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The Comte De Gabalis

By Abbé N. de Montfaucon de Villars

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Discourse II

 

HE Comte wished me to pass the entire night in prayer XIX, and the next morning at daybreak sent a note to say that he would be at my house at eight o'clock, and that, if agreeable to me, we would make an excursion together. I awaited XX him, he came, and after we had exchanged greetings, he said, "Let us go to some place where we may be alone, and where our interview cannot be interrupted."

I told him I thought Ruel a pleasant place and rather unfrequented. "Let us go there then," he replied. We got into the coach, and during the drive I kept studying my new Master. I have never in my life remarked in anyone so great a depth of contentment as was apparent in all that he said and did. His mind was more open and tranquil than it seemed possible for that of a sorcerer to be. His entire air was in nowise that of a man whose conscience reproaches him with black deeds; and I felt a marvellous impatience to have him enter upon the subject of our interview, for I could not comprehend how a man, seemingly so judicious and so perfect in every other way, could have let his mind become unbalanced by the visions to which I had perceived him to be subject on the preceding day. He discoursed divinely on political economy, and was enchanted to hear that I had read what Plato has written on this subject XXI. "Someday you will have greater need of all that than you imagine," he said, "And if we come to an agreement to-day, it is not impossible that you may in time put these sage maxims into practice."

We were just entering Ruel and went to the garden; but the Comte disdained to admire its beauties and made straight for the labyrinth.

Perceiving that we were as much alone as he could desire, he raised his hands and eyes to Heaven and cried aloud, "I praise the Eternal Wisdom for inspiring me to conceal from you none of her Ineffable Truths. How happy you will be, my Son, if she is gracious enough to put into your soul the resolutions which these High Mysteries require of you. Soon you will learn to command all Nature, God alone will be your Master, and only the Sages your equals. The Supreme Intelligences will glory in obeying your desires, the demons will not dare to be found where you are, your voice will make them tremble in the depths of the abyss, and all the Invisible Peoples who dwell in the four Elements will deem themselves happy to be the ministers of your pleasure. I worship Thee, oh mighty God XXII, because Thou hast crowned man with such great glory, and hast created him Sovereign Monarch of all the works of Thine hands. My Son," he added turning towards me, "do you feel within yourself that heroic ambition which is the infallible characteristic of the Children of Wisdom? Do you dare seek to serve God alone, and to master all that is not of God? Do you understand what it means to be a Man? And are you not weary of being a slave when you were born to a Sovereign? And if you have these noble thoughts which the map of your horoscope does not permit me to doubt, consider seriously whether you will have the courage and strength to renounce everything which might prove an obstacle to your attaining that eminence for which you were born."

He paused and looked at me fixedly, as if either awaiting my reply or seeking to read my heart.

From the beginning of his discourse I had greatly hoped that we should soon enter upon the subject of our interview, but at these last words I gave up all anticipation of doing so. The word 'renounce' frightened me, and I no longer doubted he was about to propose that I should renounce either Baptism or Paradise. So not knowing how to get out of the difficult situa- tion in which I found myself I said, "Renounce, Sir, is it necessary to renounce anything."

"It is absolutely necessary," he answered, "and truly, so vitally essential that it is the first thing required of one. I do not know whether you can make up your mind to it, but I know only too well that Wis- dom never dwells in a body subject to sin, even as she never enters a soul prepossessed by error or malice. The Sages will never admit you to their Order if you do not from this moment renounce one thing which can never go hand in hand with Wisdom. It is necessary," he added in a whisper bending close to my ear, "It is necessary to renounce all sensual relationships with women."

I burst out laughing at this absurd proposal. "Sir," I exclaimed, "You have let me off easily. I was expecting you to propose some extraordinary renunciation, but since you merely desire me to renounce women XXIII, that was done long ago. I am chaste enough, thank God! Nevertheless Sir, since Solomon was more of a Sage than I may ever be, and since all his Wisdom could not prevent his becoming corrupted, pray tell me how you gentlemen manage to do without the other sex XXIV? And why would it be inconvenient if, in the Philosopher's Paradise, every Adam should have his Eve?"

"You are asking me something very important," he replied, as if reflecting whether or not he should answer my question. " Since I see, however, that you disengage yourself without difficulty from the society of the fair sex, I will tell you one of the reasons which have compelled the Sages to exact this condition from their disciples. Forthwith you will perceive in what ignorance all men live who are not of our number."

When you have been enrolled among the Children of the Philosophers, and when your eyes have been strengthened XXV by the use of the very Holy Medecine, you will straightway discover that the Elements are inhabited by most perfect beings. Unhappy Adam's sin has deprived his unfortunate posterity of all knowledge of these beings and of all intercourse with them. The immense space which lies between Earth and Heaven has inhabitants far nobler than the birds and insects. These vast seas have far other hosts than those of the dolphins and whales; the depths of the earth are not for the moles alone; and the Element of Fire, nobler than the other three, was not created to remain useless and empty.

The air is full of an innumerable multitude of Peoples XXVI,whose faces are human, seemingly rather haughty, yet in reality tractable, great lovers of the sciences, cunning, obliging to the Sages, and enemies of fools and the ignorant. Their wives and daughters have a masculine beauty like that of the Amazons.

"Why, Sir," I ejaculated, "Do you mean to tell me that these hobgoblins are married?"

"Don't be upset by such a trifle, my Son," he rejoined, [paragraph continues]"Believe me, everything that I am telling you is sound and true. These are but the Elements of the ancient Cabala, and it only rests with you to verify my statements with your own eyes. Receive with a submissive spirit the Light which God sends you through my mediation. Forget all you may have heard on this subject in the schools of the ignorant, or later, when convinced by experience, you will have the sorrow of being compelled to own that you persisted stubbornly is in the wrong."

"Hear me to the end and know that the seas and rivers are inhabited as well as the air. The ancient Sages called this race of people Undines or Nymphs. There are very few males among them but a great "' number of females; their beauty is extreme, and the daughters of men are not to be compared to them.

The earth is filled well-nigh to its centre with Gnomes, people of slight stature, who are the guardians of treasures, minerals and precious stones. They are ingenious, friends of man and easy to govern. They furnish the Children of the Sages with all the money they require, and as the price of their service ask naught save the glory of being commanded. The Gnomides, their wives, are small but very amiable, and their dress is exceedingly curious.

As for the Salamanders, flaming dwellers of the Region XXVII of Fire, they serve the Philosophers, but do not seek their company eagerly, and their daughters and wives rarely show themselves."

"They do right," I interrupted, "And I had rather have their room than their company."

"Why so?" inquired the Comte.

"Why so, Sir?" I replied, "Who would care to converse with such an ugly beast as a Salamander, male or female?"

"You are mistaken," he rejoined, "that is merely the idea which ignorant painters and sculptors have of them. The Salamander women are beautiful, more beautiful even than any of the others, since they are of a purer Element. I had not intended to speak about them, and was passing briefly over the description of these Peoples since you will see them yourself at your leisure, and with ease if you have the curiosity to do so. You will see their dresses, their food, their manners, their customs and their admirable laws. The beauty of their intellects will charm you even more than that of their bodies, yet one cannot help pitying these unfortunates when they tell one that their souls are mortal, and that they have no hope whatever of eternal enjoyment of the Supreme Being, of Whom they have knowledge and Whom they worship reverently. They will tell you that they are composed of the purest portions of the Element in which they dwell, and that they have in them no impurities whatever, since they are made of but one Element. Therefore they die only after several centuries; but what is time in comparison with eternity? [paragraph continues]They must return for ever into nothingness. This thought grieves them deeply, and we have utmost difficulty in consoling them.

Our Fathers the Philosophers, when speaking with God face to face, complained to Him of the unhappiness of these Peoples, and God, whose mercy is boundless, revealed to them that it was not impossible to find a remedy for this evil. He inspired them to the realization that just as man, by the alliance which he has contracted with God, has been made a participant in Divinity, so the Sylphs, Gnomes, Nymphs, and Salamanders, by the alliance which they have it in their XXVIII power to contract with man, can become participants in immortality. Thus a Nymph or a Sylphid becomes immortal and capable of the Beatitude to which we aspire when she is so happy as to marry a Sage; and a Gnome or a Sylph ceases to be mortal the moment he espouses one of our daughters.

Thence sprang the error of the first centuries, of Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Lactantius, Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria, Athenagoras the Christian Philosopher, and of most writers of that period. They had learned that these Elementary Half-men sought the love of mortal maidens, and therefore imagined that the fall of the Angels had come about solely through their suffering themselves to be smitten with love for mortal women. Some Gnomes, desirous of becoming immortal, had sought to win the favour of our daughters by bringing them precious stones of which they are the natural guardians, and these authors believed, basing their conclusions upon the Book of Enoch XXIX which they did not understand, that these precious stones were snares laid by the enamoured Angels for the chastity of our women.

In the beginning these Sons of Heaven, being beloved by the daughters of men, engendered famous giants; and those indifferent Cabalists, Joseph and Philo, (of which almost all Jews are ignorant, *) and subsequently all the authors I have just mentioned, as well as Origen and Macrobius, said that they were Angels, not knowing that they were Sylphs and other Elementary Peoples, who under the name of the Children of Elohim are distinguished from the Children of Men. Likewise that point which the Sage Augustine modestly refrained from deciding as to the pursuit of the African women of his time by so called Fauns or Satyrs XXX; that also is cleared up by what I have just said concerning the desire to ally themselves with man which all Inhabitants of the Elements have, since such an alliance offers the only means whereby they may achieve the immortality to which they are not heirs.

Ah! Our Sages take care not to ascribete fall of the first Angels to their love for women, nor do they accord the Devil such power over man as would enable them to attribute to him all the amorous intrigues of the Nymphs and Sylphs wherewith the writings of historians abound. There was never anything criminal in it at all. They were Sylphs who were striving to become immortal. Far from scandalizing the Philosophers, their innocent pursuits appeared so justifiable to us that we have, with one accord, resolved altogether to renounce women and to apply ourselves solely to the immortalisation of the Nymphs and Sylphids."

"Oh God!" I protested, "What do I hear? To what extent does the f------"

"Yes, my Son," the Comte interrupted, "Marvel at the extent of the philosophical felicity. Instead of women, whose feeble allurements fade in a few days and are succeeded by horrible wrinkles, the Sages possess beauties who never grow old and whom they have the glory of rendering immortal. Imagine the love and gratitude of these invisible mistresses and the ardour wherewith they strive to please the charitable Philosopher who applies himself to their immortalisation."

"Ah! Sir," I once more exclaimed, "I renounce------"

"Yes, my Son," he continued as before without giving me an opportunity to finish, "renounce all futile and insipid pleasures such as one finds in the society of women; the fairest of them all is horrible beside the most insignificant Sylphid. No revulsion ever follows our wise love making. Wretched ignoramuses! How greatly you are to be pitied for your inability to taste the pleasures of the Philosophers!"

"Wretched Comte de GABALIS! " I exclaimed with mingled wrath and compassion, "Will you let me tell you, once for all, that I renounce this insane Wisdom XXXI, that I find this visionary Philosophy absurd, that I abhor these abominable embracings of phantoms, and that I tremble for you lest one of your pretended Sylphids should suddenly carry you off to Hell in the midst of your transports, fearing that so good a man as you might at length perceive the madness of this chimerical ardour, and repent so great a crime."

"Oh! ho!" he answered, recoiling three steps and looking at me with wrathful eyes, "Woe to you intractable spirit that you are!"

His behaviour frightened me I confess, but what was infinitely worse, as he went away from me, I saw him take a paper from his pocket. I caught a glimpse of it from a distance and perceived it to be covered with characters which I could not quite make out. He read it attentively, seemed vexed, and kept muttering to himself. I believed that he was evoking spirits to compass my ruin, and I somewhat repented my rash zeal. "If I escape from this adventure," I kept saying to myself, "No more Cabalists for me!" I was keeping my eyes fixed upon him as on a judge about to condemn me to death, when I saw his countenance regain its serenity.

"It is hard for you to kick against the pricks," he said, smiling and rejoining me. "You are a chosen vessel, Heaven has destined you to be the greatest [paragraph continues]Cabalist of your time. Here is the map of your horoscope which cannot be at fault. If it does not come to pass now and through my mediation, it will at the good pleasure of your retrogade Saturn."

"Ah! If I am to become a Sage," said I, "It will never be save through the mediation of the Great GABALIS; but to be plain with you, I sadly fear that you will find it hard to bend me to this philosophic love making."

"Can it be," he replied, "that you are such a poor Natural Philosopher as not to be persuaded of the existence of these Peoples?"

"I hardly know," I answered, "But I think that I should always fancy them to be merely hobgoblins in disguise."

"And will you ever believe more implicitly in the nurse of your childhood than in your native reason, than in Plato, Pythagoras, Celsus, Psellus, Proclus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Plotinus, Trismegistus, Nollius, Dornée, Fludd; than in Great Philip Aureolus, Theophrastus Bombast, Paracelsus of Hohenheim, and all the members of our Order!"

"I would believe you Sir," I responded, "As much and more than all of them; but, my dear Sir, could you not arrange with your Fellow Initiates that I should not be compelled to devote myself to these young ladies of the Elements?"

"Alas!" he answered, "You are undoubtedly a free agent, and one does not love unless one wishes to do so. Few Sages, however, have been able to resist their charms. Nevertheless, there have been some who have reserved themselves wholly for greater things XXXII, (as you will in time know), and who have not been willing to do the Nymphs this honour."

"Then I will be of their number," I replied, "As I should never be willing to waste time in the ceremonies which, I have heard a certain prelate say, one must practise in order to hold communion with such spirits."

"That prelate did not know what he was talking about," said the Comte, "For you will one day see that these are not spirits, and furthermore no Sage ever makes use either of ceremonies or of superstitious rites to get into touch with spirits, any more than he does in order to commune with the Peoples of whom we are speaking."

"The Cabalist acts solely according to the principles of Nature; and if strange words, symbols and circumlocutions XXXIII are sometimes found in our books, they are only used to conceal the principles of Natural Philosophy from the ignorant. Admire the simplicity of Nature in all her marvellous works! And in this simplicity a harmony and concert so great, so exact, and so essential that it will compel you, in spite of yourself, to relinquish your idle fancies. What I am about to tell you, we teach those, of our disciples whom we are not willing unreservedly to admit into the Sanctuary of Nature; yet whom we in no wise wish to deprive of the society of the Elementary Peoples because of the compassion which we have for these same Peoples."

"As you may perhaps already have grasped, the Salamanders are composed of the most subtile portions of the Sphere of Fire, fused together and organised by! the action of the Universal Fire, of which I will discourse to you some day. It is called the Universal Fire  XXXIV because it is the inherent cause of every movement in Nature."

"Likewise the Sylphs are composed of the purest atoms of the Air, the Nymphs of the most subtile essences of the Water, and the Gnomes of the finest particles of the Earth. Adam was closely related to these perfect creatures, for being created out of all that was purest in the four Elements, he combined in himself the perfections of these four races of Peoples and was their natural King. As you will learn later, however, the moment his sin had precipitated him into the dregs of the Elements, the harmony was disturbed and there could no longer be any relation between him, gross and impure as he had become, and these pure and subtile beings. How remedy this evil? How restring the lute and recover that lost sovereignty? Oh Nature! Why art thou so little studied? Do you not understand, my Son, how easy Nature finds it to restore to man the estate which he has lost?" "Alas! Sir," I answered, "I am very ignorant concerning all these facilities of Nature to which you refer."

"Nevertheless it is exceedingly easy to become well informed about them," he rejoined. "If we wish to recover empire over the Salamanders, we must purify and exalt the Element of Fire which is in us, and raise the pitch of that relaxed string. We have only to concentrate the Fire of the World in a globe of crystal XXXV, by means of concave mirrors; and this is the art which all the ancients religiously concealed, and which the divine Theophrastus discovered. A Solar Powder is formed in this globe, which being purified in itself and freed from any admixture of the other Elements, and being prepared according to the Art, becomes in a very short time supremely fitted to exalt the Fire XXXVI which is in us, and to make us become, as it were, of an igneous nature. Thereafter the Inhabitants of the Sphere of Fire are our inferiors, and enraptured to see our mutual harmony re-established, and that we are again drawing near to them, they have as much-friendship for us as for their own kindred, and all the respect which they owe to the image and lieutenant of their Creator. They pay us every attention they can bethink themselves of, through their desire to obtain from us the immortality which they do not possess."

"It is true that they live a very long time, since they are more subtile than the people of the other Elements; hence they are in no hurry to exact immortality from the Sages. If the aversion you have evinced should prove lasting, my Son, you might be able to adapt yourself to a Salamander, perhaps it would never speak to you of that which you so greatly fear. It would not be thus with the Sylphs, Gnomes, and Nymphs. As they live for less time, they have more to do with us, so their familiarity is easier to obtain."

"One has only to seal a goblet full of compressed Air, XXXVII Water, or Earth and to leave it exposed to the Sun for a month. Then separate the Elements scientifically, which is particularly easy to do with Water and Earth. It is marvellous what a magnet for attracting Nymphs, Sylphs, and Gnomes, each one of these purified Elements is. After taking the smallest possible quantity every day for some months, one sees in the air the flying Commonwealth of the Sylphs, the Nymphs come in crowds to the shores, the Guardians of the Treasures parade their riches. Thus, without symbols, without ceremonies, without barbaric words, one becomes ruler over these Peoples. They exact no worship whatever from the Sage, whose superiority to themselves they fully recognise. Thus venerable Nature teaches her children to repair the elements by means of the Elements. Thus harmony is re-established. Thus man recovers his natural empire, and can do all things in the Elements without the Devil, and without Black Art. Thus you see my Son, the Sages are more innocent than you imagined. Have you no answer to make me?" "I marvel at you, Sir," said I, "And I am beginning to fear lest you should make me into a distiller." *

"Ah! God forbid, my child," he exclaimed, "Your horoscope does not destine you for such nonsense as that. On the contrary, I forbid you to trifle away your time over it. I have told you that the Sages only teach such things to those whom they have no wish to admit to their company. You will have all these, and infinitely more glorious and more desirable advantages, through Philosophic Procedures XXXVIII which are quite different in character. I have only described these methods to make you see the innocence of this Philosophy and to allay your panic terrors XXXIX."

"Thanks be to God, Sir," I answered, "I no longer have so much fear as I had this afternoon. And although I have not yet made up my mind to this arrangement with the Salamanders which you propose, I cannot help being curious to learn how you have discovered that the Nymphs and Sylphs die."

"Verily," he replied, "They tell us so, and moreover we actually see them die."

"How is it possible you can see them die," I questioned, "when your alliance renders them immortal?

"That would be a point well made," said he, "if the number of Sages equalled the number of these Peoples; besides, there are many among them who prefer to die rather than run the risk of becoming immortal, and of being as unhappy as they see the demons to be. It is the Devil who inspires these sentiments in them, for he leaves no stone unturned to prevent these poor creatures from becoming immortal through alliance with us. So that I regard this aversion of yours, my Son, as a very pernicious temptation and a most uncharitable impulse, and you ought so to regard it. Furthermore, as to the death of the Nymphs and Sylphs, of which you speak; who compelled the Oracle of Apollo to say, as Porphyry reports, that all those who used to speak through the Oracles were mortal like himself? And what,. think you, was the significance of that cry, which was heard throughout the coasts of Italy, and which struck such terror into the hearts of all who chanced to be upon the sea? 'THE GREAT PAN IS DEAD.' It was the People of the Air who were announcing to the People of the Waters that the chief and oldest of the Sylphs had just died."

"It seems to me," I remarked," that at the time that cry was heard the world was worshipping Pan and the Nymphs. Were then these gentlemen, whose fellowship you extol to me, the false gods of the Pagans?"

"That is true, my Son," he answered. "The Sages are far from believing that the Devil ever had power to make himself worshipped. He is too wretched and too weak ever to have had such pleasure and authority. But he has had power to persuade these Hosts of the Elements to show themselves to men, and to cause temples to be erected in their honour; and by virtue of the natural dominion which each one of these Peoples has over the Element in which it dwells, they kept troubling the air and the sea, shaking the earth and scattering the fire of heaven at their own good pleasure. Thus they had little difficulty in causing themselves to be mistaken for divinities so long as the Sovereign Being neglected the salvation of the nations. Yet the Devil did not derive from his mischief all the advantage he had hoped. For from that time it chanced that as Pan XL, the Nymphs, and other Elementary Peoples had found a means of exchanging this traffic in worship for a traffic in love, (you must needs remember that, among the ancients, Pan was held to be the king of the so-called incubus gods who ardently courted maidens), many of the Pagans escaped from the Devil, and will not burn in Hell."

"1 do not understand you, Sir," I replied.

"You take pains not to understand me," he continued mirthfully and in a mocking tone. "This is beyond your comprehension and would likewise be beyond that of all your doctors, for they have no idea. as to what glorious Natural Philosophy is. Here is the great mystery of all that part of Philosophy which has to do with the Elements, and which, if you have any self esteem, will surely remove the very unphilosophic repugnance which you have been evincing all day long." "Know then, my Son, and be in no hurry to divulge this great Arcane to any unworthy ignoramus--know, that even as the Sylphs acquire an immortal soul through the alliance which they contract with men who are predestined: so men who have no right whatever to eternal glory, those unfortunates for whom immortality is but a fatal advantage, for whom the Messiah was not sent."

"You gentlemen of the Cabala are Jansenists XLI then?" I interposed.

"We do not know what Jansenism is my child," he answered brusquely, "and we scorn to inform ourselves as to wherein consist the differences in the various sects XLII and religions wherewith the ignorant are infatuated. We ourselves hold to the ancient religion of our Fathers the Philosophers, concerning which I must one day instruct you. But to resume the thread of our discourse, those men whose melancholy immortality would be but an eternal misfortune, those unhappy children whom the Sovereign Father has neglected, have still the resource of becoming mortal by allying themselves with the Elementary Peoples. Thus you see the Sages run no hazard as to Eternity; if predestined they have the pleasure on quitting the prison of this body, of leading to Heaven the Sylphid or Nymph whom they have immortalised. On the other hand, if not predestined, marriage with the Sylphid renders their soul mortal and delivers them from the horror of the second death XLIII. Thus the Devil beheld all those Pagans who had allied themselves with Nymphs escaping his clutches. Thus the Sages, or the friends of the Sages, to whom God inspires us to communicate any one of the four Elementary Secrets, which I have well nigh taught you, may be set free from the peril of damnation."

"Truth to tell," I exclaimed, not daring to put him into a bad humour again, and deeming it expedient to postpone fully telling him my sentiments until he should have revealed to me all the secrets of his Cabala which, from this sample, I judged to be exceedingly odd and recreative; " truth to tell, you carry wisdom to very great lengths, and you were right in saying that this would be beyond the comprehension of all our doctors. I even believe that it would be beyond the comprehension of all our magistrates as well, and that if they could discover who these people are who escape the Devil by this method, as ignorance is ever unjust, they would take sides with the Devil against these fugitives and would use them ill."

"For that reason," said the Comte, "I have enjoined secrecy upon you, and I solemnly adjure you to maintain it. Your Judges are strange folk! They condemn a most innocent action as being the basest of crimes. What barbarism it was to condemn those two priests, whom the Prince de la Mirande knew, to be burned, each of whom had had his Sylphid for the space of forty years. What inhumanity it was to condemn to death Jeanne Hervillier, who had laboured to immortalise a Gnome for thirty six years. And what ignorance on the part of Bodin XLIV to call her a sorceress, and to make her amorous intrigues a justification of the popular misconception regarding the so called sorcerers, In a book as extravagant as his Republic is rational."

"But it is late, and I am unmindful of the fact that you have not yet dined."

"You are speaking for yourself, Sir," said I, "for my part I could listen to you until to morrow without inconvenience."

"Ah! as for myself," he rejoined, smiling and walking towards the gate, "evidently you do not in the least know what Philosophy is. The Sages only eat for pleasure XLV and never from necessity."

"I had quite the opposite idea of Sageness," I replied, I supposed that the Sage should only eat to satisfy necessity."

"You are mistaken," said the Comte, "How long do you think we Sages can go without eating?"

"How should I know?" said I, Moses and Elias XLVI fasted forty days, no doubt you Sages fast for some days less."

"What a mighty endeavour that would be! " he answered, "The most learned man who ever lived, the divine, the almost to be worshipped Paracelsus affirms that he has seen many Sages who have fasted for twenty years without eating anything whatsoever. He himself, before being acknowledged Monarch of the Empire of Wisdom, whose sceptre we have justly accorded him, was pleased to essay living for several years by taking only one half scrupule of Solar Quintessence. And if you wish to have the pleasure of making any one live without eating, you have only to prepare the earth XLVII as I have indicated that it may be prepared for the purpose of securing the partnership of the Gnomes. This Earth applied to the navel, and renewed when it is too dry, makes it possible for one to dispense with eating and drinking without the slightest inconvenience whatever, even as the veracious Paracelsus relates that he himself demonstrated during six months."

"But the use of the Catholic Cabalistic Medicine liberates us in the very best way from the importunate necessities to which Nature subjects the ignorant. We eat only when it pleases us to do so, and every superfluity
of food vanishes by unconscious transpiration,
we are never ashamed of being men. Then
he fell silent, perceiving that we were
within hearing of our servants,
and we went to the village to
take a slender repast, as
is the custom of
the Heroes of
Philosophy
"
.

Footnotes
21:XIX  PASS THE ENTIRE NIGHT IN PRAYER.--It is a tradition that the aspirant should pass the night before Initiation in prayer. Hence the Knight of the Grail prayed and kept vigil over his armour (his lower nature and mind) prior to receiving the golden spurs, symbols of the Sun and Divine Illumination.

21:XX EXCURSION.--When the disciple leaves his physical body in full consciousness for the first time, he is usually accompanied by his Master. Thus Swedenborg, in a passage which prefaced his work on the astral regions, says that "his first astral flight was guided by, an angel." The emphasis laid upon solitude and freedom from interruption would indicate that this event is about to take place, and the solemnity and mantric value of the Comte's charge to the Abbé on reaching the spot chosen for their interview as well as the character of the instruction given tends to confirm this statement. For this experience in a disciple's training is made the occasion for teaching him through observation many truths regarding superphysical beings and states of consciousness. Henceforward he is able to leave and to enter his body at will and with an ever increasing freedom, until gradually the experiences while out of the body become as real and continuous as those in the flesh. Thus the great Initiate St. Paul says, "And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the . body, I cannot tell: God knoweth)."--II. CORINTHIANS,

CHAPTER xii., 3. Proof that St. Paul was an Initiate and a Cabalist is found in I. Corinthians, chapter ii., 6--8. Authority for this Statement. Note F, Commentary Continued.

23:XXI  PLATO. HIS PLACE AS A PHILOSOPHER, PLATO MEETS HIS MASTER. NOTE G, COMMENTARY CONTINUED.

25:XXII 

I WORSHIP THEE, O MIGHTY GOD.

"God" is the rendering in the English versions of the Hebrew "El," "Eloah," and "Elohim." 1 "El" does not signify Deus (God) but Sol (Sun)." 2 "The word El ought to be written Al. In the original it is AL and this word means the God Mithra, the Sun, as the Preserver and Saviour." 3 Since the word translated God in the first chapter of Genesis is 'Elohim', the majestic plural form of El, the Sun, translatable as 'MIGHTY SUN' 4 and since we read that "Elohim made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, he made the stars also." GENESIS, I, 16. ELOHIM (GOD) IS SEEN TO BE THE PARENT OF THE SUN OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM, KNOWN TO OCCULTISTS AS THE SUN BEHIND THE SUN. AS MAN IS INFORMED BY AN INVISIBLE SOLAR OR SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE, IN LIKE MANNER THE MANIFESTED UNIVERSE IN ANIMATED BY AN INVISIBLE OR SPIRITUAL LIGHT.

The identity of the God of the .Mohammedans with the God of the Hebrews and Christians, and of the inner truth of these religions, is indicated by the fact that the word Elohim or MIGHTY SUN written in Arabic with the article means Allah, God Manifesting in Nature, the Undefinable, the Beginning, and the End. "He is the Lord of Sirus." (The Dog Star), Koran Sura, liii, The Star.

25:1 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA.

25:2 SIR W. DRUMMOND. OEDIPUS JUDAICUS, PAGE 270.

25:3 GODFREY HIGGINS. THE ANACALYPSIS, VOL. I, PAGE 71.

25:4 GENSENIUS' HEBREW GRAMMAR, PAGE 398. NOTE 2.

27:XXIII  "CHASTITY is the obedience of the body to the the desire of the soul subservient to the Divine Will."

27:XXIV PHILOSOPHIC BALANCE.--A Philosopher is able to balance the sex nature autodynamically through knowledge of the Law governing Solar Force.

29:XXV  WHEN YOUR EYES HAVE BEEN STRENGTHENED.--A ganglion of the sympathetic nervous system, known as the pineal gland, is situated in the brain directly posterior to the extremity of the third ventricle. " From its broad anterior end two white bands pass forward, one on the inner side of each optic thalamus." When through the use of the Holy Catholic Medecine (government of Solar Force) the pineal gland is regenerated, it endows man with superphysical or seer vision.

29:XXVI THE PEOPLE OF THE ELEMENTS.--Man's consciousness is limited in direct proportion to the development of his senses of perception. Man has within himself, in the sympathetic and cerebro spinal nervous systems, minor brain centres. When, by purity oflife and thought and the right use of Solar Force, man awakens and energises these centres, he is able to penetrate into other states of being and discovers himself to be living in a world teeming with intelligences and entities existing in certain well defined realms of consciousness hitherto unknown and unperceived by him.

Paracelsus sheds light upon the method whereby man may make acquaintance with the Peoples of the Elements when he says, "We come to the conclusion then that all the Elements are not joined together, but that they are altogether aerial, or igneous, or terrestial, or aquaeous solely and without admixture. This also is settled that every Element nourishes itself, or does that which is in it, or its world." For when those centres in man which are intimately related to the distribution of the essences which nourish the Earth, Air, Water and Fire bodies, or vestures of man's spirit, have been regenerated, man is enabled to attain ranges of consciousness co-extensive with those of the four races of beings inhabiting the essences of these four Elements, since the Peoples of the Air, "the Dwellers in the Earth, the Nymphs, the Undines, and the Salamanders, receive their long life in an alien essence." Their bodies are built up of those finer materials which interpenetrate gross matter and its interspaces, even as man's own finer bodies are thus built up.

When speaking of the four Elements, their range of vibration in matter is meant. Obviously visible and transitory flame cannot be the habitat of a long lived race. Yet the Element of Fire, or its rate of vibration, interpenetrates every manifestation of Nature, even the grossest, as the finding of radium in pitchblend evidences, and in this clearly defined range of vibration a race of intelligences highly differentiated and evolved has its being. The essences of the Earth, Air and Water are also filled with conscious and appropriate life. If man will purify his body, emotions and mind he may, through knowledge of the Law governing Solar Force and the regeneration of certain minor brain centres, enter into a harmonious relationship with these People of the Elements.

31:XXVII p. 34 BENVENUTO CELLINI SEES A SALAMANDER. NOTE H, COMMENTARY CONTINUED.

35:XXVIII p. 36 ALLIANCE.--Although the author multiplies instances of marriages which have actually taken place between human and Elemental or superphysical beings, yet the reader will perceive the discrepancy between such relationships and the philosophic tenet of chastity upon which so much emphasis is laid. Nevertheless a real, though pure, relationship exists between every true Philosopher and the People of the Elements and is the mystical marriage to which the Comte refers.

As a general has lieutenants and armies at his command, so the Philosopher, a general 'in the liberation war of humanity,' has many helpers among the People of the Elements. Their duties are various. Some are messengers going to great distances to secure and deliver information, others are protesfive powers keeping at bay disturbing forces operative upon their own planes of consciousness.

All consciousness is matter played upon by force, the higher the level of consciousness the more subtle the matter and the more refined the vibration. As on the physical plane, so on the superphysical planes, when two centres each vibrating at a different rate meet, a balance is struck and a mean vibration results. The true Philosopher or Initiate is a highly dynamic centre of divine consciousness, and all less evolved entities and souls contasfing this centre have their own level of consciousness raised in consequence. Thus a Gnome or Sylph, Nymph or Salamander, by alliance with a Philosopher p. 38 for the service of God and man, evolves through the stimulation of this constant associationship into immortality. The Law is that REALISATION OF IMMORTALITY (PERMANENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS) IS IN DIRECT PROPORTION TO THE RATE OF VIBRATION AND IN INVERSE PROPORTION TO THE DENSITY OF THE MEDIUM.

CAUSE OF THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS:--The solar force, or life giving principle interpenetrates all matter and playing perpetually upon it causes different rates of vibration in its different densities. The more subtle the matter, the less the resistance to this force and the higher the vibration and resultant conscibusness. The evolution of consciousness is caused by the play of the life giving force or universal mind in matter.

37:* Of the Cabalistic Wisdom.

37:XXIX BOOK OF ENOCH. NOTE I, COMMENTARY CONTINUED.

37:XXX ST. AUGUSTINE ON FAUNS AND SATYRS. DE CIVITATE DEI BOOK XV, CHAPTER XXIII.

41:XXXI p. 42 WISDOM OF THE SERPENT.--The Wisdom which the Comte hints at and which the Abbé here renounces is the Wisdom of the Serpent, the knowledge resulting from government of the Serpent Fire or Solar Force.

"The Earth derives from the Sun not merely light and heat, but, by transformation of these, almost every form of energy manifest upon it; the energy of the growth of plants, the vital energy of animals, are only the energy received from the Sun changed in its expression." * A supreme manifestation of this vital or solar energy upon the physical plane is found in the sympathetic and cerebro spinal nervous systems of man and its voltage can there be raised into that Super-Sensible Energy, the instrument which the soul of man uses to built up its deathless Solar or Spiritual Body.

The unfoldment of the supersensible or spiritual nature of man is but the progressive manifestation in him of that vital energy derived from the Sun and its Divine Source, known throughout the ages as the Solar Force or Serpent and proceeding from the Creator of the Sun and Worlds, the Great Architect of the Universe. " By His spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent. Lo, these are parts of His ways: but how little a portion is heard of Him? but the thunder of His power who can understand?" Job xxvi, 13, 14. THE SOLAR FORCE IS THE SERPENT IN THE ANCIENT SYMBOL OF THE EGG AND THE SERPENT. NOTE J, COMMENTARY CONTINUED.

41:* E. WALTER MAUNDER, F.R.A.S., THE SCIENCE OF THE STARS. PAGE 75. THE PEOPLE'S BOOKS. 42

45:XXXII p. 46 THOSE RESERVED FOR GREATER THINGS. NOTE K, COMMENTARY CONTINUED.

45:XXXIII CIRCUMLOCUTIONS.--"Every time you find in our books a tale, the reality of which seems impossible, a story which repugnant both to reason and common sense, then be sure that tale contains a profound allegory veiling a deeply mysterious truth; and the greater the absurdity of the letter the deeper the wisdom of the spirit." RABBI MOSES MAIMONIDES.

47:XXXIV p. 48 THE UNIVERSAL FIRE OR SOLAR FORCE.--"IS the Paraklete, the light of the Logos, which in energizing becomes what may be described as living, conscious electricity, of incredible voltage and hardly comparable to the form of electricity known to the physicist." THIS FORCE CAN BE GOVERNED BY MAN, AND WHEN GOVERNED IS THE INSTRUMENT WHICH THE SOUL USES TO BUILD UP MAN'S SOLAR OR SPIRITUAL BODY.

The Paraclete or Super Solar Force (The Force of the Sun behind the Sun), Solar Force (the Force of the Sun), and Lunar Force (the Force of the Moon) are all termed Solar Force in this book.

"The material of the Philosopher's Stone is nothing else but Sun and Moon." PARACELSUS.

"The Sun and the Moon are the roots of this Art." HERMES TRISMEGISTUS.

49:XXXV p. 50 GLOBE OF CRYSTAL.--TO the Seer, man appears surrounded by an oviform luminous mist or globe of crystal. This luminosity of the finer bodies is the manifestation of the emotions and thoughts of the individual. It is termed the aura and interpenetrates the physical body, being present during life and withdrawn at death. Dr. W. J. Kilner in his book "The Human Atmosphere" describes a method whereby persons having ordinary vision are enabled to see this aura.

49:XXXVI EXALT THE ELEMENT OF FIRE.--Constant aspiration, and desire to know God's Law liberates in man that Force which is a Living Flame, and which acts under the direction of the God in man, and with or without the conscious effort of the finite mind. This Fire, once liberated, begins immediately to displace the sluggish nervous force and to open and perfect those nerve centres or minor brains, atrophied from disuse, and which when regenerated reveal to man superphysical states of consciousness and knowledge of his lost Sovereignty over Nature.

The Solar Force manifests on the physical plane by passing through the ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system and thence up the spine to the brain where its currents unite to build up the deathless Solar or Spiritual Body. In its passage from one ganglion to another its voltage is raised, and it awakens and is augmented by the power peculiar to each ganglion which it dominates. p. 52 These ganglia or centres are the "concave mirrors whose property it is to concentrate the Fire of the World or Solar Force. In the cerebro spinal system there are many centres awaiting regeneration. Hence the spinal cord is the relaxed string whose pitch must be raised by the exaltation of the Element of Fire which is in us.

Knowledge as to the development of this Force has been sacredly guarded in all ages lest man, through ignorance, should employ it to his destruction. That soul who will renounce all personal ambition, and will seek by selfless service of his fellow beings to obey the Divine Spirit within may, without external teaching or assistance, evoke this Flame and achieve unaided a knowledge of Nature's secrets and mysteries. But unless governed by the God within, and with selfless purpose this Fire will intensify the lower passions and make the man a destructive force working contrary to the Law of Nature.

He who seeks divine knowledge will surely find it for the Divinity in man ever strives to render unto him his lost birthright. No sincere effort to solve God's Mystery passes unheeded by the Silent Watcher within.

51:XXXVII COMPRESSED AIR, WATER, OR EARTH .--The Philosophers hold that man is four fold in nature, having four bodies corresponding to the four Elements. The physical or Earth body is interpenetrated by a body of finer p. 54 matter vibrating at a higher rate, in which emotions and passions register, called the Water body. The Earth and Water bodies are interpenetrated by a body composed of still finer matter vibrating at a still higher rate, the mental body in which thoughts register, called the Air body. And informing these three bodies and engendering them is the Divine Spark, the potential Solar Body or God in man, existing as it were in embryo awaiting the evolution of the Earth, Water and Air bodies to sustain the flow of the Solar Force which shall stimulate and perfect its divine unfoldment.

To seal a goblet of compressed Air, Water, or Earth, means to master the body, emotions and mind, and to differentiate appetites from emotions, and emotions from thoughts, for the purpose of gaining absolute control over the personal self. It is true, as the Comte de Gabalis here points out, that it is far easier to govern the body and emotions than to gain the mastery of the mind. This mastery should be striven for, and may be achieved through concentration in meditation, and by persistent effort at all times to impress the mind to reject falsehood and accept only Truth that it may purely reflect the God within.

53:* Alchemist.

53:XXXVIII p. 56 PHILOSOPHIC PROCEDURES.--By concentration in medtation upon a given subject, and by the EFFORT of regular breathing, the inhalation and exhalation occupying the same space of time, the mind may be held so that it is not subjeé to other thought than that pertaining to the object or symbol of expression about which man desires knowledge. And if man will persist in this practice he can enter into an harmonious relationship with the Divinity within and from that source can gain knowledge which is the result of the soul's own experience while passing through the higher and lower states of matter. At the same time, if man will concentrate upon the highest he can evoke from within self that Solar Force and Power which if directed upward will awaken and revitalise those ganglia or organs of perception hitherto withheld from his use. If it be true " From God we came, to God we return," life is but the attainment of that consciousness which is of God. And man is therefore shut out from the knowledge of his true being and estate until he seeks at-onement with his own Divine Life-Principle, and its evolution and manifestation in him. Thus concentration in meditation, holding the mind receptive to the Divinity within and in a positive attitude of repression to all outside thought, is seen to be an exalted form of prayer or communion with God, Nature, whereby man may become a sharer in the wonders of God's Omnipotence and recover his lost Sovereignty.

"For the mind shepherdeth Thy Word, O Spirit bearing Creator!" HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, "SECRET HYMNODY."

53:XXXIX p. 55 PANIC TERRORS, ORIGIN OF TERM. NOTE L, COMMENTARY CONTINUED.

57:XL THE GREAT PAN IS DEAD.' NOTE M, COMMENTARY CONTINUED.

59:XLI p. 60 JANSENISTS. NOTE N. COMMENTARY CONTINUED.

59:XLII SECTS AND RELIGIONS, THEIR CAUSE.--As soon, therefore, as the soul gravitates towards body in this first production of herself she begins to experience a material tumult, that is matter flowing into her essence. And this is what Plato remarks in the Phædo, that the soul is drawn into body staggering with recent intoxication, signifying by this, the new drink of matter's impetuous flood, through which the soul, becoming defiled and heavy, is drawn into a terrene situation. But the starry cup placed between Cancer and the Lion is a symbol of this mystic truth, signifying that descending souls first experience intoxication in that part of the heavens through the influx of matter. Hence oblivion, the companion of intoxication, there, begins silently to creep into the recesses of the soul. FOR IF SOULS RETAINED IN THEIR DESCENT TO BODIES THE MEMORY OF DIVINE CONCERNS, OF WHICH THEY WERE CONSCIOUS IN THE HEAVENS, THERE WOULD BE NO DISSENSION AMONG MEN ABOUT DIVINITY. But all, indeed, in descending, drink of oblivion; though some more, and others less. On this account though truth is not apparent to all men on the earth, yet all exercise their opinions about it; because A DEFECT OF MEMORY IS THE ORIGIN OF OPINION. But those discover most who have drank least of oblivion, because they easily remember what they had known before in the heavens. MACROBIUS. COMMENTARY ON SCIPIO'S DREAM. CHAPTER XII.

61:XLIII p. 62 THE SECOND DEATH.--"That which Nature binds, Nature also dissolves: and that which the soul binds, the soul likewise dissolves. Nature, indeed, bound the body to the soul; but the soul binds herself to the body: Nature, therefore, liberates the body from the soul; but the soul liberates herself from the body. Hence there is a twofold death; the one, indeed, universally known, in which the body is liberated from the soul; but the other peculiar to Philosophers, in which the soul is liberated from the body. Nor does the one entirely follow the other." PORPHRY "AUXILIARIES TO THE PERCEPTION OF THE INTELLIGIBLES."

63:XLIV p. 64 BODIN. NOTE O, COMMENTARY CONTINUED.

63:XLV THE PHILOSOPHY OF NUTRITION.--"Nutrition is but little understood in the world to-day, for it is controlled by a Force outside of thought or will. THERE IS AN INDESTRUCTIBLE FORCE INHERENT IN ALL MATTER. Its mode of action is unchanging and it plays unceasingly upon humanity, acts simultaneously in all spheres of being, yet does not express itself in concrete form. THIS FORCE HAS THE PROPERTY OF STIMULATING THE ATOMS TO ASSUME NEW RELATIONSHIPS, AND GALVANISES THE ENERGY LATENT IN DORMANT CELLS INTO A HIGHER STATE OF ACTION. Food is the medium through which this Force acts in the human body. During metabolism that atomic energy is liberated which stimulates into conscious action those cells whose activity it required to carry forward cell evolution. Food, therefore, gives to the body only stimulation to atomic action. During the process it loses none of its properties, but is merely changed into other states or conditions. At his present stage of evolution man depends upon food solely because he has not become conscious of the Law governing the Force which gives atomic action to all parts of his organism. FOR THERE IS A LAW WHICH GOVERNS THE ACTION OF THIS EVER FLOWING STREAM OR REGENERATING CURRENT DIRECTED UPON MATTER. When man, in time, becomes conscious of this Law he will be able to assimilate this Force and will no longer be dependent upon matter for the support of his physical organism."

63:XLVI p. 66 MOSES AND ELIAS FASTED FORTY DAYS. NOTE P, COMMENTARY CONTINUED.

65:XLVII TO PREPARE THE EARTH--means to purify and to gain complete control over the earthly or physical body. To renew the earth when too dry means to recharge self with the Solar Force or Catholic Cabalistic Medicine.

The fact that man, at a certain period of evolution, will
exist without taking nourishment is foretold in an
ancient prophecy of the Magi, "that men shall
be blessed, no longer needing food."
PLUTARCH, ISIS AND OSIRIS, CHAPTER xlvii.
PROPHECY OF THE MAGI OR MOST
ANCIENT SAGES FORETELLING
WORLD PEACE AND A
UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE.
NOTE I, COMMENTARY
CONCLUDED.