The Cry of the 3rd Aethyr1,
Which is Called ZON2
There is an angry light in the stone; now it is become clear.
In the centre is that minute point of light which is the true Sun, and in the circumference is the Emerald Snake. And joining them are the rays which are the plumes of Maat, and because the distance is infinite, therefore are they parallel from the circumference, although they diverge from the centre.
In all this is no voice and no motion.
And yet it seems that the great Snake feedeth upon the plumes of Truth as upon itself, so that it contracteth3. But ever so little as it contracteth, without it gloweth the golden rim, which is that minute point in the centre.
And all this is the sigil of the Aethyr, gold and azure and green. Yet also these are the Severities.
It is only in the first three Aethyrs that we find the pure essence, for all the other Aethyrs are but as Malkuth to complete these three triads, as hath before been said. And this being the second reflection, therefore is it the palace of two hundred and eighty judgments4.
For all these paths5 are in the course of the Flaming Sword from the side of Severity. And the other two paths are Zayin, which is a sword; and Shin, which is a tooth. These are then the five severities which are 280.
All this is communicated to the Seer interiorly.
"And the eye of His benignancy is closed. Let it not be opened upon the Aethyr, lest the severities be mitigated, and the house fall.6" Shall not the house fall, and the Dragon sink? Verily all things have been swallowed up in destruction; and Chaos hath opened his jaws and crushed the Universe as a Bacchanal crusheth a grape between her teeth. Shall not destruction swallow up destruction, and annihilation confound annihilation? Twenty and two are the mansions7 of the House of my Father, but there cometh an ox8 that shall set his forehead against the House, and it shall fall. For all these things are the toys of the Magician9 and the Maker of Illusions, that barreth the Understanding from the Crown.
O thou that hast beheld the City of the Pyramids, how shouldst thou behold the House of the Juggler10? For he is wisdom, and by wisdom hath he made the Worlds, and from that wisdom issue judgements 70 by 4, that are the 4 eyes of the double-headed one; that are the 4 devils, Satan, Lucifer, Leviathan, Belial, that are the great princes of the evil of the world11.
And Satan is worshipped by men under the name of Jesus; and Lucifer is worshipped by men under the name of Brahma; and Leviathan is worshipped by men under the name of Allah; and Belial is worshipped by men under the name of Buddha.
(This is the meaning of the passage in Liber Legis, Chap. III.)12
Moreover, there is Mary, a blasphemy against BABALON, for she hath shut herself up13; and therefore is she the Queen of all those wicked devils that walk upon the earth, those that thou sawest even as little black specks that stained the Heaven of Urania. And all these are the excrement of Choronzon.
And for this is BABALON under the power of the Magician, that she hath submitted herself unto the work; and she guardeth the Abyss14. And in her is a perfect purity of that which is above; yet she is sent as the Redeemer to them that are below. For there is no other way into the Supernal Mystery but through her, and the Beast on which she rideth; and the Magician is set beyond her to deceive the brothers of blackness, lest they should make unto themselves a crown15; for if there were two crowns, then should Ygdrasil, that ancient tree, be cast out into the Abyss, uprooted and cast down into the Outermost Abyss, and the Arcanum which is in the Adytum should be profaned; and the Ark should be touched, and the Lodge spied upon by them that are not masters, and the bread of the Sacrament should be the dung of Choronzon; and the wine of the Sacrament should be the water of Choronzon; and the incense should be dispersion; and the fire upon the Altar should be hate. But lift up thyself; stand, play the man, for behold! there shall be revealed unto thee the Great Terror, the thing of awe that hath no name.
And this is the mystery that I declare unto thee: that from the Crown itself spring the three great delusions; Aleph is madness, and Beth is falsehood, and Gimel is glamour16. And these three be greater than all, for they are beyond the words that I speak unto thee; how much more therefore are they beyond the words that thou transmittest unto men.
Behold! the Veil of the Aethyr sundereth, and is torn, like a sail by the breath of the tempest, and thou shalt see him as from afar off. This is that which is written, "Confound her understanding with darkness," for thou canst not speak this thing17.
It is the figure of the Magus of the Taro18; and in his right arm the torch of the flames blazing upwards; in his left the cup of poison, a cataract into Hell. And upon his head the evil talisman, blasphemy and blasphemy and blasphemy, in the form of a circle. That is the greatest blasphemy of all19. On his feet hath he the scythes and swords and sickles; daggers; knives; every sharp thing20, --- a millionfold, and all in one. And before him is the Table that is a Table of wickedness, and 42-fold Table. This Table is connected with the 42 Assessors of the Dead, for they are the Accursers, whom the soul must baffle; and with the 42-fold name of God, for this is the Mystery of Iniquity, that there was ever a beginning at all21. And this Magus casteth forth, by the might of his four weapons, veil after veil; a thousand shining colours, ripping and tearing the Aethyr, so that it is like jagged saws, or like broken teeth in the face of a young girl, or like disruption, or madness. There is a horrible grinding sound, maddening. This is the mill in which the Universal Substance, which is ether, was ground down into matter.
The Seer prayeth that a cloud may come between him and the sun, so that he may shut out the terror of the vision. And he is afire; he is terribly athirst; and no help can come to him, for the shew-stone blazeth ever with the fury and the torment and the blackness, and the stench of human flesh. The bowels of little children are torn out and thrust into his mouth, and a poison is dropped into his eyes. And Lilith22, a black monkey crawling with filth, running with open sores, an eye torn out, eaten of worms, her teeth rotten, her nose eaten away, her mouth a putrid mass of green slime, her dugs dropping and cancerous, clings to him, kisses him.
(Kill me! kill me!)23
There is a mocking voice: Thou art become immortal. Thou wouldst look upon the face of the Magician and thou hast not beheld him because of his Magick veils.
(Don't torture me!)
Thus are all they fallen into the power of Lilith, who have dared to look upon his face.
The shew-stone is all black and corrupt. O filth! filth! filth!
And this is her great blasphemy: that she hath taken the name of the First Aethyr24, and bound it on her brow, and added thereunto the shameless yod and the tau for the sign of the Cross.
She it is that squatteth upon the Crucifix, for the nastiness of her pleasure. So that they that worship Christ suck up her filth upon their tongues, and therefore their breaths stink25.
I was saved from that Horror by a black shining Triangle, with apex upwards26, that came upon the face of the sun.
And now the shew-stone is all clear and beautiful again.
The pure pale gold of a fair maiden's hair, and the green of her girdle, and the deep soft blue of her eyes.
Note. --- In this the gold is Kether, the blue is Chokmah, the green is Binah.
Thus she appeareth in the Aethyr, adorned with flowers and gems. It seems that she hath incarnated herself upon earth, and that she will appear manifest in a certain office in the Temple.
I have seen some picture like her face; I cannot think what picture. It is a piquant face, with smiling eyes and lips; the ears are small and pink, the complexion is fair, but not transparent; not as fair as one would expect from the hair and eyes. It is rather an impudent face, rather small, very pretty; the nose very slightly less than straight, well- proportioned, rather large nostrils. Full of vitality, the whole thing. Now very tall, rather slim and graceful; a good dancer.
There is another girl behind her, with sparkling eyes, mischievous, a smile showing beautiful white teeth; an ideal Spanish girl, but fair. Very vivacious. Only her head is visible, and now it is veiled by a black sun, casting forth dull rays of black and gold.
Then the disk of the sun is a pair of balances, held steady; and twined about the central pole of the balance is the little green poisonous snake, with a long forked tongue rapidly darting27.
And the Angel that hath spoken with me before, saith to me: The eye of His benignancy is opened; therefore veileth he thine eyes from the vision. Manfully hast thou endured; yet, hast thou been man, thou hadst not endured; and hadst thou been wholly that which thou art, thou shouldst have been caught up in the full vision that is unspeakable for Horror. And thou shouldst have beheld the face of the Magician that thou hast not been able to behold, - of him from whom issue forth the severities that are upon Malkuth, and his name is Misericordia Dei.
And because he is the dyad, thou mayest yet understand in two ways. Of first way, the Mercy of God is that Mercy which Jehovah showed to the Amalekites28; and the second way is utterly beyond thine understanding, for it is the upright, and thou knowest nothing but the averse, - until Wisdom shall inform thine Understanding, and upon the base of the Ultimate triangle arise the smooth point29.
Veil therefore thine eyes, for that thou canst not master the Aethyr, unless thy Mystery match Its Mystery. Seal up thy mouth also, for thou canst not master the voice of the Aethyr, save only by Silence.
And thou shalt give the sign of the Mother, for BABALON is thy fortress against the iniquity of the Abyss, for the iniquity of that which bindeth her unto the Crown30, and barreth her from the Crown; for not until thou art made one with CHAOS31 canst thou begin that last, that most terrible projection, the three-fold Regimen which alone constitutes the Great Work.
For Choronzon is as it were the shell or excrement of these three paths, and therefore is his head raised unto Dath, and therefore have the Black Brotherhood declared him to be the child of Wisdom and Understanding, who is but the bastard of the Svastika. And this is that which is written in the Holy Qabalah, concerning the Whirlpool and Leviathan, and the Great Stone32.
Thus long have I talked with thee in bidding thee depart, that the memory of the Aethyr might be dulled; for hadst thou come back suddenly into thy mortal frame, thou hadst fallen into madness or death. For the vision is not such that any may endure it.
But now thy sense is dull, and the shew-stone but a stone. Therefore awake, and give secretly and apart the sign of the Mother, and call four times upon the name of CHAOS33, that is the four-fold word that is equal to her seven-fold word. And then shalt thou purify thyself, and return into the World.
So I did that which was commanded me, and returned.
Biskra.
December 17, 1909. 9:30 - 11:30 a.m.