O child of Adam, this is the Tablet of Love. Meditate thereon, as the last of the triune G.o.d. In this Tablet lies the secret of suffering and pleasure. He who vibrates in pain will quiver in ecstacy. Only those who have agonized in h.e.l.l can thrill in Heaven.
PART II
Here beginneth Chapter 2 of the Second Part of the Book which is called "The Tablets of Aeth," wherein is transcribed the Second Trinity of the Planetary Rulers.
"Thou art called forth to this fair sacrifice For a draught of milk; with the Maruts Come hither, O Agni!
They who know the great sky, the Visve Devas without guile; with those Maruts Come hither, O Agni!
They who are brilliant, of awful shape, Powerful, and devourers of foes; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!
They who in heaven are enthroned as G.o.ds, In the light of the firmament; with the Maruts Come hither, O Agni!"
"Let us meditate on the adorable light of the Divine Rulers. May it guide our intellects."
TABLET THE FOURTH
The Moon
SYMBOL
NIGHT
A wonderful spider"s-web;
The web glitters in the faint moonlight against a dark background of blue; moon invisible; on the outside of web a star, in the center a spot of light, underneath a coffin filled with stones.
IV
REFLECTION
TABLET THE FOURTH
The web of life has caught the monad of the soul and thus incarnated the universe, for each soul incarnates its universe at birth, each one"s world being different, and peculiar unto himself. At the first breath, the young child polarizes his relations to stars and earth, and it is the affinity and repulsion which make his life experience. And the stars weave the web in their lines of s.e.xtile, square and trine, of opposition and conjunction, thus enveloping the monad in the Circle of Necessity.
Outside the star of the spirit, the Ego, shines clear, free from the entanglements of the web and unaffected by the magnetic glamour of the Moon. And lo! the coffin is filled with stones, a symbol of death and the Moon, which is but a casket of stones.
Therefore, little monad, caught in the tangle of the web of life and the glamour of earthly things, take heart, for, beyond all, is the star of your being. Call down the law of that star into yourself, and the web is broken and waves its tattered shreds in the breeze. The moonlight, the reflected light, pales as the Star-Sun of your being rises, and the moonlight of Earth gives place to the Sun-spheres of Ra.
O child of Adam! The beginning of sorrow is the dawn of spiritual life. The wise man rules the stars; the fools of Earth obey.
TABLET THE FIFTH
Mars
SYMBOL
An immense helmet on pedestal, across which a streak of lightning flashes; beside it a naked child painting pictures on the helmet; beneath, a broken sword.
V
REFLECTION
TABLET THE FIFTH
Can greater irony be shown than in this astral symbol. Mars is externally represented as a fierce warrior, awful to behold; the reality, a little child, painting toy pictures on the helmet, too big for his curly head. The lesson in this is indeed, that the pen is mightier than the sword; that the big and bl.u.s.tering helmet will become a plaything for the child. Soon, that the sword of bloodshed, rape, and ruin, will be broken and war relegated to the past, looked at, but, as pictures, painted with hideous reality by the childhood of the race.
The symbol also reveals the great executive forces of humanity, the child. The soul can paint, execute its ideas, its hopes and its fears in any color--the lurid red of blood, the black of ignorance and crime, or in the living light of beauty. All the same, it is the childhood of man painting its ideals in the material world.
O child of Adam, curb the anger of Mars, that thy painting may set the dove at liberty. Let the magic of thy soul transform the savage of the desert into the angel of mercy.
TABLET THE SIXTH
Jupiter
SYMBOL
A cave in the mountain side; a face like the sphinx comes out of the cave, there is a blackness behind it; it looks with upturned head to a light that is way beyond; it is a face that means something awful, a G.o.dlike defiance to the things that are.
VI
REFLECTION
TABLET THE SIXTH
Again we are impressed with the contrast of internal and external things. Jupiter, the symbol of authority, conservatism, church, and state, and the stability of human inst.i.tutions, and the things that are, as the things that are the best. But oh, how widely different the internal, the real Jupiter, that governing power of the spirit that hurls defiance at unjust authority, the cruelty and tyranny of the world. The soul sees the light beyond, and, emerging from the dark chasm of matter, knows the battle that must be fought against wrong. It is the awful--yea, terrible--symbol of defiance to G.o.ds and men who oppose its onward, upward march to the shining goal of light. Make way, then! Make way! For Earth has given birth to her giant son--the Spirit. For, listen closely, my friend, to the axiom of Immortality. What is soul? Not the spirit, mind you; not the deathless Ego, of which you at present, perchance, know absolutely nothing. Soul is mere memory; a scavenger in earthly states; and a gleaner, a hired help, in the fields of heaven; and to become immortal, there must be something more than soul as the result. It must take such a vital interest in its Lord"s work that, finally it becomes too valuable to lose, and must be taken into partnership, so to say. The Ego--Lord-- has found a valued servant, a trusted steward, after much seeking, and at once adopts it as its very own. And so the soul becomes heir to the heavenly estate and receives the immortal, vital principle of spiritual union, and awakes from the son of Earth a G.o.d-like being, free from the shackles of Time--a dweller in eternity. The soul must awake and realize the Deific atom around which it revolves before it is too late. Unless this is so, the seed of immortal life, sown in matter by the Ego, has not germinated, and it returns unfruitful and dies--it is an abortion. Many, many seeds never germinate. Many good orthodox, but animal-like lives, live, move, and die,--yes, die in very truth. Would to G.o.d I could make all mankind realize this awful, inconceivable privilege of life, that, Jupiter-like, they would turn and face the light.
O child of Adam! "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of G.o.d."
PART II
Here beginneth Chapter 3 of the Second Part of the Book which is called "The Tablets of Aeth," wherein the Third, and last, Trinity of the Planetary Rulers is faithfully transcribed.
"Thou hast entered the immeasurable regions. I am the Dweller of the Threshold. What wouldst thou with me? * * * Dost thou fear me? Am I not thy beloved? Is it not for me that thou bast rendered up the delights of thy race? Wouldst thou be wise? Mine is the wisdom of the countless ages. Kiss me, my mortal lover."
"Thus man pursues his weary calling, And wrings the hard life from the sky, While happiness unseen is falling Down from G.o.d"s bosom silently."
TABLET THE SEVENTH
Saturn
SYMBOL