THE OLD BOTTLE
165
1
Her body wearies
of desire , and fails
To satisfy
the fury of her spirit ;
The blood feasts sicken
her and yield
no strength
;
She is made one with hell , and violent
force
Slips and is weakness , and extreme
desire
Spends
supple .
Inane
revivals
stir her muddy
waters , as rise gusts
of fetid gas from a disturbed cesspool .
Maniacs like
Piggott
and
Evans
arise , as also
do
such
religious
Ananiases
as
Dowie
and
Torrey ;
all
battening
as
greedy vultures
on
the mental
dead
,
as
they take their
place
on
the eternal
towers
of
silence
—
true mutilators
of
corpses
.
Ulric
in
“
The
Mother's
Tragedy
,"
tells
Cora that
“
Excess
is
danger
,
equally
in
prayer
as
in
debauchery
.”
2
And
this
the howling
mob
of
religionists
can never
grasp
.
We know
of
the spots
in
the Agapae
,
and we know
to
what they referred
:
Out
!
out
!
the ghastly torches
of
the
feast
!
Let darkness
hide
us
and the night discover
The shameless
mysteries
of
God grown beast
,
The nameless
blasphemy
,
the slimèd East
Sin incarnated
with
a
leprous
lover
!3
Whilst these
are seeking
the
“
Monstrous
desires
of
secret things
,”4
others are ranting about atheist
death
bed scenes
.
For these Crowley also has
a
word
:
“
Oh
,
very well
!”
I
think you say
,
“
Wait
only
till
your dying day
!
See whether
then you kiss the rod
,
And bow that proud
soul down
to
God
!
”
I
perfectly
admit
the fact
;
Quite likely that
I
so
shall act
!
1
The Fatal Force
,
vol
.i,
p
.
143
.
2
The Mother's Tragedy
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
163
.
3
The Temple
of
the Holy Ghost
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
168
.
4
Ibid
.
vol
.i,
p
.
170
.