The Equinox (Volume I, Number IX)

THE EQUINOX without Mme. A——,, or Desbarrolles, or Eliphas hearing the unknown young priest spoken of. In the course of the night between the 1st and 2nd of January, 1857, Eliphas Levi was awakened suddenly by the emotions of a bizarre and dismal dream. It seemed to him that he was in a dilapidated room of gothic architecture, rather like the abandoned chapel of an old castle. A door hidden by a black drapery opened on to this room; behind the drapery one guessed the hidden light of tapers, and it seemed to Eliphas that, driven by a curiosity full of terror, he was approaching the black drapery... . Then the drapery was parted, and a hand was stretched forth and seized the arm of Eliphas. He saw no one, but he heard a low voice which said in his ear: “Come and see your father, who is about to die.” The magus awoke, his heart palpitating, and his forehead bathed in sweat. “What can this dream mean?” thought he. “It is long since my father died; why am I told that he is going to die, and why has this warning upset me?” The following night, the same dream recurred with the same circumstances; once more Eliphas awoke, hearing a voice in his ear repeat: “Come and see your father, who is about to die.” This repeated nightmare made a painful impression upon Eliphas: he had accepted, for the 3rd of January, an invita- tion to dinner in pleasant company, but he wrote and excused himself, feeling himself little inclined for the gaiety ofa banquet of artists. He remained, then, in his study; the weather was cloudy; at midday he received a visit from one of his magical 166