The Equinox (Volume I, Number II)

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HASHISH by de Quincey (opium) and Ludlow in particular). Such are fear, pride, love, laughter, anguish, and the rest. In the case of Vishvarupadarshana (the vision of Vishnu) and even of such results as those of St. Francis and St. Ignatius, the best mystics may steer clear of the selfishness, narrowness, and emotionalism, and raise their experience to the type of Safifia or even of Sankhara. The “ Bhagavad Gita” certainly reaches the latter height —or at least a reflection from that height—at one or two points. We must not omit to attribute to this section the lower aspect of what Abramelin the Mage calls the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, another (and less metaphysically pretentious) way of speaking of the ‘ Higher Self” or “Genius.” It is indeed but a low aspect, for in truth the phenomenon pertains to Vififianam. Yet in simpler souls this peculiar Grace condescends—may one say ?—to this level, just as a father may join in the games of his child, thus gaining its sympathy and confidence as a basis for a higher union. xV “The Mind of the Father riding on the subtle guiders which glitter with the inflexible tracings of relentless fire.” “The Oracles assert that the types of Characters and of other Divine-visions appear in the Ether (or Astral Light).” ZOROASTER. Saha —Chief among the phenomena of Sajfifia, in the case of the beginner trying to concentrate his mind, are those 71