Here we find not only the struggle but the assurance of the final victory of the Christ-force over the material conditions and lower creations of the physical, astral and mental worlds. It is also the number of "Baphomet," the goat of Mendes,5 the image of that mystical and symbolic Beast, which symbolizes the synthesized power of magic, both black and white, which confronts the Disciple when he reaches his Second Initiation. Only when we have reached mastery in the three worlds are we confronted consciously with this Beast, for only then can there be any real temptation to worship him. When we hold in our hands the power of the Magician it is a very real temptation as to how we will use that power. If we use it to work for or to worship self in any of the three worlds we fall down and worship the Beast in its aspect of black magic. But if like Jesus we cry "Get thee behind me Satan," we see that once we turn away from the black side and refuse to use our hard-won powers for self, the Beast becomes a symbol of the conquering Christ or White Magic.

This aspect of the Beast is encountered only by one who has struggled with the temptations of the three worlds and mastered their forces. Only when not only one Christ-man here and there has conquered, but a majority of mankind or the Race at large has said, "Get thee behind me Satan," will the great question be answered as to which shall rule the three worlds, Baphomet or the Christ.

In another aspect the Beast is to the world what the animal soul is to the individual, not evil in itself but the force of inertia which the Christ must overcome and make to vibrate in harmonious response. It is all that resists the force of the Christ-life. In nature it is that force which will turn the most highly cultivated land back to a wilderness if left to itself; that will make the most highly gifted and intellectual man a barbarian if too long separated from the restraining and

also stimulating forces of civilization; that will make a body ferment, putrify and ultimately disintegrate once the divine Spark of Life has left it. It is the natural brutishness of man which expresses as Bolshevism and anarchy once he refuses to obey the Voice of the Divine Guidance or lets go the guiding thread of life (conscience) which would lead him out of the labyrinth of inharmonious physical conditions through the path of law and order.

Although this force is not evil in itself, being but a lack of response to the higher, it becomes evil when man, who should work with the One Life in its mission of redemption, uses his powers to mould this inert and negative phase of life to pander to his lower passions and desires or give expression to the Beast in him. Hence "those who receive the Number of the Beast in their hands" are those who are either actively or supinely working with the forces of nature which tend to interfere with the harmonious manifestations of life on the planet. Only the manifestation of the Christ-principle can hold this earth "in the hollow of his hand" and mould from it a perfected theater for perfected man's further evolution.

The Beast is also the primitive force of matter, restless and ill at ease and tending ever toward disruption; each separate atom seeking to manifest its own form of life at the expense of the rest, as seen in cancer. It is Chaos before it is informed by the Light of the One Life and started on its evolution toward Cosmos. This force is always striving with the Creative Force (the Christ), struggling to go back to the nothingness from which it emerged. Hence we call number 6 the Christ-force struggling in matter and 666 the inertia and opposition which the Christ must overcome in the three worlds. In Revelation (xiii-18) we read "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the Number of the Beast; for it is the number of a man." This verse refers to animal man while he is yet in the stage of unfoldment symbolized by the 666 or when the Christ in him is still strug7 See page 21.

gling with ignorance, indifference and the sway of the animal instincts by which he is ruled in that stage, while 144 is "the number of a Man," the Super-man who has mastered and become the Angel.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

The Eighteenth Letter. TZADDI (Y)

"The Eighteenth Path is called the House of Influence (by the greatness of whose abundance the influx of good things upon created beings is increased), and from the midst of the investigation the arcana and hidden sense are drawn forth, which dwell in its shade and which cling to it, from the cause of all causes."-Sepher Yetzirah, 30.

"He produced Tzaddi, predominant in taste, crowned it, combined and formed with it, Aquarius in the Year and the gullet of man."-Sepher Yetzirah 25.

The eighteenth letter is Tzaddi (TZ). It is a simple letter and corresponds to the sign Aquarius. Its meaning is a fishhook. But the fish-hook here spoken of has a mystical meaning, i. e., it is the hook by which the Initiate must pull Leviathan out of the sea or the power bestowed by Jesus on his Disciples who were fishermen, to enable them to become fishers of men. The idea is similar to that given in the ninth letter, namely, that of a definite step in evolution, a place of protection, also a Naga, a Serpent or Wise Man. In occult numeration it is always the ultimate digit which completes the meaning of a letter and in 18 that digit is 9. We also find that the Kaballah gives the numerical value of 18 as 90, but it must be remembered that kabalistically ciphers do not change the numerical significance of a letter but simply mark its expansion into a higher octave, or lift its value into a new step of development. They also refer to periods of time, tens always referring to periods of evolution, while hundreds refer to prophecies or to future events. Therefore 18 considered as 90 would represent the accomplishment of all that 9 contained, but with the cycle of 10 added, while 1800 would point to a future evolution in which these same powers would be greatly multiplied.

The particular meaning generally given Tzaddi is that of an aim or an end. For instance, placed at the beginning of a

word it signifies the movement which will lead to a desired end. But if placed at the end of a word it marks the end itself or indicates that the aim has been accomplished.

It is referred to the gullet of man in that it performs spiritually for man what the gullet does materially, i. e., carries the food to the stomach to be digested after it is masticated.

THE EIGHTEENTH TAROT CARD.
The Moon.

The eighteenth card of the Tarot is called The Moon. Here we have the picture of a meadow faintly lighted by the Moon, symbol of intuition. The light of the Sun no longer shines directly but is reflected in the Moon. The meadow is bounded by a tower on either side, while a path winding up hill loses itself in the distance. A dog and a wolf are howling at the Moon and a crawfish is trying to crawl out of the water. Drops of blood are raining down from the Moon upon the dreary path.

This card indicates the turning point. The Initiate has here let go the guiding hand of his Guru, who would symbolize the direct sunlight, and henceforth must walk the Path lighted only by the Moon, his own intuition. The towers between which he must go are mighty strongholds, on the one hand the Tower of Ambition and Black Magic, whose snares and glamours are spread for his feet; on the other hand the Tower of Discouragement and faintheartedness whose battlements are armed by Giant Despair and amidst whose swift flying arrows he must wend his way. The drops of blood symbolize the spiritual blood or as The Voice of the Silence calls it, "the blood of the heart" which must bathe the feet (understanding) of every Aspirant who walks this Path. He must learn to listen to the Voice of Intuition (Moon) and even though he seemingly walks alone, must know the Voice of God speaking to him from within. The Rod of Power is in his right hand, for with man's recognition of it the Spirit has begun its conscious evolution through matter. The Light of the Great