The Vision and the Voice

THE EQUINOX Nephthys, and they are folding their wings over, and sup- porting Ra. I wanted to go back to the King’s Chamber. The Angel pushed me away, saying: “Thou shalt see these visions from afar off, but thou shalt not partake of them save in the man- ner prescribed. For if thou change so much as the style of a letter, the holy word is blasphemed.” And this is the manner prescribed: Let there be a room furnished as for the ritual of passing through the Tuat. And let the aspirant be clad in the robes of, and let him bear the insignia of, his grade. And at the least he shall be a neophyte. Three days and three nights shall he have been in the tomb, vigilant and fasting, for he shall sleep no longer than three hours at any one time, and he shall drink pure water, and eat little sweet cakes consecrated unto the moon, and fruits, and the eggs of the duck, or of the goose, or of the plover. And he shall be shut in, so that no man may break in upon his meditation. But in the last twelve hours he shall neither eat nor sleep. Then shall he break his fast, eating rich food, and drink- ing sweet wines, and wines that foam; and he shall banish the elements and the planets and the signs and the sephiroth; and then shall he take the holy table that he hath made for his altar, and he shall take the call of the Aethyr of which he will partake, which he hath written in the angelic character, or in the character of the holy alphabet that is revealed in Popé, upon a fair sheet of virgin vellum; and therewith shall he conjure the Aethyr, chanting the call. And in the lamp that is hung above the altar shall he burn the call that he hath written. 54