University of Virginia Library

12. THE BOOK
WHICH IS CALLED
THE TABLETS OF ÆTH

——

THE SACRED SCROLL WHICH IS CALLED
THE TABLETS OF ÆTH

NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME TRANSCRIBED FROM THE
ASTRAL RECORDS AND DONE INTO A BOOK,

By ZANONI, [?]

TO WHICH IS ADDED A SERIES OF INTERPRETATIVE REFLECTIONS
FOR THE SPIRITUAL MEDITATION OF THE FAITHFUL.

FOREWORD

Thy temple is the arch
Of yon unmeasured sky;
Thy Sabbath the stupendous march
Of grand eternity.

To my Brothers and Sisters of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor:

GREETING—For some years it has been my desire to leave a spiritual legacy to the many devoted friends and followers who have braved so much amid present truth and error for my sake.

In choosing the present work for such a purpose, I have had in view the deeper spiritual needs of the soul—the prophetic element of the interior spirit, which can best exalt itself through the contemplation of Nature's arcane symbolism of the starry heavens—not the material expression of the glittering splendors of the midnight sky, but the spiritual soul-pictures of those blazing systems that reveal to the seeing eye the shining thrones of the Rulers—the Powers that Be.

Ever since the dawn of intellectual human life upon our Mother Earth, long before the days of the cave man, or even the first frost that heralded the coming of the Ice Age, souls have hoped and hungered and souls have quailed and fallen in their struggles with the mysteries of God. But ever and anon some bright flower of the race has gained the spiritual victory. A Messianic soul has responded to aspirations of a great-hearted, great-souled woman, pregnant with spiritual yearnings beyond her race, and she has unconsciously blessed her kind for the generations yet to come with that incarnated mystery the Son of God. Blessed, O Woman, is thy patient mission on the earth, and transcendent are the holy mysteries of thy maternity. Every human birth is a Divine miracle in humanity, performed by the Motherhood of God.

Hence it is that, from the earliest ages of life, triumphant souls have stormed the gates of the sanctuary and penetrated Nature's most occult mysteries and there recorded their spiritual victories. Amid these sacred records lies one great scroll, that none but the brightest and bravest may read.

This sacred scroll, sealed with the seven mystic seals of the heavens, contains The Tablets of Æth, a record of the soul's experiences upon the planes of both conscious and sub-conscious life-spirit and matter, that are expressed in a series of universal symbols, which manifest to the seer the processes of creative life, of spiritual cause with material effect. And, finally, the mystery of the seven vials and the seven stars of Saint John are written therein; for the Tablets are the hieroglyphic keys which unlock the realities of truth involved within the unrealities of external life, and open up, to the aspiring soul, inconceivable vistas of knowledge yet possible of realization, within the Divine womb of the uncreated Æther.

Myriads of exalted spirits, who have toiled for the treasure which doth not corrupt, have added, and are adding, their portion of personal conception to this universal conception of life, so that the sacred symbols themselves, inscribed upon these imperishable Tablets, are evolutionary—are slowly unfolding through the eons of time, and revealing wider and yet deeper processes of the light, life, and love, of the Motherhood of God.

Therefore, all Divine revelation of infinite truth is limited and finite as to its conception, when revealed through a finite capacity. All Divine truths are universal; all personal conceptions of such truths are limited; hence springs the unquenchable fountain of the one eternal truth, eternally repeating itself, in cosmic as in human life, by the progressive unfoldment of Nature's unlimited potentialities.

The true poet is always a seer, and he might have added that the inmost soul is the uncreate, and, the yet uncreated itself, lies buried in the ever eternal beyond; hence the immortality of the human spirit.

This sacred astral scroll, rightly and reverently studied by the disciple of the higher law, becomes a boundless source of knowledge and inspiriation{sic}. There is no mood of the mind or yearning of the soul that cannot be satisfied and refreshed from this inexhaustible fountain of spiritual truth, no passion of the human heart that cannot be eased of its burden and soothed of its pain. Its spiritual refreshment

falls like the dew from heaven upon those who are weary and heavy laden with the trials and sufferings of external life.

Accept it, then, even as it is given unto you. My friends and brethren, accept it as Zanoni's last work on earth—his legacy to you, and may the spirit of the All-Father-Mother, the ineffable spirit of Life, Light, and Love,—the Unknowable, whom men call God, rest upon you and be with you now and forever.

INTRODUCTION

TO THE BOOK WHICH IS CALLED "THE TABLETS
OF ÆTH,'' WHEREIN ARE DESCRIBED THE
FORMULAS OF MEDITATION.

THE FORMULAS OF MEDITATION,

TO THE DRAGON, FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.

"When first, a musing boy, I stood beside
Thy starlit shimmer, and asked my restless heart
What secrets Nature to the herd denied,
But might to earnest hierophant impart;
When lo! beside me, around and o'er,
Thought whispered, `Arise, O seeker, and explore.' ''

The Tablets of Æth are the culminating expression of symbolical ideas, and the studious meditation thereof is to be approached and continued in this wise:

First, commit to memory, as near as may be, all the ideas involved in the astrological laws and principles laid down in "The Science of the Stars,'' formulated in the second part of "The Light of Egypt,'' Vol. I, especially as regards the symbolism there given and manifestation thereof on the intellectual plane. Mentally digest these aspects of truth most thoroughly.

Second, carry forward the same course of mental training with regard to the preceding chapters in this volume, from No. 1 to No. 12. There are thirteen chapters, but No. 13, the last one, being "The Penetralia,'' should not be included in this course, but, rightly used, should be reserved as the last and final revelation for spiritual contemplation.

The twelve chapters just mentioned continue the great astral laws given in "The Light of Egypt,'' Vol. I, from this plane to that of the soul life of the human monad (both prior to and after human incarnation). At this point we leave the finite and step into the realms of the infinite. From the sphere of limitations which surround the microcosm we enter the starlit path of the macrocosm, and here, with the

illimitable ocean of eternal life sweeping onward before us, we hear the first strains of the Grand March of the Universe burst forth from the organs of God! The suns of creative life swell the infinite chorus of sound; archangels swing their fiery batons to the march of the heavenly host; and all earthly sound has ceased. We are absorbed in the music of the spheres.

We are now in the realm of universals, the domain of living realities. The Tarot of Mother Nature revolves before us, revealing her mystic meanings to the soul. All ideas are symbols, and symbols are reservoirs for the conservation of thought. And this is a very truth: Even so on earth as it is in heaven.

The Tablets of Æth, then, constitute a spiritual astrology, a spiritual science of the stars, void of mathematics, yet possessing all the exactitude of figures, constructed on the principles of astronomy, yet expressed by the methods of the Kabbalah.

The transmission of spiritual truth from inward to outward form, though differing according to the age in which it is expressed, is ever the same in principle. And in the same way that the sacred clavicula of Solomon became the Tarot of Bohemian gypsies, so did the Tablets of Æth manifest their mysteries in the starry science of Chaldean lore. But there is this sharp line of demarcation between them, namely, the Tablets of Æth deal with universal human life and nature, with infinite principles from which all finite laws radiate. The Tablets of Æth express and symbolize the cause. All other mundane systems of occult study, astronomical or metaphysical, are spirito-natural effects, the individual intellectual fruits, gathered from the one universal tree of knowledge. Uncreated, Unlimited Potentiality, is the one impersonal truth shining forever in the Great White Light of God. All the laws, powers, and principalities, manifested in the moving Universe, are but the colored rays, blazing with glorious life through the prisms of matter.

Having stated thus much, the neophyte will perceive in what meditative sphere of thought the Tablets may be used. The method of study is, as shown, a purely synthetic deduction of human ideas from spiritual symbols of universal principles. The Tablets themselves constitute a grand arcane Tarot of man, God and the universe, and of all the powers that dwell therein. They may be studied singly, as, for instance, meditating upon some one great universal idea or principle;

or they may be studied in trines, as they appear in each separate book, or chapter, or as squares, like two, five, eight, eleven, or as the seal of two trines, one, three, five, seven, nine, eleven, with No. twelve in the center, as the revealer of the mystery. And, finally, they may be contemplated as the Grand Oracle of Heaven, in the following manner:

Make a circle of the tablets, as you would with a pack of Tarot cards, beginning with No. 1, [?], on the eastern horizon, and proceeding in the exact opposite order from a figure of the heavens—No. 2, [?], being on the Twelfth House, No. 3, [?], on the Eleventh, and [?] on the M. C. of the figure, as in the Astro-Masonic chart, given in the second part of "The Light of Egypt,'' Vol. I, and so proceed with the rest of the twelve tablets of the stars. This figure will represent the potentialities of the macrocosm, the starry signs symbolizing the possibilities of things past or to be, and the rulers the active executors thereof. Study the figure in all its aspects as such, first singly, tablet by tablet, then as a whole—the cosmos. Next, place the ruler of any given tablet at the side of the Mansion, and try to penetrate its various meanings, powers and possibilities. Then proceed the same with a trine and a square, and, last, with all the rulers, in the order of their celestial lordship of the signs, each in his appointed place, as a whole Arcana.

In any grave crisis of mental or physical affairs, wherein nations, and not individuals, are concerned, the tablets may be used as a celestial scheme of the heavens, thus: Cast a figure of the heavens for the Sun's first entry into the sign Aries at the vernal equinox, calculated for the meridian of the capital city of the country under consideration. Degrees and minutes are not wanted. Then place the twelve tablets in place of signs, exactly as they would occur in an astrological figure. Then place the rulers of the Sun, Moon and planets therein (each having its own tablet), as they are found to be situated in an ephemeris for the time of the figure. This done, study the whole from a spiritual standpoint as the causes and ultimates of the crisis, according to astro laws.

The foregoing simple directions will, I think, be sufficiently plain for all purposes, never forgetting that this holy study is not a system of divination, as commonly understood, but of Divine revelation, in its highest and most holy religious sense. Long study and most reverent meditation will be required to master this mystery, and many errors of judgment will occur to the beginner.

The interpretative reflections are added for the purpose of guiding and guarding the spiritually untrained seer from possible error in fundamental conceptions only. They must not by any means be taken as a complete revelation of the tablets, but only as a series of skeleton keys by means of which all things may be revealed to the earnest seeker thereof. To have added more than is given would only be to defeat the object of this work. Each seeker for the truth must excavate the mines of knowledge, and dig further into this universal well of truth for himself.

Remember that all interpretation will be personal to each student. Of no one can it be affirmed, "thou hast said,'' and so endeth the matter. Not so. To each, according to his talent, shall the mysteries of the kingdom be revealed, to every one according to his humility, spiritual light, and merit. But from the arrogant, the selfish, and spiritually proud, shall all things be taken away, and truth shroud herself in the veil of delusion. In simplicity of mind, then, and purity of soul, approach the Holy of Holies. "Suffer little children to come unto Me,'' saith a messenger of the Most High, "for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.'' Verily, therefore, I say unto you, that not until you can look upon all the works of Nature—beauty in her nakedness or vice and crime in their repulsiveness, with pure thought and holy feeling, can you inherit eternal life.

Here endeth the introduction to the book which is called "The Tablets of Æth.''

1. PART I
———
OF THE TWELVE MANSIONS

——
Here beginneth Chapter I of the Book which is called "The Tablets of Æth,'' wherein is transcribed the First Quadrant of the Twelve Mansions.

——

"I sent my soul through the invisible,
Some lesson of that after life to spell;
And by and by my soul returned to me
And answered, `I, myself, am Heaven and Hell.' ''
——

"The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on; nor all your piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.''

TABLET THE FIRST
Aries

I

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103

REFLECTION
TABLET THE FIRST

The blush of dawn of a new life, all nature quivering with the sense of coming, conscious life; Isis, vibrant with love of the coming child, her bosom flushed in expectation of the little son soon to breathe on her yearning breast.

In this we trace the great lesson of preparation, of sending the light before the form, of the prophecy before the fulfillment. Dawn must precede sunrise. What you expect will be your destiny.

It is the longing of centuries that incarnates a god, a real Sun-God, whose vibrant love-life can thrill other lives into prayer—aspiration, the struggle for eternal life. The dawn represents the expectant maternity of Nature—God.

O child of Adam! See that thou expecteth much, and that thy aspirations are reflected in thy outward life.

TABLET THE SECOND
Taurus

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105

REFLECTION
TABLET THE SECOND

Nature has shown forth her glory, as brought forth by young Horus, but her creative force is still unreflected. The sea is black and inky. The Son of God is born, but the sea of human life still remains unconscious, in primeval darkness.

The angles of the Sun and the sea are not yet in right relation to each other. A few, standing on the watch-towers of life, seeing the red glow of the risen sun, call "Look!'' But the unfortunate ones in the outer darkness cry, as they beat their breasts; "No! There is no light! You do but dream!'' And yet the Sun of Life has risen—the Divine light glows.

O child of Adam! Remember that "In Him was life, and life was the light of man, and the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.''

TABLET THE THIRD
Gemini

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107

REFLECTION
TABLET THE THIRD

The Divine symbol of soul-matehood is here signified in the two stars rising in the foreground; not only the soul-affinities of humanity, but the eternal father-mother forces manifested in the biune spirit of universal life and nature, the two great creative powers, Life and Light, whose harmony creates love, attraction and repulsion, and the straight lines of law and justice, which blend in the spiral of mercy.

The two stars are rising at an oblique angle to the pole-star, the center around which, material things revolve. So, too, life and love are balanced by the star of wisdom. Love in the spirit is adaption to the environment in matter and providence in universal life. The eight stars reveal the mystery of the tablet—universal death, present with life, the final end of all discord glimmers faintly afar off, and man questions the love of God, seeing that all things pass away, not realizing that death is the germinal promise of life, of transformation, of the realization of unrealized hopes, of the union of loving hearts in their starry pilgrimage back to the Father's home.

O child of Adam! Listen unto the words of the Teacher: "I and the Father are one.'' Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such ii the Kingdom of Heaven.''

[Blank Leaf]

2. PART I

——

Here beginneth Chapter 2 of the Book which is called "The Tablets of Æth,'' wherein is transcribed the Second Quadrant of the Twelve Mansions.

——

"How they struggle in the immense Universe!
How they whirl and seek!
Innumerable souls, that all spring forth
From the vast world-soul.
They drop from planet to planet,
And in the abyss they weep
For their forgotten land.
These are thy tears, O Dionysus,
O Spirit vast, Divine One, Liberator.
Draw back thy daughters to the breast of light.''

——

"Ah, love! Could you and I with him conspire
To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire,
Would we not shatter it to bits? And then
Remould it nearer to the heart's desire.''

TABLET THE FOURTH
Cancer

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111

REFLECTION
TABLET THE FOURTH

The dreaming woman, whose brooding thoughts shape the coming man. The race is never any farther advanced than the average thought of the woman. She is yet sleeping, knowing not her powers. So, not until she awakes and recognizes herself as conceiving by the Holy Ghost and the mother of the incarnate God, will that God be brought forth unto universal knowledge.

In this is the great lesson to woman: Ever remember thy creative power as the mother of the humanity of the future. The sun in thy mansion exerts its highest power. Awake, therefore, O soul, and eclipse not its brightness with thy dreams of sublunary power.

O child of Adam! Ever honor the womb that gave thee birth, and know that all thy earthly greatness received its seed therefrom. A fountain cannot rise higher than its source.

TABLET THE FIFTH
Leo

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113

REFLECTION
TABLET THE FIFTH

Here we have the symbol of the incarnate fire of the spirit defying the mere natural fire of the heavens. The woman sleeps and broods and dreams, but the man she has brought forth is awake, and bids defiance to the fiery forces of Nature. He has armed himself with the keen knife of action, and with it has conquered the forces of matter. He has harnessed the lightning, and made the electric fluid his obedient slave. And thus has he mastered all forces inferior to spirit—that spirit of conscious life which is his birthright.

The lesson to be gleaned from this is that, the kingdom of Nature must be taken by storm. Not for rest, but for work, has Mother Nature sent forth her man child; not for peace, but for battle; not for inertia, but for effort.

O child of Adam! Arm yourself with the sword—mayhap the sword of affliction —and, gallantly raising the strong right ann aloft, hurl defiance at the chaos of Nature, sure that the fire from the Sun of the spirit is burning in every vein of that arm.

TABLET THE SIXTH
Virgo

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115

REFLECTION
TABLET THE SIXTH

Here we have the sacred flower, symbol of the virgin soul, uncon- taminated by the snake of passion, which can only enfold the body— the stem; the snake of matter—of lust—of evil. But the flower of the spirit—the soul—lifts its pure white petals upward as an incense cup to the Sun of the Spirit.

In this symbol read the great lesson of the experience of evil. If, the flower of the soul, blossoms; the mud of the soil and the snake of the passions are but the surroundings of its roots and stem. Both are necessary for the perfection of the flower. The roots sink deep into Mother Earth, and draw nourishment and life, lifting matter upward, while the snake of passion becomes, under another aspect, the serpent of wisdom. Coiled around the stem of this life, it gives to the incarnated soul that wisdom which later blossoms in the Seraph of the Sun spheres.

O child of Adam! Take suffering, if it forge the sword of the spirit. Take evil and passion, and turn them into deep lessons of life, blossoming the evil into good, changing passion into wisdom. Only "the pure in heart can see God.''

[Blank Leaf]

3. PART I

——

Here beginneth Chapter 3 of the Book which is called "The Tablets of Æth,'' wherein is transcribed the Third Quadrant of the Twelve Mansions.

——

"To know what really exists, one must cultivate silence with
ones self, for it is in silence that the eternal and unexpected
flowers open, which change their form and color according to
the soul in which they grow. Souls are weighed in silence, as
gold and silver are weighed in pure water.''

——

"The worldly hope men set their hearts upon turns to ashes;
or it prospers, and anon, like snow upon the desert's dusty
face, lighting a little hour or two, is gone.''

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119

REFLECTION
TABLET THE SEVENTH

The symbol of Nature's eternal war for the impossible equilibrium between spirit and matter; the symbol, also, of Time, which is but the illusion in which eternity clothes itself; forever putting on and forever putting off new garments of matter. The crowned king is the victorious soul, waiting, with the scythe of Time, to reap the harvest of the world; while incarnated man, as represented in the wrestling youths, is struggling for that which he did not produce, and which only death can reap. The poppy reveals the secret of the illusions of Nature's master-showman. All earthly things are unreal to the spirit, which is the only real thing. Man's effort to hoard and save the things of this world is injustice to others. The struggle is eternal, and no matter how careful or cunning man is to monopolize either power, truth or wealth, swift-footed time will readjust all things without error.

O child of Adam! "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.''

TABLET THE EIGHTH
Scorpio

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121

REFLECTION
TABLET THE EIGHTH

A significant symbol to the seer, showing forth the two ultimates of life and death, of earthly things and sex. Scorpio is both the eagle of the spirit, soaring aloft, well fed with all that is worth carrying away from the earth; and also the scorpion, whose natural home is the desert.

In sex, either way, life is given. Shall it be to your spirit making fat and full your immortal self, or will the other interpretation be yours? And will you leave yourself dead and annihilated, a skeleton, to the Ego, the Divine spirit? For sex is indeed the foundation of all. Raised to the region of Libra, it is power and magnetism. To the bosom it is love; to the brain it is enthusiasm. It is the promethian fire of life, the creative force, giving vigor to whatever region to which it is raised; or, lowered, to be spent with no returns, it debases and renders life a desert of dry bones.

O child of Adam! Reflect on the fall of man from spirit to matter, and combine the wisdom of the serpent with the purity of the dove, and "lest ye partake of the tree of life ye shall surely die.''

TABLET THE NINTH
Saggitarius

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123

REFLECTION
TABLET THE NINTH

The symbol of the conscious soul. The shell is the body, drawn by the five senses—stars—which form an under arc, to represent the world of material things and our relation thereto. The child, armed with the feathered lance, is the soul; riding thus, fully armed, in the shell of the body, it realizes the duality of truth; that all things are changeable; and that each thing is true upon the plane of its manifestation, while an illusion to that which is interior to its life, while the soul is in its dream state. Sagittarius represents conservatism and the permanence of crystallized institutions; but, when the spirit awakes and bursts the shell of matter, the senses, instead of being the guardians and jailors of its environment, become its servants, and the means by which, united as the one Ego, sense-perception, it races o'er the fields of Æth—a being of life and beauty, shining in the empyrean of God.

O child of Adam! Ever remember that temperament and environment constitute the north and south poles of human possibility, and that ability, combined with opportunity, is the measure of responsibility.

[Blank Leaf]

4. PART 1

——

Here beginneth Chapter 4 of the Book which is called—"The Tablets of Æth,'' wherein is transcribed the Fourth Quadrant of the Twelve Mansions.

——

"A hair, perhaps, divides the false and true.
Yes, and a single alif were the clue—
Could you but find it—to the treasure house,
And, peradventure, to the Master, too.

——

`Beware, O my son, of self-incense. It is the most dangerous on account of its agreeable intoxication. * * * Learn, O my beloved, that the light of Allah's truth will often penetrate an empty head more easily than one too crammed with learning.''

TABLET THE TENTH
Capricorn

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127

REFLECTION
TABLET THE TENTH

Here is revealed the symbol of the messenger of the Most High. The star hovers over the phosphorescent light cast on the darkness as the spirit hovers over the blackness of matter. The aurora borealis stands as the emblem for the magnetic attraction of Earth on spirit, the Christ soon to be born in the manger of the Goat; the descent of the Holy Ghost into material form, so that heavenly truth may illumine the drear speculum of earthly thought with the Divine iridescence of celestial light. It is the lowest arc of the cycle that reveals the new birth of death unto life—the divine egg of Brahma, containing the promise of the new law: "Peace on Earth, good will towards men.''

O child of Adam! Be thou the star, and not a dweller of the outer darkness, and "Let your light so shine before men, that, they may see your good works.''

TABLET THE ELEVENTH
Aquarius

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129

REFLECTION
TABLET THE ELEVENTH

This tablet symbolizes the complete materialization of man—man, perfect on the earth and the lord thereof, in so far as material forces are concerned. The storm is the tempest of life, the whirl of the elements of matter in their battle with the spirit. The eight stars, brilliant now (for they are the same stars that were dimly seen in Gemini), show that the conquest of matter is complete, the great fall of spirit finished; the end of involution. And this would bring stagnation and death, if peace now ensued. The lesson taught is that, not in peace and rest can the soul grow; but amidst the earthquakes that shake thrones, the floods that overwhelm countries, the fires that reduce to ashes, has the strong man-soul grown to its present state and power. So fear not the storm, but the calm; not the unrest, but the quiet; fear not the battle, but the ignoble peace of the coward.

O child of Adam! The astral soul must learn to do and dare. Not over the brave man's grave shall it be written, "Rest in peace,'' but "I will arise, and go to my father.''

TABLET THE TWELFTH
Pisces

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131

TABLET THE TWELFTH

A revelation of the to be. The comet is the twelfth Avatar, the herald, coming forth from the starry abyss of the infinite, staying with us a little while, and then flashing on his shining way to other worlds than ours, bearing the Divine Word from sun to planet, as the fiery messenger of God. And here the soul may well ask: "Who? Where? Whence and Whither?'' For behold, he has come, and gone, and

The world floating in the sea of the infinite and resting in night shows the present state of humanity. But, "the blush of dawn'' is ready to gladden the soul, and the expectant seer, from his lonely vigil on the hilltop, awaits the sunlight which will soon flood the world anew.

The two clasped hands point to many problems, chiefly soul-matehood, the message of the starry messenger, universal brotherhood, and the Father-Motherhood of God.

O child of Adam! Watch and pray, that a voice of the silence may speak unto you.

Here endeth the four Quadrants of the Tablets of the Twelve Mansions, wherein are revealed the signs and symbols thereof, as faithfully transcribed from the sacred roll in the astral records and called "The Tablets of Æth.''

April, 1893.

[Blank Leaf]

2. PART II
of The Book which is called
THE TABLETS OF ÆTH

——

OF THE TEN PLANETARY RULERS

PART II

Here beginneth Chapter I of the Second Part of the Book which is called "The Tablets of Æth,'' wherein is transcribed the First Trinity of the Planetary Rulers.

——

"The human heart is the true temple of God; enter ye into your temples and illumine them with good thoughts. The sacred vessels, they are your hands and your eyes. Do I say that which is agreeable to God—doing good to your neighbors? But, first embellish wherein dwells He, who gave you life.''

——

"How small soever your lamp be, never give away the oil which feeds it, but only the light and flame, which crown it.''

TABLET THE FIRST
The Sun

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137

REFLECTION
TABLET THE FIRST

The symbol of all created life, spiritual and material; of all goodness, human or Divine; the center of all thought, from brutal instinct to Deific wisdom; of all creations, from starry systems to man, and from man back again to invisible gas; of all action, from the imperceptible vibrations of nerve energy to the awful destruction of worlds. All creative potency lies within a Sun sphere. Light is life. The planets are but the offspring of light and life. So in this symbol, we read the source of the human Ego, of our own life. We are, as it were, the planets of the spiritual Sun. Our souls are the attributes of the Sun, of the spiritual Ego. Only from the Ego can we receive life eternal and make immortality a fact. Obeying this spiritual life-force, the human monad is but an attribute, a reflection, of the Divine Ego, and if it fails to awake to a consciousness of this union, it withers and dies like a flower plucked from the parent tree of life.

O child of Adam, in reverence and awe do thou meditate upon this Tablet, for it is a thing of beauty, a being of light, life and love, manifesting its creative mission. It is the Vicegerent of God, flaming forth His splendors in the sky.

TABLET THE SECOND
Mercury

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139

REFLECTION
TABLET THE SECOND

A vision revealing the earthly drama of the microcosm. The elephant represents the highest expression of intelligence, minus the spirit; kneeling between the square columns of matter, i.e., guarded by them. The external mind is sleeping, or, at most, dreaming of the things of the spirit. Above sleeping mind sit the two birds, who represent spirit and matter, each waiting for the slowly preparing feast. The boy, the soul with its weapons, has a choice. Shall it be the sensuality of the flesh that he shall destroy, or the possibilities of the spiritual life on earth. The problem awaits solution. The eagle sits ready to bear aloft the spirit of the sleeper. The vulture hopes for sleep to end in death, that he may live upon the carrion thereof. The flowers of the external mind have for their roots the snakes; and, in a larger sense, the flowers of immortality have the serpent of wisdom for their roots. And the poppy winks. It knows its own power of illusion, and the double significance of the snake; the necessity of evil in the evolution of good. It is the Tablet of Wisdom.

O child of Adam! "Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.''

TABLET THE THIRD
Venus

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141

REFLECTION
TABLET THE THIRD

There is but one altar, but one blood of the sacrament in two cups, but one flesh of the Christ—the Ego—in two hearts, two experiences in love, ecstacy, and pain; two results of experience, the serpent and the dagger, symbolizing wisdom and affliction. Above the altar the divine woman holds the wreath encircling the angel. The angel of immortal life rises from the altar of sacrifice. Some of the wine is spilled as offering. The cup that is filled is raised to "Ra.'' To serve at the altar of love is the soul-mission of all, even as Christ served his disciples. Each soul must find its own service, and then the pilgrims of the Sun return to the mansions of the blessed. The great mother-god, Venus, Urania, quivers and thrills as she holds forth her offspring—the angel, the young Eros of life eternal.

O child of Adam, this is the Tablet of Love. Meditate thereon, as the last of the triune God. In this Tablet lies the secret of suffering and pleasure. He who vibrates in pain will quiver in ecstacy. Only those who have agonized in Hell can thrill in Heaven.

[Blank Leaf]

PART II

——

Here beginneth Chapter 2 of the Second Part of the Book which is called "The Tablets of Æth,'' wherein is transcribed the Second Trinity of the Planetary Rulers.

——

"Thou art called forth to this fair sacrifice
For a draught of milk; with the Maruts
Come hither, O Agni!

They who know the great sky, the Visve
Devas without guile; with those Maruts
Come hither, O Agni!

They who are brilliant, of awful shape,
Powerful, and devourers of foes; with the
Maruts come hither, O Agni!

They who in heaven are enthroned as gods,
In the light of the firmament; with the Maruts
Come hither, O Agni!''

——

"Let us meditate on the adorable light of the Divine Rulers. May it guide our intellects.''

TABLET THE FOURTH
The Moon

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145

REFLECTION
TABLET THE FOURTH

The web of life has caught the monad of the soul and thus incarnated the universe, for each soul incarnates its universe at birth, each one's world being different, and peculiar unto himself. At the first breath, the young child polarizes his relations to stars and earth, and it is the affinity and repulsion which make his life experience. And the stars weave the web in their lines of sextile, square and trine, of opposition and conjunction, thus enveloping the monad in the Circle of Necessity.

Outside the star of the spirit, the Ego, shines clear, free from the entanglements of the web and unaffected by the magnetic glamour of the Moon. And lo! the coffin is filled with stones, a symbol of death and the Moon, which is but a casket of stones. Therefore, little monad, caught in the tangle of the web of life and the glamour of earthly things, take heart, for, beyond all, is the star of your being. Call down the law of that star into yourself, and the web is broken and waves its tattered shreds in the breeze. The moonlight, the reflected light, pales as the Star-Sun of your being rises, and the moonlight of Earth gives place to the Sun-spheres of Ra.

O child of Adam! The beginning of sorrow is the dawn of spiritual life. The wise man rules the stars; the fools of Earth obey.

TABLET THE FIFTH
Mars

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147

REFLECTION
TABLET THE FIFTH

Can greater irony be shown than in this astral symbol. Mars is externally represented as a fierce warrior, awful to behold; the reality, a little child, painting toy pictures on the helmet, too big for his curly head. The lesson in this is indeed, that the pen is mightier than the sword; that the big and blustering helmet will become a plaything for the child. Soon, that the sword of bloodshed, rape, and ruin, will be broken and war relegated to the past, looked at, but, as pictures, painted with hideous reality by the childhood of the race.

The symbol also reveals the great executive forces of humanity, the child. The soul can paint, execute its ideas, its hopes and its fears in any color—the lurid red of blood, the black of ignorance and crime, or in the living light of beauty. All the same, it is the childhood of man painting its ideals in the material world.

O child of Adam, curb the anger of Mars, that thy painting may set the dove at liberty. Let the magic of thy soul transform the savage of the desert into the angel of mercy.

TABLET THE SIXTH
Jupiter

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149

REFLECTION
TABLET THE SIXTH

Again we are impressed with the contrast of internal and external things. Jupiter, the symbol of authority, conservatism, church, and state, and the stability of human institutions, and the things that are, as the things that are the best. But oh, how widely different the internal, the real Jupiter, that governing power of the spirit that hurls defiance at unjust authority, the cruelty and tyranny of the world. The soul sees the light beyond, and, emerging from the dark chasm of matter, knows the battle that must be fought against wrong. It is the awful—yea, terrible—symbol of defiance to gods and men who oppose its onward, upward march to the shining goal of light. Make way, then! Make way! For Earth has given birth to her giant son—the Spirit. For, listen closely, my friend, to the axiom of Immortality. What is soul? Not the spirit, mind you; not the deathless Ego, of which you at present, perchance, know absolutely nothing. Soul is mere memory; a scavenger in earthly states; and a gleaner, a hired help, in the fields of heaven; and to become immortal, there must be something more than soul as the result. It must take such a vital interest in its Lord's work that, finally it becomes too valuable to lose, and must be taken into partnership, so to say. The Ego—Lord— has found a valued servant, a trusted steward, after much seeking, and at once adopts it as its very own. And so the soul becomes heir to the heavenly estate and receives the immortal, vital principle of spiritual union, and awakes from the son of Earth a God-like being, free from the shackles of Time—a dweller in eternity. The soul must awake and realize the Deific atom around which it revolves before it is too late. Unless this is so, the seed of immortal life, sown in matter by the Ego, has not germinated, and it returns unfruitful and dies—it is an abortion. Many, many seeds never germinate. Many good orthodox, but animal-like lives, live, move, and die,—yes, die in very truth. Would to God I could make all mankind realize this awful, inconceivable privilege of life, that, Jupiter-like, they would turn and face the light.

O child of Adam! "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.''

[Blank Leaf]

PART II

Here beginneth Chapter 3 of the Second Part of the Book which is called "The Tablets of Æth,'' wherein the Third, and last, Trinity of the Planetary Rulers is faithfully transcribed.

——

"Thou hast entered the immeasurable regions. I am the
Dweller of the Threshold. What wouldst thou with me?
* * * Dost thou fear me? Am I not thy beloved? Is it
not for me that thou bast rendered up the delights of thy race?
Wouldst thou be wise? Mine is the wisdom of the countless
ages. Kiss me, my mortal lover.''

——

"Thus man pursues his weary calling,
And wrings the hard life from the sky,
While happiness unseen is falling
Down from God's bosom silently."

TABLET THE SEVENTH
Saturn

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153

REFLECTION
TABLET THE SEVENTH

In the external we remember Saturn as an old man, and as a skeleton with a scythe—as Time, in fact. But see, O immortal soul, the real Saturn, as the Angel of Life, having from time gathered the experiences which crown him with light, holding the rod of power; the Christ born in the manger of Capricorn, the Goat—life born of death; the conqueror of evil. He throws off the mask of age, and divine youth beams on us. He doffs the mantle of rags, and royal splendors clothe him. He lifts the hood, and behold the crown. He raises the crutch, and lo! the rod of power. He drops the scythe of death for the jewel of eternal life.

O child of Adam! Meditate on the transmutations of life. Behold the earthly miracle of the caterpillar and the butterfly, of the toiling mortal and the transcendent God!

TABLET THE EIGHTH
Uranus

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155

REFLECTION
TABLET THE EIGHTH

The state of soul and spirit—penetration; the wonderful power of soul-perception, which sheds its light on all visible things, receiving their images and interpreting them into the spirit, the all-seer—what does it not convey? The perception that can see deep into your soul and see, as it were, the yet unborn thought; that can distinguish the motive of action; that judges the realities of your soul. Such is the Astral Uranian. For with us all, are three planes of mind: The drift plane, the intellectual, and the spiritual, or internal plane; and thought-reading can be on one or all of these different states. But only the Uranian seer can read the inmost mind, and so really know the possibilities of your spirit.

Imagine an image of soft wax, covered with a sensitive skin. All impressions on the skin shape the plastic wax, but go no deeper— do not reach the soul. You can separate these impressions from your real self, when calm and alone, and look upon emotion as a surface play. But the tragedies of life strike deep. They affect the soul, and go to the center of being. "Verbum sap.''

O child of Adam! Watch the tempest of life closely. The Ego may sit calm amidst the storm, but, if that be stirred beware! The God acts; the soul alone watches.

TABLET THE NINTH
Neptune

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157

REFLECTION
TABLET THE NINTH

An unknown quantity, a hope of progression, ideal love, and all true mental and spiritual ideals; aspiration to become that which we feel to be noble and true; the symbol of the monad, the soul which, receiving its life from the Sun—the Ego—is constantly revealing new forces and potencies of that God-life. Each soul's Ego is its maker and God. The Ego is like the Deific potency of the universe, unlimited in potential power, but limited by its monad as to what will be evolved from its awful depth of being. Deity progresses through its expressions of the cosmos. The Ego, your God, finds progressive expression through you, through your soul. That soul is not immortal that becomes separated from its Ego—its God. So, soul, spread your spiritual wings and soar upward.

O child of Adam! Know these three things: Eternity is the creator of the universal life; universal life creates the world, and the world is the creator of time. And of these, the Universe is Life, and the World is Mind, and Time is the Soul. The sum total of all is Experience. And this is individual, conscious life—"Jacta est alea'' (the die is cast)—the wings are spread.

TABLET THE TENTH
The Cypher -the unknown

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159

REFLECTION
TABLET THE TENTH

The unknown in very truth. It is everything—it is also nothing. Inconceivable visions arise within the mental universe, but nothing assumes definite form. It is all that is past. It is likewise everything that the future has in store. Amen.

O child of Adam! "Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or loose the bands of Orion?''

[Blank Leaf]

3. PART III
of The Book which is called
THE TABLETS OF ÆTH

——

OF THE
TEN GREAT KABBALISTICAL POWERS
or
ANGELS OF THE UNIVERSE

[Blank Leaf]

PART III
VISION

Each angel standing in front of the symbol is dimly outlined and transparent. Through the angel's form is seen its symbol.

FIRST

A luminous something, which gives the impression of sleep.

SECOND

Something moving, like an ocean.

THIRD

A storm, and lightning.

FOURTH

A mist.

FIFTH

An animal moving, resembling a turtle.

SIXTH

A blue light; in the center a star with three points.

SEVENTH

An expanse of water, a blue sky, a shining disk rising on the horizon.

EIGHTH

A lurid sky, like a red dawn; in the water floats an egg.

NINTH

Five stars on a convex arc, like a rainbow; the shell of the egg is broken and forms continents.

TENTH

A man lying fast asleep under a magnificent palm tree, with his face turned toward the horizon of the sea.

EXPLANATION

Only the pure in heart can see God, and to those pure souls I commend the following brief explanation of the Vision of the Angels of Life, which I have here recorded for the benefit of all whom it may now and hereafter concern.

In the original Vision of the Tablets of Æth a great circle was seen, in the center a head, a faint shimmer above the head, as if the light were about to dawn; a dull, lurid glow beneath, as if of chaos or hell; the hair around the head like floating clouds, the beard like strange cloud-streaks. Each sign of the Zodiac surrounding the center head had within it a faintly seen face. Beginning with the first, it became more and more distinct and perfect with each sign until it evolved into godlike beauty in Pisces.

The symbolic planets were around the Zodiac, and beyond these, making a third grand circle, were the ten Evolutionary Angels. The vision is that of the evolution of all life, spiritual and material. We gaze at the cosmic sex mystery, and the discerning mind, the loving spirit, can read the correspondence of the great sacred conjugal act of both man and God; of its heights, of its depths, and of all that lies between.

To aid in meditation on the bead at the center, herein is written a vision, an experience of the soul in the Sleep of Sialam.

The Hermetic brethren encircled my astral body, which was deeply entranced. "From whence,'' the great question, quivered through my inmost being. To answer that awful problem of the soul the released spirit went on its fearsome journey, back through star systems; back, back beyond all stars, back to the blackness of nothing— that awful nothing, whose outside ring vibrated with fearful flames; the fiery cherubim, winged, taking all possible shapes, and unformed living shapes. A human flamed and changed and vanished. The tornado of whirling, flashing, chaotic life swirled and drove through the darkness of chaos of nothing from nothing—and that great, unknown abyss is God! But the life is evolutionary.

Deity is progressive, so never can man cease to be. Never can he return to that awful center of nothingness, or be absorbed within the bosom of the unmanifested being. On, and on, and on, with Deific power, God moves in ever-increasing whirls of evolution.

Thus came the answer of the ages: "From primeval force, from the mighty breath of unmanifested being, through every phase of action and reaction, from the energies of storm and lightning, from star-dust to sunlight, has come the spirit of man!''

And the Astral Brethren understood.

THE TWO SEALS OF THE EARTH

So here endeth the Book which is called "The Tablets of Æth,'' transcribed from the astral originals in the Year of Doom MDCCCXCIII.