THE VISION AND THE VOICE
is set in a jewel of threescore pearls and twelve. And He
hath garnished it with the Four Holy Living Creatures for
Guardians, and He hath graven therein the seal of righteous-
ness,* and He hath burnished it with the fire of His Angel, and
the blush of His loveliness informeth it, and with delight and
with wit hath He made it merry at the heart, and the core
thereof is the Secret of His being, and therein is His name
Generation. And this His stability hath the number 80, for
that the price thereof is War.+
Beware, therefore, O thou who art appointed to understand
the secret of the Outermost Abyss, for in every Abyss thou
must assume the mask and form of the Angel thereof. Hadst
thou a name, thou wert irrevocably lost. Search, therefore,
if there be yet one drop of blood that is not gathered into the
cup of Babylon the Beautiful, for in that little pile of dust, if
there could be one drop of blood, it should be utterly corrupt;
it should breed scorpions and vipers, and the cat of slime.
And I said unto the Angel:
Is there not one appointed as a warden?
And he said:
Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani.
Such an ecstasy of anguish racks me that I cannot give it
voice, yet I know it is but as the anguish of Gethsemane.
And that is the last word of the Aethyr. The outposts are
passed, and before the seer extends the outermost Abyss.
I am returned.
Bou-SAaba.
December 5, 1909. 10.10-11.35 p.m.
* Full title of Jesod is Tzediq Jesod Olahm, “ The Righteous is the Founda-
tion of the World.”
+ 1. S. V. D., Jesod,=80, the number of pé, the letter of Mars.
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