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VII G

THE FIERY SWORD

Table of Contents

CHOKMAH DOMUS GNOSIS

THE septenary is the sacred number in all theogonies and in all symbols, because it is composed of the triad and the tetrad. The number seven represents magical power in all its fullness; it is the mind reinforced by all elementary potencies; it is the soul served by Nature; it is the SANCTUM REGNUM mentioned in the Keys of Solomon and represented in the Tarot by a crowned warrior, who bears a triangle on his cuirass and is posed upon a cube, to which two sphinxes are harnessed, straining in opposite directions, while their heads are turned the same way. This warrior is armed with a fierysword and holds in his left hand a sceptre surmounted by a triangle and a sphere. The cube is the Philosophical Stone; the sphinxes are the two forces of the Great Agent, corresponding to JAKIN and BOAZ, the two Pillars of the Temple; the cuirass is the knowledge of Divine Things, which renders the wise man invulnerable to human assaults; the sceptre is the Magic Wand; the fierysword is the symbol of victory over the deadly sins, seven in number, like the virtues, the conceptions of both being typified by the ancients under the figures of the seven planets then known. Thus, faith – that aspiration towards the infinite, that noble self-reliance sustained by confidence in all virtues – the faith which in weak natures may degenerate into pride, was represented by the Sun; hope, the enemy of avarice, by the Moon; charity, in opposition to luxury, by Venus, the bright star of morning and evening; strength, superior to wrath, by Mars; prudence, hostile to idleness, by Mercury; temperance, opposed to gluttony, by Saturn, who was given a stone instead of his children to devour; finally, justice, in opposition to envy, by Jupiter, the conqueror of the Titans. Such are the symbols borrowed by astronomy from the Hellenic cultus. In the Kabalah of the Hebrews, the Sun represents the angel of light; the Moon, the angel of aspirations and dreams; Mars, the destroying angel; Venus, the angel of loves; Mercury, the angel of progress; Jupiter, the angel of power: Saturn, the angel of the wilderness.

They were named also Michael, Gabriel, Samael, Anael, Raphael, Zachariel and Orifiel.

These governing potencies of souls shared human life during successive periods, which astrologers measured by the revolutions of the corresponding planets.

But kabalistic astrology must not be confounded with that which is called judicial.

We will explain this distinction. Infancy is dedicated to the Sun, childhood to the Moon, youth to Mars and Venus, manhood to Mercury, ripe age to Jupiter, and old age to Saturn. Now, humanity in general subsists under laws of development analogous to those of individual life. On this basis Trithemius establishes his prophetic key of the seven spirits, to which we shall refer subsequently; by means thereof, observing the analogical proportions of successive events, it is possible to predict important future occurrences with certitude, and to fix beforehand, from age to age, the destinies of nations and the world. St. John, depositary of the Secret Doctrine of Christ, has commemorated this sequence in the kabalistic book of the Apocalypse, which he represents sealed with seven seals. We meet also the seven genii of ancient mythologies, and the Cups and Swords of the Tarot. The doctrine concealed under these emblems is pure Kabalah, already lost by the Pharisees at the time of Christ's advent. The scenes which succeed one another in this wonderful prophetic epic are so many pantacles, the keys of which are the ternary, the quaternary, the septenary and the duodenary. Its hieroglyphic figures are analogous to those of the Book of Hermes or the Genesis of Enoch, to make use of a tentative title which expresses merely the personal opinion of the erudite William Postel.

The cherub, or symbolic bull, which Moses placed at the gate of the Edenic world, bearing a fierysword, is a sphinx, having a bull's body and a human head; it is the antique Assyrian sphinx, and the combat and victory of Mithras were its hieroglyphic analysis. Now, this armed sphinx represents the Law of Mystery which watches at the door of initiation to warn away the profane. Voltaire, who knew nothing of all this, was highly diverted at the notion of a bull brandishing a sword. What would he have said had he visited the ruins of Memphis and Thebes, and what would the echo of past ages which slumbers in the tombs of Rameses have replied to those light sarcasms so much relished in France? The Mosaic cherub represents also the Great Magical Mystery, of which the elements are expressed by the septenary, without, however, giving the final word. This verbum inenarrabile of the sages of the Alexandrian school, this word which Hebrew Kabalists write 111 and interpret by ARARITA thus expressing the triplicity of the secondary principle, the dualism of means, the equal unity of the first and final principle, the alliance between the triad and the tetrad in a word composed of four letters, which form seven by means of a triple and double repetition – this word is pronounced ARARITA.

The virtue of the septenary is absolute in Magic, for this number is decisive in all things: hence all religions have consecrated it in their rites. The seventh year was a jubilee among the Jews; the seventh day is set apart for rest and prayer; there are seven sacraments, etc. The seven colours of the prism and the seven musical notes correspond also to the seven planets of the ancients, that is, to the seven chords of the human lyre. The spiritual heaven has never changed, and astrology has been more invariable than astronomy. The seven planets are, in fact, the hieroglyphic symbols of the keyboard of our affections. To compose talismans of the Sun, Moon or Saturn, is to attach the will magnetically to signs corresponding to the chief powers of the soul; to consecrate something to Mercury or Venus is to magnetize that object according to a direct intention, whether pleasure, science or profit be the end in view. The analogous metals, animals, plants and perfumes are auxiliaries to this end. The seven magical animals are: (a) Among birds, corresponding to the divine world, the swan, the owl, the vulture, the dove, the stork, the eagle and the pewit; (b) among fish, corresponding to the spiritual or scientific world, the seal, the catfish, the pike, the mullet, the chub, the dolphin, the sepia or cuttlefish; (c) among quadrupeds, corresponding to the natural world, the lion, the cat, the wolf, the he-goat, the monkey, the stag and the mole. The blood, fat, liver and gall of these animals serve in enchantments; their brain combines with the perfumes of the planets, and it is recognized by ancient practice that they possess magnetic virtues corresponding to the seven planetary influences.

The talismans of the seven spirits are engraved either on precious stones, such as the carbuncle, crystal, diamond, emerald, agate, sapphire and onyx, or upon metals, such as gold, silver, iron, copper, fixed mercury, pewter and lead. The kabalistic signs of the seven spirits are: for the Sun, a serpent with the head of a lion; for the Moon, a globe divided by two crescents; for Mars, a dragon biting the hilt of a sword; for Venus, a lingam; for Mercury, the Hermetic caduceus and the cynocephalus; for Jupiter, the Blazing Pentagram in the talons or beak of an eagle; for Saturn, a lame and aged man, or a serpent curled about the sun-stone. All these symbols are found on engraved stones of the ancients and especially on those talismans of the Gnostic epochs which are known by the name of ABRAXAS. In the collection of the talismans of Paracelsus, Jupiter is represented by a priest in ecclesiastical garb, while in the Tarot he appears as a grand hierophant crowned with a triple tiara, holding a three-barred cross in his hands, forming the magical triangle, and representing at once the sceptre and key of the three worlds.

By collating all that has been said about the unity of the triad and tetrad, we shall find all that remains to be told concerning the septenary, that grand and complete magical unity composed of four and three.,