THE EQUINOX
play the man, for behold! there shall be revealed unto thee
the Great Terror, the thing of awe that hath no name.
And this is the mystery that I declare unto thee: that from
the Crown itself spring the three great delusions; Aleph is
madness, and Beth is falsehood, and Gimel is glamour. And
these three be greater than all, for they are beyond the words
that I speak unto thee; how much more therefore are they
beyond the words that thou transmittest unto men.
Behold! the Veil of the Aethyr sundereth, and is torn, like a
sail by the breath of the tempest, and thou shalt see him as from
afar off. This is that which is written, ‘‘ Confound her under-
standing with darkness,” for thou canst not speak this thing.
It is the figure of the Magus of the Taro; in his right arm
the torch of the flames blazing upwards; in his left the cup of
poison, a cataract into Hell. And upon his head the evil
talisman, blasphemy and blasphemy and blasphemy, in the
form of a circle. That is the greatest blasphemy of all.* On
his feet hath he the scythes and swords and sickles; daggers;
knives; every sharp thing,—a millionfold, and all in one. And
before him is the Table that is a Table of wickedness, the 42-
fold Table. This Table is connected with the 42 Assessors of
the Dead, for they are the Accusers, whom the soul must
baffle; and with the 42-fold name of God, for this is the
Mystery of Iniquity, that there was ever a beginning at all.
And this Magus casteth forth, by the might of his four
weapons, veil after veil; a thousand shining colours, ripping
and tearing the Aethyr, so that it is like jagged saws, or like
broken teeth in the face of a young girl, or like disruption, or
* Te. that the circle should be thus profaned. This evil circle is of three
concentric rings.
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