THE KEY OF THE MYSTERIES
The Master said : “If a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit.”
Affirmation and negation must, then, marry each other, and
from their union will be born the practical truth, the real and
progressive word. It is necessity which should constrain the
workmen to choose for the corner-stone that which they had
at first despised and rejected. Let contradiction, then, never
discourage men of initiative! arth is necessary for the
ploughshare, and the earth resists because it is in labour. It
defends itself like all virgins; it conceives and brings forth
slowly like all mothers. You, then, who wish to sow a new
plant in the field of intelligence, understand and respect the
modesties and reluctances of limited experience and slow-
moving reason.
When a new word comes into the world, it needs swaddling
clothes and bandages; genius brought it forth, but it is for
experience to nourish it. Do not fear that it will die of
neglect! Oblivion is for it a favourable time of rest, and contra-
dictions help it to grow. When a sun bursts forth in space it
creates worlds or attracts them to itself. A single spark of
fixed light promises a universe to space.
All magic is in a word, and that word pronounced qabal-
istically is stronger than all the powers of Heaven, Earth and
Hell. With the name of Jod hé vau hé, one commands
Nature : kingdoms are conquered in the name of Adonai, and
the occult forces which compose the empire of Hermes are one
and all obedient to him who knows how to pronounce duly
the incommunicable name of Agla.
In order to pronounce duly the great words of the Qabalah,
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