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I may mention the absurdity of Shaw finding difficulty in the fact that the visit of the three "Kings" is 
not mentioned in profane history. Shaw did not realize that a "King" may be the equivalent of a very 
minor chieftain in the Highlands. 
Again the injunctions to abandon family ties and worldly cares involve no social theories. They are 
addressed only to would-be disciples, and have been so given --- from the dawn of history to the 
present day --- by every Eastern teacher that ever balanced himself upon one thumb, used a hip 
bath instead of a soup plate, or rode the Wheel of Samsara in preference to a bicycle. 
Once more, the irrational incidents of the life of Christ become entirely normal when understood as 
the rubric of a ritual of initiation. 
I claim that my book establishes the outline of an entirely final theory of the construction of 
Christianity. The subject is far too vast and complex to be adequately discussed in this 
autohagiography. But I have no hesitation in referring the student to my essay for the solution of 
any and every difficulty which he may have found in the consideration of this matter. 
Having completed this treatise, I discovered myself to be inspired to write a number of short stories 
based on The Golden Bough. They are "The Hearth", "The God of Ibreez", "The Burning of Melcarth", 
"The Old Man of the Peepul Tree", "The Mass of St Secaire", "The King of the Wood", "The Oracle of 
Cocytus" and "The Stone of Cybele". 
Now with regard to my magical work strictly speaking, its character was presumably determined by 
my Grade. The Magus corresponds to the Sephira Chokmah, whose manifestation in the universe is 
Masloth, the 
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Sphere of the Fixed Stars. It was accordingly proper that I should receive a revelation of the 
universe in this aspect. I began my meditation with no special objective in view. Almost 
immediately (instead of after a long- continued effort, as had been the case generally speaking in 
the past) I obtained a Samadhi of which my conscious memory brought back the account 
"Nothingness and twinkles", adding subsequently "but what twinkles!" This Samadhi developed in the 
course of time, as I repeated it, into such importance that I feel almost justified in calling it the 
radix of my whole philosophical outlook. I have described it, giving historical details, in my 
Comment on The Book of the Law, ch. I, v. 59. It seems convenient to quote this in this place, as 
throwing light upon the progress of my inmost apprehension of the universe from this time forward. 
THE "STAR-SPONGE" VISION 
There is a vision of a peculiar character which has been of cardinal importance in my interior life, 
and to which constant reference is made in my magical diaries. So far as I know, there is no extant 
description of this vision anywhere, and I was surprised on looking through my records to find that I 
had given no clear account of it myself. 
The vision developed gradually. It was repeated on so many occasions that I am unable to say at 
what period it may be called complete. 
I was on a retirement in a cottage overlooking Lake Pasquaney in New Hampshire. I lost 
consciousness of everything but a universal space in which were innumerable bright points, and I 
realized this as a physical representation of the universe, in what I may call its essential structure. I 
exclaimed, "Nothingness with twinkles!" I concentrated upon this vision, with the result that the 
void space which had been the principal element of it diminished in importance; space appeared to 
be ablaze, yet the radiant points were not confused, and I thereupon completed my sentence with 
the exclamation, "but what twinkles!"