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Underneath the tangled roots 
Of majestic tress that quiver 
In the quiet airs; where shoots 
Of kindly grass are green, 
Moss and ferns asleep between, 
Lilies in the water lapped, 
Sunbeams in the branches trapped 
--- Windless and eternal even! 
Silenced all the birds of heaven 
By the low insistent call 
Of the constant waterfall. 
There, to such a setting be 
The carven gem of deity, 
A central flawless fire, enthralled 
Like Truth within an emerald! 
Thou shalt have a birchen bark 
On the river in the dark; 
And at the midnight thou shalt go 
To the mid-stream's smoothest flow, 
And strike upon a golden bell 
The spirit's call; then say the spell: 
"Angel, mine angel, draw thee nigh!" 
Making the Sign of Magistry 
With the wand of lapis lazuli 
Then, it may be, through the blind dumb 
Night thou shalt see thine angel come, 
Hear the faint whisper of his wings, 
Behold the starry breast begemmed 
With twelve stones of the twelve Kings! 
His forehead shall be diademmed 
With the faint light of stars, wherein 
The Eye gleams dominant and keen, 
Thereat thou swoonest; and thy love 
Shall catch the subtle voice thereof ... 
It was given me during these days to experience fully once more every incident in my initiation, so 
that I might describe them while still white-hot with their wonder. It is this that assures me that 
this poem is unique of its kind. Its only rival is the Bhagavad-Gita, which, despite its prolixity, 
confines its ardour to Vishvarupa-darshana. Apart from this, it treats of Hindu dogma and ethics. At 
its best, it is a sectarian work. "Aha!" covers all religious experience, asserts no axioms, advocates 
no cut-and-dried codes. In some 
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eleven hundred lines I have described all the principal trances, from the three types of Dhyana 
(Sun, Moon, Agni) and the four elements (for instance, the Disc "like a black boundless diamond 
whirring with millions of wings"), to the spiritual beings that inhabit the invisible universe, and the 
Samadhic Trances, Atmadarshana and Shivadarshana. 
I have also described the moral and intellectual phenomena of initiation and indicated the main 
principles on which the aspirant should base his working. The Knowledge and Conversation of the 
Holy Guardian Angel comes as the climax to these triumphs. It is significant that I proceed from this 
point instantly to declare the Law of Thelema, and give a dithyrambic epitome of the three 
chapters of the Book. I say distinctly that this message to mankind is to be identified with the Word 
of my Holy Guardian Angel. It is only as I write this that I realize that the poet in me perceived that 
Aiwaz and mine Angel were one. Till this moment I believed that I had reached this conclusion after 
many months of meditation in the last three years and accepted it provisionally with the greatest 
hesitation.