The Star in the West

286 THE STAR IN THE WEST 1 their symbols . “ Most others , especially Hinduism and Buddhism , lose themselves in metaphysical specu lation only proper to those who are already Adepts . Ignorance or Knowledge have nothing to do with illumination any more than pig has to do with Chicago pork ; yet as there are standards of knowledge , so are there degrees of illumination ; for there is not the slightest doubt that Booth and Robert Evans stand on a much lower footing than a St. Augustine or a Paracelsus ; yet nevertheless , Boehme , who was only a shoemaker , ranks with them . ? “ It is no doubt more difficult ," writes Crowley , “ to learn ‘ Paradise Lost ' by heart than “ We are seven , ' but when you have done it , you are no better at figure skating .' So a Boehme may rank with an Augustine , whilst an Evans may not . Inspiration does not enter into the understanding , it illuminates a deeper part of the Ego , and under its influence the imagination is diverted from the specu lative understanding to more active powers which > 3 1 Eleusis , vol . iii, p . 220 . 2 Whittling shoe soles seems at one time to have been a special calling for mystics , besides Jacob Boehme , there was George Fox , and John Bunyan ; also Eliphas Lévi was the son of a shoemaker . It might be noted here that in India all leather workers are considered unclean , and in caste rank with sweepers and pork butchers . 3 Eleusis , vol . iii, p . 228. After the colossal fable of Edipus we find the gracious poem of Psyche , which was certainly not invented by Apuleius . The great magical arcanum reappears here under the figure of a mysterious union between a god and a weak mortal abandoned alone and naked on a rock . Psyche must remain in ignorance of the secret of her ideal royalty , and if she behold her husband she must lose him.-E. Lévi , The Doctrine of Transcendent Magic , p . 16 .