170
THE STAR
IN THE WEST
and Light , beneficent
and
malevolent
as the
ancient
gods of Babylonia . The unique Athanor of philosophic
and moral
alchemy was the transmutation of darkness
into light .
“ Quand l'homme grandit Dieu s'éleve " ; -
it
was but a reconstruction of the
same idea
as held in
Exodus , xxxiii , Moses was
unable
to look
at God
face
to
face ;
it was
also
the
same
idea
as held
by
Charles
Darwin -- the
theory
of
Evolution .
The
growth of the protoplast into man , of evil into good .
Khephra , god of the morning emerging from the black
thunders of night .
Above us flames the Zodiac , the sign of the Balance
lies
between
Virgo
and
Scorpio ,
the
eagle
is
the
emblem
of good , the
scorpion
of
evil , the
eagle
winged serpent
of Good and Evil ; and it is with this
doctrine
of Good and Evil that we shall now deal .
As there was
darkness
before dobe
formed
the
light
,
and
as
knowledge
is
the outcome
of
ignorance
,
so
is
also virtue the outcome
of
vice
.
ERITIS SICUT DEUS
,
SCIENTES BONUM ET MALUM
.
It
was
Satan
,
the
Lucifer
of
Milton
,
the Devil
of
Blake
,
and
the
Serpent
of
Genesis
,
who
was
the
author of Wisdom
.?
And the serpent said unto the woman
,
Ye shall
not surely
die
:
For God doth
know that
in
the
day
ye
eat thereof
,
then your eyes shall
be
opened
,
and ye
shall
be
as
gods
,
knowing good
and evil
.-
Gen
.
iii,
4,
5.
It
was only
by
casting
off
God
,
and breaking away
from the
essentially
bestial
quality
of
unreason
,
that
man
paradoxically
assumed
Godhood
.
Eliphas Lévi
.חישמsame asשחנ