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UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES
LIBRARY

THE PERFECT WAY

THE FINDING OF CHRIST

BY
ANNA (BONUS) KINGSFORD, M.D.

(of the faculty of PARIS)

AND

EDWARD MAITLAND

SEVENTH EDITION

MACOY PUBLISHING & MASONIC SUPPLY CO.

45-49 John St., New York
1919

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^ D 4 D I)

Now Owned by

The M. p. & M. S. Co.

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PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION.

As the writers— rather than the authors — of this book, we
propose — on behalf of a more ready apprehension of it, and
the satisfaction of much questioning concerning it — to take
occasion of the issue of this Edition to give a succinct ac-
count of its nature and import.

That which The Perfect Way represents is neither an

^ invention nor a compilation, but first, a discovery, and

^ next, a recovery. It represents a discovery because it is

the result of an attempt — proved successful by the issue —

to ascertain at first hand the nature and method of existence.

^ And it represents a recovery because the system propounded

i in it has proved to be that which constituted the basic

and secret doctrine of all the great religions of antiquity,

^ including Christianity, — the doctrine commonly called the

^ Gnosis^ and variously entitled Hermetic and Kabbalistic.

In yet another sense does The Perfect Way represent a
recovery, and also — for ourselves — a discovery, seeing that
it was independent of any prior knowledge on our part.
This is as regards Faculty. For the knowledges concerned,
although verified by subsequent research in the ordinary

U PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION,

manner, were obtained solely by means of the faculty which
consists in perception and recollection of the kind called in-
tuitional and psychic, and therefore by the method which in
all ages has been recognised as the means of access to know-
ledges transcendental and divine. Being fully described in
the book {e.g.^ Lect. i. pars. 4-18 ; App. iii. part i, etc.),
this faculty needs no further definition here. It is necessary,
however, to state this in relation to it : That the value of
the recovery of the knowledges concerned, great as it is for
the intrinsic interest and importance of the subject, is in-
definitely enhanced by the manner of its accomplishment.
For, much as it is to know the conclusions of ancient
wisdom concerning the most momentous of topics, and to
recognise their logical excellence, it is far more to know
their truth, seeing that they involve the nature and destiny
of man in all time. It is this supreme question which
finds satisfactory solution in the present case. Had the
recovery been made in the ordinary manner, namely,
through the examination of neglected writings, or the dis-
covery of lost ones, — methods which, however successful,
would have been altogether inadequate for the results
actually attained,— no step would have been gained towards
the verification of the doctrines involved. Whereas, as it
is for ourselves, and for all those who with us are cognisant
of the genesis of this book, and who are at the same tiire
sufficiently matured in respect of the spiritual consciousness
to be able to accept the facts, — that is, for all who know
enough to be able to believe, — the book constitutes of itself
an absolute confirmation of its own teaching, and, therein,

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. m

of the recovered Gnosis. For, being due to intuitional re-
collection and perception, — faculties exercised in complete
independence of the physical organism, — it demonstrates
the essentially spiritual nature of existence ; the reality of
the soul as the true ego ; the multiple rebirths of this ego
into material conditions ; its persistence through all changes
of form and state ; and its ability, while yet in the body,
to recover and communicate of the knowledges which, in
the long ages of its past as an individualised entity, it has
acquired concerning God, the universe, and itself. In
respect of all these, the experiences of which this book is
the result — although themselves rarely referred to in it —
have been such, both in kind and quantity, that to regard
them and the world to which they relate as delusory, would
be to leave ourselves without ground for belief in the
genuineness of any experiences, or of any world what-
soever. It is not, however, upon testimony merely personal
or extrinsic that the appeal on behalf of this book is rested,
but upon that which is intrinsic, and capable of apprecia-
tion by all who have intelligent cognition of the subjects
concerned.

Especially is this book designed to meet the peculiar
circumstances of the times,— so aptly described by Mr.
Matthew Arnold when he says that " at the present moment
there are two things about the Christian religion which
must be obvious to every percipient person ; one, that men
cannot do without it ; the other, that they cannot do with
it as it is." In an age distinguished, as is the present, by

h PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION,

all-embracing research, exhaustive analysis, and unsparing
criticism, no religious system can endure unless it appeals
to the intellectual as well as to the devotional side of man's
nature. At present the faith of Christendom is languishing
on account of a radical defect in the method of its pre-
sentation, through which it is brought into perpetual conflict
with science ; and the harassing and undignified task is im-
posed on its supporters of an incessant endeavour to keep
pace with the advances of scientific discovery or the
fluctuations of scientific speculation. The method where-
by it is herein endeavoured to obviate the suspense and
insecurity thus engendered, consists in the establishment
of these three positions : —

(i) That the dogmas and symbols of Christianity are
substantially identical with those ot other and earlier re-
ligious systems.

(2) That the true plane of religious belief lies, not where
hitherto the Church has placed it, — in the sepulchre of
historical tradition, but in man's own mind and heart ; it is
not, that is to say, the objective and physical, but the sub-
jective and spiritual ; and its appeal is not to the senses but
to the soul. And,

(3) That thus regarded and duly interpreted, Christian
doctrine represents with scientific exactitude the facts of
man's spiritual history.

It is true that many men renowned for piety and learning
— pillars, accounted, of the faith — have denounced as \\\
the highest degree impious the practice of what they call
** wresting Scripture from its obvious meaning." X<ut their

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION.

denunciation of impiety includes not only the chief of
those "lesser lights," the Christian Fathers and Jewish
Commentators, but also those "two great lights," Jesus
and Paul, seeing that each of these affirmed the mystic
■sense of Scripture, and the duty of subordinating the Letter
to the Spirit and seeking within the veil for the meaning.
The fact is, that in their use of the term " obvious," the
literalists beg the questions involved. Those questions are,
—To what faculty is the sense of Scripture obvious,— to the
outer or the inner perception ? and,—To which of these
two orders of perception does the apprehension of spiritual
things rightly belong ? Nothing, assuredly, can be more
obvious than the " impiety " of setting aside the account
which Holy Writ gives of itself, and ascribing to it falsehood,
folly, or immorality, on the strength of outward appearance,
such as is the letter. To those whom this volume represents,
it is absolutely obvious that the literal sense is not the sense
intended ; and that they who insist upon that sense incur
the reproach cast by Paul when, referring to the veil which
Moses put over his face, he says : " For their minds were
blinded ; for until this very day at the reading of the old
covenant the same veil remaineth unlifted. Even unto this
day the veil is upon their hearts."

We will endeavour briefly to exhibit the principles of this
conclusion. The first lesson to be learnt in the school of
philosophy is the truth that the mind can apprehend and
assimilate that only which presents itself mentally. In
other words, the objective must be translated into the sub-
jective before it can become pabulum for the spiritual part

vt PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION.

of man. Truth is never phenomenal, but always meta-
physical The senses apprehend and are concerned with
phenomena. But the senses represent the physical part only
of man, and not that selfhood which the philosopher in-
tends when he speaks of Man. This, the true ego, cannot
come into relation with, or take account of, events and
persons which present themselves phenomenally and ob-
jectively only. Thus, they are but vehicles and symbols
by which truths, principles, and processes are conveyed to
the subjective apprehension, — the hieroglyphs, so to speak,
in which these are portrayed. Belonging to time and to
matter, persons and events are — in their phenomenal aspect
— related only to the exterior and perishable man ; while
principles and truths, being noumenal and eternal, are
cognisable only by that in man which, being also noumenal
and eternal, is of Hke nature with them, namely his sub-
jective and spiritual part For the apprehender and that
which is apprehended must belong to the same category
And as the former is, necessarily, the purely rational prin-
ciple in man, the latter also must be purely rational. For
this reason, therefore, in order to maintain its proper
spirituality, religion must always — as Schelling points out —
present itself esoterically, in universals and in mysteries.
Otherwise, being dependent for its existence upon the con-
tinuance of an environment merely physical and sensible, it
becomes as evanescent as is this. From which it follows
that so long as we regard religious truth as essentially con-
stituted of and dependent upon causes and effects apper-
taining to the physical plane, we have not yet grasped its

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. vii

real nature, and are spiritually unconscious and unilluminate.
That which is true in religion is for spirit alone.

The necessary subjectivity of truth was affirmed also by
Kant, who regarded the historical element in Scripture as
indifferent, and declared that the transition of the Creed
into a purely spiritual faith, would be the coming of the
kingdom of God. Similarly the mystic Weigelius (a.d.
1650) says that in order to be efficacious for salvation, that
which is divinely written concerning the Christ on tiie ob-
jective plane, must be transferred to the subjective plane
and substantialised in the individual, being interiorly en-
acted by him. And the pious and learned translator of
the Hermetic books, Doctor Everard, writes : — " I say
there is not one word (of Scripture) true according to the
letter. Yet I say that every word, every syllable, every
letter, is true. But they are true as He intended them
that spake them ; they are true as God meant them, not as
men will have them " {Gospel Treasury Opened, a.d. 1659).

The reason is that matter and its attributes constitute but
the middle term in a series the Alpha and Omega of which
are spirit The world of ultimate effects, like that of ulti-
mate causes, is spiritual ; and no finality can belong to the
plane of their middle term, this being a plane only of tran-
sition The absolute is, first, pure abstract thought. It is,
next, a heterisation of that thought by disruption into the
atomism of time and space, or projection into nature, a pro-
cess whereby, from being non-molecular, it becomes mole-
cular. Thirdly, it returns from this condition of self-ex<-er-
nalisation and self-alienation back into itself, resolving ine

vm PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION,

heterisation of nature, and becoming again subjective and
— as only thus it can become — self-cognisant. Such — as
formulated by Hegel — is, under manifestation, the process
of universals ; and such is, necessarily, the process also of
particulars, which are the product of universals. Wherefore
man, as the microcosm, must imitate, and identify himself
with, the macrocosm, and subjectivise, or spiritualise, his
experience before he can relate it to that ultimate principle
of himself which constitutes the ego, or selfhood.

Such a view of religion as this, however, is obviously
incomprehensible save by the educated and developed :
its terms and its ideas alike being beyond the capacity of
the generality. This book, therefore, and the work which
it inaugurates, are addressed to the former class ; — to
persons of culture and thought, who, recognising the defects
of the popular belief, have abandoned, as hopeless, the
attempt to systematise it and to relate it to their mental
needs. There never can be one presentation of religion
suited equally to all classes and castes of men ; and th?
attempt of the Church to compass this impossibility has,
of necessity, resulted in the alienation of those who are
unable to accept the crude, coarse fare dealt out to the
multitude. Enacting the part of a Procrustes in respect
of things spiritual, she has tried to fit to one measure minds
of all kinds and dimensions, in total disregard of the apos-
tolic dictum : — *' We speak wisdom among the full-grown.
. . . But not unto you as unto the spiritual, but as unto
the carnal, unto babes in Christ, feeding you with milk,
not with meat, being not yet able to receive it/'

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION,

For these, then, — the uninstructed and undeveloped, —
the Church must continue to speak with veiled face, in
parable and symbol. Our appeal is to those who, having
attained their intellectual and spiritual majority, have put
away childish things, and who, accordingly, — instead of
being content with the husk of the letter, and ignoring the
spirit for the form, or limiting it by the form, — are impelled
by the very necessity of their nature to seek behind the
veil and to read the spirit through the form, that "with
unveiled face they may behold the glory of the Lord, and
be transformed into the same image." They who are thus
ripe will in these pages learn what is the Reality which
only Mind can apprehend; and will understand that it
belongs not to the objective and phenomenal plane of
mundane history, but to the subjective and noumenal plane
of their own souls, where seeking they will find enacted the
process of Fall, Exile, Incarnation, Redemption, Resurrec-
tion, Ascension, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and — as
the sequel — the attainment of Nirvana, the " peace that
passeth understanding." For those thus initiated the mina
is no longer concerned with history \ the phenomenal be-
comes recognised as the illusory, — a shadow projected by
the Real, having no substance in itself, and an accident
only of the Real. One thing is and abides, —the Soul in
man, — Mother of God, immaculate; descending — as Eve
— into matter and generation ; assumed— as Mary— beyond
matter into life eternal. One state, supreme and perfect,
epitomises and resolves all others; — the state of Christ,
promised in the dawn of evolution ; displayed in its pro-

X PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION.

cess; glorified at its consummation. To realise the as-
sumption of Mary, to attain to the stature of her Son, —
these ends and aspirations constitute the desire of the
illuminate. And it is in order to indicate them anew and
the method of seeking them intelligently, that this book
is written.

This preface may — it seems to us — fittingly conclude
with a token of the estimation The Perfect Way has won
from persons specially qualified to judge it. The fol-
lowing is selected from numerous communications to the
like effect, coming, not only from various parts of the world,
but from members of various nationalities, races and faiths,
and showing that our book is already accomplishing far
and wide its mission as an Eirenicon.

The veteran student of the " divine science," a reference
to whom, as the friend, disciple, and literary heir of the
renowned magian, the late Abbe Constant (" Eliphas
Levi "), will be for all initiates a sufi&cient indication of his
personality, thus writes to us : —

" As with the corresponding Scriptures of the past, tho
appeal on behalf of your book is, really, to miracles : but
with the difference that in your case the miracles are in-
tellectual ones and incapable of simulation, being miracles
of interpretation. And they have the further distinction
of doing no violence to common sense by infringing the
possibilities of Nature ; while they are in complete accord
with all mystical traditions, and especially with the great
Mother of these, — the Kabbala. That miracles, such as I
am describing, are to be found in The Perfect Way, in kind

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION, xi

and number unexampled, they who are the best qualified
to judge will be the most ready to affirm.

" And here, apropos of these renowned Scriptures, permit
me to offer you some remarks on the Kabbala as we have
it. It is my opinion, —

" (i) That this tradition is far from being genuine, and
such as it was on its original emergence from the sanctuaries.

" (2) That when Guillaume Postel — of excellent memory
— and his brother Hermetists of the later middle age — the
Abbot Trithemius and others — predicted that these sacred
books of the Hebrews should become known and under-
stood at the end of the era, and specified the present time
for that event, they did not mean that such knowledge
should be limited to the mere divulgement of these par-
ticular Scriptures, but that it would have for its base a new
illumination, which should eliminate from them all that has
been ignorantly or wilfully introduced, and should re-unite
that great tradition with its source by restoring it in all its
purity.

" (3) That this illumination has just been accomplished,
and has been manifested in The Perfect Way, For in this
book we find all that there is of truth in the Kabbala, sup-
plemented by new intuitions, such as present a body of
doctrine at once complete, homogeneous, logical, and inex-
pugnable.

" Since the whole tradition thus finds itself recovered or
restored to its original purity, the prophecies of Postel, etc.,
are accomplished; and I consider that from henceforth

xU PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION,

the study of the Kabbala will be but an object of curiosity
and erudition like that of Hebrew antiquities.

*' Humanity has always and everywhere asked itself these
three supreme questions : — Whence come we ? what ^re
we? whither go we? Now, these questions at length find
an answer, complete, satisfactory, and consolatory, in The
Perfect Way^

As the secrecy originally observed is, even were it still
desirable, no longer practicable, we have added our names
to the title-page.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

According to classical legend, the Goddess Athena had
once for votary a fair virgin named Medusa, who, becoming
vain of her beauty and weary of the pure service of the
maiden Goddess, introduced folly and defilement into the
very sanctuary of the Temple in which she was wont to
worship. Thereupon a terrible fate overtook her. The
beautiful face, which had been the cause of her fall, assumed
an aspect so terrible as to blight and petrify all who looked
upon it ; her tresses, once the chief object of her pride, were
changed into vipers ; and the hands which had ministered
to heaven became as the talons of a bird of prey. Thus
transformed into a Gorgon, she brought forth monsters, and
for a time devastated the earth. At length the hero Perseus,
" Son of God," commissioned by Athena and Hermes, and
armed by them with wings and sword and shield, slew the
terrible creature, and smote off her venomous head. This
exploit — itself fraught with great perils — was followed by
the achievement of another not less difficult. Andromeda,
daughter of the -Ethiopian king, being doomed to become
the prey of a dragon which long had ravaged her father's

fi PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

coasts, was already chained to a rock on the seashore and
on the point of being devoured, when Perseus — divinely
guided to the scene of the intended sacrifice — vanquished
the Dragon and delivered the princess. And, having won
her love and espoused her, the son of Zeus bore her away
from her father's kingdom into heaven, to shine for ever
beside him, redeemed, immortal, and glorious.

Now, the names Medusa and Andromeda have a common
root, and signify respectively *' guardian " or " house " of
Wisdom, and " the ruler " or " helpmeet " of Man. They
are thus typical names, the first, of the Church, the second,
of the Soul. And the two myths of which their bearers are
the heroines, together constitute a prophecy — or perpetual
verity — having special application to the present epoch.
Medusa is that system which — originally pure and beautiful,
the Church of God and the guardian of the Mysteries— has,
through corruption and idolatry, become " the hold of every
unclean thing," and the mother of a monstrous brood. And,
moreover, like the once lovely face of Medusa, the Doctrine
which bore originally the divine impress and reflected the
Celestial Wisdom Herself, has — through the fall of the
Church — become converted into Dogma so pernicious and
so deadly as to blight and destroy the reason of all who come
under its control. And the Perseus of the myth is the true
Humanity — earth-born indeed, but heaven-begotten — which,
endowed by Wisdom and Understanding with the wings of
Courage, the shield of Intuition, and the sword of Science,
is gone forth to smite and destroy the corrupt Church and

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION, iii

to deliver the world from its blighting influence. But it is
not enough that the Gorgon be slain. A task yet greater
and more glorious awaits achievement. Andromeda, the
Soul, the better part of Man, is on the point of being de-
voured outright by the baleful dragon of Negation, the agent
of the lower nature, and the ravager of all the hopes of man-
kind. Her name — identical with the terms in which is
described the first Woman of Hebrew story — indicates her
as the helpmeet and ruler of man ; her parentage denotes
the origin of the Soul from the astral Fire or ^ther, signi-
fied by the land of ^Ethopis ; the brazen fetters with which
she is bound to the rock, typify the present bondage of the
Divine in man to his material part ; and her redemption,
espousal, and exaltation by the hero Perseus, prefigure the
final and crowning achievement of the Son of God, who ia
no other than the Spiritual Manhood, fortified and sustained
by Wisdom and Thought. Of no avail against the monster
which threatens to annihilate the Soul, are the old devices
of terrorism, persecution, and thraldom by which the corrupt
Church sought to subjugate mankind to her creed. The
Deliverer of the Soul must be free as air, borne on the wings
of a Thought that knows no fear and no restraint, and armed
with the blade, two-edged and facing every way, of a will
omnipotent alike for attack and defence, and with the rod
of a perfect Science. He must be bent, not on destruction
merely, but on salvation likewise ; and his sword must be
as apt to smite the fetters from the Hmbs of Andromeda, as
to deal the stroke of death to the Gorgon. It is not enough
that he carry to Olympus the dead Medusa's head ; he must

IT PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION,

bear thither also a living Bride. His mission is not only to
satisfy the Mind but to content the Heart. The Intellect
— the " Man " — it is, who handles the sword of the liberator;
and the Intuition — the " Woman " — it is, who weaves and
constructs. But for her labour his prowess would be vain,
and his deeds without goal or reward. The hero brings
home his spoils to the tent, and hangs up his shield and
spear by the hearth-fire. All honour to the warrior, alike
as iconoclast, as scientist, as purifier of the earth. His work,
however, is but initiatory, preparing the way and making the
path straight for Her who carries neither torch nor weapon
of war. By her is the intellect crowned ; by her is humanity
completed ; in her the Son of Zeus finds his eternal and
supreme reward ; for she is the shrine at once of divinest
Wisdom and of perfect Love.

It is thus evident that classical story, identical in sub-
stance with the allegorical prophecies of Hebrew and
Christian scripture, exhibits the work of the Saviour or
Liberator, as having a twofold character. Like Zeus the
Father of Spirits, whose son he is, the Reason is at once
Purifier and Redeemer. The task of Destruction accom-
plished, that of Reconstruction must begin. Already the
first is well-nigh complete, but as yet no one seems to have
dreamed of the last as possible. The present age has
witnessed the decline and fall of a system which, after
having successfully maintained itself for some eighteen cen-
turies against innumerable perils of assault from without
and of faction from within, has at length succumbed to the

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION, ▼

combined arms of scientific and moral criticism. But this
very overthrow, this very demolition, creates a new void, to
the existence of which the present condition of the world
and the apprehensions and cravings everywhere expressed,
bear ample testimony. On all sides men are asking them-
selves, " Who will show us any good ? " To whom or to
what, if the old system be fallen, shall we turn for counsel
and salvation from Doom? Under what roof shall we
shelter ourselves if the whole Temple be demolished, and
"not one stone be left upon another that shall not be
thrown down " ? What way shall we take to Sion, if the
old road be buried beneath the avalanche? Agnosticism
and Pessimism have seized upon the best intellects of the
age. Conscience has become eclipsed by self-interest, mind
obscured by matter, and man's percipience of his higher
nature and needs suppressed in favour of his lower. The
rule of conduct among men is fast becoming that of the
beast of prey ; — self before all, and that the earthly, brutish,
and ignoble self Everywhere are the meaning and uses
even of life seriously called in question ; everywhere is it
sought to sustain humanity by means which are in them-
selves subversive of humanity ; everywhere are the fountains
of the great deep of human society breaking up, and a
deluge is seen to be impending, the height, extent, and
duration of which no one can forecast. And nowhere yet
is discernible the Ark, by taking refuge in which mankind
may surmount and survive the flood.

Nevertheless this Ark so anxiously looked for, this Way
»o painfully sought, this work of Reconstruction so sorely

▼i PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

needed, are all attainable by man. The certainty of their
attainment is involved in the nature itself of existence, and
ratified in every expression given to the mysteries of that
nature from the beginning of the world.

The prime object of the present work is, then, not to
demolish but to reconstruct. Already the needful service
of destruction has been widely and amply rendered. The
old temple has been thrown down and despoiled, and the
" children of Israel " have been carried away captive to
"Babylon," — the mystic name of the stronghold of Ma-
terialism. As it is written ; *' The vessels of the House of
the Lord " — that is, the doctrines of the Church — " great
and small, and the treasures of the Temple and of the
King and of the princes, were carried away to Babylon.
And the enemies set fire to the House of God, and broke
down the wall of Jerusalem," — that is, the Soul, — "and
burnt all her towers, and whatsoever was precious they
destroyed."

Time it is now for the fulfilment of the second and last
act of the prophetical drama ; —

"Thus saith Cyrus," — that is, Kvpto?, the Lord, the
Christ ; — " All the Kingdoms of the earth hath the God of
heaven given me, and He hath charged me to build Him
again a House in Jerusalem." " Who is there of you, who
will go up and build again the Temple of the Lord God of
Israel?"

In these words is expressed the intention of the writers of
this book. And if they have preferred to withold their
names, it is neither because they distrust the genuineness

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. vii

of their commission or the soundness of their work, nor
because they shrink from the responsibility incurred ; but in
order that their work may rest upon its own merits and not
upon theirs, — real or supposed ; — in order, that is, that it
may be judged, and not pre-judged one way or the other.
Such reservation is in accordance with its whole tenour.
For the criterion alone to which appeal is made on its behalf
is the Understanding, and this on the ground that it is
contrary to the nature of Truth to prevail by force of
authority, or of aught other than the understanding ; since
Truth — how transcendent soever it be — has its witness in
the Mind, and no other testimony can avail it. If truth be
not demonstrable to mind, it is obvious that man, who is
essentially mind, and the product of mind, cannot recognise
or appropriate it. What is indispensable is, that appeal be
made to the whole mind, and not to one department of it
only.

In this book no new thing is told; but that which is
ancient — so ancient that either it or its meaning has been
lost — is restored and explained. But, while accepting
neither the presentations of a conservative orthodoxy, nor
the conclusions of a destructive criticism, its writers ac-
knowledge the services rendered by both to the cause of
Truth. For, like the Puritans who coated with plaster
and otherwise covered and hid from view the sacred images
and decorations which were obnoxious to them, orthodoxy
has at least preserved through the ages the symbols which
contain the Truth, beneath the errors with which it has
overlaid them. And criticism, however fiercely infidel,

fiu PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

has, by the very act of destruction, cleared the way for
rebuilding. It has fulfilled the man's function, — that of
analysis, and made possible the woman's, — that of synthesis.
And this is according to the Divine order.

In both nature and method, therefore, this book is mainly
interpretative, and, consequently, reconciliatory. And it is
this, not only in respect of the Hebrew, Christian, Oriental,
and Classic systems in particular, but in respect also of
modem thought and human experience in general. It
aims at making at-one-ment between Mind and Heart by
bringing together Mercy — that is, Religion — and Truth —
that is. Science. It seeks to assure man that his best
and most powerful friends on every plane are Liberty and
Reason, as his worst enemies are Ignorance and Fear;
and that until his thought is free enough and strong enough
to bear him aloft to *' heaven," as well as to " the lowermost
parts of the earth," he is no true Son of Hermes, whose
typical name is Thought, and who yet is, in his supremest
vocation, the Messenger and Minister of God "the
Father."

Advent, i88i.

ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND
CONTENTS

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION pp. i^xii
PREFACE . . FIRST . .. . pp. i-viii

LECTURE THE FIRST.

INTRODUCTORY.

Part I. Purpose of this book, to supply the
existing need of a perfect system of thought
and life by one founded in the nature of
existence. This not a new invention, but
a recovery of the original system which was
the basis of all religions. Its recovery due
to the same means by which it was originally
received, namely, the Intuition, which repre-
sents the knowledges acquired by the Soul
in its past existences, and complements the
intellect, being itself quickened and enhanced
by illumination of the Spirit. Revelation a
proper prerogative of man, belonging to him
in virtue of his nature and constitution.

X ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS.

and crowning the reason. God the supreme
Reason. The Understanding, the " Rock "
of the true Church. Illustrations of Method,
classic and rabbinical. Sketch of Doctrine.
Spirit and Matter : their nature, relations, and
essential identity. Existence and Being.
The Kalpa, Sabbath, and Nirvana. Divinity
of Substance : its unity and trinity, and mode
of individuation and development. The true
doctrine of creation by evolution; found in
all religions, as also that of the progression
and migration of Souls; personal and his-
torical testimony to its truth; recognised in
Old and New Testaments. Rudimentary
man. The Sphinx ..... pp. 1-24

Part III. Relation of the system recovered to
that in possession. The true heir. Religion,
being founded in the nature of existence, is
necessarily non-historical, independent of
times, places, and persons, and appeals per-
petually to the mind and conscience. Ob-
jections anticipated. Persistency of religious
ideas due to their reality. The apparently
new not necessarily really new. Christianity
not exempt from the influences which caused
the deterioration of Judaism. Its future de-
velopment by means of new revelation fore-
told by its Founder. Need of such new
revelation to preserve, not only religion, but

ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS. xi

humanity from extinction. The " man of
• sin" and "abomination that maketh deso-
late." Substitution of Gospel of force for
Gospel of Love. One name whereby is sal-
vation, but many bearers. The Christs . pp. 25-36

LECTURE THE SECOND.

THE SOUL; AND THE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE.

Part I. The Soul, universal or individual, the
supreme subject and object of culture: the
essential self, to knov^^ which is the only
wisdom, involving the knowledge of God.
Mysticism or Spiritualism, and Materialism,
the doctrines respectively of Substance or
Spirit, and of phenomenon. Matter of mode
or condition of Spirit, and indispensable to
its manifestation. The object of all religion
and subject of all revelation the redemption
of Spirit from Matter. Necessity to creation
of the idea of a no-God. The ascent from
Nature's Seeming to God's Being. The re-
covered system and Materialism respectively
as Phoibos and Python . ,. .. ;. pp. 37-43

xii 'ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS.

Part II. The Soul as individual, its genesis and
nature: as the divine idea, eternal in its na-
ture, yet perishable if uninformed of the
Spirit. The " Fire of the hearth : " the Di-
vine breath. Convergence and divergence:
the celestial Nirvana, and that of annihila-
tion. The end of the persistently evil. The
planet and its offspring. The fourfold na-
ture of existence, alike in macrocosm and
microcosm, due to differentialities of polar-
isation of original substance . . • PP. 43-4^

Part III. The Soul as individual, its history
and progress: commencing in the simplest
organisms, it works upwards, moulding itself
according to the tendencies encouraged by
it; its final object to escape the need of a
body and return to the condition of pure
Spirit. Souls various in quality. The par-
able of the Talents . . . - PP- 49-51

Part IV. Of the nature of God; as Living Sub-
stance, One; as Life and Substance, Twain;
the Potentiality of all things; the absolute
Good, through the limitation of whom by
Matter comes evil. Subsists prior to creation
as Invisible Light. As Life, God is He; as
Substance, She; respectively the Spirit and
Soul universal and individual; the Soul the

ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS, xlii

feminine element in man, having its repre-
sentative in woman. God the original, ab-
stract Humanity. The Seven Spirits of God.
" Nature." The heavenly Maria, her char-
acteristics and symbols. As Soul or Intui-
tion, she is the " woman " by whom man
attains his true manhood. The defect of the
age in this respect. No intuition, no organon
of knowledge. The Soul alone such an or-
ganon pp. 51-57

Part V. Divine Names, denotive of character-
istics. Function of religion to enable man
to manifest the divine Spirit within him.
Man as an expression of God. The Christs,
why called Sungods. The Zodiacal plani-
sphere a Bible or hieroglyph of the Soul's
history. Bibles, by whom written. The
" Gift of God " .... pp. 57-62

LECTURE THE THIRD.

THE VARIOUS ORDERS OF SPIRITS; AND HOW TO
DISCERN THEM.

Part I. The sphere of the astral, its four circuH
and their respective occupants. The Shades ;
purgatory; "hell"; "devils"; "the Devil";
possession by devils; "souls in prison";

xW ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS.

" under the elements " ; spirits of the ele-
ments, subject to the human will; souls of
the dead; the anima hrnta and anima divina.
Metempsychosis and reincarnation; condi-
tions of the latter; descent to lower grades;
cause of the Soul's loss . . . .pp. 63-74

Part II. The astral or magnetic spirits by
which, ordinarily, *' mediums " are " con-
trolled " ; reflects rather than spirits ; diffi-
culty of distinguishing them from Souls; ele-
ments of error and deception ; delusive char-
acter of astral influences; their characteris-
tics; danger of a negative attitude of mind;
necessity of a positive attitude for Divine
communication ; spirits elemental and elemen-
tary; genii loci; cherubim . . pp. 75-84

Part III. The Sphere of the celestial; the pro-
cession of Spirit; the triangle of life; the
Genius or guardian angel, his genesis, nature,
and functions; the Gods, or Archangels . pp. 84-92

LECTURE THE FOURTH

THE ATONEMENT.

Part I. This the central doctrine of religion,
and, like the Kosmos, fourfold in its nature.

ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS, xv

What the doctrme is not; its corruption by
materialism; priestly degradation of the
character of Deity. The Bible represents
the conflict between prophet and priest, the
former as the minister of the intuition, and
the latter as the minister of sense . pp. 93-98

Part II. The occult side of the sacrificial system.
Effusion of blood efficacious in the evocation
of sub-human spirits, as shown by various
examples. These spirits visible in the fumes
of the sacrifices. Astral spirits personate the
celestials. Abhorrence of the true prophet
for bloodshed, illustrated in Buddha's rebuke
to the priests. The orthodox doctrine of
vicarious atonement, a travesty, due to astral
spirits, of the true doctrine. Pernicious
effects of the use of blood (or flesh) for
food; impossibility, on such diet, of attaining
full perception of divine truth . . . pp. 98-104

Part III. Antiquity and universality of the
Cross as the symbol of Life physical and
spiritual. Its application to the doctrine of
the Atonement fourfold, having a separate
meaning for each sphere of man's nature.
Of these meanings the first is of the physical
and outer, denoting the crucifixion or rejec-

xvi ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS.

tion of the Man of God by the world. The
second is intellectual, and denotes the cruci-
fixion or conquest in man of his lower nature.
The third, which refers to the Soul, implies
the passion and oblation of himself, whereby
the man regenerate obtains the power — by
the demonstration of the supremacy of Spirit
over matter — to become a Redeemer to
others. The Fourth appertains to the Celes-
tial and innermost, and denotes the perpetual
sacrifice of God's Life and Substance for the
creation and salvation of His creatures.
The pantheistic nature of the true doc-
trine ..;..... pp. 104-116

LECTURE THE FIFTH.

THE NATURE AND CONSTITUTION OF THE EGO.

Part L Psyche as the Soul and true Ego the
result of Evolution, being individualised
through Matter .... pp. 117-121

Part IL Man's two personalities. Karma, or
the results of past conduct and consequent
destiny. The soul essentially immaculate pp. 122-123

Part HL The Ego more than the sum total of
the consciousnesses composing the system, as
representing these combined and polarised to
a higher plane. The Psyche alone subjec-
tive and capable of knowledge . . pp. 123-134

ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS, xvli

Part IV. The Shade, the Ghost, and the Soul,

their respective natures and destinies . pp. 134-137

Part V. The Anima Mundi, or Picture-World.
The soul of the planet, like that of the indi-
vidual, transmigrates and passes on . pp. 137-140

Part VI. The Evolution of the Ego, and therein
of the Church of Christ, implied in the dog-
mas of the Immaculate Conception and the
Assumption of the B.V.M. . . .pp. 140-143

LECTURE THE SIXTH.
THE FALL (No. L)

Part I. The first Church; its type the Kaabeh,
or cube, denoting sixfoldness; dates from
" Paradise." The Merkaba, or vehicle of
God, drawn by the four elements. The four
rivers of Eden. Allegorical character of the
Mystic Scriptures ; how recovered by Esdras ;
their origin and corruption . . .pp. 144-152

Part II. The Parable of the Fall: its significa-
tion fourfold, being one for each sphere of
existence; the first, physical and social . pp. 152-159

Part III. The second signification rational and
philosophical; the third, psychic and per-
sonal > ..... , pp. 160-164

xviii ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS.

Part IV. The fourth signification spiritual and
kosmical. The Restoration implied in the
Sabbath, and prophesied in the Zodiac, and
in the arms of Pope Leo XIII . pp. 164-169

Part V. A new Annunciation , . . pp. 170-173

LECTURE THE SEVENTH.

THE FALL (No. IL)

Part I. Interpretation of Scripture dual, intel-
lectual and intuitional, or exterior and inte-
rior; the Soul as the Woman, through whose
aspiration to God man becomes Man in the
mystic sense, and made in the image of God;
and through whose inclination to Matter he
falls from that image. As the Fall is
through loss of purity, so the Redemption is
through restoration of purity . . pp. 174-184

Part II. The Soul's history as allegorised in the

books of Genesis and Revelation . . pp. 185-191

Part III. Source of errors of Biblical interpre-
tation. The historical basis of the Fall.
The Church as the Woman. Rise and Fall
of original Church. A primitive mystic
community. The source of doctrine, interior
and superior to priesthoods . . • PP- 192-202

ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS, xix

Part IV. Nature and method of historical Fall.
The three steps by retracing which the Res-
toration will come. Tokens of its ap-
proach ... ., . . . pp. 202-207

LECTURE THE EIGHTH.

THE REDEMPTION.

Part I. The " great work " the Redemption of
Spirit from Matter: first in the individual,
next in the universal. Definition of mystic
terms used to denote the process : " Passion,"
"Crucifixion," "Death," "Burial," "Resur-
rection," " Ascension " . . . -pp. 208-215

Part II. The Man perfected and having power:
the " philosopher's stone," and kindred terms ;
the Adept and the Christ; sense in which
the latter may be called a medium for the
Highest; not as ordinarily understood: the
Hierarch or Magian, his qualifications and
conditions ...... pp. 215-222

Part III. Design of the Gospels to present per-
fect character of Man Regenerate; selection
of Jesus as subject; Church's failure of com-
prehension through loss of spiritual vision,
due to Materialism. Answer to objection.

XX 'ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS.

Jesus as Liberator necessarily spiritual;
Paul's view. Method of Gospel symbolism;
the miracles ; kosmic order of Gospels . pp. 222-230

Part IV. Parentage of the Man Regenerate.
Joseph and V. Mary as representatives of
Mind and Soul. The two Josephs. Catholic
tradition and hagiology. Mary Magdalen as
type of Soul; also the Seven Apocalyptic
Churches. Identification of the Magi; the
Stable and Cave of the Nativity. The John
Baptist within. The Acts of the B. V. M.
Ascension and Assumption. Final State of
Soul . . ., . . . .pp. 230-242

Part V. The Twelve Gates of the Heavenly
Salem; the Tabernacle; the Round Table and
its "bright Lord;" the Number of Perfec-
tion; the genealogy of the Man Regenerate;
" Christ " no incarnate God or angel, but the
highest human. The world's present condi-
tion due to sacerdotal degradation of truth.
Christian gospels represent later stages only
of regeneration, the earlier ones having been
exemplified in the systems of Pythagoras and
Buddha. Christianity framed with direct
reference to these, not to supersede but to
complete them; Buddha and Jesus being

ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS, xxi

necessary to each other, as head and heart
of same system. Of these combined will be
produced the Religion and Humanity of the
future; hence the import of the connection
between England and the East. The Trans-
figuration, a prophecy. " Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob," their relation to the mysteries of
Brahma, Isis and lacchos. The " Kings of
the East." The " Eastern Question " ; its
interior significance; the destiny of Islam-
ism . . ... . . .pp. 242-254

LECTURE THE NINTH.

GOD AS THE LORD; OR, THE DIVINE IMAGE.

Part I. The two modes of Deity; God as the
Lord, in the Bible, the Kabbala, and the Bha-
gavat Gita. Swedenborg and his doctrine:
his limitations and their cause. The Her-
metic doctrine. The " Mount of the Lord."
True meanings of " Mystery " ; sacerdotal
degradation of the term, and its evil re-
sults pp. 255-261

Part II. Function of the Understanding in
regard to things spiritual. Its place in the
systems human and divine. The " Spirit of

xxii ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS.

Understanding" his various names and
symbols, and relation to the Christ. Cog-
nate myths in illustration, Hermes as re-
garded by the Neoplatonists and by modern
Materialists. Mystic and Materialist, the
feud between them. The School of Tortur-
ers. The '* Mystery of Godliness," according
to the Kabbala and Paul. The Pauline doc-
trine concerning Woman; its contrast with
the doctrine of Jesus. Woman according to
Plato, Aristotle, Philo, the Fathers, the
Church, the Reformation, Milton, Islamism,
and Mormonism pp. 261-278

Part III. Charges whereby it is sought to dis-
credit the system of the Mystics; Plagiarism
and Enthusiasm: the signification and value
of the latter. Ecstasy: its nature and func-
tion. Mystics and Materialists, their respec-
tive standpoints. Conspiracy of modern sci-
ence against the Soul. Materialists, ancient
and modern, contrasted . . pp. 278-288

Part IV. Man's perception of God sensible as
well as mental. The divine Unity, Duality,
Trinity, and Plurality. The Logos, or Mani-
festor. The mystery of the human Face pp. 288-292

ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENT AND CONTENTS, xxlii

Part V. The Vision of Adonai . . .pp. 293-296

Part VI. " Christ " as the culmination of Hu-
manity and point of junction with Deity.
The Credo of the Elect . ,. , pp. 296-298

APPENDICES

PAGE

I. Concerning the Interpretation of Scrip-
ture

II. Concerning the Hereafter

III. On Prophesying; and a Prophecy

IV. Concerning the Nature of Sin .
V. Concerning the " Great Work," and the

Share of Christ Jesus therein
VI. The Time of the End .
VII. The Higher Alchemy
VIII. Concerning Revelation
IX. Concerning the Poet .
X. Concerning the One Life
XL Concerning the Mysteries
XII. Hymn to the Planet-God

XIII. Fragments from the " Golden Book of

Venus.''
Part I. Hymn of Aphrodite
Part 11. A Discourse of the Communion
OF Souls, and of the Uses of Love
BETWEEN Creature and Creature

XIV. Hymn to Hermes 357

XV. The Secret of Satan ..... 359

301
306
311
315

318

323
328

330
333
335
339
341

350

353

Index . . . .j .. . ., i.: (. . 367

XXV

" And the Lord God said unto the serpent ... I will put
enmities between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed : she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in
wait for her heel." — Gen. iii. 14, 15.

"And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed
with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a
crown of twelve stars." — Apoc. xii. i.

THE PERFECT WAY;

OR,

THE FINDING OF CHRIST.

LECTURE THE FIRST.

INTRODUCTORY.

Part I.

The purpose of the Lectures, of which this is the firsts
is the exposition of a system of Doctrine and Life, at once
scientific, philosophic, and religious, and adapted to all the
needs and aspirations of mankind. This system is offered
in substitution, on the one hand, for that traditional and
dogmatic Conventionalism which, by its failure to meet the
tests of science and to respond to the moral instincts, is
now by thoughtful persons nearly or wholly discarded ; and
on the other hand, for that agnostic Materialism which is
rapidly overspreading the world to the destruction of all
that is excellent in the nature of man.

2. But although offered in substitution both for that
which experience has shown to be defective, and that which
is so recent as to be only now in course of reception, the
system to be proposed is not itself new; and its present
exposition represents, not an Invention as ordinarily under-
stood, but a Restoration. For, as will be shown indubit-

THE PERFECT WAY,

ably, there has been in the world from the earliest ages a
system which fulfils all the conditions requisite for endur-
ance; a system which, being founded in the nature of
Existence itself, is eternal in its truth and application, and
needs but due understanding and observance to enable man
by means of it to attain to the highest perfection and satis-
faction he can by any possibility imagine or desire. And,
as also will be shown, this system is no other than that
which all the great religions of the world have, under
various guises and with varying degrees of success, striven
to express.

3. Our object, therefore, is to restore and rehabilitate
the Truth, by divesting it of all the many limitations, de-
generations, perversions, and distortions to which through-
out the ages it has been subjected ; and by explaining the
real meaning of the formulas and symbols which thus far
have served rather to conceal than to reveal it. That
which we shall propound, therefore, will be no new doctrine
or practice ; but that only which is either so old as to have
become forgotten, or so profound as to have escaped the
superficial gaze of modern eyes.

4. Now, in order to be entitled to a hearing in respect
of a subject thus momentous and recondite, it is obviously
necessary that the claimant should be able to plead some
special qualification in the shape of the possession either of
an exclusive source of information, or of an unusual faculty.
Hence it becomes necessary to include in these introduc-
tory remarks an account of the qualification relied on in the
present instance.

5. That which is thus claimed is at once a faculty and
a source of information, and is, in these days, of rare
though not novel occurrence. It is that mode of the mind
whereby, after exercising itself in an outward direction as

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE.

Intellect, in order to obtain cognition of phenomena, it
returns towards its centre as Intuition, and by ascertaining
the essential idea of the fact apprehended through the
senses, completes the process of its thought. And just as
only by the combined and equal operation of the modes
termed centrifugal and centripetal, of force, the solar system
is sustained ; so only by the equilibrium of the modes,
intellectual and intuitional, of the mind, can man complete
the system of his thought and attain to certitude of truth.
And as well might we attempt to construct the solar system
by means of an exercise of force in one direction, the
human system by means of one sex, or the nervous system
by means of one kind of roots only, as to attain to knowledge
by means of one mode only of mind. It is, however, pre-
cisely in this manner that the materialistic hypothesis errs ;
and by its error it has forfeited all claim to be accounted a
system.

6. The Intuition, then, is that operation of the mind
whereby we are enabled to gain access to the interior and
permanent region of our nature, and there to possess our-
selves of the knowledge which in the long ages of her past
existences the Soul has made her own. For that in us
which perceives and permanently remembers is the Soul.
And inasmuch as, in order to obtain her full development,
she remains for thousands of years in connection, more or
less close, with Matter, until, perfected by experience of all
the lessons afforded by the body, she passes on to higher
conditions of being ; it follows that no knowledge which the
race has once acquired in the past can be regarded as hope-
lessly lost to the present.

7. But the memory of the soul is not the only factor in
spiritual evolution. The faculty which we have named the
Intuition, is completed and crowned by the operation of

THE PERFECT WAY,

Divine Illumination. Theologically, this illumination is
spoken of as the Descent of the Holy Spirit, or outpouring
of the heavenly efflux, which kindles into a flame in the
soul, as the sun's rays in a lens. Thus, to the fruits of the
soul's experience in the past, is added the "grace" or
luminance of the Spirit ; — the baptism of Fire which, falling
from on high, sanctifies and consummates the results of the
baptism of Water springing from the earth. To be illu-
mined by this inward Light, to be united with this abiding
divinity, was ever the ardent aspiration of the seeker after
God in all times and of all lands, whether Egyptian Epopt,
Hindi! Yogee, Greek Neoplatonist, Arab Sufi, or Christian
Gnostic. By the last named it was styled the Paraclete
and Revealer, by whom man is led into all truth. With the
Hindu it was Atman, the All-seeing, not subject to rebirths
like the soul, and redeeming from the vicissitudes of des-
tiny. By the combined operation of this Light, and the
enhancement it effects in the intuitions of the soul, —
enabling her to convert her knowledge into wisdom, — the
human race has been from age to age perpetually carried
up to higher levels of its evolution, and will in due course
be enabled to substantialise in itself and to be all that in the
past it has known and desired of perfection.

8. These Lectures, then, represent the result of intui-
tional memory, quickened and enhanced, we believe, by
some measure of the divine influx, and developed by the
only mode of Hfe ever found compatible with sound philo-
sophic aspirations. And of the doctrine we seek to restore,
the basis is the Pre-existence and Perfectibility of the Soul.
The former, because, but for her persistence, progressive
genesis, or gradual becoming, would be impossible. For
development depends upon memory, and is the result of
the intelligent application of knowledge gained by expe-

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE.

rience, in satisfaction of the needs of the individual ; the
sense of need being complemented by a sense of power.

And the Perfectibility; because, as a portion of the
Divine Being— which is God— constituted of the Divine
Substance and illumined by the Divine Spirit, she, the
Soul, is necessarily capable of all that her nature implies ;
and competent to realise for the individuality animated by
her, the injunction of the great Master of mystical science;
" Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect."

9. It is necessary for the elucidation of our system to
speak yet further of the constitution of man. Concerning
this, our doctrine is that which has prevailed from the ear-
liest times, and in all philosophical religions. According to
this doctrine, man is possessed of a fourfold nature, a speci-
ality which differentiates him from all other creatures. The
four elements which constitute him are, counting from
without inwards, the material body, the fluidic perisoul or
astral body, the soul or individual, and the spirit, or divine
Father and life of his system. This last it is whose kingdom
is described as the leaven taken by the woman — the divine
Sophia or Wisdom — and hidden in three measures of meal,
namely, the soul, the perisoul, and the body, until the whole
is leavened ; until, that is, the whole man is so permeated
and lightened by it that he is finally transmuted into Spirit,
and becomes " one with God."

10. This doctrine of the fourfold nature of man, finds
expression also in the Hebrew Scriptures, being symbolised
by the four rivers of Eden — or human nature — flowing from
one source, which is God; and by the four elemental living
beings of Ezekiel, and their four wheels or circles, each of
which denotes a region and a principality or power. It has
its correspondence also in the four interpretations of all
mystical Scriptures, which are the natural, the intellectual.

THE PERFECT WAY.

the ethical, and the spiritual ; and also in the unit of all
organic existence, the physiologic cell. For this, as the
student of Histology knows, is composed, from without in-
wards, first of cell-membrane or capsule, which is not a
separable envelope, but a mere coagulative sheathing of its
fluidic part ; secondly, of the protoplasmic medium ; thirdly,
of the nucleus, itself a mode of protoplasmic substance;
and, lastly, of an element not present in all cells, and often
when present difficult to perceive, namely, the nucleolus, or
inmost and perfectly transparent element. Thus does man,
as the Microcosm of the Macrocosm, exemplify in every
detail of his system the fundamental doctrine of the famous
Hermetic philosophy by which the expression of every
true Bible is controlled, the doctrine, namely, of Corres-
pondence.

" As is the outer y so is the inner ; as is the small, so is
the great : there is but one law; and He that worketh is
One, Nothing is small, nothing is great in the Divine
Economy. ^^

11. In these words are contained at once the principle
of the universe and the secret of the Intuition. She it is,
the Divine woman of man's mental system, that opens to
him the " perfect way," the " way of the Lord," that " path
of the just which, as a shining light, shineth more and
more unto the perfect day." And her complete restoration,
crowning, and exaltation, is the one condition essential to
that realisation of the ideal perfection of man's nature, which,
mystically, is called the *' Finding of Christ."

12. Now, the modes whereby the Intuition operates are
two, namely. Perception and Memory. By the former, man
understands and interprets : by the latter he retains and
utilises. Perceiving, recollecting, and applying, the mind
enacts for itself a process analogous to that which occurs

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE,

in the physical organism. For its operations correspond to
the three physiological processes of Nutrition,— prehension,
digestion, and absorption.

13. When the uninitiate person, or materialist, denies
positively, as, with curious inconsistency, such persons do
deny, the possibiHty of positive knowledge, and declares that
" all we know is, nothing can be known," he speaks truly
so far as concerns himself and his fellows. "The natural
man," as the apostle declares, " perceiveth not the things
that are of the Spirit, for they are foolishness unto him ;
and he cannot know them because they are spiritually
discerned. But the spiritual man judgeth all things, and he
himself is judged of no man." While the two orders here
indicated refer to the inner and outer, or soul and body, of
each individual, they refer also to the two great divisions of
mankind, — they who as yet recognise the body only, and
they who are so far unfolded in their interior nature as to
recognise the soul also. Of these last is the initiate of
sacred mysteries. Following his intuition, such a one directs
the force of his mind inwards, and — provided his will is
subordinated to and made one with the Divine will — passes
within the veil, and knows even as he is known. For, as
the apostle says again, " What man knoweth the things of
a man, save the man himself? So likewise, the things of
God no man knoweth, save the Spirit of God within the
man. And the Spirit knoweth all things and revealeth
them unto the man." As thus by means of our Divine part
we apprehend the Divine, no such apprehension is possible
to him who does not, in some degree, reflect the Divine
image. *' For if thine eye be evil, thy whole body is full of
darkness. If then the very means of light in thee be dark-
ness, how great is that darkness ! "

14. Matter is the antithetical ultimate of Spirit. Where-

THE PERFECT WAY.

fore the enemy of spiritual vision is always Materiality. It
is therefore by the dematerialisation of himself that man
obtains the seeing eye and hearing ear in respect of Divine
things. Dematerialisation consists, not in the separation of
the soul from the body, but in the purification of both soul
and body from engrossment by the things of sense. It is
but another example of the doctrine of correspondence. As
with the vision of things physical, so with that of things
spiritual. Purity alike of instrument and medium is indis-
pensable to perception.

15. This then is the nature and function of the Intuition.
By living so purely in thought and deed as to prevent the
interposition of any barrier between his exterior and his
interior, his phenomenal and his substantial self; and by
steadfastly cultivating harmonious relations between these
two, — by subordinating the whole of his system to the
Divine central Will whose seat is in the soul, — the man
gains full access to the stores of knowledge laid up in his
soul, and attains to the cognition alike of God and of the
universe. And for him, as is said, " there is nothing hid
which shall not be revealed."

16. And it is not his own memory alone that, thus
endowed, he reads. The very planet of which he is the
offspring, is like himself, a Person, and is possessed of a
medium of memory. And he to whom the soul lends her
ears and eyes, may have knowledge not only of his own
past history, but of the past history of the planet, as beheld
in the pictures imprinted in the magnetic light whereof the
planet's memory consists. For there are actually ghosts of
events, manes of past circumstances, shadows on the proto-
plasmic mirror, which can be evoked.

17. But beyond and above the power to read the memory
of himself or of the planet, is the power to penetrate to

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE.

that innermost sphere wherein the soul obtains and
treasures up her knowledge of God. This is the faculty
whereby true revelation occurs. And revelation, even in
this its highest sense, is, no less than reason, a proper
prerogative of man, and belongs of right to him in his
highest and completest measure of development.

1 8. For, placed as is the soul between the outer and the
inner, mediator between the material and the spiritual, she
looks inwards as well as outwards, and by experience learns
the nature and method of God; and according to the
degree of her elevation, purity, and desire, sees, reflects,
and transmits God. It is in virtue of the soul's position
between the worlds of substance and of phenomenon, and
her consequent ability to refer things to their essential ideas^
that in her, and her alone, resides an instrument of know-
ledge competent for the comprehension of Truth even the
highest, which she only is able to behold face to face. It
is no hyperbole that is involved in the saying, *' The pure
in heart see God." True, the man cannot see God. But
the Divine in man sees God. And this occurs when, by
means of his soul's union with God, the man becomes " one
with the Father," and beholds God with the eyes of God.

19. That is not really knowledge which is without under-
standing. And the knowledge acquired by man through
the soul, involves the understanding of all the things
apprehended. Now, to understand a thing, is to get
intellectually into, beyond, and around it ; to know the
reason of and for it ; and to perceive clearly that it, and
it only under the circumstances, is and could by any possi-
bility be true. • Apart from such knowledge and under-
standing, belief is impossible. For that is not belief, in
any sense woithy of the term, which is not of knowledge.
And only that belief saves which is conjoined with under-

lO THE PERFECT WAY,

standing. For the Rock on which the true Church is
built is the Understanding.

20. Such is the meaning of the words of Jesus on the
memorable occasion of Peter's confession of him. It was
not to the man Simon that was applied the apostrophe, —
" Thou art Peter, the rock, and upon this rock will I build
my Church ; " but to the eternal and immutable Spirit of
Understanding, by means of which the disciple had " found
Christ" Thus the utterance of Jesus had reference, not
to the man, but to the Spirit who informed the man, and
whom with his spiritual eyes the Master discerned.

21. We have said that the soul, with the eyes of under-
standing, looks two ways, inwards as well as outwards. It
is interesting to remember that this characteristic of the
soul was typified under the image of the two-faced divinity,
Janus Bifrons, or, as called by Plutarch, lannos. Now
Janus is the same as Jonas. Wherefore it is said that
Simon, the expositor of the true doctrine, is the son of
Jonas, meaning the Understanding. Janus is also the
door-keeper, as is Peter in Catholic tradition. And for
this reason a door is called jafiua, and the first month or
entrance of the year, January. Janus thus came to be
regarded, like Peter, as the elder, the renewer of time, and
the guardian of the outermost circle of the system, and
one therefore with Saturn. And as the former was called
Pater Janus, so the latter was called Peter Jonas, the Rock
of Understanding. And he is represented, as also is Peter,
standing in a ship, and holding in one hand a staff, and in
the other a key. By this is signified, that to the Under-
standing, born of the experiences of Time, belong the Rod
of the Diviner — or the power of the Will— and the Keys
of the Kingdom of Heaven. Wherefore the real chief of
the apostles in the true Church — that which, by its know-

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. il

ledge of the mysteries of existence, alone can open the
gates of eternal life — is the Understanding.

2 2. The priesthoods, materialising, as is their wont,
divine things, have applied the utterance of Jesus to the
man Simon and his successors in office ; but with the
most disastrous consequences. For, ignoring the under-
standing, and putting asunder that which God has joined
together, — Faith and Reason, — they have made something
other than Mind the criterion of truth.

To this divorce between the elements masculine and
feminine of man's intellectual system, is due the prevailing
unbelief. For, converted thereby into superstition, religion
has been rendered ridiculous ; and instead of being ex-
hibited as the Supreme Reason, God has been depicted
as the Supreme Unreason. Against religion, as thus pre-
sented, mankind has done well to revolt. To have re-
mained subject, had been intellectual suicide. Wherefore
the last person entitled to reproach the world for its want
of faith, is the Priest ; since it is his degradation of the
character of God, that has ministered to unbelief. Sup-
pressing the " woman," who is the intuition, by putting
themselves in her place, the priests have suppressed also
the man, who is the intellect. And so the whole of
humanity is extinguished. Of the influences under which
Sacerdotalism has acquired its evil repute, a full account
will appear as we proceed.

23. In these lectures, then, the practice denounced will
be exchanged for the original method of all true Churches ;
and appeal will be made to that consensus of all the facul-
ties, sensible, intellectual, moral, and spiritual, comprised
in the constitution of man, wherein consists Common
Sense. It is not upon any authority of book, person,
tradition, or order, that we ourselves rely, or that we invite

12 THE PERFECT WAY.

the attention of others. Reference will indeed be made,
as already, to various sacred and other sources, but only
for illustration, interpretation, or confirmation. For, con-
fident in the knowledge that all things have their procession
from Mind, and that consequently Mind is competent for
the comprehension of all things ; and also that Mind is
eternally one and the same ; — we have no fear of antagon-
ism between the perceptions of the present and those of
the past, however remote that past be. Only, let it be
remembered, the appeal is, in all cases, to perception, and
in no case to prejudice or convention. In proceeding
from God, all things proceed from pure Reason ; and only
by Reason which, in being unwarped by prejudice and
unobscured by Matter, is pure, can anything be rightly
apprehended.

24. Hence it is that the disposition which refers every-
thing, for instance, to a book, and this perhaps one arbi-
trarily selected from among many similar books ; or that
refuses to accept truth save on the authority of miracle,
is a superstitious disposition, and one that opposes as in-
superable a barrier to knowledge as does the materialism —
no less superstitious — which, constructing an hypothesis
independently of facts, rejects all evidence which conflicts
with its hypothesis. It is precisely a materialism such as
this which, in the recoil from superstition of one kind, has
plunged the age headlong into superstition of another kind.
For the cultus of the present day — that of Matter — is the
most stupendous example of Fetish-worship the world has
ever seen. But of this we shall have more to say further
on. It is necessary here but to remind those who worship
a book, that things are not true because they are in a Bible;
but that they are in a Bible because previously recognised
as true. And miracles — which are natural effects of ex-

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 13

ceptional causes — may indeed be proofs of occult power
and skill, but are no evidences of the truth of any doctrine.

25. The following story from the Talmud will serve both
to lighten our lecture and to illustrate our position in this
respect.

" On a certam day, Rabbi Eliezer ben Orcanaz replied
to the questions proposed to him concerning his teaching ;
but his arguments being found to be inferior to his preten-
sions, the doctors present refused to admit his conclusions.
■Then Rabbi Eliezer said : * My doctrine is true, and this
karoub-tree which is near us shall demonstrate the infalli-
bility of my teaching.' Immediately the karoub-tree, obey-
ing the voice of Eliezer, arose out of the ground and planted
itself a hundred cubits farther off. But the Rabbis shook
their heads and answered, 'The karoub-tree proves nothing.
*What,' cried Eliezer, ' you resist so great a miracle? Then
let this rivulet flow backwards, and attest the truth of my
doctrine.' Immediately the rivulet, obeying the command
of Eliezer, flowed backwards towards its source. But again
the Rabbis shook their heads and said, * The rivulet proves
nothing. We must understand before we can believe.'
*Will you believe me,' said Rabbi Eliezer, * if the walls of
this house wherein we sit should fall down ? ' And the
walls, obeying him, began to fall, until Rabbi Joshua ex-
claimed, ' By what right do the walls interfere in our de-
bates ? ' Then the walls stopped in their fall out of respect
to Rabbi Joshua, but remained leaning out of respect for
Rabbi Eliezer, and remain leaning until this day. But
Eliezer, mad with rage, cried out : ' Then in order to con-
found you, and since you compel me to it, let a voice from
heaven be heard ! ' And immediately the Bath-Koi, or
Voice from heaven, was heard at a great height in the air,
and it said, * What are all the opinions of the Rabbis com-

14 THE PERFECT WAY,

pared to the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer? When he has
spoken, his opinion ought to prevail.' Hereupon Rabbi
Joshua rose and said, * It is written, " The law is not in
heaven ; it is in your mouth and in your heart." It is in
your reason ; for again it is written, "I have left you free to
choose between life and death and good and evil." And it
is in your conscience ; for " if ye love the Lord and obey
His voice within you, you will find happiness and truth."
Wherefore then does Rabbi Eliezer bring in a karoub-tree,
a rivulet, a wall, and a voice to settle questions of doctrine ?
And what is the only conclusion that can be drawn from
such miracles, but that they who have expounded the laws
of nature have not wholly understood them, and that we
must now admit that in certain cases a tree can unroot itself,
a rivulet flow backwards, walls obey instructions, and voices
sound in the air? But what connection is there between
these observations and the teaching of Rabbi Eliezer ? No
doubt these miracles were very extraordinary, and they have
filled us with astonishment ; but to amaze is not to argue,
and it is argument, not phenomena, that we require. When,
therefore. Rabbi Eliezer shall have proved to us that karoub-
trees, rivulets, walls, and unknown voices afford us, by un-
usual manifestations, reasonings equal in value and weight
to that reason which God has placed within us to guide our
judgment, then alone will we make use of such testimonies
and estimate them as Eliezer requires.' "

To the same purport the famous commentator Maimon-
ides, says, " When thy senses affirm that which thy reason
denies, reject the testimony of thy senses, and listen only to
thy reason."

26. Having spoken of the Soul's functions, and of her
relation to man, we come now to speak of her nature and

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, 15

history. Whether of the individual or of the universal, Soul
is Substance, that which sub-stands all phenomena. This
substance is original protoplasm ; at once that which makes
and that which becomes. The first manifestation of sub-
stance is in the interplanetary ether, called by Homer the
" Middle Air," and known in the terminology of Occultism
as the Astral Fluid. This, be it observed, is not soul, but
that whereby soul is manifest, and in which it potentially
subsists. Matter is the ultimate expression of substance,
and represents that condition in which it is furthest removed
from its original state, as the membranous capsule which
forms the circumference of the physiologic cell represents
the ultimate expression of the fluidic contents.

27. The Soul may be likened to the nucleus of the cell.
The protoplasmic medium which is found within the capsu-
lar envelope and in which the nucleus floats, may be likened
to the astral fluid, whether inter-planetary or inter-cellular.
But the nucleus, the fluidic body surrounding it, and the
exterior membrane, are all equally protoplasmic in nature,
and the potentiality of one is in all ; the difference actually
observable among them being due only to difference of con-
dition.

28. All the elements of the cell, however, — the nucleus
included, — are material ; whereas Matter itself is, whatever
its kind, a mode of Substance, of which the nature is
spiritual. But though Substance is, by its nature. Spirit,
there is a sense in which Spirit is not Substance. This is
the sense in which Spirit denotes will or energy, as distin-
guished from the Substance in which this inheres. Under
impulsion of the Spirit as thus defined, Substance exchanges
its static for a dynamic condition, repose for activity, be-
coming molecularised, and therefore materialised, in the
process. It does not, however, cease to be Substance by

l6 THE PERFECT WA\,

becoming Matter ; but Matter ceases to be Matter by cessa-
tion of motion. Matter may thus be defined as Substance
in a state of incessant, intense activity, which is the condi-
tion of every particle in the universe. From the microscopic
molecule to the planet everything revolves, impelled by one
force, and obeying one law.

29. The truth that Matter is Substance in its dynamic
condition was well-known to the hierophants of ancient
India and Egypt, and finds expression in the Hebrew sacred
books — which are Egyptian in origin — in the phrase, — "And
on the seventh day, God rested from all His works, which
God created and made."

This " resting " — which is not annihilation but repose —
involves the return of Matter to its static condition of Sub-
stance. The idea presented is that of the cessation of active
creative force, and the consequent return of phenomenal
existence into essential being. This stage it is which con-
stitutes the termination of the creative period, and the per-
fection of every creative work. It is at once the "rest
which remains for the people of God ; " the attainment of
perfection by the individual, system, or race ; and the return
of the universe into the bosom of God, by re-absorption into
the original substance. The Buddhist terms it Nirvana ;
and the period of which it is the termination is called by
the Hindils Kalpa, a word signifying Form. And they hold
that the universe undergoes a succession of Kalpas, being
at the end of each re-absorbed into Deity, Who then rests
awhile prior to the next manifestation, reposing upon Sesha^
the celestial "serpent," or living circle of Eternity, the
symbol of essential Being, as opposed to ex-istence in its
strict sense of manifested Being.

30. For, as will by-and-by be more fully shown, the
substance of the soul, and therein of all things, and the

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, 17

substance of Deity, are one and the same ; since there is
but one Substance. And of this substance, the Hfe is also
called God, Who, as Living Substance, is at once Life and
Substance, one and yet twain, or two in one. And that
which is begotten of these two, and is, theologically, called
the Son, and the Word, is necessarily the expression 01
both, and is, potentially, the Universe, for He creates it
after His own Divine image by means of the Spirit He has
received. Now the Divine Substance is, in its original
condition, homogeneous. Every monad of it, therefore,
possesses the potentialities of the whole. Of such a monad,
in its original condition, every individual soul consists. And
of the same substance, projected into lower conditions, the
material universe consists. It undergoes, however, no
radical change of nature through such projection ; but its
manifestation — on whatever plane occurring — is always as
a Trinity in Unity, since that whereby substance becomes
manifest, is the evolution of its Trinity. Thus — to reckon
from without inwards, and below upwards — on the plane
physical it is Force, universal Ether, and their offspring
the material World. On the plane intellectual it is Life,
Substance, and Formulation. On the plane spiritual — its
original point of radiation — it is Will, Wisdom, and the
Word. And on all planes whatsoever, it is, in some mode,
Father, Mother, and Child. For ^^ there are Three which
bear record i?i ' heaven^^ or the invisible, and these Three are
One. And there are three which liear record on * earthy or
the visible, and these three agree in one, being Spirit, Soul
and Body."

31. The soul's entrance into Matter, and primal mani-
festation as an individual, occurs in the lowest modes of
organic life, and is due to the convergence of the magnetic
poles of the constituent molecules of some protoplasmic

l8 THE PERFECT WAY,

entity, an action due to the working of the Spirit in the
Matter concerned. For all Matter, it must be remembered,
has, and is, Spirit. The focusing of these poles gives rise
to a circular magnetic current, of which the result is as an
electric combustion, which is the vital spark, organic life,
Soul. It is, however, no new creation in the ordinary sense
of the term. For nothing can be either added to or with-
drawn from the universe. It is but a new condition of the
one substance already existing, a condition which constitutes
a fresh act of individuation on the part of that substance.
It has become by self-generation, a soul or nucleus to the
cell in which it has manifested itself Such is the mode of
operation of Substance, whether as manifested in the human
soul or in the physiologic cell.

32. The doctrine of creation by development or evolu-
tion is a true doctrine, and is in no way inconsistent with
the idea of divine operation ; but the development is not of
the original substance. Being infinite and eternal, that is
perfect always. Development is of the manifestation of the
qualities of that substance in the i?idividual.

Development is intelligible only by the recognition of the
inherent consciousness of the substance of existence. Of
the qualities of that substance as manifested in the indi-
vidual. Form is the expression. And it is because develop-
ment is directed by conscious, experienced, and continually
experiencing intelligence, which is ever seeking to eliminate
the rudimentary and imperfect, that progression occurs in
respect of Form. The highest product, man, is the result of
the Spirit working intelligently within. But man attains his
highest, and becomes perfect only through his own volun-
tary co-operation with the Spirit.

There is no mode of Matter in which the potentiality of
personality, and therein of man, does not subsist. For every

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 19

SBolecule is a mode of the universal consciousness. With-
out consciousness is no being. For consciousness is being.

33. The earhest manifestation of consciousness appears
in the obedience paid to the laws of gravitation and chemi-
cal affinity, which constitute the basis of the later evolved
organic laws of nutritive assimilation. And the percep-
tion, memory, and experience represented in man, are the
accumulations of long ages of toil and thought, gradually
advancing, through the development of the consciousness,
from inorganic combinations upward to God. Such is the
secret meaning of the old mystery-story which relates how
Deucalion and Pyrrha, under the direction of Themis
(Law), produced men and women from stones, and so
peopled the renewed earth. These words of John the Bap-
tist bear a similar jignification : — " Verily I say unto you,
that even of these stones God is able to raise up children
unto Abraham." And by children of Abraham, are denoted
that "spiritual Israel," the pure seekers after God, who
finally attain and become one with the object of their
quest.

34. As between Spirit and Matter, so between the organic
and the inorganic there is no real barrier. Nature works
in spirals, and works intelligently. In all that modern
science has of truth, in respect of the doctrine of Evolution,
it was anticipated thousands of years ago. But the scientists
of old, using a faculty of the very existence of which those
of the present day hear but to jeer at it, discerned in Soul
the agent, and in Mind the efficient cause, of all progress.
They perceived, as all now perceive who only allow them-
selves to think, that were Matter, as ordinarily regarded, all
that is, and blind force its impelling agent, no explanation
would be possible of the obviously intelligent adaptation,
everywhere apparent, of means to ends; the strong set of

THE PERFECT WAY,

the current of life in the direction of beauty and goodness ;
and the differentiation of uses, functions, and kinds, not only
in cellular tissues, but even in crystalline inorganic elements.
Why should Matter, if only what ordinarily it is supposed,
— unconscious, aimless, purposeless, — differentiate, diversify,
develope ? This is the question the ancients asked them-
selves ; and they were keen enough to see that in their
very ability to ask it, lay the solution of the problem. For
the question was prompted by Mind, and the presence of
Mind in the product man, involves its presence in the sub-
stance whereof man consists, seeing that an extract cannot
contain that which is not in its original source.

35. The reasonableness of this proposition is, however,
at length beginning once again to be recognised even in
the prevailing school, by some of the more intelligent of its
members ; one of these having recently declared it neces-
sary, in order to account for the facts of existence, to credit
Matter with a "little feeling." ^ This is an admission,
which, carried to its legitimate issue, involves the recog-
nition of the system now under exposition. For it involves
the recognition of God and the SouL Thus is modern
science, painfully and against its will, working back towards
the great doctrine taught long ages ago in the lodges of the
Indian and Egyptian Mysteries, and verified by the spiritual
experience of every epopt who lived the life prescribed as
the condition of illumination.

36. This is the doctrine known as that of the Transmi-
gration of Souls. Of this doctrine the following concise
description is taken from a translation dated 1650 of one of
the so-called Hermetic books, which, emanating from Alex-
andria, and dating from pre-Christian or early Christian
times, represent — at least in a measure — the esoteric doc-

* The late Professor Clifford.

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE.

trine of the Egyptian and other ancient religious systems.
Of this body of writings only a few fragments survive. The
passage cited is from book iv. of the work called The
Divine Fymander, or Shepherd, of Hermes Trismegistus.

" From one Soul of the Universe are all those Souls which
in all the World are tossed up and down as it were, and
severally divided. Of these Souls there are many Changes^
some into a more fortunate Estate, and some quite contrary.
And they which are of Creeping Things are changed into
those of Watery Things, and those of Things Living in the
Water to those of Things living on the La7id ; atid Airy
ones into Men ; ajzd Human Sotcls that lay hold of l77imor-
tality are changed into {holy) Demons. And so they go on
into the Sphere of the Gods. . . . And this is the most
perfect Glory of the Soul. But the Soul entering into the
Body of a Man, if it continue evil, shall neither taste of
Immortality nor be Partaker of the Good ; but being drawji
back the same Way, it returneth into Creeping Things. And
this is the Condemnation of an evil Soul."

37. The doctrine of the Progression and Migration of
Souls, and of the power of man, while still in the body, to
recover the recollections of his soul, constituted the founda-
tion of all those ancient religions out of which Christianity
had its birth ; and was therefore universally communicated
to all initiates of the sacred mysteries. And, indeed, one
of the special objects of the curriculum of these institutions,
was to enable the candidate to recover the memory of his
previous incarnations, with a view to his total emancipation
from the body. For the attainment of this power was
regarded as a token that the final regeneration of the indi-
vidual— when he would no longer have need of the body
and its lessons — was well-nigh accomplished. Thus the
prime object of the ancient lodges which constituted the

22 THE PERFECT WAY.

pre-Christian Churches, was the culture of the soul as the
divine and permanent element of the individual.

38. Various eminent sages are said to have remembered
some at least of their previous incarnations; and notably
Krishna, Pythagoras, Plato, Apollonius, and the Buddha
Gautama. This last — the " Messenger " who fulfilled for
the mystics of the East the part which six hundred years
later was, for the mystics of the West, fulfilled by Jesus— is
stated to have recovered the recollection of five hundred
and fifty of his own incarnations. And the chief end of his
doctrine is to induce men so to live as to shorten the num-
ber and duration of their earth-lives. " He," say the
Hindu Scriptures, " who in his lifetime recovers the memory
of all that his soul has learnt, is already a god."

Socrates also is represented as distinctly asserting the
doctrine of re-incarnation ; and it was implied, if not ex-
pressed, in the system formulated by the superb modem
thinker and scientist, Leibnitz.

39. Following the Rabbins, and especially the Pharisees,
Josephus asserted the return of Souls into new bodies.
Nor are recognitions of the doctrine wanting in the Old and
New Testaments. Thus the writer of the Book of Wisdom
says of himself: "Being good, I came into a body unde-
filed." The prophets Daniel and John are told by their
inspiring angels that they shall stand again on the earth in
the last days of the Dispensation. And of John it was also
intimated by Jesus that he should tarry within reach of the
earth-life, either for re-incarnation or metempsychosis when
the appointed time should come. And of that great school
which, apparently because it approached too near the truth
to be safely tolerated by a materialising sacerdotalism, was
denounced as the most dangerously heretical, — the school
Df the Gnostics, — the leader, Carpocrates, taught that the

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE.

Founder of Christianity also was simply a person who,
having a soul of great age and high degree of purity, had
been enabled, through his mode of life, to recover the
memory of its past. And Paul's description of him as a
"Captain of Salvation made perfect through suffering,"
obviously implies a course of experience far in excess of
any that is predicable of a single brief career.

To these instances must be added that of the question
put to Jesus by his disciples respecting the blind man whom
he had cured : " Did this man sin, or his parents, that he
was born blind ? " For it shows either that the belief in
transmigration was a popular one among the Jews, or that
Jesus had inculcated it in his disciples. His refusal to
satisfy their curiosity is readily intelligible on the suppo-
sition that he was unwilling to disclose the affairs of other
souls.

40. The opening chapters of the Book of Genesis imply
the like doctrine. For they present creation as occurring
through a gradual evolution from the lowest types upwards,
— from gaseous elemental cc-mbinations to the crowning
manifestation of humanity in woman, — and thus indicate the
animal as ministering to the h iman in a sense widely differ-
ing from that ordinarily supposed ; for they represent the
animal as the younger self of the man, namely, as man
rudimentary. All this is involved in the fact that the term
applied to the genesis of livir g things below man, signifies
soul} and is so translated when applied to man; whereas
when applied to beasts it is rendered "living creature."
Thus, had the Bible been accurately translated, the doctrine
that all creatures whatsoever represent incarnations, though
In different conditions, of one and the same universal soul,
would not now need to be re-declared, or when re-declared,
* Heb., Nephesh ; i.e.^ the lowest mode of soul.

THE PERFECl WAY.

would not be received with repugnance. That it does
produce such a feeling, is a sign how far man has receded
from a level once attained, at least in respect of his afifec-
tional nature. For the doctrine of a universal soul is the
doctrine of love, in that it implies the recognition of the
larger self. It represents, moreover, Humanity as the one
universal creation of which all living things are but different
steps either of development or of degradation, progression
or retrogression, ascent or descent ; that which determines
the present condition and ultimate destiny of each individual
entity, being its own will and affections. Animals appeared
first on earth, not, as is vainly supposed, to minister to
man's physical wants, but as an essential preliminary to
humanity itself. On no other hypothesis is their existence
intelligible for the long ages which elapsed before the
appearance of man.

41. Thus, not only is the doctrine respectable for its
antiquity, universality, and the quality and character of
those who, on the strength of their own experience, have
borne testimony to it ; it is indispensable to any system of
thought which postulates Justice as an essential element
of Being. For it, and it alone of all methods ever sug-
gested, solves the problem of the universe by resolving the
otherwise insuperable difficulties which confront us in regard
to the inequalities of earthly circumstance and relation.

The importance attached to it by the Egyptians is shown
by the fact that they chose for their chief religious symbol
an embodiment of it. For in representing the lowest as
linked to the highest, — the loins of the creature of prey to
the head and breast of the Woman^ — the Sphinx denoted
at once the unity, and the method of development, under
individuation, of the soul of the universal humanity.

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 2$

Part II. '

42. We will now define more precisely the nature of the
system we seek to restore, and its relation towards that so
long in possession in the West. Although neither Christian
nor Catholic in the accepted sense of these terms, it claims
to be both Christian and Catholic in their original and true
sense, and to be itself the lawful heir, whose inheritance has
been usurped by a presentment altogether corrupt, false,
superstitious, idolatrous.

According to the system recovered, the Christ Jesus,
Redeemer, and Saviour, while equally its beginning, middle,
and end, is not a mere historical personage, but, above and
beyond this, a Spiritual Ideal and an Eternal Verity.
Recognising fully that which Jesus was and did, it sets
forth salvation as depending, not on what any man has
said or done, but on what God perpetually reveals. For,
according to it, Religion is not a thing of the past, or
of any one age, but is an ever-present, ever-occurring
actuality ; for every man one and the same ; a process
complete in itself for each man; and for him subsisting
irrespective of any other man whatsoever. It thus re-
cognises as the actors in the momentous drama of the
soul two persons only, the individual himself and God.
And whereas in it alone is to be found a complete and
reasonable exposition of the parts assigned to both in the
work of salvation, all competing systems must be regarded
as but an aspiration towards or a degeneration from it,
and as true only in so far as they accord with it.

43. And here it may be remarked, that the doctrine of
religion as a present reality, needing no historic basis, is
one which in this age ought to find special welcome. For,
what now is the condition of men's minds in respect to

TBB PERFECT WAY.

the historical element of the existing religion ? None but
those who through lack of education stand necessarily upon
the old ways, have any reliance upon it. Critical analysis
— that function of the mind which, in its nature destructive,
is, nevertheless, really harmful only to that which, in being
untrue, has not in itself the element of perpetuity — has laid
an unsparing axe to the forest of ancient tradition. The
science of Biblical exegesis has made it obvious to every
percipient mind that sacred books, so far from being
infallible records of actual events, abound with inaccuracies,
contradictions, and interpolations; that sacred persons, if
they existed at all, had histories differing widely from those
narrated of them; that sacred events could not have
occurred in the manner stated ; and that sacred doctrines
are, for the most part, either intrinsically absurd, or com-
mon to systems yet more ancient, whose claims to sanctity
are denied.

44. Thus, to take the leading items of Christian belief,
— the whole story of the Incarnation, the expectation of the
Messiah, the announcement by the angel, the conception
by the Virgin, the birth at midnight in a cave, the name of
the immaculate mother, the appearance to shepherds of
the celestial host, the visit of the Magi, the flight from
the persecuting Herod, the slaughter of the innocents, the
finding of the divine boy in the temple, the baptism, the
fasting and trial in the wilderness, the conversion of the
water into wine, and other like marvels, the triumphal entry
into the holy city, the passion, the crucifixion, the resur-
rection, and the ascension, and much of the teaching ascribed
to the Saviour, — all these are variously attributed also to
Osiris, Mithras, lacchos, Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, and
others, at dates long antecedent to the Christian era. And
monuments and sculptures still exist, showing that the

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 29

entire story of the Divine Man of the gospels was, long
before Moses, taught to communicants and celebrated in
sacraments in numberless colleges of sacred mysteries.

45. The Fathers of the Church — who were well aware
of these facts — dealt with them variously according to the
tone and resources of their individual minds. Many of the
most notable, including St. Augustine, saw the truth in its
proper light; but the explanation accepted was, that the
Devil, foreknowing the counsel and intention of God, had
maliciously forestalled the career of the true Messiah by
false semblances, causing it to be enacted in anticipation by
a number of spurious messiahs, so that wlien the world's
true redeemer should appear, he niiglit be lost, as it were,
in the crowd of his predecessors, and shorn of all particular
glory.

46. And what, it may be asked, 01 the i)ersonage just
mentioned, who plays so enormous a part in the orthodox
presentment? He, too, is a perversion of a truth, tlie real
meaning of which will by-and-by be exhibited. It is sulli-
cient to remark here, that, in being founded — as by the
current corrupt orthodoxy — on the conception of a personal
and, virtually, a divine principle of evil, Ciiristi.mity is
made to rest upon an hypothesis altogether monstrous and
impossible.

47. Tliere is neither space nor need to particularise the
strictures to which the Bible, throughout, is fairly open ahke
on grounds historical, moral, and scientific; or to speak
of the many ecclesiastical Councils which, from century to
century, have dealt with its component books, variously
affirming or denying their canonicity ; or to point out the
innumerable contradictions and inconsistencies, of doctrine
and of narrative, with which it abounds. Tiiese things,
already famiUar to many, are readily verifiable by all.

08 THE PERFECT WAY,

This only must be insisted on; — to be a student of
religion, to be a theologian in the true sense, it is necessary
to have knowledge, not of one religion only, but of all
religions, not of one sacred book only, but of all sacred
books ; and to deal with all as with the one, and with the
one as with all ; to handle the Vedas, the Bhagavat-Gita,
the Lalita-Vistara, the Zend-Avesta, and the Kabbala with
the same reverence as the Old and New Testaments ; and
to apply to these the same critical touch-stone as to those.
It is truth alone which is valuable, and this fears nothing.
The crucible does not hurt the gold. The dross alone falls
away under the test ; and of the dross we are surely well
rid.

48. And when all this has been done ; when the mind,
purified from prejudice and disciplined by experience, has
become an instrument of knowledge competent for the dis-
cernment of truth, what, it will be asked, remains to man
of his faith and hope, his God and his soul ? We know
the reply of the Materialist He, as has been wittily said,
throws away the child with the water in which it has been
washed. Because he finds impurity obstructing the truth,
he rejects the truth together with the impurity. That
which remains is the real, ever-living religion; a Divine
and operating Word, and not a testament of the dead ; a
God and a Soul who, as Parent and Offspring, are able to
come into direct and palpable relations with each other.
And the Creation, the Fall, the Redemption, and the Ascen-
sion— rescued from the tomb of the past — become living
and eternal verities, enacted by every child of God in his
own soul ; and Inspiration once more lifts its voice and is
heard among us as truly as of old.

49. For those, then, who, being indeed of Christ, as
Well as called by his name, know by personal experience

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, 29

that " the kingdom of heaven is within," there is no cause
for anxiety as to the issue of any investigation, critical,
scientific, or historical, how keen and unsparing soever.
For they know that Religion — which is the Science of
Life Eternal — appeals, not to the bodily senses, but to
the soul, sincerio mere physical phenomena can have
any relation to spiritual needs. They know, too, that in
representing absolute, eternal verities, religious ideas are
beyond the reach of any power of earth to erase or destroy
them. But they who, on the contrary, have staked their all
of faith in God and hope in heaven upon the special events
of a particular period and place, have indeed ground for
dismay and despair when they behold in the sculptured
remains of other places and remoter times, the effigies of
the like events, — the crucifixion of Mithras,, the infant
Horus or Krishna in the arms of an immaculate mother, the
resurrection of Osiris, and the ascension of Heracles. For
they see in these, the invalidation, or at least the perplex-
ing multiplication, of events which, on their hypothesis,
ought to have happened but once in the world's — nay in
the universe's — whole history, and on the correct reporting
of which their eternal welfare depends. The actual value
of these facts will appear as we proceed. They are cited
here in demonstration of the fallacy involved in the con-
ception of religion as a thing dependent on history.
Rightly interpreted, they will show that the Soul has no
relation to phenomena, and that " the kingdom of Christis
^y^ of this world."

50. The Gospels bear evidence of being compiled or
adapted in great measure from older Oriental Scriptures.
But whether or not the events related happened only in part
or not at all ; whether they were put into their present form
:)y Alexandrian Epopts some hundred years after the date

30 THE PERFECT WAY,

assigned in them to the events they record ; or whether
their central figure, being himself an Initiate and Adept in
the religious science of Egypt and India, actually rehearsed
in his own person the greater part of the sacred mysteries,
— is, happily, but of secondary importance. And even were
it otherwise, it is obvious that the further we get away
from the period of the events relied on, and the more years
multiply upon us, thrusting that past into still remoter
times and ever deepening shades of antiquity, the more
difficult must the task of verification become, and the
weaker the influences thence exerted upon man's moral and
intellectual nature. Alas for the hopes of the generations
yet to be born, if an historical Christianity be indeed essen-
tial to salvation ! Nor can we be blind to the mjustice and
cruelty of making salvation dependent upon belief in occur-
rences concerning which only a learned i^vj can at any
time be in a position to judge whether or not they ever
took place ; and these, moreover, occurrences of a nature
to be a priori incredible save to an elect few. Assuredly,
if any demonstration be needed of the necessary unsound-
ness of a system which rests upon history, it is to be found
in the present condition of Christianity. Declining to entrust
its doctrine to Reason, the Church has taken its stand upon
historical evidence, only to find this give way under it ;
and it is now without any basis save that of Custom. The
time has come in which Christians are Christians, only
because they are accustomed to be Christians. Habit has
superseded conviction.

51. Very different is the relation between the human
mind and the system under exposition. Appealing to the
understanding, and condemning as superstition the faith
which is not also knowledge, this system meets unshaken
the tests alike of time and of reason ; and, so far from

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 31

looking coldly on science, hails it as an indispensable ally,
stipulating only that it be science, and not that which is
"falsely so called." Hoping everything and fearing nothing
from the light of reason, it welcomes the searching ray
into every recess, and greets with eager hands the phi-
losopher, the historian, the critic, the philologist, the
mathematician, the classic, the physicist, and the occultist.
For its appeal is to intelligence as developed by know-
ledge, in the absolute assurance that where these exist in
the greatest plenitude, there it will gain the fullest recog-
nition.

52. And the intelligence appealed to is not of the head
only, but is also of the heart ; of the moral conscience as
well as of the intellect. Insisting upon the essential unity
of all being, it admits of no antagonism between the human
and the Divine. But holding that the human is the Divine,
and that that which is not Divine is sub-human, it seeks,
by the demonstration of the perfection of God, to enable
man to perfect himself after the image of God. And it
claims, moreover, to be the one philosophy wherein that
image finds intelligent exposition, and whereby it obtains
practical recognition. To the question why, being in all
respects so admirable, it has become lost or perverted, the
answer involves the history of man's original Fall, and will
in due course appear.

53. There are two or three classes of objectors, to whom
reply will now be made in anticipation. Of these classes
one is that which, under the influence of the prevailing
Materialism, holds, that so far from the phrase just em-
ployed, "Image of God," having any basis in reality,
modern science has practically demonstrated the non-
existence of God. If the following reply to this class
involves a reference to regions of being as yet unrecog-

32 THE PERFECT WAY.

nised in their own science, it is not upon us that the
responsibility for the limitation rests. We speak of that
which we know, having learned it by experience.

54. A true Idea is the reflect of a true Substance. It
is because religious ideas are true ideas that they are
common to all ages and peoples; the differences being
of expression merely, and due to the variation of density
and character of the magnetic atmosphere through which
the image passes. The fact that every nation in every
age has conceived, in some shape, of the Gods, constitutes
of itself a proof that the Gods really are. For Nothing
projects no image upon the magnetic light; and where
an image is universally perceived, there is certainly an
object which projects it. An Idea, inborn, ineradicable,
constant, which sophism, ridicule, or false science has
power to break only, but not to dispel : — an image which,
however disturbed, invariably returns on itself and re-
forms as does the image of the sky or the stars in a lake,
however the reflecting water may be momentarily shaken
by a stone or a passing vessel:— such an image as this
is necessarily the reflection of a real and true thing, and
no illusion begotten of the water itsel£

In the same manner the constant Idea of the Gods,
persistent in all minds in all ages, is a true image ; for it
is verily, and in no metaphoric sense, the projection upon
the human perception of the Eidola of the Divine persons.
The Eidolon is the reflection of a true object in the
magnetic atmosphere ; and the magnetic atmosphere is a
transparent medium, through which the soul receives
sensations. For sensation is the only means of knowledge,
whether for the body . or for the reason. The body per-
ceives by means of the five avenues of touch. The soul
perceives in like manner by the same sense, but of a finer

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 33

sort and put into action by subtler agents. The soul can
know nothing not perceptible \ and nothing not perceptible
is real. For that which is not can give no image. Only
that which is can be reflected.

55. To the other classes of objectors, who are chiefly
of the religious and orthodox order, the following considera-
tions are addressed.

a. The apparently new is not necessarily the really
new; but may be a recovery — providential, timely, and
precious — of the old and original which has been forgotten,
perverted, or suppressed.

b. So far from it being incumbent on Christians to accept
the established in religion as necessarily the true and the
right, the condemnation by the later Hebrew prophets of
the established form of Judaism, as no longer in their time
representing the religion divinely given through Moses,
imposes on Christians the duty of exercising, at the least,
hesitation before accepting the established form of Christi-
anity as faithfully representing the religion divinely given
through Jesus. Christendom has been exposed for a far
longer period than was Israel, to influences identical with
those which caused the deterioration denounced by the
prophets, namely, the abandonment of religion, without
prophetic guidance or correction, to a control exclusively
sacerdotal, and therein to Tradition uninterpreted by Intu-
ition. And not only so, but on the first formal definition
and establishment of Christianity under Constantine, —
himself an ardent votary of a sun-worship become grossly
materialistic, — the dominant conception was far more in
accordance with the principles of sacerdotalism than with
those of its Founder. There remains, also, the strong a
priori improbability that a system identical with that which,
in consequence of the efforts of Jesus to purify it, became

34 THE PERFECT WAY,

his destroyer, — a system exclusively sacerdotal and tra-
ditional,— should, even ihough calling itself Christian, prove
a trusty guardian and faithful expositor of his doctrine.

c. The belief that Christianity was indeed divinely in-
tended and adapted to effect the redemption of the world
from engrossment by the elements merely material of
existence, to the recognition and appreciation of its spirit-
ual and true substance ; and the fact that thus far Christi-
anity has signally failed to accomplish that object, — make
it in the highest degree obligatory on Christians, both to
seek diligently the cause of such failure, and to seek it
elsewhere than in an original defect of the religion itself.

d. According to numerous indications — including the
express declarations of Jesus himself — much that is
essential to the proper comprehension and practical appli-
cation of Christian doctrine, was reserved for future dis-
closure. History has yet to record the full manifestation
of that *' Spirit of Truth," who was to testify of Jesus, and
lead his followers into all truth. And the world has still to
see the Christ-ideal so " lifted up " and exhibited as, by
force of its perfection as a system of life and thought,
irresistibly to " draw all men " to it.

<r. In point alike of character and of time, the present
period coincides with that indicated in numerous pro-
phecies, as appointed for the close of the old and the com-
mencement of a new era. This is necessarily an event
which can come about only through some radical change
in the course of the world's thought. For, in being,
however unconsciously to itself, a product of Mind, the
world always follows its thought. The world has now
followed its thought in the direction of Matter and blind
force, until, for the first time in man's history, its re-
cognised intellect has, almost with one consent, pro-

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, 35

nounced decidedly against the idea of God. This, there-
fore, is no other than that " time of the end " whereof
the token should be the exaltation of Matter instead of
Spirit, and the obtrusion into the " holy place " of God and
the soul, of the "abomination that maketh desolate," to
the utter extinction of the world's spiritual life and of the
idea of a divine Humanity. Now is " that wicked one "
and " man of sin " — that is, humanity deliberately self-made
in the image of the Not-God — definitively revealed ; and
the gospel of Love is confessedly replaced by the gospel of
Force.i Of the prophecies, moreover, which referred to
the period in question, it was declared that the words
should be " closed up and sealed till the time of the end."
The very discovery of the true interpretation of the mystical
Scriptures, would therefore constitute an indication that the
" end is at hand."

/ If it be, indeed, that man is not to " go down quick
into the pit " that he has dug for himself, the emergency
is one with which religion alone can grapple. But, so far
from the religion already in the world being competent for
the task, it has, by reason of its own degeneracy, ministered
to the evil. Wherefore only by a religion which is not
that now in vogue, can man be saved. Time alone, of
course, can determine if, or by what means, the needed
redemption will be wrought. Enough has been said to
show that, from the religious point of view, there is ample
reason in favour of according a serious hearing even to
doctrines and claims so strange and unfamiliar to most
persons as those herein advanced.

56. Finally, to close this Introductory Lecture, and to

* It is not a little remarkable, that the foremost symbol of this new
gospel should have for name the Greek term for force ; dynamite being
simply S^afus.

THE PERFECT WAY.

reassure those who, desirous to know more, are yet appre-
hensive of finding themselves in the issue, like the patriarch
of old, robbed of their gods, we add this final reflection : —
The end in view is not denial, but interpretation ; not de-
struction, but reconstruction, and this with the very materials
hitherto in use. No names, personages, or doctrines now
regarded as divine will be rejected or defamed. And even
though the indubitable fact be recognised, that the " one
name given under heaven whereby men can be saved " has
been shared by many, that name will still be the name~6r
salvation, and the symbol of its triumph will still be the
cross of Jesus, even though borne before him by, or in the
name of, an Osiris, a Mithras, a Krishna, a Dionysos, or a
Buddha, or any others who, overcoming by love the limita-
tions of Matter, have been faithful to the death mystically
called the death of the cross, and, attaining thereby the_
crown of eternal life for themselves, have shown to men the
way of salvation.

Instead, then, of indulging apprehension on the score in-
dicated, let heed rather be given to the true moral of the
story of all the Christs, how many soever they be, by whom
is enacted in its fulness, while yet in the body, the divine
drama of the soul. For, with Christ, all may, in their de-
gree, be redeemers alike of themselves and of others ; and
with him, to redeem, they must themselves first love and
suflTer and die. For, as said the German mystic, Scheffler,
two centuries ago, —

** Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be bom.
But not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn :
The cross of Golgotha thou lookest to in vain,
Unless within thyself it be set up again."

LECTURE THE SECOND.

THE SOUL; AND THE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE,

Part I.

I. Our theme is that which is at once the supreme subject
and object of culture, and the necessary basis of all real
religion and science. For it is the substance of existence,
the Soul, universal and individual, of humanity. Only when
we know the nature of this, can we know what we ourselves
are, and what we have it in us to become. For our poten-
tialities necessarily depend upon the substance whereof we
are made.

2. This is not Matter. Wherefore a science which, in
being restricted to the cognition of phenomena, is a ma-
terialistic science, cannot help us to an understanding of
ourselves. But, on the contrary, to such understanding
such science is, in its issues, the greatest enemy. Matter
is not God ; and in order to understand ourselves, ii is
necessary to understand God. God is the Substance of
existence. Be that substance what it may, it still is God ;
and of God no other definition is possible or desirable, but
all conditions are satisfied by it. To know God, then, is
to know this substance ; and to know this, is to know our-
selves, and only by knowing this can we know ourselves.

3. Such, and no other or less, was the meaning of the
famous mystic utterance inscribed on the temple porch at
Delphi, — Know thyselfy — a sentence which, notwithstanding

f\ ^ ^f ':\ i'

38 THE PERFECT WAY,

its brevity, comprehends all wisdom. An attempt, it is
true, has been made to improve upon it in the saying, —
Ignore thyself, and learn to k7iow thy God. But that which
is intended in the latter, is, albeit unsuspected by its framer,
comprised in the former. For, as is known to the Mystic
— or student of Substance — such is the constitution of the
universe, that man cannot know himself without knowing
God, and cannot know God without knowing himself. And
as, moreover, only through the knowledge of the one can
the knowledge of the other be attained, so the knowledge
of the one implies and involves that of the other. For,
as the Mystic knows, there is but one substance alike of
man and of God.

4. This substance, we repeat, is not Matter ; and a science
which recognises Matter only, so far from ministering to-
wards the desired comprehension of ourselves, is the deadly
foe of such comprehension. For, as Matter is, in the
sense already described, the antithesis of Spirit, so is Ma-
terialism the antithesis of the system under exposition,
namely, of Mysticism, or, as we propose to call it. Spiritual-
ism. And here it must be understood that we use this
latter term, not in its modern debased and limited sense,
but in its ancient proper purity and plenitude, that wherein
it signifies the science, not of sfirits merely, but of Spirit,
that is, of God, and therein of all Being. Thus adopting
and rehabilitating the term Spiritualism, we define as
follows : — first, the system we have recovered and seek to
establish ; and, next the system we condemn and seek to
destroy.

5. Dealing with both substance and phenomenon, Spirit
and Matter, the eternal and the temporal, the universal and
the individual ; constituting respecting existence a complete
system of positive doctrine beyond which neither mind nor

Lect. II.] THE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE, 39

heart can aspire ; providing a rule of knowledge, of under-
standing, of faith, and of conduct ; derived from God's own
Self; transmitted and declared by the loftiest intelligences
in the worlds human and celestial ; and in every respect
confirmed by the reason, the intuition, and the experience
of the earth's representative men, its sages, saints, seers,
prophets, redeemers, and Christs, and by none in any re-
spect confuted ;— the system comprised under the term
Spiritualism is not only at once a science, a philosophy, a
morality, and a religion, but is the science, the philosophy,
the morality, and the religion of which all others are, either
by aspiration or by degeneration, limitations merely. And
according to the degree of its acceptance by man, it minis-
ters to his perfection and satisfaction here and hereafter.

6. But its antithesis :— Springing from the bottomless
pit of man's lower nature ; having for its criterion, not the
conclusions of the mind or the experiences of the soul, but
only the sensations of the body ; and being, therefore, not
a science, nor a philosophy, nor a morality, nor a religion,
but the opposite of each and all of these, — the system com-
prised under the term Materialism is not a hmitation of
Spiritualism but is the negation of it, and is to it what
darkness is to light, nonentity to existence, the ** devil " to
God. And in proportion to the degree of its acceptance
by man, it ministers to his deterioration and destruction
here and hereafter.

7. Between the two extremes thus presented, having
liberty to choose, and power to determine his own destina-
tion, man, according to mystical doctrine, is placed, in
pursuance of the Divine Idea, of which creation is the mani-
festation. And whereas, in implying the culture of the
substantial, Spiritualism,, as we use the term, represents
Reality ; and in implying the culture of the phenomenal

4D THE PERFECT WAY,

only, Materialism represents Illusion, the choice between
them is the choice between the Perfection and the Negation
of Being.

8. But whatever the quarrel of the Spiritualist with
Materialism for its exclusive recognition of Matter, and
consequent idolatry of form and appearance, with Matter
itself he has no quarrel. For, although, by reason of its
limitations, the cause of evil, Matter is not in itself evil.
On the contrary, it comes forth from God, and consists of
that whereof God's Self consists, namely, Spirit. It is
Spirit, by the force of the Divine will subjected to con-
ditions and limitations, and made exteriorly cognisable.

9. Matter is thus a manifestation of that which in its
original condition is unmanifest, namely. Spirit. And Spirit
does not become evil by becoming manifest. Evil is the
result of the limitation of Spirit by Matter. For Spirit is
God, and God is good. Wherefore, in being the limitation
of God, Matter is the limitation of good. Such limitation
is essential to creation. For without a projection of Divine
Substance, that is, of God's Self, into conditions and hmita-
tions,— of Being, which is absolute, into Existence, which is
relative, — God would remain inoperative, solitary, unmani-
fest, and consequently unknown, unhonoured, and unloved,
with all God's power and goodness potential merely and
unexercised. For aught else to exist than God, there must
be that which is, by limitation, inferior to God. And for
this to exist in plenitude corresponding to God's infinitude,
it must involve the idea of the opposite and negation of God.
This is to say : — Creation, to be worthy of God, must in-
volve the idea of a No-God. God's absolute plenitude in
respect of all the qualities and properties which constitute
Being, must be contrasted by that utter deprivation of all
mch properties and qualities, which constitutes Not-being.

Lect. II.] THE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE. 41

Between no narrower extremes can a Divine creation be
contained. By no lesser contrast can God be fully mani-
fested. The darkness of God's shadow must correspond
in intensity with the brightness of God's light. And only
through the full knowledge of the one, can the other be duly
apprehended and appreciated. He only can thoroughly
appreciate good who has ample knowledge of evil. It is
a profound truth, that "the greater the sinner, the greater
the saint." That exquisite epitome of the Soul's history,
the parable of the Prodigal Son, is based upon the same
text. Only they who have gone out from God, returning,
know God. At once consequence and cause of the going
out from God, Matter is an indispensable minister to
Creation, without which and its limitations Creation were
not

10. But mere Creation does not represent the totality of
the Divine purpose. And a creation restricted to the actual-
ities of Matter would be the reverse of a boon to itself or a
credit to God. For by a creation thus limited, Deity would
have shown Itself to be that only which the Materialist
imagines It, namely, Force. Whereas " God is Love." And
Love is that, not which merely creates and after brief caress
repudiates and discards ; but which sustains, redeems, per-
fects, and perpetuates. And to these ends Matter ministers
indispensably, and therein contributes towards that second
creation which is the supplement and complement of the
first. This second creation is called Redemption, and in it
the Creator finds His recognition and glorification, and man
his perfection and perpetuation. For Redemption is the
full compensation, both to God and to the universe, for
all that is undergone and suffered by and through Creation.
And it is brought about by the return from Matter of
Spirit, to its original condition of purity, but individuated

THE PERFECT WAY,

and enriched by the results of all that has been gained
through the processes to which it has been subjected; —
results which, but for Matter, could not have been. Matter
is thus indispensable to the processes both of creation and
of perfection. For that through which we are made per-
fect is experience, or suffering ; and we are only really
alive and exist in so far as we have felt. Now, of this
divine and indispensable ministry of experience. Matter is
the agent.

11. Such being for the Spiritualist, who also is Mystic
and not Phenomenalist merely, the origin, nature, and final
cause of Matter, he has with it no ground of quarrel. But
recognising it as intended not to conceal but to reveal
God, and to minister to man's creation in the image of
God, he regards the material universe as a divine revela-
tion, and seeks, by humble, reverent, and loving analysis of
it, to learn both it and God, and thus to make it minister to
his own perfection. '* Imitation," it has been said, and
truly, " is the sincerest flattery." And man best honours
God when he seeks to be like God. In this pursuit it is
that, following his intuition of Spirit, he ascends from the
exterior sphere of Matter and appearance — that sphere
which, as the outermost of man's system, constitutes the
border-land between him and negation, and is therefore
next neighbour to that which, mystically is called the devil
— to the interior sphere of Spirit and Reality, where God
subsists in His plenitude. And so, from Nature's Seeming
he attains to the cognition at once of God's and his own
Being.

12. The system by the knowledge and observance of
which these supreme ends are attained, and which is now
for the first time in the world's history openly disclosed,
has constituted the hidden basis of all the world's divine

Lect. II.] THE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE, 43

revelations and religions. For from the beginning there
has been one divine Revelation, constantly re-revealed in
whole or in part, and representing the actual eternal nature
of existence; and this in such measure as to enable those
who receive it to make of their own existence the highe«:t
and best that can possibly be imagined or desired. Knov/n
by various names, delivered at various places and periods,
and finding expression under various symbols, this revela-
tion has constituted a Gospel of Salvation for all who have
accepted it, enabling them to escape the limitations of
Matter and return to the condition of pure Spirit, and
therein to attain immunity, not merely, as is ordinarily de-
sired, from the consequences of sin, but from the liability
to sin. And, as history shows, wherever it has succeeded
in obtaining full manifestation, Materialism, with all its foul
brood, has fled discomfited, like Python, the mighty Serpent
of Darkness, before the darts of Phoibos, to make its dwell-
ing in the caverns and secret places of earth.

Part II.

13. Coming, then, to the proper subject of this Lecture,
we will now treat of the Soul, universal and individual,
commencing with the latter.

The soul, or permanent element in man, is first en-
gendered in the lowest forms of organic life, from which
it works upwards, through plants and animals, to man. Its
earliest manifestation is in the ethereal or fluidic material
called the astral body ; and it is not something added to
that body, but is generated in it by the polarisation of
the elements. Once generated, it enters into and passes
through many bodies, and continues to do so until finally
perfected or finally dissipated and lost Th« process of its

THE PERFECT WAY.

generation is gradual. The magnetic forces of innumerable
elements are directed and focused to one centre ; and
streams of electric power pass along all their convergent
poles to that centre, until they create there a fire, a kind
of crystallisation of magnetic force. This is the Soul, the
sacred fire of the hearth, called by the Greeks Hestia, or
Vesta, which must be kept burning continually. The
astral and fluidic body, its immediate matrix, — called also
the perisoul^ — and the material or fixed body put forth by
this, may fall away and disappear ; but the soul, once be-
gotten and made an individual, is immortal, until its own
perverse will extinguishes it. For the fire of the soul must
be kept alive by the Divine Breath, if it is to endure for
ever. It must converge, not diverge. If it diverge, it will
be dissipated. The end of progress is unity ; the end of
degradation is division. The soul, therefore, which ascends,
tends more and more to union with and absorption into
the Divine.

14. The clearest understanding may be obtained of the
soul by defining it as the Divine Idea. Before anything can
exist outwardly and materially, the idea of it must subsist in
the Divine Mind. The soul, therefore, may be understood
to be divine and everlasting in its nature. But it does not
act directly upon Matter, It is put forth by the Divine
Mind ; but the body is put forth by the astral, or " fiery,"
body. As Spirit, on the celestial plane, is the parent of
the soul, so Fire, on the material plane, begets the body.
The plane on which the celestials and creatures touch each
other, is the astral plane.

15. Th2 soul, being in its nature eternal, passes from one
form to another until, in its highest stage, it polarises suf-
ficiently to receive the spirit It is in all organised things.
Nothing of an organic nature exists without a soul. It is

Lect. II.] THE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE. 45

the individual^ and perishes finally if uninformed of the
spirit.

16. This becomes readily intelligible if we conceive of
God as of a vast spiritual body constituted of many indi-
vidual elements, all having but one will and therefore
being one. This condition of oneness with the Divine
Will and Being, constitutes what, in Hindii mysticism, is
called the celestial Nirvana. But though becoming pure
Spirit, or God, the individual retains his individuality. So
that, instead of all being finally merged in the One, the One
becomes Many. Thus does God become millions. " God
is multitudes, and nations, and kingdoms, and tongues ;
and the sound of God is as the sound of many waters."

17. The Celestial Substance is continually individual-
ising Itself, that It may build Itself up into One perfect
Individual. Thus is the Circle of Life accomplished, and
thus its ends meet the one with the other. But the de-
graded soul, on the other hand, must be conceived of as
dividing more and more, until, at length, it is scattered into
many, and ceases to be as an individual, becoming, as it
were, split, and broken up, and dispersed into many pieces.
This is the Nirvana of annihilation.^

18. The Planet must not be looked upon as something
apart from its oiTspring. It, also, is a Person, fourfold in
nature, and having four orders of offspring, of which orders
man alone comprises the whole. Of its offspring some lie
in the astral region only, and are but twofold ; some in the
watery region, and are threefold ; and some in the human
region, who are fourfold. The metallic and magnetic en-
velopes of the planet are its body and perisoul. The
organic region comprises its soul ; and the human region
its spirit, or divine part. When it was but metallic it had

> See Appendices^ No. IV.

46 THE PERFECT WAY,

no individualised souL When it was but organic it had no
divine spirit. But when man was made in the image of
God, then was its spirit breathed into its souL In the
metallic region soul is diffused and unpolarised ; and the
metals, therefore, are not individual ; and not being indi-
vidual, their transmutation does not involve transmigra-
tion. But the plants and animals are individual, and their
essential element transmigrates and progresses. And man
has also a divine spirit ; and so long as he is man — that
is truly human — he cannot redescend into the body of an
animal or any creature in the sphere beneath him, since
that would be an indignity to the spirit But if he lose
his spirit, and become again animal, he may descend, and
— disintegrating — become altogether gross and horrible.
This is the end of persistently evil men. For God is not
the God of creeping things ; but Impurity —personified by
the Hebrews as Baalzebub— is their god. And there were
none of these in the Age of Gold, neither shall there be
any when the earth is fully purged. Man's own wickedness
is the creator of his evil beasts.^

19. The soul is not astral fluid, but is manifest by astral
fluid. For the soul itself is, like the idea, invisible and
intangible. This may be best seen by following out the
genesis of any particular action. For instance, the stroke of
the pen on paper is the phenomenon, that is, the outer
body. The action which produces the stroke, is the astral
body ; and, though physical, it is not a thing, but a tran-
sition or medium between the result and its cause, — between,
that is, the stroke and the idea. The idea, manifested in
the act, is not physical, but mental, and is the soul of the
act But even this is not the first cause. For the idea is
put forth by the will, and this is the spirit. Thus, we will
^ G)mp. Bhagavat-Gitay 1. xvL

Lect. II.] the substance of existence, 47

an idea, as God wills the Macrocosm. The potential body,
its immediate result, is the astral body ; and the phenomenal
body, or ultimate form, is the effect of motion and heat. If
we could arrest motion, we should have as the result, fire.
But fire itself also is material, since, like the earth or body,
it is visible to the outer sense. It has, however, many
degrees of subtlety. The astral, or odic^ substance, there-
fore, is not the soul itself, but is the medium or manifestor
of the soul, as the act is of the idea.

20. To pursue this explanation a little further. The act
is a condition of the idea, in the same way as fire, or incan-
descence, is the condition of any given object. Fire is, then,
the representative of that transitional medium termed the
Astral body ; as Water — the result of the combined inter-
action of Wisdom the Mother, or Oxygen, and Justice the
Father, or Hydrogen — is of the Soul. Air, which is pro-
duced by the mixture — not combination — of Wisdom and
Force (Azoth), represents the Spirit — One in operation, but
ever Twain in constitution. Earth is not, properly speaking,
an element at all. She is the result of the Water and the
Air, fused and crystallised by the action of the Fire ; and
her rocks and strata are either aqueous or igneous. Fire,
the real maker of the body, is, as we have seen, a mode and
condition, and not a true element. The only real, true, and
permanent elements, therefore, are Air and Water, which
are, respectively, as Spirit and Soul, Will and Idea, Father
and Mother. And out of these are made all the elements
of earth by the aid of the condition of Matter, which is,
interchangeably, Heat and Motion. Wisdom, Justice, and
Force, or Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Azote, are the three out
of which the two true elements are produced.

21. Material body, astral fluid or sideral body, soul, and
spirit, all these are one in then: essence. And the first

THE PERFECT WAY.

three are dlfferentialities of polarisation. The fourth is
God's Self. When the Gods — the Elohim or Powers o\
the Hebrews — put forth the world, they put forth substance
with its three potentialities, but all in the condition ol
"odic" light. This substantial light is called sometimes
the sideral or astral body, sometimes the perisoul, and this
because it is both. It is that which makes, and that which
becomes. It is fire, or the anima bruta (as distinguished
from the Divine), out of and by means of which body and
soul are generated. It is the fiery manifestation of the soul,
the magnetic factor of the body. It is space, it is substance,
it is foundation ; so that from it proceed the gases and the
minerals, which are unindividuated, and from it also the
organic world which is individuated. But man it could
not make ; for man is fourfold, and of the divine ether, the
province assigned by the Greeks to Zeus, the father of
Gods and men.

22. The outer envelope of the macrocosm and the micro-
cosm alike, the Earth or body, is thus in reality not elemen-
tal at all, but is a compound of the other three elements.
Its fertility is due to the water, and its transmutory or
chemical power to the fire. The water corresponds to the
soul, — the " best principle " of Pindar, — while fire is to the
body what spirit is to the soul. As the soul is without
divinity and life until vivified by the spirit, so the body —
earth or Matter — is without physical life in the absence of
fire. No Matter is really dead Matter, for the fire element
is in all Matter. But Matter would be dead, would cease,
that is, to exist as Matter, if motion were suspended, which
is, if there were no fire. For, as wherever there is motion
there is heat, and consequently fire, and motion is the
condition of Matter ; so without fire would be no Matter.
In other words. Matter is a mode of life.

Lect. II.] THE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE, 41

Part III.

23. We come now to the history and progress of th€
soul. Souls, we have said, work upwards from plants and
animals to man. In man they attain their perfection and
the power to dispense altogether with material bodies.
Their ability to do this is the cause and consequence o\
their perfection. And it is the attainment of this that is
the object of the culture of the soul — the object, that is, of
religion. Spirit alone is good, is God. Matter is that
whereby spirit is limited, and is, therein, the cause of evil;
for evil is the limitation of good. Wherefore to escape
from Matter and its limitations, and return to the condition
of spirit, is to be superior to the liability to evil.

24. Formerly the way of escape for human souls was
more open than now, and the path clearer. Because,
although ignorance of intellectual things abounded, especi-
ally among the poorer folk, yet the knowledge of divine
things, and the light of faith, were stronger and purer.
The anima hiiia^ or earthly mind, was less strongly defined
and fixed, so that the anima divifia, or heavenly mind, sub-
sisted in more open conditions. Wherefore the souls of
those ages of the world, not being enchained to earth as
they now are, were enabled to pass more quickly through
their avatars ; and but few incarnations sufficed where now
many are necessary. For in these days the mind's ignor-
ance is weighted by materialism, instead of being lightened
by faith ; and the soul is sunk to earth by love of the body,
by atheism, and by excessive care for the things of sense.
And being crushed thereby, it lingers long in the atmosphere
of earth, seeking many fresh lodgments, and so multiplies
bodies, the circumstances of each of which are influenced by
the use made of the previous one.

50 THE PERFECT WAY.

25. For every man makes his own fate, and nothing is
truer than that Character is Destiny. It is by their own
hands that the hnes of some are cast in pleasant places, of
some in vicious, and of some in virtuous ones, so that there
is nothing arbitrary or unjust. But in what manner soever
a soul conduct itself in one incarnation, by that conduct, by
that order of thought and habit, it builds for itself its destiny
in a future incarnation. For the soul is enchained by these
pre-natal influences, which irresistibly force it into a new
nativity at the time of such conjunction of planets and signs
as oblige it into certain courses and incline it strongly thereto-
But if the soul oppose itself to these influences and adopt
some other course, — as it well may to its own real advantage,
— it brings itself under a " curse " for such period as the
planets and ruling signs of that incarnation have power.
But though this means misfortune in a worldly sense, it is
true fortune for the soul in a spiritual sense. For the soul
is therein striving to atone and make restitution for the evil
done in its own past ; and thus striving, it advances towards
higher and happier conditions. Wherefore man is, strictly,
his own creator, in that he makes himself and his conditions,
according to the tendencies he encourages. The process of
such reformation, however, may be a long one. For,
tendencies encouraged for ages cannot be cured in a single
life-time, but may require ages for their cure. And herein
is a reflection to make us as patient towards the faults of
others, as it ought to make us impatient of our own.

26. The doctrine of the soul is embodied in the parable
of the Talents. Into the soul of the individual is breathed
the Spirit of God, divine, pure, and without blemish. It is
God. And the individual has, in his earth-life, to nourish
that Spirit and feed it as a flame with oil. When we put
oil into a lamp, the essence passes into and becomes flame.

Lect. II.] THE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE. 51

So is it with the soul of him who nourishes the Spirit. It
grows gradually pure and becomes Spirit. By this spirit
the body is enlightened as a lamp by the flame within it.
Now, the flame is not the oil, for the oil may be there
without the light ; yet the flame cannot be there without the
oil. The body, then, is the lamp-case, into which the oil is
poured ; and this, the oil, is the soul, a fine and combustible
fluid ; and the flame is the Divine Spirit, which is not born
of the oil, but is communicated by the hand of God. We
may quench this Spirit utterly, and thenceforward we shall
have no immortality ; but when the lamp-case breaks, the
oil will be spilt on the earth, and a few fumes will for a time
arise from it, and then it will expend itself, leaving at last
no trace. Thus, as in the parable of the Talents, where
God has given five talents, man pays back ten ; or he pays
back nothing, and perishes.

27. Some oils are finer and more combustible than
others. The finest is that of the soul of the poet ; and in
fuch a medium the flame of God's Spirit burns more clearly
and powerfully and brightly, so that sometimes mortal eyes
can hardly endure its lustre. Of such a one the soul is filled
with holy rapture. He sees as no other man sees ; and the
atmosphere about him is enkindled. His soul becomes
transmuted into flame ; and when the lamp of his body is
shattered, his flame mounts and soars, and is united to the
Divine Fire.*

Part IV.

28. We come to treat of that from which the soul of the
individual proceeds, and of which it consists. For, as al-
ready observed, it is upon the nature of this that our poten-

' See Appendices, No. IX.

THE PREFECT WAY,

tialities depend. Let us, ihen, for a while, ignoring the
universe of things^ cast our minds backward to the point
wherein, prior to Existence, substance necessarily subsists
alone and undifferendate, and pure Being is all.

29. That which subsists before the beginning of things,
is necessarily the potentiality of things. This necessarily is
homogeneous. As the Substance of things, and pervaded
by Life, it is Living Substance ; and being homogeneous, it
is One. But, consisting of Life and Substance, it is Twain.
Constituting the life and substance of Persons, it is neces-
sarily personal ; and being self-subsistent, infinite, eternal,
and personal, it is God ; and God is Twain in One. By
virtue of the potency of this duality, God subsists and
operates. And every monad of God's substance possesses
the potency of Twain. Wherever are Life and Substance,
there is God. Wherever God is, there is Being ; and wher-
ever Being is, there is God ; for God is Being. The uni-
verse is Existence, that is, God manifested. Prior to the
universe, God subsisted unmanifest. Subsistence and
Existence, these are the two terms which denote respec-
tively God in God's Self, and God in Creation.

30. Before the beginning of things, the great and in-
visible God alone subsisted. There was no motion, nor
darkness, nor space, nor matter. There was no other than
God, the One, the Uncreate, the Self-subsistent, Who sub-
sisted as invisible Light.

31. God is Spirit, God is Life, God is Mind, God is the
Subject and Object of mind: at once the thought, the
thinker, and that which is thought of God is positive and
personal Being ; the potential Essence of all that is or can
be ; the one and only Self; that alone in the universe which
has the right to say " I." Wherever a Presence is, there is
God ; and where God is not, is no Being.

Lect. II.] THE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE, 53

32. In God subsist, in absolute plenitude and perfect
equilibrium, all qualities and properties which, opposed to
and yet corresponding with each other, constitute the ele-
ments masculine and feminine of existence. God is perfect
will and perfect love, perfect knowledge and perfect wisdom,
perfect intelligence and perfect sympathy, perfect justice
and perfect mercy, perfect power and perfect goodness.
And from God, as original and abstract humanity, proceeds
the derived and concrete humanity which, when perfected,
manifests God. God is light, truth, order, harmony, reason;
and God's works are illumination, knowledge, understanding,
love, and sanity. And inasmuch as anything is absolute,
strong, perfect, true, insomuch it resembles God and is God.
Perfect and complete from eternity, God is beyond possi-
bility of change or development. Development pertains
only to the manifestation of God in creation. As God is
one, so is God's method one, and without variation or
shadow of turning. God works from within outwards ; for
God's kingdom is within, being interior, invisible, mystic,
spiritual. And God's Spirits, the Spirits of the Invisible
Light, are Seven : — the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of under-
standing, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of power, the spirit
of knowledge, the spirit of righteousness, and the spirit of
divine awfulness. These are the Powers, or Elohim, of
God. They are co-equal and co-eternal. Each has in it-
self the nature of the whole. Each is a perfect entity. Of
them all is the whole of God's substance pervaded. And
in their individual manifestations they are the Gods.

33. In God, before the beginning, all things visible and
invisible were potential ; and of God's fulness have we all
received. Before the beginning negation was not There
was no other than God.

34. As Living Substance, God is One. As Life and

54 THE PERFECT WAY,

Substance, God is Twain. He is the Life, and She is the
Substance. And to speak of Her, is to speak of Woman in
her supremest mode. She is not " Nature ; " Nature is the
manifestation of the qualities and properties with which,
under suffusion of the Life and Spirits of God, Substance is
endowed. She is not Matter ; but is the potential essence
of Matter. She is not Space ; but is the within of space,
its fourth and original dimension, that from which all pro-
ceed, the containing element of Deity, and of which space
is the manifestation. As original Substance, the substance
of all other substances, She underlies that whereof all things
are made ; and, like life and mind, is interior, mystical,
spiritual, and discernible only when manifested in operation.
In the Unmanifest, She is the Great Deep, or Ocean, of
Infinitude, the Principium or Arche, the heavenly Sophia,
or Wisdom, Who encircles and embraces all things; of
Whom are dimension and form and appearance ; Whose veil
is the astral fluid, and Who is. Herself, the substance of all
souls.

35. On the plane of manifestation, as the Soul macro-
cosmic and microcosmic. She appears as the Daughter,
Mother, and Spouse of God. Exhibiting in a perfect
Humanity the fulness of the life she has received of God,
she is mystically styled the Blessed Virgin Mary, and in
token of her Divine Motherhood and heavenly derivation
and attributes, is represented as clad in celestial azure, and
bearing in Her arms the infant Man, in whom, regenerate
and reborn of Her own immaculate substance, the universe
IS redeemed. In Her subsist inherently all the feminine
qualities of the Godhead. As Venus, the brightest of the
mystic Seven who represent the Elohim of God, She corres-
ponds to the third, the spirit of counsel, in that counsel is
wisdom, and love and wisdom are one. Thus, in mystical

Lect. II.] THE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE. 55

art She is portrayed as Aphrodite the Sea-Queen, and Mary
the Star of the Sea, and as the soul from whose pure intui-
tion of God proceeds the perfected man. Correspondingly,
in mystical science She appears as Sodium, or salt, whose
ray in the spectrum, as the place of Venus among the
planets, is the third, whose light is the brightest, and whose
colour is the yellow. Among the metals, copper is dedi-
cated to Venus. For of copper the crystals are the deep
sea-blue. And, inasmuch as She, as love, is the enlightener,
and as salt the purifier, and the pure in heart see God, so
is its sulphate a balm for ailing eyes. As Pallas or Minerva,
She is " Our Lady of Victories," adversary of demons and
dragons, wearing the panoply of heaven, and the insignia of
wisdom and righteous war. As Isis or Artemis, She is pre-
eminently the Initiator, and the Virgin clothed in white,
standing on the Moon, and ruling the waters.

36. Also is She " Mother of Sorrows," whose bitterness
pervades all things below; and only by her salting with
affliction, purification by trial, and purchase of wisdom by
dear-bought experience, is the perfection that is of Her
attained. Nevertheless She is also " Mother of Joys,"
since Her light is gilded by the solar rays ; and of Her
pain and travail as the soul in the individual, comes the
regeneration of Her children. And She is for them no
more a sea of bitterness when once their warfare with evil
has been accomplished ; for then is She " our Lady, Glory
of the Church triumphant." Thus in the Microcosm.

37. In the Macrocosm She is that Beginning or Wisdom
wherein God makes the heavens and the earth ; the sub-
stantial waters upon whose face He, the Energising Will,
moves at every fresh act of creation, and the ark or womb
from which all creatures proceed. And it is through the
*' gathering together," or coagulation, of Her " waters," that

56 THE PERFECT WAY,

the " dry land " of the earth or body, which is Matter, ap-
pears. For She is that spiritual substance which, polaris-
ing interiorly, is — in the innermost — God ; and coagulating
exteriorly, becomes — in the outermost — Matter. And She,
again, it is, who as the soul of humanity, regaining full in-
tuition of God, overwhelms the earth with a flood of Her
waters, destroying the evil and renewing the good, and
bearing unharmed on Her bosom the elect few who have
suffered Her to build them up in the true image of God.
Thus to these is She " Mother of the Living."

38. And as, on the plane physical, man is not Man —
but only Boy, rude, froward, and solicitous only to exert
and exhibit his strength — until the time comes for him to
recognise, appreciate, and appropriate Her as the woman ;
so on the plane spiritual, man is not Man — but only Ma-
terialist, having all the deficiencies, intellectual and moral,
the term implies — until the time comes for him to re-
cognise, appreciate, and appropriate Her as the Soul, and,
counting Her as his better half, to renounce his own ex-
clusively centrifugal impulsions, and yield to Her centripetal
attractions. Doing this with all his heart, he finds that
She makes him, in the highest sense, Man. For, adding
to his intellect Her intuition. She endows him with that
true manhood, the manhood of Mind. Thus, by Her aid
obtaining cognition of substance, and from the phenomenal
fact ascending to the essential idea, he weds understanding
to knowledge, and attains to certitude of truth, completing
thereby the system of his thought

39. Rejecting, as this age has done, the soul and her in-
tuition, man excludes from the system of his humanity the
very idea of the woman, and renounces his proper manhood.
An Esau, he sells, and for a mess of pottage, his birthright,
the faculty of intellectual comprehension. Cut oflf by his

Lect. II.] THE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE. 57

own act from the intuition of spirit, he takes Matter for
Substance; and sharing the Hmitations of Matter, loses
the capacity for knowledge. Calling the creature thus
self-mutilated, Man, the age declares by the unanimous
voice of its exponents, that Man has no instrument of
knowledge, and can know nothing with certainty, excepting
— for it is not consistent even in this — that he can know
nothing. Of this the age is quite sure, and accordingly —
complacent in its discovery — styles itself Agnostic. And,
as if expressly to demonstrate the completeness of its
deprivation in respect of all that goes to the making of
Man, it has recourse to devices the most nefarious and
inhuman on the pretext of thereby obtaining knowledge.

40. Whereas, had but the soul received the recognition
and honour her due, no pretext had remained for the abo-
minations of a science become wholly materialistic. For,
as the substance and framer of all things, she necessarily is
competent for the interpretation of all things. All that she
requires of man, is that she be duly tended and heeded.
No summit then will be too lofty of goodness or truth, for
man to reach by her aid. For, recognised in her plenitude,
she reveals herself in her plenitude ; and her fulness is the
fulness of God.

Part V.

41. The wise of old, who, exalting the Woman in them-
selves, attained to full intuition of God, failed not to make
recognition of Her in the symbols whereby they denoted
Deity. Hence the significance of the combination, uni-
versal from the first, of the symbols I, O, the unit and the
cipher, in the names designative of Diety. For, as the
Li^ae of force, and the Circle of comprehension and multipli-

58 THE PERFECT WAY,

cation, these two represent at once Energy and Space, Will
and Love, Life and Substance, Father and Mother. And
though two, they are one, inasmuch as the circle is but the
line turning round and following upon itself, instead of con-
tinuing into the abyss to expend its force in vain. Thus
Love is self-completion by the union of corresponding oppo-
sites in the same substance, and Sex has its origin in the
very nature of Deity. The principle of duality is for the
Kabbalists — the heirs and interpreters of Hebrew trans-
cendentalism— the true God of Hosts. Hence the univer-
sal use of its emblems in religious worship, wherein nations
gave the preference to the one or to the other, according to
their own characteristics.

42. While these symbols conjoined find expression in
the terms Jehovah or Yahveh, Jove, Jao, and numerous
similar appellations of Deity, the names Zeus, Dyaus,
Theos, and Deus represent but the forceful and masculine
element in the feminine azure sphere of the sky, the elec-
tric flash from the bosom of the heavens. That name of
Deity which, occurring in the Old Testament, is translated
the Almighty, namely, El Shaddai, signifies the Breasted
God, and is used when the mode of the Divine nature
implied, is of a feminine character. The arbitrary and
harsh aspect under which Jehovah is chiefly presented in
the Hebrew Scriptures, is due, not to any lack of the
feminine element either in His name or in His nature, or
to any failure on the part of the inspired leaders of Israel
to recognise this quality ; but to the rudimentary condi-
tion of the people at large, and their consequent amenability
to a delineation of the sterner side only of the Divine
character. It is according to the Divine order that this,
the masculine element of existence, should be the first to
find exercise. In the initiation of any system, the centri-

Lect. II.] THE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE, 59

fugal, or repellant, mode of force must precede the centri-
petal, or attractive, mode ; since only when the former
has accomplished its part, is there opportunity for the exer-
cise of the latter. True, the Love Who prompts to crea-
tion, is present from the beginning ; but She reserves the
manifestation of Herself until the subject of Her creative
impulsion is able to bear its part in the recognition of Her.
First Will, therefore, then Love ; first Projection, then
Recall ; first Expansion, then Contraction ; first Centrifugal,
then Centripetal; first Motor, then Sensory; first Intel-
lectual, then Intuitional ; first Sensible then Spiritual ; in
short, first Man and then Woman, — such invariably is the
order by which the Universal Heart of existence manifests
its essential dualism of nature and operation. And in the
sequence set forth in the Bible — the sequence, of Law and
Gospel, of Old Testament and New — the same rule prevails.
To the masculine function is accorded precedence in point
of time ; to the feminine, in point of dignity. And it is thus
that the manifestation of the Divine will and power in
Creation is followed by the manifestation of the Divine love
and wisdom in Redemption, and that the agent of this last
is always the *' woman." She it is who, by Her Intuition
of God, bruises the head of the Serpent of Matter, and Her
sons they are who get the victory over him.

43. Even where not yet recognised by men in general,
there were always some by whom the true character of
Deity in this respect could be discerned. And to these
are due all those utterances in which the mystical Scrip-
tures express the justice, mercy, long-suffering, and other
qualities of the Divine nature, which, in being moral and
of the soul, are feminine, and when manifested of the Spirit
as persons, take form, not as " Gods," but as " Goddesses."
They to whom this truth was known were prophets ; and

6o THE PERFECT WA\.

they spoke, not of that which appertains to any one
period, but of that which is eternal, though finding ex-
pression more or less palpable at various periods. And
that whereby they knew so much, was not the outer sense
and reason, but the inner perception and recollection — the
knowledge, that is, which the soul of the individual has of
her own larger self, the Soul of the Universal. For only
Soul can read Soul. And only he is a prophet who has ac-
quired the knowledge of his own soul. And that which
above all else the Soul tells him, is that God is, first and
foremost, Love; and that, inasmuch as God is the Substance
of humanity, whatever subsists in the Divine nature must,
in due course, first in the individual and next in the race,
find full expression and recognition.

44. If it be asked whether God can indeed find such
expression in man, and, if so, how so great a marvel comes
about, we reply that it is precisely the purpose of these
lectures to afford demonstration on both points. For the
object of the system under exposition in this, and no more,
no less. For that object is — as was the object of all sacred
mysteries, whether of our Bible or other — to enable man
anew so to develop the Soul, or Essential Woman, within
him, as to become, through Her, a perfect reflection of the
universal Soul, and made, therefore, in what, mystically, is
called the image of God.

45 An illustration will conduce to the comprehension of
this. We are, let us suppose, in a meadow covered with
grass and flowers. It is early morning, and everything
is bespangled with dew. And in each dew-drop is every-
thing reflected, from the sun itself down to the minutest
object. All reflect God. All is in every dew-drop. And
God is in each individual according to his capacity for
reflecting God. Each in his degree reflects God's image

Lect. II.] 7HE SUBSTANCE OF EXISTENCE, 6l

And the capcicity of each, and the degree of each, depend
upon the development and purity of his soul. The soul
that fully reflects the sun, becomes itself a sun, the
brightness of the Divine glory and the express image of the
Divine person.

46. Such, in all mystical Scriptures, has ever been the
mode in which perfected souls have been regarded. For,
in being the redeeming element in man, that whereby he
escapes from the dominion of spiritual darkness and
death, — from the limitations, that is, of an existence merely
material, — the soul is as a spiritual sun, corresponding in
all things with the solar orb. Wherefore all they who, by
virtue of their constituting for men a full manifestation of
the powers of the soul, have been to them as a redeeming
sun, — have been designated sungods, and invested with
careers corresponding to the apparent annual course of the
sun. Between the phenomena of this course and the
actual history of the perfected soul is an exact corre-
spondence, requiring for its recognition but due knowledge
of both. And it is because the soul's history is one, and
this a history corresponding with the sun's, that all those
who have earned of their fellows the supreme title of
Saviour of men, have been invested with it, and represented
as having exhibited the same phenomena in their own lives.
Thus the history ascribed alike to Osiris, Zoroaster,
Krishna, Mithras, Pythagoras, Buddha, and Jesus, has not,
as sciolists vainly imagine, been plagiarised in one case
from another, or borrowed from some common source in
itself unreal ; but it has been lived, spiritually, by the men
themselves indicated by those names. And, being the
history of the soul of the Man Regenerate, it corresponds
to that of the sun,— the vitalising centre of the physical
system, — and has accordingly been described in terms

6a THE PERFECT WAY,

derived from the solar phenomena as indicated in the
zodiacal planisphere. Thus the soul's history is written in
the stars ; and the heavens are her chroniclers, and tell the
glory at once of her and of God. A Bible is always a
hieroglyph of the soul. And the Zodiac is simply the first
and most stupendous of Bibles, — a Bible which, like all
other Bibles, was written by men who, attaining to the
knowledge of their own souls, attained to that of all souls,
and of God, Who is the Life and Substance of souls.

47. And these were men who followed steadfastly that
Perfect Way, which is in the power of each, according to
his degree, to follow, until, by the development of their own
natural potentialities, they attained to that which, mystically
is called the Finding of Christ. And this is the perfection
which, in that it is God, is its own exceeding great reward.
For the " gift of God is eternal life." As God is One, so
is the soul one ; and these are One also both in nature and
method. All that is in God as universal subsists also in
God as individual. Wherefore God is nothing that man is
not And what man is, that God is likewise. God with-
holds nothing of God from man. For " God is Love," and
•* Love hath nothing of her own."

48. This is the doctrine of the Soul, mystically called the
Woman. It is a doctrine which, by showing men that of
which they are made, and therefore that which they have
it in them to be, makes them, when they receive it, heartily
ashamed of being what, for the most part, they are.^

* See Appendices, No. I., Part i.

LECTURE THE THIRD.

THE VARIOUS ORDERS OF SPIRITS; AND HOW TO
DISCERN THEM.

Part I.

I. We have spoken of the Soul and of Spirit. We come
now to speak of Spirits; for the understanding of these
also is necessary to a true doctrine concerning Existence.
But though speaking especially of Spirits, it will be neces-
sary to refer also to Souls ; for though Spirits, properly so
called, have not souls. Souls have spirits. In either case,
however, we shall treat mainly of the Unembodied, or the
Disembodied. And as the region or sphere which is
immediately contiguous to the Material, and which we
ourselves enter upon quitting the Material, is the Astral,
it is this, and its occupants, which will first engage our
attention.

2. To understand fully the place and value of this sphere,
it is necessary to have in the mind a clear conception of
the places and values of all the spheres which are com-
prised in and which constitute that manifestation of Being
which is termed Existence. To this end we will commence
with the following succinct recapitulation. The Spirit and
Soul, which are original life and substance, are Divine and
uncreated. The astral and material bodies are the
"created" — that is, the manifested — part. The astral —
which is called also the sideral, the odic, the magnetic, the

THE PERFECT WAY,

fiery — b fluidic, and constitutes the bond between the soul
and the material body. It is the original body, being tha>
which makes and that which becomes. The original, per
manent individual consists of soul and spirit; and when
manifested it is by means of the astral or fluidic body, of
which the material or fixed body is the outer manifestation
— the manifestation, as it is called, in ultimates.

3. Every creation, or complete manifested entity, whe-
ther it be macrocosmic or microcosmic, is a compound of
two dualisms, which are respectively celestial and terres-
trial, or spiritual and material. The celestial, or kingdom
of heaven, which consists of soul and spirit, is within.
And the terrestrial, or kingdom of this world, which con-
sists of astral body — the seat of the anima bruta — and of
phenomenal body, is without. Of these two dualisms, each
is to the other the Beyond. And between them, saving
only where one and the same Divine Will — the will which
has its seat in, and which is, the Spirit — pervades the
whole being, is antagonism. They are respectively the
spiritual man and the natural man. But in the suffusion
of the entire personality thus constituted, by one and the
same Divine Will, consists what mystically is termed the
At-one-ment, or reconciliation between man and God, but
which is commonly callad the Atonement.

t^ As the whole is, thus, fourfold, so, with the excep-
tion of the spirit, are the parts. The external, material
body, whether of planet or of man, is fourfold in that it
is gaseous, mineral, vegetable, animal. The astral body, or
perisoLil, is fourfold, being magnetic, purgatorial, limbic,
cherubic, — terms presently to be explained. The soul is
fourfold, namely, elemental, instinctive, vital, rational
And the spirit is threefold, or triune, because there is
no external to spirit. Being threefold, it is the Essence,

Lect. III.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS. 65

the Father, the Word; and is desirous, willing, obedient
And being God, it is one, because God is one. And thus
the magical number, mystically called the number of Per-
fection and of the Woman, the number Thirteen, derives
its sanctity from the constitution of the perfected individual

5. The astral sphere, zone, or circulus, — variously called
the perisoul, the magnetic, sideral, and odic fluid or body, —
is the same with the "wheel" of Ezekiel, of which the
four living creatures are the four elemental spirits. It
contains four orders of entities, which are represented by
four magnetic circuli or wheels encircling the earth, and
full of lives. The highest and uppermost of these circuli
is that of the elemental spirits or " winged creatures" ; the
second is that of the souls ; the third is that of the shades ;
and the fourth and lowest is that of the magnetic spirits
commonly called astrals.

6. These circuli correspond to Air, Water, Earth, and
Fire, beginning at the outer and uppermost and going
inwards and downwards. The magnetic emanations, or
astrals, are under the dominion of the Fire. They are
not souls, or divine personalities ; they are simply emana-
tions or phantasms, and have no real being.

7. Every event or circumstance which has taken place
upon the planet, has an astral counterpart or picture in the
magnetic light ; so that, as already said, there are actually
ghosts of events as well as of persons. The magnetic
existences of this circle are the shades, or manes, of past
times, circumstances, thoughts, and acts of which the planet
has been the scene ; and they can be evoked and conjured.
The appearances on such occasions are but shadows left
on the protoplasmic mirror. This order, then, corresponds
to that of Fire, and is the fourth and lowest.

8. The next circulus, the third, with its spirits, corre-

66 THE PERFECT WAY.

spends to Earth, and contains the shades, Lares and
Penates, of the dead. These are of many different kinds.
Some are mere shades, spiritual corpses, which will soon
be absorbed by the fourth circulus just described and be-
come mere magnetic phantoms. Some are " ghosts," or
astral souls not containing the divine particle, but repre-
senting merely the " earthly minds " of the departed.
These are in Limbo or the "Lower Eden." Others are
really Souls, and of the celestial order, or a?ima divina, who
are in Purgatory, being bound to the astral envelope, and
unable to quit it. They are sometimes called "earth-bound
spirits," and they often suffer horrible torments in their
prison; not because this circulus is itself a. f /ace of torment,
but because to the anima divina the unredeemed body,
whether material or astral, is a " house of bondage " and
chamber of ordeal. The strong wills, love, and charity of
those on earth may relieve these souls and lessen the time
of their purgatorial penance. Of some of them the reten-
tion is due to wilful ignorance, of others to sensuality, and
of others to crimes of violence, injustice, and cruelty.

9. This sphere is also inhabited by a terrible class, that
of the " devils," some of whom are of great power and
malice. Of these the souls are never set free ; they are in
what is called " Hell." But they are not immortal. For,
after a period corresponding to their personal vitality and
the strength of their rebellious wills, they are consumed,
and perish for ever. For a soul may be utterly gross at
last, and deprived of all spirit of the Divine order, and yet
may have so strong a vitality or mortal spirit of its own,
that it may last hundreds of years in low atmospheres.
But this occurs only with souls of very strong will, and
generally of indomitable wickedness. The strength of
their evil will, and the determination to be wicked, keep

Lect. III.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS. 67

them alive. But, though devils, they are mortal, and must
go out at last Their end is utter darkness. They cease
to exist. Meanwhile they can be evoked by incantation.
But the practice is of the most dangerous and wicked
kind ; for the endeavour of these lost spirits is to ruin
every soul to which they have access.

10. In the sense ordinarily understood, there is no per-
sonal Devil. That which, mystically, is called the Devil,
is the negation and opposite of God. And whereas God
is I AM, or positive Being, the Devil is NOT. He is
not positive, not self-subsistent, not formulate. God is all
these ; and the Devil, in being the opposite of these, is none
of them. God, as has been said, is Light, Truth, Order,
Harmony, Reason ; and God's works are illumination,
knowledge, understanding, love, and sanity. The Devil,
therefore, is darkness, falsehood, discord, and ignorance ;
and his works are confusion, folly, division, hatred, and
delirium. He has no individuality and no being. For he
represents the Not-being. Whatever God /V, that the
Devil is not. Wherever God's kingdom is not, the Devil
reigns.

11. It is the principle of Not-being which, taking per-
sonality in man, becomes to him the Devil. For by divest-
ing him of his divine qualities, actual or potential, it makes
him in the image of God's opposite, that is, a devil. And
of such a one the end is destruction, or, as the Scriptures
call it, eternal death. And this of necessity from the nature
of the case. For evil has not in itself the element of self-
perpetuation. God alone is Life or the principle of eternal
generation. And, as Life, God comprises all things neces-
sary to life, to its production, that is, to its perfection, and
to its perpetuation. And God is Spirit, whereof the anti-
thetical ultimate is Matter. The Devil is that which gives

6S THE PERFECT WAY

to Matter the pre-eminence over Spirit. That is, since
there is nothing but God's creation to be set in opposition
to God, the Devil exalts the mere material of creation in
the place of God. Of such preference for Matter over
Spirit, for appearance over reality, for Seeming over Being,
the end is the forfeiture of reality, and therein, of Being.
In representing, therefore, the contest between good and
evil, — a contest corresponding to that between light and
darkness, — creation represents the contest between Being
and Not-being. To " give place to the Devil," is thus, in
its ultimate result, to renounce Being. And, as a free
agent, man is able to do this. God, while giving to all
the opportunity and choice, compels no one to remain in
Being. God accepts only willing service ; and there is no
such thing as compulsory salvation. God — that is Good,
— must be loved and followed for the sake of God and
Good, not through fear of possible penalties, or hope of
possible rewards.

12. Now the sign, above all others, whereby to dis-
tinguish the Devil, is this : — God is, first and foremost.
Love. The Devil, therefore, is, before all else, Hate. He
is to be known, then, first by the limitation, and next by
the negation of Love.

13. The Devil is not to be confounded with "Satan,"
though they are sometimes spoken of in Scripture as if they
were identical. The truth concerning " Satan " belongs to
those greater mysteries which have always been reserved
from general cognition. ^

14. Notwithstanding that the Devil is the Non-entity
above described, he is the most potent, and, indeed, sole
power of evil. And no one is in so great danger from him,
as he who does not believe in him. The whole function

* See Appendices, No. XV,

Lect. III.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS. 69

of the Christ is to oppose, and rescue men from him. And
therefore it is written, " For this cause is Christ manifest,
that he might destroy the works of the devil."

15. But, be it remembered, though there is no self-sub-
sistent, positive evil being, — such as the Devil is ordinarily
presented, — but only the negation of God, — which is to
God what darkness is to light, and the outermost void
to the solar system, — there are evil spirits, the souls of bad
men on their downward way to final extinction. And these
are wont to associate themselves with persons in the flesh
for whom they have affinity. And they do this partly in
order to gratify their own evil propensities by inciting to
wickedness and mischief, and partly to obtain from them
the vitality necessary to prolong their own existence. For,
as their career approaches its end, they become so low in
vitality that a sentence of expulsion from the person in
whom they have taken refuge may involve their immediate
extinction, unless they can find other location, — a con-
tingency obviously contemplated in the case of the Gadarene
demoniacs. The ailments, physical or mental, of men are
sometimes caused or aggravated by extraneous malignant
entities of this order. And occultists hold that they even
share with the elementals the power of inducing the con-
ditions under which sudden storms and other elemental
disturbances occur. Evil spirits have no chief, no organi-
sation or solidarity ; nothing that corresponds to God. The
worse they are, the lower and the nearer to extinction. The
conditions which attract them are due to men themselves,
and may be the result of prenatal misconduct.

16. The next and second circulus of the planet — that
which corresponds to the Water — is the kingdom of the
souls which are mystically described as being in " Brahma's
boscm." These are the purified who are at rest before

7© THE PERFECT WAY,

seeking re-incarnation. This circulus is not confined to
human souls. Therein are all creatures, both great and
small, but without " fiery " envelope. Between these and
the kingdom of the earth-bound souls in prison to their own
astral bodies, a great gulf is fixed ; and they cannot pass
from one to the other save on accomplishing their purgatioiL
" Thou co?nesi not out thence until thou hast paid the last
mite" The souls in the second circulus, however, though
purified, are still " under the elements." For purification
is not regeneration, though a necessary step towards it.
And not being ready for transmutation into spirit, they
must, sooner or later, seek fresh incarnations. They are,
therefore, still in the sphere of the planet. Whereas the
regenerated or transmuted souls have passed beyond the
astral zone altogether, and it contains no trace of them.
This second circulus was placed under the dominion of the
sea-god Poseidon, because, first, being protoplasmic and
devoid of any limiting principle, water corresponds to the
substance of the Soul. Next, it is the baptismal symbol ol
purification from materiaUty. And, thirdly, it is the source
of life and the contrary of fire. " Let Lazarus dip the tip
of his fifiger in water ^ and cool my tongue" cries the soul in
the prison of the " fiery " body to the soul in the zone ol
the water.

17. To the first and highest circulus belong the spirits
of the elements, which pervade all things, not only of the
Ik^acrocosmic planet, but of the Microcosm man. Of these
elementals, the air-spirits preside over the function of re-
spiration, and the organs which accomplish it. The water-
spirits preside over the humours and secretions of the body,
and in particular the blood. The earth-spirits have for their
domain the various tissues of the body. And animal heat,
assimilation, and nutrition are dependent on the fire-spirits.

Lect. III.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS. 71

18. An initiate of the highest grade, one who has power
to hush the storm and still the waves, can, through the
same agency, heal the disorders and regenerate the func-
tions of the body. And he does this by an impulsion of
will acting on the magnetic atmosphere, every particle of
which has a spirit capable of responding to the human will.

19. The common phrase, "Spirits of the dead," is in-
correct. There are only shades of the dead and souls of
the dead. But these last are of two kinds, the earthly, or
antma brtiiay and the heavenly, or anhna divina. The
shade, larva, or spectre — which is the outer element of the
ghost — is always dumb. The true " ghost " consists of the
exterior and earthly portion of the soul, that portion which,
being weighted with cares, attachments and memories
merely mundane, is detached by the soul and remains in
the astral sphere, an existence more or less definite and
personal, and capable of holding, through a Sensitive, con-
verse with the living. It is, however, but as a cast-off
vestment of the soul, and is incapable of endurance as
ghost. The true soul and real person, the anima divina,
parts at death with all those lower affections which would
have retained it near its earthly haunts, and either passes
on at once to higher conditions, attaining its perfection by
post mortem evolution, or continues its peregrinations in a
new body. This, the true soul, may, by Divine permission,
and on special occasions, communicate with the living, re-
turning for that purpose from the purgatorial world ; but
such an event is of the rarest and most solemn kind. Re-
incarnation pertains only to the true soul. The astral soul
or fluidic envelope, does not again become incarnate; so
that they are not in error who assert that a person is never
twice incarnate. That which transmigrates is the essential
ge^ra of the individual, the seat of all his divine potencies.

ya THE PERFECT WAY.

In some this exists as a mere dim spark, and in others as
a luminous sun.

20. Metempsychosis, in its strict sense, consists in the
overshadowing of a soul already incarnate, by one which
has completed its transmigrations, and become freed from
Matter and all planetary bonds. This divine overshadow-
ing differs both in kind and in degree from those astral
visitations which are familiar to so many under the names
of " guides," and " controls," and which, as will presently
be shown, are often not even "ghosts," but mere astral
mirages of the seer or the invoker. When not of this kind,
the control is either of the spirits known as Elementals, or
of the shades or larvce of the recently dead, the Manes,
Lares, and Penates of the Latins. The river Lethe, of
which the dead are said to drink in order to obtain oblivion
of their past before returning to new earth-bodies, repre-
sents the process of separation between the a?ii//ia divina
and anitna bruta, whereby the former doffs for a time the
garment of its memory. Souls may, according to circum-
stances, either become re-incarnate immediately after such
divestment of their astral part, or proceed to accomplish
their purification in the purgatorial world.^

21. It is as penance or expiation that souls re-descend
from the human into the animal form. This return occurs
through the forfeiture of the divine-human spirit, so that
the spirit itself does not incur dishonour. True, the
penance involves disgrace ; but the disgrace is not in the
penance, but in the sin through which the need for the
penance is incurred The man who sullies his humanity
by cruelty or impurity, is already below the grade of
humanity ; and the form which his soul assumes is the
mere natural consequence of that degradation. Form is

* See Appendices, No. II.

Lect. III.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS. 73

the expression of qualities. These are dependent upon
the condition of substance, so that the soul takes neces-
sarily its form according to its condition. And this is
dependent upon the will or affections of the individual.
Wherefore it is an error to hold " Nature " responsible for
fierce and horrible creatures. All that " Nature " does, is to
enable creatures to take form according to the image in
which they have made themselves by the tendencies they
have voluntarily encouraged. She allows that which is in-
terior to the individual to manifest itself exteriorly. Were
this not so, no character of any creature could be known
by its appearance. The " mark set upon Cain " has its
counterpart in the stripe of the tiger ; and the Crustacea
denote selfish spirits, who are hard exteriorly to all the
world, and soft only interiorly to themselves. The adept
in Psychology can tell whether the soul of an animal is
on its upward or its downward path. He can discern also
the animal beneath the human form, when the progressing
soul has not yet wholly shed the animal nature ; for the ex-
terior form of humanity is reached in full while its interior
reality is reached in part only. Thus, for the adept there
are more animals than men to be seen in the streets of a city,
despite the humanity of their forms. The individual is
already partly human before it has ceased to wear the form
of a rudimentary man, that is, of an animal The matrix
can bring forth only its own kind, in the semblance of the
generators ; and as soon as the human is attained, even in
the least degree, the soul has power to put on the body of
humanity. Thus, too, the adept can see the human shape
in creatures under torture in the physiological laboratory.
He can discern the potential form of a man, with limbs
and lineaments resembling those of his tormentors, hidden
ivithin the outward form as a child in its mother's womb,

74 THE PERFECT WAY,

and writhing and moaning under the lacerations of the
knife. And he sees also the tiger and the devil rapidly
developing within the still human forms of the torturers,
and knows certainly that to such grades they will descend
on quitting the human. For he knows, having learned 't
by the long experiences of his own soul, that God, who
is before all else Love, is also before all else Justice, and
this because God is Love ; for Justice is Sympathy,
Wherefore, by the inexorable law of Justice, he who makes
existence a hell for others, prepares, inevitably, a hell for
himself, wherein he will be his own devil, the inflictor of
his own torments. His victims will, indeed, find compen-
sation at the Divine hands ; but for him will be no escape,
no alleviation, until " he has paid the last mite." For the
pitiless, and for the pitiless alone, there is no pity. Such,
the adept of spiritual science knows absolutely, is the doom
that awaits both the tormentor himself, and, in their degree,
those who, by accepting the results of his practice, consent
to his method.

22. That which leads to the loss of the soul, is not isolated
crime, however heinous, or even a repetition of this ; but a
continued condition of the heart, in which the will of the
individual is in persistent opposition to the Divine Will ;
for this is a state in which repentance is impossible. The
condition most favourable to salvation, and speedy emanci-
pation from successive incarnations, is the attitude of willing
obedience, — freedom and submission. The great object to
be attained is emancipation from the body, — the redemption,
that is, of Spirit from Matter.

Lect. III.l THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS. 75

Part II.

23. We will now speak particularly of that order of spirits
by which, ordinarily, " mediums " are " controlled " ; or,
more correctly, sensitives are influenced, since these spirits,
which are called astrals, have no force, and cannot exercise
the least control. Born of the emanations of the body, they
occupy the perisoul, or fluidic astral and magnetic bond
which unites the soul to the body.

24. In this fluid, which is the magnetism of the earth,
— the lowest circulus of the Fire, — and which may be more
clearly denoted by the term latent lights — analogous to
latent heat, — take place those changes, currents, and modi-
fications which result and are expressed in the phenomena
— of late days familiar to numbers — produced by astral
spirits. Through this fluidic element are passed two cur-
rents, one refracted from above, and the other reflected
from below, — one being celestial, as coming direct from the
spirit, and the other terrestrial, as coming from the earth
or body ; and the adept must know how to distinguish the
ray from the reflection. When a medium, or sensitive,
passes into the negative, and thence into the somnambulic
state, the mind of such sensitive is controlled by the will of
the magnetiser. The will of this second person directs and
controls the procession and expression of the image per-
ceived. But the magnetiser, unless an adept, will not be
able to discern the true origin of the images evoked.

25. Now, in this magnetic sphere are two orders of
existences. Of these orders, one is that— already men-
tioned— of the shades of the dead ; the other consists of
tefleds of the living; and the difficulty of distinguishing
between these two orders is, to the uninitiated, a source of
error Error of a more serious kind arises through the

76 THE PERFECT WAY.

complex character of the astral region itself, and the variety
of the grades of spirits by which every division is tenanted.
Spirits of the sub-human order, moreover, are wont, under
control of the wish of their invokers, to personate spirits of
a higher grade.

26. It will thus be seen that the elements of deception
are, broadly, twofold. In the first place, to enter the astral
region, is not to enter the celestial ; and the ray reflected
from below, and which bears the imprint of the body, may
easily be mistaken for the ray refracted from above, and
which alone is pure and divine. In the second place, the
astral region itself contains various orders of spirits, of
which some only bear relation to actual souls, and the
others consist of phantasmal and illusory reflects. These
latter — the astral spirits properly so called — are in no
cases entities, or intelligent personalities ; but are reflections,
traces, echoes, or footprints of a soul which is passing, or
which has passed, through the astral medium; or else they
are reflections of the individual himself who beholds or who
evokes them, and may thus represent an equal compound
of both sensitive and magnetiser.

27. Now, the atmosphere with which a man surrounds
himself — his soul's respiration — afifects the astral fluid.
Reverberations of his own ideas come back to him. His
soul's breath colours and savours what a sensitive conveys
to him. But he may also meet with contradictions, with
a systematic presentation of doctrine or of counsels at
variance with his own personal views, through his mind not
being sufficiently positive to control all the manifestations
of the electric agent. The influence of the medium, more-
over, through which the words come, interposes. Or, as is
often the case, a magnetic battery of thought has over-
charged the element and imparted to it a certain current.

Leci. III.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS, 77

Thus, new doctrines are " in the air," and spread like wild-
fire. One or two strongly positive minds give the initiative,
and the impulse flies through the whole mass of latent
light, correspondingly influencing all who are in relation
with it.

28. The merely magnetic spirits are like mists which rise
from the damp earth of low-lying lands, or vapours in high
altitudes upon which if a man's shadow falls he beholds
himself as a giant. For these spirits invariably flatter and
magnify a man to himself, telling one that he is, or shall be,
a king, a Christ, or the wisest and most famous of mortals ;
and that if he will be wholly negative, and give himself
up entirely to them, suppressing his own intelligence and
moral sense, they will enable him to realise his utmost
ambition. Being born of the fluids of the body, they are
unspiritual and live of the body. And not only have they
no aspirations beyond the body, but they ignore, and even
deny, the existence of any sphere above their own. They
speak, indeed, of God, especially under the name of
Jehovah, but with complete ignorance of its meaning ; and
they insist on material renderings and applications of any
doctrine of which they may catch the terms. They are
profuse alike of promises and of menaces, and indulge
freely in prophecies. But when informed of their failures
they declare that even God cannot surely foresee the future,
but can judge only according to apparent probabilities. Of
contradictions in their own statements they are altogether
unconscious ; and be these gross and palpable as they may,
they remain wholly unabashed by the disclosure of them.
Especially are they bitter against the " Woman." For, in
her intuition of Spirit, they recognise their chief enemy.
And whenever they attach themselves either to a man or to
a woman, they make it their endeavour to exalt the masculine

78 THE PERFECT WAY,

or force element, of mind or body, at the expense of the
feminine element. And these, generally, are their signs.
Is there anything strong? they make it weak. Is there
anything wise? they make it foolish. Is there anything
sublime ? they distort and travesty it. And where suffered
to expatiate unchecked, they descend to blasphemy and
obscenity without measure, and incite to courses in turn
sensuous, vicious, malicious, or cruel, encouraging to gross
and luxurious Uving, — the flesh of animals, and stimulants
being especially favourable to their production and nurture.
They are the forms beheld in delirium, and are frequent
agents in producing the phenomena of hysteria. They are
the authors, too, of those hasty impulses by yielding to which
peojile do in a moment mischief which a Hfe-time cannot
efface or repair. And, as they live upon the vital spirits of
the? blood, they deplete the vital energy, and are as vampires
to those upon whom they fasten. They are able, moreover,
to carry elsewhere the knowledge they get from any one ; —
t*eing the "powers of the air" spoken of in Scripture, and
the " bird that carries the voice and tells the matter." For
the term rendered " bird " signifies a winged creature, and
implies an astral. Hence one of the reasons for observing
secrecy concerning Sacred Mysteries. For, by seeming to
have knowledge of these, the astrals are able to persuade
and mislead people, mixing up a little truth with dangerous
error, and getting the error accepted on the strength of the
truth, or of some Divine name or phrase with which they
associate it, themselves being ignorant of its import. Being
impersonal, they have no organon of knowledge, for this is
of Soul, and the astrals have no positive existence, but
subsist subjectively in human beings. Having no souls,
they are not individuals, and have no idea of right and
wrong, true and false, but, like a miiTor, reflect what comes

Lect. in.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS. 79

before them, and, in reflecting, reverse it. Catching any
prominent quality in a person's mind, they make the most
of it by reflecting and magnifying it. Hence they are not
to be heeded. We must heed only the God within. Of the
enormous ladder within us, at the apex of which is the
Absolute, these magnetic phantasmagoria are at the base.

29. Unable to grasp or conceive of anything beyond
the atmosphere of their own circle, the astral phantoms —
unless under the influence of a strongly positive mind —
deny altogether the existence of the upper dualism, which,
with the lower, constitutes man a fourfold being. They
assert, indeed, that man consists of body and soul ; but
they mean thereby the material body and earthly mind,
and represent these as constituting the man. The soul
and spirit, which are really the man, have for them no
existence; and they usually refuse, in consequence, to admit
the doctrine of Transmigration or Re-incarnation. For,
as they are aware, the body and perisoul perish, and the
anima bruta cannot transmigrate or become re-incarnate.
Their inability to recognise the soul and spirit, leads them
to deny the existence of any source of knowledge superior
to themselves, and to assert that they themselves are man's
iTue and only inspiring spirits and guardian angels. And
one of their favourite devices consists in building up, out
of the magnetic emanations of the individual, a form which
they present as his own " counterpartal angel " and divine
spirit, from whom, say they, he was separated in what
— affecting Scripture phraseology — they call the Adamic
period of his being, and by reunion with which he attains
his final perfection. In this they travesty at once the
doctrine of that divine marriage between soul and spirit,
which, occurring in the individual, constitutes his final
perfection, or Nirvana ; and the relations of the genius, oi

8o THE PERFECT WAY.

true guardian angel, with his client. For, being unintel-
ligent, they fail to perceive that perfection is to be attained,
not by accretion or addition from without, but only by
development or unfoldment from within. Thus the process
itself of regeneration, becomes altogether an absurdity in
their hands. And in this, as in all other matters, the
object of the astrals is to obtain all credit and support for
their own order, by substituting for the Spirit a spirit, and
this one of themselves.

30. It is to astral instigation, generally, that are due the
various communities and sects which have for their basis
some peculiar relation between the sexes. That modern
form of the cultus of what is called " Free Love," which
sets forth, not the human, but the female, body as the
temple of God, and with this couples the doctrine of
" counterpartal angels," is entirely of astral contrivance.
And so also is the notion, far from uncommon, that by
abjuring the ordinary marriage relation, and devoting her-
self wholly to her astral associate, a woman may, in the most
literal sense, become an immaculate mother of Christs. It
is to their materialisation of this and other doctrines, which
properly are spiritual only, — and, notably, as will by-and-by
be shown, of the doctrine of Vicarious Atonement, — that is
due the degradation of Christianity from a spiritual to a
materialistic, and therein to an idolatrous religion, and its
consequent failure, thus far, to accomplish its intended end.
But of this more on a future occasion. It is sufficient to
add here in this connection, that, not in doctrine only, but
ilso in practice, — as in the formation of habits of life, —
astral influence is always exerted in the direction of the
gross, the selfish, and the cruel. It is always the influence
under which men, whether they be conscious of it or not,
lower the standard of their conduct, and seek their own

1.ECT. III.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS. 8l

gratification at the cost of others. Of those hideous blots
upon modern life, the frequent sins of violence, greed, and
intemperance, the astrals are active promoters. And to
them is due in no small degree that extension of the
doctrine of vicarious sacrifice — originally their own in-
vention— from the sacerdotal to the social and scientific
planes, which has made of Christendom little else than a
vast slaughter-house and chamber of torture. No less
than the priest of a sacrificial religion, are the butcher, the
sportsman, and the vivisector, ministers to the astral in
man. Nevertheless, though thus indictable, these spirits
are not in themselves evil. They do but reflect and
magnify the evil which men harbour and encourage in
themselves.

31. It is characteristic of the astrals, that they always
strenuously insist on the most absolute passivity on the
part o^ ^^ose whom they influence or address. This con-
dition of unintelligent passivity must be carefully distin-
guished from the reasonable reflective state favourable to
divine communion, and called the "Night-timft of the
Soul." Such is the unsubstantiality of the astrals, thau
the smallest exercise of an adverse will throws them into
confusion and deprives them of the power of utterance.
They shun a person in whom the flame of the spirit burns
up straightly and ardently ; but where it spreads out and
is difl"used, they flock round him like moths. The more
negative the mind and weak the will of the person, the
more apt and ready he is to receive them. And the more
positive his mind and pronounced his will, — in the right
direction, — the more open he is to Divine communication.
The kingdom of the Within yields, not to indifference and
kiaction, but to enthusiasm and concentration. Wherefore
it is said, " To labour is to pray ; to ask is to receive ; to

82 THE PERFECT WAY.

knock is to have the door opened." When we think
inwardly, pray intensely, and imagine centrally, then we
converse with God. When we allow ourselves to be inert
and mechanically reflective, tlien we are at the mercy of the
astrals, and ready to accept any absurdity as divine truth.

32. The astrals, it will be useful to many to be assured,
not only cannot confer the Divine life, they cannot rise to
be partakers of it themselves. In describing them, the
exigencies of language compel the use of terms implying
personality. But it must be clearly understood that these
*• spirits " are mere vehicles, and are no more possessed of
independent volition or motive than is the electric current
by which telegraphic messages are conveyed, and which,
like them, is a medium of thought ; or than the air, which,
according to circumstances, transmits the germs of health
or of disease. Thus, although they are not intelligent
personalities, they are often the media of intelligent ideas,
and operate as means of communication between intelli-
gent personalities. Ideas, words, sentences, whole systems
of philosophy, may be borne in on the consciousness by
means of the currents of magnetic force, as solid bodies
are conveyed on a stream, though water is no intelligent
agent. The minutest cell is an entity, for it has the power
of self-propagation, which the astral has not.

33. Few are they, even of the highest orders of mind, who
have not at times fallen under astral influence, and with
disastrous results. And herein we have the key, not only
to the anomalies of various systems, otherwise admirable
of philosophy and religion, but also to those discordant
utterances of the most pious mystics, which have so sorely
perplexed and distressed their followers. When we have
named a Plato, a Philo, a Paul, a Milton, and a Boehme,
SIS conspicuous instances in point, enough will have been

Lect. III.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS, 83

said to indicate the vastness of the field to which the
suggestion applies. Few, indeed, are they who can always
find the force to penetrate through the astral and dwell
solely m the celestial. Hence, for the true ray refracted
from above, men mistake and substitute the false ray reflected
from below, foul with the taint of earth, and savouring of
the limitations of the lower nature, and, like the image in
the glass, exactly reversing the truth. Wherever we find
a systematic depreciation of woman, advocacy of bloodshed,
and materialisation of things spiritual, there, we may be
confident, does astral influence prevail. The profound
Boehme frankly admits his own liability in this respect.

34. Though inhabiting the astral region, the spirits
called elemental or nature-spirits, and presiding spirits or
genii loci, are of very different orders from those just de-
scribed. Of this last class are the spirits known to a-l
early nations as haunting forests, mountains, cataracts,
rivers, and all unfrequented places. They are the dryads,
naiads, kelpis, elves, fiiiries, and so forth. The elementals
are often mysterious, terrifying, and dangerous. They are
the spirits invoked by the Rosicrucians and mediaeval
magicians, and also by some in the present day. They
respond to pentagrams and other symbols, and it is dan-
gerous even to name them at certain times and places.
The most powerful of them are the salamanders, or fire-
spirits. The ability of the elementals to produce physical
phenomena, and their lack of any moral sense, render them
dangerous. In this they differ from the celestial spirits,
for to these no physical demonstration is possible, as they
do not come into contact with Matter.

35. The marvels of the adept are performed chiefly
through the agency of the elementals. And it was the
knowledge of and belief in them, on the part of the cen-

84 THE PERFECT WAY,

turion in the gospels, that eb'cited from Jesus his expression
of surprise, *' I have not found such faith even in Israel."
For the centurion's reply had indicated his recognition of
the fact that, just as he himself had soldiers under him to do
his bidding, so Jesus had spirits under him. Others than
adepts may be, and are, thus associated with the elementals ;
but only for one who, like an adept, has first purified and
perfected himself in mind and spirit, is the association free
from danger to himself or to others. Where not mastered,
they become masters, and exact absolute subservience,
showing themselves pitiless in the infliction of vengeance
for disobedience to their behests.

36. To this order and sphere belong the class called by
the Hebrews cherubim. They inhabit the "upper astral"
immediately outside and below the celestial ; and are the
** covering angels," who encompass and guard the sanctuary
of the innermost of man's system, the " holy of holies " of
his own soul and spirit Passing, by their permission,
within the sacred precincts, we enter the presence of the
celestials, of whom now we will speak.

Part III.

37. But first, in order the better to comprehend the
procession of Spirit, it should be explained that Life may
be represented by a triangle, at the apex of which is God.
Of this triangle the two sides are formed by two streams,
the one flowing outwards, the other upwards. The base
may be taken to represent the material plane. Thus, from
God proceed the Gods, the Elohim, or divine powers, who
are the active agents of creation. From the Gods proceed
all the hierarchy of heaven, with the various orders from
the highest to the lowest And the lowest are the orders of

Lect. III.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS. 85

the genii, or guardian angels. These rest on the astral
plane, but do not enter it. The other side of the triangie
is a continuation of the base. And herein is the significance
alike of the pyramid and of the obelisk. The pyramid
represents the triangle of Life, fourfold, and resting on the
earth. The obelisk, the summit only of which is pyramidal,
represents a continuation of the base, and is covered with
sculptured forms of animal life. For, of this base of the
triangle of life, the continuation contains the lowest ex-
pressions of life, the first expressions of incarnation, and of
the stream which, unlike the first, flows inwards and up-
wards. The side of the triangle represented by this
stream, culminates in the Christ, and empties itself into
pure Spirit, which is God. There are, consequently, spirits
which by their natures never have been and never can be
incarnate ; and there are others which reach their perfection
through incarnation. And the genii, daemons, or guardian
angels, have nothing in common with the astrals, but are
altogether different and superior in kind. Standing, as they
do, within the celestial sphere, their function is to lift man
from below to their own high region, which, properly, is
also his.

38. The day and night of the Microcosm, man, are its
projective and reflective states. In the projective state we
seek actively outwards ; we aspire and will forcibly ; we
hold active communion with the God without.

39. In the reflective state we look inwards, we commune
with our own heart ; we indraw and concentrate ourselves
secretly and interiorly. During this condition the " Moon"
enlightens our hidden chamber with her torch, and shows
us ourselves in our interior recess.

40. Who or what, then, is this Moon ? It is part of our-
selves, and revolves with us. It is our celestial affinity, — of

86 THE PERFECT WAY.

whose order it is said, " Their angels do always behold the
face of My Father."

41. Every human soul has a celestial affinity, which is
part of his system and a type of his spiritual nature. This
angelic counterpart is the bond of union between the man
and God ; and it is in virtue of his spiritual nature that this
angel is attached to him. Rudimentary creatures have no
celestial affinity ; but from the moment that the soul
quickens, the cord of union is established.

42. The Genius of a man is this satellite. Man is a
planet God — the God of the man — is its sun. And the
moon of this planet is Isis, its initiator, angel, or genius.
The genius ministers to the man, and gives him light. But
the light he gives is from God, and not of himself. He is
not a planet, but a moon ; and his function is to light up
the dark places of his planet.

43. It is in virtue of man's being a planet that he has a
moon. If he were not fourfold, as is the planet, he could
not have one. Rudimentary men are not fourfold. They
have not the Spirit.

44. Every human spirit-soul has attached to him a genius,
variously called, by Socrates, a daemon ; by Jesus, an angel ;
by the apostles, a ministering spirit. All these are but
different names for the same thing.

45. The genius is linked to his client by a bond of soul-
substance. Persistent ill-living weakens this bond; and
after several incarnations— even to the mystical seventy
times seven — thus ill -spent, the genius is freed, and the
soul definitively lost.

46. The genius knows well only the things relating to
the person to whom he ministers. About other things he
has opinions only. The relation of the ministering spirit to
his client, is very well represented by that of the Catholic

Lect. III.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS. 87

confessor to his penitent. He is bound to keep towards
every penitent profound secrecy as regards the affairs of
other souls. If this were not the case, there would be no
order, and no secret would be safe. The genius of each
one knows about another person only so much as that
other's genius chooses to revccl.

47. The genius is the moon to the planet man, reflecting
to him the sun, or God, within him. For the divine Spirit
which animates and eternises the man, is the God of the
man, the sun that enlightens him. And this sun it is, and
not the outer and planetary mm, that his genius, as satellite,
reflects to him. Thus attached to the planet, the genius is
the complement of the man ; and his " sex " is always the
converse of the planet's. And because he reflects, not the
planet, but the sun, not the man (as do the astrals), but the
God, his light is always to be trusted.

48. The genius never ** controls " his client, never suffers
the soul to step aside from the body to allow the entrance
of another spirit. The person " controlled " by an astral or
elementary, on the contrary, si)eaks not in his own person,
but in that of the spirit operating. And the gestures,
expression, intonation, and piich of voice, change with the
obsessing spirit. A person prophesying speaks always in
the first person, and says, eitlier, " Thus saith the Lord,"
or, " So says some one else," never losing his own person-
ality.

49. The genii are not fighting spirits, and cannot prevent
evils. They were allowed to minister to Jesus only after
his exhaustion in combat with the lower spirits. Only they
are attacked by these, who are worth attacking. No man
ever got to the promised lard without going through the
desert. The best weapon against them is prayer. Prayer
means the intense direction of the will and desire towards

88 THE PERFECT WAY.

the Highest, an unchanging intent to know nothing but the
Highest, So long as Moses held his hands up towards
heaven, the Israelites prevailed; when he dropped them,
then the Amalekites.

50. Now, there are two kinds of memory, the memory of
the organism and the memory of the soul. The first is
possessed by all creatures. The second, which is obtained
by Recovery, belongs to the fully regenerate man. P'or
the Divine Spirit of a man is not one with his soal until
regeneration, which is the intimate union constituting what,
mystically, is called the " marriage " of the hierophant, an
event in the life of the initiate, one of the stages of which
is set forth in the parable of the Marri.ige in Cana of
Galilee.

51. When this union takes place, there is no longer need
of an initiator ; for then the office of the genius is ended.
For, as the moon, or Isis, of the planet man, the genius
reflects to the Soul the Divine Spirit, with which she is not
yet fully united. In all things is order. Wherefore, as
with the planets, so with the Microcosm. They who are
nearest Divinity, need no moon. But so long as they have
night, — so long, that is, as any part of the soul remains
unilluminated, and her memory or perception obscure, — so
long the mirror of the angel continues to reflect the sun to
he soul.

52. For the memory of the soul is recovered by a three-
'bld operation — that of the soul herself, of the moon, and
if the sun. The genius is not an informing spirit. He can
•.ell nothing to the soul. All that she receives is already
iiers. But in the darkness of the night, it would remain
undiscovered, but for the torch of the angel who enlightens.
* Yea," says the angel genius to his cHent, " I illuminate
:hee, but I instruct thee not I warn thee, but I fight not.

Lect. III.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS.

I attend, but I lead not Thy treasure is within thyself.
My light showeth where it lieth."i

53. When regeneration is fully attained, the divine Spirit
alone instructs the hierophant. " For the gates of his city
shall never be shut ; there shall be no night there ; the night
shall be no more. And they shall not need the light of the
lamp, because the Lord God shall enlighten them." The
prophet is a man illumined by his angel. The Christ Is a
man married to the Spirit. And he returns out of pure love
to redeem, needing no more to return to the flesh for his
own sake. Wherefore he is said to come down from
heaven. For he has attained, and is a Medium for the
Highest. He baptises with the holy Ghost, and with the
Divine Fire itself. He is always " in Heaven." And in
that he ascends, it is because the Spirit uplifts him, even
the Spirit who descends upon him. "And in that he
descends, it is because he has first ascended beyond all
spheres into the highest Presence. For he that ascends,
ascends because he also descended first into the lower parts
Df the earth. He that descended is the same also who
ascended above all the heavens, to fill all things." Such a
one returns, therefore, from a higher world ; he belongs no
more to the domain of Earth. But he comes from the sun
itself, or from some nearer sphere to the sun than ours,
having passed from the lowest upwards.

54. And what, it will be asked, of the genius himself?
Is he sorry when his client attains Perfection, and needs
him no more ?

" He that hath the bride is the bridegroom. And he that
stand eth by rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's
voice." The genius, therefore, returns to his source, for

^ Respecting the complete, final recovery of memory, sec Appen-
dices, No. II.

90 THE PERFECT WAY.

his mission is ended, and his Sabbath is come. He is od*»
with the Twain.

55. The genius, then, remains with his dient so long as
the man is fourfold. A beast has no genius. A Christ has
none. For first, all is latent light. That is one. And this
one becomes two ; that is, body and astral body. And these
two become three ; that is, a rational soul is born in the
midst of the astral body. This rational soul is the person ;
itself dual, in virtue of its earthly and its divine parts. And
from that moment this personality is an individual existence,
as a plant or as an animal. These three become four ; that
is, human. And the fourth is the Nous^ not yet one with
the soul, but overshadowing it, and transmitting light as it
were through a glass, that is, through the initiator. But
when the four become three, — that is, when the "marriage"
takes place, and the soul and the spirit are indissolubly
united, — there is no longer need either of migration or of
genius. For the Nous has become one with the soul, and
the cord of union is dissolved. And yet again, the three
become twain at the dissolution of the body ; and again, the
twain become one, that is, the Christ-spirit-soul. The
Divine Spirit and the genius, therefore, are not to be re-
garded as diverse, nor yet as identical. The genius is flame,
and is celestial ; that is, he is Spirit, and one in nature with
the Divine ; for his light is the Divine Light. He is as a
glass, as a cord, as a bond between the soul and her divine
part. He is the clear atmosphere through which the divine
ray passes, making a path for it in the astral medium.

56. In the celestial plane, all things are personal. And
therefore the bond between the soul and spirit is a person.
But when a man is what is mystically called " born again,"
he no longer needs the bond which unites him to his Divine
Source. The genius, or flame, therefore, returns to that

Lect. III.] THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS. 91

Source ; and this being itself united to the soul, the genius
also becomes one with the Twain. For the genius is the
Divine Light in the sense that he is but a divided tongue
of it, having no isolating vehicle. But the tincture of this
flame differs according to the celestial atmosphere of the
particular souL The Divine Light, indeed, is white, being
Seven in One. But the genius is a flame of a single colour
only. And this colour he takes from the soul, and by that
ray transmits to her the light of the Nous, her Divine
Spouse. The angel-genii are of all the tinctures of all the
colours.

57. While in the celestial plane all things are persons,
in the astral plane they are reflects, or at most impersonal.
The genius is a person because he is a celestial, and of soul-
spirit, or substantial nature. But the astrals are of fluidic
nature, having no personal part. In the celestial plane,
spirit and substance are one, dual in unity ; and thus are
all celestials constituted. But in the astral plane they have
no individual, and no divine part. They are protoplasmic
only, without either nucleus or nucleolus.

58. The voice of the angel-genius is the voice of God ;
for God speaks through him as a man through the horn of
a trumpet. He may not be adored ; for he is the instru-
ment of God, and man's minister. But he must be obeyed ;
for he has no voice of his own, but shows the will of the
Spirit.

59. They, therefore, who desire the Highest, will not
seek to " controls ; " but will keep their temple — which is
their body — for the Lord God of Hosts ; and will turn out
of it the money-changers and the dove-sellers and the
dealers in curious arts, yea, with a scourge of cords, if need
be.

60. Of the superior orders in the celestial hierarchy — of

92 THE PERFECT WAY.

those, that is, who, being Gods and Archangels, are to the
Supreme Spirit as the seven rays of the prism are to light,
and the seven notes of the scale are to sound — the know-
ledge appertains to the Greater Mysteries, and is reserved
for those who have fulfilled the conditions requisite for
initiation therein. Of those conditions the first is the com-
plete renunciation of a diet of flesh, the reason being four-
fold,— spiritual, moral, intellectual, and physical, — according
to the fourfold constitution of man. This is imperative.
Man cannot receive, the Gods will not impart, the mysteries
of the Kingdom of Heaven on other terms. The conditions
are God's ; the will is with man.^

' See Appendices, No. III., Part I.

LECTURE THE FOURTR
THE ATONEMENT.

Part I.

I. We have chosen to speak thus early in our series of the
doctrine of the Atonement, because it is that around which
all religious teaching, ancient and modern, pure and corrupt,
is alike grouped, and in which it all centres. Constituting
thus the pivot and point of radiation of Religion itself, this
doctrine, expounded in its pure and ancient sense, is at once
the glory of the saint and the hope of the fallen ; expounded
in its modern and corrupt sense, it is to the latter a licence,
and to the former a shame and perplexity.

2. As will by-and-by be fully shown, sacred Mysteries
are, like all things kosmic, fourfold^ in that they contain,
like the whorls of a flower, or the elements of an organic
cell, four mutually related and yet distinct Modes and Ideas.
And these four are — from without inwards — the Physical,
the Intellectual, the Ethical, and the Spiritual. We propose
in this lecture to explain the doctrine of the Atonement
from each of these points of view, in order to do which with
clearness and without fear of misapprehension, we shall first
expose the common errors in regard to it.

3. The popular and corrupt view of the doctrine of the
Atonement presents us with one of the most salient exam-
ples extant of that materialism in things religious, which

94 THE PERFECT WAY.

constitutes Idolatry. To commit the sin of Idolatry is to
materialise spiritual Truth, by concealing under gross images
the real substantial Ideas implied, and setting up the images
for worship in place of the celestial verities. Now, the cur-
rent doctrine of Christ's x\tonement starts with the irrational,
and therefore false, hypothesis, that between physical blood
and moral guilt there is a direct and congruous relation, in
virtue of which the opening of veins and laceration of mus
cular tissue constitute a medium of exchange by which may
be ransomed an indefinite number of otherwise forfeited
souls.

4. In opposition to this and other kindred conceptions,
it is necessary to insist on the principle which, being, so to
speak, the corner-stone and centre of gravitation of Religion,
was in our Introductory Lecture prominently placed before
the reader, — the principle that sacred Mysteries relate only
to the Soul, and have no concern with phenomena or any
physical appearances or transactions. The key-note of
Religion is sounded in the words, '* My kingdom is not of
this world '^ All her mysteries, all her oracles, are conceived
in this spirit, and similarly are all sacred scriptures to be
interpreted. For anything in Religion to be true and strong,
it must be true and strong for the SouL The Soul is the
true and only person concerned ; and any relation which
Religion may have to the body or phenomenal man, is in-
direct, and by correspondence only. It is for the Soul that
the Divine Word is written ; and it is her nature, her history,
her functions, her conflicts, her redemption, which are ever
the theme of sacred narrative, prophecy, and doctrine.

5. But a priesthood fallen from the apprehension of
spiritual things, and only competent, therefore, to discern
the things of sense, — a priesthood become, in a word, idola-
trous,— is necessarily incapable of attaining to the level of

Lect. IV.] THE ATONEMENT. 95

the original framers of the Mysteries appertaining to the
Soul ; and therefore it is that invariably in the hands of
such priesthood, the Soul has been ignored in favour of the
body, and a signification grossly materialistic substituted for
that which had been addressed only to the spiritual man.

6. To the thoughtful mind there is nothing more per-
plexing than the doctrine and practice of bloody sacrifice,
commonly believed to be inculcated in that portion of the
Hebrew scriptures which is known as the Pentateuch. And
the perplexity is increased by a comparison of this with the
prophetical books in which occur such utterances as the fol-
lowing : —

" Sacrifice and oblation Thou dost not desire : but Thou
hast opened ears for me.

" Burnt- offering and sin-offering Thou wouldest not; but
that I should come to do Thy Will.

" The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a lowly and
contrite heart, O God."

And, yet more emphatically and indignantly, the prophet
Isaias : —

" Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give
ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.

" To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your
vict/ms? saith the Lord. I desire not holocausts of rams
aiid fatlings, the blood of calves, and sheep, and goats.

" When you come to appear before Me, who hath required
these things at your hands ?

" Offer sacrifice no more, your new moons and festivals I
cannot abide ; your assemblies are wicked.

** My soul hateth your solemnities, when you stretch forth
your hands I turn away Mine eyes, for your hands are full
of blood."

And again, in Jeremias : —

THE PERFECT WAY.

"I, the Lord, spake not to your fathers, and I com-
manded them not in the day that I brought them out of
the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt-offerings
and sacrifices.

" But this one thing I commanded them, saying. Hearken
to My voice, and walk in My way.

" But they have set their abominations in the house that
is called by My Name, to pollute it."

7. In the presence of these truly Divine words, what
must be our verdict upon certain contrary declarations and
prescriptions in the Pentateuch? We must say, as indeed
all sound criticism and inference based on careful examina-
tion of internal evidence justify us in saying, that the greater
part of the Five Books, and especially the chapters prescrip-
tive of ritual and oblations, are of far later date than that
usually assigned to them, and are not in any sense the work
of the inspired Moses, or of his initiates and immediate
successors, but of a corrupted priesthood, in the age of the
kings — a priesthood greedy of gifts, tithes, and perquisites ;
ever replacing the spirit by the letter, and the idea by the
symbol ; ignorant of the nature of Man, and therefore ever
trampling under foot his true and better self, the Soul,
whose type is Woman ; "taking away the key of knowledge,
entering not themselves into the Kingdom, and hindering
those who would have entered." But for these bloody and
idolatrous sacrifices, there would have been neither occupa-
tion nor maintenance for the numerous ecclesiastics who
subsisted by means of them ; and but for the false and cor-
rupt conception of a God whose just anger was capable of
being appeased by slaughter, — and this of the innocent, —
and whose favour could be bought by material gifts, the
whole colossal scheme of ceremonial rites and incantations
which gave the priesthood power and dominion over the

Lect. IV.] THE ATONEMENT. 97

people, would never have found place in a system originally
addressed wholly to the needs of the soul.^

Thus, even with the Old Testament alone as evidence,
our verdict must be given to the Prophet as against the
Priest, seeing that while the former, as the true Man of God,
directed his appeal to the soul, the latter, as the minister of
sense, cared only to exalt his own Order, no matter at what
cost to the principles of religion.

8. Turning to the New Testament, a significant fact con-
fronts us. It is, that Jesus appears never to have sanctioned
by his presence any of the Temple services \ an abstention
which cannot but be regarded as a tacit protest against the
sacrificial rites then in vogue. Nor in all the utterances
ascribed to him is there any reference to these rites even in
connection with the common belief that they were designed
as types of the death supposed to be ordained for the
Messiah in his character of Redeemer and Victim.

9. And truly, it is inconceivable that if the special object
and end of his incarnation had been, as is currently held,
to be immolated on the Cross, a spotless sin-offering for
men, in propitiation of the wrath of God against the guilty,
no word implying a doctrine so essential and tremendous
should have been uttered by the Divine Victim himself, or
that it should have been left to later statements of uncertain
authorship and interpretation, and chiefly to men who never
were disciples of Jesus — Paul and Apollos — to formulate
and expound it. Nor can we regard as other than fatuous
the conduct of a priesthood, which, while throwing upon
the Cross of Calvary the burden of the salvation of the
whole world in all ages, and teaching mankind that to the
innocent sacrifice thereon offered is alone due their rescue
from eternal damnation, yet sees fit to execrate and brand

* See Appendices, No. I., Part il.

98 THE PERFECT WAY,

with infamy the very men who procured the consummation
of that sacrifice, — and to whom, therefore, next to Jesus
himself, the world is indebted for ransom from hell, and
for the opening of the gates of heaven, — Caiaphas, Pontius
Pilate, and — most important of all — Judas the traitor !

10. The truth is, that so far from depicting Priest and
Prophet as co-operating for the welfare of man, the sacred
scriptures exhibit them in constant conflict ;— the Priest, as
the minister of Sense, perpetually undoing the work per-
formed by the Prophet as the minister of the Intuition.
And so it is seen that when, at length, the greatest of all
the prophetical race appears, the priesthood does not fail
to compass his death also, and subsequently to exalt the
crime into a sacrifice, and that of such a nature as to
lender it the apotheosis of the whole sacerdotal system,
and to advance the sacerdotal order to the position which,
throughout Christendom, it has ever since maintained 1

Part IL

11. At this point another aspect of our subject claims
attention. It relates, not to any particular sacrifice, but
to the whole question of the origin and nature of bloody
sacrifices generally. And it involves reference to influences
and motives yet darker and more potent than any mere
human desire of gain or power, in exposing which it will
be necessary to speak of occult subjects, unfamiliar save
tt", those who, being acquainted with the science of magic,
understand at least something of the nature and conditions
of " spiritual " apparitions.

12. The efl'usion of physical blood has, in all ages, been
a means whereby magicians have evoked astral phantoms
or phantasmagoric reflects in the magnetic light These

Lect. IV.] THE ATONEMENT. 99

efflorescences of the lower atmosphere immediately related
to the body, have a direct affinity for the essential element,
called by the old physiologists the "vital spirits," of the
blood, and are enabled by means of its effusion to manifest
themselves materially. Thus, as one recent writer says,
"Blood begets phantoms, and its emanations furnish certain
spirits with the materials requisite to fashion their temporary
appearances."^ Another speaks of blood as "the first
incarnation of the universal fluid, materialised vital light,
the arcanum of physical life."^ The famous Paracelsus
also asserts that by the fumes of blood one is able to call
forth any spirit desired, for by its emanations the spirit can
build for itself a visible body. This, he says, is Sorcery, a
term always of ill-repute. The hierophants of Baal made
incisions all over their bodies, in order to produce visible
objective phantoms. There are sects in the East, especially
in Persia, whose devotees celebrate religious orgies in which,
whirling frantically round in a ring, they wound themselves
and each other with knives, until their garments and the
ground are soaked with blood. Before the end of the
orgy, every man has evoked a spectral companion which
whirls round with him, and which may sometimes be dis-
tinguished from the devotee by having hair on its head, the
devotees being closely shorn. The Yakuts of Eastern
Siberia still maintain the practice of the once famed witches
of Thessaly, offering nocturnal sacrifices and evoking evil
spectres to work mischief for them. Without the fumes
of blood these beings could not become visible ; and were
they deprived of it, they would, the Yakuts believe, suck
it from the veins of the living. It is further held by these
people that good spirits do not thus manifest themselves

^ Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled.

* " Eliphas Levi," La Haute Magie*

100 THE PERFECT WAY,

to view, but merely make their presence felt, and require
no preparatory ceremonial. The Yezidis, inhabiting Ar-
menia and Syria, hold intercourse with certain aerial spirits
which they ziSS. Jakshas^ — probably mere astral phantoms, —
and evoke them by means of whirling dances, accompanied,
as in the case of the sect already mentioned, by self in-
flicted wounds. Among the manifestations thus obtained is
the apparition of enormous globes of fire, which gradually
assume grotesque and uncouth animal forms.^

13. Reverting to earlier times, we find in the writings of
Epiphanius, a passage concerning the death of Zacharias,
which bears directly on the Levitical practice in regard to
this subject. He says that Zacharias, having seen a vision
in the Temple, and being, through surprise, about to dis-
close it, was suddenly and mysteriously deprived of the
power of speech. He had seen at the time of offering
incense after the evening sacrifice, a figure in the form of
an ass, standing by the altar. Going out to the people, he
exclaimed, — " Woe unto you ! whom do ye worship ? " and
immediately " he who had appeared to him in the Temple
struck him with dumbness." Afterwards, however, he re-
covered his speech and related the vision, in consequence
of which indiscretion the priests slew him. It was asserted
by the Gnostics that the use of the little bells attached to
the garments of the high-priest was enjoined by the Jewish
ordinance-makers with special reference to these apparitions,
in order that on his entry into the sanctuary at the time of
sacrifice, the goblins might have warning of his approach
in time to avoid being caught in their natural hideous
shapes.

14. An experience of the writer's received while pre-
paring this lecture well illustrates the foregoing citations.

* Lady Hester Stanhope.

Lect. IV.] THE ATONEMENT. loi

Conducted in magnetic sleep by her guardian Genius into
a large hall of temple-like structure, she beheld a number
of persons grouped in adoration around four altars upon
which were laid as many slaughtered bullocks. And above
the altars, in the fume of the spirits of the blood arising
from the slain beasts, were misty colossal figures, half-formed
only, from the waist upwards, and resembling the Gods.
One of them in particular attracted the writer's attention.
It was the head and bust of a woman of enormous pro-
portions and wearing the insignia of Diana. And the
Genius said : " These are the Astral Spirits, and thus will
they do until the end of the worlds

Such were the spurious phantom-images, which, with
emaciated forms and pallid countenances, presented them-
selves to the Emperor Julian, and, claiming to be the
veritable Immortals, commanded him to renew the sacri-
fices, for the fumes of which, since the establishment of
Christianity, they had been pining. And he, able only to
see, but not to discern, spirits, took these spectres — as so
many still do — for what they pretended to be, and, seek-
ing to fulfil their behests, earned for himself the title of
" Apostate." To the impulsion of spirits of this order are
to be ascribed those horrible human sacrifices of which in
ancient times Canaan was the chief scene and Molech the
chief recipient. In these sacrifices the Jews themselves
largely indulged, the crowning example being that of which
the high priest Caiaphas was the prompter.

15. But idolatry and bloody sacrifice have ever been held
in abhorrence by the true prophet and the true redeemer.
The aspect under which these things present themselves
to the eyes of such men is epitomised in the divine and
beautiful rebuke addressed by Gautama Buddha to the
priests of his day, for an exquisite rendering of which the

102 THE PERFECT WAY,

reader is referred to Sir Edwin Arnold's recent poem,
** The Light of Asia." ^ Buddha, it will be observed, classed
with the practice of bloody sacrifice the habit of flesh-
eating, and included both in his unsparing denunciation.
The reason is not far to seek. Man, as the Microcosm,
resembles in all things the Macrocosm, and like the latter,
therefore, he comprises within his own system an astral
plane or circulus. In eating flesh, and thereby ingesting
the blood principle, -^^^/^ a7id blood beiiig inseparable, — he
sacrifices to the astral emanations of his own magnetic
atmosphere, and so doing, ministers to the terrene and
corruptible. This it is to " eat of things ofi"ered to idols,"
for blood is the food of the astral eidola^ and the eater of
blood is infested by them.

1 6. It should be observed that this astral medium and
its emanations are incapable of originating ideas^ for these
are positive entities and come from the celestial or spiritual
" heaven." The astral, being reflective merely and unsub-
stantial, receives divine ideas but to reverse and travesty
them. Thus, the doctrine of sacrifice and of atonement
are true doctrines, and of celestial origin ; but the sacrifice
must be of the lower human self to the higher divine self,
and of personal extraneous affections to the love of God
and of principles. But the astral mind, reversing the truth,
converts these aspirations into the sacrifice of the higher
to the lower nature, of the soul to the body, and of others
to oneself. Again, the truth that man is saved by the
perpetual sacrifice of God's own Life and Spirit to be his
life and spirit, finds a like distortion in the notion that
man is saved by taking the life of a God and appropriating
his merits. The true meaning of the word " atonement " is

* P. 129 ss. The appearance of this remarkable book constitutes
a sign of the times of no small importance.

Lect. IV.] THE ATONEMENT. 103

reconciliation^ rather than " propitiation." For " Heaven "
cannot be " propitiated " save by at-one-ment.

17. As, moreover, the astral and the physical planes are
intimately united, and both are ephemeral and evanescent,
of Time and of Matter, that which feeds and ministers to
the astral stimulates the physical, to its own detriment and
that of the inner and permanent Twain, — soul and spirit, —
the true man and his Divine Particle, — since these, being
celestial, have neither part nor communion with the merely
phenomenal and phantasmal. For the astral emanations
resemble clouds which occupy the earthy atmosphere be-
tween us and heaven, and which, filmy and incorporeal
though they be, are nevertheless material, and are born of
the exhalations of earth. To perpetuate and do sacrifice
to these phantoms, is to thicken the atmosphere, to obscure
the sky, to gather fog and darkness and tempest about us,
as did the old storm-witches of the North.

Such is that worship which is spoken of as the worship
of the Serpent of the Dust ; and thus does he who ingests
blood ; for he makes thereby oblation to the infernal gods
of his own system, as does the sacrificing priest to the
powers of the same sphere of the Macrocosm.

18. And this occult reason for abstaining from the inges-
tion of flesh, is that which in all ages and under all creeds
has ever powerfully and universally influenced the Recluse,
the Saint, and the Adept in Religion. As is well known,
the use of flesh was in former times invariably abjured by
the hermit-fathers, by the ascetics of both East and West,
and in short by all religious persons, male and female, who,
aspiring after complete detachment from the things of sense,
sought interior vision and intimate union with the Divine ;
and it is now similarly abjured by the higher devotional
orders of the Catholic Church and of Oriental adepts.

104 THE PERFECT WAY,

Let us say boldly, and without fear of contradiction from
those who really know^ that the Interior Life and the clear
Heaven are not attainable by men who are partakers of
blood ; — men whose mental atmosphere is thick with the
fumes of daily sacrifices to idols. For so long as these
shadows infest the Man, obscuring the expanse of the
higher and divine Ether beyond, he remains unable to
detach himself from the love for Matter and from the
attractions of Sense, and can at best but dimly discern
the Light of the Spiritual Sun

19. Abstinence from bloody oblations on all planes, is
therefore the gate of the Perfect Way, the test of illumina-
tion, the touchstone and criterion of sincere desire for the
fulness of Beatific Vision.

The Holy Grail, the New Wine of God's Kingdom, of
which all souls must drink if they would live for ever, and in
whose cleansing tide their garments must be made white,
is, most assuredly, not that plasmic humour of the physical
body, common to all grades of material hfe, which is known
to us under the name of blood. But, as this physical
humour is the life of the phenomenal body, so is the blood
of Christ the Life of the Soul, and it is in this ulterior
sense, which is alone related to the Soul, that the word is
used by those who framed the expression of the Mysteries.

Part III.

20. This brings us to speak of what the Atonement is,
and of the sense in which we are to understand it, in its
fourfold interpretation.

First, let us remind the reader, the Cross and the Cruci-
fied are symbols which come down to us from pre-historic
ages, and are to be found depicted on the ruined monuments,

Lect. IV.] THE ATONEMENT. 105

temples, and sarcophagi of all nations, — Coptic, Ethiopian,
Hindu, Mexican, Tartar. In the rites of all these peoples,
and especially in the ceremonials of initiation held in the
Lodges of their Mysteries, the Cross had a prominent place.
It was traced on the forehead of the neophyte with water
or oil, as now in Catholic Baptism and Confirmation ; it
was broidered on the sacred vestments, and carried in the
hand of the ofificiating hierophant, as may be seen in all the
Egyptian religious tablets. And this symbolism has been
adopted by and incorporated into the Christian theosophy,
not, however, through a tradition merely imitative, but
because the Crucifixion is an essential element in the
career of the Christ. For, as says the Master, expounding
the secret of Messiahship, " Ought not the Christ to sufifer
these things, and so to enter into his glory ? " Yes, for
this Cross of Christ — the spiritual Phoibos — is made by
the sun's equinoctial passage across the lin« of the Eclip-
tic,— a passage which points on the one hand to the des-
cent into Hades, and on the other to the ascent into the
kingdom of Zeus the Father. It is the Tree of Life ;
the Mystery of the Dual Nature, male and female ; the
Symbol of Humanity perfected, and of the Apotheosis of
Suffering. It is traced by " Our Lord the Sun " on the
plane of the heavens ; it is represented by the magnetic
and diamagnetic forces of the earth ; it is seen in the ice-
crystal and in the snow-flake ; the human form itself is
modelled upon its pattern ; and all nature bears throughout
her manifold spheres the impress of this sign, at once the
prophecy and the instrument of her redemption.

21. Fourfold in meaning, having four points, and making
four angles, dividing the circle into four equal parts, the
cross pourtrays the perfect union, balance, equality, and
at-one-ment on all four planes and in all four worlds — phe-

lo6 THE PERFECT WAY.

nomenal, intellectual, psychic, and celestial — of the Man
and the Woman, the Spirit and the Bride. It is supremely,
transcendently, and excellently, the symbol of the Divine
Marriage; that is, the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven.
For the Divine Marriage is consummated only when the
Regenerate Man enters the Kingdom of the celestial, which
is within. Then the Without is as the Within, and the
Twain are as One in Christ Jesus.

22. Being thus the key of all the worlds, from the outer
to the inner, the Cross presents, as it were, four wards or
significations ; and according to these, the mystery of the
Crucifixion bears relation : —

First, to the natural and actual sense, and typifies the
Crucifixion of the Man of God by the world.

Secondly, to the intellectual and philosophical sense, and
typifies the Crucifixion in man of the lower nature.

Thirdly, to the personal and sacrificial sense, and symbol-
ises the Passion and Oblation of the Redeemer.

Fourthly, to the celestial and creative sense, and repre-
sents the Oblation of God for the Universe.

23. First in order, from without inwards, the Crucifixion
of the Man of God implies that persistent attitude of scorn,
distrust, and menace with which the Ideal and Substantial
is always met by the worldly and superficial, and to the
malignant expression of which ill-will the Idealist is always
exposed. We have noted that Isaias, rebuking the ma-
terialists for their impure and cruel rites, addresses them as
" rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah." So likewise,
the Seer of the Apocalypse speaks of the two divine
Witnesses as slain " in the streets of the great city, which
is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also the Lord
was crucified." This city, then, is the world, the material-
ising, the idolatrous, the blind, the sensual, the unreal ; the

Lect. IV.] THE ATONEMENT, 107

house of bondage, out of which the sons of God are called.
And the world being all these, is cruel as hell, and will
always crucify the Christ and the Christ-Idea. For the
world, which walks in a vain shadow, can have no part in
the kingdom of heaven ; the man who seeks the Within
and the Beyond is to it a dotard, a fool, an impostor, a
blasphemer, or a madman ; and according to the sense of
its verdict, it ridicules, maligns, despoils, punishes, or se-
questers him. And thus every great and merciful deed,
every noble life, every grand and holy name, is stamped
with the hall-mark of the Cross.

Scorn and contumely and the cries of an angry crowd
surround that altar on which the Son of God makes obla-
tion of himself; and cross after cross strews the long Via
Dolorosa of the narrow path that leadeth unto Life.

For indeed the world is blind, and every redemption must
be purchased by blood.

24. Yes, by blood and tears and suffering, and these not
of the body only ; for the Son of God, to attain that Son ship,
must have first crucified in himself the old Adam of the
earth. This is the second meaning of the Cross; it sets
forth that interior process of pain which precedes regenera-
tion ; that combat with and victory over the tempter, through
which all the Christs alike have passed ; the throes of
travail which usher in the New-Born. And the crucified,
regenerate Man, having made At-one-ment throughout his
own fourfold nature, and with the Father through Christ,
bears about in himself the " marks " of the Lord, — the five
wounds of the five senses overcome, the "stigmata" of
the saints. This crucifixion is the death of the body ; the
rending of the veil of the flesh ; the uniting of the human
will with the Divine will ; or, as it is sometimes called, the
Reconciliation — which is but another word for the At-one-

io8 THE PERFECT WAY.

ment. It is the consummation of the prayer, " Let Thy
Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven ;" let Thy Will, O
Father, be accompHshed throughout the terrene and astral,
even as it is in the inmost adytum, that in all the micro-
cosmic system no Will be found other than the Divine.

25. This also is the secret of transmutation, — the chang-
ing of the water into wine, of Matter into Spirit, of man into
God. For this blood of Christ and of the Covenant — this
wine within the holy Chalice, of which all must drink who
nevermore would thirst — is the Divme Life, the vital im-
mortal principle, having neither beginning nor end, the
perfect, pure, and incorruptible Spirit, cleansing and making
white the vesture of the soul as no earthly purge can whiten ;
the gift of God through Christ, and the heritage of the
elect. To live the Divine Life is to be partaker in the
blood of Christ and to drink of Christ's cup. It is to know
the love of Christ which " passeth understanding," the love
which is Life, or God, and whose characteristic symbol is
the blood-red ray of the solar prism. By this mystical
blood we are saved, — this blood, which is no other than the
secret of the Christs, whereby man is transmuted from the
material to the spiritual plane, the secret of inward purifi-
cation by means of Love. For this "blood," which, through-
out the sacred writings is spoken of as the essential principle
of the ** Life," is the spiritual Blood of the spiritual Life, —
Life in its highest, intensest, and most excellent sense, — not
the mere physical Ufe understood by materialists, — but the
very substantial Being, the inward Deity in man. And it
is by means of this Blood of Christ only — that is by means
of Divine Love only — that we can " come to the Father," and
inherit the kingdom of heaven. For, when it is said that
" the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin," it is signified
that sin is impossible to him who is perfect in Love.

\^ECT. IV.] THE ATONEMENT, 109

26. But the Christ is not only the type of the sinless Man,
the hierarch of the mysteries ; he is also the Redeemer.
Now, therefore, we come to speak of the Vicarious and Re-
demptive office of the Divine Man, of his Passion, Sacrifice,
and Oblation for others.

There is a true and there is a false rendering of this
Mystery of Redemption, which is the central mystery of the
Divine Life, the Gold of the target, the heart of Jesus, the
bond of all grace, the very core and focus and crown of
Love.

This third aspect of the Cross is in itself two-fold, because
Wisdom and Love, though one in essence, are twain in appli-
cation, since Love cannot give without receiving, nor receive
without giving. V/e have therefore in this double mystery
both the oblation and lifting up of the Christ in Man, and
the Passion and Sacrifice for others of the Man in whom
Christ is manifest. For even as Christ is one in us, so are
we one with Christ, because, as Christ loves and gives
himself for us, we also who are in Christ give ourselves for
others.

27. But the notion that man requires, and can be re-
deemed only by, a personal Saviour in the flesh, extraneous
to himself, is an idolatrous travesty of the truth. For that
whereby a man is " saved " is his own re-birth and At-one-
ment in a sense transcending the phenomenal. And this
process is altogether interior to the man, and incapable of
being performed from without or by another ; a process
requiring to be enacted anew in each individual, and impos-
sible of fulfilment by proxy in the person of another.
True, the new spiritual Man thus born of Water and the
Spirit, or of the Pure Heart and the Divine Life ; the Man
making oblation on the cross, overcoming Death and ascend-
ing to Heaven, is named Christ-Jesus, the Only Begotten,

no THE PERFECT WAY.

the Virgin-born, coming forth from God to seek and tc
save the lost ; but this is no other than the description of ihe
man himself after transmutation into the Divine Image. It
is the picture of the regenerate man, made " alive in Christ,"
and "like unto him." For the Christos or Anointed, the
Chrestos or Best, are but titles signifying Man Perfect ; and
the name of Jesus, at which every knee must bow, is the
ancient and ever Divine Name of all the Sons of God —
lesous or Yesha, he who shall save, and Issa the Illumin-
ated, or Initiate of Isis. For this name Isis, originally Ish-
Ish, was Egyptian for Light- Light ; that is, light doubled,
the known and the knowing made one, and reflecting
each other. It is the expression of the apostolic utterance,
^^Face to face^ knowing as we are known, transfori7ied into
the image of His glory. ^^ Similarly our affirmatives is and
yes ; for in both Issa and lesous " all the promises of God
are Yes," because God is the supreme Affirmative and Posi-
tive of the universe, enlightening every soul with truth and
life and power. God is the Sun of the soul, whereof the
physical sun is the hieroglyph, as the physical man is of the
true eternal spiritual Man.

28. The light is positive, absolute, the sign of Being and
of the everlasting " Yes ; " and " the children of the Light "
are they who have the gnosis and eternal Life thereby. But
the negation of God is " Nay," the Night, the Destroyer
and the devil. The name therefore of Antichrist is Denial,
or Unbelief, the spirit of Materialism and of Death. And
the children of darkness are they who have quenched in
themselves the divine Love, and " know not whither they
go, because darkness hath blinded their eyes." Hence
the Serpent of the Dust is spoken of as " the Father of
Lies," that is, of negations; for the word "lie "means no-
thing else than " denial." " No denial is of the truth," says

Lect. IV.] THE ATONEMENT. itl

S. John, for this is Antichrist, even he that denieth. Every
spirit which annulleth Jesus (or the divine Yes) is not of
God. By this we know the spirit of Truth, and the spirit
of Error."

29. Christ Jesus, then, is no other than the hidden and
true man of the Spirit, the Perfect Humanity, the Express
Image of the Divine Glory. And it is possible to man, by
the renunciation — which mystically is the crucifixion — of
his outer and lower self, to rise wholly into his inner and
higher self, and, becoming suffused or anointed of the Spirit,
to "put on Christ," propitiate God, and redeem the earthly
and material.

30. And that which they who, in the outer manifestation,
are emphatically called Christs, — whether of Palestine, of
India, of Egypt, or of Persia, — have done for man, is but to
teach him what man is able to be in himself by bearing,
t2s^for himself, that Cross of renunciation which they have
borne. And inasmuch as these have ministered to the
salvation of the world thereby, they are truly said to be
saviours of souls, whose doctrine and love and example
have redeemed men from death and made them heirs of
eternal life. The Wisdom they attained, they kept not
secret, but freely gave as they had freely received. And
that which thus they gave was their own life, and they gave
it knowing that the children of darkness would turn on
them and rend them because of the gift. But, with the
Christs, Wisdom and Love are one, and the testament of Life
is written in the blood of the testator. Herein is the differ-
ence between the Christ and the mere adept in knowledge.
The Christ gives and dies in giving, because Love constrains
him and no fear withholds ; the adept is prudent, and keeps
his treasure for himself alone. And as the At-one-ment
accomplished in and by the Christs, is the result of the un-

112 THE PERFECT WAY.

reserved adoption of the Divine Life, and of the unreserved
giving of the Love mystically called the Blood of Christ,
those who adopt that Life according to their teaching, and
who aspire to be one with God, are truly said to be saved by
the Precious Blood of the Lamb slain from he foundation
of the world. For the Lamb of God is the spiritual Sun in
Aries, the spring-tide glory of ascending Light, the symbol
of the Pure Heart and the Righteous Life, by which hu-
manity is redeemed. And this Lamb is without spot, white
as snow, because white is the sign of Affirmation and of the
"Yes;" as black is of Negation and of the devil. It is
lesous Chresios, the Perfect Yes of God who is symbolised
by this white Lamb, and who, like his sign in heaven, was
lifted up on the Cross of Manifestation from the founda-
tion of the world.

31. In the holy Mysteries, dealing with the process of that
second and new creation, which — constituting a return from
Matter to Spirit — is mystically called Redemption, — every
term employed refers to some process or thing subsisting
or occurring within the individual himself. For, as man is
a Microcosm, and comprises within all that is without, the
processes of Creation by Evolution, and of Redemption by
Involution, occur in the Man as in the Universe, and thereby
in the Personal as in the General, in the One as in the Many.
With the current orthodox symbolism of man's spiritual his-
tory, the Initiate, or true Spiritualist, has no quarrel. Thai
from which he seeks to be saved is truly the Devil, who
through the sin of the Adam has power over him ; thai
whereby he is saved is the precious blood of the Christ, the
Only-begotten, whose mother is the immaculate ever-virgin
Maria. And that to which, by means of this divine obla-
tion, he attains is the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal Life.
But, with the current orthodox interpretation of these terms,

Lect. IV.] THE ATONEMENT, 113

the Initiate is altogether at variance. F or he knows that
all these processes and names refer to Ideas, which are
actual and positive, not to physical transcripts, which are
reflective and relative only. He knows that it is within his
own microcosmic system he must look for the true Adam,
for the real Tempter, and for the whole process of the Fail,
the Exile, the Incarnation, the Passion, the Crucifixion, the
Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Coming of the Holy
Spirit. And any mode of interpretation which implies
other than this, is not celestial but terrene, and due to that
intrusion of earthy elements into things divine, that con-
version of the inner into the outer, that "Fixing of the Vola-
tile " or materialisation of the Spiritual, which constitutes
idolatry.

32. For, such of us as know and live the inner life, are
saved, not by any Cross on Calvary eighteen hundred years
ago, not by any physical blood-shedding, not by any vica-
rious passion of tears and scourge and spear ; but by the
Christ-Jesus, the God with us, the Immanuel of the heart,
born, working mighty works, and offering oblation in our
own lives, in our own persons, redeeming us from the world,
and making us sons of God and heirs of everlasting
life.

33. But, if we are thus saved by the love of Christ, it is
by love also that we manifest Christ to others. If we have
received freely, we also give freely, shining in the midst of
night, that is, in the darkness of the world. For so long
as this darkness prevails over the earth, Love hangs on his
cross ; because the darkness is the working of a will at
variance with the Divine Will, doing continual violence to
the Law of Love.

34. The wrongs of others wound the Son of God, and tht
stripes of others fall on his flesh,

114 THE PERFECT WAY,

He is smitten with the pains of all creatures^ and his
heart is pierced with their wounds.

There is no offence done and he suffers not, nor any
wrong and he is not hurt thereby.

For his heart is in the breast of every creature^ and his
blood in the veins of all flesh.

For to knozu perfectly is to love perfectly, and so to love is
to be partaker in the pain of the beloved.

And inasmuch as a man loves and succours and saves
even the least of God^s creatures, he ministers unto the Lord.

Christ is the perfect Lover, bearifig the sorrows of all the
poor and oppressed.

And the sin and injustice a?id ignorance of the World are
the nails in his hands, and in his feet.

O Passion of Love, that givest thyself freely, even unto
death !

For no man can do Love's perfect work unless Love thrust
him through and through.

But, if he love perfectly, he shall be able to redeem ; for
strong Love is a Net which shall draw all souls tmto him.

Because unto Love is given all power, both in heaven and
on earth ;

Seeing that the will of him who loves perfectly is one with
the Will of God:

Afid unto God and Love, all things are possible.

35. We come now to the last and innermost of the four-
fold Mysteries of the Cross ; the Oblation of God in and
for the Macrocosmic Universe.

The fundamental truth embodied in this aspect of the
holy symbol, is the doctrine of Pantheism ; God, and God
only, in and through All. The celestial Olympus — Mount
of Oracles — is ever creating; God never ceases giving of
the Divine Self alike for Creation and for Redemption.

Lect. IV.] THE ATONEMENT, 115

God is in all things, whether personal or impersonal, and
in God they live and move and have being. And that
stage of purification through which the Kosmos is now
passing, is God's Crucifixion ; the process of Transmuta-
tion and Redemption of Spirit from Matter, of Being from
Existence, of Substance from Phenomenon, which is to cul-
minate in the final At-one-ment of the ultimate Sabbath of
Rest awaiting God's redeemed universe at the end of the
Kalpa. In the Man Crucified we have, therefore, the type
and symbol of the continual Crucifixion of God manifest in
the flesh, God suffering in the creature, the Invisible made
Visible, the Volatile Fixed, the Divine Incarnate, which
manifestation, suffering, and crucifixion are the causes of
purification and therefore of Redemption. Thus, in the
s[)iritiial sense, the six days of creation are always Passion
Week, in that they represent the process of painful experi-
ence, travail, and passing-through, whereby the Spirit accom-
plishes the redemption of the Body, or the return of Matter
into Substance. Hence in the sacred writings, God, in the
person of Divine Humanity, is represented as showing the
Five Mystical Wounds of the Passion to the Angels, and
saying : — " These are the Wounds of My Crucifixion, where-
with I am wounded in the House of My Friends." For, so
long as pain and sorrow and sin endure, God is wounded
continually in the persons of all creatures, small and great ;
and the temple of their body is the House wherein the
Divine Guest suffers.

36. For the Bre.td which is broken and divided for the
children of the Kingdom is the Divine Substance, which
with the Wine of the Spirit, constitutes the holy Sacrament
of the Eucharist, tSae Communion of the Divine and the
Terrene, the Oblation of Deity in Creation.

37. May this holy Body and Bloody Substance and Spirit^

Il6 TEE PERFECT WAY.

Divine Mother and Father^ inseparable Duality in Unity^
given for all creatures, broke?i and shed, and making oblation
for the world, be everywhere known, adored, and venerated I
May we^ by means of that Blood, which is the Love of God
and the Spirit of Life, be redeemed, indrawn, and trans-
muted into that Body which is Pure Substance, i?nmaculate
and ever virgin, express Lmage of the Person of God I
That we hunger no more^ neither thirst any more ; and that
neither death, nor life^ nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers^ nor thi?igs present, nor, things to come^ nor height^
nor depth, nor any creature, be able to separate us from the
Love of Gody which is in Christ Jesus.

That being made one through the At-one-ment of Christy
who only hath Immortality, and inhabiteth Light inacces-
sible ;

We also, beholding the glory of God with open face, may
be transformed into the same Image, from glory to glory by
the power of the Spirit y

* See Appendices, Nos. V. and VI L

LECTURE THE FIFFH.

TffB NATURE AND CONSTITUTION OF THE EGO,

Part I.

1. Evolution as revealed by the facts of physical science
is inexplicable on the materiiilistic hypothesis, as also are
the facts of occult experience and science. This is because,
by its failure to recognise consciousness as subsisting prior
to organism, and inherent in substance, that hypothesis
ignores the condition essential to evolution.

2. But for evolution somethi ig more even than conscious-
ness is requisite, — namely, memory. For memory is the
condition of segregation ; th;; cause and consequence of
individuation. Hence every molecule, both in its indi-
vidual and its collective cap;-city is capable of memory;
for every experience leaves, in its degree, its impression
or scar on the substance of the molecule, to be transmitted
to its descendants. This memory of the most striking
effects of past experience, is tl e differentiating cause which,
accumulated over countless generations, leads up from the
a?ftceba to man. Were there no such memory, instead of
progress, or evolution, there would be a circle returning into
and repeating itself; whereas, the modifying effects of
accumulated experience convert what would otherwise be a
circle into a spiral, whose eccentricity — though imper-
ceptible at the outset — becomes greater and more complex
at every step.^

^ See Unconscious Memory ^ ch. xiii., by S. Butler, 1880.

Ii8 THE PERFECT WAY.

3. Consciousness being inherent in substance, every
molecule in the universe is able to feel and to obey
after its kind, — the inorganic as well as the organic, be-
tween which there is no absolute distinction as ordinarily
supposed. For even the stone has a moral platform, em-
bracing a respect for and obedience to the laws of gravita-
tion and chemical affinity. Wherever there are vibration
and motion, there are life and memory ; and there are
vibration and motion at all times and in all things. Here-
in may be seen the cause of the failure of the attempt to
divide the ego from the non-ego. Strictly speaking, there
is only one thing and one action ; for unconsciousness is
no more a positive thing than darkness. It is the priva-
tion, more or less complete, of consciousness, as obscurity
is of light.

4. We come to speak of the substantial ego, the soul
or Psyche, the superior human reason, the nucleus of the
human system. ^ In every living entity there are four
inherent powers. We are speaking now not of component
parts, but of forces. The first and lowest mode of power
is the mechanical ; the second is the chemical ; the third
is the electrical,— an order which includes the mental ;
and the fourth is the psychical. The first three belong to
the domain of physiological science; the last to that of
spiritual science. It is this last mode of power which be-
longs to the " Immaculate " and Essential. It is inherent
in the Substantial, and is, therefore, a permanent and inde-
feasible quantity. It is in the Arch'e, and is wherever there
is organic hfe. Thus is Psyche at once the " living mother "
and " mother of the living." And she is from the Beginning
latent and diffused in all matter. She is the unmanifest,

^ Using the term Psyche in the higher sense usually attached to it by
the post-Homeric Greeks, and not that of the animal life as by Paul.

Lect. W^I nature and constitution of the ego. 119

by the divine Will made manifest ; the invisible, by energy
made visible. Wherefore every manifested entity is a
Trinity, whose three " persons " are, — (i) that which makes
visible ; (2) that which is made visible ; and (3) that
which is visible. Such are Force, Substance, and the
expression or " Word " of these, their Phenomenon.

5. Of this Energy, or Primordial Force, there are two
modes, — for everything is dual, — the centrifugal, or ac-
celerating force, and the centripetal, or moderating force ;
of which the latter, in being derivative, reflex, and comple-
mentary, is as feminine to the other's masculine. By
means of the first mode substance becomes matter. By
means of the second mode substance resumes her first
condition. In all matter there is a tendency to revert
to substance, and hence to polarise Soul by means of
evolution. For the instant the centrifugal mode of force
comes into action, that instant its derivative, the centripetal
force, begins also to exercise its influence. And the
primordial substance has no sooner assumed the condition
of matter, than matter itself begins to differentiate, — being
actuated by its inherent force, — and by differentiation to
beget individuahties.

6. Then Psyche, once abstract and universal, becomes
concrete and individual, and through the gate of matter
issues forth into new life. A minute spark in the globule,
she becomes — by continual accretion and centralisation
— a refulgent blaze in the globe. As along a chain of
nerve-cells the current of magnetic energy flows to its
central point, — being conveyed, as is a mechanical shock,
along a series of units, — with ever-culminating impetus,
so is the psychic energy throughout nature developed.
Hence the necessity of centres, of associations, of organ-
isms. And thus, by the systematisation of congeries of

I20 THE PERFECT WAY.

living entities, that which in each is little, becomes great
in the whole. The quality of Psyche is ever the same;
her potentiality is invariable.

7. Our souls, then, are the agglomerate essences of
the numberless consciousnesses composing us. They have
gfou'Hj evolving gradually from rudimentary entities which
were themselves evolved, by polarisation, from gaseous
and mineral matter. And these entities combine and
coalesce to form higher — because more complex — entities,
the soul of the individual representing the combined forces
of their manifold consciousnesses, polarised and centra-
lised into an indefeasible unity.

8. While the material and the psychical are to each
other respectively the world of Causes and the world of
Effects, the material is, itself, the effect of the spiritual,
being the middle term between the spiritual and the
psychical. It is therefore true that organism is the result
of Idea, and that Mind is the cause of evolution. The
explanation is, that Mind is before matter in its abstract^
thougli not in its coturete condition. This is to say, that
Mind, greater than, and yet identical with, that which
results from organism, precedes and is the cause of organ-
ism.

9. This Mind is God, as subsisting prior to and apart
from creation, which is manifestation. God is spirit or
essential sub^^tance, and is impersonal if the term persona
be taken in its etymological sense, but personal in the
highest and truest sense if the conception be of essential
consciousness. For God has no limitations. God is a
pure and naked fire burning in infinitude, whereof a flame
subsists in all creatures. The Kosmos is a tree having
innumerable branches, each connected with and springing
out of various boughs, and these again originating in and

Lect. v.] NA TURE and CONSTITUTION OF THE EGO, I2i

nourished by one stem and root. And God is a fire burn-
ing in this tree, and yet consuming it not. God is I am.
Such is the nature of infinite and essential Being. And
such is God before the worlds.^

10. What, then, is the purpose of evolution, and separa-
tion into many forms, — the meaning, that is, of Life?
Life is the elaboration of soul through the varied trans-
formations of matter.

Spirit is essential and perfect in itself, having neither
beginning nor end. Soul is secondary and perfected, be-
ing begotten of spirit. Spirit is the first principle, and
is abstract. Soul is the derivative, and is therefore con-
crete. Spirit is thus the primary Adam; and Soul is
Eve, the *' woman " taken out of the side of the " man."

11. The essential principle of personality — that which
constitutes personahty in its highest sense — is conscious-
ness, is spirit; and this is God. Wherefore the highest
and innermost principle of every monad is God. But this
primary principle — being naked essence — could not be
separated off into individuals unless contained and limited
by a secondary principle. This principle — being derived
— is necessarily evolved. Spirit, therefore, is projected
into the condition of matter in order that soul may be
evolved thereby. Soul is begotten in matter by means
of polarisation ; and spirit, of which all matter consists,
returns to its essential nature in soul— this being the
medium in which spirit is individuated — and from ab-
stract becomes concrete; so that by means of creation
God the One becomes God the Many.

* Terms implying succession, when used in relation to the infinite
and eternal, are to be understood logically, not chronologically.

122 THE PERFECT WAY.

Part II.

12. We have spoken of an outer personality and an
inner personality, and of a material consciousness as differ-
ing from a spiritual consciousness. We have now to speak
of a spiritual energy as differing from a material energy.
The energy whereby the soul polarises and accretes, is not
dependent upon the undulations of the ether as are
material energies. The astral ether is the first state of
matter. And to the first state of matter corresponds the
primordial force, the rotatory, or centrifugal and centripetal
in one. But before and within force is Will ; that is.
Necessity, which is the will of God. It is inherent in sub-
stance, which is the medium in which it operates. Such as
the primordial will is in relation to the primordial substance,
the individual will is to the derived soul. And when the
current of spiritual energy, or will, is strong enough in the
complex organism to polarise and kindle centrally, then
the individual Psyche conceives Divinity within her and
becomes God-conscious. In the rudimentary stages of
matter, this current is not strong enough or continuous
enough thus to polarise.

13. When Psyche has once gathered force sufficient to
burn centrally, her flame is not quenched by the disintegra-
tion of the physical elements. These, indeed, fall asunder
and desquamate many times during life; yet the con-
sciousness and memory remain the same. We have not
in our physical bodies a single particle which we had some
few years ago, and yet our ego is the same and our thought
continuous. The Psyche in us, therefore, has grown up out
of many elements ; and their interior egos are perpetuated
in our interior ego, because their psychic force is central-
ised in our individuality. And when our Psyche is dis-

Lect. V.J NATURE AND CONSTITUTION OF THE EGO. 123

engaged from the disintegrating particles of our sjstems,
she will— after due purgation — go forth to new affinities
and the reversion of matter to substance will still continue.

14. Is it asked, — If the soul be immaculate, how comes
she to be attracted by material affinities ? The reply is,
that the link between her and earth is that which the
Hindus call Karma^ namely, the results of past conduct,
and consequent destiny. Immaculate though she be in
her virginal essence. Psyche is not the "espoused Bride"
until the bond between her and the earth be severed.
And this can be only when every molecule of her essence
is pervaded by spirit, and indissolubly married therewith,
as God with Arche in the Principle.

The soul, like water, can never really be other than
"immaculate," and hence the peculiar propriety of water
as the mystical symbol for the soul. Being a chemical
combination of two gases — hydrogen and oxygen — them-
selves pure, water itself also is pure, and cannot be other-
wise. The condition called foulness occurs, not by the
admission of foreign substances entering into combination
with it, but only by mechanical admixture with these, and
the holding of them in suspension in such wise that they
may be eliminated by distillation. Such is the relation
of the soul to "sin." When regeneration — the equivalent
of distillation — is accompUshed, " Karma " is no longer
operative.

Part III.

15. The law inherent in the primordial substance of
matter obliges all things to evolve after the same mode.
The worlds in the infinite abyss of the heavens are in all
respects similar to the cells in vegetable or animal tissue.
Their evolution is similar, their distribution similar, and

124 THE PERFECT WAY.

their mutual relations are similar. For this reason we may,
by the study of natural science, learn the truth not only in
regard to this, but in regard also to occult science ; for the
facts of the first are as a mirror to the facts of the last

1 6. We have already said that our souls are the agglom-
erate essences of the numberless consciousnesses compos-
ing us. Our souls are not, however, limited in capacity to
the sum total of those consciousnesses as they are in their
separate state ; but represent them combined into One Life
and polarised to a plane indefinitely higher. For the
synthetical resultant thus attained is not a mere aggregate
of constituents ; but represents a new condition of these,
precisely as in chemistry HgO — the symbol for water —
represents a new condition of 2H + O, and differs from it
by a reformulation of state. After such a reformulation,
the sum of the activities of the molecules of the resulting
product is different from that previously possessed by its
factors. In such sense is to be understood the synthesis
of consciousness by means of which our individuality is
constituted ; and — referring this synthetic energy to a yet
higher plane — the formulation of the God-consciousness
peculiar to our world. This idea was familiar to the
ancients. They were wont to regard every heavenly orb
as a deity, having for his material body the visible planet;
for his astral nature, its vegetable and animal intelligences ;
and for his Soul, man's substantial part; his spirit being
the Nous of man, and therefore Divine. And as, when
speaking of the planet-God they specially meant that Nous,
it was said with truth that our Divine part is no other than
the planet-God, — in our case Dionysos, or Jehovah-Nissi,
the " God of the emerald " or green earth, called also
lacchos, the mystic Bacchos.^

* See Appendices No. XII. The Earth's place in the "Seven

Lect. v.] nature and CONSTITUTION OF THE EGO. 125

17. Such as all creatures composing the planet are to
the planet, all the planets are to the universe, and such
are the Gods to God (in manifestation). The supreme Ego
of the universe is the sum total of all the Gods; His
Personality is their agglomerate personality ; to pray to
Him is to address all the celestial host, and, by inclusion,
the souls of all just men. But as in man the central unity
of consciousness constituted of the association of all the
consciousnesses of his system, is more than the sum total of
these, inasmuch as it is on a higher level ; — so in the planet
and the universe. The soul of the planet is more than the
associated essences of the souls composing it. The con-
sciousness of the system is more than that of the associated
world-consciousnesses. The consciousness of the mani-
fest universe is more than that of the corporate systems ;
and that of the Unmanifest Deity is greater than that of
them all. For the Manifest does not exhaust the Unmani-
fest; but "the Father is greater than the Son." 1

18. And here it is necessary that this distinction between
the manifest and unmanifest God be insisted on and defined.
" No man," it is declared, " hath seen the Father at any
time," because the Father is Deity unmanifest. And
again, " He that hath seen the Son, hath seen the Father
also," because the Son is Deity in manifestation, and is the
" Express Image " or Revelation of the Father, being
brought forth in the "fulness of time" as the crown of
kosmic evolution. This latter mode of Deity is therefore
synthetical and cumulative ; the terminal quantity of the
whole series of the universal Life-process {Lebens-prozess)
as exhibited in successive planes of generative activity,

Planets " is that of the green ray in the spectrum. Hence the emerald
** Tablet of Trismegistus " and signet of the Popes.
* See Appendices, No. X. I.

126 THE PERFECT WAY.

the Omega of concretive developments. Bat the Father is
Deity under its abstract mode, logically precedent to and
inclusive of the secondary and manifest mode ; the Alpha
of all things and processes, the supra-kosmic, primordial
Being, impersonal (in the etymological sense of the term)
and unindividuated ; that wherein consciousness subsists
in its original mode, and whereby it is subsequently con-
ditioned and compelled. This unmanifest Deity must
necessarily represent some mode of Selfhood ; but its
nature remains inscrutable to us, and can be known only
through the Person of the Son ; — that is, in manifestation.

The difference between the two modes of Deity finds apt
illustration in the physiology of embryonic development.
The first condition of the fecundated ovum is one of
generalised and informulate vitality. An activity, at once
intelligent and unindividuated, permeates the mass of
potential differentiations, and directs their manifestation.
Under the direction of this inherent activity, the mass
divides, segregates, and constitutes itself into discrete
elements ; and these in their turn sub-divide, and elaborate
new individuations ; until, by means of successive aggre-
gations of cellular entities, various strata and tissues are
formed. In this way, is built up, little by little, a new
glomerate creature, the consciousness of which, though
manifold and diverse, is yet one and synthetic. But this
synthetic individuality is not of itself. It was begotten in
:he bosom of the inherent and primordial intelligence per-
trading the essential matter out of which it was constructed,
ind to which, as Father, it is Son.

19. The Gods are not limited in number. Their num-
bers denote orders only. Beyond number are the orbs in
infinite space, and each of them is a God. Each globe has
its quality corresponding to the conditions of the elements

Lect. v.] nature and CONSTITUTION OF THE EGO. 127

which compose it. And every physical world of causes
has its psychic world of effects. All things are begotten
by fission, or section, in a universal protoplast; and the
power which causes this generation is centrifugal.

20. God unmanifest and abstract is the Primordial Mind,
and the kosmic universe is the ideation of that Mind.
Mind in itself is passive ; it is organ, not function. Idea is
active ; it is function. As soon, therefore, as Mind becomes
operative, it brings forth Ideas, and these constitute exist-
ence. Mind is abstract ; Ideas are concrete. To think is
to create. Every thought is a substantial action. Where-
fore Thoth — Thought — is the creator of the Kosmos.
Hence the identification of Hermes (Thoth) with the
Logos.

21. Nevertheless, there is but one God \ and in God are
comprehended all thrones, and dominions, and powers, and
principalities, and archangels and angels in the celestial
world, — called by Kabbalists the " Exemplary World," or
world of archetypal ideas. And through these are the
worlds begotten in time and space, each with its astral
sphere. And every world is a conscient individuality.
Yet they all subsist in one consciousness, which is one God.
For all things are of spirit, and God is spirit, and spirit is
consciousness.

22. The science of the Mysteries is the climax and crown
of the physical sciences, and can be fully understood only
by those who are conversant therewith. Without this
knowledge it is impossible to comprehend the basic doc-
trine of occult science, the doctrine of Vehicles. The
knowledge of heavenly things must be preceded by that of
earthly things. " If, when I have spoken to you of earthly
things, you understand not," says the Hierophant to his
neophytes, " how shall you understand when I speak to you

128 THE PERFECT WAY.

of heavenly things ? " It is vain to seek the inner chamber
without first passing through the outer. Theosophy, or the
science of the Divine, is the Royal Science. And there is
no way to reach the King's chamber save through the outer
rooms and galleries of the palace. Hence one of the
reasons why occult science cannot be unveiled to the
generality of men. To the uninstructed no truth is demon-
strable. Nor can any one who has not learned to appre-
ciate the elements of a problem, appreciate its solution.

23. All the component consciousnesses of the individual
polarise to form a unity, which is as a sun to his system.
But this polarisation is fourfold, being distinct for each mode
of consciousness. And the central, innermost, or highest
point of radiance — and it alone — is subjective. They who
stop short at the secondary consciousness and imagine it to
be the subjective, have failed to penetrate to the innermost
and highest point of the consciousness in themselves, and
in so far are defective as to their humanity. Whereas they
who have developed in themselves the consciousness of
every zone of the human system, are truly human, and do,
of themselves, represent humanity as no majority, however
great, of undeveloped and rudimentary men can do. Being
thus, they represent Divinity also. Theocracy consists in
government by them.

24. Let us take for illustration the image of an incan-
descent globe, or ball of fire, fluid and igneous throughout
its whole mass. Supposing this globe divided into several
successive zones, each containing its precedent, we find that
the central interior zone only contains the radiant point, or
heart of the fiery m:iss, and that each successive zone con-
stitutes a circumferential halo, more or less intense according
to its nearness to the radiant point ; but secondary and de-
rived only, and not in itself a source of luminous radiation.

Lect. y.] nature and constitution of the ego. 129

25. It 13 thus with the macrocosm, and also with the
human kingdom. In the latter the soul is the interior zone,
and that which alone contains the radiant point. By this
one, indivisible effulgence the successive zones are illumin-
ated in unbroken continuity ; but the source of it is not in
them. And this effulgence is consciousness, and this radiant
point is the spiritual ego or Divine spark. God is the
Shining One, the radiant point of the universe. God is the
supreme consciousness, and the Divine radiance also is
consciousness. And man's interior ego is conscient only
because the radiant point in it is Divine. And this con-
sciousness emits consciousness ; and transmits it, first, to
the Psyche ; next, to the anima bruta ; and last, to the
physical system. The more concentrated the conscious-
ness, the brighter and more effulgent the central spark.

26. Again : if from the midst of this imagined globe of
fire the central incandescent spark be removed, the whole
globe does not immediately become dark; but the effulgence
lingers in each zone according to its degree of proximity
to the centre. And it is thus when dissolution occurs in the
process of death. The anima bruta and physical body may
retain consciousness for a while after the soul is withdrawn,
and each part will be capable of memory, thought, and re-
flection according to its kind.

27. Apart from the consciousness which is of the Psyche,
inan is necessarily agnostic. For, of the region which, being
spiritual and primary, interprets the sensible and secondary,
he has no perception. He may know things, indeed, but
not the meaning of things ; appearances, but not realities ;
resultant forms, but not formative ideas; still less the source
of these. The world and himself are fellow-phantoms ;
aimless apparitions of an inscrutable something, or, may-be,
nothing ; a succession of unrelated, unstable states.

I30 THE PERFECT V/AY.

28. From this condition of non-entity, the spiritual con-
sciousness redeems him, by withdrawing him inward from
materiality and negation, and disclosing to him a noumenal
and, therefore, stable ego, as the cogniser of the unstable
states of his phenomenal ego. The recognition of this
noumenal ego in himself involves the recognition of a cor-
responding ego, of which it is the counterpart, without him-
self: — involves, that is, the perception of God. For the
problem of the ego in man is the problem also of God in the
universe. The revelation of one is the revelation of both,
and the knowledge of either involves that of the other.
Wherefore for man to know himself, is to know God. Self-
consciousness is God-consciousness. He who possesses
this consciousness, is, in such degree, a Mystic.

^29. That whereby the mystic is differentiated from other
men, is degree and quality of sensitiveness. All are alike
environed by one and the same manifold being. But
whereas the majority are sensitive to certain planes or modes
only, and these the outer and lower, of the common envi-
ronment, he is sensitive to them all, and especially to
the inner and higher; having developed the correspond-
ing mode in himself. For man can recognise without him-
self that only which he has within himself. The mystic
is sensitive to the God-environment, because God is Spirit,
and he has developed his spiritual consciousness. That
is, he has and knows his noumenal ego. Psyche and her
recollections and perceptions are his.

30. Hence the radiant point of the complex ego must be
distinguished from its perceptive point. The first is always
fixed and immutable. The second is mutable ; and its
position and relations vary with different individuals. The
consciousness of the soul, or even — in very rudimentary
beings — of the mind, may lie beyond the range of the

Lect. v.] nature and CONSTITUTION OF THE EGO. 131

perceptive consciousness. As this advances and spreads
inwards, the environment of the ego concerned expands;
until, when, finally, the perceptive point and the radiant
point coincide, the ego attains regeneration and emancipa-
tion.

31. When the physiologists tell us that memory is a
biological processus, and that consciousness is a state depen-
dent upon the duration and intensity of molecular nervous
vibration, a cojisensus of vital action in the cerebral cells ; a
complexity, unstable and automatic, making and unmaking
itself at each instant, as does the material flame, and
similarly evanescent, — they do not touch the Psyche. For
what is it that cognises these unstable states ? To what
Subject do these successive and ephemeral conditions mani-
fest themselves, and how are they recognised ? Phenomenon
is incapable of cognising itself, and appears not to itself,
being objective only. So that unless there be an inner,
subjective ego to perceive and remember this succession of
phenomenal states, the condition of personality would be
impossible ; whereas, there is of necessity such an ego ; for
apparition and production are processes affecting — and
therefore implying — a subject. Now this subject is, for
man, the Psyche; for the universe, God. In the Divine
mind subsist eternally and substantially all those things of
which we behold the appearances. And as in nature there
are infinite gradations from simple to complex, from coarse
to fine, from dark to light, so is Psyche reached by innumer-
able degrees ; and they who have not penetrated to the
inner, stop short at the secondary consciousness, which is
ejective only, and imagine that the subjective — which alone
explains all—is undemonstrable.

32. A prime mistake of the biologists consists in their
practice of seeking unity in the simple, rather than in the

132 THE PERFECT WAY.

complex. They thus reverse and invert the method of
evolution, and nullify its end. They refuse unity to the
man, in order to claim it for the molecule alone. Claiming
unity and, thereby, individuality, for the ultimate element,
indivisible and indestructible by thought, — for the simple
monad only, — they divinise the lowest instead of the highest,
and so deprive evolution of its motive and end. Whereas
Psyche is the most complex of extracts ; and the dignity
and excellence of the human soul consist, not in her simpli-
city, but in her complexity. She is the summit of evolution,
and all generation works in order to produce her. The
occult law which governs evolution brings together, in in-
creasingly complex and manifold entities, innumerable
unities, in order that they may, of their substantial essence,
polarise one complex essential extract : — complex, because
evolved from and by the concurrence of many simpler
monads :— essential, because in its nature ultimate and
indestructible. The human ego is, therefore, the syjithesis,
the Divine Impersonal personified ; and the more sublimed
is this personality, the profounder is the consciousness of
the Impersonal. The Divine consciousness is not ejective,
but subjective. The secondary personality and conscious-
ness are to the primary as the water reflecting the heavens ;
the nether completing and returning to the upper its own
concrete reflex.

33. It is necessary clearly to understand the difference
between the objective and ejective on the one hand, and
the subjective on the other. The study of the material is
the study of the two former; and the study of the sub-
stantial is the study of the latter. That, then, which the
biologists term the subjective, is not truly so, but is only the
last or interior phase of phenomenon. Thus, for example,
the unstable states which constitute consciousness, are, in

Lect. V. -[NATURE AND CONSTITUTION OF THE EGO. 133

their view, subjective states. But they are objective to the
true subject, which is Psyche, because they are perceived by
this latter, and whatever is perceived is objective. There
are in the microcosm two functions, that of the reveal er,
and that of the entity to which revelation is made. The
unstable states of the biologist, which accompany certain
operations of organic force, are so many modes whereby
exterior things are revealed to the interior subject. Consti-
tuting a middle term between object and subject, these
states are strictly ejective, and are not, therefore, the sub-
ject to which revelation is made. It is hopeless to seek to
attain the subjective by the same method of study which
discovers the ejective and objective. We find the latter by
observation from without ; the former by intuition from
within. The human kosmos is a complexity of many
principles, each having its own mode of operation. And it
is on the rank and order of the principle affected by any
special operation that the nature of the effect produced
depends. When, therefore, for example, the biologist speaks
of unconscious cerebration, he should ask himself to whom
or to what such cerebration is unconscious, knowing that in
all vital processes there is infinite gradation. Questions
of duration affect the mind ; questions of intensity affect
the Psyche. All processes which occur in the objective are
relative to something \ there is but one thing absolute, and
that is the subject. Unconscious cerebration is therefore
only relatively unconscious in regard to that mode of per-
ception which is conditioned in and by duration. But inas-
much as any such process of cerebntion is intense, it is
perceived by that perceptive centre which is conditioned by
intensity ; and in relation to that centre it is not uncon-
scious. The interior man being spiritual, knows all pro-
cesses; but many processes are not apprehended by the

i34 THE PERFECT WAY,

man merely mental. We see herein the distinction between
the human principles, and their separability even on this
plane of life. And if our mundane ego and our celestial
ego be so distinct and separable even while vitally con-
nected, that a nervous process conscious to the latter is
unconscious to the former, much more shall separability be
possible when the vital bond is broken. If the polarities of
cur entire system were single and identical in direction, we
should be conscious of all processes and nothing would be
unknown to us ; because the central point of our perception
would be the precise focus of all convergent radii. But no
unregenerate man is in such case. In most men the per-
ceptive point lies in the relative man, — ejective or objective,
— and by no means in the substantial and subjective man.
Thus the convergent radii pass unheeded of the individual
consciousness, because, as yet, the man knows not his own
spirit. Being thus incapable of absolute cognition, such as
these may be said to be asleep while they live.

Part IV.

34. The higher the entity undergoing death, the easier is
the detachment of the Psyche from the lower conscious-
nesses by which she is enshrined. The saint does not tear
death, because his consciousness is gathered up into his
Psyche, and she into her spouse the Spirit. Death, for
him, is the result, not of any pathological process, but of
the normal withdrawal, first, of the animal life into the
astral or magnetic; and, next, of this into the psychic, to
the reinforcement of the latter ; precisely as in the cell
about to disintegrate, its protoplasmic contents are seen to
become better defined and to increase, as their containing
capsule becomes more tenuous and transparent. In this
wise have passed away saints and holy men innumerable of

Lect. v.] NA TURE and constitution of the ego. I3S

all lands and faiths; and with a dissolution of this kind
the relations of the redeemed Psyche with materiality may
terminate altogether. Such an end is the consummation of
the redemption from the power of the body, and from the
"sting of death." Forasmuch, however, as the righteous
has attained this condition by what Paul calls "dying daily"
during a long period to the lower elements, death for him
— whatever the guise in which it may finally come — is no
sudden event, but the completion of a process long in
course of accomplishment That which to others is a
violent shock, comes to him by insensible degrees, and as a
release wholly comfortable. Hence the aspiration of the
prophet, " Let me die the death of the just, and let my last
end be like his."

35. In dissolution, the consciousness speedily departs
from the outermost and lowest sphere, that of the physical
body. In the shade, spectre, or astral body (Hebrew,
NephesJi) — which is the lowest mode of soul — consciousness
lingers a brief while before being finally dissipated. In the
astral soul, amf?ia bruta, or ghost (Hebrew, RuacJi) con-
sciousness persists — it may be for centuries — according to
the strength of the lower will of the individual, manifesting
the distinctive characteristics of his outer personality. In
the soul (Hebrew, Neshamah) — the immediate receptacle of
the Divine Spirit — the consciousness is everlasting as the
soul herself. And while the ghost remains below in the
astral sphere, the soul, obeying the same universal law of
gravitation and affinity, detaches herself and mounts to the
higher atmosphere suited to her; — unless, indeed, she be
yet too gross to be capable of such aspiration. In which
case, she remains " bound " in her astral envelope as in a
prison. This separability of principles is recognised in
Homer when Odysseus is made to say of his interview with

136 THE PERFECT WAY.

the shades : — " Then I perceived Herakles, but only in
phantom (ctSwXor), for he himself is with the gods."^

36. The ghosts of the dead resemble mirrors having
two opposed surfaces. On the one side they reflect the
earth-sphere and its pictures of the past. On the other
they receive influxes from those higher spheres which have
received their higher, because spiritual, egos. The interval
between these principles is, however, better described as of
state or condition than as of locality. For this belongs to
the physical and mundane, and for the freed soul has no
existence. There is no far or near in the Divine.

37. The ghost, however, has hopes which are not with-
out justification. It does not all die, if there be in it any-
thing worthy of recall. The astral sphere is then its place
of purgation. For Saturn, who as Time is the Trier of all
things, devours all the dross, so that only that escapes which
in its nature is celestial and destined to reign. The soul,
on attaining Nirvana, gathers up all that it has left in the
astral of holy memories and worthy experiences. To this
end the ghost rises in the astral by the gradual decay and
loss of its more material affinities, until these have so disin-
tegrated and perished that its substance is thereby en-
lightened and purified. But continued commerce and inter-
course with earth add, as it were, fresh fuel to its earthly
affinities, keeping these alive, and so hinder its recall to its
spiritual ego. And thus, therefore, the spiritual ego itself
is detained from perfect absorption into, and union with,
the Divine.

* As pointed out by Dr. Hayman, Pindar similarly emphasises the
distinction between the hero and his immortal essence. And Chaucer
has the line: '* Though thou here walke, thy spirit is in hclle " {Man
of La-i&s Tale). These distinctions are more than poetic imaginings.
They represent occult knowledges as verified by the experience of all
ages.

Lect. Y.] nature and CONSTITUTION OF THE EGO. 137

38. This dissolution of the ghost is gradual and natural
It is a process of disintegration and elimination extending
over periods which are greater or less according to the char-
acter of the individual. Those ghosts which have belonged
to evil persons possessed of strong wills and earthly tenden-
cies, persist longest and manifest most frequently and vividly,
because they do not rise, but — being destined to perish —
are not withdrawn from immediate contact with the earth.
These are all dross, having in them no redeemable element.
The ghost of the righteous, on the other hand, complains if
his evolution be disturbed. " Why callest thou me ? " he
may be regarded as saying : " disturb me not. The me-
mories of my earth-hfe are chains about my neck ; the desire
of the past detains me. Suffer me to rise towards my rest,
and hinder me not with evocations. But let thy love go
after me and encompass me ; so shalt thou rise with me
through sphere after sphere." Thus even though, as often
happens, the ghost of a righteous person remains near one
who, being also righteous, has loved him, it is still after the
true soul of the dead that the love of the living friend goes,
and not after his lower personality represented in the ghost.
And it is the strength and divinity of this love which helps
the purgation of the soul, being to it an indication of the
way it ought to go, " a light shining upon the upward path "
which leads from the earthly to the celestial and everlasting.
For the good man upon earth can love nothing other than
the Divine. Wherefore, that which he loves in his friend is
the Divine, — his true and radiant self.^

Part V.

39. Of the four constituent spheres of the planet one
subsists in two conditions, present and past. This is its

1 See Appendices, Nos. II. and XIII., Part 2.

138 THE PERFECT WAY,

magnetic atmosphere or astral soul, called the Anhna Mtmdi.
In the latter condition it is the Picture-world wherein are
stored up all the memories of the planet ; its past life, its
history, its affections and recollections of physical things.
The adept may interrogate this phantom-world, and it shall
speak for him. It is the cast-off vestment of the planet ;
yet it is living and palpitating, for its very fabric is spun of
psychic substance, and its entire parenchyma is magnetic.
And forasmuch as the planet is an entity ever being bom
and ever dying ; so this astral counterpart of itself, which is
the mirror of the globe, a world encompassing a world, is
ever in process of increase.

40. What the disintegrating Ruach is to man, this astral
zone is to the planet. In fact, the great magnetic sphere
of the planet is itself composed and woven out of the mag-
netic egos of its offspring, precisely as these in their turn
are woven out of the infinitely lesser atoms which compose
the individual man. So that, by a figure, we may represent
the whole astral atmosphere of the planet as a system of so
many minute spheres, each reflecting and transmitting
special rays. But as the Divine Spirit of the planet is not
ii its magnetic circle, but in the celestial ; so the true soul
and spirit of the man are not in this astral sphere, but are
of the higher altitudes.

41. Each world has its astral soul which remains always
with it. But the world's true soul migrates and interchanges,
which is the secret of the creation of worlds. Worlds, like
men, have their karma ; and new kosmic globes arise out of
the ruins of former states. As the soul of the individual
human unit transmigrates and passes on, so likewise does
the Psyche of the planet. From world to world, in cease-
less intercourse and impetus, the living Neshamah pursues
her variable way. And as she passes, the tincture of her

Lect. V.-] nature and constitution of the ego. 139

divinity changes. Here, her spirit is derived through
lacchos; there through Aphrodite; and, again, through
Hermes, or another god. Here, again, she is weak ; and
there, strong. Our planet — it must be understood — did
not begin this Avatar in strength. An evil karma over-
whelmed its soul; — a karma which had endured throughout
the \2JsX pralaya, — or interval intervening between the former
period of vivification of the planet and its rebirth to new
activities, — and which, from the outset of the fresh manifes-
tation— commonly called creation— dominated the recon-
struction of things. This planetary karma was, by the
Scandinavian theology, presented under the figure of the
" golden dice of destiny," which, after the " twilight of the
Gods," or " night of the Kalpa," ^ were found again un-
changed in the growing grass of a new risen earth. For,
as the kabbalistic interpreters of Genesis teach, the moral
formations of all created things preceded their objective
appearance. So that " every plant of the field before it
sprang, and every herb of the ground before it grew," had
its "generation" unalterably determined. And, so long as
these moral destinies which constitute the planetary karma
remain operative, so long the process of alternate passivity
and activity will continue. The revolutions and evolutions
of matter, the interchanges of destruction and renovation,
mark the rhythmic swing of this resistless force, the expres-
sion of essential Justice. But with every cyclic wave that
breaks shoreward, the tide rises. " The might of the GcxJl
increases : the might of the powers of evil dwindles." 2

42. As with man so with the planet. For small and
great there is One Law ; though one star differs from an-
other in glory. And so throughout the infinite vistas ar-O

i Hindft term for the period of kosmic manifestation.
* The Dharmasastra Sutras.

140 THE PERFECT WAY.

systems of the heavens. From star to star, from sun to sun,
from galaxy to galaxy, the kosmic souls migrate and inter-
change. But every God keeps his tincture and maintains
indefeasibly his personality.

Part VI.

43. To apply what has been said to the elucidation of
catholic doctrine and practice. The object set before the
saint is so to live as to render the soul luminous and con-
solidate with the spirit, that thereby the spirit may be per-
petually one with the soul, and thus eternise its individuality.
For individuality appertains to the soul, inasmuch as it
consists in separateness, which it is the function of soul-
substance to accomplish in respect of spirit.^ Thus, though
eternal and immaculate in her substance, the soul acquires
individuality by being born in matter and time ; and within
her is conceived the divine element which, divided from
God, is yet God and man. Wherefore catholic dogma and
tradition, while making Mary the " mother of God," repre-
sent her as born of Anna, the year, or time. ^

' WTiile Christianity teaches the everlasting persistence of the acquired
personality of the redeemed, and makes redemption consist in this,
Buddhism insists that personality is an illusion belonging to the sphere
of existence, — as distinguished from Being, — and makes redemption
consist in the escape from it. But the difference between the two doc-
trines is one of presentation only, and is not a real difference. The
explana'ion is, that there are to each individual two personalities or
selfhoods, the one exterior and phenomenal, which is transient, and the
other interior and substantial, which is permanent. And while Budd-
hism declares tiTily the evanescence of the former, Christianity declares
truly the continuance of the latter. It is the absorption of the indi-
vidual into this inner and divine selfhood, and his consequent with-
drawal from Existence, that constitutes Nirvana, " the peace that
passeth understanding."

^ The Hebrew forms of these names — Miriam and Hannah — do not
bear quite the same meanings. But, as is obvious from the analogies
used and accepted in Catholic teaching, the name of the Virgin has

Lect. V.-\ nature and CONSTITUTION OF THE EGO. 141

44. The two terms of the history of creation, or evolu-
tion, are formulated by the Church in two dogmas. These
are (i), the Immaculate Conception, and (2), the Assump-
tion, of the Blessed Virgin Mary.^ The former concerns
the generation of the soul, presenting her as begotten in the
womb of matter, and by means of matter brought into the
world, and yet not of matter, but from the first moment of
her being, pure and incorrupt. Otherwise she could not be
" Mother of God." In her bosom, as Nucleus, is conceived
the bright and holy Light, the Nucleolus, which — without
participation of matter— germinates in her and manifests
itself as the express image of the Eternal and Ineffable Self-
hood. To this image she gives individuality ; and through
and in her it is focused and polarised into a perpetual and
self-subsistent Person, at once human and Divine, Son of
God and of man. Thus is the soul at once Daughter,
Spouse, and Mother of God. By her is crushed the head
of the Serpent. And from her triumphant springs the Man
Regenerate, who, as the product of a pure soul and divine

always been related to its Latin signification, so that it is consistent to
accept the name of her mother in accordance with this practice, especi-
ally as the latter is not mentioned by any of the Evangelists, but occurs
only in Latin tradition.

i It is true that the doctrine of the Assumption is not a dogma in the
technical sense of the term, inasmuch as it has not yet been formally
promulgated as an article of faith. But it has always subsisted in the
Church as a "pious belief," and in promulgating it we are but antici-
pating the Church's intention ; — excepting that we present it as a con-
clusion of reason no less than as an article of faith. How far our action
may be agreeable to ecclesiastical authority we have not thought neces-
sary to inquire. Neither deriving our information from ecclesiastical
sources, nor being under ecclesiastical direction, we commit no breach
of ecclesiastical propriety. In any case it has the notable effect of
securing the fulfihnent of the prophecy nn plied in the choice of his
official title and insi;j;nia by Pope Leo XIII. — the prophecy that his
pontificate should witness the promulgation in question. For further
explanation see Led, VI. 39.

142 THE PERFECT WAY.

spirit, is said to be born of water (Maria) and the Tfoly
Ghost.

45. The declarations of Jesus to Nicodemus are explicit
and conclusive as to the purely spiritual nature both of the
entity designated " Son of Man," and of the prrycess of his
generation. Whether incarnate or not, the " Sod of Man "
is of necessity always "in heaven," — his c.vn "kingdom
within." Accordingly the terms describing his parentage
are devoid of any physical reference. "Virgin Maria" and
"Holy Ghost" are synonymous, respectively, with "Water"
and "the Spirit"; and these, again, denote the two con-
stituents of every regenerated selfhood, its purified soul and
divine spirit. Wherefore the saying of Jesus, — " Ye must
be born again of Water and of the Spirit," was a declara-
tion, first, that it is necessary to every one to be born in
the manner in which he himself is said to have been born ;
and, next, that the gospel narrative of his birth is really
a presentation, dramatic and symbolical, of the nature
of regeneration.

46. As the Immaculate Conception is the foundation of
the Mysteries, so the Assumption is their crown. For the
entire object and end of kosmic evolution is precisely this
triumph and apotheosis of the soul. In this Mystery is
beheld the consummation of the whole scheme of crea-
tion,— the perfectionment, perpetuation, and glorification
of the individual human ego. The grave — that is the astral
and material consciousness — cannot retain the Mother of
God. She rises into heaven ; she ass'imes its Queen ship,
and is— to cite the "Little Office of the Blessed Virgin
Mary" — "taken up into the chamber where the King of
kings sits on His starry throne"; her festival, therefore,
being held at the corresponding season in the astronomical
year, when the constellation Virgo reaches the zenith and

Lect. V.-\ nature and CONSTITUTION OF THE EGO. 143

is lost to view in the solar rays. Thus, from end to end,
the mystery of the soul's evolution — the argument, that is,
of the kosmic drama and the history of Humanity — is con-
tained and enacted in the cultus of the Blessed Virgin.
The Acts and the Glories of the soul as Mary are the one
and supreme theme of the sacred Mysteries.^

47. Now this discourse on the nature and constitution of
the Ego, is really a discourse on the nature and constitution
Df the Church of Christ.^

• See Appendices, No. XL * See Appendices, No. X.

LECTURE THE SIXTH.
THE FALL {No. I.).

Part I.

I. In the city of Mecca, the birthplace of the iconoclast
Mohammed, is a square edifice thirty feet high, called the
Kaabeh, or Cube. The Koran says that it was the first
house of worship built for mankind. It has been known
from time immemorial as Beit-Allah, which name is the
exact equivalent of the Hebrew word Beth-El, House of
God. According to Moslem legend it was originally built
by Adam, after the pattern of a similar structure in Paradise,
and was restored by Abraham. It contains a white stone,
— now blackened by time and by the kisses of pilgrims, —
which stone was also, according to tradition, brought from
Paradise. But, ages before the birth of Mohammed, the
Kaabeh was an object of veneration as a Pantheon of the
Gods, and the white stone was adored as a symbol of
Venus.

2. This cubic House is a figure of the Human Kingdom
framed on the pattern of the Universal Kingdom con-
structed in the primal Age, or "Beginning." And the
original builder of the Kaabeh is said to have been Adam,
" Adam " in one aspect representing the first Church of the
Elect, the first Community of men " made in the Image of
God." This Church, having forfeited " Paradise " and fallen
away from perfection, was restored by Abraham, the Father
of the Faithful or Initiates, this great Ancestor of the

Lect. VI.] THE FALL. 145

chosen people of God being in one aspect the personified
Church of Brahma in India, whence the Mysteries "went
down into Egypt," and ultimately into all the world. The
name Beth-El given to the Human House, denotes that
man, when "cubic" or six-fold, is the habitation of Deity.
For in their interior and primary meaning these six stages
or "days" of the creative week of the Microcosm, corre-
spond to the processes included in the Lesser and Greater
Mysteries, and are, in order, Baptism, Temptation, Passion,
Burial, Resurrection, and Ascension ; the " Marriage of the
Lamb " being the equivalent of the Sabbath, or Within of
the Cube, the Seventh, last and supremest of all the Acts
of the Soul. The white stone, which, as we have seen, has
been always the object of special veneration, is the well-
known symbol of the Divine Spirit, the nucleolus of the
Cell, the sun of the system, the Head of the Pyramid. It
was regarded as sacred to Venus, because she is the Genius
of the Fourth Day, the Revealer of the Sun and heavenly
system, and to her, therefore, was peculiarly dedicated the
emblem of Celestial Light. The Kaabeh is by its very
name identified with the Kabbalistic Merkaba, the "car" in
which the Lord God was said to descend to earth, — a
phrase indicating the work of Manifestation, or Incarnation
of Divine Being in " Creation." This Merkaba, or Vehicle
of God, is described by Ezekiel as resembling a throne of
sapphire, upon which is seated Adonai; and supporting
and drawing it are four living creatures or cherubim, having
four faces, the face of an ox, the face of a lion, the face of
a man, and the face of an eagle. And there are also four
wheels of the chariot, a wheel by each cherub, " in appear-
ance like chrysolite." " And their whole body, and their
necks, and their hands, and their wings, and the circles are
full of eyes."

146 THE PERFECT WAY.

3. The perusal of this descriptive vision, which is identi-
cal with certain passages in the Apocalypse of St. John,
was permitted only by the ancient Hebrews to men who
had attained the age of thirty years.^ This age represents
maturity, manhood, and reason, as reckoned in mystical
numbers. Thus the Ark of Noe in which the Elect are
preserved, is thirty cubits in height ; the vision above cited
occurs in his thirtieth year to Ezekiel, whose name signifies
Strength of God ; and Jesus, ai the commencement of his
mission of salvation, "begins to be about thirty years of
age." Similarly the Kaabeh, or Cubic House of the
Microcosm, is a cube of thirty feet.

4. This car, then, — within which Adonai rides, — typified
by the Stone, called sapphire by Ezekiel, and jasper by St.
John, is the Human Kingdom ; and the living creatures
which draw it are the four elements of that Kingdom,
Body, Mind, Soul, and Spirit, corresponding respectively
to the elemental spirits of Earth, Fire, Water, and Air,
which constitute the Macrocosmic system. Of these living
creatures the first in order, from without inwards, is the Ox,
symbolising the earth or body, ploughed by the sacred
Kine of Demeter, laborious and obedient ; the next is the
Lion, type of the magnetic or " fiery " mind, whose reason
is destructive and whose energy is rapacious, the seat of
daring and of the masculine will, which, suffered to ex-
patiate uncontrolled, would rend and profane the sacred
mysteries. Third in order comes the genius of the Soul,
having a human face, and symbolising the true Person of
the Microcosm, to whom, as to the Keeper of the House,
belongs the constructive reason, the restraining and con-
servative force of the system. Last, and "over all the
rest, ' is the Eagle, the bird of the Sun or Adonai, type of

* Epistles of Jerome.

Lect. VI.] THE FALL, 147

light, strength, and freedom, and of the wind on whose
wings the Spirit rides. As it is written, " Behold, he shall
ccme up as an eagle and fly." All these four cherubim are
united in one, and make one fourfold creature, the wings of
one being joined to the wings of another.

5. Over and around the seat or car of Adonai, as de-
scribed by the seers of both Old and New Testaments, is a
Rainbow, or Arch. This, the symbol of the Cup of the
Heavens encircling and enclosing the Kosmos, is in the
Scriptures termed Mount Sion and the Mount of the Lord;
by the Hindiis it is called Mount Meru, and by the Greeks
Olympus, the home of the Gods. And with all it is the
symbol of the Celestial Kingdom, the Uncreate, which
"was, and is, and is to come;" wherein dwell the Seven
Spirits of Light, the Elohim of the Godhead. From this
holy Mount proceed all the oracles and dispensations of
Heaven, and nothing is done in the macrocosmic or micro-
cosmic worlds that is not first conceived and perfect etern-
ally in the divine counsel. " For ever, O Lord," says the
psalmist, " Thy Word is written in Heaven." And for this
reason the Scriptures declare that everything in the Taber-
nacle of the Wilderness was '* made after the pattern of it
in the holy Mount." For the Tabernacle in the Wilderness
is, like the Kaabeh, a figure of the Human House of God,
pitched in the wilderness of the material world, and re-
movable from one place to another.

6. The Mystery implied in the vision of Ezekiel, is in
Genesis presented under the hieroglyph of the Four Rivers
which, flowing from one Source, go out to water Paradise.
This source is in the holy place of the Upper Eden. It
is the "well of the Water of Life," or God, Who is the
Life and Substance of all things. And the four heads of
the river have names corresponding to the zones of the

148 THE PERFECT WAY,

fourfold unit of existence, as exemplified in the Cell, and
therefore to the faces of the fourfold cherub.

Thus, Phison, the first stream, is the Ancient, or the
Body and Matter, and represents the agricultural or mineral
Earth, wherein lies gold, prosperity, and renown. The
second river is Gehon, signifying the Vale of Gehenna
or Purgation, the stream which traverses " Ethiopia " or
^th-opis, a compound word meaning literally the Fire-
Serpent, or Astral Fluid. This river, therefore, is the
igneous body or magnetic belt. The third river, which is
Hiddekel, signifies the Double Tongue of Two Meanings,
the stream which rises from and flows back to ancient or
anterior ages, and which guides to Assyria, the land or
place of Perfection. This river is the Soul, the permanent
element in man, having neither beginning nor end, taking
its origin in God anterior to time, and returning whence it
came mdividuated and perfected. Divine in nature and
human in experience, the language of the Soul is double,
holding converse alike with heaven and earth. The fourth
river is Euphrates, that is, the power of the Pharaoh, — or
Phi-ourah, Voice of Heaven, the oracle and divine Will of
the human system. And the " paradise " watered by these
four rivers is the equilibrated human nature, the " garden
which the Lord God has planted in Eden," or the Kosmos ;
that is, the Particular in the bosom of the Universal.

7. Not without deep meaning and design is the Book
of Genesis or of Beginnings made to open with this de-
scription of the Four Rivers of Paradise. For their names
and attributes supply the four wards of the Key wherewith
to unlock all the mysteries of the Scriptures whose Pro-
logue and Argument Genesis represents. These mysteries
are, like the Rivers of Eden, distributed into four channels,
each belonging to a distinct region of the fourfold human

Lect. VI.] THE FALL. 149

kingdom, whose queen and priestess is the Soul. And of
these mystic or secret Scriptures, one of the most precious
and profound is the Drama of the Fall, whose acts, de-
picted in the first chapters of the Bible, serve, as a series of
hieroglyphic tableaux, to delineate at once the history of
Man and the object of Religion.

8. Maimonides, the most learned of the Rabbis, speak-
ing of the Book of Genesis, says, " We ought not to take
literally that which is written in the story of the Creation,
nor entertain the same ideas of it as are common with the
vulgar. If it were otherwise, our ancient sages would not
have taken so much pains to conceal the sense, and to keep
before the eyes of the uninstructed the veil of allegory
which conceals the truth it contains." In the same spirit
it was observed by Jerome, that " the most difficult and
obscure of the holy books contain as many secrets as they
do words, concealing many things even under each word."
" All the Fathers of the second century," says Mosheim,
"attributed a hidden and mysterious sense to the words
of Scripture." Papias, Justin Martyr, Iren^eus, Clemens
Alexandrinus, Gregory of Nazianzen, Gregory of Nyssa,
and Ambrose, held that the Mosaic account of Creation
and of the Fall was a series of allegories. The opinion of
Origen on the same subject was plainly expressed. "What
man," he asks, "is so simple as to believe that God per-
sonifying a gardener, planted a garden in the East ? that
the tree of Life was a real tree which could be touched, and
of which the fruit had the power of conferring immor-
tality?"

9. It is hardly necessary to enlarge on this point, or to
bring forward further authorities. Suffice it to say that
this interior method of interpreting sacred writings was,
and still is, the method of all who possess the Gnosis, or

ISO THE PERFECT WAY,

secret knowledge of the mysteries, their mere letter being
abandoned to the vulgar and to the " critics," as the husk
or shell, which serves but to conceal, encase, and preserve
the life-giving seed, the priceless pearl of the true "• Word."
lo. Both the story of the Fall, and all cognate Myths
or Parables, are far older and more universal than the
ordinary unlearned reader of the Bible supposes. For
the Bible itself, in its Hebrew form, is a comparatively
recent compilation and adaptation of mysteries, the chief
scenes of which were sculptured on temple walls, and
written or painted on papyri, ages before the time of
Moses. History tel^s us, moreover, that the Book of
Genesis as it now stands, is the work, not even of Moses,
but of Ezra or Esdras, who lived at the time of the Cap-
tivity,— between five and six hundred years before our era,
— and that he recovered it and other writings by the
process already described as Intuitional Memory. " My
heart," he says, " uttered understanding, and wisdom grew
in my breast ; for the Spirit stretigtlmicd my memory" If
then by such means he recovered what Moses had pre-
viously delivered orally to Israel, it is obvious that Esdras
must have been initiated into the ancient tradition in a
former state of existence ; since no memory could have
enabled him to recover that which he had never known,
and which — when the Divine commission to rewrite it was
given him — was so wholly lost that " no man knew any
of the things that had been done in the world since the
beginning." As the Talmud says, " Ezra could not have
received the word, if Moses had not first declared it."

II. Neither must it be supposed that we have the Books
of Moses as recovered and edited by Esdras. The system
of interpolation and alteration already referred to as largely
applied to the Bible, especially aftected the Pentateuch.

Lkct.vl] the fall, 151

And foremost among those who thus perverted it were
the Pharisees, denounced in the New Testament, who
greatly modified the text, introducing their own ritual into
the law, incorporating with it their commentaries, and sup-
pressing portions which condemned their doctrine and
practice. According to Spinoza, "there was before the
time of the Maccabees, no canon of holy writ extant j
the books we now have were selected from among many
others by and on the authority of the Pharisees of the
second Temple, who also instituted the formulae for the
prayers used in the synagogue.^

12. Sacerdotal or rabbinical as were these interpolations
and corruptions, they aifected principally the books of cere-
monial law and historical narrative, and referred to public
customs, temple rites, priestly privileges, and questions of
mere national interest. They hardly touched the great
parabolic Myths which lie embedded in the Hebrew Scrip-
tures like so many gems encased m clay. And gems these
are, which, from prehistoric times, have been the property
of the initiates of all religions, and especially of the Hindii
and Egyptian, from which last indeed Moses originally
drew them, as is occultly intimated when it is said : " And
the children of Israel borro.ved of the Egyptians jewels
of silver and jewels of gold ; and they spoiled the
Egyptians."

13. With regard to this particular Myth of the Fall, the
walls of ancient Thebes, Ele jhantine, Edfou, and Karnak
bear evidence that long before Moses taught, and certainly
ages before Esdras wrote, its acts and symbols were em-
bodied in the religious ceremonials of the people, of whom,
according to Manetho, Moses was himself a priest. And
" the whole history of the fall of man is," as says Sharpe in

^ Tractatus Theologico-Politicus.

152 THE PERFECT WAY.

a work on Egypt, "of Egyptian origin. The temptation
of woman by the serpent and of man by the woman, the
sacred tree of knowledge, the cherubs guarding with flaming
swords the door of the Garden, the warfare declared
between the woman and the serpent, may all be seen upon
the Egyptian sculptured monuments."

Part II.

14. Let us now examine, in the order mdicated by the
hieroglyphic symbol of the Four Rivers, the significations
of the mystic story to which it is prefixed.

Taking first the meaning corresponding to the river
Phison or the Body, we have presented to us the condition
of humanity in the perfect state, with special reference to
the just and harmonious relations existing in that state
between the Body and the Soul. This perfect condition
is exemplified by a picture of the first Mystic Community,
Lodge, or Church of men formed in the image of God,
who, under the name of Sons of God, were distinguished
from mere rudimentary men not made in the Divine image,
— the still materialistic part of mankind.

This perfect condition was, and still is, reached — in the
aggregate, as in the individual — by a process of evolution,
or gradual unfoldment and growth from the lowest to the
highest. They who first attained to this perfect state are
celebrated by Ovid and others as the men of the *' Golden
Age," the primal Sabbath of the world under Saturn.
This Age is reached, whether individually or collectively,
whenever the Divine Spirit working within, has completed
the generation of Man, making him spiritually " in the
image of God, male and female." Such is the " Son of
God " having power, because in him the soul dominates

Lect. VI.] THE FALL, 153

the body, and the body has no will of its own apart from
that of the Divine Spirit.

15. In this aspect of the parable, then, "Adam" repre-
sents the bodily or sensuous nature in man ; and his wife
his psychic and spiritual nature. The epithet translated
" help," " helper," or *' helpmeet," applied to the woman,
signifies an overseeing guide ; and the name Isha, by
which at first she is designated, denotes the generative
substance, or feminine principle, of humanity. After the
fall she is Chavah, or Eve, a term denoting the circle of
life, and represented by a serpent. As the soul, she has
two aspects, the earthly and the heavenly, and is indicated,
therefore, by two kinds of serpent, the serpent of the dust,
or tempter, and the serpent which represents the Divine
wisdom, or Sophia, — in which aspect she is man's initiator
into divine knowledges. This heavenly serpent, the repre-
sentative of the solar ray, — as opposed to the serpent of
subterraneous fire, — is familiar to us under the name of
" Seraph," the title given to angels of the highest order in
the celestial hierarchy, and signifying " the burning," — Sons
of the Sun. In Egyptian symbology the Divine Seraph or
Serpent appears constantly, surmounting a Cross and
wearing the crown of Maut, the Mother^ that is, the Living
Mother, who is the original and celestial Reason. This is
the Serpent on the Cross by looking to which, another
sacred parable tells us, the Israelites were healed of the
venomous bites inflicted on them by the Serpent of the
Dust, the earthly and destructive reason, whose figure is
derived, not from the life-giving sun-ray, but from the flame
of the devouring and rapacious fire. And thus it is said in
the Gospel, that by the exhibition of this Divine Wisdom,
by the restoration of the " Woman " or " Mother of the
I.ivinf" to her rightful throne, will the world finally be

154 THE PERFECT WAY.

redeemed from the dominion of the serpent of the Abyss,
that is, of the lower and materialistic reason. "For as
Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness, even so
must the Son of Man be lifted up." For "Christ" is
identical with Amun-Ra, " our Lord the Sun," offspring of
the heavenly Maut. And the means of delivery for mankind
from the " ravenous lion " and the " fiery serpents " of the
outer intellect or earthly " wilderness of Sin " will be the ex-
altation of the Dual humanity at once " Mother " and " Son."

1 6. In the individual or microcosmic system, the celestial
Wisdom or Soul of the Universe finds expression as the
Soul of the Man. And the condition of humanity '* un-
fallen " and sinless, is one of obedience on the part of the
sense-nature, or " Adam," to the rule of the Soul, or " Eve."
But, by the " Fall " this state of things is directly reversed,
and the "woman" or the "Living" becomes subject to
this sense-nature. This is ^^the Curse'' And the curse
will be removed. Paradise regained, and the second Sab-
bath of the Golden Age achieved, only when this " woman "
is again invested with her rightful supremacy.

17. Eve is said to be taken from the side of the sleeping
Adam, because, although the Soul subsists in all men, she
becomes revealed only in such as have transcended the
consciousness of the Body. When the " Adam " is asleep,
passive, unassertive, the Soul, or Living man, is made mani-
fest. Hers it is to guide, to rule, to command; hers the
vocation of the Seer, the Pythoness, the Interpreter and
Guardian of the Mysteries.

18. Tokens of the superior respect once accorded to the
Soul, and to Woman as the soul's representative, abound in
the historical remains of Egypt, where, as we learn from
numberless sculptures, writings, and paintings, the goddess
Isis held rank above her husband, the chief instructor in

Lect. VI.) THE FALL, 155

the Mysteries was represented as a woman, priestly and
noble families traced their pedigree through the female
line, and public acts and chronicles were dated by the name
of the high priestess of the year.

19. Such then in the **Edenic" or unfallen state, are
the mutual relations of Adam and Eve, — Sense and Soul.
And the parable sets forth the end of the Edenic Sabbath,
the ruin of the Golden Age, the " Fall " of the Church, as
brought about by disobedience to the Divine Voice, or
Central Spirit to which the Soul ought to be always dutiful.
Sin thus originates with the Soul, as the responsible part of
the man ; and she whose office is to be to him overseer and
guide, becomes his betrayer. The forbidden fruit communi-
cated by the Soul to Adam, is the vital flame or Conscious-
ness, described by classical poets as the " Fire of Heaven."
For, as God is supreme and original Consciousness, the
first manifestation of human consciousness has its seat in
the Soul. In the pure, Edenic state, or, as it is called, the
state of innocence, therefore, the shrine of this heavenly
Fire is in the spiritual part of man. But Prometheus, or
pseudo-thought,— the spurious thought as opposed to the
true Hermetic Reason, — steals or " draws down " this Fire
from its original place and transfers it to the outer man or
body. Thenceforward, the consciousness of man ceases to
reside in the soul, and takes up its abode in the body.
That is to say, that man in his "fallen" condition is con-
scious only of the selfhood of the body, and until regenerate,
or redeemed from the '* Fall," he does not again become
conscious and vitalised in the soul. To find the Soul is the
first step towards finding Christ ; that is, as the Catholic
Church puts it, " Mary brings us to Jesus." The material-
istic unregenerate man is totally unconscious of his soul.
lie is aware only of the body, and his percipience of life is

156 THE PERFECT JVAi.

limited to the bodily sense. By the transference of the
vitalising Fire from the "heaven" to the "earth" of the
human system, the lower nature is inflamed and set at war
with the Divine Spirit or " Zeus " within the man. This
act is the Promethean Theft, punished so terribly by the
"Father" at the hand of Hermes, the true Thought, or
Angel of Understanding. For by this act, man becomes
bound and fettered to the things of sense, the victim of a
perverse will, which, as an insatiable bird of prey, continu-
ally rends and devours him. Thus is formulated that con-
dition which Paul so graphically laments : — " I find then a
law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I dehght in the law of God after the inward man ; but
I see another law in my members warring against the law of
my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin
which is in my members. O wretched man ; who shall
deliver me from this body of death ? "

20. Although, then, sin originates in the soul, the bodily
nature is the ultimate offender. Hence it is to " Adam "
that the interrogation is addressed : — " Hast thou eaten of
the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not
eat?" And the penalty pronounced upon "Adam" enu-
merates the sorrows of the body in its " fallen " state, and
foretells its inevitable return to the " dust " and " earth " of
which it is; — a penalty, be it observed, which differs from
that incurred by *' Eve." For of her we read that her will,
ceasing to polarise itself inwards and upwards upon her
Divine Centre, is now, by the effect of the " Fall," directed
outwards and downwards towards her earthly mate. Like
" Lot's Wife " in another and cognate parable, " she looks
back, and straightway becomes a pillar of Salt." Salt was,
in alchemic terminology, a synonym for Matter. This
transformation into Salt is the converse of the "Great

Lect. VI.] THE FALL, 1 57

Work " ; it is the Fixation of the Volatile. The Great
Work is, in alchemic science, the Volatilisation of the
Fixed. By this act of depolarisation the soul imprisons
herself definitively in the body, and becomes its subject until
that "Redemption" for which, says Paul, "all creation
groans and travails in the pain of desire."

21. In this first of the four explanations of our parable,
the Tree of Life is the secret of Transmutation or of Eter-
nal Life, of which it is impossible for the rebellious Adam to
taste. For, so long as the elements of disorder remain in
the body, so long as the flesh lusts against the spirit, so
long as the Microcosm admits two diverse wills and is
swayed by two adverse laws ; — so long is the Fruit of this
Tree unattainable. If it were possible for this ruined and
disobedient Adam to " eat and live for ever," that eternal
life would necessarily be the eternal hell of the Calvinists,
that endless condition of torment and defiance of God, that
life indestructible in the midst of destruction, which would
— were it possible — constitute the division of the universe,
and set up in opposition to the Divine rule, an equal and
co-eternal throne of devildom.

22. As, in this reading of the myth, Adam represents the
person, Eve the soul, and the Divine Voice the Spirit, so
the serpent typifies the astral element or lower reason.
For this subtle element is the intermediary between soul
and body, the " fiery serpent " whose food is the " dust,"
that is, the perception of the senses, which are concerned
with the things of time and matter only. This " serpent,"
if not controlled and dominated by the will of the Initiate,
leads the soul into bondage and perdition, by destroying the
equilibrium of the system and dividing the Hearth-Fire.
But though, when not thus dominated, the astral fire be-
comes, through its function of Tempter, the Destroyer and

158 THE PERFEC7' WAY.

agent of Typhon or Negation, it is also, when under the
dominion of the married spirit and soul, an element of
power and a glass of vision.

23. The deposition from her rightful place of the Living
Mother, Isha, Chavah, or Eve, typified by the celestial ser-
pent, is then brought about by the seductions of the earthly
and astral serpent. Thence ensues the ruin of the Edenic
order. The soul is subject to the body, intuition to sense,
the inner to the outer, the higher to the lower. Henceforth
the monitions of the soul must be suppressed, her aspirations
quenched, her conceptions difficult, her fruit quickened and
brought forth with labour and sorrow. Intuition wars with
passion, and every victory of the spiritual man is bought
with anguish. And between the kabbalistic " woman " and
the astral " serpent ^ there must be perpetual enmity ; for
henceforward the astral is antagonistic to the psychic, and
between the intellectual and the intuitional " a great gulf is
fixed." For this astral serpent is the terrene Fire, and the
kabbalistic woman is the Water, the Maria, which is des-
tined to quench it. " She shall crush his head, and he
shall lie in wait for her heel."

Such is, on the plane historical, whether of the individual
or of the Church, the meaning of " Paradise " and its *' loss "
— the gradual attainment of a certain high grade, and the
decline therefrom ; — a loss, the immediate effects of which
manifest themselves in a subversion of the divine-natural
order, and in the supremacy of the outer over the inner, the
lower over the higher.

24. To humanity in Paradise, made in the divine Image,
and unfallen, were given as meat the tree-fruits and the
herb-grains; then, as Ovid tells us, "men were contented
with the food wliich Nature freely bestowed." For the
bodily appetites knew no law but that of a healthy natural

Lect. VL] THE FALL. IS9

intuition, and obeyed the impulse of the God within, de-
siring no other nourishment than that for which alone the
body was anatomically and physiologically designed. But,
so soon as it acquired a perverse, selfish will, a new lust
arose ; for a new and subhuman nature appeared in it, the
nature of the beast of prey, whose image the fallen body
has put on. That this is literal truth, all the poets, all the
seers, all the regenerate testify, bearing witness also that
Paradise can never be regained, Regeneration never com-
pleted, man never fully redeemed, until the body is brought
under the law of Eden, and has cleansed itself thoroughly
from the stain of blood. None will ever know the joys of
Paradise who cannot live like Paradise-men ; none will
ever help to restore the Golden Age to the world who does
not first restore it in himself. No man, being a shedder of
blood, or an eater of flesh, ever touched the Central Secret
of things, or laid hold of the Tree of Life. Hence it is
written of the holy city : " Without are dogs." For the foot
of the carnivorous beast cannot tread the golden floors;
the lips polluted with blood may not pronounce the Divine
Name. Never was spoken a truer word than this ; and if
we should speak no other, we should say all that man need
know. For if he will but live the life of Eden, he shall
find all its joys and its mysteries within his grasp. " He
who will do the will of God, shall know of the doctrine."
But until " father and mother " are forsaken, — that is, until
the disciple is resolved to let no earthly affections or desires
withhold him from entering the Perfect Way, — Christ will
not be found nor Paradise regained. " Many indeed begin
the rites," says Plato, " but few are fully purified." And a
greater than Plato has warned us that " the Way is strait
and the Gate narrow that leadeth unto Life, and few they
are who find it."

l6o THE PERFECT WAY.

Part III.

25. Coming next to the philosophical reading of our
Parable, we find that on this plane the Man is the Mind
or rational Intellect, out of which is evolved the Woman,
the Affection or Heart ; that the Tree of Knowledge repre-
sents Maya or Illusion ; the Serpent, the Will of the Body ;
the Tree of Life, the Divine Gnosis— or interior knowledge;
and the sin which has brought and which brings ruin on
mankind, Idolatry.

In this aspect of the Fall, we have presented to us the
decline of Religion from the celestial to the astral. The
affection of the unfallen mind is fixed on things above,
spiritual and real, and not on things beneath, material and
phantasmal. Idolatry is the adoration of the shadow instead
of the substance, the setting up of the eidolon in the place
of the God. It is thus no specific act, but the general ten-
dency towards Matter and Sense, that constitutes the Fall.
And of this tendency the world is full, for it is the " original
sin " of every man born of the generation of " Adam " ;
and only that man is free of it who is " born again of the
Spirit " and made " one with the Father," the central and
divine Spirit of man's system.

26. Into this sin of Idolatry the human Heart declines
by listening to the monitions and beguilements of the lower
will, the will of the sensual nature. Withdrawing her desire
from the Tree of Life, — the Gnosis, — the Affection fixes on
the false and deceitful apples of Illusion, pleasant and de-
sirable " to the eyes " or outer senses. " Your eyes shall be
opened," urges the lower will, " and you shall be as gods,
knowing both worlds." The Affection yields to the se-
ductions of this promise, she entangles herself in Illusion,
she communicates the poison to the Mind, and all is lost

Lect. VI.] THE FALL, l6i

Man knows indeed, but the knowledge he has gained is
that of his own shame and nakedness. ** Their eyes were
opened, and they knew— M<j/ they were naked.'^ By this
act of idolatry man becomes instantly aware of the body, of
sense, of Matter, of appearance ; he falls into another and
a lower world, precipitated headlong by that fatal step out-
wards from the celestial to the astral and terrene. Hence-
forth the fruit of the divine Gnosis, the healing Tree, is not
for him, he has lost the faculty of discerning Substance and
Reality, the eye of the Spirit is closed, and that of Sense is
opened; he is immersed in delusion and shadow, and the
glamour of Maya. Sudden divorce has taken place in
him between the spirit and the soul. He has lost the
"Kingdom, the Power and the Glory." And, so long as
he remains in the " wilderness " of the illusory world, the
Gnosis is guarded against him by the Elemental Si)irits and
their fourfold sword, which, to the man having lost both the
power and the secret of the Dissolvent, are an impenetrable
barrier.

27. We now enter on the Ethical and Pyschic interpre-
tation of the myth, which interpretation is itself of a dual
character, affecting on the one hand the Church, on the
other the Individual.

In this third aspect of the parable the Man represents the
human Reason ; the Woman, Faith, or the religious Con-
science j the Serpent, the lower nature ; the Tree of Know-
ledge, the kingdom of this world ; and the Tree of Life tl^iC
kingdom of God. The religious Conscience set over the
human Reason as his guide, overseer, and ruler, whether in
the general, as the Church, or in the particular, as the
Individual, falls when — listening to the suggestions of the
lower nature — she desires, seeks, and at length defiles
herself with the ambitions, vanities, and falsehoods of the

l6a THE PERFECT WAY,

kingdom of this present world. Nor does she fall alone.
For, ceasing to be a trustworthy guide, she becomes herself
serpent and seducer to the human Reason, leading him into
false paths, betraying and deluding him at every turn, until,
if she have her way, she will end by plunging him into the
lowest depths of abject ignorance, foohshness, and weak-
ness, there to be devoured by the brood of Unreason, and
annihilated for ever. For she is now no longer the true
wife Faith, she is become the wanton, Superstition ; and
rather than heed or obey monitions such as hers, he must, if
he would save himself, assert dominion over her and keep
her in bondage and subjection to his authority. Better
far that he should be master in the Man, than superstition,
whose method is folly, whose end is madness and death.

28. The Church at her best, unfallen, is the glass to the
lamp of Truth, guarding the sacred flame within, and trans-
mitting unimpaired to her children the light received upon
its inner surface. Such is the function of the priesthood,
in idea and intention; but not, now at least, in fact and deed.
For through the failure of the priesthood to resist the
materialising influences of the world upon the side exposed
to the world, the lamp-glass has become so clouded that
the light within is either unable to pass through it at all, or
passes only to cast around, instead of genial rays, ghastly
and misleading shadows. Or, may-be, the light has expired
altogether ; and, not the maintenance of the flame, but the
concealment of its loss, is become the prime object of solici-
tude for its whilom guardians.

29. The world's history shows that hitherto this Fall has
been the common fate of all Churches. Nor is its cause
far to seek, seeing that all human histories are essentially
one and the same, whether the subject be an individual or
an aggregation of individuals. A Church is, like every

L«CT. VI.] THE FALL. 163

other personal organism, a compound organisnu Between
the circumferential containing body, and the central in-
forming spirit, — having a side turned to each, and uniting
\»he mental with the spiritual, — stands the soul, to which
\'he Church, Priesthood, or Intuition corresponds, in order
oy her mediation to reconcile the world to God and main-
.tiin the Man in grace. And so long as, by virtue of the
purity of such medium, the stream of life and light from
:he central spirit of Truth is enabled to find free course
ind circulation, perfect health continues in the system.
But when, inclining towards the outer and lower elements,
xhe Church abandons the inner and higher, and becomes
of the earth earthy, the flame within her shrine, choked
und quenched, departs, leaving the sanctuary tenantless.
Then, no longer of the heavenly, but of the earthly king-
dom, the fallen Church becomes the betrayer and the
enemy of man. To confess the truth — that she has
suffered the sacred flame to expire — would, in respect of
all for which she is now solicitous, — her material sway and
interests, — be fatal. Hence the fact that she is naked and
empty must be studiously concealed, and all approach for-
bidden, that no one not concerned to keep the secret may
spy upon her darkened shrine. Thenceforth the Church
stands between God and the people, not to bring them
together, but to keep them apart. With light and spirit
lost to view, and the way to the kingdom of God blocked
by superstition, the rational man either ceases to believe
that any such kingdom subsists, and, falling in his turn, he
plunges into the gulf of atheism or agnosticism ; or, with-
held by his traitor spouse from attaining the fruition of the
Tree of Life, contents himself with " stones for bread," and
with "serpents" of the astral in place of the true celestial
mysteries.

104 THE PERFECT WAY,

30. Thus fallen and degraded, the Church becomes, as
mankind too well knows, a Church " of this world," greedy
of worldly dignities, emoluments, and dominion, intent on
foisting on the belief of her votaries, in the name of author-
ity and orthodoxy, fables and worse than fables, apples of
Sodom and Gomorrah, Dead-sea fruit ; — a Church jealous
of *' the Letter which killeth ; " ignorant of, or bitterly at
enmity with, " the Spirit which giveth life."

Part IV.

31. We now reach the last and innermost interpretation
of our fourfold hieroglyph, the spiritual and creative secret
embodied in the Edenic allegory. This secret is some-
times more obscurely alluded to as the Lapse of heavenly
beings from their first happy estate into sub-celestial
spheres, and their final redemption by means of penance
done through incarnation in the flesh. It need scarcely be
said that this imagined Lapse is also a parable designed to
veil and preserve a truth. And in its interpretation is
found the creative secret, the projection of Spirit into
Matter; the Fall or Descent of Substance into Maya or
Illusion. Hence results Chavah, the Eve of Genesis, and
circle of life conditioned as past, present, and future, and
corresponding to Jehovah, the covenant name of Deity.
In this reading of the parable, the Tree of Divination
or Knowledge becomes Motion, or the Kalpa, — the period
of Existence as distinguished from Being ; the Tree of
Life is Rest, or the Sabbath, the Nirvana; Adam is
Manifestation; the Serpent — no longer of the lower but
of the higher sphere— is the celestial Serpent or Seraph
of heavenly Counsel. For now the whole signification of
the myth is changed, and the act of Arche, the Woman, is

Lect. VI.] THE FALL. 165

the Divine act of Creation. Ase, the root of the Hebrew
word for Woman, signifies the generating female Fire, the
Living Substance producing or causing production. Its
Coptic form, Est^ gives Esta or Hestia, the goddess of
the Temple-fire, for the continual preservation of which the
order of Vestal virgins was established. This word, Est,
is identical also with the Latin and Greek equivalents
of IS, whence are derived all the modern European forms
of the same affirmative, as also the names Esther and
Easter.

32. Adam signifies the Red, hence the Blood ; and in
Blood, Substance becomes incarnate and takes form as
Nature or Isis, which name is, of course, but another ren-
dering of the affirmative EST. Hence Nature, the incarnate
Arche, is said to be born from the side of Adam, or Mani-
festation by Blood. " Blood," as says " Eliphas Levi," "is
the first incarnation of the Universal Fluid ; it is the
materialised vital Light. It lives only by perpetually trans-
forming itself, for it is the universal Proteus, the great
Arcanum of Life."

33. Now, as has been said in a former discourse, Motion
is the means by which Spirit becomes visible as Matter, for
Spirit and Matter represent two conditions of one thing.
Therefore by the Tree of Divination of Good and Evil, in
this interpretation, must be understood that condition by
means of which Spirit, projected into appearance, becomes
manifested under the veil of Maya.

34. Among the sacred symbols and insignia of the Gods
depicted in Egyptian ?culpture, none is repeated so often as
the Sphere. This Sphere is the emblem of Creative Motion,
because the Manifesting Force is rotatory ; being, in fact,
the " Wheel of the Spirit of Life " described by Ezekiel as
.*' a wheel within a wheel," inasmuch as the whole system of

i66 THE PERFECT WAY,

the universe, from the planet to its ultimate particle, revolves
in the same manner. And for this reason, and as an evi-
dence of the knowledge which dictated the ancient sym-
bology of the Catholic Church, the Eucharistic Wafer, figure
of the Word made Fleshy is circular. The sacramental
sphere, poised on the head of a Serpent or Seraph, is a
common hieroglyph in Egyptian sacred tableaux ; and
sculptures bordered with processions of such emblematic
figures are frequent in the ancient temples. The Apple, or
round Fruit of the Tree of the Kalpa, — of which, by the
advice of the " Serpent " of heavenly counsel, the Divine
Arche partakes, and thereby brings about the " Fall " or
Manifestation of Spirit in Matter,— is no other than the
Sacramental Host, type of the Bread of Life or Body of
God, figured in the Orb of the Sun, reflected in the disc of
every star, planet, and molecule, and elevated for adoration
on the Monstrance of the universe.

35. Only when the Naros, or cycle of the Six Days, shall
again reach their Seventh Day, will " the Lord of the
Seventh " — whom the Latins adored with unveiled heads
under the name of Septimianus — return, and the veil of
Illusion or Maya be taken away. The anticipation of the
Seventh Day of the renewed Arcadia, the Seven Days'
festival of liberty and peace, was held by the Greeks under
the name of the Kronia, and by the Latins under that of
the Saturnalia. This redemptive Sabbath is spoken of in
the gospel as the " harvest of the end of the world," when
Saturn or Sator (the Sower) as " Lord of the Harvest,"
" shall return again with joy, bringing his sheaves with him."
And when that Day comes, the Fruit of the Tree of Life, or
Nirvana, shall be given for the healing of the universe ; rest
from motion shall put an end to Matter; and Substance,
now by the " Fall " brought under the dominion of Adam

Lect. VI.] THE FALL, 167

or Manifestation, shall return to Her original divine
estate.

36. It remains only to speak of the symbolic Bow or Cup
encircling ths microcosmic car of Adonai, and representing,
as already explained, the heavenly Mount, of which the
phenomenal heaven is the transcript. The planisphere,
of the heavens, familiar in all ancient astrological science,
is divided into two parts by a line passing from east to west,
and representing the horizon. The portion of the plani-
sphere below this horizontal line comprises the lower and
invisible hemisphere ; that which is above, the upper and
visible. At the opening of the year the constellation of the
Celestial Virgin, Astraea, Isis, or Ceres, is in ascension.
She has beneath her feet in the lower horizon the sign
Python or Typhon, the Dragon of the Tree of the Hespe-
rides, who rises after her, pursuing her, and aiming his fangs
at her heel.

37. This heavenly Virgin is the regenerate Eva, Maria
the Immaculate, the Mother of the Sun-God. Her first
" decan " is that of the Sun, whose birth as Mithras was
celebrated on the twenty-fifth day of December, — the true
birth of the year,— at midnight, at which time she appears
above the visible horizon. The figure of the sun was conse-
quently placed over this *' decan " on the planispheiic chart,
and rests therefore on the head of the Virgin, while the first
" decan " of Libra, which is that of the Moon, is under her
feet. In her we recognise the woman of the Apocalypse,
victorious over her adversary the Dragon, and restoring by
her manifestation the equilibrium — Libra — of the universe.

38 Thus the Heavens eternally witness to the promise
of the final redemption of the Earth, and of the return of
the Golden Age, and the Restoration of Eden. And the
keynote of that desired harmony is to be found in the exalt-

i68 THE PERFECT WAY.

ation on all the universal fourfold planes, physical, philo-
sophical, psychic, and celestial, of the Woman.

Once again, in the end as in the beginning, shall the Soul
rehabilitated, the Affection regenerated, the Intuition puri-
fied, the Divine Substance redeemed from Matter, be
throned, crowned, and glorified.

39. That the time of the rising of this Celestial Virgin
and of the rehabilitation of truth by the Woman-lMessias
of the Interpretation is near at hand, they who watch the
** limes " and the ** heavens " may know by more than one
token. To name but one. The sign Leo, which upon the
v,r;lestial chart precedes the ascension of the Woman, going
before her as her herald, is the sign of the present Head
of the Catholic Church. When assuming that title, he
declared his office to be that of the " Lion of the Tribe of
Juda," the domicile of the Sun, the tribe appointed to pro-
duce the Christ. To the ascension of this constellation,
preparing, as it were, the Way of the Divine Virgin, the
prophecy of Israel in Genesis refers : —

" Juda is a strong lion ; my son, thou art gone up. The
sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda till the coming
of the Messenger — or Shiloh — the expectation of the
nations."

And not only does the chief Bishop of the Church bear
this significant name of the " Lion," but he is also the
thirteenth of that name, and Thirteen is the number of the
Woman and of the lunar cycle, the number of Isis and of
the Microcosm. It is the number which indicates the
fulness of all things, and the consummation of the " Divine
Marriage," the At-one-ment of Man and God.

Moreover the Arms of Leo XIII. represent a Tree on a
Mount, between two triune Lilies, and in the dexter chief
point a blazing Star ; with the motto *' Lumen in Ca:lo"

Lect. VL] the fall, 169

Wliat is this tree but the Tree of Life ; these Lilies but the
Lilies of the new Annunciation, — of the Ave which is to
reverse the curse of Eva 1 What star is this, if not the
Star of the second Advent ? History repeats itself only
because all history is already written in " heaven."

40. For the signs of the Zodiac, or of the "Wheel of
Life," as the name signifies, are not arbitrary, they are the
Words of God traced on the planisphere by the finger
of God, and first expressed in intelligible hieroglyphs by
men of the "Age of Saturn," who knew the truth, and
held the Key of the Mysteries. The Wheel of the Zodiac
thus constituted the earliest Bible \ for on it is traced the
universal history of the whole Humanity. It is a mirror at
once of Past, Present, and Future ; for these three are but
modes of the Eternal NOW, which, philosophically, is the
only tense. And its twelve signs are the twelve Gates
of the heavenly City of religious science, the Kingdom of
God the Father.

41. The philosophy of the day, unable, through its igno-
rance of the soul, to solve the riddle of the Zodiac, con-
cludes that all sacred history is a mere tissue of fables,
framed in accordance with the accidental forms of the con-
stellations. But, as the Initiate knows, these signs are
written on the starry chart because they represent eternal
verities in the experience of the soul. They are the pro-
cesses or acts of the soul, under individuation in Man.
And so far from being ascribed to Man because written in
the Zodiac, they were written in the Zodiac because re-
cognised as occurring in humanity. In the Divine order,
pictures precede written words as the expressions of ideas.
The planisphere of the Zodiac is thus a //V/z^r<f-bible ; and
the images embodied in it have controlled the expression
Qf all written Revelation.

170 THE PERFECT WAY,

Part V.

42. This discourse was closed for the writer by a vision,
an account of which will form an equally fitting conclusion
for the reader. This vision was as follows : —

A golden chalice, like those used in Catholic rites,
but having three linings, was given to me by an Angel.
These linings, he told me, signified the three degrees of
the heavens, — purity of life, purity of heart, and purity of
doctrine. Immediately afterwards, there appeared a great
dome-covered temple, Moslem in style, and on the thresh-
old of it a tall Angel clad in linen, who with an air of
command was directing a party of men engaged in destroy-
ing and throwing into the street numerous crucifixes, bibles,
prayer-books, altar-utensils, and other sacred emblems. As
I stood watching, somewhat scandalised at the apparent
sacrilege, a Voice at a great height in the air cried with
starthng distinctness, "All the idols he shall utterly destroy !"
Then the same Voice, seeming to ascend still higher, cried
to me, "Come hither and see!" Immediately it appeared
to me that I was lifted up by my hair and carried above the
earth. And suddenly there arose in mid-air the apparition
of a man of majestic aspect, in an antique garb, and sur-
rounded by a throng of prostrate worshippers. At first the
appearance of this figure was strange to me ; but while I
looked intently at it, a change came over the face and
dress, and I tho;- ht I recognised Buddha,— the Messiah of
India. But scarcely had I convinced myself of this, when
a great Voice, like a thousand voices shouting in unison,
cried to the worshippers : " Stand upright on your feet : —
Worship God only ! " And again the figure changed, as
though a cloud had passed before it, and now it seemed to
assume the shape of Jesus. Again, I saw the kneeling

Lect. VI.] THE FALL, 171

adorers, and again the mighty Voice cried, " Arise ! worship
God only ! " The sound of this Voice was hke thunder,
and I noted that it had seven echoes. Seven times the
cry reverberated, ascending with each utterance, as though
mounting from sphere to sphere. Then suddenly I feu
through the air, as though a hand had been withdrawn from
sustaining me : and again touching the earth, I stood within
the temple I had seen in the first part of my vision. At
its east end was a great altar, from above and behind which
came faintly a white and beautiful Light, the radiance of
which was arrested and obscured by a dark curtain sus-
pended from the dome before the altar. And the body of
the temple, which, but for the curtain, would have been
fully illumined, was plunged in gloom, broken only by the
fitful gleams of a few half-expiring oil-lamps, hanging here
and there from the vast cupola. At the right of the altar
stood the same tall Angel I had before seen on the temple
threshold, holding in his hand a smoking censer. Then,
observing that he was looking earnestly at me, I said to
him : " Tell me, what curtain is this before the Light, and
why is the temple in darkness ? " And he answered, " This
veil is not One, but Three; and the Three are Blood,
Idolatry, and the Curse of Eve. And to you it is given to
withdraw them. Be faithful and courageous ; the time has
come." Now the first curtain was red, and very heavy;
and with a great effort I drew it aside, and said, " I have
put away the veil of blood from before Thy Face. Shine,
O Lord God ! " But a Voice from behind the folds of the
two remaining coverings answered me, *' I cannot shine,
because of the idols." And lo, before me a curtain of many
colours, woven about with all manner of images, crucifixes,
madonnas, Old and New Testaments, prayer-books, and
Other religious symbols, some strange and hideous like the

172 THE PERFECT WAY.

idols of China and Japan, some beautiful like those of the
Greeks and Christians. And the weight of the curtain was
like lead, for it was thick widi gold and silver embroideries.
But with both hands I tore it away, and cried, " I have put
away the idols from before Thy Face. Shine, O Lord
God ! " And now the Light was clearer and brighter. But
yet before me hung a third veil, all of black ; and upon it
was traced in oudine the figure of lour Lihes on a single
stem inverted, their cups opening downwards. And from
behind this veil, the Voice answered me again, " I cannot
shine, because of the curse of Eve." Then I put forth all
my strength, and with a great will rent away the curtain,
crying, "I have put away her curse from before Thee.
Shine, O Lord God ! "

And there was no more a veil, but a landscape, more
glorious and perfect than words can paint, a Garden of
absolute beauty, filled with trees of palm, and olive, and
fig, rivers of clear water and lawns of tender green ; and
distant groves and forests framed about by mountains
crowned with snow ; and on the brow of their shining
peaks a rising Sun, whose light it was I had seen behind
the veils. And about the Sun, in mid-air hung white misty
s>napes of great Angels, as clouds at morning float above
the place of dawn. And beneath, under a mighty tree
of cedar, stood a white elephant, bearing in his golden
houdah a beautiful woman robed as a queen, and wearing
a crown. But while I looked, entranced, and longing to
look for ever, the garden, the altar, and the temple were
carried up from me into Heaven. Then as I stood gazing
upwards, came again the Voice, at first high in the air, but
falling eartliwards as I listened. And behold, before me
appeared the white pinnacle of a minaret, and around and
beneath it the sky was all gold and red with the glory of

Lect. VI.] THE FALL. 173

the rising Sun. And I perceived that now the voice was
that of a solitary Muezzin standing on the minaret with
uplifted hands and crying : —

*' Put away Blood from among you I
Destroy your Idols !
Restore your Queen 1 "

And straightway a Voice, hke that of an infinite multitude,
coming as though from above and around and beneath my
feet, — a Voice like a wind rising upwards from caverns
under the hills to their loftiest far-off heights amowr thrs
stars, — responded, —

"Worship God alone I ">
• See Appendices, No. III., Part a.

LECTURE THE SEVENTH.

THE FALL {No. IL).
Part I.

I Oc'R subject is again the cataclysmal event mystically
called the Fall of Man. Before entering upon it, we will
recapitulate briefly what has been said respecting the nature
of man. As already explained, this is fourfold. This
fourfold nature is itself included in a dual personality.
Consisting of male and female, Reason and Intuition,
Man is, in this sense, a twofold being. But the masculine
moiety comprises the dualism of Sense and Intellect ; and
the feminine moiety, the dualism of Soul and Perception.

2. Owing to this duality of his constitution, every doc-
trine relating to Man has, primarily, a dual significance
and application. And owing to his fourfoldness, it has
also, secondarily, a fourfold significance and application.
The interpretation, therefore, of any doctrine must, to be
complete, be at the least twofold. And since there is
between the inner and outer spheres of man's being an
exact correspondence, by virtue of which, whatever subsists
or occurs in the one sphere has its counterpart in the other,
the terms which describe the one apply also to the other ;
and no interpretation or application is complete which may
not include both spheres.

3. Thus it comes — to quote a fragment of Hermetic
derivation— that : —

Lect. VII.] THE FALL, I75

" All Scriptures which are the true Word of God, have
a dual interpretation, the Intellectual and the Intuitional^
the Apparent and the Hidden.

" For nothing can come forth from God save that which
is fruitful.

" As is the nature of God, so is the Word of God's Mouth.

" The Letter alone is barren ; the Spirit and the Letter
give Life.

" But that Scripture is the more excellent which is exceed-
ing fruitful, and brings forth abundant signification.

" For God is able to say many things in one ; as the perfect
Ovary contains many seeds in its Chalice.

" Therefore there a7'e in the Scriptures of Gods Word,
certain Writings which, as richly yielding Trees, bear tfiore
abundantly than others in the selfsame holy Garden.

^^ And ofie of the most excellent is the Farable of the Fall,
which, as a stream parted into four branches, has a fourfold
head, and is a word exceeding rich."

For a parable it is, and not a history, as ordinarily
understood, but having a hidden, that is, a mystic mean-
ing ; — a parable, moreover, which, while founded indeed
upon a particular fact, is true for all time, in that it is
perpetually being enacted. Being thus, the Parable of the
Fall constitutes an Eternal Verity.

4. The opening chapters of the sacred books exhibit,
then, not merely events occurring in, and having relation
to, a particular place or time, but the meaning and object
of religion at large, the creation of man, the nature of sin,
and the method of salvation ; and all these as perpetually
subsisting. These chapters constitute thus a kind of
argument or abstract prefixed to the divine drama of man's
spiritual history. And the key to their intepretation is the
word NOW.

176 THE PERFECT WAY,

5. For, in the Divine Mind, there is no past, in the
Divine economy, no future. God is I AM, and always IS.
The term Jehovah combines in one word the tenses past,
present, and future of the verb I AM. Scripture is a record
of that which is always taking place. Thus, the Spirit of
God, which is original Life, is always moving upon the face
of the waters, or heavenly deep, which is original Sub-
stance. And the One, which consists of these two, is
always putting forth alike the Macrocosm of the universe
and the Microcosm of the individual, and is always making
man in the image of God, and placing him in a garden
of innocence and perfection, the garden of his own unso-
phisticated nature. And man is always falling away from
that image and quitting that garden for the wilderness of
sin, being tempted by the serpent of sense, his own lower
element. And from this condition and its consequences he
is always being redeemed by the blood of the sacrifice
always being made for him by the Christ Jesus, who is Son
at once of God and of man, and is always being born of a
pure virgin ; — dying, rising, and ascending into heaven.

6. For these are, one and all, mystic terms denoting
facts of perpetual recurrence in the history of the Soul, and
necessary to salvation. It depends, however, upon the
sense in which they are understood, whether they minister
to salvation or to condemnation. The letter, it is declared,
killeth ; the letter and the spirit together have and confer
life. For, while interpreted in one sense — the sense of the
spirit— they are divine truths ; interpreted in another sense
— the sense of the letter— they are idolatrous falsehoods.
And inasmuch as idolatry consists in the materialisation
of spiritual mysteries, and the substitution for the true
things signified, of their material symbols ; those interpre-
tations are idolatrous which give to mystical doctrines

Lect. VII.] THE FALL. 177

physical applications. Now, all Scripture given by inspira-
tion of God is mystical ; and, in its esoteric sense, deals not
with material things, but with spiritual reahties, the mystic
intention of the things named being alone implied, and
by no means the things themselves. And this rule holds
good alike of those two divisions of Scripture which are
called respectively the Old and the New Testament.

7. In accordance, then, with the fourfold constitution of
existence, the Parable of the Fall has a fourfold significa-
tion. But, inasmuch as that which is true of the race is
true also of the individual, and that which is true of the
individual is true also of the race, each portion of the
fourfold signification has a twofold application, namely, to
the race and to the individual. For each alike it is true
on the planes spiritual, moral, intellectual, and physical.
And it is constructed in terms derived from this last,
because only tluis it can find on any plane universal
recognition ; since the physical is the universal mirror ot
the unmanifest, and is the only medium capable of reflect-
ing at once all the three planes above itself. Thus repre-
sented in terms derived from the physical, it possesses a
meaning for all, if only as an allegory of the Seasons, for —
having an astronomical basis — such it also is.

8. So far, however, from being intended to represent
the actual natural history, either of the planet or of man,
or to be what now-a-days it is the fashion to call scientific,
it is so contrived as to make that history appear to be
the reverse of what it really is. For, read by the super-
ficial sense, it represents man as created perfect from the
first, by a power working from without ; whereas, the
truth is, that he is created by gradual development from
rudimentary being, by a power — the Divine Spirit — work-
ing from within. For this is ever the method of the

178 THE PERFECT WAY.

Divine procedure, and it is this that the parable really
implies.

9. But only when it is understood what the mystic books
mean by Man, does the true meaning appear. And as,
until this is understood, it is vain to attempt to interpret
those books, a definition of the term Man, as therein em-
ployed, must be our first concern.

A materialistic science, discerning only the outward
appearance of things, and taking, therefore, no account of
qualities, necessarily makes the Form all. Hence, for it,
man is but a primate among the animals, and sufficiently
defined under the terms Mammal.^ Biped, Biinanous, and
the like. The notion that the form, to be valid, must be
filled up, and that he who is man in form only, and is de-
void of all the qualities, intellectual, moral, and spiritual,
which are comprised in the term humanity, is not really
man, is a notion which does not enter into the conception
of the Materialist.

10. According to mystical doctrine, on the other hand,
he who is human in form only, is but roan rudimentary, and
to be classed, in all essential respects, with those lower
grades of humanity, the plants and animals. He has, like
them, the potentiahty only of humanity, and is no reahsed
humanity. For, according to this doctrine, man's supreme
function is knowledge ; so that he is not man until he
knows, or, at least, has found his organon of knowledge,
and is capable of knowing. Besides, the very term know-
ledge, has, in this relation, a special meaning. For the
mystic applies it only to the cognition which is of Realities.
That alone for him is knowledge, which has for its subject
the nature of Being, his own nature, that is, and God's; not
phenomena merely, but Substance, and its method of oper-
ation. And, forasmuch as, in order to have this knowledge^

Lect. VII.] THE FALL. 179

a man must have attained his spiritual consciousness, it
follows that, according to mystical definition, man is not
man until he has attained the consciousness of his spiritual
nature. To attain this consciousness, and this alone, is to
attain true manhood. And, prior to the attainment of this,
the individual is but as an infant, incompetent to fulfil, or
even to comprehend, the functions of manhood.

11. The reason of this is, that man is a dual being, not
masculine only or feminine only, but both of these ; not
man only or woman only, but man and woman. And he
is this in respect, not of his exterior and physical, but of
his interior and spiritual nature. For, since humanity is
dual, that which, being man, represents humanity, nmst be
dual also. And this cannot be on the plane merely
physical, whereon but one moiety only of the human dual-
ism can be expressed in the same individual. On this
plane it takes two persons, a man and a woman, to express
the whole humanity. And it is by means of its two sexes
that the body constitutes a symbol of the humanity which,
in being interior and permanent, is alone the humanity
which is real.

12. For, — as already stated,— -that whereby the man
attains to manhood is woman. It is his power to recog-
nise, appreciate, and appropriate her, that stamps him,
physically, man. She it is who, influencing him through
the affections kindled by her in him, withdraws him from
his outward and aimless course, in which, left to himself,
he would sooner or later be dissipated and lost ; and
who, gathering him round herself as centre, redeems him
and makes him into Jt system capable of self-perpetuation,
supplementing and ( omplementing meanwhile his mascu-
line qualities, as will, force, and intellect, with her feminine
qualities, as enduran<:e, love, and intuition. Thus, by the

l8o TFJE PERFECT WAY,

addition of herself she makes him Man. It is not to the
male moiety of the dualism constituted by them, that the
term Man is, properly, applicable, any more than to the
female moiety. Neither of them separately is Man ; and it
is by an unfortunate defect of language that the masculine
half of man is called a man.i He is man male, as she
is man female. And only when wedded, that is welded^
into one by a perfect marriage, does Man result, the two
together thus blended making one humanity, — as earth and
water make one Earth, — and by their power of self-perpetu-
ation and multiplication demonstrating the completeness
and perfection of their system.

13. Only because it is already so with Humanity on the
inner plane, is it so on the outer. Whatever the sex of the
person physically, each individual is a dualism, consisting
of exterior and interior, manifested personality and essential
individuality, body and soul, which are to each other mas-
culine and feminine, man and woman ; he the without, and
she the within. And all that the woman, on the planes
physical and social, is to the man, that she is also on the
planes intellectual and spiritual. For, as Soul and Intuition
of Spirit, she withdraws him, physically and mentally, from
dissipation and perdition in the outer and material ; and by
centralising and substantialising him redeems and crowns
him; — from a phantom converting him into an entity, from

1 Much and serious misconception has arisen from the use of the
same term to denote both the whole humanity and the masculine half
of humanity. The confusion is identical with that which arises from
the use of the word Earth to denote both the entire globe of earth and
water, and the solid portion only of the globe. As in its former sense
earth and water are equally Earth, the one being as earth masculine,
and the other as earth feminine, so man and woman are equally Man,
the one being man masculine, and the other man feminine. For her as
well as for him, the exterior personaUty is what mystically is called the
•* man," and the interior being is the *' woraan."

Lect. VII.] THE FALL, i8l

a mortal into an immortal, from a man into a god. With-
out her, it were better both for himself and for others that
he should not be at all. On no plane of being is it good
that the man-element be alone. For without Love, Force
can but work evil until it be ^pent. And such is man and
his doom until he finds and is found of her, the soul and
woman within him. She is to him very '* mother of the
living," and without her is no life. And she is this because
she is, by her nature, that wherein the Divine Life resides.
For, as the soul is the life of t le man, so is the spirit, which
is God, the life of the soul. Thus is she mediator between
man and God, to draw them together in herself. And only
he is truly alive, is truly Man, and made after the Divine
Image, in whom she thus operates. Redeeming him from
chaos and making him a Kosmos, she is the centripetal to
his centrifugal, the attractive to his separative, the con-
structive to his destructive, the synthesis to his analysis, the
being to his seeming, the realty to his illusory. With her
advent he begins to be ; and thenceforth, through her, he
can claim kindred with the I AM.

14. Man, then, in our para) >le, is represented as created
perfect in that he is, in the my^Jtical sense, male and female,
that is, he has a soul — ani?n2 divina — superadded to his
exterior personality, — anima Iruta, — each of which is con-
scious of the separate existenc<-^ of each. Their attainment
of this consciousness is repre ented under the allegory of
the creation of the woman ; tiiey first then begin to exist
for each other. The time < hosen for the attainment of
this stage in their history, is an important element in the
process. For it is the same lor all men. It is not while
engaged in the active exercise of his masculine quaHties
that man first becomes consc ous of his other and better,
because interior and divine, self. His aggressive and

l82 THE PERFECT WAY,

destructive tendencies must have been exhausted, and the
animal in him, his own exterior self, — in a word, the man
part of him, — cast into deep slumber, before the woman in
him can reveal herself, and make him conscious of some-
thing, or rather some one^ within him, — himself, yet differing
from himself, and higher and better than anything he has
before had or been.

1 5. Once recognised, and her reality and superiority ad-
mitted, there is no height of goodness and knowledge to
which she cannot raise him, if but only he follow her lead,
and keep her free from defilement by Matter and Sense,
the direct traffic with which appertains to him. In order
properly to fulfil her function in regard to the man, and
attract his regards upwards to her, she must herself aspire
continually to the Divine Spirit within her, the central sun
of herself, as she is that of the man. If, withdrawing her
gaze from this, she fix it on things without and below, she
falls, and in her fall takes him with her. Except through
her, he cannot fall ; for only through her does he at all rise,
being, by his very nature the lowermost, and of himself
incapable of rising. For he rests on the material plane, and
is of earth earthy.

16. It is not because Matter is in itself evil that the soul's
descent into it constitutes a fall and ensures disaster. It is
because to the soul, Matter is a forbidden thing. So that
the act constitutes a disobedience. The prohibition, how-
ever, is not an arbitrary one, but is founded in the soul's
own nature, as also is the penalty attached to her trans-
gression. Only by remaining spiritual substance can soul
subsist as soul, having all the potentialities of soul By
quitting her own proper condition and descending into
Matter, she takes upon herself the limitations of Matter.
As between Spirit and Matter there is no boundary line,

Lect. VII.] THE FALL. 183

it is only by the maintenance of a will set exclusively
spiritwards, that a soul can be held from subsiding into
the lower condition of Matter, finally to disintegrate and
perish.

17. Such a fall, it will be well to repeat, does not involve
the loss of any portion of the divine Substance. The ani-
mating spirit is withdrawn, and the constituent elements
are separated. That only which perishes is the individuality
constituted of these. And it perishes through its own per-
sistent refusal of that " Gift of God " which is Eternal Life,
the gift, namely, of a portion of God's Self or Spirit. Re-
fusing this, man refuses life, as he is free to do. God rejects
and annihilates no one. Man, by his rejection of God,
annihilates his own individuality. And God cannot make
man on any other terms. And this, for the reason that
God is omnipotent. God would not be omnipotent were
the individual indestructible. For then there would be
something not God, possessing all the power of God. So
that, instead of this doctrine being an impugnment of the
Divine love and goodness, it is essential to these qualities.
God, we have said, rejects and destroys nothing. But there
is in things evil an element of self-destruction, in the opera-
tion of which lies the safety of the universe. Were the fact
otherwise, — could individuals subsist for ever in a condition
of opposition to the Divine will, — then would evil itself
be eternised ; and the universe, divided against itself, would
fall. And, on the other hand, were man not free to anni-
hilate himself, but were salvation compulsory, existence, in-
stead of being a solemn reality, would be a farce wherein
man and the soul would be but mechanical puppets alto-
gether unworthy a divine creation. By the law of Heredity,
God's freedom involves man's freedom ; and this involves
the freedom to renounce God, and with God, all Being.

THE PERFECT WAY.

Thus is the saying true, " For him who will not have God,
God is not."

1 8. It is through the soul, and the soul only, that man
learns the Divine will, and, learning it, saves himself. And
the clearness with which the soul, on her part, discerns and
transmits that will, depends upon her purity. In this word
purity lies the essence of all religion. It is the burden of
the whole Bible and of all bibles. Always is purity insisted
on as the means to salvation ; always impurity as the cause
of condemnation. To this uniformity of doctrine the Par-
able of the Fall is no exceptio^i. With the soul pure, man
dwells in Eden and " sees God." With the soul impure, he
is driven forth into the Wilderness. Such, on the plane
spiritual, is the operation of that great law of gravitation
which — as has been said — is the one law of existence. Sal-
vation and condemnation are matters of spiritual gravitation.
Man tends towards or away from God — the Tree of Life —
according to the specific gravity of his soul. Of this the
density depends upon the nature of the affections culti-
vated by him. And this, again, depends upon his own Will,
which is free. Wherefore, in being the regulator of his own
specific gravity, he is the arbiter of his own destiny ; and
according as he himself wills, he tends inwards and upwards
to salvation, or outwards and downwards to extinction.
Yielding to the Tempter Sense, and making Matter, not
his means merely but his end, his soul loses at length her
spiritual nature. Nevertheless, while there is life in her
there is hope for him. But only through a return to purity.
For only when she has regained her " virginity " and become
''immaculate," can the Christ — his saviour — be born ol
her.

Lect. VII.] THE FALL, 185

Part II.

19. The full significance of the Parable under consider-
ation, and the unity of the mystic Scriptures, become con-
spicuously apparent when we collate their various corre-
sponding utterances, as by taking into account those also
of the Book of Revelation. For it is there that the doc-
trine of the Woman receives its crowning recognition as
the foundation of that true Christianity which those persist-
ent suppressors of the woman — the world's materialising
priesthoods— have so nearly extinguished. Let us, then,
— though at the risk of some repetition — collate these two
utterances, between the delivery of which so many thou-
sands of years elapsed.

20. In creating Man, God creates one whole and perfect
being, formed of two distinct parts, Adam the earthly, ex-
terior man, and Eve the spiritual and interior man, his soul
and " living mother." These two are joined together by
God in perfect union as one creature, and made, for the
time, indispensable to each other. Adam, as the manifested
personality or man, is not complete, that is, is not a man
having Manhood, until Eve, the soul or woman, is added to
him as helpmeet and guide. By the addition of her the two
natures become one Humanity.

21. From this state of perfection Humanity soon falls.
For Eve, the soul, withdrawing her steadfast gaze from the
proper object of her regard, namely, her spirit, God, fastens
them on things below, things eartiily and material, which
are to her the " forbidden fruit," since her nature is spiritual.
Beholding this fruit, and finding it pleasant to the eyes, she
puts forth her hand and plucks of it, and gives of it to her
husband, or Adam, to eat with her.

22. This is ever the history of sin. The exterior per-

I86 THE PERFECT WAY,

sonality cannot of itself sin, for it is not a responsible being.
Sin is of the soul ; and it comes of the soul's inclination
to the things of sense. Taking of this fruit and enjoying it,
she is said to eat it. And at her instigation " Adam " does
likewise. And thenceforth, instead of the soul operating
within him to purify and enlighten him, and lead him up-
wards towards the Spirit, together they become sensual and
debased. And thus the sin, which has its commencement
in the thought of the soul, afterwards becomes developed
into action through the energy of the body or masculine
part.

23. The sin consummated, the result is inevitable. Adam
and his wife, the man and his soul, hear the voice of the
Lord God speaking through their conscience. And sensible
that they are no longer clad in the purity which alone en-
ables man to face his Maker, they fly, as one caught naked,
to hide from the Divine presence. Having rejected God,
and no longer looking up to Him as her Lord and King,
the soul, Eve, falls under the sway of Adam and the body.
He rules her, and her desire is unto him : and thencefurth
Matter has dominion in them over the spirit. The garden
of perfection is lost, and the world becomes for them a wil-
derness.

24. Meanwhile Adam, being interrogated by the Divine
Voice, lays the blame upon Eve. For, but for the soul
within him, the man had not known or been capable of
committing sin ; sin being possible only where there is a
sense of right and wrong, which the soul alone possesses.
Eve, interrogated in her turn, throws the blame on the
serpent of Matter — sense, or the lower nature — through
whose allurements she has fallen. It is no particular act
that thus constitutes sin. And sin does not consist in
fulfilling any of the functions of nature. Sin consists in

Lect. VII.] THE FALL

acting without or against the spirit, and in not seeking the
divine sanction for everything that is done. For sin is not
of the physical but of the spiritual man. And by the spirit
the act is redeemed or condemned. It is sheer materialism
and idolatry to regard an act as itself sinful. For to do
this, is to invest that which is merely physical with a
spiritual attribute.

25. The natural result of the soul's enslavement to Mat-
ter is her liability to extinction. In her own nature the
soul is immortal. That is, she does not partake the death
which befalls the body, but survives to take on other bodies,
and continues to do so until she has finally built up a
spiritual man worthy and capable of enduring for ever.
But the lower she sinks herself into Matter, the lower be-
comes her vitality and power of recovery. So that unless
she turn and mend, she must ultimately perish ; for she will
lose altogether the Divine Spirit which is her necessary life.

26. Notwithstanding the soul's fall, then, there is still
hope of recovery for man. She shall yet, she is divinely
assured, "crush the serpent's head." Not her seed only,
but herself, — the soul, — when fully restored. For this is the
true rendering, both in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the
far older Bible of the Zodiac — that indefeasible prophecy
of the soul's history. So that she who has been the cause
of the fall, shall be the means also of redemption. " I will
put'enmity," says God to the serpent, "between thee and
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; She shall
crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel."
For the fallen soul, retaining in some degree her spirituality,
and recoiling from a merely material estimate of things,
constitutes in the man a constant protest against his en-
grossment by his lower nature. It is, therefore, of the soul,
restored to her pure estate, and not of the body and its

i88 THE PERFECT WAY,

animal propensities, that the redeemed man must be born.
The first Adam is of the earth, earthy, and liable to death.
The second is *' from heaven," and triumphant over death.
For " sin has no more dominion over him." He, therefore,
is the product of a soul purified from defilement by Matter,
and released from subjection to the body. Such a soul is
called virgin. And she has for spouse, not Matter — for
that she has renounced — but the Divine Spirit, which is
God. And the man born of this union is in the image of
God, and is God made man ; that is, he is Christ, and it is
the Christ thus born in every man who redeems him and
endows him with eternal life. For in him the man becomes
transmuted from Matter into Spirit. He is the man him-
self, by regeneration become a son at once of man and
of God. Generation, degeneration, regeneration, — in these
three terms is comprised the whole process of the soul's
history.

27. This triumphant consummation of the soul's course
is thus celebrated in the Apocalypse. " I beheld," says
the seer, "a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed
with the sun, having the moon under her feet, and on her
head a crown of twelve stars." This is the soul invested
with the light of supreme knowledge attained through the
experiences undergone in the long series of her past exist-
ences ; standing on the moon as victor over materiality and
firm in the faith of a full intuition, — states denoted re-
spectively by the dark and light portions of the moon ; and
superior evermore to the changes and chances of mortal
destiny, the stars which represent this being the jewels of
her crown, each of them denoting one of the " twelve la-
bours " necessary to be endured by the soul on her path to
her final perfectionment, and the spiritual gifts and graces
acquired in the process.

Lect. VII.] THE FALL, 189

28. Of the woman or soul thus exalted, the offspring is
a " man-child," who is persecuted by the " serpent" of the
lower world. It is a man-child for several reasons. First,
because it represents the good deeds, and not intentions 01
thoughts merely, but actual works and positive fruits of a
soul overshadowed by the Divine Spirit, and fertilised by
the Divine Love. In the origination of such deeds, the
outer nature or man can have no part ; they proceed wholly
from the soul or woman. And they constitute a man-child,
because deeds imply an exercise of the masculine element
of force. And they are necessary to salvation, not because
they themselves can save, but because they indicate the
redemption of the individual who performs them. Faith
and holy longing are feminine, and of themselves insufficient.
They must be supplemented by works — which are mas-
culine— in order to win acceptance in God's sight. ** For
the man is not without the woman, nor the woman without
the man, in the Lord." And " the Lord " means and is the
whole humanity of man and woman, as su1>sisring in the
Divine Idea. Without the child, therefore, and this a man-
child, the allegory would have been incomplete.

29. Now the good deeds thus engendered are the special
aversion of the devil, or principle of evil, since, more than
all else, they endanger his kingdom. Hence he is repre-
sented as seeking to annihilate both them and the soul
which has given them birth. But though the soul must yet
remain in the world to endure trial and persecution until
the time comes for God to end her probation and call her to
her final joy with Himself, it is not so with her offsi)ring ;
but this is forthwith caught up to God and His throne.
For, the good deed once wrought cannot be destroyed ; but
God accepts and preserves it, and the devil has no power
over it. Wherefore the latter, finding it useless to pursue

190 THE PERFECT WAY,

the man-child, redoubles his efforts against the soul, and
pours forth a flood of temptations, in order, if possible, to
sweep her from God's sight. Slie, however, though still in
the ** wilderness " of the flesh, is divinely sustained and de-
livered. The rest of her seed, the good deeds she con-
tinues to bring forth, are still the subject of persecution,
until the dragon is Anally overcome through what mystically
is called the Blood of the Lamb, which is the pure doctrine
and life whereby the elect are made sons of God and heirs
of eternal life.

30. In the final exaltation which awaits her as the reward
of her faithfulness, the woman, or soul, is described as ar-
rayed by God in the white linen of righteousness, the
emblem of perfect purity, and given to be the bride of His
" only son," Christ Jesus. This is the man perfected
through experience of suffering, and made regenerate
through following his soul's pure intuition of God. And
he is called the " only son," not because he is a single in-
dividual, but because only he is so designated who comes
up to this description. He always is a son of God, who is
the product, not of a soul defiled by contact of Matter, but
of a soul pure and vitalised of the Spirit. The character or
" man " thus reborn is an " only begotten son of God," be-
cause God begets none of any other kind. Of men such
as this are the '* saints " who " inherit the earth." And
under their rule, the " New Jerusalem," or state of perfec-
tion, which " cometh down from heaven," — the city which
has God for its sun, and which has no temple, because
every man is himself a house of God, — replaces the lost
garden of Eden.

31. Side by side with this epitome of the history of the
pure and faithful soul, the allegory traces that of the per-
verse soul, under the type of an abandoned woman who

Lect. VII.] THE FALL. 191

sits upon the " seven hills " of the " seven deadly sins," and
allies herself in wickedness with the '* kings of the earth.'*
That is, who yields wholly to the promptings of the lower
nature, and accepts in all its grossness and cruelty a civilisa-
tion merely materialistic, in which the body is made all, and
the spirit and every divine principle are set at nought.

32. The completeness of the parable in Genesis appears
yet more distinctly when we compare the curse pronounced
on Adam with man's actual condition in material respects.
The sentence in its proper integrity, runs thus : — " And
unto Adam God said. Because thou hast hearkened unto
the voice of thy wife when beguiled of the devil, and hast
eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee, saying, Thou
shalt not eat of it : cursed is the ground for thy sake \ in
sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; thorns
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt
eat, instead of the nobler fruit of the tree which grows
spontaneously, the grosser herb of the field which requires
laborious cultivation. For, in the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground out of
which thou wast taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return." This is, God said to the bodily nature
of man : " Because thou hast yielded to the solicitations of
thy mate, the soul, when, turning from God, she inclined
to Matter, and from being spiritual became sensual, thou
must lead a hard and painful life, occupied by ignoble cares,
and return by death to the lower elements to perish. Thy
mate, meanwhile, though also liable to perish, shall still
have long endurance, but henceforth — until finally purified
and redeemed — shall bring forth her works, as the slave of
the body, in great trouble and compunction for her fallen
and degraded condition."

192 THE PERFECT WAY,

Part III.

33. All the mistakes made in Biblical interpretation
come of referring statements of which the intention is spi-
ritual and mystical, implying principles or states, to times,
persons, or places. But though these are never the essen-
tial element in any such statement, it is, nevertheless true
that the Bible parables are either based upon certain special
historical facts, or are stated in terms derived from actual
occurrences ; just as a hiero-Iyphical record is expressed in
symbols drawn from the animal world, and yet has no refer-
ence to that world ; so that the spiritual significations im-
plied are not without a correspondence of some sort on the
natural plane.

34. Now, the special historical fact upon the lines of
which the parable of the Fall is constructed, is one which —
already implied in the account just given of the soul in-
dividual of man — is to be sought in the history of the soul
collective of man, — in the history, that is, of the Church, an
account of the Fall in relation to which will occupy the rest
of this lecture. Sacerdotalism has always claimed for the
Church the distinction of being the mystic woman through
whose exaltation redemption occurs. But it has never re-
cognised the Church as also the woman through whose fall
comes the need of redemption. This reproach the priest
has bestowed in a quarter in which originally there was no
idea of bestowing it, and where it by no means belongs,
namely, the feminine moiety of the human race. Yet, not-
withstanding this assumption of sacerdotalism, it is to the
fall of the Church from the standard attained in the Edenic
period, that, in one of its aspects, the parable refers.

35. Even so, however, the interpretation is not to be re-
stricted to any single or special instance. It is only as a

Lbct. VII. ] THE FALL, I93

type of all Churches that the first or best Church is em-
ployed, precisely as the soul of the first or best man may
be employed as a type of all souls. And any less general
application would deprive the parable of its due place as
an eternal and universal verity, and reduce it to the level of
the merely historical and local.

36. Nor, in likening all Churches one to another in
respect of their fall, is it intended to assimilate them in
respect of the height from which they have fallen. All
that is meant is, that, whatever the level of spiritual perfec-
tion attained by any mystic community or Church in the
full flush of its enthusiasm and purity, there is always a fall
from such level, and the fall is due to one and the self-
same cause, namely, that which is implied in the parable
of Eden, and of which account has just been given in
relation to the soul as individual. For of the soul's fall,
whether in one or in many, the cause is always the same, —
the inclination to Matter.

37. The rise also is the same, both in cause and in
method. And it is of this — the rise, that is, of the earliest
known — perhaps the original — Church of Christ — that we
have first to speak. This, as with man himself, was by
evolution from rudimentary being. For the doctrine of
creation by evolution is, as already stated, a true doctrine ,
and it is true as regards both man's physical and man's
spiritual history. And it has been the doctrine of Mysti-
cism from the beginning, the knowledge of it being re-
served for initiates of a high grade. But between it and the
travesty of it propounded by the science — wholly material-
istic— of our day, is this essential difference. That science,
— " falsely so called," — in its ignorance of the nature of
Substance, credits Matter with a power of evolution while
denying to it the properties through which alone evolu-

194 THE PERFECT WAY.

tion can occur, namely, inhering life and consciousness.
This science, moreover, contemplates as possible the de-
velopment of that which, being infinite and eternal, is
necessarily all-perfect in perpetuity, namely, the substance
of existence. For mysticism, on the contrary, existence —
or, more properly, Being — and consciousness are terms
synonymous and interchangeable; and all Substance, under
whatever mode manifested, continues still to be, in some
mode, consciousness. And inasmuch as Substance itself
is incapable of development, in the sense of becoming more
or better than it originally is, development is not of the
qualities of substance, but of the manifestation of those
qualities in individuated portions of it, a process which —
consisting in the unfoldment of qualities already subsisting,
but latent — may fairly be designated evolution.

38. The man spiritual, like the man physical, — the
Church, like the world, then, represents a developmen*-.
from rudimentary being, occurring in virtue of the nature
of the substance of which that being represents the pro-
jection ; and the only difference between them is of degree
or stage of development. And whereas the lowest or ma-
terial plane is that wherein the process commences, the
highest and last to be attained is the celestial. According
to the degree in which he attains this, man attains the
divine and is at one with God, having, in virtue of the
knowledge thus derived, power " over things in heaven and
things on earth," — power, that is, over both regions, the
spiritual and the material, of his own nature, and bemg
altogether superior to the seductions of the illusory astral
which hes between.

39. This celestial sphere was attained by the Edenic
Church in a degree never reached by any other. Where-
fore, since that alone is such a Church in which it is

Lect. VIL] the fall. 195

attained, no Church which has subsequently existed has
been truly Edenic ; but all have been Churches of the Fall.
In Eden alone was man made in the "image of God,"
being called in token thereof, Adam and Eve. Then was
the first man, according to the mystical definition of the
term. Men and women, indeed, had subsisted on the earth
for ages before him ; but not man properly so called. They
were — as the vast majority of men and women still are —
man only in the making, or, it may be, in the marring.
Man attains manhood and becomes Man, only when he
reaches his spiritual majority. The attainment of the
celestial did not, and does not, involve the abandonment
of the terrestrial. The not uncommon notion, that man
in his primal perfection was a non-material or fluidic being,
having no material body, is erroneous. Man, while yet in
the body, attained " power over the body " ; from fixed,
making it volatile, and, though not immortal, capable of
an indefinitely prolonged existence, its vitality meanwhile
being such as not only to render it superior to disease and
injury in itself, but as to enable it to communicate health
to others. These results, however, — stupendous as they
would now be deemed, — did not exhaust the potentialities
of our race. There is a superior stage of which account
will be given when we come to treat particularly of the
redemption, and which belongs to a period of development
transcending that of the Adamic man. Nevertheless,
though not realising all the possibilities of humanity, the
Edenic Church attained, in its representative members, as
no other religious community has attained. And it was
through that Church's failure to continue at the same high
level, that the fall whereof we are trcatmg, occurred. By
this fall, man receded from the celestial back towards his
original level, the terrestrial, becoming once more subject

196 THE PERFECT WAY.

to Matter, and losing the power over his body. There was.
no fall on the part of the individuals themselves who had
risen. These quitted the earth and passed on to higher
conditions of being. The Fall came through the failure of
the succeeding generations to attain the level reached by
their predecessors. Failing to attain, like them, the
celestial, man remained — where, with a few individual
exceptions, he has ever since been — in the astral and
material.

40. Let us attempt a description of that inmost sphere —
the abode of the man celestial — which is at once the source
of doctrine and the sphere wherein — as representative of
the soul and intuition— the woman especially presides. It
is a memory that we are about to recall, a memory re-
covered of an age not absolutely but relatively '' golden,"
to revisit which in thought, is to revert to a period in
the world's youth, when, as yet unpoisoned by all-pervading
sin and disease, the conditions of life were so exquisite in
their purity and harmony, as to make existence itself a
positive, intense delight. And while in the act of recover-
ing that memory, and enjoying again that remote past, the
mind is able to look forward as well as backward, and to
behold the whole subsequent period of the world's course —
that which is called the historical period — as but a season
— brief compared with that which preceded it — of sickness
and suffering which the race, by its own fault, has brought
upon itself; but from which, it seems, rescue is not impossi-
ble, can humanity but furnish the love needful for the task
of saving itself For in those hyper-lucid moments it is
made to appear as a self-evident truth, that just as it has
been possible for us in the past to live heahhily and happily,
it will be possible for us to do so in the future. For

Lect. VII.] THE FALL. 197

Utopia is Utopia only for those who insist that it shall for
ever be Utopia and unrealised. There is no force in the
universe save will-force ; and all that life needs for life is
possible to will. And, continuing to operate over an in-
definite period, even a finite will becomes infinite. Where-
fore man has but to will long enough, to make the world as
he would have it. But to will is not merely to wish, but to
work towards the desired end. It is for the woman in us
to wish, and therein to prompt. She is the inspirer. But
the man in us must work. He is the executor. Apart,
powerless ; together, they can move the world. He and
She, Will and Love, Spirit and Substance, operating in the
celestial, created the world ; and assuredly they can redeem
it.

41. That which we propose to describe, — so far as the
attempt to reconstruct it has been successful, — is the inner-
most sphere, not, indeed, of the mystic community of Eden
itself, but of one of those ancient successors of and approxi-
mations to it, which, as Colleges of the Sacred Mysteries,
were the true heirs of Eden, and which, so recently even as
by Plato, were described as places wherein were repaired
the effects of the Fall, and to quit which for the outer world
was to quit once more the garden for the wilderness. Once
accessible to all, so completely now has the true character
of these institutions fallen from remembrance, that even
scholars write them down as instruments of imposture and
oppression, and devoid of special knowledge or faculty.
Wherefore to recover them is to re-create them ; — no small
task, seeing that the way to them, even in thought, is
barred and banned by all the priestlioods, so that only by
facing and piercing the formidable phalanx of sacerdo-
talism itself, can the forbidden ground of those lost para-
dises be even approached.

198 THE PERFECT WAY,

42. For — as recorded in classic legend — the golden
fruit of a perfect doctrine and life, produced on the union
of Zeus and Hera, — the man and woman of the substantial
humanity, — is guarded not only by the dragon of man's
own lower nature, but also by the " daughters of the sun-
set,"— the world's materialistic sacerdotalisms. And these,
together with dragon and sword of flame, keep watch and
ward, lest any, re-entering the closed garden, may find,
and pluck, and eat, and know, and, knowing, have life in
himself, needing no assistance of priest. And so fierce and
vigilant is the watch kept, that only a Heracles — or man
already half divine — can succeed in piercing or evading
the formidable phalanx.

43. Let us suppose this done, and the priestly lines
safely passed and left behind. Traversing the broad belt
which divides these lines from the wished-for centre, the
seeker descries at length a Mounts towards the summit of
which the sky appears to dip, so that by the meeting of the
two a junction is formed between the earth and heaven.
Thus does it appear to the interior vision, with which, to
be a successful follower of such quest, the seeker must be
endowed. That which he finds on reaching the Mount, is a
community of beings, of both sexes, to the ordinary eyes
human, but to the interior divine also. And the life they
lead— though outwardly quiet, grave, uneventful, and, as
some would deem it, even ascetic — in reality throbs with
intensest vitality, abounds in enterprise the most lofty, and
brims with keenest satisfaction. For, of this community
the members are, of all mankind, the profoundest of intelli-
gence, widest of culture, ripest of experience, tenderest of
heart, purest of soul, maturest of spirit. They are persons
who — using life without abusing it, and having no perverse
will to the outer — have learnt all that the body has to teach,

Lect. VII.] THE FALL. I99

and who, rising above earth by the steadfast subordination
of their lower, and exaltation of their higher nature, have
at length — to use their own most ancient and significant
phrase — crucified in themselves the flesh, and thereby
made of their bodies instruments, instead of masters, for
their souls, and means of expression, instead of sources
of limitation, for their spirits. Thus rising above the earth,
they have drawn down heaven to meet them; and, like
the revolving rain-cloud of tropic seas, formed a pillar of
communication between the spheres upper and nether.

44. An Order, or School, do these compose, whereof the
initiates, while honouring the man as the heir of all things,
— if only he be lawfully begotten and be a true child of the
Spirit, — especially champion the woman, by exalting her
within themselves to share supremacy with the man, making
themselves at once man and woman. For together with
the intellect, they cherish also the intuition, together with
the head, the heart, and combining in all things love with
will, make it their one object to enable the substance of
their humanity to attain in them the full manifestation of
its qualities. Practisers as well as preachers of the doctrine
of creation by development, and — withheld by no prepos-
session or prejudice — fearless followers of thought to its
extremest spheres in every direction, they are the earth's
sole genuine evolutionists and free-thinkers ; and to them
alone, and those who, affiliated to them, know and follow
their method, it is given, while in the body, to live the life
of the spirit ; to reach their intellectual manhood ; to com-
plete the system of their thought, and find certitude of
truth even the highest ; to attain the supreme common
sense of all the spheres and modes of being in which
substance is wont to be manifested; and, in a word, to
be taught of the informing Spirit Itself of the universal

THE PERFECT WAY,

humanity, all the mysteries of that kingdom which, being
within, is the counterpart of and sole key to that which is
without.

45. Of all who attain eminence in this School — and these
have been, and haply shall yet again be, many — the motive
is one and the history one. For the motive is the love of
perfection, for the sake, not of self only, but of perfection.
And this is a goal which, pursued as these pursue it, con-
tinues ever to rise, and draws the pursuer after it. And
the history is that of the souL For, as the soul is one,
so also is her history one.

46. From this order, wherever established, have pro-
ceeded, as from a central sun, all the light and heat of
knowledge and goodness which, distributed through /<7/V/{////
priesthoods, have ministered towards the world's redemp-
tion from utter ignorance and barbarism to such degree of
humanity as it has reached. From the germs of truth and
beauty, in doctrine and conduct, idea and practice, thus
originated, and transferred to various soils, has sprung all
that the world has of true philosophy, morality, art, science,
civilisation, religion. And in so far as the products have
been lacking in excellence, the fault has been due, not to
the original seed, but to the soil and to the husband-
men.

47. How stubborn that soil, and how inefficient or faith-
less those husbandmen, may be inferred from the fact that
rarely, since history began, has the Order found in the
smallest degree the recognition and gratitude its due. But,
on the contrary, whenever, m a period of degradation so
extreme that humanity itself seemed in its death-throe, and
instead of men the earth bore monsters, — one of its mem
bers has quitted his lo ed seclusion and, descending from
his own celestial " Mount" into the world below, has sought

Lect. VII.] TEE FALL. aoi

by conduct and precept to afford an example of what
humanity has in it to be, — he has by the world he sought to
rescue been subjected to persecution and affront, and in the
official guardians of the doctrine he represented and would
have regenerated, has found his bitterest foes.

48. Long vanished from human view, the Order has been
replaced by semblances, mechanical merely and void of
vitality ; and for lack both of the knowledge and of the
materials, incompetent to build up a single specimen of
humanity after its perfected pattern. Nevertheless the
true order still survives, though dwindled in numbers and
no longer having organisation or appliance due ; but as " a
people scattered and peeled," lost tribes of a spiritual Israel,
whose roll call is no more on earth. Once known and
supremely honoured by the titles of Magi, Wise Men, Kings
of the East, and Sons of God, its initiates are now mis-
known and supremely contemned under the designation of
Mystics. Yet, notwithstanding the uncongenial climate and
evil entreaty of a civilisation become wholly materialistic,
these still pursue— unknown for the most part even to each
otlier — their ancient vocation ; and still is this, as of old,
the Gnosis, or Divine Science. For its subject is the Sub-
stance of the universal Humanity, and its object is the
attainment of personal perfection.

49. Of all earthly Orders, this, by reason of its antiquity,
its universality, its objects, and its achievements, is incom-
parably the most notable, seeing that from it have pro-
ceeded all the world's true sages, saints, seers, prophets,
redeemers, and Christs ; and through it all divine revela-
tion. And its doctrine is that one true doctrine of ex-
istence, and therein of religion, which — always in the
world — is now for the first time in its history published to
the world in language comprehensible by the world ; —

aoa THE PERFECT WAY,

having, it is confidently believed, been recovered ii? ^J^i? way
in which it was originally received.

Part IV.

50. It remains to speak of the cause and manner of the
fall from a level so lofty, from a rule so beneficent. The
truth is, that the world fell only because the Church fell.
And the Church, or collective soul of Humanity, fell, as
does the individual soul, by looking less and less upward
to God, and more and more downward to Matter.
Cataclysmal as the result may appear when viewed in
the totality of its efifects and from a distance of time, the
declension was very gradual, and extended over many
generations. It may thus be compared to a diminution of
agricultural produce, such as occurs through the gradual
impoverishment of the soil. The spiritual possibilities c/ the
race had, as it were, exhausted themselves. Or it may be
likened to a recession of the tides of the sea, and to th'* 'sea-
sons of the year. For, until finally united to God by what,
mystically, is called the Divine Marriage, man is subject to
many fluctuations and alternations in respect of his spiritual
condition. And instead of the wave of his spiritual life
remaining always at high water, it falls back to rise in
another tide, — a tide, it may be, as in this case, to culminate
only after another creative "week " of man's spiritual forma-
tion, of which every " day " should be a " thousand years."
In the sense and manner ordinarily supposed, mankind
never fell. Its fall was gradual as its rise. Under the
ripening influence of a vast wave of spiritual light and heat,
— to the production of which man himself had contributed
his necessary quota, by voluntary co-operation with the
Divine Spirit working within him, — he attained the first

Lect. VII.] THE FALL. 203

great summer of his perfection, in the time and manner
indicated in the parable of Eden and the legends of the
Golden Age. Upon the subsidence of this wave — a sub-
sidence due to himself — he fell from this summer back
into the spiritual autumn and winter in which he has
remained buried more or less deeply ever since. And now
he is at the lowest depth compatible with any retention
at all of existence. Another step in the same direction
means for Humanity — in the mystical and true sense, and
that is in every high sense — total extinction.

51. As with the Individual, so with the Race. The
path of ascent from rudimentary being is also the path of
descent when, through a perverse will to the outer, descent
occurs. Man rose into man, and attained the full image of
God, through the culture of the woman within him. Repre-
senting his soul and intuition of God, she was his initiator
into the knowledge of divine things. And led by the clear
perceptions which are her special gift when duly tended and
honoured, he learnt to shun idolatry — which is the prefer-
ence for the Form over the Substance — and bloodshed
(whether for soul or body), and with these whatever might
serve to obscure or distort his conceptions of the Divine
Character. Thus exalting the woman on the spiritual and
intellectual planes of her manifestation in humanity, he
exalted her also on the planes social and political ; and
instead of seeing in her — as do the fallen philosophies and
sacerdotalisms of all subsequent ages — a thing maimed and
defective, and — however fair — a mistake and a blunder of
Nature, to be classed with criminals, idiots, and children,
and yet to be held responsible for all the evils of existence,
— he regarded her as a later and higher development upon
himself, and as, of the two, the nearer to God. And richly
did she repay him for the preference, so long as it was

204 THE PERFECT WAY,

accorded to her. For through her he attained Paradise.
But as, when pure and uncorrupted, the soul is man's
initiator into things divine ; so when, turning towards the
things of sense, the soul loses her purity, she becomes his
initiator into things evil, and gives him of the fruit of
forbidden knowledge, making him a " sinner," which, but
for the soul, he could not be. For " by the law is the
knowledge of sin," and the law is given to the soul. The
Fall, therefore, when at length it came, came not through
any individual person, woman or man, but through the
fault of man, and was due to the fall of the woman in
himself. Following her intuition of God, he had as-
cended from the material, through the astral to the celestial,
and became made in the "image of God." Following her
in her fall into Matter, he descended by the same way to
where he now is, his path being one continuous track of
agony, tears, and blood, due solely to the suppression within
himself of the " woman."

52. At once the cause and consequence of the Fall, the
manifestation of this suppression is always threefold. The
loss of the intuition means idolatry, and idolatry means
murder. Each of these is a condition of the other. Losing
his intuition of Spirit, man becomes Materialist, and instead
of the spiritual idea, v/hich alone is real, worships the visible
symbol. That is, he ignores the soul and exalts the body
of things. Exalting the body, he sacrifices all to the body,
and sheds, for iis gratification, innocent blood. Thus is he
murderer as well as idolater. The woman in him fallinor,
he becomes "Cain," a cultivator of "the fruits of the
ground" only, or lower nature, whence proceeds all evil.
In other words, for a doctrine of love he substitutes a
doctrine of selfishness. For this is the sin of which blood
shed is the symbol and outcome.

Lect. VII.] THE FALL, 205

53. Since these are the three steps of his descent, to
reverse his practice in respect of them — in the Spirit as
well as in the Letter — will be to reverse the Fall, and to
remount once more to the celestial. Already has the move-
ment begun in each regard. The position of woman on
the lower planes is being rapidly revolutionised, and soon
will be so also on the higher. Little, however, do most of
those who are working to that end know what it means, and
little will the end coincide with their anticipations. For
many who in our day are pretending to ** exalt the woman "
are doing so by means subversive of her. And many even
of the women who are seeking to exalt themselves, are doing
so by the repression, rather than by the promotion, of their
womanhood ; and this, by reason, not of their doing man's
work, but of their doing it in man's evil fashion, leaving out
the woman. Nevertheless, the woman shall be exalted.
God will carry her to His throne, and *' will make the wrath
of man to praise Him." The outcry, surely gathering
volume and strength, against the slaughter and torture of
our animal brethren, whether for use or for pleasure, is an-
other token of entrance upon the upward path. It is not
at the hands of those who kill or eat them, that the animals
will be permitted to accept their salvation from the torturer.
They who would redeem others must first make sacrifice
in themselves. When this truth is understood, the redemp-
tion of the animals will be at hand. And in respect of
idolatry the prospect is even yet brighter. For the " Gospel
of Interpretation " has come, and the " letter which killeth"
is henceforth shorn of its strength.

54. Do we speak of signs ? What sign more astounding
could have been imagined than the modern phenomenon
known as " Spiritualism " ? Herein man has already taken
one whole step upward towards the celestial. For in

2o6 THE PERFECT WAY.

" Spiritualism '' he has quitted the exclusively material,
and has actually entered the astral. Short of the celestial
now he cannot stop. The very profundity of his dissatis-
faction with his experiences of the astral, will compel him
onwards. To this every " Spiritualist " will testify. Back-
ward man dare not turn, to the merely material. For he has
beheld in vivisection the abyss which confronts him there,
and in healthy horror has recoiled from the bottomless pit
therein disclosed, of the possibilities of his own lower
nature. In vivisection the human is abandoned for the
infernal.

55. The cry, then, is onward, upward, inward to the
celestial. And happy will they be who first are uplifted
thither, for they will surely draw all men up after them.
Reversing the Fall and the Curse of Eve, they will lead Man
to a new Golden Age, a new sabbath of Perfection, and the
glories of the New Jerusalem, that true City of Hygieia,
which Cometh down from the heaven of his own pure Ideal.
Thus will the divine Virgin Astrasa — forced to quit earth
when the Golden Age was no more — fulfil the promise of
her return, bringing her progeny of divine sons, to redeem
the world.^ Thus, too, will Intuition and Intellect, as a new
Esther and Mordecai, once more gain favour with the
world, and, redeeming from oppression the true Israel, give
the kingdom to the righteous. Moreover in these faculties,
thus restored, will the " two " Apocalyptic " Witnesses " rise,
as from the dead, in " the streets of the great City," and
"ascending into heaven," reign supreme. And thus also
will the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar find its fulfilment,
and the Golden Image its destruction. For the Image is

* Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna,
Jam nova progenies cckIo dimittitur alto.

Virgil, Eclog. IV.

Lect. VII.] THE FALL, 207

the symbol of a civilisation whose head — or intellect— is
golden, but whose body is of silver mixed with brass,
and whose legs and feet are iron and clay ; — that is, which
rests on Force and Matter. And the Stone, hewn with-
out hands, which destroys it, is the Understanding, mani-
fested in a new Word or Gospel of Interpretation, which,
smiting the monster mis-called Civilisation, shall " scatter
in pieces the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the
gold, and make them as the chaff of the summer threshing-
floor." But the " Stone" by which the Image is destroyed
shall " become a great mountain, and fill the whole earth."
Becoming the " head corner stone," by it the Great Pyramid
of the standard Humanity shall be completed.

LECTURE THE EIGHTH.

THE REDEMPTION.

Part I.

I. That, then, which, mystically, is called the Fall of Man,
does not mean, as commonly supposed, the lapse, through
a specific act, of particular individuals from a state of
original perfection ; nor, as sometimes supposed, a change
from a fluidic to a material condition. It means such an
inversion of the due relations between the soul and the
body of a personality already both spiritual and material,
as involves a transference of the central will of the system
concerned, from the soul — which is its proper seat — to the
body, and the consequent subjection of the soul to the
body, and liability of the individual to sin, disease, and
all other evils which result from the limitations of Matter.

2. That, therefore, which, mystically, is called the Re-
demption, and which is the converse of the Fall, does not
mean, as commonly supposed, the remission, or transference
from the guilty to the innocent, of tiie penalties incurred
through the Fall. No penalty incurred by man ever is or
can be remitted by God, since the Divine Justice is just.
Nor, for the same reason, can it be borne by another, since
a substitution of the innocent for the guilty would in it-
self be a violation of justice. Wherefore the doctrine of
Vicarious Redemption, as ordinarily accepted, represents
a total misconception of the truth, and one derogatory to

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION, 209

the Divine Character. The Redemption means such re-
moval of the will of the individual system concerned, from
the body, and reinstatement of it in the soul, as thence-
forth to secure to the soul full control over the body, and
to exempt the individual from further liability to trans-
gression. He who is redeemed cannot sin, that is, mor-
tally.

3. It is according to the Divine order of Nature that the
soul should control the body. For, as a manifested entity,
man is a dual being, consisting of soul and body ; and of
these, in point both of duration and function, and therefore
in all respects of value, the precedence belongs to the soul.
For the soul is the real, permanent Individual, the Self,
the everlasting, substantial Idea, of which the body is but
the temporary residence and phenomenal expression. The
soul, nevertheless, has, properly speaking, no will of her
own, since she is feminine and negative. And she is
therefore, by her nature, bound to obey the will of some
other than herself This other can be only the Spirit or
the Body ; — the Within and the Above, which is Divine,
and is God ; or the Without and the Below, which, taken
by irself and reduced to its last expression, is the " devil."
It is, therefore, to the Spirit and soul as one, that obedi-
ence is due. Hence, in making the body the seat of the
will, the man revolts, not merely against the soul, but
against God ; and the soul, by participation, does the same.
Of such revolt the consequence is disease and misery of
both soul and body, with the liability, ultimately, to extinc-
tion of the soul as well as of the body. For the soul which
persistently rejects the Divine Will in favour of the bodily
will, sins mortally, and, becoming mortal, at length dies
For her life is withdrawn and her constituents are scattered
to the elements ; so that, without any actual loss either of

2IO TFIE PERFECT WAY.

the Life or of the Substance of the universal existence, the
individuality constituted of them perishes. The "man" is
no more. " He that gathereth not with Me, scattereth."

4. The result, on the oth.^r hand, of the soul's steadfast
aspiration towards God, — the Spirit, that is, within her, —
and of her consequent action u]")on the body, is that this also
becomes so permeated and s iffused by the Spirit as, at last,
to have no will of its own, but to be in all things one with
its soul and Spirit, and to constitute with these one perfectly
harmonious system, of which every element is under full
control of the central Will. It is this unification, occurring
within the individual, which constitutes the Atonement.
And in him in whom it occurs in its fullest extent. Nature
reahses the ideal to attain \'\hich she first came forth from
God. For in the man thus redeemed, purified, and perfected
in the image of God, and having in himself the power of
life eternal, she herself is vindicated and glorified, and the
Divine Wisdom is justified of her children. The process,
however, is one which each individual must accomplish in
and for himself. For, being an interior process, consisting
in self-purification, it cannot be performed from without.
That whereby perfection is attained is experience, which
impHes suftering. For this reason the man who is reborn
in us of " Water and the Spirit," — our own regenerate Self,
the Christ Jesus and Son of Man, who in saving us is called
the Captain of our salvation, — is said to be made perfect
through suffering. This suffering must be borne by each
man for himself. To deprive any one of it by putting die
consequences of his acts upon another, so far from aiding
that one, would be to deprive him of his means of redemp-
tion.

5. There are two senses in which the term Fall is used,
each of them having relation to an indispensable epoch in

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION. iu

the process of the universe. The one is the fall of Spirit,
the other of the soul. The first occurs in the universal,
and concerns the Macrocosm. The second occurs in the
individual, and concerns the Microcosm. The first and
general descent of Spirit into Matter consists in that original
projection of the Divine Substance from pure Being into
the condition of Existence, whereby Spirit becomes Matter,
and Creation occurs. The doctrine which regards the
universe as the Thouglit of God, is a true doctrine. But
the universe is not therefore unsubstantial. God is real
Being, and that which God thinks is also God. Wherefore,
in consisting of the thought of the Divine Mind, the Universe
consists of the Substance of that Mind, the Substance, that is,
of God. God's Ideas, like God, are real beings. Divine Per-
sonages, that is, Gods. Put forth by, and, in a sense divided
from, God, in order to accomplish God's purposes, these hQ-
comQ ?7iessengers oi God, that is, Angels. And, of them, those to
whom is assigned a condition below that of God — a condition
no longer of Spirit — are called "Fallen Angels." Wherefore
the "Fall of the Angels" denotes simply the original and
kosmic descent of Spirit into the condition of Matter, — the
precipitation, that is, of the Divine Substance from a state
of pure Being, into the various elenients and modes which
are comprised in and which constitute Existence or Creation.
Creation is thus, not, as ordinarily supposed, a making out of
that which is not, but a manifestation or putting forth — by
the conversion of essence into things— of that which already
is, but which subsists unmanifest. It is true, that prior to
such manifestation, there is no thing. But this is not because
there is nothing; but because before things can exist, the
ideas of them must subsist. F ^r a thing is the result of an
idea, and except as such cannot exist. Thus, Matter, as
the intensification, or densificj; tion, of Idea, is a mode of

112 THE PERFECT WAY,

the Divine consciousness, put forth through an exercise of
the Divine Will ; and being so, it is capable, through an
exercise of the Divine Love, of reverting to its original,
unmanifest condition of Spirit. The recall of the universe
to this condition constitutes the final Redemption or
"Restitution of all things." And it is brought about by
the operation of the Divine Spirit within the whole.

6. The Redemption from the other of the two Falls
specified, is due to the operation of the divine element
within the individual. And it is of this alone that we pro-
pose to treat on this occasion. As already stated, this Fall
does not consist in the original investment of the soul with
a material body. Such investment — or incaimation — is an
integral and indispensable element in the process of the
individuation of soul-substance, and of its education into
humanity. And until perfected, or nearly so, the body is
necessary to the soul in turn as nursery, school, house of
correction, and chamber of ordeal. It is true that redemp-
tion involves deliverance from the need of the body. But
redemption itself is from the power of the body; and it is
from its fall under the power of the body that the soul requires
redemption. For it is this fall which, by involving the
alienation of the individual from God, renders necessary a
reconciliation or at-one-ment. And inasmuch as this can
be effected only through the total renunciation of the ex-
terior or bodily will, and the unreserved acceptance in its
place of the interior or divine will, this at-one-ment con-
stitutes the essential element of that Redemption which
forms the subject of the present discourse.

7. Although Redemption, as a whole, is one, the process
is manifold, and consists in a series of acts, spiritual and
mental. Of this series, the part wherein the individual
finally surrenders his own exterior will, with all its exclu-

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION. 213

lively material desires and affections, is designated the
Passion. And the particular act whereby this surrender is
consummated and demonstrated, is called the Crucifixion.
This crucifixion means a complete, unreserving surrender, —
to the death, if need be, — without opposition, even in de-
sire, on the part of the natural man. Without these steps
is no atonement The man cannot become one with the
Spirit within him, until by his " Passion " and " Crucifixion,"
he has utterly vanquished the "old Adam" of his former
self. Through the atonement made by means of this self-
sacrifice he becomes as one without sin, being no more
liable to sin ; and is qualified to enter, as his own high-
priest, into the holy of holies of his own innermost. For
thus he has become of those who, being pure in heart,
alone can face God.

8. The "Passion" and "Crucifixion" have their im-
mediate sequel in the Death and Burial of the Self thus
renounced. And these are followed by the Resurrection
and Ascension of the true immortal Man and new spiritual
Adam, who by his Resurrection proves himself to be —
like the Christ — " virgin-born," in that he is the offspring,
not of the soul and her traffic with Matter and Sense, but
of the soul become "immaculate," and of her spouse, the
Spirit. The Ascension, with which the D. ama terminates,
is that of the whole Man, now regenerate, to his own celes-
tial kingdom within himself, where — made one with the
Spirit — he takes his seat for ever " at the right hand of the
Father."

9. Although the Resurrection of the man regenerate has
a twofold relation, in that it sometimes atfects the body,
the resurrection is not of the body in any sense ordinarily
supposed, nor is the body in any way the object of the pro-
cess. The Man, it is true, has risen from the dead. But

214 THE PERFECT WAY,

it is from the condition of deadness in regard to things
spiritual, and from among those who, being in that condition,
are said to be "dead in trespasses and sins." In these two
resi)ects, namely, as regards his own past self and the world
generally, he has " risen from the dead ; " and " death," of
this kind, " has no more dominion over him." And even
if he have redeemed also his body and made of it a risen
body, this by no means implies the resuscitation of an
actual corpse. In this sense there has been for him no
death, and in this sense there is for him no resurrection,
It was through misapprehension of the true doctrine, and
the consequent expectation of the resurrection of the dead
body, that the practice — originally symbolical and special
— of embalming the corpse as a mummy, became common,
and that interment was substituted for the classic and far
more wholesome practice of cremation. In both cases, the
object was the delusive one of facilitating a resuscitation at
once impossible and undesirable, seeing that if reincarnation
be needful, a soul can always obtain for itself a new body.

lo. That which constitutes the Great Work is not the
resuscitation of the dead body, but the redemption of
Spirit from Matter. Until man commits what, mystically,
is called idolatry, he has no need of such redemption. So
long as he prefers the inner to the outer, and consequently
polarises towards God, the will of his soul is as the Divine
Will, and she has, in virtue thereof, power over his body,
as God has over the universe. Committing idolatry, by
reason of perverse will to the outer, — looking back, and
down, that is, and preferring the form to the substance,
the appearance to the reality, the phenomenon to the idea,
the "city of the Plain" to the "mount of the Lord," — she
loses this power, and becomes a " pillar of salt," material
and patent to sense, and, hence, " naked." The " resurrec-

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION, 215

tion body" is altogether sublime, being woven for herself by
the ascended soul out of elements transcending aught the
physical corpse can yield; for it is her own "unfallen"
substance. It is not a body raised^ but a raised body.

Part II.

II. In order to obtain an adequate conception of the
vastness of the interval between the conditions of man
** fallen " and man *' redeemed," it will be necessary to speak
yet more particularly of the man perfected and having
power. Thus contrasted, the heights and depths of hu-
manity will appear in their true extent. It is but a sketch,
comparatively slight, which can here be given of what they
must endure, who, for love of God, desire God, and who
by love of God, finally attain to and become God ; and
who, becoming God without ceasing to be man, become
God-Man, — God manifest in the flesh, — at once God and
Man. The course to this end is one and the same for all,
whenever, wherever, and by whomsoever followed. For
perfection is one, and all seekers after it must follow the
same road. The reward, and the means towards it, are also
one. For "the Gift of God is eternal Life." And it is by
means of God, — the Divine Spirit working within him, to
build him up in the Divine Image, — he, meanwhile co-
operating with the Spirit, — that man achieves Divinity. In
the familiar, but rarely understood terms, ** Philosopher's
Stone," " Elixir of Life," *' universal Medicine," " holy
Grail," and the like, is impliod this supreme object of all
quest. For these are but terms to denote pure Spirit, and
its essential correlative, a Will absolutely firm and inaccess-
ible alike to weakness from wi;;hin and assault from without.
Without a measure of this Spirit is no understanding — and

2i6 THE PERFECT WAY.

therefore no interpretation — of the Sacred Mysteries of Ex-
istence. Spiritual themselves, they can be comprehended
only by those who have, nay, rather, who are Spirit ; for
God is Spirit, and they who worship God must worship in
the Spirit.

12. The attainment in himself of a pure and divine
Spirit, is, therefore, the first object and last achievement of
him who seeks to realise the loftiest ideal of which humanity
is capable. He who does this is not an '* Adept " merely.
The " Adept " covets power in order to save himself only ;
and knowledge is for him a thing apart from love. Love
saves others as well as oneself. And it is love that dis-
tinguishes the Christ; — a truth implied, among other ways,
in the name and character assigned in mystic legends to
the favourite disciple of the Christs. To Krishna, his
Arjun ; to Buddha, his Ana7ida ; to Jesus, his John ; — all
terms identical in meaning, and denoting the feminine and
tender moiety of the Divine Nature. He therefore, and he
alone, who possesses this spirit in quality and quantity with-
out measure, has, and is, "Christ." He is God's Anointed,
suffused and brimming with the Spirit, and having in virtue
thereof the power of the " Dissolvent " and of " Transmu-
tation," in respect of the whole man. Herein lay the grand
secret of that philosophy which made " Hermes " to be
accounted the " trainer of the Christs." Known as the
Kabbalistic philosophy, it was a philosophy — or rather a
science — based upon the recognition in Nature of a uni-
versal Substance, which man can find and " effect," and in
virtue of which he contains within himself the seed of his
own regeneration, a seed of which — duly cultured — the fruit
is God, because the seed itself also is God. Wherefore, the
" Hermetic science " is the science of God.

13. "Christ," then, is, primarily, not a person, but a

Lect. VIIL] the redemption, ai7

principle, a process, a system of life and thought, by the
observance of which man becomes purified from Matter,
and transmuted into Spirit. And he is a Christ who, in
virtue of his observance of this process to its utmost extent
while yet in the body, constitutes a full manifestation of the
qualities of Spirit. Thus manifested, he is said to "destroy
the works of the devil," for he destroys that which gives
pre-eminence to Matter, and so re-estabhshes the kingdom
of Spirit, that is, of God.

14. This, the interior part of the process of the Christ, is
the essential part. Whether first or last, the spiritual being
must be perfected. Without this interior perfection, nothing
that is done in the body, or exterior man, is of any avail,
save only in so far as it may minister to the essential end.
The body is but an instrument, existing for the use and sake
of the soul, and not for itself. And it is for the soul, and
not for itself, that it must be perfected. Being but an
instrument, the body cannot be an end. That which makes
the body an end, ends with the body ; and the end of the
body is corruption. Whatever is given to the body is taken
from the Spirit From this it will be seen what is the true
value of Asceticism. Divested of its rational and spiritual
motive,. self-denial is worthless. Rather is it worse than
worthless ; it is materialistic and idolatrous ; and, being in
this aspect a churlish refusal of God's good gifts, it impugns
the bounteousness of the Divine nature. The aim of all
endeavour should be to bring the body into subjection to,
and harmony with, the spirit, by refining and subliming it,
and so heightening its powers as to make it sensitive and
responsive to all the motions of the Spirit. This it can
be only when, deriving its sustenance from substances the
purest and most highly solarised, such as the vegetable
kingdom alone affords, it suffers all its molecules to be-

2i8 THE PERFECT WAY.

come polarised in one and the same direction, and this
the direction of the central Will of the system, the ''Lord
God of Hosts " of the Microcosmic Man, — Whose mystic
name is Adonai.

15. The reason of this becomes obvious when it is
understood that the Ciirists are, above all things, Media,
But this not as ordinarily supposed, even by many who
are devoted students of spiritual science. For, so far from
suffering his own vivifying spirit to step aside in order that
another may enter, the Christ is one who so develops, puri-
fies, and in every way perfects his spirit, as to assimilate
and make it one with the universal Spirit, the God of the
Macrocosm, so that the God without and the God within
may freely combine and mingle, making the universal the
individual, the individual the universal. Thus inspired and
filled with God, the soul kindles into flame; and God,
identified with the man, speaks through him, making the
man utter himself in the name of God.

16. It is in his office and character as Christ, and not
in his own human individuality, that the Man Regenerate
proclaims himself " the way, the truth, and the life," " the
door," and the hke. For, in being, as has been said, the
connecting link between the creature and God, the Christ
truly represents the door or gate through which all ascend-
ing souls must pass to union with the Divine ; and save
through which "no man cometh unto the Father." Jt is
not, therefore, in virtue of an extraneous, obsessing spirit
that the Christ can be termed a " Medium," but in virtue of
the spirit itself of the man, become Divine by means of that
inward purification by the life or '' blood " of God, which
is the secret of the Christs, and " doubled " by union with
the parent Spirit of all,— the "Father" of all spirits. This
Spirit it is Whom the typical Regenerate Man of the

Lect. VIII ] THE REDEMPTION, 219

Gospels is represented as calling the " Father." It is the
Uninanifest God, of Whom the Christ is the full manifes-
tation.

17. Hence he disavows for himself the authorship of his
utterances, and says, " The words which I speak unto you
I speak not of myself. The Father which dwelleth in me,
He doelh the works." The Christ is, thus, a clear glass
through which the divine glory shines. As it is written of
Jesus, " And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only
Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Now, this
" Only Begotten " is not mortal man at all, but He Who
from all eternity has been in the bosom of the Father,
namely, the Word or Logos^ the Speaker, the Maker, the
Manifestor, He Whose mystic name, as already said, is
Adonai^ and of whom Christ is the counterpart.

18. To attain to the perfection of the Christ, — to polarise,
that is, the Divine Spirit without measure, and to become
a "Man of Power" and a Medium for the Highest, —
though open potentially to all, — is, actually and in the
present, open, if to any, but to few. And these are, neces-
sarily, they only who, having passed through many trans-
migrations and advanced far on their way towards maturity,
have sedulously turned their lives to the best account by
means of the steadfast development of all the higher
faculties and qualities of man ; and who, while not declin-
ing the experiences of the body, have made the spirit, and
not the body, their object and aim. Aspiring to the re-
demption in himself of each plane of man's fourfold nature,
the candidate for Chrislhood submits himself to discipline
and training the most severe, at once physical, intellectual,
moral, and spiritual, and rejects as valueless or pernicious
whatever would fail to minister to his one end, deeming no
task too onerous, no sacrifice too painful, so that he be

THE PERFECT WAY.

spiritually advanced thereby. And how varied soever the
means, there is one rule to which he remains constant
throughout, the rule, namely, of love. The Christ he
seeks is the pathway to God ; and to fail, in the least
degree in respect of love, would be to put himself back in
his journey. The sacrifices, therefore, in the incense of
which his soul ascends, are those of his own lower nature to
his own higher, and of himself for others. And life itself,
it seems to him, would be too dearly bought, if purchased
at the expense of another, however little or mean, — unless,
indeed, of a kind irremediably noxious, whose extinction
would benefit the world. For — be it remembered — though
always Saviour, the Christ is sometimes also Purifier, as
were all his types, the Heroes — or Men Regenerate — of
classic story. Enacting, thus, when necessary the execu-
tioner's part, he slays for no self-gratification, but " in the
name of the Lord."

19. They who have trod this path of old have been
many, and their deeds have formed the theme of mystical
legends innumerable. Epitomising these we find that the
chief qualifications are as follows. In order to gain
" Power and the Resurrection," a man must, first of all, be
a Hierarch. This is to say, he must have aitained the
magical age of thirty-three years, having been, in the mystic
sense of the terms, immaculately conceived, and born of
a king's daughter; baptised with water and with fire;
tempted in the wilderness, crucified and buried, having
borne five wounds on the cross. He must, moreover, have
answered the riddle of the Sphinx. To attain the requisite
age, he must have accomplished the Twelve Labours syra-
bolised in those of Heracles and in the signs of the Zodiac;
passed within the Twelve Gates of the Holy City of his
own regenerate nature ; overcome the five Senses ; and

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION. 221

obtained dominion over the Four Elements. Achieving
all that is implied in these terms, "his warfare is accom-
plished," he is free of Matter, and will never again have a
phenomenal body.

20. He who shall attain to this perfection must be one
who is without fear and without desire, save towards God ;
who has courage to be absolutely poor and absolutely
chaste ; to whom it is all one whether he have money or
whether he have none, whether he have house and lands
or whether he be homeless, whether he have worldly re-
putation or whether he be an outcast. Thus is he volun-
tarily poor, and of the spirit of those of whom it is said
that they inherit the kingdom of heaven. It is not neces-
sary that he have nothing ; it is necessary only that he care
for nothing. Against attacks and influences of whatever
kind, and coming from whatever quarter without his own
soul's kingdom, he must impregnably steel himself. If
infortune be his, he must make it his fortune; if poverty,
he must make it his riches ; if loss, his gain ; if sickness, his
health; if pain, his pleasure. Evil report must be to him
good report; and he must be able to rejoice when all men
speak ill of him. Even death itself he must account as life.
Only when he has attained this equilibrium is he " Free."
Meanwhile he makes Abstinence, Prayer, Meditation,
Watchfulness and Self-restraint to be the decades of his
Rosary. And knowing that nothing is gained without toil,
or won without suffering, he acts ever on the principle that
to labour is to pray, to ask is to receive, to knock is to have
the door open, and so strives accordingly.

21. To gain power over Death, there must be self-denial
and governance. Such is the " Excellent Way," though it
be the Via Dolorosa, He only can follow it who accounts
the Resurrection worth the Passion, the Kingdom worth

222 THE PERFECT WAY.

the Obedience, the Power worth the Suffering. And he,
and he only, does not hesitate, whose time has come.

22. The last of the " Twelve Labours of Heracles " is
the conquest of the three-headed dog, Cerberus. For by
this is denoted the final victory over the body with its three
(true) senses. When this is accomplished, the process of
ordeal is no longer necessary. The Initiate is under a vow.
The Hierarch is free. He has undergone all his ordeals,
and has freed his will. For the object of the Trial and the
Vow is Polarisation. When the Fixed is Volatilised, the
Magian is Free. Before this, he is " subject."

23. The man who seeks to be a Hierarch must not dwell
in cities. He may begin his initiation in a city, but he
cannot complete it there. For he must not breathe dead
and burnt air, — air, that is, the vitality of which is quenched.
He must be a wanderer, a dweller in the plain and the
garden and the mountains. He must commune with the
starry heavens, and maintain direct contact with the great
electric currents of living air and with the unpaved grass
and earth of the planet, going bare-foot and oft bathing his
feet. It is in unfrequented places, in lands such as are
mystically called the "East," where the abominations of
" Babylon " are unknown, and where the magnetic chain
between earth and heaven is strong, that the man who
seeks Power, and who would achieve the ** Great Work,"
must accomplish his initiation.

Part HI.

24. In assigning to the Gospels their proper meaning, it
is necessary to remember that, as mystical Scriptures, they
deal, primarily, not with material things or persons, but
with spiritual significations. Like the " books of Moses,"

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION, 223

therefore, and others, which, iu being mystical, are, in the
strictest sense, prophetical, the Gospels are addressed, not
to the outer sense and reason, but to the soul. And, being
thus, their object is, not to give an historical account of
the physical life of any man whatever, but to exhibit the
spiritual possibilities of humanity at large, as illustrated in
a particular and typical example. The design is, thus, that
which is dictated by the nature itself of Religion. For
Religion is not in its nature historical and dependent upon
actual, sensible events, but consists in processes, such as
Faith and Redemption, which, being interior to all men,
subsist irrespectively of what any particular man has at any
time suffered or done. That alone which is of importance,
is what God has revealed. And therefore it is that the
narratives concerning Jesus are rather parables founded on
a collection of histories, than any one actual history, and
have a spiritual import capable of universal application.
And it is with this spiritual import, and not with physical
facts, that the Gospels are concerned.

25. Such were the principles which, long before the
Christian era, and under divine control, had led the Mys-
tics of Egypt, Persia, and India, to select Osiris, Mithras,
and Buddha as names or persons representative of the Man
Regenerate and constituting a full manifestation of the
qualities of Spirit. And it was for the same purpose and
under the same impulsion that the Mystics of the West,
who had their head-quarters at Alexandria, selected Jesus,
using him as a type whereby to exhibit the history of all
souls which attain to perfection ; employing physical occur-
rences as symbols, and relating them as parables, to inter-
pret which literally would be to falsify their intended import.
Their method was, thus, to universalise that which was par-
ticular, and to spiritualise that which was material ; and,

224 THE PERFECT WAY,

writing, as tliey did, with full knowleds^e of previous mys-
tical descriptions of the Man Regenerate, his interior his-
tory and his relations to the world, — notable among which
descriptions was the fifty-third chapter of the miscellaneous
fragmentary prophetic utterances collected together under
the typical name of Isaiah^ — they would have had no diffi-
culty in presenting a character consistent with the general
anticipation of those who were cognisant of the meaning
of the term " Christ," even without an actual example.

26. The failure to interpret the mystical Scriptures by
the mystical rule, was due to the loss, by the Church, of the
mystical faculty, or inner, spiritual vision, through which
they were written. Passing under a domination exclu-
sively sacerdotal and traditional, and losing thereby the
intuition of things spiritual, the Church fell an easy prey to
that which is the besetting sin of priesthoods, — Idolatry ;
and in place of the simple, true, reasonable Gospel, to illus-
trate which the history of Jesus had been expressly de-
signed, fabricated the stupendous and irrational superstition
which has usurped his name. Converted by the exaltation
of the Letter and the symbol in place of the Spirit and
the signification, into an idolatry every whit as gross as
any that preceded it, Christianity has failed to redeem the
world. Christianity has failed, that is, not because it was
false, but because it has been falsified. And the falsifica-
tion, generally, has consisted in removing the character
described under the name of Jesus, from its true function
as the portrait of that of which every man has in him the
potentiality, and referring it exclusively to an imaginary
order of being between whom and man could be no possible
relation, even were such a being himself possible. Instead
of recognising the Gospels as a written hieroglyph, setting
forth, under terms derived from natural objects and persons,

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION. 225

processes which are purely spiritual and impersonal, the
Churches have — one and all — fallen into that lowest mode
of fetish- worship, which consists in the adoration of a mere
symbol, entirely irrespective of its true import. To the
complaint that will inevitably be made against this exposi-
tion of the real nature of the Gospel history, — that it has
"taken away the Lord," — the reply is no less satisfactory
than obvious. For he has been taken away only from the
place wherein so long the Church has kept him, that is, —
the sepulchre. There, indeed, it is, with the dead, — bound
about with cerements, a figure altogether of the past, — that
Christians have laid their Christ. But at length the "stone"
of Superstition has been lifted and rolled away by the hand
of the Angel of Knowledge, and the grave it concealed is
discovered to be empty. No longer need the soul seek
her living Master among the dead. Christ is risen, — risen
into the heaven of a living Ideal, whence he can again
descend into the hearts of all who desire him, none the less
real and puissant, because a universal principle, and not
merely an historical personage; none the less mighty to
save because, instead of being a single Man Regenerate, he
is every Man Regenerate, ten thousand times ten thousand,
—the " Son of Man " himself.

27. The name Jesus, or Liberator, belongs not to the
man physical, — of his name and parentage the Gospels
take no note, — but to the man spiritual, and is an initiation
name denoting re-birth into a spiritual life. In this relation
the man physical has no title to the name of Liberator,
since the limitations from which man requires to be de-
livered can be overcome only by that which transcends the
physical. Wherefore the name Jesus belongs to that in
and by which liberation occurs, namely, the man's own re-
generated selfhood; and whereas it is in and by means

226 THE PERFECT WAY,

of this selfhood that he has emerged from a condition of
spiritual death to one of spiritual life, it signifies to him a
resurrection from the dead. Jesus is thus the name, not
of one but of many, not of a person, but of an Order, the
Order of regenerated Selfhoods, each of which is " Christ-
Jesus " in that it is the Saviour, through " Christ," of him
in whom it is realised, though not all of these are Christs
in the sense of being manifestations of Christ to the world.
Paul alone of the Apostles clearly taught the doctrine of
the subjective nature of the saving agency. His expression,
" Christ in you the hope of glory," is inapplicable to any
physical or extraneous personality. As a kabbalist and
mystic, Paul was an evolutionist, and knew that the seed of
every man's regeneration is within. Hence his exaltation
of Christ as an interior principle, and his ability to re-
cognise that method of the mystical Scriptures which con-
sists in regarding man as a distinct personality in each
successive stage of his unfoldraent, and assigning to him
a corresponding name. Adam, David, Jesus, are thus
respectively the man "natural," being simply generate;
the man " under grace," or partially regenerate, and there-
fore liable to serious lapses ; and the man fully regenerate,
and incapable of sin. Hence Paul's declaration that in
the Adam stage of our development we all die, not having
yet realised our saving principle ; but in the Christ stage
we all have eternal life. It was not, however, so much
Paul's mysticism, as the sacerdotal guise in which he pre-
sented it, that brought him into conflict with the disciples.

28. Although the Gospels uniformly describe the miracles
wrought by the Man Regenerate in terms derived from the
physical plane. He, as master of the spirits of all the
elements, works miracles on all planes. Only those, how
ever, which are referable to the spiritual plane have signifi-

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION. 227

cance and value for the Soul. Hence for it the raising
from the dead — as of Lazarus — implies resurrection from
the condition of spiritual deadness ; the giving of sight
implies the opening of the spiritual vision ; and the feeding
of the hungry multitude implies the satisfaction of man's
cravings for spiritual nourishment. The terms descriptive
of the miracle last named afford one of the numerous indi-
cations of the influence of Greek ideas in the composition
of the Gospels. For the " loaves " represent the doctrine of
the lesser Mysteries whose " grain " is of the Earth, the
kingdom of Demeter and of the outer. And the " fishes "
— which are given after the loaves — imply the greater
Mysteries, those of Aphrodite, — fishes symbolising the
element of the "Sea-born" Queen of Love, whose dominion
is the inner kingdom of the Soul.^ Similarly the conver-
sion of water into wine implies the mysteries of lacchos,
the mystic name of the planet-God. The "beginning of
miracles " for the Man Regenerate is always the transmuta-
tion of the " Water " of his own Soul into the " Wine " of
the Divine Spirit. To these mysteries — which also were
Egvptian, and there is reason to believe were enacted in the
" king's and queen's chambers " of the Great Pyramid —
belong also the "Acts" or "Crowns" which constitute for
the Man Regenerate the " Week " of his New Creation,
each being a "day" in that week. They are Baptism —
called also Betrothal in view of the subsequent " Marriage":
Temptation, or Trial : Passion : Crucifixion, or Death :
Burial : Resurrection ; and Ascension, the Sabbath, or Nir-
vana, of perfection and rest, when — the "veil of the Temple"
of the external self-hood having already been " rent from
the top to the bottom " — he enters into the " Holy of
Holies" of his now divine nature. All these Acts or
' See Appendices, No. XIII., Part I.

128 THE PERFECT WAY,

Crowns — irrespective of any correspondence on the physical
plane — denote indispensable processes enacted in the in-
terior experiences of all who attain to full regeneration.
From which it follows that the Gospel narrative, while re-
lated— in Scripture fashion — as of an actual particular
person, and in terms derived from the physical plane — is a
mystical history only of any person, and implies the spiritual
possibilities of all persons. And hence, while using terms
implying, or derived from, actual times, places, persons and
events, it does not really refer to these or make pretence to
historical precision, its function and purpose being, not to
relate physical facts, which can have no relation to the soul,
but to exhibit and illustrate processes and principles which
are purely spiritual. Thus regarded, the Gospels — even
though having in view a special personality as their model
— constitute a parable rather than a history.

29. There is, moreover, a yet further explanation of the
indifference to identity of detail by which everywhere this
narrative is characterised. Being four in number, and dis-
posed in order corresponding to that of the four divisions
of man's nature, the Gospels have for standpoint, and bear
relation to, different planes of the kosmos. Thus, the Gospel
of Matthew, which represents the lower and physical plane,
appeals more particularly on behalf of the character ascribed
to Jesus of Nazareth as fulfilling the promises of the
Messiah of the Old Testament, and is pervaded by one
principle, the fulfilment in him at once of the Law and of
the prophecies. The Gospel of Mark is adapted to the
plane next above this, namely, the rational ; its appeal on
behalf of the divinity of the mission of Jesus being founded
on the nature of his doctrine and works. The Gospel of
Luke represents the further ascent to the plane of the soul
and the intuition. Hence it occupies itself chiefly with

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION. 229

accounts of the spiritual parentage of the Man Regenerate,
— setting forth under a parabolic narrative his genesis from
the operation of God in a pure soul. To the same end,
this Gospel gives prominence to the familiar conversations,
rather than to the formal teaching of its Subject, since it
is in these that the affectional nature of a man is best
manifested. In the fourth Gospel the scene changes to a
sphere transcending all the others, being in the highest
degree interior, mystic, spiritual. This Gospel, therefore,
corresponds to the Nucleolus, or Divine Spirit, of the
microcosmic entity, and exhibits the Regenerate Man as
having surmounted all the elements exterior and inferior
of his system, and won his way to the inmost recess of his
own celestial kingdom, where, arrived at his centre and
source, he and his Father are One ; and he knows positively
that God is Love, since it is by Love that he himself has
found and become God. Such being the controlling idea
of this Gospel, its composition is appropriately assigned to
that " Beloved Disciple " whose very name denotes the
feminine and love principle of existence. And to " John,"
surnamed " the Divine " in respect of the character thus
ascribed to his ministry, is unanimously assigned the em-
blem of the Eagle, as representing the highest element in
the human kingdom. With regard to the distribution of the
other three symbols, it is obvious — when once the intention
of each division of the Christian evangel is understood —
that Matthew, who corresponds to the earth or body, is
rightly represented by the Ox ; Mark, the minister of the
astral or fire, by the Lion ; and Luke, whose pen is chiefly
occupied with the relation of Christ to the Soul, by an
Angel with the face of a man to denote the sea-god Posei-
don, the "father of Souls." The Gospels are thus dedicated,
each to one of the elemental spirits, Demeter, Hephaistos,

ajo THE PERFECT WAY,

Poseidon, and Pallas. Owing, however, to the loss by the
Church of the doctrine which determines this distribution,
much confusion and difference of opinion exist among
ecclesiastical authorities with regard to the correct assign-
ment of the elemental emblems. All the Fathers are
agreed in giving the Eagle to the Fourth Gospeller, and
but little doubt exists respecting the claim of Mark to the
Lion ; but the Ox and Angel have been generally mis-
placed in order.

Part IV.

30. Having defined the nature of the Man Regenerate
and the relations represented in the Gospels as subsisting
between him and the soul personified as the Virgin Mary, it
remains still further to " declare his generation " by exhibit-
ing the function fulfilled towards these two by the Mind,
which is personified as Joseph, the Spouse of the Virgin and
foster father of her Son. This is not the first appearance
of Joseph in the Bibhcal presentation of the drama of the
SouL On the previous occasion he was in the vigour of
youth, yet sufficiently matured intellectually and morally to
be found worthy the highest posts of responsibiUty, and able
to withstand the seductive sophistries of the materialistic
philosophy — typified by the wife of Potiphar — of which
" Egypt," the symbol of the lower nature, is always the seat.

As also on his later appearance, he was emphatically a
"just man," so that — it is written — the king set him over
all the land and bid every one go to him and do all that he
should direct. And under his guidance, Israel — who had
followed him into Egypt, and to serve whom while there
ifas his divinely appointed function — prospered exceedingly.
But losing him, they sank into extreme misery, being en-

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION, 231

slaved and evil entreated of the Egyptians.^ On his reap-
pearance in the Gospels,^ Joseph is still the ** son of Jacob "
and a "just man " ; but of advanced maturity, yet possessed
of energy and wisdom in measure to qualify him for the
most difficult and delicate of tasks, that of guarding and
guiding a pure and tender soul to the realisation ot its
highest aspirations, the production in its offspring of a
character Divinely perfect His task corresponded, indeed,
to that assigned to the former Joseph, as the protector of
the chosen of God ; but the mode was changed, the level
was higher, and the stage more advanced. The legend of
the selection of Joseph to be the Spouse of the Virgin and
foster father of her predicted Son, shows the quality of mind
deemed requisite for such offices. For in representing his
rod alone of those belonging to the candidates as blossom-
ing, and the Holy Spirit as a dove settling upon it, the
legend implies a mind — of which and its knowledges the
rod is a symbol — competent for the perception of divine
things and the suggestion of divine acts, and controlled,
therefore, by the Divine Will. Only under the protection
and governance of a mind thus conditioned can the soul
become mother of man regenerate, — mother, that is, of God
in man. And in order to show the supreme importance
attached by it to the function of the Mind in this relation,
the Catholic Church speaks of St. Joseph as having "re-
ceived all power necessary for the salvation of souls";
styles him an "Angel on earth," "King of Saints and
Angels," and " third person of the earthly Trinity " ; and
declares that " after the dignity of Mother of God comes
that of the foster father of God"; "after Mary comes

* See Appendices, No. XII. (6).

' As not persons but principles are here intended, there is no sug-
gestion of a reincarnation of an individual.

232 THE PERFECT WAY.

Joseph " ; — expressions intelligible and appropriate as ap-
plied to the mind as a factor in the higher evolution of
man ; his redemption, that is, from his lower elements ; but
not as applied to a person, be he whom he may. Never-
theless, the mind is only the putative, not the actual, father
of the man regenerate. His exclusive parents are the Soul
and Spirit, variously designated " Water and the Spirit,"
"Virgin Mary and the Holy Ghost." Being an entity
purely spiritual, his parentage also is purely spiritual, and
the mind has no more part in his generation than the body.
Wherefore Joseph, who is not the builder of the house, but
its fitter and furnisher, is not mason but carpenter.

31. It is not only in virtue of his function of protector
from Herod — who as the genius of the world's materialistic
regime always is the destroyer of innocence — that Joseph
takes the young child and his mother and flees into Egypt,
but in virtue also of his function as educator. For in
denoting the world and the body, Egypt denotes the lessons
to be derived from both of these, the learning of which is
indispensable to the soul's development. " There is Corn
in Egypt. Go thou down into her, O my soul, with joy,"
says the man seeking regeneration, on every fresh return
into earthly conditions; " For in the kingdom of the Body
thou shalt eat the bread of thine Initiation." He returns as
an eager scholar to school. I'he ladder of evolution must
be climbed painfully and with labour from the lowest step
again and again, for each fresh branch of experience that is
necessary for the soul's full development. For " there is
no knowledge but by labour ; no intuition but by experi-
ence." Heavenly things are unintelligible until earthly
things have been mastered. Only when the aspirant is so
firmly grounded and so far advanced as to have nothing

Lect. VIII. ] THE REDEMPTION, 233

more to fear from " Herod," who thus is virtually dead for
him, can he return with safety to the land of Israel. And
even there the mind must still be his guard and guide until
by the attainment of his spiritual majority he passes into
higher keeping. The parallel between the two Josephs is
maintained to the last. Both are leaders of the chosen
family into Egypt and their protectors while there. And of
each the withdrawal is followed by danger and disaster.
There is a profound significance in the date assigned for
the death of the second Joseph. According to Christian
tradition he remains with the Virgin and her Son, stead-
fastly exercising his functions towards them, until the latter
is twenty-nine years of age. The age of full and final per-
fection for the man regenerate is — as already explained (par.
19.) — the age of thirty-three, mystically computed, this im-
plying his accomplishment of the thirty-three steps of initia-
tion of which the last and highest is his "ascension " by
transmutation, to final divine union. But the achievement
of thirty steps fits him for his mission, by lifting him from
the sphere wherein the mind is still necessary to him — the
sphere of acquisition, reflection, and deliberation — to that
wherein he is independent of processes of ratiocination, —
the sphere of direct perception and knowledge, inasmuch
as he is thenceforth under a control exclusively divine,
being " driven of the Spirit." At this juncture, therefore, —
just as Jesus " begins to be about thirty years of age," —
Joseph dies, leaving him to enter upon the career which
ends in his crucifixion, unimpeded by the prudential con-
siderations which it is the province of the mind to suggest.
In accounting Joseph the patron of a happy death, the
Church implies the blissful satisfaction of a mind conscious
of having made the interests of the Soul and her divine life,
its supreme object

234 THE PERFECT WAY,

32. Besides the state wherein the soul as Eve and
iramergent into materiality becomes the mother of man
degenerate, and that wherein as Virgin Mary and exempt
from materiality she becomes the mother of man regenerate,
there is a third and intermediate state, an exposition of
which is necessary to the fall comprehension of the Gospels.
This is the state of the soul during the period of her pro-
gress from Eve to Virgin IMary, while undergoing the
experiences indispensable to such evolution. For the soul,
no less than the man re-born of her, must be " perfected
through suffering," — the suffering involved in experiences
profoundly felt and wisely applied. Hence her appellation
" Sea of Bitterness." Only when she has exchanged the
innocence that comes of ignorance, for the impeccability
that comes of full knowledge, is she no longer in danger
of relapse. Thenceforth there is for her son "no more
sea."

Thus the very '* sin " involved in the acquisition of ex-
periences may itself be a means of redemption. Of these
experiences the agent is always matter, this being at once
the cause and the consequence of limitation of spirit. And
whereas the soul's only true affinity and legitimate affection
is Spirit — her own nature being spiritual — her intercourse
with matter is mystically accounted an adultery, and she
herself, during its continuance, is styled a "harlot." She
may, nevertheless, in this her " fallen " state, retain and
cherish the sense of her true nature and destiny, and
eagerly anticipate the time when, freed from her associa-
tion with materiality, and purged of her defilement, she will
emerge white and spotless to claim her proper rank. That
through which she will do this, will always be Love, — her
love for the ideal she has kept alive, though latent, in her
heart, even while descending to so low an actual. And for

Lect. VIIL] the redemption. 235

the sake of this Love, her sins — how many and grievous
soever they may have been — will be forgiven her, and she
herself in her turn will be dearly loved of Him — the Man
Regenerate — since he will recognise in her past the indis-
pensable prelude to his own present. And thus will she
become ministrant to him of her substance, — he unhesi-
tatingly accepting, notwithstanding the mode of its ac-
quisition ; while the very passionateness of her nature, which
has led to her past self-abandonment, serves but to endear
her to him the more as betokening her capacity for self-
surrender in the opposite direction. And only by him are
her acts of devotion towards him not deemed extragavant,
because he, and he alone, comprehends their source and
significance. The name given in the Gospels to the repre-
sentative of the Soul in this state is Mary Magdalen, whom
tradition identifies with Mary of Bethany. In the Old Tes-
tament, where she aids Israel to enter the promised land,
she is termed Rahab, — a name which, signifying large or
extended, may have been given her to imply that the soul
which through weakness or fear shrinks from experiences,
remains stunted and dwarfed, and makes but a poor saving
after all.

33. Herein lies the secret of the leniency and even
tenderness exhibited by the typical Man Regenerate to-
wards women of this class. Himself the representative of
a perfection won through experience, he knows that the
soul, of which Woman is the type, must have experiences.
Himself the child of the soul, he heeds only the state of the
soul, and views every act from the standpoint of the soul,
caring only for the spirit in which it is performed. The
conduct of Jesus in the case of the woman brought before
him, when he reserved all his reprobation for her accusers,

«36 THE PERFECT WAY,

was but the reduction to practice of his denunciations of
the chief priests and elders, " Verily, I say unto you, that
the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God
before you." To ingrained impurity and hardness of heart,
and to these alone, he is obdurate. Let a soul but be on the
upward path, no matter at how low a point, and for Him it
takes rank with the highest. He has already marked it for
his own ; it is one of his Elect.

34. They are, in their primary sense, various states of the
soul which the Apocalypse describes under the guise of the
Seven Churches of Asia Minor. And it is the soul hope-
lessly debased and reprobate which, under terms drawn from
the Rome of the period, is denounced as the paramour of
the " kings of the earth " — that is man's ruling propensities
— and doomed to destruction together with that " Great
City" which rests upon the "seven deadly sins" as Rome
upon seven hills, the world's materialistic system.

35. Not only is the process of the soul's growth, educa-
tion, and purification so slow and gradual as to require for
its accomplishment the experiences of numerous earth-lives,
it is also liable to be so unequal that, while far advanced in
certain respects, in others it may be as far in arrears. And,
meanwhile, these inequalities may find expression in anoma-
lies and inconsistencies of character in the highest degree
perplexing and distressing, combining in one and the same
personality the opposite extremes of sage and simpleton,
saint and sinner, a high moral character with dull intellec-
tual faculties, or keen intellectual faculties, with a total
absence of moral perception ; or, again, a high moral and
intellectual nature with complete deprivation of spiritual
perception. Thus irregularly developed, the same soul

Lect. VIII. ] THE REDEMPTION. 237

may subsist at once in all the stages enumerated, being
simultaneously Eve, Magdalen, and Blessed Virgin, and
manifesting in turn the characteristics of each. Only when
she is all Virgin Mary can she become mother of a man
wholly regenerate. As sings the mystic poet already
quoted, —

" I must become Queen Mary, and birth to God must give,
If I in blessedness for evermore would live." ^

'^(i. We have yet to identify, the persons represented in
the Gospels as fulfilling at the Nativity the important
function of recognition. These are the Magi, or "Wise
men from the East," who hastened to render their homage
and their offerings at the cradle of the Divine Infant. Ac-
cording to Catholic tradition, they were three in number,
and were royal personages, a description which seems to
identify them with the "kings of the East" of the Apoca-
lyptic visions, whose habitat lies beyond the "great river
Euphrates," and the way for whose coming requires to be
specially prepared by the making of a ford across that
river. Now the Euphrates is one of the " four rivers " of
Genesis, already explained (Lecture VI. 6) as denoting the
four constituent principles of the human kosmos. It is the
Will ; in man unfallen, the Divine Will ; in man fallen, the
human will. The East is the mystical term for the source
of heavenly light. " The glory of God came from the way
of the East," says Ezekiel. Wherefore the " Kings of the
East" are they who hold sway in a region lying beyond
and above the " river " of the human Will, and only when
that river is "dried up" can they approach man as heralds
of the Divine Glory. Their function it is to announce the
Epiphany of the Divine Life, to be the Sponsors for the

* Scheffler.

238 THE PERFECT WAY,

Christ, the Godfathers of the heavenly Babe. To them it
is appointed to discern him from afar off, and to hasten
to affirm and declare him while yet in his cradle. Their
offerings of gold, frankincense, and myrrh denote the
recognition of the indwelling divinity by the prophetic,
priestly, and regal attributes of man. Representing, re-
spectively, the spirit, the soul, and the mind, they are
symbolised as an angel, a queen, and a king; and they
are, actually. Right Aspiration, Right Perception, and Right
Judgment. The first implies enthusiasm for the glory of
God and the advancement of souls, unalloyed by any
selfish end. The second implies a vision for things spiri-
tual, undimmed and undistorted by intrusion of elements
material or astral. And the third implies the ability to
"compare like with hke and preserve the affinity of simi-
lars," so that things spiritual may not be confounded with
things physical, but " to God shall be rendered the things
of God, and to Caesar the things of C^sar."

37. But wherefore is it to a Cave and a Stable that the
Star of the Understanding directs the steps of the Wise
Men when seeking the birthplace of the Christ? Because,
** In the elements of the Body is he imprisoned, lying
asleep in the caves of lacchus, in the crib of the Oxen of
Demeter."! Because, that is, in constituting the culmina-
tion of the returning and ascending stream of emanation,
Christ is attained by evolution from the lowest : — " From
the dust of the ground to the throne of the Most High."

38. An important factor in the education of the Man
Regenerate is that described under the figure of John the
Baptist. For he, too, is interior and mystic, inasmuch as

* See Appendices No. XIII., Part I.

Lect. viil] the redemption. 2^g

he represents that all-compelling summons of the conscience
to repentance, renunciation, and purification, which is the
indispensable precursor of success in the quest after inward
perfection.

39. The history of the Virgin Mary and her functions in
regard to her Son, as presented alike in the Gospels and in
Catholic tradition and ritual, are in every particular those
of the soul to whom it is given to be " Mother of God " in
man. Her acts and graces, as well as his life and passion,
belong to the experience of every redeemed man. As the
Christ in him delivers him from the curse of Adam, so the
Virgin Mary in him delivers him from the curse of Eve,
and secures the fulfilment of the promise of the conquest
over the serpent of Matter. And, whereas, as sinner, he
has seen enacted in his own interior experience the drama
of the Fall ; so, as saint, he enacts the mysteries represented
in the Rosary of the Virgin, his soul passing in turn through
every stage of her joys, her sorrows, and her glories.
Wherefore the part assigned to Mary in the Christian
Evangel is the part borne by the soul in all mystical
experience. That which first beguiles and leads astray the
soul is the attraction of the illusory world of mere pheno-
mena, which is aptly represented under the figure of the
Serpent with glittering coils, insinuating mien, and eyes
full of fascination. Yielding to this attraction, through
directing her gaze outwards and downwards instead of
inwards and upwards, the soul — as Eve — has abandoned
celestial realities for mundane shadows, and entangled in
her fall the mind, or Adam. Thus mind and soul fall
together and lose the power of desiring and apprehending
the divine tilings which alone make for life, and, so, become
cast out of divine conditions, and conscious only of ma-

240 THE PERFECT WAY,

terial environments and liable to material limitations. This
substitution of the illusory for the real, of the material for the
spiritual, of the phenomenal for the substantial, constitutes
the whole sin and loss of the Fall. Redemption consists
in the recovery of the power once more to apprehend, to
love, and to grasp the real. "Original sin," from which
Mary is exempt, is precisely the condition of bHndness
which — owing to the soul's immergence in materiality —
hinders the perception of divine things. By no possibility
can the Divine Life be generated in any soul afflicted with
this blindness. Christ cannot be conceived save of a soul
immaculate and virgin as to matter, and meet to become
the spouse of the Divine Spirit. Therefore, as the soul as
Eve gives consent to the annunciation of the Serpent, so,
as Mary, become virgin, she gives consent to the annuncia-
tion of the Angel, and understands the mystery of the
Motherhood of the man regenerate. She has no acts of
her own, all the acts of her Son are hers also. She par-
ticipates in his nativity, in his manifestation, in his passion,
in his resurrection, in his ascension, in his pentecostal gift.
He himself is her gift to the world. But it is always he
who operates; she who asks, acquiesces, consents, responds.
Through her he outflows into the mind and external man,
and, so, into life and conduct. As Augustine says, "All
graces pass to us through the hands of Mary." For the
purified soul is the mediatrix, as she is the genetrix, of the
Divine presence.

40. The Church speaks of the Ascension of Christ, and
of the Assumption of Mary. Christ being deific in nature
and of heavenly origin, ascends by his own power and will.
But the soul is "assumed," or drawn up by the power and
will of her Son. Of herself she is nothing; he is her all

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION. 241

in all. Where he abides, thither must she be uplifted, by
force of the divine union which makes her one with him.
Henceforth she abides in the real, and has the illusions of
sense for evermore under foot. It is not of herself that
Mary becomes Mother of God in man. The narrative of
the Incarnation implies a conjunction of human — though
not physical — and Divine potencies. Mary receives her
infant by an act of celestial energy overshadowing and
vitalising her with the Divine life. This is because the
pure soul is as a lens to the Divine rays, polarising them
and kindling fire therefrom. Having this attitude towards
God, she has kindled in her that holy flame which becomes
the light that enlightens the world.

41. The final state of the soul of the Man Regenerate is
described in the Apocalypse under the figure of a marriage,
wherein the contracting parties are the soul herself and the
now Divine Spirit of the man, which is called the Lamb.
The description of this Lamb as ''slain before the founda-
tion of the world," denotes the original and eternal act of
self-immolation — typified in the Eucharist — whereby Deity
descends into conditions and distributes of Itself to be the
life and substance of the Universe, alike for its creation, its
sus entation, and its redemption. In the crowning act of
this stupendous drama — the act which mystically is called
the *' Consummation of the Marriage of the Son of God "
— the Spirit and Bride, Trvevjxa and vi'/x(/)i7, as King and
Queen of the perfected individuality, are indissolubly united;
and the human is taken up into the Divine, having received
the " Gift of God," which is life eternal. Not merely a gift
from God, although God is the giver ; but a gift of God's
own substantial Self, the infinite and eternal / AAf being
individualised in him. As already shown, the initial and

242 THE PERFECT WAY,

final stages of man's spiritual evolution are indicated by
Paul when, read with the mystic sense, and translated into
the eternal now^ he says, " He is at first Adam, a living
soul" — a soul having derived life; "He is at last Christ,
a life-giving Spirit," or spirit that is itself Divine life. " In
the former all die. In the latter all are made to live."
From this it appears that the Bible sets forth the higher
evolution — that is, the redemption, called also the new crea-
tion— of man, as a dual process occurring simultaneously in
his two constituents, himself and his soul ; and whereas for
the former and masculine moiety the first and last terms
are, respectively, Adam and Christ; for the latter and
feminine moiety they are Eve and Mary, called also the
Bride.

Part V.

42. It was no part of the design of the Gospels to repre-
sent either the course of a man perfect from the first, or
the whole course from the first of the man made perfect.
Had they been designed to represent the former, they had
contained no account of a Crucifixion. For, of the man
perfect, no crucifixion, in the Mystical sense, is possible,
since he has no lower self or perverse will, or any weak-
ness, to be overcome or renounced, the ani??ia divina in
him having become all in all. That, therefore, which the
Gospels exhibit, is a process consisting of the several
degrees of regeneration, on the attainment of the last of
which only does the man become "perfect." But of these
successive degrees not all are indicated. For the Gospels
deal, not with one whose nature is, at first, wholly unregener-
ate, but with one who is already, in virtue of the use made
of his previous earth-lives, so far advanced as to be within
reach, in a single further incarnation, of full regeneration.

Lect. viii.] the redemption. 243

43. For, owing to the complex and manifold nature oi
existence, every sphere or plane of man's being requires
for itself a redemptive process ; and, for each, this process
consists of three degrees. Of these the first three relate to
the Body, the second three to the Mind, the third three to
the Heart, and the fourth three to the Spirit. There are
thus, in all, twelve Degrees or " Houses " of the Perfect
Man or Microcosm, as there are twelve Zodiacal Signs or
Mansions of the Sun in his course through the heavens
of the Macrocosm. And the Gospels set forth mainly
the six of the Heart and Spirit. The crown both of the
twelve degrees and of the six acts — that which constitutes
alike the ''Sabbath" of the Hebrews, the "Nirvana" of
the Buddhists, and the "Transmutation" of the Alchemists
— is the "Divine Marriage." Of this, accordingly, types
and parables recur continually in all Hermetic Scriptures.
The last book of the Bible, the Apocalypse of John,
fitly closes with a descriptive allegory of it. In this alle-
gory the "Bride" herself is described as Salem, the Peace,
or Rest, of God, a " city lying four-square," having Twelve
Foundations and Four Aspects, all equal to each other,
and upon every Aspect Three Gates. This heavenly Salem
is, thus, the perfected Microcosm in whom is seen the
At-one-ment of all the four planes, the physical, the in-
tellectual, the moral, and the spiritual; the "Gates" of
each side, or plane, symbolising the three degrees of
Regeneration appertaining to each. And these twelve
gates are described as being each of a single pearl, because,
like pearls, the excellences denoted by them are attainable
only through skill and courage, and devotion even to tiie
death, and require of those who would attain them the
divestment of ever> earthly encumbrance.

44. The idea of this heavenly Salem is expressed also

244 THE PERFECT WAY.

in the Tabernacle of Moses. For this, too, was fourfold.
The Outer Court, which wps open, denoted the Body or
Man physical and visible ; tl e covered Tent, or Holy place,
denoted the Man intellectUc.l and invisible ; and the Holy
of Holies within the veil, denoted the Heart or Soul, itself
the shrine of the Spirit of the man, and of the divine Glory,
which, in their turn, were typified by the Ark and Shekinah.
And in each of the four Depositaries were three utensils
illustrative of the regenerative degrees belonging to each
division. The Marriage Supper, then, can be celebrated
in the kingdom of the Father only, when all the ''Twelve
Apostles," or elements corresponding to the twelve degrees,
have been brought into perfect harmony and at-one-ment,
and no defective element any longer exists among them.
In the central place at this divine feast is the Thirteenth
Personage, the Master or Adonai of the system, the founder
and president of the banquet. He it is who in later times
found a representative in the pure and heaven-born Arthur,
— Ar-Thor— the "Bright Lord" of the Round Table.
For, as already stated, the number of the Microcosm is
thirteen, the thirteenth being the occupant of the interior
and fourth place, which, thus, he personifies, constituting
the fourth and completing element, the Nucleolus of the
whole cell or "Round Table." "And of this Fourth the
form is as the Son of God." Thus the number thirteen,
which on the earthly plane, and before the " Crucifixion,"
is, through the treachery of "Judas," the symbol of imper-
fection and ill-fortune, becomes, in the " Kingdom of the
Father," the symbol of perfection. As the number of the
lunar months, it is the symbol also of the Woman, and
denotes the Soul and her reflection of God, — the solar
number twelve being that of the Spirit. The two numbers
in combination form the perfect year of that dual humanity

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION. 24$

which alone is made in the image of God, — the true
"Christian Year," wherein tlie two — the inner and the
outer, Spirit and Matter — aie as one. Thirteen then
represents that full union of man with God wherein Christ
becomes Christ.

45. In representing the Regenerate Man as descended
through his parents from the liouse of David and the tribe
of Levi, the Gospels imply that man, when regenerate, is
always possessed of the intuit on of the true prophet, and
the purity of the true priesn, for whom " David " and
*'Levi" are the m)^stical synonyms. Thus the spiritual
blood of prophet, priest, and king mingles in the veins
of the Messiah and Christ, whose lineage is the spiritual
lineage of every man regenerate, and attainable by all men.

46. For, as cannot be too clearly and forcibly stated, be-
tween the man who becomes a Christ, and other men, there
is no difference whatever of kind. The difference is alone
of condition and degree, and consists in difference of un-
foldment of the spiritual nature possessed by all in virtue
of their common derivation. " All things," as has repeat-
edly been said, "are made of the divine Substance." And
Humanity represents a stream which, taking its rise in the
outermost and lowest mode of differentiation of that Sub-
stance, flows inwards and upwards to the highest, which
is God. And the point at which it reaches the celestial,
and empties itself into Deity, is "Christ." Any doctrine
other tlian this — any doctrine which makes the Christ of
a different and non-human nature — is anti-christian and
sub-human. And, of such doctrine the direct effect is to
cut off man altogether from access to God, and God from
access to man.

47. Such a doctrine is that which, representing the
Messiah as an incarnated God or Angel who, by the volun-

246 THE PERFECT WAY.

tary sacrifice of himself, saves mankind from the penalty
due for their sins, has distorted and obscured the true
doctrine of atonement and redemption into something alike
derogatory to God and pernicious to man.

That from wliich man requires to be redeemed, is not the
penalty of sin, but the liability to sin. It is the sin, and not
the suffering, which is his bane. The suffering is but the
remedial agent. And from the liability to sin, and conse-
quently to suffering, he can be redeemed only by being
lifted into a condition in which sin is impossible to him.
And no angel or third person, but only the man himself,
co-operating with the God within him, can accomplish this.
Man is, himself, the laboratory wherein God, as Spirit,
works to save him, by re-creating him in God's image.
But — as always happens under a control exclusively sacer-
dotal— religion has been presented as a way of escape, not
from sin, but ^rom pu?nslu/ie7it. With redemption degraded
to this unworthy and mischievous end, the world, has, as
was inevitable, gone on sinning more and more, and, by
the ever-increasing grossness of its life and thought, sinking
itself deeper and deeper into IMatter, violating persistently,
on every plane of existence, the divine law of existence,
until it has lost the very idea of Humanity, and — wholly
unregenerate in Body, Mind, Heart, and Spirit — has reached
the lowest depth of degradation compatible with existence.
Thus, of modern society — as of Israel when reduced,
through its own wickedness and folly, to the like evil
plight — it may be said that "from the sole of the foot
even unto the head, there is no soundness in it : but,
wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores." And even
though " the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint "
at the view of its own hopeless theory of existence, it seeks
to *^ revolt more and more " by becoming increasingly pro-

Lect. viil] the redemption. 247

nounced in its denial of Being as a divine Reality, and so
does its utmost to "bring upon itself swift destruction."
Such, to eyes in any degree percipient, is the spectacle pre-
sented by the world in this *' Year of Grace/' 1881.

48. As it was no part of the design of the Gospels to
represent the whole course of the Man Regenerate, so
neither was it a part of that design to provide, in respect
of religious life and doctrine, a system whole and complete
independently of any which had preceded it. Having a
special relation to the Heart and Spirit of the Man, and
thereby to the nucleus of the cell and the Holy of Holies
of the Tabernacle, Christianity, in its original conception,
relegated the regeneration of the Mind and Body — the
covered House and open Court of the Tabernacle, or
exterior dualism of the Microcosm — to systems already
existent and widely known and practised. These systems
were two in number, or rather were as two modes or
expressions of the one system, the establishment of which
constituted the " Message " which preceded Christianity by
the cyclical period of six hundred years. This was the
Message of which the "Angels" were represented in the
Buddha Gautama and Pythagoras. Of these two nearly
contemporary prophets and redeemers, the system was,
both in doctrine and in practice, essentially one and the
same. And their relation to the system of Jesus, as its
necessary pioneers and forerunners, finds recognition in the
Gospels under the allegory of the Transfiguration. For
the forms beheld in this— of Moses and Elias — are the
Hebrew correspondences of Buddha and Pythagoras.
And they are described as beheld by the three Apostles in
whom respectively are typified the functions severally ful-
filled by Pythagoras, Buddha, and Jesus; namely, Works,

148 THE PERFECT WA'i,

Understanding, and Love, or Body, Mind, and Heart.
And by their association on the Mount is denoted the
junction of all three elements, and the completion of the
whole system comprising them, in Jesus as the represen-
tative of the Heart or Innermost, and as in a special sense
the " beloved Son of God."

49. Christianity, then, was introduced into the world with
a special relation to the great religions of the East, and
under the same divine control. And so far from being
intended as a rival and supplanter of Buddhism, it was the
direct and necessary sequel to that system ; and the two are
but parts of one continuous, harmonious whole, whereof the
later division is but the indispensable supplement and com-
plement of the earlier. Buddha and Jesus are, therefore,
necessary the one to the other ; and in the whole system
thus completed, Buddha is the Mind, and Jesus is the
Heart; Buddha is the general, Jesus is the particular;
Buddha is the brother of the universe, Jesus is the brother
of men ; Buddha is Philosophy, Jesus is Religion ; Buddha
is the Circumference, Jesus is the Within ; Buddha is the
System, Jesus is the Point of Radiation; Buddha is the
Manifestation, Jesus is the Spirit; in a word, Buddha is
the "Man," Jesus is the "Woman." But for Buddha,
Jesus could not have been, nor would he have sufficed the
whole man ; for the man must have the Mind illuminated
before the Affections can be kindled. Nor would Buddha
have been complete without Jesus. Buddha completed
the regeneration of the Mind; and by his doctrine and
practice men are prepared for the grace which comes by
Jesus. Wherefore no man can be, properly. Christian, who
is not also, and first, Buddhist. Thus the two religions
constitute, respectively, the exterior and interior of the
same Gospel, the foundation bemg in Buddhism — the term

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION. 249

including Pythagoreariism — and the illumination in Christi-
anity. And as without Christianity Buddhism is incom-
plete, so without Buddhism Christianity is unintelligible.
The Regenerate Man of the Gospels stands upon the
foundation represented by Buddha, the earher stages, that
is, of the same process of regeneration, so that without
these he would be impossible. Hence the significance,
already explained, of the Baptist's part

50. The term Buddha, moreover, signifies the Word.
And the Buddha and the Christ represent, though on dif-
ferent planes, the same divine Logos or Reason, and are
joint expressions of the "Message" which, in preceding
cycles had been preached by "Zoroaster" — the Swi-star —
as well as by Moses, and typified in Mithras, Osiris, and
Krishna. Of all these the doctrine was one and the same,
for it was the doctrine of the Man Regenerate, even the
"Gospel of Christ." It was, thus, the treasure — beyond
all other priceless — of which Israel, fleeing, "spoiled the
Egyptians ; " of which, that is, the soul, escaping the power
of the body, retains the possession, having gained it through
its experience in the body. That Buddha, great as was
his "Renunciation," underwent no such extremity of ordeal
as that ascribed to his counterpart of the Gospels, is due
to the difference of the parts enacted, and the stages at-
tained, by them. Suffering is not of the mind, but of the
heart. And whereas, of their joint system, Buddha repre-
sents the intellect, and Jesus represents the affections; —
in Jesus, as its highest typical expression of the love-
element. Humanity fulfils the injunction, "My son, give
me thine heart."i

* This relation between the two systems, and the necessity of each
to the other, have found recognition among the Buddhists themselves.
Of this, one instance which may be cited, is that of a Cingalese chief

ISO THE PERFECT WAY,

51. Since of the spiritual union in the one faith of
Buddha and Christ, will be born the world's coming re-
demption, the relations between the two peoples through
whom, on the physical plane, this union must be effected,
become a subject of special interest and importance.
Viewed from this aspect, the connection subsisting between
England and India rises from the sphere political to the
sphere spiritual. As typical peoples of the West and of the
East, of the races light and dark, these two, as represen-
tative Man and Woman of Humanity, will in due time
constitute one Man, made in the image of God, regenerate
and having power. And so shall the " lightning from the
East," after "illuminating the West," be reflected back,
purified and enhanced, " a light to lighten all nations and to
be the glory of the spiritual Israel." Thus, then, in Christ
Jesus the holy systems of the past find their maturity and
perfectionment. For by Christ is made possible the gift of
the Divine Spirit — the " Paraclete " — who could not come
by Pythagoras nor by Buddha, because these represent the
outer elements of the Microcosm; and the Nucleolus, or
Spirit, can be manifest only in the inner element, or
Nucleus, of which Jesus is the representative. And thus,
as said in Genesis xv. 16, "in the fourth generation," shall
the spiritual seed of Abraham, or Brahma — for they are
one and the same word and denote one and the same
doctrine — "return" to the promised land of their inherit-
ance; and, as said by Jesus, "many shall come from the

who had sent his son to a Christian school ; and who, on finding his
consistency called in question by a Christian, replied that the two
religions were to each other as the canoe of his country, and the con-
trivance— called an outrigger — by means of which, when afloat, it
is kept upright. " I add on," he said, "your religion to my own, for
I consider Christianity a very good outrigger to Buddhism." — Tennant's
Ceylon.

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION. 251

East and West, and shall sit down with Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven."

52. For, as the "three, Noah, Daniel, and Job" were
for the Hebrews, types of Righteousness, so the three,
" Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob " were types of Truth, pro-
genitors of the spiritual Israel, and representatives of the
several sacred mysteries of whose " kingdom " the Man
Regenerate is always, and the world regenerate will be
ultimately, by adoption and grace, the inheritor. The
mysteries specially denoted by " Abraham " are, as just
indicated, those of India. They are the mysteries of the
Spirit, or Innermost, and are sacred to the Supreme Being,
Brahma, who represents Deity under process of self-mani-
festation and, therefore, in activity. In this process, the
Original Being, Brahm, becomes Brahma ; God becomes
the Lord, the Manifestor. And it is in recognition of
this change, that Abram becomes Abraham. The history
of this personage, his flight, — always an invariable element
in such histories, as witness that of Bacchus, of Israel, of
the Holy Family, of Mohammed, and others, — his adven-
tures and wanderings, is the history of the migration of the
mysteries of India, by way of Chaldaea, to that divinely-
selected centre and pivot of all true religions, Egypt, — a
term denoting the body, which itself is the divinely-ap-
pointed residence of the soul during its term of probation.^

* In accordance with Hindu usage, which makes the masculine the
passive, and the feminine the active principle of existence, the mysteries
are represented by the wives of the divine persons. Thus, of Brahma
the ?.ctive principle is his wife Sa7'aszaati, after whom the wife of
Abraham, who is also his active principle, is called Sara, '* the Lady,"
meaning, of heaven. The story of the long courtship and two wives of
Jacob, is a parable of initiation into the mysteries, lesser and greater.
And the finding of the wife of Isaac at a well — like the finding of Moses
in a river by the king's daughter — indicates the woman, or soul, as the
agent of intuition, and thereby of initiation and redemption. The

tS2 THE PERFECT WAY,

The next great order of mysteries refers to the soul, and
is sacred to Isis, the goddess of the intuition, and "Mother"
of the Christ. These mysteries were, for the Israelites,
represented by Isaac, a name occultly connected with Isis
and Jesus, as also with that of an important personage in the
pedigree of this last, namely Jesse, the " father of David,"
and a " keeper of sheep." The third and remaining great
order of the mysteries — that which refers to the body,
and which early migrated to Greece— is sacred to
Bacchus, whose mystic name lacchos is identical with Jacob,
Comprising the three great divisions of existence, and by
implication the fourth division also, these three combined
orders of mysteries formed, in the original conception of
Christianity, a system of doctrine and life at once complete,
harmonious, and sufficient for all needs and aspirations of
humanity, both here and hereafter. And to this effect were
the terms ascribed to Jesus in his reply to the inquiries
made of him touching the resurrection of the dead. For,
passing over the actual question, and coming at once to its
mystic sense, he made a reply which referred, at least
primarily, not to the individuals themselves who had been
named, but to the systems implied in their names ; and
declaring those systems to be as full of vitality, and as
essential to salvation, as when first divinely communicated
to Moses in the words : *' I am the God of Abraham, and
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," he added that
" God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
Wherefore, according to this and the concurrent prophecy
quoted above, these mysteries — which are at once Hindi!,
Chaldaean, Persian, Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek, and Chris-

"Haran" and ** Ur" from which Abram comes, denote the place of
spiritual light ; and the pedigrees imply primarily, not persons, but
spiritual states.

Lect. VIII.] THE REDEMPTION. 253

tian — will, restored to their original purity, constitute the
controlling doctrine of the ages to come.

53. In this forecast of the now imminent future is to be
found the clue to the world's spiritual politics. Transferred
from the mystical to the mundane plane, the " kings of the
East " are they who hold political sovereignty over the pro-
vinces of Hindustan. On the personal plane the title
implies those who possess the " magical " knowledge, or
keys of the kingdom of the Spirit, to have which is to be
Magian. In both these senses the title henceforth belongs
to us. Of one of the chief depositaries of this magical
knowledge — the Bible — our country has long been the
foremost guardian and champion. For three centuries and
a half — a period suggestive of the mystic " time, times, and
half a time," and also of the " year of years " ot the solar
hero Enoch — has Britain lovingly and faithfully, albeit un-
intelligently, cherished the Letter which now, by the finding
of the interpretation, is— like its prototype — " translated "
to the plane of the Spirit. Possessing thus the Gnosis, in
substance as well as in form, our country will be fitted for
the loftier, because spiritual, sovereignty to which she is
destined, and one which will outlast her material empire.
For, finding then that they are essentially one as to faith
and hope, even though diverse in respect of accidentals, the
East and the West will be one in heart and aim, and to-
gether beget as their joint offspring the philosophy, morality,
and religion, in a word, the Humanity, of the future. All,
therefore, that tends to bind England to the Orient is
of Christ, and all that tends to sever them is of Antichrist.
They who seek to wed Buddha to Jesus are of the celestial
and upper ; and they who interpose to forbid the banns are
of the astral and nether. Between the two hemispheres
stand the domain and faith of Islam, not to divide, but, as

254 THE PERFECT WAY.

umbilical cord, to unite them. And nought is there in
Islamism to hinder its fuliilment of this high function, and
keep it from being a partaker of the blessings to result
therefrom. For, not only is it the one really monotheistic
and non-idolatrous religion now existing ; but its symbolic
Star and Crescent are essentially one with the Cross of
Christ, in that they also typify the elements masculine and
feminine of the divine existence, and the relation of the
soul to God. So that Islamism has but to accomplish that
other stage of its natural evolution, which will enable it
to claim an equal place in the brotherhood of the Elect.
This is the practical recognition in "Allah" of Mother as
well as of Father, by the exaltation of the woman to her
rightful station on all planes of man's manifold nature.
This accomplished, Esau and Ishmael will be joined to-
gether with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in Christ.

54. In this recognition of the divine idea of humanity,
and its ultimate results, will consist what are called the
" Second Advent and millennial reign of Christ." Of that
advent — although described as resembling the coming of
a thief in the night — the approach will not be unheeded.
For, even in the darkest of spiritual nights, there are always
on the alert some who, as faithful shepherds, keep constant
watch over the flocks of their own pure hearts, and who,
" living the life, know of the doctrine." And these, " dwell-
ing by the well of clear vision," and ''discerning the signs of
the times," perceive already the mustering of the heavenly
hosts, and the bright streamers of dawning of the long
wished-for better Day.^

» See Appendices, Nos. V., VI., and VII.

LECTURE THE NINTH.
GOD AS THE LORD; OR, THE DIVINE IMAGE*

Part I.

I. All sacred books, of whatever people, concur in adopting
in respect of the Deity two apparently opposite and anta-
gonistic modes of expression. According to one of these
modes, the Divine Being is external, universal, diffused,
unformulated, indefinable, and altogether inaccessible and
beyond perception. According to the other, the Divine
Being is near, particular, definite, formulated, personified,
discernible, and readily accessible. Thus, on the one
hand it is said that God is the high and holy One that
inhabiteth eternity, and is past finding out ; that no man
hath seen God at any time, neither heard God's voice, or
can see God and live. And, on the other hand, it is
declared that God has been heard and beheld face to face,
and is nigh to all who call upon God, being within their
hearts j and that the knowledge of God is not only the one
knowledge worth having, but that it is open to all who
seek for it ; and the pure in heart are promised, as their
supreme reward, that they shall " see God."

2. Numerous instances, moreover, are recorded of the
actual sensible vision of God. Of the Hebrew prophets,
Isaiah says that he saw the Lord " high and lifted up ; "
Ezekiel, that he beheld the "glory of tlie God of Israel " as
a figure of fire ; Daniel, that he beheld God as a human

256 THE PERFECT WAY.

form, enthroned in flame ; and John records in the Apo-
calypse a similar vision. The writers of the book of Exodus
show their cognisance of such experiences by ascribing the
vision not only to Moses, but to the whole of the elders and
leaders of Israel, in all, seventy-four persons. And of these
many are represented as competent to receive it in virtue
of their own unaided faculties. For, by the statement that
"upon the nobles Moses laid not his hands," it is imphed
that their own spiritual condition was such that they needed
no aid from the magnetism of the great hierarch their chief.
The sight of the " God of Israel " on this occasion is
described as like that of "a devouring fire."

3. Among similar experiences related in other Scriptures
is that in the Bhagavat Gita^ wherein the " Lord Krishna "
exhibits to the gaze of Arjun his "supreme and heavenly
form " " shining on all sides with light immeasurable, like
the sun a thousand-fold," and " containing in his breast all
the Gods, or Powers, masculine and feminine, of the
Universe."

4 Yet, notwithstanding the difference of the two natures
thus described, the Scriptures regard both as appertaining
to one and the same Divine Being ; and, combining the
names characteristic of both, declare that the Lord is God,
and God is the Lord, and appoint the compound term
Lord-God as the proper designation of Deity.

5. Besides the title Lord, many various names are
applied to Deity as subsisting under this mode. In the
Jewish and Christian Scriptures these names are Jehovah,
El Shaddai, the Logos, the Ancient of Days, Alpha and
Omega, Son of God, the Only Begotten, Adonai. The
Hindus have Brahma, and also Ardha-Nari, — identical with
Adonai. The Persians, Ormuzd ; the Egyptians, Ra, or
the Sun ; the Greeks, the Demiourgos \ the Kabbala has

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 2S7

Adam Kadmon ; and some later mystics employ the term
" Grand Man."

6. Of these last the most notable, Emmanual Sweden-
borg, asserts the vision to be a fact in respect of the angels,
— whom he claims as his informants, — saying that the Lord
is God manifested in the universe as a man, and is thus
beheld, interiorly, by the angels. (^Divine Love and Wis-
dom^ 97, etc., etc.)

7. Swedenborg, however, identifies the Lord who is thus
discerned with the historical Jesus, maintaining the latter to
be very Deity, Jehovah in person, who assumed a fleshly
body, and manifested Himself as a man, in order to save
men from hell, and commanded His disciples to call Him
Lord. {True Christian Religion^ 37°^ D. L. and W.^ 282,
etc., etc.) Swedenborg herein falls into the common error
of confounding "^//r Lord " with " the Lord," the Christ in
the man with Adonai in the heavens, of whom the former is
the counterpart ; — an error due to his failure to recognise
the distinction between the manifest and the unmanifest,
and between the microcosmic and the macrocosmic deity.i

^ In his presentation of the Incarnation, Swedenborg is at variance,
not only with the Gnosis, but with himself. For in it he sets aside the
canon of interpretation formulated by himself, his recovery and general
application of which — together with the doctrine of correspondence —
constitute his chief merit. Thus, to cite his own words : — *' In the
internal sense there is no respect to any person, or anything determined
to a person. But there are three things which disappear from the
sense of the letter of the Word, when the internal sense is unfolded ;
that which is of time, that which is of space, and that which is of per-
son." " T^e Word is written by mere correspondence, and hence all
its contents, to the most minute, signify things heavenly and spiritual"
{Arcana Ccelestia, 5253 and 1401). He also repeatedly declares that
the literal sense of the Word is rarely the truth, but only the appearance
of the truth, and that to take the literal sense for the true one is to
destroy the truth itself, since everything in it relates to the heavenly and
spiritual, and becomes falsified when transferred to a lower plane by
being taken literally (see e.g. T. C. A\, 254, 258, etc.). According
both to this rule and the Gnosis, that which is implied by the term

258 THE PERFECT WAY,

8. In "the Lord** the Formless assumes a form, the
Nameless a name, the Infinite the definite, and these
human. But, although " the Lord is God manifested as a
man " in and to the souls of those to whom the vision is
vouchsafed, it is not as man in the exclusive sense of the
term and masculine only, but as man both masculine and
feminine, at once man and woman, as is Humanity itself.
The Lord is God manifested in substance, and is dual in
form because Deity, though one in essence, and statically,
is twofold in operation, or dynamically. And the vision of
Deity under a definite form, dual and human, — or androgy-
nous, though not as ordinarily apprehended, — has been
universal and persistent from the beginning ; and this, not
as a conception merely mental and " subjective," but as a
perception objective to an interior faculty, in that it is
actually beheld. Hence it is that, in terms employed to
denote Deity, both sexes are expressed or implied; and
where one sex only is designated, it is not because the

Incarnation is an event purely spiritual in its nature, potential in all
men, and of perpetual occurrence, inasmuch as it takes place in every
regenerate man, being at once the cause and effect of his regeneration.
The authority twice cited by Swedenborg {T. C. R., 102 and 827)
in support of his doctrine, — namely, an apparition professing to be the
spirit of the Mother of Jesus, — is one which a duly instructed occultist
would, at the least, have hesitated to regard as aught but a projection
of his own magnetic aura, and as merely a mechanical reflect, there-
fore, of his own thought. Swedenborg had learned little or r.othing
from books, was ignorant of any system other than the Christian, and
also of the origin and meaning of the Christian symbology, and trusted
for his information entirely to his own faculty ; and this, extraordinary
as it was, was allied to a temperament too cold and unsympathetic to
generate the enthusiasm by which alone the topmost heights of per-
ception and inmost core of the consciousness can be attained. Never-
theless, despite his limitations, vSwedenborg was beyond question the
foremost herald and initiator of the new era opening in the spiritual
life of Christendom, and no student of religion can dispense with a
knowledge of him. Only, he must be read with much discrimination
and patience.

Lect. IX. J THE DIVINE IMAGE. 259

other is wanting, but because it is latent. And hence it is
also, that, in order to be made in the image of God, the
individual must comprise within himself the qualities mascu-
line and feminine of existence, and be, spiritually, both
man and woman. Man is perfect only when the whole
humanity is manifested in him ; and this occurs only when
the whole Spirit of Humanity — that is God— is manifested
through him. Thus manifesting Himself, God, as the book
of Genesis says, ''creates man in His own Image, Male and
Female."

9. Such is the doctrine of all Hermetic Scriptures. And
when it is said — as of the Kabbala — that these Scriptures
were delivered by God first of all to Adam in Paradise,
and then to Moses on Sinai, it is meant that the doctrine
contained in them is that which man always discerns when
he succeeds in attaining to that inner and celestial region
of his nature where he is taught directly of his own Divine
Spirit, and knows even as he is known. The attainment of
this divine knowledge constitutes existence a paradise. And
it is symbolised by the ascent of a mountain, variously
designated Nyssa, Sinai, Sion, Olivet. Peculiar to no par-
ticular period or place, the power to receive this knowledge
is dependent entirely upon condition. And the condition
is that of the understanding. Man attains to the Image
of God in proportion as he comprehends the nature of
God. Such knowledge constitutes, of itself, transmuta-
tion. For man is that which he knows. And he knows
only that which he is. Wherefore the recognition, first of
God as the Lord, and next of the Lord as the divine
Humanity, constitutes at once the means of salvation and
salvation itself. This is the truth which makes free, — the
supreme mystery, called by Paul the "mystery of godliness."
And it is by their relegation of this mystery to the category

26o THE PERFECT WAY.

of the incomprehensible, that the priesthoods have barred
to man the way of redemption. They have directed him,
indeed, to a Macrocosmic God subsisting exteriorly to man,
and having a nature altogether different from man's, and
to a heaven remote and inaccessible. But they have sup-
pressed altogether the Microcosmic God and the kingdom
within, and have blotted the Lord and his true image out
of all recognition. Now the main distinction between the
uninitiate and the initiate, between the man who does not
know and the man who does know, lies in this : — For the
one, God, if subsisting at all, is wholly without. For the
other, God is both within and without ; and the God within
is all that the God without is.

lo. It cannot be too emphatically stated, that the defini-
tion which sets forth Mystery as something inconsistent
with or contradictory of sense and reason, is a wrong defi-
nition, and one in the highest degree pernicious. In its
true signification. Mystery means only that which appei
tains to a region of which the external sense and reason
are unable to take cognisance. It is, thus, the doctrine of
Spirit and of the experiences connected therewith. Ana
inasmuch as the spiritual is the within and source of the
phenomenal, so far from any doctrine of Spirit contradicting
and stultifying the experiences and conclusions of the ex-
ternal faculties, it corrects and interprets them ; — precisely
as does reason correct and interpret the sensible impression
of the earth's immobility, and of the diurnal revolution of
the skies. That, therefore, which the degradation of the
term Mystery to mean something incomprehensible, really
represents, is the loss by the priesthoods of the faculty of
comprehension. Declining, through " idolatry," from the
standard once attained by them, and losing the power
either to discern or to interpret Substance, the Churches

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 261

abandoned the true definition of Mystery which referred
it to things transcending the outer sense and reason, and
adopted a definition implying something contradictory of
all sense and reason. Thenceforth, so far from fulfiUing
their proper function of supplying man with the wholesome
" bread " of a perfect system of thought, they gave him
instead the indigestible " stones " of dogmas altogether
unthinkable ; and for the " fish," — or interior mysteries of
the soul, — the " serpents," or illusory reflects, of the astral.
Reduced by this act to a choice between the suicide of an
absolute surrender of the reason, and open revolt, the world
adopted the lesser of the two evils. And this both rightly
and of necessity. For man neither ought if he could, nor
can if he would, suppress his reason. And now the
Churches, having lost the cognition of Spirit, and sup-
pressed the faculty whereby alone it could be attained, are
absolutely without a system of Thought wherewith to
oppose the progress of that fatal system of No-thought
which is fast engulfing the world. And so profound is the
despair which reigns even in the highest ranks of Ecclesi-
asticism, as recently, from one of its most distinguished
members, to elicit the confession that he saw no hope for
Religion save in a new Revelation.^

Part II.

II. It is necessary to devote a brief space to an exposi-
tion of the ancient and true doctrine in respect of the place
and value of the Understanding in things religious. For
so we shall both further minister to the rehabilitation of this
supreme faculty, and exhibit the extent to which sacerdo-
talism has departed from the right course. Mention has

* Related of Cardinal Newman, on his investiture at Rome.

262 THE PERFECT WAY,

already been made of Hermes as the ''trainer of the
Christs." The phrase is of a kind with those more familiar
phrases which describe Christ as the " Son of David " and
as the *' Seed of the Woman " ; and, in short, with all
statements respecting the genealogy of the Christ, including
the declaration that the Rock on which the Church of
Christ is built is the Understanding. For of all such
statements the meaning is, that the doctrine represented
by the term Christ — so far from being a Mystery, in the
sacerdotal sense — is a truth necessary and self-evident,
and requiring for its discernment as such, only the full
and free exercise of Thought. Now, this term Thought is
no other than the name of the Egyptian equivalent of
Hermes, the God Thaut^ frequently written Thoth ; these
being for the Greeks and Egyptians respectively the Divine
Intelligence in its dynamic condition. It has already been
stated that in the Celestial all properties and qualities are
Persons, the fact being that it is always in the guise of
a person that the Divine Spirit of a man holds intercourse
with him, the mode adopted on the occasion corresponding
to the function to be exercised. Thoth and Hermes are,
then, names expressive of the personality assumed by the
supreme Nous of the Microcosm when operating especially
as the Intelligence or Understanding. In different nations,
while the function is the same, the name and form vary
according to the genius of the people. Thus, to a Hebrew
the same Spirit becomes manifest as Raphael. In the
Bhagavat-Gita the Supreme Being, speaking as the Lord
(Krishna), declares that he himself is the Spirit of Under-
standing. As the parent Spirit — the Nous, or divine Mind
— is God, so the product Thought, or the " Word" as a
Son of God, is also God. Nor does the Divine procession
cease at the first generatioiL For, whereas of such Divine

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 263

Word the Christ is the manifestation " in ultimates," the
Christ also is Son of God, and therefore God.

12. But not the less, however, is " Christ " the " Son of
David," though not by physical descent — his line had long
been extinct — but in a spiritual sense. Like the patriarchs
— who were therefore said to live in concubinage — David
was not " married to the Spirit," but held only occasional
communion with it, receiving but a measure of illumination.
" Christ " implies full regeneration and illumination. The
attainment of this state is the ultimate aim of the science
called Hermetic and Alchemic, the earliest formulation of
which is ascribed to the god Thoth, — the Egyptian equiva-
lent for the Divine Thought. Tracking the Christ-idea to
this source, we have a yet further — though still but a
secondary— signification for the saying, " Out of Egypt hast
thou called thy Son."

13. One of the most general symbols of the Understand-
ing, and of its importance in the work of regeneration, has
always been the Ram. Hence the frequent portrayal of
the representative of Hermes and Thoth with a ram's head.
For by this was denoted the power of the faculty of which
the head is the seat, the act of butting with the horns typi-
fying the employment of the intellect whether for attack or
defence. The command to cover the holy place of the
Tabernacle with a ram's fleece, implied that only to the
understanding were the mysteries of the Spirit accessible.
The mighty walls of the " Jericho " of Doubt, are repre-
sented as falling at the sound of rams' horns, after being
" encompassed " during the typical period of seven days.
The narrative of the previous entry— that of the '* spies " —
into this stronghold through the agency of a woman, is
similarly designed to exalt the understanding, the direct
reference being to the intuition as essential to the under-

264 THE PERFECT WAY.

Standing, and therefore to the resolution of doubt. The
ascription to this woman of the vocation of the Magda-
len, accords with the mystical usage of regarding the soui
as impure during the term — necessary for her education
—of her association with Matter. This finished, she be-
comes " virgin." One of the chief glories of Hermes — his
conquest of the hundred-eyed Argus — denotes the victory
of the understanding over fate. For Argus represents the
power of the stars over the unenfranchised souL Where-
fore Hera, the queen of the astral spheres and persecutrix
of the soul thus subject, is said to have placed the eyes of
Argus in the train of her vehicular bird, the peacock.

14. The story of the slaying of Goliath is a parable of
like import. For Goliath is the formulation of the system
represented by the " Philistines," — that system of doubt
and denial which finds its inevitable outcome in Material-
ism. The kilhng of Goliath signifies, thus, the discomfiture
of Materialism by the Understanding. And David, more-
over, is represented — on arraying himself for the conflict —
as declining the *' king's weapons," or arms of the exterior
reason, and choosing "a smooth stone out of a brook";
this being the " philosopher's stone " of a pure spirit, a firm
will, and a clear perception, such as is attained only through
the secret operation of the soul, of which the brook is the
emblem. Such a stone, also, is that which, "cut out
without hands," smites in pieces, as already explained, the
giant image of Nebuchadnezzar. The reward of David's
achievement — the possession of the king's daughter, the
usual termination of such heroic adventure — denotes the
attainment by the conqueror of the highest gifts and graces ;
— the daughter of Saul, or the outer Reason, being the
inner Reason, or psychic faculty, developed from the " Man,"
and constituting the "Woman" in the man. Hence by

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE, 265

David's subsequent history in relation to Michal, is implied
a spiritual retrogression on the soul's part.

15. Similar reasons dictated the selection of a dog as
specially sacred to Hermes, and his representation as the
dog-headed Anubis ; the intelligence and faithfulness of this
animal making it an apt type of the understanding as the
peculiar friend of man. Raphael — the Hebrew equivalent
of Hermes, and like him called the " physician of souls " —
is also represented as accompanied by a dog when travel-
ling with Tobias. And the name of the special associate
of Joshua, — a name identical with Jesus^ — the final leader
of the chosen people into the promised land of their
spiritual perfection, — namely, Caleb, signifies a dog, and
imphes the necessity of intelligence to the successful quest
of salvation. For the like reason were *' rams," and the
" fat of rams," used as symbolic terms to denote the offer-
ing most acceptable to God. It was intended by them
to teach that man ought to dedicate to the service of God
all the powers of his mind raised to their highest perfection,
and by no means to ignore or suppress them.

16. The hke high rank is accorded to the Understanding
in all Hermetic Scriptures. For, — as in Isaiah xi. 2, — it is
always placed second among the seven Elohim of God, the
fiist plaice being assigned to Wisdom, which is accounted
as one with Love. The same order is observed in the
disposition of the solar system. For Mercury is Hermes,
and his planet is next to the Sun. The ascription, in the
mythologies, of a thievish disposition to this divinity, and
the legends which represent him as the patron of thieves
and adventurers, and stealing in turn from all the Gods,
are modes of indicating the facility with which the under-
standing annexes everything and makes it its own. For
Hermes denotes that faculty of the divine part in man

266 THE PERFECT WAY,

which seeks and obtains meanings out of every department
of existence, intruding into the province of every " God,"
and appropriating some portion of the goods of each.
Thus the understanding has a finger upon all things, and
converts them to its own use, whether it be the *' arrows " of
Apollo, the " girdle " of Aphrodite, the " oxen " of Adme-
tus, the " trident " of Poseidon, or the " tongs " of Hephai-
stos. Not only is Hermes — as already said — the rock on
which the true Church is built; he is also the divinity
under whose immediate control all divine revelations are
made, and all divine achievements performed. His are the
rod of knowledge wherewith all things are measured, the
wings of courage, the sword of the unconquerable will, and
the cap of concealment or discretion. He is in turn the
Star of the East, conducting the Magi; the Cloud from
whose midst the holy Voice speaks ; by day the pillar of
Vapour, by night the shining Flame, leading the elect soul
on her perilous path through the noisome wilderness of the
world, as she flies from the Egypt of the Flesh, and guiding
her in safety to the promised heaven. He, too, it is who
is the shield of saints in the fiery furnace of persecution or
affliction, and whose " form is like the Son of God." And
by him the candidate for spiritual knowle dge attains full
initiation. For he is also the Communicator, and without
him is no salvation. For, although that which saves is
faith, that is not faith which is without understanding.
Happily for the so-called " simple," this understanding is
not necessarily of the outer man; it suffices for salvation
that the inner man have it.^

17. "Hermes, as the messenger of God," says the
Neoplatonist Proclus, " reveals to us His paternal will, and
— developing in us the intuition — imparts to us knowledge.
1 See Apps. XII. 6 and XIV.

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 267

The knowledge which descends into the soul from above,
excels any that can be attained by the mere exercise of
the intellect. Intuition is the operation of the soul. The
knowledge received through it from above, descending into
the soul, fills it with the perception of the interior causes of
things. The Gods announce it by their presence, and by
illumination, and enable us to discern the universal order."
Commenting on these words of a philosopher regarded by
his contemporaries with a veneration approaching to adora-
tion, for his wisdom and miraculous powers, a recent leader
of the prevailing school exclaims, " Thus is Proclus con-
sistent in absurdity !"i Whereas, had the critic been aware
of the truth concerning the reality, personaHty, and accessi-
bility of the world celestial, so far from denouncing Proclus
as "absurd," he would have supremely envied him, and
eagerly sought the secret and method of the Neoplaton-
ists. "To know more," says the writer in question, "we
must be more." But when the Mystic — who, in virtue of
his supreme sense of the dignity and gravity of man's nature,
affirms nothing lightly or rashly — offers his solemn assur-
ance that we are more, and prescribes a simple rule, amply
verified by himself, whereby to ascertain the fact, he turns
away in disdain, and proceeds in his own manner to make
himself infinitely less, by becoming a ringleader of that
terrible school of Biology, which does not scruple, in the
outraged name of Science, to indulge its passion for know-
ledge to the utter disregard of humanity and morality, by
the infliction of tortures the most atrocious and protracted,
upon creatures harmless and helpless. Little wonder is
it that between Mystic and Materialist should gulf so
impassable, feud so irreconcilable, intervene ; seeing that
while the one seeks by the sacrifice of his own lower nature
* G. H. Lewes, Biog. Hist. Phil,

268 THE PERFECT WAY,

to his higher, and of himself for others, to prove man poten-
tial God, the other — turning vivisector — makes him actual
fiend.i

1 8. To resume our exposition of the "mystery of godli-
ness," or doctrine of God as the Lord, and of the duality
of the Divine image. According to the Zohar—\h^ prin-
cipal book of the Kabbala — the Divine word by which all
things are created is the celestial archetypal Humanity,
which — subsisting eternally in the Divine Mind — makes
the universe in His own image. God, as absolute Being,
having no form or name, cannot and may not be repre-
sented under any image or appellation. Bent upon self-
manifestation, or creation, the Divine Mind conceives the
Ideal Humanity as a vehicle in which to descend from
Being into Existence. This is the Merkaba, or Car, al-
ready referred to ; and that which it denotes is Human
Nature in its perfection, at once twofold in operation,
fourfold in constitution, and sixfold in manifestation, and
as a cube — Kaabeh — "standing four-square to all the winds
of heaven." In virtue of its twofoldness this "vehicle"
expresses the corresponding opposites. Will and Love,
Justice and Mercy, Energy and Space, Life and Substance,
Positive and Negative, in a word, Male and Female, both
of which subsist in the Divine Nature in absolute plenitude
and perfect equilibrium. Expressed in the Divine Idea —
Adam Kadmon — the qualities masculine and feminine of
existence are, in their union and co-operation, the life and
salvation of the world ; and in their division and antagon-

* This paragraph was written with a view to its publication in the
life-time of Mr. Lewes. Unhappily, the necessity for it has not ceased
with his life. Hence its appearance now. Both in the schools and in
the laboratory his writings and influence survive him. The work cited
is a University text-book ; and a scholarship has been instituted in his
name for the promotion of vivisectional research.

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 2G9

ism, its death and destruction. One in the Absolute, but
two in the Relative, this ideal — but not therefore the less
real — Humanity resumes both in itself, and is king and
queen of the universe, and as such is projected through
every sphere of creation to the material and phenomenal,
causing the outer, lower, and sensible world everywhere
to be made in the image of the inner, upper, and spiritual :
so that all that subsists in the latter belongs to us here
below and is in our image ; and the two regions together
make one uniform existence which is a vast Man, being,
like the individual man, in constitution fourfold and in
operation dual.

19. This doctrine of Correspondence finds expression
through Paul, first, when he declares that "the invisible
things of God from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things which are made ; " and
again, when — applying it in its dual relation to the sexes
of humanity — he says " Neither is the man without the
woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord. "
The purity of its doctrine in this respect constitutes a proof
of the divinity of the Kabbala. For it shows that this
famous compendium belongs to a period prior to that
destruction by the priesthoods of the equilibrium of the
sexes which constituted in one sense the " Fall." Calling
the woman the house and wall of the man, without whose
bounding and redeeming influence he would inevitably be
dissipated and lost in the abyss, the Kabbala describes her
as constituting the centripetal and aspirational element in
humanity, having a natural affinity for the pure and noble,
to which, with herself, she always seeks to raise man, and
being therefore his guide and initiator in things spiritual.
Thus recognising in the sexes of humanity respectively, the
manifestation of the quaUties masculine and feminine of the

270 THE PERFECT WAY,

divine Nature, Its power and Its love, the Kabbala duly
inculcates the worship of that true Lord God of Hosts, the
knowledge of whom constitutes its possessors the " Israel
of God." '' Not every one who says Lord, Lord, is of this
heavenly kingdom ; but they only who do the will of the
Father Who is in heaven," and Who accordingly honour
duly His " two Witnesses " on earth — the man and the
woman — on every plane of man's fourfold nature. It is
by reason of Christ's duality that humanity beholds in him
its representative. And it is only in those who seek in
this to be like him, that Christ can by any means be born.

20. Close as was the agreement between Paul and the
Kabbala in respect — among other doctrines — of the dual
nature of Deity, the agreement stopped short of the due
issue of that doctrine. And it is mainly through Paul that
the influence we have described as at once astral, rabinical,
and sacerdotal, found entrance into the Church. For,
judged by the received text, Paul, when it came to a matter
of practical teaching, exchanged the spirit of the Kabbala
for that of the Talmud, and transmitted — aggravated and
reinforced — to Christianity, the traditional contempt of his
race for woman. The Talmud appoints to every pious
Jew, as a daily prayer, these words : — " Blessed art thou,
O Lord, that thou hast not made me a Gentile, an idiot, or
a woman;" and while enjoining the instruction of his sons
in the Law, proliibits that of the daughters on the ground
that women are accursed. This reprobation of one whole
moiety of the divine nature, instead of finding condem-
nation from Paul as erroneous, was adopted by him as the
basis of his instructions concerning the position of women
in a Christian society. For, after rightly defining the
doctrine of the equality of the sexes " in the Lord," we
find him writing to the Corinthians in the following strain :

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE, 27«

" But I would have you know that the head of every man
is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man. For
a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch
as he is the image and glory of God : but the woman is the
glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman ; but
the woman of the man : for neither was the man created
for the woman, but the woman for the man ; for this cause
ought the woman to have a sign of authority on her head,
because of the angers." " Let a woman learn in quietness
with all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach,
nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness."
" Let the women keep silence in the churches ; for it is not
permitted unto them to speak, but let them be in subjection,
as saith the Law. It is shameful for a woman to speak in
the Church." " For Adam was first formed, then Eve ; and
Adam was not beguiled ; but the woman being beguiled,
fell into transgression." To the same purport writes
Peter, who, as he certainly did not derive the doctrine from
his Master, had doubtless been overborne in respect of it
by Paul.i Thus enforced, the doctrine of the subjection of
the woman became accepted as an integral part of the
Christian system, constituting in it an element of inevitable
self-destruction.

21. The utterance last cited from Paul gives the clue to

* In I Pet. iii. 6, it is said that " Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him
lord ; " whereas, according to Genesis, Abraham rather obeyed Sarai,
calling her lady ; for the change made by him in her name — from Sarai
to Sara — implies an acccbsion of dignity. Thereby, from being "my
lady," she became *' the lady," and representative of the feminine ele-
ment in Divinity. The Deity is represented moreover as impressing
on Abraham this injunction :— "In all that Sara hath said unto thee,
hearken unto her voice." The fault of Adam lay not — as might be in-
ferred from the passage as it stands in Genesis — in " hearkening to the
voice of his wife," but in doing so when she was under beguilement ** of
the devil " — a qualification for the suppression of which the motive is
obvious.

£72 THE PERFECT WAY.

the source and motive of his doctrine concerning woman.
It is a perversion, due to the influences already specified,
of the parable of the Fall. When speaking in the Spirit,
Paul declares the man and the woman aUke to be " in the
Lord." Subsiding from this level, and speaking — as ac-
cording to his own admission, he was not unwont to speak
— " foolishly," or of his own lower reason, he contradicts
this statement and affirms that the man alone is made in
the image of God, — the divine Idea of Humanity compri-
sing the male element only, — and implies that the woman
is but a mere after-thought, contrived to meet an unex-
pected emergency, and made, therefore, in the image, not
of God, but of the man. Thus substituting the Letter for
the Spirit, and wholly losing sight of the latter, Paul de-
grades the mystic Scripture from its proper plane and
universal signification, to a level historical merely and local.
By making Adam and Eve no longer types of the substan-
tial humanity in its two essential modes, the outer and
inner personality, but an actual material couple, the first
physical projenitors of the race, he accepts in all its gross,
impossible crudity the fable of the apple and the snake,
and declares that because the first woman was beguiled,
therefore her daughters— not her sons — must through all
time to come bear the penalty of silence and servitude !

2 2 That which Paul would have taught, had his vision
been uniformly enlightened, is the truth that, so far from the
woman being an inferior part of humanity, it is not until
she is, on all its planes, exalted, crowned, and glorified, that
humanity, whether in the individual or in the race, can
attain to Christhood, seeing that she, and not the " man,"
is the bruiser of the serpent's head, the last to be man^
fested, and therefore the first in dignity. For this reason it
is that only by the restoration of the woman, on all planes

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 273

of her manifestation, can the equilibrium of man's nature,
destroyed at the " Fall," be re-established. As it is, the
direct effect of the teaching of Paul in this, and in certain
allied respects, — notably the doctrine of atonement by vi-
carious bloodshed, — has been to perpetuate the false balance
introduced by the Fall, and therein to confirm the Curse, to
remove which is the supreme mission of the Christ as the
" seed of the woman." On this subject Jesus himself had
spoken very explicitly, though only in writings labelled
*' Apocryphal " are the utterances recorded. Of these, one,
given by Clement, declares plainly that the kingdom of God
can come only " when Two shall be One, and the Man as
the Woman." In the other, — recorded in the Egyptian
gospel, — Jesus, speaking mystically, says, "The kingdom
of Heaven shall come when you women shall have re-
nounced the dress of your sex ;" meaning, when the repre-
sentatives of the soul, namely women, no longer submit to
ordinances which cause or imply inferiority on the part
either of themselves or of that which they represent ; but,
with the soul, are restored to their proper place. But, apart
from any specific utterances, the whole character and teaching
of Jesus are at variance with the doctrine and usage which
have prevailed. For that character and teaching were in
complete accordance with the course already from the be-
ginning marked out in the planisphere of the Zodiac, where-
in the rising of the constellation Vi7'go is followed by Libra^
the Balance, — emblem of the Divine Justice, — in token of
the establishment of the Kingdom of Righteousness which
should follow upon the rehabiUtation of the "Woman."
Paul, on the contrary, — in his astral and non-lucid mo-
ments,— enforces the curse which Jesus would have put
away ; appeals to the Law which at other times he repu-
diates and denounces : and forges its chains anew by thrust-

274 THE PERFECT WAY.

ing them around the necks of those who — he himself says
— should be " no more under the Law, but under Grace." ^
23. Thus does Paul, to whose writings chiefly the various
doctrinal systems of Christianity owe their origin, divide
the Churches, and diminish che Reason, by falling back on
convention and tradition. Now the Reason is not the
"intellect,'' — this, as we h?ve insisted, represents but a
moiety of the mind. The Reason is the whole humanity,
which comprises the intuition as well as the intellect,
and is in God's Image, male and female. This supreme
Reason it is which finds its full expression in the Logos or
Lord. Wherefore, in denying her true place to the woman
in his scheme of society, Paal denies to the Lord his due
manifestation on earth, and exalts for worship some image
other than the divine. It is because they recognise in the
Reason the heir of all things, that the devil and his agents
always make it their first concern to cast it out and slay it
"This is the Heir,"— the Reason, the Logos, the Lord, —
"come let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours,"
— say those ministers of Unreason, the materialistic ortho-
doxies of Church and World. And no sooner is the Reason
suDpressed and cast out, than madness, folly, and evil of
d^ery kind step in and, taking possession, bear rule, making
tne last state — be it of community or of individual — worse
than the first. For then in place of Christ and the divine
image, is anti-Christ and the '* man of sin " ; and the rule is
that of falsehood, superstition, and all manner of unclean
spirits, having neither knowledge, nor power, nor wisdom,

* According to the Apocryphal Epistles, and to ecclesiastical tradition,
Paul, nevertheless, directed his own female associate — Theckla — to
preach in public, and suffered her even to wear male attire. Paul, how-
ever, following the Levitical Code (Lev. xxi. 13), draws a distinction
between married women and virgins, saying he had no commandment
about the latter.

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE, 275

nor aught that in any respect corresponds to God. Of the
mutilation and defacement of the Divine Reason by the
Church, under the impulsion of Paul, the present state of
both Church and World is the inevitable sequel.

24, Besides Paul, there are two others associated with
the doctrine of the Logos, of names so notable as to
necessitate a reference to them. These are Plato, and
Philo called Judaeus. They also recognised the Lord
as the Logos and Divine Reason of things. But they
failed to recognise the Dualism of the Divine nature there-
in, and by their failure ministered to the confirmation,
rather than to the reversal, of the Fall and the Curse.
Between Philo and Paul the points of resemblance are
many and striking, foremost among them being the de-
preciation of woman, and the advocacy of vicarious blood-
shedding as a means of propitiating Deity. Philo, who in
these respects is a thorough sacerdotalist, claims to have
been initiated into spiritual mysteries directly by the spirit
of Moses. This, it will be now understood, is a distinct and
positive proof, were any wanting, of the astral character of
much at least of Philo's inspiration. He, too, like many
in our day was beguiled by a spirit of the astral, which,
personating the great prophet so long dead, insisted, in the
name of Moses, on the sacerdotal degradations of the teach-
ing of Moses. Like Paul, — though never attaining his
elevation, — Philo oscillated continually between the Talmud
and the Kabbala, the astral and the celestial, mixing error
and truth accordingly, and ignored altogether the contrary
presentation given of the divine Sophia in the inspired
" Book of Wisdom," — a book of which some have never-
theless ascribed the authorship to Philo himself!

25. Plato and no less Aristotle, discerned in a perfect
humanity the end and aim of creation, and in the universe

»76 THE PERFECT WAY,

a prelude to and preparation for the perfect man. Recog-
nising, however, the masculine element only of existence,
Aristotle regarded every production of Nature other than
a male of the human species, as a failure in the attempt
to produce a man ; and the woman as something maimed
and imperfect, to be accounted for only on the hypothesis
that Nature, though artist, is but blind. Similarly Plato —
despite the intuition whereby he was enabled to recognise
Intellect and Emotion as the two wings indispensable
for man's ascent to his proper altitude — was wholly
insensible to the correspondence by virtue of which the
latter finds in woman its highest expression. For the
strain in which he treated of her was so bitter and con-
temptuous, as largely to minister to the making of his
country — instead of the Eden which results where, and
only where, the woman is honoured and unfallen — a veri-
table rival of the " cities of the Plain." In his view, only
they who have previously disgraced themselves as men,
become re-incarnated as animals and women. The Logos
of Plato is, clearly, no prototype of the Logos of that
Christianity which is based on the duality of the Divine
Being, and requires of the Christ that he represent the
whole humanity.

26. The Fathers of the Church — step-fathers, rather,
were they to the true Christianity — for the most part vied
with each other in their depreciation of woman ; and,
denouncing her with every vile epithet, held it a degrada-
tion for a saint to touch even his own aged mother with
the hand in order to sustain her feeble steps. And the
Church, falling under a domination exclusively sacerdotal,
while doctrinally it exalted womanhood to a level beside,
though not to its place in, the Godhead, practically sub-
stituted priestly exclusiveness for Christian comprehension.

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 277

For it declared woman unworthy, through inherent impurity,
even to set foot within the sanctuaries of its temples ;
suffered her to exercise her functions of wife and mother
only under the spell of a triple exorcism ; and denied her,
when dead, burial in its more sacred precincts, even though
she were an abbess of undoubted sanctity.

27. The Reformation altered, but did not better, the
condition of woman. Socially, it rescued her from the
priest to make her the chattel of the husband ; and doc-
trinally, it expunged her altogether. Calvinism is, on all
planes, a repudiation of the woman in favour of the man ;
inasmuch as it recognises only will and force, and rejects
love and goodness, as essential qualities of Being, whether
Divine or human. And Protestantism at large, both Uni-
tarian and Trinitarian, finds in its definition of the Substance
of existence, place only for the masculine element. Even
the great bard of Nonconformism, John Milton, — though
finding woman so indispensable to him as to have thrice
wedded, — disfigured his verse and belied his inspiration
as poet, by his bitter and incessant depreciation of her
without whom poetry itself would have no existence. For
poetry is the function of genius, and genius, which is the
product of sympathy, is not of the man, but of the woman
in the man ; and she herself— as her typical name Venus
imphes — is the " Sweet Song of God." ^ In the same
spirit the chief instrument of the Reformation, Martin
Luther, declared of the two sacred books which especially
point to the woman as the agent of man's final redemption
— the books of Esther and Revelation — that " so far as he

* Such also is the signification of Anael, the Hebrew name of the
"Angel" of her planet. Venus is said by some to be originally
Phe-7ius, having for root <t)'i)fj.i.. For an example of the nature of the
true mysteries of this divinity, see Appendices, No. XIII.

278 THE PERFECT WAY,

esteemed them, it would be no loss if they were thrown
into the river."

28. The influence in question is not confined to the
sphere of Christianity. It dictated the form assumed by
Islamisrii. Originating in impulses derived from the celes-
tial, this religion fell beneath the sway of the astral so
soon as its founder, making a rich marriage, lived luxuri-
ously and occupied himself with worldly matters. Sacer-
dotalism failed, it is true, to find in Islamism its ordinary
mode of expression. But the principle of the doctrine of
vicarious sacrifice in propitiation of the Deity, showed itself
in the recognition of bloodshed as a means of proselytism.
And women were relegated to a position altogether inferior,
being regarded as differing from men not merely in degree,
but in kind. For they were denied the possession of a
soul ; and their place in the Hereafter was supplied by
astral equivalents under the scarcely disguised name of
Houris, The Koran itself is little else than an imitation
of the Old Testament, conceived under astral suggestion.
A yet more unmitigated form of what may be called
Astralism is the religion known as Mormonism ; the sacred
books of which are, throughout, but astral travesties of
Scripture; its doctrine of "spiritual wives," and of the
position of woman generally, being similarly derived. It
thus constitutes an instance in point, of the unceasing en-
deavour of the spirits of the sub-human to establish a
kingdom of their own, instead of that of the Lord and the
Divine Idea of Humanity. The Moslem Sufis had all the
truth.

Part III.

29. It will be well, before proceeding to our conclusion,
to take note of the objections with which it is usually

Lkct. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 279

sought to discredit — under the name of Mysticism — the
system in course of exposition. These objections are com-
prised under two heads, of which the terms, respectively,
are Plagiarism and Enthusiasm. By the former it is
meant that the professors of Mysticism, instead of being
the actual recipients of the experiences they record of
themselves, borrow them from some common — but equally
delusive — source. And by the latter it is impHed that,
at the best, the experiences, and the doctrines based upon
them, are due to morbid conditions of mind. This, in plain
language, means that the opponents of Mysticism — unable
either to emulate or to confute it — try to get rid of it by
charging its professors with dishonesty or insanity. And
so far from this line of treatment being exceptional or rare,
it is persistent and constant throughout the whole range of
the literature characteristic of the age, and this in every
class from the lowest to the highest, and in every branch
of intellectual activity. Instead of being submitted to
examination even the most superficial, the entire system
comprised under the term Mysticism — its witnesses, its
facts, and its doctrines — has in that Uterature been rejected
off-hand and without inquiry, by the simple process of
abrupt contradiction, and the ascription, in no measured
degree, to its representatives and exponents, of pretence,
imposture, charlatanism, quackery, hallucination, and mad-
ness— an ascription preposteious in the extreme in view
of the status, moral and intellectual, of the persons as-
persed. For of these the character and eminence have
been such as, of themselves, to entitle their statements to
attention the most respectful ; and the Order to which, one
and all, they have belonged, comprises the world's finest
intellects, profoundest scholars, maturest judgments, noblest
dispositions, ripest characters, and greatest benefactors;

28o THE PERFECT WAY,

and in short, as has already been said, all those sages,
saints, seers, prophets, and Christs, through whose re-
deeming influence humanity has been raised out of the
bottomless pit of its own lower nature, and preserved
from the abyss of utter negation. Of these, and of
numberless others, the testimony to the reality of mystical
experiences and the truth of mystical doctrine, has been
concurrent, continuous, positive, and maintained at the cost
of liberty, reputation, property, family ties, social position,
and every earthly good, even to Ufe itself, and this over a
period extending from before the beginning of history until
now. So that it may with absolute confidence be main-
tained, that if the declarations of Mystics are to be set aside
as insufficient to establish their claims, all human testimony
whatever is worthless as a criterion of fact, and all human
intelligence as a criterion of truth.

30. The charge of Plagiarism is soon disposed of. It is
true that the correspondence upon which the charge is
founded subsists. But it is also true that this correspondence
is only that which necessarily subsists between the accounts
given of identical phenomena by different witnesses. The
world's Mystics have been as a band of earnest explorers
who, one after another, and often in complete ignorance of
the results attained by their predecessors, have ascended
the same giant mountain-range, and, returning, have brought
back to the dwellers in the valleys below — too feeble or
indifferent to make the ascent for themselves — the same
report of its character and products, and of the tracts dis-
cerned from its various aspects and altitudes, showing
thereby a perfect coherence of faculty and testimony.
Such is the agreement which has been made the pretext
for a charge of plagiarism against IMystics, simply because
the region visited and reported on by them is a spiritual

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE, 281

and not a material one, and Materialists will not have it that
any other than a material subsists. Precisely the agreement
which in all other cases is made indispensable as a proof of
trustworthiness, is in this case interpreted as a token of
collusion.

31. To come to the somewhat more plausible charge of
Enthusiasm. It is alleged that the Mystics have conceived
their system, not in that calm, philosophical frame of mind
which alone is favourable to the discovery of truth, but in
a spirit of excitement and enthusiasm of which the inevitable
product is hallucination. Now, this allegation is not only
contrary to fact, it is intrinsically absurd, whether as applied
to the phenomena or to the philosophy of Mysticism. For
one who, through the unfoldment of his spiritual faculties,
is enaoled to enjoy open conditions with the spiritual world,
the suggestion that his consequent experiences are the
result of hallucination, constitutes an act of presumption
every whit as gross as would be the like suggestion con-
cerning the material world if made by a blind man to one
possessed of eyesight. For, as already observed, such is
the nature of the experiences in question, that if they are to
be disregarded as insufficient to demonstrate the reality of
the spiritual world, no ground remains whereon to believe
in that of the material world. It is true that the Materialist
cannot — as a rule — be made a partaker of the evidences in
question. But neither can the blind man have ocular proof
of the existence of the material world. For him there is no
sun in the sky if he refuse to credit those who alone possess
the faculty wherewith to behold it, and persist in regarding
himself as a representative man.

32. The case for the Mystic's intellectual results b
equally strong. Such are the coherency and completeness
of the mystical system of thought, that by all schools what-

282 THE PERFECT WAY.

ever of thinkers it has ever, with one consent, been pro-
nounced to be inexpugnable, and that alone which would,
if provable, constitute an explanation, altogether satisfactory,
of the phenomena of existence. In this system, where ap-
prehended in its proper integrity, Reason has in vain sought
to detect a flaw ; and they who have rejected it, have done
so solely through their own inability to obtain that se?tsible
evidence of the reality of the spiritual world, the power to
receive and interpret which, constitutes the Mystic.

33. Nevertheless, of the fact of the Mystic's enthusiasm
there is no question. But enthusiasm is neither his instru-
ment of observation nor that of inference. And he is not
more fairly chargeable with conceiving his system by the
exercise of an imagination stimulated by enthusiasm, than
is the believer in the world exclusively material. Fir, like
the latter, he has sensible evidence of the facts whereon
he builds ; and he observes all possible deliberation and
circumspection in his deductions therefrom. The only
difference between them in this relation, is that the senses
principally appealed to by his facts, are those, not of the
man physical, but of the man spiritual, or soul, which, as
consisting of substance, is necessarily alone competent for
the appreciation of the phenomena of substance. Con-
stituted as is man, while in the body, of both Matter and
Spirit, he is a complete being — and therefore fully man —
only when he has developed the faculties requisite for the
discernment of both elements of his nature.

34. In the promotion of this development enthusiasm is
a prime factor. By means of it the man is elevated to that
region, interior and superior, where alone serenity prevails
and perception is unobstructed, where are the beginnings of
the clues of all objects of his search, and wliere his facul-
ties are at their best, inasmuch as it is their native place^

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 283

and they are there exempt from the limitations of the
material organism. Attaining thus to his full altitude, he
no longer has need to reason and compare. For he sees
and knows, and his mind is content. For him, in the divine
order of his spiritual system, " the woman is carried to the
throne of God." The Zeus and Hera of his own celestial
kingdom are wedded. The Adam, perfected, has found an
infallible Eve. Existence is a garden of delights, whereof
the fruits are the " golden apples " of knowledge and good-
ness. For the intellect and intuition — divine man and
woman of his perfected humanity — are at one in the blissful
home of his parent Spirit, the Within or fourth dimension
of space, whence all things have their procession, and where
alone, therefore, they can be comprehended. As well re-
fuse credit to the researches of the meteorologist on account
of the upward impulses of the vehicle on which he gains
the loftier strata of air, or of the superior purity of the
medium in which he operates, as to those of the Mystic
on account of the enthusiasm by means of which his ascent
is accomplished. For enthusiasm is simply his impelling
force, without which he could never have quitted the
outer, nether and apparent, and gained the inner, upper
and real. Wherefore, even when the abstraction from the
outer world attains the intensity of Ecstasy, there is nought
in the condition to invalidate the perceptions, sensible or
mental, of the seer. But simply are his faculties heightened
and perfected through the exclusion of all limiting or dis-
turbing influences, and the consequent release of the con-
sciousness from material trammel and bias. There is, as
already said, no really "invisible world." That which
ecstasy does, is to open the vision to a world imperceptible
to the exterior senses — that world of substance which, lying
behind phenomenon, necessarily requires for its cognition

884 THE PERFECT WAY,

faculties which are not of the phenomenal but of the sub-
stantial man. Says one eminent Manualist concerning the
Neoplatonic Mystics : — " Their teaching was a desperate
over-leaping and destruction of all philosophy."^ Says
another: — "In the desperate spring made at Alexandria,
reason was given up for ecstasy." ^ Whereas the truth is,
that the only sense in which reason can be said to be given
up by the Mystic, is that in which, not reason but reasoning
is given up, when, after exhausting conjecture blindfold, a
man opens his eyes and sees, and so requires no further ratio-
cination. For ecstasy does but verify by actual vision the
highest results of reason ; though it may, and frequently
does, thus operate in advance of the stage in his reasoning
reached at the time by the seer. And so far, moreover,
from superseding the necessity for the exercise of reason,
it is impossible without previous mental culture, duly to
appreciate the results of ecstatic, any more than of ordinary
vision. For all understanding is of the mind \ and neither
the vision of things terrestrial nor that of things celestial
can dispense with the exercise of this. Of course, with the
advent of knowledge the necessity for reasoning ceases, and
in this sense it is true that the Mystic " destroys philosophy
by merging it in religion." But in this sense only. For, in
his hands, philosophy simply, and under compulsion of
reason, acknowledges religion as its legitimate and inevitable
terminus, when not, through aHmitation of reason, arbitrarily
withheld therefrom. And, in a world proceeding from God,
no reason would be sound, no philosophy complete, of which
the conclusion — as well as the beginning — was not religion.
So far, also, from such rehgious philosophy involving, as
constantly charged against it, the abnegation of self-con-

1 Schwegler, Manual of Philosophy,
* G. H. Lewes, Biog. Hist. Phil,

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 285

sciousness ; it involves and implies the due self-completion
of the consciousness by the recognition of its true source
and nature. Thus, so far from " losing," the Mystic finds^
himself thereby ; for he finds God, the true and only Self of
all. And if there be any who, recognising in these pages
aught of goodness, truth, or beauty transcending the ordinary,
inquire the source thereof, the reply is, that the source is no
other than that just described, namely, the Spirit operating
under conditions which a materialistic science, bent on the
suppression of man's spiritual nature and the eradication of
man's religious instinct, designates "morbid," and certifies as
qualifying the subject for seclusion on the ground of insanity.^
35. We will endeavour by a brief examination of the
standpoints of the two parties respectively, to exhibit the
genesis and nature of the Mystic's enthusiasm. The Ma-
terialist— who regards Matter as the sole constituent of
existence, and himself as derived from that which, for its
defect in respect of consciousness, he deems mean and con-
temptible— has for the supposed source and substance of
his being, neither respect nor affection. No more than any
one else can he love or honour the merely chemical or me-
chanical. Hence, like those who, springing from a low origin,
have gained for themselves distinction, the last thing he
covets is a return to that from which he came. How it

* In The Nineteenth Century {ox i?>'jg. Dr. Maudsley declares his readi-
ness to have certified the lunacy of various of the most eminent saints,
seers, and prophets. And the medical profession generally — following
the lead of France — treats the claim to be in open conditions with the
spiritual world as proof positive of insanity. Said a member of this
profession on a recent occasion, in support of such action on the part of
his brethren : — *' If we admit Spirits, we must admit Spiritualism, and
what then becoines of the teachings of Materialism ? " Thus, in an
age which vaunts itself an age pre-eminently of free thought and experi-
mental philosophy, are the expression of thought and confession of
experience made in the highest degree perilous when they conflict with
the tenets of the prevailing school.

286 THE PERFECT WAY.

arises that, being wholly of Matter, he has in him any
impulse or faculty whereby to transcend even in desire his
original level ; whence come the qualities and properties,
moral and intellectual, subsisting in humanity, but of which
the most exhaustive analysis of Matter reveals no trace ;
whence the tendency of evolution in the direction of beauty,
use, and goodness ; whence evolution itself ; — these are
problems which are insoluble on his hypothesis, and which
— since he rejects the solution proffered by the Mystic — ■
must for ever remain unsolved by him.

36. The Mystic, on the other hand, discerning through
the intuition the spiritual nature of the substance of existence,
recognises himself, not as superior to that from which he
has sprung, but as a limitation and individuation of that
which itself is unlimited and universal, even the absolutely
pure and perfect Spirit which is no other than God. Know-
ing himself to be thence derived and sustained, and only
temporarily, and for a purpose conceived in infinite love
and executed in infinite wisdom, subjected to inferior con-
ditions, he yearns towards the whole of which he is a part,
as a child towards its necessary parent, and strives, by
divesting himself of the withholding influences of Matter, to
rise into nearer resemblance to and contact with his divine
Original.

37. The materialist, on the contrary, regarding Matter
as all, and its limitations as inherent in Being, sees in the
endeavour to transcend those hmitations but a suicidal
attempt to escape from all Being. He strives, therefore,
to attach himself yet more closely to Matter, little as he
esteems it, and is content when he has succeeded in making
from among things merely material, such selection as best
ministers to his bodily satisfaction. And he cannot com-
prehend one of sound mind seeking more.

Lb.- IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE, 287

38. But such mistake of the phenomenal for the substan-
tial, of the apparent for the real, cannot be made by one
who to the sensations of the body adds the perceptions and
recollections of the souL Such a one knows by a divine
anJ infallible instinct, which every succeeding experience
se .-ves but to confirm, that a perfection and satisfaction far
tianscending aught that Materialist can imagine or Matter
realise, are in very truth possible to humanity. And there-
fore the enthusiasm which inspires him is the enthusiasm,
not of an earthly humanity, immature, rudimentary, and
scarcely even suggestive of its own potentialities ; not of a
humanity which is exterior, transient, of form only and
appearance ; but of a humanity mature, developed, per-
manent, and capable of realising its own best promise and
highest aspirations ; a humanity interior, substantial, and of
the Spirit ; a humanity, though human, divine, in that it is
worthy of its progenitor God, and at its best is God. The
Materialist knows not perfection, nor reality, nor Spirit, nor
God ; and, knowing none of these, he knows not enthusiasm.
Now, not to know enthusiasm, is not to know love. And
he who knows not love, is not yet man. For he has yet to
develop in him that which alone completes and makes the
man, namely, the woman. Herein, then, is the full solution
of the mystery of the Mystic's enthusiasm, and of the
Materialist's inability to comprehend it The one is already
man, and, knowing what Being is, loves. The other is not
yet man, and, incapable of love, has all to learn.

39. Not always did Materialists contemn enthusiasm and
repudiate its products. Of one, at least, history tells who
with enthusiasm sang of enthusiasm as the energising force
of genius. It was no other than such a flight as that of the
rapt Mystic in his ecstasy, which Lucretius ascribed to the
inspired Epicurus, when he celebrated his vivida vis animi ;

2S8 THE PERFECT WAY.

for it was in virtue of his enthusiasm for a perfection tran-
scending the animal, that Epicurus was enabled to overcome
the limitations of the bodily sense, to " surpass the flaming
walls of the world " material, to " traverse in spirit the whole
immensity " of existence, and — returning — " to bring back
to men the knowledge of possible and impossible." It has
been reserved for the present age to produce the Materialist
of a humanity so stunted and meagre that he knows not the
meaning or value of enthusiasm, and in his ignorance makes
of it a scoff.

Part IV

40. Accepting without limitation or reserve the dictum
— already cited — that " nothing imperceptible is real," the
Mystic applies it in respect of the most recondite of all
subjects of thought, namely. Deity, and both modes — the
mental and the sensible — of perception. In doing this, he
claims the justification of his own personal experience.
For not only can he think God, he can also see God ; the
mind with which he does the first being a mind purified
from obscuration by Matter ; and the eyes with which he
does the last being those of a more or less regenerate self
Of the seers of all ages the supreme beatific experience —
that which has constituted for them the crowning confirma-
tion of their doctrine concerning not only the being but the
nature of Deity — has been the vision of God as the Lord.
For those to whom this vision has been vouchsafed, hope
the most sanguine is swallowed up in realisation the most
complete ; beHef the most implicit is merged in sight the
most vivid ; and knowledge the most absolute is attained,
that the ''kingdom of heaven is" in very truth "within,"
and that the king thereof is — where alone a king should be
—in the midst of his kingdom.

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 289

41. And yet more than this. By the vision of God as
the Lord, the seer knows also that of this celestial kingdom
within, the King is also the Qaeen ; that, in respect of form
no less than of substance, man is created in God's "own
image, male and female ; " and that in ascending to and
becoming "one with the Father," man ascends to and
becomes one with the Mother. For in the form beheld in
the vision oi Adonai^ both HE and SHE are manifested.
Who, then, is Adonai? This is a question the reply to
which involves the Mystery of the Trinity.

42. Manifestation— it has already been explained — is by
generation. Now generation is not of one but of twain.
And inasmuch as that which is generated partakes the
nature of the generators, it also is dual. That, then, which
in the current presentation of the doctrine of the Trinity is
termed the Father and First Person in the Godhead, is
really the Father-Mother. And that which is theologically
said to be begotten of them and called the Second Person
and Son, is also dual, being not " Son " merely, but proto-
type of both sexes, and called in token thereof lo, Je-
hovah, El Shaddai, Adonai, — names, each of which implies
duality.

43 Having for Father the Spirit which is Life, and for
Mother the " Great Deep " which is Substance, Adonai
possesses the potency of both, and wields the dual powers
of all things. And from the Godhead thus constituted pro-
ceeds, through Adonai, the uncreated creative Spirit, the
informer and fashioner of all things. This Spirit it is Who,
theologically, is called the Holy Ghost, and the Third
Person, the aspect of God as the Mother having been
ignored or suppressed by a priesthood desirous of preserving
a purely masculine conception of the Godhead. By the
above presentation both the Churches, Eastern and Western,

290 THE PERFECT WAY.

are right in what they affirm respecting the procession of
the Holy Ghost, and wrong m what they deny.

44. This, the necessary method of the divine evolution
and procession, for both Macrocosm and Microcosm, is duly
set forth in the very commencement of the book of Genesis ;
being expressed in the words : — And the Spirit of Goa
moved upon the face of the Waters : and God SAID, Let
there be Light, and there was Lights For, whenever and
wherever creation — or manifestation by generation — occurs,
God the Father co-operates with God the Mother — as Force,
moving in Substance — and produces the Utterance, Word,
Logos, or Adonai — at once God and the Expression of
God. And of this Logos the Holy Spirit, in turn, is the
Expression or creative medium. For, as Adonai is the
Word or Expression whereby is manifested God, so the
Holy Spirit, or Primal Light, — Itself Sevenfold, — is the
Radiance whereby is revealed and manifested the Lord.
Now the manifestation of the Lord — which also is the
manifestation of God— occurs through the working in Sub-
stance of the Elohim or Seven Spirits of God— enumerated
in our second discourse — from Whose number fiirst of all the
number seven derives its sanctity. They are the Powers
under Whose immediate superintendence Creation, whether
of great or small, occurs. And of Them is the whole of
the Divine Substance pervaded, — the Substance of all that
is.

" These are the Divine Fires which burn before the Presence
of God ; which proceed from the Spirit, and are One with the
Spirit.

" God is divided, yet not diminished ; God is All, and God
is One.

" For the Spirit of God is a Flame of Fire which the
Word of God divideth into many ; yet the Origi?ial Flame

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE, 291

is not decreased^ nor the Power thereof y nor the Brightness
thereof lessened.

** Thou may est light many lamps from the flame of one ;
yet thou dost in nothing diminish that first flame.

" Now the Spirit of God is expressed by the Word of God
which is Adonai."

45. This then is the order of the Divine Procession.
First the Unity, or " Darkness *' of the " Invisible Light."
Second, the Duality, the Spirit and the Deep, or Energy
and Space. Thirdly, the Trinity, the Father, the Mother,
and Their joint expression or "AVord." Last, the Plurality,
the Sevenfold Light and Elohim of God. Such is the
** generation " of the Heavens or celestial region, both in
the universal and in the individual. And within the
experience of each individual lies the possibility of the
verification thereof. For in due time, to each who seeks
for it, " the Holy Spirit teaches all things and brings all
things to remembrance^

46. The Logos, or Adonai, is then God's Idea of God's
Self, the Formulated, Personified Thought of the Divine
Mind. And whereas God makes nothing save through this
Idea, it is said of Adonai, —

" By Him all things are made^ and without Him is not
anything made which is made.

^^ He is the true Light which lighteth every man that
Cometh into the world.

" He is in the worlds and the world is made by Him^ and
the woj'ld knoweth Him not.

" But as many as receive Him^ to them He giveth power
to become Sons of God, even to the?n that believe on His
Name.

" He is in the Beginning with God, and He is God. He
is the Manifestor by Whom all things are discovered.

292 THE PERFECT WAY.

" And without Him is not anything made which is visible,

" God the nameless doth not reveal God: but Adofiai
revealeth God from the Beginning.

** Adonai dissolveth and resumeth : in His two hands are
the dual powers of all things ;

" HaviJig the potency of both in Himself; and being Him-
self i?ivisible, for He is the Cause, a?id not the Effect.

" He is the Manifestor ; and not that which is mafiifest,

** That which is manifest is the Divine Substance.

" Every Monad thereof hath the potency of twain; as God
is Twain in One.

" And every Mo7iad which is manifest, is mafiifest by the
evolution of its Trinity.

** Eor thus only can it bear record of itself and become
cogfiisable as an Entity. ^^ ^

* As man, made in the " image " 'of Adonai, is the expression of
God, so is the expression or countenance of man the express image of
God's nature, and bears in its features the impress of the celestial,
showing him to be thence derived. Thus, in the human face, by the
straight, central, protruding, and vertical line of the organ of respir-
ation, is denoted Individuality, the divine Ego, the I AM, of the man.
Though single exteriorly, and constituting one organ, in token of the
Divine Unity, v^'ithin it is dual, having a double function, and two
nostrils in which resides the power of the Breath or Spirit, and which
represent the Divine Duality. T^iis duality finds its especial symboli-
sation in the two spheres of the eyes, which — placed on a level with
the summit of the nose — denote respectively Intelligence and Love, or
Father and Mother, as the supreme elements of Being. Though
exteriorly two, interiorly they are one, as vision is one. And of the
harmonious co-operation of the two personalities represented by them,
proceeds, as child, a third personality, which is their joint expression
or •' Word." Of this the Mouth is at once the organ and symbol,
being in itself Dual, — when closed a line, when open a circle ; and also
twofold, being compounded of line and circle in the tongue and lips.
And as the place of issue of the creative breath, it is below the other
features, since creation, in coming from the Highest, is in its direction
necessarily downwards. Thus, in the countenance of the "Image of
God," is expressed the nature of God, — even the Holy Trinity. For
"these three are one," being essential modes of the sanue Being.

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 293

Part V.

47. We come to that which, both in its nature and in its
import, is the most stupendous fact of mystical experience,
and the crowning experience of seers in all ages from the
remotest antiquity to the present day. This is the Vision
of Adonai, a vision which proves that not only subjectively
but objectively, not only mentally and theoretically, but
sensibly and actually, God, as the Lord, is present and
cognisable in each individual, ever operating to build him
up in the Divine Image, and succeeding so far — and only
so far — as the individual, by making the Divine Will his
own will, consents to co-operate with God.

48. In respect of this vision, it matters not whether the
seer have previous experience or knowledge on the sub-
ject ; for the result is altogether irrespective of anticipation.
It is possible to him when — having purified his system,
mental and physical, from all deteriorative and obstructive
elements — he thinks inwardly, desires intensely, and im-
agines centrally, resolved that nothing shall bar his ascent
to his own highest and entrance to his own innermost.
Doing this, and abstracting himself from the outer world of
the phenomenal, he enters first the astral, where, more or
hss clearly, according to the measure of his percipience, he
discerns successively the various spheres of its fourfold
zone, together with their denizens. In the process he
seems to himself, while still individual, to have lost the
limitations of the finite, and to have become expanded into
the universal. For, while traversing the several successive
concentric spheres of his own being, and mounting, as by
the steps of a ladder, from one to another, he is as palpably
traversing also those not of the solar system only, but of
the whole universe of being ; and that which ultimately he

294 THE PERFECT WAY,

reaches, is, manifestly, the centre of each, the initial point
of radiation of himself and of all things.

49. Meanwhile, under the impulsion of the mighty enthu-
siasm engendered in him of the Spirit, the component con-
sciousnesses of his system become more and more completely
polarised towards their Divine centre, and the animating,
Divine Spirit of the man, from being diffused, latent, and
formless, becomes concentred, manifest, and definite. For,
bent on the highest, the astral does not long detain him ;
and soon he passes the Cherubim — the guardians from
without of the celestial — and enters within the veil of the
holy of holies. Here he finds himself amid a company
innumerable of beings each manifestly divine ; for they are
the angels and archangels, principalities and powers, and
all the hierarchy of the " Heavens." Pressing on, through
these towards the centre, he next finds himself in presence
of a light so intolerable in its lustre as well-nigh to beat
him back from further quest. And of those who reach
thus far, many adventure no farther, but, appalled, retire,
well content, nevertheless, to have been privileged to a[>-
proach, and actually to behold, the " Great White Throne "
of the Almighty.

50. Enshrined in this light is a Form radiant and glorious
beyond all power of expression. For it is "made of the
Substance of Light ; " and the form is that of the "Only
Begotten," the Logos, the Idea, the Manifestor of God, the
Personal Reason of all existence, the Lord God of Hosts,
the Lord Adonai. From the right hand upraised in attitude
indicative of will and command, proceeds, as a stream of
living force, the Holy Life and Substance whereby and
whereof Creation consists. With the left hand, depressed
and open as in attitude of recall, the stream is indrawn, and
Creation is sustained and redeemed. Thus projecting and

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE, 295

recalling, expanding and contracting, Adonai fulfils the
functions expressed in the mystical formula Solve et Coagula,
And as in this, so also in constitution and form, Adonai is
dual, comprising the two modes of humanity, and appearing
to the beholder alternately masculine and feminine accord-
ing as the function exercised is of the man or the woman,
and is centrifugal or centripetal. And as, continuing to
gaze, the beholder acquires clearer vision, he discovers that,
of the images thus combined, while one is manifested the
more fully exteriorly, the other appertains rather to the
interior, and shines in a measure through its fellow, itself
remaining meanwhile in close contiguity to the heart and
spirit. And whereas of ' these forms the inner is the
feminine, the beholder learns that of the two modes of
humanity, womanhood is the nearer to God.

51. Such is the ** vision of Adonai." And by whatever
name denoted, no other source, centre, sustenance, or true
Self can mortal or immortal find, than God as the Lord
Who is thus beheld ; and no other can he who has once
beheld it — however dimly or afar off— desire. For, finding
Adonai, the soul is content; the summit and centre of
Being is reached ; all ideals of Truth, Goodness, Beauty,
and Power are realised ; there is no Beyond to which to
aspire. For All is in Adonai ; since in Adonai dwells the
infinite sea of Power and Wisdom which is God. And
all of God which can be revealed, all that the soul can
grasp, be her powers expanded as they may, is revealed in
Adonai.

52. Of the term Adonai, as already stated, the Hindii
equivalent, " Ardha-Nari," is represented as androgynous in
form. But the personality denoted is that of Brahm, or
pure Being, become Brahma, the Lord. And of the Hindii
"Trimurti," the right hand, which typifies the creative

296 THE PERFECT WAY.

energy, is Vishnu ; the left, which represents the power of
dissolution and return, is Siva, Adonai Himself being
Brahma. The conditions on which this vision is vouch-
safed are thus set forth for the benefit of his "beloved
disciple," Arjun, by the "holy one," Krishna : — " Thou hast
beheld this My wondrous form, so difficult of apprehension,
which even angels may in vain desire to see. But I am
not to be seen as thou hast seen Me, by means of mortifica-
tions, of sacrifices, of gifts, of alms. I am to be seen and
truly known, and to be obtained by means of that worship
which is offered to Me alone. He whose works are done
for Me alone, who serves Me only, who cares naught for
consequences, and who dwelleth among men without hatred,
— he alone cometh unto Me."

Part VI.

53. This discourse and series of discourses will fitly close
with an exposition of the relations subsisting between the
Adonai, the Christ, and the Man.

As Adonai the Lord is the manifestation of God in Sub-
stance, so Christ is the manifestation of the Lord in Humanity.
The former occurs by Generation ; the latter by Regenera-
tion. The former is from within, outwards ; the latter is
from below, upwards. Man, ascending by evolution from
the material and lowermost stratum of existence, finds his
highest development in the Christ. This is the point where
the human stream, as it flows upwards into God, culminates.
Reaching this point by regeneration, man is at once Son of
Man and of God, and is perfect, receiving in consequence
the baptism of the Logos or Word, Adonai Being now
" virgin " in respect of matter, and quickened by the " one
life," that of the Spirit, man becomes like unto God, in that
he has the "Gift of God," or Eternal Life through the

Lect. IX.] THE DIVINE IMAGE. 297

power of self-perpetuation. The Logos is celestial ; the man,
terrestrial. Christ is their point of junction, without whom
they could not touch each other. Attaining to this point by
means of that inward purification which is the secret and
method of the Christs, the man receives his suffusion by, or
"anointing" of, the Spirit, and forthwith has, and is,
*' Christ." Christhood is attained by the reception into
man's own spirit of the Logos. This accomplished, the two
natures, the Divine and the human, combine ; the two
streams, the ascending and the descending, meet ; and the
man knows and understands God. And this is said to occur
through Christ, because for every man it occurs according
to the same method, Christ being for all alike the only way.
Having received the Logos, Who is Son of God, the man
becomes also Son of God, as well as Son of Man,— this
latter title being his in virtue of his representing a regener-
ation or new birth out of humanity. And the Son of God
in him reveals to him the " Father," a term which includes
the " Mother." Knowing these, he knows the Life and
Substance whereof he is constituted, — knows, therefore, his
own nature and potentialities. Thus made " one with the
Father," through the Son, the man " in Christ " can say truly,
*• I and the Father are one." This is the import of the
confession of Stephen. " Behold," he cried in his ecstasy,
•* I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing on
the right hand of God." For at that supreme moment the
Spirit revealed to him, in visible image, the union through
Christ of the Human and the Divine. Attaining to this
union, man becomes " Christ-Jesus ; " " he dwells in God,
and God in him;" he is "one with God and God with him."
It is at this point— Christ — that God and the man finally lay
hold of each other and are drawn together. Thenceforth
they flow, as two rivers united, in one stream. The man is

298 THE PERFECT WAY,

finally made in the image of God ; and God, as the Lord,
is eternally manifested in him, making him an individuated
portion of Divinity itself. Being thereby rendered incap-
able of relapse into material conditions, he is called a
" fixed God," — a state which, as says Hermes in the Divine
Pyraander, " is the most perfect glory of the soul."

54. Recognising thus divine truth as an eternal verity
in perpetual process of realisation by the individual soul,
and the words Now and Within as the keys to all sacred
mysteries, the Elect translate the symbols of their faith into
terms of the present, and recite accordingly their Credo in
this wise : —

" I believe in one God, the Father and Mother Almighty ;
of Whose Substance are the generations of Heaven and
of Earth ; and in Christ- Jesus the Son of God, our Lord ;
who is conceived of the Holy Ghost ; born of the Virgin
Mary j suffereth under the rulers of this world ; is crucified,
dead, and buried ; who descendeth into Plell ; who riseth
again from the dead ; who ascendeth into Heaven, and
sitteth at the right hand of God ; by whose law the quick
and the dead are judged. I beheve in the Seven Spirits
of God ; the Kingdom of Heaven ; the communion of the
Elect ; the passing-through of Souls ; the redemption erf
the Body ; the Life everlasting ; and the Amen."

APPENDICES.

NO. I.

CONCERNING THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
{A FRAGMENT)

Part i.

"If, therefore, they be Mystic Books, they ought also to
have a Mystic Consideration. But the Fault of most Writers
lieth in this,— that they distinguish not between the Books
of Moses the Prophet, and those Books which are of an his-
torical Nature. And this is the more surprising because
not a few of such Critics have rightly discerned the esoteric
Character, if not indeed the true Interpretation, of the Story
of Eden ; yet have they not apphed to the Remainder of
the Allegory the same Method which they found to fit the
Beginning ; but so soon as they are over the earlier Stanzas
of the Poem, they would have the Rest of it to be of another
Nature.

*' It is, then, pretty well established and accepted of most
Authors, that the Legend of Adam and Eve, and of the
Miraculous Tree and the Fruit which was the Occasion of
Death, is, like the Story of Eros and Psyche, and so many
others of all Religions, a Parable with a hidden, that is, with
a Mystic Meaning. But so also is the Legend which follows

301 THE PERFECT WAY.

concerning the Sons of these Mystical Parents, the Story of
Cain and Abel his Brother, the Story of the Flood, of the
Ark, of the saving of the clean and unclean Beasts, of the
Rainbow, of the twelve Sons of Jacob, and, not stopping
there, of the whole Relation concerning the Flight out of
Egypt. For it is not to be supposed that the two Sacrifices
offered to God by the Sons of Adam, were real Sacrifices,
any more than it is to be supposed that the Apple which
caused the Doom of Mankind was a real Apple. It ought
to be known, indeed, for the right Understanding of the
Mystical Books, that in their esoteric Sense they deal, not
with material Things, but with spiritual Realities ; and thai
as Adam is not a Man, nor Eve a Woman, nor the Tree a
Plant in its true Signification, so also are not the Beasts
named in the same Books real Beasts, but that the Mystic
Intention of them is implied. When, therefore, it is written
that Abel took of the Firstlings of his Flock to offer unto the
Lord, it signified that he offered that which a Lamb implies,
and which is the holiest and highest of spiritual Gifts. Nor
is Abel himself a real Person, but the Type and spiritual
Presentation of the Race of the Prophets ; of whom, also,
Moses was a Member, together with the Patriarchs. Were
the Prophets, then, Shedders of Blood ? God forbid ; they
dealt not with Things material, but with spiritual Significa-
tions. Their Lambs without Spot, their white Doves, their
Goats, their Rams, and other sacred Creatures, are so many
Signs and Symbols of the various Graces and Gifts which a
Mystic People should offer to Heaven. Without such
Sacrifices is no Remission of Sin. But when the Mystic
Sense was lost, then Carnage followed, the Prophets
ceased out of the Land, and the Priests bore rule over the
People. Then, when again the Voice of the Prophets
arose, they were constrained to speak plainly, and declared

APPENDIX /. 303

in a Tongue foreign to their Method, that the Sacrifices of
God are not the Flesh of Bulls or the Blood of Goats,
but holy Vows and sacred Thanksgivings, their Mystical
Counterparts. As God is a Spirit, so also are His Sacrifices
Spiritual. What Folly, what Ignorance, to offer material
Flesh and Drink to pure power and essential Being!
Surely in vain have the Prophets spoken, and in vain have
the Christs been manifested !

** Why will you have Adam to be Spirit and Eve Matter,
since the Mystic Books deal only with spiritual Entities ?
The Tempter himself even is not Matter, but that which
gives Matter the Precedence. Adam is, rather, intellectual
Force : he is of Earth. Eve is the moral Conscience : she
is the Mother of the Living. Intellect, then, is the male,
and Intuition the female Principle. And the Sons of
Intuition, herself fallen, shall at last recover Truth and
redeem all Things. By her Fault, indeed, is the moral
Conscience of Humanity made subject to the intellectual
Force, and thereby all Manner of Evil and Confusion
abounds, since her Desire is unto him, and he rules over her
until now. But the End foretold by the Seer is not far off.
Then shall the Woman be exalted, clothed with the Sun, and
carried to the Throne of God. And her Sons shall make
War with the Dragon, and have Victory over him. Intui-
tion, therefore, pure and a Virgin, shall be the Mother and
Redemptress of her fallen Sons, whom she bore under
Bondage to her Husband the intellectual Force."

Part 2.

" Moses, therefore, knowing the Mysteries of the Religion
of the Egyptians, and having learned of their Occultists the

304 THE PERFECT WAY,

Value and Signification of all sacred Birds and Beasts, de-
livered like Mysteries to his own People. But certain of the
sacred Animals of Egypt he retained not in Honour, for
Motives which were equally of Mystic Origin. And he
taught his Initiated the Spirit of the heavenly Hieroglyphs,
and bade them, when they made Festival before God, to
carry with them in Procession, with IMusic and with Dancing,
such of the sacred Animals as were, by their interior Signifi-
cance, related to the Occasion. Now, of these Beasts, he
chiefly selected Males of the first Year, without Spot or
Blemish, to signify that it is beyond all Things needful that
Man should dedicate to the Lord his Intellect and his
Reason, and this from the Beginning and without the least
Reserve. And that he was very wise in teaching this, is
evident from the History of the World in all Ages, and par-
ticularly in these last Days. For what is it that has led Men
to renounce the Realities of the Spirit, and to propagate false
Theories and corrupt Sciences, denying all Things save the
Appearance which can be apprehended by the outer Senses,
and making themselves one with the Dust of the Ground ?
It is their Intellect which, being unsanctified, has led them
astray ; it is the Force of the Mind in them, which, being
corrupt, is the Cause of their own Ruin, and of that of their
Disciples. As, then, the Intellect is apt to be the great
Traitor against Heaven, so also is it the Force by which
Men, following their pure Intuition, may also grasp and
apprehend the Truth. For which Reason it is written that
the Christs are subject to their Mothers. Not that by any
means the Intellect is to be dishonoured ; for it is the Heir
of all Things, if only it be truly begotten and be no Bas-
tard.

" And besides all these Syjcibols, Moses taught the People

APPENDIX L 305

to have beyond all Things an Abhorrence of Idolatry.
What, then, is Idolatry, and what are False Gods ?

** To make an Idol is to materialise spiritual Mysteries.
The Priests, then, were Idolaters, who, coming after Moses,
and committing to Writing those Things which he by Word
of Mouth had delivered unto Israel, replaced the true
Things signified, by their material Symbols, and shed inno-
cent Blood on the pure Altars of the Lord.

" They also are Idolaters, who understand the Things of
Sense where the Things of the Spirit are alone implied, and
who conceal the true Features of the Gods with material
and spurious Presentations. Idolatry is Materialism, the
common and original Sin of Men, which replaces Spirit
by Appearance, Substance by Illusion, and leads both the
moral and intellectual Being into Error, so that they substi-
tute the Nether for the Upper, and the Depth for the Height
It is that false Fruit which attracts the outer Senses, the
Bait of the Serpent in the Beginning of the World. Until
the Mystic Man and Woman had eaten of this Fruit, they
knew only the Things of the Spirit, and found them suffice.
But after their Fall, they began to apprehend Matter also,
and gave it the Preference, making themselves Idolaters.
And their Sin, and the Taint begotten of that false Fruit,
have corrupted the Blood of the whole Race of Men, from
which Corruption the Sons of God would have redeemed
them.*

No. II.

CONCERNING THE HEREAFTER.

When a man parts at death with his material body, that
of him which survives is divisible into three parts, the
anima divina or, as in the Hebrew, Neshamah ; the anima
bruta, or Ruach, which is the persona of the man ; and the
shade, or Nephesh^ which is the lowest mode of soul-sub-
stance. In the great majority of persons the consciousness
is gathered up and centered in the anima bruta^ or Ruach ;
in the few wise it is polarised in the anima divina. Now,
that part of man which passes through, or transmigrates, —
the process whereof is called by the Hebrews Gilgal Nesha-
mothj — is the anima divina which is the immediate recep-
tacle of the deific Spirit. And whereas there is in the world
nothing save the human, actual or potential, the Neshamah
subsists also in animals, though only as a mere spark, their
consciousness being therefore rudimentary and diffuse. It
is the Neshamah which finally escapes from the world and
is redeemed into eternal Hfe. The ani?na bruta or earthly
mind, is that part of man which retains all earthly and local
memories, reminiscent affections, cares and personalities of
the world or planetary sphere, and bears his family or earth-
name. After death this anima bruta, or Ruach, remains in
the "lower Eden," within sight and call of the magnetic
earth-sphere. But the anima divina^ the Neshamah, — the
name of which is known only to God, — passes upwards and

3o6

APPENDIX II, 307

continues its evolutions, bearing with it only a small por-
tion, and that the purest, of the outer soul, or mind. This
anima divina is the true Man. It is not within hail of the
magnetic atmosphere; and only on the rarest and most
solemn occasions, does it return to the planet unclothed.
The astral shade, the Nephesh, is dumb ; the earthly soul,
the anima bruta, or Ruach^ speaks and remembers; the
divine soul, the Neshamah^ which contains the di vine Light,
neither returns nor communicates, that is, in the ordinary
way. That which the anima bruta remembers, is the his-
tory of one incarnation only, because it is part of the astral
man, and the astral man is renewed at every incarnation of
the Neshamah. But very advanced men become re-incar-
nate, not on this planet, but on some other nearer the Sun.
The anima bruta has lived but once, and will never be re-
incarnate. It continues in the " lower Eden," a personaUty
in relation to the earth, and retaining the memories, both
good and bad, of its one past Hfe. If it have done evil, it
suffers indeed, but is not condemned ; if it have done well,
it is happy, but not beatified. It continues in thought its
favourite pursuits of earth, and creates for itself houses,
gardens, flowers, books, and so forth, out of the astral light.
It remains in this condition more or less strongly defined,
according to the personality it had acquired, until the anima
divina^ one of whose temples it was, has accomplished all
its Avatars. Then, with all the other earthly souls belong-
ing to that divine soul, it is drawn up into the celestial
Eden, or upper heaven, and returns into the essence of the
Neshamah. But all of it does not return; only the good
memories ; the bad sink to the lowest stratum of the astral
light, where they disintegrate. For, if the divine soul were
permanently, in its perfected state, to retain the memories
of all its evil doings, its misfortunes, its earthly griefs, its

308 7 HE PERFECT WAY.

earthly loves, it would not be perfectly happy. Therefore
only those loves and memories return to the Neshamahy
which have penetrated the earthly soul sufficiently to reach
the divine soul, and to make part of the man. It is said
that all Marriages are made in Heaven. This means that
all true Love-unions are made in the Celestial within the
man. The mere affections of the anima hruta are evanes-
cent, and belong only to it. When this, the Ruach^ is
interrogated, it can speak only of one life, for it has lived
but one. Of that one it retains all the memories and all
the affections. If these have been strong, it remains near
those persons whom especially it loved, and overshadows
them. A single Neshamah may have as many of these
former selves in the astral light, as a man may have changes
of raiment. But when the divine soul is perfected and
about to be received into " the Sun," or Nirvana, she in-
draws all these past selves, and possesses herself of their
memories ; but only of the worthy parts of these, and such
as will not deprive her of eternal calm. In " the planets,"
the soul forgets ; in " the Suns," she remembers. For, in
memorid ceternd erit Justus} Not until a man has accomp-
lished his regeneration, and become a son of God, a Christ,
can he have these memories of his past lives. Such
memories as a man, on the upward path, can have of his
past incarnations, are by reflection only ; and the memories
are not of events usually, but of principles and truths and
habits formerly acquired. If these memories relate to
events, they are vague and fitful, because they are reflec-
tions from the overshadowing of his former selves in the
astral light For the former selves, the deserted temples
of the anima divina, frequent her sphere and are attracted

»P».A.V.cxiL, D.V. cxi. 4^

APPENDIX li. 309

towards her, especially under certain conditions. From
them she learns through the intermediary of the Genius, or
'* Moon," who lights up the carter a obscura of the mind, and
reflects on its tablet the memories cast by the overshadow-
ing Past. The a?itma bruta seems to itself to progress,
because it has a vague sense that sooner or later it will be
lifted to higher spheres. Bur. of the method of this it is
ignorant, because it can only icnow the Celestial by union
with it. The learning which makes it seem to itself to
progress, is acquired by reflect id soul-rays coming from the
terrestrial. Advanced men on the earth assist and teach
the astral soul, and hence its fondness for their spheres.
It learns by reflected intellectual images, or Thoughts.
The Ruach is right when it sr„ys it is immortal. For the
better part of it will in the enci be absorbed into the Nesh-
amah. But if one interrogate a Ruach of even two or three
centuries old, it seldom kno\v's more than it knew in its
earth-life, unless, indeed, it gain fresh knowledge from its
interrogator. The reason why some communications are
astral, and others celestial, is simply that some persons —
the greater number — communicate by means of the aiiima
bruta in themselves, and others — the few purified— by
means of their anima divina. For, Like attracts Like. The
earthly souls of animals are rarely met with ; they come
into communion with animals rather than with man, unless
an affection between a man and an animal have been very
strong. If a man would meet and recognise his Beloved
in Nirvana^ he must make his aflection one of the Nesh-
amahy not of the Ruach. There are many degrees of Lova
True Love is stronger than a thousand deaths. For though
one die a thousand times, a single Love may yet perpetuate
itself past every death from birth to birth, growing and cul-
minating in intensity and might

3IO THE PERFECl WAY.

Now all these three, Nephesh, Ruach, and Neshamah,
are discrete modes of one and the same universal Being
which is at once Life and Substance and is instinct with
Consciousness, inasmuch as it is, under whatever mode,
Holy Spirit. Wherefore there inheres in them all a Divine
potency. Evolution, which is the manifestation of that
which is inherent, is the manifestation of this potency.
The first formulation of this inherency, above the plane of
the material, is the Nephesh, this being the soul by which
are impelled the lower and earlier forms of life. It is the
*' moving " soul that breathes and kindles. The next —
the Ruach — is the " Wind " that rushes forth to vivify the
mind. Higher, because more inward and central, is the
Neshamah, which, borne on the bosom of the Ruach, is the
immediate receptacle of the Divine Particle, and without
which this cannot be individuated and become an indiffus-
ible personality. Both the "Wind" and the "Flame"
are Spirit ; but the Wind is general, the Flame particular ;
the Wind fills the House ; the Flame designates the Person.
The Wind is the Divine Voice resounding in the ear of the
Apostle and passing away where it listeth ; the Flame is the
Divine Tongue uttering itself in the word of the Apostle.
Thus, then, in the Soul impersonal are perceived the breath
and afflatus of God ; but in the Soul personal is formulate
the express Utterance of God. Now, both of Nephesh
and Ruach that which is gathered up and endures, U
Neshamah.

NO. III.

CONCERNING PROPHESYING ; AND A PROPHECY,

Part i.

concerning prophesying.

You ask the method and nature of Inspiration, and the
means whereby God revealeth the Truth.

2. Know that there is no enlightenment from without :
the secret of things is revealed from within.

3. From without cometh no Divine Revelation : but the
Spirit within beareth witness.

4. Think not I tell you that which you know not : for
except you know it, it cannot be given to you.

5. To him that hath it is given, and he hath the more
abundantly.

6. None is a prophet save he who knoweth : the Instructor
of the people is a man of many lives.

7. Inborn knowledge and the Perception of things, these
are the sources of Revelation : the Soul of the man in-
structeth him, having already learned by experience.

8. Intuition is Inborn Experience ; that which the Soul
knoweth of old and of former years.

9. And Illumination is the Light of Wisdom, whereby a
man perceiveth heavenly secrets.

10. Which Light is the Spirit of God within the man,
showing unto him the things of God.

11. Think not that I tell you anything you know not j

311

312 7 HE PERFECT WAY.

all Cometh from within : the Spirit that informeth is the
Spirit of God in the prophet.

1 2. What, then, you ask, is the Medium ; and how are
to be regarded the utterances of one speaking in trance ?

13. God speaketh through no man in the way you sup-
pose; for the Spirit of the Prophet beholdeth God with
open eyes. If he fall into a trance, his eyes are open, and
his interior man knoweth what is spoken by him.

14. But when a man speaketh that which he knoweth
not, he is obsessed : an impure Spirit, or one that is bound,
hath entered into him.

15. There are many such, but their words are as the
words of men who know not : these are not prophets nor
inspired.

16. God obsesseth no man ; God is revealed : and he to
whom God is revealed speaketh that which he knoweth.

17. Christ Jesus ^ understandeth God : he knoweth that
of which he beareth witness.

18. But they who, being Mediums, utter in trance things
of which they have no knowledge, and of which their own
Spirit is uninformed : these are obsessed with a spirit of
divination, a strange spirit, not their own.

19. Of such beware, for they speak many lies, and are
deceivers, working often for gain or for pleasure sake : and
they are a grief and a snare to the faithful.

20. Inspiration may indeed be mediumship, but it is con-
scious ; and the knowledge of the prophet instructeth him.

21. Even though he speak in an ecstasy, he uttereth
nothing that he knoweth not.

22. Thou who art a prophet hast had many lives : yea,
thou hast taught many nations, and hast stood before kings.

^ Here implying the Christ Jesus within, namely, the regenerated
human nature in whomsoever occurring.

APPENDIX III, 313

23. And God hath instructed thee in the years that are
past ; and in the former times of the earth.

24. By prayer, by fasting, by meditation, by painful
seeking, hast thou attained that thou knowest.

25. There is no knowledge but by labour : there is no
intuition but by experience.

26. I have seen thee on the hills of the East : I have
followed thy steps in the Wilderness : I have seen thee
adore at sunrise : I have marked thy night watches in the
caves of the mountains.

2 7. Thou hast attained with patience, O prophet : God
hath revealed the truth to thee from within.

Part 2.
a prophecy.

28. And now I show you a Mystery and a new thing,
Which is part of the Mystery of the Fourth Day of Creation.

29. The word which shall come to save the world, shall
be uttered by a Woman.

30. A Woman shall conceive, and shall bring forth the
tidings of Salvation.

31. For the reign of Adam is at its last hour; and God
shall crown all things by the creation of Eve.

32. Hitherto the Man hath been alone, and hath had
dominion over the earth.

33. But when the Woman shall be created, God shall
give unto her the kingdom ; and she shall be first in rule
and highest in dignity.

34. Yea, the last shall be first ; and the elder shall serve
the younger.

35. So that women shall no more lament for their woman-
hood : but men shall rather say, " Oh that we had been
born women I "

314 THE PERFECT WAY,

36. For the strong shall be put down from their seat ;
and the meek shall be exalted to their place.

37. The days of the Covenant of Manifestation are pass-
ing away : the Gospel of Interpretation cometh.

38. There shall nothing new be told ; but that which is
ancient shall be interpreted.

39. So that Man the Manifestor shall resign his office;
and Woman the Interpreter shall give light to the world.

40. Hers is the Fourth Office : she revealeth that which
the Lord hath manifested.

41. Hers is the Light of the Heavens, and the brightest
of the planets of the Holy Seven.

42. She is the Fourth Dimension ; the Eyes which en-
lighten j the Power which draweth inward to God.

43. And her kingdom cometh ; the day of the exaltation
of Woman.

44. And her reign shall be greater than the reign of the
Man : for Adam shall be put down from his place \ and she
shall have dominion for ever.

45. And she who is alone shall bring forth more children
to God, than she who hath a husband.

46. There shall no more be a reproach against women :
but against men shall be the reproach.

47. For the Woman is the crown of Man, and the final
manifestation of Humanity.

48. She is the nearest to the Throne of God, when she
shall be revealed.

49. But the creation of Woman is not yet complete : but
it shall be complete in the time which is at hand.

50. All things are thine, O Mother of God : all things
are thine, O Thou who risest from the Sea; and Thou
shalt have dominion over all the worlds.

No. IV.

CONCERNING THE NATURE OF SIN.

As is the Outer so is the Inner. He that worketh is
One.

2. As the small is, so is the great : there is one Law.

3. Nothing is small and nothing is great in the Divine
Economy.

4. If thou wouldst understand the method of the world's
corruption, and the condition to which sin hath reduced the
work of God,

5. Meditate upon the aspect of a Corpse ; and consider
the method of the putrefaction of its tissues and humours.

6. For the secret of Death is the same, whether of the
Outer or of the Inner.

7. The Body dieth when the Central Will of its system
no longer bindeth in obedience the elements of its Sub-
stance.

8. Every Cell is a living Entity, whether of vegetable or
of animal potency.

9. In the healthy body every Cell is polarised in subjec-
tion to the Central Will, the Adonai of the physical system.

10. Health, therefore, is Order, Obedience, and Govern-
ment

11. But wherever Disease is, there is Disunion, Rebellion,
and Insubordination.

3«3

3i6 THE PERFECT WAY.

12. And the deeper the seat of the confusion, the more
dangerous the malady, and the harder to quell it.

13. That which is superficial may be more easily healed;
or, if need be, the disorderly elements may be rooted out,
and the body shall be whole and at unity again.

14. But if the disobedient molecules corrupt each other
continually, and the perversity spread, and the rebellious
tracts multiply their elements ; the whole body shall fall
into Dissolution, which is Death.

15. For the Central Will that should dominate all the
kingdom of the body, is no longer obeyed ; and every
element is become its own ruler, and hath a divergent will
of its own.

16. So that the poles of the cells incline in divers direct-
tions ; and the binding power which is the life of the body
is dissolved and destroyed.

17. And when Dissolution is complete, then follow
Corruption and Putrefaction.

18. Now, that which is true of the Physical, is true like-
wise of its prototype.

19. The whole world is full of Revolt; and every
element hath a will divergent from God.

20. Whereas there ought to be but one Will, attracting
and ruling the whole Man.

21. But there is no longer Brotherhood among you ; nor
Order, nor Mutual Sustenance.

22. Every Cell is its own Arbiter; and every Member is
become a Sect.

23. Ye are not bound one to another : ye have con-
founded your offices, and abandoned your functions.

24. Ye have reversed the direction of your magnetic
currents : ye are fallen into confusion, and have given place
to the Spirit of Misrule.

APPENDIX IV, 317

25. Your Wills are many and diverse ; and every one of
you is an Anarchy.

26. A house that is divided against itself, falleth.

27. O wretched Man; who shall deliver you from this
body of Death?

No. V.

CONCERNING THE '*GREAT WORK," THE REDEMPTION,
AND THE SHARE OF CHRIST JESUS THEREIN

•* For this cause is Christ manifest, that he may destroy the
works of the devil."

2. In this text of the holy writings is contained the
explanation of the mission of the Christ, and the nature of
the Great Work.

3. Now the devil, or old serpent, the enemy of God, is
that which gives pre-eminence to Matter.

4. He is disorder, confusion, distortion, falsification,
error. He is not personal, he is not positive, he is not
formulated. Whatever God is, that the devil is not.

5. God is Light, Truth, Order, Harmony, Reason ; and
God's Works are Illumination, Knowledge, Understanding,
Love, and Sanity.

6. Therefore the devil is darkness, falsehood, disorder,
discord, ignorance ; and his works are confusion, folly,
division, hatred, and delirium.

7. The devil is therefore the negation of God's Positive.
God is I AM : the devil is NOT. He has no individuality
and no existence ; for he represents the not-being. Wher-
ever God's kingdom is not, the devil reigns.

8. Now the Great Work is the redemption of Spirit from
Matter ; that is, the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

9. Jesus being asked when the Kingdom of God should

318

APPENDIX V. 319

come, answered, " When Two shall be as One, and that
which is Without as that which is Within."

10. In saying this, he expressed the nature of the Great
Work. The Two are Spirit and Matter : the Within is the
real invisible ; the Without is the illusory visible.

11. The Kingdom of God shall come when Spirit and
Matter shall be one substance, and the phenomenal shall be
absorbed into the real.

12. His design was therefore to destroy the dominion 01
Matter, and to dissipate the devil and his works.

13. And this he intended to accomplish by proclaiming
the knowledge of the Universal Dissolvent, and giving to
men the keys of the Kingdom of God.

14. Now, the Kingdom of God is within us ; that is, it is
interior, invisible, mystic, spiritual.

15. There is a power by means of which the Outer may
be absorbed into the Inner.

16. There is a power by means of which Matter may be
ingested into its original substance.

17. He who possesses this power is Christ, and he has the
devil under foot.

18. For he reduces chaos to order, and indraws the
external to the centre.

19. He has learnt that Matter is illusion, and that Spirit
alone is real.

20. He has found his own Central Point ; and all power
is given unto him in heaven and on earth.

21. Now, the Central Point is the number Thirteen : it is
the number of the Marriage of the Son of God.

22. And all the members of the microcosm are bidden to
the banquet of the marriage.

23. But if there chance to be even one among them
which has not on a wedding garment j

320 THE PERFECT WAY,

24. Such a one is a Traitor ; and the microcosm is found
divided against itself.

25. And that it may be wholly regenerate, it is necessary
that Judas be cast out.

26. Now the members of the microcosm are Twelve : of
the Senses three, of the Mind three, of the Heart three,
and of the Conscience three.

27. For of the Body there are four elements ; and the
sign of the four is Sense, in the which are three Gates ;

28. The gate of the Eye, the gate of the Ear, and the
gate of the Touch.

29. Renounce vanity, and be poor : renounce praise, and
be humble : renounce luxury, and be chaste.

30. Offer unto God a pure oblation : let the fire of the
altar search thee, and prove thy fortitude.

31. Cleanse thy sight, thine hands, and thy feet : carry
the censer of thy worship into the courts of the Lord ; and
let thy vows be unto the Most High.

32. And for the Magnetic Man there are four elements;
and the covering of the four is Mind, in the which are
three gates;

33. The gate of Desire, the gate of Labour, and the gate
of Illumination.

34. Renounce the world, and aspire heavenward : labour
not for the meat which perishes, but ask of God thy daily
bread : beware of wandering doctrines ; and let the Word
of the Lord be thy light.

35. Also of the Soul there are four elements; and the
seat of the four is the Hearty whereof likewise there are
three gates;

36. The gate of Obedience, the gate of Prayer, and the
gate of Discernment.

37. Renounce thine own will, and let the Law of God only

APPENDIX V, 321

be within thee: renounce doubt: pray always and faint not:
be pure of heart also, and thou shalt see God.

58. And within the Soul is the Spirit ; and the Spirit is
One, yet has it likewise three elements.

39. And these are the gates of the Oracle of God, which
is the Ark of the Covenant ;

40. The Rod, the Host, and the Law :

41. The Force which solves, and transmutes, and divines :
the Bread of Heaven which is the substance of all things and
the food of Angels : the Table of the Law, which is the Will
of God, written with the Finger of the Lord.

42. If these three be within thy spirit, then shall the Spirit
of God be within thee.

43. And the glory shall be upon the Propitiatory, in the
holy place of thy prayer.

44. These are the twelve gates of Regeneration ; through
which if a man enter he shall have right to the Tree of Life.

45. For the number of that Tree is Thirteen.

46. It may happen to a man to have three, to another
five, to another seven, to another ten.

47. But until a man have twelve, he is not master over
the last enemy.

48. Therefore was Jesus betrayed to death by Judas ; be-
cause he was not yet perfected.

49. But he was perfected through suffering ; yea, by the
Passion, the Cross, and the Burial.

50. For he could not wholly die : neither could his body
see corruption.

51. So he revived: for the elements of death were not
in his flesh ; and his molecules retained the polarity of life
eternal.

52. He therefore was raised and became perfect: having
the power of the Dissolvent and of Transmutation.

3M THE PERFECT WAY,

53. And God glorified the Son of Man; yea, he as-
cended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the
Majesty on high.

54. Thence also the Christ shall come again, in power
like unto the power of his ascension.

55. For as yet the devil is undissipated : the Virgin in-
deed has crushed his head ; but still he lies in wait for her
heel.

56. Therefore the great work is yet to be accomplished.

57. When the Leaven shall have leavened the whole
lump ; when the Seed shall have become a tree \ when the
Net shall have gathered all things into it.

58. For in the same power and glory he had at his as-
cension, shall Christ Jesus be manifested from heaven before
angels and men.

59. For when the cycle of the creation is completed,
whether of the macrocosm or of the microcosm, the Great
Work is accomplished.

60. Six for the Manifestation, and six for the Interpreta-
tion : six for the Outgoing, and six for the Ingathering : six
for the Man, and six for the Woman.

61. Then shall be the Sabbath of the Lord God.

No. VI.

THE TIME OF THE END.

The token whereby the approach of the End shall be
known, will be the spectacle of "the Abomination of Deso-
lation standing in the holy place." Now the " holy place "
is always — whether in the universal or the individual, in
the Macrocosm or the Microcosm — the place of God and
the Soul. And " the Abomination of Desolation " — or
*' that which maketh desolate" — is that system of thought
which, putting matter in the chief place, and making it the
source, substance, and object of existence, abolishes God
out of the universe and the Soul out of man, and thus,
depriving existence of its light and life, makes it empty,
desolate, and barren, a very " abomination of desolation."

Jesus, recalling this prophecy, and citing the words of
Daniel's Angel, also foretold the same event as marking the
end of that " adulterous " generation [a term identical
with idolatrous as denoting the worship of and illicit asso-
ciation with Matter], and the coming of the kingdom of
God ; and warned the Elect in mystic phrase, thus to be
interpreted : —

" When, therefore, ye shall see Matter exalted to the holy
place of God and the Soul, and made the all and in all of

existence ;

323

324 THE PERFECT WAY,

" Then let the spiritual Israel betake themselves to the
hills where alone salvation is to be found, even the heights
and fastnesses of the Divine Life.

*' And let him who has overcome the body, beware lest
he return to the love of the flesh, or seek the things of the
world.

" Neither let him who is freed from the body, become
again re-incarnate.

" And woe to the soul whose travail is yet unaccom-
plished, and which has not yet become weaned from the
body.

" And beseech God that these things find you not at a
season either of spiritual depression and feebleness, or of
spiritual repose and unwatchfulness.

" For the tribulation shall be without parallel ;

" And such that except those days shall be few in num-
ber, escape from the body would be impossible.

" But for the Elect's sake they shall be few.

" And if any shall then declare that here, or there, the
Christ has appeared as a Person, believe it not. For there
shall arise delusive apparitions and manifestations, together
with great signs and marvels, such as might well deceive
even the Elect. Remember, I have told you beforehand.
Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold he is in the
desert, whether of the East or of the West, — join him not.
Or, Behold he is in darkened rooms and secret assemblies,
— pay no regard.

" For, like lightning coming out of the East and illumin-
ating the West, so shall be the world's spiritual awakening
to the recognition of the Divine in Humanity.

" But wheresoever the dead carcase of error remains,
around it, like vultures, will gather both deceivers and de-
ceived.

APPENDIX VI. 325

" And upon them, the profane, there shall be darkness ;
the Spirit shall be quenched and the Soul extinct ; and
there shall be no more any light in heaven, or in heavenly
science any truth and meaning. And the power of heaven
upon men shall be shaken.

" Then shall appear the new sign, the Man in Heaven,
upon the rain-clouds of the last Chrism and Mystery, with
great power and glory.

" And his missioners shall gather the Elect with a great
voice, from the four winds and from the farthest bounds of
heaven.

" Behold the Fig-Tree, and learn her parable. When the
branch thereof shall become tender, and her buds appear,
know that the day of God is upon you."

Wherefore, then, saith the Lord that the budding of the
Fig-Tree shall foretell the end ?

Because the Fig-Tree is the symbol of the Divine Woman,
as the Vine of the Divine Man.

The Fig is the similitude of the Matrix, containing inward
buds, bearing blossoms on its placenta, and bringing forth
fruit in darkness. It is the Cup of Life, and its flesh is the
seed-ground of new births.

The stems of the Fig-Tree run with milk : her leaves are
as human hands, like the leaves of her brother the Vine.

And when the Fig-Tree shall bear figs, then shall be the
Second Advent, the new sign of the Man bearing Water, and
the manifestation of the Virgin-Mother crowned.

For when the Lord would enter the holy city, to cele-
brate his Last Supper with his disciples, he sent before
him the Fisherman Peter to meet the Man of the Coming
Sign.

"There shall meet you a Man bearing a pitcher of Water."

326 THE PERFECT WAY,

Because, as the Lord was first manifest at a wine-feast in
the morning, so must he consummate his work at a wine-
feast in the evening.

It is his Pass-Over ; for thereafter the Sun must pass into
a new Sign.

After the Fish, the Water-Carrier ; but the Lamb of God
remains always in the place of victory, being slain from the
foundation of the world.

For his place is the place of the Sun's triumph.

After the Vine the Fig ; for Adam is first formed, then
Eve.

And because our Lady is not yet manifest, our Lord is
crucified.

Therefore came he vainly seeking fruit upon the Fig-Tree,
** for the time of figs was not yet."

And from that day forth, because of the curse of Eve, no
man has eaten fruit of the Fig-Tree.

For the inward understanding has withered away, there
is no discernment any more in men. They have crucified
the Lord because of their ignorance, not knowing what
they did.

Wherefore, indeed, said our Lord to our Lady : — "Woman,
what is between me and thee ? For even my hour is not yet
come."

Because until the hour of the Man is accomplished and
fulfilled, the hour of the Woman must be deferred.

Jesus is the Vine ; Mary is the Fig-Tree. And the vint-
age must be completed and the wine trodden out, or ever
the harvest of the Figs be gathered.

But when the hour of our Lord is achieved \ hanging on
his Cross, he gives our Lady to the faithful.

The chalice is drained, the lees are wrung out : then says
he to his Elect :— " Behold thy Mother ! "

APPENDIX VL 327

But so long as the grapes remain unplucked, the Vine
has nought to do with the Fig-Tree, nor Jesus with Mary.

He is first revealed, for he is the Word ; afterwards shall
come the hour of its Interpretation.

And in that day every man shall sit under the Vine and
the Fig-Tree ; the Dayspring shall arise in the Orient, and
the Fig-Tree shall bear her fruit.^

For, from the beginning, the Fig-leaf covered the shame
of Incarnation, because the riddle of existence can be ex-
pounded only by him who has the Woman's secret. It is
the riddle of the Sphinx.

Look for that Tree which alone of all Trees bears a fruit
blossoming interiorly, in concealment, and thou shalt dis-
cover the Fig.

Look for the sufficient meaning of the manifest universe
and of the written Word, and thou shalt find only their
mystical sense.

Cover the nakedness of Matter and of Nature with the
Fig-leaf, and thou hast hidden all their shame. For the
Fig is the Interpreter.

So when the hour of Interpretation comes, and the Fig-
Tree puts forth her buds, know that the time of the End
and the dawning of the new Day are at hand, — " even at
the doors."

' Zech. iii. 10 ; Mic. iv. 4 ; Cant. ii. 13.

No. VII.

THE HIGHER ALCHEMY.

All things in Heaven and in Earth are of God, both the
Invisible and the Visible.

2. Such as is the Invisible is the Visible also ; for there
is no impassable bound between Spirit and Matter.

3. Matter is Spirit made exteriorly cognisable by the
force of the Divine Word.

4. And when God shall resume all things by Love, the
Material shall be resolved into the Spiritual, and there shall
be a new Heaven and a new Earth,

5. Not that Matter shall be destroyed ; for it came forth
from God and is of God, indestructible and eternal.

6. But it shall be indrawn, and resolved into its trae
Self.

7. It shall put off corruption, and remain incorruptible.

8. It shall put off mortality, and remain immortal.

9. So that nothing be lost of the Divine Substance.

10. It was material Entity ; it shall be Spiritual Entity.

11. For there is nothing which can go out from the
Presence of God.

12. This is the doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead;
that is, the Transfiguration of the Body.

13. For the Body, which is Matter, is but the Manifesta-
tion of Spirit j and the Word of God shall transmute it into
its inner being.

APPENDIX VII. 329

14. The Will of God is the alchemic Crucible ; and the
Dross which is cast therein is Matter.

15. And the Dross shall become pure Gold, seven times
refined ; even perfect Spirit.

16. It shall leave behind it nothing; but shall be trans-
formed into the Divine Image.

1 7. For it is not a new Substance j but its alchemic
polarity is changed, and it is converted.

18. But except it were Gold in its true nature, it could
not be resumed into the aspect of Gold.

19. And except Matter were Spirit, it could not revert to
Spirit.

20. To make Gold the Alchemist must have Gold.

21. But he knows that to be Gold which others take to
be Dross.

22. Cast thyself into the Will of God, and thou shalt be-
come as God.

23 For thou art God if thy will be the Divine Will

24 This is the Great Secret ; it is the Mystery of Re-
demption.

No. VIII.

CONCERNING REVELATION.

All true and worthy Illuminations are Revelations, or Re-
veilings. Mark the meaning of this word. There can be
no true or worthy Illumination which destroys distances and
exposes the details of things.

Look at this Landscape. Behold how its Mountains and
Forests are suffused with soft and delicate Mist, which half
conceals and half discloses their shapes and tints. See how
this Mist like a tender veil enwraps the distances, and merges
the reaches of the Land with the Clouds of Heaven !

How beautiful it is, how orderly and wholesome its fitness,
and the delicacy of its appeal to the eye and heart ! And
how false would be that sense which should desire to tear
away this clinging veil, to bring far objects near, and to
reduce everything to foreground in which details only should
be apparent, and all outlines sharply defined !

Distance and Mist make the beauty of Nature : and no
Poet would desire to behold her otherwise than through this
lovely and modest veil.

And as with Exoteric, so with Esoteric Nature : the secrets
of every human Soul are sacred and known only to herself;
the Ego is inviolable, and its personality is its own right for
ever.

Therefore mathematical rules and algebraic formulae can-
not be forced into the study of human lives ; nor can human

APPENDIX VlII, 331

sonalities be dealt with as though they were mere ciphers

arithmetical quantities.

The Soul is too subtle, too instinct with Life and Will for
eatment such as this.

One may dissect a corpse \ one may analyse and classify
chemical constituents ; but it is impossible to dissect or
analyse any living thing.

The moment it is so treated it escapes. Life is not sub-
ject to dissection.

The opening of the Shrine will always find it empty : the
God is gone.

A Soul may know her own past, and may see in her own
light : but none can see it for her if she see it not.

Herein is the beauty and sanctity of Personality.

The Ego is self-centred and not diffused ; for the tendency
of all Evolution is towards Centralisation and Individualism.

And Life is so various, and so beautifully diverse in its
Unity, that no hard and fast mathematical law-making can
imprison its manifoldness.

All is Order : but the elements of this order harmonise
by means of their infinite diversities and gradations.

The true Mysteries remained always content with Nature's
harmony : they sought not to drag distances into fore-
grounds ; or to dissipate the mountain nebula, in whose
bosom the Sun is reflected.

For these sacred Mists are the media of Light, and the
glorifiers of Nature.

Therefore the Doctrine of the Mysteries is truly Reveila-
tion, — a veiling and a re-veiling of that which it is not pos-
sible for eye to behold without violating all the Order and
Sanctities of Nature.

For distance and visual rays causing the diversities of far
and near, of perspective and mergent tints, of horizon and

332 THE PERFECT WAY,

foreground, are part of Natural Order and Sequence ; and
the Law expressed in their properties cannot be violated.

For no Law is ever broken.

The hues and aspects of Distance and Mist indeed may-
vary and dissolve according to the quality and quantity of
the Light which falls upon them : but they are there always,
and no human eye can annul or annihilate them.

Even words, even pictures are symbols and veils. Truth
itself is unutterable, save by God to God.

No. IX.

CONCERNING THE POET,

Thou mayest the more easily gather somewhat of the
character of the heavenly Personality by considering the
Quality of that of the highest type of mankind on Earth,
— the Poet.

The Poet hath no Self apart from his larger Self. Othei
men pass indifferent through Life and the World, because
the Selfhood of Earth and Heaven is a thing apart from
them, and toucheth them not.

The Wealth of Beauty in Earth and Sky and Sea lieth
outside their being, and speaketh not to their heart.

Their interests are individual and limited : their Home
is by one Hearth : four walls are the boundary of their
kingdom, — so small is it !

But the Personality of the Poet is Divine : and being
Divine it hath no limits.

He is supreme and ubiquitous in consciousness : his heart
beats in every Element.

The Pulses of all the infinite Deep of Heaven vibrate in
his own : and responding to their strength and their pleni-
tude, he feels more intensely than other men.

Not merely he sees and examines these Rocks and Trees:
these variable Waters, and these glittering Peaks.

Not merely he hears this plaintive Wind, these rolling
Peals :

334 1HE PERFECT WAY.

But he is all these : and with them — nay, in them — he
rejoices and weeps, he shines and aspires, he sighs and
thunders.

And when he sings, it is not he — the Man — whose Voice
is heard : it is the Voice of all the Manifold Nature herself.

In his Verse the Sunshine laughs ; the Mountains give
forth their sonorous Echoes ; the swift Lightnings flash.

The great continual cadence of universal Life moves and
becomes articulate m human language.

O Joy profound ! O boundless Selfhood ! O God-like
Personality !

All the Gold of the Sunset is thine ; the Pillars of Chry-
soHte ; and the purple Vault of Immensity !

The Sea is thine with its solemn Speech, its misty Dis-
tance, and its radiant Shallows !

The Daughters of Earth love thee : the Water-nymphs
tell thee their secrets ; thou knowest the Spirit of all silent
things !

Sunbeams are thy Laughter, and the Rain-drops of
Heaven thy Tears : in the wrath of the Storm thine Heart
is shaken; and thy Prayer goeth up with the Wind unto
God.

Thou art multiplied in the Conscience of all living Crea-
tures \ thou art young with the Youth of Nature ; thou art
all-seeing as the Starry Skies ;

Like unto the Gods, — therefore art thou their Beloved :
yea, if thou wilt They shall tell thee all things ;

Because thou only understandest, among all the Sons of
Menl

No. X.

CONCERNING THE ONE LIFE.

(I)

The Spirit absorbed in Man or in the Planet does not
exhaust Deity.

Nor does the Soul evolved upward through Matter ex
haust Substance.

There remain then ever in the Fourth Dimension — the
Principium — above the manifest, unmanifest God and Soul.

The Perfection of Man and of the Planet is attained when
the Soul of the one and of the other is throughout illuminate
by Spirit.

But Spirit is never the same thing as Soul. It is always
celestial Energy, and Soul is always Substance.

That which creates is Spirit (God).

The immanent consciousnesses (spirits) of all the cells of
a man's entity, cause by their polarisation a central unity
of consciousness, which is more than the sum total of all
their consciousnesses, because it is on a higher round or
plane,

For in spiritual science everything depends upon levels ;
and the man's evolution works round spirally, as does the
planetary evolution.

In this relation consider the Worlds of Form and Formlesg
Worlds of Hindfi theosophy.

336 THE PERFECT WAY.

Similarly the soul of the planet is more than the associated
essences of the souls upon it : because this soul also is on a
higher plane than they.

Similarly, too, the consciousness of the solar system is
more than that of the associated world-consciousnesses.

And the consciousness of the manifest universe is greater
than that of its corporate systems.

But that of the Unmanifest is higher and greater still : as
(except in Substance) God the Father is greater chan God
the Son.

(^)

The Elemental Kingdoms represent Spirit on its down-
ward path into Matter.

There are three of these before the Mineral is reached.

These are the formless worlds before the worlds of form.

They are in the Planet, and also in Man.

All the planets inhabited by manifest forms are themselves
manifest.

After the form-worlds come other formless worlds, caused
by the upward aic of ascending Spirit : but these also are in
the planet.

They are also in the man ; and are the states of pure
thought.

The Thinker, therefore, who is son of Hermes, is as far
beyond the Medium who is controlled and who is not self-
conscious, as the formless worlds of the ascending arc are
beyond the formless worlds of the elemental, or descending,
arc.

In the planet and in the man they only seem contiguous
because each round is spiral.

But each round takes the One Life higher in the spiral

APPENDIX X. 337

Neither the planet-soul nor the man-soul goes over ex-
actly the same ground again.

But perverse and disobedient will may reverse the direc-
tion of the spiral.

Individuals in whom the will so acts, are finally aban-
doned by the planet to the outer sphere.

(3)

The One Life is the point of consciousness.

The will is the impulse which moves it

In the Celestial the One Life is the Elohim; and the
Will is the Father.

The One Life is manifest by Effulgence (the Son).

So then the Will begets in Substance the Effulgence,
which is the manifestation of the One Life.

In man and the planet the Effulgence is dim and diffuse
until it moves into the soul. Then only Christ is born.

The One Life is invisible until Christ manifests it.

Christ in Man has for counterpart Adonai in the Heavens.

So then the One Life is in the Father-Mother latently,
until manifest by the Son (Effulgence).

Herein is the difference reconciled between the Greek
and Latin Churches.

The point of consciousness shineth more and more unto
the Perfect Day of Brightness (" Nativity of Christ ").

(4)

The object of creation is the production of ** Ancients" "^
They are the first-fruits of the souls of the planets; or
" First Resurrection."

* A.V., **Elders,"ApoclT.

338 THE PERFECT WAY,

They are not themselves creators ; but are regenerators
of that which is created ;

Being vehicles for the Holy Spirit, who is the regenerator,
through Christ.

Because Will can create only when it is in the abstract :
the derived does not create.

The Father creates through Adonai by means of the
Holy Spirit.

The Will of the Perfect Man renovates through the
Effulgence of his One Life.

His Karma is poured out over the world to save mankind.

He is the Saviour through his precious life.

There are twenty-four Ancients, because there are twelve
Avatars of the Lord, and every one is dual.

(5)

Will, when it is derived through existence, begets Karma.

God has no Karma. God does not ex-ist : God IS.

Karma is the channel of Initiation. God is not initiated.

The Perfect Man saves himself and saves others by his
Righteousness.

The two terms of existence are Creation and Redemption.

The first is God's work ; the second is the work of
Christ : — God in Man.

The reason why the Ancient cannot create is because he
is not infinite.

He is immortal, not eternal : he is derived, not self-
subsistent

His is the point of Grace : not the point of Projection.

The thrones of the Ancients are round about the Throne
of God and below it.

• • • • •

No. XI.

CONCERNING THE MYSTERIES,

It is necessary, in relation to the Mysteries, to distinguish
between the Unmanifest and the Manifest, and between the
Macrocosm and the Microcosm. These last, however, are
identical, in that the process of the universal and the process
of the individual are one.

Mary is the Soul, and as such the Matrix of the Divine
Principle — God — made Man by Individuation, through
descent into the " Virgin's Womb." But the Seven Prin-
ciples of universal Spirit are concerned in this conception ;
since it is through their operation in the Soul that she
becomes capable of polarising Divinity.

[This is the secret aspect of the Mosaic week of Creation,
each day of which week denotes the operation of one of the
Seven creative Elohim or Divine Potencies concerned in the
elaboration of the spiritual Microcosm.]

It is said that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Daughter,
Spouse, and Mother of God. But, inasmuch as Spiritual
Energy has two conditions, one of Passivity and one of
Activity, — which latter is styled the Holy Spirit, — it is said
that Mary's Spouse is not the Father, but the Holy Ghost,
these terms implying respectively the static and the dynamic
modes of Deity. For the Father denotes the Motionless

340 THE PERFECT WAY,

the Force passive and potential, in Whom all things are —
subjectively. But the Holy Ghost represents Will in action,
— Creative Energy, Motion and Generative Function. Of
this union of the Divine Will in action — the Holy Ghost —
with the human soul, the product is Christ, the God-Man,
and our Lord. And through Christ, the Divine Spirit, by
whom he is begotten, flows and operates.

In the Trinity of the Unmanifest, the Great Deep, or
Ocean of Infinitude — Sophia (Wisdom) — corresponds to
Mary, and has for Spouse the creative Energy of whom is
begotten the Manifestor, Adonai, the Lord. This " Mother *
is co-equal with the Father, being primary and eternal. In
Manifestation the "Mother" is derived, being born of
Time (x\nna), and has for Father the Planet-God, — for oui
planet lacchos (Joachim) ; i so that the paternity of the
First Person of the Trinity is vicarious only. The Church,
therefore, being a Church of the Manifest, deals with Mary
(Substance), under this aspect alone, and hence does not
specify her as co-equal with the First Principle. In the Un-
manifest, being underived, she has no relation to Time.

1 And also Jacob, as in Ps. xxiv. 6, cxxxii. 2, 5, etc., where be is
specially invoked as the God of Might. The name is applied equally
to the Planet- God and to his elect people.

No. XII.
BYMN TO THE PLANET-GOD.

(I)

O Father lacchos ; thou art Lord of the Body, God mani-
fest in the Flesh ;

2. Twice-born, baptized with fire, quickened by the Spirit,
instructed in secret things beneath the Earth :

3. Who wearest the horns of the Ram, who ridest upon
an Ass, whose symbol is the Vine, and the new Wine thy
Blood ;

4. Whose Father is the Lord God of Hosts ; whose
Mother is the Daughter of the King.

5. Evoi, lacchos, Lord of Initiation : for by means of the
Body is the Soul initiated :

6. By Birth, by Marriage, by Virginity, by Sleep, by
Waking, and by Death :

7. By Fasting and Vigil, by Dreams and Penance, by Joy,
and by Weariness of the Flesh.

8. The Body is the Chamber of Ordeal : therein is the
Soul of Man tried.

9. Thine Initiates, O Master, are they who come out of
great tribulation ; whose robes are washed in the Blood of
the Vine.

10. Give me to drink of the Wine of thy Cup, that I may
live for evermore :

342 THE PERFECT WAY,

11. And to eat of the Bread whose grain cometh up from
the Earth, as the Corn in the Ear.

12. Yea; for the Body in which Man is redeemed, is of
the Earth ; it is broken upon the cross, cut down by the
sickle, crushed between grindstones.

13. For by the suffering of the Outer is the Inner set
free.

14. Therefore the Body which Thou srivest is Meat
indeed ; and the Word of thy Blood is Drink indeed.

15. For Man shall hve by the Word of God.

16. Evoi, Father lacchos : bind thy Church to the Vine,
and her elect to the choice Vine.

17. And let them wash their garments in wine j and their
vesture in the blood of grapes.

(^)

18. Evoi, lacchos: Lord of the Body; and of the House
whose Symbol is the Fig ;

19. Whereof the image is the figure of the Matrix, and
the leaf as a man's hand : whose stems bring forth milk.

20. For the Woman is the Mother of the Living ; and
the crown and perfection of Humanity.

21. Her Body is the highest step in the ladder of Incar-
nation,

22. Which leadeth from Earth to Heaven ; upon which
the Spirits of God ascend and descend.

23. Thou art not perfected, O Soul, that hast not known
Womanhood.

24. Evoi, lacchos : for the day cometh wherein thy sons
shall eat of the fruit of the Fig : yea the Vine shall yield
new grapes ; and the Fig-tree shall be no more barren.

25. For the Interpretation of hidden things is at hand;
and men shall eat of the precious fruits of God.

APPENDIX XII. 343

26. They shall eat manna from Heaven ; and shall drink
of the river of Salem.

27. The Lord maketh all things new: he taketh away
the Letter to establish the Spirit.

28. Then spakest thou with veiled face, in parable and
dark saying : for the time of Figs was not yet.

29. And they who came uito the Tree of Life, sought
fruit thereon and found it not.

30. And from thenceforth until now, hath no man eaten
of the fruit of that Tree.

31. But now is the Gospel of Interpretation come, and
the Kingdom of the Mother of God.

32. Evoi, lacchos, Lord of the Body j who art crowned
with the Vine and with the Fig.

33. For as the Fig containeth many perfect fruits in
itself; so the House of Man containeth many spirits.

34. Within thee, O Man, is the Universe : the Thrones
of all the Gods are in thy Temple.

35. I have said unto men. Ye are Gods : ye are all in
the Image of the Most High.

36. No man can know God unless he first understand
himself.

37. God is nothing that Man is not.

38. What Man is, that God is likewise.

39. As God is at the heart of the outer world, so also is
God at the heart of the world within thee.

40. When the God within thee shall be wholly united to
the God without, then shalt thou be one with the Most High.

41. Thy Will shall be God's Will, and the Son shall be
as the Father.

42. Thou art ruler of a world, O Man : thy name is
Legion ; thou hast many under thee.

43. Thou say est to this one, Go, and he goeth : and to

344 THE PERFECT WAY,

another, Come, and he cometh ; and to anothei, Do this
and he doeth it,

44. What thou knowest is told thee from Within ; what
thou workest is worked from Within.

45. When thou prayest, thou invokest the God within
thee j and from the God within thee thou receivest thy good
things.

46. Thy manifestations are inward ; and the spirits which
speak unto thee are of thine own kingdom.

47. And the spirit which is greatest in thy kingdom, the
same is thy Master and thy Lord.

48. Let thy Master be the Christ of God, whose Father is
the Lord lacchos.

49. And Christ shatt be thy Lover and the Saviour of
thy body : yea, he shall be thy Lord God, and thou shalt
adore him.

50. But if thou wilt not, then a stronger than thou art
shall bind thee, and spoil thine house and thy goods.

51. An uncleanly temple shalt thou be; the hold of all
manner of strife and evil beasts.

5 2. For a man's foes are of his own household.

53. But scourge thou thence the money-changers and the
merchants ; lest the House of thy Prayer become unto thee
a den of thieves.

(3)

54. Evoi, Father lacchos : Lord of the Thyrsos and of
the Pine-Cone.

55. As are the involutions of the leaves of the Cone, so
is the spiral of Generation, — the progress and passing-through
of the Soul ;

56. From the lower to the higher ; from the coarse to the
fine ; from the base to the apex ;

APPENDIX XII. 345

57. From the outer to the inner; yea, from the dust of
the ground to the Throne of the Most High.

(4)

58. Evoi, lo Nysaee : God of the Garden and of the

Tree bearing fruit.

59. The dry land is thine, and all the beauty of earth ;
the vineyard, the garland, and the valleys of corn :

60. The forests, the secrets of the springs, the hidden
wells, and the treasures of the caverns :

61. The harvest, the dance, and the festival; the snows
of winter, and the icy winds of death.

62. Yea, Lord lacchos; who girdest destruction with
promise, and graftest comeliness upon ruin.

63. As the green Ivy covereth the blasted tree, and the
waste places of earth where no grass groweth ;

64. So thy touch giveth life and hope and meaning to
decay.

65. Whoso understandeth thy mysteries, O Lord of tlie
Ivy, hath overcome Death and the fear thereof.

(5)

66. Evoi, Father lacchos, Lord God of Egypt : initiate
thy servants in the halls of thy Temple ;

67. Upon whose walls are the forms of every creature :
of every beast of the earth, and of every fowl of the air ;

68. The lynx, and the lion, and the bull : the ibis ana
the serpent : the scorpion and every flying thing.

69. And the columns thereof are human shapes ; having
the heads of eagles and the hoofs of the ox.

70. All these are of thy kingdom : they are the chamberi
of ordeal, and the houses of the initiation of the Soul.

346 THE PERFECT WAY,

71. For the Soul passeth from form to form; and the
mansions of her pilgrimage are manifold.

72. Thou callest her from the deep, and from the secret
places of the earth ; from the dust of the ground, and from
the herb of the field.

73. Thou coverest her nakedness with an apron of Fig-
leaves : thou clothest her with the skins of beasts.

74. Thou art from of old, O Soul of Man ; yea, thoi
art from the everlasting.

75. Thou puttest off thy bodies as raiment; and as
vesture dost thou fold them up.

76. They perish, but thou remainest : the wind rendeth
and scattereth them ; and the place of them shall no more
be known.

77. For the Wind is the Spirit of God in Man, which
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it shall go.

78. Even so is the Spirit of Man, which coQieth from
afar off and tarrieth not, but passet]^ away to a place thou
knowest not

(6)

79. Evoi, lacchos. Lord of the Sphinx : who Hnkest the
lowest to the highest ; the loins of the wild beast to the
head and breast of the woman.

80. Thou boldest the Chalice of Divination : all the
forms of Nature are reflected therein.

8 1. Thou turnest man to destruction : then thou sayest,
Come again, ye children of my hand.

82. Yea, blessed and holy art thou, O Master of Earth :
Lord of the Cross and the Tree of Salvation.

83. Vine of God, whose Blood redeemeth : Bread of
Heaven, broken on the Altar of Death.

APPENDIX XII. 347

84. There is Corn in Egypt : go thou down into her, O
my Soul, with joy.

85. For in the kingdom of the Body, thou shalt eat the
Bread of Thine Initiation.

86. But beware lest thou become subject to the Flesh,
and a bond-slave in the land of thy sojourn.

87. Serve not the idols of Egypt ; and let not the Senses
be thy taskmasters.

88. For they will bow thy neck to their yoke : they will
bitterly oppress the Israel of God.

89. An evil time shall come upon thee ; and the Lord
shall smite Egypt with plagues for thy sake.

90. Thy body shall be broken on the wheel of God : thy
flesh shall see trouble and the worm.

91. Thy house shall be smitten with grievous plagues ;
blood, and pestilence, and great darkness : fire shall devour
thy goods; and thou shalt be a prey to the locust and
creeping thing.

92. Thy glory shall be brought down to the dust; hail
and storm shall smite thine harvest ; yea, thy beloved and
thy first-born shall the hand of the Lord destroy ;

93. Until the Body let the Soul go free ; that she may
serve the Lord God.

94. Arise in the night, O Soul, and fly, lest thou be
consumed in Egypt.

95. The Angel of the Understanding shall know thee for
his Elect, if thou off'er unto God a reasonable faith.

96. Savour thy Reason with Learning, with Labour, and
with Obedience.

97. Let the Rod of thy Desire be in thy right hand : put
the Sandals of Hermes on thy feet ; and gird thy loins with
Strength.

98. Then shalt thou pass through the Waters of cleans-
ing : which is the First Death in the Body.

34^ THE PERFECT WAY,

99. The Waters shall be a Wall unto thee on thy right
hand and on thy left.

100. And Hermes the Redeemer shall go before thee :
for he is thy cloud of Darkness by Day, and thy Pillar of
Fire by Night.

loi. All the horsemen of Egypt and the chariots thereof-,
her princes, her counsellors, and her mighty men :

102. These shall pursue thee, O Soul, that fliest; and
shall seek to bring thee back into bondage.

T03. Fly for thy life : fear not the Deep : stretch out thy
Rod over the Sea ; and lift thy Desire unto God.

104. Thou hast learnt Wisdom in Egypt : thou hast
spoiled the Egyptians : thou hast carried away their fine
gold and their precious things.

105. Thou hast enriched thyself in the Body; but the
Body shall not hold thee : neither shall the waters of the
Deep swallow thee up.

106. Thou shalt wash thy robes in the Sea of Regenera-
tion : the Blood of Atonement shall redeem thee to God.

107. This is thy Chrism and Anointing, O Soul; this is
the First Death ; thou art the Israel of the Lord,

108. Who hath redeemed thee from the dominion of the
Body ; and hath called thee from the grave, and from the
house of bondage,

109. Unto the Way of the Cross, and to the Path in the
midst of the Wilderness ;

no. Where are the adder and the serpent, the mirage
and the burning sand.

111. For the feet of the Saint are set in the way of the
Desert.

112. But be thou of good courage, and fail thou not:
then shall thy raiment endure, and thy sandals shall not
wax old upon thee.

APPENDIX XII. 349

113. And thy Desire shall heal thy diseases: it shall
bring streams for thee out of the stony rock ; it shall lead
thee to Paradise.

114. Evoi, Father lacchos, Jehovah-Nissi : Lord of the
Garden and of the Vineyard :

115. Initiator and Lawgiver: God of the Cloud and of
the Mount.

116- Evoi. Father lacchos; out of Egypt hast thou
called tny Son.

No. XIIL
FRAGMENTS FROM THE " GOLDEN BOOK OF VFN(/S*

Part I.

THE HYMN OF APHRODITE.

(i)

I AM the Dawn, Daughter of Heaven and of the Deep :
the sea-mist covers my beauty with a veil of tremulous
light.

2. I am Aphrodite, the sister of Phoibos, opener of
Heaven's gates, the beginning of Wisdom, the herald of
the Perfect Day.

3. Long had darkness covered the deep : the Soul of
all things slumbered : the valleys were filled with shadows :
only the mountains and the stars held commune together.

4. There was no light on the ways of the earth : the
rolling world moved outward on her axe : gloom and
mystery shrouded the faces of the Gods.

5. Then from out the Deep I arose, dispeller of Night :
the firmament of heaven kindled with joy beholding me.

6. The secrets of the waters were revealed : the eyes of
Zeus looked down into the heart thereof.

7. Ruddy as wine were the depths : the raiment of Earth
was transfigured ; as one arismg from the dead she arose,
full of favour and grace.

APPENDIX XIII. 351

8. Of God and the Soul is Love born : in the silence of
twih'ght ; in the mystery of sleep.

9. In the fourth dimension of space; in the womb of
the heavenly Principle ; in the heart of the Man of God ;
— there is Love enshrined.

10. Yea, I am before all things : Desire is born of me:
I impel the springs of Life inward unto God : by me the
earth and heavens are drawn together.

11. But I am hidden until the time of the Day's appear-
ing : I lie beneath the waters of the sea, in the deeps of the
Soul : the bird of night seeth me not, the herds in the val-
leys, nor the wild goat in the cleft of the hill.

12. As the fishes of the sea am I covered : I am secret
and veiled from sight as the children of the deep.

13. That which is occult hath the Fish for a symbol; for
the fish is hidden in darkness and silence : he knoweth the
secret piaces of the earth, and the springs of the hollow
sea.

14. Even so Love reacheth to the uttermost : so find I
the secrets of all things ; having my beginning and my end
in the Wisdom of God.

1 5. The Spirit of Counsel is begotten in the Soul ; even
as the fish in the bosom of the waters.

16. From the sanctuary of the Deep Love ariseth : Sal-
vation is of the sea.

(3)

17. I am the Crown of manifold births and deaths : I am
the Interpreter of mysteries and the Enlightener of Souls.

18. In the elements of the Body is Love imprisoned ;

352 THE PERFECT WAY,

lying asleep in the caves of lacchos ; in the crib of the oxen
of Demeter.

19. But when the Day-star of the soul ariseth over the
earth, then is the Epiphany of Love.

20. Therefore until the labour of the Third Day be ful-
filled, the light of Love is unmanifest.

21. Then shall I unlock the gates of Dawn; and the
glory of God shall ascend before the eyes of men.

(4)

22. The secret of the angel Anael is at the heart of the
world : the Song of God is the sound of the stars in their
courses.

23. O Love, thou art the latent heat of the earth ; the
strength of the wine ; the joy of the orchard and the corn-
field : thou art the Spirit of song and laughter, and of the
desire of Life !

24. By thee, O Goddess, pure-eyed and golden, the Sun
and the Moon are revealed : Love is the Counsellor of
Heaven.

25. Cloud and vapour melt before thee : thou unveilest to
earth the Rulers of the immeasurable skies

26. Thou makest all things luminous : thou discoverest
all deeps ;

27. From the womb of the sea to the heights of heaven ;
from the shadowy Abyss to the Throne of the Lord.

28. Thy Beloved is as a Ring-dove, wearing the ensign of
the Spirit, and knowing the secrets thereof.

29. Fly, fly, O Dove ; the time of Spring cometh : in the
far east the Dawn ariseth : she hath a message for thee to
beax from earth to heaven I

No. XIII.

FRAGMENTS FROM THE " GOLDEA BOOK OF VENUS,**

Part II

A DISCOURSE OF THE COMMUNION OF SOULS, AND OF THE
USES OF LOVE BETWEEN CREATURE AND CREATURE.

Herein is Love's secret, and the mystery of the Com-
munion of Saints.

2. Love redeemeth. Love lifteth up, Love enlighteneth,
Love advanceth souls.

3. Love dissolveth not, neither forgetteth : for she is of
the soul, and hath everlasting remembrance.

4. Verily love is doubly blessed, for she enricheth both
giver and receiver.

5. Thou who lovest, givest of thyself to thy beloved, and
he is dowered withal.

6. And if any creature whom thou lovest, suffereth
death and departeth from thee,

7. Fain wouldst thou give of thine heart's blood to have
him live always ; to sweeten the changes before him, and to
lift him to some happy place.

8. Thou droppest tears on the broken body of thy
beloved : thy desire goeth after him, and thou criest unto
his ghost ;

9. " O Dearest, would God that I might be with thee
where now thou art ; and know what now thou doest I

353 A A

354 THE PERFECT WAY.

10. "Would God that I might still guard and protect
thee ; that I might defend thee from all pain and wrong
and affliction !

11. " But what manner of change is before thee I know
not : neither can mine eyes follow thy steps.

12. " Many are the lives set before thee : and the years,
O Beloved, are long and weary that shall part us !

13. " Shall I know thee again when I see thee : and will
the Spirit of God say to thee in that day, *This is thy
beloved ' ?

14. " O soul of my soul ! would God I were one with
thee, even though it were in death !

15. "Thou hast all of my love, my desire, and my
sorrow : yea, my life is mingled with thine, and is gone
forth with thee !

16. "Visit me in dreams: comfort me in the night-
watches ; let my ghost meet thine in the land of shadows
and of sleep.

17. " Every night with fervent longing will I seek thee :
Persephone and slumber shall give me back the past.

18. " Yea, death shall not take thee wholly from me : for
part of me is in thee, and where thou goest, Dearest, there
my heart foUoweth ! "

19. So weepest thou and lamentest, because the soul
thou lovest is taken from thy sight.

20. And life seemeth to thee a bitter thing : yea, thou
cursest the destiny of all living creatures.

21. And thou deemest thy love of no avail, and thy
tears as idle drops.

22. Behold ! Love is a ransom, and the tears thereof
are prayers.

23. And if thou have lived purely, thy fervent desire
shall be counted grace to the soul of thy dead.

APPENDIX XIIL 355

24. For the burning and continual prayer of the just
availeth much.

25. Yea, thy love shall enfold the soul which thou
lovest : it shall be unto him a wedding garment, and a
vesture of blessing.

26. The baptism of thy sorrow shall baptize thy dead;
and he shall rise because of it.

27. Thy prayers shall lift him up, and thy tears shall
encompass his steps : thy love shall be to him a light
shining upon the upward way.

28. And the Angels of God shall say unto him, "O
happy soul, that art so well-beloved : that art made so
strong with all these tears and sighs.

29. " Praise the Father of Spirits therefor : for this great
love shall save thee many incarnations.

30. " Thou art advanced thereby : thou art drawn aloft
and carried upward by cords of grace."

31. For in such wise do souls profit one another,
and have communion, and receive and give blessing :
the departed of the living, and the living of the de-
parted.

32. And so much the more as the heart within them
is clean ; and the way of their intention innocent in the
sight of God.

33. Yea, the Saint is a strong redeemer: the Spirit of
God striveth within him.

34. And God withstandeth not God : for love and God
are One.

35. As the love of Christ hath power with the elect,
so hath power in its degree the love of a man for his
friend.

36. Yea, though the soul beloved be little and mean : a
creature not made in the likeness of men.

356 THE PEPFECT WAY.

37. For in the eyes of love there is nothing little nor
poor, nor unworthy of prayer.

38. O little Soul, thou art mighty if a child of God
love thee : yea, poor and simple Soul, thou art possessed of
great riches !

39. Better is thy portion than the portion of kings whom
the curse of the oppressed pursueth.

40. For as Love is strong to redeem and to advance a
soul, so is hatred strong to torment and to detain.

41. Blessed is the soul whom the just commemorate
before God : for whom the poor and the orphan and the
dumb creature weep.

42. And thou, O righteous man, that with burning love
bewailest the death of the innocent, whom thou canst not
save from the hands of the unjust :

43. Thou who wouldst freely give of thine own blood to
redeem thy brother, and to loosen the bonds of his pain :

44. Know that in the hour of thy supreme desire, God
accepteth thine oblation.

45. And thy love shall not return unto thee empty :
according to the greatness of her degree, she shall accom-
plish thy will.

46. And thy sorrow and tears and the travail of thy
spirit, shall be grace and blessing to the soul thou wouldst
redeem.

47. Count not as lost thy suffering on behalf of other
*ouls : for every cry is a prayer, and all prayer is power.

48. That thou wiliest to do is done : thine intention is
united to the will of Divine Love.

49. Nothing is lost of that which thou layest out for God
and for thy brother.

50. And it is Love alone who redeemeth : and Love hath
nothing of her owa

No. XIV.
HYMN TO HERMES,
\ I.

As a moving light between heaven and earth \ as a white
cloud assuming many shapes ;

2. He descends and rises, he guides and illumines, he
transmutes himself from small to great, from bright to
shadowy, from the opaque image to the diaphanous mist.

3. Star of the East conducting the Magi : cloud from
whose midst the holy voice speaketh : by day a pillar of
vapour, by night a shining flame.

4. I behold thee, Hermes, Son of God, slayer of Argus,
archangel, who bearest the rod of knowledge, by which all
things in heaven or on earth are measured.

5. Double serpents entwine it, because as serpents they
must be wise who desire God.

6. And upon thy feet are living wings, bearing thee fear-
less through space and over the abyss of darkness ; because
they must be without dread to dare the void and the deep,
who desire to attain and to achieve.

7 . Upon thy side thou wearest a sword of a single stone,
two edged, whose temper resisteth all things.

8. For they who would slay or save must be armed with
a strong and perfect will, defying and penetrating with no
uncertain force.

9. This is Herpe, the sword which destroyeth demons ;

358 THE PERFECT WAY.

by whose aid the hero overcometh, and the saviour is able
to deHver.

10. Except thou bind it upon thy thigh thou shalt be
overborne, and blades of mortal making shall prevail
against thee.

11. Nor is this all thine equipment, Son of God; the
covering of darkness is upon thine head, and none is able
to strike thee.

12. This is the magic hat, brought from Hades, the
region of silence, where they are who speak not.

13. He who bears the world on his shoulders shall gi\«
it to thee, lest the world fall on thee, and thou be ground
into powder.

14. For he who has perfect wisdom and knowledge, he
whose steps are without fear, and whose will is single and
all-pervading ;

15. Even he must also know how to keep the divine
secret, and not to expose the holy mysteries of God to the
senses of the wicked.

16. Keep a bridle upon thy lips, and cover thy head in
the day of battle.

17. These are the four excellent things, — the rod, the
wings, the sword, and the hat.

18. Knowledge, which thou must gain with labour : the
spirit of holy boldness, which cometh by faith in God \ a
mighty will, and a complete discretion.

19. He who discovers^ the holy mysteries is lost.

20. Go thy way in silence, and see thou tell no man.

* /./., uncovers, or discloses^ to profane eyes.

No. XV.

THE SECRET OF SAT AH,

(I.)

And on the seventh day there went forth from the presence
of God a mighty Angel, full of wrath and consuming, and
God gave unto him the dominion of the outermost sphere.

2. Eternity brought forth Time ; the Boundless gave birth
to Limit ; Being descended into Generation.

3. As lightning I beheld Satan fall from heaven, splendid
ir» strength and fury.

4. Among the Gods is none like unto him, into whose
hand are committed the kingdoms, the power and the glory
of the worlds :

5. Thrones and empires, the dynasties of kings, the fall
of nations, the birth of churches, the triumphs of Time.

6. They arise and pass, they were and are not ; the sea
and the dust and the immense mystery of space devour
them.

7. The tramp of armies, the voices of joy and of pain, the
cry of the new-born babe, the shout of the warrior mortally
smitten :

8. Marriage, divorce, division, violent deaths, martyr-
doms, tyrannous ignorances, the impotence of passionate
protest, and the mad longing for oblivion :

9. The eyes of the tiger in the jungle, the fang of the

36o THE PERFECT WAY.

snake, the foetor of slaughter-houses, the wail of innocent
beasts in pain :

10. The innumerable incarnations of Spirit, the strife to-
wards Manhood, the ceaseless pulse and current of Desire : —

11. These are his who beareth all the Gods on his shoul-
ders ; who establisheth the pillars of Necessity and Fate.

12. Many names hath God given him, names of mystery,
secret and terrible.

13. God called him Satan the Adversary, because Matter
opposeth Spirit, and Time accuseth even the saints of the
Lord.

14. And the Destroyer, for his arm breaketh and grindeth
to pieces ; wherefore the fear and the dread of him are upon
all flesh.

15. And the Avenger, for he is the anger of God; his
breath shall burn up all the souls of the wicked.

16. And the Sifter, for he straineth all things through
his sieve, dividing the husk from the grain ; discovering the
thoughts of the heart ; proving and purifying the spirit of
man.

17. And the Deceiver, for he maketh the False appear
true, and concealeth the Real under the mask of Illusion.

18. And the Tempter, for he setteth snares before the feet
of the elect ; he beguileth with vain shows, and seduceth
with enchantments.

19. Blessed are they who withstand his subtlety : they shall
be called the sons of God, and shall enter in at the beautiful
gates.

20. For Satan is the doorkeeper of the Temple of the
King : he standeth in Solomon's porch ; he holdeth the
Keys of the Sanctuary ;

21. That no man may enter therein save the anointed,
having the arcanum of Hermes.

APPENDIX XV. 36"

22. For Satan is the Spirit of the fear of the Lord, which
is the beginning of wisdom.^

23. He is the devourer of the unwise and the 2vil : they
shall all be meat and drink to him.

24. Whatsoever he devoureth, that shall never more re-
turn into being.

25. Fear him, for after he hath killed, he hath power to
cast into hell.

26. But he is the servant of the sons of God, and of the
children of Hght.

27. They shall go before him, and he shall follow the
steps of the wise.

28. Stand in awe of him and sin not : speak his name
with trembling ; and beseech God daily to deliver thee.

29. For Satan is the magistrate of the Justice of God :
he beareth the balance and the sword,

30. To execute judgment and vengeance upon all who
come short of the commandments of God ; to weigh their
works, to measure their desire, and to number their days.

31. For to him are committed Weight and Measure and
Number.

32. And all things must pass under the rod and through
the balance, and be fathomed by the sounding-lead.

33. Therefore Satan is the Minister of God, Lord of the
seven mansions of Hades, the Angel of the manifest worlds.

34. And God hath put a girdle about his loins, and the
name of the girdle is Death.

35. Threefold are its coils, for threefold is the power of
Death, dissolving the body, the ghost, and the soul.

» Ps. A.V. cxL, D. V. ex. 10 J Is. xi. 2, 3. The first and " eldest of
the gods " in the order of microcosmic evolution, Saturn (Satan) is the
seventh and last in the order of macrocosmic emanation, being the cir-
cumference of the kingdom of which Phoibos (wisdom) is the centre.

362 THE PERFECT WAY,

36. And that girdle is black within, but where Phoibos
strikes it is silver.

37. None of the Gods is girt save Satan, for upon him
only is the shame of generation.

38. He has lost his virginal estate : uncovering heavenly
secrets, he hath entered into bondage.

39. He encompasseth with bonds and limits all things
which are made : he putteth chains round about the worlds,
and determineth their orbits.

40. By him are Creation and Appearance ; by him Birth
and Transformation ; the day of Begetting and the night of
Death.

41. The glory of Satan is the shadow of the Lord : the
throne of Satan is the footstool of Adonai.

42. Twain are the armies of God : in heaven the hosts of
Michael ; in the abyss the legions of Satan.

43. These are the Unmanifest and the Manifest ; the free
an 1 the bound ; the virginal and the fallen.

44. And both are the ministers of the Father, fulfilling
the Word divine.

45. The legions of Satan are the Creative Emanations,
having the shapes of dragons, of Titans, and of elemental
gods;

46. Forsaking the Intelligible World, seeking manifesta-
tion, renouncing their first estate ;

47. Which were cast out into chaos, neither was their
place found any more in heaven.

48. Evil is the result of Hmitation, and Satan is the Lord
of Limit.

49. He is the Father of Lies, because Matter is the cause
of Illusion.

APPENDIX XV, 363

50. To understand the secret of the Kingdom of God, and
to read the riddle of Maya, this is to have Satan under foot

51. He only can put Satan under foot who is released by
Thought from the bonds of Desire.

52. Nature is the allegory of Spirit : all that appeareth
to the sense is deceit : to know the Truth, this alone shall
make men free.

53. For the kingdom of Satan is the house of Matter :
yea his mansion is the sepulchre of Golgotha, wherein on
the seventh day the Lord lay sleeping, keeping the Sabbath
of the Unmanifest.

54. For the day of Satan is the night of Spirit : the
manifestation of the worlds of Form is the rest of the worlds
informulate.

5 5. Holy and venerable is the Sabbath of God : blessed
and sanctified is the name of the Angel of Hades ;

56. Whom the Anointed shall overcome, rising again from
the dead on the first day of the week.

57. For the place of Satan is the bourne of divine impul-
sion : there is the arrest of the outgoing force ; Luza, the
station of pause and slumber :

58. Where Jacob lay down and dreamed, beholding the
ladder which reached from earth to heaven.

59. For Jacob is the planetary Angel lacchos, the Lord
of the Body ;

60. Who hath left his Father's House, and is gone out
into a far country.

61. Yet is Luza none other than Bethel ; the kingdom of
Satan is become the kingdom of God and of His Christ.

62. For there the Anointed awakeneth, arising from sleep,
and goeth his way rejoicing ;

63. Having seen the vision of God, and beheld the s
of Satan ;

364 THE PERFECT WAY,

64. Even as the Lord arose from the dead and brake the
seal of the Sepulchre ;

65. Which is the portal of heaven, Luza, the house of
separation, the place of stony sleep ;

66. Where is born the centripetal force, drawing the soul
upward and inward to God ;

67 Recalling Existence into Being, resuming the king-
doms of Matter in Spirit ;

68. Until Satan return unto his first estate, and enter
again into the heavenly obedience ;

69. Having fulfilled the Will of the Father, and accom-
plished his holy Ministry ;

70. Which was ordained of God before the worlds, for
the splendour of the Manifest, and for the generation of
Christ our Lord ;

71. Who shall judge the quick and the dead, putting all
tilings under his feet ; whose are the dora'nion, the power,
the glory, and the Amen.

INDEX

OF SUBJECTS AND PRINCIPAL WORDS.

The Roman numerals refer to the number of the Lecture, or of
the Appendix; the Arabic numerals to the paragraph quoted;
App. is for Appendix; Pref. for Preface; Pref. R.E. for
Preface to Revised Edition; Pt. for Part; and n for footnote.

of Desolation,

Abomination
App. vi.

Abraham, Brahma, viii. 51.
Children of, i. Z2> I vi. i, 2.

Acts of Soul, vi. 2; viii. 28.

Adam, iv. 31 ; v. 10; vi. i, 2, 15,
19, 20, 22, 25, 32; vii. 20,
21, 32; viii. 27, 41; ix. 9,
20 ; App. i. I ; iii. Pt. 2.

Adam Kadmon, ix. 5, 18.

Adam, Old, iv. 24 ; viii. 7.

Adept, iv. 30; V. 39; viii. 12.

Admetus, his oxen, ix. 16.

Adonai, vi. 4, 5, 36; viii. 14; ix,
5, 8, 41, 42, 46, 50, 51, 52,
53; App. iv. 9; X. (3);xi.

Advent, vi. 39.
Second, App. vi.

Affinity, Celestial, iii. 40.

Agnostic, ii. 39; v. 27; vi. 29.

Alchemic Science, ix. 12.

Alchemists, viii. 43.

Alchemy, Higher, App. vii.

Allah, viii. 53.

Alpha and Omega, Pref. R.E.
vii; V. 18; ix. 5.

Ambrose, vi. 8.

367

Amoeba, v. 2.

Amun-Ra, vi. 15.

Anael, ix. 27, n; App. xiii. Pt.

I (4).
Ancients, App. x. (4).
Anima Bruta, ii. 21, 24; v. 25,

26, 35 ; vii. 14 ; App. ii.
Divina, ii. 24; vii. 14; viii.

42; App. ii.
Mundi, V. 39.
Animals, iii. 21; vii. 53.

First appearance of, i. 40.
Anna, v. 43 ; App. xi.
Annihilation, ii. 17; vii. 17.
Antichrist, iv. 28; viii. 53; ix.

23.
Anubis, ix. 15.
Aphrodite, ii. 35; v. 40; viii.

28; Hymn of App. xiii.,

Pt. I.
Girdle of, ix. 16.
Apocalypse, vi. 3; vii. 27', viii.

34, 36, 41, 43 ; ix. 2.
Apollo, Arrows of, ix. 16,
Apollonius, i. 38.
Apollos, iv. 9.
Aquarius, App. vi.

368

INDEX.

Arche, ii. 34; v. 4, 14; vi. 6, 31.
Ardha-Nari, ix. 5, 52.
Argus, ix. 13; App. xiv.
Aristotle, ix. 25.
Arjun, viii. 12; ix. 3, 52.
Ark, ii. 2>7', vi. 3; viii. 44; App.

i. I ; V. 39.
Arnold, Edwin, iv. 15.

Matthew, Pref. R.E. in.
Artemis, ii. 35. See also Diana.
Arthur or Ar-thor, viii. 44.
Ascension, Pref. R.E. ix ; viii.
8, 28, 40; and Descension,
iii. 53 ; iv. 31 ; vi. 2.
Asceticism, viii. 14.
Assumption of Virgin, v. 44,

45; viii. 40.
Assyria, vi. 6.
Astrsea, vi. z^', vii. 55.
Astral Body, ii. 13 ; iii. 2, 4.

Fluid, i. 26; ii. 21.

Medium, iv. 16.

Phantoms, iii. 28.

Plane, ii. 14.

Soul, V. 35, 41.

Sphere, v. 2)7-
Atheism, i. 55^; ii. 24; vi. 29.
Atman, i. 7.

Atonement, iii. 3; iv. i, 16; vi.
39; viii. 4, 6, 47; ix. 22.

Current Doctrine of, iv. 3.

Fourfold, iv. 2.
Augustine, i. 45 ; viii. 39.
Avatar, ii. 24 ; v. 41 ; App. ii. ;

X. (4).
Azote, Heb. Azoth, ii. 20.

Baalzebub, ii. 18.

Bacchos, V. 16; viii. 52.
Baptism, iii. 53; vi. 2; viii. 19,

28.
for Dead, App. xiii., Pt. 2, 26.
or Betrothal, viii. 28.
with Fire and Water, i. 7.
Baptist, viii. 38, 49.
Bath-Kol, i. 25.
Beatific Vision, iv. 19.
Bells of High Priest, iv. 13.
Bethel, vi. i; App. xv. (2).
Beyond, The, iii. 3.
Bhagavat Gita, ix. 3, 11.
Bible, ii. 46; vi. 9; vii. 18; viii.

53.
Biblical Interpretation, vii. 2>2>'
Requisites for, i. 47.
Biologist, V. ZZ-
Biology, ix. 17.
Birth, Second or New, v. 45 ;

App. xii. (i).
Bitterness, Sea of, ii. 36; viii.

Blavatsky, his Unveiled, iv. 12,

n.
Blood, iv. 12 ; vi. 2>^, 42 ; vii. 29,
52; viii. 16.
of Christ, mystical, iv. 19, 23.
Partakers of, iv. 6, 8, 19.
Bloody Sacrifice, iv. 6, 11 ; App.

i. I.
Body, vi. 20; viii. i, 3, 13, 14.
Fourfold, iii. 4.
Redemption of, ix. 54; App.

xii. (2).
Transfiguration of, App. vii.
12.
Boehme, iii. 2>Z.
Book Worship, i. 24.

INDEX.

369

of Revelation, vii. 19. See

also Apocal3T)se.
Borrowing of Egyptians, vi. 12,
Bow, Heavenly, vi. z^-
Brahma, vi. 2; viii. 51, 52; ix.

52.
Bosom of, iii. 16.
Bride, The Soul as, v. 14; viii.

41, 43-
Buddha, i. 44; ii. 46; viii. 12,

25, 49, 50, 51.
Buddhism, v. 43, n.
Burial, vi. 2; viii. 8, 28; App.

V. 49.
Butler, S., V, 2, n.

Caesar, viii. 2>^.

Caiaphas, iv. 9.

Cain, iii. 21; vii. 52; App. i. i.

Caleb, ix, 15.

Calvinists, vi. 21 ; ix. 2^.

Cana, iii. 50; iv. 25.

Carpocrates, i. 39.

Catholic Doctrine, v. 43.

Causes and Effects, World of,

V. 8.
Cave, viii. 2)7-
Cell, Physiologic, i. 27; V. 15,

34; viii. 44, 48; App. iv.
Centurion, iii. 35.
Cerberus, viii. 22.
Cerebration, Unconscious, v.

Ceremonial Rites, iv. 7.
Ceylon, viii. 50, n. i.
Chaldaea, viii, 52.
Chalice, iv. 25.

Golden, vi. 42; vii. 3.
Chaos, vii. 13; App. xv. (i).

Character as Destiny, ii. 25.

Chastity, viii. 20.

Chaucer, v. 35, n.

Chavah, vi. 15, 23, 31.

Cherubic, iii. 4.

Cherubim, iii. 2)^] vi. 2, 4, 13;

ix. 49.
Chrism, App. vi. ; xii. 107.
Christ Jesus, i. 42, 50; iv. 8, 27;
viii. 27, 51.
as Person, App. vi.
Christ Jesus, Share in Redemp-
tion, App. V.
The Advent Millennial Reign

of, viii. 54.
The Blood of, iv. 25.
Christ, The, Pref. R. E. viii;
iii. 14, 53 ; iv. 26, 27 ; vi. 15,
39; vii. 18, 26; viii. 4, 13;
ix. II, 53; App. x. (3).
Christs, The, iv. 30; vii. 49;
viii. 12, 15, 16, 27, 45; ix.
II, 29.
The Ideal, i. SSd) viii. 4, 45.
51.
Christhood, vii. 43-45 ; viii. 18 ;

ix. 22, 53.
Christian Belief, i. 44.
Christianity, Pref. R.E. i; vii.
19; viii. 49.
Degradation of, iii. 30.
Dogmas and Symbols of,

Pref. R. E. iv.
Failure of, i. 55c ; viii. 26.
Historic, i. 50; 55&.
Identical with other Sys-
tems, Pref. R.E. iv; i. 43-

45.
Church, Pref. vi. 2, 27, 28, 29,

Z7Q

INDEX.

30; vii. 34, 35, 36, 37, 38,39,

50; ix. 10.
Fathers of, ix. 26.
Lodge, or Mystic Commun-
ity, vi. 14.
of Christ, V. 46.
Rests on Custom, i. 50.
Churches, Eastern and West-
ern, ix. 43; App. X. (3).
Civilization, Present, vii. 55.
Clemens, Alex., vi. 8; ix. 22;

App. V. 9.
Clifford, Professor, i. 35, n.
Colleges of Mysteries, i. 44;

vii. 41,
Common Sense, i. 23.
Communion, Holy, iv. ^6, z?-
of Souls, App. xiii., Pt. 2.
Community, Mystic, vii. 43, 44.
Cone, App. xii. (3).
Conjunctions, Planetary, ii. 25.
Conscience, i. 52; vi. 27; vii. i,

22,] App. i. I.
Consciousness, i. 2>3 \ v. 2, 3, 7,

12, 22, 25, 31; vi. 17, 19;

vii. 10, 14, 37; viii. 5; ix.

34; App. ii.; X. (i).
Point of, v. 30.
Constantine, i. 556.
Consummation, v. 34; viii. 41.
Controls, iii. 20, 48, 59.
Correspondences, i. 10, 14; vii.

2, 7 ; ix. 19.
Counterparts, Astral, iii. 7.
Covering Angels, iii. 36.
Creation, i. 29; ii. 9, 19; iii.

3; v. 41; vi. 2, 8; vii.

4, 44; viii. 5, 41; ix.

44.

Creative Week, vii. 50; viii. 28,

App. xi.
Credo of the Elect, ix. 54.
Creed, Transition of, Pref. R.

E. vii.
Cremation, viii. 9.
Cross, i. 56; iv. 9; vi. 15; viii.
53; App. V. 49.
Fourfold Meaning of, iv. 21.
Prehistoric, on Monuments,

iv. 20.
Sign of, in Heaven, iv. 30.
Sun's Equinoctial Passage of

Ecliptic, iv. 20.
Tree of Life, iv. 20.
Why Fourfold, iv. 21.
Crucible, Alchemic, App. vii.

14-
Crucifixion, i. 49; iv. 29, 31 ; vii.
43; viii. 7, 8, 28, Z7i 41, 4^;
App. vi.
Mystery of, iv. 22.
of God, iv. 35.
Crustacea, iii. 21.
Curse of Eve, vi. 16, 39; vii. 55.
Cyrus, Pref.

Daemon. See Genii.
Daniel, viii. 52; ix. 2.

His Angel, App. vi.
David, viii. 27, 45; ix. 14.

Son of, ix. 12.
Death, v. 21; App. ii.* iv. ; xii.
6, 107; xiii. Pt. 2.

First, App. xii. (6), 98, 107.

Sting of, V. 34.
Decan, vi. 27-

Deity, Two Modes of, i. 28, 29;
v. 18; ix. 9; App. xi.

INDEX.

371

Delphi, ii. 3.

Demeter, vi. 4; viii. 28, 29, 37;

App. xiii. (3).
Depolarisation, vi. 20.
Destiny, ii. 25.

Moral, of Planets, v. 41.
Deucalion and Pyrrha, i. 33.
Development, i. 32.
Devil, i. 46; ii. 6, 11; iii. 9-15,

21 ; iv. 31 ; vii. 29; viii. 3,

13 ; App. V. 3.
No Personal, iii. 9.
Dharmasastra Sutras, v. 41, n.
Diana, iv. 14. See also Arte-
mis.
Dimension, Fourth, ii. 34; App.

iii. Pt. 2, 41 ; X. ; xiii. Pt. i,

(2).
Dionysos, i. 56; v. 16.
Dissolution, v. 35.
Dissolvent, viii. 12; App. v. 52,
Divination, Chalice of, App.

xii. (6).
Divine Impersonal, v. 2.3.
Dragon, Pref. vii. 42; App. i. i.

of Apocalypse, vi. 37.
Dryads, iii. 34.
Dualism, i. 34; iii. 29; vii. 2, 11,

12; viii. 3*; ix. 42, 45.
of Nature, ii. 42; vii. i; ix.

24. See God, Man.
Dyaus, Deus, Theos, ii. 42.
Dynamite, i. 55^.

Eagle, vi. 4; viii. 29.
Earth, vi. 19; vii. 12, n. I.

Life, Inequalities of, i. 41.

Spirits of, iii. 17.
East, viii. 23, 36.

Kings of, viii. 36, 53.
Easter, vi. 31.
Ecclesiasticism, Despair of, ix.

10.
Ecstacy, ix. 34.
Eden, vi. 6, 19, 38 ; vii. 5, 18, 30,

36; ix. 25;. App. i. I.
Rivers of, i. 10; vi. 6, 7, 14.
Effulgence, App. x. (3).
Ego, The, Pref. R. E. iii, vi,

viii; V. 3, 12, 30, 31 ; App.

viii.
Noumenal, v. 28.
Egypt, viii. 30, 31, 52; ix. 12.
Egyptian Evidences ; Thebes,

Elephantine Edfou, Kar-

nak, V. 13, 18.
Gospel, ix. 22.
Mysteries, vi. 12, 13; App. i.

2.
Eidolon, i. 54 ; iv. 15 ; v. 35-.
Eirenicon, Pref. R. E. x; Pref.

viii.
Ejective, v. 31, 3.3.
Elect, App. vi. ; xi. n; xiii. Pt.

2.
Credo of the, ix. 54.
Electric Current, iii. 22.
Elemental Kingdoms, App. x.

(2).
Elementals, iii. 5, 17, 20, 34; vi.

4, 26.
Elias, viii. 48.
Eliphas Levi, Pref. R. E. x; iv.

12, n; vi. 32.
Elixir of Life, viii. 11.
Elohim, ii. 21, 32; iii. 37; vi.

5 ; ix. 16, 44, 45 ; App. xi.
El-Shaddai, ii. 42; ix. 5, 42.

Z7^

INDEX.

Elves, iii. 34.

Emanation, App. xv. 22, n.
Emanations, iii. 6; iv. 16, 17.
Embalming, viii. 9.
Embryonic Development, v. 18.
Emotion and Intellect, ix. 25.
End, Times of the, App. vi.
England and the East, viii. 51,

53,
Enoch, viii. 53.

Enthusiasm, ix. 29, 31, 33-39.
Environment, v. 29.
Epicurus, ix. 39.
Epiphanius, iv. 13.
Epiphany of Love, App. xiii.

Pt. I (3).
Epopt, i. 35.
Esau, ii. 39.
Esther, vi. 31.
Eternal Life, iv. 31 ; vi. 21 ; viii.

41 ; ix. 53.

Ethiopia, Pref. vi. 6.
Eucharistic Wafer, vi. 34, viii.

41.

Euphrates, vi. 6; viii. 26, 53.

Eve, Pref. R. E. ix; v. 10; vi.
15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 31 ;
vii, 20, 21 ; viii. 32, 35, 39,
41; ix. 20; App. i. Pt. I.

Everard, Dr., Pref. R. E. vii.

Evil, ii. 9 ; vii. 17.
Spirits, iii. 15.

Evolution, i. 32, 40; v. i, 10, 32,
45 ; vi. 14 ; vii. 37 ; viii. 27,
32, Z7, 41 ; ix. 53 ; App. ii.
Occult Law of, V. 32.

Evolution, Post-mortem, iii. 19.
Spiritual, i. 8.

Exile, Pref. R. E. ix; iv. 31.

Existence, Pref. R. E. iii; ii.

29; vi. 31; vii. 7, 17, 37,49;

viii. 5, 43 ; ix. 9, 18 ; App. ii.
Previous, and Ezra, vi. 10.
Exodus, ix. 2; App. xii. (6).
Experience, ii. 10; viii. 4.
Ezekiel, iii. 5; vi. 3, 34; viii.

Z^ ; ix. 2.

Fairies, iii. 34.
Faith, i. 51; vi. 27.
of Christendom, Pref. R. E.
iv; i. 55.
Fall, Pref. R. E. vi; i. 52; iv.

31; vi. 7, 10, 13, 29, 31; vii.

I, 51; viii. i; App. i. 2.
Mosaic Account, Allegorical,

vi. 8.
of Angels, viii. 5; App. xv.

(2).
Fig-tree, Parable of, App. vi. ;

xii. (2).
Finding Christ, i. 11 ; ii. 47; vi.

19.
Fire and Motion, ii. 22.

Spirits, iii. 17.
Fish, Occult Significance of,

viii. 28; ix. 10; App. xiii.

Pt. I, (2).
Fixation of the Volatile, iv. 31 ;

vi. 20; vii. 39; viii. 22.
Flesh, Diet of, iii. 60; iv. 18;

vi. 24.
Flight, Mystic, viii. 52; App. i.

i; xii. (6).
Flood, App. i. I.
Forbidden Fruit, viii. 10; App.

i. I.
Force, v. 4; vii. 13, 40; ix. 44.

INDEX.

373

Centripetal and Centrifugal,
V. 5.
Free Love, iii. 30.

Gadarene Demoniacs, iii. 15.
Gates, App. v. 33-44-
Gautama Buddha, i. 38; iv. 15;

vi. 42; viii. 48.
Gehenna, vi. 6,
Gehon, vi. 6.
Genealogy, ix 11.
Genesis, vi. 6, 7 ; vii. 32.

by Ezra, not Moses, vi. 10.
Genii, iii. 37, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48,

49, 55.
Loci, iii. 34.
Ghost, iii. 19; v. 36-38.

of Events, i. 16; iii. 7.
Gilgal Neshamoth, App. ii.
Globe, Igneous, v. 24, 26.
Gnosis, Pref. R. E. i; vi. 9, 25,
26 ; vii. 48 ; viii. 53 ; ix. 7,
n.
God, ii. 16; V. 25, 31; ix. i, 8,
40, 41; App. V. 5; xii. (2).
Androgynous, ix, 8, 41.
As Lord, ix. 2-9.
Blood of, viii. 16.
Duality of, ii. 34; ix. 45, 50.
God-consciousness, v. 16, 28,

32.
Immolation of, viii. 41.
Kingdom of, Pref. R. E. vii;

ii. 32.
of Hosts, ii. 41.
Personal and Impersonal, v.

Vision of, see Sight.
Works of, ii. 32; App. v.

God-Man, viii. 11.
Gods and Goddesses, ii. 43.
not limited in number, v. 19.
Personality Indefeasible, v.

42.
Golden Age, ii. 18; vi. 14, 16,

24, 38; vii. 40, 50, 55.
Goliath, ix. 14.
Gospel of Interpretation, vii.

53; App. iii. Pt. 2, 36.
Gospels, viii. 24, 28, 29, 32, 42.

of Love and Force, i. 55^.
Grand Man, ix. 5.
Gravitation, Spiritual, vii. 18.
Great Work, viii. 23 ; App. v.

56.
Gregory of Nazianzen, vi. 8.
Gregory of Nyssa, vi. 8.
Guardian Angel, iii. 29, 37, 46-

58.
Guides, iii. 20,
Gulf, Great, iii. 16.

Hades, Seven Mansions of,

App. XV.
Hayman, Dr., v. 35, n.
Healing Powers, iii. 18.
Heaven, i. 8; iv. 16; vi. 19.

and Earth, New, App. vii. 4.
Hegel, Pref. R. E. viii.
Hell, iii. 9; vi. 21; ix. 7; App.

XV.

Hephaistus, Tongs of, ix. 16.
Hera, vii. 42.

Heracles, v. 35; vii. 42; viii. 19,
22.
Ascension of, i. 49.
Hereafter, The, App. ii.
Heredity, vii. 17.

374

INDEX.

Heritage of Elect, iv. 25.
Hermes, Pref. ; v. 20, 41 ; viii.

12; ix. II, 13, 15, 16, 17;

App. xii. (5) ; xiv. Hymn

to, App. xiv.
Hermes Trismegistus, i. 36; v.

16, n.
Hermetic Philosophy, Pref. R.

E. i; vii. 3.
Herod, viii. 31.
Heroes, viii. 18.
Herpe, App. xiv.
Hestia, ii. 13; vi. 31.
Heterisation, Pref. R. E. vii,

viii.
Hiddekel, vi. 6.
Hierarch, viii. 19, 22, 23.
Hierarchy of Heaven, iii. Z7,

60; ix. 49.
Hieroglyph, Pref. R. E. zi; ii.

46 ; viii. 26 ; App. i. 2.
Hierophant, iii. 53.
Hindu Myths, vi. 12.
Hindustan, viii. 53.
Holy City, vi. 24; viii. 19.
Holy Family, viii. 52.
Holy Ghost, or Spirit, Pref. R.

E. ix; ix. 42, 43, 44; App.

xi.
Holy of Holies, viii. 28, 48; ix.

49.
Holy Place, App. vi.
Horus, i. 49.
Host, vi. 34; App. V. 40.
Hosts, God of, ii. 41.
Houris, ix. 28.
Human Kingdom, vi, 4.
Humanity, Pref. ; ii. 2>^ ; vi. 24 ;

vii. II, 13, 20, 50; viii. 6,

47, SI, 54; ix. 8, 18, 22;
App. ii.
Hydrogen, ii. 20.
Hygieia, vii. 55.
Hymn of Aphrodite, App. xiii.,
Pt. I.
to Hermes, App. xiv.
to the Planet-God, App. xii.

lacchos, i. 44; v. 40; viii. 2^^

Z7 ; App. xi., XV.
Hymn to, App. xii.
Ideas, ii. 19; iv. 16; v. 20; viii.

3, 5; ix. 50.
Archetypal, v.
Divine, ii. 14.
Religious, i. 54.
Idolatry, ii. 8; iv. 3; vi. 25, 26;

vii. 6, 52; viii. 10, 26; ix.

10; App. i.
Ill Living, iii. 45.
Illumination, Pref. R. E. xi.; i.

7, 35 ; iii. 52, S2> ', App. iii. 8.
Image of God, i. 53; ii. 11, 44;

V. 18; vi. 2, 14, 24; vii. 5,

20, 39, 51; viii. 4, 11; ix. 8,
^ 9, 46, n., 53.
Imitation of God, ii. 11.
Immaculate, Conception, v. 44,

45-
Mother of God, Pref. R. E.

ix.
Immanuel, iv, 2^-
Immortality, ii. 26; vi, 8,
Incantation, iii. 9 ; iv. 7,
Incarnation, Pref, R, E, ix; iv.

31; vi, 31 ; viii. 40; ix, 7,

n. ; App, xii. (2) ; xiii. Pt.

2; ii. 28.
India, viii. 51, 52.

INDEX.

375

Individual, ii. 15; vii. 7; viii. 3;

ix. 46, n.
Individualism, v. 2.
Individuality, v. 5, 32, 43.
Influx, Divine, i. 8.
Initiate, Initiation, iii. 18; viii.

31-
Inspiration, App. iii., i.
Intellect, ix. 25 ; App. i. i.
Interpretation, Day of, at

hand, App. iii. Pt. 2 ; xii.

(2); xiii. Pt. I (4).
Intuition, Pref . R. E. ii; Pref . ;

i. 5, 6, 7; ii. 38, 41; V. Z2,',

vii. 13 30; ix. 17; App. i.

I ; iii. 7.
a Mode of Mind, i. 5.
Method of, i. 12, 15.
Irenaeus, vi. 8.
Isaac, viii. 52.
Isaiah, viii. 25 ; ix, 2.
Isha, vi. 15, 2Z.
Isis, ii. 35; iii. 42, 51; iv. 27;

vi. 18; viii. 52.
Islam, viii. 53 ; ix. 28.
Israel, viii. 48, 55; viii. 30, 47,

50, 52.
Issa, iv. 27.
Jacob, viii. 52. See also

lacchos.
Twelve Sons of, App. i. i.
Jakshas, iv. 12.
Janus Bifrons, i. 21.
Jasper, vi. 4.
Jehovah, ii. 42; iii. 28; vi. 31;

ix. 5, 7, 42.
Jericho, ix. 13.
Jerome, vi. 3, n., 8.
Jerusalem, New, vii. 30; viii.

43.

Jesse, viii, 52.

Jesus, Pref. R. E. v; ii. 46; vi.
3, 42; viii. 12, 17, 24, 49,
52; App. vi.

Buddha, & Pythagoras, viii.
48-51. ,

Chrestos, iv. 30.

Liberator, viii. 2y.

versus Paul, ix. 22.
Joachim, App. xi.
Job, viii. 52.
John, viii. 12.

the Divine, 29.

Baptist, viii. 38, 49.
Jordan, viii. 39.
Joseph, as Mind, viii. 30, 31.
Joshua, ix. 15.
Judaism, i. 556.
Judas, iv. 9 ; viii. 44 ; App. v. 25.
Julian the Apostate, iv. 14.
Justice, Divine, viii. 2.
Justin Martyr, vi. 8.

Kaabah, vi, i, 2, 3 ; ix. 18.
Kabbala, Pref. R. E. x, xi; v.

20 ; ix. 9, 18, 19, 20, 24.
Kabbalistic Philosophy, Pref.

R. E. i; V. 21.
Kalpa, i. 29; iv. 35; v. 41; vi.

31, 34-
Kant, Pref, R. E. viii.
Karma, v. 14, 41; App. x. (4).
Karoub Tree, i. 25.
Kelpis, iii. 34.
Keys of the Kingdom, i. 21.

Sanctuary, App. xv. 20.
King's Chamber, v. 22 ; viii. 28.
Kingdom of Heaven, iii. 3; iv.

31; vi. 26; ix. 22, 40.

376

INDEX.

of God, Pref. R. E. vii;

App. V.
Kings of East, viii. 36, 53.
Knowledge, Self, ii. 3; vii. 10.
Koran, vi. i ; ix. 28.
Krishna, i. 38, 44, 49, 56 ; ii. 46 ;

viii. 12, 50; ix. 3, II, 52.
Kronia, vi. 35.

Ladder of Incarnation, App.

xii. (2).
Lamb, App. i. i.

of God, iv. 30; viii. 41.

Marriage of, vi. 2; viii. 41.
Lares and Penates, iii. 8, 20.
Larvae, iii. 20.
Law, App. V. 40.

and Gospel, ii. 42.
Lazarus, iii. 16; viii. 28.
Leibnitz on Reincarnatiort, i.

38.
Leo, vi. 39.

Leo XIIL v. 44 n.; vi. 39.
Lethe, iii. 20.
Levi, Tribe of, viii. 45.

See Eliphas.
Lewes, G. H., ix. 17, n., 34, n.
Libra, vi. 37; ix. 22.
Life, V. 10; ix. 43.
Life-process, v. 18.
Light Invisible, ii. 30; ix. 45.
Light, atent, iii. 24.

of Asia, iv. 15.
Limbo, Limbic, iii. 4, 8.
Lion, vi. 4 ; viii. 29,
Loaves and Fishes, viii. 28.
Logos, V. 20; viii. 17, 50; ix.

23, 24, 44, 46, 50, 53.
Lord, Our, and the Lord, ix.
7,8.

Lot's Wife, vi. 20.

Love, Divine, iv. 25, 34; vii. 13.

Lucretius, ix. 39.

Luke, viii. 29.

Lunar Months, viii. 44.

Luza, App, XV.

Maccabees, vi. 11.
Macrocosm and Microcosm,

Pref. R. E. viii; i. 10; ii.

19, 22, 36, Z7; iii. 3, 38, 51;

iv. 15, 31; v. 25; vi. 21;

vii. 5; viii. 5, 36, 43, 51;

ix. 9, 44; App. V. 59.
Magdalen, viii. 32, 35 ; ix. 13.
Magi, Magian, vii. 48; viii. 22,

2,^, 53.
Magic Number, iii. 4.
Magical Age, vi. 3 ; viii. 19, 31.
Magie, la Haute, El. Levi, iv.

12, n; V. 39.
Magnetic Atmosphere, i. 54;
ii. 18; iii. 18; App. ii.
Body, iii. 5.
Factor, ii. 21.
Force, ii. 13.
Man, App. v. z^.
Maimonides, i. 25 ; vi. 8.
Man, ii. 38; vii. 51 ; viii. 49, 51 ;
ix. 38, 53; App. xii. (2).
as Microcosm, iv. 31.
Astral, App. ii.
Man, Dematerialisation of, i.
14.
Fourfold Nature of, i. 9, 10;

vii. 7, 9-14.
his Divine Part, i. 13.
his own Creator, ii. 25.
Natural, iii. 3.
of Sin, i. 55^; ix. 23.

INDEX.

Z77

Regenerate, ii. 46; iv. 24; v.
44; vii. 25, 26, 27, 28, 30,
31, 33, 38, 41, 45, 48, 49;
ix. 12.
Spiritual, iii. 3.
Manes, or Shades, iii. 7, 8.
Manetho, vi. 13.
Manhood, ii. 38; vii. 39.
Manifestation, viii. 5 ; ix. 42,
44.
of God, V. 17, 18.
INIark, viii. 29.
Marriage, iii. 55; vii. I3.

Divine, vi. 39; vii. 50; viii.
41, 43; App. V. 21-23.
Mary, or Maria, Pref. R. E.
ix ; ii. 34, 35 ; vi. 19, 23, 37 ;
viii. 30, 32, 35, 39, 40 ; App.
vi. xi.
Annunciation of, viii. 39.
Assumption of, v. 43-6.
Materialism, ii. 7; ix. 14, 30,
31, 35, 37, 38, 39; App. i. 2.
Materialists and Mystics, ix.

35-39.

Matter, i. 28; v. 8, 11, 12; vii.
15; 16, 25; viii. 5; ix. 35;
App. vii.

Antithesis of Spirit, ii. 4.

Dynamic and Static, i. 29.

Dynamic Condition of Sub-
stance, i. 28, 29.
Manifestation of Spirit, ii. 9.
not evil, is Spirit, ii. 8.
not Soul, ii. 2.

Matthew, viii. 29.

Maudsley, Dr., iv. 34, n.

Maut, vi. 15.

Maya, vi. 25, 26, 31, 33; App.
XV. 50.

Mecca, vi. i.

Mediator, The Soul as, i. 18,

21 ; vii. 13.
Medium, iii. 23; viii. 15, 16,

18; App. iii. II, 17; X. 2.
Medusa, Pref.
Memory, Intuitional, i. 7, 8;

vi. 10; vii. 40; App. ii.
Two Kinds of, iii. 50; v. 2,

31.
Recovery of, iii. 52.
Merkaba, vi. 2; ix. 18.
Meru, Mount, vi. 5.
Messiah, iv. 8; viii. 45, 47.
Metallic Region of Planet, ii.

18.
Metempsychosis, iii. 20.
Microcosm, sec Macrocosm.
Migration of Cosmic Souls, v.

42.
Milton, iii. 33; ix. 27.
Mind, V. 8, 9, 20.

Joseph as, viii. 30, 31.
Miracles, i. 24, 25; viii. 28.
Mirror, Protoplasmic, iii. 7;

vii. 7.
Mithras, i. 44, 49, 56; ii. 46;

vi. 37; viii. 25, 50.
Mohammed, vi. i ; viii. 52.
Molech, iv. 14.
Molecules, i. 28; v. 2, 3, 32;

App. iv. 14.
Monad, v. 32.

Dualism of, ii. 29.
Monstrance, vi. 34.
Moon, The Genius as, iii.

3^-47, 51, 52; App. ii.
The Apocalyptic, vii. 27.
Mormonism, ix. 28.
Moses, iii. 49; iv. 7; vi. 10, 11,

378

INDEX.

12, 13, 15; viii. 48, so; ix.
2, 9, 24.
Books of, App. I (see
Pentateuch).
Mosheim, vi. 8.

Mother, viii. 30, 32, 35, 39, 4o;
ix. 53; App. xi.
of Sorrows, Joys, ii. 36.
Motion, ii. 22; v. 3; vi. 31, 33.
Mount, Celestial, The vii.

43-49-
Mysteries Pref. ; i. 44; iv. 31;
v. 22, 46; vi. 2; vii. 41;
viii. 28, 52; App. xi.
Secrecy of, iii. 28.
Not Incomprehensible, ix.

10.
Taught Transmigration, i.

35-41.
Mystery of Godliness, ix. 9, 18.
Mysticism, ii. 4; vii. 10; ix.

29-36.
Mystics, V. 28, 29; viii. 25,

and Materialists, ix. 35-39,
Myths, Parabolic in Hebrew

Scriptures, vi. 12.

Naiads, iii. 34.

Naros, vi. 35.

Nature, iii. 21 ; vii. 51 ; viii. 3 ;

App. ix.
Nebuchadnezzar, Dream of,

vii. 55.
Image of, ix. 14.
Necessity, the Will of God, v.

12.
Negation, Pref.; ii. 7; iv. 28;

vi. 22.
Neoplatonists, i. 7; ix. 34,

Nephesh, i. 40, n. ; v. 35 ; App.

ii.
Neshamah, v 35, 41 ; App. ii.
Newman, Cardinal, ix. 10, n.
Nicodemus, v. 45.
Night Time of Soul, iii. 31.
Nirvana, Pref. R. E. ix; i. 29;

ii. 16; iii. 29; v. 37, 43, n.;

vi. 31; viii. 28, 43; App. ii.
Noah, Daniel, and Job, viii. 52.
No-God, The, ii. 9; iii. 10; vii.

17-

Nonentity, ii. 6; iii. 14; v. 28.

Not-Being, iii. 11.

Nothing, viii. 5.

Nous, iii. 55; V. 16; ix. 11.

Now, vii. 4 ; and Within, ix. 54.

Nucleolus, iii. 57; v. 44; viii.

29, 44. 51.
Nucleus, iii. 57; v. 4, 44; viii.

48.
Nysa-Nissi, ix. 9; App. xii.

(4); (6).

Obelisk, iii. 37.

Objective, Pref. R. E. v; v. 33.

Oblation of God, iv. 22, 35, 36.

Occult Science, v. i.

Ocean of Infinitude, ii. 34.

Odic, or Astral, ii. 19, 21.

Odysseus, v. 35.

Olivet, ix. 9.

Olympus, Pref. ; iv. 35 ; vi. 5.

One Life, Concerning the,

App. x.
Only Begotten, viii. 17; ix. 5.
Ordeal, iii. 8; viii. 22; App.

xii. (5).
Organism, v. 8.
Original, Divine, ix. 36.

INDEX.

379

Orthodoxies, ix. 22,.

Osiris, i. 44, 56; ii. 46; viii.

2S, 50.

Ovary, vii. 3.

Ovid, vi. 14, 24.

Ox, Oxen, vi. 4; viii. 29, 37;

App. xiii. Pt. I. (3).
Oxygen, ii. 20.

Pallas or Minerva, ii. 35.
Papias, vi. 8.
Paracelsus, iv. 12.
Paraclete, i. 7; viii. 51.
Paradise, vi. 2, 6; vii. 51; ix. 9.

Lost and Regained, vi. 24.
Parenchyma, v. 39.
Particle Divine, App. ii.
Passion, iv. 31 ; vi. 2 ; viii. 7, 8,

28, 39, 41; App. v. 49.
Passion Week, six Days of

Creation, iv. 35.
Paul, Pref. R. E. iv; iii. 33;

iv. 9; vi. 19, 20; viii. 27 \

ix. 9, 19-24.
Pearl, viii. 43.
Penance, iii. 8; vi. 31.
Pentateuch on Sacrifice, iv. 6.
Not by Moses, iv. 7; vi. 11.
Perceptive Point, v. 30, 33.
Perfect Man, iv. 27, 29.
Perfect Way, Pref. R. E. ; i. 7 ;

ii. 47; vi. 24.
Perfection, iii. 54; vi. 6; vii. 5,

45; viii. 4, 7, 8, II, 38;

App. X.
Mount of, vii. 45, 47; ix. 9.
Original, viii. i.
System of, i. 2; ii. 5, 7.
See Christs.

Perisoul, or Astral Body, i. 9;

ii. 13, 18; iii. 4, 5.
Perseus, Pref.

Person of Microcosm, vi. 4;
ix. II.

in Godhead, ii. 29; v, 17.

in Trinity, v. 4; ix. 42.
Persona, v. 9; App. ii.
Personality, i. 32; iii. 32; v. 9,
11,^ 12, 17, 42, 43, n.; App.
viii., ix.
Personation of Spirits, iii. 25.
Peter, vii. 2^-

Catholic Tradition, i. 21.
Peter, Confession of, i. 20.
Phantasmagoria, iii. 28.
Phantasms, vii. 13.
Phantoms, v. 27, 35, Z^, Zl-

Death of, v. 38.
Pharaoh, vi. 6.
Pharisees, vi. 11.
Phenomena and Substance, ii.

5.
Incapable of Self-cognition,

V. 31.
Philistines, ix. 14.
Philo, iii. 33; ix. 24.
Philosopher's Stone, viii. 11;

ix. 14.
Phison, vi. 6, 14.
Pillar of Cloud and Fire, ix.

16; App. xii. (6).
Pindar, ii. 22; v. 35, n.
Plagiarists, Mystics not, ix. 29,

30.
Planes, Pref. R. E. vi\ i. 30;

iii. 56, 57.
Planet, Memory of, i. 16; ii.

18; V. 16, 17; vii. 7.
Astral Counterpart of, v. 39.

38o

INDEX.

Planet, Consciousness of, v. 17.
Soul of, V. 17, 39; App. X.

Planet-God, App. xii.

Planisphere, Zodiacal, vi. 36.

Plato, i. 38; iii. 33; vi. 24; vii.
41 ; ix. 24, 25.

Plurality of God, ix. 45.

Poet, ii. 27; App. ix.

Point of Consciousness, Ra-
diant, V. 23-26, 30.

Polarisation, v. 11; viii. 10, 18,
22; ix. 49.

Polarities, v. 33.

Pontius Pilate, iv. 9.

Pope, see Leo.

Popes, Signet of, v. 16, n.

Poseidon, iii. 16; ix. 16.

Positive Doctrine, ii. 5.

Possession, iii. 15.

Postel, Pref. R. E. xL

Potency, Divine, ix. 46; App.
xi.

Potentiality of Man, ii. i, 28,
29; iv. 31; vii. 10, 39; viii.
18; App. xii. 2.

Poverty, viii. 20.

Pralaya, v. 40.

,Prayer, iii. 49; App. xiii. 11,
46.

Prerogative of Men, Revela-
tion, i. 17.

Present Time a New Era, i.

55-
Presiding Spirits, iii. 34.
Priest and Prophet, iv. 7, 10.
Priesthoods, Error of, i. 22; iv.

5 ; vi. 28 ; vii. 19.
Principles, Separability of, v.

Prism, iii. 60; iv. 25.

Procession of Spirit, iii. 37;
ix. 45-
of Holy Ghost, ix. 43.
Proclus, ix. 17.
Procrustes, Pref. R. E. viii.
Prodigal Son, ii. 9.
Prometheus, vi. 19.
Prophecy, A, App. iii., Pt. 2.
Prophesying, On, App. iii. Pt.

Prophet, ii. 43; iii. 53; iv. 7,

10; vii. 49; App. iii.
Propitiation, iv. 9.
Protestantism and Woman, ix.

27.
Protoplast, V. 19.
Psyche, v. 4, 13, 25, 31.
Detachment of, v. 34.
Purgation, v. 13, 37, 38.
Purgatory, iii. 4, 8, 20.
Purification, iii. 16; ix, 53.
Purity, Condition of, as Means

to Salvation, vii. 18.
Pymander, i. 36; ix. 53.
Pyramid, iii. 37; vi. 2; vii. 55;

viii. 28.
Pythagoras, i. 38; ii. 46; viii.

48, 51.
Python, ii. 12; vi. 36.

Qualification of Writers, i. 4.
Queen's Chamber, viii. 28.

Rabbi Eliezer, i. 25.
Rabbinical Interpretation, vi.

12.
Race, Correspondence of, with

Individual, vii. 7.
Radiant Point, God as, v. 25.
Rahab, viii. 32; ix. 13.

INDEX.

381

Ram, ix. 13, 15.
Raphael, ix. 11.
Reality, Spiritual only, Pref.
R. E. viii, ix; vii. 10;
App. I.
Reason, Pure, Pref.; i. 23; vi.

27.
Reconciliation, iv. 16, 24.
Reconstruction, i. 56.
Redeemers, vii. 49-
Redemption, Pref. R. E. ix
ii. 10; iv. 31; vi. 20, 31, 38
vii. 26; viii. 2, 5, 6, 7, 41
App. vii. 24.
Reflection, iii. 33.
Reflective States, iii. Zi.
Reflects, iii. 25; ix. 7, n.
Reformation, ix. 27.
Refraction, iii. 33.
Regeneration, iii. 50, 53 ; v. 30 ;
vi. 24; viii. 12, 31, 43; ix.
7, n., S3.
Religion, Pref. R. E., i, in, vi ;
vii. 49; viii. 24.
Degenerate, i. 55/; vi. 25.
Historic, i. 43.
Keynote of, iv. 4.
Religion, Real, i. 48; ii- 12.
Renunciation, viii. 38, 50.
Representative Men, ii. 5.
Reservation of Jesus, i. 55^.
Rest, or Static Condition, i. 29.
Resurrection, Pref. R. E. ix;
vi. 2; viii. 8, 9, 10, 40, 52;
App. vii. 12.
Resuscitation, viii. 9-
Revealer, i. 7.
Reveilation, App. viii.
Revelation, Book of, vii. 19.
See also Apocalypse.

Proper Prerogative of Man,

i. 17; ii. 12; App. viii.
Rod, viii. 30; ix. 16; App. v.

40; xii. 97; xiv.
Rosary, viii. 20, 39.
Rosicrucian, iii. 34.
Round Table, viii. 44.
Ruach, Anima Bruta, v. 35, 37,

38, 40; App. ii.
Rudimentary Men, vi. 14; vii.

10.

Sabbath, iii. 54) vi. 2, 14, 16,

31; vii. 55; viii. 28; App.

V. 61 ; XV. (2).
Sacerdotal Interpolations, vi.

12.
Sacerdotalism, i. 55&; vii. 34,

41 ; viii. 26.
Sacrament of Eucharist, iv.

36, 37-
Sacramental Host, vi. 34; App.

V. 40.
Sacred Books, i. 43-
Sacrifice in Pentateuch, Isaiah,

Jeremiah, iv. 6.
Doctrine of, iv. 16; App. i. i.
Salamanders, iii. 34.
Salt, vi. 20; viii. 10.
Salvation, Pref. R. E. vii; i.

42; ii. 12; iii. II, 22; vii.

4, 5, 6, 18, 28; viii. 27.
Captain of, viii 4.
Sangreal, iv. 19; viii. ii.
Sapphire, vi. 4.
Sara, viii. 52, n. ; ix. 20, n.
Satan, iii. 13; Secret of, App.

XV.

Saturn, v. 37; App. xv., n.
Saturnalia, vi. 35.

3S2

INDEX.

Saving Faith, its Nature, i. 19.
Saviour, Pref . ; ii. 46; iv. 27;

vii. 18; viii. 18; App. xii.

(2).
Personal, iv. 27.
Scale, iii. 60.

Scandinavian Theology, v. 41.
Schefifler, i. 56; viii. 35.
Schelling, Pref. iii. 5.
Schwegler, ix. 34.
Science, i. 51.
Scripture, Mystic Sense of,

Pref. R. E. v; vii. 3-8; ix.

7, n. ; App. i., vi.
Sea of Bitterness, viii. 32.
Seasons in Spiritual Life, vii.

50.
Sects of Persia, iv. 12.
Segregation, v. 2.
Self, viii. 3; ix. 34, 51.
Self-consciousness, v. 28.
Selfhood, Pref. R, E. vi, viii;

V. 18, 43, n., 44; viii. 27;

App. ix.'
Self-propagation, iii. 32.
Sensation and Knowledge, i.

54; ii. 6; ix. 38.
Sensitive, iii. 19.
Sensitiveness, v. 29.
Separability of Principles, v.

33, 35-
Septimianus, vi. 35.
Sepulchre, viii. 26; App. xv.

(2).
Seraph, vi. 15, 31, 34.
Serpent, ii. 42; iv. 17, 28; vi.

13, 15, 22,25,34; vii. 5,26;

viii. 39.
Brazen, vi. 15.
Serpents, ix. 10.

Sesha, i. 29.
Seven Hills, vii. 31.

Spirits of God, ii. 32; ix. 44.
Sex, ii. 41; vii. 11, 13; ix. 8.
Shades, iii. 5, 19, 25.
Shechina, viii, 44.
Shiloh, vi. 39.
Shrine, App. viii.
Sideral Body, ii. 21.
Sight of God, i. 18; ix. i, 40,

41, 48, 51.
Sin, V. 14; vi, 19, 20; vii. 4, 22,
24, 51; viii. I, 47.

Nature of, App. iv.

Wilderness of, vi. 15.
Sinai, ix. 9.
Sinon, vi. 5; ix. 9.
Siva, ix. 52.

Six Crowns, viii. 28, 43.
Socrates, Daemon of, iii. 44.

and Re-incarnation, i. 38.
Sodium, ii. 35.

Sodom and Gomorrha, vi. 30.
Solar System, Man a, ix. 48.
Solemnisation, viii. 34, 40.
Son, ix. 42.

and Word, i. 30.

of God, viii. 44; ix. 5, 42, 53.

of Man, viii. 4, 26; ix. 53.
Sons of God, vi. 14; vii. 48.
Sophia, ii. 34; vi. 15; ix. 24.
Sorcery, iv. 12.

Soul, Pref. R. E. ix; i. 26;
ii. ; iiii. i ; iv. 4; v. 5, 7, 10,
11; vi. 4, 6; vii. i, 6, 13,
27; viii. I, 3; App. viii.
Soul and Spirit, v. 5-1 1; App.
V. (I).

Astral, V. 39, 41.

Breath of, iii. 27.

INDEX.

383

Condemnation of, i. 36.
Evolution of, i. 40; "• I3, 23.
Houses of Initiation of,

App. xii. (5).
Immortality of, i. 36; ii. 13.
Incarnation of, viii. 6.
in Plants and Animals, ii. 23.
Loss of, iii. 22.
Mediation of, i. 18.
Memory of, i. 6; iii. 30;

App. ii.
Migration of, i. 36, 37', "•

15; V. 41.
Monad of Divine Substance,

i. 30.
Nephesh, Lowest Mode of,

i. 40, n.
Perceptions and Recollec-
tions of, Pref. R. E. iii;

iii. 50; ix. 38.
Perfectibility of, i. 8.
Personal and Impersonal,

App. ii.
Pre-existence of, i. 8.
Previous Incarnations, i. 37,

38; ii. 24; vi. 10.
Progression of, i. 37.
Rational, iii. 55.
Reality of, Pref. R. E. iii.
Rebirths of, Pref. R. E. iii;

i. 7.

Redescends, iii. 21.

its Reflective Power, ii. 45.

Returns to New Bodies, i.

39.
Substance of, i. 8.
Universal, i. 40; ii. 44.
Souls, Communion of, App.

xiii. Pt. 2.

Passing through of, ix. 54;
App. xii. (3).

Spectral Companion, iv. 12.

Spectrum, ii. 35.

Spheres, iii. i, 5; vi. 34; ix.
48.

Sphinx, i. 41; ix. 19; App. vi. ;
xii. (6).

Spinoza, vi. 11.

Spirals, i. 34; App. xii. 3.

Spirit and Matter, i. 28; no
boundary line between, i.
34; V. 10, 11; App. vii. X.
and Soul, Difference be-
tween, V. 5-1 1 ; App. X.

(I).
Holy, ii. 18; iv. 31; vi. 22.
Descent of, i. 7.
of God, vii. 5, 15, 25, 26;
viii. 4, 5; App. iii. 9.
Spirits, iii. i, 23, 32.
Spiritualism, Astral and Celes-
tial, iii. 24; vii. 54.
and Materialism, ii. 4-12.
Stable, viii. 37.
Star of East, viii. 37; ix. 16;

App. xiv.
Stephen, ix. 53.
Stigmata, Five Wounds, iv. 24 ;

viii. 19.
Stones, i. 33; ix. 10, 14.
Subjective, Pref. R. E. vi; v.

31, 33-
Substance, i. 26, 2S; ii. 2, 29;

vii. 5, 10, 37; ix. 10, 43;

App. X.
Celestial, ii. 17.
Divine, i. 30; viii. 5, 46; ix.

46.
of Soul and Deity, i. 30.

384

INDEX.

Monads of, i. 30; ii. 29; ix.

46.
Suffering, viii. 4.
Sufi, i. 7 ; ix. 28.
Sun, ii. 46; iii. 52; vi. 2, 4, 15,
34, 37; App. 2.

Hieroglyph of God, iv. 27.
Sun of the Soul, iv. 27.

Worship of, i. 55&.
Sun-gods, ii. 46.
Superstition, vi. 27.
Swedenborg, ix. 6, 7, n.

Foremost Herald, ix. 7, n.
Synagogue, vi. 11.
Synthesis, v. 32.

Tabernacle, vi. 5 ; viii. 44, 48 ;

ix. 13.
Talents, Parable of, ii. 26.
Talmud, i. 25; vi. 10; ix. 20,

24.
Temple, vii. 30.
Services of, iv. 8.
Veil of, viii. 28.
Temptation, vi. 2, 13; viii. 28.
Tennant, viii. 50, n.
Testament, Old and New, iv.

8; vii. 6.
Theckla, ix. 22, n.
Theocracy, v. 23.
Theologia, i. 47.
Theosophy, v. 22; App. x. (i).
Thirteen, iii. 4; viii. 44; App.

V. 21.
Thirteenth Personage, viii. 44.
Thoth, V. 20; ix. II, 12, 13.

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