Know that in the Mind of Man is much Wisdom that is hidden, being the Treasure of his Sire that he inheriteth. Thus, night all of his moral Nature is unknown to him until his Puberty; that is, this Nature pertaineth not unto the Recording and Judging Apparatus of his Brain until it is put therein by the Stirring of that deeper Nature within him. Thou wilt mark also that great Men are commonly great Lovers; and this is in Part also because (consciously or not) they are ware of that Secret following, that every Act of Love communicateth somewhat of the Wisdom stored within him to his percipient Mind. Yet must such Act be done rightly, according to Art; and unless such Act is of Profit alike to Mind and Body, it is an Error. This then is true Doctrine; which if it be understanded aright of thee, shall make diamond-clear thy Path in Love, which (to them that know not this) is so obscure and perilous that I believe there is not one Man in Ten Thousand that cometh not to Misadventure therein.
 
 

 

My son, be fervent! Be firm! Be stable! Be quick to make Impurity, how one Course of Ideas seeketh to infringe upon another, to quell the Virtue thereof. Gold is pure, but to drink molten Gold were Impurity to thy Body, and its Destruction. Law is a Code of the Customs of a People; if it intrude thereon to alter them, it is an Impurity of Oppression. So also Diet is to be in Accord with Digestion; Ethics were an Impurity therein. Love is an Expression of the Will of the Body, yea, and more also, of That which created the Body; and its Operation is commonly between One and One, so that the Interference of a Third Person is Impurity, and not to be endured. Nay, even the thought of Third Person hath but ordinary not Part in Love; so that, as thou seest constantly in thy Life, Love being strong, taketh no heed of others, and some after Interference bringeth Misfortune. Now then shell we therefore cast out Love, or accept Impurity therein? God forbid. And for this Cause see thou well to it that in thy Kingdom there be no Interference there with, nor Hindrance from any. For it is perfect in itself.
 
 

 

My Son, our Father in Heaven hath passed into the Sign of the Ram. I have performed the Rite of Union with Him according to the ancient Manner, and I know the Word that shall rule the Semester. Also it is given unto my Spirit to write unto thee concerning the Virtue of this Rite, and many another of Antiquity. And it is this, that our Forefathers made of these Ceremonies an Epitome Mnemonic, wherein certain Truths, or true Relations, should be communicated in a magical Manner. Now therefore by the Practice of these mayst thou awaken thy Wisdom, that it may manifest in thy conscious Mind. And this Way is of Use even when the Ceremonies, as those of the Christians, are corrupt and deformed; but in such a Case thou shalt seek out the true ancient Significance thereof. For there is that within thee which remembereth Truth, and is ready to communicate the same unto thee when thou hast Wit to evoke it from the Aditum and Sanctuary of thy Being. And this is to be done by this Repetition of the Formula of that Truth. Note thou further that this which I tell thee is the Defence of Formalism; and indeed thou must work upon a certain Skeleton, but clothe it with live Flesh.
 
 

 

It was that most Holy Prophet, thine Uncle, called upon Earth William O'Neill, or Blake, who wrote for our Understanding these Eleven Sacred Words:

If the Sun and Moon should doubt
They'd immediately go out.

O my Son, our Work is to shine by Fore and Virtue of our own Natures without Consciousness or consideration. Now, notwithstanding that our Radiance is constant and undimmed, it may be that Clouds gathering about us conceal our Glory from the Vision of other Stars. These Clouds are our Thoughts; not those true Thoughts which are but conscious Expressions of our Will, such as manifest in our Poesy, or our Music, or other Flower-Ray of our Life quintessential. Nay, the Cloud-Thought is born of Division and of Doubt; for all Thoughts, except they be creative emanations, are Witnesses to Conflict within us. Our settled Relations with the Universe do not disturb our Minds, as, by Example, our automatic Functions, which speak to us only in the Sign of Distress. Thus all Consideration is Demonstration of Doubt; Doubt postulateth Duality, which is the Root of Choronzon.
 
 

 

So then, o my Son, there is my Wisdom, that the Voice of the Soul in its true Nature Eternal and Unchangeable, comprehending all Change, is Silence; and the Voice of the Soul, dynamic, in the Way of its Will, is song. Nor is there any Form of utterance that is not, as song is, the Music proper to that Motion, according to the Law. Thus, as thy Cousin Arthur Machen hath rejoiced to make plain unto Men in his Book called Hieroglyphics, the first Quality of Art is its Ecstasy. So, night to all Men at one Time or other, cometh Joy of Creation, with the Belief that their Utterance is holy and beautiful, glorious with Banners. This would indeed be the Case, an we could discern their Thought from their Words; but because they have no technical Skill to express themselves, the do not enable others to reproduce or recreate the original Passion which inspired them, or even any Memory thereof. Understand then what is the Agony of the Great Soul who hath every Key of Paradise at his Girdle, when he would open the Gate of Holiness, or of Beauty, or any Virtue soever, to the Men of his Age!
 
 

 

Know that a Mind can only apprehend those Things with which it is already familiar, at least in Part. Moreover, it will ever interpret according to the Distortion of its own Lenses. Thus, in a great War, all Speech soever may be understood as if it were of Reference thereunto; also, a Guilty Person, or a Melancholic may see in every Stranger an Officer of Justice, or one of them that are banded together (him seemeth) to persecute him, as the Case may be. But consider moreover that the Mysterious is always the Terrible, for Vulgar Minds. How then when a New Word is spoken? Either it is not heard, or it is misunderstood; and it evoketh Fear and Hate as a Reaction against Fear. Then Men take him and set him at naught, and spit upon him and scourge him, and lead him away to crucify him; and the third Day he riseth from among the Dead, and ascendeth into Heaven, and sitteth at the right Hand of God, and cometh to judge the Quick and the Dead. This, o my son, is the History of Everyman unto whom is given a Word.
 
 

 

Now therefore thou seest how Men take the Son of Science, and burn him for a Sorcerer or a Heretic; the Poet and cast him out as Reprobate; the Painter, as deforming Nature, the Musician, as denying Harmony; and so for every New Word. How much more, then, if the Word be of Universal Import, a Word of Revolution and of Revelation in the Deep of the Soul? A new Star; that is for the Astronomers, and maybe setteth them by the Ears. But a new Sun! That were for all Men; and a Seed of Tumult and Upheaval in every Land. consider in thyself, therefore, what is the Might of the Adepts, the Energy of the Sanctuary, that can endow one Man with the Word of an Æon, and bring him to the End in Victory, with his Chariot wreathed in Flowers, and his Head bound round with a Fillet of blood- honoured Laurel! My Son, thou are entered into the Battle; and the Men of our Race and our Clan return not save in Glory.
 
 

 

He that striveth against his own Nature is a Fool, and wotteth not his Will, darkening Counsel in himself, and denying his own God, and giving Place to Choronzon. So then his Work becometh Hotchpot, and he is shattered and dispersed in the Abyss. Nor is it better for him if he do this for the supposed Good of another, and for that other is it Evil also in the End of the Matter. For to manifest thine own Division to another, and to deceive him, is but to confirm him in blindness, or Illusion, and to hinder or to deflect him in his Way. Now to do thine own Will is to leave him free to do his own Will, but to mask thy Will is to falsify one of the Beacons by which he may steer his Ship. My son, all division of Soul, that begetteth Neurosis and Insanity, cometh from wrong Adjustment to Reality, and to Fear thereof. Wilt thou then hide Truth from thy Brother, lest he suffer? Thou dost not well, but confirmest him in Iniquity, and in Illusion, and in Infirmity of Spirit.
 
 

 

My son, heed also this Word of thine Uncle William O'Neill; Everything that lives is holy. Yea, and more also, every Act is holy, being essential to the Universal Sacrament. Knowing this, thou mayst conform with that which is written in The Book of the Law: to make no Distinction between any one Thing and any other Thing. Learn well to apprehend this Mystery, for it is the Great Gate of the College of Understanding, whereby each and all of thy Senses become constant and perpetual Witnesses of the One Eucharist, whereunto also they are Ministers. So then to thee every Phenomenon soever is the Body of Nuit in her Passion; for it is an Event; that is, the Marriage of some one Point of view with some One Possibility. And this State of Mind is notably an Appurtenance of thy Grade of Master of the Temple, and the Unveiling of the Arcanum of Sorrow, which is thy Work, as it is written in Liber Magi. Moreover, this State, assimilated in the very Marrow of thy Mind, is the first Stop toward the comprehension of the Arcanum of Change, which is the Root of the Work of a Magus of Our Holy Order. O my Son, bind this within thine Heart, for its Name is the Beatific Vision.
 
 

 

Now also then I bid thee use all filial Diligence, and attend to this same Word in the Mouth of thine earliest Ancestor (except we adventure to invoke the Name F U  -  H S I) in our known Genealogy, the Most Holy, the True Man, Lao- Tze, that gave His Light unto the Kingdom of Flowers. For being questioned concerning the abode of the Tao, he gave Answer that It was in the Dung. Again, the Tathagata, the Buddha, most blessed, most perfect and most enlightened, added His Voice, that there is no Grain of Dust which shall not attain to the Arhan. Keep therefore in just Balance the Relation of Illusion to Illusion in that Aspect of Illusion, neither confusing the Planes, nor confounding the Stars, nor denying the Laws of their Reaction, yet with Eagle's Vision beholding the One Sun of the True Nature of the Whole. Verily, this is the Truth, and unto it did also Dionysus and Tahuti and Sri Krishna set the seal of their Witness. Cleanse therefore thine Heart, o my son, in the Waters of the Great Sea, and enkindle it with the Fire of the Holy Ghost. For this is His peculiar Work of Sanctification.
 
 

 

Understand then well this Mystery of Universal Godliness; for it is the naked Beauty of the Virgin of the World. Lo! Since the End is Perfection, as I have already shewn unto thee, and since also every Event is inexorably and ineluctably interwoven in the Web of that Fate, as it is certain that every Phenomenon is (as thou art sworn to understand) "a particular Dealing of God with thy Soul". Yea, and more also, it is a necessary Rubric in this Ritual of Perfection. Turn not therefore away thine Eyes, for that they are too pure to behold Evil; but look upon Evil with Joy, comprehending it in the Fervour of this Light that I have enkindled in thy Mind. Learn also that every Thing soever is Evil, if thou consider it as apart, static and in Division; and thus in a Degree must thou apprehend the Mystery of Change, for it is by Virtue of Change that this Truth of Beauty and Holiness is made steadfast in the Universe. O my son, there is no Delight sweeter than the continuous Contemplation of this Marvel and Pageant that is ever about thee; it is the Beatitude of the Beatitudes.
 
 

 

Resist not Change, therefore, but act constantly according to thy True Nature, for here only thou standest in Sorrow, if there be a Division conscious of itself, and hindered from its Way (whose Name is Love) unto its Dissolution. It is written in The Book of the Law that the Pain of Division is as nothing, and the Joy of Dissolution all. Now then here is an Art and Device of Magick that I will declare unto thee, albeit it is a Peril if thou be not fixed in that Truth and in that Beatific Vision whereof I have written in the three Chapters foregoing. And it is this, to create by Artifice a Conflict in thyself, that thou mayst take thy Pleasure in its Resolution. Of this Play is thy sweet Stepmother, my concubine, the Holy and Adulterous Olun, sublimely Mistress; for she invoketh in her Fancy a thousand Obstacles to Love, so that she shuddereth at a Touch, swooneth at a Kiss, and suffereth Death and Hell in the Ecstasy of her Body. And this is her Art, and it is of Nuit Our Lady, for it is the Drama of Commemoration of the whole mystery of By-coming.
 
 

 

Yet be thou heedful, o my son, for this Art is set upon a Razor's Edge. In our Blood is this great Pox of Sin, whose Word is Restriction, as Inheritance of our Sires that served the Slave-Gods. Thou must be free in the Law of Thelema, perfectly one with thy true Self, singly and wholly bound in thy true Will, before thou durst (in Prudence) invoke the Name of Choronzon, even for thy good Sport and Phantasy. It is but to pretend, thou sayst; and that is Sooth; yet thou must make Pretence so well as to deceive thyself, albeit for a Moment; else were thy Sport savourless. Then, and thou have one point of Weakness in thee, that Thought of thine may incarnate, and destroy thee. Verily, the wise Enchanter is sure beyond Doubt of his Charm ere he toy with a Fanged Cobra; and thou will knowest that this Peril of Division in thy Self is the only one that can touch thee. For all other Evil is but Elaboration of this Theme of Choronzon. Praise therefore thy sweet Stepmother my concubine, the Holy and Adulterous Olun; and thine own Mother Hilarion, for in this Art was she also pre-eminent.
 
 

 

It is said among Men that the Word Hell deriveth from the Word helan, to hele or conceal, in the Tongue of the Anglo- Saxons. That is, it is the concealed Place, which, since all things are in thine own Self, is the Unconscious. How then? Because Men were already aware how this Unconscious, or Libido, is opposed, for the most Part , to the conscious Will. In the Slave-Ages this is a Truth Universal, or well night to it; for in such Times are Men compelled to Uniformity by the Constraint of Necessity herself. Yea, of old it was a continual Siege of every Man of every Clan, of every Environment; and to relax guard was then Self-Murder, or else Treachery. so then no Man might chose his way, until he were Hunter, Fighter, Builder; not any Woman, but she must first be Breeder. Now in the Growth of States by Organisation came, stepping stealthily, a certain Security against the grossest Perils, so that a few Men could be spared from Toil to cultivate Wisdom, and this was first provided by the Selection of a caste Pontifical. By this Device came the Alliance of King and Priest, Strength and Cunning fortifying each the other through the Division of Labour.
 
 

 

So presently, O my son, this first Organisation among Men, by a Procedure parallel to that of the Differentiation of Protoplasm, made the State competent to explore and to control Nature; and every Profit of this sort released more Energy, and enlarged the Class of the Learned, until, as it is this Day, only a small Proportion of any Man's Work must needs go to the satisfaction of first Will essential and common, the provision of Shelter, Food, and Protection. Verily also thou seest many Women made free to live as they will, even o the Admiration and Delight of the Sage whose eye laugheth to contemplate Mischief. Thus the Duty of every Unit towards the Whole is diminished, and also the Necessity to conform with those narrow Laws which preserve primitive Tribes in their Struggle against Environment. Thus the State need suppress only such Heresies as directly threaten its political Stability, only such Modes of Life as work manifest and proven Hurt to others, or cause general Disorder by their Scandal. Therefore save and except he interferes thereby with the Root Laws of Common Weal, a Man is free to develop as he will according to his True Nature.
 
 

 

To the Mind of the early Philosopher, therefore, any Variation in Type must appear as a Disaster; yea, Intelligence itself must perforce prove its Value to the Brute, or he distrusteth it and destroyeth it. Yet as thou knowest, that Variation which is fitted to the Environment is the Salvation of the Species. Only among Men, his Fellows turn ever upon the Saviour, and rend him, until those who follow him in secret, and it may be unconsciously, prove their Virtue and his Wisdom by their Survival when his Persecutors perish in their Folly. But we, being secure against all primary Enemies to the Individual, or the common Weal, may, nay, we must, if we would attain the summit for our Race, devote all spare Leisure, Wealth, and Energy to he Creation of Variation from the Norm, and thus by clear Knowledge bought of Experiment and of Experience, move with Eyes well open upon our True Path. So therefore Our Law of Thelema is justified also of Biology and of Social Science. It is the true Way of Nature, the right Strategy in the Way of Man with his Environment, and the Life of his Soul.
 
 

 

Sayst thou, o my son, that not thus, but by forced Training, one cometh to Perfection. This indeed is Sooth, that by artificial Selection and well-watched Growth and Environment, one hath Dogs, Horses, Pigeons, and the like, which excel their Forebears in Strength, in Beauty, in Speed, as one will. Yet is this Work but a false magical Artifice, temporary and of Illusion; for thy Masterpieces are but Monsters, not true Variations, and if thou leave them, they revert swiftly to their own proper and authentic Type, because that Type was fitted by Experience to its Environment. So every Variation must be left free to perpetuate itself or perish, not cherished for its Beauty, or guarded for its Appeal to thine Ideal, or cut off in thy Fear thereof. For the Proof of its Virtue lieth in the Manifestation of its Power to survive, and to reproduce itself after its Kind. Nurse not the Weakness of any Man, nor swaddle and cosset him, not though he were Poet or Artist because of his Value to thy Fancy, for if thou do this, he shall grow in his Informity, so that even his Work for which thou lovest him, shall be enfeebled also.
 
 

 

Now then thou seest that this Hell, or concealed Place within thee, is no more a Fear or Hindrance to Men of a free Race, but the Treasure House of the assimilated Wisdom of the Ages, and the Knowledge of the True Way. Thus are we just and wise to discover this Secret in ourselves, to conform the conscious Mind therewith. For that Mind is compact solely (until it be illuminated) of Impressions and Judgments, so that its Will is but directed by the Sum of the shallow Reactions of a most limited Experience. But thy true Will is the Wisdom of the Ages of thy Generations, the Expression of that which hath fitted thee exactly to thine Environment. Thus thy conscious Mind is oftentimes foolish, as when thou admirest an Ideal, and wouldst attain it, but thy true Will letteth thee, so that there is Conflict, and the Humiliation of that Mind. Here will I call to witness the common Event of "Good Resolutions" that defy the Lightning of Destiny, being puffed up by the Mind of an indigestible Ideal putrefying within thee. Thence cometh Colic, and presently the Poison is expelled, or else thou diest. But Resolutions of true Will are mighty against Circumstance.
 
 

 

Learn moreover concerning this Hell, or Hidden Wisdom, that is within thee, that it is modified, little by little, through the Experience of the conscious Mind, which feedeth it. For that Wisdom is the Expression, or rather Symbol and Hieroglyph, of the true Adjustment of thy Being to its Environment. Now, then, this Environment being eroded by Time, this Wisdom is no more perfect, for it is not absolute, but standeth in relation to the Universe. So then a Part thereof may become useless, and atrophy as (I will instance this case) Man's wit of Smell; and the bodily Organ corresponding degenerateth therewith. But this is an Effect of much Time, so that in thy Hell thou art like to find Elements vain, or foolish, or contrary to thy present Weal. Yet, o my Son, this Hidden Wisdom is not thy true Will, but only the Levers (I may say so) thereof. Notwithstanding, there lieth therein a Faculty of Balance, whereby it is able to judge whether any Element in itself is presently useful and benign, or idle and malignant. Here then is a Root of Conflict between the Conscious and the Unconscious, and a Debate concerning the right Order of Conduct, how the Will may be accomplished.
 
 

 

O my Son, in this Case is there Darkness, yet this Comfort as a Lamp therein, that there is no Error in the Will, but only Doubt as to the Means of Success, else were we as Children afeared of Night. Thus we have Need of naught but to consider the Matter by Wit of Reason, and of Prudence, and on common Sense, and of Experience, and of Science, adjusting ourselves so far as we may. Here is the Key of Success, and its Name is the Skill to make right Use of Circumstance. This, then is the Virtue of the Mind, to be the Wazir of the Will, a true Counsellor, through Intelligence of the Universe. But o, my Son, do thou lay this Word beneath thine Heart, that the Mind hath no Will, nor Right thereto, so the Usurpation bringeth forth a fatal Conflict in thyself. For the Mind is sensitive, unstable as Air, and may be led foolishly in leash by a stronger Mind that worketh as the cunning Tool of a Will. Therefore thy Safety and Defence is to hold thy Mind to his right Function, a faithful Minister to thine own True Will, but Election of Nature. Heed well this, o my Son, for thy Mind Passive is rightly a Mirror to reflect all Things clearly without Prejudice, and to remain unstained by them.
 
 

 

Therefore consider this again in a Figure, that thy Mind is as the Marshal of an Army, to observe the Dispositions of the Enemy, and to order his own Forces rightly, according to that Information; but he hath no Will, only Obedience to the Word of his King to outwit and to overcome the Opposite. Nor doth that King make War by his own Whim, if he be wise and true, but solely because of the Necessity of his Country, and its Nature, whereof he is but executive Officer and Interpreter, its Voice as the Marshal is its Arm. Thus then do thou understand thyself, not giving Place to thy Mind to dispute thy Will, nor through Ignorance and Carelessness allowing the Enemy to deceive thee, nor by Fear, by Imprudence and Foolhardiness, by Hesitation and Vacillation, by Disorder and the Lack of firm Correctness, by Failure in Elasticity or in Obstinacy, each at its Moment, suffering Defeat in the hour of Shock. So, then, o my Son, this is thy Work, to know the Word of thy Will without Error, and to make perfect every Faculty of thy Mind, in right Order and Readiness to impose that Word as Law upon the Universe. So mote it be!
 
 

 

Is it not a Marvel how he that worketh with his Will and is in constant Touch with the Reality External, maketh his Mind to serve him? How eagerly runneth it and returneth, gathering, arranging, clarifying, classifying, organizing, comparing, setting in array, with Skill and Might and Energy that faileth never! Nay, my son, in this Way thou canst be pitiless with thy Mind, and it will not rebel against thee, or neglect thine Ordinance. But now consider him that worketh not with his Will, how his Mind is Idle, not reaching out after Reality, but debating within itself of its own Affairs, like a Democracy, introspective. Then this Mind, not reacting equally and with Elasticity to the World, is lost in its own Anarchy and civil War, so that although it works not, it is overcome by Weakness of Division, and becometh Choronzon. And unto these Words I call to my Witness the Madness of the Soul of Muscovy, in this year XIII of our Æon that is ended. Therefore behold how this our Law of Thelema, Do what thou wilt, is the first Foundation of Health, whether in the Body or in the Mind, either of a simple, or a complex Organism.
 
 

 

My Son, I charge thee, however thou beest provoked thereunto, tell not the Truth to any Woman. For this is that which is written: Cast not thy Pearls before Swine, lest they turn again and rend thee. Behold, in the Nature of Woman is no Truth, nor Apprehension of Truth, nor Possibility of Truth, only, if thou entrust this Jewel unto them, they forthwith use it to thy Loss and Destruction. But they are ware of thine own Love of Truth, and thy Respect thereunto; so therefore they tempt thee, flattering with their Lips, that thou betray thyself to them. And they feign falsely, with every Wile, and cast about for thy Soul, until either in Love, or in Wrath, or in some other Folly thereof, thou speak Truth, profaning thy Sanctuary. So was it ever, and herein I call to my Witness Samson of Timmath, that was lost by this Error. Now for any Woman, any Lie sufficeth; and think not in thine Extremity that Truth is mighty, and shall prevail, as it does with any Man; for with a Woman her whole Craft and Device is to persuade thee of this, so that thou utter the Secret of thy Soul, and become her Prey. But so long as thou feed her with her own Food of Falsity, thou art secure.
 
 

 

The Nature of Woman, o my Son, is as thou hast learned in our most Holy Qabalah; and she is the Clothing in Sex of Man, the magical Image of his Will to love. Therefore was it said by thine Uncle Wolfgang von Goethe: Das Ewigweibliche zieht uns hinan. But therefore also hath she no Nature of Truth, because she is but the Eidolon of an Excitement and a Going of thy Star, and appertaineth not unto its Essence and Stability. So then to thee she is but Matter and to her thou art but Energy, and neither is competent to the Formula of the other. Therefore also thy Will is itself Imperfection, as I have shewed thee aforetime, thou art not in the Way of Love except thou be dressed in that Robe of thine which thou callest Woman. And thou canst not lure her to this Action proper to her by thy Truth; but thou shalt, as our Grammar sayeth, assume the Mask of the Spirit, that thou mayst evoke it by Sympathy. But thou shalt appear in thy Glory only when she is in thy Power, and bewildered utterly by Ecstasy. This is a Mystery, o my Son, and of old Times it was Declared in the Fable of Scylla and Charybdis, which are the Formula of the Rock and the Whirlpool. Now then meditate thou strictly upon this most worthy and adorable Arcanum, to thy Profit and Enlightenment.
 
 

 

Let it be a Treasure in thine Heart, o my Son, this Mystery that I shall next unveil before thine Eyes, O eagle that art undazzled by the brilliance of Light, that soarest continually with virile Flight to thine august Inheritance. Behold the Beatific Vision is of two Orders, and in the Formula of the Rosy Cross it is of the Heart and is called Beauty; but in the Formula of the Silver Star (id est, of the Eye within the Triangle) it is of the Mind, and is called Wonder. Otherwise spoken, the former is of Art, a sensuous and creative Perception; but the latter of Science, and intellectual and intelligible Insight. Or again, in our Holy Qabalah, the one is of Tiphereth, the other of Binah, and in pure Philosophy, this is a Contemplation of the Cosmos, causal and dynamic, and that of its Effect in static Presentation. Now this Rapture of Art is a Virtue or Triumph of Love in his most universal Comprehension, but the Ecstasy of Science is a continual Orgasm of Light; that is, of the Mind. Thou sayest, o my Father, how may I attain to this Fullness and Perfection? Art thou there, o my Son? It is well, and blessed be the Bed wherein thou wast begotten, and the Womb of thy sweet Mother Hilarion, my Concubine, holy and adulterous, the Scarlet Woman! Amen.
 
 

 

Confuse thou not this beatific Vision with the Trances called Samadhi; yet is Samadhi the Pylon of the Temple thereof. For Samadhi is the Orgasm of the Coition of the Unlike, and is commonly Violent, even as the Lightning cometh of the Discharge between two Vehicles of extreme Difference of Potentials. But as I shewed formerly concerning Love, how each such Discharge bringeth either Component more nigh to Equilibrium, so is it in this other Matter, and by Experience thou comest constantly to Integration of Love (or what not) within thyself, just as all Effort becometh harmonious and easy by Virtue of Practice. Rememberest thou the first Time thou was thrown into Water, thy Fear and thy Struggles, and the Vehemence of thy Joy when first thou didst swim without Support? Then, little by little all Violence dieth away, because thou art adjusted to that Condition. Therefore the Fury of thine early Victory in these Arts magical and Sciences is but the sign of thine own Baseness and Unworthiness, since the Contrast or Differential is so overwhelming to thee; but, becoming expert and adept, thou art balanced in the Glory, and calm, even as the Stars.
 
 

 

The Path therefore unto this Beatific Vision of Beauty, o my Son, is that Practice of Bhakti Yoga which is written in the Book called Eight Score and Fifteen, or Astarté, by this mine Hand when I was in Gaul the beloved, at Montigny that is hard by the Forest of the Blue Fountain, with Agatha my concubine, the very Soul of Love and of Musick, that had ventured herself from beneath the Cross Austral that she might seek me, to inspire and comfort me, and this was my Reward from the Masters, and Consolation in the Years of my Sorrow. But the Way that leadeth to the other form of this Vision of Beatitude, to with, Science is Gñana Yoga or Raja Yoga, of which I have written only here and there, as one who should throw great Stones upon the Earth in Disorder, by default of building them nobly into a Pyramid. And of this do I most heartily repent me, and ask of the God Thoth that he may give me (albeit at the Eleventh Hour) Virtue and with that I may compose a true Book upon these Ways of Union. Thy first Step, therefore, o my Son, is to attain unto Samadhi, and to urge thyself perpetually to Repetition of thy Successes therein, for it hat been said by Philosophers of old that Practice maketh perfect, and that Manners, being the constant Habit of life, maketh Man.
 
 

 

Now then presently shall it some to pass, as by Dint of each Experience that Component thereof which is within thee is attuned to it, and this without Shock, so that thou art no longer thrown back from the Trance, as exhausted, but abidest therein, almost without Knowledge of thy State. So then at last this Samadhi shall become normal to thy Common Consciousness, as it were a Point of View. Thus all Things shall appear to thee very continually as to one in his first Love, by the Vision of Beauty, and by the Vision of Science thou shalt marvel constantly with Joy unfathomable at the Mystery of the Laws whereby the Universe is upheld. This is that which is written: True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness. O my Son, it is in this Contemplation that one hath the Reward of the Oath; it is by this that the Tribulations are rolled away as a Stone from thy Tomb; it is with this that thou art wholly freed from the Illusions of Distinctions, being absorbed into the Body of our Lady Nuit. May she grant thee this Beatitude; yea, not to thee only, but to all that are.
 
 

 

Now, o my Son, having understood the Heaven that is within thee, according to thy Will, learn this concerning the Hell of the Slaves of the Slave-gods, that it is a true Place of Torment. For they, restricting themselves, and being divided in Will, are indeed the Servants of Sin, and they suffer, because, not being united in Love with the whole Universe, they perceive not Beauty, but Ugliness and Deformity, and, not being united in Understanding thereof, conceive only of Darkness and Confusion, beholding Evil therein. Thus at last they come, as did the Manichæans, to find, to their Terror, a Division even in the One, not that Division which we know for the Craft of Love, but a Division of Hate. And this, multiplying itself, Conflict upon Conflict, endeth in Hotchpot, and in the Impotence and Envy of Choronzon, and in the Abominations of the Abyss.
And of such the Lords are the Black Brothers, who seek by their Sorceries to confirm themselves in Division, yet in this even is no true Evil, for Love conquereth All, and their Corruption and Disintegration is also the Victory of B A B A L O N.
 
 

 

Blessed be She, ay, blessed unto the Ages be our Lady B A B A L O N, that plieth her Scourge upon me, TO MEGA QHRION, to compel me to Creation and to Destruction, which are One, in Birth and in Death, being Love! Blessed be She, uniting the Egg with the Serpent, and restoring Man unto his Mother the Earth! Blessed be She, that offereth Beauty and Ecstasy in the Orgasm of every Change, and that exciteth thy Wonder and thy Worship by the Contemplation of her Mind many-wiled! Blessed be She, that hath filled her Cup with every Drop of my Blood, so that my Life is lost wholly in the Wine of her Rapture! Behold, how She is drunken thereon, and staggereth about the Heavens, wallowing in Joy, crying aloud the Song of uttermost Love! Is not She thy true Mother among the Stars, o my Son, and hast thou not embraced Her in the Madness of Incest and Adultery? Yea, blessed be She, blessed be Her Name, and the Name of Her Name, unto the Ages!
 
 

 

O my Son, knowest thou not the Joy to lie in the Wilderness and to behold the Stars, in their Majesty of Motion calm and irresistible? Hast thou thought there that thou art also a Star, free because consciously in Accord with the Law and Determination of thy Being? It was thine own True Will hat bound thee in thine Orbit; therefore thou speedest on thy Path from Glory unto Glory in continual Joy. O Son, o Reward of my Work, o Harmony and Completion of my Nature, o Token of my Toil, o Witness of my Love for thy sweet Mother, the holy and adulterous Hilarion, my Concubine, adorable in thine Innocence as she in her Perfection, is not this verily Intoxication of the Spirit in the Innermost, to be free absolutely and eternally, to run and to return upon the Course in the Play of Love, to fulfil Nature constantly in Light and Life? "Afloat in the æthyr, o my God, my God!" Without Support, without Constraint, wing thine own Way, o Swan, o Bliss of Brightness!
 
 

 

This is the evident and final Solvent of the Knot Philosophical concerning Fate and Free Will, that it is thine own Self, omniscient and omnipotent, sublime in Eternity, that first didst order the Course of thine Orbit, so that that which befalleth thee by Fate is indeed the necessary Effect of thine own Will. These two, then, that like Gladiators have made War in Philosophy through these many Centuries, are One by the Love under Will which is the Law of Thelema. O my son, there is no Doubt that resolveth not in Certainty and Rapture at the Touch of the Wand of our Law, as thou apply it with Wit. Do thou grow constantly in the Assimilation of the Law, and thou shalt be made perfect. Behold, there is a Pageant of Triumph as each Star, free from Confusion, sweepeth free in his right Orbit; all Heaven acclaimeth thee as thou goest, transcendental in Joy and in Splendour; and thy Light is as a Beacon to them that wander afar, strayed in the Night. Amoun.
 
 

 

Now, o my Son, I will declare unto thee the Virtue of that Part of Love which receiveth and draweth, being the Counterpart of thine own. For behold! I am moved in myself by the Absence of the Virgin that is appointed for me. And her eagerness of Purity doth encompass me with its soft Tenderness, and twineth about me with sweet Scent so that my Mind is enkindled with a gentle Flame, luminous and subtle, and I write unto thee as in a Dream; for in this Enchantment of her Devotion I am caught up cunningly into Beautitude, with great Joy of the Gods that have bestrewn my Way with Flowers, ay, many Flowers and Herbs of Magick and of Holiness withal to match their Beauty. Nay, o my Son, I will cease this Epistle unto thee for awhile, that I may rest in the Pleasure of this Contemplation, for it is Solace ineffable, and Recreation like unto Sleep among the Mountains. Yea, can I wish thee more than this, that, coming to mine Age, thou mayst find a Virgin like unto this to draw thee with her Simplicity, and her embroidered Silence?
 
 

 

Think it not strange, my Son, that I, praising Adultery, should Praise also Constancy and Delight therein. For this is to state ill thy Question. Herein is Truth and Wisdom concerning this Matter, that so long as Love be not wholly satisfied, and equilibrated by entire Fulfilment and Exchange, Constancy is a Point of thy Concentration and Adultery a Division in thy Will. But when thou hast the Summit and Perfection of any Work, of what Worth is it to continue therein? Hast thou two Stomachs, as has a Cow, to chew the Cud of a digested Love? Yet, o my Son, this Constancy is not of Necessity a Stagnation. Nay, behold the Body of Our Lady Nuit, therein are found twin Suns, that revolve constantly about each other. So also it may be in Love, that two Souls, meeting, discover each in the other such Wealth and Richness of Light and Love, and in one Phase of Life (or Incarnation) or even in many, they exhaust not that Treasure. Or will I say that such are not in their Degree and Quality thrice fortunate. But to persist in Dullness, in Satiety, and in mutual Irritation and Abhorrence, is contrary to the Way of Nature. So therefore there is no Rule in any such Case, but the Law shall give Light to every one that hath it in his Heart, and by that Wisdom let him govern himself.
 
 

 

Moreover, say not thou in thy Syllogism that, since every Change soever, be it the Creation of a Symphony, or a Poem, or the Putrefaction of a Carcass, is an act of Love, and since we are to make no Difference between any Thing and any other Thing, therefore all Changes are equal in respect of our Praise. For though this be a right Conclusion in the term of thy Comprehension as a Master of the Temple, yet it is false in the Eyes of the Mind that hath not attained this Understanding. So therefore any Change (or Phenomenon) appeareth noble or base to the imperfect Mind, according to its Consonance and Harmony with the Will that governeth the Mind. Thus if it be thy Will to delight in Rythm and Œconomy of Words, the Advertisement of a Commodity may offend thee; but if thou art in Need of that Merchandise, thou wilt rejoice therein. Praise then or blame aught, as seemeth good unto thee; but with this Reflection, that thy Judgment is relative to thine own Condition, and not absolute. This also is a Point of Tolerance, whereby thy shalt avoid indeed those Things that are hateful or noxious to thee, unless thou canst (in our Mode) win them by Love, by withdrawing thine Attention from them; but thou shalt not destroy them, for that they are without Doubt the Desire of another.
 
 

 

Understand then heartily, o my Son, that in the Light of this my Wisdom all Things are one, being of the Body of Our Lady Nuit, proper, necessary and perfect. There is then none superfluous or harmful, and there is none honourable or dishonourable more than another. Lo! in thine own Body, the vile Intestine is of more worth to thee than the noble Hand or the proud Eye, for thou canst lose these and live, but not that. Esteem therefore a Thing in Relation to thine own Will, preferring the Ear if thou love Musick, and the Palate if thou love Wine, but the essential Organs of Life above these. Have respect also to the Will of thy Fellow, not hindering him in his way save as he may overly jostle thee in thine. For by the Practice of this Tolerance thou shalt come sooner to the Understanding of this Equality of all Things in Our Lady Nuit, and so the high Attainment of universal Love. Yet in thy partial and particular Action, as thou art a Creature of Illusion, do thou maintain the right Relation of one Thing to another; fighting if thou be a Soldier, or building if thou be a Mason. For if thou hold not fast this Discipline and Proportion, which alloweth its true Will to every part of thy Being, the Error of one shall draw all after it into Ruin and Dispersion.
 
 

 

Alas, my son! this hath been fatal constantly to many a Man of noble Aspiration, that these Words were hidden from his Understanding. For there is a Balance in all Things and the Body hath Charter to fulfil his Nature, even as the Mind hath. So to repress one Function is to destroy that Proportion which is wholesome, and wherein indeed all Health and Sanity have Consistency. Verily, it is the Art of Life to develop each Organ of Body and Mind, or, as I may say, each Weapon of the Will to its Perfection, neither distorting any Use, nor suffering the Will of one Part to tyrannize over that of another. And this Doctrine (be it accursèd!) that Pain and Repression are wholesome and profitable in themselves is a Lie born of Sin and of Ignorance, the false Vision of the Universe and of its Laws that is the Basis of the Averse Formula of the Slain God. It is true that on Occassion one Limb must be sacrificed to save the whole Body, as when one cutteth away one Hand that is bitten by a Viper, or as when a Man giveth his Life to save his City. But this is a right and natural Subordination of the superficial and particular to the fundamental and general Will, and moreover it is a Case extraordinary, relating to Accident or Extremity, not in any wise a Rule of Life, or a Virtue in its Absolute Nature.
 
 

 

My Son, there are Afflictions many and Woes many, that come of the Errors of Men in respect of the Will; but there is none greater than this, the Interference of the Busy-Body. For they make Pretence to know a Man's thought better than he doth himself, and to direct his Will with more Wisdom than he, and to make Plans for his Happiness. And of all these the worst is he that sacrificeth himself for the Weal of his Fellows. He that is so foolish as not to follow his own Will, how shall be be so wise as to pursue that of another? If mine Horse balk at a Fence, should some Varlet come behind him, and strike at his Hoofs? Nay, Son, pursue thy Path in Peace, that thy Brother beholding thee may take courage from thy Bearing, and Comfort from his Confidence that thou wilt not hinder him by thy Superfluity of Compassion. Let me not begin to tell thee of the Mischiefs that I have seen, whose Root was in Kindness, whose Flower was in Self-sacrifice, and whose Fruit in Catastrophe. Verily I think there should be no End thereof. Strike, rob, slay thy Neighbour, but comfort him not unless he ask it of thee, and if he ask it, be wary.
 
 

 

How then, sayest thou, concerning this my Counsel unto thee? I say Sooth, it is of my Will to bring up this my Wisdom from its Silence into my conscious Mind, that I may the more easily reflect thereon. Thou art but a Pretext for my Action, and a Focus for my Light. Nevertheless heed these my Words, for they shall profit thee, thou being of Age responsible in Judgment, and free in the Law of Thelema. Thus thou mayst read or no, concur or no, as thou wilt. Have I not tutored thee in the Way of the Balance, or of Antithesis, shewing thee the Art of Contradiction, whereby thou dost accept no Word save as the Victor in thy Mind over its Opposites, nay more, as the Child Transcendental of a Marriage of Opposites. This Book then shall serve thee but as a Food for thy Meditation, as Wine to excite thy Mind to Love and War. It shall be unto thee as a Chariot to carry thee whither thou wilt; for I have seen in thee Independence and Sobriety of Judgment, with that Faculty (most rare, most noble!) to examine freely, neither obsequious nor rebellious to Authority.
 
 

 

This Property of thy Mind, my Son, is verily of sublime Virtue; for the Vulgar are befogged, and their Judgment made null, by their emotional Reaction. They are swayed by the Eloquence of a Numscull, or overpowered by a Name or an Office, or the Magic of a Tailor; else, it may be, they, being made Fools too often, reject without Reflection even as at first they accepted. Again, they are wont to believe the best of the worst, as Hope or Fear predominateth in them at the Moment. Thus, they lose Touch of the Blade of Reality, and it pierceth them. Then they in Delirium of their Wounds increase Delusion fortifying themselves in Belief of those Phantasies created by their Emotions or impressed upon their Silliness, so that their Minds have no Unity, or Stability, or Discrimination, but become Hotchpot, and the Garbage-Heap of Choronzon. O my Son, against this the Law of Thelema is a Sure Fortress, for through the Quest of thy True Will the Mind is balanced about it, and confirmeth its Flight, as the Feathers upon an Arrow, so that thou hast a Touchstone of Truth, Experience holding thee to Reality, and to Proportion. Now therefore see from yet another Art of Heaven the Absolute Virtue of Our Law.
 
 

 

It is now expedient that I instruct thee concerning the Four Powers of the Sphinx, and firstly, that this most arcane of the Mysteries of Antiquity was never at any Period the Tool of the Slavegods, but a Witness of Horus through the dark Æon of Osiris to His Light and Truth, His Force and Fire. Thou canst by no means interpret the Sphinx in Terms of the Formula of the Slain God. This did I comprehend even when as Eliphas Levi Zahed I walked up and down the Earth, seeking a Reconciliation of these Antagonisms, which was a Task impossible, for in that Plane they have Antipathy. (Even so may no Man form a Square Magical of Four Units.) But the Light of the New Æon revealeth this Sphinx as the true Symbol of this our Holy Art of Magick under the Law of Thelema. In Her is the equal Development and Disposition of the Forces of Nature, each in its Balanced Strength; also Her True Name has the Digamma for Phi, and endeth in Upsilon, not in Xi, so that Her Orthography is SFINU whose Numeration is Six Hundred and Three Score and Six. For the Root thereof is S F, which signifieth the Incarnation of the Spirit; and of Kin are not only the Sun, Our Father, but Sumer, where Man knew himself Man, and Soma, the Divine Potion that giveth Men Enlightenment, and Scin, Light Astral, and Scire also, by a far Travelling. But especially is this Root hidden in Sus, that is of the Sow, Swine, because the Most Holy must needs take its Delight under the Omphalos of the Unclean. But this was hidden by Wisdom in Order that the Arcanum should not be profaned during the Æon of the Slain God. But now it has been given unto me to understand the Heart of Her Mystery, wherefore, o my Son, by Right of the Great Love that I bear unto thee, I will inform thee thereof.
 
 

 

Firstly, this Sphinx is a Symbol of the Coition of Our Lady B A B A L O N with me T H E  B E A S T in its Wholeness. For as I am of the Lion and the Dragon, so is She of the Man and the Bull, in our Natures, but the Converse thereof in our Offices, as thou mayst understand by the Study of the Book of The Vision and the Voice. It is thus a Glyph of the Satisfaction and Perfection of the Will and of the Work, the completion of the True Man as the Reconcilor of the Highest with the Lowest, so for our Convenience conventionally to distinguish them. This then is the Adept, who doth Will with solid Energy as the Bull, doth dare with fierce Courage as the Lion, doth know with swift Intelligence as the Man, and doth keep Silence with soaring Subtlety as the Eagle or Dragon. Moreover, this Sphinx is an Eidolon of the Law, for the Bull is Life, the Lion is Light, the Man is Liberty, the Serpent Love. Now then this Sphinx, being perfect in true Balance, yet taketh the Aspect of the Feminine Principle that so She may be partner of the Pyramid, that is the Phallus, pure Image of Our Father the Sun, the Unity Creative. The Signification of this Mystery is that the Adept must be Whole, Himself, containing all Things in true Proportion, before he maketh himself Bride of the One Universal Transcendental, in its most Secret Virtue. And now therefore, o my Son, comprehending this Mystery by thine Intelligence, I will write further unto thee of these Four Beasts of Power.
 
 

 

Concerning the Bull, this is thy Will, constant and unwearied, whose Letter is Vau, which is Six, the Number of the Sun. He is therefore the Force and the Substance of thy Being; but besides this, he is the Hierophant in the Taro, as if this were said: that thy Will leadeth thee unto the Shrine of Light. And in the Rites of Mithras the Bull is slain, and his Blood poured upon the Initiate, to endow him with that Will and that Power of Work. Also in the land of Hind is the Bull sacred to Shiva, that is God among that Folk, and is unto them the Destroyer of all Things that be opposed to Him. And this God is also the Phallus, for this Will operateth through Love even as it is written in our Own Law. Yet again, Apis the Bull of Khem hath Kephra the Beetle upon His tongue, which signifieth that it is by this Will, and by this Work, that the Sun cometh unto Dawn from Midnight. All these Symbols are most similar in their Nature, save as the Slaves of the Slave- gods have read their own Formula into the Simplicity of Truth. For there is naught so plain that Ignorance and Malice may not confuse and misinterpret it, even as the Bat is dazzled and bewildered by the Light of the Sun. See then that thou understand this Bull in Terms of the Law of this our Æon of Life.
 
 

 

Of this, Lion, o my Son, be it said that this is the Courage of thy Manhood, leaping upon all Things, and seizing them for their Prey. His letter is Teth, whose Implication is a Serpent, and the Number thereof Nine, whereof is Aub, the secret Fire of Obeah. Also Nine is of Jesod, uniting Change with Stability. But in The Book of Thoth He is the Atu called Strength, whose Number is E L E V E N which is Aud, the Light Odic of Magick. And therein is figured the Lion, even T H E  B E A S T, and Our Lady B A B A L O N astride of Him, that with her Thighs She may strangle Him. Here I would have thee to mark well how these our Symbols are cognate, and flow forth the one into the other, because each Soul partaketh in proper Measure of the Mystery of Holiness, and is kin with his Fellow. But now let me show how this Lion of Courage is more especially the Light in thee, as Leo is the House of the Sun that is the Father of Light. And it is thus: that thy Light, conscious of itself, is the Source and Instigator of thy Will, enforcing it to spring forth and conquer. Therefore also is his Nature strong with hardihood and Lust of Battle, else shouldst thou fear that which is unlike thee, and avoid it, so that thy Separateness should increase upon thee. For this Cause he that is defective in Courage becometh a Black Brother, and to Dare is the Crown of all thy Virtue, the Root of the Tree of Magick.

Lo! In the firs of thine Initiations, when first the Hoodwink was uplifted from before thine Eyes, thou wast brought unto the Throne of Horus, the Lord of the Lion, and by Him enheartened against Fear. Moreover, in Minutum Mundum, the Map of the Universe, it is the Path of the Lion that bindeth the two Highest Faculties of thy Mind. Again, it is Mau, the Sun at Brightness of high Noon, that is called the Lion, very lordly, in our Holy Invocation. Sekhet our Lady is figured as a lioness, for that She is that Lust of Nuit toward Hadit which is the Fierceness of the Night of the Stars, and their Necessity; whence also is She true Symbol of thine own Hunger of Attainment, the Passion of thy Light to dare all for its Fulfilling. It is then the Possession of this Quality which determineth thy Manhood; for without it thou art not impelled to Magick, and thy Will is but the Salve's Endurance and Patience under the Lash. For this Cause, the Bull being of Osiris, was it necessary for the Masters of the Æons to incarnate me as (more especially) a Lion, and my Word is first of all a Word of Enlightenment and of Emancipation of the Will, giving to every Man a Sprint within Himself to
determine His Will, that he may do that Will, and no more another's. Arise therefore, o my son, arm thyself, haste to the Battle!
 
 

 

Learn now that this Lion is a natural Quality in Man, and secret, so that he is not ware thereof, except he be Adept. Therefore is it necessary for thee also to know, by the Head of the Sphinx. This then is thy Liberty, that the Impulse of the Lion should become conscious by means of the Man; for without this thou art but an Automaton. This Man moreover maketh thee to understand and to adjust thyself with Environment, else being devoid of Judgment, thou goest blindly upon an headlong Path. For every Star in his Orbit holdeth not his Way obstinately, but is sensitive to every other Star, and his true Nature is to do this. Oh how many are they whom I have seen persisting in a fatal Course, in Sway of the Belief that their dead Rigidity was Exercise of Will. And the Letter of the Man is Tzaddi, whose Number is Ninety; which is Maim, the Water that conformeth itself perfectly with its Vessel, that seeketh constantly its Level, that penetrateth and dissolveth Earth, that resisteth Pressure maugre its Adaptability, that being heated is the Force to drive great Engines, and being frozen breaketh the Mountains in Pieces. O my Son, seek well To Know!
 
 

 

Threefold is the Nature of Live, Eagle, Serpent, and Scorpion. And of these the Scorpion is he that, having no Lion of Light and of Courage within him, seemeth to himself encircled by Fire, and, driving his Sting into himself, he dieth. Such are the Black Brothers, that cry: I am I, they that deny Love, restricting it to their own Nature. But the Serpent is the secret Nature of Man, that is Life and Death, and maketh his Way through the Generations in Silence. And the Eagle is that Might of Live which is the Key of Magick, uplifting the Body and its Appurtenance unto high Ecstasy upon his Wings. It is by Virtue thereof that the Sphinx beholdeth the Sun unwinking, and confronteth the Pyramid without Shame. Our Dragon, therefore, combining the Natures of the Eagle and the Serpent, is our Love, the Organon of our Will, by whose Virtue we perform the Work and Miracle of the One Substance, as saith thine Ancestor Hermes Trismegistus, in his Tablet of Smaragda. And this Dragon, is called thy Silence, because in the Hour of his Operation that within thee which saith "I" is abolished in its Conjunction with the Beloved. For this Cause also is its Letter Nun, which in our Rota is the Trump Death; and Nun hath the value of Fifty, the Number of the Gates of Understanding.
 
 

 

See now our Sphinx, with what Subtility and Art is She made Whole! Here is thy Light, the Lion, the Necessity of thy Nature, fortified by thy Life, the Bull, the Power of Works, and guided by thy Liberty, the Man, the Wit to adapt Action to Environment. These are three Virtues in One, necessary to all proper Motion, as I may say in a Figure, the Lust of the Archer, the propulsive Force of his Arm, and the equilibrating and directing Control of his Eye. Of these three if one fail, the Mark is not hit. But hold! Is not a Fourth Element essential in the Work? Yea, soothly, all were vain without the Engine, Arrow and Bow. This Engine is thy Body, possessed by thee and used by thee for thy Work, yet not Part of thee, even as are his Weapons to this Archer in my Similitude. Thus is thy Dragon to be cherished of thy Lion, but if thou lack Energy and Endurance of thy Bull, thy Tools lie idle, and if Cunning and Intelligence, with Experience also of thy Man, thy Shaft flight crooked. So then, o my son, do thou perfect thyself in these Four Powers, and that with Equity.
 
 

 

By Gñana Yoga cometh thy Man to Knowledge; by Karma Yoga thy Bull to Will; by Raja Yoga is thy Lion brought to his Light; and to make perfect thy Dragon, thou hast Bhakti Yoga for the Eagle therein, and Hatha Yoga for the Serpent. Yet mark thou well how all these interfuse, so that thou mayst accomplish no one of the Works separately. As to make Gold thou must have Gold (it is the Word of the Alchemists), so to become the Sphinx thou must first be a Sphinx. For naught may grow save to the Norm of its own Nature, and in the Law of its own Law, or it is but Artifice, and endureth not. So therefore is it Folly, and a Rape wrought upon Truth to aim at aught but the Fulfilment of thine own True Nature. Order then thy Workings in Accord with thy Knowledge of that Norm as best thou mayst, not heeding the Importunity of them that prate of the Ideal. For this Rule, this Uniformity, is proper only to a Prison, and a Man Liveth by Elasticity, nor endureth Rigor save in Death. But whoso groweth bodily by a Law foreign to his own Nature, he hath a Cancer, and his whole Œconomy shall be destroyed by that small Disobedience.
 
 

 

Now then at last art thou made ready to confront the Pyramid, if thou art established as a Sphinx. For It also hath the foursquare Base of Law, and the Four Triangles of Light, Life, Love and Liberty for its Sides, that meet in a Point of Perfection that is Hadit, poised to the Kiss of Nuit. But in this Pyramid there is no Difference of Form between the Sides, as it is in thy Shinx, for these are wholly One, save in Direction. Thou art then an Harmony of the Four by Right of thy Attainment of Adeptship, the Crown of thy Manhood, but not an Identity, as in Godhead. Therefore may it be said from one Point of Sight that thine Achievement is but a Preparation, an Adornment of the Bride for the Temple of Hymen, and his Rite. Verily, o my Son, I deem in my Wisdom that this whole Work of thy Development to Sphinxhood cometh before the Work of Theurgy, for the Lord descendeth not upon a Temple ill-conceived, and builded wry, nor abideth in a Shrine unworthy. Accomplish then this Task in Patience, with Assiduity, not hasting furiously after Godliness. For this is most sure, that to the Beauty of a Maiden answereth the Lust of her Lord, spontaneous and without Effort or Appeal of her Contriving.
 
 

 

But now concerning Silence, o my Son, I will have a further Word with thee. For thereby we mean not the Muteness of him that hath a dumb Devil. This Silence is the Dragon of thine unconscious Nature, not only the Ecstasy or Death of thine Ego in the Operation of its Organ, but also, in its Unity with thy Lion, the Truth of thy Self. Thus is thy Silence the Way of the Tao, and all Speech a deviation therefrom. This Lion and Dragon are therefore of thy Self, and the Man and the Bull the Feminine Counterparts thereof, being the Grace of Our Lady B A B A L O N that She bestoweth upon thee in thine Adultery with Her. They are then as a Vesture of Honour, and a Reward, that are won by the Intensity of thy Light and of thy Love. So properly we esteem Men by the Measure of their Intelligence and their Strength, since they are equal in their essential Godhead, so far as concerneth the Quality thereof. See thou closely moreover into it, that if thou be well favoured of Our Lady, thy Lion and thy Dragon grow in like Measure, for the Excess of the Feminine is Dead Weight. The Intellectual without Virility is a Dreamer of Follies, and the laborious Giant without Courage is a Slave.

The Nature of this Silence is shewn also by the God Harprocrates, the Babe in the Lotus, who is also the Serpent and the Egg, that is, the Holy Ghost. This is the most secret of all Energies, the Seed of all being, and therefore must He be sealed up in an Ark from the Malice of the Devourers. If then by thine Art thou canst conceal thyself in thine own Nature, this is Silence, this, and not Nullity of Consciousness else were a Stone more perfect in Adeptship that thou. But, abiding in thy Silence, thou art in a City of Refuge, and the Waters prevail not against the Lotus that enfoldeth thee. This Ark or Lotus is then the Body of Our Lady BABALON, without which thou wert the Prey of Nile and of the Crocodiles that are therein. Now, o my Son, mark thou well this that I will write for thine Advertisement and Behoof, that this Silence, though it be Perfection of Delight, is but the Gestation of thy Lion, and in thy Season thou must dare, and come forth to the Battle. Else, were not this Practice of Silence akin to the Formula of Separateness of the black Brothers?

Verily, o my Son, herein lieth the Danger and the Treason of thy Scorpion. For his Nature is against himself, being the deepest Ego, that is, a Being separate from the Universe; and this is the Root of the while Mystery of Evil. For he hath in him the Magick Power, which if he use not, he is self- poisoned, even as any Organ of the Body that refuseth its Function. So then his Cure is in his Ally the Lion, that feareth not the Crocodiles, nor hideth himself, but leapeth eagerly forward. The Path of the Mystic hath this Pitfall; for though he unite himself with his God, his Mode is to withdraw from that which him seemeth is not God. Whereby he affirmeth and confirmeth the Demon, that is Duality. Be thou instant therefore, o my Son, to turn from every Act of Love at the Moment of full satisfaction, flinging the invoked Might thereof against a new Opposite; for the Formula of every Dragon is Perpetual Motion or Change, and therefore to dwell in the Satisfaction of thy Nature is a Stagnation, and a Violation thereof, making the Duality of Conflict, which is the Falling Away to Choronzon. Unto the which be Restriction in the Name of B A B A L O N.
 
 

 

I pray thee to mark, o my Son, how the Grace of Nature was benignant at my Nativity, to the right Balance and Formulation of my Shinx. For Neptune was in the Sign of the Bull, giving Strength and Stability to my Spiritual Essence. Uranus was ascending in the Lion, to fortify my Magical Will with Courage, and to turn it to the Salvation of Man. In the Waterman was Saturnus, to make mine Intelligence sober, profound, and capable of Labour. Jupiter, with Mercury His Herald, was in Scorpio, harmonizing me and my Word according to the Essence of my Nature. Then of the others, Mars was exalted in the Goat, for physical Endurance of Toil; Sol was conjoined with Venus in the Balance, for judgment in Art and in Life, and for Equability of Temple. Lastly, the Moon was in the Sign of the Fishes, her loved abode, for a Gift of Sensitiveness and of Glamour. What then am I? I am a transient Effect of infinite Causes, a Child of Changes. There is no I, o thou that art not thou, else were I segregated, a Stagnation, a Thing of Hate and of Fear. But ever-moving, ever-changing, there is a Star in the Body of Our Lady Nuit, whose Word is None and Two.