(59) If the Soul be freed from the Bands of the Devil, then it lives in Meekness, and in great Humility, in the Stillness of the Miracles, [or shows no Work of Wonder,] but humbles itself before God. Yet it is possible for the highly-worthy championlike Souls to do Wonders; for they have great Knowledge, and Power, [or Virtue,] though they all appear (in the humble Love) before the Countenance of God, and there is no Grudging among them. The True Door of the Entrance into Heaven, or into Hell.

(422) 752 To say: O N., 752 thou art departed that thou mayest become a spirit, that thou mayest become mighty as a god, an enthroned one like Osiris, 753 since thou hast thy soul in thy body, since thou hast thy might behind thee, 753 since thou hast thy wrr.t-crown on thy head, since thou hast thy misw.t-crown before thee (at hand). 753 Thy face is before thee, thy homage is before thee; 754 the followers of a god are behind thee, the nobles of a god are before thee; 754 they recite: "A god comes, a god comes, N. comes (who shall be) on the throne of Osiris, 754 that spirit comes who is in Ndi.t, that power which is in the Thinite nome." 755 Isis speaks to thee; Nephthys laments for thee. 755 The spirits come to thee, bowing down; they kiss the earth at thy feet, 755 because the terror of thee, N., is in the cities of i. 756 Thou ascendest to thy mother Nut; she lays hold of thine arm; 756 she shows thee the way to the horizon, to the place where R` is. 756 The double doors of heaven are opened for thee, the double doors of b.w are opened for thee. 757 Thou findest R` standing, while he waits for thee. 757 He lays hold of thy hand, he leads thee into the double 'itr.tpalace of heaven, 757 he places thee on the throne of Osiris. 758 O N., the eye of Horus comes to thee, it addresses thee: 758 "Thy soul which is among the gods comes to thee; thy might which is among the spirits comes to thee. 758 A son has avenged his father; Horus has avenged Osiris." 758 Horus has avenged N. on his enemies. 759 Thou standest, N., avenged, equipped as a god, 759 endued with the form of Osiris; on the throne of him who is First of the Westerners, 759 and doest what he was accustomed to do among the spirits, the imperishable stars. 760 Thy son stands on thy throne endued with thy form; 760 he does what thou wast accustomed to do formerly at the head of the living 760 by the command of R`, the Great God. 761. He tills barley, he tills spelt, that he may present thee therewith. 762 O N., all life and health are given to thee, eternity is thine, saith R` to thee, 762 that thou thyself mayest speak after thou hast taken the form of a god, 762 wherewith thou shalt be great among the gods who are over the lake (nti.w-s). 763 O N., thy soul. stands among the gods, among the spirits, 763 it is thus that thy fear is in their hearts. 763 O N., N. stands upon thy throne at the head of the living, 763 it is thus that thy terror is in their hearts. 764 Thy name which is upon the earth lives; thy name which is upon the earth endures; 764 thou wilt not perish; thou wilt not pass, away for ever and ever.

(6) "Hearken, therefore, that I may discourse with you concerning the soul according as I have said: The five great rulers of the great Fate of the æons and the rulers of the disk of the sun and the rulers of the disk of the moon breathe into that soul, and there cometh out of them a portion of my power, as I have just said. And the portion of that power remaineth within the soul, so that the soul can stand. And they put the counterfeiting spirit outside the soul, watching it and assigned to it; and the rulers bind it to the soul with their seals and their bonds and seal it to it, that it may compel it always, so that it continually doeth its mischiefs and all its iniquities, in order that it may be their slave always and remain under their sway always in the changes of the body; and they seal it to it that it may be in all the sin and all the desires of the world.

(4) So it is with the individual souls; the appetite for the divine Intellect urges them to return to their source, but they have, too, a power apt to administration in this lower sphere; they may be compared to the light attached upwards to the sun, but not grudging its presidency to what lies beneath it. In the Intellectual, then, they remain with soul-entire, and are immune from care and trouble; in the heavenly sphere, absorbed in the soul-entire, they are administrators with it just as kings, associated with the supreme ruler and governing with him, do not descend from their kingly stations: the souls indeed are thus far in the one place with their overlord; but there comes a stage at which they descend from the universal to become partial and self-centred; in a weary desire of standing apart they find their way, each to a place of its very own. This state long maintained, the soul is a deserter from the All; its differentiation has severed it; its vision is no longer set in the Intellectual; it is a partial thing, isolated, weakened, full of care, intent upon the fragment; severed from the whole, it nestles in one form of being; for this, it abandons all else, entering into and caring for only the one, for a thing buffeted about by a worldful of things: thus it has drifted away from the universal and, by an actual presence, it administers the particular; it is caught into contact now, and tends to the outer to which it has become present and into whose inner depths it henceforth sinks far.

With this comes what is known as the casting of the wings, the enchaining in body: the soul has lost that innocency of conducting the higher which it knew when it stood with the All-Soul, that earlier state to which all its interest would bid it hasten back.

It has fallen: it is at the chain: debarred from expressing itself now through its intellectual phase, it operates through sense, it is a captive; this is the burial, the encavernment, of the Soul.

But in spite of all it has, for ever, something transcendent: by a conversion towards the intellective act, it is loosed from the shackles and soars- when only it makes its memories the starting point of a new vision of essential being. Souls that take this way have place in both spheres, living of necessity the life there and the life here by turns, the upper life reigning in those able to consort more continuously with the divine Intellect, the lower dominant where character or circumstances are less favourable.

All this is indicated by Plato, without emphasis, where he distinguishes those of the second mixing-bowl, describes them as "parts," and goes on to say that, having in this way become partial, they must of necessity experience birth.

Of course, where he speaks of God sowing them, he is to be understood as when he tells of God speaking and delivering orations; what is rooted in the nature of the All is figuratively treated as coming into being by generation and creation: stage and sequence are transferred, for clarity of exposition, to things whose being and definite form are eternal.

(1) Oppressed with stupor, I unto my guide Turned like a little child who always runs For refuge there where he confideth most; And she, even as a mother who straightway Gives comfort to her pale and breathless boy With voice whose wont it is to reassure him, Said to me: "Knowest thou not thou art in heaven, And knowest thou not that heaven is holy all And what is done here cometh from good zeal? After what wise the singing would have changed thee And I by smiling, thou canst now imagine, Since that the cry has startled thee so much, In which if thou hadst understood its prayers Already would be known to thee the vengeance Which thou shalt look upon before thou diest. The sword above here smiteth not in haste Nor tardily, howe'er it seem to him Who fearing or desiring waits for it. But turn thee round towards the others now, For very illustrious spirits shalt thou see, If thou thy sight directest as I say." As it seemed good to her mine eyes I turned, And saw a hundred spherules that together With mutual rays each other more embellished.

(474) 939 To say: "How beautiful indeed it is to see," says she, said Isis; 939 "how fortunate indeed it is to see," says she, said Nephthys 939 to the king, to this Osiris N., 940 as he ascends to heaven among the stars, among the imperishable stars, 940 the lion-helmet (renown) of N. on his head, 940 his terror on both sides of him, his magic preceding him! 941 N. goes therewith to his mother Nut; 941 N. climbs upon her, in this her name of "Ladder." 941 The gods who inhabit heaven are brought to thee; they unite for thee with the gods who inhabit the earth, 941 that thou mayest be with them, that thou mayest go on their arms. 942 The Souls of Buto are brought to thee; the Souls of Hierakonpolis are united for thee. 942 "All belongs to N.," 942 so said Geb, who has spoken thereof with Atum. So it was done for him. 943 "The Marshes of Reeds, 943 the Horite regions, the regions of Set 943 all belongs to N.," 943 so said Geb, who has spoken thereof with Atum. So it was done for him. 944 He came against thee; he said he would kill thee. 944 He has not killed thee; it is thou who wilt kill him. 944 Thou holdest thine own against him, as the surviving bull of the wild-bulls. 945 Further, to say four times: N., thou remainest in life and joy; 945 N., thou shalt certainly remain in life and joy.

(3) For soul, and all concerning it,—whereby it doth presume that either it hath been born deathless, or that it will attain to deathlessness, according to the argument I have set forth for you,—[all this] will be considered not only food for sport, but even vanity. Nay, [if ye will] believe me, the penalty of death shall be decreed to him who shall devote himself to the Religion of the Mind. New statutes shall come into force, a novel law; naught [that is] sacred, nothing pious, naught that is worthy of the Heaven, or Gods in Heaven, shall [e’er] be heard, or [even] mentally believed.

(50) But if thou fightest and strivest with the devil, and keepest the gate of love in thy astral birth, and so departest from hence as to the body, then thy soul remaineth in the word quite hidden from the devil, and reigneth with God, even unto the day of the restitution of that which was lost.

(7) "[The souls] will all come, every one at the time when he will receive the mysteries; and all the rulers who have repented, will pass through and come into the region of the Midst. And those of the Midst will baptize them and give unto them the spiritual unction and seal them with the seals of their mysteries. And they will pass through those of all the regions of the Midst, and they will pass through the region of the Right and the interior of the region of the nine guards and the interior of the region of the Twin-saviours and the interior of the region of the three Amens and of the twelve saviours and the interior of the five Trees and of the seven Voices. Every one giveth unto them his seal of his mystery, and they pass into the interior of them all and go to the region of the inheritances of the Light; and every one bideth in the region up to which he hath received mysteries in the inheritances of the Light.

(412) 721 To say: The Great One is fallen on his side; 721 he who is in Ndi.t stirs; 721 his head is lifted up by R`; 721 his abomination is to sleep, he hates to be tired. 722 Flesh of N., 722 rot not, decay not, let not thy smell be bad. 722 Thy foot shall not pass over, thy step shall not stride through, 722 thou shalt not tread upon the (corpse)-secretion of Osiris. 723 Thou shalt tiptoe heaven like (the toe-star); thy soul shall be pointed like Sothis (the pointed-star). 723 Soul shalt thou be and soul thou art; honoured shalt thou be and honoured thou art. 723 Thy soul stands there (like a king(?)) among the gods, like Horus who lives in 'Irw. 724 Thy dread gets into the heart of the gods, 724 like (the dread) of the red crown which is on the head of the king of Lower Egypt, like the white crown which is on the head of the king of Upper Egypt, 724 like the lock (of hair) which is upon the head of Mnti.w. 724 Thou layest hold of the hand (lit. arm) of the imperishable stars. 725 Thy bones will not be destroyed; thy flesh will not sicken, N.; 725 thy limbs will not be distant from thee, 725 for thou art as one among the gods. 725 Buto ferries up to thee; Hierakonpolis ferries down to thee, 726 the mnt.t-woman mourns for thee; the 'imi-nt-priest robes himself for thee. 726 A welcome comes out for thee, O N., on the part of thy father; a welcome comes out for thee on the part of R`. 727 The double doors of heaven are open for thee; the double doors of the d.w-stars are open for thee, 727 after thou art descended (in the grave) as the jackal of Upper Egypt, 727 as Anubis on his belly, as Wpi.w who resides in Heliopolis. 728 The great damsel who lives in Heliopolis has given her arm to thee, 728 for thou hast no mother among mankind who has borne thee, 728 for thou hast no father among men who has conceived thee. 729 Thy mother is the great wild-cow who lives in el-K�b, the white crown, the royal head-dress, 729 she with the long feathers, she with the two hanging breasts; 729 she will nurse thee; she will not wean thee. 730 Get up (from) on thy left side, sit (put thyself) on thy right side, O N. 730 Thy places among the gods will remain, while R` leans upon thee with his arm; 730 thy fragrance is as their fragrance; 730 thy sweetness is as the sweetness of the Two Enneads. 731 Thou appearest, N., in the royal head-dress (the things of the forehead), 731 thy hand seizes the Horus-weapon (m), thy fist grasps the dmace, 731 thou standest, N., as he who is in (or, who is chief of) the two 'itr.t-palaces, who judges the words of the gods. 732 Thou belongest to the n.w (-stars), the servants, of R`, who are before the morning star. 732 Thou wilt be born (again) at thy new moons (feasts) like the moon 732 while R` leans upon thee in the horizon, N., 733 and the imperishable stars serve (follow) thee. 733 Command thyself until R` comes, N.; 733 purify thyself; ascend to R`. 733 Heaven will not be empty of thee, N., for ever.

(45) Now, since thou hast thy reason, and art not like the apple on the tree, but art created an angel and the similitude or image of God, instead of the expulsed devils, and knowest how thou canst with thy astral birth, in the part of love, qualify or unite with the word of God, therefore thou canst, in the centre of the word, set or put thy animated or soulish birth into heaven, and thou canst with thy soul, even with thy living body in this dead or mortal palpability, rule with God in heaven.

(19) The way leads from the sacrum upward in a backward- flowing manner to the summit of the creative, and on through the house of the creative; then it sinks through two stories in a downward- lowing way into the solar plexus, and warms it. Therefore it is said: Wandering in Heaven, one eats the spirit-power of the receptive. Because the true power goes back into the empty place, in time, power and form become rich and full; body and heart become glad and cheerful. If, by the work of the turning of the Wheel of the Doctrine, this cannot be achieved, how otherwise should one be able to enter upon this Far Journey? What it amounts to is this: The crystallized spirit lows back to the spirit-fire, and by means of the greatest quiet, one fans the " fire in the middle of the water which is in the middle of the cave. Therefore it is said: And the deeper secret within the secret: the Land that is nowhere, that is the true home.

(5) For more the daughter of Belus never burned, Offending both Sichaeus and Creusa, Than I, so long as it became my locks, Nor yet that Rodophean, who deluded was by Demophoon, nor yet Alcides, When Iole he in his heart had locked. Yet here is no repenting, but we smile, Not at the fault, which comes not back to mind, But at the power which ordered and foresaw. Here we behold the art that doth adorn With such affection, and the good discover Whereby the world above turns that below. But that thou wholly satisfied mayst bear Thy wishes hence which in this sphere are born, Still farther to proceed behoveth me. Thou fain wouldst know who is within this light That here beside me thus is scintillating, Even as a sunbeam in the limpid water. Then know thou, that within there is at rest Rahab, and being to our order joined, With her in its supremest grade 'tis sealed. Into this heaven, where ends the shadowy cone Cast by your world, before all other souls First of Christ's triumph was she taken up.

(51) But if thou standest with thy astral birth in the wrath, when thou departest from hence as to the body, and thy soul be not comprehended in the word, then thou canst never reach the gates of heaven; but into what part thou hast sown thy seed, that is, thy soul, in that very part will thy body also rise. The Gate of the Power.

(47) Therefore it can only be done here in this Life (while thy Soul sticks in the Will of the Mind) so that thou breakest open the Gate of the Deep, and pressest in to God through a New Birth; for here thou hast the highly worthy noble Virgin of the divine Love for thy Assistance, who leads thee in through the Gate of the noble Bridegroom, who stands in the Center in the parting Mark, between the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Kingdom of Hell, and generates thee in the Water and Life of his Blood and Death, and therein drowns and washes away thy false [or evil] Works, so that they follow thee not [in such a Source and Property,] that thy Soul be not infected therein, but according to the first Image in Man before the Fall, as a new, chaste, and pure noble Virgin's Image, without any Knowledge of thy untowardness [or Vices,] which thou hadst here.

(2) Wherefore it alone conducts to the true wisdom, which is the divine power which deals with the knowledge of entities as entities, which grasps what is perfect, and is freed from all passion; not without the Saviour, who withdraws, by the divine word, the gloom of ignorance arising from evil training, which had overspread the eye of the soul, and bestows the best of gifts,- "That we might well know or God or man."

(23) But now the holy God would not let this place of his body (understand the space or room of this world) stand in eternal darkness and ignominy, and leave it to the devils for their proper own, but generated a new regimen or dominion of light, and of all the seven qualifying or fountain spirits of the Deity; which the devil could neither apprehend, nor lay hold on, nor touch; neither was it useful or profitable to him at all.

(258) 308 To say: N. is Osiris in a dust-storm. 308 His abomination is the earth; N. has not entered into Geb, 308 that he might be destroyed; nor has he slept in his house on earth, 308 that his bones might be broken. His wounds are effaced: 308 N. has purified himself with the eye of Horus; his wound is effaced by the two mourners of Osiris; 308 N. has let the running (of his wound) flow to the ground at u. 309 It is his sister, the lady of P, who wept for him. 309 N. is on his way to heaven; N. is on his way to heaven; on the wind; on the wind. 309 He is not hindered; there is no one by whom he is hindered. 309 N., he is "on his own," the eldest of the gods. 310 His bread comes on high with (that of) R`; 310 his offering comes out of Nun. 310 N. is one who comes again; 310 he goes, he comes with R`. 310 His houses are visited by him. 311 N. seizes kas; he frees kas; 311 he covers up evil; he abolishes evil. 311 N. spends the day; he spends, the night, while he appeases the two choppers in Wn.w. 311 Nothing opposes his foot; nothing restrains his heart.

(5) "O my dear Guide, who more than seven times Hast rendered me security, and drawn me From imminent peril that before me stood, Do not desert me," said I, "thus undone; And if the going farther be denied us, Let us retrace our steps together swiftly." And that Lord, who had led me thitherward, Said unto me: "Fear not; because our passage None can take from us, it by Such is given. But here await me, and thy weary spirit Comfort and nourish with a better hope; For in this nether world I will not leave thee." So onward goes and there abandons me My Father sweet, and I remain in doubt, For No and Yes within my head contend. I could not hear what he proposed to them; But with them there he did not linger long, Ere each within in rivalry ran back. They closed the portals, those our adversaries, On my Lord's breast, who had remained without And turned to me with footsteps far between.

(5) For of a righteous will his own is made. He, sooth to say, for three months past has taken Whoever wished to enter with all peace; Whence I, who now had turned unto that shore Where salt the waters of the Tiber grow, Benignantly by him have been received. Unto that outlet now his wing is pointed, Because for evermore assemble there Those who tow'rds Acheron do not descend." And I: "If some new law take not from thee Memory or practice of the song of love, Which used to quiet in me all my longings, Thee may it please to comfort therewithal Somewhat this soul of mine, that with its body Hitherward coming is so much distressed." "Love, that within my mind discourses with me," Forthwith began he so melodiously, The melody within me still is sounding. My Master, and myself, and all that people Which with him were, appeared as satisfied As if naught else might touch the mind of any. We all of us were moveless and attentive Unto his notes; and lo! the grave old man, Exclaiming: "What is this, ye laggard spirits?