Three sevens, a story of ancient initiations

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,S\EHIV^»t HAn^

II

AH 5AUS E

lllllll

Harvard Depositor^
Brittle Book

OLOGIGAlUBiykRY

4^0

THREE SEVENS.

A STORY OF ANCIENT INITIATIONS.

BT

THE PHELONS,

AUTHOBS or PHYSiaS AND MSTAPHY8I0S: FUTURI RULIRS OV

ambrioa: HiRMvno TiAOHmas. &c.

CHICAGO, ILL.

THB HERMETIC PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1889.

Entered according to Act of Oongress, in the year 1889, by

W. P. Phblon and M. M. Phslon,

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. O.

[All rights reserved].

T

CHiCAao:

A. L. FYFE, PRINTER, 128 S. CLARK ST.

1880.

PREFACE.

Gheetikg to those who love knowledge and
seek understanding, for to them shall come the
satisfying of their desires. The things herein
written, although they may not seem probable,
are possible.

All things, of any and every kind whatso-
ever, which may enter into the thought of man,
can, under favoring circumstances be made
manifest. But this is immaterial. We should
always regard, not the dress, but the man who
wears the -dress. So do not linger to question
the story clothing the parable.

That which lies within, concerns the truth
of being. All the mortal-bom travel the same
road. The paths are rough and stormy. They
drip constantly with the blood of torn and
weary feet. Storms brood loweringly along
their devious windings. Disasters by flood and

Iv PREFACE.

fire, enwrap all who dwell upon the earth. Not
onq would care, even for a short half-hour, to
view the misery and sufiEering that is the lot of
those who dwell upon the Earth.

The initiations of the physical, which are to
give power, strength and dominion to the
Divine Essence, over all the created, visible and
invisible are herein typified. In as few words
as possible, we have sought to show the com-
mon suffering of mortals; from whence they
come; whither they go; what they may attain;
and that he who seeks can receive, only by
uniting the lower self with the Higher Princi-
ples, thus becoming one with the Infinite.

We trust they who read, will be quick to see,
between the lines, the intended lesson, and th^t
it may lead all into the illumination of the
Supreme Truth, that the Divine Unity and Har-
mony are one, both in Infinity and Eternity.

William P. PnBLOiir, M.D.
MiBA M. Phbloit, C. S. B.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Angbstors; Natural Mystic; oyershadowings; one^s
own Grandfather. Thoughts made visible; in Lon-
don; meeting the Master. Diary; hall of audience;
meeting of the Brotherhood; instructions; summons
to an interview; Isa; the oleander blossom; the oath
that binds for ages; secrets of occult knowledge. It
is his story I am trying to tell. Page 1.

CHAPTER II.

The Master's birthday; he commences the story of one
life. His duel; his remorse; his enlistment with De

vi CONTENTS.

Soto and expedition to America; death of the oom-
mander, and his own captore by the natives; his
amulet saves his life. The savages nurse him back to
health and deliver him to the Brothers of the Temple
in the mountain fastnesses. Sees his last embodi-
ments. Isa receives the jewel amulet from her dying
lord; one existence, one purpose; call from the Higher
Self, and change resulting from it. Page 30.

CHAPTER in.

Astral visit to his home in Spain; witnesses the fare-
well of his father's spirit to its body. Reunion of
father, mother and son, on the astral plane. Astral

experiences and knowledge gained by the journey.

Page 62.
CHAPTER IV.

Unaided projection of his astral body. Visit to the in-
complete Hall of Convocation. Elementals as labor-
ers under the oversight of the Brothers. Training
and preparation for initiation to the first degree. De-
tails of the trials and obligation. Sent out into the
world. Feelings of loneliness, as he faces the outeide
world once more. Residence at Court; description of
his surroundings and their discord with his own feel-
ings and desires. Page 108.

CONTENTS, vii

CHAPTER V.

Command of the King to many; meeting with Isa.
Marriage and the conditions theTeof . Bevelation of
the links of past incarnations. Realization of the love
of the angels. Astral foreshadowing of an accident,
and its consequences. Isa summoned to meet her
G-uru. The fatal ride; the storm; the chateau; the
Senora; temptation and escape. Summons to Court;
banishment to Mexico. Orders from the Brotherhood
and return to the Mountain Temple. Page 142.

CHAPTER VI.

The King's business but a pretext to free himself from
one he fears. Greeting from the Brotherhood. Prep-
aration. Trial by the Spirit of the Air. He who at-
tains knows no fear. The pass of the Neophyte
gained; the chamber of the Neophyte; obligation;
rest. Astral visit from Isa. The sapphire ring as a
talisman for help and release. Return to Spain. The
King's business done by the Brotherhood. Meets his
wife once more. Page 183.

CHAPTER VII.

Another six years; the King's insane jealousy. Gift of
healing; the plague; wonderful success in curing the

viii CONTSNt^.

sofferezs; jealonsy of physiciaiis. Arrest and impris-
onment by the Spanish Inquisition; condemned to
torture. The sapphire ring brings him help and re-
lease by the Brotherhood. Look thy last upon ingrate
Spain. Aerial passage across the Atlantic. Concep-
tions of all manifestation are stored in the astral Hght.
Incidents of the trip. G-reeting at the Temple. Prep-
aration. Trial by water; trial by fire. The veil of
Isis; the pass of the Hierophant. Oongratolartion of
the Brotiierhood. Betum to the world. The Master's
story ends. Call to the vacant place. Inherits the

Master's worldly possessions. " I, too, am waiting. **

Page 217.

^<m\>

THREE SEVENS.

CHAPTER I.

^T has always been the petted weak-
ness of my family to have ancestors.
The pictures and records of said units
in the line of descent, are the capital
on which the later generations have
banked. The dividends have been in
almost all cases ridiculously small. In spite of
this, because the majority of the united voice of
the family and its friends have always persist-
ently declared the profits, we, the minority, have
learned to be content therewith. In a humble
mood, we take so much as pleases us, of our ap-
portionment of the crusts of dignity and riches
thrown at us.

2 THREE SEVENS.

This ancestor-worship may be very nice, in
the ordinary unfolding of life. Sometimes, how-
ever, one of the said ancestors undertakes to
overshadow the life of a younger scion, or per-
haps to be that scion. Then the pathway of
the overshadowed, through life, is not made any
smoother.

In fact, 1 know this to be my case. Several
hundred years ago, one of the grandfathers was
a natural mystic. He loved the Invisible more
than the Visible. He had eyes to see beyond
the veil, and ears to hear the sounds of the "un-
discovered country." His portrait, grim and
forceful, hangs in the great gallery of that
branch of the family who still holds the ancestral
lands. In the archives of the Old Hall are
written records of his supernatural powers, by
which success came to him, in spite of the acci-
dents usually overwhelming common mortals.
He was accused by the ignorant of Superhuman
knowledge, and an. almost total disregard of the

THREE SEVENS. 8

orthodox religious practices of ttat day. But
his immense wealth and high position barred to
curious outsiders anything but a most superficial
notion of his career. He was very near the
throne, and at least two reigns were made pow-
erful and brilliant through his direct influence.

There are persons who have studied both his
portraits and his character. They assert his
description and likeness are mine, in character
and feature. According to the best attested
tradition, my unfolding corresponds to his un-
folding. I cannot truthfully deny being a nat-
ural mystic. There is also a consciousness of
certain reasons, proving to myself that I am
my renowned ancestor. This solves for me, in
the affirmative, the question, "Can a man be
his own grandfather?"

To the natural mystic, no possible occurrence
ever seems impossible. Everything we are con-
scious of is simply thought made visible. What-
ever, then, thought can reach, even in the wild^

4 THREE SEVENS.

est flights of imagination, may become, under
favoring conditions, visible to personal sense.
Nothing that thought can grasp, or the human
mind conceive, is impossible.

From my earliest recollection, I have been
able to see forms, which to others are viewless.
Ofttimes, in unfamiliar positions, the real and
the unreal appear with equal vividness. When
introduced to strangers this embarrasses a little
in the matter of salutation, because address to
the ordinarily unseen, would give evidence of
"crankiness."

In later years, thought, mentally formulated
with persistence, becomes an entity to my vis-
ion. If to all this be added recurring memories
of a life, not the present, in whose scenes the
utmost potency of a human will, and that will
apparently mine, was projected for purpose, it
will be easy for the reader to perceive how
tangled has become the identity of my ancestor
and myself.

THREE SEVENS. 5

As a child, solitude was always preferable to
company, a single congenial friend to a crowd.
Sitting passively, the walls of any room where
I might be would fade away, and landscapes of
tropical fervor and oriental gorgeousness, amidst
which I was an honored master, would become,
for a moment, a most intense reality.

Never has there come a crisis in my affairs
which was not heralded by distinct premonition,
and audibly spoken advice, terse and unmis-
takable, given at the critical moment.

If a great desire has possessed me for the ac-
complishment of purpose, the potency of my
will expressed as intent has brought its realiza-
tion to me. It mattered not whether it was in-
fluence on atmospheric conditions, change of
place, or possession. Out of the limitless store-
house of the Astral, all have been granted me,
under the conditions of the "manna" to the
children of Israel, in the desert: for present
use, a'hd the assurance of supply for future needs.

6 THREE SEVENS.

In the later years, obligation for action on
certain lines has been strongly laid upon me.
I am to DO, to the extent of my ability, neither
asking questions, nor formulating doubts. Un-
der this obligation come to my readers these
pages. I have done my best, at the point of
doing. The invisible purpose will work its own
end. It satisfies me to be the link binding the
Eternal Past to the Eternal Future.

From the previous statement, no one would
be surprised to hear me say, it did not seem
strange for me to find myself in the hub of the
world's traffic; the city of the incredibly mon-
strous, London. This dark, noisome sewer smells
to heaven. Through it, the crime and blood-
guilt of a selfish world has oozed for ages, until
the only hope of purification can be by fire.
London is no worse than other cities, only in
the accumulation of the uncleansed vileness of
centuries. Under Earmic law, this piles up like
the thunderheads upon the horizon, until a

THREE SEVENS. 7

moral cyclone, or a mental thunder-storm re-
stores equilibrium and the light of the Good,
by manifestation, brings back the lost harmony.

In another sense, London is worse than other
cities, because, from the intense forcefulness of
his character, if he becomes a brute, an English-
man is brutal in proportion to his dogged per-
sistence. I do not love London, and am there
only when obligation cannot be evaded.

During the period of which I now speak, one
day in passing leisurely along a quiet street,
just ahead of me an individual attracted my at-
tention, who combined all the exterior marks of
age with the vigor and elasticity of youth.
Watching him narrowly, for his bearing seemed
strangely familiar, the impression so often made
upon us came to me^ that if the face should
turn toward us, it would be that of an acquaint-
ance, or at least one we should recall. At the
same time we are absolutely certain we have
never seen it bcfoj-e. ladeed, oftentimes, inci-

8 THREE SEVENS.

dents in which we were both actors seem about
to be recalled, while we certainly know, in our
present lives there has never been any simulta-
neous action to be transferred to the memory.
In this curious condition of my mind, we both
came to a standstill on the same crossing. He,
a little in advance, seemed introverted, or absent-
minded.

As he stepped off the pavement upon the
street-level, I glanced around the corner and
saw a runaway horse, with pieces of the thills
still dangling at his heels, tearing down upon us
in such fashion as to make contact with the
stranger inevitable. I dashed forward and seiz-
ing him by the shoulders, dragged him back
just in time to save him a severe blow, if not
worse.

As he turned his marvelous face toward me,
in the first moment of questioning surprise at
the abrupt handling, the flash of his large, dark
eye betokened reserve power, awful to conteiu-

THREE SEVENS. 9

plate even at its first manifestation. His hair,
white, but vigorous and profuse as if he were
but twenty, covered a high, broad forehead, and
a regular, oval face on which the seal of intellect
was stamped in every feature and lineament.
This was modified by an expression of kindness
which would win the heart of a child at once.
. Over all this, like a transparent veil, was that
appearance which rested on the face of Moses,
as he came forth from the Visible Presence. It
is the reflection of the light beyond the land and
the sea. Once seen and felt, it never, fades
away. It was plain to me then, why, out of all
the hundreds of passers, he only had attracted
my inner self to him.

In less time than it has taken to tell, the
whole event had happened, and he with stately
dignity was courteously acknowledging the favor
done him. Handing me his card he pressed me
to call upon him at my earliest convenience.
Bidding me good day with that peculiar inflec-

10 THREE SEVENS.

tion which, like a benediction, always brings a
blessing with it, he passed on his way, into the
crowd.

He left me dazed and overwhelmed by the
weird feeling of meeting a friend I knew had
long been dead. Looking at his card I saw an
historical name, at one time popular and famous
for remarkable powers, but long since withdrawn
from public scrutiny. It was, however, well-
known to the occult fraternity that he was liv-
ing in retirement, which no one unbidden might
dare to intrude upon. Was it chance or guid-
ance that had thus introduced me to one of the
Masters? We shall see, and also why he
dwelt within the confines of a great city like
London.

The third day after the adventure which was
to mean so much to me, as, in my rooms, I was
sitting at my writing table, a letter was laid
upon the partly written sheet before me. The
door was locked and the windows were closed.

THREE SEVENS. 11

No one in the flesh had entered the room. The
missive had come out of the nothingness, which
is the somethingness of everything existent.
It was folded, and sealed, and directed plainly
to myself in a familiar hand-writing.

It contained an order to attend a meeting of
the brotherhood, of which I was an affiliated
member. Directions and commands had often
come to me from the same source, written by the
same hand, but permission had never been given
me to attend even the exoteric meetings. One
of the first maxims impressed upon my memory
at the beginning of my occult study was to
"wait and learn."

The pleasure of sitting in one of these convo-
cations had often suggested itself to me. That
which at the first had been desire, had ceased
to be anything but an anticipated pleasure of
the future. It is needless to say, the appoint-
ment was promptly kept on my part. The
happenings of that period are now, with the

12 THREE SEVENS.

consent of those in authority, revealed for the
first time. Copying from my diary, the record
is as follows :

November 3rd, A. M. — A dark, foggy day,
even for London. The hour of appointment is
seven P. M* I am to be called for. The cab-
man must be my guide as well, for the locality
is a strange one for me. I must be ready
promptly."

That which follows was written immediately
after the events recorded :

" A few minutes before the hour, the door-
bell rang and the servant announced the cab.
Throwing on my cloak and cap, I stepped out
into the unabated gloom. A casual glance sug-
gested to me that the lights of the cab pierced
the blackness with a peculiarly aggressive clear-
ness. There was a weird air of unsubstantiality
about the whole conveyance. Upon entering
the vehicle a sensation as of a cold wind blowing
suddenly against me caused me to shudder.

THREE SEVENS. 1^

Putting this aside with the explanation that it
was one of the latest effects of that horrid fog,
it occurred to me that the driver had neither
stirred nor spoken. The cab door had closed of
its own volition, and we were already in motion
at a swift pace. It was now plain to me that
there was no sound to the horse's hoofs, no rat-
tle nor jar of wheels on the stony pavement.
Turning upon a quiet side street, the fact was
confirmed that neither sound nor echo marked
my rapid transit. I should have been startled,
had not, long ago, the mysterious ceased to
startle or even surprise me. It was impossible
to have any idea of direction or distance.
Ahead, shone out a brilliant stream of light,
like the headlight of an engine, only whiter and
more penetrating. It seemed to carve the large,
powerful black horse out of the surroundi^g
darkness. It was more like a dream than a
reality.

" At last, in the heart of London, we stopped

14 THREE SEVENS.

in one of those country squares accessible only
by a court which is * no thoroughfare.' Origi-
nally the residence of a merchant grown rich in
trade, the swelling tide of business needs and
uses had been limited and held back until the
hemmed-in homestead was accessible only by a
single narrow alley-like street. Even the greed
of avarice had forgotten its location.

*'The cab stopped. I stepped through the
voluntarily opening door upon the pavement, and
turned to the cabman's seat to settle my fare.
Nothing was visible but the darkness. Horse,
cab and driver had disappeared as utterly as if
the earth had swallowed them up, or as if they
had vanished into the shadows of a stereopticon
dissolving view.

^' For a single instant, a dazed sensation of
isolation swept across my mental vision. How
should I, a stranger, find my destination ? The
thought had scarcely formulated itself, however,
when, on the door of a massive structure loom-

THREE SEVENS. 15

ing up before me, flashed out of the darkness
with a phosphorescent gleam, the number to
which I had been sent. I groped my way up
several steps and managed to find the old-
fashioned knocker. At its ponderous sound,
the door swung open, disclosing a plainly fur-
nished interior. My wrappings were taken by
the footman in waiting who then ushered me
into a small side room on the first floor. As I
entered, a clock, with a far-ofi* sounding chime,
struck the hour of seven.

" Undecided, in my own mind, as to the next
step, suddenly hands were laid upon my shoul-
ders and a voice whispered in my ear: *Be
silent and'obey,' adding a word that had brought
to me many occasions for rejoicing. At the same
moment a hood was slipped over my head.
Blind-folded and pinioned, my shoes were
removed from my feet and replaced by slippers,
whose contact with the pavement gave back
neither sound nor echo.

16 THREE SEVENS.

"My captors conducted me through what
seemed a main hall, turning three times, at a
right angle each time. . At the first turn we
descended three steps, at the second five, and at
the third seven.

" Here one of my guides gave a signal of
three, five and seven knocks upon a door. He
was challenged, answer returned, then entering
a lift we moved up. At the height of twelve
feet came a challenge. The reply being satis-
factory, we proceeded. Five times were we
challenged. The last time I was asked: ^Who
is your Master?' The name was promptly
given, and permission was granted to raise my
hood.

" I found myself in a room occupying all of
the upper floor of the building. The solidly
ceiled walls and floor, slightly eliptical in shape,
gave no sign of ingress nor egress. Standing in
a circle about me were fourteen forms, myself the
fifteenth. Long flowing robes of white, and

THREE SEVENS. 17

hoods of dark serge completely disguised the
identity of each individual.

" He who acted as the presiding oflScer said
in sonorous tones : ' Once again the sacred num-
ber is complete. Let no unhallowed foot defile
the holy places.' ' As thou hast said, let it be,'
answered the rest of the brotherhood.

" The form and bearing of the chief speaker
had been often seen by me. There was some-
thing in the unedulating contour of all his move-
ments that suggested a vanishing point.

*^I had, for many years, been the pupil of a
master who had never, as yet, made himself
visible to me in the flesh. Good reason had
been given me to suppose, during this visit to
London the pleasure of an interview with him
would be granted. As all this, in sequence,
flashed across my brain, a voice reached my
inner sense, saying : ' Not here, nor now. Be
patient.' I made no farther question, even in
thought.

18- THREE SEVENS.

"Looking about me, I noticed there was
neither door nor window. The whole circular
side and the floor of the Hall were apparently
one piece of cedar of Lebanon, dark with age.
No sooner had this fact fixed itself upon my per-
ception, than I heard again the voice: 'So
incloses the circle of necessity every man born
of woman.'

" Overhead, the roof was vaulted in the form
of the concave blue above the e»th. On it I
could see faintly the outlines, in miniature, of
the heavens above us.

"' This teaches, that escape from the bondage
of matter lies only through the study and per-
ception of that which is above us,' said the
voice.

" I looked for the source of light, by which
these curious things were visible. There was no
candle, gas, nor other human mode of illumina-
tion. Everything was, however, perfectly dis-
tinct. It seemed like the light of day, but I

THREE SEVENS. 19

knew it was night outside, and a dark night at
that.

" And the voice said : ' Light is the birthright
of all children of the Father, and is free to all.
Do you understand?' I bowed assent.

'^ Then the sonorous accents of the Master,
speaking in the outer, said : ^ Let the instruc-
tion commence by threes.'

"Following two of my companions, who
beckoned to me, we moved to reclining seats on
couches, which might have been taken from the
Hall of a Greek symposium. Thus, half-
reclining, our eyes fixed on the starry vault
above us, which now flamed out with startling
distinctness, the eldest discoursed of the Unity
from whence came all things that are. It is
impossible for me to recall all his impressive
bursts of eloquence. But the following stamped
itself most vividly upon my mind :

" ' There is but one self-existent force." It is
the germ cell of all manifestation. Everything

20 THREE SEVENS.

comes forth from It, and everything returns to
It. There is but one Truth, and that is the
truth of Being. There is but one law, and that
is the law of polarity. There is but one motion
and that is vibration. All is one. Only in
the illusion of manifestation does duality become
visible. Aspire always in harmony and align-
ment with the One/

" To this instruction, clearly and forcibly
stated, each of the members of the triad added
what little stock of knowledge was ours. When
we reached the point of man's creation, we were
arranged in fives, and instruction imparted in
the same manner. Finally, when the relations
of man to God, and to his environment, were
the topic of discourse, we were grouped in
sevens, while the Master of the Section, from a
raised dias, taught us, as one having authority
and wisdom and understanding. Would that
the world was ripe for his instruction.

" When he had made an end of speaking, he

THREE SEVENS. 21

lifted his hands in benediction. For the time
being all memory of self had disappeared. The
rising flood-tide of new truth and novel presen-
tation had overwhelmed me. In this condition
unconsciousness supervened. With a start I
found myself in my bed, at my lodgings. Could
it be possible I^had dreamed all this? The
clock at the foot of my bed indicated days of
the week and month. Looking up at the dial
the hands stood at November 10. Seven days
had elapsed, since, on the open page of my
diary, I had noted the incoming of a long-hoped-
for day." So closes the record.

A few days after this, in a portion of the city
unfamiliar to me, an irresistible guidance rested
upon me. To this there can only be submis-
sion. It suddenly came into my thought, that
the street and number corresponded with my
friend's card, whom I had the honor to protect
from accident at the street crossing.

The mansion antedated the Elizabethan era.

22 THREE SEVENS.

It was built with all the masaiyeness by which,
in constructive operations, our ancestors ex-
pressed their haughty pride. The determination
to baffle the destroying power of time was evi-
dent in every detail. Defiant through age and
change have these buildings stood in their
impenetrable British obstinacy, until their very
stones have become saturated with the darkness
and fog of the world's clearing house. On the
three-ply oaken door, a big, brazen Egyptian
scarabaeus gleamed with as much brightness as
was possible to be induced by polishing a Lon-
don door knocker.

I went up the five, foot-worn steps, and rais-
ing the brass beetle let it fall. Perhaps it was
my nervousness; or it might have been the
stillness of the quiet street, but it really seemed
as if the fearfully resonant clang shook the old
pile to its foundations. It was out of all pro-
portion to the means employed. The door
swung ponderously open, and a servant of oriental

THREE SEVENS. 23

&ce and lineage, with profound salaam, took
my card and ushered me into a small waiting-
room at the left.

Here, after a very short interval, my chance
acquaintance entered. As I rose to greet him,
the far-off voice, I have before mentioned as
knowing so well, challenged, and I replied.
When the pass-words were interchanged, the
sound blended and became one with his own
voice, as, offering his hand, he gave me greeting.
His &ce opened in its expression, and I was
conscious of standing in the presence of my
beloved Master, who, for so many years, had
unreservedly offered me all that could be
desired of the knowledge of the truth. In the
ensuing conversation, he casually expressed
himself as having had personal acquaintance
with a gentleman of my family, naming my
ancestor, of whom I have been so harassingly
conscious.

As there is an interim of several hundred

24 THREE SEVENS.

years between the time of my ancestor's career
and the period now spoken of, to the ordinary
routine thinker it would appear, either that
there was a strange coincidence, or the old gen-
tleman was a little unbalanced. To me his
statement seemed perfectly natural. Recurring
memory, to my personal consciousness, sus-
tained the assertion. It never occurred to me,
for a single iustant, to doubt the fact.

When, after a long and pleasant chat, we
separated, the invitation to come again was not
simply from the lip. He was evidently satis-
fied with my progress. Turning to an oleander
tree, standing in a little recess, he picked from
it a bud just developing from the stalk. Hand-
ing it to me he said : " When this shall have
bloomed, come again." To all appearance, the
chances were a thousand to one that it would
dry up and wither away, instead of blooming.
Preserving it carefully in my note-book I car-
ried it home, aud laid it on my writing table«

THREE SEVENS. 25

On the fourth day, the bud which had in no
degree lost the freshness of its first plucking,
bursty in an instant, into full bloom. At the
moment of its action my eyes were fixed upon
it. But I could not describe the occurrence.
Without warning of sequence, beyond a slight
increase in size, it was only a step from the bud
to the fullest bloom.

It was one of the marvels of the Orient, of
which traveUers tell us so constantly and per-
sistently, while we regard them as bordering
closely on the impossible. We listen attentirely
to our travelled friends, whose words we would
believe on any other subject, and wonder how
persons with so much sense could be hum-
bugged with such jugglery. We also wonder if
they expect us, wise tw, to be convinced by such
thin mendacity of a pilgrim's tale.

As I have said, when the flower came thus
into its full expansion, my gaze was fixed upon
it All my surroundings vanished. I was

26 THREE SEVENS.

seated on a divan, covered with the richest text-
ures of Indian looms, rare, beautiful and
costly. Through the open verandah of a beau-
tiful marble palace, came soft, spice-laden
breezes from the rare flowers of the great gar-
dens. Around me was everything that per-
tained to the cultivation and enjoyment of the
sensuous. By my side was a fair girl, upon
whose cheek the seal of the tropics was but
lightly set. I was her emperor, her king, her
light, her life. I could hear her voice, like the
ripple of the sad waves, saying :

" But, as my lord goes hence into the changes
of the measureless future, when shall Isa see
him again ? Will he still love her ?"

"The bond," I answer, "will always bind,
Isa, wherever the soul manifests in a human
body, be it man or woman."

" Will my lord swear it to Isa, by the oath
that, until redeemed, obligates the soul, for all
time to come?'*

THREE SEVENS. 27

Resistlessly I hear the slow, solemn words of
that awful adjuration, seemingly voiced by
myself.

Plucking a full-blown blossom from an olean-
der, just outside the verandah, she flings it up
toward the lofty ceiling. It disappears utterly.

" That shall be our pledge. When, out of
the astral currents the blossom comes again to
thee, remember, Isa's soul claims love and devo-
tion."

The lines grow misty, and out of the dimness
comes back the everyday surroundings. The
oleander blossom lies before me still, in its
freshest fragrance. Was it really the pledge of
that incarnation closed thousands of years since ?
And who is Isa? Is she — ? But I am for-
bidden to utter that name. Has she, inspired
by love, using her powerftil intellect and quick
perceptions, been able to become a guide and
teacher ? Love is at once the mystery and the
absolute controller of the Universe.

28 THREE SEVENS.

Many things grow perceptible in the light of
this lesson. The kaleidoscope of life has turned
in a most unexpected manner. But through it
all, I feel possessed of the double consciousness
of the seer, and do not read it, only as fgr
another.

I have lingered, thinking, but now gladly
prepare to obey the summons. It does not
take long to reach my destination.

He receives me, this time, in his library, a
large room filled from floor to ceiling with books
in many languages, a large part in manuscript
and cipher. Millions of money would be freely
given for the translation of some of these
ciphers, for therein was hidden the knowledge
that can give health, wealth and potency. He
held the key, and was satisfied to be ungorged
and unburdened with a load of wealth. The
happiness of understanding was his. All physi-
cal elements and conditions were under control.
Master of the secrets of the Universe, he had

THREE SEVENS. 29

no desire beyond the utmost frugality of habit.
Attainment destroys desire.

Of the purport of our conversation, and the
instruction received then, and at succeeding
occasions of my intimacy with him, it is not a
part of this story. In the visible^ we became
the closest of friends, as we had always been
whenever, in previous incarnations, we had met.

To all outward appearance, my friend was a
person who lived in retirement, on ample means,
absorbed in abstruse studies. When he first
came to London, he had been a practicing phy-
sician. He still had a few wealthy patients,
who were able and willing to pay the fees he
demanded in hopes of shaking off their patron-
age altogether. It must be confessed his
patients were seldom sick.

Passing thus lightly over these details, neces-
sary to the understanding of the story, we come
to the point where this story really commences.
It is his story, not mine, I am trying to tell.

CHAPTER II.

^T was again November. A short
^ year it had seemed to me. So wrap-
ped into and aligned with his had my
life become, that a similarity of both
desire and expression was constantly
manifesting itself All my spare
time was spent with him, and he had permitted
me the honor of assisting him in some of his
experiments, which have brought much help to
a world unconscious of their origin or results.
He invited me to spend his birthday with
him, much to my own delectation, for I had no
expectation of being anything to him but a foil
for his own thoughts. It was a day impossible
anywhere under heaven, save in London. Dark,
drizzly, chilly and gloomy, it would, without
effort, lead the wise to stay indoors, if possible.

THREE SEVENS. 81

For the first time, I had been admitted into
his sanctum sanctorum^ a room opening out of
his large laboratory. From this, all influence
or currents that would jar with his, even in the
shadow of a vibration, were scrupulously exclud-
ed. Here retiring into the silence, he was in
touch with the Universe. To this as a center,
the vibrating currents, like invisible threads
bound to him, alike the known and the unknown,
of all ages and climes. The slightest jar of
inharmony would have disarranged and shaken
off some of these sensitive agents. He, being in
perfect harmony with himself, had no fear. But
he who entered into the holy place with him
must also be one with him, as he was one with
the Universe. It is a law of which mankind
understands but little. Comprehending this, I
fully appreciated the honor he tendered me.

The room was solidly ceiled with a dark,
fragrant wood, capable of receiving a high
polish. Each of the three sides seemed a single

82 THREE SEVENS.

piece, so perfect was the cunning, of the builder.
The gloss of the richly-veined surface, dark
with age, was simply superb. The door through
which we had entered, fitted so accurately, as to
show no joint, and moved by a secret spring.
On the fourth side was a fire-place and a man-
tel. Besting upon this, flashing in the fitful
firelight, were specimens of gold and precious
stones, as they came from their original resting
places, whose value would have paid a king's
ransom. The floor was of polished cedar of
Lebanon,' as carefully joined and burnished as
were the sides. Costly rugs were carelessly
spread. Across one side ran a divan, on whose
cushions we rested in the Eastern style.

Golden salvers, bearing delicate sweetmeats
and rare fruits, were placed before us by the
invisible ones, who will always obey those who
know how to control. From the center of the
ceiling hung a quaintly-carved, solid, crystal
vase, from which a soft, clear light overflowed

THREE SEVENS. 33

and filled the room. " One of my inventions,"
my host smilingly said.

It was late in the afternoon, or rather early
in the evening, when we were served with Ori-
ental hookahs, and a bottle of what seemed to
me very rare, old wine. To this day, however,
I do not know whether it was wine or some
other subtle elixir.

Throughout the whole repast, my Master par-
took sparingly, and as we sat with the dessert be-
fore us, although it was unalloyed with the usual
grossness of human feasts, he seemed to have
little desire or use for it. The quiet gravity of
his face, in its depths of repose, was overspread
with his manifested love for me, whom he had
so honored.

We had been chatting in low tones, thinking
of many things, both in the visible and the
invisible. I noticed, as if my attention had
been suddenly called to it, a curiously formed
ring, worn upon the little finger of his left hand.

34 THREE SEVENS.

It resembled a crown of golden thorns inclosing
a garnet of blood-red hue, upon which was
engraved a word in oriental characters, Sanscrit,
I think. Several times, as I had looked at it
during the afternoon, something, best described
as a flowing current, pulsated beneath the sur-
face, bringing a little awesome shiver to the
spectator. It was as if the vital current of the
wearer had here come into sight, beneath the
transparent, polished surface, as the arterial
blood moved towards the heart.

Now, as we reclined in silence, a feeling of
peace, and entire harmony with the whole
Universe, stole over me. It was the lullaby of
the Great Mother — who giveth rest to those
who will yield themselves to her. In this semi-
trance state of self-abnegation, as my attention
was called to the ring, a corruscation of light
shot out from the word on the stone. His hand
laid carelessly upon the cushions of the divan,
in such a position that the projected ray fell

THBEE SEVENS. 85

upon the shining surface of the wall at right
angles to us. It resembled the gleam of a stere-
optkon, only clearer and more penetrating.
Within this light, like a scene shone upon, not
reflected, came a picture.

It was the palace I had once before seen.
Outside, the prince's mounted suite, and a single
richly-caparisoned Arabian steed, with empty
saddle, waited the chiefban's order. Within, the
prince, bidding Isa &rewell, is receiving from
her a jewel set in gold, and attached to a gold
chain she takes from about her neck. I see the
jewel plainly. It is a blood-red garnet. As
he bends over her, I hear plainly, as if her
spoken word :

" Generations of wisdom are held within this
amulet, my lord ; as thou dost wear and keep
it, so shall fortune dwell with thee."

^' Thanks. So long as I keep it through all
the incarnations, I shall not be content, if thou
dost not receive thy portion, whether manifest-

88 THREE SEVENS.

ing or nnmanifesting. Love is God, and dies
not H our souls are one, how can we be sep-
arated?"

Once more she speaks : " Through the potency
of the will, our path through the unnumbered
centuries shall never diverge, but shall be ever
aligned. To jou, the master, shall be honor
and place ; while I shall be content to learn at
your feet."

The picture faded. Curiously, I glanced at
the Master. In the peculiar, penetrating pitch,
so far-reaching and yet so still, came the voice
of his spirit, speaking to my inner sense. The
intonation was his own, suave, smooth English,
with a slight Gastilian accent :

" Senor, perhaps you would know something
of my history, which, you already perceive, is so
strangely and strongly entwined with yours."

"Nothing would give me greater pleasure, if
agreeable to you," ii^as my reply.

" The hour has come for utterance. I speak.

THREE SEVENS. 87

because you can understand. You have often
been tried and found worthy to know. Listen.

" Master of self in former lives, I choose to
re-enter my present condition, as a Spaniard of
noble lineage. In my young manhood, the
softness of luxury brought temptation. I loved
with all the fervor of Southern blood, forgetting
the Past, and unmindful of the Future. I also
forgot the precept of warning : that even great
ones fall back from the threshold. I had a
rival. Mad with jealousy, I slew him in so-
called honorable combat. But when his spirit
yielded up its body, and his unfulfilled Karma
was transferred to my own spirit, forever, my
tardy memory came back to me. She for whom
the deed was done was not worthy of the
sacrifice.

" Overburdened by the upbraidings of my
higher self, on whom lay the duty of purifying
my blood-stained soul, I eagerly seized an oppor^
tunity for expiation. De Soto was fitting out

38 THREE SEVENS.

his expedition to search for the fountain of per-
petual youth. A young man of 25 years, I
entered his service. My unceasing desire for
continuous activity, if, perchance, I might escape
the lash of my unseen tormentor, or, at least,
mitigate its force, was mistaken for enthusiasm.
I was praised for the manifestation of the
impulse which leads young blood to undergo all
manner of privations for the sake of adventure.
I did not undertake to explain the true cause.

^^Among the heirlooms of our house, said to
have been brought by its founder from the far
East, was a locket, containing the stone now in
this ring. After the fashion of the Orient, it
was attached to a heavy gold chain of exquisite
workmanship. In my farewell to my father, he
gave the jewel into my keeping, because, being
the eldest son of the house, legend had deter-
mined this entailment to be the proper line of
transmission. He bade me always wear it. If
I did not, harm might come to me. I wore it

THBEE SEVENS. 39

constanilj, the locket resting over my heart. At
that time^ however, for some reason unknown
to me, its brilliancy was dimmed. The differ-
ence between then and now, was the difference
between the dead and the living."

Here he paused : the word of power on the
stone blazed forth. Within the light on the
wall, Spanish galleons were visible sailing on
a Southern sea. Approaching a thinly inhab-
ited foreign shore, a band of soldiers left their
ships, and by weary marches penetrated the
interior to the border of a great river, where
they halted. Their leader, whose undaunted
spirit, thus far, had surmounted all obstacles,
succumbs to the miasmatic climate. With all
the solemnity of the last sad rites ordained by
the Catholic Church, his body was committed to
the embrace of the waters. He had found for
himself the fountain of perpetual youth. Here
the picture fades, and once more the Master
speaks as before :

40 THREE SEVENS.

^^ So it happened, when we had reached the
great river of the West, and De Soto was laid
beneath its waters. We landed on the west
bank of the river for rest, oonsultation and
refreshment. An attack was made upon us by
hostile tribes. Many of our number were
killed by our justly incensed and merciless foes.
My comrades left me, terribly wounded, as dead
upon the field. Our conquerors stripped the
slain. While doing this, they found the amulet
upon my person.

^^ An exclamation of intense surprise escaped
their lips. » A consultation followed. Ascer-
taining me to be yet alive, my wounds were
skillfully bandaged with the healing leaves of
some tree, fastened with grasses. Then plac-
ing me upon a litter, they bore me by easy
stages to a native village among the foothills of
a range of mountains. Here I was nursed back
to health and vigor. My amulet has never been
taken from me. It seemed continually as if

THREE SEVENS. 41

courage and strength to endure flowed in an
unremitting current directly from it to me.

**When I grew stronger and able to help
myself, the chief of the tribe came to me with
an interpreter. They told me the Rules of the
Order prohibited my dwelling amongst them,
because I was of a different race.

^^ So, as soon as I was sufficiently recovered
to endure the journey, they gave me a good
horse and asked me to choose whether I would
go East to friends, or West to brothers. Seek-
ing only escape from myself, and hoping thus to
expiate my crime, my choice was made for the
West.

" My decision thus made, an escort of
mounted warriors attended me during a two
months' journey to the high motlntains of the
Southwest. Our journey was made easy by
short stages, and frequent rests. Of its
length, its direction, or its outcome, I cared
nothing. The country, over which we passed,

42 THREE SEVENS.

interested me slightly. Its extent surprised me,
as did the marvelous skill of my guides, who
made their way correctly through a trackless
wilderness, without a chart or compass.

"Wearied somewhat with journeying, but
very much improved in bodily condition by the
life-giving air of the mountains, and the con-
stant exercise, on the evening of a beautiful day,
we found before us a rocky barrier. During the
whole of the previous day we had been ascend-
ing the foothills, but now, the seemingly insur-
mountable raised its walls heaven high, from
the little plateau on which we lay encamped.
To the ordinary observer, all further advance
was cut off. What next? My escort had so
far kept faith with me. I felt sure that there
must be a controlling though unseen force
behind them, which I could trust to the utter-
most. Ko disquieting thought so influenced as
to bar sleep.

"At midnight, awakened from a dreamless

THREE SEVENS. 48

slumber, I found myself blindfolded and pin-
ioned. A Yoioe, in purest Castilian said :

"* Have no fear! Obey!'

^' Surprised to hear my native language in
this wilderness, I yielded to guidance. More-
over, I was sure that resistance would be as
useless, as my blood-stained life could be for the
accomplishment of purpose.

^' Led silently along, the cool, fresh mountain
air changed to that of confined space. Aftar
many windings and turnings, ascents and
descents, the bonds were removed. I found
myself in a large room, hewn from the rocks.
The floor was carpeted with woven fabrics,
while rugs of Tyrian dyes covered the divan.
A white-robed figure of elegant form, his head
and face muffled in the head-dress of an Egyp-
tian priest, bowed to me, and pointing to the
divan, said :

'^^Be at ease until the morning dawns.
Recompense and mercy are even for thee also.'

44 THREE SEVENS.

^^ Tired with the long march; quieted by the
appearance and voice of the priest, I flung
myself upon the divan and slept.

'^ On my awaking, the sun was streaming
through a pillared cloister, into which the room
I occupied opened. A sensation of relief,
unknown since the hour of the fatal duel, pos-
sessed me. No longer did I feel that reckless
bravado which dares any fate; but humbly
resigned myself to the conditions which might
be necessary to expiate my crime.

^^ Presently, attendants waited upon me, and
I was allowed the intense satisfaction of a bath,
and such toilet appliances as had been strange
to me since my farewell to beautiful Spain.
It was a little startling that here, in the
unknown regions of the earth, a civilization simi-
lar to ours, should thus manifest itself.

^^ After ablutions, and clean garments, my
fast was broken by a tray bearing ripe fruits,
delicious white bread and honey. When I had

tHBEE SEVENS. 45

eaten, and the attendants had withdrawn, he
who had left his benison with me the night
before, came once more.

^^ Addressing me in my native tongue, he
said:

" ' Senor , you are welcome whither

you have come.'

"Astounded, for he had called me by my
name, in a dazed manner I returned his gravely
courteous salutation.

" ' Will the illustrious Senor inform his serv-
ant how he knew him ?' I questioned.

" ^ All persons and things in the environment
are visible to the spiritual sense of sight. He
only is blind who fails to perceive. Especially
do we watch those who are entitled by merit or
lineage to wear the jewel that is yours.'

" * Then it is to that I owe all my good for-
tune, in being so kindly received by those I
supposed to be enemies?'

"'aS, Senor. You are protected by inher-

46 THREE SEVENS.

itance now, but some day we trust you will
brighten the lineage of your descent, by winning
for yourself a name as illustrious as did the first
visible wearer of the symbol.'

" As he spoke I was irresistibly drawn toward
him. The sweetness of his tones, the evident
sincerity and kindness of purpose in his words,
strangely and deeply affected me. Murmuring
my thanks, I simply waited further expression.

"*You will wait with us twenty-one days.
During that time, you shall have perfect free-
dom. I shall be glad to attend you. You will
not see our &ces, until such time as you have
chosen either to stay with us or to return whence
you came. Nor are you to seek aught that
seems denied you. Do you assent V

'^ Had there been a thousand ways, no thought
except compliance would have been held by me
for a single instant. Little knew I then that
the great gate of the arcane knowledge was once
more slowly swinging open before my feeble,

THREE SEVENS. 47

tottering footetepe. This is (lie gate that swings
inward, and never outward. Steps taken^ in
any incarnation, can never be retraced, even
should such a desire, at any time, exist.
. ^*The quick repose of this enchanted spot
was marvelous, beyond description. Standing
thus isolated in the midst of the wildest and
most barren country, the inharmony of its origi-
nal conditions with man's needs, had been
entirely overcome in the interior, while the
exterior was still wild and untamed.

** The room assigned me, opened upon a long
colonnade, whose roof was supported by a row
of columns, both roof and columns having been
hewn out of the solid rock. The pillars were
square, resting on immense cubic plinths, and
the architraves were the lotus of Egypt. A
wide flight of easy steps, also hewn out of the
rock, descended upon a broad plateau, that
might, in former ages, have been the crater of a
mighty volcano. Now it bloomed and fruited

48 THREE SEVENS.

all the year through, with all the verdure and
product of skilled husbandry. The gardens
were of wonderful area, considering their loca-
tion, and through them led a long avenue
bordered by stone sphinxes. At one side a
deep pool boiled and bubbled constantly, as its
waters, fed by an underground stream, rushed
into the outer air, and, led into a network of
canals, made the luxuriant vegetation of this
Eden possible.

"Facing these grounds for a third of the
space, stood the vast fiicade of the rock temple
whose interior within the mountain was now my
shelter and proteotion. The rough designing
of Nature, man's art, resulting from spirit dom-
inance over his environment, had improved,
enlarged and adapted to his own use and con-
venience, in every instance making the utmost
of that which had been furnished to his hand.
An impenetrable, rocky barrier protected the
outer wall, itself perpendicular and barren on

THREE SEVENS. 49

the outside, from the intrusion of the profane.
No sign gave hint to prying eyes of the improve-
ments within. The inner wall faced the
West. Behind it, towering hight above hight,
the mighty snow-covered peaks reddened in the
setting sun, and glistened in the first beams of
the light from the East. All danger from
avalanches was prevented by a tremendous rift
or canon, between our own boundary and the
nearest mountain line.

^^The immense temple was magnificent in
design and execution. For what purpose it had
been built, or why it had been located in these
stupendous solitudes, I did not then inquire. A
new thought had rested upon me. A new in-
spiration pervaded my whole being. The
possibility of expiation. The sense of the sur-
cease of the storm hitherto raging within my
breast, made the days pass quickly.

^^My companion came to me daily. Our
talks were wholly of the unseen forces and

50 THREE SEVENS.

their products, or manifestations, which make
up the sum total of all the reality of existence.
New ideas, and new thoughts aaggesting the
fancy of recalled memories of long forgotten
knowledge, came forth under his skillful prompt-
ings, so gravely, sweetly and courteously made.
It was like the skilled fingers of a musician
touching lightly the keys of an instrument. The
echoes of the harmony crowd a full lifetime into
a short space. As in the tropics, bud, leaf,
flower and fruit follow in quick succession, so
my soul, prepared by previous discipline, both
mental and physical, yielded readily to the con-
clusions pressed upon me. As if I had been
lost, 1 found myself again.

^^It was the seventh day; the high peaks
were still roseate in the fading light. My men-
tor entered my chamber.

" * My son,* said he, ' I am glad you are
so ready to take up the broken links of the past
lives; so willing to be guided by garnered

THREE SEVENS. 61

experience. You have not questioned of the
future, nor of the past. For your encourage-
menty in time of trial, yet in the future, behold
from whence you came/

^^ He had been looking fixedly at me as he
spoke. The outlines of the snow-clad peaks
towering in the clear air, grew fainter and
fainter to my vision. It seemed as if miles aiid
miles intervened. Then another, and totally
difiierent, scene spread before my gaze. On a
great plain, an immense city unrolled its boun-
daries. Beyond this city was a palace, mourn-
ing and desolation. A noble queen weeps and
laments for the loss of her lord, slain upon the
battle-field, and now awaiting the last sad honors
earth may tender.

^^The queen sitting alone, murmurs: *He
died, as a brave man should, defending his pat-
rimony and his people's rights ; but to me, by
special messenger, with his last breath, did he
return the link of the ages/

62 THREE SEVENS.

'^She took from her bosom, the blood-red
garnet, in setting and hanging, the fac-9imile of
mine. Was it mine ?

*^ She bows over the casket of the sonl, now
useless and helpless, and a great sob wells up.
She grieves for the loss of companionship. The
soul who goes hence, like the traveler to foreign
countries, is absorbed by the newness of his
immediate surroundings and conditions, to the
partial exclusion of past connections and associ-
ations. It is this that we, the mortal races, all
mourn. It is our right to mourn our own loss.
We would not bring back to the calamities of
the earth-life, not for a single hour, those who
have gone happily hence.

"She raises her head. Out of the astral
current are borne words of hope for the future.
Once again she utters, under her breath, words
as if in answer to the far-off promptings :

" * Yes, I know. Generations hence, I shall
have the pleasure of re-union, and shall be so

THREE SEVENS. 58

re-embodied, that nothing shall prevent the
clinging of soul in perfect alignment of thought
and purpose.'

" Overwhelmed by the immensity of the future
as measured by mortal conception, she bows her
head on the bier before her. I see formulated
out of the nothingness a shape distinct in feature,
shadowy in outline. So intense was the im-
pression, that its remembrance has never faded
away. The shadow bends its head and speaks
to her. So absorbed have I become, that I hear
his words :

" ' Mourn not for the dead, Isa, but for the
living. Compensation is the law of nature. Let
the talisman guide thee on thy way, through the
trackless ages of thy destiny, and keep thee
humble, as the servant of the One. Blessed
shall he be to whom it shall come, if he shall
choose the right-hand path, prizing wisdom
before aught else.'

^^ She raises her face. It is the face of one

64 THREE SEVENS.

^ho 076rcometh, transfigured and glorified. The
picture fades. The enormous peaks still sen-
tinel the Temple. My instructor bows gravely
and goes quietly out. I lie still thinking until
the dawn breaks.

^^ Three questions present themselves promi-
nently for solution : First : — ^What chasm have
the centuries bridged for me? Second: — How
fiu* am I responsible as keeper of the amulet ?
Third: — What mystery does the near future
hold for me ?

^^As the day broadened, I slept. When the
sun was high in the heavens, self-oonsciousness
came to me once more. A new burden of
responsibility had, in some strange way, been
laid upon me. I was henceforth to live as the
culmination of cycles of existence, and not sim-
ply as the creature of a day. Moreover, I was
to be the guardian and keeper of power trans-
ferred, potency to be still farther seggregated
and transferred. Thus thinking, I took the

THREE SEVENS. 55

amulet from its resting place, and was astonished
to see that its dull grayness had begun to
brighten, just as coming dawn lifts the shadows
of the early day. .

<<My mentor joined me again at sunset, as
usual. I especially remember his saying, in
reply to a question of mine :

" * My son, there is but one existence, of which
we are all parts, and one purpose and that is the
Good. Could there be two, all harmony of
manifestation must disappear. Chaos would
impend from the moment of divergence. Spirit
gathers power from its anchorage to iihe physi-
cal organism. The perfect alignment of the
individual to the All, strengthens the individual
and gives force and potency to the manifestation
of the One. The 'eye and the hand are part of
the whole body. When they are trained,
although they are the eye and the hand still,
they are of more use to the whole body, in pro-
portion to their trained skill.'

56 THREE SEVENS.

** More swiftly, if possible, went the days and
nights. On the evening of the fourteenth day,
my Mend, as he arose to leave me, lifted his
hand in benediction, saying:

" * Let the night be good to thee/

^^ And left me with myself. It was the ninth
hoar. In spite of my own will, my thoughts
were dwelling persistently along the track of my
family, its standing, its reputation, its traditions,
and at last seemed to center on my ancestor, the
founder of the house, from whom in direct line
of descent, the amulet had come to me.

^^ As my thought rested more and more fiiUy
upon him, I heard a distant voice calling me by
name. So far off, it sounded only as the mur-
mur of the sea shell. But my thought had
become so concentered, that I listened eagerly.

^^ Again came the call ; this time so intense,
so far reaching, that my whole astral self sprang
forward to obey its behest.

" Once more the call, more imperative, more

THREE SEVENS. 57

absolute. Freed from the bonds of the physi-
cal, for a single instant I was conscious of my
body lying useless beneath me ; while drawn as
iron to a magnet, I followed from space to space,
a shining silver thread, the power of a potent
wiU.

" At last, kneeling before him whom I knew
to be my ancestor, I asked :

*'*' ^ Who am I, that thou shouldst thus call me
from the planes of the lower consciousness V

*' Lifting me to my feet he graciously
responded :

" ' Thou hast been my pupil ever since thou
didst first essay thy flight out of the Divine
light into the dark abysses of the natural condi-r
tions. When, in the earth planes, thou hast
needed my help, I have ever been thy guardian
and protector. When, in Devachan, thou hast
^ught escape from the continual toil of the
lives, I, on the lower planes, have maintained
for thee such conditions and place, as were nee-

58 THREE SEVENS.

essary. The amulet is the link that binds us,
never to be broken. When, in Delhi, first, you
were ready to receive it, it was given you by the
inspiration of love, through whose potency it
could be most efficacious. Thou didst gratefully
receive and carefully guard it. When thou
didst yield up thy earth-form seeking better con-
ditions for thy progress, I placed it in safe
keeping for thee. It has come back to thee.
In spite of thy one crime, thou hast been guided
to the point where thy true life-work com-
mences.

" 'Thou dost now stand where, unless thou
shalt forswear all thy former lives, the Universe
lies before thee. I have summoned thee thus,
to the planes of the higher consciousness, because
I have no desire to approach the erratic con-
ditions, from which I am freed. I am about
to entrust thy guidance to another, after
thou shalt have pledged to me thy word,
hitherto never broken, to press forward, until.

THREE SEVENS. 59

all obstacles removed, thou shalt attain.'

^^ As he ceased speaking, he placed his hand
upon mj head. For an instant the threads of a
thousand lives were joined. I saw how, in the
past, my spirit had struggled to train its soul
for this purpose and condition so rapidly
approaching me. The set purpose of all my
lives, indelibly impressed itself upon the astral.
Never again was it to be put aside. Aspiration
and endurance, purpose and potency, had crys-
tallized for accomplishment.

"Again my ancestor's voice sounded plainly:

" ^ You perceive the beginning and the end.
Do you fear to undertake the journey V

"With not a single tremor of spirit, I
replied :

"'I do not fear.'

"'Love, mercy and justice are the pillars of
the Universe. Are you ready to offer to each
its appropriate sacrifice?'

" * I offer justice ransom, even to the utmost

60 THBEE SEVENS.

reckoning. Love and mercy as I shall be
worthy/

'' *Why do you do this ?'

'^ ^ Because, all worlds are made better, when
one individual atom is made better. What
though I perish, if the millions are in the least
comforted?'

" *Thou hast answered well. Wilt thou
confirm by the oath of a Chela,' thy intention
to give thyself no rest, until thou canst, at will,
seek me here ? '

"Without the slightest mental reservation or
equivocation whatever, I bowed my head in
assent.

" Syllable by syllable, from the lips of my
greatest grandsire, impressing themselves like
liquid fire on my soul, came the words of that
bond, which reaches through all time and
space, and is co-ordinate with Infinite and
Eternity, the only dimensions of the Causeless
Cause.

THREE SEVei^S. 61

^^ Undaunted and unquailing, I repeated the
awful formula after him.

" ' Thou hast one more step to take, before
thou art ready to discover the way. Trust
fully those into whose keeping thou hast come.
Thou art to them, even as to me, most precious.
Seek to know the One. When thou canst read
the word on thy amulet, I shall see thee again.
Farewell.'

^^ A sensation of sinking and giddiness, and I
awaken on my divan, not fully conscious, even
then, of the full meaning and intent of this
interview. But a mighty spirit purpose in-
spired me, and my whole nature began to assert
itself for action on the high lines of being.

CHAPTER III.

. EMEMBEBING thatstill another
week was needed to finish the
bound set by my friend of the
Temple, I lie calm and quiet in
the cool of the morning. The day-
light breaks over the distant peaks.
My spirit lifts itself toward the Eternal, and in
aspiration I become one with the Infinite.

^' For a third time the days and the nights
numbered seven. As my friend leaves my
presence for the night, he says :

" * Tomorrow thou mayest see my face if —
^'The suggestion cuts me to the heart. Sup-
pose I should not. It was wonderful how the
strong, Spanish pride of my mentality had yield-
ed itself to a most docile affection for this man,
whose face I had never yet seen.

THREE SEVENS. 63

" Why should I not see him again ? What
unseen force or conditions could possibly pre-
vent me ? Then came the resolution : ^ I will
not be prevented* Whatever lies before me, I
will meet bravely and fearlessly.'

^^The hours move on. The full moon has
climbed to the zenith. Lights and shadows are
thrown out with that startling contrast,
peculiar to the tropical moonlight. My atten-
tion is drawn to a far-off star, how, I cannot
explain, but I am fascinated by it. My gaze is
fixed persistently upon it. Its rays fill my
whole apartment to the exclusion of all other
light. As I wonder at the power thus mani-
festing, the luminous matter concentrates and
grows brighter. At the center, a figure shapes
itself. As if I saw myself in a mirror, so
becomes this to me. Striking and distinct in
projection, in outline and proportion a very
Apollo, it still seems pale and wan. It tears
from its breast its flowing robe, and I perceive

64 THREE SEVENS.

an ugly stab in a vital part. I start to my
feet.

•**Whoartthou?'Iask.

" * I am thy higher consciousness. Thou
dost stand face to &ce with thine own soul.
Thou hast sore wounded me. For what thou
hast done to me, art thou willing to serve
another's good seven-fold, until my wound be
healed ? '

" Firmly I answer, * I am willing and eager
to begin.*

" * It is well. From henceforth the burden I
have hitherto been forced to carry, is transferred
to thy lower consciousness, where it shall be
carried, until expiation is finished.'

*^ For the first time in my life, I hear, like
an echo from these thrilling words, music from
out the manifestation of creative thought. My
burden is lighter and my sleep deepens.

"Refreshed, as the new day comes in, I
awaken to all which may come. Before the

THREE SEVENS. 65

shadows return again, my friend comes to me.

" ' It is well with thee ! ' he exclaims. * With
the gladness of a great joy, I welcome thee at
the outer gate of the mysteries.'

^^ He turned toward me. The veil fell away
from his features, and this was the picture: A
grave-yisaged, calm face, high and broad as to
the forehead; piercing as to the deep-blue
eyes — eyes restful and quiet now, but full of
conscious power. The whole face told of a
battle long since fought and won. A battle in
which the rightful ruler had warred upon and
overthrown the usurper. The successful termi-
nation of this inevitable battle of the ages, was
broadly defined with ineffable peace. Every
line of his whole features was glorified by the
impress of the maxim of the wise in all ages :
* To know, to dare, to do, and to keep silent.'
It was such a face, loving, tender, true and
potent, as artists, whose clear vision perceives
beyond the flesh, are wont to give the ' Perfect

66 THREE SEVENS.

Man/ who, through suffering unparalleled, illus-
trates the path, in which all who desire to attain
must also walk.

^' It was not possible firom his face to judge of
his age. There was no sign of withering nor
shrinking in the flesh. All the lintoments were
full and firm of texture, and the glow of matured
youth pervaded the whole. It was a face full
of expectation instead of memory, of power, not
palsy. Pervading all, governing all, was the
peaceful calm of invincible purpose and perfected
accomplishment, a staying upon the power of
the Infinite. Indeed, the perfect soul shone
through the windows of the perfected body. It
was an organism to which death was now the
servant and not a terrifying master. It was an
example of what all mankind are privileged to
become if they will, perfect souls in perfect
bodies. It was fully apparent that he walked
constantly in the overshadowing glory of the

THREE SEVENS. 67

^^ His benison fidLs upon me as does sleep
upon a tired child. He sits with me talking of
varioiis matters. Bye-and-bye, as the moon
rises, he bids me farewell, saying :

" * At midnight expect me.'

" I sleep. As the long hours come, I am
aroused by a light touch upon my shoulder. To
me, broad awake at once, my friend says gently :

*'*Come!'

'^ Two attendants stand beside him, bearing
vestments like my friend's ; these I assume.
When I am clothed, he says :

"'Allow yourself once more to be blind-
folded.* Thus muffled I am conducted by deyi-
ous ways into the heart of the mountain temple.

" When the bandage was removed from my
eyes, I found myself in a circular hall, with a
flat floor, so hewn out of the solid rock that it
was a perfect hemisphere. The diameter was
an exact divisor of the earth's diameter. Within
the circumference, was traced upon the floor, an

68 THREE SEVENS.

ellipse. At one of the foci was a throne or
royal seat. At the other an altar, hewn out in
a single piece, from the original rock that had
once filled the whole space. Upon this altar an
unquenchable fire ever burned, sometimes leap-
ing high and strong, and sometimes dwindling
down into a slender tongue of flame, more like
the flash of a small electric spark. It was the
measure of the thought-force of the Brother-
hood present. As it flamed up, swayed and
concentrated itself, it was an indicator of the
potency of projection of their own individuality
into the astral currents of the Universe.

" These, and other details, I give from after
knowledge, for I did not then perceive nor know
them in all their fulness.

*'*' The hall was lighted so that all things
within it were plainly perceptible, but from
whence the light came could not be cognized by
personal sense. On the half ellipse surrounding
the throne, were fifteen seats, seven on each side

THREE SEVENS. 69

of one placed on the pole of the major diameter.
All were of elaborate pattern. Each diflFered
from the others, owing to the idiosyncracy of
the occupant, whose inner thoughts had fistsh-
ioned them, both in device and construction.
But all were similar in the impression they gave
of restfulness and content; as if the builder of
each had entered into the Great Peace.

" The seat at the end of the major axis was a
little broader and higher, indicating deserved
honor, but in no sense separateness. The seven
seats on either hand equi-distant from each
other, completed the sum of the three, five and
seven.

"The walls and roof were bare. Composed
of some kind of porphyritic rock, they were
polished like a mirror. The door through which
I had entered had moved noiselessly back to its
place. No seam nor joining gave hint of its
existence. As I looked upon the walls, I was,
with all my self-control, startled. They did

70 THERE SEVENS.

not reflect a single item of the interior, and yet
shadowy outlines flitted constantly across their
surface; outlines which my untrained vision
failed to recognize.

^^At the moment of being unblinded, the
occupants of each seat were standing, each by
his particular resting place, save one at the right
of the Center. They were all habited like my
guide and myself. Their faces and bearing
were simply indescribable. Nowhere else on
earth could be found a counterpart. It was
evident that the hands of each were on the latch
of the Gates of Gold, simply waiting completion
of labor. And the Elder Brother, no artistic
thought in beau ideal has ever approached the
conception of his perfection ; of the return into
the original majesty and beauty of Creative
Thought, before its manifestation was marred
by man's interference, permitted for purpose.

^' As my vision became accustomed to the
piercing clearness of the light, my guide, mak-

THREE SEVENS. 71

ing some sign to the Elder Brother, crossed
over to the vacant seat, where he stood as did
the others, thus leaving me standing by myself^
at the foot of the throne.

^' The light on the altar flamed and flickered,
not as if in any sense enfeebled, but as if swept
over by a draught of air. In this hall no such
thing was possible, and the movement must have
had some other cause.

" Low, musical, but wonderfully penetrating,
came words to me from the Elder Brother :

"* Stranger, stand erect! The mighty voice
of our unseen brother speaks to us by you, his
lawfiil messenger. Your claim from us is just,
not only because you are his descendant, but
because you of your own self have proved that
fear does not control you. To bravery, you add
natural adaptation, and the culture necessary
for advancement. You have successfully
endured the preliminary trials. It is not too
late to draw back. If you choose, you shall go

72 THREE SEVENS.

naiklj and quickly unto yonr own people. But,
if you take one more step, you pass the threshold
of the great gate, that swings ever inward, and
never outward. This once passed, retreat is
impossible, and advancement must be constantly
made. Look to the wall on your right.'

^^ I looked. Out of the mirrored distance, I
could discern the links of my own memory—^
incidents of the beginning of my faintest recoU
lection, and then, in unraveling coil, all my
actions, even the minutest, revealed themselves
to my gaze.

^^ As the sequence reached the point of my
present 9tatu%, a cloud enshadowed the whole.
Out beyond the wavy outlines, a bright light
shone, and the flame on the altar leaped up
triumphantly.

^^ ' Thou seest the past,' continued the Elder
Brother, ^ the future is thine own to make. If
thou art guided by the lessons of the finished it
is well. If thou wilt still, of thine own free will,

THREE SEVENS. 78

go on to the irrevocable, advance three steps,
and kneel at the foot of the throne.'

" Without hesitation, fearlessly and reverent-
ly, I advanced and knelt upon the broad lower
step.

^^ ^ Repeat after me, this thy new name ; for
thine old one, stained with mortal folly, thou
wilt here leave with thy closed past ; and then
say on, as thou shalt hear/

^^As I commenced the repetition of this most
solemn obligation with my new name, the right
hand of the invisible occupant of the throne
was laid upon my head. The light waned.
The flame upon the altar grew concentered and
star-like, in intensity. An overwhelming pres-
ence, awful in majesty, seemed to fill the room.
Behind the brotherhood standing here, in the
visible, were rank upon rank of forms shadow-
ing in dim but perfect outline out of the
invisible.

"I cannot reveal the vows of an initiate's

74 THREE SEVENS.

obligation otherwise than they were taken.
Every word burned itself into my memory as if
seared with a hot iron. At the concluding
words : ' Let my oath be witnessed by you in all
ages to come/ the brotherhood, as one, respond-
ed : * We witness your obligation,* and out of
the silence, came also a deep, reverberating echo:
^ We, also, witness your obligation.' The whole
brotherhood, whether in the flesh, or out of it,
were witnesses, for such is their custom. The
hand was lifted from my head. A feeling of
renewed strength and life flushed my veins and
tingled through every nerve.

"For a second time, came to my ear, the
voice of the Elder Brother, saying : ^You have
entered your novitiate. For seven years, the
last one of which shall be the year of the prep-
aration, you will pursue your studies with our
brother, to whom you were first assigned. Be
obedient. Be faithful. Be studious, and we
shall gladly confer that which you may desire.'

THREE SEVENS. 75

^^ The flame upon the altar flashed up, strong,
joyful and vigorous* A strain of music, &r-off
but distinct, filled the vaulted chamber. A
sweet, subtle perfume, reached my nostrils, and
kneeling still, I lose myself in space.

" When I return to myself, I am lying on
the divan in my own apartment. I wonder if it
is all a dream. It was too vivid, and the obli*
gation had left too strong an impression. On
glancing about the apartment, the white robes
of my new dress testify that I have forever
renounced the old, and being bom again in pur-
pose, desire and intention, am ready to enter on
my novitiate.

"Presently my Guru enters. His tender
salutation : ^ May the day be good to thee, my
brother,' arouses within me a new and strong
desire for his guidance and approval. Attend-
ants bring fruit, unleavened cakes and honey,
and we break fast together. After we had
eaten and drank, he said :

76 THREE SEVENS.

" * While we are under the circle of necessity
it is meet that we divide the twenty-four hours
into three parts : eight hours for labor, eight for
meditation and study, and eight for sleep. So
you may find occupation in the gardens in the
morning hours, and when the day grows old^I
will come to thee until the hours for rest are at
hand/ So saying he withdrew.

*^ It is not necessary to go into the details of
those six yearint so quiet and uneventful.
In the equal balancing of physical labor, not
toil, but a happy mean, and soul culture, and
rest, my whole being grew, as the * flower grows
upon the still lagoon.' I gave no thought to
time, but enjoyed life as never before, in the
truest and highest sense.

^^ One afternoon, as my Gum had finished a
magnificent description of the man who perfectly
embodied the creative thought, he said:

" *This night finishes six years of your novi-
tiate. To-morrow morning, you will commence

THREE SEVENS. 77

your year of preparation. We will break our
&st together.' Bidding me good night, he
left me.

^^ Early in the morning, he came again to me,
and when our hunger was allayed by the
simple and satisfying meal customary, he said :

" * Come with me to my laboratory.' Passing
through a long, narrow corridor, we ascended a
spiral staircase of forty-five steps, hewn into the
solid rock. This brought us into a large, square
room, opening upon the outside surfiice of the
mountain by a dormer window, looking West.
On the outside, this was high up on the perpen-
dicular face of the cliff, and not discernible, as
haying any connection with the artificial. On
the inside, a huge block of stone, exactly bal-
anced, and moving by a touch of the finger,
fitted the opening, and protected from the
inclemency of the weather. Seats were cut in
niches around the walls, and a divan ran across
the whole of one side. In the wall, opposite the

78 THREE SEVENS.

divftn, was fitted a large, square stone of pol-
ished, black marble, seven feet in length and
breadth. Inscribed within the square, was a
double circle of white marble. Between these
two circles, were arranged in regular order, in
red porphyry, the signs of the zodiac. . At the
four comers, also inlaid of the red stone, were a
line, a triangle, a right angle and a square.

^^ In the center of the room stood an altar,
like the one in the Hall of Obligation, but smaller.
Bugs covered the seats and divan. At the head
of the divan, a shelved niche held a few papyrus
rolls, dark with age and use. Close at hand
was a large tablet of slate and a stylus of the
same material. Nowhere was visible any of
the usual furnishing of the ordinary laboratory,
such as crucibles, flasks, furnaces or retorts.

^^ Hardly had this thought framed itself in
my mind, when my Guru said : * In our explo-
rations of Nature's realm, we do not study
effects, believing them to be causes. We do not

THBEE SEVENS. 79

investigate the unreal and changeable, to find
oat changeless law. The reflection can teach
us but little about the substance of the reflection.
You have been moving away from the unreal,
into the knowledge of the real. Your training
has hitherto been a unit, so far as it concerned
the trinity of man, body, soul and spirit. But
now, you must learn to know more fully, by
what right the spirit claims and maintains domi-
nance over all lower planes of manifestation.

" * During your year of preparation, your
study will be of the real: of its laws, of the
laws of mind, of our relations to those laws,
which mankind, as a whole, has so studiously
perverted these many years. We do not need
to study books, for we may use the repository
of all knowledge, even the astral light. Let
us begin our day's duties by passing into the
Silence.'

^^ He sat down, and bade me sit beside him.
CFpon doing so, after a few moments, a train of

So THREE SEVEIfS.

thought, subtile in reasoning, condusiye in logic
and unanswerable in its scope, as to the first
principles of manifestation, filled my whole
attention. It was told me afterwards, that it
was the mental discourse of my brother and
teacher. His voice at last aroused me from
my abstraction. Coming back to consciousness
of the outer, I noticed a single ray of sunlight
rested on the altar.

"It would weary you, without cause, to
recount, day by day, the occurrences of that
most eventful year. Four morning hours were
spent in the laboratory. Four hours devoted to
the care of my allotment in common with the
Brothers, in the gardens of the Temple. Here
the action of mental force upon vitalized, physi-
cal conditions was studied, that there might be
certainty of self-confidence, in our contact with
Nature. Four of the closing hours of day were
given to social intercourse, whereby the feeling
of brotherhood should be more firmly grounded.

THREE SEVENS. 81

The remaining eight hours were given to rest,
sleep and refreshment.

" With this general outline, I may venture to
give you a few well-remembered incidents. My
Ghiru said the study of Mathematics and Geome-
try was devised to train the mentality in concen-
tration. In language, we sought for sn\oothness
of expression of our thoughts, and in philosophy,
we were constantly seeking to identify ourselves
with God and with the Universe.

" When he was not engaged with me, he was
occupied with the Caballa, from which he
declared, knowledge of everything in the Uni-
verse ^could be obtained, that being at once a
key and an encyclopaedia.

^^ One day, near th« time of the full moon of
the first month of my tutelage, he, illustrating
on his tablet with his stylus as he talked, said:

" * The problems of Geometry were invented
by the Masters, to teach the relations of the
unseen forces to the visible and the manifested,

fe THREE SEVENS.

and not for physical application. In this latter
use, they are necessarily wrested from their tme
office and purpose. Hear the demonstration of
the right-angled triangle:

'^ ^ The right angle represents the equal bal-
ancing of the spiritual and physical forces, so
that neither shall bring detriment to the other.
The perpendicular stands for the spiritual. The
horizontal or physical conditions lie continually
along the same plane, never rising above it, nor
can it fall below it. Should it do one or the
other, it ceases to be horizontal, ceases to be
perfect physical. The perpendicular rising out
of the physical plane at every point of its
progress, is constantly changing its position,
growing upward, out of, and beyond the physi-
cal environment, beneath which it does not
penetrate. It meets the physical at the point
of contact only. This point, in the seven prin- .
ciples of man, is represented by the astral body.
The spiritual in all its upward progress, and the

THREE SEVENS. 83

physical in its stcUiis of rest and quiet, are
bound together by the Infinite, Perfect One.
This bond is represented by the hypotheneuse,
which connects the spiritual and physical on the
opposite ends of the line. The extreme points
of the perpendicular and horizontal coalescing
with the extreme points of the hypotheneuse,
represent body, soul and spirit, which are but
manifestations of the Divine power and presence.
The hypotheneuse is greater than either the per-
pendicular or the horizontal.

" * A square is the symbol of perfection. It
has four equal sides, and four equal angles.
This makes four equal perfection. That which
is perfect must be real, and the real must be
the Perfect One. Then the Perfect, Supreme
Intelligence is represented by the square
described on the hypotheneuse. The square
described on the perpendicular, shows forth the
perfect spiritual, while that on the horizontal
stands for the perfect physical. Because mani-

84 THREE SEVENS.

festation exists as physical, it does not foUow
that it is imperfect. Consequently, the square
of the hypotheneuse or Divine Perfect is equal
to both the manifestations of Itself, the Perfect
Spiritual and the Perfect Physical. Not until
they return into itself will their equality each to
each be manifest.

"* Furthermore, the Physical, Spiritual and
Intelligent are the Triad which would be incom-
plete if either of the elements was imperfect or
wanting. If a side or angle were missing, or if
one of the angles was not a right angle, then
the conditions would be incomplete. All things
must exist as herein named. Then the stated
demonstration will also exist. By it, is clearly
proven the power and unity of the One, who is,
and was, and will be, through all coming cycles.'
^^ About a month after that he said to me :
"*It is acknowledged by all philosophers,
that no matter how our environment changes in
form, no element is ever lost. , This must be

THREE SEVENS. 85

trae, for the element is the premordial point,
and is a part of the only real substance, the
One, and must therefore be self-existent and
indestmctible. Wise men even/have been sat-
isfied with the correct enunciation of this propo-
sition, not realizing the logical sequence, that
all forms which have once existed, and become
invisible by the operation of superior force, can,
by the exercise of the creative force latent in
man, agam resume their visible forms. This
unused and forgotten force is man's birthright,,
as the image and likeness of the One/

^^^Gan this be demonstrated to personal
sense V was my question.

^' ^ Let us see. Sit quietly, and you shall
have proof.' I looked at him, as he sat motion-
less. Under the broad band of sunlight, stream-
ing into the room, his majestic face became as
immovable and fixed in its lineaments, as if
carved in marble. The mighty spirit within
looked straight beyond the environment, into the

86 THREE SEVENS.

vastnees of limitleBS space. It was the concen-
tration of the potent will. On the rocky floor
between ns, appeared a yellowish mist, which
apparently solidified until a gold Pistole lay
before my astonished gaze.

^* The stem lines of my teacher's face relaxed ;
the sight of the present came back, and his kind
voice assured me of his return to actual pres-
ence.

" *My brother,' said he, * take up that sym-
bol man so loves and worships that he repudi-
ates and forgets the real for which it stands.
Its value is largely a matter of imputation and
belief. But, because by mutual agreement,
mankind could, by its use, gratify self, they have
veiled their perceptions of the true gold of life,
consisting in the mastery of the passions, and
self-domination. As thou hast seen it come
forth, so only can it be created. The dream of
juggling pretenders never left the physical
plane, in its search after the philosopher's stone,

THREE SEVENS. 87

which is the will directed by wisdom and tem-
pered with knowledge. The vibrations of the
astral forces hold in solution the essence of all
things. Out of this, can be crystsJlized, by a will
in touch, or capable of harmoniously attuning its
own vibrations, whatsoever has, at any past time,
manifested itself to personal sense, as the formu-
lation of previous thought. Thou canst meas-
ure here the true value of gold, where we have
neither desire nor use for it.'

Here my host paused in his narrative, and,
turning his open hand toward me, displayed
therein an antique gold coin. ^^ I have always,
since, worn it as a talisman," he said.

As his hand had been lying perfectly still
and wide open upon the cushion, since he
commenced telling his story, it might seem a
mystery how the coin happened to be there.

"Another month went by," he continued.
" As the moon approached the full, I felt con-
scious of a rapid gain in my understanding of

88 THBEE SEVENS.

the true relaticMis of my real self to the Mao*
rocoBm.

^^Mj Gura had been discoursing on man*fl
responsibility for his dominion over, not only
himself and his fellows, but also every living
organism upon the earth. He maintained that
man had rule and dominion over even the
wildest beasts, if he chose to cultivate and use
it. Not by physical meodous, not simply by the
power of the eye, so much vaunted amongst
civilized people, but by the unseen, silent cur-
rents, which sway all animated existence. This
is proved by &e fact that the eye of a coward
will not control the feeblest animal. He who
C(mstrains in that manner, must be fearless and
brave. It is not the eye, but the force behind
it that rules.

<< As we talked, we were looking out of the
window into the forest. In plain sight, a gaunt
jaguar was crouching up<m a little dump of
trees, waiting the coming of a mountain antelope

THBEE SEVENS. 89

slowly climbing a rooky path, leading dose by
the lair of its fierce, hungry enemy.

" * See, oh, my brother! * I exclaimed. * Cer-
tain destruction awaits the antelope.'

"* Possibly not,' replied my Guru. *You
mi^y see an illustration of my words. The
antelope will not be harmed.'

^^I waited in suspense. The look of pro-
jected power passed over my teacher's face. The
jaguar stirred not. The antelope passed on its
way unhurt, and apparently unconscious of the
awful danger it had so narrowly escaped. When
it had gone by, the jaguar crept down from its
hiding place, and slunk out of sight.

^^ A short time after this, another incident of
the same controlling power, was as fully and
strikingly given. A swift messenger was needed
for use. Why the usual method of dissolution
and re-materidization was not employed, I do
not know, as it was no business of mine, but
concerned my Guru alone.

90 THREE SEVENS.

'^ Standing within the embrasure of the rock-
bound window, he looked out upon space.
Watching him, as one feels the flow of an
electric current, so came to my inner sense per-
ception of the impelled power of will in its
greatest concentration. The vibrations were
strong enough to appeal to the sense of dairau-
dience. First a hum, then a well defined
musical sound, manifested itself. The impres-*
sion was of a call that could not be resisted. The
sound was peculiar and far-reaching, because
the direct result of the impulsion of dominant
will.

'^ A few minutes passed. Out of the bright-
ness of a cloudless sky, a speck grew into a
bird, and an immense, untamed condor, flying
straight as an arrow shot from a bow, alighted
on the rocky ledge, at the feet of my teacher.

^' He attached to the neck of the motionless
monarch of the mountain air, a chain and a packet,
in the same manner as carrier-pigeons are

THItEE SEVENS. 91

used. The condor having thus received his
message, poised himself, his great pinions spread,
and then the &r-ofif, firom whence he came,
again received him into itself.

^^ ^If man had not lost the memory of the
things that rightfully belong to him,' said my
Guru, ^ he would never lack helpers nor mes-
sengers. He has trusted to the arm of flesh and
been overthrown. When will he see that the
perfect spirit brings the perfect body, and the
two are essential to the perfect man, who was
given dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fowls of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth ? It was not
the dominion of physical force, either ; for that
is the weakest force of the Universe. Why
should he have dominion, if he were not to use
it? He will not learn, and still he mourns his
weakness. Weakness! His rightfol position
amongst created intelligences is next to the
Infinite/

92 THBEE SEVENS.

" Several days after the affair of the condor,
we were discussing the real means by which
one man reaches another by argument. * It is
not in any sense/ said my friend, * a physical
change, but a modification through a person's
utterances, of soul condition, which we- name
conviction. This change pertains entirely to
the four principles, which make up the astral
body. These in simple and in mass, are volatile
and constantly striving to break away from
their bondage to the physical. The link that
binds the astral body to its physical expression is
adaptable, but is not to be handled nor toyed
with, without knowledge, lest there happen
events that cannot be recalled.

" ^We can send another, wearing only his
astral body, out into the astral currents. We
should, however, first, be perfectly certain, that
the power which sends forth is fully able to
recall. Otherwise there may be sad remem-
brances for us, and knowledge gained by awful

THREE SEVENS. 98

experience, of currents twisted into cyclones, of
gales and cross-currents, and , of Karma to
undergo, that was not ours, until thus rashly
appropriated. But my dear, younger brother,
thou hast reached a point where, if thou hast
desire to see for thyself the two-fold distinction
of the astral and physical body, now is thy time
and opportunity. Look steadfastly upon me.'

^^ Obeying his command, a strange sensation
of quiet and rest crept over me, a shudder, and
then a thrill, succeeded by a sense of ease and
lightness, a momentary confusion, as when one
passes from the darkness into the light. I was
conscious of being outside of my body, which,
at my side, was lying at ease, to all appearance
sleeping. To my inner hearing came the voice
of my preceptor :

" ^Thou hast passed, temporarily, the change
which, when permanent, men call death. The
difference is, that thou hast not relinquished thy
right to thy body, and can re-enter at thy will,

94 THREE SEVENS.

assisted by me. Wait, and I will call a guide
for thee.'

^^ Resisting the impulse to move, my will held
the Scin-Laeca, until another astral form, I rec-
ognized as a' temple-dweller, joined me. ^ If
thou hast desire, lay thy hand in his, and formu-
late thy wish,' were the words distinctly heard.
I did as I was bidden. The wish to see my
birthplace in far-oflF Spain, rested heavily on
my soul. At the instant, my thought became
an entity to myself. I was also conscious of a
swift movement Eastward.

" Suddenly we felt our way confronted by a
wall of thick darkness. 'That is opposing
force, acting blindly, following the simple law
of projection,' said my guide, his voice ringing
out in bell-like cadence, a quality which dis-
tinguishes all astral utterances. ' Wait until I
shall inform the Guru.'

"A moment, and his far-ofi, potent voice
commanded: 'Fear not, but move forward, my

THREE SEVENS. 95

force is sufficient for you.' No shadow of fear
fell upon us, as we plunged into the midst of
the darkness. Ages condensed into a second of
time. Resistance made against terrible con-
striction and oppression, but no thought of
retreat. A passage is cleft. Brightness and
light once more envelope us.

" All this time, I am conscious of the swift
moving toward the East. As in a vivid dream,
we stand at last in my ancestral Hall. Familiar
with the surroundings, I explained various points
of interest to my guide. He gravely acknowl-
edged the courtesy, but when I presented him to
some of the cavaliers-in-waiting, his eyes
smiled, and I noticed they made no response.
Now; came to my consciousness, a certain air of
solemnity, such as preceeds a weighty event in
the life of earth.

^ "Ascending the stairway to my father's
apartments, we passed through the doorway. In
a dazed sort of condition I noticed that the

96 THBEE SEVENS:

heavy, oaken doors were closed, and so remained,
and the stiff, tapestried curtains, hanging low,
gave no sign of our ingress, only as if stirred
by a slight wind.

^^My father lay on his pallet, pallid and
exhausted. His faithful attendants stood near,
and also my mother. As she had been dead
many years, I was again momentarily confused,
but remembering my present condition, I moyed
to her side, and greeted her. She affection-
ately returned my greeting. In answer to my
question^ why she still remained on the Abtral
plane, she replied :

^^ ^ I wait for thy father before passing on to
Devachan. But how is this? Are you also
free?'

" I told her I was not yet liberated, only let
loose for a little while.

^^Then as we talked, the extreme moment
came to my father. The astral body rising
from the physical, before becoming entirely free,

THREE SEVENS. 07

discerned us conversing. The physical body,
sympathizing in the transport of joy, exclaimed
in its last effort :

"' Oh, my dear wife ! My son Manuel !'

" My father's astral body joined our group.
Inquiries and information passed rapidly. I
asked my guide if they could not return with us.

" * When their days of purification are over,'
he said, * it may be possible, but thy Guru calls.
Say thy farewells.'

"Parting tenderly, our ghosts separated. As
we, mounting into the regions of clearer vision,
moved Westward, I noticed a thread of silvery
lustre, stretching far out into the dim distance.
To my question:

"* What is this?'

" My companion answered :

" ^ It is the silver cord, not yet unloosed,
which binds us to our bodies.'

" Suddenly a whirring, unintelligible murmur
fell upon my hearing.

08 THREE SEVENS.

^^ To my questioning, my guide made answer :

^^ ^ That is the voice of the Viewless races, to
whose forms thine eyes are this day closed, by
thy teacher's wisdom. Some day, no doubt,
thou wilt see them, when more knowledge and
experience are thine.'

^^ Hardly had he finished speaking, when we
were caught in a yast cyclone, on whose outer
edge we were swiftly whirled away from our
direct course.

^^ ^ Lay thine hand in mine, and let thy pur-
pose hold fast,' hurriedly whispered my guide.
* When we have passed a semi-circumference, we
shall again be drawn on our cpurse, by his wiU,
who watches over us, and already perceives our
danger. We are immediately over one of earth's
great battles. Thou seest how the fury of
thought reaches beyond the physical. Safely
and quickly we reached the farther pole and
were again moving in the line of direction
straight ahead.

THREE SEVENS. 99

^^ And now, we found onrselyes on the brink
of a onrrent sweeping irresistibly along, which
crossed our way at right angles.

"* This/ said my guide, ^ is projected force,
bent on its own accomplishment, but it would
hurl us into dire straits if caught in it. It has
no power, however, on the silver cord of life.
Wo can pass over it.*

^^ Then rising, rising far beyond all the move-
ment, presently we found ourselves once more in
the'familiar surroundings. Irresistibly drawn,
as when one awakens from a dream, I resumed
my natural condition, and the low, sweet tones
of my teacher's voice fell upon my ear :

^^ ^Thou hast been much favored,' it said, ' to
welcome thy father to the invisible country. I
perceived the approaching event, and thus was
able to gratify both thee and thy father. It is
not necessary that the dead should become visi-
ble for mortal converse, but the living also may
become visible in distant places, and this is even

100 THBEE SEVENS.

easier. Thus they may stand on a common
plane, until such time as the spirit yields up its
astral body, when in company with its soul, it
passes on to the condition of rest and assimi-
lation.

*' * But you are weary. Retire to thy apart-
ment and to-morrow I will hear thy questions.
Take with thee my congratulations for thy
prompt obedience, courage and fearlessness, in
this new adventure.'

"On the morrow, my Guru said: *Thou
canst understand by the things thou sawest, how
dangerous is the astral way to him who advent-
ures without knowledge, or preparation, and
yet thou didst see only the ordinary incidents.
If to thy sight had been revealed the invisible
forms of the hostile races, which crowd all the
broad domain called space ; if thou couldst have
heard their wdrds of discouragement and mis-
leading, perchance even thy high courage might
have failed thee.

THREE SEVENS. 101

^^^ Notwithstanding all this, there have been
thoBe, who, being void of wisdom, have hastened
to brave these dangers. Is it a wonder, under
sach circamstances, that the thread of life should
be suddenly snapped asunder, and the experi-
menters themselves precipitated into a hastened
doom? It is well, always, to understand the
laws and customs of any country into which you
contemplate journeying. It may save us some
confusion in the end.

" * If thou, hereafter, shalt desire to try thy
powers in this direction, look steadily at the
coin in thy possession, holding it in ihe palm of
thy right hand. If danger impends, or uncer-
tainty confuses, think of me, as I have taught
thee, and the thinking shall be the talisman of
safety.'

" With closer and closer attention, and more
intense eagerness, I pursued my studies, yet
more diligently. I was absorbed entirely in
ihe getting of understanding, for the love of it,

102

THREE SEVENS.

regardless of what might be the result or out-
come of the possession of that onderstanding.
Nor was I conscious of desire.

CHAPTER IV.

iHILE sitting, one evening, by
myself, the tropical moon shining
in all its fervency, and lighting
up the whole interior of my apart-
ment, I remembered my Guru's
words about the coin. I took it
in my right hand. Adjusting my body com-
fortably in a reclining attitude, I fixed my gaze
upon it. Almost instantly, a little thrill passed
over me. Then came the feeling of lightness,
with which I was already familiar. A moment
later, and my astral body was looking at the
grosser, bodily vesture, as it lay, immovable and
stolid, upon the divan. This was attached to
me by a bright cord running from the coin to
myself, in some indefinable way, through the
body.

104 THREE SEVENS.

^^ Going down the long flight of steps, I went
to the fountain in the garden, and sat down to
think. As I mnsed, the whirring noises, of
which I had been so dimly consdons in my first
journey, became more and more distinct, until I
could hear the converse of the Unseen. Look-
ing up and beyond the limits of the mountain-
closed grounds, from which the sounds pro-
ceeded, I noticed immediately above the
inclosure, a radiant space. No clouds, nor dim-
ness obscured the pellucid eminences along which
my clear sight mounted from heighth to heighth,
conscious simply of immensity. It was the
direct ray from Him of the Seven Builders, who
was 'in charge/

'^ But beyond the guarded precincts came the
sounds to my unveiled ear, which had first
attracted my attention. Misty Masses, con-
stantly on the move, shaped themselves to my
vision, as ungainly forms, creatures whose
horror would overcome the stoutest heart.

THREE SEVENS. 105

Monsters, unfinished or half made up, creations
of helpless malignance, jostled each other, while
out of their malevolent thought, they hurled
vain words of terrible import and design at me,
so amply protected by the barrier at once trans-
parent and to them impassible, long since firmly
set about the temple grounds. We could pass
to them, but they could not come to us. Secure,
for a few moments I watched the impotent hate
of the hostile races, who detest the Good, and
all his creatures, and especially man, of
whose unbridled, rebellious will, these are the
creations. They are a wonderfully prolific
cause of misery and suffering to mankind, and
one which he little suspects.

"Satisfied with my experiment, I willed to
return to my sleeping body. A little constric-
tion, a sense of falling, like the changes of a
dream, and I found myself once more in the
position of gazing at the coin. This I carefully
put away for future use.

106 THREE SEVENS.

^ The next morning, my Gara, on meeting
me, addressed me at once : ^ Thou didst well,
my brother, not to adventure further. The full
of the moon is not a favorable season for weak
travelers to begin their excursions into the bor-
derlands of the earth.'

^^ One more month had winged its way. Our
studies had brought us to the point, where
organized force, unintelligent of itself could be
made to serve man, who was so masterfial of
himself and his environment as to be able to
demand it. The teacher said :

"/ In the earlier ages of the world, before man
had sworn allegiance to the physical, thereby
enslaving his best and highest self, he had
dominance over the ' creeping things,' the mal-
formed monsters of immense force. By their
strength and enforced labor, were piled up the
immortal monuments of antiquity, whose ruins,
even, surpass the noblest structures that man
has since been able to erect without their help.

THREE SEVENS. 107

^^ * Do yon suppose that our brotherhood,
whose Knot here numbers but fifteen in the
visible, could have hewn this temple out of the
solid rock, to say nothing of the beautifying
and adorning and fitting it for its intended
purpose, by the labor of our hands only ? Not
in a million years. When I tell you we have
been here only since Atlantis fell, from one of
whose provinces we escaped, you will conclude
that we have had other help. You have courage
and discretion. Oome with me ! '

^^ Accompanying him, we descended upon
one of the main corridors of the temple.
Branching off from the first, at right-angles,
toward the heart of the mountain, we entered
another corridor inclining downward at an angle
of twenty degrees. After walking a long dis-
tance, we came at last to a flight of forty-five
steps. At the foot of these, passing through a
short tunnel, we stood in a waiting or ante-room.
Beyond this, through an immense, arched door-

108 THREE SEVENS.

way, waSy in process of construction, a Hall,
whose vastness forced physical man to his
relative condition of pigmyhood.

" My Gum told me that it was exactly in the
heart of the moontainy and when finished, would
be for the convocation of all the brotherhood,
throughout the world, and for their instruction
in the manifestation of the Unseen, wherever its
influence can be perceived in all the spaces of
the Infinite.

^' It had the shape of an immense sphere
flattened at the poles. The solid rock was
above, below, all around. In what, to us,
would be the path of the ecliptic, was a broad
vein of gold, passing entirely around the broad-
est diameter.

" The virgin gold shone and glittered in the
light from nowhere, that made all things visible.
There was in sight enough treasure to have
bought outright the richest empire upon the
earth's surface. Here, it had no value, any

THREE SEVENS. 109

more than the other cumbering masseB. It
served its purpose as an interior decoration, that
and nothing more. These wise ones had no
need to buy that which was all their own. Did
they have occasion for anything from the great
storehouse of the uumanifested, theirs was the
potency, which could bring it into the visible.
The ordinary processes of life faded into nothing-
ness, before the dominance of the Will.

^' About two-thirds of the space needed was
already hollowed out. Two of the Brotherhood,
clad in the usual white robes, stood calmly by,
as if overseeing. In their hands they held
wands made of some dark flexible material,
resembling ebony.

^'A word, or signal, passed between them.
Moving to the outer circumference, at opposite
points, they simultaneously directed their wands
forward. At the same instant, a stream of fire,
blinding as the lightning's flash, struck the
apparently impenetrable rock. Huge fragments

110 THREE SEVENS.

88 the resiilty covered the floor with debrifl.

^ Then, out of the fiurther gloom, two mon-
8troii8 shapes defined themselves. Seizing the
huge blocks, they bore them out of the hall by a
tunnel perforated for the purpose. Where has
all the rubbish been carried ? was the question
in my mind.

" ' Come and see,' was my Guru's answer tp
my unvoiced question. Following the elemen-
tals, who were just entering the tunnel with a
splinter of rock, tons in weight, we were
obliged to walk rapidly to keep them in sight.
The passage ended abruptly, at an immense
cleft sinking down perpendicularly into the
bowels of the earth. Into this, the burden-
bearers flung the immense mass of rock. Down
down, amidst the reverberating echoes, it thun-
dered and roared, for full two minutes, and this
was succeeded by a soughing sobbing, deepen-
ing by irregular intervals into a long silence.

" ^ That great rift in the mountain has

THREE SEVENS. Ill

absorbed the whole of the waste material taken
from all the rooms of the temple, save only that
used in the building of outside steps, terraces,
and colonnades. All the lifting and carrying
and carving has been done by the strong, deft
agency of elemental force. They do our menial
work. This is what they were intended for.
Unrestrained they grow mischievous to man's
plans, because of ^the surplus of unemployed
strength, but are not malignant.

^^ ^ Mankind, in this age, and in the nearest
fiiture ages, worshiping blindly a physical idea,
will be content only with the making visible to
his personal sense of some material form, which
is but the outer garb of elemental force. Its
rigidity always prevents the ftiU exercise of the
power inclosed in the machine of iron, steel and
brass. All that he thus accomplishes, might
have been obtained in its primitive shape, had
he not closed his eyes to all spirit life and
power.

112 THREE SEVENS.

^' ^ There is but one force, an emanation from
the Supreme, which can be seized and appor-
tioned in parcels, by man. These he names
according to his own fancies, having no regard
for the reality of the thing itself. Potent
thought first formulates out of this ever-present
plastic material the things called elementals,
having no intelligence of their own, but simply
potency for accomplishment.'

" ^ One of our Egyptian Brothers said :

" ' " The Lord God made man out of the dust
of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of lives." The making out of the dust
of the ground, was the formulating of elemental
Jbrce. The breath of lives is intelligence, the
mark set upon man by the Infinite, to distin-
guish him from other existences, of the same
grade of formulation.'

^^Retuming to the great Hall of Convocationi
he continued : ' Our brothers take turns, day
by day, at this work. It cannot be pursued

THREE SEVENS. 118

uninterruptedly, for we incur the hostility of the
unseen races : First, in undertaking so vast a
work, which shall still farther extend and
strengthen our authority, already obnoxious to
them. Secondly, because of their sympathy
with those who are forced to serve us. They
impede us to the extent of their power. Con-
sequently, we deem it best to have all the
advantages possible in our favor. We work in
pairs, by turns, resting between, and for the
seven days which bring the full moon, on the
fourth day, because in the inspiration of its
highest rays, all occult powers, for good, develop
their highest strength.'

" ' Those who travel the other path, seek, on
the contrary, the absence of her light. In the
old nomenclature, she stood as the symbol of
chastity and purity, the favoring patroness of
all the good, which bom of itself, seeks strength
from the same. Then the force sent out by the
workers is an exercise of potency which must

114 THREE SEVENS.

renew itself. Even the Supreme Intelligence,
Itself^ at the end of seven days' exercise of the
highest potency, is declared to have rested. So
do we, in this exercise of our potency.'

^^ Later on, in my life in the Temple, I was
fiftvored with other views of this Hall.

<<For my spirit, thirsting constantly for yet
more and more instruction, the days flew on.
In a conversation about the Astral, my Guru
said: ^This is variously called astral light,
astral fluid, or simply the astral. It might
better be called the astral conditions, for out of
it comes everything conceivable, and into it
returns and is stored up the essential essence of
all things, created or dreatable. In it is
recorded every thought, word or action occurring
in the Universe. The Infinite One looks upon
it, and sees, even as we look upon our mentalily
and say : ^^ I remember." The astral then can
well be called the Divine Memory. So no
essence is lost, no force is lost, no effect of

THREE SEVENS. 115

action is lost, but everytliing is recorded. If
we hare the key of the recording cipher, and
are in alignment with the Truth, no knowledge
is impossible for us to obtain. No power that
we can handle is beyond our grasp. No wish
that we are strong enough to accomplish can be
denied us. Failure to receive, is simply the
consequence of our own weakness. Everything
is ours and is fully prepared for us, when we are
ready. Ah! how many years of vexatious
re-incarnation are necessary to bring us to the
acknowledgment of this truth even to ourselves.

" * Whoever will take the pains to train him-
self can have at his command all the thoughts
of the wise and good in all ages. It is best for
him always, under all conditions and circum-
stances, to strengthen his own powers, and not
to depend upon the thoughts and deductions of
other men, save as starting points for his own
reasoning.'

'^ While he had been talking, I had been

116 THBEE SEVENS.

transcribing his words for farther study, when I
should be by myself. Just at this point, I
noticed with some little vexation that my ink-
horn was empty. He, perceiving my plight, said:

" * Hand it to me/

<^ On receiving it, he held it in outstretched
hand a single instant, and returned it to me filled
to the brim with the finest ink.

" * You see,' he said, ^ supplies are every-
where. There is no desert so bare, no wilder-
ness so solitary, but that the supplies necessary
for life are close at hand, for those who will, and
dare receive.*

^^From this time on, to both him and myself,
came often supplies for urgent needs out of the
astral conditions.

^^ During the ninth month, my teacher's
instructions were more and more pointedly
directed towards the utter subjugation of all
personal sensation and emotion to the power and
direction of the spirit.

TItREE SEVENS, 117

"Not only was potency urged for any wish,
but all wishes were to be deemed idle and a
waste of time, which would not be esteemed
worthy of enforcing with all the strength of
possible power.

"As my Guru said:

" * Do not formulate any expression of will
which has nothing to be gained by its attain-
ment. It is worse than idle, for it divides and
scatters force, and success depends always upon
the completeness of its focalization. To be
thoroughly master of self, one must be able to
introvert their personal sense, and instead of
receiving impressions from without, receive
them from the inner. Instead of dealing with
the manifestations of the physical, learn how to
gain knowledge through the soul of the astral
conditions. This is accomplished by meditation
and by the h«lp of introversion, passing into
the regions of one's own mentality. He who
stands face to &ce with his own soul, has accom-

118 TEREE SEVENS.

plished Tery much in hici journey toward final
attainment.

^^ ' No one can fully describe it No one can
do it for another vicariously. It must be
entirely the work of him who is to receive bene-
fit thereby.*

'^ As the moon rounded into completeness for
the tenth time since my preparation commenced,
I noticed my Guru frequently looking upon me
with an expression of tenderness, for which I
could not account. But the mystery was soon
solved. On the day of the full moon, as he left
me at the usual hour, he said :

'^ ^ My brother, tonight one comes to you, to
whom you are to listen, but not necessarily to
obey. Whatever he may say to you, must be
judged by its merits, in the light of your own
knowledge. May it be well with thee.'

^^ At midnight, a slight touch awoke me from
a sound sleep. Springing to my feet, I con-
fronted a tall, ashy-gray robed figure, who held

I

THREE SEVENS. 119

in his left hand a crystal globe, that glimmered
and sparkled like a big glow-worm. In husky
tones, he said :

** ' Come with me.'

^^ Perceiving him to be one of the attendant
elementals, I should have refused to comply, if I
had not remembered my Guru's parting words.

^^ So, without question, I followed him. Pass-
ing through the brilliantly lighted corridors I
was already acquainted with, he turned to the
lefty into a region in which I was an entire
stranger. The corridors here were so dimly
lighted, that the attendant's glow-worm seemed
by contrast very bright indeed. Walking
rapidly through the various windings, we came
at last to a blank wall entirely barring our

^^ My guide knowing the secret of entrance, for
he was the guardian of that department of the
temple, put forth the potency of his will within
limits. Silently as the grave a door moved back.

120 THREE SEVENS.

IfoUowed him into a vast room, whose floor, roof,
wallsy were one hnge deposit of gold, out of which
the room had been hollowed. On every hand were
great heaps of the yellow metal, and precious
stones of every description named upon earth,
were piled up, any one of which would have
sufficed for a monarch's ransom.

^^ Waiting a moment or two, until my dazzled
senses could comprehend that more than the
earth's known wealth was in sight here, the
guardian said :

" * I am bidden to tell thee that one-fifteenth
of all this treasure is thine. I will transport it
for thee, wherever thou seest fit. Thou hast
been in the world. Thou knowest what it can
bring to thee, of all that man deems most
desirable. Beauty, luxury and power are all
urchasable, and wealth recreates itself. Thy
share is freely offered thee.

" * But thou must also know, if, taking thy
portion, thou wilt go into a far country, thou

THREE SEVENS. 121

shalt no more return hither, nor again meet
the brotherhood in this incarnation, nor perhaps
in many others, for its Earma lieth heavy on
the shoulders of him who may undertake to
bear it. Choose freely, and go thy way if
thou wilt.*

^^ For a single instant, visions of all the ele-
gance, ease, and efficiency such boundless wealth
would command among men, flitted before me.
Then like the aroma of sweet flowers, that had
bloomed long ago, came the memory of my
instructor's words :

« ' God is All, the Only Real. All else is as
unreal as the baseless fabric of a dream.

^^ My courage and strength came back to me.
Kising to my full stature, I ordered my guide
to conduct me hence, for this wealth had no
value for me, when weighed against the privi-
leges of the Brotherhood. We stepped out of
the treasury of the Temple. The door closed
behind us with a sullen clang. My guide re-

122 THREE SEVENS.

conducted me to iny own apartment, and suddenly
vanished, without taking the trouble to walk
away.

'^ Flinging myself upon my couch, from out
the moonbeams came restful quiet, that soon
gave me sleep.

'*In the morning, on meeting my Guru,
a grave smile overspread his face, as he said :

^^ ' And thou hast learned the true value of
riches. It is well.*

" Once more, I apply myself vigorously to my

daily duties. Week follows week, until another

momentous day has come. As we sit at work in

the laboratory, a letter drops without warning

upon the open scroll before him. He looks at

the superscription and breaks the seal. After

reading, he hands me the following:

" * Madrid, Spain.
To THE Brother-in-chabge:

Say to our youngest brother: The heir to the
throne of Spain, standing between him and the
succession, has passed into the invisible. He is
entitled to the Scepter. If he shall so choose, he

THREE SEVENS. 123

can be at once transported hither, and his rights
maintained. Let us know his decision at once.
Fraternally,

He who Watches/

" ' What is your answer ? ' said my teacher.

" * May I ask you two questions ? '

"* Certainly.'

" * Can I, by acceptance, be of any benefit to
the Brotherhood ? *

" *Not the slightest,* was the answer.

" ' Shall I be cut off from the Brotherhood,
henceforth ? '

" ' Most certainly.'

" ' Then say to him from me, the next heir is
more willing and needy than I, let him receive it.'

^^ My Guru bowed his head in silent assent.
Then taking a sheet of parchment, he wrote
thereon, folded and sealed it. Poising it on the
end of his stylus, in my full sight, it vanished
into thin air. I had unwittingly added another,
in the person of the new king, to my list of
tormentors; but had, in compensation, advanced

124 THREE SEVENS.

one step neaier the perfection of mortal life.

^^ And now, on the morrow, would commence
the twelfth and last month of my probation.
My Gam said :

" ' Heretofore, yon haye had help and com-
panionship to sustain yon in your trials ; bat
now, for the month to come, yoa mast alone
meet your last trial of the novi tiate. To-morrow,
at sanrise, yoa will be condacted to the meant
of fastingr. For thirty days, save water from
the spring, no sustenance mast pass year lips.'

" On the morrow, my Gura accompanied me
to a little plateau, on the very peak of the
mountain, outlooking upon the gardens. Here
I found a rock-hewn cell, whose entrance &ced
the South. Within, a divan, with skins
stretched upon it, and a single stone block for a
seat, was all the furnishing. Outside the door,
a spring clear as crystal, bubbled into, and
overflowed a rocky basin.

" Taming to me, my Guru said :

THREE SEVENS. 125

^^ ^ You are to sustain your physical self upon
that which you have learned. Be faithful. Be
strong. Let your thought dwell constantly in
contemplation of the Good. Farewell ! ' I was
alone.

'^ After the first three days, the imperative
call of the body for food ceased and the chains
which bind together the body and the spirit,
loosed their tension. Every morning at sunrise,
I drank a few swallows from the spring, then
laved my face, hands and feet in the stream
issuing from it. Then, going back to my- cell, I
gave myself up to communion with the Silence,
musing on the infinity and eternity of the
One only God.

^^ Losing my sense of self in this exercise, I
would perhaps pass unheeding into the hours of
night ; or the first beams of the morrow's rising
sun would find me still astonished at the
immensity of the Soul of the Universe.

"As the days went by, the veil which sep-

126 THREE SEVENS.

arates man from the Creator, grew thinner and
thinner. The spirit, no longer checked by the
importunities and retarding weight of the physi-
cal expression, exultantly soared lighter and
lighter. Passing the cherubims, and the flam-
ing sword which turns every way, it passed on
and on, until the great white throne, symbol of
Omnipotence, became continual sight. Time
for me ceased to exist. They who, at that time,
unknown to me, watched my wel&re, say my
ecstacy and uplifting increased from day to day.

" On the morning of the twenty-eighth day,
I drank from the spring for the last time, and
retiring to my couch lay down to meditate. All
consciousness of physical weakness or bonds
had entirely disappeared. My body showed no
sign of weakness. My face was lighted up, as
are always the faces of those who are permitted
to approach the mount of presence. This is the
story of the watchers.

"The experience that came to me was ,as

THREE SEVENS. 127

follows : Shortly after lying down, the impres-
sion of freedom and lightness came upon me
with the most intense conception.

"It was not the astral separation, but more
an assimilation of accretions sublimed and
purified concentrating in one mass. The way
grew easier and easier, until the light of the
Highest burst in full splendor upon my enrap-
tured vision.

" There^ in the midst of Life and its Principle,
enwrapped in the Oneness of All, gazing, gazing
with unquenched aspiration for knowledge,
at the light, the truth, towards which, in my
soul, there was not the least shade of opposition
but only the most perfect alignment and har-
mony, came out of the silence, to my inner
sense, the still, small voice, saying:

" * My son, to him that overcometh, will I
give the crown of lives.'

•As the sun went down, I came back to the
present, and my Guru came also.

128 THREE SEVENS.

^^ Looking upon me, he said:

« < My brother, thy face tells the story. The
light that is not on land nor sea, is upon it. It
shines as did the face of one of our brothers in
the olden time, who underwent a similar ordeal.'

^^ Then he put forth his hand, and with the
strong grip of the Brotherhood, lifted me to my
feet. I was bathed, and sustenance, which man,
outside of the Brotherhood, knows not of, was
given me for the refreshment of the body.

^^ Once more, clothed in clean, white, linen
robes, I stood in the Hall of Obligation.
Kneeling before the invisible occupant of the
throne, these words, from our Elder Brother,
came to my ears :

" ' My younger brother, so far as thou hast
been proved, thou hast borne thyself fearlessly
and courageously; and thou hast made much
progress for thyself into the realms of the
unseen.

^' < This thou hast done, aided, directed and

THREE SEVENS. 129

watched over by our immediate presence, pro-
tected from opposing force by the potency of
our wills, even as the tender infant is cher-
ished by the arms of its parent.

" * We know that the jewel within is genuine,
but no lapidary save thyself can so burnish it
as to bring out its greatest beauties, and most
valuable qualities. Polish comes not to jewel
nor man by lying enwrapped in soft textures,
but by attrition against the hardest substances
and conditions of the outer life.

"'We have given you the theorems. Are
you willing to undertake the demonstration V

" I bowed assent.

" ' You will be conducted from here to your
native land, there to take up the thread of mor-
tal life. To live and act as thou hast been
taught in the Light of the Real. Thou shalt
seek no fellowship with, nor have any depend-
ence upon the transitory unrealities of time and
sense. If at the end of seven years, thy con-

130 THREE SEVENS.

science is clear of intent to offend, thou mayst
return hither and claim for thyself the degree of
the Initiate, and so be able to solve the mys-
teries of the Second Gate. May Truth and
Peace dwell with thee. Remember the obliga-
tion of the novitiate.'

^^ Thus gently dropped the veil of separation,
until seven times should roll over my head.
Conducted thence, when the morning dawned
my Guru came to me.

** * My brother,* he said, ' I would this could
be spared thee. But it is the road we all have
trod. Attainment comes no other way. If
thou hast importunate need of me, in any future
time," look upon thy talisman and formulate thy
desire, and thou shalt surely and speedily have
tidings from me, according to thy necessity.

" * Yet three days dost thou remain with us,
for thy bodily rest and refreshment.'

" All too quickly flew the hours in converse
and retrospect with my beloved teacher. As the

THREE SEVENS. 181

moon rose on the evening of the third day,
attendants brought to me the garb of a Spanish
cavalier, in which I attired myself. Then
through a narrow passage, I was conducted to a
wicket in the mountain-side, so cunningly con-
structed that, from the outside, the most experi-
enced eye would find it difficult to discern.

'^ Here we paused, and my Guru turning to
me said:

^^ ' It is not lawful for me to step beyond the
walls, so here we must part. * Outside the Tem«
pie thou wilt find a horse waiting for thee.
Mount him and give him rein and he will bear
thee Eastward to the port by th^ sea, from
whence thou didst commence thy journey
toward us. There thou canst take ship and go
thence to thy ancestral home. Have no thought
of curb or rein. Sit easy. He who shall bear
thee knows the bidding of the Master. May
the night be good to thee. Farewell !'

" Such were his stately words of parting, as

182 THREE SEVENS.

tender in their cadenoe as the oaress of a loying
mother. The wicket swnng wide open. I
stepped out and it closed behind me. I was once
more outside the walls that had protected me so
steiadfiistlj and securely.

*^ But the Ego that stood there, once again
fiicing the implacable, restless world, was not
the impeded, burden-bearing I, who had
obtained admittance therein. A new man, like
the butterfly from the chrysalis, who had passed
from death unto life, the life of the Infinite and

"Behind me, the wicket, every vestige of
whose existence was lost in the rough face of the
precipice. In front of me, a large, splendidly
formed, black stallion, every item of wjiose mag-
nificent form and muscles told truly of super-
human strength. Vaulting into the saddle, I
laid the reins lightly upon his neck. Heading
north of East, he sprang forward at a speed that
seemed to leave the earth beneath him. Hour

THREE SEVENS. 188

by hour he moved, his pace showing never a
sign of slackening.

^* As the light began to grow in the East, he
stopped at the country gate of the old fort,
where St. Angostine now stands. I dismounted
and the huge black without an instant's halt
turned on his trail, and was out of sight as sud-
denly as a flash of lightening.

^^ With his disappearance, the last link of the
chain connecting me with those who had become
indissolubly bound to me, seemed to drop away.
All the bright hopes in the future manifestations
of my existence assumed the dissolving phantasy
of a dream. I saw myself a stranger, at the gate
of a strange city, moneyless and alone. I sat
down on a stone seat outside the wall, with an
awful sense of desolation overshadowing me for
the first time since, as an invalid, I had been
carried into the great temple of ——Where ?
Alas ! I knew not even its location, and I was
banished, perhaps forever.

184 THREE SEVENS.

^^ In this critical moment, the Master's words
sounded in my ear : ^ Be of good cheer, thy bur-
den will never be beyond thy strength/

^^Half rising, involuntarily I put my hand in
the pocket of my doublet and drew out a purse
well filled with the yellow metal, gold, which
the Spaniard adores so devoutly. I felt once
more comforted, because the Masters had not for-
gotten the needs of the ordinary life, with which
I had again come in contact. I have learned
since that they never do.

^^But the day came on apace. I could hear
the call of the sentry, as the relief passed from
post to post. Soon the gates were opened. 1
requested &om the officer of the guard an inter*
view with the commandant, stating I was needy
and must have help.

^' He stared at me and my accent, but courte-
ously led the way, finishing the grand round,
until we reached the castle, where I was con-r
ducted into the presence of the chief officer, at

THREE SEVENS. 135

his morning coffee. He proved to be one of my
comrades in the suite of De Soto. Having
escaped the massacre, for especial bravery he
had been appointed to his present position.

^^ He recognized me, and greeted me with the
utmost cordiality and friendship, and asked me
where I had spent the intervening time.

^^I told him I had been nursed and held
among the Indians, and finally brought thither.

" * A miracle ! A miracle ! That these bloody,
heathen dogs should ever show grace to a noble,
Christian Spaniard. But what dost thou intend
to do, Senor?'

" I replied : ' I desire to return to Spain, to
see how it fares with my father and my estates.'

" * Thou art in good time, for a Spanish gal-
leon lies in the harbor, whose sails will be
spread for favoring breezes on the morrow.
Canst thou not wait a month, and bear us
company? We shall be honored by thy
presence. '

136 THREE SEVENS.

'^ When I told him my anxiety was pressing,
he said:

^' ^ I do not blame thee. Thy impatience is
natural. Thou shalt hare all the help I can
give thee, and may all the saints in the calendar
give thee swift journey to thy home.*

" So on the morrow, with such speedy prepa-
ration as the shortness of the time permitted, I
was again moving Eastward, toward my inevita-
ble destiny.

" How different the return from the coming.
Then, the Nemesis of the Past goaded me into
constant activity. Now, the intent bom of the
desire to do good, brought a far different state of
feeling. There came to my spirit the possibility
of wiping out the stain of blood, by fulfilling
the three-fold Rule of Right. So should Karma,
the Remorseless, be satisfied.

" Fair winds brought us rapidly to Lisbon.
From thence I journeyed to my father's house,
finding as I already knew, my father dead, and

THREE SEVENS, 137

my estate held in waiting by the officers of the
crown, as was the custom of the country. I
had no difficulty in proving my identity. Then
I waited upon the king and queen at the Royal
palace, to. pay the respects due from the subject.

^^ My family name gave me audience at once.
The queen was very much interested in my
recital of the adventures of the ill-fated De Soto.
To the request that I detail my adventures with
the red men, I answered but little, speaking
mostly of my wounded conditiouj the care
bestowed upon me, and my life amongst them.
Description of the temple, or anything pertain-
ing thereto was too sacred to be imparted to
another who had neither sympathy nor percep-
tion to understand, even if it had been lawful
for me to tell.

"The audience was finally over, and per-
mission was granted me to withdraw to my
estate. There I fitted up a laboratory, modeled
upon the one in which so much pure, unalloyed

138 THREE SEVENS.

hsppinees had oome to me, during the past year.

*^ Here for another year, I lived contentedly,
pursuing my studies and recovering from the
&tigue of my journey. To this was added the
care of overseeing my estate and dependants.
At the end of the year, a message by special
courier from the king, informed me :

^^ ^ It was' a great deprivation to his majesty
that I was not seen at court/ This courteously
worded document, of course, was a most
emphatic order.

'^Regretfully, I made my preparations, and
soon found myself in daily attendance at one of
the most brilliant courts of that period in Europe.
Indeed, it has rarely been equalled in the
world for its wealth, beauty and learning.

^^ Appointed to an office in the household, a
bachelor, rich, and of fair presence, could there
be wanting anything to make me happy ? To
me, all this seemed rust, dust and mold. There
was no satisfaction whatever in any of it. But

THBEE SEVENS. 139

I, at the first, submitted, because it had been
the Master's will and teaching, that obedience
to the symbol of law, wherever met with,
was necessary, because it led to obedience to the
law itself, which is man's first duty. All true
law is of the Good — is#the Good.

^^ Haying no ambitions to satisfy, no schemes
which set myself and my interests over and
beyond the interests and selfishness of others, I
had many friends, or rather those who called
themselves friends. But I must confess I was
startled, and at the first deeply pained, as my
intuitive perception revealed their motives. Then
the motive entirely overshadowed the apparent
action, bringing to me in all its force, a percep-
tion of the weakness of dependence upon smiles
or honeyed words. In spite of all this, I was
popular, and a favorite with the king, to whose
business intrusted to my charge, I gave my best
attention, because it was the duty I owed him.

" One day, when in attendance upon hig

140 THREE SEVENS.

majesty, without any previous prefiice he said :

" * Senor, why do you not marry ? Are
there no ladies in all our realm fair enough for
thee, or didst thou leave a fairer inamorata in
that savage Western country ? '

" ' Nay, your majesty^' I replied. ' I am
heart-free, because the sex have no charms for
me, nor I for them.'

" ' But, Senor, I have no liking that through
caprice my oldest families should become
extinct It were well that you select a wife,
and thus add to the dignity and peace of the
kingdom.'

" I simply bowed, and the matter was dropped.
Not many days after this, I received orders to
be present at a reception in the palace. Here 1
was presented to the younger daughter of one of
the most noble houses of the kingdom. She was
a most fitting consort for me, in every respect,
as to family, station or wealth. In addition to
this, she was most ravishingly beautiful. I was

THREE SEVENS.

141

given to understand that it was the king's
pleasure, that I should seek the hand of this
beautifiil and desirable maiden in marriage. If
I did not concur, without good excuse, his
anger might be turned against me.

CHAPTER V.

JITHOUT delay, seeking audience
of the king, I begged leave of
absence, on plea 'of argent busi-
ness, for a week, to visit my
estates. It was graciously granted.
In haste, on horseback, with
only a single attendant, I rode back to the
only spot on the whole broad earth, which now
seemed to link me to a past, whose claims upon
me were ineffaceable, no matter what might be
my condition or actions. Retiring to my labo-
ratory, with orders that I should not be
disturbed, I threw myself upon my divan. The
struggle between the physical and the spiritual
commenced.

" Clearly, without the dimming of a tone, or
the slighting of a detail, came before me the

THREE SEVENS. 148

advantages of the connection. Over this deline-
ation, the purely sensual did not fail to cast its
lurid light. In contrast, was also presented the
greater pleasure and purer joy, which gives the
only happiness of this world. I fully perceived
how much of satisfaction to the spirit lay in the
consciousness of attainment, in the enlarging of
the soul's powers, and its area of influence. I
could not forget that which was promised me,
and already within my reach. I could not
barter off my spiritual birthright, for a mess of
physical pottage.

" In my agony of indecision, my robe, which
I always wore in my laboratory, had become
disarranged at the neck. As I reached this
last conclusion, my hand came in contact with
the jewel that still hung about my neck. A
thrill passed over me, followed by a sense of
calmness and peace.

^^ I saw a man and woman standing together,
he pledging to her, by an irrevocable oath, his

144 THREE SEVENS.

soul's devotion. As these recurring memories
floated out of the unseen, Into my consciousness,
my inner sense heard a calm, far-off voice which
had so often been to me the sweetest melody.
It said :

" * My brother ! She to whom you are
pledged waits thee. To accept or reject, is not
thy greatest trial. If thou canst take her with
the mutual understanding of unviolated chastity,
in all time to come, it is well. Thou shalt^soon
enough, in the future, know of that which still
remains. This is of thy Earma. Wojrds and
oaths do not vanish as lightly as they are
spoken, but go forth to the accomplishment of
that whereuntothey are sent through all the ages.'

'^ The voice ceased. Little by little dawned
upon my understanding, the trial now opening
before me.

" She who was to be my bride,, was beautiful
beyond comparison. All her outward physical
attractions had been kissed into full maturity, in

THREE SEVENS. 145

all the lusty vigor of youth, by the fervid sun of
the tropics. Unless the spirit controlled, the
fire within might not only consume itself, but
also all with whom it came in contact. When
she should be mine under the law, owned in
body by me, as completely as the beast is
owned, who has no redress, obedience to the
slightest caprice of my will her man-made law,
what then? The unknown quantity was her
own desire. The appeal to the lower conscious-
ness of the physical, the blind, brutal instinct
was as complete as concurring circumstances
could make it.

^^ Should I, as a human being, with the tidal
waves of Karmic conditions barely held in check,
be able to live constantly in such an atmosphere,
with such surroundings, and successfiiUy resist
the seething torrents of emotion ? One could
flee from temptation, and thus break its power,
but to dwell in it constantly; to steel one's
powers, voluntary and involuntary, against it

146 THREE SEVENS.

hour by hour, ever on the watch for the first
fanning of the tiniest flame, by act, word or
deed— did mortal ever accomplish such labor?
It has been so said. Suppose, in some unguarded
moment should come the rush of the ever
watchful, never satisfied and keenly intense
physical. If that physical, seeking ever through
spiritual perception to enhance its own enjoy-
ment, should bear away by its impetuosity all
oaths, all teaching, and all knowledge,
what then ?

" For reply, came the sound of words, vibrat-
ing out of past ages, binding irrevocably her
soul to mine in all cycles yet to come. Out of
this, had come to me my present knowledge of
this trial, and I must submit. Would she
know ? Would she care ?

** The event was fixed beyond my power of
choice. The acceptance, the struggle, the vic-
tory ! Ah ! would I be so fortunate ? All lay
in the misty realms of the unrolling. It had

THREE SEVENS. 147

|)een decreed in the past, by myself, as a Kannic
condition.

^' Summoning an attendant, I found that it
was the third day since I had entered my inner
room. So bathing, and changing my apparel I
spent the rest of the week in the affairs of my
estate.

^^ Returning to court, I announced to the
king my desire to propose for the lady's hand.
She was an orphan and the king's ward. In
due time the lady signified her acceptance of
my suit, and our betrothal took place. This
was followed by the marriage ceremonies under
the direction of the Holy Catholic Church, cele-
brated with all the pomp and magnificence
becoming the families of two of the peers of the
realm, both related to the crown.

" As, over clasped hands, the vows of mutual
allegiance were spoken, a full-blown oleander
blossom formed between our hands^ and a single
word, ^ Isa,' sounded clearly and distinctly above

148 THREE SEVENS.

all the rash of the surroanding ceremony. It
thrilled all my pulses with indescribable joy. I
glanced at my wife. A smile of recognition
and content parted her lips, as her eye flashed
one look at me. A recurring memory of being
what I was not then, of the token of a pledge,
which had now reached fulfillment, presented
itself to my mind. When I came to myself the
ceremony was finished. With the oleander
blossom carefully preserved, by easy stages we
made our journey to my ancestral home.

"The suite of rooms occupied by us were
those formerly belonging to my parents, and the
scene of the memorable * visit out of the body,'
on the occasion of my father's death. They
were in a wing of the chateau, and faced East,
West, and South. They looked out upon the
foot-hills of the Sierra de Guadarama, and upon
the soft-flowing of one of the minor branches of
the Tagus.

" My steward, a member of a family whose

THREE SEVENS. 149

sons and sons' sons had served ours as faith-
fully and loyally as we had served the king,
maintained the whole domain in a high degree
of cultivation. Vineyards and orchards of
pomegranates and figs extended away, even to
the bare aclivities of the mountains.

^'The rooms were arranged as a common
chamber, with two sleeping apartments and their
accompanying dressing-rooms opening out of it.
These, in compliance with my orders, had been
renovated and refurnished for the occasion,
thinking more of her pleasure than mine.

"When, as the twilight approached we met in
the retiring room, and for the first time found
ourselves alone together, I was charmed with
her manners and gentleness. We sat side by
side on a divan, and as we rested and chatted it
seemed as if we had always known each other.
Little by little it dawned upon me, from
something she said, that my wife also possessed
occult knowledge. Finally turning to her, I

150 THREE SEVENS.

asked a question which can be answered in set
phrase only by a person 'who hath wisdom.'
Beadily, and evidently with a full comprehen-
sion of aH I sought to know, and glad, with a
great joy, thus to giye me the assurance I
desired, the correct answer came.

'^ I was so overwhelmed with this realization
of hopes, which I had, apparently, no basis for
cherishing, I could make no reply.

'^ After a few moment's silence, she continued:
'^ ' My husband, I have been conscious of
your struggle and its outcome. Until you had
made your decision, I had no power to interfere,
either to assist or retard. But now I may tell
you. I, also, am a novitiate, seeking knowl-
edge, and as two are stronger than one, together
we may tread the path, and hope for accomplish-
ment. I know, as you know, that they who
dwell within the power of the Spirit have no
sez. But that which we both seek can be
reached in its highest only by unstained loyalty

THBEE SEVENS. 151

to one another, a friendship of which the lust-
stained, material world has no conception.'

^^ ' Gari»mna mia ! * my thoughts came at last
in a torrent of impetuous words : * Your avowal
makes me happy beyond conception. Work
that is shared by pure friendship, and a common
interest, will bring far more than doubled result.
We, acting in unity, complements of each other,
having eliminated the disturbing elements of the
lower planes, may reasonably expect far more
development than we could possibly look for if
struggling alone for that which we both desire,
and are both seeking. May the Beloved Mas-
ters guide us, and may both be willing to be
guided !'

^^A feeling of peace, of blessing, of rest,
beyond conception, as if all the harassing influ-
ences of physical condition were quieted forever,
enveloped me completely. From the expression
on my wife's face, I saw that she, too, was in
the same current of benediction.

152 THREE SEVENS.

" The worries and bewilderments of life are
the result of man's weak thoughts, selfish desires
and cross-purposes, poured into the thought-
currents of the Universe, which, like the empty-
ing of sewers into a clear, mountain stream, con-
taminate and utterly defile the whole. In the
radiance of the pure current of thought, which
I recognized as flowing direct from the Brother-
hood so dear to me, I looked at my wife and
loved her as a man might love an angel.

^^ Thus in silence and content we sat. In a
Uttle niche over the high-arched south window, a
low-burning lamp, filled with perfumed oil, gave
out a delicious fragrance, while below it, in the
untapestried space, a great stream of silvery
light, from the full moon, flooded the room.

" Unspeakably restful, I grew passive, and in
the moonlight a vision shaped itself. A stately
palace, standing in gardens of richest bloom,
fanned by perfume-laden breezes. Within this,
I see a man and a woman. As they come

THREE SEVENS. 153

distinctly to my perception, I hear words, which
once uttered can never be recalled, but are
sealed ap, a law unto ^he soul for generations,
in the ages to come. The scene fades into the
outer presence ; my eye falls upon the oleander
blossom, given me out of the Silence, on the
altar steps, which now stood in a little antique
vase of water. It had, thus far, retained its
freshness and beauty. As I looked at it, it
moved with a shivering thrill. A sighing moan
shaped itself into the words :

" ' The pledge is reclaimed.'

" A little heap of fine dust, scattered over the
water, the vase and the table on which it stood,
was all that remained of the token of four thou-
sand years.

^^ As memory recurred to past-incarnations, I
seemed to remember, as one recalls a far-off
boyhood, a point in eternity, that I recognized
as a duration of previous life. I then under-
stood more clearly than ever, how the law of

164 THREE SEVENS.

Earma crystallized, by the yolontary consent of
my own will and the force of spoken thought^
had again brought os together, not to reyel in
tropical effeminacy, the slaves of. physical desire,
but &r beyond, on the rising spirals of race
progress. Taming to my wife, with a single
touch of lip to forehead, I say gently :

^^ ^ Isa, dear, I am rejoiced beyond measure to
know you again.'

^' ^ My lord remembers,' she replied in her
soft-flowing, Castilian speech, ' He who keeps
fidth loyally and wittingly, is mightier than the
founder of cities, and shall receiye just recom-
pense.'

^< From that hour, all difference of sex
seemed to have passed away. I loved my Isa,
as a father a son, or as one brother another,
with a fervor bom of reality, as the angels love
In the unseen, we are told that all the accidents
of the physical fiade away. But love, the inspir-
ing element of the Divine nature, does not fiuie,

THBEE SEVENS. 15S

nor cease to be ; but purified of the rush and
whirl; of the tingling blood; the panting
breath; and the quickened heart-beats, this
mighty force of tenderness, the only worthy
motive for self-abnegation, lives forever. As
the angels in heaven are neither married, nor
given in marriage ; so we two dwelt together, as
might two friends of the same sex, loving each
other with a most tender and devoted love.

" Day by day we pursued our studies, contin-
ually interested in each other's progress, and
anxious for the utmost possible attainment. It
was true also, that a much greater gain was
possible from the operating of two as one, than
from the efforts of the single individual; a
quicker perception, a more intense persistence,
and a larger potency, when required. I rejoiced
in her accomplishments and perfection ; in her
wisdom and friendship. Thus another year
went by, and it became necessary for us to return
to court for a season, to pay our respects to our

156 THREE SEVENS.

BOTereign, and then we should be at liberty, if
we desired, to reside on our estate.

" It was the evening before our journey. We
were sitting as at the first evening at home, in
our common chamber, the whole interior flooded
with the light of the full moon. We had been
discussing the spirit's potency, and how far it
might be able to reach into the future, and thus
become certain knowledge. As our thoughts
became more and more intense we had lapsed
into silence. Suddenly, came the voice of the
old-time Isa :

" ' My lord would like to see that which
comes. Take the jewel thou wearest, in thy
right hand. Place thy left hand in my right
and look."

^' I did as she directed.

"A faint odor of the lotus difiused itself
about me, growing stronger and stronger. The
moonlight became more and more substantial,
until, as when one looks over a broad landscape

THREE SEVENS. 157

ander a clear light, I saw an accident, fatal bat
for interposing arms, a temptation and a terri-
ble struggle, of which more bye-and-bye in its
place. The end was not revealed to me, being
cut off by the perturbation of my mental condi-
tions. The disturbed harmony brought me
again to full consciousness and an inner percep-
tion of Isa's words, recalled afterwards under
&r different circumstances :

*^ * Oh, my lord ! That which is to be must
be. Be master of thyself and all will be well.'

**A lovely day, even for sunny Spain,
smiled upon our cavalcade next day as I looked
back from the last point of view, upon the place
so full of happy memories, unalloyed by a sin-
gle cruel remembrance. Surely the world was
not so bad a place as poet and painter had pic-
tured it.

^^ I pass over the commonplace incidents of
our journey and our cordial reception at court
by both the king and queen, who had both con-

158 THREE SEVENS.

ceived a great liking for us. We located our
establishment, conforming so far to the unwritten
laws as not to excite remark, and yet so arrang-
ing that our time should not be all consumed by
ihe social Juggernaut, but might leave us some
space to sow, in the quiet, astral fields, the seed
for thoughts which wotdd bring to us as we
might desire.

'^ It was our rule to meet all demands that
were legitimate, but not to seek the inner circle
of the whirl of gayety. After a few months the
outside pressure lessened. We acquired a repu-
tation for sedateness which served us well in
protecting us from unreasonable demands from
those who have no appreciation of the pearls of
greatest price.

"The king, however, would not hear of my
retirement from public life. So the hope of
return to the privacy of my own domain was
thereby frustrated, much to my annoyance. So
two years went by. At the end of that time as

THREE SEVENS. 159

we sat together in the Silence, according to our
daily custom, my wife said :

^^ ^ My lord, I am summonea to meet my
Guru. I shall be gone three months. I hope
it will be well with us both when we meet again.'

^^ It was the season when the court was rest-
ing from its round of excitement, and she would
not, therefore, be missed nor specially inquired
for during so short an absence.

" I missed her sorely. Without the childish
feeling of irreparable loss, there was stiH the %
sensation of a lack in the power to attain my
utmost potency, and a need of incentive to its
use. Nerer until now, had I realized how large
an integral part of myself my wife had become.
It was a withdrawal of intent of potency, rather
than of ability to act. It was a feeling of incom-
pleteness, of being only part of myself. I
found these feelings coming to me most strongly
at the hours we were wont to spend together.

"As a consequence, I sought diversion by

160 THREE SEVENS.

actiye, physical exercise, horseback riding and
snch other means of similar nature as were dose
at hand. She had been absent two months
when, restless and disturbed by the feeling of
dissatisfaction in the accomplishment of my
labors, I mounted my Arabian, and, as the
shadows lengthened in the closing day, started
for a ride.

"Giving rein to my horse, I rode without
thought as to whither my course lay, being
intent only on the fiict that I was riding.
Reaching the outskirts of the suburbs, I still
rode on for three or four miles, in that dazed
condition in which one feels himself desirous
of solving some important problem and yet, for
inexplicable reasons, unable to grasp the key of
the position.

" At last the restlessness of my horse brought
me back to my normal condition. I perceived
a rapidly rising cloud that betokened a coming
gust of wind and rain, if not worse. Turning

THREE SEVENS. 161

homeward, the moan of the rising wind and the
first scattering patter of the raindrops warned
me to hasten.

"Putting my horse to a gallop, I had
reached a little knoll bordered by large trees
when there came a blinding flash, a roar and
rush, as an immense cedar of Lebanon fell just
opposite. In its falling the sweeping limbs
dragged me from my rearing horse and left me
insensible upon the earth, while my horse, rider-
less, made the best of his way home.

" The chateau on the estate, where I had
fallen, was but a short distance from the scene
of the accident. It belonged to a young and
beautiful widow whose husband, a wealthy and
disagreeable old Don, had died soon after my
return from the West.

" The fall of the tree by the bolt, and the
galloping of a riderless horse, were noticed by
some of the serving men. They came out as
soon as the storm ceased, with torches^ to inves-

162 THREE SEVENS

tigate. Finding me still insensible and wet,
they carried me on an improvised litter into the
chateau. The major-domo had been in attend-
ance upon the lady at court and knew me. He
announced my unceremonious arrival to the
widow.

'^ She ordered the best attendance in the house
to be given me, and messengers were dispatched
in hot haste for a physician.

^^ I was tenderly disrobed and put to bed in
the room of the former master of the chateau.
As I slowly came to my senses the surgeon arrived.

^^ He examined me carefully and found that
although no bones were broken, I had a severe
contusion on the back of my head, which would
doubtless have killed me if my fall had not in
some mysterious manner been broken. My
right limb also was severely wrenched, in being
pulled violently from the stirrup. The shock
and the wetting promised a fever. I felt as if
I were a mass of aching heat.

THREE SEVENS. 168

'^ When the doctor had finished his examina-
tion he sat a few moments in silence. Then, as
he rose to go, fixing his piercing but kindly
eyes upon mine and laying a hand, delightfully
cool and soft, upon my forehead, he said :

<^ ' My son, I will send you a potion. But
you may sleep.*

^^ After directions to the attendants, he left
me, promising to call on the morrow.

^^The intense pain in my head and limbs
seemed to leave me at once. When the mes-
senger returned with the potion, to all appear-
ances I was sound asleep. But the fiEUSt really
was this : My astral body had heard a far-dis-
tant voice, and by permission (as in cases of
delirium) had lifted itself beyond the consciops-
ness of pain, resting quietly just above the
unconscious body. As one, reclining upon the
bank of a clear pool, studies its contents, so I,
the real Ego, was obeying the direct' of that
far-off voice :

164 THREE SEVENS.

<< < Look carefully and remember for future use.*
'^ As I looked, I saw that the difference in
the ultimate atoms, was, first, those which were
alive or nourishing were capable of showing
magnetic polarity at different tensions. The
dead atoms had no such power. This was the
difference between death and life. Manifested
vitality was the result of susceptibility to elec-
trical action. There was in the varying
substance of the several organs, a difference in
the power of tension, which changed the order
of union^ so that each following its own law of
structure, remained, as at the beginning, adapted
to its own work. The liver was always hepatic
in its substance; the lungs always parenchy-
mous. The laws of polarity and tension gov-
erned all. I saw also that the rapid and varying
changes of polarity caused all the phenomena of
mental action and nerve force. The slight
movement discernible in this changing condition
gave a false idea of vibration, which was not a

THREE SEVENS. 165

change of place, but a change of condition. This
view made perfectly plain to me how thought
acts in manifestation. I could see how a certain
uniform change of polarity and tension would
be regarded as a standard. If it went above
this, sthenic diseases, or inflammations and
fevers, would be the result. If they fell below,
then the asthenic diseases of dissolution, inert-
ness in manifestation, and death, would be the
consequence.

" As I watched my servant the body, I could
see the forces adjusting themselves to the normal
stattis impressed thereto by the influence of a
strong will potentially projected from an entity
near at hand, aided and directed by another
more powerful will, afar off. These acted, first
upon my own will, thence, through that, seizing
upon my mentality, the force was transmitted
to the physical throughout all its atoms. This
proved to me, that all physical change is under
control of the directing spirit of each line of

166 THREE SEVENS.

organizauon^ and all subject to the immutable
law of creatiye thought.

^^ No one can injure^ by occult means, the
body of another, except through the soul force,
to which that body belongs, and even to do
this, the spirit must consent to its own dishonor.
The potency of a strong will acting out of the
silence, may move the spirit strongly, even
against its own desires, for a little space. In
that case, the person would be psychologized, or
the unwilling consent of the spirit might for a
little time be so misused, as to permit even a
debasement of the body.

** Along with the formulation of these con-
clusions in my mentality, a deep and harmonious
peace began to envelop my whole being. Sleep,
the unconsciousness that presages rest and
healing, wrapped me in its blessed folds.

''When consciousness again came to me in
awakening, pain and soreness had left my
body, but strength, which can only be the

THREE SEVENS. 167

result of action in sequence, was still lacking.

'^ The morn of a day, such as can be known
only in Spain, brought my attendants. I was
able to rise and dress, and be removed to B,salan
adjoining my sleeping apartment. Here I was
visited by the surgeon, who announced his
gratification at my rapid recovery, but evinced
no surprise* He sat chatting with me a few
minutes, and looking me full in the eye, he
dropped, as if incidentally, two words. A
flash of recognition passed from eye to eye.

" *I know of thee, my brother,* he said, *for
I too am a student and seeker. Obligations not
to be put aside, will prevent my advancement
and attainment, as will be your privilege and
right. So fiir, however, as I am permitted, I
walk side by side with you. Always, no matter
what may be our present relative positions, you
can depend on my supporting sympathy. I
shall rejoice when you are glad, and sorrow
when you weep.

168 THREE SEVENS.

" * You have one more true friend in Spain.'
" Thus speaking, he arose to go, and placed
his right hand on my forehead. It was a small,
shapely, pleasant hand. On the little finger
was an antique ring, holding a sapphire of
most intense color. The effect of the soft touch
was most marvelous. An accession of strength
seemed to flow naturally through my vdns. It
was not an evanescent sensation, as when one
takes a stimulating draught, but rather the
strength of perfected healing. In wishing me
good morning, he said his services were no
longer necessary.

^^ After he had left me, I sat quietly in the
reclining position in which my attendants had
placed me. Directly before me was an open
doorway, and a broad verandah. Through this
the delicious breath of the morning brought
inspiring vigor. In ftiU view, beyond, lay the
winding river, and plains, and vineyards of fair
Spain.

THREE SEVENS. 169

^^ Looking upon all this, I floated aloug on a
great cnrrent of content.

'^ Without warning, there came a little shock.
An unexplainable feeling of unrest and disquiet
touched me. Nothing in the relative bearing of
the visible had changed, it could not come from
the outer. As this faint ripple in the harmoni-
ous flow of the thought current forced itself
upon my notice, a servant entered, bearing a
little perfumed note from the hostess.

" * Would it be the Senor's convenience, to
permit the Senora to wait upon him in person,
and congratulate him upon the fortunate out-
come of his terrible accident?' So ran the
lines of the dainty, brief message.

"Of course, I consented, eagerly perhaps, my
mood seeking relief. But as I held the note in
my hand, I had occasion afterward to remember,
that the emanations from it were pungent and
sharp. To my inner vision came plainly a
view of the temple in the mountains of the far-

170 THREE SEVENS.

off West. I heard once more the grave, tender
words of our Elder Brother : * We have given
you the theorems, are you willing to undertake
the demonstration ? ' What did it all mean ?
It was not long before I knelr«

^^ A scarcely perceptible, soundless movement,
and through the hangings of an inner door, a
little to my left, in plain view to my half-
dreamy vision, came the Senora and her duenna.

^^ A subtle fragrance floated about and pre-
ceded her, captivating the senses even before
the whole exquisite picture was perceived. The
archway was heavily curtained with crimson
hangings from Damascus. Her tiny, slippered
feet, just peeping from her draperies, were
nestled in an African tiger's skin, spread before
the doorway. As the curtain dropped, she
stood squarely, a most winsome figure, a little
above the medium height. Her form, perfect in
proportions, and most exquisitely rounded, was
set off enchantingly by the half-concealment of

THREE SEVENS. 171

her white, gauzy apparelling. Her hair and
eyes black as the gathered intensity of a tornado ;
her lips red as the sea-washed coral ; and her
small, ezqaisitely-formed hands, all told of the
cultured sequence in family descent. On her
cheeks, the dusky blaze, never quite eztinct,
betrayed the hot blood of the tropics, roused, as
when it sees that which it desires to possess,
within its reach.

"Her magnetic beauty was the first over-
whelming impression. It was worthy of im-
perial palaces. Behind this, a lurid fire surged,
in thought, through my long-repressed nature,
then a blank. It was like the prairie fires,
consuming, with their long, red tongues, at one
swoop, the dry, rank herbage, leaving behind
only blackened refuse.

" It was a life-time in an instant. Recover-
ing myself, I heard her gracious words in the
softest Gastilian, as she said :

" * Is the Senor recovering from his accident V

172 THREE SEVENS.

^' ' Thanks, Senora, one could hardly refirain
from recovering rapidly, when attended by so
much kindness and beauly. Please be seated/

^^At a sign from her mistress the duenna
drew up a low, cushioned seat to my side, which
my hostess occupied herself, while her com-
panion discreetly betook herself out upon the
verandah, and waited for farther orders.

^^ Here, seated where her flashing eyes could
look into my own, she beguiled my loneliness.
She made me tell her of my adventures while
with De Soto, meantime filling my whole organ-
ism with her peerless and ripened magnetism,
until the bonds of ascetic training loosened
somewhat, and faint flushes called my attention
to the fact that the law of sequence had again
builded walls of clay out of warm Southern
blood. The first impulse was : Never mind this
once, let me float on the current, and enjoy as
other men enjoy. Then came the memory of
the words of obligation, spoken before witnesses,

THREE SEVENS. 17^

in that far-off Hall, and also of my companion,
friend and helper, my wife.

" Still, the witchery of the perfect physical
beside me increased in its intensity. The sudden
rebellion of my own lower self grew more arro-
gant and assertive. Cool enough, as yet, to be
master of the situation, I called to my relief the
forces who, were bound to help in any emergency,
and thus maintained my composure. I made
no outer sign, but the mental effort of will power
brought into my face a strained expression.
The lady's quick eye noticed this.

" * Ah, Senor ! But I am tiring you. You
have made me very happy until I forgot you
were an - invalid. Tour descriptions are so
charming. May I see you again to-morrow V

" *Senora, it will be a pleasure,' I replied.
Galling her duenna, she vanished like a dream,
and I was again alone with myself.

" Strange as it may seem, the strength flow-
ing from her had brought healthful energy and

174 THREE SEVENS.

physical heaUng. I felt better in body for the
interview. Bat, as I reviewed the situation, I
was far less self-confident than I might have
been under contrary circumstances.

^^ It is needless to recall in detail the incidents
of that week of rest from labor, nor of the
Senora's daily visits, nor of the shaping of her
purpose to bring me to respond to her partiality
becoming every day more and more openly
expressed. But the end of all human conditions
comes sooner or later. On the morrow I was
to return to the city as well and strong as ever.

^^ I have said that my apartments were those
of the old Don. I had retired early, sleeping
soundly for the first three hours, when I awoke
with a start and that full sense of wide-
awakeness which is the result of astral warning.
My face was so turned that the partition separ-
ating the Senora's apartments was in full view,
and plainly visible by the light from the shaded
lamp left burning through the night. Just

THREE SEVENS. 175

opposite me was a fiill length portrait of herself,
by one of the most celebrated artists of the time.

^^ As I lay looking at it, it seemed to move.
I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Noise-
lessly as the shifting of the curtain of night, it
had moved up, leaving the frame undisturbed.
Just within it, clad in her elegant robes de nvit^
fresh and charming as Venus rising from the
sea, stood the original of the portrait. With a
smile, in which desire, tenderness and anxiety
were blended, she advanced to my bedside, and
seated herself thereon.

^' It was ia moment of moments. An ascetic
of years' standing faces his conquered lower self,
roused into active revolt by the last few days of
companionship with this woman, as it had not
been since in ungovernable rage he had stained
his hands in the blood of a fellow creature.

" On the other hand, this widow, fair beyond
compare, would hear nothing but the accom-
plishment of her own caprice ; could understand

176 THREE SEVENS.

nothing but the satisfying of her own desiieB.
Mature, elegant, refined, even in the hight of
her passion, appealing to me first with caresses
and finally in tears. My refusal was not bom
of nnsostained mortal strength, bat of the firm-
ness of purpose gained in the mountains, and
the help of the Brotherhood. With eyes suf-
fused with tears, at last she said :

^^ 'Senor, I have offered you all that a woman
can give. Am I, indeed, so repellant to you,
that you must refuse 7 I am entirely at your
mercy. I hope, at the least, you will keep my
secret.*

" ' Senora,* I replied, * if you knew how bit-
terly I should wound and offend by doing this
thing, my consent would turn your love to
contempt. I am a Spanish gentleman. A gen-
tleman always keeps a lady's secrets.'

^^ She turned and left me, never once looking
back. The portrait slid noiselessly back to its
place. It was done. I was alone. I lay

THREE SEVENS. 177

quietly. The passion that had boiled within
me changed to a pitying tenderness for her who
had become for all the rest of her present life
my bitterest enemy.

" The Senora, under the plea of sudden ill-
ness, did not appear, on the morrow, to bid me
farewell when I made my departure, but all was
courtesy and politeness as I rode forth to my
own home, with my attendants.

^^ Arriving at my palace, my attention was
engrossed with many things. In my hours of
meditation, I did not feel that I had aught to
congratulate myself for, except the very narrow
margin of escape. I felt humbled to think I
had not risen so far above all temptation, as to
be able to put it entirely aside, without the con-
senting thereto and insurrection of the whole
physical self.

"The days wore by, and my wife returned.
When we were alone together, she remarked :

" ' My lord, your trial must needs come. It

178 THREE SEVENS.

is nothing yon willingly sought nor desired. I
feel honored, that in all the conflict there was
no thought of faithlessness in your promise to
me, nor any yielding of the real, higher self to
the onward rush of all physical life. You are
not to feel condemned because the animal tugs
at the leash. That is a part of the manifesta-
tion of the law of vitality. It was held within
bounds by the unaided desire of your own spirit,
which thus attracted to yourself the forces
needed for such accomplishment. You have
oome out conqueror. Be wise and circumspect,
and all shall be weU.'

" For the next few years my time went rap-
idly and uneventfully. Three months before the
expiration of the seven years from the day I left
the great temple, I was sitting in my private
apartment alone, with bolted doors.

^^ Bousing from a reverie, into which I had
fidlen, I looked up, and there standing in my
presence as when I last saw him, was my Guru.

THREE SEVENS, 179

Rising, overcome with a transport of joy, I flung
myself at his feet

" * Arise, my brother/ said the far-off, well-
known voice. ' As thou earnest once, so have I
now come hither. I bring thee tidings. Within
ten days, the king will delegate to thee a diffi-
cult and delicate mission, which shall bring thee
to us. The mission is prompted by those who
hate thee, but it is for thy good. Make no
pause, but hasten to obey the mandate of thy
sovereign. Thy wife will safely await thee
here. Make thy preparations, take thy instruc-
tions, and sail at once for the port from which
thou earnest.

" * On the night after thy arrival, go to
the spot where seven years ago thou didst
leave thy horse and thou shalt find him waiting
for thee. Mount, and give him rein.

^^^The king's business shall have attention.
But thou needst not give thy mind to it, nor be
uneasy about it, for it will be in safe hands.

180 THBEE SEVENS.

The Brotherhood have called thee on thy obliga-
tion. Oome !*

^^ Happy beyond measure, I looked up to
thank him, but he had gone.

^^ On the third day thereafter, I was bidden to
an audience with the king. After some consul-
tation on various trivial matters, he said:

" * Senor, you know something of our domin-
ions in the "New World.*' ' I bowed assent.
' We need a trusty messenger to our cousin, who
has charge of our Southern Empire. We know
your loyalty and bravery. Will you undertake
it for us Y

" ' My lord, the king,' I replied, * It has been
a proud memory of our family, that to hear the
king's voice was to desire the king's wish. I,
certainly, shall not be first to change the reading.'

" 'It is well said, Senor. You will make
your preparations at once. One of the royal
galleons, in commission lies in harbor, waiting
for thee. Your instructions will be handed you

THREE SEVENS. 181

sealed, to be opened when you are ten days at
sea. The galleon, also, sails under orders. A
prosperous voy^e, Senor.' And the audience
was ended.

" Had I been in any way dependent upon the
king's good will, I should most certainly have
been disturbed by the undercurrent of the inter-*
view, for I perceived that my enemy, the widow,
had so far influenced the king, as to compel him
to believe that, owing to my relationship to the
throne, I was a dangerous rival, and rivals are
less harmful when banished than when present.
As no pretext could be devised for open disgrace,
it was deemed best that diplomatically I was to
be buried in the savagery of the New World.

" My ready acquiescence surprised the king,
whose heart misgave him, with the feeling that
he had over-reached himself. Also, the sealed
instructions were revealed to me, which were to
seek Mexico, and there, as special envoy, to
strengthen the Spanish cause, which, I could

182

THREE SEVENS.

perceive, was fast waning, founded, as it was,
upon craeltj and blood.

^^ But all this was nothing to me, for my
orders were from those of whom the king, sitting
on the throne, was but the puppet ; and with
all my old-time energy, I prepared to obey
'them.

" Bidding my affectionate wife good-bye, with
the earnest wish that the thoughts from her
should be for the strength and will to obey and
accomplish, I found myself on the Spanish ship^
with all sails set, moving toward the place of all
places where I most desired to be.

CHAPTER VI.

)HEN opened, my instructions left
to tay charge, under ordinary
circumstances, the execution of
"^^^S^ certain impossible conditions. The
J^^S^S^ attempt at accomplishment would
^ probably bring death, and the

fiulure to attempt, disgrace. The trap was
skillfully laid. Many a just and good man has,
in the history of the world, gone forward bravely
to his end in a similar manner.

" The instructions, to the Commander of the
ship, were to land me, and return at once,
without regard to my wishes, or any method of
my coming back. The design was that which
sends forth an exile, without the expectation of
return. Had I been engaged in any other
business than that of the Brotherhood, I might

184 THREE SEVENS.

have been at the least uneasy at the unfriendly
look of the scheme, so evidently working against
me, but I felt that all else was as naught, if so
be I might look into the faces of those so loved
and revered by me.

" The winds were &vorable, the weather all
that could be desired. The good ship seemed to
be drawn as if by a huge magnet, on its way, so
swift and steady was its course. This was so
continuous in its action that it became a subject
of remark amongst the crew. Passengers there
were none, save myself. The voyage was made
solely for my benefit.

" At last, the shores of the New World were
again visible, and the officers of the ship congrat-
ulated me on my short and prosperous journey.
I was heartily welcomed by the commandant of
the fort. I told him I had special business for
the king, in the interior, and asked the usual
permission to be absent three months, if neces-
sary. It was willingly accorded.

THREE SEVENS. 185

" As the twilight deepened, I passed beyond
the outer line of sentinels. Where, seven years
before, my horse had left me, out of the gather-
ing gloom appeared waiting for me the animal
who had brought me hither. Naught was
changed about him, only he seemed to gladly
recognize me, a feeling I returned in full measure.

" Without hesitation I sprang into the saddle,
and yielded to the horse's guidance. Swiftly
and easily I was borne along. His long stride
was like the waving of huge wings. In the
darkness, I could distinguish nothing but the
swift, onward movement, hour by hour. As the
dawn grew wide, I could see in the gray distance
the turrets and pea]^s of the mountain temple.
When the first beam of the rising sun rested on
the cliff where my days of fasting, preceding the
final trial, were passed, my steed stopped at the
face of the precipice, and I dismounted. As I did
so, the gate opened, and passing within the
charmed boundary, I was received by my Guru.

186 THREE SEVENS.

". 'Welcome, my brother! Obedience and
promptness are jewels which command the
wearer to favorable notice from his Master.
Thou art to rest four months, undergo four
months' preparation, when thou wilt receive the
degree of the neophyte, then another four
months' rest, and again thou wilt return to take
up the world's burden, and prove thyself worthy
to advance still another degree. Thou knowest
the way to thy former resting place. The
Chamber of Peace is ready for thee.'

''He laid his hand upon my head; a feeling
of peace, wiping out all worries and anxieties of
every sort, either for the past or present, or the
future, enveloped me like a garment All
emotion merged into one sensation, that of
restfulness. As I mounted the well-remembered
steps to the chamber looking to the East, tiie
outside world, which is so much to most men,
became of small consequence, beside the con-
viction tiiat within myself was all, and that I was

THREE SEVENS. 187

responsible for all, to myself. This relieved me
of the last traces of the world's burden.

^^'Haying bathed, . changed my apparel and
received refreshment, the day passed in quiet
unutterable. The rest of the Infinite, of Nir-
vana, was mine. I passed day after day in
conversation with the Brothers ; in questionings
of matters that had perplexed, but which here
cast no shadow ; and in contemplation of all the
Infinite power and s^oodness.

^^ The allotment of r6st passed quickly, and
the beginning of the preparation was close at
hand. It was the evening before the first day,
and as in former times, an almost full moon
flooded the white, marble chamber with its
glorious brightness. Suddenly, apparently
gliding along out of the moonbeams, came into
my presence an Ancient One. Standing beside
me he said : ^^ Son of my brother, look up, and
tell me what thou beholdest.' I obeyed, and as
I looked, that which to personal sense is

188 THREE SEVENS.

invisible, the air, became surcharged with life
and manifestation. The atoms appeared, in-
creased, diminished and disappeared, while
through all, over all and permeating all, was the
brightness of the force which sustains, moves
and directs this most subtle element.

"I gazed in glad wonder, for I had often
endeavored to penetrate the- secret, in my
researches and investigations. Now was I
brought face to face with the Master of the
Winds, which give impetus and force to all life
upon this planet, whether it be a mineral, plant
or animal. Everything which hath increase or
decrease upon the earth is under the control of
the Master of the Winds. He knows how the
Universe was builded. They who seek knowl-
edge and potency, must yield allegiance, devoid
of fear, to this ruler. By so doing they can
receive power to control the visible, and to be
served by those who constitute the armies of
this mighty realm.

THREE SEVENS. 186

^^ The Ancient One smiled benignantly upon
me, saying: ^I perceive thou knowest from
thine own understanding, the thing I wonld say
to the^. Art thou willing to be tried 7 Weigh
well thine answer, for thy spirit most not quail,
nor thy courage fail thee in the supreme
moment of trial, lest thy physical be unable to
bear up under the weight infringing upon it,
and thou wilt be overcome by the immensity of
thine own inviting/

^^I felt no drawing back, nor shrinking.
My reply to the questioning was :

^^ ^ I am ready to be tried, whenever it shall
please those who have the matter in charge.
For this purpose am I here.' ^

" * It is well,* was the reply. * To-morrow
thou wilt commence thy preparation.' And then
the moonbeams en veiled him in their brightness,
until he could no longer be perceived.

^^ So on the morrow, obedient to the voice and
instruction of my Guru, I commenced a system

190 THREE SEVENS.

of praetioing in breathing, which includes inspi-
ration, expiration and explosion ; this latter
modified is audible speech. Explanation was
also made to me, how voice and speech were
vibration manifested. All sound was vibration,
either primary or secondary. The condition of
the Uniyerse at any given point depended upon
vibration. Little by little, I came to the foil
knowledge and understanding of the manifesta-
tion of the Spirit of the Air. Still more, I
perceived the powers and potencies belonging to
him as one of the Seven Great Rulers, who
carry out the creative thought of the Causeless
Cause.

" At the end of my time of preparation, I
had control of my breath, either to increase or
withhold, thereby making myself master of my
physical manifested life. The last three days
were spent in repose, not fasting, but in foil flow
of normal life, that there should be no diminu-
tion of the reserved bodily strength needed to

THREE SEVENS. 191

endure the trial that must precede the ceremony
of initiation.

'^A little before midnight, I was aroused
from sleep by my Guru, and two attendants.
They handed me a garment, brilliantly white
from self-effulgent light. This fitted my whole
form exactly and seemed to add to its strength
and suppleness. A pair of sandals, fitting so
closely to the feet as to be removed only by the
exertion of much force, were next put on.
Although my whole dress fitted me thus per-
fectly, it did not in any way impede the circula-
tion or confine the muscles. Over all was thrown
an Egyptian peplos or outer garment, of pure
white linen.

" Thus arrayed, I walked forth with my com-
panions, from my chamber. As, through num-
berless narrow and winding passages, we went
down deeper and deeper into the bowels of the
earth, my Guru said :

"'My brother, for the first time thou dost

192 THREE SEVENS.

essay thine unaided strength in conflict. Thoa
hast matured and ripened. Farther advance
can come only through thyself. Hitherto, we
have been able to inspire and protect thee in t^e
Supreme moment, if thou shouldest have needed
it. But as thou didst not, we have allowed thee
to move forward, until thou art now about to
prove, alone and unaided, thine own power. If
thou dost prevail, we can still help thee. If
thou dost &il, we shall be powerless to assist,
until the demands of him, whose territory thou
dost invade are satisfied. Be brave. Be vigi-
lant. If fear overtakes thee, thou art lost. If
thou art in a strait, look up to thy Higher Self,
and gather there from the inexhaustible supplies
whatever thou shalt have need of.'

^^ Here he paused, embraced me, and turning
back, left me in charge of the attendants. We,
going forward, penetrated yet deeper into the
earth.

^^ At last, the narrow passage broadened into

THREE SEVENS. 198

a cave, high-arched, the floor being rock, smooth
and firm. Opposite the entrance, at the farther
end of the cave, by some convulsion of nature, a
clean split from top to bottom had been made,
leaving an immense chasm, whose height and
depth, length and breadth, were hidden in
impenetrable darkness.

^^ Midway between the entrance and the great
cleft, my attendants stopped.

" * Lay aside thy cloak,* said one.

" I, accordingly, took off* my outer wrapping,
and immediately the light from the under gar-
ment I wore flamed out, actually pushing back
the darkness, and making all things visible.

^^ ^ Now,' said the other attendant, ^ approach
the Cave of the Winds. If thou dost hear
plainly the voice of thy Guru, hesitate not, but
obey. Let thy knowledge and thy courage
direct thee. When thou dost return, we shall
be here to re-conduct thee to those thou lovest.'

" Ever since we had come within hearing

194 THREE SEVENS.

distance, moans and groans, and blood-curdling
screams, and inarticulate, gibbering sounds, like
the laughter of idiots and madmen, had, without
ceasing, welled up out of the blackness. Now,
as I approached the chasm, they increased, as if
all the horrible sounds ever made upon the earth
were here collected. Their concentration was
appalling in its awful intensity of terror, even
to the stoutest heart. While my physical
shrank, there was not the slightest shade of fear
resting on my Spirit, my real self. But high
borne and dominant, I stood at last upon the
terrific brink, amidst the dreadful clamor. I
could now perceive an immense tidal rush of
enormous volume, underlying or emitting th^
sounds so overwhelming, so confusing. But
passing beyond physical sense, my spirit reached
the smooth flow of the astral currents. To the
inner sense came the voice of my Guru, clearly,
and in even tones, a voice I could never
mistake :

THREE SEVENS. 195

" * With all thy strength leap forward.'

"I waited not. Gathering all my force, I
sprang out into the darkness.

" To say that I expected anything one way or
another would not be true. I was content to
obey, without theorizing or questioning. As I
leaped out, I sank rapidly into the abyss as if
foiling, but was soon aware of being upborne by
mighty hands, while constantly and rapidly
descending. It seemed ages that I was descend-
ing, the din about me still continuing in all its
appalling awfulness.

" I noticed, also, that my descent was on the
line of the circumference of a circle. How
long I descended I know not. I felt perfectly
at ease, and saw simply the periphery of my
own body, by its self-diffused light. The descent
ended, then followed a short lull, as if in almost
lateral motion I was passing the lower dead
point of force. This was followed by the
upward sweep of the ascending arc, but all

196 THREE SEVENS.

noise had ceased. Instead, there was a silence
as fearful to bear as the clamor had been ; and
the feeling of solitude and utter loneliness such
as one experiences in a desert, when widely
separated from human companionship.

^^It was curious that neither here nor else-
where during the revolutions was I at all con-
cerned about my condition or position. I simply
noted events as so much matter for increased
knowledge in the future. Still I moved up,
up, until light broke through the darkness ; not
full light but like a great spear piercing the
gloom, which stubbornly held its ground as
its against opponent

^' Again I descended, but was now aware of
moving in a circle of shortened diameter, and
when motion ceased, I found myself standing
erect on a small space of blackness, so intense,
so dark, as to afford firm footing. I felt fresh,
vigorous and undismayed as I waited patiently
for further unrolling. Nor waited I long.

THBEE SEVENS. 197

*^ Again came the voice of my Gora : ^ Thoa
hast done well. The Spirit of the Air is upon
diee. Thou canst conqner, not hy physical
strength but by the persistent dominance of thy
will.'

^< Hardly had his words ceased, when there
stood before me an athlete, resembling myself in
every particular, as if he were my reflection in a
mirror. He approached me and in musical
accents, said :

^^^ Mortal, thou hast penetrated into my
audience chamber. What dost thou seek?'

^^A voice like my own, but not my own,
speaking the thought which might have been a
dream, so &r off did it seem, replied :

" * Spirit of the Air, I seek from thee the
password to the inner Chamber of the Neo-
phytes.'

" * But I have sworn by myself, as a Builder
of the Universe, never to impart the secret to
an inferior. Wilt thou try thy strength with me V

198 THREE SEVENS.

'^ Again, my Higher Self answering for me,
said:

" * Oh, Spirit of the Air, thou wast ever
capricious and subtle, but in fiumess and truth,
as thou hast made it, so do I accept thy offer.
If thou dost not overcome me, thou wilt grant
my boon ? Swear it by thyself.'

<^ And the Spirit of the Air replied :

" * I swear it by myself as one of the Seven
Builders. Witness ye, all my hosts.*

^^ A murmur out of the darkness, like the
voice of ten thousand times ten thousand, and
thousands upon thousands, gave answer :

" ' We witness thy oath.'

^^ We locked arms, and as we wrestled, I could
feel at one moment the icy breath of the frozen
poles. Then would sweep down upon me the
scorching, debilitating blasts of the desert
sirocco. I realized the foresight of those who
had given me the apparel of protection.^ Up
and down, sidewise, and in constant contortion.

THREE SEVENS. 199

more or less violent, we exerted our utmost
strength, but he prevailed not, for I felt con-
stantly, unremittingly, the impulse, * I will not
be overcome/

" Thus went on the trial, until a silvery voice
that pervaded space, instead of coming from a
single point, said :

" ' Cease, Spirit of the Air. Thou hast not
conquered. Give to the seeker, the thing
he seeks.'

" And the Spirit of the Air, smiling upon me,
in gentle tones promised thus :

** Mortal, thou hast been a worthy antagonist,
and I congratulate thee for thy courage and
endurance, and also the Brotherhood who have
thee in training. When thou shalt have need
thereof, the password will be in thy possession.'
Saying this, he laid his left hand just under the
base of my brain. Darkness closed in upon me.
For a single fraction of a second it seemed as if
it would suffocate me. Then a wavering, a

200 THREE SEVENS.

relaxing, and a lifting of ihe shadows, and I
find myself standing erect with my two
attendants.

^^ ^Welcome, thou who hast been tried and
found worthy. Receive refreshment for thy
physical.' Saying this, one of my cojnpanions
took firom his girdle a small, curionsly wrought
flask, filled with a colorless liquid, and gave
it to me.

^^ Vl^rink,' he said. I drank, and in an
instant felt relieved of all the fatigue of the
long struggle.

^^ ^ How long have I been gone ? ' I questioned.

" ' It is almost low twelve of the second day,'
was the reply. ^ But we must hasten hence, to
the Chamber of the Neophytes.'

^^ Clothed again in my outer garment, and
accompanied by my attendants, who, members of
the Brotherhood, deemed it an honor to assist
him who was weaker than themselves, I fol-
lowed the winding passages to the never-to-be-

THREE SEVENS. 201

forgotten Hall of Obligation, whoee doors
opened noiselessly, as we ascended the seven
steps leading up to its ample portals.

^^ Only a fsdnt light now illumined it. Although
apparently unoccupied, the feeling of overmas-
tering presence continually dwelling there,
could not be evaded or put aside. I noticed at
the further end of the hall, now appeared a
flight of five steps, leading to the door of the
Chamber, before which a sentinel holding a
gleaming sword kept guard and watch.

^^ Again throwing aside my outer garment,
and dad as in the trial, I approached the
Sentinel.

^^ ^ Stand, bold intruder,' challenged the Sen-
tinel. ^ This is the Chamber of the Neophyte.
No one can enter without the Pass of the
Builders, which worth alone can obtain. Hast
thou the Pass?'

^^On my replying in the affirmative, he said:
^ Advance and give it to me.' I stepped closer,

202 THREE SEVENS.

and in low breath gave the syllables that came
Yolontarily to my lips. Syllables I can never
forget.

<< < The pass is correct. Enter and partake
of that which belongs to thee.'

^^The door slid to one side, sonndl^Bsly.
Within I see a Hall, in its general outline
resembling the Hall of Obligation, but smaller.
About one-third of the distance across, from
where I stand, is a throne. Before this throne
is an altar. Orer the center of the altar is
suspended, without any visible support, a circle
of brilliant, white light, enclosing a six-pointed
star, also intense in its brightness. The circle
revolving on its diameter, now slow, now fest,
gave the appearance of a globe of fire. The
more slowly it moved, the more brilliant and
steady was its light. When the motion in-
creased, the light became wavering and corus-
cating in all its prismatic hues, gradually with-
drawing into itself as the speed increased, until

THREE SEVENS. 203

a central orb of splendor alone remained. Then
as the motion fell off, it would again flash out
brilliant alike in all its parts, like the rapidly
unfolding bloom of some tropical flower.

'^Behind the altar, upon the throne, sat
the awful presence, its outline clearly defined,
impalpable and veiled above the shoulders with
a still more visible mistiness. From the place
where the eyes would be, came a scintillating,
piercing gleam, not perceptible by personal
sense, but manifest to the soul sense, and con-
veying all the sensations as if on the physical
plane, only a thousand-fold more intense, even
as the invisible rays of heat are more powerful
than the visible rays of light. I did not fear.
I felt overshadowed by the superior, who
brooked no equal. My spirit offered rightful
homage to whom homage belonged. It was not
the homage of blind obedience, but the sincere
regard of a loving heart for one who had
attained.

204 THREE SEVENS.

^^ Beyond the throne^ in semi-circle, sat the
Brotherhood of the temple, veiled, and clad in
pare white robes. Beyond them, was an arched
doorway, overhung by a curtain of the richest,
heaviest fabric wrought in gold, and sparkling
with the most precious stones, whose surfisuses
reflected in a constant kaleidoscopic succession,
the ever moving light on the altar.

^^The walls were ceiled with a fiugrant wood,
dark and highly polished. On these, as on a
mirror, were reflected curious images, which
came as the pictures come out of the firost upon
the glass, and disappeared, only to be followed
by others at intervals. These were reflections
from the astral light.

^^ All these things I saw as I advanced to the
altar, where I knelt for further instruction. In
the space above pealed out sonorously in clear,
silvery tones, the strokes of a bell, but no bell
was visible there. I counted the strokes. It
noted the hour of low twelve. As the last

THREE SEVENS. 205

stroke pealed out upon the air, the garnet,
"V^hich hung upon my neck in full sight, seemed
to blaze out with a new lustre, enveloping me
in an aura, emanating from myself. An inde-
scribable fragrance, appealing at once to the
smell and taste, diffused itself through the
Chamber. The Brotherhood as one rose to
their feet. The voice of the Unseen Presence,
in its soul-penetrating sweetness, came to my
inner sense :

" * My brother, for a second time hast thou,
by the Right Way, sought the altar of obliga-
tion. Thy devotion and sacrifice are accepted.
We gladly offer the, two-fold bond, which, while
it makes you more closely one of ourselves,
obligates us more firmly to befriend and watch
over you. Stand erect, and repeat the obliga-
tion of the Neophyte, that binds thee to a closer
union, at once with thy Higher Self, and with
all the Brotherhood.'

'^ Standing erect, as a perfect man, I slowly

206 THREE SEVENS,

and distinctly repeated the tow of the Neophyte,
that through all the BdonB to come, is at once
his pledge of fealty and his assorance of assist
ance from the Brotherhood, anywhere, at any
time. As the last words of adjuration fell from
my lips, the far-off voice of a moltitade whom
no man could number, uttered these words :

^^ ^ As thou art bound to us, so are we, the
Brotherhood,, of all the ages, bound to thee.
As thou dost remember thy pledge, so will we
remember ours.'

^^ The manifestation of presence lessened. The
brothers came up and greeted me, and my Guru
said : ^ Retire now to thy chamber, for the day
already brightens the East. Three days hence,
I will come to thee.'

" On reaching my chamber, I flung myself
upon my couch, and passed out into sleep, which
for two days and nights held me. On the
morning of the third day, as the rising sun
burnished the walls of my chamber, I awoke.

THREE SEVENS. 207

My usual attendants were in waiting. In going
into my bath, it was on my mind to divest
myself of my luminous garment and sandals.
To my astonishment, nothing of the kind was
visible upon my person. No trace of any
foreign substance remained upon the skin, but
that itself was changed. It glowed, in its per-
fection and suppleness, like that of a trained
gladiator. My whole physical was inspired
with a new vigor, and my soul wrought up to
accomplish the highest aims. These garments
could not have been taken from me without my
knowledge. I have no explanation to offer.

" As the day waned, my Guru came and we
talked of the things I could understand. As
when one, going up a mountain, sees a broader
horizon, new perceptions of things I supposed I
had understood, dawned upon me, and things I
had not dreamed of became perceptible.

"As we chatted, a third person, without
announcement, sat with us. My Guru smiled,

208 THBEE SEVENS.

while 1, looking intently, recognized the astral
form of my wife.

^'Turning to me, she said : ^ My lord, I con-
gratulate thee, in that thou hast been proved
worthy. As the Senor, your Garu, will tell
thee, I have also reached the degree of the Neo-
phyte in the Orient I am really and truly
thy brother. We are two points in the line of
common union of all who love the truth. Now,
more and more closely united shall we become
in our search for the ^^ Pearl of great price."
Disturb not thyself, for I am under the care of
our brothers, and shall again meet thee, when
being duly rested and refreshed, thou wilt return
to sunny Spain. Remember, my lord, we are
ONE, from ages past, and can never more be
separated.'

^^I glanced at my Guru a single instant, as
if he had addressed me, and looking back where
my wife had sat, we were alone. My feeling of
appreciation for her whom I loved so truly in

THREE SEVENS. 209

the highest, best sense of that word, could not
find expression in words. It was so like her
kind thoughtfulness, to inform me by word of
mouth of that which it was so pleasant for me
to hear.

^^ It is wonderful how much of man's narrow-
ness and selfishness &lls away, as soon as the
element of time is eliminated from his calcula-
tions of existence. If accomplishment is only
sure sometime, there is no need of the whirl and
excitement of impatient worry and uneasy fret-
fhlness. He cannot wait for the ripening of
the times and seasons. As my Guru said :

^^ ^ The lesson to learn, is the well-doing of the
present duty. This involves the perfection of
the duty that shall follow. A good foundation
makes solid the whole superstructure of the
edifice.'

^^ Day after day, in the temple and in the
gardens, for I, having no desire for droneship,
insisted that tasks should be assigned me there.

210 THREE SEVENS.

avLch as were assumed by others, I grew har-
monious with the great thought currents of the
Universe. In the twilight hours, the ever quiet
tones of my Guru stimulated my thought, broad-
ened my vision, and lighted up aU the unrolling
panorama of life, with a more lasting radiance.
Sometimes, under the touch of his understand-
ing, the heavens opened, and the glimpses of
their wonders and glories left me eagerly desir-
ous for more.

" Thus passed the months, until the day for
my departure had come. All things being in
readiness, and sure of my return, I was not dis-
mayed at the prospect before me. My Guru,
coming to me as the day fell away, said :

" ^ My brother, you go hence for another
seven years' experience with the world. You
will do all the good you can, where it is the
most needed, because you love to do it. I see
for you persecution and unjust punishment.
Take this, for a talisman, from me, should you

THREE SEVENS. 211

need sadden help.' Saying this, he handed me
a beautiful sapphire ring, in which the stone was
held in the jaws of a small dragon, whose body
and tail completed the circlet.

"* Whenever in your need you shall look
upon this, and pronounce the pass of the
Neophyte, you will at once receive help equal
to your necessity, from the Brotherhood, visi-
ble and invisible. Your work you know.
Outside the gate you will find your horse.
Mount and ride. When you have reached
a point within fifty miles of the port whither
thou goest, there will come to thee from
the Southwest,- a messenger bearing dispatches.
Whatsoever he knows thou also shalt know
of the king's business, which has been ably
transacted. Now, farewell !*

^^ Thus affectionately we parted, as he handed
me through the wicket. I stepped to the side
of the horse, now becoming quite an old friend,
mounted, the gate closed, and for a second time ,

212 THREE SEVENS.

mj &oe was Bet toward the world, for which I
had so litde desire.

^^ I settled back in my saddle. The feeling
of sustaining, of upbearing, had fully possessed
me. Ever more should I rely implicitly upon
those whose power, reaching everywhere, upon
the earth and in the heavens, had sworn to be
my shield and guide in all my acts intended for
the good of all, regardless of self. Neither time
nor space would any longer be units of measure-
ment for me, but that which I had to do for the
good would be compared with what I did, for it
must all be done.

"With a feeling of rest, therefore, I settled
back in the saddle.

" The movements of my horse were like the
pulsations of a heart-beat. The rush of the air
past me was like the flowing of a torrent. At
the appointed place, .1 found a horse and rider,
the very counterpart of myself, awaiting me. A
packet of papers was handed me. I busied

THREE SEVENS. 213

myself for a moment arranging them upon my
person. When I raised my eyes to accost the
courier, there was neither horse nor rider. Nor
had the speed of my own steed slackened by so
much as a single hoof-beat.

^'A curious sense of double consciousness
possessed me for a few moments. This merged
into a feeling of oneness again. Then a vision
or dream of certain things haying transpired
during the past year, which became certain
knowledge when the perusal of the papers on
shipboard confirmed all that Z had mentally
received. This, the final unfoldment fully cor-
roborated. It was the king's business, which
had been most skillfully and successfully trans-
acted, and I was to be allowed to make a favor-
able report.

" As the day dawned, my horse stopped, and
left me in the same place, where, seven years
before, he had vanished from my sight. I sought
the sentry, and had now no difficulty, as a

214 THREE SEVENS.

oonrier of the king, in reaching the commandant.
His slight curiosity was allayed by the explana-
tion, confirmed by my packet of papere, that I
had been sent on a secret mission. In ihose
days Spanish officers asked few questions, and
obeyed orders impUdtiy.

^^ It was bat a short time, when one of the
treasnre ships homeward bound, dropped andior
in the bay, seeking supplies. It was an easy
task to secure passage. The captain said he
had heard of my exploits and daring deeds and
that I was reputed to bear a charmed life in the
country to which I had been sent, and that my
success as a diplomat was also &mou8. I did
not tell him what news this was to me, but sim-
ply disclaimed the whole, only to be considered
modest in the matter. But I knew that an
agent of the Brotherhood had been acting for
me in the king's business, under orders. He
had succeeded fiu* better than I could have evea
hoped to do. It was not necessary that I should

THREE SEVENS. 215

offer explanations to those who could not under-
stand.

^^ The homeward joyage was swift and pros-
perous. On my arrival I sought immediate
audience with the king, who, although pleased
with the outcome of the public business, was
evidently both surprised and pusiled that I should
have been successful ; and by no means pleased
to see me returned to disquiet him by my
jmsence.

^^ After the details of the business had been
duly explained, I begged the boon of retirement
to my estate. With ill-concealed satis&ction
ihe &vor was granted. I left the royal pres-
ence once more, glad iihat I was protected
against malice and hypocrisy.

^^ On reaching my chateau, I found my wife
eagerly anxious for my arrival, her face bright
with gladness at my safe return. After a few
days of restful quiet, we compared notes, as to
the initiations we had passed through. All was

216 THREE SEVENS.

fflmilar, save in her case the trial was <me of
fortitude of soul, without the call for physical
strength. In this she had overcome, and won
that which she had sought. Our mutual com-
parison of experience was botih instructiye and
gratifying.

<<I need not enter into details of the events
of the swift passing years. Sufficient to say
that our studies and the care of the estate filled
full all my time, and having risen above the
plane of anxiety, life was very pleasant.

CHAPTER VTL

klX years had passed. I had
attained quite a reputation for
m; skill in healing disease, which
had latterly come to me as a gift,
one of the results of persistent
advance in the line of occult knowledge. Many
of the cures were so remarkable that I was
looked upon by the ignorant with awe and some
little distrust, lest my power should be outside
the lines of the Catholic Church. My reputa-
tion as a leech had extended eyen to the Capital.
I knew it had spread through spies, by whom
the king had kept himself informed of all the
outside world knew of my daily acts and pur-
suits. So long as they had no political signifi-
cance he had not cared to molest me.

218 THREE SEVENS.

^^ Bat on the day of which I now speak, a
ooorier from the Capital announced that the
plagne had broken out at Madrid, and the king
summoned me to try my skill in controlling it.

^< Knowing that out of this small beginning a
long train of consequences would eyolve, I
retired to my laboratory and sought advice from
my Ghiru. Fixing my thought on the far-off,
the astral presence soon responded, and his low,
strength-inspiring tones said :

^^ ^ My brother, I see thou dost not question
as to the opportunity to help thy fellows, but
simply desirest instruction as to how it can best
be accomplished. Further, thou seekest to
know the best manner in which it may be expe-
dient for thee to move in the matter. It is well.
Hesitate not to obey the king's behest, but when
in the days to come he shall seek thy life, the
Brotherhood will protect thee. It is all so
written in thy line of life. Thy strength shall
be according to thy burdens. Bid thy wife

THREE SEVENS. 219

&rewell for an indefinite period, for like the
reyolving circles, your lives cease to run parallel
until such time as the tasks before each shall be
completed/

"Preparations were made. With a long
embrace and caress my wife and myself parted,
not inconsolable, but relying on the promises of
those who had never thus far failed us, that we*
should again be united, when that which was
set for us to do should be accomplished.

^^ Arriving at the Capital, I reported at the
palace, where I found confusion and dismay on
every hand. All audience was denied. Find-
ing there was no head to affairs but fear, I went
forth to the most loathsome part of the city and
commenced my career. My success was won-
derful. It seemed as if the sick in the lazar-
houses had but to hear my words, to look upon
my presence, in order to bring healing to them-
selves, so mighty was the manifestation of the
power of the Brotherhood through me. Nor

220 THREE SEVENS.

did my powers decrease as the days went by.
Through me the Brotherhood interposing a bar-
rier stayed the plague.

^^' I was hailed as a deliverer, a friend of all.
My reputation brought me a large practice, from
which I could not escape, even if I desired
selfishly to lay down the burden. Really, not
for myself, but for the sake of those in need and
distress, I worked on.

" My growing popularity alarmed the king,
and disturbed the physicians, who declared I
had no right to practice medicine, because I had
never studied at the schools. The king sought
means to stop the outward expression. They
were not far off.

'^ One night, three black-robed figures, in the
usual manner, arrested me at my lodgings.
Within an hour I was occupying a cell of the
Spanish Inquisition, that realized hell of man's
imagination. When brought before the infernal
tribunal I was accused of practicing the Black

THREE SEVENS. 221

Art. My success in alleyiating the miseries of
mankind, was declared to be the work of the
devil, with whom I must be in league.

^' I confessed that I was not an educated phy-
sician, and that my success in healing was due
to a superior power, but naught else could they
extort from me. Because I would not say that
good wae^ evil, and declare myself worthy of
death, I was sentenced to torture.

^^ On the morrow my sentence was to be car-
ried out. Lying upon the rude pallet in my
cell, meditating upon the injustice of man to his
fellow, it occurred to me that he had no right to
injure nor maim another, under any pretext
whatsoever, and that I was not called upon to
endure torture of any kind, least of all, from
those who used religious pretense to cloak selfish
purposes. My eyes fell upon the sapphire ring
upon my finger. Its pale, blue light kindled
under my gaze and streamed out in penetrating
potency. The parting instructions of my Guru

222 THREE SEVENS.

recurred to my mind, with startling distinctness.
Those wonderful words, the pass of the Neophyte,
offered themselves plainly, and were gravely,
reverently spoken, out into the silence, for the
first time audibly in almost sevm years, since
before the door of the Temple Chamber I had
received them* Almost seven years. Days and
nights had been so crowded with events, since I
came to ihe Capital that the nearness of the end
of my probation had passed from my memory.

^^ No sooner had the first sound vibrated upon
the air, than a presence formulated itself before
me, and as I finished, one of the brothers, whom
I knew well, stood in my cell.

" * Thy Guru hath requested me to come for
thee. It is time thou didst turn thy face
towards those who lovingly wait for thee, and
truly desire thy wel&re.

" * Robe thyself for the outside world, take
this staff, and let us go hence.' I at once put
on my garments, and taking the staff he offered

THREE SEVENS, 223

me, was ready to accompany him. The immense
triple-locked doors of the great prison of the
Inquisition opened for us. Neither keeper nor
sentinel offered obstruction to our progress.
The darkness veiled us. At the outskirts of the
city, we found horses waiting us. Mounting,
we rode rapidly Westward. On a spur of the
Sierra de Gata we halted a few moments, not
because of the need of our animals, for they
were as fresh as when we started, but because I
desired to look over the broad country that had
brought so much of sorrow, and so little of joy
to me.

*' * My brother,' said my companion, * look
thy last upon ingrate Spain, whose dust thou
now shakest from thy feet forever. A hard and
bitter mother has she been to thee. But that
which she had to do for thee and that which
thou hadst to do for her is this day finished.'

" Although I felt it to be true that Spain had
been only a fierce, exacting protector, yet the

224 THREE SEVENS.

force of the love I had cherished for her, gave a
shade of regret to this, the final parting. I
have since been in all the countries of the earth,
and in the Spanish colonial possessions, bat I
have never, since that time, entered the bounda-
ries of the mother country. We crossed Por-
tugal swiftly without hindrance or delay, from
any source whatever.

'^ Arrived at the seaboard on the summit of
one of the mountains of the coast range, at my
companion's suggestion we dismounted. As we
stepped away to refresh our cramped limbs after
our long ride, our horses vanished into thin air.
I looked at my companion. He was standing
erect with his face toward the West. A peculiar
look of concentrated potency overspread his
features. As I watched him and noticed the
hardening of all the lines of his face, my eye
involuntarily followed his line of projection into
the Western horizon. In the far-off sky I
noticed first, a tiny speck which gradually

THREE SEVENS. 225

enlarged until there rested upon the dope at our
feet, an air yaoht, complete in all its appoint-
ments.

"My companion motioned me to step on
board, and he followed, taking the helm himself.
Obeying the impulse of his intelligence, the
yacht swung around, her immense sail filled
before a strong breeze from the East. Without
the friction of resisting matter, moving at the
same speed as the wind, we were on our journey,
like an arrow from the bow. Far beneath us
lay the ocean and the clouds.

" *My brother,' I questioned, * whence comes
this vessel V

" ' Oh !' he replied, Mt is one of the models
laid up in the astral light, from the thought of
the Old Atlantians. Some day, some of the
clear-sighted earth-bom will see it, and have
knowledge and power enough to manifest it for
themselves. Meanwhile it will continue in its
store-house, except when it may be used as we

226 THREE SEVENS.

nxe now ucdng it All the inyentions of the
earth-bom are made in this way. They are
discovered in the sense that one disoovers a sail
on the ocean. But in the sense of creation fir^m
nothing, never.'

a i yfixj could I not have come to you in this
way, on my previous trips ?' I asked.

^^ ' Because you had not sufficient soul-unfold-
ment,' was the reply. ^Now, you do not depend
upon other force than your own potency. Of
this you are fully self-conscious. This makes
you calm, and evenly poised. Seven years ago
this was not so. It employs the utmost meas-
ure of my own will power, to hold our vessel
in manifestation. If I were required to hold
you up also, with an uncertain and varying
amount of sustaining, we might suddenly find
ourselves wrecked.'

" Thus whiling away the time in conversation,
we swept on and on, until at length far beneath
us, could be seen the outlines of the old fort.

THREE SEVENS. 227

We lingered not here, but with nnslackened
velocity sped forward, to find ourselves, at last,
at the crest of the mountains towering over the
Temple. Here our craft beached, and swung
broadside to, for us to disembark.

^' My companion said : ^ You know the way
down into the gardens, where I will join you as
soon as I have re-assumed my outer garment
of flesh.'

. " Following his direction, I soon found myself
in company with my brothers, whose quaint,
kind words of joy, had more gladness for me
than any other human thing. We were soon
joined by the brother, under whose guidance I
had made my recent journey. He did not seem
in any wise discomfitted by his late absence
from his body.

^^ Best and refreshment were my most urgent
needs. The next day my Guru said : ^ My
brother, seven months of preparation lie before
thee, and then comes your final trial. If sue-

228 THREE SEVENS.

oessfoly more worlds than this lie at your feet
But remember that even great ones fiall back
from the threshold. Beware of feeling unduly
uplifted by self-consciousness, at the present
position.'

^' I had not dreamed this to be possible. I
had never, from the first hour of my entrance
into the Temple, indulged in any hopes for the
future yet to come, after reaching this or that
point. My only formulated hope was, that
some day it might be my lot to share the life of
the Brothers in the Temple. I only thought of
this, as it might be worthily won by me as a
right, and not in any sense as an usurpation of
another's rights or place. But I was glad of
my Guru's suggestion, for it set me to examin-
ing myself in the secret thought, and to the
striving for the obliteration of any and all taint
of selfishness.

"A large part of the days of preparation were
spent in the practice of controlling the action of

THREE SEVENS. 229

nature in the fonnation and shaping of the
inanimate, inorganic oombinationB of the ele-
ment called matter. This will always respond
to the vibrations of thought, if we know how to
project onr potency of Will. All things are
One, from one source. The hints of the ability
to transmute one metal into another, are not idle
suggestions. That which has been once created
by the Infinite Thought of the Uniyerse, cui
also be changed and transfonned, under the
same law, by the finite thought

^^ I was more fully taught, that as I was one
with the whole Uniyerse, I could neither disturb
nor injure another without affecting myself. He
who suffers most from selfishness, is the one who
is selfish, seeking only his own ends r^ardless
of the desires or good of others. It was also
deeply impressed upon my mind that, having
eliminated the selfishness that springs firom, and
is co-ordinate with, manifestation on the physical
plane, one could only hope to reach full attain-

280 THREE SEVENS.

ment by striving to comprehend, in all its
follness, the fitct that the Higher Self is not
now, nor can be separate from the One Absolute
Self. Whenever this is wholly comprehended,
then man, even on &6 physical plane, can
become ^one of us,' die Adonai, Elohim or
Devas. Once having won his way into the
ranks of the Brotherhood in its highest degree,
he is entitled to the harmony of the whole, and
the protection and assistance of every member.
Again and again daring the months of prepara-
tion, were these truths brought clearly and
forcibly to my mind, until they became certain
convictions.

^^ In my hours of meditation, I was bidden to
reflect on the One, the Causeless Cause ; and to
let the diought of its immensity overshadow me,
but in no way to ima^e either possibility or
power of equality. But by dwelling upon It, in
its unknowability, my own spirit should be
strengthened, and my soul force be quickened

THREE SEVENS. 281

and stirred to its utmost power, and thus hold
in leash the physical, to respond promptly when
the hour of trial should strike.

^'Thus, through the short seven months,
my training went forward, I knew I was growing
stronger, and also that my self-abnegation, my
desire to benefit all the world, entirely regard-
less of any consequences, or reflex action on
myself, was becoming an impelling motive of my
every action. All the petty distinction of friend
or foe, or of family ties, oesused to exercise any
binding foree. In all the Universe, there could
be to me only those who had attained to the
Brotherhood, and those who had not, but might
if they would. To these last the hand of help
was always to be extended, in all tenderness and
love.

''One should first seek to inspire them
with a desire to advance out of the darkness of
ignorance, because without this no gain can be
permanent.

232 THREE SEVENS.

^^ The last month of preparation was devoted
to physical training. My Chira said:

^^ ' The perfect man must be perfect, both
physically and spiritually. That is, the body
most, if the training were correct, be the mani-
festation of the correct currents flowing from
within, and be a reflection of the right thought.
As you have reached the point where the body is
to receive its last trial, it must be possessed of
its utmost vigor.'

^^ At last, dawned the day of days. As the
first glimmer of light brightened the Eastern
sky, my Guru came to me, bade me rise and
accompany him. Having dressed myself,
myself, we went forth from my chamber to-
gether. Instead of descending, we went out
upon a level through a passage that led us to an
immense plateau. As we went on my Guru said :

" ' Tour trial is now two-fold. It will require
all your strength of body and soul. The first
half must take place beyond our boundary.

THBEE SEVENS. 288

Neither I, nor any of the Brotherhood, will in
physical form attend you* But you know oar
powers are not limited to these bounds. Those
who serve us are also beyond, as well as with us.
Into trusly hands we shall commit you, and our
undivided attention will be given you, during
your trial. If thou hast need use this call.'
Here he whispered a word of potency in my
ear. ' It will give to thee immediate and sup-
porting strength.' As he spoke, the passage
through which we were moving opened, by a
sudden turn into the sunlight.

^^Here we paused. I saw my Guru's lips
move. Then two men, huge of stature and
massive in muscle, came into the passage. They
respectfully saluted my Guru and awaited
orders.

<<<Into thy hands, oh, faithful and tried,'
said he, ^ I commit our brother, who by obedi-
ence to the law, seeks to reach that which the
law holds for him, in common with all disciples/

284 THREE SEVENS.

The strangers bowed, and my Gum, with a
grave smDe, turned back whence he came, while
I went forward into the light of the new day,
with my two friends.

"When we had reached the outer air we
stood on a beach of sand, within an old volcanic
crater of immense size. It was almost a per-
fect circle in form, with a bench of sandy beach
running two-thirds of the way about it, and
beyond that the lake placid and unruffled. On
its sur&ce was no ripple. No sound, nor motion,
came firom its unknown depths. Standing upon
its brink, with my attendants, they said :

" * At the bottom of this pool lies thy way.
Stand still, and listen for the voice of the
Unseen.'

" Obeying my instructors, I stood once more
quiet as to my body, and introverted as to my
spiritual sense. From out the silence came to
my perception the voice of him, I had so often
heard, in assurance :

THREE SEVENS. -285

" ' Divest thyself of thy apparel, and seek by
thy strength, the bottom of the pool. Waste
not thy force, but use judiciously, reserving for
the final efibrt/

'^ With not a single moment's hesitation, I
stripped off my wrappings, and plunged head
first into the pool. I was considered an excel-
lent swimmer, and my training of the last few
months had made available every fibre of my
body. But I could not reach the bottom and
soon found myself floating upon the surface
again. Once more I essayed to reach the bot-
tom and failed. Still undismayed, for the third
time I made the attempt, and now all that con-
stitutes the man, was concentered in the action.
Not a single atom of the physical, not a single
idea of spirit potency that was not wholly intent
on the one purpose. This time, the waters, feel-
ing the full imperiousness of accomplishment,
seemed to cleave asunder of their own accord.
When I reached the golden sands at the bottom

286 • THREE SEVENS.

they, too, opened. The direction of my move-
ment was now reversed ; instead of being head
down I was coming up^ apparently, through the
cleft at the bottom into a pellucid pool, in an
immense grotto.

<^ Swimming to the shore, I found it covered
with soft moss. Here, exhausted, I stretched
myself at fall length, for a few moment's rest.
Bousing myself from the semi-trance condition
in which I waspluniced at the Supreme moment
I noted the sensation of quiet and rest and ikmi
fell asleep.

"From this condition of lethargy, I was
aroused by the sound of musical voices in soft
cadence. Rising to a sitting posture, a little
group of water nymphs, not far from me, per-
ceived I had wakened, and came towards me.
Beautiful in form, and lovely in all that word
implies, I could not but admire, as it is a man's
privilege to admire, anything and everything
upon the earth, without a craving for possession.

THREE SEVENS. 287

'' Having approached me, the stateliest one of
the group thus accosted me :

" * Oh, mortal-bom ! what dost thou seek in
the realm of the " Spirit of the Water ? " '

"A voice, not of myself, but still seeming
myself, made answer: ^Fair nymphs, I seek
audience with the Spirit of the Water, and I
crave from you the boon of speedily furthering
my wishes.'

" ' But why hasten ? ' was her reply. * You
may dwell with us. Are we not &ir In feature
and beautiful in form ? Doth not that always
suffice the mortal-bom ? '

" And my Higher Self made answer : * Thou
sayest but too traly, Daughter of the King.
These things do satisfy the mortal-bom, but
when he has been regenerated of the water and
the fire, the continual attainment of that which
lies beyond is the only source of content.*

" * But the way you seek to travel is beset
with dangers. Strong, bold men have perished

238 THREE SEVENS.

there, and we would save thee from their doom/

^^ ' But what would be the doom of him who
proves recreant to his vows ? '

^' Thou hast thus far accomplished, Oh Mor-
tal ! Be satisfied and seek nothing beyond.'

^^ ^ I thank you for your interest in me, but do
not seek to detain- me. Show yourselves the
friends you claim to be, by helping me to that
which I seek.'

'' Tender indeed were the speaker's accents
now : ' If thou wilt not be dissuaded from thy
danger, then will we help you to the utmost of
our power.'

^'As she finished speaking, it grew dark.
There was a motion as of all my environment at
once, just as if one were borne on the midst of a
deep sea current. A little while and Ae motion
ceased. The darkness unfolded, and I found
myself reclining in a large hall, scooped out of
the adamantine rocks, by the moving waters.
There were many forms flitting all about me,

THREE SEVENS. 239

incessantly coming and going on the business to
which they were set. From here, the tides
were managed, and the springs of the earth
maintained. From here, was regulated the rush
of the mountain torrents, and the mighty rivers
were guided and renewed in their flow. Here,
also, was the manufactory of the dews and rains,
and the controlling power by which their supply
was equalized throughout, the seasons.

^^ All the attendants, in their pre-occupation
ignored my presence. I had only time for
a short glance about me. Near where I
was reclining, a throne of white marble,
fimtastically carved, rose from the rock floor to
an imposing height, and shone with an inherent
light, resembling the phosphorescent glow of the
sea, but steadier and brighter in its action.
Upon the upper table of the structure, rested a
huge shell, whose clear surface of pearl glistened
even beneath the fabric of sea silk, upon which
sat half-reclining, a dwarf, perfect -in his form

240 THREE SEVENS.

and proportions. His long, white beard flowed
to his feet, bat his dark eyes, though piercing,
were kindly.

'^As his glance fell upon me, I arose, and
kneeling at the foot of the throne, I heard his words:

" ' Stranger, of the earth-bom, what seekest
thou in the palace of the Spirit of the Water ? '

" My Higher Self made answer : * Gracious
One, I seek the Hierophant's pass to the Veil
of Isis.*

^^ ' Bold mortal ! knowest thou not, that I
may give thee but two syllables of the pass? The
word of words is in the keeping of my brother
the Spirit of the Fire, and can only be imparted
to him who is found worthy. I am bound by
an oath to reveal to him only, who has been
fully purified in the physical by water. Many
have perished in the trial. The way is long and
dangerous. I do not like to see you perish.
Stay with us, and do not tempt your fate against
what may prove overwhelming odds.'

THREE SEVENS. 241

** ' Nay, Oh, Spirit of the Water ! ' once again
answered my Higher Self. * I thank thee for
thy kind words. But 0ioa knowest it would be
better to perish striving to attain, than to lie
ingloriously, satisfied with partial knowledge.
Should I accept your offer, your respect for me(
would not be increased.'

" * Thy wisdom doth not fall behind thy
attainment. Thou shalt be allowed to have thy
wish. Rise and go hence. The nymphs will
accompany thee the Hall of Trial. If thy
courage fails not, and thou shalt succeed, then
that thou dost seek will be in thy possession,
and I will be thy servant.'

^^He ceased speaking, and the whole Hall
filled with a low, sweet melody, like the ripple
of laughing waters over a stony bed. Turning
to the group of nymphs who stood near. I
accompanied them, going by a narrow passage,
worn out of the rock, to a large, circular cham-
ber. This room, like all others, here, was the

242 THREE SEVENS.

result of the labors of the waters for long, weary
years. The sides were of water-worn rocks,
dark with age, while underneath, the footsteps fell
upon firm, white sand. On the farther side was
a large, irregularly shaped opening, in which I
could hear the pattering of rain drops on the
slightly ascending floor, and beyond that an
inexplicable, rushing sound of something heavier
and more fear-inspiring.

^^ Standing before this opening, the elder
nymph, who had at the first spoken to me, said,
and her tones were sadly tender :

" ^Mortal, there lies thy only way to the
upper air. Once thou ^ssayest the passage, thou
canst never return thither. The great drops
thou hearest falling are the salt tears of the
world's agony. Once they strike thy body, thou
takest upon thyself the burden of the world's
sorrow and sin. If thou canst not bear it, then,
indeed, thou wilt sink under it, and be crushed
by its weight. Or if the pains of passage grow

THREE SEVENS. 243

too hard for thee, and mortal pain takes away
thy self-possession, thy spirit may need many
more bodies to complete its round of perfection.
If thou art as strong and fearless as I hope thou
art, thou wilt see the sunlight, with the taint of
decay and death washed clean from thy physical
body, never to return. Be courageous and
enduring' — ^here her eyes grew inexpressibly
wistful — ' and we may serve thee in all time to
come, as the fair delight to honor the brave.'

" I bowed low. ' Fair nymphs, I thank you
most sincerely, for your kind interest in my
welfare. I pray you, give me in this time of
trial your utmost help.'

" Looking upon their faces for the last time, I
turned away, and entered the passage. The icy-cold
drops, scattered like a spring shower, smote upon
my naked body, but with a singular sensation, as
if they penetrated beneath the surface of the skin,
into the flesh, and with this came a terrible over-
shadowing and oppression, which no words could

241 TEBEE SEVENS.

describe, for the sorrow and grief therein con-
tained were perfectly inexpressible.

^^ Still pressing on, my course being slightly
upward, the fiJling water indireased in its volume
and force of descent, until it seemed to run
through my body as if it were a sieve. This
downpour became a fierce, rushing torrent, and
at the same time I noticed that the temperature
was changing from cold to hot. As it grew
warmer, there was a sense of compression added
to the feeling of the water passing through,
instead of over, the surfisice of my body. Then,
lifted off my feet and whirled upward in a vortex,
the rapidity of the motion seemed almost to reach
the limit of physical endurance. I remembered
to keep my arms pressed close to my sides, and
my feet together. As thus I shot up, like an
arrow from a bow, the heat grew more and
more intense. How high the temperature
reached, I know not, but I have never experi-
enced anything like it either before or sincer

THREE SEVENS. 245

When the extreme limit of physical resistance
was reached, I was again plunged into a cold
stratom. The pain, without my previous train-
ing, would have overcome me. I know, also, if
fear had added a single feather's weight to the
just turning scale of bodily suffering, I should
have been lost, crushed by the turbulence of the
outer environment.

"With eyes and mouth closed, and breath
suspended during the upward rush, I was still in
the fullest possession of each and all of the
higher principles. I affirmed within myself that
which was true, ' I do not fear.' I knew, if I
yielded ever so little to physical weakness, I
should be overcome. With this thought para-
mount over all the conditions of sense and men-
tality, I suddenly found myself hurled into the
daylight, in the pool from whence I started,
where my guides waited my coming, to congrat-
ulate me, or to prepare my body for burial.

** I was myself and yet not myself By the

246 THREE SEVENS.

swell of the water, whose propulsion had shot me
forth, I was thrown upon the white sands of
the beach, breathless and exhausted. By my
astral vision, I perceived the strong, white arms
of the water nymph, as she bore me to the care
of my friends, her anxiety for me having led
her, unseen by my outer self, to accompany my
rapid flight to the upper regions.

^^ My attendants lifted me to my feet, and
threw over me a robe of white linen, permeated
with a delicate refreshing fragrance. Out of
this came new-bom strength. I felt wonderfully
lightened. The grossness purged away, the
body could be stimulated by an aroma, which is
the subtile essence of the choicest and best sup-
porters of physical vitality. As a consequence,
my mentality worked sharply and clearly.

" On the boundary, I met my Guru and the
two Brothers who had previously assisted me.
Bidding farewell to those who had served me to
the limit of their power in this last struggle, I,

THREE SEVENS. 247

again, with my companions, entered the inner
chambers of the Temple.

"As we walked slowly along, a sedate joy
illumined the face of my Guru, as he said :

" ^ My brother, it is inexpressible pleasure to
behold you thus, with your body in your posses-
sion. Yet one more day, and the cleansed and
purified physical shall receive a master worthy
of itself. Then shall the perfect physical and
the perfect spiritual constitute the Perfect man,
as was designed by It, whose creative thought
was the source of all being.

" * The third day, since you went forth on
your mission, has reached high twelve. Retire
to thy chamber for refreshment and rest. At
low twelve we shall meet again.*

"Obeying his instructions, in my chamber
attendants brought me food and drink, such as I
had never before seen nor tasted. They were
made of the essences, and not the gross elements.
So soon as swallowed they were dilfiised in the

248 THREE SEVENS.

ikkw man. A wonderful rehabilitation of power
and strength was the immediate result. From
that hour, no vileness of either food or drink
has passed my lips. My knowledge has enabled
me to find suitable substances in the air, in the
water, and in the fire. The body is thereby
renewed, without wasting a large part of its
strength in separating and excreting the waste,
which is not, nor never has been, of any use.

" A little before the appointed hour, my Guru
came and awakening me from sleep, he said :

'^ ^ Thine hour of final attainment is at hand.
Bouse thee, and as a man prepare to endure
that which seizes hold upon the fountain head of
all life and energy.'

^^I arose at once, and was soon in readiness
to accompany him. Moving along a line of
corridors towards the West, we reached at last a
circular stairway, cut out of the solid rock, with
an opening or well in the center. It was a long
distance down. Although neither my Guru nor

THREE SEVENS. 249

myself had any of the usual physical means of
lighting our way, still all about us there was
sufficient light to disclose clearly our immediate
neighborhood. I noticed that the walls of solid
rock contained great veins of gold. The reve-
nues of an empire were almost constantly in
sight, as we descended step by step. These
deposits of wealth had been cut through and
laid bare, in the process of opening communica- ^
tion with that which we now sought. But all
these massed riches ceased to have value, beyond
iheir use, in the eyes of those to whose knowl-
edge it had come. Power to possess had destroyed
its precious quality, as it does in all human con-
ditions.

^^ As I have said, it was a long distance down.
I walked on the inner side, next the wall. My
Guru took the outer and unprotected side.
Below us was darkness. Above us no light
could penetrate. The end of the staircase was
reached at last. We stopped in a small cham-

260 THREE SEVENS.

ber, which opened into a krger one, and this
into a still burger hall, all hewn out of the solid
rock.

^^ As we commenced adyandng on a level, I
noticed a brightness like the growing dawn of
day. This grew brighter and clearer, until, pass-
ing into the last hall, I beheld at the &rther
end, a river and cascade of fire. The light was
dazzlingly white, and pained the eyes. There
was, however, no heat fi*om it manifest on the
outside. While the appearance was that of a
river of fire, falling over in a cascade, there was
no progressive motion. A difference could be
perceived in the continoity of the light, as now
it fielded, and then grew brilliant again. This
was more of a coruscation, than a wavering of
strength or intensity.

^'Near the entrance, and farthest fix)m the
fire, was a couch of stone, slightiy inclining
from head to feet, and covered with a rug of
soft texture. As we entered the hall, six of the

THREE SEVENS. 251

Brothers were standing about the couch, con-
versing in low tones. Arranged in a half oval,
facing the fire, the couch occupying one of the
fod, were seven seats. After greeting the
Brothers, all of whom I knew, my Guru bade me
recline upon the couch. The brothers took their
places upon the stone seats. A moment of
silence, and then the voice of my Guru :

" * Lie at ease upon thy back. Introvert thy
consciousness, and let go of thy body.'

^< Obeying his instructions, I turned upon my
back, allowed the muscles to adapt themselves
to the surface of the couch, and became passive.
Hardly had I done this, before there stole over
me a sense of quietness and rest, deepening into
unconsciousness. My next sensation was a
sound of fiuTroff music, harmonious and intense
in its effect, a call to the soul which would take
no denial. Then came a sense of full freedom
from the circle of necessity. Apparently open-
ing my eyes, I was standing by the couch facing

252 THBEE SEVENS.

my Gxira. In a single glance, I noted my body
at rest, in deep sleep upon the coach. I noted
also the corrents of thought moving in align-
ment from all the Brothers, and centering where
I stood.

" * Thou knowest,' began my Gum, * thy
present condition, for thou hast met thy astral
body before. Approach the cascade of fire, and
enter boldly therein. Whatever is gross and
unassimilable will be consumed, and only thy
highest and best will resist the fire, even as fine
gold grows brighter, under the fierceness of the
flame.'

^^I turned toward the cascade leaping and
plunging down its rocky bed. As I approached
it, moving in all respects as if I were inside,
instead of outside, of my physical garment, I
noticed that its glow had deepened in its white
energy. As I stood at the outer verge, I &lt no
heat, only a curious sense of constriction, as if
one were enclosed in the arms of a mighty wind.

THREE SEVENS. 253

The body of the fire hollowed itself out as I
came nearer. When I had entered within its
bounds, its dimensions grew ample in their
enlargement. Seated upon a throne, was a regal
figure, of brightness unapproachable, but stem
in feature. His questioning glance rested fairly
upon me as I drew near.

^^ ^ Possessor of a mortal body, what seekest
thou in the audience chamber of the Spirit of
the Fire?'

^^ ^I seek the word that shall place the Neo-
phyte with power, before the Veil of Isis.*

"*Has thy physical body been purified by
the Spirit of the Water, and did it remain in
thy possession ? '

" * It did, Oh, Spirit of the Fire! But not to
me alone, nor to my unaided strength, is the
attainment due, but to the help and loving care
of the Brotherhood, under whose guidance I
have now sought audience with thee, Oh,
Implacable ! '

264 THREE SEVENS.

<< <It is welL If thou hast strength to endure
the trial, ihy request shall be granted.'

^^ At this instant, above all, and through all,
oame the voice of my Guru, more intense in its
concentration and soul-inspiring in its modula-
tion, than I had ever deemed possible:

^^^ Stand erect. Hold with thine utmost
will power the thought : ^^ I am, and beside is
naught else." '

^^I could feel a vivifying influx from the
mighty power of the assembled Brothers, and
my own will grew invincible, as I affirmed with
strongest self-assertion, my consciousness of
existence.

^^ There was no lapse of time in these last
three happenings, nor were they in sequence,
but came all at once. No sooner had the Spirit
of the Fire ceased speaking, than a torrent of
flame poured down upon me, in an awfulness
which no earthly symbolism nor likeness can in
any way portray. As the spirit is the essence

THBEE SEVENS. 255

of the body, so was this flame the essence of all
fire, in its overpowering and almost omnipotent
whiteness.

" Even the astral body fused under its fierce-
ness. If at this supreme moment the Spirit
should loose its grasp upon the idea of its own
entity, and the outline, from any cause, grow
dim, then farewell all hope for present attain-
ment — ^the end comes at once and speedily. I
was conscious of the motion, change and re-
arrangement of soul particles, as the grossness
disappeared, and under new polarization the soul
itself was bom again of the fire, into the purest
and the highest possibility.

^^ During all this focalization of unrestrained
force, the astral body did not lose shape, nor
become flexed in the slightest degree from its
uprightness; for the Will, the Divine Monad,
held firmly to the idea of existence. The
potency of the affirmation, ' I am,' held even
this volatile condition in its place and perfect

266 THREE SEVENS.

form, as received in the sequence of Oreative
Thought

^^ There was no feeling of ezhaastion, nor
diminntion, bat simply a perception of growing
lightness as the dross purged away. There was
also a consciousness that whoever ventured here,
might without effort on iheir part disappear
entirely.

^^ But fhe crisis was passed. The purifying
force grew less and less. Once more I stood
acquitted, and stronger and purer for the trial.
To me, thus the Spirit of the Fire again spoke :

'^ ^ It is well, the storm for thee has passed.
Return now to thy body, and thy Brothers.
When thou dost stand before the Veil of Isis,
the pass of the Hierophant, the word that sym-
bolizes the withdrawing and the manifesting,
shall be thine. Use it wisely, as thine own
spirit shall teach thee, and all will be well.
More than mortal I I, too, henceforth and for-
ever serve thee.'

THREE SEVENS. 257

" With swift, gliding motion, hardly conscious
how, I stood once more beside my body. An-
other period of unconsciousness, as lying flat
upon the insensible physical, I was absorbed
into the outer personality . A shuddering thrill,
so forcefdl as to seem a pain, and I awoke, never
more to be the being who had laid down upon
the couch ; but another, who at all times, and
under all circumstances, haying put the law of
Karma under his feet, could dominate the body.

^^ As I arose from my resting place, the
Brothers also stood up, and coming to me, with
quiet gravity, a real gladness in their tones,
expressed their delight that I had succeeded.

" * But it was not I, but you, oh, beloved !
that made endurance possible. Alone, I never
could have held fSsist to the center of manifested
force.'

" * Now,* said my Guru, * we go once more to
the Hall of Obligation. Take due note of all
happenings.'

268 THREE SEVENS.

^* So we moved on, two by two, out of the
light of the Fire, until we had reached the spiral
stairway. Here, the Brothers arranged them*
selves in the order of triumph. First, a single
man, then three pairs, of which I was the middle
one, nearest the wall, and a single man brought
up the rear.

^^ In all my former exercises and trials, there
had been, at the end, the feeling of fiisting and
exhaustion, but now sustenance and bodily vigor
came to me from the air I breathed. I was
invigorated by eveiy step I took, by every
breath I drew.

^^Triumphantly, I stood before the Hall of
Obligation. Here my companions left me, my
Guru saying:

^^ ^ He who lifts the Veil of Isis, must do it
alone, by and for himself. Let not thy courage
&il thee. Dare to do, to the fiillest extent, as
thy knowledge shall guide thee.'

<*I ascended the seven steps of the Hall of

THREE SEVENS. 269

Obligation, and passed through the wide open-
ing doors. A dim, difiused light permitted me
to see my way, as I advanced slowly through
the whole length of the HalL The Presence,
as usual, overshadowed me, but now, more than
at any previous time, with the intensity of its
power.

^^ Beaching the five steps before the Chamber
of the Neophyte, the sentinel held the gates. As
the pass of the Neophyte trembled on my lips,
the door opened. This Chamber was also vacant,
in the visible, but the sense of the overshadow-
ing of the Omnipotent rested upon me. The
light was full, so that all objects were clearly
discernible.

^^ About half way across, I was firmly held
by invisible forces. Looking upon the polished
surface of the room to the right, I noticed the
beginning of an unrolling of all the good deeds
of all my embodiments from the first incarnation,
even to the present hour. On the left, in

260 THBEE SEVENS. .

Beqnenoe appeared all the deeds that had brought
me discomfort or uneasmess, or pain of mind or
body.

>^ While these manifestations were taking
place, each side was reflected in the other, more
or less clearly, as either was more or less
influential in the on-flowing current of life.
A curious intermingling and blending of each
into each, was the result. This formed a
complete picture of the movement of the lives.
Equilibrium was attained by the adjustment of
the actions themselves. This is the result of
Earmio lair. Not all at once, but in the end
adjustment was always completed.

** While looking upon this revealing, I had a
curious sensation of being part of it, of being at
one with it. It was as if the inanimate repre-
sentation simply reflected the thing I, myself,
was ; a complex result of actions, and not a
unified entity ; the whole overshadowed and held
together by an overmastering force of the inner.

THREE SEVENS. 261

Thus was proved to me that the material of the
soul, gathered from experiences under the whole
heaven and became at one with the Spirit, which
is the Word of Power — ^the Human Will — the
Expression of the Divine Energy, constitutes
the individual, for the purpose of creating which,
^the Word was made flesh/ As the lesson
closed, a voice said to me, plainly :

" * Thy soul is from the Universe ; thy Spirit
is from the One. As the Universe manifests
the One, so thy Soul manifests thy Spirit. Seek
and thou shalt find.'

^^ Released now from the power that had held
me for observation, I moved across tihe Hall and
ascending the three steps, stood upon a sort of
dais or platform. The heavy veil hung motion-
less. The light behind it became more and
more intense in its brightness, until it seemed to
pierce through the meshes of the thickly woven
stuff as ordinary sunlight passes through the
interstices of thinnest laqe.

262 THREE SEVENS.

^ As I stepped upon the center of the plat-
fonn, before the veil, an unseen hand, strong
and restraining^ was hud upon my shoulder.
At the same instant, a tongue of flame, resem-
bling a fiery sword, lay breast high across the
outer surface of the curtiun.

'^^ Stand, mortal! who art still under the
law,' challenged a voice out of the Unseen, that
I recognized as belonging to my Higher Self.
^ How hast thou approached the Holy of Holies 7
Give answer.'

^^ *' By the help of the Brotherhood, and my
own obedience,' was my reply.

** * What more dost thou seek Y

" * To lift the Veil of Isis, and thus penetrate
all mysteries, both of the Seen and the Unseen ;
the animate and the inanimate. To become at
one with thee, subtile and untiring questioner.
To know what thou knowest, to become as thou
art, the unchangeable of the centuries.'

^^ < Hast thou the pass of the Hierophant ?'

THREE SEVENS. 268

«*I have/

" * Then place thyself erect before the VeU of
Im and pronounce it in low breath.'

^^ As I approached closer to the veil, the hand
upon my shoulder was lifted, and the flaming
barrier dropping its point vanished from sight.
For the first time in all the initiations, in my
proper self, I, using my own organism, pro-
nounced the sentence that had been so hardly
won, syllable by syllable, by me, through en-
durance and peril.

"Sci^ely had my voice in low breath
uttered slowly and distinctly the awful words,
than intense darkness filled the chamber. The
whole mountain quaked. Thunder rolled
through the whole Temple. The veil, rent in
twain, revealed to my eyes the whiteness of the
brightness of the Truth that is Wisdom. Out
of the effulgence, came words of exquisite modu-
lation and sweetness. Like the brooding of a
dove, they rested on my soul :

264 THREE SEVENS.

^^ ' The peace of the ages abideth unth him
who has attained. Let thy light shine/

^^ Oh ! the exaltation and ecstasy of this
snpreme'momenty when the Spirit, perfected by
onion with the Infinite, and its own Higher Self,
claims forever absolute dominion over its per-
fected body. An enfolding presence wrapped
itself about me. The light permeated and
became part of myself. Ineffable quiet and rest
was the only sensation. To this I yielded folly
and entirely. '

' ** It was high twelve of the third day, when I
found myself lying upon my couch, in my own
chamber.

^^In the twilight, my Guru came to me and
thus accosted me :

" * Hail, my brother indeed ! Thou hast now
become one of us. The environment is at thy
command. Even life itself waits thy bidding.
You are entitled to share with us whatsoever
thy necessity may demand. As we help you, so

THREE SEVENS. 265

will you help us. You will remain with us
for a year. Then going out into the world, you
will do the work appointed you, until such time
a^ one of the Circle of Isis dwelling within the
Temple shall desire forever to lay aside the
physical body. Then you will be permitted to
enter our seclusion, never more to go hence,
except in the prescribed way of all mortal-bom.
This will be at your option, years or centuries
hence.'

*' For one year, I dwelt quietly in the Tem-
ple, adding to my knowledge of the laws of the
Universe. By practice increasing potency in
the control of the inanimate, all the operations
of nature became an open book. I compre-
hended, at last, the full scope of that dominion,
which the spirit in its highest and best estate
was intended by the Creative Thought to have,
not only over the immediate environment, but
in a larger sense to manifest in all the realms
far or near. Wherever polarization and vibra-

266 THBEE SEVENS.

tion are possible, and that is everywhere, there
the thought currents reach the highest and the
lowest, throaghout the length and breadth of the
Boundless.

^^ There had, now, also come to me distinct
views on all subjects, so much so, that the
Brothers in conversing with me, addressed me
as on an equality with themselves, and my words
were listened to, as having weight* It is one of
their maxims, that to the new-bom often come
the clearest and brightest perceptions of wisdom.

<< Thus passed the first year of my regenerated
life, after being ^ bom again of water and the
Spirit.' Bidding them all, at its end, a kind
fsurewell, I made my way at once to the far
East, being summoned thither by a swift mes-
senger, to witness my wife and companion
finally lay aside, for the acccomplishment of
present purpose, all earthly impediment.

^^ Since then I have visited every habitable
quarter of the globe, and been brought into

THREE SEVENS. 261

contact with all races of men in the practice of
the healing art. In this, such wonderful power
has been granted me by the Brotherhood, that I
have been called a miracle-worker. This is true
in the sense of doing wonderful things; but as
out of the course and law of Nature, not so.
Even the Causeless Cause cannot violate a law.
Law is the sequence of Creative Thought. If
one link in the chain were broken, then the
whole structure must £a.ll into destruction.

" Wealth has flowed in upon me, not because
I needed it, but because it was necessary for
those who needed healing, to make sacrifice to
attain the thing they sought. Nine-tenths of all
disease, is the result of selfishness, which para-
lyzes polarization, and neutralizes vibration, thus
destroying the harmony in the working out of
the Creator's designs. This must always be
overcome, if we desire a radical cure. But the
end of my wanderings, and my service as one of
the world's workers is near at hand. Look ! ''

268 THREE SEVENS.

I glanced at my Master. HIb features had
become set and forceful. His eyes were looking
intently out into the far-off. As he stopped
speaking, the ring on his finger blazed out like
a meteor. The polished wall opposite reflected
a mountain peak crowning a broken country. I
knew it was the exterior of the Temple. The
scene dissolved into magnificent and well-watered
gardens. I recognized the fountain in the cen-
ter, and the high precipices, ever keeping
protecting watch.

A third time the view changed. Now it was
an upper chamber, into which, through a many
pillared colonnade, streamed the rays of the
rising sun. In the center, lay a reclining form,
while about him were grouped fourteen sages, old
in appearance of body, but young in spirit, and
in the inspiration that moved and controlled the
outer. Numberless ages rested on them all.
He who was at ease said :

** Brothers, my body has become only an

THREE SEVENS. 269

encumbrance. I have finished that which I
desired to do. If I find I so need, I can bring a
fresher, newer mechanism, in which the spring
of sequence is still uncoiled, to the service of the
Brotherhood. I seek the invisible section, com-
posed of those who, in perfected ripeness, have
gone from us. By the absolute power of the
Omnipotent word, I will ashes to ashes, and
freedom from all its claims upon myself."

I could hear these words, like the murmur of
the sea-shell, shaping itself into syllables. As
ha finished speaking, a form, luminous in its
astral condensation, dilated above where the body
had just lain. So much of the body itself had
become purified and essential, and thus capable
of being absorbed into the astral principle, that
only a little outline of dust alone marked the
place where but now the physical body had
reclined.

The floating form turned its luminous coun-
tenance to the Maater and beckoned. The word

270 THREE SEVENS.

"Come," echoed in the air. The group of
watchers in the form, tnmed their impressive,
Messianic &ces toward him, and their voices as
one said, " Come ! "

" At last," said the Master, " I am called.
The purpose in giving you this history will
develope. You will hear from me again." Rising,
he took me by the left hand, and laid his right
hand upon my head. A baptism as of fire,
thrilled through my whole body. I felt myself
drawn irresistibly toward the Brotherhood,
wherever visible or invisible they might exist.
With this parting benediction out of the Silence,
he accompanied me to the outer door, and bade
me £urewell.

Not many days after, a letter requested me to
call at the office of a well-known and respectable
firm of solicitors in the City. Here I was pre-
sented with a deed of gift of aU the property
described and the appertenanc^ thereto, on the
sole condition that I should take up my residence

THBEE SEVENS. 271

here. I • accepted the trust. I have written
this record in the room where it was given me.
The luminous wall^ sometimes by picture and
sometimes by word, has ever and anon refreshed
my memory. And now as I write the closing
words, I, too, am waiting for the time when I
may be admitted into full fellowship with the
Brotherhood.

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The Phelons.

This is a wonderful delineation of the trials and victorieB .
of human life, and can be read and remembered with profit.

HERMETIC TEACHINGS, 35c.

W. P. Phelon, M. D.

A series of able articles on an important and interesting
subject.

FUTURE RUIiERS OF AMERICA, OdC.

W. P. Phelon, M. D.

This work is most suggestive to initiates and students of
Occultism who are able to read between the lines.

PHYSICS ASTD ]IIETAPH¥SICS, 15c.

Mrs. M. M. Phelon, C.S.B.

^* Let humanity once realize the Infinite Love and they
will be able to heal all mankind."

CHRISTOS, 60c.

J. D. Buck, M. D.

Unless Jesus -vius a man He can be no example for us, for
could we, as human beings, imitate or equal God.

THE HERMETIST

Is a twelve.page monthly, teaching the Ancient Wisdom, and
a kDowledge of the Occult laws of Nature. GET UNDERSTANOl
ING is its motto. Price, fl.OO per year, in advajace. Sample
copies, 10 cents.

FHELON, Willi an
Three sevens

129

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