i66
is a plate pierced
with holes.
This
Censer
is of silver or gold, because
these were called
the perfect
metals;
it is upon
perfection
that the im-
perfect
is burned.
Upon this plate
burns
a great
fire of charcoal,
im-
pregnated
with
nitre.
This
charcoal
is
(as
chemists
now
begin
to
surmise)
the
ultimate
protean
element:
absolutely
black,
because
it
absorbs
all light;
infusible
by the
apphcation
of any known
heat;
the
lightest of those elements
w^hich occur
in
the
solid
state in nature;
the
essential
constituent
of all known
forms of life.
It has been treated
wnth nitre, whose
potassium
has the
violet flame
of Jupiter, the father of all, whose nitrogen
is that inert element
which
by proper
combination
becomes
a constituent
of all
the most explosive
bodies known; and oxygen,
the food
of fire.
This
fire
is
blown
upon
by the Magician ; this blaze of destruction
has been kindled by his word
and by his will.
Into this Fire he
casts the
Incense,
symbolical
of prayer,
the gross
vehicle
or image of his aspiration.
Owing to
the
imperfection
of this
image,
we
obtain
mere
smoke
instead
of perfect
combustion.
But we
cannot
use explosives
instead of incense,
because it would
not
be true.
Our prayer is the expression
of the lower aspiring
to the
higher;
it is without
the clear vision
of the higher,
it does not under-
stand what
the
higher
wants.
And, however
sweet may be its smell,
it
is always cloudy.