I am not I. Then, sayst thou, why is this Word? Know o my Son, that this first Person is but the common Figure of the Speech of Men whereof the Magus may avail himself without Implication of Metaphysick. Yet in the Mystery of Illusion, which is the Instrument of the Universal Will, I will not say the Harlot of its Pleasure, are manifested these many Stars, and amongst them that Logos of the Æon of Horus whom thou callest TO MEGA QHRION and thy Father. And this is by-come through Virtue of the Intensity of the Will to Change, through many a Serpent-Phase of Life and Death, until in the Play of the Game its Manifestation is the Utterance of this Word of the Æon, this Law of Thelema, that shall be for a Season the Formula of the Magick of the Earth. Who then should inquire of the further Destiny of that Star, or of another? It is the Play of the Game, and the Operation of its Function shall suffice it. Rid thyself therefore of this Thought of "I" apart from all, but, attaining to Consciousness of All by Our True Way, contemplate the Play of Illusion by thine Instrument of Mind and Sense, leaving it without Care to continue in its own Path of Change.
 
 

 

O my Son, know this concerning the Black Brothers, that cry: I am I. This is Falsity and Delusion, for the Law endureth not Exception. So then these Brethren are not apart, as they vainly think being wrought by Error; but are peculiar Combinations of Nature in Her Variety. Rejoice then even in the Contemplation of these, for they are proper to Perfection, and Adornments of Beauty, like a Mole upon the Cheek of a Woman. Shall I then say that were it of thine own Nature, even thine, to compose so sinister a Complex, thou shouldst not strive therewith, destroying it by Love, but continue in that Way? I deny not this hastily, nor affirm; nay, shall I even utter a Hint of that which I may foresee? For it is in mine own Nature to think that in this Matter the Sum of Wisdom is Silence. But this I say, and that boldly, that thou shalt not look upon this Horror with Fear, or with Hate, but accept all this as thou dost all else, as a Phenomenon of Change, that is, of Love. For in a swift Stream thou mayst behold a Twig held steady for a while by the Play of the Water, and by this Analogue thou mayst understand the Nature of this Mystery of the Path of Perfection.
 
 

 

Wilt thou acquaint thyself now further at my Reproof concerning this Arcanum of Alchymia, the Art Egyptian, how to make Gold? Of a Surety this is already in thy Knowledge, if thou examine by Our Holy Qabalah, what be the Forces that are the Influx upon Tiphereth, which is the Harmony and Beauty, or Sol, in every Kingdom of the Universe, so then also among Metals. Now this Influx is Fivefold. First, from the Crown descendeth the High Priestess in the Path of the Moon, for Inspiration, and Imagination, and Idea: see to it that this Virgin be Pure, for herein Error is Illusion. Next, from the Father floweth the Power of the Emperor in the Path of the Ram, for Initiative, and Energy, and Determination. Third, from the Mother are the Lovers in the Path of the Twins, for Intellectual Wholeness, and for Adjustment to Environment. These Three are from this Superna and complete the Theorick of thy Work. After this, in the Praxis and Executive thereof thou hast the Hermit as an Influence from the Sphere of Jupiter in the Path of the Virgin, for Secrecy, and for Concentration, and for Prudence. Lastly, from the Sphere of Mars, travelleth Justice in the Path of the Balance, for good Judgment, and Tact, and Art. O my Son, in this Chapter is more wisdom than in Ten Thousand Folios of the Alchemists! Study therefore to acquire Skill in this Method, and Experience; for this Gold is not only of the Metals, but of every Sphere, and this Key is of virtue to enter every Palace of Perfection.
 
 

 

O my Son, hear this Wisdom of Experience, how at thy first Sight, when I put thee into the Arms of Ahitha, thy sweet Stepmother my concubine, such was thy Beauty that she became enamoured of thee, crying aloud; Ay me, an such he the Fruit of thy Magick, o my Master, then let me, me also, even me, give myself utterly to this Holy Art! Then did I, becoming heavy in Spirit, make Question of her, saying: To what End? And at this was she confounded and brought into Bewilderment; but after a great While, fumbling in her Mind, made Answer, like a Scarecrow in a Field, so was it for Rags and Tatters of Thought. Thus yet more Atrabilious and Sluggard was this Liver of thy Father, so that I fell into a Gloom night unto Weeping. Then she beholding me with Amazement cried upon me thus: Art thou not glad in Heart, o my Master? At this I gave a Sigh even as one night unto Death. And She: if this be so, then is no need anymore for me to give myself to Magick. Thereat, perceiving yet again the Just Universal of Our Lord Pan, was I swallowed up (like unto Jonah of the Old Fable) in the Belly of the Whale called Laughter, and it seemeth to me at this present Writing that I am like to abide therein for the Time that remaineth to me in this Body.
 
 

 

Now this is the right Power and Property of a Woman, to arrange and to adjust all Things that exist in their proper Sphere, but not to create or to transcend. Therefore in all practical Matters is she of Might and of Wit to produce an Effect consonant with her Mood. And her Symbol is Water, that seeketh the Level, whether for Wrath, eating away the Mountains (yet even in this making smooth the Plains) or for Love, in Fecundity of Earth. But it is the Fire of Man that hath heaved up those Mountains, in huge Turmoil. Man them maketh Mischief and Trouble by his Violence, be his Will convenient to His Environment, or antipathetic; but Woman disturbeth by Manipulation, adroit or sinister as her Mood may be of Order or of Disorder. For any Man to meddle in her Affair is Folly, for he comprehendeth not Quiet; so also for her to emulate him in his Office is Fatuity. Therefore in Magick though a Woman excel all men in every Quality that is profitable for her for Attainment, yet she is Naught in that Work, even as a Man without Hands in the Shop of a Carpenter; for She hath not the Organism that might make Use of this Opportunity. Of all this is she aware by her Instinct, for her Nature is to Understand, even without Knowledge; and if thou doubt herein the Wisdom of thy Sire, do thou seek out a Woman (but with Precaution) and affirm these my Words. So shall she wax woundily wrath, and look grisly upon thee, proclaiming in a shrill Voice her manifold Excellences, which she hath, and concern the Matter not one Whit.
 
 

 

Of a Thousand Years it is nigh unto the Fiftieth Part, o my Son, since I obtained Favour in the Light of a great Master of the Truth, whom Men call Allan Bennett, so that he received me for his Disciple in Magick. And he was instant with me in this Matter, and vehement, adjuring his Gods that this (which I have myself here above declared unto thee) was the Truth concerning the Nature of Woman. But I being but a Youth, and Headstrong, and being enraptured in Love of Women, and Admiration of Them, and Worship, delighting in them eagerly, and learning constantly from them, nourished by the Milk of their Mystery, as it should be for all true Men, did resist angrily the Doctrine of that most holy Man of God. And because, (as it was written) he was a vowed Virgin from his Birth, and had no Commerce with any in the Way of Carnality, I disabled his Judgment herein, as if he, being a Fish, had disallowed the Flight of Birds. But I, o my Son, am not wholly ignorant of Women, save as all Men must be in the Limitation of their Nature, for the Number of my Concubines is not notably or shamefully exceeded by that of the Phases of the Moon since my Birth. Many also have been my Disciples in Magick that were Women; and (more also) I do owe, acknowledging the same with open Gladness, the greater Part of mine own Initiation and Advancement to the Operation of Women. Notwithstanding all these Things, I bow humbly before Allan Bennett, and repent mine Insolence, for his Saying was Sooth.
 
 

 

It is indeed easy for a Woman to obtain the Experience of Magick, in a certain Sort, as Visions, Trances, and the like; yet they take not Hold upon Her, to transform Her, as with Men, but pass only as Images upon a Speculum. So then a Woman advanceth never in Magick, but remaineth the same, rightly or wrongly ordered according to the Force that moveth Her. Here therefore is the Limit of Her Aspiration in Magick, to abide joyous and obedient beneath the Man that her Instinct shall divine so that by Habit becoming a Temple well-ordered, comely and consecrated, she may in her next Incarnation attract by her Fitness a Man-soul. For this Cause hath Man esteemed Constancy and Patience as Qualities preeminent in Good women, because by these she gaineth her Going toward Our Godliness. Her Ordeal therefore is principally to resist Moods, which make Disorder, that is of Choronzon. Unto the which be Restriction in the Name of B A B A L O N. Also, let her be content in this Way, for verily she hath a noble and an excellent Portion in Our Holy Banquet, and escapeth many a Peril that is proper to us others. Only, be she in Awe and Wariness, for in her is no Principle of Resistance to Choronzon, so that if she become disordered in her Moods, as by Lust, or by Drunkenness, or by Idleness, she hath no Standard whereunto she may rally her Forces. In this see thou her Need of a well-guarded Life, and of a True Man for her God.
 
 

 

Mark then, o my Son, how in the Ancient Books of Magick it is Man that selleth his Soul unto the Devil, but Woman that maketh Pact with him. For she hath constantly the Wit and Power to arrange Things at his Bidding, and she payeth this Price of his Alliance. But a Man hath one Jewel, and, bartering this, he becometh the Mockery of Satanas. Let then this tutor thee in thine own Art of Magick, that thou employ Women in all Practical Matters, to order them with Cunning, but Men in thy Need of Transfiguration or Transmutation. In a Trope, let the Woman direct the Chess-Play of Life, but the Man alter the Rules, if he so will. Lo! in ill Play is Mischief and Disorder, but in a New Law is Earthquake, and Destruction of the Root of Things. Therefore is Fear of any Man that is in Commerce with his Genius, for none knoweth if his Law shall amend the Game or do it Hurt; and of this the Proof is in Experience, won after the Victory of his Will, when there is no Way of Return; as saith the Poet, Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum. Nor do thou fear to create: for, even as I have written in The Book of Lies (falsely so-called), thou canst create nothing that is not God. But beware of false Creations wrought by Women in whom is no Function thereof; for they are Phantoms, poisonous Vapours, bred of the Moon in her Witchcraft of Blood.
 
 

 

It shall profit thee much, o my Son, or I err, that I instruct thee in the Mysteries of the Paths of Nun and of Ayin, that in our rota are figured in the Atu called Death, and that called the Devil. Of these Nun joineth the Sun with Venus, and is referred to Scorpio in the Zodiac. This Path is perilous, for it seeketh the Level, and may abase thee, except thou take Head unto the Going. Of its three Modes, the Scorpio destroyeth himself, as if it were a Type of animal Pleasure. Next, the Serpent is proper to Works of Change, or Magick; yet is he poisonous also unless thou hast Wit to enchant him. Lastly the Eagle is subtlest in this Sort, so that this Path is proper to a Transcendental Labour. Yet all these are in the Way of Death, so that thy Wand is dissolved and corroded in the Waters of the Cup, and must be renewed by Virtue of thy Nature in its Course. For Fire is extinguished by Water; but upon Earth it burneth freely, and is inflamed by the Wind. Understand also that which is written concerning the Vesica, that it is the Mother, giving Ease, Sleep, and Death, which Consolations are eschewed by the True Man or Hero.
 
 

 

Now the Path of Ayin is a Link between Mercury and the Sun, and in the Zodiac importeth the Goat. This Goat is called also Strength, and standeth in the Meridian at the Sunrise of Spring; and it is His Nature to leap upon the Mountains. So therefore he is a Symbol of true Magick, and his Name is Baphomet, wherefore did I design him as an Atu of Thoth, the Fifteenth, and put his Image in the Front of my Book, The Ritual of High Magick, which was the second Part of my Thesis for the Grade of Major Adept, when I was clothed about with the Body called Alphonse Louis Constant. Now the Goat flieth not as doth the Eagle; but consider this also that it is the true Nature of Man to dwell upon the Earth, so that his Flights are oft but Phantasy; yea, the Eagle also is bound to his Eyrie, nor feedeth upon Air. Therefore this goat, making each leap with Fervour, yet all Times secure in his own Element, is a true Hieroglyph of the Magician. Mark also, this Path sheweth One continuous in Exaltation upon a Throne, and so is it the Formula of the Man, as the other was of the Woman.
 
 

 

I say furthermore that this Path is of the Circle, and of the Eye of Horus that sleepeth not, but is vigilant. The Circle is all-perfect, equal every Way, but the Vesica hath bitter Need, and seeketh thy Medicine, that is of right compounded for High Purpose, to ease her Infirmity. Thus is thy Will frustrated, and thy Mind distracted, and thy Work lamed, if it be not brought to Naught. Also thy Puissance in thine Art is minished, by a full Moiety, as I do esteem it. But the Eye of Horus hath no Need, and is free in his Will, not seeking a Level, or requiring a Medicine, and is fit and worthy to be the Companion and the Ally of thee in thy Work, as a Friend to thee, not Mistress and not Slave, that seek ever with Slyness and Deceit to encompass their own Ends. There is moreover a Reason in Physics for my Word; study thou this matter in the Laws of the Changes of Nature. For Things Unlike do in their Marriage produce a Child which is relatively Stable, and resisteth Change; but Things like increase mutually the Potential of their particular Natures. Howbeit, each Path hath his own Use; and thou, being instructed in all Ways, choose thine with Discretion.
 
 

 

My son, my Delight, Honey of the Comb of my Life, I will say also this concerning the Odds of the Formulæ of Male and Female, that mine Initiation was ordered as followeth. First, unto the Middle of the Way, the Attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, were these Men appointed to mine Aid, Jerome Politt of Kendal, Cecil Jones of Basingstoke, Allan Bennett of the Border, and Oscar Exkenstein of the Mountain with no Woman. But after that Attainment hath Word come to me only through Women, Ouarda the Seer, and Virakam, and in mine Initiation in to the Degree of Magus, the Cat 'ILARIWN thy Mother, Helen the Play Actress the Serpent, with Myriamme the Drunkard, and Rita the Harlot to bear Dagger and Poison; then these others Alice the Singing Woman for an Owl; then Catherine the Dog of Anubis, and Ahitha the Camel that renewed the Work of Virakam, with Ollun the Dragon and --- but here I do restrict myself in Speech, for the End is wrapped about with a Veil, as the Face of a Virgin. But do thou meditate strictly upon these Things, distinguishing the right Property, Order, and Use of the Other and the other in the Relative, even as thou makest them All-One, that is None, in the Absolute.
 
 

 

Recall, o my Son, the Fable of the Hebrews, which they brought from the City Babylon, how Nebuchadnezzar the Great King, being afflicted in his Spirit, did depart from among Men for Seven Years' Space, eating Grass as doth an Ox. Now this Ox is the Letter Aleph, and is that Atu of Thoth whose Number is Zero, and whose name is Maat, Truth, or Maut, the Vulture, the All-Mother, being an Image of Our Lady Nuit, but also it is called the Fool, who is Parsifal, "der reine Thor", and so referreth to him that walketh in the Way of the Tao. Also, he is Harpocrates, the Child Horus, walking, (as saith David, the Badavi that became King in his Psalms) upon the Lion and the Dragon; that is, he is in Unity with his own secret Nature, as I have shewn thee in my Word concerning the Sphinx. O my Son, yester Eve came the Spirit upon me that I also should eat the Grass of the Arabs, and by Virtue of the Bewitchment thereof behold that which might be appointed for the Enlightenment of mine Eyes. Now then of this may I not speak, seeing that it involveth the Mystery of the Transcending of Time, so that in One Hour of our terrestrial Measure did I gather the Harvest of an Æon, and in Ten Lives I could not declare it.
 
 

 

Yet even as a Man may set up a Memorial or Symbol to import Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand, so may I strive to inform thine Understanding by Hieroglyph. And here shall thine own Experience serve us, because a Token of Remembrance sufficeth him that is familiar with a Matter, which to him that knoweth it not should not be made manifest, no, not in a Year of Instruction. Here first then is one amid the uncounted Wonders of that Vision; upon a field blacker and richer than Velvet was the Sun of all Being, alone. Then about Him were little Crosses, Greek, over-running the Heaven. These changed from Form to Form geometrical, Marvel devouring Marvel, a Thousand Times a Thousand in their Course and Sequence, until by their Movement was the Universe churned into the Quintessence of Light. Moreover at another Time did I behold All Things as Bubbles, iridescent and luminous, self-shining in every Colour, Myriad pursuing Myrad until by their perpetual Beauty they exhausted the Virtue of my Mind to receive them, and whelmed it, so that I was fain to withdraw myself from the Burden of that Brilliance. Yet, o my Son, the Sun of all this amounteth not to the Worth of one Dawn-Glimmer of Our True Vision of Holiness.
 
 

 

Now for the Chief of that which was granted unto me, it was the Apprehension of those willed Changes or Transmutations of the Mind which lead into Truth, being as Ladders unto Heaven, or so I called them at that Time, seeking for a Phrase to admonish the Scribe that attended on my Words, to grave a Balustre upon the Stele of of my Working. But I make Effort in vain, o my Son, to record this matter in Detail; for it is the quality of the Grass to quicken the Operation of Thought it may be Thousandfold, and moreover to figure each Step in Images complex and overpowering in Beauty, so that one hath no Time wherein to conceive, much less to utter, any Word for a Name or any of them. Also, such was the multiplicity of these Ladders, and their Equivalence, that the Memory holdeth no more any one of them, but only a certain Comprehension of the Method, wordless by Reason of its Subtility. Now therefore must I make by my Will a Concentration mighty and terrible of my Thought, that I may bring forth this Mystery in Expression. For this Method is of Virtue and Profit, by it mayst thou come easily and with Delight to the Perfection of Truth, it is no Odds from what Thought thou makest the first Leap in thy Meditation, so hat thou mayst know how every Road endeth in Monsalvat, and the Temple of the Sangraal.
 
 

 

I believe generally, on Ground both of Theory and Experience, so little as I have, that a Man must first be initiate, and established in Our Law, before he may use this Method. For in it is an Implication of our Secret Enlightenment, concerning the Universe, how its Nature is utterly Perfection. Now every Thought is a Separation, and the Medicine of that is to marry Each One with its Contradiction, as I have shewed formerly in many Writings. And thou shalt clap the one to the other with Vehemence of Spirit, swiftly as Light itself, that the Ecstasy be spontaneous. So therefore it is Expedient that thou have travelled already in this Path of Antithesis, knowing perfectly the Answer to every Griph or Problem, and thy Mind ready therewith. For by the Property of this Grass all passeth with Speed incalculable of Wit, and an Hesitation should confound thee, breaking down thy ladder, and throwing back thy Mind to receive Impression from Environment, as at thy first beginning. Verily; the nature of this Method is Solution, and the Destruction of every Complexity by Explosion of Ecstasy, as every Element thereof is fulfilled by its Correlative, and is annihilated (since it loseth separate Existence) in the Orgasm that is consummated within the Bed of thy Mind.
 
 

 

Thou knowest right well, o my Son, how a Thought is imperfect in two Dimensions, being separate from its Contradiction, but also constrained in its Scope, because by that Contradiction we do not (commonly) complete the Universe, save only that of its Discourse. Thus if we contrast health with Sickness, we include in their Sphere of Union no more than one Quality that may be predicated of all Things. Furthermore, it is for the most Part not easy to find or to formulate the true Contradiction of any Thought as a positive Idea, but only as a Formal Negation in vague Terms, so that the ready Answer is but the Antithesis. Thus to "White" one putteth not the Phrase "all that which is not White", for this is void, formless; it is neither clear, simple, nor positive in Conception; but one answereth "Black", for this hath an Image of his Significance. So the Cohesion of Antitheticals destroyeth them only in Part, and one becometh instantly conscious of the Residue that is unsatisfied or unbalanced, whose Eidolon leapeth in thy Mind with Splendour and Joy unspeakable. Let not this deceive thee, for its Existence proveth its Imperfection, and thou must call forth its Mate, and destroy them by Love, as with the former. This Method is continuous and proceedeth ever from the Gross to the Fine, and from the Particular to the General, dissolving all Things into the One Substance of Light.
 
 

 

Lean now that Impression of Sense have Opposites readily conceived, as long to short, or light to dark; and so with Emotions and Perceptions, as Love to Hate, or false to true; but the more violent is the Antagonism, the more is it bound in Illusion, determined by Relation. Thus the Word "Long" hath no Meaning save it be referred to a Standard; but Love is not thus obscure, because Hate is its Twin, partaking bountifully of a Common Nature therewith. Now, hear this; it was given unto me in my Visions of the Æthyrs, when I was in the Wilderness of Sahara, by Tolga, that above the Abyss, contradiction is Unity, and that Nothing could be true save by Virtue of the Contradiction that is contained in itself. Behold, therefore, in this method thou shalt come presently to Ideas of this Order, that include in themselves their own Contradiction, and have no Antithesis. Here then is thy Lever of Antinomy broken in thine Hand; yet, being in true Balance, thou mayst soar, passionate and eager, from Heaven to Heaven, by the Expansion of thine Idea, and its Exaltation, of Concentration as thou understandest by thy Studies in The Book of the Law, the Word thereof concerning Our Lady Nuit and Hadit that is the Core of every Star. And this last Going upon thy Ladder is easy, if thou be truly Initiate, for the Momentum of thy Force in Transcendental Antithesis serveth to propel thee, and the Emancipation from the Fetters of Thought that thou hast won in that Praxis of Art maketh the Whirlpool and Gravitation of Truth of Competence to Draw thee unto itself.
 
 

 

This is the Profit of mine Intoxication of this Holy Herb, the Grass of the Arab, that it has shewed me this Mystery (with many others) not as a new Light, for I had that aforetime, but by its swift Synthesis and Manifestation of a Long Sequence of Events in a Moment, I had Wit to analyse this Method, and to discover its Essential Law, which before had escaped the Focus of the Lens of mine Understanding. Yea, o my Son, there is no true Path of Light, save that which I have formerly made plain; yet in every Path is Profit, if thou be cunning to perceive it and to clasp it. For we win Truth oftentimes by Reflection or by the Composition and Selection of an Artist in his Presentation thereof, when else we were blind thereunto; lacking his Mode of Light. Yet were that Art of none avail unless we had already the Root of that Truth in our Nature, and a Bud ready to flower at the Summoning of that Sun. In Witness, nor a Boy nor a Stone hath Knowledge of the Sections of a Cone, and their Properties; but thou mayst teach these to the Boy by right Presentation, because he hath in his Nature those laws of Mind that are consonant with our Art Mathematical, and hath Need only of the Fledging (I may say this) so that he apply them consciously to the Work, when all being in Truth, that is, in the necessary Relations that rule our Illusion, he cometh in Course to Apprehension.
 
 

 

Here then o my Son, that shall be mightier than all the Kings of the Earth, as it is prophesied, --- an thou be He! --- because thou shalt establish the Law which I have given, even the Law of Thelema, here in this which I have written is a Point of Judgment in they Work to bring into the Light of Initiation such as come unto thee, affirming their Will to this Attainment. For every One hath his own Path and his own Law, and there is no Art in Magick but to seek out that Path and that Law, that he may pursue the one by the right Used of the Other. It shall be that one cometh unto thee, desiring Amen-Ra (I speak in a Figure or Exemplar) another Asi, a third Hoor-Pa-Kraat; or again, one seeketh Instruction in Obeah, and his Fellow in Wanga; and of all these not one in Ten Thousand shall be aware of his true Way. For albeit our last step is one for all, yet his next stem is particular to each. Therefore is the Preparation of a Student that seeketh Our Holy Order of A\ A\ most general, informing his Mind of all known Methods, so that his Will may select among these by Instinct: then after, as a Probationer, he practiseth those which he hath preferred, and by the Examination of his Record after the Period appointed thou mayst have Wisdom concerning him, to confirm him in those Ways which are shewed thereby to be germane to his True Nature.
 
 

 

Thus I was brought unto the Knowledge of myself in a certain secret Grace, and as a Poet, by Jerome Politt of Kendal; Oscar Eckenstein of the Mountain discovered Manhood in me, teaching me to endure Hardship, and to dare many Shapes of Death; also he nurtured me in Concentration, the Art of the Mystics, but without Lumber of Theology. Allan Bennett bestowed upon me the right Art of Magic, and Our Holy Qabalah, with a great Treasure of Learning in many Matters, but especially concerning Egypt, and Asia, the Mysteries of their Arcane Wisdom. But of Cecil Jones had I the Great Gift of the Holy Magick of Abramelin, and he inducted me into that Order which we name not, because of the Silliness of the Profane that pretend thereto, and he brought me to the Knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel; also, he was the Herald of the Masters of the Temple when They bade me welcome to their Order, appointing a Siege for me in the City of the Pyramids, under the Night of Pan; but for three Years I was not willing to avail myself thereof. Now mark well this, o my Son, that this Path was peculiar to the law of my Star, and none other should follow me herein, or seek to follow me, for he hath his own proper Orbit. O my Son, err not by Generalisation and Conformity, for this is the very Idleness, and breedeth Ideals and Standards that are Death.
 
 

 

Nevertheless, this one Affliction shall touch nigh all that come to thee, and that is this great Pox of Sin, that is our Bane inherited of the Æon of Slain Gods. Look the first of all, when any Postulant boweth before thee, whether there be not Conflict and Restriction in his Mind, and in his Will. If he deem Good and Evil to be absolute, instead of as relative to the Health of this Body, or the Weal of the Society of which he is a Member, or what not, as it may be, instruct him. Or, if he will say that he will sacrifice all for Initiation, correct him, as it is written: "but whoso gives one Particle of Dust shall lose all in that Hour." For it is Conflict if he weigh one Thing with another; and Renunciation, being sorrowful, is not worthy of Acceptance. But he must with Joy unite all he is and hath, heaping the Whole into one Billow of Love, under Will. Yea, o my son, until thou hast brought the Postulant into our Freedom from Sin, and the Sense and Conviction thereof, he is not ready for the Path of our Magick and Illumination; because every Way soever is a Going, and this Sin is an obstacle and a Fetter and an Hoodwink on every one of them, for it is Restriction, whether he set out by the Meditations of the Dhamma, or by Our Qabalah, or by Vision or Theurgy, or how else soever.
 
 

 

How shall a Man attain to the Trance where All is One, if he yet debate within his Mind concerning Virtue as a Thing Absolute? Thus, o my Son, there be those that are fuddled with Doubt whether Meat is to be eaten (I choose this as a Reference with Habit is proper to the Lion, as Grass to the Horse, so that his right Problem is solely thus, what is fitting to his own Nature. Or again, I suppose that he is in Vision, and an Angel, visiting him, imparteth a Truth contrary to his Prejudice, as it fell out in mine own Case, when I inhabited the Body of Sir Edward Kelly, or so do I in Part remember, as it seemeth dimly. This nevertheless is sure (or the learned Casaubon, publishing the Record of that Word with the Magician Dee, sayeth falsely) that an Angel did declare unto Kelly the very Axiomata of our Law of Thelema, in good Measure, and plainly; but Dee, afflicted by the Fixity of his Tenets that were of the Slave-Gods, was wroth, and by his Authority prevailed upon the other, who was indeed not wholly perfected as an Instrument, or the World ready for that Sowing. Consider also how in this very Life I was the Enemy of mine own Law, and wrote down The Book of the Law contrary to my conscious Will by the Virtue of Obedience as a Scribe, and strove constantly to escape mine own Work, and the Utterance of my Word, until by Initiation I was made All-One.
 
 

 

Do thou understand how few be they whose Work in this their present Lives is our Way of Initiation. Yet it is written in The Book of the Law that the Law is for all, so that thou shalt in no wise err if thou establish it as the formula of the Æon, universal among Men. Also, ever for them that are fitted to advance in our Light, there is Order and Diversity in Function, as regardeth their Work in our Sublime Brotherhood, Thus, it might well be that, in a Profess-House of the Temple, or College of the Holy Ghost, each Knight or Brother might severally attain Experience of every Trance, unto the Perfection of all Illumination; yet by this there ought not to arise Confusion, one usurping the appointed office of another. For the Abbot, although he be not enlightened wholly, is yet Abbot; and the Place of the Cook, were he Saint, Arhan, and Paramahamsa in one Person, is in his Kitchen. Confound not thou in any wise therefore the Degree of Attainment of any Man with his right Function in our Holy Order; for although by initiation cometh the Light, and the Right, and the Might to accomplish all Works soever, yet these are inoperative save as they are able to use a Machine which is of the same Order of Things as the Effect required. As the best Swordsman hath Need of a Sword, so hath every magician of a Body and Mind capable to the Work that he willeth; and he can do nothing, save it be proper to his Nature.
 
 

 

By this Understanding be they rebuked that make a Reproach to our Art, saying in their Insolence that if we have all Power, why are we betimes in Stress of Poverty, and in Contempt of men, and in Pain of Disease, and so forth, mocking us, and holding our Magick for Delusion. But they behold not our Light, how it guideth us in our Path unto a Goal that is not in their Comprehension, so that we crave not that which seemeth to them the Sole Food and Comfort of Life. Also, this which we attain, though it be the Essence of Omniscience and Omnipotence, informeth and moveth the Material World (so to call it) only according to the Nature of that which is therein. For the Light of the Sun (by His very Wholeness itself) sheweth a Rose Red, but a Leaf Green; and His Heat gathereth the Clouds, and disperseth them also. So I then, though I were perfect ion Magick, might not work in Metals as a Smith, or become rich by Commerce as a Merchant; for I have not in my Nature the Engines proper to these Capacities, and therefore it is not of my will to seek to exercise them. Here then is my Case, that I can not because I will not, and it were Conflict, should I turn thither. But let every man become perfect in his own Work, not heeding the Rebuke of another, that some Way not his own is more Noble, or Profitable, but being constant in mindfulness concerning his Business.
 
 

 

How shall the measure our Statue and our Success by that Cannon of Relation and Illusion, and their ignorance of our Nature? Time is but Sequence, and a moment of Light outweigheth an Age of Darkness. What is Happiness but the Issue of the Harmony of our Consciousness with our Truth, and the Conformity of Will with Action? To the Initiate is Certainty of his Fulfilment, which to the Profane is but the Effect of Hazard, and he feareth to lose what he loveth, or thinketh he loveth. But we, loving only in Light, suffer not by Fear or by Bereavement, because to us every Event is Welcome, being right, necessary and proper to our particular Path. The Knowledge of this one Matter is the End of Dread and of Regret; make it the Governor of thy Mind, to rule its Pace, lest it hasten or lag by Stress of thine Environment. How this Attainment is possible for all Mankind, since it asketh but Resolution of Complexities that already exist; so that this true Wisdom and Happiness cometh by the Acceptance of our Law, and its Use is the Key to all locked Doors of the Mind, and the Reconcilement of every Contention. O my Son, in the Promulgation of the Law lieth the Reward of our Chief Work, the making whole of Mankind from the Conscience of Sin which divideth him, and afflicteth his Spirit.
 
 

 

O my Son, is it not a marvel, this Light whereof we are the Quintessence and the Seed? By it are we made Whole, dissolved in the Body and in the Soul of Our Lady Nuit even as Her Lord Hadit, so that the Gnostic Sacrament of the Cosmos is perpetually Elevated before us. We behold all that is and comprehend its Mystery, and its Order in this High Mass eternally celebrated among us, acknowledging the Perfection of the Rite, neither confusing the Parts thereof, nor discriminating in Worship between them. So unto us is every Phenomenon a Shew of Godliness, proceeding continually in a Pageant that returneth unto itself, identical in the Phase of Naught as of Many, but whirling in the Orgia of Ineffable Holiness as it were a Dance that weaveth Figures of Beauty in Variety inexhaustible. Shall the Initiate bestir him, to better so prime a Perfection? Nay, this Will that was his is accomplished; he hath attained the Summit; so without Hope or Fear he abideth, and leaveth his Vehicle of Illusion and Magical Engine, that is, as Man say, his Body and Mind, to work out their Ritual of Change without his interference. O my son, ask not to what End! As it is written in The Book of the Heart Girt with the Serpent, concerning the Boy and the Swan: is there not Joy ineffable in this aimless Winging?
 
 

 

Thou hast made Question of me concerning Death, and this is my Opinion, of which I say not: this is the Truth. First in the Temple called Man is the God, his Soul, or Star, individual and eternal, but also inherent in the Body of Our Lady Nuit. Now this Soul, as an Officer in the High Mass of the Cosmos, taketh on the Vesture of his Office, that is, inhabiteth a Tabernacle of Illusion, a Body and Mind. And this Tabernacle is Subject to the Law of Change, for it is complex, and diffuse reacting to every Stimulus or Impression. If then the mind be attached constantly to the Body, Death hath no Power to decompose it wholly, but a decaying Shell of the dead Man, his Mind holding together for a little his Body of Light, haunteth the Earth, seeking a new Tabernacle (in its Error that feareth Change) in some other Body. These Shells are broken away utterly from the Star that did enlighten them, and they are Vampires, obsessing them that adventure themselves into the Astral World without Magical Protection, or invoke them, as do the Spiritists. For by Death is Man released only from the Gross Body, at the first, and is complete otherwise upon the Astral Plane, as he was in his Life. But this Wholeness suffereth Stress, and its Girders are loosened, the weaker first and after that the stronger.
 
 

 

Consider now in this Light what shall come to the Adept, to him that hath aspired constantly and firmly to his Star, attuning the Mind unto the Musick of its Will. In him, if his Mind be knit perfectly together is itself, and conjoined with the Star, is so strong a Confection that it breaketh away easily not only from the Gross Body, but the fine. It is this Fine Body which bindeth it to the Astral, as did the Gross to the Material World so then it accomplisheth willingly the Sacrament of a second Death and leaveth the Body of Light. But the Mind, cleaveth closely, by Right of its Harmony, and Might of its Love, to its Star, resisteth the Ministers of Disruption, for a Season, according to its Strength. Now, if this Star be of those that are bound by the Great Oath, incarnating without Remission because of Delight in the Cosmic Sacrament, it seeketh a new Vehicle in the appointed Way, and indwelleth the Fœtus of a Child, and quickeneth it. And if at this Time the mind of its Former Tabernacle yet cling to it, then is there Continuity of Character, and it may be Memory, between the two Vehicles. This is, briefly and without Elaboration, is the Way of Asar in Amennti, according to mine Opinion, of which I say not: This is the Truth.
 
 

 

Now then to this Doctrine, o my Son, add thou that which thou hast learned in The Book of the Law, that Death is the Dissolution in the Kiss of Our Lady Nuit. This is a true Consonance as of Bass with Treble for here is the Impulse that setteth us to Magick, the Pain of the Conscious Mind. Having then Wit to find the Cause of this Pain in the Sense of Separation, and its Cessation by the Union of Live, it is the Summit of our Holy Art to present the whole Being of our Star to Our Lady in the Nuptial of our Bodily Death. We are then to make our whole Engine the true and real Appurtenance of our Force, without Leak, or Friction, or any other Waste or Hindrance to its Action. Thou knowest well how an Horse, or even a Machine propelled by a Man's feet, becometh as it were as Extension of the Rider, though his Skill and Custom. Thus let thy Star have profit of thy Vehicle, assimilating it, and sustaining it, so that it be healed of its Separation, and this even in Life, but most especially in Death. Also thou oughtest to increase thy Vehicle in Mass by true Growth in Balance, that thou be a Bridegroom comely and well favoured, a Man of might, and a Warrior worthy of the Bed of so divine a Dissolution.
 
 

 

There is a named Objection, o my Son, to our Thesis concerning Will that it should flow freely in its Way: vide licet, that for such as I am it is well, because I am endowed by Nature with a Lust insatiable in every Kind, so that the Universe itself seemeth incapable to appease it. For I have poured myself out unceasingly, in Bodily Passion, and in Battles with Men, and with Wild Beasts, and with Mountains and Deserts, and in Poetry and other Writings of the Musick of mine Imagination, and in Books of our own Mysteries, and in Works Magical, and so forth, so that in Mine Age I am become verily a Slave to mine own Genius; and my Law is that unless I sleep or create, my Soul is sick, and fain to claim the Reward and the Recreation of my Death. But (I hear thee say it) this is not the Case of All, or even of many, Men; but their Act of Will is satisfied easily at its first Guerdon. Should not then their Wisdom be to resist themselves for a Space, as Water heaped up by a Dam gathereth Force, and Hunger feedeth upon Abstinence? Also, there is that which I have written in a former Chapter of the right Use of Discipline; and thirdly, this free Flowing is without Subtility of Art, as it were an Harlot that plucketh Men by the Sleeve.
 
 

 

Here therefore will I write down the Answer to this Indictment of our Wisdom; that every Act of Will is to be made in its Perfection, which State is to be attained according to these Conditions: firs, those of its own Law; second, those of its Environment. Judge thine own Case individually, each as it pleadeth; for there is no Cannon or Code, since every Star hath its own Law diverse from every other. Now there is the Restraint of Conflict which is Impotence and Disruption; the the Restraint of Discipline is a Fortification of the Will by Repose and by Preparation, as a Conqueror resteth his Armies, and feedeth them, and looketh to their Furniture and to their Spirit, before he joineth the Battle. Also, there is the Restraint of Art, which includeth that other of Discipline, and its Nature is to adorn the Will and to admire its Strength and its Beauty, and to enjoy its Victory by Anticipation in full Confidence, not fearful of Time that robbeth them that are ignorant concerning him, how he is but Mirage and Illusion, incapable to besiege the Fortress of the Soul. Work thou thy Will, knowing (as I said aforetime by the Mouth of Eliphas Levi Zahed), thyself Omnipotent, and thine Habitation Eternity. O my Son, attend well this Word, for it is an Heirloom, and a Ring of Ruby and Emerald in thine Inheritance.
 
 

 

Subtler than the Serpent of Hermes, o my Son, is this Way of Restraint of Art, and thou shalt meet therein with the God Pan, and have him to thy Playmate. So shalt thou devise Comedy and Tragedy, as it were Settings for the Jewel of thy Will, to enhance the Beauty thereof, and to refine thy Pleasures. This is that which is written in The Book of the Law: "Wisdom says: be strong! Then canst thou bear more joy. Be not animal; refine thy rapture! If thou drink, drink by the eight and ninety rules of art: if thou love, exceed by delicacy; and if thou do aught joyous, let there be subtlety therein! But exceed! exceed!" Thus thou mayst even toy with thy tamed Devil of Sin, and use the Pain thereof to sharpen the taste of thy Meat, being Adult, and thy Tongue keen to the Olive, and cloyed by the Sweet, while a Child is opposite to this in his Preference; or as a skilled Match of Love aboundeth in Pinchings, Slappings, Bitings and the like, to intensify the Bout and to prolong it. But this is Risk and Peril, unless thou be wholly Master, One in thy Will; for there is Poison in these dead Snakes, to destroy thee if thou lend them of thy Life by so little as one Doubt of thyself, as a Seed of Division.
 
 

 

In this Mystery of the Restraint of Art is also the Secret of Illusion. Why, sayest thou, hath not Our Lady Nuit her Will of Her Lord Hadit, and He of Her, and so all ended? But this is the Play of Her Love, that She veileth Her Beauty in the Robe of Illusion many-coloured, and evadeth Him in Sport, yea, and divorceth Him from the Embrace, weaving new Modesties and allurements in Her Dance. Now, o my Son, the full Comprehension of this Arcanum is the Fruit of Contemplation, if this be prepared by the Experience of this Art in thine own Case. But to them that understand not, and have Grief and Separation, being deceived by this Play so that they deem it the Division of Hate, She can but speak in Simplicity by that Word written in The Book of the Law: "To me!" For until thou love, the Play of Love is but Emptiness; and its cruelty is Cruelty indeed, except thou know it to be but a Sauce to wet Appetite, and to give Emphasis of Contrast, as a Painter dimmeth the Light by Cunning of his Shadows. But all this Delight that thou mayst have of the Universe both in its Veils and in its Nakedness is a Reward of thine Attainment of Truth, and followeth after it. Nor canst thou comprehend this Doctrine by Mind, for the Division in thee crieth aloud in its Agony, denying it, unless thou be wholly Initiate.
 
 

 

O my Son, this Sin itself that is our Disease is but Misunderstanding of the Art of Love of Our Lady Nuit. Yea, verily, it is all a Trick of Her Wit, and a Device of Her Delight, that Sin should appear, and also (mark thou well!) the Misapprehension of its Nature. Therefore the Pain of any Sinner in his Division and His Separation is to Her a little Spasm of Pleasure. But as for him, let him apprehend this Doctrine, and dissolve himself in Her Love. Thou then, being Initiate and Illuminated in this Truth, mayst accept thine own Sorrow, or rather that of thy Vehicle, as Lackey to the Joy that thou hast in thy True Self, the Star among the Stars of Her Body. The Adept of our Art is not compassionate concerning Sin, in his own Vehicle or another's, unless the Healing thereof were proper to his Will, for he is aware of the whole Truth of the Matter. So goeth he upon his Way, and tighteneth not a Rein upon the Horses of the Universe, but is content, beholding the Speed of their Course. Verily, o my Son, it is well written in The Book of the Magus that it is the Curse of my Grade that I must needs preach my Law unto Men. For I am afflicted in my Tabernacle on this Count, but in my Self, I rejoice, and join in the Laughter of Her Love.
 
 

 

Behold, how comfortable is this my Wisdom, wherein I have resolved every Conflict soever that is or that can be, even in all Dimensions, that Antagonism of Things no less than their Limitations. I have said: Evil, be thou my Good; for it is the Magical Mirror of our Astarté, and the Caduceus of our Hermes. Now this was the Error of Elder Philosophers, that perceiving Changeful Duality as the Cause of Sorrow, they sought the Reconcilement in Unity and in Stability. But I shew thee the Universe as the Body of Our Lady Nuit, who is None and Two, with Hadit Her Lord as the Alternator of those Phases. This Universe is then a perpetual By-coming, the Vessel of every Permutation of infinity, wherein every Phenomenon is a Sacrament, Change being the act of Love, and Duality the Condition prodromal to that Act even as an Axe must be taken back from a Cedar that it may deliver its Stroke. The Error therefore of thee Philosophers lay in their false Assumption that Bliss, Knowledge and Being (the Qualities of their Changeless Unity) could be States. O my Son, how pitiful is their Beggary, these Paupers of Sense and of Experience and of Observation! The Emptiness of their Bellies was it that bred Phantoms of Ideal, so that they sought Joy by a crude Denial of what Truth (or rather, Fact) they had perceived concerning the Universe, so that they set up an Idol of Death for their God, in very Rage of Hatred against the Sum of their own Selves.
 
 

 

These Philosophers, or shall I not say Misosophers and Pseudo-Sophists, have been hard put to it to explain the Mystery of the Existence of their Evil. They have cried, frothing with Words, the Evil is Illusion. But if so, that Illusion is Evil, whence came it, and to what End? If their Devil created it, who created that Devil? All their contention resolveth to this Dilemma of Change in a Changeless, Falsity in a True, Hate in a Loving, Weakness in an Almighty, Duality in a Simple, Being as they define their God. Nor do they see that they restrict their God (whom yet they would have to be All) by admitting Opposites to this Nature, ever when they sum these Opposites as Illusion, since Illusion is the Denial of His Truth. But the Indians, seeing this, seek Escape by denying all Duality soever to their God, or True State, I speak of Parabrahman and of Nibbana, thus in any Reality of Thought rather denying Him or It than destroying Illusion. But in our Light we have no Need of any Denial, and accept all, yea, Illusion itself, discriminating only in our Minds between Phenomena by Comparison with some convenient Standard, for the Purpose of maintaining the Order of our Conceptions in Respect of the Relation of any Being with its Environment.
 
 

 

So do thou apprehend this Wisdom, o my Son, laying it to thine Heart, as a Mistress, and hiding it in the Treasury of thy Mind as a Jewel of Enlightenment. Consider a Dream, how it is unreal in Respect of thine Experience of the Objects of thy Waking Sense, but real also, both as it did in Fact impress thy Mind, and as it did express some Hunger of thy Secret Nature, as I have already shewed in this Letter. Consider the Play of the Chess, how its Law hath made for itself a Language and a Literature, yet it is but an arbitrary invention; without impinging (save as it operateth though Pleasure and Interest upon Minds) on any other Sphere soever of the Universe. Equally, Things called (vulgarly) Real and Material exist in the Universe of our Consciousness only by the Apprehension of their Images in Mind through Sense; as, how is Colour Real or Material to a blind man; or a Law mathematical true to him that is imbecile or demented. All Things therefore, even if unreal and irrational, nay, inconceivable and impossible (such as Iota in the Theorem of De Moivre), exist in one Form or another; but the Reality of any, though in itself absolute, is in Regard of its Relation with any other thing dependent upon the Intercourse and Language between them, conscious or unconscious. Consider Azote, that hath nigh Four Parts in Five of the Air, how it is not real to direct Perception of any human Sense, but yet most real to our Lungs, diluting the Oxygen, by whose Love we were else violently combust. This is the Measure of Reality.
 
 

 

My son, long did I await thee, yearning, and with Price and Great Gladness did I bid thee Welcome to my City of the Pyramids, under the Night of Pan. Now then in my dear Love of thee will I reveal this Secret of Wisdom which I wrote occultly in my last Chapter, in these Words: All Things Exist. Considered by right Understanding, this is to deny that there is anything imaginable or unimaginable which doth not exist. That is, the Body of Our Lady Nuit hath no Limit, and there is no void that She filleth not with the Variety and Beauty of Her Stars in Her Space. Nor is there any one Law of her Nature, but in Her are all Laws, so that each Thing or each Truth that thou perceiveth is as it were one Gesture of Her Dance. Shut up the Book of thy Questions, o my Son, concerning nature, Her Way, Her Origin, or Her Purpose, except in those Matters which concern thee and thine own Orbit, o thou Star, begotten of my Loins in my Lust of Hilarion, the Golden Rose, mystic and Joyous, the Lily of a Thousand Petals and One Petal, subtle and perverse, that thou mightest fulfil this Work of a Magus which I cam to accomplish, robing myself in Flesh of man, as was my Nature and the Will of my Nature, the Name of my Star that flameth in the Body of Nuit our Lady.
 
 

 

Behold, I draw unto the End of this Discourse of Wisdom, as a Ship that hath adventured upon Ocean, from whose mast the Watcher espieth in the Dimness of the Horizon a Point of Snow, being the Peak of a great Mountain that is Guardian of the Harbour, the Term of that Voyage. So now do I commit thee wholly unto thyself, for I exist not in thine Universe, save in my Relation with thee, wherefore this Part of me is in Truth thou rather than I. Yet do thou treasure this Letter, for it is mine especial Gift, and hath Radiance of the Light of my Wisdom, and flameth, being the Blood of my Love of thee and of Mankind. Also, it is the Word of my Will, the Charter of the Liberty of my Soul, and thine, and that of every Man, and every Woman; for we are Stars, O my Son, for many Days was I silent, until thou wast fearful lest thou hadst, by Ignorance or by Inadvertance, enkindled the Fire of my Wrath. But I spake not, because I knew in my Wisdom that thou must pass a certain Ordeal of thine Initiation by thine own Virtue. For this Cause I held aloof; but in my Love I made a Beginning of this Letter, beholding thy triumph beforehand; and with Prescience, divining thy next Need, that is to say, this Book of the Words of my Wisdom.
 
 

 

O my Son, in this Letter have I written the Name of my own Nature, its Law, its Quality, its Will and its Appurtenance or Ornament. For it is the Child of my Love toward thee, and the Expression through mine Art of my Will so far as that regardeth thee. Now every Child is made of the Essence of his Father, so that every Creation is a Likeness or Image of the Creator, but modified by the Mother, that is to say, the Material whereon he begetteth it. So then this Letter is a Projection of mine own Star in a Mirror, to wit, mine Idea in thy Regard; and it shall be unto thee as a clear Vision of thy Father, and of the Word of the Æon that he hath uttered unto Man. But also, because this Word is the Formula of the Æon, that is the Law of its Changes or Phenomena, the Equation that expresseth its Energy and its Motion, it shall serve every Man in his Measure as a Text-Book or Comment upon the Theorick and Praxis of Magick. By it may he discover his true Nature, and its Will, and apply his Force and his Intelligence to the right Fulfilment thereof. It shall be a beacon to enlighten him, to comfort him, and to direct him; and it shall be a Witness and Memorial of my Word and of my Work, as of mine Attainment unto Wisdom.
 
 

 

There is not one Word in this Letter that is not writ with mine own Hand and Style, slowly and heedfully (as is contrary with my custom) being the Fruit of the Tree of my Mediation, well-ripened by the Sun of mine Illumination. With much Toil have I done this, being oftentimes seated without Motion save of the Hands, while Earth rolled from Twilight unto Twilight, so that my Body became cold and rigid, even as is a Corpse. Also, in the Intervals of this Scripture, have I been given to Contemplation and to Works of High Magick, notably the Mass of the Holy Ghost, in the Concentration of my Will to impart this Wisdom unto thee, and to reveal the Mysteries of Truth. Now of all these this is the Root, that Truth is not fixed with the Rigour of Death, but vital with Lust of Change, and enflamed with the Love of its opposite. Thus even Falsehood is not alien to Truth, for the Perfection of Nature comprehendeth all. But all these Things are written in The Book of the Law, after which do I limp painfully, afar off, upon the poor Crutch of mine Understanding of its Word; yea, I am well assured that in that Book are writ all Things soever; but we, being mostly without Wit are not able to distinguish them. For the Stature of Aiwass is beyond our Measure, seeing that he was able to comprehend the whole Mystery of Nuit and of Hadit, and yet to declare Their Message in the Language of Men.
 
 

 

O my Son, in this the Colophon of my Epistle will I recall the Title and Superscription thereof; that is, The Book of Wisdom or Folly. I proclaim Blessing and Worship to Nuit Our Lady and Her Lord Hadit, for the Miracle of the Anatomy of the Child Ra-Hoor-Khuit, as it is shewn in the Design Minutum Mundum, the Tree of Life. For though Wisdom be the Second Emanation of his Essence, there is a Path to separate and to join them, the Reference thereof being Aleph, that is One indeed, but also an Hundred and Eleven in his full Orthography; to signify the Most Holy Trinity, and by Metathesis it is Thick Darkness, and Sudden Death. This is also the Number of A U M, which is A M O U N, and the Root-Sound of O M N E, or, in Greek, P A N, and it is a Number of the Sun. Yet is the Atu of Thoth that correspondeth thereunto marked with Z E R O, and its Name is M A T, whereof I have spoken formerly, and its Image is the Fool. O my Son, gather thou all these Limbs together in One Body, and breathe upon it with thy Spirit, that it may live; then do thou embrace it with Lust of they Manhood, and go in unto it, and know it; so shall ye be One Flesh. Now at last in the Reinforcement and Ecstasy of this Consummation thou shalt with by what Inspiration thou didst choose thy Name in the Gnosis, I mean P A R Z I V A L, "der reine Thor", the True Knight that won Kingship in Monsalvat, and made whole the Wound of Amfortas, and ordered Kundry to right Service, and regained the Lance, and revived the Miracle of the Sangraal; yea, also upon himself did he accomplish his Work in the End: "Höchsten Heiles Wunder! Erlösung dem Erlöser!" This is the last Word of the Song that thine Uncle Richard Wagner made for Worship of this Mystery. Understand thou this, o my Son, as I take leave of thee in this Epistle, that the Summit of Wisdom is the opening of the Way that leadeth unto the Crown and Essence of all, to the Soul of the Child Horus, the Lord of the Æon. This Way is the Path of the Pure Fool.
 
 

 

And who is this Pure Fool? Lo, in the Sagas of old Time, Legend of Scald, of Brad, of Druid, cometh he not in Green Like Spring? O thou Great Fool, thou Water that art Air, in whom all Complex is resolved! Yes, Thou in ragged Raiment, with the Staff of Priapus and the Wineskin! thou standest up on the Crocodile like Hoor-pa-Kraat; and the Great Cat leapeth upon thee! Yea, and more also, I have known Thee who Thou art, Bacchus Diphues, none and two, in thy Name I A O! Now at the End of all do I come to the Being of Thee, beyond By-coming, and I cry aloud My Word, as it was given unto Man by thine Uncle Alcofribas Nasier, the Oracle of the Bottle of
B A C B U C, and this Word is T R I N C.
    But in the antient right Spelling this is T R I N U whereof the Number is the Number of the Name of Me thy Father! to wit, Six Hundred and Three Score and Six.