Thelema ScholarTHE ALEISTER CROWLEY COLLECTION
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1901 · PDF PAGE 49

The Mother’s Tragedy

…et to thy nostrils! For three times I cast Its faint dust in the tripod, and three times The smoke of adoration has gone up To greet our gods; for the old gods are dead.” Then there came forth a leper in the hall, In the most holy temple. So amazed All shrank. And he made prophecy and said: “The child that shall be born of thee is called Fear. He shall save a people from their sin; For the old gods indeed go down to death, But the new gods arise from rottenness.” Then said the goddess: “I indeed am pure In my impurity ; immaculate In misconcept…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 51

The Mother’s Tragedy

…od And less than man. Thine eyelids tremble not. PACHAD. I shall avenge it as a god. The land Shall be made free. AMENHATEP. And the old gods have sway, Re-born from incorruption. PACHAD. The old gods! - I must muse deeply. Keep your ancient ways A little. I must play the part through so. CHORUS. In the ways of the North and the South, Whence the dark and the dayspring are drawn, We pass with the song of the mouth Of the notable Lord of the Dawn. Unto Ra, the desire of the East, let the clamour of singing proclaim The fire of his name!

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1901 · PDF PAGE 55

The Mother’s Tragedy

…spirit of the limitless air, made one In the amazing essence of all light Limitless, emanation of the might Of the great Light above all gods, the fire Of our supreme desire. So out of grievous labyrinths of the mind The soul’s desire may find Some passionate thread, the clear note of a bird, To make the dark ways of the gods as light, _ And bring forth music from slow chants unheard, And visions from the fathomless night. So is the spirit of the loftier man Made holy and most strong against his fate; So is the desolate visage of the wan Lord o…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 14

The Mother’s Tragedy

xi PROLOGUE Lord of the Gods! O Thou, the King of Kings! To me a sinner, me, Lowest of all that be, Be merciful, O Master Soul of things! Show me thy face of ruth, And in thy way of truth, Guide my weak youth, That stumbles while it walks, makes discord when it sings! So, Mighty Mother! Pure, Eternal Spouse, Isis, thou Star, thou Moon, thou Mightiest, Lead my weak steps to thine Eternal House! Rest my vain head on thine Eternal Breast! Spread wide the wings divine Over this shadowy shrine, Where in my heart their hovering lendeth Light! Bend do…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 75

The Mother’s Tragedy

…d aspire! Hear, beyond all periods, Timeless, formless, multiform, Thou, supreme above the storm, Spirit of the Holy Ones, Spirit of the Gods! Enter Messenger. MESSENGER. The battle rages: even now the shock Of hostile spears makes the loud earth resound, The wide sky tremble. AMENHATEP. Here lies Horus dead, There Isis slain. We have no leader left. MESSENGER. The fight is doubtful. We may conquer still. AMENHATEP. By this shed blood and desecrated shrine And horrible hour of madness, may it be That all the evil fortune of the land, Created of…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 121

The Mother’s Tragedy

…ght me To men—yet loved I ever Artemis ? Surely the vine-song and the dance delight me, The sea-blue bowers where Aphrodite is. Terrible gods and destinies excite me, The strange sad kiss. 107

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1901 · PDF PAGE 70

The Mother’s Tragedy

…ACHAD. So! The thin casing of the godhead rots, Mere mummy-cloth: the rotten corpse within, Dust and corruption! I am still the god, And gods slay women: therefore I slay thee. RATOUM. Then thou shalt see me once again a god! [By a tremendous effort she towers before him. Silently they gaze at one another fora while, he vainly endeavouring to force himself to strike. At last she collapses into the throne, and he springs forward and drives his knife into her.

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1901 · PDF PAGE 74

The Mother’s Tragedy

… is god above mankind, Thrice united unto man, As the living gold that ran Molten to the fiery sea, Mixed in its eternity. Spirit of the Gods! Unite Streams of sacramental light In the soul, thrice purified, Consecrated thrice, Till Osiris justified In the supreme sacrifice Take his kingdom. Hear the cry That the wailing vultures make, Circling in the blackening sky Over the abysmal lake. Spirit, for our spirit’s sake

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1901 · PDF PAGE 73

The Mother’s Tragedy

…on His own glory, to inspire Worlds impossible to thought With the beauties, subtly wrought, Of his own creative strength. Spirit of the Gods! O single,

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1901 · PDF PAGE 62

The Mother’s Tragedy

…nd, Fire consumes him that his name be forgotten in the land. Even as the wicked eye Seeks the mysteries to spy, So the blindness of the gods takes his spirit: he shall die. Even as the evil priest, Poisoned by the sacred feast, Changes by its seven powers to the misbegotten beast.

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1901 · PDF PAGE 25

The Mother’s Tragedy

…n my soul, inured to contemplate The dreadful, the perverse design of Fate, In many stories never meant to win Applause of mortals or of gods, but made To choke man’s spirit in its shade, And make him, in his pride and happiness, — In virtue’s mantle and love’s seemly dress, Immeasurably afraid. The hour is on them—let its weight express All blood, ali life, from the disastrous grape! In. God, in mercy, there is no escape, No anchor for distress. The hour strikes mournfully upon the bell Of the most awful precipice That merges hell in hell. The…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 58

The Mother’s Tragedy

… the leprosy of her own soul, And drove me forth to compass my disgrace With infamies ineffable. PACHAD. I know; I shall avenge. The old gods come again. THE LEPER. Nay! I have lived through all these barren years, Discrowned, diseased, abominable, cast out, And meditating on the event of life, And that initiated Hope that we, Royal, inherit, of the final life, Nor newer incarnation, and possessed Of strange powers, who have moved about this court Loathed, and unrecognised, and shunned, have thought That the old bondage was as terrible As thine…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 78

The Mother’s Tragedy

… I saved the house from its own shame By strange ways: I will strike one blow to save The land from its invaders. In the name Of all our gods, I here invoke on thee The spirit of my leprosy. Have at you! [Springs at the King of Syria, only to be transfixed on his drawn sword; but he succeeds tn clasping the King, who staggers. His soldiers, with a shout, rush forward, drag down the Leper and attack the priests. Allare slain. Stlence: then a shield drops, clanging on the ground. KING OF SYRIA (assuming crown and sitting on throne). Salute the co…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 50

The Mother’s Tragedy

…, That was of steel and fire, like a reed, snapped! PACHAD. So lived my father. Tell me of his death. AMENHATEP. At thy first breath the gods were patient still, Till the abomination filled its cup, And hatred took her heart. She slew thy sire, And made his body the banquet of her sin In the infernal temple. “So,” she said, ‘‘T reap the incarnation of the god.” So, gloomy and hideous, she would prowl about Seeking fresh human feasts, and bloody rites Stained the white altar of the world. And yet Her power is gone, and we behold her go, Haggard …

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1901 · PDF PAGE 54

The Mother’s Tragedy

…at is god bent down his head And answered: “ Thus, immutably, Above all days and deeds, shall be!” And the great Light that is above all gods Lifted his calm brow, spake, and all the seas, And all the air, and all the periods Of seasons and of stars gave ear, and these Vaults of the heaven heard The great white Light that shaped its secrecies Into one holy terrible word, | Higher than all words spoken; for He said: ‘‘ Death is made change, and only change is dead.” For the most holy spirit of a man Burns through the limit of the wheels that ran…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 72

The Mother’s Tragedy

…umstance, And spat on Fate.” And all the priests shall say And all the people: “ Verily and Amen.” [Stabs himself. CHORUS. Spirit of the Gods! White noon Of tremendous flashing fire, Spirit of the moon! Trembling essence of desire Triple-tongued, thy flame is kindled

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1901 · PDF PAGE 47

The Mother’s Tragedy

…TAL FORCE 33 AMENHATEP. Beware the fatal magic of her heart! For she is great and evil, and her voice Howls blasphemy against yet living gods. Thou knowest not the story of thy birth, The truth. PACHAD Then speak the truth, if so a priest May tune his tongue to anything but lies. AMENHATEP. Sixteen strange seasons mingle gold and grey Since in this very temple she, the Queen, Spake, and threw open to our reverent gaze A ‘royal womb made pregnant with that seed Of which thou art the harvest. She spake thus: ‘Princes, and people of the Egyptian l…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 48

The Mother’s Tragedy

…fire Leap to my godhead. For without a man I single, I the mother, have conceived Of my own loins, and made me no less god Than all your gods! Ye people and ye priests, Behold the burden of my life, and fear, And know me Isis. Worship me, and praise The goodliest ruler of the world, the queen Of all the white immeasurable seas, And that vast river of our sowing-time, And of your Sun. Behold me made a god Of my own godhead, and adore the sun Of my queen’s face, and worship ye the fount And fertile river of my life. Bow down, Ye people and ye pri…

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