THE NEW WINE
251
Many
of
the
poems in
“Songs of
the
Spirit "
and
“
The Holy of Holies ,” hold fast to this idea ; and it
is this ideal , the progression
from the Kingdom to the
Crown , from
Malkuth
to
Kether , which
constitutes
one
of the most beautiful doctrines of the older and
simpler Qabalah .
The
Qabalah
guides
us
to a divine
theurgy .
Ac
cording
to the Zohar
it is
impossible
to know God ,
herein the Qabalah
is Agnostic , it forbids
the
repre
sentation of God , herein it is Rational . The Ain Soph
is
the
“ All-pervading ,” the
“ Non Ens ” dwelling
in
the
“ Non Est , " it is inscrutable to man's mind ; this
vast Pleroma , Corona
Summa , The All , is formless ,
and is symbolized by a circle , it
is Nothing.
As
the
Ain Soph is the closed eye of the Unknown Darkness ,
so is Macroprosopus
, who resides in the crown Kether ,
the
open
eye
of
the Vast
Countenance .
And
from
Macroprosopus
through Wisdom (Chokmah , -mascu
line ) and Understanding
(Binah ,-feminine ) there is
emanated
the
Lesser
Countenance
-- Microprosopus .
The relation between these two is idealistic , being the
relation of the Absolute
as it really is , to the Absolute
as it is conceived by man .
And it is the search after
this
relationship
—God
— that Crowley
so frequently
and ardently depicts .
Awful and terrible is
its
path
;
the very blood
of
the
heart hisses
,
as
water
on
hot
iron
,
as
it
rushes through
its
fiery veins fanned
by
a
flaming soul
:
By the sun's heat
,
that brooks not his eclipse
And dissipates the welcome clouds
of
rain
.
God
!
have Thou pity soon
on
this amazing pain
."
Struggling
on
,
the hideous
path
is
strewn
with
|
Songs
of
the Spirit
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
41
.