14. Transmutations-d

The revelation we have mentioned, which has been regarded merely as a fable, is therefore the dogma of moral solidarity in love, which is itself the foundation of love, explaining all its sanctity and all its power. Who then is this Circe, that changes her worshippers into swine, while, so soon as she is subjected to the bond of love, her enchantments are destroyed? She is the ancient courtesan, the marble-hearted woman of all the ages. She who is without love absorbs and degrades all who approach her; she who loves, on the other hand, diffuses enthusiasm, nobility and life. There was much talk in the last century about an adept accused of charlatanism, who was termed in his lifetime the divine Cagliostro. It is known that he practised evocations and that in this art he was surpassed only by the illuminated Schroepffer. It is said also that he boasted of his power in binding sympathies, and that he claimed to be in possession of the secret of the Great Work; but that which rendered him still more famous was a certain elixir of life, which immediately restored to the aged the strength and vitality of youth. The basis of this composition was malvoisie wine, and it was obtained by distilling the sperm of certain animals with the sap of certain plants. We are in possession of the recipe, but our reasons for withholding it will be understood readily.