The Star in the West

THE NEW WINE 253 » 2 the Hermetic maxim , “ That which is above is as that which is below ,” we find stated in “ The Philo sopher's Progress ": That which is highest as the deep Is fixed , the depth as that above : Death's face is as the face of Sleep ; And Lust is likest Love . ? In “ The Quest ” and in several parts of “ Tann häuser , ” we are conveyed into the maze of mystic numbers , which we do not intend to enter here . “ My womb is pregnant with mad moons and suns , and yet we ultimately feel, on reading deep into these mystical poems , “ Too wise to grieve , too happy to rejoice. ” With one number , however , or rather with the primal symbol of all numbers ~ 0 ( zero ), we shall deal . In a slender pamphlet entitled “ Berashith .” Aleister Crowley ontologically asserts the Absolute ness of the Qabalistic Zero .' Let us as shortly as possible now see how he arrives at this ultimate genesis . The ancient Hebrew Qabalah was as closely con nected with Assyriology , as it was with Babylonian and Egyptian thought , Hindu mythology , and the philosophy of the Vedas and Upanishads ; its concep tion of the supreme God was ineffable , for He bore neither name nor attribute , being beyond the power of human conception . Over the face of the whole world we find earnest thought arriving at or towards such a conclusion . In ancient China we hear Lao - Tze declaring : “ What is there superior in Heaven and 1 Songs of the Spirit , vol . i, p . 34 . ? The Temple of the Holy Ghost , vol . i, p . 166 . 3 Berashith , vol . ii, p . 236 .