XI. THE MAGIC WAND

Books: Light of Egypt

This is the last lesson of our present course that requires a

clear definition of the terms employed in the title thereof, for

the twelfth, and final study is, perhaps, fortunate in having for

its title a word that has not, so far, been misused and distorted

from its original sense.



The Magic Wand. The words savor of everything that the young tyro

in Occult art can picture to his mind; of the midnight mag cian

and his mysterious, if not diabolical, arts, muttering his

incantations, working his gruesome spells, and raising the

restless ghosts of the dead. Strange fancies, these, and yet, so

corrupt and ignorant have become the conceptions of the popular

mind regarding the once sacred Science of the Temple and the

psychological powers of Nature, that we very much question, if

the ideas above stated were not very similar to the originals of

each modern student, before he had become acquainted with the

deeper truths--the realities of Occult philosophy.



We will commence our study by a careful investigation of the

original meaning of the words Magic Wand, since those who were

the masters and originators thereof, are far more likely to know

more about them than their degenerate offspring of a later age.

Few, comparatively, would believe that the words MAGIC, MASON,

and IMAGINATION, are the present unrelated descendants of the

same original conception--THE ROOT IDEA; but such is the case.

First, then, we will examine their modern meanings. Magic is the

unholy art of working secret spells, of using invisible powers,

and holding intercourse with the unseen world of ghosts and

demons, by means of enchantments. It also means the expert

deception of the senses by the tricks of a conjurer, SO-CALLED

hocus-pocus and fraud, and a magician is either an evil-minded,

superstitious mortal, fool enough to believe in charms, or an

expert pretender and imposter of the first water, who cheats and

deceives the people. A mason is the honorable designation of a

builder, who works in stone; metaphysically, a member of a semi-

secret society, whose sole advantage is social intercourse and

standing; who proclaim fraternity and universal brotherhood

theoretically and practice the reverse in reality; a man who apes

the Egyptian Mason, knows nothing in reality of Hiram, his

master; who knows nothing of the starry Solomon or his mystic

temple in the heavens, which Hiram built; and who misconceives

the import of the three villains, or assassins; and who, further,

knows nothing of that wonderful sprig of myrtle:--in short, a

Free Mason, speaking generally, is a man who delights in ideals,

social equality, secret fraternity, and plays at mysticism; who

parades on the Masonic stage and enacts a role he does not

understand. The first meaning, that of a builder, is the most

correct. Lastly, the imagination is the exercise of mental

imagery--the picturings of silent thought.



And now we will proceed BACKWARDS. Imagination is from the word

"image," a form, a picture, and has descended to us from the

Latin "imago," which, in its turn, was derived from the old

Semitic root, "mag." Mason comes to us from the Latin "mass,"

which means to mould and form, i.e., to build; and the word

"mass," through various transformations, was also derived from

the root-word "mag." Consequently, originally, there was but

little difference in the ancient idea of building pictures in the

mind and erecting the mental idea externally in stone. It is from

this fact, that, we have to-day Mental Masons, a la the secret

orders, and stone masons, who labor for wages. The Mental Masons

have merely lost the knowledge of their art. They should, by

rights, be as active and correspondingly useful to-day as their

more physical brothers, the masons of stone.



This art would never have fallen into disgrace and disuse, if

their daily bread, or material accumulations, had depended upon

their efforts in building up the mental, moral, and spiritual

attainments, of each other, and bringing their knowledge into

more external use, by making the material edifice, the physical

body, a purer and more fitting temple, for the Divine soul.



Magic comes from the Latin "magi" and the Greek word "magos,"

which means wise, learned in the mysteries, and was the synonym

of wisdom. The initiated philosopher, the priest, and the wise

men, are all of them included in the "magi." Again, tracing this

word to its remote ancestor, we find it terminating in the same

Semitic root, "mag," but of this strange root no one was able to

say much, except that it seemed to belong to the Assyrian branch

of the great Semitic race. But quite recently, thanks to our

scientific explorers and archaeologists, versed in the mysterious

meaning of cuniform inscription; Assyrian scholars now inform us

that they have found the hoary, primitive original of it, of

magic, magi and imago, etc. It is from an old Akkadian word,

"imga," meaning wise, holy, and learned, and was used as the

distinguishing title of their wisest sages, priests, and

philosophers, who, as may be supposed, gradually formed a

peculiar caste, which merged into the ruling priestly order. The

Semites, who succeeded the old Akkadian race in the valley of the

Euphrates, as a mere matter of verbal convenience, transformed

many of the old Akkadian words to suit their own articulation,

and "imga" became "mag," and thus "magi." THE BLEND between the

Semetic and the older Akkadian race, produced, by fusion of

racial blood, the famed Chaldeans. So that we see how old are the

words which many of us daily use, but with different meaning.

Verily, it makes one feel, when be thinks of magic and its

origin, as though he were quite nearly related to the people who

honored King Sargon, the Wise, the earthly original of the mystic

Solomon of Biblical tradition. The term Wand is an old Saxon

word, which primarily signifies to set in motion, to move. From

this we derive our word wander, i.e., to roam, and wandering,

i.e., moving and continually restless.



We have now the original, therefore real, meaning of the words

Magic Wand; thus an object that sets in motion the powers of the

magician, and the magician, an Initiate of the sacred rites--A

MASTER OF WISDOM, possessing all the resources that enable him TO

BUILD mould, and form; to create in fact, by virtue of his

knowledge of the secret powers of mental imagery and the

potential use of his own imagination. He is both Mental Mason and

learned philosopher.



The student may doubtless ask, why all this care and labor

regarding mere definitions? We reply that, it is because, the

real meaning of the words we have purposely selected for the

title of our studies are, in themselves, a far better revelation

than we could possibly have written. Originally, ideas and words

were related as absolute expressions or correspondences, of each

other. This is not so now. As the different races became

interblended, the purity of both language and morals retrograded,

and the people grew more to the external. The intuitions and

spirit were compelled to retreat, giving place to only the

intellectual and mental. The blending of the languages gave birth

to many words wherein different meanings were transmitted; hence,

the trouble arising to-day over the numerous interpretations of a

single word.



Hybrid races have no such thing as a pure language. Their ideas

and language, like their blood, is badly mixed up, confusing, and

unsatisfactory, so far as the real meaning of the words are

concerned. For this very reason we find so many different

meanings for the same word; and also for this reason, we cannot

formulate a legal enactment in the Anglo-Saxon tongue that, a

learned lawyer, versed in this senseless jugglery of words,

cannot demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the courts, means

something the very opposite of the real intentions-- the

spirit--which the framers thereof, intended it to convey.

Anciently, it required no artful cunning of the lawyer to

interpret the laws. The words had only one simple and obvious

meaning. If a language could be so constructed to-day, and the

antiquated precedents of the courts annihilated; the legal

profession would be exterminated inside of twelve months, and an

affliction removed from the people.



The philosophy of the Magic Wand is this. It is a magnetic,

electric conductor for the magician's will. It directs the flow

of his thought and concentrates it upon a given point in space or

an object. It is, magically, what the sights of a rifle are to a

sportsman. It enables him to focus his powers with exact

precision upon the mark against which, or upon which, his will is

directed. Apart from this there is no power, per se, in the Wand

itself, any more than there is in a lightning conductor without

the electric storm. Ergo, the Wand is the conductor, in the

magician's hand, for the lightnings of the soul; and just as the

lightning rod is most useful and most powerful to protect, when

the storm is the strongest; so is the Wand most powerful in the

hands of the most potential magician. We can only transmit

through this Wand the degree of force we may happen to possess in

the soul.



In a properly prepared Wand lies the most powerful weapon, to

protect or destroy, that can be placed within a magician's hands.

With his own spiritual force and knowledge, combined with the

magic power attached to the instrument, nothing can withstand its

power, when directed with a determined and powerful will.



Many substances have been employed in the manufacture of these

Magic Wands. Metals or stones will not serve this purpose, unless

covered with some organic matter. In any case stones are

worthless. The very finest Wands are made from the live ivory of

a female elephant. A short Wand, twenty-one inches long, tipped

with gold at the largest end and silver or copper at the other,

is very powerful. Next to these costly articles are Wands with a

gold or copper core, a wire, in fact, cased with ebony, boxwood,

rosewood, cedar or sandalwood. English yew also serves the

purpose; so does almond wood. Simpler, less expensive, and almost

as effective, are Wands made of witch-hazel. In fact, apart from

the Wands of live ivory, I consider that witch-hazel is as

powerful as the golden Wand. Next in force to this witch-hazel

are the shoots of the almond tree, and, lastly, the peach and

swamp willow.



The proper time to manufacture a Magic Wand is whenever you can

find the person who is able to do the work. But after it is

constructed it must be thoroughly magnetized, with proper

ceremony and aspiration, the first or the second full Moon after

the Sun enters Capricorn, at midnight, when the Moon will be

culminating in her own sign upon the mid-heaven.



The best time TO CUT a shoot of witch-hazel or other material for

a Wand is the first full Moon after the Sun's entry into

Capricorn, at midnight, and then magnetize it upon the next full

Moon at the same hour.



In conclusion, let us repeat that, the Magic Wand is but the

highly sensitive magical medium for transmitting and

concentrating the force of the learned magician; that it is

equally powerful under great excitement of mind, WHETHER USED

CONSCIOUSLY OR NOT. The stream of mental fire will go in the

direction the Wand happens to be pointed, and, therefore, should

never be in the hands of the wicked or foolish, any more than

firearms. It is potential or otherwise, in exact proportion to

the artist's wisdom and dynamic mentality, and is useless in the

hands of the idiotic or weak-minded. A Magic Wand requires brains

and vigorous mental force to make it effective, just as the steam

engine requires an apparatus for generating the steam, that moves

it. With a determined will, and a mental conception of one's

inward power, any man or woman can, by means of this sensitive

Wand, defy all the legionaries of Hell, and quickly disperse

every form of spiritual iniquity.



The firearms which have become so intricate in their mechanism

and so destructive in their operations, are only a degeneration

of the Magic Wand. The first weapons of warfare and slaughter

were very crude and clumsy, then larger and more destructive,

until at last they have become as fine in texture and mechanical

genius, compared with their early brothers, as the Magic Wand is

to-day, above and beyond, the present weapons of warfare. At

last, the original mode of defense will be rediscovered and

become a utility in the hands of the majority of mankind. At the

same time, the mental and moral nature will be evolving into

better conditions, too, so that their use will not be given to

the ignorant and evildoers, but placed in charge of the educated,

those who are morally capable of leading and ruling.



Yes, we are now stepping upon the plane of reason and intuition,

where right, not might, will prevail and rule the world. The

present mode of government and rule will be changed, and one of

humanitarian justice take its place.



God hasten the Millenium.





THE BOOK WHICH IS CALLED THE TABLETS OF AETH



THE SACRED SCROLL WHICH IS CALLED THE TABLETS OF AETH



NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME TRANSCRIBED FROM THE ASTRAL RECORDS AND

DONE INTO A BOOK,



By ZANONI



TO WHICH IS ADDED A SERIES OF INTERPRETATIVE REFLECTIONS FOR THE

SPIRITUAL MEDITATION OF THE FAITHFUL.



FOREWORD



Thy temple is the arch Of yon unmeasured sky;

Thy Sabbath the stupendous march Of grand eternity.



To my Brothers and Sisters of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor:



GREETING--For some years it has been my desire to leave a

spiritual legacy to the many devoted friends and followers who

have braved so much amid present truth and error for my sake.



In choosing the present work for such a purpose, I have had in

view the deeper spiritual needs of the soul--the prophetic

element of the interior spirit, which can best exalt itself

through the contemplation of Nature's arcane symbolism of the

starry heavens--not the material expression of the glittering

splendors of the midnight sky, but the spiritual soul-pictures of

those blazing systems that reveal to the seeing eye the shining

thrones of THE RULERS--the Powers that Be.



Ever since the dawn of intellectual human life upon our Mother

Earth, long before the days of the cave man, or even the first

frost that heralded the coming of the Ice Age, souls have hoped

and hungered and souls have quailed and fallen in their struggles

with the mysteries of God. But ever and anon some bright flower

of the race has gained the spiritual victory. A Messianic soul

has responded to aspirations of a great-hearted, great-souled

woman, pregnant with spiritual yearnings beyond her race, and she

has unconsciously blessed her kind for the generations yet to

come with that incarnated mystery--THE SON OF GOD. Blessed, O

Woman, is thy patient mission on the earth, and transcendent are

the holy mysteries of thy maternity. Every human birth is a

Divine miracle in humanity, performed by the Motherhood of God.



Hence it is that, from the earliest ages of life, triumphant

souls have stormed the gates of the sanctuary and penetrated

Nature's most occult mysteries and there recorded their spiritual

victories. Amid these sacred records lies one great scroll, that

none but the brightest and bravest may read.



This sacred scroll, sealed with the seven mystic seals of the

heavens, contains The Tablets of Aeth, a record of the soul's

experiences upon the planes of both conscious and sub-conscious

life-spirit and matter, that are expressed in a series of

universal symbols, which manifest to the seer the processes of

creative life, of spiritual cause with material effect. And,

finally, the mystery of the seven vials and the seven stars of

Saint John are written therein; for the Tablets are the

hieroglyphic keys which unlock the realities of truth involved

within the unrealities of external life, and open up, to the

aspiring soul, inconceivable vistas of knowledge yet possible of

realization, within the Divine womb of the uncreated Aether.



Myriads of exalted spirits, who have toiled for the treasure

which doth not corrupt, have added, and are adding, their portion

of personal conception to this universal conception of life, so

that the sacred symbols themselves, inscribed upon these

imperishable Tablets, ARE EVOLUTIONARY--are slowly unfolding

through the eons of time, and revealing wider and yet deeper

processes of the light, life, and love, of the Motherhood of God.



Therefore, all Divine revelation of infinite truth is limited and

finite as to its conception, when revealed through a finite

capacity. All Divine truths are universal; all personal

conceptions of such truths are limited; hence springs the

unquenchable fountain of the ONE eternal truth, eternally

repeating itself, in cosmic as in human life, by the progressive

unfoldment of Nature's unlimited potentialities.



"The outward doth from the inward roll,

And the inward dwells in the inmost soul."





The true poet is always a seer, and he might have added that the

INMOST SOUL is the uncreate, and, the yet uncreated itself, lies

buried in the ever eternal beyond; hence the immortality of the

human spirit.



This sacred astral scroll, rightly and reverently studied by the

disciple of the higher law, becomes a boundless source of

knowledge and inspiration. There is no mood of the mind or

yearning of the soul that cannot be satisfied and refreshed from

this inexhaustible fountain of spiritual truth, no passion of the

human heart that cannot be eased of its burden and soothed of its

pain. Its spiritual refreshment falls like the dew from heaven

upon those who are weary and heavy laden with the trials and

sufferings of external life.



Accept it, then, even as it is given unto you. My friends and

brethren, accept it as Zanoni's last work on earth--his legacy to

you, and may the spirit of the All-Father-Mother, the ineffable

spirit of Life, Light, and Love,--the Unknowable, whom men call

God, rest upon you and be with you now and forever.





INTRODUCTION



TO THE BOOK WHICH IS CALLED "THE TABLETS OF AETH," WHEREIN ARE

DESCRIBED THE FORMULAS OF MEDITATION.



THE FORMULAS OF MEDITATION,



TO THE DRAGON, FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.



"When first, a musing boy, I stood beside

Thy starlit shimmer, and asked my restless heart

What secrets Nature to the herd denied,

But might to earnest hierophant impart;

When lo! beside me, around and o'er,

Thought whispered, 'Arise, O seeker, and explore.' "





The Tablets of Aeth are the culminating expression of symbolical

ideas, and the studious meditation thereof is to be approached

and continued in this wise:



First, commit to memory, as near as may be, all the ideas

involved in the astrological laws and principles laid down in

"The Science of the Stars," formulated in the second part of "The

Light of Egypt," Vol. I, especially as regards the symbolism

there given and manifestation thereof on the intellectual plane.

Mentally digest these aspects of truth most thoroughly.



Second, carry forward the same course of mental training with

regard to the preceding chapters in this volume, from No. 1 to

No. 12. There are thirteen chapters, but No. 13, the last one,

being "The Penetralia," should not be included in this course,

but, rightly used, should be reserved as the last and final

revelation for spiritual contemplation.



The twelve chapters just mentioned continue the great astral laws

given in "The Light of Egypt," Vol. I, from this plane to that of

the soul life of the human monad (both prior to and after human

incarnation). At this point we leave the finite and step into the

realms of the infinite. From the sphere of limitations which

surround the microcosm we enter the starlit path of the

macrocosm, and here, with the illimitable ocean of eternal life

sweeping onward before us, we hear the first strains of the Grand

March of the Universe burst forth from the organs of God! The

suns of creative life swell the infinite chorus of sound;

archangels swing their fiery batons to the march of the heavenly

host; and all earthly sound has ceased. We are absorbed in the

music of the spheres.



We are now in the realm of universals, the domain of living

realities. The Tarot of Mother Nature revolves before us,

revealing her mystic meanings to the soul. All ideas are symbols,

and symbols are reservoirs for the conservation of thought. And

this is a very truth: Even so on earth as it is in heaven.



The Tablets of Aeth, then, constitute a spiritual astrology, a

spiritual science of the stars, void of mathematics, yet

possessing all the exactitude of figures, constructed on the

principles of astronomy, yet expressed by the methods of the

Kabbalah.



The transmission of spiritual truth from inward to outward form,

though differing according to the age in which it is expressed,

is ever the same in principle. And in the same way that the

sacred clavicula of Solomon became the Tarot of Bohemian gypsies,

so did the Tablets of Aeth manifest their mysteries in the starry

science of Chaldean lore. But there is this sharp line of

demarcation between them, namely, the Tablets of Aeth deal with

universal human life and nature, with infinite principles from

which all finite laws radiate. The Tablets of Aeth express and

symbolize the cause. All other mundane systems of occult study,

astronomical or metaphysical, are spirito-natural effects, the

individual intellectual fruits, gathered from the one universal

tree of knowledge. Uncreated, Unlimited Potentiality, is the one

impersonal truth shining forever in the Great White Light of God.

All the laws, powers, and principalities, manifested in the

moving Universe, are but the colored rays, blazing with glorious

life through the prisms of matter.



Having stated thus much, the neophyte will perceive in what

meditative sphere of thought the Tablets may be used. The method

of study is, as shown, a purely synthetic deduction of human

ideas from spiritual symbols of universal principles. The Tablets

themselves constitute a grand arcane Tarot of man, God and the

universe, and of all the powers that dwell therein. They may be

studied singly, as, for instance, meditating upon some one great

universal idea or principle; or they may be studied in trines,

as they appear in each separate book, or chapter, or as squares,

like two, five, eight, eleven, or as the seal of two trines, one,

three, five, seven, nine, eleven, with No. twelve in the center,

as the revealer of the mystery. And, finally, they may be

contemplated as the Grand Oracle of Heaven, in the following

manner:



Make a circle of the tablets, as you would with a pack of Tarot

cards, beginning with No. 1, on the eastern horizon, and

proceeding in the exact opposite order from a figure of the

heavens--No. 2, being on the Twelfth House, No. 3, on the

Eleventh, and {} on the M. C. of the figure, as in the

Astro-Masonic chart, given in the second part of "The Light of

Egypt," Vol. I, and so proceed with the rest of the twelve

tablets of the stars. This figure will represent the

potentialities of the macrocosm, the starry signs symbolizing the

possibilities of things past or to be, and the rulers the active

executors thereof. Study the figure in all its aspects as such,

first singly, tablet by tablet, then as a whole--the cosmos.

Next, place the ruler of any given tablet at the side of the

Mansion, and try to penetrate its various meanings, powers and

possibilities. Then proceed the same with a trine and a square,

and, last, with all the rulers, in the order of their celestial

lordship of the signs, each in his appointed place, as a whole

Arcana.



In any grave crisis of mental or physical affairs, wherein

nations, and not individuals, are concerned, the tablets may be

used as a celestial scheme of the heavens, thus: Cast a figure of

the heavens for the Sun's first entry into the sign Aries at the

vernal equinox, calculated for the meridian of the capital city

of the country under consideration. Degrees and minutes are not

wanted. Then place the twelve tablets in place of signs, exactly

as they would occur in an astrological figure. Then place the

rulers of the Sun, Moon and planets therein (each having its own

tablet), as they are found to be situated in an ephemeris for the

time of the figure. This done, study the whole from a spiritual

standpoint as the causes and ultimates of the crisis, according

to astro laws.



The foregoing simple directions will, I think, be sufficiently

plain for all purposes, never forgetting that this holy study is

not a system of divination, as commonly understood, but of Divine

revelation, in its highest and most holy religious sense. Long

study and most reverent meditation will be required to master

this mystery, and many errors of judgment will occur to the

beginner.



The interpretative reflections are added for the purpose of

guiding and guarding the spiritually untrained seer from possible

error in fundamental conceptions only. They must not by any means

be taken as a complete revelation of the tablets, but only as a

series of skeleton keys by means of which all things may be

revealed to the earnest seeker thereof. To have added more than

is given would only be to defeat the object of this work. Each

seeker for the truth must excavate the mines of knowledge, and

dig further into this universal well of truth for himself.



Remember that all interpretation will be personal to each

student. Of no one can it be affirmed, "thou hast said," and so

endeth the matter. Not so. To each, according to his talent,

shall the mysteries of the kingdom be revealed, to every one

according to his humility, spiritual light, and merit. But from

the arrogant, the selfish, and spiritually proud, shall all

things be taken away, and truth shroud herself in the veil of

delusion. In simplicity of mind, then, and purity of soul,

approach the Holy of Holies. "Suffer little children to come unto

Me," saith a messenger of the Most High, "for of such is the

Kingdom of Heaven." Verily, therefore, I say unto you, that not

until you can look upon all the works of Nature--beauty in her

nakedness or vice and crime in their repulsiveness, with pure

thought and holy feeling, can you inherit eternal life.



Here endeth the introduction to the book which is called "The

Tablets of Aeth."





PART I



OF THE TWELVE MANSIONS



Here beginneth Chapter I of the Book which is called "The Tablets

of Aeth," wherein is transcribed the First Quadrant of the Twelve

Mansions.



"I sent my soul through the invisible,

Some lesson of that after life to spell;

And by and by my soul returned to me

And answered, 'I, myself, am Heaven and Hell.' "





"The moving finger writes; and, having writ,

Moves on; nor all your piety nor wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a line

, Nor all your tears wash out a word of it."





TABLET THE FIRST



Aries



SYMBOL



A deep blue Sky, a blaze, as if something were about to rise.



I



REFLECTION



TABLET THE FIRST



The blush of dawn of a new life, all nature quivering with the

sense of coming, conscious life; Isis, vibrant with love of the

coming child, her bosom flushed in expectation of the little son

soon to breathe on her yearning breast.



In this we trace the great lesson of preparation, of sending the

light before the form, of the prophecy before the fulfillment.

Dawn must precede sunrise. What you expect will be your destiny.



It is the longing of centuries that incarnates a god, a real

Sun-God, whose vibrant love-life can thrill other lives into

prayer--aspiration, the struggle for eternal life. The dawn

represents the expectant maternity of Nature--God.



O child of Adam! See that thou expecteth much, and that thy

aspirations are reflected in thy outward life.





TABLET THE SECOND



Taurus



SYMBOL



A red sun on the horizon of an inky sea.



II



REFLECTION



TABLET THE SECOND



Nature has shown forth her glory, as brought forth by young

Horus, but her creative force is still unreflected. The sea is

black and inky. The Son of God is born, but the sea of human life

still remains unconscious, in primeval darkness.



The angles of the Sun and the sea are not yet in right relation

to each other. A few, standing on the watch-towers of life,

seeing the red glow of the risen sun, call "Look!" But the

unfortunate ones in the outer darkness cry, as they beat their

breasts; "No! There is no light! You do but dream!" And yet the

Sun of Life has risen--the Divine light glows.



O child of Adam! Remember that "In Him was life, and life was the

light of man, and the light shineth in the darkness, and the

darkness comprehended it not."





TABLET THE THIRD



Gemini



SYMBOL



Two stars are rising at angles to each other and to the Polar

star, while eight stars shine faintly in the black space of

background.



III



REFLECTION



TABLET THE THIRD



The Divine symbol of soul-matehood is here signified in the two

stars rising in the foreground; not only the soul-affinities of

humanity, but the eternal father-mother forces manifested in the

biune spirit of universal life and nature, the two great creative

powers, Life and Light, whose harmony creates love, attraction

and repulsion, and the straight lines of law and justice, which

blend in the spiral of mercy.



The two stars are rising at an oblique angle to the pole-star,

the center around which, material things revolve. So, too, life

and love are balanced by the star of wisdom. Love in the spirit

is adaption to the environment in matter and providence in

universal life. The eight stars reveal the mystery of the

tablet--universal death, present with life, the final end of all

discord glimmers faintly afar off, and man questions the love of

God, seeing that all things pass away, not realizing that death

is the germinal promise of life, of transformation, of the

realization of unrealized hopes, of the union of loving hearts in

their starry pilgrimage back to the Father's home.



O child of Adam! Listen unto the words of the Teacher: "I and the

Father are one." Suffer little children to come unto me, for of

such ii the Kingdom of Heaven."





PART I



Here beginneth Chapter 2 of the Book which is called "The Tablets

of Aeth," wherein is transcribed the Second Quadrant of the

Twelve Mansions.



"How they struggle in the immense Universe!

How they whirl and seek!

Innumerable souls, that all spring forth

From the vast world-soul.

They drop from planet to planet,

And in the abyss they weep

For their forgotten land.

These are thy tears, O Dionysus,

O Spirit vast, Divine One, Liberator.

Draw back thy daughters to the breast of light."



"Ah, love! Could you and I with him conspire

To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire,

Would we not shatter it to bits? And then

Remould it nearer to the heart's desire."





TABLET THE FOURTH Cancer



SYMBOL



A woman's face unconscious, in trance, surrounded by clouds.



IV



REFLECTION



TABLET THE FOURTH



The dreaming woman, whose brooding thoughts shape the coming man.

The race is never any farther advanced than the average thought

of the woman. She is yet sleeping, knowing not her powers. So,

not until she awakes and recognizes herself as conceiving by the

Holy Ghost and the mother of the incarnate God, will that God be

brought forth unto universal knowledge.



In this is the great lesson to woman: Ever remember thy creative

power as the mother of the humanity of the future. The sun in thy

mansion exerts its highest power. Awake, therefore, O soul, and

eclipse not its brightness with thy dreams of sublunary power.



O child of Adam! Ever honor the womb that gave thee birth, and

know that all thy earthly greatness received its seed therefrom.

A fountain cannot rise higher than its source.





TABLET THE FIFTH



Leo



SYMBOL



A man's arm, bent, exceedingly muscular, a knife in the hand, a

streak of lightning opposite the arm, which is defying the

lightning.



V



REFLECTION



TABLET THE FIFTH



Here we have the symbol of the incarnate fire of the spirit

defying the mere natural fire of the heavens. The woman sleeps

and broods and dreams, but the man she has brought forth is

awake, and bids defiance to the fiery forces of Nature. He has

armed himself with the keen knife of action, and with it has

conquered the forces of matter. He has harnessed the lightning,

and made the electric fluid his obedient slave. And thus has he

mastered all forces inferior to spirit--that spirit of conscious

life which is his birthright.



The lesson to be gleaned from this is that, the kingdom of Nature

must be taken by storm. Not for rest, but for work, has Mother

Nature sent forth her man child; not for peace, but for battle;

not for inertia, but for effort.



O child of Adam! Arm yourself with the sword--mayhap the sword of

affliction--and, gallantly raising the strong right ann aloft,

hurl defiance at the chaos of Nature, sure that the fire from the

Sun of the spirit is burning in every vein of that arm.





TABLET THE SIXTH



Virgo



SYMBOL



A Lotus, rising from the water, coiled around its stem a snake,

whose efforts fail to reach the flower.



VI



REFLECTION



TABLET THE SIXTH



Here we have the sacred flower, symbol of the virgin soul,

uncontaminated by the snake of passion, which can only enfold the

body-- the stem; the snake of matter--of lust--of evil. But the

flower of the spirit--the soul--lifts its pure white petals

upward as an incense cup to the Sun of the Spirit.



In this symbol read the great lesson of the experience of evil.

If, the flower of the soul, blossoms; the mud of the soil and the

snake of the passions are but the surroundings of its roots and

stem. Both are necessary for the perfection of the flower. The

roots sink deep into Mother Earth, and draw nourishment and life,

lifting matter upward, while the snake of passion becomes, under

another aspect, the serpent of wisdom. Coiled around the stem of

this life, it gives to the incarnated soul that wisdom which

later blossoms in the Seraph of the Sun spheres.



O child of Adam! Take suffering, if it forge the sword of the

spirit. Take evil and passion, and turn them into deep lessons of

life, blossoming the evil into good, changing passion into

wisdom. Only "the pure in heart can see God."





PART I



Here beginneth Chapter 3 of the Book which is called "The Tablets

of Aeth," wherein is transcribed the Third Quadrant of the Twelve

Mansions.



"To know what really exists, one must cultivate silence with ones

self, for it is in silence that the eternal and unexpected

flowers open, which change their form and color according to the

soul in which they grow. Souls are weighed in silence, as gold

and silver are weighed in pure water."



"The worldly hope men set their hearts upon turns to ashes; or it

prospers, and anon, like snow upon the desert's dusty face,

lighting a little hour or two, is gone."





TABLET THE SEVENTH



Libra



SYMBOL



A crowned king, with a scythe raised in the air, looks closely at

two boys wrestling beneath him in a field of grain, a red poppy

below them.



VII



REFLECTION



TABLET THE SEVENTH



The symbol of Nature's eternal war for the impossible equilibrium

between spirit and matter; the symbol, also, of Time, which is

but the illusion in which eternity clothes itself; forever

putting on and forever putting off new garments of matter. The

crowned king is the victorious soul, waiting, with the scythe of

Time, to reap the harvest of the world; while incarnated man, as

represented in the wrestling youths, is struggling for that which

he did not produce, and which only death can reap. The poppy

reveals the secret of the illusions of Nature's master-showman.

All earthly things are unreal to the spirit, which is the only

real thing. Man's effort to hoard and save the things of this

world IS INJUSTICE TO OTHERS. The struggle is eternal, and no

matter how careful or cunning man is to monopolize either power,

truth or wealth, swift-footed time will readjust all things

without error.



O child of Adam! "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,

where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through

and steal."





TABLET THE EIGHTH



Scorpio



SYMBOL



A wide, and plain, on it a skeleton; a dull, grey sky, in which

an Eagle soars, full-fed, it seems, from the flesh of the

skeleton.



VIII



REFLECTION



TABLET THE EIGHTH



A significant symbol to the seer, showing forth the two ultimates

of life and death, of earthly things and sex. Scorpio is both the

eagle of the spirit, soaring aloft, well fed with all that is

worth carrying away from the earth; and also the scorpion, whose

natural home is the desert.



In sex, either way, life is given. Shall it be to your spirit

making fat and full your immortal self, or will the other

interpretation be yours? And will you leave yourself dead and

annihilated, a skeleton, to the Ego, the Divine spirit? For sex

is indeed the foundation of all. Raised to the region of Libra,

it is power and magnetism. To the bosom it is love; to the brain

it is enthusiasm. It is the promethian fire of life, the creative

force, giving vigor to whatever region to which it is raised; or,

lowered, to be spent with no returns, it debases and renders life

a desert of dry bones.



O child of Adam! Reflect on the fall of man from spirit to

matter, and combine the wisdom of the serpent with the purity of

the dove, and "lest ye partake of the tree of life ye shall

surely die."





TABLET THE NINTH



Saggitarius



SYMBOL



A child in a shell, holding in its hand a feathered lance, is

drawn by five stars, grouped in an under arc.



IX



REFLECTION



TABLET THE NINTH



The symbol of the conscious soul. The shell is the body, drawn by

the five senses--stars--which form an under arc, to represent the

world of material things and our relation thereto. The child,

armed with the feathered lance, is the soul; riding thus, fully

armed, in the shell of the body, it realizes the duality of

truth; that all things are changeable; and that each thing is

true upon the plane of its manifestation, while an illusion to

that which is interior to its life, while the soul is in its

dream state. Sagittarius represents conservatism and the

permanence of crystallized institutions; but, when the spirit

awakes and bursts the shell of matter, the senses, instead of

being the guardians and jailors of its environment, become its

servants, and the means by which, united as the one Ego,

sense-perception, it races o'er the fields of Aeth--a being of

life and beauty, shining in the empyrean of God.



O child of Adam! Ever remember that temperament and environment

constitute the north and south poles of human possibility, and

that ability, combined with opportunity, is the measure of

responsibility.





PART 1



Here beginneth Chapter 4 of the Book which is called--"The

Tablets of Aeth," wherein is transcribed the Fourth Quadrant of

the Twelve Mansions.



"A hair, perhaps, divides the false and true. Yes, and a single

alif were the clue-- Could you but find it--to the treasure

house, And, peradventure, to THE MASTER, too.



"Beware, O my son, of self-incense. It is the most dangerous on

account of its agreeable intoxication. * * * Learn, O my beloved,

that the light of Allah's truth will often penetrate an empty

head more easily than one too crammed with learning."





TABLET THE TENTH



Capricorn



A deep, black ground, o'er which shimmers a phosphorescent light;

at each side an aurora borealis rises, mountain like; above all,

a tiny star.



X



REFLECTION



TABLET THE TENTH



Here is revealed the symbol of the messenger of the Most High.

The star hovers over the phosphorescent light cast on the

darkness as the spirit hovers over the blackness of matter. The

aurora borealis stands as the emblem for the magnetic attraction

of Earth on spirit, the Christ soon to be born in the manger of

the Goat; the descent of the Holy Ghost into material form, so

that heavenly truth may illumine the drear speculum of earthly

thought with the Divine iridescence of celestial light. It is the

lowest arc of the cycle that reveals the new birth of death unto

life--the divine egg of Brahma, containing the promise of the new

law: "Peace on Earth, good will towards men."



O child of Adam! Be thou the star, and not a dweller of the outer

darkness, and "Let your light so shine before men, that, they may

see your good works."





TABLET THE ELEVENTH



Aquarius



SYMBOL



A stormy sea is seen; above it the eight stars shine, brilliant

and clear.



XI



REFLECTION



TABLET THE ELEVENTH



This tablet symbolizes the complete materialization of man--man,

perfect on the earth and the lord thereof, in so far as material

forces are concerned. The storm is the tempest of life, the whirl

of the elements of matter in their battle with the spirit. The

eight stars, brilliant now (for they are the same stars that were

dimly seen in Gemini), show that the conquest of matter is

complete, the great fall of spirit finished; the end of

involution. And this would bring stagnation and death, if peace

now ensued. The lesson taught is that, not in peace and rest can

the soul grow; but amidst the earthquakes that shake thrones, the

floods that overwhelm countries, the fires that reduce to ashes,

has the strong man-soul grown to its present state and power. So

fear not the storm, but the calm; not the unrest, but the quiet;

fear not the battle, but the ignoble peace of the coward.



O child of Adam! The astral soul must learn to do and dare. Not

over the brave man's grave shall it be written, "Rest in peace,"

but "I will arise, and go to my father."





TABLET THE TWELFTH



Pisces



SYMBOL



A comet, beyond it infinite things, only dreamed of as yet, a

world floating in an ocean and in night, beneath are two hands

clasped palm to palm.





XII



TABLET THE TWELFTH



A REVELATION OF THE TO BE. The comet is the twelfth Avatar, the

herald, coming forth from the starry abyss of the infinite,

staying with us a little while, and then flashing on his shining

way to other worlds than ours, bearing THE DIVINE WORD from sun

to planet, as the fiery messenger of God. And here the soul may

well ask: "Who? Where? Whence and Whither?" For behold, he has

come, and gone, and



"Earth could not answer; nor the seas that mourn In flowing

purple, of their Lord forlorn; Nor rolling Heaven, with all his

signs revealed And hidden by the sleeve of night and morn."





The world floating in the sea of the infinite and resting in

night shows the present state of humanity. But, "the blush of

dawn" is ready to gladden the soul, and the expectant seer, from

his lonely vigil on the hilltop, awaits the sunlight which will

soon flood the world anew.



The two clasped hands point to many problems, chiefly soul-

matehood, the message of the starry messenger, universal

brotherhood, and the Father-Motherhood of God.



O child of Adam! Watch and pray, that a voice of the silence may

speak unto you.





Here endeth the four Quadrants of the Tablets of the Twelve

Mansions, wherein are revealed the signs and symbols thereof, as

faithfully transcribed from the sacred roll in the astral records

and called "The Tablets of Aeth."

April, 1893.





PART II



of The Book which is called



THE TABLETS OF AETH OF THE TEN PLANETARY RULERS





PART II



Here beginneth Chapter I of the Second Part of the Book which is

called "The Tablets of Aeth," wherein is transcribed the First

Trinity of the Planetary Rulers.



"The human heart is the true temple of God; enter ye into your

temples and illumine them with good thoughts. The sacred vessels,

they are your hands and your eyes. Do I say that which is

agreeable to God--doing good to your neighbors? But, first

embellish wherein dwells He, who gave you life." ----



"How small soever your lamp be, never give away the oil which

feeds it, but only the light and flame, which crown it."





TABLET THE FIRST



The Sun



SYMBOL



A flaming splendor, a center of light, radiating in all

directions.



I



REFLECTION



TABLET THE FIRST



The symbol of all created life, spiritual and material; of all

goodness, human or Divine; the center of all thought, from brutal

instinct to Deific wisdom; of all creations, from starry systems

to man, and from man back again to invisible gas; of all action,

from the imperceptible vibrations of nerve energy to the awful

destruction of worlds. All creative potency lies within a Sun

sphere. Light is life. The planets are but the offspring of light

and life. So in this symbol, we read the source of the human Ego,

of our own life. We are, as it were, the planets of the spiritual

Sun. Our souls are the attributes of the Sun, of the spiritual

Ego. Only from the Ego can we receive life eternal and make

immortality a fact. Obeying this spiritual life-force, the human

monad is but an attribute, a reflection, of the Divine Ego, and

if it fails to awake to a consciousness of this union, it withers

and dies like a flower plucked from the parent tree of life.



O child of Adam, in reverence and awe do thou meditate upon this

Tablet, for it is a thing of beauty, a being of light, life and

love, manifesting its creative mission. It is the Vicegerent of

God, flaming forth His splendors in the sky.





TABLET THE SECOND



Mercury



SYMBOL



An elephant, kneeling between two square columns; on one an

eagle, on the other a vulture.



At the side a boy, with bow and arrows, standing in doubt which

to shoot.



Below these a human face, composed of various flowers, whose

roots are snakes, a poppy, forming an eye, which winks.





II



REFLECTION



TABLET THE SECOND



A vision revealing the earthly drama of the microcosm. The

elephant represents the highest expression of intelligence, minus

the spirit; kneeling between the square columns of matter, i.e.,

guarded by them. The external mind is sleeping, or, at most,

dreaming of the things of the spirit. Above sleeping mind sit the

two birds, who represent spirit and matter, each waiting for the

slowly preparing feast. The boy, the soul with its weapons, has a

choice. Shall it be the sensuality of the flesh that he shall

destroy, or the possibilities of the spiritual life on earth. The

problem awaits solution. The eagle sits ready to bear aloft the

spirit of the sleeper. The vulture hopes for sleep to end in

death, that he may live upon the carrion thereof. The flowers of

the external mind have for their roots the snakes; and, in a

larger sense, the flowers of immortality have the serpent of

wisdom for their roots. And the poppy winks. It knows its own

power of illusion, and the double significance of the snake; the

necessity of evil in the evolution of good. It is the Tablet of

Wisdom.





O child of Adam! "Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless

as doves."





TABLET THE THIRD



Venus



SYMBOL



An altar: on it two cups, one full, the other spilled; near them

two bleeding hearts, in one a snake, in the other a dagger.



Above--clouds, from which comes a woman's face, a wreath in the

hand, coming out of the cloud; in the wreath an angel, going

upwards, with wings outspread.



III



REFLECTION



TABLET THE THIRD



There is but one altar, but one blood of the sacrament in two

cups, but one flesh of the Christ--the Ego--in two hearts, two

experiences in love, ecstacy, and pain; two results of

experience, the serpent and the dagger, symbolizing wisdom and

affliction. Above the altar the divine woman holds the wreath

encircling the angel. The angel of immortal life rises from the

altar of sacrifice. Some of the wine is spilled as offering. The

cup that is filled is raised to "Ra." To serve at the altar of

love is the soul-mission of all, even as Christ served his

disciples. Each soul must find its own service, and then the

pilgrims of the Sun return to the mansions of the blessed. The

great mother-god, Venus, Urania, quivers and thrills as she holds

forth her offspring--the angel, the young Eros of life eternal.



O child of Adam, this is the Tablet of Love. Meditate thereon, as

the last of the triune God. In this Tablet lies the secret of

suffering and pleasure. He who vibrates in pain will quiver in

ecstacy. Only those who have agonized in Hell can thrill in

Heaven.





PART II



Here beginneth Chapter 2 of the Second Part of the Book which is

called "The Tablets of Aeth," wherein is transcribed the Second

Trinity of the Planetary Rulers.



"Thou art called forth to this fair sacrifice

For a draught of milk; with the Maruts Come hither, O Agni!



They who know the great sky, the Visve

Devas without guile; with those Maruts

Come hither, O Agni!



They who are brilliant, of awful shape,

Powerful, and devourers of foes; with the

Maruts come hither, O Agni!



They who in heaven are enthroned as gods,

In the light of the firmament; with the Maruts

Come hither, O Agni!"



"Let us meditate on the adorable light of the Divine Rulers. May

it guide our intellects."





TABLET THE FOURTH



The Moon



SYMBOL



NIGHT



A wonderful spider's-web;



The web glitters in the faint moonlight against a dark background

of blue; moon invisible; on the outside of web a star, in the

center a spot of light, underneath a coffin filled with stones.



IV



REFLECTION



TABLET THE FOURTH



The web of life has caught the monad of the soul and thus

incarnated the universe, for each soul incarnates its universe at

birth, each one's world being different, and peculiar unto

himself. At the first breath, the young child polarizes his

relations to stars and earth, and it is the affinity and

repulsion which make his life experience. And the stars weave the

web in their lines of sextile, square and trine, of opposition

and conjunction, thus enveloping the monad in the Circle of

Necessity.



Outside the star of the spirit, the Ego, shines clear, free from

the entanglements of the web and unaffected by the magnetic

glamour of the Moon. And lo! the coffin is filled with stones, a

symbol of death and the Moon, which is but a casket of stones.

Therefore, little monad, caught in the tangle of the web of life

and the glamour of earthly things, take heart, for, beyond all,

is the star of your being. Call down the law of that star into

yourself, and the web is broken and waves its tattered shreds in

the breeze. The moonlight, the reflected light, pales as the

Star-Sun of your being rises, and the moonlight of Earth gives

place to the Sun-spheres of Ra.



O child of Adam! The beginning of sorrow is the dawn of spiritual

life. The wise man rules the stars; the fools of Earth obey.





TABLET THE FIFTH



Mars



SYMBOL



An immense helmet on pedestal, across which a streak of lightning

flashes; beside it a naked child painting pictures on the helmet;

beneath, a broken sword.





V



REFLECTION



TABLET THE FIFTH



Can greater irony be shown than in this astral symbol. Mars is

externally represented as a fierce warrior, awful to behold; the

reality, a little child, painting toy pictures on the helmet, too

big for his curly head. The lesson in this is indeed, that the

pen is mightier than the sword; that the big and blustering

helmet will become a plaything for the child. Soon, that the

sword of bloodshed, rape, and ruin, will be broken and war

relegated to the past, looked at, but, as pictures, painted with

hideous reality by the childhood of the race.



The symbol also reveals the great executive forces of humanity,

the child. The soul can paint, execute its ideas, its hopes and

its fears in any color--the lurid red of blood, the black of

ignorance and crime, or in the living light of beauty. All the

same, it is the childhood of man painting its ideals in the

material world.



O child of Adam, curb the anger of Mars, that thy painting may

set the dove at liberty. Let the magic of thy soul transform the

savage of the desert into the angel of mercy.





TABLET THE SIXTH



Jupiter



SYMBOL



A cave in the mountain side; a face like the sphinx comes out of

the cave, there is a blackness behind it; it looks with upturned

head to a light that is way beyond; it is a face that means

something awful, a godlike defiance to the things that are.



VI



REFLECTION



TABLET THE SIXTH



Again we are impressed with the contrast of internal and external

things. Jupiter, the symbol of authority, conservatism, church,

and state, and the stability of human institutions, and the

things that are, as the things that are the best. But oh, how

widely different the internal, the real Jupiter, that governing

power of the spirit that hurls defiance at unjust authority, the

cruelty and tyranny of the world. The soul sees the light beyond,

and, emerging from the dark chasm of matter, knows the battle

that must be fought against wrong. It is the awful--yea,

terrible--symbol of defiance to gods and men who oppose its

onward, upward march to the shining goal of light. Make way,

then! Make way! For Earth has given birth to her giant son--the

Spirit. For, listen closely, my friend, to the axiom of

Immortality. What is soul? Not the spirit, mind you; not the

deathless Ego, of which you at present, perchance, know

absolutely nothing. Soul is mere memory; a scavenger in earthly

states; and a gleaner, a hired help, in the fields of heaven; and

to become immortal, there must be something more than soul as the

result. It must take such a vital interest in its Lord's work

that, finally it becomes too valuable to lose, and must be taken

into partnership, so to say. The Ego--Lord-- has found a valued

servant, a trusted steward, after much seeking, and at once

adopts it as its very own. And so the soul becomes heir to the

heavenly estate and receives the immortal, vital principle of

spiritual union, and awakes from the son of Earth a God-like

being, free from the shackles of Time--a dweller in eternity. The

soul must awake and realize the Deific atom around which it

revolves before it is too late. Unless this is so, the seed of

immortal life, sown in matter by the Ego, has not germinated, and

it returns unfruitful and dies--it is an abortion. Many, many

seeds never germinate. Many good orthodox, but animal-like lives,

live, move, and die,--yes, die in very truth. Would to God I

could make all mankind realize this awful, inconceivable

privilege of life, that, Jupiter-like, they would turn and face

the light.



O child of Adam! "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye

of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of

God."





PART II



Here beginneth Chapter 3 of the Second Part of the Book which is

called "The Tablets of Aeth," wherein the Third, and last,

Trinity of the Planetary Rulers is faithfully transcribed.



"Thou hast entered the immeasurable regions. I am the Dweller of

the Threshold. What wouldst thou with me? * * * Dost thou fear

me? Am I not thy beloved? Is it not for me that thou bast

rendered up the delights of thy race? Wouldst thou be wise? Mine

is the wisdom of the countless ages. Kiss me, my mortal lover."



"Thus man pursues his weary calling, And wrings the hard life

from the sky, While happiness unseen is falling Down from God's

bosom silently."





TABLET THE SEVENTH



Saturn



SYMBOL



A human figure with a scepter of power, a being of light crowned

with flames.





VII



REFLECTION



TABLET THE SEVENTH



In the external we remember Saturn as an old man, and as a

skeleton with a scythe--as Time, in fact. But see, O immortal

soul, the real Saturn, as the Angel of Life, having from time

gathered the experiences which crown him with light, holding the

rod of power; the Christ born in the manger of Capricorn, the

Goat--life born of death; the conqueror of evil. He throws off

the mask of age, and divine youth beams on us. He doffs the

mantle of rags, and royal splendors clothe him. He lifts the

hood, and behold the crown. He raises the crutch, and lo! the rod

of power. He drops the scythe of death for the jewel of eternal

life.



"Om Mani Padme Um." (Oh the jewel in the lotus.)



O child of Adam! Meditate on the transmutations of life. Behold

the earthly miracle of the caterpillar and the butterfly, of the

toiling mortal and the transcendent God!





TABLET THE EIGHTH



Uranus



SYMBOL



A human eye, from which darts lightning upon an ocean of matter.





VIII



REFLECTION



TABLET THE EIGHTH



The state of soul and spirit--penetration; the wonderful power of

soul-perception, which sheds its light on all visible things,

receiving their images and interpreting them into the spirit, the

all-seer--what does it not convey? The perception that can see

deep into your soul and see, as it were, the yet unborn thought;

that can distinguish the motive of action; that judges the

realities of your soul. Such is the Astral Uranian. For with us

all, are three planes of mind: The drift plane, the intellectual,

and the spiritual, or internal plane; and thought- reading can be

on one or all of these different states. But only the Uranian

seer can read the inmost mind, and so really know the

possibilities of your spirit.



Imagine an image of soft wax, covered with a sensitive skin. All

impressions on the skin shape the plastic wax, but go no deeper--

do not reach the soul. You can separate these impressions from

your real self, when calm and alone, and look upon emotion as a

surface play. But the tragedies of life strike deep. They affect

the soul, and go to the center of being. "Verbum sap."



O child of Adam! Watch the tempest of life closely. The Ego may

sit calm amidst the storm, but, if that be stirred--BEWARE! The

God acts; the soul alone watches.





TABLET THE NINTH



Neptune



A Winged Globe.



IX



REFLECTION



TABLET THE NINTH



An unknown quantity, a hope of progression, ideal love, and all

true mental and spiritual ideals; aspiration to become that which

we feel to be noble and true; the symbol of the monad, the soul

which, receiving its life from the Sun--the Ego--is constantly

revealing new forces and potencies of that God-life. Each soul's

Ego is its maker and God. The Ego is like the Deific potency of

the universe, unlimited in potential power, but limited by its

monad as to what will be evolved from its awful depth of being.

Deity progresses through its expressions of the cosmos. The Ego,

your God, finds progressive expression through you, through your

soul. That soul is not immortal that becomes separated from its

Ego--its God. So, soul, spread your spiritual wings and soar

upward.



O child of Adam! Know these three things: Eternity is the creator

of the universal life; universal life creates the world, and the

world is the creator of time. And of these, the Universe is Life,

and the World is Mind, and Time is the Soul. The sum total of all

is Experience. And this is individual, conscious life--"Jacta est

alea" (the die is cast)--the wings are spread.





TABLET THE TENTH



The Cypher - the unknown



SYMBOL



A Shining Nebulae; within it a dot, aimlessly wandering around an

unknown center.



X



REFLECTION



TABLET THE TENTH



The unknown in very truth. It is everything--it is also nothing.

Inconceivable visions arise within the mental universe, but

nothing assumes definite form. It is all that is past. It is

likewise everything that the future has in store. Amen.



O child of Adam! "Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?

or loose the bands of Orion?"





PART III of The Book which is called THE TABLETS OF AETH



OF THE TEN GREAT KABBALISTICAL POWERS or ANGELS OF THE UNIVERSE



PART III



VISION



Each angel standing in front of the symbol is dimly outlined and

transparent. Through the angel's form is seen its symbol.



FIRST

A luminous something, which gives the impression of sleep.



SECOND

Something moving, like an ocean.



THIRD

A storm, and lightning.



FOURTH

A mist.



FIFTH

An animal moving, resembling a turtle.



SIXTH

A blue light; in the center a star with three points.



SEVENTH

An expanse of water, a blue sky, a shining disk rising on the

horizon.



EIGHTH

A lurid sky, like a red dawn; in the water floats an egg.



NINTH

Five stars on a convex arc, like a rainbow; the shell of the egg

is broken and forms continents.



TENTH

A man lying fast asleep under a magnificent palm tree, with his

face turned toward the horizon of the sea.





EXPLANATION



Only the pure in heart can see God, and to those pure souls I

commend the following brief explanation of the Vision of the

Angels of Life, which I have here recorded for the benefit of all

whom it may now and hereafter concern.



In the original Vision of the Tablets of Aeth a great circle was

seen, in the center a head, a faint shimmer above the head, as if

the light were about to dawn; a dull, lurid glow beneath, as if

of chaos or hell; the hair around the head like floating clouds,

the beard like strange cloud-streaks. Each sign of the Zodiac

surrounding the center head had within it a faintly seen face.

Beginning with the first, it became more and more distinct and

perfect with each sign until it evolved into godlike beauty in

Pisces.



The symbolic planets were around the Zodiac, and beyond these,

making a third grand circle, were the ten Evolutionary Angels.

The vision is that of the evolution of all life, spiritual and

material. We gaze at the cosmic sex mystery, and the discerning

mind, the loving spirit, can read the correspondence of the great

sacred conjugal act of both man and God; of its heights, of its

depths, and of all that lies between.



To aid in meditation on the bead at the center, herein is written

a vision, an experience of the soul in the Sleep of Sialam.



The Hermetic brethren encircled my astral body, which was deeply

entranced. "From whence," the great question, quivered through my

inmost being. To answer that awful problem of the soul the

released spirit went on its fearsome journey, back through star

systems; back, back beyond all stars, back to the blackness of

nothing-- that awful nothing, whose outside ring vibrated with

fearful flames; the fiery cherubim, winged, taking all possible

shapes, and unformed living shapes. A human flamed and changed

and vanished. The tornado of whirling, flashing, chaotic life

swirled and drove through the darkness of chaos of nothing from

nothing--and that great, unknown abyss is God! But the life is

EVOLUTIONARY.



Deity is progressive, so never can man cease to be. Never can he

return to that awful center of nothingness, or be absorbed within

the bosom of the unmanifested being. On, and on, and on, with

Deific power, God moves in ever-increasing whirls of evolution.



Thus came the answer of the ages: "From primeval force, from the

mighty breath of unmanifested being, through every phase of

action and reaction, from the energies of storm and lightning,

from star-dust to sunlight, has come the spirit of man!"



And the Astral Brethren understood.





THE TWO SEALS OF THE EARTH



I SYMBOL



A human being, with a flaming, burning heart.



II SYMBOL



A round disk inside a light, as from a sun, conceived, but not

seen.



So here endeth the Book which is called "The Tablets of Aeth,"

transcribed from the astral originals in the Year of Doom

MDCCCXCIII.

"Omnia Vincit Veritas."



"THY KINGDOM COME."

(Zanoni) April, 1893