Arcanum Arcanorum

THE great arcanum — that is to say, the unutterable and inexplicable secret — is the absolute knowledge of good and of evil.

“When you have eaten the fruit of this tree, you will be as the gods,” said the Serpent.

{Illustration on page 285 described:

This is a pentagram with point down and a white ring in the center. At the ends of the points are black disks. The pentagram itself is black. There are words in white on the Disks, from the upper right, clockwise: “DESPOTISME”, “MENSONCE”, “NEANT”, “IGNORANCE”, “ABSURDITE”. There are words in white in the points, same order: “Contre toute Justice“, “Contre toute verite”, “Contre toute etre”, “Contre toute science”, “Contre toute raison”. In the central ring in three lines: “SATAN EST LA HAINE”.}

“If you eat of it, you will die,” replied Divine Wisdom.

Thus good and evil bear fruit on one same tree, and from one same root.

Good personified is God.

Evil personified is the Devil.

To know the secret or the formula of God is to be God.

To know the secret or the formula of the Devil is to be the Devil. {285}

To wish to be at the same time God and Devil is to absorb in one’s self the most absolute antinomy, the two most strained contrary forces; it is the wish to shut up in one’s self an infinite antagonism.

It is to drink a poison which would extinguish the suns and consume the worlds. ⁴²

{Illustration on page 286 described:

This is a pentagram with an upright isosceles triangle in the midst, lower angles touching the two lower inner angles of the pentagram. There are white disks touching the points from the outside. The pentagram is white and circumscribed by a nimbus having five white wedge-rays coming from the inner angles and opening at the outer edge of the nimbus. The white disks have each a thin nimbus without rays and the following words, clockwise from top: “CHARITE”, ”MYSTERE”, ”SACRIFICE”, ”PROVIDENCE”, ”PERFECTION”. The points have the following text inside, set in script type, same order: ”au dessus de tout etre”, ”au dessus de toute science”, ”au dessus de toute justice”, ”au dessus de toute raison”, ”au dessus de toute idee”. In the central triangle are three lines with the words: ”DIEU EST Yod-Heh-Vau-Heh Aleph-Heh-Yod-Heh.}

It is to put on the consuming robe of Deianira.

It is to devote one’s self to the promptest and most terrible of all deaths.

Woe to him who wishes to know too much! For if excessive and rash knowledge does not kill him it will make him mad. {286}

42 An allusion to Shiva, the patron of adepts, who drank the poison generated by the churning of the ‘Milk Ocean.’ (See Bhagavata Purana Skandha VIII, Chaps. 5 12.) Levi therefore means in this passage the exact contrary of what he pretends to mean. Otherwise this “Be good, and you will be happy” chapter would scarcely deserve the title “Arcanum Arcanorum.”—O.M.

To eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, is to associate evil with good, and assimilate the one to the other.

It is to cover the radiant countenance of Osiris with the mask of Typhon.

It is to raise the sacred veil of Isis; it is to profane the sanctuary.

{Illustration on page 287 described:

This is in shape exactly the same as the illustration on page 282, save that there are words in the five wedge rays and there is no triangle in the center. Instead, the sides of the pentagram are extended as dotted lines to form an inverse pentagon. The white disks have the following text, clockwise from top: “INTELLIGENCE”, “PROGRES”, “AMOUR”, “SAGESSE”, “LUMIERE”. The points have the following text, same order: “dans ses rapports avec l’ etre”, “dans ses rapports avec la science”, “dans ses rapports avec la justice”, “dans ses rapports avec la raison”, “dans ses rapports avec la verite”. The rays have the following text, clockwise from upper right: “Genie”, “Enthousiasme”, “Harmonie”, “Beaute”, “Rectitude”. The following words are in the center, in three rows: “L’ESPRIT SAINT EST”.}

The rash man who dares to look at the sun without protection becomes blind, and from that moment for him the sun is black.

We are forbidden to say more on this subject; we shall conclude our revelation by the figure of three pentacles.

These three stars will explain it sufficiently. They may be compared with that which we have caused to be drawn at the head of our “History of magic.” By reuniting the four, one may arrive at the understanding of the Great Arcanum of Arcana. {287}

It now remains for us to complete our work by giving the great key of William Postel.

{Illustration on page 288 described:

This is bounded by a rectangle with height about twice width. The center of the illustration is composed of a hexagram of two triangles, points to top and bottom. This is circumscribed by a dark ring and surmounts concentric rings inward from the outer one as white, dark, white, dark — at which point the inner angles of the hexagram begin. The upper triangle of the hexagram is light and contains a bearded human head and shoulders at top, feet with draped legs to the lower points. The down-ward pointing triangle has the same in dark with a matching dark figure. Surmounting the center of the hexagram and completely obscuring bodies and arms is the classic Roman Agricultural magical square of five lines: SATOR, AREPO, TENET, OPERA, ROTAS. The outer points of the hexagram extend lines radially to irregularly divide the space to the rectangular border, upper and lower points excepted. Above the upper point are the words “Keter Pole arctique” and there is a nob at that spot with a line pulled diagonally upward to the left by an eagle, facing counter clockwise. Above the eagle is the word “NETSAH”, to the right “L Air”. The line from the upper right point has “l’ Ete” above it and the figure of a winged lion below, facing outward and progressing upward. The lion has “HOD” written to the right of its head and vertically extended left foreleg, “Le Feu” below its tail and downwardly extended right hind leg. The line from the lower right point is below this figure, and “l’ Automne” is below this line. The line from the upper left point has “les Printemps” written above it. Below this is a bull, no wings and facing downward. ”JESOD” is above the bull’s tail, and ”La Terre” is below the head. Next below is the line from the lower left point, with “l’ hiver” below that. Below the lower point are the words “Pole antartique” and “L’ eau”. There is a nob at that spot, with a winged angel facing right and pulling the nob with a diagonally downward line to the right. “MALCHVT” is written below the Angel. The letters “HB:Yod” “HB:Heh ” “HB:Vau ” “HB:Heh ” are picked out by dots with three clustered radial dashes in or near the four corners, starting with the upper right (clockwise or counter-clockwise makes no difference). These dot-letters are the late Medieval style, and either represent stars or fires. The Hebrew letters are formed by straight line segments connecting the dots. The Hay’s have three dots to the upper bar: ends and center with the dashes to the top. The verticals on the Hays have three dots and join the upper bar to add a fourth, with the three having their dashes facing outward. The Yod is composed of two lines, dots at ends and intersection. Dashes at top vertical, center dot dashes to the right and lower dot dashes to left. The Vau has three dots, ends and center with dashes in same directions as the Vau. The figure is completed by two lines of flourished symbols at the bottom: Larger upper line looks like: 3 or h (bottom end of corner Vau) Z P 7 R 3(or h) 4 (reversed), but is intended to represent the seven planets starting with Saturn and ending with Jupiter.. The smaller lower line looks like: M Z P Z 3(or h) N 7 M N 3(or h) F (reversed) N, but is intended to represent the twelve signs of the Zodiac. These symbols are somewhat doubtful in identity, owing to the obscuration of using letter and number shapes to conceal the standard Astrological symbols and to the jumbled sequence.}

This key is that of the Tarot. There are four suits, wands, caps,{sic} swords, coins or pentacles, corresponding to the four cardinal points of Heaven, and the four living creatures or symbolic signs and numbers and letters formed in a circle; then the seven planetary signs, with the indication of their repetition signified by the three colours, to symbolize the natural world, the human world and the divine world, whose {288} hieroglyphic emblems compose the twenty-one trumps of our Tarot.

In the centre of the ring may be perceived the double triangle forming the Star or Seal of Solomon. It is the religious and metaphysical triad analogous to the natural triad of universal generation in the equilibrated substance.

Around the triangle is the cross which divides the circle into four equal parts, and thus the symbols of religion are united to the signs of geometry; faith completes science, and science acknowledge faith.

By the aid of this key one can understand the universal symbolism of the ancient world, and note its striking analogies with our dogmas. One will thus recognize that the divine revelation is permanent in nature and humanity. One will feel that Christianity only brought light and heat into the universal temple by causing to descend therein the spirit of charity, which is the Very Life of God Himself.

EPILOGUE

Thanks be unto thee, O my God, that thou hast called me to this admirable light! Thou, the Supreme Intelligence and the Absolute Life of those numbers and those forces which obey thee in order to people the infinite with inexhaustible creation! Mathematics proves thee, the harmonies of Nature proclaim thee, all forms as they pass by salute thee and adore thee!

Abraham knew thee, Hermes divined thee, Pythagoras calculated thee, Plato, in every dream of his genius, aspired to {289} thee; but only one initiate, only one sage has revealed thee to the children of earth, one alone could say of thee: “I and my Father are one.” Glory then be his, since all his glory is thine!

Thou knowest, O my Father, that he who writes these lines has struggled much and suffered much; he has endured poverty, calumny, proscription, prison, the forsaking of those whom he loved:—and yet never did he find himself unhappy, since truth and justice remained to him for consolation!

Thou alone art holy, O God of true hearts and upright souls, and thou knowest if ever I thought myself pure in thy sight! Like all men I have been the plaything of human passions. At last I conquered them, or rather thou has conquered them in me; and thou hast given me for a rest the deep peace of those who have no goal and no ambition but Thyself.

I love humanity, because men, as far as they are not insensate, are never wicked but through error or through weakness. Their natural disposition is to love good, and it is through that love that thou hast given them as a support in all their trials that they must sooner or later be led back to the worship of justice by the love of truth.

Now let my books go where thy Providence shall send them! If they contain the words of thy wisdom they will be stronger than oblivion. If, on the contrary, they contain only errors, I know at least that my love of justice and of truth will survive them, and that thus immortality cannot fail to treasure the aspirations and wishes of my soul that thou didst create immortal! {290}

Index

CONTENTS

PAGE

• TRANSLATORS NOTE

v

• INTRODUCTION

vii

• PREFACE

xi

Дата добавления: 2015-10-28