by Dion Fortune
CHAPTER XXV
AS I came down towards the point I was surprised to observe that a haze of light hung over the fort such as one sees over a city. There was no doubt about it; I saw it quite distinctly, but I have never been able to account for it. The great gates stood ajar for my entrance, and as I came through them I met a curious fresh slippery coldness, like wet seaweed, yet with no sense of chill in it. As I had guessed, the tide was going out, and the rocks of the point were slowly coming up out of the water as the languid wash of the ground-swell heaved the weed. The rising moon had not yet cleared the down, and the fort lay in shadow though the water was silvered; one could see the wide faint furrows of the slowly-moving swell coming in from the Atlantic, and it was very like the traces of the plough that remain when arable land goes back to pasture. The sea was not like sea that night, and the land was not like land, but they seemed to be one thing, even as they were before the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. I called to Morgan, but got no answer, and seeing the big room lit up, I went in there to look for her. She sat silently, calm and aloof, and she might have been asleep save that she was bolt upright. She was clad in a close silvery robe, and her cloak was of indigo gauze, and she looked just like the moon in the night sky amid light cloud. On her head was the horned head-dress of the moon, which is also the lunar crescent of Isis. At the far end of the room was another raised dais, and I took my seat on it. Immediately behind me was the shadowy outline of the Priest of the Moon in his painted sea-palace. In the centre of the floor was the altar of the double cube, draped in silver, and upon it a crystal bowl filled with water, and Morgan and I sat and faced each other across it, the length of the room away. Then I became conscious of a curious thing. It seemed to me that the painted pictures on the walls were no longer pictures but actuality, and that the sea stretched away level with the floor, even as I had painted it; and it was just as real as the sea outside that I could see through the gap we had cut in the embrasures where the path led out to the point. And it suddenly occurred to me that the Priest of the Moon behind me might have become real also, but I did not dare to turn my head to look. Then Morgan rose, and her cloak of dark gauze floated out from her shoulders like wings and the silver robe shone through it. She struck a bell beside her, and its soft note filled the room with humming overtones that died slowly away. She raised her hand: "Be ye far from us, 0 ye profane, for we arc about to invoke the descent of the power of Isis. Enter her temple with clean hands and a pure heart, lest ye defile the source of life." I thought of the dome of light that had been built to enclose the fort, and reckoned that here we could wake the ancient forces, unprofaned and safe from all intrusion. "The temple of Isis is built of black marble and hung with silver, and she herself sitteth veiled in the innermost. She is all goddesses that men's hearts have worshipped, for they are not many things, but one thing under many forms. "Those who adore the Isis of Nature adore her as Hathor with the horns upon her brow; but those who adore the celestial Isis know her as Levanah, the Moon. She is also the Great Deep whence life arose. She is all ancient and forgotten things wherein our roots are cast. Upon earth she is ever-fecund; in heaven she is ever-virgin. She is the mistress of the tides that flow and ebb and flow and never cease. In these things are the keys of her mystery, known only to the initiated." Morgan struck the bell again; its vibrations sank to silence once more, and we sat in stillness for a while. It seemed to me that we were on a low rocky islet surrounded on all sides by the sea, and upon it was the black and silver temple of Isis, through whose arched portico we looked out on the water. Then Morgan rose again, and lifted her arms to the moon | as the women of ancient times had done before her. "0 thou most holy and adorable Isis, who in the heavens art the Supernal Mother, and upon earth Our Lady of Nature, and in the airy kingdoms between heaven and earth the everchanging Moon, ruling the tides of flux and reflux upon the J earth and in the hearts of men. Thee, thee we adore in the symbol of the Moon in her splendour, ever-changing. And in the symbol of the deep sea that reflects her. And in the symbol of the opening of the gates of life. "We see thee crowned in silver in the heavens, and clad in green upon the earth, and in thy robe of many colours at the gates. 0 heavenly silver that answerest to the celestial gold! 0 green that risest from the grey! 0 rainbow glory of living!" The soft bell-tones sounded again, and taking her note from the bell, Morgan began to sing the song of which the snatches had plagued me for weeks past: "0 thou that wast before the earth was formed-- Ea, Binah, Gc. 0 tideless, soundless, boundless, bitter sea, I am thy priestess, answer unto me. "0 arching sky above and earth beneath, Giver of life and bringer-in of death, Persephone, Astarte, Ashtorcth, I am thy priestess, answer unto me. "0 golden Aphrodite, come to me I Flower of the foam, rise from the bitter sea. The hour of the full moon-tide draws near, Hear the invoking words, hear and appear-- Isis unveiled, and Ea, Binah, Gc! I am thy priestess, answer unto me." Morgan sat down, but the rite went on. But now I had no need to turn my head to know that the Priest of the Moon was behind me, for I heard his voice. "Learn now the secret of the web that is woven between the light and the darkness; whose warp is life evolving in time and space, and whose weft is spun of the lives of men. "Behold we arise with the dawn of time from the grey and misty sea, and with the dusk we sink in the western ocean, and the lives of a man arc strung like pearls on the thread of his spirit; and never in all his journey goes he alone, for that which is solitary is barren." The voice ceased, and there was silence; and in the silence I could hear the sound of the sea murmuring among the rocks and knew that the windows stood open to the night. Then the voice spoke again, and it had gathered a strength that dominated the room: "Learn now the mystery of the ebbing and Sowing tides. That which is dynamic in the outer is latent in the inner, for that which is above is as that which is below, but after another manner. "Isis of Nature awaiteth the coming of her Lord the Sun. She calls him. She draws him from the place of the dead, the Kingdom of Amenti, where all things are forgotten. And he comes to her in his boat called Millions of Years, and the earth grows green with the springing grain. For the desire of Osiris answereth unto the call of Isis. And so it will ever be in the hearts of men, for thus the gods have formed them. Whoso dcnieth this is abhorred of the gods. "But in the heavens our Lady Isis is the Moon, and the moon. i powers arc hers. She is also the priestess of the silver star that rises from the twilight sea. Hers arc the magnetic moon-tidc ruling the hearts of men. "In the inner she is all-potent. She is queen of the kingdoms j of sleep. All the invisible workings are hers and she rules all | things ere they come to birth. Even as through Osiris her mate the earth grows green, so the mind of man conceives. through her power. "Let us show forth in a rite the dynamic nature of the goddess that the minds of men may be as fertile as their fields," and from behind me came a bell-note where I knew there was no bell. "Be ye far from us, 0 ye profane, for the unveiling of the goddess is at hand. Look not upon her with impure eyes lest ye see your own damnation. "The ignorant and impure man gazeth upon the face of Nature, and it is to him darkness of darkness. But the initiated and illuminated man gazeth thereon and seeth the features of God. Be ye far from us, 0 ye profane, while we adore God made manifest in Nature." The voice fell silent again, and the sea outside answered with a slow soft wash on the rocks that was like the beating of muffled cymbals. Then Morgan slowly rose, all her silver draperies a-shimmcr, and stood upright in the rigidity of Egypt; she raised her hands from the bent elbows till the palms faced me, and there was power coming from those palms. I saw that her face had changed, and was almost negroid about the mouth, though the still, calm, Nordic breadth of brow remained. Then a voice spoke that was not Morgan's voice, curiously inhuman and metallic. "I am the Veiled Isis of the shadows of the sanctuary. I am she that moveth as a shadow behind the tides of death and birth. I am she that cometh forth by night, and no man seeth my face. I am older than time and forgotten of the gods. No man may look upon my face and live, for in the hour he parteth my veil, he die
th." Prompted by I know not what power, I spoke. "There is one man that lookcth upon thy face. Behold, I am the sacrifice. I part thy veil and die to the birth." And behind me came the voice of the Priest of the Moon; "There are two deaths by which men die, the greater and the lesser. The death of the body, and the death of initiation. And of these two, the death of the body is the lesser. The man who looks upon the face of Isis dies, for the goddess takes him. They that die thus go by the path of the well-head that is beside the white cypress." And I answered: "I will take the path that leads to the well-head beside the white cypress." And the voice of the Priest of the Moon replied: "He that would die to the birth, let him look upon the face of the goddess in this mystery. Be ye far from us, 0 ye profane, for one goes forth by the path that leads to the well-head beside the white cypress." I felt a strange feeling stealing over me as if I were going into trance; and I saw that Morgan's hands were no longer upheld, but stretched out and parallel, palms facing; and between those outheld palms my very life was being drawn in. I felt myself becoming passive, neuter, unresisting, like a man drugged into sleep. Then I heard, as if from very far off, the sound of Morgan singing. "I am the soundless, boundless, bitter sea; All things in the end shall come to me. Mine is the kingdom of Persephone, The inner earth, where lead the pathways three. Who drinks the waters of that hidden well Shall see the things whereof he dare not tell-- Shall tread the shadowy path that leads to me-- Diana of the Ways and Hecate, Selene of the Moon, Persephone." It seemed to me as if death were calling to me out of great deep, and my life ebbed away from me like a man ble ing to death. If ever man died, I died then; but I heard voice of the Priest of the Moon speaking to me through gathering shadows: "The daughter of the Great Mother is Persephone, Quc of Hades, ruler of the kingdoms of sleep and death. Undc the form of the Dark Queen men also worship Her who is thel One. Likewise is she Aphrodite--and herein is a great mystcry for it is decreed that none shall understand the one without the other. "In death men go to her across the shadowy river, for she is the keeper of their souls until the dawn. But there is also a: death in life, and this likewise leadeth on to rebirth. Why| fear yc the Dark Queen, 0 men? She is the Rencwer. From | sleep we arise refreshed; from death we arise reborn; by the | embraces of Persephone arc men made powerful. 1 "For there is a turning-within of the soul whereby men come to Persephone; they sink back into the womb of time; they become as the unborn; they enter into the kingdom where she rules as queen; they are made negative and await the coming of life. "And the Queen of Hades cometh unto them as a bridegroom, and they arc made fertile for life and go forth rejoicing, for the touch of the Queen of the kingdoms of sleep hath made them potent." I knew the time had now come that I had foreseen from the first, when my life should be poured out on the altar to give the goddess power; but I had thought of that sacrifice as a bloody rite, violent and terrible; but this was a slow ebbing away of strength and a sinking down into nothingness that was only terrible because it was the end. I felt sleep rising over me like a tide as the sea rose over the rocks outside, taking back again that which belonged to it, lent for an hour to the air. I was returning to the nothingness whence I had come, and life was ending as it had begun, in sleep. I remembered the words of one of the wise--"Or ever the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken----" I felt the golden bowl of my soul lifted up and poured out upon the cubical moon-altar; but it must have been that the silver thread was not loosed, for I still lived, though I came as near to death as a man might and yet return. With the eyes of vision I saw the stars moving in the heavenly spaces and tides in the earth-soul following them as the tidal wave of the earthly seas follows after the moon. Then through my vision I heard the voice of the Priest again. "Our Lady is also the Moon, called of some Selene, of others, Luna, but by the wise Levanah, for therein is contained the number of her name. She is the ruler of the tides of flux and reflux. The waters of the Great Sea answer unto her, likewise the tides of all earthly seas, and she ruleth the nature of woman. "But there is likewise in the souls of men a flowing and an ebbing of the tides of life, which no one knoweth save the wise; and over these tides the Great Goddess presides under her aspect of the Moon. She comes from the sea as the evening star, and the magnetic waters of earth rise in flood. She sinks as Persephone in the western ocean and the waters flow back into the inner earth and become still in that great lake of darkness wherein are the moon and stars reflected. Whoso is still as the dark underworld lake of Persephone sees the tides of Unseen moving therein, and knoweth all things. Therefore Luna called the giver of visions." The voice ceased, and I thought it was the end. Then I sa' that in the utter darkness light moved like a tide, and kn< that even death has a manner of life of its own. It seemed me that I looked out over the dark lake of the underworld where Persephone, who was also Morgan Ie Fay, sat on hi throne awaiting my coming. I remembered that in my sc cave vision I had been required to swear that I would go to m' death without struggling, for the sacrifice must be consum mated by the unreserved surrender--and I willed to cross thtfi dark water and come to her. ; I found myself in the strange, highprowed boat called Millions of Years wherein Osiris voyages, and I was Osiris. Beside me were the gods that travelled with me, that were also my other selves. Horus, hawk of the morning, was look-out in the bow, and Toom, god of the gathering dusk, sat silent in the stern; and at my feet the Kephra Beetle, symbol of the sun at midnight, held in his claws the emblem of time that is past. And so we travelled over the dark waters of the lake of the underworld to come to the Queen of the Dead, my magical bride. And as we drew towards her the light increased till it was the light of the room at the fort, and at the far end I saw Morgan sitting. And as I looked, I saw her begin to change from silver into gold, and a glowing aura of all the colours of the rainbow sprang out around her. Her sleeping eyes opened into an amazing animation of life, and she glowed with life like a glorious dawn. Then the tide that had flowed from me to her turned and flowed back from her to me, and I felt my life returning to me, but different, for it had been made one with the life of the Goddess. Then she sang, and I knew that this was Isis, unveiled and dynamic: "I am the star that rises from the sea-- The twilight sea. I bring men dreams that rule their destiny. I bring the dream-tides to the souls of men; The tides that ebb and flow and ebb again-- These are my secret, these belong to me-- "I am the eternal Woman, I am she! The tides of all men's souls belong to me. The tides that ebb and flow and ebb again; The silent, inward tides that govern men-- These are my secret, these belong to me. "Out of my hands he takes his destiny. Touch of my hands confers polarity. These are the moon-tides, these belong to me-- Hera in heaven, on earth, Persephone; Levanah of the tides, and Hecate. Diana of the Moon, Star of the Sea-- Isis Unveiled and Ea, Pinah, Ge!" And all the while she sang her weaving hands stroked my soul and drew it out. Then slowly, with no stir save the flutter of her draperies, Morgan moved towards the window. I did not follow her. I was incapable of movement. She went out into the forecourt; the moon had risen higher now, and the fort was flooded with the moonlight. She stood still for a moment among the remains of sea-beasts that the storm had shattered, and in the changing light as thin cloud crossed the moon they all came alive and wriggled. Then she moved on down the steps that led to the point. The balustrading had gone in the storm, and there was nothing between her and the sea; the moonlight fell full on her and made her robe glitter, but against the brighter glitter of the sea she was almost invisible. She went on down the point out to the very end, where the flat table of rock lay just below the surface, for it only appeared at the neap. "God" I thought, "she must be knee-deep in water! Supposing she over-steps the edge?" But I was powerless to move, being as one bound. I could only just see her now, for her silver robe was almost invisible against the treacherous glitter of the water. Then a cloud crossed the moon, and when it had gone I saw that a light mist was coming in from the sea in long drifts, and I could no longer distinguish her through its uncertain haze. My first instinct was to go after her and see
if she were safe, but a strong inner compulsion prevented me. I knew that I must not do this, and that all was well with her. So I sat in my chair and waited. And as I sat, I became conscious that I was not alone. There was no stir or sound of breathing behind me to reveal that someone was there, but nevertheless I felt a presence, and gradually there came upon me the sense of awe and stimulation that one feels in the presence of a very dynamic personality--one of the great of the earth. I waited and listened, holding my breath between each breathing in an effort to hear the least movement from what was behind me, but kept as if hypnotised from turning my head. Then a voice began, clear to my physical ears, resonant, measured and calm--the voice of the Priest of the Moon, no longer a disembodied voice, but fully materialised. It went on and on like the sound of running water, and in the pauses I heard outside the wash of the waves on the rocks as the tide rose, covering the point. And as the voice went on there arose before my eyes the images it created, and I knew why it was that the Mystical Gospel says that all things were made by the Word, for the Word moved like the spirit of God upon the face of the waters. I saw the sea of space and time, indigo-dark in the Night of the Gods, as I had seen it in the beginning. And over the dark of the sea I saw the silver light and the gold light coming and going in long undulant pulsing beams. As the resonant voice went on, I listened; and some I understood, for it explained what had happened; but some I did not understand then, for it explained what was to come later. "Thrice-greatest Hermes graved on the Smaragdene Tablet: 'As above, so below.' Upon earth we see the reflection of the heavenly principles in the actions of men and women. "All the gods are one god, and all the goddesses are one goddess, and there is one initiator. "In the beginning was space and darkness and stillness, older than time and forgotten of the gods. The sea of infinite space was the source of all being; life arose therein like a tide in the soundless sea. All shall return thereto when the night of the gods draws in. This is the Great Sea, Marah, the Bitter One, the Great Mother. And because of the inertia of space ere movement arose as a tide, she is called by the wise the passive principle in nature, and is thought of as cosmic water, or space that flows. "She is called by many names by many men; but to all she is the Great Goddess--space and earth and water. As space she is called Ea, parent of the gods that made the gods; she is more old than time; she is the matrix of matter, the root-substance of all existence, undifferentiated, pure. She is also Binah, the Supernal Mother, that Chokmah, the Supernal Father. She is the giver of form to the formless force whereby it can build. She is also the bringer-in of death, for that which has form must die, outworn, in order that it may be born again to fuller life. All that is born must die, but that which dies shall be reborn. Therefore she is called Marah, the Bitter One, Our Lady of Sorrows, for she is the bringer-in of death. Likewise she is called Ge, for she is the most ancient earth, the first-formed from the formless. All these is she, and they are seen in her, and whatsoever is of their nature answers unto her and she hath dominion over it. Her tides arc its tides, her ways are its ways, and whoso knoweth the one, knowcth the other. "Whatsoever ariseth out of nothingness, she giveth it; whatsoever sinketh down into nothingness, she receiveth it. She is the Great Sea whence life arose, to which all shall return at the end of the aeon. "Herein do we bathe in sleep, sinking back into the primordial depths, returning to things forgotten before time was, and the soul is renewed, touching the Great Mother. Whoso cannot return to the primordial hath no roots in life, but withereth as the grass. These are the living dead, who are orphaned of the Great Mother." All this meant little to me at the time, save that there rang in my cars the words of the Smaragdene Tablet--"As above, so below"--but later, little by little, the things that were said returned to me as life explained them. For indeed in that deadly little town--walled about with conventions and paved with dust and ashes--were we orphaned of the Great Mother; and I had to die before I could be reborn, and the Great Goddess was indeed to me the Bitter One. Like many a better man before me, I was to drink what passes in civilisation for the waters of Lethe. But these things were still to come, and I did not know then. I heard the voice of the Priest of the Moon, speaking to me by name: "My son, I go now, but will come again. The work is not yet finished." The voice ceased, and I sat silent in my chair, awaiting the return of Morgan. But although the voice spoke no more, I knew that I was not alone, but that the Priest of the Moon bore me company in my vigil. Dozing there in my chair between sleeping and waking, the understanding of many things came to me. I knew that Morgan had performed with me a rite that was also an experiment, but I could not divine its purpose or see what it led to or how it was to go on. For I could not conceive that we had come so far to stop suddenly short. The rite we had performed, I was convinced, was the prelude to something, but what it was I could not discern. And yet there was about it a curious sense of finality as if it were also an end; and this I could not explain either, though I was not long before I found out. So I dozed in my chair and waited for Morgan to come back to me, and towards dawn I fell asleep. But she never came back. I never saw her again.