Liber CLXV

I think you are the real man, and will attain. You work hard and regularly, and keep the record well. And you have the Root of the Matter in you. These are your-dangers. (1) You are emotional. This is very bad, and must be got rid of. It's a form of Egoism, and leads to the Left-hand Path. You say: "I object to my wife being run over by a motor-car," and think you are stating an Eternal Truth. Now no elephant in Siam cares whether she is run over or not. Say then: "It is (relatively to V.I.O.) right that he should object, etc., etc." Use this analysis with all emotions. Don't allow yourself to think that your own point of view is the only one. Read Liber LXV, Cap. I: 32—40 and 57—61. This is extremely important: for one thing, if you fail to understand, you will go mad when you come to a certain Gate. (2) You are inclined to vagueness. This is evidently partly caused by the fog of emotion. Before you can pass to Zelator, you must know and rule the Astral Plane throughout. Astral journeys, however interesting and even splendid and illuminating, don't count unless they are willed. If you want to go to your office, and find yourself at the Town Hall instead, it's no excuse that the Town Hall has fine columns! You should drop all "Meditations on Love." What's the matter with Hate, anyway? From beyond the Abyss, they look as like each other as two new pennies. You really mean "Reflection on Love": "Jones' Night Thoughts": "Idle thoughts of an idle fellow." It's a soul-destroying, mind-fuddling practice. If indulged in, it will absolutely ruin all power of concentration.

Now here is your Examination for the Grade of Zelator.[1]

1. Go through a door on which is engraved this figure and explain the figure in detail by means of your visions.
2. Invoke Mercury and Hod, and travel till you meet the Unicorn mentioned in Liber LXV, Cap. III, verse 2. Report its conversation fully.
3. Discover by visions the nature of the Aichemical principles, Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt. How do they differ from the 3 Gunas, and the elements Fire, Water, Air?
4. Give an account of the sign Aquarius in the 4 Worlds, Assiah, Yetzirah, Briah, and Atziluth.
5. Visit and describe fully the Qliphoth of Aries.
6. Visit lophiel and Hismael, and report their appearance, mode of life, and conversation.

Observe. The A∴A∴ work throughout is definite and directed. There is no room for a single loose thought.

(3) You must be perfectly stern and austere about the sanctity of the Work. You wouldn't allow your wife to come to the office and talk: you must make her respect your hour of work at home. Here I foresee trouble: with rarest exceptions a woman objects to a man doing anything of which she is not the centre. His business is only allowable because it provides for her. Herein no compromise is possible. You must be master or slave; and the truest kindness is to be master once and for all, whatever the cost. —O.M.

In this defile we must leave our Pilgrim for the present. He is about to confront the denizens of the Astral World, menacing or seducing in turn; and, following the bold Rosicrucian rule, he remains in the current of life, without the safeguard of an absolute external retirement and renunciation, such as is advocated by Eastern teachers. But in the Way of the A ? A ? externals are of less account than essentials, and V.I.O. was under the guidance and guardianship of an Order whose Omniscience is impeccable, and Its ward sure.