The Law is for All

Chapter I A Verse 52 67 creation from nothing of something and the destruction of some­ thing to nothing, exploded with the theory of Phlogiston.1 1 [The “food of fire,” a substance postulated in the 18th century, before the discovery of oxygen, to account for combustion.] It stands plain, even to sceptical reason—indeed, most of all to the sceptic—that our talisman, one microscopic serpent of which can build for itself such a house as to rule men’s bodies for a generation like Alexander, or their minds for an epoch like Plato, cannot be destroyed or diminished by any conceivable force. When this talisman comes forth from its fortress, its action begins. The ancient Jewish Rabbins knew this, and taught that before Eve was given to Adam, the demon Lilith conceived by the spilth of his dreams, so that the hybrid races of satyrs, elves and the like began to populate those secret places of the earth which are not sensible by the organs of the normal man. I take it as certain that every offering of this talisman infallibly begets children on one plane or another of this our cosmos, whose matter is so varied in kind. Such a child must partake of its father’s nature; and its character will be determined, partly by the environment in which it is bred to manifestation, lives, and ulti­ mately changes in what we call death, and partly by the inmost will of the father, perhaps modified to some extent by his con­ scious will at the time of his slipping the leash. This being so, it becomes tremendously important to a man that he should become conscious of his true inmost Will, of his essential nature. This is the Great Work whose attainment consti­ tutes adeptship, provided that the consciousness recognizes that its own dependence on circumstance makes it no more than a troubled image in foul water of the sun which is that Silent Self. If such a man wants to develop his powers, he must use this tremen­ dous talisman to create in his own image. Although this talisman has such miraculous might, it is also intensely sensitive. Put in an unsuitable environment, it may pro­ duce grotesque or malignant perversions of its father’s Word. We are all aware that fine children are born of healthy mothers who are true and worthy mates of their husbands. The children of