The Vision and the Voice

THE EQUINOX and I would not harm thee.’ So also are they who wish well unto the Masters of the Pyramid. And the bee said unto the flower: ‘Give me of thine honey,’ and the flower gave richly thereof; but the bee, though he wit it not, carried the seed of the flower into many fields of sun. So also are they that take unto themselves the Masters of the Pyramid for servants. Now the exceeding light that was behind the Pyramid, and the Rosy Cross that is set thereon, hath fulfilled the whole Aire. The black Pyramid is like the back of a black diamond. Also the Rosy Cross is loosened, and the petals of the Rose are the mingled hues of sunset and of dawn; and the Cross is the Golden light of noon, and in the heart of the Rose there is the secret light that men call midnight. And a voice: ‘Glory to God and thanksgiving to God, and there is no God but God. And He is exalted; He is great; and in the Sevenfold Table is His Name writ openly, and in the Twelvefold Table is His Name concealed.’ And the Pyramid casts a shadow of itself into the sky, and the shadow spreads over the whole stone. And an angel clad in blue and scarlet, with golden wings and plumes of purple fire, comes forth and scatters disks of green and gold, filling all the Aire. And they become swiftly-whirling wheels, singing together. And the voice of the angel cries: Gather up thy garments about thee,* O thou that hast entered the circle of the Sab- bath; for in thy grave-clothes shouldest thou behold the resurrection. * Since the examination in the amphitheatre I have been a naked spirit without garments or anything; by garments he means the body. 70