Telete

TEAETH Let us enter the Great Silence and meditate upon eternal and immaterial things; and in doing so, let us invoke God's help that we may be illumined and be put on the track of Divine Virtue, At what more appropriate or more awesome place can we meditate upon such profound matters than where to The Master were unveiled the ineffable mysteries of Spirit and Matter, Life and Death, and Heaven and Heli ? For here, enigmatically, is both the earth's center and its end; a spot which memorializes the mutability and impermanence of all things material and temporal; the perishability of human institutions; and the futility of men's vainglory. Thus we find ourselves at a remote and solitary place, far removed from the habitations of living men. From the bleak wilderness come the moan of chilling winds and the hideous screams of the jackal to pierce the brooding silence. Beneath our feet is the ageless rock. Above us are the starry heavens; which we perceive only dimly through the gray-gloom of desert night. We are on that side of the River of Life associated with those emblems of mortality --- the desert and the setting sun. Looming about us at every hand in eerie light are weird and fantastic structures, the necropolës of the dead; testimonials to vanity and illusion. Amid this strange prospect of grandeur and desolation well may be pondered the solemn thought, that "AI who tread the globe are but a handful to the myriads who slumber in its bosom. '' Think! That, of the vast myriads who at this moment inhabit the earth, scarcely one will remain a hundred years hence. Yau, too, my friend, then will be no more! The worldly hope men set their hearts upon turns to ashes, and worldly

like snow upon the desert's dusty face, has its brief moment and ne, As said anciently, '"I prepare my sepulchre; I make my grave pollutions of the earth; Il am under the shadow of death. '' How true, L then, is That Man's saying --- "To live is not in our power; but to live What is man? Whence does he come? Whither does he go? 0 What is the purpose of his existence? What is his eternal destiny? Who shall solve these imponderable mysteries! Who shall solve the eternal riddle of the universe! Who may answer the questions, "Have the gates of Death been opened to thee? Hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of Death!!! You that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, hearken unto the words which will guide your feet into the way of peace and raise your Soul unto eternal li There are Two Ways: branching from a single stem: The way of Life and the Way of Death: the one ascending to eternal life in the starry heavens: the other descending to eternal oblivion in the infernal, Man is endowed with relative free-will to choose the way he will go. The turning of the human soul from the darkness of indifference and ignorance ® of aspiration and Truth is the most momentous event in the life 25e to the light of mortal man. The way is one which in finality each man must travel alone, “The courageous soul which travels alone this fearful way, without hesitation or timidity, after purification by earth, fire, water, and air, shall be enlightened by the glorious Mysteries of Truth, and shall come at last into the most pure aether an illumined Soul, "' ul,ead me, O God, and Thou, O Destiny, Be what it may the goal appointed me, Bravely I'll follow; nay, and if I would not, I'd prove a coward, yet must follow still, "' We come to this sacred place not seeking or expecting magical wonders, but rather to be instructed in the divine wisdom of the Pillars of Hermes, which we are told preserve the mysteries of the universe. It truly is said, There is no real mystery, and, There is nothing hid to him who assiduously seeks Truth, In witness of which the Great, the Mighty, God has caused to be set an altar to Himself in the midst of the land, and

a pillar at the border thereof, which is set for a sign and a wonder for all time, This eternal telesterion contains the secrets of all things, the keys to Heaven and Hell, The Holy God has sealed it with the sign of the headstone of the corner, so that men may be assured that the Kosmos is a Living Being, and that Change and not Death is the regimen of the universe; that men may live better lives and die with better hopes, It is said of old that there are two ways: one the way of those who know the other the way of those who know not. Such is so with the telesterion, The mysteries are revealed but to those who come the way of the mystes, those who would know themselves, and whence they come and whither they go. The Way of the Mystes is on a different plane. The Way to the Kali is another, Before you can ascendio the plane of ingress, it is necessary that you receive an ineffable secret, Man's whole vocation is likeness to God in this life; or the raising of his immortal Soul to his Eternal Shining Self, ed The Master placed upon the temple of Delphi, beneath the mystic letters EI, the inscription, KNOW THYSELF. If a man Know Himself, he shall Know the Universe and God. That a man may Know Himself it is essential that he distinguish aright what he is as Spirit and what he is as Body, and how these two are related to each other. As Spirit, man knows himself, in the light of his knowledge 3 of God, to be an eternal, unborn, and immortal, rational being. In knowing God, the Spirit knows also itself; for it will know what it received from God, what God has given to it, and can give. In knowing this, it will know itself, for it is itself one of God's gifts, or rather the sum-total of them. If then the Spirit will know Him and His powers, it will know itself as having come from Him and derived from Him all that it can do. If it cannot see Him clearly, it is because seer and seen are the same, For this reason Spirit will know and see itself, because to see is to become oneself the thing seen, Man, what thou art is hidden from thyself; Know'st not that morning, mid-day and the eve Are all within thee? The ninth heaven art thou, And from the spheres into the roar of Time Didst fall ere-while, Thou art the brush that painted The hues of all the world --- the light of life That ranged its glory in the Nothingness, Thou art not of Nature's mint, nor of the encircling heavens, Thy place is the placeless; thy trace is the traceless, Tis neither body nor soul, for thou belongest to the Soul of God,

° B Reality is the spiritual world as known by Spirit, or Spirit as knowing id, The true awakening of the Soul is the awakening from the body. We quit Awake Soul! Wing thy flight! our country, which is Heaven, and come into the world to be bound in the prison-house of the mortal body. The body is only a haltingplace in the pilgrimage from world to world; -- but a tent where we take our one-day rest, The earthly life which we are about to enter, Heaven hath lent us for a while. We will repay when it is time to pay. s is the announcement of salvation: all men who come to know they are Sons of God receive true life, The foundation and beginning of all things is the understanding of life. Understanding of life is Knowledge of God. UnJerstanding of God is the knowledge of Self, This the announcement reveals re foundation and beginning of everything. All is built upon the uûderstanding of life, without which there can be no living. ® In this is true kfe: Stand we before the curious portal of our ushering in, E'er we try this door ponder the solemn reflection that although we enter by a door we leave through no door, For it is written, Flesh and blood cannot inupernal regions, No man hath ascended up to heaven but the man lown from heaven, (which is the Real Man, ) r will that we zross this constricted threshold from a world a world of darkness and there seek to gain the starry crown? retire whence we came? is cast! Push open the door, --- but take care that in doing ereby bring down upon yourself your own misfortunes, or crush you. It is written, We ourselves set in motion those Do nothing that. you do not

elow truth we quit a world of mn abysmal blackness in which sensual sight we now? Beneath us begins to decline Let us retrace our steps beside us; above us, and an impenetrable wall of dark- Ze we are Thus we find that man re the corporeal body if we go on we peris hi app as endowed with Mind; and Reason that he might use more excellent than his senhan the stars,

The consequence can be no worse, besides we have a crown to gain. What is this I feel embedded into the wall near the po al? Four angle or gable stones! Though their meaning be obscure to us now, they give us encourageare not embarked without guidance, Man need ment; for we kmow th never fear anything if he has confidence in the All-Providence of God. ® Heed well our footsteps. Let them be short and sure, for the way is slippery and the descent is precipitous, At the terminus below is a dark, deep, and slimy, reservoir to which no ray of light, or wisp of pure air, has penetrated in a dozen milleniums. Thus swift is the way to destruction and oblivion, We are now to understand that the Entrance-Way marks the place where the Soul is clothed in the physical, and that all is dark until the light of understanding illumines, and until the first steps in the comprehension of the laws of the physical are understood, Thereafter the divine laws of the universe unfold as the steps in the path are taken. Who among men is he that can know the counsel of God? Or who can think what the will of God is? For the thoughts of mortal men are fearful, and our counsels are uncertain; for the corruptible body is a load upon the Soul; and the earthiy habitation presseth down the mind that museth upon many things, And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth; and with labor do we find the things that are before us. But the things that are in heaven: who shall search out? And who shall know God's thought except that He give Wisdom, and send His Holy Spirit from above, And so the ways of them that are upon earth may be corrected, and men may learn the things that please God. For by Wisdom are they healed, Our present situation, indeed, impresses us with the truth that the body is an incumbrance and limitation upon the immortal Soul and the Free Mind, The Soul is a harmony and the body its prison, But the Spirit is ever wholly Free. Where the Starry Realm is, there is liberty. No one is wise who looks down to the earth. The limit of earth is seen at our feet, but below its roots stretch to infinity. With care‚ then, let us turm around and discover if we can peer upwards through the means by which we are descending, and, perchance, behold the starry heavens, For I perceive that the wa ad door has swung open, You say that he whom Fate has consigned to walk with stooped posture

and stiff neck may not look aloft and trace the stars and search the heavens for power, or feel the passion of eternity? How wrong sucha thought! For tutored by Reason it is possible for one to change his attitude and gain a wholly new perspective, Let it so be with us. All things follow the heavens, As above so below, As below so above, Contemplate the heavens and behold those bodies which continually do the same things, and in the same manner perform their work; and remind us of the constancy of God and His All-Providence, And when in morning or night you look to the heavens and behold those bodies, be reminded of their purity and nudity. For there is no veil over a star, If you gaze up at the heavens at midday, or on a Stygian night, and see no stars, be sure they are there nevertheless, Beyond leadened skies the sun and moon continue to shine, And those stars which you see extinguished, imagine to be Souls whose subsiances are plunged into bodies, And those that recover their light and rise from below, (that shake off the ambient mist and darkness, as it were clay and dust) to be such as retire from their bodies after death, And those that are carried up on high are the daemons of wise men and philosophers, of the spheres, Let us strive always to catch the music Here is the Point of Liberty, from which a man, by free choice, either passes through the gate of inmmortality into the Circle of Happiness, no more the Victim of adversity, want, or death; else passes into the pits to Death and Oblivion, We choose our own Destiny, and we are our own good and bad Fortune. Know God! Know Thyself! There are Two Waysl Whieh do you choose ? Answer, Turn and Follow God! The Way of darkness and the Way of Light! Î have found the good and have departed from evil, Grant me a path wherein Ì may pass in peace, Divinely blest are they who wisely shun the way that leads foreler to mortal birth and death, For they shall wear the vesture of the sun and attain the starry realm, Who art thou? Whence are thou? Whither goeth thou?

Answer, Iama child of Earth and of Starry Heaven, but my race is of Heaven alone. IÍ return to the supernal realm. Meantime I am parched with thirst and I perish, Drink of the waters of Lethe, eternally flowing at the left, where the cypress is. This is the warm stream from the bottom of the cave of Trophonios, whose waves gently murmuring over the gravelly bed, invite to slumber. Drink and forget! Nay! Drink of the well-spring flowing forever at the right, where the hazel is, ‘Tis the cold water flowing forth from the Lake of Memory. Drink and remember! Drink from Lethe's cup the waters of forgetfulness; that you may erase from your memory all worldly thoughts, and all you have been thinking hitherto. With this draught blot from thy recollection all that in the past has troubled you; and with your mind now clear of all evil fill it anew with thoughts of eternal things. We have seen that a change of attitude alters perspective, At this triple-junction we see this further proved, For, whereas one of the great arms of the forks of the Y, at which we are, formerly descended downward; now both ascend upwards. The way by which we did ascend is changed into a way of ascent, That which brought condemnation has become the means of redemption, Thus it is the Soul ascends by the same way she descends, It is a crime to throw stones into fountains, who block the way to knowledge. They wrong mankind They hate man who consign him to the bondage of ignorance, Although the original way has been blocked by some unknown agency; another has been forced, It would seem that power lay hard by necessity. While violence never îs to be commended, it is nevertheless true that the realm of the starry spaces can be carried by storm, and that the forceful obtain mastery thereof, But extort from no one by violence; for it is a horrible crime to wipe off the sweat with iron, Turn to the Right! Veer to the opposite! When it thunders worship

Thus we take the Second Step, up a mountain the echo! Turn to the Right! of glass, Take heed lest we lose our footing and bruise ourselves upon the sharp rocks below! Where that which is wise in thee resides, there also is thy good, Choose the goods of the Soul în preference to the goods of the body, Fix thy gaze upon the Starry Realm and not upon the transitory world of unreality, asures on this earth, where moths Store not up for thyse destroy and rust corrodes, and $hieves break in and steal, But create for thyself in the World Supernal a lastting treasure which no thief can touch, no moth destroy, For where thy treasure is, there also will be Here we pass the First Girdle in the arms of the Great Y. To those who attain isotheos physis (he God-like nature] I would say--Immortal are they who thirst for holy Wisdom: for they shall drink at its primeval fountain, A Immortal are the suppliante in the supernal Air: realm of the starry spaces, for theirs is the Immortal are the mourners for the supernal Fire nigh quenched: for in them his deathless Flame shall rise anew. Immortal are the self-effaced: for they shall be heir to the most sacred Earth, Immortal are the compass onate: Compassion Absolute, Immortal are the pure in heart: for they shall receive the Dew of for they shall see the Self-Divine. Immortal are they who reach the sacred peace: shall they be called, for ‘Sons of God’ the grace of his Divine Self gains knowEternally blessed is he who ledge of the sacred powers in man, and perfects his divine nature, and leads a consecrated life; and who joining with all his mind and soul the glorious company on high, becomes himself an Initiate, and in fullness of conse crated power is crowned with honor and glory, and becomes one with God, Here we pass the Second Girdle in the arms of the Great Figure,

Perpetuated about us are the immortal theorems of the divine Pythagoras, Forget not that the body is transitory and destined to dust. Its 3 forsake us, care, therefore, is like that of:evil friends which will soon ing to But Institution, like the good, will stay with us till death, procur many immortal glory after death. of thy Strive to inspire only emulation of thy virtue and never envy truly thine, possessions. Remember that nothing that thou hast is ever take from can man no Possess not treasures except those things which possesseth inthee, Be sure that nothing is thine save that which thou tellectually. sions Know that to die has been ordained for all. Know that posses pos eal corpor that Know are sometimes acquired and sometimes lost. nothing Consider sessions must be left behind when the Soul is liberated. those things all e Despis thee. worth while which cannot be taken with which when liberated from the body thou will not want. unity of There is not any gate of wealth so secure which the opport of anything which is Fortune may not open. Thou wilt never be in want 3 within the power of Fortune to give and take away. We pass the Third Girdle of the arms of the Great Term, tal; but Soul is immortal, For that which is ever moving is immor else, when it that which moves something else or is moved by something moves itself, since it ceases to move, ceases to live. Only that which is also the source and does not leave itself, never ceases to move, and . beginning of motion for all other things which have motion Concerning the immortality of the Soul this should be sufficient, By our extension from the Deity we regain the wings which raise the region where us toward celestial being, though we are precipitated into ns and depassio all so-called evils dwell, But by putting away earthly and we shall rise voting ourselves to virtue our wings will be renewed, good without any to that immortal existence where we shall find the true admixture of evil, only has Gt is said that, it is just that the mind of the philosopher nion through memory wings, for he is always, so far as he is able, in commu with those things the communion with which establishes God to be divine. is always being initiated Now a man who employs such memories rightly t, But since he into perfect Mysteries and he alone becomes truly perfec

separates himself from vulgar interests and turns his attention toward the divine, he is rebuked by the rabble, who consider him mad and do-not know that he is inspired. Man is perfected, first, by conversing with God, which he can do only in the language of Truth, and by abstinence from evil, and by striving to resemble‘the full perfection of the Divine Nature; secondly, by doing good to others, which is an imitation of God; and, thirdly, by leaving the mortal body. Likeness to Deity should be the aim of all our endeavors, We now pass the Fourth and last Girdle of the medial corridor of the Great Unite, We are reminded of the Four Cardinal Virtues and of the Sacred Quaternary. The course of justice, industry, courage, moderation, silence; means that thou shalt receive thy due of every good thing. There are Two Ways: Life is, as it were, divided into two roads; the rougher one, followed by patient Ulysses, and the more agreeable one followed by Nestor, I mean that Virtue desires the one, but can also follow the other, We must by-pass for the nonce the place of the Seven Fires, which the Two Figures guard, and proceed on a more lowly plane, for, as the Lesser Mysteries precede the Greater, preparation must precede exaltation, Once more we are at the triple-junction forks of the Great Y, We will take the horizontal course ahead, but ere long we shall again see the Two Figures. An extinguished torch gives no light, but from the eerie flicker of the other's“flame we find our way into the grim channel of Destiny, replete with ever-extending Spirals and inexorable Cycles, Through it we pass the full length of a Pythagorean Cycle, There is nothing new under the sun! We reach the Third Step --- down. We gain in the perpendicular what we lose in the horizontal, What relief even so slight change gives to our long-constrained bodies. Yet our bodies go through aceaseless round of changes, nor what we have been or are today shall be tomorrow, We die daily, In the midst of life we are in death, There was a time when we lay in our first mother's womb mere seeds and hopes of men. Then Nature wrought with her cunning hands, willed not that our bodies should lie cramped in our strained mother's body, and from our home sent us forth into the free air! Arise and appear to the Thinker!

You who strive for the superlative of gifts, --- hyperconscious immortality and emergence in righteousness as a god in the starry realm, --- take heed. There are many who bear the thyrsus but few who become s of everything the shedding regenerate. That to which you aspire require but the Divine Element. The way before you is long and laborious e!er you may see The Master face to face, though his voice you may hear, The Pythagorean novitiate requires constancy of purpose, courage, perseverence, assiduous study and inquiry, and ceaseless toil, Moreover, it asks the shunning of mundane glory, luxury, and pride, - those things which the ignorant prize, I can assure you that in all this you truly sacrifice nothing; for whatever is right never involves sacrifice. The crowning prize is an hyperconscious eternal ego in the supernal realm; the only prize the wise deem worth striving for, No one should ever do that which he does not understand, Nor should one proceed further who is at all uncertain of the reality of his desires or the sincerity of his intentions, or who entertains any doubts or misgivings. This is a matter of conscience and intellectual honesty for each individual, We deem it not only honorable, but the moral duty, for any who has doubts, misgivings, uncertainties, or changes of opinion, to so declare here and now, and retire in honor whence he came. A few moments hence and the frontiers will be reached. Those who arrive at the frontiers should never look back, Such are not fit for the starry realm, He who turns back before he takes the vowthereby incurs no dishonor or disgrace. I now and therefore abjure you and each of you by all that is sacred to search your heart, mind, and conscience, and declare in all solemnity if it is still your wish to take the holy vows of a Pythagorean Novice, Answer, Lead me, O God, and Thou, O Destiny, be what it may the goal appointed me. Bravely I'll follow, Nay, and if I would not, I'd prove a coward, yet must follow still. You recognize that you rest under most solemn obligation not to reveal any of the mysteries which are ‘mparted to you 10 any who is not entitled to know them ? Il acknowledge that I am obl:gated to secrecy ‘to hear the truth about God and be capable of keeping it to myself. I remember that retribution

is sure and that futurity is long. The circle of existence began in the Great Deep. Man, endowed with Free Will, has power to bring all propensities of his nature to just balance, the point of liberty, and pass from thence, through the gate of immmortality, into the circle of happiness. The centre is within me and its wonder lies as a circle every where about me. Each of us is, as it were, circumscribed by many concentric circles, The first and most proximate circle is that which everyone describes about his own mind as a centre, The outermost and greatest circle, and that which comprehends all the other circles, is that of the human race, As is the earthy we also bear the image of the heavenly, In the ancient mysteries there were things seen as well as things heard and done. Here you will examine these seven objects, Although the spinning spheres, the beauteous fruit of gold from the clear-voiced Hesperides, and the rest, may appear real when apprehended by the senses, it is nevertheless true that, what the senses regard as real is actually unreal, and the senses are deceptive, For what may be perceived by the senses undergoes continual change, It is the incorporeal things which are unchangeable and are therefore real; and these may be seen only with the mind Leeus] through mathematical disciplines, Therefore, it is through the mind fnous| we see and hear all things; all else is deaf and blind. Behold thy image as a child of Earth! Each speck of matter did God constitute a mirror, causing each one to reflect the beauty of His visage,

His beauty everywhere doth show itself, and through the forms of earthly, beauties shine obscured as through a veil. Everything mirrors all else, Man is the measure of everything. Know thyself, inspect thyself, and examine thyself, Review thy acts and omissions unceasingly and exactingly, in intellectual honesty. Sow mallows but never eat them. See thy every thought, word and deed in the Light of Truth, but never primp by lamplight. Know thyself! Make thy ablutions and put off the earthy as thy Soul shall free itself from the dust that encrusts it. But more important is it that one present himself with a pure heart and a clean mind, without which external cleanliness will be of no avail, Behold the reflection of a Child of God! Breathe and thank God that you art a living Soul! Wear this as a symbol of separation and search; and this as a symbol of that which binds thee. A blessed and happy one thou shalt become when thou has put off mortality and hast become divine.

Be thou regenerate; but remember that-moral regeneration comes not by mystic rites [@pokathar sis) but through education, From the moment you came into the world of being, a ladder was placed before you that you might escape. First you were mineral, later you turned to plant, then you became animal, How should this be a secret to you? Afterwards you became man, with knowledge, reason, faith, You have been wondrously fashioned withal, When you have travelled on from man, you will doubtless become an immortal god, Then you are done with this earth; your station then is in the most pure aether. Pass again ever fróm angelhood! Enter that Ocean! Through it all you are and you remain YOU! For every Soul there is a star --- 'the crown of immortality''--but every star differeth from another star in glory. The Light of Truth is the way of the blessed immortals to gain the harvest of immortal life, Ascend, then, like immortal souls ascending to the empyrean and beholding the regions beyond! Reach up for the stars of immortality! The everlasting arms eternally stretch down that you may grasp them. The triple rays pour down from on high forever to fill your mind with knowledge and to fill your Soul with grace and truth. If you know of what race you are, whence you come and whither you go, you also will know that that which in its nature is free never can be restrained or destroyed, though the head be made to bow and the body be made to bend, He is free who lives as he wishes to live: to whom none can do violence; none hinder or compel, whose impulses are unimpeded; whose desires attain their purposes; who falls not into what he would avoid, Who then would live in error ? Who would live deceived and prone to fall, -- unjust, intemperate, -- in abject whining at his lot? No man is free who has not gained empire of himself, Can any man hinder you from assenting to the truth? No man can,

Can any man compel you to receive what is false? No man can. You see that in this matter you have the faculty of the will free from hindrance, free from compulsion, unimpeded, It is never necessary that a man be deceived as to whether a thing is of God, Man has within himself sure means of detecting fallacy and demonstrating truth, Is it not Reason? Then to Reason we may trust, If any man diligently seek Truth in the light of Reason, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or man. To love Truth is to practice Truth. sistently with Wisdom. To love Wisdom is to live con- To live is not in our power, but to live rightly is, It is necessary to be good, rather than to appear so. doing what ought not to be done, Do not even think of When a man has the right attitude he instinctively practices Virtue, and the thought of another course is absent from him. It is impossible for a man to truly believe one thing and do another. It is impossible for a wise man to do wrong, Never suffer the Light of Truth to be extinguished within you. Honor a Figure and step before a Figure anda Tribolus. the light of Truth under a choenix, Never hide From the sublime to destruction is oft but a step. Gaping maws, black and cruel, ever yawn hungrily, ready to devour the ignorant and the unwary, Less than a flick of an eyelash oft separates and to consign them to Oblivion, man and eternity. May thy Good Genius guide thee against every pitfall that lines thy way and lead thee to goodness and to truth. Every faculty you have was given to you to be used, An extinguished lamp never can guide thy feet. There are Two Ways! The Way of Life and the Way of Oblivion! “When treading the Path, divide not! Glory! Glory! Glory! Holy God of Hosts High above all praises man can give. Glory be to thee, O Lord Most High. Alleluia! Alleluia! For evermore,

Ancientiy, before entrance into the Society; and partaking of the Common Meal, the aspirant, after lustration, assumed the four-fold obligation. First, that he would revere the divine ideal, [ro oefvl; his fellow-beings, Second, that he would carefully practice justice towards hate the and refrain from injury to another; Third, that he would always unjust and earnestly join the struggle [guvaya V! Led Bar] onthe keep faith with all side of justice and of the lovers of justice; Fourth, to or violently, man, and, if in power, never to use authority insolently, nor to surpass his subordinates in dress or ornament. you will be All of these ancient ideals are embodied in the Vow and of the Simple Rule called upon to make. The terms of the Novitiate tted and explained of Life ordained by Pythagoras for Novices were submi holy status. to you before you were accepted as a candidate for this ake Now that the solemn final moment has arrived, before you undert the inexorthe sacred obligation, I require and charge you, as you know matters about ability of retribution, to declare truthfully concerning the which Tl ask you: Is there any doubt or misgiving in your mind of the your desire and purpose to enter upon the Novitiate? not too late to abandon your purpose and retire. seriousness of If so, still it is and with the Are you conversant with the terms of the Novitiate Pythagoras ? by Simple Rule of Life for Novices as anciently prescribed perfect sinAre you now ready, voluntarily, solemnly, and in Pythagorean Novice ? cerity and truth, to assume the sacred vow of a ESKATE BABELOI! corporal cloth --Then repeat with me --- meanwhile touching the me, thy Child, and O HOLY GOD, One Only true Deity, look upon here make and strenghten me in my purpose to keep the vow which I now es as assume, that 1 will live according to the simple rule for novic

ordained by Pythagoras from this day henceforth for five years next, or until my novitiate sooner may terminate. Protect and defend me, Almighty God, now and forevermore. A. give Pray, Beloved God,and all good spirits who light this place: me beauty in the inward Soul, and may the outward and the inward man be at one, May I reckon only the wise to be rich, and may [ have such a quantity of worldly wealth as none but the temperate can bear and carry. A. May thou attain thy heart's desire (by God's grace Amen, thee to God. I dedicate A. A man ought always to live in perfect holiness. Hence, thou shalt verily make thy nature perfect, thus does salvation come to every man who perfects his nature by good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, Worship not at altars stained with blood, either actually or symbolically. Bloody sacrifice in actuality or imagination is abhorrent to God, Shun idols and those who worship them, God is a spirit and only can be worshipped in spirit and in truth, Neither eat nor drink, actually or symbolicàlly, the flesh or blood of any creature which has had life, but rather eat and drink acceptably to God, Drink the cup of Tantalus, but leave be the seven-ringed cup of Djemshyd. Make to God no sacrifice nor worldly gift, for He neither needs nor wants any of this; but offer to him perpetually that which is always acceptable, - a pure, just and virtuous life, Receive the bread of earth to sustain thy body. Receive the cup of Tantalus to strengthen thy Soul, A. A Holy God, we give thee thanks for the gift of life and for our pure A. and clean food. Receive the benediction, May He who with holy Wisdom consecrates make pure thy heart, thy mind make crystal clear, that thou mayst win fair Wisdom's diadem, Konxompax.

May we attain our heart 's desire [ey God's grace, Amen As Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Thine, O God, is the dominion, majesty and power. Thou art the Founder of the Sacred Quaternary , Nature's eternal fount and source, And art Monogenes of all Souls that living Glory be to thee in the highest, be, O Lord Most High, There are Two Ways! the other! ee Virtue desires the one, but also can follo w Choose the way of E. C. Drink now of the holy waters of Dirke, whic h golden-robed Mnem osyne!'s deep-girdled daughter made once to spring out of the earth, beside the wellwalled gates of Kadmos. May the waters of Memory cause thee to reme mber crystal-clear all good things and virtuous thoughts which thou hast learned; as did the waters of Leth e cause thee to forget all evil things of thy past beautiful Soul remembers its past, generate life, I have entered in as one of no understand ing I have come forth in the form of a strong Khu I shall look upon my form Which shall be that of men and women For ever and for ever.