John St. John

THE EQUINOX 10.50. some bread and Camembert, and a little milk. After- wards a cup of coffee, and then two hours of the Vajroli Mudra badly performed. All this I did with reluctance, as an act of self-denial or asceticisrn, lest my desire to concentrate on the mystic path should run away with me. Therefore I think it may fairly be counted unto me for righteousness. I now drink a final coffee and retire, to do I hope a more straightforward type of meditation. So mote it be. Naked, Maryt looks like Corregio’s Antiope. Her eyes are a strange grey, and her hair a very wonderful reddish gold—a colour I have never seen before and cannot properly describe. She has Jewish blood in her, I fancy ; this, and her method of illustrating the axiom “ Post coitum animal triste" made me think of Baudelaire’s “ Une nuit que j'etais pres d'une affreuse Juive ": and the last line Obscurcir la splendour des tes froides prunelles. and Barbey d’Aurevilly’s “ Rideau Cramoisi ”suggested to me the following poem. [We omit this poem.—BD.] 11.30. Done! i’ th‘ rough! i’ th’ rough! Now let me go back to my room, and Work! (11.47.) Home—undressed—robed —attended to toilet-cut cross of Blood once more to affirm mastery of Body— sat down at 11.49 and ended the day with 10 Prana- yamas, which caused me to perspire freely, but were not altogether easy or satisfactory. 16