154
THE STAR IN THE WEST
religion could
not possibly
restrain
her octopus
tenta
cles of cupidity
from the game of grab , she also hisses ,
Pray to God and he will
tie
a
knot
in
his bandana
and
perhaps
remember
it
some
day
;
but
above
all
,
sacrifice
to
me
,
or
by
Jove
!
I
will sacrifice
you
:
and
the fool
,
even
in
his folly
,
thought
it
were
better
to
lose his wits than his brains
,
and his turnips than his
turnip
;
so
he
dug and
he
dug
,
and
he
slew
and
he
slew
,
religion growing
fatter
and
fatter
,
spawning
churches
and
breeding
sects
,
till
unfortunate
man
found
himself
so
hedged
in
by
the spiritual
,
that
in
order
to
maintain
his
life
in
this
world
he had
to
acknowledge
the
Church's
supreme
authority
,
and
grovel before her
in
the dust
of
degradation
.
Crowley
gives
a
curious
example
of
this growth
,
and the ulti
mate
sameness
of
all
religions
in
that gruesome
and
weird drama
,
“
The God
-
Eater
."
Maurya the sister
of
Criosda says
:
Criosda
,
ever the same
!
The old world
runs
On wheels
of
laughter
for
us
little ones
;
To you
,
whose shoulders
strain
,
the chariot
seems
A
poised fiend flogging you
to
hell
."
Criosda
,
the self
-
intoxicated
God
-
Eater
,
drunk
on
the
name
of
blood
,
slays
his
sister
,
and feasts
in
true
re
ligious frenzy off her corpse
-
a
veritable
black mass
:
Criosda
.
With red lips reeking
from the sweet foul feast
,
I
sang
in
tuneless agony
the spell
;
Rolled athwart
space the black
words
:
then some force
Tore me
:
I
heard the tears drop
in
my heart
.
I
heard
the laughter
of
some utmost god
Hid
in
the middle
of
matter
.
That was
I,
The hideous
laughter
of
the maniac
laugh
When loathing
makes the bed
to
lust
,
and twine
1
The God
-
Eater
,
vol
.
ii,
p
.
131
.