become Superman and in point of fact no longer exists on earth except in its results, from this point of view may be called "no number."

The usual way to interpret this number is as the ultimate of the Magical Arcanum, and it is only too often confounded with the vulgar idea of Divination, namely, the power to divine that which is hidden, or to exercise magical power, rather than its true meaning, i.e., to exercise Divinity.

We must also consider 21 from its aspect of 7+7+7= 21-3. Since 7 is the number of Perfection the 3X7 would be Perfection gained in the 3 worlds, or the threefold rest of the Christ-power after its 6 days of labor in each world. Again the idea of "no number" is emphasized, for this is the "Rest that remaineth for the people of God," for just as the 3 sevens are ultimately summed up in 3 (7+7+7=21=3) the triune Godhead, so is this rest an indrawing of the individual into the Nirvanic Rest or merging (by expansion) of the individual consciousness into the Divine.

CHAPTER XLIII.

The Twenty-first Letter. SHIN (V).

"He caused Shin to reign in Fire, and crowned it, and combining it with the others, sealed with it the heavens in the Universe, heat in the year, and the head in man, male and female."-Sepher Yetzirah, 20.

“Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."-St. Matthew, IV, 8-9.

The twenty-first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Shin (Sh), one of the Three Mothers. Its Kabalistic meaning is a tooth, while it carries the double sound of the fifteenth letter Samech (S) a prop, and the fifth letter He (H) a window. This may sound somewhat confusing, yet if we consider each as carrying a different shade of the same meaning we will find all fit into its fundamental meaning, which is that of Fire. Samech is a masculine letter and He a feminine, hence the esoteric meaning of Shin is the fire of perfect love manifesting when man and woman are united as one and embodying the Divine Fire.

Applying the idea of fire to the Cosmos, we find that there were three distinct stages in the coming forth of the Cosmos out of its primordial cipher, each attributed to one of the Three Mothers or one of the three aspects of the Divine Creative Fire. In the first chapter of Genesis we read: "God created the heaven and the earth . . . and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." This first creation was brought forth by Aleph, the air; for the Spirit is the Breath and it was by the Spirit or Breath that God created the heaven and the earth. "God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good." This was the creation or bringing forth through Mem, the water which, as we have said in former chapters, is the symbol of the Divine Mother-side of the Godhead; that which after the Breath had animated the Cos

mos gave solidity to it by the brooding power of embodiment through Mother-love. Hence "God saw" or we might put it, the Mother aspect of God (Mem) saw to it that everything was very good, just as a hen gathers her little newly hatched chicks under her feathers and sees to it that no harm shall come to them; that they shall be warm and safe and comfortable, or as a Mother cherishes, feeds and tends a new-born infant that it may have every chance to grow in health and strength. We might call this form of creation the formative or the cherishing power of love to solidify and make permanent structure.

The third creation is through Shin or Fire, which purifies, tempers and hardens. This is noted in Genesis II, 6-7. "There went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." The mist was caused by heat (fire) evaporating the water and moderating the cold. Hence only as fire entered as a third constituent of the earth could man be made "of the dust of the ground." Since to manifest in each world the Soul must necessarily build up a vehicle or body composed of the substance of that world, to manifest on earth a body must be perfected composed of the materials of the earth or literally "of the dust of the ground" ere the Soul can function here. Since man then contained all the elements of manifestation he became a Microcosm or Cosmos in miniature. Thus

it is that Shin completes man. "As above, so below." No creation can be completed until the force of Shin or heat has done its perfect work.

The whole process of the Three Mothers creating in matter is illustrated in the making of pottery. Here the earth or clay is mixed with air, then water is added until it can be moulded into form and finally it is burned in a kiln that the fire may purify, harden and make permanent the form, just as the heat of the mother's kiln or womb, where it remains for its period of completion-10 lunar months-is necessary

to perfect the form of the child. Again, just as Mem, the Mother-love, completed the creation, so in Shin only when man and woman are truly joined in one can the fire of Divine Love purify and solidify and complete their formation as "the twain who are made one flesh."

The Kabalists in their usual minute analysis have compared the effect of heat in separating, distributing and preparing all things in creation, to the use of the teeth in masticating food and preparing it for assimilation.

The two sounds S and H (Samech a prop and He a window or eye) both refer to man. Hence we must look at this letter as the final creation which makes of man the window or eye through which all the lower kingdoms may look towards God the Creator, and also as their prop or their sponsor to God. Also, as the quotation which heads this chapter tells us, this letter or fire "seals the heavens" through the power of the Sun, the eye of the world. In man the head contains the principal heat centers of the body. Yet only as these centers are bathed in the pure blood-stream from the heart does the head become the distributor of heat to the body.

Hieroglyphically Shin expresses a vibration from one pole to another, with a point of equilibrium in the center, hence it is a sign of relative duration, i.e., the vibration of love between man and woman is but a vibration from that creative fixed point of equilibrium (the creative Dot) which is permanent. THE TWENTY-FIRST TAROT CARD. No Number.

"Chance, as taught by Cornelius Agrippa, is in reality an unknown progression, and time but a succession of numbers."-Eliphas Lévi.

The twenty-first card of the Tarot is called the "Unnumbered Card," also "The Fool." In this card we see a young man pictured as wearing a fool's cap as his Crown of Life. His clothes, although gaudily bedecked as to surtout, which is adorned with the fool's bells, are nevertheless badly torn, his trousers scarcely covering his nakedness. Yet he goes