CHAPTER VI
OF THE INITIATION OF HARMACHIS; OF HIS VISIONS; OF HIS PASSING
TO THE CITY THAT IS IN THE PLACE OF DEATH; AND OF THE DECLARATIONS
OF ISIS, THE MESSENGER
In silence we passed into the Shrine of Isis. It was dark and bare--
only the feeble light from the lamp gleamed faintly upon the
sculptured walls, where, in a hundred effigies, the Holy Mother
suckled the Holy Child.
The priest closed the doors and bolted them. "Once again," he said,
"art thou ready, Harmachis?"
"Once again," I answered, "I am ready."
He spoke no more; but, having lifted up his hands in prayer, led me to
the centre of the Holy, and with a swift motion put out the lamp.
"Look before thee, Harmachis!" he cried; and his voice sounded hollow
in the solemn place.
I gazed and saw nothing. But from the niche that is high in the wall,
where is hid that sacred symbol of the Goddess on which few may look,
there came a sound as of the rattling rods of the sistrum.[*] And as I
listened, awestruck, behold! I saw the outline of the symbol drawn as
with fire upon the blackness of the air. It hung above my head, and
rattled while it hung. And, as it turned, I clearly saw the face of
the Mother Isis that is graven on the one side, and signifies unending
Birth, and the face of her holy sister, Nephthys, that is graven on
the other, and signifies the ending of all birth in Death.
[*] A musical instrument peculiarly sacred to Isis of which the shape
and rods had a mystic significance.--Editor.
Slowly it turned and swung as though some mystic dancer trod the air
above me, and shook it in her hand. But at length the light went out,
and the rattling ceased.
Then of a sudden the end of the chamber became luminous, and in that
white light I beheld picture after picture. I saw the ancient Nile
rolling through deserts to the sea. There were no men upon its banks,
nor any signs of man, nor any temples to the Gods. Only wild birds
moved on Sihor's lonely face, and monstrous brutes plunged and
wallowed in his waters. The sun sank in majesty behind the Libyan
Desert and stained the waters red; the mountains towered up towards
the silent sky; but in mountain, desert, and river there was no sign
of human life. Then I knew that I saw the world as it had been before
man was, and a terror of its loneliness entered my soul.
The picture passed and another rose up in its place. Once again I saw
the banks of Sihor, and on them crowded wild-faced creatures,
partaking of the nature of the ape more than of the nature of mankind.
They fought and slew each other. The wild birds sprang up in affright
as the fire leapt from reed huts given by foemen's hands to flame and
pillage. They stole and rent and murdered, dashing out the brains of
children with axes of stone. And, though no voice told me, I knew that
I saw man as he was tens of thousands of years ago, when first he
marched across the earth.
Yet another picture. Again I beheld the banks of Sihor; but on them
fair cities bloomed like flowers. In and out their gates went men and
women, passing to and fro from wide, well-tilled lands. But I saw no
guards or armies, and no weapons of war. All was wisdom, prosperity,
and peace. And while I wondered, a glorious Figure, clad in raiment
that shone as flame, came from the gates of a shrine, and the sound of
music went before and followed after him. He mounted an ivory throne
which was set in a market-place facing the water: and as the sun sank
called in all the multitudes to prayer. With one voice they prayed,
bending in adoration. And I understood that herein was shown the reign
of the Gods on earth, which was long before the days of Menes.
A change came over the dream. Still the same fair city, but other men
--men with greed and evil on their faces--who hated the bonds of
righteous doing, and set their hearts on sin. The evening came; the
glorious Figure mounted the throne and called to prayer, but none
bowed themselves in adoration.
"We are aweary of thee!" they cried. "Make Evil King! Slay him! slay
him! and loose the bonds of Evil! Make Evil King!"
The glorious Shape rose up, gazing with mild eyes upon those wicked
men.
"Ye know not what ye ask," he cried; "but as ye will, so be it! For if
I die, by me, after much travail, shall ye once again find a path to
the Kingdom of Good!"
Even as he spoke, a Form, foul and hideous to behold, leapt upon him,
cursing, slew him, tore him limb from limb, and amidst the clamour of
the people sat himself upon the throne and ruled. But a Shape whose
face was veiled passed down from heaven on shadowy wings, and with
lamentations gathered up the rent fragments of the Being. A moment she
bent herself upon them, then lifted up her hands and wept. And as she
wept, behold! from her side there sprang a warrior armed and with a
face like the face of Ra at noon. He, the Avenger, hurled himself with
a shout upon the Monster who had usurped the throne, and they closed
in battle, and, struggling ever in a strait embrace, passed upward to
the skies.
Then came picture after picture. I saw Powers and Peoples clad in
various robes and speaking many tongues. I saw them pass and pass in
millions--loving, hating, struggling, dying. Some few were happy and
some had woe stamped upon their faces; but most bore not the seal of
happiness nor of woe, but rather that of patience. And ever as they
passed from age to age, high above in the heavens the Avenger fought
on with the Evil Thing, while the scale of victory swung now here now
there. But neither conquered, nor was it given to me to know how the
battle ended.
And I understood that what I had beheld was the holy vision of the
struggle between the Good and the Evil Powers. I saw that man was
created vile, but Those who are above took pity on him, and came down
to him to make him good and happy, for the two things are one thing.
But man returned to his wicked way, and then the bright Spirit of
Good, who is of us called Osiris, but who has many names, offered
himself up for the evil-doing of the race that had dethroned him. And
from him and the Divine Mother, of whom all nature is, sprang another
spirit who is the Protector of us on earth, as Osiris is our justifier
in Amenti.
For this is the mystery of the Osiris.
Of a sudden, as I saw the visions, these things became clear to me.
The mummy cloths of symbol and of ceremony that wrap Osiris round fell
from him, and I understood the secret of religion, which is Sacrifice.
The pictures passed, and again the priest, my guide, spoke to me.
"Hast thou understood, Harmachis, those things which it has been
granted thee to see?"
"I have," I said. "Are the rites ended?"
"Nay, they are but begun. That which follows thou must endure alone!
Behold I leave thee, to return at the morning light. Once more I warn
thee. That which thou shalt see, few may look upon and live. In all my
days I have known but three who dared to face this dread hour, and of
those three at dawn but one was found alive. Myself, I have not trod
this path. It is too high for me."
"Depart," I said; "my soul is athirst for knowledge. I will dare it."
He laid his hand upon my shoulder and blessed me. He went. I heard the
door shut to behind him, the echoes of his footsteps slowly died away.
Then I felt that I was alone, alone in the Holy Place with Things
which are not of the earth. Silence fell--silence deep and black as
the darkness which was around me. The silence fell, it gathered as the
cloud gathered on the face of the moon that night when, a lad, I
prayed upon the pylon towers. It gathered denser and yet more dense
till it seemed to creep into my heart and call aloud therein; for
utter silence has a voice that is more terrible than any cry. I spoke;
the echoes of my words came back upon me from the walls and seemed to
beat me down. The stillness was lighter to endure than an echo such as
this. What was I about to see? Should I die, even now, in the fulness
of my youth and strength? Terrible were the warnings that had been
given to me. I was fear-stricken, and bethought me that I would fly.
Fly!--fly whither? The temple door was barred; I could not fly. I was
alone with the Godhead, alone with the Power that I had invoked. Nay,
my heart was pure--my heart was pure. I would face the terror that was
to come, ay, even though I died.
"Isis, Holy Mother," I prayed. "Isis, Spouse of Heaven, come unto me,
be with me now; I faint! be with me now."
And then I knew that things were not as things had been. The air
around me began to stir, it rustled as the wings of eagles rustle, it
took life. Bright eyes gazed upon me, strange whispers shook my soul.
Upon the darkness were bars of light. They changed and interchanged,
they moved to and fro and wove mystic symbols which I could not read.
Swifter and swifter flew that shuttle of the light: the symbols
grouped, gathered, faded, gathered yet again, faster and still more
fast, till my eyes could count them no more. Now I was afloat upon a
sea of glory; it surged and rolled, as the ocean rolls; it tossed me
high, it brought me low. Glory was piled on glory, splendour heaped on
splendour's head, and I rode above it all!
Soon the lights began to pale in the rolling sea of air. Great shadows
shot across it, lines of darkness pierced it and rushed together on
its breast, till, at length, I was only a Shape of Flame set like a
star on the bosom of immeasurable night. Bursts of awful music
gathered from far away. Miles and miles away I heard them, thrilling
faintly through the gloom. On they came, nearer and more near, louder
and more loud, till they swept past, above, below, around me, swept on
rushing pinions, terrifying and enchanting me. They floated by, ever
growing fainter, till they died in space. Then others came, and no two
were akin. Some rattled as ten thousand sistra shaken all to tune.
Some rank from the brazen throats of unnumbered clarions. Some pealed
with a loud, sweet chant of voices that were more than human; and some
rolled along in the slow thunder of a million drums. They passed;
their notes were lost in dying echoes; and the silence once more
pressed in upon me and overcame me.
The strength within me began to fail. I felt my life ebbing at its
springs. Death drew near to me and his shape was /Silence/. He entered
at my heart, entered with a sense of numbing cold, but my brain was
still alive, I could yet think. I knew that I was drawing near the
confines of the Dead. Nay, I was dying fast, and oh, the horror of it!
I strove to pray and could not; there was no more time for prayer. One
struggle and the stillness crept into my brain. The terror passed; an
unfathomable weight of sleep pressed me down. I was dying, I was
dying, and then--nothingness!
/I was dead!/
A change--life came back to me, but between the new life and the life
that had been was a gulf and difference. Once again I stood in the
darkness of the shrine, but it blinded me no more. It was clear as the
light of day, although it still was black. I stood; and yet it was not
I who stood, but rather my spiritual part, for at my feet lay my dead
Self. There it lay, rigid and still, a stamp of awful calm sealed upon
its face, while I gazed on it.
And as I gazed, filled with wonder, I was caught up on the Wings of
Flame and whirled away! away! faster than the lightnings flash. Down I
fell, through depths of empty space set here and there with glittering
crowns of stars. Down for ten million miles and ten times ten million,
till at length I hovered over a place of soft, unchanging light,
wherein were Temples, Palaces, and Abodes, such as no man ever saw in
the visions of his sleep. They were built of Flame, and they were
built of Blackness. Their spires pierced up and up; their great courts
stretched around. Even as I hovered they changed continually to the
eye; what was Flame became Blackness, what was Blackness became Flame.
Here was the flash of crystal, and there the blaze of gems shone even
through the glory that rolls around the city which is in the Place of
Death. There were trees, and their voice as they rustled was the voice
of music; there was air, and, as it blew, its breath was the sobbing
notes of song.
Shapes, changing, mysterious, wonderful, rushed up to meet me, and
bore me down till I seemed to stand upon another earth.
"Who comes?" cried a great Voice.
"Harmachis," answered the Shapes, that changed continually. "Harmachis
who hath been summoned from the earth to look upon the face of Her
that Was and Is and Shall Be. Harmachis, Child of Earth!"
"Throw back the Gates and open wide the Doors!" pealed the awful
Voice. "Throw back the Gates and open wide the Doors; seal up his lips
in silence, lest his voice jar upon the harmonies of Heaven, take away
his sight lest he see that which may not be seen, and let Harmachis,
who hath been summoned, pass down the path that leads to the place of
the Unchanging. Pass on, Child of Earth; but before thou goest, look
up that thou mayest learn how far thou art removed from Earth."
I looked up. Beyond the glory that shone about the city was black
night, and high on its bosom twinkled one tiny star.
"Behold the world that thou hast left," said the Voice, "behold and
tremble."
Then my lips and eyes were sealed with silence and with darkness, so
that I was dumb and blind. The Gates rolled back, the Doors swung
wide, and I was swept into the city that is in the Place of Death. I
was swept swiftly I know not whither, till at length I stood upon my
feet. Again the great Voice pealed:
"Draw the veil of blackness from his eyes, unseal the silence on his
lips, that Harmachis, Child of Earth, may see, hear, and understand,
and make adoration at the Shrine of Her that Was and Is and Shall Be."
And my lips and eyes were touched once more, so that my sight and
speech came back.
Behold! I stood within a hall of blackest marble, so lofty that even
in the rosy light scarce could my vision reach the great groins of the
roof. Music wailed about its spaces, and all adown its length stood
winged Spirits fashioned in living fire, and such was the brightness
of their forms that I could not look on them. In its centre was an
altar, small and square, and I stood before the empty altar. Then
again the Voice cried:
"O Thou that hast been, art, and shalt be; Thou who, having many
names, art yet without a name; Measurer of Time; Messenger of God;
Guardian of the Worlds and the Races that dwell thereon; Universal
Mother born of Nothingness; Creatix uncreated; Living Splendour
without Form, Living Form without Substance; Servant of the Invisible;
Child of Law; Holder of the Scales and Sword of Fate; Vessel of Life,
through whom all Life flows, to whom it again is gathered; Recorder of
Things Done; Executrix of Decrees--/Hear!/
"Harmachis the Egyptian, who by Thy will hath been summoned from the
earth, waits before Thine Altar, with ears unstopped, with eyes
unsealed, and with an open heart. Hear and descend! Descend, O Many-
shaped! Descend in Flame! Descend in Sound! Descend in Spirit! Hear
and descend!"
The Voice ceased and there was silence. Then through the silence came
a sound like the booming of the sea. It passed and presently, moved
thereto by I know not what, I raised my eyes from my hands with which
I had covered them, and saw a small dark cloud hanging over the Altar
in and out of which a fiery Serpent climbed.
Then all the Spirits clad in light fell upon the marble floor, and
with a loud voice adored; but what they said I could not understand.
Behold! the dark cloud came down and rested on the Altar, the Serpent
of fire stretched itself towards me, touched me on the forehead with
its forky tongue and was gone. From within the cloud a Voice sweet and
low and clear spoke in heavenly accents:
"Depart, ye Ministers, leave Me with my son whom I have summoned."
Then like arrows rushing from a bow the flame-clad Spirits leapt from
the ground and sped away.
"O Harmachis," said the Voice, "be not afraid, I am She whom thou dost
know as Isis of the Egyptians; but what else I am strive not thou to
learn, it is beyond thy strength. For I am all things, Life is my
spirit, and Nature is my raiment. I am the laughter of the babe, I am
the maiden's love, I am the mother's kiss. I am the Child and Servant
of the Invisible that is God, that is Law, that is Fate--though myself
I be not God and Fate and Law. When winds blow and oceans roar upon
the face of the Earth thou hearest my voice; when thou gazest on the
starry firmament thou seest my countenance; when the spring blooms out
in flowers, that is my smile, Harmachis. For I am Nature's self, and
all her shapes are shapes of Me. I breathe in all that breathes. I wax
and wane in the changeful moon: I grow and gather in the tides: I rise
with the suns: I flash with the lightning and thunder in the storms.
Nothing is too great for the measure of my majesty, nothing is so
small that I cannot find a home therein. I am in thee and thou art in
Me, O Harmachis. That which bade thee be bade Me also be. Therefore,
though I am great and thou art little, have no fear. For we are bound
together by the common bond of life--that life which flows through
suns and stars and spaces, through Spirits and the souls of men,
welding all Nature to a whole that, changing ever, is yet eternally
the same."
I bowed my head--I could not speak, for I was afraid.
"Faithfully hast thou served Me, O my son," went on the low sweet
Voice; "greatly thou hast longed to be brought face to face with Me
here in Amenti; and greatly hast thou dared to accomplish thy desire.
For it is no small thing to cast off the tabernacle of the Flesh and
before the appointed time, if only for an hour, put on the raiment of
the Spirit. And greatly, O my servant and my son, have I, too, desired
to look on thee there where I am. For the Gods love those who love
them, but with a wider and deeper love, and under One who is as far
from Me as I am from thee, mortal, I am a God of Gods. Therefore I
have caused thee to be brought hither, Harmachis; and therefore I
speak to thee, my son, and bid thee commune with Me now face to face,
as thou didst commune that night upon the temple towers of Abouthis.
For I was there with thee, Harmachis, as I was in ten thousand other
worlds. It was I, O Harmachis, who laid the lotus in thy hand, giving
thee the sign which thou didst seek. For thou art of the kingly blood
of my children who served Me from age to age. And if thou dost not
fail thou shalt sit upon that kingly throne and restore my ancient
worship in its purity, and sweep my temples from their defilements.
But if thou dost fail, then shall the eternal Spirit Isis become but a
memory in Egypt."
The Voice paused; and, gathering up my strength, at length I spoke
aloud:
"Tell me, O Holy," I said, "shall I then fail?"
"Ask Me not," answered the Voice, "that which it is not lawful that I
should answer thee. Perchance I can read that which shall befall thee,
perchance it doth not please Me so to read. What can it profit the
Divine, that hath all time wherein to await the issues, to be eager to
look upon the blossom that is not blown, but which, lying a seed in
the bosom of the earth, shall blow in its season? Know, Harmachis,
that I do not shape the Future; the Future is to thee and not to Me;
for it is born of Law and of the rule ordained of the Invisible. Yet
thou art free to act therein, and thou shalt win or thou shalt fail
according to thy strength and the measure of thy heart's purity. Thine
be the burden, Harmachis, as thine in the event shall be the glory or
the shame. Little do I reck of the issue, I who am but the Minister of
what is written. Now hear me: I will always be with thee, my son, for
my love once given can never be taken away, though by sin it may seem
lost to thee. Remember then this: if thou dost triumph, thy guerdon
shall be great; if thou dost fail, heavy indeed shall be thy
punishment both in the flesh and in the land that thou callest Amenti.
Yet this for thy comfort: shame and agony shall not be eternal. For
however deep the fall from righteousness, if but repentance holds the
heart, there is a path--a stony and a cruel path--whereby the height
may be climbed again. Let it not be thy lot to follow it, Harmachis!
"And now, because thou hast loved Me, my son, and, wandering through
the maze of fable, wherein men lose themselves upon the earth,
mistaking the substance for the Spirit, and the Altar for the God,
hast yet grasped a clue of Truth the Many-faced; and because I love
thee and look on to the day that, perchance, shall come when thou
shalt dwell blessed in my light and in the doing of my tasks: because
of this, I say, it shall be given to thee, O Harmachis, to hear the
Word whereby I may be summoned from the Uttermost, by one who hath
communed with Me, and to look upon the face of Isis--even into the
eyes of the Messenger, and not die the death.
"/Behold!/"
The sweet Voice ceased; the dark cloud upon the altar changed and
changed--it grew white, it shone, and seemed at length to take the
shrouded shape of a woman. Then the golden Snake crept from its heart
once more, and, like a living diadem, twined itself about the cloudy
brows.
Now suddenly a Voice called aloud the awful Word, then the vapours
burst and melted, and with my eyes I saw that Glory, at the very
thought of which my spirit faints. But what I saw it is not lawful to
utter. For, though I have been bidden to write what I have written of
this matter, perchance that a record may remain, thereon I have been
warned--ay, even now, after these many years. I saw, and what I saw
cannot be imagined; for there are Glories and there are Shapes which
are beyond the reach of man's imagination. I saw--then, with the echo
of that Word, and the memory of that sight stamped for ever on my
heart, my spirit failed me, and I sank down before the Glory.
And, as I fell, it seemed that the great hall burst open and crumbled
into flakes of fire round me. Then a great wind blew: there was a
sound as the sound of Worlds rushing down the flood of Time--and I
knew no more!
