THE CRY OF THE 28TH AETHYR,
WHICH IS
CALLED BAG
There cometh an Angel into the stone with opalescent shining garments
like a wheel of fire on every side of him, and in his hand is a long flail
of scarlet lightning; his face is black, and his eyes white without any
pupil or iris. The face is very terrible indeed to look upon. Now in
front of him is a wheel, with many spokes, and many tyres; it is like a
fence in front of him.
And he cries: O man, who art thou that wouldst penetrate the Mystery?
for it is hidden unto the End of Time.
And I answer him: Time is not, save in the darkness of Her womb by whom
evil came.
And now the wheel breaks away, and I see him as he is. His garment is
black beneath the opal veils, but it is lined with white, and he has the
shining belly of a fish, and enormous wings of black and white feathers,
and innumerable little legs and claws like a centipede, and a long tail
like a scorpion. The breasts are human, but they are all scored with
blood; and he cries: O thou who hast broken down the veil, knowest thou
not that who cometh where I am must be scarred by many sorrows?
And I answer him: Sorrow is not, save in the darkness of the womb of
Her by whom came evil.
I pierce the Mystery of his breast, and therein is a jewel. It is a
sapphire as great as an ostrich egg, and thereon is graven this sigil:
{Illustration on page 12 described:
This is in the form of two "U" shapes, very elongated in the risers.
The one to the right is lower than the first, and its left riser extends
2/3's of the way up inside the center of the one to the left. The left
"U" turns back down to the far left, ending 1/5th the way down in a tiny
circle. The right bends abruptly horizontally left across the other and
also ends there in a tiny circle.}
But there is also much writing on the stone, very minute characters
carved. I cannot read them. He points with his flail to the sapphire,
which is now outside him and bigger than himself; and he cries: Hail!
warden of the Gates of Eternity who knowest not thy right hand from thy
left; for in the aeon of my Father is a god with clasped hands wherein he
holdeth the universe, crushing it into the dust that ye call stars.
Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right eye from thy left; for in the
aeon of my Father there is but one light.
Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right nostril from thy left; for in
the aeon of my Father there is neither life nor death.
Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right ear from thy left; for in the
aeon of my Father there is neither sound nor silence.
Whoso hath power to break open this sapphire stone shall find therein
four elephants having tusks of mother-of-pearl, and upon whose backs are
castles, those castles which ye call the watch-towers of the Universe.
Let me dwell in peace within the breast of the Angel that is warden of
the aethyr. Let not the shame of my Mother be unveiled. Let not her be
put to shame that lieth among the lilies that are beyond the stars.
O man, that must ever be opening, when wilt thou learn to seal up the
mysteries of the creation? to fold thyself over thyself as a rose in the
embrace of night? But thou must play the wanton to the sun, and the wind
must tear thy petals from thee, and the bee must rob thee of thy honey,
and thou must fall into the dusk of things. Amen and Amen.
Verily the light is hidden, therefore he who hideth himself is like
unto the light; but thou openest thyself; thou art like unto the darkness
that bindeth the belly of the great goddess. *
* In the light of the cry of LOE, this passage seems to mean
precisely the
opposite of its apparent meaning.
OLAHO VIRUDEN MAHORELA ZODIREDA! ON PIREDA EXENTASER; ARBA PIRE GAH
GAHA GAHAL GAHALANA VO ABRA NA GAHA VELUCORSAPAX.
And the voice of the aeon cried: Return, return, return! the time
sickeneth, and the space gapeth, and the voice of him that is, was and
shall be crowned rattles in the throat of the mighty dragon of eld. Thou
canst not pass by me, except thou have the mystery of the word of the
abyss.
Now the angel putteth back the sapphire stone into his breast; and I
spake unto him and said, I will fight with thee and overcome thee, except
thou expound unto me the word of the abyss.
Now he makes as if to fight with me. (It is very horrible, all the
tentacles moving and the flail flashing, and the fierce eyeless face,
strained and swollen. And with the Magic sword I pierce through his
armour to his breast. He fell back, saying: Each of these my scars was
thus made, for I am the warden of the aethyr. And he would have said
more; but I cut him short, saying: expound the word of the Abyss. And he
said: Discipline is sorrowful and ploughing is laborious and age is
weariness.
Thou shalt be vexed by dispersion.
But now, if the sun arise, fold thou thine arms; then shall God smite
thee into a pillar of salt.
Look not so deeply into words and letters; for this Mystery hath been
hidden by the Alchemists. Compose the sevenfold into a fourfold regimen;
and when thou hast understood thou mayest make symbols; but by playing
child's games with symbols thou shalt never understand. Thou hast the
signs; thou hast the words; but there are many things that are not in my
power, who am but the warden of the 28th Aethyr.
Now my name thou shalt obtain in this wise. Of the three angels of the
Aethyr, thou shalt write the names from right to left and from left to
right and from right to left, and these are the holy letters:
The first 1, the fifth 2, the sixth 3, the eleventh 4, the seventh 5,
the twelfth 6, the seventeenth 7.
Thus hast thou my name who am above these three, but the angels of the
30th Aethyr are indeed four, and they have none above them; wherefore
dispersion and disorder.
Now cometh from every side at once a voice, terribly great, crying:
Close the veil; the great blasphemy hath been uttered; the face of my
Mother is scarred by the nails of the devil. Shut the book, destroy the
breaker of the seal!
And I answered: Had he not been destroyed he had not come hither, for I
am not save in the darkness in the womb of Her by whom came evil into the
world.
And this darkness swallows everything up, and the angel is gone from
the stone; and there is no light therein, save only the light of the Rose
and of the Cross.
AUMALE, ALGERIA.
"November" 23, 1909, between 8 and 9 p.m.