AMBROSII MAGI HORTIS ROSARUM 
87
With the poison he gave also in offering a stag and a maiden. 
But about the noon came one shining unto our Father and gave him 
 
to drink from a dull and heavy  bowl.  And this was a liquor potent and 
heavy, by’r lady !  So that our Father sank into deep sleep and dreamed a 
dream, and in that m irific dream it seemed unto him that the walls of all 
things slid into and acros s each other, s o that he feared greatly, for the 
stability of the universe is the great enemy; the unstable being the ever-
lasting, saith Adhou Bim Aram, the Arab.  
O Elmen Zata, our Sophic 
Pilaster !  Further in the dream there was let down from heaven a mighty 
tessaract, bounded by  eight cubes, whereon sat a mighty  dolphin having 
eight senses.  Further, he beheld a cavern full of most ancient bones of 
men, and therein a lion with the voice of a dog.  Then came a voice: 
“Thirteen1 are they, who are one.  Once is  a oneness : twice is the Name: 
thrice let us say not : by  four is the S on : by five is the Sword : by  six is 
the Holy Oil of the most Excellent B eard, and the leaves of the Book are 
by six : by seven is that great Amen.”  Then our Father saw one hundred 
and four horses that drove an ivory
 car over a sea of pearl, and they 
received him therein and bade him be comforted.  With that he awoke and 
saw that he would have all his desi
re.  In the m
orning therefore he  
arose and went his way  into the desert.  There he 
clomb an high rock  
and called forth the eagles, that th
eir shadow floating over the desert 
should be as a book that men might read it.  The shadows wrote and 
the 
sun recorded ; and on this wise cometh it to pass, O my  Brethren, that by 
darkness and by  sunlight y e will still learn ever these the Arcana of our 
Science.  Lo ! who learneth by  moonlight, he is the lucky  one !  So our 
Father, having thus founded the Order, and our sacred Book being 
opened, rested awhile and beheld ma ny wonders, the like of which were 
never yet told.  But ever chiefly  his study was to reduce unto eight things 
his many. 
And thus , O Brethren of our Venerable Order, he at 
last succeeded.  
Those who know not will learn little herein: y
et that they  m ay be  
shamed all shall be put forth at this tim e clearly before them all, with no 
obscurity nor obfuscation in the exposition thereof. 
Writing this, saith our Father to m e, the Humblest and oldest of all his 
disciples, write as the story
 of m y Quintessential Quest, m y Spagy ric 
Wandering, my  Philosophical Going.  Write plainly  unto the Brethren, 
quoth he, for m any be little and weak ; and thy
 hard words and m uch 
learning may confound them. 
Therefore I write thus  plainly  to y ou.  M ark well that y e read me  
aright ! 
Our Father (blessed be his name !) en tered the Path on this wise.  He 
cut off three from ten : 2 thus he left seven.  He cut and left three: he cut 
and left one : he cut and 
became.  Thus fourfold.  Eightfold.3  He  
opened his ey es : he cleansed his hear t: he chained his tongue : he fixed 
 
1 Achad, unity, adds to thirteen.  Ther
e follow attributions of the “
thirteen  
times table.” 
2 These are the Buddhist “paths of enlightment.” 
3 The eightfold path.  The rest is very obscure. 
 
Somnium Auri 
Potabilis. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tredecim  
Voces. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ordinis In- 
ceptio. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Vitae. 
 
 
 
 
Viae.