The Vision and the Voice

THE VISION AND THE VOICE Behold, the foundation of the Holy City, the towers and the bastions thereof! Behold the armies of light that are set against the outermost Abyss, against the horror of emptiness, and the malice of Choronzon. Behold how worshipful is the wisdom of the Master, that he hath set his stability in the all- wandering Air and in the changeful Moon. In the purple flashes of the lightning hath He written the word Eternity, and in the wings of the swallow hath He appointed rest. By three and by three and by three hath He made firm the foundation against the earthquake that is three. For in the number nine is the changefulness of the numbers brought to naught. For with whatsoever number thou wilt cover it, it appeareth unchanged. These things are spoken unto him that understandeth, that is a breastplate unto the elephants, or a corselet unto the angels, or a scale upon the towers of iron; yet is this mighty host set only for a defence, and whoso passeth beyond their lines hath no help in them. Yet must he that understandeth go forth unto the outer- most Abyss, and there must he speak with him that is set above the four-fold terror, the Princes of Evil, even with Choronzon, the mighty devil that inhabiteth the outermost Abyss. And none may speak with him, or understand him, but the servants of Babylon, that understand, and they that are without under- standing, his servants. Behold! it entereth not into the heart, nor into the mind of man to conceive this matter; for the sickness of the body is death, and the sickness of the heart is despair, and the sick- ness of the mind is madness. But in the outermost Abyss is sickness of the aspiration, and sickness of the will, and sickness 89