The Star in the West

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 .