operative in their several spheres, and how to be kept from interfering with each other; with some account of the two wills and their contraposition in the fallen state; of the magical wheel of the will, and how the motion thereof may be regulated; of the eye in the midst thereof, what the right eye is to the soul, and what the left is, but especially what the *single eye* is, and in what manner it is to be obtained; of purification from the contagion of matter; of the destruction of evil, and of the very annihilation of it, by the subsidence of the will from its own something into nothing; of the naked and magical faith, and the attraction thereby of a certain divine substantiality and vestment; how all consists in the will, and proceeds but from *one point;* where that point is placed, and how it may be found out; and which is both the safest and nearest way to attain to the high supersensual state, and the internal kingdom of Christ, according to the true heavenly magia or wisdom.

DISCIPLE.  MASTER.

The disciple being very earnest to be more fully instructed how he might arrive at the supersensual life; and how, having found all things, he might come to be a king over all God's works; came again to his master the next morning, having watched the night in prayer, that he might be disposed to receive and apprehend the instructions that should be given him by a divine irradiation upon his mind. And the disciple after a little space of silence, bowed himself, and thus brake forth:

*Disciple*. O my master! my master! I have now endeavoured to recollect my soul in the presence of God, and to cast myself into that deep where no creature doth nor can dwell; that I might hear the voice of my Lord speaking in me; and be initiated into that high life, whereof I heard yesterday such great and amazing things pronounced. But, alas! I neither hear nor see as I should: There is still such a partition wall in me which beats back the heavenly sounds in their passage, and obstructs the entrance of that light by which alone divine objects are discoverable, as till this be broken down, I can have but small hopes, yea, even none at all, of arriving at those glorious attainments which you pressed me to, or of entering into that where no creature dwells, and which you call nothing and all things. Wherefore be so kind as to inform me what is required on my part, that this partition which hinders may be broken or removed.

*Master*. This partition is the creaturely will in thee: And this can be broken by nothing but by the grace of self-denial, which is the entrance into the true following of Christ; and totally removed by nothing but a perfect conformity with the divine will.

*Disciple*. But how shall I be able to break this creaturely will which is in me, and is at enmity with the divine will? Or, what shall I do to follow Christ in so difficult a path, and not to faint in a continual course of self-denial and resignation to the will of God?

*Master*. This is not to be done by thyself; but by the light and grace of God received into thy soul, which will, if thou gainsay not, break the darkness that is in thee, and melt down thine own will, which worketh in the darkness and corruption of nature, and bring it into the obedience of Christ, whereby the partition of the creaturely self is removed from betwixt God and thee.

*Disciple*. I know that I cannot do it of myself: But I would fain learn, how I must receive this divine light and grace into me, which is to do it for me, if I hinder it not my own self. What is then required of me in order to admit this breaker of the partition, and to promote the attainment of the ends of such admission?

*Master*. There is nothing more required of thee at first, than not to resist this grace, which is manifested in thee; and nothing in the whole process of thy work, but to be obedient and passive to the light of God shining through the darkness of thy creaturely being, which comprehendeth it not, as reaching no higher than the light of nature.

*Disciple*. But is it not for me to attain, if I can, both the light of God, and the light of the outward nature too: And to make use of them both for the ordering my life wisely and prudently?

*Master*. It is right, I confess, so to do. And it is indeed a treasure above all earthly treasures, to be possessed of the light of God and nature, operating in their spheres; and to have both the eye of time and eternity at once open together, and yet not to interfere with each other.

*Disciple*. This is a great satisfaction to me to hear; having been very uneasy about it for some time. But how this can be without interfering with each other, there is the difficulty: Wherefore fain would I know, if it were lawful, the boundaries of the one and the other; and how both the divine and the natural light may in their several spheres respectively act and operate, for the manifestation of the mysteries of God and nature, and for the conduct of my outward and inward life?

*Master*. That each of these may be preserved distinct in their several spheres, without confounding things heavenly and things earthly, or breaking the golden chain of wisdom, it will be necessary, my child, in the first place to wait for and attend the supernatural and divine light, as that superiour light appointed to govern the day, rising in the true east, which is the centre of paradise; and in great might breaking forth as out of the darkness within thee, through a pillar of fire and thunder-clouds, and thereby also reflecting upon the inferiour light of nature a sort of image of itself, whereby only it can be kept in its due subordination; that which is below being made subservient to that which is above; and that which is without to that which is within. Thus there will be no danger of interfering; but all will go right, and everything abide in its proper sphere.

*Disciple*. Therefore without reason or the light of nature be sanctified in my soul, and illuminated by this superiour light, as from the central east of the holy light-world, by the eternal and intellectual sun; I perceive there will be always some confusion, and I shall never be able to manage aright either what concerneth time or eternity: But I must always be at a loss, or break the links of wisdom's chain.

*Master*. It is even so as thou hast said. All is confusion, if thou hast no more but the dim light of nature, or unsanctified and unregenerated reason to guide thee by; and if only the eye of time be opened in thee, which cannot pierce beyond its own limit. Wherefore seek the fountain of light, waiting in the deep ground of thy soul for the rising there of the sun of righteousness, whereby the light of nature in thee, with the properties thereof, will be made to shine seven times brighter than ordinary. For it shall receive the stamp, image, and impression of the super-sensual and supernatural; so that the sensual and rational life will hence be brought into the most perfect order and harmony.

*Disciple*. But how am I to wait for the rising of this glorious sun, and how am I to seek in the centre, this fountain of light, which may enlighten me throughout, and bring all my properties into perfect harmony? I am in nature, as I said before; and which way shall I pass through nature, and the light thereof, so that I may come into that supernatural and supersensual ground, whence this true light, which is the light of minds, doth arise; and this, without the destruction of my nature, or quenching the light of it, which is my—reason?

*Master*. Cease but from thine own activity, steadfastly fixing thine eye upon one point, and with a strong purpose relying upon the promised grace of God in Christ, to bring thee out of thy darkness into his marvellous light. For this end gather in all thy thoughts, and by faith press into the centre, laying hold upon the word of God, which is infallible, and which hath called thee. Be thou then obedient to this call; and be silent before the Lord, sitting alone with him in thy inmost and most hidden cell, thy mind being centrally united in itself, and attending his will in the patience of hope. So shall thy light break forth as the morning; and after the redness thereof is passed, the sun himself, which thou waitest for, shall arise unto thee, and under his most healing wings thou shalt greatly rejoice; ascending and descending in his bright and salutiferous beams. Behold this is the true supersensual ground of life.

*Disciple*. I believe it indeed to be even so. But will not this destroy nature? Will not the light of nature in me be extinguished by this greater light? Or, must not the outward life hence perish, with the earthly body which I carry?

*Master*. By no means at all. It is true, the evil nature will be destroyed by it; but by the destruction thereof you can be no loser, but very much a gainer. The eternal band of nature is the same afterward as before; and the properties are the same. So that nature hereby is only advanced and meliorated; and the light thereof, or human reason, by being kept within its due bounds, and regulated by a superiour light, is only made useful.

*Disciple*. Pray therefore let me know how this inferiour light ought to be used by me; how it is to be kept within its due bounds; and after what manner the superiour light doth regulate it and ennoble it.

*Master*. Know then, my beloved son, that if thou wilt keep the light of nature within its own proper bounds, and make use thereof in just subordination to the light of God; thou must consider that there are in thy soul two wills, an inferiour will, which is for driving thee to things without and below; and a superiour will, which is for drawing to things within and above. These two wills are now set together, as it were back to back, and in a direct contrariety to each other; but in the beginning it was not so. For this contraposition of the soul in these two is no more than the effect of the fallen state; since before that they were placed one under the other, that is, the superiour will above, as the lord, and the inferiour below, as the subject. And thus it ought to have continued. Thou must also further consider, that answering to these two wills there are likewise two eyes in the soul, whereby they are severally directed; forasmuch as these eyes are not united in one single view, but look quite contrary ways at once. They are in a like manner set one against the other, without a common medium to join them. And hence, so long as this double-sightedness doth remain, it is impossible there should be any agreement in the determination of this or that will. This is very plain: And it sheweth the necessity that this malady, arising from the disunion of the rays of vision, be some way remedied and redressed, in order to a true discernment in the mind. Both these eyes therefore must be made to unite by a concentration of rays; there being nothing more dangerous than for the mind to abide thus in the duplicity, and not to seek to arrive at the unity. Thou perceivest, I know, that thou hast two wills in thee, one set against the other, the superiour and the inferiour; and that thou hast also two eyes within, one against another; whereof the one eye may be called the right eye, and the other the left eye. Thou perceivest, too, doubtless, that it is according to the right eye that the wheel of the superiour will is moved; and that it is according to the motion of the left eye that the contrary wheel in the lower is turned about.

*Disciple*. I perceive this, sir, to be very true; and this it is which causeth a continual combat in me, and createth to me greater anxiety than I am able to express. Nor am I unacquainted with the disease of my own soul, which you have so clearly declared. Alas! I perceive and lament this malady, which so miserably disturbeth my sight; whence I feel such irregular and convulsive motions drawing me on this side and that side. The spirit seeth not as the flesh seeth; neither doth, or can the flesh see, as the spirit seeth. Hence the spirit willeth against the flesh; and the flesh willeth against the spirit in me. This hath been my hard case. And how shall it be remedied? O how may I arrive at the unity of will, and how come into the unity of vision!

*Master*. Mark now what I say: The right eye looketh forward in thee into eternity. The left eye looketh backward in thee into time. If now thou sufferest thyself to be always looking into nature, and the things of time, and to be leading the will, and to be seeking somewhat for itself in the desire, it will be impossible for thee ever to arrive at the unity, which thou wishest for. Remember this; and be upon thy watch. Give not thy mind leave to enter into, nor to fill itself with, that which is without thee; neither look thou backward upon thyself; but quit thyself, and look forward upon Christ. Let not thy left eye deceive thee, by making continually one representation after another, and stirring up thereby an earnest longing in the self-propriety; but let thy right eye command back this left, and attract it to thee, so that it may not gad abroad into the wonders and delights of nature. Yea, it is better to pluck it quite out, and to cast it from thee, than to suffer it to proceed forth without restraint into nature, and to follow its own lusts: However, there is for this no necessity, since both eyes may become very useful, if ordered aright; and both the divine and natural light may in the soul subsist together, and be of mutual service to each other. But never shalt thou arrive at the unity of vision or uniformity of will, but by entering fully into the will of our Saviour Christ, and therein bringing the eye of time into the eye of eternity; and then descending by means of this united through the light of God into the light of nature.

*Disciple*. So then if I can but enter into the will of my Lord, and abide therein, I am safe, and may both attain to the light of God in the spirit of my soul, and see with the eye of God, that is, the eye of eternity in the eternal ground of my will; and may also at the same time enjoy the light of this world nevertheless; not degrading, but adorning the light of nature; and beholding as with the eye of eternity things eternal, so with the eye of nature things natural, and both contemplating therein the wonders of God, and sustaining also thereby the life of my outward vehicle or body.

*Master*. It is very right. Thou hast well understood; and thou desirest now to enter into the will of God, and to abide therein as in the supersensual ground of light and life, where thou mayest in his light behold both time and eternity, and bring all the wonders created of God for the exteriour into the interiour life, and so eternally rejoice in them to the glory of Christ; the partition of thy creaturely will being broken down, and the eye of thy spirit simplified in and through the eye of God manifesting itself in the centre of thy life. Let this be so now; for it is God's will.

*Disciple*. But it is very hard to be always looking forwards into eternity; and consequently to attain to this single eye, and simplicity of divine vision. The entrance of a soul naked into the will of God, shutting out all imaginations and desires, and breaking down the strong partition which you mention, is indeed somewhat very terrible and shocking to human nature, as in its present state. O what shall I do, that I may reach this which I so much long for?

*Master*. My son, let not the eye of nature with the will of the wonders depart from that eye which is introverted into the divine liberty, and into the eternal light of the holy majesty: But let it draw to thee those wonders by union with that heavenly internal eye, which are externally wrought out and manifested in visible nature. For while thou art in the world, and hast an honest employment, thou art certainly by the order of providence obliged to labour in it, and to finish the work given thee, according to thy best ability, without repining in the least; seeking out and manifesting for God's glory, the wonders of nature and art. Since let the nature be what it will, it is all the work and art of God: And let the art also be what it will, it is still God's work; and his art, rather than any art or cunning of man. And all both in art and nature serveth but abundantly to manifest the wonderful works of God; that he for all, and in all, may be glorified. Yea, all serveth, if thou knowest rightly how to use them, but to recollect thee more inwards, and to draw thy spirit into that majestic light, wherein the original patterns and forms of things visible are to be seen. Keep therefore in the centre, and stir not out from the presence of God revealed within thy soul; let the world and the devil make never so great a noise and bustle to draw thee out, mind them not; they cannot hurt thee. It is permitted to the eye of thy reason to seek food, and to thy hands, by their labour, to get food for the terrestrial body: But then this eye ought not with its desire to enter into the food prepared, which would be covetousness; but must in resignation simply bring it before the eye of God in thy spirit, and then thou must seek to place it close to this very eye, without letting it go. Mark this lesson well.

Let the hands or the head be at labour, thy heart ought nevertheless to rest in God. God is a Spirit; dwell in the Spirit, work in the Spirit, pray in the Spirit, and do everything in the Spirit; for remember thou also art a spirit, and thereby created in the image of God: Therefore see thou attract not in thy desire matter unto thee, but as much as possible abstract thyself from all matter whatever; and so, standing in the centre, present thyself as a naked spirit before God, in simplicity and purity; and be sure thy spirit draw in nothing but spirit.

Thou wilt yet be greatly enticed to draw matter, and to gather that which the world calls substance, thereby to have somewhat visible to trust to: But by no means consent to the tempter, nor yield to the lustings of thy flesh against the spirit. For in so doing thou wilt infallibly obscure the divine light in thee; thy spirit will stick in the dark covetous root, and from the fiery source of thy soul will it blaze out in pride and anger; thy will shall be chained in earthliness, and shall sink through the anguish into darkness and materiality; and never shalt thou be able to reach the still liberty, or to stand before the majesty of God. Since this is opening a door for him who reigneth in the corruption of matter, possibly the devil may roar at thee for this refusal; because nothing can vex him worse than such a silent abstraction of the soul, and introversion thereof to the point of rest from all that is worldly and circumferential: But regard him not; neither admit the least dust of that matter into thee which he may pretend any claim to. It will be all darkness to thee, as much matter as is drawn in by the desire of thy will: It will darken God's majesty to thee; and will close the seeing eye, by hiding from thee the light of his beloved countenance. This the serpent longeth to do; but in vain, except thou permittest thy imagination, upon his suggestion, to receive in the alluring matter; else he can never get in. Behold then, if thou desirest to see God's light in thy soul, and be divinely illuminated and conducted, this is the short way that thou art to take; not to let the eye of thy spirit enter into matter, or fill itself with anything whatever, either in heaven or earth; but to let it enter by a naked faith into the light of the majesty; and so receive by pure love the light of God, and attract the divine power into itself, putting on the divine body, and growing up in it to the full maturity of the humanity of Christ.

*Disciple*. As I said before, so I say again, this is very hard. I conceive indeed well enough that my spirit ought to be free from the contagion of matter, and wholly empty, that it may admit into it the Spirit of God. Also, that this Spirit will not enter, but where the will entereth into nothing, and resigneth itself up in the nakedness of faith, and in the purity of love, to its conduct; feeding magically upon the word of God, and clothing itself thereby with a divine substantiality. But, alas, how hard is it for the will to sink into nothing, to attract nothing, to imagine nothing!

*Master*. Let it be granted that it is so. Is it not surely worth thy while, and all that thou canst ever do?

*Disciple*. It is so, I must needs confess.

*Master*. But perhaps it may not be so hard as at first it appeareth to be; make but the trial, and be in earnest. What is there required of thee but to stand still, and see the salvation of thy God? And couldst thou desire anything less? Where is the hardship in this? Thou hast nothing to care for, nothing to desire in this life, nothing to imagine or attract: Thou needest only cast thy care upon God, who careth for thee, and leave him to dispose of thee according to his good will and pleasure, even as if thou hadst no will at all in thee. For he knoweth what is best; and if thou canst but trust him, he will most certainly do better for thee, than if thou wert left to thine own choice.

*Disciple*. This I most firmly believe.

*Master*. If thou believest, then go and do accordingly. All is in the will, as I have shewn thee. When the will imagineth after somewhat, then entereth it into that somewhat, and this somewhat taketh presently the will into itself, and overcloudeth it, so as it can have no light, but must dwell in darkness, unless it return back out of that somewhat into nothing. But when the will imagineth or lusteth after nothing, then it entereth into nothing, where it receiveth the will of God into itself, and so dwelleth in light, and worketh all its works in it.

*Disciple*. I am now satisfied that the main cause of any one's spiritual blindness, is his letting his will into somewhat, or into that which he hath wrought, of what nature soever it be, good or evil, and his setting his heart and affections upon the work of his own hands or brain; and that when the earthly body perisheth, then the soul must be imprisoned in that very thing which it shall have received and let in; and if the light of God be not in it, being deprived of the light of this world, it cannot but be found in a dark prison.

*Master*. This is a very precious gate of knowledge; I am glad thou takest it into such consideration. The understanding of the whole Scripture is contained in it; and all that hath been written from the beginning of the world to this day, may be found herein, by him that having entered with his will into nothing, hath there found all things, by finding God; from whom, and to whom, and in whom are all things. By this means thou shalt come to hear and see God; and after this earthly life is ended, to see with the eye of eternity all the wonders of God and of nature, and more particularly those which shall be wrought by thee in the flesh, or all that the Spirit of God shall have given thee to labour out for thyself and thy neighbour, or all that the eye of reason enlightened from above, may at any time have manifested to thee. Delay not therefore to enter in by this gate, which if thou seest in the spirit, as some highly favoured souls have seen it, thou seest in the supersensual ground all that God is, and can do; thou seest also therewith, as one hath said who was taken thereinto, through heaven, hell, and earth; and through the essence of all essences. Whosoever findeth it, hath found all that he can desire. Here is the virtue, and power of the love of God displayed. Here is the height and depth; here is the breadth and length thereof manifested, as fully as ever the capacity of thy soul can contain. By this thou shalt come into that ground out of which all things are originated, and in which they subsist; and in it thou shalt reign over all God's works, as a prince of God.

*Disciple*. Pray tell me, dear master, where dwelleth it in man?

*Master*. Where man dwelleth not; there hath it its seat in man.

*Disciple*. Where is that in a man, where man dwelleth not in himself?

*Master*. It is the resigned ground of a soul, to which nothing cleaveth.

*Disciple*. Where is the ground in any soul, to which there will nothing stick? Or, where is that which abideth and dwelleth not in something?

*Master*. It is the centre of rest and motion in the resigned will of a truly contrite spirit, which is crucified to the world. This centre of the will is impenetrable consequently to the world, the devil, and hell: Nothing in all the world can enter into it, or adhere to it, though never so many devils should be in the confederacy against it; because the will is dead with Christ unto the world, but quickened with him in the centre thereof, after his blessed image. Here it is where man dwelleth not; and where no self abideth, or can abide.

*Disciple*. O where is this naked ground of the soul void of all self? And how shall I come at the hidden centre where God dwelleth, and not man? Tell me plainly, loving sir, where it is, and how it is to be found of me, and entered into?

*Master*. There where the soul hath slain its own will, and willeth no more anything as from itself, but only as God willeth, and as his Spirit moveth upon the soul, shall this appear: Where the love of self is banished, there dwelleth the love of God. For so much of the soul's own will as is dead unto itself, even so much room hath the will of God, which is his love, taken up in that soul. The reason whereof is this: Where its own will did before sit, there is now nothing; and where nothing is, there it is that the love of God worketh alone.

*Disciple*. But how shall I comprehend it?

*Master*. If thou goest about to comprehend it, then it will fly away from thee; but if thou dost surrender thyself wholly up to it, then it will abide with thee, and become the life of thy life, and be natural to thee.

*Disciple*. And how can this be without dying, or the whole destruction of my will?

*Master*. Upon this entire surrender and yielding up of thy will, the love of God in thee becometh the life of thy nature; it killeth thee not, but quickeneth thee, who art now dead to thyself in thine own will, according to its proper life, even the life of God. And then thou livest, yet not to thy own will; but thou livest to its will; forasmuch as thy will is henceforth become its will. So then it is no longer thy will, but the will of God; no longer the love of thyself, but the love of God, which moveth and operateth in thee; and then, being thus comprehended in it, thou art dead indeed as to thyself, but art alive unto God. So being dead thou livest, or rather God liveth in thee by his Spirit; and his love is made to thee life from the dead. Never couldst thou, with all thy seeking, have comprehended it; but it hath apprehended thee. Much less couldst thou have comprehended it: But now it hath comprehended thee; and so the treasure of treasures is found.

*Disciple*. How is it that so few souls do find it, when yet all would be glad enough to have it?

*Master*. They all seek it in somewhat, and so they find it not: For where there is somewhat for the soul to adhere to, there the soul findeth but that somewhat only, and taketh up its rest therein, until she seeth that it is to be found in nothing, and goeth out of the somewhat into nothing, even into that nothing out of which all things may be made. The soul here saith, "I have nothing, for I am utterly naked and stripped of everything: I can do nothing; for I have no manner of power, but am as water poured out: I am nothing; for all that I am is no more than an image of being, and only God is to me I am; and so sitting down in my own nothingness, I give glory to the Eternal Being, and will nothing of myself, that so God may will all in me, being unto me my God and all things." Herein now it is that so very few find this most precious treasure in the soul, though every one would so fain have it; and might also have it, were it not for this somewhat in every one which letteth.

*Disciple*. But if the love should proffer itself to a soul, could not that soul find it, nor lay hold on it, without going for it into nothing?

*Master*. No verily. Men seek and find not, because they seek it not in the naked ground where it lieth; but in something or other where it never will be, neither can be. They seek it in their own will, and they find it not, They seek it in their self-desire, and they meet not with it. They look for it in an image, or in an opinion, or in affection, or a natural devotion and fervour, and they lose the substance by thus hunting after a shadow. They search for it in something sensible or imaginary, in somewhat which they may have a more peculiar natural inclination for, and adhesion to; and so they miss of what they seek, for want of diving into the supersensual and supernatural ground where the treasure is hid. Now, should the love graciously condescend to proffer itself to such as these, and even to present itself evidently before the eye of their spirit, yet would it find no place in them at all, neither could it be held by them, or remain with them.

*Disciple*. Why not, if the love should be willing and ready to offer itself, and to stay with them.

*Master*. Because the imaginariness which is in their own will hath set up itself in the place thereof: And so this imaginariness would have the love in it; but the love fleeth away, for it is its prison. The love may offer itself; but it cannot abide where the self-desire attracteth or imagineth. That will which attracteth nothing, and to which nothing adhereth, is only capable of receiving it; for it dwelleth only in nothing, as I said, and therefore they find it not.

*Disciple*. If it dwell only in nothing, what is now the office of it in nothing?

*Master*. The office of the love here is to penetrate incessantly into something; and if it penetrate into, and find a place in something which is standing still and at rest, then its business is to take possession thereof. And when it hath there taken possession, then it rejoiceth therein with its flaming love-fire, even as the sun doth in the visible world. And then the office of it is without intermission to enkindle a fire in this something, which may burn it up; and then with the flames thereof exceedingly to enflame itself, and raise the heat of the love-fire by it, even seven degrees higher.

*Disciple*. O loving master, how shall I understand this?

*Master*. If it but once kindle a fire within thee, my son, thou shalt then certainly feel how it consumeth all that which it toucheth; thou shalt feel it in the burning up thyself, and swiftly devouring all egoity, or that which thou callest I and Me, as standing in a separate root, and divided from the Deity, the fountain of thy being. And when this enkindling is made in thee, then the love doth so exceedingly rejoice in thy fire, as thou wouldst not for all the world be out of it; yea, wouldst rather suffer thyself to be killed, than to enter into thy something again. This fire now must grow hotter and hotter, till it shall have perfected its office with respect to thee, and therefore wilt not give over, till it come to the seventh degree. Its flame hence also will be so very great, that it will never leave thee, though it should even cost thee thy temporal life; but it would go with thee in its sweet loving fire into death; and if thou wentest also into hell, it would break hell in pieces also for thy sake. Nothing is more certain than this; for it is stronger than death and hell.

*Disciple*. Enough, my dearest master, I can no longer endure that anything should divert me from it. But how shall I find the nearest way to it?

*Master*. Where the way is hardest, there go thou; and what the world casteth away, that take thou up. What the world doth, that do thou not; but in all things walk thou contrary to the world. So thou comest the nearest way to that which thou art seeking.

*Disciple*. If I should in all things walk contrary to other people, I must needs be in a very unquiet and sad state; and the world would not fail to account me for a madman.

*Master*. I bid thee not, child, to do harm to any one, thereby to create to thyself any misery or unquietness. This is not what I mean by walking contrary in everything to the world. But because the world, as the world, loveth only deceit and vanity, and walketh in false and treacherous ways; thence, if thou hast a mind to act a clean contrary part to the ways thereof, without any exception or reserve whatsoever, walk thou only in the right way, which is called the way of light, as that of the world is properly the way of darkness. For the right way, even the path of light, is contrary to all the ways of the world.

But whereas thou art afraid of creating to thyself hereby trouble and inquietude, that indeed will be so according to the flesh. In the world thou must have trouble; and thy flesh will not fail to be unquiet, and to give thee occasion of continual repentance. Nevertheless in this very anxiety of soul, arising either from the world or the flesh, the love Both most willingly enkindle itself, and its cheering and conquering fire is but made to blaze forth with greater strength for the destruction of that evil. And whereas thou dost also say, that the world will for this esteem thee mad; it is true the world will be apt enough to censure thee for a madman in walking contrary to it: And thou art not to be surprised if the children thereof laugh at thee, calling thee silly fool. For the way to the love of God is folly to the world, but is wisdom to the children of God. Hence, whenever the world perceiveth this holy fire of love in God's children, it concludeth immediately that they are turned fools, and are besides themselves. But to the children of God, that which is despised of the world is the greatest treasure; yea, so great a treasure it is, as no life can express, nor tongue so much as name what this enflaming, all-conquering love of God is. it is brighter than the sun; it is sweeter than anything that is called sweet; it is stronger than all strength; it is more nutrimental than food; more cheering to the heart than wine, and more pleasant than all the joy and pleasantness of this world. Whosoever obtaineth it, is richer than any monarch on earth; and he who getteth it, is nobler than any emperor can be, and more potent and absolute than all power and authority.

## Dialogue 3. Of Heaven And Hell. A Dialogue Between Junius A Scholar And Theophorus His Master

The scholar asked his master, saying; Whither goeth the soul when the body dieth?

His master answered him; There is no necessity for it to go any whither.

What not! said the inquisitive Junius: Must not the soul leave the body at death, and go either to heaven or hell?

It needs no going forth, replyed the venerable Theophorus: Only the outward mortal life with the body shall separate themselves from the soul. The soul hath heaven and hell within itself before, according as it is written, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall they say, Lo here! or Lo there! For behold the kingdom of God is within you." And which soever of the two, that is, either heaven or hell is manifested in it, in that the soul standeth.

Here Junius said to his master; This is hard to understand. Doth it not enter into heaven or hell, as a man entereth into an house; or as one goeth through an hole or casement, into an unknown place; so goeth it not into another world?

The master spake and said; No. There is verily no such kind of entering in; forasmuch as heaven and hell are everywhere, being universally co-extended.

How is that possible? said the scholar. What, can heaven and hell be here present, where we are now sitting? And if one of them might, can you make me believe that ever both should be here together?

Then spoke the master in this manner: I have said that heaven is everywhere present; and it is true. For God is in heaven; and God is everywhere. I have said also, that hell must be in like manner everywhere; and that is also true. For the wicked one, who is the devil, is in hell; and the whole world, as the apostle hath taught us, lieth in the wicked one, or the evil one; which is as much as to say, not only that the devil is in the world, but also that the world is in the devil; and if in the devil, then in hell too, because he is there. So hell therefore is everywhere, as well as heaven; which is the thing that was to be proved.

The scholar, startled hereat, said, Pray make me to understand this.

To whom the master: Understand then what heaven is: it is but the turning in of the will into the love of God. Wheresoever thou findest God manifesting himself in love, there thou findest heaven, without travelling for it so much as one foot. And by this understand also what hell is, and where it is. I say unto thee, it is but the turning in of the will into the wrath of God. Wheresoever the anger of God doth more or less manifest itself, there certainly is more or less of hell, in whatsoever place it be. So that it is but the turning in of thy will either into his love, or into his anger; and thou art accordingly either in heaven or in hell. Mark it well. And this now cometh to pass in this present life, whereof St. Paul speaking, saith, "Our conversation is in heaven." And the Lord Christ saith also; "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them the eternal life; and none shall pluck them out of my hand." Observe, he saith not, I *will* give them, after this life is ended; but I *give* them, that is, now in the time of this life. And what else is this gift of Christ to his followers but an eternity of life; which for certain, can be nowhere but in heaven. And also if Christ be certainly in heaven, and they who follow him in the regeneration are in his hand, then are they where he is, and so cannot be out of heaven: Yea, moreover none shall be able to pluck them out of heaven, because it is he who holdeth them there, and they are in his hand which nothing can resist. All therefore doth consist in the turning in, or entering of the will into heaven, by hearing the voice of Christ, and both knowing him, and following him. And so on the contrary it is also: Understandest thou this?

His scholar said to him; I think, in part, I do. But how cometh this entering of the will into heaven to pass?

The master answered him; This then I will endeavour to satisfy thee in; but thou must be very attentive to what I shall say unto thee. Know then, my son, that when the ground of the will yieldeth up itself to God, then it sinketh out of its own self, and out of and beyond all ground and place, that is or can be imagined, into a certain unknown deep, where God only is manifest, and where he only worketh and willeth. And then it becometh nothing to itself, as to its own working and willing; and so God worketh and willeth in it. And God dwells in this resigned will; by which the soul is sanctified, and so fitted to come into divine rest. Now in this case when the body breaketh, the soul is so thoroughly penetrated all over with the divine love, and so thoroughly illuminated with the divine light, even as a glowing hot iron is by the fire, by which being penetrated throughout, it loseth its darkness, and becometh bright and shining. Now this is the hand of Christ, where God's love thoroughly inhabiteth the soul, and is in it a shining light, and a new glorious life. And then the soul is in heaven, and is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and is itself the very heaven of God, wherein he dwelleth. Lo, this is the entering of the will into heaven; and thus it cometh to pass.

Be pleased, sir, to proceed, said the scholar, and let me know how it fareth on the other side.

The master said: The godly soul, you see, is in the hand of Christ, that is in heaven, as he himself hath told us; and in what manner this cometh to be so, you have also heard. But the ungodly soul is not willing in this life-time to come into the divine resignation of its will, or to enter into the will of God; but goeth on still in its own lust and desire, in vanity and falsehood, and so entereth into the will of the devil. It receiveth thereupon into itself nothing but wickedness; nothing but lying, pride, covetousness, envy, and wrath; and thereinto it giveth up its will and whole desire. This is the vanity of the will; and this same vanity or vain shadow must also in like manner be manifested in the soul, which hath yielded up itself to be its servant; and must work therein, even as the love of God worketh in the regenerated will, and penetrate it all over, as fire doth iron.

And it is not possible for this soul to come into the rest of God; because God's anger is manifested in it, and worketh in it. Now when the body is parted from this soul, then beginneth the eternal melancholy and despair; because it now findeth that it is become altogether vanity, even a vanity most vexatious to itself, and a distracting fury, and a self-tormenting abomination. Now it perceiveth itself disappointed of everything which it had before fancied, and blind, and naked, and wounded, and hungry, and thirsty; without the least prospect of being ever relieved, or obtaining so much as one drop of the water of eternal life. And it feeleth itself to be a mere devil to itself, and its own vile executioner and tormentor; and is affrighted at its own ugly dark form, appearing as a most hideous and monstrous worm, and fain would flee from itself, if it could, but it cannot, being fast bound with the chains of the dark nature, whereinto it had sunk itself when in the flesh. And so not having learned nor accustomed itself to sink down into the divine grace, and being also strongly possessed with the idea of God, as an angry and jealous God, the poor soul is both afraid and ashamed to bring its will into God, by which deliverance might possibly come to it. The soul is afraid to do it, as fearing to be consumed by so doing, under the apprehension of the Deity as a mere devouring fire. The soul is also ashamed to do it, as being confounded at its own nakedness and monstrosity; and therefore would, if it were possible, hide itself from the majesty of God, and cover its abominable form from his most holy eye, though by casting itself still deeper into the darkness, wherefore then it will not enter into God; nay, it cannot enter with its false will; yea, though it should strive to enter, yet can it not enter into the love, because of the will which hath reigned in it. For such a soul is thereby captivated in the wrath; yea, is itself but mere wrath, having by its false desire, which it had awakened in itself, comprehended and shut up itself therewith, and so transformed itself into the nature and property thereof.

And since also the light of God Both not shine in it, nor the love of God incline it, the soul is moreover a great darkness, and is withal an anxious fire-source, carrying about an hell within itself, and not being able to discern the least glimpse of the light of God, or to feel the least spark of his love. Thus it dwelleth in itself as in hell, and needeth no entering into hell at all, or being carried thither; for in what place soever it may be, so long as it is in itself, it is in the hell. And though it should travel far, and cast itself many hundred thousand leagues from its present place, to be out of hell; yet still would it remain in the hellish source and darkness.

If this be so, how then cometh it, said the scholar to Theophorus, that an heavenly soul doth not in the time of this life perfectly perceive the heavenly light and joy; and the soul which is without God in the world, doth not also here feel hell, as well as hereafter? Why should they not both be perceived and felt as well in this life as in the next, seeing that both of them are in man, and one of them (as you have shewed) worketh in every man?

To whom Theophorus presently returneth this answer: The kingdom of heaven is in the saints operative and manifestative of itself by faith. They who carry God within them, and live by his Spirit, find the kingdom of God in their faith; and they feel the love of God in their faith, by which the will hath given up itself into God, and is made Godlike. In a word, all is transacted within them by faith, which is to them the evidence of the eternal invisibles, and a great manifestation in their spirit of this divine kingdom, which is within them. But their natural life is nevertheless encompassed with flesh and blood; and this standing in a contrariety thereto, and being placed through the Fall in the principle of God's anger, and environed about with the world, which by no means can be reconciled to faith, these faithful souls cannot but be very much exposed to attacks from this world, wherein they are sojourners; neither can they be insensible of their being thus compassed about with flesh and blood, and with this world's vain lust, which ceaseth not continually to penetrate the outward mortal life, and to tempt them manifold ways, even as it did Christ. Whence the world on one side, and the devil on the other, not without the curse of God's anger in flesh and blood, do thoroughly penetrate and sift the life; whereby it cometh to pass that the soul is often in anxiety when these three are all set upon it together, and when hell thus assaulteth the life, and would manifest itself in the soul. But the soul hereupon sinketh down into the hope of the grace of God, and standeth like a beautiful rose in the midst of thorns, until the kingdom of this world shall fall from it in the death of the body: And then the soul first becometh truly manifest in the love of God, and in his kingdom, which is the kingdom of love; having henceforth nothing more to hinder it. But during this life she must walk with Christ in this world; and then Christ delivereth her out of her own hell, by penetrating her with his love throughout, and standing by her in hell, and even changing her hell into heaven.

But in that thou moreover sayest, why do not the souls which are without God feel hell in this world? I answer: They bear it about with them in their wicked consciences, but they know it not; because the world hath put out their eyes, and its deadly cup hath cast them likewise into a sleep, a most fatal sleep. Notwithstanding which it must be owned that the wicked do frequently feel hell within them during the time of this mortal life, though they may not apprehend that it is hell, because of the earthly vanity which cleaveth unto them from without, and the sensible pleasures and amusements wherewith they are intoxicated. And moreover it is to be noted, that the outward life in every such one hath yet the light of the outward nature, which ruleth in that life; and so the pain of hell cannot, so long as that hath the rule, be revealed. But when the body dieth or breaketh away, so as the soul cannot any longer enjoy such temporal pleasure and delight, nor the light of this outward world, which is wholly thereupon extinguished as to it; then the soul stands in an eternal hunger and thirst after such vanities as it was here in love withal, but yet can reach nothing but that false will, which it had impressed in itself while in the body; and wherein it had abounded to its great loss. And now whereas it had too much of its will in this life, and yet was not contented therewith, it hath after this separation by death, as little of it; which createth in it an everlasting thirst after that which it can henceforth never obtain more, and causeth it to be in a perpetual anxious lust after vanity, according to its former impression, and in a continual rage of hunger after those sorts of wickedness and lewdness whereinto it was immersed, being in the flesh. Fain would it do more evil still, but that it hath not either wherein or wherewith to effect the same, left it; and therefore it doth perform this only in itself. All is now internally transacted, as if it were outward; and so the ungodly is tormented by those furies which are in his own mind, and begotten upon himself by himself. For he is verily become his own devil and tormentor; and that by which he sinned here, when the shadow of this world is passed away, abideth still with him in the impression, and is made his prison and his hell. But this hellish hunger and thirst cannot be fully manifested in the soul, till the body which ministered to the soul what it lusted after, and with which the soul was so bewitched, as to doat thereupon, and pursue all its cravings, be stripped off from it.

I perceive then, said Junius to his master, that the soul having played the wanton with the body in all voluptuousness, and served the lusts thereof during this life, retaineth still the very same inclinations and affections which it had before, then when it hath no opportunity nor capacity to satisfy them longer; and that when this cannot be, there is then hell opened in that soul, which had been shut up in it before, by means of the outward life in the body, and of the light of this world. Do I rightly understand?

Theophorus said, It is very rightly understood by you. Go on.

On the other hand (said he) I clearly perceive by what I have heard, that heaven cannot but be in a loving soul, which is possessed of God, and bath subdued thereby the body to the obedience of the spirit in all things, and perfectly immersed itself into the will and love of God. And when the body dieth, and this soul is hence redeemed from the earth, it is now evident to me, that the life of God which was hidden in it, will display itself gloriously, and heaven consequently be then manifested. But notwithstanding, if there be not also a local heaven besides, and a local hell, I am still at a loss where to place no small part of the creation, if not the greatest, For where must all the intellectual inhabitants of it abide?

In their own principle, answered the master, whether it be of light or of darkness. For every created intellectual being remaineth in its deeds and essences, in its wonders and properties, in its life and image; and therein it beholdeth and feeleth God, as who is everywhere, whether it be in the love, or in the wrath.

If it be in the love of God, then beholdeth it God accordingly, and feeleth him as he is love. But if it bath captivated itself in the wrath of God, then it cannot behold God otherwise than in the wrathful nature, nor perceive him otherwise than as an incensed and vindictive spirit. All places are alike to it, if it be in God's love; and if it be not there, every place is hell alike. What place can bound a thought? Or what needeth any understanding spirit to be kept here or there, in order to its happiness or misery? Verily, wheresoever it is, it is in the abyssal world, where there is neither end nor limit. And whither, I pray, should it go? since though it should go a thousand miles off, or a thousand time ten thousand miles, and this ten thousand times over, beyond the bounds of the universe, and into the imaginary spaces above the stars, yet it were then still in the very same point from whence it went out. For God is the place of spirit; if it may be lawful to attribute to him such a name, to the which body hath a relation: And in God there is no limit; both near and afar off is here all one; and be it in his love, or be it in his anger, the abyssal will of the spirit is altogether unconfined. It is swift as thought, passing through all things; it is magical, and nothing corporeal or from without can let it; it dwelleth in its wonders, and they are its house.

Thus it is with every intellectual, whether of the order of angels, or of human souls; and you need not fear but there will be room enough for them all, be they ever so many; and such also as shall best suit them, even according to their election and determination; and which may thence very well be called his own place.

At which, said the scholar; I remember, indeed, that it is written concerning the great traitor, that he went after death to his own place.

The master here said: The same is true of every soul, when it departeth this mortal life: And it is true in like manner of every angel, or spirit whatsoever; which is necessarily determined by its own choice. As God is everywhere, so also the angels are everywhere; but each one in its own principle, and in its own property, or (if you had rather) in its own place. The same essence of God, which is as a place to spirits, is confessed to be everywhere; but the appropriation, or participation hereof is different to every one, according as each hath attracted magically in the earnestness of the will. The same divine essence which is with the angels of God above, is with us also below: And the same divine nature which is with us, is likewise with them; but after different manners and in different degrees, communicated and participated.

And what I have said here of the divine, is no less to be considered by you in the participation of the diabolical essence and nature, which is the power of darkness, as to the manifold modes, degrees, and appropriations thereof in the false will. In this world there is strife between them: But when this world hath reached in any one the limit, then the principle catcheth that which is its own; and so the soul receiveth companions accordingly, that is, either angels or devils.

To whom the scholar again: Heaven and hell then being in us at strife in the time of this life, and God himself being also thus near unto us, where can angels and devils dwell?

And the master answered him thus: Where thou dost not dwell as to thy self-hood, and to thine own will, there the holy angels dwell with thee, and everywhere all over round about thee. Remember this well. On the contrary, where thou dwellest as to thyself, in self-seeking, and self-will, there to be sure the devils will he with thee, and will take up their abode with thee, and dwell all over thee, and round about thee everywhere. Which God in his mercy prevent.

I understand not this, said the scholar, so perfectly well as I could wish. Be pleased to make it a little more clear to me.

The master then spake: Mark well what I am going to say. Where the will of God in anything willeth, there is God manifested; and in this very manifestation of God, the angels do dwell. But where God in any creature willeth not with the will of that creature, there God is not manifested to it, neither earl he be; but dwelleth in himself, without the co-operation thereof, and subjection to him in humility. There God is an unmanifested God to the creature: So the angels dwell not with such an one; for wherever they dwell, there is the glory of God; and they make his glory. What then dwelleth in such a creature as this? God dwelleth not therein; the angels dwell not therein; God willeth not therein, the angels also will not therein. The case is evidently this, in that soul or creature its own will is without God's will, and there the devil dwelleth; and with him all whatever is without God, and without Christ. This is the truth; lay it to heart.

*The Scholar*. It is possible I may ask several impertinent questions; but I beseech you, good sir, to have patience with me, and to pity my ignorance, if I ask what may appear to you perhaps ridiculous, or may not be at all fit for me to expect an answer to. For I have several questions still to propound to you; but I am ashamed of my own thoughts in this matter.

*The Master*. Be plain with me, and propose whatever is upon your mind; yea, be not ashamed even to appear ridiculous, so that by querying you may but become wiser.

The scholar thanked his master for this liberty, and said: How far then are heaven and hell asunder?

To whom he answered thus: As far as day and night; or as far as something and nothing. They are in one another, and yet they are at the greatest distance one from the other. Nay, the one of them is as nothing to the other; and yet notwithstanding they cause joy and grief to one another. Heaven is throughout the whole world, and it is also without the world over all, even everywhere that is, or that can be but so much as imagined. It filleth all, it is within all, it is without all, it encompasseth all; without division, without place; working by a divine manifestation, and flowing forth universally, but not going in the least out of itself. For only in itself it worketh, and is revealed, being one, and undivided in all. It appeareth only through the manifestation of God; and never but in itself only: And in that being which cometh into it, or in that wherein it is manifested; there also it is that God is manifested. Because heaven is nothing else but a manifestation or revelation of the Eternal One, wherein all the working and willing is in quiet love,

So in like manner hell also is through the whole world, and dwelleth and worketh but in itself, and in that wherein the foundation of hell is manifested, namely, in self-hood, and in the false will. The visible world hath both in it; and there is no place but heaven and hell may he found or revealed inc it. Now man as to his temporal life, is only of the visible world; and therefore during the time of this life, he seeth not the spiritual world. For the outward world with its substance, is a cover to the spiritual world, even as the body is to the soul. But when the outward man dieth, then the spiritual world, as to the soul, which hath now its covering taken away, is manifested either in the eternal light with the holy angels, or in the eternal darkness, with the devils.

The scholar further queried: What is an angel, or a human soul, that they can be thus manifested either in God's love or anger, either in light or darkness?

To whom Theophorus answered: They come from one and the self-same original: They are little branches of the divine wisdom, of the divine will, sprung from the divine word, and made objects of the divine love. They are out of the ground of eternity, whence light and darkness do spring: Darkness, which consisteth in the receiving of self-desire; and light, which consisteth in willing the same thing with God. For in the conformity of the will with God's will, is heaven; and wheresoever there is this willing with God, there the love of God is undoubtedly in the working, and his light will not fail to manifest itself. But in the self-attraction of the soul's desire, or in the reception of self into the willing of any spirit, angelical or human, the will of God worketh difficultly, and is to that soul or spirit nought but darkness; out of which, notwithstanding, the light may be manifested. And this darkness is the hell of that spirit wherein it is. For heaven and hell are nought else but a manifestation of the divine will either in light or darkness, according to the properties of the spiritual world.306 

WHAT THE BODY OF MAN IS; AND WHY THE SOUL IS CAPABLE OF RECEIVING GOOD AND EVIL

*Scholar*. What then is the body of man?

*Master*. It is the visible world; an image and quintessence, or compound of all that the world is; and the visible world is a manifestation of the inward spiritual world, come out of the eternal light, and out of the eternal darkness, out of the spiritual compaction or connection; and it is also an image or figure of eternity, whereby eternity hath made itself visible; where self-will and resigned will, viz. evil and good, work one with the other.

Such a substance is the outward man. For God created man of the outward world, and breathed into him the inward spiritual world for a soul and an intelligent life; and therefore in the things of the outward world man can receive and work evil and good.

OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD; OF MAN'S BODY, IN AND AFTER THE RESURRECTION; WHERE HEAVEN AND HELL SHALL BE; OF THE LAST JUDGEMENT; AND WHEREFORE THE STRIFE IN THE CREATURE MUST BE

*Scholar*. What shall be after this world, when all things perish and come to an end?

*Master*. The material substance only ceaseth; viz. the four elements, the sun, moon, and stars. And then the inward world will be wholly visible and manifest. But whatsoever hath been wrought by the will or spirit of man in this world's time, whether evil or good. T say, every such work shall there separate itself in a spiritual manner, either into the eternal light, or into the eternal darkness. For that which is born from each will penetrateth and passeth again into that which is like itself. And there the darkness is called hell, and is an eternal forgetting of all good; and the light is called the kingdom of God, and is an eternal joy in and to the saints, who continually glorify and praise God, for having delivered them from the torment of evil.

The last judgement is a kindling of the fire both of God's love and anger, in which the matter of every substance perisheth, and each fire shall attract into itself its own, that is, the substance that is like itself: Thus God's fire of love will draw into it whatsoever is born in the love of God, or love-principle, in which also it shall burn after the manner of love, and yield itself into that substance. But the torment will draw into itself what is wrought in the anger of God in darkness, and consume the false substance; and then there will remain only the painful aching will in its own proper nature, image, and figure.

*Scholar*. With what matter and form shall the human body rise?

*Master*. It is sown a natural gross and elementary body, which in this life-time is like the outward elements; yet in this gross body there is a subtle power and virtue. As in the earth also there is a subtle good virtue, which is like the sun, and is one and the same with the sun; which also in the beginning of time did spring and proceed out of the divine power and virtue, from whence all the good virtue of the body is likewise derived. This good virtue of the mortal body shall come again and live for ever in a kind of transparent chrystalline material property, in spiritual flesh and blood; as shall return also the good virtue of the earth, for the earth likewise shall become chrystalline, and the divine light shine in everything that hath a being, essence, or substance. And as the gross earth shall perish and never return, so also the gross flesh of man shall perish and not live for ever. But all things must appear before the judgement, and in the judgement be separated by the fire; yea, both the earth, and also the ashes of the human body. For when God shall once move the spiritual world, every spirit shall attract its spiritual substance to itself. A good spirit and soul shall draw to itself its good substance, and an evil one its evil substance. But we must here understand by substance, such a material power and virtue, the essence of which is mere virtue, like a material tincture (such a thing as hath all figures, colours, and virtues in it, and is at the same time transparent), the grossness whereof is perished in all things.

*Scholar*. Shall we not rise again with our visible bodies, and live in them for ever? See *The Forty Questions of the Soul*, quest. xxi. ver. 12.

*Master*. When the visible world perisheth, then all that hath come out of it, and hath been external, shall perish with it. There shall remain of the world only the heavenly chrystalline nature and form, and of man also only the spiritual earth; for man shall be then wholly like the spiritual world, which as yet is hidden.

*Scholar*. Shall there be husband and wife, or children or kindred, in the heavenly life, or shall one associate with another, as they do in this life?

*Master*. Why art thou so fleshly-minded? There will be neither husband nor wife, but all will be like the angels of God, viz. masculine virgins. There will be neither son nor daughter, brother nor sister, but all of one stock and kindred. For all are but one in Christ, as a tree and its branches are one, though distinct as creatures; but God is all in all. Indeed, there will be spiritual knowledge of what every one hath been, and done, but no possessing or enjoying, or desire of possessing earthly things, or enjoying fleshly relations any more.

*Scholar*. Shall they all have that eternal joy and glorification alike?

*Master*. The Scripture saith, "Such as the people is, such is their God." And in another place, "With the holy thou art holy, and with the perverse thou art perverse." And St. Paul saith, "In the resurrection one shall differ from another in glory, as do the sun, moon, and stars." Therefore know, that the blessed shall indeed all enjoy the divine working in and upon them; but their virtue, and illumination or glory, shall be very different, according as they have been endued in this life with different measures and degrees of power and virtue in their painful working. For the painful working of the creature in this life-time is the opening and begetting of divine power, by which that power is made moveable and operative. Now those who have wrought with Christ in this life-time, and not in the lust of the flesh, shall have great power and transcendent glorification in and upon them. But others, who have only expected, and relied upon, an imputed satisfaction, and in the meanwhile have served their belly-god, and yet at last have turned, and obtained grace; those, I say, shall not attain to so high a degree of power and illumination. So that there will be as great a difference of degrees between them, as is between the sun, moon, and stars; or between the flowers of the field in their varieties of beauty, power, and virtue.

*Scholar*. How shall the world be judged, and by whom?

*Master*. Jesus Christ, that "word of God which became man," shall by the power of his divine stirring or motion separate from himself all that belongeth not to him, and shall wholly manifest his kingdom in the place or space where this world now is; for the separating motion worketh all over the universe, through all at once.

*Scholar*. Whither shall the devils and all the damned be thrown, when the place of this world is become the kingdom of Christ, and such as shall be glorified? Shall they be cast out of the place of this world? Or shall Christ have, and manifest his dominion, out of the sphere or place of this world?

*Master*. Hell shall remain in the place or sphere of this world everywhere, but hidden to the kingdom of heaven, as the night is hidden in and to the day. "The light shall shine for ever in the darkness, but the darkness can never comprehend, or reach it." And the light is the kingdom of Christ; but the darkness is hell, wherein the devils and the wicked dwell; and thus they shall be suppressed by the kingdom of Christ, and made his footstool, viz. a reproach.

*Scholar*. How shall all people and nations be brought to judgement?

*Master*. The eternal word of God, out of which every spiritual creaturely life hath proceeded, will move itself at that hour, according to love and anger, in every life which is come out of the eternity, and will draw every creature before the judgement of Christ, to be sentenced by this motion of the world. The life will then be manifested in all its works, and every soul shall see and feel its judgement and sentence in itself. For the judgement is, indeed, immediately at the departure of the body, manifested in and to every soul: And the last judgement is but a return of the spiritual body, and a separation of the world, when the evil shall be separated from the good, in the substance of the world, and of the human body, and everything enter into its eternal receptacle. And thus is it a manifestation of the mystery of God in every substance and life.

*Scholar*. How will the sentence be pronounced?

*Master*. Here consider the words of Christ. "He will say to those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me, in prison, and ye carne unto me.

"Then shall they answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or in prison, and ministered thus unto thee?

"Then shall the King answer and say unto them; Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

"And unto the wicked on his left hand he will say, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and in prison, and ye ministered not unto me.

"And they shall also answer him, and say, When did we sec thee thus, and ministered not unto thee?

"And he will answer them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have not done it unto one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

"And these shall depart into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal."

*Scholar*. Loving master, pray tell me why Christ saith, "What you have done to the least of these, you have done to me; and what you have not done to them, neither have you done it to me." And how doth a man this so, as that he doth it to Christ himself!

*Master*. Christ dwelleth really and essentially in the faith of those that wholly yield up themselves to him, and giveth them his flesh for food, and his blood for drink; and thus possesseth the ground of their faith, according to the interior or inward man. And a Christian is called a branch of the vine Christ, and a Christian, because Christ dwelleth spiritually in him; therefore whatsoever good any shall do to such a Christian in his bodily necessities, it is done to Christ himself, who dwelleth in him. For such a Christian is not his own, but is wholly resigned to Christ, and become his peculiar possession, and consequently the good deed is done to Christ himself. Therefore also, whosoever shall withhold their help from such a needy Christian, and forbear to serve him in his necessity, they thrust Christ away from themselves, and despise him in his members. When a poor person that belongeth thus to Christ, asketh anything of thee, and thou deniest it him in his necessity, thou deniest it to Christ himself. And whatsoever hurt any shall do to such a Christian, they do it to Christ himself. When any mock, scorn, revile, reject, or thrust away such a one, they do all that to Christ; but he that receiveth him, giveth him meat and drink, or apparel, and assisteth him in his necessities, doth it likewise to Christ, and to a fellow-member of his own body. Nay, he doth it to himself if he be a Christian; for we are all one in Christ, as a tree and its branches are.

*Scholar*. How then will those subsist in the day of that fierce judgement, who afflict and vex the poor and distressed, and deprive them of their very sweat; necessitating and constraining them by force to submit to their wills, and trampling upon them as their footstools, only that they themselves may live in pomp and power, and spend the fruits of this poor people's sweat and labour in voluptuousness, pride, and vanity?

*Master*. Christ suffereth in the persecution of his members. Therefore all the wrong that such hard exactors do to the poor wretches under their control, is done to Christ himself; and falleth under his severe sentence and judgement: And besides that, they help the devil to augment his kingdom; for by such oppression of the poor they draw them off from Christ, and make them seek unlawful ways to fill their bellies. Nay, they work for, and with the devil himself, doing the very same thing which he doth; who, without intermission, opposeth the kingdom of Christ, which consisteth only in love. All these oppressors, if they do not turn with their whole hearts to Christ, and minister to, or serve him, must go into hell-fire, which is fed and kept alive by nothing else but such mere self, as that which they have exercised over the poor here.

*Scholar*. But how will it fare with those, and how will they be able to stand that severe trial, who in this time do so fiercely contend about the kingdom of Christ, and slander, revile, and persecute one another for their religion, as they do?

*Master*. All such have not yet known Christ; and they are but as a type or figure of heaven and hell, striving with each other for the victory.

All rising, swelling pride, which contendeth about opinions, is an image of self. And whosoever hath not faith and humility, nor liveth in the spirit of Christ, which is love, is only armed with the anger of God, and helpeth forward the victory of the imaginary self, that is, the kingdom of darkness, and the anger of God. For at the day of judgement all self shall be given to the darkness, as shall also all the unprofitable contentions of men; in which they seek not after love, but merely after their imaginary self, that they may exalt themselves by exalting and establishing their opinions; stirring up princes to wars for the sake of the same, and by that means occasioning the desolation of whole countries of people. All such things belong to the judgement, which will separate the false from the true; and then all images or opinions shall cease, and all the children of God shall dwell for ever in the love of Christ, and that in them.

All whosoever in this time of strife, namely, from the Fall to the Resurrection, are not zealous in the spirit of Christ, and desirous to promote peace and love, but seek and strive for themselves only, are of the devil, and belong to the pit of darkness, and must consequently be separated from Christ. For in heaven all serve God their Creator in humble love.

*Scholar*. Wherefore then doth God suffer such strife and contention to be in this time?

*Master*. The life itself standeth in strife, that it may be made manifest, sensible, and palpable, and that the wisdom may be made separable and known.

The strife also constituteth the eternal joy of the victory. For there will arise great praise and thanksgiving in the saints from the experimental sense and knowledge that Christ in them hath overcome darkness, and all the self of nature, and that they are at length totally delivered from the strife; at which they shall rejoice eternally, when they shall know how the wicked are recompenced. And therefore God suffereth all souls to stand in a free-will, that the eternal dominion both of love and anger, of light and of darkness, may be made manifest and

I known; and that every life might cause and find its own sentence in itself. For that which is now a strife and pain to the saints in their wretched warfare here, shall in the end be turned into great joy to them; and that which hath been a joy and pleasure to ungodly persons in this world, shall afterwards be turned into eternal torment and shame to them. Therefore the joy of the saints must arise to them out of death, as the light ariseth out of a candle by the destruction and consumption of it in its fire; that so the life may be freed from the painfulness of nature, and possess another world.

And as the light hath quite another property than the fire hath, for it giveth and yieldeth itself forth; whereas the fire draweth in and consumeth itself; so the holy life of meekness springeth forth through the death of self-will, and then God's will of love only ruleth, and doth all in all. For thus the Eternal One hath attained feeling and separability, and brought itself forth again with the feeling, through death in great joyfulness; that there might be an eternal delight in the infinite unity, and an eternal cause of joy; and therefore that which was before painfulness, must now be the ground and cause of this motion or stirring to the manifestation of all things. And herein lieth the mystery of the hidden wisdom of God.

"Every one that asketh receiveth, every one that seeketh findeth; and to every one that knocketh it shall be opened. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with us all. Amen."

Heb. xii. 22, 23, 24.

"Thank ye the Lord, for ye are now come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the innumerable company of angels, and to the general assembly and church of the first born, who are written in heaven. "

And to God the Judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.

"And to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Amen.

"Praise, glory, and thanksgiving; honour, wisdom and power, be unto him that sitteth on the throne, to our God, and the Lamb for ever and ever. Amen."
 
## Dialogue 4. The Way From Darkness To True Illumination

There was a poor soul that had wandered out of paradise, and come into the kingdom of this world; where the devil met with it, and said to it, "Whither dost thou go, thou soul that art half blind?"

*The Soul said:* I would see and speculate into the creatures of the world, which the Creator hath made.

*The Devil said:* How wilt thou see and speculate into them, when thou canst not know their essence and property? Thou wilt look upon their outside only, as upon a graven image, and canst not know them throughly.

*The Soul said:* How may I come to know their essence and property?

*The Devil said:* Thine eyes would be opened to see them throughly, if thou didst but eat of that from whence the creatures themselves are come to be good and evil. Thou wouldst then be as God himself is, and know what the creature is.

*The Soul said:* I am now a noble and holy creature; but if I should do so, the Creator hath said, that I should die.

*The Devil said:* No, thou shouldst not die at all; but thy eyes would be opened, and thou wouldst be as God himself, and be master of good and evil. Also, thou shouldst be mighty, powerful, and very great, as I am; all the subtilty that is in the creatures would be made known to thee.

*The Soul said:* If I had the knowledge of nature and of the creatures, I would then rule the whole world as I listed.

*The Devil said:* The whole ground of that knowledge lieth in thee. Do but turn thy will and desire from God or goodness into nature and the creatures, and then there will arise in thee a lust to taste; and so thou mayest eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and by that means come to know all things.

*The Soul said:* Well then, I will eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that I may rule all things by my own power; and be of myself a lord on earth, and do what I will, as God himself doth.

*The Devil said:* I am the prince of this world; and if thou wouldst rule on earth, thou must turn thy lust towards my image, or desire to be like me, that thou mayest get the cunning, wit, reason, and subtilty, that my image hath.

Thus did the devil present to the soul the Vulcan in the Mercury (the power that is in the fiery root of the creature), that is, the fiery wheel of essence or substance, in the form of a serpent. Upon which,

*The Soul said:* Behold, this is the power which can do all things.—What must I do to get it?

*The Devil said:* Thou thyself art also such a fiery Mercury. If thou dost break thy will off from God, and bring it into this power and skill, then thy hidden ground will be manifested in thee, and thou mayest work in the same manner. But thou must eat of that fruit, wherein each of the four elements in itself ruleth over the other, and is in strife; the heat striving against the cold, and the cold against the heat; and so all the properties of nature work feelingly. And then thou wilt instantly be as the fiery wheel is, and so bring all things into thine own power, and possess them as thine own.

The Soul did so, and what happened thereupon

Now when the soul broke its will thus off from God, and brought it into the Mercury, or the fiery will (which is the root of life and power), there presently arose in it a lust to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; and the soul did eat thereof. Which as soon as it had done, Vulcan (or the artificer in the fire) instantly kindled the fiery wheel of its substance, and thereupon all the properties of nature awoke in the soul and exercised each its own lust and desire.

First arose the lust of pride; a desire to be great, mighty, and powerful; to bring all things under subjection to it, and so to be lord itself without control; despising all humility and equality, as esteeming itself the only prudent, witty, and cunning one, and accounting everything folly that is not according to its own humour and liking.

Secondly arose the lust of covetousness; a desire of getting, which would draw all things to itself, into its own possession. For when the lust of pride had turned away the will from God, then the life of the soul would not trust God any further, but would take care for itself; and therefore brought its desire into the creatures, viz. into the earth, metals, trees, and other creatures. Thus the kindled fiery life became hungry and covetous, when it had broken itself off from the unity, love, and meekness of God, and attracted to itself the four elements and their essence, and brought itself into the condition of the beasts; and so the life became dark, empty, and wrathful; and the heavenly virtues and'colours went out, like a candle extinguished.

Thirdly, there awoke in this fiery life the stinging thorny lust of envy; a hellish poison, a property which all devils have, and a torment which makes the life a mere enmity to God, and to all creatures. Which envy raged 'furiously in the desire of covetousness, as a venomous sting doth in the body. Envy cannot endure, but hateth and would hurt or destroy that which covetousness cannot draw to itself, by which hellish passion the noble love of the soul is smothered.

Fourthly, there awoke in this fiery life a torment like fire, viz. anger; which would murther and remove out of the way all who would not be subject to pride. Thus the ground and foundation of hell, which is called the anger of God, was wholly manifested in this soul. Whereby it lost the fair paradise of God and the kingdom of heaven, and became such a worm as the fiery serpent was, which the devil presented to it in his own image and likeness. And so the soul began to rule on earth in a bestial manner, and did all things according to the will of the devil; living in mere pride, covetousness, envy, and anger, having no longer any true love towards God. But there arose in the stead thereof an evil bestial love of filthy lechery, wantonness, and vanity, and there was no purity left in the heart; for the soul had forsaken paradise, and taken the earth into its possession. Its mind was wholly bent upon cunning knowledge, subtilty, and getting together a multitude of earthly things. No righteousness nor virtue remained in it at all; but whatsoever evil and wrong it committed, it covered all cunningly and subtilly under the cloak of its power and authority by law, and called it by the name of right and justice, and accounted it good.

The Devil came to the Soul

Upon this the devil drew near to the soul, and brought it on from one vice to another, for he had taken it captive in his essence, and set joy and pleasure before it therein, saying thus to it: Behold, now thou art powerful, mighty, and noble, endeavour to be greater, richer, and more powerful still. Display thy knowledge, wit, and subtilty, that every one may fear thee, and stand in awe of thee, and that thou mayest be respected, and get a great name in the world.

The Soul did so

The soul did as the devil counselled it, and yet knew not that its counsellor was the devil; but thought it was guided by its own knowledge, wit, and understanding, and that it did very well and right all the while.

Jesus Christ met with the Soul

The soul going on in this course of life, our dear and loving Lord Jesus Christ, who was come into this world with the love and wrath of God, to destroy the works of the devil, and to execute judgement upon all ungodly deeds, on a time met with it, and spake by a strong power, viz. by his passion and death, into it, and destroyed the works of the devil in it, and discovered to it the way to his grace, and shone upon it with his mercy, calling it to return and repent; and promising that he would then deliver it from that monstrous deformed shape or image which it had gotten, and bring it into paradise again.

How Christ wrought in the Soul

Now when the spark of the love of God, or the divine light, was accordingly manifested in the soul, it presently saw itself with its will and works to be in hell, in the wrath of God, and found that it was a misshapen ugly monster in the divine presence and the kingdom of heaven; at which it was so affrighted, that it fell into the greatest anguish possible, for the judgement of God was manifested in it.

What Christ said

Upon this the Lord Christ spake into it with the voice of his grace, and said, "Repent and forsake vanity, and thou shalt attain my grace."

What the Soul said

Then the soul in its ugly misshapen image, with the defiled coat of vanity, went before God, and entreated for grace and the pardon of its sins, and came to be strongly persuaded in itself, that the satisfaction and atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ did belong to it. But the evil properties of the serpent, formed in the astral spirit, or reason of the outward man, would not suffer the will of the soul to come before God, but brought their lusts and inclinations thereinto. For those evil properties would not die to their own lusts, nor leave the world, for they were come out of the world, and therefore they feared the reproach of it, in case they should forsake their worldly honour and glory.

But the poor soul turned its countenance towards God, and desired grace from him, even that he would bestow his love upon it.

The Devil came to it again

But when the devil saw that the soul thus prayed to God, and would enter into repentance, he drew near to it, and thrust the inclinations of the earthly properties into its prayers, and disturbed its good thoughts and desires which pressed forward towards God, and drew them back again to earthly things that they might have no access to him.

The Soul sighed

The central will of the soul indeed sighed after God, but the thoughts arising in the mind, that it should penetrate into him, were distracted, scattered, and destroyed, so that they could not reach the power of God. At which the poor soul was still more affrighted, and began to pray more earnestly. But the devil with his desire took hold of the mercurial kindled fiery wheel of life, and awakened the evil properties, so that evil or false inclinations arose in the soul, and went into that thing wherein they had taken most pleasure and delight before.

The poor soul would very fain go forward to God with its will, and therefore used all its endeavours; but its thoughts continually fled away from God into earthly things, and would not go to him.

Upon this the soul sighed and bewailed itself to God; but was as if it were quite forsaken by him, and cast out from his presence. It could not get so much as one look of grace, but was in mere anguish, fear, and terror, and dreaded every moment that the wrath and severe judgement of God would be manifested in it, and that the devil would take hold of it and have it. And thereupon fell into such great heaviness and sorrow, that it became weary of all the temporal things, which before were its chief joy and happiness.

The earthly natural will indeed desired those things still, but the soul would willingly leave them altogether, and desired to die to all temporal lust and joy whatsoever, and longed only after its first native country, from whence it originally came. But found itself to be far from thence, in great distress and want, and knew not what to do, yet resolved to enter into itself, and try to pray more earnestly.

The Devil's Opposition

But the devil opposed it, and withheld it so that it could not bring itself into any greater fervency of repentance.

He awakened the earthly lusts in its heart, that they might still keep their evil nature and false right therein, and set them at variance with the new-born will and desire of the soul. For they would not die to their own will and light, but would still maintain their temporal pleasures, and so kept the poor soul captive in their evil desires, that it could not stir, though it sighed and longed never so much after the grace of God. For whensoever it prayed, or offered to press forward towards God, then the lusts of the flesh swallowed up the rays and ejaculations that went forth from it, and brought them away from God into earthly thoughts, that it might not partake of divine strength. Which caused the poor soul to think itself forsaken of God, not knowing that he was so near it, and did thus attract it. Also the devil got access to it, and entered into the fiery Mercury, or fiery wheel of its life, and mingled his desires with the earthly lusts of the flesh, and tempted the poor soul; saying to it in the earthly thoughts, "Why dost thou pray? Dost thou think that God knoweth thee or regardeth thee? Consider but what thoughts thou hast in his presence; are they not altogether evil? Thou hast no faith or belief in God at all; how then should he hear thee? He heareth thee not, leave off; why wilt thou needlessly torment and vex thyself? Thou hast time enough to repent at leisure. Wilt thou be mad? Do but look upon the world, I pray thee, a little; doth it not live in jollity and mirth? yet it will be saved well enough for all that. Hath not Christ paid the ransom and satisfied for all men? Thou needest only persuade and comfort thyself that it is done for thee, and then thou shalt be saved. Thou canst not possibly in this world come to any feeling of God; therefore leave off, and take care for thy body, and look after temporal glory. What dost thou suppose will become of thee, if thou turn to be so stupid and melancholy? Thou wilt be the scorn of everybody, and they will laugh at thy folly; and so thou wilt spend thy days in mere sorrow and heaviness, which is pleasing neither to God nor nature. I pray thee, look upon the beauty of the world; for God hath created and placed thee in it, to be a lord over all creatures, and to rule them. Gather store of temporal goods beforehand, that thou mayest not be beholden to the world, or stand in need hereafter. And when old age cometh, or that thou growest near thy end, then prepare thyself for repentance. God will save thee, and receive thee into the heavenly mansions then. There is no need of such ado in vexing, bewailing, and stirring up thyself, as thou makest."

The Condition of the Soul

In these and the like thoughts the soul was ensnared by the devil, and brought into the lusts of the flesh, and earthly desires; and so bound as it were with fetters and strong chains, that it did not know what to do. It looked back a little into the world and the pleasures thereof, but still felt in itself a hunger after divine grace, and would always rather enter into repentance, and favour with God. For the hand of God had touched and bruised it, and therefore it could rest nowhere; but always sighed in itself after sorrow for the sins it had committed, and would fain be rid of them. Yet could not get true repentance, or even the knowledge of sin, though it had a mighty hunger and longing desire after such penitential sorrow.

The soul being thus heavy and sad, and finding no remedy or rest, began to cast about where it might find a fit place to perform true repentance in, where it might be free from business, cares, and the hinderances of the world; and also by what means it might win the favour of God. And at length purposed to betake itself to some private solitary place, and give over all worldly employments and temporal things; and hoped, that by being bountiful and pitiful to the poor, it should obtain God's mercy. Thus did it devise all kinds of ways to get rest, and gain the love, favour, and grace of God again. But all would not do; for its worldly business still followed it in the lusts of the flesh, and it was ensnared in the net of the devil now, as well as before, arid could not attain rest. And though for a little while it was somewhat cheered with earthly things, yet presently it fell to be as sad and heavy again, as it was before. The truth was, it felt the awakened wrath of God in itself, but knew not how that came to pass, nor what it ailed. For many times great trouble and terror fell upon it, which made it comfortless, sick, and faint with very fear; so mightily did the first bruising it with the ray or influence of the stirring of grace work upon it. And yet it knew not that Christ was in the wrath and severe justice of God, and fought therein with Satan that spirit of error, which was incorporated in soul and body; nor understood that the hunger and desire to turn and repent came from Christ himself, by which it was drawn in this manner; neither did it know what hindered that it could not yet attain to divine feeling. It knew not that itself was a monster, and did bear the image of the serpent, in which the devil had such power and access to it, and had confounded all its good desires, thoughts, and motions, and brought them away from God and goodness; concerning which Christ himself said, "The devil snatcheth the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved."

An enlightened and regenerate Soul met the distressed Soul

By the providence of God, an enlightened and regenerate soul met this poor afflicted and distressed soul, and said, "What ailest thou, thou distressed soul, that thou art so restless and troubled?"

The distressed Soul answered

The Creator hath hid his countenance from me, so that I cannot come to his rest; therefore I am thus troubled, and know not what I shall do to get his loving-kindness again. For great cliffs and rocks lie in my way to his grace, so that I cannot come to him. Though I sigh and long after him never so much, yet I am kept back, that I cannot partake of his power, virtue, and strength.

The enlightened Soul said

Thou bearest the monstrous shape of the devil, and art clothed therewith; in which, being his own property or principle, he hath access or power of entrance into thee, and thereby keepeth thy will from penetrating into God. For if thy will might penetrate into God, it would be anointed with the highest power and strength of God, in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that unction would break in pieces the monster which thou carriest about thee; and thy first image of paradise would revive in the centre; which would destroy the devil's power therein, and thou wouldst become an angel again. And because the devil envieth thee this happiness, he holdeth thee captive in his desire in the lusts of the flesh; from which if thou art not delivered, thou wilt be separated from God, and canst never enter into our society.

The distressed Soul terrified

At this speech the poor distressed soul was so terrified and amazed, that it could not speak one word more. When it found that it stood in the form and condition of the serpent, which separated it from God; and that the devil was so nigh it in that condition, who injected evil thoughts into the will of the soul, and had so much power over it thereby, that it was near damnation, and sticking fast in the abyss or bottomless pit of hell, in the anger of God; it would have even despaired of divine mercy; but that the power, virtue, and strength of the first stirring of the grace of God, which had before bruised the soul, upheld and preserved it from total despair. But still it wrestled in itself between hope and doubt; whatsoever hope built up, that doubt threw down again. And thus was it agitated with such continual disquiet, that at last the world and all the glory thereof became loathsome to it, neither would it enjoy worldly pleasures any more; and yet for all this, could it not come to rest.

The enlightened Soul came again, and spoke to the troubled Soul

On a time the enlightened soul came again to this soul, and finding it still in so great trouble, anguish, and grief of mind, said to it:

What dost thou? Wilt thou destroy thyself in thy anguish and sorrow? Why dost torment thyself in thy own power and will, who art but a worm, seeing thy torment increaseth thereby more and more? Yea, if thou shouldst sink thyself down to the bottom of the sea, or couldst fly to the uttermost coasts of the morning, or raise thyself above the stars, yet thou wouldst not be released. For the more thou grievest, tormentest, and troublest thyself, the more painful thy nature will be; and yet thou wilt not be able to come to rest. For thy power is quite lost; and as a dry stick burnt to a coal cannot grow green and spring afresh by its own power, nor get sap to flourish again with other trees and plants; so neither canst thou reach the place of God by thy own power and strength, and transform thyself into that angelical image which thou hadst at first. For in respect to God thou art withered and dry, like a dead plant that hath lost its sap and strength, and so art become a dry tormenting hunger. Thy properties are like heat and cold, which continually strive one against the other, and can never unite.

The distressed Soul said

What then shall I do to bud forth again, and recover the first life, wherein I was at rest before I became an image?

The enlightened Soul said

Thou shalt do nothing at all but forsake thy own will, viz. that which thou callest I, or thyself. By which means all thy evil properties will grow weak, faint, and ready to die; and then thou wilt sink down again into that one thing, from which thou art originally sprung. For now thou liest captive in the creatures; but if thy will forsaketh them, the creatures, with their evil inclinations, will die in thee, which at present stay and hinder thee, that thou canst not come to God. But if thou takest this course, thy God will meet thee with his infinite love, which he path manifested in Christ Jesus in the humanity, or human nature. And that will impart sap, life, and vigour to thee; whereby thou mayest bud, spring, flourish again, and rejoice in the living God, as a branch growing on his true vine. And so thou wilt at length recover the image of God, and be delivered from the image or condition of the serpent: Then shalt thou come to be my brother, and have fellowship with the angels.

The poor Soul said

How can I forsake my will, so that the creatures which lodge therein may die, seeing I must be in the world, and also have need of it as long as I live?

The enlightened Soul said

Now thou hast worldly power and riches, which thou possessest as thy own, to do what thou wilt with, and regardest not how thou gettest or usest the same; employing them in the service and indulgence of thy carnal and vain desires. Nay, though thou seest the poor and needy wretch, who wanteth thy help, and is thy brother, yet thou helpest him not, but layest heavy burdens upon him, by requiring more of him than his abilities will bear, or his necessities afford; and oppressest him, by forcing him to spend his labour and sweat for thee, and the gratification of thy voluptuous will. Thou art moreover proud, and insultest over him, and behavest roughly and sternly to him, exalting thyself above him, and making small account of him in respect of thyself. Then that poor oppressed brother of thine cometh, and complaineth with sighs towards God, that he cannot reap the benefit of his labour and pains, but is forced by thee to live in misery. By which sighings and groanings of his he raiseth up the wrath of God in thee; which maketh thy flame and unquietness still the greater. These are the creatures which thou art in love with, and hast broken thyself off from God for their sakes, and brought thy love into them, or them into thy love, so that they live therein. Thou nourishest and keepest them by continually receiving them into thy desire, for they live in and by thy receiving them into thy mind; because thou thereby bringest the lust of thy life into them. They are but unclean, filthy, and evil births, and issues of the bestial nature, which yet, by thy receiving them in thy lust or desire, have gotten an image, and formed themselves in thee. And that image is a beast with four heads: First, Pride. Secondly, Covetousness. Thirdly, Envy. Fourthly, Anger. And in these four properties the foundation of hell consisteth, which thou carriest in thee and about thee. It is imprinted and engraven in thee, and thou art wholly taken captive thereby. For these properties live in thy natural life; and thereby thou art severed from God, neither canst thou ever come to him, unless thou so forsake these evil creatures that they may die in thee.

But since thou desirest me to tell thee how to forsake thy own perverse creaturely will, that the creatures might die, and that yet thou mightest live with them in the world. I must assure thee that there is but one way to do it, which is narrow and straight, and will be very hard and irksome to thee at the beginning, but afterwards thou wilt walk in it cheerfully.

Thou must seriously consider, that in the course of this worldly life thou walkest in the anger of God and in the foundation of hell; and that this is not thy true native country; but that a Christian should, and must live in Christ, and in his walking truely follow him; and that he cannot be a Christian, unless the spirit and power of Christ so live in him, that he becometh wholly subject to it. Now seeing the kingdom of Christ is not of this world, but in heaven, therefore thou must always be in a continual ascension towards heaven, if thou wilt follow Christ; though thy body must dwell among the creatures and use them.

The narrow way to which perpetual ascension into heaven and imitation of Christ is this: Thou must despair of all thy own power and strength, for in and by thy own power thou canst not reach the gates of God; and firmly purpose and resolve wholly to give thyself up to the mercy of God, and to sink down with thy whole mind and reason into the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, always desiring to persevere in the same, and to die from all thy creatures therein. Also thou must resolve to watch and guard thy mind, thoughts, and inclinations that they admit no evil into them, neither must thou suffer thyself to be held fast by temporal honour or profit. Thou must resolve likewise to put away from thee all unrighteousness, and whatsoever else may hinder the freedom of thy motion and progress. Thy will must be wholly pure, and fixed in a firm resolution never to return to its old idols any more, but that thou wilt that very instant leave them, and separate thy mind from them, and enter into the sincere way of truth and righteousness, according to the plain and full doctrine of Christ. And as thou dost thus purpose to forsake the enemies of thine own inward nature, so thou must also forgive all thy outward enemies, and resolve to meet them with thy love; that there may be left no creature, person, or thing at all able to take hold of thy will and captivate it; but that it may be sincere, and purged from all creatures. Nay further; if it should be required, thou must be willing and ready to forsake all thy temporal honour and profit for Christ's sake, and regard nothing that is earthly so as to set thy heart and affections upon it; but esteem thyself in whatsoever state, degree, and condition thou art, as to worldly rank or riches, to be but a servant of God and of thy fellow-Christians; or as a steward in the office wherein thy Lord hath placed thee. All arrogance and self-exaltation must be humbled, brought low, and so annihilated that nothing of thine own or of any other creature may stay in thy will to bring thy thoughts or imagination to be set upon it.

Thou must also firmly impress it on thy mind, that thou shalt certainly partake of the promised grace in the merit of Jesus Christ, viz. of his outflowing love, which indeed is already in thee, and which will deliver thee from thy creatures, and enlighten thy will, and kindle it with the flame of love, whereby thou shalt have victory over the devil. Not as if thou couldst will or do anything in thine own strength, but only enter into the suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and take them to thyself, and with them assault and break in pieces the kingdom of the devil in thee, and mortify thy creatures. Thou must resolve to enter into this way this very hour, and never to depart from it, but willingly to submit thyself to God in all thy endeavours and doings, that he may do with thee what he pleaseth.

When thy will is thus prepared and resolved, it hath then broken through its own creatures, and is sincere in the presence of God, and clothed with the merits of Jesus Christ. It may then freely go to the Father with the Prodigal Son, and fall down in his presence and pour forth its prayers; and putting forth all its strength in this divine work, confess its sins and disobedience; and how far it hath departed from God. This must be done not with bare words, but with all its strength, which indeed amounteth only to a strong purpose and resolution; for the soul of itself hath no strength or power to effect any good work.

Now when thou art thus ready, and that thy Heavenly Father shall see thy coming and returning to him in such repentance and humility, he will inwardly speak to thee, and say in thee, "Behold, this is my son which I had lost, he was dead and is alive again." And he will come to meet thee in thy mind with the grace and love of Jesus Christ, and embrace thee with the beams of his love, and kiss thee with his Spirit and strength; and then thou shalt receive grace to pour out thy confession before him, and to pray powerfully. This indeed is the right place where thou must wrestle in the light of his countenance. And if thou standest resolutely here, and shrinkest not back, thou shalt see or feel great wonders. For thou shalt find Christ in thee assaulting hell, and crushing thy beasts in pieces, and that a great tumult and misery will arise in thee; also thy secret undiscovered sins will then first awake, and labour to separate thee from God, and to keep thee back. Thus shalt thou truely find and feel how death and life fight one against the other, and shalt understand by what passeth within thyself, what heaven and hell are. At all which be not moved, but stand firm and shrink not; for at length all thy creatures will grow faint, weak, and ready to die; and then thy will shall wax stronger, and be able to subdue and keep down the evil inclinations. So shall thy will and mind ascend into heaven every day, and thy creatures gradually die away. Thou wilt get a mind wholly new, and begin to be a new creature, and getting rid of the bestial deformity, recover the divine image. Thus shalt thou be delivered from thy present anguish, and return to thy original rest.

The poor Soul's Practice

Then the poor soul began to practise this course with such earnestness, that it conceived it should get the victory presently; but it found that the gates of heaven were shut against it in its own strength and power, and it was, as it were, rejected and forsaken by God, and received not so much as one look or glimpse of grace from him. Upon which it said to itself, "Surely thou hast not sincerely submitted thyself to God. Desire nothing at all of him, but only submit thyself to his judgement and condemnation, that he may kill thy evil inclinations. Sink down into him beyond the limits of nature and creature, and submit thyself to him, that he may do with thee what he will, for thou art not worthy to speak to him." Accordingly the soul took a resolution to sink down, and to forsake its own will; and when it had done so, there fell upon it presently the greatest repentance that could be for the sins it had committed; and it bewailed bitterly its ugly shape, and was truely and deeply sorry that the evil creatures did dwell in it. And because of its sorrow it could not speak one word more in the presence of God, but in its repentance did consider the bitter passion and death of Jesus Christ, viz. what great anguish and torment he had suffered for its sake, in order to deliver it out of its anguish, and change it into the image of God. In which consideration it wholly sunk down, and did nothing but complain of its ignorance and negligence, and that it had not been thankful to its Redeemer, nor once considered the great love he had shewn to it, but had idly spent its time, and not at all regarded how it might come to partake of his purchased and proffered grace; but instead thereof had formed in itself the images and figures of earthly things, with the vain lusts and pleasures of the world. Whereby it had gotten such bestial inclinations, that now it must lie captive in great misery, and for very shame dared not lift up its eyes to God, who hid the light of his countenance from it, and would not so much as look upon it. And as it was thus sighing and crying, it was drawn into the abyss or pit of horror, and laid it as it were at the gates of hell, there to perish. Upon which the poor troubled soul was, as it were, bereft of sense, and wholly forsaken, so that it in a manner forgot all its doings, and would willingly yield itself to death, and cease to be a creature. Accordingly it did yield itself to death, and desired nothing else but to die and perish in the death of its Redeemer Jesus Christ, who had suffered such torments and death for its sake. And in this perishing it began to sigh and pray in itself very inwardly to the divine goodness, and to sink down into the mere mercy of God.

Upon this there suddenly appeared unto it the amiable countenance of the love of God, which penetrated through it as a great light, and made it exceedingly joyful. It then began to pray aright, and to thank the Most High for such grace, and to rejoice abundantly, that it was delivered from the death and anguish of hell. Now it tasted of the sweetness of God, and of his promised truth; and now all the evil spirits which had harassed it before, and kept it back from the grace, love, and inward presence of God, were forced to depart from it. The "wedding of the Lamb" was now kept and solemnised, that is, the noble Sophia espoused or betrothed herself to the soul; and the seal-ring of Christ's victory was impressed into its essence, and it was received to be a child and heir of God again.

When this was done, the soul became very joyful, and began to work in this new power, and to celebrate with praise the wonders of God, and thought thenceforth to walk continually in the same light, strength, and joy. But it was soon assaulted; from without, by the shame and reproach of the world, and from within, by great temptation, so that it began to doubt whether its ground was truely from God, and whether it had really partaken of his grace. For the accuser Satan went to it, and would fain lead it out of this course, and make it doubtful whether it was the true way; whispering thus to it inwardly, "This happy change in thy spirit is not from God, but only from thine own imagination." Also the divine light retired in the soul, and shone but in the inward ground, as fire raked up in embers, so that reason was perplexed, and thought itself forsaken, and the soul knew not what had happened to itself, nor whether it had really and truely tasted of the heavenly gift or not. Yet it could not leave off struggling; for the burning fire of love was sown in it, which had raised in it a vehement and continual hunger and thirst after the divine sweetness. So at length it began to pray aright, and to humble itself in the presence of God, and to examine and try its evil inclinations and thoughts, and to put them away. By which means the will of reason was broken, and the evil inclinations inherent in it were killed, and extirpated more and more. This process was very severe and painful to the nature of the body, for it made it faint and weak, as if it had been very sick; and yet it was no natural sickness that it had, but only the melancholy of its earthly nature, feeling and lamenting the destruction of its evil lusts. Now when the earthly reason found itself thus forsaken, and the poor soul saw that it was despised outwardly, and derided by the world, because it would walk no longer in the way of wickedness and vanity; and also that it was inwardly assaulted by the accuser Satan, who mocked it, and continually set before it the beauty, riches, and glory of the world, and called it a fool for not embracing them; it began to think and say thus within itself: "O eternal God! What shall I now do to come to rest?"

The enlightened Soul met it again, and spoke to it

While it was in this consideration, the enlightened soul met with it again, and said, "What ailest thou, my brother, that thou art so heavy and sad?"

The distressed Soul said

I have followed thy counsel, and thereby attained a ray, or emanation of the divine sweetness, but it is gone from me again, and I am now deserted. Moreover I have outwardly very great trials and afflictions in the world; for all my good friends forsake and scorn me; and am also inwardly assaulted with anguish, and doubt, and know not what to do.

The enlightened Soul said

Now I like thee very well; for now our beloved Lord Jesus Christ is performing that pilgrimage or process on earth with thee and in thee, which he did himself when he was in this world, who was continually reviled, despised, and evil spoken of, and had nothing of his own in it; and now thou bearest his mark or badge. But do not wonder at it, or think it strange; for it must be so, in order that thou mayest be tried, refined, and purified. In this anguish and distress thou wilt necessarily hunger and cry after deliverance; and by such hunger and prayer thou wilt attract grace to thee both from within and from without. For thou must grow from above and from beneath to be the image of God again. Just as a young plant is agitated by the wind, and must stand its ground in heat and cold, drawing strength and virtue to it from above and from beneath by that agitation, and must endure many a tempest, and undergo much danger before it can come to be a tree, and bring forth fruit. For through that agitation the virtue of the sun moveth in the plant, whereby its wild properties come to be penetrated and tinctured with the solar virtue, and grow thereby.

And this is the time wherein thou must play the part of a valiant soldier in the spirit of Christ, and co-operate thyself therewith. For now the Eternal Father by his fiery power begetteth his son in thee, who changeth the fire of the Father, namely, the first principle, or wrathful property of the soul, into the flame of love, so that out of fire and light (viz. wrath and love) there cometh to be one essence, being, or substance, which is the true temple of God. And now thou shalt bud forth out of the vine Christ, in the vineyard of God, and bring forth fruit in thy life, and by assisting and instructing others, shew forth thy love in abundance, as a good tree. For paradise must thus spring up again in thee, through the wrath of God, and hell he changed into heaven in thee. Therefore be not dismayed at the temptations of the devil, who seeketh and striveth for the kingdom which he once had in thee; but, having now lost it, must be confounded, and depart from thee. And he covereth thee outwardly with the shame and reproach of the world, that his own shame may not be known, and that thou mayest be hidden to the world. For with thy new birth or regenerated nature thou art in the divine harmony in heaven. Be patient, therefore, and wait upon the Lord; and whatsoever shall befall thee, take it all from his hands, as intended by him for thy highest good. And so the enlightened soul departed from it.

The distressed Soul's Course

The distressed soul began its course now under the patient suffering of Christ, and depending solely upon the strength and power of God in it, entered into hope. 

Thenceforth it grew stronger every day, and its evil inclinations died more and more in it. So that it arrived at length to a high state or degree of grace; and the gates of the divine revelation, and the kingdom of heaven, were opened to, and manifested in it. And thus the soul through repentance, faith, and prayer, returned to its original and true rest, and became a right and beloved child of God again; to which may he of his infinite mercy help us all. Amen.

## Notes
[←1]
Cor. ii. 10.

[←2]
Luke ix. 23.

[←3]
1 Cor. iii. 13.

[←4]
Mirror

[←5]
Being of all beings.

[←6]
Or, formed itself; or originally put forth itself.

[←7]
proceeds from the mouth.

[←8]
Or conception.

[←9]
His look, or physiognomy.

[←10]
Vegetables

[←11]
Made sick.

[←12]
Or sting.

[←13]
Contraction, or constringency.

[←14]
Love and anger, father and son.

[←15]
Thought or sparkle of the will.

[←16]
Or voices.

[←17]
Or God.

[←18]
Nature

[←19]
World

[←20]
Or sting of instigation.

[←21]
Raiser, enkindler, or inflamer.

[←22]
Or out of itself.

[←23]
Mysterium

[←24]
Similitude, likeness, or signature.

[←25]
Palpable

[←26]
Or apprehends, or conceives.

[←27]
Or stands.

[←28]
Or to the nature of the pregnatrix.

[←29]
Stars

[←30]
Or substance.

[←31]
Boiling

[←32]
Or separates itself in itself.

[←33]
Report, clash.

[←34]
Sinks

[←35]
Corpus

[←36]
Corpus

[←37]
Gives, or affords

[←38]
Or propriety

[←39]
Or until

[←40]
Or the highest or chiefest of the metals

[←41]
Body

[←42]
Liquid

[←43]
Corpus

[←44]
Boiling, growing, and waxing.

[←45]
Loco

[←46]
Outgoing, breathing

[←47]
Or in a sevenfold form.

[←48]
Or sting

[←49]
Stirring up, or moving

[←50]
The one is not the other.

[←51]
Boiling, or decoction

[←52]
Or fashions

[←53]
Or faber

[←54]
In a strange fire, and yet not strange; when the cloak is laid aside, it needs only its own fire

[←55]
Here must be its own fire only from within and from without

[←56]
And it is the tincture which tinctures the body

[←57]
Or rotation

[←58]
Draws it to itself.

[←59]
Wheel, or sphere

[←60]
Attenuates, destroys

[←61]
Woman, wife.

[←62]
Lust

[←63]
Or immobility

[←64]
Or he should die

[←65]
Salvation

[←66]
An upright, full, and unfeigned desire

[←67]
Or therein

[←68]
Leader

[←69]
In one

[←70]
Begin

[←71]
Or in the divine love

[←72]
Or upon the love of God

[←73]
Depart

[←74]
Labour

[←75]
Of or belonging to nature.

[←76]
Being, materia, or food.

[←77]
Understand the free will

[←78]
Affords, produces, or makes.

[←79]
Or raging sting

[←80]
Or when

[←81]
Or furious wheel.

[←82]
According to, or after.

[←83]
Dumb.

[←84]
Can but get

[←85]
Sting

[←86]
Or taken from him

[←87]
Or loathsomeness

[←88]
Or led

[←89]
Or through.

[←90]
Or the riddle.

[←91]
Spoiled, undone

[←92]
Or outwards.

[←93]
Or set his desire upon the anger.

[←94]
Text, into himself.

[←95]
Out of itself.

[←96]
Or wit, or subtlety.

[←97]
Quickest, keenest.

[←98]
Or begets itself.

[←99]
Or form, or immass.

[←100]
Affords, yields, produces

[←101]
Bring, turn, or sublime.

[←102]
Or joyfulness.

[←103]
Or receives that which it hungers after.

[←104]
Crept

[←105]
Or is a banishing.

[←106]
Part or property.

[←107]
Open, or exclude.

[←108]
Or took his part.

[←109]
Shine through, irradiate.

[←110]
Or works and effects.

[←111]
Here and for ever.

[←112]
Or noble stone of the wise men.

[←113]
One that breaks through irresistibly.

[←114]
Or void of all source.

[←115]
Or becomes.

[←116]
Corpus

[←117]
Or awakening, or stirring itself up.

[←118]
Or victoriously triumphed over.

[←119]
Or the blooming spring of the paradisical new-birth in man.

[←120]
Or pleasant spring.

[←121]
Or what shall I first do to effect it?

[←122]
Work-master, or faber.

[←123]
Or whose essence is in everything.

[←124]
Or openly. Text, in the air.

[←125]
Or she shall.

[←126]
Curdled

[←127]
Or in wedlock.

[←128]
Blended

[←129]
Dumb, senseless, mute.

[←130]
Governor

[←131]
Lie

[←132]
Corpus

[←133]
Or body

[←134]
Or if his poison-will be brought into the moving spirit of love.

[←135]
Gross stone

[←136]
Wrestling

[←137]
Or seething

[←138]
The Mercury

[←139]
Or such a physician has true skill to cure

[←140]
Or seizes on.

[←141]
Shoot, or twig.

[←142]
Or in their wrestling combat.

[←143]
Or growth.

[←144]
Bag, or sack.

[←145]
Type, or resemblance.

[←146]
Virtue, or efficacy.

[←147]
Or mind.

[←148]
Or womb.

[←149]
Gives, or yields.

[←150]
Or life's.

[←151]
Or whereby.

[←152]
Or nausea.

[←153]
Or loathing.

[←154]
Unite, or give in.

[←155]
Or so it is signed, or marked.

[←156]
Or puts itself forth. Text, glances forth.

[←157]
Or has the new-birth in perfect knowledge.

[←158]
Or makes.

[←159]
Or take.

[←160]
Archeus, or separator.

[←161]
Voice, or harmony.

[←162]
Or essence.

[←163]
Text, wrestling power.

[←164]
Or shapes.

[←165]
Or original.

[←166]
Perception, or sensation.

[←167]
Or breathing forth.

[←168]
Or plays.

[←169]
Or distinguishes the senses.

[←170]
Viz. the Mercury.

[←171]
Viz. Mercury.

[←172]
Thicken, or curdle.

[←173]
It gives a cursing or a blessing aspect.

[←174]
Stalk, or blossom.

[←175]
Or of whitish buds in vegetables.

[←176]
In conjunction with Saturn.

[←177]
Text, that he stirs.

[←178]
Sublime them.

[←179]
Working, powerful, or virtual.

[←180]
The jovial virtue.

[←181]
Or I am an enemy to.

[←182]
Or water.

[←183]
Outspoken

[←184]
Transformed

[←185]
The transforming light of God in the dark soul, such as shined in Enoch, Elijah, Paul, etc.

[←186]
Put its desire, hunger, and imagination into the nothing, the highest good or omnipotence, and eat of God's bread.

[←187]
Or other forms.

[←188]
Or life's light.

[←189]
And all his legions of evil spirits.

[←190]
Agree, or make for.

[←191]
Image, or likeness.

[←192]
Melody, harmony, delight, or play.

[←193]
Or change.

[←194]
Or were.

[←195]
Royal fort, fort rampant.

[←196]
Or kindred.

[←197]
Text, bodily.

[←198]
By degrees.

[←199]
Or signatures.

[←200]
Speculates, or beholds.

[←201]
Orb, rotation, or course.

[←202]
Or judgment-seat.

[←203]
Or lets the woman deceive him.

[←204]
Or priests who call themselves the ministers of Christ, but are not.

[←205]
It freely loses itself in the nothing.

[←206]
Manner, or condition.

[←207]
Was born, or begotten.

[←208]
In the heat of his trial.

[←209]
Text, hold.

[←210]
Are drowned.

[←211]
Transformed

[←212]
Taken, or received.

[←213]
In war for their proud unrighteous mammon, and in bitter strife about their outward worship of Christ.

[←214]
Altogether

[←215]
Understanding of folly.

[←216]
Or number three.

[←217]
Mirror, resemblance.

[←218]
Things to be compacted.

[←219]
Text, the sun.

[←220]
Or wild.

[←221]
Goes out.

[←222]
Into the sole power and virtue of Jupiter.

[←223]
Soulish creature.

[←224]
Breath, air, tune

[←225]
Mirror

[←226]
Or conversed

[←227]
Or virgin

[←228]
It makes itself, or it has its own faber in itself.

[←229]
Or as dead.

[←230]
Or leave

[←231]
Contrariety

[←232]
Contrary will, contrariety.

[←233]
Or signs and marks itself in the body.

[←234]
Or comprehended, or conceived.

[←235]
Colours of distinction.

[←236]
Element

[←237]
Into the desired end or perfection of rest.

[←238]
Thus now

[←239]
In the outward principle in the expressed formed word

[←240]
Constellation

[←241]
Sphere

[←242]
Or in which the soul in the resigned will does again enkindle by its desire the true life in God's will-spirit, viz. in the eternal light or liberty.

[←243]
Such a creature as it was at first, before it fell

[←244]
Source

[←245]
Equal essence

[←246]
Or departure

[←247]
Into a swoon, or impotency

[←248]
Or assimulate.

[←249]
Or vehemently, by force.

[←250]
Stirring, active.

[←251]
Enraged

[←252]
With their bestial lustful excess or disorder

[←253]
Seething

[←254]
Mortifying

[←255]
Seething

[←256]
Seething

[←257]
Or put his mercy into us

[←258]
Or what it is

[←259]
Mirror

[←260]
Or figures

[←261]
Or attraction

[←262]
The flowing, or proceeding forth

[←263]
Or fair complexion.

[←264]
Orb, or rotation.

[←265]
Or he

[←266]
Or noise.

[←267]
Or the first property

[←268]
Or the sting in the hardness, viz. the hardness itself.

[←269]
Understand the mother of Sulphur

[←270]
Prima materia.

[←271]
Or opposite to the dark desire, or dark impression, which is after the light's desire

[←272]
Or without any ground

[←273]
Or reached.

[←274]
Becomes impotent.

[←275]
The *caput mortuum*.

[←276]
Law, or appointment.

[←277]
Or in a creaturely manner.

[←278]
Or in a creaturely manner.

[←279]
Or fly from thence as a smoke.

[←280]
Seething

[←281]
Seething

[←282]
Or as to its inward motion

[←283]
Or seethe

[←284]
Nauseate, abomination.

[←285]
Unregenerated

[←286]
Or all creatures

[←287]
Nauseate, or loathsomeness.

[←288]
Entire

[←289]
Or proceeding from

[←290]
Text, spew out.

[←291]
Or working property.

[←292]
Our own enemies.

[←293]
Voice or breath

[←294]
That Christ once died and suffered for us, etc.

[←295]
Or works desire.

[←296]
Bear, or carry

[←297]
Text, a pilferer from God and his substance

[←298]
Spewing out.

[←299]
Lubet or longing desire.

[←300]
Or, this is always the end.

[←301]
Counterpoised

[←302]
Or, This is spoken without any ground or foundation

[←303]
Or die.

[←304]
Or birthright.

[←305]
Text, comforted us

[←306]
From the beginning of the Supersensual Life to the reference of this note, was found among the papers of the later editor, in the handwriting of the truely pious and learned Mr. Law, who has so enlarged and elucidated it (as the reader may see by comparing it with the original) that probably he intended it for a separate publication.



# Dialogues on the Supersensual Life

## PREFACE

The Works of Jacob Behmen, the "Teutonic Theosopher," translated into English, were first printed in England in the seventeenth century, between 1644 and 1662. In the following century a complete edition in four large volumes was produced by some of the disciples of William Law. This edition, completed in the year 1781, was compiled in part from the older English edition, and in part from later fragmentary translations by Law and others. It is not easily accessible to the general reader, and, moreover, the greater part of Behmen's Works could not be recommended save to those who had the time and power to plunge into that deep sea in search of the many noble pearls which it contains.

Behmen's language and way of thought are remote and strange, and in reading his thought one has often to pass it through a process of intellectual translation. This is chiefly true of his earlier work, the "Aurora" or "Morning Redness." But among those works which he wrote during the last five years of his life there are some written in a thought-language less difficult to be understood, yet containing the essential teaching of this humble Master of Divine Science. From these I have selected some which may, in a small volume, be useful. It seemed that for this purpose it would be best to take the "Dialogues of the Supersensual Life," including as one of them the beautiful, really separate, Dialogue, called in the Complete Works, "The way from darkness to true illumination." In the case of neither of these works is the translation used that of the seventeenth century. The first three dialogues are a translation made by William Law, one of the greatest masters of the English language, and found in MS. after his death. This translation from the original German is not exactly literal, but rather a liberal version, or paraphrase, the thought of Behmen being expanded and elucidated, though in nowise departed from. The dialogue called "The way from darkness to true illumination" was taken by the eighteenth century editors from a book containing translations of certain smaller treatises of Behmen then lately printed at Bristol and made, as they say, "in a style better adapted to the taste and more accommodated to the apprehension of modern readers." I do not know who was the translator, but the work seems to be excellently well done.

It will be well to say a few words first as to the life, then as to the leading ideas of Jacob Behmen. This name is more correctly written Jacob Bœhme, but I prefer to retain the more easily pronounced spelling of Behmen, adopted by the Editors of both the complete English editions.

Jacob Behmen's outward life was simplicity itself. He was born in the year 1575 at Alt Seidenberg, a village among pastoral hills, near Görlitz in Lusatia, a son of poor peasants. As a boy he watched the herds in the fields, and was then apprenticed to a shoemaker, being not enough robust for rural work. One day, when the master and his wife were out, and he was alone in the house, a stranger entered the shop and asked for a pair of shoes. Jacob had no authority to conclude a bargain and asked a high price for the shoes in the hope that the stranger would not buy. But the man paid the price, and when he had gone out into the street, called out "Jacob, come forth." Jacob obeyed the call, and now the stranger looked at him with a kindly, earnest, deep, soul-piercing gaze, and said, "Jacob, thou art as yet but little, but the time will come when thou shalt be great, and become another man, and the world shall marvel at thee. Therefore be pious, fear God, and reverence his Word; especially read diligently the Holy Scriptures, where thou hast comfort and instruction; for thou must endure much misery and poverty, and suffer persecution. But be courageous and persevere, for God loves, and is gracious unto thee." So saying, the stranger clasped his hand, and disappeared.

After this Jacob became even more pensive and serious, and would admonish the other journeymen on the work-bench when they spoke lightly of sacred things. His master disliked this and dismissed him, saying that he would have no "house-prophet" to bring trouble into his house. Thus Jacob was forced to go forth into the world as a travelling journeyman, and, as he wandered about in that time of fierce religious discord, the world appeared to him to be a "Babel." He was himself afflicted by troubles and doubts, but clave to prayer and to Scripture, and especially to the words in Luke xi.; "How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." And once, when he was again engaged for a time by a master, he was lifted into a state of blessed peace, a Sabbath of the Soul, that lasted for seven days, during which he was, as it were, inwardly surrounded by a Divine Light. "The triumph that was then in my soul I can neither tell nor describe. I can only liken it to a resurrection from the dead."

Jacob returned in 1594 to Görlitz, became a master shoemaker in 1599, married a tradesman's daughter, and had four children. In the year 1600 "sitting one day in his room, his eye fell upon a burnished pewter dish which reflected the sunshine with such marvellous splendour that he fell into a deep inward ecstasy and it seemed to him as if he could now look into the principles and deepest foundations of things. He believed that it was only a fancy, and in order to banish it from his mind he went out upon the green. But here he remarked that he gazed into the very heart of things; the very herbs and grass, and that Nature harmonised with what he had inwardly seen. He said nothing about this to any one, but praised and thanked God in silence. He continued in the honest practice of his craft, was attentive to his domestic affairs, and was on terms of goodwill with all men."[A]

At the age of thirty-five, in the year 1610, Jacob Behmen suddenly perceived that all which he had seen in a fragmentary way was forming itself into a coherent whole, and felt a "fire-like" impulse, a yearning to write it down, as a "Memorial," not for publication, but lest he should forget it himself. He wrote it early in the morning before work, and late in the evening after work. This was his "Morning Redness" or "Aurora."

A nobleman of the country, called Carl von Endern, happened to see the MS. at the shoemaker's house, was struck by it, and had some copies made. One of these fell into the hands of the Lutheran Clergyman of Görlitz, Pastor Primarius Gregorius Richter, who thenceforth became a bitter opponent of Behmen. He assailed him in sermons, in language of savage invective, as a heretic of the most dangerous kind, until Jacob was summoned before the Magistrates, and forbidden to write anything in future. He was told that as a shoemaker he must confine himself to his own trade. But the affair, as is usually the case, had an effect the reverse of that intended by persecutors. It made him known to various persons more learned than himself who were interested in the subject, and from his converse with them he learned a better style, and some Latin technical terms, which he afterwards found useful for expressing his thoughts.

Jacob obeyed for some years the magisterial command to write nothing, but it was very grievous to him, and he often reflected with dismay on the parable of the talents and how "that one talent which 'tis death to hide" was lodged with him useless. At length he would keep silence no more. He says himself: "I had resolved to do nothing in future, but to be quiet before God in obedience, and to let the devil, with all his host, sweep over me. But it was with me as when a seed is hidden in the earth. It grows up in storm and rough weather against all reason. For in winter time all is dead, and reason says: 'It is all over with it.' But the precious seed within me sprouted and grew green, oblivious of all storms, and, amid disgrace and ridicule, it has blossomed forth into a lily."

Between the year 1619 and his death in 1624, at the age of forty-nine, he poured forth his stored up thoughts, writing a number of Works, including those in the present volume, which were among his very latest. He had the more time to write because his shoemaking business had fallen off, by reason, perhaps, of the question as to his orthodoxy, but some friends supplied him with the necessaries of life. He was now exposed to fresh attacks from Gregorius Richter and was forced this time to go into exile. At this period he went to the Electoral Court at Dresden where the Prince was curious about him, and a conference took place between him and John Gerhard and other eminent theologians. At the close of this Dr Gerhard said: "I would not take the whole world and help to condemn this man." And his colleague Meissner said, "My good brother, neither would I. Who knows what stands behind this man? How can we judge what we have not understood? May God convert this man if he is in error. He is a man of marvellously high mental gifts who at present can neither be condemned nor approved."

Soon afterwards, while Jacob was staying at the house of one of his noble friends in Silesia he fell into a fever. At his own request he was carried back to Görlitz, and there awaited his end. On Sunday, November 21st 1624, in the early hours he called his son Tobias and asked him if he did not hear that sweet melodious music. As Tobias heard nothing, Jacob asked him to set wide the door so that he might the better hear it; then he asked what was the hour, and when he was told that it had just struck two he said, "My time is not yet; three hours hence is my time." After some silence he exclaimed, "Oh thou strong God of Sabaoth, deliver me according to thy Will," and immediately afterwards "Thou Crucified Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me and take me to thyself into thy Kingdom." At six in the morning he suddenly bade them farewell with a smile, and said, "Now I go hence into Paradise," and yielded up his Spirit.

Frankenberg writes of him: "His bodily appearance was somewhat mean; he was small of stature, had a low forehead but prominent temples, a rather aquiline nose, a scanty beard, grey eyes, sparkling into heavenly blue, a feeble but genial voice. He was modest in his bearing, unassuming in conversation, lowly in conduct, patient in suffering, and gentle-hearted."

As the shoemaker of Görlitz had in his life-time some disciples among highly educated men, so has he always had a few since his departure from this life. Men so diversely situated as the non-juror William Law in England; St Martin, the "philosophe inconnu" of the French Revolution; the sincere Catholic, Franz Baader, in Germany; Martensen, the Protestant Bishop in Denmark, have found in him their Teacher.

The selections contained in the present book belong rather to the practical or ethical side of Jacob Behmen's teaching than to his Cosmogony, or *Vision*, as one may best call it, of the nature of all things. I think that any old cottager, who had read nothing but his Bible, but had lived his life, would well understand the general teaching of most that is contained in these Dialogues, and would find all Behmen's words most beautiful and comforting. It is not, therefore, necessary for the present purpose to attempt fully to set forth the whole Vision of Behmen, nor, in any case would it be within my power to do so. But it may be of service to those readers who are not acquainted with the writings of Behmen or of his disciples, if I here say something as to his general teaching with regard to the nature of the soul of man and its relation to that which is not itself, but like to itself.

The Soul, in the doctrine of Behmen, is a Being which has a will or desire, and is aided by a mirror of understanding or imagination. Will or Desire is of the very essence of the Soul, inseparable from its existence. He says: "Where Desire is there is also Essence or Being." The Soul is subject to the diverse attractions of the Centre of Divine Life and Light, and of the Spirit of the World. Enlightened by its understanding it has the free power to turn its will towards, and unite itself to, this or that. "Choose well, thy choice is brief and yet endless."

The Soul is a magic Fire derived out of, or from, God the Father's Essence, *lumen de lumine*, and imprisoned in darkness. It is an intense and incessant Desire after the Light; it longs to return to the Light-centre, whence it originally came, that is, to the "heart of God." Thus longing, it is a "Fire of Anguish," until it becomes a "Fire of Love." It is a fire of anguish, so long as it is shut up in its dark self. It is a fire of love when it pierces through and escapes from its dark self-prison and burns freely and softly in union with the Divine Love. God then comes as a Light, a soft purifying Fire into the Soul, and changes all the wanting, hungering, empty, restless, self-tormenting properties of the Natural Life into a sweetness of rest and peace. This is called in Scripture the "new birth." Thus the same thing - the same Fire, - is a cause of torment or of joy according to the conditions under which it is. Man, who is a microcosm of the whole Universe, is a mingling of light and darkness. His anguish comes from his Soul's imprisonment in darkness (as a mere raging fire) and continues until it can break forth and unite itself with *that* whence it came and to which it belongs.

Behmen says "The Eternal Darkness of the Soul is Hell, viz.: an aching source of anguish, which is called the Anger of God, but the Eternal Light in the Soul is the Kingdom of Heaven, where the fiery anguish of darkness is turned into joy. For the *same* nature of anguish, which, in the Darkness, is a cause of sadness, is, in the Light, a cause of the outward and stirring joy.... The Fire is painful and consuming, but the Light is yielding, friendly, powerful and delightful, a sweet and amiable Joy."

Pure delight, with no trace of doubt or fear, hope or regret, is the sign of the presence of Love or Light. So again Behmen says: "The Fire in the Light is a fire of Love, but the Fire in the Darkness is a fire of Anguish, and is painful, irksome, and full of contrariety." The end to which all things tend is the final separation of light from darkness; the "last day" means this; but the present world is a perpetual mixture of light and darkness, good and evil, joy and anguish. So, the Cross of Jesus is at once the highest embodiment of Love and Hate.

It is remarkable that in this doctrine of light and darkness Behmen was nearly followed by one who had not, I suppose, ever heard of him, reading as he did little of anything but the Bible, who worked on the Scriptures with his own powerful and earnest insight, the Christian hero, Charles Gordon. In his little book called "Reflections in Palestine" written in that one year, 1883, of unbroken repose from action spent in the Holy Land, just before his final service at Khartoom, Gordon dwells upon the repetition, as he calls it, *both in the individual soul, and in the world's history* of four processes constantly recurring, - a state of darkness, a light breaking forth through darkness, a division of light from darkness or gathering together of light, a re-dispersion of light into darkness, and then a renewal of the four processes, ever upon an ascending level of good, directed towards the final elimination of all light from the darkness.

Fire must have fuel, something on which to feed. It must feed or perish. But the magic Fire-spirit, the Soul, cannot perish because it is an eternal Essence. Therefore it must either feed; or *hunger*. It desires spiritual essence or "virtue" to allay its raging hunger. But, during the space that it is embodied in this nature, it can feed *either* on the Divine Spirit, or upon the Spirit of this World. "Hence," says Behmen, "we may understand the cause of that infinite variety which is in the Wills and Actions of Men." For of whatsoever the Soul eateth, and wherewith its Fire-life becometh kindled; "according to that the Soul's life is led and governed." You become like to that which you eat. If the Soul breaks forth out of its Nature-self and enters into "God's Love-fire," it eats of the Divine Essence (the substance or flesh of Christ) and it is to this that Jesus Christ referred when he spoke of feeding upon his body, and when he spoke of the true bread from heaven "which giveth life to the World" (John vi. 33), of which he that eateth shall "live for ever" (John vi. 58), or the "living water," whereof whosoever drinketh "shall never thirst," but it shall be to him "a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John iv. 13, 14). This feeding is in no way metaphorical but as real and actual as physical feeding.

Behmen says, "The Essence of that Life eateth the Flesh of Christ and drinketh His Blood.... Now if the Soul eat of this sweet, holy and heavenly food, then it kindleth itself with the great Love in the name and power of Jesus, whence its fire of anguish becometh a great triumph of joy and glory."[B]

Behmen held that man lives at once in three worlds, firstly in the outward visible elementary world of space and time (where man "*is* the Time and *in* the Time;") secondly, the "Eternal Dark World, Hell, the centre of Eternal Nature, whence is *generated* the Soul-fire, that source of anguish, and thirdly, in the Eternal Light World, Heaven - the Divine habitation." The same processes of feeding and life take place in the three Worlds, so that physical feeding is a kind of outside sheath of spiritual feeding.

If the Soul accustoms itself to feed in this life upon the heavenly food (that *panem de coelo omne delectamentum in se habentem*) it gradually itself becomes of quite heavenly substance, purged from darkness, and, when the natural life falls off at death, stands in heaven, where indeed it already is. But, if the Soul feeds upon the Spirit and Things of this World, then, when by reason of death, it can no longer feed upon them, it is left in the condition of mere "aching Desire," or eternal unsatisfied Hunger, working in a void, in perpetual anguish. Thus Heaven and Hell are not places, but conditions of the Soul. So Milton, who had no doubt studied the translation of Behmen made in his own time, writes:

"The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."

They are in this life everywhere commingled, but when this life falls away, the Soul remains in that of the two states into which it has in this life brought itself. The Soul, after death, remains *either* as a satisfied Desire, that is, a Desire no longer but a Joy, *or* as an aching Desire. The Persian says: -

Heaven is the vision of fulfilled Desire
And Hell the shadow of a Soul on fire.

Behmen says, Heaven *is* fulfilled desire; Hell *is* a Soul on fire, no mere vision or shadow.

Heaven and Hell are within us, since our souls are portions of the universe of things, in every part of which Heaven and Hell are commingled. The gates of Heaven within us were shut in Adam, but the Power of God, Christ in Jesus, broke open by his passion "the closed gates of Paradise," that is, the gates of our "inward heavenly humanity," and now the wayfarer can, if he will, pass through. We do not spiritually live by a reasoning process, or acceptance of doctrines by the understanding, but by the action of the Desire in feeding upon the Spirit of Love, a process of laying hold, drawing in, and assimilating. True prayer is like feeding, or still more, perhaps, like the unconscious drawing in of the air: it should be as constant. By it is introduced the heavenly life from without to nourish the like heavenly life contained in the seed within. If a man thus rightly feeds, then, in him, the hellish life and passions, portions of the powers of darkness, "our creatures" as Behmen says, will be killed by starvation, wanting their appropriate food. On the other hand, a man can feed these also from without with their appropriate food by misdirected desire, thereby starving the heavenly life in the Soul.

Thus the essence of Behmen's teaching as to the Soul incarnate in Man and revealed by his body, is that it is an eternal Being, and that it is a source of joy or anguish according as it is, or is not, purified or tranquillised by communion with the Centre of Light, or the Fountain of Life. He does not contemplate, as some Eastern teachers perhaps do, the annihilation of the Will of the Soul by a kind of higher spiritual suicide; its existence is to him the very condition of good no less than of evil; he contemplates its liberation from the dark, contracted, self-prison, its purification, and entrance into the full heaven-life. This magical soul-fire, like visible fire, can rage and destroy, or it can serve as the means and ground of all good. Here is the foundation both of good and evil, in man as in all things.

To understand this better, one must consider the cosmic teaching lying behind the rich profusion of images, often inconsistent and clashing, in which Jacob Behmen embodies his Vision.

Man has fallen into Nature. But Nature itself, apart from and unfilled by the Divine Light, is a self-torment, a mere Want, a Desire, a Hunger. The true distinction between God and Nature is that God is an Universal All, while Nature is an Universal Want, viz: to be filled by God. Physical attraction is nothing but the outer sheath of this universal desire. Nature filled by God is Heaven or fulfilled Desire.[C] Without God it is Hell, mere Desire. Heaven is the Presence of God: Hell his Absence. It is as true to say that Heaven is in God, as to say that God is in Heaven.

Apart from the existence of God there could be neither Presence nor Absence, neither Heaven nor Hell. If the Soul of Man were wholly divided and separated from the Divine Life, it would, as a part of Nature, be a mere hungering, restless, conscious Desire. In so far as it is so separated it partakes of this pain. For "through all the Universe of Things nothing is uneasy, unsatisfied, or restless, but because it is not governed by Love, or because its Nature has not reached or attained the full birth of the Spirit of Love. For when that is done, every hunger is satisfied, and all complaining, murmuring, accusing, resenting, revenging and striving are as totally suppressed and overcome as coldness, thickness and horror of darkness are suppressed and overcome by the breaking forth of the light. If you ask why the Spirit of Love cannot be displeased, cannot be disappointed, cannot complain, accuse, resent or murmur, it is because the Spirit of Love desires nothing but itself, it is its own Good, for Love is God, and he that dwelleth in God dwelleth in Love."[D]

Behmen's idea of the "fallen Angels" is that they are entirely and hopelessly divided from the Life of God. They are mere embodied, hopeless, self-tormenting Desires. They have fallen into the hell within themselves, they *cannot but* be hating, bitter, envious, proud, wrathful, restless; and therefore tormentors of others. They have lost that which man, however far astray, always possesses, the faculty of return or regeneration through submission to and union with God. The spark of the Life and Spirit of God which is in Men is not in the fallen Angels. Let us hope that Beings so utterly lost do not exist.

God is outside of Nature and yet in a sense inside also, because there is a divine life or virtue in Nature which, longing to re-unite itself with its source, is a cause of anguish while divided, and of joy when united. So, in the outer world, the seed buried in earth contains a power kindred to the virtue of the sun. It is this which breaks forth from the seed, forces itself up through the dark, imprisoning, and yet nourishing and necessary earth, and at last, if it can win its way through obstacles, cheerfully expands in the light of the sun and feeds upon his warmth. That, in man's inner nature, which answers to this power or life in the seed, is called by Behmen the Life or Spirit of Jesus Christ. Egoism or *Ihood*, the old contracting, narrowing cell, is destroyed as this expansive and expanding force grows and breaks forth. Behmen says: "As the Sun in the visible world ruleth over Evil and Good, and, with its light and power, and all whatsoever itself is, is present everywhere, and penetrates into every Being, and wholly giveth itself to every Being, and yet ever remaineth whole, and nothing of its being goeth away therewith. Thus also it is to be understood concerning Christ's person and office which ruleth in the inward spiritual world, and penetrateth into the faithful man's soul, spirit and heart. As the Sun worketh through a herb, so that the herb becometh filled with the virtue of the Sun, and, as it were, so converted by the Sun that it becometh wholly of the nature of the Sun, so Christ ruleth in the resigned will or Soul and Body, over all evil inclinations and generateth the man to be a new heavenly creature." The same teaching is finely set forth in a passage of William Law.[E] He says:

"Man has a spark of the Light and Spirit of God, as a supernatural gift of God given into the birth of his Soul to bring forth by degrees a new birth of that life which was lost in Paradise. This holy spark of the Divine Nature within him has a natural, strong, and almost infinite tendency or reaching after that eternal Light and Spirit of God, from whence it came forth. It came forth from God, it came *out* of God, it partaketh of the Divine Nature, and therefore it is always in a state of tendency and return to God. All this is called the breathing, the moving, the quickening of the Holy Spirit within us, which are so many operations of this spark of life tending towards God. On the other hand the Deity as considered in itself, and without the Soul of man, has an infinite unchangeable tendency of love and desire towards the Soul of man, to unite and communicate its own riches and glories to it, just as the Spirit of the air *without* Man unites and communicates its riches and virtues to the Spirit of the air that is *within* Man. This love or desire of God toward the soul of Man is so great that he gave his only-begotten Son, the brightness of his glory, to take the human nature upon him, in its fallen state, that by this mysterious union of God and Man, all the enemies of the Soul of Man might be overcome, and every human creature might have a power of being born again according to that Image of God in which he was first created. The gospel is the history of this Love of God to Man. *Inwardly* he has a seed of the Divine Life given into the birth of his Soul, a seed that has all the riches of eternity in it, and is always wanting to come to the birth in him, and be alive in God. *Outwardly* he has Jesus Christ, who as a Sun of Righteousness, is always casting forth his enlivening beams on this inward seed, to kindle and call it forth to the birth, doing that to this Seed of Heaven in Man, which the sun in the firmament is always doing to the vegetable seeds in the earth.

"Consider this matter in the following similitude. A grain of wheat has the air and light of this world enclosed or incorporated in it. This is the mystery of its life, this is its power of growing, by this it has a strong continual tendency of uniting again with that ocean of light and air from whence it came forth. On the other hand that great ocean of light and air, having its own offspring hidden in the heart of the grain has a perpetual strong tendency to unite and communicate with it again. From this *desire of union on both sides*, the vegetable life arises and all the virtues and powers contained in it. But let it be well observed that this desire on both sides cannot have its effect till the husk and gross part of the grain falls into a state of corruption and death; till this begins, the mystery of life hidden in it cannot come forth."

The sun only acts by stirring up in each thing, and calling into activity, its own imprisoned, dormant, heat or life. Save by the same nature-process, working in an inner sphere, there cannot come to pass the flower and fruit of the Soul. The Sun, true emblem of the Redeeming Spirit, helps each vital force to break forth from its state of death - even though, like the grains of wheat found in Egyptian graves and then new-planted, it has been immured there thousands of years - and to enter into its highest possible state of life. Indeed, in this school of wisdom, the natural visible light, of which the Sun is the dispensing medium to our solar system, and other suns to other circles of planets, is actually an outer manifestation of the inner supernatural light, and warmth, not a mere emblem at all. We speak more truly than we know, when we speak of a "heavenly day." All Nature is a series of "out-births" of the Deity. "The outward world," says Behmen, "is sprung out of the inward spiritual world, viz., out of Light and Darkness." And his English interpreter says: "Whatever is delightful and ravishing, sublime and glorious in spirits, minds, or bodies, either in heaven, or on earth, is from the power of the Supernatural Light opening its endless wonders in them. Hell has no misery, horror or distraction, but because it has no communication with the supernatural Light. And did not the supernatural Light stream forth its blessings into this world, through the materiality of the Sun, all outward Nature would be full of the horror of Hell." And elsewhere, "There is no meekness, benevolence or goodness in Angel, Man, *or any other Creature*, but where Light is the Lord of its life. Life itself begins no sooner, rises no higher, has no other glory, than as the Light begins it, and leads it on. Sounds have no softness, flowers and germs no sweetness, plants and fruits have no growth, but as the Mystery of Light opens itself in them."[F] And so Behmen himself says: "There is nothing that is created or born in Nature but it also manifests its internal form externally; for the internal continually labours or works itself forth to manifestation. We know in the power and form of this World, how the only Essence has manifested itself with the external birth in the desire of the similitude; how it has manifested itself in so many forms and shapes, which we see and know in the stars and elements, likewise in the living creatures, and also in the trees and herbs." Thus there is a real communion between all beauty, sweetness, and glory, within and without the Soul of man.

It is this truth, not of the analogy between the essential life of Man and Nature, but of the unity in all things, that is now opening itself out in many ways. Wordsworth, a true seer, has given to it its highest expression in English Poetry. Modern science all tends to confirmation of this unity.

God, then, must become Man, there must be a birth of the Life of God in the Soul, in order that the Soul may live its highest life. Only in this way can the wild properties of Nature be subordinated and turned to their proper use, their restless hunger pacified. Goodness and happiness can be expected from nothing else but from the Divine Life united to and dwelling in the Nature Life. It is the "ingrafted Word" of St James' Epistle.

The plant cannot but grow towards the sun. If it is too deep in earth, or prevented by a strong soil, or withered by dryness, so that it cannot attain to its end, the fault is not with it. But, in the spiritual inner world (in which the plant dwells not) the Soul of man has this freedom - that it can consciously turn towards God, whose Spirit and Life will then come forth to meet it, or can turn towards the Things of this World. Upon this freedom of choice is founded Behmen's moral teaching. The Soul is like a woman (and all nations have testified in their languages and parables to their sense of this) who can freely choose to submit and surrender her body to this Lover, or to that. When she has chosen her free power ends. As she has chosen, so her life-faculty will be fertilised by good or evil; so will be the new life that arises within her, and so will be her future joy or sorrow.

In a deep sense, the desire of the spark of Life in the Soul to return to its Original Source is part of the longing desire of the universal Life for its own heart or centre. Of this longing the universal attraction, striving against resistance, towards an universal centre, proved to govern the phenomenal or physical world, is but the outer sheath and visible working. It has been said that Sir Isaac Newton (who was a diligent reader of Behmen's Works) "ploughed with Jacob Behmen's heifer." There is in truth but one Religion, that founded upon the eternal, immutable, universal processes of the actual Nature of things, and of this Christianity, rightly apprehended, is the supreme Revelation. This will be seen better by all as the Religion unfolds itself. Rightly speaking there is no such thing as *supernatural* religion; there is but one Religion, that of Nature. It is the work of visible religion to teach by signs and parables, embodying the mystery in symbols, and clothing it with adoration.

Jacob Behmen's mode of expression is all his own, and there is much in the fabric of his thought which men of our time, if they take a superficial view, would not find it easy to accept. The doctrine of Evolution now profoundly influences every corner of the field of thought. We now incline to think rather of the rise of Man out of Nature than of his fall into it, though, perhaps, there can no more be a rise without a precedent fall, than there can be a return without a precedent out-going. Evolution may be the time-form of Attraction. But all this affects the outside form, not the essence of the doctrine. Behmen is concerned with the real nature of things, apart from time and space, with their apparent, but so misleading, facts. He appeals to each Soul's knowledge of itself, and, on the principle that *all is in everything*, draws from the nature of Man, that little Universe (and we can no otherwise learn things as they are in themselves), his teaching as to Universal Nature. "In Man (he says) lies all whatsoever the Sun shines upon, or Heaven contains, as also Hell and all the Deeps." His Iliad is the struggle between light and darkness, life and death, expansion and contraction, the centripetal and centrifugal force, heat and cold, love and hatred, peace and wrath, humility and pride, self-sacrifice and self-seeking, joy and anguish, repose and restlessness, in the whole of Nature and in the Soul of Man. Does not every man, who has lived his full life, know the truth and reality of all this? It is known more especially and actually by those ardent and adventurous spirits who have sailed in far seas of thought or action, not merely coasting along the shores of tradition, authority and established rule. Sinners know some things more vividly than those who ever and easily have been good. Only the man who has been sick knows the difference between sickness and health. The prodigal who had wandered in a far country and had lived as he would, understood the meaning of peace and love better than the brother who had always stayed at home.

These wanderers, if they return in time, know best, taught by the heart-rending lessons of experience, the difference between the Heaven and Hell within them; the Hell of wrath, self-torment, fear, anxiety, envy, malice, evil-will, pride, cruelty, sensual passion, longing to domineer, and the Heaven of love, benevolence, meekness, humility, compassion, peace, joy, long-suffering.

They know that Heaven and Hell can alike be revealed in the Soul. From youth they have felt something in them striving, often feebly enough, against passionate desires for wealth, honour, success, and for mastery over the minds, affections, and bodies of others. Behind all this turmoil and ever unsatisfied anguish of seeking that which satisfies not, they have been aware of a diviner life slowly growing towards heaven, ever and again thwarted and driven back by the renewed assaults of the Spirit of the World, yet never quite destroyed. At the moments of fiercest fight against rebel passions they have felt the divine assisting strength flow into them, if only they powerfully invoked it, turning towards its source as a babe towards its mother's breast. They have heard the "Peace be still" amid the wildest spiritual storms. They know that if they have been saved, it is not by their own strength nor by reasoning, but by this power from without.

They know the impotence, in action, of the merely reflective or spectator faculty. In this sense of the word "reason," they would agree with him who wrote "Your Heart is the best and greatest gift of God to you; it is the highest, greatest, strongest, and noblest Power of your Nature; it forms your whole Life, be it what it will; all Evil and all Good comes from it; your Heart alone has the key of Life and Death; it does all that it will; Reason is but its plaything; and whether in Time or Eternity, can only be a mere Beholder of the wonders of happiness, or forms of misery, which the right or wrong working of the Heart is entered into."[G]

William Law remarks that Jesus Christ, though he had all wisdom, yet gives but a small number of doctrines to mankind "whilst every moral teacher writes volumes upon every single virtue." It is, he adds, because our Lord "knew what they know not, that our whole malady lies in this, that the Will of our Mind is turned into this World, and that nothing can relieve us, or set us right, but the *turning* of the Will of our Mind and the Desire of our Hearts to God. And hence it is that he calls us to nothing but a total denial of ourselves and the Life of this World and to faith in him as the Worker of a new birth and life in us." On this one root of the whole matter Jacob Behmen insisted, expressing one truth in a thousand ways and through images, which to him are not images but the same process working in other spheres. His whole practical, moral teaching enforces the right direction of Desire. *Mali mores sunt mali amores*, said one who also truly *saw*; the profound Augustine. The hunger of the Soul must be turned to the source of eternal joy. All that is good and beautiful in nature or in the heart of man flows from that fountain. Desire *is* everything in Nature; *does* everything. Heaven is Nature filled with divine Life attracted by Desire.

### FOOTNOTES

[A] From the Danish Bishop Martensen's book "Jacob Boehme"; an excellent study well translated from Danish into English by Mr T. Rhys Evans, (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1885). An account of Behmen's life is given in the preface to the first volume of the last century English edition of the Works.

[B] It should be noted that Jacob Behmen held strongly to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the actual bread and wine as a "permissive medium" of the real feeding, in order that there may be "a visible sign of what is done in the inward ground." But he says "We should not *depend* on this means or medium *alone*, and think that Christ's Flesh and Blood is *only* and alone participated in this use of bread and wine, as Reason in this present time miserably erreth therein. No, that is not so. Faith, when it hungereth after God's love and grace, always eateth and drinketh of Christ's Flesh and Blood. Christ hath not bound himself to bread and wine *alone*, but hath bound himself to the *faith*, that he will be in men." Works, vol. iv. p. 208. Charles Gordon took the same view of the visible "eating," as being a great assistance to the spiritual feeding, but not indispensable to it. (Gordon's "Letters to his Sister.")

[C] Dante's "ricchezza senza brama."

[D] Law's Works, vol. viii., p. 177.

[E] Works, vol. vii., p. 65, ed. 1765.

[F] Law's Works, vol. viii., p. 189.

[G] Law's Works, vol. vii., p. 162.

* * *

## PRELIMINARY NOTE

Before entering upon the Dialogues I have thought it well to insert some sentences taken from a treatise of Behmen's called "Regeneration," together with some taken from another treatise of his on "Christ's Testament" because they show well the spirit in which he thought and wrote. The freedom of thought and expression which he claims is, happily, far more readily accorded now than it was in his own day.

I have only one thing to add. In the eighteenth century English translation of Behmen's Works, all the substantives, as was then the frequent custom, are printed with capital letters. There is a philosophic basis for this practice, because a substantive is an attempt to denote a "thing in itself" and is therefore of greater weight than an adjective, which only expresses qualities which we attribute to it. To Behmen's Works this mode of printing seems especially appropriate. In our now too literary language, many words have become so trite and carelessly used that they have almost ceased to have reference to real existing things. But Behmen never uses words in this merely literary way, being indeed in nowise a man of letters. It might have been said of him, as indeed his enemies did at the time say, that which was said by the Jews of our Lord, "How knoweth this man letters having never learned?" When he speaks of the "*glory*" of God, he means something as real as if he spoke of the "*leaves* on that tree," and so with all his words. I was therefore somewhat inclined, in order to mark this, to adhere altogether to the old custom in this case, and though I have not done so, fearing it might annoy the eye of the unaccustomed reader, I have preserved the capital letters in many cases, where it is especially desirable to dwell on the expression of real existences by the words. It is of course an illogical compromise between two customs.

The title "Supersensual Life" is not altogether a good one, but it is that which is used in former editions of Behmen. The idea is rather of Life behind, than above, the life of sense.

* * *

## ***Sentences Selected from Jacob Behmen's Treatises "Regeneration" and "Christ's Testaments"***

#### 1

A true Christian, who is born anew of the Spirit of Christ, is in the simplicity of Christ, and hath no strife or contention with any man about religion.

#### 2

The Christendom that is in Babel striveth about the manner how men ought to serve God and glorify him; also, how they are to know him, and what he is in his Essence and Will. And they preach positively that whosoever is not one and the same with them in every particular of knowledge and opinion, is no Christian, but a heretic.

#### 3

But a Christian is of no sect. He can dwell in the midst of sects, and appear in their services, without being attached or bound to any. He hath but one knowledge, and that is, Christ in him. He seeketh but one way, which is the desire always to do and teach that which is right; and he putteth all his knowing and willing into the Life of Christ. He sigheth and wisheth continually that the Will of God might be done in him, and that his Kingdom might be manifested in him. His faith is a desire after God and Goodness, which he wrappeth up in a sure hope, trusting to the words of the promise, and liveth and dieth therein; though as to the *true man*, he never dieth.

#### 4

For Christ saith: *Whosoever believeth in me shall never die, but hath pierced through from death to life*; and, *Rivers of living water shall flow from him*, *viz.* good doctrine and works.

#### 5

Therefore I say that whosoever fighteth and contendeth about the Letter, is all Babel. The Letters of the Word proceed from, and stand all in, one Root, which is the Spirit of God; as the various flowers stand all in the earth, and grow about one another. They fight not with each other about their difference of colour, smell, and taste, but suffer the earth, the sun, the rain, the wind, the heat, and cold, to do with them as they please; and yet every one of them groweth in its own peculiar essence and property.

#### 6

Even so it is with the Children of God; they have various gifts and degrees of knowledge, yet all form one Spirit. They all rejoice at the great Wonders of God, and give thanks to the Most High in his Wisdom. Why then should they contend about him in *Whom they live and have their being*, and of whose substance they themselves are?

#### 7

It is the greatest folly that is in Babel for people to strive about religion, so that they contend vehemently about opinions of their own forging, *viz.* about the Letter. When the Kingdom of God consisteth of no Opinion, but in Power and Love.

#### 8

As Christ said to his disciples, and left it with them at the last, saying: *Love one another as I have loved you: for thereby men shall know that ye are My disciples*. If men would as fervently seek after love and righteousness as they do after opinions, there would be no strife on earth, and we should be as children of one father, and should need no law or ordinance. For God is not served by any law, but only by obedience. Laws are for the wicked, who will not enhance love and righteousness; they are, and must be, compelled by laws.

#### 9

We all have but one Order, Law, or Ordinance, which is to stand still to the Lord of all Beings, and resign our wills up to him, and suffer his Spirit to play what music he will. And thus we give to him again as his own fruits that which he worketh and manifesteth in us.

#### 10

Now if we did not contend about our different fruits, gifts, kinds, and degrees of knowledge, but did acknowledge them in one another, like Children of the Spirit of God, what could condemn us? For the Kingdom of God consisteth not in our knowing and supposing, but in Power.

#### 11

If we did not know half so much, and were more like children, and had but a brotherly mind and goodwill towards one another, and lived like children of one mother, and as branches of one tree, taking our Sap all from one Root, we should be far more holy than we are.

#### 12

Knowledge serves only to this end, viz., to know that we have lost the Divine Power in Adam, and are now become inclined to sin; that we have evil properties in us, and that doing evil pleaseth not God; so that with our knowledge we learn to do right. Now if we have the Power of God in us, and desire with all our hearts to act and to live aright, then our knowledge is but our sport, or matter of pleasure, wherein we rejoice.

#### 13

For true knowledge is the manifestation of the Spirit of God through the Eternal Wisdom. He knoweth what he will in his children; he sheweth his wisdom and wonders by his children, as the earth putteth forth her various flowers.

#### 14

Now if we dwell with one another, like humble children, in the Spirit of Christ, are rejoicing at the gift or knowledge of another, who would judge or condemn us? Who judgeth or condemneth the birds in the woods that praise the Lord of all Beings with various voices, every one in its own essence? Doth the Spirit of God reprove them for not bringing their voices into one harmony? Doth not the melody of them all proceed from his Power, and do they not sport before him?

#### 15

Those men therefore that strive and wrangle about the knowledge and will of God, and despise one another on that account, are more foolish than the birds in the woods, and the wild beasts that have no true understanding. They are more unprofitable in the sight of the holy God than the flowers of the field, which stand still in quiet submission to the Spirit of God, and suffer him to manifest the Divine Wisdom and Power through them.

#### 16

All Christian Religion consisteth wholly on this, to learn *to know ourselves*; whence we came, and what we are; how we are gone forth from the Unity into dissension, wickedness, and unrighteousness; how we have awakened and stirred up these evils in us; and how we may be delivered from them again, and recover our original blessedness.

#### 17

*First*; How we were in the Unity, when we were the Children of God in Adam before he fell. *Secondly*; How we are now in dissension and disunion, in strife and contrariety. *Thirdly*; Whither we go when we pass out of this corruptible condition; whither with the unnatural, and whither with the natural part. And *lastly*; How we came forth from disunion and vanity, and enter into that one Tree, Christ in us, out of which we all sprung in Adam. In these four points all the necessary knowledge of a Christian consisteth.

#### 18

So that we need not strive about any thing; we have no cause of contention with each other. Let every one only exercise himself in learning how he may enter again into the Love of God and his Brother.

#### 19

The written Word is but an instrument whereby the Spirit leadeth us to itself within us. That Word which will teach must be living in the literal Word. The Spirit of God must be in the literal sound, or else none is a Teacher of God, but a mere Teacher of the Letter, a knower of the history, and not of the Spirit of God in Christ.

#### 20

All that men will serve God with must be done in Faith, *viz.* in the Spirit. It is the Spirit that maketh the work perfect, and acceptable in the sight of God. All that a man undertaketh and doeth in Faith, he doth in the Spirit of God, which Spirit of God doth co-operate in the work, and then it is acceptable to God. For he hath done it himself, and his Power and Virtue is in it. It is holy.

#### 21

Strife and misunderstanding concerning Christ's Person, Office, and Being, or Substance, as also concerning his Testaments which he left behind him, wherein he worketh at present, ariseth from the deflected creaturely Reason, which runneth on only in an Image-like opinion, and reacheth not the ground of this mystery, and yet will be a mistress of all things or beings, and will judge all things. It doth but lose itself in such Image-likeness, and breaketh itself off from its Centre, and disperseth the thoughts, and runneth on in the multiplicity, whereby its ground is confused and the mind is disquieted, and knoweth not itself.

#### 22

No Life can stand in certainty, except it continue in its Centre, out of which it is sprung.

#### 23

When the Soul that is sprung from God's Word and Will is entered into its own desire to will of itself, it will run in mere uncertainty till it return to its Original again.

#### 24

Seeing that human life is an outflowing of the Divine Power, Understanding and Skill, the same ought to continue in its Original, or else it loseth the Divine Knowledge, Power and Skill, and with self-speculation bringeth itself into centres of its own, and strange imaging, wherewith its Original becometh darkened and strange.

Therefore say I, that this is the only cause that men dispute about God, his Word, Essence or Being, and Will, that the understanding of man hath broken itself off from its Original, and now runneth on in mere self-will, thoughts and images in its own lust to selfishness, wherein there is no true knowledge, nor can be, till the Life returneth to its Original, *viz.* into the Divine Outflowing and Will.

#### 25

If this be done, then God's Will speaketh forth the Divine Power and Wonders again through the human willing. In which Divine Speaking, the Life may know and comprehend God's Will, and frame itself therein. Then there is true Divine Knowledge and Understanding in man's skill, when his skill is continually renewed with Divine Power.

#### 26

As Christ hath taught us when he said, *Unless ye be converted and become as a Child, ye shall not come into the Kingdom of God*. That is, that the Life turn itself again unto God out of whom it is proceeded, and forsake all its own imaging and lust, and so come to the Divine Vision again.

#### 27

All disputation concerning God's Being or Essence or Will is performed in the images of the senses or thoughts without God. For if any liveth in God, and willeth with God, what needeth he dispute about God, who, or what God is? That he disputeth about it is a sign that he hath never felt it at all in his mind or senses, and it is not given to him that God is in him, and willeth in him what he will. It is a certain sign that he exalts his own meaning and image above others, and desireth dominion.

#### 28

Men should friendly confer together, and offer one another their gifts and knowledge in love, and try things one with another, and hold that which is best, and not so stand in their own opinion as if they could not err. It lyeth in no man's person that men should suppose that the Divine Understanding must come only from such and such. For the Scripture says, *Try all things and hold that which is good*, 1 Thess. v. 21.

#### 29

The touchstone to true knowledge is first, the Corner-stone, Christ; that men should see whether a thing enter out of love into love, or whether alone purely the love of God be sought and desired; whether it be done out of humility or pride; Secondly, whether it be according to the Holy Scripture; Thirdly, is it according to the human heart and soul, wherein the Book of the Life of God is incorporated, and may very well be read by the Children of God? Here the true mind hath its touchstone in itself, and can distinguish all things. If it be so that the Holy Ghost dwell in the ground of the mind, that man hath touchstone enough; that will lead him into all truth.

#### 30

All strife concerning Christ's testaments cometh hence that men do not understand that Heaven wherein Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. They understand not that he is in this World, and that the World standeth in Heaven, and Heaven in the World, and are in one another, as Day and Night.

1 Cor. ii. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

*We speak the hidden mystical wisdom of God; which God ordained before the world into our glory; which none of the Princes of this World knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But, as it is written, Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God. Now we have received, not the Spirit of the World, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which men's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the Natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth, or discerneth all things.*

* * *

## OF THE SUPERSENSUAL LIFE

#### IN DIALOGUES

### BETWEEN A SCHOLAR OR DISCIPLE AND HIS MASTER

* * *

## DIALOGUE I

The Disciple said to his Master: Sir, how may I come to the Supersensual Life, so that I may see God, and may hear God speak?

The Master answered and said: Son, when thou canst throw thyself into THAT, where no Creature dwelleth, though it be but for a moment, then thou hearest what God speaketh?

Disciple

Is that where no Creature dwelleth near at hand, or is it afar off?

Master

It is *in thee*. And if thou canst, my Son, for a while but cease from all thy thinking and willing, then thou shalt hear the unspeakable words of God.

Disciple

How can I hear him speak, when I stand still from thinking and willing?

Master

When thou standest still from the thinking of Self, and the willing of Self. When both thy intellect and will are quiet, and passive to the expressions of the Eternal Word and Spirit; and when thy soul is winged up and above that which is temporal, the outward senses and the imagination being locked up by holy abstraction, then the Eternal Hearing, Seeing and Speaking will be revealed in thee, and so God heareth and seeth through thee, being now the organ of *his* Spirit, and so God speaketh in *thee*, and whispereth to thy Spirit, and thy Spirit heareth his voice. Blessed art thou therefore if thou canst stand still from self-thinking and self-willing, and canst stop the wheel of thy imagination and senses; forasmuch as hereby thou mayest arrive at length to see the great Salvation of God, being made capable of all manner of divine sensations and heavenly communications. Since it is nought indeed but thine own hearing and willing that do hinder thee, so that thou dost not see and hear God.

Disciple

But wherewith shall I hear and see God, forasmuch as he is above Nature and Creature?

Master

Son, when thou art quiet and silent, then art thou as God was before Nature and Creature; thou art that which God then was; thou art that whereof he made thy nature and creature. Then thou hearest and seest even that wherewith God himself saw and heard in thee, before ever thine own willing or thine own seeing began.

Disciple

What now hinders or keeps me back, so that I cannot come to *that*, wherewith God is to be seen and heard?

Master

Nothing truly but thine own willing, hearing, and seeing do keep thee back from it, and do hinder thee from coming to this supersensual state. And it is because thou strivest so against that, out of which thou thyself art descended and derived, that thou thus breakest thyself off, with thine own willing, from God's willing, and with thine own seeing from God's seeing. In as much as in thine own seeing thou dost see in thine own willing only, and with thine own understanding thou dost understand but in and according to thine own willing, as the same stands divided from the Divine Will. This thy willing, moreover, stops thy hearing, and maketh thee deaf towards God, through thy own thinking upon terrestrial things, and thy attending to that which is without thee, and so it brings thee to a ground where thou art laid hold on and captivated in Nature. And having brought thee hither, it overshadows thee with that which thou willest, it binds thee with thine own chains, and it keeps thee in thine own dark prison which thou makest for thyself, so that thou canst not go out thence, or come to that state which is Supernatural and Supersensual.

Disciple

But being I am in Nature, and thus bound as with my own chains, and by my own natural will, pray be so kind, Sir, as to tell me, how I may come *through* Nature into the Supersensual and Supernatural Ground, without the destroying of Nature?

Master

Three things are requisite in order to this. The first is, Thou must resign up thy Will to God, and must sink thyself down to the dust in his mercy. The second is, Thou must hate thy own Will, and forbear from doing that to which thy own Will doth drive thee. The third is, Thou must bow thy soul under the Cross, heartily submitting thyself to it, that thou mayst be able to bear the temptations of Nature and Creature. And if thou dost this, know that God will speak unto thee, and will bring thy resigned Will into Himself, in the supernatural ground, and then thou shalt hear, my son, what the Lord speaketh in thee.

Disciple

This is a hard saying, Master, for I must forsake the World and my life too, if I should do thus.

Master

Be not discouraged hereat. If thou forsakest the World, then thou comest unto that out of which the World is made, and if thou losest thy life, then thy life is in that for whose sake thou forsakest it. Thy life is in God, from whence it came into the body, and as thou comest to have thine own power faint and weak and dying, the power of God will then work in thee and through thee.

Disciple

Nevertheless, as God hath created man in and for the natural life, to rule over all creatures on earth, and to be a lord over all things in this world, it seems not to be at all unreasonable that God should therefore possess this world and the things therein for his own.

Master

If thou rulest over all creatures but outwardly there cannot be much in that. But if thou hast a mind to possess all things, and to be a lord indeed over all things in this world, there is quite another method to be taken by thee.

Disciple

Pray, how is that? And what method must I take, whereby to arrive at this sovereignty?

Master

Thou must learn to distinguish between the Thing, and that which is only an image thereof; between that sovereignty which is substantial and in the inward ground of Nature, and that which is imaginary and in outward form of semblance; between that which is properly angelical and that which is no more than bestial. If thou rulest over the creatures externally only and not from the right internal ground of thy inward nature, then thy will and ruling is in a bestial kind or matter, and thine at best is but a sort of imaginary and transitory government, being void of that which is substantial and permanent, that which only thou art to desire and press after. Thus by thy outward lording it over the creatures it is most easy for thee to lose the substance and the reality, whilst thou hast naught remaining but the image and shadow only of thy first and original lordship wherein thou art made capable to be again invested, if thou art but wise, and takest thy investiture from the Supreme Lord in the right course and matter. Whereas by thy willing and ruling them in a bestial manner, thou bringest also thy desire into a bestial essence, by which means thou becomest infected and captivated therein, and gettest therewith a bestial nature and condition of life. But if thou shalt have put off the bestial nature, and left the imaginary life, and quitted the low-imaged condition of it, then art thou come into the super-imaginariness and into the intellectual life, which is a state of living above images, figures and shadows. And so thou rulest over all creatures, being re-united with thy Original, in that very ground or source, out of which they were and are created, and thenceforth nothing on earth can hurt thee. For thou art like All Things, and nothing is unlike thee.

Disciple

O loving Master, pray teach me how I may come the shortest way to be like unto *All Things*.

Master

With all my heart. Do but think on the words of our Lord Jesus Christ when he said: "Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." There is no shorter way than this, nor can a better way be found. Verily, Jesus saith unto thee, Unless thou turn and become as a child, hanging upon him for all things, thou shalt not see the Kingdom of God. This do and nothing shall hurt thee; for thou shalt be at friendship with all the things that are, as thou dependest upon the author and fountain of them, and becomest like him, by such dependence, and by the Union of thy Will with his Will. But mark what I have further to say, and be not thou startled at it, though it may seem hard for thee at first to conceive. If thou wilt be like All Things thou must forsake all things; thou must not extend thy will to possess that for thine own, or as thine own, which is *Something*, whatever that Something be. For as soon as ever thou takest *Something* into thy desire, and receivest it into thee for thine own, or in propriety, then this very Something (of what nature soever it is) is the *same* with thyself; and this worketh with thee in thy will, and thou art thence bound to protect it, and take care of it, even as of thy own being. But if thou dost receive *no thing* into thy desire then thou art free from all things, and rulest over all things at once, as a Prince of God. For thou hast received nothing for thine own, and art nothing to all things, and all things are as nothing unto thee. Thou art as a child, which understands not what a thing is; and though thou dost perhaps understand it, yet thou understandest it without mixing with it, and without it sensibly affecting or touching thy perception, even in that matter wherein God doth rule and see all things, he comprehending All, and yet nothing comprehending him.

Disciple

Ah! how shall I arrive at this heavenly understanding, at this pure and naked knowledge, which is abstracted from the senses, at this light above Nature and Creature, and at this participation of the Divine Wisdom which oversees all things, and governs through all intellectual beings? For, alas, I am touched every moment by the things which are about me, and overshadowed by the clouds and perfumes which rise up out of the earth. I desire, therefore, to be taught, if possible, how I may attain such a state and condition as that no creature may be able to touch me to hurt me; and how my mind, being purged from sensible objects and things, may be prepared for the entrance and habitation of the Divine Wisdom in me.

Master

Thou desirest that I would teach thee how thou art to attain it; and I will direct thee to our Master, from whom I have been taught it, that thou mayest learn it thyself from him, who alone teacheth the heart. Hear thou him. Wouldst thou arrive at this; wouldst thou remain untouched by sensibles; wouldst thou behold light in the very Light of God, and see all things thereby; then consider the words of Christ, who is the Light and who is the Truth. O consider now his words, who said, *Without me ye can do nothing* (John xix. 5) and defer not to apply thyself unto him, who is the strength of thy salvation, and the *power* of thy life; and *with whom thou canst do all things*, by the faith which he waketh in thee. But unless thou wholly givest thyself up to the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, and resignest thy Will wholly to him, and desirest nothing and willest nothing without him, thou shalt never come to such a rest as no creature can disturb. Think what thou pleasest, and be never so much delighted in the activity of thine own reason, thou shalt find that, in thine own power and without such a total surrender to God and to the life of God, thou canst never arrive at such a rest as this, or the true Quiet of the Soul, wherein no creature can molest thee, or even so much as touch thee. Which when thou shalt, with Grace, have attained to, then with thy Body thou art in the World, as in the properties of outward Nature; and, with thy Reason, under the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; but with thy *Will* thou walkest in heaven, and art at the end from whence all creatures are proceeded forth, and *to* which they return again. And then thou canst in this End, which is the same with the *Beginning*, behold all things outwardly with *reason* and liberally with the *mind*; and so mayest thou rule in all things and over all things, with Christ; unto whom all power is given both in heaven and on earth.

Disciple

O, Master, the creatures which live in me do withhold me, so that I cannot so wholly yield and give up myself as I willingly would. What am I to do in this case?

Master

Let not this trouble thee. Doth thy Will go forth from the creatures? Then the creatures are forsaken in thee. They are in the world, and thy body, which is in the world, is with the creatures. But spiritually thou walkest with God, and conversest in heaven; being in thy mind redeemed from earth, and separated from creatures, to live the life of God. And if thy Will thus leaveth the creatures, and goeth forth from them, even as the spirit goeth forth from the body at death; then are the creatures dead in it, and do live only in the body in the world. Since if thy Will do not bring itself into them, they cannot bring themselves into it, neither can they by any means touch the soul. And hence St Paul saith, *Our conversation is in heaven; and also, Ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you*. So, then, true Christians are the very temples of the Holy Ghost, who dwelleth in them; that is, the Holy Ghost dwelleth in the Will, and the Creature dwelleth in the Body.

Disciple

If now the Holy Spirit doth dwell in the Will of the Mind, how ought I to keep myself so that he depart not from me again.

Master

Mark, my son, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: *If ye abide in my words*, then my words abide in you. If thou abidest with thy Will in the Words of Christ; then his Word and Spirit abideth in thee, and all shall be done for thee that thou canst ask of him. But if thy Will goeth into the creature, then thou hast broken off thyself thereby from him. And then thou canst not any otherwise keep thyself but by abiding continually with that resigned humility, and by entering into a constant course of penitence, wherein thou wilt always be grieved at thine own creaturely Will, and that creatures do still live in thee, that is, in thy bodily appetite. If thou dost thus, thou standest in a daily dying from the creatures, and in a daily ascending into heaven in thy will, which will is also the Will of thy Heavenly Father.

Disciple

O my loving Master, pray teach me how I may come to such a constant course of holy penitence, and to such a daily dying from all creaturely objects, for how can I abide continually in repentance?

Master

When thou leavest that which loveth thee, and lovest that which hateth thee; then thou mayest continually abide in repentance.

Disciple

What is it that I must thus leave?

Master

All things that love and entertain thee, because thy Will loves and entertains them. All things that please and feed thee, because thy Will feeds and cherishes them. All creatures in flesh and blood; in a word, all visibles and sensibles, by which either the imaginative or sensitive appetite in men are delighted and refreshed. These the Will of thy mind, or thy supreme part, must leave and forsake, and must even account them all its enemies. This is the leaving of what loves thee. And the loving of what hates thee is the embracing the reproach of the World. Thou must learn then to love the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for his sake to be pleased with the reproach of the World which hates thee and derides thee; and let this be thy daily exercise of penitence to be crucified to the World, and the World to thee. And so thou shalt have continual cause to hate thyself *in the Creature*, and to seek the eternal rest which is *in Christ*. To which rest thou having thus attained, thy Will may therein safely rest and repose itself, according as thy Lord Christ hath said: In me ye may have rest, but in the World ye shall have anxiety: In me ye may have peace, but in the World ye shall have tribulation.

Disciple

How now shall I be able to subsist in this anxiety and tribulation arising from the World so as not to lose the eternal peace, or not to enter into this rest? And how may I recover myself in such a temptation as this is, by not sinking under the World, but rising above it by a life which is truly heavenly and supersensual?

Master

If thou dost once every hour throw thyself by faith beyond all creatures, beyond and above all sensual perception and apprehension, yea, above discourse and reasoning into the abyssal mercy of God, into the sufferings of our Lord, and into the fellowship of his interceding, and yieldest thyself fully and absolutely thereinto; then thou shalt receive power from above to rule over Death and the Devil and to subdue Hell and the World unto thee. And then thou mayest subsist in all temptations, and be the brighter for them.

Disciple

Blessed is the man that arriveth to such a state as this. But, alas, poor man that I am, how is this possible as to me? And what, O my Master, would become of me, if I should ever attain with my mind to that where no creature is? Must I not cry out, *I am undone*?

Master

Son, why art thou so dispirited? Be of good heart still; for thou mayest certainly yet attain to it. Do but believe, and all things are made possible to thee. If it were that thy Will, O thou of so little courage, could break off itself for an hour, or even but for a half hour, from all creatures, and plunge itself into that where no creature is, or can be; presently it would be penetrated and clothed upon with the supreme splendour of the Divine Glory, would taste in itself the most sweet Love of Jesus, the sweetness whereof no tongue can express, and would find in itself the unspeakable words of our Lord concerning his great mercy. Thy spirit would then feel in itself the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ to be very pleasing to it; and would thereupon love the Cross more than the honours and goods of the World.

Disciple

This for the Soul would be exceeding well indeed. But what would then become of the Body, seeing that it must of necessity live in *Creature*?

Master

The body would by this means be put into the imitation of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his body. It would stand in the communion of that most blessed Body, which is the true temple of the Deity, and in the participation of all its gracious effects, virtues, and influences. It would live in the Creature, not of choice, but only as it is made subject to vanity, and in the World, as it is placed therein by the ordination of the Creator, for its cultivation and higher advancement, and as groaning to be delivered out of it in God's time and manner, for its perfection and resuscitation in eternal liberty and glory, like unto the glorified body of our Lord and his risen Saints.

Disciple

But the body, being in its present constitution, so made subject to vanity, and living in a vain image and creaturely shadows according to the life of the undergraduated creatures or brutes, whose breath goeth downward to the earth; I am still very much afraid thereof, lest it should continue to depress the mind which is lifted up to God, by hanging as a dead weight thereto; and go on to abuse and perplex the same, as formerly, with dreams and trifles, by letting in the objects from without, in order to draw me down into the World and the hurry thereof; whereas I would fain maintain by conversation in Heaven even while I am living in the World. What, therefore, must I do with this body, that I may be able to keep up so desirable a conversation, and not to be under subjection to it any longer?

Master

There is no other way for thee that I know but to present the body whereof thou complainest (which is the beast to be sacrificed) *a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God*. And this shall be thy rational service whereby this thy body will be put, as thou desirest, into the imitation of Jesus Christ, who said his Kingdom was not of this World. Be not thou then *conformed* to it, but be *transformed* by the renewing of thy mind; which renewed mind is to have dominion over the body, that so thou mayest prove, both in body and mind, what is the perfect Will of God, and accordingly perform the same with and by his grace operating in thee. Whereupon the body, or the *animal life* would, being thus offered up, begin to die, both from without and from within. From *without*, that is, from the vanity and evil customs and fashions of the World; it would be an utter change to all the parts thereof, and to all the pageantry, pride, ambition, and haughtiness therein. From *within* it would die as to all the lusts and appetites of the flesh, and would get a mind and will wholly new for its government and management; being now made subject to the Spirit, which would continually be directed to God. And thus thy very body is become the temple of God and of his Spirit, in imitation of thy Lord's Body.

Disciple

But the World would hate it and despise it for so doing, seeing it must hereby contradict the World, and must live and act quite otherwise than the World doth. This is most certain. And how can this be taken?

Master

It would not take that as any harm done to it, but would rather rejoice that it is become worthy to be like unto the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, being transformed from that of the World. And it would be most willing to bear that cross after our Lord, merely that our Lord might bestow upon it the influence of his sweet and precious love.

Disciple

I do not doubt but in some this may be even so. Nevertheless, for my own part, I am in a strait between two, not feeling yet enough of that blessed influence upon me. Oh how willingly should my body bear *that*, could *this* be safely depended upon by me! Wherefore pardon me, loving Sir, in this one thing, if my impatience doth still further demand, "What would become of it, if the anger of God from within, and the wicked World also from without, should at once assault it, as the same really happened to our Lord Christ?"

Master

Be that unto it, even as unto our Lord Christ, when he was reproached, reviled and crucified by the World, and when the anger of God so fiercely assaulted him for our sake. Now what did he under this most terrible assault both from without and within? Why; he commended his soul into the hands of his Father, and so departed from the anguish of this World into the eternal joy. Do thou likewise, and his death shall be thy life.

Disciple

Be it unto me as unto the Lord Christ, and unto my body as unto his, which into his hands I have commended, and for the sake of his name do offer up, according to his revealed Will. Nevertheless I am desirous to know what would become of my body in its pressing forth from the anguish of this miserable World into the power of the Heavenly Kingdom.

Master

It would get forth from the reproach and contradiction of the World by a conformity to the passion of Jesus Christ; and from the sorrows and pains in the flesh, which are only the effects of some sensible impression of things without, by a quiet introversion of the spirit and secret communion with the Deity manifesting itself for that end. It would penetrate into itself; it would sink into the great love of God; it would be sustained and refreshed by the most sweet name *Jesus*, and it would see and find within itself a new world springing forth, as through the anger of God, into the joy and love eternal. And then should a man wrap his soul in this, even in the great Love of God, and clothe himself therewith as with a garment; and should account thence all things alike; because in the Creature he finds nothing that can give him, without God, the least satisfaction, and because also nothing of harm can touch him more while he remains in this Love. For this Love is indeed stronger than all things, and makes a man invulnerable both from within and without, by taking out the sting and poison of the Creature, and destroying the power of death. And whether the body be in hell or on earth, all is alike to him; for whether it be there or here, his mind is still in the greatest Love of God; which is no less than to say that he is in heaven.

Disciple

But how would a man's body be maintained in the World; or how would he be able to maintain those who are his, if he should by such a conversation incur the displeasure of all the World?

Master

Such a man gets greater favours than the world is able to bestow upon him: he hath God for his friend; he hath all the Angels for his friends. In all dangers and necessities these protect and relieve him; so that he need fear no manner of evil; no creature can hurt him. God is his helper, and that is sufficient. Also God is his blessing in everything. And though sometimes it may seem as if God would not bless him, yet is this but for a trial to him, and for the attraction of the Divine Love, to the end he may more fervently pray to God, and commit all his ways unto him.

Disciple

He loses, however, by this all his good friends, and there will be none to help him in his necessity.

Master

Nay, but he gets the hearts of all his good friends into his possession, and loses none but his enemies, who before loved his vanity and wickedness.

Disciple

How is it that he can get his good friends into his possession?

Master

He gets the very hearts and souls of all those that belong to our Lord Jesus to be his brethren, and the members of his own very life. For all the children of God are but one in Christ, which one is Christ *in All*. And therefore he gets them all to be his fellow-members in the Body of Christ, whence they have all the same heavenly goods in common and all live in one and the same Love of God, as the branches of a tree in one and the same root, and spring all from one and the same source of life in them. So that he can have no want of spiritual friends and relations, who are all rooted with him together in the Love which is from above, who are all of the same blood and kindred in Christ Jesus; and who are cherished all by the same quickening sap and spirit diffusing itself through them universally from the one true Vine, which is the tree of life and love. These are friends worth having; and though here they may be unknown to him, will abide his friends beyond doubt to all eternity. But neither can he want even outward natural friends, as our Lord Christ, when on earth, did not want such also. For though, indeed, the High-Priests and Potentates of the World could not have a love to him, because they belonged not to him, neither stood in any kind of relation to him, as being not of this world, yet those loved him who were capable of his love, and receptive of his words. So, in like manner, those who love truth and righteousness will love that man, and will associate themselves unto him, yea, though they may perhaps be outwardly at some distance or seeming disagreement, from the situation of their worldly affairs, or from other reasons, yet in their hearts they cannot but cleave to him. For though they be not actually incorporated into one body with him, yet they cannot resist being of one mind with him, and being united in affliction, for the great regard they bear to the truth, which shines forth in his words and in his life. By this they are made either his declared or his secret friends; and he doth so get their hearts that they will be delighted above all things in his company, for the sake thereof, and will court his friendship and will come unto him by stealth, if openly they dare not, for the benefit of his conversation and advice; even as Nicodemus did to Christ, who came to him by night, and in his heart loved Jesus for the truth's sake, though outwardly he feared the World. And thus thou shalt have many friends that are not known to thee; and some known to thee, who may not appear so before the World.

Disciple

Nevertheless it is very grievous to be generally despised of the World, and to be trampled upon by men as the very offscouring thereof.

Master

That which now seems so hard and heavy to thee, thou wilt yet hereafter be most in love with.

Disciple

How can it ever be that I should love that which hates me?

Master

Though thou lovest the Earthly Wisdom now, yet when thou shalt be clothed upon with the Heavenly Wisdom, then wilt thou see that all the wisdom of the World is folly; and wilt see also that the World hates not so much thee, as thine enemy, which is this mortal life. And when thou thyself shalt come to hate the will thereof, by means of a habitual separation of thy mind from the World, then thou also wilt begin to love that despising of the mortal life, and the reproach of the World for Christ's sake. And so shalt thou be able to stand under every temptation, and to hold out to the end by the means hereof in a course of life above the World and above sense.

In this course thou wilt hate thyself, and thou wilt also love thyself, I say, love thyself, and that even more than thou ever didst yet.

Disciple

But how can these two subsist together, that a person should both *love* and *hate* himself?

Master

*In loving thyself*, thou lovest not thyself *as thine own*, but thou lovest the divine ground in thee, as given thee from the Love of God. By which, and in which, thou lovest the Divine Wisdom, the Divine Goodness, the Divine Beauty; thou lovest also by it God's works of wonders; and in this ground thou lovest also thy brethren. But *in hating thyself*, thou hatest only that which is *thine own*, and wherein the Evil sticks close to thee. And this thou dost, that so thou mayest wholly destroy that which thou callest *thine*, as when thou sayest I or MYSELF do this, or do that. All which is wrong and a downright mistake in thee; for nothing canst thou properly call *thine* but the evil Self, neither canst thou do anything of thyself that is to be accounted of. This *Self* therefore thou must labour wholly to destroy in thee, that so thou mayest become a ground wholly divine. There can be no *selfishness* in love; they are opposite to each other. Love, that is, Divine Love (of which only we are now discoursing), hates all Egoity, hates all that which we call I, or IHOOD, hates all such restrictions and confinements, even all that springs from a contracted spirit, or this evil *Self-hood*, because it is an hateful and deadly thing. And it is impossible that these two should stand together, or subsist in one person; the one driving out the other by a necessity of nature. For *Love* possesses Heaven, and dwells in itself, which is dwelling in Heaven; but that which is called I, this vile self-hood, possesses the world and worldly things; and dwells also in itself, which is dwelling *in Hell*, because this is the very root of Hell itself. And, therefore, as Heaven rules the World, and as Eternity rules Time, even so ought Love to rule the natural temporal Life; for no other method is there, neither can there be of attaining to that Life which is supernatural and eternal, and which thou so much desirest to be led into.

Disciple

Loving Master, I am well content that this Love should rule in me over the natural Life, that so I may attain to that which is supernatural and supersensual; but, pray tell me now, why must Love and Hatred, friend and foe, thus be together? Would not Love alone be better? Wherefore, I say, are Love and Trouble thus joined?

Master

If Love dwelt not in Trouble, it could have nothing to love. But its substance which it loves, namely the poor soul, being in trouble and pain, it hath thence cause to love this its own substance and to deliver it from pain, that so itself may by it be again beloved. Neither could any one know what Love is, if there were no Hatred; or what friendship is, if there were no foe to contend with. Or, in one word, if Love had not something which it might love, and manifest the virtue and power of love in working out deliverance to the Beloved from all pain and trouble.

Disciple

Pray what is the virtue, the power, the height, and the greatness of Love?

Master

The virtue of Love is nothing and all, or that *Nothing visible* out of which All Things proceed. Its power is through All Things; its height is as high as God; its greatness is as great as God. Its virtue is the principle of all principles; its power supports the Heavens and upholds the Earth; its height is higher than the highest Heavens, and its greatness is even greater than the very Manifestation of the Godhead in the glorious light of the Divine Essence, as being infinitely capable of greater and greater manifestations in all Eternity. What can I say more? Love is higher than the Highest. Love is greater than the Greatest. Yea, it *is in a certain sense* greater than God; while yet, in the highest sense of all, God is Love, and Love is God. Love being the highest principle is the virtue of all virtues; from whence they flow forth. Love, being the greatest Majesty, is the Power of all Powers, from whence they severally operate. And it is the Holy Magical Root, a Ghostly Power from whence all the wonders of God have been wrought by the hands of his elect servants, in all their generations successively, Whosoever finds it, finds *Nothing and All Things*.

Disciple

Dear Master, pray tell me how I may understand this?

Master

First, then, in that I said, its *virtue is Nothing, or that Nothing* which is the beginning of All Things, thou must understand it thus; When thou art gone forth wholly from the Creature, and from that which is visible; and art become Nothing to all that is Nature and Creature, then thou art in that Eternal One, which is God himself; and then thou shalt perceive and feel within thee the highest virtue of Love. But in that I said, Its power is through All Things, this is that which thou perceivest and findest in thy own soul and body experimentally, whenever this great Love is enkindled within thee; seeing that it will burn more than the fire can do, as it did in the Prophets of old, and afterwards in the Apostles, when God conversed with them bodily, and when his Spirit descended upon them in the Oratory of Zion. Thou shalt then see also in all the works of God, how Love hath poured forth itself into all things, and penetrated all things, and is the most inward and most outward ground in all things. Inwardly in the virtue and power of every thing, and outwardly in the figure and form thereof.

And in that I said, *Its height is as high as God*; thou mayest understand this in thyself: forasmuch as it brings thee to be as high as God himself is, by being united to God; as may be seen by our beloved Lord Jesus Christ in our humanity. Which humanity Love hath brought up into the highest throne, above all angelical principalities and powers, into the very Power of the Deity itself.

But in that I also said, *Its greatness is as great as God*, thou art hereby to understand that there is a certain greatness and latitude of heart in Love, which is unexpressible, for it enlarges the soul as wide as the whole Creation of God. And this shall be truly experienced by thee, beyond all words, when the throne of Love shall be set up in thy heart.

Moreover in that I said, *Its virtue is the principle of all principles*; hereby it is given thee to understand that Love is the principal cause of all created beings, both spiritual and corporeal, by virtue whereof the second causes do move and act occasionally, according to certain Eternal Laws, from the beginning implanted in the very constitution of things thus originated. This virtue which is in Love is the very life and energy of all the principles of Nature, superior and inferior. It reaches to all Worlds, and to all manner of beings in them contained, they being the workmanship of Divine Love, and is the *first mover* and *first moveable*, both in heaven above, and in the earth beneath, and in the water under the earth. And hence there is given to it the name of the *Lucid Aleph* or *Alpha*; by which is expressed the beginning of the *Alphabet of Nature*, and of the Book of Creation and Providence or the *Divine Archetypal Book*, in which is the Light of Wisdom and the source of all lights and forms.

And in that I said, *Its power supports the Heavens*; by this thou wilt come to understand that as the Heavens, visible and invisible, are originated from this great principle, so are they likewise necessarily sustained by it; and that therefore if this should be but never so little withdrawn, all the lights, glories, beauties and forms of the heavenly worlds would presently sink into darkness and chaos.

And whereas I further said *that it upholds the Earth*; this will appear to thee no less evident than the former, and thou shalt perceive it in thyself by daily and hourly experience; forasmuch as the Earth *without it*, even thy *own earth* also (that is, thy body) would certainly be without form and void. By the power thereof the Earth hath been thus long upheld, notwithstanding a foreign usurped power introduced by the folly of sin. And should this but once fail or recede there could be no longer either vegetation or animation upon it; yea, the very pillars of it being overthrown quite, and the band of union, which is that of attraction or magnetism, called the centripetal power, being broken and dissolved, all must thence run into the utmost disorder, and falling away as into shivers, would be dispersed as loose dust before the wind.

But in that I said, *Its height is higher than the highest Heavens*; this thou mayest also understand within thyself. For shouldest thou ascend in spirit through all the orders of Angels and heavenly Powers, yet the Power of Love still is undeniably superior to them all. And as the Throne of God, who sits upon the Heaven of Heavens, is higher than the highest of them, even so must Love also be, which fills them all, and comprehends them all.

And whereas I said of the *Greatness of Love that it is greater than the very Manifestation of Godhead in the light of the Divine Essence*; that is also true. For Love enters even into that where the Godhead is not manifested in this glorious light, and where God may be said not to dwell. And entering thereinto, Love begins to manifest to the soul the light of the Godhead; and thus is the darkness broken through, and the wonders of the new creation successively manifested.

Thus shalt thou be brought to understand really and fundamentally what is the virtue and the power of Love, and what the height and greatness thereof is; how that is indeed the *virtue of all virtues*, though it be invisible, and as a *Nothing* in appearance, inasmuch as it is the worker of all things, and a powerful *vital energy* passing through all virtues and powers natural and supernatural, and the *power of all powers*, nothing being able to let or obstruct the *Omnipotence* of Love, or to resist its invincible penetrating might, which passes through the whole Creation of God, inspecting and governing all things.

And in that I said; *It is higher than the highest and greater than the greatest*; thou mayst hereby perceive as in a glimpse the supreme height and greatness of *Omnipotent Love* which infinitely transcends all that human sense and reason can reach to. The highest Archangel and greatest Powers of Heaven, are in comparison of it, but as dwarfs. Nothing can be conceived higher and greater in God himself, by the very highest and greatest of his creatures. There is such infinity in it as comprehends and surpasses all the divine attributes.

But in that it was also said, *Its greatness is greater than God*; that likewise is very true in the sense wherein it was spoken. For Love can there enter where God dwelleth not, since the most high God dwelleth not in darkness, but in the Light, the hellish darkness being put under his feet. Thus, for instance, when our beloved Lord Jesus Christ was in Hell, Hell was not the mansion of God or of Christ, Hell sees not God, neither was it with God, nor could it be at all with him; Hell stood in the darkness and anxiety of Nature, and no light of the Divine Majesty did there enter; God was not there, for he is not in the darkness nor in the anguish; but Love was there; and Love destroyed Death and conquered Hell. So also when thou art in anguish or trouble, which is *hell within*, God is not the anguish or trouble, neither is he in the anguish or trouble; but his Love is there, and brings thee out of the anguish and trouble into God, leading thee into the light and joy of his presence. When God hides himself in thee, Love is still there, and makes him manifest in thee. Such is the inconceivable greatness and largeness of Love, which will hence appear to thee as great as God *above Nature* and greater than God *in Nature*, or as considered in his manifestative glory.

Lastly, whereas I said, *Whosoever finds it finds Nothing and all Things*; that is also certain and true. But how finds he *Nothing*? Why, I will tell thee how. He that findeth it findeth a supernatural, supersensual Abyss, which hath no ground or Byss to stand on, and where there is no place to dwell in; and he findeth also nothing is like unto it and therefore it may fitly be compared to *Nothing*, for it is deeper than any *Thing*, and is as Nothing with respect to All Things, forasmuch as it is not comprehensible by any of them. And because it is Nothing respectively, it is therefore free from All Things, and is that only Good, which a man cannot express or utter what it is, there being Nothing to which it may be compared, to express it by.

But in that I lastly said; *Whosoever finds it finds All Things*; there is nothing can be more true than this assertion. It hath been the Beginning of All Things; and it ruleth All Things. It is also the End of All Things; and will thence comprehend All Things within its circle. All Things are from it, and in it, and by it. If thou findest it thou comest into that ground from whence All Things are proceeded, and wherein they subsist; and thou art in it a King over all the works of God.

Here the Disciple was exceedingly ravished with what his Master had so wonderfully and surprisingly declared, and returned his most hearty and humble thanks for that light which he had been an instrument of conveying to him. But being desirous to hear further concerning these high matters, and to know somewhat more particularly, he requested him that he would give him leave to wait on him the next day again; and that he would then be pleased to show him *how* and *where* he might find this which was so much beyond all price and value, and whereabout the seat and abode of it might be in human nature, with the entire process of the discovery and bringing it forth to light.

The Master said to him: This then we will discourse about at our next conference, as God shall reveal the same to us by his Spirit, which is a searcher of All Things. And if thou dost remember well what I answered thee in the beginning, thou shalt soon come thereby to understand that hidden mystical wisdom of God; which none of the wise men of the world know; and where the Mine thereof is to be found in thee shall be given thee from above to discern. Be silent therefore in thy spirit, and watch unto prayer; that, when we meet again to-morrow in the love of Christ, thy mind may be disposed for finding that noble Pearl, which to the World appears *Nothing*, but to the Children of Wisdom is *All Things*.

* * *

## DIALOGUE II

The Disciple being very earnest to be more fully instructed how he might arrive at the supersensual life, and how, having found all things, he might come to be a king over all God's works, came again to his Master next morning, having watched the night in prayer, that he might be disposed to receive and apprehend the instructions that should be given him by a divine irradiation upon his mind. And the Disciple, after a little space of silence, bowed himself, and thus brake forth.

Disciple

O my Master, my Master! I have now endeavoured to recollect my soul in the presence of God, and to cast myself into the Deep where no creature doth nor can dwell; that I might hear the voice of my Lord speaking in me, and be initiated into that high life whereof I heard yesterday such great and amazing things. But alas I neither hear nor see as I should. There is still such a partition wall in me which beats back the heavenly sounds in their passage, and obstructs the entrance of that light whereby alone divine objects are discoverable, as till this be gone I can have but small hopes, yea, even none at all, of arriving at those glorious attainments which you pressed me to, or of entering into *that where no creature dwells*, and which you call *Nothing* and *All Things*. Wherefore be so kind as to inform me what is required on my part, that this partition which hinders may be broken or removed.

Master

This partition is the creaturely will in thee, and this can be broken by nothing but the Grace of self-denial, which is the entrance into the true following of Christ, and totally removed by nothing but a perfect conformity with the Divine Will.

Disciple

But how shall I be able to *break* this creaturely will which is in me, and is at enmity with the Divine Will? Or what shall I do to follow Christ in so difficult a path, and not to faint in a continual course of self-denial or resignation to the Will of God.

Master

This is not to be done by thyself; but by the light and grace of God received into thy soul, which will, if thou gainsay not, break the darkness that is in thee, and melt down thy old will, which worketh in the darkness and corruption of Nature, and bring it into the obedience of Christ, whereby the partition of the creaturely self is removed from betwixt God and thee.

Disciple

I know that I cannot do it of myself. But I would fain learn how I must receive this Divine Light and Grace into me, which is to do it for me, if I hinder it not my own self. What is then required of me in order to admit this Breaker of the partition, and to promote the attainment of the ends of such admission?

Master

There is nothing more required of thee at first than not to resist this grace, which is manifested in thee; and nothing in the whole process of the work, but to be obedient and passive to the Light of God shining through the darkness of thy creaturely being, which comprehendeth it not, as reaching no higher than the *Light of Nature*.

Disciple

But is it not for me to attain, if I can, both the Light of God, and the Light of the outward Nature too, and to make use of them both for the ordering of my life wisely and prudently?

Master

It is right so to do. And it is indeed a treasure above all earthly treasures to be possessed of the Light of God and Nature operating in their spheres, and to have both the Eye of Time and Eternity at once open together, and yet not to interfere with each other.

Disciple

This is a great satisfaction to me to hear; having been very uneasy about it for some time. But how this can be without interfering with each other, there is the difficulty. Wherefore fain would I know, if it were lawful, the boundaries of the one and the other, and how both the Divine and the Natural Light may in their several spheres respectively act and operate for the Manifestation of the Mysteries of God and Nature, and for the conduct of my outward and inward life?

Master

That each of these may be preserved distinctly in their several spheres, without confounding Things Heavenly and Things Earthly, or breaking the golden Chain of Wisdom, it will be necessary, my child, in the first place to wait for and attend the Supernatural and Divine Light, as this superior Light appointed to govern the day, rising in the true East, which is the Centre of Paradise, and the great Light breaking forth as out of the darkness within thee, through a pillar of fire and thunder-clouds, and thereby reflecting also upon the inferior Light of Nature a sort of image of itself, whereby only it can be kept in its due subordination; that which is *below* being made subservient to that which is *above*, and that which is *without* to that which is *within*. Thus there will be no danger of interfering, but all will go right, and everything abide in its proper sphere.

Disciple

Therefore without Reason or the Light of Nature be sanctified in my soul, and illuminated by this superior Light, as from the central East of the holy Light-World, by the Eternal and Intellectual Sun, I perceive there will always be some confusion, and I shall never be able to manage aright either what concerneth Time or Eternity. But I must always be at a loss, or break the links of Wisdom's Chain.

Master

It is even so as thou hast said. All is confusion if thou hast no more than the dim Light of Nature, or unsanctified and unregenerated Reason to guide thee by, and if only the Eye of Time be opened in thee, which cannot pierce beyond its own limit. Wherefore seek the Fountain of Light, waiting in the deep ground of thy soul for the rising there of the Sun of Righteousness, whereby the Light of Nature in thee, with the properties thereof, will be made to shine seven times brighter than ordinary. For it shall receive the stamp, image and impression of the Supersensual and Supernatural, so that the sensual and rational life will hence be brought into the most perfect order and harmony.

Disciple

But how am I to wait for the rising of this glorious Sun, and how am I to seek in the Centre this Fountain of Light, which may enlighten me throughout and bring my properties into perfect harmony? I am in Nature, as I said before, and which way shall I pass through Nature, and the light thereof, so that I may come into the Supernatural and Supersensual ground whence this true light, which is the Light of Minds, doth arise; and this without the destruction of my nature, or quenching the Light of it, which is my reason?

Master

Cease but from thine own activity, steadfastly fixing thine Eye upon *one Point*, and with a strong purpose relying upon the promised Grace of God in Christ, to bring thee out of thy Darkness into his marvellous Light. For this end gather in all thy thoughts, and by faith press into the Centre, laying hold upon the Word of God, which is infallible, and which hath called thee. Be thou then obedient to this call, and be silent before the Lord, sitting alone with him in thy inmost and most hidden cell, thy mind being centrally united in itself, and attending his Will in the patience of hope. So shall thy Light break forth as the Morning, and after the redness thereof is passed, the Sun himself which thou waitest for, shall arise unto thee, and under his most healing wings thou shalt greatly rejoice; ascending and descending in his bright and salutiferous beams. Behold this is the true Supersensual Ground of Life.

Disciple

I believe it indeed to be even so. But will not this destroy Nature? Will not the Light of Nature in me be extinguished by this greater Light? Or, must not the outward Life hence perish, with the earthly body which I carry?

Master

By no means at all. It is true, the evil Nature will be destroyed by it; but by the destruction thereof you can be no loser, but very much a gainer. The Eternal Bond of Nature is the same afterward as before; and the properties are the same. So that Nature hereby is only advanced and meliorated, and the Light thereof, or human Reason, by being kept within its due bounds, and regulated by a superior Light, is only made useful.

Disciple

Pray, therefore, let me know how this inferior Light ought to be used by me; how it is to be kept within its due bounds; and after what manner the superior Light doth regulate it and ennoble it.

Master

Know then, my beloved son, that if thou wilt keep the Light of Nature within its own proper bounds, and make use thereof in just subordination to the Light of God, thou must consider that there are in thy soul two *Wills*, an *inferior* Will, which is for driving thee to Things without and below; and a *superior* Will, which is for drawing thee to Things within and above. These two Wills are now set together, as it were back to back, and in a direct contrariety to each other; but in the beginning it was not so. For this contraposition of the soul in these two is no more than the effect of the Fallen State; since before that they were placed one under the other, that is, the *superior* Will *above*, as the Lord, and the inferior *below*, as the subject. And thus it ought to have continued. Thou must also further consider that, answering to these two Wills, there are likewise two Eyes in the soul, whereby they are severally directed, forasmuch as these Eyes are not united in one single view, but look quite contrary ways at once. They are in a like manner set one against the other, without a common medium to join them. And hence, so long as this double-sightedness doth remain, it is impossible there should be any agreement in the determination of this or that Will. This is very plain. And it showeth the necessity that this malady, arising from the disunion of the rays of vision, be some way remedied and redressed, in order to a true discernment in the mind. Both these eyes therefore must be made to unite by a concentration of rays, there being nothing more dangerous than for the mind to abide thus in the Duplicity and not to seek to arrive at the Unity. Thou perceivest, I know, that thou hast two Wills in thee, one set against the other, the superior and the inferior, and that thou hast always two Eyes within, one against the other, whereof the one Eye may be called the Right Eye, and the other the Left Eye. Thou perceivest too, doubtless, that it is according to the Right Eye that the wheel of the superior Will is moved; and that it is according to the motion of the Left Eye that the contrary wheel in the lower is turned about.

Disciple

I perceive this, Sir, to be very true; and this it is which causeth a continual combat in me, and createth in me greater anxiety than I am able to express. Nor am I unacquainted with the disease of my own soul, which you have so clearly declared. Alas! I perceive and lament this malady, which so miserably disturbeth my sight; whence I feel such irregular and convulsive motions drawing me on this side and that side. The Spirit seeth not as the Flesh seeth, neither doth, nor can, the Flesh see as the Spirit seeth. Hence the Spirit willeth against the Flesh; and the Flesh willeth against the Spirit in me. This hath been my hard case. And how shall it be remedied? O how may I arrive at the Unity of Will, and how come into the Unity of Vision?

Master

Mark now what I say. The Right Eye looketh forward in thee into Eternity. The Left Eye looketh backward in thee into Time. If thou now sufferest thyself to be always looking into Nature, and the Things of Time, it will be impossible for thee ever to arrive at the Unity, which thou wishest for. Remember this, and be upon thy watch. Give not thy mind leave to enter into nor to fill itself with that which is without thee; neither look thou backward upon thyself; but quit thyself, and look forward to Christ. Let not thy Left Eye deceive thee by making continually one representation after another, and stirring up thereby an earnest longing in the self-propriety; but let thy right eye command this left, and attract it to thee. Yea it is better to pluck it quite out and to cast it from thee, than to suffer it to proceed forth without restraint into Nature, and to follow its own lusts. However there is for this no necessity, since both eyes may become very useful, if ordered aright, and both the Divine and Natural Light may in the soul subsist together, and be of mutual service to each other. But never shalt thou arrive at the Unity of Vision or Uniformity of Will, but by entering fully into the Will of our Saviour Christ, and therein bringing the Eye of Time into the Eye of Eternity, and then descending by means of these united through the Light of God into the Light of Nature.

Disciple

So then if I can but enter into the Will of my Lord, and abide therein, I am safe, and may both attain to the Light of God in the Spirit of my soul and see with the Eye of God, that is, the Eye of Eternity in the Eternal Ground of my Will; and may also at the same time enjoy the Light of this World nevertheless, not degrading but adorning the Light of Nature, and beholding as with the Eye of Eternity things Eternal, so with the Eye of Nature, things Natural, and both contemplating therein the Wonders of God, and sustaining also thereby the life of my outward vehicle or body.

Master

It is very right. Thou hast well understood, and thou desirest now to enter into the Will of God, and to abide therein as in the Supersensual Ground of Light and Life, where thou mayst in his Light behold both Time and Eternity, and bring all the wonders created of God for the exterior into the interior life, and so eternally rejoice in them to the glory of Christ; the partition of thy Creaturely Will being broken down and the Eye of thy Spirit simplified in and through the Eye of God manifesting itself in the Centre of thy Life. Let this be so now, for it is God's Will.

Disciple

But it is very hard to be always looking forwards into Eternity, and consequently to attain to the single eye, and simplicity of Divine Vision. The entrance of a soul naked into the Will of God, shutting out all imaginations and desires, and breaking down the strong partition which you mention, is indeed somehow very terrible and shocking to human nature in its present state. O what shall I do, that I may reach this which I so much long for?

Master

My Son, let not the Eye of Nature with the Will of the Wonders depart from that Eye which is introverted into the Divine Liberty, and into the Eternal Light of the Holy Majesty. But let it draw to thee by union with that heavenly internal Eye those wonders which are externally wrought out and manifested in visible Nature. For while thou art in the world, and hast an honest employment, thou art certainly by the Order of Providence obliged to labour in it, and to finish the work given thee, according to thy best ability, without repining in the least; seeking out and manifesting for God's glory the Wonders of Nature and Art. Since let the Nature be what it will it is all the Work and Art of God. And let the Art also be what it will, it is still God's Work and his Art, rather than any art or cunning of man. And all both in Art and Nature serveth but abundantly to manifest the wonderful Works of God, that he for all and in all may be glorified. Yea, all serveth, if thou knowest rightly how to use them, only to recollect thee more inwards, and to draw thy Spirit into that majestic Light wherein the original patterns and forms of things visible are to be seen. Keep, therefore, in the Centre, and stir not from the Presence of God revealed within thy Soul; let the world and the devil make never so great a noise and bustle to draw thee out, mind them not; they cannot hurt thee. It is permitted to the Eye of thy Reason to seek food, and to thy hands by their labour to get food for the terrestrial body. But then this Eye ought not with its desire to enter into the food prepared, which would be covetousness; but must in resignation simply bring it before the Eye of God in thy Spirit, and then thou must seek to place it close to this very Eye, without letting it go. Mark this lesson well.

Let the hands or the head be at labour, thy Heart ought nevertheless to rest in God. God is a Spirit; dwell in the Spirit; work in the Spirit; pray in the Spirit; and do every thing in the Spirit; for remember thou also art a Spirit, and thereby created in the Image of God. Therefore see thou attract not in thy desire *Matter* unto thee, but as much as possible abstract thyself from all Matter whatever; and so, standing in the Centre, present thyself as a naked Spirit before God, in simplicity and purity; and be sure thy Spirit draw in nothing but Spirit.

Thou wilt yet be greatly enticed to draw Matter, and to gather that which the World calls *substance*; thereby to have somewhat visible to trust to. But by no means consent to the Tempter, nor yield to the lustings of thy Flesh against the Spirit. For in so doing thou wilt infallibly obscure the Divine Light in thee; thy Spirit will stick in the dark Covetous Root, and from the fiery Source of thy soul will it blaze out in pride and anger; thy Will shall be chained in Earthliness, and shall sink through the Anguish into Darkness and Materiality; and never shalt thou be able to reach the still Liberty, or to stand before the Majesty of God. It will be all darkness to thee, as much Matter as is drawn in by the Desire of thy Will. It will darken God's Majesty to thee, and will close the seeing Eye, by hiding from thee the light of his beloved countenance. This the Serpent longeth to do, but in vain, except thou permittest thy *Imagination*, upon his suggestion, to receive in the alluring Matter; else he can never get in. Behold then, if thou desirest to see God's Light in thy Soul, and be divinely illuminated and conducted, this is the short way that thou art to take; not to let the Eye of thy Spirit enter into Matter, or fill itself with any Thing whatever, either in Heaven or Earth, but to let it enter by a *naked faith* into the Light of the Majesty; and so receive by *pure love* the Light of God, and attract the Divine Power into itself, putting on the Divine Body, and growing up in it to the full maturity of the Humanity of Christ.

Disciple

As I said before, so I say again, this is very hard. I conceive indeed well enough that my Spirit ought to be free from the contagion of Matter, and wholly empty, that it may admit into it the Spirit of God. Also, that this Spirit will not enter, but where the Will entereth into *Nothing*, and resigneth itself up in the *nakedness of faith*, and in the *purity of love*, to its conduct, feeding magically upon the Word of God, and clothing itself thereby with a *Divine Substantiality*. But, alas, how hard it is for the Will to sink into nothing, to attract nothing, to imagine nothing.

Master

Let it be granted that it is so. Is it not surely worth thy while, and all that thou canst ever do?

Disciple

It is so, I must needs confess.

Master

But perhaps it may not be so hard as at first it appeareth to be; make but the trial and be in earnest. What is there required of thee but to stand still and see the salvation of thy God? And couldst thou desire anything less? Where is the hardship in this? Thou hast nothing to care for, nothing to desire in this life, nothing to imagine or attract. Thou needest only cast thy care upon God, who careth for thee, and leave him to dispose of thee according to his good will and pleasure, even as if thou hadst no will at all in thee. For he knoweth what is best; and if thou canst but trust him, he will most certainly do better for thee, than if thou wert left to thine own choice.

Disciple

This I most firmly believe.

Master

If thou believest, then go and do accordingly. *All* is in the *Will*, as I have shown thee. When the Will imagineth after *Somewhat*, then entereth it into that somewhat, and this somewhat taketh the Will into itself, and overcloudeth it, so as it can have no Light, but must dwell in Darkness, unless it return back out of that somewhat into *Nothing*. But when the Will imagineth or hasteth after nothing, then it entereth into *Nothing*, where it receiveth the Will of God into itself, and so dwelleth in Light, and worketh all its works in it.

Disciple

I am now satisfied that the main cause of any one's spiritual blindness, is his letting his Will into Somewhat, or into that which he hath wrought, of what nature soever it be, good or evil, and his setting his heart or affections upon the work of his own hand or brain, and that when the earthly body perisheth, then the Soul must be imprisoned in that very thing which it shall have received and let in; and if the Light of God be not in it, being deprived of the Light of this World, it cannot but be found in a dark prison.

Master

This is a very precious Gate of Knowledge; I am glad thou takest it into such consideration. The understanding of the whole Scripture is contained in it; and all that hath been written from the beginning of the World to this day may be found therein, by him that having entered with his Will into Nothing, hath there found All Things, by finding God, from Whom, and to Whom, and in Whom are All Things. By this means thou shalt come to hear and see God; and after this earthly life is ended to see with the Eye of Eternity all the Wonders of God and of Nature, and more particularly those which shall be wrought by thee in the flesh, or all that the Spirit of God shall have given thee to labour out for thyself and thy neighbour, or all that the Eye of Reason enlightened from above, may at any time have manifested to thee. Delay not therefore to enter in by this Gate, which if thou seest in the Spirit, as some highly favoured souls have seen it, thou seest in the Supersensual Ground *all that God is and can do*; thou seest also therewith, as one hath said who was taken thereinto, *through Heaven, Hell, and Earth; and through the Essence of all Essences*. Whosoever findeth it, hath found all that he can desire. Here is the Virtue and Power of the Love of God displayed. Here is the Height and Depth, here is the Breadth and Length thereof manifested, as ever the capacity of thy soul can contain. By this thou shalt come into that Ground out of which all Things are originated, and in which they subsist; and in it thou shalt reign over all God's Works, as a Prince of God.

Disciple

Pray tell me, dear Master, where dwelleth it *in Man*?

Master

Where Man dwelleth not: there hath it its seat in Man.

Disciple

Where is that in a Man, when Man dwelleth not in himself?

Master

It is the resigned Ground of a Soul to which nothing cleaveth.

Disciple

Where is the Ground in any Soul, to which there will nothing stick? Or where is that which abideth and dwelleth not in something?

Master

It is the Centre of Rest and Motion in the resigned Will of a truly contrite Spirit, which is Crucified to the World. This Centre of the Will is impenetrable consequently to the World, the Devil, and Hell. Nothing in all the World can enter into it, or adhere to it, because the Will is dead with Christ unto the World, but quickened with him in the Centre thereof, after his blessed Image. Here it is where Man dwelleth not, and where no Self abideth or can abide.

Disciple

O where is this naked Ground of the Soul void of all Self? And how shall I come at the hidden Centre, where God dwelleth, and not Man? Tell me plainly, loving Sir, where it is, and how it is to be found of me, and entered into?

Master

There where the Soul hath slain its own Will, and willeth no more any Thing as from itself, but only as God willeth, and as his Spirit moveth upon the Soul shall this appear. Where the Love of Self is banished there dwelleth the Love of God. For so much of the Soul's own Will as is dead unto itself even so much room hath the Will of God, which is his Love, taken up in that Soul. The reason whereof is this: Where its own Will did before sit, there is now nothing; and where nothing is, there it is that the Love of God worketh alone.

Disciple

But how shall I comprehend it?

Master

If thou goest about to comprehend it, then it will fly away from thee; but if thou dost surrender thyself wholly up to it, then it will abide with thee, and become the Life of thy Life, and be natural to thee.

Disciple

And how can this be without dying, or the whole destruction of my Will?

Master

Upon this entire surrender and yielding up of thy Will, the Love of God in thee becometh the Life of thy Nature; it killeth thee not, but quickeneth thee, who art now dead to thyself in thine own Will, according to its proper Life, even the Life of God. And then thou livest, yet not to thy own Will, but thou livest to its Will; for as much as thy Will is henceforth become its Will. So then it is no longer thy Will, but the Will of God; no longer the Love of thyself, but the Love of God, which moveth and operateth in thee; and then, thou being thus comprehended in it, thou art dead indeed as to thyself, but art alive unto God. So being dead thou livest, or rather God liveth in thee by his Spirit; and his Love is made to thee Life from the Dead. Never couldst thou with all thy seeking have apprehended it, but it hath apprehended thee. Much less couldst thou have comprehended it, but it hath comprehended thee; and so the Treasure of Treasures is found.

Disciple

How is it that so few Souls do find it, when yet all would be glad enough to have it?

Master

They all seek it in *somewhat*, and so they find it not. For where there is Somewhat for the Soul to adhere to, there the Soul findeth *that somewhat only*, and taketh up its rest therein, until she seeth that it is to be found in Nothing, and goeth out of the Somewhat into Nothing, even into that Nothing out of which all Things may be made. The Soul here saith "*I have nothing*, for I am utterly stripped and naked of every Thing; *I can do nothing*, for I have no manner of power, but am as water poured out; *I am nothing*, for all that I am is no more than an Image of Being, and only God is to me I AM; and so, sitting down in my own Nothingness, I give glory to the Eternal Being, and *will nothing* of myself, that so God may *will all* in me, being unto me my God and All Things." Herein now it is that so very few find this most precious treasure in the Soul, though every one would so fain have it; and might also have it, were it not for this Somewhat in every one that letteth.

Disciple

But if the Love should proffer itself to a Soul, could not that Soul find it, nor lay hold of it, without going for it into Nothing?

Master

No verily. Men seek and find not, because they seek it not in the naked Ground where it lieth; but in something or other where it never will be, nor can be. They seek it in their *own Will*, and they find it not. They seek it in their *Self-Desire*, and they meet not with it. They look for it in an *Image*, or in an *Opinion*, or in *Affection*, or a natural *Devotion* and *Fervour*, and they lose the substance by thus hunting after a shadow. They search for it in something sensible or imaginary, in somewhat which they may have a more peculiar natural inclination for, and adhesion to; and so they miss of what they seek, for want of diving into the Supernatural and Supersensual Ground, where the Treasure is hid. Now, should the Love graciously condescend to proffer itself to such as these, and even to present itself evidently before the Eye of their Spirit, yet could it find no place at all in them, neither could it be held by them, or remain with them.

Disciple

Why not, if the Love should be willing and ready to offer itself, and to stay with them?

Master

Because the *Imaginariness* which is in their own Will hath set itself up in the place thereof. And so this Imaginariness would have the Love in it, but the Love fleeth away, for it is its prison. The Love may offer itself; but it cannot abide where the *Self-Desire* attracteth or imagineth. That Will which attracteth Nothing, and to which Nothing adhereth, is only capable of receiving it; for it dwelleth only in Nothing, as I said, and therefore they find it not.

Disciple

If it dwell only in Nothing, what is now the office of it in Nothing?

Master

The office of the Love here is to penetrate incessantly into Something; and if it penetrate into, and find a place in Something which is standing still and at rest, then its business is to take possession thereof. And when it hath there taken possession, then it rejoiceth therein with its flaming Love-fire, even as the sun doth in the visible world. And then the office of it is without intermission to enkindle a fire in this Something which may burn it up; and then with the flames thereof exceedingly to enflame itself, and raise the heat of the Love-fire by it, even seven degrees higher.

Disciple

O, loving Master, how shall I understand this?

Master

If it but once kindle a fire within thee, my son, thou shalt then certainly feel how it consumeth all that which it toucheth, thou shalt feel it in the burning up thyself, and swiftly devouring all *Egoity* or that which thou callest *I and Me*, as standing in a separate Root, and divided from the Deity, the Fountain of thy Being. And when this enkindling is made in thee, then the Love doth so exceedingly rejoice in thy fire, as thou wouldest not for all the world be out of it; yea, wouldst rather suffer thyself to be killed, than to enter into *thy something* again. This fire must now grow hotter and hotter, till it shall have perfected its office with respect to thee. Its flame also will be so very great that it will never leave thee, though it should even cost thee thy temporal life, but it would go with thee with its sweet loving fire into death; and if thou wentest also into Hell, it would break Hell in pieces also for thy sake. Nothing is more certain than this, for it is stronger than Death and Hell.

Disciple

Enough, my dearest Master, I can no longer endure that any Thing should divert me from it. But how shall I find the nearest way to it?

Master

Where the way is hardest, there go thou; and what the World casteth away, that take thou up. What the World doth, that do thou not; but in all things walk thou contrary to the World. So thou comest the nearest way to that which thou art seeking.

Disciple

If I should in all things walk contrary to other people, I must needs be in a very unquiet and sad state, and the World would not fail to account me for a madman.

Master

I bid thee not, Child, to do harm to anyone, thereby to create to thyself any misery or unquietness. This is not what I mean by walking contrary in everything to the World. But because the World, as the World, loveth all deceit and vanity, and walketh in false and treacherous ways, thence, if thou hast a mind to act a clean contrary part to the ways thereof, without any exception or reserve whatsoever, walk thou only in the right way, which is called the *Way of Light*, as that of the World is properly the *Way of Darkness*. For the right way, even the Path of Light, is contrary to all the ways of the World.

But whereas thou art afraid of creating to thyself hereby trouble and inquietude, that indeed will be so according to the flesh. In the world thou must have trouble, and thy flesh will not fail to be unquiet, and to give thee occasion of continual repentance. Nevertheless in this very *anxiety of soul* arising from the world or the flesh, the Love doth most willingly enkindle itself, and its cheering and conquering fire is but made to blaze forth with greater strength for the destruction of that evil. And whereas thou dost also say, that the World will for this esteem thee mad; it is true the World will be apt enough to censure thee for a madman in walking contrary to it, and thou art not to be surprised if the children thereof laugh at thee, calling thee silly Fool. For the Way to the Love of God is Folly to the World, but is Wisdom to the Children of God. Hence, whenever the World perceiveth this holy Fire of Love in God's Children, it concludeth immediately that they are turned fools, and are beside themselves. But to the Children of God that which is despised of the World is the greatest Treasure, yea, so great a Treasure is it as no life can express, nor tongue so much as name what this enflaming, all-conquering Love of God is. It is brighter than the Sun; it is sweeter than anything that is called sweet; it is stronger than all strength; it is more nutrimental than food; more cheering to the heart than wine, and more pleasant than all the joy and pleasantness of this world. Whosoever obtaineth it is richer than any Monarch on earth; and he who getteth it, is nobler than any Emperor can be, and more potent and absolute than all Power and Authority.

* * *

## DIALOGUE III

### BETWEEN JUNIUS, A SCHOLAR, AND THEOPHORUS, HIS MASTER, CONCERNING HEAVEN AND HELL

The Scholar asked his Master "Whither goeth the Soul when the Body dieth?"

His Master answered him: There is no necessity for it to go any whither.

How not, said the inquisitive Junius, must not the Soul leave the body at death and go either to Heaven or Hell?

It needs no going forth, replied the venerable Theophorus. Only the outward Mortal Life with the body shall separate themselves from the Soul. The Soul hath Heaven and Hell within itself before, according as it is written. *The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall they say Lo here! or Lo there! For behold the Kingdom of God is within you.* And which soever of the two, that is, either Heaven or Hell, is manifested in it, in that the Soul standeth.

Here Junius said to his Master: This is hard to understand. Doth it not enter into Heaven or Hell, as a man entereth into a house; or as one goeth through a hole or casement into an unknown place; so goeth it not into another world?

The Master spoke and said: No, there is verily no such kind of entering in; forasmuch as Heaven and Hell are every where, being universally co-extended.

How is that possible? said the Scholar. What, can Heaven and Hell be here present, where we are now sitting? And if one of them might, can you ever make me believe that ever both should be here together?

Then spoke the Master in this manner: I have said that Heaven is everywhere present and it is true. For God is in Heaven; and God is everywhere. I have said also that Hell must be in like manner everywhere. For the *Wicked One*, who is the Devil, is in Hell, and the whole World, as the Apostle hath taught us, lyeth in the *Wicked One*, or the *Evil One*; which is as much as to say, not only that the Devil is in the World, but that the World is in the Devil; and if in the Devil, then in Hell too, because he is there. So Hell therefore is everywhere, as well as Heaven; which is the thing that was to be proved.

The Scholar, startled hereat, said: Pray make me to understand this.

To whom the Master: Understand then what Heaven is. It is but the *turning in of the Will to the Love of God*. Wheresoever thou findest God manifesting himself in Love, there thou findest Heaven, without travelling for it so much as one foot. And by this understand also what Hell is and where it is. I say unto thee it is but the *turning in of the Will into the wrath of God*. Wheresoever the Anger of God doth more or less manifest itself, there certainly is more or less of Hell, in whatsoever place it be. So that it is but the turning in of thy will either into his Love, or into his Anger; and thou art accordingly either in Heaven or in Hell. Mark it well. And this now cometh to pass in this present life, whereof St Paul speaking saith, *Our conversation is in Heaven*. And the Lord Christ saith also, *My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them the Eternal Life, and none shall pluck them out of my hand*. Observe, he saith not, I *will give* them, after this life is ended, but I *give* them, that is, now in the time of this life. And what else is this gift of Christ to his followers, but an Eternity of Life, which for certain can be no where but in Heaven. Yea, moreover, none shall be able to pluck them out of Heaven, because it is he who holdeth them there, and they are in his hand which nothing can resist. All therefore doth consist in the turning in, or entering of the Will into Heaven, by hearing the the voice of Christ, and both *knowing* him, and *following* him. And so on the contrary it is also. Understandest thou this?

His Scholar said to him: I think, in part, I do. But how cometh this entering of the Will into Heaven to pass?

The Master answered him: This then will I endeavour to satisfy thee in; but thou must be very attentive to what I shall say unto thee. Know then, my son, that when the Ground of the Will yieldeth itself up to God, then it sinketh out of its own Self, and out of and beyond all ground and place, that is or can be imagined, into a certain unknown Deep, where God only is manifest, and where he only worketh and willeth. And then it becometh nothing to itself, as to its own working and willing, and so God worketh and willeth in it. And God dwells in this designed Will, by which the Soul is sanctified, and so fitted to come into Divine Rest. Now, in this case, when the body breaketh, the Soul is so thoroughly penetrated all over with the Divine Light, even as a glowing hot iron is by the fire, by which being penetrated throughout, it loseth its darkness, and becomes bright and shining. Now this is the *hand of Christ*, where God's Love thoroughly inhabits the Soul, and is in it a shining Light, and a new glorious Life. And then the Soul is in Heaven, and is a Temple of the Holy Ghost, and is itself the very Heaven of God, wherein he dwelleth. Lo, this is the entering of the Will into Heaven; and thus it cometh to pass.

Be pleased, Sir, to proceed, said the Scholar, and let me know how it fareth on the other side.

The Master said: The godly Soul, you see, is in the *hand of Christ*, that is in Heaven, as he himself hath told us, and in what manner this cometh to be so, you have also heard. But the ungodly Soul is not willing in this life-time to come into the Divine Resignation of its Will, or to enter into the Will of God; but goeth on still in its own lust and desire, in vanity and falsehood, and so entereth into the Will of the Devil. It receiveth, thereupon, into itself nothing but wickedness; nothing but lying, pride, covetousness, envy and wrath; and thereunto it giveth up its Will and whole Desire. This is the Vanity of the Will; and this same Vanity or vain shadow must also in like manner be manifested in the Soul, which hath yielded itself up also to be its servant; and must work therein even as the Love of God worketh in the regenerated Will; and penetrate it all over, as fire doth iron.

And it is not possible for this Soul to come into the Rest of God, because God's Anger is manifested in it, and worketh in it. Now when a body is parted from the Soul, then beginneth the Eternal Melancholy and Despair, because it now findeth that it is become altogether Vanity, even a Vanity most vexatious to itself, and a distracting Fury, and a self-tormenting Abomination. Now it perceiveth itself disappointed of every Thing which it had before fancied, and blind, and naked, and wounded, and hungry, and thirsty, without the least prospect of ever being relieved, or obtaining so much as one drop of the water of Eternal Life. And it feeleth itself to be its own vile executioner and tormentor; and is affrighted at its own ugly dark form, and fain would flee from itself if it could, but it cannot, being fast bound with the chains of the Dark Nature, whereinto it had sunk itself when in the flesh. And so, not having learned or accustomed itself to sink down into the Divine Grace, and being also strongly possessed with the Idea of God, as an angry and jealous God, the poor Soul is both afraid and ashamed to bring its Will into God, by which deliverance might possibly come to it. The Soul is afraid to do it, as fearing to be consumed by so doing, under the apprehension of the Deity as a mere devouring Fire. The Soul is also *ashamed* to do it, as being confounded at its own nakedness and monstrosity, and therefore would, if it were possible, hide itself from the Majesty of God, and cover its abominable form from his most holy eye, though by casting itself still deeper into the Darkness. Therefore it *will not* enter into God, nay, it *cannot* enter with its false Will; yea, though it should strive to enter, yet can it not enter into the Love, because of the Will which hath reigned in it. For such a Soul is thereby captivated in the Wrath, yea, is itself but *mere Wrath*, having by its false Desire, which it had awakened in itself, comprehended and shut itself up therewith, and so transformed itself into the nature and property thereof.

And since also the Light of God doth not shine in it, nor the Love of God enclose it, the Soul is moreover a *great Darkness*, and is withal an anxious Fire-source, carrying about an Hell in itself, and not being able to discern the least glimpse of the Light of God, or to feel the least spark of his Love. Thus it dwelleth in itself as in Hell, and needeth no entering into Hell at all, or being carried thither, for in what place soever it may be, so long as it is in itself, it is in the Hell. And though it should travel far and cast itself many hundred thousand leagues from its present place, to be out of Hell; yet still would it remain in its hellish source and darkness.

If this be so, how then cometh it, said the Scholar to Theophorus, that an Heavenly Soul doth not in the time of this life perfectly perceive the Heavenly Light and Joy, and the Soul which is without God in the World, doth not also here feel Hell, as well as hereafter? Why should they not both be perceived and felt as well in this life as in the next, seeing that both of them are in Man, and one of them as you have shewed, worketh in every man?

To whom Theophorus presently returned this answer: The Kingdom of Heaven is in the Saints operative and manifestative of itself by *Faith*. They who carry God within them, and live by his Spirit, find the Kingdom of God in their Faith, and they feel the Love of God in their Faith, by which the Will hath given up itself unto God, and is made Godlike. All is transacted within them *by Faith*, which is to them the evidence of the Eternal Invisibles, and a great manifestation in their Spirit of this Divine Kingdom, which is within them. But their natural life is nevertheless encompassed with flesh and blood; and this standing in a contrariety thereto, and being placed through the Fall in the principle of God's Anger, and environed about with the World, which by no means can be reconciled to Faith, these faithful Souls cannot but be very much exposed to attacks from this World, wherein they are sojourners; neither can they be insensible of their being thus encompassed about with flesh and blood, and with the World's vain lust, which ceaseth not continually to penetrate the outward mortal life, and to tempt them manifold ways, even as it did Christ. Whence the World on one side and the Devil on the other, not without the curse of God's Anger in flesh and blood, do thoroughly sift and penetrate the Life, whereby it cometh to pass that the Soul is often in anxiety when these three are all set upon it together, and when Hell thus assaulteth the Life, and would manifest itself in the Soul. But the Soul hereupon sinketh down into the hope of the Grace of God, and standeth like a beautiful Rose in the midst of Thorns, until the Kingdom of this World shall fall from it in the death of the body. And then the Soul first becometh truly manifest in the Love of God, and of his Kingdom, which is the Kingdom of Love; having henceforth nothing more to hinder it. But during this life she must walk with Christ in this world, and then Christ delivereth her out of her own Hell, by penetrating her with his Love throughout, and standing by her in Hell, and even changing her Hell into Heaven.

But in that thou sayest, Why do not the Souls which are without God feel Hell in this World? I answer; They bear it about with them in their wicked consciences, but they know it not; because the World hath put out their eyes, and its deadly cup hath cast them likewise into a sleep, a most fatal sleep. Notwithstanding which it must be owned that the Wicked do frequently feel Hell within them during the time of this mortal life, though they may not apprehend that it is Hell, because of the earthly vanity which cleaveth to them from without, and the sensible pleasures and amusements wherewith they are intoxicated. And moreover it is to be noted that the outward Life in every such one hath yet the Light of the outward Nature, which ruleth in this Life, and so the Pain of Hell cannot, so long as that hath the rule, be revealed. But when the body dyeth or breaketh away, so as the Soul cannot any longer enjoy such temporal pleasure and delight, nor the Light of this outward World, which is wholly thereupon extinguished as to it, then the Soul stands in an eternal hunger and thirst after such vanities as it was here in love withal, but yet can reach nothing but that false Will, which it had impressed in itself while in the body; and wherein it had abounded to its great loss. And now whereas it had too much of its Will in this life, and yet was not contented therewith, it hath, after the separation by death, as little of it; which createth in it an everlasting thirst after that which it can henceforth never obtain more, and causeth it to be in a perpetual anxious lust after Vanity, according to its former impression, and in a continual rage of hunger after those sorts of wickedness and lewdness whereinto it was immersed, being in the flesh. Fain would it do more evil still, but that it hath not either wherein or wherewith to effect the same, and therefore it doth perform this only *in itself*. All is not literally transacted, as if it were outward; and so the ungodly is tormented by those Furies which are in his own mind, and begotten upon himself by himself. For he is verily become his own Devil and Tormentor; and that by which he sinned here, when the Shadow of this World is passed away, abideth still with him in the impression, and is made his prison and his Hell. But this hellish hunger and thirst cannot be fully manifested in the Soul, till the Body, which ministered to the Soul that it lusted after, and with which the Soul was so bewitched, as to doat thereupon, and pursue all its cravings, be stripped off from it.

I perceive then, said *Junius* to his Master, that the Soul, having played the wanton with the Body in all voluptuousness, and served the lusts thereof during this life, retaineth still the very same inclinations and affections which it had before, then when it hath no opportunity or capacity to satisfy them longer; and that when this cannot be, there is then Hell opened in that Soul, which had been shut up in it before by means of the outward Life in the Body, and of the Light of this World. Do I rightly understand?

*Theophorus* said: It is very rightly understood by you. Go on.

On the other hand (said he) I clearly perceive by what I have heard, that Heaven cannot but be in a loving Soul which is possessed of God, and hath subdued thereby the Body to the obedience of the Spirit in all things, and perfectly immersed itself into the Will and Love of God. And when the Body dyeth, and the Soul is hence redeemed from the Earth, it is now evident to me that the Life of God, which was hidden in it, will display itself gloriously, and Heaven consequently be then manifested. But, notwithstanding, if there be not a local Heaven besides and a local Hell, I am still at a loss where to place no small part of the Creation, if not the greatest. For where must all the intellectual inhabitants of it abide?

In their own Principle, answered the Master, whether it be of Light or of Darkness. For every created intellectual Being remaineth in its deeds and essences, in its wonders and properties, in its life and image; and therein it beholdeth and feeleth God, as who is everywhere, whether it be in the Love or in the Wrath.

If it be in the Love of God, then beholdeth it God accordingly, and feeleth him as he is, Love. But if it hath captivated itself in the Wrath of God, then it cannot behold God otherwise than in the Wrathful Nature, nor perceive him otherwise than as an incensed and vindictive Spirit. All places are alike to it, if it be in God's Love; and, if it be not there, every place is Hell alike. What Place can bound a Thought? Or what needeth any understanding Spirit to be kept here or there, in order to its happiness or misery? Verily, wheresoever it is, it is in the Abyssal World, where there is neither end nor limit. And whither, I pray, should it go? since though it should go a thousand miles off, or a thousand times ten thousand miles, and this ten thousand times over beyond the bounds of the Universe, and into the imagining spaces above the stars, yet it were then still in the very same point from whence it went out. For God is the *Place* of Spirit, if it may be lawful to attribute to him such a name to the which Body hath a relation. And in God there is no limit; both near and far off is here all one; and be it in his Love, or be it in his Anger, the abyssal Will of the Spirit is altogether unconfined. It is swift as thought, passing through all things; it is magical, and nothing corporeal or from without can let it; it dwelleth in its wonders, and they are its house.

Thus it is with every Intellectual, whether of the Order of Angels or of human Souls, and you need not fear but there will be room enough for them all, be they ever so many; and such also as shall best suit them, even according to their election and determination, and which may thence very well be called the "*own place*" of each.

At which said the Scholar, I remember, indeed, that it is written concerning the great traitor, that he went after death to his *own place*.

The Master said: The same is true of every Soul, when it departeth this mortal life. And it is true in like manner of every Angel and Spirit whatsoever, which is necessarily determined by its own choice. As God is everywhere, so also the Angels are everywhere; but each one in its own Principle, and in its own Property or (if you had rather) in its *own Place*. The same Essence of God, which is as a Place to Spirits, is confessed to be everywhere, but the appropriation or participation hereof is different to everyone, according as each hath attracted it magically in the earnestness of Will. The same Divine Essence which is with the Angels of God above, is with us also below. And the same Divine Nature which is with us is likewise with them; but after different manners and in different degrees communicated and participated.

And what I have said here of the Divine, is no less to be considered by you in the participation of the Diabolical Essence and Nature, which is the Power of Darkness, as to the manifold modes, degrees, and appropriations thereof in the false Will. In this World there is strife between them, but when this World hath reached in anyone the Limit, then the Principle catcheth that which is its own, and so the Soul receiveth companions accordingly, that is, either Angels or Devils.

To whom the Scholar again: Heaven and Hell then being in us at strife in the time of this life, and God himself being also thus near to us, where can Angels and Devils dwell?

And the Master answered him thus: Where thou dost not dwell as to thy *Self-hood* and to thine *own Will*, there the holy Angels dwell with thee, and every where all over round about thee. Remember this well. On the contrary, where thou dwellest as to thyself, or in Self-seeking, and Self-will, there to be sure the Devils will be with thee, and will take up their abode with thee, and dwell all over thee, and round about thee everywhere, which God in his mercy prevent.

I understand not this, said the Scholar, so perfectly well as I could wish. Be pleased to make it a little more plain to me.

The Master then spake: Mark well what I am going to say. Where the Will of God in anything willeth, there is God manifested. And in this very manifestation of God the Angels do dwell. But where God in any Creature willeth not with the Will of that Creature, there God is not manifested to it, neither can he be; but dwelleth in himself, without the co-operation thereof, and subjection to him in humility. There God is an unmanifested God to the Creature. So the Angels dwell not with such an one; for wherever they dwell, there is the Glory of God; and they make his Glory. What then dwelleth in such a Creature as this? God dwelleth not therein; the Angels dwell not therein; God willeth not therein; the Angels also will not therein. The case is evidently this; in that Soul or Creature its own will is without God's Will; and there the Devil dwelleth; and with him all that is without God, and without Christ. This is the truth; lay it to heart.

The *Scholar* said: It is possible I may ask several impertinent questions; but I beseech you, good Sir, to have patience with me, and to pity my ignorance, if I ask what may appear to you perhaps ridiculous, or may not be at all fit for me to expect an answer to. For I have several questions still to propound to you; but I am ashamed of my own thoughts in this matter.

The *Master* said: Be plain with me, and propose whatever is upon your mind; yea, be not ashamed even to appear ridiculous, so that by querying you may but become wiser.

The *Scholar* thanked his Master for this liberty and said: How far then are Heaven and Hell asunder?

To whom he answered thus: As far as Day and Night; or as far as Something and Nothing. They are in one another and yet they are at the greater distance one from the other. Nay, the one of them is as nothing to the other; and yet notwithstanding they cause joy and grief to one another. Heaven is throughout the whole World, and it is also without the World over all, even everywhere that is, or that can be even so much as imagined. It filleth all, it is within all, it is without all, it encompasseth all; without division, without place; working by a Divine Manifestation, and flowing forth universally, but not going in the least out of itself. For only in itself it worketh and is revealed, being one and undivided in all. It appeareth only through the Manifestation of God; and never but in itself only. And in that Being which cometh into it, or in that wherein it is manifested; there also it is that God is manifested. Because Heaven is nothing else but a Manifestation or Revelation of the Eternal One, wherein all the working and willing is in quiet love.

So in like manner Hell also is through the whole World, and dwelleth and worketh but in itself, and in that wherein the Foundation of Hell is manifested, namely, in Self-hood and in the False Will. The visible World hath both in it; and there is no place but Heaven and Hell may be found or revealed in it. Now Man as to his temporal life is only of the visible World; and therefore during the time of his life he seeth not the spiritual World. For the Outward World with its substance is a cover to the Spiritual World, even as the Body is to the Soul. But when the outward Man dyeth, then the Spiritual World is manifested to the Soul, which hath now its covering taken away. And it is manifested either in the Eternal Light with the holy Angels, or in the Eternal Darkness, with the Devils.

The *Scholar* further queried: What is an Angel, or an human Soul, that they can be thus manifested either in God's Love or Anger, either in Light or Darkness?

To whom Theophorus answered: They come from one and the self-same Original. They are little branches of the Divine Wisdom, of the Divine Will, sprung from the Divine Word, and made objects of the Divine Love. They are out of the Ground of Eternity; whence Light and Darkness do spring; Darkness which consisteth in the receiving of Self-Desire; and Light which consisteth in willing the same thing with God. For the conformity of the Will with God's Will is Heaven; and wheresoever there is this willing with God, there the Love of God is undoubtedly in the working, and his Light will not fail to manifest itself. But in the Self-attraction of the Soul's desire, or in the reception of Self into the willing of any Spirit, angelical or human, the Will of God worketh with difficulty, and is to that Soul and Spirit nought but Darkness; out of which, notwithstanding, the Light may be manifested. And this Darkness is the Hell of that Spirit wherein it is. For *Heaven* and *Hell* are nought else but a *Manifestation of the Divine Will either in Light or Darkness, according to the Properties of the Spiritual World*.

Scholar

What then is the Body of Man?

Master

It is the visible World, an Image and Quintessence, or Compound of all that the World is; and the visible World is a manifestation of the inward spiritual World, come out of the Eternal Light, and out of the Eternal Darkness, out of the spiritual compaction or connection; and it is also an Image or Figure of Eternity, whereby Eternity hath made itself visible; where Self-Will and resigned Will, viz., Evil and Good, work one with the other.

Such a substance is the outward Man. For God created Man out of the outward World, and breathed into him the inward spiritual World for a Soul and an intelligent Life, and therefore in the things of the outward World, Man can receive and work Evil and Good.

Scholar

What shall be after this World, when all things perish and come to an end?

Master

The material substance only ceaseth; viz., the four Elements, the Sun, Moon and Stars. And then the inward world will be wholly visible and manifest. But whatsoever hath been wrought by the Will or Spirit of Man in this World's time, whether evil or good shall there separate itself in a spiritual matter, either into the Eternal Light or into the Eternal Darkness. For that which is born from each Will penetrateth and passeth again into that which is like itself. And there the Darkness is called Hell, and is an eternal forgetting of all Good, and the Light is called the Kingdom of God, and is an eternal joy in and to the Saints, who continually glorify and praise God, for having delivered them from the torment of evil.

The last Judgment is a kindling of the Fire both of God's Love and Anger, in which the matter of every substance perisheth, and each Fire shall attract into itself its own, that is, the substance which is like itself. Thus God's Fire of Love will draw into itself what is wrought in the Anger of God in Darkness, and consume the false substance; and then there will remain only the painful, aching Will in its own proper nature, image, and figure.

Scholar

With what matter and form shall the human Body rise?

Master

It is sown a natural gross and elementary Body; yet in this gross Body there is a subtle Power and Virtue. As in the Earth also there is a subtle good Virtue, which is like the Sun, and is one and the same with the Sun, which also did in the beginning of time spring and proceed out of the Divine Power and Virtue, whence all the good Virtue of the Body is likewise derived. This good Virtue of the mortal Body shall come again and live for ever in a kind of transparent crystalline material property, in spiritual flesh and blood; as shall return also the good Virtue of the Earth, for the Earth, likewise shall become crystalline, and the Divine Light shine in everything that hath a being, essence, or substance. And as the gross Earth shall perish and never return, so also the gross flesh of Man shall perish and not live for ever. But all Things must appear before the Judgment, and in the Judgment be separated by the Fire; yea, both the Earth, and also the ashes of the human Body. For when God shall once move the spiritual World, every Spirit shall attract its spiritual substance to itself. A good Spirit and Soul shall draw to itself its own substance, and an evil one its evil substance.

Scholar

Shall we not rise again with our visible bodies, and live in them for ever?

Master

When the visible world perisheth, then all that hath come out of it, and hath been external, shall perish with it. There shall remain of the World only the crystalline Nature and Form, and of Man also only the spiritual Earth, for Man shall be then wholly like the crystalline World, which as yet is hidden.

Scholar

Shall all then have eternal joy and glorification alike?

Master

St Paul saith: In the Resurrection one shall differ from another in glory, as do the Sun, Moon and Stars. Therefore know that the Blessed shall indeed all enjoy the divine working in and upon them, but their virtue and illumination or glory shall be very different according as they have endured in this life with different measures and degrees of power and virtue in their painful workings.

Scholar

How shall all people and nations be brought to judgment?

Master

The Eternal Word of God, out of which every creaturely spiritual Life hath proceeded will move itself at that hour, according to Love and Anger, in every Life which is come out of the Eternity, and will draw every Creature before the Judgment of Christ, to be sentenced by this motion of the Word. The Life will then be manifested in all its works, and every Soul shall see and feel its judgment and sentence in itself. For the Judgment is, indeed, immediately at the departure of the Body manifested in and to every Soul. And the last Judgment is but a return of the spiritual Body, and a separation of the World, when the Evil shall be separated from the Good, in the substance of the World, and of the human Body, and everything enter into its eternal receptacle. And thus it is a manifestation of the Mystery of God in every substance and life.

Scholar

How will the sentence be pronounced?

Master

Here consider the words of Christ. He will say to those on his right hand; *Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in; naked and ye clothed me. I was sick and ye visited me, in prison and ye came unto me.*

*Then shall they answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or in prison, and ministered thus unto thee?*

Then shall the King answer and say unto them; *Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.*

And unto the wicked on his left hand he will say; *Depart from me, ye Cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. For I was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, and in prison, and ye ministered not unto me.*

And they shall also answer him and say; *When did we see thee thus and ministered not unto thee?*

And he will answer them, *Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have not done it unto one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.*

*And these shall depart into everlasting punishment, but the Righteous into Life Eternal.*

Scholar

Loving Master, pray tell me why Christ saith, *What you have done to the least of these you have done to me; and what you have not done to them, neither have you done it to me*? And how doth a Man this *so*, as that he doth it to Christ himself?

Master

Christ dwelleth really and essentially in the faith of those that wholly yield up themselves to him, and giveth them his Flesh for food and his Blood for drink; and thus possesseth the ground of their faith, according to the interior or inward Man. And a Christian is called a Branch of the Vine Christ, and a Christian, because Christ dwelleth spiritually in him; therefore, whatsoever good any shall do to such a Christian in his bodily necessities, it is done to Christ himself, who dwelleth in him. For such a Christian is not his own, but is wholly resigned to Christ, and become his peculiar possession, and consequently the good deed is done to Christ *himself*. Therefore also whosoever shall withhold their help from such a needy Christian, and forbear to serve him in his necessity, they thrust Christ away from themselves, and despise him in his members. When a poor person that belongeth thus to Christ asketh anything of thee, and thou deniest it him in his necessity, thou deniest it to Christ himself. And whatsoever hurt any shall do to such a Christian, they do it to Christ himself. When any mock, scorn, revile, reject, or thrust away such an one they do all that to Christ, but he that receiveth him, giveth him meat, and drink, or apparel, and assisteth him in his necessities, doth it likewise to Christ, and to a fellow-member of his own Body. Nay he doth it to himself if it be a Christian; for we are all one in Christ, as a tree and its branches are.

Scholar

How then will those subsist in the day of the last Judgment, who afflict and vex the poor and distressed, and deprive them of their very sweat, necessitating and constraining them by force to submit to their wills, and trampling upon them as their footstools, only that they themselves may live in pomp and power, and spend the fruits of this poor people's sweat and labour in voluptuousness, pride, and vanity?

Master

Christ suffereth in the persecution of his members. Therefore all the wrong that such hard executors do to the poor wretches under their control is done to Christ himself; and falleth under his severe sentence and judgment. And besides that by such oppression of the Poor they draw them off from Christ, and make them seek unlawful ways to fill their bellies. Nay, they work for and with the Devil himself, doing the very same thing which he doth: who, without intermission opposeth the Kingdom of Christ, which consisteth only in Love. All these oppressors, if they do not turn with their whole hearts unto Christ, and minister to or serve him, must go into Hell-fire, which is fed and kept alive by nothing else but such mere Self, which they have exercised over the Poor here.

Scholar

But how will it fare with those who in this time do so fiercely contend about the kingdom of Christ, and slander, revile and persecute one another for their religion?

Master

All such have not yet known Christ; and they are but as a type or figure of Heaven and Hell, striving for each other for the victory.

All rising, swelling pride, which contendeth about opinions, is an image of Self. And whosoever hath not faith and humility, nor liveth in the Spirit of Christ, which is Love, is only armed with the Anger of God, and helpeth forward the victory of the imaginary Self, that is, the Kingdom of Darkness, and the Anger of God. For at the day of Judgment all Self shall be given to the Darkness as shall also all the unprofitable contentions of men; in which they seek not after Love, but merely after their imaginary Self. All such things belong to the Judgment, which will separate the false from the true; and then all images or opinions shall cease, and all the Children of God shall dwell for ever in the Love of Christ, and *that* in them. For in Heaven all serve God their Creator in humble love.

Scholar

Wherefore then doth God suffer such strife and contention to be in this time?

Master

The Life itself standeth in strife, that it may be made manifest, sensible, and palpable, and that the wisdom may be made separable and known.

The Strife also constituteth the Eternal Joy of the victory. For there will arise great praise and thanksgiving in the Saints from the experimental sense and knowledge that Christ in them hath overcome Darkness, and all the Self of Nature, and that they are at length totally delivered from the Strife, at which they shall rejoice eternally. And therefore God suffereth all Souls to stand in a free-will, that the Eternal Dominion both of Love and Anger, of Light and of Darkness, may be made manifest and known; and that every Life might cause and find its own sentence in itself. For that which is now a strife and pain to the Saints in their wretched warfare here, shall in the end be turned into great joy to them; and that which hath been a joy and pleasure to ungodly persons in this world, shall afterwards be turned into eternal torment and shame to them. Therefore the joy of the Saints must arise to them out of death, as the light ariseth out of a candle by the destruction and consumption of it in its fire, that so the Life may be freed from the painfulness of Nature, and possess another World.

And as the Light hath quite another property than the Fire has, for it giveth and yieldeth itself forth; whereas the Fire draweth in and consumeth itself, so the holy Life of Meekness springeth forth through the Death of Self-will, and then God's Will of Love only ruleth, and doth all in all. For thus the Eternal One hath attained Feeling and Separability, and brought itself forth again with the feeling, through Death, in great Joyfulness, that there might be an Eternal Delight in the Infinite Unity, and an Eternal Cause of Joy; and therefore that which was before Painfulness, must now be the Ground and Cause of this motion or stirring to the Manifestation of all Things. And herein lyeth the Mystery of the hidden Wisdom of God.

*Every one that asketh receiveth, every one that seeketh findeth, and to every one that knocketh it shall be opened. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Ghost, be with us all. Amen.*

* * *

## DIALOGUE IV

### THE WAY FROM DARKNESS TO TRUE ILLUMINATION

There was a poor Soul that had wandered out of Paradise, and come into the kingdom of this World; where the Devil met it, and said to it: Whither dost thou go, thou Soul that art half blind?

The Soul said

I would see and speculate into the Creatures of the World, which their Creator hath made.

The Devil said

How wilt thou see and speculate into them, when thou canst not know their essence and property? Thou wilt look upon their outside only, as upon a graven image, and canst not know them thoroughly.

The Soul said

How may I come to know their essence and property?

The Devil said

Thine eyes would be opened to see them thoroughly, if thou didst but eat of *that*, from whence the Creatures themselves are come to be *good* and *evil*. Thou wouldst then be as God himself is, and know what the Creature is.

The Soul said

I am now a noble and holy Creature: but if I should do so, the Creator hath said that I should die.

The Devil said

No, thou shouldst not die at all; but thy eyes would be opened, and thou wouldst be as God himself, and be Master of Good and Evil. Also, thou wouldst be mighty, powerful and very great, as I am; all the subtlety that is in the Creatures would be made known to thee.

The Soul said

If I had the knowledge of Nature and of the Creatures, I would then rule the whole World as I listed.

The Devil said

The whole ground of their knowledge lieth in thee. Do but turn thy Will and Desire from God or Goodness into Nature and the Creatures, and then there will arise in thee a lust to taste; and so thou mayest eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and by that means come to know all things.

The Soul said

Well then, I will eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that I may rule all things by my own power, and be of myself a Lord on Earth, and do what I will, even as God himself doth.

The Devil said

I am the Prince of this World; and if thou wouldst rule on earth thou must turn thy lust towards my Image, and desire to be like me, that thou mayst get the cunning, wit, reason, and subtlety that my Image hath.

Thus did the Devil present to the Soul the Power that is in the fiery root of the Creature, that is the fiery Wheel of Essence in the form of a Serpent. Upon which,

The Soul said

Behold this is the Power which can do all things. What must I do to get it?

The Devil said

If thou dost break thy Will off from God, and bring it into this power and skill, then thy hidden Ground will be manifested in thee, and thou mayest work in the same manner. But thou must eat of that Fruit, wherein each of the four elements in itself ruleth over the other, and is in strife. And then thou wilt be instantly as the fiery Wheel is, and so bring all things into thine own power, and possess them as thine own.

The Soul did so and what happened thereupon

Now when the Soul broke its will off thus from God, and brought it into the fiery Will (which is the Root of Life and Power), there presently arose in it a lust to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; and the Soul did eat thereof. Which as soon as it had done, instantly was kindled the fiery Wheel of its Essence, and thereupon all the properties of Nature awoke in the Soul, and exercised each its own desire.

First arose the lust of Pride; a desire to be great, mighty, and powerful; to bring all things in subjection to it, and to be Lord itself without control, despising all humility and equality, as esteeming itself the only prudent, witty and cunning one, and accounting everything folly that is not according to its own humour and liking.

Secondly, arose the lust of Covetousness, a desire of getting, which would draw all things to itself, into its own possession. For when the lust of Pride had turned away the Will from God, then the Life of the Soul would not trust God any further, but would take care for itself; and therefore brought its desire into the Creatures, viz., into the earth, metals, trees, and other Creatures. Thus the kindled fiery Life became hungry and covetous, when it had broken itself off from the Unity, Love, and Meekness of God, and attracted to itself the four Elements and New Essence, and brought itself into the Condition of the beasts, and so the Life became dark, empty, and wrathful; and the heavenly Virtues and Colours went out, like a candle extinguished.

Thirdly, there awoke in this fiery Life the stinging thorny lust of Envy: a hellish poison, and a torment which makes the Life a mere enmity to God and to all Creatures. Which Envy raged furiously in the sting of Covetousness, as a venomous sting doth in the body. Envy cannot endure, but hateth and would hurt or destroy that which Covetousness cannot draw to itself by which hellish passion the Noble Love of the Soul is smothered.

Fourthly, there awoke in this fiery Life a torment like fire, viz., Anger; which would murder and remove out of the way all who would not be subject to Pride. Thus the Ground and Foundation of Hell, which is called the Anger of God, was wholly manifested in this Soul. Whereby it lost the fair Paradise of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, and became such a worm as the fiery Serpent was, which the Devil presented to it in his own image and likeness. And so the Soul began to rule on earth in a bestial manner, and did all things according to the Will of the Devil, living in mere Pride, Covetousness, Envy, and Anger, having no longer any true love towards God. But there arose in the stead thereof an evil bestial love of Wantonness and Vanity, and there was no purity left in the heart, for the Soul had forsaken Paradise, and taken the Earth into its possession. Its mind was wholly bent upon cunning knowledge, subtility, and getting together a multitude of earthly things. No righteousness nor virtue remained in it at all; but whatsoever evil and wrong it committed, it covered all cunningly under the cloak of its power and authority by law, and called it by the name of Right and Justice, and accounted it good.

The Devil came to the Soul

Upon this the Devil drew near the Soul, and brought it on from one vice to another, for he had taken it captive in his Essence, and set joy and pleasure before it, therein, saying thus to it: Behold now thou art powerful, mighty, and noble, endeavour to be greater, richer, and more powerful still. Display thy knowledge, wit and subtlety, that every one may fear thee, and stand in awe of thee, and that thou mayst be respected, and get a great name in the World.

The Soul did so

The Soul did as the Devil counselled it, and yet knew not that its counsellor was the Devil; but thought it was guided by its own knowledge, wit, and understanding, and that it did very well and right all the while.

Jesus Christ met with the Soul

The Soul going on in this course of life, our dear and loving Lord Jesus Christ, Who was come into this World with the Love and Wrath of God, to destroy the works of the Devil, and to execute judgment upon all ungodly deeds, on a time met with it, and spake by a strong power, viz., by his passion and death into it, and destroyed the works of the Devil in it, and discovered to it the way to his Grace, and shone upon it with his mercy, calling it to return and repent, and promising that he would then deliver it from that monstrous deformed shape and image which it had gotten, and bring it into Paradise again.

How Christ brought in the Soul

Now when the Spark of the Love of God, or the Divine Light, was accordingly manifested in the Soul, it presently saw itself with its will and works to be in Hell, in the Wrath of God, and found it was an ugly, misshapen monster in the Divine Presence and the Kingdom of Heaven: at which it was so affrighted, that it fell into the greatest anguish possible, for the Judgment of God was manifested in it.

What Christ said

Upon this the Lord Christ spake unto it with the Voice of his Grace, and said: *Repent and forsake Vanity, and thou shalt attain My Grace*.

What the Soul said

Then the Soul with its ugly misshapen image went before God and entreated for Grace and the pardon of its sins, and came to be strongly persuaded in itself that the satisfaction and atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ did belong to it. But the evil properties of the Serpent, formed in the Astral Spirit, or Reason, of the outward Man, would not suffer the Will of the Soul to come before God, but brought their lusts and inclinations thereinto.

But the poor Soul turned its countenance towards God, and desired Grace from him, even that he would bestow his Love upon it.

The Devil came to it again

But when the Devil saw that the Soul thus prayed to God, and would enter into repentance, he drew near to it, and thrust the inclinations of the earthly properties into its prayers, and disturbed its good thoughts and desires which pressed forwards towards God, and drew them back again to earthly things that they might have no access to him.

The Soul sighed

The central Will of the Soul indeed sighed after God, but the thoughts arising in the mind that it should penetrate into him, were distracted, scattered and destroyed, so that they could not reach the Power of God. At which the poor Soul was still more affrighted and began to pray more earnestly. But the Devil with his desire took hold of the kindled, fiery Wheel of Life, and awakened the evil properties, so that evil or false inclinations arose in the Soul, and went into that thing wherein they had taken most pleasure and delight before.

The poor Soul would very fain go forward to God with its Will, and therefore used all its endeavours; but its thoughts continually fled away from God into earthly things, and would not go to him.

Upon this the Soul sighed and bewailed itself to God; but was as if it were quite forsaken by him, and cast out from its Presence. It could not get so much as one look of Grace, but was in mere anguish, fear and terror, and dreaded every moment that the Wrath and severe Judgment of God would be manifested in it, and that the Devil would take hold of it and have it. And thereupon fell into such great heaviness and sorrow, that it became weary of all the temporal things, which were before its chief joy and happiness.

The earthly natural Will indeed desired those things still, but the Soul would willingly leave them altogether, and desired to die to all temporal lust and joy whatsoever, and longed only after its first native country, from whence it originally came. But it found itself to be far from thence in great distress and want, and knew not what to do, yet resolved to enter into itself, and try to pray more earnestly.

The Devil's Opposition

But the Devil opposed it, and withheld it so that it could not bring itself into any greater fervency of repentance.

He awakened the earthly lusts in its heart, that they might still keep their evil nature and false right therein, and set them at variance with the new-born Will and Desire of the Soul. For they would not die to their own Will and Light, but would still maintain their temporal pleasures, and so kept the poor Soul captive in their evil desires, that it could not stir, though it sighed and longed never so much after the Grace of God. For whensoever it prayed, or offered to press forward towards God, then the lusts of the flesh swallowed up the rays and ejaculations that went forth from it, and brought them away from God into earthly thoughts, that it might not partake of Divine Strength. Which caused the poor Soul to think itself forsaken of God, not knowing that he was so near it, and did thus attract it. Also the Devil tempted the poor Soul, saying to it in the earthly thoughts:

"Why dost thou pray? Dost thou think that God knoweth thee or regardeth thee? Consider but what thoughts thou hast in his presence; are they not altogether evil? Thou hast no faith or belief in God at all; how then should he hear thee? He heareth thee not, leave off; why wilt thou needlessly torment and vex thyself! Thou hast time enough to repent at leisure. Wilt thou be mad? Do but look upon the world I pray thee a little; doth it not live in jollity and mirth, yet it will be saved well enough for all that. Hath not Christ paid the ransom and satisfied for all men? Thou needest only persuade and comfort thyself that it is done for thee, and then thou shalt be saved. Thou canst not possibly in this world come to any feeling of God, therefore leave off, and take care for thy body, and look after temporal glory. What dost thou suppose will become of thee, if thou turn to be so stupid and melancholy? Thou wilt be the scorn of everybody, and they will laugh at thy folly; and so thou wilt pass thy days in mere sorrow and heaviness, which is pleasing neither to God nor Nature. I pray thee, look upon the beauty of the World, for God hath so erected and placed thee in it, to be a Lord over all Creatures and to rule them. Gather store of temporal goods beforehand, that thou mayest not be beholden to the World, or stand in need hereafter. And when old age cometh, or that thou growest near thy end, then prepare thyself for repentance. God will save thee, and receive thee into the heavenly mansions there. There is no need of such ado in vexing, bewailing, and stirring up thyself, as thou makest."

The Condition of the Soul

In these and the like thoughts the Soul was ensnared by the Devil, and brought into the lust of the flesh, and earthly desires; and so bound as it were with fetters and strong chains that it did not know what to do. It looked back a little into the World and the pleasures thereof, but still felt in itself a hunger after Divine Grace, and would rather enter into repentance and favour with God. For the Hand of God had touched and bruised it, and therefore it could rest nowhere; but always sighed in itself after sorrow for the sins it had committed, and would fain be rid of them. Yet could not get true repentance, or even the knowledge of sin, though it had a mighty hunger and longing desire after such penitential sorrow.

The Soul being thus heavy and sad, and finding no remedy or rest, began to cast about where it might find a fit place to perform true repentance in, where it might be free from business, cares, and the hinderances of the World; and also by what means it might win the favour of God. And at length purposed to betake itself to some private solitary place, and give over all worldly employments and temporal things, and hoped that by being bountiful and pitiful to the Poor, it should obtain God's mercy. Thus did it devise all kinds of ways to get rest, and to gain the love, favour, and grace of God again. But all would not do; for its worldly business still followed it in the lusts of the flesh, and it was ensnared in the net of the Devil now, as well as before, and could not attain rest. And though for a little while it was somewhat cheered with earthly things, yet presently it fell to be as sad and heavy again as it was before. The truth was it felt the awakened Wrath of God in itself, but knew not how that came to pass, nor what ailed it. For many times great trouble and terror fell upon it, which made it comfortless, sick, and faint with very fear; so mightily did the first bruising it with the ray or influence of the stirring of Grace work upon it. And yet it knew not that Christ was in the Wrath and severe Justice of God and fought therein with that Spirit of Error incorporated in Soul and Body, nor understood that the hunger and desire to turn and repent came from Christ Himself, neither did it know what hindered it that it could not yet attain to Divine Feeling. It knew not that itself was a monster, and did bear the Image of the Serpent.

An enlightened and regenerate Soul met the distressed Soul

By the Providence of God, an enlightened and regenerate Soul met the distressed Soul, and said: What ailest thou, thou distressed Soul, that thou art so restless and troubled!

The distressed Soul answered

The Creator hath hid his Countenance from me, so that I cannot come to his Rest; therefore I am thus troubled, and know not what I shall do to get his Loving-kindness again. For great cliffs and rocks lie in my way to his Grace, so that I cannot come to him. Though I sigh and long after him never so much, yet I am kept back, so that I cannot partake of his Power, Virtue, and Strength.

The enlightened Soul said

Thou bearest the monstrous shape of the Devil, and art clothed therewith; in which, being his own Property or Principle, he hath access or power of entrance into thee, and thereby keepeth thy Will from penetrating into God. For if thy Will might penetrate into God, it would be anointed with the highest Power and Strength of God, in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that unction would break in pieces the monster which thou carriest about thee; and thy first Image of Paradise would revive in the Centre; which would destroy the Devil's Power therein, and thou wouldst become an Angel again. And because the Devil envieth thee this happiness, he holdeth thee captive in his Desire in the lusts of the flesh, from which if thou art not delivered, thou wilt be separated from God, and canst never enter into our Society.

The distressed Soul terrified

At this speech the poor distressed Soul was so terrified and amazed, that it could not speak one word more. When it found that it stood in the form and condition of the Serpent which separated it from God, and that the Devil was so nigh it in that condition, who injected evil thoughts into the Will of the Soul, and had so much power over it thereby that it was near damnation and sticking fast in the Abyss or bottomless pit of Hell in the Anger of God, it would have even despaired of Divine Mercy; but that the Power, Virtue and Strength of the first stirring of the Grace of God, which had before bruised the Soul, upheld and preserved it from total despair. But still it wrestled in itself between Hope and Doubt; whatsoever Hope built up, that Doubt threw down again. And thus was it agitated with such continued disquiet, that at last the World and all the glory thereof became loathsome to it, neither would it enjoy worldly pleasures any more; and yet for all this could it not come to Rest.

The enlightened Soul came again, and spoke to the troubled Soul

On a time the enlightened Soul came again to this Soul, and finding it still in so great trouble, anguish, and grief, said to it.

What dost thou? Wilt thou destroy thyself in thy anguish and sorrow? Why dost thou torment thyself in thy own Power and Will, seeing thy torment increaseth thereby more and more? Yea, if thou shouldst sink thyself down to the bottom of the sea, or fly to the uttermost coasts of the morning, or raise thyself above the stars, yet thou wouldst not be released. For the more thou grievest, tormentest, and troublest thyself, the more painful thy nature will be; and yet thou wilt not be able to come to Rest. For thy Power is quite lost, and as a dry stick burnt to a coal cannot grow green and spring afresh by its own power, nor get sap to flourish again with other trees and plants; so neither canst thou reach the Place of God by thy own power and strength, and transform thyself into that Angelical Image which thou hadst at first. For in respect to God thou art withered and dry, like a dead plant that hath lost its sap and strength, and so art become a dry tormenting Hunger. Thy Properties are like Heat and Cold which continually strive one against the other, and can never unite.

The distressed Soul said

What then shall I do to bud forth again, and recover the first Life, wherein I was at rest before I became an Image?

The enlightened Soul said

Thou shalt do nothing at all but forsake thy own Will, viz., that which thou callest *I*, or *thyself*. By which means all thy evil properties will grow weak, faint, and ready to die; and then thou wilt sink down again into that One Thing from which thou art originally sprung. For now thou liest captive in the Creatures; but if thy Will forsaketh them, they will die in thee, with their evil inclinations, which at present stay and hinder thee that thou canst not come to God. But if thou takest this course, thy God will meet thee with his infinite Love, which he hath manifested in Christ Jesus in the Humanity, or human Nature. And that will impart sap, life and vigour to thee, whereby thou mayst bud, spring, flourish again, and rejoice in the Living God, as a branch growing on his true Vine. And so thou wilt at length recover the Image of God, and be delivered from that of the Serpent. Then shalt thou come to be my brother and have fellowship with the Angels.

The poor Soul said

How can I forsake my Will, so that the Creatures which lodge therein may die, seeing I must be in the World, and also have need of it as long as I live?

The enlightened Soul said

Now thou hast worldly power and riches, which thou possesses! as thy own, to do what thou wilt with, and regardest not how thou gettest or invest the same, employing them in the service or indulgence of thy carnal and vain desires. Nay though thou seest the poor and needy wretch who wanteth thy help, and is thy brother, yet thou helpest him not, but layest heavy burdens upon him, by requiring more of him than his abilities will bear, or his necessities afford, and oppressest him, by forcing him to spend his labour and sweat for thee and the gratification of thy voluptuous Will. Thou art moreover proud and exultest over him, and behavest roughly and sternly to him, exalting thyself above him, and making small account of him in respect of thyself. Then that poor oppressed brother of thine cometh, and complaineth with sighs towards God, that he cannot reap the benefit of his labours and pains, but is forced by thee to live in misery. By which sighings and groanings of his he raiseth up the wrath of God in thee, which maketh thy flame and unquietness still the greater.

These are the Creatures which thou art in love with, and hast broken thyself off from God for their sakes, and brought thy Love into them or them into thy Love, so that they live therein. Thou nourishest and keepest them by continually receiving them into thy desire, for they live in and by thy receiving them into thy mind, because thou thereby bringest the lust of thy Life into them. They are but unclean and evil births and issues of the Bestial Nature, which yet by thy receiving them in thy Desire, have gotten an Image and formed themselves in thee. And that Image is a beast with four heads. First, *Pride*. Secondly, *Covetousness*. Thirdly, *Envy*. Fourthly, *Anger*. And in these four properties the Foundation of Hell consisteth, which thou earnest in thee and about thee. It is imprinted and engraven in thee, and thou art wholly taken captive thereby. For these properties live in thy Natural Life; and thereby thou art severed from God, neither canst thou ever come to him, unless thou so forsake these evil Creatures that they may die in thee.

But since thou desirest me to tell thee how to forsake thy own, perverse creaturely Will, that the Creatures might die, and that yet thou mightest live with them in the World, I must assure thee that there is but one way to do it, which is *narrow* and *straight*, and will be very hard and irksome to thee in the beginning, but afterwards thou wilt walk in it cheerfully.

Thou must seriously consider that in the course of this worldly life thou walkest in the Anger of God and in the Foundation of Hell; and that this is not thy true native country; but that a Christian should and must live in Christ, and in his walking truly follow him; and that he cannot be a Christian unless the Spirit and Power of Christ so live in him that he becometh wholly subject to it. Now seeing the Kingdom of Christ is not of the world, but in Heaven, therefore thou must be always in a continual ascension towards Heaven, if thou wilt follow Christ; though thy body must dwell among the Creatures and use them.

The narrow way to which perpetual ascension into Heaven and imitation of Christ is this. Thou must despair of all thy own power and strength, for in and by thy own thou canst not reach the Gates of God, and firmly purpose and resolve wholly to give thyself up to the Mercy of God, and to sink down with thy whole mind and reason into the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ, always desiring to persevere in the same and to die from all thy Creatures therein. Also thou must resolve to watch and guard thy mind, thoughts, and inclinations that they admit no evil into them, neither must thou suffer thyself to be held fast by temporal honour or profit. Thou must resolve likewise to put away from thee all Unrighteousness and whatsoever else may hinder the freedom of thy motion and progress. Thy Will must be wholly pure and fixed in a firm resolution never to return to its old idols any more, but that thou wilt, that very instant leave them, and separate thy mind from them, and enter into the sincere way of truth and righteousness, according to the plain and full doctrine of Christ. And as thou dost thus purpose to forsake the enemies of thine own inward Nature, so thou must also forgive all thy outward enemies and resolve to meet them with thy Love, that there may be left no Creature, Person, or Thing at all able to take hold of thy Will and captivate it; but that it may be sincere and purged from all Creatures. Nay, further, if it should be required, thou must be willing and ready to forsake all thy temporal honour and profit for Christ's sake, and regard nothing that is earthly so as to set thy heart and affections upon it; but esteem thyself in whatsoever state, degree and condition thou art, as to worldly rank and riches, to be but a servant of God, and of thy fellow-Christians; or as a steward in the office wherein thy Lord hath placed thee. All arrogance and self-exaltation must be humbled, brought low, and so annihilated that nothing of thine own or of any other Creature may stay in thy Will to bring the thoughts or imagination to be set upon it.

Thou must also firmly impress it on thy mind that thou shalt certainly partake of the promised Grace in the Merit of Jesus Christ, viz., of his outflowing Love, which indeed is already in thee, and which will deliver thee from thy Creatures, and enlighten thy Will, and kindle it with the Flame of Love, whereby thou shalt have victory over the Devil. Not as if thou couldst will or do anything in thy own strength, but only enter into the suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and take them to thyself, and with them assault and break in pieces the kingdom of the Devil in thee. Thou must resolve to enter into this way this very hour, and never to depart from it, but willingly to submit thyself to God in all thy endeavours and doings, that he may do with thee what he pleaseth.

When thy Will is thus prepared and resolved, it hath then broken through its own Creatures, and is sincere in the Presence of God, and clothed with the Merits of Jesus Christ. It may then freely go to the Father with the Prodigal Son, and fall down in his Presence and pour forth its prayers; and putting forth all its strength in this Divine Work, confess its sins and disobedience; and how far it hath departed from God. This must be done not with bare words, but with all its strength, which indeed amounteth only to a strong purpose and resolution; for the Soul of itself hath no strength or power to effect any good work.

Now when thou art thus ready, and thy heavenly Father shall see thee coming and returning to him in such repentance and humility, he will inwardly speak to thee, and say in thee; *Behold, this is my son which I had lost, he was dead and is alive again.* And he will come to meet thee in thy mind with the Grace and Love of Jesus Christ, and embrace thee with the beams of his Love, and kiss thee with his Spirit and Strength, and then thou shalt receive Grace to pour out thy confession before him and to pray powerfully. This indeed is the right place where thou must wrestle in the Light of his Countenance. And if thou standest resolutely here and shrinkest not back, thou shalt see or feel great wonders. For thou shalt find Christ in thee assaulting Hell, and crushing thy Beasts in pieces, and that a great tumult and misery will arise in thee; also thy secret undiscovered sins will then first awake and labour to separate thee from God, and to keep thee back. Thus shalt thou truly find and feel how Death and Life fight one against the other, and shalt understand by what passeth within thyself what Heaven and Hell are. At all which be not moved, but stand firm and shrink not; for at length all thy Creatures will grow faint, weak, and ready to die; and then thy Will shall wax stronger, and be able to subdue and keep down the evil inclinations. So shall thy Will and Mind ascend into Heaven every day, and thy Creatures gradually die away. Thou wilt get a Mind wholly new, and begin to be a new Creature, and, getting rid of the Bestial Deformity, recover the Divine Image. Thus shalt thou be delivered from thy present Anguish, and return to thy original Rest.

The poor Soul's Practice

Then the poor Soul began to practise this course with so much earnestness that it conceived it should get the victory presently, but it found that the Gates of Heaven were shut against it in its own strength and power, and it was, as it were, rejected and forsaken by God, and received not so much as one look or glimpse of Grace from him. Upon which it said to itself; *Surely thou hast not sincerely submitted thyself to God. Desire nothing at all of him, but only submit thyself to his judgment and condemnation, that he may kill thy evil inclinations. Sink down into him beyond the Limits of Nature and Creature, and submit thyself to him, that he may do with thee what he will, for thou art not worthy to speak to him.* Accordingly the Soul took a resolution to sink down, and to forsake its own will; and when it had done so there fell upon it presently the greatest repentance that could be for the sins it had committed; and it bewailed bitterly its ugly shape, and was truly and deeply sorry that the evil Creatures did dwell in it. And because of its sorrow it could not speak one word more in the Presence of God, but in this repentance did consider the bitter Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, viz., what great anguish and torment he had suffered for its sake, in order to deliver it out of its anguish, and change it into the Image of God. In which consideration it wholly sank down, and did nothing but complain of its ignorance and negligence, and that it had not been thankful to its Redeemer, nor once considered the great love he had shown to it, but had idly spent its time, and not at all regarded how it might come to partake of his purchased and proffered Grace; but instead thereof had formed in itself the images and figures of earthly things, with the vain lusts and pleasures of the World. Whereby it had gotten such bestial inclinations that now it must lie captive in great misery, and for very shame dared not lift up its eyes to God, Who hid the light of his countenance from it and would not so much as look upon it. And as it was thus sighing and crying it was drawn into the Abyss or Pit of Horror, and laid as it were at the Gates of Hell there to perish. Upon which the poor troubled Soul was, as it were, bereft of sense, and wholly forsaken, so that it in a manner forgot all its doings, and would willingly yield itself to Death, and cease to be a Creature. Accordingly it did yield itself to Death, and desired nothing else but to die and perish in the Death of its Redeemer Jesus Christ, who had suffered such torments and death for its sake. And in this perishing it began to sigh and pray in itself very inwardly to the Divine Goodness, and to sink down into the mere Mercy of God.

Upon this there suddenly appeared unto it the Love of God, as a great Light which penetrated through it, and made it exceedingly joyful. It then began to pray aright, and to thank the Most High for such Grace, and to rejoice abundantly that it was delivered from the Death and Anguish of Hell. Now it tasted of the Sweetness of God, and of his promised Truth; and how all the evil Spirits which had harassed it before, and kept it back from the Grace, Love, and inward Presence of God, were forced to depart from it. The wedding of the Lamb was now kept and solemnised, that is, the Noble *Sophia* espoused or betrothed herself to the Soul, and the Seal-Ring of Christ's victory was impressed into its Essence, and it was received to be a Child and Heir of God again.

When this was done the Soul became very joyful, and began to work in this new power, and to celebrate with praise the wonders of God, and thought thenceforth to walk continually in the same Light, Strength, and Joy. But it was soon assaulted: from *without* by the shame and reproach of the World, and from *within* by great temptation, so that it began to doubt whether its ground was truly from God, and whether it had really partaken of his Grace. For the accuser Satan went to it, and would fain lead it out of its course, and make it doubtful whether it was the true way, whispering thus to it inwardly; *This happy change in thy Spirit is not from God, but only from thy own imagination.* Also the Divine Light retired in the Soul, and shone but in the inward ground, as fire raked up in embers, so that Reason was perplexed, and thought itself forsaken, and the Soul knew not what had happened to itself, nor whether it had really and truly tasted of the heavenly gift or not. Yet it could not leave off struggling; for the burning Fire of Love was sown in it, which had raised in it a vehement and continual Hunger and Thirst after the Divine Sweetness. So at length it began to pray aright, and to humble itself in the Presence of God, and to examine and try its evil inclinations and thoughts, and to put them away. By which means the Will of Reason was broken, and the evil inclinations inherent in it were killed and extirpated more and more. This process was very severe and painful to the Nature of the Body, for it made it faint and weak as if it had been very sick; and yet it was no natural sickness that it had, but only the melancholy of its earthly Nature, feeling and lamenting the destruction of its evil lusts.

Now when the earthly Reason found itself thus forsaken, and the poor Soul saw that it was despised outwardly and derided by the World, because it would walk no longer in the way of Wickedness and Vanity; and also that it was inwardly assaulted by the accuser Satan, who mocked it, and continually set before it the beauty, riches and glory of the World, and called it a fool for not embracing them; it began to think and say thus within itself: *O eternal God, what shall I now do to come to Rest?*

The enlightened Soul met it again and spoke to it

While it was in this consideration, the enlightened Soul met with it again, and said: What ailest thou, my Brother, that thou art so heavy and sad!

The distressed Soul said

I have followed thy counsel, and thereby attained a ray or emanation of the Divine Sweetness, but it is gone from me again, and I am now deserted. Moreover I have outwardly very great trials and afflictions in the World, for all my good friends forsake and scorn me; and am also inwardly assaulted with anguish and doubt, and know not what to do.

The enlightened Soul said

Now I like thee very well; for now our beloved Lord Jesus Christ is performing that Pilgrimage or Process on Earth with thee and in thee, which he did himself when he was in this World, who was continually reviled, despised, and evil spoken of, and had nothing of his own in it; and now thou bearest his mark or badge. But do not wonder at it, or think it strange; for it must be so, in order that thou mayst be tried, refined, and purified. In this Anguish and Distress thou wilt necessarily hunger and cry after deliverance; and by such Hunger and Prayer thou wilt attract Grace to thee both from within and from without. For thou must grow from above and from beneath to be the Image of God again. Just as a young plant is agitated by the wind, and must stand its ground in heat and cold, drawing strength and virtue to it from above and from beneath by that agitation, and must endure many a tempest, and undergo much danger before it can come to be a tree and bring forth much fruit. For through that agitation the virtue of the sun moveth in the plant, whereby its wild properties  come to be penetrated and tinctured with the solar virtue, and grow thereby.

And this is the time wherein thou must play the part of a valiant soldier in the Spirit of Christ, and co-operate thyself therewith. For now the Eternal Father by his fiery Power begetteth his Son in thee, who changeth the Fire of the Father, namely, the first Principle, or Wrathful Property of the Soul, into the Flame of Love, so that out of Fire and Light (viz. Wrath and Love) there cometh to be one Essence, Being, or Substance, which is the true Temple of God. And now thou shalt bud forth out of the Vine Christ, in the Vineyard of God, and bring forth fruit in thy life, and by assisting and instructing others, show forth thy Love in abundance, as a good tree. For Paradise must then spring up again in thee, through the Wrath of God, and Hell be changed into Heaven in thee. Therefore be not dismayed at the temptations of the Devil, who seeketh and striveth for the Kingdom which he once had in thee, but, having now lost it, must be confounded, and depart from thee. And he covereth thee outwardly with the shame and reproach of the World, that his own shame may not be known, and that thou mayst be hidden to the World. For with thy New Birth or regenerated Nature thou art in the Divine Harmony in Heaven.  Be patient, therefore, and wait upon the Lord, and whatsoever shall befall thee, take it all from his hands as intended by him for thy highest good. And so the enlightened Soul departed from it.

The distressed Soul's course

The distressed Soul began its course now under the patient Suffering of Christ, and depending solely upon the Strength and Power of God in it, entered into Hope. Thenceforth it grew stronger every day, and its evil inclinations died more and more in it. So that it arrived at length to a high state or degree of Grace; and the Gates of the Divine Revelation and the Kingdom of Heaven were opened to and manifested in it.

And thus the Soul, through Repentance, Faith, and Prayer, returned to its true Rest, and became a right and beloved Child of God again; to which may He of his infinite Mercy help us all. Amen.



# THE CORPUS HERMETICUM

## Contents

- An Introduction To The Corpus Hermeticum
- Poemandres, The Shepherd Of Men
- To Asclepius
- The Sacred Sermon
- The Cup Or Monad
- Though Unmanifest God Is Most Manifest
- In God Alone Is Good And Elsewhere Nowhere
- The Greatest Ill Among Men Is Ignorance Of God
- That No One Of Existing Things Doth Perish, But Men In Error Speak Of Their Changes As Destructions And As Deaths
- On Thought And Sense
- The Key
- Mind Unto Hermes
- About The Common Mind
- The Secret Sermon On The Mountain
- A Letter Of Thrice-Greatest Hermes To Asclepius
- The Definitions Of Asclepius Unto King Ammon
- Of Asclepius To The King
- The Encomium Of Kings
- The Perfect Sermon Or The Asclepius

## An Introduction To The Corpus Hermeticum

The fifteen tractates of the Corpus Hermeticum, along with the Perfect Sermon or Asclepius, are the foundation documents of the Hermetic tradition. Written by unknown authors in Egypt sometime before the end of the third century C.E., they were part of a once substantial literature attributed to the mythic figure of Hermes Trismegistus, a Hellenistic fusion of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth.

This literature came out of the same religious and philosophical ferment that produced Neoplatonism, Christianity, and the diverse collection of teachings usually lumped together under the label "Gnosticism": a ferment which had its roots in the impact of Platonic thought on the older traditions of the Hellenized East. There are obvious connections and common themes linking each of these traditions, although each had its own answer to the major questions of the time.

The treatises we now call the Corpus Hermeticum were collected into a single volume in Byzantine times, and a copy of this volume survived to come into the hands of Lorenzo de Medici's agents in the fifteenth century. Marsilio Ficino, the head of the Florentine Academy, was pulled off the task of translating the dialogues of Plato in order to put the Corpus Hermeticum into Latin first. His translation saw print in 1463, and was reprinted at least twenty-two times over the next century and a half.

The treatises divide up into several groups. The first (CH I), the "Poemandres", is the account of a revelation given to Hermes Trismegistus by the being Poemandres or "Man-Shepherd", an expression of the universal Mind. The next eight (CH II-IX), the "General Sermons", are short dialogues or lectures discussing various basic points of Hermetic philosophy. There follows the "Key" (CH X), a summary of the General Sermons, and after this a set of four tractates - "Mind unto Hermes", "About the Common Mind", "The Secret Sermon on the Mountain", and the "Letter of Hermes to Asclepius" (CH XI-XIV) - touching on the more mystical aspects of Hermeticism. The collection is rounded off by the "Definitions of Asclepius unto King Ammon" (CH XV), which may be composed of three fragments of longer works.

The Perfect Sermon

The Perfect Sermon or Asclepius, which is also included here, reached the Renaissance by a different route. It was translated into Latin in ancient times, reputedly by the same Lucius Apuleius of Madaura whose comic-serious masterpiece The Golden Ass provides some of the best surviving evidence on the worship of Isis in the Roman world. Augustine of Hippo quotes from the old Latin translation at length in his City of God, and copies remained in circulation in medieval Europe all the way up to the Renaissance. The original Greek version was lost, although quotations survive in several ancient sources.

The Perfect Sermon is substantially longer than any other surviving work of ancient Hermetic philosophy. It covers topics which also occur in the Corpus Hermeticum, but touches on several other issues as well - among them magical processes for the manufacture of gods and a long and gloomy prophecy of the decline of Hermetic wisdom and the end of the world.

The Significance of the Hermetic Writings

The Corpus Hermeticum landed like a well-aimed bomb amid the philosophical systems of late medieval Europe. Quotations from the Hermetic literature in the Church Fathers (who were never shy of leaning on pagan sources to prove a point) accepted a traditional chronology which dated "Hermes Trismegistus," as a historical figure, to the time of Moses. As a result, the Hermetic tractates' borrowings from Jewish scripture and Platonic philosophy were seen, in the Renaissance, as evidence that the Corpus Hermeticum had anticipated and influenced both. The Hermetic philosophy was seen as a primordial wisdom tradition, identified with the "Wisdom of the Egyptians" mentioned in Exodus and lauded in Platonic dialogues such as the Timaeus. It thus served as a useful club in the hands of intellectual rebels who sought to break the stranglehold of Aristotelian scholasticism on the universities at this time.

It also provided one of the most important weapons to another major rebellion of the age - the attempt to reestablish magic as a socially acceptable spiritual path in the Christian West. Another body of literature attributed to Hermes Trismegistus was made up of astrological, alchemical and magical texts. If, as the scholars of the Renaissance believed, Hermes was a historical person who had written all these things, and if Church Fathers had quoted his philosophical works with approval, and if those same works could be shown to be wholly in keeping with some definitions of Christianity, then the whole structure of magical Hermeticism could be given a second-hand legitimacy in a Christian context.

This didn't work, of course; the radical redefinition of Western Christianity that took place in the Reformation and Counter-Reformation hardened doctrinal barriers to the point that people were being burned in the sixteenth century for practices that were considered evidences of devoutness in the fourteenth. The attempt, though, made the language and concepts of the Hermetic tractates central to much of post-medieval magic in the West.

The Translation

The translation of the Corpus Hermeticum and Perfect Sermon given here is that of G.R.S. Mead (1863-1933), originally published as Vol. 2 of his Thrice Greatest Hermes (London, 1906). Mead was a close associate of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the founder and moving spirit of the Theosophical Society, and most of his considerable scholarly output was brought out under Theosophical auspices. The result, predictably, was that most of that output has effectively been blacklisted in academic circles ever since.

This is unfortunate, for Mead's translations of the Hermetic literature were until quite recently the best available in English. (They are still the best in the public domain; thus their use here.) The Everard translation of 1650, which is still in print, reflects the state of scholarship at the time it was made - which is only a criticism because a few things have been learned since then! The Walter Scott translation - despite the cover blurb on the recent Shambhala reprint, this is not the Sir Walter Scott of Ivanhoe fame - while more recent than Mead's, is a product of the "New Criticism" of the first half of this century, and garbles the text severely; scholars of Hermeticism of the caliber of Dame Frances Yates have labeled the Scott translation worthless. By contrast, a comparison of Mead's version to the excellent modern translation by Brian Copenhaver, or to the translations of CH I (Poemandres) and VII (The Greatest Ill Among Men is Ignorance of God) given in Bentley Layton's The Gnostic Scriptures, shows Mead as a capable translator, with a usually solid grasp of the meaning of these sometimes obscure texts.

There is admittedly one problem with Mead's translation: the aesthetics of the English text. Mead hoped, as he mentioned at the beginning of Thrice Greatest Hermes, to "render...these beautiful theosophic treatises into an English that might, perhaps, be thought in some small way worthy of the Greek originals." Unfortunately for this ambition, he was writing at a time when the last remnants of the florid and pompous Victorian style were fighting it out with the more straightforward colloquial prose that became the style of the new century. Caught in this tangle like so many writers of the time, Mead wanted to write in the grand style but apparently didn't know how. The result is a sometimes bizarre mishmash in which turn-of-the-century slang stands cheek by jowl with overblown phrases in King James Bible diction, and in which mishandled archaicisms, inverted word order, and poetic contractions render the text less than graceful - and occasionally less than readable. Seen from a late twentieth century sensibility, the result verges on unintentional self-parody in places: for example, where Mead uses the Scots contraction "ta'en" (for "taken"), apparently for sheer poetic color, calling up an image of Hermes Trismegistus in kilt and sporran.

The "poetic" word order is probably the most serious barrier to readability; it's a good rule, whenever the translation seems to descend into gibberish, to try shuffling the words of the sentence in question. It may also be worth noting that Mead consistently uses "for that" in place of "because" and "aught" in place of "any", and leaves out the word "the" more or less at random.

## Poemandres, The Shepherd Of Men

*Notes on the text: This is the most famous of the Hermetic documents, a revelation account describing a vision of the creation of the universe and the nature and fate of humanity. Authors from the Renaissance onward have been struck by the way in which its creation myth seems partly inspired by Genesis, partly reacting against it. The Fall has here become the descent of the Primal Man through the spheres of the planets to the world of Nature, a descent caused not by disobedience but by love, and done with the blessing of God.*

*The seven rulers of fate discussed in sections 9, 14 and 25 are the archons of the seven planets, which also appear in Plato's Timaeus and in a number of the ancient writings usually lumped together as "Gnostic". Their role here is an oddly ambivalent one, powers of Harmony who are nonetheless the sources of humanity's tendencies to evil.*

1. It chanced once on a time my mind was meditating on the things that are, my thought was raised to a great height, the senses of my body being held back - just as men who are weighed down with sleep after a fill of food, or from fatigue of body.

Methought a Being more than vast, in size beyond all bounds, called out my name and saith: What wouldst thou hear and see, and what hast thou in mind to learn and know?

2. And I do say: Who art thou?

He saith: I am Man-Shepherd (*Poemandres*), Mind of all-masterhood; I know what thou desirest and I am with thee everywhere.

3. [And] I reply: I long to learn the things that are, and comprehend their nature, and know God. This is, I said, what I desire to hear.

He answered back to me: Hold in thy mind all thou wouldst know, and I will teach thee.

4. Even with these words His aspect changed, and straightway, in the twinkling of an eye, all things were opened to me, and I see a Vision limitless, all things turned into Light - sweet, joyous [Light]. And I became transported as I gazed.

But in a little while Darkness came settling down on part [of it], awesome and gloomy, coiling in sinuous folds, so that methought it like unto a snake.

And then the Darkness changed into some sort of a Moist Nature, tossed about beyond all power of words, belching out smoke as from a fire, and groaning forth a wailing sound that beggars all description.

[And] after that an outcry inarticulate came forth from it, as though it were a Voice of Fire.

5. [Thereon] out of the Light [...] a Holy Word (Logos) descended on that Nature. And upwards to the height from the Moist Nature leaped forth pure Fire; light was it, swift and active too.

The Air, too, being light, followed after the Fire; from out of the Earth-and-Water rising up to Fire so that it seemed to hang therefrom.

But Earth-and-Water stayed so mingled with each other, that Earth from Water no one could discern. Yet were they moved to hear by reason of the Spirit-Word (Logos) pervading them.

6. Then saith to me Man-Shepherd: Didst understand this Vision what it means?

Nay; that shall I know, said I.

That Light, He said, am I, thy God, Mind, prior to Moist Nature which appeared from Darkness; the Light-Word (Logos) [that appeared] from Mind is Son of God.

What then? - say I.

Know that what sees in thee and hears is the Lord's Word (Logos); but Mind is Father-God. Not separate are they the one from other; just in their union [rather] is it Life consists.

Thanks be to Thee, I said.

So, understand the Light [He answered], and make friends with it.

7. And speaking thus He gazed for long into my eyes, so that I trembled at the look of him.

But when He raised His head, I see in Mind the Light, [but] now in Powers no man could number, and Cosmos grown beyond all bounds, and that the Fire was compassed round about by a most mighty Power, and [now] subdued had come unto a stand.

And when I saw these things I understood by reason of Man-Shepherd's Word (Logos).

8. But as I was in great astonishment, He saith to me again: Thou didst behold in Mind the Archetypal Form whose being is before beginning without end. Thus spake to me Man-Shepherd.

And I say: Whence then have Nature's elements their being?

To this He answer gives: From Will of God. [Nature] received the Word (Logos), and gazing upon the Cosmos Beautiful did copy it, making herself into a cosmos, by means of her own elements and by the births of souls.

9. And God-the-Mind, being male and female both, as Light and Life subsisting, brought forth another Mind to give things form, who, God as he was of Fire and Spirit, formed Seven Rulers who enclose the cosmos that the sense perceives. Men call their ruling Fate.

10. Straightway from out the downward elements God's Reason (Logos) leaped up to Nature's pure formation, and was at-oned with the Formative Mind; for it was co-essential with it. And Nature's downward elements were thus left reason-less, so as to be pure matter.

11. Then the Formative Mind ([at-oned] with Reason), he who surrounds the spheres and spins them with his whorl, set turning his formations, and let them turn from a beginning boundless unto an endless end. For that the circulation of these [spheres] begins where it doth end, as Mind doth will.

And from the downward elements Nature brought forth lives reason-less; for He did not extend the Reason (Logos) [to them]. The Air brought forth things winged; the Water things that swim, and Earth-and-Water one from another parted, as Mind willed. And from her bosom Earth produced what lives she had, four-footed things and reptiles, beasts wild and tame.

12. But All-Father Mind, being Life and Light, did bring forth Man co-equal to Himself, with whom He fell in love, as being His own child; for he was beautiful beyond compare, the Image of his Sire. In very truth, God fell in love with his own Form; and on him did bestow all of His own formations.

13. And when he gazed upon what the Enformer had created in the Father, [Man] too wished to enform; and [so] assent was given him by the Father.

Changing his state to the formative sphere, in that he was to have his whole authority, he gazed upon his Brother's creatures. They fell in love with him, and gave him each a share of his own ordering.

And after that he had well learned their essence and had become a sharer in their nature, he had a mind to break right through the Boundary of their spheres, and to subdue the might of that which pressed upon the Fire.

14. So he who hath the whole authority over [all] the mortals in the cosmos and over its lives irrational, bent his face downwards through the Harmony, breaking right through its strength, and showed to downward Nature God's fair form.

And when she saw that Form of beauty which can never satiate, and him who [now] possessed within himself each single energy of [all seven] Rulers as well as God's own Form, she smiled with love; for it was as though she hadd seen the image of Man's fairest form upon her Water, his shadow on her Earth.

He in turn beholding the form like to himself, existing in her, in her Water, loved it and willed to live in it; and with the will came act, and [so] he vivified the form devoid of reason.

And Nature took the object of her love and wound herself completely around him, and they were intermingled, for they were lovers.

15. And this is why beyond all creatures on the earth man is twofold; mortal because of body, but because of the essential man immortal.

Though deathless and possessed of sway over all, yet doth he suffer as a mortal doth, subject to Fate.

Thus though above the Harmony, within the Harmony he hath become a slave. Though male-female, as from a Father male-female, and though he is sleepless from a sleepless [Sire], yet is he overcome [by sleep].

16. Thereon [I say: Teach on], O Mind of me, for I myself as well am amorous of the Word (Logos).

The Shepherd said: This is the mystery kept hid until this day.

Nature embraced by Man brought forth a wonder, oh so wonderful. For as he had the nature of the Concord of the Seven, who, as I said to thee, [were made] of Fire and Spirit - Nature delayed not, but immediately brought forth seven "men", in correspondence with the natures of the Seven, male-female and moving in the air.

Thereon [I said]: O Shepherd, ..., for now I am filled with great desire and long to hear; do not run off.

The Shepherd said: Keep silence, for not as yet have I unrolled for thee the first discourse (logoi).

Lo! I am still, I said.

17. In such wise than, as I have said, the generation of these seven came to pass. Earth was as woman, her Water filled with longing; ripeness she took from Fire, spirit from Aether. Nature thus brought forth frames to suit the form of Man.

And Man from Light and Life changed into soul and mind - from Life to soul, from Light to mind.

And thus continued all the sense-world's parts until the period of their end and new beginnings.

18. Now listen to the rest of the discourse (Logos) which thou dost long to hear.

The period being ended, the bond that bound them all was loosened by God's Will. For all the animals being male-female, at the same time with Man were loosed apart; some became partly male, some in like fashion [partly] female. And straightway God spake by His Holy Word (Logos):

"Increase ye in increasing, and multiply in multitude, ye creatures and creations all; and man that hath Mind in him, let him learn to know that he himself is deathless, and that the cause of death is love, though Love is all."

19. When He said this, His Forethought did by means of Fate and Harmony effect their couplings and their generations founded. And so all things were multiplied according to their kind.

And he who thus hath learned to know himself, hath reached that Good which doth transcend abundance; but he who through a love that leads astray, expends his love upon his body - he stays in Darkness wandering, and suffering through his senses things of Death.

20. What is the so great fault, said I, the ignorant commit, that they should be deprived of deathlessness?

Thou seemest, He said, O thou, not to have given heed to what thou heardest. Did I not bid thee think?

Yea do I think, and I remember, and therefore give Thee thanks.

If thou didst think [thereon], [said He], tell me: Why do they merit death who are in Death?

It is because the gloomy Darkness is the root and base of the material frame; from it came the Moist Nature; from this the body in the sense-world was composed; and from this [body] Death doth the Water drain.

21. Right was thy thought, O thou! But how doth "he who knows himself, go unto Him", as God's Word (Logos) hath declared?

And I reply: the Father of the universals doth consist of Light and Life, from Him Man was born.

Thou sayest well, [thus] speaking. Light and Life is Father-God, and from Him Man was born.

If then thou learnest that thou art thyself of Life and Light, and that thou [happenest] to be out of them, thou shalt return again to Life. Thus did Man-Shepherd speak.

But tell me further, Mind of me, I cried, how shall I come to Life again...for God doth say: "The man who hath Mind in him, let him learn to know that he himself [is deathless]."

22. Have not all men then Mind?

Thou sayest well, O thou, thus speaking. I, Mind, myself am present with holy men and good, the pure and merciful, men who live piously.

[To such] my presence doth become an aid, and straightway they gain gnosis of all things, and win the Father's love by their pure lives, and give Him thanks, invoking on Him blessings, and chanting hymns, intent on Him with ardent love.

And ere they give up the body unto its proper death, they turn them with disgust from its sensations, from knowledge of what things they operate. Nay, it is I, the Mind, that will not let the operations which befall the body, work to their [natural] end. For being door-keeper I will close up [all] the entrances, and cut the mental actions off which base and evil energies induce.

23. But to the Mind-less ones, the wicked and depraved, the envious and covetous, and those who mured do and love impiety, I am far off, yielding my place to the Avenging Daimon, who sharpening the fire, tormenteth him and addeth fire to fire upon him, and rusheth upon him through his senses, thus rendering him readier for transgressions of the law, so that he meets with greater torment; nor doth he ever cease to have desire for appetites inordinate, insatiately striving in the dark.

24. Well hast thou taught me all, as I desired, O Mind. And now, pray, tell me further of the nature of the Way Above as now it is [for me].

To this Man-Shepherd said: When the material body is to be dissolved, first thou surrenderest the body by itself unto the work of change, and thus the form thou hadst doth vanish, and thou surrenderest thy way of life, void of its energy, unto the Daimon. The body's senses next pass back into their sources, becoming separate, and resurrect as energies; and passion and desire withdraw unto that nature which is void of reason.

25. And thus it is that man doth speed his way thereafter upwards through the Harmony.

To the first zone he gives the Energy of Growth and Waning; unto the second [zone], Device of Evils [now] de-energized; unto the third, the Guile of the Desires de-energized; unto the fourth, his Domineering Arrogance, [also] de-energized; unto the fifth, unholy Daring and the Rashness of Audacity, de-energized; unto the sixth, Striving for Wealth by evil means, deprived of its aggrandizement; and to the seventh zone, Ensnaring Falsehood, de-energized.

26. And then, with all the energisings of the harmony stript from him, clothed in his proper Power, he cometh to that Nature which belongs unto the Eighth, and there with those-that-are hymneth the Father.

They who are there welcome his coming there with joy; and he, made like to them that sojourn there, doth further hear the Powers who are above the Nature that belongs unto the Eighth, singing their songs of praise to God in language of their own.

And then they, in a band, go to the Father home; of their own selves they make surrender of themselves to Powers, and [thus] becoming Powers they are in God. This the good end for those who have gained Gnosis - to be made one with God.

Why shouldst thou then delay? Must it not be, since thou hast all received, that thou shouldst to the worthy point the way, in order that through thee the race of mortal kind may by [thy] God be saved?

27. This when He had said, Man-Shepherd mingled with the Powers.

But I, with thanks and belssings unto the Father of the universal [Powers], was freed, full of the power he had poured into me, and full of what He had taught me of the nature of the All and of the loftiest Vision.

And I began to preach unto men the Beauty of Devotion and of Gnosis:

O ye people, earth-born folk, ye who have given yourselves to drunkenness and sleep and ignorance of God, be sober now, cease from your surfeit, cease to be glamoured by irrational sleep!

28. And when they heard, they came with one accord. Whereon I say:

Ye earth-born folk, why have ye given yourselves up to Death, while yet ye have the power of sharing Deathlessness? Repent, O ye, who walk with Error arm in arm and make of Ignorance the sharer of your board; get ye out from the light of Darkness, and take your part in Deathlessness, forsake Destruction!

29. And some of them with jests upon their lips departed [from me], abandoning themselves unto the Way of Death; others entreated to be taught, casting themselves before my feet.

But I made them arise, and I became a leader of the Race towards home, teaching the words (logoi), how and in what way they shall be saved. I sowed in them the words (logoi) of wisdom; of Deathless Water were they given to drink.

And when even was come and all sun's beams began to set, I bade them all give thanks to God. And when they had brought to an end the giving of their thanks, each man returned to his own resting place.

30. But I recorded in my heart Man-Shepherd's benefaction, and with my every hope fulfilled more than rejoiced. For body's sleep became the soul's awakening, and closing of the eyes - true vision, pregnant with Good my silence, and the utterance of my word (logos) begetting of good things.

All this befell me from my Mind, that is Man-Shepherd, Word (Logos) of all masterhood, by whom being God-inspired I came unto the Plain of Truth. Wherefore with all my soul and strength thanksgiving give I unto Father-God.

31. Holy art Thou, O God, the universals' Father.

Holy art Thou, O God, whose Will perfects itself by means of its own Powers.

Holy art Thou, O God, who willeth to be known and art known by Thine own.

Holy art Thou,who didst by Word (Logos) make to consist the things that are.

Holy art Thou, of whom All-nature hath been made an image.

Holy art Thou, whose Form Nature hath never made.

Holy art Thou, more powerful than all power.

Holy art Thou, transcending all pre-eminence.

Holy Thou art, Thou better than all praise.

Accept my reason's offerings pure, from soul and heart for aye stretched up to Thee, O Thou unutterable, unspeakable, Whose Name naught but the Silence can express.

32. Give ear to me who pray that I may never of Gnosis fail, [Gnosis] which is our common being's nature; and fill me with Thy Power, and with this Grace [of Thine], that I may give the Light to those in ignorance of the Race, my Brethren, and Thy Sons.

For this cause I believe, and I bear witness; I go to Life and Light. Blessed art Thou, O Father. Thy Man would holy be as Thou art holy, even as Thou gave him Thy full authority [to be].

## To Asclepius

*Notes on the text: This dialogue sets forth the difference between the physical and metaphysical worlds in the context of Greek natural philosophy. Some of the language is fairly technical: the "errant spheres" of sections 6 and 7 are the celestial spheres carrying the planets, while the "inerrant sphere" is that of the fixed stars. It is useful to keep in mind, also, that "air" and "spirit" are interchangeable concepts in Greek thought, and that the concept of the Good has a range of implications which don't come across in the English word: one is that the good of any being, in Greek thought, was also that being's necessary goal.*

1. *Hermes:* All that is moved, Asclepius, is it not moved in something and by something?

*Asclepius:* Assuredly.

*H:* And must not that in which it's moved be greater than the moved?

*A:*It must.

*H:* Mover, again, has greater power than moved?

*A:*It has, of course.

*H:* The nature, furthermore, of that in which it's moved must be quite other from the nature of the moved?

*A:*It must completely.

2. *H:* Is not, again, this cosmos vast, [so vast] that than it there exists no body greater?

*A:*Assuredly.

*H:* And massive, too, for it is crammed with multitudes of other mighty frames, nay, rather all the other bodies that there are?

*A:*It is.

*H:* And yet the cosmos is a body?

*A:*It is a body.

*H:* And one that's moved?

3. *A:*Assuredly.

*H:* Of what size, then, must be the space in which it's moved, and of what kind [must be] the nature [of that space]? Must it not be far vaster [than the cosmos], in order that it may be able to find room for its continued course, so that the moved may not be cramped for want of room and lose its motion?

*A:*Something, Thrice-greatest one, it needs must be, immensely vast.

4. *H:* And of what nature? Must it not be, Asclepius, of just the contrary? And is not contrary to body bodiless?

*A:*Agreed.

*H:* Space, then, is bodiless. But bodiless must either be some godlike thing or God [Himself]. And by "some godlike thing" I mean no more the generable [i.e., that which is generated] but the ingenerable.

5. If, then, space be some godlike thing, it is substantial; but if 'tis God [Himself], it transcends substance. But it is to be thought of otherwise [than God], and in this way.

God is first "thinkable" <or "intelligible"> for us, not for Himself, for that the thing that's thought doth fall beneath the thinker's sense. God then cannot be "thinkable" unto Himself, in that He's thought of by Himself as being nothing else but what He thinks. But he is "something else" for us, and so He's thought of by us.

6. If space is, therefore, to be thought, [it should] not, [then, be thought as] God, but space. If God is also to be thought, [He should] not [be conceived] as space, but as energy that can contain [all space].

Further, all that is moved is moved not in the moved but in the stable. And that which moves [another] is of course stationary, for 'tis impossible that it should move with it.

*A:*How is it, then, that things down here, Thrice-greatest one, are moved with those that are [already] moved? For thou hast said the errant spheres were moved by the inerrant one.

*H:* This is not, O Asclepius, a moving with, but one against; they are not moved with one another, but one against the other. It is this contrariety which turneth the resistance of their motion into rest. For that resistance is the rest of motion.

7. Hence, too, the errant spheres, being moved contrarily to the inerrant one, are moved by one another by mutual contrariety, [and also] by the spable one through contrariety itself. And this can otherwise not be.

The Bears up there <i.e., Ursa Major and Minor>, which neither set nor rise, think'st thou they rest or move?

*A:*They move, Thrice-greatest one.

*H:* And what their motion, my Asclepius?

*A:*Motion that turns for ever round the same.

*H:* But revolution - motion around same - is fixed by rest. For "round-the-same" doth stop "beyond-same". "Beyond-same" then, being stopped, if it be steadied in "round-same" - the contrary stands firm, being rendered ever stable by its contrariety.

8. Of this I'll give thee here on earth an instance, which the eye can see. Regard the animals down here - a man, for instance, swimming! The water moves, yet the resistance of his hands and feet give him stability, so that he is not borne along with it, nor sunk thereby.

*A:*Thou hast, Thrice-greatest one, adduced a most clear instance.

*H:* All motion, then, is caused in station and by station.

The motion, therefore, of the cosmos (and of every other hylic <i.e., material> animal) will not be caused by things exterior to the cosmos, but by things interior [outward] to the exterior - such [things] as soul, or spirit, or some such other thing incorporeal.

'Tis not the body that doth move the living thing in it; nay, not even the whole [body of the universe a lesser] body e'en though there be no life in it.

9. *A:*What meanest thou by this, Thrice-greatest one? Is it not bodies, then, that move the stock and stone and all the other things inanimate?

*H:* By no means, O Asclepius. The something-in-the-body, the that-which-moves the thing inanimate, this surely's not a body, for that it moves the two of them - both body of the lifter and the lifted? So that a thing that's lifeless will not move a lifeless thing. That which doth move [another thing] is animate, in that it is the mover.

Thou seest, then, how heavy laden is the soul, for it alone doth lift two bodies. That things, moreover, moved are moved in something as well as moved by something is clear.

10. *A:*Yea, O Thrice-greatest one, things moved must needs be moved in something void.

*H:* Thou sayest well, O [my] Asclepius! For naught of things that are is void. Alone the "is-not" is void [and] stranger to subsistence. For that which is subsistent can never change to void.

*A:*Are there, then, O Thrice-greatest one, no such things as an empty cask, for instance, and an empty jar, a cup and vat, and other things like unto them?

*H:* Alack, Asclepius, for thy far-wandering from the truth! Think'st thou that things most full and most replete are void?

11. *A:*How meanest thou, Thrice-greatest one?

*H:* Is not air body?

*A:*It is.

*H:* And doth this body not pervade all things, and so, pervading, fill them? And "body"; doth body not consist from blending of the "four" <elements>? Full, then, of air are all thou callest void; and if of air, then of the "four".

Further, of this the converse follows, that all thou callest full are void - of air; for that they have their space filled out with other bodies, and, therefore, are not able to receive the air therein. These, then, which thou dost say are void, they should be hollow named, not void; for they not only are, but they are full of air and spirit.

12. *A:*Thy argument (logos), Thrice-greatest one, is not to be gainsaid; air is a body. Further, it is this body which doth pervade all things, and so, pervading, fill them. What are we, then, to call that space in which the all doth move?

*H:* The bodiless, Asclepius.

*A:*What, then, is Bodiless?

*H:* 'Tis Mind and Reason (logos), whole out of whole, all self-embracing, free from all body, from all error free, unsensible to body and untouchable, self stayed in self, containing all, preserving those that are, whose rays, to use a likeness, are Good, Truth, Light beyond light, the Archetype of soul.

*A:*What, then, is God?

13. *H:* Not any one of these is He; for He it is that causeth them to be, both all and each and every thing of all that are. Nor hath He left a thing beside that is-not; but they are all from things-that-are and not from things-that-are-not. For that the things-that-are-not have naturally no power of being anything, but naturally have the power of the inability-to-be. And, conversely, the things-that-are have not the nature of some time not-being.

14. *A:*What say'st thou ever, then, God is?

*H:* God, therefore, is not Mind, but Cause that the Mind is; God is not Spirit, but Cause that Spirit is; God is not Light, but Cause that the Light is. Hence one should honor God with these two names [the Good and Father] - names which pertain to Him alone and no one else.

For no one of the other so-called gods, no one of men, or daimones, can be in any measure Good, but God alone; and He is Good alone and nothing else. The rest of things are separable all from the Good's nature; for [all the rest] are soul and body, which have no place that can contain the Good.

15. For that as mighty is the Greatness of the Good as is the Being of all things that are - both bodies and things bodiless, things sensible and intelligible things. Call thou not, therefore, aught else Good, for thou would'st imious be; nor anything at all at any time call God but Good alone, for so thou would'st again be impious.

16. Though, then, the Good is spoken of by all, it is not understood by all, what thing it is. Not only, then, is God not understood by all, but both unto the gods and some of the men they out of ignorance do give the name of Good, though they can never either be or become Good. For they are very different from God, while Good can never be distinguished from Him, for that God is the same as Good.

The rest of the immortal ones are nonetheless honored with the name of God, and spoken of as gods; but God is Good not out of courtesy but out of nature. For that God's nature and the Good is one; one os the kind of both, from which all other kinds [proceed].

The Good is he who gives all things and naught receives. God, then, doth give all things and receive naught. God, then, is Good, and Good is God.

17. The other name of God is Father, again because He is the that-which-maketh-all. The part of father is to make.

Wherefore child-making is a very great and a most pious thing in life for them who think aright, and to leave life on earth without a child a very great misfortune and impiety; and he who hath no child is punished by the daimones after death. And this is the punishment: that that man's soul who hath no child, shall be condemned unto a body with neither man's nor woman's nature, a thing accursed beneath the sun.

Wherefore, Asclepius, let not your sympathies be with the man who hath no child, but rather pity his mishap, knowing what punishment abides for him.

Let all that has been said then, be to thee, Asclepius, an introduction to the gnosis of the nature of all things.

## The Sacred Sermon

*Notes on the text: This brief (and possibly somewhat garbled) text recounts the creation and nature of the world in terms much like those of the Poemandres. The major theme is the renewal of all things in a cyclic universe, with the seven planetary rulers again playing a major role.*

1. The Glory of all things is God, Godhead and Godly Nature. Source of the things that are is God, who is both Mind and Nature - yea Matter, the Wisdom that reveals all things. Source [too] is Godhead - yea Nature, Energy, Necessity, and End, and Making-new-again.

Darkness that knew no bounds was in Abyss, and Water [too] and subtle Breath intelligent; these were by Power of God in Chaos.

Then Holy Light arose; and there collected 'neath Dry Space <literally: "sand"> from out Moist Essence Elements; and all the Gods do separate things out from fecund Nature.

2. All things being undefined and yet unwrought, the light things were assigned unto the height, the heavy ones had their foundations laid down underneath the moist part of Dry Space, the universal things being bounded off by Fire and hanged in Breath to keep them up.

And Heaven was seen in seven circles; its Gods were visible in forms of stars with all their signs; while Nature had her members made articulate together with the Gods in her. And [Heaven's] periphery revolved in cyclic course, borne on by Breath of God.

3. And every God by his own proper power brought forth what was appointed him. Thus there arose four-footed beasts, and creeping things, and those that in the water dwell, and things with wings, and everything that beareth seed, and grass, and shoot of every flower, all having in themselves seed of again-becoming.

And they selected out the births of men for gnosis of the works of God and attestation of the energy of Nature; the multitude of men for lordship over all beneath the heaven and gnosis of its blessings, that they might increase in increasing and multiply in multitude, and every soul infleshed by revolution of the Cyclic Gods, for observation of the marvels of Heaven and Heaven's Gods' revolution, and of the works of God and energy of Nature, for tokens of its blessings, for gnosis of the power of God, that they might know the fates that follow good and evil [deeds] and learn the cunning work of all good arts.

4. [Thus] there begins their living and their growing wise, according to the fate appointed by the revolution of the Cyclic Gods, and their deceasing for this end.

And there shall be memorials mighty of their handiworks upon the earth, leaving dim trace behind when cycles are renewed.

For every birth of flesh ensouled, and of the fruit of seed, and every handiwork, though it decay, shall of necessity renew itself, both by the renovation of the Gods and by the turning-round of Nature's rhythmic wheel.

For that whereas the Godhead is Nature's ever-making-new-again the cosmic mixture, Nature herself is also co-established in that Godhead.

## The Cup Or Monad

*Notes on the text: This short text gives an unusually lucid overview of the foundations of Hermetic thought. The stress on rejection of the body and its pleasures, and on the division of humanity into those with Mind and those without, are reminiscent of some of the so-called "Gnostic" writings of the same period. The idea that the division is a matter of choice, on the other hand, is a pleasant variation on the almost Calvinist flavor of writings such as the Apocalypse ofAdam.*

*Mead speculates that the imagery of the Cup in this text may have a distant connection, by way of unorthodox ideas about Communion, with the legends of the Holy Grail.*

1. Hermes: With Reason (Logos), not with hands, did the World-maker make the universal World; so that thou shouldst think of him as everywhere and ever-being, the Author of all things, and One and Only, who by His Will all beings hath created.

This Body of Him is a thing no man can touch, or see, or measure, a body inextensible, like to no other frame. 'Tis neither Fire nor Water, Air nor Breath; yet all of them come from it. Now being Good he willed to consecrate this [Body] to Himself alone, and set its Earth in order and adorn it.

2. So down [to Earth] He sent the Cosmos of this Frame Divine - man, a life that cannot die, and yet a life that dies. And o'er [all other] lives and over Cosmos [too], did man excel by reason of the Reason (Logos) and the Mind. For contemplator of God's works did man become; he marvelled and did strive to know their Author.

3. Reason (Logos) indeed, O Tat, among all men hath He distributed, but Mind not yet; not that He grudgeth any, for grudging cometh not from Him, but hath its place below, within the souls of men who have no Mind.

Tat: Why then did God, O father, not on all bestow a share of Mind?

H: He willed, my son, to have it set up in the midst for souls, just as it were a prize.

4. T: And where hath He set it up?

H: He filled a mighty Cup with it, and sent it down, joining a Herald [to it], to whom He gave command to make this proclamation to the hearts of men:

Baptize thyself with this Cup's baptism, what heart can do so, thou that hast faith thou canst ascend to him that hath sent down the Cup, thou that dost know for what thoudidst come into being!

As many then as understood the Herald's tidings and doused themselves in Mind, became partakers in the Gnosis; and when they had "received the Mind" they were made "perfect men".

But they who do not understand the tidings, these, since they possess the aid of Reason [only] and not Mind, are ignorant wherefor they have come into being and whereby.

5. The senses of such men are like irrational creatures'; and as their [whole] make-up is in their feelings and their impulses, they fail in all appreciation of <lit.: "they do not wonder at"> those things which really are worth contemplation. These center all their thought upon the pleasures of the body and its appetites, in the belief that for its sake man hath come into being.

But they who have received some portion of God's gift, these, Tat, if we judge by their deeds, have from Death's bonds won their release; for they embrace in their own Mind all things, things on the earth, things in the heaven, and things above the heaven - if there be aught. And having raised themselves so far they sight the Good; and having sighted it, they look upon their sojourn here as a mischance; and in disdain of all, both things in body and the bodiless, they speed their way unto that One and Only One.

6. This is, O Tat, the Gnosis of the Mind, Vision of things Divine; God-knowledge is it, for the Cup is God's.

T: Father, I, too, would be baptized.

H: Unless thou first shall hate thy Body, son, thou canst not love thy Self. But if thou lov'st thy Self thou shalt have Mind, and having Mind thou shalt share in the Gnosis.

T: Father, what dost thou mean?

H: It is not possible, my son, to give thyself to both - I mean to things that perish and to things divine. For seeing that existing things are twain, Body and Bodiless, in which the perishing and the divine are understood, the man who hath the will to choose is left the choice of one or the other; for it can never be the twain should meet. And in those souls to whom the choice is left, the waning of the one causes the other's growth to show itself.

7. Now the choosing of the Better not only proves a lot most fair for him who makes the choice, seeing it makes the man a God, but also shows his piety to God. Whereas the [choosing] of the Worse, although it doth destroy the "man", it doth only disturb God's harmony to this extent, that as processions pass by in the middle of the way, without being able to do anything but take the road from others, so do such men move in procession through the world led by their bodies' pleasures.

8. This being so, O Tat, what comes from God hath been and will be ours; but that which is dependent on ourselves, let this press onward and have no delay, for 'tis not God, 'tis we who are the cause of evil things, preferring them to good.

Thou see'st, son, how many are the bodies through which we have to pass, how many are the choirs of daimones, how vast the system of the star-courses [through which our Path doth lie], to hasten to the One and Only God.

For to the Good there is no other shore; It hath no bounds; It is without an end; and for Itself It is without beginning, too, though unto us it seemeth to have one - the Gnosis.

9. Therefore to It Gnosis is no beginning; rather is it [that Gnosis doth afford] to us the first beginning of its being known.

Let us lay hold, therefore, of the beginning. and quickly speed through all [we have to pass].

'Tis very hard, to leave the things we have grown used to, which meet our gaze on every side, and turn ourselves back to the Old Old [Path].

Appearances delight us, whereas things which appear not make their believing hard.

Now evils are the more apparent things, whereas the Good can never show Itself unto the eyes, for It hath neither form nor figure.

Therefore the Good is like Itself alone, and unlike all things else; or 'tis impossible that That which hath no body should make Itself apparent to a body.

10. The "Like's" superiority to the "Unlike" and the "Unlike's" inferiority unto the "Like" consists in this:

The Oneness being Source and Root of all, is in all things as Root and Source. Without [this] Source is naught; whereas the Source [Itself] is from naught but itself, since it is Source of all the rest. It is Itself Its Source, since It may have no other Source.

The Oneness then being Source, containeth every number, but is contained by none; engendereth every number, but is engendered by no other one.

11. Now all that is engendered is imperfect, it is divisible, to increase subject and to decrease; but with the Perfect [One] none of these things doth hold. Now that which is increasable increases from the Oneness, but succumbs through its own feebleness when it no longer can contain the One.

And now, O Tat, God's Image hath been sketched for thee, as far as it can be; and if thou wilt attentively dwell on it and observe it with thine heart's eyes, believe me, son, thou'lt find the Path that leads above; nay, that Image shall become thy Guide itself, because the Sight [Divine] hath this peculiar [charm], it holdeth fast and draweth unto it those who succeed in opening their eyes, just as, they say, the magnet [draweth] iron.

## Though Unmanifest God Is Most Manifest

1. I will recount to thee this sermon (logos) too, O Tat, that thou may'st cease to be without the mysteries of the God beyond all name. And mark thou well how that which to the many seems unmanifest, will grow most manifest for thee.

Now were it manifest, it would not be. For all that is made manifest is subject to becoming, for it hath been made manifest. But the Unmanifest for ever is, for It doth not desire to be made manifest. It ever is, and maketh manifest all other things.

Being Himself unmanifest, as ever being and ever making-manifest, Himself is not made manifest. God is not made Himself; by thinking-manifest <i.e., thinking into manifestation>, He thinketh all things manifest.

Now "thinking-manifest" deals with things made alone, for thinking-manifest is nothing else than making.

2. He, then, alone who is not made, 'tis clear, is both beyond all power of thinking-manifest, and is unmanifest.

And as He thinketh all things manifest, He manifests through all things and in all, and most of all in whatsoever things He wills to manifest.

Do thou, then, Tat, my son, pray first unto our Lord and Father, the One-and-Only One, from whom the One doth come, to show His mercy unto thee, in order that thou mayest have the power to catch a thought of this so mighty God, one single beam of Him to shine into thy thinking. For thought alone "sees" the Unmanifest, in that it is itself unmanifest.

If, then, thou hast the power, He will, Tat, manifest to thy mind's eyes. The Lord begrudgeth not Himself to anything, but manifests Himself through the whole world.

Thou hast the power of taking thought, of seeing it and grasping it in thy own "hands", and gazing face to face upon God's Image. But if what is within thee even is unmanifest to thee, how, then, shall He Himself who is within thy self be manifest for thee by means of [outer] eyes?

3. But if thou wouldst "see" him, bethink thee of the sun, bethink thee of moon's course, bethink thee of the order of the stars. Who is the One who watcheth o'er that order? For every order hath its boundaries marked out by place and number.

The sun's the greatest god of gods in heaven; to whom all of the heavenly gods give place as unto king and master. And he, this so-great one, he greater than the earth and sea, endures to have above him circling smaller stars than him. Out of respect to Whom, or out of fear of Whom, my son, [doth he do this]?

Nor like nor equal is the course each of these stars describes in heaven. Who [then] is He who marketh out the manner of their course and its extent?

4. The Bear up there that turneth round itself, and carries round the whole cosmos with it - Who is the owner of this instrument? Who He who hath set round the sea its bounds? Who He who hath set on its seat the earth?

For, Tat, there is someone who is the Maker and the Lord of all these things. It cound not be that number, place and measure could be kept without someone to make them. No order whatsoever could be made by that which lacketh place and lacketh measure; nay, even this is not without a lord, my son. For if the orderless lacks something, in that it is not lord of order's path, it also is beneath a lord - the one who hath not yet ordained it order.

5. Would that it were possible for thee to get thee wings, and soar into the air, and, poised midway 'tween earth and heaven, behold the earth's solidity, the sea's fluidity (the flowings of its streams), the spaciousness of air, fire's swiftness, [and] the coursing of the stars, the swiftness of heaven's circuit round them [all]!

Most blessed sight were it, my son, to see all these beneath one sway - the motionless in motion, and the unmanifest made manifest; whereby is made this order of the cosmos and the cosmos which we see of order.

6. If thou would'st see Him too through things that suffer death, both on the earth and in the deep, think of a man's being fashioned in the womb, my son, and strictly scrutinize the art of Him who fashions him, and learn who fashioneth this fair and godly image of the Man.

Who [then] is He who traceth out the circles of the eyes; who He who boreth out the nostrils and the ears; who He who openeth [the portal of] the mouth; who He who doth stretch out and tie the nerves; who He who channels out the veins; who He who hardeneth the bones; who He who covereth the flesh with skin; who He who separates the fingers and the joints; who He who widens out a treading for the feet; who He who diggeth out the ducts; who He who spreadeth out the spleen; who he who shapeth heart like to a pyramid; who He who setteth ribs together; who He who wideneth the liver out; who He who maketh lungs like to a sponge; who He who maketh belly stretch so much; who he who doth make prominent the parts most honorable, so that they may be seen, while hiding out of sight those of least honor?

7. Behold how many arts [employed] on one material, how many labors on one single sketch; and all exceeding fair, and all in perfect measure, yet all diversified! Who made them all? What mother, or what sire, save God alone, unmanifest, who hath made all things by His Will?

8. And no one saith a statue or a picture comes to be without a sculptor or [without] a painter; doth [then] such workmanship as this exist without a Worker? What depth of blindness, what deep impiety, what depth of ignorance! See, [then] thou ne'er, son Tat, deprivest works of Worker!

Nay, rather is He greater than all names, so great is He, the Father of them all. For verily He is the Only One, and this is His work, to be a father.

9. So, if thou forcest me somewhat too bold, to speak, His being is conceiving of all things and making [them].

And as without its maker its is impossible that anything should be, so ever is He not unless He ever makes all things, in heaven, in air, in earth, in deep, in all of cosmos, in every part that is and that is not of everything. For there is naught in all the world that is not He.

He is Himself, both things that are and things that are not. The things that are He hath made manifest, He keepeth things that are not in Himself.

10. He is the God beyond all name; He the unmanifest, He the most manifest; He whom the mind [alone] can contemplate, He visible to the eyes [as well]; He is the one of no body, the one of many bodies, nay, rather He of every body.

Naught is there which he is not. For all are He and He is all. And for this cause hath He all names, in that they are one Father's. And for this cause hath He Himself no nome, in that He's Father of [them] all.

Who, then, may sing Thee praise of Thee, or [praise] to Thee?

Whither, again, am I to turn my eyes to sing Thy praise; above, below, within, without?

There is no way, no place [is there] about Thee, nor any other thing of things that are.

All [are] in Thee; all [are] from Thee, O Thou who givest all and takest naught, for Thou hast all and naught is there Thou hast not.

11. And when, O Father, shall I hymn Thee? For none can seize Thy hour or time.

For what, again, shall I sing hymn? For things that Thou hast made, or things Thou hast not? For things Thou hast made manifest, or things Thou hast concealed?

How, further, shall I hymn Thee? As being of myself? As having something of mine own? As being other?

For that Thou art whatever I may be; Thou art whatever I may do; Thou art whatever I may speak.

For Thou art all, and there is nothing else which Thou art not. Thou art all that which doth exist, and Thou art what doth not exist - Mind when Thou thinkest, and Father when Thou makest, and God when Thou dost energize, and Good and Maker of all things.

For that the subtler part of matter is the air, of air the soul, of soul the mind, and of mind God.

## In God Alone Is Good And Elsewhere Nowhere

*Notes on the text: This sermon on the nature of the Good, like *To Asclepius (CH II)*, relies on the technical language of classical Greek philosophy - a point which some of Mead's translations tend to obscure. "The Good," in Greek thought, is also the self-caused and self-sufficient, and thus has little in common with later conceptions of "goodness," just as the Latin word virtus and the modern Christian concept of "virtue" are very nearly opposites despite their etymological connection. The word "passion" here also needs to be understood in its older sense, as the opposite of "action" (cf. "active" and "passive").*

*The negative attitude toward humanity and the cosmos which appears in this text contrasts sharply with the more positive assessment found, for example, in the *Poemandres (CH I)* or in the *Asclepius* - a reminder that these documents are relics of a diverse and not necessarily consistent school of thought*

1. Good, O Asclepius, is in none else save in God alone; nay, rather, Good is God Himself eternally.

If it be so, [Good] must be essence, from every kind of motion and becoming free (though naught is free from It), possessed of stable energy around Itself, never too little, nor too much, an ever-full supply. [Though] one, yet [is It] source of all; for what supplieth all is Good. When I, moreover, say [supplieth] altogether [all], it is for ever Good. But this belongs to no one else save God alone.

For He stands not in need of any thing, so that desiring it He should be bad; nor can a single thing of things that are be lost to him, on losing which He should be pained; for pain is part of bad.

Nor is there aught superior to Him, that He should be subdued by it; nor any peer to Him to do Him wrong, or [so that] He should fall in love on its account; nor aught that gives no ear to Him, whereat He should grow angry; nor wiser aught, for Him to envy.

2. Now as all these are non-existent in His being, what is there left but Good alone?

For just as naught of bad is to be found in such transcendent Being, so too in no one of the rest will Good be found.

For in them are all of the other things <i.e., those things which are not Good> - both in the little and the great, both in each severally and in this living one that's greater than them all and the mightiest [of them] <i.e., the cosmos>.

For things subject to birth abound in passions, birth in itself being passible. But where there's passion, nowhere is there Good; and where is Good, nowhere a single passion. For where is day, nowhere is night; and where is night, day is nowhere.

Wherefore in genesis the Good can never be, but only be in the ingenerate.

But seeing that the sharing in all things hath been bestowed on matter, so doth it share in Good.

In this way is the Cosmos Good; that, in so far as it doth make all things, as far as making goes it's Good, but in all other things it is not Good. For it's both passible and subject unto motion, and maker of things passible.

3. Whereas in man by greater or less of bad is good determined. For what is not too bad down here, is good, and good down here is the least part of bad.

It cannot, therefore, be that good down here should be quite clean of bad, for down here good is fouled with bad; and being fouled, it stays no longer good, and staying not it changes into bad.

In God alone, is, therefore, Good, or rather Good is God Himself.

So then, Asclepius, the name alone of Good is found in men, the thing itself nowhere [in them], for this can never be.

For no material body doth contain It - a thing bound on all sides by bad, by labors, pains, desires and passions, by error and by foolish thoughts.

And greatest ill of all, Asclepius, is that each of these things that have been said above, is thought down here to be the greatest good.

And what is still an even greater ill, is belly-lust, the error that doth lead the band of all the other ills - the thing that makes us turn down here from Good.

4. And I, for my part, give thanks to God, that He hath cast it in my mind about the Gnosis of the Good, that it can never be It should be in the world. For that the world is "fullness" of the bad, but God of Good, and Good of God.

The excellencies of the Beautiful are round the very essence [of the Good]; nay, they do seem too pure, too unalloyed; perchance 'tis they that are themselves Its essences.

For one may dare to say, Asclepius - if essence, sooth, He have - God's essence is the Beautiful; the Beautiful is further also Good.

There is no Good that can be got from objects in the world. For all the things that fall beneath the eye are image-things and pictures as it were; while those that do not meet [the eye are the realities], especially the [essence] of the Beautiful and Good.

Just as the eye cannot see God, so can it not behold the Beautiful and Good. For that they are integral parts of God, wedded to Him alone, inseparate familiars, most beloved, with whom God is Himself in love, or they with God.

5. If thou canst God conceive, thou shalt conceive the Beautiful and Good, transcending Light, made lighter than the Light by God. That Beauty is beyond compare, inimitate that Good, e'en as God is Himself.

As, then, thou dost conceive of God, conceive the Beautiful and Good. For they cannot be joined with aught of other things that live, since they can never be divorced from God.

Seek'st thou for God, thou seekest for the Beautiful. One is the Path that leadeth unto It - Devotion joined with Gnosis.

6. And thus it is that they who do not know and do not tread Devotion's Path, do dare to call man beautiful and good, though he have ne'er e'en in his visions seen a whit that's Good, but is enveloped with every kind of bad, and thinks the bad is good, and thus doth make unceasing use of it, and even feareth that it should be ta'en from him, so straining every nerve not only to preserve but even to increase it.

Such are the things that men call good and beautiful, Asclepius - things which we cannot flee or hate; for hardest thing of all is that we've need of them and cannot live without them.

## The Greatest Ill Among Men Is Ignorance Of God

1. Whither stumble ye, sots, who have sopped up the wine of ignorance and can so far not carry it that ye already even spew it forth?

Stay ye, be sober, gaze upwards with the [true] eyes of the heart! And if ye cannot all, yet ye at least who can!

For that the ill of ignorance doth pour o'er all the earth and overwhelm the soul that's battened down within the body, preventing it from fetching port within Salvation's harbors.

2. Be ye then not carried off by the fierce flood, but using the shore-current <lit., "back-current" or "up-current">, ye who can, make for Salvation's port, and, harboring there, seek ye for one to take you by the hand and lead you unto Gnosis' gates.

Where shines clear Light, of every darkness clean; where not a single soul is drunk, but sober all they gaze with their hearts' eyes on Him who willeth to be seen.

No ear can hear Him, nor can eye see Him, nor tongue speak of Him, but [only] mind and heart.

But first thou must tear off from thee the cloak which thou dost wear - the web of ignorance, the ground of bad, corruption's chain, the carapace of darkness, the living death, sensation's corpse, the tomb thou carriest with thee, the robber in thy house, who through the things he loveth, hateth thee, and through the things he hateth, bears thee malice.

3. Such is the hateful cloak thou wearest - that throttles thee [and holds thee] down to it, in order that thou may'st not gaze above, and having seen the Beauty of the Truth, and Good that dwells therein, detest the bad of it; having found out the plot that it hath schemed against thee, by making void of sense those seeming things which men think senses.

For that it hath with mass of matter blocked them up and crammed them full of loathsome lust, so that thou may'st not hear about the things that thou should'st hear, nor see the things thou should'st see.

## That No One Of Existing Things Doth Perish, But Men In Error Speak Of Their Changes As Destructions And As Deaths

*Notes on the text: The idea of cyclic change central to CH III, "The Sacred Sermon", also takes center stage here. A current of ancient speculation grounded in astrology held that as the planets returned after vast cycles of time to the same positions, so all events on earth would repeat themselves precisely into eternity in the future - and had done so from eternity in the past. The technical term for this recurrence, apocatastasis, is the word Mead translates as "restoration" in the beginning of section 4.*

*Mead footnotes this tractate as "obscure" and "faulty" in places, and his translation of the beginning of section 3 is conjectural.*

1. [Hermes:] Concerning Soul and Body, son, we now must speak; in what way Soul is deathless, and whence comes the activity in composing and dissolving Body.

For there's no death for aught of things [that are]; the thought this word conveys, is either void of fact, or [simply] by the knocking off a syllable what is called "death", doth stand for "deathless".

For death is of destruction, and nothing in the Cosmos is destroyed. For if Cosmos is second God, a life <or living creature> that cannot die, it cannot be that any part of this immortal life should die. All things in Cosmos are parts of Cosmos, and most of all is man, the rational animal.

2. For truly first of all, eternal and transcending birth, is God the universals' Maker. Second is he "after His image", Cosmos, brought into being by Him, sustained and fed by Him, made deathless, as by his own Sire, living for aye, as ever free from death.

Now that which ever-liveth, differs from the Eternal; for He hath not been brought to being by another, and even if He have been brought to being, He hath not been brought to being by Himself, but ever is brought into being.

For the Eternal, in that It is eternal, is the all. The Father is Himself eternal of Himself, but Cosmos hath become eternal and immortal by the Father.

3. And of the matter stored beneath it <i.e., beneath the cosmos>, the Father made of it a universal body, and packing it together made it spherical - wrapping it round the life - [a sphere] which is immortal in itself, and that doth make materiality eternal.

But He, the Father, full-filled with His ideas, did sow the lives <or living creatures> into the sphere, and shut them in as in a cave, willing to order forth the life with every kind of living.

So He with deathlessness enclosed the universal body, that matter might not wish to separate itself from body's composition, and so dissolve into its own [original] unorder.

For matter, son, when it was yet incorporate <i.e., not yet formed into bodies>, was in unorder. And it doth still retain down here this [nature of unorder] enveloping the rest of the small lives <or living creatures> - that increase-and-decrease which men call death.

4. It is round earthly lives that this unorder doth exist. For that the bodies of the heavenly ones preserve one order allotted to them by the Father as their rule; and it is by the restoration of each one [of them] this order is preserved indissolute.

The "restoration" of bodies on the earth is thus their composition, whereas their dissolution restores them to those bodies which can never be dissolved, that is to say, which know no death. Privation, thus, of sense is brought about, not loss of bodies.

5. Now the third life - Man, after the image of the Cosmos made, [and] having mind, after the Father's will, beyond all earthly lives - not only doth have feeling with the second God <i.e., the Cosmos>, but also hath conception of the first; for of the one 'tis sensible as of a body, while of the other it conceives as bodiless and the Good Mind.

Tat: Doth then this life not perish?

Hermes: Hush, son! and understand what God, what Cosmos [is], what is a life that cannot die, and what a life subject to dissolution.

Yea, understand the Cosmos is by God and in God; but Man by Cosmos and in Cosmos.

The source and limit and the constitution of all things is God.

## On Thought And Sense

*Notes on the text: This somewhat diffuse essay covers a series of topics, starting with (and to some extent from) the concept that the set of perceptions we call "thoughts" and the set we call "sensory perceptions" are not significantly different from each other. The implications of this idea play a significant role in later Hermetic thought, particularly in the areas of magic and the Art of Memory; in this tractate, though, the issues involved are barely touched, and the argument wanders into moral dualisms and the equally important, but distinct, idea that the Cosmos is itself a divine creative power.*

*Section 10, in which understanding is held up as the source and precondition of belief, should probably be seen as part of the same ancient debate on the roles of faith and reason that gave rise to Tertullian's famous credo quia absurdum ("I believe because it is absurd").*

1. I gave the Perfect Sermon (Logos) yesterday, Asclepius; today I think it right, as sequel thereunto, to go through point by point the Sermon about Sense.

Now sense and thought do seem to differ, in that the former has to do with matter, the latter has to do with substance. But unto me both seem to be at-one and not to differ - in men I mean. In other lives <or living creatures> sense is at-oned with Nature, but in men thought.

Now mind doth differ just as much from thought as God doth from divinity. For that divinity by God doth come to be, and by mind thought, the sister of the word (logos) and instruments of one another. For neither doth the word (logos) find utterance without thought, nor is thought manifested without word.

2. So sense and thought both flow together into man, as though they were entwined with one another. For neither without sensing can one think, nor without thinking sense.

But it is possible [they say] to think a thing apart from sense, as those who fancy sights in dreams. But unto me it seems that both of these activities occur in dream-sight, and sense doth pass out of the sleeping to the waking state.

For man is separated into soul and body, and only when the two sides of his sense agree together, does utterance of its thought conceived by mind take place.

3. For it is mind that doth conceive all thoughts - good thoughts when it receives the seeds from God, their contraries when [it receiveth them] from the daimonials; no part of Cosmos being free of daimon, who stealthily doth creep into the daimon who's illumined by God's light <i.e., the human soul>, and sow in him the seed of its own energy.

And mind conceives the seed thus sown, adultery, murder, parricide, [and] sacrilege, impiety, [and] strangling, casting down precipices, and all such other deeds as are the work of evil daimons.

4. The seeds of God, 'tis true, are few, but vast and fair, and good - virtue and self-control, devotion. Devotion is God-gnosis; and he who knoweth God, being filled with all good things, thinks godly thoughts and not thoughts like the many [think].

For this cause they who Gnostic are, please not the many, nor the many them. They are thought mad and laughted at; they're hated and despised, and sometimes even put to death.

For we did say that bad must needs dwell on earth, where 'tis in its own place. Its place is earth, and not Cosmos, as some will sometimes say with impious tongue.

But he who is a devotee of God, will bear with all - once he has sensed the Gnosis. For such an one all things, e'en though they be for others bad, are for him good; deliberately he doth refer them all unto the Gnosis. And, thing most marvelous, 'tis he alone who maketh bad things good.

5. But I return once more to the Discourse (Logos) on Sense. That sense doth share with thought in man, doth constitute him man. But 'tis not [every] man, as I have said, who benefits by thought; for this man is material, that other one substantial.

For the material man, as I have said, [consorting] with the bad, doth have his seed of thought from daimons; while the substantial men [consorting] with the Good, are saved by God.

Now God is Maker of all things, and in His making, He maketh all [at last] like to Himself; but they, while they're becoming good by exercise of their activity, are unproductive things.

It is the working of the Cosmic Course that maketh their becomings what they are, befouling some of them with bad and others of them making clean with good.

For Cosmos, too, Asclepius, possesseth sense-and-thought peculiar to itself, not like that of man; 'tis not so manifold, but as it were a better and a simpler one.

6. The single sense-and-thought of Cosmos is to make all things, and make them back into itself again, as Organ of the Will of God, so organized that it, receiving all the seeds into itself from God, and keeping them within itself, may make all manifest, and [then] dissolving them, make them all new again; and thus, like a Good Gardener of Life, things that have been dissolved, it taketh to itself, and giveth them renewal once again.

There is no thing to which it gives not life; but taking all unto itself it makes them live, and is at the same time the Place of Life and its Creator.

7. Now bodies matter [-made] are in diversity. Some are of earth, of water some, some are of air, and some of fire.

But they are all composed; some are more [composite], and some are simpler. The heavier ones are more [composed], the lighter less so.

It is the speed of Cosmos' Course that works the manifoldness of the kinds of births. For being a most swift Breath, it doth bestow their qualities on bodies together with the One Pleroma - that of Life.

8. God, then, is Sire of Cosmos; Cosmos, of all in Cosmos. And Cosmos is God's Son; but things in Cosmos are by Cosmos.

And properly hath it been called Cosmos [Order]; for that it orders all with their diversity of birth, with its not leaving aught without its life, with the unweariedness of its activity, the speed of its necessity, the composition of its elements, and order of its creatures.

The same, then, of necessity and propriety should have the name of Order.

The sense-and-thought, then, of all lives doth come into them from without, inbreathed by what contains [them all]; whereas Cosmos receives them once for all together with its coming into being, and keeps them as a gift from God.

9. But God is not, as some suppose, beyond the reach of sense-and-thought. It is through superstition men thus impiously speak.

For all the things that are, Asclepius, all are in God, are brought by God to be, and do depend on Him - both things that act through bodies, and things that through soul-substance make [other things] to move, and things that make things live by means of spirit, and things that take unto themselves the things that are worn out.

And rightly so; nay, I would rather say, He doth not have these things; but I speak forth the truth, He is them all Himself. He doth not get them from without, but gives them out [from Him].

This is God's sense-and-thought, ever to move all things. And never time shall be when e'en a whit of things that are shall cease; and when I say "a whit of things that are", I mean a whit of God. For thigs that are, God hath; nor aught [is there] without Him, nor [is] He without aught.

10. These things should seem to thee, Asclepius, if thou dost understand them, true; but if thou dost not understand, things not to be believed.

To understand is to believe, to not believe is not to understand.

My word (logos) doth go before [thee] to the truth. But mighty is the mind, and when it hath been led by word up to a certain point, it hath the power to come before [thee] to the truth.

And having thought o'er all these things, and found them consonant with those which have already been translated by the reason, it hath [e'en now] believed, and found its rest in that Fair Faith.

To those, then, who by God['s good aid] do understand the things that have been said [by us] above, they're credible; but unto those who understand them not, incredible.

Let so much, then, suffice on thought-and-sense.

## The Key

*Notes: This longer tractate presents itself explicitly as a summary or abridgement of the General Sermons (CH II-IX), and discusses the Hermetic view of knowledge and its role in the lives and afterlives of human beings. The attentive reader will notice certain contradictions between the afterlife-teachings of this and previous tractates.*

*One of the central concepts of The Key, and of Hermetic thought generally, is the distinction between ordinary discursive knowledge which can be expressed in words (in Greek, episteme, which Mead translates somewhat clumsily as "science") and transcendent, unitive knowledge which cannot be communicated (in Greek, gnosis, which Mead simply and sensibly leaves untranslated). The same distinction can be found in many systems of mystical thought. Unlike most of these, though, the Hermetic teachings place value on both.*

*Readers without much experience in the jargon of Classical philosophy will want to remember that "hylic" means "material", "passible" means "subject to outside forces or to suffering", and "intelligible" means "belonging to the realm of the Mind", and "motion" includes all kinds of change. The special implications of "good" in Greek thought - of self-sufficiency and desirability - should also be kept in mind.*

*The delightful irony of the Zen moment early in section 9, when Hermes - in the middle of this very substantial lecture - defines the good and pious man as "he who doth not say much or lend his ear to much" and thus rules out both himself and his audience, seems to have been lost on subsequent commentators.*

1. Hermes: My yesterday's discourse (logos) I did devote to thee, Asclepius, and so 'tis [only] right I should devote toafy's to Tat; and this the more because 'tis the abridgement of the General Sermons (Logoi) which he has had addressed to him.

"God, Father and the Good", then, Tat, hath the same nature, or more exactly, energy.

For nature is a predicate of growth, and used of things that change, both mobile and immobile, that is to say, both human and divine, each one of which He willeth into being.

But energy consists in something else, as we have shown in treating of the rest, both things divine and human things; which thing we ought to have in mind when treating of the Good.

2. God's energy is then His Will; further His essence is to will the being of all things. For what is "God and Father and the Good" but the "to be" of all that are not yet? Nay, subsistence self of everything that is; this, then, is God, this Father, this the Good; to Him is added naught of all the rest.

And though the Cosmos, that is to say the Sun, is also sire himself to them that share in him; yet so far is he not the cause of good unto the lives, he is not even of their living.

So that e'en if he be a sire, he is entirely so by compulsion of the Good's Good-will, apart from which nor being nor becoming could e'er be.

3. Again, the parent is the children's cause, both on the father's and the mother's side, only by sharing in the Good's desire [that doth pour] through the Sun. It is the Good which doeth the creating.

And such a power can be possessed by no one else than Him alone who taketh naught, but wills all things to be; I will not, Tat, say "makes".

For that the maker is defective for long periods (in which he sometimes makes, and sometimes doth not make) both in the quality and in the quantity [of what he makes]; in that he sometimes maketh them so many and such like, and sometimes the reverse.

But "God and Father and the Good" is [cause] for all to be. So are at least these things for those who can see.

4. For It doth will to be, and It is both Itself and most of all by reason of Itself. Indeed, all other things beside are just bacause of It; for the distinctive feature of the Good is "that it should be known". Such is the Good, O Tat.

Tat: Thou hast, O father, filled us so full of this so good and fairest sight, that thereby my mind's eye hath now become for me almost a thing to worship.

For that the vision of the Good doth not, like the sun's beam, firelike blaze on the eyes and make them close; nay, on the contrary, it shineth forth and maketh to increase the seeing of the eye, as far as e'er a man hath the capacity to hold the inflow of the radiance that the mind alone can see.

Not only does it come more swiftly down to us, but it does us no harm, and is instinct with all immortal life.

5. They who are able to drink in a somewhat more than others of this Sight, ofttimes from out the body fall asleep in this fairest Spectacle, as was the case with Uranus and Cronus, our forebears. may this be out lot too, O father mine!

Hermes: Yea, may it be, my son! But as it is, we are not yet strung to the Vision, and not as yet have we the power our mind's eye to unfold and gaze upon the Beauty of the Good - Beauty that naught can e'er corrupt or any comprehend.

For only then wilt thou upon It gaze when thou canst say no word concerning It. For Gnosis of the Good is holy silence and a giving holiday to every sense.

6. For neither can he who perceiveth It, perceive aught else; nor he who gazeth on It, gaze on aught else; nor hear aught else, nor stir his body any way. Staying his body's every sense and every motion he stayeth still.

And shining then all round his mond, It shines through his whole soul, and draws it out of body, transforming all of him to essence.

For it is possible, my son, that a man's soul should be made like to God, e'en while it still is in a body, if it doth contemplate the Beauty of the Good.

7. Tat: Made like to God? What dost thou, father, mean?

Hermes: Of every soul apart are transformations, son.

Tat: What meanest thou? Apart?

Hermes: Didst thou not, in the General Sermons, hear that from one Soul - the All-soul - come all these souls which are made to revolve in all the cosmos, as though divided off?

Of these souls, then, it is that there are many changes, some to a happier lot and some to [just] the contrary of this.

Thus some that were creeping things change into things that in the water dwell, the souls of water things change to earth-dwellers, those that live on earth change to things with wings, and souls that live in air change to men, while human souls reach the first step of deathlessness changed into daimones.

And so they circle to the choir of the Inerrant Gods; for of the Gods there are two choirs, the one Inerrant, and the other Errant. And this is the most perfect glory of the soul.

8. But if a soul on entering the body of a man persisteth in its vice, it neither tasteth deathlessness nor shareth in the Good; but speeding back again it turns into the path that leads to creeping things. This is the sentence of the vicious soul.

And the soul's vice is ignorance. For that the soul who hath no knowledge of the things that are, or knowledge of their nature, or of Good, is blinded by the body's passions and tossed about.

This wretched soul, not knowing what she is, becomes the slave of bodies of strange form in sorry plight, bearing the body as a load; not as the ruler, but the ruled. This [ignorance] is the soul's vice.

9. But on the other hand the virtue of the soul is Gnosis. For he who knows, he good and pious is, and still while on the earth divine.

Tat: But who is such an one, O father mine?

Hermes: He who doth not say much or lend his ear to much. For he who spendeth time in arguing and hearing arguments, doth shadow-fight. For "God, the Father and the Good", is not to be obtained by speech or hearing.

And yet though this is so, there are in all the beings senses, in that they cannot without senses be.

But Gnosis is far different from sense. For sense is brought about by that which hath the mastery o'er us, while Gnosis is the end <i.e., goal> of science, and science is God's gift.

10. All science is incorporeal, the instrument it uses being the mind, just as the mind employs the body.

Both then come into bodies, [I mean] both things that are cognizable by mond alone and things material. For all things must consist out of antithesis and contrariety; and this can otherwise not be.

Tat: Who then is this material God of whom thou speakest?

Hermes: Cosmos is beautiful, but is not good - for that it is material and freely passible; and though it is the first of all things passible, yet is it in the second rank of being and wanting in itself.

And though it never hath itself its birth in time, but ever is, yet is its being in becoming, becoming for all time the genesis of qualities and quantities; for it is mobile and all material motion's genesis.

11. It is intelligible rest that moves material motion in this way, since Cosmos is a sphere - that is to say, a head. And naught of head above's material, as naught of feet below's intelligible, but all material.

And head itself is moved in a sphere-like way - that is to say, as head should move, is mind.

All then that are united to the "tissue" of this "head" (in which is soul) are in their nature free from death - just as when body hath been made in soul, are things that hath more soul than body.

Whereas those things which are at greater distance from this "tissue" - there, where are things which have a greater share of body than of soul - are by their nature subject unto death.

The whole, however, is a life; so that the universe consists of both the hylic and of the intelligible.

12. Again, the Cosmos is the first of living things, while man is second after it, though first of things subject to death.

Man hath the same ensouling power in him as all the rest of living things; yet is he not only not good, but even evil, for that he's subject unto death.

For though the Cosmos also is not good in that it suffers motion, it is not evil, in that it is not subject to death. But man, in that he's subject both to motion and to death, is evil.

13. Now then the principles of man are this-wise vehicled: mind in the reason (logos), the reason in the soul, soul in the spirit <or, rather, vital spirits>, and spirit in the body.

Spirit pervading [body] by means of veins and arteries and blood, bestows upon the living creature motion, and as it were doth bear it in a way.

For this cause some do think the soul is blood, in that they do mistake its nature, not knowing that [at death] it is iteh spirit that must first withdraw into the soul, whereon the blood congeals and veins and arteries are emptied, and then the living creature <or life> is withdrawn; and this is body's death.

14. Now from one Source all things depend; while Source [dependeth] from the One and Only [One]. Source is, moreover, moved to become Source again; whereas the One standeth perpetually and is not moved.

Three then are they: "God, the Father and the Good", Cosmos and man.

God doth contain Cosmos; Cosmos [containeth] man. Cosmos is e'er God's Son, man as it were Cosmos' child.

15. Not that, however, God ignoreth man; nay, right well doth He know him, and willeth to be known.

This is the sole salvation for a man - God's Gnosis. This is the Way Up to the Mount.

By Him alone the soul becometh good, not whiles is good, whiles evil, but [good] out of necessity.

Tat: What dost thou mean, Thrice-greatest one?

Hermes: Behold an infant's soul, my son, that is not yet cut off, because its body is still small and not as yet come unto its full bulk.

Tat: How?

Hermes: A thing of beauty altogether is [such a soul] to see, not yet befouled by body's passions, still all but hanging from the Cosmic Soul!

But when the body grows in bulk and draweth down the soul into its mass, then doth the soul cut off itself and bring upon itself forgetfulness, and no more shareth in the Beautiful and the Good. And this forgetfulness becometh vice.

16. It is the same for them who go out from the body.

For when the soul withdraws into itself, the spirit doth contract itself within the blood, and the soul within the spirit. And then the mind, stripped of its wrappings, and naturally divine, taking unto itself a fiery body, doth traverse every space, after abandoning the soul unto its judgement and whatever chastisement it hath deserved.

Tat: What dost thou, father, mean by this? The mind is parted from soul and soul from spirit? Whereas thou said'st the soul was the mind's vesture, and the soul's the spirit.

17. Hermes: The hearer, son, should think with him who speaks and breathe with him; nay, he should have a hearing subtler than the voice of him who speaks.

It is, son, in a body made of earth that this arrangement of the vestures comes to pass. For in a body made of earth it is impossible the mind should take its seat itself by its own self in nakedness.

For neither is it possible on the one hand the earthly body should contain so much immortality, nor on the other that so great a virtue should endure a body passible in such close contact with it. It taketh, then, the soul for as it were an envelope.

And soul itself, being too and thing divine, doth use the spirit as its envelope, while spirit doth pervade the living creature.

18. When then the mind doth free itself from the earth-body, it straightway putteth on its proper robe of fire, with which it could not dwell in an earth-body.

For earth doth not bear fire; for it is all set in a blaze even by a small spark. And for this cause is water poured around earth, to be a guard and wall, to keep the blazing of the fire away.

But mind, the swiftest thing of all divine outthinkings, and swifter than all elements, hath for its body fire.

For mind being builder doth use the fire as tool for the construction of all things - the Mind of all [for the construction] of all things, but that of man only for things on earth.

Stript of its fire the mind on earth cannot make things divine, for it is human in its dispensation.

19. The soul in man, however - not every soul, but one that pious is - is a daimonic something and divine.

And such a soul when from the body freed, if it have fought the fight of piety - the fight of piety is to know God and to do wrong to no man - such a soul becomes entirely mind.

Whereas the impious soul remains in its own essence, chastised by its own self, and seeking for an earthly body where to enter, if only it be human.

For that no other body can contain a human soul; nor is it right that any human soul should fall into the body of a thing that doth possess no reason. For that the law of God is this: to guard the human soul from such tremendous outrage.

20. Tat: How father, then, is a man's soul chastised?

Hermes: What greater chastisement of any human soul can there be, son, than lack of piety? What fire has so fierce a flame as lack of piety? What ravenous beast so mauls the body as lack of piety the very soul?

Dost thou not see what hosts of ills the impious soul doth bear?

It shrieks and screams: I burn; I am ablaze; I know not what to cry or do; ah, wretched me, I am devoured by all the ills that compass me about; alack, poor me, I neither see nor hear!

Such are the cries wrung from a soul chastised; not, as the many think, and thou, son, dost suppose, that a [man's] soul, passing from body, is changed into a beast.

Such is a very grave mistake, for that the way a soul doth suffer chastisement is this:

21. When mind becomes a daimon, the law requires that it should take a fiery body to execute the services of God; and entering in the soul most impious it scourgeth it with whips made of its sins.

And then the impious soul, scourged with its sins, is plunged in murders, outrage, blasphemy, in violence of all kinds, and all the other things whereby mankind is wronged.

But on the pious soul the mind doth mount and guide it to the Gnosis' Light. And such a soul doth never tire in songs of praise [to God] and pouring blessing on all men, and doing good in word and deed to all, in imitation of its Sire.

22. Wherefore, my son, thou shouldst give praise to God and pray that thou mayst have thy mind Good Mind. It is, then, to a better state the soul doth pass; it cannot to a worse.

Further there is an intercourse of souls; those of the gods have intercourse with those of men, and those of men with souls of creatures which possess no reason.

The higher, further, have in charge the lower; the gods look after men, men after animals irrational, while God hath charge of all; for He is higher than them all and all are less than He.

Cosmos is subject, then, to God, man to the Cosmos, and irrationals to man. But God is o'er them all, and God contains them all.

God's rays, to use a figure, are His energies; the Cosmos's are natures, the arts and sciences are man's.

The energies act through the Cosmos, thence through the nature-rays of Cosmos upon man; the nature-rays [act] through the elements, man [acteth] through the sciences and arts.

23. This is the dispensation of the universe, depending from the nature of the One, pervading [all things] through the Mind, than which is naught diviner nor of greater energy; and naught a greater means for the at-oning men to gods and gods to men.

He, [Mind,] is the Good Daimon. Blessed the soul that is most filled with Him, and wretched is the soul that's empty of the Mind.

Tat: Father, what dost thou mean, again?

Hermes: Dost think then, son, that every soul hath the Good [Mind]? For 'tis of Him we speak, not of the mind in service of which we were just speaking, the mind sent down for [the soul's] chastisement.

24. For soul without the mind "can neither speak nor act". For oftentimes the mind doth leave the soul, and at that time the soul neither sees nor understands, but is just like a thing that hath no reason. Such is the power of mind.

Yet doth it not endure a sluggish soul, but leaveth such a soul tied to the body and bound tight down by it. Such soul, my son, doth not have Mind; and therefore such an one should not be called a man. For that man is a thing-of-life <or animal> divine; man is not measured with the rest of lives of things upon the earth, but with the lives above in heaven, who are called gods.

Nay more, if we must boldly speak the truth, the true "man" is e'en higher than the gods, or at the [very] least the gods and men are very whit in power each with the other equal.

25. For no one of the gods in heaven shall come down to the earth, o'er-stepping heaven's limit; whereas man doth mount up to heaven and measure it; he knows what things of it are high, what things are low, and learns precisely all things else besides. And greater thing than all; without e'en quitting earth, he doth ascend above. So vast a sweep doth he possess of ecstasy.

For this cause can a man dare say that man on earth is god subject to death, while god in heaven is man from death immune.

Wherefore the dispensation of all things is brought about by means of there, the twain - Cosmos and Man - but by the One.

## Mind Unto Hermes

*Notes on the text: This complex text is written as a revelation from the divine Mind - the "Man-Shepherd" of CH I - to Hermes, concerning the nature of God and the universe. Difficult enough in its own right, it has been made more so by some of Mead's prose. I have tried to insert clarifications where these are most needed.*

*Some notes on terminology may also be useful. The term Aeon here, as in many of the so-called "Gnostic" writings, refers to the timeless and spaceless realm of ideal being. The word cosmos means both "order" and "beauty" - the same root appears in the word "cosmetic". Additionally, the words genesis and becoming in the translation are the same word in the Greek original.*

*Finally, the word "inactive" in square brackets near the beginning of section 13 is Mead's, intended to fill a lacuna in the text. The more usual conjecture, as he comments, is "apart from God"*

1. Mind: Master this sermon (logos), then, Thrice-greatest Hermes, and bear in mind the spoken words; and as it hath come unto Me to speak, I will no more delay.

Hermes: As many men say many things, and these diverse, about the All and Good, I have not learned the truth. Make it, then, clear to me, O Master mine! For I can trust the explanation of these things, which comes from Thee alone.

2. Mind: Hear [then], My son, how standeth God and All.

God; Aeon; Cosmos; Time; Becoming.

God maketh Aeon; Aeon, Cosmos; Cosmos, Time; and Time, Becoming <or Genesis>.

The Good - the Beautiful, Wisdom, Blessedness - is <the> essence, as it were, of God; of Aeon, <the essence is> Sameness; of Cosmos, Order; of Time, Change; and of Becoming, Life and Death.

The energies of God are Mind and Soul; of Aeon, lastingness and deathlessness; of Cosmos, restoration and the opposite thereof; of Time, increase and decrease; and of Becoming, quality.

Aeon is, then, in God; Cosmos, in Aeon; in Cosmos; Time; in Time, Becoming.

Aeon stands firm round God; Cosmos is moved in Aeon; Time hath its limits <or is accomplished> in the Cosmos; Becoming doth become in Time.

3. The source, therfore, of all is God; their essence, Aeon; their matter, Cosmos.

God's power is Aeon; Aeon's work is Cosmos - which never hath become, yet ever doth become by Aeon.

Therefore will Cosmos never be destroyed, for Aeon's indestructible; nor doth a whit of things in Cosmos perish, for Cosmos is enwrapped by Aeon round on every side.

Hermes: But God's Wisdom - what is that?

Mind: The Good and Beautiful, and Blessedness, and Virtue's all, and Aeon.

Aeon, then, ordereth [Cosmos], imparting deathlessness and lastingness to matter.

4. For its beginning doth depend on Aeon, as Aeon doth on God.

Now Genesis <or Becoming> and Time, in Heaven and upon the Earth, are of two natures.

In Heaven they are unchangeable and indestructible, but on the Earth they're subject unto change and to destruction.

Further, the Aeon's soul is God; the Cosmos' soul is Aeon; the Earth's soul, Heaven.

And God <is> in Mind; and Mind, in Soul; and Soul, in Matter; and all of them through Aeon.

But all this Body, in which are all the bodies, is full of Soul; and Soul is full of Mind, and Mind of God.

It <i.e., Soul> fills it <i.e., the Body of the Cosmos> from within, and from without encircles it, making the All to live.

Without, this vast and perfect Life [encircles] Cosmos; within, it fills [it with] all lives; above, in Heaven, continuing in sameness; below, on Earth, changing becoming.

5. And Aeon doth preserve this [Cosmos], or by Necessity, or by Foreknowledge, or by Nature, or by whatever else a man supposes or shall suppose. And all is this - God energizing.

The Energy of God is Power that naught can e'er surpass, a Power with which no one can make comparison of any human thing at all, or any thing divine.

Wherefore, O Hermes, never think that aught of things above or things below is like to God, for thou wilt fall from truth. For naught is like to That which hath no like, and is Alone and One.

And do not ever think that any other can possibly possess His power; for what apart from Him is there of life, and deathlessness and change of quality? For what else should He make?

God's not inactive, since all things [then] would lack activity; for all are full of God.

But neither in the Cosmos anywhere, nor in aught else, is there inaction. For that "inaction" is a name that cannot be applied to either what doth make or what is made.

6. But all things must be made; both ever made, and also in accordance with the influence of every space.

For He who makes, is in them all; not stablished in some one of them, nor making one thing only, but making all.

For being Power, He energizeth in the things He makes and is not independent of them - although the things He makes are subject to Him.

Now gaze through Me upon the Cosmos that's now subject to thy sight; regard its Beauty carefully - Body in pure perfection, though one than which there's no more ancient one, ever in prime of life, and ever-young, nay, rather, in even fuller and yet fuller prime!

7. Behold, again, the seven subject Worlds; ordered by Aeon's order, and with their varied course full-filling Aeon!

[See how] all things [are] full of light, and nowhere [is there] fire; for 'tis the love and the blending of the contraries and the dissimilars that doth give birth to light down shining by the energy of God, the Father of all good, the Leader of all order, and Ruler of the seven world-orderings!

[Behold] the Moon, forerunner of them all, the instrument of nature, and the transmuter of its lower matter!

[Look at] the Earth set in the midst of All, foundation of the Cosmos Beautiful, feeder and nurse of things on Earth!

And contemplate the multitude of deathless lives, how great it is, and that of lives subject to death; and midway, between both, immortal [lives] and mortal, [see thou] the circling Moon.

8. And all are full of soul, and all are moved by it, each in its proper way; some round the Heaven, others around the Earth; [see] how the right [move] not unto the left, nor yet the left unto the right; nor the above below, nor the below above.

And that all there are subject unto Genesis, My dearest Hermes, thou hast no longer need to learn of Me. For that they bodies are, have souls, and they are moved.

But 'tis impossible for them to come together into one without some one to bring them [all] together. It must, then, be that such a one as this must be some one who's wholly One.

9. For as the many motions of them [all] are different, and as their bodies are not like, yet has one speed been ordered for them all, it is impossible that there should be two or more makers for them.

For that one single order is not kept among "the many"; but rivalry will follow of the weaker with the stronger, and they will strive.

And if the maker of the lives that suffer change and death, should be another <from the maker of the immortals>, he would desire to make the deathless ones as well; just as the maker of the deathless ones, [to make the lives] that suffer death.

But come! if there be two - if matter's one, and Soul is one, in whose hands would there be the distribution for the making? Again, if both of them have some of it, in whose hands may be the greater part?

10. But thus conceive it, then; that every living body doth consist of soul and matter, whether [that body be] of an immortal, or a mortal, or an irrational [life].

For that all living bodies are ensouled; whereas, upon the other hand, those that live not, are matter by itself.

And, in like fashion, Soul when in its self is, after its own maker, cause of life; but the cause of all life is He who makes the things that cannot die.

Hermes: How, then, is it that, first, lives subject to death are other than the deathless ones? And, next, how is it that Life which knows no death, and maketh deathlessness, doth not make animals immortal?

11. Mind: First, that there is some one who does these things, is clear; and, next, that He is also One, is very manifest. For, also, Soul is one, and Life is one, and Matter one.

Hermes: But who is He?

Mind: Who may it other be than the One God? Whom else should it beseem to put Soul into lives but God alone? One, then, is God.

It would indeed be most ridiculous, if when thou dost confess the Cosmos to be one, Sun one, Moon one, and Godhead one, thou shouldst wish God Himself to be some one or other of a number!

12. All things, therefore, He makes, in many [ways]. And what great thing is it for God to make life, soul, and deathlessness, and change, when thou [thyself] dost do so many things?

For thou dost see, and speak, and hear, and smell, and taste, and touch, and walk, and think, and breathe. And it is not one man who smells, another one who walks, another one who thinks, and [yet] another one who breathes. But one is he who doth all these.

And yet no one of these could be apart from God. For just as, should thou cease from these, thou wouldst no longer be a living thing, so also, should God cease from them (a thing not law to say), no longer is He God.

13. For if it hath been shown that no thing can [inactive] be, how much less God? For if there's aught he doth not make (if it be law to say), He is imperfect. But if He is not only not inactive, but perfect [God], then He doth make all things.

Give thou thyself to Me, My Hermes, for a little while, and thou shalt understand more easily how that God's work is one, in order that all things may be - that are being made, or once have been, or that are going to be made. And this is, My beloved, Life; this is the Beautiful; this is the Good; this, God.

14. And if thou wouldst in practice understand [this work], behold what taketh place with thee desiring to beget. Yet this is not like unto that, for He doth not enjoy.

For that indeed He hath no other one to share in what He works, for working by Himself, He ever is at work, Himself being what He doth. For did He separate Himself from it, all things would [then] collapse, and all must die, Life ceasing.

But if all things are lives, and also Life is one; then, one is God. And, furthermore, if all are lives, both those in Heaven and those on Earth, and One Life in them all is made to be by God, and God is it <i.e., God is the One Life> - then, all are made by God.

Life is the making-one of Mind and Soul; accordingly Death is not the destruction of those that are at-oned, but the dissolving of their union.

15. Aeon, moreover, is God's image; Cosmos [is] Aeon's; the Sun, of Cosmos; and Man, [the image] of the Sun.

The people call change death, because the body is dissolved, and life, when it's dissolved, withdraws to the unmanifest. But in this sermon (logos), Hermes, My beloved, as thou dost hear, I say the Cosmos also suffers change - for that a part of it each day is made to be in the unmanifest - yet it is ne'er dissolved.

These are the passions of the Cosmos - revolvings and concealments; revolving is conversion and concealment renovation.

16. The Cosmos is all-formed - not having forms external to itself, but changing them itself within itself. Since, then, Cosmos is made to be all-formed, what may its maker be? For that, on the one hand, He should not be void of all form; and, on the other hand, if He's all-formed, He will be like the Cosmos. Whereas, again, has He a single form, He will thereby be less than Cosmos.

What, then, say we He is? - that we may not bring round our sermon (logos) into doubt; for naught that mind conceives of God is doubtful.

He, then, hath one idea, which is His own alone, which doth not fall beneath the sight, being bodiless, and [yet] by means of bodies manifesteth all [ideas]. And marvel not that there's a bodiless idea.

17. For it is like the form of reason (logos) and mountain-tops in pictures. For they appear to stand out strongly from the rest, but really are quite smooth and flat.

And now consider what is said more boldly, but more truly!

Just as man cannot live apart from Life, so neither can God live without [His] doing good. For this is as it were the life and motion as it were of God - to move all things and make them live.

18. Now some of the things said should bear a sense peculiar to themselves. So understand, for instance, what I'm going to say.

All are in God, [but] not as lying in a place. For place is both a body and immovable, and things that lie do not have motion.

Now things lie one way in the bodiless, another way in being made manifest.

Think, [then,] of Him who doth contain them all; and think, that than the bodiless naught is more comprehensive, or swifter, or more potent, but it is the most comprehensive, the swiftest, and most potent of them all.

19. And, thus, think from thyself, and bid thy soul go unto any land, and there more quickly than thy bidding will it be. And bid it journey oceanwards; and there, again, immediately 'twill be, not as if passing on from place to place, but as if being there.

And bid it also mount to heaven; and it will need no wings, not will aught hinder it, nor fire of sun, nor auther, nor vortex-swirl, nor bodies of the other stars; but, cutting through them all, it will soar up to the last Body [of them all]. And shouldst thou will to break through this as well, and contemplate what is beyond - if there be aught beyond the Cosmos; it is permitted thee.

20. Behold what power, what swiftness, thou dost have! And canst thou do all of these things, and God not [do them]?

Then, in this way know God; as having all things in Himself as thoughts, the whole Cosmos itself.

If, then, thou dost not make thyself like unto God, thou canst not know Him. For like is knowable unto like [alone].

Make, [then,] thyself to grow to the same stature as the Greatness which transcends all measure; leap forth from every body; transcend all time; become Eternity <literally, Aeon>; and [thus] shalt thou know God.

Conceiving nothing is impossible unto thyself, think thyself deathless and able to know all - all arts, all sciences, the way of every life.

Become more lofty than all height, and lower than all depth. Collect into thyself all senses of [all] creatures - of fire, [and] water, dry and moist. Think that thou art at the same time in every place - in earth, in sea, in sky; not yet begotten, in the womb, young, old, [and] dead, in after-death conditions.

And if thou knowest all these things at once - times, places, doings, qualities, and quantities; thou canst know God.

21. But if thou lockest up thy soul within thy body, and dost debase it, saying: I nothing know; I nothing can; I fear the sea; I cannot scale the sky; I know not who I was, who I shall be - what is there [then] between [thy] God and thee?

For thou canst know naught of things beautiful and good so long as thou dost love thy body and art bad.

The greatest bad there is, is not to know God's Good; but to be able to know [Good], and will, and hope, is a Straight Way, the Good's own [Path], both leading there and easy.

If thou but settest thy foot thereon, 'twill meet thee everywhere, 'twill everywhere be seen, both where and when thou dost expect it not - waking, sleeping, sailing, journeying, by night, by day, speaking, [and] saying naught. For there is naught that is not image of the Good.

22. Hermes: Is God unseen?

Mind: Hush! Who is more manifest than He? For this one reason hath He made all things, that through them all thou mayest see Him.

This is the Good of God, this [is] His Virtue - that He may be manifest through all.

For naught's unseen, even of things that are without a body. Mind sees itself in thinking, God in making.

So far these things have been made manifest to thee, Thrice-greatest one! Reflect on all the rest in the same way with thyself, and thou shalt not be led astray.

## About The Common Mind

*Notes on the text: The "common mind" discussed in this dialogue is the same Mind which appears as a divine power in other parts of the Hermetic literature. It is identical, as well, with the "Good Daimon" whose words are quoted at several points here and elsewhere.  
The Greek word logos - which means both "word" and "reason", among other things - is central to much of the argument, and it's unfortunate that English has no way to express the same complex of meanings. The praise of reason in parts 13-14 is also, and equally, a praise of human language, and this sort of double meaning plays a part elsewhere in this and other parts of the Hermetic literature.*

1. Hermes: The Mind, O Tat, is of God's very essence - (if such a thing as essence of God there be) - and what that is, it and it only knows precisely.  
The Mind, then, is not separated off from God's essentiality, but is united to it, as light to sun.  
This Mind in men is God, and for this cause some of mankind are gods, and their humanity is nigh unto divinity.  
For the Good Daimon said: "Gods are immortal men, and men are mortal gods."  

2. But in irrational lives Mind is their nature. For where is Soul, there too is Mind; just as where Life, there is there also Soul.  
But in irrational lives their soul is life devoid of mind; for Mind is the in-worker of the souls of men for good - He works on them for their own good.  
In lives irrational He doth co-operate with each one's nature; but in the souls of men He counteracteth them.  
For every soul, when it becomes embodied, is instantly depraved by pleasure and by pain.  
For in a compound body, just like juices, pain and pleasure seethe, and into them the soul, on entering in, is plunged.  

3. O'er whatsoever souls the Mind doth, then, preside, to these it showeth its own light, by acting counter to their prepossessions, just as a good physician doth upon the body prepossessed by sickness, pain inflict, burning or lancing it for sake of health.  
In just the selfsame way the Mind inflicteth pain on the soul, to rescue it from pleasure, whence comes its every ill.  
The great ill of the soul is godlessness; then followeth fancy for all evil things and nothing good.  
So, then, Mind counteracting it doth work good on the soul, as the physician health upon the body.  

4. But whatsoever human souls have not the Mind as pilot, they share in the same fate as souls of lives irrational.  
For [Mind] becomes co-worker with them, giving full play to the desires toward which [such souls] are borne - [desires] that from the rush of lust strain after the irrational; [so that such human souls,] just like irrational animals, cease not irrationally to rage and lust, nor are they ever satiate of ills.  
For passions and irrational desires are ills exceeding great; and over these God hath set up the Mind to play the part of judge and executioner.  

5. Tat: In that case, father mine, the teaching (logos) as to Fate, which previously thou didst explain to me, risks to be overset.
For that if it be absolutely fated for a man to fornicate, or commit sacrilege, or do some other evil deed, why is he punished - when he hath done the deed from Fate's necessity?  

Hermes: All works, my son, are Fate's; and without Fate naught of things corporal - or <i.e., either> good, or ill - can come to pass.  
But it is fated, too, that he who doeth ill, shall suffer. And for this cause he doth it - that he may suffer what he suffereth, because he did it.  

6. But for the moment, [Tat,] let be the teaching as to vice and Fate, for we have spoken of these things in other [of our sermons]; but now our teaching (logos) is about the Mind: - what Mind can do, and how it is [so] different - in men being such and such, and in irrational lives [so] changed; and [then] again that in irrational lives it is not of a beneficial nature, while that in men it quencheth out the wrathful and the lustful elements.
Of men, again, we must class some as led by reason, and others as unreasoning.  

7. But all men are subject to Fate, and genesis and change, for these are the beginning and the end of Fate.  
And though all men do suffer fated things, those led by reason (those whom we said Mind doth guide) do not endure <a> like suffering with the rest; but, since they've freed themselves from viciousness, not being bad, they do not suffer bad.  

Tat: How meanest thou again, my father? Is not the fornicator bad; the murderer bad; and [so with] all the rest?  

Hermes: [I meant not that;] but that the Mind-led man, my son, though not a fornicator, will suffer just as though he had committed fornication, and though he be no murderer, as though he had committed murder.  
The quality of change he can no more escape than that of genesis.
But it is possible for one who hath the Mind, to free himself from vice.  

8. Wherefore I've ever heard, my son, Good Daimon also say - (and had He set it down in written words, He would have greatly helped the race of men; for He alone, my son, doth truly, as the Firstborn God, gazing on all things, give voice to words (logoi) divine) - yea, once I heard Him say:  
"All things are one, and most of all the bodies which the mind alone perceives. Our life is owing to [God's] Energy and Power and Aeon. His Mind is good, so is His Soul as well. And this being so, intelligible things know naught of separation. So, then, Mind, being Ruler of all things, and being Soul of God, can do whate'er it wills."  

9. So do thou understand, and carry back this word (logos) unto the question thou didst ask before - I mean about Mind's Fate.
For if thou dost with accuracy, son, eliminate [all] captious arguments (logoi), thou wilt discover that of very truth the Mind, the Soul of God, doth rule o'er all - o'er Fate, and Law, and all things else; and nothing is impossible to it - neither o'er Fate to set a human soul, nor under Fate to set [a soul] neglectful of what comes to pass. Let this so far suffice from the Good Daimon's most good [words].  

Tat: Yea, [words] divinely spoken, father mine, truly and helpfully. But further still explain me this.  

10. Thou said'st that Mind in lives irrational worked in them as [their] nature, co-working with their impulses.  
But impulses of lives irrational, as I do think, are passions.
Now if the Mind co-worketh with [these] impulses, and if the impulses of [lives] irrational be passions, then is Mind also passion, taking its color from the passions.  

Hermes: Well put, my son! Thou questionest right nobly, and it is just that I as well should answer [nobly].  

11. All things incorporeal when in a body are subject unto passion, and in the proper sense they are [themselves] all passions.  
For every thing that moves itself is incorporeal; while every thing that's moved is body.  
Incorporeals are further moved by Mind, and movement's <i.e., movement is> passion.  
Both, then, are subject unto passion - both mover and the moved, the former being ruler and the latter ruled.  
But when a man hath freed himself from body, then is he also freed from passion.  
But, more precisely, son, naught is impassible, but all are passible.
Yet passion differeth from passibility; for that the one is active, while the other's passive.  
Incorporeals moreover act upon themselves, for either they are motionless or they are moved; but whichsoe'er it be, it's passion.
But bodies are invaribly acted on, and therefore they are passible.
Do not, then, let terms trouble thee; action and passion are both the selfsame thing. To use the fairer sounding term, however, does no harm.  

12. Tat: Most clearly hast thou, father mine, set forth the teaching (logos).  

Hermes: Consider this as well, my son; that these two things God hath bestowed on man beyond all mortal lives - both mind and speech (logos) equal to immortality. He hath the mind for knowing God and uttered speech (logos) for eulogy of Him.  
And if one useth these for what he ought, he'll differ not a whit from the immortals. Nay, rather, on departing from the body, he will be guided by the twain unto the Choir of Gods and Blessed Ones.  

13. Tat: Why, father mine! - do not the other lives make use of speech (logos)?  

Hermes: Nay, son; but <i.e., only> use of voice; speech is far different from voice. For speech is general among all men, while voice doth differ in each class of living thing.  

Tat: But with men also, father mine, according to each race, speech differs.  

Hermes: Yea, son, but man is one; so also speech is one and is interpreted, and it is found the same in Egypt, and in Persia, and in Greece.  
Thou seemest, son, to be in ignorance of Reason's (Logos) worth and greatness. For that the Blessed God, Good Daimon, hath declared:
"Soul is in Body, Mind in Soul; but Reason (Logos) is in Mind, and Mind in God; and God is Father of [all] these."

14. The Reason, then, is the Mind's image, and Mind God's [image]; while Body is [the image] of the Form; and Form [the image] of the Soul.  
The subtlest part of Matter is, then, Air <or vital spirit>; of Air, Soul; of Soul, Mind; and of Mind, God.  
And God surroundeth all and permeateth all; while Mind Surroundeth Soul, Soul Air, Air Matter.  
Necessity and Providence and Nature are instruments of Cosmos and of Matter's ordering; while of intelligible things each is Essence, and Sameness is their Essence.  
But of the bodies of the Cosmos each is many; for through possessiong Sameness, [these] composed bodies, though they do change from one into another of themselves, do natheless keep the incorruption of their Sameness.  

15. Whereas in all the rest of composed bodies, of each there is a certain number; for without number structure cannot be, or composition, or decomposition.  
Now it is units that give birth to number and increase it, and, being decomposed, are taken back again into themselves.  
Matter is one; and this whole Cosmos - the mighty God and image of the mightier One, both with Him unified, and the conserver of the Will and Order of the Father - is filled full of Life.
Naught is there in it throughout the whole of Aeon, the Father's [everlasting] Re-establishment - nor of the whole, nor of the parts - which doth not live.  
For not a single thing that's dead, hath been, or is, or shall be in [this] Cosmos.  
For that the Father willed it should have Life as long as it should be. Wherefore it needs must be a God.  

16. How then, O son, could there be in the God, the image of the Father, in the plenitude of Life - dead things?  
For that death is corruption, and corruption destruction.  
How then could any part of that which knoweth no corruption be corrupted, or any whit of him the God destroyed?  

Tat: Do they not, then, my father, die - the lives in it, that are its parts?  

Hermes: Hush, son! - led into error by the term in use for what takes place.  
They do not die, my son, but are dissolved as compound bodies.
Now dissolution is not death, but dissolution of a compound; it is dissolved not so that it may be destroyed, but that it may become renewed.  
For what is the activity of life? Is it not motion? What then in Cosmos is there that hath no motion? Naught is there, son!

17. Tat: Doth not Earth even, father, seem to thee to have no motion?  

Hermes: Nay, son; but rather that she is the only thing which, though in very rapid motion, is also stable.  
For how would it not be a thing to laugh at, that the Nurse of all should have no motion, when she engenders and brings forth all things?  
For 'tis impossible that without motion one who doth engender, should do so.  
That thou should ask if the fourth part <or element> is not inert, is most ridiculous; for the body which doth have no motion, gives sign of nothing but inertia.  

18. Know, therefore, generally, my son, that all that is in Cosmos is being moved for increase or for decrease.  
Now that which is kept moving, also lives; but there is no necessity that that which lives, should be all same.  
For being simultaneous, the Cosmos, as a whole, is not subject to change, my son, but all its parts are subject unto it; yet naught [of it] is subject to corruption, or destroyed.  
It is the terms employed that confuse men. For 'tis not genesis that constituteth life, but 'tis sensation; it is not change that constituteth death, but 'tis forgetfulness.  
Since, then, these things are so, they are immortal all - Matter, [and] Life, [and] Spirit, Mind [and] Soul, of which whatever liveth, is composed.  

19. Whatever then doth live, oweth its immortality unto the Mind, and most of all doth man, he who is both recipient of God, and co-essential with Him.  
For with this life alone doth God consort; by visions in the night, by tokens in the day, and by all things doth He foretell the future unto him - by birds, by inward parts, by wind, by tree.  
Wherefore doth man lay claim to know things past, things present and to come.  

20. Observe this too, my son; that each one of the other lives inhabiteth one portion of the Cosmos - aquatic creatures water, terrene earth, and aery creatures air; while man doth use all these - earth, water air [and] fire; he seeth Heaven, too, and doth contact it with [his] sense.  
But God surroundeth all, and permeateth all, for He is energy and power; and it is nothing difficult, my son, to conceive God.

21. But if thou wouldst Him also contemplate, behold the ordering of the Cosmos, and [see] the orderly behavior of its ordering <this is a play on the word "cosmos", which means "order, arrangement">; behold thou the Necessity of things made manifest, and [see] the Providence of things become and things becoming; behold how Matter is all-full of Life; [behold] this so great God in movement, with all the good and noble [ones] - gods, daimones and men!  

Tat: But these are purely energies, O father mine!  

Hermes: If, then, they're purely energies, my son - by whom, then, are they energized except by God?  
Or art thou ignorant, that just as Heaven, Earth, Water, Air, are parts of Cosmos, in just the selfsame way God's parts are Life and Immortality, [and] Energy, and Spirit, and Necessity, and Providence, and Nature, Soul, and Mind, and the Duration <that is, Aeon or Eternity> of all these that is called Good?  
And there are naught of things that have become, or are becoming, in which God is not.  

22. Tat: Is He in Matter, father, then?  

Hermes: Matter, my son, is separate from God, in order that thou may'st attribute to it the quality of space. But what thing else than mass think'st thou it is, if it's not energized? Whereas if it be energized, by whom is it made so? For energies, we said, are parts of God.  
By whom are, then, all lives enlivened? By whom are things immortal made immortal? By whom changed things made changeable?  
And whether thou dost speak of Matter, of Body, or of Essence, know that these too are energies of God; and that materiality is Matter's energy, that corporeality is Bodies' energy, and that essentiality doth constituteth the energy of Essence; and this is God - the All.  

23. And in the All is naught that is not God. Wherefore nor <i.e., neither> size, nor space, nor quality, nor form, nor time, surroundeth God; for He is All, and All surroundeth all, and permeateth all.  
Unto this Reason (Logos), son, thy adoration and thy worship pay. There is one way alone to worship God; [it is] not to be bad.

## The Secret Sermon On The Mountain

*Notes on the text: This dialogue is in many ways the culmination of the whole Corpus, summing up the theory of the Hermetic system at the same time as it provides an intriguing glimpse at the practice. The focus of the dialogue is the experience of Rebirth, which involves the replacement of twelve Tormentors within the self by ten divine Powers, leading to the awakening of knowledge of the self and God.*

*The "Secret Hymnody" (sections 17-20) is presented as a litany for worship, to be performed twice each day, at sunrise and sunset. It's interesting to note that while the sunrise worship is performed facing east, the sunset worship is done to the south; Egyptian tradition from Pharaonic times onward saw the west as the direction of death.*

*The usual difficulties with the multiple meanings of the Greek word logos appear in the translation, compounded by Mead's awkward style. Additionally, one of Mead's few evasions can be found in section 12, where he relates the twelve Tormentors to the "twelve types-of-life". This should more simply, and more accurately, have been translated as "the twelve signs of the Zodiac". The Theosophical distaste for astrology may well have been involved here.*

1. Tat: [Now] in the General Sermons, father, thou didst speak in riddles most unclear, conversing on Divinity; and when thou saidst no man could e'er be saved before Rebirth, thy meaning thou didst hide.

Further, when I became thy Suppliant, in Wending up the Mount, after thou hadst conversed with me, and when I longed to learn the Sermon (Logos) on Rebirth (for this beyond all other things is just the thing I know not), thou saidst, that thou wouldst give it me - "when thou shalt have become a stranger to the world".

Wherefore I got me ready and made the thought in me a stranger to the world-illusion.

And now do thou fill up the things that fall short in me with what thou saidst would give me the tradition of Rebirth, setting it forth in speech or in the secret way.

I know not, O Thrice-greatest one, from out what matter and what womb Man comes to birth, or of what seed.

2. Hermes: Wisdom that understands in silence [such is the matter and the womb from out which Man is born], and the True Good the seed.

Tat: Who is the sower, father? For I am altogether at a loss.

Hermes: It is the Will of God, my son.

Tat: And of what kind is he that is begotten, father? For I have no share of that essence in me, which doth transcend the senses. The one that is begot will be another one from God, God's Son?

Hermes: All in all, out of all powers composed.

Tat: Thou tellest me a riddle, father, and dost not speak as father unto son.

Hermes: This Race, my son, is never taught; but when He willeth it, its memory is restored by God.

3. Tat: Thou sayest things impossible, O father, things that are forced. Hence answers would I have direct unto these things. Am I a son strange to my father's race?

Keep it not, father, back from me. I am a true-born son; explain to me the manner of Rebirth.

Hermes: What may I say, my son? I can but tell thee this. Whene'er I see within myself the Simple Vision brought to birth out of God's mercy, I have passed through myself into a Body that can never die. And now i am not as I was before; but I am born in Mind.

The way to do this is not taught, and it cannot be seen by the compounded element by means of which thou seest.

Yea, I have had my former composed form dismembered for me. I am no longer touched, but I have touch; I have dimension too; and [yet] am I a stranger to them now.

Thou seest me with eyes, my son; but what I am thou dost not understand [even] with fullest strain of body and of sight.

4. Tat: Into fierce frenzy and mind-fury hast thou plunged me, father, for now no longer do I see myself.

Hermes: I would, my son, that thou hadst e'en passed right through thyself, as they who dream in sleep yet sleepless.

Tat: Tell me this too! Who is the author of Rebirth?

Hermes: The Son of God, the One Man, by God's Will.

5. Tat: Now hast thou brought me, father, unto pure stupefaction. Arrested from the senses which I had before,...<lacuna in original text>; for [now] I see thy Greatness identical with thy distinctive form.

Hermes: Even in this thou art untrue; the mortal form doth change with every day. 'Tis turned by time to growth and waning, as being an untrue thing.

6. Tat: What then is true, Thrice-greatest One?

Hermes: That which is never troubled, son, which cannot be defined; that which no color hath, nor any figure, which is not turned, which hath no garment, which giveth light; that which is comprehensible unto itself [alone], which doth not suffer change; that which no body can contain.

Tat: In very truth I lose my reason, father. Just when I thought to be made wise by thee, I find the senses of this mind of mine blocked up.

Hermes: Thus is it, son: That which is upward borne like fire, yet is borne down like earth, that which is moist like water, yet blows like air, how shalt thou this perceive with sense - the that which is not solid nor yet moist, which naught can bind or loose, of which in power and energy alone can man have any notion - and even then it wants a man who can perceive the Way of Birth in God?

7. Tat: I am incapable of this, O father, then?

Hermes: Nay, God forbid, my son! Withdraw into thyself, and it will come; will, and it comes to pass; throw out of work the body's senses, and thy Divinity shall come to birth; purge from thyself the brutish torments - things of matter.

Tat: I have tormentors then in me, O father?

Hermes: Ay, no few, my son; nay, fearful ones and manifold.

Tat: I do not know them, father.

Hermes: Torment the first is this Not-knowing, son; the second one is Grief; the third, Intemperance; the fourth, Concupiscence; the fifth, Unrighteousness; the sixth is Avarice; the seventh, Error; the eighth is Envy; the ninth, Guile; the tenth is Anger; eleventh, Rashness; the twelfth is Malice.

These are in number twelve; but under them are many more, my son; and creeping through the prison of the body they force the man that's placed therein to suffer in his senses. But they depart (though not all at once) from him who hath been taken pity on by God; and this it is which constitutes the manner of Rebirth. And... <lacuna in the original text> the Reason (Logos).

8. And now, my son, be still and solemn silence keep! Thus shall the mercy that flows on us from God not cease.

Henceforth rejoice, O son, for by the Powers of God thou art being purified for the articulation of the Reason (Logos).

Gnosis of God hath come to us, and when this comes, my son, Not-knowing is cast out.

Gnosis of Joy hath come to us, and on its coming, son, Sorrow will flee away to them who give it room. The Power that follows Joy do I invoke, thy Self-control. O Power most sweet! Let us most gladly bid it welcome, son! How with its coming doth it chase Intemperance away!

9. Now fourth, on Continence I call, the Power against Desire. <lacuna in the original text> This step, my son, is Righteousness' firm seat. For without judgement <other translators read this "without effort"> see how she hath chased Unrighteousness away. We are made righteous, son, by the departure of Unrighteousness.

Power sixth I call to us - that against Avarice, Sharing-with-all.

And now that Avarice is gone, I call on Truth. And Error flees, and Truth is with us.

See how [the measure of] the Good is full, my son, upon Truth's coming. For Envy is gone from us; and unto Truth is joined the Good as well, with Life and Light.

And now no more doth any torment of the Darkness venture nigh, but vanquished [all] have fled with whirring wings.

10. Thou knowest [now], my son, the manner of Rebirth. And when the Ten is come, my son, that driveth out the Twelve, the Birth in understanding <literally "intellectual birth", *noera genesis*> is complete, and by this birth we are made into Gods.

Who then doth by His mercy gain this Birth in God, abandoning the body's senses, knows himself [to be of Light and Life] and that he doth consist of these, and [thus] is filled with bliss.

11. Tat: By God made steadfast, father, no longer with the sight my eyes afford I look on things, but with the energy the Mind doth give me through the Powers.

In Heaven am I, in earth, in water, air; I am in animals, in plants; I'm in the womb, before the womb, after the womb; I'm everywhere!

But further tell me this: How are the torments of the Darkness, when they are twelve in number, driven out by the ten Powers? What is the way of it, Thrice-greatest one?

12. Hermes: This dwelling-place through which we have just passed <i.e., the human body>, my son, is constituted from the circle of the twelve types-of-life, this being composed of elements, twelve in number, but of one nature, an omniform idea. For man's delusion there are disunions in them, son, while in their action they are one. Not only can we never part Rashness from Wrath; they cannot even be distinguished.

According to right reason (logos), then, they <the Twelve> naturally withdraw once and for all, in as much as they are chased out by no less than ten powers, that is, the Ten.

For, son, the Ten is that which giveth birth to souls. And Life and Light are unified there, where the One hath being from the Spirit. According then to reason (logos) the One contains the Ten, the Ten the One.

13. Tat: Father, I see the All, I see myself in Mind.

Hermes: This is, my son, Rebirth - no more to look on things from body's view-point (a thing three ways in space extended)... <lacuna in text>, though this Sermon (Logos) on Rebirth, on which I did not comment - in order that we may not be calumniators of the All unto the multitude, to whom indeed God Himself doth will we should not.

14. Tat: Tell me, O father: This Body which is made up of the Powers, is it at any time dissolved?

Hermes: Hush, [son]! Speak not of things impossible, else wilt thou sin and thy Mind's eye be quenched.

The natural body which our sense perceives is far removed from this essential birth.

The first must be dissolved, the last can never be; the first must die, the last death cannot touch.

Dost thou not know thou hast been born a God, Son of the One, even as I myself?

15. Tat: I would, O father, hear the Praise-giving with hymn which thou didst say thou heardest then when thou wert at the Eight [the Ogdoad] of Powers

Hermes: Just as the Shepherd did foretell [I should], my son, [when I came to] the Eight.

Well dost thou haste to "strike thy tent" <i.e., be free from the physical body>, for thou hast been made pure.

The Shepherd, Mind of all masterhood, hath not passed on to me more than hath been written down, for full well did he know that I should of myself be able to learn all, and hear what I should wish, and see all things.

He left to me the making of fair things; wherefore the Powers within me. e'en as they are in all, break into song.

16. Tat: Father, I wish to hear; I long to know these things.

Hermes: Be still, my son; hear the Praise-giving now that keeps [the soul] in tune, Hymn of Rebirth - a hymn I would not have thought fit so readily to tell, had'st thou not reached the end of all.

Wherefore this is not taught, but is kept hid in silence.

Thus then, my son, stand in a place uncovered to the sky, facing the southern wind, about the sinking of the setting sun, and make thy worship; so in like manner too when he doth rise, with face to the east wind.

Now, son, be still!

The Secret Hymnody

17. Let every nature of the World receive the utterance of my hymn!

Open thou Earth! Let every bolt of the Abyss be drawn for me. Stir not, ye Trees!

I am about to hymn creation's Lord, both All and One.

Ye Heavens open and ye Winds stay still; [and] let God's deathless Sphere receive my word (logos)!

For I will sing the praise of Him who founded all; who fixed the Earth, and hung up Heaven, and gave command that Ocean should afford sweet water [to the Earth], to both those parts that are inhabited and those that are not, for the support and use of every man; who made the Fire to shine for gods and men for every act.

Let us together all give praise to Him, sublime above the Heavens, of every nature Lord!

'Tis He who is the Eye of Mind; may He accept the praise of these my Powers!

18. Ye powers that are within me, hymn the One and All; sing with my Will, Powers all that are within me!

O blessed Gnosis, by thee illumined, hymning through thee the Light that mond alone can see, I joy in Joy of Mind.

Sing with me praises all ye Powers!

Sing praise, my Self-control; sing thou through me, my Righteousness, the praises of the Righteous; sing thou, my Sharing-all, the praises of the All; through me sing, Truth, Truth's praises!

Sing thou, O Good, the Good! O Life and Light, from us to you our praises flow!

Father, I give Thee thanks, to Thee Thou Energy of all my Powers; I give Thee thanks, O God, Thou Power of all my Energies!

19. Thy Reason (Logos) sings through me Thy praises. Take back through me the All into [Thy] Reason - [my] reasonable oblation!

Thus cry the Powers in me. They sing Thy praise, Thou All; they do Thy Will.

From Thee Thy Will; to Thee the All. Receive from all their reasonable oblation. The All that is in us, O Life, preserve; O Light<,> illumine it; O God<,> in-spirit it.

It it Thy Mind that plays the shepherd to Thy Word, O Thou Creator, Bestower of the Spirit [upon all].

20. [For] Thou art God, Thy Man thus cries to Thee through Fire, through Air, through Earth, through Water, [and] through Spirit, through Thy creatures.

'Tis from Thy Aeon I have found praise-giving; and in thy Will, the object of my search, have I found rest.

Tat: By thy good pleasure have I seen this praise-giving being sung, O father; I have set it in my Cosmos too.

Hermes: Say in the Cosmos that thy mind alone can see, my son.

Tat: Yea, father, in the Cosmos that the mind alone can see; for I have been made able by thy Hymn, and by thy Praise-giving my mind hath been illumined. But further I myself as well would from my natural mind send praise-giving to God.

21. Hermes: But not unheedfully, my son.

Tat: Aye. What I behold in mind, that do I say.

To thee, thou Parent of my Bringing into Birth, as unto God I, Tat, send reasonable offerings. o God and Father, thou art the Lord, thou art the Mind. Receive from me oblations reasonable as thou would'st wish; for by thy Will all things have been perfected.

Hermes: Send thou oblation, son, acceptable to God, the Sire of all; but add, my son, too, "through the Word" (Logos).

Tat: I give thee, father, thanks for showing me to sing such hymns.

22. Hermes: Happy am I, my son, that though hast brought the good fruits forth of Truth, products that cannot die.

And now that thou hast learnt this lesson from me, make promise to keep silence on thy virtue, and to no soul, my son, make known the handing on to thee the manner of Rebirth, that we may not be thought to be calumniators.

And now we both of us have given heed sufficiently, both I the speaker and the hearer thou.

In Mind hast thou become a Knower of thyself and our [common] Sire.

## A Letter Of Thrice-Greatest Hermes To Asclepius

**UNTO ASCLEPIUS GOOD HEALTH OF SOUL!**

(Text: P. 128-134; Pat. 49, 50.)

1. Since in thy absence my son Tat desired to learn the nature of the things that are, and would not let me hold it over, as [natural to] a younger son fresh come to gnosis of the [teachings] on each single point, - I was compelled to tell [him] more, in order that the contemplation [of them] might be the easier for him to follow.

I would, then, choosing out the chiefest heads of what was said, write them in brief to thee, explaining them more mystic-ly, as unto one of greater age and one well versed in Nature.

2. If all things manifest have been and are being made, and made things are not made by their own selves but by another; [if] made things are the *many*, - nay more, are *all* things manifest and all things different and not alike; and things that are being made are being made by other [than themselves]; - there is some one who makes these things; and He cannot be made, but is more ancient than the things that can.

For things that can be made, I say, are made by other [than themselves]; but of the things that owe their being to their being made, it is impossible that anything should be more ancient than them all, save only That which is not able to be made.

3. So He is both Supreme, and One, and Only, the truly wise in all, as having naught more ancient [than Himself].

For He doth rule o'er both the number, size and difference of things that are being made, and o'er the continuity of their making [too].

Again, things makeable are seeable; but He cannot be seen.

For for this cause He maketh, - that He may not be able to be seen.

He, therefore, ever maketh; and therefore can He ne'er be seen.

To comprehend Him thus is meet; and comprehending, [it is meet] to marvel; and marvelling, to count oneself as blessed, as having learnt to know one's Sire.

4. For what is sweeter than one's own true Sire? Who, then, is He; and how shall we learn how to know Him?

Is it not right to dedicate to Him alone the name of God, or that of Maker, or of Father, or rather [all] the three; - God for His Power, and Maker for His Energy, and Father for His Good?

Now Power doth differ from the things which are being made; while Energy consisteth in all things being made.

Wherefore we ought to put away verbosity and foolish talk, and understand these two - the made and Maker. For that of them there is no middle [term]; there is no third.

5. Wherefore in all that thou conceivest, in all thou nearest, these two recall to mind; and think all things are they, reckoning as doubtful naught, nor of the things above, nor of the things below, neither of things divine, nor things that suffer change or things that are in obscuration.

For all things are [these] twain, Maker and made, and 'tis impossible that one should be without the other; for neither is it possible that "Maker" should exist without the "made," for each of them is one and the same thing.

Wherefore 'tis no more possible for one from other to be parted, than self from self.

6. Now if the Maker is naught else but That which makes, Alone, Simple, Uncompound, it needs must do this [making] to Itself, - to Which its Maker's making is "its being made."

And as to all that's being made, - it cannot be [so made] by being made by its own self; but it must needs be made by being made by other. Without the "Maker" "made" is neither made nor is; for that the one without the other doth lose its proper nature by deprivation of that other.

If, then, all things have been admitted to be two, - the "that which is being made" and "that which makes," - [all then] are one in union of these, - the "that which leadeth" and the "that which followeth."

The making God is "that which leadeth"; the "that which is being made," whatever it be, the "that which followeth."

7. And do not thou be chary of things made because of their variety, from fear of attribution of a low estate and lack of glory unto God.

For that His Glory's one, - to make all things; and this is as it were God's Body, the making [of them].

But by the Maker's self naught is there thought or bad or base.

These things are passions which accompany the making process, as rust doth brass and filth doth body; but neither doth the brass-smith make the rust, nor the begetters of the body filth, nor God [make] evil.

It is continuance in the state of being made that makes them lose, as though it were, their bloom; and 'tis because of this God hath made change, as though it were the making clean of genesis.

8. Is it, then, possible for one and the same painter man to make both heaven, and gods, and earth, and sea, and men, and all the animals, and lifeless things, and trees, and yet impossible for God to make all things?

What monstraus lack of understanding; what want of knowledge as to God! 1

For such the strangest lot of all do suffer; for though they say they worship piously and sing the praise of God, yet by their not ascribing unto Him the making of all things, they know not God; and, added unto this not-knowing, they're guilty even of the worst impiety to Him - passions to Him attributing, or arrogance, or impotency.

For if He doth not make all things, from arrogance He doth not make, or not being able, - which is impiety [to think].

9. One Passion hath God only - Good; and He who's Good, is neither arrogant nor impotent.

For this is God - the Good, which hath all power of making all.

And all that can be made is made by God, - that is, by [Him who is] the Good and who can make all things.

But would'st thou learn how He doth make, and how things made are made, thou may'st do so.

10. Behold a very fair and most resemblant image - a husbandman casting the seed into the ground; here wheat, there barley, and there [again] some other of the seeds!

Behold one and the same man planting the vine, the apple, and [all] other trees!

In just the selfsame way doth God sow Immortality in Heaven, and Change on Earth, and Life and Motion in the universe.

These are not many, but few and easy to be numbered; for four in all are they, - and God Himself and Genesis, in whom are all that are.

## The Definitions Of Asclepius Unto King Ammon

1. Great is the sermon (*logos*) which I send to thee, O King - the summing up and digest, as it were, of all the rest.

For it is not composed to suit the many's prejudice, since it contains much that refuteth them.

Nay, it will seem to thee as well to contradict sometimes my sermons too.

Hermes, my master, in many a conversation, both when alone, and sometimes, too, when Tat was there, has said, that unto those who come across my books, their composition will seem most simple and [most] clear; but, on the contrary, as 'tis unclear, and has the [inner] meaning of its words concealed, it will be still unclearer, when, afterwards, the Greeks will want to turn our tongue into their own, - for this will be a very great distorting and obscuring of [even] what has been [already] written.

2. Turned into our own native tongue, the sermon (*logos*) keepeth clear the meaning of the words (*logoi*) [at any rate].

For that its very quality of sound, the [very] power of the Egyptian names, have in themselves the bringing into act of what is said.

As far as, then, thou canst, O King - (and thou canst [do] all things) - keep [this] our sermon from translation; in order that such mighty mysteries may not come to the Greeks, and the disdainful speech of Greece, with [all] its looseness, and its surface beauty, so to speak, take all the strength out of the solemn and the strong - the energetic speech of Names.

The Greeks, O King, have novel words, energic of "argumentation" [only]; and thus is the philosophizing of the Greeks - the noise of words.

But we do not use words; but we use sounds full-filled with deeds.

3. Thus, then, will I begin the sermon by invocation unto God, the universals' Lord and Maker, [their] Sire, and [their] Encompasser; who though being All is One, and though being One is All; for that the Fullness of all things is One, and [is] in One, this latter One not coming as a second [One], but both being One.

And this is the idea that I would have thee keep, through the whole study of our sermon, Sire!

For should one try to separate what *seems* to be both All *and* One *and* Same from One, - he will be found to take his epithet of "All" from [the idea of] multitude, and not from [that of) fullness - which is impossible; for if he part All from the One, he will destroy the All.

For all things *must* be One - if they indeed *are* One. Yea, they are One; and they shall never cease being One - in order that the Fullness may not be destroyed.

** ** *

4. See then in Earth a host of founts of Water and of Fire forth-spirting in its midmost parts; in one and the same [space all] the three natures visible - of Fire, and Water, and of Earth, depending from one Root.

Whence, too, it is believed to be the Treasury of every matter. It sendeth forth of its abundance, and in the place [of what it sendeth forth] receiveth the subsistence from above.

For thus the Demiurge - I mean the Sun - eternally doth order Heaven and Earth, pouring down Essence, and taking Matter up, drawing both round Himself and to Himself all things, and from Himself giving all things to all.

For He it is whose goodly energies extend not only through the Heaven and the Air, but also onto Earth, right down unto the lowest Depth and the Abyss.

6. And if there be an Essence which the mind alone can grasp, this is his Substance, the reservoir of which would be His Light.

But whence this [Substance] doth arise, or floweth forth, He, [and He] only, knows.

** ** *

Or rather, in space and nature, He is near unto Himself . . . though as He is not seen by us, . . . understand [Him] by conjecture.

7. The spectacle of Him, however, is not left unto conjecture; nay [for] His very rays, in greatest splendour, shine all round on all the Cosmos that doth lie above and lie below.

For He is stablished in the midst, wreathed with the Cosmos, and just as a good charioteer, He safely drives the cosmic team, and holds them in unto Himself,  lest they should run away in dire disorder.

The reins are Life, and Soul, and Spirit, Deathlessness, and Genesis.

He lets it, then, drive [round] not far off from Himself - nay, if the truth be said, together with Himself.

8. And in this way He operates all things. To the immortals He distributeth perpetual permanence; and with the upper hemisphere of His own Light - all that he sends above from out His other side, [the side of him] which looks to Heaven - He nourisheth the deathless parts of Cosmos.

But with that side that sendeth down [its Light], and shineth round all of the hemisphere of Water, and of Earth, and Air, He vivifieth, and by births and changes keepeth in movement to and fro the animals in these [the lower] parts of Cosmos. . . .

9. He changes them in spiral fashion, and doth transform them into one another, genus to genus, species into species, their mutual changes into one another being balanced - just as He does when He doth deal with the Great Bodies.

For in the case of every body, [its] permanence [consists in] transformation.

In case of an immortal one, there is no dissolution; but when it is a mortal one, it is accompanied with dissolution.

And this is how the deathless body doth differ from the mortal, and how the mortal one doth differ from the deathless.

10. Moreover, as His Light's continuous, so is His Power of giving Life to lives continuous, and not to be brought to an end in space or in abundance.

For there are many choirs of daimons round Him, like unto hosts of very various kinds; who though they dwell with mortals, yet are not far from the immortals; but having as their lot from here unto the spaces of the Gods, they watch o'er the affairs of men, and work out things appointed by the Gods - by means of storms, whirlwinds and hurricanes, by transmutations wrought by fire and shakings of the earth, with famines also and with wars requiting [man's] impiety, - for this is in man's case the greatest ill against the Gods.

11. For that the duty of the Gods is to give benefits; the duty of mankind is to give worship; the duty of the daimons is to give requital.

For as to all the other things men do, through error, or foolhardiness, or by necessity, which they call Fate, or ignorance - these are not held requitable among the Gods; impiety alone is guilty at their bar.

12. The Sun is the preserver and the nurse of every class.

And just as the Intelligible World, holding the Sensible in its embrace, fills it [all] full, distending it with forms of every kind and every shape - so, too, the Sun distendeth all in Cosmos, affording births to all, and strengtheneth them.

When they are weary or they fail, He takes them in His arms again.

13. And under Him is ranged the choir of daimons - or, rather, choirs; for these are multitudinous and very varied, ranked underneath the groups of Stars, in equal number with each one of them.

So, marshalled in their ranks, they are the ministers of each one of the Stars, being in their natures good, and bad, that is, in their activities (for that a daimon's essence is activity); while some of them are [of] mixed [natures], good and bad.

14. To all of these has been allotted the authority o'er things upon the Earth; and it is they who bring about the multifold confusion of the turmoils on the Earth - for states and nations generally, and for each individual separately.

For they do shape our souls like to themselves, and set them moving with them, - obsessing nerves, and marrow, veins and arteries, the brain itself, down to the very heart.

15. For on each one of us being born and made alive, the daimons take hold on us - those [daimones] who are in service at that moment [of the wheel] of Genesis, who are ranged under each one of the Stars.

For that these change at every moment; they do not stay the same, but circle back again.

These, then, descending through the body to the two parts of the soul, set it awhirling, each one towards its own activity.

But the soul's rational part is set above the lordship of the daimons - designed to be receptacle of God.

16. Who then doth have a Ray shining upon him through the Sun within his rational part - and these in all are few on them the daimons do not act; for no one of the daimons or of Gods has any power against one Ray of God.

As for the rest, they are all led and driven, soul and body, by the daimons - loving and hating the activities of these.

The reason (*logos*), [then,] is not the love that is deceived and that deceives.

The daimons, therefore, exercise the whole of this terrene economy,  using our bodies as [their] instruments.

And this economy Hermes has called Heimarmenē.

17. The World Intelligible, then, depends from God; the Sensible from the Intelligible [World].

The Sun, through the Intelligible and the Sensible Cosmos, pours forth abundantly the stream from God of Good, - that is, the demiurgic operation.

And round the Sun are the Eight Spheres, dependent from Him - the [Sphere] of the Non-wandering Ones, the Six [Spheres] of the Wanderers, and one Circumterrene.

And from the Spheres depend the daimones; and from these, men.

And thus all things and all [of them] depend from God.

18. Wherefore God is the Sire of all; the Sun's [their] Demiurge; the Cosmos is the instrument of demiurgic operation.

Intelligible Essence regulateth Heaven; and Heaven, the Gods; the daimones, ranked underneath the Gods, regulate men.

This is the host of Gods and daimones.

Through these God makes all things for His own self.

And all [of them] are parts of God; and if they all [are] parts - then, God is all.

Thus, making all, He makes Himself; nor ever can He cease [His making], for He Himself is ceaseless.

Just, then, as God doth have no end and no beginning, so doth His making have no end and no beginning.

## Of Asclepius To The King

*Asclepius.* If thou dost think [of it], O King, even of bodies there are things bodiless.

*The King.* What [are they]? - (asked the King.)

*Asc.* The bodies that appear in mirrors - do they not seem then to have no body?

*The King.* It is so, O Asclepius; thou thinkest like a God! - (the King replied.)

*Asc.* There are things bodiless as well as these; for instance, forms - do not they seem to thee to have no body, but to appear in bodies not only of the things which are ensouled, but also of those which are not ensouled?

*The King.* Thou sayest well, Asclepius.

*Asc.* Thus, [then,] there are reflexions of things bodiless on bodies, and of bodies too upon things bodiless - that is to say, [reflexions] of the Sensible on the Intelligible World, and of the [World] Intelligible on the Sensible.

Wherefore, pay worship to the images, O King, since they too have their forms as from the World Intelligible.

(Thereon His Majesty arose and said:)

*The King.* It is the hour, O Prophet, to see about the comfort of our guests. To-morrow, [then,] will we resume our sacred converse.

## The Encomium Of Kings

**(ABOUT THE SOUL'S BEING HINDERED BY THE PASSION OF THE BODY)**

1. [Now] in the case of those professing the harmonious art of muse-like melody - if, when the piece is played, the discord of the instruments doth hinder their intent, its rendering becomes ridiculous.

For when his instruments are quite too weak for what's required of them, the music-artist needs must be laughed at by the audience.

For He, with all good will, gives of His art unweariedly; they blame the [artist's] weakness.

He then who is the Natural Musician-God, not only in His making of the harmony of His [celestial] songs, but also in His sending forth the rhythm of the melody of His own song[s] right down unto the separate instruments,  is, as God, never wearied.

For that with God there is no growing weary.

2. So, then, if ever a musician desires to enter into the highest contest of his art he can - when now the trumpeters have rendered the same phrase of the [composer's] skill, and afterwards the flautists played the sweet notes of the melody upon their instruments,  and they complete the music of the piece with pipe and plectrum - [if any thing goes wrong,] one does not lay the blame upon the inspiration of the music-maker.

Nay, [by no means,] - to him one renders the respect that is his due; one blames the falseness of the instrument, in that it has become a hindrance to those who are most excellent - embarrassing the maker of the music in [the execution of] his melody, and robbing those who listen of the sweetness of the song.

3. In like way also, in our case, let no one of our audience for the weakness that inheres in body, blame impiously our Race.

Nay, let him know God is Unwearied Spirit - for ever in the self-same way possessed of His own science, unceasing in His joyous gifts, the self-same benefits bestowing everywhere.

4. And if the Pheidias - the Demiurge - is not responded to, by lack of matter to perfect His skilfulness, although for His own part the Artist has done all he can, let us not lay the blame on Him.

But let us, [rather,] blame the weakness of the string, in that, because it is too slack or is too tight, it mars the rhythm of the harmony.

5. So when it is that the mischance occurs by reason of the instrument, no one doth blame the Artist.

Nay, [more;] the worse the instrument doth chance to be, the more the Artist gains in reputation by the frequency with which his hand doth strike the proper note, and more the love the listeners pour upon that Music-maker, without the slightest thought of blaming him.

So will we too, most noble [Sirs], set our own lyre in tune again, within, with the Musician!

6. Nay, I have seen one of the artist-folk - although he had no power of playing on the lyre - when once he had been trained for the right noble theme, make frequent use of his own self as instrument, and tune the service of his string by means of mysteries, so that the listeners were amazed at how he turned necessitude into magnificence.

Of course you know the story of the harper who won the favour of the God who is the president of music-work.

[One day,] when he was playing for a prize, and when the breaking of a string became a hindrance to him in the contest, the favour of the Better One supplied him with another string, and placed within his grasp the boon of fame.

A grasshopper was made to settle on his lyre, through the foreknowledge of the Better One, and [so] fill in the melody in substitution of the [broken] string.

And so by mending of his string the harper's grief was stayed, and fame of victory was won.

7. And this I feel is my own case, most noble [Sirs]!

For but just now I seemed to make confession of my want of strength, and play the weakling for a little while; but now, by virtue of the strength of [that] Superior One, as though my song about the King had been perfected [by Him, I seem] to wake my muse.

For, you must know, the end of [this] our duty will be the glorious fame of Kings, and the good-will of our discourse (*logos*) [will occupy itself] about the triumphs which they win.

Come then, let us make haste! For that the singer willeth it, and hath attuned his lyre for this; nay more, more sweetly will he play, more fitly will he sing, as he has for his song the greater subjects of his theme.

8. Since, then, he has the [stringing] of his lyre tuned specially to Kings, and has the key of laudatory songs, and as his goal the Royal praises, let him first raise himself unto the highest King - the God of wholes.

Beginning, [then,] his song from the above, he, [thus,] in second place, descends to those after His likeness who hold the sceptre's power; since Kings themselves, indeed, prefer the [topics] of the song should step by step descend from the above, and where they have their [gifts of] victory presided o'er for them, thence should their hopes be led in orderly succession.

9. Let, then, the singer start with God, the greatest King of wholes, who is for ever free from death, both everlasting and possessed of [all] the might of everlastingness, the Glorious Victor, the very first, from whom all victories descend to those who in succession do succeed to victory.

10. Our sermon (*logos*) then, doth hasten to descend to [Kingly] praises and to the Presidents of common weal and peace, the Kings - whose lordship in most ancient times was placed upon the highest pinnacle by God Supreme; for whom the prizes have already been prepared even before their prowess in the war; of whom the trophies have been raised even before the shock of conflict.

For whom it is appointed not only to be Kings but also to be best.

At whom, before they even stir, the foreign land doth quake.

** ** *

**(ABOUT THE BLESSING OF THE BETTER [ONE] AND PRAISING OF THE KING)**

11. But now our theme (*logos*) doth hasten on to blend its end with its beginnings - with blessing of the Better [One]; and then to make a final end of its discourse (*logos*) on those divinest Kings who give us the [great] prize of peace.

For just as we began [by treating] of the Better [One] and of the Power Above, so let us make the end bend round again unto the same - the Better [One].

Just as the Sun, the nurse of all the things that grow, on his first rising, gathers unto himself the first-fruits of their yield with his most mighty hands, using his rays as though it were for plucking off their fruits - yea, [for] his rays are [truly] hands for him who plucketh first the most ambrosial [essences] of plants - so, too, should we, beginning from the Better [One], and [thus] recipient of His wisdom's stream, and turning it upon the garden of our souls above the heavens, - we should [direct and] train these [streams] of blessing back again unto their source, [blessing] whose entire power of germination [in us] He hath Himself poured into us.

12. 'Tis fit ten thousand tongues and voices should be used to send His blessings back again unto the all-pure God, who is the Father of our souls; and though we cannot utter what is fit - for we are [far] unequal to the task - [yet will we say what best we can].

For Babes just born have not the strength to sing their Father's glory as it should be sung; but they give proper thanks for them, according to their strength, and meet with pardon for their feebleness.

Nay, it is rather that God's glory doth consist in this [one] very thing - that He is greater than His children; and that the prelude and the source, the middle and the end, of blessings, is to confess the Father to be infinitely puissant and never knowing what a limit means.

13. So is it, too, in the King's case.

For that we men, as though we were the children of the King, feel it our natural duty to give praise to him. Still must we ask for pardon [for our insufficiency], e'en though 'tis granted by our Sire before we [even] ask.

And as it cannot be the Sire will turn from Babes new-born because they are so weak, but rather will rejoice when they begin to recognise [his love] - so also will the Gnosis of the all [rejoice], which doth distribute life to all, and power of giving blessing back to God, which He hath given [us].

14. For God, being Good, and having in Himself eternally the limit of His own eternal fitness, and being deathless, and containing in Himself that lot of that inheritance that cannot come unto an end, and [thus] for ever ever-flowing from out that energy of His, He doth send tidings to this world down here [to urge us] to the rendering of praise that brings us home again.

With Him, therefore, is there no difference with one another; there is no partiality with Him.

But they are one in Thought. One is the Prescience of all. They have one Mind - their Father.

One is the Sense that's active through them -  their passion for each other. 'Tis Love Himself who worketh the one harmony of all.

15. Thus, therefore, let us sing the praise of God.

Nay, rather, let us [first] descend to those who have received their sceptres from Him.

For that we ought to make beginning with our Kings, and so by practising ourselves on them, accustom us to songs of praise, and train ourselves in pious service to the Better [One].

[We ought] to make the very first beginnings of our exercise of praise begin from him, and through him exercise the practice [of our praise], that so there may be in us both the exercising of our piety towards God, and of our praise to Kings.

16. For that we ought to make return to them, in that they have extended the prosperity of such great peace to us.

It is the virtue of the King, nay, 'tis his name alone, that doth establish peace.

He has his name of King because he levelleth the summits of dissension with his smooth tread, and is the lord of reason (*logos*) that [makes] for peace.

And in as much, in sooth, as he hath made himself the natural protector of the kingdom which is not his native land, his very name [is made] the sign of peace.

For that, indeed, you know, the appellation of the King has frequently at once restrained the foe.

Nay, more, the very statues of the King are peaceful harbours for those most tempest-tossed.

The likeness of the King alone has to appear to win the victory, and to assure to all the citizens freedom from hurt and fear.

## The Perfect Sermon Or The Asclepius

**I**

1. [I. M.] [*Trismegistus.*] God, O Asclepius, hath brought thee unto us that thou mayest hear a Godly sermon, a sermon such as well may seem of all the previous ones we've [either] uttered, or with which we've been inspired by the Divine, more Godly than the piety of [ordinary] faith.

If thou with eye of intellect shalt *see* this Word thou shalt in thy whole mind be filled quite full of all things good.

If that, indeed, the "many" be the "good," and not the "one," in which are "all." Indeed the difference between the two is found in their agreement, - "All" is of "One" or "One" is "All." So closely bound is each to other, that neither can be parted from its mate.

But this with diligent attention shalt thou learn from out the sermon that shall follow [this].

But do thou, O Asclepius, go forth a moment and call in the one who is to hear.

(And when he had come in, Asclepius proposed that Ammon too should be allowed to come. Thereon Thrice-greatest said:) [*Tris.*] There is no cause why Ammon should be kept away from us. For we remember how we have ourselves set down in writing many things to his address, as though unto a son most dear and most beloved, of physics many things, of ethics [too] as many as could be.

It is, however, with *thy* name I will inscribe this treatise.

But call, I prithee, no one else but Ammon, lest a most pious sermon on a so great theme be spoilt by the admission of the multitude.

For 'tis the mark of an unpious mind to publish to the knowledge of the crowd a tractate brimming o'er with the full Greatness of Divinity.

(When Ammon too had come within the holy place, and when the sacred group of four was now complete with piety and with God's goodly presence - to them, sunk in fit silence reverently, their souls and minds pendent on Hermes' lips, thus Love Divine began to speak.) II

1. [*Tris.*] The soul of every man, O [my] Asclepius, is deathless; yet not all in like fashion, but some in one way or [one] time, some in another.

*Asc.* Is not, then, O Thrice-greatest one, each soul of one [and the same] quality?

*Tris.* How quickly hast thou fallen, O Asclepius, from reason's true sobriety!

Did not I say that "All" is "One," and "One" is "All," in as much as all things have been in the Creator before they were created. Nor is He called unfitly "All," in that His members are the "All."

Therefore, in all this argument, see that thou keep in mind Him who is "One"-"All," or who Himself is maker of the "All."

2. All things descend from Heaven to Earth, to Water and to Air.

'Tis Fire alone, in that it is borne upwards, giveth life; that which [is carried] downwards [is] subservient to Fire.

Further, whatever doth descend from the above, begetteth; what floweth upwards, nourisheth.

'Tis Earth alone, in that it resteth on itself, that is Receiver of all things, and [also] the Restorer of all genera that it receives.

This Whole, therefore, as thou rememberest, in that it is of all, - in other words, all things, embraced by nature under "Soul" and "World," are in [perpetual] flux, so varied by the multiform equality of all their forms, that countless kinds of well-distinguished qualities may be discerned, yet with this bond of union, that all should seem as One, and from "One" "All."

**III**

1. That, then, from which the whole Cosmos is formed, consisteth of Four Elements - Fire, Water, Earth, and Air; Cosmos [itself is] one, [its] Soul [is] one, and God is one.

Now lend to me the whole of thee, - all that thou can'st in mind, all that thou skill'st in penetration.

For that the Reason of Divinity may not be known except by an intention of the senses like to it.

'Tis likest to the torrent's flood, down-dashing headlong from above with all-devouring tide; so that it comes about, that by the swiftness of its speed it is too quick for our attention, not only for the hearers, but also for the very teachers.



# THE DIVINE PYMANDER OF HERMES MERCURIUS TRISMEGISTUS**

## Contents

- Preface
- Hermes Trismegistus, His First Book
- The Second Book, Called, Poemander
- The Third Book, The Holy Sermon
- The Fourth Book, Called The Key
- The Fifth Book, That God Is Not Manifest, And Yet Most Manifest
- The Sixth Book, That In God Alone Is Good
- The Seventh Book, His Secret Sermon In The Mount Of Regeneration, And The Profession Of Silence
- The Eighth Book, The Greatest Evil In Man Is The Not Knowing God
- The Ninth Book, A Universal Sermon To Asclepius
- The Tenth Book, The Mind To Hermes
- The Eleventh Book Of The Common Mind, To Tat
- The Twelfth Book, His Crater Or Monas
- The Thirteenth Book, Of Sense And Understanding
- The Fourteenth Book, Of Operation And Sense
- The Fifteenth Book, Of Truth To His Son Tat
- The Sixteenth Book, That None Of The Things That Are Can Perish
- The Seventeenth Book, To Asclepius, To Be Truly Wise

## Preface

JUDICIOUS READER,

This Book may justly challenge the first place for antiquity, from all the Books in the World, being written some hundreds of years before Moses his time, as I shall endeavour to make good. The Original (as far as is known to us) is Arabic, and several Translations thereof have been published, as Greek, Latin, French, Dutch, etc., but never English before. It is pity the Learned Translator [Dr. Everard] had not lived, and received himself, the honour, and thanks due to him from the Englishmen for his good will to, and pains for them, in translating a Book of such infinite worth, out of the Original, into their Mother-tongue.

Concerning the Author of the Book itself, Four things are considerable, viz., His Name, Learning, Country, and Time.

1. The name by which he was commonly styled, is Hermes Trismegistus, i.e., Mercurius ter Maximus, or, The thrice greatest Intelligencer. And well might he be called Hermes, for he was the first Intelligencer in the World (as we read of) that communicated Knowledge to the sons of Men, by Writing, or Engraving. He was called Ter Maximus, for some Reasons, which I shall afterwards mention.

2. His Learning will appear, as by his Works; so by the right understanding the Reason of his Name.

3. For his Country, he was King of Egypt.

4. For his Time, it is not without much Controversy, betwixt those that write of this Divine, ancient Author, what time he lived in. Some say he lived after Moses his time, giving this slender Reason for it, viz., Because he was named Ter Maximus: for being preferred [Franciscus Flussas] (according to the Egyptian Customs) being chief Philosopher, to be chief of the Priesthood: and from thence, to be chief in Government, or King. But if this be all their ground, you must excuse my dissent from then, and that for this reason, Because according to the most learned of his followers [Geber, Paracelsus: Henricus Nollius in Theoria Philosophia Hermeticae, tractatu priimo.], he was called Ter Maximus; for having perfect, and exact Knowledge of all things contained in the World; which things he divided into Three Kingdoms (as he calls them), viz., Mineral, Vegetable, Animal; which Three, he did excel in the right understanding of; also, because he attained to, and transmitted to Posterity (although in an Ænigmatical, and obscure style) the Knowledge of the Quintessence of the whole Universe (which Universe, as I said before, he divided into Three Parts) otherwise called, The great Elixir of the Philosophers; which is the Receptacle of all Celestial and Terrestrial Virtues; which Secret, many ignorantly deny, many have chargeably sought after, yet few, but some, yea, and the Englishmen have happily found [Ripley, Bacon, Norton, etc.]. The Description of this great Treasure, is said to be found engraved upon a Smaragdine Table, in the Valley of Ebron, after the Flood. So that the Reason before alleged to prove this Author to live after Moses, seem invalid: neither doth it any way appear, that he lived in Moses his time, although it be the opinion of some, as of John Functius, who saith in his Chronology, That he lived Twenty-one years before the Law was given by Moses in the Wilderness; But the Reasons that he, and others give, are far weaker than those that I shall give, for his living before Moses his time. My reasons for that are these: -

First, Because it is received amongst the Ancients, that he was the first that invented the Art of communicating Knowledge to the World, by Writing or Engraving. Now if so, then in all probability he was before Moses; for it is said of Moses that he was from his childhood [Acts vii.22] skilled in all the Egyptian Learning, which could not well have been without the help of Literature, which we never read of any before that invented by Hermes [Chapter x.].

Secondly, he is said by himself, to be the son of Saturn and by others to be the Scribe of Saturn. Now Saturn according to Historians, lived in the time of Sarug, Abraham's great Grand-Father [Sanchoniathon]. I shall but take in Suidas his judgment, and so rest satisfied, that he did not live only before, but long before Moses; His words are these, Credo Mercurium Trismegistum sapientem Egyptium floruisse ante Pharaonem [Suidas].

In this Book, though so very old, is contained more true knowledge of God and Nature, than in all the Books in the World besides, except only Sacred Writ; And they that shall judiciously read it, and rightly understand it, may well be excused from reading many Books; the Authors of which, pretend so much to the knowledge of the Creator, and Creation. If God ever appeared in any man, he appeared in him, as it appears by this Book.

That a man who had not the benefit of his Ancestors' knowledge, being as I said before, The first inventor of the Art of Communicating Knowledge to Posterity by writing, should be so high a Divine, and so deep a Philosopher, seems to be a thing more of God than of Man; and therefore it was the opinion of some That he came from Heaven, not born upon Earth [Goropius Becanus].

There is contained in this Book, that true Philosophy, without which, it is impossible ever to attain to the height, and exactness of Piety, and Religion.

According to this Philosophy, I call him a Philosopher, that shall learn and study the things that are, and how they are ordered, and governed, and by whom, and for what cause, or to what end; and he that doth so, will acknowledge thanks to, and admire the Omnipotent Creator, Preserver, and Director of all these things. And he that shall be thus truly thankful, may truly be called Pious and Religious: and he that is Religious, shall more and more know where and what the Truth is: And learning that, he shall yet be more and more Religious.

The glory and splendour of Philosophy, is an endeavoring to understand the chief Good, as the Fountain of all Good: Now how can we come near to, or find out the Fountain, but by making use of the Streams as a conduct to it? The operations of Nature, are Streams running from the Fountain of Good, which is God.

I am not of the ignorant, and foolish opinion of those that say, The greatest Philosophers are the greatest Atheists: as if to know the works of God, and to understand his goings forth in the Way of Nature, must necessitate a man to deny God. The [Job] Scripture disapproves of this as a sottish tenet, and experience contradicts it: For behold! Here is the greatest Philosopher, and therefore the greatest Divine.

Read understandingly this ensuing Book (and for thy help thou mayest make use of that voluminous Commentary written upon it [Hanbal Offeli Alabar] ) then it will speak more for its Author, than can be spoken by any man, at least by me.

Thine in the love of Truth, J.F.

## Hermes Trismegistus, His First Book

1. O MY SON, write this First Book, both for Humanity's sake, and for Piety towards god.

2. For there can be no Religion more true or just, than to know the things that are; and to acknowledge thanks for all things, to Him that made them, which thing I shall not cease continually to do.

3. What then should a man do, O Father, to lead his life well; seeing there is nothing here true?

4. Be Pious and Religious, O my Son; for he that doth so, is the best and highest Philosopher, and without Philosophy it is impossible ever to attain to the height and exactness of Piety and Religion.

5. But he that shall learn and study the things that are, and how they are ordered and governed, and by whom, and for what cause, or to what end. Will acknowledge thanks to the *Workman*, as to a good *Father*, an excellent *Nurse*, and a faithful *Steward*, and he that gives thanks shall be Pious or Religious, and he that is Religious shall know both where the truth is, and what it is, and learning that he will be yet more and more Religious.

6. For never, O my Son, shall, or can that soul, which, while it is in the body, lightens and lifts up itself to know and comprehend that which is good and true, slide back to the contrary. For it is infinitely enamoured thereof, and forgetteth all evils; and when it hath learned and known its *Father* and *Progenitor*, it can no more apostatize or depart from that good.

7. And let this, O Son, be the end of Religion and Piety; whereunto thou art once arrived, thou shalt both live well and die blessedly, whilst thy soul is not ignorant wither it must return, and fly back again.

8. For this only, O Son, is the way to *Truth*, which our *Progenitors* travelled in; and by which making their journey, they at length attained to the good. It is a venerable way and plain, but hard and difficult for the soul to go in that is in the body.

9. For first must it war against its own self, and after much strife and dissention, it must be overcome of the part; for the contention is of one against two, whilst it flies away, and they strive to hold and detain it.

10. But the victory of both is not like, for the one hasteth to that which is Good, but the other is a neighbour to the things that are Evil; and that which is Good desireth to be set at liberty, but the things that are Evil love bondage and Slavery.

11. And if the two parts be overcome, they become quiet, and are content to accept of it as their *Ruler*; but if the one be overcome of the two, it is by them led and carried to be punished by its being and continuance here.

12. This is, O Son, the Guide in the way that leads thither; for thou must first forsake the Body before thy end, and get the victory in this contention and strifeful life, and when thou hast overcome, return.

13. But now, O my Son, I will by Heads run through the things that are. Understand thou what I say, and remember what thou hearest.

14. All things that are moved, only that which is not is immoveable.

15. Every body is changeable.

16. Not every body is dissolveable.

17. Some bodies are dissolveable.

18. Every living being is not mortal.

19. Nor every living thing is immortal.

20. That which may be dissolved is also corruptible.

21. That which abides always is unchangeable.

22. That which is unchangeable is eternal.

23. That which is always made is always corrupted.

24. That which is made but once is never corrupted, neither becomes any other thing.

25. Firstly, God; secondly, the World; thirdly, Man.

26. The World for Man; Man for God.

27. Of the Soul; that part which is sensible is mortal, but that part which is reasonable is immortal.

28. Every Essence is immortal.

29. Every Essence is unchangeable.

30. Everything that is, is double.

31. None of the things that are stand still.

32. Not all things are moved by a soul, but everything that is, is moved by a soul.

33. Everything that suffers is sensible; everything that is sensible, suffereth.

34. Everything that is sad, rejoiceth also; and is a mortal living creature.

35. Not everything that joyeth is also sad, but is an eternal living thing.

36. Not every body is sick; every body that is sick is dissolveable.

37. The mind in God.

38. Reasoning (or disputing or discoursing) in Man.

39. Reason in the Mind.

40. The Mind is void of suffering.

41. No thing in a body true.

42. All that is incorporeal, is void of Lying.

43. Everything that is made is corruptible.

44. Nothing good upon Earth; nothing evil in Heaven.

45. God is good; Man is evil.

46. Good is voluntary, or of its own accord.

47. Evil is involuntary, or against its will.

48. The gods choose good things, as good things.

49. Time is a Divine thing.

50. Law is humane.

51. Malice is the nourishment of the World.

52. Time is the corruption of Man.

53. Whatsoever is in Heaven is unalterable.

54. All upon Earth is alterable.

55. Nothing in Heaven is servanted; nothing upon Earth free.

56. Nothing unknown in Heaven; nothing known upon Earth.

57. The things upon Earth communicate not with those in Heaven.

58. All things in Heaven are unblameable; all things upon Earth are subject to reprehension.

59. That which is immortal is not mortal; that which is mortal is not immortal.

60. That which is sown is not always begotten; but that which is begotten always is sown.

61. Of a dissolveable body, there are two times; one for sowing to generation, one from generation to death.

62. Of an everlasting Body, the time is only from the Generation.

63. Dissolveable Bodies are increased and diminished.

64. Dissolveable matter is altered into contraries; to wit, Corruption and Generation, but Eternal matter into itself, and its like.

65. The Generation of Man is corruption; the Corruption of Man is the beginning of Generation.

66. That which offsprings or begetteth another, is itself an offspring or begotten by another.

67. Of things that are, some are in bodies, some in their IDEAS.

68. Whasoever things belong to operation or working, are in a body.

69. That which is immortal, partakes not of that which is mortal.

70. That which is mortal cometh not into a Body immortal; but that which is immortal cometh into that which is mortal.

71. Operation or Workings are not carried upwards, but descend downwards.

72. Things upon Earth, do nothing advantage those in Heaven; but all things in Heaven do profit and advantage all things upon Earth.

73. Heaven is capable, and a fit receptacle of everlasting Bodies; the Earth of corruptible Bodies.

74. The Earth is brutish; the Heaven is reasonable or rational.

75. Those things that are in Heaven are subjected or placed under it, but the things on earth are placed upon it.

76. Heaven is the first element.

77. Providence is Divine order.

78. Necessity is the Minister or Servant of Providence.

79. Fortune is the carriage or effect of that which is without order; the Idol of operation, a lying Fantasie or opinion.

80. What is God? The immutable or unalterable good.

81. What is man? An unchangeable evil.

82. If thou perfectly remember these Heads, thou canst not forget those things which in more words I have largely expounded unto thee; for these are the contents or Abridgment of them.

83. Avoid all conversation with the multitude or common people; for I would not have thee subject to Envy, much less to be ridiculous unto the many.

84. For the like always takes to itself that which is like, but the unlike never agrees with the unlike. Such discourses as these have very few Auditors, and peradventure very few will have, but they have something peculiar unto themselves.

85. They do rather sharpen and whet evil men to their maliciousness; therefore, it behoveth to avoid the multitude, and take heed of them as not understanding the virtue and power of the things that are said.

86. How does thou mean, O Father?

87. This O Son: the whole nature and Composition of those living things called Men, is very prone to Maliciousness, and is very familiar, and as it were nourished with it, and therefore is delighted with it; now this wight, if it shall come to learn or know that the world was once made, and all things are done according to Providence or Necessity, Destiny or Fate, bearing rule over all, will he not be much worse than himself, despising the whole, because it was made? *And if he may lay the cause of Evil upon Fate or Destiny*, he will never abstain from any evil work.

88. Wherefore we must look warily to such kind of people, that being in ignorance they may be less evil for fear of that which is hidden and kept secret.

The End of THE FIRST BOOK OF HERMES....

## The Second Book, Called, Poemander

MY THOUGHTS being once seriously busied about things that are, and my Understanding lifted up, all my bodily Senses being exceedingly holden back, as it is with them that are heavy of sleep, by reason either of fulness of meat, or of bodily labour: Methought I saw one of an exceeding great stature, and of an infinite greatness, call me by my name, and say unto me, *What wouldst thou hear and see?* Or what wouldst thou understand to learn and know?

2. Then said I, *Who are Thou?* I am, quoth he, *Poemander*, the mind of the great Lord, the most mighty and absolute *Emperor*: I know what thou wouldst have, and I am always present with thee.

3. Then I said, *I would learn the things that are, and understand the nature of them, and know God.* How? said he. I answered that I would gladly hear. Then said he, Have me again in they mind, and whasoever though wouldst learn, I will teach thee.

4. When he had thus said, he was changed in his *Idea* or *Form*, and straightway, in the twinkling of an eye, all things were opened unto me. And I saw an infinite sight, all things were become light, both sweet and exceeding pleasant; and I was wonderfully delighted in the beholding it.

5. But after a little while, there was a darkness made in part, coming down obliquely, fearful and hideous, which seemed unto me to be changed *into a certain moist nature*, unspeakably troubled, which yielded a smoke as from Fire; and from whence proceeded a voice unutterable, and very mournful, but inarticulate, inasmuch as it seemed to have come from the Light.

6. Then from that Light, a certain *holy Word joined itself unto Nature*, and outflew the pure and unmixed Fire from the moist nature upwards on high; it was exceeding *Light*, and *sharp*, and *operative* withal. And the *Air*, which was also light, followed the *Spirit* and mourned up to *Fire* (from the Earth and the Water), insomuch that it seemed to hang and depend upon it.

7. And the Earth and the Water stayed by themselves so mingled together, that the Earth could not be seen for the Water, but they were moved because of the *Spiritual word* that was carried upon them.

8. Then said Poemander unto me, Dost thou understand this vision, and what it meaneth? I shall know, said I. Then said he, I am that Light, the Mind, thy God, who am before that moist nature that appeared out of darkness; and that bright and lightful Word from the mind is the Son of God.

9. How is that, quoth I? Thus, replied he, understand it: That which in thee seeth and heareth, the Word of the Lord, and the Mind the Father, God, differ not one from the other; and the union of these is Life.  
*Trismeg.*--I thank thee.  
*Pimand.*--But first conceive well the Light in they mind, and know it.

10. When he had said thus, for a long time we looked steadfastly one upon the other, insomuch that I trembled at his *Idea*or *Form*.

11. But when he nodded to me, I beheld in my mind the Light that is in innumerable, and the truly indefinite *ornament*or *world*; and that the *Fire* is comprehended or contained in, or by a great moist Power, and constrained to keep its station.

12. These things I understood, seeing the word, or *Pimander*; and when I was mightily amazed, he said again unto me, Hast thou seen in thy mind that Archetypal Form which was before the interminated and infinite Beginning? Thus *Pimander* to me. But whence, quoth I, or whereof are the Elements of Nature made?  
*Pimander.*--Of the Will and counsel of God; which taking the Word, and beholding the beautiful World (in the Archetype thereof) imitated it, and so made this World, by the principles and vital seeds or Soul-like productions of itself.

13. For the *Mind* being God, *Male and Female, Life and Light*, brought forth by his *Word* another *Mind* or *Workman*; which being God of the *Fire*, and the *Spirit*, fashioned and formed seven other Governors, which in their circles contain the *Sensible World*, whose Government or disposition is called *Fate* or *Destiny*.

14. *Straightway* leaped out, or exalted itself from the downward Elements of God,*The Word of God*, into the clean and pure Workmanship of Nature, and was united to the *Workman*, *Mind*, for it was *Consubstantial*; and so the downward born elements of Nature were left without Reason, that they might be the only Matter.

15. But the *Workman*, *Mind*, together with the *Word*, containing the circles, and whirling them about, turned round as a wheel, his own Workmanships; and suffered them to be turned from an indefinite Beginning to an indeterminable end, for they always begin where they end.

16. And the *Circulation*or running round of these, as the mind willeth, out of the lower or downward-born Elements, brought forth unreasonable or brutish Creatures, for they had no reason, the Air flying things, and the Water such as swim.

17. And the Earth and the Water were separated, either from the other, as the *Mind* would; and the Earth brought forth from herself, such living creatures as she had, four-footed and creeping beasts, wild and tame.

18. But the Father of all things, the *Mind* being *Life* and *Light*, brought forth *Man* like unto himself, whom he loved s his proper *Birth*; for he was all beauteous, having the image of his *Father*.

19. For indeed God was exceedingly enamoured of his own form or shape, and delivered unto it all his own Workmanships. But he, seeing and understanding the *Creation* of the Workman in the whole, would needs also himself *fall to work*, and so was separated from the Father, being in the sphere of Generation or Operation.

20. Having all Power, he considered the Operations or Workmanships of the *Seven*; but they loved him, and everyone made him partaker of his own order.

21. And he learning diligently, and understanding their Essence, and partaking their Nature, resolved to pierce and break through the *Circumference* of the Circles, and to understand the power of him that sits upon the Fire.

22. And having already all power of mortal things, of the Living, and of the unreasonable creatures of the World, stooped down and peeped through the *Harmony*, and breaking through the strength of the Circles, so showed and made manifest the downward-born Nature, the fair and beautiful Shape or Form of God.

23. Which, when he saw, having in itself the unsatiable Beauty, and all the operations of the*Seven Governors*, and the Form or Shape of God, he *smiled* for love, as if he had seen the shape or likeness in the Water, or the shadow upon the Earth, of the fairest Human form.

24. And seeing in the Water a Shape, a Shape like unto himself, in himself he loved it, and would cohabit with it, and immediately upon the resolution ensued the operation, and brought forth the unreasonable Image or Shape.

25. Nature presently laying hold of what it so much loved, did wholly wrap herself about it, and they were mingled, for they loved one another.

26. And from this cause *Man* above all things that live upon earth is double: *Mortal*, because of his body, and *Immortal*, because of the substantial Man. For being immortal, and having power of all things, he yet suffers mortal things, and such as are subject to Fate or Destiny.

27. And therefore being above all *Harmony*, he is made and become a servant to *Harmony*, he is *Hermaphrodite*, or Male and Female, and watchful, he is governed by and subjected to a Father, that is both Male and Female, and watchful.

28. After these things, I said, Thou art my mind, and I am in love with Reason.

29. Then said *Pimander*, This is the *Mystery* that to this day is hidden and kept secret; for Nature being mingled with man, brought forth a Wonder most Wonderful; for he having the nature of the *Harmony* of the *Seven*, from him whom I told thee, the Fire and the Spirit, Nature continued not, but forthwith brought forth seven Men, all *Males*and *Females*, and sublime, or on high, according to the Natures of the seven Governors.

30. And after these things, O *Pimander*, quoth I, I am now come into a great desire and longing to hear; do not digress or run out.

31. But he said, Keep silence, for I have not yet finished the first speech.

32. *Trism.*Behold, I am silent.

33. *Pim.*The Generation therefore of these Seven was after this manner:--The *Air* being *Feminine* and the Water desirous of Copulation, took from the Fire its ripeness, and from the aether Spirit, and so Nature produced Bodies after the species and shape of men.

34. And man was made of *Life*and *Light*, into *Soul* and *Mind*; of *Life* the soul, of *Light* the *Mind*.

35. And so all the members of the *Sensible World*, continued unto the period of the end, bearing rule and generating.

36. Hear now the rest of that speech thou so much desireth to hear.

37. When that *period* was fulfilled, the bond of all things was loosed and untied by the will of God; for all living *Creatures* being Hermaphroditical, or *Male*and *Female*, were loosed and untied together with man; and so the Males were apart by themselves and the Females likewise.

38. And straightways God said to the Holy Word, Increase in increasing and multiplying in multitude all you my Creatures and Workmanships. And let him that is endued with mind, know himself to be immortal; and that the cause of death is the love of the body, and let him learn all things that are.

39. When he had thus said, *Providence by Fate of Harmony*, made the mixtures and established the Generations, and all things were multiplied according to their kind. And he that knew himself, came at length to the *Superstantial*of every way substantial good.

40. But he that thro' the error of Love loved the *Body*, abideth wandering in darkness, sensible, suffering the things of death.

41. *Trism.* But why do they that are ignorant, sin so much, that they should therefore be deprived of immortality?

42. *Pim.*Thou seemest not to have understood what thou hast heard.

43. *Trism.*Peradventure I seem so to thee; but I both understand and remember them.

44. *Pim.*I am glad for thy sake if thou understoodest them.

45. *Trism.*Tell me why are they worthy of death, that are in death?

46. *Pim.*Because there goeth a sad and dismal darkness before its body; of which darkness is the moist nature, of which moist nature the Body consisteth in the sensible world, from whence death is derived. Has thou understood this aright?

47. *Trism.*But why, or how doth he that understands himself, go or pass into God?

48. *Pim.*That which the Word of God said, say I: Because the Father of all things consists of Life and Light, whereof man is made.

49. *Trism.*Thou sayest very well.

50. *Pim.*God and the Father is Light and Life, of which Man is made. If therefore thou learn and believe thyself to be of the Life and Light, thou shalt again pass into Life.

51. *Trism.*But yet tell me more, O my Mind, how I shall go into Life.

52. *Pim.*God saith, Let man, endued with a mind, mark, consider, and know himself well.

53. *Trism.*Have not all men a mind?

54. *Pim.*Take heed what thou sayest, for I the mind come unto men that are holy and good, pure and merciful, and that live piously and religiously; and my presence is a help unto them. And forthwith they know all things, and lovingly they supplicate and propitiate the Father; and blessing him, they give him thanks, and sing hymns unto him, being ordered and directed by filial Affection and natural Love. And before they give up their bodies to the death of them, they hate their senses, knowing their Works and Operations.

55. Rather I that am the Mind itself, will not suffer the operations or Works, which happen or belong to the body, to be finished and brought to perfection in them; but being the *Porter* or *Doorkeeper*, I will shut up the entrances of Evil, and cut off the thoughtful desires of filthy works.

56. But to the foolish, and evil, and wicked, and envious, and covetous, and murderous, and profane, I am far off, giving place to the revenging *Demon*, which applying unto him the sharpness of fire, tormenteth such a man sensible, and armeth him the more to all wickedness, that he may obtain the greater punishment.

57. And such an one never ceaseth, having unfulfiled desires, and unsatisfiable concupiscences, and always fighting in darkness; for the *Demon*always afflicts and tormenteth him continually, and increaseth the fire upon him more and more.

58. *Trism.*Thou hast, O Mind, most excellently taught me all things, as I desired; but tell me, moreover, after the return is made, what then?

59. *Pim.*First of all, in the resolution of the material body, the Body itself is given up to alteration, and the form which it had becometh invisible; and the idle manners are permitted, and left to the *Demon*, and the senses of the body return into their Fountains, being parts, and again made up into Operations.

60. And Anger, and concupiscence, go into the brutish or unreasonable nature; and the rest striveth upward by Harmony.

61. And to the first *Zone*it giveth the power it had of increasing and diminishing.

62. To the second, the machinations or plotting of evils, and one effectual deceit or craft.

63. To the third, the idle deceit of Concupiscence.

64. To the fourth, the desire of Rule, and unsatiable Ambition.

65. To the fifth, profane Boldness, and the headlong rashness of confidence.

66. To the sixth, Evil and ineffectual occasions of Riches.

67. To the seventh *Zone*, subtle Falsehood, always lying in wait.

68. And then being made naked of all the Operations of *Harmony*, it cometh to the Eighth Nature, having its proper power, and singeth praises to the father with the things that are, and all they that are present rejoice, and congratulate the coming of it; and being made like to them with whom it converseth, it heareth also the Powers that are above the Eighth Nature, singing Praise to God in a certain voice that is peculiar to them.

69. And then in order they return unto the Father, and themselves deliver themselves to the Powers, and becoming Powers they are in God.

70. This is the Good, and to them that know, to be desired.

71. Furthermore, why sayest thou, What resteth, but that understanding all men thou become a guide, and way-leader to them that are worthy; that the kind of *Humanity*, or *Mankind*, may be saved by God?

72. When *Pimander*had thus said unto me, he was mingled among the Powers.

73. But I, giving thanks, and blessing the father of all things, rose up, being enabled by him, and taught the Nature of the Nature of the whole, and having seen the greatest sight or spectacle.

74. And I began to Preach unto men, the beauty and fairness of Piety and Knowledge.

75. O ye people, men, born and made of the earth, which have given yourselves over to drunkenness and sleep, and to the ignorance of God, be sober and cease your surfeit, whereunto you are allured and visited by brutish and unreasonable sleep.

76. And they that heard me come willingly and with one accord; and then I said further:

77. Why, O Men of the Offspring of Earth, why have you delivered yourselves over unto Death, having power to partake of Immortality? Repent and change your minds, you that have together walked in Error, and have been darkened in ignorance.

78. Depart from that dark light, be partakers of Immortality, and leave or forsake corruption.

79. And some of *them that heard me*, mocking and scorning went away, and delivered themselves up to the way of Death.

80. But others casting themselves down before my feet, besought me that they might be taught; but I, causing them to rise up, became a guide of mankind, teaching them the reasons how, and by what means they may be saved. And I sowed in them the Words of Wisdom, and nourished them with *Ambrozian* Water of *Immortality*.

81. And when it was evening and the brightness of the same began wholly to go down, I commanded them to go down, I commanded them to give thanks to God; and when they had finished their thanksgiving, everyone returned to his own lodging.

82. But I wrote in myself the bounty and benevolence of *Pimander*; and being filled with what I most desired, I was exceedingly glad.

83. For the sleep of the body was the sober watchfulness of the mind; and the shutting of my eyes the true sight, and my silence great with child and full of good; and the pronouncing of my words the blossoms and fruits of good things.

84. And thus it came to pass or happened unto me, which I received from my mind, that is *Pimander*, the Lord of the Word; whereby I became inspired by God with the Truth.

85. For which cause, with my soul and whole strength, I give praise and blessing unto God the Father.

86. Holy is God, the Father of all things.

87. Holy is God, whose will is performed and accomplished by his own powers.

88. Holy is God, that determineth to be known, and is known by his own, or those that are his.

89. Holy art thou, that by thy Word has established all things.

90. Holy art thou, of whom all Nature is the Image.

91. Holy art thou, whom Nature hath not formed.

92. Holy art thou, that art stronger than all power.

93. Holy art thou, that art stronger than all excellency.

94. Holy art thou, that art better than all praise.

95. Accept these reasonable sacrifices from a pure soul, and a heart that stretched out unto thee.

96. O unspeakable, unutterable, to be praised with silence!

97. I beseech thee, that I may never err from the knowledge of thee; look mercifully upon me, and enable me, and enlighten with this Grace those that are in Ignorance, the brothers of my kind, but thy Sons.

98. Therefore I believe thee, and bear witness, and go into the Life and Light.

99. Blessed art thou, O Father; thy man would be sanctified with thee, as thou hast given him all power.

The End of The Second Book, Called, POEMANDER....

## The Third Book, The Holy Sermon

THE glory of all things, God, and that which is Divine, and the Divine Nature, the beginning of things that are.

2. God, and the Mind, and Nature, and Matter, and Operation or Working, and Necessity, and Matter, and Operation or Working, and Necessity, and the End, and Renovation.

3. For there were in the *Chaos* an infinite darkness in the Abyss or bottomless Depth, and Water, and a subtle in Spirit intelligible in Power; and there went out the Holy Light, and the Elements were coagulated from the Sand out of the moist substance.

4. And all the Gods distinguished the Nature full of Seeds.

5. And when all things were interminated and unmade up, the light things were divided on high. And the heavy things were founded upon the moist Sand, all things being Terminated or Divided by Fire, and being sustained or hung up by the Spirit, they were so carried, and the Heaven was seen in *Seven Circles*.

6. And the Gods were seen in their *Ideas* of the Stars, with all their signs, and the Stars were numbered with the Gods in them. And the Sphere was all lined with *Air*, carried about in a circular motion by the Spirit of God.

7. And every God, by his internal power, did that which was commanded him; and there were made four-footed things, and creeping things, and such as live in the water, and such as fly, and every fruitful seed, and Grass, and the Flowers of all Greens, all which had sowed in themselves the Seeds of Regeneration.

8. As also the Generations of Men, to the Knowledge of the Divine Works, and a lively or working Testimony of Nature, and a multitude of men, and the dominion of all things under Heaven, and the Knowledge of good things, and to be increased in increasing, and multiplied in multitude.

9. And every Soul in Flesh, by the wonderful working of the Gods in the Circles, to the beholding of Heaven, the Gods Divine Works, and the operations of Nature; and for signs of good things, and the Knowledge of the Divine Power, and to find out every cunning Workmanship of good things.

10. So it beginneth to live in them, and to be wise according to the operation of the course of the circular Gods; and to be resolved into that which shall be great Monuments and Rememberances of the cunning Works done upon earth, leaving them to be read by the darkness of times.

11. And every Generation of living Flesh, of Fruit, Seed, and all Handicrafts, though they be lost, must of necessity be renewed by the renovation of the Gods, and of the Nature of a Circle, moving in number; for it is a Divine thing that every worldly temperature should be renewed by Nature; for in that which is Divine is Nature also established.

The End of the Fragments of the Third Book, THE HOLY SERMON....

## The Fourth Book, Called The Key

YESTERDAY'S Speech, O *Asclepius*, I dedicated to thee; this day it is fit to dedicate to Tat, because it is an Epitome of those general Speeches which were spoken to him.

2. God therefore, and the Father, and the Good, *O Tat*, have the same Nature, or rather also the same Act and operation.

3. For there is one name or appellation of Nature or Increase, which concerneth things changeable, and another about things unchangeable, and about things unmoveable, that is to say, Things Divine and Humane; every one of that which himself will have so to be; but action or operation is of another thing, or elsewhere, as we have taught in other things, Divine and Humane, which must here also be understood.

4. For his Operation or Act is his will, and his Essence, to will all things to be.

5. For what is God, and the Father, and the Good, but the Being of all things that yet are not, and the existence itself of those things that are?

6. This is God, this is the Father, this is the Good, whereunto no other thing is present or approacheth.

7. For the *World*, and the *Sun*, which is also a *Father* by *Participation*, is not for all that equally the cause of Good, and of Life, to living creatures. And if this be so, he is altogether constrained by the Will of the Good, without which it is not possible either to be, or to be begotten or made.

8. But the Father is the cause of his Children, who hath a will both to sow and nourish that which is good by the Sun.

9. For Good is always active or busy in making; and this cannot be in any other but in him that taketh nothing, and yet willeth all things to be; for I will not say, O *Tat*, making them; for he that maketh is defective in much time, in which sometimes he maketh not, as also of quantity and quality; for sometimes he maketh those things that have quantity and quality, and sometimes the contrary.

10. But God is the Father, and the Good, in being all things; for he both will be this and is it, and yet all this for himself (as is true) in him that can see it.

11. For all things else are for this, it is the property of Good, to be known. This is the Good, O*Tat*.

12. *Tat.*Thou hast filled us, O *Father*, with a sight both good and fair, and the eye of my mind is almost become more holy by the sight or Spectacle.

13. *Trism. I wonder not at it*, for the *sight of Good* is not like the beam of the *Sun*, which being of a fiery shining brightness, maketh the eye blind by his excessive Light, that gazeth upon it; rather the contrary, for it enlighteneth, and so much increaseth the light of the eye, as any man is able to receive the influence of this intelligible clearness.

14. For it is more swift and sharp to pierce, and innocent or harmless withal, and full of immortality; and they are capable, and can draw any store of this spectacle and sight, do many times fall asleep from the Body, into this most fair and beauteous Vision; which thing *Celius* and Saturn our Progenitors obtained unto.

15. *Tat.*I would we also, O Father, could do so.

16. *Trism.*I would we could, O Son; but for the present we are less intent to the Vision, and cannot yet open the eyes of our mind to behold the incorrputible and incomprehensible Beauty of that Good; but then we shall see it, when we have nothing at all to say of it.

17. For the knowledge of it is a Divine Silence, and the rest of all the senses; for neither can he that understands that, understand anything else, nor he that sees that, see anything else, nor hear any other thing, nor in sum move the Body.

18. For shining steadfastly upon and round the whole mind, it enlighteneth all the Soul; and loosing it from the Bodily senses and motions, it draweth it from the Body, and changeth it wholly into the Essence of God.

19. For it is possible for the Soul, O Son, to be deified while yet it lodgeth in the Body of Man, if it contemplate the beauty of the Good.

20. *Tat.*How does thou mean deifying, *Father*?

21. *Trism.* There are differences, O Son, of every Soul.

22. *Tat.*But how dost thou again divide the changes?

23. *Trism.*Hast thou not heard in the general Speeches, that from one Soul of the universe are all those Souls which in the world are tossed up and down, as it were, and severally divided? Of these Souls there are many changes, some into a more fortunate estate, and some quite the contrary; for they which are of creeping things are changed into those of watery things; and those of things living in the water, to those of things living upon the Land; and Airy ones are changed into men, and human Souls, that lay hold of immortality, are changed into *Demons*.

24. And so they go on into the Sphere or Region of the fixed Gods; for there are two choirs or companies of Gods, one of them that wander, and another of them that are fixed; And so this is the perfect glory of the Soul.

25. But the Soul entering into the body of a Man, if it continue evil, shall neither taste of immortality, nor is partaker of the Good.

26. But being drawn back the same way, it returneth into creeping things; And this is the condemnation of an Evil Soul.

27. And the wickedness of a Soul is ignorance; for the Soul that knows nothing of the things that are, neither the Nature of them, nor that which is good, but is blinded, rusheth and dasheth against the bodily passions; and unhappy as it is, and not knowing itself, it serveth strange bodies and evil ones, carrying the Body as a burden, and not ruling but ruled: And this is the mischief of the Soul.

28. On the contrary, the virtue of the soul is Knowledge; for he that knows is both good and religious, and already Divine.

29. *Tat.* But who is such a one, O Father?

30. *Trism.*He that neither speaks nor hears many things; for he, O Son, that heareth two speeches, or hearings, fighteth in the shadow.

31. For God, and the Father, and Good, is neither spoken nor heard.

32. This being so in all things that are, are the *Senses*, because they cannot be without them.

33. But Knowledge differs much from Sense; for Sense is of things that surmount it, but Knowledge is the end of Sense.

34. Knowledge is the gift of God; for all Knowledge is unbodily, but useth the Mind as an instrument, as the Mind useth the Body.

35. Therefore, both intelligible and material things, go both of them into bodies; for, of contraposition, *that is, setting one against another, *and* contrariety, all things must consist.* And it is impossible it should be otherwise.

36. *Tat.*Who, therefore, is this Material God?

37. *Trism.*The fair and beautiful World, and yet it is not good; for it is material, and easily passible, nay, it is the first of all passible things; and the second of the things that are, and needy or wanting somewhat else. And it was once made, and is always, and is ever in generation, and made, and continually makes, or generates things that have quantity and quality.

38. For it is moveable, and every material motion is generation; but the intellectual stability moves the material motion after this manner.

39. Because the World is a Sphere, that is, a head, and above the head there is nothing material, as beneath the feet there is nothing intellectual.

40. The whole Universe is material: The Mind is the head, and it is moved spherically, that is, like a head.

41. Whatsoever, therefore, is joined or united to the Membrane or Film of the head, wherin the Soul is, is immortal, and as in the Soul of a made Body, hath its Soul full of the Body; but those that are further from that Membrane, have the Body full of Soul.

42. The whole is a living wight, and therefore consisteth of material and intellectual.

43. And the World is the first and Man the second living wight after the World, but the first of things that are mortal; and therefore hath whatsoever benefit of the Soul all the other have: And yet for all this, he is not only not good, but flatly evil, as being mortal.

44. For the World is not good, as it is moveable; nor evil, as it is immortal.

45. But man is evil, both as he is moveable, and as he is mortal.

46. But the Soul of Man is carried in this manner, The Mind is in Reason, Reason in the Soul, The Soul in the Spirit, The Spirit in the Body.

47. The Spirit being diffused and going through the veins, and arteries, and blood, both moveth the living creature, and after a certain manner beareth it.

48. Wherefore some also have thought the Soul to be blood, being deceived in Nature, not knowing that first the spirit must return into the Soul, and then the blood is congealed, and the veins and arteries emptied, and then the living thing dieth: And this is the death of the Body.

49. All things depend of one beginning, and the beginning depends of that which is one and alone.

50. And the beginning is moved, that it may again be a beginning; but that which is one, standeth and abideth, and is not moved.

51. There are therefore, these three, *God the Father, and the Good, the World, and Man.*God hath the World, and the World hath Man; and the World is the Son of God, and Man as it were the offspring of the World.

52. For God is not ignorant of Man, but knows him perfectly, and will be known by him. This only is healthful to man, the knowledge of God: This is the return of *Olympus*; by this only the soul is made good, and not sometimes good, and sometimes evil, but of necessity Good.

53. *Tat.*What meaneth thou, O Father?

54. *Trism.*Consider, O Son, the Soul of a Child, when as yet it hath as yet received no dissolution of its body, which is not yet grown, but is very small: how then if it look upon itself, it sees itself beautiful, as not having been as yet spotted with the Passions of the Body, but as it were depending yet upon the soul of the World.

55. But when the Body is grown, and distracteth the Soul, it engenders forgetfulness, and partakes no more of the *Fair and the Good*, and Forgetfulness is evilness.

56. The like also happeneth to them that go out of the Body: For when the soul runs back into itself, the Spirit is contracted into the blood, and the Soul into the Spirit. But the Mind being made pure, and free from these clothings; and being Divine by Nature, taking a fiery body, rangeth abroad in every place, leaving the soul to judgment, and to the punishment it hath deserved.

57. *Tat.* Why dost thou say so, O Father, that the Mind is separated from the Soul, and the Soul from the Spirit? When even now thou saidst that the Soul was the clothing or apparel of the Mind, and the Body of the Soul.

58. *Trism.*O Son, he that hears must co-understand, and conspire in thought with him that speaks; yea, he must have his hearing swifter and sharper than the voice of the speaker.

59. The disposition of these clothings or Covers is done in an Earthly Body; for it is impossible that the Mind should establish or rest itself, naked, and of itself in an Earthly Body; neither is the Earthly Body able to bear such immortality: and therefore, that it might suffer so great virtue, the Mind compacted, as it were, and took to itself the passable Body of the Soul, as a covering or clothing. And the Soul being also in some sort Divine, useth the Spirit as her Minister or Servant; and the Spirit governeth the living things.

60. When therefore the Mind is separated, and departeth from the Earthly Body, presently it puts on its Fiery Coat, which it could not do, having to dwell in an Earthly Body.

61. For the Earth cannot suffer fire, for it is all burned of a small spark; therefore is the water poured round about the Earth, as a wall or defence, to withstand the flame of fire.

62. But the Mind being the most sharp or swift of all the Divine Cogitations, and more swift than all the Elements, hath the fire for its Body.

63. For the Mind, which is the Workman of all, useth the fire as his Instrument in his Workmanship; and he that is the Workman of all useth it to the making of all things, as it is used by Man to the making of Earthly things only, for the Mind that is upon Earth, void or naked of fire, cannot do the business of men, nor that which is otherwise the affairs of God.

64. But the Soul of Man, and yet not everyone, but that which is pious and religious, is Angelic and Divine. And such a soul, after it is departed from the body, having striven the strife of Piety, becomes either Mind or God.

65. And the strife of piety is to know God, and to injure no Man; and this way it becomes Mind.

66. But the impious Soul abideth in its own offence, punished of itself, and seeking an earthly and humane body to enter into.

67. For no other Body is capable of a Humane Soul, neither is it lawful for a Man's Soul to fall into the Body of an unreasonable living thing: For it is the Law or Decree of God to preserve a Human Soul from so great a contumely and reproach.

68. *Tat.* How then is the Soul of Man punished, O Father, and what is its greatest torment?

69. *Herm.* Impiety, O my Son; for what Fire hath so great a flame as it? Or what biting Beast doth so tear the Body as it doth the Soul?

70. Or dost thou not see how many Evils the wicked Soul suffereth, roaring and crying out, I am burned, I am consumed, I know not what to say or do, I am devoured, unhappy wretch, of the evils that compass and lay hold upon me; miserable that I am, I neither hear nor see anything.

71. These are the voices of a punished and tormented Soul, and not as many; and thou, O Son, thinkest that the Soul going out of the Body grows brutish or enters into a Beast; which is a very great error, for the Soul punished after this manner.

72. For the Mind, when it is ordered or appointed to get a Fiery Body for the services of God, coming down into the wicked soul, torments it with the whips of Sins, wherewith the wicked Soul, being scorged, turns itself to Murders and Contumelies, and Blasphemies, and divers violences, and other things by which men are injured.

73. But into a pious soul, the mind entering, leads it into the Light of Knowledge.

74. And such a Soul is never satisfied with singing praise *to God*, and speaking well of all men; and both in words and deeds always doing good, in imitation of her Father.

75. Therefore, O Son, we must give thanks and pray that we may obtain a good mind.

76. The Soul therefore may be altered or changed into the better, but into the worse it is impossible.

77. But there is a communion of souls, and those of Gods, communicate with those men, and those of Men with those of Beasts.

78. And the better always take of the worse, Gods of Men; Men of brute Beasts, but God of all: For He is the best of all, and all things are less than He.

79. Therefore is the World subject unto God, Man unto the World, and unreasonable things to Man.

80. But God is above all and about all; and the beams of God are operations; and the beams of the World are Natures; and the beams of Man are *Arts and Sciences*.

81. And operations do act by the World, and upon Man by the natural beams of the World, but Natures work by the Elements, and Man by *Arts and Sciences*.

82. And this is the Government of the whole, depending upon the Nature of the *One*, and piercing or coming down by the *one Mind*, than which nothing is more Divine and more efficacious or operative; and nothing more uniting, or nothing is more *One*. The Communion of Gods to Men, and of Men to Gods.

83. This is the *Bonas Genius*, or good *Demon*: blessed soul that is fullest of it! And unhappy soul that is empty of it.

84. *Tat.*And wherefore, Father?

85. *Trism.* Know, Son, that every Soul hath the *Good Mind*; for of that it is we now speak, and not of that Minister of whom we said before, that he was sent from the Judgment.

86. For the Soul without the Mind can neither say nor do anything; for many times the Mind flies away from the Soul, and in that hour the Soul neither seeth nor heareth, but is like an unreasonable thing; so great is the power of the Mind.

87. But neither brooketh it an idle or lazy Soul, but leaves such an one fastened to the Body, and by it is pressed down.

88. And such a Soul, O Son, hath no Mind; wherefore neither must such a one be called a Man.

89. For Man is a Divine living thing, and is not to be compared to any brute Beast that lives upon Earth, but to them that are above in Heaven, that are called Gods.

90. Rather, if we shall be bold to speak the truth, he that is a Man indeed is above them, or at least they are equal in power, one to the other. For none of the things in Heaven will come down upon Earth, and leave the limits of Heaven, but a Man ascends up into Heaven, and measures it.

91. And he knoweth what things are on high, and what below, and learneth all other things exactly.

92. And that which is the greatest of all, he leaveth not the Earth, and yet is above: So great is the greatness of his Nature.

93. Wherefore we must be bold to say, That an Earthly Man is a mortal God, and that the Heavenly God is an immortal Man.

94. Wherefore, by these two are all things governed, the World and Man; but they and all things else of that which is *One*.

THE END OF THE FOURTH BOOK, Called THE KEY....

## The Fifth Book, That God Is Not Manifest, And Yet Most Manifest

THIS Discourse, I will also make to thee, *O Tat*, that thou mayest not be ignorant of the more excellent name of God.

2. But do thou contemplate in thy Mind how that which to many seems hidden and unmanifest may be most manifest to thee.

3. For it were not all, if it were apparent, for whatsoever is apparent is generated or made; for it was made manifest, but that which is not manifest is ever.

4. For it needeth not be manifested, for it is always.

5. And he maketh all other things manifest, being unmanifest, as being always, and making other things manifest, he is not made manifest.

6. Himself is not made, yet in fantasie he fantasieth all things, or in appearance he maketh them appear; for appearance is only of those things that are generated or made, for appearance is nothing but generation.

7. But he that is *One*, that is not made nor generated, is also unapparent and unmanifest.

8. But making all things appear, he appeareth in all, and by all; but especially he is manifested to or in those things wherein himself listeth.

9. Thou, therefore, *O Tat*, my Son, pray first to the *Lord and Father*, and to the *Alone*, and to the *One*, from whom is one to be merciful to thee, that thou mayest know and understand so great a God; and that he would shine one of his beams upon thee in thy understanding.

10. For only the Understanding see that which is not manifest, or apparent, as being itself not manifest or apparent; and if thou canst, *O Tat*, it will appear to the eyes of thy Mind.

11. For the Lord, void of envy, appeareth through the whole world. Thou mayest see the intelligence, and take it into they hands, and contemplate the image of God.

12. But if that which is in thee, be not known or apparent unto thee, how shall he in thee be seen, and appear unto thee by the eyes?

13. But if thou will see him, consider and understand the *Sun*, consider the course of the *Moon*, consider the order of the *Stars*.

14. Who is he that keepeth order? For all order is circumscribed or terminated in number and place.

15. The Sun is the greatest of the Gods in Heaven, to whom all the Heavenly Gods give place, as to a King and Potentate; and yet he being such an one, greater than the Earth or the Sea, is content to suffer infinite lesser stars to walk and move above himself: whom doth he fear the while, O Son?

16. Every one of these Stars that are in Heaven do not make the like, or an equal course; who is it that hath prescribed unto every one the manner and the greatness of their course?

17. This Bear that turns round about its own self, and carries round the whole World with her, who possessed and made such an Instrument?

18. Who hath set the bounds to the Sea? Who hath established the Earth? For there is somebody, *O Tat*, that is the Maker and Lord of these things.

19. For it is impossible, O Son, that either place, or number, or measure, should be observed without a maker.

20. For no order can be made by disorder or disproportion.

21. I would it were possible for thee, O my Son, to have wings, and to fly into the Air, and being taken up in the midst, between Heaven and Earth, to see the stability of the Earth, the fluidness of the Sea, the courses of the Rivers, the largeness of the Air, the sharpness and swiftness of the Fire, the motion of the Stars, and the speediness of the Heaven, by which it goeth round about all these.

22. O Son, what a happy sight it were, at one instant, to see all these; that which is immoveable moved, and that which is hidden appear and be manifest!

23. And if thou wilt see and behold this Workman, even by mortal things that are upon earth, and in the deep, consider, O Son, how Man is made and framed in the Womb; and examine diligently the skill and cunning of the Workman, and learn who it was that wrought and fashioned the beautiful and Divine shape of*Man*; who circumscribed and marked out his eyes? who bored his nostrils and ears? who opened his mouth? who stretched out and tie together his sinews? who channelled the veins? who hardened and made strong the bones? who clothed the flesh with skin? who divided the fingers and joints? who flatted and made broad the soles of the feet? who digged the pores? who stretched out the spleen? who made the Heart like a *Pyramis*? who made the Liver broad? who made the Lights spungy, and full of holes? who made the belly large and capacious? who set to outward view the more honorable parts, and hid the filthy ones?

24. See how many arts in one Matter, and how many Works in one Superscription, and all exceedingly beautiful and all done in measure, and yet all differing.

25. Who hath made all these things? What Mother? What Father? Save only god that is not manifest; that made all things by his own will.

26. And no man says that a statue or an image is made without a Carver or a Painter, and was this Workmanship made without a Workman? O Great Blindness! O Great Impiety! O Great Ignorance!

27. Never, *O Son Tat*, canst thou deprive the Workmanship of the Workman; rather, it is the best Name of all the Names of God, to call him the *Father* of all, for so he is alone; and this is his work to be the Father.

28. And if thou will force me to say anything more boldly, it is his Essence to be pregnant, or great with all things, and to make them.

29. And as without a maker it is impossible that anything should be made, so it is that he should not always be, and always be making all things in Heaven, in the Air, in the Earth, in the Deep, in the whole World, and in every part of the whole, that is or that is not.

30. For there is nothing in the whole World that is not himself; both the things that are, and the things that are not.

31. For the things that are he hath made manifest, and the things that are not he hath hid in himself.

32. This is God that is better than any name; this is he that is secret; this is he that is most manifest; this is he that is to be seen by the Mind; this is he that is visible to the Eye; this is he that hath no body; and this is he that hath many bodies; rather, there is nothing of any body which is not *he*.

33. For he alone is all things.

34. And for this cause he hath many Names, because he is the One Father; and therefore he hath no Name, because he is the Father of all.

35. Who therefore can bless thee, or give thanks for thee, or to thee?

36. Which way shall I look when I praise thee? upward? downward? outward? inward?

37. For about these there is no manner nor place, nor anything else of all things that are.

38. But all things are in thee; all things from thee; thou givest all things, and takest nothing; for thou hast all things; and there is nothing that thou hast not.

39. When shall I praise thee, *O Father*, for it is neither possible to comprehend thy hour, nor they time?

40. For what shall I praise thee? For what thou hast made, or for what thou hast not made? for those things thou hast manifested, or for those things thou hast hidden?

41. Wherefore shall I praise thee, as being of myself, or having anything of mine own, or rather being anothers?

42. For thou art what I am, thou art what I do, thou art what I say.

43. Thou art all things, and there is nothing else thou art not.

44. Thou are thou, all that is made, and all that is not made.

45. The Mind that understandeth.

46. The Father that maketh and frameth.

47. The Good that worketh.

48. The Good that doth all things.

49. Of the matter, the most subtle and slender is *Air*; of the Air the *Soul*; of the soul the *Mind*; of the mind *God*.

The End of the Fifth Book....  
THAT GOD IS NOT MANIFEST, AND YET MOST MANIFEST...

## The Sixth Book, That In God Alone Is Good

GOD, *O Asclepius*, is in nothing but in God alone, or rather God himself is the Good always.

2. And if it be so, then must he be an Essence or Substance, void of all Motion and Generation; but nothing is void or empty of him.

3. And this Essence hath about or in himself a *Stable* and firm *Operation*, wanting nothing, most full and giving abundantly.

4. One thing is the Beginning of all things, for it giveth all things; and when I name the Good, I mean that which is altogether and always Good.

5. This is present to none, but God alone; for he wanteth nothing that he should desire to have it, nor can anything be taken from him; the loss whereof may grieve him; for sorrow is a part of evilness.

6. Nothing is stronger than he, that he should be opposed by it; nor nothing equal to him, that he should be in love with it; nothing unheard of to be angry, with nothing wiser to be envious at.

7. And none of these being in his Essence, what remains but only the Good?

8. For as in this, being such an Essence, there is none of the evils; so in none of the other things shall the Good be found.

9. For in all other things, are all those other things, as well in the small as the great, and as well in the particulars as in this living Creature; the greater and mightiest of all.

10. For all things that are made or generated, are full of passion, Generation itself being a passion; and where Passion is, there is not the Good; where the Good is, there is no Passion; where it is day, it is not Night; where it is night, it is not Day.

11. Wherefore it is impossible that in Generation should be the Good, but only in that which is not generated or made.

12. Yet as the Participation of all things is in the Matter bound, so also of that which is Good. After this manner is the World Good, as it maketh all things, and in the part of making or doing ... it is Good, but in all other things not good.

13. For it is passable and moveable, and the Maker of passable things.

14. In Man also the Good is ordered *(or taketh denomination)* in comparison of that which is evil; for that which is not very Evil, is here Good; and that which is here called Good, is the least particle, or proportion of Evil.

15. It is impossible, therefore, that the Good should be here pure from Evil; for here the Good groweth Evil, and growing Evil, it doth not still abide Good; and not abiding Good, it becomes Evil.

16. Therefore in God alone is the Good, or rather God is the Good.

17. Therefore, *O Asclepius*, there is nothing in men *(or among men)* but the name of Good, the thing itself is not, for it is impossible; for a material Body receiveth *(or comprehendeth)*, is not as being on every side encompassed and coacted with evils, and labours, and griefs, and desires, and wrath, and deceits, and foolish opinions.

18. And in that which is the worst of all, *Asclepius*, every one of the forenames things, is here believed to be the greatest Good, especially that supreme mischief ... the pleasures of the Belly, and the ringleader of all evils. Error is here the absence of the Good.

19. And I give thanks unto God, that, concerning the knowledge of good, put this assurance in my Mind, that it is impossible it should be in the World.

20. For the World is the fulness of Evilness; but God is the fulness of Good, or good of God.

21. For the eminencies of all appearing Beauty, are in the Essence more pure, and more sincere, and peradventure they are also the Essences of it.

22. For we must be bold to say, *Asclepius*, that the Essence of God, if he have an Essence, is ... that which is fair or beautiful; but no good is comprehended in this World.

23. For all things that are subject to the eye, are Idols, and as it were Shadows; but those things that are not subject to the eye, are ever, especially the *Essence* of the Fair and the Good.

24. And as the Eye cannot see God, so neither the Fair and the Good.

25. For those are the parts of God, that partake the Nature of the whole, proper, and familiar unto him alone, inseparable, most lovely, whereof either God is enamoured, or they are enamoured of God.

26. If thou canst understand God, thou shall understand the *Fair*, and the Good, which is most shining, and enlightening, and most enlightened by God.

27. For that Beauty is above Comparison, and that Good is inimitable, as God himself.

28. As, therefore, thou understandest God, so understand the Fair and the Good; for these are incommunicable to any other living creatures, because they are inseparable from God.

29. If thou seek concerning God, thou seekest or asketh also of the Fair, for there is one way which leadeth to the same thing, that is *Piety*, with *Knowledge*.

30. Wherefore, they that are ignorant, and go not in the way of *Piety*, dare call Men Fair and Good, never seeing so much as in a dream, what good is; but being infolded and wrapped upon all evil, and believing that the Evil is the Good, they, by that means, both use it insatiable, and are afraid to be deprived of it; and therefore they strive, by all possible means, that they may not only have it, but also increase it.

31. Such, *O Asclepius*, are the good and fair things of Men, which we can neither love nor hate; for this is the hardest thing of all, that we have need of them, and cannot live without them.

The End of the Sixth Book....  

THAT IN GOD ALONE IS GOOD....

## The Seventh Book, His Secret Sermon In The Mount Of Regeneration, And The Profession Of Silence

TO HIS SON *TAT.*

*Tat.*  
IN the general speeches, O Father, discoursing of the *Divinity*, thou speakest enigmatically, and didst not clearly reveal thyself, saying, That no man can be saved before *Regeneration*.

2. And when I did humbly entreat thee, at the going up to the Mountain, after thou hadst discoursed to me, having a great desire to learn this *Argument of Regeneration*; because among all the rest, I am ignorant only of this, thou toldst me thou wouldst impart it to me, when I would estrange myself from the world; whereupon I made myself ready, and have vindicated the understanding that is in me, from the deceit of the World.

3. Now, then fulfil my defect, and as thou saidst, instruct me of*Regeneration*, either by word of mouth or secretly; for I know not, *O Trismegistus*, of what Substance, or what Seed, or what Womb, a man is thus born.

4. *Herm.*O Son, this wisdom is to be understood in silence, and the seed is the true Good.

5. *Tat.*Who soweth it, O Father? for I am utterly ignorant and doubtful.

6. *Herm.* The Will of God, O Son.

7. And what manner of Man is he that is thus born? for in this point, I am clean deprived of the Essence that understandeth in me.

8. *Herm.*The Son of God will be another. God made the universe, that in everything consisteth of all powers.

9. *Tat.*Thou tellest me a Riddle, Father, and dost not speak as a Father to a Son.

10. *Herm.* Son, things of this kind are not taught, but are by God, when he pleaseth, brought to remembrance.

11. *Tat.* Thou speakest of things strained, or far fetched, and impossible, Father; and therefore I will directly contradict them.

12. *Herm.*Wilt thou prove a Stranger, Son, to thy Father's kind?

13. *Tat.*Do not envy me, Father, or pardon me, I am thy Natural Son; discourse unto me the manner of *Regeneration*.

14. *Herm.* What shall I say, O my Son? I have nothing to say more than this, That I see in myself an unstrained sight or spectacle, made by the mercy of God; and I am gone out of myself into an immortal body, and am not now, what I was before, but was begotten in Mind.

15. This thing is not taught, nor is it to be seen in this formed element; for which the first compounded form was neglected by me, and that I am now separated from it; for I have both the touch and the measure of it, yet am I now estranged from them.

16. Thou seest, O Son, with thine eyes; but though thou never look so steadfastly upon me, with the Body, and the Bodily sight, thou canst not see nor understand what I am now.

17. *Tat.* Thou hast driven me, O Father, into no small fury and distraction of mind, for I do not now see myself.

18. *Herm.*I would, O Son, that thou also wert gone out of thyself, like them that Dream in their sleep.

19. *Tat.*Then tell me this, who is the Author and Maker of Regeneration?

20. *Herm.*The Child of God, one Man by the Will of God.

21. *Tat.*Now, O Father, thou hast put me to silence for ever, and all my former thoughts have quite left and forsaken me; for I see the greatness and shape of things here below, and nothing but falsehood in them all.

22. And so thence this mortal form is daily changed, and turned by time into increase or diminution, as being falsehood: What therefore is true, O Trismegistus?

23. *Trism.*That, O my Son, which is not troubled, nor bounded; not coloured, not figured, not changed, that which is naked, high. Comprehensible only of itself, unalterable, unbodily.

24. *Tat.* Now I am mad indeed, O Father, for when I thought me to have been made a wise man by thee, with these thoughts, thou hast quite dulled all my senses.

25. *Herm. Yet is it so as I say, O Son, He that looketh only upon* that which is carried upward as Fire, that which is carried downward as Earth, that which is moist as Water, and that which bloweth, or is subject to blast, as Air; how can he sensibly understand that which is neither hard nor moist, nor tangible, nor perspicuous, seeing it is only understood in power and operation? But I beseech and pray to the Mind, which alone can understand the *Generation* which is in God.

26. *Tat.*Then am I, O Father, utterly unable to do it.

27. *Herm.*God forbid, Son, rather draw or pull him unto thee *(or study to know him)* and he will come, *be but willing and it shall be done*; quite (or make idle) the senses of the Body, purging thyself from the unreasonable brutish torments of matter.

28. *Tat.* Have I any (revengers or) tormentors in myself, *Father*?

29. *Herm.*Yea, and those not a few, but many, and fearful ones.

30. *Tat.*I do not know them, Father.

31. *Herm.* One Torment, Son, is *Ignorance*: a second, *Sorrow*; a third, *Intemperance*; a fourth, *Concupiscence*; a fifth, *Injustice*; a sixth, *Covetousness*; a seventh, *Deceit*; an eighth,*Envy*; a ninth, *Fraud*or *Guile*; a tenth, *Wrath*; an eleventh, *Rashness*; a twelfth, *Maliciousness*.

32. They are in number twelve, and under these many more; some which through the prison of the Body do force the inwardly placed man to suffer sensibly.

33. And they do not suddenly or easily depart from him that hath obtained mercy of God; and herein consists both the manner and the reason of *Regeneration*.

34. For the rest, O Son, hold thy peace, and praise God in silence, and by that means the mercy of God will not cease, or be wanting unto us.

35. Therefore, rejoice, my Son, from henceforward, being purged by the powers of God, to the Knowledge of the Truth.

36. For the revelation of God is come to us, and when that came, all ignorance was cast out.

37. The Knowledge of Joy is come unto us. And when that comes, Sorrow shall fly away to them that are capable.

38. I call unto Joy the power of Temperance, a power whose Virtue is most sweet; let us take her unto ourselves, O son, most willingly, for how at her coming hath she put away Intemperance?

39. Now I call forth, Continence, the power which is over Concupiscence. This, O Son, is the stable and firm foundation of Justice.

40. For see how without labour she hath chased away Injustice; and we are justified, O Son, when Injustice is away.

41. The sixth Virtue, which comes into us, I call *Communion*, which is against Covetousness.

42. And when that (Covetousness) is gone, I call Truth, and when she cometh, Error and Deceit vanisheth.

43. See, O Son, how the Good is fulfilled by the access of Truth; for by this means Envy is gone from us; for Truth is accompanied with the Good, together also with Life and Light.

44. And there came no more any torment of Darkness, but being overcome, they all fled away suddenly and tumultuously.

45. Thou hast understood, O Son, the manner of regeneration; for upon the coming of these Ten, the Intellectual Generation is perfected, and then it driveth away the Twelve; and we have seen it in the Generation itself.

46. Whoseoever therefore hath of Mercy obtained this Generation, which is according to God, he leaving all bodily sense, knoweth himself to consist of divine things, and rejoiceth, being made by god Stable and immutable.

47. *Tat.*O Father, I conceive and understand, not by the sight of mine eyes, but by the Intellectual operation, which is by the Powers. I am in Heaven, in the Earth, in the Water, in the Air; I am in Living Creatures, in Plants, in the Womb, everywhere.

48. Yet tell me, further, this one thing, How are the Torments of Darkness, being in number Twelve, driven away and expelled by the Ten Powers? What is the manner of it, *Trismegistus*?

49. This Tabernacle, O Son, consists of the Zodiacal Circle; and this consisting of Twelve numbers, the *Idea* of one; but all formed Nature admit divers Conjugations to the deceiving of Man.

50. And though they be different in themselves, yet are they united in practice (as, for example, Rashness is inseparable from Anger), and they are also indeterminate. Therefore, with good reason do they make their departure, being driven away by the Ten Powers; that is to say, by the dead.

51. For the number of Ten, O Son, is the begetter of Souls. And there Life and Light are united, where the number of *Unity* is born of the spirit.

52. Therefore, according to Reason, Unity hath the number of Ten, and the number of Ten hath Unity.

53. *Tat.*O Father, I now see the Universe and myself in the Mind.

54. *Herm.* This is *Regeneration*, O Son, that we should not any longer fix our imagination upon this Body, subject to the three dimensions, according to this, according to this speech which we have now commented, that we may not at all caluminate the Universe.

55. *Tat.*Tell me, O Father, This body that consists of Powers, shall it ever admit of Dissolution?

56. *Herm.*Good words, Son, and speak not things impossible; for so thou shalt sin, and the eye of thy mind grow wicked.

57. The sensible body of Nature is far from the Essential Generation, for that is subject to dissolution, but this is not; and that is mortal, but this immortal. Dost thou not know that thou art born a God, and the Son of the One, as I am?

58. *Tat.*How feign would I, O Father, hear that praise given by a Hymn, which thou saidst thou heardest from the Powers, when I was in the *Octonary*?

59. *Herm.* As *Pimander* said, by way of Oracle to the *Octonary*: Thou dost well, O Son, to desire the Solution of the *Tabernacle*, for thou art purified.

60. Pimander, the Mind of Absolute Power and Authority, hath delivered no more unto me, than those that are written; knowing that of myself, I can understand all things, and hear, and see what I will. And he commanded me to do those things that are good; and therefore all the powers that are in me sing.

61. *Tat.* I would hear thee, O Father, and understand these things.

62. *Herm.*Be quiet, O Son, and now hearken to that harmonious blessing and thanksgiving; the hymn of *Regeneration*, which I did not determine to have spoken of so plainly, but to thyself in the end of all.

63. Wherefore, this is not taught, but hid in silence.

64. So then, O son, do thou, standing in the open Air, worship, looking to the North Wind, about the going down of the Sun; and to the South, when the Sun ariseth. And now keep silence, Son.

THE SECRET SONG.  
The Holy Speech.

65. Let all the Nature of the World entertain the hearing of this Hymn.

66. Be opened, O Earth, and let all the Treasure of the Rain be opened.

67. You Trees, tremble not, for I will sing and praise the Lord of the Creation, and the *All*, and the *One*.

68. Be opened, you Heavens; ye Winds, stand still, and let the immortal Circle of God receive these words.

69. For I will sing and praise him that created all things, that fixed the earth, and hung up the Heavens, and commanded the sweet water to come out of the *Ocean*, into all the World, inhabited and not inhabited, to the use and nourishment of all things or men.

70. That commanded the fire to shine for every action, both to Gods and Men.

71. Let us altogether give him blessing, which rideth upon the Heavens, the Creator of all Nature.

72. This is he that is the Eye of the Mind, and will accept the praise of my Powers.

73. O all ye Powers that are in me, praise the*One*, and *All*.

74. Sing together with my Will, all you Powers that are in me.

75. O Holy knowledge, being enlightened by thee, I magnify the intelligible Light, and rejoice in the joy of the Mind.

76. All my Powers sing praise with me, and now, my Continence, sing, praise my Righteousness by me; praise that which is righteous.

77. O Communion which is in me; praise the *All*.

78. By me the *Truth* sings praise to the *Truth*, the Good praiseth the Good.

79. O Life, O Light, from us, unto you, comes this praise and thanksgiving.

80. I give thanks unto thee, O Father, the operation or act of my Powers.

81. I give thanks unto thee, O God, the Power of my operations.

82. By me the Word sings praise unto thee; receive by me this reasonable (or verbal) Sacrifice in words.

83. The powers that are in me cry these things, they praise the *All*, they fulfil thy Will; thy Will and counsel is form thee unto thee.

84. *O All*, receive a reasonable sacrifice from all things.

85. *O Life*, save all that is in us; *O Light*, enlighten, *O God*, the *Spirit*; for the Mind guideth (or feedeth) the Word; O Spirit-bearing Workman.

86. Thou are *God*, thy *Man*cryeth these things unto thee through, by the Fire, by the Air, by the Earth, by the Water, by the Spirit, by thy Creatures.

87. From eternity I have found (means to) bless and praise thee, and I have what I seek; for I rest in thy Will.

88. *Tat.*O Father, I see thou hast sung this song of praise and blessing, with thy whole Will; and therefore have I put and placed it in my World.

89. Herm. Say in thy Intelligible World, O Son.

90. *Tat.*I do mean in my Intelligible world; for by thy Hymn and song of praise my mind is enlightened, and gladly would I send from my Understanding, a Thanksgiving unto God.

91. *Herm.*Not rashly, O Son.

92. *Tat.*In my Mind, O Father.

93. *Herm.*Those things that I see and contemplate, I infuse them into thee, and therefore say, thou Son, *Tat*, the author of thy succeeding Generations, I send unto god these reasonable sacrifices.

94. O God, thou art the Father, thou art the Lord, thou art the Mind, accept these reasonable sacrifices which thou requirest of me.

95. For all things are done as the Mind willeth.

96. Thou, O Son, send this acceptable Sacrifice to god, the Father of all things; but propound it also, O Son, by word.

97. *Tat.* I thank thee, Father, thou hast advised and instructed me thus to give thanks and praise.

98. *Herm.*I am glad, O Son, to see the Truth bring forth the Fruits of Good things, and such immortal Branches.

99. And learn this from me: Above all other Virtues entertain Silence, and impart unto no man, O Son, the tradition of *Regeneration*, lest we be reputed Calumniators; for we both have now sufficiently meditated, I in speaking, thou in hearing. And now thou dost intellectually know thyself and our Father.

The End of the Seventh Book....HIS SECRET SERMON IN THE MOUNT OF REGENERATION,  
AND THE PROFESSION OF SILENCE.

## The Eighth Book, The Greatest Evil In Man Is The Not Knowing God

WHITHER are you carried, O Men, drunken with drinking strong Wine of Ignorance? which seeing you cannot bear, why do you vomit it up again?

2. Stand, and be sober, and look up again with the Eyes of your heart, and if you cannot all do so, yet do so many as you can.

3. For the malice of Ignorance surroundeth all the Earth, and corrupteth the Soul, shut up in the Body, not suffering it to arrive at the Havens of Salvation.

4. Suffer not yourselves to be carried with the Great Stream, but stem the tide you that can lay hold of the Haven of Safety, and make your full course towards it.

5. Seek on that may lead you by the hand, and conduct you to the door of Truth and Knowledge, where the clear Light is that is pure from Darkness, where there is not one drunken, but all are sober, and in their heart look up to him, whose pleasure it is to be seen.

6. For he cannot be heard with ears, nor seen with eyes, nor expressed in words; but only in mind and heart.

7. But first thou must tear to pieces, and break through the garment thou wearest, the web of Ignorance; the foundation of all Mischief; the bond of Corruption; the dark Coverture; the living Death; the sensible Carcass; the Sepulchre, carried about with us; the domestical Thief, which in what he loves us, hates us, envies us.

8. Such is the hurtful Apparel, wherewith thou art clothed, which draws and pulls thee downward by its own self, lest looking upward and seeing the beauty of Truth, and the Good that is reposed therein, thou shouldst hate the wickedness of this Garment and understand the traps and ambushes which it had laid for thee.

9. Therefore doth it labour to make good those things that seem, and are by the senses, judged and determined; and the things that are truly, it hides, and envelopeth in much matter, filling what it presents unto thee, with hateful pleasure, that thou canst neither hear what thou shouldst hear, nor see what thou shouldst see.

The End of the Eighth Book,  
THE GREATEST EVIL IN MAN IS THE NOT KNOWING GOD.

## The Ninth Book, A Universal Sermon To Asclepius

*Herm.*  
ALL that is moved, O *Asclepius*, is it not moved in something and by something?

2. *Asclep.*Yes, indeed.

3. Herm. Must not that in which a thing is moved, of necessity be greater than the thing that is moved?

4. Of necessity.

5. And that which moveth, is it not stronger than that which is moved?

6. *Asclep.*It is stronger.

7. *Herm.*That in which a thing is moved, must it not needs have a Nature contrary to that of the thing that is moved?

8. Asclep. It must needs.

9. *Herm.* Is not this great World a Body, than which there is no greater?

10. *Asclep.* Yes, confessedly.

11. *Herm.*And is it not solid, as filled with many great bodies, and indeed with all the Bodies that are?

12. *Asclep.* It is so.

13. *Herm.*And is not the World a Body, and a Body that is moved?

14. *Asclep.*It is.

15. *Herm.*Then what a kind of place must it be, wherein it is moved, and of what Nature? Must it not be much bigger, that it may receive the continuity of Motion? And lest which is moved, should for want of room, be stayed, and hindered in the Motion?

16. *Asclep.*It must needs be an immense thing, *Trismegistus,* but of what Nature?

17. *Herm.*Of a contrary Nature, O *Asclepius*. But is not the Nature of things unbodily, contrary to a Body?

18. *Asclep.*Confessedly.

19. *Herm.*Therefore the place is unbodily; but that which is unbodily is either some Divine thing, or God himself. And by something Divine, I do not mean that which was made or begotten.

20. If therefore it be Divine, it is an Essence or Substance; but if it be God, it is above Essence; but he is otherwise intelligible.

21. For the first, God is intelligible, not to himself, but to us; for that which is intelligible is subject to that which understandeth by Sense.

22. Therefore, God is not intelligible to himself; for not being any other thing from that which is understood, he cannot be understood by himself.

23. But he is another thing from us, and therefore he is understood by us.

24. If therefore Place be intelligible, it is not Place but God; but if God be intelligible, he is intelligible not as Place, but as a capable Operation.

25. Now, everything that is moved, is moved not in or by that which is moved, but in that which standeth or resteth, and that which moveth standeth or resteth; for it is impossible it should be moved with it.

26. *Asclep.*How, then, O *Trismegistus,* are those things that are here moved with the things that are moved? for thou sayest that the Spheres that wander, are moved by the sphere that wanders not.

27. *Herm.*That, O *Asclepius,*is not a moving together, but a counter motion; for they are not moved after a like manner, but contrary one to the other; and contrariety hath a standing resistance of motion, for the ..., or resistance, is a staying of Motion.

28. Therefore, the wandering spheres being moved contrarily to that Sphere which wandereth not, shall have one from another contrarily standing of itself.

29. For this Bear thou seest neither rise nor go down, but turning always about the same; dost thou think it moveth or standeth still?

30. *Asclep.*I think it moves, Trismegistus.

31. What motion, O *Asclepius*?

32. *Asclep.*A motion that is always carried about the same.

33. But the Circulation which is about the same, and the motion bout the same, are both hidden by Station; for that which is about the same, forbids that which is above the same, if it stand to that which is about the same.

34. And so the contrary motion stands fast always, being always established by the contrariety.

35. But I will give thee concerning this matter, an Earthly Example, that may be seen with eyes.

36. Look upon any of these living Creatures upon Earth, as Man, for example, and see him swimming; for as the Water is carried one way, the reluctation or resistance of his feet and hands is made a station to the Man, that he should not be carried with the Water, nor sink underneath it.

37. *Asclep.*Thou hast laid down a very clear example, *Trismegistus*.

38. *Herm.*Therefore, every motion is in station, and is moved of station.

39. The motion, then, of the World, and of every material living thing, happeneth not to be done by those things that are without the World, but by those things within it, a Soul, or Spirit, or some other unbodily thing, to those things that are without it.

40. For an inanimate Body doth not know, much less a Body if it be wholly inanimate.

41. *Asclep.* What meaneth thou by this, O *Trismegistus*, wood and stones, and all other inanimate things, are they not moving Bodies?

42. *Herm.*By no means, O *Asclepius,* for that within the Body, which moves the inanimate thing, is not the Body, that moves both as well the Body of that which beareth, as the Body of that which is born; for one dead or inanimate thing cannot move another; that which moveth, must needs be alive if it move.

43. Thou seest therefore how the Soul is surcharged, when it carrieth two Bodies.

44. And now it is manifest that the things that are moved in something, and by something.

45. *Asclep.*The things that are moved, O *Trismegistus,* must needs be moved in that which is void, or empty vacuum, ....

46. Be advised, O *Asclepius,* for all the things that are, there is nothing empty, only that which is not, is empty and a stranger to existence or being.

47. But that which is could not be if it were not full of existence; for that which is in being or existence, can never be made empty.

48. *Asclep.*Are there not therefore some things that are empty, O *Trismegistus,* as an empty Barrel, an empty Hogshead, an empty Will, an empty Wine-press, and many such like?

49. *Herm.* O the grossness of thy error, O *Asclepius*; those things that are most full and replenished, dost thou account them void and empty?

50. *Asclep.*What may be thy meaning, *Trismegistus*?

51. *Herm.*Is not the Air a Body?

52. *Asclep.*It is a Body.

53. *Herm.*Why then this Body, does it not pass through all things that are? And passing through them, fill them? and that Body, doth it not consist of the mixture of the four? therefore, all those things which thou callest empty are full of Air.

54. Therefore, those things thou callest empty, thou oughtest to call them hollow, not empty; for they exist and are full of Air and Spirit.

55. *Asclep.*This reason is beyond all contradiction, O *Trismegistus,* but what shall we call the place in which the whole Universe is moved?

56. *Herm.*Call it incorporeal, O *Asclepius.*

57. *Asclep.*What is that, incorporeal or unbodily?

58. *Herm.*The Mind and Reason, the whole, wholly comprehending itself, free from all Body, undeceivable, invisible, impassible from a Body itself, standing fast in itself, capable of all things, and that Savour of the things that are.

59. Whereof the *Good,*the *Truth,* the *Archetypal Light,* the Archetype of the Soul, are, as it were, Beams.

60. *Asclep.* Why, then, what is God?

61. *Herm.*That which is none of these things, yet is, and is the cause of being to all, and every one of the things that are; for he left nothing destitute of Being.

62. And all things are made of things that are, and not of things that are not; for the things that are not, have not the nature to be able to be made; and again, the things that are, have not the nature never to be, or not to be at all.

63. *Asclep.* What dost thou then say at length that God is?

64. *Herm.*God is not a Mind, but the Cause that the Mind is; not a spirit, but the Cause that the Spirit is; not Light, but the Cause that Light is.

65. Therefore, we must worship God by these two Appellations, which are proper to him alone, and to no other.

67. And this he is and nothing else; but all other things are separable from the nature of Good.

68. For the Body and the Soul have no place that is capable of or can contain the Good.

69. For the greatness of Good is as great as the Existence of all things that are, both bodily and unbodily, both sensible and intelligible.

70. This is the Good, even God.

71. See, therefore, that thou do not at any time call ought else Good, for so thou shalt be impious; or any else God, but only the Good, for so thou shalt again be impious.

72. In Word it is often said by all men the Good, but all men do not understand what it is; but through Ignorance they call both the Gods, and some men, Good, that can never be, or be made so.

73. Therefore all the other Gods are honoured with the title or appellation of God, but God is the Good, not according to Heaven, but Nature.

74. For there is one Nature of God, even the Good, and one kind of them both, from whence all are kinds.

75. For he that is Good, is the giver of all things, and takes nothing; and, therefore, God gives all things, and receives nothing.

76. The other title and appellation, is the Father, because of his making all things; for it is the part of a Father to make.

77. Therefore, it hath been the greatest and most Religious care in this life, to them that are Wise, and well-minded, to beget children.

78. As likewise it is the greatest misfortune and impiety, for any to be separated from men, without children; and this man is punished after Death by the*Demons*, and the punishment is this: To have the Soul of this childless man, adjudged and condemned, to a Body that neither hath the nature of a man, nor of a woman, which is an accursed thing under the Sun.

79. Therefore, O *Asclepius,* never congratulate any man that is childless; but on the contrary pity his misfortune, knowing what punishment abides, and is prepared for him.

80. Let so many, and such manner of things, O *Asclepius,* be said as a certain precognition of all things in Nature.

The End of the Ninth Book,  
A UNIVERSAL SERMON TO ASCLEPIUS.

#

## The Tenth Book, The Mind To Hermes

FORBEAR thy Speech, *O Hermes Trismegistus,* and call to mind to those things that are said; but I will not delay to speak what comes into my mind, sithence many men have spoken many things, and those very different, concerning the Universe, and Good; but I have not learned the Truth.

2. Therefore, the Lord make it plain to me in this point; for I will believe thee only, for the manifestation of these things.

3. Then said the Mind how the case stands.

4. God and All.

5. God, Eternity, the World, Time, Generation.

6. God made Eternity, Eternity the World, the world Time, and Time Generation.

7. Of God, as it were, the Substance, is the *Good*, the *Fair*, *Blessedness*, *Wisdom*.

8. Of Eternity, Identity, or Selfness.

9. Of the World, Order.

10. Of Time, Change.

11. Of Generation, Life and Death.

12. But the Operation of God, is Mind and Soul.

13. Of Eternity, Permanence, or Long-lasting, and Immortality.

14. Of the World, Restitution, and Decay, or Destruction.

15. Of Time, Augmentation and Diminution.

16. And of Generation qualities.

17. Therefore, Eternity is in God.

18. The World in Eternity.

19. Time in the World.

20. And Generation in Time.

21. And Eternity standeth about God.

22. The World is moved in Eternity.

23. Time is determined in the World.

24. Generation is done in Time.

25. Therefore, the Spring and Fountain of all things is God.

26. The Substance Eternity.

27. The Matter is the World.

28. The Power of God is Eternity.

29. And the Work of Eternity, is the World not yet made, and yet ever made by Eternity.

30. Therefore, shall nothing be at any time destroyed, for Eternity is incorruptible.

31. Neither can anything perish, or be destroyed in the World, the World being contained and embraced by Eternity.

32. But what is the Wisdom of God? Even the *Good* and the *Fair*, and *Blessedness*, and every Virtue, and Eternity.

33. Eternity, therefore, put into the Matter Immortality and Everlastingness; for the Generation of that depends upon Eternity, even as Eternity doth of God.

34. For Generation and Time, in Heaven and in Earth, are of a double Nature; in Heaven they are unchangeable and incorruptible; but on Earth they are changeable and corruptible.

35. And the Soul of Eternity is God; and the Soul of the World, Eternity; and of the Earth, Heaven.

36. God is in the Mind, the Mind in the Soul, the Soul in the Matter, all things by Eternity.

37. All this Universal Body, in which are all Bodies, is full of Soul, the Soul full of Mind, the Mind full of God.

38. For within he fills them, and without he contains them, quickening the Universe.

39. Without, he quickens this perfect living thing the World, and within all living Creatures.

40. And above in Heaven he abides in Identity or Selfness, but below upon Earth he changeth Generation.

41. Eternity comprehendeth the World either by necessity, or Providence, or Nature.

42. And if any man shall think any other thing, it is God that actuateth, or operateth this All.

43. But the operation or Act of God, is Power insuperable, to which none may compare anything, either Humane or Divine.

44. Therefore, O *Hermes,* think none of these things below, or the things above, in anywise like unto God; for if thou dost, thou errest from the Truth.

45. For nothing can be like the unlike, and only, and One; nor mayest thou think that he hath given of his Power to any other thing.

46. For who after him can make anything, either of Life or Immortality: of Change or of Quality? and himself, what other things should he make?

47. For God is not idle, for then all things would be idle; for all things are full of God.

48. But there is not anywhere in the World, such a thing as Idleness; for Idleness is a name that implieth a thing void or empty, both of a Doer, and a thing done.

49. But all things must necessarily be made or done both always, and according to the nature of every place.

50. For he that maketh or doth, is in all things, yet not fastened or comprehended in anything; nor making or doing one thing, but all things.

51. For being an active or operating Power, and sufficient of himself for the things that are made, and the things that are made are under him.

52. Look upon, through me, the World is subject to thy sight, and understand exactly the Beauty thereof.

53. A Body perpetual, than the which there is nothing more ancient, yet always vigorous and young.

54. See also the Seven Worlds set over us, adorned with an everlasting order, and filling Eternity with a different course.

55. For all things are full of Light, but the Fire is nowhere.

56. For the friendship and commixture of contraries and unlike, become Light shining from the Act or Operation of God, the Father of all Good, the Prince of all Order, and the Ruler of the Seven Worlds.

57. Look also upon the Moon, the forerunner of them all, the Instrument of Nature, and which changeth the matter here below.

58. Behold the Earth the middle of the Whole, the firm and stable Foundation of the Fair World, the Feeder and Nurse of Earthly things.

59. Consider, moreover, how great the multitude is of immortal living things, and of mortal ones also; and see the Moon going about in the midst of both, to wit, of things immortal and mortal.

60. But all things are full of Soul, and all things are properly moved by it; some things about the Heaven, and some things about the Earth; and neither of those on the right hand to the left; nor those on the left hand to the right; nor those things that are above, downward; nor those things that are below, upwards.

61. And that all these things are made, O beloved *Hermes,*thou needst not learn of me.

62. For they are Bodies, and have a Soul, and are moved.

63. And that all these should come together into one, it is impossible without something to gather them together.

64. Therefore, there must be some such ones, and he altogether One.

65. For seeing that the motions are divers, and many, and the Bodies not alike, and yet one ordered swiftness among them all; It is impossible there should be two or more Makers.

66. For one order is not kept by many.

67. But in the weaker there would be jealousy of the stronger, and thence also contentions.

68. And if there were one Maker, of mutable mortal living Wights, he would desire also to make immortal ones, as he that were the Maker of immortal ones, would do to make mortal.

69. Moreover, also, if there were two, the Matter of being one, who should be chief, or have the disposing of the future?

70. Or if both of them, which of them the greater part?

71. But thinks thus that every living Body hath its consistence of Matter and soul; and of that which is immortal, and that which is mortal and unreasonable.

72. For all living Bodies have a Soul; and those things that are not living, are only matter by itself.

73. And the Soul likewise of itself drawing near her Maker, is the cause of Life and Being, and Being the cause of Life is, after a manner, the cause of immortal things.

74. How then are mortal Wights other from immortal?

75. Or how cannot he make living Wights, that causeth immortal things and immortality?

76. That there is some Body that doth these things it is apparent, and that he is also one, it is most manifest.

77. For there is one Soul, one Life, and one matter.

78. Who is this? who can it be, other than the *One God*?

79. For whom else can it benefit to make living things, save only God alone?

80. There is therefore One God.

81. For it is a ridiculous thing to confess the World to be one, one Sun, one Moon, one Divinity, and yet to have, I know not how many gods.

82. He therefore being One, doth all things in many things.

83. And what great thing is it for God, to make Life, and Soul, and Immortality, and Change, when thyself dost so many things?

84. For thou both seest, speaketh, and hearest, smellest, tastest, and touchest, walkest, understandest, and breathest.

85. And it is not one that sees, and another that heareth, and another that speaketh, and another that toucheth, and another that smelleth, and another that walketh, and another that understandeth, and another that breatheth; but one that doth all these things.

86. Yet neither can these things possibly be without God.

87. For as thou, if thou shouldest cease from doing these things, were not a living wight, so if God should cease from those, he were not (which is not lawful to say) any longer God.

88. For if it be already demonstrated that nothing can be idle or empty, how much more may be affirmed of God?

89. For if there be anything which he doth not do, then is he (if it were lawful to say so) imperfect.

90. Whereas, seeing he is not idle, but perfect, certainly he doth all things.

91. Now give thyself unto me, O *Hermes*, for a little while, thou shalt the more easily understand, that it is the necessary work of God, that all things should be made or done that are done, or were once done, or shall be done.

92. And this, O best beloved, is Life.

93. And this is the *Fair*.

94. And this is the *Good*.

95. And this is *God*.

96. And if thou will understand this by work also, mark what happens to thyself when thou will generate.

97. And yet this is not like unto him, for he is not sensible of pleasure, for neither hath he any other Fellow Workman.

98. But being himself the only Workman, he is always in the work, himself being that which he doth or maketh.

99. For all things, if they were separate from him, must needs fall and die, as there being no life in them.

100. And again, if all things be living wights, both which are in heaven, and upon earth, and that there be one Life in all things which are made by God, and that is God, then certainly all things are made or done by God.

101. Life is the union of the Mind and the Soul.

102. But death is not the destruction of those things that were gathered together, but a dissolving of the Union.

103. The Image therefore of God, is Eternity; of Eternity, the World; of the World, the Sun: of the Sun, Man.

104. But the people say, That changing is Death, because the body is dissolved, and the Life goeth into that which appeareth not.

105. By this discourse, my dearest *Hermes*, I affirm as thou hearest. That the World is changed, because every day part thereof becomes invisible, but that it is never dissolved.

106. And these are the Passions of the World, Revolutions and Occultations, and Revolution is a turning, but Occultation is Renovation.

107. And the World being all formed, hath not the forms lying without it, but itself changeth in itself.

108. Seeing then the World is all formed, what must he be that made it! for without form, he cannot be.

109. And if he be all formed, he will be kept like the World, but if he have but one form, he shall be in this regardless of the world.

110. What do we then say that he is? We will not raise any doubts by our speech, for nothing that is doubtful concerning God is yet known.

111. He hath therefore one *Idea,* which is proper to him, which, because it is unbodily, is not subject to the sight, and yet shows all forms by the Bodies.

112. And do not wonder if there be an incorruptible *Idea*.

113. For they are like the Margents of the Speech, which is in writing; for they seem to be high and swelling, but they are by nature smooth and even.

114. But understand well this that I say, more boldly, for it is more true: As man cannot live without life, so neither can God live not doing good.

115. For this is, as it were, the Life and Motion of God, to Move all things, and Quicken them.

116. But some of the things I have said, must have a particular explanation; Understand then what I say.

117. All things are in God, not as lying in a place, for Place is both a body and immoveable, and those things that are placed, have no motion.

118. For they lie otherwise in that which is unbodily, than in the fantasie, or to appearance.

119. Consider him that contains all things, and understand that nothing is more capacious, than that which is incorporeal, nothing more swift, nothing more powerful, but it is most capacious, most swift, and most strong.

120. And judge of this by thyself, command thy Soul to go into *India*, and sooner than thou canst bid it, it will be there.

121. Bid it likewise pass over the *Ocean*, and suddenly it will be there; not as passing from place to place, but suddenly it will be there.

122. Command it to fly into Heaven, and it will not need no wings, neither shall anything hinder it, not the fire of the Sun, not the *Aether*, not the turning of the Spheres, not the bodies of any other Stars, but cutting through all, it will fly up to the last and furthest body.

123. And if thou wilt even break the whole, and see those things that are without the world (if there be anything without), thou mayest.

124. Behold, how great power, how great swiftness thou hast! Canst thou do all thee things, and cannot God?

125. After this manner, therefore, contemplate God to have all the whole world to himself, as it were, all thoughts, or intellections.

126. If therefore thou wilt not equal thyself to God, thou canst not understand God.

127. For the like is intelligible by the like.

128. Increase thyself unto an immeasureable greatness, leaping beyond every Body, and transcending all Time, become Eternity, and thou shalt understand God: If thou believe in thyself, that nothing is impossible, but accountest thyself immortal, and that thou canst understand all things, every Art, every Science, and the manner and custom of every living thing.

129. Become higher than all height, lower than all depths, comprehend in thyself the qualitites of all the Creatures, of the Fire, the Water, the Dry, and Moist, and conceive likewise, that thou canst at once be everywhere, in the Sea, in the Earth.

130. Thou shalt at once understand thyself, not yet begotten in the Womb, young, old, to be dead, the things after death, and all these together, as also times, places, deeds, qualities, quantities, or else thou canst not yet understand God.

131. But if thou shut up thy Soul in the Body, and abuse it, and say, I understand nothing, I can do nothing, I am afraid of the Sea, I cannot climb up to Heaven, I know not who I am, I cannot tell what I shall be: What hast thou to do with god? for thou canst understand none of those Fair and Good things, and be a lover of the body and Evil.

132. For it is the greatest Evil, not to know God.

133. But to be able to know, and to will, and to hope, is the straight way, and Divine way, proper to the Good, and it will everywhere meet thee, and everywhere be seen of thee, plain and easy, when thou dost not expect or look for it; it will meet thee waking, sleeping, sailing, travelling, by night, by day, when thou speakest, and when thou keepest silence.

134. For there is nothing which is not the Image of God.

135. And yet thou sayest, God is invisible; but be advised, for who is more manifest than He?

136. For therefore hath he made all things, that thou by all things mayest see Him.

137. This is the Good of God, this is the Virtue, to appear, and to be seen in all things.

138. There is nothing invisible, no, not of those things that are incorporeal.

139. The Mind is seen in understanding, and God is seen in doing or making.

140. Let these things thus far forth, be made manifest unto thee, O *Trismegistus*.

141. Understand in like manner, all other things by thyself, and thou shalt not be deceived.

The End of the Tenth Book,  
THE MIND TO HERMES.

## The Eleventh Book Of The Common Mind, To Tat

THE Mind, O *Tat*, is of the very Essence of God, if yet there be any Essence of God.

2. What kind of Essence that is, he alone knows himself exactly.

3. The Mind therefore is not cut off, or divided from the essentiality of God, but united as the light of the Sun.

4. And this Mind in men, is God, and therefore are some men Divine, and their Humanity is near Divinity.

5. For the good *Demon* called the Gods, immortal Men, and men mortal Gods.

6. But in the brute Beast, or unreasonable living Wights, the Mind is their Nature.

7. For where there is a Soul, there is the Mind, as where there is Life there is also a Soul.

8. In living Creatures, therefore, that are without Reason, the Soul is Life, void of the operations of the Mind.

9. For the Mind is the Benefactor of the Souls of men, and worketh to the proper Good.

10. And in unreasonable things it co-operateth with the nature of everyone of them, but in men it worketh against their Natures.

11. For the Soul being in the body, is straightway made Evil by Sorrow, and Grief, and Pleasure, or Delight.

12. For Grief and Pleasure, flow like juices from the compound Body, whereinto when the Soul entereth or descendeth, she is moistened and tinctured with them.

13. As many Souls, therefore, as the Mind governeth, or overruleth, to them it shows its own Light, resisting their prepossessions or presumptions.

14. As a good Physician grieveth the Body, prepossessed of a disease, by burning or lancing it for health's sake; 15. After the same manner also the Mind grieveth the Soul, by drawing it out of Pleasure, from whence every disease of the Soul proceedeth.

16. But the Great Disease of the Soul is *Atheism,* because that opinion followeth to all Evil, and no Good.

17. Therefore, the Mind resisting, it procureth Good to the Soul, as a Physician to the Body.

18. But as many Souls of Men, as do not admit or entertain the Mind for their Governor, do suffer the same thing that the Soul of unreasonable living things.

19. For the Soul being a *Co-operator*with them, permits or leaves them to their concupiscences, whereunto they are carried by the torrent of their Appetite, and so tend to brutishness.

20. And as brute Bests, they are angry without reason, and they desire without reason, and never cease, nor are satisfied with evil.

21. For unreasonable Angers and Desires are the most exceeding Evils.

22. And therefore hath God set the Mind over there, as a Revenger and Reprover of them.

23. *Tat.* Here, O Father, that discourse of Fate of Destiny, which thou madest to me, is in danger of being overthrown; for if it be fatal for any man to commit *Adultery* or *Sacrilege*, or do any evil, he is punished also, though he, of necessity, do the work of the Fate or Destiny.

24. *Herm.* All things, O Son, are the work of Fate, and without it can no bodily thing, either Good or Evil, be done.

25. For it is decreed by Fate, that he that doth any evil, should also suffer for it.

26. And therefore he doth it, that he may suffer that which he suffereth because he did it.

27. But for the present, let alone that speech, concerning Evil and Fate, for at other times we have spoken of it.

28. Now, our discourse is about the Mind, and what it can do, and how it differs, and is in men such a one, but in brute Beasts changed.

29. And again in brute Beasts it is not beneficial, but in men by quenching both their Anger and Concupiscences.

30. And of man, thou must understand, some to be rational, or governed by reason, and some irrational.

31. But all men are subject to Fate, and to Generation, and Change, for these are the beginning and end of Fate or Destiny 32. And all men suffer those things that are decreed by Fate.

33. But rational men, over whom, as we said, the mind bears rule, do not suffer like unto other men; but being free from viciousness, and being not evil, they do suffer evil.

34. *Tat.*How sayest thou this again, Father? An *Adulterer*, is he not evil? A *Murderer*, is he not evil? and so of others.

35. *Herm.* But the rational man, O Son, will not suffer for Adultery, but as the Adulterer not for Murder, but as the Murderer.

36. And it is impossible to escape the Quality of change as of Generation, but the Viciousness, he that hath the Mind, may escape.

37. And therefore, O Son, I have always heard the good *Demon*say, and if he had delivered it in writing, he had much profited all mankind. For he alone, O So, as the first born, God seeing all things, truly spake Divine words. *I have heard him sometimes, That all things are one thing, especially intelligible Bodies, or that all especially intelligible Bodies are one.*

38. We live in Power, in Act, and in Eternity.

39. Therefore, a good mind is that which the soul of him is.

40. And if this be so, then no intelligible thing differs from intelligible things.

41. As, therefore, it is possible that the Mind, the Prince of all things; so likewise, that the soul that is of God, can do whatsoever it will.

42. But understand thou well, for this Discourse I have made to the Question which thou askest of me before, I man concerning Fate and the Mind.

43. First, if, O Son, thou shalt diligently withdraw thyself from all contentious speeches, thou shalt find that in Truth, the Mind, the Soul of God bears rule over all things, both over Fate, and Law, and all other things.

44. And nothing is impossible to him, no, not of the things that are of Fate.

45. Therefore, though the Soul of Man be above it, let it not neglect the things that happen to be under Fate.

46. And these, thus far, were the excellent sayings of the good *Demon*.

47. *Tat.*Most divinely spoken, O Father, and truly and profitably, yet clear this one thing unto me.

48. Thou sayest, that in brute Beasts the Mind worketh or acteth after the manner of Nature, co-operating also with their )... impetus) inclinations.

49. Now, the impetuous inclinations of brute Beasts, as I conceive, are Passions. If, therefore, the Mind do co-operate with these impetuous Inclinations, and that they are the Passions in brute Beasts, certainly the Mind is also a Passion, conforming itself to Passions.

50. *Herm.*Well done, Son, thou askest nobly, and yet it is just that I should answer thee.

51. All incorporeal things, O Son, that are in the Body, are passible, nay, they are properly Passions.

52. Everything that moveth is incorporeal; everything that is moved is a Body; and it is moved into the Bodies by the Mind. Now, Motion is passion, and there they both suffer; as well that which moveth, as that which is moved, as well that which ruleth, as that which is ruled.

53. But being freed from the Body, it is freed likewise from Passion.

54. But especially, O Son, there is nothing impassible, but all things are passible.

55. But Passion differs from that which is passible; for that (Passion) acteth, but this suffers.

56. Bodies also of themselves do act; for either they are unmoveable, or else are moved; and which soever it be, it is a Passion.

57. But incorporeal things do always act, or work, and therefore they are passible.

58. Let not, therefore, the appellations or names trouble thee, for Action and Passion are the same thing, but that it is not grievous to use the more honorable name.

59. *Tat.* O Father, thou hast delivered this discourse most plainly.

60. *Herm.*Consider this also, O Son, that God hath freely bestowed upon man, above all other living things, these two, to wit, Mind and Speech, or Reason ..., equal to immortality.

61. These, if any man use, or employ upon what he ought, he shall differ nothing from the Immortals.

62. Yea, rather going out of the Body, he shall be guided and led by them, both into the Choir and Society of the God, and blessed ones.

63. *Tat.* Do not other living creatures use speech, O Father?

64. *Herm.* No, Son, but only voice. Now, speech and voice do differ exceeding much; for speech is common to all men, but voice is proper unto every kind of living thing.

65. *Tat.*Yea, but the Speech of men is different, O Father; every man according to his Nation.

66. *Herm.*It is true, O Son, they do differ: yet as Man is one, so is Speech one also, and it is interpreted and found the same, both in *Egypt*, *Persia*, and *Greece*.

67. But thou seemest unto me, Son, to be ignorant of the Vertue, or Power and greatness of Speech.

68. For the blessed God, the good *Demon*said or commanded the Soul to be in the Body, the Mind in the Soul ..., the Word, or Speech, or Reason in the Mind, and the Mind in God, and that God is the Father of them all.

69. Therefore, the Word is the Image of the Mind, and the Mind of God, and the Body of the *Idea*, and the *Idea* of the Soul.

70. Therefore, of the Matter, the subtilest or smallest part is Air, of the Air the Soul, of the Soul the Mind, of the Mind God.

71. And God is about all things, and through all things, but the Mind about the Soul, the Soul about the Air, and the Air about the Matter.

72. But Necessity, and Providence, and Nature, are the Organs or Instruments of the World, and of the Order of Matter.

73. For of those things that are intelligible, everyone is; but the essence of them is Identity.

74. But of the Bodies of the whole, or universe, every one is many things.

75. For the Bodies that are put together, and that have, and make their changes into other, having this Identity, do always and preserve the incorruption of the Identity.

76. But in every one of the compound Bodies there is a Number

77. For without Number it is impossible there should be consistence or constitution, or composition, or dissolution.

78. But Unities do both beget and increase Numbers, and again being dissolved, come into themselves.

79. And the Matter is One.

80. But this whole World, the great God, and the Image of the Greater, and united unto him, and concerning the Order, and Will of the Father, is the fulness of Life.

81. And there is nothing therein, through all the Eternity of the Revolution, neither of the whole, nor of the parts which doth not live.

82. For there is nothing dead, that either hath been, or is, or shall be in the World.

83. For the Father would have it, as long as it lasts, to be a living thing; and therefore it must needs be God also.

84. How, therefore, O Son, can there be in God in the image of the Universe, in the fulness of Life, any dead things?

85. For dying is Corruption, and corruption is destruction.

86. How, then, can any part of the incorruptible be corrupted, or of God be destroyed?

87. *Tat.*Therefore, O Father, do not the living things in the World die, though they be parts thereof?

88. *Herm.* Be wary in thy speech, O Son, and not deceived in the names of things.

89. For they do not die, O Son, but as Compound bodies they are dissolved.

90. But dissolution is not death; and they are dissolved, not that they may be destroyed, but that they may be made new.

91. *Tat.*What, then, is the operation of Life? Is it not Motion?

92. *Herm.*And what is there in the World unmoveable? Nothing at all, O Son.

93. *Tat.*Why, doth not the Earth seem immoveable to thee, O Father?

94. *Herm.* No, but subject to many Motions, though after a manner, it alone be stable.

95. What a ridiculous thing it were that the nurse of all things should be immoveable which beareth and bringeth forth all things.

96. For it is impossible that anything that bringeth forth, should bring forth without Motion.

97. And a ridiculous question it is, whether the fourth part of the whole, be idle; for the word immoveable, or without motion, signifies nothing else, but idleness.

98. Know generally, O Son, that whatsoever is in the World is moved either according to Augmentation or Diminution.

99. But that which is moved, liveth also, yet it is not necessary that a living thing should be or continue the same.

100. For while the whole world is together, it is unchangeable, O Son, but all the parts thereof are changeable.

101. Yet nothing is corrupted or destroyed, and quite abolished, but the names trouble men.

102. For Generation is not Life, but Sense, neither is Change Death, but Forgetfulness, or rather Occultation, and lying hid. Or better thus:--

103. For Generation is not a Creation of Life, but a production of things to Sense, and making them manifest. Neither is Change Death, but an Occultation of hiding of that which was.

104. These things being so, all things are Immortal, Matter, Life, Spirit, Soul, Mind, whereof every living thing consisteth.

105. Every living thing therefore is Immortal, because of the Mind, but especially Man, who both receiveth God, and converseth with him.

106. For with this living wight, alone is God familiar; in the night by dreams, in the day by Symbols or Signs.

107. And by all things doth he foretell him of things to come, by Birds, by Fowls, by the Spirit, or Wind, and by an Oak.

108. Wherefore, also, Man professeth to know things that have been, things that are present, and things to come.

109. Consider this also, O Son, that every other living Creature goeth upon one part of the World, Swimming things in the Water, Land wights upon the Earth, Flying Fowls in the Air.

110. But Man useth all these, the Earth, the Water, the Air, and the Fire, nay, he seeth and toucheth Heaven by his senses.

111. But God is both about all things, and through all things, for he is both Act and Power.

112. And it is no hard thing, O Son, to understand God.

113. And if thou wilt also see him, look upon the Necessity of things that appear, and the Providence of things that have been, and are done.

114. See the Matter being most full of Life, and so great a God moved, with all good, and Fair, both Gods, and *Demons*, and Men.

115. *Tat.*But these, O Father, are wholly Acts, or Operations.

116. *Herm.* If they be, therefore, wholly acts or operations, O Son, by whom are they acted or operated, but by God?

117. Or art thou ignorant, that as parts of the World, are Heaven, and Earth, and Water, and Air; after the same manner, the Members of God, are Life, and Immortality, and Eternity, and Spirit, and Necessity, and Providence, and Nature, and Soul, and Mind, and the Continuance or Perseverance of all these which is called Good.

118. And there is not anything of all that hath been, and all that is, where God is not.

119. *Tat.*What, in Matter, O Father?

120. *Herm.*The Matter, Son, what is it without God, that thou shouldst ascribe a proper place to it?

121. Or what dost thou think it to be? Peradventure, some heap that is not actuated or operated.

122. But if it be actuated, by whom is it actuated? for we have said, that Acts or Operations, are the parts of God.

123. By whom are all living things quickened? and the Immortal, by whom are they immortalized? the things that are changeable, by whom are they changed?

124. Whether thou speak of Matter or Body, or Essence, know that all these are Acts of God.

125. And that the Act of Matter is materiality, and of the Bodies corporality, and of essence essentiality, and this is God the whole.

126. And in the whole, there is nothing that is not God.

127. Wherefore, about God, there is neither Greatness, Place, Quality, Figure, or time, foe he is All, and the All, through all, and about all.

128. This Word, O Son, worship and adore. And the only service of God, is not to be evil.

The End of the Eleventh Book  
OF THE COMMON MIND, TO TAT.

## The Twelfth Book, His Crater Or Monas

THE Workman made this Universal World, not with his Hands, but his Word.

2. Therefore thus think of him, as present everywhere, and being always, and making all things; and one above, that by his Will hath framed the things that are.

3. For that is his Body, not tangible, nor visible, nor measurable, nor extensible, nor like any other body.

4. For it is neither Fire, nor Water, nor Air, nor Wind, but all these things are of him; for being Good, he hath dedicated that name unto himself alone.

5. But he would also adorn the Earth, but with the Ornament of a Divine Body.

6. And he sent Man, an Immortal, and a mortal wight.

7. And Man had more than all living Creatures, and the World; because of his Speech, and Mind.

8. For Man became the Spectator of the Works of God, and wondered, and acknowledged the Maker.

9. For he divided Speech among all Men, but not Mind, and yet he envied not any; for Envy comes not thither, but is abode here below in the Souls of men, that have not the Mind.

10. *Tat.*But wherefore, Father, did not God distribute the Mind to all men?

11. *Herm.*Because it pleased him, O Son, to set that in the middle among all souls, as a reward to strive for.

12. *Tat.* And where hath he set it?

13. *Herm.* Filling a large Cup or Bowl therewith, he sent it down, giving also a Cryer or Proclaimer.

14. And he commanded him to proclaim these things to the souls of men.

15. Dip and wash thyself, thou that art able in this Cup or Bowl: Thou that believeth that thou shalt return to him that sent this Cup; thou that acknowledgest whereunto thou wert made.

16. As many, therefore, as understood the Proclamation, and were baptized, or dowsed into the Mind, these were made partakers of knowledge, and became perfect men, receiving the Mind.

17. But as many as missed of the Proclamation, they received Speech, but not Mind; being ignorant whereunto they were made, or by whom.

18. But their Senses are just like to brute Beasts, and having their temper in Anger and Wrath, they do not admire the things worthy of looking on.

19. But wholly addicted to the pleasures and desires of the Body, they believe that man was made for them.

20. But as many as partake of the gift of God; these, O *Tat*, in comparison of their works, are rather immortal, than mortal men.

21. Comprehending all things in their Mind, which are upon Earth, which are in Heaven, and if there be anything above Heaven.

22. And lifting up themselves so high, they see the Good, and seeing it, they account it a miserable calamity to make their abode here.

23. And despising all things bodily and unbodily, they make haste to the *One and Only*.

24. Thus, O *Tat*, is the knowledge of the Mind, the beholding of Divine things, and the Understanding of God, the Cup itself, being Divine.

25. *Tat.*And I, O Father, would be baptized and drenched therein.

26. Herm. Except thou first hate thy body, O Son, thou canst not love thyself, but loving thyself, thou shalt have the Mind, and having the Mind, thou shalt also partake the Knowledge or Science.

27. *Tat.*How meanest thou, O Father?

28. *Herm.*Because it is impossible, O Son, to be conversant about things Mortal and Divine.

29. For the things that are, being two Bodies, and things incorporeal, wherein is the Mortal and the Divine, the Election or Choice of either is left to him that will choose: For no man can choose both.

30. And of which soever the choice is made, the other being diminished or overcome, magnifieth the act or operation of the other.

31. The choice of the better, therefore, is not only best for him that chooseth it, by deifying man, but it also shewth Piety and Religion towards God.

32. But the choice of the worst destroys a man, but doth nothing against God, save that as *Pomps* or *Pageants*, when they come abroad, cannot do anything themselves but hinder; after the same manner also do these make *Pomps* and *Pageants* in the World, being seduced by the pleasures of the Body.

33. These Things being so, O *Tat*, that things have been, and are so plenteously ministered to us from God, let them proceed also from us, without any scarcity or sparing.

34. For God is innocent or guiltless, but we are the causes of Evil, preferring them before the Good.

35. Thou seest, O Son, how many Bodies we must go beyond, and how many Choirs of *Demons*, and what continuity and courses of Stars, that we may make haste to the One, and only God.

36. For the Good is not to be transcended, it is unbounded and infinite, unto itself, without beginning, but unto us, seeming to have a beginning, even our knowledge of it.

37. For our Knowledge is not the beginning of it, but shews us the beginning of its being known unto us.

38. Let us, therefore, lay hold of the beginning, and we shall quickly go through all things.

39. It is indeed a difficult thing to leave those things that are accustomable and present, and turn us to those things that are ancient, and according to the original.

40. For these things that appear, delight us, but make the things that appear not, hard to believe, *or the things that appear not, are hard to believe.*

41. The things most apparent are Evil, but the Good is secret, or hid in, or to the things that appear, for it hath neither Form nor Figure.

42. For this cause it is like to itself, but unlike everything else, for it is impossible that anything incorporeal should be made know, or appear to a Body.

43. For this is the difference between the like and the unlike, and the unlike wanteth always somewhat of the like.

44. For the Unity, Beginning, and Root of all things, as being the Root and Beginning.

45. Nothing is without a beginning, but the Beginning is of nothing, but of itself, for it is the Beginning of all other things.

46. Therefore it is, seeing it is not from another beginning.

47. Unity therefore being the Beginning, containeth very number, but itself is contained of none, and begetteth every number, itself being begotten of no other number.

48. Everything that is begotten (or made), is imperfect, and may be divided, increased, diminished.

49. But to the perfect, there happeneth none of these.

50. And that which is increased, is increased by Unity, but is consumed and vanished through weakness, being not able to receive the Unity.

51. This Image of God, have I described to thee, *O Tat,* as well as I could, which if thou do diligently consider, and view by the eyes of they Mind, and hear, believe me, Son, thou shalt find the way to things above, or, rather, the Image itself will lead thee.

52. But the spectacle or sight, hath this peculiar and proper: Them that can see, and behold it, it holds fast and draws unto it, as they say, the Loadstone doth Iron.

The End of the Twelfth Book,  
HIS CRATER OR MONAS.

## The Thirteenth Book, Of Sense And Understanding

YESTERDAY, *Asclepius,* I delivered a perfect Discourse, but now I think it necessary, in suite of that, to dispute also of Sense.

2. For Sense and Understanding seem to differ, because the one is material and the other essential.

3. But unto me, they appear to be both one, or united, and not divided in men, I mean.

4. For in other living Creatures, Sense is united into Nature, but in men to Understanding.

5. But the Mind differs from Understanding, as much a God from Divinity.

6. For Divinity is... from under God, and Understanding from the Mind, being the Sister of the Word or Speech, and they the Instruments one of another.

7. For neither is the Word pronounced without Understanding, neither is Understanding manifested without the Word.

8. Therefore, Sense and Understanding do both flow together into a man, as if they were infolded one within another.

9. For neither is it possible without Sense to Understand, nor can we have Sense without Understanding.

10. And yet it is possible (*for the time being*), that the Understanding may understand without Sense, as they that fancy visions in their Dreams.

11. But it seems unto me, that both the operations are in the Visions of Dreams, and that the Sense is stirred up out of sleep, into awakening.

12. For Man is divided into a Body and a Soul, when both parts of the Sense accord one with another, then is the Understanding childed, or brought forth by the Mind pronounced.

13. For the Mind brings forth all Intellections or Understandings, Good ones when it receiveth good seed from God, and the contrary, when it receives them from Devils.

14. For there is not part of the World void of the Devil, which entering in privately, sowed the seed of his own *proper* operation, and the mind did make pregnant, or did bring forth that which was sown. *Adulteries, Murders, Striking of Parents, Sacrileges, Impieties, Stranglings,* throwing down headlong, and all other things, which are the works of Evil *Demons*.

15. And the seeds of God are few, but great and Fair, and Good, Virtue, and Temperance, and Piety.

16. And the Piety is the knowledge of God, whom whosoever knoweth, being full of all good things, hath Divine Understanding, and not like the many.

17. And therefore they that have that knowledge, neither please the multitude, nor the multitude them, but they seem to be mad, and to move laughter, hated and despised, and many times also murdered.

18. For we have already said, That wickedness must dwell here, being in her own region.

19. For her region is the Earth, and not the World, as some will sometimes say, Blaspheming.

20. But the Godly or God-worshipping Man, laying hold on knowledge, will despise or tread under all these things, for though they be evil to other men, yet to him all things are good.

21. And upon mature consideration, he refers all things to knowledge, and that which is most to be wondered at, he alone makes Evil things good.

22. But I return again to my Discourse of Sense.

23. It is, therefore, a thing proper to man, to communicate and conjoin Sense and Understanding.

24. But every man, as I said before, doth not enjoy Understanding, for one man is material, another Essential.

25. And he that is material with wickedness, as I said, received from the Devils the seed of Understanding, but they that are with the Good essentially, are eared with God.

26. For God is the workman of all things, and when he worketh, he useth Nature.

27. He maketh all things good like himself.

28. But these things that are made good, are in the use of operation, unlawful.

29. For the Motion of the World, stirring up Generations, makes Qualities; infesting some with evilness, and purifying some with good.

30. And the World, *Asclepius,* hath a peculiar Sense and Understanding, not like to Man's, nor so various or manifold, but a better and more simple.

31. For the Sense and Understanding of the World is *One*, in that it makes all things, and unmakes them again into itself, for it is the Organ of Instrument of the Will of God.

32. And it is so organized or framed, and made for an Instrument by God, that receiving all Seeds into itself from God, and keeping them in itself, it maketh all things effectually, and dissolving them, reneweth all things.

33. And therefore like a good Husbandman of Life, when things are dissolved or loosened, he affords, by the casting of Seed, renovation to all things that grow.

34. There is nothing that it (the World) doth not beget or bring forth alive, and by its Motion, it makes all things alive.

35. And it is at once, both the Place and the Workman of Life.

36. But the Bodies are from the Matter, in a different manner, for some are of Earth, some of Water, some of Air, some of Fire, and all are compounded, but some are more compounded, and some are more simple.

37. They that are compounded, are the heavier, and they that are less, are the higher.

38. And the swiftness of the Motion of the World, makes the varieties of the qualities of Generation, for the Spiration of Influence being most frequent, extendeth unto the Bodies' qualities, with infulness, which is of Life.

39. Therefore, God is the Father of the World, but the World is Father of the things in the World.

40. And the World is the Son of God, but things in the World, are the Sons of the World.

41. And, therefore, it is well called ... the World, that is, an Ornament, because it adorneth and beautifieth all things with the Variety of Generation, and indeficiency of Life, which the unweariedness of Operation, and the swiftness of Necessity, with the mingling of Elements, and the order of things done.

42. Therefore, it is necessarily and proper called ... the World.

43. For all living things, both the sense and the Understanding, cometh into them from without, inspired by that which compasseth them about, and continueth them.

44. And the World receiving it once from God as soon as it was made, has it still, *whatever it once had.*

45. But God is not as it seems to some who Blaspheme through superstition, without Sense, and without Mind, or Understanding.

46. For all things that are, O *Asclepius,*are in God, and made by him, and depend of him, some working by bodies, some moving by a Soul, like Essence, some quickening by a Spirit, and some receiving the things that are weary, and all very fitly.

47. Or rather, I say, that he hath them not, but I declare the Truth, *he is all things,*not receiving them from without, but exhibiting them outwardly.

48. And this is the Sense and Understanding of God, to move all things always.

49. And there shall never be any time, when any of these things that are, shall fail, or be wanting.

50. When I say the things that are, I mean God, for the things that are, God hath, and neither is there anything without him, nor he without anything.

51. These things, O *Asclepius,* will appear to be true, if thou understand them, but if thou understand them not, incredible.

52. For to understand, is to believe, but not to believe, is not to understand; For my speech or words reach not unto the Truth, but the Mind is great, and being led or conducted for a while by Speech, is able to attain to the Truth.

53. And understanding all things round about, and finding them consonant, and agreeable to those things that were delivered, and interrupted by Speech, believeth, and in that good belief resteth.

54. To them, therefore, that understand the things that have been said of God, they are credible, but to them that understand them not, incredible.

55. And let these, and thus many things, be spoken concerning *Understanding* and *Sense*.

The End of the Thirteenth Book,  
OF SENSE AND UNDERSTANDING.

## The Fourteenth Book, Of Operation And Sense

*Tat.*  
THOU has well explained these things, Father. Teach me furthermore these things, for thou sayest, that *Science*and *Art*were the operations of the Rational, but now thou sayest, that Beasts are unreasonable, and for want of Reason, both are, and are called Brutes, so that by this reason, it must needs follow, that unreasonable Creatures partake not of Science, or Art, because they come short of Reason.

2. *Herm.* It must needs be so, Son.

3. *Tat.*Why then, O Father, do we see some unreasonable living Creatures use both Science and Art; as the *Pismires* treasure up for themselves food against Winter, and Fowls of the Air likewise make them Nests, and four-footed Beasts know their own Dens?

4. These things they do, O Son, not by Science or Art, but by Nature; For Science and Art are things that are taught, but none of these Brute Beasts are taught any of these things.

5. But these things being Natural unto them, are wrought by Nature, whereas, Art and Science do not happen unto all, but unto some.

6. As Men are Musitians, but not all; neither are all Archers, or Huntsmen, or the rest, but some of them have learned something by the working of Science, or Art.

7. After the same manner also, if some *Pismires* did so, and some not, thou mightest well say, they gather their Food according to Science and Art.

8. But being, they are all led by Nature, to the same thing, even against their Wills, it is manifest they do not do it by Science or Art.

9. For operations, O *Tat*, being unbodily are in Bodies, and work by bodies.

10. Wherefore, O *Tat*, in as much as they are unbodily, thou must needs say, they are immortal.

11. But inasmuch as they cannot act without Bodies, I say they are always in a Body.

12. For those things that are to anything, or for the cause of anything made subject to Providence or Necessity, cannot possibly remain idle of their own proper operation.

13. For that which is, shall ever be, for both the Body, and the Life of it, is the same.

14. And by this reason, it follows, that the Bodies also are always, because I affirm: That this corporeity is always by the Act and Operation, or for them.

15. For although Earthly Bodies be subject to dissolution, yet these bodies must be the Places, and the Organs, and Instruments of Acts or Operations.

16. But acts or Operations are immortal, and that which is Immortal is always in Act, and therefore also *Corporification* if it be always.

17. Acts or operations do follow the Soul, yet come not suddenly or promiscuously; but some of them come together with being made man, being about brutish or unreasonable things.

18. But the purer operations do insensibly in the change of time, work with the oblique part of the Soul.

19. And these operations depend upon Bodies, and truly they that are *Corporifying*, come from the Divine Bodies into Mortal ones.

20. But every one of them acteth both about the Body and the Soul, and are present with the Soul, even without the Body.

21. And they are always Acts or operations, but the Soul is not always in a Mortal Body, for it can be without a Body, but Acts or Operations cannot be without Bodies.

22. This is a sacred Speech, Son; the Body cannot consist without a Soul.

23. *Tat.*How meanest thou that, Father?

24. *Herm.*Understand it thus, O *Tat*: When the Soul is separated from the Body, there remaineth that same body.

25. And this same Body, according to the time of its abode, is actuated, or operated in that it is dissolved and becomes invisible.

26. And these things the Body cannot suffer without act or operation, and consequently there remaineth with the Body, the same act or operation.

27. This then is the difference between an Immortal Body and a Mortal one, that the Immortal one consists of one Matter, and so doth not the Mortal one, and the immortal one doth, but this suffereth.

28. And every thing that acteth or operateth is stronger, and ruleth, but that which is actuated or operated, is ruled.

29. And that which ruleth, directeth, and governeth as free, but the other is rules, a servant.

30. Acts or Operations, do not only act or operate, living or breathing, or insouled ... Bodies, but also Breathless Bodies, or without Souls, Wood and Stones, and such like, encreasing and bearing fruit, ripening, corrupting, rotting, putrifying and breaking, or working such like things, and whatsoever inanimate Bodies can suffer.

31. Act or Operation, O Son, is called, whatsoever is, or is made or done, and there are always many things made, or rather all things.

32. For the World is never widowed or forsaken of any of those things that are, but being always carried or moved in itself, it is in labour to bring forth the things that are, which shall never be left by it to corruption.

33. Let, therefore, every act or operation be understood to be always immortal, in what manner of Body soever it be.

34. But some Acts or Operations be of Divine, some of corruptible bodies, some universal, some peculiar, and some of the generals, and some of the parts of everything.

35. Divine Acts or Operations, therefore, there be, and such as work or operate upon their proper Bodies, and these also are perfect, and being upon or in perfect Bodies.

36. Particular are they which work by any of the living Creatures.

37. Proper be they that work upon any of the things that are.

38. By this Discourse, therefore, O Son, it is gathered that all things are full of Acts or Operations.

39. For if necessarily they be in every Body, and that there be many Bodies in the World, I may very well affirm, that there be many other Acts or Operations.

40. For many items in one Body, there if one, and a second, and a third, besides these universal ones that follow.

41. And universal operations, I call them that are indeed bodily, and are done by the Senses and Motions.

42. For without these, it is impossible that the Body should consist.

43. But other operations are proper to the Souls of Men, by Arts, Sciences, Studies, and Actions.

44. The Senses also follow these Operations, or rather are the effects or perfections ... of them.

45. Understand, therefore, O Son, the difference of Operations, it is sent from above.

46. But Sense being in the Body, and having its essence from it, when it receiveth Act or Operation, manifesteth it, making it as it were corporeal.

47. Therefore, I say, that the Senses are both corporeal and mortal, having so much existence as the Body, for they are born with the Body, and die with it.

48. But mortal things themselves have not Sense, as *not* consisting of such an Essence.

49. For Sense can be of no other than a corporeal apprehension, either of Evil or Good, that comes to the Body.

50. But to External Bodies there is nothing comes, nothing departs, therefore there is no Sense in them.

51. *Tat.*Doth the Sense therefore perceive or apprehend in every Body?

52. *Herm.*In every Body, O Son.

53. *Tat.*And do the Acts or Operations work in all things?

54. *Herm.* Even in things inanimate, O Son, but there are differences of Senses.

55. For the Senses of things rational, are with Reason, of things unreasonable, Corporeal only; but the Senses of things inanimate, are passive only, according to Augmentation and Diminution.

56. But Passion and Sense depend both upon one head, or hight, and are gathered together into the same, by Acts or Operations.

57. But in living Wights, there be two other Operations that follow the Senses and Passions, to wit, *Grief* and *Pleasure*.

58. And without these, it is impossible that a living Wight, especially a reasonable one, should perceive or apprehend.

59. And, therefore, I say, that these are the *Ideas*of Passions that bear rule, especially in reasonable living wights.

60. The Operations work indeed, but the Senses do declare and manifest the operations, and they being bodily, are moved by the brutish parts of the Soul; therefore, I say, they are both malificial, or doers of evil.

61. For that which affords the Sense to rejoice with Pleasure, is strightway the cause of many evils, happening to him that suffers it.

62. But sorrow gives stronger torments and Anguish, therefore, doubtless, are they both malificial.

63. The same may be said of the Sense of the Soul.

64. *Tat.*Is not the soul incorporeal, and the sense a Body, Father? Or is it rather in the Body?

65. *Herm.*If we put it in a Body, O So, we shall make it like the Soul, or the Operations; for these being unbodily, we say are in Bodies.

66. But Sense is neither Operation, nor Soul, nor anything else that belongs to the Body, but as we have said, and, therefore, it is not incorporeal.

67. And if it be not incorporeal, it must needs be a Body, for we always say, that of things that are, some are Bodies, and some incorporeal.

The End of The Fourteenth Book,  
OF OPERATION AND SENSE.

## The Fifteenth Book, Of Truth To His Son Tat

Herm.

OF TRUTH, O *Tat*, it is not possible that man, being an imperfect Wight, compounded of Imperfect members, and having his Tabernacle, consisting of different, and many Bodies, should speak with any Confidence.

2. But as far as it is possible and just (I say). That Truth is only in Eternal Bodies, whose very Bodies are also True.

3. The Fire is fire itself only, and nothing else; the Earth is earth itself, and nothing else; the Air is air itself, and nothing else; the Water, water itself, and nothing else.

4. But our Bodies consist of all these, for they have of the Fire, they have of the Earth, they have of the Water, and Air, and yet there is neither Fire, nor Earth, nor Water, nor Air, nor anything true.

5. And if at the beginning, our Constitution had not Truth, how could men either see the Truth, or speak it, or understand it, only except God would?

6. All things, therefore, upon Earth, O *Tat*, are not Truth, but imitations of the Truth, and yet not all things neither, for they are but few that are so.

7. But the other things are Falsehood and Deceit, O *Tat*, and opinions, like the Images of the fancy of appearance.

8. And when the fancy hath an influence from above, then it is an imitation of Truth, but without the operations from above, it is left a lie.

9. And as an Image shews the Body described, and yet it is not the Body of that which is seen, as it seems to be, and it is seen to have eyes, but it sees nothing, and ears, but it hears nothing at all, and all other things hath the picture, but they are false, deceiving the eyes of the beholder, whilst they think they see the Truth, and yet they are indeed but lies.

10. As many, therefore, as see not falsehood, see the Truth.

11. If, therefore, we do so understand, and see every one of those things as it is, then we see and understand true things.

12. But if we see or understand anything besides, or otherwise, than that which is, we shall neither understand, nor know the Truth.

13. *Tat.*Is Truth, therefore, upon Earth, O Father?

14. *Herm.* Thou dost not miss the mark, O Son; Truth indeed is nowhere at all upon Earth, O *Tat*, for it cannot be generated, or made.

15. But concerning the Truth, it may be that some men, to whom God will give the Good seeing power, may understand it.

16. So that unto the Mind and Reason, there is nothing true indeed upon earth.

17. But unto the true Mind and Reason, all things are fancies, or appearances, and opinions.

18. *Tat.*Must we not, therefore, call it Truth, to understand and speak the things that are?

19. *Herm.* But there is nothing true upon Earth.

20. *Tat.* How then is this true: that we do not know anything true? How can that be done here?

21. *Herm.* O Son, Truth is the most perfect Virtue, and the highest Good itself, not troubled by Matter, not encompassed by a Body, naked, clear, unchangeable, venerable, unalterable Good.

22. But the things that are here, O Son, are visible, incapable of Good, corruptible, passible, dissolvable, changeable, continually altered, and made of another.

23. The things therefore that are not true to themselves, how can they be true?

24. For everything that is altered, is a lie, not abiding in what it is, but being changed it shews us always, other and other appearances.

25. *Tat.* Is not man true, O Father?

26. *Herm.* As far forth as he is a man, he is not true, Son, for that which is true, hath of itself alone its constitution, and remains and abides according to itself, such as it is.

27. But man consists of many things, and doth not abide of himself, but is turned and changed, age after age,*Idea* after *Idea*, or form after form, and this while he is yet in the Tabernacle.

28. And many have not known their own children after a little while, and many children likewise have not known their own Parents.

29. Is it then possible, O *Tat*, that he who is so changed, as is not to be known, should be true? No, on the contrary, he is Falsehood, being in many Appearance of changes.

30. But do thou understand the True to be that which abides the Same, and is Eternal, but man is not ever, therefore not True, but man is a certain appearance, and Appearance is the highest Lie or Falsehood.

31. *Tat.*But these eternal bodies, Father, are they not true, though they be changed?

32. *Herm.* Everything that is begotten, or made, and changed, is not true; but being made by our Progenitor, they might have had true matter.

33. But these also have in themselves, something that is false, in regard to their change.

34. For nothing that remains not in itself, is true.

35. *Tat.*What shall one say then, Father, that only the sun, which besides the Nature of other things, is not changed, but abides in itself, is Truth?

36. *Herm.* It is Truth, and therefore is he only intrusted with the Workmanship of the World, ruling and making all things, whom I do both honour, and adore his Truth; and after the *One*, and First, I acknowledge him the Workman.

37. *Tat.*What, therefore, dost thou affirm to be the first Truth, O Father?

38. *Herm.*The *One* and *Only*, O *Tat*, that is not of Matter, that is not in a Body, that is without colour, without Figure, or Shape, Immutable, Unalterable, which always is, but Falsehood, O Son, is corrupted.

39. And corruption hath laid hold upon all things on Earth, and the Providence of the *True* encompasseth, and will encompass them.

40. For without corruption there can no generation consist.

41. For corruption followeth every generation, that it may again be generated.

42. For those things that are generated, must of necessity be generated of those things that are corrupted, and the things generated must needs be corrupted, that the Generation of things being, may not stand still or cease.

43. Acknowledge, therefore, the first Workman, by the Generation of things.

44. Consequently the things that are generated of Corruption are false, as being sometimes one thing, sometimes another: For it is impossible, they should be made the same things again, and that which is not the same, how is it true?

45. Therefore, O Son, we must call these things fancies or appearances.

46. And if we will give a man his right name, we must call him the appearance of Manhood; and a child, the fancy or appearance of a child; an old man, the fancy or appearance of an old man; a young man, the appearance of a young man; and a man of ripe age, the appearance of a man of ripe age.

47. For neither is a man, a man, nor a child, a child, nor a young man, young man, nor an old man, an old man.

48. But the things that pre-exist, and that are, being changed, are false.

49. These things, understand thus, O Son, as these false operations, having their dependence from above, even of the Truth itself.

50. Which being so, I do affirm, that Falsehood is the Work of the Truth.

The End of the Fifteenth Book,  
OF TRUTH TO HIS SON TAT.

## The Sixteenth Book, That None Of The Things That Are Can Perish

Herm.

WE must now speak of the Soul and body, O Son, after what manner the soul is Immortal, and what operation that is, which constitutes the Body, and dissolves it.

2. But in none of these is Death, for it is a conception of a name, which is either an empty word, or else it is wrongly called Death ..., by taking away the first letter, instead of Immortal ....

3. For Death is destruction, but there is nothing in the whole World that is destroyed.

4. For if the World be a second God, and an Immortal living Wight, it is impossible that any part of an Immortal living Wight should die.

5. But all things that are in the World, are members of the World, especially man, the reasonable living Wight.

6. For the first of all is God, the Eternal, the Unmade, and the Workman of all things.

7. The second is the World, made by him, after his own Image, and by him holden together, and nourished, and immortalized, and as from its own Father, ever living.

8. So that as Immortal, it is ever living, and ever immortal.

9. For that which is ever living, differs from that which is eternal.

10. For the Eternal was not begotten, or made by another, and if it were begotten or made, yet it was made by itself, not by any other, but it is always made.

11. For the Eternal, as it is Eternal, is the Universe.

12. For the Father himself, is Eternal of himself, but the World was made by the Father, ever living, and immortal.

13. And as much Matter as there was laid up by him, the Father made it all into a Body, and swelling it, made it round like a Sphere, endued it with Quality, being itself immortal, and having Eternal Materiality.

14. The Father being full of *Ideas,* sowed qualities in the Spheres, and shut them up as in a Circle, deliberating to beautify with every Quality, that which afterwards should be made.

15. Then clothing the Universal Body with Immortality, lest the Matter, if it would depart from this Composition, should be dissolved into its own disorder.

16. For when the Matter was Incorporated, O Son, it was disordered, and it hath here the same confusion daily revolved about other little things, endued with Qualities, in point of Augmentation, and Diminution, which men call Death, being indeed a disorder happening about earthly living Wights.

17. For the Bodies of Heavenly things, have one order, which they have received from the Father at the beginning, and is by the instauration of each of them, kept indissolveable.

18. But the instauration of earthly Bodies is their consistence, and their dissolution restores them into indissolveable, that is, Immortal.

19. And so there is made a privation of Sense, but not a destruction of Bodies.

20. Now the third living Wight is Man, made after the Image of the World, and having by the will of the Father, an mind above other earthly Wights.

21. And he hath not only a sympathy with the second God, but also an understanding of the first.

22. For the Second God, he apprehends as a Body, but the first, he understands as Incorporeal, and the Mind of the Good.

23. *Tat.* And doth not this living Wight perish?

24. *Herm.*Speak advisedly, O Son, and learn what God is, what the World, what an Immortal Wight, and what a dissolveable one is.

25. And understand that the World is of God, and in God, but Man of the World, and in the World.

26. The Beginning, and End, and Consistence of all, is God.

The End of the Sixteenth Book,  
THAT NONE OF THE THINGS THAT ARE CAN PERISH.

## The Seventeenth Book, To Asclepius, To Be Truly Wise

BECAUSE, my Son, *Tat*, in thy absence, would needs learn the Nature of the things that are, he would not suffer me to give over (as coming very young to the knowledge of every individual), till I was forced to discourse to him many things at large, that his contemplation might, from point to point, be more easy and successful.

2. But to thee, I have thought good to write in few words, choosing out the principal heads of the things then spoken, and to interpret them more mystically, because thou hast both more years, and more knowledge of Nature.

3. All things that appear, were made, and are made.

4. Those things that are made, are not made by themselves, but by another.

5. And there are many things made, but especially all things that appear, and which are different, and not like.

6. If the things that be made and done, be made and done by another, there must be one that must make, and do them, and he, unmade, and more ancient than the things that are made.

7. For I affirm the things that are made, to be made by another, and it is impossible, that of the things that are made, any should be more ancient than all, but only that which is not made.

8. He is stronger, and one, and only knowing all things indeed, as not having anything more ancient than himself.

9. For he bears rule, both over multitude and greatness, and the diversity of the things that are made, and the continuity of the Facture, and of the Operation.

10. Moreover, the things that are made, are visible, but he is invisible, and for this cause, he maketh them, that he may be visible, and therefore he makes them always.

11. Thus, it is fit to understand, and understanding to admire, and admiring to think thyself happy, that knowest thy natural Father.

12. For what is sweeter than a natural Father?

13. Who, therefore, is this, or how shall we know him?

14. Or is it just to ascribe unto him alone, the Title and Appellation of God, or of the Maker or of the Father, or all Three? That of God because of his Power; the Maker, because of his Working and Operation; and the Father because of his Goodness.

15. For Power is different from the things that are made, but Act or Operation in that all things are made.

16. Wherefore, letting go all much and vain talking, we must understand these two things: *That which is made*, and *him which is the Maker*; for there is nothing in the Middle, between these Two, nor is there any third.

17. Therefore, understanding All things, remember these Two; and think that these are All things, putting nothing into doubt; neither of the things above, nor of the things below; neither of things changeable, nor things that are in darkness or secret.

18. For All things, are but Two things, *That which maketh*, and *that which is made*; and the One of them cannot depart, or be divided from the other.

19. For neither is it possible that the Maker should be without the thing made, for either of them is the self-same thing; therefore cannot the one of them be separated from the other, no more than a thing can be separated from itself.

20. For if he that makes be nothing else but that which makes alone, *simple*,*uncompounded*, it is of necessity, that he makes the same thing to himself, to whom it is the Generation of him that maketh to be also All that is made.

21. For that which is Generated or made, must necessarily be generated or made by another, but without the maker, that which is made, neither is made, nor is; for the one of them without the other, has lost his proper Nature by the privation of the other.

22. So if these Two be confessed, That which maketh, and that which is made, then they are One in Union, this going before, and that following.

23. And that which goeth before, is, God the Maker; and that which follows, is, that which is made, be it what it will.

24. And let no man be afraid because of the variety of things that are made or done, lest he should case an aspersion of baseness, or infamy upon God; for it is the only Glory of him to do, or make all things.

25. And this making, or Facture, is as it were the Body of God; and to him that maketh, or doth, there is nothing evil or filthy to be imputed, or *there is nothing thought evil, or filthy*.

26. For these are Passions that follow Generation, as Rust doth Copper, or as Excrements do the Body.

27. But neither did the Coppersmith make the Rust, nor the Maker of the Filth, nor God the Evilness.

28. But the vicissitude of Generation doth make them, as it were, to blossom out; and for this cause did make change to be, as one should say, The Purgation of Generation.

29. Moreover, is it lawful for the same Painter to make both Heaven, and the Gods, and the Earth, and the Sea, and Men, and brute Beasts, and inanimate things, and Trees; and is it impossible for God to make these things? O the great madness, and ignorance of men in things that concern God!

30. For men that think so, suffer that which is most ridiculous of all; for professing to bless, and praise God, yet in not ascribing to him the making or doing of All things, they know him now.

31. And besides their not knowing him, they are extremely impious against him, attributing unto him Passions, as *Pride*, or *Oversight*, or Weakness, or Ignorance, or Envy.

32. For if he do not make, or do all things, he is either proud, or not able, or ignorant, or envious, which is impious to affirm.

33. For god hath only one Passion, namely, Good; and he that is good, is neither proud, nor impotent, nor the rest, but God is Good itself.

34. For *Good*is all *Power*, to do or make all things, and everything that is made, is made by God, that is, by the Good, and that can make or do all things.

35. See, then, how he maketh all things, and how the things are done, that are done, and if thou wilt learn, thou mayest see an Image thereof, very beautiful and like.

36. Look upon the Husbandman, how he casteth seeds into the Earth, here wheat, there barley, and elsewhere some other seeds.

37. Look upon the same Man, planting a vine, or an apple tree, or a fig tree, or some other tree.

38. So doth God in Heaven sow Immortality in the Earth, Change in the whole Life and Motion.

39. And these things are not many, but few, and easily numbered; for they are all but four, God and Generation, in which are all things.

The End of the Seventeenth Book,  
TO ASCLEPIUS, TO BE TRULY WISE.  
(End of the Divine Pymander--1650)



# THE KYBALION

**By The Three Initiates.**

## Contents

- Introduction
- Chapter 1. The Hermetic Philosophy
- Chapter 2. The Seven Hermetic Principles
- Chapter 3. Mental Transmutation
- Chapter 4. The All
- Chapter 5. The Mental Universe
- Chapter 6. The Divine Paradox
- Chapter 7. "The All" In All
- Chapter 8. Planes Of Correspondence
- Chapter 9. Vibration
- Chapter 10. Polarity
- Chapter 11. Rhythm
- Chapter 12. Causation
- Chapter 13. Gender
- Chapter 14. Mental Gender
- Chapter 15. Hermetic Axioms

## Introduction

We take great pleasure in presenting to the attention of students and investigators of the Secret Doctrines this little work based upon the world-old Hermetic Teachings. There has been so little written upon this subject, not withstanding the countless references to the Teachings in the many works upon occultism, that the many earnest searchers after the Arcane Truths will doubtless welcome the appearance of this present volume.

The purpose of this work is not the enunciation of any special philosophy or doctrine, but rather is to give to the students a statement of the Truth that will serve to reconcile the many bits of occult knowledge that they may have acquired, but which are apparently opposed to each other and which often serve to discourage and disgust the beginner in the study. Our intent is not to erect a new Temple of Knowledge, but rather to place in the hands of the student a Master-Key with which he may open the many inner doors in the Temple of Mystery through the main portals he has already entered.

There is no portion of the occult teachings possessed by the world which have been so closely guarded as the fragments of the Hermetic Teachings which have come down to us over the tens of centuries which have elapsed since the lifetime of its great founder, Hermes Trismegistus, the "scribe of the gods," who dwelt in old Egypt in the days when the present race of men was in its infancy. Contemporary with Abraham, and, if the legends be true, an instructor of that venerable sage, Hermes was, and is, the Great Central Sun of Occultism, whose rays have served to illumine the countless teachings which have been promulgated since his time. All the fundamental and basic teachings embedded in the esoteric teachings of every race may be traced back to Hermes. Even the most ancient teachings of India undoubtedly have their roots in the original Hermetic Teachings.

From the land of the Ganges many advanced occultists wandered to the land of Egypt, and sat at the feet of the Master. From him they obtained the Master-Key which explained and reconciled their divergent views, and thus the Secret Doctrine was firmly established. From other lands also came the learned ones, all of whom regarded Hermes as the Master of Masters, and his influence was so great that in spite of the many wanderings from the path on the part of the centuries of teachers in these different lands, there may still be found a certain basic resemblance and correspondence which underlies the many and often quite divergent theories entertained and taught by the occultists of these different lands today. The student of Comparative Religions will be able to perceive the influence of the Hermetic Teachings in every religion worthy of the name, now known to man, whether it be a dead religion or one in full vigor in our own times. There is always certain correspondence in spite of the contradictory features, and the Hermetic Teachings act as the Great Reconciler.

The lifework of Hermes seems to have been in the direction of planting the great Seed-Truth which has grown and blossomed in so many strange forms, rather than to establish a school of philosophy which would dominate, the world's thought. But, nevertheless, the original truths taught by him have been kept intact in their original purity by a few men each age, who, refusing great numbers of half-developed students and followers, followed the Hermetic custom and reserved their truth for the few who were ready to comprehend and master it. From lip to ear the truth has been handed down among the few. There have always been a few Initiates in each generation, in the various lands of the earth, who kept alive the sacred flame of the Hermetic Teachings, and such have always been willing to use their lamps to re-light the lesser lamps of the outside world, when the light of truth grew dim, and clouded by reason of neglect, and when the wicks became clogged with foreign matter. There were always a few to tend faithfully the altar of the Truth, upon which was kept alight the Perpetual Lamp of Wisdom. These men devoted their lives to the labor of love which the poet has so well stated in his lines:

"O, let not the flame die out! Cherished age after age  
in its dark cavern - in its holy temples cherished. Fed  
by pure ministers of love - let not the flame die out!"

These men have never sought popular approval, nor numbers of followers. They are indifferent to these things, for they know how few there are in each generation who are ready for the truth, or who would recognize it if it were presented to them. They reserve the "strong meat for men," while others furnish the "milk for babes." They reserve their pearls of wisdom for the few elect, who recognize their value and who wear them in their crowns, instead of casting them before the materialistic vulgar swine, who would trample them in the mud and mix them with their disgusting mental food. But still these men have never forgotten or overlooked the original teachings of Hermes, regarding the passing on of the words of truth to those ready to receive it, which teaching is stated in The Kybalion as follows: "Where fall the footsteps of the Master, the ears of those ready for his Teaching open wide." And again: "When the ears of the student are ready to hear, then cometh the lips to fill them with wisdom." But their customary attitude has always been strictly in accordance with the other Hermetic aphorism, also in The Kybalion: "The lips of Wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding."

There are those who have criticized this attitude of the Hermetists, and who have claimed that they did not manifest the proper spirit in their policy of seclusion and reticence. But a moment's glance back over the pages of history will show the wisdom of the Masters, who knew the folly of attempting to teach to the world that which it was neither ready or willing to receive. The Hermetists have never sought to be martyrs, and have, instead, sat silently aside with a pitying smile on their closed lips, while the "heathen raged noisily about them" in their customary amusement of putting to death and torture the honest but misguided enthusiasts who imagined that they could force upon a race of barbarians the truth capable of being understood only by the elect who had advanced along The Path.

And the spirit of persecution has not as yet died out in the land. There are certain Hermetic Teachings, which, if publicly promulgated, would bring down upon the teachers a great cry of scorn and revilement from the multitude, who would again raise the cry of "Crucify! Crucify."

In this little work we have endeavored to give you an idea of the fundamental teachings of The Kybalion, striving to give you the working Principles, leaving you to apply therm yourselves, rather than attempting to work out the teaching in detail. If you are a true student, you will be able to work out and apply these Principles - if not, then you must develop yourself into one, for otherwise the Hermetic Teachings will be as "words, words, words" to you.

THE THREE INITIATES.

#

## Chapter 1. The Hermetic Philosophy

***"The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding" - The Kybalion.***

From old Egypt have come the fundamental esoteric and occult teachings which have so strongly influenced the philosophies of all races, nations and peoples, for several thousand years. Egypt, the home of the Pyramids and the Sphinx, was the birthplace of the Hidden Wisdom and Mystic Teachings. From her Secret Doctrine all nations have borrowed. India, Persia, Chaldea, Medea, China, Japan, Assyria, ancient Greece and Rome, and other ancient countries partook liberally at the feast of knowledge which the Hierophants and Masters of the Land of Isis so freely provided for those who came prepared to partake of the great store of Mystic and Occult Lore which the masterminds of that ancient land had gathered together.

In ancient Egypt dwelt the great Adepts and Masters who have never been surpassed, and who seldom have been equaled, during the centuries that have taken their processional flight since the days of the Great Hermes. In Egypt was located the Great Lodge of Lodges of the Mystics. At the doors of her Temples entered the Neophytes who afterward, as Hierophants, Adepts, and Masters, traveled to the four corners of the earth, carrying with them the precious knowledge which they were ready, anxious, and willing to pass on to those who were ready to receive the same. All students of the Occult recognize the debt that they owe to these venerable Masters of that ancient land.

But among these great Masters of Ancient Egypt there once dwelt one of whom Masters hailed as "The Master of Masters." This man, if "man" indeed he was, dwelt in Egypt in the earliest days. He was known as Hermes Trismegistus. He was the father of the Occult Wisdom; the founder of Astrology; the discoverer of Alchemy. The details of his life story are lost to history, owing to the lapse of the years, though several of the ancient countries disputed with each other in their claims to the honor of having furnished his birthplace - and this thousands of years ago. The date of his sojourn in Egypt, in that his last incarnation on this planet, is not now known, but it has been fixed at the early days of the oldest dynasties of Egypt - long before the days of Moses. The best authorities regard him as a contemporary of Abraham, and some of the Jewish traditions go so far as to claim that Abraham acquired a portion of his mystic knowledge from Hermes himself.

As the years rolled by after his passing from this plane of life (tradition recording that he lived three hundred years in the flesh), the Egyptians deified Hermes, and made him one of their gods, under the name of Thoth. Years after, the people of Ancient Greece also made him one of their many gods - calling him "Hermes, the god of Wisdom." The Egyptians revered his memory for many centuries-yes, tens of centuries -  calling him "the Scribe of the Gods," and bestowing upon him, distinctively, his ancient title, "Trismegistus," which means "the thrice-great"; "the great-great"; "the greatest-great"; *etc.* In all the ancient lands, the name of Hermes Trismegistus was revered, the name being synonymous with the "Fount of Wisdom."

Even to this day, we use the term "hermetic" in the sense of "secret"; "sealed so that nothing can escape"; etc., and this by reason of the fact that the followers of Hermes always observed the principle of secrecy in their teachings. They did not believe in "casting pearls before swine," but rather held to the teaching "milk for babes"; "meat for strong men," both of which maxims are familiar to readers of the Christian scriptures, but both of which had been used by the Egyptians for centuries before the Christian era.

And this policy of careful dissemination of the truth has always characterized the Hermetics, even unto the present day. The Hermetic Teachings are to be found in all lands, among all religions, but never identified with any particular country, nor with any particular religious sect. This because of the warning of the ancient teachers against allowing the Secret Doctrine to become crystallized into a creed. The wisdom of this caution is apparent to all students of history. The ancient occultism of India and Persia degenerated, and was largely lost, owing to the fact that the teachers became priests, and so mixed theology with the philosophy, the result being that the occultism of India and Persia has been gradually lost amidst the mass of religious superstition, cults, creeds and "gods." So it was with Ancient Greece and Rome. So it was with the Hermetic Teachings of the Gnostics and Early Christians, which were lost at the time of Constantine, whose iron hand smothered philosophy with the blanket of theology, losing to the Christian Church that which was its very essence and spirit, and causing it to grope throughout several centuries before it found the way back to its ancient faith, the indications apparent to all careful observers in this Twentieth Century being that the Church is now struggling to get back to its ancient mystic teachings.

But there were always a few faithful souls who kept alive the Flame, tending it carefully, and not allowing its light to become extinguished. And thanks to these staunch hearts, and fearless minds, we have the truth still with us. But it is not found in books, to any great extent. It has been passed along from Master to Student; from Initiate to Hierophant; from lip to ear. When it was written down at all, its meaning was veiled in terms of alchemy and astrology so that only those possessing the key could read it aright. This was made necessary in order to avoid the persecutions of the theologians of the Middle Ages, who fought the Secret Doctrine with fire and sword; stake, gibbet and cross. Even to this day there will be found but few reliable books on the Hermetic Philosophy, although there are countless references to it in many books written on various phases of Occultism. And yet, the Hermetic Philosophy is the only Master Key which will open all the doors of the Occult Teachings!

In the early days, there was a compilation of certain Basic Hermetic Doctrines, passed on from teacher to student, which was known as "THE KYBALION," the exact significance and meaning of the term having been lost for several centuries. This teaching, however, is known to many to whom it has descended, from mouth to ear, on and on throughout the centuries. Its precepts have never been written down, or printed, so far as we know. It was merely a collection of maxims, axioms, and precepts, which were non-understandable to outsiders, but which were readily understood by students, after the axioms, maxims, and precepts had been explained and exemplified by the Hermetic Initiates to their Neophytes. These teachings really constituted the basic principles of "The Art of Hermetic Alchemy," which, contrary to the general belief, dealt in the mastery of Mental Forces, rather than Material Elements-the Transmutation of one kind of Mental Vibrations into others, instead of the changing of one kind of metal into another. The legends of the "Philosopher's Stone" which would turn base metal into Gold, was an allegory relating to Hermetic Philosophy, readily understood by all students of true Hermeticism.

In this little book, of which this is the First Lesson, we invite our students to examine into the Hermetic Teachings, as set forth in THE KYBALION, and as explained by ourselves, humble students of the Teachings, who, while bearing the title of Initiates, are still students at the feet of HERMES, the Master. We herein give you many of the maxims, axioms and precepts of THE KYBALION, accompanied by explanations and illustrations which we deem likely to render the teachings more easily comprehended by the modern student, particularly as the original text is purposely veiled in obscure terms.

The original maxims, axioms, and precepts of THE KYBALION are printed herein, in italics, the proper credit being given. Our own work is printed in the regular way, in the body of the work.

We trust that the many students to whom we now offer this little work will derive as much benefit from the study of its pages as have the many who have gone on before, treading the same Path to Mastery throughout the centuries that have passed since the times of HERMES TRISMEGISTUS - the Master of Masters - the Great-Great. In the words of "THE KYBALION":

*"Where fall the footsteps of the Master, the ears of those ready for his Teaching open wide." - The Kybalion.*

*"When the ears of the student are ready to hear, then cometh the lips to fill them with Wisdom." - The Kybalion.*

So that according to the Teachings, the passage of this book to those ready for the instruction will attract the attention of such as are prepared to receive the Teaching.

And, likewise, when the pupil is ready to receive the truth, then will this little book come to him, or her. Such is The Law.

The Hermetic Principle of Cause and Effect, in its aspect of The Law of Attraction, will bring lips and ear together - pupil and book in company. So mote it be!

## Chapter 2. The Seven Hermetic Principles

*"The Principles of Truth are Seven; he who knows these, understandingly, possesses the Magic Key before whose touch all the Doors of the Temple fly open." - The Kybalion.*

The Seven Hermetic Principles, upon which the entire Hermetic Philosophy is based, are as follows:

1. The Principle of Mentalism.  
2. The Principle of Correspondence.  
3. The Principle of Vibration.  
4. The Principle of Polarity.  
5. The Principle of Rhythm.  
6. The Principle of Cause and Effect.  
7. The Principle of Gender.

These Seven Principles will be discussed and explained as we proceed with these lessons. A short explanation of each, however, may as well be given at this point.

**1. The Principle of Mentalism**

*"THE ALL IS MIND; The Universe is Mental." - The Kybalion.*

This Principle embodies the truth that "All is Mind." It explains that THE ALL (which is the Substantial Reality underlying all the outward manifestations and appearances which we know under the terms of "The Material Universe"; the "Phenomena of Life"; "Matter"; "Energy"; and, in short, all that is apparent to our material senses) is SPIRIT which in itself is UNKNOWABLE and UNDEFINABLE, but which may be considered and thought of as AN UNIVERSAL, INFINITE, LIVING MIND. It also explains that all the phenomenal world or universe is simply a Mental Creation of THE ALL, subject to the Laws of Created Things, and that the universe, as a whole, and in its parts or units, has its existence in the Mind of THE ALL, in which Mind we "live and move and have our being." This Principle, by establishing the Mental Nature of the Universe, easily explains all of the varied mental and psychic phenomena that occupy such a large portion of the public attention, and which, without such explanation, are non-understandable and defy scientific treatment. An understanding of this great Hermetic Principle of Mentalism enables the individual to readily grasp the laws of the Mental Universe, and to apply the same to his well-being and advancement. The Hermetic Student is enabled to apply intelligently the great Mental Laws, instead of using them in a haphazard manner. With the Master-Key in his possession, the student may unlock the many doors of the mental and psychic temple of knowledge, and enter the same freely and intelligently. This Principle explains the true nature of "Energy," "Power," and "Matter," and why and how all these are subordinate to the Mastery of Mind. One of the old Hermetic Masters wrote, long ages ago: "He who grasps the truth of the Mental Nature of the Universe is well advanced on The Path to Mastery." And these words are as true today as at the time they were first written. Without this Master-Key, Mastery is impossible, and the student knocks in vain at the many doors of The Temple.

**2. The Principle of Correspondence**

*"As above, so below; as below, so above." - The Kybalion.*

This Principle embodies the truth that there is always a Correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of Being and Life. The old Hermetic axiom ran in these words: "As above, so below; as below, so above." And the grasping of this Principle gives one the means of solving many a dark paradox, and hidden secret of Nature. There are planes beyond our knowing, but when we apply the Principle of Correspondence to them we are able to understand much that would otherwise be unknowable to us. This Principle is of universal application and manifestation, on the various planes of the material, mental, and spiritual universe - it is an Universal Law. The ancient Hermetists considered this Principle as one of the most important mental instruments by which man was able to pry aside the obstacles which hid from view the Unknown. Its use even tore aside the Veil of Isis to the extent that a glimpse of the face of the goddess might be caught. Just as a knowledge of the Principles of Geometry enables man to measure distant suns and their movements, while seated in his observatory, so a knowledge of the Principle of Correspondence enables Man to reason intelligently from the Known to the Unknown. Studying the monad, he understands the archangel.

**3. The Principle of Vibration**

*"Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates." - The Kybalion.*

This Principle embodies the truth that "everything is in motion"; "everything vibrates"; "nothing is at rest"; facts which Modern Science endorses, and which each new scientific discovery tends to verify. And yet this Hermetic Principle was enunciated thousands of years ago, by the Masters of Ancient Egypt. This Principle explains that the differences between different manifestations of Matter, Energy, Mind, and even Spirit, result largely from varying rates of Vibration. From THE ALL, which is Pure Spirit, down to the grossest form of Matter, all is in vibration - the higher the vibration, the higher the position in the scale. The vibration of Spirit is at such an infinite rate of intensity and rapidity that it is practically at rest - just as a rapidly moving wheel seems to be motionless. And at the other end of the scale, there are gross forms of matter whose vibrations are so low as to seem at rest. Between these poles, there are millions upon millions of varying degrees of vibration. From corpuscle and electron, atom and molecule, to worlds and universes, everything is in vibratory motion. This is also true on the planes of energy and force (which are but varying degrees of vibration); and also on the mental planes (whose states depend upon vibrations); and even on to the spiritual planes. An understanding of this Principle, with the appropriate formulas, enables Hermetic students to control their own mental vibrations as well as those of others. The Masters also apply this Principle to the conquering of Natural phenomena, in various ways. "He who understands the Principle of Vibration, has grasped the scepter of power," says one of the old writers.

**4. The Principle of Polarity**

*"Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled." - The Kybalion.*

This Principle embodies the truth that "everything is dual"; "everything has two poles"; "everything has its pair of opposites," all of which were old Hermetic axioms. It explains the old paradoxes, that have perplexed so many, which have been stated as follows: "Thesis and antithesis are identical in nature, but different in degree"; "opposites are the same, differing only in degree"; "the pairs of opposites may be reconciled"; "extremes meet"; "everything is and isn't, at the same time"; "all truths are but half-truths"; "every truth is half-false"; "there are two sides to everything," etc., etc., *etc.* It explains that in everything there are two poles, or opposite aspects, and that "opposites" are really only the two extremes of the same thing, with many varying degrees between them. To illustrate: Heat and Cold, although "opposites," are really the same thing, the differences consisting merely of degrees of the same thing. Look at your thermometer and see if you can discover where "heat" terminates and "cold" begins! There is no such thing as "absolute heat" or "absolute cold" - the two terms "heat" and "cold" simply indicate varying degrees of the same thing, and that "same thing" which manifests as "heat" and "cold" is merely a form, variety, and rate of Vibration. So "heat" and "cold" are simply the "two poles" of that which we call "Heat" - and the phenomena attendant thereupon are manifestations of the Principle of Polarity. The same Principle manifests in the case of "Light and Darkness," which are the same thing, the difference consisting of varying degrees between the two poles of the phenomena. Where does "darkness" leave off, and "light" begin? What is the difference between "Large and Small"? Between "Hard and Soft"? Between "Black and White"? Between "Sharp and Dull"? Between "Noise and Quiet"? Between "High and Low"? Between "Positive and Negative"? The Principle of Polarity explains these paradoxes, and no other Principle can supersede it. The same Principle operates on the Mental Plane. Let us take a radical and extreme example - that of "Love and Hate," two mental states apparently totally different. And yet there are degrees of Hate and degrees of Love, and a middle point in which we use the terms "Like or Dislike," which shade into each other so gradually that sometimes we are at a loss to know whether we "like" or "dislike" or "neither." And all are simply degrees of the same thing, as you will see if you will but think a moment. And, more than this (and considered of more importance by the Hermetists), it is possible to change the vibrations of Hate to the vibrations of Love, in one's own mind, and in the minds of others. Many of you, who read these lines, have had personal experiences of the involuntary rapid transition from Love to Hate, and the reverse, in your own case and that of others. And you will therefore realize the possibility of this being accomplished by the use of the Will, by means of the Hermetic formulas. "Good and Evil" are but the poles of the same thing, and the Hermetist understands the art of transmuting Evil into Good, by means of an application of the Principle of Polarity. In short, the "Art of Polarization" becomes a phase of "Mental Alchemy" known and practiced by the ancient and modern Hermetic Masters. An understanding of the Principle will enable one to change his own Polarity, as well as that of others, if he will devote the time and study necessary to master the art.

**5. The Principle of Rhythm**

*"Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates." - The Kybalion.*

This Principle embodies the truth that in everything there is manifested a measured motion, to and fro; a flow and inflow; a swing backward and forward; a pendulum-like movement; a tide-like ebb and flow; a high-tide and low-tide; between the two poles which exist in accordance with the Principle of Polarity described a moment ago. There is always an action and a reaction; an advance and a retreat; a rising and a sinking. This is in the affairs of the Universe, suns, worlds, men, animals, mind, energy, and matter. This law is manifest in the creation and destruction of worlds; in the rise and fall of nations; in the life of all things; and finally in the mental states of Man (and it is with this latter that the Hermetists find the understanding of the Principle most important). The Hermetists have grasped this Principle, finding its universal application, and have also discovered certain means to overcome its effects in themselves by the use of the appropriate formulas and methods. They apply the Mental Law of Neutralization. They cannot annul the Principle, or cause it to cease its operation, but they have learned how to escape its effects upon themselves to a certain degree depending upon the Mastery of the Principle. They have learned how to USE it, instead of being USED BY it. In this and similar methods, consist the Art of the Hermetists. The Master of Hermetics polarizes himself at the point at which he desires to rest, and then neutralizes the Rhythmic swing of the pendulum which would tend to carry him to the other pole. All individuals who have attained any degree of Self-Mastery do this to a certain degree, more or less unconsciously, but the Master does this consciously, and by the use of his Will, and attains a degree of Poise and Mental Firmness almost impossible of belief on the part of the masses who are swung backward and forward like a pendulum. This Principle and that of Polarity have been closely studied by the Hermetists, and the methods of counteracting, neutralizing, and USING them form an important part of the Hermetic Mental Alchemy.

**6. The Principle of Cause and Effect**

*"Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law." - The Kybalion.*

This Principle embodies the fact that there is a Cause for every Effect; an Effect from every Cause. It explains that: "Everything Happens according to Law"; that nothing ever "merely happens"; that there is no such thing as Chance; that while there are various planes of Cause and Effect, the higher dominating the lower planes, still nothing ever entirely escapes the Law. The Hermetists understand the art and methods of rising above the ordinary plane of Cause and Effect, to a certain degree, and by mentally rising to a higher plane they become Causers instead of Effects. The masses of people are carried along, obedient to environment; the wills and desires of others stronger than themselves; heredity; suggestion; and other outward causes moving them about like pawns on the Chessboard of Life. But the Masters, rising to the plane above, dominate their moods, characters, qualities, and powers, as well as the environment surrounding them, and become Movers instead of pawns. They help to PLAY THE GAME OF LIFE, instead of being played and moved about by other wills and environment. They USE the Principle instead of being its tools. The Masters obey the Causation of the higher planes, but they help to RULE on their own plane. In this statement there is condensed a wealth of Hermetic knowledge - let him read who can.

**7. The Principle of Gender**

*"Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes." - The Kybalion.*

This Principle embodies the truth that there is GENDER manifested in everything - the Masculine and Feminine Principles ever at work. This is true not only of the Physical Plane, but of the Mental and even the Spiritual Planes. On the Physical Plane, the Principle manifests as SEX, on the higher planes it takes higher forms, but the Principle is ever the same. No creation, physical, mental or spiritual, is possible without this Principle. An understanding of its laws will throw light on many a subject that has perplexed the minds of men. The Principle of Gender works ever in the direction of generation, regeneration, and creation. Everything, and every person, contains the two Elements or Principles, or this great Principle, within it, him or her. Every Male thing has the Female Element also; every Female contains also the Male Principle. If you would understand the philosophy of Mental and Spiritual Creation, Generation, and Regeneration, you must understand and study this Hermetic Principle. It contains the solution of many mysteries of Life. We caution you that this Principle has no reference to the many base, pernicious and degrading lustful theories, teachings and practices, which are taught under fanciful titles, and which are a prostitution of the great natural principle of Gender. Such base revivals of the ancient infamous forms of Phallicism tend to ruin mind, body and soul, and the Hermetic Philosophy has ever sounded the warning note against these degraded teachings which tend toward lust, licentiousness, and perversion of Nature's principles. If you seek such teachings, you must go elsewhere for them - Hermeticism contains nothing for you along these lines. To the pure, all things are pure; to the base, all things are base.

## Chapter 3. Mental Transmutation

*"Mind (as well as metals and elements) may be transmuted, from state to state; degree to degree; condition to condition; pole to pole; vibration to vibration. True Hermetic Transmutation is a Mental Art." - The Kybalion.*

As we have stated, the Hermetists were the original alchemists, astrologers, and psychologists, Hermes having been the founder of these schools of thought. From astrology has grown modern astronomy; from alchemy has grown modern chemistry; from the mystic psychology has grown the modern psychology of the schools. But it must not be supposed that the ancients were ignorant of that which the modern schools suppose to be their exclusive and special property. The records engraved on the stones of Ancient Egypt show conclusively that the ancients had a full comprehensive knowledge of astronomy, the very building of the Pyramids showing the connection between their design and the study of astronomical science. Nor were they ignorant of Chemistry, for the fragments of the ancient writings show that they were acquainted with the chemical properties of things; in fact, the ancient theories regarding physics are being slowly verified by the latest discoveries of modern science, notably those relating to the constitution of matter. Nor must it be supposed that they were ignorant of the so-called modern discoveries in psychology - on the contrary, the Egyptians were especially skilled in the science of Psychology, particularly in the branches that the modern schools ignore, but which, nevertheless, are being uncovered under the name of "psychic science" which is perplexing the psychologists of to-day, and making them reluctantly admit that "there may be something in it after all."

The truth is, that beneath the material chemistry, astronomy and psychology (that is, the psychology in its phase of "brain-action") the ancients possessed a knowledge of transcendental astronomy, called astrology; of transcendental chemistry, called alchemy; of transcendental psychology, called mystic psychology. They possessed the Inner Knowledge as well as the Outer Knowledge, the latter alone being possessed by modern scientists. Among the many secret branches of knowledge possessed by the Hermetists, was that known as Mental Transmutation, which forms the subject matter of this lesson.

"Transmutation" is a term usually employed to designate the ancient art of the transmutation of metals - particularly of the base metals into gold. The word "Transmute" means "to change from one nature, form, or substance, into another; to transform" (Webster). And accordingly, "Mental Transmutation" means the art of changing and transforming mental states, forms, and conditions, into others. So you may see that Mental Transmutation is the "Art of Mental Chemistry," if you like the term - a form of practical Mystic Psychology.

But this means far more than appears on the surface. Transmutation, Alchemy, or Chemistry on the Mental Plane is important enough in its effects, to be sure, and if the art stopped there it would still be one of the most important branches of study known to man. But this is only the beginning. Let us see why!

The first of the Seven Hermetic Principles is the Principle of Mentalism, the axiom of which is "THE ALL is Mind; the Universe is Mental," which means that the Underlying Reality of the Universe is Mind; and the Universe itself is Mental - that is, "existing in the Mind of THE ALL." We shall consider this Principle in succeeding lessons, but let us see the effect of the principle if it be assumed to be true.

If the Universe is Mental in its nature, then Mental Transmutation must be the art of CHANGING THE CONDITIONS OF THE UNIVERSE, along the lines of Matter, Force and mind. So you see, therefore, that Mental Transmutation is really the "Magic" of which the ancient; writers had so much to say in their mystical works, and about which they gave so few practical instructions. If All be Mental, then the art which enables one to transmute mental conditions must render the Master the controller of material conditions as well as those ordinarily called "mental."

As a matter of fact, none but advanced Mental Alchemists have been able to attain the degree of power necessary to control the grosser physical conditions, such as the control of the elements of Nature; the production or cessation of tempests; the production and cessation of earthquakes and other great physical phenomena. But that such men have existed, and do exist today, is a matter of earnest belief to all advanced occultists of all schools. That the Masters exist, and have these powers, the best teachers assure their students, having had experiences which justify them in such belief and statements. These Masters do not make public exhibitions of their powers, but seek seclusion from the crowds of men, in order to better work their may along the Path of Attainment. We mention their existence, at this point, merely to call your attention to the fact that their power is entirely Mental, and operates along the lines of the higher Mental Transmutation, under the Hermetic Principle of Mentalism.

*"The Universe is Mental" - The Kybalion.*

But students and Hermetists of lesser degree than Masters - the Initiates and Teachers - are able to freely work along the Mental Plane, in Mental Transmutation. In fact all that we call "psychic phenomena,"; "mental influence"; "mental science"; "new-thought phenomena," etc., operates along the same general lines, for there is but one principle involved, no matter by what name the phenomena be called.

The student and practitioner of Mental Transmutation works among the Mental Plane, transmuting mental conditions, states, etc., into others, according to various formulas, more or less efficacious. The various "treatments," "affirmations," "denials" etc., of the schools of mental science are but formulas, often quite imperfect and unscientific, of The Hermetic Art. The majority of modern practitioners are quite ignorant compared to the ancient masters, for they lack the fundamental knowledge upon which the work is based.

Not only may the mental states, etc., of one's self be changed or transmuted by Hermetic Methods; but also the states of others may be, and are, constantly transmuted in the same way, usually unconsciously, but often consciously by some understanding the laws and principles, in cases where the people affected are not informed of the principles of self-protection. And more than this, as many students and practitioners of modern mental science know, every material condition depending upon the minds of other people may be changed or transmuted in accordance with the earnest desire, will, and "treatments" of person desiring changed conditions of life. The public are so generally informed regarding these things at present, that we do not deem it necessary to mention the same at length, our purpose at this point being merely to show the Hermetic Principle and Art underlying all of these various forms of practice, good and evil, for the force can be used in opposite directions according to the Hermetic Principles of Polarity.

In this little book we shall state the basic principles of Mental Transmutation, that all who read may grasp the Underlying Principles, and thus possess the Master-Key that will unlock the many doors of the Principle of Polarity.

We shall now proceed to a consideration of the first of the Hermetic Seven Principles - the Principle of Mentalism, in which is explained the truth that "THE ALL is Mind; the Universe is Mental," in the words of The Kybalion. We ask the close attention, and careful study of this great Principle, on the part of our students, for it is really the Basic Principle of the whole Hermetic Philosophy, and of the Hermetic Art of Mental Transmutation.

## Chapter 4. The All

*"Under, and back of, the Universe of Time, Space and Change, is ever to be found The Substantial Reality - the Fundamental Truth." - The Kybalion.*

"Substance" means: "that which underlies all outward manifestations; the essence; the essential reality; the thing in itself," *etc.* "Substantial" means: "actually existing; being the essential element; being real," *etc.* "Reality" means: "the state of being real; true, enduring; valid; fixed; permanent; actual," *etc.*

Under and behind all outward appearances or manifestations, there must always be a Substantial Reality. This is the Law. Man considering the Universe, of which he is a unit, sees nothing but change in matter, forces, and mental states. He sees that nothing really IS, but that everything is BECOMING and CHANGING. Nothing stands still-everything is being born, growing, dying-the very instant a thing reaches its height, it begins to decline - the law of rhythm is in constant operation - there is no reality, enduring quality, fixity, or substantiality in anything -  nothing is permanent but Change. He sees all things evolving from other things, and resolving into other things - constant action and reaction; inflow and outflow; building up and tearing down; creation and destruction; birth, growth and death. Nothing endures but Change. And if he be a thinking man, he realizes that all of these changing things must be but outward appearances or manifestations of some Underlying Power - some Substantial Reality.

All thinkers, in all lands and in all times, have assumed the necessity for postulating the existence of this Substantial Reality. All philosophies worthy of the name have been based upon this thought. Men have given to this Substantial Reality many names-some have called it by the term of Deity (under many titles). Others have called it "The Infinite and Eternal Energy" others have tried to call it "Matter" - but all have acknowledged its existence. It is self-evident it needs no argument.

In these lessons we have followed the example of some of the world's greatest thinkers, both ancient and modern - the Hermetic. Masters - and have called this Underlying Power - this Substantial Reality - by the Hermetic name of "THE ALL," which term we consider the most comprehensive of the many terms applied by Man to THAT which transcends names and terms.

We accept and teach the view of the great Hermetic thinkers of all times, as well as of those illumined souls who have reached higher planes of being, both of whom assert that the inner nature of THE ALL is UNKNOWABLE. This must be so, for naught by THE ALL itself can comprehend its own nature and being.

The Hermetists believe and teach that THE ALL, "in itself," is and must ever be UNKNOWABLE. They regard all the theories, guesses and speculations of the theologians and metaphysicians regarding the inner nature of THE ALL, as but the childish efforts of mortal minds to grasp the secret of the Infinite. Such efforts have always failed and will always fail, from the very nature of the task. One pursuing such inquiries travels around and around in the labyrinth of thought, until he is lost to all sane reasoning, action or conduct, and is utterly unfitted for the work of life. He is like the squirrel which frantically runs around and around the circling treadmill wheel of his cage, traveling ever and yet reaching nowhere - at the end a prisoner still, and standing just where he started.

And still more presumptuous are those who attempt to ascribe to THE ALL the personality, qualities, properties, characteristics and attributes of themselves, ascribing to THE ALL the human emotions, feelings, and characteristics, even down to the pettiest qualities of mankind, such as jealousy, susceptibility to flattery and praise, desire for offerings and worship, and all the other survivals from the days of the childhood of the race. Such ideas are not worthy of grown men and women, and are rapidly being discarded.

(At this point, it may be proper for me to state that we make a distinction between Religion and Theology - between Philosophy and Metaphysics. Religion, to us, means that intuitional realization of the existence of THE ALL, and one's relationship to it; while Theology means the attempts of men to ascribe personality, qualities, and characteristics to it; their theories regarding its affairs, will, desires, plans, and designs, and their assumption of the office of '' middle-men'' between THE ALL and the people. Philosophy, to us, means the inquiry after knowledge of things knowable and thinkable; while Metaphysics means the attempt to carry the inquiry over and beyond the boundaries and into regions unknowable and unthinkable, and with the same tendency as that of Theology. And consequently, both Religion and Philosophy mean to us things having roots in Reality, while Theology and Metaphysics seem like broken reeds, rooted in the quicksands of ignorance, and affording naught but the most insecure support for the mind or soul of Man. we do not insist upon our students accepting these definitions - we mention them merely to show our position. At any rate, you shall hear very little about Theology and Metaphysics in these lessons.)

But while the essential nature of THE ALL is Unknowable, there are certain truths connected with its existence which the human mind finds itself compelled to accept. And an examination of these reports form a proper subject of inquiry, particularly as they agree with the reports of the Illumined on higher planes. And to this inquiry we now invite you.

*"THAT which is the Fundamental Truth - the Substantial Reality - is beyond true naming, but the Wise Men call it THE ALL." - The Kybalion.*

*"In its Essence, THE ALL is UNKNOWABLE." - The Kybalion.*

*"But, the report of Reason must be hospitably received, and treated with respect." - The Kybalion.*

The human reason, whose reports we must accept so long as we think at all, informs us as follows regarding THE ALL, and that without attempting to remove the veil of the Unknowable:

(1) THE ALL must be ALL that REALLY IS. There can be nothing existing outside of THE ALL, else THE ALL would not be THE ALL.

(2) THE ALL must be INFINITE, for there is nothing else to define, confine, bound, limit; or restrict THE ALL. It must be Infinite in Time, or ETERNAL, - it must have always continuously existed, for there is nothing else to have ever created it, and something can never evolve from nothing, and if it had ever "not been," even for a moment, it would not "be" now, - it must continuously exist forever, for there is nothing to destroy it, and it can never "not-be," even for a moment, because something can never become nothing. It must be Infinite in Space - it must be Everywhere, for there is no place outside of THE ALL - it cannot be otherwise than continuous in Space, without break, cessation, separation, or interruption, for there is nothing to break, separate, or interrupt its continuity, and nothing with which to "fill in the gaps." It must be Infinite in Power, or Absolute, for there is nothing to limit, restrict, restrain, confine, disturb or condition it - it is subject to no other Power, for there is no other Power.

(3) THE ALL must be IMMUTABLE, or not subject to change in its real nature, for there is nothing to work changes upon it nothing into which it could change, nor from which it could have changed. It cannot be added to nor subtracted from; increased nor diminished; nor become greater or lesser in any respect whatsoever. It must have always been, and must always remain, just what it is now - THE ALL - there has never been, is not now, and never will be, anything else into which it can change.

THE ALL being Infinite, Absolute, Eternal and Unchangeable it must follow that anything finite, changeable, fleeting, and conditioned cannot be THE ALL. And as there is Nothing outside of THE ALL, in Reality, then any and all such finite things must be as Nothing in Reality. Now do not become befogged, nor frightened - we are not trying to lead you into the Christian Science field under cover of Hermetic Philosophy. There is a Reconciliation of this apparently contradictory state of affairs. Be patient, we will reach it in time.

We see around us that which is called "Matter," which forms the physical foundation for all forms. Is THE ALL merely Matter? Not at all! Matter cannot manifest Life or Mind, and as Life and Mind are manifested in the Universe, THE ALL cannot be Matter, for nothing rises higher than its own source - nothing is ever manifested in an effect that is not in the cause - nothing is evolved as a consequent that is not involved as an antecedent. And then Modern Science informs us that there is really no such thing as Matter - that what we call Matter is merely "interrupted energy or force," that is, energy or force at a low rate of vibration. As a recent writer has said "Matter has melted into Mystery." Even Material Science has abandoned the theory of Matter, and now rests on the basis of "Energy."

Then is THE ALL mere Energy or Force? Not Energy or Force as the materialists use the terms, for their energy and force are blind, mechanical things, devoid of Life or Mind. Life and Mind can never evolve from blind Energy or Force, for the reason given a moment ago: "Nothing can rise higher than its source - nothing is evolved unless it is involved - nothing manifests in the effect, unless it is in the cause. " And so THE ALL cannot be mere Energy or Force, for, if it were, then there would be no such things as Life and Mind in existence, and we know better than that, for we are Alive and using Mind to consider this very question, and so are those who claim that Energy or Force is Everything.

What is there then higher than Matter or Energy that we know to be existent in the Universe? LIFE AND MIND! Life and Mind in all their varying degrees of unfoldment! "Then," you ask, "do you mean to tell us that THE ALL is LIFE and MIND?" Yes! and No! is our answer. If you mean Life and Mind as we poor petty mortals know them, we say No! THE ALL is not that! "But what kind of Life and Mind do you mean?" you ask.

The answer is "LIVING MIND," as far above that which mortals know by those words, as Life and Mind are higher than mechanical forces, or matter - INFINITE LIVING MIND as compared to finite "Life and Mind." We mean that which the illumined souls mean when they reverently pronounce the word: "SPIRIT!"

"THE ALL" is Infinite Living Mind - the Illumined call it SPIRIT!

## Chapter 5. The Mental Universe

*"The Universe is Mental - held in the Mind of THE ALL." - The Kybalion.*

THE ALL is SPIRIT! But what is Spirit? This question cannot be answered, for the reason that its definition is practically that of THE ALL, which cannot be explained or defined. Spirit is simply a name that men give to the highest conception of Infinite Living Mind - it means "the Real Essence" - it means Living Mind, as much superior to Life and Mind as we know them, as the latter are superior to mechanical Energy and Matter. Spirit transcends our understanding, and we use the term merely that we may think or speak of THE ALL. For the purposes of thought and understanding, we are justified in thinking of Spirit as Infinite Living Mind, at the same time acknowledging that we cannot fully understand it. We must either do this or stop thinking of the matter at all.

Let us now proceed to a consideration of the nature of the Universe, as a whole and in its parts. What is the Universe? We have seen that there can be nothing outside of THE ALL. Then is the Universe THE ALL? No, this cannot be, because the Universe seems to be made up of MANY, and is constantly changing, and in other ways it does not measure up to the ideas that we are compelled to accept regarding THE ALL, as stated in our last lesson. Then if the Universe be not THE ALL, then it must be Nothing - such is the inevitable conclusion of the mind at first thought. But this will not satisfy the question, for we are sensible of the existence of the Universe. Then if the Universe is neither THE ALL, nor Nothing, what Can it be? Let us examine this question.

If the Universe exists at all, or seems to exist, it must proceed in some way from THE ALL - it must be a creation of THE ALL. But as something can never come from nothing, from what could THE ALL have created it. Some philosophers have answered this question by saying that THE ALL created the Universe from ITSELF - that is, from the being and substance of THE ALL. But this will not do, for THE ALL cannot be subtracted from, nor divided, as we have seen, and then again if this be so, would not each particle in the Universe be aware of its being THE ALL - THE ALL could not lose its knowledge of itself, nor actually BECOME an atom, or blind force, or lowly living thing. Some men, indeed, realizing that THE ALL is indeed ALL, and also recognizing that they, the men, existed, have jumped to the conclusion that they and THE ALL were identical, and they have filled the air with shouts of "I AM GOD," to the amusement of the multitude and the sorrow of sages. The claim of the corpuscle that: "I am Man!" would be modest in comparison.

But, what indeed is the Universe, if it be not THE ALL, not yet created by THE ALL having separated itself into fragments? What else can it be -  of what else can it be made? This is the great question. Let us examine it carefully. We find here that the "Principle of Correspondence" (see Lesson I.) comes to our aid here. The old Hermetic axiom, "As above so below," may be pressed into service at this point. Let us endeavor to get a glimpse of the workings on higher planes by examining those on our own. The Principle of Correspondence must apply to this as well as to other problems.

Let us see! On his own plane of being, how does Man create? Well, first, he may create by making something out of outside materials. But this will not do, for there are no materials outside of THE ALL with which it may create. Well, then, secondly, Man pro-creates or reproduces his kind by the process of begetting, which is self-multiplication accomplished by transferring a portion of his substance to his offspring. But this will not do, because THE ALL cannot transfer or subtract a portion of itself, nor can it reproduce or multiply itself - in the first place there would be a taking away, and in the second case a multiplication or addition to THE ALL, both thoughts being an absurdity. Is there no third way in which MAN creates? Yes, there is - he CREATES MENTALLY! And in so doing he uses no outside materials, nor does he reproduce himself, and yet his Spirit pervades the Mental Creation.

Following the Principle of Correspondence, we are justified in considering that THE ALL creates the Universe MENTALLY, in a manner akin to the process whereby Man creates Mental Images. And, here is where the report of Reason tallies precisely with the report of the Illumined, as shown by their teachings and writings. Such are the teachings of the Wise Men. Such was the Teaching of Hermes.

THE ALL can create in no other way except mentally, without either using material (and there is none to use), or else reproducing itself (which is also impossible). There is no escape from this conclusion of the Reason, which, as we have said, agrees with the highest teachings of the Illumined. Just as you, student, may create a Universe of your own in your mentality, so does THE ALL create Universes in its own Mentality. But your Universe is the mental creation of a Finite Mind, whereas that of THE ALL is the creation of an Infinite. The two are similar in kind, but infinitely different in degree. We shall examine more closely into the process of creation and manifestation as we proceed. But this is the point to fix in your minds at this stage: THE UNIVERSE, AND ALL IT CONTAINS, IS A MENTAL CREATION OF THE ALL. Verily indeed, ALL IS MIND!

*"THE ALL creates in its Infinite Mind countless Universes, which exist for aeons of Time - and yet, to THE ALL, the creation, development, decline and death of a million Universes is as the time of the twinkling of an eye." - The Kybalion.*

*"The Infinite Mind of THE ALL is the womb of Universes." - The Kybalion.*

The Principle of Gender (see Lesson I. and other lessons to follow) is manifested on all planes of life, material mental and spiritual. But, as we have said before, "Gender" does not mean "Sex" sex is merely a material manifestation of gender. "Gender" means "relating to generation or creation." And whenever anything is generated or created, on any plane, the Principle of Gender must be manifested. And this is true even in the creation of Universes.

Now do not jump to the conclusion that we are teaching that there is a male and female God, or Creator. That idea is merely a distortion of the ancient teachings on the subject. The true teaching is that THE ALL, in itself, is above Gender, as it is above every other Law, including those of Time and Space. It is the Law, from which the Laws proceed, and it is not subject to them. But when THE ALL manifests on the plane of generation or creation, then it acts according to Law and Principle, for it is moving on a lower plane of Being. And consequently it manifests the Principle of Gender, in its Masculine and Feminine aspects, on the Mental Plane, of course.

This idea may seem startling to some of you who hear it for the first time, but you have all really passively accepted it in your everyday conceptions. You speak of the Fatherhood of God, and the Motherhood of Nature - of God, the Divine Father, and Nature the Universal Mother - and have thus instinctively acknowledged the Principle of Gender in the Universe. Is this not so?

But, the Hermetic teaching does not imply a real duality - THE ALL is ONE - the Two Aspects are merely aspects of manifestation. The teaching is that The Masculine Principle manifested by THE ALL stands, in a way, apart from the actual mental creation of the Universe. It projects its Will toward the Feminine Principle (which may be called "Nature") whereupon the latter begins the actual work of the evolution of the Universe, from simple "centers of activity" on to man, and then on and on still higher, all according to well-established and firmly enforced Laws of Nature. If you prefer the old figures of thought, you may think of the Masculine Principle as GOD, the Father, and of the Feminine Principle as NATURE, the Universal Mother, from whose womb all things have been born. This is more than a mere poetic figure of speech - it is an idea of the actual process of the creation of the Universe. But always remember, that THE ALL is but One, and that in its Infinite Mind the Universe is generated, created and exists.

It may help you to get the proper idea, if you will apply the Law of Correspondence to yourself, and your own mind. You know that the part of You which you call "I," in a sense, stands apart and witnesses the creation of mental Images in your own mind. The part of your mind in which the mental generation is accomplished may be called the "Me" in distinction from the "I" which stands apart and witnesses and examines the thoughts, ideas and images of the "Me." "As above, so below," remember, and the phenomena of one plane may be employed to solve the riddles of higher or lower planes.

Is it any wonder that You, the child, feel that instinctive reverence for THE ALL, which feeling we call "religion" - that respect, and reverence for THE FATHER MIND? Is it any wonder that, when you consider the works and wonders of Nature, you are overcome with a mighty feeling which has its roots away down in your inmost being? It is the MOTHER MIND that you are pressing close up to, like a babe to the breast.

Do not make the mistake of supposing that the little world you see around you - the Earth, which is a mere grain of dust in the Universe - is the Universe itself. There are millions upon millions of such worlds, and greater. And there are millions of millions of such Universes in existence within the Infinite Mind of THE ALL. And even in our own little solar system there are regions and planes of life far higher than ours, and beings compared to which we earth-bound mortals are as the slimy life-forms that dwell on the ocean's bed when compared to Man. There are beings with powers and attributes higher than Man has ever dreamed of the gods' possessing. And yet these beings were once as you, and still lower - and you will be even as they, and still higher, in time, for such is the Destiny of Man as reported by the Illumined.

And Death is not real, even in the Relative sense - it is but Birth to a new life - and You shall go on, and on, and on, to higher and still higher planes of life, for aeons upon aeons of time. The Universe is your home, and you shall explore its farthest recesses before the end of Time. You are dwelling in the Infinite Mind of THE ALL, and your possibilities and opportunities are infinite, both in time and space. And at the end of the Grand Cycle of Aeons, when THE ALL shall draw back into itself all of its creations - you will go gladly for you will then be able to know the Whole Truth of being At One with THE ALL. Such is the report of the Illumined - those who have advanced well along The Path.

And, in the meantime, rest calm and serene - you are safe and protected by the Infinite Power of the FATHER-MOTHER MIND.

*"Within the Father-Mother Mind, mortal children are at home." - The Kybalion.*

*"There is not one who is Fatherless, nor Motherless in the Universe." - The Kybalion.*

## Chapter 6. The Divine Paradox

*"The half-wise, recognizing the comparative unreality of the Universe, imagine that they may defy its Laws - such are vain and presumptuous fools, and they are broken against the rocks and torn asunder by the elements by reason of their folly. The truly wise, knowing the nature of the Universe, use Law against laws; the higher against the lower; and by the Art of Alchemy transmute that which is undesirable into that which is worthy, and thus triumph. Mastery consists not in abnormal dreams, visions and fantastic imaginings or living, but in using the higher forces against the lower - escaping the pains of the lower planes by vibrating on the higher. Transmutation, not presumptuous denial, is the weapon of the Master." - The Kybalion.*

This is the Paradox of the Universe, resulting from the Principle of Polarity which manifests when THE ALL begins to Create - hearken to it for it points the difference between half-wisdom and wisdom. While to THE INFINITE ALL, the Universe, its Laws, its Powers, its life, its Phenomena, are as things witnessed in the state of Meditation or Dream; yet to all that is Finite, the Universe must be treated as Real, and life, and action, and thought, must be based thereupon, accordingly, although with an ever understanding of the Higher Truth. Each according to its own Plane and Laws. Were THE ALL to imagine that the Universe were indeed Reality, then woe to the Universe, for there would be then no escape from lower to higher, divineward - then would the Universe become a fixity and progress would become impossible. And if Man, owing to half-wisdom, acts and lives and thinks of the Universe as merely a dream (akin to his own finite dreams) then indeed does it so become for him, and like a sleep-walker he stumbles ever around and around in a circle, making no progress, and being forced into an awakening at last by his falling bruised and bleeding over the Natural Laws which he ignored. Keep your mind ever on the Star, but let your eyes watch over your footsteps, lest you fall into the mire by reason of your upward gaze. Remember the Divine Paradox, that while the Universe IS NOT, still IT IS. Remember ever the Two Poles of Truth the Absolute and the Relative. Beware of Half-Truths.

What Hermetists know as "the Law of Paradox" is an aspect of the Principle of Polarity. The Hermetic writings are filled with references to the appearance of the Paradox in the consideration of the problems of Life and Being. The Teachers are constantly warning their students against the error of omitting the "other side" of any question. And their warnings are particularly directed to the problems of the Absolute and the Relative, which perplex all students of philosophy, and which cause so many to think and act contrary to what is generally known as "common sense." And we caution all students to be sure to grasp the Divine Paradox of the Absolute and Relative, lest they become entangled in the mire of the Half-Truth. With this in view this particular lesson has been written. Read it carefully!

The first thought that comes to the thinking man after he realizes the truth that the Universe is a Mental Creation of THE ALL, is that the Universe and all that it contains is a mere illusion; an unreality; against which idea his instincts revolt. But this, like all other great truths, must be considered both from the Absolute and the Relative points of view. From the Absolute viewpoint, of course, the Universe is in the nature of an illusion, a dream, a phantasmagoria, as compared to THE ALL in itself. We recognize this even in our ordinary view, for we speak of the world as "a fleeting show" that comes and goes, is born and dies - for the element of impermanence and change, finiteness and unsubstantiality, must ever be connected with the idea of a created Universe when it is contrasted with the idea of THE ALL, no matter what may be our beliefs concerning the nature of both. Philosopher, metaphysician, scientist and theologian all agree upon this idea, and the thought is found in all forms of philosophical thought and religious conceptions, as well as in the theories of the respective schools of metaphysics and theology.

So, the Hermetic Teachings do not preach the unsubstantiality of the Universe in any stronger terms than those more familiar to you, although their presentation of the subject may seem somewhat more startling. Anything that has a beginning and an ending must be, in a sense, unreal and untrue, and the Universe comes under the rule, in all schools of thought. From the Absolute point of view, there is nothing Real except THE ALL, no matter what terms we may use in thinking of, or discussing the subject. Whether the Universe be created of Matter, or whether it be a Mental Creation in the Mind of THE ALL - it is unsubstantial, non-enduring, a thing of time, space and change. We want you to realize this fact thoroughly, before you pass judgment on the Hermetic conception of the Mental nature of the Universe. Think over any and all of the other conceptions, and see whether this be not true of them.

But the Absolute point of view shows merely one side of the picture - the other side is the Relative one. Absolute Truth has been defined as "Things as the mind of God knows them," while Relative Truth is "Things as the highest reason of Man understands them." And so while to THE ALL the Universe must be unreal and illusionary, a mere dream or result of meditation, - nevertheless, to the finite minds forming a part of that Universe, and viewing it through mortal faculties, the Universe is very real indeed, and must be so considered. In recognizing the Absolute view, we must not make the mistake of ignoring or denying the facts and phenomena of the Universe as they present themselves to our mortal faculties - we are not THE ALL, remember.

To take familiar illustrations, we all recognize the fact that matter "exists" to our senses - we will fare badly if we do not. And yet, even our finite minds understand the scientific dictum that there is no such thing as Matter from a scientific point of view - that which we call Matter is held to be merely an aggregation of atoms, which atoms themselves are merely a grouping of units of force, called electrons or "ions," vibrating and in constant circular motion. We kick a stone and we feel the impact - it seems to be real, notwithstanding that we know it to be merely what we have stated above. But remember that our foot, which feels the impact by means of our brains, is likewise Matter, so constituted of electrons, and for that matter so are our brains. And, at the best, if it were not by reason of our Mind, we would not know the foot or stone at all.

Then again, the ideal of the artist or sculptor, which he is endeavoring to reproduce in stone or on canvas, seems very real to him. So do the characters in the mind of the author; or dramatist, which he seeks to express so that others may recognize them. And if this be true in the case of our finite minds, what must be the degree of Reality in the Mental Images created in the Mind of the Infinite? Oh, friends, to mortals this Universe of Mentality is very real indeed - it is the only one we can ever know, though we rise from plane to plane, higher and higher in it. To know it otherwise, but actual experience, we must be THE ALL itself. It is true that the higher we rise in the scale - the nearer to "the mind of the Father" we reach - the more apparent becomes the illusory nature of finite things, but not until THE ALL finally withdraws us into itself does the vision actually vanish.

So, we need not dwell upon the feature of illusion. Rather let us, recognizing the real nature of the Universe, seek to understand its mental laws, and endeavor to use them to the best effect in our upward progress through life, as we travel from plane to plane of being. The Laws of the Universe are none the less "Iron Laws" because of the mental nature. All, except THE ALL, are bound by them. What is IN THE INFINITE MIND OF THE ALL is REAL in a degree second only to that Reality itself which is vested in the nature of THE ALL.

So, do not feel insecure or afraid - we are all HELD FIRMLY IN THE INFINITE MIND OF THE ALL, and there is naught to hurt us or for us to fear. There is no Power outside of THE ALL to affect us. So we may rest calm and secure. There is a world of comfort and security in this realization when once attained. Then "calm and peaceful do we sleep, rocked in the Cradle of the Deep" - resting safely on the bosom of the Ocean of Infinite Mind, which is THE ALL. In THE ALL, indeed, do "we live and move and have our being."

Matter is none the less Matter to us, while we dwell on the plane of Matter, although we know it to be merely an aggregation of "electrons," or particles of Force, vibrating rapidly and gyrating around each other in the formations of atoms; the atoms in turn vibrating and gyrating, forming molecules, which latter in turn form larger masses of Matter. Nor does Matter become less Matter, when we follow the inquiry still further, and learn from the Hermetic Teachings, that the "Force" of which the electrons are but units is merely a manifestation of the Mind of THE ALL, and like all else in the Universe is purely Mental in its nature. While on the Plane of matter, we must recognize its phenomena -  we may control Matter (as all Masters of higher or lesser degree do), but we do so by applying the higher forces. We commit a folly when we attempt to deny the existence of Matter in the relative aspect. We may deny its mastery over us - and rightly so - but we should not attempt to ignore it in its relative aspect, at least so long as we dwell upon its plane.

Nor do the Laws of Nature become less constant or effective, when we know them, likewise, to be merely mental creations. They are in full effect on the various planes. We overcome the lower laws, by applying still higher ones - and in this way only. But we cannot escape Law or rise above it entirely. Nothing but THE ALL can escape Law - and that because THE ALL is LAW itself, from which all Laws emerge. The most advanced Masters may acquire the powers usually attributed to the gods of men; and there are countless ranks of being, in the great hierarchy of life, whose being and power transcends even that of the highest Masters among men to a degree unthinkable by mortals, but even the highest Master, and the highest Being, must bow to the Law, and be as Nothing in the eye of THE ALL. So that if even these highest Beings, whose powers exceed even those attributed by men to their gods - if even these are bound by and are subservient to Law, then imagine the presumption of mortal man, of our race and grade, when he dares to consider the Laws of Nature as "unreal!" visionary and illusory, because he happens to be able to grasp the truth that the Laws are Mental in nature, and simply Mental Creations of THE ALL. Those Laws which THE ALL intends to be governing Laws are not to be defied or argued away. So long as the Universe endures, will they endure - for the Universe exists by virtue of these Laws which form its framework and which hold it together.

The Hermetic Principle of Mentalism, while explaining the true nature of the Universe upon the principle that all is Mental, does not change the scientific conceptions of the Universe, Life, or Evolution. In fact, science merely corroborates the Hermetic Teachings. The latter merely teaches that the nature of the Universe is "Mental," while modern science has taught that it is "Material"; or (of late) that it is "Energy" at the last analysis. The Hermetic Teachings have no fault to find with Herbert Spencer's basic principle which postulates the existence of an "Infinite and Eternal Energy, from which all things proceed." In fact, the Hermetics recognize in Spencer's philosophy the highest outside statement of the workings of the Natural Laws that have ever been promulgated, and they believe Spencer to have been a reincarnation of an ancient philosopher who dwelt in ancient Egypt thousands of years ago, and who later incarnated as Heraclitus, the Grecian philosopher who lived B. C. 500. And they regard his statement of the "Infinite and Eternal Energy" as directly in the line of the Hermetic Teachings, always with the addition of their own doctrine that his "Energy" is the Energy of the Mind of THE ALL. With the Master-Key of the Hermetic Philosophy, the student of Spencer will be able to unlock many doors of the inner philosophical conceptions of the great English philosopher, whose work shows the results of the preparation of his previous incarnations. His teachings regarding Evolution and Rhythm are in almost perfect agreement with the Hermetic Teachings regarding the Principle of Rhythm.

So, the student of Hermetics need not lay aside any of his cherished scientific views regarding the Universe. All he is asked to do is to grasp the underlying principle of "THE ALL is Mind; the Universe is Mental - held in the mind of THE ALL."

He will find that the other six of the Seven Principles will "fit into" his scientific knowledge, and will serve to bring out obscure points and to throw light in dark corners. This is not to be wondered at, when we realize the influence of the Hermetic thought of the early philosophers of Greece, upon whose foundations of thought the theories of modern science largely rest. The acceptance of the First Hermetic Principle (Mentalism) is the only great point of difference between Modern Science and Hermetic students, and Science is gradually moving toward the Hermetic position in its groping in the dark for a way out of the Labyrinth into which it has wandered in its search for Reality.

The purpose of this lesson is to impress upon the minds of our students the fact that, to all intents and purposes, the Universe and its laws, and its phenomena, are just as REAL, so far as Man is concerned, as they would be under the hypotheses of Materialism or Energism.

Under any hypothesis the Universe in its outer aspect is changing, ever-flowing, and transitory - and therefore devoid of substantiality and reality. But (note the other pole of the truth) under the same hypotheses, we are compelled to ACT AND LIVE as if the fleeting things were real and substantial. With this difference, always, between the various hypotheses - that under the old views Mental Power was ignored as a Natural Force, while under Mentalism it becomes the Greatest Natural Force. And this one difference revolutionizes Life, to those who understand the Principle and its resulting laws and practice.

So, finally, students all, grasp the advantage of Mentalism, and learn to know, use and apply the laws resulting therefrom. But do not yield to the temptation which, as The Kybalion states, overcomes the half-wise and which causes them to be hypnotized by the apparent unreality of things, the consequence being that they wander about like dream-people dwelling in a world of dreams, ignoring the practical work and life of man, the end being that "they are broken against the rocks and torn asunder by the elements, by reason of their folly." Rather follow the example of the wise, which the same authority states, "use Law against Laws; the higher against the lower; and by the Art of Alchemy transmute that which is undesirable into that which is worthy, and thus triumph." Following the authority, let us avoid the half-wisdom (which is folly) which ignores the truth that: "Mastery consists not in abnormal dreams, visions, and fantastic imaginings or living, but in using the higher forces against the lower - escaping the pains of the lower planes by vibrating on the higher." Remember always, student, that "Transmutation, not presumptuous denial, is the weapon of the Master." The above quotations are from The Kybalion, and are worthy of being committed to memory by the student.

We do not live in a world of dreams, but in an Universe which while relative, is real so far as our lives and actions are concerned. Our business in the Universe is not to deny its existence, but to LIVE, using the Laws to rise from lower to higher - living on, doing the best that we can under the circumstances arising each day, and living, so far as is possible, to our biggest ideas and ideals. The true Meaning of Life is not known to men on this plane if, indeed, to any - but the highest authorities, and our own intuitions, teach us that we will make no mistake in living up to the best that is in us, so far as is possible, and realising the Universal tendency in the same direction in spite of apparent evidence to the contrary. We are all on The Path - and the road leads upward ever, with frequent resting places.

Read the message of The Kybalion - and follow the example of "the wise" - avoiding the mistake of "the half-wise" who perish by reason of their folly.

## Chapter 7. "The All" In All

*"While All is in THE ALL, it is equally true that THE ALL is in ALL. To him who truly understands this truth hath come great knowledge." - The Kybalion.*

How often have the majority of people heard repeated the statement that their Deity (called by many names) was "All in All" and how little have they suspected the inner occult truth concealed by these carelessly uttered words? The commonly used expression is a survival of the ancient Hermetic Maxim quoted above. As the Kybalion says: "To him who truly understands this truth, hath come great knowledge." And, this being so, let us seek this truth, the understanding of which means so much. In this statement of truth - this Hermetic Maxim - is concealed one of the greatest philosophical, scientific and religious truths.

We have given you the Hermetic Teaching regarding the Mental Nature of the Universe - the truth that "the Universe is Mental - held in the Mind of THE ALL." As the Kybalion says, in the passage quoted above: "All is in THE ALL." But note also the co-related statement, that: "It is equally true that THE ALL is in ALL." This apparently contradictory statement is reconcilable under the Law of Paradox. It is, moreover, an exact Hermetic statement of the relations existing between THE ALL and its Mental Universe. We have seen how "All is in THE ALL" - now let us examine the other aspect of the subject.

The Hermetic Teachings are to the effect that THE ALL is Imminent in ("remaining within; inherent; abiding within") its Universe, and in every part, particle, unit, or combination, within the Universe. This statement is usually illustrated by the Teachers by a reference to the Principle of Correspondence. The Teacher instructs the student to form a Mental Image of something, a person, an idea, something having a mental form, the favorite example being that of the author or dramatist forming an idea of his characters; or a painter or sculptor forming an image of an ideal that he wishes to express by his art. In each case, the student will find that while the image has its existence, and being, solely within his own mind, yet he, the student, author, dramatist, painter, or sculptor, is, in a sense, immanent in; remaining within; or abiding within, the mental image also. In other words, the entire virtue, life, spirit, of reality in the mental image is derived from the "immanent mind" of the thinker. Consider this for a moment, until the idea is grasped.

To take a modern example, let us say that Othello, Iago, Hamlet, Lear, Richard III, existed merely in the mind of Shakespeare, at the time of their conception or creation. And yet, Shakespeare also existed within each of these characters, giving them their vitality, spirit, and action. Whose is the "spirit" of the characters that we know as Micawber, Oliver Twist, Uriah Heep - is it Dickens, or have each of these characters a personal spirit, independent of their creator? Have the Venus of Medici, the Sistine Madonna, the Apollo Belvidere, spirits and reality of their own, or do they represent the spiritual and mental power of their creators? The Law of Paradox explains that both propositions are true, viewed from the proper viewpoints. Micawber is both Micawber, and yet Dickens. And, again, while Micawber may be said to be Dickens, yet Dickens is not identical with Micawber. Man, like Micawber, may exclaim: "The Spirit of my Creator is inherent within me -  and yet I am not HE!" How different this from the shocking half-truth so vociferously announced by certain of the half-wise, who fill the air with their raucous cries of: "I am God!" Imagine poor Micawber, or the sneaky Uriah Heep, crying: "I Am Dickens"; or some of the lowly clods in one of Shakespeare's plays, eloquently announcing that: "I Am Shakespeare!" THE ALL is in the earthworm, and yet the earthworm is far from being THE ALL. And still the wonder remains, that though the earthworm exists merely as a lowly thing, created and having its being solely within the Mind of THE ALL - yet THE ALL is immanent in the earthworm, and in the particles that go to make up the earthworm. Can there be any greater mystery than this of "All in THE ALL; and THE ALL in All?"

The student will, of course, realize that the illustrations given above are necessarily imperfect and inadequate, for they represent the creation of mental images in finite minds, while the Universe is a creation of Infinite Mind - and the difference between the two poles separates them. And yet it is merely a matter of degree - the same Principle is in operation - the Principle of Correspondence manifests in each - "As above, so Below; as Below, so above."

And, in the degree that Man realizes the existence of the Indwelling Spirit immanent within his being, so will he rise in the spiritual scale of life. This is what spiritual development means - the recognition, realization, and manifestation of the Spirit within us. Try to remember this last definition - that of spiritual development. It contains the Truth of True Religion.

There are many planes of Being - many sub-planes of Life - many degrees of existence in the Universe. And all depend upon the advancement of beings in the scale, of which scale the lowest point is the grossest matter, the highest being separated only by the thinnest division from the SPIRIT of THE ALL. And, upward and onward along this Scale of Life, everything is moving. All are on the Path, whose end is THE ALL. All progress is a Returning Home. All is Upward and Onward, in spite of all seemingly contradictory appearances. Such is the message of the Illumined.

The Hermetic Teachings concerning the process of the Mental Creation of the Universe, are that at the beginning of the Creative Cycle, THE ALL, in its aspect of Being, projects its Will toward its aspect of "Becoming" and the process of creation begins. It is taught that the process consists of the lowering of Vibration until a very low degree of vibratory energy is reached, at which point the grossest possible form of Matter is manifested. This process is called the stage of Involution, in which THE ALL becomes "involved," or "wrapped up," in its creation. This process is believed by the Hermetists to have a Correspondence to the mental process of an artist, writer, or inventor, who becomes so wrapped up in his mental creation as to almost forget his own existence and who, for the time being, almost "lives in his creation," If instead of "wrapped" we use the word "rapt," perhaps we will give a better idea of what is meant.

This Involuntary stage of Creation is sometimes called the "Outpouring" of the Divine Energy, just as the Evolutionary state is called the "Indrawing." The extreme pole of the Creative process is considered to be the furthest removed from THE ALL, while the beginning of the Evolutionary stage is regarded as the beginning of the return swing of the pendulum of Rhythm - a "coming home" idea being held in all of the Hermetic Teachings.

The Teachings are that during the "Outpouring," the vibrations become lower and lower until finally the urge ceases, and the return swing begins. But there is this difference, that while in the "Outpouring" the creative forces manifest compactly and as a whole, yet from the beginning of the Evolutionary or "Indrawing" stage, there is manifested the Law of Individualization - that is, the tendency to separate into Units of Force, so that finally that which left THE ALL as unindividualized energy returns to its source as countless highly developed Units of Life, having risen higher and higher in the scale by means of Physical, Mental and Spiritual Evolution.

The ancient Hermetists use the word "Meditation" in describing the process of the mental creation of the Universe in the Mind of THE ALL, the word "Contemplation" also being frequently employed. But the idea intended seems to be that of the employment of the Divine Attention. "Attention" is a word derived from the Latin root, meaning "to reach out; to stretch out," and so the act of Attention is really a mental "reaching out; extension" of mental energy, so that the underlying idea is readily understood when we examine into the real meaning of "Attention."

The Hermetic Teachings regarding the process of Evolution are that, THE ALL, having meditated upon the beginning of the Creation - having thus established the material foundations of the Universe - having thought it into existence - then gradually awakens or rouses from its Meditation and in so doing starts into manifestation the process of Evolution, on the material mental and spiritual planes, successively and in order. Thus the upward movement begins - and all begins to move Spiritward. Matter becomes less gross; the Units spring into being; the combinations begin to form; Life appears and manifests in higher and higher forms; and Mind becomes more and more in evidence - the vibrations constantly becoming higher. In short, the entire process of Evolution, in all of its phases, begins, and proceeds according to the established "Laws of the Indrawing" process. All of this occupies aeons upon aeons of Man's time, each aeon containing countless millions of years, but yet the Illumined inform us that the entire creation, including Involution and Evolution, of an Universe, is but "as the twinkle of the eye" to THE ALL. At the end of countless cycles of aeons of time, THE ALL withdraws its Attention - its Contemplation and Meditation - of the Universe, for the Great Work is finished - and All is withdrawn into THE ALL from which it emerged. But Mystery of Mysteries - the Spirit of each soul is not annihilated, but is infinitely expanded - the Created and the Creator are merged. Such is the report of the Illumined!

The above illustration of the "meditation," and subsequent "awakening from meditation," of THE ALL, is of course but an attempt of the teachers to describe the Infinite process by a finite example. And, yet: "As Below, so Above." The difference is merely in degree. And just as THE ALL arouses itself from the meditation upon the Universe, so does Man (in time) cease from manifesting upon the Material Plane, and withdraws himself more and more into the Indwelling Spirit, which is indeed "The Divine Ego."

There is one more matter of which we desire to speak in this lesson, and that comes very near to an invasion of the Metaphysical field of speculation, although our purpose is merely to show the futility of such speculation. We allude to the question which inevitably comes to the mind of all thinkers who have ventured to seek the Truth. The question is: "WHY does THE ALL create Universes" The question may be asked in different forms, but the above is the gist of the inquiry.

Men have striven hard to answer this question, but still there is no answer worthy of the name. Some have imagined that THE ALL had something to gain by it, but this is absurd, for what could THE ALL gain that it did not already possess? Others have sought the answer in the idea that THE ALL "wished something to love" and others that it created for pleasure, or amusement; or because it "was lonely" or to manifest its power; - all puerile explanations and ideas, belonging to the childish period of thought.

Others have sought to explain the mystery by assuming that THE ALL found itself "compelled" to create, by reason of its own "internal nature" - its "creative instinct." This idea is in advance of the others, but its weak point lies in the idea of THE ALL being "compelled" by anything, internal or external. If its "internal nature," or "creative instinct," compelled it to do anything, then the "internal nature" or "creative instinct" would be the Absolute, instead of THE ALL, and so accordingly that part of the proposition falls. And, yet, THE ALL does create and manifest, and seems to find some kind of satisfaction in so doing. And it is difficult to escape the conclusion that in some infinite degree it must have what would correspond to an "inner nature," or "creative instinct," in man, with correspondingly infinite Desire and Will. It could not act unless it Willed to Act; and it would not Will to Act, unless it Desired to Act and it would not Desire to Act unless it obtained some Satisfaction thereby. And all of these things would belong to an "Inner Nature," and might be postulated as existing according to the Law of Correspondence. But, still, we prefer to think of THE ALL as acting entirely FREE from any influence, internal as well as external. That is the problem which lies at the root of difficulty - and the difficulty that lies at the root of the problem.

Strictly speaking, there cannot be said to be any "Reason" whatsoever for THE ALL to act, for a "reason" implies a "cause," and THE ALL is above Cause and Effect, except when it Wills to become a Cause, at which time the Principle is set into motion. So, you see, the matter is Unthinkable, just as THE ALL is Unknowable. Just as we say THE ALL merely "IS" - so we are compelled to say that "THE ALL ACTS BECAUSE IT ACTS." At the last, THE ALL is All Reason in Itself; All Law in Itself; All Action in Itself - and it may be said, truthfully, that THE ALL is Its Own Reason; its own Law; its own Act - or still further, that THE ALL; Its Reason; Its Act; is Law; are ONE, all being names for the same thing. In the opinion of those who are giving you these present lessons, the answer is locked up in the INNER SELF of THE ALL, along with its Secret of Being. The Law of Correspondence, in our opinion, reaches only to that aspect of THE ALL, which may be spoken of as "The Aspect of BECOMING." Back of that Aspect is "The Aspect of BEING" in which all Laws are lost in LAW; all Principles merge into PRINCIPLE - and THE ALL; PRINCIPLE; and BEING; are IDENTICAL, ONE AND THE SAME. Therefore, Metaphysical speculation on this point is futile. We go into the matter here, merely to show that we recognize the question, and also the absurdity of the ordinary answers of metaphysics and theology.

In conclusion, it may be of interest to our students to learn that while some of the ancient, and modern, Hermetic Teachers have rather inclined in the direction of applying the Principle of Correspondence to the question, with the result of the "Inner Nature" conclusion, - still the legends have it that HERMES, the Great, when asked this question by his advanced students, answered them by PRESSING HIS LIPS TIGHTLY TOGETHER and saying not a word, indicating that there WAS NO ANSWER. But, then, he may have intended to apply the axiom of his philosophy, that: "The lips of Wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding," believing that even his advanced students did not possess the Understanding which entitled them to the Teaching. At any rate, if Hermes possessed the Secret, he failed to impart it, and so far as the world is concerned THE LIPS OF HERMES ARE CLOSED regarding it. And where the Great Hermes hesitated to speak, what mortal may dare to teach?

But, remember, that whatever be the answer to this problem, if indeed there be an answer the truth remains that: "While All is in THE ALL, it is equally true that THE ALL is in All." The Teaching on this point is emphatic. And, we may add the concluding words of the quotation: "To him who truly understands this truth, hath come great knowledge."

## Chapter 8. Planes Of Correspondence

*"As above, so below; as below, so above." - The Kybalion.*

The great Second Hermetic Principle embodies the truth that there is a harmony, agreement, and correspondence between the several planes of Manifestation, Life and Being. This truth is a truth because all that is included in the Universe emanates from the same source, and the same laws, principles, and characteristics apply to each unit, or combination of units, of activity, as each manifests its own phenomena upon its own plane.

For the purpose of convenience of thought and study, the Hermetic Philosophy considers that the Universe may be divided into three great classes of phenomena, known as the Three Great Planes, namely:

1. The Great Physical Plane.  
2. The Great Mental Plane.  
3. The Great Spiritual Plane.

These divisions are more or less artificial and arbitrary, for the truth is that all of the three divisions are but ascending degrees of the great scale of Life, the lowest point of which is undifferentiated Matter, and the highest point that of Spirit. And, moreover, the different Planes shade into each other, so that no hard and fast division may be made between the higher phenomena of the Physical and the lower of the Mental; or between the higher of the Mental and the lower of the Physical.

In short, the Three Great Planes may be regarded as three great groups of degrees of Life Manifestation. While the purposes of this little book do not allow us to enter into an extended discussion of, or explanation of, the subject of these different planes, still we think it well to give a general description of the same at this point.

At the beginning we may as well consider the question so often asked by the neophyte, who desires to be informed regarding the meaning of the word "Plane", which term has been very freely used, and very poorly explained, in many recent works upon the subject of occultism. The question is generally about as follows: "Is a Plane a place having dimensions, or is it merely a condition or state?" We answer: "No, not a place, nor ordinary dimension of space; and yet more than a state or condition. It may be considered as a state or condition, and yet the state or condition is a degree of dimension, in a scale subject to measurement." Somewhat paradoxical, is it not? But let us examine the matter. A "dimension," you know, is "a measure in a straight line, relating to measure," *etc.* The ordinary dimensions of space are length, breadth, and height, or perhaps length, breadth, height, thickness or circumference. But there is another dimension of "created things" or "measure in a straight line," known to occultists, and to scientists as well, although the latter have not as yet applied the term "dimension" to it - and this new dimension, which, by the way, is the much speculated -about "Fourth Dimension," is the standard used in determining the degrees or "planes."

This Fourth Dimension may be called "The Dimension of Vibration" It is a fact well known to modern science, as well as to the Hermetists who have embodied the truth in their "Third Hermetic Principle," that "everything is in motion; everything vibrates; nothing is at rest." From the highest manifestation, to the lowest, everything and all things Vibrate. Not only do they vibrate at different rates of motion, but as in different directions and in a different manner. The degrees of the rate of vibrations constitute the degrees of measurement on the Scale of Vibrations - in other words the degrees of the Fourth Dimension. And these degrees form what occultists call "Planes" The higher the degree of rate of vibration, the higher the plane, and the higher the manifestation of Life occupying that plane. So that while a plane is not "a place," nor yet "a state or condition," yet it possesses qualities common to both. We shall have more to say regarding the subject of the scale of Vibrations in our next lessons, in which we shall consider the Hermetic Principle of Vibration.

You will kindly remember, however, that the Three Great Planes are not actual divisions of the phenomena of the Universe, but merely arbitrary terms used by the Hermetists in order to aid in the thought and study of the various degrees and Forms of universal activity and life. The atom of matter, the unit of force, the mind of man, and the being of the arch -angel are all but degrees in one scale, and all fundamentally the same, the difference between solely a matter of degree, and rate of vibration - all are creations of THE ALL, and have their existence solely within the Infinite Mind of THE ALL.

The Hermetists sub-divide each of the Three Great Planes into Seven Minor Planes, and each of these latter are also sub-divided into seven subplanes, all divisions being more or less arbitrary, shading into each other, and adopted merely for convenience of scientific study and thought.

The Great Physical Plane, and its Seven Minor Planes, is that division of the phenomena of the Universe which includes all that relates to physics, or material things, forces, and manifestations. It includes all forms of that which we call Matter, and all forms of that which we call Energy or Force. But you must remember that the Hermetic Philosophy does not recognize Matter as a thing in itself, or as having a separate existence even in the Mind of THE ALL. The Teachings are that Matter is but a form of Energy - .that is, Energy at a low rate of vibrations of a certain kind. And accordingly the Hermetists classify Matter under the head of Energy, and give to it three of the Seven Minor Planes of the Great Physical Plane.

These Seven Minor Physical Planes are as follows:

1. The Plane of Matter (A)  
2. The Plane of Matter (B)  
3. The Plane of Matter (C)  
4. The Plane of Ethereal Substance  
5. The Plane of Energy (A)  
6. The Plane of Energy (B)  
7. The Plane of Energy (C)

The Plane of Matter (A) comprises the forms of Matter in its form of solids, liquids, and gases, as generally recognized by the text-books on physics. The Plane of Matter (B) comprises certain higher and more subtle forms of Matter of the existence of which modern science is but now recognizing, the phenomena of Radiant Matter, in its phases of radium, etc., belonging to the lower subdivision of this Minor Plane. The Plane of Matter (C) comprises forms of the most subtle and tenuous Matter, the existence of which is not suspected by ordinary scientists. The Plane of Ethereal Substance comprises that which science speaks of as "The Ether", a substance of extreme tenuity and elasticity, pervading all Universal Space, and acting as a medium for the transmission of waves of energy, such as light, heat, electricity, *etc.* This Ethereal Substance forms a connecting link between Matter (so-called) and Energy, and partakes of the nature of each. The Hermetic Teachings, however, instruct that this plane has seven subdivisions (as have all of the Minor Planes), and that in fact there are seven ethers, instead of but one.

Next above the Plane of Ethereal Substance comes the Plane of Energy (A), which comprises the ordinary forms of Energy known to science, its seven subplanes being, respectively, Heat; Light; Magnetism; Electricity, and Attraction (including Gravitation, Cohesion, Chemical Affinity, etc.) and several other forms of energy indicated by scientific experiments but not as yet named or classified. The Plane of Energy (B) comprises seven subplanes of higher forms of energy not as yet discovered by science, but which have been called "Nature's Finer Forces" and which are called into operation in manifestations of certain forms of mental phenomena, and by which such phenomena becomes possible. The Plane of Energy (C) comprises seven subplanes of energy so highly organized that it bears many of the characteristics of "life," but which is not recognized by the minds of men on the ordinary plane of development, being available for the use on beings of the Spiritual Plane alone - such energy is unthinkable to ordinary man, and may be considered almost as "the divine power." The beings employing the same are as "gods" compared even to the highest human types known to us.

The Great Mental Plane comprises those forms of "living things" known to us in ordinary life, as well as certain other forms not so well known except to the occultist. The classification of the Seven Minor Mental Planes is more or less satisfactory and arbitrary (unless accompanied by elaborate explanations which are foreign to the purpose of this particular work), but we may as well mention them. They are as follows:

1. The Plane of Mineral Mind  
2. The Plane of Elemental Mind (A)  
3. The Plane of Plant Mind  
4. The Plane of Elemental Mind (B)  
5. The Plane of Animal Mind  
6. The Plane of Elemental Mind (C)  
7. The Plane of Human Mind

The Plane of Mineral Mind comprises the "states or conditions" of the units or entities, or groups and combinations of the same, which animate the forms known to us as "minerals, chemicals, etc." These entities must not be confounded with the molecules, atoms and corpuscles themselves, the latter being merely the material bodies or forms of these entities, just as a man's body is but his material form and not "himself." These entities may be called "souls" in one sense, and are living beings of a low degree of development, life, and mind - just a little more than the units of "living energy" which comprise the higher subdivisions of the highest Physical Plane. The average mind does not generally attribute the possession of mind, soul, or life, to the mineral kingdom, but all occultists recognize the existence of the same, and modern science is rapidly moving forward to the point-of-view of the Hermetic, in this respect. The molecules, atoms and corpuscles have their "loves and hates"; "likes and dislikes"; "attractions and repulsions". "affinities and non-affinities," etc., and some of the more daring of modern scientific minds have expressed the opinion that the desire and will, emotions and feelings, of the atoms differ only in degree from those of men. We have no time or space to argue this matter here. All occultists know it to be a fact, and others are referred to some of the more recent scientific works for outside corroboration. There are the usual seven subdivisions to this plane.

The Plane of Elemental Mind (A) comprises the state or condition, and degree of mental and vital development of a class of entities unknown to the average man, but recognized to occultists. They are invisible to the ordinary senses of man, but, nevertheless, exist and play their part of the Drama of the Universe. Their degree of intelligence is between that of the mineral and chemical entities on the one hand, and of the entities of the plant kingdom on the other. There are seven subdivisions to this plane, also.

The Plane of Plant Mind, in its seven subdivisions, comprises the states or conditions of the entities comprising the kingdoms of the Plant World, the vital and mental phenomena of which is fairly well understood by the average intelligent person, many new and interesting scientific works regarding "Mind and Life in Plants" having been published during the last decade. Plants have life, mind and "souls," as well as have the animals, man, and super-man.

The Plane of Elemental Mind (B), in its seven subdivisions, comprises the states and conditions of a higher form of "elemental" or unseen entities, playing their part in the general work of the Universe, the mind and life of which form a part of the scale between the Plane of Plant Mind and the Plane of Animal Mind, the entities partaking of the nature of both.

The Plane of Animal Mind, in its seven subdivisions, comprises the states and conditions of the entities, beings, or souls, animating the animal forms of life, familiar to us all. It is not necessary to go into details regarding this kingdom or plane of life, for the animal world is as familiar to us as is our own.

The Plane of Elemental Mind (C), in its seven subdivisions, comprises those entities or beings, invisible as are all such elemental forms, which partake of the nature of both animal and human life in a degree and in certain combinations. The highest forms are semi-human in intelligence.

The Plane of Human Mind, in its seven subdivisions, comprises those manifestations of life and mentality which are common to Man, in his various grades, degrees, and divisions. In this connection, we wish to point out the fact that the average man of today occupies but the fourth subdivision of the Plane of Human Mind, and only the most intelligent have crossed the borders of the Fifth SubDivision. It has taken the race millions of years to reach this stage, and it will take many more years for the race to move on to the sixth and seventh subdivisions, and beyond. But, remember, that there have been races before us which have passed through these degrees, and then on to higher planes. Our own race is the fifth (with stragglers from the fourth) which has set foot upon The Path. And, then there are a few advanced souls of our own race who have outstripped the masses, and who have passed on to the sixth and seventh subdivision, and some few being still further on. The man of the Sixth SubDivision will be "The Super-Man"; he of the Seventh will be "The Over-Man."

In our consideration of the Seven Minor Mental Planes, we have merely referred to the Three Elementary Planes in a general way. We do not wish to go into this subject in detail in this work, for it does not belong to this part of the general philosophy and teachings. But we may say this much, in order to give you a little clearer idea, of the relations of these planes to the more familiar ones - the Elementary Planes bear the same relation to the Planes of Mineral, Plant, Animal and Human Mentality and Life, that the black keys on the piano do to the white keys. The white keys are sufficient to produce music, but there are certain scales, melodies, and harmonies, in which the black keys play their part, and in which their presence is necessary. They are also necessary as "connecting links" of soul-condition; entity states, etc., between the several other planes, certain forms of development being attained therein - this last fact giving to the reader who can "read between the lines" a new light upon the processes of Evolution, and a new key to the secret door of the "leaps of life" between kingdom and kingdom. The great kingdoms of Elementals are fully recognized by all occultists, and the esoteric writings are full of mention of them. The readers of Bulwer's "Sanoni" and similar tales will recognize the entities inhabiting these planes of life.

Passing on from the Great Mental Plane to the Great Spiritual Plane, what shall we say? How can we explain these higher states of Being, Life and Mind, to minds as yet unable to grasp and understand the higher subdivisions of the Plane of Human Mind? The task is impossible. We can speak only in the most general terms. How may Light be described to a man born blind - how sugar, to a man who has never tasted anything sweet - how harmony, to one born deaf?

All that we can say is that the Seven Minor Planes of the Great Spiritual Plane (each Minor Plane having its seven subdivisions) comprise Beings possessing Life, Mind and Form as far above that of Man of to-day as the latter is above the earth-worm, mineral or even certain forms of Energy or Matter. The Life of these Beings so far transcends ours, that we cannot even think of the details of the same; their minds so far transcend ours, that to them we scarcely seem to "think," and our mental processes seem almost akin to material processes; the Matter of which their forms are composed is of the highest Planes of Matter, nay, some are even said to be "clothed in Pure Energy." What may be said of such Beings?

On the Seven Minor Planes of the Great Spiritual Plane exist Beings of whom we may speak as Angels; Archangels; Demi-Gods. On the lower Minor Planes dwell those great souls whom we call Masters and Adepts. Above them come the Great Hierarchies of the Angelic Hosts, unthinkable to man; and above those come those who may without irreverence be called "The Gods," so high in the scale of Being are they, their being, intelligence and power being akin to those attributed by the races of men to their conceptions of Deity. These Beings are beyond even the highest flights of the human imagination, the word "Divine" being the only one applicable to them. Many of these Beings, as well as the Angelic Host, take the greatest interest in the affairs of the Universe and play an important part in its affairs. These Unseen Divinities and Angelic Helpers extend their influence freely and powerfully, in the process of Evolution, and Cosmic Progress. Their occasional intervention and assistance in human affairs have led to the many legends, beliefs, religions and traditions of the race, past and present. They have superimposed their knowledge and power upon the world, again and again, all under the Law of THE ALL, of course.

But, yet, even the highest of these advanced Beings exist merely as creations of, and in, the Mind of THE ALL, and are subject to the Cosmic Processes and Universal Laws. They are still Mortal. We may call them "gods" if we like, but still they are but the Elder Brethren of the Race, - the advanced souls who have outstripped their brethren, and who have foregone the ecstasy of Absorption by THE ALL, in order to help the race on its upward journey along The Path. But, they belong to the Universe, and are subject to its conditions - they are mortal - and their plane is below that of Absolute Spirit.

Only the most advanced Hermetists are able to grasp the Inner Teachings regarding the state of existence, and the powers manifested on the Spiritual Planes. The phenomena is so much higher than that of the Mental Planes that a confusion of ideas would surely result from an attempt to describe the same. Only those whose minds have been carefully trained along the lines of the Hermetic Philosophy for years - yes, those who have brought with them from other incarnations the knowledge acquired previously - can comprehend just what is meant by the Teaching regarding these Spiritual Planes. And much of these Inner Teachings is held by the Hermetists as being too sacred, important and even dangerous for general public dissemination. The intelligent student may recognize what we mean by this when we state that the meaning of "Spirit" as used by the Hermetists is akin to "Living Power"; "Animated Force;" "Inner Essence;" "Essence of Life," etc., which meaning must not be confounded with that usually and commonly employed in connection with the term, i.e., "religious; ecclesiastical; spiritual; ethereal; holy," etc., *etc.* To occultists the word "Spirit" is used in the sense of "The Animating Principle," carrying with it the idea of Power, Living Energy, Mystic Force, *etc.* And occultists know that that which is known to them as "Spiritual Power" may be employed for evil as well as good ends (in accordance with the Principle of Polarity), a fact which has been recognized by the majority of religions in their conceptions of Satan, Beelzebub, the Devil, Lucifer, Fallen Angels, *etc.* And so the knowledge regarding these Planes has been kept in the Holy of Holies in all Esoteric Fraternities and Occult Orders, - in the Secret Chamber of the Temple. But this may be said here, that those who have attained high spiritual powers and have misused them, have a terrible fate in store for them, and the swing of the pendulum of Rhythm will inevitably swing them back to the furthest extreme of Material existence, from which point they must retrace their steps Spiritward, along the weary rounds of The Path, but always with the added torture of having always with them a lingering memory of the heights from which they fell owing to their evil actions. The legends of the Fallen Angels have a basis in actual facts, as all advanced occultists know. The striving for selfish power on the Spiritual Planes inevitably results in the selfish soul losing its spiritual balance and falling back as far as it had previously risen. But to even such a soul, the opportunity of a return is given - and such souls make the return journey, paying the terrible penalty according to the invariable Law.

In conclusion we would again remind you that according to the Principle of Correspondence, which embodies the truth: "As Above so Below; as Below, so Above," all of the Seven Hermetic Principles are in full operation on all of the many planes, Physical Mental and Spiritual. The Principle of Mental Substance of course applies to all the planes, for all are held in the Mind of THE ALL. The Principle of Correspondence manifests in all, for there is a correspondence, harmony and agreement between the several planes. The Principle of Vibration manifests on all planes, in fact the very differences that go to make the "planes" arise from Vibration, as we have explained. The Principle of Polarity manifests on each plane, the extremes of the Poles being apparently opposite and contradictory. The Principle of Rhythm manifests on each Plane, the movement of the phenomena having its ebb and flow, rise and flow, incoming and outgoing. The Principle of Cause and Effect manifests on each Plane, every Effect having its Cause and every Cause having its effect. The Principle of Gender manifests on each Plane, the Creative Energy being always manifest, and operating along the lines of its Masculine and Feminine Aspects.

"As Above so Below; as Below, so Above." This centuries old Hermetic axiom embodies one of the great Principles of Universal Phenomena. As we proceed with our consideration of the remaining Principles, we will see even more clearly the truth of the universal nature of this great Principle of Correspondence.

## Chapter 9. Vibration

*"Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates." - The Kybalion.*

The great Third Hermetic Principle - the Principle of Vibration - embodies the truth that Motion is manifest in everything in the Universe - that nothing is at rest - that everything moves, vibrates, and circles. This Hermetic Principle was recognized by some of the early Greek philosophers who embodied it in their systems. But, then, for centuries it was lost sight of by the thinkers outside of the Hermetic ranks. But in the Nineteenth Century physical science re-discovered the truth and the Twentieth Century scientific discoveries have added additional proof of the correctness and truth of this centuries-old Hermetic doctrine.

The Hermetic Teachings are that not only is everything in constant movement and vibration, but that the "differences" between the various manifestations of the universal power are due entirely to the varying rate and mode of vibrations. Not only this, but that even THE ALL, in itself, manifests a constant vibration of such an infinite degree of intensity and rapid motion that it may be practically considered as at rest, the teachers directing the attention of the students to the fact that even on the physical plane a rapidly moving object (such as a revolving wheel) seems to be at rest. The Teachings are to the effect that Spirit is at one end of the Pole of Vibration, the other Pole being certain extremely gross forms of Matter. Between these two poles are millions upon millions of different rates and modes of vibration.

Modern Science has proven that all that we call Matter and Energy are but "modes of vibratory motion," and some of the more advanced scientists are rapidly moving toward the positions of the occultists who hold that the phenomena of Mind are likewise modes of vibration or motion. Let us see what science has to say regarding the question of vibrations in matter and energy.

In the first place, science teaches that all matter manifests, in some degree, the vibrations arising from temperature or heat. Be an object cold or hot - both being but degrees of the same things - it manifests certain heat vibrations, and in that sense is in motion and vibration. Then all particles of Matter are in circular movement, from corpuscle to suns. The planets revolve around suns, and many of them turn on their axes. The suns move around greater central points, and these are believed to move around still greater, and so on, ad infinitum. The molecules of which the particular kinds of Matter are composed are in a state of constant vibration and movement around each other and against each other. The molecules are composed of Atoms, which, likewise, are in a state of constant movement and vibration. The atoms are composed of Corpuscles, sometimes called "electrons," "ions," etc., which also are in a state of rapid motion, revolving around each other, and which manifest a very rapid state and mode of vibration. And, so we see that all forms of Matter manifest Vibration, in accordance with the Hermetic Principle of Vibration.

And so it is with the various forms of Energy. Science teaches that Light, Heat, Magnetism and Electricity are but forms of vibratory motion connected in some way with, and probably emanating from the Ether. Science does not as yet attempt to explain the nature of the phenomena known as Cohesion, which is the principle of Molecular Attraction; nor Chemical Affinity, which is the principle of Atomic Attraction; nor Gravitation (the greatest mystery of the three), which is the principle of attraction by which every particle or mass of Matter is bound to every other particle or mass. These three forms of Energy are not as yet understood by science, yet the writers incline to the opinion that these too are manifestations of some form of vibratory energy, a fact which the Hermetists have held and taught for ages past.

The Universal Ether, which is postulated by science without its nature being understood clearly, is held by the Hermetists to be but a higher manifestation of that which is erroneously called matter - that is to say, Matter at a higher degree of vibration - and is called by them "The Ethereal Substance." The Hermetists teach that this Ethereal Substance is of extreme tenuity and elasticity, and pervades universal space, serving as a medium of transmission of waves of vibratory energy, such as heat, light, electricity, magnetism, *etc.* The Teachings are that The Ethereal Substance is a connecting link between the forms of vibratory energy known as "Matter" on the one hand, and "Energy or Force" on the other; and also that it manifests a degree of vibration, in rate and mode, entirely its own.

Scientists have offered the illustration of a rapidly moving wheel, top, or cylinder, to show the effects of increasing rates of vibration. The illustration supposes a wheel, top, or revolving cylinder, running at a low rate of speed - we will call this revolving thing "the object" in following out the illustration. Let us suppose the object moving slowly. It may be seen readily, but no sound of its movement reaches the ear. The speed is gradually increased. In a few moments its movement becomes so rapid that a deep growl or low note may be heard. Then as the rate is increased the note rises one in the musical scale. Then, the motion being still further increased, the next highest note is distinguished. Then, one after another, all the notes of the musical scale appear, rising higher and higher as the motion is increased. Finally when the motions have reached a certain rate the final note perceptible to human ears is reached and the shrill, piercing shriek dies away, and silence follows. No sound is heard from the revolving object, the rate of motion being so high that the human ear cannot register the vibrations. Then comes the perception of rising degrees of Heat. Then after quite a time the eye catches a glimpse of the object becoming a dull dark reddish color. As the rate increases, the red becomes brighter. Then as the speed is increased, the red melts into an orange. Then the orange melts into a yellow. Then follow, successively, the shades of green, blue, indigo, and finally violet, as the rate of sped increases. Then the violet shades away, and all color disappears, the human eye not being able to register them. But there are invisible rays emanating from the revolving object, the rays that are used in photographing, and other subtle rays of light. Then begin to manifest the peculiar rays known as the "X Rays," etc., as the constitution of the object changes. Electricity and Magnetism are emitted when the appropriate rate of vibration is attained.

When the object reaches a certain rate of vibration its molecules disintegrate, and resolve themselves into the original elements or atoms. Then the atoms, following the Principle of Vibration, are separated into the countless corpuscles of which they are composed. And finally, even the corpuscles disappear and the object may be said to Be composed of The Ethereal Substance. Science does not dare to follow the illustration further, but the Hermetists teach that if the vibrations be continually increased the object would mount up the successive states of manifestation and would in turn manifest the various mental stages, and then on Spiritward, until it would finally re-enter THE ALL, which is Absolute Spirit. The "object," however, would have ceased to be an "object" long before the stage of Ethereal Substance was reached, but otherwise the illustration is correct inasmuch as it shows the effect of constantly increased rates and modes of vibration. It must be remembered, in the above illustration, that at the stages at which the "object" throws off vibrations of light, heat, etc., it is not actually "resolved" into those forms of energy (which are much higher in the scale), but simply that it reaches a degree of vibration in which those forms of energy are liberated, in a degree, from the confining influences of its molecules, atoms and corpuscles, as the case may be. These forms of energy, although much higher in the scale than matter, are imprisoned and confined in the material combinations, by reason of the energies manifesting through, and using material forms, but thus becoming entangled and confined in their creations of material forms, which, to an extent, is true of all creations, the creating force becoming involved in its creation.

But the Hermetic Teachings go much further than do those of modern science. They teach that all manifestation of thought, emotion, reason, will or desire, or any mental state or condition, are accompanied by vibrations, a portion of which are thrown off and which tend to affect the minds of other persons by "induction." This is the principle which produces the phenomena of "telepathy"; mental influence, and other forms of the action and power of mind over mind, with which the general public is rapidly becoming acquainted, owing to the wide dissemination of occult knowledge by the various schools, cults and teachers along these lines at this time.

Every thought, emotion or mental state has its corresponding rate and mode of vibration. And by an effort of the will of the person, or of other persons, these mental states may be reproduced, just as a musical tone may be reproduced by causing an instrument to vibrate at a certain rate - just as color may be reproduced in the same may. By a knowledge of the Principle of Vibration, as applied to Mental Phenomena, one may polarize his mind at any degree he wishes, thus gaining a perfect control over his mental states, moods, *etc.* In the same way he may affect the minds of others, producing the desired mental states in them. In short, he may be able to produce on the Mental Plane that which science produces on the Physical Plane - namely, "Vibrations at Will." This power of course may be acquired only by the proper instruction, exercises, practice, etc., the science being that of Mental Transmutation, one of the branches of the Hermetic Art.

A little reflection on what we have said will show the student that the Principle of Vibration underlies the wonderful phenomena of the power manifested by the Masters and Adepts, who are able to apparently set aside the Laws of Nature, but who, in reality, are simply using one law against another; one principle against others; and who accomplish their results by changing the vibrations of material objects, or forms of energy, and thus perform what are commonly called "miracles."

As one of the old Hermetic writers has truly said: "He who understands the Principle of Vibration, has grasped the scepter of Power."

## Chapter 10. Polarity

*"Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled." - The Kybalion.*

The great Fourth Hermetic Principle - the Principle of Polarity embodies the truth that all manifested things have "two sides"; "two aspects"; "two poles"; a "pair of opposites," with manifold degrees between the two extremes. The old paradoxes, which have ever perplexed the mind of men, are explained by an understanding of this Principle. Man has always recognized something akin to this Principle, and has endeavored to express it by such sayings, maxims and aphorisms as the following: "Everything is and isn't, at the same time"; "all truths are but half-truths"; "every truth is half-false"; "there are two sides to everything" - "there is a reverse side to every shield," etc., *etc.*

The Hermetic Teachings are to the effect that the difference between things seemingly diametrically opposed to each other is merely a matter of degree. It teaches that "the pairs of opposites may be reconciled," and that "thesis and anti-thesis are identical in nature, but different in degree"; and that the "universal reconciliation of opposites" is effected by a recognition of this Principle of Polarity. The teachers claim that illustrations of this Principle may be had on every hand, and from an examination into the real nature of anything. They begin by showing that Spirit and Matter are but the two poles of the same thing, the intermediate planes being merely degrees of vibration. They show that THE ALL and The Many are the same, the difference being merely a matter of degree of Mental Manifestation. Thus the LAW and Laws are the two opposite poles of one thing. Likewise, PRINCIPLE and Principles. Infinite Mind and finite minds.

Then passing on to the Physical Plane, they illustrate the Principle by showing that Heat and Cold are identical in nature, the differences being merely a matter of degrees. The thermometer shows many degrees of temperature, the lowest pole being called "cold," and the highest "heat." Between these two poles are many degrees of "heat" or "cold," call them either and you are equally correct. The higher of two degrees is always "warmer," while the lower is always "colder." There is no absolute standard-all is a matter of degree. There is no place on the thermometer where heat ceases and cold begins. It is all a matter of higher or lower vibrations. The very terms "high" and "low," which we are compelled to use, are but poles of the same thing-the terms are relative. So with "East and West" - travel around the world in an eastward direction, and you reach a point which is called west at your starting point, and you return from that westward point. Travel far enough North, and you will find yourself traveling South, or vice versa.

Light and Darkness are poles of the same thing, with many degrees between them. The musical scale is the same - starting with "C" you move upward until you reach another "C" and so on, the differences between the two ends of the board being the same, with many degrees between the two extremes. The scale of color is the same-higher and lower vibrations being the only difference between high violet and low red. Large and Small are relative. So are Noise and Quiet; Hard and Soft follow the rule. Likewise Sharp and Dull. Positive and Negative are two poles of the same thing, with countless degrees between them.

Good and Bad are not absolute - we call one end of the scale Good and the other Bad, or one end Good and the other Evil, according to the use of the terms. A thing is "less good" than the thing higher in the scale; but that "less good" thing, in turn, is "more good" than the thing next below it - and so on, the "more or less" being regulated by the position on the scale.

And so it is on the Mental Plane. "Love and. Hate" are generally regarded as being things diametrically opposed to each other; entirely different; unreconcilable. But we apply the Principle of Polarity; we find that there is no such thing as Absolute Love or Absolute Hate, as distinguished from each other. The two are merely terms applied to the two poles of the same thing. Beginning at any point of the scale we find "more love," or "less hate," as we ascend the scale; and "more hate" or "less love" as we descend this being true no matter from what point, high or low, we may start. There are degrees of Love and Hate, and there is a middle point where "Like and Dislike" become so faint that it is difficult to distinguish between them. Courage and Fear come under the same rule. The Pairs of Opposites exist everywhere. Where you find one thing you find its opposite-the two poles.

And it is this fact that enables the Hermetist to transmute one mental state into another, along the lines of Polarization. Things belonging to different classes cannot be transmuted into each other, but things of the same class may be changed, that is, may have their polarity changed. Thus Love never becomes East or West, or Red or Violet-but it may and often does turn into Hate and likewise Hate may be transformed into Love, by changing its polarity. Courage may be transmuted into Fear, and the reverse. Hard things may be rendered Soft. Dull things become Sharp. Hot things become Cold. And so on, the transmutation always being between things of the same kind of different degrees. Take the case of a Fearful man. By raising his mental vibrations along the line of Fear-Courage, he can be filled with the highest degree of Courage and Fearlessness. And, likewise, the Slothful man may change himself into an Active, Energetic individual simply by polarizing along the lines of the desired quality.

The student who is familiar with the processes by which the various schools of Mental Science, etc., produce changes in the mental states of those following their teachings, may not readily understand the principle underlying many of these changes. When, however, the Principle of Polarity is once grasped, and it is seen that the mental changes are occasioned by a change of polarity-a sliding along the same scale-the hatter is readily understood. The change is not in the nature of a transmutation of one thing into another thing entirely different-but is merely a change of degree in the same things, a vastly important difference. For instance, borrowing an analogy from the Physical Plane, it is impossible to change Heat into Sharpness, Loudness, Highness, etc., but Heat may readily be transmuted into Cold, simply by lowering the vibrations. In the same way Hate and Love are mutually transmutable; so are Fear and Courage. But Fear cannot be transformed into Love, nor can Courage be transmuted into Hate. The mental states belong to innumerable classes, each class of which has its opposite poles, along which transmutation is possible.

The student will readily recognize that in the mental states, as well as in the phenomena of the Physical Plane, the two poles may be classified as Positive and Negative, respectively. Thus Love is Positive to Hate; Courage to Fear; Activity to Non-Activity, etc., *etc.* And it will also be noticed that even to those unfamiliar with the Principle of Vibration, the Positive pole seems to be of a higher degree than the Negative, and readily dominates it. The tendency of Nature is in the direction of the dominant activity of the Positive pole.

In addition to the changing of the poles of one's own mental states by the operation of the art of Polarization, the phenomena of Mental Influence, in its manifold phases, shows us that the principle may be extended so as to embrace the phenomena of the influence of one mind over that of another, of which so much has been written and taught of late years. When it is understood that Mental Induction is possible, that is that mental states may be produced by "induction" from others, then we can readily see how a certain rate of vibration, or polarization of a certain mental state, may be communicated to another person, and his polarity in that class of mental states thus changed. It is along this principle that the results of many of the "mental treatments" are obtained. For instance, a person is "blue," melancholy and full of fear. A mental scientist bringing his own mind up to the desired vibration by his trained will, and thus obtaining the desired polarization in his own case, then produces a similar mental state in the other by induction, the result being that the vibrations are raised and the person polarizes toward the Positive end of the scale instead toward the Negative, and his Fear and other negative emotions are transmuted to Courage and similar positive mental states. A little study will show you that these mental changes are nearly all along the line of Polarization, the change being one of degree rather than of kind.

A knowledge of the existence of this great Hermetic Principle will enable the student to better understand his own mental states, and those of other people. He will see that these states are all matters of degree, and seeing thus, he will be able to raise or lower the vibration at will - to change his mental poles, and thus be Master of his mental states, instead of being their servant and slave. And by his knowledge he will be able to aid his fellows intelligently and by the appropriate methods change the polarity when the same is desirable. We advise all students to familiarize themselves with this Principle of Polarity, for a correct understanding of the same will throw light on many difficult subjects.

## Chapter 11. Rhythm

*"Everything flows out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right, is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates" - The Kybalion.*

The great Fifth Hermetic Principle - the Principle of Rhythm-embodies the truth that in everything there is manifested a measured motion; a to-and-from movement; a flow and inflow; a swing forward and backward; a pendulum-like movement; a tide-like ebb and flow; a high-tide and a low-tide; between the two-poles manifest on the physical, mental or spiritual planes. The Principle of rhythm is closely connected with the Principle of Polarity described in the preceding chapter. Rhythm manifests between the two poles established by the Principle of Polarity. This does not mean, however, that the pendulum of Rhythm swings to the extreme poles, for this rarely happens; in fact, it is difficult to establish the extreme polar opposites in the majority of cases. But the swing is ever "toward" first one pole and then the other.

There is always an action and reaction; an advance and a retreat; a rising and a sinking; manifested in all of the airs and phenomena of the Universe. Suns, worlds, men, animals, plants, minerals, forces, energy, mind and matter, yes, even Spirit, manifests this Principle. The Principle manifests in the creation and destruction of worlds; in the rise and fall of nations; in the life history of all things; and finally in the mental states of Man.

Beginning with the manifestations of Spirit - of THE ALL - it will be noticed that there is ever the Outpouring and the Indrawing; the "Outbreathing and Inbreathing of Brahm," as the Brahmans word it. Universes are created; reach their extreme low point of materiality; and then begin in their upward swing. Suns spring into being, and then their height of power being reached, the process of retrogression begins, and after aeons they become dead masses of matter, awaiting another impulse which starts again their inner energies into activity and a new solar life cycle is begun. And thus it is with all the worlds; they are born, grow and die; only to be reborn. And thus it is with all the things of shape and form; they swing from action to reaction; from birth to death; from activity to inactivity - and then back again. Thus it is with all living things; they are born, grow, and die - and then are reborn. So it is with all great movements, philosophies, creeds, fashions, governments, nations, and all else-birth, growth, maturity, decadence, death-and then new-birth. The swing of the pendulum is ever in evidence.

Night follows day; and day night. The pendulum swings from Summer to Winter, and then back again. The corpuscles, atoms, molecules, and all masses of matter, swing around the circle of their nature. There is no such thing as absolute rest, or cessation from movement, and all movement partakes of rhythm. The principle is of universal application. It may be applied to any question, or phenomena of any of the many planes of life. It may be applied to all phases of human activity. There is always the Rhythmic swing from one pole to the other. The Universal Pendulum is ever in motion. The Tides of Life flow in and out, according to Law.

The Principle of rhythm is well understood by modern science, and is considered a universal law as applied to material things. But the Hermetists carry the principle much further, and know that its manifestations and influence extend to the mental activities of Man, and that it accounts for the bewildering succession of moods, feelings and other annoying and perplexing changes that we notice in ourselves. But the Hermetists by studying the operations of this Principle have learned to escape some of its activities by Transmutation.

The Hermetic Masters long since discovered that while the Principle of Rhythm was invariable, and ever in evidence in mental phenomena, still there were two planes of its manifestation so far as mental phenomena are concerned. They discovered that there were two general planes of Consciousness, the Lower and the Higher, the understanding of which fact enabled them to rise to the higher plane and thus escape the swing of the Rhythmic pendulum which manifested on the lower plane. In other words, the swing of the pendulum occurred on the Unconscious Plane, and the Consciousness was not affected. This they call the Law of Neutralization. Its operations consist in the raising of the Ego above the vibrations of the Unconscious Plane of mental activity, so that the negative-swing of the pendulum is not manifested in consciousness, and therefore they are not affected. It is akin to rising above a thing and letting it pass beneath you. The Hermetic Master, or advanced student, polarizes himself at the desired pole, and by a process akin to "refusing" to participate in the backward swing or, if you prefer, a "denial" of its influence over him, he stands firm in his polarized position, and allows the mental pendulum to swing back along the unconscious plane. All individuals who have attained any degree of self-mastery, accomplish this, more or less unknowingly, and by refusing to allow their moods and negative mental states to affect them, they apply the Law of Neutralization. The Master, however, carries this to a much higher degree of proficiency, and by the use of his Will he attains a degree of Poise and Mental Firmness almost impossible of belief on the part of those who allow themselves to be swung backward and forward by the mental pendulum of moods and feelings.

The importance of this will be appreciated by any thinking person who realizes what creatures of moods, feelings and emotion the majority of people are, and how little mastery of themselves they manifest. If you will stop and consider a moment, you will realize how much these swings of Rhythm have affected you in your life - how a period of Enthusiasm has been invariably followed by an opposite feeling and mood of Depression. Likewise, your moods and periods of Courage have been succeeded by equal moods of Fear. And so it has ever been with the majority of persons - tides of feeling have ever risen and fallen with them, but they have never suspected the cause or reason of the mental phenomena. An understanding of the workings of this Principle will give one the key to the Mastery of these rhythmic swings of feeling, and will enable him to know himself better and to avoid being carried away by these inflows and outflows. The Will is superior to the conscious manifestation of this Principle, although the Principle itself can never be destroyed. We may escape its effects, but the Principle operates, nevertheless. The pendulum ever swings, although we may escape being carried along with it.

There are other features of the operation of this Principle of Rhythm of which we wish to speak at this point. There comes into its operations that which is known as the Law of Compensation. One of the definitions or meanings of the word "Compensate" is, "to counterbalance" which is the sense in which the Hermetists use the term. It is this Law of Compensation to which the Kybalion refers when it says: "The measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates."

The Law of Compensation is that the swing in one direction determines the swing in the opposite direction, or to the opposite pole-the one balances, or counterbalances, the other. On the Physical Plane we see many examples of this Law. The pendulum of the clock swings a certain distance to the right, and then an equal distance to the left. The seasons balance each other in the same way. The tides follow the same Law. And the same Law is manifested in all the phenomena of Rhythm. The pendulum, with a short swing in one direction, has but a short swing in the other; while the long swing to the right invariably means the long swing to the left. An object hurled upward to a certain height has an equal distance to traverse on its return. The force with which a projectile is sent upward a mile is reproduced when the projectile returns to the earth on its return journey. This Law is constant on the Physical Plane, as reference to the standard authorities will show you.

But the Hermetists carry it still further. They teach that a man's mental states are subject to the same Law. The man who enjoys keenly, is subject to keen suffering; while he who feels but little pain is capable of feeling but little joy. The pig suffers but little mentally, and enjoys but little - he is compensated. And on the other hand, there are other animals who enjoy keenly, but whose nervous organism and temperament cause them to suffer exquisite degrees of pain and so it is with Man. There are temperaments which permit of but low degrees of enjoyment, and equally low degrees of suffering; while there are others which permit the most intense enjoyment, but also the most intense suffering. The rule is that the capacity for pain and pleasure, in each individual, are balanced. The Law of Compensation is in full operation here.

But the Hermetists go still further in this matter. They teach that before one is able to enjoy a certain degree of pleasure, he must have swung as far, proportionately, toward the other pole of feeling. They hold, however, that the Negative is precedent to the Positive in this matter, that is to say that in experiencing a certain degree of pleasure it does not follow that he will have to "pay up for it" with a corresponding degree of pain; on the contrary, the pleasure is the Rhythmic swing, according to the Law of Compensation, for a degree of pain previously experienced either in the present life, or in a previous incarnation. This throws a new light on the Problem of Pain.

The Hermetists regard the chain of lives as continuous, and as forming a part of one life of the individual, so that in consequence the rhythmic swing is understood in this way, while it would be without meaning unless the truth of reincarnation is admitted.

But the Hermetists claim that the Master or advanced student is able, to a great degree, to escape the swing toward Pain, by the process of Neutralization before mentioned. By rising on to the higher plane of the Ego, much of the experience that comes to those dwelling on the lower plane is avoided and escaped.

The Law of Compensation plays an important part in the lives of men and women. It will be noticed that one generally "pays the price" of anything he possesses or lacks. If he has one thing, he lacks another - the balance is struck. No one can "keep his penny and have the bit of cake" at the same time Everything has its pleasant and unpleasant sides. The things that one gains are always paid for by the things that one loses. The rich possess much that the poor lack, while the poor often possess things that are beyond the reach of the rich. The millionaire may have the inclination toward feasting, and the wealth wherewith to secure all the dainties and luxuries of the table, while he lacks the appetite to enjoy the same; he envies the appetite and digestion of the laborer who lacks the wealth and inclinations of the millionaire, and who gets more pleasure from his plain food than the millionaire could obtain even if his appetite were not jaded, nor his digestion ruined, for the wants, habits and inclinations differ. And so it is through life. The Law of Compensation is ever in operation, striving to balance and counterbalance, and always succeeding in time, even though several lives may be required for the return swing of the Pendulum of Rhythm.

## Chapter 12. Causation

*"Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law." - The Kybalion.*

The great Sixth Hermetic Principle - the Principle of Cause and Effect - embodies the truth that Law pervades the Universe; that nothing happens by Chance; that Chance is merely a term indicating cause existing but not recognized or perceived; that phenomena is continuous, without break or exception.

The Principle of Cause and Effect underlies all scientific thought, ancient and modern, and was enunciated by the Hermetic Teachers in the earliest days. While many and varied disputes between the many schools of thought have since arisen, these disputes have been principally upon the details of the operations of the Principle, and still more often upon the meaning of certain words. The underlying Principle of Cause and Effect has been accepted as correct by practically all the thinkers of the world worthy of the name. To think otherwise would be to take the phenomena of the universe from the domain of Law and Order, and to relegate it; to the control of the imaginary something which men have called "Chance."

A little consideration will show anyone that there is in reality no such thing as pure chance. Webster defines the word "Chance" as follows: "A supposed agent or mode of activity other than a force, law or purpose; the operation or activity of such agent; the supposed effect of such an agent; a happening; fortuity; casualty, etc." But a little consideration will show you that there can be no such agent as "Chance," in the sense of something outside of Law-something outside of Cause and Effect. How could there be a something acting in the phenomenal universe, independent of the laws, order, and continuity of the latter? Such a something would be entirely independent of the orderly trend of the universe, and therefore superior to it. We can imagine nothing outside of THE ALL being outside of the Law, and that only because THE ALL is the LAW in itself. There is no room in the universe for a something outside of and independent of Law. The existence of such a Something would render all Natural Laws ineffective, and would plunge the universe into chaotic disorder and lawlessness.

A careful examination will show that what we call "Chance" is merely an expression relating to obscure causes; causes that we cannot perceive; causes that we cannot understand. The word Chance is derived from a word Meaning "to fall" (as the falling of dice), the idea being that the fall of the dice (and many other happenings) are merely a "happening" unrelated to any cause. And this is the sense in which the term is generally employed. But when the matter is closely examined, it is seen that there is no chance whatsoever about the fall of the dice. Each time a die falls, and displays a certain number, it obeys a law as infallible as that which governs the revolution of the planets around the sun. Back of the fall of the die are causes, or chains of causes, running back further than the mind can follow. The position of the die in the box; the amount of muscular energy expended in the throw; the condition of the table, etc., etc., all are causes, the effect of which may be seen. But back of these seen causes there are chains of unseen preceding causes, all of which had a bearing upon the number of the die which fell uppermost.

If a die be cast a great number of times, it will be found that the numbers shown will be about equal, that is, there will be an equal number of one-spot, two-spot, etc., coming uppermost. Toss a penny in the air, and it may come down either "heads" or "tails"; but make a sufficient number of tosses, and the heads and tails will about even up. This is the operation of the law of average. But both the average and the single toss come under the Law of Cause and Effect, and if we were able to examine into the preceding causes, it would be clearly seen that it was simply impossible for the die to fall other than it did, under the same circumstances and at the same time. Given the same causes, the same results will follow. There is always a "cause" and a "because" to every event. Nothing ever "happens" without a cause, or rather a chain of causes.

Some confusion has arisen in the minds of persons considering this Principle, from the fact that they were unable to explain how one thing could cause another thing - that is, be the "creator" of the second thing. As a matter of fact, no "thing" ever causes or "creates" another "thing." Cause and Effect deals merely with "events." An "event" is "that which comes, arrives or happens, as a result or consequent of some preceding event." No event "creates" another event, but is merely a preceding link in the great orderly chain of events flowing from the creative energy of THE ALL. There is a continuity between all events precedent, consequent and subsequent. There is a relation existing between everything that has gone before, and everything that follows. A stone is dislodged from a mountain side and crashes through a roof of a cottage in the valley below. At first sight we regard this as a chance effect, but when we examine the matter we find a great chain of causes behind it. In the first place there was the rain which softened the earth supporting the stone and which allowed it to fall; then back of that was the influence of the sun, other rains, etc., which gradually disintegrated the piece of rock from a larger piece; then there were the causes which led to the formation of the mountain, and its upheaval by convulsions of nature, and so on ad infinitum. Then we might follow up the causes behind the rain, *etc.* Then we might consider the existence of the roof In short, we would soon find ourselves involved in a mesh of cause and effect, from which we would soon strive to extricate ourselves.

Just as a man has two parents, and four grandparents, and eight great-grandparents, and sixteen great-great-grandparents, and so on until when, say, forty generations are calculated the numbers of ancestors run into many millions - so it is with the number of causes behind even the most trifling event or phenomena, such as the passage of a tiny speck of soot before your eye. It is not an easy matter to trace the bit of soot hack to the early period of the world's history when it formed a part of a massive tree-trunk, which was afterward converted into coal, and so on, until as the speck of soot it now passes before your vision on its way to other adventures. And a mighty chain of events, causes and effects, brought it to its present condition, and the later is but one of the chain of events which will go to produce other events hundreds of years from now. One of the series of events arising from the tiny bit of soot was the writing of these lines, which caused the typesetter to perform certain work; the proofreader to do likewise; and which will arouse certain thoughts in your mind, and that of others, which in turn will affect others, and so on, and on, and on, beyond the ability of man to think further-and all from the passage of a tiny bit of soot, all of which shows the relativity and association of things, and the further fact that "there is no great; there is no small, in the mind that causeth all."

Stop to think a moment. If a certain man had not met a certain maid, away back in the dim period of the Stone Age - you who are now reading these lines would not now be here. And if, perhaps, the same couple had failed to meet, we who now write these lines would not now be here. And the very act of writing, on our part, and the act of reading, on yours, will affect not only the respective lives of yourself and ourselves, but will also have a direct, or indirect, affect upon many other people now living and who will live in the ages to come. Every thought we think, every act we perform, has its direct and indirect results which fit into the great chain of Cause and Effect.

We do not wish to enter into a consideration of Free Will, or Determinism, in this work, for various reasons. Among the many reasons, is the principal one that neither side of the controversy is entirely right-in fact, both sides are partially right, according to the Hermetic Teachings. The Principle of Polarity shows that both are but Half-Truths the opposing poles of Truth. The Teachings are that a man may be both Free and yet bound by Necessity, depending upon the meaning of the terms, and the height of Truth from which the matter is examined. The ancient writers express the matter thus: "The further the creation is from the Centre, the more it is bound; the nearer the Centre it reaches, the nearer Free is it."

The majority of people are more or less the slaves of heredity, environment, etc., and manifest very little Freedom. They are swayed by the opinions, customs and thoughts of the outside world, and also by their emotions, feelings, moods, *etc.* They manifest no Mastery, worthy of the name. They indignantly repudiate this assertion, saying, "Why, I certainly am free to act and do as I please - I do just what I want to do," but they fail to explain whence arise the "want to" and "as I please." What makes them "want to" do one thing in preference to another; what makes them "please" to do this, and not do that? Is there no "because" to their "pleasing" and "Wanting"? The Master can change these "pleases" and "wants" into others at the opposite end of the mental pole. He is able to "Will to will," instead of to will because some feeling, mood, emotion, or environmental suggestion arouses a tendency or desire within him so to do.

The majority of people are carried along like the falling stone, obedient to environment, outside influences and internal moods, desires, etc., not to speak of the desires and wills of others stronger than themselves, heredity, environment, and suggestion, carrying them along without resistance on their part, or the exercise of the Will. Moved like the pawns on the checkerboard of life, they play their parts and are laid aside after the game is over. But the Masters, knowing the rules of the game, rise above the plane of material life, and placing themselves in touch with the higher powers of their nature, dominate their own moods, characters, qualities, and polarity, as well as the environment surrounding them and thus become Movers in the game, instead of Pawns-Causes instead of Effects. The Masters do not escape the Causation of the higher planes, but fall in with the higher laws, and thus master circumstances on the lower plane. They thus form a conscious part of the Law, instead of being mere blind instruments. While they Serve on the Higher Planes, they Rule on the Material Plane.

But, on higher and on lower, the Law is always in operation. There is no such thing as Chance. The blind goddess has been abolished by Reason. We are able to see now, with eyes made clear by knowledge, that everything is governed by Universal Law-that the infinite number of laws are but manifestations of the One Great Law-the LAW which is THE ALL. It is true indeed that not a sparrow drops unnoticed by the Mind of THE AL - that even the hairs on our head are numbered - as the scriptures have said There is nothing outside of Law; nothing that happens contrary to it. And yet, do not make the mistake of supposing that Man is but a blind automaton-far from that. The Hermetic Teachings are that Man may use Law to overcome laws, and that the higher will always prevail against the lower, until at last he has reached the stage in which he seeks refuge in the LAW itself, and laughs the phenomenal laws to scorn. Are you able to grasp the inner meaning of this?

## Chapter 13. Gender

*"Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes." - The Kybalion.*

The great Seventh Hermetic Principle - the Principle of Gender - embodies the truth that there is Gender manifested in everything - that the Masculine and Feminine principles are ever present and active in all phases of phenomena, on each and every plane of life. At this point we think it well to call your attention to the fact that Gender, in its Hermetic sense, and Sex in the ordinarily accepted use of the term, are not the same.

The word "Gender" is derived from the Latin root meaning "to beget; to procreate; to generate; to create; to produce." A moment's consideration will show you that the word has a much broader and more general meaning than the term "Sex," the latter referring to the physical distinctions between male and female living things. Sex is merely a manifestation of Gender on a certain plane of the Great Physical Plane - the plane of organic life. We wish to impress this distinction upon your minds, for the reason that certain writers, who have acquired a smattering of the Hermetic Philosophy, have sought to identify this Seventh Hermetic Principle with wild and fanciful, and often reprehensible, theories and teachings regarding Sex.

The office of Gender is solely that of creating, producing, generating, etc., and its manifestations are visible on every plane of phenomena. It is somewhat difficult to produce proofs of this along scientific lines, for the reason that science has not as yet recognized this Principle as of universal application. But still some proofs are forthcoming from scientific sources. In the first place, we find a distinct manifestation of the Principle of Gender among the corpuscles, ions, or electrons, which constitute the basis of Matter as science now knows the latter, and which by forming certain combinations form the Atom, which until lately was regarded as final and indivisible.

The latest word of science is that the atom is composed of a multitude of corpuscles, electrons, or ions (the various names being applied by different authorities) revolving around each other and vibrating at a high degree and intensity. But the accompanying statement is made that the formation of the atom is really due to the clustering of negative corpuscles around a positive one - -the positive corpuscles seeming to exert a certain influence upon the negative corpuscles, causing the latter to assume certain combinations and thus "create" or "generate" an atom. This is in line with the most ancient Hermetic Teachings, which have always identified the Masculine principle of Gender with the "Positive," and the Feminine with the "Negative" Poles of Electricity (so called).

Now a word at this point regarding this identification. The public mind has formed an entirely erroneous impression regarding the qualities of the so-called "Negative" pole of electrified or magnetized Matter. The terms Positive and Negative are very wrongly applied to this phenomenon by science. The word Positive means something real and strong, as compared with a Negative unreality or weakness. Nothing is further from the real facts of electrical phenomenon. The so-called Negative pole of the battery is really the pole in and by which the generation or production of new forms and energies is manifested. There is nothing "negative" about it. The best scientific authorities now use the word "Cathode" in place of "Negative," the word Cathode coming from the Greek root meaning "descent; the path of generation, etc," From the Cathode pole emerge the swarm of electrons or corpuscles; from the same pole emerge those wonderful "rays" which have revolutionized scientific conceptions during the past decade. The Cathode pole is the Mother of all of the strange phenomena which have rendered useless the old textbooks, and which have caused many long accepted theories to be relegated to the scrap-pile of scientific speculation. The Cathode, or Negative Pole, is the Mother Principle of Electrical Phenomena, and of the finest forms of matter as yet known to science. So you see we are justified in refusing to use the term "Negative" in our consideration of the subject, and in insisting upon substituting the word "Feminine" for the old term. The facts of the case bear us out in this, without taking the Hermetic Teachings into consideration. And so we shall use the word "Feminine" in the place of "Negative" in speaking of that pole of activity.

The latest scientific teachings are that the creative corpuscles or electrons are Feminine (science says "they are composed of negative electricity"-we say they are composed of Feminine energy). A Feminine corpuscle becomes detached from, or rather leaves, a Masculine corpuscle, and starts on a new career. It actively seeks a union with a Masculine corpuscle, being urged thereto by the natural impulse to create new forms of Matter or Energy. One writer goes so far as to use the term "it at once seeks, of its own volition, a union," *etc.* This detachment and uniting form the basis of the greater part of the activities of the chemical world. When the Feminine corpuscle unites with a Masculine corpuscle, a certain process is begun. The Feminine particles vibrate rapidly under the influence of the Masculine energy, and circle rapidly around the latter. The result is the birth of a new atom. This new atom is really composed of a union of the Masculine and Feminine electrons, or corpuscles, but when the union is formed the atom is a separate thing, having certain properties, but no longer manifesting the property of free electricity. The process of detachment or separation of the Feminine electrons is called "ionization." These electrons, or corpuscles, are the most active workers in Nature's field. Arising from their unions, or combinations, manifest the varied phenomena of light, heat, electricity, magnetism, attraction, repulsion, chemical affinity and the reverse, and similar phenomena. And all this arises from the operation of the Principle of Gender on the plane of Energy.

The part of the Masculine principle seems to be that of directing a certain inherent energy toward the Feminine principle, and thus starting into activity the creative processes. But the Feminine principle is the one always doing the active creative work-and this is so on all planes. And yet, each principle is incapable of operative energy without the assistance of the other. In some of the forms of life, the two principles are combined in one organism. For that matter, everything in the organic world manifests both genders - there is always the Masculine present in the Feminine form, and the Feminine form. The Hermetic Teachings include much regarding the operation of the two principles of Gender in the production and manifestation of various forms of energy, etc., but we do not deem it expedient to go into detail regarding the same at this point, because we are unable to back up the same with scientific proof, for the reason that science has not as yet progressed thus far. But the example we have given you of the phenomena of the electrons or corpuscles will show you that science is on the right path, and will also give you a general idea of the underlying principles.

Some leading scientific investigators have announced their belief that in the formation of crystals there was to be found something that corresponded to "sex-activity" which is another straw showing the direction the scientific winds are blowing. And each year will bring other facts to corroborate the correctness of the Hermetic Principle of Gender. It will be found that Gender is in constant operation and manifestation in the field of inorganic matter, and in the field of Energy or Force. Electricity is now generally regarded as the "Something" into which all other forms of energy seem to melt or dissolve. The "Electrical Theory of the Universe" is the latest scientific doctrine, and is growing rapidly in popularity and general acceptance. And it thus follows that if we are able to discover in the phenomena of electricity-even at the very root and source of its manifestations a clear and unmistakable evidence of the presence of Gender and its activities, we are justified in asking you to believe that science at last has offered proofs of the existence in all universal phenomena of that great Hermetic Principle-the Principle of Gender.

It is not necessary to take up your time with the well known phenomena of the "attraction and repulsion" of the atoms; chemical affinity; the "loves and hates" of the atomic particles; the attraction or cohesion between the molecules of matter. These facts are too well known to need extended comment from us. But, have you ever considered that all of these things are manifestations of the Gender Principle? Can you not see that the phenomena is "on all fours" with that of the corpuscles or electrons? And more than this, can you not see the reasonableness of the Hermetic Teachings which assert that the very Law of Gravitation-that strange attraction by reason of which all particles and bodies of matter in the universe tend toward each other is but another manifestation of the Principle of Gender, which operates in the direction of attracting the Masculine to the Feminine energies, and vice versa? We cannot offer you scientific proof of this at this time-but examine the phenomena in the light of the Hermetic Teachings on the subject, and see if you have not a better working hypothesis than any offered by physical science. Submit all physical phenomena to the test, and you will discern the Principle of Gender ever in evidence.

Let us now pass on to a consideration of the operation of the Principle on the Mental Plane. Many interesting features are there awaiting examination.

## Chapter 14. Mental Gender

Students of psychology who have followed the modern trend of thought along the lines of mental phenomena are struck by the persistence of the dual-mind idea which has manifested itself so strongly during the past ten or fifteen years, and which has given rise to a number of plausible theories regarding the nature and constitution of these "two minds." The late Thomson J. Hudson attained great popularity in 1893 by advancing his well-known theory of the "objective and subjective minds" which he held existed in every individual. Other writers have attracted almost equal attention by the theories regarding the "conscious and subconscious minds"; the "voluntary and involuntary minds"; "the active and passive minds," etc., *etc.* The theories of the various writers differ from each other, but there remains the underlying principle of "the duality of mind."

The student of the Hermetic Philosophy is tempted to smile when he reads and hears of these many "new theories" regarding the duality of mind, each school adhering tenaciously to its own pet theories, and each claiming to have "discovered the truth." The student turns back the pages of occult history, and away back in the dim beginnings of occult teachings he finds references to the ancient Hermetic doctrine of the Principle of Gender on the Mental Plane-the manifestation of Mental Gender. And examining further he finds that the ancient philosophy took cognizance of the phenomenon of the "dual mind," and accounted for it by the theory of Mental Gender. This idea of Mental Gender may be explained in a few words to students who are familiar with the modern theories just alluded to. The Masculine Principle of Mind corresponds to the so-called Objective Mind; Conscious Mind; Voluntary Mind; Active Mind, *etc.* And the Feminine Principle of Mind corresponds to the so-called Subjective Mind; Subconscious Mind; Involuntary Mind; Passive Mind, *etc.* Of course the Hermetic Teachings do not agree with the many modern theories regarding the nature of the two phases of mind, nor does it admit many of the facts claimed for the two respective aspects - some of the said theories and claims being very far-fetched and incapable of standing the test of experiment and demonstration. We point to the phases of agreement merely for the purpose of helping the student to assimilate his previously acquired knowledge with the teachings of the Hermetic Philosophy. Students of Hudson will notice the statement at the beginning of his second chapter of "The Law of Psychic Phenomena," that: "The mystic jargon of the Hermetic philosophers discloses the same general idea" i.e., the duality of mind. If Dr. Hudson had taken the time and trouble to decipher a little of "the mystic jargon of the Hermetic Philosophy," he might have received much light upon the subject of "the dual mind" - but then, perhaps, his most interesting work might not have been written. Let us now consider the Hermetic Teachings regarding Mental Gender.

The Hermetic Teachers impart their instruction regarding this subject by bidding their students examine the report of their consciousness regarding their Self. The students are bidden to turn their attention inward upon the Self dwelling within each. Each student is led to see that his consciousness gives him first a report of the existence of his Self-the report is "I Am." This at first seems to be the final words from the consciousness, but a little further examination discloses the fact that this "I Am" may be separated or split into two distinct parts, or aspects, which while working in unison and in conjunction, yet, nevertheless, may be separated in consciousness.

While at first there seems to be only an "I" existing, a more careful and closer examination reveals the fact that there exists an "I" and a "Me." These mental twins differ in their characteristics and nature, and an examination of their nature and the phenomena arising from the same will throw much light upon many of the problems of mental influence.

Let us begin with a consideration of the Me, which is usually mistaken for the I by the student, until he presses the inquiry a little further back into the recesses of consciousness. A man thinks of his Self (in its aspect of Me) as being composed of certain feelings, tastes likes, dislikes, habits, peculiar ties, characteristics, etc., all of which go to make up his personality, or the "Self" known to himself and others. He knows that these emotions and feelings change; are born and die away; are subject to the Principle of Rhythm, and the Principle of Polarity, which take him from one extreme of feeling to another. He also thinks of the "Me" as being certain knowledge gathered together in his mind, and thus forming a part of himself. This is the "Me" of a man.

But we have proceeded too hastily. The "Me" of many men may be said to consist largely of their consciousness of the body and their physical appetites, *etc.* Their consciousness being largely bound up with their bodily nature, they practically "live there." Some men even go so far as to regard their personal apparel as a part of their "Me" and actually seem to consider it a part of themselves. A writer has humorously said that "men consist of three parts - soul, body and clothes." These "clothes conscious" people would lose their personality if divested of their clothing by savages upon the occasion of a shipwreck. But even many who are not so closely bound up with the idea of personal raiment stick closely to the consciousness of their bodies being their "Me" They cannot conceive of a Self independent of the body. Their mind seems to them to be practically "a something belonging to" their body-which in many cases it is indeed.

But as man rises in the scale of consciousness he is able to disentangle his "Me" from his idea of body, and is able to think of his body as "belonging to" the mental part of him. But even then he is very apt to identify the "Me" entirely with the mental states, feelings, etc., which he feels to exist within him. He is very apt to consider these internal states as identical with himself, instead of their being simply "things" produced by some part of his mentality, and existing within him - of him, and in him, but still not "himself." He sees that he may change these internal states of feelings by all effort of will, and that he may produce a feeling or state of an exactly opposite nature, in the same way, and yet the same "Me" exists. And so after a while he is able to set aside these various mental states, emotions, feelings, habits, qualities, characteristics, and other personal mental belongings - he is able to set them aside in the "not-me" collection of curiosities and encumbrances, as well as valuable possessions. This requires much mental concentration and power of mental analysis on the part of the student. But still the task is possible for the advanced student, and even those not so far advanced are able to see, in the imagination, how the process may be performed.

After this laying-aside process has been performed, the student will find himself in conscious possession of a "Self" which may be considered in its "I" and "Me" dual aspects. The "Me" will be felt to be a Something mental in which thoughts, ideas, emotions, feelings, and other mental states may be produced. It may be considered as the "mental womb," as the ancients styled it-capable of generating mental offspring. It reports to the consciousness as a "Me" with latent powers of creation and generation of mental progeny of all sorts and kinds. Its powers of creative energy are felt to be enormous. But still it seems to be conscious that it must receive some form of energy from either its "I" companion, or else from some other "I" ere it is able to bring into being its mental creations. This consciousness brings with it a realization of an enormous capacity for mental work and creative ability.

But the student soon finds that this is not all that he finds within his inner consciousness. He finds that there exists a mental Something which is able to Will that the "Me" act along certain creative lines, and which is also able to stand aside and witness the mental creation. This part of himself he is taught to call his "I." He is able to rest in its consciousness at will. He finds there not a consciousness of an ability to generate and actively create, in the sense of the gradual process attendant upon mental operations, but rather a sense and consciousness of an ability to project an energy from the "I" to the "Me" - a process of "willing" that the mental creation begin and proceed. He also finds that the "I" is able to stand aside and witness the operations of the "Me's" mental creation and generation. There is this dual aspect in the mind of every person. The "I" represents the Masculine Principle of Mental Gender-the "Me" represents the Female Principle. The "I" represents the Aspect of Being; the "Me" the Aspect of Becoming. You will notice that the Principle of Correspondence operates on this plane just as it does upon the great plane upon which the creation of Universes is performed. The two are similar in kind, although vastly different in degree. "As above, so below; as below, so above."

These aspects of mind-the Masculine and Feminine Principles-the "I" and the "Me"-considered in connection with the well-known mental and psychic phenomena, give the master-key to these dimly known regions of mental operation and manifestation. The principle of Mental Gender gives the truth underlying the whole field of the phenomena of mental influence, *etc.*

The tendency of the Feminine Principle is always in the direction of receiving impressions, while the tendency of the Masculine Principle is always in the direction of giving, out or expressing. The Feminine Principle has much more varied field of operation than has the Masculine Principle. The Feminine Principle conducts the work of generating new thoughts, concepts, ideas, including the work of the imagination. The Masculine Principle contents itself with the work of the "Will" in its varied phases. And yet, without the active aid of the Will of the Masculine Principle, the Feminine Principle is apt to rest content with generating mental images which are the result of impressions received from outside, instead of producing original mental creations.

Persons who can give continued attention and thought to a subject actively employ both of the Mental Principles-the Feminine in the work of the mental generation, and the Masculine Will in stimulating and energizing the creative portion of the mind. The majority of persons really employ the Masculine Principle but little, and are content to live according to the thoughts and ideas instilled into the "Me" from the "I" of other minds. But it is not our purpose to dwell upon this phase of the subject, which may be studied from any good text-book upon psychology, with the key that we have given you regarding Mental Gender.

The student of Psychic Phenomena is aware of the wonderful phenomena classified under the head of Telepathy; Thought Transference; Mental Influence; Suggestion; Hypnotism, *etc.* Many have sought for an explanation of these varied phases of phenomena under the theories of the various "dual mind" teachers. And in a measure they are right, for there is clearly a manifestation of two distinct phases of mental activity. But if such students will consider these "dual minds" in the light of the Hermetic Teachings regarding Vibrations and Mental Gender, they will see that the long sought for key is at hand.

In the phenomena of Telepathy it is seen how the Vibratory Energy of the Masculine Principle is projected toward the Feminine Principle of another person, and the latter takes the seed-thought and allows it to develop into maturity. In the same way Suggestion and Hypnotism operates. The Masculine Principle of the person giving the suggestions directs a stream of Vibratory Energy or Will-Power toward the Feminine Principle of the other person, and the latter accepting it makes it its own and acts and thinks accordingly. An idea thus lodged in the mind of another person grows and develops, and in time is regarded as the rightful mental offspring of the individual, whereas it is in reality like the cuckoo egg placed in the sparrows nest, where it destroys the rightful offspring and makes itself at home. The normal method is for the Masculine and Feminine Principles in a person's mind to co-ordinate and act harmoniously in conjunction with each other, but, unfortunately, the Masculine Principle in the average person is too lazy to act-the display of Will-Power is too slight-and the consequence is that such persons are ruled almost entirely by the minds and wills of other persons, whom they allow to do their thinking and willing for them. How few original thoughts or original actions are performed by the average person? Are not the majority of persons mere shadows and echoes of others having stronger wills or minds than themselves? The trouble is that the average person dwells almost altogether in his "Me" consciousness and does not realize that he has such a thing as an "I." He is polarized in his Feminine Principle of Mind, and the Masculine Principle, in which is lodged the Will, is allowed to remain inactive and not employed.

The strong men and women of the world invariably manifest the Masculine Principle of Will, and their strength depends materially upon this fact. Instead of living upon the impressions made upon their minds by others, they dominate their own minds by their Will, obtaining the kind of mental images desired, and moreover dominate the minds of others likewise, in the same manner. Look at the strong people, how they manage to implant their seed-thoughts in the minds of the masses of the people, thus causing the latter to think thoughts in accordance with the desires and wills of the strong individuals. This is why the masses of people are such sheeplike creatures, never originating an idea of their own, nor using their own powers of mental activity.

The manifestation of Mental Gender may be noticed all around us in everyday life. The magnetic persons are those who are able to use the Masculine Principle in the way of impressing their ideas upon others. The actor who makes people weep or cry as he wills, is employing this principle. And so is the successful orator, statesman, preacher, writer or other people who are before the public attention. The peculiar influence exerted by some people over others is due to the manifestation of Mental Gender, along the Vibrational lines above indicated. In this principle lies the secret of personal magnetism, personal influence, fascination, etc., as well as the phenomena generally grouped under the name of Hypnotism.

The student who has familiarized himself with the phenomena generally spoken of as "psychic" will have discovered the important part played in the said phenomena by that force which science has styled "Suggestion," by which term is meant the process or method whereby an idea is transferred to, or "impressed upon" the mind of another, causing the second mind to act in accordance therewith. A correct understanding of Suggestion is necessary in order to intelligently comprehend the varied psychical phenomena which Suggestion underlies. But, still more is a knowledge of Vibration and Mental Gender necessary for the student of Suggestion. For the whole principle of Suggestion depends upon the principle of Mental Gender and Vibration.

It is customary for the writers and teachers of Suggestion to explain that it is the "objective or voluntary" mind which make the mental impression, or suggestion, upon the "subjective or involuntary" mind. But they do not describe the process or give us any analogy in nature whereby we may more readily comprehend the idea. But if you will think of the matter in the light of the Hermetic Teachings you will be able to see that the energizing of the Feminine Principle by the Vibratory Energy of the Masculine Principle Is in accordance to the universal laws of nature, and that the natural world affords countless analogies whereby the principle may be understood. In fact, the Hermetic Teachings show that the very creation of the Universe follows the same law, and that in all creative manifestations, upon the planes of the spiritual, the mental, and the physical, there is always in operation this principle of Gender-this manifestation of the Masculine and the Feminine Principles. "As above, so below; as below, so above." And more than this, when the principle of Mental Gender is once grasped and understood, the varied phenomena of psychology at once becomes capable of intelligent classification and study, instead of being very much in the dark. The principle "works out" in practice, because it is based upon the immutable universal laws of life.

We shall not enter into an extended discussion of, or description of, the varied phenomena of mental influence or psychic activity. There are many books, many of them quite good, which have been written and published on this subject of late years. The main facts stated in these various books are correct, although the several writers have attempted to explain the phenomena by various pet theories of their own. The student may acquaint himself with these matters, and by using the theory of Mental Gender he will be able to bring order out of the chaos of conflicting theory and teachings, and may, moreover, readily make himself a master of the subject if he be so inclined. The purpose of this work is not to give an extended account of psychic phenomena but rather to give to the student a master-key whereby He may unlock the many doors leading into the parts of the Temple of Knowledge which he may wish to explore. We feel that in this consideration of the teachings of The Kybalion, one may find an explanation which will serve to clear away many perplexing difficulties - a key that will unlock many doors. What is the use of going into detail regarding all of the many features of psychic phenomena and mental science, provided we place in the hands of the student the means whereby he may acquaint himself fully regarding any phase of the subject which may interest him. With the aid of The Kybalion one may go through any occult library anew, the old Light from Egypt illuminating many dark pages, and obscure subjects. That is the purpose of this book. We do not come expounding a new philosophy, but rather furnishing the outlines of a great world-old teaching which will make clear the teachings of others-which will serve as a Great Reconciler of differing: theories, and opposing doctrines.

## Chapter 15. Hermetic Axioms

*"The possession of Knowledge, unless accompanied by a manifestation and expression in Action, is like the hoarding of precious metals-a vain and foolish thing. Knowledge, like wealth, is intended for Use. The Law of Use is Universal, and he who violates it suffers by reason of his conflict with natural forces." - The Kybalion.*

The Hermetic Teachings, while always having been kept securely locked up in the minds of the fortunate possessors thereof, for reasons which we have already stated, were never intended to be merely stored away and secreted. The Law of Use is dwelt upon in the Teachings, as you may see by reference to the above quotation from The Kybalion, which states it forcibly. Knowledge without Use and Expression is a vain thing, bringing no good to its possessor, or to the race. Beware of Mental Miserliness, and express into Action that which you have learned. Study the Axioms and Aphorisms, but practice them also.

We give below some of the more important Hermetic Axioms, from The Kybalion, with a few comments added to each. Make these your own, and practice and use them, for they are not really your own until you have Used them.

*"To change your mood or mental state - change your vibration." - The Kybalion.*

One may change his mental vibrations by an effort of Will, in the direction of deliberately fixing the Attention upon a more desirable state. Will directs the Attention, and Attention changes the Vibration. Cultivate the Art of Attention, by means of the Will, and you have solved the secret of the Mastery of Moods and Mental States.

*"To destroy an undesirable rate of mental vibration, put into operation the principle of Polarity and concentrate upon the opposite pole to that which you desire to suppress. Kill out the undesirable by changing its polarity." - The Kybalion.*

This is one of the most important of the Hermetic Formulas. It is based upon true scientific principles. We have shown you that a mental state and its opposite were merely the two poles of one thing, and that by Mental Transmutation the polarity might be reversed. This Principle is known to modern psychologists, who apply it to the breaking up of undesirable habits by bidding their students concentrate upon the opposite quality. If you are possessed of Fear, do not waste time trying to "kill out" Fear, but instead cultivate the quality of Courage, and the Fear will disappear. Some writers have expressed this idea most forcibly by using the illustration of the dark room. You do not have to shovel out or sweep out the Darkness, but by merely opening the shutters and letting in the Light the Darkness has disappeared. To kill out a Negative quality, concentrate upon the Positive Pole of that same quality, and the vibrations will gradually change from Negative to Positive, until finally you will become polarized on the Positive pole instead of the Negative. The reverse is also true, as many have found out to their sorrow, when they have allowed themselves to vibrate too constantly on the Negative pole of things. By changing your polarity you may master your moods, change your mental states, remake your disposition, and build up character. Much of the Mental Mastery of the advanced Hermetics is due to this application of Polarity, which is one of the important aspects of Mental Transmutation. Remember the Hermetic Axiom (quoted previously), which says:

*"Mind (as well as metals and elements) may be transmuted from state to state; degree to degree, condition to condition; pole to pole; vibration to vibration." - The Kybalion.*

The mastery of Polarization is the mastery of the fundamental principles of Mental Transmutation or Mental Alchemy, for unless one acquires the art of changing his own polarity, he will be unable to affect his environment. An understanding of this principle will enable one to change his own Polarity, as well as that of others, if he will but devote the time, care, study and practice necessary to master the art. The principle is true, but the results obtained depend upon the persistent patience and practice of the student.

*"Rhythm may be neutralized by an application of the Art of Polarization." - The Kybalion.*

As we have explained in previous chapters, the Hermetists hold that the Principle of Rhythm manifests on the Mental Plane as well as on the Physical Plane, and that the bewildering succession of moods, feelings, emotions, and other mental states, are due to the backward and forward swing of the mental pendulum, which carries us from one extreme of feeling to the other. The Hermetists also teach that the Law of Neutralization enables one, to a great extent, to overcome the operation of Rhythm in consciousness. As we have explained, there is a Higher Plane of Consciousness, as well as the ordinary Lower Plane, and the Master by rising mentally to the Higher Plane causes the swing of the mental pendulum to manifest on the Lower Plane, and he, dwelling on his Higher Plane, escapes the consciousness of the swing backward. This is effected by polarizing on the Higher Self, and thus raising the mental vibrations of the Ego above those of the ordinary plane of consciousness. It is akin to rising above a thing and allowing it to pass beneath you. The advanced Hermetist polarizes himself at the Positive Pole of his Being-the "I Am" pole rather than the pole of personality and by "refusing" and "denying" the operation of Rhythm, raises himself above its plane of consciousness, and standing firm in his Statement of Being he allows the pendulum to swing back on the Lower Plane without changing his Polarity. This is accomplished by all individuals who have attained any degree of self-mastery, whether they understand the law or not. Such persons simply "refuse" to allow themselves to be swung back by the pendulum of mood and emotion, and by steadfastly affirming the superiority they remain polarized on the Positive pole. The Master, of course, attains a far greater degree of proficiency, because he understands the law which he is overcoming by a higher law, and by the use of his Will he attains a degree of Poise and Mental Steadfastness almost impossible of belief on the part of those who allow themselves to be swung backward and forward by the mental pendulum of moods and feelings.

Remember always, however, that you do not really destroy the Principle of Rhythm, for that is indestructible. You simply overcome one law by counterbalancing it with another and thus maintain an equilibrium. The laws of balance and counterbalance are in operation on the mental as well as on the physical planes, and an understanding of these laws enables one to seem to overthrow laws, whereas he is merely exerting a counterbalance.

*"Nothing escapes the Principle of Cause and Effect, but there are many Planes of Causation, and one may use the laws of the higher to overcome the laws of the lower." - The Kybalion.*

By an understanding of the practice of Polarization, the Hermetists rise to a higher plane of Causation and thus counterbalance the laws of the lower planes of Causation. By rising above the plane of ordinary Causes they become themselves, in a degree, Causes instead of being merely Caused. By being able to master their own moods and feelings, and by being able to neutralize Rhythm, as we have already explained, they are able to escape a great part of the operations of Cause and Effect on the ordinary plane. The masses of people are carried along, obedient to their environment; the wills and desires of others stronger than themselves; the effects of inherited tendencies; the suggestions of those about them; and other outward causes; which tend to move them about on the chess-board of life like mere pawns. By rising above these influencing causes, the advanced Hermetists seek a higher plane of mental action, and by dominating their moods, emotions, impulses and feelings, they create for themselves new characters, qualities and powers, by which they overcome their ordinary environment, and thus become practically players instead of mere Pawns. Such people help to play the game of life understandingly, instead of being moved about this way and that way by stronger influences and powers and wills. They use the Principle of Cause and Effect, instead of being used by it. Of course, even the highest are subject to the Principle as it manifests on the higher planes, but on the lower planes of activity, they are Masters instead of Slaves. As The Kybalion says:

*"The wise ones serve on the higher, but rule on the lower. They obey the laws coming from above them, But on their own plane, and those below them they rule and give orders. And, yet, in so doing, they form a part of the Principle, instead of opposing it. The wise man falls in with the Law, and by understanding its movements he operates it instead of being its blind slave. Just as does the skilled swimmer turn this way and that way, going and coming as he will, instead of being as the log which is carried here and there - so is the wise man as compared to the ordinary man - and yet both swimmer and log; wise man and fool, are subject to Law. He who understands this is well on the road to Mastery." - The Kybalion.*

In conclusion let us again call your attention to the Hermetic Axiom:

*"True Hermetic Transmutation is a Mental Art." - The Kybalion.*

In the above axiom, the Hermetists teach that the great work of influencing one's environment is accomplished by Mental Power. The Universe being wholly mental, it follows that it may be ruled only by Mentality. And in this truth is to be found an explanation of all the phenomena and manifestations of the various mental powers which are attracting so much attention and study in these earlier years of the Twentieth Century. Back of and under the teachings of the various cults and schools, remains ever constant the Principle of the Mental Substance of the Universe. If the Universe be Mental in its substantial nature, then it follows that Mental Transmutation must change the conditions and phenomena of the Universe. If the Universe is Mental, then Mind must be the highest power affecting its phenomena. If this be understood then all the so-called "miracles" and "wonder-workings" are seen plainly for what they are.

*"THE ALL is MIND; The Universe is Mental." - The Kybalion.*



# EMERALD TABLET OF HERMES TRISMEGISTUS

## Contents

- History Of The Tablet
- Translations
- Textual Remarks
- Commentaries
- General
- A Commentary Of Ibn Umail

## History Of The Tablet

History of the Tablet (largely summarised from Needham 1980, & Holmyard 1957)

The Tablet probably first appeared in the West in editions of the psuedo-Aristotlean Secretum Secretorum which was actually a translation of the Kitab Sirr al-Asar, a book of advice to kings which was translated into latin by Johannes Hispalensis c. 1140 and by Philip of Tripoli c.1243. Other translations of the Tablet may have been made during the same period by Plato of Tivoli and Hugh of Santalla, perhaps from different sources.  

The date of the Kitab Sirr al-Asar is uncertain, though c.800 has been suggested and it is not clear when the tablet became part of this work.  
Holmyard was the first to find another early arabic version (Ruska found a 12th centruy recension claiming to have been dictated by Sergius of Nablus) in the Kitab Ustuqus al-Uss al-Thani (Second Book of the Elements of Foundation) attributed to Jabir. Shortly after Ruska found another version appended to the Kitab Sirr al-Khaliqa wa San'at al-Tabi'a (Book of the Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature), which is also known as the Kitab Balaniyus al-Hakim fi'l-'Ilal (book of Balinas the wise on the Causes). It has been proposed that this book was written may have been written as early as 650, and was definitely finished by the Caliphate of al-Ma'mun (813-33).  
Scholars have seen similarities between this book and the Syriac Book of

Treasures written by Job of Odessa (9th century) and more interestingly the Greek writings of the bishop Nemesius of Emesa in Syria from the mid fourth century. However though this suggests a possible Syriac source, none of these writings contain the tablet.  
Balinas is usually identified with Apollonius of Tyna, but there is little evidence to connect him with the Kitab Balabiyus, and even if there was, the story implies that Balinas found the tablet rather than wrote it, and the recent discoveries of the dead sea scrolls and the nag hamamdi texts suggest that hiding texts in caves is not impossible, even if we did not have the pyramids before us.  

Ruska has suggested an origin further east, and Needham has proposed an origin in China.  

Holmyard, Davis and Anon all consider that this Tablet may be one of the earliest of all alchemical works we have that survives.  
It should be remarked that apparently the Greeks and Egyptians used the term translated as 'emerald' for emeralds, green granites, "and perhaps green jasper". In medieval times the emerald table of the Gothic kings of Spain, and the Sacro catino-a dish said to have belonged to the Queen of Sheba, to have been used at the last supper, and to be made of emerald, were made of green glass [Steele and Singer: 488].

## Translations

From Jabir ibn Hayyan.

0) Balinas mentions the engraving on the table in the hand of Hermes, which says:  
1) Truth! Certainty! That in which there is no doubt!  
2) That which is above is from that which is below, and that which is below is from that which is above, working the miracles of one.  
3) As all things were from one.  
4) Its father is the Sun and its mother the Moon.  
5) The Earth carried it in her belly, and the Wind nourished it in her belly,  
7) as Earth which shall become Fire.  
7a) Feed the Earth from that which is subtle, with the greatest power.  
8) It ascends from the earth to the heaven and becomes ruler over that which is above and that which is below.  
14) And I have already explained the meaning of the whole of this in two of these books of mine.  
[Holmyard 1923: 562.]

Another Arabic Version (from the German of Ruska, translated by 'Anonymous').

0) Here is that which the priest Sagijus of Nabulus has dictated concerning the entrance of Balinas into the hidden chamber... After my entrance into the chamber, where the talisman was set up, I came up to an old man sitting on a golden throne, who was holding an emerald table in one hand. And behold the following - in Syriac, the primordial language-was written thereon:  
1) Here (is) a true explanation, concerning which there can be no doubt.  
2) It attests: The above from the below, and the below from the above -the work of the miracle of the One.  
3) And things have been from this primal substance through a single act. How wonderful is this work! It is the main (principle) of the world and is its maintainer.  
4) Its father is the sun and its mother the moon; the  
5) wind has borne it in its body, and the earth has nourished it.  
6) the father of talismen and the protector of miracles  
6a) whose powers are perfect, and whose lights are confirmed (?),  
7) a fire that becomes earth.  
7a) Separate the earth from the fire, so you will attain the subtle as more inherent than the gross, with care and sagacity.  
8) It rises from earth to heaven, so as to draw the lights of the heights to itself, and descends to the earth; thus within it are the forces of the above and the below;  
9) because the light of lights within it, thus does the darkness flee before it.  
10) The force of forces, which overcomes every subtle thing and penetrates into everything gross.  
11) The structure of the microcosm is in accordance with the structure of the macrocosm.  
12) And accordingly proceed the knowledgeable.  
13) And to this aspired Hermes, who was threefold graced with wisdom.  
14) And this is his last book, which he concealed in the chamber.  
[Anon 1985: 24-5]  

Twelfth Century Latin

0) When I entered into the cave, I received the tablet zaradi, which was inscribed, from between the hands of Hermes, in which I discovered these words:  
1) True, without falsehood, certain, most certain.  
2) What is above is like what is below, and what is below is like that which is above. To make the miracle of the one thing.  
3) And as all things were made from contemplation of one, so all things were born from one adaptation.  
4) Its father is the Sun, its mother is the Moon.  
5) The wind carried it in its womb, the earth breast fed it.  
6) It is the father of all 'works of wonder' (Telesmi) in the world.  
6a) Its power is complete (integra).  
7) If cast to (turned towards-versa fuerit) earth,  
7a) it will separate earth from fire, the subtile from the gross.  
8) With great capacity it ascends from earth to heaven. Again it descends to earth, and takes back the power of the above and the below.  
9) Thus you will receive the glory of the distinctiveness of the world. All obscurity will flee from you.  
10) This is the whole most strong strength of all strength, for it overcomes all subtle things, and penetrates all solid things.  
11a) Thus was the world created.  
12) From this comes marvelous adaptions of which this is the proceedure.  
13) Therefore I am called Hermes, because I have three parts of the wisdom of the whole world.  
14) And complete is what I had to say about the work of the Sun, from the book of Galieni Alfachimi.  
[From Latin in Steele and Singer 1928: 492.]  

Translation from Aurelium Occultae Philosophorum..Georgio Beato

1) This is true and remote from all cover of falsehood  
2) Whatever is below is similar to that which is above. Through this the marvels of the work of one thing are procured and perfected.  
3) Also, as all things are made from one, by the condsideration of one, so all things were made from this one, by conjunction.  
4) The father of it is the sun, the mother the moon.  
5) The wind bore it in the womb. Its nurse is the earth, the mother of all perfection.  
6a)Its power is perfected.  
7) If it is turned into earth,  
7a) separate the earth from the fire, the subtle and thin from the crude and course, prudently, with modesty and wisdom.  
8) This ascends from the earth into the sky and again descends from the sky to the earth, and receives the power and efficacy of things above and of things below.  
9) By this means you will acquire the glory of the whole world, and so you will drive away all shadows and blindness.  
10) For this by its fortitude snatches the palm from all other fortitude and power. For it is able to penetrate and subdue everything subtle and everything crude and hard.  
11a) By this means the world was founded  
12) and hence the marvelous cojunctions of it and admirable effects, since this is the way by which these marvels may be brought about.  
13) And because of this they have called me Hermes Tristmegistus since I have the three parts of the wisdom and Philsosphy of the whole universe.  
14) My speech is finished which i have spoken concerning the solar work  
[Davis 1926: 874.]  

Translation of Issac Newton c. 1680.

1) Tis true without lying, certain & most true.  
2) That wch is below is like that wch is above & that wch is above is like yt wch is below to do ye miracles of one only thing.  
3) And as all things have been & arose from one by ye mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.  
4) The Sun is its father, the moon its mother,  
5) the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nourse.  
6) The father of all perfection in ye whole world is here.  
7) Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.  
7a) Seperate thou ye earth from ye fire, ye subtile from the gross sweetly wth great indoustry.  
8) It ascends from ye earth to ye heaven & again it desends to ye earth and receives ye force of things superior & inferior.  
9) By this means you shall have ye glory of ye whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.  
10) Its force is above all force. ffor it vanquishes every subtile thing & penetrates every solid thing.  
11a) So was ye world created.  
12) From this are & do come admirable adaptaions whereof ye means (Or process) is here in this.  
13) Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of ye philosophy of ye whole world.  
14) That wch I have said of ye operation of ye Sun is accomplished & ended.  
[Dobbs 1988: 183-4.]  

Translation from Kriegsmann (?) alledgedly from the Phoenician

1) I speak truly, not falsely, certainly and most truly  
2) These things below with those above and those with these join forces again so that they produce a single thing the most wonderful of all.  
3) And as the whole universe was brought forth from one by the word of one GOD, so also all things are regenerated perpetually from this one according to the disposition of Nature.  
4) It has the Sun for father and the Moon for mother:  
5) it is carried by the air as if in a womb, it is nursed by the earth.  
6) It is the cause, this, of all perfection of all things throughout the universe.  
6a) This will attain the highest perfection of powers  
7) if it shall be reduced into earth  
7a) Distribute here the earth and there the fire, thin out the density of this the suavest (suavissima) thing of all.  
8) Ascend with the greatest sagacity of genius from the earth into the sky, and thence descend again to the earth, and recognise that the forces of things above and of things below are one,  
9) so as to posses the glory of the whole world-and beyond this man of abject fate may have nothing further.  
10) This thing itself presently comes forth stronger by reasons of this fortitude: it subdues all bodies surely, whether tenuous or solid, by penetrating them.  
11a) And so everything whatsoever that the world contains was created.  
12) Hence admirable works are accomplished which are instituted (carried out-instituuntur) according to the same mode.  
13) To me therefor the name of Hermes Trismegistus has been awarded because I am discovered as the Teacher of the three parts of the wisdom of the world.  
14) These then are the considerations which I have concluded ought to be written down concerning the readiest operations of the Chymic art.  
[Davis 1926: 875 slightly modified.]  

From Sigismund Bacstrom (allegedly translated from Chaldean).

0) The Secret Works of CHIRAM ONE in essence, but three in aspect.  
1) It is true, no lie, certain and to be depended upon,  
2) the superior agrees with the inferior, and the inferior agrees with the superior, to effect that one truly wonderful work.  
3) As all things owe their existence to the will of the only one, so all things owe their origin to the one only thing, the most hidden by the arrangement of the only God.  
4) The father of that one only thing is the sun its mother is the moon,  
5) the wind carries it in its belly; but its nourse is a spirituous earth.  
6) That one only thing is the father of all things in the Universe.  
6a) Its power is perfect,  
7) after it has been united with a spirituous earth.  
7a) Separate that spirituous earth from the dense or crude by means of a gentle heat, with much attention.  
8) In great measure it ascends from the earth up to heaven, and descends again, newborn, on the earth, and the superior and the inferior are increased in power.  
9) By this wilt thou partake of the honours of the whole world. And Darkness will fly from thee.  
10) This is the strength of all powers. With this thou wilt be able to overcome all things and transmute all what is fine and what is coarse.  
11a) In this manner the world was created;  
12) the arrangements to follow this road are hidden.  
13) For this reason I am called Chiram Telat Mechasot, one in essence, but three in aspect. In this trinity is hidden the wisdom of the whole world.  
14) It is ended now, what I have said concerning the effects of the sun. Finish of the Tabula Smaragdina.  
[See Hall 1977: CLVIII,]  

From Madame Blavatsky

2) What is below is like that which is above, and what is above is similar to that which is below to accomplish the wonders of the one thing.  
3) As all things were produced by the mediation of one being, so all things were produced from this one by adaption.  
4) Its father is the sun, its mother the moon.  
6a) It is the cause of all perfection throughout the whole earth.  
7) Its power is perfect if it is changed into earth.  
7a) Separate the earth from the fire, the subtile from the gross, acting prudently and with judgement.  
8 ) Ascend with the greatest sagacity from earth to heaven, and unite together the power of things inferior and superior;  
9) thus you will possess the light of the whole world, and all obscurity will fly away from you.  
10) This thing has more fortitude than fortitude itself, because it will overcome every subtile thing and penetrate every solid thing.  
11a) By it the world was formed.  
[Blavatsky 1972: 507.]  

From Fulcanelli (translated from the French by Sieveking)

1) This is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth:-  
2) As below, so above; and as above so below. With this knowledge alone you may work miracles.  
3) And since all things exist in and eminate from the ONE Who is the ultimate Cause, so all things are born after their kind from this ONE.  
4) The Sun is the father, the Moon the mother;  
5) the wind carried it in his belly. Earth is its nurse and its guardian.  
6) It is the Father of all things,  
6a) the eternal Will is contained in it.  
7) Here, on earth, its strength, its power remain one and undivded.  
7a) Earth must be separated from fire, the subtle from the dense, gently with unremitting care.  
8) It arises from the earth and descends from heaven; it gathers to itself the strength of things above and things below.  
9) By means of this one thing all the glory of the world shall be yours and all obscurity flee from you.  
10) It is power, strong with the strength of all power, for it will penetrate all mysteries and dispel all ignorance.  
11a) By it the world was created.  
12) From it are born manifold wonders, the means to achieving which are here given  
13) It is for this reason that I am called Hermes Trismegistus; for I possess the three essentials of the philosophy of the universe.  
14) This is is the sum total of the work of the Sun.  
[Sadoul 1972: 25-6.]  

From Fulcanelli, new translation

1) It is true without untruth, certain and most true:  
2) that which is below is like that which is on high, and that which is on high is like that which is below; by these things are made the miracles of one thing.  
3) And as all things are, and come from One, by the mediation of One, So all things are born from this unique thing by adaption.  
4) The Sun is the father and the Moon the mother.  
5) The wind carries it in its stomach. The earth is its nourisher and its receptacle.  
6 The Father of all the Theleme of the universal world is here.  
6a) Its force, or power, remains entire,  
7) if it is converted into earth.  
7a) You separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, gently with great industry.  
8) It climbs from the earth and descends from the sky, and receives the force of things superior and things inferior.  
9) You will have by this way, the glory of the world and all obscurity will flee from you.  
10) It is the power strong with all power, for it will defeat every subtle thing and penetrate every solid thing  
11a) In this way the world was created.  
12) From it are born wonderful adaptations, of which the way here is given.  
13) That is why I have been called Hermes Tristmegistus, having the three parts of the universal philosophy.  
14) This, that I have called the solar Work, is complete.  
[Translated from Fulcanelli 1964: 312.]  

From Idres Shah

1) The truth, certainty, truest, without untruth.  
2 )What is above is like what is below. What is below is like what is above. The miracle of unity is to be attained.  
3) Everything is formed from the contemplation of unity, and all things come about from unity, by means of adaptation.  
4) Its parents are the Sun and Moon.  
5) It was borne by the wind and nurtured by the Earth.  
6) Every wonder is from it  
6a) and its power is complete.  
7) Throw it upon earth,  
7a) and earth will separate from fire. The impalbable separated from the palpable.  
8) Through wisdom it rises slowly from the world to heaven. Then it descends to the world combining the power of the upper and the lower.  
9 )Thus you will have the illumination of all the world, and darkness will disappear.  
10) This is the power of all strength-it overcomes that which is delicate and penetrates through solids.  
11a) This was the means of the creation of the world.  
12) And in the future wonderful developements will be made, and this is the way.  
13) I am Hermes the Threefold Sage, so named because I hold the three elements of all wisdom.  
14) And thus ends the revelation of the work of the Sun.  
(Shah 1964: 198).  

Hypothetical Chinese Original

1) True, true, with no room for doubt, certain, worthy of all trust.  
2) See, the highest comes from the lowest, and the lowest from the highest; indeed a marvelous work of the tao.  
3) See how all things originated from It by a single process.  
4) The father of it (the elixir) is the sun (Yang), its mother the moon (Yin).  
5) The wind bore it in its belly, and the earth nourished it.  
6 )This is the father of wondrous works (changes and transformations), the guardian of mysteries,  
6a) perfect in its powers, the animator of lights.  
7) This fire will be poured upon the earth...  
7a) So separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, acting prudently and with art.  
8) It ascends from the earth to the heavens (and orders the lights above), then descends again to the earth; and in it is the power of the highest and the lowest.  
9) Thus when you have the light of lights darkness will flee away from you.  
10) With this power of powers (the elixir) you shall be able to get the mastery of every subtle thing, and be able to penetrate everything that is gross.  
11a) In this way was the great world itself formed.  
12) Hence thus and thus marvellous operations will be achieved.  
[Slightly altered from Needham 1980: 371.]

## Textual Remarks

On #3 Some Latin texts have meditatione (contemplation), others mediatione (mediation). Some texts have adaptatione (by adaptation), some have adoptionis (by adoption).  

On #6 'Telesmi' is a greek word, some texts have 'thelesmi'.  

On #6, 7 In some texts 'Its Power is Complete' is a separate line. In the generally accepted reading, this runs into #7 producing 'Its Power is complete if versa fuerit to earth'. Where possible this has been indicated by diving these lines in 6, 6a, 7, & 7a  

On #7, 8 In some texts the 'Wisdom, capacity' (magno ingenio) is read as referring to #7, and hence the operation of Separation is to be carried out 'carefully', in other readings the 'wisdom' is held to refer to #8 and the product of the Separation which thus ascends with 'wisdom'.  

Needham quotes Ruska to the effect that sections 3, 12 and 14 are probably late additions (op. cit)

## Commentaries

**On #1**  
Hortulanus: "... the most true Sun is procreated by art. And he says most true in the superlative degree because the Sun generated by this art exceeds all natural Sun in all of its properties, medicinal and otherwise" (Davis modified by 'Linden')  

**On #2**  
Albertus Magnus: Hermes says "the powers of all things below originate in the stars and constellations of the heavens: and that all these powers are poured down into all things below by the circle called Alaur, which is, they said, the first circle of the constellations". This descent is "noble when the materials receiving these powers are more like things above in their brightness and transparency; ignoble when the materials are confused and foul, so that the heavenly power is, as it were oppressed. Therefore they say that this is the reason why precious stones more than anything else have wonderful powers" (60 -61). While the "seven kinds of metals have their forms from the seven planets of the lower spheres" (168).  

Hortulanus: "the stone is divided into two principle parts by the magistry, into a superior part which ascends above and into an inferior part which remains below fixed and clear. And these two parts moreover are concordant in their virtue since the inferior part is earth which is called nurse and ferment, and the superior part is the spirit which quickens the whole stone and raises it up. Wherfore separation made, and conjunction celebrated, many miracles are effected."  

Burckhardt: "This refers to the reciprocal dependence of the active and the passive... essential form cannot be manifested without passive materia.. the efficacy of the spiritual power depends on the preparedness of the human 'container' and vice versa.... 'Above' and 'below' are thus related to this one thing and complement one another in its regard".  

Schumaker: "There are corresponding planes in various levels of creation, hence it is safe to draw analogies between macrocosm and microcosm, the mineral kingdom and the human, animal and vegetable kingdoms etc".  

Needham: "the whole affirmation looks remarkably like the doctrine that extreme of Yang generates Yin, and vice versa".  

**On #3**  
Hortulanus: "our stone, which was created by God, was born and came forth from a confused mass, containing in itself all the elements-and hence our stone was born by this single miracle".  

Trithemius: "Is it not true that all things flow from one thing, from the goodness of the One, and that whatever is joined to Unity cannot be diverse, but rather fructifies by means of the simplicity and adaptability of the One" "What is born from Unity? Is it not the ternary? Take note: Unity is unmixed, the binary is compounded, and the ternary is reduced to the simplicity of Unity. I, Trithemius, am not of three minds, but persist in a single integrated mind taking pleasure in the ternary, which gives birth to a marvelous offspring" (Bran)  

Burckhardt: "the undivided, invisible Light of the unconditioned One is refracted into multiplicity by the prism of the Spirit". As the Spirit contemplates the Unity without full comprehension "it manifests the 'many-sided' All, just as a lens transmits the light it receives as a bundle of rays".  

Schumaker: As God is one, all created objects come from one thing, an undifferentiated primal matter.  

**On #4**  
Hortulanus: " As one animal naturally generates more animals similar to itself, so the Sun artificially generates Sun by the power of multiplication of...the stone.... in this artificial generation it is necessary that the Sun have a suitable receptacle, consonant with itself, for its sperm and its tincture, and this is the Luna of the philosophers"  

Redgrove: Sun and Moon "probably stand for Spirit and Matter respectively, not gold and silver".  

Burckhardt: Sun "is the spirit (nous), while the moon is the soul (psyche)".  

Schumaker: "If the moon is associated with water, as because of its 'moisture' [as] was usual, and the sun with fire, the prima materia is understood to have been generated by fire, born of water, brought down from the sky by wind, and nourished by earth".  

**On #5**  
Albertus Magnus: by this Hermes "means the levigatio [making light weight] of the material, raising it to the properties of Air. And why he says the wind carries the material [of the stone] in its belly is that, when the material is placed in an alembic-which is a vessel made like those in which rosewater is prepared-then by evapouration it is rendered subtle and is raised towards the properties of Air... And there distills and issues from the mouth of the alembic a watery or oily liquor with all the powers of the elements" (17). In metals the moisture is not separated from the dryness, but is dissolved in it; and being so dissolved, it moves about there as if it had been swallowed by the Earth and were moving about in its bowels. And on this account Hermes said 'The mother of metal is Earth that carries it in her belly'".  

Hortulanus: "It is plain that wind is air, and air is life, and life is spirit... And thus it is necessary that the wind should bear the whole stone.... [However] our stone without the ferment of the earth will never come to the effect, which ferment is called food"  

Trithemius: "the wind carries its seed in her belly".  

Maier: By "the wind carried him in its belly" Hermes means " 'He, whose father is the Sun, and whose mother is the Moon, will be carried before he is born, by wind and vapour, just as a flying bird is carried by air'. From the vapours of winds, which are nothing else but wind in motion, water proceeds, when condensed, and from that water, mixed with earth, all minerals and metals arise". The substance carried by the wind is "in chemical respect.. the sulphur, which is carried in mercury". Lull says "'The stone is the fire, carried in the belly of the air'. In physical respect it is the unborn child that will soon be born". To be clearer, "'All mercury is composed of vapours, that is to say of water, which the earth raises along with it into the thin air, and of earth, which the air compels to return into watery earth or earthy water" As the elements contained within are each reduced to a watery condition, they either follow the volatile elements upward as in common mercury, or they stay below with the solid elements as in philosophical Mercury "and in the solid metals". So "Mercury is the wind which receives the sulphur... as the unripe fruit from the mothers womb, or from the ashes of the burnt mother's body and takes it to a place where it may ripen". Ripley says "our child shall be born in the air, that is the belly of the wind" [de Jong 1969: 55-7.]  

Maier (2nd Comment) on "The earth is its nurse": Food changes into the substance of the eater and is then assimilated. "This harmony dominates the whole of nature, for the like enjoys the like". The same happens in the Work and Nature "just as is the growth of the child in the mother's womb. So also a father, a mother and a nurse have been attributed to the philosophical child... it comes into being from the twofold seed and then grows as an embryo does". As a woman must moderate her diet to avoid miscarriage, "in the same way one must set about philosophical work with moderation". The Seeds also have to be united. "Philosophers say that the one comes from the East and the other from the West and become one; what does this mean but combining in a retort, a moderate temperature and nourishment?". "One may wonder why the earth is referred to as the nurse of the philosophic child, since barreness and dryness are the main properties of the element earth". The answer is that not the element, but the whole Earth is meant. "It is the nurse of Heaven not because it resolves, washes and moistens the foetus, but because it coagulates, fastens and colours the latter and changes it into sap and blood... The Earth contains a wonderful juice which changes the nature of the one who feeds on it, as Romulus is believed to have been changed by the wolf's milk into a bellicose individual" [de Jong 1969: 63 -5.]  

Burckhardt: "The wind which carries the spiritual germ in its body, is the vital breath". Vital breath is the substance of the realm between heaven and earth, it "is also Quicksilver which contains the germ of gold in a liquid state". The earth is "the body, as an inward reality".  

**On #6**  
Burckhardt: the word talisman is derived from Telesma. Talismans work by corresponding to their prototype, and by making a "'condensation', on the subtle plane, of a spiritual state. This explains the similarity between the talisman, as the bearer of an invisible influence, and the alchemical elixir, as the 'ferment' of metallic transformation".  

**On #7**  
Hortulanus: The stone is perfect and complete if it is turned into earth "that is if the soul of the stone itself.... is turned into earth, namely of the stone and is fixed so that the whole substance of the stone becomes one with its nurse, namely the earth, and the whole stone is converted to ferment"  

Trithemius: it is the seed from #5 that must be cast upon the earth.  

Bacstrom: "Process-First Distillation".  

Burckhardt: "when the Spirit is 'embodied', the volatile becomes fixed".  

Schumaker: if the prime matter is to be used it must be fixed into a substance "capable of being handled".  

**On #7a**  
Hortulanus: "You will separate, that is, you will dissolve, because solution is separation of parts.."  

Burkhardt: The separation "means the 'extraction' of the soul from the body".  

Schumaker "Since the volatile principle is fire -or sometimes, air-stability is produced by its removal. Or, alternatively but less probably, the earth is impurity ('the gross') and a purified fire ('the subtle') is  
what is wanted.  

**On #8**  
Albertus Magnus: In intending to teach the operations of alchemy Hermes says the stone "'ascends to heaven' when by roasting and calcination it takes on the properties of Fire; for alchemists mean by calcinatio the reduction of material to to powder by burning and roasting. And the material 'again descends from heaven to earth' when it takes on the properties of Earth by inhumatio, for inhumation revives and nourishes what was previously killed by calcination".  

Hortulanus: "And now he deals with multiplication [of the stone]." "Although our stone is divided in the first operation into four parts... there are really two principle parts". The ascending, non fixed, and the earth or ferment. "It is necessary to have a large quantity of this non fixed part and to give it to the stone which has been made thoroughly clean from dirt.... until the entire stone is borne above by the virtue of the spirit"  
"Afterwards it is necessary to incerate the same stone,..with the oil that was extracted in the first operation, which oil is called the water of the stone" Roast or boil by sublimation until the "entire stone descends... and remains fixed and fluent". "That which is coporeal is made spiritual by sublimation, and that which is spiritual is made corporeal by descension".  

Trithemius: "When the ternary has at last returned to itself it may, by an inner disposition and great delight, ascend from the earth to heaven, thereby receiving both superior and inferior power; thus will it be made powerful and glorious in the clarity of Unity, demonstrate its ability to bring forth every number, and put to flight all obscurity".  

Bacstrom: "Last Digestion". "The Azoth ascends from the Earth, from the bottom of the Glass, and redescends in Veins and drops into the Earth and by this continual circulation the Azoth is more and more subtilised, Volatilizes Sol and carries the volatilized Solar atoms along with it and thereby becomes a Solar Azoth, *i.e.* our third and genuine Sophic Mercury". The circulation must continue until "it ceases of itself, and the Earth has sucked it all in, when it becomes the black pitchy matter, the Toad [the substances in the alchemical retort and also the lower elements in the body of man -Hall], which denotes complete putrifaction or Death of the compound".  

Read, suggests this section describes the use of a kerotakis, in which metals are suspended and subject to the action of gasses released from substances heated in the base, and from their condensation and circulation.  

Burckhardt: "dissolution of consciousness from all formal 'coagulations' is  
followed by the 'crystalisation' of the Spirit, so that active and passive are perfectly united."  

Schumaker: "Separate the volatile part of the substance by vaporization but continue heating until the vapour reunites with the parent body, whereupon you will have obtained the Stone".  

**On #9**  
Trithemius: When the ternary has returned to Unity cleansed of all impurities "the mind understands without contradiction all the mysteries of the excellently arranged arcanum".  

Bacstrom: the black matter becomes White and Red. The Red "having been carried to perfection, medicinaly and for Metals" is capable of supporting complete mental and physical health, and provides "ample means, in finitum multiplicable to be benevolent and charitable, without any dimunation of our inexhaustable resources, therefore well may it be called the Glory of the whole World". Contemplation and study of the Philosopher's Stone ("L. P.") elevates the mind to God. "The Philosophers say with great Truth, that the L.P. either finds a good man or makes one". "By invigorating the Organs the Soul makes use of for communicating with exterior objects, the Soul must aquire greater powers, not only for conception but also for retention". If we pray and have faith "all Obscurity must vanish of course".  

Burckhardt: "Thus the light of the Spirit becomes constant..[and] ignorance, deception, uncertainty, doubt and foolishness will be removed from consciousness".  

**On #10**  
Trithemius: The Philosopher's Stone is another name for the 'one thing', and is able to "conquer every subtile thing and to penetrate every solid". "This very noble virtue... consists of maximal fortitude, touching everything with its desirable excellence".  

Bacstrom: "The L.P. does possess all the Powers concealed in Nature, not for destruction but for exhaltation and regeneration of matter, in the three Departments of Nature". "It refixes the most subtil Oxygen into its own firey Nature". The power increases "in a tenfold ratio, at every multiplication". So it can penetrate Gold and Silver, and fix mercury, Crystals and Glass Fluxes.  

Burckhardt: "Alchemical fixation is nevertheless more inward... Through its union with the spirit bodily consciousness itself becomes a fine and penetrating power". He quotes Jabir "The body becomes a spirit, and takes on... fineness, lightness, extensibility, coloration... The spirit... becomes a body and aquires the latter's resistance to fire, immobility and duration. From both bodies a light substance is born , which.. precisely takes up a middle position between the two extremes".  

Schumaker: The product of the distillation and reunion will "dominate less solid substances, but because of its own subtlety it will 'penetrate' and hence dominate, other solid things less pure and quasi-spiritual than itself".  

**On #11**  
Burckhardt: "the little world is created according to the prototype of the great world", when the human realises their original nature is the image of God.  

Schumaker: "The alchemical operation is a paradigm of the creative process. We may note the sexual overtones of what has preceeded"  

**On #12**  
Burckhardt: "In the Arabic text this is: "This way is traversed by the sages".  

**On #13**  
Hortulanus: "He here teaches in an occult manner the things from which the stone is made." "the stone is called perfect because it has in itself the nature of minerals, ofvegetables and of animals. For the stone is three and one, tripple and single, having four natures.... and three colours, namely black, white and red. It is also called the grain of corn because unless it shall have died, it remains itself alone. And if it shall have died... it bears much fruit when it is in conjunction..."  

Newton: "on account of this art Mercurius is called thrice greatest, having three parts of the philosophy of the whole world, since he signifies the Mercury of the philosophers.... and has dominion in the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, and the animal kingdom".  

Bacstrom: the wisdom of the world (?) is hidden in "Chiram and its Use". Hermes "signifies a Serpent, and the Serpent used to be an Emblem of Knowledge or Wisdom."  

Burckhardt: "The three parts of wisdom correspond to the three great divisions of the universe, namely, the spiritual, psychic and corporeal realms, whose symbols are heaven, air and earth".  

Schumaker: "The usual explanation of Tristmegistus.. is that Hermes was the greatest philosopher, the greatest priest, and the greatest king".

## General

Trithemius: "our philosophy is celestial, not worldly, in order that we may faithfuly behold, by means of a direct intuition of the mind through faith and knowledge, that principle which we call God...."  

Trithemius: "Study generates knowledge; knowledge prepares love; love, similarity; similarity, communion; communion, virtue; virtue, dignity; dignity, power; and power performs the miracle".  

Newton "Inferior and superior, fixed and volatile, sulphur and quicksilver have a similar nature and are one thing, like man and wife. For they differ from one another only by degree of digestion and maturity. Sulphur is mature quicksilver, and quicksilver is immature sulphur: and on account of this affinity they unite like male and female, and they act on each other, and through that action they are mutually transmuted into each other and procreate a more noble offspring to accomplish the miracles of this one thing". "And just as all things were created from one Chaos by the design of one God, so in our art all things... are born from this one thing which is our Chaos, by the design of the Artificer and the skilful adaptation of things. And the generation of this is similar to the human, truly from a father and mother".  

Blavatsky: the mysterious thing "is the universal, magical agent, the astral light, which in the correlations of its forces furnishes the alkahest, the philosopher's stone, and the elixir of life. Hermetic philosophy names it Azoth, the soul of the world, the celestial virgin, the great Magnes, etc" It appears to be that which gives organisation ("the maze of force-correlations"), and form *i.e.* the perfect geometry of snowflakes.  

Sherwood Taylor: "the operation of the Sun.. was carried out by a 'spirit', universal, the source of all things, having the power of perfecting them. Its virtue is integral [## 6a] (ie having the power to convert the diverse into a single substance), if it be turned into earth (ie. solidified). This conveyed that the Stone was to be a solidified pneuma. Pneuma was the link between earth and heaven, having the virtue of the celestial and subterranean regions-the power of the whole cosmos from the fixed stars to the centre of the earth. It overcomes every nature and penetrates every solid. It is the source of the whole world and so it can be the means of changing things in a wonderful way. The three parts of the philosophy of the whole world are presumably of the celestial, terrestrial, and subterranean regions".  

Shah: The table is "the same as the Sufi dictum... 'Man is the microcosm, creation the macrocosm - the unity. All comes from One. By the joining of the power of contemplation all can be attained. This essence must be separated from the body first, then combined with the body. This is the Work. Start with yourself, end with all. Before man, beyond man, transformation'".

## A Commentary Of Ibn Umail

HERMUS said the secret of everything and the life of everything is Water.... This water becomes in wheat, ferment; in the vine, wine; in the olive, olive oil.... The begining of the child is from water.... Regarding this spiritual water and the sanctified and thirsty earth, HERMUS the great, crowned with the glorious wisdom and the sublime sciences, said [#1] Truth it is, indubtible, certain and correct, [#2] that the High is from the Low and the Low is from the High. They bring about wonders through the one, just as things are produced from that one essence by a single preparation. Later by his statement [#4] Its father is the Sun and its mother the Moon he meant their male and their female. They are the two birds which are linked together in the pictures given regarding the beginning of the operation, and from them the spiritual tinctures are produced. And similarly they are at the end of the operation. Later in his statement [#7 ?] the subtle is more honourable than the gross, he means by the subtle the divine spiritual water; and by the gross the earthly body. As for his later statement [#8] with gentleness and wisdom it will ascend from the earth to the sky, and will take fire from the higher lights, he means by this the distillation and the raising of the water into the air. As for his later statement [#8a] It will descend to the earth, containing the strength of the high and the low, he means by this the breathing in (istinshaq) of the air, and the taking of the spirit from it, and its subsequent elevation to the highest degree of heat, and it is the Fire, and the low is the body, and its content of the controlling earthly power which imparts the colours. For there lie in it those higher powers, as well as the earthly powers which were submerged in it.  

The natural operation and decay causes it to be manifest, and hence the strength of the earth, and of the air, and of the higher fire passed in to it. Later he said [#9] it will overcome the high and the low because it in it is found the light of lights: and consequently the darkness will flee from it. [See Stapleton *et al.* p 74, 81.]



# THE HYMN OF JESUS

## Contents

- Preamble
- The Hymn
- Comments

## Preamble

Just as many other settings of the Sayings and Doings of the Lord existed prior to and alongside of the canonical Gospels, so were there, prior to and alongside of the subsequently selected or canonical Acts, many other narratives professing to record the doings and sayings of the Apostles and Disciples of the Lord.

Most of these originated in circles which were subsequently called heretical, and many of them were later on worked over by orthodox editors to suit doctrinal preconceptions, and so preserved for the edification of large numbers in the Catholic or General Church.

As Lipsius says: "Almost every fresh editor of such narratives, using that freedom which all antiquity was wont to allow itself in dealing with literary monuments, would recast the materials which lay before him, excluding whatever might not suit his theological point of view--dogmatic statements, for example, speeches, prayers, etc., for which he would substitute other formulæ of his own composition, and further expanding and abridging after his own pleasure, or as the immediate object which he had in view might dictate."

Some of these edited and re-edited documents, though for the most part they have come down to us in a very fragmentary condition, still preserve distinct traces of their Gnostic origin; and Lipsius has shown that their Gnosticism is not to be ascribed to third century Manichæism, as had been previously assumed by many, but to the general Gnosis of the second century.

There was a very wide circulation of such religious romances in the second century, for they formed the main means of Gnostic public propaganda.

The technical inner teachings of Gnosticism were assailed by the subsequently orthodox Church Fathers with misrepresentation and overwhelmed with ridicule.

To these onslaughts the Gnostics, as far as we are aware, made no reply; most probably because they were bound by oaths of secrecy on the one hand, and on the other knew well that the mysteries of the inner life could not be decided by vulgar debate.

The mystic teachings of their Gospel were for those who knew the nature of the inner life by direct experience; for the rest they were foolishness.

Their Acts-romances also appear often to be based on actual occurrences of the inner life and on direct spiritual experience, subsequently worked up into popular forms; the marvellous complexity and baffling sublimity of apocalyptic ecstasy, and the overabundant and pregnant technology which delighted the member of the inner circles of the Gnostic Christians, were excluded, and all was reduced to simpler terms.

These marvellous narratives may seem vastly fantastic to the modern mind, but to every shade of Christianity in those days, they were entirely credible. The orthodox did not repudiate the marvellous nature of the narratives; what they opposed with such bitterness was the doctrinal implications with which they were involved.

These Acts-romances thus formed the intermediate link between the General Church and the inner teachings of Gnosticism, and they were so popular that they could not be disposed of by ridicule simply. Another method had to be used.

To quote from Lipsius again: "Catholic bishops and teachers knew not how better to stem this flood of Gnostic writings and their influence among the faithful, than by boldly adopting the most popular narratives from the heretical books, and, after carefully eliminating the poison of false doctrine, replacing them in this purified form in the hands of the public."

Fortunately for some of us, this "purification" has not been complete, and some of the "poison of false doctrine" has thus been preserved. Among other things of great beauty for which we are grateful, we especially thank a kindly providence for the preservation of the Hymn of Jesus.

The earliest collection of these Gnostic Acts is said to have been made by a certain Leucius, surnamed Charinus. There is a tradition, though of somewhat doubtful authenticity, that this Leucius was a disciple of John. If we accept it at all, this John must be taken for the writer of the Fourth Gospel, and not the John of the original Twelve.

It would be impossible here to enter into any discussion of the baffling Johannine problem; those of our readers, however, who are interested in the manifest Gnostic implications with which this problem is involved as far as it relates to the Fourth Gospel, should read Kreyenbuhl's exhaustive and instructive study Das Evangelium der Wahrheit (Berlin; 1900, 1905). His "new solution of the Johannine question," which Kreyenbuhl entitles "The Gospel of the Truth," boldly claims an immediate Gnostic origin for the Fourth Gospel; and this courageous pioneer of a new way even goes so far as to contend that the writer of what is indubitably the most spiritual of all the Gospels, was no other than Mænander, the teacher of Basilides. It is instructive to remark that this voluminous and important work has been passed over with complete silence in this country.

At any rate the Leucian Acts were early; in the opinion of Zahn this collection was made at a time when the Gnostics were not yet considered heretical, that is to say prior to 150 A.D.--say 130 A.D.

Lipsius on the other hand places them in the second half of the second century, towards the end, and so does Hennecke.

This maximum of date they are compelled to concede, because Clement of Alexandria at the end of the second century quotes from the Gnostic Acts of John which indubitably formed part of the Leucian collection.

The controversy between Lipsius and Zahn was conditioned by the fact that they both agreed that the Acts of John quote from the Fourth Gospel. Zahn placed this Gospel earlier in date than Lipsius and was anxious to find in the Acts an early witness to that Gospel, indeed the earliest witness.

It has, however, been strongly contested by Corssen whether the Acts quote from the Gospel; and as far as I can myself see from the passages adduced, there does not seem to be absolute evidence of any direct quotation. There is indubitably a close similarity of diction, as is so often the case in similar problems concerning nearly contemporary documents; but the problem is more easily satisfied by considering the writers as belonging to the same circle, than by seeking to prove direct literary plagiarism.

However this may be, we are not to suppose that Leucius invented the Acts; he collected and adapted and wrote up the material. If he had invented all of it, he would have been a genius of no mean order.

Leucius has a style of his own, and he also moved in a certain sweet atmosphere that is characteristic of the best in the Johannine tradition--the tradition of love, and intimacy, and simplicity; very different, for instance, from the more formal Pauline atmosphere.

The Acts of John are indubitably Leucian, and judging by literary style so are the Acts of Peter. As to the rest of the Acts of the original Leucian collection, there is at present no certainty, and those assigned to Leucius by later writers must be put on one side as far as their present remains are concerned.

It has been surmised by James that as Luke (Loukas) wrote the Orthodox Acts, the writer who wrote the Gnostic Acts called himself Leucius (Leukios) to suggest he was one and the same person; but this I consider highly improbable. The Gnostics are in general inventors and not copyists.

It is also of interest to note that Zahn considers that the account of the genesis of the Fourth Gospel given by the writer of the Muratorian Fragment (c. 170 A.D.) was taken from the Leucian Acts. This Gospel is there said to have been written by a certain John, who was "of the Disciples." His "fellow-disciples and bishops" had apparently urged him to write a Gospel, but John hesitated to accept the responsibility, and proposed that they should all fast together for three days, and tell one another if anything was revealed to them. On the same night it is revealed to Andrew, who is "of the Apostles," that while all revised John should write down all things in his own name.

If this information is taken from the Leucian Acts, it follows of course that their writer was acquainted with the Fourth Gospel. If we take this as certain--though from the adduced parallel phrases alone I cannot myself be quite certain--then the question arises how could Leucius have put into the mouth of John doctrines which are opposed to the teaching of the Gospel? To this question James gives the following answer:

"His notion is that St. John wrote for the multitude certain comparatively plain and easy episodes in the life of the Lord: but that to the inner circle of the faithful his teaching was widely different. In the Gospel and Epistles we have his exoteric teaching: in the Acts his esoteric."

This of course exactly reverses the relation that Corssen supposes to have existed between the Acts and Gospel; namely that the author of the Acts did not know the Gospel at all.

It is of course the general Gnostic position that all true scripture had an under-meaning. The gospel-narratives were written for the people, but at the same time in such a fashion as to set forth allegorically the mysteries.

If, then, any propaganda of these hidden mysteries was to be attempted in a less veiled form, it follows that a more spiritual standpoint had to be insisted on; and the popular narrative which was generally taken in a physical and material sense, was replaced by a more plastic and suggestive setting and exposition.

But--we may ask, at any rate in the case of the Fourth Gospel--was it the Gospel-narrative that was prior in date, and the Gnostic rewriting of Gospel-incidents subsequent; or was it that the Gnostic ideas existed prior to the writing of the Gospel, and the matter incorporated into the Gnostic Acts derived directly from the same body of ideas that inspired the Gospel?

As it now proved beyond all question that the Gnosis was pre-Christian, and that in what is generally called Gnosticism we are dealing with a Christianized Gnosis which demonstrably existed in the time of Paul, and which Paul found already existing in the Churches, we must conclude that there is nothing inherently improbable in the latter alternative.

Moreover, the Gnosticism of the Acts of John is general and simple and cannot be assigned to this or that particular school of the Christian Gnosis.

The marvellous and beautiful Hymn, which is the subject of this small volume, is found in what are without doubt the Leucian Acts of John. That, however, Leucius himself composed the Hymn is by no means to be taken for granted. Leucius was a collector and redactor--he used sources; and I have myself no doubt that the Hymn existed in Gnostic circles prior to the composition of the Acts--indeed, that it was a most precious document.

The first external testimony to our Hymn is found in its use by the Priscillianists, in Spain, in the last third of the fourth century. The great movement known under the name of Priscillianism was a powerful revival of Gnosticism and Oriental mysticism and theosophy which poured over the Peninsula.

The views of the Priscillianists on scripture were those of the rest of the Gnostics in general; their canon was catholic in the widest meaning of the term. Just as the Jewish scriptures were an imperfect revelation as compared with the general Christian books, so were the popular scriptures of Christianity imperfect in comparison with the revelations of the Gnosis.

As the Old Covenant books were considered to be replete with types and figures, images and shadows of the Gospel-teaching, so were the books of the New Testament, in their turn, held to be figurative and symbolical of the inner teachings of the Gnosis. The former were intended for those of Faith, the latter for those in Gnosis.

Against this view Augustine and Jerome waged remorseless war; for the country was flooded with an immense number of Gnostic documents. The Priscillianists were persecuted and martyred and the main care of the orthodox bishops was to seize their books and destroy them.

Ceretius, one of the bishops presumably, had sent Augustine some of the books of these Gnostics; he himself seems to have been inclined to approve them. Augustine, in his answer, picks out for detailed criticism one document only--our Hymn. Concerning this he writes:

"As for the Hymn which they say is that of our Lord Jesus Christ, and which has so greatly aroused your veneration, it is usually found in apocryphal writings, not peculiar to the Priscillianists but used by other heretics."

Augustine adds a quotation from the introduction of the Gnostic M.S. of the Hymn, which runs:

"The Hymn of the Lord which He sang in secret to the holy Apostles, His disciples, for it is said in the Gospel: 'And after singing a hymn He ascended the mount.' This Hymn is not put in the canon, because of those who think according to themselves, and not according to the Spirit and Truth of God, and that it is written: 'It is good to hide the sacrament of the King; but it is honourable to reveal the works of God.'"

The Gospel referred to cannot be either Matthew (xxvi.31) or Mark (xiv.26), both of which read: "And after singing a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives." The second quotation I am unable to trace.

An important point which will concern us later on is that Ceretius found the Hymn by itself and not in its context in the Acts; it was in all probability extracted for liturgical purposes.

It is, moreover, evident from what Augustine writes in the first passage we have quoted that the Hymn was well-known in Gnostic circles.

It would also seem as though Augustine, who wrote in Latin, was dealing with a Latin translation, rather than that he translated the quotation himself in his answer to Ceretius.

Part only of the Greek text of this famous Hymn was known prior to 1899, when James published a hitherto unknown and very important fragment of the Acts of John, found in a fourteenth century M.S., in the Vienna Imperial Library. This contained what seems to be the full text of our Hymn, though, unfortunately, copied by a sometimes very careless scribe. Nearly the whole of this lengthy fragment consists of a monologue put into the mouth of John, and in it we have preserved to us a very remarkable tradition of the Gnostic side of the life of the Master; or, if it be preferred, of incidents in the "occult" life of Jesus.

The whole setting of the christology is what is called "docetic." Our fragment is thus a most valuable addition to our knowledge of Docetism, and at last gives us a satisfactory reason why this view was held so widely by the Gnostics. Indeed it is now the most important source we possess, and puts the whole question on a different footing. In future our fragment must always be taken first as the locus classicus in any discussion of the question.

Docetism was a theory which found its confirmation in narratives and legends of certain psychic or spiritual powers ascribed to the "perfect man."

The christological and soteriological theories of the Gnostic philosophers were not, as many would have us believe, invented altogether à priori; they rested, I hold, on the basis of a veritable historical fact, which has for the most part been obscured out of all recognition by the flood of physical objective historicizing narratives of the origins.

After His death, I believe, as many a Gnostic tradition claims, the Christ did return and teach His disciples and true lovers in the inner circles, and this fact which was made known to their consciousness in many marvellous ways, was to a large extent the origin of the protean Gnostic tradition of an an inner instruction.

He returned in the only way He could return in this way of return--namely, in a subtle or "spiritual" mode or "body." This "body" could be made visible at will, could even be made sensible to touch, but was, compared with the normally objective physical body, an "illusory" body--hence the term "docetic."

But just as the external tradition of those who are considered the original Jewish Christians, the Ebionîm (or Poor), was gradually transmuted and sublimated, so that it, finally, exalted Jesus from the status of a simple prophet in which it originally regarded him, unto the full Power and Glory of Godhead itself; so the internal tradition extended the doubtlessly simple original docetic notion to every department of the huge soteriological structure raised by Gnostic genius.

The Leucian Acts of John pertain to the latter stream of tendencies, and "John" is the personification, so to say, of one of the lines of tradition of that protean Docetism, which had its origin in one of the best-known and most important facts of the spiritual life, or of "occult" experience, and of those marvellous teachings of initiation which became subsequently historicized or woven into historic settings, and which "John" in our fragment, sums up in the words:

"I held firmly this one thing in myself, that the Lord contrived all things symbolically and by a dispensation towards men, for their conversion and salvation."

That is to say, that all truly inspired narratives of the Doings and Sayings of the Christ are typical; or again, that He who is Christ, in all He does and says, as Christ, acts with the Cosmic Order. This is His "economy" and "ministry"--the doing of His "Father's business."

We will now turn to the Hymn itself, and first give a version of it from Bonnet's text. In the newly-recovered fragment it is introduced as follows:

"Now before He was taken by the lawless Jews--by them who are under the law of the lawless Serpent--He gathered us together and said:

"'Before I am delivered over unto them we will hymn the Father, and so go forth to what lieth before [us].'

"Then bidding us make as it were a ring, by holding each others' hands, with Him in the midst, He said:

"'Answer "Amen" to Me.'

"Then He began to hymn a hymn and say:

## The Hymn

Glory to Thee, Father!

(And we going round in a ring answered to Him:) Amen!

Glory to Thee, Word (Logos)!

Amen!

Glory to Thee, Grace (Charis)!

Amen!

Glory to Thee, Spirit!

Glory to Thee, Holy One!

Glory to Thy Glory!

Amen!

We praise Thee, O Father;

We give Thanks to Thee, O light;

In Whom Darkness dwells not!

Amen!

(For what we give thanks to the Logos).

[Or, if we adopt the "emended" text: For what we give thanks, I say:]

I would be saved; and I would save.

Amen!

I would be loosed; and I would loose.

Amen!

I would be wounded; and I would wound.

[Or, I would be pierced; and I would pierce.

Another reading has:

I would be dissolved (or consumed for love); and I would dissolve.]

Amen!

I would be begotten; and I would beget.

Amen!

I would eat; and I would be eaten.

Amen!

I would hear; and I would be heard.

Amen!

[I would understand; and] I would be understood; being all Understanding (Nous).

[The first cause I have supplied; the last is probably a gloss.]

I would be washed; and I would wash.

Amen!

(Grace leadeth the dance.)

I would pipe; dance ye all.

Amen!

I would play a dirge; lament ye all.

Amen!

The one Eight (Ogdoad) sounds (or plays) with us.

Amen!

The Twelfth number above leadeth the dance.

Amen!

All whose nature is to dance [doth dance].

Amen!

Who danceth not, knows not what is being done.

Amen!

I would flee; and I would stay.

Amen!

I would be adorned; and I would adorn.

[The clauses are reversed in the text.]

Amen!

I would be at-oned; and I would at-one.

Amen!

I have no dwelling; and I have dwellings.

Amen!

I have no place; and I have places.

Amen!

I have no temple; and I have temples.

Amen!

I am a lamp to thee who seest Me.

Amen!

I am a mirror to thee who understandest Me.

Amen!

I am a door to thee who knockest at Me.

Amen!

I am a way to thee a wayfarer.

Amen!

Now answer to My dancing!

See thyself in Me who speak;

And seeing what I do,

Keep silence on My Mysteries.

Understand by dancing, what I do;

For thine is the Passion of Man

That I am to suffer.

Thou couldst not at all be conscious

Of what thou dost suffer,

Were I not sent as thy Word by the Father.

[The last clause may be emended: I am thy Word; I was sent by the Father.]

Seeing what I suffer,

Thou sawest Me as suffering;

And seeing, thou didst not stand,

But wast moved wholly,

Moved to be wise.

Thou hast Me for a couch; rest thou upon Me.

Who I am thou shalt know when I depart.

What now I am seen to be, that I am not.

[But what I am] thou shalt see when thou comest.

If thou hadst known how to suffer,

Thou wouldst have power not to suffer.

Know [then] how to suffer, and thou hast power not to suffer.

That which thou knowest not, I Myself will teach thee.

I am thy God, not the Betrayer's

I would be kept in time with holy souls.

In Me know thou the Word of Wisdom.

Say thou to Me again:

Glory to Thee, Father!

Glory to Thee, Word!

Glory to TheSe, Holy Spirit!

But as for Me, if thou wouldst know what I was:

In a word I am the Word who did play [or dance] all things, and was not shamed at all.

'Twas I who leaped [and danced].

But do thou understand all, and, understanding, say: Glory to Thee, Father!

Amen!

(And having danced these things with us, Beloved, the Lord went forth. And we, as though beside ourselves, or wakened out of [deep} sleep, fled each our several ways.)

## Comments

To me it seems almost certain, as I argued in the first edition of Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, in 1900, that this Hymn is no hymn, but a mystery-ritual and perhaps the earliest Christian ritual of which we have any trace.

We have a number of such mystery-rituals in the Coptic Gnostic works--the extract from the "Books of the Saviour" appended to the so-called Pistis Sophia document of the Askew Codex, and in the "Two Books of Ieou" of the Bruce Codex.

In a number of passages the Disciples are bidden to "surround" (that is, join hands round) the Master at certain praise-givings and invocations of the Father, who is addressed as: "Father of all Fatherhood, Boundless Light"--just as the Father is hymned as Light in the last three lines of our opening doxology.

The "Second Book of Ieou" ends with a long praise-giving, in the inner spaces; for these highly mystical treatises dead with the instruction of the Disciples by the Master out of the body. This praise-giving begins as follows (Carl Schmidt, Gnost. Schrift. . . . aus d. Codex Brucianus--Leipzig, 1892--pp. 187 ff.):

"And He spake unto them, the Twelve:

Surround Me all of you!

And they all surrounded Him. He said unto them:

Answer to Me [Amen], and sing praise with Me; and I will praise My Father for the Emanation of all Treasures.

And He began to sing a hymn, praising His Father, and saying:

I praise Tee . . . ; for Thou hast drawn Thyself unto Thyself altogether in Truth, till Thou has set free the space of this Little Idea [?the Cosmos]; yet hast Thou not withdrawn Thyself. For what now is Thy Will, O Unapproachable God?

Thereon He made His Disciples answer three times: Amen, Amen, Amen!"

As far as I can discover from the most recent works of reference, "Amen" is considered by scholars to be a pure Hebrew word. It is said to have been originally an adjective signifying "stability," "firmness," "certainty," which subsequently became an interjection, used first of all in conversation, and then restricted to the most solemn form of asseveration; as, for instance, in oaths, and, in the temple ritual, in the responses of the congregation to the doxologies and solemn utterances of the priests and readers.

According to the Portuguese reading of the vowels it is pronounced Âmên (the vowels as in Italian). The Greek transliteration is Amên.

In Revelation (iii. 14), Christ is called the Amen: "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness."

We are told that in the great synagogue at Alexandria, at the conclusion of the reader's doxology, the attendant signalled with a flag for the congregation to respond Amen.

This use of this sacred utterance was taken over by the Christian churches; so that we find Jerome writing: "Like unto celestial thunder the Amen re-echoes."

It is well know that Hebrew and Aramaic are exceedingly rich in loan-words from other languages. I have, however, never seen it yet suggested that Amen may be a loan-word. I would now, with all submission to Hebraist specialists, make this suggestion, for Plutarch in his treatise On Isis and Osiris writes (ix. 4):

"Moreover, while the majority think that the proper name of Zeus with the Egyptians is Amoun (which we by a slight change call Ammôn), Manethô, the Sebennyte, considers it His hidden one, and that His power of hiding is made plain by the very articulation of the sound.

"Hecatæus of Abdera, however, says that the Egyptians use this word to one another also when they call one to them, for that its sound has got the power of 'calling to'.

"Wherefore when they call to the First God--who they think is the same for every man--as unto the Unmanifest and Hidden, invoking Him to make Him manifest and plain to them, they say 'Amoun!'"

Ammôn or Amoun is usually transliterated directly from the hieroglyphics as Amen. We thus learn that in Egypt Amen was a "word of power," indeed the chief "word of power" in general theurgic use.

We cannot suppose that Hecataeus, in his History of Egypt, intended us to understand that the Egyptians shouted it after one another in the street. It was rather used as a word of magic, for evoking the Ka of a person, or as the chiefest of all invocations to the Invisible Deity.

The exact parallel is to be found today in the use of the "Word of Glory" (the Pranava), Om or Aum, in India.

The sacred dancing was common to all great mystery-ceremonies. Here it will be sufficient to quote from what Philo of Alexandria, in the first quarter of our era, tells us, in his famous treatise On the Contemplative Life, about the sacred dances of the Therapeuts or "Servants of God." He writes:

"Then the president rising chants a hymn which has been made in God's honour, either a new one which he has composed, or an old one of the ancient poets.

"For they have left behind them many metres and tunes in trimetric epics, processional hymns, libation-odes, altar-chants, stationary choruses, and dance-songs, all admirably measured off in diversified strains.

"And after him the others also, in bands, in proper order, take up the chanting, while the rest listen in deep silence, except when they have to join in the burden and refrains; for they all, both men and women,join in. . . .

"After the banquet they keep the holy all-night festival. And this is how it is kept:

"They all stand up in a body; and about the middle of the ceremony they first of all separate into two bands, men in one and women in the other. And a leader is chosen for each, the conductor whose reputation is greatest and the one most suitable for the post.

"They then chant hymns made in God's honour, in many metres and melodies; sometimes singing in chorus, sometimes one band beating time to the answering chant of the other, now dancing to its music, now inspiring it, at one time in processional hymns, at another in standing songs, turning and returning in the dance.

"Then when each band has feasted [that is, has sung and dance] apart by itself, drinking of God-pleasing nectar, just as in the Bacchic rites men drink the wine unmixed, they join together, and one chorus is formed of the two bands. . .

"So the chorus of men and women Therapeuts . . . , by means of melodies in parts and harmony--the high notes of the women answering to the deep tones of the men--produces a harmonious and most musical symphony. The ideas are of the most beautiful, the expressions of the most beautiful, and the dancers reverent; while the goal of the ideas, expressions, and dancers is piety.

"Thus drunken into morning's light with this fair drunkenness, with no head-heaviness or drowsiness, but with eyes and body fresher even than when they came to the banquet, they take their stand at dawn, when, catching sight of the rising sun, they raise their hands to heaven, praying for Sunlight and Truth, and keenness of Spiritual Vision."

And now we will turn to the text of our Hymn, which pertains to a still higher mystery, first of all dealing with the introductory words of the writer of the Acts.

The "lawless Jews" refers to those who are "under the law of the lawless Serpent"; that is to say, those who are under the sway of Generation as contrasted with those who are under the law of Regeneration, of carnal birth as opposed to spiritual birth; or again, of the Lesser as contrasted with the Greater Mysteries.

As the pre-Christian Greek redactor of the Naassene Document phrases it (T.G.H., i. 162)"

"For He [the Great Man, the Logos, the Serpent of Wisdom] is Ocean--'birth-causing of gods and birth-causing of men'--flowing and ebbing for ever, now up and now down."

And on this the early Jewish commentator remarks:

"When Ocean flows down, it is the birth-causing of men; and when He flows up, . . . it is the birth-causing of gods."

And further on he adds:

"This is the Great Jordan, which flowing downwards and preventing the Sons of Israel from going forth out of Egypt, or from the Intercourse Below, was turned back by Jesus [LXX. for Joshua] and made to flow upwards."

This one and the same Serpent was thus either Agathodaimôn (or Good Spirit) or the Kakodaimôn (or Evil Spirit), according to the will of man. The regenerated or perfect man, the man of repentance, he who has turned Homewards, or has his "face" set Above, whose will is being atoned with the Divine Will, turns the waters of Ocean upwards, and thus gives birth to himself as a god.

The doxology of our Hymn is triadic--Father, Son, Mother.

Charis, Grace or Love, is Wisdom, or God's Good-Will, the Holy Spirit, or Great breath; that is, the Power and Spouse of Deity.

The order of the triple praise-giving is then reversed: Mother, Son, Father; for Glory is the Great Presence, the Father.

And finally there is a trinity in unity, Praise being given to the Father as Light; the same as the oft-recurring invocation in the Coptic Gnostic works: "Father of all Fatherhood, Boundless Light!"

The doxology being ended, we come to a striking series of double clauses or antitheses. I at once submit that these were not originally intended to be uttered by one and the same person. On the contrary they are evidently amoebæan; that is, answering as in a dialogue. Nor were they addressed to the Disciples; there was some single person for whom the whole was intended, and to whom much of it is addressed.

If, then, we have before us not a hymn, but the remains of a mystery-ritual, there must have been two people in the circle. One of them was the Master, the Initiator. Who was the other? Manifestly, the one to be initiated.

Now the ultimate end of all Gnosis was the at-one-ment or union of the little man with the Great Man, of the human soul with the Divine Soul.

In the great Wisdom-myth, the human soul was regarded as the "lost sheep," the erring and suffering Sophia fallen into generation, from which she was saved by the Christ, her true Lord and Spouse.

On the side of the Great Descent we have the most wonderful attempts made by the Gnostics to pierce the veil of the mysteries of cosmogony--to catch some glimpse of how the Cosmos came into existence, and was fashioned by the creative power of the Logos, the Supernal Christ. This was called the "enformation according to substance"--the "substance" being the Sophia or Wisdom Herself as viewed in Her self-isolation from the Plêrôma or Fullness of Divine Being, the Transcendent Presence.

On the way of the Great Ascent or Return, the Gnosis attempted to raise the veil of the mysteries of soteriology, or of the rescue of the separated human soul, and its restoration to the Bosom of the Divine. This was called the "enformation according to gnosis"--that is, Self-consciousness.

The duologue is therefore carried on by those who are acting out the mystery of the Sophia and the Christ; through we should never forget that they are in reality or essentially one and the same Person,the lower and higher self in the Presence of the Great Self.

The twelve disciples are the representatives of the powers of the Master, sent forth (apostles) into the outer worlds, corresponding with the Great Twelve of the Presence,the Twelve Above; and they dance to the dancing or cosmic motions of the Twelve, even as the candidate, or neophyte, the Sophia below, dances to the cosmic motion of the Charis or Grace or Sophia Above.

And if this rite be duly consummated, the Presence that enwraps the doers of the mystery is Divine. The Presence is that of the Father Himself, who has no human form, but is as it were a "Heart" or "Head," a "Face," a Shekinah or Glory. How the seers of the Gnosis conceived this marvel of the Godhead may perhaps be seized dimly in the following passages from the "Untitled Apocalypse" of the Bruce Codex (F.F.F., p. 548):

"The Outline of His Face is beyond all possibility of knowing in the Outer Worlds--those Worlds that ever seek His Face, desiring to know it; for His Word has gone forth into them, and they long to see Him.

"The Light of His Eyes penetrates the Spaces of the Outer Plêrôma; and the Word that comes forth from His Mouth penetrates the Above and the Below.

"The Hairs of His Head is the number of the Hidden Worlds, and the Outline of his Face is the type of the Æons [i.e., Perfect Spheres and Eternities].

"The Hair of His Face are the number of the Outer Worlds, and the Outspreading of His Hands is the manifestation of the Cross. . . .

"The Source of the Cross is the Man [Logos] whom no man can comprehend.

"He is the Father; He is the Source from which the Silence [the Mother of the Æons] wells."

And as to the consummation of at-one-ment and the state of him who makes joyful surrender of himself unto the Powers, "and thus becoming Powers he is in God," as Poemandrês teaches, some intuition may be gleaned from the same document which tells of the Host of Powers, "having wreaths (or crowns) on their heads"--that is Æons or Christs or Masters crowned their Twelve Powers, and all the other orderings of spiritual energies (F.F.F., p. 556):

"Their Crowns send forth Rays. The Brilliancy of Their Bodies is as the Life of the Space into which They are come.

"The Word (Logos) that come out of Their Mouth is Eternal Life; and the Light that comes forth from Their Eyes is Rest for Them.

"The Movement of Their Hands is Their Flight to the Space out of which They are come; and Their Gazing on Their own Faces is Gnosis of Themselves.

"The Going to Themselves is a repeated Return; and the Stretching forth of Their Hands establishes Them.

"The Hearing of Their Ears is the Perception in Their Heart; and the Union of Their Limbs is the in-gathering of Israel.

"Their Holding to one another is Their Fortification in the Logos."

All this is doubtless "foolishness" to many but is Light and Life and Wisdom for some few, who would strive towards becoming the Many in One, and One in Many.

But to the somewhat lesser mysteries of our ritual. All the terms must, I think, be interpreted as mystery-words; they contained for the Gnostics a wealth of meaning, which differed for each according to his understanding and experience. If, then, I venture on any suggestions of meaning, it should be understood that they are but tentative and ephemeral, and as it were only rough notes in pencil in the margin that may be rubbed out and emended by every one according to his knowledge and preference.

"I would be saved."

The human soul is "wandering in the labyrinth of ills," as the Naassene Hymn has it (T.G.H., i. 191); is being swirled about by the "fierce flood" of Ignorance as the Preacher, in one of the Trismegistic sermons, phrases it (T.G.H., ii. 120). The soul is being swirled about in the Ocean of Genesis, in the Spheres of Fate.

She prays for safety, for that state of stability which is attained when the worlds of swirl in the Magna Vorago, or Great Whirlpool, to use a term of the Orphic tradition, are transcended, by means of at-one-ment with the Great Stability, the Logos--"He who stands, has stood and will stand," as the Simonian Great Announcement calls Him.

In its beginnings this safety expresses neither motion nor stability, but a ceasing from agitation; the mind or anxiety is no longer within the movement, the Procession of Fate.

The tempest-tossed self cries out to be drawn apart from the swirl; while the other self that is not in the swirl would like to enter.

The self within, or subject to, the "downward" elements has to unite with the self of the "upward" elements in order to be saved from the swirling of the passions; while the "higher" self has to be drawn into the "lower," so to say, and unite with it, in order to be "saved" from the incapacity of self-expression.

"I would be loosed."

That is, loosed from the bonds of Fate and Genesis. In some of the rites the candidate was bound with a rope. In Egypt he rope symbolized a serpent, the Typhonic "loud-breathing serpent" of the passions, as the "Hymn of the Soul" of Bardaisan calls it (F.F.F., p.477).

"I would be wounded."

Or "I would be pierced." This suggests the entrance of the ray of the higher self into the heart whereby the "knot in the heart," as the Upanishads phrase it, may be unloosed, or dissolved, or in order that the lower self may receive the divine radiance of the higher. This interpretation is borne out by the alternative reading from a Latin translation, which may have originated in a gloss by one who knew the mystery, for he writes: "I would be dissolved"; that is, "consumed by love."

And so we continue with the mysteries of this truly "Sacred Marriage," or "Spiritual Union," as it was called.

"I would be begotten."

This is the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception, or Self-birth. "I would be begotten" as a Christ, the New-Man, or True Man, who is in verity the Alone-begotten--that is, Begotten-from-Himself-alone, or Self-begotten.

"I would eat."

By "eating," food and eater become one. The Logos is called the "Bread of Life"; that is, the Supersubstantial Bread, one of the Elements of the Eucharist. The soul desires to "eat" the Life in everything; this expresses how the soul must become everything before it can enjoy cosmic consciousness, and be nourished by the Life in all.

So it is that men can become part of the Cosmos through right action. But to reach this consummation we must no longer long to live and act our little life, but rather to be, if one may so phrase it, in our turn "eaten"; that is to say, to have our own self-will eaten out of us. And then our fate or life or activity becomes part of the Great Records, and the man becomes a Living Oracle or Drama, a Christ. All Life then becomes a happening with meaning; but this can never be until the man surrenders his self-will and becomes one with the Great Will.

This "eating" signifies a very intimate kind of union, in which the life of a man becomes part of a Great Life.

"I would hear."

It is to be remarked that there is no "I would see." If we can legitimately lay any stress on this, it is presumably because the candidate is already "seeing"; he has already reached the "epopt" stage, and therefore this "hearing" is beyond the probationary stage of "hearing" or of the "mystês."

Hearing is much more cosmic or "greater" than seeing, as we learn later on from our fragment, in the Vision of the Cross, where John "sees the Lord Himself above the Cross, not having any shape, but only a voice."

In such hearing the hearer draws nigh unto the Root-sound, or Breath (Âtman), which creates all that it is possible to see. To see there must be form, even if the form is only an idea.

Again, hearing may be said to be the verb of action when power is being conveyed to a person; while seeing is the verb of action of that person after receiving the power.

"I would understand."

This recalls the idea of "standing," "stability." Plato attributes this understanding to the Sphere of Sameness (the Eighth), in this, I believe, handing on an echo from Egypt. It is by means of this stability of the true mind that consciousness is enabled to link on the happenings in the whirling spheres, or whorls, of Fate to the Great Things or Things-that-are, and so perceive greater soul-records in phenomena. The last clause is evidently a gloss, but by a knowing scribe. The Logos is the true Understanding or Mind (Nous).

"I would be washed."

That is, I would be baptized, or immersed wholly in the Ocean of Living Water, the Great Oneness. It may mean simply "I would be purified." But the full rite of baptism was immersion and not sprinkling; as Thrice-greatest Hermes says in the sermon "The Cup," or "The Monad" (T.G.H., ii. 86):

"He filled a Mighty Cup (Kratêr) with it (Mind), and sent it down, joining a Herald to it, to whom He gave command to make this proclamation to the hearts of men:

"Baptize thyself with this Cup's baptism, what heart can do so, thou who hast faith thou canst ascend to Him Who hath sent down the Cup, thou who dost know for what thou didst come into being!'

"As many then as understand the Herald's tidings and dowsed themselves in Mind, became partakers in the Gnosis; and when they had 'received the Mind' they were made 'perfect men'.

The Cup is perchance the Presence substantially.

"Grace leadeth the dance."

In the text this has the next sentence run on to it; but I am myself inclined to think that it is a note or a rubric rather than an utterance of the Initiator.

The ceremony changes. Hitherto there had been the circledance, the "going round in a ring," which enclosed the mystery-drama, and the chanting of the sacred word.

Contact is now mystically established with the Great Sphere, Charis or Sophia, the Counterpart or Spouse or Syzygy of the Supernal Christ, or of the Christ Above. She "leads the dance"; that is to say, the actors begin to act according to the great cosmic movements.

"I would pipe."

In the Naassene Document (T.G.H., i. 183), we read:

"The Phrygians also say that that which is generated from Him is Syriktês."

Syriktês is the Piper, properly the player on the syrinx, or seven-reeded Pan-pipe, whereby the music of the spheres is created.

And on this the early Jewish commentator remarks:

"For that which is generated is Spirit in harmony."

That is to say, Spirit, or Sophia the Holy Breath, is harmony; and the Harmony was the name of the Seven Spheres encircled by the Eighth. Curiously enough, later on in our fragment the Logos is called "Wisdom in harmony."

The Greek word for "dance" in the sentence "dance ye all" is different from that in the phrase "leadeth the dance." It reminds us of the "orchestra" in the Greek theatre.

The Greek drama, I hold, arose from the Mysteries. The general view, however, is that it "sprang from the choral dances round the altar of Dionysus," and so the architectural form of the Greek theatre "was developed form the circular dancing place," the orchêstra.

The dance is to represent the dance of the world-mystery, and therefore of the man-mystery--of joy and sorrow, of rejoicing and beating the breast.

It is hardly necessary here to remind the reader of the Gospel-saying taken by the first (Matth., xi.17) and third (Lk., vii. 27) Evangelist from a common source:

"We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced;

"We have played a dirge unto you, and ye have not lamented."

Is it possible that there was an inner tradition of a scripture in which this Saying stood in the first person singular? I think I have made out a presumption in my analysis of the Naassene Document (T.H.G., i. 195) that the Christian commentator, in his parallels with the Fourth Gospel, legitimately opens up for us the question whether or no he was in touch with "sources" of that "Johannine" document.

In any case, I would suggest that for the Gnostic there was an under-meaning, and that it is here in our Hymn expressed for us though still mystically hidden

The higher quaternion, or tetrad, as the Gnostic Marcus would have phrased it, of joy is to blend with the lower tetrad of sorrow; and both together are to form an octave, whereby the man is raised from his littleness into the Greatness; that is to say, he can now respond to cosmic music.

Therefore what was apparently originally a rubric ("The one Eight" etc.), has been put by an unknowing scribe into the mouth of the Initiator, and an Amen added.

The Ogdoad or Eight (in music the full Octave), "sounds with us"; that is, we are now beginning to dance to the Music of the Spheres.

And this being so, the sense of the initiated soul may be said to become cosmic, for it begins to vibrate with, or answer back to, or become in sympathy with, the ordered motions of the Greatness; and therefore the Higher Twelve, the Powers that transcend the separated soul, and which crown or surround the Great Sphere, now lead the dance.

Or, to speculate more daringly; the indications seem to denote a belief that at this stage in the rite there was present the Presence of Masterhood; and this would mean for the aspirant--as is so nobly set forth in the Trismegistic "Secret Sermon on the Mount," which might very well be called "The Initiation of Tat"--that he passes out of himself to greater things.

And so his "twelve disciples," as it were, begin to dance above him or outside him; for the real disciples or apostles of a new-born Christ are not the things he has been taught on earth as man, but powers raying forth from the true Person into still greater regions.

Apostles who go forth into the world of men are but reflections of Great Powers who now go forth from the true Person and link him on to the Great Cosmos.

It is not easy to conjecture the meaning of the phrase "all whose nature is to dance doth dance," for the text is so faulty that we cannot be certain of a correct version. If, however, this be the right rendering, then I would suggest that the "all" is the cosmic order; and that now all is made ready, and spiritual communion has ben established between the church, or circle below, and the Church Above, who again is the Supernal Sophia.

"Who danceth not, knows not what is being done."

The soul must dance, or be active in a corresponding way, with the Great Dance, in order to know, or attain true Gnosis. Knowledge of the Great World can only be attained when the man has abandoned his self-will and acts in harmony with the Great Happenings.

This reminds us of the Saying in the Fourth Gospel (vii. 17): "If a man will to do His Will, he shall know of the Doctrine"; and again (ix. 31): "If a man be a worshipper of God and do His Will, He will hear him." And the Will of God is His Divine Spouse, the Sophia or Wisdom, by Whom and in Whom He has made the worlds.

"I would flee."

It may be that here the new-born is in fear; the new motions of the Great Passions are too great for him. Or, again, it may signify the necessity of balance, or equilibrium; the soul feels itself swept away into the infinitudes, and is held back by the greater power of the Master--the that in him which alone is stable; these two are then the centrifugal and centripetal powers.

"I would be adorned."

The original Greek term suggests the idea of being rightly "ordered" (kosmein).

It may also mean "clothed in fit garments"; that is, the soul prays that his little cosmos, which has previously been awry or out of order, may be made like unto the Great Order, and so he may be clad in "glories" or "robes of glory" or "power" like unto the Great Glories of the Heavenly Spheres.

"I would be at-oned."

We now approach the mystery of union, when the soul abandons with joy its separateness, and frees itself from the limitations of its "possession"--of that which is "mine" as apart from the rest.

And so we have the triple declaration as to the loss of "dwelling," "place" and "temple" (the very "shrine" of the soul), and the assurance of the gain of all"dwellings," "places" and "temples." And in illustration of this sublime idea we may yet again quote from the "Untitled Apocalypse" of the Bruce Codex (F.F.F., p. 554):

"'Holy, Holy, Holy is He, the [here come the seven vowels each three times repeated]'

"That is to say:

"'Thou art the Living One among the living.

"'Thou art the Holy One among the holy.

"'Thou art Being among beings.

"'Thou art Father among Fathers.

"'Thou art God among gods.

"'Thou art Lord among lords.

"'Thou art Space among spaces.'

"Thus too do they praise Him.

"'Thou art the House;

"'And Thou art the Dweller in the House.'

"And yet again do they praise the Son hidden in Him:

"'Thou art; Thou art the Alone-begotten--Light, Life and Grace.'"

"The Son of Man hath nowhere to lay His head"--for indeed He has all "places" in His possession.

Then follow the comfortable words that the Christ, the Logos, is the Lamp, the Mirror, the Door and the Way for the human soul; the Divine Soul is all things for the beloved.

In the worlds of darkness and uncertainty Christ is the Lamp, whom we must follow, for He leads us along the Way.

For those who can perceive the Christ-essence in all, this Christ-essence is a Mirror reflecting the great truths of the higher worlds.

There is one means alone of passing through the Wall of Separation between the Higher and the Lower, and that is Christ the Mediator. He is the Door; even as Thrice-greatest Hermes calls the Mind the "Inner Door" (T.G.H., iii. 274). And Parmenides in his "Truthwards" refers to the same mystery when he describes the Gates, twixt Day and Night, or Light and Darkness.

For him who truly knocks at this Door, that is who turns all his attention and power in this direction, the Great Wall or Limit will be no more, and he shall go in and out at will.

Again, Christ the Logos is the Way. He is our Path to God, both on the Light-side of things and on the Substance-side; either as a Lamp, or that for which the pure mind looks, or a Way, that on which the feet walk. In either case the Christ is that which leads to God.

The ceremony again changes with the words: "Now answer to My dancing."

All now may be believed to be taking place within the Master-Presence. Union of substance has been attained, but not yet union of consciousness. Before that final mystery can be consummated,the knowledge of the Passion of Man, that is of the Great Passion or perpetual experience of the Great Act, must be achieved.

The soul is to gaze upon the mystery as upon its own Passion. The perfected soul can gaze upon the mystery in peace; as yet, however, the soul of the aspirant is not perfected in gnosis, but in substance only, so that it may feel the Great Passion in itself, and yet as apart from itself.

Hereupon in the lower rite, the mystery-drama, the Passion of Man, must have been shown. What it may have been is not easy to conjecture; it must, however, have been something of a most distressing nature, for the neophyte is moved or shaken completely--that is to say,unnerved. He had not the strength of perfect faith in the Power of the Master; for, presumably, he saw that very Master dismembered before his eyes, or becoming many from one, or in some way done to death.

After the Passion-drama or Passion-vision comes the instruction; for in such rites--such passions or experiences for the sake of knowing--there must be the actual experience in feeling before there can be gnosis.

This knowledge is given by the Master Himself, the Logos in man: Wherefore it needs must be the lover should first behold the Beloved suffering.

And then follow the comfortable words: "I am a couch; rest thou upon Me." For the Suffering Christ is but the translation into manifestation in time and space of the Triumphant Eternal Christ, the Æon. It is here that that mystery of Docetism, of what the Vedânta calls Mâyâ, receives a philosophical meaning. This mystery is suggested in many a logos; but here I will quote only from the Trismegistic sermon called "The Inner Door" (T.G.H., iii. 275):

"And being so minded and so ordering his life, he shall behold the Son of God becoming all things for holy souls, that he may draw her (the soul) forth from out the region of the Fate into the Incorporeal.

"For having power in all, He becometh all things, whatsoever He will; and in obedience to the Father's nod, through the whole Body doth He penetrate, and pouring forth His Light into the mind of every soul. He starts it back into the Blessed Region, where it was before it had become corporeal--following after Him, and led by Him into the Light."

"Who I am thou shalt know when I depart."

This and the two following sentences seem to suggest--that is, if we may venture to believe that there was true vision of an inner mystery accompanying the outer drama--some such idea as this.

The substantial nature of the Presence, the Body, so to speak, of atmosphere, which may have been seen--with some suggestion of an idea of human form as its "pillar" or "support," and at the same time of a sphere or completeness holding it together--this, says the Master, is not my true Self. I am not this Mirror of the World, I am not this Word or Living Symbol which contains the whole world, and also stamps it with meaning and idea. What the nature of the real Christ is thou shalt know when thou comest, or becomest Him.

"If thou hadst known how to suffer."

The sentences so beginning are perhaps the most pregnant in meaning in the whole of this marvellous ritual. It seems in one sense (for there are infinite meanings) to signify: If the substance of your body had really known how to dance, and so been able to respond exactly to My Passion (that is, the manifestation in activity of real life and consciousness), then you would have had the power to have kept stable about the Mystic Centre, and not have been dragged back into your body of suffering, or in-harmony; you would not have been dragged back onto the dramatic side of things and been swamped by the drama.

"That which thou knowest not, I Myself will teach thee."

That which the soul unaided cannot know, the Master will teach. That is to say, presumably: This Power or Presence is a link between your own "body" or atmosphere and the realities of Great Things.

As soon as the sphere-"body" (the psychic envelope of normal man is said to be ellipse, egg-shaped, imperfect) is capable of dancing, the Power of the Master will stamp it with meaning. The little self cannot do this. The Power is not connected with little things. It comes from the greater worlds as a natural result of the perfect dancing of the substances of all man's "bodies."

"I am thy God, not the Betrayer's." Taken in connection with the introductory words before our Hymn, this will probably suggest to most readers the thought of Judas. But the Gnostics moved in a wider circle of ideas.

The Betrayer is rather the lawless Serpent, the Kakodaimôn, that which hands the soul over to the bodies of death--a mystery that is not touched upon in our ritual.

"I would be kept in time with holy souls."

This sentence appears to me to be misplaced. One of its meanings seems to be that as the soul watches the Dance, it prays to be brought into harmony with "Holy Souls"; that is to have its consciousness and form brought into such perfect relationship as to become one. Then the little soul would become a Great Soul or Master, a Perfect or Balanced Soul.

The concluding sentences are evidently drawn from two different traditions of the original text; they are two separate endings copied down one after the other. It is thus to be conjectured that there were several variants of this ritual, and that it was, therefore, widely known and used in Gnostic circles.

It must, however, have been at first kept very secret, for later on in the text of our fragment we read the injunction of the Master to John:

"That Passion which I showed unto thee and unto the rest in the Dance, I will that it be called a mystery."

Can it be that in the the original form, it was John, the Beloved himself, who was the candidate?

It may have been so; but even if so, "John" would not be understood by a Gnostic to be the name of one single historical character. There had been, there were, and there would be many Johns.

From the Twelve Three; and from the Three One.

For just as we find that there were Three--Peter, James and John--who were nearest the Lord in His Great Moments, so also do we find in the Johannine tradition that of these Three, it was John who was nearest to Him in His Great Acts.

Moreover, just as in the Trismegistic tradition we find that out of the Three--Ammon, Asclepius and Tat--it is Tat, the most spiritual of the disciples, who succeeds his "Father," Thrice-greatest Hermes, when He is taken to the Gods; so also do we find in the Johannine tradition that it is John who succeeds Jesus when He ascends to the Father of all "Fathers."

"Father" was the technical name of the Master, or Initiator, and the Head of the community.

And so, in a codex of the Fourth Gospel, preserved in the archives of the Templars of St. John of Jerusalem, in Paris--that is to say in all probability in a document that belonged to those who came into contact with the Johannine tradition in the East--we find (Thilo, Code. Apoc. N.T., p. 880) the following additions which are absent from the Textus Receptus.

To John, xvii. 26:

"Amen, I say unto you, I am not of this world; but John shall be your Father, till he shall go with Me into Paradise. And He anointed them with the Holy Spirit."

And to John, xix. 26-30:

"He saith to His Mother: Weep not; I go to My Father and to Eternal Life. Behold Thy Son. He will keep My place.

"Then saith He to the Disciple: Behold thy Mother!

"Then bowing His Head He breathed forth His Spirit."

But if it be willed that that which "I showed unto thee . . . in the Dance" be "called a mystery," it must equally be willed that it be kept a mystery.

I therefore offer my surmises on the altar of the Outer Court, though hardly venturing to think they will be regarded as reasonable oblations to the Great Presence by many of the Many who serve there.

I would, however, venture to hope that I have at least established a strong presumption that the Hymn of Jesus is no hymn, but a very early Christian mystery-ritual, and perhaps the oldest Christian ritual of any kind preserved to us.