Trying to fully realize that Akaza had crossed the boundary line between
the two worlds, Yermah passed into the sanctuary.
But before he knelt he saw a tiny white square lying on the altar. He
had only to glance at it to recognize the broken threads and entangled
mesh of Kerœcia’s weave. Some thoughtful hand had placed it there. He
carried it to his lips reverently and examined it curiously. It was
water-stained and wrinkled from compression in a pocket, but he divined
that she had sent it to him by Ben Hu Barabe. Some time, when he could
bear to speak of it, he would make inquiry—but not now! “O God!—not
now!”
He sank down before the statue.
“All, all is lost!” he cried in agony of soul—“Kerœcia, Akaza, and my
fatherland! It is more than I can endure! Grant release to this tortured
spirit—Thou whose whole essence is love and wisdom!”
Hoarse moans and sobs choked his utterance, while everything in the room
seemed to vibrate with overwhelming sorrow.
He was crying man’s tears—those that leave the eyelids dry, but drip
inwardly and fall scalding hot on the heart. His poor routed will power
interposed no opposition, while grief hurricaned through his
non-resisting body. He was fighting the battle alone—facing the utter
negation of self—the complete overthrow of desire.
Finally, overcome by physical exhaustion, he lay with his head at the
feet of Orion, too weary to make an effort of any kind. After a while a
sort of stupor came over him, and then he heard voices, while a cool
breath of air fanned his heated cheek, and he felt the presence of his
loved ones.
“Behold in tribulation the key which unlocks the mystery of the soul!
The initiate cannot speak to the heart of man until he has himself
drained to the dregs the bitter cup of life’s miseries.”
Yermah lifted a startled face, and peered intently about him in the vain
hope of locating the speaker.
“Fear not, my beloved! Man is only what he thinks. He mingles his aura
with that of his fellows, and the Redeemer becomes the fellow-sufferer,
because the twain are made one in sorrow. Rise and go forth comforted.
Thou hast loosed the belt of Orion. Thou hast crossed the bridge of
Kinevat.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, and with implicit faith, Yermah obeyed.
He had touched and rebounded from the lowest rung of personal grief and
despair, and he would never again sink so deeply in the Slough of
Despond.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
A COMMEMORATION OF HUMILIATION AND DESPAIR
The Temple of Saturn, where the Festival of Humiliation was held, was
situated on Park Hill, southeast of the center of the city, near Mount
Olympus. It represented one of the rings of Saturn, while a hill now
occupied by an iron water-tank gave the outer ring.
The temple itself marked the orbit of Saturn, the reaper who gathers the
harvest of the dead. It was a square edifice, and had towers which were
of the same form at the base, but became round as the tall spires rose
skyward. A high arched entrance of elaborately carved sandstone led to a
long quadrangular hall. The ceiling was of heavy paneled redwood,
polished and treated with copal, while the walls were an elaborate mural
broken, double and single key patterns, interspersed with squares,
circles and triangles in porphyry bas-relief. The floor was a succession
of interlaced hoops and balls of blue enamel on squares of white marble.
Unlike the other temples, there was but one entrance, which faced west,
signifying that all who entered the Hall of Death came by the same road;
and, also, that the sun going down in the west was typical of physical
life departing from the body.
An intricately carved ebony arch, relieved by pieces of crystal and tiny
panels of isinglass, enclosed the eastern altar, containing a gold
sunburst and throne of the same, on which was seated a green jasper
statue of Maia—the Virgin Mother of all.
The elevated platform of black marble had incense vessels, urns, and
vases of gold, set with black onyx and diamonds, in a delicate tracery
of black enamel.
Emblematic brocades of pale blue silk hung between the square windows,
whose innumerable small panes were of frosted glass set in a circular
frame.
A circle inscribed within a square is the geometrical emblem of death,
and the veiled light conveyed the same idea.
In the center of the southern wall, under a richly canopied entablature
of arms of Atlantis, emblazoned on a heavily fringed and corded brocade
of shaded blue, was a high granite slab, back of which was a square ark
containing an aerolite stone.
The Immaculate Conception also pertains to the mystery of death, since
it is a new birth, and the heaven-born stone signifies that the newly
released spirit is immaculate. In other words, that its birth into the
body and contact with material life have left no stain upon its
intrinsic purity.
Before this shrine Yermah ordered a purple veil of Akaza to be placed.
Skulls and crossbones in white were painted upon this, to show that he
was master of the living as well as of the dead.
The queen of odors, jasmine, which corresponds to G in alt, or
equilibrium, filled the perfumed lamp suspended in the center of the
shrine; while ewers of oil, containing citron, lemon, orange-peel,
verbena, and rose sat on either side.
The Azes recognized the octaves of odor, and offered the higher grade to
age; while the lower, consisting of almond, heliotrope, vanilla,
clematis and neroli, were placed in ewers on the altar opposite, as a
sacrifice to youth.
Musically, these correspond to the lower bass and upper treble clefs.
On a square base of onyx rose a pyramid and obelisk of prismatic glass
at each side of the northern niche. The pyramid was composed of glass
squares, ingeniously piled up, and the obelisk was of round balls of
glass, beginning with twelve, and ending with one. Several lighted lamps
placed behind them gave a bewildering effect of color through the
crystal.
The niche itself ended in a sharp triangle, and contained a blue enamel
swastika, familiarly known to-day as the Keys of Saint Peter.
Astronomically, it is the sign Aquarius, which is Janus, or Saint Peter,
while Pisces is the swastika in his hand. It is correlated to the spiral
movements in nature everywhere, and its hieroglyph is a dragon, serpent
meander, or two rivers of fire.
Three marble steps led to this altar, and there was a constant stream of
people praying before it. They entered barefooted, and silently threw
themselves on the floor before the altars. The swastika not only
indicated the time, but also the unsettled condition, and they implored
continually:
“O Thou who art master of all motion, hold Thou the earth fast in the
hollow of Thy hand! Grant that it may no longer be swayed in its orbit,
but may go in peace, freed from evil influence. Hear and answer, we
beseech Thee!”
Rising at daybreak, the whole populace made their ablutions with
scrupulous care, and dressed themselves in spotless white.
They waited in vain for a glimpse of the rising sun, and then betook
themselves to the housetops.
Turning with infinite yearning to the north, they cried out:
“Spirits of the lost ones, come quickly, since thou art expected!”
This curious practice was kept up at this yearly festival until the time
of the conquest of Mexico. All the native races of America believed with
the Norsemen that hell was situated in the north doubtless in memory of
the overwhelming destruction of the great Ice Age.
Esoterically, ice is spiritual fire.
Reëntering their houses, the populace took their canapas[15] which were
the same as the Roman titular deities, and hastened to a great funeral
pyre already smoking in front of the Temple of Saturn.
Since fire was the substance of the sun, and since the sun’s ray was the
medium through which Deity contacted the earth, the devotees did not
venture near it without prostrating themselves, kissing the earth, and
making manifestations of abasement.
The worshipers made low obeisance to the four cardinal points, and threw
cassia, cinnamon, sweet calamus and myrrh into the flames. Braving the
heat, they held the canapas in the smoke until the figures warmed
perceptibly, then wrapped them in linen scorched by the fire, and ran
back to their houses.
It was no longer possible to summon them to the temples by ringing the
big bell on top of the Observatory, as the tower still lay in ruins; so
they waited for the trumpet-call.
Incense was burned on the sacrificial altars, and a pot-pourri of
resinous gums was carried in the hand, in alabaster or jeweled boxes,
along with palm branches, which indicated a new period of manifestation
of matter.
A procession issued from the western gate of the Temple of the Sun, in
the center of Tlamco. First came a troop of warrior-priests with spears
held upright and garlanded with roses.
The next was Yermah, robed in cloth of gold, with a white linen mantle
over his shoulder. His head was bared, and he had submitted to tonsure
as a sacred observance.
The Azes considered the human head a magnet, having a natural
electrical, irregular circle, moving in the path of the sun.
The os-frontis, sinciput, and os-sublime are the positive pole, while
the occiput is the negative.
In the right hand of the Dorado was a lotus-headed scepter, an emblem of
religious dominion; while in his left hand was a sword constructed in
the form of a cross, with three pommels, or two crescents for guards. It
had been newly consecrated by being thrust into a fire made of laurel
and cypress woods, after which it was wiped and polished with the ashes
and wrapped in a linen cloth.
Behind the Dorado were one hundred youths, dressed to represent the four
seasons; and after them came Imos, the high-priest, in green robes and
tiara, borne on a litter by twelve priests, representing the sun in one
of its zodiacal houses.
Following, walked the Virgin of the Sun, Oahspe, who was to be offered
up in sacrifice, as a solemn atonement for the people.
This observance did not involve the horrible rites of later
superstition, because she did not represent death to the physical, but
death of transgression and new birth into righteousness.
Back of her were one hundred vestals, dressed in white and crowned with
myrtle. After them came boys and girls to the number of three hundred
and sixty-five, each representing the sun and moon in their daily
journey.
Last were five hundred warrior-priests clad in black, with white crosses
on their backs and breasts.
The procession wound slowly around the serpentine avenue, and up the
winding path to the temple, the priests chanting a hymn as they walked.
Filing in, they stood ranged in rows on each side of the hall, and in
the gray morning light their voices mingled with melodious strains of
harps, flutes and lyres. The music rose grandly, floating through the
dim aisles and out into the crowded spaces before the entrance. There
were no lights on the altars, and the congregation moved like specters
in the semi-darkness.
Imos knelt in the center before the veil which enclosed the figure of
the ever-youthful Virgin. On his right side knelt Yermah, and on his
left was Oahspe.
A hush fell over the people, the music ceased and all waited with bated
breath to see if Divine help would be vouchsafed them.
Suddenly, through a rift in the clouds, shone a resplendent sun-ray,
which flooded the figures and the statue with a golden light.
The tense, strained, fearful looks relaxed, and a long sigh of relief
escaped their lips, while an electric thrill ran through the crowd, and
many of them wept unrestrainedly.
The gates of the enclosure swung open, and Imos stood within, facing the
sun. Then Yermah took Oahspe by the hand, and led her to Imos, who made
a sign of hierarchal blessing and poured a few drops of olive oil over
her hair. The high-priest stepped back, and, placing his right hand over
his heart, held his left up to the figure of Maia, the Cosmic Virgin,
and proclaimed in a loud voice:
“It is consummated!”
There was a moment’s silence.
The sunshine faded from the golden hair of Oahspe, and a light, made by
no mortal hands, flickered around the statue, illuminating the whole
niche.
“In thy strength and wisdom, O Father-Mother, join Thou the heavens
above with the earth below!” cried the people in response.
Again the music swelled through the temple and the warrior-priests made
use of their long spears to light the lamps.
Yermah received the three-handled silver cup of humiliation from the
high-priest Imos, and partook of its bitter contents. From him it passed
to Oahspe, then to Orondo, Setos, Alcamayn, Ildiko, Rahula, Cezardis,
Ben Hu Barabe, and Alcyesta and then on to every man and woman in the
temple.
The priests composed and arranged the music used in the temples; and now
a choir chanted a funeral text from their sacred books, referring to the
sinking in earlier cataclysms of the continents of Ruta and Daitya,
which extended into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
These continents included the Azores, the Cape Verde and Grand Canary
Islands, while the peaks of Teneriffe are all that is left of Poseidon’s
kingdom. The latter, an island three hundred and fifty miles long and
two hundred miles wide, contained the crystallization of ancient
civilization, and had colonies in the four quarters of the globe.
The history of this race is written in the public works of the ancient
kingdoms; in their bridges crossing great rivers and swamps; in the
highways leveling mighty mountains and uplifting plains; in the
matchless gardens and aqueducts; in the beauty and splendor of the
cities; in fabulous treasures of gold and silver; and, more than all, in
the grandeur of the mighty pyramids, temples and obelisks erected and
dedicated to the glorification of a Supreme Being.
It was also written in the provident laws of the nation—in its
progressive civic life, its happiness and its calm, delightful view of
the world.
The priests chanted:
“The end of the Etherean column that extended to Kinevat, on the borders
of the vortex of the earth, was made fast by the pressure of Thy wide
heavens.
“And the vertex closed in from the extreme end, and, lo, the earth was
broken!”
The people looked at each other and shuddered.
They understood the significance of Orion’s Belt, and they knew, also,
that the three hills overlooking the Golden Gate, where the waters had
lately rushed through, typified one end of the Bridge of Kinevat.
Some among them knew that this referred to initiation, but it was
generally supposed that the mystery had reference to death.
One variant of this allegory was personated in the heavens by the
constellation of Orion. The three bright stars in his belt represented
Will, Aspiration and Harmony.
For this reason the Dorado was required to pray before a figure of Orion
which was the official lares and penates of Iaqua. In the abstract, the
statue symbolized the god-hood in man.
As an image of his own higher self, it was a something on which Yermah
could concentrate all of his thought-forces.
* * * * *
A low, plaintive wail from the instruments, and a chill seized the
audience.
“A mighty continent was cut loose from its fastenings,” sang the bass
voices. “The fires of the earth came forth in flames and clouds and loud
roarings.”
“And the land rocked to and fro like a ship at sea,” chimed the tenors.
“Again the vortex of the earth closed in on all sides,” they all sang
together.
“By great pressure the land sank beneath the waters to rise no more,”
they repeated three times. Then, after an impressive pause:
“The corporeans all went down to death!”
The wails and cries of the mourners drowned the music.
In the midst of the exercise, Yermah was invested with a purple robe and
the pointed hat of a hierophant, while Imos took position in the
northern niche, in front of the swastika. When quiet was restored the
high-priest knelt with the entire congregation, and after a long and
fervent supplication rose and hung a broken heart of rubies on a little
gold hook in the center of the revolving cross.
“Sacred to thy memory, O Atlantis!
Fit semblance of our grief for thee, O Poseidon!
Reminder of our transition hence to Kinevat—
The bridge between us and eternity!”
chanted the entire assemblage, making genuflections continuously.
Yermah found his way to the platform, and as Imos gave the hierarchal
blessing he handed the Dorado a parchment scroll, which the latter
slowly unrolled and read: