and that His Angel is indeed himself, with inti- 
macy so intense as to become identity, and that not 
in a single Ego, but in every unconscious element 
that shares in that manifold uprush. 
This rapture is accompanied by a tempest of 
brilliant light, almost always, and also in many 
cases by an outburst of sound, stupendous and 
sublime in ail cases, though its character may vary 
within wide limits. 1 
The spate of stars shoots from the head of the 
Will-Symbol, and is scattered over the sky in glit- 
tering galaxies. This dispersion destroys the con¬ 
centration of the adept, whose mind cannot master 
such multiplicity of majesty; as a rule, he simply 
sinks stunned into normality, to recall nothing of 
his expérience but a vague though vivid impression 
of complété release and ineffable rapture. Répéti¬ 
tion fortifies him to réalisé the nature of his attain* 
ment 5 and his Angel, the link once made, 
frequents him, and trains him subtly to be sensitive 
to his Holy presence, and persuasion. But it may 
occur, especially after repeated success, that the 
Adept is not flung back into his mortality by the 
explosion of the Star-spate, but identified with one 
particular “Lion-Serpent”, continuing conscious 
thereof until it finds its proper place in Space, when 
its secret self flowers forth as a truth, which the 
Adept may then take back to earth with him. 
This is but a side issue. The main purpose of the 
Ritual is to establish the relation of the sub- 
conscious self with the Angel in such a way that the 
Adept is aware that his Angel is the Unity which 
expresses the sum of the Eléments of that Self, 
that his normal consciousness contains alien enemies 
I. These phenomena are not wholly subjective; they may be perceived, 
though often under other forms, by even the ordinary man. 
— 286 —