7. The Fiery Swordb

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 fiery sword, 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 iii 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.