THE EQUINOX
to study the elements of that physical Qabalah which we call
magic.
According to the qabalistic principles formulated by the
school of Paracelsus, death is nothing but a slumber, ever
growing deeper and more definite, a slumber which it would
not be impossible to stop in its early stages by exercising a
powerful action of will on the astral body as it breaks loose,
and by recalling it to life through some powerful interest or
some dominating affection. Jesus expressed the same thought
when he said to the daughter of Jairus: “ The maiden is not
dead, but sleepeth”; and of Lazarus: “ Our friend is fallen
asleep, and I go to wake him.” To express this resurrection-
ist system in such a manner as not to offend common sense,
by which we mean generally-held opinions, let us say that
death, when there is no destruction or essential alteration of
the physical organs, is always preceded by a lethargy of
varying duration. (The resurrection of Lazarus, if we could
admit it as a scientific fact, would prove that this state may
last for four days.)
Let us now come to the secret of the Great Work, which
we have given only in Hebrew, without vowel points, in the
Rituel de la haute magie. Here is the complete text in
Latin, as one finds it on page 144 of the Sepher Yetzirah,
commented by the alchemist Abraham (Amsterdam, 1642):
1 It will be objected that Lazarus stank, but this is a thing which happens
frequently to healthy people, as well as to sick men, who recover in spite of it.
Besides, in the Gospel story, it is one of the bystanders who says that Lazarus
“by this time stinketh, for he hath been dead four days.” One may then
attribute this remark to imagination—E. L. Rather to the arrogance of the a
priori reasoner.—TRANS.
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