Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
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1 10 INITIATION CEREMONY

and is blindfolded. he carries the fylfot cross in right hand. heg: instructs neophyte in knocks of the grade. kerux: opens the door to be just ajar) heg: let me enter the portal of wisdom. kerux: i will. kerux: opens door and admits them. sentinel: turns down lights. hiero: except adonai build the house, their labour is but lost that build it. except adonai keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain. frater (sorer) neophyte, by what aid dost thou seek admission to the grade of zelator of the golden dawn? heg (for neophyte) by the guidance of adonai; by the possession of the necessary knowledge; by the dispensation of the greatly honoured chiefs of the second order; by the signs and tokens of the zelator grade. by this symbol of the hermetic cross. kerux: takes cross from him places it on

18276066 GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 1

pp. 88-9. 2 the eabbinical legend likewise assumes that elias will retiu-n and sluy the malignant sammael; eisenmenger 2, 696. 851. 3 klaproth's travels in the caucasus 2, 606. 601* erman's archiv flir russland 1841, 429^ ad. olearius reiseschr. 1647, pp. 522-3. thunar. 175 country about the year 1240 or 1244^ three times did priests and people march round (nudis pedibus et in laneis, but all in vain, because in calling upon all the saints they had forgotten the mother of god; so, when the saintly choir laid the petition before god, mary apposed. in a new procession a solemn' salve regina' was sung: et cum serenum tempus ante fuisset, tanta inundatio pluviae facta est, ut fere onines qui in processione aderant, hac illacque dispergerentur. with the lithuanians, the holy goddess (dievaite

ABRAMELIN1

journeyings for so many years through wild and savage regions and places difficult of access even in our own day with all the increased facilities of transit which we enjoy. this faith at length brought him its reward; though only at the moment when even he was becoming discouraged and sick at heart with disappointed hope. like his great namesake, the forefather of the hebrew race, he had not in vain left his home, his ur of the chaldees, that he might at length discover that light of initiated wisdom, for which his soul had cried aloud within him for so many years. this culmination of introduction vi his wanderings was his meeting with abra-melin, the egyptian mage. from him he received that system of magical instruction and practice which forms the body of the second and third books of

d glory, both for his own use and that of his neighbour; i will describe in a few words in this present chapter many and the most considerable operations which i have carried out; and the which, with the aid of the all-powerful lord and of the holy angels, by the means of this art i have easily conducted unto the desired end. and i write not this description in any way to vaunt myself, nor out of vain glory, the which would be a great sin against god, because it is he who bath done the whole, and not i; but only do i write this that it may serve for instruction unto others, so that they may know wherein they ought to avail themselves of this art, as also that they may use it to the honour of him who hath given this wisdom unto men, and glorify him; and in order that each one may know how g

few words, that we must rely upon god alone, and put all our confidence in him. of abramelin the mage 27 the eleventh chapter. od be my witness that i have not learned this science out of curiosity, nor in order to avail myself of it for an evil purpose, but rather to use it for the honour and glory of my,64 for mine own use, and for that of my neighbour; and i have never wished to employ it for vain and vile things, but i have always laboured with all my strength to aid all creatures, friends and enemies, faithful and unfaithful, as well the one as the other, with a perfect will and a good heart, and i have also made use of it for the animals. i have before cited certain examples in order to show unto thee that god almighty doth not in any way grant the art or the science unto a person i

ABRAMELIN2

things reserveth that unto himself; and, like a jealous god, he hath indeed wished that we should enjoy the fruit thereof, but he hath not wished to permit us to touch either the tree or its root. it is then not only proper, but further also we are compelled to conform ourselves unto the will of the lord, walking in that path, by the which also our predecessors went, without seeking out through a vain curiosity how it is that god reigneth and governeth in his divine wisdom; because such would be a very great presumption and a bestial conceit. let us then content ourselves with only knowing how many blessings he hath granted unto us sinners, and what extent of power he hath given unto us mortals over all things, and in what way it is permitted unto us to use them. let us then content oursel

onveniences at disposal which are necessary, and which this operation demandeth. among women, there be only virgins who are suitable; but i11 strongly advise that so important a matter should not be communicated to them, because of the accidents that they might cause by their curiosity and love of talk, the sacred magic 48 the fourth chapter. that the greater number of magical books are false and vain. ll the books which treat of characters, extravagant figures, circles, convocations, conjurations, invocations, and other like matters, even although any one may see some effect thereby, should be rejected, being works full of diabolical inventions;12 and ye should know that the demon maketh use of an infinitude of methods to entrap and deceive mankind. this i have myself proved, because when

to another place before (commencing the operation, so that they may not be an hindrance from being about you; except the eldest-born of the family, and infants at the breast. as regardeth the regimen of your life and actions, ye shall have regard unto your status and condition. if you be your own master, as far as lieth in your power, free yourself from all your business, and quit all mundane and vain company and conversation; leading a life tranquil, solitary and honest. if aforetime you have been a wicked, debauched, avaricious, luxurious and proud of abramelin the mage 55 man, leave and flee from all these vices. consider that this was one of the principal reasons why abraham, moses, david, elijah, john, and other holy men retired into desert places, until that they had acquired this ho

ABRAMELIN3

d probably be numbered c. no. e is a gnomon of j squares taken from a square of c f squares. paras= hebrew prsh, a horse, or horseman, while prs= an ossifrage, a bird of the hawk or eagle kind. this square is apparently correctly numbered, though in the ms. it is in the second place. no. f is a gnomon of j squares taken from a square of c f squares. racah is apparently from the hebrew rqh meaning vain, empty; and does not seem to have any particular reference to any of the forms mentioned for the symbols. no. g is again a gnomon of j squares, taken from a square of c f squares. it is placed fourth in order in the ms. cusis may be from the dative plural of the greek word kuon= a dog, but in hebrew it would mean numbering, computing. no. h is a border of c e squares taken from a square of e

y period of six months preparation advocated by abra-melin be not observed, the symbols will be practically worthless in their hands; for, as will be observed, the names in the squares for the most part are simply the statement of the ends desired to be accomplished thereby. finally, i will quote the following passage from the key of solomon the king v accursed be he who taketh the name of god in vain! accursed be he who useth this knowledge unto an evil end. be he accursed in this world and in the world to come. amen. be he accursed in the name which he hath blasphemed! of abramelin the mage 208 essential remarks upon the foregoing symbols. it is certain that among all the symbols which i have hereinbefore written down there be many which one can employ for evil (purposes; and i avow that

ALEISTER CROWLEY AD MEIORUM CTHULHI GLORIAM

lly, and to make its message known to the world. it, too, contains the formulae necessary to summon the invisible into visibility, and the secrets of transformations are hidden within its pages, but this is crowley's own necronomicon, received in the middle east in the shadow of the great pyramid of gizeh, and therein is writ not only the beauty, but the beast that yet awaits mankind. it would be vain to attempt to deliver a synopsis of crowley's philosophy, save that its 'leitmotif' is the rabelaisian do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. the actual meaning of this phrase has taken volumes to explain, but roughly it concerns the uniting of the conscious self, a process of individuation which culminates in a rite called "knowledge and conversation of the holy guardian angel; the

names, as the goddess and the devil have, but the chinese symbolise it by the dragon. it is the force of will, and relies heavily upon the biochemical matter that makes up the human body, and hence, the human consciousness, to give it existence. science is coming around to accept the fact that the will does exist, just at the point where psychology has determined it does not- in the behaviourists vain attempt to eradicate what has always been known to constitute vital parts of the psyche from their consideration in pseudo scientific experimentation, leaving us with the "white mice and pigeons" of koestler's the ghost in the machine. science, ancient sister of magick, has begun to realize the human potential that resides, inconspicuously, in the spiral-mapped matter of the brain. just as th

gods. i have, at last, found the formulae by which i passed the gate arzir, and passed into the forbidden realms of the foul igigi. i have raised demons, and the dead. i have summoned the ghosts of my ancestors to real and visible appearance on the tops of temples built to reach the stars, and built to touch the nethermost cavities of hades. i have wrestled with the black magician, azag-thoth, in vain, and fled to the earth by calling upon inanna and her brother marduk, lord of the double-headed axe. i have raised armies against the lands of the east, by summoning the hordes of fiends i have made subject unto me, and so doing found ngaa, the god of the heathens, who breathes flame and roars like a thousand thunders. i have found fear. i have found the gate that leads to the outside, by whi

ALEISTER CROWLEY BOOK OF LIES

lines 1-4 are now clear. in lines 507 we see the results of shivadarshana. do not imagine that any single ides, however high, however holy (or even however insignificant, can escape the destruction. the logician my say "but white exists, and if white is destroyed, it leaves black; yet black exists. so that in that case at least one known phenomenon of this universe is identical with one of that" vain word! the logician and his logic are alike involved in the universal ruin. lines 8-11 indicate that this fact is the essential one about shivadarshana. the title is explained by the intentionally blasphemous puns and colloquialisms of lines 9 and 10 [155] 73 kappa-epsilon-phi-alpha-lambda-eta omicron-gamma book of lies get any book for free on: www.abika.com 152 the devil, the ostrich, and th

ALEISTER CROWLEY LIBER 777

ump xvii. aquarius and aries are therefore counterchanged, revolving on the pivot of pisces, just as, in the trumps viii and xi, leo and libra do about virgo. this last revelation makes our tarot attributions sublimely, perfectly, flawlessly symmetrical. the fact of its so doing is a most convincing proof of the superhuman wisdom of the author of this book to those who have laboured for years, in vain, to elucidate the problems of the tarot. this substituted attribution is alluded to in various places in liber aleph and magick in theory and practice, but was not spelt out in full in published writings until the book of thoth. the tables from 777 are based on the old golden dawn attributions; to work with the reversed attributions, lines 15 and 28 should be exchanged on all columns based on

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

nce of causality itself. the whole set of phenomena may be conceived as single "for instance, if i see a star (as it was years ago) i need not assume causal relations as existing between it, the earth, and myself. the connexion exists; i can predicate nothing beyond that. i cannot postulate purpose, or even determine the manner in which the event comes to be. similarly, when i do magick, it is in vain to inquire why i so act, or why the desired result does or does not follow. nor can i know how the previous and subsequent conditions are connected. at most i can describe the consciousness which i interpret as a picture of the facts, and make empirical generalizations of the superficial aspects of the case "thus, i have my own personal impressions of the act of telephoning; but i cannot be a

en he was a full major adept is to day wrought in a few minutes by the words of will, uttered with the right vibrations into the prepared ear. 127 but neither by the natural use of his abilities, though they have made him famous through the whole world, nor by the utmost might of his magick, is he able to acquire material wealth beyond the minimum necessary to keep him alive and at work. it is in vain that he protests that not he but the work is in need of money; he is barred by the strict letter of his oath to give all that he hath for his magical attainment. yet more awful is the doom that he hath invoked upon himself in renouncing his right as a man to enjoy the love of those whom he loves with passion so selfless, so pure, and so intense in return for the power so to love mankind that

period of time. and the ability of the expert to "name his shot" manifests a knowledge of the relations of cause and effect which confirms the testimony of his empirical skill that his success is not chance and coincidence> perform an operation to bring gold- your rich uncle dies and leaves you his money; books- you see the book wanted in a catalogue that very day, although you have advertised in vain for a year; woman- but if you have made the spirits bring you enough gold, this operation will become unnecessary<black magic> it must further be remarked that it is absolute black magic to use any of these powers if the object can possibly be otherwise attained. if your child is drowning, you must jump and try to save him; it won't do to invoke the

thy gods proved puppets of the priest "truth? all's relation" science sighed. in bondage with thy brother beast, love tortured thee, as love's hope died and lover's faith rotted. life no least dim star descried. thy cringing carrion cowered and crawled to find itself a chance-cast clod whose pain was purposeless; appalled that aimless accident thus trod its agony, that void skies sprawled on the vain sod! all souls eternally exist, each individual, ultimate, perfect- each makes itself a mist of mind and flesh to celebrate with some twin mask their tender tryst insatiate. 229 some drunkards, doting on the dream, despair that it should die, mistake themselves for their own shadow-scheme. one star can summon them to wake to self; star-souls serene that gleam on life's calm lake. that shall e

ALEISTER CROWLEY MEDITATION

t have know of it, and far fewer they that have beheld its brilliance! the temple and all that is in it must be destroyed again and again before it is worthy to receive that light. hence it so often seems that the only advice that any master can give to any pupil is to destroy the temple "whatever you have" and "whatever you are" are veils before that light. yet in so great a matter all advice is vain. there is no master so great that he can see clearly the whole character of any pupil. what helped him in the past may hinder another in the future. yet since the master is pledged to serve, he may take up that service on these simple lines. since all thoughts are veils of this light, he may advise the destruction of all thoughts, and to that end teach those practices which are clearly conduc

. nor can he avoid this writing, for this is a magick book. if you abandon even for an hour the one purpose of your life, you will find a number of meaningless scratches and scrawls on the white vellum; and these cannot be erased. in such a case, when you come to conjure a demon by the power of the book, he will mock you; he will point to all this foolish writing, more like his own than yours. in vain will you continue with the subsequent spells; you have broken by your own foolishness the chain which would have bound him. even the calligraphy of the book must be firm, clear, and beautiful; in the cloud of incense it is hard to read the conjurations. while you peer dimly through the smoke, the demon will vanish, and you will have to write the terrible word "failure" and yet there is no pag

ALEISTER CROWLEY SEPHER SEPHIROTH

undary, limit lbg he will go khy 36 the mystic number of hod a tent, tabernacle lh) how (la. 1:1, 2:1& 4:1-2) hky) to curse; goddess; a name of god attributed to mercury hl) to remove, cast away )lh confession ywdyw perhaps, possibly; would that; not, no wl to separate, divide ldb 37 god (ch )hl) behold! wl) perished, grew old hlb to grow great ldg standard, banner lgd tenuity, breath, vanity; in vain; abel (i.z.q: gthe supernal breathers h) lbh profession lz yechidah: the soul in kether hdyxy flame bhl to stray, turn aside zl 38 he departed lz) innocent y)kz the palate kyx to make a hole, hollow; to violate; bulwark, wall, rampart; profane lx moist, fresh, green xl 39 to abide, dwell lbz dew l+ the eternal is one dx) hwhy he cursed; laudanum +l 40 liberator: a title of yesod l)wg to cut o

nb) beelzebub: the fly-god bwbzl(b weeping (subst) h(md abominable lwgp 120 samekh: a prop, support kms master l(k foundation, basis ydswm season; the time of the decree d(wm strengthening nykm prophetic sayings, or decrees: ghis days shall be h (hence gabra- melin h) mylm a veil, covering, screen ksm a name of god n( imaginary, fanciful ynwymd vermin mynk mocker cl moth ss shadow; shelter lc 121 vain idols mylyl) an end, extremity mp) emanated from lc) of whirling motions mylglgh nocturnal vision )ylyl yd hwzx it is filled )lmn coin (b+m ?termination of abr-amelim? mlym) 122 compelled by force hswn) revolutions [of souls] mylwglg evil possessing spirit qwbyd 123 a name of god implying kether, chokmah and binah (3, 4& 5 letters) myhl) hwhy hh) war hmxlm a blow; plague (gn pleasure, delight

rd god: the divine name of binah *myhl) hwhy 674) a merchant trxws 676 resplendent ccwntm doves *mynwy the munificent ones *mybydn artificial (counted only with mem final in s.s *mylglg 679 the chrysolite stone (ct. 5:14) tplw(m nb) 680 prophetic sayings, or decrees: ghis days shall be h (hence gabra- melin h *mylm vermin *mynk 681 joyful noise; battle-cry; the sound [of a trumpet (cf. 585) h(wrt vain idols *mylyl) an end, extremity *mp) of whirling motions *mylglgh ?termination of abr-amelim *mlym) 682 ma faseh merkavah: the work of the chariot (see 1328) hbkrm h#(m of the evening; of the west tybr( green herb b( qry hebrew (the language; see 282) tyrb( revolutions [of souls *mylwglg 683 the world of atziluth: the archetypal world, or the world of nobility (referred to kether-chokmah) twl

-netzach; situate in netzach *nyx)y the accentuator *mym+ 730 seasons *myd(wm fools; the constellation orion *mylysk 732 white *nbl clusters; grapes *mybn( the golden image [of nebuchadnezzar (dan. 3*)bhd mlc 733 the white head: a title of kether hrwwh)#yr 734 to bring forth dlt# torches *mydypl 736 contortions, convolutions (cf. 1351) twlqlq( to eternity *mlw(l 737 blaze, flame (live coal) tbhl) vain pride, or the basis of vanity lbh t# oak; oak-wood *nwl) 738 the lower part, the loins *myclx 740 manna; portion *nm 741 the four letters of the elements; hence a concealed hwhy #tm) a tree *nly) firm, faithful; amen: so be it: a title of kether *nm) 742 the ark of the covenant (lit. gof tremblings h, scil. gvibrations h) twd(h nwr) 743 a disc, round shield; a defender *ngm 744 the valley of

ALEISTER CROWLEY TAO TEH KING

r wisdom, it would be an hundred times better for the people. if we forgot our benevolence and our justice, they would become again like sons, folk of good will. if we forget our machines and our business, there would be no knavery. 2. these new methods despised the olden way, inventing fine names to disguise their baneness. but simplicity in the doing of the will of every man would put an end to vain ambitions and desires((samuel butler in erewhon describes a people who had sense enough to forbid all machinery. wells, in the war in the air prophesies the results of not doing so; at the hour of writing, an xv sun in scorpio, we are facing the fulfilment of most of this prophecy. and still we make haste to arm) 23 chapter xx the withdrawal from the common way. 1. to forget learning is to en

t war. 1. if a king summon to his aid a master of the tao, let him not advise recourse to arms. such action certainly bringeth the corresponding reaction. 2. where armies are, are weeds. bad harvests follow great hosts. 3. the good general striketh decisively, once and for all. he does not risk((counter-attack. in other words, he acts according to the rules of the game, without losing his head by vain-glory, ambition or hatred) by overboldness. he striketh, but doth not vaunt his victory. he striketh according to strict law of necessity, not from desire of victory. 4. things become strong and ripe, then age. this((forcing-on of strength, instead of allowing natural growth) is discord with the tao; and what is not at one with the tao soon cometh to an end. 35 chapter xxxi composing quarrel

valueth not things rare((and so sought after by others) he learneth what others learn not, and gathered up what they despise. thus he is in accord with the natural course of events, and is not overbold in action. 70 chapter lxv the purity of the teh. 1. they of old time that were skilled in the tao sought not to enlighten the people, but to keep them simple. 2. the difficulty of government is the vain knowledge of the people. to use cleverness in government is to scourge the kingdom; to use simplicity is to anoint it. 3. know these things, and make them thy law and thine example. to possess this law is the secret perfection of rule. profound and extended is this perfection; he that possesseth it is indeed contrary to the rest, but he attracteth them to full accordance. 71 chapter lxvi putt

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE HEART OF THE MASTER

ulture. mu: unmated, immaculate, consecrate, virgin, all things are begotten of the breath of the master, and born of the infinite space wherein doth he give them their form- and abideth in silence. now all is as it were a passion of great peace; and in the stillness i lift up my soul like an offering and cry in mine heart: let me dwell at the feet of the master! but the silence swallows up those vain words; and they are smitten through with the fire of his blood, that transforms them to these "at his feet is only the earth, and that he breaks up into flowers; but all things that live are assumed to the heart of the master" with that i cease to be myself at all: i am absorbed into the heart of the master get any book for free on: www.abika.com 8 his adorable essence, and my life is equally

m. and the rowlock which resisteth the oar hindereth not but aideth the true will of that oar. so then self-control is nowise the enemy of freedom, but the heart of the master get any book for free on: www.abika.com 21 that which maketh it possible. and he who would deliver a muscle from its bondage to its bone by severing it rendereth that muscle impotent. moreover hear this word: as a muscle is vain, except it be rightly ordered, so also is thy work to be made easy by uniting thyself to the work of the master, even therion, whose true will it is to bring each man's work to its perfection. to this end hath he proclaimed his law; so also to that end, which is also thine, do thou add thy little strength to his great might. as it is written: and blessing and worship to the prophet of the lov

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE OLD AND NEW COMMENTARIES TO LIBER AL

salina, with a giant like heliogabalus, with a pollard like nero, with a monster like baudelaire, though with de sade it gloat on blood, with sacher-masoch crave for whips and furs, with yvette guilbert crave the glove, or dote on babes like e.t,reed of "punch; whether one love oneself, disdaining every other like narcissus, offer oneself loveless to every love like catherine, or find the body so vain as to enclose one's lust in the soul and make one lifelong spinthria unassuaged in the imagination like aubrey beardsley, the means matter no whit. bach takes one way, keats one, goya one. the end is everything: that by the act, whatever it is, one worships, loves, possesses, and becomes nuit. the act of love can no more "trammel up his consequence" than any other act. as long as you possess

ump xvii. aquarius and aries are therefore counterchanged, revolving on the pivot of pisces, just as, in the trumps viii and xi, leo and libra do about virgo. this last revelation makes our tarot attributions sublimely, perfectly, flawlessly symmetrical. the fact of its so doing is a most convincing proof of the superhuman wisdom of the author of this book to those who have laboured for years, in vain, to elucidate the problems of the tarot. al i,58 "i give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do i demand aught in sacrifice" the old comment 58. the grace of our lady of the stars. the new comment these joys are principally (1) the beatific vision, in which beauty is constantly present to the recipient of her grace

ironment. now then, that 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) 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, an

point, in conclusion. we must doubtless admit that each one of us is lacking in one capacity or another. there must always be some among the infinite possibilities of nuith which possesses no correlative points of contact in any given khu. for example, the khu of a male body cannot fulfil itself in the quality of motherhood. any such lacuna must be accepted as a necessary limit, without regret or vain yearnings for the impossible. but we should beware lest prejudice or other personal passion exclude any type of self-realization which is properly ours. in our initiation the tests must be thorough and exhaustive. the neglect to develop even a single power can only result in deformity. however slight this might seem, it might lead to fatal consequences; the ancient adepts taught that by the p

of the book. i worked on: i asked myself for the thousandth time what the stele could claim with literal strictness as "its name. i scribbled the word cthah and added it up. the result is 546, when ct counts as 500, or 52, when ct is 6, a frequent usage, as in ctaypos, whose number is thus 777. idly enough, my tired pen subtracted 52 from 718. i started up like a magician who, conjuring satan in vain till faith's lamp sputters, and hope's cloak is threadbare, gropes, heavily leaning on the staff of love, blinking and droning along- and suddenly sees him! i did the sum over, this time with my pen like a panther. too good to be true! i added my figures; yes, 718 past denial. i checked my value of stele; 52, and no error. then only i let myself yield to the storm of delight and wonder that r

and crowned, drunk on her golden cup of fornication, boasting herself my bedfellow, have trodden her in the market place, and roared this word that every woman is a star. and with that word is uttered woman's freedom; the fools and fribbles and flirts have heard my voice. the fox in woman hath heard the lion in man; fear, fainting, flabbiness, frivolity, falsehood- these are no more the mode. in vain will bully and brute and braggart man, priest, lawyer, or social censor knit his brows to devise him a new tamer's trick; once and for all the tradition is broken; vanished the vogue of bowstring, sack, stoning, nose-slitting, beltbuckling, cart's tail-dragging, whipping, pillory posting, walling-up, divorce court, eunuch, harem, mind-crippling, house-imprisoning, menial-work-wearying, creed

ew comment the fool is also the great fool, bacchus diphues, harpocrates, the dwarf-self, the holy guardian angel, and so forth "he understandeth it not, that is, he understandeth that it is not, la, 31. but the above is only the secondary or hieroglyphic magical meaning. the plain english still discusses the technique of initiation. the 'fool, is one such as described in my note on verse 57. the vain, soft, frivolous, idle, mutable sot will make nothing either of this book, or of my comment thereon. but this fool is the child harpocrates, the "babe in the egg, the innocent not yet born, in silence awaiting his hour to come forth into light. he is then the uninitiated man, and he has four ordeals to pass before he is made perfect. these ordeals are now to be described. al iii,64 "let him c

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE QABALAH

angel of light, it behoves the prodigal to have some test of truth. some great mystics have laid down the law, accept no messenger of god, banish all, until at last the father himself comes forth. a counsel of perfection. the father himself does send messengers, as we learn in st. mark xii; and if we stone them, we may perhaps in our blindness stone the son himself when he is sent. so that is no vain counsel of st. john (1 john iv. 1, try the spirits, whether they be of god, no mistake when st. paul claims the discernment of spirits to be a principal point of the armour of salvation (1 cor. xii. 10. now how should frater p. or another test the truth of any message purporting to come from the most high? on the astral plane, its phantoms are easily governed by the pentagram, the elemental w

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE SWORD OF SONG

lure, and from his final pronouncement of the pope on guido, represented in browning s masterpiece as a judas without the decency to hang himself. so (i.e, by suddenness of fate) may the truth be flashed out by one blow, and guido see one instant and be saved. else i avert my face nor follow him into that sad obscure sequestered state where god unmakes but to remake the soul he else made first in vain: which must not be* probably a record for a bishop. a.c. this may be purgatory, but it sounds not unlike reincarnation. it is at least a denial of the doctrine of eternal punishment. as for myself, i took the first step years ago, quite in ignorance of what the last would lead to. god is indeed cut away a cancer from the breast of truth. of those philosophers, who from unassailable premisses

swift as caddies pat and cap a tee, gain the great prize all mortals snap at, he- roic guerdon of srotapatti ?35 195 with calm and philsophic mind, no fears, no hopes, devotions blind to hamper, soberly we ll state the problem, and investigate in purely scientific mood 200 the sheer ananke of the mind, a temper for our steel to find whereby those brazen nails subdued against our door-post may in vain ring. we ll examine, to be plain, 205 by logic s intellectual prism the spiritual syllogism. we know what fools (only) call divine and supernatural and what they name material 210 are really one, not two, the line by which divide they and define being a shadowy sort of test; a verbal lusus at the best, at worst a wicked lie devised 215 to bind men s thoughts; but we must work with our own ins

rm it, though! i gather that you do not know; merely infer it) here s a test! what in your whole life is the best 610 of all your memories? they say you paint i think you should one day take me to seek your studio tell me, when all your work goes right, painted to match some inner light, 615 what of the outer world you know! surely, your best work always finds itself sole object of the mind s. in vain you ply the brush, distracted by something you have heard or acted. 620 expect some tedious visitor your eye runs furtive to the door; your hand refuses to obey; you throw the useless brush away. i think i hear the word you say! 625 i practice then, with conscious power watching my mind, each thought controlling, hurling to nothingness, while rolling the thunders after lightning s flower* see

ment of the poet s mind. the passage that first put me on the track of the amazing discovery for which the world has to thank me is to be found in act i. sc. ii. ll. 132-149: this is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeit of our own behaviour, we make guilty notes to ascension day and pentecost. blind chesterton is sure to err, and scan my work in vain; i am my own interpreter, and i will make it plain. note to introduction notes 47 of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars; as if we were villains by necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on;

tone; he uses his folly as a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit. here, however, the mask is thrown off for any but the utterly besotted; edmund s speech stands up in the face of all time as truth; it challenges the acclamation of the centuries. edmund is then the hero; more, he is shakespeare s own portrait of himself; his ways are dark (and, alas! his tricks are vain) for why? for the fear of the conventional world about him. he is illegitimate: shakespeare is no true child of that age, but born in defiance of it and its prejudices. having taken this important step, let us slew round the rest of the play to fit it. if it fits, the law of probability comes to our aid; every coincidence multiplies the chance of our correctness in increasing proportion. we s

tue, the flood for mortal s sin icthyosaurian waterloo! they eyed the sage askew; they searched him through and through with violet rays actinic they asked him wer bist du? he answered slowly bin ich? 387. the fish.58 because of icquj, which means fish, and very aptly symbolises christ. ring and book (the pope, ll. 89, 90. 395. dharma.59 consult the tripitaka. 409. i cannot trace the chain.60 how vain, indeed, are human calculations! the autobiography of a flea, p. 136. 412. table-thing.61 ere the stuff grow a ring-thing right to wear. the ring and the book, i. 17. this pebble-thing, o the boy-thing. calverly, the cock and the bull. 442. caird.62 see his hegel. 446. says huxley.63 see ethics and evolution. 459. igdrasil.64 the otz chiim of the scandinavians. 467. ladies league.65 mrs. j.s

ic. but mr. crowley is a strong and genuine poet, and we have little doubt that he will work up from his appreciation of the temple of osiris to that loftier and wider work of the human imagination, the appreciation of the brixton chapel. g. k. chesterton. 778, 779. the rest of life, for self-control, for liberation of the soul.81 who said rats? thanks for your advice, tony veller, but it came in vain. as the ex-monk (that shook the bookstall) wrote in confidence to the publisher: existence is mis ry i th month tisri* joseph mccabe, who became a rationalist writer. the allusion is to crowley s marriage and subsequent return to the east. at th fu o th moon i were shot wi a goon (goon is no scots, but greek, meester watts) we re awa tae burma, whaur th groond be firmer tae speer th mekong, c

take by storm him. you tie him down and chloroform him. you do not pray to thoth or horus, but make one dash for his pylorus: and if ten years elapse, and he complains, o doctor, pity me! your cruel ands, for goodness sakes gave me such orrid stomach-aches. notes 71 you write him, with a face of flint, an order for some soda-mint. so yoga. life s a carcinoma, its cause uncertain, not to check. in vain you cry to isis: o ma! i ve got it fairly in the neck. the surgeon crowley, with his trocar, says you a poor but silly bloke are, advises concentration s knife quick to the horny growth called life. yoga? there s danger in the biz! but, it s the only chance there is (for life, if left alone, is sorrow, and only fools hope god s to-morrow) up, guards, and at em! second, your facts are neatly p

ial magic that toyed. granted. astronomy s no myth, but it produced piazzi smyth. what crazes actors? why do surgeons go mad and cut up men like sturgeons (the questions are the late chas. spurgeon s) of yogi i could quote you hundreds in science, law, art, commerce noted. they fear no lunacy: their on dread s not for their noddles doom-devoted. they are not like black bulls (that shunned reds in vain) that madly charge the goathead of rural pan, because some gay puss had smeared with blood his stone priapus. they are as sane as politicians and people who subscribe to missions. this says but little; a long way are yogi more sane that such as they are. you have conceived your dreadful bogey, from seeing many a raving yogi. these haunt your clinic; but the sound lurk in an unsuspected ground

irect apperception as clear as the sun at noon. therefore; no work more, but to the work! xii. the three refuges. buddham saranangachami. dhammam saranangachami. sangham saranangachami. i take my refuge in the buddha. i take my refuge in the dhamma. i take my refuge in the sangha. this formula of adhesion to buddhism is daily repeated by countless millions of humanity; what does it mean? it is no vain profession of reliance on others; no cowardly shirking of burdens burdens which cannot be shirked. it is a plain estimate of our auxiliaries in the battle; the cosmic facts on which we may rely, just as a scientist relies on the conservation of energy in making an experiment. were that principle of uncertain application, the simplest quantitative experiment would break hopelessly down. so for

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y become fit for entrance. 12 any man can look for the entrance, and any man who is within can teach another to seek for it; but only he who is fit can arrive within. unprepared men occasion disorder in a community, and disorder is not compatible with the sanctuary. thus it is impossible to profane the sanctuary, since admission is not formal but real. worldly intelligence seeks this sanctuary in vain; fruitless also will be the efforts of malice to penetrate these great mysteries; all is indecipherable to him who is not ripe; he can see nothing, read nothing in the interior. he who is fit is joined to the chain, perhaps often where he though least likely, and at a point of which he knew nothing himself. to become fit should be the sole effort of him who seeks wisdom. but there are methods

my life and, somehow or other i knew before i began the work that the little scraps of comfort or of happiness which i had preserved up to this time, i should now forfeit. i realised with shrinking and fear, that this new inquiry would still further remove me from the sympathy of my fellows "my prevision was justified. i had hardly got well to work- that is, i had only spent a couple of years in vain and torturing experiments- when i was one day arrested for debt. i had paid no attention to the writ; the day of trial came and went without my knowing anything about it; and there was a man in possession of my few belongings before i understood what was going on. then i was taught by experience that to owe money is the one unforgivable sin in the nation of shopkeepers. my goods were sold up

tand on the mount, saviours of the world that we are, and answer "get thee behind me satan" though refraining from quoting texts or giving reasons. oho! says somebody; is aleister crowley here- samson blinded and bound, grinding corn for the philistines! not at all, dear boy! we shall put all the questions that we can put- but we may find a tower built upon a rock, against which the winds beat in vain. not what christians call faith, be sure! but what (possibly) the forgers of the epistles- those eminent mystics- meant by faith. what i call samadhi- and as "faith without 121 works is dead" so, good friends, samadhi is all humbug unless the practitioner shows the glint of its gold in his work in the world. if your mystic becomes dante, well; if tennyson, a fig for his trances! but how does

nness, for all who enter 176 this treasure-house of life become one with the jewels of the treasury. words. words. words! they have shackled and chained you, o children of the mists and the mountains; they have imprisoned you, and walled you up in the dungeon of a lightless reason. fancy has been burnt at the stake of fact; and the imagination cramped in the irons of tort and quibble. o vanity of vain words! o cozening, deceitful art! nimbly do the great ones of to-day wrestle with the evil-smelling breath of their mouths, twisting and contorting it into beguilements, bastardising and corrupting the essence of things, sucking as a greedy vampire the blood from your hearts, and breathing into your nostrils the rigid symbols of law and of order, begotten on the death-bed of their understandi

nd god also who casteth them forth from the coffers of his treasury. he, too, though thou knowest it not, is part of thyself- is thyself. all is in thee, and thou art in all, and separate existence is not, being but a net of dreams wherein the dreamers of night are ensnared. read, and thou becomest; eat and drink, and thou art. though weak, thou art thine own master; listen not to the babblers of vain words, and thou shalt become strong. there is no revelation except thine own. there is no understanding except thine own. there is no consciousness apart from thee, but that it is held feodal to thee in the kingdom of thy divinity. when thou knowest thou knowest, and there is none other beside thee, for all becometh as an armour around thee, and thou thyself as an invulnerable, invincible war

he breath of life. one saith to thee "abandon all easy, follow the difficult; eat not of the best, but of the most distasteful; pander not to thy pleasures, but feed well thy disgusts; console not thyself, but seek the waters of desolation; rest not thyself, but labour in the depths of the night; aspire not to things precious, but to things contemptible and low" but i say unto thee: heed not this vain man, this blatherer of words! for there is godliness in ease, in fine dishes, and in pleasures, in consolations, in rest, and in precious things. so if in thyself thou findest a jewelled goblet, i say unto 196 thee, drink from it, for it is the cup of thy salvation; seek not therefore a dull bowl of heavy lead! yet another saith unto thee "will not anything, will nothing; seek not for the bes

n thine hair? behold, the moon hath followed thee! now i see not the shadows of the woods, and the lilies in the water have become but flecks of light in the darkness. now they mingle and melt together as snow-flakes before the sun, and are gone; yea! the stars have fled the skies, and i am alone. how cold has grown the night, how still! o where art thou! come, return unto me, that i stray not in vain; call unto me that i lose not my way! lighten me with the brightness of thine eyes, so that i wander not far from the path and become a prey to the hunger of wild beasts! i am lost; i know not where i am; the mossy mountains have become as hills of wind, and have been blown far from their appointed places; and the waving fields of the valleys have become silent as the land of the dead, so tha

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is woe. the law is this, most surely this! that who hath seen may never kiss. the soul is at war with the flesh and the mind. life is dumb, and love is blind "the prophet" i am the prophet of the gods. i have put these eyes out to attain to the crown of the pallid periods that pulse in the almighty brain! i have striven all my life for this; that i might see, and still might kiss "the musicians" vain! vain! time is sane. fain! fain! space is plain. time passes once, and is not found. space divides once, not heals the wound. knell! knell! the shattered shell that could not break the word of hell. whirl! whirl! the wanton girl (curve, and coil, and close, and curl) slips the grip as the swallow avoids the leaps of the dog; or the moon, that sails abeam to god's invisible gales, the clumsy c

as an angel of light, it behoves the prodigal to have some test of truth. 69 some great mystics have laid down the law "accept no messenger of god" banish all, until at last the father himself comes forth. a counsel of perfection. the father does send messengers, as we learn in st mark xii; and if we stone them, we may perhaps in our blindness stone the son himself when he is sent. so that is no vain counsel of "st john (1 john iv. 1 "try the spirits, whether they be of god" no mistake when "st paul" claims the discernment of spirits to be a principal point of the armour of salvation (1 cor. xii. 10. now how should frater p. or another test the truth of any message purporting to come from the most high? on the astral plane, its phantoms are easily governed by the pentagram, the elemental

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and chosen among men, and he shall never turn back or turn aside, for he hath made the link that is not to be broken, nay, not by the malice of the four great princes of evil of the world, nor by chorozon, that mighty devil, nor by the wrath of god, nor by the affliction and feebleness of the soul. yet with this assurance be not thou content; for though thou hast the wings of the eagle, they are vain, except they be joined to the shoulders of the bull. now, therefore, i send forth a shaft of my light, even as a ladder let down from the heaven upon the earth, and by this black cross of themis that i hold before thine eyes, do i swear unto thee that the path shall be open henceforth for evermore. there is a clash of a myriad silver cymbals, and silence. and then three times a note is struck

god tempteth man. but thou hadst the word and the sign, and thou hadst authority from thy superior, and licence. and thou hast done well in that thou didst not dare, and in that thou dost dare. for daring is not presumption. and he said moreover: thou dost well to keep silence, for i perceive how many questions arise in thy mind; yet already thou knowest that the answering, as the asking, must be vain. for nemo hath all in himself. he hath come where there is no light or knowledge, only when he needeth them no more. and then we bow silently, giving a certain sign, called the sign of isis rejoicing. and then he remaineth to ward the aethyr, while i return unto the bank of sand that is the bed of the river near the desert. the river-bed near bou-saada "december" 4, 1909. 2.10-3.45 p.m. the c

is the virgin of eternity. this is she that the holy one hath wrested from the giant time, and the prize of them that have overcome space. this is she that is set upon the throne of understanding. holy, holy, holy is her name, not to be spoken among men. for kor they have called her, and malkuth, and betulah, and persephone. and the poets have feigned songs about her, and the prophets have spoken vain things, and the young men have dreamed vain dreams; but this is she, that immaculate, the name of whose name may not be spoken. thought cannot pierce the glory that defendeth her, for thought is smitten dead before her presence. memory is blank, and in the most ancient books of magick are neither words to conjure her, nor adorations to praise her. will bends like a reed in the temptests that

d. she hath forced back his 137 head, and his throat is livid with the pressure of her fingers. their joint cry is an intolerable anguish, yet it is the cry of their rapture, so that every pain, and every curse, and every bereavement, and every death of everything in the whole universe, is but one little gust of wind in that tempest-scream of ecstasy. the voice thereof is not articulate. it is in vain to seek comparison. it is absolutely continuous, without breaks or beats. if there seem to be vibration therein, it is because of the imperfection of the ears of the seer. and there cometh an interior voice, which sayeth to the seer that he hath trained his eyes well and can see much; and he hath trained his ears a little, and can hear a little; but his other senses hath he trained scarcely a

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t as a corpse is. it is terribly annoying, in a sense, because this condition is just the opposite of dharana; yet one knows that it is a stage on the way to samadhi. so i rise and give confidently the sign of apophis and typhon, and will then regard the reflection of the sweet october sun in the kissing waters of the fountain.(p.s. i now remember that i forgot to rise and give the sign. 3.15. in vain do i regard the sun, broken up by the lips of the water into countless glittering stars abounding, revolving, whirling forth, crying aloud for he whom my soul seeketh is not in these. nor is he in the fountain, eternally as it jets and falls in brilliance of dew; for i desire the dew supernal. nor is he in the still depths of the water; their lips do not meet his. nor o my soul! is he anyw

orpse. adonai! adonai! my lord adonai! indeed, thou hast forsaken me. nay! thou liest, o weak soul! abide in the meditation; unite all thy symbols into the form of a lion, and be lord of thy jungle, travelling through the servile universe even as mau the lion very lordly, the sun in his strength that travelleth over the heaven of nu in his bark in the mid-career of day. for all these thoughts are vain; there is but one thought, though that thought be not yet born he only is god, and there is none other god than he! 3.30. walking home with mantra; suddenly a spasm of weeping took me as i cried through the mantra "my god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me? and i have to stop and put it down! a good thing; for it calms me. 3.45. at the d me, master of myself. the mantra goes just 30 times a

or the chariot, wherein the geburah of me rises to binah strength winning the wings of understanding)[these symbols, allusions, and references will all be found in 777, just published by "the equinox" see advt. ed. 30 6.55. i shall now ceremonially defile the beyt allah with pig, to express in some small measure my utter disgust and indignation with allah for not doing his job properly. i say in vain "labbaik![i am here. ed. he answers,"but i'm "not" here, old boy another leg-pull! he little knows his man, though, if he thinks he can insult me with impunity. andr un sandwich![beyt allah, the mosque at mecca, means "house of god" ed. 7.5. i shall stop mantra while i eat, so as to concentrate "a" on the chewing,"b" on defiling the house of god. not so easy! the damned thing runs on like a

the perfume and the the vision. why am i so materially wallowing in grossness? it matters little; the fact remains that i do wallow. 33 i want that definite experience in the very same sense as abramelin had it; and what's more, i mean to go on till i get it. 12.34. i begin, therefore, in hanged man posture, to invoke the angel, within the pyramid already duly prepared by dclxxi. 12.57. alas! in vain have i tried even the supreme ritual of awaiting the beloved, although once i thought ah! give unto thy beloved in sleep! how ashamed i should be, though! for an earthly lover one would be on tiptoe of excitement, trembling at every sound, eager, afraid i will, however, rise and open (as for a symbol) the door and the window. oh that the door of my heart were ever open! for he is always the

ess. i will again revise the new ritual, dine, return and copy it fair for use. let adonai the lord oversee the work, that it be perfect, a sure link with him, a certain and infallible conjuration, and spell, and working of true magick art, that i may invoke him with success whenever seemeth good unto him. unto him; not unto me! is it not written that except adonai build the house, they labour in vain that build it? 6.15. chez lavenue. not feeling like revision, will read through this record. my dinner is to be bisque d'ecrevisses, tournedos rossini, a coupe jack, half a bottle of meursault, and coffee. all should now acquit adepts of the charge of not knowing how to do themselves well. 7.20. dinner over, i return the mantra-yoga. one may note that i expected the wine to have an excessive

d to use the ritual until it is beautifully coloured. as zoroaster saith:"god is never so much turned away from man, and never so much sendeth him new paths, as when he maketh ascent to divine speculations or works, in a confused or disordered manner, and (as the oracle adds) with unhallowed lips, or unwashed feet. for of those who are thus 66 negligent the progress in imperfect, the impulses are vain, and the paths are dark. 7.40. chez lavenue. bisque d'ecrevisses, demi-perdreau la gel e, c pes bordelaise, coupe jack. demi clos du roi. i am sure i made a serious mistake in the beginning of this operation of magick art. i ought to have performed a true equilibration by an hour's prana yama in asana (even if i had to do it without kambhakham) at midnight, dawn, noon, and sunset, and i shoul

t i am not going to be content with what would content them. in other words, i am going to "define""the knowledge and conversation of my holy guardian angel" as equal to neroda-samapatti, the trance of nibbana. i hope i shall be able to live up to this! 11.55. have been practising asana, etc. i forgot one thing in the last entry: i had been reproaching adonai that for six days i had evoked him in vain. i got the reply,"the seventh day shall be the sabbath of the lord thy god. so mote it be!"the seventh day. 12.17. i began this great day with eight breath-cycles; was stopped by the indigestion trouble in its other form.(p.s. evidently the introduction of the cascara into my sensitive aura made its action instantaneous. my breathing passages were none too clear, either; i have evidently take

d for every more! surely at least that lesson has been burnt into me. and how gladly i would give all these powers for the one power! 12.33. another smart attack of diarrhoea. i take 4 gr. plumb c. opio and alter my determination to stay out of bed all night, as chill is doubtless the chief cause. it is really extraordinary how the smallest success 123 awakes a monstrous horde of egoistic devils, vain, strutting peacocks, preening and screaming! this is simply damnable. egoism is the spur of all energy, in a way; and in this particular case it is the one thing that is not adonai (whatever else may be) and so the antithesis of the work. bricks without straw, indeed! that's nothing to it. this job is like being asked to judge a band contest and being told that one may do anything but listen

r. et a. c. it forms, in short, a complete magical and philosophical dictionary; a key to all religions and to all practical occult working. for the first time western and qabalistic symbols have been harmonized with those of hinduism, buddhism, mohammedanism, taoism,&c. by a glance at tables, anybody conversant with any one system can understand perfectly all others. mr. john ouseley's new book. vain tales from "vanity fair"(crown 8vo, cloth, gilt lettered, with special cover design, 256 pp. 3/6. by louise heilgers with preface by frank harris. the great english society weekley,"vanity fair, is known throughout the world, and the publishers of vain tales from "vanity fair" are therefore naturally pleased to be selected for the publication of the above work. the messrs. ouseley recommend t

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fies him; if he is not weeping he is laughing, if he is not laughing he is weeping; he grumbles and applauds, despises and reveres, insults and beslavers, loves and hates, fingers everything in turn, and when he has nothing further to soil and to thumb- mark sits down and cries for the moon, or else like the dog in the fable seeing his own image in the river of his dreams, loses all he has in the vain attempt to grasp more. slave to his own tyranny, shrieking under his own lash, the higher he builds the gloomy walls of his prison the louder he howls "liberty: freedom is what he craves, yearns, and strives for- freedom to leap into some miasmal bog and wallow. if he is a ploughman he wants more fields to till; if a physician, more bodies to cure; if a priest, more souls to save; if a soldie

ard search, and crying with him "i, lord, went wandering like a strayed sheep, seeking thee with anxious reasoning without, whilst thou wast within me. i wearied myself much in looking for thee without, and yet thou hast thy habitation within me, if only i desire thee and pant after thee. i went round the streets and squares of the city of this world seeking thee; and i found thee not, because in vain i sought without for him who was within myself" 238 the neophyte it was on november 18, 1898, that through the introduction of fra. v.n, and under his guidance p. entered the hermetic order of the golden dawn, and became a neophyte in the grade of 0= 0 in the outer. it may be of some interest to the reader, and also it may in some ways help to elucidate the present chapter, if a short account

period. it has throughout proved impossible to elucidate the complex facts "we content ourselves, then, with observing that the death of one of his two colleagues, and the weakness of the other, secured to s.r.m.d. the sole authority. the rituals were elaborated, though scholarly enough, into verbose and pretentious nonsense: the knowledge proved worthless, even where it was correct: for it is in vain that pearls, be they never so clear and precious, are given to the swine "the ordeals were turned into contempt, it being impossible 241 for any one to fail therein. unsuitable candidates were admitted for no better reason than that of their worldly possessions "in short, the order failed to initiate "scandal arose, and with it schism "in 1900 one p, a brother, instituted a rigorous test of s

lator. 261 ritual of the 1= 10 grade of zelator1 the opening in this ritual is very similar to that in the last; the chief exception being that this grade is more particularly attributed to the element of "earth. the temple having been declared open, the "hierophant" says "except adonai build the house their labour is but lost that build it. except adonai keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain! frater neophyte, by what aid do you seek admission to the 1 =10 grade of zelator of the g. d" illustration on page 262 approximated below: 1 the following five rituals are considerably abridged; chiefly to economise space and so allow the rituals of the neophyte and adeptus minor to be dealt with more fully. they are of little magical interest, value or importance. 31st. 32nd. 29th_ hb:shin

anding i was led to the northern entrance, where crowded a great concourse of people, and as i approached them they gave way before me. then a voice whispered to me 'smite; thereupon, drawing my sword with fury i smote three times, upon which a great wailing arose "having smitten down many with those three blows, i descended among them, but left my sword behind me. thinking i had forgotten it, in vain i tried to return, and in my strivings was of a sudden armed with many potent lightnings; then at my feet there fell away a great hollow column of rolling smoke. seeing it, i approached it and gazing down it, beheld at its furthermost extremity the earth, dark and strong. as i watched it rolling below me, a great desire possessed me to expand my consciousness and include all. this took me a v

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ned into a school of seals? and that great white seal, which the fishermen have seen, and whose track is like the wash of an ocean steamer, is that not pharaoh himself? so the stories spread, and the passer-by may take his fill of them, but i, for one, like best of all the tale of gioga's son. and if just one passer-by on hearing it is held from firing just one shot, the tale has not been told in vain. 348 but if ever i see that great white seal, whose track is like the wash of an ocean steamer, i am not quite sure but that i might rise a gun myself. i think it would be rather good fun to have a shot at pharaoh, for i never like the man much. norman roe. 349 ave adonai pale as the night that pales in the dawn's pearl-pure pavilion, i wait for thee, with my dove's breast shuddering, a god i

evil been within my reach i should decidedly have given my soul to him in order that he should see me safely home. but no one came to my rescue, and, though most unwilling, i had to submit to my terrible fate. 360 when the cage, made of the strongest steel, was closed upon me, i found myself a prisoner in the most degrading state. i began to look around and to shake the bars of my grating, but in vain. the man-without-a-cover had gone. my next step was to inspect the prison. and in so doing i discovered in the left corner a box, resembling a coffin in shape, though it was certainly not a coffin such as i delight in seeing daily in the windows of the undertakes. it was divided into compartments "is this the box of lofty thoughts, i wonder" said i to myself. in that case the man must have ha

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d imagination, which visualized it. vii "the intelligible is the principle of all section "god is never so turned away from man, and never so much sendeth him new paths, as when he maketh ascent to divine speculations or works in a confused or disordered manner, and as it adds, with unhallowed lips, or unwashed feet. for of those who are thus negligent, the progress is imperfect, the impulses are vain, and the paths are dark- zoroaster. another and highly important result of thought-analysis is the criticism of thought as it arises. just as the impressions 47 are represented by pictorial glyphs, so each reflection upon an impression is accompanied by either one or two (more only when the control is imperfect "critical" glyphs, as it were in small type, an annotation of approval or otherwis

rise to touch san n a. of the auditory are sounds heard like bells, elephants, thunder, trumpets, sea-shells "the sweet-souled vina" and so on; they are of less importance and are much more common. as one would expect, such forms leave little impress upon the memory. yet they are seductive enough, and i am afraid that the very great majority of mystics live all their lives wandering about in this vain world of shadows and of shells. all this, too, is the pleasant aspect of the affair. here belong the awful shapes of delirium and madness, which obsess and destroy the soul that fails to control and dismiss them. here lives the dweller of the threshold, that concentration 62 into a single symbol of the despair and terror of the universe and of the self. yet on all the paths is he, ready to sm

so falters or swerves, though he have attained almost the last height. how many have i known, like childe roland and his peers, who have come to that dark tower! one young, one brave, one pure- lost! lost! penned in the hells of matter, swept away in the whirling waters of insane vision, true victims of the hashish of the soul. what poignant agony, what moaning abjectness, what self-disgust! what vain folly (of all true hope forlorn) to seek in drugs, in drink, in the pistol or the cord, the paradise they have forfeited by a moment's weakness or a moment's wavering! this "two-handed engine at the door stands ready to smite" each one of us who has not attained to arahatship, admission to the great white brotherhood. is it not enough to make us throw away our atheism and exclaim "o god be me

way into the blank of mind. xii so then i saw my fault; i plunged within the well, and brake the images that i had made, as i must make- men spin 96 the webs that snare them- while the knees bend to the tyrant god- or unto sin the lecher sunder! ah! came that undulant light from over or from under? xiii it matters not. come, change! come, woe! come, mask! drive light, life, love into the deep! in vain we labour at the loathsome task not knowing if we wake or sleep; but in the end we lift the plumed casque of the dead warrior; find no chaste corpse therein, but a soft-smiling whore. xiv then i returned into myself, and took all in my arms, god's universe: crushed its black juice out, while his anger shook his dumbness pregnant with a curse. i made me ink, and in a little book i wrote one wo

umbness pregnant with a curse. i made me ink, and in a little book i wrote one word that god himself, the adder of thought, had never heard. xv it detonated. nature, god, mankind like sulphur, nitre, charcoal, once 97 blended, in one annihilation blind were rent into a myriad of suns. yea! all the mighty fabric of a mind stood in the abyss, belching a law for "that" more awful than for "this" xvi vain was the toil. so then i left the wood and came unto the still black sea, that oily monster of beatitude('hath "thee" for "me" and "me" for "thee) there as i stood, a mask of solitude hiding a face wried as a satyr's, rolled that ocean into space. xvii then did i build an altar on the shore of oyster-shells, and ringed it round with star-fish. thither a green flame i bore of phosphor foam, and

tle black tails in the form of "fleurs-de-lis "in extreme contrast to this monster was a young girl crouching upon the floor. at first sight one would have hardly suspected a human form at all, for from her head flowed down on all sides a torrent of exquisite blonde gold, that completely hid her. only two little hands looked out, clasped, pleading for mercy, and a fairy child-face, looking up- in vain- to that black heart of hatred. even as i gazed the woman hissed out so frightful a menace that my blood ran chill. the child shrank back into herself. the other raised her whip. i leapt into the room. the old hag spat one infamous word at me, turned on me with the whip. 117 "this time i was under no illusions about the sanctity of womanhood. with a single blow i felled her to the ground. my

utes- with just one inward qualm- again i was treading the well-worn flags of that ensorcelled road "instantly- instantly- the old delusion had me by 129 the throat. i had broken my oath; i was paying the penalty "crazier than ever, i again sought throughout changed paris for my dream-love; i shall seek her till i die. if i seem calmer, it is but that age has robbed me of the force of passion. in vain you tell me, laughing, that if she ever lived, she is long since dead; or at least is an old woman, the blonde gold faded, the child-face wrinkled, the body bowed and lax. i laugh at you- at you- for a blaspheming ass. your folly is too wild to anger me "i did not laugh" said roderic gravely "well" said the old man, rising "i fear i have wearied you. i thank you for your patience. i know i am

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3 2

the invocation" o thou mighty and powerful spirit taphthartharath, i bind and conjure thee very potently, that thou do appear in visible form before us in the magical triangle without this circle of art. i demand that thou shalt speedily come hither from thy dark abodes and retreats, in the sphere of kokab, and that thou do presently appear before us in pleasing form, not seeking to terrify us by vain apparitions, for we are armed with words of double power, and therefore without fear! and i moreover demand, binding and conjuring thee by the mighty name of elohim tzebaoth, that thou teach us how we may acquire the power to know all things that appertain unto the knowledge of thoth who ruleth the occult wisdom and power. and i am about to invocate thee in the magical hour of tafrac, on this

t invocation" come forth unto me, thou that art my true self: my light: my soul! come forth unto me: thou that art crowned with glory: that art the changeless: the un-nameable: the immortal godhead, whose place is in the unknown: and whose dwelling is the abode of the undying gods. heart of my soul; self- shining flame, glory of light, thee i invoke. come forth unto me, my lord: to me, who am thy vain reflection in the mighty sea of matter! hear thou, angel and lord! hear thou in the habitations of eternity; come forth; and purify to thy glory my mind and will! without thee am i nothing; in thee am i all-self existing in thy selfhood to eternity [close now the channels to the ruach of the material senses: endeavouring at the same time to awaken the inner sight and hearing. thus seated, str

ion must be given to purity in all things (2) that "you may sleep with your wife in the bed when she is pure and clean" not otherwise (3) every saturday the sheets of the bed are to be changed and the chamber is to be perfumed (4) no animal is to enter or dwell in the house (5 "if you be your own master, as far as lieth in your power, free yourself from all your business, and quit all mundane and vain company and conversation; leading a life tranquil, solitary and honest (6 "take well heed in treating of business, in selling or buying, that it shall be requisite that you never give way unto anger, but be modest and patient in your actions (7 "you shall set apart two hours each day after having dined, during which you shall read with care the holy scripture and other holy books (8 "as for e

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3

d confusion! olympas. banish my one high thought? the night indeed were starless. marsyas. very right! but that impalpable inane 22 is the condition of success; even as earth lies black to gain spring's green and autumn's fruitfulness. olympas. i dread this midnight of the soul. marsyas. welcome the herald! olympas. how control the horror of the mind? the insane dead melancholy? marsyas. trick is vain. sheer manhood must support the strife, and the trained will, the root of life, bear the adept triumphant. olympas. else? marsyas. the reason, like a chime of bells ripped by the lightning, cracks. olympas. and these are the first sights the magus sees? marsyas. the first true sights. bright images throng the clear mind at first, a crowd of gods, lights, armies, landscapes; loud reverberation

or his frank failure to explain. language creates false thoughts; the true breed language slowly. following experience of a thing we knew arose the need to name the thing. so, ancients likened a man's mind to the untamed evasive wind. some fool thinks names are things; and boasts aloud of spirits and of ghosts. religion follows on a pun! and we, who know that holy one of whom i told thee, seek in vain figure or word to make it plain. olympas. despair of man! marsyas. man is the seed of the unimaginable flower. by singleness of thought and deed it may bloom now_ this actual hour! olympas. the soul made safe, is vision sure to rise therein? marsyas. though calm and pure it seem, maybe some thought hath crept into his mind to baulk the adept. the expectation of success suffices to destroy the

ish acts. the first attacks, like the symptoms of a storm which has held off for a long while, appear and multiply themselves in the bosom of this very incredulity. at first it is a certain hilarity, absurdly irresistible, which possesses you. these accesses of gaiety, without due cause, of which you are almost ashamed, frequently occur and divide the intervals of stupor, during which you seek in vain to pull yourself together. the simplest words, the most trivial ideas, take on a new and strange physiognomy. you are surprised at yourself for having up to now found them so simple. incongruous likenesses and correspondences, impossible to foresee, interminable puns, comic sketches, spout eternally from your brain. the demon has encompassed you; it is useless to kick against the pricks of th

the soul-hunter the soul-hunter1 i bought his body for ten francs. months before i had bought his soul, bought it for the first glass of the poison_ the first glass of the new series of horrors since his discharge, cured_ cured_ from the "retreat" yes, i tempted him, i, a doctor! bound by the vows_ faugh! i needed his body! his soul? pah! but an incident in the bargain. for soul is but a word, a vain word_ a battlefield of the philosopher fools, the theologian fools, since anaximander and gregory nanzianus. a toy. but the consciousness? that is what we mean by "soul" we others. that then must live somewhere. but is it, as descartes thought, atomic? or fluid, now here, now there? or is it but a word for the totality of bodily sense? as weir mitchell supposed. well, we should see. i would b

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4 2

tness of nature and the ungraspable might of god, were his daily joy and consolation. in september he returned to srinnagar, and thence journeyed to bombay where he remained for but a few days before his return journey to europe. arriving in egypt he remained in that ancient land for some three weeks, somehow feeling that it was here that he should find what he had so long now been seeking for in vain. but realizing the hopelessness of waiting in any definite country or city, without some clue to guide him to his goal, he left egypt at the beginning of november and continued his journey back to england only to break it again at paris. in this city he remained until april the following year 173 (1903. in the month of january he met his old college friend h. l. from the very first moment of

e children we have begotten will rise up and dethrone us, and we shall be drowned in the waters that now we can no longer control and be burnt up by the flames that mock obedience, and scorn our word. directly we perform a miracle we produce a change: a change is mara the devil, and not god the changeless one. and though we may have scraped clean the palimpsest of our 186 mind, our labours are in vain, if, when once it is stretched out spotless before us, we start scribbling over it our silly riddles, our little thoughts, our foolish "yeas" and "nays" the finger of god alone may write upon it, cleanly and beautifully, and the words that are written cannot be read by the eye or in the heart of man, for alone can they be understood by him who is worthy to understand them. now, though frater

he hasheesh eater which bear upon the peculiar characteristics of the drug's action the hasheesh eater for a place, new york for instance, a stranger accounts, not by saying that any one of the many who testify to its existence copied from another, but by acknowledging "there is such a place" so do i account for the fact by saying "there is such a fact" we try to imitate eastern narrative, but in vain. our minds can find no clew to its strange untrodden by-ways of speculation; our highest soarings are still in an atmosphere which feels heavy with the reek and damp of ordinary life. we fail to account for those storm-wrapped peaks of sublimity which hover over the path of oriental story, or those beauties which, like rivers of paradise, make music beside it. we are all of us taught to say "

restored to its former state, but in the interim its mate had grown to a size which would have made it a very respectable totter for brian boru or one of the titans. elevated some few hundred feet into the firmament, i was compelled to hop upon my giant pedestal in a way very ungraceful in a world where two legs were the fashion, and eminently disagreeable to the slighted member, which sought in vain to reach the earth with struggles amusing from their very insignificance. this ludicrous affliction being gradually removed, i went on my way quietly until we again began to be surrounded by the houses of the town. and now that unutterable thirst which characterises hasheesh came upon me. i could have lain me down and lapped dew from the grass. i must drink, wheresoever, howsoever. we soon re

take to be a very scarce phenomenon" 306 briefly- for the time is approaching which we must better utilize- piotr's hand shook so that he missed touching the lobe of little ljubov's ear. the jewel he held up to her face touched, instead, one of the empty orbits of his little friend. our villain, the man who bought and stole eyes, must have done his job very properly indeed, for ljubov, who, in a vain attempt to see that which was shewn her, had open wide the dark cavities under her eyebrows. well, i suppose the eye touched a still sensitive nerve. no sooner had it done so than she uttered an exclamation "i see! piotr, i see! i see" and helping herself now, she rapidly unset the eyes from their golden crown and thrust them where they ought to have been all that time. miracle of miracles! s

than the inviting curl- like a curled and fluffy feather of coral- with which you who were her lips made welcome to some man, was the slow hypnotic wave of my thurible with whose essence i drenched ever cell of her body. i say that she was good, for she was human and she loved, oh! so sweetly, so delicately, so tenderly "what you did, you, her lips, her eyes and her other senses, was but to make vain effigies of our interior delight, to shatter in the broken shards of translation the mysterious silent beauty of the vase itself "i, the woman's heart of her, was like to a cave were thousands of voices of unborn children cried softly in the dark, where one felt their outstretching hands in pale and piteous appeal, as one may hear the early lilies break through the encompassing earth. in me w

is the richest man, that to be wise unto ignorance is the fairest counsel, that they knew nothing and yet all, that. and the heart-worm, whose judgment and reasonings had been so readily accepted by the others, grew in his turn a sceptic, since faith cannot live without doubt, and truth is only co-existent with untruth, as day with night, as life with death, as, o beloved! my heart with thine, as vain and coloured chatterings like this with noble and involate silence. edward storer. 324 the felon flower as the sighing of souls that are waiting the close of the light, as the passionate kissings of love in the forest of night, as the swish of the wavelets that beat on a cavernless shore, or the cry of the sea-mew that echoes a moment or more, so the voice of thy spirit soft-calling my soul i

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4 3

etain him, though he hath heard the question and would away. but so feeble is he that he fleeth by night. xxxvi. it hath often happened to sir palamede that he is haunted by a shadow, the which he may not recognise. but at last, in a sunlit wood, this is discovered to be a certain hunchback, who doubteth whether there be at all any beast or any quest, or if the whole life of sir palamede be not a vain illusion. him, without seeing to conquer with words, he slayeth incontinent. xxxvii. in a cave by the sea, feeding on limpets androots, sir palamede abideth, sick unto death. himseemeth the beast questeth within his own bowels; he is the vii beast. standing up, that he may enjoy the reward, he findeth another answer to the riddle. yet abideth in the quest. xxxviii. sir palamede is confronted

ng bold, disdaining song and dalliance soft, seeking one purpose to behold, and holding ever that aloft, nor fearing god, nor heeding men. so thus his hermit habit doffed sir palamede the saracen. 24 viii know ye where druid dolmens rise in wessex on the widow plain? thither sir palamedes plies the spur, and shakes the rattling rein. he questions all men of the beast. none answer. is the quest in vain? with oaken crown there comes a priest in samite robes, with hazel wand, and worships at the gilded east. ay! thither ride! the dawn beyond must run the quarry of his quest. he rode as he were wood or fond, until at night behoves him rest- he saw the gilding far behind out on the hills toward the west! with aimless fury hot and blind he flung him on a viking ship. he slew the rover, and incli

ower low that glittering gladdened in the glade. he wrote himself a wanton ass, and to the sea his traces laid, where many a wavelet on the glass his prowess knows. but deep and deep his futile feet in fury pass, 27 until one billow curls to leap, and flings him breathless on the shore half drowned. o fool! his god's asleep, his armour in illusion's war it self illusion, all his might and courage vain. yet ardours pour through every artery. the knight scales the himalaya's frozen sides, crowned with illimitable light, and there in constant war abides, smiting the spangles of the snow; smiting until the vernal tides of earth leap high; the steady flow of sunlight splits the icy walls: they slide, they hurl the knight below. sir palamede the mighty falls into an hollow where there dwelt a be

haunch. then as sir palamede overhauls the stricken quarry, slack it droops, staggers, and final down it falls. triumph! gape wide, ye golden walls! lift up your everlasting doors, o gates of camelot! see, he swoops down on the prey! the life-blood pours: the poison works: the breath implores its livelong debt from heart and brain. alas! poor stag, thy day is done! the gallant lungs gasp loud in vain: thy life is spilt upon the plain. sir palamede is stricken numb as one who, gazing on the sun, sees blackness gather. blank and dumb, the good knight sees a thin breath come out of his proper mouth, and dart over the plain: he seeth it sure by some black magician art shape ever closer like an hart: 36 while such a questing there resounds as god had loosed the very pit, or as a thirty couple

d puny men, sir palamede the saracen. 37 xiv northward the good knight gallops fast, resolved to seek his foe at home, when rose that vision of the past, the royal battlements of rome, a ruined city, and a dome. there in the broken forum sat a red-robed robber in a hat "whither away, sir knight, so fey "priest, for the dove on ararat i could not, nor i will not, stay "i know thy quest. seek on in vain a golden hart with silver horns! life springeth out of divers pains. what crown the king of kings adorns? a crown of gems? a crown of thorns! the questing beast is like a king in face, and hath a pigeon's wing and claw; its body is one fleece of bloody white, a lamb's in spring. enough. sir knight, i give thee peace" 38 the knight spurs on, and soon espies a monster coursing on the plain. he

ove and glimmering shrine- o ply the kiss and pour the wine! sir palamede is fairly come into a place of glowing bowers, where all the voice of time is dumb: before an altar crowned with flowers he seeth a satyr fondly dote and languish on a swan-soft goat. then he in mid-caress desires the ear of strong sir palamede. 40 "we burn" qouth he "no futile fires, nor play upon an idle reed, nor penance vain, nor fatuous prayers- the gods are ours, and we are theirs" sir palamedes plucks the pipe the satyr tends, and blows a trill so soft and warm, so red and ripe, that echo answers from the hill in eager and voluptuous strain, while grows upon the sounding plain a gallop, and a questing turned to one profound melodious bay. sir palamede with pleasure burned, and bowed him to the idol grey that o

ace of godlihead" ay! with thy wasted limbs pursue that subtle beast home to his den! who know but thou mayst win athrough, sir palamede the saracen? 80 xxxi from god's sweet air sir palamede hath come unto a demon bog, a city where but rats may breed in sewer-stench and fetid fog. within its heart pale phantoms crawl. breathless with foolish haste they jog and jostle, all for naught! they scrawl vain things all night that they disown ere day. they call and bawl and squall hoarse cries; they moan, they groan. a stone hath better sense! and these among a cabbage-headed god they own, with wandering eye and jabbering tongue. he, rotting in that grimy sewer and charnel-house of death and dung, shrieks "how the air is sweet and pure! give me the entrails of a frog and i will teach thee! lo! the

y heart! do thus" and so the knight disguises himself, on hands and knees doth start his hunt, goes questing up and down. so in the fields the peasant clown flies, shrieking, from the dreadful figure. but when he came to any town they caged him for a lunatic. quod he "would god i had the trick! the beast escaped from my devices; i will the same. the bars are thick, but i am strong" he wrenched in vain; then- what is this? what wild, sharp strain smites on the air? the prison smashes. hark 'tis the questing beast again! 84 then as he rushes forth the note roars from that beast's malignant throat with laughter, laughter, laughter, laughter! the wits of palamedes float in ecstasy of shame and rage "o thou" exclaims the baffled sage "how should i match thee? yet, i will so, though doomisday de

" 98 xxxviii sir palamede of great renown rode through the land upon the quest, his sword loose and his vizor down, his buckler braced, his lance in rest. now, then, god save thee, palamede! who courseth yonder on the field? those silver arms, that sable steed, the sun and rose upon his shield? the strange knight spurs to him. disdain curls that proud lip as he uplifts his vizor "come, an end! in vain, sir fox, thy thousand turns and shifts" sir palamede was white with fear. lord christ! those features were his own; his own that voice so icy clear that cuts him, cuts him to the bone "false knight! false knight" the stranger cried "thou bastard dog, sir palamede? i am the good knight fain to ride upon the questing beast at need. 99 thief of my arms, my crest, my quest, my name, now meetest

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4

ing" this thought again and again rumbles through the realms of philosophy, souring the milk of man's understanding with its bitter scepticism. not-being was this in the beginning, from it being arose. self-fashioned indeed out of itself. the being and the beyond 59 expressible and inexpressible, founded and foundationless, consciousness and unconsciousness, reality and unreality.25 all these are vain attempts to obscure the devotee's mind into believing in that origin he could in no way understand, by piling up symbols of extravagant vastness. all, as with the qabalists, was based on zero, all, same one thing, and this one thing saved the mind of man from the fearful palsy of doubt which had shaken to ruin his brave certainties, his audacious hopes and his invincible resolutions. man, slo

2nd. buddha. 8 m. it seems very difficult nowadays to settle down. red cross. 22 m. ten breaks. nirvana.196 13 m. not bad. i tried to put (astrally) a fly on a man's nose. it seemed to disturb him much; but he did not try to brush it off. tried the the same with chinaman, great success. tried to make a chinaman look round, instant success. tried the same with a european, but failed. 3rd. tried in vain two "practical volitions" but was too unwell to do any work. 4th. nirvana, selfish- 28 m. ness, magical power hiero- phantship, etc. 192 meditation upon nirvana. 193 "i.e, no longer through reason or imagination. 194 harpocrates being the meditative god. 195 in this exercise the pendulum tends to swing out of plane. here are frater p.'s two methods of correcting it("a) fix mind on the two poi

ategories" or shall we say "emanations" and thereby started revolving once again the sephirothic wheel of fortune. 211 in spite of the fact that buddhism urges that "the whole world is under the law of causation" it commands its followers to lead pure and noble lives, in palace of dishonourable ones, in spite of their having no freedom of choice between good and evil "let us not lose ourselves in vain speculations of profitless subtleties" says the dhammapada "let us surrender self and all selfishness, and as all things are fixed by causation, let us practise good so that good may result from our actions" just as if it could possibly be done if "all things are fixed" the buddhist, in theory having postulated that all fowls lay hardboiled eggs, adds, the ideal man is he who can only make om

(or in disgust) to colombo) on the 20th of september p. returned from colombo and then he made the following entry in his diary "the blessed abhav nanda said 'thus have i heard. one day in thy courts is better than a thousand; let me recommence pr n y ma" thus he thought, and said. further he said "let me abandon these follies of poesy and vamacharya("debauchery "i.e" normal life) and health and vain things and let me put in some work" 22nd. began suddhi and "namo shivaya namaha aum" 10.15-11.15 a'sana. pr n y ma. nine minutes 10. 20. 30. a.m. a.m. dh ran on nose ten minutes. 5.55-6.25 pr n y ma. four minutes: 10. 20. 30. p.m. p.m. pr n y ma. ten minutes: 10. 20. 30. pr n y ma. one of 30. 15. 60. twice. two such conseu- tively quite out of the question. 9.12-9.25 pr n y ma. twelve minutes

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 6 2

e hand reacheth to the sacred sand, fire consumes him that his name be forgotten in the land. 5 even as the wicked eye seeks the mysteries to spy, so the blindness of the gods takes his spirit: he shall die. even as the evil priest, poisoned by the sacred feast, changes by its seven powers to the misbegotten beast: even as the powers of ill, broken by the wanded will, shriek about the holy place, vain and vague and terrible: even as the lords of hell, chained in fires before the spell, strain upon the sightless steel, break not fetters nor compel: so be distant, o profane! children of the hurricane! lest the sword of fire destroy, lest the ways of death be plain! so depart, and so be wise, lest your perishable eyes look upon the formless fire, see the maiden sacrifice! so depart, and secre

ly, holy spouse of the sun-engirdled house, with the secret symbol burning on thy multiscient brows. even as the traitor's breath goeth forth, he perisheth by the secret sibilant word that is spoken unto death. capricornus. brethren, let us awaken the master of the temple [the leader of the chorus "beats the tom-tom, and the other brethren clap and stamp their feet. no result] 6 silence- it is in vain! brethren, let us invoke the assistance of the mother of heaven["he goes to veil and reaches through with his hands" mater coeli["passes through throne of" magister templi "and enters the temple] children, what is your will with me? capricornus. mother of heaven, we beseech thee to awaken the master. mater coeli. what is the hour? capricornus. mother of heaven, it lacks a quarter of midnight

d bliss, the starry soul of wine, destruction's formidable kiss, the lamp of the divine: this shadow of a nobler name whose life is strife, whose soul is fame! i rather will exalt the soul of man to loftier height, and kindle at a livelier coal the subtler soul of light. from these soft splendours of a dream i turn, and seek the self supreme. this world is shadow-shapen of the bitterness of pain. vain are the little lamps of love! the light of life is vain! life, death, joy, sorrow, age and youth are phantoms of a further truth. beyond the splendour of the world, false glittering of the gold, a serpent is in slumber curled in wisdom's sacred cold. life is the flaming of that flame. death is the naming of that name, the forehead of the snake is bright with one immortal star, lighting her co

lleth aether to the brim wherein all stars and suns may dance. i am the beautiful and glad, rejoicing in the golden day. i am the spirit silken-clad that fareth on the fiery way. i have escaped from him, whose eyes are closed at eventide, and wise to drag thee to the house of wrong- i am armed! i am armed! i am strong! i am strong! i make my way: opposing horns of secret foemen push their lust in vain: my song their fury scorns; they sink, they grovel in the dust["he turns to" sol. hail, self-created lord of night! inscrutable and infinite! let orpheus journey forth to see the disk in peace and victory! let him adore the splendid sight, the radiance of the heaven of nu; soar like a bird, laved by the light, to pierce the far eternal blue["he turns to" ares "and" scorpio. hail! hermes! thou

to the throne" mercury. peace upon thee, beloved. but the brethren say sooth. even mercury liveth not for ever["he recites" the light streams stronger through the lamps of sense. intelligence grows as we go. alas: its icy glimmer shows dimmer, dimmer the awful vaults we traverse. were the sun himself the one glory of space, he would but illustrate the night of fate. are not the hosts of heaven in vain arrayed? their light dismayed 105 before the vast blind spaces of the sky? o galaxy of thousands upon thousands closely curled, your golden world incalculably small, its closest cluster mere milky lustre staining the infinite darkness! base and blind our minion mind seeks a great light, a light sufficient, light insufferably bright, hence hidden for an hour: imagining this vast vain thing, we

or an hour: imagining this vast vain thing, we call it god, and father. empty hand and prayer unplanned stretched fatuous to the void. ah! men my friends what fury sends this folly to intoxicate your hearts? dread air disparts your vital ways from these unsavoury follies; black melancholies sit straddled on your bended backs. the throne of the unknown is fit for children. we are too well ware how vain is prayer, how nought is great, since all is immanent the vast content of all the universe unalterable. we know too well how no one thing abides awhile at all, how all things fall, fall from their seat, the lamentable place, before their face, weary and pass and are no more. so we, since hope must be, look to the future, to the chance minute that life may shoot some flower at least to blossom

l; i am lord of the snake and the sword; reveal us the riddle, reveal! bring us the word of the lord; as the flame of the sun, as the roar of the sea, as the storm of the air, as the quake of the earth- let it soar for a boon, for a bane, for a snare, for a lure, for a light, for a kiss, for a rod, for a scourge, for a sword- bring us thy burden of bliss- bring us the word of the lord! taurus. in vain thou askest speech from our lady of silence: cancer. bear the cup of libation! pan. 333-333-333["recites" roll through the caverns of matter, the world's irremovable bounds! roll, ye wild billows of ether! the sistron is shaken and sounds! wild and sonorous the clamour, vast in the region of death. live with the fire of the spirit, the essence and flame of the breath! sound, o sound! gleam in

for my fire is exalted in thee! lighten the darkness and herald the daylight, and waken the sea! flame, o flame! crown her, o crown her with stars as with flowers for a virginal gaud! crown her, o crown her with light and the flame of the down-rushing sword! crown her, o crown her with love for maiden and mother and wife! hail unto isis! hail! for she is the lady of life! isis crowned! cancer. in vain thou invokest our lady of the moon! taurus. bear the cup of libation! cancer. 333-333-333. pan. must every star that saves the night gleam fearfully afar, give no man love, but only light, or cease to be a star? nay, there's no man since time began through the ages until now, but won the goal of his set soul, a star upon his brow! oh! though no star serene as thou shine in my night forlorn, c

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 6

sight of his friends in the valley, so must the adept seem. they shall say: he is lost in the clouds. but he shall rejoice in the sunlight above them, and come to the eternal snows. 16. or as a scholar may learn some secret language of the ancients, his friends shall say "look! he pretends to read this book. but it is unintelligible- it is nonsense" yet he delights in the odyssey, while they read vain and vulgar things. 17. we shall bring you to absolute truth, absolute light, absolute bliss. 6 18. many adepts throughout the ages have sought to do this; but their words have been perverted by their successors, and again and again the veil has fallen upon the holy of holies. 19. to you who yet wander in the court of the profane we cannot yet reveal all; but you will easily understand that th

he cowardly, the poor, the tearful- these are mine enemies, and i am come to destroy them. 26. this also is compassion: an end to the sickness of earth. a rooting-out of the weeds: a watering of the flowers. 27. o my children, ye are more beautiful than the flowers: ye must not fade in your season. 28. i love you; i would sprinkle you with the divine dew of immortality. 29. this immortality is no vain hope beyond the grave: i offer you the certain consciousness of bliss. 30. i offer it at once, on earth; before an hour hath struck upon the bell, ye shall be with me in the abodes that are beyond decay. 31. also i give you power earthly and joy earthly; wealth, and health, and length of days. adoration and love shall cling to your feet, and twine around your heart. 32. only your mouths shall

dore? suppose the infinite peace of the heart, jeanne! the crest and crown of labour and art, of the mystic quest, of the toil of the saint, the mount on whose slopes the strongest faint, jeanne! suppose that peace of god, that house of delight of the bridegroom and the spouse, were only the calm of the chewing cows, jeanne! suppose that in all the worlds inane there were one thing only vexed and vain, turbulent, troubled, and insane, jeanne! suppose that the universal plan had but one flaw, and that flaw were man! 50 then- even then- we are here, jeanne! we love- we shall die, sweet heart, take cheer, jeanne! we are bound to a fate that brings release; we move in a moil that must one day cease; we shall win to the everlasting peace, jeanne! and how things are, and why, and whence are puzz

ALEX SANDERS THE KING OF THE WITCHES

in a shifting world, for although he had grown fond of his benefactors, they indulged him like a spoilt child.joan did at least temper her love with criticism. once his mother met him when he was visitingjoan at her newhome. she demanded that he keep away 'i will not have you corrupting your sister' she told him 'you are living an evil life which you will regret. you must not harm your sister' in vain alex protested that he only wanted to help, but his assistance, both economically and in person, was rejected. he did not visit joan again, and when, several months later, he met his younger sister pat in manchester and learnt that joan had been taken to hospital with terminal cancer, he refused to believe it-he refused even to think of it. a few weeks later he received a postcard from joan '

e or plate of silver which you shall have made for this purpose' he used the silver back of a hunter watch given him years ago by his mother. acquiring the equipment meticulously detailed in the book was but part of the performance; for eleven months he had to perform daily rituals. if you be your own master as far as lieth in your purpose, free yourselfofallyour business and quit all mundane and vain company and conversation, leading a life tranquil, solitary and honest. if aforetimes you have been a wicked,debauched, avaricious, luxurious and proud man, leave and flee from all these vices, consider that this was one of the principle reasons why abraham, moses, david, john and other holy men retired into desert places until they had acquired this holy science and magic. alex had to manage

ALICE A BAILEY01 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE ATOM

red life of the atom (whether the atom of substance or the human atom; the second stage grows to perfection by the sacrifice of the unit to the good of the many, and of the atom to the group in which it has place. this stage is something which we, as yet, know practically little about, and is what we often vision and hope for. the third stage lies a long way ahead, and may be considered by many a vain chimera. but some of us have a vision. which, even if unattainable at present, is logically possible if our premises are correct, and our foundation is rightly laid. it is that of unified existence. not only will there be the separate units of consciousness, not only the differentiated atoms within the form, not only will there be the group made up of a multiplicity of identities, but we shal

ALICE A BAILEY02 INITIATION HUMAN AND SOLAR

but something attainable, provided he strives sufficiently. the first initiation is within the reach of many, but the necessary one-pointedness and the firm belief in the reality ahead, coupled to a willingness to sacrifice all rather than turn back, are deterrents to the many. if this book serves no other purpose than to spur some one to renewed believing effort, it will not have been written in vain- 65- initiation, human and solar copyright 1998 lucis trust chapter xii the two revelations we can now consider the stages of the initiation ceremony, which are five in number, as follows: 1. the "presence" revealed. 2. the "vision" seen. 3. the application of the rod, affecting: a. the bodies. b. the centres. c. the causal vehicle. 4. the administration of the oath. 5. the giving of the "sec

ALICE A BAILEY05 THE LIGHT OF THE SOUL

esult of contentment bliss is achieved. there is little to say in connection with this sutra except to point out that all pain, displeasure and unhappiness are based upon rebellion, and that, from the point of view of the occultist, rebellion but stirs up increased trouble, and resistance only serves to feed the evil, whatever it may be. the man who has learnt to accept his lot, wastes no time in vain regrets, and his entire energy can then be given to the perfect fulfillment of his dharma, or obligatory work. instead of repining, and clouding the issues of life with worry, doubt and despair, he clarifies his path by the quiet realization of life as it is and a direct appreciation of what he may make of it. thus no strength, time or opportunity is lost, and steady progress towards the goal

ALICE A BAILEY07 FROM INTELLECT TO INTUITION

has really happened and is not the result of a vivid and overstimulated imagination. the power of the creative imagination is only just beginning to be sensed, and it is quite possible to see just what we desire to see, even if it is not there at all. the desire of the aspirant to make progress, and his strenuous effort, has forced him to become awake or aware upon the psychic plane, the plane of vain imaginings, of desire and its illusory fulfillments. in that realm, he contacts a thought-form of the christ or of some great and revered teacher. the world of illusion is full of these thought-forms, constructed by the loving thoughts of men down the ages, and the man, working through his own psychic nature (the line of least resistance for the majority) comes in touch with such a thought-fo

? why not learn to function as the spiritual man from that point, so quaintly described by the oriental writers, as "the throne between the eyebrows" and from that high place control all aspects of the lower nature, and guide the daily life in the ways of god. conclusion "the spirit within is the long-lost word, besought by the world of the soul in pain through a world of words which are void and vain. o never while shadow and light are blended shall the world's word-quest or its woe be ended, and never the world of its wounds made whole till the word made flesh be the word made soul" arthur edward waite what is to be the result of all our effort? personal satisfaction or a joyous heaven of endless rest and beatitude? god forbid! the search in the world goes on; the cry of humanity rises f

ALICE A BAILEY08 A TREATISE ON WHITE MAGIC

tween the plane of divine ideas and the mental plane. you see how this matter of participation in the divine creative process works out as the objective of all true meditation work? 4. register the idea, received by the soul intuitively, and recognize the form which it should take. these last seven words are of vital importance. 5. reduce the vague and misty idea to its essentials, discarding all vain imaginings and the formulations of the lower mind, so equipping oneself to leap readily into activity, and, through steadfastness in contemplation, receive accurately the vision of the inner structure, or of the subjective skeleton, if i may so term it, of the form which is to be. 6. this, as recorded consciously by the soul upon the mind, is as consciously registered by the mind, held steady

ALICE A BAILEY14 THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE CHRIST

says "that which has been a mystery shall no longer be so, and that which has been veiled will now be revealed; that which has been withdrawn will emerge into the light and will then enhance that light and all men will see and together will rejoice. the time will come when destruction will have wrought its beneficent work; then men, through suffering, will seek that which they have discarded. in vain pursuit, they sought that which was near at hand and easy of attainment. possessed, they found that it proved an agency of death. yet all the time, they sought for life, not death" and the christ will bring them life and life abundantly- 67- the reappearance of the christ copyright 1998 lucis trust there is much talk these days concerning the mysteries of initiation. every country is full of

ALICE A BAILEY16 GLAMOUR A WORLD PROBLEM

the greatest potency is to realise the necessity to act purely as a channel for the energy of the soul. if the disciple can make right alignment and consequent contact with his soul, the results show as increased light. this light pours down and irradiates not only the mind, but the brain consciousness as well. he sees the situation more clearly: he realises the facts of the case as against his "vain imaginings; and so the "light shines upon his way" he is not yet able to see truly in the larger sweeps of consciousness; the group glamour and, of course, the world glamour remain to him as yet a binding and bewildering mystery, but his own immediate way begins to clear, and he stands relatively free from the fog of his ancient and distorting emotional miasmas. alignment, contact with his so

ALICE A BAILEY19 THE UNFINISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHY

my religious environment has no real bearing on the question; i knew nothing different than to express my spirituality in attending the early communion service every day, if possible, and in trying to save people. that particular expression of religious service and enterprise could not be helped and i eventually outgrew it. but what was the factor that changed me from a very bad tempered, rather vain and idle young girl into a worker and temporarily into a fanatic? on june 30th, 1895, i had an experience which has made that date for me one that i never forget and always keep. i had been for months in the throes of adolescent miseries. life was not worth living. there was nothing but sorrow and trouble on every hand. i had not asked to come into the world but here i was. i was just 15. nob

ALICE A BAILEY22 DISCIPLESHIP IN THE NEW AGE VOLUME II

ing thought currents along specified lines out into the world, creating thoughtforms which will make clear-cut contact with other minds and which will bring about definite changes in the consciousness of humanity. this you do not as yet do, nor have you evidenced any desire so to work. i have waited to see if the initiating impulse would come from you without any prompting by me. i have waited in vain. i told you elsewhere that "an ashram is an emanating source of hierarchical impression upon the world. its `impulsive energies' and its inciting forces are directed towards the expansion of the human consciousness, through the magnetic lives of the group members as they carry on their duties, obligations and responsibilities in the outer world; it is aided also by the steady vibratory activi

it, its way of life and its governing laws. only initiate-disciples can get a glimpse of some of the more exoteric significances, whilst the inner meaning must be drawn forth by you in deep and concentrated meditation and by the determined use of the will. there is no one who can aid you in preparing this book except some group brother or someone working consciously in an ashram. you will look in vain for cooperation and help among those you seek to aid and among the orthodox and theological esotericist. some key thoughts i can here give to you, and if you use them as the theme of your meditation, light upon the subject may break forth: 1. shamballa is the place of purpose. it is a purpose which cannot be understood until the plan is followed. herein lies a clue. 2. shamballa is not a way

ALICE A BAILEY24 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME V THE RAYS AND THE INITIATIONS

is a mystery shall no longer be so, and that which has been veiled will now be revealed: that which has been withdrawn will emerge into the light, and all men shall see and together they shall rejoice. that time will come when desolation has wrought its beneficent work, when all things have been destroyed, and men, through suffering, have sought to be impressed by that which they had discarded in vain pursuit of that which was near at hand and easy of attainment. possessed, it proved to be an agency of death yet men sought life, not death" so runs the old commentary when referring to the present cycle through which mankind is passing. the tests for the first initiation, as far as humanity (the world disciple) is concerned, are well-nigh over and the hour of the birth of the christ as an ex

ALICE BAILEY THE LABOURS OF HERCULES

igh overcame him. the oozing quicksands were a hazard, and more than once hercules quickly withdrew his foot lest he be sucked downward by the yielding earth. at length he found the lair where dwelt the monstrous beast. within a cavern of perpetual night, the hydra lay concealed. by day and night hercules haunted the treacherous fen, awaiting a propitious time when the beast would sally forth. in vain he watched. the monster stayed within its fetid den. resorting to a stratagem, hercules dipped his arrows in burning pitch, and rained them straight into the yawning cavern where dwelt the hideous beast. a stirring and commotion there upon ensued. the hydra, its nine angry heads breathing flame, emerged. its scaly tail lashed furiously the water and the mud, bespattering hercules. three fatho

ANATHEMA OF ZOS

saturn s touch, turn its melody inward and become a funeral dirge of the soul. if there is ought to be learnt it is this..we are the hypocrites to whom zos speaks. there is no hope. the great wheel turns. all that we love and will is its grist. nothing remains. will love louis martinie (s.m.ch.h. 353) vernal equinox, 1985 anathema of zos: the sermon to the hypocrites hostile to self-torment, the vain excuses called devotion, zos satisfied the habit by speaking loudly unto his self. and at one time, returning to familiar consciousness, he was vexed to notice interested hearers-a rabble of involuntary mendicants, pariahs, whoremongers, adulterers, distended bellies, and the prevalent sick-grotesques that obtain in civilizations. his irritation was much, yet still they pestered him, saying:

excuses, guffaw between bites! heaven is indifferent to your salvation or catastrophe. your curveless crookedness maketh ye fallow for a queer fatality! what! i to aid your self-deception, ameliorate your decaying bodies, preserve your lamentable apotheosis of self? the sword-thrust not salve-i bring! am i your swineherd, though i shepherd unto goats? my pleasure does not obtain among vermin with vain ideas-with hopes and fears of absurd significance. not yet am i over-weary of myself. not ye shall i palliate abomination, for in ye i behold your parents and the stigmata of foul feeding. in this ribald intoxication of hypocrisy, this monument of swindlers' littlenesses, where is the mystic symposium, the hierarchy of necromancers that was? honest was sodom! your theology is a slime-pit of g

o others as you would-when sufficiently courageous. to cast aside, not save, i come. inexorably towards myself; to smash the law, to make havoc of the charlatans, the quacks, the swankers and brawling salvationists with their word-tawdry phantasmagoria; to disillusion and awaken every fear of your natural, rapacious selves. living the most contemptible and generating everything beastly, are ye so vain of your excuse to expect other than the worst of your imagining? honesty is unvoiced! and i warn you to make holocaust of your saints, your excuses: these flatulent bellowing of your ignorance. only then could i assure your lurking desire-easy remission of your bowdlerized sins. criminals of folly? ye but sin against self. there is no sin for those of heaven's delight. i would ye resist not n

BELL CHRISTOPHER PAUL TSIU MARPO THE CAREER OF A TIBETAN PROTECTOR DEITY

o (chos skyong gnod sbyin dmar po, the "red violence demon, protector of the doctrine" and pudri marpo (spu gri dmar po, the "red-razored one" as he is referred to in his root tantra. as a prince in his previous birth, the name "chorwa" has two variants. they are nearly homophonic, but with slightly different meanings that add suggestively to this character: chorpo (mchor po, meaning "handsome or vain" and chorwa( phyor ba, meaning "a dandy or rich person" both of these definitions connote the kind of lifestyle that personifies a prince. other names, as with tsiu marpo, are merely variations with little change in meaning "chandrabhadra"75 is written as "chandrabhaha" in one instance; clearly a misspelling.76 the princess is named variously as majin (ma byin, dejin (dde sbyin, and demajin (

ground. their spirits then joined the spirit of their master and together they hastened to samye, to take revenge upon tsi u dmar po. a fierce battle ensued in which the dharmap.la was defeated and had to flee. dza sa dmar po "the red dza sa" as he became later on known, then took possession of the tsi u dmar lcog dbug khang [jokwukhang] and of all the objects stored there. he tried, however, in vain to place upon his own head tsi u dmar po s heavy helmet, which is worn during the trances by the medium of samye s best-known dharmap.la. after some time dza sa dmar po left tsi u dmar po s residence, and the monks then built for him a special shrine within the precincts of their monastery, the so-called dza sa dmar po i rab brtan [dzasa marp rapten. tsi u dmar po returned later to his abode

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

he commentary, the saying "by day the gods are most powerful, and by night the demons" is purely allegorical* this thinking of oneself as this, that, or the other, is the chief factor in the production of every kind of psychic or even physical phenomena. the words "whosoever shall say to this mountain be thou removed and cast into the sea, and shall not doubt. that thing will come to pass" are no vain words. only the word "faith" ought to be translated by will. faith without will is like a wind-mill without wind- barren of results[[vol. 2, page] 60 the secret doctrine. explained elsewhere. this body of brahma when cast off became the sandhya (evening twilight, the interval between day and night. finally brahma assumed his last form pervaded by the quality of foulness "and from this men, in

va eye" unfortunately not. the "deva-eye" exists no more for the majority of mankind. the third eye is dead, and acts no longer; but it has left behind a witness to its existence. this witness is now the pineal gland. as for the "four-armed" men, it is they who become the prototypes of the four-armed hindu gods, as shown in a preceding footnote. such is the mystery of the human eye that, in their vain endeavours to explain and account for all the difficulties surrounding its action, some scientists have been forced to resort to occult explanations. the development of the human eye gives more support to the occult anthropology than to that of the materialistic physiologists "the eyes in the human embryo grow from within without" out of the brain, instead of being part of the skin, as in the

ouched upon in the kabalistic esotericism. viewed from this aspect, the curse is undeniable, for it is evident. the intellectual evolution, in its progress hand-in-hand with the physical, has certainly been a curse instead of a blessing- a gift quickened by the "lords of wisdom" who have poured on the human manas the fresh dew of their own spirit and essence. the divine titan has then suffered in vain; and one feels inclined to regret his benefaction to mankind, and sigh for those days so graphically depicted by aeschylus, in his "prometheus bound" when, at the close of the first titanic age (the age that followed that of ethereal man, of the pious kandu and pramlocha, nascent, physical mankind, still mindless and (physiologically) senseless, is described as "seeing, they saw in vain; hear

w to turn to the innermost metaphysical sense of the zohar to find in it anything like ain-soph, the nameless deity and the absolute, so authoritatively and loudly claimed by the christians. but it is certainly not to be found in the mosaic books, by those who try to read without a key to them. ever since it was lost jews and christians have tried their best to blend these two conceptions, but in vain. they have only succeeded in finally robbing even the universal deity of its majestic character and primitive meaning. this is what was said in "isis unveiled- it would seem, therefore, but natural to make a difference between the mystery-god[[iao, adopted from the highest antiquity by all who participated in the esoteric knowledge of the priests, and his phonetic counterparts, whom we find t

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

s this has to be introduced with no simple preface, but with a volume rather; one that would give facts, not mere disquisitions, since the secret doctrine is not a treatise, or a series of vague theories, but contains all that can be given out to the world in this century. it would be worse than useless to publish in these pages even those[[footnote(s[[footnote continued from previous page] is no vain superstition. once the door permitted to be kept a little ajar, it will be opened wider with every new century. the times are ripe for a more serious knowledge than hitherto permitted, though still very limited, so far[[vol. 1, page] xxxix introductory. portions of the esoteric teachings that have now escaped from confinement, unless the genuineness and authenticity- at any rate, the probabil

nce, indeed, between the aryan hindu and the aryan european faiths is very small, if only the fundamental ideas of both are taken into consideration. hindus are proud of calling themselves suryas and chandravansas (of the solar and lunar dynasties. the christians pretend to regard it as idolatry, and yet they adhere to a religion entirely based upon the solar and lunar worships. it is useless and vain for the protestants to exclaim against the roman catholics for their "mariolatry" based on the ancient cult of lunar goddesses, when they themselves worship jehovah, pre-eminently a lunar god, and when both churches have accepted in their theologies the "sun"-christ and the lunar trinity. what is known of chaldaean moon-worship, of the babylonian god, sin, called by the greeks "deus lunus" is

fect-producing cause" esoterically it is quite a different thing in its far-fetching moral effects. it is the unerring law of retribution. to say to those ignorant of the real significance, characteristics and awful importance of this eternal immutable law, that no theological definition of a personal deity can give an idea of this impersonal, yet ever present and active principle, is to speak in vain. nor can it be called providence. for providence, with the theists (the christian protestants, at any rate, rejoices in a personal male gender, while with the roman catholics it is a female potency "divine providence tempers his blessings to secure their better effects" wogan tells us. indeed "he" tempers them, which karma- a sexless principle- does not. throughout the first two parts, it was

BLUE EQUINOX

t period. it has throughout proved impossible to elucidate the complex facts. we content ourselves, then, with observing that the death of one of his two colleages, and the weakness of the other, secured to s.r.m.d. the sole authority. the rituals were elaborated, though scholarly enough, into verbose and pretentious nonsense: the knowledge proved worthless even where it was correct: for it is in vain that pearls, be they never to clear and precious, are given to the swine. the ordeals were turned into contempt, it being impossible for anyone to fail therein. unsuitable candidates were admitted for no better reason than that of their worldly prosperity. in short, the order failed to initiate. 12. scandal arose, and with it schism. 13. in 1900, one p, a brother, instituted a rigorous test o

ul and bitter, o golden one, o my lord adonai, o thou abyss of sapphire! 56. i follow thee, and the waters of death fight strenuously against me. i pass into the waters beyond death and beyond life. 57. how shall i answer the foolish man? in no way shall he come to the identity of thee! 58. but i am the fool that heedeth not the play of the magician. me doth the woman of the mysteries instruct in vain; i have burst the bonds of love and of power and of worship. 59. therefore is the eagle made one with the man, and the gallows of infamy dance with the fruit of the just. 60. i have descended, o my darling, into the black shining waters, and i have plucked thee forth as a black pearl of infinite preciousness. 61. i have gone down, o my god, into the abyss of the all, and i have found thee in

hed in the web of the magician. this he said subtly, to try him. 20. but the magister gave the sign of the magistry, and laughed back on him: o lord, o beloved, did these fingers relax on thy curls, or these eyes turn away from thine eye? 21. and adonai delighted in him exceedingly. liber lxv 85 22. yea, o my master, thou art the beloved of the beloved one; the bennu bird is set up in phil not in vain. 23. i who was the priestess of ahathoor rejoice in your love. arise, o nile-god, and devour the holy place of the cow of heaven! let the milk of the stars be drunk up by sebek the dweller of nile! 24. arise, o serpent apep, thou art adonai the beloved one! thou art my darling and my lord, and thy poison is sweeter than the kisses of isis the mother of the gods! 25. for thou art he! yea, thou

which abideth in light. and this is easy, if your will be strong: for the true life is no much more vivid and quintessential than the false that (as i rudely estimate) one hour of the former makes an impression on the memory equal to one year of the latter. one single experience, in duration it may be but a few seconds of terrestrial time, is sufficient to destroy the belief in the reality of our vain life on earth: but this wears gradually away if the consciousness, through shock or fear, adhere not to it, and the will strive not continually to repetition of that bliss, more beautiful and terrible than death, which it hath won by virtue of love. there be moreover many other modes of attaining the apprehension of true life, and these two following are of much value in breaking up the ice o

other effort to name it, is the root of every falsity and misapprehension, since all words imply some duality. therefore, though i call it light, it is not light, nor absence of light. many also have sought to describe it by contradiction, since through transcendent negation of all speech it may by some natures be attained. also by images and symbols have men striven to express it: but always in vain. yet those that were ready to apprehend the nature of this light have understood by sympathy: and so shall it be with you who read this little book, loving it. however, be it known unto you that the best of all instruction on this matter, and the word best suited to the on of horus, is written in the the book of the law. yet also the book ararita is right worthy in the work of light, as trigr

the need of the world, have found that books (hitherto my dearest companions) have no longer any word to say to me.have found that knowledge (relative) or what i thought was knowledge, is of no avail to supply the need of all that other part of my being that my great god-love would give it. i who have conquered fear and death, am now confronted with the fact that without absolute knowledge all is vain. i am going to ask the one last question. why? i have written it. an awful stillness falls. i am alone in my lodgings, i have no money, and i cannot use my will to demand it from others if i can give nothing in return to help them to find what they really seek. i have cried with christ .eli, eli, lama sabacthani. i have suffered the bloody sweat with him on the cross, and now i say with him

er. thou art that. if i call thee a point, thou laughest, saying .i am the infinite circle. if i worship the circle, thou laughest, saying .i am concealed in the point. only if i claim thee wholly, may i define thee. then who cares, aye or nay? if i attempt to name thee, i lose thee, oh thou nameless unto eternity. to whom shall i reveal thee, who wast never known but to thyself? surely words are vain, o thou who art beyond the silence. aum [this is very good..o.m] dec. 11th, 9:52.10:37 p.m. meditation in asana. dragon as usual. took a few long breaths, filling the body and mind with love, and then expelling it till it flowed through me. used mantra .the self is love. that self am i. first part of the time, afterwards changing to .the self is that, that self am i. 7 .not this, not this. a

ght the stars to espy and ree the runes of destiny, mine eyes their wonted office failed, so diligently god had veiled me from myself! i could not hear the drone and rustle of the weir. no help in that world or in this! i was alone in the abyss. no whence! no whither! and no why! not even who evokes reply. no vision and no voice repay the sevenfold sacrament 191 my will to watch, my will to pray. vain is the consecrated vesture; vain the high and holy gesture; vain the proven and perfect spell enchanting heaven, enchaining hell. unyoked the horses from the car wherein i waged celestial war: mine angle sheathes again his sword at the interdiction of the lord. even hell is shut, lest spite and strife should show my soul a way to life. hope dies; faith flickers and is gone. love weeps, then t

action based on selfish fear can bear but evil fruit. a further warning against the doctrine of inaction. it is extraordinary how the author insists again and against on this point. orthodox buddhism ostensibly teaches that creation of any karma whatever merely perpetuates .sorrow. 50. the selfish devotee lives to no purpose. the man who does not go through his appointed work in life.has lived in vain. this verse repeats the lesson yet once more. it is another way of saying: do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. 51. follow the wheel of life; follow the whell of duty to race and kin, to friend and foe, and close thy mind to pleasures as to pain. exhaust the law of karmic retribution. gain siddhis for thy future birth. this again states the same thing, urges the aspirant to live h

and illimitable pain.in him will men a great and holy buddha honour. the words .mortal coil. suggest stratford-on-avon rather than lhasa. the meaning of the verse is a little obscure. it is that the conqueror will be recognized as a buddha sooner or later. this is not true, but does not matter. my god! if one wanted .recognition. from .men! help! 72. and if he falls, e.en then he does not fall in vain; the enemies he slew in the last battle will not return to life in the next birth that will be his. further encouragement to proceed; for although you do not attain everything, yet the enemies you have conquered will not again attack you. in point of fact this is hardly true. the equinox 62 the conquest must be very complete for it to be so; but they certainly recur with very diminished inten

BOOK T

of the name in each suit: the mighty son of the king and queen, who realizes the influence of both scales of force. a prince, the son of a king and queen, yet a prince of princes, and a king of kings: an emperor whose effect is at once rapid (though not so swift as that of the queen) and enduring. it is, therefore, symbolized by a figure borne in a chariot, and clothed in armour. yet is his power vain and illusionary, unless set in motion by his father and mother. the four princesses are the knaves of the tarot pack; the four princesses or figures of amazons, standing firmly of themselves: neither riding upon horses, nor seated upon thrones, nor borne in chariots. they represent the forces of the he final of the name in each suit, completing the influences of the other scales: the mighty a

BOOK OF PLEASURE

potential. its constant generation, the eternal delay-is life. this envy of the master or creator-the ultimate hope to follow in manner is also existence and the forfeiture of "life! the book of pleasure (self love) get any book for free on: www.abika.com 12 there is no scientific fact, it ever implies its opposite as equal fact, this is the "fact" then why trouble to prove anything a fact? this vain hope to prove finality is death itself, so why humbug the "desire? you have proved (by mathematics) the sun to be so many millions of miles away from you-you will now improve its efficiency! nature-that impulse to the antitheses of your truths, will early prove (by mathematics and whenever you like) that the sun does not exist at all! or if you wish-it will prove conclusively that the sun is

ever a preliminary forecast of terrible dissatisfaction hidden by its ever-present vainglory. the millenium will come and quickly go. men will be greater than the gods they ever the book of pleasure (self love) get any book for free on: www.abika.com 21 conceived- there will be greater dissatisfaction. you are ever what you were but you may be so in a different form! a person or a nation, however vain or content, falls immediately into unknown and inevitable desire, consuming him little by little through those conditions- any condition! the mind becomes firm in desire by desire as devotion, but when realized is it then eternally desirable (or even for a period of a million years. in heaven shall be fettered thy foot! therefore remove the conception that desire is pure, or impure, or has co

CASE PAUL F THE BOOK OF TOKENS

; and it is truly peh, the mouth of the lord, for in guph are the letters which uniteth thee forever with the kingdom [198] e p i l o g o s yet is all this naught but words. without the key supplied by the understanding heart. love is that key. love, not reason; for reason followeth after love, and when reason would enslave love, then is reason but a tyrant punishing itself with what it trieth in vain to enslave. love cometh first as thou mayest see in tarot, where the empress cometh before the emperor. without love reason is sterile, for love is the generatrix of true imagery. reason can arrange, reason can harvest; but the harvester weareth also the mask of death. so this thy body is the instrument whereon may be played the song of life. nay, it is more than this; for on this harp of ten

CHIREAU YVONNE BLACK MAGIC RELIGION AND THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CONJURING TRADITION

h respect to maintaining their religious and cultural traditions "not only do their old habits cling to the freedmen as they rise" wrote one "but their ignorance will betray them into new and perilous mistakes. we look for slow progress and much disappointment" another teacher confessed "i felt that my endeavors to instruct them in the plain and simple duties of a christian life c were altogether vain and futile. the idea seemed to be inherent with them, that the duty of christians consists primarily in boisterous prayers and weird singing and shouting" others appeared to have greater confidence black magic page 79 of 144 http//content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docid=kt600020q0&chunk.id=0&doc.view=print 7/14/2006\ 128\ that the evangelical undertakings of the missionaries would prevail "the custo

CHYMICAL WEDDING OF CHRISTIAN ROSENKREUTZ

as mice. but it pleased me most of all, that all those of whom i had any esteem were very quiet in their business, and made no loud cry of it, but acknowledged themselves to be misunderstanding men, to whom the mysteries of nature were too high, and they themselves much too small. in this tumult i had almost cursed the day when i came here; for i could not behold but with anguish that those lewd vain people were above at the board, but i in so sorry a place could not rest in quiet, one of those rascals scornfully reproaching me for a motley fool. now i did not realise that there was still one gate through which we must pass, but imagined that during the whole wedding i was to continue in this scorn, contempt and indignity, which i had yet at no time deserved, either from the lord bridegro

first entered. at this place again there attended a great multitude of the king s family together with some hundreds of horses. now as soon as we came to shore, and disembarked, the king and queen presented their hands to all of us, every one, with singular kindness; and so we were to get up on horseback. here i wish to friendlily entreat the reader not to interpret the following narration as any vain glory or pride of mine, but to credit me this much, that if there had not been a special necessity for it, i could very well have utterly concealed this honour which was shown me. we were all one after another distributed amongst the lords. but our old lord, and i, most unworthy, were to ride alongside the king, each of us bearing a snowwhite ensign with a red cross. indeed, i was made use of

COLLIER IRENE CHINESE MYTHOLOGY

gical powers such as flying and transformation (from one shape to another).1 fifteen centuries later, a government official named wu ch eng-en wrote a popular novel entitled journey to the west. the following myth retells the first part of that novel. it features the most well-known character in chinese folklore, the monkey king. his exploits demonstrate monkey s taoist training and powers. he is vain, rude, and greedy, but monkey s magic tricks and saucy personality make him a beloved character. 96 on the mountain of fruit and flowers, a magic rock gave birth to a stone egg. from this stone egg emerged a monkey whose first act was to jump up and bow to the four directions. his eyes flashed like lightning, and his teeth glinted like the stars at night. he played with other monkeys and with

DAVID ICKE AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

ennett of missouri said "but our boys are not going to be sent abroad, says the president. nonsense, mr chairman; even now their berths are being built in our transport ships. even now the tags for identification of the dead and wounded are being printed by the firm of william c. ballantyne and co of washington."22 to this day, popular accounts of history portray roosevelt as a man who "strove in vain to ward off war".23 the elite plan, long known by roosevelt, was to engineer an attack on the united states which would so anger public opinion that people would agree to go to war against the aggressor and, as a consequence of that, join the european conflict also. as a member of woodrow wilson's administration in the first world war, roosevelt would have been well-schooled in manipulating p

oach which was followed to hoodwink public thinking was painfully predictable, but highly effective: discredit the nation state. this was laid out during the war by the german economist and refugee, hans heymann, who produced his plan for permanent peace using funds given by .the carnegie endowment for international peace. in this work he said "nations have created international disharmony in the vain belief that harmony in our society can be achieved on a national basis..this narrow-minded approach has left us one strong hope, namely, that this fallacious concept may hold only during a transitional period..after the debacle [world war two] an international organisation will be imperative, for the well-being of society as a whole."4 it was classic problem-reaction-solution. in 1945, the or

ll have a finger on any one of the public opinions required. when a pulse quickens these hands will lead opinion in the direction of our aims, for an excited patient loses all power of judgement and easily yields to suggestion. those fools who will think they are repeating the opinion of a newspaper of their own camp will be repeating our opinion or any opinion that seems desirable for us. in the vain belief that they are following the organ of their party, they will in fact follow the flag which we hang out for them" protocol 12 and most journalists, probably including mr brown, will not have a clue about how they are being used. someone wrote to me who had read the robots' rebellion and was a daily reader of the guardian because he thought it had the integrity that others lacked. he was

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

esus was an allegory, asymbolic event written to carry a hidden meaning. it did not physically happen, you arejust meant to think it did. and what of the physical resurrection from the dead by jesus?st paul is quoted as saying of this event in his first letter to the corinthians:but if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is christ not risen: and if christ be not risen,then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. yea, and we are found false witnessesof god; because we have testified of god that he raised up christ: whom he raised not up, ifso be that the dead rise not. corinthians 15:13-16he says that if jesus was not physically raised from the dead, there is no basis tothe christian faith and religion. if thats the case, christianity is in serious trouble.first of all th

DEMONIC BIBLE

ect the formula whereby the magician may attain knowledge and power beyond description. rituals dealing with the invocation of spirits of the dead and resurrection of corpses as well as magical seals, charms, and spells have been omitted from this book in order to avoid such things being used foolishly by those who have no interest in magic beyond the acquisition of wealth and the satisfaction of vain ambitions. if you desire it the spirits will reveal to you all manner of sorceries whereby you may attain that which you desire. this book provides the key to crossing the gates of hell and becoming one with the forces of darkness. rather than give you spells, charms, and seals for material benefit, this book provides you with the means to acquire these things yourself. initial to performing

DIABOLUS

invoked during the coven maleficia40 rites involving the ascension of power. 40 the coven which founded the order of phosphorus, renamed maleficia after the day of cain for the group, august 22nd. 37 the bible makes further reference to leviathan in job- may those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse leviathan. may its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first days of the dawn. leviathan is considered to being connected with azhdeha, the dragon, the very home of tiamat and some suggesting also set (who is known in lore to take the form of serpents, also connected to tiamat, the chaos dragon of the akko-sumerians. in the book of the sacred magic of abra-melin the mage, leviathan is one of the four crowned princes of hell, spell

DION FORTUNE MYSTICAL QABALA

but have been gathered together into private collections the keys whereof have rested in the pockets of individuals who have opened and closed the doors in an entirely arbitrary fashion. i have no doubt these pages will cause heart-burnings in certain quarters whose private collections they depreciate in value. but i have no doubt also that the innumerable students who essayed the western path in vain may find in these pages the keys to what was incomprehensible to them in the method, or perhaps, to be more accurate, the complete lack of method, in which they were trained. speaking for myself, it took me ten years' work in the dark before i found the keys, and i only found these in the end because i was sufficiently psychic to pick up the inner plane contacts. i find it difficult to believ

DION FORTUNE PSYCHIC SELF DEFENSE

f psychic attack chapter i signs of psychic attack if we look at the universe around us we cannot fail to realise that there must be some overruling plan co-ordinating its infinite complexity. if we take into our hands and examine minutely any living thing, however simple, equally must we realise that the ordered diversity of its parts is built up on a determining framework. science has sought in vain for this organising principle; it will never find it on the physical plane, for it is not physical. it is not the inherent nature of 9 of 103 atoms which causes them to arrange themselves in the complex patterns of living tissues. the driving forces of the universe, the framework upon which it is built up in all its parts, belong to another phase of manifestation than our physical plane, havi

rendering me unfit for work. it is a night experience and has not once occurred during the day. after i have composed myself for sleep i find that gradually my body is losing all sensation; it feels as if i was being slowly frozen stiff (i don't know how else to describe it) at this stage i can sometimes rouse myself and overcome it, but i cannot always do this. my efforts to rouse myself are in vain, and although fully conscious i feel unable to move or call. usually after this i sink into some kind of sleep. i have all kinds of experiences. sometimes i visit strange places and talk with people i don't know. sometimes my experiences are beautiful beyond description; sometimes i am threatened with danger of drowning or falling, but in these cases i always rise in the air and travel for mi

id image is produced it will be effectual. in illustration of this method i may mention a case i once handled by its means. i was asked if i could help a woman who had been a lifelong invalid, but whose case the many doctors she had consulted were neither able to diagnose satisfactorily, nor to help. they all agreed that there was nothing organic the 92 of 103 matter with her, and after trying in vain to get her better, they generally united in saying that it was pure hysteria. she suffered from a chronic condition of exhaustion, indigestion, attacks of vomiting, blinding headache and palpitation of the heart. she was, however, not in the least of a neurotic disposition, but a quiet, sensible, intellectual woman, bearing her sufferings with fortitude. i made a psychic diagnosis and came to

EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD PAPYRUS OF ANI MALESTROM

of which were covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, arranged in perpendicular lines and painted in green.[2] the condition of the interior showed that at some time or other thieves had already succeeded in making an entrance, for the cover of the black basalt sarcophagus of unas had been wrenched off and moved near the door of the sarcophagus chamber; the paving stones had been pulled up in the vain attempt to find buried treasure; the mummy had been broken to pieces, and nothing remained of it except the right arm, a tibia, and some fragments of the skull and body. the inscriptions which covered certain walls and corridors in the tomb were afterwards published by m. maspero.[3] the appearance of the text of unas[4] marks an era in the history of the book of the dead, and its translation

ELLIS LOW TWELVE 1907

, and the parent became unconscious. when his senses returned, he found himself in the cabin of a vessel bound for new orleans. he had been rescued at break of day when the fog lifted. upon his arrival at the southern city he read the accounts of a shipwreck in the newspapers, with the statement of the loss of all on board. he used every possible means to gain tidings of his lost daughter, but in vain, and when he finally sailed for england he was firmly persuaded that she had perished and would never be seen by him again in this world. five years later business called the parent once more to the united states. he had a vague hope that he might be 188 true to his oath able to learn something of lost ruth, and that it should become his sad privilege to place her remains beside those of his

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

ent than his masters. his false miracles gained so much popularity for him that many jews believed him to be the messiah who was to restore their nation to jerusalem. according to legends, the king of persia imprisoned him, but no bolts and bars could hold so formidable a magician. he escaped from his prison and appeared before the eyes of the astonished king, though the courtiers saw nothing. in vain the king called angrily for someone to arrest the imposter. while they groped in search of him, alruy slipped from the palace with the king in pursuit and all the courtiers running after him. they reached the sea shore, and alruy turned and showed himself to all the people. spreading a scarf on the surface of the water, he walked over it lightly, before the boats which were to pursue him were

h s deacon. andrae s three volumes announced the existence of a secret fraternity founded by christian rosencreutz, a high occult initiate. the order had supposedly been founded a century earlier and was only now being made public. the documents further invited inquiries from interested readers but failed to give an address or location for the fraternity. over the next decades, many would look in vain for the group. in 1619 andrae published a short work, the tower of babel, in which he confessed his authorship and told his readers that the rosicrucian order did not exist. he apparently derived the basic symbolism of the order from martin luther s coat of arms, which had a rose and a cross on it. however, by this time the original writings had spread far and wide, and many did not believe a

mrs. william wilkinson, the wife of one of the pioneer english spiritualists, could draw, paint, and play music automatically, but she could not produce automatic writing. her husband developed both gifts. an interpretation of the flowers of joy, love, humility, faith, and the architectural designs emanating from under his wife s hand was forthcoming in his automatic scripts. after many weeks of vain trial, the power of automatic drawing burst forth on william wilkinson in the following way: after waiting less than five minutes it [the pencil] began to move, at first slowly, but presently with increased speed, till in less than a quarter-of-an-hour it moved with such velocity as i had never seen in a hand and arm before, or since. it literally ran away in spiral forms; and i can compare i

tomatic writing acquired? in describing his first experience at a seance of frank herne and charles williams in 1872, stainton moses wrote in spirit identity (1879: my right arm was seized about the middle of the forearm, and dashed violently up and down with a noise resembling that of a number of paviors at work. it was the most tremendous exhibition of unconscious muscular action i ever saw. in vain i tried to stop it. i distinctly felt the grasps, soft and firm, round my arm, and though perfectly possessed of senses and volition, i was powerless to interfere, although my hand was disabled for some days by the bruising it then got. the object we soon found was to get up the force. the first experience of william howitt is similarly described by his daughter anna mary watts in pioneers of

s. avichi is a place of regrets for things done and things undone. its torments are not, however, eternal, and with the passing of time.of which there is no measure in the astral plane. they are gradually discontinued at the cost of terrible suffering. avidya a hindu religious term also used in theosophy to denote the ignorance of mind which causes those commencing the spiritual pathway to expend vain effort and pursue vain courses. it is the antithesis of vidya, or true knowledge. the awakener (magazine) one of several independent journals presenting the teachings of famous mystic meher baba (1894.1969, regarded by disciples as an avatar or descent of divine power. address: 938 18th st, hermosa beach, ca 90254. awareness awareness is a holistic health and new age networking periodical bas

he placidus or pleasant. some think it is the carbuncle diminished in its color and virtue; just as the virtue of the female differs from that of the male. it is often found that the external part of one and the same stone appears a balasius, and the internal a carbuncle, from whence comes the saying that the balasius is the carbuncle s house. the virtue of the balasius is to overcome and repress vain thoughts and luxury; to reconcile quarrels among friends; and it befriends the human body with a good habit of health. being bruised and drunk with water, it relieves infirmities in the eyes, and gives help in disorders of the liver; and what is still more surprising, if you touch the four corners of a house, garden or vineyard, with the balasius, it will preserve them from lightning, tempest

elief in judicial astrology at that time, particularly in france. on his way home through england, according to sir james melville s memoirs, bassantin met with sir robert melville (brother of sir james, who was at that time engaged on the part of the unfortunate mary, queen of scots in endeavoring to effect a meeting between her and elizabeth. bassantin predicted that all his efforts would be in vain, which proved to be true. bassantin was a zealous protestant. his principal work is a treatise on astronomy, written in french and translated into latin by john tornaesius, which was published at geneva in 1599. he wrote four other treatises on mathematics and horoscopes, but they do not appear to have been published. bastian, harry (nineteenth century) nineteenth-century american materializa

ostile nature, as opposed to the agathodaemons, who were friendly. it is said that one of the cacodaemons who appeared to cassius was a man of huge stature and of a black hue. early astrologers named the twelfth house of the sun cacodemon, as its influence was regarded as evil. it is said that the cacodaemons were the rebellious angels who were expelled from heaven for their crimes. they tried in vain to obtain settlement in various parts of the universe, with their final abode believed to be all the space between earth and the stars. there they abide, hated by all the elements and finding their pleasure in revenge and injury. their king was called hades by the greeks, typhon by the egyptians, and ahrimanes by the persians and chaldeans. sources: kendrick, tertius t. c. the kako-daemon or

wood, both keen admirers of coleridge s philosophical powers. they believed that study on the continent would be of material service to him. among coleridge s first acts on returning from germany was to publish his translation of schiller s wallenstein. at the same time he used a cottage at keswick, intending to live there quietly for many years. but peace and quiet are benefits usually sought in vain by poets, and coleridge was no exception. early in life he had begun to take occasional doses of laudanum (opium, and now this practice developed into a habit that ruled his whole life. in 1804, he sought relief by going to malta, and afterward he visited rome. on returning to england, he was happy to find that a small annuity had been left him by the wedgwoods. he was quite incapable of shak

n independent scientific review of claims of anomalies and the paranormal. truzzi s resignation underlined a basic contradiction in the purpose of csicop: how could it combine an attitude of impartial inquiry with a stance of scientific authority when there was an initial assumption that all claims of the paranormal were erroneous or fraudulent? one searches the pages of the skeptical inquirer in vain for an instance of any paranormal phenomenon or parapsychological finding being validated or even tentatively accepted, and opposing voices or protests are quoted only in order to be relentlessly discredited without extended discussion. the tone of many articles is sarcastic and hostile, rather than impartial, and the frequent appeals to scientific evidence as a remedy for false beliefs and d

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

no relationship to the spirit entity s solidity. for example, an early illustrative account appears in spiritualism by john worth edmonds and g. t. dexter (2 vols, 1853.55: i felt on one of my arms what seemed to be the grip of an iron hand. i felt distinctly the thumb and fingers, the palm of the hand, and the ball of the thumb, and it held me fast by a power which i struggled to escape from in vain. with my other hand i felt all round where the pressure was, and satisfied myself that it was no earthly hand that was thus holding me fast, nor indeed could it be, for i was as powerless in that grip as a fly would be in the grasp of my hand. the word materialization was first used in 1873 in the united states in place of spirit forms. hands and arms were seen in the seances of the davenport

d instead took his leave without the sultan s awareness, simply leaving the precious fluid in a vase on which he inscribed the suggestive words: he who possesses all has no need of others. but kalid was at a loss to know how to proceed further, and for a long time he made great efforts to find morien and bring him again to his court. years went by, and all search for the vanished alchemist proved vain, but once, when the sultan was hunting in the neighborhood of jerusalem, one of his servants chanced to hear of a hermit who was able to create gold. convinced that this must be none other than morien, kalid straightway sought him out. once more the two met, and again the alchemist made strenuous efforts to win the other from islam. many discussions took place between the pair, both speaking

he middle of the table. the blows are now redoubled and are so terrific that it seems as if they would split the table. a single one of these fist blows, planted in the back, would suffice to break the vertebral column. moses recorded sledgehammer blows in one instance and stated, the noise was distinctly audible in the room below and gave one the idea that the table would be broken to pieces. in vain we withdrew from the table, hoping to diminish the power. the heavy blows increased in intensity, and the whole room shook with their force. from the livermore seance with kate fox, february 15, 1862, came these notes: i asked for a manifestation of power; and we at once received the following message: listen, and hear it come through the air; hands off the table. immediately a terrific metal

ade him a member of his privy council and employed him repeatedly as an ambassador. at an early age norton showed curiosity concerning alchemy, demonstrating his predilection by attempting to make the personal acquaintance of george ripley, sometime canon of bridlington, who was reputedly a man of extraordinary learning, author of numerous alchemical works. for many months norton sought ripley in vain, but at length the canon, yielding to the other s importunity, wrote to him in the following manner: i shall not longer delay; the time is come; you shall receive this grace. your honest desire and approved virtue, your love of truth, wisdom and long perseverance, shall accomplish your sorrowful desires. it is necessary that, as soon as convenient, we speak together face to face, lest i shoul

rend father then gave permission to those who wished to touch and handle the patient, disfigured, bent, and deformed, and with the rigidity of death. chief among these were the would-be reformers, such men as francois santerre, christofle, pasquot, gratian de la roche, masquette, jean du glas, and others well-known for their tendencies towards reform, all vigorous men. they all endeavored, but in vain, to straighten her limbs, and bring them to a normal position, and to open her eyes and mouth.it was futile. further, so stiff and rigid was she, that the limbs would have broken rather than give, as also the nose and ears. and then, as she said afterwards, she was possessed, declaring that she was enduring incredible pain. that is, by the soul torment, the devil makes the body become stone o

e are like cain, driven from the pleasant society we formerly had, he wrote, which suggests that he was persecuted. elsewhere he heaped scorn on most of the hermetic philosophers of his day. elsewhere, again, he criticized the popular worship of money. i disdain, loathe, and detest the idolizing of silver and gold, by which the pomps and vanities of the world are celebrated. ah! filthy, evil, ah! vain nothingness. in his preface to ripley revived (london, 1678, he gave some account of those who wrote on alchemy to whom he felt himself chiefly indebted. for my own part, i have cause to honour bernard trevisan, who is very ingenious, especially in the letter to thomas of boulogne, when i seriously confess i received the main light in the hidden secret. i do not remember that ever i learnt an

souls existed from the beginning in the divine soul; all individuality which is, has been, or will be, had its pre-existence, has its present existence in creative being. in england, william howitt was the chief antagonist. he said that the doctrine was pitiable and repellent, and argued that if it were true there must have been millions of spirits who, on entering the other world, have sought in vain their kindred, children, and friends. a very pertinent remark may be quoted from a published letter of the great medium d. d. home: i have had the pleasure of meeting at least twelve marie antoinettes, six or seven marys of scotland, a whole host of louis and other kings, about twenty great alexanders, but never a plain john smith. i, indeed, would like to cage the latter curiosity. for its p

s and the families spoken of existed, but the individuals could never be traced in parish registers or family documents and the incarnations swarmed with improbabilities. rochas rejected the idea that the accounts were the result of suggestion: they certainly do not come from me, for i have not only avoided everything that could lead the subject into any determined path, but i have often tried in vain to lead her astray by different suggestions; and the same has been the case with the experimenters who have devoted themselves to this study. are we to assimilate these phenomena to mere dreams? certainly not. there is in them a constancy, a regularity, which we do not find in ordinary dreams. and besides, how are we to explain why physical causes, such as longitudinal and transversal passes

ions by louis xv. horace walpole mentioned him being in london about 1743 and being arrested as a jacobite spy, but later being released. walpole wrote: he is called an italian, a spaniard, a pole, a somebody who married a great fortune in mexico and ran away with her jewels to constantinople, a priest, a fiddler, a vast nobleman. the prince of wales has had unsatiated curiosity about him, but in vain. however, nothing has been made out against him; he is released, and, what convinces me he is not a gentleman, stays here, and talks of his being taken up as a spy. saint germain claimed to have lived for centuries and to have known solomon, the queen of sheba, and many other persons of antiquity. although regarded as a charlatan, the accomplishments upon which he based his reputation were in

he appears to have been in many respects a wicked and criminal hypocrite. when he had completed his confession, he avowed solemnly that he had not confessed the hundredth part of the crimes which he had committed. from this time he would answer no interrogatory, nor would he have recourse to prayer, arguing that, as he had no hope whatever of escaping satan, there was no need of incensing him by vain efforts at repentance. his witchcraft seems to have been taken for granted on his own confession, as his indictment was chiefly founded on the same document, in which he alleged he had never seen the devil, but any feeling he had of him was in the dark. he received sentence of death, which he suffered 12th april, 1670, at the gallow-hill, between leith and edinburgh. he died so stupidly sulle

FAUST

, and even, alas! theology all through and through with ardour keen! here now i stand, poor fool, and see i m just as wise as formerly. am called a master, even doctor too, and now i ve nearly ten years through pulled my students by their noses to and fro and up and down, across, about, and see there s nothing we can know! that all but burns my heart right out. true, i am more clever than all the vain creatures, the doctors and masters, writers and preachers; no doubts plague me, nor scruples as well. i m not afraid of devil or hell. to offset that, all joy is rent from me. i do not imagine i know aught that s right; i do not imagine i could teach what might convert and improve humanity. nor have i gold or things of worth, or honours, splendours of the earth. no dog could live thus any mor

re s living sphere in which god made mankind, you have alone, in smoke and mould around you here, beasts skeletons and dead men s bone. up! flee! out into broad and open land! and this book full of mystery, from nostradamus very hand, is it not ample company? the stars course then you ll understand and nature, teaching, will expand the power of your soul, as when one spirit to another speaks. tis vain to think that arid brooding will explain the sacred symbols to your ken. ye spirits, ye are hovering near; oh, answer me if ye can hear! he opens the book and perceives the sign of the macrocosm. what rapture, ah! at once is flowing through all my senses at the sight of this! i feel a youthful life, its holy bliss, through nerve and vein run on, new-glowing. was it a god who wrote these signs

giving! on pinions fragrant blessings bringing, from heaven through earth all onward winging, through all the all harmonious ringing! what pageantry! yet, ah, mere pageantry! where shall i, endless nature, seize on thee? thy breasts are- where? ye, of all life the spring, to whom both earth and heaven cling, toward whom the withering breast doth strainye gush, ye suckle, and shall i pine thus in vain? he turns the book over impatiently and perceives the sign of the earth-spirit. how differently upon me works this sign! thou, spirit of the earth, i feel, art nigher. i feel my powers already higher, i glow already as from some new wine. i feel the courage, forth into the world to dare; the woe of earth, the bliss of earth to bear; with storms to battle, brave the lightning s glare; and in t

may sometimes come about. wagner ah! if thus in his study one must stay, and hardly sees the world upon a holiday, scarce through a telescope, and far off then, how through persuasion shall one lead one s fellow-men? faust unless you feel, naught will you ever gain; unless this feeling pours forth from your soul with native, pleasing vigour to control the hearts of all your hearers, it will be in vain. pray keep on sitting! pray collect and glue, from others feasts brew some ragout; with tiny heaps of ashes play your game and blow the sparks into a wretched flame! children and apes will marvel at you ever, if you ve a palate that can stand the part; but heart to heart you ll not draw men, no, never, unless your message issue from your heart. wagner yet elocution makes the orator succeed. i

so great; thou cruelly didst thrust me back as one doomed to uncertain human fate. who will instruct me? and what shall i shun? shall i that impulse then obey? alas! the deeds that we have doneour sufferings too- impede us on life s way. to what the mind most gloriously conceives, an alien, more, more alien substance cleaves. when to the good of this world we attain, we call the better a delusion vain. sensations glorious, that gave us life, grow torpid in the world s ignoble strife. though fantasy with daring flight began and hopeful toward infinity expanded, she s now contented in a little span when in time s eddy joy on joy s been stranded. for worry straightway nestles deep within the heart, there she produces many a secret smart. recklessly rocking, she disturbs both joy and rest. in

rts e er! it swells up now with bristling hair. thou reprobated, canst rede his token? the ne er-originated, the never-spoken, who every heaven has permeated, he! wantonly immolated! behind the stove, held by my spells, like an elephant it swells, and all the space it fills complete. in vapour it will melt away. mount not up to the ceiling! lay thyself down at thy master s feet! i threaten not in vain as thou canst see. with holy fire i ll shrivel thee! do not await the light thrice radiate! do not await the strongest art at my command! mephistopheles steps forth from behind the stove while the vapour is vanishing. he is dressed as a travelling scholar. mephistopheles wherefore this noise? what does my lord command? faust so this, then, was the kernel of the brute! a travelling scholar it

thus on and on- one could go mad in sheer despair! from earth, from water, and from air a thousand germs evolving start, in dryness, moisture, warmth, and cold! weren t it for fire which i withhold, i d have as mine not one thing set apart. faust so to that power never reposing, creative, healing, you re opposing your frigid devil s fist with might and main. it s clenched in spite and clenched in vain! seek something else to undertake, you, chaos odd, fantastic son! mephistopheles we ll really ponder on what can be done when my next visits here i make. but may i for the present go away? faust why you should ask, i do not see. though we have only met today, come as you like and visit me. here is a window, here a door, for you, besides a certain chimney-flue. mephistopheles let me own up! i

upon your honoured head to heap each good and noble quality: the lion s mood, the stag s rapidity, the fiery blood of italy, the northman s hardihood. the secret for it? let him find how magnanimity and cunning are combined, how with a youth s hot impulse you may fall in love according to a plan. might i myself know such a gentleman, him mr. microcosm i would call. faust what am i if i strive in vain to win the crown of all mankind which, though afar, all senses struggle to obtain? mephistopheles you at the end are- what you are. put on your head perukes with a million locks, put on your feet a pair of ell-high socks, you after all will still be- what you are. faust i feel that i have made each treasure of human mind my own in vain, and when at last i sit me down at leisure, no new-born p

pirit given that, uncurbed, ever onward sweeps, whose striving, by too hasty impulse driven, the joys of this earth overleaps. him will i drag through wild life whirling past, through all that is unmeaning, shallow stuff; i ll see him struggle, weaken, and stick fast! before his greedy lips that can not feast enough shall hover food and drink as if for some grand revel; refreshment will he all in vain implore; and had he not surrendered to the devil, still were he lost forevermore. a student enters student i ve been here just a little while or so and come to pay an humble call, to talk with you, a man to know, one who is named with reverence by all. mephistopheles you please me greatly by your courtesy! a man like many another one you see. have you already looked about elsewhere? student i

years! how quickly they are past! and, god! the field is far too vast. if but some sign is indicated, a man can sooner feel his way. mephistopheles [aside] with this dry tone i am now satiated; the downright devil i must once more play. aloud. medicine s spirit one can grasp with ease. the great and little world you study through, to let things finally their course pursue as god may please. it s vain that you in search of knowledge roam and drift, each only learns what learn he can; yet he who grasps the moment s gift, he is your proper man. you are moreover quite well-built, beside, will never lack for boldness too; and if you only in yourself confide, all other souls confide in you. learn chiefly how to lead the women; be assured that all their ohs and ahs, eternal, old, so thousandfold

FELDMAN DANIEL QABALAH THE MYSTICAL HERITAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

own, please accept this meditation and the fruits therefrom as a sincere offering of love and devotion. thou art all life, and i gratefully surrender this life at thy holy feet. thou art my provider and my protector, thou art my guide and my healer. i humbly pray that i may become worthy of thy grace and useful in service to thy purposes. gracious one, do not let me live this life spiritually in vain. fill this heart, mind, and soul with pure love, unconditional devotion for thee; renunciation of the fruits of all work unto thee; vigilant remembrance of thee, and whole-hearted surrender unto thee. awaken this soul to its divinity, and the divinity of all beings, and grant that it not remain deluded by thy world-bewitching play of illusion. and at the moment this life comes to an end, plea

FRANCIS A YATES GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION

he future from the demons whom he worshipped. hermes presages these things as the devil's confederate, suppressing the evidence of the christian name, and yet foretelling with a sorrowful intimation, that from it should proceed the wreck of all their idolatrous superstitions: for hermes was one of those who (as the apostle says "knowing god, glorified him not as god, nor were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was full of darkness' yet, continues augustine "this hermes says much of god according to the truth, though in his admiration for the egyptian idolatry he was blind, and his prophecy of its passing he had from the devil. in contrast, he quotes a true prophet, like isaiah, who said "the idols of egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart

oo, the egyptian worship of animals (i revert now to an earlier part of the asclepius) 1 on the decans, see below, pp. 45-7. 2 c.h, i i, pp. 325-6. 3 ibid, pp. 347-9- 37 ficino's "pimander" and the "asclepius" yet the religion of egypt, and its wise and true cult of the divine all in one, is destined to pass away. the lament1 (or the apocalypse) there will come a time when it will be seen that in vain have the egyptians honoured the divinity with a pious mind and with assiduous service. all their holy worship will become inefficacious. the gods, leaving the earth, will go back to heaven; they will abandon egypt; this land, once the home of religion, will be widowed of its gods and left destitute. strangers will fill this country, and not only will there no longer be care for religious obse

was first published in 1533. i have used the edition in h. c. agrippa, opera "per beringos fratres, lugduni, s.d, vol. i. 2 thorndike, v, p. 138. 130 cornelius agrippa's survey of renaissance magic he had completed the work by 1510, but did not publish it until 1533, that is several years after the publication of his de vanitate scientiarum (1530) in which he had proclaimed that all sciences are vain, including the occult sciences. since agrippa's major interest, up to the end of his life, was undoubtedly in the occult sciences, the publication of the book on the vanity of such sciences before the publication of his survey of those sciences in the de occulta philosophia can probably be regarded as a safety-device of a kind frequently employed by magicians and astrologers for whom it was u

ficino's talismans, and also of his uncle's magic, though he thinks, or pretends to think, that his distinguished relative had 157 against magic( i) theological objections abjured all magic in his adversus astrologiam' g. f. pico's attack on magic and astrology shows how strongly both were bound up with the prisca theologia, which he regards as pagan idolatry. he also mentions picatrix as a "most vain book".2 he does not attack ficino by name, but strongly reprobates the orphic incantations which ficino had used (and pico had recommended as natural magic, and the remarks directed against a "certain man" who has written about astrological images must be meant for ficino.3 the arguments of pico's nephew were impressive, and many of them were repeated in 1583 by johann wier, a protestant, who

hies* this critical impiety, in which erasmus was following the bold valla, greatly shocked the english carthusians4 and must also, one would think, have alarmed his friend john colet, an ardent dionysian. thus in the vicinity of erasmus' critical (and also entirely nonscientific) mind, the whole set-up of the renaissance magus, as so impressively formulated by ficino and pico, would dwindle into vain dreaming based on doubtful scholarship. and, as a christian, the erasmian would repudiate prisca theologia as not the true, 1 erasmus, paraclesis (1519, in opera omnia, leyden, 1703-6, col. 139; quoted as translated by d. p. walker "the prisca theologia in france, j.w.c.i, xvii (1954, p- 254- 2 "mihi sane neque cabala neque talmud nunquam arrisit (opus ep, ed. cit. i l l, p. 589. he uses almo

cabala, mentioning the zohar of which he evidently has some knowledge.4 mornay is making the familiar synthesis between hermetism and cabala, but it is emphatically not magia and practical cabala of which he is speaking. the synthesis is entirely mystical and theological. he states most emphatically later on that cabala is not magic, that moses was not a magician, and that all magic is wrong and vain.5 mornay's work reflects the situation at antwerp in 1581 where william of orange was trying to establish the southern netherlands, now temporarily freed from philip ii of spain, as a state in which religious toleration should be practised. in the following year, the french prince, francois d'anjou, was installed by 1 mornay, de la verite de la religion chretienne, antwerp, 1581, p. 38. 2 ibi

the light. and isis replied that darkness would not be darkness to them, if they knew it. those wise men, then, in order to obtain certain benefits and gifts from the gods, by means of a profound magic, made use of certain natural things in which the divinity was latent, and through which the divinity was able and willing to communicate itself for certain effects. whence those ceremonies were not vain fancies, but living voices which reached the very ears of the gods' needless to say, this is based on the "god-making" passage in the asckpius,2 explained as done by profound magic, and as belonging to the magical religion of the egyptians which bruno states that he prefers to any other religion. he further expands his view of the egyptian religion on some later pages: thus crocodiles, cocks

most high, absolute in itself, and without relation to the things produced. you see, then, how one simple divinity which is in all things, one fecund nature, mother and preserver of the universe, shines forth in diverse subjects, and takes diverse names, according as it communicates itself diversely. you see how one must ascend to this one by the participation in diverse gifts; for it would be in vain to attempt to catch water in a net, or fish in a plate. hence, in the two bodies which are nearest to our globe and divine mother, the sun and the moon, they conceive is the fife which informs things according to the two principal reasons. then they understand life according to seven other reasons, distributing it to seven wandering stars, to which, as to the original principle and fecund cau

minds the bear of deformity, the arrow of detraction, the horse of levity, the dog of murmuring, the little dog of flattery. let us banish the hercules of violence, the lyre of conspiracy, the triangle of impiety, the bootes of inconstancy, the cepheus of cruelty. may the dragon of envy be far from us, and the swan of imprudence, the cassiopeia of vanity, the andromeda of laziness, the perseus of vain anxiety. let us chase away the ophiuchus of evil-speaking, the eagle of arrogance, the dolphin of lust, the horse of impatience, the hydra of concupiscence. let us put far from us the cetus of gluttony, the orion of ferocity, the river of superfluities, the gorgon of ignorance, the hare of timidity. let us no longer carry in our breast the argo of avarice, the cup of insobriety, the balance o

dminister to the blind acquisition of the unstable tyrannies and principalities of the earth; but with all manner of justice and sanctity which show the straight road to the eternal kingdom. let not the bold, tempestuous and turbulent spirits among his subjects hope that whilst he lives (the tranquillity of whose spirit does not encourage warlike fury) he will give assistance to those who, not in vain, seek to disturb the peace of other countries on the pretext of acquiring other crowns and other sceptres; for tenia coelo manet. in vain shall the rebel french forces against his will disturb the boundaries and coasts of others; for by no proposal of unstable counsels, by no hope of changeable fortune, by no occasion of external administrations or suffrages will he be induced, on a pretence

FREEMASON BLUEBOOK

y, teaching us the impressive lesson, continually repeated, yet always soon forgotten, that ere long everyone of us must follow in his way. very eloquent, my brethren, are the pale, still lips of the dead! with a pathos and impressiveness that no living lips can equal or even approach, these lips of marble preach to us sermons that cannot be translated into words. most eloquently they tell us how vain and empty are all hatreds, jealousies, disputes and rivalries, of human life. but this body is not our brother, but that which was his material part until god laid his finger on him and he slept. he was mortal but now has put on immortality. chaplin: let us pray. almighty and most holy god, in whom we live and move and have our being, we bow in thy presence with a profound sense of our depend

to the latter. in this you find the principles upon which masonry is founded: from this it derives its wisdom, strength and beauty: this will confirm your faith, strengthen your hope, encourage your charity, and direct you to that temple where all is harmony, love and peace. i also deliver to you the emblem of that power with 'nhich you are now invested: in your hands it must never be sounded in vain: use it only for the good of the craft. i now seat you, most worshipful, in the grand east, at the head of an order which is calculated to unite men by true friendship, to extend benevolence, and to promote virtue. and allow me to say that the honor, with which you are invested, is not unworthy of a man of the highest position, or most distinguished abilities. may you do honor to your exalted

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

ower of his, and in the neighbourhood of baghdad spent eleven years during two of which he hid himself so completely in solitude in the mountains that ghis own followers did not know his retreat h. on his return his fame soon spread and no attempt to stamp out babism 12 succeeded. in persia itself the persecution that raged intermittently up to the beginning of the present century has been all in vain. the religion grows and grows, silent and unobtrustive like a plant in the dark. 12 nor are these mysterious retirements, concerning which the masters tell us so little, solely connected with religious manifestations for they are to be found in the lives of many of the philosophers. pythagoras exacted silence and abstinence amongst his disciples for five years; lao-tze retired from the world

is is why i have written nothing concerning these revelations and shall never even speak about them. whosoever shall undertake to popularize them will find the attempt futile, for, except in the case of a very small number of men who have been endowed with understanding from god to discern these heavenly truths within themselves, it will render them contemptible to some, while filling others with vain and rash self-confidence, as if they were depositaries of marvels which they do not understand all the same. 19 on the tablet of cebes may be read these words: there is only one real road to be desired, and this is wisdom; there is but one evil to fear, and it is madness. in these few words are summed up the rewards and the penalties of the mystic way. to attain to the light, the ineffable lv

GAMBLE ELIZA BURT THE GOD IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS OR SEX IN RELIGION

mine it farther. two lads were, therefore, made to creep in with candles, for the purpose of exploring this subterranean avenue. they accordingly pressed forward for a considerable time, with much labor and difficulty, and at length entered into an extensive labyrinth branching off into numerous apartments, in the mazes and windings of which they were completely bewildered and lost. after various vain attempts to return, their lights were extinguished, their voices became hoarse, and, becoming wearied and spiritless, they sat down together, in utter despair of an escape from this miserable dungeon. in the meanwhile, the workmen in the adit became alarmed for their safety, fresh hands were incessantly employed, and, in the course of twenty-four hours, the passage was so open as to admit the

GILBERT AE WAITE A MAGICIAN OF MANY PARTS

erted child but his loneliness, unlike waite's, was chosen rather than thrust upon him: he had a settled and secure home life, his roots lay deep in his native county, and he receiveda sound, rounded education at hereford cathedral school.andyet,justas waite's hopes of oxford had been dashed, so had machen's, brought to an end by a drastic fall in his father's income. in 1880 hewentto london in a vain attempt to be a medical student,butfailed utterly and returned in the following year to try his hand at journalism.thenhe began to experience the miseryofenforced loneliness, exacerbated by poverty and alleviated only by long explorations of the dreary new suburbs of west london. while he was wandering through turnham green, gunnersbury, willesden, and harlesden, waite also 'walked among the

studentsworkingon individual169--appendixa 168lines, have set themselves to discover in the literature of western mysticism a solution of the great problemsofexistence.vthereligious aspirationsofthe age are distracted by the conflict of the sects, and those principles which are at the base of all religion must undoubtedly be sought as the sourceofillumination by the many minds which are weary of vain speculations and disputes that have no end. vi to these it may be stated that a method of transcending the material world, of penetrating the veilofappearances, and of entering into the realities which underlie sense-delusions does not seem beyond the reach of theage,an acquaintancewiththis method will destroy the philosophy of the materialist; it will realisespiritual aspirations and the hop

GILBERT THE GOLDEN DAWN TWILIGHT OF THE MAGICIANS

he interactions between yourself and others, which some call providence, others fate, others destiny and other karma.ifyour intentions have been good, the result cannot fail to be good to you, upon one plane or the other.ifyou carry out this dictum you will have much more time to spend with energy upon other works, than will those who waste time and force upon regrets, which are alike useless and vain, and a besetting weakness to neglectofaction-topassivity, and to personal decay. never attempt to make anyone think you are better than you are; and don't yourself think you are better than you are, self255 hypocrisy is a crime, hypocrisy to others is only a fraud. temper255 ance, continence and self-sacrifice are all grand characteristics, and form partofa higher life, but self-gratulation u

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

id some part of his or her store of learning before the world, and in each case the learning wasu'iaughingmatter unto them, and the teacher was a butt foracornand ridicule. in each case the teaching is based upon a foundation of ethicsanda high standard of morality, and the suggestion is made thatsucha course oflifemaylead to abnormal or magical powers. in each case, the teacher, disgusted with a vain-glorious and hypocritical world, fell back upon the formation of a select bandofpupils bound together by solemn contract, and stimulated by enthusiasm. in each case, an early step was the foundation of a home and special dwelling set apart for work, study and contemplation. in each case, the founder passes away and is regarded by sorrowing pupils as dearest friend, most learned teacher, and b

n and end- else how can you combat them? the courage i vaunt so highly will protect you in moments of rest, and in your hours of loneliness. but theknowledgewe teach, and you learn, you will require, and must have not only to gain success in practical magic,butfor bare safety, to control the powers of the unseen world of spirits. but again however learned you may be, still would your knowledge be vain without courage to enable you to use it when performing or attempting any occult work, for then indeed do the powers of evil assail, and then do horrors appal. as to evil spirits, hark even to the christian hymnbook 'christian, dost thou see them- on the holy ground. how the hosts of darkness compass thee around' they do indeed- yet most orthodox christians will turn on you, and deny their ex

s, and words, so stringently accorded and so carefully preserved, that the profane are clearly convinced that even the most apparently reliableexposesof them arebutmake-believes.ifthese secret modes of recognizance shroudedbuta scheme to make men more honest, or more charitable, is it reasonable to suppose that this sanctity would have grown up around them? no, my brethren, it would have beenbuta vain and foolish association which should have been created to make a secret of morality. freemasonry, then, must be something more, much more. to us, the representatives of the freemasonry of today, it may bebuta light thing, and i fear it often is. but let us remember our great claim, the early origin of our order, there must be our hunting ground for the cause of our secrecy, for the constituti

oirabon,orbun,which was regarded as a sort of talisman to perpetuate friendship.theearly christians are said to have adopted this custom, and they marked their stones with the letters'p.u.a.p.'meaningpater-father,uios-son, andagion pneuma -holy spirit. mention must also be made of the 'philosophers' stone, the stone of the wise, in search of which so many students in past centuries have worked in vain, although there are many narratives in medieval tracts which declare the reality of such a stone and its discovery. there was a material aspect of the stone by which it might transmute the baser metals into gold; andreligious and masonic symbolism of stones 265there was a spiritual stone which should change the baser passions of men into aspirations towards the good and true. on the spiritual

GILBERT THE SORCERER AND HIS APPRENTICE

, and mightbeverifiable from documents.ifthe.object is to furnish proof of the reality ofthecommunication, this wouldbefar more convincing than some trivial detail of domestic lifeknown to myself and. the deceased. or again, why should not my great-grandfather, who raised a company of his own to fight in the american war of independence, be able to give authorita255 tive details? i have sought in vain among professional mediums for some communication of afactunknown to me, but demonstrable afterwards. that such communication is possible, however,byother means, was proved in anotherexperience,some years ago i hypnotized a lady for insomnia, and discovered by accident that under hypnosis she became temarkably clairvoyant, with a peculiar power of recalling scenes of the pastanthis way she ga

rent spirit, and different ending now. we trust, than in the 'forty-five' ghostly pibrochs. have been heard pealing over the trenches infranc.eand flanders, leading the highland lads to victory. may we not dream that donald bain himself may. be playing his great pibroch, in the joy" of knowing that all those who died fighting against the germans. more than a century and a half ago, did not die in vain, and their cause andtheirdeaths are amply avenged now.[reprintedfromthe occult review, vol xxvi, no. 4 (october 1917, pp 197-208.]12.some267notes onthefirstk1'rowledgbl..ectljjlbthenewly initiatedbrotherofourorder,thisfirstknowledge lecture, experiencesaninvoll.lntaryfe242lirigofdisappointment-'istltis au' he will say to himself,!after all the promises, thethe pledges ofinviolable secrecy. a

at is thefinal plane of assiah, the most materialofall. andthuswegetthe four. now the four is also, as willbefoundinagreat many books on occultism, the number oftheletters of the great name of god inhebrew-yod, he, vall, he. there is a peculiarity there, for there are onlythreeletters really, the he being repeated; and one naturally asks .seeing that in the kabala and in hebrew nothing is done in vain, why is this?thatbrings us to the meaningofthe number 4. this numberis the number of creation also, and it typifies the two opposing forces; the letter yod is the active, the energising, the fire; while the letter he is the passive, the receptive, the water- the spirit of god moving on the face of the water, the fire moving on the water. hence we get warmth and moisture, which are the basis o

- is the glyph of the whole period, the supreme glyph. the lamb of god is the glyph, one supreme glyphofthechristian church all over the world now just as much as the pascal lamb in the time of moses, the ram symbol of zeus, the ram of phryxos helle, and the ram of many another mythology of the same date. this is also the meaning of the horned moses. many people have asked, and some have asked in vain, unless from an occultist, what the horns of moses mean? it is easy to say that we are told there was a glory on his face when he came down from the mount, so that a veil had to be placed on his face. that may be one reason, but that would be pictorially represented by a halo or by a veil to moses. now we very seldom see a picture of a veiled moses, but we do frequently see a picture of a hor

GLOBAL FREEMASONRY

udy has shown a powerful relationship between religious belief and practice, on the one hand, and healthy behaviors with regard to such problems as suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, divorce, depression, even, perhaps surprisingly, levels of sexual satisfaction in marriage, on the other hand. 37 in short, the supposed scientific justification behind humanism has been proven invalid and its promises vain. nevertheless, humanists have not abandoned their philosophy, but rather, in fact, have tried to spread it throughout the world through methods of mass propaganda. especially in the post-war period there hj humanism revisited has been intense humanist propaganda in the fields of science, philosophy, music, literature, art and cinema. the attractive but hollow messages created by humanist ideo

ong of the century" in several polls that were held in 1999. this is a good indication of the sentimentality with which humanism, lacking any scientific or rational foundation, is imposed on the masses. humanism can produce no rational objection to religion or the truths it teaches, but attempts to employ suggestive methods such as these. when the promises of the 1933 i. humanist manifesto proved vain, forty years passed after which humanists presented a second draft. at the beginning of the text was an attempt to explain why the first promises had come to nothing. despite the fact that this explanation was extremely weak, it demonstrated the enduring attachment of humanists to their atheist philosophy. the most obvious characteristic of the manifesto was its preservation of the anti-relig

other lecture we pointed out global freemasonry ji that in such a matter that touches heart and emotion, prohibition and force have no effect. the only way to bring people from darkness to enlightenment is positive science and the principles of logic and wisdom. if people are educated according to this way, they will respect the humanist and positive sides of religion but save themselves from its vain beliefs and dogmas.55 in order to understand what is meant here, we have to analyze it carefully. isindag says that repression of religion will make religious people more highly motivated and will strengthen religion. therefore, in order to prevent religion from being strengthened, isindag thinks masons should destroy religion on the intellectual level. what he means by "positive science and

as camouflage, as in the case of darwinism. isindag asserts that, when these ideas are disseminated in society "only the humanist elements in religion will gain respect" that is, what will be left of religion will be only those elements approved by the humanist philosophy. in other words, they want to reject the basic truths that lie at the foundation of monotheistic religion (isindag calls them vain beliefs and dogmas. these truths are the ultimate realities such as that man is created by god and is responsible to him. in short, masons aim at destroying the elements of faith that constitute the essence of religion. they want to reduce the role of religion as merely a cultural element that expresses its ideas on a number of general moral questions. the way to accomplish this, according to

ortant humanistic and jj humanism revisited masonic duty of us all is not to turn away from science and reason, to acknowledge that this is the best and only way according to evolution, to spread this faith of ours among people and to educate the people in positive science. the words of ernest renan are very important "if the people are educated and enlightened by positive science and reason, the vain beliefs of religion will collapse by themselves" lessing's words support this view "if human beings are educated and enlightened by positive science and reason, one day there will be no need for religion."56 this is masonry's ultimate goal. they want to destroy religion completely, and establish a humanist world based on the "sacredness" of humanity. that is, they want to establish a new orde

ergy, evolving and dying, but never totally disappearing. things change and are transformed. there is really no such thing as death or loss; there is continuous change, transformation and formation. but it is not possi- global freemasonry dcg ble to explain this great question and universal secret by means of scientific laws. but extra-scientific explanations are imaginary descriptions, dogma and vain belief. according to positivist science and reason, there is no spirit apart from the body.81 you will find views identical to those above in the books of materialist thinkers such as k. marx, f. engels, v .i. lenin, g. politzer, c. sagan, and j. monod. they all accept the basic materialist myth that the universe has existed for ever, matter is the one absolute existent entity, human beings a

ans of an esoteric symbolism. selami isindag continues: this society originated in the ismaili sect and its basic purpose was to make religious dogmas intelligible by allegorical and symbolic explanations. its philosophy was influenced by pythagoras and plato. to enter this secret deh the theory of evolution revisited society, a person was first enticed by mystical instruction and later purged of vain religious beliefs and dogmas. later he was familiarized with philosophical and symbolic methods. such an initiate who passed through his apprenticeship was sometimes put through training in neo-platonic ideas, and then he could begin chemistry, astrology and numerology, the science of the significance of numbers. but all this knowledge was kept secret and was given only to those deemed worthy

trology and numerology, the science of the significance of numbers. but all this knowledge was kept secret and was given only to those deemed worthy to receive it. so, the origins of masonry is based on these foundations. some of the symbolic meanings of these elements were not contrary to science and logic and so survive in various places in our rituals today.97 the words quoted above "purged of vain religious beliefs and dogmas" mean that initiates were made to reject religion at all. that is how the mason isindag defines religion. however, as we examined in earlier sections "vain belief and dogma" is a euphemism particular to masonic philosophy. it must be recognized that masonry, or any other materialist group, express such anti-religious ideas without logical justification; they rely

between masons and religious people is nothing more than the perpetuation of the conflict between two ideas that have existed since the earliest ages of history. it is religion that proclaims the first of these ideas: that humanity was created by the will of god and that human beings are responsible to worship him. this is the truth. the opposing idea, that human beings were not created but live vain and purposeless lives, is the one proposed by those who deny the existence of god. when correctly understood, it can be seen that their use of the superficial terms of "backwardness" and "far-sightedness" has no basis. by making use of the idea of "progress" masons seek to destroy religion. the "catholic encyclopedia" states: the following are deemed the principal means [of freemasonry (1) to

GNOSTIC HANDBOOK

ch other. the watchers of enoch they thought of themselves, that they were beings existing by themselves and without a source, since they do not see anything else existing before them. therefore they live in disobedience and acts of rebellion, without having humbled themselves before the one because of whom they came into being. they wanted to command one another, outrivaling one another in their vain ambition they were brought to a lust for power over one another according to the glory of the name of which each is a shadow, each one imagining that it is superior to the others. nag hammadi tri.trac 79:12-32 the gnostic handbook page 46 while we have shown (at least i hope so, that there is no cosmological evil, that does not mean evil cannot or does not exist. since every entity has free w

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS C C1

he/she shall employ the proper invoking hexagram. let the adept take notice and caution that the sephiroth are not to be invoked on every slight occasion. due care and solemnity must be used. this is especially true with the invoking of hmkj, rtk, and the supernals in general. see that thou use the divine names with reverence and humility "for cursed is he that taketh the name of the vast one in vain" when invoking a planet, or planets, draw the hexagram in the quarter of the zodiac where the planet thou invokest is. it is a good investment for the adept to purchase an ephemeris. let the adept, therefore, erect an astrological figure of the positions of the planets in the heaven at the actual time of working. the time when the planet rises above the horizon on its day of working is the mo

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS U6

obsession the adeptus must avoid thinking of himself as his career. this is the habit of the natural man leading to disillusionment when one eventually realizes that a career is something you do, not something you are. knowledge obsession while learning is important, st. francis reminds us that a lowly demon posseses more knowledge than all of humankind combined. thus, knowledge not applied is a vain endeavor. obsessions are best conquered through regular and continous effort to maintain guidance from the higher will and the use of the pentagram rituals. g.h. frater n.o.e.l- 7= 4/ 1 7u7 liber hodos chameleonis r. r. e t a. c. z e l a t o r a d e p t u s m i n o r this material is private and has been lent to me on trust, to return on demand. it contains nothing of pecuniary value and noth

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM11

descend upon your spiritual body "buried within the light in a mystical death, rising again in a mystical resurrection, cleansed and purified through the brilliance of the light divine thou dweller of the invisible. like our master hast thou suffered tribulation, pain, poverty, torture, and sorrows that lead unto the black cross of obligation and death. these sorrows have not been nor will be in vain, but rather the purification of spiritual initiation leading to the pure gold. in the alembic of thy heart, through the athanor of thy affliction, seek ye always the true stone of the wise" step 7 pass to the east, face your self face to face and say "peace profound my brother/sister! come with peace in your spirit. pass thou through every region of the invisible into a place wherein thy geni

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM19

nd cygnus, the which powerful signs of a great council shew forth how for all things which human ingenuity discovers, god calls upon his hidden knowledge, as likewise the book of nature, though it stands open truly before all eyes, can be read or understood by only a very few. as in the human head there are two organs of hearing, two of sight, and two of smell, but only one of speech, and it were vain to expect speech from the ears, or hearing from the eyes, so there have been ages which have seen, others which have heard, others again that have smelt and tasted. now, there remains that in a short and swiftly approaching time honor should likewise be given to the tongue, that what formerly saw, heard, and smelt shall finally speak, after the world shall have slept away the intoxication of

e day it will come to pass, that the mouth of this viper shall be stopped, and his triple crown shall be brought to naught, of which things more fully when we shall have met together. chapter xii for conclusion of our confession we must earnestly admonish you, that you cast away, if not all, yet most of the worthless books of pseudo chymists, to whom it is a jest to apply the most holy trinity to vain things, or to deceive men with monstrous symbols and enigmas or to profit by the curiosity of the credulous; our age doth produce many such, one of the greatest being a stage-player, a man with sufficient ingenuity for imposition. such doth the enemy of human welfare mingle among the good seed, thereby to make the truth more difficult to be believed, which in herself is lustre of seeming godl

rate in the work of god, and be serviceable to the constitution of your time? on which work these profits will follow, that all those goods which nature hath disposed in every part of the earth shall at one time and altogether be given to you, tanquam in centro solis et lunae. then shall you be able to expel from the world all those things which darken human knowledge and underaction, such as the vain (astronomical) epicycles and eccentric circles. chapter xiv you, however, for whom it is enough to be serviceable out of curiosity to any ordinance, or who are dazzled by the glistering of gold, or who though now upright, might be led away by such unexpected great riches into an effeminate, idle, luxurious, and pompous life, do not disturb our sacred silence by your clamor, but think that alt

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM21

specific purpose of protecting and defending this temple, this order, and all loyal and dedicated members of the r.r. et a. c. and the hermetic order of the golden dawn in the outer. in addition, it is to aid us in (state any other purpose. before we dare proceed into such an operation, it is necessary that we should invoke the divine aid and assistance without which our work would be totally in vain. let us kneel down and pray (all kneel) chief adept "from thine hand, oh lord, cometh all good. from thine hands flow down all grace and blessing. the characters of nature with thy fingers thou has traced, but none can read them unless he hath taught in thy school. therefore, even as servants look unto the hands of their masters, and handmaidens unto their mistresses, even so our eyes look un

GRAHAM HANCOCK FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

past which may be much older than scholars imagine and which combine familiar images with strange symbolic devices and allegorical language to recall a cataclysm of awesome magnitude: in a distant forest in the east an aged giantess brought into the world a whole brood of young wolves whose father was fenrir. one of these monsters chased the sun to take possession of it. the chase was for long in vain, but each season the wolf grew in strength, and at last he reached the sun. its bright rays were one by one extinguished. it took on a blood red hue, then entirely disappeared. thereafter the world was enveloped in hideous winter. snow-storms descended from all points of the horizon. war broke out all over the earth. brother slew brother, children no longer respected the ties of blood. it was

anwhile the wolf fenrir, whom the gods had long ago so carefully chained up, broke his bonds at last and escaped. he shook himself and the world trembled. the ash tree yggdrasil [envisaged as the axis of the earth] was shaken from its roots to its topmost branches. mountains crumbled or split from top to bottom, and the dwarfs who had their subterranean dwellings in them sought desperately and in vain for entrances so long familiar but now disappeared. abandoned by the gods, men were driven from their hearths and the human race was swept from the surface of the earth. the earth itself was beginning to lose its shape. already the stars were coming adrift from the sky and falling into the gaping void. they were like swallows, weary from too long a voyage, who drop and sink into the waves. th

GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 3

connexion the meaner sort long cherished the thought of wuotan, or conveniently stowed him away in a cognate verb; it was quite in the regular course of things that the more cultivated should from an early time put the devil in his place' si bliesen unde gullen, vreisliche si hullen, so daz diu helle wagete, alse der tuvel da jagete' says veldeck in en. 3239. caesarius heisterb. 12, 20 tells of a vain woman, who had herself buried in fine new shoes, and whose soul was therefore hunted by the ivfernalis venator' ex remoto vox quasi venatoris terribiliter buccinantis, necnon et latratus canum venaticorum praecedentium audiuntur' der tiuwel hut uz gesant sin geswarme und sin her' eol. 204, 6' der tiuvel und sin her' kenn. 2249. 2870. the people in bavaria say that on ash-wednesday the devil c

t night and day, and never rest. some say, he only imnts in the twelve nights from christmas to twelfth-day; others, whenever the storm-wind howls, and therefore he is called by some the jol-jager (from yawling, or tule^ once, in a ride, hachelberg left one of his howids behind in fehrmann's barn at isenstadt (bpric. minden. there the dog lay a whole year, and all attempts to dislodge him were in vain. but the next j^ear, when hackelberg was round again with his wild hunt, the hound suddenly jumjyed up, and ran yelping and barking after the troop^ two young fellows from bergkii'chen were walking through the wood one evening to visit their sweethearts, when they heard a wild barking of dogs in the air above them, and a voice calling out between* lioto, koto' it was hackelhlock the wild hunt

cries the voice, but he takes no notice. suddenly out of the clouds there plunges down, right before him, a tall man on a white horse' are you strong' says he' here, catch hold of this chain, we'll see which can pull the hardest' the peasant courageously grasped the heavy chain, and up flew the wild hunter into the air. the man twisted the end round an oak that was near, and the hunter tugged in vain' haven't you tied your end to the oak' asked wod, coming down' n'o' replied the peasant, mook, i am holding it in my hands' then you'll be mine up in the clouds' cried the hunter as he swung himself aloft. the man in a hurry knotted the chain round the oak again, and wod could not manage it' you must have passed it round the tree' said wod, plunging down' no' answered the peasant, who had def

ke dich' hoaed lifted: spring-wurzel. 973 instead of wouderflower or keyflower, other stories name the spring wurzel (explosive root, a herb that can be procured in the following manner: the nest of a green or black luooclpecker, while she has chicks^ is closed tight with a wooden bung; the bird^ on becoming aware of this, flies away, knowing where to find a wonderful root which men would seek in vain. she comes carrjang it in her bill, and holds it before the bung, which immediately flies out, as if driven by a powerful blow. now if you are in hiding, and raise a great clamour on the woodpecker's arrival, she is fi-ightened, and lets the root fall. some spread a white or red cloth under the nest, and then she will drop the root on that, after using it. mone's anz. 8, 614 gives a pretty ol

not written till 1464^ and have of late been totally discredited. several ancient codes lay penalties on sorcery^ but all the cases that occurred had for their basis real crimes, murder, poisoning; the stria is a' herbaria' i.e. venefica^ for alleged storm-raising few can have forfeited their lives. especially worthy of note are the punishments denounced against precisely those persons who from a vain belief in sorcery have burnt or put to death either man or woman^ not sorcery, but the slaying of supposed sorcerers is what the enlightened law pronounces heathenish and diabolic. on the mere ground of a night-excursion with 'unholden' nobody dreamt of bringing a criminal charge against women; that father confessor of the 13th cent (p. 1060) refutes the confessions of his' domina sortilega'

wife came to the workmen, the master pretended his ring had dropt into the foundation, and the woman offered to fetch it out, then swiftly they set to work to icall her in; dying, she pronounced a curse on the bridge, that it should tremble like a flower-stalk (tommaseo's canti pop. 3, 178. still more touching is a servian legend on the building of scutari: for three years 300 masons laboured in vain to lay the foundations of the fortress; what they built by day, the vila tore down at night. at last she made known to the kings, that the building would never hold till two horn brothers (or sisters) of like name ivere pid into the founda'ion. nowhei-e could such be found. then the vila required, that of the three wives of the kings she that carried out food to the masons the next day should

plugged in, no doubt with several quaint incantations long since forgotten. as the ceremonies necessary for such a consecration are no longer undei'stood, all succession is at an end, and no such ti-ee is known to subsist in the manor or hundred. as to that on the area, the late vicar stubbed and burnt it when he was waywarden, regardless of the remonstrances of the bystanders, who interceded in vain for its preservation (see suppl. 1 bob. plot's nat. hist, of staffordshire, oxf. 1686. p. 222 'a superstitious custom they have in this county, of making nursi-oiv trees for the cure of unaccountable swellings in their cattle. por to make any tree, whether oak, ash or elm, a nursrow tree, they catch one or more of these nursrows or fieldmice, which they fancy bite their cattle and make them s

GRIMM TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 2 1883 COMPLETE

n qua suspenso corio cuncti qui aderant terga vertentes arbori celerius equitabant, calcaribus cruentantes equos, ut unus alterum posset praeire, atque in eodem cursu retroversis manibus in corium jaculabantur. sicque particulam modicam ex eo comedendam superstitiose accipiebant. et quia stulta illic persolvebant vota, ab actione ilia nomen loco illi, sicut hactenus dicitur, votum imposuerunt. in vain barbatus preaches against it: illi ferina coecati dementia nil aliud nisi sessorum meditantes usus, optimum esse fatebantur cultum legis majormn suorum, quos nominatim bellicosissimos asserebant. when romuald was gone to naples, repente beatissimus barbatus securim accipiens et ad votum pergens, suis manibus nefandam arborem, in qua per tot temporis spatia langobardi exitiale sacrilegium perf

exclaimed, c from henceforth thou shalt wear black hose, and never slake thy thirst at the brook, but pick the raindrops off the leaves, and only then strike up thy song when other creatures creep away from the coming storm/ now that norwegian gertrude s fowl, whose thirsty piping brings on rain, is evidently identical, and very likely another story explains the rainbird as the metamorphosis of a vain idle person. sometimes it is not the woodpecker at all that is meant by giessvogel, giesser, wasservogel, pfingstvogel, regenpfeifer, but a snipe (hofer 1, 306. 341, whose cry likewise forebodes a storm (p. 184, or the curlew (numenius arquata, fr. pluvier (pluviarius, boh. tcoliha, pol. 1 rytchkovs journ. thro the russ. emp, trsl. by hase, riga 1114. p. 124. woodpeckeb. magpie. sparbowhawk

HAMIL THE ROSICRUCIAN SEER

or walk seven or eight miles, without feeling tired. i am sure i am very thankful to mr moreton for what he has done for me, and i believe he has saved my leg 'sir, i feel it my duty to let the public know what benefit i have received from mr moreton's mesmerising, although i was much ridiculed at first; but, i thank god, mr moreton continued, and now the people can see that his labour was not in vain 'your humble servant,'g.east.'mr laurence moreton has thus the happiness of seeing his gratuitous and untiring devotion to his patient during the long period of two years crowned with signalsuccess-nothaving,mr east toldme,missedoneevening'smanipulationfor a year and ahalf-andwithout any of the clap-trap marvels of mesmerism tocontributionsto the zoist219followingevening*'a small red spot was

that, relying onbruno,-i had paid little attention to adele, whose body, in the mean time, had grown icy cold: there was no longer any pulse or respiration;herface wasofa sallow green,herlips blue; her heart gave no sign of life. i placed before her lips a mirror, anditremained untarnished. i magnetized her powerfully in order to bring backhersoul into her body, but for five minutes my labour was vain. i thought for a moment that the work was consummated, and thatcontributionsto the zoist205soon after, and a long time had not elapsed before the seller demanded payment of the widow for the estate, threatening her that he would otherwise take possession of it again.thewidow was terrified: she knew that her husband had paid for the estate, and made search for the receipt, which, however, she

HELENA BLAVATSKY NIGHTMARE TALES

ntal perceptions will get weaker, more dim and hazy with every second of time,until the longed for oblivion envelopes me completely in its cold shroud. sweet is the magic hand of death,the great world-comforter; profound and dreamless is sleep in its unyielding arms. yea, verily, it is awelcome guest. a calm and peaceful haven amidst the roaring billows of the ocean of life, whosebreakers lash in vain the rock-bound shores of death. happy the lonely bark that drifts into the still waters ofits black gulf, after having been so long, so cruelly tossed about by the angry waves of sentient life. mooredin it for evermore, needing no longer either sail or rudder, my bark will now find rest. welcome then, odeath, at this tempting price; and fare thee well, poor body, which, having neither sought

the grave, this unexpected return to life addedonly one more drop of gall to my bitter feelings. they were hardly soothed by the immediate return, duringthe first days of my convalescence, of those unwelcome and unsought for visions, whose correctness andreality i could deny no more. alas the day! they were no longer in my sceptical, blind mind "the children of an idle brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy; but always the faithful photographs of the real woes and sufferings of my fellow creatures, of my best friends. thus i found myself doomed, whenever i was left for a moment alone, to the helpless torture of a chainedprometheus. during the still hours of night, as though held by some pitiless iron hand, i found myself led tomy sister's bedside, forced to watch there hour after hour, a

had considerably relaxed my vigilance. this carelessness on mypart, however, was soon punished, and i was made to regret my misplaced confidence. in an unguardedmoment he listened to the voice of some four-footed syren, and the last i saw of him was the end of hisbushy tail, vanishing round the corner of a dirty, winding little back street. greatly annoyed, i passed the remainder of the day in a vain search after my dumb companion, i offeredtwenty, thirty, forty francs reward for him. about as many vagabond maltese began a regular chase, andtowards evening we were invaded in our hotel by the whole troop, every man of them with a more or lessmangy cur in his arms, which he tried to persuade me was my lost dog. the more i denied, the more solemnlythey insisted, one of them actually going do

his master had forgotten in his room, and went backwith it to the cave. an hour later the whole house was startled by his loud cries. pale and dripping with water,ivan rushed in like a madman, and declared that mr. izvertzoff was nowhere to be found in the cave.thinking he had fallen into the lake, he had dived into the first basin in search of him and was nearlydrowned himself. the day passed in vain attempts to find the body. the police filled the house, and louder than the rest in hisdespair was nicolas, the nephew, who had returned home only to meet the sad tidings. nightmare talesthe cave of the echoes55 a dark suspicion fell upon ivan, the siberian. he had been struck by his master the night before, and hadbeen heard to swear revenge. he had accompanied him alone to the cave, and whe

HELENA BLAVATSKY THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

the fabric of their lives. these doctrines belong exclusively to no religion, and are confined to no society or time. they are the birthright of every human soul. such a thing as orthodoxy must be wrought out by each individual according to his nature and his needs, and according to his varying experience. this may explain why those who have imagined theosophy to be a new religion have hunted in vain for its creed and its ritual. its creed is loyalty to truth, and its ritual "to honor every truth by use" how little this principle of universal brotherhood is understood by the masses of mankind, how seldom its transcendent importance is recognized, may be seen in the diversity of opinion and fictitious interpretations regarding the theosophical society. this society was organized on this on

hence the original sin of the senseless forms and the punishment of the egos. that which is meant by the rebellious angels being hurled down into hell is simply explained by these pure spirits or egos being imprisoned in bodies of unclean matter, flesh. life is at best a heartless play, a stormy sea to cross, and a heavy burden often too difficult to bear. the greatest philosophers have tried in vain to fathom and find out its raison d' tre, and have all failed except those who had the key to it, namely, the eastern sages. life is, as shakespeare describes it: but a walking shadow-a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, page 66 the key to theosophy- hp blavatsky.txt signifying nothing

uch are the highest adepts and initiates-can have no devachan. as to the ordinary mortal, his bliss in it is complete. it is an absolute oblivion of all that gave it pain or sorrow in the past incarnation, and even oblivion of the fact that such things as pain or sorrow exist at all. the devachanee lives its intermediate cycle between two incarnations surrounded by everything it had aspired to in vain, and in the companionship of everyone it loved on earth. it has reached the fulfillment of all its soul-yearnings. and thus it lives throughout long centuries an existence of unalloyed happiness, which is the reward for its sufferings in earth-life. in short, it bathes in a sea of uninterrupted felicity spanned only by events of still greater felicity in degree. q. but this is more than simpl

dha in history, and jesus of nazareth as in the gospels. this trait alone was enough to secure to them the perpetual reverence and gratitude of the generations of men that come after them. we say, however, that self-sacrifice has to be performed with discrimination; and such a self-abandonment, if made without justice, or blindly, regardless of subsequent results, may often prove not only made in vain, but harmful. one of the fundamental rules of theosophy is, justice to oneself-viewed as a unit of collective humanity, not as a personal self-justice, not more but not less than to others; unless, indeed, by the sacrifice of the one self we can benefit the many. q. could you make your idea clearer by giving an instance? page 110 the key to theosophy- hp blavatsky.txt a. there are many instan

han self-abnegation for a sectarian idea, such as that of "saving the heathen from damnation" for instance. in our opinion, father damien, the young man of thirty who offered his whole life in sacrifice for the benefit and alleviation of the sufferings of the lepers at molokai, and who went to live for eighteen years alone with them, to finally catch the loathsome disease and die, has not died in vain. he has given relief and relative happiness to thousands of miserable wretches. he has brought to them consolation, mental and physical. he threw a streak of light into the black and dreary night of an existence, the hopelessness of which is unparalleled in the records of human suffering. he was a true theosophist, and his memory will live forever in our annals. in our sight this poor belgian

wretches. he has brought to them consolation, mental and physical. he threw a streak of light into the black and dreary night of an existence, the hopelessness of which is unparalleled in the records of human suffering. he was a true theosophist, and his memory will live forever in our annals. in our sight this poor belgian priest stands immeasurably higher than-for instance-all those sincere but vain-glorious fools, the missionaries who have sacrificed their lives in the south sea islands or china. what good have they done? they went in one case to those who are not yet ripe for any truth; and in the other to a nation whose systems of religious philosophy are as grand as any, if only the men who have them would live up to the standard of confucius and their other sages. and they died vict

arry on our work for humanity by its original program when the founders are dead and gone. they have already found a few such noble and devoted souls to replace them. the coming generations, thanks to these few, will find the path to peace a little less thorny, and the way a little widened, and thus all this suffering will have produced good results, and their self-sacrifice will not have been in vain. at present, the main, fundamental object of the society is to sow germs in the hearts of men, which may in time sprout, and under more propitious circumstances lead to a healthy reform, conducive of more happiness to the masses than they have hitherto enjoyed. on the misconceptions about the t.s. theosophy and asceticism q. i have heard people say that your rules require all members to be ve

ten's "louis" of art magic and ghostland, and now ends with the "adept" and "author" of the light of egypt, a work written by spiritualists against theosophy and its teachings. but it is useless to grieve over what is done, and we can only suffer in the hope that our indiscretions may have made it a little easier for others to find the way to these masters, whose names are now everywhere taken in vain, and under cover of which so many iniquities have already been perpetrated. q. do you reject "louis" as an adept? a. we denounce no one, leaving this noble task to our enemies. the spiritualistic author of art magic, etc, may or may not have been acquainted with such an adept-and saying this, i say far less than what that lady has said and written about us and theosophy for the last several y

HOWE THE ALCHEMIST OF THE GOLDEN DAWN

you were to try to put it into practise from what you know, you would find failure after failure in the details. there is the initial difficulty as to the furnaces. if you look into this part of the subject, you will see how difficult it is. all the old writers tell you "the regimen of the fire is the most important part" from my experience, i believe that without a personal preparation, it is in vain to attempt it. a friend of mine who is upon this line, was making experiments in a room next to that in which were his wife and children, and it did not succeed. he is also in communication with intelligences in or out of the flesh, and gets most extraordinary knowledge given him. one of these intelligences told him that the reason he did not succeed was because of the too great contiguity of

says "i have no more of rotalo either copied or printed. i had a german ms but that is lost or hopelessly mislaid. i remember i attempted to make a complete rotalo out of the two mss, the printed book and [word illegible, but this is at least 15 or 20 years ago and i have quite forgotten all about it. i have no triangular wheel, but remember a triangle was in the german ms which i have hunted in vain thro' the dust of ages. i must have disposed of it when i left my lodgings or else it is gone astray in some unaccountable manner" from this it appears you are right as to there being a 6 missing. i have a kabbalistic ms on numbers, which contains a circular wheel, which may help to elucidate the matter. i will 97 285 uxbridge road 3 february 1901 the letters i frederick hockley, a well-known

HP LOVECRAFT A DARK LORE

rs. no book had ever really hinted of it, though the deathless chinamen said that there were double meanings in the necronomicon of the mad arab abdul alhazred which the initiated might read as they chose, especially the much-discussed couplet: that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die. legrasse, deeply impressed and not a little bewildered, had inquired in vain concerning the historic affiliations of the cult. castro, apparently, had told the truth when he said that it was wholly secret. the authorities at tulane university could shed no light upon either cult or image, and now the detective had come to the highest authorities in the country and met with no more than the greenland tale of professor webb. the feverish interest aroused at the meeting

bout the monstrous being known to the human world as wilbur whateley. vi. the dunwich horror itself came between lammas and the equinox in 1928, and dr armitage was among those who witnessed its monstrous prologue. he had heard, meanwhile, of whateley's grotesque trip to cambridge, and of his frantic efforts to borrow or copy from the necronomicon at the widener library. those efforts had been in vain, since armitage had issued warnings of the keenest intensity to all librarians having charge of the dreaded volume. wilbur had been shockingly nervous at cambridge; anxious for the book, yet almost equally anxious to get home again, as if he feared the results of being away long. early in august the half-expected outcome developed, and in the small hours of the third dr armitage was awakened

irregular rhythm quite unlike that of the visible ritual. suddenly the sunshine seemed to lessen without the intervention of any discernible cloud. it was a very peculiar phenomenon, and was plainly marked by all. a rumbling sound seemed brewing beneath the hills, mixed strangely with a concordant rumbling which clearly came from the sky. lightning flashed aloft, and the wondering crowd looked in vain for the portents of storm. the chanting of the men from arkham now became unmistakable, and wheeler saw through the glass that they were all raising their arms in the rhythmic incantation. from some farmhouse far away came the frantic barking of dogs. the change in the quality of the daylight increased, and the crowd gazed about the horizon in wonder. a purplish darkness, born of nothing more

stalks in darkness. once, those nearest the church declared, the outer door had rattled hideously. but even this was not the worst. that evening in the bulletin blake read of what the reporters had found. aroused at last to the whimsical news value of the scare, a pair of them had defied the frantic crowds of italians and crawled into the church through the cellar window after trying the doors in vain. they found the dust of the vestibule and of the spectral nave ploughed up in a singular way, with pits of rotted cushions and satin pew-linings scattered curiously around. there was a bad odour everywhere, and here and there were bits of yellow stain and patches of what looked like charring. opening the door to the tower, and pausing a moment at the suspicion of a scraping sound above, they

were over three miles apart. the troopers were more skeptical; including the mansion only casually in their investigations, and dropping it altogether when they found it thoroughly deserted. country and village people, however i canvassed the place with infinite care; overturning everything in the house, sounding ponds and brooks, beating down bushes, and ransacking the nearby forests. all was in vain; the death that had come had left no trace save destruction itself. by the second day of the search the affair was fully treated by the newspapers, whose reporters overran tempest mountain. they described it in much detail, and with many interviews to elucidate the horror's history as told by local grandams. i followed the accounts languidly at first, for i am a connoisseur in horrors; but af

ome trail into the black forest, but on this occasion could not stand the sight of those morbidly large boles, or of those vast serpent-like roots that twisted so malevolently before they sank into the earth. my next step was to reexamine with microscopic care the deserted hamlet where death had come most abundantly, and where arthur munroe had seen something he never lived to describe. though my vain previous searches had been exceedingly minute, i now had new data to test; for my horrible grave-crawl convinced me that at least one of the phases of the monstrosity had been an underground creature. this time, on the 14th of november, my quest concerned itself mostly with the slopes of cone mountain and maple hill where they overlook the unfortunate hamlet, and i gave particular attention t

ld hardly explain it, yet after that talk with willett the youth was undeniably gone. willett himself has no public explanations to offer, though he seems strangely easier in mind than before the escape. many, indeed, feel that he would like to say more if he thought any considerable number would believe him. he had found ward in his room, but shortly after his departure the attendants knocked in vain. when they opened the door the patient was not there, and all they found was the open window with a chill april breeze blowing in a cloud of fine bluish-grey dust that almost choked them. true, the dogs howled some time before; but that was while willett was still present, and they had caught nothing and shewn no disturbance later on. ward's father was told at once over the telephone, but he

r would be likely to start, but could not gain much inspiration from this method. then he decided on elimination as a policy, and went carefully over the whole subterranean surface both vertical and horizontal, trying to account for every inch separately. he was soon substantially narrowed down, and at last had nothing left but the small platform before the washtubs, which he tried once before in vain. now experimenting in every possible way, and exerting a double strength, he finally found that the top did indeed turn and slide horizontally on a corner pivot. beneath it lay a trim concrete surface with an iron manhole, to which mr. ward at once rushed with excited zeal. the cover was not hard to lift, and the father had quite removed it when willett noticed the queerness of his aspect. he

octor surely is getting old. he has been advised to take a long vacation and to shun future cases dealing with mental disturbance. but mr. ward knows that the veteran physician speaks only a horrible truth. did not he himself see the noisome aperture in the bungalow cellar? did not willett send him home overcome and ill at eleven o'clock that portentous morning? did he not telephone the doctor in vain that evening, and again the next day, and had he not driven to the bungalow itself on that following noon, finding his friend unconscious but unharmed on one of the beds upstairs? willett had been breathing stertorously, and opened his eyes slowly when mr. ward gave him some brandy fetched from the car. then he shuddered and screamed, crying out 'that beard. those eyes. god, who are you' a ve

had strangled and hidden him. but you hadn't reckoned on the different contents of two minds. you were a fool, joseph curwen, to fancy that a mere visual identity would be enough. why didn't you think of the speech and the voice and the handwriting? it hasn't worked, you see, after all. you know better than i who or what wrote that message in minuscules, but i will warn you it was not written in vain. there are abominations and blasphemies which must be stamped out, and i believe that the writer of those words will attend to orne and hutchinson. one of those creatures wrote you once "do not call up any that you can not put down. you were undone once before, perhaps in that very way, and it may be that your own evil magic will undo you all again. curwen, a man can't tamper with nature beyo

HP LOVECRAFT AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS

ol. 17, no. 2 (april 1936, p. 132-50. i i am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why. it is altogether against my will that i tell my reasons for opposing this contemplated invasion of the antarctic- with its vast fossil hunt and its wholesale boring and melting of the ancient ice caps. and i am the more reluctant because my warning may be in vain. doubt of the real facts, as i must reveal them, is inevitable; yet, if i suppressed what will seem extravagant and incredible, there would be nothing left. the hitherto withheld photographs, both ordinary and aerial, will count in my favor, for they are damnably vivid and graphic. still, they will be doubted because of the great lengths to which clever fakery can be carried. the ink drawings

le ways. death, so far as we could judge, had in each case come from strangulation or laceration. the dogs had evidently started the trouble, for the state of their ill-built corral bore witness to its forcible breakage from within. it had been set some distance from the camp because of the hatred of the animals for those hellish archaean organisms, but the precaution seemed to have been taken in vain. when left alone in that monstrous wind, behind flimsy walls of insufficient height, they must have stampeded- whether from the wind itself, or from some subtle, increasing odor emitted by the nightmare specimens, one could not say. but whatever had happened, it was hideous and revolting enough. perhaps i had better put squeamishness aside and tell the worst at last- though with a categorical

nk anyone will wonder that we waited an appreciable time before making any further motion. and yet, when we did venture inside that black arch, our first impression was one of anticlimax. for amidst the littered expanse of that sculptured crypt- a perfect cube with sides of about twenty feet- there remained no recent object of instantly discernible size; so that we looked instinctively, though in vain, for a farther doorway. in another moment, however, danforth s sharp vision had descried a place where the floor debris had been disturbed; and we turned on both torches full strength. though what we saw in that light was actually simple and trifling, i am none the less reluctant to tell of it because of what it implied. it was a rough leveling of the debris, upon which several small objects

they had never existed. this white, waddling thing was fully six feet high, yet we seemed to realize at once that it was not one of those others. they were larger and dark, and, according to the sculptures, their motion over land surfaces was a swift, assured matter despite the queerness of their sea-born tentacle equipment. but to say that the white thing did not profoundly frighten us would be vain. we were indeed clutched for an instant by primitive dread almost sharper than the worst of our reasoned fears regarding those others. then came a flash of anticlimax as the white shape sidled into a lateral archway to our left to join two others of its kind which had summoned it in raucous tones. for it was only a penguin- albeit of a huge, unknown species larger than the greatest of the kno

HP LOVECRAFT BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP

ost indistinct memories linger after waking. from those blurred and fragmentary memories we may infer much, yet prove little. we may guess that in dreams life, matter, and vitality, as the earth knows such things, are not necessarily constant; and that time and space do not exist as our waking selves comprehend them. sometimes i believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon. it was from a youthful revery filled with speculations of this sort that i arose one afternoon in the winter of 1900-01, when to the state psychopathic institution in which i served as an intern was brought the man whose case has ever since haunted me so unceasingly. his name, as given on the records, was

HP LOVECRAFT CELEPHAIS

ld soon enter the harbour of serannian, the pink marble city of the clouds, which is built on that ethereal coast where the west wind flows into the sky; but as the highest of the city s carven towers came into sight there was a sound somewhere in space, and kuranes awaked in his london garret. for many months after that kuranes sought the marvellous city of celephais and its sky-bound galleys in vain; and though his dreams carried him to many gorgeous and unheard-of places, no one whom he met could tell him how to find ooth-nargai beyond the tanarian hills. one night he went flying over dark mountains where there were faint, lone campfires at great distances apart, and strange, shaggy herds with tinkling bells on the leaders, and in the wildest part of this hilly country, so remote that f

HP LOVECRAFT COOL AIR

king loafer whom i encountered on the corner of eighth avenue to keep the patient supplied with ice from a little shop where i introduced him, and applied myself diligently to the task of finding a pump piston and engaging workmen competent to install it. the task seemed interminable, and i raged almost as violently as the hermit when i saw the hours slipping by in a breathless, foodless round of vain telephoning, and a hectic quest from place to place, hither and thither by subway and surface car. about noon i encountered a suitable supply house far downtown, and at approximately 1:30 p.m. arrived at my boarding-place with the necessary paraphernalia and two sturdy and intelligent mechanics. i had done all i could, and hoped i was in time. black terror, however, had preceded me. the house

HP LOVECRAFT HERBERT WEST REANIMATOR

e been better if we could have known it was underground. after that experience west had dropped his researches for some time; but as the zeal of the born scientist slowly returned, he again became importunate with the college faculty, pleading for the use of the dissecting-room and of fresh human specimens for the work he regarded as so overwhelmingly important. his pleas, however, were wholly in vain; for the decision of dr. halsey was inflexible, and the other professors all endorsed the verdict of their leader. in the radical theory of reanimation they saw nothing but the immature vagaries of a youthful enthusiast whose slight form, yellow hair, spectacled blue eyes, and soft voice gave no hint of the supernormal- almost diabolical- power of the cold brain within. i can see him now as h

HP LOVECRAFT THE ALCHEMIST

over a huge and violently boiling cauldron. without certain cause, in the ungoverned madness of fury and despair, the count laid hands on the aged wizard, and ere he released his murderous hold, his victim was no more. meanwhile, joyful servants were proclaiming the finding of young godfrey in a distant and unused chamber of the great edifice, telling too late that poor michel had been killed in vain. as the count and his associates turned away from the lowly abode of the alchemist, the form of charles le sorcier appeared through the trees. the excited chatter of the menials standing about told him what had occurred, yet he seemed at first unmoved at his father's fate. then, slowly advancing to meet the count, he pronounced in dull yet terrible accents the curse that ever afterward haunte

ther branch of my family was in existence, i might thus end the curse with myself. as i drew near the age of thirty, old pierre was called to the land beyond. alone i buried him beneath the stones of the courtyard about which he had loved to wander in life. thus was i left to ponder on myself as the only human creature within the great fortress, and in my utter solitude my mind began to cease its vain protest against the impending doom, to become almost reconciled to the fate which so many of my ancestors had met. much of my time was now occupied in the exploration of the ruined and abandoned halls and towers of the old chateau, which in youth fear had caused me to shun, and some of which old pierre had once told me had not been trodden by human foot for over four centuries. strange and aw

HP LOVECRAFT THE BEAST IN THE CAVE

i. now, i grimly told myself, my opportunity for settling this point had arrived, provided that want of food should not bring me too speedy a departure from this life. as the last fitful rays of my torch faded into obscurity, i resolved to leave no stone unturned, no possible means of escape neglected; so, summoning all the powers possessed by my lungs, i set up a series of loud shoutings, in the vain hope of attracting the attention of the guide by my clamour. yet, as i called, i believed in my heart that my cries were to no purpose, and that my voice, magnified and reflected by the numberless ramparts of the black maze about me, fell upon no ears save my own. all at once, however, my attention was fixed with a start as i fancied that i heard the sound of soft approaching steps on the roc

HP LOVECRAFT THE CALL OF CTHULHU

rs. no book had ever really hinted of it, though the deathless chinamen said that there were double meanings in the necronomicon of the mad arab abdul alhazred which the initiated might read as they chose, especially the much-discussed couplet: that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die. legrasse, deeply impressed and not a little bewildered, had inquired in vain concerning the historic affiliations of the cult. castro, apparently, had told the truth when he said that it was wholly secret. the authorities at tulane university could shed no light upon either cult or image, and now the detective had come to the highest authorities in the country and met with no more than the greenland tale of professor webb. the feverish interest aroused at the meeting

HP LOVECRAFT THE CATS OF ULTHAR

g very slowly and solemnly in a circle around the cottage, two abreast, as if in performance of some unheard-of rite of beasts. the villagers did not know how much to believe from so small a boy; and though they feared that the evil pair had charmed the cats to their death, they preferred not to chide the old cotter till they met him outside his dark and repellent yard. so ulthar went to sleep in vain anger; and when the people awakened at dawn behold! every cat was back at his accustomed hearth! large and small, black, grey, striped, yellow and white, none was missing. very sleek and fat did the cats appear, and sonorous with purring content. the citizens talked with one another of the affair, and marveled not a little. old kranon again insisted that it was the dark folk who had taken the

HP LOVECRAFT THE LURKING FEAR

were over three miles apart. the troopers were more skeptical; including the mansion only casually in their investigations, and dropping it altogether when they found it thoroughly deserted. country and vrnage people, however i canvassed the place with infinite care; overturning everything in the house, sounding ponds and brooks, beating down bushes, and ransacking the nearby forests. all was in vain; the death that had come had left no trace save destruction itself. by the second day of the search the affair was fully treated by the newspapers, whose reporters overran tempest mountain. they described it in much detail, and with many interviews to elucidate the horror's history as told by local grandams. i followed the accounts languidly at first, for i am a connoisseur in horrors; but af

me trail into the black forest, but on this occasion could not stand the sight of those morbidly large boles, or of those vast serpent-like roots that twisted so malevolently before they sank into the earth. my next step was to reexamine with microscopic care the deserted hamlet where death had come most abundantly, and where arthur -munroe had seen something he never lived to describe. though my vain previous searches had been exceedingly minute, i now had new data to test; for my horrible grave-crawl convinced me that at least one of the phases of the monstrosity had been an underground creature. this time, on the 14th of november, my quest concerned itself mostly with the slopes of cone mountain and maple hill where they overlook the unfortunate hamlet, and i gave particular attention t

HP LOVECRAFT THE TOMB

barely fancied that as i awoke, a light had been hurriedly extinguished within the sunken sepulcher. i do not think i was either astounded or panic-stricken, but i know that i was greatly and permanently changed that night. upon returning home i went with much directness to a rotting chest in the attic, wherein i found the key which next day unlocked with ease the barrier i had so long stormed in vain. it was in the soft glow of late afternoon that i first entered the vault on the abandoned slope. a spell was upon me, and my heart leaped with an exultation i can but ill describe. as i closed the door behind me and descended the dripping steps by the light of my lone candle, i seemed to know the way; and though the candle sputtered with the stifling reek of the place, i felt singularly at h

HP LOVECRAFT THE WHITE SHIP

ot upon the sloping meadows of zar, for it is told that he who treads them may nevermore return to his native shore. as the white ship sailed silently away from the templed terraces of zar, we beheld on the distant horizon ahead the spires of a mighty city; and the bearded man said to me, this is thalarion, the city of a thousand wonders, wherein reside all those mysteries that man has striven in vain to fathom. and i looked again, at closer range, and saw that the city was greater than any city i had known or dreamed of before. into the sky the spires of its temples reached, so that no man might behold their peaks; and far back beyond the horizon stretched the grim, gray walls, over which one might spy only a few roofs, weird and ominous, yet adorned with rich friezes and alluring sculptu

HUEBNER LOUISE WITCHCRAFT FOR ALL WICCA 04

e been going downhill in every way, shape and form. it's a nightmarish roller-coaster. to name just a few: each record of mine that came out was a still-birth- not one single play, and my writing partnership was dissolved after four years, which means that i am a lyricist without a melody writer. my lifetime of attempts have come to naught. to finally face the reality that my lifetime has been in vain, and i am not one to kid myself, is hard. no male entered my life as the astrologer said. my health has been poor. in fact, the whole year that i had looked forward to so much has been terrible. there has been no bursting with creativity, no financial gain, no legacy. i'm baffled and sick at heart at the way everything happened to me just the opposite of what the astrologer forecast. to not h

INITIATION INTO HERMETICS

ed. to those who truly seek, lilith and samael will join in true union through the unconsciousness that is leviathan. through these serpent forces of darkness, baphomet will arise. the treasure found deep within the earth if it is searched f i religion 17. god 18. asceticism part ii: practice foreword there is no doubt that every one who has been searching for the true and authentic cognition, in vain looked for years, if not even for a lifetime, to find a reliable method of training. the ardent desire for this noble aim made people again and again collect a mass of books, from near and far, supposed to be the best ones, but which were lacking a great deal for real practice. not one, however, of all the seekers could make any sense from all the stuff collected in the course of time, and th

rogress and does not pursue this sacred wisdom from sheer curiosity or else is yearning to satisfy his own lust, will find the right leader to initiate him in this book. no incarnate adept, however high his rank may be, can give the disciple more for his start than the present book does. if both the honest trainee and the attentive reader will find in this book all they have been searching for in vain all the years, then the book has fulfilled its purpose completely. the author. part i theory picture of the magician: the first tarot card interpretation of the symbolism below you will find the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms expressed in a symbolic manner. the female on the left side and the male on the right side are the plus (positive) and the minus (negative) in every human being

e most sublime purposes. furthermore, i have always fully shown that the magician is bound to ennoble his character in the course of his development to the highest degree to avoid an interruption, or even worse, a falling off in his rise. the ennoblement of the soul goes hand with the rise of the development. he who is keen only on gaining occult faculties and powers to brag of them, will working vain, for the ways of divine providence are forever inscrutable. he who aspires after occult powers for futile motives will be led away from his path sooner or later, occult faculties being only byproducts, a sort of compass of the development and meant for noble purposes and for helping our fellow men. consequently, they are reserved exclusively to the true magician. he who has entered the path t

INTRODUCTION TO THE SEVEN FACES OF DARKNESS

oals she obtains strength of purpose, which in turn will be applied to greater goals. this never-ending pursuit that pleases and informs the self by making the self ever more powerful in the world is called the acquisition of strength. royal command of the outer world human beings have two desires that lead them to their third task, the making of other human beings better. the first is a weak and vain desire that rhp creeds strike out against, which is the desire to show off. the second is a desire that generally makes us good herd animals, the desire to help out other people. this second desire is generally derided by the more immature forms of the left hand path. by understanding and accepting these desires, we can not only engage in the pleasures that come from them, but also transform

IRISH WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY

nd no law to try them by in this realm" 1 it is easy to see why the witches were put to death, but the reason for the negro's execution is not so obvious. it can hardly have been for the colour of his skin, although no doubt a black man was as much a rara avis in the town of kilkenny as a black swan. had the words been written at the time the unfortunate negro might well have exclaimed, though in vain, to his judges "mislike me not for my complexion- the shadowed livery of the burning sun" or could it have been that he was the unhappy victim of a false etymology! for p. 61 in old writers the word "necromancy" is spelt "nigromancy" as if divination was practised through the medium of negroes instead of dead persons; indeed in an old vocabulary of 1475 "nigromantia" is defined as "divinatio

ISIS UNVEILED

mine as thev would, they could not find the vestige of a cut oo her fingers, and no one bad touched the pkture but herself. alarmed at her state of eidtemeat the husband, pretending to examine the partrait more closely, cut his finger on purpose, and tfaeu tried to assure her that it was nil blood and that, in the first excitement, he had touched the frame without any one remarking it. all was in vain, the old kdy felt sure that dimitry was killed, she began to have mn as ca said for him daily at the village church, and ainyed the whole digitizecoy google is isis unveiled but ranoe then, although the three succesidve emperora have been pious men, their will haa been respected, and the images and aainta have remained quiet, and hardly been spoken of except as connected with religious worshi

come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven "even so it is not the will of your father. that one of these little ones should perish "but whoso shall offend one of these httle ones which believe in me, it leere better for kim that a miusume vxre hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea" we sincerely hope that the above words have proved no vain threat to these child-burners. did this butchery in the name of their moloch-god prevent these treasure-hunters from resorting to the black art themselves? not in the least; for in no class were such consulters of 'familiar' spirits more numerous than among the clergy during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. true, there were some catholic priests among the victims, but thou

a decrepit and toothless ex-tyrant in exile, the vatican is eager for any alliance that promises, if not a restoration of its own power, at least the weakening of its rival. the axe its inquisitors once swung, it now toys 157. ndtbcr do w, if by fnu rdigion tbe world shall at last udderatajid the adon- tiod of one sii[h iiie, invisible and unknown deity by woiki and acta, not by tlie pnrfouon vain fanmad dogmaa. but our intcdtion is to go farther. we desire to dennhtatrate that if we eidude ceremonial and fetiafa worship from bein^ r^arded u 158. aneitnl pagan and modern chrittian sifnibolim, p. xvi. digitizecoy google 83 isis unveiled wiui in secret, feeling its edge, and waiting and hoping agunst hope. in her time the popish church has iain with strange bedfellows, but never bdore no

im ropresentatives converted to the so- called orthodox body of christians. and as every newly-bom dogma had to be carried out by the majority of votes, every sect colored the main substance with its own hue till the moment when the emperor enforced this remow oua-podrida, of which he evidently did not himself under- stand a word, upon an unwilling world as the reliffion of christ. wearied in the vain attempt to sound this fathomless bog of international specula- tions, unable to appreciate a reugion based on the pure spirituality of an ideal conception, christendom gave itself up to the adoration of brutal force as represented by a church backed up by constantine. since then, among the thousand rites, dogmas, and ceremonies copied from pagan- ism, the church can claim but one invention as

JENNINGS HARGRAVE ROSICRUCIANS RITES MYSTERIES

the ark of noah. 368 the third. cabalistic illustrations. the sang-r ale, gr al, or holy gr ale. 369 concluding note. remarks upon two curious works. 372 the rosicrucians badge of the grand master of the templars. chapter the first. critics of the rosicrucians criticised. hat modern science, spite of its assumptions and of its intolerant dogmatism, is much at fault nay, to a great extent, a very vain thing is a conclusion that often presents itself to the minds of thinking persions. thus thoughtful people, who choose to separate themselves from the crowd, and who do not altogether give in with such ediyfying submission to the indoctrination of the scientific classes, notwithstanding that these latter have the support generally of that which, by a wide term, is called the press in this cou

om any of the farms or cotes, as they were called inthose days, with which the now almost twilight country was sparingly dotted. in a short time he cleared the stone free of the grass and weeds which had grown over it; and it proved to be a large, oblong slab, with an immense iron ring fixed at one end in d 6 the rosicrucians. a socket. for half an hour the countryman essays to stir this stone in vain. at last he bethought himself of some yards of rope which he had lying near amongst his tools; and these he converted, being an ingenious, inquisitive, inventive man, into a tackle by means of which, and by passing the sling round a bent tree in line with the axis of the stone, he contrived, in the last of the light, and with much expenditure of toil, to raise it. and then, greatly to his sur

-story to a stone staircase, seemingly of extraordinary depth, for he saw nothing below. the country fellow had not the slightest idea of where this could lead to; but being a man, though a rustic and a clown, of courage, and most probably urged by his idea that the staircase led to some secret repository where treasure lay buried, he descended the first few steps cautiously, and tried to peer in vain down into the darkness. this seemed impenetrable; but there was some object at a vast, cold distance below. looking up to the fresh air and seeing the star venus the evening star shining suddenly like a planet, in encouraging, unexpected brilliancy, although the sky had still some beautiful placid sunset light in it, the puzzled man left the upper ground, and descended silently a fair, though

use thinking of it is all that can affect him about anything in this world. by the time that the deep, philosophical chemist has penetrated to the control and conversion of the ultimate elements, so as to have in his view the secret operations of nature, and to have caught nature, as it were, preparing her presentments and arranging her disguises behind the scenes, he is no more to be amused with vain book-physics. after his spying into the subtle processes of nature, he cannot be contented with the ordinary toys of men; for are not worldly possessions, honour, rank, money, even wives and numerous or any children, but toys in a certain sense? where sink they in importance to him when the great unknown sets in which awaits every man? he who can work as nature works causing the sunshine, so

hat purpose he knows not; and he is rather amused as at a comedy in life, than engaged in it as in a business. even perpetual youth, and life prolonged, with pleasures infinite, even the fancied ever-during life, would, to the deeply thinking man who had risen, as it were, over life, and to that strangely gifted being who has in himself the power of self-perpetuation (like the wandering jew, seem vain. man can be conceived as tiring of the sun tiring of consciousness even. what an expression is that, forgotten by death! the only being through whom the scythe of the great destroyer passes scatheless! that life, as a phantom, which is the only conceivable terrible doom of the wanderer (if such a magical being ever existed; whom as a locomotive symbol, to be perpetuated through the ages, the

in the consolations of the intercourse of this world (if they were not, indeed, exposed to worse risks, supposing that their gifts were proven to the conviction of the bystanders as more than human; when they would become simply intolerable and abhorrent. thus, there are excellent reasons for their conduct; they proceed with the utmost caution, and instead of making a display of their powers, as vain-glory is the least distinguishing characteristic of these great men, they studiously evade the idea that they possess any extraordinary or separate knowledge. they live simply as mere spectators in the world, and they desire to make no disciples, converts, nor confidants. they submit to the obligations of life, and to relationships enjoying the fellowship of none, admiring none, following non

n almost all the countries of europe. they delcared that the intimate essences of natural things were only to be known by the trying efforts of fire, directed in a chemical process. the theosophists also insisted that human reason was a dangerous and deceitful guide; that no real progress could be made in knowledge or in religion by it; and that to all vital that is, supernatural purpose it was a vain thing. they taught that divine and supernatural illumination was the only means of arriving at truth. their name of paracelsists was derived from paracelsus, the eminent physician and chemist, whowas the chief ornament of this extraordinary sect. in england, robert flood, or fludd, was their great advocate and exponent. rivier, who wrong in france; severinus, an author of denmark; kunrath, an

oors: stone caving the thing fire, unseen, as its sepulchre; stroke warning the magical thing forth. whence comes that trail of fire from the cold bosom of the hard, secret, unexploding flint? children as from what hard, rocky breast; yet hiding its so sacred, sudden fire-birth! who and what science-philosopher can explain this wondrous darting forth of the hidden something, which he shall try in vain to arrest, but which, like a spirit, escapes him? if we ask what fire is, of the men of science, they are at fault. they will tell us that it is a phenomenon, that their vocabularies can give no further account of it. they will explain to us that all that can be said of it is, that it is a last affection of matter, to the results of which (in the world of man) they can only testify, but of wh

e standards of the romans; the dragon crest of maximin, of honorius, and of the barbarian leaders; the dragon of china and of japan; the dragon of wales; the mythic dragon trampled by st. george; the crowned serpent of the royal house of milan; the cairns, as we have already affirmed, and the runic monuments: the round towers of ireland (regarding which there hath been so much, and so diverse and vain speculation; the memorial piles, and the slender (on seashore and upland) towers left by the vikinghs, or sea-kings, in their adventurous and predatory voyages; the legends of the norsemen or the normans; the vestiges so recently, in the discovery of the forward-of the-old-time ages, exposed to the light of criticism, in the time-out-ofmind antique and quaint cities of the extinct peoples and

when the former adduce the following insurmountable objection against them: when we tell you of a supernatural thing, say the supernaturalists to the realists, you directly have recourse to a natural thing in which to find it. this is contrary to common sense; and therefore the realistic arguer has no right to dispose in this manner of that which is supernatural; for his objections are futile and vain, and his arguments contradict themselves. spirit and matter, when sought to be explained, are totally opposed; and hence arises the reason why there can never be any belief of impossible things, and only the conviction that such things have been in the mind, notwithstanding the insurmountable contradiction of the senses. bheems chlori (mokundra pass) chapter the twenty-fourth. the great pyram

JESSUP MK THE CASE FOR THE UFO

er to the "discredited people. charles g. leland in his book "english gipsies and their language" states that the gypsies call each other brother and sister, and are not in the habit of admitting to their fellowship people of a different blood and with whom they have no sympathy. this could explain the usage of the term in the closing notes "my dear bothers" and perhaps the repeated reference to "vain humankind" this book was apparently passed through the hands of these men several or many times. this conclusion is drawn from the fact that there are discussions between two or all three of the men, questions answered, and places where parts of a note have been marked through, underlined, or added to by one or both of the other men. some have been deleted by marking through. 9 shortly after

and organized cognizance. only a few have dared to admit these phenomena and to investigate them of the few, a large proportion have become outcasts from their chosen field of study. they have become nonconformists, and few sins are considered more basic. yet the mass of our qualitative knowledge has come through nonconformity. don't worry those few do not count. he again asks too much of proud, vain humankind in this volume, we are going to confront, for the first time, a number of hitherto incorrigible facts. we shall relate, for the first time, previously unrelated data and draw startling conclusions therefrom. to begin such a leap into the maelstrom of the "supernatural" we must first clarify our use of the word "world" we must no limit it to a state or a continent. and, despite the f

hich he did not understand. he heard it twice repeated by the plane. no explanation of the word has ever been found. nothing further was heard from the plane although calls were sent out. the plane never arrived, and from that day to this the mystery has never been solved. searchers were made by ski troops and planes and by skilled mountaineers and automobiles over an area of 250 square miles, in vain. that plane carried a crew of five men and there were six passengers. the pilot, captain r. j. cook, had crossed the andes eight times as second pilot. four minutes from the landing strip what happened? stendic "gaelic" for "stranger to world was cook raised around "gaelic" folks when a child? where heard he of "the stendics" cook was talking to near by& closing-in l-m ship "sten-beck" said f

KARR DON NOTES ON EDITIONS OF SEFER YETZIRAH IN ENGLISH

ghteen hundred years ago, when rabbi akiba ben joseph reduced into writing the secret tradition of the jews in the book of formation, he hesitated to unveil the greatest secret of the kabala, the arcanum of the great symbol, which had been handed down to him from his forefathers. for this reason he embodied it in a riddle( s.y, ii. 4 and 5, which many ancient and modern philosophers have tried in vain to solve. of all the different tabulations, claiming to be the great arcanum of the kabala, that we have examined, none is correct. the token of the original table ong and ngo was not to be found in any of them. we have succeeded in solving this riddle. the true kablistic symbol the great master key to the theoretical and practical kabala will be found facing p. 24 of the present translation

KETAB E SIYAH

at august kingdom and brought to maturity a terrible transgression against all bonds of love and piety. second to me in rank, age and father's favour, my brother michael gathered to him the angels of god whose souls and minds were too perverted by the traitorous intentions that consumed them. o woe to them who sought to destroy me, they are themselves damned to destruction, consumed by their own, vain hatred. having gathered those unfit angels to him thus did michael address them, speaking with words of poisoned nectar "my brothers, who are most beloved to me, woe that i must speak such words as these! how it sorrows my heart that this kingdom of ours should endure to hear me speak these words. rather, i should have it, that the world split asunder than that i must speak this dire report

u do not perceive your error. this is of little surprise to me. were you foolish enough to err thus in the first, one should have little expectation that later you should not realise your mistake. allow me then, as your eldest and best, to show to you how you have confounded yourselves, my last lesson, imparted to these unworthy brothers, that i shall teach in heaven and, with great likelihood, a vain one, coming upon ears that are deaf to its wisdom. this is your most fatal erring, my brothers, which now do i expound to you. consumed by base jealousy at my high position and great favour of our father 37 and desire to win yourselves a share of these you came to god, our father, presenting with lies and slander against me and reporting a rebellion of mine, substanceless, save in your dreams

at august kingdom and brought to maturity a terrible transgression against all bonds of love and piety. second to me in rank, age and father's favour, my brother michael gathered to him the angels of god whose souls and minds were too perverted by the traitorous intentions that consumed them. o woe to them who sought to destroy me, they are themselves damned to destruction, consumed by their own, vain hatred. having gathered those unfit angels to him thus did michael address them, speaking with words of poisoned nectar "my brothers, who are most beloved to me, woe that i must speak such words as these! how it sorrows my heart that this kingdom of ours should endure to hear me speak these words. rather, i should have it, that the world split asunder than that i must speak this dire report

o not perceive your error. this is of little surprise to me. were you foolish enough to err thus in the first, one should have little expectation that later you should not realise your mistake. allow me then, as your eldest and best, to show to you how you have confounded yourselves, 98 my last lesson, imparted to these unworthy brothers, that i shall teach in heaven and, with great likelihood, a vain one, coming upon ears that are deaf to its wisdom. this is your most fatal erring, my brothers, which now do i expound to you. consumed by base jealousy at my high position and great favour of our father and desire to win yourselves a share of these you came to god, our father, presenting with lies and slander against me and reporting a rebellion of mine, substanceless, save in your dreams an

y, i shall gladly aid a creature so wondrous and so fair. indeed it shall be my soul'sdelight. tell me then of your care that i might help and reprieve you of your worry" weeping salty tears for her cares and now released somewhat from the thousand doubts that had afflicted and assailed her soul, 176 my child clasped me in embrace and spoke of all the woes that she,so young, had contended with in vain. i too did weep then for such pain as the child that i so loved had suffered, unknowing of the true and the false, desiring to believe the testament of her eyes but most frightened by the penalties dictated by that villain raphael, should she infract the proud will of heaven's king. seeing, too, the dreams of my dear son, sleeping in that forest, wracked by these questions that both tormented

schemed against, gabriel waited for the moment most apt for action then, with the striking cobra's speed, to snatch what michael possessed. thus did the elohim come to oppose each other as they fostered opposition amongst the nephilim. in those times, then, was there conflict in heaven and on earth. that which could not be contrived by all of michael's thought, that to which all heaven sought in vain, the thread by which all chadel's victories could be undone, unfound by the elohim, was delivered unto them by treacherous fortune. of all the nations of the nephilim, the greatest of them, mightiest in battle, shrewdest in trade, wisest in judgement, most faithful to my cause and ever willing to pour out libations to honour the three that had first made their race was magnificent shurupuk be

LAITMAN M KABBALAH ATTAINING THE WORLDS BEYOND

owed with the best abilities and potential? it may be that a talented person can become a great scientist, but without a connection with the creator, this person s purpose will not be achieved, and will fail just as the majority of people do. it is crucial to attain the level of a righteous person; only then can we use all of our potential for the right tasks, rather than squander our strength in vain. even the weakest and most trivial abilities given to us by the creator should be used for the sake of the loftiest goals. if we are in a state of spiritual descent, it is useless to try to convince us to cheer up, or to subject us to listening to the learned wisdom of others. nothing that others will say can help us. the stories of what other people lived through and their advice will not en

eriority over others, while we who study kabbalah grow more discontented, seeing how much worse we have become in our desires and thoughts, and how much further away we have moved from the good spiritual desires which led us to kabbalah in the first place! perhaps it would be better not to start engaging in the study of kabbalah at all! maybe all the time devoted to these studies will be spent in vain! on the other hand, we may already feel that only here can we find the truth and the answers to the questions within us. this feeling only adds to the building pressure: we cannot abandon kabbalah because it is the truth, but we seem to have nothing in common with it and, thus, we are moving further away from it, with the perception that our desires are much lower than those of our contempora

all the previous attempts that we had undertaken. sensing my reluctance, my friend gave his phone number. we said good-bye and departed. the very next evening my friend came to my house and declared that the elder had called him and offered us a kabbalah teacher. he also informed me that a meeting was already set and it was to take place that same evening. i did not want to spend another night in vain, but i succumbed to the appeals of my friend. we arrived. the elder called another man, slightly younger than himself, but also with a white beard; he said a few words in yiddish to the younger man, and then left us alone with him. the latter suggested that we should sit down and start studying right away. he recommended starting with an article titled "an introduction to kabbalah" which on n

LAITMAN M THE PATH OF KABBALAH

ascribe to the study is the cause of all our anguish and that of the last generation. it also says that this is the reason for our spiritual exile. however, the truth is that the only reason we suffer is that we are not correcting ourselves through the wisdom of kabbalah; that is why we are marching on the path of pain. c h a p t e r 5. 3 u p r o o t i n g p r e j u d i c e nothing is created in vain in this world. everything is created in order for us to attain the purpose of creation. the true picture of the world is one of completeness and fullness, with nothing that is redundant, not even a single thought or operation. everyone is doing precisely what he or she is meant to be doing, and at the same time people are realizing the purpose of creation. the vast majority does it unconsciou

ul) must perform. there is nothing in our world that was created without a reason. for example, baal hasulam brings a tiny insect in the wood that spends its entire life in search of food and no one pays it any heed. and not only every insect, but every single atom of that insect bears a tremendous value to the attainment of the collective end of correction. the creator did not create anything in vain, and everything happens only according to the process of nearing to the ultimate goal. events happen with or without our consent, regardless of how we view them. but whether or not we understand what happens and why, things still move toward the completion of the design of creation, and the revelation of the full purpose of creation to the creatures in this world. just as there are different

LEADBEATER C W THE HIDDEN LIFE IN FREEMASONRY 2E

co-masonry we add gbut all in the service of humanity h. it is also explained that this symbol indicates that accuracy and precision are essential for the proper conduct of our lives. 544. the e.a. is further taught that the c c g c, reminds us that skill without exertion is of little avail, and that labour is the lot of man. it also represents the force of conscience, which should keep down all vain and unbecoming thoughts, so that our feelings and actions may be pure and unpolluted. thirdly, comes the c c l, which points out that education and perseverance are necessary to establish perfection, and that the rude material of our natures receives its polish and refinement from repeated efforts alone. 545. in ancient egypt rather a different signification was given to these tools- a little

nstances of the survival of traces of the cult of adonis in the most unexpected quarters; for instance, he writes: 694. when the pope has died, a high official, armed with a small ivory hammer or gavel, goes up to the dead man and lightly taps him once on each temple and once on the centre of the forehead. after each knock he calls on him to arise, and only when the third summons has been made in vain does he officially proclaim the sad news that the pope is dead, and therefore a successor must be elected(*op. cit, p. 74) 695. bro. ward further identifies hiram abiff with abibaal, the father of hiram, king of tyre, and even suggests that hiram was not a personal name at all, but a title of the kings of tyre, just as pharaoh was of those of egypt. 696. from another source comes the somewhat

LEWIS JAMES SATANISM TODAY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION FOLKLORE AND POPULAR CULTURE

vampires. other demons of the indian tradition that passed into buddhism are the bhutas, the pretas, and pisacas. buddhism, especially at the popular level, inherited the lore of mythological hinduism about the asuras and other demons. they belong to the category of sentient beings (like humans and gods, and as such are subject to the cycle of reincarnation. the buddhist archfiend is mara, who in vain tempted gautama shortly before his enlightenment. evil forces are encountered in the burmese buddhist figures of the nats and other ghosts who inflict pain on humans. in mahayana buddhism demons are alternatively good or evil in their efforts to keep their devotees in the faith. a number of female demonic figures have also been developed that explain children s sicknesses or death. in medieva

tion, acclaim, and surprising commercial success, columbia issued the two-cd robert johnson: the complete recordings. by this time the legend of johnson s deal with the devil was nearly as well known as his music. it figured in a poorly reviewed, ill-conceived 1988 hollywood movie, crossroads, directed by walter hill. it was also the subject of alan greenberg s lyrical novel-as-screenplay love in vain: the life and legend of robert johnson (1983. in 1999 no less than muddy waters s son big bill morganfield wrote and recorded left hand blues, which does not mention johnson by name but is manifestly about his faustian bargain. besides the testimony of johnson s relatives, those who believe that the legend was contemporary with johnson point to the texts of three of his own songs to argue tha

unter of two drunken cowboys with the devil come to gather up your souls; instead, they hogtie him and leave him howling and cursing. in the grim house carpenter the carpenter s wife is seduced by a handsome man, then flees with him only to learn too late that he is the devil and he is taking her to hell. jerome clark see also heavy metal music; satan for further reading: greenberg, alan. love in vain: the life and legend of robert johnson. new york: dolphin, 1983. guralnick, peter. searching for robert johnson. new york: dutton books, 1989. johnson, robert. the complete recordings. columbia records, 1990. morganfield, big bill. rising son. blind pig records, 1999. oliver, paul. the story of the blues. philadelphia, pa: chilton book company, 1975. palmer, robert. deep blues. new york: viki

s, some by their ears, some by their hands, and some by their tongues. in addition, women were suspended by their hair and their breasts by chains of fire. such punishments were inflicted on the basis of the sins that were committed: those who hung by their eyes looked lustfully upon their neighbors wives judgment of the dead 139 and possessions; those who hung by their ears listened to empty and vain speech and did not listen to the torah; those who hung by their tongues spoke foolishly and slanderously; those who hung by their hands robbed and murdered their neighbors. the women who hung by their hair and breasts uncovered them in the presence of young men in order to seduce them (cohn-sherbok 1987, p. 29. at later points in this same account, sinners were punished by scorpions and by be

rits of the dead live, often under the rule of a divine being. in ancient religious traditions across the globe, the underworld dimension could be reached through a tunnel or opening that led underground. this opening was often identified as the mouth of a mythical monster. the hero who entered the underworld usually aimed to rescue a loved one or to gain the gift of immortality, almost always in vain. the maori of new zealand explained the origin of humankind s mortality with the descent of their mythical hero maui into her giant mother s own body while she was asleep.however, she awoke while he was in her mouth, and was slain. in relation to the daily movement of the sun from east to west, the sunset was used by many traditions to locate the realm of the dead in the west. in ancient meso

LIBER LXI

period. it has throughout proved impossible to elucidate the complex facts. we content ourselves, then, with observing that the death of one of his two colleagues, and the weakness of the other, secured to s.r.m.d. the sole authority. the rituals were elaborated, though scholarly enough, into verbose and pretentious nonsense: the knowledge proved worthless, even where it was correct: for it is in vain that pearls, be they never so clear and precious, are given to the swine. the ordeals were turned into contempt, it being impossible for any one to fail therein. unsuitable candidates were admitted for no better reason than that of their worldly prosperity. in short, the order failed to initiate. 12. scandal arose and with it schism. 13. in 1900 one p, a brother, instituted a rigorous test of

LIBER 141

s no act more easy and natural to man than this preparation, none which requires less auxiliary. and yet by far the most part of mankind is ignorant and incapable of its proper performance; so that it is said that perfection in it as both science and art requires no less study than the most abstruse of philosophies, and no less practice than the most difficult of dexterities. but it is utterly in vain unless this first condition be fulfilled; and so difficult is this, not only because of the overcoming of the bodily trance, but because of the wandering nature of the mind itself. and thereafter only by long and hard training preliminary in the art of meditation, and by constant practice and experience, can this act become fruitful in magick. iv of times and seasons although no instruction h

LIBER 777

ump xvii. aquarius and aries are therefore counterchanged, revolving on the pivot of pisces, just as, in the trumps viii and xi, leo and libra do about virgo. this last revelation makes our tarot attributions sublimely, perfectly, flawlessly symmetrical. the fact of its so doing is a most convincing proof of the superhuman wisdom of the author of this book to those who have laboured for years, in vain, to elucidate the problems of the tarot. this substituted attribution is alluded to in various places in liber aleph and magick in theory and practice, but was not spelt out in full in published writings until the book of thoth. the tables from 777 are based on the old golden dawn attributions; to work with the reversed attributions, lines 15 and 28 should be exchanged on all columns based on

LIBER ALEPH

ow, 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 degeneratheth 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, here 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

ded 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, he mark is not hit. but hold! is not a fourth element essential in the work? yea, soothly, all were vain without he 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 flieth crooke

is (of a certain means of meditation) ow 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, th

LIBER CCCXXXV ADONIS

o templi orientis. key entry &c. by frater t.s. for niwg/ celephais press. this e-text last revised 25.06.200 tliber cccxxxv adonis an allegory a a publication in class c. 1 adonis an allegory by alesiter crowley inscribed to adonis. argument esarhaddon is man ignorant of his high destiny, lost in love of the body (astarte) whose 5 handmaidens are the 5 senses. the soul (psyche) appeals to him in vain, but awakes his dread of the king of babylon (the material plane) who is death.but also subject to the king of greece, who is the one lord. hermes, the wisdom of god, leads the man to recollection of his true nature by putting him into samadhi, the .sudden death. of the qabalah. he leaps up freed. the body now feels worthless and the man despises it; but the soul says no: all 3 of us must enj

we in turn forget to fill the hour. esarhaddon. the pensive bee leaves honey in the flower. astarte. now the sun fs rim is dipped. and thus i dip my gold to the horizon of thy lip. esarhaddon. ah. astarte. there fs no liquor, none, within the cup. esarhaddon. nay, draw not back; nay, then, but lift me up. i would the cup were molten too; i fd drain its blasting agony. liber cccxxxv 8 astarte. in vain. esarhaddon. in vain? nay, let the drinker and the draught in one blaze up at last, and burn down babylon! astarte. all but the garden, and our bed, and.see! the false full moon that comes to rival me. esarhaddon. she comes to lamp our love [a chime of bells without. astarte. i.ll tire my hair. the banquet waits. girls, follow me [they go out, leaving esarhaddon. esarhaddon. how fair and full

urning, and her hair is bound with a fillet of cypress and acacia. she is attended by three maidens and three aged women. what tedious guest arrives? adonis 9 psyche. white hour of fate! i have found him! esarhaddon. who is this. fair lady, pardon. you seek the mistress of the garden? psyche. i thought i had found the lord i seek. your pardon, lord. these eyes are weary and weak with tears and my vain search. esarhaddon. whom seek you then? psyche. my husband.my sole miracle of men, the count adonis [esarhaddon staggers and falls on the couch. psyche. you know of him? esarhaddon. no. i cannot tell what struck me so. i never heard the name. psyche. indeed, your eyes are liker his than wedded dragon-flies! your brows are his, your mouth is his. yet all fs awry! esarhaddon. may be it is! psyc

to lash you hence! psyche. it may be mine fs the right. it may be you are nothing in my sight. it may be i have found my lord at last; and you.his concubine? may be out-cast. astarte. this is the sure thing, that i chase thee. slaves! hither your whips! that are more black with blood of such as this thing than your skins with kisses of your sun fs frenzy [the slaves run up. adonis 13 psyche. thou vain woman! now i know him, lost, wrecked, mad, but mine, but mine, indissolubly dowered with me, my husband, the count adonis! esarhaddon. ah [he falls, but into the arms of astarte. astarte. ho! guard us now and lash this thing from the garden [the slaves form in line between psyche and the others. psyche. adonis! esarhaddon. ah! astarte, there fs some sorcery abroad. astarte. the spell is broke

LIBER CCXLII AHA

nd confusion! olympas. banish my one high thought? the night indeed were starless. marsyas. very right! but that impalpable inane is the condition of success; even as earth lies black to gain spring fs green and autumn fs fruitfulness. olympas. i dread this midnight of the soul. marysas. welcome the herald! olympas. how control the horror of the mind? the insane dead melancholy? marysas. trick is vain. sheer manhood must support the strife, and the trained will, the root of life, bear the adept triumphant. olympas. else? marysas. the reason, like a chime of bells ripped by the lightning, cracks. olympas. and these are the first sights the magus sees? marysas. the first true sights. bright images throng the clear mind at first, a crowd of gods, lights, armies, landscapes; loud reverberation

ank failure to explain. language creates false thoughts; the true breed language slowly. following experience of a thing we knew arose the need to name the thing. so, ancients likened a man fs mind to the untamed evasive wind. aha! 15 some fool thinks names are things; and boasts aloud of spirits and of ghosts. religion follows on a pun! and we, who know that holy one of whom i told thee, seek in vain figure or word to make it plain. olympas. despair of man! marsyas. man is the seed of the unimaginable flower. by singleness of thought and deed it may bloom now.this actual hour! olympas. the soul made safe, is vision sure to rise therein? marsyas. though calm and pure it seem, maybe some thought hath crept into his mind to baulk the adept. the expectation of success suffices to destroy the

LIBER CLXV A MASTER OF THE TEMPLE

the need of the world, have found that books (hitherto my dearest companions) have no longer any word to say to me have found that knowledge (relative) or what i thought was knowledge, is of no avail to supply the need of all that other part of my being that my great god-love would give it. i who have conquered fear and death, am now confronted with the fact that without absolute knowledge all is vain. i am going to ask the one last question. why? i have written it. an awful stillness falls. i am alone in my lodgings, i have no money, and i cannot use my will to demand it from others if i can give nothing in return to help them to find what they really seek. i have cried with christ eli, eli, lama sabacthani. i have suffered the bloody sweat with him on the cross, and now i say with him it

er. thou art that. if i call thee a point, thou laughest, saying: i am the infinite circle. if i worship the circle, thou laughest, saying: i am concealed in the point. only if i claim thee wholly, may i define thee. then who cares, aye or nay? if i attempt to name thee, i lose thee, oh thou nameless unto eternity. to whom shall i reveal thee, who wast never known but to thyself? surely words are vain, o thou who art beyond the silence. aum [this is very good. o.m] dec. 11th, 9:52 10:37 p.m. meditation in asana. dragon as usual. took a few long breaths, filling the body and mind with love, and then expelling it till it flowed through me. used mantra: the self is love. that self am i first part of the time, afterwards changing to the self is that, that self am i. 7 not this, not this! a hin

LIBER CORDIS CINCTI SERPENTE

thou abyss of sapphire! 56. i follow thee, and the waters of death fight strenu-ously against me. i pass into the waters beyond death and beyond life. 57. how shall i answer the foolish man? in no way shall he come to the identity of thee! liber cordis cincti serpente svb figvra ynda 15 58. but i am the fool that heedeth not the play of the magician. me doth the woman of the mysteries instruct in vain; i have burst the bonds of love and of power and of worship. 59. therefore is the eagle made one with the man, and the gallows of infamy dance with the fruit of the just. 60. i have descended, o my darling, into the black shining waters, and i have plucked thee forth as a black pearl of infinite preciousness. 61. i have gone down, o my god, into the abyss of the all, and i have found thee in

ou art enmeshed in the web of the magician. this he said subtly, to try him. 20. but the magister gave the sign of the magistry, and laughed back on him: o lord, o beloved, did these fingers relax on thy curls, or these eyes turn away from thine eye? 21. and adonai delighted in him exceedingly. 22. yea, o my master, thou art the beloved of the beloved one; the bennu bird is set up in phila not in vain. 23. i who was the priestess of ahathoor rejoice in your love. arise, o nile-god, and devour the holy place of the cow of heaven! let the milk of the stars be drunk up by sebek the dweller of nile! 18 liber lxv 24. arise, o serpent apep, thou art adonai the beloved one! thou art my darling and my lord, and thy poison is sweeter than the kisses of isis the mother of the gods! 25. for thou art

LIBER CXCVII STORY OF SIR PALAMEDES

esting and would away. but so feeble is he that he fleeth by night. sir palamdes, the saracen knight viii xxxvi. it hath often happened to sir palamede that he is haunted by a shadow, the which he may not recognise. but at last, in a sunlit wood, this is discovered to be a certain hunchback, who doubteth whether there be at all any beast or any quest, or if the whole life of sir palamede be not a vain illusion. him, without seeing to conquer with words, he slayeth incontinent. xxxvii. in a cave by the sea, feeding on limpets androots, sir palamede abideth, sick unto death. himseemeth the beast questeth within his own bowels; he is the beast. standing up, that he may enjoy the reward, he findeth another answer to the riddle. yet abideth in the quest. xxxviii. sir palamede is confronted by a

ng bold, disdaining song and dalliance soft, seeking one purpose to behold, and holding ever that aloft, nor fearing god, nor heeding men. so thus his hermit habit doffed sir palamede the saracen. 21 viii know ye where druid dolmens rise in wessex on the widow plain? thither sir palamedes plies the spur, and shakes the rattling rein. he questions all men of the beast. none answer. is the quest in vain? with oaken crown there comes a priest in samite robes, with hazel wand, and worships at the gilded east. ay! thither ride! the dawn beyond must run the quarry of his quest. he rode as he were wood or fond, until at night behoves him rest .he saw the gilding far behind out on the hills toward the west! with aimless fury hot and blind he flung him on a viking ship. he slew the rover, and incli

d in the glade. he wrote himself a wanton ass, and to the sea his traces laid, where many a wavelet on the glass his prowess knows. but deep and deep his futile feet in fury pass, until one billow curls to leap, and flings him breathless on the shore half drowned. o fool! his god.s asleep, sir palamedes, the saracen knight 23 his armour in illusion.s war itself illusion, all his might and courage vain. yet ardours pour through every artery. the knight scales the himalaya.s frozen sides, crowned with illimitable light, and there in constant war abides, smiting the spangles of the snow; smiting until the vernal tides of earth leap high; the steady flow of sunlight splits the icy walls: they slide, they hurl the knight below. sir palamede the mighty falls into an hollow where there dwelt a be

xcvii 30 then as sir palamede overhauls the stricken quarry, slack it droops, staggers, and final down it falls. triumph! gape wide, ye golden walls! lift up your everlasting doors, o gates of camelot! see, he swoops down on the prey! the life-blood pours: the poison works: the breath implores its livelong debt from heart and brain. alas! poor stag, thy day is done! the gallant lungs gasp loud in vain: thy life is spilt upon the plain. sir palamede is stricken numb as one who, gazing on the sun, sees blackness gather. blank and dumb, the good knight sees a thin breath come out of his proper mouth, and dart over the plain: he seeth it sure by some black magician art shape ever closer like an hart: while such a questing there resounds as god had loosed the very pit, or as a thirty couple hou

d puny men, sir palamede the saracen. 31 xiv northward the good knight gallops fast, resolved to seek his foe at home, when rose that vision of the past, the royal battlements of rome, a ruined city, and a dome. there in the broken forum sat a red-robed robber in a hat .whither away, sir knight, so fey .priest, for the dove on ararat i could not, nor i will not, stay .i know thy quest. seek on in vain a golden hart with silver horns! life springeth out of divers pains. what crown the king of kings adorns? a crown of gems? a crown of thorns! the questing beast is like a king in face, and hath a pigeon.s wing and claw; its body is one fleece of bloody white, a lamb.s in spring. enough. sir knight, i give thee peace. the knight spurs on, and soon espies a monster coursing on the plain. he hea

g grove and glimmering shrine. o ply the kiss and pour the wine! sir palamede is fairly come into a place of glowing bowers, where all the voice of time is dumb: before an altar crowned with flowers he seeth a satyr fondly dote and languish on a swan-soft goat. then he in mid-caress desires the ear of strong sir palamede .we burn. quoth he .no futile fires, nor play upon an idle reed, nor penance vain, nor fatuous prayers. the gods are ours, and we are theirs. liber cxcvii 34 sir palamedes plucks the pipe the satyr tends, and blows a trill so soft and warm, so red and ripe, that echo answers from the hill in eager and voluptuous strain, while grows upon the sounding plain a gallop, and a questing turned to one profound melodious bay. sir palamede with pleasure burned, and bowed him to the

saracen knight 71 ay! with thy wasted limbs pursue that subtle beast home to his den! who know but thou mayst win athrough, sir palamede the saracen? 72 xxxi from god.s sweet air sir palamede hath come unto a demon bog, a city where but rats may breed in sewer-stench and fetid fog. within its heart pale phantoms crawl. breathless with foolish haste they jog and jostle, all for naught! they scrawl vain things all night that they disown ere day. they call and bawl and squall hoarse cries; they moan, they groan. a stone hath better sense! and these among a cabbage-headed god they own, with wandering eye and jabbering tongue. he, rotting in that grimy sewer and charnel-house of death and dung, shrieks .how the air is sweet and pure! give me the entrails of a frog and i will teach thee! lo! the

y heart! do thus. and so the knight disguises himself, on hands and knees doth start his hunt, goes questing up and down. so in the fields the peasant clown flies, shrieking, from the dreadful figure. but when he came to any town they caged him for a lunatic. quod he .would god i had the trick! the beast escaped from my devices; i will the same. the bars are thick, but i am strong. he wrenched in vain; then.what is this? what wild, sharp strain smites on the air? the prison smashes. hark .tis the questing beast again! then as he rushes forth the note roars from that beast fs malignant throat with laughter, laughter, laughter, laughter! the wits of palamedes float sir palamedes, the saracen knight 75 in ecstasy of shame and rage .o thou. exclaims the baffled sage .how should i match thee? y

. 86 xxxviii sir palamede of great renown rode through the land upon the quest, his sword loose and his vizor down, his buckler braced, his lance in rest. now, then, god save thee, palamede! who courseth yonder on the field? those silver arms, that sable steed, the sun and rose upon his shield? the strange knight spurs to him. disdain curls that proud lip as he uplifts his vizor .come, an end! in vain, sir fox, thy thousand turns and shifts. sir palamede was white with fear. lord christ! those features were his own; his own that voice so icy clear that cuts him, cuts him to the bone .false knight! false knight. the stranger cried .thou bastard dog, sir palamede? i am the good knight fain to ride upon the questing beast at need. thief of my arms, my crest, my quest, my name, now meetest tho

LIBER CXLVIII SOLDIER AND THE HUNCHBACK

saviours of the world that we are, and answer gget thee behind me, satan! h though refraining from quoting texts or giving reasons. oho! says somebody; is aleister crowley here?.samson blinded and bound, grinding corn for the philistines? not at all, dear boy! 8 liber cxlviii we shall put all the questions that we can put.but we may find a tower built upon a rock, against which the winds beat in vain. not what christians call faith, be sure! but what (possibly) the forgers of the epistles.those eminent mystics!.meant by faith. what i call samadhi!.and as gfaith without works is dead, h so, good friends, samadhi is all humbug unless the practitioner shows the glint of its gold in his work in the world. if your mystic becomes dante, well; if tennyson, a fig for his trances! but how does thi

LIBER DCCCLX JOHN ST

t as a corpse is. it is terribly annoying, in a sense, because this condition is just the opposite of dh.rana; yet one knows that it is a stage on the way to sam.dhi. so i rise and give confidently the sign of apophis and typhon, and will then regard the reflection of the sweet october sun in the kissing waters of the fountain (p.s..i now remember that i forgot to rise and give the sign) 3.15. in vain do i regard the sun, broken up by the lips of the water into countless glittering stars.abounding, revolving, whirling forth, crying aloud1.for he whom my soul seeketh is not in these. nor is he in the fountain, eternally as it jets and falls in brilliance of dew; for i desire the dew supernal. nor is he in the still depths of the water; their lips do not meet his. nor.o my soul!.is he anywhe

hrasing chaldaan oracles, fragment 198 in westcott edition] liber dccclx 24 thou liest, o weak soul! abide in the meditation; unite all thy symbols into the form of a lion, and be lord of thy jungle, travelling through the servile universe even as mau the lion very lordly, the sun in his strength that travelleth over the heaven of nu in his bark in the midcareer of day. for all these thoughts are vain; there is but one thought, though that thought be not yet born.he only is god, and there is none other god than he! 3.30. walking home with mantra; suddenly a spasm of weeping took me as i cried through the mantra..my god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me..and i have to stop and put it down! a good thing; for it calms me. 3.45. at the dome, master of myself. the mantra goes just 30 times a m

we might try 4-8-8 to start; or even 8-8-8 (for the chariot, wherein the geburah of me rises to binah.strength winning the wings of understanding [these symbols, allusions, and references will all be found in 777..ed] 6.55. i shall now ceremonially defile the beyt allah with pig, to express in some small measure my utter disgust and indignation with allah for not doing his job properly. i say in vain .labbaik [i am here..ed] he answers .but i.m not here, old boy.another leg-pull. he little knows his man, though, if he thinks he can insult me with impunity. andre, un sandwich [beyt allah, the mosque at mecca, means .house of god..ed] 7.05. i shall stop mantra while i eat, so as to concentrate (a) on the chewing (b) on defiling the house of god. not so easy! the damned thing runs on like a

and the the vision. why am i so materially wallowing in grossness? it matters little; the fact remains that i do wallow. i want that definite experience in the very same sense as abramelin had it; and what fs more, i mean to go on till i get it. john st. john 29 12.34. i begin, therefore, in hanged man posture, to invoke the angel, within the pyramid already duly prepared by 671. 12.57. alas! in vain have i tried even the supreme ritual of awaiting the beloved, although once i thought.ah! give unto thy beloved in sleep! how ashamed i should be, though! for an earthly lover one would be on tiptoe of excitement, trembling at every sound, eager, afraid. i will, however, rise and open (as for a symbol) the door and the window. oh that the door of my heart were ever open! for he is always ther

ess. i will again revise the new ritual, dine, return and copy it fair for use. let adonai the lord oversee the work, that it be perfect, a sure link with him, a certain and infallible conjuration, and spell, and working of true magick art, that i may invoke him with success whenever seemeth good unto him. unto him; not unto me! is it not written that except adonai build the house, they labour in vain that build it? 6.15. chez lavenue. not feeling like revision, will read through this record. my dinner is to be bisque d.ecrevisses, tournedos rossini, a coupe jack, half a bottle of meursault, and coffee. all should now acquit adepts of the charge of not knowing how to do themselves well. 7.20. dinner over, i return to mantra-yoga. one may note that i expected the wine to have an excessive e

as when he maketh ascent to divine speculations or works, in a confused or disordered manner, and (as the oracle adds) with unhallowed lips, or 1 [a colour facsimile of the illuminated ms. of this ritual was printed in equinox iv (1, commentaries on the holy books and other papers (1996] liber dccclx 56 unwashed feet. for of those who are thus negligent the progress in imperfect, the impulses are vain, and the paths are dark..1 7.40. chez lavenue. bisque d.ecrevisses, demi-perdreau a la gelee, cepes bordelaise, coupe jack. demi clos du roi. i am sure i made a serious mistake in the beginning of this operation of magick art. i ought to have performed a true equilibration by an hour.s pr.n.y.ma in .sana (even if i had to do it without kumbhaka) at midnight, dawn, noon, and sunset, and i shou

at i am not going to be content with what would content them. in other words, i am going to define .the knowledge and conversation of my holy guardian angel. as equal to neroda-samapatti, the trance of nibbana. i hope i shall be able to live up to this! 11.55. have been practising .sana, etc. i forgot one thing in the last entry: i had been reproaching adonai that for six days i had evoked him in vain. i got the reply .the seventh day shall be the sabbath of the lord thy god. so mote it be! the seventh day. 12.17. i began this great day with eight breath-cycles; was stopped by the indigestion trouble in its other form (p.s..evidently the introduction of the cascara into my sensitive aura made its action instantaneous) my breathing passages were none too clear, either; i have evidently take

the chorus of purification of .liber pyramidos .assain. approx .clean, purify, disinfect .assoil. an archaic form of .absolve. e.g. to release from a debt or obligation, acquit of a criminal charge, etc] 2 [general paralysis of the insane] liber dccclx 104 night, as chill is doubtless the chief cause. it is really extraordinary how the smallest success awakes a monstrous horde of egoistic devils, vain, strutting peacocks, preening and screaming! this is simply damnable. egoism is the spur of all energy, in a way; and in this particular case it is the one thing that is not adonai (whatever else may be) and so the antithesis of the work. bricks without straw, indeed! that fs nothing to it. this job is like being asked to judge a band contest and being told that one may do anything but listen

LIBER DCLXXI VEL PYRAMIDOS

s my heart? i am unfit to pass within this pylon of the hall of maat (rubric as before) the lustral water! let thy flood cleanse me.lymph, marrow, and blood! the scourge, the dagger and the chain purge body, breast and brain! the fire informing! let the oil balance, assain, assoil! still, in corpse-position: for i am come with all this pain to ask admission to the shrine. i know not why. i ask in vain unless it be that i am thine. i am mentu his truth-telling brother, who was master of thebes from my birth. o heart of me! heart of my mother! o heart that i had upon earth! stand not thou up against me, a witness! oppose me not, judge, in my quest! 6 liber dclxxi accuse me not now of unfitness before the great god, the dread lord of the west (change this part to your own motto. work the scan

wings! i am so fickle that i scorn the bridle. i am under the shadow of the wings! i am unchaste, voluptuous and idle. i am under the shadow of the wings! i am a bully and a tyrant crass, i am under the shadow of the wings! i am as dull and as stubborn as an ass, i am under the shadow of the wings! i am untrusty, cruel and insane, i am under the shadow of the wings! i am a fool and frivolous and vain. i am under the shadow of the wings! i am a weakling and a coward; i cringe, vel pyramidos 7 i am under the shadow of the wings! i am a catamite and cunnilinge. i am under the shadow of the wings! i am a glutton, a besotted wight; i am under the shadow of the wings! i am a satyr and a sodomite. i am under the shadow of the wings! i am as changeful and selfish as the sea. i am under the shadow

LIBER LIBERI VEL LAPIDIS LAZULI

ed the god. bacchus! thou art the lover of my god! 15. i who was priest of ammon-ra, who saw the nile flow by for many moons, for many, many moons, am the young fawn of the grey land. 16. i will set up my dance in your conventicles, and my secret loves shall be sweet among you. 17. thou shalt have a lover among the lords of the grey land. 18. this shall he bring unto thee, without which all is in vain; a man fs life spilt for thy love upon mine altars. 19. amen. 20. let is be soon, o god, my god! i ache for thee, i wander very lonely among the mad folk, in the grey land of desolation. 21. thou shalt set up the abominable thing of wickedness. oh joy! to lay that corner-stone. 22. it shall stand erect upon the high mountain; only my god shall commune with it. 23. i will build it of a single

on engraven upon the earth; and we beheld the horses of the sea that flame about the old grey land, and the foam from their nostrils enlightens us! 30. ah! but i love thee, god! 31. thou art like a moon upon the ice-world. svb figvra vii 25 32. thou art like the dawn of the utmost snows upon the burnt-up flats of the tiger fs land. 33. by silence and by speech do i worship thee. 34. but all is in vain. 35. only thy silence and thy speech that worship me avail. 36. wail, o ye folk of the grey land, for we have drunk your wine, and left ye but the bitter dregs. 37. yet from these we will distil ye a liquor beyond the nectar of the gods. 38. there is value in our tincture for a world of spice and gold. 39. for our red powder of projection is beyond all possibilities. 40. there are few men; th

LIBER LVII

angel of light, it behoves the prodigal to have some test of truth. some great mystics have laid down the law .accept no messenger of god. banish all, until at last the father himself comes forth. a counsel of perfection. the father himself does send messengers, as we learn in st. mark xii; and if we stone them, we may perhaps in our blindness stone the son himself when he is sent. so that is no vain counsel of .st. john (1 john iv. 1 .try the spirits, whether they be of god. no mistake when .st. paul. 4 liber lviii claims the discernment of spirits to be a principal point of the armour of salvation (1 cor. xii. 10. now how should frater p. or another test the truth of any message purporting to come from the most high? on the astral plane, its phantoms are easily governed by the pentagram

LIBER LXI VEL CAUSAE

t period. it has throughout proved impossible to elucidate the complex facts. we content ourselves, then, with observing that the death of one of his two colleages, and the weakness of the other, secured to s.r.m.d. the sole authority. the rituals were elaborated, though scholarly enough, into verbose and pretentious nonsense: the knowledge proved worthless even where it was correct: for it is in vain that pearls, be they never to clear and precious, are given to the swine. the ordeals were turned into contempt, it being impossible for anyone to fail therein. unsuitable candidates were admitted for no better reason than that of their worldly prosperity. in short, the order failed to initiate. 12. scandal arose, and with it schism. 13. in 1900, one p, a brother, instituted a rigorous test o

LIBER LXVII THE SWORD OF SONG

lure. and from his final pronouncement of the pope on guido, represented in browning.s masterpiece as a judas without the decency to hang himself .so (i.e, by suddenness of fate) may the truth be flashed out by one blow, and guido see one instant and be saved. else i avert my face nor follow him into that sad obscure sequestered state where god unmakes but to remake the soul he else made first in vain: which must not be* probably a record for a bishop..a.c. this may be purgatory, but it sounds not unlike reincarnation. it is at least a denial of the doctrine of eternal punishment. as for myself, i took the first step years ago, quite in ignorance of what the last would lead to. god is indeed cut away. a cancer from the breast of truth. of those philosophers, who from unassailable premisses

it? and, swift as caddies pat and cap a tee, gain the great prize all mortals snap at, he- roic guerdon of srotapatti ?35 with calm and philsophic mind, no fears, no hopes, devotions blind to hamper, soberly we.ll state the problem, and investigate in purely scientific mood the sheer ananke of the mind, a temper for our steel to find whereby those brazen nails subdued against our door-post may in vain ring. we.ll examine, to be plain, by logic.s intellectual prism the spiritual syllogism. we know what fools (only) call divine and supernatural and what they name material are really one, not two, the line by which divide they and define being a shadowy sort of test; a verbal lusus at the best, at worst a wicked lie devised to bind men.s thoughts; but we must work with our own instruments, no

e to term it, though! i gather that you do not know; merely infer it) here.s a test! what in your whole life is the best of all your memories? they say you paint.i think you should one day take me to seek your studio. tell me, when all your work goes right, painted to match some inner light, what of the outer world you know! surely, your best work always finds itself sole object of the mind.s. in vain you ply the brush, distracted by something you have heard or acted. expect some tedious visitor. your eye runs furtive to the door; your hand refuses to obey; you throw the useless brush away. i think i hear the word you say! i practice then, with conscious power watching my mind, each thought controlling, hurling to nothingness, while rolling the thunders after lightning.s flower* see his re

ial manner of my mind! aum! let us meditate aright on that adorable one light, divine savitri! so may she illume our minds! so mote it be! 795 800 805 810 815 christian mystics not true christians. what think ye of crowley? his interlocuter dismissed, not with a jest, but with a warning. poet yawns. aum! 43 notes to ascension day and pentecost .blind chesterton is sure to err, and scan my work in vain; i am my own interpreter, and i will make it plain. note to introduction 1 william shakespeare an appreciation by aleister crowley* it is a lamentable circumstance that so many colossal brains (w. h. mallock &c) have been hitherto thrown away in attacking what is after all a problem of mere academic interest, the authorship of the plays our fathers accepted as those of shakespeare. to me it s

tone; he uses his folly as a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit. here, however, the mask is thrown off for any but the utterly besotted; edmund.s speech stands up in the face of all time as truth; it challenges the acclamation of the centuries. edmund is then the hero; more, he is shakespeare.s own portrait of himself; his ways are dark.(and, alas! his tricks are vain).for why? for the fear of the conventional world about him. he is illegitimate: shakespeare is no true child of that age, but born in defiance of it and its prejudices. having taken this important step, let us slew round the rest of the play to fit it. if it fits, the law of probability comes to our aid; every coincidence multiplies the chance of our correctness in increasing proportion. we s

, the flood for mortal.s sin.icthyosaurian waterloo! they eyed the sage askew; they searched him through and through with violet rays actinic they asked him .wer bist du. he answered slowly .bin ich. 387. the fish.58.because of .cquj, which means fish, and very aptly symbolises christ. ring and book (the pope, ll. 89, 90. 395. dharma.59.consult the tripitaka. 409. i cannot trace the chain.60..how vain, indeed, are human calculations..the autobiography of a flea, p. 136. 412. table-thing.61..ere the stuff grow a ring-thing right to wear..the ring and the book, i. 17 .this pebble-thing, o. the boy-thing .calverly, the cock and the bull. 442. caird.62.see his .hegel. 446. says huxley.63.see .ethics and evolu-tion. 459. igdrasil.64.the otz chiim of the scandinavians. 467. ladies league.65.mrs

ic. but mr. crowley is a strong and genuine poet, and we have little doubt that he will work up from his appreciation of the temple of osiris to that loftier and wider work of the human imagination, the appreciation of the brixton chapel. g. k. chesterton. 778, 779. the rest of life, for self-control, for liberation of the soul.81 who said rats? thanks for your advice, tony veller, but it came in vain. as the ex-monk (that shook the bookstall) wrote in confidence to the publisher. existence is mis.ry i. th. month tisri* joseph mccabe, who became a rationalist writer. the allusion is to crowley.s marriage and subsequent return to the east. at th. fu. o. th. moon i were shot wi. a goon (goon is no scots, but greek, meester watts) we.re awa. tae burma, whaur th. groond be firmer tae speer th

him. you tie him down and chloroform him. you do not pray to thoth or horus, but make one dash for his pylorus. and if ten years elapse, and he complains .o doctor, pity me! your cruel .ands, for goodness sakes gave me such .orrid stomach-aches. 68 the sword of song you write him, with a face of flint, an order for some soda-mint. so yoga. life.s a carcinoma, its cause uncertain, not to check. in vain you cry to isis .o ma! i.ve got it fairly in the neck. the surgeon crowley, with his trocar, says you a poor but silly bloke are, advises concentration.s knife quick to the horny growth called life .yoga? there.s danger in the biz! but, it.s the only chance there is (for life, if left alone, is sorrow, and only fools hope god.s to-morrow) up, guards, and at em! second, your facts are neatly p

al magic that toyed. granted. astronomy.s no myth, but it produced piazzi smyth. what crazes actors? why do surgeons go mad and cut up men like sturgeons (the questions are the late chas. spurgeon .s) of yogi i could quote you hundreds in science, law, art, commerce noted. they fear no lunacy: their on dread.s not for their noddles doom-devoted. they are not like black bulls (that shunned reds in vain) that madly charge the goathead of rural pan, because some gay puss had smeared with blood his stone priapus. they are as sane as politicians and people who subscribe to missions. this says but little; a long way are yogi more sane that such as they are. you have conceived your dreadful bogey, from seeing many a raving yogi. these haunt your clinic; but the sound lurk in an unsuspected ground

power, his very life, was so high and holy that the evil spirit could perceive it not .avaunt. he shrieked .false soul of darkness. and the crystal flashed up red, the swarthy red of hate in a man.s cheek, and darkened utterly .foaming at the fouth the wretched jehjaour clutched at air and fell prone. iii .to what god should he appeal? his own, hanuman, was silent. sacrifice, prayer, all were in vain. so jehjaour gnashed his teeth, and his whole force went out in a mighty current of hate towards his former friend. 1 allan macgregor bennett (whose motto in the .hermetic order of the golden dawn. was iehi aour, i.e .let there be light, now ananda metteya, to whom the volume in which this story was issued is inscribed. 2 taphtatharath [sic, s.b. taphthartharath. t.s, the spirit of mercury .n

LIBER LXXVIII

of the name in each suit: the mighty son of the king and queen, who realizes the influence of both scales of force. a prince, the son of a king and queen, yet a prince of princes, and a king of kings: an emperor whose effect is at once rapid (though not so swift as that of the queen) and enduring. it is, therefore, symbolized by a figure borne in a chariot, and clothed in armour. yet is his power vain and illusionary, unless set in motion by his father and mother. the four princesses are the knaves of the tarot pack; the four princesses or figures of amazons, standing firmly of themselves: neither riding upon horses, nor seated upon thrones, nor borne in chariots. they represent the forces of the he final of the name in each suit, completing the influences of the other scales: the mighty a

LIBER PORTA LUCIS

ht of his friends in the valley, so must the adept seem. they shall say: he is lost in the clouds. but he shall rejoice in the sunlight above them, and come to the eternal snows. 16. or as a scholar may learn some secret language of the ancients, his friends shall say: glook! he pretends to read this book. but it is unintelligibile.it is nonsense. h yet he delights in the odyssey, while they read vain and vulgar things. 17. we shall bring you to absolute truth, absolute light, absolute bliss. 18. many adepts throughout the ages have sought to do this; but their words have been perverted by their successors, and again and again the veil has fallen upon the holy of holies. 19. to you who yet wander in the court of the profane we cannot reveal all; but you will easily understand that the reli

LIBER TZADDI

e poor, the tearful.these are mine enemies, and i am come to destroy them. svb figvra xc 3 26. this also is compassion: an end to the sickness of earth. a rooting-out of the weeds: a watering of the flowers. 27. o my children, ye are more beautiful than the flowers: ye must not fade in your season. 28. i love you; i would sprinkle you with the divine dew of immortality. 29. this immortality is no vain hope beyond the grave: i offer you the certain consciousness of bliss. 30. i offer it at once, on earth; before an hour hath struck upon the bell, ye shallbe with me in the abodes that are beyond decay. 31. also i give you power earthly and joy earthly; wealth, and health, and length of days. adoration and love shall cling to your feet, and twine around your heart. 32. only your mouths shall

LIBER XLI THIEN TAO

the dial of juju fs chronometer, so that no shadow of distrust or annoyance clouded the rapture of that supreme event. iii( gthe manifesting of simplicity. h) gwhat, h said juju, go great tao, do you recommend as a remedy for the ills of my unhappy country? h the sage replied as follows: go mighty and magniloquent daimio, your aristocracy is not an aristocracy because it is not an aristocracy. in vain you seek to alter this circumstance by paying the noxious vermin of the dai li pai pur to write fatuous falsehoods maintaining that your aristocracy is an aristocracy because it is an aristocracy. thien tao; or, the synagogue of satan 9 gas heracleitus overcame the antinomy of xenophanes and parmenides, melissus and the eleatic zeno, the ens and the non-ens by his becoming, so let me say to y

LIBER XXXIII AN ACCOUNT OF AA

for entrance. any man can look for the entrance, and any man who is within can teach another to seek for it; but only he who is fit can arrive within. unprepared men occasion disorder in a community, and disorder is not compatible with the sanctuary. thus it is impossible to profane the sanctuary, since admission is not formal but real. 6 liber xxxiii worldly intelligence seeks this sanctuary in vain; fruitless also will be the efforts of malice to penetrate these great mysteries; all is indecipherable to him who is not ripe; he can see nothing, read nothing in the interior. he who is fit is joined to the chain, perhaps often where he though least likely, and at a point of which he knew nothing himself. to become fit should be the sole effort of him who seeks wisdom. but there are methods

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

rtal poet writes "full in the midst of this infernal road, an elm displays her dusky arms abroad; the god of sleep there hides his heavy head and empty dreams on ev'ry leaf are spread. of various forms, unnumber'd specters more; centaurs, and double shapes, besiege the door: before the passage horrid hydra stands, and briareus with all his hundred hands: gorgons, geryon with his triple frame; and vain chim ra vomits empty flame. the chief unsheath'd his shining steel, prepar'd, tho seiz'd with sudden fear, to force the guard. off'ring his brandish'd weapon at their face, had not the sibyl stop'd his eager pace, and told him what those empty phantoms were; forms without bodies, and impassive air" p. 17 even though neo-platonism was to intervene and many centuries pass before this emphasis t

three stages of thought. the first and lowest stage is theological; the second, metaphysical; and the third and highest, positive. thus theology and metaphysics are the feeble intellectual efforts of humanity's child-mind and positivism is the mental expression of the adult intellect. in his cours de philosophie positive, comte writes "in the final, the positive state, the mind has given over the vain search after absolute notions, the origin and destination of the universe, and the causes of phenomena, and applies itself to the study of their laws--that is, their invariable relations of succession and resemblance. reasoning and observation, duly combined, are the means of this knowledge" comte's theory is described as an "enormous system of materialism" according to comte, it was formerly

portcullis which had fallen into a position barring their progress, and attacked and removed one after another the granite plugs which for a while continued to slide down the passage leading from the queen's chamber above. finally no more blocks descended and the way was clear for the followers of the prophet. but where were the treasures? from room to room the frantic workmen rushed, looking in vain for loot. the discontent of the moslems reached such a height that caliph al mamoun--who had inherited much of the wisdom of his illustrious father, the caliph al raschid--sent to bagdad for funds, which he caused to be secretly buried near the entrance of the pyramid. he then ordered his men to dig at that spot and great was their rejoicing when the treasure was discovered, the workmen being

ltar between the paws are much later additions, probably roman, for it is known that the romans reconstructed many egyptian antiquities. the shallow depression in the crown of the head, once thought to be the terminus of a closed up passageway leading from the sphinx to the great pyramid, was merely intended to help support a headdress now missing. metal rods have been driven into the sphinx in a vain effort to discover chambers or passages within its body. the major part of the sphinx is a single stone, but the front paws have been built up of smaller stones. the sphinx is about 200 feet long, 70 feet high, and 38 feet wide across the shoulders. the main stone from which it was carved is believed by some to have been transported from distant quarries by methods unknown, while others asser

which, when found, is the consummation of the magnum opus. the holy cup can be discovered only by those who have raised themselves above the limitations of sensuous existence. in his mystic poem, the vision of sir launfal, james russell lowell discloses the true nature of the holy grail by showing that it is visible only to a certain state of spiritual consciousness. only upon returning from the vain pursuit of haughty ambition did the aged and broken knight see in the transformed leper's cup the glowing chalice of his lifelong dream. some writers trace a similarity between the grail legend and the stories of the martyred sun gods whose blood, descending from heaven into the earth, was caught in the cup of matter and liberated therefrom by the initiatory rites. the holy grail may also be

herwise. p. 159 "it is expedient that every man should labor for this treasure by the assistance of god, and his own particular search and industry. but the perverse intentions of these fellows we understand out of their own writings, by the singular grace and revelation of god. we do stop our ears, and wrap ourselves as it were in clouds, to avoid the bellowings and howlings of those men, who in vain cry out for gold. and hence indeed it comes to pass that they brand us with infinite calumnies and slanders, which notwithstanding we do not resent but god in his good time will judge them for it. but after that we had well known (though unknown to you) and perceived also by your writing how diligently you are to peruse the holy scripture, and seek the true knowledge of god: we have also abov

ruly spiritual state. click to enlarge leaf 17. the verse at the top of the page reads "not only must this material be fixed, but it must be allowed to enter into everything so that this material may be well completed and have infinite virtue. then by making it thick, it becomes at once all white, sublimation from white it becomes shining" above the sun are the words "god and nature do nothing in vain" the man on the left is a medi val conception of hermes, the great egyptian philosopher; the one on the right is christopher, the philosopher of paris. above the latter is written "if the stone is black, it is not useless" the words over the retort are "there is air, fire, water, and earth" below is added "a dissolution of the body is the first step" the curious chemical apparatus must be con

here the "ice-grey locks" were cut from the crown of his head by invisible barbers, after which he was ushered into a spacious hall where a goodly number of kings, princes, and commoners were assembled. at the sound of trumpets each seated himself at the table, taking a position corresponding to his dignity, so that c.r.c. received a very humble seat. most of the pseudo-philosophers present being vain pretenders, the banquet became an orgy, which, however, suddenly ceased at the sound of click to enlarge title page of 1616 edition of chymische hochzeit: christian rosencreutz. from rosencreutz' chemical marriage. the most remarkable of all the publications involved in the rosicrucian controversy is that of the chemical marriage, published in strasbourg. this work, which is very rare, should

ansmutes the impulses received from them. he who masters the seven worlds and is reunited with the divine source of his own nature consummates the hermetic marriage. next: bacon, shakspere, and the rosicrucians sacred texts esoteric index previous next p. 165 bacon, shakspere, and the rosicrucians the present consideration of the bacon--shakspere--rosicrucian controversy is undertaken not for the vain purpose of digging up dead men's bones but rather in the hope that a critical analysis will aid in the rediscovery of that knowledge lost to the world since the oracles were silenced. it was w. f. c. wigston who called the bard of avon "phantom captain shakespeare, the rosicrucian mask" this constitutes one of the most significant statements relating to the bacon-shakspere controversy. it is

the desert. in its symbolism, which and its spirit of brotherhood are its essence, freemasonry is more ancient than any of the world's living religions. it has the symbols and doctrines which, older than himself, zarathustra inculcated; and ii seemed to me a spectacle sublime, yet pitiful--the ancient faith of our ancestors holding out to the world its symbols once so eloquent, and mutely and in vain asking for an interpreter. and so i came at last to see that the true greatness and majesty of freemasonry consist in its proprietorship of these and its other symbols; and that its symbolism is its soul" though the temples of thebes and karnak be now but majestic heaps of broken and time-battered stone, the spirit: of egyptian philosophy still marches triumphant through the centuries. though

MASTERING WITCHCRAFT

ur sorcery in good and earnest. so practise dropping the occasional portentous hints about your magic, never of course being too explicit, but always striving to convey just enough to activate people's curiosities without making them too sceptical. of course, you will have to be selective with what you say to people. not everyone is susceptible to the same pitch. with some, after being pressed in vain to say more, you may find yourself confronted with the retort "well, don't tell us if you don't want to; see if we care" but they do. and it has aroused their interests sufficiently for them to expend energy on an emotion of petulance. the worst kind of response to your engineered secrecy is one of "oh, really. did i tell you about that movie i saw the other day" so be discriminating with you

MATHERS MACGREGOR THE GREATER KEY OF SOLOMON VOL 1

receive my sayings, and learn the wonders of god. for, on a certain night, when i laid me down to sleep, i called upon that most holy name of god, iah, and prayed for the ineffable wisdom, and when i was beginning to close mine eyes, the angel of the lord, even homadiel, appeared unto me, spake many things courteously unto me, and said: listen o solomon! thy prayer before the most high is not in vain, and since thou hast asked neither for long life, nor for much riches, nor for the souls of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself wisdom to perform justice. thus saith the lord: according to thy word have i given unto thee a wise and understanding heart, so that before thee was none like unto thee, nor ever shall arise. and when i comprehended the speech which was made unto me, i understo

to thy word have i given unto thee a wise and understanding heart, so that before thee was none like unto thee, nor ever shall arise. and when i comprehended the speech which was made unto me, i understood that in me was the knowledge of all creatures, both things which are in the heavens and things which are beneath the heavens; and i saw that all the writings and wisdom of this present age were vain and futile, and that no man was perfect. and i composed a certain work wherein i rehearsed the secret of secrets, in which i have preserved them hidden, and i have also therein concealed all secrets whatsoever of magical arts of any masters; any secret or experiments, namely, of these sciences which is in any way worth being accomplished. also i have written them in this key, so that like as

rs, others to inhabit the elements, others to aid and direct men, and others again to sing continually the book one page 7 praises of the lord. thou mayest then, by the use of their seals and characters, render them familiar unto thee, provided that thou abusest not this privilege by demanding from them things which are contrary to their nature; for accursed be he who will take the name of god in vain, and who will employ for evil purposes the knowledge and good wherewith he hath enriched us. i command thee, my son, to carefully engrave in thy memory all that i say unto thee, in order that it may never leave thee. if thou dost not intend to use for a good purpose the secrets which i here teach thee, l command thee rather to cast this testament into the fire, than to abuse the power thou wi

ught to perfection without the circle; and in order to accomplish this perfectly it is necessary to take note of all the preparations which the master of the art and his disciples must undertake before constructing the circle. before commencing operations both the master and his disciples must abstain with great and thorough continence during the space of nine days from sensual pleasures and from vain and foolish conversation; as plainly appeareth in the second book, chapter 4. six of the days having expired, he must recite frequently the prayer and confession as will be told him; and on the seventh day, the master being alone, let him enter into a secret place, let him take off his clothes, and bathe himself from head to foot in consecrated and exorcised water, saying devoutly and humbly

tead of aiding those who demanded help from me, by refusing to give ear unto the cry of the poor, by not respecting the aged, by not keeping my word, by disobedience to my parents, by ingratitude towards those from whom i have received kindness, by indulgence in sensual pleasures, by irreverent behaviour in the temple of god, by unseemly gestures thereat, by entering therein without reverence, by vain and unprofitable discourse when there, by despising the sacred vessels of the temple, by turning the holy ceremonies into ridicule, by touching and eating the sacred bread with impure lips and with profane hands, and by the neglect of my prayers and adorations. i detest also the crimes which i have committed by evil thoughts, vain and impure meditations, false suspicions, and rash judgments;

ich i have readily given unto the advice of the wicked, by lust of impure and sensual pleasures; by my idle words, my lies, and my deceit; by my false vows in various ways; and by my continual slander and calumny. i detest also the crimes which i have committed within; the treachery and discord which i have incited; my curiosity, greed, false speaking, violence, malediction, murmurs, blasphemies, vain words, insults, dissimulations; my sins against god by the transgression of the ten commandments, by neglect of my duties and obligations, and by want of love towards god and towards my neighbour. furthermore i hate the sins which i have committed in all my senses, by sight, by hearing, by taste, by smell, and by touch, in every way that human weakness can offend the creator; by my carnal tho

ayest in no way fail, and that thus what shall have previously appeared to thee difficult and lengthy, may become in process of time easy and of very great use. figure 3. a circle for the consecration of pentacles the key of solomon page 42 i am about to endow thee with many secrets, which i charge thee never to employ for an evil purpose, for accursed be he who taketh the name of almighty god in vain; but thou mayest without any other ceremonies make use of them, provided that, as i have already said, thou hast only the glory of eternal god for thine object. thus, after having taught thee all the ceremonies which concern the manner of performing the operations, i am at length determined to make thee a partaker in the secrets of which i have particular knowledge, unknown to this day unto t

ysteries. above all things, remember that to perform any of these operations thou must be pure in body and mind, and without blemish, and omit not any of the preparations. this key, full of mysteries, hath been revealed unto me by an angel. accursed be he who undertaketh our art without having the qualities requisite to thoroughly understand our key, accursed be he who invoketh the name of god in vain, for such an one prepareth for himself the punishments which await the unbelievers, for god shall abandon them and relegate them unto the depths of hell amongst the impure spirits. for god is great and immutable, he hath been for ever, and he shall remain even unto the end of the ages. accursed be he who taketh the name of god in vain! accursed be he who useth this knowledge unto an evil end

MATHERS MACGREGOR THE GREATER KEY OF SOLOMON VOL 2

ated from all my past sins by this water, that so no uncleanness may appear upon me in thy presence. after this thou shalt entirely immerse thyself in the water, and thou shalt dry thyself with a towel of clean white linen, and then thou shalt put upon thy flesh the garments of pure white linen whereof we shall speak hereafter. hereafter, for three days at least, thou shalt abstain from all idle, vain, and impure reasonings, and from every kind of impurity and sin, as will be shown in the chapter of fast and of vigil. each day shalt thou recite the following prayer, at least once in the morning, twice about noon, thrice in the afternoon, four times in the evening, and five times before lying down to sleep; this shalt thou do on the three ensuing days: book two page 87 the prayer. herachio

ing previously arranged all things which it is necessary to observe and practise; from the first day of the experiment, it is absolutely necessary to ordain and to prescribe care and observation, to abstain from all things unlawful, and from every kind of impiety, impurity, wickedness, or immodesty, as well of body as of soul; as, for example, eating and drinking superabundantly, and all sorts of vain words, buffooneries, slanders, calumnies, and other useless discourse; but instead to do good deeds, speak honestly, keep a strict decency in all things, never lose sight of modesty in walking, in conversation, in eating and drinking, and in all things; the which should he principally done and observed for nine days, before the commencement of the operation. the disciples should do the same

MATHERS MACGREGOR THE LESSER KEY OF SOLOMON LEMEGETON VOL 3

towards the north at the 1st& 8th. hours of the day& at night at the 3rd& 10th. hours. they appear like kings having green& silver robes or like little children or women delighting in hunting. so in the next place, we are to observe the season of the year according to the constellations of the celestial bodies, otherwise we shall loose our labor, for if a genijs be of the igneal hierarchy its in vain to observe him in any other season but when the enters these signs which is of his nature, that is. so if it be a genij of the earth, he is to be observed when the enters& so the like in the rest. otherwise thus: those genijs that are of the order of fire are to be observed in the summer quarter& those of the earth in autumn, those of the air in spring& those of the water in winter quarter. t

MEANING OF MASONRY

g the presumptuous engaging in the things with which initiation deals. as the flaming sword is described as keeping the way to the tree of life from those as yet unfitted to approach it, so does the secret law of the spirit still avenge itself upon those who are unqualified to participate in the knowledge of its mysteries. hence the commandment" thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain" that is by invoking divine energy for unworthy or vain purposes. here, and upon the general subject of the signs, tokens and words employed and communicated in initiatory rites, may usefully be quoted the following words by a well-informed mason, who is of course speaking of them not as the merely perfunctory acts they are in ordinary lodges, but as they are when intelligently employed by th

MICHAEL FORD BOOK OF CAIN

nd a great shadow emerged from its very flesh this shadow, black as pitch arose and took the form of a bearded king, saying in a comely voice- my son, what do you ask of me? my father, i grow weary, little food and water, i am confused, cold and scared. shall you not guide me? i said with innate honesty. cain, you grow so close yet you are honest with me what if i told you that your journey is in vain, and your mother and foreseen concubine lay beyond the veil of death? i grew angry unto this dragon, who i called father and said then i shall walk the path of fire my self, yet she calls unto me nonetheless. i will not resign although i am tired and cold. you shall not bend me! even if i must face darkness in eternity alone, i shall! this dragon grew in its surrounding flames and the king tr

MICHAEL TSARION ATLANTIS ALIEN VISITATION AND GENETIC MANIPULATION

en visitation, and genetic manipulation179 appendix b: book abstracts natural selection not able to be studiedas natural selection or differential reproduction is such an important mechanism, you might expect tofind a large body of technical literature on the subject, with many detailed studies and observations fromthe natural world. regrettably, you will search the worlds scientific libraries in vain for such studiesbecause it turns out thatnatural selection cannot be studied in any experimental way (p. 123)survival of the fittest?how do we measure or evaluate the fitness of an animal or plant? by its capacity to survive say darwin-ists. how is survival measured? by the number of offspring left. so, fitness means breeding success.but, survival is also measured by breeding success (p. 123)

MORALS AND DOGMA

face in a glass, for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was; but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his work. if any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being an abstraction. a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. the devils believe--and tremble. as the body without the heart is dead, so is faith without works* in political science, also, free governments are erected and free constitutions framed, upon some simple and intelligible theory. upon whatever theory they are based, no sound conclus

o the mass of mankind. when solon was asked if he had given his countrymen the _best_ laws, he answered_"the best they are capable of receiving_ this is one of the profoundest utterances on record; and yet like all great truths, so simple as to be rarely comprehended. it contains the whole philosophy of history. it utters a truth which, had it been recognized, would have saved men an immensity of vain, idle disputes, and have led them into the clearer paths of knowledge in the past. it means this--that all truths are _truths of period, and not truths for eternity; that whatever great fact has had strength and vitality enough to make itself real, whether of religion, morals, government, or of whatever else, and to find place in this world, has been a truth _for the time, and as good as men

eiving. so, too, with great men. the intellect and capacity of a people has a single measure--that of the great men whom providence gives it, and whom it _receives. there have always been men too great for their time or their people. every people makes _such_ men only its idols, as it is capable of comprehending. to impose ideal truth or law upon an incapable and merely _real_ man, must ever be a vain and empty speculation. the laws of sympathy govern in this as they do in regard to men who are put at the head. we do not know, as yet, what qualifications the sheep insist on in a leader. with men who are too high intellectually, the mass have as little sympathy as they have with the stars. when burke, the wisest statesman england ever had, rose to speak, the house of commons was depopulated

more diffuse stream. the ornamentation that does not cover strength is the gewgaws of babble. neither is dialectic subtlety valuable to public men. the christian faith has it, had it formerly more than now; a subtlety that might have entangled plato, and which has rivalled in a fruitless fashion the mystic lore of jewish rabbis and indian sages. it is not this which converts the heathen. it is a vain task to balance the great thoughts of the earth, like hollow straws, on the finger-tips of disputation. it is not this kind of warfare which makes the cross triumphant in the hearts of the unbelievers; but the actual power that lives in the faith. so there is a political scholasticism that is merely useless. the dexterities of subtle logic rarely stir the hearts of the people, or convince the

-founded and incorrect. the alteration from symbol to dogma is fatal to beauty of expression, and leads to intolerance and assumed infallibility* if, in teaching the great doctrine of the divine nature of the soul, and in striving to explain its longings after immortality, and in proving its superiority over the souls of the animals, which have no aspirations heavenward, the ancients struggled in vain to express the _nature_ of the soul, by comparing it to fire and light, it will be well for us to consider whether, with all our boasted knowledge, we have any better or clearer idea of its nature, and whether we have not despairingly taken refuge in having none at all. and if they erred as to its original place of abode, and understood literally the mode and path of its descent, these were b

despairingly taken refuge in having none at all. and if they erred as to its original place of abode, and understood literally the mode and path of its descent, these were but the accessories of the great truth, and probably, to the initiates, mere allegories, designed to make the idea more palpable and impressive to the mind. they are at least no more fit to be smiled at by the self-conceit of a vain ignorance, the wealth of whose knowledge consists solely in words, than the _bosom_ of abraham, as a home for the _spirits_ of the just dead; the gulf of actual fire, for the eternal torture of _spirits; and the city of the new jerusalem, with its walls of jasper and its edifices of pure gold like clear glass, its foundations of precious stones, and its gates each of a single pearl "i knew a

l become a lie, being cousin-german to it when uttered, and yet capable of being explained away--who is there that has not seen these low arts and base appliances put into practice, and becoming general, until success cannot be surely had by any more honorable means--the result being a state ruled and ruined by ignorant and shallow mediocrity, pert self-conceit, the greenness of unripe intellect, vain of a school-boy's smattering of knowledge. the faithless and the false in public and in political life, will be faithless and false in private. the jockey in politics, like the jockey on the race-course, is rotten from skin to core. everywhere he will see first to his own interests, and whoso leans on him will be pierced with a broken reed. his ambition is ignoble, like himself; and therefore

d into any living ear his anti-papal and treasonable doctrines, wrote them on parchment, and sealing up the perilous record, hid it in the massive walls of his monastery. there was no friend or brother to whom he could intrust his secret or pour forth his soul. it was some consolation to imagine that in a future age some one might find the parchment, and the seed be found not to have been sown in vain. what if the truth should have to lie dormant as long before germinating as the wheat in the egyptian mummy? speak it, nevertheless, again and again, and let it take its chance! the rose of jericho grows in the sandy deserts of arabia and on the syrian housetops. scarcely six inches high, it loses its leaves after the flowering season, and dries up into the form of a ball. then it is uprooted

othing should be allowed to interfere with that kindness and affection: neither the spirit of business, absorbing, eager, and overreaching, ungenerous and hard in its dealings, keen and bitter in its competitions, low and sordid in its purposes; nor that of ambition, selfish, mercenary, restless, circumventing, living only in the opinion of others, envious of the good fortune of others, miserably vain of its own success, unjust, unscrupulous, and slanderous. he that does me a favor, hath bound me to make him a return of thankfulness. the obligation comes not by covenant, nor by his own express intention; but by the nature of the thing; and is a duty springing up within the spirit of the obliged person, to whom it is more natural to love his friend, and to do good for good, than to return e

agree" wherever there is strife and hatred among the brethren, there is no masonry; for masonry is peace, and brotherly love, and concord. masonry is the great peace society of the world. wherever it exists, it struggles to prevent international difficulties and disputes; and to bind republics, kingdoms, and empires together in one great band of peace and amity. it would not so often struggle in vain, if masons knew their power and valued their oaths. who can sum up the horrors and woes accumulated in a single war? masonry is not dazzled with all its pomp and circumstance, all its glitter and glory. war comes with its bloody hand into our very dwellings. it takes from ten thousand homes those who lived there in peace and comfort, held by the tender ties of family and kindred. it drags the

MOTTA MARCELO THE COMMENTARIES OF AL

lina, with a giant like heliogabalus, with a pollard like nero, with a monster like baudelaire, though with de sade it gloat on blood, with sacher-masoch crave for whips and furs, with yvette guilbert crave the glove, or dote on babes like e. t. reed of "punch; whether one love oneself, disdaining every other like narcissus, offer oneself loveless to every love like catherine, or find the body so vain as to enclose one's lust in the soul and make one lifelong spinthria unassuaged in the imagination like aubrey beardsley, the means matter no whit. bach takes one way, keats one, goya one. the end is everything: that by the act, whatever it is, one worships, loves, possesses, and becomes nuit. the act of love can no more "trammel up his consequence" than any other act. as long as you possess

ump xvii. aquarius and aries are therefore counterchanged, revolving on the pivot of pisces, just as, in the trumps viii and xi, leo and libra do about virgo. this last revelation makes our tarot attributions sublimely, perfectly, flawlessly symmetrical. the fact of its so doing is a most convincing proof of the superhuman wisdom of the author of this book to those who have laboured for years, in vain, to elucidate the problems of the tarot 'all these old letters of my book are aright: in the tree of life diagrams there is no need to change the position of the letters. it is only the attributions to the tarot trumps that must be corrected. dove--symbol of heterosexual love. serpent--symbol of homosexual love. thelemites must choose well. well. 6+6+5+30+30= 77, oz, a goat, the devil. also

oubtless admit that each one of us is lacking in one capacity or another. there must always be some among the infinite possibilities of nuit which possess no correlative points of contact in any given khu. for example, the khu of a male body cannot fulfil itself in the quality of motherhood (on the material plane, of course) any such lacuna must be accepted as a necessary limit, without regret or vain yearnings for the impossible (although what is impossible now may not be impossible a hundred years hence. a time may come when the characteristics ofone's physical body may be changed at will by purely scientific means) but we should beware lest prejudice or other personal passion exclude any type of self-realization which is properly ours. in our initiation, the tests must be thorough and e

f al has nothing to do with pogroms, enforced sterilization, or such other modern versions of doing-in- the -amalekites. mercy let be off: let chesed, mercy, be under control of tiphareth and binah (off= 6+6+6= 18=3x6 "damn them who pity" pity is, as we have already explained, unnecessary; it is also misleading, harmful and disorderly. those who preach this diseased outlook of their fellowmen are vain, arrogant, and fundamentally selfish. the healthy man never worries about his health; the virtuous man never worries about the salvation of his soul; the true saint never has any doubts as to the ultimate welfare of the entire company of mankind "kill" dying, physically or mystically "them who pity"experience hadit "and torture" see the description of the work of the master of the temple in h

of the book. i worked on: i asked myself for the thousandth time what the stele could claim with literal strictness as "its name. i scribbled the word cthah and added it up. the result is 546, when ct counts as 500, or 52, when ct is 6, a frequent usage, as in ctaypos, whose number is thus 777. idly enough, my tired pen subtracted 52 from 718. i started up like a magician who, conjuring satan in vain till faith's lamp sputters, and hope's cloak is threadbare, gropes, heavily leaning on the staff of love, blinking and droning along and suddenly sees him! i did the sum over, this time with my pen like a panther. too good to be true! i added my figures; yes, 718 past denial. i checked my value of stele 52, and no error. then only i let myself yield to the storm of delight and wonder that rus

ed and crowned, drunk on her golden cup of fornication, boasting herself my bedfellow, have trodden her in the marketplace, and roared this word that every woman is a star. and with that word is uttered woman's freedom; the fools and fribbles and flirts have heard my voice. the fox in woman hath heard the lion in man; fear, fainting, flabbiness, frivolity, falsehood these are no more the mode. in vain will bully and brute and braggart man, priest, lawyer, or social censor knit his brows to devise him a new tamer's trick; once and for all the tradition is broken; vanished the vogue of bowstring, sack, stoning, nose-slitting, belt-buckling, cart's tail-dragging, whipping, pillory posting, walling-up, divorce court, eunuch, harem, mind-crippling, house-imprisoning, menial-work-wearying, creed

th it not. the fool is also the great fool, bacchus diphues, harpocrates, the dwarf-self, the holy guardian angel, and so forth "he understandeth it not, that is, he understandeth that it is not, la, 31. but the above is only the secondary or hieroglyphic magical meaning. the plain english still discusses the technique of initiation. the 'fool' is one such as described in my note on verse 57. the vain, soft, frivolous, idle, mutable sot will make nothing either of this book, or of my comment thereon (the 'comment' mentioned in the verse is the comment in class a) but this fool is the child harpocrates, the "babe in the egg, the innocent not yet born, in silence waiting his hour to come forth into light. he is then the uninitiated man, and he has four ordeals to pass before he is made perfe

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS E

iage tie, and holds in abhorrence any violation of its obligations. so strongly was she imbued with this hatred of any immorality, that, finding herself so often called upon to punish the failings of both gods and men in this respect, she became jealous, harsh, and vindictive. her exalted position as the wife of the supreme deity, combined with her extreme beauty, caused her to become exceedingly vain, and she consequently resented with great severity any infringement on her rights as queen of heaven, or any apparent slight on her personal appearance. the following story will signally illustrate how ready she was to resent any slight offered to her. at the marriage of the sea-nymph thetis with a mortal called peleus, all the gods and goddesses were present, except eris (the goddess of disc

intense, and she refused to be comforted. she knew not where to seek for her child, but feeling that repose and inaction were impossible, she set out on her weary search, taking with her two page 56 torches which she lighted in the flames of mount etna to guide her on her way. for nine long days and nights she wandered on, inquiring of every one she met for tidings of her child [53]but all was in vain! neither gods nor men could give her the comfort which her soul so hungered for. at last, on the tenth day, the disconsolate mother met hecate, who informed her that she had heard her daughter's cries, but knew not who it was that had borne her away. by hecate's advice demeter consulted helios, whose all-seeing eye nothing escapes, and from him she learnt that it was zeus himself who had perm

red him to page 60 journey through the world, teaching mankind the arts of agriculture and husbandry. page 61 page 62 demeter exercised great severity towards those who incurred her displeasure. we find examples of this in the stories of stellio and eresicthon. stellio was a youth who ridiculed the goddess for the eagerness with which she was eating a bowl of porridge, when weary and faint in the vain search for her daughter. resolved that he should never again have an opportunity of thus offending, she angrily threw into his face the remainder of the food, and changed him into a spotted lizard. eresicthon, son of triopas, had drawn upon himself the anger of demeter by cutting down her sacred groves, for which she punished him with a constant and insatiable hunger. he sold all his possessi

olchis (celebrated in the legend of the page 69 argonauts as the possessor of the golden fleece, and circe, the renowned sorceress. helios had another son named phaethon, whose mother was clymene, one of the oceanides. the youth was very beautiful, and a great favourite with aphrodite, who intrusted him with the care of one of her temples, which flattering proof of her regard caused him to become vain and presumptuous. his friend epaphus, son of zeus and io, endeavoured to check his youthful vanity by pretending to disbelieve his assertion that the sun-god was his father. phaethon, full of resentment, and eager to be able to refute the calumny, hastened to his mother clymene, and besought her to tell him whether helios was really his father. moved by his entreaties, and at the same time an

crow, flew to him with the intelligence that his wife had transferred her affections to a youth of haemonia. apollo, page 82 burning with rage, instantly destroyed her with one of his death-bringing darts. too late he repented of his rashness, for she had been tenderly beloved by him, and he would fain have recalled her to life; but, although he exerted all his healing powers, his efforts were in vain. he punished the crow for its garrulity by changing the colour of its plumage from pure white to intense black, and forbade it to fly any longer among the other birds. coronis left an infant son named asclepius, who afterwards became god of medicine. his powers were so extraordinary that he could not only cure the sick, but could even restore the dead to life. at last aides complained to zeus

ent the hard condition, he turned to convince himself that his beloved wife was really behind him. the glance was fatal, and destroyed all his hopes of happiness; for, as he yearningly stretched out his arms to embrace her, she was caught back, and vanished from his sight for ever. the grief of orpheus at this second loss was even more intense than before, and he now avoided all human society. in vain did the nymphs, his once chosen companions, endeavour to win him back to his accustomed haunts; their power to charm was gone, and music was now his sole consolation. he wandered forth alone, choosing the wildest and most secluded paths, and the hills and vales resounded with his pathetic melodies. at last he happened to cross the path of some thracian women, who were performing the wild rite

mantle, she stepped on deck, and after invoking the aid of the fates, uttered a magic incantation, which had the effect of throwing talus into a deep sleep. he stretched himself at full length upon the ground, and in doing so grazed his vulnerable ankle against the point of a sharp rock, whereupon a mighty stream of blood gushed forth from the wound. awakened by the pain, he tried to rise, but in vain, and with a mighty groan of anguish the giant fell dead, and his enormous body rolled heavily over into the deep. the heroes being now able to land, provisioned their vessel, after which they resumed their homeward voyage. arrival at iolcus..after a terrible night of storm and darkness they passed the island of agina, and at length reached in safety the port of iolcus, where the recital of th

a wedding-gift to her rival, a magnificent robe of cloth-of-gold. this robe was imbued with a deadly [232]poison which penetrated to the flesh and bone of the wearer, and burned them as though with a consuming fire. pleased with the beauty and costliness of the garment, the unsuspecting glauce lost no time in donning it; but no sooner had she done so than the fell poison began to take effect. in vain she tried to tear the robe away; it defied all efforts to be removed, and after horrible and protracted sufferings, she expired. maddened at the loss of her husband's love medea next put to death her three sons, and when jason, thirsting for revenge, left the chamber of his dead bride, and flew to his own house in search of medea, the ghastly spectacle of his murdered children met his view. h

mounted a tower in hopes of discovering the page 284 missing herd in the surrounding country; but as they stood on the topmost summit of the building, heracles became suddenly seized with one of his former attacks of madness, and mistaking his friend iphitus for an enemy, hurled him down into the plain below, and he was killed on the spot. heracles now set forth on a weary pilgrimage, begging in vain that some one would purify him from the murder of iphitus. it was during these wanderings that he arrived at the palace of his friend admetus, whose beautiful and heroic wife (alcestes) he restored to her husband after a terrible struggle with death, as already related. soon after this event heracles was struck with a fearful disease, and betook himself to the temple of delphi, hoping to obta

traying his country to the enemy, whereupon a search was instituted, and a large sum of money being found in his tent, he was pronounced guilty and sentenced to be stoned to death. though fully aware of the base treachery practised against him, palamedes offered not a word in self-defence, knowing but too well that, in the face of such damning evidence, the attempt to prove his innocence would be vain. defection of achilles..during the first year of the campaign the greeks ravaged the surrounding country [292]and pillaged the neighbouring villages. upon one of these foraging expeditions the city of pedasus was sacked, and agamemnon, as commander-in-chief, received as his share of the spoil the beautiful chryseis, daughter of chryses, the priest of apollo; whilst to achilles was allotted an

NAUDON PAUL THE SECRET HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

nd sharply criticised guillaume de sonnace. this occurred during the seventh crusade (boulenger, la vie de saint louis, paris: gallimard, 1929, 101. the crusades and the templars 73 remarkable multifaith society that is politically dominated by islam, but in which a large proportion of believers in other faiths manage to live without difficulty, in a kind of symbiosis for which we would search in vain to find an equivalent in other societies" islam opened for christians numerous doors toward social understanding and harmony. on the muslim side, the principle artisans of this action were the ismaili sects, particularly the karmates and the assassins. the ismaliens were a bough of the shiite branch of islam. karmate propaganda, born from ismailism, took on the form of a large reform movement

eral assembly of the lodge. if he does not acknowledge his misdeeds, he will be expelled and handed over to the sheriff or lord mayor to be imprisoned. philibert delorme, in his treatise on architecture, advises the reader that in addition to the science required to perform his craft, the qualities of probity, openness, and scrupulousness "should distinguish the mason; he must neither be mad, nor vain, nor proud, nor presumptuous" finally, we should recall that brotherhoods and craft associations pursued social objectives that were not confined merely to providing charitable assistance to brothers in need. all craft communities had a much larger target in mind. they often played a truly political role and were unfailingly the basis of the municipal franchises. particularly in the northern

builder masons" this citation clearly shows that the initiatory sense of traditional masonry had been lost. after two years of such distractions, it was not necessary to be a magician to prophesize with cagliostro, who had refused to have anything to do with the congress and whose anthology of stories moreover would have been enriched if it included his opinion "miserable philalethans, you sow in vain, you will reap naught but weeds" starting in the nineteenth century and continuing right on into the present, these erring ways persist by staking claims to the respect of imaginary sources. this has caused an amplification of both a trend of pseudospiritualism and occultism and a modernist trend combining free thought, scientism, agnosticism, and politics. this highly diffused situation has

PHILIP NEIL MYTHS LEGENDS EXPLAINED

turn, tutored apollo s son asclepius, as well as the hero jason and his own great-grandson achilles (see pp. 52 53 and p. 63. cheiron was an immortal, but ceded his immortality to prometheus (see pp. 24 25) to escape an eternity of pain after heracles accidentally wounded him (see p. 51. zeus granted him the lesser immortality of the skies, where he is the constellation centaurus. king midas 40 a vain boast the god pan, playing his pipes to a group of impressionable nymphs on mount tmolus, boasted that his music was better than that of the god of music, apollo. apollo challenged him to a contest, with the mountain god as judge. king midas midas, king of phrygia, was unlucky in his dealings with the gods. doomed (at his own request) in his early years as king to turn everything that he touc

l is rung by two heavenly beasts, to report that the soul of the deceased is passing through. hare in the moon when chang e arrived in the moon, she found she was not alone. her companion in the moon is a hare, which sits beneath a cassia tree (the tree of immortality) pounding herbs in a mortar to make the elixir of life. an old man is said also to live in the moon; he spends his time trying, in vain, to chop down the cassia tree. turned into a toad when chang e gulped down the elixir that hou yi had won from the queen mother of the west, she began to float up to the moon. as she ascended, she tried to call out, but found she could only croak. to her horror, although she had indeed become immortal, she had also been turned into a toad. the funeral banner of lady dai china, second century

PIKE CUMMINGS THE SPURIOUS RITES OF MEMPHIS AND MISRAIM

ich annexed to itself the rite of memphis without recognizing its series of grades; it regularized the memphis masons, in recognizing them as masons of the grade of master only. bro.marconis divested himself of all rights in relation to his rite, and transferred his powers to the grand orient of france, happy apparently to see that the rite, which he has created, did not perish. but we counted in vain upon his good faith and upon his oath. that brother continued clandestinely to give the high grades to isolated masons, addressing himself especially to strangers, and saying that his renunciation had effect only for france. indigence impelled him into that bad faith. the grand orient wished to come to his aid; he replied that he was not poor. the grand orient had the right to proceed against

RABBI AMIRAM MARKEL MARKEL THE KNOWLEDGE OF G D VOL 1

not occur. if he is aroused, but not as much as he wished, this will perturb him. in truth, this person too, is merely a pleasure seeker. he is not truly interested in understanding the reality of g-d altogether. instead, he pursues the effects of contemplation and analysis. because this is the true underlying motivation of his contemplation, he never actually arrives at truth and all his toil in vain. this can be understood from the following explanation on the way the intellect works. when one approaches a subject which he desires to learn, there must first be a complete focus and delving of his mind into the subject matter. this is called ha amakat hada at the delving of the da at. as explained before, the faculty of da at is the faculty of concentrating one s mind on a subject matter

RABBI MOSHE WISNEFSKY APPLES FROM THE ORCHARD THE ARIZAL ON THE PARASHAH

ure of back-to-back, it is easy for the powers of evil to gain a foothold through it. when z feir anpin and nukva are back-to-back, their attention and energies are not focused on each other. it is thus a prime opportunity for the powers of evil to try to divert some of their energies to themselves. interestingly, we are taught that rachel had hidden her father laban fs idols in her saddle in the vain hope that this would force him to give up idolatry. she had not told jacob about this plan, however, and therefore, when laban accused him of stealing his idols, jacob said, gthe one with whom you find your idols will die, h and from that curse, rachel died later in childbirth. rachel fs failure to include her husband in her scheme recalls adam fs failure to 10 yevamot 34a. 11 genesis 35:18

REGARDIE ISRAEL THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN

rent rooms, sighs upon sighs; weep more and more- he comes. this is the way thou must walk in, which if thou dost thou shall perceive a sudden illustration, and there shall then abide in thee fire with light, wind with fire, power with wind, knowledge with power, and with knowledge an integrity of sober mind" not enough is it to be illuminated. the problem is not quite as simple as that. it is in vain that the wine of the gods is poured into broken bottles. each part of the soul, each elemental aspect of the entire man must be strengthened and transmuted and brought into equilibrium and harmony with the others. integration must be <74> the rule of the initiate, not pathology. in such a vehicle made consecrate and truly holy by this equilibriation, the higher genius may find a worthy and fi

indu 7 ging wounded feelings in defence of a totally false idea of himself, he is led to meditate on the varied symbols of the cross, and from this to contemplate the crucified one, revealed to the west as jesus of nazareth. this life and the sayings of jesus given in the meditation should be studied and pictured in the mind. the mind must be taught to die to useless churnings over ast things and vain apprehensions about future things. this is difficult !or human phantasies die hard, but once the effort is made, however transient the result, it becomes easier with time to replace wasteful thoughts with those that cluster round a powerful symbo f eternal truth. as the time for the a= t6p ceremony approaches, the aspirant should withdraw as far as may be from externals that these symbols may

is blindfolded. he carries the fylfot cross in right hand. hegemon instructs neophyfe in knocks of the grade. kerux opens the door to be just ajar. heg let me enter the portal of wisdom. k m iwill. opens door and admits them. kerux having turned down lights previously. hiero except adonai build the house, their labour is but lost that build it. except adonai keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain. frater soror) neophyte, by what aid dost thou seek admission to the= b grade of zelator of the stella matutinal heg (for neophyte) by the guidance of adonai; by the possession of the necessary knowledge; by the dispensation of the greatly honoured chiefs of the second order; by the signs and tokens of the a= grade. by this symbol of the hermetic cross. kerux fakes cross from neophyfe. hiero

and solemnity. above all, the forces of kether and chokrnah demand the greatest purity and solemnity of heart and mind in him who would penetrate their mysteries. for such high knowledge is only to be obtained by him whose genius can stand in the presence of the holy ones. see that thou usest the divine names with all reverence and humility for cursed is he that taketh the name of the vast one in vain <28> when thou tracest the symbol of a planet in the centre of a hexagram, thou shalt make the same of a proportionable size to the interior of the hexagram, and thou shalt trace them from left to right generally following the course of the sun as much as possible. caput and cauda draconis may follow the general rule. when thou shalt invoke either the forces of one particular planet or those

ught him anxiety (shown by 4 cups between 2 wands, contrary element weakening effect on this card) fortitude "he works more closely, 4 of swords "and begins to get better. 7 of cups 'yet he has not sufficient energy in his nature to stick to work for long" justice 'the retributive effect of this is 5 of cups "that he loses his friends< 196> king of wands "and his former rival who, though rather a vain man, is energetic and hard working emperor 6 of cups "replaces him in popularity and esteem" pairing them now, the diviner proceeds: kin of cups e a f h 'the enquirer loses pleasure in consequence 6 of cups 4 of swords "and becomes less energetic even than before, and more anxious for 7 of cups pleasure-going than ever, moon chariot "yielding to the temptation of idleness and vanity by means

n is adverse judgment hermit "and judgment very justly given against him. emperor k of wands "but his employer, though stem, is a kind-hearted man, and 2 of swords 9 of wands "offers to take hi back and overlook the past <197> star fortitude "as he hopes this will have proved a lesson to him, king of swords king of pentacles "and points out to him that his former rival, 3 of wands "though perhaps vain, was yet a hard-working and good man of 8 of pentacles business" 4 of cups "the enquirer in consequence of this determines to completely give up his former mode of life which had brought him to the brink of ruin,and lo becomes a steady man. 8 of wands "after this he suddenly receives a hasty message which gives him 6 of wands much pleasure, 5 of cups "stating that owing to the loss of a relat

RITUALS OF THE SOCIETAS ROSICRUCIANIS IN ANGLIA

ead thy balmwide o222er the earth222s expansive lea,come soothe the heart, the spirit calm.of wanderer222s t222ward eternity.oh. chymia fair, thou brightest childof heavenly birth, man's dearest friendshine forth, and guide with actions mild,man222s sorrows to a blissful, end.thou mystic art, to thee alonedoes nature bow, with wonders teema mighty vision sweeping onas a mysterious deem;yet not in vain are arts that stealthrough time and space, from earth to skyfor they with still small voice revealour immortality.rituals of the societas rosicrucianis in angliahymn to chymia17 the zelator and his conductor proceed to the suffragan in the west and halt.suffragan:frater, before you can further partake of the secrets of the grade of theoricus, your consent isrequired to certain promises: liste

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART I

ntience of immortality and appreciation of the means which can lead to it. the last trophy which a man can win from death is to triumph over the appetite for life, not by despair but by a more exalted hope, which is contained in faith, for all that is noble and honest, by the undivided consent of the world. to learn self-conquest is therefore to learn life, and the austerities of stoicism were no vain parade of freedom! to yield to the forces of nature is to follow the stream of collective life and to be the slave of secondary causes. to resist and subdue nature is to make for one's self a personal and imperishable life: it is to break free from the vicissitudes of life and death. every man who is prepared to die rather than renounce truth and justice is most truly living, for immortality

reciprocally, every act affects a truth or falsehood in the heavens, a grace or a punishment. when a man pronounces the tetragram say the kabalists the nine celestial realms sustain a shock, and then all spirits cry out one upon another: who is it thus disturbing the kingdom of heaven? then does the earth communicate unto the first sphere the sins of that rash being who takes the eternal name in vain, and the accusing word is transmitted from circle to circle, from star to star, and from hierarchy to hierarchy. every utterance possesses three senses, every act has a triple range, every form a triple idea, for the absolute corresponds from world to world by its forms. every determination of human will modifies nature, concerns philosophy and is written in heaven. there are consequently two

last times. malkuth, based upon geburah and chesed, is the temple of solomon having jakin and boaz for its pillars; it is adamite dogma, founded, for the one part on the resignation of abel and, for the other, on the labours and self reproach of cain; it is the equilibrium of being established on necessity and liberty, stability and motion; it is the demonstration of the universal lever sought in vain by archimedes. a scholar whose talents were employed in the culture of obscurity, who died without seeking to be understood, resolved this supreme equation, discovered by him in the kabalah, and was in dread of its source transpiring if he expressed himself more clearly. we have seen one of his disciples and admirers most indignant, perhaps in good faith, at the suggestion that his master was

ted even unknown to ourselves, react on us by a fatal influence, were the effects of bewitchment actual, as indeed an adept cannot doubt, how much more imprudent and ill-advised would seem this utterance of the good emperor! there are persons whom we can never offend with impunity, and if the injury we have done them is mortal, we begin forthwith to die. there are those also whom we never meet in vain, whose mere glance alters the direction of our life. the basilisk who slays by a look is no fable; it is a magical allegory. generally speaking, it is bad for health to have enemies, and we can never brave with impunity the reprobation of anyone. before opposing ourselves to a given force or current, we must be well assured that we possess the contrary force, or are with the stream of the con

the sole remedy for such a bewitchment is to make use of folly itself in order to cure folly, to provide the sufferer with imaginary satisfactions in the opposite order to that wherein he is now lost. endeavour, for example, to cure an ambitious person by making him desire the glories of heaven mystic remedy; cure one who is dissolute by true love natural remedy; obtain honourable successes for a vain person; exhibit unselfishness to the avaricious and procure for them legitimate profit by honourable participation in generous enterprises, etc. acting in this way upon the moral nature, we may succeed in curing a number of physical maladies, for the moral affects the physical in virtue of the magical axiom: that which is above is like unto that which is below. this is why the master said, wh

n to say that, in order to withstand the jettatura, the fatal current of instincts must be governed by great intrepidity, great enthusiasm, or a great thought. in like manner, almost all popular superstitions are vulgar interpretations of some grand maxim or marvellous secret of occult wisdom. did not pythagoras, in his admirable symbols, bequeath a perfect philosophy to sages but a new series of vain observances and ridiculous practices to the vulgar? thus, when he said: do not pick up what falls from the table; do not cut down trees on the great highway; kill not the serpent when it slips into your garden. was he not inculcating the precepts of charity, either social or personal, under transparent allegories? when he said: do not look at yourself by torchlight in a mirror, was he not tea

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART II

nts of the inconstant light, we must be established in the constant light. to command the elements, we must have overcome their hurricanes, their lightnings, their abysses, their tempests. in order to dare we must know; in order to will, we must dare; we must will to possess empire and to reign we must be silent. 11 chapter i preparations every intention which does not assert itself by deeds is a vain intention, and the speech which expresses it is idle speech. it is action which proves life and establishes will. hence it is said in the sacred and symbolical books that men will be judged, not according to their thoughts and their ideas, but according to their works. we must do in order to be. we have, therefore, to treat in this place of the grand and terrific question of magical works; we

must be of contrasted colours, a rule still followed by catholic priests; lastly, two metals must be worn at least, or otherwise none. the crown of laurel, rue, mugwort or vervain must be double, in like manner; one of them is used in evocations, while the other is burnt, the crackling which it makes and the curls of the smoke which it produces being observed as an augury. nor is such observance vain, for in the magical work all instruments of art are magnetized by the operator; the air is charged with his perfumes, the fire which he has consecrated is subject to his will, the forces of nature seem to hear and answer him: he reads in all forms the modifications and complements of his thought. he perceives the water agitated and, as it were, bubbling of itself, the fire blazing up or going

y by the immense current of hallucinations which he had produced; the visions of the other world disgusted him with this, and he killed himself. his story should be a warning to those who are fascinated by ceremonial magic. nature is not outraged with impunity, and no one can play safely with unknown and incalculable forces. it is this consideration which has led and will ever lead us to deny the vain curiosity of those who would see in order that they may believe, and we reply to them in the same words as we replied to an eminent englishman who threatened us with his scepticism: gyou are perfectly within your right in refusing to believe: for our own part, it will not make us more discouraged or less convinced. h to those who may assure us that they have scrupulously and boldly fulfilled

rod or the point of the sword upon the head of the pentagram. we have said that signs are the active voice of the word of will. now, the word of will must be given in its completeness, so that it may be transformed into action; and a single negligence, representing an idle speech or a doubt, falsifies and paralyses the whole process, turning back upon the operator all the forces thus expended in vain. we must therefore abstain absolutely from magical ceremonies or scrupulously and exactly fulfil them all. the pentagram, engraved in luminous lines upon glass by the electrical machine, exercises also a great influence upon spirits and terrifies phantoms. the old magicians traced the sign of the pentagram upon their doorsteps, to prevent evil spirits from entering and good spirits from depar

he sought to rest for a moment. what is the consequence? a similar condemnation overtakes the nation itself; it is proscribed bodily. men have cried to it: gget on! get on! h for centuries, and it has found no pity and no repose. a man of learning had a wife whom he loved wildly and passionately, in the exaltation of his tenderness; he honoured her with blind confidence and trusted her entirely. vain of her beauty and understanding, this woman became jealous of her husband's superiority and began to hate him. some time after she deserted him, disgracing herself with an old, ugly, stupid and immoral man. this was the beginning of her punishment, but it did not end there. the man of learning pronounced solemnly the following sentence upon her: gi take back your understanding and your beauty

enturies, has created more nightmares more nameless diseases, more furious madness, than all vices and all excesses combined. this is what hermetic artists of the middle ages represented by the incredible and unheard-of monsters which they carved about the doorways of basilicas. but bewitchment by threat produces an effect altogether contrary to the intentions of the operator when it is evidently vain intimidation; when it does outrage to the legitimate pride of the menaced person and consequently provokes his resistance; or finally, when it is ridiculous by its atrocity. the sectaries of hell have discredited heaven. say to a reasonable man that equilibrium is the law of motion and life, that liberty, which is moral equilibrium, rests upon an eternal and immutable distinction between true

is first notions of geometry. accordingly as our soul is troubled or at rest, the stars seem burning with menace or sparkling with hope. the sky is thus the mirror of the human soul, and when we think that we are reading in the stars it is in ourselves we read. 100 the ritual of transcendental magic gaffarel, applying the presages of celestial writing to the destinies of empires, says that not in vain did the ancients place all signs of evil augury in the northern region of the sky; calamities have been in all ages regarded as coming from the north to spread themselves over the earth by the invasion of the south. gfor this reason, h he tells us, gthe ancients represented in the northern parts of the heaven a serpent or dragon near two bears, since these animals are the true hieroglyphs of

one. the philosophical stone, say the masters, must not be exposed to the air, nor to the eyes of the profane; it must be kept in concealment and preserved carefully in the most secret receptacle of the laboratory, the key of the place being always carried upon the person. he who possesses the great arcanum is truly king and is indeed above any king, for he is inaccessible to all fears and to all vain hopes. in any malady of soul and body, a single fragment broken from the precious stone, a single grain of the divine powder are more than sufficient for their cure. ghe that hath ears to hear, let him hear, h as the master said. salt, sulphur and mercury are only accessory elements and passive instruments of the great enterprise. everything depends, as we have said, upon the interior magnes

RUBY TABLET OF SET

ught to be earth-centric, and the non-christian/european world was considered to be "savage" it was difficult for intellectuals to know just what to believe! even the noted galileo published his authority of scripture in 1614, and isaac newton devoted many years to biblical studies. he wrote "if any question at any time arise concerning christ's interpretations, we are to beware of philosophy and vain deceit and oppositions of science falsely so-called, and have recourse to the old testament" a generation after he published his famous principia, newton was still trying to discover the exact plan of solomon's temple, which he considered the best guide to the topography of heaven. thomas hobbes (1588-1679) took a scientific, materialistic approach to the objective universe, asserting that th

r is consider'd with respect to another; magnitude either stands still, or is moved. arithmetick contemplates multitude in it self: musick with respect to another: geometry, unmoveable magnitude; sphaerick, moveable. these sciences consider not multitude and magnitude simply, but in each of these that which is determinate: for sciences consider this abstracted from infinite, that they may not (in vain) attempt in each of these that which is infinite. when therefore the wise persons say thus, we conceive it is not to be understood of that multitude which is in the sensible things themselves, nor of that magnitude which we perceive in bodies, for the contemplation of these i think pertains to physick, not to mathematick. but because the maker of all things took union and division, and identi

l who are not one of them are wicked. therein lies their true nature, for if you're not one of them, your wickedness must be destroyed. the destruction of their wicked side is pure wickedness in itself. as they accuse, so they are. the tempter: 1 thessalonians 3:5 for this cause i could no longer forbear, i sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and labour be in vain. i enjoy this title. it sounds so pleasant to my ears. the tempter, the one who tempts. you could still say no, could you not? and could the tempter be another name for the fishermen of men's souls? does not the fisherman tempt the fish with bait? could the fish choose not to nibble? the accuser of the brethren: revelation 12:10 and i heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation

eeds to have expressed by us. xonsu later saw a great sorcerer with a key of fire standing inside the pylon gates- then came the realization that she/he as xonsu was the sorcerer, as she said, i have not rushed classification: v4- a17.22- 4 author: linda reynolds iii, alexandra sarris iii date: january 13, xiv html revision: september 27, 1998 ce subject: xem reading list: across the night sky in vain; i hold their (humanity's) universe in my hands and the fate of all those who stand below me. i am the powerful one who stands beside my greatest brother. i am all [can not remember any more. she touched nexbet's face (about two feet above her head) as we proclaimed victory and release. and the impression of the tarot magician card became very strong. afterward we realized that a new relation

ore) those truths and be strengthened thereby. anton lavey apparently thought like hobbes in that if we compare this quote in #iv-1 from the book of satan: life is the great indulgence- death, the great abstinence. therefore, make the most of life- here and now! with hobbes' identification of a supreme evil, death, we begin to see the emergence of the tapestry of life rather than the placement of vain hopes in the protection of a celestial overseer (although hobbes perhaps defines the idea of a violent death suffered at the hands of an opponent in using the word evil, rather than a natural death marked by "peace) mulford q. sibley quotes hobbes as having said that we do not. by nature seek society for its own sake, but that we may receive some honor or profit from it; these we desire prima

tion, probing deeper into the mysterium of self in xem, he can amend this proclamation to reflect his new understanding of self becoming. perhaps my own "proclamation of i shall be" will kindle the desire in other setians to create their own, as a magical tool in their xeper and remanifstion. if one fellow setian is so affected, then my sharing of this most personal document will not have been in vain. may set be with you in your quest for eternity in yourself! xeper and remanifest footnotes 1. this was also the 14th anniversary of the november 11, xiii working at which the high priest michael aquino recognized ronald k. barrett as magus, a recognition to be later confirmed by the council of nine. the deidentification process and personal power table of contents. purpose. what is willpower

ated, and the new universe will be created by joint will, and indeed hell (as depicted in the diabolicon) will reign. i will be doing further communication, research and workings to gain more new, ancient knowledge of how to enhance and realize the great work! blackness i, thoth, speak through the writing of my hand- so it is written- so it is done! those who use words idly or mock maat's name in vain shall see a twisting truth or fall away to self-deceit. those that seek to become man-gods shall find the key in linking with others that stand in maat and another shall be formed through our magic. blackness surrounds being, double pools of blackness- within it we stand, and in our lives the blackness shall grow and become purified and change our being till none may recognize us! we shall wa

to lovecraft's 'umr at-tawil, the prolonged of life, the gate, offering the entire expanse and experience of self to those who dare. a reflection perhaps upon the nature of the red magus, who shall behold only leviathan. in order to annihilate the cosmic order and perceive the absolute, it must first be necessary to order one's self, by one's own will. the warning of belial should not be taken in vain, the boundaries of self-reference must be established and maintained. then the old can be swept away, leaving a void in which a truer vision may manifest. the black magician fears not even if the entire universe be annihilated. for he is his self alone, and not touchable by its catastrophe. his immortality is within his self, the black flame at his core, and dependent upon none other. aethyr

SALMANRUSHDIE THESATANICVERSES

dows, in the long, slitlike windows set in the infinitely high sand-walls of the merchant palaces; in the alleys of jahilia, donkey-carts roll forward on smooth silicon wheels. i, in my wickedness, sometimes imagine the coming of a great wave, a high wall of foaming water roaring across the desert, a liquid catastrophe full of snapping boats and drowning arms, a tidal wave that would reduce these vain sandcastles to the nothingness, to the grains from which they came. but there are no waves here. water is the enemy in jahilia. carried in earthen pots, it must never be spilled (the penal code deals fiercely with offenders, for where it drops the city erodes alarmingly. holes appear in roads, houses tilt and sway. the watercarriers of jahilia are loathed necessities, pariahs who cannot be ig

f chivalry and honour obliged them to behave as if the ditch had not been dug, and to ride their horses at it, full--tilt. the flower of jahilia's army, human as well as equine, ended up impaled on the pointed sticks of salman's persian deviousness, trust an immigrant not to play the game- and after the defeat of jahilia? salman lamented to baal: you'd have thought i'd have been a hero, i'm not a vain man but where were the public honours, where was the gratitude of mahound, why didn't the archangel mention _me_ in despatches? nothing, not a syllable, it was as if the faithful thought of my ditch as a cheap trick, too, an outlandish thing, dishonouring, unfair; as if their manhood had been damaged by the thing, as though i'd hurt their pride by saving their skins. i kept my mouth shut and

rmaymong rich- enormously rich, we say. our english adverbs do not terminate in mong- and do you find, sir, many evidences of our british constitution in the streets of the world's metropolis, london, londres, london- i would say" she adds, still podsnapping "that there is in the englishman a combination of qualities, a modesty, an independence, a responsibility, a repose, which one would seek in vain among the nations of the earth" the creature has been approaching chamcha while delivering herself of these lines- unfastening, the while, her blouse- and he, mongoose to her cobra, stands there transfixed; while she, exposing a shapely right breast, and offering it to him, points out that she has drawn upon it- as an act of civic pride- the map of london, no less, in red magic-marker, with t

SATANIC RITUALS

t chaque chevalier croit m riter i'honneur d'y monter le premier: mais le grand-ma tre arrive; il monte, il les devance. son front est rayonnant de gloire et d'esp rance "fran ais, souvenez-vous de nos derniers accents: nous sommes innocents, nous mourons innocents. l'atr t qui nous condamne est un arr t injuste. mais il existe ailleurs un tribunal auguste que le faible opprim jamais n'implore en vain, et j'ose try citer, pontife romain! encore quarante jours. je t'y vois compara tre" an immense pyre, prepared for torture, rises as a scaffold. each knight wonders if he will have the honor of being the first to climb it. but the grand master arrivesthe honor is reserved for him-and he proceeds to climb while his knights look on. his face radiates glory and vision of what will come far beyon

arrivesthe honor is reserved for him-and he proceeds to climb while his knights look on. his face radiates glory and vision of what will come far beyond that moment. he speaks to the crowd "people of france, remember our last words: we are innocent; we die as innocents. the verdict that condemns us is an unjust one, but elsewhere an august tribunal exists-one which the oppressed never implore in vain, for its judgments are without piety. i dare to cite you before that tribunal, o pope of rome! another forty days shall pass and then you shall appear before it" chacun en fr missant coutait le grand-ma itre. mais quel tonnement, quel trouble, quel effroi, quand il dit "o philippe! o mon ma tre! o mon roi! je te pardonne en vain, ta vie est condamn e; au m me tribunal je t'attends dans 1'ann

ne fum e paisse entoure i' chafaud, roule et grossit sans cesse; tout coup le feu brille: 1'aspect du tr pas ces braves chevaliers ne se d mentent pas. everyone in the crowd was trembling, and shuddered at the pronouncement of the grand master. but even greater shock and fear swept o'er the crowd when he continued to speak "o philip, my master, my king! even if i could forgive you, it would be in vain, for your life is condemned. before the same tribunal, i expect you within a year" numerous spectators moved by the grand master's curse are shedding tears for you, philip, and terror spreads through the silent throng. it seems the very semblance of that future vengeance moves into the crowd! the executioners are terrified and suddenly have no power to come close. tremblingly, they throw thei

SCHEM HA MEPHORESH

ntion of thy righteousness even of thine only. 32nd angel name: vesheriah sign: capricorn planet: jupiter degree: 5 10 meaning upright. psalm 33:4: for upright is tetragrammaton of the word, and all his works are in truth. 15 33rd angel name: yechuiah sign: capricorn planet: mars degree: 10 15 meaning: knower of all things. psalm 94:11: tetragrammaton knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are in vain. 34th angel name: lehahaih sign: capricorn planet: mars degree: 15 20 meaning: clement, merciful. psalm 131:3: let israel trust in tetragrammaton, now and for ever. 35th angel name: keveqaiah sign: capricorn planet: sun degree: 20 25 meaning: to be rejoiced in. psalm 116:1: i have rejoiced because tetragrammaton hath heard the voice of my supplication. 36th angel 16 name: mendiel sign: capric

SCHLAGER NEIL WORLD RELIGIONS REFERENCE LIBRARY

or, hairstyles, and amounts of food eaten were closely regulated. there was no freedom of the press, and criticism of calvin or of the clergy was forbidden. typical punishments for offenses included fines, religion classes, whippings, torture, and exile( being forced to leave a place. death sentences were given to people who committed adultery and blasphemers, or those who took the name of god in vain. in 1553 calvin was personally responsible for the burning of a spanish physician who denied the concept of the trinity, which is the union of the father (god, son (christ, and holy spirit. education was controlled by the church, as were social services such as charities. begging was not allowed. in short, geneva was ruled by very strict and rigid laws. calvin remained the head of, and force

t letters of pardon. 44. because love grows by works of love, and man becomes better; but by pardons man does not grow better, only more free from penalty. 45. christians are to be taught that he who sees a man in need, and passes him by, and gives [his money] for pardons, purchases not the indulgences of the pope, but the indignation of god. 52. the assurance of salvation by letters of pardon is vain, even though the commissary, nay, even though the pope himself, were to stake his soul upon it. 94. christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following christ, their head, through penalties, deaths, and hell; 95. and thus be confident of entering into heaven rather through many tribulations, than through the assurance of peace. luther, martin. disputation of doctor martin luther

y. translating ancient chinese texts into modern english (or any other language) is difficult. chinese characters may not have close english equivalents, ancient chinese has no punctuation marks, and the language is often open to wide interpretation by translators. for example, the sentence about learning from book 2 has been translated in many different ways, among them, study without thought is vain [useless; thought without study is dangerous; study without thinking, and you are blind; think without studying, and you are in danger; and he who learns but does not think is lost. he who thinks but does not learn is in great danger. these difficulties with translation in their own way add to the appeal of the analects. if the analects are to serve as a guide for living, they have to apply i

glory and my glory fadeth not; thou art my robe and my robe shall never be outworn. abide then in thy love for me, that thou mayest find me in the realm of glory. 15: o son of utterance! turn thy face unto mine and renounce all save me; for my sovereignty endureth and my dominion perisheth not. if thou seekest another than me, yea, if thou searchest the universe for evermore, thy quest will be in vain. 16: o son of light! forget all save me and commune with my spirit. this is of the essence of my command, therefore turn unto it. 17: o son of man! be thou content with me and seek no other helper. for none but me can ever suffice thee. 18: o son of spirit! ask not of me that which we desire not for thee, then be content with whatwe have ordained for thy sake, for this is that which profiteth

water under the earth. 20:5 thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for i the lord thy god am a jealous god, visiting the iniquity [sin] of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 20:6 and shewing [showing] mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 20:7 thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain; for the lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 20:8 remember the sabbath day [day of worship, to keep it holy. 20:9 six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 20:10 but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord thy god: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger th

SECRET TEACHINGS OF THE ROSICRUCIANS IN THE 16 17C

wisdom will open in thine own self and thou wilt attain a studio particulari ad universale and one find all. i am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, saith the lord, god liveth in a light, since no one can come to him, or near him. this is the omega, which has caused so many evil days and restless nights. this is the trifling matter over which so many hundreds of people moaned in vain. notice here the eternal end without beginning, the eternal revolution and circle, in eternal love, willpower and centro, whose principle reveals itself since eternity began. you will see in this the eternal nature in its seven apparitions, revealing itself in the centro of the eternal bottomless depth since eternity began. the centrum of the eternal bottomless depth of light and darkness is

SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON ZANONI A ROSICRUCIAN TALE

hat cimarosa is hard at work at another "matrimonia segreto" but in the meanwhile there is a check in the diplomacy somewhere. the cardinal is observed to be out of humour. he has said publicly, and the words are portentous "the silly girl is as mad as her father; what she asks is preposterous" conference follows conference; the cardinal talks to the poor child very solemnly in his closet, all in vain. naples is distracted with curiosity and conjecture. the lecture ends in a quarrel, and viola comes home sullen and pouting: she will not act, she has renounced the engagement. pisani, too inexperienced to be aware of all the dangers of the stage, had been pleased at the notion that one, at least, of his name would add celebrity to his art. the girl's perverseness displeased him. however, he

hich the capital of all social pleasures was so renowned. the conversation, as might be expected, was literary and intellectual, enlivened by graceful pleasantry. many of the ladies of that ancient and proud noblesse for the noblesse yet existed, though its hours were already numbered added to the charm of the society; and theirs were the boldest criticisms, and often the most liberal sentiments. vain labour for me vain labour almost for the grave english language to do justice to the sparkling paradoxes that flew from lip to lip. the favourite theme was the superiority of the moderns to the ancients. condorcet on this head was eloquent, and to some, at least, of his audience, most convincing. that voltaire was greater than homer few there were disposed to deny. keen was the ridicule lavis

he other, an old man, somewhere about seventy, the witty and virtuous, brave, and still light-hearted cazotte, the author of "le diable amoureux" these two conversed familiarly, and apart from the rest, and only by an occasional smile testified their attention to the general conversation "yes" said the stranger "yes, we have met before "i thought i could not forget your countenance; yet i task in vain my recollections of the past "i will assist you. recall the time when, led by curiosity, or perhaps the nobler desire of knowledge, you sought initiation into the mysterious order of martines de pasqualis (it is so recorded of cazotte. of martines de pasqualis little is known; even the country to which he belonged is matter of conjecture. equally so the rites, ceremonies, and nature of the ca

at person, as hideous as his pupil, and whose dispositions were as vicious as his professional abilities were undeniable, was certainly as free from "superstition" as the protector could desire. it was reserved for robespierre hereafter to make the sanguinary painter believe in the etre supreme. the boy was early sensible of his ugliness, which was almost preternatural. his benefactor found it in vain to reconcile him to the malice of nature by his philosophical aphorisms; but when he pointed out to him that in this world money, like charity, covers a multitude of defects, the boy listened eagerly and was consoled. to save money for his protege, for the only thing in the world he loved, this became the patron's passion. verily, he had met with his reward "but i am thankful he has escaped"

et with his reward "but i am thankful he has escaped" said the old man, wiping his eyes "had he left me a beggar, i could never have accused him "no, for you are the author of his crimes "how! i, who never ceased to inculcate the beauty of virtue? explain yourself "alas! if thy pupil did not make this clear to thee last night from his own lips, an angel might come from heaven to preach to thee in vain" the old man moved uneasily, and was about to reply, when the relative he had sent for and who, a native of nancy, happened to be at paris at the time entered the room. he was a man somewhat past thirty, and of a dry, saturnine, meagre countenance, restless eyes, and compressed lips. he listened, with many ejaculations of horror, to his relation's recital, and sought earnestly, but in vain, t

an anodyne, which she had been directed to give the sufferer as soon as the delirium should cease. the doctor had told her, too, to send for him the instant so important a change should occur. she went to the door and called to the woman who, during gionetta's pretended illness, had been induced to supply her place; but the hireling answered not. she flew through the chambers to search for her in vain, the hireling had caught gionetta's fears, and vanished. what was to be done? the case was urgent, the doctor had declared not a moment should be lost in obtaining his attendance; she must leave her father, she must go herself! she crept back into the room, the anodyne seemed already to have taken benign effect; the patient's eyes were closed, and he breathed regularly, as in sleep. she stole

st before but bitterness and gall? is it not almost impious and profane to abandon that dear hearth to strangers? and the desertion of the home where your parents dwelt, and blessed you, upbraids your conscience as if you had sold their tombs. beautiful was the etruscan superstition that the ancestors become the household gods. deaf is the heart to which the lares call from the desolate floors in vain. at first viola had, in her intolerable anguish, gratefully welcomed the refuge which the house and family of a kindly neighbour, much attached to her father, and who was one of the orchestra that pisani shall perplex no more, had proffered to the orphan. but the company of the unfamiliar in our grief, the consolation of the stranger, how it irritates the wound! and then, to hear elsewhere th

he dead. and there, from thy casement, and there, from without thy door, thou seest still the tree, solitary as thyself, and springing from the clefts of the rock, but forcing its way to light, as, through all sorrow, while the seasons yet can renew the verdure and bloom of youth, strives the instinct of the human heart! only when the sap is dried up, only when age comes on, does the sun shine in vain for man and for the tree. weeks and months months sad and many again passed, and naples will not longer suffer its idol to seclude itself from homage. the world ever plucks us back from ourselves with a thousand arms. and again viola's voice is heard upon the stage, which, mystically faithful to life, is in nought more faithful than this, that it is the appearances that fill the scene; and we

lding with little forethought to whatever impressed his fancy or appealed to his passions. he had travelled through the more celebrated cities of europe, with the avowed purpose and sincere resolution of studying the divine masterpieces of his art. but in each, pleasure had too often allured him from ambition, and living beauty distracted his worship from the senseless canvas. brave, adventurous, vain, restless, inquisitive, he was ever involved in wild projects and pleasant dangers, the creature of impulse and the slave of imagination. it was then the period when a feverish spirit of change was working its way to that hideous mockery of human aspirations, the revolution of france; and from the chaos into which were already jarring the sanctities of the world's venerable belief, arose many

gic, but the minute study of nature in her lowliest works? what the fable of medea, but a proof of the powers that may be extracted from the germ and leaf? the most gifted of all the priestcrafts, the mysterious sisterhoods of cuth, concerning whose incantations learning vainly bewilders itself amidst the maze of legends, sought in the meanest herbs what, perhaps, the babylonian sages explored in vain amidst the loftiest stars. tradition yet tells you that there existed a race("plut. symp" l. 5. c. 7) who could slay their enemies from afar, without weapon, without movement. the herb that ye tread on may have deadlier powers than your engineers can give to their mightiest instruments of war. can you guess that to these italian shores, to the old circaean promontory, came the wise from the f

SIR WALLIS BUDGE EGYPTIAN MAGIC

the punishment of such crimes was death. in another place hui is accused of writing books or formula of magical words, the effect of which would be to drive men out of their senses, and to strike terror into them; and of making gods of wax and figures of men of the same substance, which should cause the human beings whom they represented to become paralysed and helpless. but their efforts were in vain, the conspiracy was discovered, and the whole matter was carefully investigated by two small courts of enquiry, the members of which consisted, for the most part, of the king's personal friends; the king's orders to them were that "those who are guilty shall die by their own hands, and tell me nothing whatever about it" the first court, which consisted of six p. 76 members, sat to investigate

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

dergone the particular typical experiences of an initiate. 92 christianity as mystical fact one example is the buddha as seen by his disciples, and as such a one did jesus first appear in his own society. we know today of the parallelism between the biographies of the buddha and jesus. one has only to observe the detailed correspondences between them to realize that any attempt at denial would be vain.91 there is an annunciation of buddha s birth to queen maya by a white elephant, which overshadows her and tells her that she is to bring forth a divine man. and he will attune all beings to love and friendship, and will unite them in a bond of religious fervor. compare with this the passage from the gospel of luke where an angel is sent: to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named josep

TEXE MARRS CODEX MAGICA SECRET SIGNS MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS AND HIDDEN CODES OF THE ILLUMINATI

ho does not look kindly on traitors and blabbers. it was the canaanite god baal, of course, to whom the backslidden jews and pagans sacrificed their children in the fire. you'll recall that the prophet elijah brought the message of god's judgement against those who worshipped bloodthirsty baal, who, in reality, is merely an idolatrous representation of satan. yes, baal is the devil. to attempt in vain to combine the name of the true god with that of false gods like baal and on is particularly evil and grievous to the true god in heaven. yet, the mason does exactly this with jahbuhlun and then compounds his grave error by adopting as one of his chief logos the sign of the double-headed eagle (symbolizing one body of god, two heads) the triple tau yet another proof of the deviltry of the jah

vey oswald acted alone in the assassination of president john f. kennedy. chief justice earl warren, like ford and all the other members of the commission, was a 33rd degree mason "i fell in to a burning ring of fire" 489 house speaker newt gingrich wears a necktie designed by satan worshipping rock music star, jim morrison of the doors. illuminist signals: insiders say speaker newt gingrich is a vain man who does not like being photographed without make-up. here he is below pictured in usa today newspaper (december 5, 1994, p. sa) primping for a taping of nbc's "meet the press" this provides greater curiosity about time's running as its front cover (see following page of codex magica) a staged picture of gingrich in which the speaker is looking haggard and sweaty, his face redflushed, and

ward "which is symbolic of the negation of god" it was albert pike who wrote, in morals and dogma, that there is no real person or entity named "satan" pike claimed that satan is simply a force, the negation of god (illustrations: scarlet and the beast, by john daniel, published 1994, jki publishing, p. o. box 131480, tyler, tx 75713) 582 codex magica blood red- red stars, clenched fists 583 in a vain and failing effort to lionize and deify their bloodthirsty founder, the communist jew vladimir lenin, the u.s.s.r. planned to build this gigantic memorial to the dead soviet dictator. josef stalin, lenin's successor, in 1931, commissioned architect boris iofan to do the design work. it was to be the largest building in the world and was to be called the palace of the soviets. the design favor

THE BOOK OF PLEASURE

ller within by love gods we are all the time, that is why divinity is always potential. its constant generation, the eternal delay-is life. this envy of the master or creator-the ultimate hope to follow in manner is also existence and the forfeiture of "life! there is no scientific fact, it ever implies its opposite as equal fact, this is the "fact" then why trouble to prove anything a fact? this vain hope to prove finality is death itself, so why humbug the "desire? you have proved (by mathematics) the sun to be so many millions of miles away from you-you will now improve its efficiency! nature-that impulse to the antitheses of your truths, will early prove (by mathematics and whenever you like) that the sun does not exist at all! or if you wish-it will prove conclusively that the sun is

o is desire, so everything is ultimately desired and undesirable, desire is ever a preliminary forecast of terrible dissatisfaction hidden by its ever-present vainglory. the millenium will come and quickly go. men will be greater than the gods they ever conceived- there will be greater dissatisfaction. you are ever what you were but you may be so in a different form! a person or a nation, however vain or content, falls immediately into unknown and inevitable desire, consuming him little by little through those conditions- any condition! the mind becomes firm in desire by desire as devotion, but when realized is it then eternally desirable (or even for a period of a million years. in heaven shall be fettered thy foot! therefore remove the conception that desire is pure, or impure, or has co

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL 1

of praying: when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men. but thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to the father which is in secret; and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. but when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. be not ye therefore like unto them: for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him (matthew 6: 5 8, king james version. in islam prayer, salat is one of the five pillars of islam, and the true believer must say his prayers (salla) five times a day, as well as on special occasions

a sham and a cover-up. satanism declares that violence must be met with violence and that to love one s neighbor is a utopian unreality. hate your enemies with a whole heart, the satanic bible advises. and if a man smite you on one cheek, smash him on the other! smite him hip and thigh, for self-preservation is the highest law (section iii, paragraph 7. satanists condemn prayer and confession as vain, futile gestures, believing that the way to achieve what one wants is through magic and aggressive effort and that the best method of ridding oneself of guilt is not to assume it in the first place. if satanists make a mistake, they recognize sincerely that to err is human; and instead of involving themselves in efforts to cleanse themselves, they examine the situation in order to determine e

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL

ay improved one of the gems of king louis xv (1710.1774. his chemical training t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d magic and sorcery 71 pythagoraswas said to be fathered by the god apollo. far surpassed that of his contemporaries of the eighteenth century. his skill at mixing pigments was considered extraordinary, and famous painters begged in vain for the count to reveal his formulas. it was also claimed by many that saint- germain could render himself invisible.a remarkable accomplishment said to have been often witnessed. he was also a proficient hypnotist and could fall at will into a state of selfhypnosis. members of europe fs royal courts also heard him speak often of an invention that would occur in the next century and which wou

film raiders of the lost ark, where it is the object of a search just prior to world war ii (1939.45) between nazi forces and an american archaeologist named indiana jones. the ark is found and, as in the bible, its power kills (literally melts) all of those who do not pay it proper respect. in the film, as in the old testament, the presence of the ark brings destruction to the wicked and to the vain. in raiders of the lost ark, the relic eventually ends up in an undistinguished crate in an overstocked u.s. government warehouse waiting to be archived. in december 2001, rev. john mcluckie found a wooden tablet representing the ark of the covenant in a cupboard in st. john fs episcopal church in edinburgh, scotland. rev. mcluckie, who had lived in ethiopia, recognized the artifact as sacred

THE KEY TO THE MYSTERIES

bit true religion with such characters, that no one, believer or unbeliever, can fail to recognize it; that will be the absolute in religion. we shall establish in philosophy the immutable characters of that truth, which is in science "reality" in judgment "reason" and in ethics "justice" finally, we shall acquaint you with the laws of nature, whose equilibrium is stability, and we shall show how vain are the phantasies of our imagination before the fertile realities of movement and of life. we shall also invite the great poets of the future to create once more the divine comedy, no longer according to the dreams of man, but according to the mathematics of god. mysteries of other worlds, hidden forces, strange revelations, mysterious illnesses, exceptional faculties, spirits, apparitions

mposes religion. faith does not invent itself, does not impose itself, does not establish itself by any political agreement; like life, it manifests itself with a sort of fatality. the same power which directs the phenomena of nature, extends and limits the supernatural domain of faith, despite all human foresight. one does not imagine revelations; one undergoes then, and one believes in them. in vain does the spirit protest against the obscurities of dogma; it is subjugated by the attraction of these very obscurities, and often the least docile of reasoners would blush to accept the title of "irreligious man" religion holds a greater place among the realities of life than those who do without religion- or pretend to do without it- affect to believe. all ideas that raise man above the anim

eme? who is the voltaire who dares laugh? pile one upon the other the sophisms of diderot, the critical arguments of strauss, the "ruins" of volney, so well named, for this man could make nothing but "ruins" the blasphemies of the revolution whose voice was extinguished once in blood, and once again in the silence of contempt; join to it all that the future may hold for us of monstrosities and of vain dreams; then will there come the humblest and the simplest of all sisters of charity- the world will leave there all its follies, and all its crimes, and all its dreams, to bow before this sublime reality. 7 charity! word divine, sole word which makes god understood, word which contains a universal revelation "spirit" of "charity" alliance of two words, which are a complete solution and a com

p. thou art god, and all created beings are thy servants and thy worshippers: thy glory is not tarnished, although men worship other gods, because their intention is to address themselves to thee; they are like blind men, who wish to follow the straight road, but stray; one falls into a well, the other into a ditch; all think that they are come to their desire, yet they have wearied themselves in vain. but thy servants are like men of clear sight travelling upon the highroad; never do they stray from it, either to the right hand or the left, until they are entered into the court of the king's palace. thou art god, who by thy godhead sustainest all beings, and by thy unity dost being home all creatures. thou art god, and there is no difference between thy deity, thy unity, thy eternity, and

would express the known and not the unknown. it would then belong to science, and no longer to religion, that is to say, to faith. 77 the object of faith is a mathematical problem, whose "x" escapes the procedures of our algebra. absolute mathematics prove only the necessity, and, in consequence, the existence of this unknown which we represent by the untranslatable "x" now science progresses in vain; its progress is indefinite, but always relatively finite; it will never find in the language of the finite the complete expression of the infinite. mystery is therefore eternal. to bring into the logic of the known the terms of a profession of faith is to withdraw them from faith, which has for positive bases anti-logic, that is to say, the impossibility of logically explaining the unknown

hole nor fissure; nothing was seen to fall, and yet the noise of the fall of the drops multiplied, it became more rapid, and more frequent. and the wine climbed from the bottom of the chalice towards the brim "when the chalice was full, i bore it slowly around so that all might see it; then the prophet dipped his lips into it, and all, one after the other, tasted the miraculous wine. it is in 146 vain to search memory for any delicious taste which would gave an idea of it. and what shall i tell you" added the abbe charvoz "of those miracles of blood which astonish us every day? thousands of wounded and bleeding hosts are found upon our altars. the sacred stigmata appear to all who wish to see them. the hosts, at first white, slowly become marked with characters and hearts in blood. must on

" or spiritual doctrine of the being itself. when the soul evokes a thought, the sign of that thought is written automatically in the light. to invoke is to adjure, that is to say, to swear by a name; it is to perform an act of faith in that name, and to communicate in the virtue which it represents. words in themselves are, then, good or evil, poisonous or wholesome. the most dangerous words are vain and lightly uttered words, because they are the voluntary abortions of thought. 190 a useless word is a crime against the spirit of intelligence; it is an intellectual infanticide. things are for every one what he makes of them by naming them. the "word" of every one is an impression or an habitual prayer. to speak well is to live well. a fine style is an aureole of holiness. from these princ

nce done to nature. ah! at last, here is pleasure; here is life. and their desire, in the paroxysm of its insatiable hunger, extinguishes itself for ever in death. 266 fourth part the great practical secrets or the realization of science introduction the lofty sciences of the qabalah and of magic promise man an exceptional, real, effective, efficient power, and one should regard them as false and vain if they do not give it. judge the teachers by their works, said the supreme master. this rule of judgment is infallible. if you wish me to believe in what you know, show me what you do. god, in order to exalt man to moral emancipation, hides himself from him and abandons to him, after a fashion, the government of the world. he leaves himself to be guessed by the grandeurs and harmonies of nat

THE MIDDLE PILLAR

m my mind into that of the receptive student who thus was influenced against his own better judgment or skepticism. with none of these am i wholly in accord, though in each of them may be some germ of truth. none of them answer the facts of experience. and i can only suggest that these people would do far better to apply themselves zealously to a little experimental work rather than waste time in vain explanations and baseless theories. some will note that this exercise corresponds in some ways to the yoga chakra system.15 there is, assuredly, correspondence. but there are several very important differences and variations. the first, a minor difference, is the number and position of the centers involved. but this does not require discussion. what is fundamental, however, is the entirely di

THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES

hat these men in black were residents of this planet associated with the ufos. but this is a fact; the "truth" the ufo fans have sought for so long. and as daniel webster put it "there is nothing so powerful as truth, and often nothing so strange" you can't learn the truth by chasing ufos helter-skelter through the skies in planes. the air forces of several governments tried that for years. it is vain to hire astronomers. they are not trained in the kind of disciplines needed to investigate earthly phenomena, or even to interview earthly witnesses. interviewing is an advanced art, the province of journalists and psychologists. one does not hire a parachutist to go spelunking in a cave or a balloonist to go diving for treasure. if you need a brain surgeon you don't hire a horticulturist who

THE NECRONOMICON SIMON VERSION

lly, and to make its message known to the world. it, too, contains the formulae necessary to summon the invisible into visibility, and the secrets of transformations are hidden within its pages, but this is crowley's own necronomicon, received in the middle east in the shadow of the great pyramid of gizeh, and therein is writ not only the beauty, but the beast that yet awaits mankind. it would be vain to attempt to deliver a synopsis of crowley's philosophy, save that its 'leitmotif' is the rabelaisian do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. the actual meaning of this phrase has taken volumes to explain, but roughly it concerns the uniting of the conscious self, a process of individuation which culminates in a rite called "knowledge and conversation of the holy guardian angel; the

names, as the goddess and the devil have, but the chinese symbolise it by the dragon. it is the force of will, and relies heavily upon the biochemical matter that makes up the human body, and hence, the human consciousness, to give it existence. science is coming around to accept the fact that the will does exist, just at the point where psychology has determined it does not- in the behaviourists vain attempt to eradicate what has always been known to constitute vital parts of the psyche from their consideration in pseudo scientific experimentation, leaving us with the "white mice and pigeons" of koestler's the ghost in the machine. science, ancient sister of magick, has begun to realize the human potential that resides, inconspicuously, in the spiral-mapped matter of the brain. just as th

gods. i have, at last, found the formulae by which i passed the gate arzir, and passed into the forbidden realms of the foul igigi. i have raised demons, and the dead. i have summoned the ghosts of my ancestors to real and visible appearance on the tops of temples built to reach the stars, and built to touch the nethermost cavities of hades. i have wrestled with the black magician, azag-thoth, in vain, and fled to the earth by calling upon inanna and her brother marduk, lord of the double-headed axe. i have raised armies against the lands of the east, by summoning the hordes of fiends i have made subject unto me, and so doing found ngaa, the god of the heathens, who breathes flame and roars like a thousand thunders. i have found fear. i have found the gate that leads to the outside, by whi

THE PATH OF KABBALAH

e ascribe to the study is the cause of all our anguish and that of the last generation. it also says that this is the reason for our spiritual exile. however, the truth is that the only reason we are suffering is that we are not correcting ourselves through the wisdom of kabbalah, and that is why we are marching on the path of pain. 228 of 273 chapter 5.3 uprooting prejudice nothing is created in vain in this world. everything is created in order to attain the purpose of creation. the true picture of the world is one of completeness and fullness, with nothing that is redundant, not even a single thought or operation. everyone is doing precisely what he or she is meant to be doing, and at the same time they are realizing the purpose of creation. the vast majority does it unconsciously, but

form. there is nothing in our world that was 252 of 273 created without a reason. baal hasulam brings a tiny insect in the wood that spends its entire life in search of food and no one pays it any heed as an example. and not only every insect, but every single atom of that insect bears a tremendous value to the attainment of the collective end of correction. the creator did not create anything in vain, and everything happens only according to the nearing to the ultimate goal. events happen with or without our consent, and regardless of how we view them. but whether or not we understand what happens and why, things still move toward the completion of the design of creation, and the revelation of the full purpose of creation to the creatures in this world. just as there are different people

THE ROSICRUCIAN MANIFESTOS

he after many painful travels, and his fruitless true instructions, returned again into germany, the which he (by reason of the alterations which were shortly to come, and of the strange and dangerous contentions) heartily loved: there, although he could have bragged with his art, but specially of the transmutations of metals; yet did he esteem more heaven, and the citizens thereof, man, then all vain glory and pomp. nevertheless he builded a fitting and neat inhabitation, in the which he ruminated his voyage, and philosophy, and reduced them together in a true memorial. in this house he spent a great time in the mathematicks, and made many fine instruments, ex omnibus hujus artis partibus, whereof there is but little remaining to us, as hereafter you shall understand. after five years cam

nacula of great weighty matters. so then, the secret his writings and characters are most necessary for all such things which are found out by men. although that great book of nature stands open to all men, yet there are but few that can read and understand the same. for as there is given to man two instruments to hear, likewise two to see, and two to smell, but only one to speak, and it were but vain to expect speech from the ears, or hearing from the eyes. so there hath been ages or times which have seen, there have also been ages that have heard, smelt, and tasted. now there remains yet that which in short time, honour shall be likewise given to the tongue, and by the same; what before times hath been seen, heard, and smelt, now finally shall be spoken and uttered forth, when the world

ose vipers will be stopped and the triple crown will be brought to nought, as thereof at our meeting shall more plain and at large be discoursed. for conclusion of our confession, we must earnestly admonish you, that you put away, if not all, yet the most books written by false alchemists, who do think it but a jest, or a pastime, when they either misuse the holy trinity, when they do apply it to vain things, or deceive the people with most strange figures, and dark sentences and speeches, and cozen the simple of their money; as there are nowadays too many such books set forth, which the enemy of man s welfare doth daily, and will to the end, mingle among the good seed, thereby to make the truth more difficult to be believed, which in herself is simple, easy, and naked, but contrarily fals

pease god, and to accommodate you for the time wherein you live. certainly if you will perform the same, this profit will follow, that all those goods which nature hath in all parts of the world wonderfully dispersed, shall at one time altogether be given unto you, and shall easily disburden you of all that which obscureth the understanding of man, and hindereth the working thereof, like unto the vain eccentrics and epicycles. but those pragmatical and busy-headed men, who either are blinded with the glittering of gold, or (to say more truly) who are now honest, but by; thinking such great riches should never fail, might easily be corrupted, and brought to idleness, and to riotous proud living, those we desire that they would not trouble us with their idle and vain crying. but let them thi

THE STAR IN THE WEST BY CAPTAIN FULLER A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE WORKS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY

ts silver billows up through the void demesne of space to the heavens f azure cup! hush, my love, and sleep shall sigh this is immortality *the tale of archais, vol. i, p. 27. other lines again hold us enthralled with the extraordinary power they contain, expressed in a single word. thus in the poem gthe lesbian hell, h we find ourselves in the unutterable void of orcus, where kisses are flung in vain, and where around us pale women fleet: whose empty fruitlessness assails the night with hollow repercussion, like dim tombs wherein some vampire glooms *the temple of the holy ghost, vol. i, p. 185. this last line is one of the most expressive ever written by crowley, and in the last word gglooms h is concentrated more than terror or fear, a brooding unnameable horror, comparable to the word

s vile carnalities on. lust and indolence are the parents of marriage and law, but not even the menials of freedom and free love. we clung still closer, till the soul ran through body to body, twined like sunny snakes, sinlessly knowing we were man and wife *alice, an adultery, vol. ii, p. 73. alice, still fearful, foresees the end; such love as theirs is too supernal to be platonic; she flies in vain; for she has to console her sad lover with the truth. the storm-clouds gather on the twenty-fifth day: mouth unto mouth! o fairest! mutely lying, fire lambent laid on water. o! the pain! kiss me, o heart, as if we both were dying! kiss, as we could not ever kiss again! kiss me, between the music of our sighing, lightning and rain *alice, an adultery, vol. ii, p. 76. a curious conflict this et

p. 191. thus does he fail at the very threshold of his higher self. he hears echoing ggereth, i am thine! h and falling back on his purpose, the illusions of spirit and mind dissolve to the desolate cry of gunready. h haggard and worn, back to the court he wends his weary way, back to the king, back to his self fs desire; and there, taunted by the husband of the mistress he had denied himself in vain, stung with insult and vile word, he slays him: stark dead. the queen. i hate the name of her! so grew the mustard-seed, one moment fs lust *the temple of the holy ghost, vol. i, p. 192. wounded himself, he is nursed back to life by the wife of his adversary. ah god! she won that most reluctant breath out of corruption: love! ah! love is strong! what waters quench it? king shalomeh saith *the

t frenzied exclamation of jared, when he tried to shake off the awful power that was urging him to become participator in the murder of an innocent girl; and such is also often the terrible struggle that is waged in the mind of the sexual invert. impelled by energies sometimes inbred, sometimes self-made, and sometimes but mere matters of locality and education, how often does he struggle. and in vain! this terrible form of vice, chameleon-like, assumes many colours, one of the principal being that of pleasure under the guise of pain. in such cases utter satiety of the ordinary forms of pleasure gives birth to the desire for the pain which was once dreaded, and the pleasure that the individual once experienced in himself, and also the pleasure he felt was being experienced by the participa

ness of woman is the work of god. for everything that lives is holy. in samuel butler fs gerewhon h we find much the same idea in the following couplet. he who sins aught sins more than he ought, but he who sins naught, has much to be taught. blake further writes in gthe marriage of heaven and hell h: a man carried a monkey about for a show, and because he was a little wiser than the monkey, grew vain, and conceived himself as much wiser than seven men. it is so with swedenborg: he shows the folly of churches and exposes hypocrites, till he imagines that all are religious and himself the single one on earth that ever broke a net. now hear a plain fact: swedenborg has not written one new truth. now hear another: he has written all the old falsehoods. and now hear the reason: he conversed wi

wn mind *sword of song, pentecost, vol. ii, p. 177. gall is illusion, h says criosda* i and further in that weird play. hthe god- eater h. we already heard him solemnly utter *the god eater, vol. ii, p. 138. mystery ninefold closed upon itself that matter should move mind. ay! darker yet that mind should work on matter? and the proof extant, implicit in the thought thereof! else all our work were vain. these twain be one *the god eater, vol. ii, p. 134. in these five lines we find a clinching of the whole argument. gthese twain be one. h no more than this did berkeley ever arrive at: gbut, though it were possible that solid, figured, movable substances may exist without the mind, corresponding to the ideas we have of bodies, yet how is it possible for us to know this? either we must know i

h is no less than pure hylo-idealism, they have. yet none to the individual brain, until they have been brought into reciprocal relationship to it. if the outer world is an illusion, then the inner world of self is but a delusion, a mere mirrored reflection of shadows cast by some blinding sun; so hope some of us, as orpheus did when he sang: this world is shadow-shapen of the bitterness of pain. vain are the little lamps of love! the light of life is vain! life, death, joy, sorrow, age and youth are phantoms of a further truth. h *the argonauts, iv, vol. ii, p. 110. this is but the chant of the brahmin and the buddhist as it has risen and fallen over the east for hundreds and thousands of years. there no sun shines, no moon, nor glimmering star, nor yonder lightning, the fire of earth is

us to believe the existence of bodies without the mind, from what we perceive. h*1. this point crowley fully emphasizes in gtime h when he writes: ga thing is only real to us so far as it is known by us; even its unknowability is a species of knowledge of it: and, by savitri! when i say real to us, i say real absolutely, since all things lie to me in the radius of my sensorium. eto others f is a vain phrase. h*2. and as it has already been shown in the chain a,b,a,b,a,b, it matters not if the materialist chooses to place his finger on a, or the idealist on b; so in the above, berkeley annihilating the idea of a material substratum, at one and the same moment, unwittingly immolates his own cherished child on that same blade with which he has just sacrificed his foe. and, seeking to supplan

, vol. i, p. 29. it is in this search that the soul unfurls its wings and sweeps into the infinite ether of existence, bending its course towards god in its own unutterable ideal. with burning eyes intent to penetrate the black circumference, and find out god *songs of the spirit, vol. i, p. 32. in gthe alchemist, h or in that beautiful poem gthe farewell of paracelsus to aprile. h gstruggling in vain to what one hopes the best. h* we find this larger hope is here the keynote, as it is in so many of crowley fs poems; to mention perhaps the most noted, we find this sacred flame flashing forth in gaceldama, h gparacelsus, h gthe ultimate voyage, h gthe nameless quest, h gthe neophyte, h and in gtannhauser. h many of the poems in gsongs of the spirit h and gthe holy of holies, h hold fast to

h in some great agony. enkindle generous ardour, feed pure love, beget the smiles that have no cruelty. be the sweet presence of a good diffus fd and in diffusion ever more intense! so shall i join the choir invisible whose music is the gladness of the world. in the song of orpheus we listen to the glittering and mystic consummation of bliss: this world is shadow-shapen of the bitterness of pain. vain are the little lamps of love! the light of life is vain! life, death, joy, sorrow, age and youth are phantoms of a further truth. beyond the splendour of the world, false glittering of the gold, a serpent is in slumber curled in wisdom fs sacred cold. life is the flaming of that flame. death is the naming of that name. that star upon the serpent fs head is called the soul of man: that light i

THE BOOK OF GATES

he fortunate spot, which has paid me for all the trouble i took in my researches. i may call this a fortunate day, one of the best perhaps of my life; i do not mean to say, that fortune has made me rich, for i do not consider all rich men fortunate; but she has given me that satisfaction, that extreme pleasure, which wealth cannot purchase; the pleasure of discovering what has been long sought in vain, and of presenting the world with a new and perfect monument of egyptian antiquity, which can be recorded as superior to any other in point of grandeur, style, and preservation, appearing as if just finished on the day we entered it; and what i found in it will show its great superiority to all others. not fifteen yards from the last tomb i described, i caused the earth to be opened at the fo

THE SECRET RITUALS OF THE OTO

/2001 2:03:21 pm] the secret rituals of the o.t.o (they raise the coping stone) s: brethren, the master is slain, yet his word lives, for here, behold is written in his blood, upon the floor of this dry well, an el haqq, which is to say, i am the truth, noble emir, do you know the word by which man is raised from death to life? e: i do. s: make trial of that word (word of first) e: the word is in vain (repeat with w. and word of second) e: shall nothing endure but the truth? w: will you not make trial of the word of a master magician? s: it is my will (w. and e. take c. from well and support him) i am bound to our brother by seven bonds of brotherhood. my hand gripped his in sure relation (point by point done as said) as of true brother with true brother; my foot was ever firm foundation o

nosis to all members of the supreme grand council of very illustrious sovereign grand inspectors general vii greeting and peace. under the seal of the obligation of the vii. i from the beginning of years the initiates of all peoples have held one central secret as a sure bond of brotherhood, as a unity whose truth is able to harmonize all men upon the earth. no fabrications of knavish priests, no vain dreams of mystics, can hide from the sane this one fact: not only is the earth but a chilled spark of the sun, a dropt petal of the rose of heaven, but the source of all light and life upon the planet is that same sun. not only is he creator, but sustainer, and it is he also that destroyeth in due season, and redeemeth when the time is come. therefore in the macrocosm is one sole god, the sun

history of false religion. nor can much less be averred against all other orthodoxies, with their fables equally absurd, their postulates equally immoral. but also let there be war upon those who seek to refine upon these bigotries in any other way than that of eclectic and syncretistic harmonizations; beware moreover of those who seek to spiritualize their false gods, for their heads are even as vain pigs bladders of poisonous miasma. but in your warfare honour brave antagonists; spare them, and bring them to initiation; while the hag and the eunuch and such are well nigh all who support orthodoxies must be shown the only mercy possible, that of swift destruction. for those calling themselves orthodox who are yet men, and women, have in truth no faith in these follies, but only profess th

with the daughters of men; and yet again the marriage of orpheus with eurydice a nymph, and the fatal nets that laura, melusina, the sirens, lilith and many another cast for men. it is even said that to every neophyte of the order of a\a\ appeareth a demon in the form of a woman to pervert him; within our own knowledge have not less than nine brethren been utterly cast out thereby. there are also vain loves, as that of ixion for hera, of actaeon for artemis. consider of this. vii of certain greek rites among the peoples of the balkan peninsula and especially the greeks, beneath the bush of their false christianity, is hidden the wheat of demeter. and even as the muslim trust to be united by death to the hur al ayn of paradise, so do these others yet think that earthly marriage is but forni

THE HOLY BIBLE KING JAMES VERSION

eople straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. 5:8 and the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish [ought] thereof: for they [be] idle; therefore they cry, saying, let us go [and] sacrifice to our god. 5:9 let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words. 5:10 and the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, thus saith pharaoh, i will not give you straw. 5:11 go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished. 5:12 so the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. 5:13 and the taskmasters has

[is] in the water under the earth: 20:5 thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for i the lord thy god [am] a jealous god, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me; 20:6 and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 20:7 thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain; for the lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 20:8 remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 20:9 six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 20:10 but the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the lord thy god [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] withi

n unto me, and will not do all these commandments; 26:15 and if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments [but] that ye break my covenant: 26:16 i also will do this unto you; i will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 26:17 and i will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. 26:18 and if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then i will punish you seven times more for your sins. 26:19 and i will break the pride of your power; and i will make your heaven as ir

st you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. 26:18 and if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then i will punish you seven times more for your sins. 26:19 and i will break the pride of your power; and i will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: 26:20 and your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. 26:21 and if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; i will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. 26:22 i will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your [high] w

s] in the waters beneath the earth: 5:9 thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for i the lord thy god [am] a jealous god, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me, 5:10 and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. 5:11 thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain: for the lord will not hold [him] guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 5:12 keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the lord thy god hath commanded thee. 5:13 six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: 5:14 but the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the lord thy god [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thin

eople. 32:44 and moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and hoshea the son of nun. 32:45 and moses made an end of speaking all these words to all israel: 32:46 and he said unto them, set your hearts unto all the words which i testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. 32:47 for it [is] not a vain thing for you; because it [is] your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong [your] days in the land, whither ye go over jordan to possess it. 32:48 and the lord spake unto moses that selfsame day, saying, 32:49 get thee up into this mountain abarim [unto] mount nebo, which [is] in the land of moab, that [is] over against jericho; and behold the land of canaan, which i give unto the chil

ns, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that i [am] your bone and your flesh. 9:3 and his mother s brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow abimelech; for they said, he [is] our brother. 9:4 and they gave him threescore and ten [pieces] of silver out of the house of baal-berith, wherewith abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him. 9:5 and he went unto his father s house at ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of jerubbaal [being] threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding yet jotham the youngest son of jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself. 9:6 and all the men of shechem gathered together, and all the house of millo, and went, and made abimelech king, by the pl

leadite was a mighty man of valour, and he [was] the son of an harlot: and gilead begat jephthah. 11:2 and gilead s wife bare him sons; and his wife s sons grew up, and they thrust out jephthah, and said unto him, thou shalt not inherit in our father s house; for thou [art] the son of a strange woman. 11:3 then jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of tob: and there were gathered vain men to jephthah, and went out with him. 11:4 and it came to pass in process of time, that the children of ammon made war against israel. 11:5 and it was so, that when the children of ammon made war against israel, the elders of gilead went to fetch jephthah out of the land of tob: 11:6 and they said unto jephthah, come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of ammon. 11:7 an

. 12:19 and all the people said unto samuel, pray for thy servants unto the lord thy god, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins [this] evil, to ask us a king. 12:20 and samuel said unto the people, fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the lord, but serve the lord with all your heart; 12:21 and turn ye not aside: for [then should ye go] after vain [things] which cannot profit nor deliver; for they [are] vain. 12:22 for the lord will not forsake his people for his great name s sake: because it hath pleased the lord to make you his people. 12:23 moreover as for me, god forbid that i should sin against the lord in ceasing to pray for you: but i will teach you the good and the right way: 12:24 only fear the lord, and serve him in truth wit

red clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid [them] on asses. 25:19 and she said unto her servants, go on before me; behold, i come after you. but she told not her husband nabal. 25:20 and it was [so, as] she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, david and his men came down against her; and she met them. 25:21 now david had said, surely in vain have i kept all that this [fellow] hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that [pertained] unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good. 25:22 so and more also do god unto the enemies of david, if i leave of all that [pertain] to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. 25:23 and when abigail saw david, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell bef

TYSON DONALD NEW MILLENNIUM MAGIC

rpenter's plane that the master builder uses to shape its great work. human identity is the worm. human function is the fulfillment of divine purpose. the human body is the plane. when the plane breaks or wears out, the builder does not fashion another lovingly around the worm. only the incredible conceit of the worm could imagine such a thing. no, the builder casts the broken plane-and the silly vain worm-into its fire and makes a new plane, shaping it to suit the purpose of the work and using it as an extension of its will to achieve its end. and another silly worm takes up resi- dence in the handle and fancies itself lord of the manor! the au cares with infinite compassion for the least of its manifestations, which it creates out of love and desire. not without reason did jesus say that

s the light of spirit have absolute power over the forces of evil. magi should seek the light in times of trial or when they are doubtful and afraid, any time they find themselves assailed by the darkness. if they seek with open hearts, it will come. as jesus, one of the greatest magi, rightly observed "ask, and it shall be given you (matthew 7:7. but if they play the hypocrite, they will seek in vain, and devils will mock them. the magi should ask the light for instruction in the art of magic. the light will give it if their purposes are honest and if magic is a part of their personal des- tinies. they may ask for the names of spirits, the signs that will bind them, their true forms accordmg to human understanding, and all other aspects of the art. usually the light will communicate throu

pragmatic reasons. only by living in harmony with the light can the magus realize his or her highest potential as a human being. and it is only through the achieve- ment of aspects of this personal destiny that the magus can attain true happiness. the good and evil of a life are weighed against each other in the great scale, and the direction the pan tips determines whether the life was lived in vain, in dis- sonant mockery of god and therefore also in mockery of the true self, or whether it has contributed in some small way to the harmony of the cosmic design, which does not fall within the comprehension of any incarnate being. life lived in pur- suit of the light of spirit has value and purpose. life not lived for the light is rud- derless, without hope of any description. i nitiation i

ty emotions. do this not by trying to suppress them but by allowing them to rise up unchecked within you while you observe them dispassionately as from a great height, as though they belonged to another person you hardly know. listen to the stream of your thoughts as though it were the ceaseless chatter of a foolish, bigot- ed old woman, and for the first time, see your thoughts for what they are-vain, arrogant, and futile. pray and meditate at least twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. three times-once at noon-would be better. four times-waking your- self every night at midnight-is better still. prayer and meditation always go together. in meditation you open yourself to currents in the subconscious mind. prayer is your shield of protection. pray before and after the

mately it cannot even be remembered. how is the magus to guard against deception when seeking the inspiration of the light? by remembering that part of cosmic law which says nothing is for noth- ing. whenever the magus tries to profit at the expense of others from what has not been earned or merited, it may be assumed that he or she is in danger of straying into the shadows. all black magic is a vain attempt by foolish individuals to cheat their personal destiny and gain more than their allotted portion. in ritual magic, the magus should always use the names and symbols of the light, excluding from the circle of protection anything that is disharmonious to the will of the all. when these symbols of light are linked in the mind of the magus to a true understanding of what the light is, the

onal impulses, the accumulated karma will grind him or her down like job until the magus either recognizes the foolishness of this behavior or is consumed by it. this is the meaning of lucifer's temptation of jesus. lucifer urged the magus jesus to prove his occult power by throwing himself off a mountain. jesus declined because he realized that to use the power of the light in such a trivial and vain dis- play of personal skill would make him unworthy to receive it. it is by no means cer- tain that jesus would have risen from the rocks below. jesus knew this. lucifer knew it also. there was a good chance that the all would turn its eye away from jesus in sorrow and disappointment at the instant he chose to leap from the mountain, allowing jesus to fall to his death. do not make the mistak

fortune. even when they seem good they are bad because they lead away from destiny. on the path of destiny there is no luck-all happens according to plan and for the best. the other wanderers in the desert are lost mankind, each person crying self- ishly for comfort, never heeding the cries of despair all around. they seek to lure others across the shifting sands to share in their misery, in the vain hope that the lost can comfort the lost with lies. at the end of the path is the door of death, which a soul can only pass through with honor if it has been faithful to its destiny. the innumerable tracks of fate also have their doors, but these are low portals a soul must stoop its head to pass through, and there is no joy beyond them, only darkness and cold. destiny and fate are two terms t

TYSON DONALD SOUL FLIGHT

f, along one of its sides. the bridge exists in a constant state of disrepair. the planks newly laid upon it begin to weather and rot almost as soon as they are put down, and constant rumbling in the ground and trembling of the earth shakes loose the stones that make up its buttresses. overseers with flails drive the workers on to ever greater efforts, but it appears that all their work may be in vain. the center of the bridge is burning. it is evident that it has been on fire for a considerable time. while laborers working on either side strive to extinguish the flames, others replace blackened timbers with new planks brought down from the hills in carts. there is great shouting and confusion, and no one appears in command. the god of this place is a vague form that shapes itself in the s

personal guide fetch it, or get it yourself from some convenient location that is nearby but concealed from sight. the ruler may express wonder at your powers of magic as you pull a bottle of wine from out of a cupboard or from behind a tree and present it in offering. 235. regardie, 460. chapter seventeen: etiquette in the astral world 299 this will enhance your standing. resist the urge to make vain displays merely to impress the spirits. becoming familiar with an astral realm in order to really explore an astral realm, it is necessary to return to it again and again. at first, it is likely to be fragmented or vague, too much for your mind to comprehend, and a confusion of sounds and colors. indeed, theosophists describe the first perception of the astral world as nothing but vaguely def

TYSON DONALD THE POWER OF THE WORD

th the tetrad, which is the key of all numbers, of all movements and of all forms (ibid, p. 37) when a man pronounces the tetragram-say the kabaliststhe nine celestial realms sustain a shock, and then all spirits cry out one upon another "who is it thus disturbing the kingdom of heaven" then does the earth communicate unto the first sphere the sins of that rash being who takes the eternal name in vain, and the accusing word is transmitted from circle to circle, from star to star, and from hierarchy to hierarchy (ibid, p. 50) according to consecrated dogma, there are three persons in god, and these three constitute one only deity. three and one provide the conception of four, because unity is required appendix b: comr7zentaries on tetragrammaton to explain the three. hence, in almost all la

WICCA WITCHCRAFT TODAY

no pain, the devil had marked the spot. had he been permitted to go on long enough, there is no doubt that mannoury would have discovered all the marks. unfortunately, one of the apothecaries (an untrustworthy stranger from tours) was less complacent than the village doctors whom lou-bardemont had assembled to control the experiment. catching mannoury in the act of cheating, the man protested, in vain. his minority report was merely ignored. meanwhile, mannoury and the others had proved themselves most gratifyingly co-operative' page 235 'the judges saw the defendant only three times in all. then, after the usual pious preliminaries they rendered their decision; it was unanimous. grandier was to be subjected to the "question, ordinary and extraordinary. with a rope round his neck and a two

WICCA MAGICK OCCULT THREE GREEN BOOKS DRUIDISM

to be thought upon and not necessarily agreed with. sayings of the ancient druids (on religion) one god supreme the universe does sway with rev rence his omnipotence obey; and know, that all we possibly can name, from heav n itself originally came; let no mean thoughts of dissolution fright, or damp you spirits with the dews of night. the soul s immortal and can never die; for frail existence no vain efforts make, for fear to lose what he wants power to take. of awful vengeance ever shall be hurl d by nature s god against a sinful world; in dreadful deluges we must expire or else consume in rapid flames of fire. in these tremendous elements alone, mankind shall perish, and their sins atone. another world is ready to receive immortal souls, that earthly bodies leave to dust the perishable

was panting. his stomach felt shriveled up, shrunk tight against his backbone. but he was determined to endure one more night, the fourth and last. surely the vision would come. but again he cried for it out of the dark and loneliness until he was hoarse, and still he had no dream. just before daybreak he heard the same voice again, very angry: why still here? he knew then that he had suffered in vain. he now knew he would have to go back to his people and confess that he had gained no knowledge and no power. the only thing he could tell them was that he got bawled out every morning. sad and cross, he replied i can t help myself this is my last day, and i m crying my eyes out. i know you told me to go home, but who are you to give me orders? i don t know you. i m going to stay until my unc

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

y the green. two dogs once killed a lion, so the minority must at last always give way to a majority. the talmud argues that adam had two faces. some say one before and one behind, while others say one looked to right and one to the left. others say that adam was both a male and a female. others say that eve was made from his thirteenth rib, and was not drawn out from his head, lest she should be vain. not from his eyes, lest she should be wanton; not from his mouth, lest she should talk to much; not from his ears, lest she should be an eavesdropper; not from his feet, lest she should be a gadabout; and not from his heart, lest she should be numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott jealous; yet in spite of all these precautions woman has developed all thes

WILLIAM WESCOTT THE CHALDEAN ORACLES OF ZOROASTER TRANSLATION

e only to the theurgists who, we are told "fall not so as to be ranked with the herd that are in subjection to fate" the divine light cannot radiate in an imperfect microcosm, even as the clouds obscure the sun; for of such as make ascent to the most divine of speculations in a confused and disordered manner, with unhallowed lips, or unwashed feet, the progressions are imperfect, the impulses are vain and the paths are dark. although destiny, our destiny, may be "written in the stars" yet it was the mission of the divine soul to raise the human soul above the circle of necessity, and the oracles give victory to that masterly will, which "hews the wall with might of magic, breaks the palisade in pieces, hews to atoms seven pickets speaks the master words of knowledge" the means taken to tha

WORKING CEPHALOEDIUM VERSION 1

e: s ic, probably should be aleph-lamed-hay, 36, the square of 6 and the sum of the first eight numbers, etc, etc. now aleph is the letter of hadith as hay of nu ith, and lamed is their balanced union. thirdly: alostrael resumeth nuit and the beast hadith; their copulation is t herefore by this word 36 well signified. fourthly: it is written `liber lapidis lazuli, cap. iii, vv. 16-18 that al l is vain unless there be``a man's life spilt for thy love upon mine altars' thus then let his high priest do sacrifice to the beast, thereby to consecrate him to the rite. fifthly: that `the paris working, the first model for our present orgia, is not to be followed pedantically. sixthly and lastly: that special names are to be used by us; for the beast o phion 700, for genesthai 143 iacchaion, and fo

WORKING CEPHALOEDIUM VERSION 2

note: sic, probably should be aleph-lamed-hay, 36, the square of 6 and the sum of the first eight numbers, etc, etc. now aleph is the letter of hadith as hay of nuith, and lamed is their balanced union. thirdly: alostrael resumeth nuit and the beast hadith; their copulation is therefore by this word 36 well signified. fourthly: it is written `liber lapidis lazuli, cap. iii, vv. 16-18 that all is vain unless there be``a man's life spilt for thy love upon mine altars' thus then let his high priest do sacrifice to the beast, thereby to consecrate him to the rite. fifthly: that `the paris working, the first model for our present orgia, is not to be followed pedantically. sixthly and lastly: that special names are to be used by us; for the beast ophion 700, for genesthai 143 iacchaion, and for

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