how the head of the dragon is but the tail of the Aethyr.
Many are they that have fought their way from mansion to mansion of the
Everlasting House and, beholding me, at last have returned to their villages declaring,
“Fearful is the aspect of the Mighty and Terrible One!”
Happy are they that have known me for whom I am, and glory unto him that hath made a gallery of my throat for
his arrow of truth.The Moon is his purity.
The Moon waneth.The Moon waneth.The Moon waneth.
For
in that Arrow is the Light of Truth that overwhelms the Light of the Sun whereby the Moon shineth. The Arrow is fledged with
the plumes of Ma’at that are the plumes of Amoun and the shaft is the phallus of Amoun the Concealed One and the barb
thereof is the star that thou sawest in the place where was No God.
Of
them that guarded the Arrow not one was found worthy to wield it and of them that worshipped there was not found one worthy
to behold the Arrow.That star that thou sawest was but the barb of the Arrow.But thou had not the wit to grasp the shaft, nor the purity to divine the plumes.Now therefore he is blessed that is born under the sign of the Arrow, and blessed
is he that hath the sigil of the head of the crowned Lion and the body of the Snake and the Arrow within.
Do
distinguish between the upward and the downward Arrows:
the
upward Arrow is straitened in its flight and it is a firm hand shoots it, for Jesod is Jod Tetragrammaton, and Jesod is a
hand; the downward Arrow is shot from the uppermost point of Jod and Jod is the Hermit Key V.The minute point is extended.
And
now I command thee that thou shall withdraw thyself from the Vision and, on the morrow, at the appointed hour, if thou will
it, if thou dare, shall it be given thee further as thou goest upon thy way.Thou
shall meditate upon the mystery and thou shall summon the Scribe, and that which shall be written shall be written.
Tomorrow return and press the Ankh to continue.
Therefore
I withdraw myself, as I am commanded.
THE READER IS ASKED TO WALK AWAY FOR AMOMENT OR A DAY,
THEN
RETURN IN A
STATE OF MEDITATION,
PREPARED TO BEHOLD A ViSION.
ANKH
———————
The Place is a Desert between Benshuru and Tolga,
December 12, 1909, midnight
“Now
then art thou approached unto an august Arcanum; verily thou art come unto an ancient Marvel, the Wingéd Light, the Fountains
of Fire, the Mystery of the Wedge.But it is not I that can reveal it, for I
have never been permitted to behold it and I am the watcher upon the threshold of the Aethyr.My message is accomplished and I withdraw myself, covering my face with my wings before the presence of the Angle of
the Aethyr.”
So
the Angel did depart with bowed head, folding his wings across.
And
there was a little child in a mist of blue light, with golden hair, a mass of curls and deep blue eyes.Yea, he is all golden, a living, vivid gold, and in each hand he holdeth a snake, in the right hand a red,
in the left a blue.And he has red sandals, but no garment.And he sayeth:
“Is
not Life a long initiation unto sorrow?And is not Isis the Lady of Sorrow?And She is my Mother; Nature is Her name and she hath a twin sister Nephthys, whose
name is Perfection.And Isis must be known of all, but of how few is Nephthys
known!Because she is dark, therefore, feared.
“But
thou who hast adored her without fear, who hast made thy Life an initiation into Her Mystery, thou that has neither mother
nor father, nor sister nor brother, nor wife nor child, who hast made thyself lonely as the hermit crab that is in the Waters
of the Great Sea, Behold!When the cymbals are shaken and the trumpets blare
forth the glory of Isis at the end of which is Silence — thou shalt commune with Nepthys.
“And
when you have known these, there are the Wings of Ma’at the Vulture.Thou
mayest draw to an head the bow of thy magical Will, thou mayest loose the shaft and pierce her to the heart.I am Eros!Take the bow and the quiver from my shoulders and
slay me.For unless you slay me, thou shalt not unveil the Mystery of the Aethyr.”
Therefore,
I did as he commanded; in the quiver were two arrows, one white, one black. Yet, I cannot force myself to fit an arrow to
the bow.And there came a voice:
“It
must needs be.”
“But,”
said I,” no man can do this thing!”
And the Voice answered as if it were an echo:
“Nemo hoc facere.” (Nobody said this was easy.)
Then
came Understanding to me.I took forth the Arrows.The white arrow had no barb but the black arrow was barbed like a forest of fishhooks and bound round with
brass and the barb had been dipped in deadly poison.I fitted the white arrow
to the string and I shot it against the heart of Eros yet, although I shot with all of my might, it fell harmlessly to his
side.And, at that very moment, the black arrow was thrust through mine own heart.I am filled with fearful agony.
The
child Eros smiles and says:
“Although
thy shaft hath pierced me not, although the envenomed barb hath struck thee through, yet I am slain and thou livest and triumphest!For I am Thou and Thou art I!”
Suddenly the child disappears and the Aethyr splits with a roar as of ten thousand thunders and, Behold! the
Arrow!It is the Ateph crown of Tahuti and the plumes of Ma'at are its crown,
set about a disc. There is the shaft of burning Light and beneath there is a silver wedge.I shudder and tremble at the vision for all about it are whorls and torrents of tempestuous Fire and the stars of Heaven
are caught in the ashes of the flame.And they are all dark.That which was a blazing sun is like a speck of ash.And,
in the midst, the Arrow burns!
I
see that the Crown of the Arrow is the Father of all Light and the shaft of the Arrow is the Father of all Life.The barb of the Arrow is the Father of all Love, for that silver wedge is like a lotus flower and the Eye
within the Ateph Crown crieth: “I watch.”
And
the shaft crieth: “I work.”
And
the barb crieth:“I wait.”
And
the voice of the Aethyr echoith:
“It
beams! It burns! It blooms!
As
I watch and listen in wonder there comes a strange thought. This Arrow is the source of all motion; it is infinite motion.
Yet it moveth not, so that there is no motion.Therefore, there is no Matter.
The
Arrow is the Eye of Shiva!Because it moveth not the Universe is not destroyed.The Universe is rushed forth then swallowed up in the quivering of the plumes of Ma’at
that are the plumes of the Arrow.But the plumes quiver not.And a Voice comes:
“That
which is above is not like that which is below.”
And
another Voice answers:
“That
which is below is not like that which is above.”
And
a third Voice answers these two:
“What
is above and what is below?It is the division that divideth not and the multiplication
that multiplieth not and the One is many!Behold!The Mystery is beyond comprehension, for the wingéd globe is the Crown and the shaft is the Wisdom and the barb is
the Understanding.And the Arrow is One! And thou art lost in the Mystery, who
are but a babe that is carried in the womb of its Mother, that art not ready for the Light.”
And
I am overwhelmed by the vision and it overcometh me; my sense is stunned, my sight is blasted; my hearing is dulled. And again
a Voice came:
“Thou
didst seek the remedy of sorrow, therefore, all sorrow is thy portion.This is
that which has been written, ‘God hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all.’For as thy blood is mingled in the Cup of BABALON, so is thine heart the Universal Heart.This heart is bound about with the Green Serpent, the Serpent of Delight!”
I
know it has been shown to me that this heart is the heart that rejoiceth and the Serpent is the serpent of Daäth who is Knowledge,
for herein all the symbols are interchangeable for each one containeth its own opposite.
This
is the Great Mystery of the Supernals above the Abyss.Below the Abyss contradiction
is division; above the Abyss, contradiction is Unity and nothing could be true except by virtue of the contradiction that
is contained in its self.
I would keep this forever because
so marvelous is the vision of the Arrow that I would never shut it out but, The Lords of Vision trouble the pool, the mind
of the Seer, and they are sending forth a wind that is a cloud of Angles and they beat the water with their little feet to
make waves on the pond.I see that they, the waves, are memories.
The seer hath no head for it is expanded into the Universe, a vast and silent sea crowned with the stars of
night yet, in the very midst of all this is The Arrow.
Then, memories, little images of things that were, foam upon the water.And there is a contest between the Vision and the memories.
I
prayed unto the Lords of Vision, saying, “O my Lords, take not away this wonder from my sight!”And they said:
“It
must needs be.Rejoice therefore if thou hast been permitted to behold, even
for a moment, this Arrow, so austere, so august.But the Vision is accomplished
and we have sent forth a great wind against thee.
“For
he who has refused it can not penetrate by force, nor by authority, for thou hast trampled it underfoot.Thou art berift of all but Understanding, O thou, who art no more than a little pile of dust.”
All
of the images rise up against me and constrain me so that the Aethyr is shut against me.Only the things of the mind and of the body are open to me.The shew-stone
is dull, for that which I did see therein is but a memory.
Thus ends the Vision and the Voice of the Arrow as recounted by The Master Therion.
