The Sword of Song

APPENDIX II 86 Ain Elohim. The Chariot. Four hundred and eighteen. Five are one, and six are diverse, five in the m idst and three on each side. The Word of Power, double in the Voice of the Master. Ain Elohim. Four sounds of four force. O the Snake hath a long tail ! Amen. Ain Elohim. Sudden death: thick darkness: ho ! the ox ! One, and one, and one: Creater, Preserver, Destroy er, ho ! the Redeemer ! Thunder-stone: whirlpool: lotus-flower: ho ! for the gold of the sages ! Ain Elohim. And he was silent for a great while, and so departed our Father from Him. Forth he went along the dusty desert and met an antient woman bear- ing a bright crown of gold, studded with gem s, one on each knee. Dressed in rags she was, and squatted clumsily on the sand. A horn g rew from her forehead; and she spat black foam and froth. Foul was the hag and evil, y et our F ather bowed down flat on his face to the earth. “ Holy Virgin of God,” said he, “what dost thou here ? What wilt thou with thy servant ?” At that she stank so that the air gasped about her, like a fish brought out of the sea. So she told him she was gathering simples for her daughter t hat had died t o bury her withal. N ow no simples grew in the desert. Therefore our F ather drew with his sword lines of power in the sand, so that a black and terrible demon appeared squeezing up in thin flat plates of flesh along the swor d-lines. So our Father cried : “Simples, O Axcaxrabortharax, for m y mother !” Then the demon was wroth and shrieked : “Thy mother to black hell ! She is mine !” So the old hag confessed straight that she had given her body for love to that fiend of the pit. But our Father paid no heed thereto and bade the demon to do his will, so that he brought him herbs many, and good, with which our Father planted a great grove that grew about him (for the sun was now waxen bitter hot) wherein he worshipped, offering in vessels of clay these seven offerings :2 The first offering, dust ; The second offering, ashes ; The third offering, sand ; The fourth offering, bay-leaves ; The fifth offering, gold ; The sixth offering, dung ; The seventh offering, poison. With the dust he gave a sickle to gather the harvest of that dust. With the ashes he gave a sceptre, that one might rule them aright. With the sand he gave a sword, to cut that sand withal. With the bay-leaves he ave a sun, to wither them With the gold he gave a garland of sores, and that was for luck. With the dung he gave a Rod of Life to quicken it. * [Thus in Collected Works. May b e a compositor’s error for Abrahadabra, or maybe not – T.S.] 1 This is all obscure. 2 Refer to the planets. Abracadabra.* Amethsh. Ye Fylfat †. Mysterium Matris.1 Evocatio. Lucus.