The Vision and the Voice

THE VISION AND THE VOICE unveiled. Let not her be put to shame that lieth among the lilies that are beyond the stars. O man, that must ever be opening, when wilt thou learn to seal up the mysteries of the creation? to fold thyself over thy- self as a rose in the embrace of night? But thou must play the wanton to the sun, and the wind must tear thy petals from thee, and the bee must rob thee of thy honey, and thou must fall into the dusk of things. Amen and Amen. Verily the light is hidden, therefore he who hideth himself is like unto the light; but thou openest thyself; thou art like unto the darkness that bindeth the belly of the great goddess.* OLAHO VIRUDEN MAHORELA ZODIREDA! ON PIREDA EXENTASER; ARBA PIRE GAH GAHA GAHAL GAHALANA VO ABRA NA GAHA VELU- CORSAPAX. And the voice of the aeon cried: Return, return, return! the time sickeneth, and the space gapeth, and the voice of him that is, was and shall be crowned rattles in the throat of the mighty dragon of eld. Thou canst not pass by me, except thou have the mystery of the word of the abyss. Now the angel putteth back the sapphire stone into his breast; and I spake unto him and said, I will fight with thee and overcome thee, except thou expound unto me the word of the abyss. Now he makes as if to fight with me. (It is very horrible, all the tentacles moving and the flail flashing, and the fierce * In the light of the cry of LOE, this passage seems to mean precisely the opposite of its apparent meaning. 13