The Vision and the Voice

THE VISION AND THE VOICE the means to the end. For therein is faith and sympathy and a knowledge of the true Magick. Oh my beloved, that fliest in the air like a dove, beware of the falcon! oh my beloved, that springest upon the earth like a gazelle, beware of the lion! There are hundreds of visions, trampling over one another. In each one the Angel of the Aethyr is mysteriously hidden. Now I will describe the Angel of the Aethyr until the voice begins again. He is like one’s idea of Sappho and Calypso, and all seduc- tive and deadly things; heavy eye-lids, long lashes, a face like ivory, wonderful barbaric jewellery, intensely red lips, a very small mouth, tiny ears, a Grecian face. Over the shoulders is a black robe with a green collar; the robe is spangled with golden stars; the tunic is a pure soft blue. Now the whole Aethyr is swallowed up in a forest of un- quenchable fire, and fearlessly through it all a snow-white eagle flies. And the eagle cries: the house also of death. Come away! The volume of the book is open, the Angel wait- eth without, for the summer is at hand. Come away! For the Aeon is measured, and thy span allotted. Come away! For the mighty sounds have entered into every angle. And they have awakened the Angels of the Aethyrs that slept these three hundred years. For in the Holy letter Shin, that is the Resurrection in the Book of Thoth, that is the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, that is three hundred in the tale of the years, hath the tomb been opened, so that this great wisdom might be revealed. Come away! For the Second Triad is completed, and there remaineth only the Lord of the Aeon, the Avenger, the Child 165