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 UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 LIBRARY
 
 THE PERFECT WAY 
 
 OR 
 
 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 
 
 f\ ^ ■''■>' ' ■ ■■ ■' 
 
 ^ D 4 D I)
 
 Copyright 1890, by J. W. Lovbll 
 
 Copyright 1901, by The M, P. Co. 
 
 Now Owned by 
 
 The M. p. & M. S. Co. 
 
 c etc t •- c 
 
 c c c , c
 
 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- 
 
 b
 
 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 
 
 c
 
 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.m ity 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 
 
 D
 
 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
 
 42 
 
 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. 
 
 B
 
 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- 
 
 F
 
 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 
 
 G
 
 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. 
 
 H
 
 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, 
 
 I
 
 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. 
 
 K
 
 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." 
 
 L
 
 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 
 
 M
 
 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 
 
 N
 
 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- 
 
 o
 
 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 
 
 P
 
 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 
 
 Q
 
 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 
 
 K
 
 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 
 
 5
 
 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- 
 
 T
 
 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, 
 
 U
 
 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.
 
 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. 
 
 Y
 
 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. 
 
 9. 
 
 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. 
 
 I. 
 
 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. 
 
 See also Hermes. 
 Thought, ix. II. 
 
 of God, viii. 5 ; ix. 46. 
 Tides, vii. 50. 
 
 Time of the End, App. vi. 
 Time, Times, and a Half, viii. 
 
 53. 
 Tradition, i. 55^. 
 Trainer of the Christs, viii. 12; 
 
 ix. II. 
 Transfiguration, viii. 48. 
 Transmigration of Souls, i. 36; 
 
 V. 41. 
 Transmigrations many, viii. 18. 
 Transmutation, iv. 25, 27; vi. 
 
 21; viii. 12, 43; App. V. 52; 
 
 vii. 13. 
 Tree of Divination of Good 
 
 and Evil, vi. S3- 
 of Life and Knowledge, vi. 
 
 8, 21, 25, 27, 35, 39; vii. 
 
 18; App. i. I. 
 of the Hesperides, vi. 36. 
 Trimurti, ix. 52. 
 Trinity, i. 30; v. 4; ix. 41, 42, 
 
 43, 45, 46, n. ; App. xi. 
 Trismegistus, i. 36. 
 Tablet of, why Emerald, v. 
 
 16, n. 
 Trithemius, Pref. R. E. xi. 
 Twelve Apostles, viii. 44. 
 Gates, viii. 19, 43. 
 Houses, viii. 43. 
 Twice-born, App. xii. (i). 
 Typhon, vi. 22. 
 
 Ultimates, iii. 2. 
 Understanding, ix. 11, 13, 16. 
 Unit and Cipher, ii. 41 ; ix. 42. 
 Unity, V. 32. 
 
 of Soul and Spirit, viii, 3. 
 Universal Medicine, viii. 11. 
 Universals, Pref. R. E. vi. 
 Universe, Consciousness of, v. 
 17.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 38s 
 
 Principle of, i. 11; ii. 29; 
 
 ix. 48. 
 Procession of, viii. 5. 
 Soul of, vi. 16. 
 Utopia, vii. 40. 
 
 Vampires, iii. 28. 
 Vegetable Diet, viii. 14. 
 Vehicles, Pref. R. E. vi.; iii. 
 
 32, 56; V. 22; vi. 2. 
 Veil, ii. 34; viii. 28; App. xiii., 
 
 Pt. I. 
 Venus, ii. 35; vi. i, 2; ix. 27, n. 
 
 Golden Book of, App. xiii. 
 Vestal Virgins, vi. 31. 
 Via Dolorosa, iv. 23 ; viii. 21, 
 Vibration, Universality of, v. 3. 
 Vicarious Bloodshed, ix. 24, 
 
 Redemption, viii. 2. 
 
 Sacrifice, iii. 30; ix. 22, 28. 
 Victories, Our Lady of, ii. 35. 
 Virgil, vii. 55. 
 Virgin, Celestial, vi. 2>^, 39. 
 
 Cultus of, V. 45. 
 
 Mary, ii. 35. 
 
 Soul, vii. 26; ix, 13, 53. 
 Virgo, V. 45; ix. 22. 
 Vishnu, ix. 52. 
 Vision of Adonai, ix. 47-52. 
 
 of the Astrals, iv. 14. 
 
 of the Three Veils, vii. 42. 
 Vital Spirits, iv. 12. 
 Vivisection, iii. 21; vii. 54; ix. 
 
 17. 
 Volatilisation of the Fixed, vi. 
 20. 
 
 Water, v. 14, 16; vii. 13, n. ; 
 viii. 28. 
 and the Spirit, v. 45 ; viii. 4, 30. 
 Waves, Spiritual, vii. 50. 
 
 Weigelius, Pref. R. E. vii. 
 Will, V. 12; vii. 40. 
 
 Central, viii. i, 3, 4; App. 
 
 iv. 15. 
 Wind and Flame, Spirit as, 
 
 App. 2. 
 Witches, iv. 12. 
 Within and Without, vii. 8, 44; 
 
 viii. 3, 15, 49; ix. 9; App. 
 
 iii. 2 ; V. 9, 10. 
 Within, Now and, ix. 54. 
 Witnesses, Two Apocalyptic, 
 
 iv. 22,', vii. 55; ix. 19. 
 Woman, ii. 34, 48; iii. 28; vi. 
 
 18, 38; vii. 12, 19, 30, 51, 
 
 53; viii. 44, 49, 5i ; ix. 20, 
 
 25, 38 ; App. i. I ; iii. Pt. 2 ; 
 
 xii. (2). 
 of Apocalypse, vi. 37. 
 Soul or Essential, ii. 44. 
 Temptation of by Serpent, 
 
 and of Man by Woman, 
 
 vi. 13- 
 Word, V. 4; vi. 9. 
 World, Exemplary, v. 21. 
 Worlds, One Law for all, v. 15. 
 of Form and Formless, App. 
 
 X,, XV. 
 
 Yakuts, iv. 12. 
 
 Year 1881, viii. 47. 
 
 Yes, Jesus as the divine, iv. 27. 
 
 Yezidis, iv. 12. 
 
 Zachariah, iv, 13. 
 
 Zeus, Pref, ix, ; ii. 21, 42; vi. 
 
 19; vii. 42. 
 Zodiac, ii. 46; vi, 40, 41; vii. 
 26; viii. 19, 43. 
 New Sign, App. vi. 
 Zoroaster, i. 44; ii, 46; viii. 50.
 
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