15

THE GUN-BARREL

Mighty and erect is this Will of mine, this Pyramid of fire whose summit is lost in Heaven. Upon it have I burned the corpse of my desires.

Mighty and erect is this Φαλλος of my Will. The seed thereof is That which I have borne within me from Eternity; and it is lost within the Body of Our Lady of the Stars.

I am not I; I am but an hollow tube to bring down Fire from Heaven.

Mighty and marvellous is this Weakness, this Heaven which draweth me into Her Womb, this Dome which hideth, which absorbeth, Me.

This is The Night wherein I am lost, the Love through which I am no longer I.

COMMENTARY (ΙΕ)

The card 15 in the Tarot is "The Devil", the mediaeval blind for Pan.

The title of the chapter refers to the Phallus, which is here identified with the will. The Greek word Πυραμις has the same number as Φαλλος

This chapter is quite clear, but one may remark in the last paragraph a reference to the nature of Samadhi.

As man loses his personality in physical love, so does the magician annihilate his divine personality in that which is beyond.

The formula of Samadhi is the same, from the lowest to the highest. The Rosy-Cross is the Universal Key. But, as one proceeds, the Cross becomes greater, until it is the Ace, the Rose, until it is the Word.