The Equinox (Volume I, Number I)

WALTER SCOTT PUBLISHING CO. Lid. PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. And through all Booksellers Crown 8vo, Scarlet Buckram, pp. 64 This Edition strictly limited to 500 Copies PRICE 10s. AAS PUBLICATION IN CLASS B. BOOK 111 Ts book contains in concise tabulated form a comparative view of all the symbols of the great religions of the world; the perfect attributions of the Taro, so long kept secret by the Rosicru- cians, are now for the first time published ; also the complete secret magical correspondences of the G.*.D.+. and R. R. et A.C. It forms, in short, a complete magical and philosophical dictionary; a key to all religions and to all practical occult working. ___ For the first time Western and Qabalistic symbols have been harmonised with those of Hindu- ism, Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Taoism, &c. By a glance at the Tables, anybody conversant with any one system can understand perfectly all others. The Occult Review says: “Despite its cumbrous sub-title and high price per page, this work has only to come under the notice of the right people to be sure of a ready sale. In its author's words, it represents ‘an attempt to systematise alike the data of mysticism and the results of comparative religion,’ and so far as any book can succeed in such an attempt, this book does succeed ; that is to say, it condenses in some sixty pages as much information as many an intelligent reader at the Museum has been able to collect in years. The book proper consists of a Table of *Correspondences,' and is, in fact, an attempt to reduce to a common denominator the symbolism of as many religious and magical systems as the author is acquainted with. ‘The denominator chosen is necessarily a large one, as the author's object is to reconcile systems which divide all things into 3, 7, 10, 12, as the case may be. Since our expression ‘common denominator’ is used in a figurative and not in a strictly mathematical sense, the task is less complex than appears at first sight, and the 32 Paths of the Sepher Yetzirah, or Book of Formation of the Qabalah, provide a convenient scale, These 2 Paths are attributed by the Qabalists to the 10 Sephiroth, or Emanations of Deity, and to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which are again subdivided into 3 mother letters, 7 double letters, and x2 simple letters. On this basis, that of the Qabalistic ‘ Tree of Life,’ as a certain arrangement of the Sephiroth and 22 remaining Paths connecting them is termed, the author has constructed no less than 183 tables, “The Qabalistic information is very full, and there are tables of Egyptian and Hindu deities, as well as of colours, perfumes, plants, stones, and animals, ‘The information concerning the tarot and geomancy exceeds that to be found in some treatises devoted exclusively to those subjects. The author appears to be acquainted with Chinese, Arabic, and other classic texts, Here your reviewer is unable to follow him, but his Hebrew does credit ‘alike to him and to his printer. Among several hundred words, mostly proper names, we found and marked a few misprints, but subsequently discovered each one of them in a printed table of errata, which we had overlooked. When one remembers the misprints in ‘ Agrippa’ and the fact that the ordinary’ Hebrew compositor and reader is no more fitted for this task than a boy cognisant of no more than the shapes of the Hebrew letters, one wonders how many proofs there were and what the printer's bill was. A knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet and of the Qabalistic Tree of Life is all that is needed to lay open to the reader the enormous mass of information contained in this book. ‘The ‘Alphabet of Mysticism,’ as the author says—several alphabets we should prefer to say—is here. Much that has been jealously and foolishly kept secret in the past is here, but though our author has secured for his work the imprimatur of some body with the mysterious title of the A.”. A.*., and though he remains himself anonymous, he appears to be no mystery monger. Obviously he is widely read, but he makes no pretence that he has secrets to reveal. On the contrary, he says, ‘an indicible arcanum is an arcanum which cannot be revealed.’ ‘The writer of that sentence has learned at least one fact not to be learned from books. 2c