Book 4 (Part II)

90 dense physical substance which is imbibed by Mercury for his fixation; but here as always we should prefer the more spiritual interpretation. Bye, Baby Bunting ! Daddy 's gone a-hunting. He 's gone to get a rabbit-skin To wrap my Baby Bunting in. This is a mystical charge to the new-born soul to keep still, to remain steadfast in meditation ; for, in Bye^ Beth is the letter of thought, Yod that of the Hermit. It tells the soul that the Father of All will clothe him about with His own majestical silence. For is not the rabbit he " who lay low and said nuffin ' "? Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man ! Bake me a cake as fast as you can ! Pat it and prick it and mark it with P ! Bake it in the oven for baby and me ! This rime is usually accompanied (even to-day in the nursery) with a ceremonial clapping of hands — the symbol of Samadhi. Compare what is said on this subject in our comment on the famous " Advent " passage in Thessalonians. The cake is of course the bread of the sacrament, and it would ill become Frater P. to comment upon the third line — though it may be