140
THE STAR IN THE WEST
Locusta , and yet
is vestal
and virgin ; white as the
driven
snow , pure
as a mountain rill .
One
with
the
pale Mother of Bethlehem
and
the
scarlet
harlot of
the City of Abominations .
Then will the storm -clouds
part , and the smoke
and
steam
of the earth
vanish ,
and
the
social
harlot , whose
painted
buttocks
have
heaved and hog -wallowed through the centuries , shall
be
seized and hurled from
the rock of Tarpeia , and
smothered
with the goatish kisses of her lechery midst
the
charnel
glitter
of
her
gold .
And
the
Vestal
courtezan
will rise before us , purple
and white , clothed
in the sun , and set between
the moon
and the twelve
stars
of heaven .
So
another
league
will
be accom
plished
toward that city which is God .
We have already
seen in
“ The Mother's
Tragedy
"
and
“
The Fatal
Force ,” that the love of the mother ,
though it could
not cause the shadow
to travel back
wards one degree
on the face of the dial , it at least
clothed
in a white
garment
of chastity, not only the
amorous
music -hall
artiste , but
even
the
incestuous
queen of Egypt .
And though “ Jezebel " did not love
as they loved , her power of loving many exonerated
her want of love for one or a few .
She like the Circe
of old who turned the followers of Ulysses into swine ,
herself fell
a victim entangled
in those same meshes
she had spun wherein
to entrap
her unwary fellows .
“
A woman
who is without love, " writes Lévi ,
“ ab
sorbs
and degrades
all
who
come
near her
;
she who
loves
,
on
the other hand
,
diffuses
enthusiasm
,
nobility
,
and
life
.”
1
In
her
we
see
a
contorted
symbol
of
wifehood
,
whilst
in
the latter cases
,
and especially
in
"
The Fatal
1
The Doctrine
of
Transcendent
Magic
,
p
.
125
.