126
THE STAR IN THE WEST
formerly
murmured
to
her
lover
in
the
effusions of
adultery .
So it often happens
that
the most spiritual
are
at heart
the most passionate .
Passion
and Re
ligion
are the divine Dioscuri , children of Nemesis .
Man , when God
became
too intangible , too mag
nificent to approach , conceived a mediator .
Jahveh ,
surrounded
by howling
beasts
and
moulting
angels ,
fenced
in by thunder and lightning , was quite cut off
from
the simple minds of the Suburra , so Christ in
those purlieus was manufactured ; but He in His turn
grew
exaltedly
dim , magnified
as
the
mist of ages
crept around Him , and when romantic love was born ,
man being no longer able
to worship
man , enthroned
the spotless Virgin in his
stead ; for
in his heart still
lingered the
sea -born form of Aphrodite , and
on his
lips
the
warm
kisses
of
the
Cytheræan
goddess ,
Philommedis , Basilea , Isis , or Astarte , call her what
you will , of passionate Love .
So Christ was enthroned
amongst
the gods , and
His tender mother , the
ever
chaste Virgin ,
set
on
the
humbler
throne over the
destiny
of men's hearts ; yet awake , the actual man
loses the
ideals of his dreaming
hours , straining
to
his
heart
the
form
of her whom
he
loves
best
on
earth , deserting
his
heavenly
bride
for
his
earthly
spouse .
Such is the
duality
of
love-the
mundane
and the celestial .
Which nations
now
are
the
most passionate , the
man-worshippers
or
the
woman -worshippers
?
the
latter , and it is for this reason that I included Tann
häuser in
the
first part of this
essay , rather than in
the
second , dealing
with
the
philosophy
of Aleister
Crowley .
It is this spiritual
exaltation , curious as it
may
seem , which
so often links
the
pure true love
to the foul
false
love .
Love
of
man
and
woman
is