The Vision and the Voice

The Cry of the 15th Aethyr

OXO[1]

There appears immediately in the Aethyr a tremendous column of scarlet fire, whirling forth, rebounding, crying aloud. And about it are four columns of green and blue and gold and silver, each inscribed with writings in the character of the dagger. And the column of fire is dancing among the pillars. Now it seems that the fire is but the skirt of the dancer, and the dancer is a mighty god. The vision is overpowering.

As the dancer whirls, she chants in a strange, slow voice, quickening as she goes: Lo! I gather up every spirit that is pure, and weave him into my vesture of flame. I lick up the lives of men, and their souls sparkle from mine eyes. I am the mighty sorceress, the lust of the spirit. And by my dancing I gather for my mother Nuit the heads of all them that are baptized in the waters of life. I am the lust of the spirit that eateth up the soul of man. I have prepared a feast for the adepts, and they that partake thereof shall see God.[2]

Now it is clear what she has woven in her dance; it is the Crimson Rose of 49 Petals, and the Pillars are the Cross with which it is conjoined. And between the pillars shoot out rays of pure green fire; and now all the pillars are golden. She ceases to dance, and dwindles, gathering herself into the centre of the Rose.

Now it is seen that the Rose is a vast ampitheatre, with seven tiers, each tier divided into seven partitions. And they that sit in the Amphitheatre are the seven grades of the Order of the Rosy Cross. This Amphitheatre is built of rose-coloured marble, and of its size I can say only that the sun might be used as a ball to be thrown by the players in the arena. But in the arena there is a little altar of emerald,[3] and its top has the heads of the Four Beasts, in turquoise and rock-crystal.[4] And the floor of the arena is ridged like a grating of lapis lazuli.[5] And it is full of pure quicksilver.[6]

Above the altar is a veiled Figure, whose name is Pan. Those in the outer tier adore him as a Man; and in the next tier they adore him as a Goat; and in the next tier they adore him as a Ram; and in the next tier they adore him as a Crab; and in the next tier they adore him as an Ibis; and in the next tier they adore him as a Golden Hawk; and in the next tier they adore him not.[7]

And now the light streameth out from the altar, splashed out by the feet of him that is above it. It is the Holy Twelve-fold Table of OIT.[8]

The voice of him that is above the altar is silence, but the echo thereof cometh back from the walls of the circus, and is speech. And this is the speech: Three and four are the days of a quarter of the moon, and on the seventh day is the sabbath, but thrice four is the Sabbath of the Adepts whereof the form is revealed in the Aethyr ZID; that is the eighth of the Aires.[9] And the mysteries of the Table shall not be wholly revealed, nor shall they be revealed herein. But thou shalt gather of the sweat of thy brow a pool of clear water wherein this shall be revealed. And of the oil that thou burnest in the midnight shall be gathered together thirteen rivers of blessing; and of the oil and the water I will prepare a wine to intoxicate the young men and the maidens.[10]

And now the Table is become the universe; every star is a letter of the Book of Enoch. And the Book of Enoch is drawn therefrom by an inscrutable Mystery, that is known only to the Angels and the Holy Sevenfold Table.[11] While I have been gazing upon this table, an Adept has come forth, one from each tier, except the inmost Tier.

And the first[12] drove a dagger into my heart, and tasted the blood, and said: χαθαροσ, χαθαροσ, χαθαροσ, χαθαροσ, χαθαροσ, χαθαροσ.[13]

And the second[14] Adept has been testing the muscles of my right arm and shoulder, and he says: fortis, fortis, fortis, fortis, fortis.[15]

And the third[16] Adept examines the skin and tastes the sweat of my left arm, and says:

TAN, TAN, TAN, TAN.[17]

And the fourth Adept[18] examines my neck, and seems to approve, though he says nothing;[19] and he hath opened the right half of my brain, and he makes some examination, and says: "Samajh, samajh, samajh."[20]

And the fifth Adept examines the left half of my brain, and then holds up his hand in protest, and says "PLA …"[21] (I cannot get the sentence, but the meaning is: In the thick darkness the seed awaiteth spring.)

And now am I again rapt in contemplation of that universe of letters which are stars.

The words ORLO, ILRO, TULE are three most secret names of God. They are Magick names, each having an interpretation of the same kind as the interpretation of I.N.R.I., and the name OIT, RLU, LRL, OOE are other names of God, that contain magical formulae, the first to invoke fire; the second, water; the third, air; and the fourth, earth.[22]

And if the Table be read diagonally, every letter, and every combination of letters, is the name of a devil. And from these are drawn the formulae of evil magick.[23] But the holy letter I above the triad LLL dominateth the Table, and preserveth the peace of the universe.[24]

And in the seven talismans about the central Table are contained the Mysteries of drawing forth the letters. And the letters of the circumference declare the glory of Nuit, that beginneth from Aries.[25]

All this while the Adepts must have been chanting as it were an oratorio for seven instruments. And this oratorio hath one dominant theme of rapture. Yet it applieth to every detail of the universe as well as to the whole. And herein is Choronzon brought utterly to ruin, that all his work is against his will, not only in the whole, but in every part thereof, even as a fly that walketh upon a beryl-stone.

And the tablet blazeth ever brighter till it filleth the whole Aire. And behold! there is is one God therein, and the letters of the stars in his crown, Orion, and the Pleiades, and Aldebaran, and Alpha Centauri, and Cor Leonis, and Cor Scorpionis, and Spica, and the pole-star, and Hercules, and Regulus, and Aquila, and the Ram's Eye.

And upon a map of the stars shalt thou draw the sigil of that name; and because also some of the letters are alike, thou shalt know that the stars also have tribes and nations.[26] The letter of a star is but the totem thereof. And the letter representeth not the whole nature of the star, but each star must be known by itself in the wisdom of him that hath the Cynocephalus in leash.[27]

And this pertaineth unto the grade of a Magus, — and that is beyond thine. (All this is communicated not by voice, or by writing; and there is no form in the stone, but only the brilliance of the Table. And now I am withdrawn from all that, but the Rosy Cross of 49 petals is set upright upon the summit of a pyramid, and all is dark, because of the exceeding light behind.)

And there cometh a voice: The fly cried unto the ox, "Beware! Strengthen thyself. Set thy feet firmly upon the earth, for it is my purpose to alight between thy shoulders, and I would not harm thee." So also are they who wish well unto the Masters of the Pyramid.

And the bee said unto the flower: "Give me of thine honey," and the flower gave richly thereof; but the bee, though he wit it not, carried the seed of the flower into many fields of sun. So also are they that take unto themselves the Masters of the Pyramid for servants.

Now the exceeding light that was behind the Pyramid, and the Rosy Cross that is set thereon, hath fulfilled the whole Aire. The black Pyramid is like the back of a black diamond. Also the Rosy Cross is loosened, and the petals of the Rose are the mingled hues of sunset and of dawn; and the Cross is the Golden light of noon, and in the heart of the Rose there is the secret light that men call midnight.

And a voice: "Glory to God and thanksgiving to God, and there is no God but God. And He is exalted; He is great; and in the Sevenfold Table is His Name writ openly, and in the Twelvefold Table is His Name concealed."

And the Pyramid casts a shadow of itself into the sky, and the shadow spreads over the whole stone. And an angel clad in blue and scarlet, with golden wings and plumes of purple fire, comes forth and scatters disks of green and gold, filing all the Aire. And they become swiftly-whirling wheels, singing together.

And the voice of the angel cries: Gather up thy garments about thee,[28] O thou that hast entered the circle of the Sabbath; for in thy grave-clothes shouldest thou behold the resurrection.

The flesh hangeth upon thee like his rags upon a beggar that is a pilgrim to the shrine of the Exalted One. Nevertheless, bear them bravely, and rejoice in the beauty thereof, for the company of the pilgrims is a glad company, and they have no care, and with song and dance and wine and fair women do they make merry. And every hostel is their place, and every maid their queen.

Gather up thy garments about thee, I say, for the voice of the Aethyr, that is the voice of the Aeon, is ended, and thou art absorbed into the lesser night, and caught in the web of the light of thy mother in the word ARBADAHARBA.[29]

And now the five and the six are divorced,[30] and I am come again within my body.

Bou Sâada.

December 3, 1909. 9.15 - 11.10 a.m.

[1] OXO = Libra, Spirit, Libra. The Rose of Earth on the Place of Judgment; this is the scene of the Aethyr. לתל‎ = 460 = קדש ליהוה‎, meaning "Holy unto the Lord", and refers to the consecration (after examination) of the Exempt Adept. It is his final preparation for undergoing in consciousness the full ceremony of passing to the grade of Magister Templi.

[2] This is a form of Babalon. There is a reference to the story of Salome in the lesser mysteries of the dagger and disk in the cult of "the God, John". "John" is "ON" — Oannes, Nu, Noah, Jonah, etc. — the Sun entering the watery sign of Cancer (the sign of the whale, ark, etc.) at the summer solstice.

[3] The colour of Venus, love. This is the basis of the act of worship.

[4] Sacred to the sphere of the stars, and to Malkuth, the sphere of Earth, respectively.

[5] The body of Nuit, the star-strewn Blue.

[6] The universal Mercury, instrument of the constant change and flux which constitutes life.

[7] That is, in the lowest grade of the Second Order of the R.R. et A.C., 5° = 6^□, "God" is worshipped under the form of a man (Tiphareth). In 6° = 5^□, he seems as a goat (Mendes Kahn). In 7° = 4^□, a ram (Amoun). In 8° = 3^□, a crab (connected with the star sponge vision). In 9° = 2^□, an ibis (Thoth). In 10° = 1^□ a golden hawk (Ra Hoor Khuit). Above this (Kether), He is the Negative only.

[8] This table is: The Twelvefold Table

[9] The Seven are the inferiors, unless the reference be to Babalon, as in the table of 49 squares. Twelve refers to HUA = הוא‎ = 12 referred to Kether and in one of the invocations (as "The Angel who is set over these Mysteries") of the Golden Dawn and, of course, to the Zodiac The interweaving of multiplication is to the juxtaposition of addition as is chemical combination to mechanical mixture.

[10] See Kaballah Unveiled by McGregor Mathers, for 13 rivers of Holy Oil that flow down the Beard of Macroprosopus. (These are the first 13 letters.)

[11] See 22nd Aethyr for a fuller indication of this mystery, and infra.

[12] 5° = 6^□

[13] This Adept guards Tiphareth and tests the heart (which pertains thereto) for its purity. (χαθαροσ = pure) six times; 6 being the number of Tiphareth.

[14] 6° = 5^□.

[15] Similarly the right arm (of Geburah) five times. Fortis means strong.

[16] 7° = 4^□.

[17] Similarly the left arm (of Chesed) four times, for the virtue of Chesed — Mercy. (See 17th Aethyr).

[18] 8° = 3^□.

[19] The neck is of Daath (which is not a Sephirah, per se, and so has no number or corresponding symbol.)

[20] This part of the brain is of Binah (3). Samajh means understanding. That is, he admitted the right of the seer to the grade of Magister Templi, attributed to Binah, which means understanding.

[21] The seer was not worthy of the grade of Magus yet. Note that each adept uses a different language.

[22] All these practical mysteries must be worked out by the student himself. Any formula given by the annotator would probably be dead in the hands of another man.

[23] See Note 22.

[24] The easiest explanation of this is to suppose that the letters are not attributed as usual (i.e. I to Sagittarius, L to Cancer), but taken for their English shape (I the Middle Pillar, L the Square) — but this is far from satisfactory.

[25] Note that the corner letters in this table are all B = Leo. (These were the seven tablets or talismans used by Dee and Kelley in conjunction with the shew-stone.)

[26] This means there are different systems of physical motion for certain groups.

[27] Meaning Thoth. The attribution of the fixed stars to the Enochian alphabet has not been worked out. It pertains to the grade of Magus, and would have no interest or meaning for those of lower grades.

[28] Since the examination in the amphitheatre I have been a naked spirit without garments or anything; by garments he means the body.

[29] ABRAHADABRA spelt backwards, to reverse its formula, that of uniting the five with the six. See next paragraph.

[30] Because of saying ABRAHADABRA = 418, backwards. (For a more lengthy discussion of this word see the Qabalistic essay on Gematria in Equinox V, and in Sepher Sephiroth, Equinox VIII.