THE EQUINOX
Tarot. But it is drawn by four sphinxes, diverse, like the four
sphinxes upon the door of the vault of the adepts, counter-
changed in their component parts.
The chariot itself is the lunar crescent, waning. The
canopy is supported by eight pillars of amber. These pillars
are upright, and yet the canopy which they support is the
whole vault of night.
The charioteer is a man in golden armour, studded with
sapphires, but over his shoulders is a white robe, and over
that a red robe. Upon his golden helmet he beareth for his
crest a crab. His hands are clasped upon a cup, from which
radiates a ruddy glow, constantly increasing, so that every-
thing is blotted out by its glory, and the whole Aire is filled
with it.
And there is a marvellous perfume in the Aire, like unto
the perfume of Ra Hoor Khuit, but sublimated, as if the
quintessence of that perfume alone were burnt. For it hath
the richness and voluptuousness and humanity of blood, and
the strength and freshness of meal, and the sweetness of
honey, and the purity of olive-oil, and the holiness of that oil
which is made of myrrh, and cinnamon, and galangal.
The charioteer speaks in a low, solemn voice, awe-inspiring,
like a very large and very distant bell: Let him look upon the
cup whose blood is mingled therein, for the wine of the cup is
the blood of the saints. Glory unto the Scarlet Woman,
Babylon the Mother of Abominations, that rideth upon the
Beast, for she hath spilt their blood in every corner of the
earth, and lo! she hath mingled it in the cup of her whoredom.
With the breath of her kisses hath she fermented it, and
it hath become the wine of the Sacrament, the wine of the
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