The Equinox (Volume I, Number IX)

THE EQUINOX to follow. It is no use “looking wise” when there is an Abramelin demon gnawing you below the belt, or burbling about the Sanctuary when the Goat of Mendes is threatening you with a 70 h.p. six cylinder, four-speed, gnarled clyster. All night Waite stayed, and begged; it was in vain. The Master was not to be moved from a resolution both wise and kind. He, however, promised to acknowledge Waite openly as his disciple on condition of good behaviour for the future. It is with pleasure indeed that we record that Waite’s lapses have been comparatively few. Waite was no Crippen, be it under- stood. If Crowley teasingly called him “old lag” in friendly converse round the office fire, too strict a significance, too vital an importance, may easily be attached to the phrase. Crowley may only have been referring to the number of his incarnations. Or some secret meaning may lie hidden in the term. It was at least the fact that Waite was inclined to writhe under its application. So he did when any one said “ you and Westcott,” or “you and Wilmshurst” ; but this was obviously a reference to his early errors, the reopening of an old wound. Still more so Crowley’s habitual recitation from Blake— “Steiger, Steiger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand and eye Framed thy fearful syntaxy ?” He also disliked puns on his name and allusions to his personal appearance—his close resemblance to the excellent foreman printer at the Ballantyne Press was a constant source of irritation—also to his style of dress, which proved in- 218