Listen attentively, my Son, while I with heavy Heart make Confession to thee of mine own Frailty. Thou knowest that I made Renunciation of my Wage, taking this Body immediately after my Death, the Death of Eliphas Levi Zahed, as Men say, that I might attain to this great Work. It is now twenty Years, as Men count years, that I came to my first Understanding of my true Nature, and aspired to that Work. Now then at first I made no Error. I abandoned my chosen Career; I poured out my whole Fortune without one Thought; I gave my Life utterly to the Work, without keeping back the least imaginable Thing. So then I made swift Strides along the Path. But in the Dhyanas that were granted unto me in Kandy, in the Island of Lanka, I used up my whole Charge of Magical Energy; and for two Years I fell away from the Work.
