The Sword of Song

AMBROSII MAGI HORTIS ROSARUM 85 and fifty and eight years,1 set forth upon a journey into the Mystic Moun- tain of the Caves. He took with him his Son, 2 a Lam b, Life, and Strength, for these four were the Key s of that Mountain. So by ten days and fifty days and two hundred day s and yet ten days he went forth. After ten day s fell a thunderbolt, whirling through black clouds of rain: after sixty the road split in two, but he travelled on both at once: after two hundred and sixty, the sun drove away the rain, and the Star shone in the day-time, making it Night. After the last day came his Mother, his Redeem er, and Him self ; and joining together they were even as I am who write unto y ou. Seventeen they were, the three Fathers : with the three Mothers they were thirty -two, and sixfold therein, being as countenance and countenance. Yet, being seventeen, they were but one, and that one none, as before hath been showed. And this enumera- tion is a great Mysterium of our art. Whence a light hidden in a Cross. Now therefore having brooded upon the ocean, and sm itten with the Sword, and the Py ramid being builded in just proportion, was that Light fixed even in the Vault of the Caverns. With one stroke he rent asunder the Veil; with one stroke he closed the sam e. And entering the Sarcophagus of that Roy al Tomb he laid him down to sleep. Four guarded him, and One in the four; Seven enwalled him, and One in the seven, y et were the seven ten, a nd One in the ten. Now therefore his disciples came unto the Vault of th at Mystic Mountain, and with the Keys they opened the Portal and cam e to him and woke him. But during his long sleep the roses had gr own over him, crimson and flaming with interior fire, so that he could not escape. Yet they withered at his glance ; withat he knew what fearful ta sk was before him. But slay ing his disciples with long Nails, he interred them there, so that they were right sorrowful in their hearts. May we all die so ! And what further befell him ye shall also know, but not at this time. Going forth of that Mountain he met also the Fool. Then the discourse of that Fool, my Brethren ; it shall repay your pains. They think they are a triangle, 3 he s aid, they think as the P icture-Folk. Bas e they are, and little infinitely. Ain Elohim. They think, being many , they are one.4 They think as the Rhine-Folk think. Many and none. Ain Elohim. They think the erect 5 is the twined, and the tw ined is the coiled, and the coiled is the twin, and the twin are the stoopers. They think as the Big-Nose-Folk. Save us, O Lord! 1 Nechesh the Serpent and Messiach the Redeemer. 2 Abigenos, Abiagnus, Biagenos, Abiegnus , m etatheses of the nam e of the Mystic Mountain of Initiation. The next pa ragraph has been explained in the essay “Qabalistic Dogma.” 3 The belief in a Trinity—ignorance of Daath. 4 Belief in Monism , or rather Advaitism . Crowley was a Monist only in the modern scientific sense of that word. 5 Confusion of the various mystic serpents. The Big-Nose-Folk = the Jews. We leave the rest to the insight of the reader. Abiegnus. Mysterium I. N. R. I. Mysterium LVX. Pastos. Trinitas. Unitas. Serpentes