AS BEFORE I fell upwards through space, stars and worlds shooting past me. Above me I saw a great orb of rose pink, surrounded by a burning corona of pale green fire. I was pulled into this sphere, descending into delicate clouds of dawn pink.
As the clouds parted I landed gently at the shore of a small, still pond, in the middle of a green wood. Lily pads and pink lotus blossoms floated on the waters. Crickets chirped, and dragonflies Flitted about. It was twilight; in the west, through the trees, the sky was brilliant gold; overhead, rose pink clouds drifted. Behind them I caught glimpses of the green fire, like the northern lights. The air was still and heavy, humid, ripe with the scent of a thousand flowers. Everywhere I heard the buzzing of insects.
Then I noticed the statue. It stood in the center of this pond, an Isis figure of rose-colored marble, cradling the infant Horus in her lap.
I waited a few moments at the edge of this pond, realizing the sun’s position had not changed. This world seemed locked in eternal sunset. I turned slowly around, looking at the shadowy silhouettes of the tree line and the velvet blue haze of the woods behind. I saw that the pond was at the bottom of a great, bowl shaped depression, like an ancient crater. I decided to see what was up along the rim.
I fought my way through the thick reeds and pussy willows that grew along the pond, and then ducked my head under the branches as I entered the trees. Here I scrabbled up a slope covered in old pine needles. Eventually I reached the edge of the rim, and my breath caught at the sight of a magnificent view.
The bowl shaped depression, it turned out, was the cauldron of a long extinct volcano. I was standing then atop this high peak. Under the bluish dark of twilight, I beheld beautiful mountain valleys, green with rich farmland and vineyards. These shone green and gold in the fading light. Jagged mountain peaks concealed the horizon, capped with snow. Everything was verdant and lush. It seemed to me it must be late summer, just before harvest time.
Suddenly, to my right, I heard a stealthy sound. Peering through the trees I spotted a fawn with a pale brown coat dappled with white spots. It emerged from the trees and paused at the head of a thin deer path, watching for me. I understood it wished me to follow.
As I approached it started down the deer path into the valley below. I followed it. The course zig-zagged down the mountainside through the twilight forest, the tall trees looking to me like cedar. Now and again the fawn would stop and look over its shoulder at me, to make sure I was keeping up. Beneath the trees there was a thick carpet of ferns, tall enough that if I stepped off the deer path I might disappear into them. So I stuck to the path and followed my guide.
We emerged at the bottom of the valley, at the edge of one of the fields. To my right was a farmstead, a collection of single-story stone buildings with thatched roofs, surrounded by a low stone wall. The fawn walked along the edge of this wall to a square gateway, two straight pillars with a lintel laying across them. The lintel was inscribed with what looked to be Norse or Germanic runes.
The fawn turned to pass through this gate. As she did, she underwent a startled transformation. A little girl merged from under a fawnskin cloak, which she neatly folded and tucked under her arm. She was eight or nine years old, with pale blonde hair in a long single braid. Her skin was pale, eyes green, and she wore a simple dress of spotless white. A crown of pink flowers encircled her head. She gestured for me to follow, and passing under the arch I entered a paved courtyard. The cobblestones were wet; I had the impression they had just been washed. In the center of this courtyard was a well, and to my right was a stone and thatched cottage. To my left was a barn. At the opposite side was a small yard.
My name is SOMUE, I told her. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Love is the law, love under will, she replied. My name is MIALO. (in Enochian 194, = to PARADIZ “young girl, virgin”)
Is this BAG, the 28th Aethyr?
It is. She gestured across the courtyard and over to the yard. Please follow me. I will take you to Mother.
I nodded, following her into the yard. To the left of the were stables, and I could see the heads of beautiful white horses with golden manes. As we approached the yard I saw a small pond with white swans sailing on its surface. Overhead, geese flew in a V formation. There were apple trees, and at the far edge of the yard another low stone wall with the vineyards stretching out behind it.
The most striking thing in this yard, however, was a white marble fountain. A young satyr (faun) was pouring wine from an urn into the pool. The fountain was carved with a motif of grapes and vines.
Behind the fountain, with her back to me, was a woman. Like the girl she had white blonde hair in a long braid down her back. On her head was a circlet of gold. She wore a gauzy, pale green cloak over a long dress of rose pink. When she turned towards me, i was startled. She didn’t have a face.
This is Mother, the little girl told me. I greeted the woman, but she did not—could not—answer. Then the little girl dropped her fawn cloak on the grass and stepped forward to embrace the Mother. The moment they touch the girl disappeared into the woman as if absorbed. Now, the woman looked at me with a new face…Mialo’s, but older.
Greetings SOMUE. I am DIAFNE.
It seemed perfectly normal to her that she had just consumed her child in this way, so I nodded my head and collected my thoughts. I have come to learn the nature of this Aethyr. What can you teach me of it?
Nothing, she replied.
Nothing?
What I know cannot be communicated, only experienced. She explained.
I thought about this. How?
She gestured for me to sit beside her on the edge of the fountain. Taking up a heavy golden cup engraved with sporting fauns, dryads, and grapes, she dipped it into the pool of wine. First drink this.
I took the cup. The wine was deepest violet, spelling of fragrant spices. A warning touched my heart. How do I know I can trust you?
She stood and showed me the LVX signs. At their conclusion, the clouds seemed to part on the horizon and shafts of golden light fell upon her. I saw her gown was translucent, and beneath could make out her breasts and the curves of her body. Suddenly, as I watched, she transformed. Her garments faded and became pale white chased with golden threads. Her skin became white marble. Her eyes looked like amber stones, and her hair and eyelashes were golden threads. She seemed to absorb the sunlight as she had the child, transforming into this goddess, a living statue of terrible beauty.
I drank the wine, feeling its warmth spread through me. It seemed to concentrate especially between my thighs, and I felt a sudden intense arousal.
Knowledge of BAG can only be obtained by experience and union. The formula is love. Will you enter into me, Thelemite?
To my great surprise, I felt a powerful desire to do this, a hot, all-consuming lust. She undressed, letting her gown fall to the grass and then lay down across it, spreading her arms for me. I immediately undressed as well, my eyes roaming her body. It was perfectly smooth and white, gleaming faintly. I lay atop her, eye to eye, and entered into her with a feeling of intense pleasure.
As we made love a curious thing started happening. I felt her beneath me, felt myself inside her…but at the same time I felt from her point of view. I felt my body lying on top of me, felt the pressure of me moving inside my body. The shifting continued until I was her, and could no longer feel myself. I was the woman making love to a stranger who looked like me.
Orgasm approached, and now my consciousness seemed evenly divided between two bodies. I felt the build up to orgasm inside my body, and felt the energy mirrored in hers. I felt myself giving and receiving pleasure. In fact, I could no longer tell who I was any longer. Sexual intercourse was happening but subject and object were blurred. We were pure action and reaction, identity was gone.
Then there was a blinding white light, a sensation of warmth. I seemed to be floating in a milky white light, warm, rainbow hued like pearl. I had no idea who i was, what I was, where i was. There was only Being.
Gradually, I seemed to condense, to become more and more “myself.” It seemed I had a body again, an identity, an individuality. I was floating naked in a pool of white, silky fluid, inside an amber colored vessel, egg-shaped. I immediately understood I was in a womb of some sort. Her womb.
Once I understood this, we became separate again. She was standing fully clothed again before me, beside the fountain. i was dressed as well, and dazed.
The formula of Love is the dissolution of the Ego, she said. Love is Death, and simultaneous Birth. The sperm and the egg die to become something new. Salt dissolves into water, changing both. Identities become lost to create something new. You cannot truly love and remain the same person you were before.
All of this…is Venusian? It was a feeble question and I was ashamed afterwards of asking it. So far i was still struggling to understand a pattern to the Aethyrs, and it seemed to me TEX had been like Yesod, RII like Hod, and now BAG like Netzach.
Here is the secret of Love and Death. Of the Desire to Die. The Pain of Pleasure. If you see this as Venusian, so be it. The Mystery to be learned is that Love and Death are the same.
Physical death, the end of life…is Love?
She nodded. Like the sperm merging with the egg what you are is changed, not lost. What you did, how you acted, the information of your existence remains embedded in the Universe, which was changed by your presence in it. There can be no death for those who truly live.
I considered what she was saying. This is beyond communication?
Communication requires division, separation. Union erases these. Love is that Union. You are required to know this, ‘Secretum Operis Magni Unitas Est.’
She turned her gaze and gestured back towards the courtyard and the gate. It is time for you to leave. You know what you need for the road ahead of you. She handed me a pink lotus blossom. Take this as a reminder.
I accepted the gift and made my goodbyes. From the woman, MIALO emerged again, as a fawn once more. She led me out of the gate and back up the deer path. As we ascended, and finally reached the rim, I realized it was no longer sunset but dawn. The sun was on the eastern horizon, in the same twilight.
I left the fawn and descended back into the bowl-like depression. As I entered the reeds around the pond, the vision ended.
I must go there. I shall
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