The Equinox (Volume I, Number IV)

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING ing within him, hungry and thirsty, slowly devouring its Mother Maya. On the 21st of January, 1902, P. left Calcutta for Burma, where for a short time he again joined Maitrananda. During the month of February he journeyed through the districts about Rangoon visiting many sacred cities and holy men, practising Dhdaran4 on Maitri Bhavana (Compassion) and taking his refuge in Triratna. (The triple jewel of Buddhism- Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.) On the 14th of February he visited Lamma Sayadaw Kyoung and Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya, and on the 23rd shipped by S.S. Kapurthala from Rangoon to Calcutta, arriving there on the 26th. For the first three months of 1902 no record was kept by P. of his meditations and mystical exercises, except one which is as curious as it is interesting, and which consists of a minutely detailed table showing the Classification of the Dreams he dreamt from the 8th of February to the 19th of March. P., it may be mentioned, was much subjected to dreaming, but perhaps rarely were they so persistent and vivid as he now experienced. For he found that by trying to remember dreams he could remember more. Probably most men dream sub- consciously; just as they breathe without knowing it unless the attention be directed to the act. cycles—of Renaissance, Decadence, and Slime. In the first the Adepts rise as artists, philosophers, and men of science, who are sooner or later recognized as great men; in the second the adepts as adepts appear, but seem as fools and knaves; and in the third, that of Slime, vanish altogether, and are invisible. Then the chain starts again. Thus Crowley writes: “Decadence marks the period when the adepts, nearing their earthly perfec- tion, become true adepts, not mere men of genius. They disappear, harvested by heaven: and perfect darkness (apparent death) ensues until the youthful forerunners of the next crop begin to shoot in the form of artists.’” 169