1739 lines
105 KiB
Plaintext
1739 lines
105 KiB
Plaintext
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THE LOST CONTINENT
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By Aleister Crowley
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Ordo Templi Orientis
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P.O Box 2303
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Berkeley, CA 94702
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(C) COPYRIGHT O.T.O.
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June 21, 1985 e.v.
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Sun in Cancer
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Moon in Leo
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AN 81 e.n.
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*
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.pa
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The Lost Continent
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* *
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*
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PREFACE
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Last year I was chosen to succeed the venerable K-Z--who had it
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in his mind to die, that is, to join Them in Venus, as one of the
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Seven Heirs of Atlantis, and I have been appointed to declare, so
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far as may be found possible, the truth about that mysterious
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lost land. Of course, no more than one seventh of the wisdom is
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ever confided to one of the Seven, and the Seven meet in council
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but once in every thirty-three years. But its preservation is
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guaranteed by the interlocked systems of "dreaming true" and of
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"preparation of the antinomy". The former almost explains itself;
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the latter is almost inconceivable to normal man. Its essence is
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to train a man to be anything by training him to be its opposite.
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At the end of anything, think they, it turns out to be its
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opposite, and that opposite is thus mastered without having been
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soiled by the labours of the student, and without the false
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impressions of early learning being left upon the mind.
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I myself, for example, had unknowingly been trained to record
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these observations by the life of a butterfly. All my impressions
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came clear on the soft wax of my brain; I had never worried
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because the scratch on the wax in no way resembled the sound it
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represented. In other words, I observed perfectly because I never
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knew that I was observing. So, if you pay sufficient attention to
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your heart, you will make it palpitate.
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I accordingly proceed to a description of the country.
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Aleister Crowley
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.PA
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I.
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OF THE PLAINS BENEATH ATLAS,
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AND ITS SERVILE RACE*.
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Atlas is the true name of this archipelago--continent is an
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altogether false term, for every 'house' or mountain peak was cut
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from its fellows by natural, though often very narrow waterways.
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The African Atlas is a mere offshoot of the range. It was the
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true Atlas that supported the ancient world by its moral and
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magical strength, and hence the name of the fabled globe-bearer.
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The root is the Lemurian 'Tla' or 'Tlas', black, for reasons
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which will appear in due course. 'A' is the feminine prefix,
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derived from the shape of the mouth when uttering the sound.
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'Black woman' is therefore as near a translation as one can give
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in English; the Latin has a closer equivalent.
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The mountains are cut off, not only from each other by the
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channels of the sea, but from the plains at their feet by cliffs
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naturally or artificially smoothed and undercut for at least
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thirty feet on every side in order to make access impossible.
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These plains had been made flat by generations of labour.
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Vines and fruit-trees growing only on the upper slopes, they were
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devoted principally to corn, and to grass pastures for the
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amphibian herds of Atlas. This corn was of a kind now unknown,
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flourishing in sea-water, and the periodical flood-tides served
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the same purpose as the Nile in Egypt. Enormous floating stages
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of spongy rock--no trees of any kind grew anywhere on the plains
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so wood was unknown--supported the villages. These were inhabited
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by a type of man similar to the modern Caucasian race. They were
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not permitted to use any of the food of their masters, neither
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the corn, nor the amphibians, nor the vast supplies of shellfish,
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but were fed by what they called "bread from heaven", which
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indeed came down from the mountains, being the whole of their
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refuse of every kind. The whole population was put to perpetual
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hard labour. The young and active tended the amphibians, grew the
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corn, collected the shell-fish, gathered the "bread from heaven"
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for their elders, and were compelled to reproduce their kind. At
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twenty they were considered strong enough for the factory, where
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they worked in gangs on a machine combining the features of our
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pump and treadmill for sixteen hours of the twentyfour. This
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machine supplied Atlas with its 'ZRO'* or 'power', of which I
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shall speak presently. Any worker showing even temporary weakness
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was transferred to the phosphorus works, where he was sure to die
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within a few months. Phosphorus was a prime necessity of Atlas;
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however, it was not used in its red or yellow forms, but in a
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third allotrope, a blue-black or rather violet-black substance,
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only known in powder finer than precipitated gold, harder than
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diamond, eleven times heavier than yellow phosphorus, quite
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incombustible, and so shockingly poisonous that, in spite of
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every precaution, an ounce of it cost the lives (on an average)
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of some two hundred and fifty men. Of its properties I shall
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speak later.
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The people were left in utmost slavery and ignorance by the
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wise counsel of the first of the philosophers of Atlas, who had
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written: "An empty brain is a threat to Society." He had
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consequently instituted a system of mental culture, comprising
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two parts:
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1. As a basis, a mass of useless disconnected facts.
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2. A superstructure of lies.
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Part 1 was compulsory; the people then took Part 2 without
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protest.*
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The language of the plains was simple but profuse. They had
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few nouns and fewer verbs. 'To work again' (there was no word for
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'to work' simply), 'to eat again', 'to break the law' (no word
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for 'to break the law again'), 'to come from without', 'to find
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light' (i.e. to go to the phosphorus factory) were almost the
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only verbs used by adults. The young men and women had a verb-
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language yet simpler, and of degraded coarseness. All had,
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however, an extraordinary wealth of adjectives, most of them
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meaningless, as attached to no noun ideas, and a great quantity
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of abstract nouns such as 'Liberty', 'Progress', without which no
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refined inhabitant could consider a sentence complete. He would
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introduce them into a discussion on the most material subjects.
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"The immoral snub-nose", "the unprogressive teeth", "lascivious
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music", "reactionary eyebrows"--such were phrases familiar to
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all. "To eat again, to sleep again, to work again, to find the
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light--that is Liberty, that is Progress" was a proverb common in
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every mouth.
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The religion of the people was Protestant Christianity in all
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essentials, but with an even closer dependence upon God. They
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asserted its formulae, without attaching any meaning to the
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words, in a manner both reverent and passionate. Sexual life was
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entirely forbidden to the workers, a single breach implying
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relegation to the phosphorus works.
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In every field was, however, an enormous tablet of rock,
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carved on one side with a representation of the three stages of
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life: the fields, the labour mill, the factory; and on the other
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side with these words: "To enter Atlas, fly." Beneath this an
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elaborate series of graphic pictures showed how to acquire the
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art of flying. During all the generations of Atlas, not one man
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had been known to take advantage of these instructions.
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The principal fear of the populace was a variation of any kind
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from routine. For any such the people had one word only, though
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this word changed its annotation in different centuries.
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'Witchcraft', 'Heresy', 'Madness', 'Bad Form', 'Sex-Perversion',
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'Black Magic' were its principal shapes in the last four thousand
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years of the dominion of Atlas.
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Sneezing, idleness, smiling, were regarded as premonitory. Any
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cessation from speech, even for a moment to take breath, was
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considered highly dangerous. The wish to be alone was worse than
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all; the delinquent would be seized by his fellows, and either
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killed outright or thrust into the compound of the phosphorus
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factory, from which there was no egress.
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The habits of the people were incredibly disgusting. Their
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principal relaxations were art, music and the drama, in which
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they could show achievement hardly inferior to that of Henry
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Arthur Jones, Pinero, Lehar, George Dance, Luke Fildes, and
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Thomas Sidney Cooper.
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Of medicine they were happily ignorant. The outdoor life in
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that equable climate bred strong youths and maidens, and the
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first symptoms of illness in a worker was held to impair his
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efficiency and qualify him for the phosphorous factory. Wages
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were permanently high, and as there were no merchants even of
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alcohol, whose use was forbidden, every man saved all his
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earnings, and died rich. At his death his savings went back to
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the community. Taxation was consequently unnecessary. Clothes
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were unnecessary and unknown, and the 'bread from heaven' was the
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"free gift of God". The dead were thrown to the amphibians. Each
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man built his own shelter of the rough stone sponge which
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abounded. The word 'house' was used only in Atlas; the servile
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race called its huts 'Hloklost' (equivalent to the English word
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'home'). Discontent was absolutely unknown. It had not been
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considered necessary to prohibit traffic with foreign countries,
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as the inhabitants of such were esteemed barbarians. Had a ship
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landed men, they would have been murdered to a man, supposing
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that Atlas had permitted any approach to its shores. That it
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hindered such, and by infallible means, was due to other
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considerations, whose nature will form the subject of a
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subsequent chapter.
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This then is the nature of the plains beneath Atlas, and the
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character of the servile race.
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.pa
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II.
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OF THE RACE OF ATLAS
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In the city or 'house' which was formed from the crest of
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every mountain, dwelt a race not greatly superior in height to
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our own, but of vaster frame. The bulk and strength of the bear
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is not inappropriate as a simile for the lower classes; the
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higher had the enormous chest and shoulders and the lean haunches
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of the lion. This strength gave an infallible beauty, made
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monstrous by their most inexorable law, that every child who
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developed no special feature in the first seven years should be
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sacrificed to the Gods. This special feature might be a nose of
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prodigious size, hands and wrists of gigantic strength, a gorilla
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jaw, an elephant ear--or any of these might entitle its owner to
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life:* for in all such variations from the normal they perceived
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the possibility of a development of the race. Men and women were
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hairy as the ourang-outang and all were closely shaven from head
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to foot. It had been found that this practice developed tactile
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sensibility. It was also done in reverence to the 'Living Atla',
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of which more in its place.
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The lower class were few in number. Its function was to
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superintend the servile race, to bring the food of the children
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to the banqueting-hall, to remove the same, to attend to the
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disposition of the 'light-screens', to ensure the continuance of
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the race by the begetting, bearing and nourishing of the children.
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The priestly class was concerned with the further preparation
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of the Zro supplied by the labour-mills, and its impregnation
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with phosphorus. This class had much leisure for 'work', a
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subject to be explained later.
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The High Priests and High Priestesses were restricted in
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number to eleven times thirty-three in any one 'house'. To them
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were entrusted the final secrets of Atlas, and to them was
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confided the conduct of the experiments in which every will was
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bound up.*
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The colour of the Atlanteans was very various, though the hair
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was invariably of a fiery chestnut with bluish reflections. One
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might see women whiter than Aphrodite, others tawny as Cleopatra,
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others yellow as Tu-Chi, others of a strange, subtle blue like
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the tattooed faces of Chin women, others again red as copper.
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Green was however a prohibited hue for women, and red was not
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liked in men. Violet was rare, but highly prized, and children
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born of that colour were specially reared by the High
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Priestesses.
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However, in one part of the body all the women were perfectly
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black with a blackness no negro can equal; from this circumstance
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comes the name Atlas. It is absurdly attributed by some authors
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to the deposit of excess of phosphorus in the Zro. I need only
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point out that the mark existed long before the discovery of
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black phosphorus. It is evidently a racial stigma. It was the
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birth of a girl child without this mark which raised her mother
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to the rank of goddess, and ended the terrestrial adventure of
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the Atlanteans, as will presently appear.
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Of the ethics of this people little need be said. Their word
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for 'right' is 'phph' made by blowing with the jaw drawn sharply
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across from left to right, thus meaning 'a spiral life contrary
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to the course of the sun'. We may assume it as 'contrary'.
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"Whatever is, is wrong" seems to have been their first principle.
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Legs were 'wrong' because they only carry you five miles in the
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hour: let us refuse to walk; let us ride horseback. So the horse
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is 'wrong' compared to the train and the motor-car; and these are
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'wrong' to the aeroplane. If speed had been the Atlantean's
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object, he would have thought aeroplanes 'wrong' and all else
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too, so long as the speed of light was not surpassed by him.
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Curious survivals of these laws are found in the Jewish
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transcript of the Egyptian code, which they, being a slave race,
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interpreted in the reverse manner.
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"Thou shalt not make any graven image." Every male child on
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attaining manhood, had a graven image given him to worship, a
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miracle-working image, whose principle exploits he would tattoo
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upon it.
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"Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy." The Atlantean
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kept one day in seven for all purposes unconnected with his
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principle task.
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"Thou shalt not commit adultery." Though the Atlanteans
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married, intercourse with the wife was the only act forbidden.
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"Honour thy father and thy mother." On the contrary, they
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worshipped their children, as if to say: "This is the God whom I
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have made in my own likeness."
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Similarly, there is one exception and one only to the rule of
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silence. It is the utterance of the 'Name' which it is death to
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pronounce. This word was constantly in their mouths; it is
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'Zcrra', a sort of venomous throat-gargling. Hence, possibly the
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Gaelic 'Scurr' 'speak', English 'Scaur' or 'Scar' in Yorkshire
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and the Pennines. 'Zcrra' is also the name of the 'High House',
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and of the graven image referred to above.
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Others traces may be found in folklore; some mere
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superstitions. Thus the correct number for a banquet was
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thirteen, because if there were only one more sign in the Zodiac,
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the year would be a month longer, and one would have more time
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'for work'. This is probably a debased Egyptian notion.
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Atlanteans knew better than anyone that the Zodiac is only an
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arbitrary division. Still it may be laid down that the impossible
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never daunted Atlas. If one said, "Two and two make Four" his
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thought would be "Yes, damn it!"*
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I now explain the language of Atlas. The third and greatest of
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their philosophers saw that speech had wrought more harm than
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good, and he consequently instituted a peculiar rite. Two men
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were chosen by lot to preserve the language, which, by the way,
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consisted of monosyllables only, two hundred and fourteen in
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number, to each of which was attached a diacritical gesture,
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usually ideographic.
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Thus 'wrong' is given as 'phph' moving the jaw from right to
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left. Wiping the brown with 'phph' means 'hot', hollowing the
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hands over the mouth 'fire', striking the throat 'to die;' so
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that each 'radicle' may have hundreds of gesture-derivatives.
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Grammar, by the way, hardly existed, the quick apprehension of
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the Atlanteans rendering it unnecessary.
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These two men then departed to a cavern on the side of the
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mountain just above the cliff, and there for a year they
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remained, speaking the language and carving it symbolically upon
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the rock. At the end of the year they returned; the elder is
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sacrificed and the younger returns with a volunteer, usually one
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who wishes to expiate a fault, and teaches him the language.
|
|||
|
|
During his visit he observes whether any new thing needs a name,
|
|||
|
|
and if so he invents it, and adds it to the language. This
|
|||
|
|
process continued to the end. The rest of the people abandoned
|
|||
|
|
altogether the use of speech, only a few years' practice enabling
|
|||
|
|
them to dispense with the radicle. They then sought to do without
|
|||
|
|
gesture, and in eight generations the difficulty was conquered,
|
|||
|
|
and telepathy* established. Research then devoted itself to the
|
|||
|
|
task of doing without thought; this will be discussed in detail
|
|||
|
|
in the proper place. There was also a 'listener', three men who
|
|||
|
|
took turns to sit upon the highest peak, above the 'light-
|
|||
|
|
screens', and whose duty it was to give the alarm if any noise
|
|||
|
|
disturbed Atlas. On their report that High Priest charged with
|
|||
|
|
active governorship would take steps to ascertain and destroy the
|
|||
|
|
cause.
|
|||
|
|
The 'light-screens' spoken of were a contrivance of laminae of
|
|||
|
|
a certain spar such that the light and heat of the sun were
|
|||
|
|
completely cut off, not by opacity, but by what we call
|
|||
|
|
'interference'. In this way other subtle rays of the sun entered
|
|||
|
|
the 'house', these rays being supposed to be necessary to life.
|
|||
|
|
These matters were the subjects of the deepest controversy. Some
|
|||
|
|
held that these rays themselves were injurious and should be
|
|||
|
|
excluded. Others considered that the light-screens should be put
|
|||
|
|
in position during moonlight, instead of being opened at sunset,
|
|||
|
|
as was the custom. This, however, was never attempted, the great
|
|||
|
|
mass of the people being devoted to the moon. Others wished full
|
|||
|
|
sunlight, the aim of Atlas being (they thought) to reach the sun.
|
|||
|
|
But this theory contradicted the prime axiom of attaining things
|
|||
|
|
through their opposites, and was only held by the lower classes,
|
|||
|
|
who were not initiated into this doctrine.
|
|||
|
|
The 'houses' of Atlas were carved from the living rock by the
|
|||
|
|
action of Zro in its seventh precipitation. Enormously solid, the
|
|||
|
|
walls were lofty and smoother than glass, though the pavements
|
|||
|
|
were rough and broken almost everywhere for a reason which I am
|
|||
|
|
not permitted to disclose. The passages were invariably narrow,
|
|||
|
|
so that two persons could never pass each other. When two met, it
|
|||
|
|
was the law to greet by joining in 'work' and then going away
|
|||
|
|
together on their separate errands, or passing one above the
|
|||
|
|
other. This was done purposely, so as to remind every man of his
|
|||
|
|
duty to Atlas on every occasion on which he might meet a fellow-
|
|||
|
|
citizen.
|
|||
|
|
The Banqueting-Hall of the children was usually very large.
|
|||
|
|
The furniture, which had been brought by the first colonists, and
|
|||
|
|
gradually disused by adults, never needed repair. A vast open
|
|||
|
|
doorway facing North opened on the mountainside on to the
|
|||
|
|
vineyards and orchards, the meadows and gardens, in which the
|
|||
|
|
children passed their time. Suckled by the mother for three
|
|||
|
|
months only, the child was then already able to nourish itself on
|
|||
|
|
the bread and wine, and on the flesh of the amphibious herds, of
|
|||
|
|
which there were several kinds; one a piglike animal with flesh
|
|||
|
|
resembling wild duck, another a sort of amatee tasting like
|
|||
|
|
salmon, its fat being somewhat like caviar in everything but
|
|||
|
|
texture, and a sure specific for any of childhood's troubles. A
|
|||
|
|
third, an ancestor of our hippopotamus, was really tamed, and was
|
|||
|
|
employed by the serviles for preparing the ground for the corn,
|
|||
|
|
trampling through the fields while they were covered with sea-
|
|||
|
|
water, and thus leaving deep holes in which the seeds were cast.
|
|||
|
|
Its flesh was not unlike bear, but more delicate. Notable, too,
|
|||
|
|
was the great quantity of turtle; also the giant oysters, the
|
|||
|
|
huge deep sea crabs, a kind of octopus whose flesh made a
|
|||
|
|
nutritious and elegant soup, and innumerable shell-fish, added to
|
|||
|
|
the table. The waterways were haunted by shoals of a small and
|
|||
|
|
poisonous fish,* whose bite was immediate death to man, a fact
|
|||
|
|
which altogether cut off communication between one island and
|
|||
|
|
another except by air, as the hippopotamus-animal, although
|
|||
|
|
immune to its bite, was unable to swim.
|
|||
|
|
Of the sleeping chambers I shall tell more particularly in the
|
|||
|
|
course of my remarks on Zro.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
.pa
|
|||
|
|
III.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
OF THE AIM OF THE MAGICIANS OF
|
|||
|
|
ATLAS: OF ZRO; AND ITS PROPERTIES
|
|||
|
|
AND USES: OF THAT WHICH
|
|||
|
|
COMBINED WITH IT: AND OF
|
|||
|
|
BLACK PHOSPHORUS.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It was the most ancient tradition of the Atlantean magicians
|
|||
|
|
that they were the survivors of a race inhabiting a country
|
|||
|
|
called Lemuria, of which the South Pacific archipelago may be the
|
|||
|
|
remains. These Lemurians had, they held, built up a civilization
|
|||
|
|
equal, if not superior to their own; but through a
|
|||
|
|
misunderstanding of magical law--some said the 2nd, some the 8th,
|
|||
|
|
some the 23rd--had involved themselves and their land in ruin.
|
|||
|
|
Others thought that the Lemurians had succeeded in their magical
|
|||
|
|
task, and broken their temple. In any case, it was the secret
|
|||
|
|
Lemurian tradition that they themselves represented the survivals
|
|||
|
|
of a yet earlier race who lived on ice, and they of yet another
|
|||
|
|
who lived in fire, and they again of earlier colonists from Mars.
|
|||
|
|
The theory, in fine, was that the aim of man is to attain the
|
|||
|
|
Sun, whence, according to one school of cosmology, he was exiled
|
|||
|
|
in the cosmic catastrophe which resulted in the formation of
|
|||
|
|
Neptune. His task on any given planet was therefore to overturn
|
|||
|
|
the laws of Nature on that planet, thus mastering it sufficiently
|
|||
|
|
to enable him to make the leap to the next planet inward. Exactly
|
|||
|
|
how and in what sense the leap was made remains obscure, even to
|
|||
|
|
the heirs of Atlantis.*
|
|||
|
|
The men of Atlas could fly, it is true, and that by a method
|
|||
|
|
so simple that men will laugh outright when it is rediscovered;
|
|||
|
|
but they needed air to support them; they could not confront the
|
|||
|
|
cold and emptiness of space. Was it in some subtler body that
|
|||
|
|
they conveyed the Palladium? Or, content to die, could they
|
|||
|
|
project some vehicle across so great a distance? The answer to
|
|||
|
|
such questions probably lies in the recovery by mankind of the
|
|||
|
|
knowledge of Zro and its properties.
|
|||
|
|
Beneath the labour mills* run troughs* in which the sweat of
|
|||
|
|
the workers collects and drains off into an open basin without
|
|||
|
|
the mill. In this basin churns with immense rapidity--through
|
|||
|
|
multiple bevel gearing--a sort of paddle with knife edges. The
|
|||
|
|
sweat is thus churned into froth, and gradually disappears, and
|
|||
|
|
is as continually replaced. The workers toil in shifts--eight
|
|||
|
|
hours work, four hours repose, eight hours work, four hours rest
|
|||
|
|
and recreation. The mills never cease day or night.
|
|||
|
|
The basin is of polished silver and agate, and is set at an
|
|||
|
|
angle, facing two enormous spheres of crystal, encased in a sort
|
|||
|
|
of trellis made of a certain greenish metal, its optical focus at
|
|||
|
|
a point midway between the two.
|
|||
|
|
The only sign of activity is that out of this focus a spark
|
|||
|
|
crackles unless the air be dry, a condition difficult to secure
|
|||
|
|
in this part of the world, although fans blow air, dried over
|
|||
|
|
chloride of calcium and sulphuric acid, over the globes and their
|
|||
|
|
focus. These fans are worked by tidal power, human labour being
|
|||
|
|
appropriated solely to the one use.
|
|||
|
|
In the temple of the 'house' are two globes similar to those
|
|||
|
|
upon the plains, and the mysterious force generated below is
|
|||
|
|
transferred to those above, collecting within them. Now the name
|
|||
|
|
of this substance is always Zro, but in its first state the
|
|||
|
|
gesture is a twiddling of the thumbs. In its second, it is a
|
|||
|
|
rapid twittering of the fingers, and in its third state of
|
|||
|
|
distillation it is a screwing of the hands together. Within the
|
|||
|
|
spheres it sublimes suddenly in the air as a snaky powder (4) of
|
|||
|
|
silver, which immediately turns to an iridescent fluid (5) that
|
|||
|
|
is forced up, by its own need of expansion, through a fountain
|
|||
|
|
into the temple, on whose floor it lies (6) in a semi-solid
|
|||
|
|
condition. Expert priests gather this in their hands, and rapidly
|
|||
|
|
shape it into its seventh state, when it is a knife of diamond,
|
|||
|
|
but alive. An instrument like a Mexican machete is used to carve
|
|||
|
|
rocks. The edge shears them, the back smooths them. The rock
|
|||
|
|
behaves exactly like wax, responsive to the lightest touch. What
|
|||
|
|
is not used for weapons is then gathered up swiftly and kneaded
|
|||
|
|
by women of the rank of high priestess. It is not known even to
|
|||
|
|
the high priests with what they knead it, but in its eighth stage
|
|||
|
|
it is a substance solid enough to support great weight, but
|
|||
|
|
eternally heaving of its own force. Of this they make beds, so
|
|||
|
|
that the sleeping Atlantean is (as it were) continually massaged.
|
|||
|
|
To this they attribute the fact that Atlanteans sleep never more
|
|||
|
|
than half an hour, though they do so four times daily. These beds
|
|||
|
|
remain active only for a few days, and they are then thrown into
|
|||
|
|
the ninth stage by being taken into a room where is a cauldron of
|
|||
|
|
great size. They are thrown into this and sprinkled with black
|
|||
|
|
phosphorus.* The Zro then divides into two parts, one liquid, one
|
|||
|
|
solid. Neither of these has any ascertainable properties, for it
|
|||
|
|
is absolutely passive to the will of the user, who may taste
|
|||
|
|
therein his utmost desire, whether for food or drink. Among
|
|||
|
|
adults there is no other food or drink than this. The children
|
|||
|
|
are not allowed to taste it.
|
|||
|
|
The black phosphorus is always added by a high priestess, and
|
|||
|
|
it is not known in what manner she does this. The Zro that may
|
|||
|
|
remain is the subject of eternal experiments by the Magicians. It
|
|||
|
|
is generally thought by the greatest of them that an error was
|
|||
|
|
committed in bringing it to a ninth stage of division into two,
|
|||
|
|
and many openly deplored the discovery of black phosphorus. All
|
|||
|
|
however strive in harmony to produce a tenth stage that shall
|
|||
|
|
surpass the virtues of the ninth. Theoretically it is possible to
|
|||
|
|
reach an eleventh stage wherein the Zro takes human form, and
|
|||
|
|
lives! Opinion is divided as to whether this was not actually
|
|||
|
|
done by a certain magician at the time of the passing of Atlas.
|
|||
|
|
In any case, I beg the reader to remember that I have only
|
|||
|
|
described one seventh of the virtues of Zro, and I have even
|
|||
|
|
omitted this, that in its ninth stage it is not only food and
|
|||
|
|
drink, but universal medicine, if properly understood. For Zro is
|
|||
|
|
also a vision and a voice!
|
|||
|
|
Now the muscles of the people of Atlas are the muscles of
|
|||
|
|
giants, and yet they do one thing only. And this thing is
|
|||
|
|
combined by the wisdom of the magicians, so that it is at the
|
|||
|
|
same time work, exercise, sport, game, pleasure, and all else
|
|||
|
|
that may fulfill life.
|
|||
|
|
This work never ceases. It has these parts:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1. Working at Zro, i.e. bringing it from the first stage to
|
|||
|
|
the ninth.
|
|||
|
|
2. Working with Zro, i.e. for one's own particular purpose.
|
|||
|
|
3. Working for Zro. This is the common and most honourable
|
|||
|
|
task, the Zro eaten and drunken being worked into a quintessence
|
|||
|
|
of higher power, though identical in property with the common
|
|||
|
|
Zro. This new Zro (Atlas Zro) goes through the same stages as the
|
|||
|
|
common Zro of the serviles. But it is the result of free and
|
|||
|
|
joyful labour, and so serves the magicians in their experiments,
|
|||
|
|
and the Governor of all for his sustenance. None by the way is
|
|||
|
|
ever wasted. For example, a tunnel was drilled completely through
|
|||
|
|
the earth and filled with Zro, and it is said that by this tunnel
|
|||
|
|
the Atlanteans escaped.
|
|||
|
|
This working, whether with or for Zro, requires two persons at
|
|||
|
|
least at any one time and place. Great heat is generated in the
|
|||
|
|
working, and the bodies of the workers are therefore sprinkled
|
|||
|
|
heavily with the black phosphorus, which is incombustible. This
|
|||
|
|
black phosphorus, poisonous to the servile race, becomes
|
|||
|
|
innocuous to anyone who has been in any way impregnated with Zro.
|
|||
|
|
This itself, in its first stage, is as dangerous as electricity
|
|||
|
|
of high voltage.
|
|||
|
|
The reverence attached to Zro is unbounded. At one time it was
|
|||
|
|
hymned as the father of the gods, and till the end all children
|
|||
|
|
were thought to be "begotten of Zro", though everyone might know
|
|||
|
|
who was the father.* All such conception was however held
|
|||
|
|
indignity. Its official name was 'the old experiment'. It was
|
|||
|
|
carried on simply because the new methods of continuing the race
|
|||
|
|
were not perfected. Childbirth was therefore in one way accident;
|
|||
|
|
although a duty, everyone shrank from it. For though no pain or
|
|||
|
|
discomfort attached to the process, it was a sort of second-best
|
|||
|
|
achievement from which proud women turned contemptuously. This
|
|||
|
|
was in part the reason why the father's name was never mentioned.
|
|||
|
|
On several occasions in the history of Atlas the Zro 'failed'.
|
|||
|
|
Although not changed in appearance, its properties were lost or
|
|||
|
|
diminished. In such a case young men and maidens in great numbers
|
|||
|
|
were captured on the plains, brought into Atlas, and offered in
|
|||
|
|
sacrifice to the Gods. Their blood was mingled with Zro in its
|
|||
|
|
third stage, and the latter recovered its potency. Their flesh
|
|||
|
|
was eaten by the high priests and priestesses in penance for the
|
|||
|
|
unknown wrong. It was subject to other and terrible scourges,
|
|||
|
|
being the most sensitive as well as the strongest thing on Earth.
|
|||
|
|
On one occasion it had to be treated with a fox-like perfume
|
|||
|
|
prepared by the chief magician; on another it was subjected to
|
|||
|
|
streams of moonlight from parabolic mirrors.
|
|||
|
|
The most serious crisis was some two thousand years before the
|
|||
|
|
destruction of Atlas. One of the serviles, riding his
|
|||
|
|
'hippopotamus' to the ploughing, fell off and was instantly
|
|||
|
|
bitten by the poisonous fish previously described. Through an
|
|||
|
|
accident of boyhood he had, however, for a reason too obscure to
|
|||
|
|
describe here, no such vulnerable spot as suited the Zhee-Zhou.
|
|||
|
|
He survived and went to work, as it chanced, the next day. The
|
|||
|
|
Zro was poisoned; a third of Atlas died within the hour; the
|
|||
|
|
plants on the affected island had to be destroyed, and all its
|
|||
|
|
people. It was only repopulated some three hundred and eighty
|
|||
|
|
years later, and then for particular reasons of magical economy
|
|||
|
|
impossible to dwell upon in this account.
|
|||
|
|
Marriage was compulsory on all those whose passion had been so
|
|||
|
|
exclusive and enduring as to produce two children. Further
|
|||
|
|
intercourse between the pair was barred. The Magicians thought it
|
|||
|
|
was inimical to variation for a woman to have more than one child
|
|||
|
|
(a fortiori two) by the same father; and the custom further
|
|||
|
|
prevented those stupid sporadic outbursts of burnt-out lust which
|
|||
|
|
make so many modern marriages intolerable.
|
|||
|
|
Closely connected with marriage, the close of the reproductive
|
|||
|
|
life, is that of death, the close of the little that remains.
|
|||
|
|
Death hardly threatened the Atlantean; he would decide to "go and
|
|||
|
|
see", as the old phrase ran, and take an overdose of a particular
|
|||
|
|
preparation of black phosphorus mixed with a very little Zro in
|
|||
|
|
the ninth stage, which ensured a painless death. That none ever
|
|||
|
|
returned was taken as proof of the supreme attractiveness of
|
|||
|
|
death.
|
|||
|
|
The ghoulish and necromantic practices with which Atlanteans
|
|||
|
|
have been unjustly reproached never occurred. A little vampirism,
|
|||
|
|
perhaps, in the early days before the perfecting of Zro; but no
|
|||
|
|
Atlantean was ever so stupid or so ignorant as to confuse death
|
|||
|
|
with life.
|
|||
|
|
Beside this voluntary death only one danger existed. As the
|
|||
|
|
use of Zro guaranteed life and health and youth--a centenarian
|
|||
|
|
high priest was no better than a kitten!--so did its abuse spell
|
|||
|
|
instant corruption of those qualities. As mentioned above, now
|
|||
|
|
and then the Zro itself was at fault, and caused epidemics; but
|
|||
|
|
from time to time there were deaths in a particularly loathsome
|
|||
|
|
form caused by what they called 'misunderstanding' the Zro.* Such
|
|||
|
|
mistakes were particularly common in the early days of its
|
|||
|
|
discovery, and before its use had become well nigh a worship. The
|
|||
|
|
first symptom was a crack in the skin of the temple, or sometimes
|
|||
|
|
of the bridge of the nose, more rarely of an eyelid or cheek.
|
|||
|
|
Within a few minutes this crack became one open sore, of horrid
|
|||
|
|
foetor, and within twenty-four hours, the patient was completely
|
|||
|
|
rotted away, bone and marrow. A circumstance of singular atrocity
|
|||
|
|
was that death never occurred until the spinal column collapsed.
|
|||
|
|
No treatment could be found even to prolong the agony by an hour.
|
|||
|
|
This being recognised, sufferers were thrown from the cliffs at
|
|||
|
|
the first sign of the malady. In this way too were all other
|
|||
|
|
corpses disposed. It was the most honourable death possible, for
|
|||
|
|
becoming 'bread from heaven' for the serviles, they were again
|
|||
|
|
worked up into Zro itself, a transmutation which in their view
|
|||
|
|
would be well worth all the "resurrections of the body" and
|
|||
|
|
"immortalities of the soul" of the theoretical, dogmatic, hearsay
|
|||
|
|
religions. So much then concerning Zro, and the matters
|
|||
|
|
immediately connected with it.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
.pa
|
|||
|
|
IV.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
OF THE SO CALLED
|
|||
|
|
MAGIC OF THE ATLANTEANS.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Magic in Atlas was a 'Science of Sciences'. It was the final
|
|||
|
|
integration of all knowledge. In method its theory was
|
|||
|
|
differentiation, and in theory its method was integration. For
|
|||
|
|
example, the fifth of the great philosophers indicated
|
|||
|
|
"Everything is Zro" to the Keeper of the Speech at the annual
|
|||
|
|
sacrifice. This in spite of the fact that in that very year two
|
|||
|
|
new forms of Zro had been discovered by that same philosopher. It
|
|||
|
|
was the third of the galaxy who announced "The ultimate analysis
|
|||
|
|
of sensation is pain; that of thought, madness; that of super-
|
|||
|
|
consciousness (a state of trance induced by Zro and valued above
|
|||
|
|
all things) annihilation."
|
|||
|
|
His successor had retorted that in this was implicit a
|
|||
|
|
postulate that pain, madness and annihilation were undesirable.
|
|||
|
|
The third admitted that he had so meant his phrase, but
|
|||
|
|
destroying the postulate, still stuck to it. All this was the
|
|||
|
|
foundation of much magical theory, and on these purely
|
|||
|
|
psychological researches was based the whole magical practice.
|
|||
|
|
'There is no God' was a commonplace. It only implied that
|
|||
|
|
the mind was wrong to try to conceive within it what was by
|
|||
|
|
definition without it. To set limits to anything whatever seemed
|
|||
|
|
to them the greatest of crimes, the exact opposite of the true
|
|||
|
|
path to the Sun.
|
|||
|
|
The practical side of magic was for the most part a mere
|
|||
|
|
utilization of known forces, such as are employed by modern
|
|||
|
|
science. But the resources of Atlas were as great, and the
|
|||
|
|
advantages incomparably greater. The whole archipelago was a
|
|||
|
|
laboratory. There was no question of the 'cost of research';
|
|||
|
|
every man was devoted to it. Every man thought only of the main
|
|||
|
|
problem 'How to reach Venus' and its sub-issues. Further, the
|
|||
|
|
main laws of magic had always been found to govern and include
|
|||
|
|
chemical and physical laws.
|
|||
|
|
In the early days of colonization Zro was only known in its
|
|||
|
|
crude state; it was the genius of a single man that obtained the
|
|||
|
|
third state in its purity. From this state to the seventh it
|
|||
|
|
moved almost of itself, very much as radium does. The genius,
|
|||
|
|
having sufficient in this seventh state, made a sword, and
|
|||
|
|
completed in three days the subjugation of the servile races. It
|
|||
|
|
was a stroke of fortune, this quickness, for on the fourth day
|
|||
|
|
the Zro began to disintegrate. The magicians then began to seek a
|
|||
|
|
means of making this state permanent. But in this they failed,*
|
|||
|
|
so that knives had always to be replaced twice weekly; but in the
|
|||
|
|
course of their failures they discovered the infinitely more
|
|||
|
|
valuable eighth and ninth stages of Zro. Tradition has preserved
|
|||
|
|
a hint of their efforts in Alchemy with its problems of the
|
|||
|
|
fixation of the Universal Mercury, the secret of perpetual
|
|||
|
|
motion, and 'potable gold--the Universal Medicine'. It has been
|
|||
|
|
theoretically determined towards the end of the tenth state, that
|
|||
|
|
Zro should be a solid, but whether this was confirmed is beyond
|
|||
|
|
my knowledge.
|
|||
|
|
To return to the main magical theory, the Quintessence, said
|
|||
|
|
they, or Universal Substance (which some strove to identify with
|
|||
|
|
Hyle, others with the Luminiferous Aether) is the two-in-one,
|
|||
|
|
liquid and solid, the former part being also twofold, fluid and
|
|||
|
|
gaseous, and the latter earthy and fiery. The combination of
|
|||
|
|
these four phases of Zro accounted for the universe. This
|
|||
|
|
quintessence is Zro in some state unknown and incalculable. Some
|
|||
|
|
expected to find it in its twelth state, some in a seventeenth,
|
|||
|
|
others in a thirty-seventh: all this was pure guesswork. Some
|
|||
|
|
tradition to this effect appears to have reached Plato; and the
|
|||
|
|
neo-Platonists combined with those Jews who had preserved
|
|||
|
|
fragments of the Egyptian tradition to form a new initiated
|
|||
|
|
hierarchy, the echo of whose teaching is found in Paracelsus. At
|
|||
|
|
one period, too, missionaries (not colonists, as has been
|
|||
|
|
ignorantly asserted; there was no trouble of over-population in
|
|||
|
|
Atlantis) were sent to the four quarters and parties landed in
|
|||
|
|
Mexico, Ireland and Egypt. The adventures of the party who
|
|||
|
|
travelled South form an astounding chapter in the history of
|
|||
|
|
Atlas. It was they who discovered the Magnetic South, and whose
|
|||
|
|
observations rendered possible the theory which resulted in the
|
|||
|
|
piercing of the Earth by Zro.*
|
|||
|
|
There were also preparations of Zro which increased the size
|
|||
|
|
of the user, and others which diminished it. In general use among
|
|||
|
|
the lower classes, until the very end, was that composition which
|
|||
|
|
made the body light. Careful adjustment would equalize its weight
|
|||
|
|
with that of the displaced air, and movements of the limbs would
|
|||
|
|
then permit flying. In this way the overseers visited the plains
|
|||
|
|
and returned. The other and earlier art of flying needed no
|
|||
|
|
apparatus, but I am forbidden to disclose the method, except to
|
|||
|
|
hint that it is connected closely with the art of 'dreaming
|
|||
|
|
true'.
|
|||
|
|
These are but a few of the magic powers so-called of the
|
|||
|
|
compounds of Zro; but they will indicate the power of Atlas by
|
|||
|
|
shewing what it could afford to neglect. Yet all these powers
|
|||
|
|
were implicit in the process of 'working'.
|
|||
|
|
The art of prediction was in the same unsatisfactory state as
|
|||
|
|
it is in England today. Nor was its practice encouraged. A
|
|||
|
|
magician makes the future, and does not seek to divine it. All
|
|||
|
|
true prediction was therefore necessarily catastrophe. The
|
|||
|
|
greatest good fortune seemed worthless to an Atlantean, since it
|
|||
|
|
was accident, and if accidents are to happen, one of them may be
|
|||
|
|
fatal. They believed themselves to be equal to the whole tendency
|
|||
|
|
of things, and proudly gazed on Nature as a man might upon a
|
|||
|
|
virgin captive to his spear. Everything that was being was Zro;
|
|||
|
|
everything that was Energy was 'working for Zro'. Outside this
|
|||
|
|
was but by-product and waste-heap.
|
|||
|
|
The arrangement of the houses was in accordance with the
|
|||
|
|
magical theory. There was first the High House, then four (later
|
|||
|
|
six, last ten) 'Houses of Houses'; and to each of these was
|
|||
|
|
attached a varying number of ordinary houses. The High House was
|
|||
|
|
the central shrine of the whole archipelago, and must be
|
|||
|
|
separately described.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
.pa
|
|||
|
|
V.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
OF THE HIGH HOUSE OF ATLAS,
|
|||
|
|
OF ITS INHABITANTS, AND OF THEIR
|
|||
|
|
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS,
|
|||
|
|
AND OF THE LIVING ATLA.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The High House was separated from its nearest neighbor by over
|
|||
|
|
twenty miles of sea. Its diameter was about an half-mile and its
|
|||
|
|
height four miles. It had no plains at the base, and its cliffs
|
|||
|
|
went absolutely sheer and smooth into the water. It was in shape
|
|||
|
|
a flattish cylinder, but the top broadened into a pointed knob,
|
|||
|
|
somewhat in the style of St. Basil's at Moscow. There was not a
|
|||
|
|
trace of vegetation, which by the way was despised by the
|
|||
|
|
Atlanteans. A child would pick a flower contemptuously thinking
|
|||
|
|
"You cannot even move about", or pet it as an English degenerate
|
|||
|
|
woman does a dog. The only entrance was by an orifice at the top.
|
|||
|
|
But the base was tunneled so that from every house was a channel
|
|||
|
|
for the Zro which having been brought to the highest perfection
|
|||
|
|
was thus transferred to headquarters. The receptacle at the base
|
|||
|
|
being far below the earth, and the Zro further heated by
|
|||
|
|
friction, it seethed continually into a bluish or purplish smoke.
|
|||
|
|
This was the sole sustenance of the inhabitants of the High
|
|||
|
|
House. In early days the old High House, in an island since
|
|||
|
|
destroyed by order of the Atla, had been called the House of
|
|||
|
|
Blood, the inhabitants subsisting only on blood sucked from the
|
|||
|
|
living. The improvements in Zro had changed all that; but the
|
|||
|
|
idea was the same, to live on the Quintessence of Life. Hence
|
|||
|
|
while the 'houses' ate and drank Zro, the High House drank its
|
|||
|
|
vapour. No children were born in it, and none below the rank of
|
|||
|
|
High Priest dwelt there.
|
|||
|
|
Except for one matter which was never thought of, though
|
|||
|
|
constantly spoken, the inmost mystery of the High House was the
|
|||
|
|
'Living Atla'. This had many names, 'Wordeater', 'Unshaven'
|
|||
|
|
(because the razors of Zro were turned on its hair), 'Fireheart',
|
|||
|
|
'Beginning and End' and so on: but especially a word I can only
|
|||
|
|
translate as 'To Her', a defective pronoun existing only in the
|
|||
|
|
dative. What the Living Atla really was, is a secret of secrets.*
|
|||
|
|
We know it only from its epithets, its veils. Thus it was 'That
|
|||
|
|
Black which makes black white'. It was 'twenty-six feet high and
|
|||
|
|
fifteen feet across--Oh my Lords, it is the essence of the
|
|||
|
|
Incommensurable!' It was 'the wife of Zro', 'the heart of Zro',
|
|||
|
|
'desire of Zro', 'the Atla that eats Atlas', 'the swallower up of
|
|||
|
|
her own house', 'the pelican', 'the fire-nest of the Phoenix',
|
|||
|
|
according to the greatest of the poets. And the burden of his
|
|||
|
|
hymns of worship was that it must be destroyed.
|
|||
|
|
It was impossible to approach the Atla without being instantly
|
|||
|
|
sucked up and devoured by it. This was the greatest death, and
|
|||
|
|
ardently desired by all. The favour was accorded only to those
|
|||
|
|
who discovered improvements in Zro, or otherwise merited signal
|
|||
|
|
and supreme recognition from the state. Hidden men listened to
|
|||
|
|
the cries of the victim, and thus learned the nature of the
|
|||
|
|
death. It appears that the black suddenly broke into a fiery
|
|||
|
|
rose, 'the only* luminous thing in Atlas', and a shooting forward
|
|||
|
|
enclosed him. For some reason which was never even guessed the
|
|||
|
|
Atla refused women. Those who had seen Atla were however useless
|
|||
|
|
to instruct. They came forth from the Presence smiling, and even
|
|||
|
|
under the most fearful tortures that the magicians could devise,
|
|||
|
|
continued to smile. This smile never left them during life, and
|
|||
|
|
the conscious superiority of it was so irritating, and so
|
|||
|
|
contrary to the harmony of life in Atlas that the women were
|
|||
|
|
killed, and their companions for the future forbidden to approach
|
|||
|
|
the Atla.
|
|||
|
|
Whatever theories as to its nature may have been formed by the
|
|||
|
|
magicians were upset by a famous experiment. A most holy high
|
|||
|
|
priest, a man who at puberty had insisted on immediate marriage
|
|||
|
|
with all the women of his house, a magician who had formed four
|
|||
|
|
new compounds of Zro, and discovered how to pass matter through
|
|||
|
|
matter, was honoured by the great death. On reaching the last
|
|||
|
|
corridor, where the concentrated spirals of Zro vapour whirled up
|
|||
|
|
into the Presence of Atla, he bade farewell to the appointed
|
|||
|
|
listeners in the manner suitable to his dignity, and then, taking
|
|||
|
|
a last deep draught of Zro into his lungs, rushed into the
|
|||
|
|
antrum. They heard him cry aloud "O!" with surprise, and then
|
|||
|
|
with inexpressible rapture the words "Behind Atla, Otla!" which
|
|||
|
|
were, and still are, completely unintelligible. Their surprise
|
|||
|
|
was greater, when, seven days later he came striding past them
|
|||
|
|
without greeting. He went to his 'house' and shut himself up, was
|
|||
|
|
never seen or heard again, but was assuredly living at the time
|
|||
|
|
of the 'catastrophe'. This man founded a school of philosophy, or
|
|||
|
|
rather, it founded itself on what it supposed him to have
|
|||
|
|
discovered; and this school disputes with the orthodox the credit
|
|||
|
|
of the final success.
|
|||
|
|
The lesser mysteries of the High House were concerned almost
|
|||
|
|
entirely with the creation of life, and the bridging of the gulf
|
|||
|
|
between Earth and Venus. These were connected intimately; the
|
|||
|
|
theory was that if Atlantean brains could exist in bodies
|
|||
|
|
sufficiently subtle to traverse aether, the task was done. Some
|
|||
|
|
of the experiments were crude enough, and, to our minds,
|
|||
|
|
horrible. They attempted to breed a new race by crossing with
|
|||
|
|
snakes, swans, horses and other animals.* The Greek legends of
|
|||
|
|
such monsters as Chimaera, Medusa, Lamia, Minotaur, the Centaurs,
|
|||
|
|
the Satyrs and the like are mere filtrations of the Atlantean
|
|||
|
|
tradition. The only theory behind such experiments was that they
|
|||
|
|
were contrary to the natural order, and so worth trying. Men of
|
|||
|
|
more scientific mind more plausibly passed Zro vapour through
|
|||
|
|
sea-water; but they only created serpents of vast size, which
|
|||
|
|
they cast into the sea about the High House as guardians. The
|
|||
|
|
sea-serpent, whether legend or fact, is derived from this ex
|
|||
|
|
periment. It is quite possible that some such survive. Another
|
|||
|
|
school, objecting strongly to the sex-process, "which must be
|
|||
|
|
transcended as the Lemurians overcame gemmation" vivisected men
|
|||
|
|
and women, taking various parts of the brain, especially the
|
|||
|
|
cerebellum, the pineal gland, and the pituitary body, and cul
|
|||
|
|
tivated them in solutions of Zro under the invisible rays of
|
|||
|
|
black phosphorus. The best results of this work was a race of
|
|||
|
|
translucent jelly-folk of great intellectual development; but so
|
|||
|
|
far from being able to travel through space, they could hardly
|
|||
|
|
move in their own element. Another school argued that as Zro in
|
|||
|
|
vapour combined the virtues of the liquid and the solid Zro, so a
|
|||
|
|
fiery state might be produced which would so impregnate their
|
|||
|
|
bodies as to make them 'mates of the aether'. This school held
|
|||
|
|
that fiery Zro already existed in Nature, "in the heart of the
|
|||
|
|
Living Atla", and asserted that those who died by absorption into
|
|||
|
|
Atla passed straight to Venus. Many of them therefore tried hard
|
|||
|
|
to obtain messages from that planet. Familiar with Newton's first
|
|||
|
|
law of motion, they further held it possible to prepare Zro in
|
|||
|
|
such a state that a current of it could never be deflected or
|
|||
|
|
dissipated, and so, if it could be made in sufficient quantity, a
|
|||
|
|
bridge to Venus might be built by which they might travel. They
|
|||
|
|
therefore tunneled through the planet, as previously explained,
|
|||
|
|
to have a sort of cannon for the Zro. But as their supply was
|
|||
|
|
pitifully insufficient, they endeavoured also to prepare a Zro
|
|||
|
|
which would have the power of multiplying itself. Alchemical
|
|||
|
|
tradition has some record of this problem.
|
|||
|
|
Yet another group of magicians argued that as Nature had cast
|
|||
|
|
off the planets from the Sun--a disputed point, some thinking
|
|||
|
|
this due to magic, which if so completely destroys the argument--
|
|||
|
|
it would be contrary to Nature to cause the planets to fall back
|
|||
|
|
into it. They busied themselves with attempts to increase the
|
|||
|
|
Earth's gravitational pull, and (alternatively) to check her
|
|||
|
|
course. Their schemes were generally regarded as Utopian--yet
|
|||
|
|
they could boast of the discovery of the Zro that lightened
|
|||
|
|
bodies, and of a kind of aether-screen which generated mechanical
|
|||
|
|
power in inexhaustible quantities by making matter slightly
|
|||
|
|
opaque to aether. This engine only worked on a very small scale.
|
|||
|
|
A screen two inches long would tear itself from fastenings that
|
|||
|
|
would have held an earthquake, while the rocks in its
|
|||
|
|
neighbourhood would melt in a few minutes, and the sea boil
|
|||
|
|
instantly where its rays struck. The most brilliant of this
|
|||
|
|
school asserted "Matter is a strain in the aether." He explained
|
|||
|
|
gravitation in this way. Place two ivory spheres in a rubber
|
|||
|
|
tube; the strain on the tube is least when the balls touch. The
|
|||
|
|
tendency is therefore for them to come together. Friction alone
|
|||
|
|
checks them. Now aether is infinitely elastic and without
|
|||
|
|
friction. From these data he calculated the Law of Inverse
|
|||
|
|
Squares.
|
|||
|
|
A more mystic school saw life everywhere. It knew all that we
|
|||
|
|
know, and more, about ions and electrons; it saw every phenomenon
|
|||
|
|
as a manifestation of will. The crowning glory of this school was
|
|||
|
|
the discovery that Zro in its ninth stage, eaten and drunken with
|
|||
|
|
concentrated intention, produced the desired result, whatever
|
|||
|
|
(within wide limits) that result might be. This went far to
|
|||
|
|
supersede the use of all specialized forms of Zro, and so to
|
|||
|
|
unify the magical practice.
|
|||
|
|
It seems curious with all this magic, Magic itself should be
|
|||
|
|
the thing most deplored. But it was the means, and, as such,
|
|||
|
|
"that which is in particular not the end". The word for Magic,
|
|||
|
|
'Ijynx', was the only dissyllable in the language, for Magic was
|
|||
|
|
the essentially two-fold thing, more two-fold (in a way) than the
|
|||
|
|
number two itself. It is interesting here to sketch briefly the
|
|||
|
|
mathematics of Atlas. The task is not easy, as their minds worked
|
|||
|
|
very differently from ours.
|
|||
|
|
The number 1 was a fairly simple idea; but two was not only
|
|||
|
|
two, but also 'the result of adding 1 to 1' and 'the root of 4'.
|
|||
|
|
The numbers grew in complexity out of all reason. Seven was 6
|
|||
|
|
plus 1, and 5 plus 2, and 4 plus 3, and so on; as well as 'the
|
|||
|
|
root of 49', 'half 14' and the like. They even distinguished 4
|
|||
|
|
plus 3 from 3 plus 4. Each number also represented an idea or
|
|||
|
|
group of ideas on all sorts of planes. It would have been quite
|
|||
|
|
possible to discuss dressmaking in terms of pure number. To give
|
|||
|
|
an example of the way in which their minds thought, consider the
|
|||
|
|
number three. Three, in so far as it gives the first plane
|
|||
|
|
figure, suggests superficies; with regard to the dimensions of
|
|||
|
|
space, solidity. Three itself is therefore 'that ineffably holy
|
|||
|
|
thing in which the superficies is the solid'. Of course hundreds
|
|||
|
|
of other ideas must be added to this; and to grasp and harmonize
|
|||
|
|
them all in one colossal supra-rational idea was the constant
|
|||
|
|
task of every mathematician. The upshot of this was that all
|
|||
|
|
numbers above 33 were regarded as spurious, illusionary; they had
|
|||
|
|
no real existence of their own*; they were temporary compounds,
|
|||
|
|
unreal in very much the same sense as our square root of 1. They
|
|||
|
|
were always expressed by graphic formulae, like our own organic
|
|||
|
|
compounds. To take an example, the number 156 was regarded as a
|
|||
|
|
sort of efflorescence of the number 7; it was never written but
|
|||
|
|
as 77 plus [(7+7)/7] plus 77. Again 11 was usually written 3 plus
|
|||
|
|
5 plus 3. It was always the aim to find symmetry in these
|
|||
|
|
expressions, and also 'to find an easy way to 1'. This last is
|
|||
|
|
difficult to explain.
|
|||
|
|
Eleven was their great 'Key of Magic'. It is a twofold number
|
|||
|
|
in 'the act of becoming 1'. Thirty-seven was the essence of 1
|
|||
|
|
inasmuch as multiplying it by 3 gives 111, three ones, which
|
|||
|
|
divided again by 3 in another manner, yield 1. "One would rather
|
|||
|
|
think of 48 as 37 plus 11 than as 4 times 12" is the statement of
|
|||
|
|
an elementary text-book dating from the earliest days of Atlas.
|
|||
|
|
It was a sort of moral duty to teach the mind to think in this
|
|||
|
|
manner.
|
|||
|
|
The number 7 was the 'perfect number' with them as with us,
|
|||
|
|
but for very different reasons. It was the link between Earth and
|
|||
|
|
Venus, for one thing; I cannot explain why. It was 'the number of
|
|||
|
|
Atla', and the 'house of success' (two being the 'house of
|
|||
|
|
battle'). It was also grace, softness, ease, healing and 'joy of
|
|||
|
|
Zro' as well as 'play of phosphorus'. Many mathematicians,
|
|||
|
|
however, attacked it with rigour; there was at one time an almost
|
|||
|
|
general consent to replace it by 8, and its 'rapture-combination'
|
|||
|
|
31, by 33. Despite the intense preoccupation with such ideas,
|
|||
|
|
mathematics as we know them had reached a perfection which if it
|
|||
|
|
does not surpass that of our own civilization, fails principally
|
|||
|
|
because of its theorems, handed down to Euclid and Pythagoras,
|
|||
|
|
although imperfectly, formed a springboard whence we might leap.
|
|||
|
|
The initiation of children was also a matter reserved for the
|
|||
|
|
High House. Weaned at three months, the children were tended by
|
|||
|
|
the lower classes until the age of puberty, an occurrence which
|
|||
|
|
fitted them at once for initiation. A legate from the High House
|
|||
|
|
was sent for, and in his presence the child was brought,
|
|||
|
|
acquainted with Zro by its father and mother, and full
|
|||
|
|
instruction in 'working' was further conferred by any member of
|
|||
|
|
the 'house' who chose to do so, this in practice meaning by
|
|||
|
|
everybody. The ceremonies were frequently long and exhausting;
|
|||
|
|
children often enough died in the course of them. This was not
|
|||
|
|
regarded as a serious calamity; some schools of magicians even
|
|||
|
|
pretended to rejoice. The representatives of the High House had a
|
|||
|
|
prior right to the parents of the child; at times he conducted
|
|||
|
|
the initiation in person, a high honour, but invariably fatal. On
|
|||
|
|
rare occasions male children were sent over to the Atla to be
|
|||
|
|
devoured. The parents of so fortunate a child were advanced in
|
|||
|
|
rank on the spot, and had special privileges conferred on them,
|
|||
|
|
sometimes even being transferred to a 'House of Houses'. All
|
|||
|
|
those who dwelt in the High House were veiled whenever they
|
|||
|
|
appeared, in order to prevent it being known that they were of
|
|||
|
|
the same appearance in all respects as their inferiors. This
|
|||
|
|
ordinance had been made after the Great Conspiracy, with which I
|
|||
|
|
shall deal in the chapter on History.
|
|||
|
|
.pa
|
|||
|
|
VI.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
OF THE UNDERGROUND GARDENS
|
|||
|
|
OF ATLAS, AND OF THE ALLEGED
|
|||
|
|
COMMERCE OF THE ATLANTEANS
|
|||
|
|
WITH INCUBI, SUCCUBI, AND THE
|
|||
|
|
DEMONS OF DARKNESS.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I have referred to the contempt with which the Atlanteans were
|
|||
|
|
prone to regard the vegetable kingdom. Animals, including man,
|
|||
|
|
shared their scorn. The idea may have been that with their
|
|||
|
|
advantages they ought to have done much better for themselves.
|
|||
|
|
Minerals, however, were regarded as helpless; and hence the
|
|||
|
|
extraordinary attention paid to them. Beneath the houses the rock
|
|||
|
|
had been tunneled out into grottos, some in odd fantastic forms,
|
|||
|
|
but most in immense polyhedra or combinations of curves. Each
|
|||
|
|
'house' had some twenty of such gardens. Three reagents were used
|
|||
|
|
in the cultivation; the 'seed of metals', 'the seed of Light',
|
|||
|
|
and the seed of '', an untranslatable idea approximating to our
|
|||
|
|
mystic's interpretation of 'Alpha and Omega'. The two former
|
|||
|
|
produced simple effects, the first formed jewels, self-luminious,
|
|||
|
|
which yet grew like flowers, the second similar effects with
|
|||
|
|
metals; while the third brought any mineral to flower in the most
|
|||
|
|
extravagant combinations of colour and form. All such conditions
|
|||
|
|
as texture, hardness, elasticity, and physical attributes in
|
|||
|
|
general, were considered worthy of the profoundest attention.
|
|||
|
|
As an instance of these, I may describe particular gardens.
|
|||
|
|
One would have a roof of softly-glowing sapphires, foxglove,
|
|||
|
|
bluebell or gentian, and between these champak stars of ruby. The
|
|||
|
|
walls would be covered with tendrils of vine within whose depths
|
|||
|
|
lurked tiny blossoms of amethyst. The floor would be of
|
|||
|
|
malachite, but alive, growing as a coral does, softer than any
|
|||
|
|
earthly moss and more elastic to the tread. On every darker leaf
|
|||
|
|
might glow dew-drops of self-strung diamond formed from the
|
|||
|
|
carbon dioxide of the air by the action of the 'seed of Light'.
|
|||
|
|
Another grotto would be a monochrome of blue, various copper
|
|||
|
|
salts being 'planted' everywhere, and growing in incrustations
|
|||
|
|
and festoons of every shade of blue from the faintest tinge of
|
|||
|
|
coerulean azure and green and grey, in whose abyss would be seen
|
|||
|
|
shapes of anemonies, perhaps of such hues as iron oxide, silver
|
|||
|
|
chromate, and cupramonium cyanurate. All this floor would in all
|
|||
|
|
respects resemble water but for its greater solidity, and
|
|||
|
|
floating on it would be giant lilies, great green leaves of
|
|||
|
|
emerald with cups of pearl not less than twelve feet in diameter,
|
|||
|
|
with corollae of pure gold, so fine that they glimmered green,
|
|||
|
|
with pistils of platinum on whose tops trembled great pigeon-
|
|||
|
|
blooded rubies. Another might be wholly of metal, a mere bower of
|
|||
|
|
jasmine, with its floor of violets. The law of growth of these
|
|||
|
|
creatures of wisdom was not that of plants or animals, or even of
|
|||
|
|
crystals; it was that of the earth. Constantly growing as the
|
|||
|
|
planet approached the sun, they as steadily shrank as she
|
|||
|
|
departed to aphelion. This was not growth and decay, but the rise
|
|||
|
|
and fall of an eternal bosom. It is probable, too, that this is
|
|||
|
|
one of the reasons why Atlas neglected the higher kingdoms; they
|
|||
|
|
had learned to grow, but on wrong lines, and it was too late to
|
|||
|
|
endeavour to correct the error.
|
|||
|
|
These gardens were the principal places of working. It was
|
|||
|
|
hardly possible to pass from one place to another without coming
|
|||
|
|
upon one of them, so cunningly were they distributed; and in
|
|||
|
|
every garden would be found, joyful and noble, parties of workers
|
|||
|
|
intent on their beloved task. The passer-by would gladly join one
|
|||
|
|
of such parties, engage in the work for so long as he wished, and
|
|||
|
|
then proceed upon his private business. In these same gardens
|
|||
|
|
too, were salvers and goblets always filled with Zro, and after
|
|||
|
|
toil, refreshment fitted the workers to return to labour.
|
|||
|
|
Now of these workings in the gardens strange tales are told.
|
|||
|
|
It is said that the inhabitants falling to repose were visited in
|
|||
|
|
sleep by incubi and succubi (whatever the nature of these may be,
|
|||
|
|
and I by no means concur in the opinion of Sinistrari), and that
|
|||
|
|
they welcomed such with eagerness. Nay, darker legends tell of
|
|||
|
|
infamous commerce and intercourse with demons foul and malicious,
|
|||
|
|
and pretend that the power of Atlas was devilish, and that the
|
|||
|
|
catastrophe was the judgement of God. These mediaeval fables of
|
|||
|
|
the debased and perverted phallicism miscalled Christianity are
|
|||
|
|
unworthy even to be refuted, founded as they are on hypotheses
|
|||
|
|
contrary to common sense. Nor would they who knew themselves
|
|||
|
|
masters of the earth have deigned to degrade themselves, and
|
|||
|
|
moreover to vitiate their whole work by commerce with inferiors.
|
|||
|
|
If there be any truth whatever in these stories, it will then be
|
|||
|
|
more easily supposable that the Atlanteans aspiring to journey
|
|||
|
|
sunwards to Venus, might invoke the beings of that planet, should
|
|||
|
|
it be possible for them to travel to us. And that this is impos
|
|||
|
|
sible, who can assert? On the theory of the Magicians, power
|
|||
|
|
increases as the sun is approached, the inhabitants of Earth
|
|||
|
|
being more highly infused with the magical force of Our Star than
|
|||
|
|
those of Mars, and they again more than those of great Jupiter,
|
|||
|
|
gloomy and disastrous Saturn and Uranus, or Neptune lost in star-
|
|||
|
|
dreams. Again, the powers of each particular planet may, nay,
|
|||
|
|
must be wholly diverse. So fundamental a condition of existence
|
|||
|
|
as the value of g being vastly various, must not the inhabitants
|
|||
|
|
differ equally in body and in mind? What lives on the minute and
|
|||
|
|
airless Moon can be no inhabitant of what may hide beneath the
|
|||
|
|
flaming envelope of the sun, with its fountains of hydrogen
|
|||
|
|
flaming an hundred thousand miles into the aether. And surely so
|
|||
|
|
wild an ambition as that of Atlas would not have been held by
|
|||
|
|
beings so wise and powerful for so many centuries had they not
|
|||
|
|
either a sure memory of coming from Mars, or some earnest of
|
|||
|
|
their eventual departure to Venus. Man does not persist in the
|
|||
|
|
chimerical for more than a few generations. Alchemy achieved
|
|||
|
|
results so startling and so beneficial to humanity at large--one
|
|||
|
|
need only mention the discovery of zinc, antimony, hydrogen,
|
|||
|
|
opium, gas itself--that the original ideals were changed for
|
|||
|
|
others more limited and more practical--or at least more
|
|||
|
|
immediately realizable.
|
|||
|
|
Nor is this view unsupported by testimony of a sort. "Great
|
|||
|
|
and glorious, rays of our father the Sun", says one of the poets
|
|||
|
|
of Atlas, "are they within us. Let us call them forth by
|
|||
|
|
utterance that is not uttered, by the gesture that is not made,
|
|||
|
|
by the working that is above all working, for they are great and
|
|||
|
|
glorious, rays of our father the Sun. Then from our bride that
|
|||
|
|
waits for us in the nuptial chamber, green in the green West,
|
|||
|
|
blue in the blue East, exalted above our father in the even and
|
|||
|
|
in the morn, spring forth our heirs and our hosts, to greet us in
|
|||
|
|
the darkness. Dim-glimmering are our gardens in the light of the
|
|||
|
|
seed of light; they are peopled with shadows; they take form;
|
|||
|
|
they are as serpents, they are as trees, they are as the holy
|
|||
|
|
Zcrra, they are as all things straight or curved, they are
|
|||
|
|
winged, they are wonderful. With us do they work, and that which
|
|||
|
|
was but one in seven, and that which was two is become eleven!
|
|||
|
|
With us do they work, and give us of the draught miraculous; us
|
|||
|
|
do they instruct in magic, and feed us the delicate food. Let us
|
|||
|
|
call forth them that are within us, that they that are without
|
|||
|
|
may enter in, as it was made manifest by Him that maketh secret."
|
|||
|
|
This passage, not devoid of a rude eloquence, makes clear what
|
|||
|
|
was held in exoteric circles. For in Atlas the poet was not as in
|
|||
|
|
England a holy and exalted being, one set apart for his high
|
|||
|
|
calling, throned in the hearts of the people, cherished by kings
|
|||
|
|
and nobles, one on whom no wealth and honour are too great to
|
|||
|
|
shower, but one of the people themselves, of no greater con
|
|||
|
|
sequence than any other. Every man was an artist in so far as he
|
|||
|
|
was a man; and every man being equally so in nature, whether so
|
|||
|
|
in achievement or not mattered nothing, as appreciation was of no
|
|||
|
|
moment. Accomplishing Art for the sake of Art, the interest of
|
|||
|
|
the creator in his work died with its creation. It may therefore
|
|||
|
|
be possible that these words are those of poetic exaggeration, or
|
|||
|
|
that there is a concealed meaning in them, or that they are
|
|||
|
|
intended to mask and mislead, or that the poet was not himself
|
|||
|
|
fully instructed. Indeed it is certain that only the High House
|
|||
|
|
had the secrets of Atlas, and that the magicians of the House
|
|||
|
|
held the undeniable if sometimes dangerous doctrine that the
|
|||
|
|
truth and falsehood of any statement alternated as do day and
|
|||
|
|
night according to the status of the hearer of the statement.
|
|||
|
|
However, so strong is the tradition concerning the 'Angel of
|
|||
|
|
Venus' that it must at least be considered carefully. The theory
|
|||
|
|
appears to have been that if the magicians of Venus invited the
|
|||
|
|
Atlanteans, means would assuredly follow, just as if a King
|
|||
|
|
summons a paralysed man to his presence, he will also send
|
|||
|
|
officers to convey him. Now whether the 'Angel of Venus' is
|
|||
|
|
really an angel in anything like the modern sense of the word, or
|
|||
|
|
merely a title of one of the principal magicians of the planet,
|
|||
|
|
it is evident that the High House ardentl desired his presence.
|
|||
|
|
That this might be manifested by the birth of a child 'without
|
|||
|
|
the stain of Atla' was clearly an ultimate desideratum, an
|
|||
|
|
outward and visible sign of redemption, an obvious guarantee of
|
|||
|
|
the reality of the occurrence. It was then a Virgin high
|
|||
|
|
priestess who achieved so notable a renown; whether or not this
|
|||
|
|
is a mere poetic parable of the abiogenesis--if it is indeed fair
|
|||
|
|
so to describe it--of the eleventh stage of Zro is another and an
|
|||
|
|
open question. In any case, such is the tradition, and numerous
|
|||
|
|
parodies of it are still extant in the stories of the births of
|
|||
|
|
Romulus and Remus, Bacchus, Buddha and many other legendary
|
|||
|
|
heroes of modern times; we even catch an echo in the myths of
|
|||
|
|
such barbarian lands as Syria.
|
|||
|
|
So much and no more concerning the Underground Gardens of
|
|||
|
|
Atlas, and of their commerce with the inhabitants of Venus.
|
|||
|
|
VII.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
OF MARRIAGE AND OTHER CURIOUS CUSTOMS
|
|||
|
|
OF THE ATLANTEANS:
|
|||
|
|
AND OF SACRIFICES TO THE GODS.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I have already adverted to that most singular conception of
|
|||
|
|
the duty of the married which opposes the customs of Atlas to
|
|||
|
|
those of any other race on Earth. But the considerations which
|
|||
|
|
established it have yet to be discussed. I will not insist on
|
|||
|
|
that gross and cynical point of view which might perceive in
|
|||
|
|
English marriage today a practical vindication of the Atlantean
|
|||
|
|
position. On the contrary, in Atlas marriage formed the loftiest
|
|||
|
|
of ideals. It resembles the 'Hermetic marriage' of certain
|
|||
|
|
alchemists. The bond between the parties was only stronger for
|
|||
|
|
the absence of the lower link. The idea underlying this was in
|
|||
|
|
the main a particular case of the general proposition that
|
|||
|
|
whatever was natural should be transcended. As will be seen in
|
|||
|
|
the final chapter, the very stigma of success in their Great Work
|
|||
|
|
was the transcending of the sexual process. The bond of marriage
|
|||
|
|
was not, however, entirely of this negative character. It had its
|
|||
|
|
positive side, and here closely resembled the so-called Christian
|
|||
|
|
doctrine of Christ and the church. Husband and wife were to be
|
|||
|
|
father and daughter, mother and son, brother and sister, teacher
|
|||
|
|
and pupil, and above all, friends. And this relation was to
|
|||
|
|
subsist on all planes. The hieroglyph of love was a cross; that
|
|||
|
|
of marriage, parallel straight lines, and as the cross was to be
|
|||
|
|
transcended in the circle, so were these lines to converge not on
|
|||
|
|
earth, but in Venus. In the meanwhile each partner led his own
|
|||
|
|
free life; and it often occurred that a woman, having borne two
|
|||
|
|
children to a man and married him, would bear two children to
|
|||
|
|
another man, and so on perhaps for two centuries, thus acquiring
|
|||
|
|
a cohort of husbands. Such an arrangement must clearly have lead
|
|||
|
|
to grave confusion had any question of property and inheritance
|
|||
|
|
been involved, but notions so unfortunate were unknown. Where all
|
|||
|
|
had every heart's desire, of what value were they? It is true
|
|||
|
|
that some division of labour (though little) was involved in the
|
|||
|
|
social scheme, but it occurred to no one to regard the
|
|||
|
|
supervision of serviles as less honourable than the offering of
|
|||
|
|
great sacrifices. In a perfect organism one part is as necessary
|
|||
|
|
and decent as any other part, and no sane observer can reason
|
|||
|
|
otherwise. For a perfect organism has a single definite aim, and
|
|||
|
|
the only dishonourable feather on an arrow would be one that was
|
|||
|
|
out of place. Human nature being what it is, one may nevertheless
|
|||
|
|
agree that this measureless content with the existing order,
|
|||
|
|
except in so far as the purpose of the establishment of that
|
|||
|
|
order was unfulfilled, was rendered possible by the extreme
|
|||
|
|
lightness of the toil demanded of any individual. But it is
|
|||
|
|
impossible for slaves to understand free men. It is always a
|
|||
|
|
wonder to Englishmen that a man should devote himself to
|
|||
|
|
unremitting toil for an ideal. He is called a crank, basely
|
|||
|
|
slandered, the lowest motives being without any reason assigned
|
|||
|
|
to his actions, mocked, persecuted, perhaps crucified. This is
|
|||
|
|
partly forgivable, as in England philanthropy is almost
|
|||
|
|
invariably the mask of vice and fraud.
|
|||
|
|
The ceremony of marriage* was simple, dignified, yet poignant.
|
|||
|
|
The lovers in the presence of their whole house, publicly
|
|||
|
|
embraced for the last time. Their two children pressed them
|
|||
|
|
apart. Elevating their hands in a crossed clasp they gave way,
|
|||
|
|
and the children passed through, preceding a most holy image
|
|||
|
|
which was borne by a priest and priestess between them. Then they
|
|||
|
|
parted, and each was severally congratulated and embraced by any
|
|||
|
|
of the others who chose, and the priest and priestess then,
|
|||
|
|
exalting the image and setting it in a suitable shrine, closed
|
|||
|
|
the ceremony by the command "To work" and adding force to the
|
|||
|
|
same by their example.
|
|||
|
|
The education of the children was another important matter in
|
|||
|
|
which their ideas were wholly opposed to our own. It ceased
|
|||
|
|
altogether at the age of puberty, which was sometimes as early as
|
|||
|
|
six, never later than fourteen. Were it so delayed, the
|
|||
|
|
delinquent was crowned in mockery with a square black cap,
|
|||
|
|
sometimes tasselated, and sent among the serviles to instruct
|
|||
|
|
them in religion and similar branches of learning, and never
|
|||
|
|
permitted to return to Atlas. The ignorance and superstition of
|
|||
|
|
the plains was thus kept at a proper height.
|
|||
|
|
The method of education was indeed singular. Certain
|
|||
|
|
Atlanteans who made it their study would place the various
|
|||
|
|
articles in the hands of the infants, and observe what use they
|
|||
|
|
made of them. In the course of a few months the experts had
|
|||
|
|
accurately mapped the psychology of the child, and it was led in
|
|||
|
|
accordance therewith. The marriage customs of Atlas allowed no
|
|||
|
|
too rapid growth in numbers, and it was therefore easy to give
|
|||
|
|
each child attention. The method of opposition was again employed
|
|||
|
|
in education, the child's natural wish being constantly
|
|||
|
|
stimulated by a parallel training in the contrary subject.
|
|||
|
|
Children were also shewn a series of ordered facts, and an
|
|||
|
|
explanation given. But not the least pains was taken to ascertain
|
|||
|
|
whether the child had retained those instructions; they were left
|
|||
|
|
as impressions on the mind. The brain was not injured by the
|
|||
|
|
strain of being constantly forced to bring up its stores from the
|
|||
|
|
subconscious. It was found in practice that every child learnt
|
|||
|
|
everything that it was shown, and that this learning was always
|
|||
|
|
ready for use, while the consciousness was never wearied or
|
|||
|
|
overcrowded. It was also found that those whose memories were
|
|||
|
|
what we call good were precisely those who failed to develop in
|
|||
|
|
other ways more useful to society.
|
|||
|
|
The most peculiar of their methods was the search for genius.
|
|||
|
|
It was the business of the experts to pay the most serious and
|
|||
|
|
reverent attention to all that a child did, and whenever they
|
|||
|
|
failed to understand the workings of its mind, to place it under
|
|||
|
|
the charge of a special guardian, who did his utmost to
|
|||
|
|
comprehend sufficiently to be able to encourage it to become yet
|
|||
|
|
more unintelligible.
|
|||
|
|
Apud eos membrum virile membrano lucido erat; ob quod qualis
|
|||
|
|
circumscisio die nativitatis facta erat. Vix credere dignum est,
|
|||
|
|
tanquam verum, feminarum montes venereales similutidine facies
|
|||
|
|
fuere, facies demonicae, sardonicae, Satyricae, cujus os erat os
|
|||
|
|
vulvae, res horribiles atque ridiculosa. Ferunt similia de
|
|||
|
|
virorum membris, quae fingunt sicut imagines homunculorum fuere.
|
|||
|
|
Lege--Judice--Tace.
|
|||
|
|
Many of the men had ossified extensions of the frontal process
|
|||
|
|
which amounted to horns, and the formation was occasionally found
|
|||
|
|
in the higher types of women. Curiously carven head-dresses of
|
|||
|
|
gold were worn by both sexes, and those of priestly rank adorned
|
|||
|
|
these with living serpents, and the high priests yet further with
|
|||
|
|
feathers or with wings, such being not the spoils of dead birds,
|
|||
|
|
but the blossoms of the live gold of the crowns. Some tradition
|
|||
|
|
of this custom is found in the pictures of the 'Gods' of Egypt,
|
|||
|
|
these gods being merely the Atlanteans whose mission civilized
|
|||
|
|
the country. The names of some of the earlier gods confirm this.
|
|||
|
|
Nu (Hebrew Noah) is Atlantean for arch, Zu (Egyptian Shu) for
|
|||
|
|
many ideas connecting with wind, Asi means 'cum quasi serpens',
|
|||
|
|
obviously the name of an actual High Priestess. Ra is pure
|
|||
|
|
Atlantean for Sun, and 'Mse' (Egyptian Chomse) for moon. The idea
|
|||
|
|
in 'Mse is that of a strong woman ('M) closing the mouth of a
|
|||
|
|
serpent (S) or dragon, and from this we have the XIth card of the
|
|||
|
|
Bohemian Tarot, and the legend in the Apocalypse. In the mystic
|
|||
|
|
Greek used by the Gnostics we find similar traces, SOPHIA being
|
|||
|
|
from S Ph, giving the idea of 'serpent breath' i.e. wisdom. IAO
|
|||
|
|
is PHALLOS, KTEIS, PROKTOS. The word LOGOS means the Boy (G)
|
|||
|
|
naturally engendered of the Virgin (L) and the Serpent (S). THEOS
|
|||
|
|
(root O, first written 0) means the sun in his strength and also
|
|||
|
|
the Lingam-Yoni conjoined. CHRISTOS is 'The love of passion of
|
|||
|
|
the Rising Sun (R) and the serpent' (S). The I and T indicate
|
|||
|
|
certain details which are foreign to the present discussion.
|
|||
|
|
NEUMA (Atlantean N M) is the 'Arch of the Woman', MARIA, the
|
|||
|
|
Woman of the Sun.* The words MEITHRAS and ABRAXAS are again
|
|||
|
|
derived from Atlas. "The woman entered, Lingam being conjoined
|
|||
|
|
with Yoni, bears the sun from her serpent womb" and "From the
|
|||
|
|
womb's mouth the sun (cometh seeking) a womb for his desire, even
|
|||
|
|
the womb of a serpent", the course of the year being signified in
|
|||
|
|
this manner, as usual with the ancients. This plan of an idea
|
|||
|
|
corresponding to each letter was carried out very strictly: thus
|
|||
|
|
TLA, black, means the stigma or mark of the virgin's womb, IA
|
|||
|
|
(Hail! Greeting!) 'Face to Face', from the other peculiarity
|
|||
|
|
described above. These few examples will suffice to indicate the
|
|||
|
|
singular character of the language,* and the way in which its
|
|||
|
|
essential dogmatic symbols have been incorporated by the heirs of
|
|||
|
|
Atlas in the inmost sanctuaries of races which they deemed worthy
|
|||
|
|
of such assistance.
|
|||
|
|
I must not pass over in silence the question of sacrifice to
|
|||
|
|
the gods, to which a passing reference has already been made.
|
|||
|
|
Such sacrifices were not very frequent; the victims were the
|
|||
|
|
'failures', those who were useless to the social economy.* As
|
|||
|
|
they represented capital expenditure, the object was to recover
|
|||
|
|
this, at least, since no interest could be expected. The victim
|
|||
|
|
was therefore handed over to a High Priest or Priestess, who
|
|||
|
|
extracted the life by an instrument devised for and excellently
|
|||
|
|
adapted to the purpose, so that it died of exhaustion. The life
|
|||
|
|
thus regained was given to 'the gods' in a manner too complex to
|
|||
|
|
be described in this brief account.
|
|||
|
|
The early age at which puberty occurred was due to design. The
|
|||
|
|
normal period of gestation had also been shortened to four
|
|||
|
|
months. This was all part of the scheme to economize time. Old
|
|||
|
|
age had been almost done away with by the great readiness of the
|
|||
|
|
Atlanteans to 'go and see' at the first sign of failing power. No
|
|||
|
|
doubt, further improvements would have been made but for the loss
|
|||
|
|
of interest in the matter, all generation being regarded as 'the
|
|||
|
|
old experiment', not likely to repay the trouble of further
|
|||
|
|
research. In the 200 or 300 years of a man's full vigour, only 8
|
|||
|
|
years on an average was the wastage of childhood, and even this
|
|||
|
|
was not all waste, since some time at least must be necessary for
|
|||
|
|
the experts to discover and direct the tendencies of the mind.
|
|||
|
|
The body ought therefore to be regarded as an engine, the
|
|||
|
|
theoretical limit of whose efficiency had been reached.
|
|||
|
|
So much I mention of the customs of the Atlanteans with regard
|
|||
|
|
to marriage, education and religious sacrifices.
|
|||
|
|
.pa
|
|||
|
|
VIII.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
OF THE HISTORY OF ATLAS, FROM
|
|||
|
|
ITS EARLIEST ORIGINS
|
|||
|
|
TO THE PERIOD IMMEDIATELY
|
|||
|
|
PRECEDING THE CATASTROPHE.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The origin of Atlas is lost in the obscurity of antiquity. The
|
|||
|
|
official religious explanation is this: "We came across the
|
|||
|
|
waters on the living Atla", which is pious but improbable. A
|
|||
|
|
mystic meaning is to be suspected. The lay historian says "We
|
|||
|
|
came, escaping from destruction, eight persons in a ship, bearing
|
|||
|
|
the living Zro." This reminds one of later legends of presumably
|
|||
|
|
equal value. Poets frankly claim "We descended from heaven", and
|
|||
|
|
it has been seriously urged that seafarers would have preferred
|
|||
|
|
the plains to the rocks. The law of contrariety to Nature
|
|||
|
|
explains this away. Others maintain that the earliest settlers
|
|||
|
|
came 'by air,' or 'through air'. This must mean balloons or
|
|||
|
|
airplanes, as flying was not known until centuries after. What is
|
|||
|
|
definitely known is that the earliest settlers were of a purely
|
|||
|
|
fighting race.
|
|||
|
|
An Atlantean Homer, Ylo, has described the first battle in
|
|||
|
|
such detail as to leave no doubt that he is retelling facts--a
|
|||
|
|
marked contradiction to his earlier books. There appear to have
|
|||
|
|
been but few Atlanteans, unless the names given are those of
|
|||
|
|
chiefs, which internal evidence contraverts. Their valour seems
|
|||
|
|
to have been prodigious. The natives were armed with every
|
|||
|
|
possible instrument of precision, having cavalry and artillery in
|
|||
|
|
abundance, as well as weapons that must have been as superior to
|
|||
|
|
the modern rifle (unless Ylo exaggerates) as that is to the
|
|||
|
|
arquebus. In spite of this the men of Atlas 'smote them with
|
|||
|
|
rods' or 'fell upon them with their cones', and routed them
|
|||
|
|
utterly. This mention of rods and cones has absurdly suggested
|
|||
|
|
to commentators that the Atlanteans used their eyes, and
|
|||
|
|
hypnotised the enemy. To state such an opinion is sufficient to
|
|||
|
|
expose its author to the contempt of the thoughtful. Altogether
|
|||
|
|
86 battles were fought, extending over five years, before the
|
|||
|
|
natives were reduced to sue for peace. This was granted on
|
|||
|
|
generous terms, which the colonists broke, as soon as they dared
|
|||
|
|
to do so, in accordance with the invariable rule of colonists,
|
|||
|
|
then as much as today. However, it was nigh on a hundred years
|
|||
|
|
before the first college of magic was established. Previously the
|
|||
|
|
Atla had been carried about as occasion demanded. It was now
|
|||
|
|
enshrined with some decency of ceremonial upon a mountain. About
|
|||
|
|
three hundred years later we find ourselves face to face with the
|
|||
|
|
first great Mystery of Atlas. This is a translation of the record
|
|||
|
|
of that most strange event.
|
|||
|
|
"Now it came to pass that all men turned black and died, and
|
|||
|
|
that the living Atla abode alone, bearing Mercury, whereof the
|
|||
|
|
Sun knoweth. Thus came again the true men of Atlas, and their
|
|||
|
|
women, bearing gods and goddesses. And the void suffered nothing,
|
|||
|
|
and the earth was at peace. Now then indeed arose Art, and men
|
|||
|
|
builded, being blind. And there was light, and some of the light
|
|||
|
|
wrought mischief. Wherefore the wise men destroyed them with
|
|||
|
|
their magic, and there is no record because it is written in that
|
|||
|
|
which is." A sort of 'Si monumentum quaeris, circumspice' seems
|
|||
|
|
here implied. In any case there were clearly two gaps unbridge
|
|||
|
|
able between the early struggles of the settlers, the period of
|
|||
|
|
great buildings, and the modern period, which proved stable of
|
|||
|
|
'houses'. The 'houses' were only made possible by the perfecting
|
|||
|
|
of Zro, and this helps considerably to fix the date. The next
|
|||
|
|
2500 years were years of peaceable progress; the labour-mills
|
|||
|
|
were run without a hitch, and the next event was the discovery of
|
|||
|
|
black phophorus. It had been the custom to worship the Atla with
|
|||
|
|
lights, and these lights had been candles of yellow phosphorus in
|
|||
|
|
golden sheathes. At that time the Atla was veiled. At one
|
|||
|
|
festival of Spring the veils were burnt up, the lights
|
|||
|
|
extinguished, and the yellow phosphorus was found to have been
|
|||
|
|
turned into the black powder. The magicians examined this, and
|
|||
|
|
brought Zro to its ninth stage. This revolutionized the condition
|
|||
|
|
of things: old age and disease were no more, and death voluntary.
|
|||
|
|
Strangely enough this led directly to the Great Conspiracy.
|
|||
|
|
At the end of this period of 2500 years the system of 'houses'
|
|||
|
|
was well established. There were over 400 such 'houses', each of
|
|||
|
|
perhaps 1000 souls on an average. These were governed by 4
|
|||
|
|
'houses of houses' whose rulers took orders from the High House,
|
|||
|
|
at the head of which was the living Atla. The plain principle of
|
|||
|
|
Atlas was revolution; and like all revolutionary bodies, was
|
|||
|
|
obliged to adopt the strictest form of autocracy. A democracy is
|
|||
|
|
always soddenly conservative. The only hope is to catch it in one
|
|||
|
|
of its moments of crazy enthusiasm, and crush it before it has
|
|||
|
|
time to recover. Caesar and Napoleon both did this as far as they
|
|||
|
|
could; Cromwell and Porfirio Diaz did the same within narrower
|
|||
|
|
limits.
|
|||
|
|
Now a certain sophist--for philosopher one cannot call him--
|
|||
|
|
tried to enunciate a magical law to the effect that the present
|
|||
|
|
standard of life was all that could be desired; that further
|
|||
|
|
progress would be harmful, that Venus was not worth attaining,
|
|||
|
|
and that the sole endeavour of the magicians should be to
|
|||
|
|
preserve things as they were. That such a proposition could be
|
|||
|
|
supposed a 'law' reflects no credit on its author or its
|
|||
|
|
supporters. Yet of these it found many. The ninth stage of Zro
|
|||
|
|
was a leap calculated to unsettle the calmest mind. Its reality
|
|||
|
|
had beggared the optimist's daydream. Poets had thrown down their
|
|||
|
|
stilettos.* High Priests who had spent decades in hopeful
|
|||
|
|
experiment saw their results attained by an entirely different
|
|||
|
|
method. In short, two thirds of the people were infected with
|
|||
|
|
the heresy, and hoped to hear it promulgated as a Law of Magic.
|
|||
|
|
It should here be explained that every Law of Magic had its
|
|||
|
|
turn as the principal law of practical working, and the school
|
|||
|
|
supporting any law, or insisting on it, became prominent with it.
|
|||
|
|
Every dominant law in all history had always been made
|
|||
|
|
insignificant by a new discovery about Zro, or other matter of
|
|||
|
|
practical importance, just as the "Peace with Honour" battle-cry
|
|||
|
|
of Disraeli was drowned by the calculation of the cost of
|
|||
|
|
warships, soldiers and patriotism. Each step in Zro had
|
|||
|
|
consequently implied the rise to power of a new school; and the
|
|||
|
|
sophist was ambitious, and yet the law he wished to establish was
|
|||
|
|
the ruling law of the servile races.
|
|||
|
|
The 'law' was accordingly sent to the High House for approval.
|
|||
|
|
Some opposition may have been forseen, but no one was prepared
|
|||
|
|
for the blackness of disapproval which actually radiated,
|
|||
|
|
striking hearts cold. A course without precedent, no answer was
|
|||
|
|
vouchsafed. On the contrary, even normal communication was
|
|||
|
|
suspended. The houses which favoured the innovation--333 in
|
|||
|
|
numbers--took counsel, came to the decision that it was useless
|
|||
|
|
to oppose the High House, and were about to acquiesce, when a
|
|||
|
|
woman who had once been in the presence of 'To Her' rose and
|
|||
|
|
thought vehemently 'The Living Atla is the head of our
|
|||
|
|
conspiracy'. In other words, they were the loyalists, the
|
|||
|
|
Magicians of the High House the rebels. This was why they had cut
|
|||
|
|
themselves off, because their own head was against them. It was
|
|||
|
|
instantly resolved to go to the High House, and demand the
|
|||
|
|
custody of 'To Her'. Nearing the goal, however, a remnant of the
|
|||
|
|
ancient reverence half cowed even the ringleaders--I may mention
|
|||
|
|
that five of every six of the heretics were women--when they saw
|
|||
|
|
a stern phalanx of magicians, its point threatening their centre.
|
|||
|
|
As they wavered, a woman cried "They are only men such as we
|
|||
|
|
are." The ranks stiffened; on all sides the army closed upon the
|
|||
|
|
tiny phalanx, which only numbered 66 all told. It was then that
|
|||
|
|
the truth was known. Ere a blow could be struck, the attacking
|
|||
|
|
party vanished; it was instantaneous and complete annihilation.
|
|||
|
|
From that moment it was certain that the ruling power in Atlas
|
|||
|
|
was Something* infinitely more awful than the Living Atla. In
|
|||
|
|
order to avoid any possible repetition of such a disaster--for
|
|||
|
|
the Magicians of the High House knew that any manifestation of
|
|||
|
|
the Supreme must undo the work of centuries--they gave out that
|
|||
|
|
they had become too terrible to look upon, and for the future
|
|||
|
|
they always appeared with heavy veils, or rather masks, since for
|
|||
|
|
the most part they were carven fantastically by the wearers in
|
|||
|
|
their leisure hours. A further alteration was made in the system
|
|||
|
|
of government. The head of one of the 'houses of houses' was made
|
|||
|
|
supreme: the High House took no part in affairs of state. Thus
|
|||
|
|
the Atla was to all intents and purposes deposed, although the
|
|||
|
|
same reverence and sacrifice were paid to it as formerly. It
|
|||
|
|
became a 'constitutional monarch', in our modern jargon.
|
|||
|
|
The next thousand years were years of serious trial in other
|
|||
|
|
ways. The toil of repopulation was excessive, and there was a
|
|||
|
|
revolt or rather strike of the servile races, which was ended by
|
|||
|
|
the substitution of 'bread from heaven' for those products of the
|
|||
|
|
earth on which they had formerly been fed, a diet which proved so
|
|||
|
|
adapted to their natures that no labour troubles ever recurred.
|
|||
|
|
The Greek legends of the wars between Gods, giants, Titans are
|
|||
|
|
traditional of a real war or series of wars which continued with
|
|||
|
|
intervals over 200 years. The enemy had developed naval armament
|
|||
|
|
to an extreme. Their tactics were these:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1. To wipe out the servile races and so to interfere with the
|
|||
|
|
production of Zro.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
2. To rush and destroy the High House.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The first of these met with a great deal of success, the
|
|||
|
|
floating rock being struck with projectiles and sunk. This
|
|||
|
|
occurred chiefly on the outlaying islands, where they were not
|
|||
|
|
too much afraid to make raids in force. They also sent epidemic
|
|||
|
|
disease of many kinds. Atlas was reduced to such extremity in
|
|||
|
|
these ways that at one time the waterways were forced and the
|
|||
|
|
assault on the High House was actually carried out, bombardment
|
|||
|
|
continuing day and night for months together. Through a
|
|||
|
|
misunderstanding of a well known magical law, Atlanteans at that
|
|||
|
|
time considered themselves prohibited from employing any other
|
|||
|
|
defence than the rods and the cones of their forefathers; and
|
|||
|
|
these, it appears, were useless against machinery, or against men
|
|||
|
|
protected by fortification in such a way that they could not be
|
|||
|
|
got at from any quarter. Thus the sharklike submarines of the
|
|||
|
|
enemy were unassailable. The war was therefore at first entirely
|
|||
|
|
one-sided. A certain youthful magician, however, resolving to die
|
|||
|
|
for his country if need were, decided to retaliate. He had found
|
|||
|
|
that Zro in its nascent state (i.e. between the globes) had the
|
|||
|
|
power of bringing about endothermic reaction, seawater for
|
|||
|
|
example, becoming caustic soda and hydrochloric acid; and further
|
|||
|
|
that this acid thus produced was many thousand times more active
|
|||
|
|
than in its normal state. For example, the rock basins in which
|
|||
|
|
he conducted his first experiment dissolved as rapidly as butter
|
|||
|
|
under boiling oil. He then prepared a number of pairs of
|
|||
|
|
receiver-globes, and dropped them in the vicinity of the enemy's
|
|||
|
|
submarines by night. In this manner he destroyed the hulls of
|
|||
|
|
almost the whole fleet in a single night; and the remainder fled
|
|||
|
|
in panic at dawn. They returned the following year, carrying out
|
|||
|
|
daylight raids only and devoting themselves chiefly to destroying
|
|||
|
|
the labour-mills. The young magician had been rewarded for his
|
|||
|
|
services by being presented to the Atla, and this example
|
|||
|
|
encouraged others to find means of attacking the invaders.
|
|||
|
|
Artificial darkness was therefore invented, and combined with the
|
|||
|
|
former method; but this was only partially successful, the
|
|||
|
|
tremendous pace of the 'sharks' enabling them to evade any
|
|||
|
|
threatening clouds. They did enormous damage, and the supplies of
|
|||
|
|
Zro were seriously curtailed. Things now went from bad to worse,
|
|||
|
|
and culminated in the attack on the High House, the besiegers
|
|||
|
|
keeping their battleships surrounded by rafts of fire, so that
|
|||
|
|
attack was impossible even by night. It was then that the High
|
|||
|
|
House called on the heorism of its sons. Armed with long swords
|
|||
|
|
of Zro, they plunged into the sea, to perish under the tooth of
|
|||
|
|
the Zhee-Zhou, but not before they had time to hack the invading
|
|||
|
|
battleships to shreds. Their floating torch-rafts only assisted
|
|||
|
|
the attack by directing the swimmers to their quarry. The attack
|
|||
|
|
on the High House had aroused Atlas at last. A counter invasion
|
|||
|
|
was plotted and carried out with immediate and complete success,
|
|||
|
|
the enemy being exterminated, and their country not merely
|
|||
|
|
ravaged but destroyed by arousing the forces of earthquake. All
|
|||
|
|
activity of this kind however was deprecable, a recurrence was
|
|||
|
|
guarded against by removing the High House to the lofty mountain
|
|||
|
|
previously described, and a 'house' was chosen to cultivate the
|
|||
|
|
art of war, and entrusted with the duty of destroying any living
|
|||
|
|
thing that might approach within a hundred miles of Atlas.
|
|||
|
|
Only one other adventure of historical importance remains to
|
|||
|
|
be recorded. It is the attempt of some foolish Atlanteans to
|
|||
|
|
found an 'Empire', and so to be entirely distinguished from the
|
|||
|
|
missionary effort referred to previously. The original settlement
|
|||
|
|
of Atlas, as has been the case with all flourishing colonies, was
|
|||
|
|
made by a few hardy pioneers, who strengthened themselves
|
|||
|
|
gradually by growth. But Atlas in her momentary madness poured
|
|||
|
|
out blood and treasure in the fatuous attempt to impose alien
|
|||
|
|
domination on lands utterly unsuited to the genius of the people.
|
|||
|
|
The idea, of course, was to increase the supply of labour and
|
|||
|
|
consequently of crude Zro. In the first place the adventure was
|
|||
|
|
expensive. It was uneconomical (in the scientific sense) to send
|
|||
|
|
ships with less than 1000 fighting men. The Zro required for these
|
|||
|
|
meant the employment of at least 7000 serviles, and the naval
|
|||
|
|
construction was therefore of a colossal order. But although
|
|||
|
|
little difficulty was found in conquering the country in the
|
|||
|
|
military sense, the natives had to be almost exterminated, and
|
|||
|
|
the labour of the survivors proved difficult to enforce. It was
|
|||
|
|
even then not a tenth as efficient as that of the serviles at
|
|||
|
|
home. The imported serviles moreover caught native diseases, and
|
|||
|
|
died in hundreds; and though by prodigious sacrifices the West
|
|||
|
|
African Empire was kept going for nearly 200 years, it had to end
|
|||
|
|
at last no less ingloriously than the French adventure in Mexico,
|
|||
|
|
or the English in India, and South Africa.*
|
|||
|
|
The main causes were the impossibility of breeding children in
|
|||
|
|
a climate so unsuitable, even of maintaining their own women, and
|
|||
|
|
above all the fact that the crude Zro was not of a quality equal
|
|||
|
|
to that obtained in Atlas, and that the Zro generated by the
|
|||
|
|
Atlanteans themselves was not to be made at all outside their own
|
|||
|
|
country. The lesson was learnt. Until the end no further attempt
|
|||
|
|
was made to advance in any but the true direction. The great
|
|||
|
|
majority of the colonists returned to Atlas; but many,
|
|||
|
|
degenerating as is the fashion with colonists of this conquering
|
|||
|
|
kind, abandoned Zro for gross food, intermarried with the
|
|||
|
|
natives, and have generally degenerated yet further to races
|
|||
|
|
inferior even to the present descendants of those who were in
|
|||
|
|
those days the equivalents of the serviles of Atlas.
|
|||
|
|
.pa
|
|||
|
|
IX.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
OF THE CATASTROPHE,
|
|||
|
|
ITS ANTECEDENTS AND
|
|||
|
|
PRESUMED CAUSES.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In my remarks on Zro I have a necessarily somewhat diffuse
|
|||
|
|
account of the properties of this remarkable substance. It must
|
|||
|
|
now be made clearer that the crude Zro in its nine stages
|
|||
|
|
produced by the serviles, and consumed in the 'houses' was in
|
|||
|
|
each stage of inferior quality to that of the same degree
|
|||
|
|
produced by the Atlanteans, and consumed by the High House. For
|
|||
|
|
example, the crude Zro was made in a labour-mill with all sorts
|
|||
|
|
of insulations. The first stage of the priest's Zro could be made
|
|||
|
|
anywhere and at any time, and naturally directed itself to the
|
|||
|
|
receptable for it without any precautions. It must, I think, be
|
|||
|
|
presumed that the Zro generated in the High House was again of
|
|||
|
|
far greater purity and potency. Very little of it can have
|
|||
|
|
been used in the experiments of the magicians, and it is
|
|||
|
|
therefore necessary to account for enormous quantities, produced
|
|||
|
|
during many centuries of uninterrupted labour. I have, however,
|
|||
|
|
no data of any kind for this investigation; the mysteries of the
|
|||
|
|
High House have ever been inscrutable, and were not wholly
|
|||
|
|
delivered to the Heirs of Atlas. They must be rediscovered by the
|
|||
|
|
magicians of the new race. It may be that in some form or other
|
|||
|
|
the Zro had been made stable, and used to impregnate the column
|
|||
|
|
which is alleged to have been driven 'through the Earth';
|
|||
|
|
perhaps, and less improbably, only to the depth of a few hundred
|
|||
|
|
miles. This column, however long it may have been, had certainly
|
|||
|
|
its top immediately beneath the reservoir of the High House. It
|
|||
|
|
had been completed about 70 years before the 'catastrophe' but
|
|||
|
|
apparently no effort was made to utilize it in any way. To me it
|
|||
|
|
appears probable that in some one mind the whole 'catastrophe'
|
|||
|
|
was brooding, that the column was part of the device, and that
|
|||
|
|
the event which I shall now describe was the other part.
|
|||
|
|
This event was the birth of a child in the High House, a child
|
|||
|
|
without the distinguishing mark of the daughters of Atlas. That
|
|||
|
|
any child at all should have been born there is so incredible
|
|||
|
|
that I am inclined to suspect an improper use of the word 'born'.
|
|||
|
|
I think rather that a magician brought Zro to its eleventh stage,
|
|||
|
|
when it takes human form, and lives! The alternative theory is
|
|||
|
|
that of the 'Angel of Venus' described in the chapter on the
|
|||
|
|
Underground Gardens of Atlas. The supporters of this theory hold
|
|||
|
|
that the child was not born of a priestess, but of the Living
|
|||
|
|
Atla.
|
|||
|
|
In any case, the whole country gave itself up to unbridled
|
|||
|
|
rejoicing. Work was carried on at a greater speed than ever
|
|||
|
|
before: one might say a delirium of labour. For eleven years this
|
|||
|
|
continued without cessation, and then without warning came the
|
|||
|
|
order to repair to the High House--every man, woman and child of
|
|||
|
|
Atlas. What was then done, I know not, and dare not guess; that
|
|||
|
|
same day seven volunteers, heroic exiles from the reward of so
|
|||
|
|
many centuries of toil, voluntary maroons on the discarded
|
|||
|
|
planet, the Heirs of Atlas, turned their faces from the High
|
|||
|
|
House, and severally sought distant mountains, there each to
|
|||
|
|
guard his share of the Secrets of the Holy Race, and in due time
|
|||
|
|
to discover and train up fit children of other races of the earth
|
|||
|
|
so that one day another people might be founded to undertake
|
|||
|
|
another such task as that now ended.
|
|||
|
|
Hardly had the pinnacle of Atlas melted into the sea behind
|
|||
|
|
them, than the 'catastrophe' occurred. The High House and the
|
|||
|
|
column beneath it, with all the inhabitants of Atlas, shot from
|
|||
|
|
the earth with the vehemence of a million lightnings, bound for
|
|||
|
|
that green blaze of glory that scintillated in the West above the
|
|||
|
|
sunset.
|
|||
|
|
Instantly the Earth, its god departed, gave itself up to
|
|||
|
|
anguish. The sea rushed unto the void of the column and in a
|
|||
|
|
thousand earthquakes Atlas, 'houses' and plains together were
|
|||
|
|
overwhelmed forever in the ocean. Tidal waves rolled round the
|
|||
|
|
world; everywhere great floods carried away villages and towns;
|
|||
|
|
earthquakes rocked and tempests roared; tumult was triumphant.
|
|||
|
|
For years after the catastrophe the dying tremors of the Event
|
|||
|
|
still shook mankind with fear.* And the eternal waves of the great
|
|||
|
|
mother rolled over Atlas, save where Earth in her agony thrust up
|
|||
|
|
gaunt pinnacles, bare masts of wreckage to mark the vanished
|
|||
|
|
continent. Save for its heirs, of whose successors it is my
|
|||
|
|
highest honour to be the youngest and the least worthy, oblivion
|
|||
|
|
fell, like one last night in which the sun should be forever
|
|||
|
|
extinct, upon the land of Atlas and its people.
|
|||
|
|
Shall such high purpose fail of emulation, such achievement
|
|||
|
|
and example not excite us to like striving? Then let earth fall
|
|||
|
|
indeed from her high place in heaven, and mankind be outcast
|
|||
|
|
forever from the sun! Men of Earth! Seek out the heirs of Atlas;
|
|||
|
|
let them order you into a phalanx, let them build you into a
|
|||
|
|
pyramid, that may pierce that appointed which awaits you, to
|
|||
|
|
establish a new dynasty of Atlanteans to be the mainstay and
|
|||
|
|
mainspring of the Earth, the pioneers of their own path to
|
|||
|
|
heaven, and to our lord and Father, the Sun! And he put his hand
|
|||
|
|
upon his thigh, and swore it.
|
|||
|
|
By the ineffable , Tla, and by the holy Zro, did he swear
|
|||
|
|
it, and entered into the body of the new Atla that is alive upon
|
|||
|
|
the earth.
|
|||
|
|
.pa
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
NOTES:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Chapter I:
|
|||
|
|
p3. There were four (some say five) distinct races, each
|
|||
|
|
having several sub-races. But the main characteristics were the
|
|||
|
|
same. Some alleged the Portuguese and the English to be survivals
|
|||
|
|
of this or kindred stock.
|
|||
|
|
p3. Or ZRA'D. The ZR is drawled slowly; then the lips are
|
|||
|
|
suddenly curled back in a sneering snarl, and the vowel sharply
|
|||
|
|
and forcibly uttered. It is disputed whether this word is
|
|||
|
|
connected with the Sanscrit SRI, holy.
|
|||
|
|
p4. The same danger to society in our own time has been
|
|||
|
|
forseen, and an identical remedy discovered and applied in
|
|||
|
|
compulsory education and cheap newspapers.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Chapter II:
|
|||
|
|
p6. Gautama Buddha was the reincarnation or legend of a
|
|||
|
|
previous Buddha who was a missionary from Atlas, hence the
|
|||
|
|
account of his immovable neck, the ears that he could fold over
|
|||
|
|
his face, and other monstrous details.
|
|||
|
|
p6. There was a Governor of these, of whose name, nature and
|
|||
|
|
function I am not permitted to speak.
|
|||
|
|
p7. One of the most brilliant children committed suicide on
|
|||
|
|
learning that he could not move his upper jaw. This boy is of the
|
|||
|
|
eleven heroes who had statues in the High House. And the
|
|||
|
|
Atlantean for 'sorrow' in its ultimate sense ('dukka' or
|
|||
|
|
'weltschmerz') is to wrench at the upper jaw.
|
|||
|
|
p8. This system of communication has great advantages over
|
|||
|
|
any other. It is independent of distance, and dependent on the
|
|||
|
|
will of the transmitter. Telepathic messages could not be
|
|||
|
|
'tapped' or miscarry in any way.
|
|||
|
|
p9. Called by them Zhee-Zhou, in imitation of the swish of
|
|||
|
|
the tail and the cry of its victim.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Chapter III:
|
|||
|
|
p10. The point was discussed fully, and finally relegated, in
|
|||
|
|
the Council of Stockholm, 1913.
|
|||
|
|
p10. The scene is so real to me that I find it impossible to
|
|||
|
|
avoid using the historic present here and elsewhere,
|
|||
|
|
inadvertently.
|
|||
|
|
p10. There are six other pieces of apparatus to insulate and
|
|||
|
|
carry to the basin the six subtler principles of sweat.
|
|||
|
|
p11. Only the smallest quantity is required, and it is
|
|||
|
|
unchanged, its function being purely catalytic. This form of
|
|||
|
|
phosphorus is one of the most stable elements. It combines (so
|
|||
|
|
far as is known) only with Zro. But if thrown out of such a
|
|||
|
|
combination, it becomes ordinary yellow phosphorous.
|
|||
|
|
p12. In spite of the absolute promiscuity of the Atlanteans,
|
|||
|
|
this was never in doubt, owing to the special mark of each man,
|
|||
|
|
whose stigma or variation was infallibly transmitted.
|
|||
|
|
p13. This item is loosely used, as equivalent of 'life.' The
|
|||
|
|
sacrifice is described later, and the point made clear.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
p13. No other disease was known after the bringing of the Zro
|
|||
|
|
to its ninth stage, all indisposition being instantly cured by a
|
|||
|
|
single dose.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Chapter IV:
|
|||
|
|
p14. No known state of pure Zro is stable. From this it will
|
|||
|
|
be seen how entirely Atlas was in the hands of the servile races.
|
|||
|
|
Fortunately no trouble ever arose; the supply of labour was
|
|||
|
|
always ample.
|
|||
|
|
p15. There was also a settlement in Finland. Its only remains
|
|||
|
|
in historic periods is 'Lapland Witches.'
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Chapter V:
|
|||
|
|
p16. There are various theories; one a sort of avatar affair,
|
|||
|
|
another that the Atla is a quintessence of some kind; another
|
|||
|
|
calls 'To Her' the 'Angel of Venus, the force of our aspiration.'
|
|||
|
|
p16. A mere compliment.
|
|||
|
|
p17. Especially monkeys. The results of this experiment were
|
|||
|
|
sent to colonize an island, but escaped, and after many journeys,
|
|||
|
|
reached Japan, where their descendents flourish still.
|
|||
|
|
p19. A partial exception existed for prime numbers, as being
|
|||
|
|
self-generated, and each of these which had been investigated had
|
|||
|
|
its special (and comparatively simple) signification.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Chapter VII:
|
|||
|
|
p25.There was also the marriage of those of the Magicians who
|
|||
|
|
refused all intercourse with the opposite sex, and were therefore
|
|||
|
|
married to the whole sex as such. Here was no ceremony used; but
|
|||
|
|
each had a special mark signifying that he or she was thus
|
|||
|
|
consecrated.
|
|||
|
|
p26. MAR is Atlantean (also Sanscrit) for die. This word
|
|||
|
|
throws light on their conception of death.
|
|||
|
|
p26.Note that no tautologies defile its linguistic wells. "As
|
|||
|
|
I have written" is never changed to 'as I have observed, noted,
|
|||
|
|
described, said, indicated, remarked, pointed out' and so on.
|
|||
|
|
p26. I must revert for a moment to the language. OIK, Greek
|
|||
|
|
OIKOS meant the 'House of the penetrating men.' NOM, Greek NOMOS,
|
|||
|
|
the 'arch of the House of the Women,' i.e. that which roofed them
|
|||
|
|
in or protected them. Hence "the law.'
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Chapter VIII:
|
|||
|
|
p29. Needle-sharp daggers of Zro in its seventh stage were
|
|||
|
|
used to write on the rock walls of Atlas.
|
|||
|
|
p30. This matter is not for open discussion. Even at this
|
|||
|
|
distant date it would be dangerous to do so much even as indulge
|
|||
|
|
in speculation.
|
|||
|
|
p32.I write a little, but not much, in advance of the events.
|
|||
|
|
To illustrate the theory here advanced I will ask the reader to
|
|||
|
|
compare the results of the attempts to colonize America by (a)
|
|||
|
|
the whole military power of Spain at her zenith, (b) the handful
|
|||
|
|
of exiles in the 'Mayflower.'
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Chapter IX:
|
|||
|
|
p34.The Legend of the Deluge is derived from this event.
|
|||
|
|
|