The Equinox (Volume I, Number II)

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING fickle element of Air whose sign is the ever-changing moon. The next step brings him under the unstable condition of Water and the seemingly unbalanced influences of Mercury. But if he has passed through the paths of w and 4 with cunning and earnestness he will understand why it is necessary to enter the grade of the Element of Water by the paths of the Sun and of Fire, as he will in his next step understand why it is that the paths of p and x, that is, of Pisces and Aquarius, lead him to the Fire of Netzach and not to the Water of Hod. The path which connects Hod with Netzach is the 27th path of the Sepher Yetzirah which answers to the letter ». It is the reflection of the Sphere of Mars and is the lowermost of the reciprocal paths. The Tarot Key attributed to this path is very rightly the 16th Key—the Tower ; which we have seen in the 4°=7° Ritual represents a tower struck by a flash of lightning, symbolising the Tower of Babel struck by the wrath of Heaven, and also the Power of the Triad rushing down and destroying the columns of darkness, the light of Adonai glimmering through the veils and consuming the elementary Rituals of the 1°=10°, 2°=9°, 3°=8°, and 4°=7° grades. In many cases the candidate, it is to be feared, can never have realised the necessity of this destruction of superficial knowledge, and the harnessing of the Bull, Eagle, Man and Lion under the dazzling lash of the Spirit. And we find that though these rituals enabled P. to master a language, they in many ways hindered his otherwise natural progress by helping largely to obsess his Nephesh by the Qliphoth—his passions and emotions being stirred up by a continuous pageant of 293