{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_1650/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_1650","id":"gutenberg_1650","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1650","summary":null,"tags":["Astrology","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Occultism"],"text":"Ver.04.29.93*END*\n\n\n\n\n\\ AUTHOR: Burgoyne, Thomas H.\n|    TITLE: The light of Egypt :\n|           or, The science of the soul and the stars /\n|  EDITION: 5th ed.\n|    PLACE: Denver, Colo. :\n|PUBLISHER: Astro Philosophical Pub. Co.,\n|     YEAR: 1903\n| PUB TYPE: Book\n|   FORMAT: 2 v. : ill. ; 22 cm.\n| Vol. 2 has title: The light of Egypt, by Thomas H. Burgoyne ...\n|           Denver, Colo., The Astro-philosophical publishing\nco., 1900.\n|           \"Dictated by the author from the subjective plane of\nlife\" through Belle M. Wagner.--Pref., vol. II.\n|  SUBJECT: Astrology.\n|           Occultism.\n|    OTHER: Wagner, Belle M.\n--\n   AUTHOR: Wagner, H. O.\n|    TITLE: A treasure chest of wisdom:\n|           jewels of thought; the tablets of Aeth in verse /\n|    PLACE: Denver :\n|PUBLISHER: H. O. Wagner,\n|     YEAR: 1967\n| PUB TYPE: Book\n|   FORMAT: 63 p. ; 21 cm.\n|    NOTES: Verses by Dr. and Mrs. Henry Wagner.\n           \"A supplement to the tablets of Aeth in The light of\nEgypt,\n|           volume II, by T. H. Burgoyne.\"\n|  SUBJECT: Occultism.\n|    OTHER: Wagner, Henry, 1850-\n|           Wagner, Belle M.\n|           Burgoyne, Thomas H. The light of Egypt.\n|____________________________________________\n\n\n\n\n\nScanned by Charles Keller for Sarah with OmniPage Professional\nOCR software\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LIGHT OF EGYPT OR THE SCIENCE OF THE SOUL AND THE STARS\n\nVOLUME II\n\nBY\n\nTHOMAS H. BURGOYNE\n\n\n\n\nZANONI\n\n\n\"Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are,\nand the things which shall be hereafter; THE MYSTERY OF THE SEVEN\nSTARS, which thou sawest in my right hand.\"\nRevelations, Chap. I, 19 and 20.\n\n\nDedication\n\nTo the Budding Spirituality of the Occident and\nThe Rising Genius of the Western Race,\nThis work is respectfully dedicated,\nBy the Author\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nThe Science of the Soul and the Stars\n\nVOLUME II Introduction\n\nChapter I The Zodiac\n\nChapter II The Constellations\n\nChapter III The Spiritual Interpretation of the\n      Twelve Houses of the Zodiac\n\nChapter IV Astro-Theology\n\nChapter V Astro-Mythology\n\nChapter VI Symbolism\n\nChapter VII Alchemy Part I (organic)\n\nChapter VIII Alchemy Part II (occult)\n\nChapter IX Talismans\n\nChapter X Ceremonial Magic\n\nChapter XI Magic Wands\n\nChapter XII The Tablets of Aeth in three parts\n\n      Part I the Twelve Mansions\n      Part II the Ten Planetary Rulers\n      Part III the Ten Great Powers of the Universe\n\nChapter XIII Penetralia\n\n\nPUBLISHER'S PREFACE\n\nNo explanation is thought necessary, further than to corroborate\nthe author in all he has said in his somewhat unusual preface.\n\nWe have enjoyed, immensely, our work of giving to the world this\nremarkable series of books on Occultism, and appreciate the large\npatronage they have received from the reading public, for which\nwe return our sincere thanks. We hope the near future will give\nus the work referred to by the author in his preface, as\ndoubtless it will be a great revelation of Occult laws that\ngovern our little Earth in its relation to our Sun and solar\nsystem, of which it forms a part, and give much light on those\nsubjects that have been shrouded in mystery.\n\n\"The Light of Egypt\" will be found to be an Occult library in\nitself, a textbook of esoteric knowledge, setting forth the\n\"wisdom Religion\" of life, as taught by the Adepts of Hermetic\nPhilosophy. It will richly repay all who are seeking the higher\nlife to carefully study this book, as it contains in a nutshell\nthe wisdom of the ages regarding man and his destiny, here and\nhereafter. The London and American first edition, also the French\nedition, Vol. I, met with lively criticism from Blavatsky\nTheosophists, because it annihilates that agreeable delusion of\n\"Karma\" and \"Reincarnation\" from the minds of all lovers of truth\nfor truth's sake.\n\n\"The Tablets of Aeth\" is a great and mighty work, as it contains\nthe very quintessence of Occult and Hermetic philosophy, as\nrevealed by spiritual law. \"Penetralia\" is a new revelation, and\ninvaluable to Occult students, as it is the personal experience\nof a developed soul.\n\nTo all lovers of Truth we respectfully recommend this Book of\nBooks, as it has justly been called by many who are competent to\ncriticise its teachings. It was the author's wish that his name\nbe withheld from the public, knowing full well that the teachings\ncontained in his works will prove his motto: \"Omnia Vincit\nVeritas.\"\n\nNow that our author has passed beyond the power of the world to\nflatter or condemn, and has given his thought for the uplifting\nof the human family, it is but simple justice that he be made\nknown to the world as its teacher of a higher thought than has\npreceded him. He shrank from public notoriety, and modestly\nrefused to be publicly known to the world as one of its spiritual\nleaders for the cycle upon which the Earth and its inhabitants\nhave entered, but the time has come to announce publicly the\nauthorship of the works published anonymously under the symbol of\n{}, and his writings are to be judged by their merits, and not by\nprejudice nor personal bias as viewed from the human plane of\nlife.\n\nHe moved in the world, comparatively unknown to the world at\nlarge, and his greatest friends, though mystified, did not\nunderstand his true worth in spiritual greatness. The mask, or\nperson, often hides from view the angel in disguise. Therefore\nour author must be judged by what he has written, and not by his\npersonators and calumniators. The true student of Occultism\nalways judges the tree by its fruits. If the writings of our\nauthor are judged by this standard, they will stand as a beacon\nlight to higher rounds than ours.\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nThese lessons were issued to a few of my pupils as \"Private\nStudies in Occultism,\" several years ago. The time has now come\nto give them to the world as a companion to the first volume of\n\"The Light of Egypt.\"\n\nIt is the duty of Occult students to familiarize themselves with\nthe subjects herein discussed. They should know the ideas of our\nancestors regarding them and be familiar with their thought, in\norder to appreciate the sublime wisdom and knowledge of Nature as\ntaught by them, otherwise we are sure to do them, as well as\nourselves, great injustice. The history of Occultism bears out\nthe fact that there is very little that is new to the present\ntime.\n\nThe arrangement and classification of thought differs during each\ncycle of time on the different spirals, and, like the fruitage on\nlower rounds of Nature's progressive wheel of destiny, variety\nand quality are diverse, so, likewise, do we find the mental\nmanifestations. This age, however, is blessed with a great\nvariety and abundance of thought, in clear-cut language, that\nshould enlighten the races of the Earth with Mother Nature's\nmodus operandi in every department of human thought.\n\nWe hope these chapters will aid to this end, and doubtless many\nstudents will find in them the key to unlock the mysteries veiled\nin symbol and hieroglyphic by ancient writers. The author's\nobject has been to make plain and easy of understanding these\nsubjects. Much, however, has been left for private study and\nresearch, for many large volumes might be filled if a detailed\ndescription of each subject were entered upon, which task is left\nfor those who feel so inclined. A rich reward is in store for\nthose spiritual investigators who will follow out the paths and\nlines herein mapped out on Spiritual Astrology, Alchemy, and\nother subjects. Meditation and aspiration will open up hidden\ntreasures that will prove a boon to Occult students, for\nAstrology and Alchemy are the two grand sciences that explain the\nwhy and reasons for what we see and experience on every plane of\nlife. In this age there should be no concealing of these Divine\ntruths. We cannot hide anything in the air, and for this reason\nthe Sun in Aquarius will unearth and reveal to man all that the\npresent cycle has to give during the Sun's passage through this\nairy sign.\n\nThe watery sign, Pisces, through which the Sun manifested during\nthe past 2,160 years, gave up to man their secret powers and\nhidden attributes in steam as a motive power, which man has\ncompletely mastered. He will likewise master the airy forces\nduring the present sub-cycle of the Sun in Aquarius. Already we\nsee him using liquid air and compressed air as a motive power,\nwhich will gradually take the place of steam as the Sun gets\nfarther into the sign, or constellation, of Aquarius. Men will\nbecome immensely wiser than they have been, and it is to be hoped\nthey will leave the written record of their achievements in\nscience and art to show to future races their status of mind on\nevery subject for the edification and enlightenment of coming\nraces.\n\nOur ancestors were denied this great privilege. Consequently\ntheir wisdom is only symbolized to us in a way that it is\ndifficult to read and interpret correctly, yet we who have the\nkey to their symbols can read accurately the truth they wish to\nconvey, which stands out clearly to all capable of understanding\nand interpreting symbolism and correspondence correctly. History\nand Nature repeat themselves in every cycle of time; therefore\nthese forces and potentialities are natural to the sign through\nwhich the Sun manifests. We can go backward or forward through\nthe Sun's Zodiac and read correctly the history of the hoary\npast, as well as the present and future, by bearing in mind the\nsign and cycle in manifestation at any given period. When the\nproper time arrives, a work will be given to the world to prove\nto mankind the law of cycles.\n\nGod is present in all ages and races, manifesting His love and\nwisdom throughout infinite creations, and that He records, in His\nown way, the most detailed record of any event which takes place,\nthus giving to man a complete history of His works and will, for\nman's enlightenment, so that he, too, may cooperate intelligently\nwith his God in every way that intelligence wills to manifest.\nPrehistoric history is not blotted out from Nature's laboratory.\nThe Astral Book of Karmic evolution will one day reveal its\nhidden treasures to a waiting world in such a manner as to\nsurprise and enlighten mankind as the recording angels give up\nthose gems of truth they have so jealously guarded for untold\ncycles of time, simply because the time was not ripe for its\ndivulgence.\n\nThere is a time for everything, and when that time arrives all\npast history of our planet's evolution will be written in an\nintelligent manner for the illumination and education of man as\nthe masterpiece of the Living God. In this way man will worship\nDeity and perfect his God-nature, even to Angel-hood.\n\nIf this volume of \"The Light of Egypt\" meets with the same\nappreciation that was accorded the first volume, which has passed\nthrough four editions, and is still growing in favor every day\n(besides being translated into the French), the author will feel\nthat his efforts have not been wasted, and he trusts the race\nwill have been made better for having read his writings.\n\nAs this is his posthumous contribution to the world, the author\nwishes, in this connection, to pay a debt of gratitude and\ngrateful recognition to his esteemed pupil and friend, Dr. Henry\nWagner, who has so generously published nearly all of his\nwritings. Without his aid and assistance we would not have been\nable, of ourselves, to have given these works to the world.\nTherefore, honor to whom honor is due.\n\nMrs. Belle M. Wagner has been chosen by the Masters as my\nspiritual successor and representative of the Hermetic\nBrotherhood of Luxor, and thus perpetuate the chain of outward\nconnection between those in the realm of the higher life with\nthose upon the outward plane.\n\nShe is our choice, and a most worthy one to take my place.\n\nI make this statement in this connection for the benefit of my\npupils and Hermetic students generally, as I am being personated\nby frauds and imposters, claiming to be Zanoni. Verbam sap.\n\nIt is my request that a fac-simile of my signature and symbol\naccompany this preface.\n\nDictated by the author from the subjective plane of life (to\nwhich he ascended several years ago) through the law of mental\ntransfer, well known to all Occultists, he is enabled again to\nspeak with those who are still upon the objective plane of life.\n\nThe additions found in this volume, not in the original\nmanuscripts, have been supplied in this manner. The two planes of\nlife, the objective and subjective, are scientific facts, no\nlonger disputed by well-informed minds, and the exchange of\nthought will become almost universal among educated minds during\nthe present cycle. Hence great progress will come to the Earth\nduring the next 2,160 years, while the Sun manifests his glorious\ninfluence through the symbol of the Man.\n\nThanking each and all who have aided in any way to give my\nwritings to the world, I am, in love and fraternal greetings,\never yours. Omnia Vincit Veritas.\n\n\nINTRODUCTION TO VOL. II\n\nWhat study is more sublime, inspiring and profitable, in the\nhighest sense, than the \"language of the stars\"--those silent\nmonitors of the midnight sky, who reveal HIS WILL as secondary\ncauses in the administration of universal law? The science of the\nstars is the Divine parent of all science.\n\nThe more earnest our study, the more recondite our research and\nthorough our investigation of the \"Science of the Stars,\" the\nmore fully shall we realize the truth of the teacher's words:\n\"Astrology is the key that opens the door to all occult\nknowledge.\" It is the key that unlocks the mysteries of man's\nbeing; his why, whence, whither. Within the temple of Urania lies\nconcealed the mystery of life. The indices are there, written by\nthe finger of the Infinite in the heavens above.\n\nIt is our privilege to make this language our own, and it should\nbe the earnest work of every true student of Nature to acquire a\nright understanding and correct interpretation of these Divine\nsymbols. And, as thorough students of any language seek out the\nderivation of words and expressions, search for the root, or stem\nword, and its origin, so should the student of astrology, by\nsincere desire and earnest study, seek to know the origin and\nroot of these starry words and complex expressions of the\n\"language of the stars.\"\n\nThe Sun, Moon and five planets[*] of our solar system are to us\nsymbols of the reflected and refracted rays of the triune\nattributes of the great Central, Spiritual Sun: Life, Light and\nLove, analogous to the three primary colors in Nature, which\nbecome still further refracted into four secondary or\ncomplementary colors, rays or attributes, the seven constituting\nthe active principles of Nature, the seven rays of the solar\nspectrum, the seven notes of a perfect musical scale, there being\nthroughout a perfect correspondence, and all are but different\nmodes of vibration or activities of the Supreme Intelligence.\n\n[*] Uranus and Neptune belonging to a higher octave.\n\n\nAnd, as we know, the seven rays of color reflect an almost\ninfinite variety of tints, that, octave upon octave, are built\nupon the seven natural tones in music, so, also, are these seven\nactive principles divided and subdivided into innumerable forms,\nqualities and manifestations of the first trinity--Life, Light,\nLove, life being the manifestation of the second two, love and\nwisdom, which in turn are the dual expressions of the \"One.\"\n\nUpon the knowledge of these Divine truths Pythagoras built the\ntheory of the \"music of the spheres.\" Let us pause and listen to\nthis celestial music.\n\nSuns and their systems of planets sound forth the deep bass tones\nand rich tenor, while angelic races take the silvery treble of\nthe Divine melody, octave upon octave, by more and ever more\nethereal system upon system, to the very throne of Deity--the\nInfinite, Eternal source of Light, Life and Love. Let us learn,\nthrough the knowledge of the stars, to attune our souls to\nvibrate to the Divine harmony, so that we may take our places in\nthe celestial choir and blend our voices with those of the\ncelestial singers, chanting the Divine anthem: \"We Praise Thee, O\nGod!\"\n\nTo resume. If we would gain a correct knowledge of astral science\nwe should study astrology in its universal application, side by\nside with its more intricate phase and the details, as manifested\nupon the individual man and his material destiny.\n\nLet us digress for a moment. The intellectual minds, the material\nscientists, who cavil at the \"science of the stars,\" declaring it\nto be mere fortune-telling, consequently false, do but air their\nignorance of this most profound subject, not knowing that it\nembraces and contains all sciences, all religions, that have ever\nbeen or ever will be, comprises all history of every age, of\nraces, empires and nations; that it is the only true chronology,\nand marks the destiny, not only of personal man on every plane,\nbut of the human family as a whole. All mythologies find their\nexplanation in this starry language, and every religion is\nfounded upon the movements of our solar system. The rise and fall\nof empires and races of men are written in its pages.\n\nTo master as far as we are capable, and our limited space of life\nhere will permit, we must pursue the study in its broad sense, as\nalready stated, in the external application of the starry influx\nand upon the interior planes of action from God to the mineral,\nthe mineral to man; aye, and man to the angel, finding in every\nsection a complete and perfect correspondence.\n\nTo master the alphabet should be the first step, whose vowels,\ndiphthongs and consonants are the planets and shining Zodiac. It\nis very essential to clearly comprehend the action and reaction\nof the planets upon the human organism, as an integral part of\nthe universal organism; ever remembering that the starry vowels,\nin combination with the consonants, or Zodiac, form the infinite\nexpressions comprising the language of the starry heavens in\ntheir threefold manifestation upon the external planes of life;\nwhile the radiant constellations are the ideas which find\nexpression through this language, which is likewise a science,\naccurate in its mathematical construction and perfect in\ngeometric proportion.\n\nThe student should ever bear in mind that astrology, like every\nother science, is progressive. The underlying principles are\nalways the same. These are like the \"laws of the Medes and\nPersians,\" but the plane of action is constantly changing.\n\nIt is a well-established and indisputable truth that from the\nSun, the solar center of our system, is derived all force, every\npower and variety of phenomena that manifests itself upon Mother\nEarth. Therefore, when we remember that the solar parent passes\nthrough one sign of his celestial Zodiac in 2,160 years, a\ntwelfth part of his orbit of 25,920 years, we see that from each\nsign in turn he (the Sun) rays forth an influx peculiar to that\nspecial sign; and, as there are no two signs alike in nature or\nquality, hence the passage of the Sun from one sign into another\ncauses a change of polarity in planetary action, which can be\nfully demonstrated and conclusively proven. It follows, as a\nnatural sequence, that the rules formulated and taught by\nastrologers in reference to the plane of planetary influence in\none sub-cycle will not hold good in the next. To illustrate: In\nthe year 1881 the Sun passed from the sign Pisces into Aquarius,\nthus beginning a new cycle of solar force. The human race has\nentered upon a cycle in every respect differing in nature and\naction from the past cycle of 2,160 years. The sign Aquarius is\nmasculine, electric, positive. It is intellectual in character,\nscientific, philosophic, artistic, intuitive and metaphysical. It\nis the sign of the Man. The truths of the past are becoming\netherealized. Our solar parent has scarcely crossed the threshold\nof the sign Aquarius, and already we observe in many directions\nthe activities of the peculiar influx. True, it is but the first\nflush of the dawn of a new era, the harbinger of a glorious day\nto our race. In the light of this truth, ponder well on the\nnature of the influx radiating from the solar center, each orb of\nhis shining family absorbing a different ray, or attribute, of\nsolar energy, corresponding to its own peculiar nature. The\nEarth, in her annual passage about her solar parent, receives the\nharmonious or discordant vibrations of this astral influx\naccording to the many angles she forms to the various planets.\n\nWe see, then, that the Earth is enveloped in an atmosphere, or\nzone, of occult force we recognize as humane, mental, positive,\netc., acting and reacting upon the human family through the laws\nof vibration in strict and exact ratio to its interior capacity\nto receive and ability to externalize upon the material plane of\nbeing. The results, as far as this stage of existence goes, will\nbe manifest as man vibrates harmoniously or otherwise to the\nstellar cause.\n\nThe present sub-cycle producing an entirely different influence\nto that of the past cycle, whose force was watery, magnetic and\nfeminine, causes a warring of elements, confusion and\nuncertainty, until the old are displaced by the new conditions.\nWe should learn from these facts that it is folly to brand as\nfalse and condemn as worthless the rules and formulas, and even\nreligious thought, of the past when we find upon careful\ninvestigation and crucial tests their inadequacy to account for\npresent conditions. They were true in their cycle, and applied to\npast conditions and states of mental development. But in this new\nera, upon whose threshold we now stand, the vibrations become\nmore intense. Man's whole nature is being tuned to a higher key.\nWe must not forget that these cycles apply to the race in their\neffect, and to the individual only as an integral part of the\nwhole. To illustrate. The sign Aquarius is an electrical,\npositive, masculine influence, and will consequently manifest its\nchief activities upon the masculine qualities of the human soul;\nand to-day we have evidence of this in the gradual\nenfranchisement of woman, arousing the positive attributes of her\nnature in demanding equal rights with her brother, man, in the\npolitical arena, as she has already done in the educational\nfield. The masculine portion of the race is becoming more\naggressive, mentally, asserting greater individuality,\nindependent thought and action. The intellect of the race is\nbeing directed, however slowly, into scientific channels, while\nthe human soul is slowly awakening to a sense of a deathless\nimmortality and a desire for spiritual truth. It is slowly but\nsurely shaking off the yoke of an effete priesthood and the\nfetters of superstition and tyranny.\n\nIntelligent man talks of the new scientific and intellectual era\nthat has dawned upon the world; of the necessity for a new\nreligious system, based upon scientific truths, which can be\ndemonstrated, combined with the pure spiritual essence found in\nall systems of religion; a religion with more spirituality and\nless theology; a broader charity and less dogma, and deeper love\nfor God and man, its only creed.\n\nWe must now consider the astral influence of the cycle upon the\nphysical organism of mankind, and particularly of the Western\nraces, who are moving upon the upward arc of the cycle. It is\nquite evident that a radical change must take place in the\nphysical form and constitution with the influx of more\nintellectual, ethereal and spiritual vibrations. The organism\nmust become more refined and compact, a greater degree of\nsensitiveness be attained, with a highly nervous system. The\nforerunner of this superior organism is now apparent in the\nnumerous schools of physical culture and gymnasiums throughout\nthe land, the many articles and pamphlets on deep, rythmic\nbreathing disseminated among the people, and last, but not least,\nthe various schools of mental healing, etc. The masses look on\nand wonder, while they exclaim: \"What marvelous changes are\ncoming to the world!\" but are utterly ignorant of the cause of\nthe mysterious change. To the student of Hermetic Philosophy\nthere is no mystery involved. He knows the cause, and confidently\nwatches for the effect.\n\nEach one must seek to comprehend for himself, according to the\nlight he may receive, basing his premises upon the TRUE\nPRINCIPLES of astrology, carefully noting the triune aspect of\nplanetary influence upon humanity, ever remembering that the Sun\nand Moon are the great factors in human destiny, and that his\npremises and conclusions must occupy the same plane. Having\nacquired a knowledge of the science in its application to the\nindividual, take the broader field, or universal aspect, as it\napplies to human races, and you will find the rise and fall of\nnations, empires and families marked upon the celestial dial, and\nin perfect accord with the influence of the Sun and planets upon\nMother Earth, in her various movements. And last, but most\nimportant, seek with an earnest desire for truth to learn the\nrelation of those glittering constellations of the shining Zodiac\nto the human soul and their influence in shaping its eternal\ndestiny. This will reveal the whole of involution and evolution\nin a general sense.\n\nA faithful, earnest and devout study of the \"Science of the\nStarry Heavens\" will lead us on to other planes of thought,\nrelating to still more interior realms of knowledge than we\nperhaps now dream of, and, in the words of the master: \"A true\nknowledge of the stars will include a true knowledge of the\nsoul,\" and we shall realize \"the mystical link that binds the\nsoul to the stars.\"                               MINNIE HIGGIN.\n\n\nCHAPTER 1\n\nTHE ZODIAC\n\n\nTo the ordinary astrologer the Zodiac is simply a band of space,\neighteen degrees wide, in the heavens, the center of which marks\nout the pathway of the Sun during the space of one year of 365\ndays, etc.\n\nThe twelve signs are to him simply thirty degrees of the space\n(12 times 30 equal 360), bearing the names of the constellations\nwhich once occupied them. Nay, he, as a rule, still imagines in\nsome sense that the signs (constellations) are still there, and\nthat the power and potency of the twelve signs is derived from\nthe stars which occupy the Zodiacal band of the skies.\n\nBut this is not so, as any ordinary astronomer well knows. This\nsingle fact, i.e., the gradual shifting of the constellations,\nthe DISPLACEMENT, let us say, of the starry influx from one sign\nto another without any ALLOWANCE being made in the astrologer's\nrules for any such change, has been one of the greatest\nobstructions to the popular spread of the art among EDUCATED\nMINDS. Argues the scientist: The \"fiery influence of Aries,\" if\ndepending upon the stars of that constellation, ought now to be\nshedding forth their caloric from the sign Pisces, and Aries\nought to be lumbering along with the earthy Taurine nature. So,\nalso, the lords of these signs ought to be changed, but that they\nare not can be proved by the fact that our earliest records of\nthat dim, historic past show, equally as well as your latest\n\"text-book,\" that Mars is the lord of Aries--a fiery planet in a\nfiery sign; but astrologers still say that Pisces is watery and\nAries fiery, WHICH IS NOT THE CASE, IF THE STARS HAVE ANY\nINFLUENCE AT ALL. It is not necessary,\" say these logical\nthinkers, \"to learn your abstruse science if we can demonstrate\nthat the very basis upon which your conclusions rest is in every\nsense fundamentally false.\" The scientific facts of the case are\nas follows: The influence of the twelve signs, as described by\nastrologers, is a delusion, because in all ages they are reported\nthe same; whereas WE KNOW that every 2,160 years each sign\nretrogrades to the extent of thirty degrees, and, as your art\ndoes not make allowance for this, it is false. For, if the\ninfluence of the twelve signs does not emanate from the stars\noccupying the space of those signs, it must emanate from\nnothing--a doctrine well suited, no doubt, to musty old sages of\nyour superstitious Chaldea, but quite out of court in our\nprogressive age--the last decade of our cultured and scientific\nnineteenth century.\n\nSo far, so good. And so the world rolls along its bright pathway\nin the heavens, little heeding the logical conclusions of an\nexact science. But to an initiate of those inner principles of\nour planet's constitution all these mental conflicts have a\nmeaning and a purpose within Nature's divine economy; for it is\nneither wise nor expedient that the masses, with popular science\nin the lead, should grasp the truths which Mother Nature reserves\nALONE for her own devoted priests.\n\nThe shining Zodiac, with its myriad constellations and its\nperfect galaxy of starry systems, derives its subtle influence,\nas impressed astrologically upon the human constitution, from the\nsolar center of our solar system, NOT FROM THE STARS which occupy\nthe twelve mansions of space. Aries, the fiery, and PISCES, the\nwatery, ARE ALWAYS THERE, and, instead of its being an argument\nagainst astrology, it is one of its grandest truths that, in all\nages and in all times, Aries, the first sign of the Zodiac has\nbeen found EVER THE SAME, equally as well as Pisces the last.\n\nIn order to convey our meaning, let us digress for a moment and\nbring forth a fitting illustration. The condition of our\natmosphere and the surrounding objects--vegetation, etc.--have a\npeculiar condition and a magnetism wholly their own when surveyed\nexactly at sunrise. There is a freshness and peculiar sense of\nbuoyancy not visible at any other time. If this state could be\nregistered by any instrument and compared with any other set\nperiods during the day, it would offer a remarkable contrast. Two\nhours later there is a very different influence, and at noon\nthere is a wonderful contrast. The same may be said of sunset,\nand again at midnight; and, lastly, note the difference two hours\nbefore dawn. This is the coolest period of the whole twenty-four\nhours. These are facts, and yet our hearts are all beating to the\nsame life-flow, and the Earth is no farther away from the parent\nSun; and yet it is the angle at which we, THE INHABITANTS,\nreceive this Sun's light that makes all the difference between\ndawn and sunset, noon and midnight.\n\nWhen to these facts it is further added that it is sunrise, noon,\nsunset and midnight at the same instant, all the time, to some of\nthe various, different portions of the globe, it demonstrates\nmost conclusively that the Earth itself is enveloped, so to say,\nin a complete circle of conditions very similar to the twelve\nsigns of the celestial Zodiac.\n\nIf we apply the foregoing illustration to the twelve signs of the\nZodiac, we shall see a perfect analogy. We shall find that when\nthe Sun reaches the celestial equator, so that it is equal day\nand equal night on the Earth, that he is on the line of the\ncelestial horizon; it is cosmic sunrise. Hence Aries, the fiery\nAzoth, begins his active influx, and extends for thirty degrees,\nequal to two hours of the natural day.\n\nIt is the fiery red streams of awakening life that we all\nmanifest at sunrise; then comes a change of magnetic polarity\nafter the first fiery flush of cosmic life; the gleeful\nchattering of the birds and the cackling of the poultry. A\nreaction is noted; all things before active become restful and\nquiet.\n\nSo it is with vegetation, so it is with infant life, and so it is\nwith cosmic conditions.\n\nThis corresponds with the sign Taurus. It is the solar influx,\nthirty degrees removed from his point of equilibrium toward the\nNorth. As this sign represents the powers of absorption, we see\nthat at this period vegetable and animal life is quietly\nabsorbing, for its own use, the fiery streams of solar life.\n\nAgain we view the activity of solar influx from a different angle\nand change of polarity, and all things become active, It is\nexecutive force. This corresponds to the sign Gemini. It is the\nsolar influx, sixty degrees removed from his point of\nequilibrium. Then comes another change of magnetic polarity. It\nis rest from labor; it is noon. This corresponds to Cancer. The\nanalogy is perfect. It is the solar influx, ninety degrees\nremoved from his point of equilibrium toward the North, and the\nhighest point in the arc of his apparent journey and of cosmic\nlife. It is the equilibrium of life forces.\n\nAgain the fiery influx begins its activity, and, as the hottest\npart of the day is about two hours after noon, or middle of the\nday, so is solar influx most potent at this point in the Zodiac.\n\nThis corresponds to the sign Leo. It is the solar influx, removed\n120 degrees from his point of equilibrium and thirty degrees\ntoward the South. And so on month after month, until the last\none, Pisces, which well corresponds to the watery skies of\nFebruary and the lifeless period two hours before dawn of a new\nday upon the Earth, a new year to man and a new cycle in the\nstarry heavens. The Zodiac, then, as it applies to the human\nconstitution and the science of astrology, has its foundation in\nthe Sun, the center and source of life to the planet; and the\ntwelve signs are the twelve great spaces of our Earth's annual\norbit about her solar parent, each one typical of its month, and\neach month typical of its corresponding action upon our Earthy\nconditions.\n\nAs each sunrise is different in its aspects, so are no two signs\nof the Zodiac alike. The sunrise on the first of March is wholly\ndifferent from the sunrise upon the first of May. So is the\nbeginning and ending of each sign, and the beginning and ending\nof each natural day, peculiar unto itself.\n\nWhen we reflect upon the inner laws of this action and\ninteraction, we come nearer and nearer to the one great occult\nfact, viz.: THE DIVINE ONENESS OF LIFE.\n\nWe find a perfect analogy between the destiny, the life, and\nexpression of life on the Earth, and the life and material\ndestiny of embodied man. He, too, has his sunrise, the beginning\nof a new day of life, the seedtime, the flowering season, when\nlife wears a roseate hue; the ripening fruits of experience, his\nharvest-time--it may be tares or golden grain; his gradual decay,\nthe ebbing of the life forces and the icy winter of death; his\ngentle zephyrs and destructive hurricanes, floods and tempests,\nperiods of drought and plenty. Within his triune constitution\nthere are spring tides and low tides of physical, intellectual\nand spiritual forces. Man also makes the annual journey about the\nsolar center, when, at the beginning of each new year to him, the\nlife forces of his soul are renewed, regalvanized, so to say,\naccording to the magnetic polarity of his constitution.\n\nAnd so, every form of life has its Zodiac, its orbit of life and\ndestiny. It may be infinitesimal, or vast beyond conception, each\nin its own peculiar plane. So we see that, the whole visible\nuniverse is one vast organism, the medium of expression for the\ninvisible, real universe-- the soul and God, the great central\nSun, the eternal center of all life, binding the whole into\nunity--ONE LIFE.\n\nThe celestial signs of the shining Zodiac have no existence to us\napart from the graceful and unwearying motion of our Mother\nEarth. She alone makes our seasons, years and destiny; and she\nalone, by her motion about the Sun, determines the thrones and\nmansions of the planetary powers.\n\nThe astrological Zodiac of a Saturn or a Mars cannot be like\nours. Their years and seasons are peculiar to themselves and\ntheir material conditions; hence the twelve constellations have\nno existence as objective facts of concrete formation or cosmic\npotentiality. No! But as unalterable symbols of occult truth, the\nstarry pictures of the shining constellations have an eternal\nverity. They pertain to the living realities of the human soul\nand its varied experience.\n\nWhat the mysteries are, and what connection they have with the\ntwelve constellations, will form the subject of our next chapter.\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE CONSTELLATIONS\n\nThe twelve great constellations of the zodiacal belt which forms\nthe Earth's orbit and the Sun's shining pathway around the\ncelestial universe have been considered as mere imaginary\nfigures, or emblems, invented by an early, primitive people to\ndistinguish the monthly progress of the Sun and mark out, in a\nconvenient manner, the twelve great divisions, or spaces, of the\nsolar year. To this end, IT IS THOUGHT, the various star groups,\ntermed constellations, were fancifully imagined to represent the\nvarious physical aspects of the month, under, or into, which they\nwere consecrated by the Sun's passage during the annual journey,\nso that, in some sense, the, twelve signs or constellations were\nsymbolical, not only of the seasons, but also of the labors of\nthe year.\n\nThat such a system seems perfectly natural to the learned\nmythologist, and that granting the ancients so much is a very\ngreat concession toward this CHILDISH KNOWLEDGE is, of course,\nquite excusable when we are constantly told, or reminded, that\nactual science--that is to say, \"EXACT SCIENCE,\" does not date\nbackward more than a couple of centuries at most.\n\nEven the modern astrologer, much as be descants upon the\ninfluence of the twelve signs, has but little, if any, real\nknowledge of this matter above and beyond the purely physical\nsymbolism above mentioned. And perhaps it is as well that such a\nbenighted condition prevails, and that the Divine, heavenly\ngoddess is unsought and comparatively unknown. The celestial\nUrania, at least, in such isolation remains pure and undefiled.\nShe is free from the desecrating influence of polluted minds.\n\nSuch, in brief outline, is the general conception of mankind\nregarding the shining constellations that bedeck, like fiery\njewels, their Maker's crown, and illumine with their celestial\nsplendor the wondrous canopy of our midnight skies. Is there no\nmore than a symbol of rural work in the bright radiance of the\nstarry Andromeda, the harbinger of gentle spring? Nothing, think\nyou, but the fruit harvest and the vintage is in the fiery,\nflushing luster of Antares and the ominous Scorpion? Are men so\nspiritually blind that they can perceive nothing but the symbol\nof maturing vegetation and the long summer's day in the glorious\nsplendor of Castor and his starry mate and brother, Pollux? It\nwould, indeed, seem so, so dead is the heart and callous the\nspiritual understanding of our own benighted day. To the initiate\nof Urania's mysteries, however, these dead, symbolic pictures\nbecome endowed with life; these emblems of rural labor or rustic\nart transform themselves from the hard, chrysolitic shell and\nexpand into the fully developed spiritual flowers of spiritual\nentities, revealing in their bright, radiating lines the awful\nmystery of the soul's genesis, its evolution and eternal\nprogressive destiny amid the mighty, inconceivable creations yet\nto come; pointing out each step and cycle in the soul's\ninvolution from its differentiation as a pure spiritual entity, a\nray of Divine intelligence, to the crystallization of its\nspiritual forces in the realms of matter and its evolution of\nprogressive life; the same eternal symbols of the springtime, the\nglorious summer, the autumn and winter of its eternal being.\n\nIn making this attempt, probably the very first within the era,\nto convey in plain and undisguised terms the interior mysteries\nof the twelve constellations, the reader and student is advised\nto ponder deeply upon the outlines presented. The subject is too\nvast to present in one or two chapters. Therefore we hope that\nthis revelation may incite the student to further research. The\nreal significance, the true, spiritual importance of such\nmysteries, can only be realized and fully appreciated after\nprolonged meditation and careful study.\n\nWith this brief digression, which we consider needed advice, we\nwill resume our task, and attempt to usher our student into the\nweird labyrinth of Solomon's starry temple--\"the house not made\nwith hands, eternal in the heavens.\"\n\n\n1. Aries\n\n\"First Aries, in his golden wool.\"\n\nThis constellation represents the first Divine idea, the \"word\"\nof the Kabbalist, and the first active manifestation of the\nglorious En Soph. In other words, it is MIND IN ACTION, the first\npulsation of Deity in the dual aspects of \"Lord and Creator.\" To\nthe human soul it is, and always typifies, the unknown, invisible\npower which we term INTELLIGENCE; THAT WHICH KNOWS, and gives\nunto each Deific atom of life that distinguishing, universal, yet\ndeathless force which not only constitutes its spiritual identity\nand physical individuality, but enables it to pronounce, in the\npresence of its Creator, those mystic words: \"I am that I am.\" In\nother words, this beautiful constellation symbolizes the first\npulsation of that ray of pure intelligence which constitutes the\nDivine Ego of the human soul. It is the force that impels ever\nonward the life atom in its evolutionary progress, and reveals to\nus the beginning, or first manifestation, of the Divine Ego as an\nactive, self-existing atom of Infinite spirit, within angelic\nspheres.\n\nSeeing the actual, spiritual reality symbolized in Aries, how\neasy it is to note its full significance upon the external plane\nwhen refracted and reflected into the planes below through the\ncomplex action of the human organism, conveying the same radical\ninflux in the first astrological month and the first sign of the\nZodiac. We can read a perfect parallel in the astral influx upon\nthe human body, as set forth in the \"Light of Egypt,\" vol. I,\nwhich says Aries symbolizes the sacrifice and represents the\nspringtime, the beginning of a new year. The first action of pure\nintelligence brought forth the first expression of form, and led\nto the sacrifice of its angelic state, and, having gained the\nvictory over the lower realms of matter, once more the springtime\nof a new life, with the promise of life, light and love.\n\nThe sign Aries represents the thinking powers of humanity; in\nshort, the active, intellectual being, the lord of material\ncreation--Man; and in its cosmic relations, as shown under \"The\nOccult Application of the Twelve Signs\" (vol. I), we find the\nsame perfect analogy.\n\n\nII. Taurus\n\n\"He (Aries) turns and wonders at the mighty Bull (Taurus).\"\n\nThe second constellation of the shining twelve represents the\nfirst reaction of spiritual conception. In other words, it is the\nmind's attention to its own ideas. In the Kabbalah it represents\nthat peculiar state of executive force whereof it is symbolically\nsaid: \"And the Lord saw that it was good,\" after each act of\ncreation.\n\nWhen intelligence first manifests itself form is a matter of\nnecessity, and, as no form can possibly exist without matter, so\nTaurus is the first emanation of matter in its most etherealized\nstate. Hence it is feminine, Venus the ruler thereof, and it\nrepresents the first pure form of the human soul, as it existed\nin its bright paradise within the angelic spheres of its parents,\nand reveals to us the first surprise of intelligence in embryo,\nthe first sensation of consciousness, so to say--conscious of its\nDivine selfhood. Hence \"He (the male spirit of pure fire, Aries),\nglorious in his golden (solar) wool, turns (expressing reaction)\nand wonders at the mighty bull (or material form).\" Thus the\nfirst idea of pure intelligence in embryo, the result of action\nin Aries, becomes objective to its consciousness and is surprised\nat its own conception. It is the first sensation of pure, Divine\nlove within angelic realms, and it (the male spirit of pure fire)\nsees that it is good.\n\nBringing this spiritual reality within our conception, and\ncomparing it with its reflected astrological influx, what a\nbeautiful harmony we find, and yet so simple that verily we\ncannot refrain from once more quoting our old-time, worn, yet,\nnevertheless, golden law: \"AS IT IS ABOVE, SO IT IS BELOW; AS ON\nTHE EARTH, SO IN THE SKY.\" Reflecting that Taurus is an Earthy\nsign, and a symbol of servitude, we see that matter is ever the\nservant of spirit, a necessary means for the manifestation of\nintelligence, again recognized in the fecundating forces of this\nastrological sign on every plane of its action. And it is ruled\nby Venus, the love element in Nature, her sympathies ever finding\nexpression in this beautiful sign. What can be clearer, more\nunderstandable, than, that the involved principles and Deific\nattributes, as represented by the shining constellations, when\nrefracted through the human organism, so complex in its\nconstitution, reflects qualities which are the external and\nparallel expression of the subjective principles, and, further,\nthat form is absolutely necessary for the manifestation of\nintelligence?\n\n\nIII. Gemini\n\n\"He (Taurus) bending lies with threatening bead, and calls the\nTwins (Gemini) to rise. They clasp for fear and mutually\nembrace.\"\n\nThis bright constellation (Castor and Pollux), Gemini, is\nspiritually representative of the second spiritual action. Hence\nit is, of course, a masculine sign and positive. We have\nwitnessed act I of the soul's drama, and, as some have said,\ntragedy, and in this, the third of the shining twelve, we find\nthe opening scene of act II, viz: The evolution of the twin\nsouls, or, more correctly, the differentiation of the Divine soul\ninto its two natural component parts--male and female.\n\nHere we approach one of the most arcane secrets within the wide\nscope of Occult philosophy, hence must be exact, and at the same\ntime clear, in our statements. Note, then, that after the male\nspirit of pure, ethereal, divine fire (Aries) bad conceived the\nfirst idea, and Taurus, the material envelope, had given that\nidea objective existence to its (the Ego's) consciousness, we\nfind SENSATION AS THE RESULT. No sooner sensation than\naspiration; i.e., longing. This closes the action and the\nreaction.\n\nEver, in obedience to the unsatisfied wants of an immortal soul\nNature immediately responds. Hence \"He bending lies with\nthreatening head, (that is demanding),\" and calls the twins (the\ntwin souls) to rise (to appear or evolve forth),\" and as a first\nrude shock caused by their separation, or, rather, by their\nseparate existence as two distinct, yet mutually dependent,\nforces, we have the context.\n\n          \"They clasp for fear and mutually embrace.\"\n\nThis most impressive scene in the soul's drama is one of profound\ninterest and sublime beauty.\n\nIn the Kabbalah we find the same parallel, wherein it is stated:\n\"And so God created man in His own image (the action of Aries and\nTaurus); in His own image (mind) created He him, male and female\ncreated He them.\" In other words, Aries, Taurus and Gemini are\nthus spoken of in pure allegory.\n\nThe mundane Bible of the Jews, like everything else esteemed\nsacred, finds its original and perfect expression in the great\nAstral Bible of the skies.\n\nTo the average student the evolution of the Twin Souls is a\nprofound mystery, embracing, as it does, the whole of involution\nand evolution, seeing that this beautiful constellation\nrepresents to us the first recognition, or consciousness, of the\nDivine Ego of its dual forces, sensation and aspiration, called\nforth by the action of Aries and Taurus. How beautifully has the\npoet expressed this first pulsation of Divine love: \"They clasp\nfor fear,\" etc. Evolved by the Divine will of pure intelligence,\nthey must ever remain as separate, yet mutually dependent,\nforces, positive and negative, male and female, upon whose action\nand reaction rest the perfect evolvement of the powers and\npossibilities of the One.\n\nIn order to clearly grasp the whole of these ramifications, we\nagain invite our student's careful attention to the same sign,\nGemini, in its astrological aspect, as it is representatively\nexpressed by refraction upon the human organism. We find that\nthis sign (the representative of the constellation always)\nsignifies the union of reason with intuition, and that it governs\nthe arms, hands and executive forces of man.\n\nSurely, as we reflect upon the almost marvelous\ninter-relationship between things spiritual and things temporal,\nwe must conclude, with the man Jesus, that \"They have eyes but\nthey see not, and ears, but alas they hear not.\"\n\nIf it were not so man would, indeed, by virtue of the latent\nforces within him, take the kingdom of Heaven by storm and reign\nsupreme as enthroned king of all material forms. Man, in his\nblindness, has relegated intuition to obscurity; has neglected\nthe cunning of the left hand and debauched the pure love of the\ndivine state. Consequently, the executive forces within him are\nunbalanced, thus rendering him the slave of material forms,\ninstead of being their lawful sovereign. Therefore, not until,\nwith clean hands and pure heart, he restores intuition to her\nthrone, united with reason, can he hope to COMPREHEND the reality\nof this arcane mystery of the twin souls, Gemini.\n\n\nIV. Cancer\n\n\"And next the Twins with an unsteady pace\n Bright Cancer rolls.\"\n\nIn this beautiful constellation we witness the reaction of\nGemini, the closing scene in act II. Hence it is, of course, a\nfeminine force we are observing. In other words, it is that\nperiod (or rather one of them) wherein the Kabbalah expresses the\nreaction of the En Soph, via his Creators, as \"And behold the\nLord saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very\ngood.\"\n\nJust so Cancer, spiritually interpreted, means equalizing, hence\nHARMONY, which is indeed very good as contradistinguished from\nchaos.\n\nTo the human soul Cancer is the period of exalted rest. It is the\nhighest point in the arc of the Divine Soul's Angelic Cycle. From\nthis glorious, but subjective, summit or altitude in the realm of\nspirit it must descend.\n\nRestless energy and the still unsatisfied longings of its own\nimmortal nature are the forces that bring such evolution about.\nHaving evolved the dual forces of its divine nature, the Ego sees\nthat it is good and rests from its labor. But as this exalted\nstate is purely subjective, and ideal, it must of necessity, to\nsatisfy the longing for further unfoldment and desire to know,\ndescend into material realms and conditions. From this point\nbegins the soul's involution downward, until the lowest point in\nthe arc is reached, viz., Capricorn.\n\nRefer now to the sign Cancer, and carefully study out the\nparallel upon its astrological planes and also under its Occult\naspects, as given forth in the \"Light of Egypt,\" Vol. I, where we\nread: \"Cancer rules the respiratory and digestive functions of\nhumanity, and governs the reflective organs of the brain.\" Note\nthe parallel. Within subjective realms the Divine soul has\ninspired and assimilated all that is possible to that angelic\nstate, and knows a period of blissful rest. But the longings of\nits immortal nature urge on the soul. So we see that the sign\nCancer symbolizes tenacity to life; to live we must breathe and\neat and assimilate upon every plane of our being. It necessarily\nfollows that, the mentality expressed by Cancer must be\nsusceptible to inspirational currents; to inspire is to indraw.\nIn its application, we find that this sign symbolizes love. How\nbeautiful the harmony and contrast of the constellation and its\nastrological representative.\n\n\nV. Leo\n\n\"Then Leo shakes his mane.\"\n\nHerein is typified the third grand spiritual action which, as we\nfind throughout Nature, travel in pairs; hence Leo is a positive,\nmasculine constellation.\n\nHaving attained the highest point in the super-celestial states\nof subjective, embryonic existence; having evolved sensation and\naspiration; now, inspired by a desire for immortality, the DUAL\nSOUL of the Divine Ego is once more impelled forward; but, as all\nevolution works in spirals, it cannot ascend higher without first\napparently descending lower; so ever onward in its eternal march.\nThis beautiful constellation symbolizes the first action on the\ndownward portion of the are. It is the affinities of the heart,\nso to say, working from within to without.\n\nMatter, in its more etherealized form, begins to assert its sway.\nThe allegorical serpent of Eden is working upon the feminine\nportion, symbolized by the heart, and, like a magnetic tractor,\nthe soul's affinities are drawn downward, and, as if in defiance\nof all responsibilities, consequences, and Karma, the soul,\nlion-like, \"shakes his mane in the imperiousness of deathless\ncourage.\"\n\nAs we read these weird allegories, written by Deity in the starry\nvaults of heaven, the interested soul bows in reverence and awe\nbefore that almighty power we term Providence, and the profane\ncall God.\n\nNo man has altered these pure records of divinity; no finger has\ninterpolated one single line. They are as beautifully clear to\nthe soul now as they were in the very dawn of Nature's awful\ncreation.\n\nTo the Initiate into Urania's mysteries it is unnecessary to draw\na parallel between the constellation and its astrological sign.\nThey are too clear, magnificent and impressive to escape notice.\nTo the majority of students the resembance may not be so\napparent, hence, for their benefit, we will point out a few\naspects of this interesting parallel.\n\nWe read that the sign Leo is the \"solar Lion of the mysteries,\nthat, ripens with his own internal heat the fruits brought forth\nfrom the Earth by the moisture of Isis (the soul).\" Just so, the\nDivine Ego, by its eternal energy and strength, the pure fire of\nintelligence, externalizes through material forms the principles\ninvolved in the downward portion of the arc, as qualities and\nattributes of the soul (reflected in the physical man as traits\nand qualities). Again we are told, \"this sign reveals to us the\nancient sacrifice and the laws of its compensation.\" In the\nimperiousness of a deathless courage, the soul defies all\nconsequences and responsibilities. Surely, this is the supreme\nsacrifice, to leave its pure, Edenic state to gain knowledge, to\nevolve its latent forces. And from this lion of the Tribe of\nJudah, is born that Divine love and sympathy which ultimately\nredeems and purifies the soul and saves it from death in matter.\nThe laws of its compensation are fulfilled in the prefected man.\n\nIn its intellectual aspect, we learn that the mental forces of\nthose dominated by this sign are ever striving to attain unto\nsome higher state. Their ideas are grand, compared with the\nnature of the constellation, and all that it implies. The\nreflection is clear, natural and beautiful. When we reflect upon\nthis awful period in the involution of the dual souls of the\nDivine Ego, as symbolized by the constellation, and the grand\ntruths represented by the astrological sign when refracted\nthrough the human organism, the reason for Leo being named the\nRoyal Sign becomes quite plain.\n\n\nVI. Virgo\n\n\"And following Virgo calms his rage again.\"\n\nBeautifully expressive are these lines to those who read their\nmystic import aright. Virgo is the reaction of the leonine force,\nand is, consequently, a feminine symbol.\n\nAction and reaction are the eternal laws upon which the cosmos is\nfounded. They constitute the inseparable affinities, attraction\nand repulsion, of everything within the realm of manifested\nbeing. In this mystic constellation, we see the first ideas of\nmaternal instinct arise. This is a necessary result of the\nimpulsive action of the heart in Leo--the reaction from a state\nof imperious, defiance. The heat of rage or energy and deathless\ncourage results in the IDEAS of something to be encountered,\novercome, and of self-preservation. The dual soul descends still\nanother volve in the spiral of its celestial journey toward\ncrystallized forms.\n\nVirgo, the Virgin of the skies, and eternal symbol of that\nDivine, immaculate conception, shows wherein these forces lie.\nHere is conceived, in a pure, holy sense, the first instinct of\nlove within the dual soul. It represents that awful period in the\nBiblical Garden of Eden, wherein the VIRGIN WIFE stands before\nthe tree of knowledge, of good and evil, where she is fascinated\nby the allurements of matter and is unconsciously becoming\nenveloped in the coils of the serpent. In other words, after the\ncosmic force had SHAKEN ITS MANE in defiance of material forces,\nit is the reaction of his subjective half which sees HOW GOOD\nmaterial things are; or, in other words, \"and following Virgo\ncalms his rage again.\" The masculine half, or positive force of\nthe soul, yields to temptation and is soothed by the alluring\nprospects.\n\nIt will be noticed in this connection that pity, reflection, and\ncompassion, are the peculiar actions of the sign Virgo in the\nZodiac (not the constellation), and that astrologically it\ngoverns the bowels. This symbolism is really very beautiful when\nclosely compared and studied. That immaculate conception of pure\nlove of the soul for its other half, upon the astrological plane,\nbecomes refracted and reacts as compassion and pity. Again, the\nsoul, within subjective realms, sees how good material things\nare, and its refraction represents the assimilating functions of\nthe human organism. It also reveals to us the significance of the\nLord's Supper. At this stage of its journey, the Divine Ego knows\nfor the last time that close communion with the twin soul before\nthe crucifixion, the wine typical of the sacrifice, the bread,\nand the sustaining forces, of its own immortal being.\n\nThe intellectual aspect of the sign Virgo forms a perfect analogy\nto the constellation, and is too evident for further remarks.\n\n\nVII. Libra\n\n     \"Then day and night are weighed in Libra's scales;\n       Equal awhile, at last the night prevails.\"\n\nAnother volve in the spiral, and we reach the grand climax of the\nsoul's journey, within the spiritual world.\n\nThe nature of this constellation was, for ages, concealed from\nall but Initiates; for the reason that, it contains the most\nimportant mysteries connected with the human soul. It is the\ngrand transition are between the spiritual world and the astral\nworld; in other words, between ideal conceptions and elemental\nforms, between the world of design and the realms of force.\n\nOne of the chief mysteries of Libra is, that, it is androgyne, or\nbisexual, in nature. So far the dual soul has evolved within the\nrealms of spirituality; here it stands, in the celestial balance,\nbetween the two, giving way to temptation, takes the forbidden\nfruit and instantly awakes from its purely spiritual state to\nbecome surrounded by the illusions of matter. The struggle of the\nsoul with the attracting forces of matter is very clearly\nexpressed in the line:--\n\n          \"Equal awhile, at last the night prevails.\"\n\nIn other words, astral and physical darkness bedim the soul's\nspiritual sight, and, leaving the realms of innocence and bliss,\nthey sink into the vortex of the great astral world.\n\nThe celestial state is now forever lost as a realm of angelic\ninnocence. It can only be regained amid trial, sorrow, suffering,\nand experience, and, when regained, it is as Lord and Master, not\nas the innocent cherub. But when, having gained or reached the\nequator of the upward arc of its progress, and, united once more\nto its missing half, gives expression to that deathless force\nwith which it started from the opposite point, Aries: \"I AM THAT\nI AM;\" no longer an embryo, but being within the UNIVERSAL SOUL\nof being. Before closing this symbolic constellation, we must\nreveal the mystery of its BI-SEXUAL NATURE. In the higher or\nfirst portion of the sign it is {}, positive to some extent, and\nmasculine. The soul is still within the Garden of Eden and pure,\nclad in the raiment of God, and is represented by the Chaldean\nstatues of \"The Bearded Venus,\" or Venus, the Angel of Libra, as\na morning star, bright Lucifer. But in the latter half, after the\nfruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (positive and\nnegative, you see) has been partaken of, bright Lucifer falls.\nThe Sun of the Morning, shorn of his glory, becomes the symbol of\nnight, or Vesper, the evening star, and the symbol is thus {},\nand the soul loses its heavenly raiment, or spiritual\nconsciousness, and becomes clothed with matter, the symbol of\nnight.\n\nThe sign Libra in the Zodiac, in its astrological aspect, is a\nvery external correspondence of all the foregoing.\n\n\nVIII. Scorpio\n\n     \"And, longer grown, the heavier scale inclines,\n      And draws bright Scorpio from the winter signs.\"\n\nWe now behold the gates of Paradise guarded by the FLAMING SWORD\nwhich points to the four quarters of the world. This sword is,\naccording to Genesis, \"to guard the way of the tree of life,\" and\nsuch, esoterically, it really is.\n\nThe soul is no longer dual, but separated into male and female\npersonalities; \"and behold they see that they are naked.\"\nStripped of their spiritual raiment, they feel the chill of\nmatter and the lusts of an animal nature. They need clothing, \"so\nGod made them coats of skin.\" Sex is the symbolism herein\ntypified, and the evolution of the animal passions of\nprocreation, of multiplication and evolution. It is the complete\nentry of the soul into elemental conditions, and the flaming\nsword guarding the four quarters of the Earth to the way of life\nare the four great realms of the astral world; the way to\nphysical life in concrete forms; and the way to life eternal\nthrough the realms of the Sylphs, Gnomes, Undines and\nSalamanders. They are the basis of all matter, known as Air,\nEarth, Water and Fire. Here we see that, through the evolution of\nsex and its accompanying desire for procreation, these blind\nforces of Nature find their avenue of expression. Spiritual\nconsciousness almost lost, and without reason, the soul becomes\nthe prey, so to say, of these forces of the astral world, which\nis the realm of design. The soul's creations must be met and\nvanquished upon the upward arc of the Cycle of Progress. They\nguard or oppose the way to eternal life. Here the soul, having\ngained the victory, stripped forever of its earthy raiment and\nthe lusts of the flesh, arrayed once more in its spiritual\nraiment, purified and sanctified, it will stand once more at the\ngates of Paradise, where, reunited with its missing half, it will\npartake of the fruit of the Tree of Life and become as Gods.\nAstrologically the correspondence is perfect, and so thinly\ndisguised as to need no explanation.\n\n\nIX. Sagittarius\n\n     \"Him Centaur follows with an aiming eye,\n      His bow full-drawn, and ready to let fly.\"\n\nDeeper and deeper sinks the soul into material forms. The\nevolution of sex has produced the necessary avenues for the\nentrance of countless forces, and the soul is now rapidly losing\nthe last vestiges of its spiritual conscience. In other words,\nSagittarius symbolizes that state of the soul wherein it is\ndescending to its polarizing point, and is, therefore, the vortex\nof innumerable opposing forces, seeking expression in different\nforms.\n\n\"It is the bow (strength or force of the soul), FULL-drawn and\nready to let fly\" its arrows (of energy) in any direction that\nmay afford proper opportunity. Here we see the expression of that\ndeathless, fiery force, and imperious daring and courage, within\nmore material states; the primal fire reflected from another\nangle.\n\nBut everything is unsettled. It is a masculine force, and\nrestless, and is represented under the allegory of the \"Tower of\nBabel\" and the utter dispersion of the people (entities) to the\nfour corners of the Earth, and finally becomes involved in dense\nmatter, and its migrations are at an end on this side of the\nCycle of Necessity.\n\nUpon the astrological plane, the zodiacal sign Sagittarius rules\nthe motive forces and the pedestrian instinct, the thighs, or\nbasis of locomotion; hence, we see, even here, a most perfect\nanalogy. This sign symbolizes, also, the governing forces of\nhumanity, which see the necessity of law and order; hence\ngovernment. In this expression, we find the bow (strength or\nforce) ready to let fly its arrows of energy in any direction the\nopportunity may afford; when refracted upon the human organism\nand reflected upon the external plane, these forces manifest as\nthe restless spirit, that ever impels onward, seeking new fields\nof expression, out of which develops a sense of order,\nrestraining and training, or the governing of self and control of\nothers. When we reflect upon these symbols of starry truths the\nmind bows in reverence before the wisdom that created them.\n\n\nX. Capricorn\n\n     \"Next narrow horns the twisted Caper shows.\"\n\nThe Goat, and in the realms of spirit, the crystallized mineral\nis the reaction of the former, and shows to us death, inertia and\nrest; hence Kronos, or Saturn, the symbol of death, is lord of\nthis state and condition. It is the polarizing point of the\nsoul's evolution in matter, and therefore, forms the lowest are\nin the Cycle of Necessity.\n\nHerein we behold the soul, imprisoned within the mineral state.\nThe fire of the flint, and the spark in the crystal, are the only\navenues of its lonesome expressions. But, as the lowest point, it\nis also the promise of a higher, and the symbol of a higher\nstate, and the symbol of another spiral in its endless life.\n\nThis constellation, as the symbol of inertia and death, is also\nthe symbol of awakening life, and prepares the soul for the more\nperfect expression of its powers in its forthcoming upward\njourney. If we pause for a moment and consider the force and\npower necessary to evolve out of this dark, dense, mineral realm,\nthe foregoing sentence will become clear and forcible. Hitherto,\nthe soul has been slowly drawn down into coils of matter,\nimprisoned by material forces. It has penetrated the lowest\ndepths, and can go no farther. Rest here, is to gather strength,\nforce. Mark well the difference and parallel between Cancer and\nCapricorn, opposite points in the arc. Cancer is the symbol of\nexalted rest within angelic realms; Capricorn the symbol of rest\nin dense matter. From the former state the soul is impelled\nforward on its downward journey; from the latter state the soul\nawakens to the struggle for life on the upward are; and must now\ngive expression to the positive powers of its immortal being,\nwhich have become involved in material form; that shall make it\nthe master, and give it the victory over death and material\nforces. Surely, this is truly the promise of a new day, and\nhigher state of existence.\n\nIt will he instructive to study this by a comparison of the\nzodiacal sign, Capricorn, as set forth in the \"Light of Egypt,\"\nVol. 1, wherein we read: \"This sign signifies the knees, and\nrepresents the first principle in the trinity of locomotion,\nviz., the joints, bending, pliable, movable.\" The analogy is\nperfect. The soul, which has been pliant, bending to material\nforces, now reverses this action, and bows the knee in awe and\nreverence to the higher powers of its being. When refracted upon\nthe human organism, we find that the cold, lonesome state, and\nweary struggle within the mineral realm, becomes love of self,\ndirecting its energies to the attainment of selfish ends. What\ncould be more natural?\n\nXI. Aquarius\n\n     \"And from Aquarius' urn a flood o'erflows.\"\n\nThe soul, released from its crystallized cycle of matter, now\nrapidly evolves into states, though material, yet entirely\ndifferent. Its previous arc, from Libra to Capricorn, has been\namid inorganic matter. It is now rushing with lightning speed\nupon its weird, toilsome, upward, journey through purely organic\nforms, from vegetable to animal; and, as all organic forms have\ntheir primary origin in water, so does this celestial urn express\nthe primary conception of this physical state. Further, to more\nfully express this, Aquarius is typical of man, as prototype of\nthe last grand goal of the soul's future material state--in other\nwords, the last quadrant of the four elements, viz.: Bull, Lion,\nEagle, Man.\n\nThere is something exceedingly significant in all this, and the\nmore we ponder on this spiritual allegory of the shining\nconstellation, the more we are impressed with the divine wisdom\nof those early instructors of our race, who thus preserved truth\nin an incorruptible form.\n\nFrom this weird, but beautiful constellation, we learn how the\nsoul has progressed, finding innumerable avenues of expression of\nits latent forces; the manifestation of its powers in the various\nchemical changes, and development of functions expressed through\ncountless forms, on the lower planes of existence. The sacrifice\nof its angelic innocence, the imperious defiance and deathless\ncourage, symbolized by Leo, have obtained the victory over the\nlower kingdoms; which will be incorporated into his vast empire.\nYet, unstable as water, it cannot excel; or, in other words,\ncannot rise to a higher state within this are, of its progressive\nlife.\n\nWe find that the astrological expression of this constellation,\nthe sign Aquarius, governs the legs, and is the natural emblem of\nthe changeable, moveable, migratory forces, of the body, forming\na perfect parallel with its interior symbol. There is a great\ndeal contained in this zodiacal sign worthy of deep study and\nreflection.\n\n\nXII. Pisces\n\n     \"Near their loved waves cold Pisces take their seat,\n     With Aries join, and make the round complete.\"\n\nOnce more a reaction--the last scene of the soul's impersonal\ndrama. The constellation (if Pisces is the symbol of rest and\nexpectation. The soul has now completed the first round, or rung,\nin the Cycle of Necessity; and its next state is that of\nincarnated man. It has triumphed over every sphere below, and\ndefied, in turn, every power above, and is now within that sixth\nstate of the embryonic soul-world that transforms all its past\nknowledge, sorrow, and suffering, into experience; and produces\nthe impersonal man.\n\nIt has traveled through constellated states within matter and\nspirit, and, as a human soul, with reason, intuition, and\nresponsibility, it will, in its next state, become subject to\nthose same powers when reflected from a different plane. The\ntwelve constellations of its soul will manifest a complete\nrapport with the twelve signs of solar light and power.\n\nWith this we close. The mystic sign of this constellation is {},\nor completion, a seal and a sign of its past labors.\n\nAnd, as we have seen, the shining constellations are the soul's\nprogressive history from its genesis, to its appearance within\nembodied conditions as man; and so, by correspondence, are the\ntwelve solar signs symbols of man and his material destiny. The\nfoundation has been laid, the material and resources are at hand,\nfor his kingdom is exclusive. With his own hands he must build\nhis temple (the symbol of the perfected man), each stone\naccurately measured, cut, polished, and in its proper place, the\nproportions symmetrical, hence, harmonious; the keystone of whose\narch is WILL, its foundation love. This accomplished, be will\nhave completed the second round of the great Cycle of Necessity.\n\nAnd who, after contemplating the wondrous harmony of this\nbeautiful system, and the complete accord of each part, can\nrefuse to agree with the truly inspired Addison that--\n\n     \"Ever moving as they shine,\n      The hand that made us is divine.\"\n\n\nCHAPTER III. THE SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION OF THE TWELVE HOUSES OF\nTHE HOROSCOPE\n\nAs a sequel to the foregoing subjects, viz., the Zodiac and\nconstellations, we will add the spiritual interpretation of the\ntwelve houses of an horoscope, which completes the triune\nexpression of these celestial symbols of eternal truths.\n\nIn revealing this mystery, we would impress upon the mind of the\nstudent that the order of the Zodiac is the reverse of the\nexternal, in its spiritual application, to the twelve houses of\nthe horoscope.\n\nAs the four cardinal signs, viz., Aries, Cancer, Libra and\nCapricorn, correspond to the four angles of a natal figure, it is\nour purpose to explain, first, the symbology of the four angles,\nor cardinal points; believing the whole revelation will thus\nbecome clear and forcible.\n\nThe four angles of the horoscope correspond to the four elements,\nthe four triplicities, and the four cardinal points, or epochs,\nin the soul's involution from pure spirit to the crystallizing,\ninert, mineral state.\n\nThe first angle is the ascendant, or House of Life. It is the\neastern horizon, and symbolized by Aries. Upon the interior, this\nfirst angle stands for the birth, or differentiation, of the\nDivine Ego, as the result of the creative action, or impulse, of\nthe Deific mind.\n\nThe Ego rises upon the eastern horizon of celestial states, a\nglowing, scintillating atom of pure intelligence, an absolute,\neternal Ego, rising out of the ocean of Infinite Love.\n\nThe South angle, meridian, or Tenth House, pertaining to honor,\netc., is symbolized by Cancer; the highest point in the arc of\nthe soul's involution, as a differentiated atom of Deity within\nangelic spheres.\n\nHaving evolved the first dual expression of its (the Ego's) self,\nthe twin souls--Sensation and Aspiration, or Love and Wisdom, the\nEgo rests awhile, radiant with celestial love and wisdom, and\ninspiring the Divine breath of life.\n\nAgain the restless impulse of the creative purpose arouses the\nEgo to further action. The culminating point has been reached,\nand now must begin an apparent downward course toward the western\nhorizon.\n\nThe seventh angle, or House of Marriage, etc., is represented by\nLibra (the Balance), or point of equilibrium; where the two souls\nare still one, balanced upon the western horizon. The alluring\ntemptations of material illusions draw the souls downward, and,\ndivorced from their celestial state, the radiance of Divine love\nbecomes obscured, until the twilight of consciousness of that\nformer state is lost in the night of material conditions.\n\nThis house signifies, also, law, and open enemies, and (Libra)\njustice. Sex is the law. The antagonism is surely too apparent to\nrequire explanation.\n\nThe fourth angle, or Nadir, the point opposite the M. C.,\nsignifies the frozen North, and is symbolized by Capricorn, the\ncrystallizing point in the soul's involution. It is death,\ninertia; that is, crystallization of the soul's spiritual forces.\nIt is the lowest point of the are in the monad's downward\njourney. It is the night, before the awakening of a new day upon\na higher plane of existence.\n\nThe remaining houses are the lights and shadows that, fill out\nand complete the picture, upon this, the first round of the\nCyclic Ladder.\n\nThe Twelfth House, symbolized by Taurus, represents the first\nexpression of form of the human soul. It is matter in the most\netherealized state. It is the trail of the serpent; the silent,\nsecret, tenacious, negative principle; that ultimately draws the\nsoul down into the vortices of gross matter and death.\n\nThe Eleventh, or House of Friends, whose symbol is Gemini, the\nTwins, expressive of the first emanation of this sublime\nrelationship, the dual attributes, love and wisdom, closest\nfriends. It is sensation and aspiration, which enable the spirit\nto attain to the exalted state indicated by the Tenth Mansion.\n\nThe Ninth Mansion of the celestial map is the House of Science,\nArt, Religion, Philosophy, etc., and its symbol is Leo, the\nHeart, with its emotions, love, and longings, and sympathies.\nHaving evolved the twins, and inspiring the Divine breath of\nwisdom; glowing with Deific love, the Ego aspires to know; and\nall the sympathies of the soul are aroused. Dauntless and\nfearless, defying all opposition and consequences, It (the Ego)\nis ready to sacrifice this angelic state and explore the\nboundless Universe in pursuit of knowledge, and goes forth on its\nlong voyage upon the ocean of Infinite, fathomless love and\nwisdom.\n\nThe Eighth, or House of Death and Legacies, is symbolized by\nVirgo, the virgin wife, standing before the \"Tree of Knowledge of\nGood and Evil,\" fascinated by the flattering prospects of greater\npower and wisdom. Desire and sympathy draw the soul down into\nrealms which lead to death, and the beginning of a heritage of\nsorrow,\n\nThe Sixth, or House of Sickness, Menials, and Sorrow, is\nsymbolized by Scorpio. The fall, from Libra through Scorpio\n(sex), created the first condition of what we recognize as\nsickness and affliction. It is evident that this house is related\nto the elementals of the astral plane, which become the servitors\nof man.\n\nThe Fifth, or House of Children, etc., symbolized by Sagittarius,\nsignifies the offspring of sex (Scorpio), entities sent forth to\npeople the Earth, to take their chances of life, speculating on\nits future course, fearlessly eager for the struggle, gaining\npleasure in its migrations and activities.\n\nThe Third House is symbolized by Aquarius. This is the first step\nof the upward journey, or evolution, from the inert mineral\nstate. The changes are now rapid; the journeys innumerable;\nthrough mineral, vegetable, and animal planes, of existence.\nHere, the Soul Monad brings into actual practice the knowledge\ngained on its long voyage. The magical powers of the soul are\nbrought into action to effect these changes in form and function,\nconquering material forces and planes of life, transmuting\nNature's elements to its uses and purposes, and writing its\nhistory, as it journeys ever onward, step by step.\n\nAnd further, this house stands in opposition to the Ninth House,\nsymbolized by Leo; longing to expand its (the Ego's)\npossibilities through trial and suffering; gaining knowledge\nthrough bitter experience; yet fearlessly braving all things;\nguided and sustained by the imperial will of spirit. The\nrecompense promised by that supreme sacrifice has been won in\nAquarius--the Man--consecrated now to a higher existence,\nbaptized in the waters of affliction (experience), ready to be\ntransmuted into actual knowledge. This is Aquarius, and the Third\nHouse.\n\nThe Second House, signified as Pisces, the House of Wealth, that\nwhich has been accumulated on the long and toilsome journey--the\nwealth of experience, acquired through trials and struggles. And\nnow, with higher, greater possibilities, the soul eagerly awaits\nthe hour when it shall be born again, a conscious, responsible\nhuman being, to begin the second round of the Cyclic Ladder; on\nthis second round, to externalize the knowledge gained, to evolve\nthe involved attributes and forces of being,--a creature of will\nand intellect, to work out its destiny, as the lord of material\ncreation.\n\nObserve, the order of the Zodiac is reversed upon the external\nhuman plane. But, Aries is always symbolical of the first angle,\nand Libra of the seventh, being the point of equilibrium, while\nthe tenth, or South, angle becomes Capricorn and the fourth\nCancer. The mission of the soul now is to evolve the positive,\nspiritual attributes.\n\nAries rules the brain and the fiery, imperial will. It signifies\ncourage, daring, etc., the first qualities necessary for the\nbattle of life. Ruling the head, the sign and house show us the\nability of man to view the field of action, to mark his chart,\nand arm for the war (which will be incessant); responsible for\nhis acts, a creature of unfolding consciousness, an individual,\nwhose measure of free will enables him to wander so far North or\nSouth of his celestial equator, within his orbit, or Zodiac.\n\nThe South angle, or Tenth House, now ruled by Capricorn, tells of\nthe honor, position, fame, etc. (or the reverse) acquired by\npatient labor. The crystallized material gains, the concrete\nresult of ambition, skill, and talent, which will, at the close\nof his earthly career, become liquefied by the universal\nresolvent; symbolized by Cancer upon the opposite angle,\nsymbolical of the grave, the end of mundane affairs; when they\nwill be mirrored forth in new forms in that great white sea,\naccording to the manner in which he gained his worldly\naccumulations and prestige.\n\nThe seventh angle is Libra, House of Marriage; that all-important\nrelation which may make or mar a life, the Balance is so easily\ndisturbed in its equilibrium. To preserve its harmony, equality\nmust reign, blending love and wisdom. It is the perfect poise of\nbody, mind, and soul, achieved by loving obedience to the higher\nlaws of our being and the true union of intuition and reason.\n\nThe Second House, now represented by Taurus, shows us that\npersonal wealth and possessions must come through patient\nservitude, steady application, and diligence, in being able to\nchoose and assimilate the knowledge, that will enable man to\nbattle with material conditions, and wrest from the abundant\nsources of Mother Nature his share of treasure and experience. It\nis the battle-ground to which humanity, armed with brain and\nwill, life and energy, goes forth to battle with material forces\nfor the bread he must earn by the sweat of his brow, and through\nthe silent, subtle forces of mind and soul conquer matter, thus\nstoring up a wealth of knowledge and experience.\n\nThe Third House is ruled by Gemini, the Twins, Reason and\nIntuition, the brethren who aid and guide us on our many journeys\nin the pursuit of knowledge. As this sign governs the hands and\narms and the executive forces of humanity, we see, that, the\nhands become the magical agents of mind, moulding into outward\nform the ideas conceived in the mind, projecting these into the\nfield of active life, that he may write a bright record in the\nBook of Life. The hands should be kept clean, the images pure;\nand the perfect poise gained by the equal exercise of love and\nwisdom, intuition and reason, making the basis of education; the\nevolution of the interior or real self. This is the true meaning\nof this house upon the external plane. it is Occult, because it\nmeans projecting the powers of the soul into conscious life,\nexternalizing the qualities and magical forces of spirit, as\nshown in the first instance by Aquarius. This can be accomplished\nonly through pure desire and aspiration. Otherwise, the\nunbalanced scales, with floods and cataclysms, will be the\nresults.\n\nThe Fifth House, ruling children, etc., is symbolized by Leo (the\nHeart). The joys and sorrows that offspring of every kind bring,\nall belong to this House of the Heart. The sacrifice indicated is\ntoo obvious for comment.\n\nThe Sixth House governs sickness, disease, etc., and its symbol\nis Virgo, an Earthy sign, clearly showing us that the material\nform is the matrix, out of which are born disease and suffering.\nBut, the perfect assimilation of the fruit of the \"Tree of\nKnowledge of Good and Evil;\" transmuting the trials, experiences,\nsorrows, and suffering of the physical and external life into\ntrue wisdom; makes man master of his material universe; and the\nblind forces of Nature become his servants. Having accomplished\nthe task, and attained the harmonious poise, or balance, in\nLibra, the individualized soul arrives at the eighth step in the\njourney.\n\nThe Eighth House, or House of Death and Legacies (Scorpio). The\nold Adam dies. The sensuous has no place in the balanced,\nharmonious being, but recognizes sex as the law, the door to\nregeneration now, and that a new legacy is awaiting him.\n\nThe Ninth House, Sagittarius. where, with the knowledge acquired,\nself sits in judgment upon the works of the hands and mind,\nwhether or no they have been well done; the sacrifice of the\nlower nature properly made, control of the triune being\nestablished, the transmutations correct and accurate,\nassimilation perfect and free from dross, harmony gained by\nloving obedience to the higher law of being, and thus becomes\nruler of his kingdom; the long journey almost accomplished, so\nfar as Earth is concerned, perceiving and understanding that all\nsciences, philosophies, and religions, have their origin from one\nprimal source. Having penetrated the depths in reverent obedience\nto the Divine law of creation, and evolved the attributes of the\ndual constitution, the forces of his being become crystallized.\nHe has reached the culmination of his earthly pilgrimage, and\nstands forth the perfected human reflection of the higher self.\n\nThe Eleventh House is represented by Aquarius on the human plane.\nFriends surround and welcome him. These friends are the pure\nthoughts, noble impulses, lofty ideals, and generous deeds. The\nbread cast upon the Waters of Life returns to nourish and sustain\nhim in his encounter with the secret foes, symbolized by the\nTwelfth House and Pisces. The idols, false ideas, and vampires of\nhis own creation, are to be cleansed and washed away by the\nWaters of Love, the universal solvent that is ever seeking to\nbring about change and new forms; born again of water to make the\nround of the astral Zodiac, until, having again reached the\nequator of the ascending are, where he is reunited to the missing\nhalf of his soul, the true friend of the Edenic state; the\nhighest point in the arc of human progress won; the honor and\nglory of a perfected soul; the Lord and Master, the \"I am that I\nam,\" to rest in peace in the heart of Infinite Love and Wisdom.\n\n\nCHAPTER IV. ASTRO-THEOLOGY\n\nThere is one species of Divine revelation which has not, and\ncannot, be tampered with, one great Bible, which forms the starry\noriginal of all Bibles.\n\nThis sacred Bible is the great Astral Bible of the skies; its\nchapters are the twelve great signs, its pages are the\ninnumerable glittering constellations of the heavenly vault, and\nits characters are the personified ideals of the radiant Sun, the\nsilvery moon, and the shining planets, of our solar sphere.\n\nThere are three different aspects of this sacred book, and in\neach aspect the same characters appear, but in different roles,\ntheir dress and natural surroundings being suited to the natural\nplay of their symbolical parts. In fact, the whole imagery may be\nlikened unto a play, or, rather, a series of plays, performed by\nthe same company of artists. It may be a comedy, or it may be\nmelodrama, or it may be a tragedy; but the principles behind the\nscenes are ever the same, and show forth the same Divine Oneness\nof Nature; demonstrating the eternal axiom. ONE TRUTH, ONE LIFE,\nONE PRINCIPLE, AND ONE WORD, and in their fourfold expression, is\nthe four great chapters of the celestial book of the starry\nheavens.\n\nIn this aspect the visible cosmos may be represented as a\nkaleidoscope. The visible constellations, planets, and other\nheavenly bodies, are the bits of colored glass; and Deity the\ninvisible force, which keeps the instrument in motion. Each\nrevolution produces a different pictorial figure, which, complete\nin its harmony of parts, is perfect in its mathematical\nproportions, and beautiful in its geometrical designs. And yet\neach creation, each form, and each combination of forms, are\nproduced by the same little pieces of glass; and all of them, in\nreality, are optical illusions; i.e., natural phenomena, which\ndeceive the physical senses. So it is with Cosmic Nature.\n\nIt must not, however, be supposed, because of this perfect and\ncontinual illusion of Nature's playful phenomena, that all\nvisible creation is purely an illusion of the senses, as some\ncranky metaphysicians would have it, because this is not so.\n\nGoing back again to our kaleidoscope, we can clearly see that\nwithout it, and its tinted beads, no such optical illusion is\npossible. There is, then, a basis of spiritual reality to all\nvisible physical phenomena; but this basis lies concealed,\nbecause of the perfect illusion which the reflected image\nproduces upon the material plane of the physical senses. The\nbeads themselves are real. These are the basis, and the different\npictures are the result, not of the beads, but of the angle from\nwhich they are reflected to our earthly vision. In other words,\nTHE PLANE FROM WHICH WE BEHOLD THE PHENOMENA.\n\nHence, the nearer we approach the Divine center of our being, the\nless complicated Nature's original designs become, and the\nfarther we are removed from that central source, the more weird,\nmysterious, complicated, and incomprehensible, does Mother Nature\nappear, to the finite human mind. And this is especially so, to\nman's theological instinct, his religiosity, that constitutes one\nof the fundamental factors of his being.\n\nNature is ever one in her original truths and their duplicate\nreflections; but ever conflicting and contradictory in her\nmultiplied refractions through the minds of men. Therefore, we\nwill present the primary concept of that grand Astro-Theology\nformulated by man's great progenitors; and view the simple\nmachinery, by which they typified to the primitive mind a general\noutline of Nature's Divine providence.\n\nAll sacred books begin with an account of physical creation, the\nculmination of which, is the appearance of man and woman, as the\nparents of the race; and, while they will differ considerably in\ndetail and make-up, the basic ideas embodied are essentially the\nsame in all cosmo-genesis; so that in the Jewish Bible,\naccessible to all, one can read the primitive story of creation\nfrom a Jewish point of view, and, when read, rest satisfied that\nhe has read the revelation vouchsafed to man in every age and in\nevery clime. The only difference is one of mental peculiarity and\nnational custom, along with climatic conditions. Hindoo,\nChaldean, Chinese, Persian, Egyptian, Scandinavian, Druidic and\nancient Mexican are all the same--different names and drapery, to\nsuit the people only, but essentially the same in the fundamental\nideas conveyed.\n\nTHE CREATION OF THE WORLD\n\nThe simple story of creation begins at midnight, when the Sun has\nreached the lowest point in the arc--Capricorn. All Nature then\nis in a state of coma in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter\ntime, solar light and heat are at their lowest ebb; and the\nvarious appearances of motion, etc., are the Sun's passage from\nCapricorn to Pisces, 60 degrees, and from Pisces to Aries, 30\ndegrees, making 90 degrees, or one quadrant of the circle. Then\nbegin in real earnest the creative powers, it is spring time. The\nsix days are the six signs of the northern arc, beginning with\nthe disruptive fires of Aries. Then, in their order, Taurus,\nGemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo; then Libra, the seventh day and the\nseventh sign, whose first point is opposite Aries and is the\nopposite point of the sphere, the point of equilibrium, equal day\nand equal night, it is autumn. It is the sixth sign from Aries,\nthe first creative action, and so the sixth day following the\nfiery force, wherein God created the bi-sexual man. See Genesis,\n1:5-27: \"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God\ncreated He him, male and female created He them.\"\n\nIt is the seventh, or day of the Lord (man), the climax of\nmaterial creation and Lord of all living things, and be rests in\nthe blissful Garden of Eden. This seventh day and seventh sign is\nthe concealed sacred Libra the perfect union of the sexes. Then\ncomes the fall from Libra, through Scorpio, and banishment from\nthe Garden of Eden. That is the victory of Satan, or Winter, over\nSummer, etc. It is useless to repeat the same old, old story. The\nyearly journey of the Sun around the constellated dial of Deity\nis the Astro basis of all primitive cosmology.\n\n\nTHE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION\n\nIn addition to the creation of the world and the fall of man\nthrough sin, we find all people in possession of a grand scheme\nof redemption, and, like the former, we shall find them all\nessentially the same. They all require a mediator between the\nangry God and disobedient man, and they all require that this\nmediator shall be Divine, or semi-Divine. Nothing less can\nsatisfy Deity's demands; or, rather, let us say man's own carnal\nimagination. It is simply another turn of our cosmic\nkaleidoscope, and behold! the actors have changed. Capricorn\nbecomes the stable of the Goat, in the manger of which the young\nSavior of the world is born. As a type of all, we will take the\nGospel Savior. It is again midnight. The Sun enters the sign\nCapricorn on the twenty- first of December. This is the lowest\npoint of the arc, South, and for three days he is stationary, or\nin darkness. And now it is Christmas Eve. He (the Sun or Savior)\nbegins to move, and at midnight is born as the celestial Virgo is\nrising upon the Eastern quadrant of the skies; hence the Sun-God\nis born of a Virgin. Then comes the flight to escape Kronos, or\nSaturn (ruling Capricorn), who kills the young babes. There is a\nperiod of silence in the God's history while the Sun is in\ntransit through the signs Capricorn and part of Aquarius. That\nis, he is hidden or obscured by the clouded skies of this period.\nWe hear of him but once again until he, the Sun-God, or Savior,\nis thirty years old, or has transited thirty degrees of space. He\nhas entered the sign Aquarius (symbolical of the Man.) Now begins\nthe period of miracles.\n\nLet us digress for a space, and refer to our chapter on the\nconstellations. We shall find a perfect analogy between this\nmiracle- working period and the constellations Aquarius and\nPisces, as therein given. The first miracle we read of is turning\nwater into wine. This may be seen in a threefold aspect. The\nSun-God changes by his life- forces the waters of winter into the\nrich vintage of the harvest, where the Virgin (Virgo) Mother\nagain appears. Again, the wine becomes the blood--the life\noffered up on the vernal cross to strengthen, renew and make\nmerry with new life our Earth and its people. The devil (or\nwinter), with his powers of darkness, is defeated and man saved.\nThe final triumph is the crucifixion in Aries, the vernal\nequinox, about the twenty-first of March, quickly followed by the\nresurrection, or renewal of life. Then the God rises into heaven,\nto sit upon the throne at the summer solstice, to bless his\npeople. We read, that, the Savior of mankind was crucified\nbetween two thieves. Very good. The equinoctial point is the\ndividing line between light and darkness, winter and summer. In\nother words, the Sun is resuming his northern arc, to replenish\nthe Earth with his solar force and preserve his people from death\nin the coming winter. The life of a Buddha, a Krishna or a\nChrist, are all found in their completeness in the life of Horus;\nwhile the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are Isis, Horus and Osirus.\nThe same trinity, under different names, are found in all\nnations. It is the Sun, Moon and Human Soul, which is the only\ntrue mediator of Man.\n\nThere is another version of this celestial crucifixion, wherein\nthe Sun-God-Savior, after the supper of the harvest in Virgo, is\ncrucified at the autumnal equinox upon the equator. We read that\nhe was dying from the sixth to the ninth hours--three hours,\nthree signs, or from the 21st of September to the 21st of\nDecember, when he is laid in the tomb. This is the lowest point\nof the Sun's journey in the southern hemisphere, and darkness\nholds the balance in our northern hemisphere. The three days in\nthe tomb are the three months, or three signs, before the vernal\nequinox, or the resurrection, the rising out of the South to\nbring salvation to the northern portion of our Earth.\n\nWe have now only to glance over various diverging lines of the\nsame cosmology and the same redemption. All these allegories\ntypified TRUTHS. They all teach the Initiate the mysteries of\ncreation, of man's destiny and his necessary Cycle of Material\nProbation. Some of the most beautiful parables may be read in\nthis light. Abraham, and the story of his wanderings in the\ndeserts of Asia Minor; of Lot and his unfaithful wife, are to be\nseen still written in the heavens. Hagar and Ishmael are still\nthere; so also are Esau and his brother Jacob; the story of\nJoseph and his brethren; of Sampson and his twelve labors. This\nis the same beautiful story. The Sun, shorn of his glory, or\nsolar force, at the autumnal equinox, stands upon the equator\nbetween the two pillars of the temple (or light and darkness),\nand pulls down the temple (or signs) into the southern\nhemisphere. And behind this we have the eternal truth of the\nsoul, when, giving way to the allurements of matter (Delilah),\nthe soul is shorn of its spiritual covering, or conscience, and\nsinks into matter and death. And the story of David and Goliath\ncan be read to-day as clearly as of yore.\n\nThey are eternal, spiritual verities of human nature, and record,\nnot only the history of the human race, its mutations and\ntransmutations, but of the individual man and the suffering and\ndelusive joys of his material life. Aye, more! It is the record\nof all his past existence and a type of his eternal destiny in\nthe future.\n\nAnother turn of our cosmic kaleidoscope, and lo! the scene\nchanges --the play extended, the angles greater, caused by the\nrevolution of our solar parent through his celestial Zodiac. As\nthe Sun passes out of one sign into another, or, in other words,\nforms a different angle to his own center of force, a new\ndispensation is born to the world; or, rather, re-born under a\nnew guise. The great Sun-God appears to change his nature and\nmanifests an entirely different set of attributes. That is the\nway man personified this play of Nature, through his imperfect\nconception of the cause of this change. But to him it was, and\nis, a truth, and man's effort to externalize these attributes in\na Divine personality was, and is, strictly from the plane of his\nmental development and spiritual unfoldment.\n\nThe two pictures of this Astro-Theology, as set forth in the two\ndivisions of the Jewish Bible, will illustrate our meaning. The\nSun had entered the sign Aries some time prior to the exodus from\nEgypt. Aries is the constellation of Mars, the fiery, destructive\nand warrior element, or force, in Nature, and we find the Jewish\nconception of God a perfect embodiment of these attributes: The\nLord of Hosts, a God mighty in battle, delighting in the shedding\nof blood and the smell of burnt offerings, ever marshalling the\npeople to battle and destroying their foes and the works of his\nown hands; a God imbued with jealousy, anger, and revenge. This\nwas the type set up by the Jewish savior and lawgiver, Moses.\n\nAfter a period of 2,160 years, we find the Christian cosmology\nushered in. The Sun has entered the sign Pisces, which is ruled\nby Jupiter, the beneficent father. The Christ, or mediator, of\nthe Christian Gospel was an embodiment of the joint qualities of\nthe sign and ruling planet. Gentle, loving and merciful, His\nwords were messages of love and peace; His work was with the\npoor, oppressed and fallen; he eschewed sacrifices and burnt\nofferings; a contrite heart was the best offering; He taught the\npeople that God was their Father, loving all, just, yet merciful.\nBut a strong taint of the old conception has remained with the\nhuman race, hiding, at times, the beauty of the latter concept.\nThese are, again, the refractions of eternal truths, viewed by\nman from his material plane. The elements are here presented, the\nalphabet and its key clearly defined. Therefore, let each one\nexplore this tangled labyrinth of Astro-Theology for him or\nherself, and work out the various correspondencies at leisure. It\nis enough to indicate the starry originals of all this seemingly\nconfused mass of so-called Divine revelation in sacred books.\n\nThey, one and all, pertain to the same celestial phenomena, and\nthe various Bibles are the outcome of man's serious attempt to\ntabulate and externalize this heavenly order, to record his\nconceptions of these starry aspects and movements with their\ncorresponding effects upon the Earth.\n\nProbably the purest system to us is that which may yet be derived\nfrom Chaldean sources. This sacerdotal caste were the most\nperfect in their astral conceptions and complete in their\nsymbolic system of recording, and if the great work found in King\nSargon's library in seventy tablets is ever translated, it will\nprove of priceless value to the student of these weird, but\nsublime, astrological mysteries.\n\nIn conclusion, as we reflect upon the fourfold aspect of the\nsubject that we have presented in outline in these pages, the\nwhole imagery passes in review before the mental vision. We see\nthat the radiant constellations of the heavenly vault, with the\nbeautiful reflection and counterpart, the shining Zodiac, are the\ntwo halves of the great Cycle of Necessity, the spiral of\neternal, universal life, which binds the whole into unity, and\nunity into infinity. It is the grand scheme of creative life. The\nseven principles of Nature, or Divine Activities, are the forces\nproducing the phenomena within seven angelic states, seven\nkingdoms, and, by seven planets, upon the external plane; the\nplanets being the passive mediums of the positive spiritual\nforces. Upon this dual spiral, which reflects the seven rays of\nthe solar spectrum is produced seven musical notes; one half of\nthe spiral in sound and color being the complementary of the\nother half. Man, the Earth, and our solar system, are revolving,\neach orb in its own key, and its own peculiar ray, meeting and\nblending with other spirals, and the whole blending into one\nmighty spiral Cycle of Progressive Life, revolving around the\nEternal, Infinite Ego-God, ever involving and evolving the\nattributes, powers and possibilities of the One great central\nsource of Being.\n\nIt is a grand orchestra, pealing out in richest melody and\nsublime HARMONY, the grand Anthem of Creation: \"We Praise Thee, O\nGod.\"\n\n\nCHAPTER V. ASTRO-MYTHOLOGY\n\nThe Astro-Mythological system of the ancients, though forming the\nlast section, so to say, of the mysteries of the Divine Urania,\nis, perhaps, the most beautiful of its general features, and\nperfect in the complete fulfillment of the purpose for which it\nwas intended, viz.:-- to convey to the human mind a lesson, a\nmoral, a truth in Nature; and last, but not the least, to serve\nas a basis upon which its inner aspirations and its more external\nfaith might rest in security.\n\nWhen we come to examine the deep, philosophical principles of\nsuch a wise system, we are almost astounded at the result of our\nresearches and the wisdom of human nature displayed in\nformulating such perfect analogies of truth, semi-truth, and of\nfalsehood, according to the plane occupied by the individual.\n\nLet us take one instance, which will clearly explain all the\nrest, for they are built and formulated after the same model.\nAeneas, of Greek myths and fables, is reputed to be the son of\nVenus by a MORTAL father, upon the plane of reality. As that of\nactual PARENT and CHILD, of course this is an utter falsehood. To\nthe rural population of long, long ago, and their simple, rustic\nconceptions, IT WAS A TRUTH.\n\nWhy so? Because they believed it, and to them it taught the\nrequired lesson of obedience to the powers that be. But if in\nreality it was a falsehood, how can it become a truth by the\nsimple addition of acceptance and belief? Because it possessed a\nmetaphysical truth, though not a physical one, in the sense\naccepted.\n\nAeneas, son of Venus, whose history is so beautifully preserved\nby the immortal Virgil, was (metaphysically speaking) son of the\ngoddess, because he was, in his astral and magnetic nature, ruled\nand governed by Venus, born under one of her celestial signs and\nwhen she was rising upon the ascendant of the House of Life, even\nas Jesus Christos was born of a virgin, because Virgo was rising\nat His birth.\n\nThus Aeneas was, in strict metaphysical reality, a son of Venus.\nHaving satisfied the rural mind, which thus, unconsciously,\naccepts an absolute truth under a physical disguise, the\nmetaphysical thinker, the philosopher, also accepts the same\nfable, knowing and realizing its more abstract truth,\n\nBut, again, we are met with the objection that such a truth is\nonly apparently a truth; i.e., on the plane of embodied\nappearances, and naturally the question arises, where (if at all)\nis the real truth of the mythos? That truth which is beyond the\nmere metaphysical thinker and commonplace philosopher; the truth\nwhich the Initiates recognize--where is it? That truth lies far\nbeyond the purview of Astro-Mythology. It is connected with the\ncenter of angelic life. Sufficient here to say that, as there are\nseven races of humanity, seven divisions to the human\nconstitution, seven active principles in Nature, typified by the\nseven rays of the solar spectrum, so are there seven centers of\nangelic life, corresponding to the seven planetary forces\nformulated in \"The Science of the Stars,\" and, as each one of us\nmust of necessity belong to one of the particular angelic centers\nfrom which we originally emanated, the Initiate can see no reason\nwhy AENEAS MAY NOT IN REALITY belong to that celestial vortex\nrepresented by Venus upon the plane of material life. This being\nthe case, we see how beautiful the ancients' system of temple\nworship must have been. The simple rustic, in reverence and awe,\naccepting the gross and physical meaning--the only one possible\nto his dark, sensuous mind. The scholar and philosopher bow their\nwiser heads with equal humility, accepting with equally sincere\nfaith the more abstract form of the allegory; while on the other\nhand, the priest and the Initiate, lifting their loftier souls\nabove the earth and its formulas of illusion and matter, accept\nthat higher and more spiritual application, which renders them\nequally as sincere and devout as their less enlightened\nworshipers. It is thus we find these astro-myths true for all\ntime, true in every age of the world, and EQUALLY TRUE OF ALL\nNATIONS. And this is the real reason why we find every nation\nunder the Sun possessing clear traditions relating to the same\nidentical fables, under different names, which are simply\nquestions of nationality. And when mythologists, archaeologists,\nand philologists once recognize the one central, cardinal truth,\nthey will cease to wonder why nations, so widely separated by\ntime and space, possess the same basic mythology. They will then\nno longer attempt its explanation by impossible migrations of\nraces, carrying the rudiments with them. They will find that this\nmythology was a complete science with the ancient sages, a\nUNIVERSAL MYSTERY LANGUAGE, in which all could converse, and that\nit descended from the Golden Age, when there was but ONE nation\non the face of the Earth, the descendants of which constituted\nthe basic nucleus of every race which has since had an existence.\nIn this light all is simple, clear, and easy to comprehend--all\nis natural.\n\nThe astronomer-priests of the hoary past, when language was\nfigurative, and often pictorial, had recourse to a system of\nsymbols to express abstract truths and ideas. In order to impress\nthe minds of pupils with a true concept of the attributes of the\ncelestial forces, we call planets, they personified their powers,\nqualities, and attributes. Just as the average mind of to-day\ncannot conceive of Deity apart from personality, so did primitive\nman clothe his ideas in actual forms, and in these\nimpersonations, they combined the nature of the celestial orb\nwith that of the zodiacal sign or signs, in which the planet\nexerted its chief and most potent activities. For instance, the\nplanet Mars, whose chief constellation is Aries, was described as\na great warrior, mighty in battle, fierce in anger, fearless,\nreckless, and destructive; while the mechanical and constructive\nqualities were personified as Vulcan, who forged the thunderbolts\nof Jove, built palaces for the gods, and made many useful and\nbeautiful articles. Then, again, we find that Pallas Athene was\nthe goddess of war and wisdom. She sprang from the head of Zeus.\nAries rules the head, and represents intelligence. Athene\novercame her brother Mars in war, which shows that intelligence\nis superior to brute force and reckless courage.\n\nHere, we see three different personages employed to express the\nnature of the powers and phenomena produced. They were called\ngods and goddesses. This was quite natural, as the planets of our\nsystem are reflections of Divine principles. Esoterically, Mars\nsymbolizes strength, victory--attributes of Deity.\n\nMars is said to have married Venus, teaching us that the union of\nskill and beauty are essential in all artistic work.\n\nMythology tells us that the god Mars was supposed to be the\nfather of Romulus, the reputed founder of Rome. Romulus displayed\nmany characteristics of the planet. The mythos is no doubt a\nparallel to that of Aeneas. Rome was founded when the Sun in his\norbit had entered the sign Aries, and Mars was the god most\nhonored by the Romans. In time, with the degeneration of human\nraces and their worship, to the rural mind, the subjects of the\nmythos became actual personalities, endowed with every human\npassion and godlike attribute, the former characterizing the\ndiscordant influence of the heavenly bodies upon man.\n\nGai, Rhea and Ceres, or Demeter (Greek), represent the triune\nattributes of Mother Earth. Gai signifies the Earth as a whole,\nRhea the productive powers of the Earth, and Ceres utilizes and\ndistributes the productive forces of Rhea.\n\nIn the charming story of Eros (Divine Love), son of Mars and\nVenus, he (Eros), we are told, brings harmony out of chaos. Here,\nwe see the action of Aries and Taurus, ruled respectively by Mars\nand Venus.\n\nThe beautiful myth of Aphrodite, born of the sea foam, is Venus\nrising out of the waters of winter, to shine resplendent in the\nwestern skies at evening, and typifies the birth of forms, as all\norganic forms have their origin in water.\n\nIn all lands the Sun was known under various names, typical of\nsolar energy, especially in reference to the equinoctial and\nsolstitial colures.\n\nHenry Melville, in his valuable work, \"Veritas,\" says no reliance\ncan be placed upon ancient dates, either of Europe, Asia, or\nanywhere else, and he conclusively shows that such dates are\nAstro-Masonic points on the celestial planisphere, the events\nrecorded being, as it were, terrestrial reflections of the\ncelestial symbols.\n\nTo attempt to wade through all the various systems of mythology,\nand explain each in its proper order, would be to write a large\nencyclopedia upon the subject. We have given a few examples as\nkeys, and suggest works for study. We have here given the real\nkey, and the student must fathom particulars for himself. The\nchief work, and most valuable in its line, is Ovid's\n\"Metamorphoses.\" The next, also the most valuable in its line, is\n\"The Mythological Astronomy of the Ancients,\" with notes (these\nlatter are the gist and constitute the real value), by S. A.\nMackey; and last, and, perhaps, in some sense, not the least, is\nthe \"Wisdom of the Ancients,\" by Lord Bacon. This is published in\n\"Bacon's Essays.\"\n\nA careful study of Ovid, with the key which this chapter\nsupplies, will reveal ALL that pertains to ancient gods,\ndemi-gods, and heroes, while a study of Mackey, and a careful\ncomparison with \"La Clef\" and \"La Clef Hermetique\" will reveal\nall that pertains to cosmic cycles and astral chronology, which\nis the only chronology that is quite trustworthy, as far as\nancient history is concerned.\n\nWhile we are on this subject, we must point out some of the\ndelusions, into which the subtle, magical teachings of the Orient\nwould lead the student.\n\nAll the monster sphinx, half human, half animal, etc., which the\nancients have preserved, are simply records of the past. They are\nchronological tables of cosmic time, and relate to eras of the\npast, of the Sun's motion, and not by any means to living\ncreatures of antediluvian creations, as some wiseacres have\nimagined. Many of these ancient monuments, monstrous in form, are\nrecords of that awful period of floods and devastation known as\nthe Iron Age, when there was a vertical Sun at the poles; or, in\nother words, when the pole of the Earth was ninety degrees\nremoved from the pole of the ecliptic. To those who can read\naright, every lineament tells as plainly as the written word the\nhistory of that awful past, marking the march of time, recording\nthe revolutions of the Sun in his orbit of 25,920 years, and\nrelating with wonderful accuracy the climatic changes, in their\nlatitudes, which took place with each revolution of the Sun and\ncorresponding motion of the Earth's pole of less than four\ndegrees. All the greater myths of the dim past were formulated to\nexpress cosmic time, solar and polar motion, and the phenomena\nresulting therefrom. These monuments of antiquity prove that, the\nancients knew a great deal more of the movements of heavenly\nbodies and of our planet than modern astronomers credit them\nwith.\n\nMadame Blavatsky, in her \"Secret Doctrine,\" seriously states that\nall these monstrous forms are the types of actual, once living\nphysical embodiments, and, with apparent sincerity, asserts that\nthe Adepts teach such insane superstitions.\n\nSuch, however, is not the case, neither is there anything true,\nor even approaching the truth, in the cosmogony given in the work\nin question.\n\nAnd, lastly, we have but one more aspect of the grand old Astro-\nMythos to present to your notice. This aspect reveals the whole\nof the ancient classification of WORK and LABOR, and gives us a\nclear insight into the original designs, or pictorial\nrepresentations, of the twelve signs and the twelve months of the\nyear. It also clearly explains many things which are to-day\nattributed to superstitious paganism.\n\nAs each month possesses its own peculiar season, so are, or were,\nthe various labors of the husbandman, and those of pastoral\npursuits, altered and diverted. Each month, then, bad a symbol\nwhich denoted the physical characteristics of climate and the\ntemporal characteristics of work. As the Sun entered the sign, so\nthe temple rites varied in honor of the labors performed, and the\nsymbol thus became the object of outward veneration and worship.\nSo we see that the twelve signs, and principally the four\ncardinal ones, became Deities, and the symbols sacred, but in\nreality, it was the same Sun to which homage was paid.\n\nThere is a large sphere of study in this direction, as, of\ncourse, each climate varied the symbol to suit its requirements.\nIn Egypt there were three months when the land was overflowed\nwith water; hence, they had only nine working months out of\ndoors, and from this fact sprang the Nine Muses, while the Three\nSirens represented the three months of inactivity in work, or\nthree months of pleasure and festivity.\n\nMackey tells us that the great leviathan mentioned in the Book of\njob was the river Nile.\n\nIn nearly all mythologies, we find that the gods assembled on\nsome high mountain to take counsel. The Olympus of the Greeks and\nMount Zion of the Hebrew Bible mean the same, the Pole-Star; and\nthere, on the pictured planisphere, sits Cephus, the mighty Jove,\nwith one foot on the Pole-Star and all the gods gathered below\nhim. The Pole-Star is the symbol of the highest heaven.\n\nWith this we close, leaving the endless ramifications of this\ndeeply interesting subject to the student's leisure and personal\nresearch, trusting the keys we have given in this chapter and\ntheir careful study may induce the reader and student of these\npages to search out for himself the meaning concealed in all\nAstro-Mythologies.\n\n\nCHAPTER VI. SYMBOLISM\n\nAt this point of our study it is necessary to make a halt; and,\nbefore proceeding further, to attempt to formulate and realize\nthat, which, so far, we have been pursuing.\n\nFirst, then, we have passed in review the Zodiac, and then the\nconstellations. From this we mentally surveyed both\nAstro-Theology and Astro-Mythology; and now, it is our first duty\nto realize these in their real significance, and this consists in\na clear comprehension of the Grand Law of Correspondences.\n\nWhat is this law? It is the law of symbolism, and symbolism,\nrightly understood, is the one Divine language of Mother Nature,\na language wherein all can read, a language that defies the\nunited efforts of both time and space to obliterate it, for\nsymbolism will be the language of Nature as long as spirit\nexpresses itself to the Divine soul of man.\n\nNo matter where we turn nor where we look, there is spread out to\nour view a vast panorama of symbolic forms for us to read. In\nwhatever form, angle, or color they present themselves, the true\nstudent of Nature can interpret and understand their symbolic\nlanguage aright. It has been by the personification of Nature's\nsymbols, that man has become ignorant of their language. There is\nno form, sound, nor color but what has its laws of expression;\nand only a perfect knowledge of symbolism will enable man to know\nthe law, power, and meaning, lying behind such manifestations.\nThe law of expression is exact, and as unalterable as Deity\nHimself. The physical senses cannot vibrate to these interior\nforces, and through them, comprehend their law. The physical\nsenses vibrate to the spirit's expression, not to the powers,\nforces, and laws, which brought them into objective existence.\n\nCountless numbers of mystics, if such they deserve to be called,\namong present-day students, speak and write very learnedly upon\nthe \"Law of Correspondence,\" and few, if any, of them really\nunderstand or know anything at all of that law. The intellect\nalone cannot solve the problems of this law. It cannot grasp the\ntrue, interior and spiritual meaning, except in just so far as\nintellect is capable of externalizing them. The inmost spiritual\ntruths, that cannot be demonstrated to the outward senses, never\nhave, nor never will, appeal to any one who has not the interior\nability to comprehend them.\n\nThere was a time when men ruled by pure intellect, without its\naccompanying other half, intuition: they were looked upon as\nmonstrosities. This state of purely intellectual development has\nbeen brought about by the positive, masculine principle, reason,\nabsorbing its counterpart, the intuition, the feminine portion;\nand the result, by correspondence, is as fatal as upon the\ninterior plane, where the positive, masculine soul denies the\nexistence of his mate; thus setting upon his throne, only a\nportion of himself as his idol, and then, reasons himself into\nthe belief that he is complete. Love has been cast out, ignored\nand forgotten until at last she departs, leaving a vacancy, that\neternity cannot fill.\n\nThis is somewhat similar to their illusive Devachan, an ideal, a\nmere mystical sentiment to gush over, but a something they do not\nin reality comprehend. Therefore, we shall do our utmost to\nexplain this universal law, and to point out wherein its first\nprinciples are manifest. Once these are mastered, the Golden Rule\nwill explain all the rest: \"As it is below, so it is above; as on\nthe earth, so in the sky.\"\n\nHere, then, is our first lesson on the subject of REALITY, which\nconstitutes the Hermetic science of Correspondences.\n\nFirst, realize that a line or an angle, for instance, is\nsomething more than its mere mathematical outline. It corresponds\nto some power, force, or principle within the great Anima-Mundi\nof the mysteries, that are trying to find expression, in their\nevolutionary journey, in forms. Let us illustrate our meaning. A\npoint or dot is what? Well, externally it is the alpha of all\nmathematics. It is the first finite manifestation of the\nspiritual force. Within that dot lies concealed, in embryo, all\nthe future possibilities of the manifesting principle.\n\nThis dot or point is a something to begin with, a form\nexternalized, from which all future forms may spring forth, and\nthey may be infinite, both in number and variety. First a\nprimary, simple idea, from which all ideas and thoughts,\nintricate and complex, have their being.\n\nA point extended is a straight line, scientifically expressed\n(whereas in real truth there is no such thing as a straight\nline); that is to say, it is a form increased or multiplied by\nitself, and therefore, is an extension in space that can be\nmeasured, and each extension means a new form, an additional\nsymbol. It has taken on new aspects, new relations, hence\ncontains the second principle of mathematics, so to say; but,\nbesides being points, THEY ARE SYMBOLS. They are principles in\nNature as clearly related to each other as the leaf and the stem\nof plant life.\n\nEach monad, or point in the universe, is the beginning of\nsomething; equally so, it is also the termination of its own\nforces in that particular action, and will remain inert until it\nbecomes acted upon by something else.\n\nA point, then, is a primary, simple idea, a straight line. An\nangle is the same idea, rendered greater and more complex, and\nrefers to the same forces upon a different plane, and the more we\nmultiply the angles the more complex and far-reaching becomes the\nsymbol and the more numerous and diverse become its planes of\naction. Here we will introduce an example. A trine represents\nthree forces or angles, and, when united, form a trinity, hence\nharmony. Its apex (when above) is celestial, therefore represents\nthe male forces of spirit.\n\nA trine reversed also represents the same forces, with its apex\nin matter, hence it is negative. In these two complex ideas,\nclearly represented by these symbols, we have ALL matter and\nspirit; and yet they are but extensions of our point in space,\nrendered far-reaching and complex, by the position and the number\nof angles presented.\n\nLet us turn the key once again, and we find that, both spirit and\nmatter possess the same outline in their primal concept, except\nreversed (polarized).\n\nLet us unite these two trines, and we have a still more potent\nform; a symbol almost infinitely complex. We have spirit and\nmatter united, or, rather, three rays of force, positive, meeting\nthree rays of force, negative, at a given point. Thus we have six\npoints, also six sides, the ultimate of which is a cube. All are\nnow equal. It is the first force of a crystallization (creation)\nof matter.\n\nOnce again let us turn the key, and we have our two conceptions\nin a metaphysical sense; the trine with its apex above is as the\ntrine with its apex below, both the same in form, yet vibrating\nto very different planes, and a very different language is\nrequired to read and interpret their meaning aright. The\nspiritual, or the trine with its apex above, draws its influence\nfrom the celestial, and as it condenses and takes on form in the\ntrine of matter, it transmits this same Divine force through its\napex, which points below, to matter. The double trine is found\nupon every plane, obeying the Divine Law of Correspondences.\n\nIt is, in this sense, called \"Solomon's Seal,\" because it is the\ngrand hieroglyphic of the Hermetic law: \"As it is above, so it is\nbelow; as on the Earth, so in the sky.\"\n\nTo continue this line of reasoning, or speculation, let us say,\nwould lead us beyond the firm basis of human reason; it would\nescape the grasp of intellect, to which I am compelling this\ncourse of instruction to bend, but it would never take us beyond\nthe real limits of the universe; yet, not to extend our\ninvestigations, we would ever remain in the lower trine, in the\nrealms of effects, and lose sight entirely of the trine of\nspirit, from whence originated the force and potency in the form\nof matter.\n\nTherefore it is, that the science of Symbolism has been evolved\nand formulated. The symbols, the manifestations, are ever\npresent, and the study of effects will, to a developed soul,\nsuggest the cause, the nature of the principle back of it, as\nwell as the law which would produce such effects. Such is the\nscience of symbolism; and it bounds and binds back into a\nreligio-philosophical system, each class of symbols and each\nplane of manifestation; as securely as modern savants have\ndefined the province of chemistry, magnetism, and mathematics;\nand, so far, these bounds are useful. But it is only a question\nof time and space, after all, because, when resolved back, or,\nlet us say, evolved up into their abstract principles; chemistry,\nmagnetism, and mathematics, are purely arbitrary terms to express\nspecial features of the same one eternal thing or science--which\nis EXISTENCE; and it, in turn, is CONSCIOUSNESS; not that\nexternal consciousness of existence, not that knowledge and love\nof living, but that interior, conscious knowledge, which tells us\nwhy and how we exist, by what force and power we are sustained\nand permitted to obey and carry out the law of mediumship,\nreception and transmission, attraction and repulsion, spiritual\nand material, that ultimately blend and become as one, the double\ntrine, and, united with the Divine Ego of its being, becomes\ncomplete; seven, the perfected number of form.\n\nThe sum total, then, of all, and the value it may possess to the\nindividual, is measured by his ability to perceive; for there is\nnothing external that is not in some sense mental, and there is\nnothing mental that is not in some sense spiritual. The sides of\nthe triangle, physical, mental, and spiritual, and the apex where\nmeet the mental and spiritual, forms the center of contact to\nhigher trines in realms above.\n\nWhere mind is not, there are no symbols, no ideas, no\nmanifestations. The spirit has not yet reached that point in its\nevolutionary journey where it can yet crystallize its projected\nforce, power, or ideas, into forms; for everything that is, is\nthe outcome of Divine thought, and expresses within itself the\nsymbol of its being. This is the arcana of the Law of\nCorrespondences.\n\nRemember the above teaching, because upon its full comprehension\nrests the ability to read symbols aright. It will aid the soul to\nfully realize that, the vast universe is but the mental image of\nthe Creator; that there is no such thing as manifested existence\napart from mind; and consequently, the infinite worlds that float\nsecurely in space, blushing and scintillating with light of life\nand love of the Father, revealing to mortal minds some faint\nconception of the awful resources and recesses within Nature's\nstar-making laboratory, are but the scintillating reflection of\nlife, the reactions of mental phenomena. So, too, with the mental\ncreative powers of the mind of man, for, not a vibration that\nproceeds from his every thought but what creates its\ncorrespondence in the creative realm of spirit. Hence, symbolism\ncontinues giving to the soul of man, throughout eternity, food\nfor thought and contemplation.\n\nAll symbols, then, are objectified ideas, whether human or\nDivine; and as such possess a real meaning; and this meaning is\naltered, extended and rendered more complex with every additional\nthing or influence by which we find it surrounded, or with which,\nwe find it correlated. For instance, $1.00 means one dollar; add\nsix ciphers to the left 0000001., and it is still the same $1.00,\nand no more, because their position is previous, or before, the\n1. But add the same number of ciphers to the right, $1,000000,\nand lo! we find a wondrous change of force, power, and\nconsequence. We see all the mighty power of our million of money,\nand the possibilities and responsibilities with which, in these\ndays, it becomes associated.\n\nSo it is with everything else in Nature. Man pays the penalty by\nincreased responsibility, for every step in knowledge that be\ntakes, as well as every dollar in gold be procures. Dollars, as\nwell as talents, have to be accounted for, and their usefulness\nincreased tenfold. The dollars must not be buried nor hoarded any\nmore than our talents, but each, unfolded and doubled, so that we\nmay be instrumental in helping our coworkers in their upward\npath, in the Cycle of Necessity. Knowledge is the basic\nfoundation in reading Nature's language. Purity of thought, truth\nin motive, and unselfish benevolence, will lift the veil that now\nlies between the two trines, cause and effect, spirit and matter.\n\nWe have given the key and explained the alphabet of this wondrous\nlaw; therefore we close. Each must, by the same rules, work out\nthe special links in the chain for him or herself. The angle from\nwhich each take their view determines the reading and\ninterpretation of the symbols presented, whether that be from the\napex, the sides or the base, for every symbol has its trinity in\nprinciples and form. Cause and effect are but the action and\nreaction; the result is the symbol which reveals the\ncorrespondence of both.\n\n\nCHAPTER VII. ALCHEMY--PART I\n\nWhat a weird yet strangely pleasing name the term Alchemy is. It\nis simple, yet so infilled and intermixed with the possible\nverities of exact science and the philosophical speculations on\nthe infinite and the unknown, as to elude our mental grasp, as it\nwere, by its own subtle essence, and defy the keenest analysis of\nour profoundest generalizers in science. And yet, in spite of\nthis self-evident truth, how fascinating the sound of the word\nbecomes to the mystic student's ear, and bow pregnant with awful\nand mysterious possibilities it becomes, to the immortal powers\nembodied within the complex human organism termed man.\n\nWords, if we but knew it, have the same innate, magnetic\ninfluence, and possess the same power of affinity and antipathy,\nthat the human family possesses; as well as all organic and\ninorganic forms and substances; and how sad, to a developed soul,\nto witness the inharmony existing in our midst, caused by the\nmisapplication of names.\n\nMost human beings are very conscious of personal, or human\nmagnetism, and its effects. But they stop right there, and do not\ndream of the subtle, silent influences emanating from a name, a\nword, and the power existing in words, when properly used. The\nhuman mind is so absorbed in Nature's manifestations, which are\nonly the husks, that they fail to see the true, hidden meaning\nand realities, concealed beneath the material shell.\n\nWe will first notice the meaning of the words which constitute\nour subject, viz., Alchemy, then give a brief review of its\nphysical correspondence, chemistry, and its true relation to its\nspiritual counterpart, Alchemy.\n\n\"Al\" and \"Chemy\" are Arabic-Egyptian words which have much more\nin them than appears upon the surface, and possess a far\ndifferent meaning from the one which the terms usually convey to\nthe average mind. Terms, and the ideas we associate with them,\nvary according to the age in which we live. So with those, from\nwhich the word Alchemy is derived.\n\nLet us penetrate beneath the mere verbal husk with which\nlinguistic usage and convenience have clothed them, and which, in\nthe course of ages, has become nothing but the dross of\ndecomposed verbiage, and see if we can excavate the living germ,\nthat has become buried within. If we can do so, we shall, at the\ncommencement of our study, have attained unto a realization of\nthe ancient meaning and real significance of the terms employed.\nAnd this will be no small gain, and will form no unimportant part\nof the equipment in our present research.\n\nThe Arabians, who derived the whole of their Occult arcana from\nthe Egyptians, are the most likely to render us the most truthful\nand direct significance of the word, and so we find them. Thus,\n\"Al,\" meaning \"the,\" and Kimia,\" which means the hidden, or\nsecret, ergo THE OCCULT, from which are derived our modern term\nAlchemy, more properly Al Kimia. This is very different from the\npopular conception to-day, which supposes that the word relates\nto the art of artificially making gold by some chemical process,\nand viewing it only as some sort of magical chemistry, forgetting\nthat, the science of chemistry itself is also derived from the\nKimia of Arabian mystics, and was considered as one and the same\nthing by every writer of the Middle Ages.\n\nAt this time, the physical man was not so dense and grasping for\nhusks; hence the soul and spiritual part had greater control, and\ncould impart the real, the alchemical side, of Nature to him;\nhence the Law of Correspondences was understood, and guided the\neducated in their considerations, researches, and conclusions.\n\nDo you ask why, if they were so enlightened, they have veiled\ntheir knowledge from the world at large?\n\nThe power of mind over matter was as potent in those days as now,\nand the masses were as correspondingly corrupt as they are today.\nTherefore, to put this knowledge into the hands of the multitude\nwould have been generally disastrous. So they wrote it in\nmystical language, knowing that all educated students in Nature's\nlaws, at that time, would understand; yet they little dreamed how\nmuch their language would be misunderstood in the centuries to\nfollow, by those who look to their ancient ancestry for aid on\nsubjects that have become at the present day so lost in mystery.\n\nHaving ascertained, beyond question, that Alchemy was, and\nconsequently is, the secret science of Occultism--not the\nphilosophy, mind you, but the science; let us proceed, for, we\nshall find that these two aspects may often differ, or appear to\ndiffer, widely from each other, though they can never do so in\nreality, for the latter produces and establishes the facts, while\nthe former occupies itself in their tabulation and deductions.\nThe science constitutes the foundation, and the philosophy, the\nmetaphysical speculations, which rest thereon. If these important\ndistinctions are borne in mind, all the apparent confusion,\ncontradiction, and other intellectual debris, will either\ndisappear or resolve themselves into their own proper groups, so\nthat we may easily classify them.\n\nIt is at this very point, that, so many students go astray amid\nthe labyrinths of science and philosophy. They, unconsciously, so\nmix and intermingle the two terms, that nine-tenths of the\nstudents present only one side of the question--philosophy, which\nsoon runs into theory, if not supported by the science, which\nthey have lost in their volumes of philosophy.\n\nYou may say, one subject at a time. Yes, this may be true, if its\ntwin brother is not absorbed and forgotten.\n\nIn this chapter, we shall deal especially with organic Alchemy.\n\nOrganic Alchemy deals exclusively with living, organic things,\nand in this connection differs from the Alchemy of inorganic\nmatter. These two aspects may, in this one respect, be compared\nto organic and inorganic chemistry, to which originally they\nbelonged; as astrology did to astronomy. Alchemy and\nastrology--twin sisters--were the parents of the modern\noffspring, known in chemistry and astronomy as exact science.\nThese latter, however, deal with shadows and phenomenal\nillusions, while the former concern the living realities, which\nproduce them. Therefore, there can be \"no new thing under the\nsun,\" saith Solomon.\n\nFirst, let us deal with the most lovely form of our art, that\nwhich pertains to the floral and vegetable kingdoms. Every flower\nor blade of grass, every tree of the forest and stagnant weed of\nthe swamp, is the outcome of, and ever surrounded by, its\ncorresponding degree of spiritual life. There is not a single\natom but what is the external expression of some separate, living\nforce, within the spaces of Aeth, acting in unison with the\ndominant power corresponding with the type of life.\n\nIf science could only behold this wonderful laboratory within the\nvital storehouse of Nature, she would no longer vainly seek for\nTHE ORIGIN OF LIFE, nor wonder, what may have become of the\nmissing link in scientific evolution, because, she would quickly\nrealize that, biogenesis is the one grand truth of both animate\nand inanimate Nature, the central, living source of which is God.\nScience would also, further realize that, this biune life is ever\nin motion throughout the manifested universe; circulating around\nthe focii of creative activities, which we term suns, stars, and\nplanets, awaiting the conditions which are ever present for\nmaterial incarnation; and under all possible combinations of\ncircumstances and conditions, conceivable and inconceivable,\nadapting itself to continuous phenomenal expression. Links, so\ncalled, in this mighty chain of evolution, may appear to be\nmissing here and there, and, for that matter, whole types may\nseem to be wanting, but, this is only because of our imperfect\nperception, and, in any case, can make no real difference with\nthe facts, because, if such be a reality, if there be what we may\nterm MISSING LINKS in the scheme of evolution, it only shows that\nspirit, although associated with, is ever independent of matter.\n\nBut matter--what is to become of it? Is it independent of spirit?\nThe kindness of the Divine spirit heeds not the unconscious mind\nof matter and its boasted independence, and works silently on,\nand at last, accomplishes its mission--the evolution of matter,\nthe uplifting of the soul of man, as well as the universe. The\nblindness of man is dense, and the saddest part to admit is that,\nthey will so stubbornly remain so.\n\nIf, for one instant, the penetrating eye of the soul could shine\nforth through the physical orbs of vision, and imprint the\nscenes, beheld behind the veil, upon the tablets of the brain of\nthe physical organism, a fire would be kindled that, could never\nbe quenched by the fascinating allurements of the material,\nperishable things, of matter.\n\nThat development of the real atom of biune life can, and does, go\nforward, irrespective of the gradation of physical types, needs\nno convincing proof, other than visible Nature.\n\nMAN IS NOT THE OUTCOME OF PHYSICAL EVOLUTION, and produced by a\nseries of blind laws, that lead him upward from protozoa to man,\nas a child climbs up stairs, advancing regularly, ONE STEP AS A\nTIME. This latter conception, we know, is the theory of exact\nscience, but not of Alchemy, not of the science of Occultism.\nMan, according to Wallace, Darwin, Huxley, and Tyndall, is what\nprogressive stages of physical evolution have made him. But the\nvery reverse is true. The fauna and flora of past geological\nperiods are what the human soul has produced, by virtue of its\ngradual advancement to higher states and conditions of life, so\nthat, so far from man being the outcome of the planet's\ndevelopment, such material progress is the outgrowth of man's\nadvancement, proving again that, matter is not independent of\nspirit, neither can spirit be independent of matter for its\nexpressions. They so interblend that, the dividing line cannot be\ndetected by the untrained eye of the exact scientist. But, that\ntime is not far distant, when the scientists will prepare and\nevolve their interior being to take up the spiritual thread,\nexactly where the visible thread ends, and carry forth the work,\nas far as the mortal mind of man can penetrate, while embodied in\nthe physical form.\n\nGod hasten this day is my prayer, for then man will become more\nspiritual and aspiring for advancement and knowledge, thus,\nsetting up vibrations that will create higher and loftier\nconditions for the physical man. Aye! then they will know that,\neven the birth of the world itself, owes its primal genesis to\nthe desire of the human atom for earthly embodiment.\n\nHere is where exact science, or the counterpart of Alchemy,\nbecomes both profitable and helpful. Says Paracelsus: \"The true\nuse of chemistry is not to make gold, but to prepare medicines.\"\nHe admits four elements--the STAR, the ROOT, the ELEMENT and the\nSPERM. These elements were composed of the three principles,\nSIDERIC SALT, SULPHUR, and MERCURY. Mercury, or spirit, sulphur,\nor oil, and salt, and the passive principles, water and earth.\nHerein we see the harmony of the two words, Alchemy and\nChemistry. One is but the continuation of the other, and they\nblend so into each other that, they are not complete, apart.\n\nThe chemist, in his analysis of the various component parts of\nany form of matter, knows also the proportional combinations; and\nthus, by the Law of Correspondence, could, by the same use of the\nspiritual laws of Alchemy, analyze and combine the same elements\nfrom the atmosphere, to produce the corresponding expression of\ncrystallized form. By the same laws, are affinities and\nantipathies discovered and applied, in every department of\nNature's wonderful laboratory.\n\nChemistry is the physical expression of Alchemy, and any true\nknowledge of chemistry is:--not the knowing of the names of the\nextracts and essences, and the plants themselves, and that\ncertain combinations produce certain results, obtained from blind\nexperiments, yet, prompted by the Divine spirit within; but,\nknowledge born from knowing the why and wherefore of such\neffects. What is called the oil of olives is not a single, simple\nsubstance, but it is more or less combined with other essential\nelements, and will fuse and coalesce with other oils and essences\nof similar nature. The true chemist will not confine his\nresearches for knowledge to the mere examination, analysis, and\nexperiments, in organic life; but will inform himself equally, in\nphysical astrology; and learn the nature, attributes, and\nmanifested influences of the planets, that constitute our\nuniverse; and, under which, every form of organic matter is\nsubject, and especially, controlled by. Then, by learning the\ninfluence of the planets upon the human family; and that special\nplanetary vibration that influences the individual; he can\nintelligently and unerringly administer medicines to remove\ndisease in man.\n\nA familiarity with the mere chemical relations of the planet to\nman, makes still more apparent, the mutual affinity of both to\nthe soil, from which they appear to spring, and to which, they\nultimately return; so much so that, we have become conscious,\nthat, the food we eat is valuable or otherwise as a life\nsustainer, in proportion to the amount of life it contains. We\nare so complex in our organization that, we require a great\nvariety of the different elements to sustain all the active\nfunctions and powers within us. Man, being a microcosm, or a\nminiature universe, must sustain that universe, by taking into\nthe system the various elements, which combine to make up the\nInfinite Universe of God. Animal flesh is necessary to certain\norganized forms, both animal and man. When I say necessary, I do\nnot mean an acquired taste and habit of consuming just so much\nflesh a day; but a constitution, which would not be complete in\nits requirements, without animal flesh. I am thankful such do not\nconstitute the masses.\n\nScience would say, you only require certain combinations of\noxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, to sustain all the\nactivities of the physical body. Apparently, this is true. Upon\nthe surface it is, but in reality it is not; because if it were\nreally true there could be no famines. Science could make bread\nout of stones, as was suggested at the temptation of Christ in\nthe wilderness. And yet, no one knows better than the academies\nof Science, themselves, that their learned professors would\nquickly starve to death, if they were compelled to produce their\nfood from the chemical properties of the rocks. They can make a\ngrain of wheat chemically perfect, but they cannot make the\ninvisible germ by which it will grow, become fruitful, and\nreproduce itself. They can reproduce from the stones in the\nstreet the same chemical equivalents that go to compose gluten,\nalbumen, and starch--the trinity which must always be present to\nsustain life; but they cannot, by any known process, make such\nchemical equivalents of these substances, do the same thing. Now,\nif not, why not? Science cannot answer this. A very mysterious\nshake of the head and profound silence is the only answer. Ask\nScience HOW THE PLANT GROWS, what causes the atoms of matter to\nbuild up root, stem, leaf, bud and flower, true to the parent\nspecies from which the germinal atom came. What is there behind\nthe plant that stamps it with such striking individuality? And\nwhy, from the same soil, the deadly aconite and nutritious\nvegetable can grow, each producing qualities in harmony with its\nown nature, so widely different in their effects upon the human\norganism, YET, SO COMPLETELY IDENTICAL AS REGARDS THE SOURCE FROM\nWHICH THEY APPEAR TO SPRING. There must be a something to account\nfor this, and this something, ancient Alchemy alone can\nscientifically reveal and expound; and, this knowledge lies just\nbeyond that line which calls a halt to material scientists, and\nsays: \"You can go no farther; this is beyond your purview. The\nend of the material thread has been reached, and unless you can\nconnect it with the thread of the next plane, your researches\nmust stop.\"\n\nBefore entering upon and answering these vital questions, we must\ndigress a little, and make ourselves perfectly familiar with the\nideas and revelations of advanced physical science upon the\nsubject, and for this purpose no more trustworthy guide can be\nconsulted than the new edition of \"The Chemistry of Common Life,\"\nby the late James F. W. Johnson, M. A., England, and revised by\nArthur Herbert Church, M. A. In chapter IV on page 56 of this\nwork, upon the anatomy of plant life, we read:\n\n\"How interesting it is to reflect on the minuteness of the organs\nby which the largest plants are fed and sustained. Microscopic\napertures in the leaf suck in gaseous food from the air; the\nsurfaces of microscopic hairs suck a liquid food from the soil.\nWe are accustomed to admire, with natural and just astonishment,\nhow huge, rocky reefs, hundreds of miles in length, can be built\nup by the conjoined labors of myriads of minute zoophytes,\nlaboring together on the surface of a coral rock; but it is not\nless wonderful that, by the ceaseless working of similar\nmicroscopic agencies in leaf and root, the substance of vast\nforests should be built up and made to grow before our eyes. It\nis more wonderful, in fact; for whereas, in the one case, the\nchief result is that, dead matter extracted from the sea is\ntransformed into a dead rock; in the other, the lifeless matter\nof the earth and air are converted by these minute plant-builders\ninto living forms, lifting their heads aloft to the sky, waving\nwith every wind that blows, and beautifying whole continents with\nthe varying verdure of their ever-changing leaves.\"\n\nFurther on in the same chapter, on pages 62-3, the same eloquent\nwriter continues:\n\n\"But the special chemical changes that go on within the plant,\ncould we follow them, would appear not less wonderful than the\nrapid production of entire microscopic vegetables from the raw\nfood contained in the juice of the grape. It is as yet altogether\nincomprehensible, even to the most refined physiological\nchemistry, how, from the same food taken in from the air, and\nfrom generally similar food drawn up from the soil, different\nplants, and different parts of plants, should be able to extract\nor produce substances so very different from each other in\ncomposition and in all of their properties. From the seed-vessels\nof one (the poppy) we collect a juice which dries up into our\ncommercial opium; from the bark of another (cinchona) we extract\nthe quinine with which we assuage the raging fever; from the\nleaves of others, like those of hemlock and tobacco, we distil\ndeadly poisons, often of rare value for their medicinal uses. The\nflowers and leaves of some yield volatile oils, which we delight\nin for their odors and their aromatic qualities; the seeds of\nothers give fixed oils, which are prized for the table or use in\nthe arts * * * These, and a thousand other similar facts, tell us\nhow wonderfully varied are the changes which the same original\nforms of matter undergo in the interior of living plants. Indeed,\nwhether we regard the vegetable as a whole, or examine its\nminutest part, we find equal evidence of the same diversity of\nchanges and of the same production, in comparatively minute\nquantities, of very different, yet often characteristic forms of\nmatter.\"\n\nFrom the whole of the foregoing, we observe the exact position to\nbe the one we have previously stated. If such wondrous things can\nbe revealed to us through the physical science of chemistry, what\nthink you must be hidden from our physical sight and knowledge by\nthe veil which hangs between matter and spirit? Think you not, it\nis worth the effort to penetrate beyond that point where the atom\ndisappears from the view of the scientist?\n\nIf plants produce such wonderful phenomena in their life and\ninfluence, what must the Divine organism of man have concealed\nwithin his microscopic universe, to study and comprehend? Plant\nlife is merely the alphabet of the complex, intricate, and\nmultitudinous processes, going on in the human body.\n\nAnd, as the mechanical microscope of physical science cannot\nreveal the why and the wherefore, let us, for a brief moment,\ndisclose some of the wonders that declare their existence, when\nsubjected to the penetrating alchemical lens, of the inward\nspirit. The first thing that intrudes itself upon our notice, by\nvirtue of its primary importance, is the grand fact of\nbiogenesis--life emanating from life. We perceive every external\nform to be the physical symbol of a corresponding degree of\nspiritual life; that each complete plant represents a complete\ncycle, state, or degree of interior existence; that it is made up\nand consists of countless millions of separate atoms of life;\nthat these atoms of spiritual activity are the real instigators\nof the life and motion of corresponding material atoms; that they\never obey the Divine impulse of co-operative unity, in their\nchemical, as well as their spiritual affinity. Consequently,\neverything in the form of material substance must be, and is, but\nthe means for the phenomenal expression of incarnating spirit;\nthe organism of man, a tree, a plant, or an animal, being no\nexception to this Divine, omnipresent law of creative life.\n\nTo the true Alchemist there can be no mystery surrounding the\nwonderful phenomena mentioned in the work we have quoted, in\nplants extracting from the same rocks, soil, and air, qualities\nso manifestly different--deadly poisons, healing balsams, and\npleasant aromas, or the reverse, from the same identical plant\nfoods. Nothing is more wonderful or mysterious, than, the same\nalchemical processes, which, are hourly being enacted within our\nown bodies. From the same breath of air and the same crust of\nbread do we concoct the blood, the bile, the gastric juice, and\nvarious other secretions; and distil the finer nervous fluids,\nthat go to build up and sustain the whole of our mental and\ndynamic machinery. It is the same ancient story of the atoms;\neach part and each function endowing the same inorganic chemicals\nwith their own spiritual, magnetic, and physical life-qualities,\nby what appears, to the uninitiated observer, a miraculous\ntransmutation of matter, but which is, in reality, the evolution\nof organic form from inorganic materials, in obedience to the\nDivine law of spiritual progression. Who could stop with exact\nscience? For, when we come to consider the apparent mysteries of\nlife and growth by the aid of this alchemical light, the shadows\nflee, and all the illusions of Nature's phenomenal kaleidoscope\nvanish before the revelation of the underlying spiritual\nrealities. We know that the plant, being the physical expression\nupon the material plane of a more interior life, endows its\noutward atoms with their peculiar qualities. THESE QUALITIES ARE\nNOT DRAWN DIRECTLY FROM THE SOIL; the soil only becoming the\nmedium for their complete or incomplete expression, as the case\nmay be; i.e., supplying the necessary inorganic atoms. Hence, the\ndeadly qualities of aconite, and the generous life-sustaining\nqualities of the nutritious vegetable, BEING SPIRITUAL LIFE\nENDOWMENTS, conveyed to the material substance, abstracted from\nthe soil and withdrawn from the atmosphere, are no mystery; their\neffect upon the human organism being exactly that, which is\nproduced by their spiritual affinity or antipathy, as the case\nmay be. And this also shows and explains, why purely inorganic\nchemical atoms, though they be exactly the same as the organic\nsubstances, from a strictly scientific standpoint, YET FAIL TO\nSUPPORT LIFE, because such chemical equivalents lack the organic\nspirituality of the interior life, which alone, gives them the\npower and function to support the same. They fail to fulfill the\nrequirements of the alchemical law of life for the support of\nlife--in other words, biogenesis.\n\nAnd, too, this inorganic life may be parted from the plant or\nvegetable, if it be too long severed from the medium which\ntransmits the spiritual life, from the inorganic world to that of\norganic matter. Vegetables, fresh from the ground, or parent\nstem, retain this life if at once prepared for food, if not\novercooked, which is so often ignorantly done. This is the secret\nof sustenance from foods. Nature's perfected fruits and\nvegetables are overflowing with the life-giving essences, and, if\neaten direct from the tree or parent stem, that life is not lost,\nbut transmitted to our organisms, and replenishes the wasting\nsystem with a living life. Much less of such food is required to\ncompletely satisfy and nourish the body than if the life had\npartly departed or been destroyed.\n\nBriefly stated, then, everything within organic Nature is the\nexpressional symbolic manifestation of spirit; every form being a\ncongregation of innumerable atoms of life, revealing their\npresence in material states; each organic form, or, rather,\norganism, evolving under the central control of some dominating\nDeific atom or soul, which, by virtue of past incarnations and\nlabors in its cycle of evolution, from the mineral up to man, has\nachieved the royal prerogative to rule within its own state. Man\nbeing the highest representative form--the grand finale in the\nearthly drama--sums up and contains within himself everything\nbelow, and THE GERMS OF EVERYTHING BEYOND, THIS STATE. He is\ntruly a microcosm, and represents in miniature the grand Cosmic\nMan of the Heavens. Every living force beneath him corresponds to\nsome state, part, or function, which he has graduated through and\nconquered, and which, in him, has now become embodied, as a part\nof his universal kingdom. Consequently, all things are directly\nrelated to him, in the grand universal unity of spiritual life.\n\nThis cannot be realized and comprehended by the physical man, nor\nconveyed to his outer senses by the physical sciences. He must\nbring into active use the inner man, the real being, which\ninhabits and controls the outer organism, and through its\ninstrumentality, understand the interior source and workings\nbehind the phenomena of manifested being. So we see that, exact\nscience cannot take us far, yet, it is a mighty factor, in the\nevolution of the microcosm Man, and in consciously relating him\nto the Infinite Macrocosm--God, Spirit, All.\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII. ALCHEMY-PART II\n\nParacelsus, the most celebrated of the alchemists of the Middle\nAges, thus mystically speaks of his art:\n\n\"If I have manna in my constitution, I can attract manna from\nheaven. Melissa is not only in the garden, but also in the air\nand in heaven. Saturn is not only in the sky, but also deep in\nthe ocean and Earth. What is Venus but the artemisia that grows\nin your garden, and what is iron but the planet Mars? That is to\nsay, Venus and Artemisia are both products of the same essence,\nwhile Mars and iron are manifestations of the same cause. What is\nthe human body but a constellation of the same powers that formed\nthe stars in the sky? He who knows Mars knows the qualities of\niron, and he who knows what iron is knows the attributes of Mars.\nWhat would become of your heart if there were no Sun in the\nUniverse? What would be the use of your 'Vasa Spermatica'[*] if\nthere were no Venus? To grasp the invisible elements, to attract\nthem by their material correspondences, to control, purify, and\ntransmute, them by the ever-moving powers of the living\nspirit--this is true Alchemy.\"\n\n[*] Astral germs of subjective life forms:--it is the latent, \"to\nbe\".\n\n\nThus, in a very few simple words, we find this master of the art\nrevealing the whole arcana of that mysterious science, which has\nfor its chief object and goal, the discovery of the\n\"philosopher's stone,\" which confers upon its fortunate possessor\nthe blessings of immortal youth. Therefore, we cannot possibly do\nbetter in the commencement of our present study than, to minutely\nexamine each particular sentence and endeavor to discover his\ntrue meaning, which, like all mystical writing, is so apparent,\nyet cunningly concealed, as to excite the student's admiration.\n\n\"If I have manna in my constitution, I can attract manna from\nHeaven.\" The manna here spoken of does not specify any particular\nthing, but is of universal application, and is simply used as an\nunknown quantity, like x, y, z in mathematics. But, ever since\nthe days of Paracelsus, half-initiated mystics and bookworm\noccultists, have endeavored to discover what this manna really\nwas. Some, the more spiritual, were of the opinion that, it was\nspiritual power, or purity of spirit; others imagined it to mean\nspecial magnetic qualifications, similar in nature to the\nso-called gifts of modern spiritualistic media. The concealment\nof the truth is unique, and consists in its very simplicity; and,\nwhen correctly expounded, should read: \"I am the microcosm, and\nall the visible and invisible universe dwells within me, so that\nwhatsoever power I have in my constitution, I can attract its\ncorrespondence from Heaven.\" Paracelsus must have smiled to\nhimself when he wrote \"If I have manna,\" etc., because his whole\nwritings strive to prove man the miniature of Deity. Further\nalong, he explains himself by pointing out the real Law of\nCorrespondence, thus: \"Melissa is not only in the garden, but\nalso in the air, and in Heaven. Saturn is not only in the sky,\nbut also deep in the ocean, and Earth.\" The illustrations are\nbeautiful, The life of the plant, the \"anima floralis,\" pervades\nthe atmosphere and the interior states of spiritual life, where\nit becomes in the highest degree beautiful, and beneficial to the\nsoul. A reference upon this point to \"The Light of Egypt\" Vol.,\nI, may not be considered out of place. Upon page 74 it is\nwritten: \"The flower that blooms in beauty, breathing forth to\nthe air its fragrance, which is at once grateful to the senses\nand stimulating to the nerves, is a perfect specimen of Nature's\nfaultless mediumship. The flower is a medium for the transmission\nto the human body of those finer essences, and of THEIR SPIRITUAL\nPORTION TO THE SOUL; for the aroma of the flower is spiritualized\nto such a degree as to act upon the life currents of the system,\nimparting to the spiritual body a nutriment of the finest\nquality.\"\n\nThus, here is where the knowledge of the alchemical attributes of\nplants, as applicable to man, can be most beneficially utilized.\nPlants and flowers, whose attributes and aromas harmonize with\nthe complex organism of man, should be selected for the house and\ngarden, for, they are mediums to transmit the finer essences and\naromas to the spiritual constitution of man; the plant to the\nphysical, and the aromas and essences of the flowers to the soul.\n\nAntipathies in plants and flowers would bring a similar evil\ninfluence, as the discords of the antagonistic human magnetism.\nIt would not be so apparent, but more subtle, yet nevertheless\neffective in result.\n\nOur attention is next drawn to the planet Saturn, which, we are\ninformed, is not only shining in his starry sphere of the\nheavens, but is also buried in the ocean depths and embodied in\nthe stratas of the earth. It is almost needless to add that, our\nauthor refers to those substances naturally Saturnine in their\nquality of life and expression, such as lead, clay, and coal,\namong the minerals, and various deadly plants among the flora,\nthe chief of which is the aconite or monkshood, so significant of\nSaturn and the isolated, monkish hermit. After some repetition,\nin order to impress the truth of correspondences, our author\nexclaims: \"What is the human body but a constellation of the same\npowers that formed the stars in the sky?\" Truly, what else? for,\n\"he who knows Mars knows the qualities of iron, and he who knows\nwhat iron is knows the attributes of Mars.\" Could anything be\nplainer? We think not.\n\nFrom the foregoing, which a long experience and much critical\ninvestigation and research have demonstrated as true, we cannot\navoid the conclusion that Alchemy, equally as well as every other\nscience, religion, or system of philosophy formulated by man,\nresolves itself, ultimately, in all its final conclusions, into\nthe one universal parent of all wisdom.\n\nASTROLOGY, the Science of the Stars, in unison with the Science\nof the Soul, was, and still is, the one sublime center of real\nlearning. It constituted the sacred fountain of living waters,\nfrom whose placid depths there rayed forth the Divine revelations\nof man, his whence, where, and whither; and under the careful\nconservation of a long line of gifted seers, it shone forth to\nthe sons of men, as the sacred Hermetic light in the\nAstro-Masonic wisdom of Egypt's ancient priesthood.\n\nIt is not lost to us to-day. The same book lies open before us\nthat faced our ancient forefathers. It is standing out clear and\ndistinct, waiting to be read by the sons of men. We can learn its\nlanguage, and from its pages, we ourselves can read our relation\nto God and our fellowman. Shall we not heed the whispering\nintuitions of the soul and place ourselves in conscious rapport\nwith the whole?\n\nThis sublime Book of Wisdom was written by God Himself, to convey\nto His children the knowledge of His powers, attributes, and\nrelation to all creative life. We cannot see that Divine Spirit\nwhich we call God. No; but as long as the finite form exists as\nsuch, we will have the spirit's manifestations to learn from.\nNever will the Book of God be closed to the searching eye of the\nsoul. There will always be presented to his vision lessons to\nstudy, and practical experiments to perform, to lead the soul\ninto deeper mysteries. Until man fathoms his own universe, he\ncannot understand God. \"Know thyself\" is as applicable to-day as\nwhen the famous, immortal and mystic utterance was inscribed on\nthe porch of the temple at Delphi.\n\nBefore this wonderful, divinely elaborated, but complex system\ncan be fully realized, it is necessary that the student should\ncomprehend, very distinctly, the two states of existence, the\ninternal and the external, and become familiar with the laws of\ncorrespondences. And it seems strange that of all Sciences, that\nof medicine should have so completely failed to grasp this living\ntruth, since every atom of medicine administered, invariably acts\nupon this alchemical principle. When the human organism has\nbecome discordant in some of its parts, it is because the\ninterstellar vibrations have aroused various states within the\nhuman kingdom into a condition of rebellion against the supreme\nwill. Man's ignorance favors such seditious movements, and his\ngeneral habits and code of morals stimulate them to undue\nactivity. The final result is disease--disorganization of the\nparts and functions, and those medicines corresponding TO THE\nSAME FUNCTIONAL DEGREE OF LIFE WITHIN THE GRAND MAN, cure the\ndisorder, when administered properly and IN TIME, whereas, if\ngiven to the perfectly healthy organism, THE ATOMS PRODUCE\nSIMILAR SYMPTOMS TO THE DISEASES THEY ALLEVIATE, because it is\ntheir mission to either subdue or be subdued, and when disease\nprevails the medicinal atoms, acting in unison with the natural\nparts and functions they affect, conquer or subdue the inharmony,\nand vice versa, as before stated. In all cases of disease and\nmedicine, it is a simple question of A WAR BETWEEN THE ATOMS,\nand, therefore, the most potential forces within Nature are\nalways at the command of the true Alchemist, because he knows bow\nand when to select his fighting forces, and when to set them in\nmotion, for the best results.\n\nHahnemann, the founder of the Homeopathic system, has approached\nTHE NEAREST to this alchemical truth, and as a consequence, we\nfind it is in actual practice, the most natural, scientific, and\nsuccessful system of medicine, yet given to the world; based, as\nit is, upon the well-known law of affinites, \"Similia similibus\ncurantur,\" \"like cures like,\" being a very ancient axiom in the\nastrological practice of physic.\n\nBulwer Lytton, who had become thoroughly convinced of the great\nvalue and importance of uniting ancient Alchemy with modern\nmedicine, makes the hero of his immortal story declare: \"All that\nwe  propose to do is this: To find out the secrets of the human\nframe, to know why the parts ossify and the blood stagnates, and\nto apply continual preventives to the effects of time. THIS IS\nNOT MAGIC; IT IS THE ART OF MEDICINE, RIGHTLY UNDERSTOOD.\"\n\nIt is a fact that, the molecules of the body are all changed\nwithin twelve months; that every cell in the human organism is\nborn and grows to maturity within that space of time. Nature is\nabsolutely impartial. She draws from the atmosphere that she may\nreproduce a fac-simile of everything she finds upon the surface\nof the body. So, if there be a sore, or festering ulcer, the\natoms which are thrown off attract similar atoms, so as to\nreproduce the ulcer or sore, and thus prevent the disease from\ngetting well of itself until it has worn itself out.\n\nFurther, every vein and canal throughout the entire body, from\nyouth to maturity, is being coated with carbonate of lime, or\nlime in some form. The coating of the walls of the veins in such\na manner, prevents the free circulation of the living matter;\nthen, the real vitality of the food which we eat, is simply\npassed off through the pores, or through the bowels, or through\nthe system, because it is unable to penetrate through the lime.\n\nIf that prevention which produces old age can be attained, then\nphysical youth will continue.\n\nThe first step to take is to dissolve the lime in the body. Drink\nnothing but distilled water, in either tea, coffee, or any other\nform, and drink freely of the sweet juices of the grape and\napple.\n\nThe food that we eat contains lime in a living form, and it is\nthe living lime we need to build up the living bones, for the\nlime and the magnesia that we take in the water is crystallized\ndead mineral, possessing no responsibility of life, and the lime\nin our food is quite sufficient for all purposes. For everything\nwe take in excess, Nature makes us pay the penalty.\n\nThe first principle of long living is to keep all channels of the\nbody perfect and free from coatings of lime.\n\nThe second is that of youthful ideals of the mind. The soul never\ngrows old.\n\nThe third principle is dynamic breathing, which is storing up the\noxygen in sufficient quantities, to supply the tissues with\nsufficient fuel, for combustion.\n\nThese three principles, acting in unison, contain the true basis\nof physical life and a means of long living. Old age is simply\nthe petrifaction of the body through lime, and the incorporating\nof erroneous thoughts into the organism.\n\nIt is the true Alchemy of human existence, and the preventives,\nin each and every case must contain the spiritual correspondence\nto the cause they seek to remedy; and, though the followers of\nHahnemann base the whole of their procedure of treatment upon\ntheir master's fundamental law of \"Similia similibus curantur,\"\nyet, there may be a few rare cases wherein, this undeviating\nmethod would not apply with the required effect. In such a case,\nthe Alchemist would resort to the well-known law of opposites,\nand base his treatment upon the dogma of \"Contraria contrariis\ncurantur,\" so long the pet theory of the Allopathic school. They\nwork upon the hypothesis that, like attracts like, and, if\ndisease exist, those elements must be administered to set up the\nvibrations that will produce the polar opposite. If the body was\nracked with pain, those medicines would not be given that would\ncreate or increase similar conditions, but, their antipathy would\nbe introduced into the system or applied locally to extinguish\nthe foe.\n\nSo long as mankind remain within the semicrystallized state of\nsoul development, so as to require the aid of external forces to\nsupport the human throne within its earthly temple, mercenary\ntroops will exist to supply these supposed supports.\n\nUnquestionably, the astrological law is the true system of\nmedicine, which treats disease by sympathy or by antipathy,\naccording to the nature of the case, and the efficacy of the\nremedies at hand. This method is the only natural one, and has\nbeen thoroughly demonstrated by the numerous \"provings of drugs\"\nunder Hahnemann's law.\n\nHappily, the time is not far distant when, the incarnated spirit\nwill be able to use its own slumbering forces, and subdue all\nsuffering and symptoms of disease in their very first inception,\nby virtue of its purer life and the dynamic potencies of its own\ninterior, spiritual thought. Already, mental therapeutics is\ntaking an advanced position among liberal, progressive minds, and\nnothing demonstrates so clearly and forcibly the grand,\nalchemical law of life-growth and decay, as the imponderable,\ninvisible forces, which, constitute the materia medica, or\nremedial agents, of mental, magnetic, and spiritual healing.\n\nPerhaps the most recondite subject connected with the healing art\ndivine is, the modus operandi of medicinal action, upon the human\nbody. A subject so simple and self-evident to the Alchemist,\nremains a profound mystery to the educated physician of the\nmedical college; so much so that, we are tempted to ask of them:\n\"Can you explain the modus operandi of drugs?\" Dr. William Sharp,\none of the most advanced physicians of the Homeopathic school, in\none of his well- known \"Essays on Medicine,\" says: \"In respect to\nthe manner of action of drugs we are in total darkness, and we\nare so blind that the darkness is not felt. KNOWLEDGE OF THIS\nKIND CANNOT BE ATTAINED; it is labor lost and TIME wasted to go\nin search of it. True, hypotheses may be easily conceived; so may\nstraws be gathered from the surface of the stream. But what are\neither of them worth? There is this difference between\nthem--straws may amuse children, and hypotheses are sure to\nmislead physicians.\"\n\nIt is when the Occult Initiate observes to what helpless\nconditions the practice of medicine has fallen, that, he would,\nif be could with any possibility of success, implore the angelic\nguardian of the human race to open the spiritual sight of men,\nthat they might see, as he sees, the Divine relationship, and\nspiritual correspondence, of everything in the wide universe to\nman.\n\nNature's laws move slowly and imperceptibly, yet surely and\nexact, and the time will certainly come when man will be forced\ninto consciousness of these laws, whether he will or no. Nature\nis no respecter of persons, and those who will not move and\nprogress, in harmony with her laws of advancement, must, of\nnecessity, pass out with the old.\n\nAlchemy, as it relates to the healing art, is the most noble in\nits object and beneficial in its effects, of all the many\nsubdivisions of the sciences, because, it alleviates the pains\nand morbid afflictions of suffering humanity. We have given quite\nsufficient of its astrological aspect in the second part of \"The\nLight of Egypt,\" Vol. I, wherein the four ancient elements are\ntranslated into their chemical correspondences of oxygen,\nhydrogen, nitrogen and carbon, which still constitute the four\nprimary elements of the most advanced chemistry to-day. They\nenter more or less into every organic form and substance, which\nis known, in various combinations and proportions. The human\norganism is principally composed of them; so, likewise, is the\nfood that supports physical life, and the air we breathe is but\nmodifications of the same atoms.\n\nAs man's constitution embraces a microscopic atom of all the\nessences and elements, corresponding to the whole; so does the\nair; and much, that we depend upon our food to supply, can be\nextracted from the atmosphere by breathing. Every breath we\nbreathe is new life, or death.\n\nHerein is the secret of success or failure, in certain\nlocalities, and under certain conditions. If we have iron within\nus, could we extract or attract iron from Saturn's district? Or,\nif the element within us could attract gold, could we obtain it\nfrom the coal fields?\n\nTherefore, it is only natural that the medical remedies we employ\nto restore the organism, when afflicted with disease, should\ngroup themselves into similar correspondences, and so, in a\ngeneral sense, we find them; for we note that the brain, the\ncirculation, the lungs, and the stomach, are the four chief\ncitadels of the body; the heart, of course, representing the\ncenter of circulation. And this also explains, further, if that\nwere necessary, why the principal remedies of the homeopathic\nsystem are so speedy and direct in their action. The four\nprincipal drugs, which stand as representatives of their class,\nare aconite, belladonna, phosphorus, and pulsatilla. These\nrepresent the quadrant, for light is not more nicely adjusted to\nthe eye, nor sound to the ear, than aconite to the circulation,\nbelladonna to the brain, phosphorus to the lungs, and pulsatilla\nto the stomach; while ramifying in the seven directions indicated\nby the seven primary planets, we find stimulants, tonics,\nnarcotics, nervines, alteratives, cathartics and diuretics, as\nthe natural material correspondences thereof.\n\nThat we assign phosphorus to the lungs may appear startling to\nthe orthodox student, especially when, he calls to mind the fact\nthat phosphorus has long been recognized in medical science as a\nbrain food and medicine. Anticipating such mental questions, we\nreply that in medicine, from the alchemical view, we are\noccupying a wholly different standpoint; i.e., the power of\ncontrolling the functional action of the body, in this view of\nthe case, and the fact that, the lungs and the brain are in the\nmost perfect affinity, there will remain no mystery upon the\nsubject.\n\nThe Alchemy of stones and gems attracts our next attention.\nAffinites and antipathies to the human constitution, are to be\nfound in these crystallized representatives of the subtle,\ninvisible influences emanating from our planetary system. They\nare the mediums for the transmission of corresponding attributes\nand influences of existing powers and potencies, and if carried\nor worn upon the person, they will bring the person in direct\nrapport with the invisible forces within the universal system.\n\nHere again Hahnemann's scientific philosophy would prove\neffectual, that \"Similia similibus curantur.\" Would the fiery\ninfluence of a topaz attract much from the realms of a\nchrysolite? Or, the crystallized, airy forces of a sapphire be a\nsuitable medium for the earthly forces of a jasper?\n\nGems and stones are dead or living realities. They live, slumber\nand die, and have their potent existence as do the organic forms\nof matter. They are, usually, imbued with the vivifying spark of\nDivinity, and shine forth and exert their influence through the\nmagical powers attracted to them from the forces of Nature. A\nreal, living entity abides within them that can be seen by the\nclairvoyant vision, and to the trained student in Occult lore,\nthis entity can be made to become an obedient servant, giving\nwarning of the approach of danger, impressions of men and things,\nand warding off discordant influences surrounding us; or that,\nwhich we may contact from the magnetic and personal environments\nin our relations in the social world; or that which may be\nprojected to us from the invisible realms of life.\n\nThink you the pryamids would be intact to-day, if the stones from\nwhich they were built had been promiscuously selected? They were\nchosen by Adepts in the knowledge of the Laws of Correspondence\nand antipathy and affinity. The sphinx also stand as monuments to\nthe heights of wisdom that man can attain.\n\nMetals also can be followed out on the same lines as the gems and\nstones.\n\nMuch as we would like to continue, we are compelled to bring this\ndiscourse to a close, even though in doing so we must of\nnecessity omit much of vital interest to the student. We will,\ntherefore, only add that the seven basic metals stand as the\ncrystallized representatives of their respective groups: Gold for\nthe Sun, Silver for the Moon, Tin for Jupiter, Copper for Venus,\nQuicksilver for Mercury and Lead for Saturn. Each finds it own\nsphere of action within the temporary abiding place of the human\nsoul on earth--the physical body. So, likewise, the twelve\nconstellations and their corresponding talismanic gems,\nrepresenting in their glittering array the anatomical Zodiac of\nthe human frame, and typifying the spiritual quality of the\natoms, there congregated, in every degree of life. These, and a\nthousand other mysteries, had we the time, might be unfolded to\nthe student's view with considerable advantage, but we are\ncompelled to refrain. The philosopher's stone is near at hand.\nSeek it not in remote spheres or distant parts of the earth, for\nit is ever around you and within, and becomes the golden key of\ntrue wisdom, which prepares the soul for its higher life and\nbrighter destiny. It is the still, small voice of the awakened\nsoul, that purges the conscience from suffering, and the\nspiritual body from earthy dross. It is that, which treasures not\nthe corrupting, delusive wealth of Earth, nor the transient\npowers of mammon, but garners the fruits which spring from the\npure life, and treasures the jewels of heaven. Vainly will you\nseek for this stone of the wise philosopher amid the turmoils,\nsufferings, and selfishness of life, unless you accept your\nmission upon earth as a duty, delegated to the soul, from Heaven.\nEschew the evil thereof, and hold fast that which is good. To do\nthis, means to expand with the inward truth and become one of the\n\"pure in heart,\" in which blessed state, the magical white stone,\nconveying A NEW NAME, reveals the living angel within, to the\noutward man. Then, and then alone, doth he know the Adonai.\n\nSuch are the Divine, spiritual principles upon which the higher\nAlchemy of life is based. They seek only to establish a Divine,\nconscious at-one-ment between the angel, the man, and the\nuniverse, and to this end, we conclude with the words of the\nimmortal Paracelsus:\n\n\"To grasp these invisible elements, to attract them by their\nmaterial correspondences, to control, purify, and transmute them\nby the ever-moving powers of the living spirit, THIS IS TRUE\nALCHEMY.\"\n\n\nCHAPTER IX. TALISMANS\n\nWords are the symbols of ideas, and bear the same correspondence\nto the physical brain as matter does to spirit, a medium of\nexpression, and are subject to continual change in their\napplication and meaning, in exact proportion to the changing\nmental and moral condition of the people. As the planet, as well\nas man, is continually progressing, so must there be a higher and\nnobler conception of ideas. Hence, words or expressions must\nchange, to convey the progressive spirit, that is constantly\ntaking place. Therefore, it is always interesting, as well as\nvaluable, for the Occult student to go to the root of each word\nconnected with his philosophy, in order to learn the real sense\nin which the word was used by the ancients, from whom his mystic\nlore has descended. The true meaning, as well as the words\nthemselves, have become as mystical as the lore itself. Hence,\neach student must commence as a beginner in any foreign language,\nwhich he does not at present understand. In following this method\nof procedure he will, at least, escape the dense and interminable\nconfusion of modern opinions upon subjects of which the writers\nthereof, are partially or wholly ignorant.\n\nNo better illustration of this can be afforded than by the word\n\"Talisman,\" derived from the Greek verb \"teleo,\" which means,\nprimarily, to accomplish, or bring into effect. But, in its real,\nand therefore higher, sense, it means to dedicate, consecrate,\nand initiate into the arcana of the temple mysteries. But, in the\npresent day it means a piece of imposture, connected with some\nmagical hocus pocus of the ignorant and superstitious mind, a\nvulgar charm, that is supposed to bring the owner thereof some\nmaterial benefit, irrespective of his mental, magnetic, and moral\ncondition, \"and,\" says the learned Webster, after describing his\nidea of such things, \"they consist of three sorts, astronomical,\nmagical and mixed.\" But in what sense the \"astronomical\" differed\nfrom the \"magical\" we are not informed, nor is any light thrown\nupon the peculiar nature of that class designated as \"mixed.\" In\nfact, the lexicographer so mixes up his definitions that, we are\nunable to distinguish anything in particular, but his own\nindividual ignorance.\n\nSo it has become, in every branch of learning. Words and their\nmeanings have become so mixed in their use and application, that,\nthe world is full of discords and misunderstandings, which lead\ninto dissensions and contention, among all schools of thought,\nsects, and isms; and lastly, though not the least serious, it has\nreached into the close relations of the human family.\n\nAll writers and speakers, as well as the readers and listeners,\nshould acquaint themselves with the derivation and meaning of\nwords.\n\nThe fact stands very clearly defined that, Talismans are confused\nin the minds of the present generation with magical charms, which\ndepend for their effects, upon the power of the idea or thought,\nwhich the formulating magician impresses upon the substance of\nwhich they are composed. If the magical artist be expert, and\nendowed with an exceedingly potent will, his charm may become\nvery powerful, when worn by the person for whom it was prepared.\nBut, if this one grand essential be lacking, no amount of\ncabalistical figures and sacred names will have any effect,\nbecause, there can be no potency in symbols apart from the ideas\nand mental force they are capable of arousing in the mind of the\nmaker. Solomon's Seal is no more powerful, when drawn upon virgin\nparchment, with a weak will, or in a mechanical state of mind,\nthan a child's innocent scribbling upon its slate. But, if the\nartist realizes the mysteries symbolized by the interlacing\ntriangles, and can place his soul en rapport with the invisible\nelements they outwardly represent; then, powerful effects are\noften produced.\n\nI am sorry to say that, the knowledge of charms is not confined\nto the creation of beneficial talismans. Its perversion has led\nto the diabolical practices of the Voodo and Black Magician,\nwhose work is wholly, either for gain or revenge. Nothing, but\nthe most extreme selfishness lies beneath such immoral practices,\nbut, as there must be a light to reflect a shadow, so a charm\nmust follow a talisman. Magical charms, then, are simply natural\nobjects, possessing but little active virtue in themselves, but,\nowing to the mediumistic nature of their substances, are endowed\nwith artificial powers, of temporary duration, by virtue of the\nidea and thought impressed upon them, through the mental magic of\nthe maker; and in this sense, a charm must be clearly\ndistinguished from \"teleo,\" the Talisman. The very names suggest\ntheir difference, and, above all other men, students in Occultism\nshould strive to become thoroughly educated in the true sense of\nthe term, MEN OF LETTERS, by virtue of (as Ruskin calls it) \"the\nkingship of words.\" \"Charm\" is derived from the Latin \"carmen,\" a\nsong that fascinates, and means to control by incantation, to\nsubdue; while Teleo concerns the secret powers and wisdom of\nconsecration and initiation. It is because of modern misuse of\nantique terms that, we have considered this somewhat lengthy\nexplanation necessary, in order to clear away the accumulated\ndebris of the ages, from the true foundation of our present\nstudy.\n\nA Talisman is a natural object, containing the elemental forces\nof its own degree of life, in a state of intense activity, and\ncapable of responding to the corresponding quality of life,\nOUTSIDE OF ITSELF, that emanates from the same spiritual state,\neither by sympathetic vibration or antagonistic currents, the\nnature, power, quality, and degree of life, which the various\nnatural objects represent, being a part of the temple curriculum\nof initiation. Hence, the name, by which the latent power of\nthese natural objects became known, was in strict harmony with\nthe facts involved.\n\nIn order to prevent any possible misconception upon the subject,\nlet us briefly restate the definition in a different way: A\nTalisman is the exact antipodes of a charm. This latter is the\nartful and temporary result of man's mental power; the former,\nthe natural production of universal Nature, and as permanent and\nenduring as the substance of which it is composed, DURING THE\nPRESENT CYCLE. And yet in some sense, it may be quite correct to\nsay that, a Talisman ACTS LIKE A CHARM, and vice versa, that\ncharms ACT LIKE A TALISMAN, providing that, the real vital\ndifference between them, is maintained in the statement.\n\nNow that we have our subject clearly defined, let us carefully\nexamine HOW AND IN WHAT SENSE a given natural object becomes\nTalismanic, for it must appear self-evident to all that, one and\nthe same substance cannot constitute a Talisman for everyone, and\nfor everything. They must naturally differ, as widely in their\nnature and quality, as mankind differ in physical, mental, moral,\nethical, and temperamental, development. And, yet, though, man\nmay so differ from his fellow man; the ignorant Esquimau, killing\nseals in his kayak, may belong to the same spiritual quality of\nlife as the Harvard professor, who obtains his subsistence by\ndaily discourse upon the sublime harmony of the infinitely small\nwith the infinitely great, throughout the manifested universe of\nmatter, and wherever we find this KINSHIP of the spirit, we shall\nfind the same identical Talisman acting alike upon each, whenever\nthey shall come en rapport with it. Mental, moral, and physical\ndevelopment, never alter the real nature of the internal man.\nCulture only brings to the surface, into active use, the latent\npossibilities lying concealed within the human soul. It only\nallows him to exercise his functions upon different planes, and\nwith different effect.\n\nEvery natural department of Nature corresponds to some peculiar\nspecific quality and degree of life. These have been divided, for\nthe sake of convenience, into four primary groups; and each group\nagain subdivided into three, corresponding to the four cardinal,\nfour succedent, and four cadent houses, of the astrological\nchart; therefore, the twelve signs of the Zodiac; these\nconstituting the Cycle of Necessity within physical conditions,\nwherein, the ever-measuring or decreeing tidal flow of life from\nsolar radiation throughout the year, represents the twelve groups\nof humanity, of lower animated Nature, of vegetation, and\ncrystallized gems. Every human being is ushered into the world\nunder the direct influx of one or more of these celestial\ndivisions, and by virtue of the sign occupying the horizon at the\nmoment of birth, absorbs such influx, and becomes endowed with a\nspecific polarity, by virtue of which, lie ever afterward, during\nsuch expression within physical conditions, inspires with every\nbreath, that specific life quality from the atmosphere,\ncorresponding to the same degree of the universal spirit.\nConsequently, that gem, or those gems, representing and\ncorresponding to HIS HOUSE OF LIFE, become to him, a Talisman,\nbecause of their relationship--their spiritual affinity. These\nare all given in the second part of Vol. I. THE METALS never\nbecome Talismanic, because of their comparatively negative degree\nof life, and for this reason also, they make the most powerful\ncharms. Certain combinations of metals, and in proper\nproportions, increase the potency and magnetic influence of a\ncharm; and here, too, the laws of antipathy and affinity come\ninto practical use.\n\nA true expert will know his metals, or metal, and his client,\nbefore commencing his magical work.\n\nThose persons who derive most virtue from a Talisman are those\nwho belong to the most sensitive, or interior state, within such\ndegree of life, and who are dominated by one sign only. Thus, if\nwe find one sign occupying the whole of the House of Life, or\npractically so, as when the first face of a sign ascends, we may\nbe sure, other things not interfering, that such a native will\nreceive great benefit from wearing its Talismanic gem. If a\nperson of good intellectual powers and sensitive spirituality, be\nborn when the lord of the ascendant occupies the RISING SIGN, as,\nfor instance, Mars in Aries, or Sun in Leo, we may be sure that,\nthe Talismanic gem, in their case, will be exceedingly powerful,\nbecause, all the Astro-physical conditions are then most\nfavorable for the expression of natural forces, and, if worn\nupon, or near that part of the body which the sign rules, the\npower and influence is more powerful and beneficial.\n\nIn wearing them, take them to you as a part of yourself, a part\nof your higher self, a thing to be heeded, listened to and\nobeyed. They will usually make their presence most pronounced\nwhen something arises to disturb the harmonious vibrations that\nnaturally and quietly go on between the person and the\ninterstellar spaces above. They are like the sensor and motor\nnerves--they never make their presence known, except, when danger\nencroaches.\n\nHaving explained in what sense gems become talismanic, we have\nnow to disclose the modus operandi--THE HOW.\n\nThe gems contain the life quality of their own astral nature.\nMan, as a higher expression, only, of the same universal biune\nlife, contains the same. Like two electric currents, MAN, THE\nPOSITIVE POLE (comparatively), attracts unto himself THE MINERAL\nLIFE OF THE GEM, which thus, becomes the negative pole. A\ncomplete circuit is formed and maintained, as long as they remain\nin contact. Gems belonging to a different quality of life, not\nbeing en rapport with his astral state, have no good effect,\nbecause, no current flows between them. Thus, the Talisman acts\nin unison with the psychic, or soul-principle, of man, aiding the\norganism to sustain health, stimulating the mental perceptions,\nand spiritual intuition, and affording in a remarkable manner,\nmany premonitions of coming danger, when the individual is\nsufficiently sensitive to perceive them. And now, per contra, as\nthere are gems that act in sympathy with man, there must be, and\nin fact are, gems that act upon contrary principles; i.e.,\nantagonistic, and these belong to purely antagonistic elements,\nas Air to Earth and Fire to Water, unless the native be born\nunder BOTH forces, as Mars in Cancer rising, or the latter part\nof one sign and nearly the whole of another of an opposite\nnature, occupying the ascendant. Such natives are pure neutrals,\nand such might wear the gems that belong to the most powerful\nplanet of the horoscope, or that triplicity holding the most\nplanets; then, they are usually combined, the planet and the\ntriplicity.\n\nThere are, of course, innumerable substances, more or less,\ncapable of talismanic virtue to particular individuals. But those\ngems, and similar ones, that are given in \"The Light of Egypt,\"\nVol. I, are the most powerful. To these may be added the opal,\nunder Scorpio; the garnet, under Aries; and the turquoise, under\nCancer, when Saturn is therein; and the aquamarine, under Pisces;\nand among the temporary talismans of vegetation we may add that,\nthe young shoots, bearing the flower and seed vessels, are the\nportions of chief virtue, and the young shoots of trees. These\nare often used in locating mines, wells, oils, etc., that lie\nhidden beneath the surface of the earth, and in the hands of a\nnegative, sensitive person, seldom fail to reward the searcher\nwith success. These should always be gathered when their ruling\ncorrespondences are rising, or, BETTER STILL, CULMINATING UPON\nTHE MERIDIAN. These will be explained in the chapter on The Magic\nWand.\n\nWe have now reached the limits of our present study, and have\nonly to state that all gems, like the human organism, are in one\nof three conditions: alive and conscious, asleep and UNCONSCIOUS,\nor dead and powerless. These conditions can only be discovered,\nin stones, by the trained lucid or the instructed neophyte.\nStones that are sleeping require to be awakened. This, also, can\nonly be done by the trained student or Adept. Those that are\ndead, are USELESS as Talismans, no matter how beautiful they\nappear as ornaments.\n\nGems and stones are also sexed, and those who wear them would\nreceive the best effect if they should wear those of opposite\nsex, although either is powerfully potent in their influence upon\nthe individual. How very ignorant the children of men are, of the\nsubtle, silent, yet obedient servants, that everywhere, surround\nthem. Here, again, that Divine spark, which lies embedded within\nthe crystallized forces of Nature, is exerting its subtle,\nspiritual influence, in making man's very selfishness, and love\nof ornament and show, a means, to bring forth these silent\nmonitors, knowing ere long that, their true power and potency\nwill be known, and consciously utilized by him, as potent factors\nin his soul's evolvement and physical development.\n\nThe twelve representative gems within the cold stratas of matter,\nstand as the material representatives of their stellar\ncounterparts in the sky, and constitute the beautiful,\nglittering, but crystallized, Zodiac of man's physical anatomy.\n\n\nCHAPTER X. CEREMONIAL MAGIC\n\nThe above title has been selected, chiefly, because, in most\nworks treating upon magic we find it wrongly used, and therefore,\ntake the opportunity of explaining the matter, for, there were no\nsuch terms in the vocabulary of the ancient Magi.\n\nIt is unfortunate, that, words of ancient origin are not more\ncarefully used, and that, we should attach so many different\nmeanings to the same word. The terms \"ceremony\" and \"ceremonial\"\nare nothing more nor less than, what that eminent critic, John\nRuskin, would designate as \"bastards of ignoble origin,\" which,\nsomehow or another, have usurped the places of \"rite\" and\n\"ritual.\" The word \"rite\" has descended to us from the Latin\n\"ritus\" of our Roman ancestors, and they received it from the\nmore ancient \"riti\" of the Sanskrit, the Greek equivalent of\nwhich is \"reo,\" and means the method or order of service to the\ngods, whereas, \"ceremony\" may mean anything and everything, from\nthe terms of a brutal prize fight to the conduct of divine\nservice within the church. But, no such chameleon-like definition\nor construction can properly be placed upon the word \"rite,\" for\nit means distinctly, if it means anything at all, the serious\nusage and sacred method of conducting service in honor of the\ngods, or of superiors, and requires the attendance of the prophet\nor priest, or some one duly qualified to fulfill such sacred\nfunctions for the time being. The ritual of magic, then, is the\ncorrect title of this present study, and as such, we shall,\nhenceforth, term it as we proceed with the course.\n\nMan is especially, and above all creatures, an organizing force,\nand when to this fact, we add the most interior and powerful of\nhis sentimental instincts--veneration for the powers that be, and\nfor the higher, invisible forces of Nature, his \"religiosity,\" as\nit has been aptly termed, we cannot wonder that, the earliest\nraces of which we possess any record are chiefly distinguished\nfor their imposing and elaborate religious rites. In fact, it is\nto the stupendous temples and a colossal sacerdotalism, that, we\nare indebted for nine-tenths of the relics and records which we\npossess of them. So true is this that, from what we have been\nable to discover, we are quite justified in asserting that the\nancient races were, above all other things, a profoundly\nreligious people. The temple was the center around which revolved\nall their genius and art, and the sacred edifice became their\ngrandest achievement in architecture, and its high priest the\nmost powerful individual in the state. In fact, it was in\nconsequence of the real power invested in such sacred office that\nit was so intimately connected with the throne, and why royalty\nso frequently belonged to the priesthood or exercised priestly\nfunctions. And there can be no real doubt, but that, amongst the\npastoral and more spiritual races of Earth's earliest\ninhabitants, the priest, by reason of his superior wisdom, was\nthe first law-giver; and, by virtue of his sanctity of person and\nelevation of mind became their first, primitive king, a\npatriarchal monarch, whose scepter and symbol of power was the\nshepherd's peaceful crook; just as among the ruder nomads of the\ninhospitable North, we find the greatest hunters invested with\nthe dignity of chief, whose significant symbol and scepter of\nroyalty, upon their Nimrod thrones, was the trusty, successful\nspear. And the times in which we live have bad their full effect\nupon these symbols, so significant of rule. The monarch has\ntransformed the spear into the less harmful mace, while the\nChurch has added an inch of iron to the crook. Therefore, the\nformer has become less war-like, and the latter less peaceful,\nand, verily, in actual life we find them so,\n\nThe patriarchal sire, head of the tribal household, was the\noriginal priest; and the hearthstone the first altar around which\nthe family rites were performed; and from this pure and primitive\noriginal have been evolved, through progressive ages, the stately\ntemple and the sacred person of the despotic pontiff; from the\nsincere prayer the pure aspirations of the human heart and the\njoyous offerings of fruits and flowers to the invisible powers\naround them; and from the souls of their beloved ancestors has\narisen the costly and complicated ritual of theology. And, if the\ntheologians of to-day really knew the lost, secret meaning of\ntheir complicated rituals, and the unseen powers lying behind\ntheir external symbols, their anxieties for the continued life of\ntheir dying creeds would be turned to new hopes and faith, which\ncould be demonstrated to their equally blind followers; that,\nthat which they were teaching they knew, and could practically\nuse the knowledge given forth in their sanctuaries; and, instead\nof offering up their supplications to an imaginary, personal\nDeity, their words, rites, and ceremonies, would take on the form\nand power that such should command, and they would become truly,\nwhat their title really means, a doctor of the soul. Then could\nthey, intelligently, lead and direct the souls of their followers\nto the path of Christ (Truth), which leads up to salvation; not a\nvicarious atonement, but gaining the at-one-ment through the\nindividual soul's development to a conscious relation, to that\nDivine spirit, we call God, where it can say \"I know.\"\n\nOut of those simple gifts, which were the spontaneous offerings\nof loving remembrance and unselfish charity, have grown the\nprayers, penances, sacrifices, and servile worship, of\nsacerdotalism. Out of the paternal consideration and love of the\naged sire has evolved the haughty, chilling pride of the selfish,\nisolated priest, and which reflects its baneful influence upon\nthe worshipers at their feet. They have also changed their once\nsacred, faithful, and reverent, obedience into suspicion and\ndistrust, and with the educated to utter disgust. The light has\nbeen extinguished, and priest and people alike are groping about\nin darkness.\n\nIt is strange, yea, passing strange, the amount of human\nignorance and folly that is revealed. When we look upon this\npicture and then upon that, verily we cannot help but ask the\nquestion, is mankind really progressing? We know that it is; we\nare keenly alive to the truth that the Anthem of Creation sounds\nout \"Excelsior\"--\"move on,\" but how, and in what way\n(SPIRITUALLY) we fail to comprehend. The cyclic development of\nthe human soul is an inscrutable mystery.\n\nAll the considerations above presented must be thoroughly weighed\nand understood in order to arrive at the true value of \"the dogma\nand ritual of high magic,\" as Eliphas Levi terms it; because,\namid the vast array of tinselled drapery, the outcome of man's\nvain conceit and bombastic pride, we shall find very little that\ncan be considered as vital and really essential to the rites of\nmagic. The show, the drapery, the priestly ornaments and\ninstruments, are to the really spiritual Occultist, but, as\nsounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. That they had, and still\nhave, their legitimate uses, is true, but these uses do not\nconcern magic, per se, nor its manifold powers. They awed the\npopular mind, and impressed upon the masses a due reverence for\nthe powers that be. They were instrumental in holding the\nuntrained passions of the common herd in check, by a wholesome\nfear of summary vengeance from the gods, so that this pageantry\nof magic, the outward priestly show, was more of a politic\ndevelopment than a spiritual necessity, an astute but,\nphilosophical method of enabling the educated few to govern the\nuneducated many. And it was only when the educational and\ninitiatory rites of the temple became corrupt, and the priest\nbecame the persecuting ally of the king--when, in real fact, the\npriest lost his spirituality in the desire for temporal power and\nplace, that the people began to disbelieve his professions and\nrebel against his tyrannical control.\n\nThe powers that be, are now wielding their sword of justice, and\nunfurling the knowledge of freedom and truth to the aspiring mind\nof man. He has begun to feel his bondage and the yoke of\noppression. The words of promise and love, instead of lifting him\nup to the God he has been taught to worship, bow him down in\nslavish obedience to his priest. Mankind cannot remain in this\nmental and spiritual darkness much longer. Already I see the\nbreak of day, the dawn of a new life, a new religion; or, rather,\nthe re-establishing of the true, which is as old as Time itself.\nThere is but One Law, One Principle, One Word, One Truth and One\nGod.\n\nThe original requirements for the office of priest, and the rites\nof magic, were, as shown, a primitive, i.e., pure mind; one that\nhad outgrown the lusts and passions of youth, a person of\nresponsibility and experience; and even to this day the priest of\nthe Roman Church is called by the familiar title of \"father.\" And\nas Nature does not alter her laws and requirements in obedience\nto the moral development of the race, we may rest assured that\nthe same requirements, of ten thousand years ago, still hold good\nto-day. You may enter your magic circle, drawn with prescribed\nrites, and you may intone your consecrations and chant your\nincantations; you may burn your incense in the brazen censer and\npose in your flowing, priestly robes; you may bear the sacred\npentacles of the spirit upon your breast and wave the magic sword\nto the four quarters of the heavens; yea, you may even do\nmore--you may burn the secret sigil of the objurant spirit; and\nyell your conjurations and exorcisms till you are black in the\nface; but all in vain, my friend--all in vain. It will prove\nnothing but vanity and vexation of spirit unless the inward self,\nthe soul, interblends with the outward Word, and contacting by\nits own dynamic intensity-- the elemental vibrations of\nNature--arouses these spiritual forces to the extent of\nresponding to your call. When this can be done, but not until\nthen, will your magical incantations have any effect upon the\nvoiceless air. Not the priestly robes nor magic sword, not the\nincantations, WRITTEN WORD, nor mystic circle, can produce\nNature's response to Occult rite; but the fire of the inward\nspirit, the mental realization of each word and mystic sign,\ncombined with the conscious knowledge of your own Deific\npowers--this, and this only, creates Nature's true magician.\n\nWho and where can such be found? Are they so few that the echo\nanswers back \"Where and who?\" Yet, there are many such upon the\nEarth at the present time, but the present mental conditions\nforbid them making their identity known. They would not be\nrecognized and accepted as the TRUE teachers, but reviled and\npersecuted and dubbed as insane. But silently, they are sowing\nthe seed of truth that will spring up and bear fruit, where and\nwhen least expected.\n\nBecause evil is so active, truth is not lying dormant. The spirit\nof God, that Divine spark of Deity within every human soul, never\nsleeps, never rests. \"On and upward\" is its cry. \"Omnia vincit\nveritas.\"\n\nThe grand sublimity of man's conception of at-one with the\nInfinite Father, at-one with the limitless universe of being,\nat-one with, and inheriting, all the sacred rights and\ninalienable prerogatives of the ineffable Adonai of the deathless\nsoul, is the only test of man's qualification for the holy\noffice; for, as Bulwer Lytton has truthfully said, \"the loving\nthrob of one great HUMAN HEART will baffle more fiends than all\nthe magicians' lore.\" So it is with the sacred ritual. One single\naspirational thought, clearly defined, outweighs all the priestly\ntrappings that the world has ever seen.\n\nThe success of all incarnations depends upon the complete unison\nof VOICE and MIND, the interblend of which, produces the dynamic\nintonation, that chords with the inward rhythmic vibrations of\nthe soul. Once this magical, dynamic, vibration is produced,\nthere immediately springs into being the whole elemental world\nbelonging thereto, by correspondence. Vocalists who hold their\naudiences spellbound do so by virtue of the magical vibrations\nthey produce, and are in reality practical, even though\nunconscious, magicians. The same power, to a degree, lies in the\nvoice when speaking, the graceful movement of the hand when\nobeying the will, and the eye rays forth the same dynamic power\nand becomes magical in its effects.\n\nThese powers are exercised more upon the physical plane, and no\nbetter illustration can be given, than, the power man is able to\nexert over the animal when gazing into its eyes.\n\nHere, as well as in incantations and invocations, within the\npower of the will, lies the success or failure.\n\nAt this point it may be asked, what, then, is the use of magical\nrites, of symbols and priestly robes? We answer, in themselves\nalone, nothing, absolutely nothing, except the facility and\nconvenience we derive from system, order and a code of procedure.\nTo this may be added the mental force and enthusiasm of soul\nwhich such things inspire, just as men and women may feel more\ndignified, artistic, and refined, when dressed in accordance with\ntheir ideas. So may the average priest feel more priestly, holy;\nand consequently, more powerful mentally; when arrayed in the\nrobes of his office and surrounded by the outward symbols of his\npower and functions. But, in themselves alone, there is not, nor\ncan there be, any real virtue. The same may be said of the\nincantations. The words used in their composition are the\nhieroglyphics of mystical ideas. Therefore, the correct\npronunciation of the words or the grammatical construction of a\nsentence is nothing, if the underlying idea is conceived in the\nmind and responded to by the soul. Will and motive form the basis\nof true magic.\n\nOne word more and we have completed our subject. Magic swords,\nrings, pentacles, and wands, may, and often are powerful magical\nagents in the hands of the magician, by virtue of the power, or\ncharm, that is invested within them when properly prepared; but\napart from such preparation, by those who know, they are as\npowerless as unintelligible incantations.\n\nAll the foregoing are aids, but if physical manifestations of\nmagical forces be required, there must always be present the\nnecessary vital, magnetic pabulum, by means of which such\nphenomena are made to transpire; and in every case, to be\nsuccessful, the assistance of a good natural magician, or seer,\nis necessary; for without this essential element the whole art,\nin its higher aspects, becomes abortive.\n\n\nCHAPTER XI. THE MAGIC WAND\n\nThis is the last lesson of our present course that requires a\nclear definition of the terms employed in the title thereof, for\nthe twelfth, and final study is, perhaps, fortunate in having for\nits title a word that has not, so far, been misused and distorted\nfrom its original sense.\n\nThe Magic Wand. The words savor of everything that the young tyro\nin Occult art can picture to his mind; of the midnight magician\nand his mysterious, if not diabolical, arts, muttering his\nincantations, working his gruesome spells, and raising the\nrestless ghosts of the dead. Strange fancies, these, and yet, so\ncorrupt and ignorant have become the conceptions of the popular\nmind regarding the once sacred Science of the Temple and the\npsychological powers of Nature, that we very much question, if\nthe ideas above stated were not very similar to the originals of\neach modern student, before he had become acquainted with the\ndeeper truths--the realities of Occult philosophy.\n\nWe will commence our study by a careful investigation of the\noriginal meaning of the words Magic Wand, since those who were\nthe masters and originators thereof, are far more likely to know\nmore about them than their degenerate offspring of a later age.\nFew, comparatively, would believe that the words MAGIC, MASON,\nand IMAGINATION, are the present unrelated descendants of the\nsame original conception--THE ROOT IDEA; but such is the case.\nFirst, then, we will examine their modern meanings. Magic is the\nunholy art of working secret spells, of using invisible powers,\nand holding intercourse with the unseen world of ghosts and\ndemons, by means of enchantments. It also means the expert\ndeception of the senses by the tricks of a conjurer, SO-CALLED\nhocus-pocus and fraud, and a magician is either an evil-minded,\nsuperstitious mortal, fool enough to believe in charms, or an\nexpert pretender and imposter of the first water, who cheats and\ndeceives the people. A mason is the honorable designation of a\nbuilder, who works in stone; metaphysically, a member of a semi-\nsecret society, whose sole advantage is social intercourse and\nstanding; who proclaim fraternity and universal brotherhood\ntheoretically and practice the reverse in reality; a man who apes\nthe Egyptian Mason, knows nothing in reality of Hiram, his\nmaster; who knows nothing of the starry Solomon or his mystic\ntemple in the heavens, which Hiram built; and who misconceives\nthe import of the three villains, or assassins; and who, further,\nknows nothing of that wonderful sprig of myrtle:--in short, a\nFree Mason, speaking generally, is a man who delights in ideals,\nsocial equality, secret fraternity, and plays at mysticism; who\nparades on the Masonic stage and enacts a role he does not\nunderstand. The first meaning, that of a builder, is the most\ncorrect. Lastly, the imagination is the exercise of mental\nimagery--the picturings of silent thought.\n\nAnd now we will proceed BACKWARDS. Imagination is from the word\n\"image,\" a form, a picture, and has descended to us from the\nLatin \"imago,\" which, in its turn, was derived from the old\nSemitic root, \"mag.\" Mason comes to us from the Latin \"mass,\"\nwhich means to mould and form, i.e., to build; and the word\n\"mass,\" through various transformations, was also derived from\nthe root-word \"mag.\" Consequently, originally, there was but\nlittle difference in the ancient idea of building pictures in the\nmind and erecting the mental idea externally in stone. It is from\nthis fact, that, we have to-day Mental Masons, a la the secret\norders, and stone masons, who labor for wages. The Mental Masons\nhave merely lost the knowledge of their art. They should, by\nrights, be as active and correspondingly useful to-day as their\nmore physical brothers, the masons of stone.\n\nThis art would never have fallen into disgrace and disuse, if\ntheir daily bread, or material accumulations, had depended upon\ntheir efforts in building up the mental, moral, and spiritual\nattainments, of each other, and bringing their knowledge into\nmore external use, by making the material edifice, the physical\nbody, a purer and more fitting temple, for the Divine soul.\n\nMagic comes from the Latin \"magi\" and the Greek word \"magos,\"\nwhich means wise, learned in the mysteries, and was the synonym\nof wisdom. The initiated philosopher, the priest, and the wise\nmen, are all of them included in the \"magi.\" Again, tracing this\nword to its remote ancestor, we find it terminating in the same\nSemitic root, \"mag,\" but of this strange root no one was able to\nsay much, except that it seemed to belong to the Assyrian branch\nof the great Semitic race. But quite recently, thanks to our\nscientific explorers and archaeologists, versed in the mysterious\nmeaning of cuniform inscription; Assyrian scholars now inform us\nthat they have found the hoary, primitive original of it, of\nmagic, magi and imago, etc. It is from an old Akkadian word,\n\"imga,\" meaning wise, holy, and learned, and was used as the\ndistinguishing title of their wisest sages, priests, and\nphilosophers, who, as may be supposed, gradually formed a\npeculiar caste, which merged into the ruling priestly order. The\nSemites, who succeeded the old Akkadian race in the valley of the\nEuphrates, as a mere matter of verbal convenience, transformed\nmany of the old Akkadian words to suit their own articulation,\nand \"imga\" became \"mag,\" and thus \"magi.\" THE BLEND between the\nSemetic and the older Akkadian race, produced, by fusion of\nracial blood, the famed Chaldeans. So that we see how old are the\nwords which many of us daily use, but with different meaning.\nVerily, it makes one feel, when be thinks of magic and its\norigin, as though he were quite nearly related to the people who\nhonored King Sargon, the Wise, the earthly original of the mystic\nSolomon of Biblical tradition. The term Wand is an old Saxon\nword, which primarily signifies to set in motion, to move. From\nthis we derive our word wander, i.e., to roam, and wandering,\ni.e., moving and continually restless.\n\nWe have now the original, therefore real, meaning of the words\nMagic Wand; thus an object that sets in motion the powers of the\nmagician, and the magician, an Initiate of the sacred rites--A\nMASTER OF WISDOM, possessing all the resources that enable him TO\nBUILD mould, and form; to create in fact, by virtue of his\nknowledge of the secret powers of mental imagery and the\npotential use of his own imagination. He is both Mental Mason and\nlearned philosopher.\n\nThe student may doubtless ask, why all this care and labor\nregarding mere definitions? We reply that, it is because, the\nreal meaning of the words we have purposely selected for the\ntitle of our studies are, in themselves, a far better revelation\nthan we could possibly have written. Originally, ideas and words\nwere related as absolute expressions or correspondences, of each\nother. This is not so now. As the different races became\ninterblended, the purity of both language and morals retrograded,\nand the people grew more to the external. The intuitions and\nspirit were compelled to retreat, giving place to only the\nintellectual and mental. The blending of the languages gave birth\nto many words wherein different meanings were transmitted; hence,\nthe trouble arising to-day over the numerous interpretations of a\nsingle word.\n\nHybrid races have no such thing as a pure language. Their ideas\nand language, like their blood, is badly mixed up, confusing, and\nunsatisfactory, so far as the real meaning of the words are\nconcerned. For this very reason we find so many different\nmeanings for the same word; and also for this reason, we cannot\nformulate a legal enactment in the Anglo-Saxon tongue that, a\nlearned lawyer, versed in this senseless jugglery of words,\ncannot demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the courts, means\nsomething the very opposite of the real intentions-- the\nspirit--which the framers thereof, intended it to convey.\nAnciently, it required no artful cunning of the lawyer to\ninterpret the laws. The words had only one simple and obvious\nmeaning. If a language could be so constructed to-day, and the\nantiquated precedents of the courts annihilated; the legal\nprofession would be exterminated inside of twelve months, and an\naffliction removed from the people.\n\nThe philosophy of the Magic Wand is this. It is a magnetic,\nelectric conductor for the magician's will. It directs the flow\nof his thought and concentrates it upon a given point in space or\nan object. It is, magically, what the sights of a rifle are to a\nsportsman. It enables him to focus his powers with exact\nprecision upon the mark against which, or upon which, his will is\ndirected. Apart from this there is no power, per se, in the Wand\nitself, any more than there is in a lightning conductor without\nthe electric storm. Ergo, the Wand is the conductor, in the\nmagician's hand, for the lightnings of the soul; and just as the\nlightning rod is most useful and most powerful to protect, when\nthe storm is the strongest; so is the Wand most powerful in the\nhands of the most potential magician. We can only transmit\nthrough this Wand the degree of force we may happen to possess in\nthe soul.\n\nIn a properly prepared Wand lies the most powerful weapon, to\nprotect or destroy, that can be placed within a magician's hands.\nWith his own spiritual force and knowledge, combined with the\nmagic power attached to the instrument, nothing can withstand its\npower, when directed with a determined and powerful will.\n\nMany substances have been employed in the manufacture of these\nMagic Wands. Metals or stones will not serve this purpose, unless\ncovered with some organic matter. In any case stones are\nworthless. The very finest Wands are made from the live ivory of\na female elephant. A short Wand, twenty-one inches long, tipped\nwith gold at the largest end and silver or copper at the other,\nis very powerful. Next to these costly articles are Wands with a\ngold or copper core, a wire, in fact, cased with ebony, boxwood,\nrosewood, cedar or sandalwood. English yew also serves the\npurpose; so does almond wood. Simpler, less expensive, and almost\nas effective, are Wands made of witch-hazel. In fact, apart from\nthe Wands of live ivory, I consider that witch-hazel is as\npowerful as the golden Wand. Next in force to this witch-hazel\nare the shoots of the almond tree, and, lastly, the peach and\nswamp willow.\n\nThe proper time to manufacture a Magic Wand is whenever you can\nfind the person who is able to do the work. But after it is\nconstructed it must be thoroughly magnetized, with proper\nceremony and aspiration, the first or the second full Moon after\nthe Sun enters Capricorn, at midnight, when the Moon will be\nculminating in her own sign upon the mid-heaven.\n\nThe best time TO CUT a shoot of witch-hazel or other material for\na Wand is the first full Moon after the Sun's entry into\nCapricorn, at midnight, and then magnetize it upon the next full\nMoon at the same hour.\n\nIn conclusion, let us repeat that, the Magic Wand is but the\nhighly sensitive magical medium for transmitting and\nconcentrating the force of the learned magician; that it is\nequally powerful under great excitement of mind, WHETHER USED\nCONSCIOUSLY OR NOT. The stream of mental fire will go in the\ndirection the Wand happens to be pointed, and, therefore, should\nnever be in the hands of the wicked or foolish, any more than\nfirearms. It is potential or otherwise, in exact proportion to\nthe artist's wisdom and dynamic mentality, and is useless in the\nhands of the idiotic or weak-minded. A Magic Wand requires brains\nand vigorous mental force to make it effective, just as the steam\nengine requires an apparatus for generating the steam, that moves\nit. With a determined will, and a mental conception of one's\ninward power, any man or woman can, by means of this sensitive\nWand, defy all the legionaries of Hell, and quickly disperse\nevery form of spiritual iniquity.\n\nThe firearms which have become so intricate in their mechanism\nand so destructive in their operations, are only a degeneration\nof the Magic Wand. The first weapons of warfare and slaughter\nwere very crude and clumsy, then larger and more destructive,\nuntil at last they have become as fine in texture and mechanical\ngenius, compared with their early brothers, as the Magic Wand is\nto-day, above and beyond, the present weapons of warfare. At\nlast, the original mode of defense will be rediscovered and\nbecome a utility in the hands of the majority of mankind. At the\nsame time, the mental and moral nature will be evolving into\nbetter conditions, too, so that their use will not be given to\nthe ignorant and evildoers, but placed in charge of the educated,\nthose who are morally capable of leading and ruling.\n\nYes, we are now stepping upon the plane of reason and intuition,\nwhere right, not might, will prevail and rule the world. The\npresent mode of government and rule will be changed, and one of\nhumanitarian justice take its place.\n\nGod hasten the Millenium.\n\n\nTHE BOOK WHICH IS CALLED THE TABLETS OF AETH\n\nTHE SACRED SCROLL WHICH IS CALLED THE TABLETS OF AETH\n\nNOW FOR THE FIRST TIME TRANSCRIBED FROM THE ASTRAL RECORDS AND\nDONE INTO A BOOK,\n\nBy ZANONI\n\nTO WHICH IS ADDED A SERIES OF INTERPRETATIVE REFLECTIONS FOR THE\nSPIRITUAL MEDITATION OF THE FAITHFUL.\n\nFOREWORD\n\n Thy temple is the arch  Of yon unmeasured sky;\n  Thy Sabbath the stupendous march  Of grand eternity.\n\nTo my Brothers and Sisters of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor:\n\nGREETING--For some years it has been my desire to leave a\nspiritual legacy to the many devoted friends and followers who\nhave braved so much amid present truth and error for my sake.\n\nIn choosing the present work for such a purpose, I have had in\nview the deeper spiritual needs of the soul--the prophetic\nelement of the interior spirit, which can best exalt itself\nthrough the contemplation of Nature's arcane symbolism of the\nstarry heavens--not the material expression of the glittering\nsplendors of the midnight sky, but the spiritual soul-pictures of\nthose blazing systems that reveal to the seeing eye the shining\nthrones of THE RULERS--the Powers that Be.\n\nEver since the dawn of intellectual human life upon our Mother\nEarth, long before the days of the cave man, or even the first\nfrost that heralded the coming of the Ice Age, souls have hoped\nand hungered and souls have quailed and fallen in their struggles\nwith the mysteries of God. But ever and anon some bright flower\nof the race has gained the spiritual victory. A Messianic soul\nhas responded to aspirations of a great-hearted, great-souled\nwoman, pregnant with spiritual yearnings beyond her race, and she\nhas unconsciously blessed her kind for the generations yet to\ncome with that incarnated mystery--THE SON OF GOD. Blessed, O\nWoman, is thy patient mission on the earth, and transcendent are\nthe holy mysteries of thy maternity. Every human birth is a\nDivine miracle in humanity, performed by the Motherhood of God.\n\nHence it is that, from the earliest ages of life, triumphant\nsouls have stormed the gates of the sanctuary and penetrated\nNature's most occult mysteries and there recorded their spiritual\nvictories. Amid these sacred records lies one great scroll, that\nnone but the brightest and bravest may read.\n\nThis sacred scroll, sealed with the seven mystic seals of the\nheavens, contains The Tablets of Aeth, a record of the soul's\nexperiences upon the planes of both conscious and sub-conscious\nlife-spirit and matter, that are expressed in a series of\nuniversal symbols, which manifest to the seer the processes of\ncreative life, of spiritual cause with material effect. And,\nfinally, the mystery of the seven vials and the seven stars of\nSaint John are written therein; for the Tablets are the\nhieroglyphic keys which unlock the realities of truth involved\nwithin the unrealities of external life, and open up, to the\naspiring soul, inconceivable vistas of knowledge yet possible of\nrealization, within the Divine womb of the uncreated Aether.\n\nMyriads of exalted spirits, who have toiled for the treasure\nwhich doth not corrupt, have added, and are adding, their portion\nof personal conception to this universal conception of life, so\nthat the sacred symbols themselves, inscribed upon these\nimperishable Tablets, ARE EVOLUTIONARY--are slowly unfolding\nthrough the eons of time, and revealing wider and yet deeper\nprocesses of the light, life, and love, of the Motherhood of God.\n\nTherefore, all Divine revelation of infinite truth is limited and\nfinite as to its conception, when revealed through a finite\ncapacity. All Divine truths are universal; all personal\nconceptions of such truths are limited; hence springs the\nunquenchable fountain of the ONE eternal truth, eternally\nrepeating itself, in cosmic as in human life, by the progressive\nunfoldment of Nature's unlimited potentialities.\n\n     \"The outward doth from the inward roll,\n      And the inward dwells in the inmost soul.\"\n\n\nThe true poet is always a seer, and he might have added that the\nINMOST SOUL is the uncreate, and, the yet uncreated itself, lies\nburied in the ever eternal beyond; hence the immortality of the\nhuman spirit.\n\nThis sacred astral scroll, rightly and reverently studied by the\ndisciple of the higher law, becomes a boundless source of\nknowledge and inspiration. There is no mood of the mind or\nyearning of the soul that cannot be satisfied and refreshed from\nthis inexhaustible fountain of spiritual truth, no passion of the\nhuman heart that cannot be eased of its burden and soothed of its\npain. Its spiritual refreshment falls like the dew from heaven\nupon those who are weary and heavy laden with the trials and\nsufferings of external life.\n\nAccept it, then, even as it is given unto you. My friends and\nbrethren, accept it as Zanoni's last work on earth--his legacy to\nyou, and may the spirit of the All-Father-Mother, the ineffable\nspirit of Life, Light, and Love,--the Unknowable, whom men call\nGod, rest upon you and be with you now and forever.\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nTO THE BOOK WHICH IS CALLED \"THE TABLETS OF AETH,\" WHEREIN ARE\nDESCRIBED THE FORMULAS OF MEDITATION.\n\nTHE FORMULAS OF MEDITATION,\n\nTO THE DRAGON, FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.\n\n \"When first, a musing boy, I stood beside\n  Thy starlit shimmer, and asked my restless heart\n  What secrets Nature to the herd denied,\n  But might to earnest hierophant impart;\n  When lo! beside me, around and o'er,\n  Thought whispered, 'Arise, O seeker, and explore.' \"\n\n\nThe Tablets of Aeth are the culminating expression of symbolical\nideas, and the studious meditation thereof is to be approached\nand continued in this wise:\n\nFirst, commit to memory, as near as may be, all the ideas\ninvolved in the astrological laws and principles laid down in\n\"The Science of the Stars,\" formulated in the second part of \"The\nLight of Egypt,\" Vol. I, especially as regards the symbolism\nthere given and manifestation thereof on the intellectual plane.\nMentally digest these aspects of truth most thoroughly.\n\nSecond, carry forward the same course of mental training with\nregard to the preceding chapters in this volume, from No. 1 to\nNo. 12. There are thirteen chapters, but No. 13, the last one,\nbeing \"The Penetralia,\" should not be included in this course,\nbut, rightly used, should be reserved as the last and final\nrevelation for spiritual contemplation.\n\nThe twelve chapters just mentioned continue the great astral laws\ngiven in \"The Light of Egypt,\" Vol. I, from this plane to that of\nthe soul life of the human monad (both prior to and after human\nincarnation). At this point we leave the finite and step into the\nrealms of the infinite. From the sphere of limitations which\nsurround the microcosm we enter the starlit path of the\nmacrocosm, and here, with the illimitable ocean of eternal life\nsweeping onward before us, we hear the first strains of the Grand\nMarch of the Universe burst forth from the organs of God! The\nsuns of creative life swell the infinite chorus of sound;\narchangels swing their fiery batons to the march of the heavenly\nhost; and all earthly sound has ceased. We are absorbed in the\nmusic of the spheres.\n\nWe are now in the realm of universals, the domain of living\nrealities. The Tarot of Mother Nature revolves before us,\nrevealing her mystic meanings to the soul. All ideas are symbols,\nand symbols are reservoirs for the conservation of thought. And\nthis is a very truth: Even so on earth as it is in heaven.\n\nThe Tablets of Aeth, then, constitute a spiritual astrology, a\nspiritual science of the stars, void of mathematics, yet\npossessing all the exactitude of figures, constructed on the\nprinciples of astronomy, yet expressed by the methods of the\nKabbalah.\n\nThe transmission of spiritual truth from inward to outward form,\nthough differing according to the age in which it is expressed,\nis ever the same in principle. And in the same way that the\nsacred clavicula of Solomon became the Tarot of Bohemian gypsies,\nso did the Tablets of Aeth manifest their mysteries in the starry\nscience of Chaldean lore. But there is this sharp line of\ndemarcation between them, namely, the Tablets of Aeth deal with\nuniversal human life and nature, with infinite principles from\nwhich all finite laws radiate. The Tablets of Aeth express and\nsymbolize the cause. All other mundane systems of occult study,\nastronomical or metaphysical, are spirito-natural effects, the\nindividual intellectual fruits, gathered from the one universal\ntree of knowledge. Uncreated, Unlimited Potentiality, is the one\nimpersonal truth shining forever in the Great White Light of God.\nAll the laws, powers, and principalities, manifested in the\nmoving Universe, are but the colored rays, blazing with glorious\nlife through the prisms of matter.\n\nHaving stated thus much, the neophyte will perceive in what\nmeditative sphere of thought the Tablets may be used. The method\nof study is, as shown, a purely synthetic deduction of human\nideas from spiritual symbols of universal principles. The Tablets\nthemselves constitute a grand arcane Tarot of man, God and the\nuniverse, and of all the powers that dwell therein. They may be\nstudied singly, as, for instance, meditating upon some one great\nuniversal idea or principle;  or they may be studied in trines,\nas they appear in each separate book, or chapter, or as squares,\nlike two, five, eight, eleven, or as the seal of two trines, one,\nthree, five, seven, nine, eleven, with No. twelve in the center,\nas the revealer of the mystery. And, finally, they may be\ncontemplated as the Grand Oracle of Heaven, in the following\nmanner:\n\nMake a circle of the tablets, as you would with a pack of Tarot\ncards, beginning with No. 1, on the eastern horizon, and\nproceeding in the exact opposite order from a figure of the\nheavens--No. 2, being on the Twelfth House, No. 3, on the\nEleventh, and {} on the M. C. of the figure, as in the\nAstro-Masonic chart, given in the second part of \"The Light of\nEgypt,\" Vol. I, and so proceed with the rest of the twelve\ntablets of the stars. This figure will represent the\npotentialities of the macrocosm, the starry signs symbolizing the\npossibilities of things past or to be, and the rulers the active\nexecutors thereof. Study the figure in all its aspects as such,\nfirst singly, tablet by tablet, then as a whole--the cosmos.\nNext, place the ruler of any given tablet at the side of the\nMansion, and try to penetrate its various meanings, powers and\npossibilities. Then proceed the same with a trine and a square,\nand, last, with all the rulers, in the order of their celestial\nlordship of the signs, each in his appointed place, as a whole\nArcana.\n\nIn any grave crisis of mental or physical affairs, wherein\nnations, and not individuals, are concerned, the tablets may be\nused as a celestial scheme of the heavens, thus: Cast a figure of\nthe heavens for the Sun's first entry into the sign Aries at the\nvernal equinox, calculated for the meridian of the capital city\nof the country under consideration. Degrees and minutes are not\nwanted. Then place the twelve tablets in place of signs, exactly\nas they would occur in an astrological figure. Then place the\nrulers of the Sun, Moon and planets therein (each having its own\ntablet), as they are found to be situated in an ephemeris for the\ntime of the figure. This done, study the whole from a spiritual\nstandpoint as the causes and ultimates of the crisis, according\nto astro laws.\n\nThe foregoing simple directions will, I think, be sufficiently\nplain for all purposes, never forgetting that this holy study is\nnot a system of divination, as commonly understood, but of Divine\nrevelation, in its highest and most holy religious sense. Long\nstudy and most reverent meditation will be required to master\nthis mystery, and many errors of judgment will occur to the\nbeginner.\n\nThe interpretative reflections are added for the purpose of\nguiding and guarding the spiritually untrained seer from possible\nerror in fundamental conceptions only. They must not by any means\nbe taken as a complete revelation of the tablets, but only as a\nseries of skeleton keys by means of which all things may be\nrevealed to the earnest seeker thereof. To have added more than\nis given would only be to defeat the object of this work. Each\nseeker for the truth must excavate the mines of knowledge, and\ndig further into this universal well of truth for himself.\n\nRemember that all interpretation will be personal to each\nstudent. Of no one can it be affirmed, \"thou hast said,\" and so\nendeth the matter. Not so. To each, according to his talent,\nshall the mysteries of the kingdom be revealed, to every one\naccording to his humility, spiritual light, and merit. But from\nthe arrogant, the selfish, and spiritually proud, shall all\nthings be taken away, and truth shroud herself in the veil of\ndelusion. In simplicity of mind, then, and purity of soul,\napproach the Holy of Holies. \"Suffer little children to come unto\nMe,\" saith a messenger of the Most High, \"for of such is the\nKingdom of Heaven.\" Verily, therefore, I say unto you, that not\nuntil you can look upon all the works of Nature--beauty in her\nnakedness or vice and crime in their repulsiveness, with pure\nthought and holy feeling, can you inherit eternal life.\n\nHere endeth the introduction to the book which is called \"The\nTablets of Aeth.\"\n\n\nPART I\n\nOF THE TWELVE MANSIONS\n\nHere beginneth Chapter I of the Book which is called \"The Tablets\nof Aeth,\" wherein is transcribed the First Quadrant of the Twelve\nMansions.\n\n \"I sent my soul through the invisible,\n  Some lesson of that after life to spell;\n  And by and by my soul returned to me\n  And answered, 'I, myself, am Heaven and Hell.' \"\n\n\n \"The moving finger writes; and, having writ,\n  Moves on; nor all your piety nor wit\n  Shall lure it back to cancel half a line\n,  Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE FIRST\n\nAries\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA deep blue Sky, a blaze, as if something were about to rise.\n\nI\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE FIRST\n\nThe blush of dawn of a new life, all nature quivering with the\nsense of coming, conscious life; Isis, vibrant with love of the\ncoming child, her bosom flushed in expectation of the little son\nsoon to breathe on her yearning breast.\n\nIn this we trace the great lesson of preparation, of sending the\nlight before the form, of the prophecy before the fulfillment.\nDawn must precede sunrise. What you expect will be your destiny.\n\nIt is the longing of centuries that incarnates a god, a real\nSun-God, whose vibrant love-life can thrill other lives into\nprayer--aspiration, the struggle for eternal life. The dawn\nrepresents the expectant maternity of Nature--God.\n\nO child of Adam! See that thou expecteth much, and that thy\naspirations are reflected in thy outward life.\n\n\nTABLET THE SECOND\n\nTaurus\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA red sun on the horizon of an inky sea.\n\nII\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE SECOND\n\nNature has shown forth her glory, as brought forth by young\nHorus, but her creative force is still unreflected. The sea is\nblack and inky. The Son of God is born, but the sea of human life\nstill remains unconscious, in primeval darkness.\n\nThe angles of the Sun and the sea are not yet in right relation\nto each other. A few, standing on the watch-towers of life,\nseeing the red glow of the risen sun, call \"Look!\" But the\nunfortunate ones in the outer darkness cry, as they beat their\nbreasts; \"No! There is no light! You do but dream!\" And yet the\nSun of Life has risen--the Divine light glows.\n\nO child of Adam! Remember that \"In Him was life, and life was the\nlight of man, and the light shineth in the darkness, and the\ndarkness comprehended it not.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE THIRD\n\nGemini\n\nSYMBOL\n\nTwo stars are rising at angles to each other and to the Polar\nstar, while eight stars shine faintly in the black space of\nbackground.\n\nIII\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE THIRD\n\nThe Divine symbol of soul-matehood is here signified in the two\nstars rising in the foreground; not only the soul-affinities of\nhumanity, but the eternal father-mother forces manifested in the\nbiune spirit of universal life and nature, the two great creative\npowers, Life and Light, whose harmony creates love, attraction\nand repulsion, and the straight lines of law and justice, which\nblend in the spiral of mercy.\n\nThe two stars are rising at an oblique angle to the pole-star,\nthe center around which, material things revolve. So, too, life\nand love are balanced by the star of wisdom. Love in the spirit\nis adaption to the environment in matter and providence in\nuniversal life. The eight stars reveal the mystery of the\ntablet--universal death, present with life, the final end of all\ndiscord glimmers faintly afar off, and man questions the love of\nGod, seeing that all things pass away, not realizing that death\nis the germinal promise of life, of transformation, of the\nrealization of unrealized hopes, of the union of loving hearts in\ntheir starry pilgrimage back to the Father's home.\n\nO child of Adam! Listen unto the words of the Teacher: \"I and the\nFather are one.\" Suffer little children to come unto me, for of\nsuch ii the Kingdom of Heaven.\"\n\n\nPART I\n\nHere beginneth Chapter 2 of the Book which is called \"The Tablets\nof Aeth,\" wherein is transcribed the Second Quadrant of the\nTwelve Mansions.\n\n \"How they struggle in the immense Universe!\n  How they whirl and seek!\n  Innumerable souls, that all spring forth\n  From the vast world-soul.\n  They drop from planet to planet,\n  And in the abyss they weep\n  For their forgotten land.\n  These are thy tears, O Dionysus,\n  O Spirit vast, Divine One, Liberator.\n  Draw back thy daughters to the breast of light.\"\n\n\"Ah, love! Could you and I with him conspire\n  To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire,\n  Would we not shatter it to bits? And then\n  Remould it nearer to the heart's desire.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE FOURTH Cancer\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA woman's face unconscious, in trance, surrounded by clouds.\n\nIV\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE FOURTH\n\nThe dreaming woman, whose brooding thoughts shape the coming man.\nThe race is never any farther advanced than the average thought\nof the woman. She is yet sleeping, knowing not her powers. So,\nnot until she awakes and recognizes herself as conceiving by the\nHoly Ghost and the mother of the incarnate God, will that God be\nbrought forth unto universal knowledge.\n\nIn this is the great lesson to woman: Ever remember thy creative\npower as the mother of the humanity of the future. The sun in thy\nmansion exerts its highest power. Awake, therefore, O soul, and\neclipse not its brightness with thy dreams of sublunary power.\n\nO child of Adam! Ever honor the womb that gave thee birth, and\nknow that all thy earthly greatness received its seed therefrom.\nA fountain cannot rise higher than its source.\n\n\nTABLET THE FIFTH\n\nLeo\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA man's arm, bent, exceedingly muscular, a knife in the hand, a\nstreak of lightning opposite the arm, which is defying the\nlightning.\n\nV\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE FIFTH\n\nHere we have the symbol of the incarnate fire of the spirit\ndefying the mere natural fire of the heavens. The woman sleeps\nand broods and dreams, but the man she has brought forth is\nawake, and bids defiance to the fiery forces of Nature. He has\narmed himself with the keen knife of action, and with it has\nconquered the forces of matter. He has harnessed the lightning,\nand made the electric fluid his obedient slave. And thus has he\nmastered all forces inferior to spirit--that spirit of conscious\nlife which is his birthright.\n\nThe lesson to be gleaned from this is that, the kingdom of Nature\nmust be taken by storm. Not for rest, but for work, has Mother\nNature sent forth her man child; not for peace, but for battle;\nnot for inertia, but for effort.\n\nO child of Adam! Arm yourself with the sword--mayhap the sword of\naffliction--and, gallantly raising the strong right ann aloft,\nhurl defiance at the chaos of Nature, sure that the fire from the\nSun of the spirit is burning in every vein of that arm.\n\n\nTABLET THE SIXTH\n\nVirgo\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA Lotus, rising from the water, coiled around its stem a snake,\nwhose efforts fail to reach the flower.\n\nVI\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE SIXTH\n\nHere we have the sacred flower, symbol of the virgin soul,\nuncontaminated by the snake of passion, which can only enfold the\nbody-- the stem; the snake of matter--of lust--of evil. But the\nflower of the spirit--the soul--lifts its pure white petals\nupward as an incense cup to the Sun of the Spirit.\n\nIn this symbol read the great lesson of the experience of evil.\nIf, the flower of the soul, blossoms; the mud of the soil and the\nsnake of the passions are but the surroundings of its roots and\nstem. Both are necessary for the perfection of the flower. The\nroots sink deep into Mother Earth, and draw nourishment and life,\nlifting matter upward, while the snake of passion becomes, under\nanother aspect, the serpent of wisdom. Coiled around the stem of\nthis life, it gives to the incarnated soul that wisdom which\nlater blossoms in the Seraph of the Sun spheres.\n\nO child of Adam! Take suffering, if it forge the sword of the\nspirit. Take evil and passion, and turn them into deep lessons of\nlife, blossoming the evil into good, changing passion into\nwisdom. Only \"the pure in heart can see God.\"\n\n\nPART I\n\nHere beginneth Chapter 3 of the Book which is called \"The Tablets\nof Aeth,\" wherein is transcribed the Third Quadrant of the Twelve\nMansions.\n\n\"To know what really exists, one must cultivate silence with ones\nself, for it is in silence that the eternal and unexpected\nflowers open, which change their form and color according to the\nsoul in which they grow. Souls are weighed in silence, as gold\nand silver are weighed in pure water.\"\n\n\"The worldly hope men set their hearts upon turns to ashes; or it\nprospers, and anon, like snow upon the desert's dusty face,\nlighting a little hour or two, is gone.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE SEVENTH\n\nLibra\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA crowned king, with a scythe raised in the air, looks closely at\ntwo boys wrestling beneath him in a field of grain, a red poppy\nbelow them.\n\nVII\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE SEVENTH\n\nThe symbol of Nature's eternal war for the impossible equilibrium\nbetween spirit and matter; the symbol, also, of Time, which is\nbut the illusion in which eternity clothes itself; forever\nputting on and forever putting off new garments of matter. The\ncrowned king is the victorious soul, waiting, with the scythe of\nTime, to reap the harvest of the world; while incarnated man, as\nrepresented in the wrestling youths, is struggling for that which\nhe did not produce, and which only death can reap. The poppy\nreveals the secret of the illusions of Nature's master-showman.\nAll earthly things are unreal to the spirit, which is the only\nreal thing. Man's effort to hoard and save the things of this\nworld IS INJUSTICE TO OTHERS. The struggle is eternal, and no\nmatter how careful or cunning man is to monopolize either power,\ntruth or wealth, swift-footed time will readjust all things\nwithout error.\n\nO child of Adam! \"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,\nwhere moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through\nand steal.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE EIGHTH\n\nScorpio\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA wide, and plain, on it a skeleton; a dull, grey sky, in which\nan Eagle soars, full-fed, it seems, from the flesh of the\nskeleton.\n\nVIII\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE EIGHTH\n\nA significant symbol to the seer, showing forth the two ultimates\nof life and death, of earthly things and sex. Scorpio is both the\neagle of the spirit, soaring aloft, well fed with all that is\nworth carrying away from the earth; and also the scorpion, whose\nnatural home is the desert.\n\nIn sex, either way, life is given. Shall it be to your spirit\nmaking fat and full your immortal self, or will the other\ninterpretation be yours? And will you leave yourself dead and\nannihilated, a skeleton, to the Ego, the Divine spirit? For sex\nis indeed the foundation of all. Raised to the region of Libra,\nit is power and magnetism. To the bosom it is love; to the brain\nit is enthusiasm. It is the promethian fire of life, the creative\nforce, giving vigor to whatever region to which it is raised; or,\nlowered, to be spent with no returns, it debases and renders life\na desert of dry bones.\n\nO child of Adam! Reflect on the fall of man from spirit to\nmatter, and combine the wisdom of the serpent with the purity of\nthe dove, and \"lest ye partake of the tree of life ye shall\nsurely die.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE NINTH\n\nSaggitarius\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA child in a shell, holding in its hand a feathered lance, is\ndrawn by five stars, grouped in an under arc.\n\nIX\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE NINTH\n\nThe symbol of the conscious soul. The shell is the body, drawn by\nthe five senses--stars--which form an under arc, to represent the\nworld of material things and our relation thereto. The child,\narmed with the feathered lance, is the soul; riding thus, fully\narmed, in the shell of the body, it realizes the duality of\ntruth; that all things are changeable; and that each thing is\ntrue upon the plane of its manifestation, while an illusion to\nthat which is interior to its life, while the soul is in its\ndream state. Sagittarius represents conservatism and the\npermanence of crystallized institutions; but, when the spirit\nawakes and bursts the shell of matter, the senses, instead of\nbeing the guardians and jailors of its environment, become its\nservants, and the means by which, united as the one Ego,\nsense-perception, it races o'er the fields of Aeth--a being of\nlife and beauty, shining in the empyrean of God.\n\nO child of Adam! Ever remember that temperament and environment\nconstitute the north and south poles of human possibility, and\nthat ability, combined with opportunity, is the measure of\nresponsibility.\n\n\nPART 1\n\nHere beginneth Chapter 4 of the Book which is called--\"The\nTablets of Aeth,\" wherein is transcribed the Fourth Quadrant of\nthe Twelve Mansions.\n\n\"A hair, perhaps, divides the false and true.  Yes, and a single\nalif were the clue--  Could you but find it--to the treasure\nhouse,  And, peradventure, to THE MASTER, too.\n\n\"Beware, O my son, of self-incense. It is the most dangerous on\naccount of its agreeable intoxication. * * * Learn, O my beloved,\nthat the light of Allah's truth will often penetrate an empty\nhead more easily than one too crammed with learning.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE TENTH\n\nCapricorn\n\nA deep, black ground, o'er which shimmers a phosphorescent light;\nat each side an aurora borealis rises, mountain like; above all,\na tiny star.\n\nX\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE TENTH\n\nHere is revealed the symbol of the messenger of the Most High.\nThe star hovers over the phosphorescent light cast on the\ndarkness as the spirit hovers over the blackness of matter. The\naurora borealis stands as the emblem for the magnetic attraction\nof Earth on spirit, the Christ soon to be born in the manger of\nthe Goat; the descent of the Holy Ghost into material form, so\nthat heavenly truth may illumine the drear speculum of earthly\nthought with the Divine iridescence of celestial light. It is the\nlowest arc of the cycle that reveals the new birth of death unto\nlife--the divine egg of Brahma, containing the promise of the new\nlaw: \"Peace on Earth, good will towards men.\"\n\nO child of Adam! Be thou the star, and not a dweller of the outer\ndarkness, and \"Let your light so shine before men, that, they may\nsee your good works.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE ELEVENTH\n\nAquarius\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA stormy sea is seen; above it the eight stars shine, brilliant\nand clear.\n\nXI\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE ELEVENTH\n\nThis tablet symbolizes the complete materialization of man--man,\nperfect on the earth and the lord thereof, in so far as material\nforces are concerned. The storm is the tempest of life, the whirl\nof the elements of matter in their battle with the spirit. The\neight stars, brilliant now (for they are the same stars that were\ndimly seen in Gemini), show that the conquest of matter is\ncomplete, the great fall of spirit finished; the end of\ninvolution. And this would bring stagnation and death, if peace\nnow ensued. The lesson taught is that, not in peace and rest can\nthe soul grow; but amidst the earthquakes that shake thrones, the\nfloods that overwhelm countries, the fires that reduce to ashes,\nhas the strong man-soul grown to its present state and power. So\nfear not the storm, but the calm; not the unrest, but the quiet;\nfear not the battle, but the ignoble peace of the coward.\n\nO child of Adam! The astral soul must learn to do and dare. Not\nover the brave man's grave shall it be written, \"Rest in peace,\"\nbut \"I will arise, and go to my father.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE TWELFTH\n\nPisces\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA comet, beyond it infinite things, only dreamed of as yet, a\nworld floating in an ocean and in night, beneath are two hands\nclasped palm to palm.\n\n\nXII\n\nTABLET THE TWELFTH\n\nA REVELATION OF THE TO BE. The comet is the twelfth Avatar, the\nherald, coming forth from the starry abyss of the infinite,\nstaying with us a little while, and then flashing on his shining\nway to other worlds than ours, bearing THE DIVINE WORD from sun\nto planet, as the fiery messenger of God. And here the soul may\nwell ask: \"Who? Where? Whence and Whither?\" For behold, he has\ncome, and gone, and\n\n \"Earth could not answer; nor the seas that mourn  In flowing\npurple, of their Lord forlorn;  Nor rolling Heaven, with all his\nsigns revealed  And hidden by the sleeve of night and morn.\"\n\n\nThe world floating in the sea of the infinite and resting in\nnight shows the present state of humanity. But, \"the blush of\ndawn\" is ready to gladden the soul, and the expectant seer, from\nhis lonely vigil on the hilltop, awaits the sunlight which will\nsoon flood the world anew.\n\nThe two clasped hands point to many problems, chiefly soul-\nmatehood, the message of the starry messenger, universal\nbrotherhood, and the Father-Motherhood of God.\n\nO child of Adam! Watch and pray, that a voice of the silence may\nspeak unto you.\n\n\nHere endeth the four Quadrants of the Tablets of the Twelve\nMansions, wherein are revealed the signs and symbols thereof, as\nfaithfully transcribed from the sacred roll in the astral records\nand called \"The Tablets of Aeth.\"\n      April, 1893.\n\n\nPART II\n\nof The Book which is called\n\nTHE TABLETS OF AETH OF THE TEN PLANETARY RULERS\n\n\nPART II\n\nHere beginneth Chapter I of the Second Part of the Book which is\ncalled \"The Tablets of Aeth,\" wherein is transcribed the First\nTrinity of the Planetary Rulers.\n\n\"The human heart is the true temple of God; enter ye into your\ntemples and illumine them with good thoughts. The sacred vessels,\nthey are your hands and your eyes. Do I say that which is\nagreeable to God--doing good to your neighbors? But, first\nembellish wherein dwells He, who gave you life.\" ----\n\n\"How small soever your lamp be, never give away the oil which\nfeeds it, but only the light and flame, which crown it.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE FIRST\n\nThe Sun\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA flaming splendor, a center of light, radiating in all\ndirections.\n\nI\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE FIRST\n\nThe symbol of all created life, spiritual and material; of all\ngoodness, human or Divine; the center of all thought, from brutal\ninstinct to Deific wisdom; of all creations, from starry systems\nto man, and from man back again to invisible gas; of all action,\nfrom the imperceptible vibrations of nerve energy to the awful\ndestruction of worlds. All creative potency lies within a Sun\nsphere. Light is life. The planets are but the offspring of light\nand life. So in this symbol, we read the source of the human Ego,\nof our own life. We are, as it were, the planets of the spiritual\nSun. Our souls are the attributes of the Sun, of the spiritual\nEgo. Only from the Ego can we receive life eternal and make\nimmortality a fact. Obeying this spiritual life-force, the human\nmonad is but an attribute, a reflection, of the Divine Ego, and\nif it fails to awake to a consciousness of this union, it withers\nand dies like a flower plucked from the parent tree of life.\n\nO child of Adam, in reverence and awe do thou meditate upon this\nTablet, for it is a thing of beauty, a being of light, life and\nlove, manifesting its creative mission. It is the Vicegerent of\nGod, flaming forth His splendors in the sky.\n\n\nTABLET THE SECOND\n\nMercury\n\nSYMBOL\n\nAn elephant, kneeling between two square columns; on one an\neagle, on the other a vulture.\n\nAt the side a boy, with bow and arrows, standing in doubt which\nto shoot.\n\nBelow these a human face, composed of various flowers, whose\nroots are snakes, a poppy, forming an eye, which winks.\n\n\nII\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE SECOND\n\nA vision revealing the earthly drama of the microcosm. The\nelephant represents the highest expression of intelligence, minus\nthe spirit; kneeling between the square columns of matter, i.e.,\nguarded by them. The external mind is sleeping, or, at most,\ndreaming of the things of the spirit. Above sleeping mind sit the\ntwo birds, who represent spirit and matter, each waiting for the\nslowly preparing feast. The boy, the soul with its weapons, has a\nchoice. Shall it be the sensuality of the flesh that he shall\ndestroy, or the possibilities of the spiritual life on earth. The\nproblem awaits solution. The eagle sits ready to bear aloft the\nspirit of the sleeper. The vulture hopes for sleep to end in\ndeath, that he may live upon the carrion thereof. The flowers of\nthe external mind have for their roots the snakes; and, in a\nlarger sense, the flowers of immortality have the serpent of\nwisdom for their roots. And the poppy winks. It knows its own\npower of illusion, and the double significance of the snake; the\nnecessity of evil in the evolution of good. It is the Tablet of\nWisdom.\n\n\nO child of Adam! \"Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless\nas doves.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE THIRD\n\nVenus\n\nSYMBOL\n\nAn altar: on it two cups, one full, the other spilled; near them\ntwo bleeding hearts, in one a snake, in the other a dagger.\n\nAbove--clouds, from which comes a woman's face, a wreath in the\nhand, coming out of the cloud; in the wreath an angel, going\nupwards, with wings outspread.\n\nIII\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE THIRD\n\nThere is but one altar, but one blood of the sacrament in two\ncups, but one flesh of the Christ--the Ego--in two hearts, two\nexperiences in love, ecstacy, and pain; two results of\nexperience, the serpent and the dagger, symbolizing wisdom and\naffliction. Above the altar the divine woman holds the wreath\nencircling the angel. The angel of immortal life rises from the\naltar of sacrifice. Some of the wine is spilled as offering. The\ncup that is filled is raised to \"Ra.\" To serve at the altar of\nlove is the soul-mission of all, even as Christ served his\ndisciples. Each soul must find its own service, and then the\npilgrims of the Sun return to the mansions of the blessed. The\ngreat mother-god, Venus, Urania, quivers and thrills as she holds\nforth her offspring--the angel, the young Eros of life eternal.\n\nO child of Adam, this is the Tablet of Love. Meditate thereon, as\nthe last of the triune God. In this Tablet lies the secret of\nsuffering and pleasure. He who vibrates in pain will quiver in\necstacy. Only those who have agonized in Hell can thrill in\nHeaven.\n\n\nPART II\n\nHere beginneth Chapter 2 of the Second Part of the Book which is\ncalled \"The Tablets of Aeth,\" wherein is transcribed the Second\nTrinity of the Planetary Rulers.\n\n \"Thou art called forth to this fair sacrifice\n  For a draught of milk; with the Maruts  Come hither, O Agni!\n\n They who know the great sky, the Visve\n  Devas without guile; with those Maruts\n  Come hither, O Agni!\n\n They who are brilliant, of awful shape,\n  Powerful, and devourers of foes; with the\n  Maruts come hither, O Agni!\n\n They who in heaven are enthroned as gods,\n  In the light of the firmament; with the Maruts\n  Come hither, O Agni!\"\n\n\"Let us meditate on the adorable light of the Divine Rulers. May\nit guide our intellects.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE FOURTH\n\nThe Moon\n\nSYMBOL\n\nNIGHT\n\nA wonderful spider's-web;\n\nThe web glitters in the faint moonlight against a dark background\nof blue; moon invisible; on the outside of web a star, in the\ncenter a spot of light, underneath a coffin filled with stones.\n\nIV\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE FOURTH\n\nThe web of life has caught the monad of the soul and thus\nincarnated the universe, for each soul incarnates its universe at\nbirth, each one's world being different, and peculiar unto\nhimself. At the first breath, the young child polarizes his\nrelations to stars and earth, and it is the affinity and\nrepulsion which make his life experience. And the stars weave the\nweb in their lines of sextile, square and trine, of opposition\nand conjunction, thus enveloping the monad in the Circle of\nNecessity.\n\nOutside the star of the spirit, the Ego, shines clear, free from\nthe entanglements of the web and unaffected by the magnetic\nglamour of the Moon. And lo! the coffin is filled with stones, a\nsymbol of death and the Moon, which is but a casket of stones.\nTherefore, little monad, caught in the tangle of the web of life\nand the glamour of earthly things, take heart, for, beyond all,\nis the star of your being. Call down the law of that star into\nyourself, and the web is broken and waves its tattered shreds in\nthe breeze. The moonlight, the reflected light, pales as the\nStar-Sun of your being rises, and the moonlight of Earth gives\nplace to the Sun-spheres of Ra.\n\nO child of Adam! The beginning of sorrow is the dawn of spiritual\nlife. The wise man rules the stars; the fools of Earth obey.\n\n\nTABLET THE FIFTH\n\nMars\n\nSYMBOL\n\nAn immense helmet on pedestal, across which a streak of lightning\nflashes; beside it a naked child painting pictures on the helmet;\nbeneath, a broken sword.\n\n\nV\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE FIFTH\n\nCan greater irony be shown than in this astral symbol. Mars is\nexternally represented as a fierce warrior, awful to behold; the\nreality, a little child, painting toy pictures on the helmet, too\nbig for his curly head. The lesson in this is indeed, that the\npen is mightier than the sword; that the big and blustering\nhelmet will become a plaything for the child. Soon, that the\nsword of bloodshed, rape, and ruin, will be broken and war\nrelegated to the past, looked at, but, as pictures, painted with\nhideous reality by the childhood of the race.\n\nThe symbol also reveals the great executive forces of humanity,\nthe child. The soul can paint, execute its ideas, its hopes and\nits fears in any color--the lurid red of blood, the black of\nignorance and crime, or in the living light of beauty. All the\nsame, it is the childhood of man painting its ideals in the\nmaterial world.\n\nO child of Adam, curb the anger of Mars, that thy painting may\nset the dove at liberty. Let the magic of thy soul transform the\nsavage of the desert into the angel of mercy.\n\n\nTABLET THE SIXTH\n\nJupiter\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA cave in the mountain side; a face like the sphinx comes out of\nthe cave, there is a blackness behind it; it looks with upturned\nhead to a light that is way beyond; it is a face that means\nsomething awful, a godlike defiance to the things that are.\n\nVI\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE SIXTH\n\nAgain we are impressed with the contrast of internal and external\nthings. Jupiter, the symbol of authority, conservatism, church,\nand state, and the stability of human institutions, and the\nthings that are, as the things that are the best. But oh, how\nwidely different the internal, the real Jupiter, that governing\npower of the spirit that hurls defiance at unjust authority, the\ncruelty and tyranny of the world. The soul sees the light beyond,\nand, emerging from the dark chasm of matter, knows the battle\nthat must be fought against wrong. It is the awful--yea,\nterrible--symbol of defiance to gods and men who oppose its\nonward, upward march to the shining goal of light. Make way,\nthen! Make way! For Earth has given birth to her giant son--the\nSpirit. For, listen closely, my friend, to the axiom of\nImmortality. What is soul? Not the spirit, mind you; not the\ndeathless Ego, of which you at present, perchance, know\nabsolutely nothing. Soul is mere memory; a scavenger in earthly\nstates; and a gleaner, a hired help, in the fields of heaven; and\nto become immortal, there must be something more than soul as the\nresult. It must take such a vital interest in its Lord's work\nthat, finally it becomes too valuable to lose, and must be taken\ninto partnership, so to say. The Ego--Lord-- has found a valued\nservant, a trusted steward, after much seeking, and at once\nadopts it as its very own. And so the soul becomes heir to the\nheavenly estate and receives the immortal, vital principle of\nspiritual union, and awakes from the son of Earth a God-like\nbeing, free from the shackles of Time--a dweller in eternity. The\nsoul must awake and realize the Deific atom around which it\nrevolves before it is too late. Unless this is so, the seed of\nimmortal life, sown in matter by the Ego, has not germinated, and\nit returns unfruitful and dies--it is an abortion. Many, many\nseeds never germinate. Many good orthodox, but animal-like lives,\nlive, move, and die,--yes, die in very truth. Would to God I\ncould make all mankind realize this awful, inconceivable\nprivilege of life, that, Jupiter-like, they would turn and face\nthe light.\n\nO child of Adam! \"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye\nof a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of\nGod.\"\n\n\nPART II\n\nHere beginneth Chapter 3 of the Second Part of the Book which is\ncalled \"The Tablets of Aeth,\" wherein the Third, and last,\nTrinity of the Planetary Rulers is faithfully transcribed.\n\n\"Thou hast entered the immeasurable regions. I am the Dweller of\nthe Threshold. What wouldst thou with me? * * * Dost thou fear\nme? Am I not thy beloved? Is it not for me that thou bast\nrendered up the delights of thy race? Wouldst thou be wise? Mine\nis the wisdom of the countless ages. Kiss me, my mortal lover.\"\n\n\"Thus man pursues his weary calling,  And wrings the hard life\nfrom the sky,  While happiness unseen is falling  Down from God's\nbosom silently.\"\n\n\nTABLET THE SEVENTH\n\nSaturn\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA human figure with a scepter of power, a being of light crowned\nwith flames.\n\n\nVII\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE SEVENTH\n\nIn the external we remember Saturn as an old man, and as a\nskeleton with a scythe--as Time, in fact. But see, O immortal\nsoul, the real Saturn, as the Angel of Life, having from time\ngathered the experiences which crown him with light, holding the\nrod of power; the Christ born in the manger of Capricorn, the\nGoat--life born of death; the conqueror of evil. He throws off\nthe mask of age, and divine youth beams on us. He doffs the\nmantle of rags, and royal splendors clothe him. He lifts the\nhood, and behold the crown. He raises the crutch, and lo! the rod\nof power. He drops the scythe of death for the jewel of eternal\nlife.\n\n \"Om Mani Padme Um.\"  (Oh the jewel in the lotus.)\n\nO child of Adam! Meditate on the transmutations of life. Behold\nthe earthly miracle of the caterpillar and the butterfly, of the\ntoiling mortal and the transcendent God!\n\n\nTABLET THE EIGHTH\n\nUranus\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA human eye, from which darts lightning upon an ocean of matter.\n\n\nVIII\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE EIGHTH\n\nThe state of soul and spirit--penetration; the wonderful power of\nsoul-perception, which sheds its light on all visible things,\nreceiving their images and interpreting them into the spirit, the\nall-seer--what does it not convey? The perception that can see\ndeep into your soul and see, as it were, the yet unborn thought;\nthat can distinguish the motive of action; that judges the\nrealities of your soul. Such is the Astral Uranian. For with us\nall, are three planes of mind: The drift plane, the intellectual,\nand the spiritual, or internal plane; and thought- reading can be\non one or all of these different states. But only the Uranian\nseer can read the inmost mind, and so really know the\npossibilities of your spirit.\n\nImagine an image of soft wax, covered with a sensitive skin. All\nimpressions on the skin shape the plastic wax, but go no deeper--\ndo not reach the soul. You can separate these impressions from\nyour real self, when calm and alone, and look upon emotion as a\nsurface play. But the tragedies of life strike deep. They affect\nthe soul, and go to the center of being. \"Verbum sap.\"\n\nO child of Adam! Watch the tempest of life closely. The Ego may\nsit calm amidst the storm, but, if that be stirred--BEWARE! The\nGod acts; the soul alone watches.\n\n\nTABLET THE NINTH\n\nNeptune\n\nA Winged Globe.\n\nIX\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE NINTH\n\nAn unknown quantity, a hope of progression, ideal love, and all\ntrue mental and spiritual ideals; aspiration to become that which\nwe feel to be noble and true; the symbol of the monad, the soul\nwhich, receiving its life from the Sun--the Ego--is constantly\nrevealing new forces and potencies of that God-life. Each soul's\nEgo is its maker and God. The Ego is like the Deific potency of\nthe universe, unlimited in potential power, but limited by its\nmonad as to what will be evolved from its awful depth of being.\nDeity progresses through its expressions of the cosmos. The Ego,\nyour God, finds progressive expression through you, through your\nsoul. That soul is not immortal that becomes separated from its\nEgo--its God. So, soul, spread your spiritual wings and soar\nupward.\n\nO child of Adam! Know these three things: Eternity is the creator\nof the universal life; universal life creates the world, and the\nworld is the creator of time. And of these, the Universe is Life,\nand the World is Mind, and Time is the Soul. The sum total of all\nis Experience. And this is individual, conscious life--\"Jacta est\nalea\" (the die is cast)--the wings are spread.\n\n\nTABLET THE TENTH\n\nThe Cypher - the unknown\n\nSYMBOL\n\nA Shining Nebulae; within it a dot, aimlessly wandering around an\nunknown center.\n\nX\n\nREFLECTION\n\nTABLET THE TENTH\n\nThe unknown in very truth. It is everything--it is also nothing.\nInconceivable visions arise within the mental universe, but\nnothing assumes definite form. It is all that is past. It is\nlikewise everything that the future has in store. Amen.\n\nO child of Adam! \"Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?\nor loose the bands of Orion?\"\n\n\nPART III of The Book which is called THE TABLETS OF AETH\n\nOF THE TEN GREAT KABBALISTICAL POWERS or ANGELS OF THE UNIVERSE\n\nPART III\n\nVISION\n\nEach angel standing in front of the symbol is dimly outlined and\ntransparent. Through the angel's form is seen its symbol.\n\nFIRST\nA luminous something, which gives the impression of sleep.\n\nSECOND\nSomething moving, like an ocean.\n\nTHIRD\nA storm, and lightning.\n\nFOURTH\nA mist.\n\nFIFTH\nAn animal moving, resembling a turtle.\n\nSIXTH\nA blue light; in the center a star with three points.\n\nSEVENTH\nAn expanse of water, a blue sky, a shining disk rising on the\nhorizon.\n\nEIGHTH\nA lurid sky, like a red dawn; in the water floats an egg.\n\nNINTH\nFive stars on a convex arc, like a rainbow; the shell of the egg\nis broken and forms continents.\n\nTENTH\nA man lying fast asleep under a magnificent palm tree, with his\nface turned toward the horizon of the sea.\n\n\nEXPLANATION\n\nOnly the pure in heart can see God, and to those pure souls I\ncommend the following brief explanation of the Vision of the\nAngels of Life, which I have here recorded for the benefit of all\nwhom it may now and hereafter concern.\n\nIn the original Vision of the Tablets of Aeth a great circle was\nseen, in the center a head, a faint shimmer above the head, as if\nthe light were about to dawn; a dull, lurid glow beneath, as if\nof chaos or hell; the hair around the head like floating clouds,\nthe beard like strange cloud-streaks. Each sign of the Zodiac\nsurrounding the center head had within it a faintly seen face.\nBeginning with the first, it became more and more distinct and\nperfect with each sign until it evolved into godlike beauty in\nPisces.\n\nThe symbolic planets were around the Zodiac, and beyond these,\nmaking a third grand circle, were the ten Evolutionary Angels.\nThe vision is that of the evolution of all life, spiritual and\nmaterial. We gaze at the cosmic sex mystery, and the discerning\nmind, the loving spirit, can read the correspondence of the great\nsacred conjugal act of both man and God; of its heights, of its\ndepths, and of all that lies between.\n\nTo aid in meditation on the bead at the center, herein is written\na vision, an experience of the soul in the Sleep of Sialam.\n\nThe Hermetic brethren encircled my astral body, which was deeply\nentranced. \"From whence,\" the great question, quivered through my\ninmost being. To answer that awful problem of the soul the\nreleased spirit went on its fearsome journey, back through star\nsystems; back, back beyond all stars, back to the blackness of\nnothing-- that awful nothing, whose outside ring vibrated with\nfearful flames; the fiery cherubim, winged, taking all possible\nshapes, and unformed living shapes. A human flamed and changed\nand vanished. The tornado of whirling, flashing, chaotic life\nswirled and drove through the darkness of chaos of nothing from\nnothing--and that great, unknown abyss is God! But the life is\nEVOLUTIONARY.\n\nDeity is progressive, so never can man cease to be. Never can he\nreturn to that awful center of nothingness, or be absorbed within\nthe bosom of the unmanifested being. On, and on, and on, with\nDeific power, God moves in ever-increasing whirls of evolution.\n\nThus came the answer of the ages: \"From primeval force, from the\nmighty breath of unmanifested being, through every phase of\naction and reaction, from the energies of storm and lightning,\nfrom star-dust to sunlight, has come the spirit of man!\"\n\nAnd the Astral Brethren understood.\n\n\nTHE TWO SEALS OF THE EARTH\n\nI SYMBOL\n\nA human being, with a flaming, burning heart.\n\nII SYMBOL\n\nA round disk inside a light, as from a sun, conceived, but not\nseen.\n\nSo here endeth the Book which is called \"The Tablets of Aeth,\"\ntranscribed from the astral originals in the Year of Doom\nMDCCCXCIII.\n      \"Omnia Vincit Veritas.\"\n\n\"THY KINGDOM COME.\"\n                     (Zanoni) April, 1893\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nPENETRALIA\n\nTHE SECRET OF THE SOUL\n\nWe have now arrived at our final study, which we have approached\nstep by step amid the labyrinth of the mysteries concealed\nbeneath the Veil of Isis. We stand at last upon the very\nthreshold of the sacred Adytum, the \"Holy of Holies,\" from whence\nproceeds our final revelation of that inmost conception of Man's\nidentity with his Creator--the Penetralia of his Being--the last\nsecret of the incarnated soul.\n\nThe written word almost fails us--does fail in fact, when we come\nto the difficult task of externalizing ideas, the sublimity of\nwhich is so infinitely beyond the crystallized images of matter\nthat, they can only be realized in their true glory, when the\npurified soul can view them from the ineffable heights of eternal\nspirit. We are lost, dazed, at the brilliancy of the spiritual\nimagery that opens out before us, in its fathomless stretch of\nthe eternities that are past, of the ever- imperishable present,\nand the unborn eternities yet to be; all of them linked together\nin one grand chain of spiritual relationship and deathless\nidentity; as Man, the Angel, God; and God, the Angel, Man; as the\ntriune Cycle of Being, within the incomprehensible Cycle of\nNecessity; which constitutes Nature's cosmic university for the\ncomplete graduation, education, and purification, of that\nself-conscious, Deific atom of life, whose expression becomes the\nhuman soul. Ah! my brothers could you, but for one single\ninstant, realize WHO you are, WHERE you are journeying, and WHAT\nyour final destiny, every earthly moment at your disposal would\nbe rightly used, and every hour considered too short for your\nefforts to aid your fellow-man. Selfishness, wealth, and power,\nwould be so utterly contemptible in your sight that their\npossession would be considered a fearful affliction and a curse,\nthe moment they exceeded the comfortable requirements of mundane\nexistence.\n\nLeave self and the world behind you for the present, and, for the\nmoment, leave your life, with its manifold vanities, in the outer\ncourt, and together let us cross the threshold and enter the door\nof the Temple. There! At last we have entered the Sacred\nSanctuary, my brother, and we stand face to face with the\nimperishable truth of our being--the truth which makes us free,\nthe truth which must ultimately prevail, by virtue of its own\ninherent Divinity; and we realize Man as he really is, not as he\noutwardly seems to be. We view him as a molecule, composed of a\ncongregation of separate atoms, all of them held in their places\nby the centripetal force of the central human atom of life. And\nyet, small as he is, small as his kingdom is, compared with the\nmighty creation of which he is a part, he possesses all the\ninherent qualities of the whole. This, then, is our first\nconception--Man, is a microcosmic molecule, an atom of divine\nlife.\n\nThe scene changes within the chamber, and upon the shimmering,\nluminous veil, yet before us, we view the large and mighty planet\ncalled the Earth. Not as a revolving satellite of the Sun, but as\nshe really is, a vital organ of the macrocosm, the stellar womb\nof the solar system, the matrix which produces the material\norganic form of humanity. When the Earth was without form and\nvoid,\" as we are informed in the mystical language of Genesis,\nthe human soul had not yet reached the state, or grade, in the\ncelestial university that desired the Earth and its temporary\nillusions. Hence this state was void, an unborn idea, the To Be,\nand darkness, symbolical of complete lack of life and\nintelligence, \"was upon the face of the deep,\" silent space.\n\nAgain the scene changes, and one by one the numberless planets,\nplanetoids, moons, meteors, comets, and other attendant bodies,\npass before the eye of the soul as we gaze upon the curtain of\nthis Sacred Penetralia, each orb belonging to some portion of the\nAstral Man, each great planet constituting some vital function of\nthe macrocosmic organism, and conferring those qualities upon\neach and every single atom pertaining to that degree of life, so\nthat the solar system becomes individualized as a grand cosmic\norganism, its attendant satellites constituting its vital organs,\nand the shining Zodiac its outward form. So, also, each planet is\na living, cosmic individual, intensely alive; living, moving,\nbreathing, and bringing forth its offspring of like substance,\nmatter, in obedience to the potential demand of incarnating\nspirit. The Sun is alive, glowing with life, and constitutes the\nheart and arterial center of all the circulating fluids of the\nstellar anatomy.\n\nScientists may continue to predict, as they have been predicting,\nthe day when solar radiation will cease, but their predictions\nwill prove as worthless as the sighing of the summer wind, so far\nas reality is concerned. \"It is an incomprehensible mystery to\nscience,\" says Sir Robert Ball, in his \"Story of the Heavens,\"\n\"how the Sun has been able to maintain its heat with such\nregularity in the past, for there has been no appreciable change\nin the Earth's temperature for thousands of years.\" What it is\nto-day it was ten thousand years ago--yea, Sir Robert Ball, and\nwill be in ten thousand years to come. You may wonder, and the\nRoyal College may wonder, but in the meantime the mighty,\npulsating Sun continues beating out its rhythmic vibrations of\nspiritual and dynamic life--continues, and will continue, to send\nthe exhilarating current throughout every atom, to the remotest\npart of his solar dominions, and the same current RETURNS TO HIM\nAGAIN, UNDIMINISHED, for the purification which his glowing,\ntransmuting photosphere alone, can give, to be sent forward\nagain, upon its mission of light, life, and love, around the\nvital, organic worlds of the astral organism. There is nothing\nlost, no radiation of energy dispersed upon the unformed,\nlifeless ether. From the radiating solar focus of Divinity it\ncomes, and to him, undiminished it returns, and so on forever and\never; until the last Deific atom has won its laggard way back to\nthe shining throne of God.\n\nThe Sun breathes. The pulsating process of dynamic respiration,\neternally repeated during the grand period of a solar lifetime,\nrenews its vital energies, and supplies itself, with the full\nabundance of the ever-living spirit, transmitted from the\nshoreless ether in which it lives. It needs no other food, except\nthe magnetic nutriment it receives from each vital organ, or\nplanet, in return for the electrical life current it transmits to\nthem. Just as the human lungs inflate themselves with the vital\natmosphere, (which is only the ether, dynamically diluted by the\nEarth to harmonize with our conditions), to oxygenate the blood\nand add fresh fuel to the physical furnace, or supply finer\nessences to the nervous centers. Just as the human heart, with\nits continual, rhythmic pulsations, propels forth the circulating\nfluid to every part of the human frame; so does the central heart\nand lungs of the Grander Man of the Skies, (the Sun) send forth\nits vitalizing energy to every part of the universe.\n\nSuch are the crowding thoughts, born of interior knowledge, that\nflood the mind as we view these sacred revelations within the\nsacred  chamber of the soul. As yet, we are gazing upon the\nundulating flow of the astral light. We yearn within our utmost\nbeing to become the center of the Penetralia and gaze upon the\nglorious radiance of the Adonai, from whose ineffable presence we\nare only screened by the last shining veil of semi-transparent\nmatter, that waves and trembles with every spiritual aspiration.\nThe soul sends forth its pleading cry for light: \"Who and what is\nGod?\" Faintly, as the distant vesper sounds upon the cooling eve,\ncomes the answer: \"Who and what art thou? What canst thou see?\nWhat delectable blessing does Nature vouchsafe to the pure in\nheart?\" We tremble with the awful, yet thrilling, revelation. We\nknow dimly, yet fail to realize in our outward consciousness the\nfull import thereof. We realize wherein the mistaken selfhood\nhath become the only begotten of the Father, but the revelation\nis too much, and too little. We know that, faint as the voice\nseemed to the yet unprepared soul, an echo only, IT WAS THE VOICE\nOF THE ADONAI BEHIND THE VEIL. And now we crave the knowledge of\nthe Where and Whither.\n\nAgain, we see the Earth as the vital function of the\ninterplanetary being. It is composed of substance termed matter,\nwhich substance is the aggregation of countless atoms, which\nscience has not, and never can, resolve into their individual\nselves. These atoms are rings of the atomless ether, which, thus\ndifferentiated from the formless ether, become centers of force,\nthe center of such force being a vacuum within the atomic ring--a\ncenter so small that a microscope with lens one thousand times as\npowerful as the most perfect modern instrument would fail to\nreveal it. These atoms form systems, under the control of another\napparent vacuum; or, rather, this vacuum seems to be the focus,\nor center, about which they revolve. THIS SYSTEM CONSTITUTES A\nSCIENTIFIC MOLECULE OF MATTER, and, in response to the\ninnumerable vibrations, they assume different forms or\ndimensions, and become, indifferently, molecules of oxygen,\nhydrogen, nitrogen, or carbon, as the case may be, all of which\nare but different modes of motion of the same primitive atoms,\nthere being in Nature but three things--Ether, Intelligence, and\nMotion. What Ether is, no one knows. We call it the formless\nspirit, the unmanifest, etc. But, there can be no doubt but, that\nMotion is the product of Intelligence, since we never see Motion\nbut as the manifestation of evolution, and this is the expression\nof Mind. Therefore, we have a duality--Ether and Intelligence;\none the living spirit, the other the eternal substance for its\nmanifestation.\n\nEvery molecule of matter is the outward form, the center of\nwhich, is the incarnating spirit, in some degree of progress.\nMan's physical organism is a system of life and development for\ncountless billions of them. So the Earth, in its functional\nexpression as the womb of Nature for the outward expression of\nMan, is only so in a material sense. HE IS PRIOR TO THE PLANET.\nHe (Man) is only the offspring of the planet by virtue of his\nmaterial body being a part of the substance of the Earth. This\nlife is a stage, only, of his material journey; and, just as\nMan's body is continually throwing off useless dead matter and\nreplacing the same with new life, so, too, the countless organic\nforms of Earth are hourly returning to the ground from which they\nsprang, and new forms, rising from the same dust, are taking\ntheir places.\n\nHere, then, is the sum total: First is revealed to us the grand\nAstral Man, the Zodiac being the outward idea or form, the Sun\nand his system the vital functions thereof. The Earth, apart from\nits functional expression or place, is also an individual. Man,\napart from forming a molecule of the planetary womb, by\ncomparison, is also an individual. And, lastly, every molecule of\nMan's organism is also, in reality, an individual, and small only\nby comparison with the human frame. And as there are the high\nSolar Archangels of the Sun, and a chief amongst these seated\nupon his throne of fire, so there is an Archangelic Chief of the\nEarth, surrounded by descending degrees of wisdom and power to\nMan, who also, in his turn, stands as the Deific center and chief\nof his being, his soul being the sphere of consciousness, which,\nwhen united to the feminine soul, constitutes the Angel of Life,\nEternal. Down still we go, and find that this Divine scale of\nlife and being is, from the lowly molecule, system upon system\nclimbing, sphere upon sphere, upward and onward, forever,\nevermore, and all eternity cannot bring nearer the end of Man's\nglorious immortality.\n\nIn the full revelation of this divine scheme of creation, so full\nof light, life, love, joy and harmony, a scheme void of death and\nannihilation, the mind once more reflects upon the physical\nillusions of slowly advancing scientific thought. Camille\nFlammarion, the great psychomaterialist of France, has painted,\nin his various novels, a lurid, almost horrible, picture of what\nthe mighty universe must become from the logical deductions of\nhis own school of thought; a school which would be best named as\ntranscendental materialism. According to this conception,\n\"thousands, aye, millions of worlds are rushing through space,\ninert, frozen, and dead. Suns have cooled down and ceased to give\nforth the life-sustaining element of light, but have still\nretained their mighty attraction upon their attendant planets,\naccording to the laws of gravity, by virtue of their material\nmass, and thus hold their planetary offspring in the eternal,\ncold, icy grasp of death. Our Sun, too, is cooling fast; the\nEarth has already lost a great portion of her own internal heat.\nShe has passed her prime of life, and death--cold, icy death--has\nalready begun to encroach upon her extremities. The South pole\n(the feet) is now practically lifeless in one perpetual covering\nof ice. So, too, her head; her locks are the white of perpetual\nsnow. No longer has she the blush and beauty of youth, no longer\nadorned with the healthy covering of verdue which youthfulness\ngives, and as our geologists prove was once the case. So that,\nalthough the time may still be long, according to our reckoning\nof years, it is only a brief moment in eternity when this fair\nEarth, and also the beauteous splendor of the silent stars, will\nbe locked forever in darkness, and the final sleep of doom.\" If\nthis be so, we ask of the inmost soul, if life be but the fitful\nawakenings of the indestructible spirit, ebbing and flowing in\nresponse to the rise and fall of Nature's cosmic barometer and\nthe transmutations of matter; if life is, in reality, but a brief\nand passing moment, eternally repeated, from the flush of youth,\n\"the gilded salon to the bier and the shroud, then why, O why\nshould the spirit of mortal be proud?\" Why aspire to penetrate\nthe inward realities of life and enter the Holy of Holies--to\nseek and find out God? As the rushing torrent of this thought\nswept o'er the mental chambers of the soul and saturated the\nspirit with its icy sting, as it lay still chained within the\nprison house of matter, the higher self rose, sublime in its\ngrandeur, and consciousness of divine relationship, and, in the\nlast earthly appeal for light, for divine truth, as to Man and\nhis immortality, it turned in reverence and awe before the still,\nshimmering veil of the sacred Penetralia. The trial had come, the\ncrucial test, whether of life or death, the final revelation to\nMan. In purity of heart and humility of soul we await in\nagonizing suspense. There is a thrilling sensation, as though of\nten thousand electric currents consuming the frame, and a swaying\nto and fro, as if drifting upon an ocean of fire; then a dead\nsilence, so profound that whole eternities seem to pass, without\neither beginning or end. And the sight of the inward spirit is\nopened slowly. Who? Where? What? For the shadows have fled, the\nluminous curtain fades, is gone, and flashing before the inward\nsight stands the ineffable Adonai. It is I--YOU! There is no God\nbut this, and in one moment the interior consciousness becomes\nat-one-with-self, God, and from that inconceivable height of\nprofound vision we again look upon Nature. Behold Sun, Moon and\nplanets in all the original magnificence of their nebulous\nluminosity; from nebulous rings we proceed, stage after stage,\neach producing its own degrees of life. On, on we pass the ages,\nthe geological cycles of inconceivable duration in time, but only\na mere instant in eternity; and on and on, as the changes roll,\nuntil we see Earth as she is now; still on, at the ever-urging\ndesire of the triumphant Soul, and a remarkable change is\napparent. From forces, at present latent, there comes a change;\nand, instead of so-called physical; electrical races have\nsuperceded the present humanity. Crystallization has ceased; and\nall things become lighter in density and more ethereal in nature;\nAND THE ORBIT OF THE EARTH GROWS LESS. Nearer and nearer shines\nthe mighty Sun; first Vulcan, then the swift messenger of the\ngods are indrawn within the solar vortex, each absorption\nproducing a cataclysmic change upon our Earth. Then comes the\nturn of Venus, while slowly and surely the orbit of the Earth\ncontracts, and nearer shines the Sun. And, finally, the beautiful\nEarth, her mission over, the last atom of life beyond her rule,\ninward she sweeps, and is lost in the mighty ocean of fire as a\nstone is lost in the lake. Verily is the word of prophecy a\nliteral truth: \"The Earth shall be destroyed with fire.\" And so\non with the rest, each planet in its proper turn fulfilling the\nfunctions at present performed by the Earth, each becoming the\ngrand theater of material and ethereal life, and the cometary\nbodies, to-day chasing unknown orbits in the realms of ether,\ngradually fall into line when their erratic cycle is ended,\ntaking the places of the present outermost planets.\n\nNo such thing as death, no such thing as the dark silence of\neternal night, for any organic creation of the Most High. From\nthe Sun they come, and unto the Sun each must ultimately return,\neven as the body of Man, coming from the dust of Earth, must also\nreturn thereto, to be taken up in new forms and furnish substance\nfor other degrees of life. And thus will it be, until the Sun, in\nits mighty solar heavens of purified spiritual life, will form\nthe last, the final battle ground of matter, receiving ITS NEW\nLIFE FROM A GREATER CENTER THAN ITSELF. A glorious solar world,\nwell typified in the last Battle of the Gods, and the new\nEarth--a World whereon the Angels tread in superlatively\nbeautiful forms, clothed with the ideals and emanations of their\nown divine purity--Souls clothed in Air, treading the ethereal\nRealms of Light, as the children of God, and the inheritors of\nthe Kingdom of Heaven.\n\nMust the searching eye of the Soul seek further? Must the\ninsatiable thirst of the Spirit launch out upon the trackless\ninfinities of the yet To Be? Must it still penetrate further in\nthe profound beyond, where time ceases to be, where the past,\npresent, and the future, are forever unknown, but exist only as\nthe Deific consciousness of the eternal Now? No. The Soul at last\nrests satisfied. The final revelation is over.\n\nMy brother, we have done; and, in closing, have only to add that,\nnot until the speculating philosophy of earthly schools blends\nwith the Science of the Spheres in the full and perfect fruition\nof the wisdom of the ages, will Man KNOW and REVERENCE his\nCreator, and, in the silent Penetralia of his inmost being,\nrespond, in unison with that Angelic Anthem of Life: \"We Praise\nThee, O God!\"","title":"The Light of Egypt; Or, The Science of the Soul and the Stars \u2014 Volume 2","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":48948}