(7) But the Virtue which was in the Matrix, was that which could effect such Things in the Matrix; for a Stone is nothing else but a Water, Mercury, Salt, and Brimstone, wherein an Oil is hidden. Now the Birth of the Matrix has such a Form in its eternal Essence, and Birth of its Life. For first, there is the Harshness [or Sourness] Fierceness [or eager Strength] and Hardness, from whence the Cold proceeds. Now the Sourness [or Harshness] attracts and sharpens the Cold; and in its attracting it makes the bitter Sting [or Prickle] which pricks and rages, and cannot endure the hard Attracting, but vexes like a furious Madness, it rises up and rages, and becomes like a Brimstone- Spirit.

(6) Many symbols appearing upon the Tarot cards have definite Masonic interest. The Pythagorean numerologist will also find an important relationship to exist between the numbers on the cards and the designs accompanying the numbers. The Qabbalist will be immediately impressed by the significant sequence of the cards, and the alchemist will discover certain emblems meaningless save to one versed in the divine chemistry of transmutation and regeneration.' As the Greeks placed the letters of their alphabet--with their corresponding numbers--upon the various parts of the body of their humanly represented Logos, so the Tarot cards have an analogy not only in the parts and members of the universe but also in the divisions of the human body.. They are in fact the key to the magical constitution of man.

(7) The Tarot cards must be considered (1) as separate and complete hieroglyphs, each representing a distinct principle, law, power, or element in Nature; (2) in relation to each other as the effect of one agent operating upon another; and (3) as vowels and consonants of a philosophic alphabet. The laws governing all phenomena are represented by the symbols upon the Tarot cards, whose numerical values are equal to the numerical equivalents of the phenomena. As every structure consists of certain elemental parts, so the Tarot cards represent the components of the structure of philosophy. Irrespective of the science or philosophy with which the student is working, the Tarot cards can be identified with the essential constituents of his subject, each card thus being related to a specific part according to mathematical and philosophical laws. "An imprisoned person," writes Eliphas Levi, "with no other book than the Tarot, if he knew how to use it, could in a few years acquire universal knowledge, and would be able to speak on all subjects with unequalled learning and inexhaustible eloquence. " (See Transcendental Magic.)

(8) The diverse opinions of eminent authorities on the Tarot symbolism are quite irreconcilable. The conclusions of the scholarly Court de Gébelin and the bizarre Grand Etteila--the first authorities on the subject--not only are at radical variance but both are equally discredited by Levi, whose arrangement of the Tarot trumps was rejected in turn by Arthur Edward Waite and Paul Case as being an effort to mislead students. The followers of Levi--especially Papus, Christian, Westcott, and Schuré-are regarded by the "reformed Tarotists" as honest but benighted individuals who wandered in darkness for lack of Pamela Coleman Smith's new deck of Tarot cards with revisions by Mr. Waite.

(19) We shall not enter into an extended discussion of, or description of, the varied phenomena of mental influence or psychic activity. There are many books, many of them quite good, which have been written and published on this subject of late years. The main facts stated in these various books are correct, although the several writers have attempted to explain the phenomena by various pet theories of their own. The student may acquaint himself with these matters, and by using the theory of Mental Gender he will be able to bring order out of the chaos of conflicting theory and teachings, and may, moreover, readily make himself a master of the subject if he be so inclined. The purpose of this work is not to give an extended account of psychic phenomena but rather to give to the student a master-key whereby He may unlock the many doors leading into the parts of the Temple of Knowledge which he may wish to explore. We feel that in this consideration of the teachings of The Kybalion, one may find an explanation which will serve to clear away many perplexing difficulties--a key that will unlock many doors. What is the use of going into detail regarding all of the many features of psychic phenomena and mental science, provided we place in the hands of the student the means whereby he may acquaint himself fully regarding any phase of the subject which may interest him. With the aid of The Kybalion one may go through any occult library anew, the old Light from Egypt illuminating many dark pages, and obscure subjects. That is the purpose of this book. We do not come expounding a new philosophy, but rather furnishing the outlines of a great world-old teaching which will make clear the teachings of others-which will serve as a Great Reconciler of differing: theories, and opposing doctrines.

(7) Now says Moses; And God said, Let there be Light, and there was Light. This Light now was the fifth Form in the Matrix. For the fifth Essence was not yet created in the Matrix, nor separated till the fourth Day, when God created the Sun and Stars out of it, and separated the Light from the Darkness; where then the Light got the Virtue of the Glance, or Splendor, into itself for its own, and the Root of the Fire in the Center remained hidden in the Darkness.

(23) But now in the Tincture only is the Understanding, which governs the Mind, and makes the [Thoughts or] Senses; therefore all is as it were dead, and the Constellation now only rules in the Root of the first Principle, where the Deity, like a Glance, [Luster,] or Virtue, works in all Things: There the starry Spirit in the Glance of the Glass of the divine Virtue in the Element of Fire looks into the Matrix of the Water, and sets its Jaws open after the Tincture, but that is void of Power; and therefore he takes the Virtue of the Tincture, (viz. the Mind,) and mingles, [or qualifies] with it, and then the Mind seals the Elements, and works therein Dreams and Visions, all according to the Virtue of the Stars; for it stands in the Working and quality of the Stars; and these are the Dreams and Visions of the Night in the Sleep. The Gate of the highest Depth of the Life of the Tincture.

(7) As a matter of fact, none but advanced Mental Alchemists have been able to attain the degree of power necessary to control the grosser physical conditions, such as the control of the elements of Nature; the production or cessation of tempests; the production and cessation of earthquakes and other great physical phenomena. But that such men have existed, and do exist today, is a matter of earnest belief to all advanced occultists of all schools. That the Masters exist, and have these powers, the best teachers assure their students, having had experiences which justify them in such belief and statements. These Masters do not make public exhibitions of their powers, but seek seclusion from the crowds of men, in order to better work their may along the Path of Attainment. We mention their existence, at this point, merely to call your attention to the fact that their power is entirely Mental, and operates along the lines of the higher Mental Transmutation, under the Hermetic Principle of Mentalism. "The Universe is Mental" --The Kybalion.

(7) All power is in God the Father, and he is the fountain of all powers in his deep; in him are light and darkness, air and water, heat and cold, hard and soft, thick and thin, sound and tone, sweet and sour, bitter and astringent, and that which I cannot number or rehearse

(1) Concerning another kind of divination, also, you say as follows: “ Others who are conscious what they are doing in other respects, are divinely inspired according to the phantastic part, some indeed receiving darkness for a cooperator, others certain potions, but others in cantations and compositions. And some energize according to the imagination through water, others in a wall, others in the open air, and others in the light of the sun, or some other celestial body. ” The whole, however, of this kind of divination of which you now speak, since it is multiform, may be comprehended in one power, which may be called the eduction of light. But this illuminates with divine light the etherial and luciform vehicle with which the soul is surrounded, from which divine visions occupy our phantastic power, these visions being excited by the will of the Gods. For the whole life of the soul and all the powers that are in it, being in subjection to the Gods, are moved in such a way as the Gods, the leaders of the soul, please.

(27) When this Storm was in the Creation (in the first Principle) the Matrix became very big [or much impregnated] and kindled; and every Form in the Matrix wrought, [stirred or acted.] But because the Anger and Wrath had there elevated itself, and that this Place could not thus subsist in Paradise, therefore God moved this Place yet more in the Matrix, which was yet the more kindled, where then is to be the Devil's Bath, [Repository or Dwelling-Place,] and the fourth Form stood in the Flash of the Fire, which reflected back into the Mother, and found the Spirit of God in the Forming [or Creation,] where in a Moment [that fourth Form] lost its wrathful [smart, fierce Property, Authority or] Right, and became in great Joy, white, clear, and light: and in this Place [or Thing consists or] stands the Fiat, by which God created Heaven and Earth. For before the Fiat, the third Principle was not manifested, but there was merely Paradise in the Place of this World.

(2) The purpose of this work is not the enunciation of any special philosophy or doctrine, but rather is to give to the students a statement of the Truth that will serve to reconcile the many bits of occult knowledge that they may have acquired, but which are apparently opposed to each other and which often serve to discourage and disgust the beginner in the study. Our intent is not to erect a new Temple of Knowledge, but rather to place in the hands of the student a Master-Key with which he may open the many inner doors in the Temple of Mystery through the main portals he has already entered.

(20) "From my youth I followed art and science and was tireless in my reading of books. Among those which came to my hand was a volume containing all kinds of invocations and magical formulæ. In this book I discovered information to the effect that a spirit, whether he be of the fire, the water, the earth or the air, can be compelled to do the will of a magician capable of controlling him. I also discovered that according as one spirit has more power than another, each is adapted for a different operation and each is capable of producing certain supernatural effects.

(7) Transcendentalism and all forms of phenomenalistic magic are but blind alleys--outgrowths of Atlantean sorcery; and those who forsake the straight path of philosophy to wander therein almost invariably fall victims to their imprudence. Man, incapable of controlling his own appetites, is not equal to the task of governing the fiery and tempestuous elemental spirits.

(48) The understanding of the Principle of Polarity enables the occultist to transmute one mental state into another, along the lines of Polarization. Things belonging to different classes cannot be transmuted into each other, but the opposing poles of the same thing may be so changed—that is, may have a change in their polarity effected and thus be transmuted one into the other. Thus, love can never become east or west, or red or violet; but love may be changed into hate, or hate into love, by a shifting of polarity. Courage may be transmuted into fear, or fear into courage; hard may be changed into soft, dull into sharp, hot into cold, and so on, the transmutation always being between things of the same kind. The fearful man may shift his polarity and by thus changing his emotional vibrations may become filled with courage. Likewise, the slothful man may shift his polarity into activity and energetic action. The key lies in the fact that in this process of transmutation there is not an actual change of one thing into another distinct thing, but rather a shifting of the centre of polar force from one extreme of the scale to the other, just as one would shift the carriage of his typewriter from 1 to 70, or change the focus of an opera glass.

(10) On this plane of consciousness are operated many of those forms of "magic" known to all occultists. The occultist moves Matter not by exerting a physical force upon it by means of his mind and will, but, instead, by acting upon the consciousness of the material atoms by the power of his own consciousness! This is no place, of course, to go into detail concerning this phase of occultism, but it has been thought well to indicate here the source and nature of the power underlying occult phenomena of this kind, and the "why and wherefore" of its manifestation.

(21) But you will not find this Root here, you must look into the all Things, for the Matrix of this World stands in the eternal Matrix, from which Paradise and the Kingdom of Heaven has its Original. Now as the eternal Matrix is a Birth that goes forth, where in the Original there is Harshness, Darkness, Hardness, and Anguish; so you may see, that when the Spirit of God has kindled the inward Matrix, then it becomes stirring, working, and active.

(16) But when the Matrix (from which the Terror was gone forth) was thus loosed from the Terror of the Anxiety, and became so very sweet, like sweet Water, then the Spirit of the great World figured [or imprinted itself] instantly, in the Matrix, and fills the four Elements also within it, and thinks with itself, now 1 have the sweet Virgin; and the Fiat creates it, and separates the Elements, which also are in Strife: And each of them would have the Virgin, and are in a Wrestling, till they overcome one another, and that the Fire (being the mightiest and strongest) stays above, and the Water sinks down; and the Earth, being a hard gross Thing, must stay below: But the Fire will have a

(10) Understand it thus, as the Spirit moved this Matrix, so the Matrix wrought, and in the Kindling from the Spirit of God in the fifth Form of the Matrix, the fiery Heaven of the Constellations did exist, which is a mere Quinta Essentia, or Quintessence, born in the fifth Form of the Matrix, in which Place the Light has its Original; out of which at last the Sun is born [or brought forth,] wherewith the third Principle becomes opened and manifested, which [Sun] now is the Life in the third Principle, and the Opener of the Life of every Life in the Matrix, in this Place, or Locus; as the Heart of God in Paradise, in the immaterial Heaven and Birth, opens the eternal Power of God, wherein the eternal Life continually springs up, and wherein the eternal Wisdom continually shines. Thus also the Light of the Sun (which is sprung up in the inanimate Matrix) by the [flowing, hovering, or] moving Spirit in the Matrix, opens the third Principle of this material World, which is the third and beginning Principle; which as to this Form takes an End, and returns into its Ether in the End of this Enumeration, as the Scripture witnesses. 1 1. And then all in this third Principle remains again in the first Matrix; only that which has been sown in this Principle, and that has its Original out of Paradise, out of Heaven, and out of the second Principle, (viz. Man,) that continues, eternally in the Matrix. And if he has in this [Life's] Time attained the second Principle, so that he is born therein, it is well with him; but if he has not, then he shall remain still eternally in the Matrix, yet not reach the Light of God.

(11) The Plane of Elemental Consciousness, like all the great Planes of Consciousness, contains seven sub-planes, and each of these seven minor planes, and so on until the multiplication has been made seven times. The sub-plane we have just briefly considered is but one of the seven, and the remaining six are equally important. In these unmentioned subplanes there are manifestations utterly unknown to modern science and to the uninformed person, but of which the occult masters have made a careful and thorough study.