(13) While Hermes still walked the earth with men, he entrusted to his chosen successors the sacred Book of Thoth. This work contained the secret processes by which the regeneration of humanity was to be accomplished and also served as the key to his other writings. Nothing definite is known concerning the contents of the Book of Thoth other than that its pages were covered with strange hieroglyphic figures and symbols, which gave to those acquainted with their use unlimited power over the spirits of the air and the subterranean divinities. When certain areas of the brain are stimulated by the secret processes of the Mysteries, the consciousness of man is extended and he is permitted to behold the Immortals and enter into the presence of the superior gods. The Book of Thoth described the method whereby this stimulation was accomplished. In truth, therefore, it was the "Key to Immortality."

(72) The book of the courses of the luminaries of the heaven, the relations of each, according to their classes, their dominion and their seasons, according to their names and places of origin, and according to their months, which Uriel, the holy angel, who was with me, who is their guide, showed me; and he showed me all their laws exactly as they are, and how it is with regard to all the years of the world and unto eternity, till the new creation is accomplished which dureth till eternity.

(15) From the most ancient times till to-day, this is not empty talk, but the sequence of the Great Meaning in the real method of producing an eternally living and immortal spirit and holy man.

(435) 786 To say: I am Nut, "the Granary." I have proclaimed the name of Osiris N., 786 namely, "Horus, beloved of the two lands, N."; "King of Upper and Lower Egypt, N."; 786 "nb.ti, beloved of the Corporation, N."; "falcon over gold, N. "; 787 "heir of Geb, his beloved N.", "beloved of all the gods, N."; 787 given all life, stability, prosperity, health, joy like R`, thou livest for ever. 20. MISCELLANEOUS TEXTS--SOME LARGELY OSIRIAN,

(10) 8 Horus lives, living apparition of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, N., 8 (of the land of) the two goddesses, living apparition, N., 8 (of the land of) the two lords (of Ombos), N., 8 Osiris, lord of the D.t, N., 8 the beloved son of Geb, N., 8 son of Nut, opener of her body (womb), N., 8 endowed with life, endurance, joy, health, like R`, eternally.

(109) Another book which Enoch wrote for his son Methuselah and for those who will come after him, and keep the law in the last days.

(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.

(4) A Sufi woke one night and said to himself: 'It seems to me that the world is like a chest in which we are put and the lid shut down, and we give ourselves up to foolishness. When death lifts the lid, he who has acquired wings, soars away to eternity, but he who has not, stays in the chest a prey to a thousand tribulations. Make sure then that the bird of ambition acquires wings of aspiration, and give to your heart and reason the ecstasy of the soul. Before the lid of the chest is opened become a bird of the Spirit, ready to spread your wings.'

(55) Osiris is often represented with the lower par, of his body enclosed in a mummy case or wrapped about with funeral bandages. Man's spirit consists of three distinct parts, only one of which incarnates in physical form. The human body was considered to be a tomb or sepulcher of this incarnating spirit. Therefore Osiris, a symbol of the incarnating ego, was represented with the lower half of his body mummified to indicate that he was the living spirit of man enclosed within the material form symbolized by the mummy case.

(14) The book of the words of righteousness, and of the reprimand of the eternal Watchers in accordance with the command of the Holy Great One in that vision.

(20) The Soul, being a brilliant Fire, by the power of the Father remaineth immortal, and is Mistress of Life, and filleth up the many recesses of the bosom of the World.

(18) Thoth Hermes Trismegistus, the founder of Egyptian learning, the Wise Man of the ancient world, gave to the priests and philosophers of antiquity the secrets which have been preserved to this day in myth and legend. These allegories and emblematic figures conceal the secret formulæ for spiritual, mental, moral, and physical regeneration commonly known as the Mystic Chemistry of the Soul (alchemy). These sublime truths were communicated to the initiates of the Mystery Schools, but were concealed from the profane. The latter, unable to understand the abstract philosophical tenets, worshiped the concrete sculptured idols which were emblematic of these secret truths. The wisdom and secrecy of Egypt are epitomized in the Sphinx, which has preserved its secret from the seekers of a hundred generations. The mysteries of Hermeticism, the great spiritual truths hidden from the world by the ignorance of the world, and the keys of the secret doctrines of the ancient philosophers, are all symbolized by the Virgin Isis. Veiled from head to foot, she reveals her wisdom only to the tried and initiated few who have earned the right to enter her sacred presence, tear from the veiled figure of Nature its shroud of obscurity, and stand face to face with the Divine Reality.

(11) The pre-publication sale of this book has been without known precedent in book history. The subscription list for the first edition of 550 copies was entirely closed a year before the manuscript was placed in the printer's hands. The second, or King Solomon, edition, consisting of 550 copies, and the third, or Theosophical, edition, consisting of 200 copies, were sold before the finished volume was received from the printer. For so ambitious a production, this constitutes a unique achievement. The credit for this extraordinary sales program belongs to Mrs. Maud F. Galigher, who had as her ideal not to sell the book in the commercial sense of the word but to place it in the hands of those particularly interested in the subject matter it contains. Valuable assistance in this respect was also rendered by numerous friends who had attended my lectures and who without compensation undertook and successfully accomplished the distribution of the book.

(576) 1500 To say: Osiris was placed upon his side by his brother Set; 1500 he who is in Ndi.t stirs; his head is raised up by R`; 1500 his abomination is to sleep; he hates to be tired; 1501 N. rots not; he stinks not; 1501 N. is not bound (bewitched) by your wrath, O gods. 1502 Awake thou in peace; 1502 Osiris awakes in peace; he who is in Ndi.t awakes in peace. 1503 His head is lifted up by R`; his odour is [as] that of the 'I.twt.t-serpent. 1503 The head of N. also is lifted up by R`; the odour of N. is as that of 'I.t-wt.t-serpent. 1504 He rots not; he stinks not, 1504 N. is not bound (bewitched) by your wrath, O gods. 1505 N. is thy seed, Osiris, the pointed, 1505 in his name of "Horus in the great green"; "Horus chief of spirits." 1506 N. rots not; he stinks not; 1506 he is not bound (bewitched) by your wrath, O gods. 1507 N. goes forth from his house, adorned like Horus, bedecked like Thot; 1507 the mother of N. is thy Heliopolitan, O god; the father of N. is a Heliopolitan; 1507 N. himself is thy Heliopolitan, O god. 1508 N. is conceived by R`; he is born of R`. 1508 N. is thy seed, O R`, the pointed, 1508 in his name of "Horus, chief of spirits, star which ferries over the "great green." 1509 N. rots not; he stinks not; 1509 he is not bound (bewitched) by your wrath, O gods. 1510 N. is one of those four gods, born of Geb, 1510 who travelled over the South, who travelled over the land of [the North], 1510 who leaned upon their dm-sceptres, 1511 anointed with the best ointment, clothed in [purple], 1511 living on figs, drinking wine. 1512 a. N. anoints himself with that with which you anoint yourselves; 1512 N. clothes himself with that with which you clothe yourselves; 1512 N. lives on that on which you live; 1512 N. drinks that of which you [drink]. 1513 N. is safe with you, he lives on that on which you live. 1513 May you give him of those possessions which your father Geb gave you, 1513 (so that) because of which none of you may hunger, because of which none of you may rot. 1514 Lay hold of the arm of N. for life before the sweet-smelling ones, 1514 unite the bones of N., assemble his limbs, 1514 that N. may sit upon his throne. 1515 He rots not; he stinks not; 1515 N. is not bound (bewitched) by your wrath, O gods. 1516 N. is come to thee, mother of N.; he is come to Nut. 150 Make the sky mount for N.; place the stars upside down for him. 1516 Let his odour be like the odour of thy son, who is come forth from thee; 1516 let the odour of N. be like that of Osiris, thy son, who is come forth from thee. 1517 Nun, lift up the arm of N. towards the sky, that he may support himself (on) the earth which he has given to thee, 151 7 that he may ascend, that he may rise to the sky, 1517 that he may do service of a courtier to R`. 1518 Horus chief of the spirits, who is before the sweet-smelling ones, 1518 awake thou in peace, as R` awakes, in peace; 1518 awake in peace, as Mdi awakes in peace. 1519. Let him put the writing of N. in his register before the sweetsmelling ones. 37. THE RESURRECTION OF OSIRIS WITH WHOM THE GODS ARE SATISFIED,

(2) The rites of Eleusis, with their Mystic interpretations of Nature's most precious secrets, overshadowed the civilizations of their time and gradually absorbed many smaller schools, incorporating into their own system whatever valuable information these lesser institutions possessed. Heckethorn sees in the Mysteries of Ceres and Bacchus a metamorphosis of the rites of Isis and Osiris, and there is every reason to believe that all so-called secret schools of the ancient world were branches from one philosophic tree which, with its root in heaven and its branches on the earth, is--like the spirit of man--an invisible but ever-present cause of the objectified vehicles that give it expression. The Mysteries were the channels through which this one philosophic light was disseminated, and their initiates, resplendent with intellectual and spiritual understanding, were the perfect fruitage of the divine tree, bearing witness before the material world of the recondite source of all Light and Truth.

(13) I will now describe that which ought to be known, through the knowing of which one attains Immortality. It is the Supreme Brahman, which is without beginning and is said to be neither being nor non-being.

(11) 8 To say by Nut: I unite thy beauty with this body (and with) this ba, for life, endurance, joy, health 8 of Horus, divine apparition, king of Upper and Lower Egypt, N. (of the land of) the two goddesses, divine apparition, N., 8 powerful lord (of Ombos), N., living eter[nally]. 2. RITUAL OF BODILY RESTORATION OF THE DECEASED, AND OFFERINGS, UTTERANCES 12203

(670) 1972. To say: The double doors of heaven are open; the double doors of the bows are open. 1973 The gods in Buto were filled with compassion, when they came to Osiris N., 1973 [at the voice of we]eping of Isis and at the lamentation of Nephthys, 1973 at the wailing of these two spirits 1973 [for this Great One who comes forth] from the D.t. 1974 The Souls of Buto dance for thee; 1974 they beat their flesh for thee; they hit their arms for thee; 1974 they dishevel their hair for thee; 1974 they smite their legs for thee. 1975 They say to thee, Osiris N., "thou art gone, thou art come; 1975 thou art asleep, [thou art awake]; thou art [dead (lit. thou landest)], thou art alive. 1976 Stand up, see that which thy son has done for thee; 1976 awake, hear [that which] Horus [has done for] thee. 1977 He has beaten for thee him who beats thee, li[ke an ox]; 1977 he has killed for thee him who kills thee, like a wild-bull; 1977 he has bound for thee him who binds thee; 1977 he has put him under thy great daughter who is in dm, 1978 so that mourning ceased in the two 'itr.t-palaces of the gods." 1978 Osiris speaks to Horus: 1978 After he had exterminated the evil [which was in N. on] his fourth day, 1978 after he had annulled that which he did against him on his eighth [day]. 1979 [Thou hast come forth] from the lake of life; [thou art] purified [in the lake of] b.w, 1979 and art become Wepwawet; and thy son Horus conducts thee, 1979 when he has given to thee the gods, thine enemies, and Thot has brought them to thee. 1980 How beautiful indeed is the sight, how agreeable is the view, the sight of Horus, 1980 in that he gave life to his father, [in that he offered] satisfaction to Osiris, 1980 before the gods of the west! 1981 Thy libation is poured by Isis, [Nephthys has purified thee]-- 1981 [thy two sisters] great and powerful, who collected thy flesh, 1981 who bound together thy limbs, who made thy two eyes to appear in thy face-- 11982a. the boat of the evening and the boat of the morning, 1982 Atum has given to thee, and the Two Enneads have made for thee. 1983 The children of thy child have raised thee up, perfect-- 1983 pi, 'Im.ti, Dw-mu.t-f, b-n.w.f, 1983 who made for thee [their] names [into tt.wi], 1983 [who washed thy face], [who dried] thy tears, 1983 who opened thy mouth with their copper (or, iron) fingers. 1984 Thou mountest, thou mountest towards the broad-hall of Atum; 1984 thou marchest towards the Marsh of Reeds; 1984 thou voyagest over the places of the great god. 1985 To thee heaven is given, to thee the earth is given, to thee the Marsh of Reeds is given, 1985 [by] the two great gods who row thee over- 1985 Shu and Tefnut, the two great gods of Heliopolis. 1986 The awakening [of the god], [the rising of the god], 1986 [for this spirit, who ascends from] the D.t, (even) Osiris N. who ascends from Geb. 52. TEXTS OF MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS,

(14) When the embodied soul has risen above the three gunas of which its body is made, it gains deliverance from birth, death, old age, and pain and becomes immortal.

(18) The most common theory, however, regarding the origin of the name Serapis is that which traces its derivation from the compound Osiris-Apis. At one time the Egyptians believed that the dead were absorbed into the nature of Osiris, the god of the dead. While marked similarity exists between Osiris-Apis and Serapis, the theory advanced by Egyptologists that Serapis is merely a name given to the dead Apis, or sacred bull of Egypt, is untenable in view of the transcendent wisdom possessed by the Egyptian priestcraft, who, in all probability, used the god to symbolize the soul of the world (anima mundi). The material body of Nature was called Apis; the soul which escaped from the body at death but was enmeshed with the form during physical life was designated Serapis.