A comet, beyond it infinite things, only dreamed of as yet, a world floating in an ocean and in night, beneath are two hands clasped palm to palm.

XII

TABLET THE TWELFTH

A REVELATION OF THE TO BE. The comet is the twelfth Avatar, the herald, coming forth from the starry abyss of the infinite, staying with us a little while, and then flashing on his shining way to other worlds than ours, bearing THE DIVINE WORD from sun to planet, as the fiery messenger of G.o.d. And here the soul may well ask: "Who? Where? Whence and Whither?" For behold, he has come, and gone, and

"Earth could not answer; nor the seas that mourn In flowing purple, of their Lord forlorn; Nor rolling Heaven, with all his signs revealed And hidden by the sleeve of night and morn."

The world floating in the sea of the infinite and resting in night shows the present state of humanity. But, "the blush of dawn" is ready to gladden the soul, and the expectant seer, from his lonely vigil on the hilltop, awaits the sunlight which will soon flood the world anew.

The two clasped hands point to many problems, chiefly soul- matehood, the message of the starry messenger, universal brotherhood, and the Father-Motherhood of G.o.d.

O child of Adam! Watch and pray, that a voice of the silence may speak unto you.

Here endeth the four Quadrants of the Tablets of the Twelve Mansions, wherein are revealed the signs and symbols thereof, as faithfully transcribed from the sacred roll in the astral records and called "The Tablets of Aeth."

April, 1893.

PART II

of The Book which is called

THE TABLETS OF AETH OF THE TEN PLANETARY RULERS

PART II

Here beginneth Chapter I of the Second Part of the Book which is called "The Tablets of Aeth," wherein is transcribed the First Trinity of the Planetary Rulers.

"The human heart is the true temple of G.o.d; enter ye into your temples and illumine them with good thoughts. The sacred vessels, they are your hands and your eyes. Do I say that which is agreeable to G.o.d--doing good to your neighbors? But, first embellish wherein dwells He, who gave you life." ----

"How small soever your lamp be, never give away the oil which feeds it, but only the light and flame, which crown it."

TABLET THE FIRST

The Sun

SYMBOL

A flaming splendor, a center of light, radiating in all directions.

I

REFLECTION

TABLET THE FIRST

The symbol of all created life, spiritual and material; of all goodness, human or Divine; the center of all thought, from brutal instinct to Deific wisdom; of all creations, from starry systems to man, and from man back again to invisible gas; of all action, from the imperceptible vibrations of nerve energy to the awful destruction of worlds. All creative potency lies within a Sun sphere. Light is life. The planets are but the offspring of light and life. So in this symbol, we read the source of the human Ego, of our own life. We are, as it were, the planets of the spiritual Sun. Our souls are the attributes of the Sun, of the spiritual Ego. Only from the Ego can we receive life eternal and make immortality a fact. Obeying this spiritual life-force, the human monad is but an attribute, a reflection, of the Divine Ego, and if it fails to awake to a consciousness of this union, it withers and dies like a flower plucked from the parent tree of life.

O child of Adam, in reverence and awe do thou meditate upon this Tablet, for it is a thing of beauty, a being of light, life and love, manifesting its creative mission. It is the Vicegerent of G.o.d, flaming forth His splendors in the sky.

TABLET THE SECOND

Mercury

SYMBOL

An elephant, kneeling between two square columns; on one an eagle, on the other a vulture.

At the side a boy, with bow and arrows, standing in doubt which to shoot.

Below these a human face, composed of various flowers, whose roots are snakes, a poppy, forming an eye, which winks.

II

REFLECTION

TABLET THE SECOND

A vision revealing the earthly drama of the microcosm. The elephant represents the highest expression of intelligence, minus the spirit; kneeling between the square columns of matter, i.e., guarded by them. The external mind is sleeping, or, at most, dreaming of the things of the spirit. Above sleeping mind sit the two birds, who represent spirit and matter, each waiting for the slowly preparing feast. The boy, the soul with its weapons, has a choice. Shall it be the sensuality of the flesh that he shall destroy, or the possibilities of the spiritual life on earth. The problem awaits solution. The eagle sits ready to bear aloft the spirit of the sleeper. The vulture hopes for sleep to end in death, that he may live upon the carrion thereof. The flowers of the external mind have for their roots the snakes; and, in a larger sense, the flowers of immortality have the serpent of wisdom for their roots. And the poppy winks. It knows its own power of illusion, and the double significance of the snake; the necessity of evil in the evolution of good. It is the Tablet of Wisdom.

O child of Adam! "Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves."

TABLET THE THIRD

Venus

SYMBOL

An altar: on it two cups, one full, the other spilled; near them two bleeding hearts, in one a snake, in the other a dagger.

Above--clouds, from which comes a woman's face, a wreath in the hand, coming out of the cloud; in the wreath an angel, going upwards, with wings outspread.

III

REFLECTION

TABLET THE THIRD

There is but one altar, but one blood of the sacrament in two cups, but one flesh of the Christ--the Ego--in two hearts, two experiences in love, ecstacy, and pain; two results of experience, the serpent and the dagger, symbolizing wisdom and affliction. Above the altar the divine woman holds the wreath encircling the angel. The angel of immortal life rises from the altar of sacrifice. Some of the wine is spilled as offering. The cup that is filled is raised to "Ra." To serve at the altar of love is the soul-mission of all, even as Christ served his disciples. Each soul must find its own service, and then the pilgrims of the Sun return to the mansions of the blessed. The great mother-G.o.d, Venus, Urania, quivers and thrills as she holds forth her offspring--the angel, the young Eros of life eternal.