The Holy Books

7. I saw the ravens of death, that flew with hoarse cries upon the carrion earth. I saw Thee in these. ᾽ 8. Ι saw the lying spirits like frogs upon the earth, and upon the water, and upon the treacherous metal that corrodeth all things and abideth not. I saw Thee in these. 9. I saw the obscene ones, bull-men linked in the abyss of putrefaction, that gnawed each other’s tongues for pain. I saw Thee in these. 10. I saw the Woman. Ο my God, I beheld the image thereof, even as a lovely shape that concealeth a black monkey, even as a figure that draweth with her hands small images of men down into hell. I saw her from the head to the navel a woman, from the navel to the feet of her a man. I saw Thee even in her. I I. For mine was the keyword to the Closed Palace 418 and mine the reins of the Chariot of the Sphinxes, black and white. But I was not deceived by anything of all these things. 12. For I expanded it by my subtlety into Twelve Rays of the Crown. I3. And these twelve rays were One. 54